Society's ChildS


Cult

'It's an honor when Americans attack me,' Pope Francis jokes


RT
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 18:55 UTC
pope francis
© Reuters / New York Times / Eric Thayer
The Pope didn't seem too put out when faced with a long list of accusations against him from American Catholics as he was flying from Rome to Mozambique. He said he was honored to be attacked by them.

The book 'How America Wanted to Change the Pope' explores the supposed efforts of the conservative Catholic opposition in the US to launch a "coup d'état" against Francis. A copy was given to the pontiff by the author Nicolas Seneze, a journalist from France's Catholic newspaper La Croix, who was on board the papal plane Wednesday.

"For me it is an honor that Americans attack me," the pope quipped as he received the book, which he had apparently heard about and wanted to procure.He joked that the book about his critics "will be a bombshell."

But Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni attempted to deflate tensions, clarifying that the comments were made informally. He said Francis "always considers it an honor to be criticized,"especially when it comes from "authoritative voices" or, as in this case, "an important nation."

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Francis has gained a reputation as a more 'liberal' pope, compared to his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI. This led to criticism from some church officials and right-wing thinkers. Seneze's book describes, among other things, how a former papal envoy to the US, Archbishop Carlo Vigano, had written a highly-publicized letter last year, calling for Francis to resign for allegedly mishandling the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals.
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NPC

YouTube vegans earned millions. But when they quit all hell broke loose. Should we pity them?

Igor Ogorodnev
RT
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 18:42 UTC
Yovana Mendoza
Yovana Mendoza AKA Rawvana, who officially quit veganism, after being caught eating fish
Former vegan stars on social media complain they have been harassed for daring to eat eggs and meat again. Perhaps they should have thought ahead when they were "influencing" millions into their restrictive and unbalanced diets.

You promised weight loss, acne-free skin, firmer buttock tone, improved moods, benefits for the environment, and the moral glow of walking the superior path. In fact each one of you proselytized not better diets but entire life overhauls.

You sold ads on your videos, diet books, retreats and T-shirts.

You took people on a spiritual journey, persuaded them to spend hours in the kitchen hollowing out avocados and soaking lentils, and hours on the internet buying the best organic make-up with your personalized discount codes.

And then you quit. What did you think was going to happen?
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Laptop

Facebook launches online dating service for the US


Yahoo! News
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 18:26 UTC
Mark Zuckerberg
© AFP/Josh EdelsonFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled plans in 2018 for the social network's dating service, which is now available in the United States.
Facebook rolled out its online dating service for the United States on Thursday, a move taking on rivals such as smartphone app Tinder.

The free "Facebook Dating" site which was announced last year and already available in other countries will allow users to link their Facebook and Instagram post to a separate dating profile.

It will seek to facilitate connections among the more than two billion users of the social network worldwide.

"Facebook Dating allows you to match with friends of friends and/or people not in your friend circle," said a blog post from Nathan Sharp, head of the project.

One of the features, "secret crush" which allows people to connect if they both secretly express interest in each other.

Comment: See also:

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Megaphone

Libertarian students sue public college for making them get permission to share views

Connor Ellington
The College Fix
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 17:19 UTC
permission required
Asking students to write on a beach ball and talk about marijuana got Mike Brown in trouble with his public college.

Requiring students to get advance permission before sharing their opinions got Jones County Junior College in trouble with a civil liberties group.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Mississippi college on behalf of Brown and his Young Americans for Liberty chapter.

They claim that student handbook policies constitute a prior restraint on student speech and fail to provide constitutionally required "narrow, objective, and definite standards," as articulated by the Supreme Court.
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Alarm Clock

Paul Gosar: Go into debt to get a STEM degree, then watch foreigners take your job

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Breitbart
Mon, 02 Sep 2019 16:24 UTC
college graduates graduation
© Associated Press/Butch Dill
For years it has been federal policy to encourage students to focus on science, technology, engineering and math (referred to as STEM). There are no fewer than 12 federal grant programs related to this, covering everything from minority science scholarships to magnet school assistance. There is even a STEM Education Advisory Panel.

However, graduates currently outnumber jobs in all STEM fields except for computer science, which is about equal. As a New York Times graph noted in 2017, "So many degrees, so little demand."

These degrees cost money. The U.S. has over 44 million people who owe an average of $29,000 in student loans, exceeding $1.5 trillion in combined student loan debt.

Comment: It's all about the bottom line. Foreign hires will work for less, and as pointed out by Rep. Gosar, the companies are off the hook for a myriad of taxes.

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Bomb

Taliban claims another attack in Kabul - 12 killed, including two NATO troops, 100+ injured


RFE/RL
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 16:42 UTC
kabul
Security forces near the site where the bomb exploded in the center of Kabul.
At least 12 people have been killed -- including a U.S. and a Romanian soldier -- and dozens more injured when a car bomb struck a checkpoint on September 5 in a neighborhood of Kabul that houses the embassies, government buildings, and local NATO headquarters.

