If it’s not already clear as to why Trump has not yet fired Jeff Sessions, who he obviously hates, it’s probably because so many of Trump’s backers just love this. NBC News reports:
After the nation’s highest court ruled last year that states cannot refuse all financial aid to churches, Sessions said Monday that the task force would focus on rooting out “other instances” of discrimination at the federal level.
Today I am ordering the religious liberty task force to examine — in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling — whether there are other instances in which this kind of discrimination is occurring at the federal level,” Sessions, speaking to the Boston chapter of the conservative legal group The Federalist Society, said. “If so, it must, and will, stop.”
At the same event, Sessions was interrupted by protesters, and his opening act was U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling who says, “Liberal secularism isn’t the absence of a set of beliefs versus a particular religion. It’s a competing set of beliefs, one that wants to win, to prevail at the expense of religious faith.”
Russell Moore, the maverick of the Southern Baptist Convention, says, “We should say clearly to anyone who would claim the name ‘Christian’ the following truth: If you hate Jews, you hate Jesus.”
Kellyanne Conway, known for her accurate assessment of important matters, says the Pittsburgh massacre has its roots in “anti-religiosity” and those “making fun of people of faith.” I…I don’t think that’s right…like…at all.
Two Muslim groups, Celebrate Mercy and MPower Change, have raised over $130,000 to aid the Pittsburgh victims and their families.
Erik Voeten at the Post says the European Court ruling on the Austrian blasphemy conviction has less to do with caving to religious feelings and more to do with caving to the political pressure of member states.
At the CFI blog, Ben Radford looks at the tactic some are using online to avoid using Trump’s name so as not to trigger algorithms or give him too much attention. Trump hasn’t noticed, it seems, or doesn’t care. But here are some ways people do indicate the president other than “T***p”:
There are also various circumlocutions, such as Mad King Cheeto, Agent Orange, the Dumpster, the Orange Manatee, Hair Furor, President Bone Spurs, Donald Drumpf, Assaulter-in-chief, and “Tiny-Fingered, Cheeto-Faced, Ferret-Wearing Shitgibbon,” among others.
Skeptics can be superstitious! Yes it’s true! They are mere mortals! At Skeptical Inquirer online, Russ Dobler checks in with several notable skeptics to see what their hangups are.
GOP nominee for governor of Idaho, Brad Little, tells the Magic Valley Times-News that he’d rather use a “carrot” than a “stick” when dealing with the harm of faith-healing on children. The Times-News says:
Little said rather than implementing a “significant law change,” which he worries “will maybe drive underground some of that behavior,” he would like to see more medical and educational resources made available locally to faith-healing families.
The Good Thinking Society in the UK reports Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop business to the Advertising Standards Authority and National Trading Standards for what they say are 113 misleading claims.
Julia Belluz reports on the debut of the Retraction Database, which reveals that “more and more studies are being pulled from the scientific record,” and that this is actually a “great thing for science.”
Apparently Holland, Connecticut is “the city of churches,” making the existence of the Holland Openly Secular Alliance a big deal, garnering quite a bit of media attention.
It’s Halloween, so it’s also psychic season. Jose R. Gonzalez at the Houston Chronicle talks to one “psychic,” Victoria Alvarado, who totally isn’t going to rip you off:
Some psychics, according to Alvarado, charge as much as $2,000 to remove a hex. Alvarado, who is working to dispel the grifter image that haunts psychics, only charges $250 to $300 to lift a curse.
That is a goddamned BARGAIN.
Quote of the Day
Niall Doherty, on his YouTube series Disrupting the Rabblement, checks out the accuracy of numerology at Numerology.com by seeing what they say about a certain Adolfus (name on his birth certificate) Hitler. Doherty says:
I would expect that if numerology is real that they would tell me that, “Hey, Adolfus, you’re an evil sonofabitch and you’d be better off killing yourself.” Something along those lines.
Numerology.com tells Adolfus:
Your Soul Urge Number is 6. You are a true humanitarian.
Then this face:
And it goes on from there.
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Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.