June 25, 2016

Hallelujah! Dr. James Dobson says Donald Trump has accepted Christ, is a "baby Christian"

Donald Trump, according to a new report, has accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

No, you didn't accidentally click on The Onion. That's a factual statement, according to a well-respected evangelical faith leader.

Dr. James Dobson, who was among the more than 900 evangelical faith leaders who met with the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting in New York City, says it happened fairly recently. He also said he knew who led the businessman to Christ.

"I don't know when it was, but it has not been long," Dobson told Godfactor's Michael Anthony in an exclusive interview. "I believe he really made a commitment, but he's a baby Christian. We all need to be praying for him, especially if there's a possibility of him being our next chief executive officer."


<SNIP>

http://www.charismanews.com/politics/elections/58042-dr-james-dobson-donald-trump-has-accepted-christ

June 23, 2016

"Mass shooting" in German theatre "hoax". Man was shooting blanks. Injuries due to tear gas

that's all the information I found. It's a disease.

http://www.wptz.com/national/urgent-shooting-at-german-cinema-leaves-25-wounded/40189910

Edited to accurately reflect the reality of the incident.

The armed man entered a cinema in Viernheim in central Germany on Thursday afternoon, Hesse and started shooting.

Hessischer Rundfunk is reporting on information from the interior ministry in Hesse that the gunman is now dead. Bild reports that police fatally wounded him through gunfire.

The masked man entered a multiplex cinema in the small town just north of Mannheim. Focus is reporting he was armed only with a blank firing gun.

Public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk and Bild daily said that at least 25 people were hurt through teargas.

The man is said to have fired shots and barricaded himself in the cinema in the western town of Viernheim.

According to the Darmstädter Echo the gunman had taken hostages.

A German police spokesman only confirmed "an unclear threat situation".

AFP reported on Twitter that several people have been injured. Bild is also reporting that at least 25 people have been injured.

read:http://www.thelocal.de/20160623/police

June 23, 2016

Big Deal and Great News: SCOTUS Upholds Affirmative Action at U of Texas

This was one of the most anticipated decisions.

Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative Action in College Admissions


The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the affirmative action program at the University of Texas at Austin, ending a protracted legal battle.

It was not immediately clear how far-reaching the ruling will be because of the specifics of the Texas program at issue. However, the court offered a grudging agreement that the program is needed.

"The Court's affirmance of the University's admissions policy today does not necessarily mean the University may rely on that same policy without refinement," the court wrote in its majority opinion."It is the University's ongoing obligation to engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection regarding its admissions policies."

A Texas law guarantees admission to the university for students in roughly the top ten percent of the graduating class of any Texas high school. To fill the remaining slots, about one fourth of each entering class, the school considers several other factors, including an applicant's race.

That last step was the program under court challenge, upheld by the justices Thursday.

<snip>

read:http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-upholds-affirmative-action-college-admissions-n582981

June 23, 2016

In Florida, the NRA Demands Total Obedience. These War Stories Show Why Orlando Won’t Change That.

In late May, Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office received more than 5,400 emails about a state legislator who is seeking appointment to a circuit court in the Jacksonville area. The subject line of each message declared that Charles McBurney, a Republican, was “unfit” for the job.

McBurney “arrogantly put his blind ambition to become a judge ahead of your constitutional right of self-defense,” the messages read.

The email blast was part of an ongoing campaign by the National Rifle Association, the nation’s preeminent gun lobby, to block McBurney’s path to the court. His infraction: As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, he had declined to bring up for a vote a bill that would strengthen Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law.

McBurney, who voted with the NRA on every other piece of gun-related legislation for the entirety of his entire nine-year career, has said he opposed the policy change, which would have made it more difficult to prosecute anyone claiming self-defense in a shooting. Now, having defied the gun organization, his campaign for the judicial appointment may be in jeopardy.

<snip>

https://www.thetrace.org/2016/06/nra-florida-no-tighter-gun-laws-orlando-shooting/

June 23, 2016

Texas man tries in vain to save his infant left in hot car — by placing her in refrigerator

When Michael Thedford arrived at the day care Tuesday morning to drop off his three children, he found that the youngest, his 6-month old daughter, was a little ill and running a fever. So he dropped off the 5-year-old and the 3-year-old and headed back home in his van with the infant, Fern.

When he reached his house in Melissa, Tex., though, he decided he needed a nap. In his haste to get inside, he forgot Fern in the van while he slept for about four hours, according to the arrest warrant obtained by WFAA.

The temperature in Melissa soared to 95 degrees that day.

At 1 p.m., Michael woke up and realized his daughter was in the car. Panicking, he ran to the front yard, according to the warrant. When he reached the van and flung open the door, he found his daughter “stiff” as a board and “hot as a brick.”

She was unresponsive as he carried her little body into the house.

Apparently in an attempt to cool her down, Michael then did the unthinkable: He placed his daughter in the refrigerator, among the Thedfords’ groceries, and left her there for “an undetermined length of time,” authorities said.

