Former Trump adviser: Women’s reproductive rights are worse than child molestation

Stephan:  Increasingly I am beginning to think of Republicanism as a form of mental illness. I see it as a fear fugue response to the progressive changes taking place in American society, particularly gender equality, racial equality, the acceptance that women have the right to control their own bodies, individuals have the right to define their gender, and the right to marry whom they please. All of this threatens and frightens about a third of the country, the Republicans.  It is a trend that holds the potential for massive civil violence.

Stephen Moore

Former Trump campaign adviser Stephen Moore thinks supporting a woman’s right to choose when to have children is the moral equivalent of supporting the sexual exploitation of children.

Former Trump campaign adviser Stephen Moore said on Monday that “there’s no moral high ground” in the Alabama Senate race between Republican Roy Moore and his Democratic opponent Doug Jones, despite the fact that Moore is an alleged child molester and Jones is … not.

Moore’s comments came Monday night during a panel discussion on CNN, when he made a jaw-dropping moral equivalency between child sexual abuse and a woman’s right to choose.

“By the way, the Democrat is no saint, either,” he continued. “The Democratic candidate is for partial birth abortion in a state that’s highly Christian and Catholic. […]

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Massive meta-study confirms moderate coffee consumption is good for you

Stephan: 

For you coffee lovers here is some good news. The study discussed in this report was published in the British Medical Journal.

A massive umbrella study published in the British Medical Journal has concluded that moderate coffee intake is generally safe for most of the population. The review examined over 200 meta-studies on the health effects of coffee consumption and concluded that three to five cups a day looks to be the safest maximum volume one should consume.
Late last century, several major scientific studies turned coffee into a bad guy, linking the popular beverage to heart problems and high blood pressure. The popularity of decaffeinated coffee peaked in the 1980s, but at the turn of the century the science started to turn.
The rise of meta-analyses allowed scientists to take the data from scores of prior studies on a single topic and draw more comprehensive conclusions. In regards to coffee, many new studies started to account for more lifestyle factors, such as smoking and obesity. And the results turned the tide on coffee.
In 2017 we have literally hundreds of different coffee consumption studies examining links between the drink and a variety of different health outcomes. […]

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In the woods and the shadows, street medicine treats the nation’s homeless

Stephan:  This is at once a story of compassion and decency about a small group of health professionals who seek out and help those least able to help themselves; as well as a story of the abject failure of the American Illness Profit System to produce wellbeing.

Nurse Laura LaCroix was meeting with one of her many homeless patients in a downtown Dunkin’ Donuts when he mentioned that a buddy was lying in agony in the nearby woods.

“You should check on him,” said Pappy, as the older man is known. “But don’t worry, I put him on a tarp, so if he dies, you can just roll him into a hole.”

LaCroix called her boss, Brett Feldman, a physician assistant who heads the “street medicine” program at Lehigh Valley Health Network. He rushed out of a meeting, and together the two hiked into the woods. They found Jeff Gibson in a fetal position, vomiting green bile and crying out in pain from being punched in the stomach by another man days earlier.

Feldman told him he had to go to the hospital.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Gibson replied.

“Tomorrow you’ll be dead,” Feldman responded.

Months later, the 43-year-old Gibson is still in the woods, but this time showing off the six-inch scar — for a perforated intestine and peritonitis — that is evidence of surgical intervention. He greets Feldman warmly. “You’re the only person who could have gotten me to the hospital,” he says. “You’re the only person I trust.”

Pappy and Gibson are […]

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Sinclair’s conservative news takeover will rock 15 regions

Stephan:  Over the last several days I have been running a series of reports on a major negative trend I see occurring, one that is substantially undermining the integrity of America's Fourth Estate. Time Magazine has just been purchased by the Meredith Corporation which is backed by the Koch Brothers. What do you think the effect of that will be? Even worse the Sinclair Broadcast Group, thanks to the relaxed regulations of the FCC -- thanks to Trump -- has been given a green light to purchase Tribune Media. The result will drastically change the news coverage in at least 15 regions in the U.S. Here's the story. You, the local viewer, of course, had no say in any of this, just as the Republicans planned for it to happen.

Consumers are left to connect the dots about Sinclair on their own, which is exactly what the media giant wants — and which is why Media Matters has compiled a list of the communities where Sinclair is expected to grow soon.

Conservative local TV news giant Sinclair Broadcast Group has been quietly injecting right-wing spin into local newscasts for years. The company thrives when it flies under the radar, serving local audiences who might not realize what they’re tuning in for (emphasis added) — so Media Matters is helping to highlight where communities can fight back.

Sinclair’s most well-known tactic for slanting newscasts is its use of nationally produced “must-run” commentary segments. The segments, which all Sinclair-owned and operated news stations are required to air, include(frequently embarrassingpro-Trump propaganda missives from former Trump aide Boris Epshteyn, rants about “politically correct” culture from former Sinclair exec Mark Hyman, and fearmongering “Terrorism Alert Desk” segments that seem to often 

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Leader Of Trump Cabinet Bible Studies Aggressively Expanding Right-Wing Proselytizing To Government Officials

Stephan:  Several readers have written to challenge me on my assertion that there is an active campaign by christofascists to breech the firewall between church and state, and to make their fascist fundamentalist cult of Christianity the de facto religion of the U.S.. Herewith exhibit A.

From Ralph Drollinger’s September 26, 2017 Bible study for members of Congress.

Ralph Drollinger, the Christian nationalist who leads Bible study meetings for members of Trump’s Cabinet and members of Congress, is aggressively seeking to expand his reach in state capitals and local governments as well as overseas. Drollinger teaches that there is one “absolutely critical preeminent duty of the Church in an institutionally separated society: to convert the soul and disciple—Christianize—the leaders of the State and its citizenry.”

Capitol Ministries’ “seven global directors” will be meeting together for the first time this week, along with state ministry leaders, at the group’s fall training conference. It is being held in Washington, D.C., at the new Museum of the Bible, created by the family that owns the Hobby Lobby chain. The global directors are all men, as Drollinger teaches that the Bible does not permit women to teach men. Drollinger’s “Ministry Update” says that “speakers will include several U.S. White House Cabinet Members, Senators and Representatives.”

When we wrote about Drollinger in July, we noted that he teaches that […]

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