DN Speak: 9/20/15

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Experts Call Republican Candidates' Vaccine Claims 'False' and 'Dangerous'

During the GOP candidates' debate Wednesday night, Trump reiterated statements he had previously made, associating autism with vaccines, despite the fact that medical studies have widely shown there is no proven link between the two...
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/experts-call-republican-candidates-vaccine-claims-false-dangerous/story?id=33829987

Pope Francis urges divided Congress to share the wealth

Washington (CNN)Pope Francis urged the United States not to turn its back on undocumented immigrants, to reject the victimization of religious and ethnic minorities, to overcome income inequality and to save the planet from climate change, citing Scripture and the nation's founding ideals in a historic address to Congress Thursday...
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/24/politics/pope-francis-washington-congress-updates/

Stuart Varney loses it after Pope Francis' climate remarks

https://youtu.be/3tS75cre6SE

GOP Candidates Welcome Boehner's Exit at Jubilant Summit

The House speaker's resignation filled the Values Voter Summit with applause and standing ovations as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio celebrated the beginning of new era in Congress.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-09-25/gop-candidates-welcome-boehner-s-exit-at-jubilant-summit

Mike Huckabee Rages Against The GOP Machine

Mike Huckabee gave an interesting speech at the latest Values Voters Summit today. He began with his typical nastiness, suggesting that if Boehner res... Read more

Meet The Real Carly Fiorina

The HP Way There used to be something called "the HP Way." This was the description of the way Hewlett-Packard (HP) conducted its business and treate... Read more

Best Pope Joke Of The Day

Week In The News: Pope In DC, Volkswagen Scandal, Death On The Hajj (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

It’s the Pope all over this week. Above all, for us, before the US Congress saying the polarization has to end. For the Earth. For the poor, for immigrants, for families. House Speaker John Boehner will resign from Congress. China’s leader in Washington, too. Nice talk and tough issues. In 2016 politics we’ve got Scott Walker out. Ben Carson on Islam. Hillary Clinton saying no to the Keystone pipeline. And Trump fighting FOX. Volkswagen’s in big trouble. More than 700 dead in Mecca. And Yogi Berra is gone. This hour, On Point, our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines. /Tom Ashbrook
Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/09/25/hajj-stampede-volkswagen-pope-francis

Friday News Roundup – Domestic (Diane Rehm Show)

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced Friday he will give up his seat at the end of October. Pope Francis is in New York to address world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly. In his remarks to Congress this week, he challenged U.S. lawmakers to work together to accept immigrants, respect human life, and protect the environment. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suspends his presidential bid. Hillary Clinton and her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders take on Big Pharma over drug prices. And Volkswagen faces fallout over an emissions scandal. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week’s top national news stories.
Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-09-25/friday-news-roundup-domestic

Friday News Roundup – International (Diane Rehm Show)

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the White House with plans to announce a new cap and trade system. More than 700 pilgrims die in a stampede near Mecca during the final ritual of the hajj. President Obama accepts an invitation by Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet at the U.N. on Monday. The flow of migrants in Europe enflames old tensions, as Serbia and Croatia close borders to trade. Volkswagen’s board of directors meet to appoint a new CEO amid fallout over the emissions scandal. And the prime minister in Greece regains power, pledging to enforce austerity reforms.
Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-09-25/friday-news-roundup-international

Friday, September 25, 2015

Fiorina Urged To Visit Planned Parenthood Clinic

In 1976, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which banned federal Medicaid coverage of abortion, the law went into effect in 1977 and the Supreme Cour... Read more

Tough Crowd

Approval ratings: Pope 59% Congress 14% (without a government shutdown). ... ... Read more

UN: Eradicating world poverty in 15 years

World leaders set to launch development goals estimated to cost trillions each year to wipe out global poverty. Read more

The United Nations Defends Saudi Arabian Head of Human Rights Panel

...Someone from a country known for its human rights abuses would now head up a panel for the Human Rights Council...
The outrage was quick and harsh. You can understand why. After all, we’re talking about a nation that has killed more than 100 people this year alone, most by beheading. Ali Mohammed al-Nimr is also set to be beheaded and crucified very soon...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/09/24/the-united-nations-defends-saudi-arabian-head-of-human-rights-panel-with-good-reason/

This Catholic anti-abortion organization wants you to suffer — and actually says so!

