Looks like the jury didn’t buy Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team’s attempt to blame everything on brother Speed Bump.
UPDATE: He was convicted on all 30 counts.
by Betty Cracker| 104 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Religious Nuts 2, Assholes, General Stupidity
Looks like the jury didn’t buy Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team’s attempt to blame everything on brother Speed Bump.
UPDATE: He was convicted on all 30 counts.
This post is in: Open Threads, Religion
It’s Good Friday for (most) Christians, and the first night of Passover starts at sunset. Best wishes to those who observe those holidays.
(And remember, non-observers, Easter is one of those holidays where retailers — Target, Costco, some malls — will be closed. Also, even if your favorite restaurant is open, it may be fully booked or serving a ‘special’ menu.)
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Apart from holiday preparation, what’s on the agenda as we look longingly towards the weekend?
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it's just performance art at this point pic.twitter.com/xkXIw2VKea
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) April 2, 2015
Friday Morning Open Thread: Seasonal WishesPost + Comments (117)
This post is in: Religious Nuts, Sociopaths
The armed attack on the college in Kenya is apparently over, and the death toll is devastatingly high. Via the NYT:
NAIROBI, Kenya — Gunmen attacked a university campus in northeastern Kenya early Thursday, clashing with guards, forcing their way into dormitories, taking hostages and singling out non-Muslims, the authorities said.
Kenya’s interior minister, Joseph Nkaissery, said that 147 people had been killed, including four attackers. He contended that the deadly siege at the university had ended, and that security forces were carefully sweeping the campus for any remaining threats.
[snip]The Shabab, an extremist group based in Somalia and affiliated with Al Qaeda, issued a statement through a radio station it controls claiming responsibility for the attack.
It said its fighters attacked the university early Thursday morning, began separating Muslims from non-Muslims and started an “operation against the infidels.”
The article goes onto say that the Kenyan government had crossed into Somalia a few years back to drive this group away from its border after the group attacked some targets in Kenya, which led the terrorists to step up reprisal attacks.
Serious question: What the hell can be done to prevent these horrific attacks? I’m pretty sure “moar gunz!” isn’t the answer, but damned if I know what is. Maybe politely asking our “allies” in Saudi Arabia to quit funding radicalization efforts worldwide would be a start, but it may be too late for that. Thoughts?
by Betty Cracker| 137 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Religion, RIP
Televangelist Robert Schuller is dead. As far as TV preachers go, he seemed a cut above the uber-fundamentalist, hellfire-and-brimstone grifters, despite the financial irregularities and bungled succession planning at his so-called Crystal Cathedral. But he was a megachurch pioneer, so he might have some explaining to do to Jesus about that.
I don’t have any use for church at all now, but I was dragged to enough of them as a yoot to have some inkling of the function they serve in their communities. My grandfather was a preacher, and he knew his parishioners, and they knew each other. At their best, churches offer a support network. How do megachurches do that?
The Walmartization of Christianity seems to be accelerating, at least around here. My sister lives down the road from a megachurch. It has a parking lot to rival a mall’s in scale, and if we’re going anywhere on Sundays or Wednesday evenings, we schedule our departure around the service release times so we don’t get stuck in a massive traffic jam.
In my little town, there was a small, non-denominational church that was around forever, and it seems to have been acquired by a megachurch in a neighboring town. Now they’re ripping up the lawn and laying the foundation for some monstrosity of a building that I feel certain will not only be an eyesore but a source of traffic issues that will overwhelm our single stoplight.
Are other religions experiencing a big-box retail outlet effect? Is there an upside?
Please feel free to discuss other topics too — this is an open thread.
by Zandar| 208 Comments
This post is in: Fables Of The Reconstruction, Gay Rights are Human Rights, Religious Nuts 2, Republican Venality, Bring on the Brawndo!, Nobody could have predicted
And Indiana’s GOP Gov. Mike Pence has just discovered that no media disaster recovery plan survives contact with the Tea Party.
WALKERTON, Ind. –A small-town pizza shop is saying they agree with Governor Pence and the signing of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The O’Connor family, who owns Memories Pizza, says they have a right to believe in their religion and protect those ideals.
“If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no,” says Crystal O’Connor of Memories Pizza.
She and her family are standing firm in their beliefs.
The O’Connor’s have owned Memories Pizza in Walkerton for 9 years.
It’s a small-town business, with small-town ideals.
“We are a Christian establishment,” says O’Connor.
