Caroline Kitchener, Reporter - The Washington Post
Stephan:
Here is the latest Texas weirdness. Monitoring traffic to stop a woman or girl from trying to reach a place where they could get an abortion. This is Red state Republicans supported by their voters putting up walls to control their population of women and girls. The anti-choice movement has become the American Taliban
Highway 71 passes through Llano and connects travelers driving west toward New Mexico. Credit: Christopher Lee / The Washington Post
LLANO, Tex. — No one could remember the last time so many people packed into City Hall.
As the meeting began on a late August evening, residents spilled out into the hallway, the brim of one cowboy hat kissing the next, each person jostling for a look at the five city council members who would decide whether to make Llano the third city in Texas to outlaw what some antiabortion activists call “abortion trafficking.”
For well over an hour, the people of Llano — a town of about 3,400 deep in Texas Hill Country — approached the podium to speak out against abortion. While the procedure was now illegal across Texas, people were still driving women on Llano roads to reach abortion clinics in other states, the residents had been told. They said their city had a responsibility to “fight the murders.”
The cheers after each speech grew louder as the crowd readied for the […]
I wonder how many Americans realize how the rest of the world has come to see the United States. Here’s an example of how we are seen. Our Northern neighbor is now warning its LGBTQ citizens that they need to be careful about coming to the U.S., and maybe reconsider coming at all, because of the hate and grievances that now define the American culture.
Canada is warning LGBTQ travelers visiting the U.S. that they may face discrimination and possible harassment because of dozens of recently passed state laws that target LGBTQ people.
The Canadian government in an update posted Tuesday said LGBTQ Canadians considering a trip to the U.S. should “check relevant state and local laws” before visiting, warning that “some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons.”
The updated travel advisory does not specify which states LGBTQ travelers should avoid, and the risk associated with travel to the U.S. is still the lowest possible. Visitors are advised to “take similar precautions to those you would take in Canada” when traveling to the U.S.
Canada’s warning comes amid a historic year for anti-LGBTQ state legislation in the U.S., with nearly 500 bills introduced by lawmakers in 46 states, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. At least 83 have become law, more than doubling last year’s total.
In April, the St. Petersburg-based LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida issued a travel advisory of its own, warning both domestic and international travelers to Florida that the […]
Because the United States government is so corrupt, it has proven impossible to do anything substantive about gun violence in this country. Start with this: This calendar year has seen 221 school shootings so far, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. In 2022, there were a total of 305. We have also become a nation whose culture is defined by hate and grievances. This is obvious to see in just school shootings. A decade ago, in 2013, there were only 34 such events.
Why it matters: More shootings on campus are making administrators choose between letting students express themselves and taking extra steps to keep schools safe.
What’s happening: At least 27 school districts in the past 18 months have started restricting backpacks in response to an uptick in school shootings, the Washington Post reported.
The big picture: Some schools started giving out clear backpacks in the immediate aftermath of a shooting in the mid-2000s, said David Riedman, the founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Now an increasing number of districts are instituting it as an umbrella policy.
“Schools are constantly in that reactionary mode, even if they haven’t actually had a shooting,” he said.
By the numbers: This calendar year has seen 221 school shootings so far, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
In 2022, there were a total of 305.
A decade ago, in 2013, there were 34.
Zoom in: The policies span the country and vary widely.
The Biden administration, on balance, I think, has done a very good job trying to foster wellbeing, the Inflation Reduction Act being a currently occurring example. Not surprisingly, not a single Republican voted for the IRA, and the corporations that will be affected by it, particularly the part that seeks to lower drug costs are doing everything they can to get their rented Congressional Republican whores to try and thwart the IRA, and are filing suit after suit in courts all over the country to try and stop the IRA. What I am interested in watching is will ordinary Americans help corporations and corrupt politicians and work against their own self-interest.
Drugmakers and trade associations have filed eight lawsuits challenging the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiation program. Here are summaries of the cases and where they stand:
Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce v. Becerra, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Sixth Circuit) Filed: June 9
This challenge — which was joined by the U.S., Michigan and Ohio chambers of commerce — argues that the law violates the First, Fifth and Eighth amendments of the Constitution.
Plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on July 12 to halt implementation of the drug price negotiations by Oct. 1, when drugmakers are due to sign agreements with CMS to negotiate over the first 10 drugs selected. The Justice Department moved on Aug. 11 to dismiss both the case and the preliminary injunction request.
The chambers must reply to the government motions by Aug. 25, with a final DOJ response due Sept. 8.
National Infusion Center Association v. Becerra, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Fifth Circuit) Filed: June 21
PhRMA, the drug industry’s major lobbying group, brought this lawsuit […]
Amanda Casanova, Contributing Writer - Christian Headlines
Stephan:
The central problem I see concerning what has happened to Christianity in the United States is that it is much less about Jesus’ teachings and much more about Biblical interpretation particularly out of the Old Testament, and the belief in Biblical inerrancy. It is a weird fantasy because the Bible is a collection of stories, most written a century, or centuries after Jesus’ life, stories picked by clerical committees. The research study referenced in this article, a survey carried out by a Christian research organization, contains some very interesting insights. Here are some examples that collectively present a profile of what Christianity has become in the U.S.:
“Among the nine out of 10 who self-identify as Christian, the most common types of Christian church they attend most often were Catholic (31%), mainline Protestant (24%), evangelical (18%), independent or non-denominational (11%), and Pentecostal/ charismatic (7%). 88% of adult churchgoers believe it is important for Christians to have a biblical worldview. Only 6% believe it is not important. A majority of adults said they desire their church to offer additional worldview training on social and political responsibility (79%), abortion and the value of life (71%), and human sexuality (68%).”
One out of every six regular churchgoers in America say they have had, paid for or encouraged an abortion, according to a new study from the Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview and pollster George Barna.
Among the more than 1,000 interviews, 16 percent of survey respondents said they “admitted to having ever paid for, encouraged, or chosen to have an abortion.”
The survey, which looked at beliefs about abortion in relation to the Bible, also found that sixty-five percent of respondents said the Bible does identify when human life begins. About 20 percent disagreed with the statement, and 14 percent said they didn’t know, The Chrisitan Post reports.
Of those who said the Bible does identify when human life begins, 52 percent of respondents said life starts when the female egg is fertilized, seven percent said life begins when the unborn baby reaches viability, and six percent said it begins six weeks into a pregnancy.
Some 35 percent of respondents said the Bible teaches that abortion is unacceptable under any circumstances. In comparison, 19 percent said they believed the […]