...Given the words of the Bible writers, and given the words of Christianity’s patriarchs, one can understand the muddled mentality that allows right-wing Christians to feel virtuous while promoting policies that force people to suffer against their will. If only pain has the power to cleanse sin, and only God gets to decide when enough is enough, then offering people choices about the beginnings or end of life denies the devil his due.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/this-catholic-anti-abortion-organization-wants-you-to-suffer-and-actually-says-so/

Charity That Carly Fiorina Is Chairman Of Provided $18,000 In Goods To Abortion Group

Good360, which provides charities with goods from businesses, donated $18,022 in goods to an affiliate of the National Network of Abortion Funds, which calls abortion “a fundamental human right.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/christophermassie/carly-fiorinas-charity-donated-18000-in-goods-to-abortion-ne#.gwZyjWVOw

Catholic Presidential Candidate Explains Why He Won’t Listen To Pope Francis

"On economic issues, the pope is a person" ... Read more

Defunding Planned Parenthood Would Cost The Government Dearly

Republicans, the party the bills itself as fiscally responsible, are demanding to defund Planned Parenthood even though it ... Read more

After Beheading 100 People This Year, Saudi Arabia Joins U.N. Human Rights Council With U.S. Support

Note that conservatives and Republican candidates can't stop talking about the grave danger ISIL poses to the U.S. because they behead people. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia does the same thing, and they are our great friends... because we buy their oil. Saudi Arabia is also where Bin Laden came from and all the 9/11 terrorists, not Iraq, not Iran, not Afghanistan.

Ali al-Nimr was arrested at 17 and is scheduled to be beheaded and then crucified. ... Read more

When Tesla And Apple Compete To Out-Do Each Other On Electric Cars, The Planet Wins

Apple is speeding up its efforts to build and ship an electric vehicle for 2019. That puts the tech giant on a collision ... Read more

Florida Lawmaker Reveals Plan To Defeat Black Democrat By Packing District With Inmates

"Are there any reporters in here? Any reporters? OK. So, inside ball game." ... Read more

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Kim Davis Won’t Say if Muslims in Her Shoes Should Also Get Religious Exemptions at Work

...As expected, Davis was still playing the persecution card. But the most telling moment may have been when Kelly (a lawyer herself) asked Davis how she’d respond to a hypothetical Catholic or Muslim in her shoes who also wanted a religious accommodation to deny a different kind of couple a marriage license...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/09/24/kim-davis-wont-say-if-muslims-in-her-shoes-should-also-get-religious-exemptions-at-work/

Pope praises US bishops' response to abuse, angering victims

But the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said the bishops had displayed "cowardice and callousness" in response to victims who came forward and they "hide behind expensive lawyers and public relations professionals" instead of fully confronting the scope of the problem within the church. Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group that collects records on abusive priests from around the world, called the pope's remarks "distressing and quite off-base."...
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0824952e50ae4727937ebb6d79238207/pope-praises-us-bishops-response-abuse-angering-victims

Who is God's Candidate?

"...But if we were we to live under Sharia Law, here's what we could expect: government policy would be based on religious doctrine; when science and religious doctrine conflict, we would follow religious doctrine; religion would be taught and promoted in public schools; only abstinence would be acceptable sex education; homosexuality and gay marriage would be illegal; women would have fewer rights than men; abortion would be illegal; and there would be no separation of church and state

But wait! Isn't this what Christian extremists and many Republican candidates are now promoting? As an atheist, I'm almost inspired to say, "Thank God we live in a secular country."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/herb-silverman/who-is-gods-candidate_b_8177582.html

Pope Francis urges divided Congress to share the wealth

he Pope drew cheers, especially from the Republican side of the House, when he spoke of the need to "protect and defend human life at every stage of its development," in a reference to abortion.

But he earned only a smattering of applause when he said that reverence for life also means opposition to the death penalty...
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/24/politics/pope-francis-washington-congress-updates/

Carson In 2011: Darwin 'Encouraged' By Satan To Come Up With Evolution (VIDEO)

Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said in a 2011 speech speech that he thought scientist Charles Darwin was "encouraged by the adversary," using another word for Satan, when he came up with the theory of evolution...
Read more

Anti-Muslim Activist Says He Plans To Arrest Dem Sen. Debbie Stabenow

This may be Jon Ritzheimer's craziest stunt yet. The organizer of a protest and "Draw Mohammad" cartoon contest earlier this year outside a Phoenix m... Read more

USDA Does Not Have The Cash To Keep Food Stamps Running If The Government Shuts Down