The fundamentalist Taliban claimed responsibility for the late-morning attack.

It is the second major Taliban attack in the Afghan capital this week as U.S. and Taliban officials are said to be in an intense final phase of efforts toward a peace deal to end their 18-year conflict.

Another Taliban car bombing later on September 5, in a neighboring province, reportedly killed at least four civilians.

The Taliban, which is pressing for the departure of U.S. and other international troops in the negotiations, claimed that foreigners were among the dead in the September 5 attack in Kabul. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that the suicide bomber had killed 12 "foreign invaders."

Reports said the checkpoint that was targeted was near the headquarters of NATO's Resolute Support mission.

Comment: See also:

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Pistol

San Francisco declares NRA domestic terrorist organization

Drew Costly
SF Gate
Wed, 04 Sep 2019 11:56 UTC
Hand guns
© AP/John Locher
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday declaring that the National Rifle Association is a domestic terrorist organization. The officials also urged other cities, states and the federal government to follow suit.

District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani wrote the resolution and shared her thoughts on the NRA with KTVU. "The NRA has it coming to them," she said. "And I will do everything I possibly can to call them out on what they are, which is a domestic terrorist organization."

After citing some statistics about gun violence in the United States - like that there's been more than one mass shooting per day in the country in 2019 - Stefani got local with how gun violence has impact the Bay Area.

She cited the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on July 28, referencing Stephen Romero, Keyla Salazar and Trevor Irby, who were killed by gunman Santino William Legan in what she called a "senseless act of gun violence that day."
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Propaganda

No, Jonathan Haidt is not similar to a slavery apologist

Adam Rowe
Quillette
Wed, 04 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
burning newspaper
Eve Fairbanks, in an essay for the Washington Post, argues that many of the writers on the so-called "reasonable right," a group that includes such seemingly benign figures as Bari Weiss and Jonathan Haidt, are making many of the same arguments and using much the same language as proslavery advocates in the American South:
The reasonable right's rhetoric is exactly the same as the antebellum rhetoric I'd read so much of. The same exact words. The same exact arguments. Rhetoric, to be precise, in support of the slave-owning South.

Comment: Lumping Jonathan Haidt with Bari Weiss seems to show just how far off Fairbanks is in another of her assumptions. Weiss is an agitator for Israeli hegemony - where Haidt is attempting to reconcile the values of the left and the right in US politics.

See also:

Fairbanks follows this breathless announcement by acknowledging that she is not accusing anyone of defending slavery, and that includes, weirdly enough, actual antebellum proslavery writers. "Proslavery rhetoricians talked little of slavery itself," she writes. "Instead, they anointed themselves the defenders of 'reason,' free speech and 'civility.'" This is a bit like smearing someone as a Nazi, then qualifying it with the claim that overt anti-Semitism was really quite atypical of Nazism. In her characterization of proslavery thought, Fairbanks has taken a line that not even the most stalwart member of the Daughters of the Confederacy would care to defend. It is, well, an exact inversion of the truth.

Comment: See also: Jonathan Haidt interview asks what is underlying the polarization in America?

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Mr. Potato

'Will & Grace' actor says his idea of Hollywood Trump donors blacklist was 'misinterpreted'


RT
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:48 UTC
Eric McCormack
© Reuters / Eric Thayer
Star of American sitcom 'Will & Grace' Eric McCormack is backpedaling on his demand for news outlets to name President Donald Trump's donors, accusing critics of "misinterpreting" his words.

The actor's apparent reversal comes after he penned a tweet last week asking the Hollywood Reporter - which covers entertainment industry news - to "kindly report" the name of every person attending a Trump fundraising event in Beverly Hills, "so the rest of us can be clear about who we don't wanna work with." He was soon joined by his co-star on 'Will & Grace' Debra Messing, who seconded the request.

Facing backlash from critics online, who roasted the actor's call for what amounts to a "blacklist," McCormack attempted to clarify the comment in a lengthy Instagram post on Tuesday.

"I absolutely do not support blacklists or discrimination of any kind, as anyone who knows me would attest," McCormack wrote. "I'd simply like to understand where Trump's major donations are coming from, which is a matter of public record."

Comment: See also: Return to McCarthyism? Messing and McCormack demand 'blacklist' of Trump supporters in Hollywood

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Document

Detransitioned men and women file brief with Supreme Court detailing suffering caused by transgender treatments

Nicole Russell
The Federalist
Fri, 30 Aug 2019 23:12 UTC
Walt Heyer
The Supreme Court will hear a pivotal case in October on sex, gender identity, and discrimination: R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. As both sides build their cases, numerous influential organizations and individuals have filed amicus (friend of the court) briefs to aid the members of the Supreme Court in their understanding on this topic.

One brief in particular stands out. It's so powerful, it should not only persuade the Supreme Court but influence people on both sides of the transgender debate, particularly the mainstream media.
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