The O’Connor family prides themselves in owning a business that reflects their religious beliefs.
“We’re not discriminating against anyone, that’s just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything,” says O’Connor.
So, when Governor Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law, the family was not disappointed.
“We definitely agree with the bill,” says O’Connor.
When ABC 57 asked O’Connor about the negative backlash the bill has been getting for being a discriminatory piece of legislation, she says that’s simply not true.
“I do not think it’s targeting gays. I don’t think it’s discrimination,” says O’Connor. “It’s supposed to help people that have a religious belief.”
I do believe that the Indiana RFRA legislation has now been sufficiently clarified, yes? Give people a law that makes them think they have cover for bigotry, and boom, they turn into proud bigots. HOOCOODANODE.
It’s Not Discrimination If You Call It Something ElsePost + Comments (208)
This post is in: Gay Rights are Human Rights, Religious Nuts 2, Teabagger Stupidity
Gov. Dannel Malloy from Connecticut cuts to the chase:
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) on Tuesday described Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) as a “bigot” and said that politicians have a responsibility to speak out against Indiana’s divisive religious freedom law.
Pence is “not a stupid man, but he’s done stupid things,” Malloy said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And signing this law — and quite frankly promoting this law, knowing exactly what it was going to do — was an incredibly stupid thing for him to do.”
“When you see a bigot, you have to call them on it,” he said.
Later in the segment, Malloy said Pence made his intentions clear when he signed the bill into law flanked by “three homophobic men who have made it a part of their business to make gay people as miserable as possible.”
More of this. There’s no reason to play around with these homophobes in 2015. Call them what they are. I don’t give a shit what Clinton signed 3 decades ago, the 1st Amendment is all the protection from religious persecution that anyone needs. You need more, write an amendment to the Constitution.
I’m so old I remember when Muslim cab drivers refusing service because of alcohol was a big deal for Republicans.
This post is in: Gay Rights are Human Rights, Religious Nuts 2, Assholes, Sociopaths
The sheer capacity of people to self-delude is quite astonishing, although not so much as it is amazing how bible thumpers are always turning themselves in to martyrs when they get caught doing something evil:
Reaction to Indiana’s new “religious freedom” law has come fast, hard and loud.
And the public firestorm has been fueled almost exclusively by critics — from gay rights activists to business leaders to celebrities— who see the law as a license to discriminate under the guise of religion.
Oddly and conspicuously missing has been a strong counter-show of public support by the law’s backers, including evangelical Christians.
***Indiana Right to Life has set up a link on its website that allows supporters to send “thank you” messages to the governor and the Republican lawmakers who sponsored the legislation.
“There is zero interest in gloating over the passage of this religious liberty bill. What we want to express is a spirit of appreciation for our legislature tackling this tough issue and and for the governor signing this bill,” Fichter explained.
“This law does not apply only to Catholics or evangelicals or to people of the Jewish faith. This applies to every citizen in the state of Indiana. So we think everyone wins, but our style is not to run this up the flagpole as some type of victory to gloat about.”
Fichter and other religious leaders stopped short of saying people of faith are intimidated when it comes to speaking about their faith, “although it is undeniable in today’s culture that an open profession of faith brings with it labels and stereotypes,” he said.
“That’s just part of the territory today.”
Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute, said that threat of public ridicule has affected some — but not all — believers.
NFL, Big Ten reviewing implications of Indiana religious freedom bill
“I think a lot of people have been bullied into silence,” he said, “But there are others who are stepping up. I see both: some people who are afraid to step up and yet I also see a smaller group that is more willing.”
Smith, who is shown standing directly behind Gov. Pence in one photograph from the private bill-signing ceremony, said the nature of Christianity also may help explain why the reaction appears to be so one sided.
“Some people would say that Christianity itself calls us to meekness. So there’s that sort of defining feature, that ‘turn the other cheek,'” he explained.
And then there’s a much more practical factor.
“Why would you want to engage a bunch of hateful people,” Smith asked. “We’re always accused of being bigots. Who had the signs (Thursday)? Who was yelling? I have that conviction so I can carry that into places. But most people don’t think like that.”
Read that last sentence again. The hateful people are not the ones who just enacted a law to legally allow them to discriminate, the hateful people are the ones pointing out the law is bigoted and awful. How dare someone call you a bigot for being bigoted? The horror.
Don’t break an arm nailing yourself to that cross, asshole.
It’s Always Important To Remember Who the Real Victims ArePost + Comments (383)