There was enough money laying around during the 2013 shutdown to continue paying food stamp benefits. Not this time. ... Read more

5 Different Ways Republicans Will Try To Take Down Reproductive Rights This Fall

A slew of anti-abortion bills sweep Congress just in time for the pope's D.C. visit. ... Read more

The Youngest Case Of Type 2 Diabetes Ever Recorded Highlights An ‘Emerging Epidemic’

Six months of exercise and a healthy diet did the trick. ... Read more

Hillary Clinton Releases A Plan To Modernize America’s Energy Infrastructure

Keystone XL isn't the only pipeline on Hillary Clinton's mind -- her new energy infrastructure plan promises to make pipelines ... Read more

America’s Elders Flex Their Political Muscles On Climate Change

So what happens when America's seniors find out what climate change means for their grandkids? ... Read more

Visit the Elders Climate Action Campaign official site.

Behind Russia's ultra-nationalist crackdown

Despite targeting neo-Nazis and other hate groups, the Kremlin is rolling out its own version of the 'Russian world'. Read more

Steve King: A Muslim 'Cannot Seriously Give An Oath' To The Constitution

While other Republicans have sought to distance themselves from Ben Carson's stance that he would not support a Muslim in the White House, Rep. Steve ... Read more

Debtors’ Prisons Are Back. This Is The Fight To Get Rid Of Them.

Debtors' prisons were abolished in the 1800s, but a modern version has made a comeback across the country. ... Read more

In First U.S. Address, Pope Francis Spends Most Of His Time Talking About Climate Change

"It seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation," Pope Francis ... Read more

Murderers Are Almost Never Executed Unless They Kill A White Person

A study reveals stark racial disparities in death sentences and executions. ... Read more

What People Around the World Think of America After Trump's Bewildering Rise

'Trump represents the America we love to hate.'
... Read more

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

The Dangerous Doctors of the G.O.P.

...Carson’s first comment on the subject made him sound like a responsible, educated physician: “There have been numerous studies and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism.” One cheer. Then things went south: “Vaccines are very important, certain ones—the ones that would prevent death or crippling,” he said. “There are others, a multitude of vaccines, which probably don’t fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases.” And: “A lot of this is … is … is pushed by big government.”

What on earth was he talking about?...
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-dangerous-doctors-of-the-g-o-p

Ben Carson's narrow view of Islam is widely shared – by Islamic extremists

The would-be Republican nominee seems to think that the ‘real’ Islam is violent and fundamentalist, and the ‘lite’ version is diluted and inauthentic. So does Isis.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/23/ben-carson-islam-shared-extremists

Ben Carson Defends Big Bang Comments: “You Shouldn’t Denigrate Me” For My Faith

Ben Carson on Tuesday defended past comments in which he called the big bang theory “fairy tales,” saying people who believe in the scientific theory should not “denigrate” him for his faith.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/ben-carson-defends-repeats-big-bang-comments-you-shouldnt-de

Donald Trump Admits He Believes In Weather

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump doubled down on his climate denial this week ... Read more

Pharma Company Forced To Backtrack After Suddenly Raising Drug’s Price 20-Fold

Amid outrage about sudden price hikes of specialty drugs, a company has reneged on its recent acquisition of a tuberculosis medication, a deal that would have increased the cost of the treatment more than 20-fold. Just three weeks after purchasing the rights to the drug, Rodelis Therapeutics has agreed to return the medication to the nonprofit that previously owned it.
... Read more

Poll: The Only GOP Candidate Trump Can Beat Head-To-Head In Iowa Is Jeb

...Carson, Fiorina, Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), and the now-former candidate Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker beat Trump by double digits. Carson took the biggest victory over Trump at 27 points...
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/public-policy-polling-iowa-september

President Obama Blasts Fox News In Speech

With all the sound and fury around the crazies living in Outer Wingnuttia this year, take a minute to watch reality in action. During his speech to t... Read more

How to access hidden typographic characters in OS X

Ever need to type a euro symbol, or infinity, or an umlaut? You're in luck.
Read more

A Closer Look: Trump and Ben Carson's Anti-Muslim Statements - Late Night with Seth Meyers

Seth examines the recent onslaught of anti-Muslim sentiments on the campaign trail.
https://youtu.be/L5-HEybU3k8

Dr. Ernest Moniz Explains The Iran Deal on Colbert

"Obama's secret weapon," nuclear physicist and Energy Secretary Ernest Monez, explains the benefits of his diplomatic solution with Iran.
https://youtu.be/H0I4jRGTvFE

That's why I like dogs.

Gmail has a new 'block sender' option

Any future messages from the blocked addresses will land in the spam folder.
Read more

Pope Francis Attacked By Climate Deniers Over Support For Accurate Science | ThinkProgress

The Heartland Institute’s marketing director, Gene Koprowski, actually said that he and his colleagues believe the Pope is motivated by “pagan remnants” of “nature worship” reasserting themselves in the Catholic Church.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/09/21/3703544/climate-deniers-smear-pope-francis/

How Scott Walker became an asterisk

From presumed front-runner to quitter, Walker's fall was fast. Updated 09/21/15, 09:38 PM EDT Before there was Donald Trump or Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina, there was Scott Walker — a defiant outsider who portrayed himself as the regular-guy champion of the GOP's burn-the-Beltway base. After a pro...

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/scott-walker-quits-2016-takeaways-213907

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Theodore Shoebat Unhappy With Nomination Of A 'Flaming Fag' To Serve As Army Secretary

Right Wing Watch reports on the extreme rhetoric and activities of key right-wing figures and organizations by showing their views in their own words. In this video, Theodore Shoebat voices his displeasure at the news that a "flaming fag" has been nominated to serve as Secretary of the Army.
https://youtu.be/4oMWtQSDNOM

Armstrong Williams defends Ben Carson's anti-Muslim comments

https://youtu.be/Mif8GnuwJrY

Fox News Blames Black People (For Everything)

"In a segment on whether access to a pair of sneakers costing $300 was a "civil rights issue," Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy and his guest delved into the cultural problems that the black community faces. They asked if this particular sneaker and the outrage over it's price is indicative of a larger problem among African American civil rights leaders who, according to the panel guest, blame shift in order to avoid confronting harsh truths..."
https://youtu.be/i9xEGbYwIYQ

Fox News Porn • BRAVE NEW FILMS

Fox News gives us an endless supply of "sexy" videos, handpicked by the Porn King himself, Bill O'Reilly.
https://youtu.be/nU8Jn_XG6_U

Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli speaks to CNBC

https://youtu.be/dPfb0FwZneo

Your Trump Tonight

Now that the media sun revolves around the Trump, we all must become accustomed to seeing everything as it relates to The Donald. People, particularly cable news, just can’t avoid the delicious catnip that is Donald Trump. He’s a ratings bonanza in the form of a strange, entertaining billionaire demagogue. But, hey, he makes for good teevee— although he doesn’t make for good Democracy, but who cares, this is about ratings and fun! You can see more at http://www.MarkFiore.com.
https://youtu.be/yzooiWnO_c8

Mississippi School Kids Freak Out Over Math In Inspiring Video

Students from Mississippi's J.E. Johnson Elementary freak out after winning a math competition. Their sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Showers, leads these students in a rapid-fire trivia game called Fact Dash, which is played daily across all grades. The gamified learning technique may hold promise for these students.
https://youtu.be/IYcpqTE8cu8

How Kindergarden Teachers Carry Tax Burden of Billionaires • BRAVE NEW FILMS

The top 25 hedge fund managers make more than all kindergarten teachers in the country. Yet they pay a lower tax rate because of something called the carried interest tax loophole, which is basically a government subsidy for millionaires and billionaires!
https://youtu.be/zc3MdVF7g9Y

A Brief History of Kent Hovind

https://youtu.be/DO1Yl98EJvM

Religion Harms Society | David Silverman | Oxford Union

https://youtu.be/A9zds4U3L4s

Let's Talk About Reagan For A Second (Colbert with guest Ted Cruz)

Stephen wants to know if Ted Cruz will be like Reagan, particularly when it comes to amnesty.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/dKxXtOyMmYc

Five Stupid Things for September 21, 2015

An armed militia promises to back up anti-gay county clerk Kim Davis, a Muslim high school student is arrested for building a clock, and the Republican presidential candidates continue to find new ways to make me embarrassed to live here. And more, too!
https://youtu.be/R4uL-0LFuuI

Time To Consider Nationalizing The Greedy Pharmaceutical Industry

Just look at how their prices drive up the cost of Medicare! We pay for the bulk of their research already: Specialists in infectious disease are pro... Read more

Clinton Calls Out Fiorina's Irresponsible Attack On Planned Parenthood

Former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton didn't mention Carly Fiorina by name, but didn't need to when calling out her completely irresponsible attacks on... Read more

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