<snip>

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/23/texas-man-tries-in-vain-to-save-infant-left-in-hot-car-by-placing-her-in-refrigerator/

June 23, 2016

To send a message, family plans to destroy stockpile of inherited guns worth millions

Family members set to inherit a stockpile of guns and ammunition, worth millions of dollars, plan to destroy the weapons "to send a message," their attorney Daniel Brookman told ABC News today.

"They want these instruments of death to be destroyed," Brookman said. "They don’t want these weapons out on the street."

Jeffrey A. Lash, of Pacific Palisades, California, died last summer of natural causes, but left behind a stockpile of more than 1,500 guns, 6.5 tons of ammunition and nearly $250,000 in cash, according to local ABC-owned station KABC-TV. All of the purchases were legally made, KABC reported.

The reason Lash amassed such a collection remains a complete mystery.

Lash did not leave behind a will, so his first cousins and closest relatives are set to inherit the stockpile, according to Brookman, although the inheritance is still in litigation.

The family members are taking a firm stand in deciding that they want nothing to do with the weapons, or the millions of dollars they could earn from selling them, Brookman explained.

"They don't want them to contribute to the carnage," he said. "Especially in light of San Bernardino and Orlando, as ordinary citizens they feel like a stand should be taken."

He added: "The relatives are wanting to send a message not just to the nation at large, but also to our elected leaders."

<snip>
read:http://abcnews.go.com/US/family-plans-destroy-million-worth-inherited-guns/story?id=40042251

June 23, 2016

As far as I can see, there's no petition in support of the dem sit-in on Change.org

I feel a bit dim here. If there is a petition like the one I've started, I don't want to post a redundant petition, but if there isn't, I'd like to start one. I did search, but didn't see anything akin to what I'm thinking of posting.

I need a helping hand.

Here's what I have so far, but I know there are people here who are better informed than I am on what measures exactly, the democrats are seeking. I know it's a demand for allowing gun control legislation to make it to the floor but what is the legislation they are actually seeking to bring to the floor for a vote?

https://www.change.org/start-a-petition?step=description

June 23, 2016

This article from 2012 in The Scotsman, sums up trump better than anything I've seen

The Donald is off to Scotland. This could well be a PR nightmare for him.

What in hell is he thinking?

From 2012:

Donald Trump: an unsavoury blend of Midas and King Canute; an uncomfortable fusion of Simon Cowell and Andrew Neil. It’s hard to think of a less sympathetic character in the eyes of most Scots. Despite all his tartanry and trumpeting of heritage, The Donald is almost the anti-Scot personified.

Left and right, unionist and nationalist, man and woman, young and old – it takes quite a lot to unite the people of this notoriously fractious little country in a collective shudder. But Donald Trump effortlessly manages to strike the wrong note in just about everything he does.

The sneering at thrawn locals in modest homes who won’t move out of his way – wrong. The bragging about his power and wealth – wrong. The hotel design that makes Disneyland look culturally authentic – wrong. The staged, posed photocalls – wrong. The entourage of Beautiful People – wrong. The hair – wrong. The bullying manner towards staff, reporters, supporters and opponents – wrong. The naked belief that money can buy everything – wrong. The assumption that a golf course would distract attention from the massive housing project slipped in alongside – wrong. The rusting Hawaiian wind-turbines used in Saturday’s misleading Scottish newspaper ads – wrong. Even the endless references to his Hebridean roots – wrong. Scots are so thoroughly root-bound there’s no need to display origins like consciously-acquired credentials.

Every attribute Scots hold dear is offended by this man – and yet attention and hostility serve only to feed Donald Trump’s overwrought sense of self importance. The Bard well described his type. Holy Wullie – blind to his own conceit, greed and double standards. Or “yon birkie ca’d a Lord, wha’ struts an stares an a’ that”. It’s easy to mock. Really easy. But hardly productive


Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman-2-7475/opinion/comment/lesley-riddoch-donald-trump-sideshow-should-be-ignored-1-2250132#ixzz4COoxIbBB
Follow us: @TheScotsman on Twitter | TheScotsmanNewspaper on Facebook


And he was a horrid child. Surprise. Surprise. From The WaPo today:

<snip>

At the military academy where he attended high school, Donny grew taller, more muscular and tougher. Struck with a broomstick during a fight, he tried to push a fellow cadet out a second-floor window, only to be thwarted when two other students intervened.

Long before he attained vast wealth and far-reaching fame, Donald J. Trump left an indelible impression in the prosperous Queens neighborhood where he evolved from a mischievous, incorrigible boy into a swaggering young man.

He was Trump in miniature, an embryonic version of the bombastic, flamboyant candidate who has dominated the 2016 presidential race, more than three dozen of his childhood friends, classmates and neighbors said in interviews. Even Trump has acknowledged the similarities between himself as an adult and when he was the boy whom friends alternately referred to as “Donny,” “The Trumpet” and “Flat Top” (for his hair).

“When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same,” the 70-year-old presumptive Republican nominee once told a biographer. “The temperament is not that different.”

His face crowned by a striking blond pompadour, young Donald commanded attention with his playground taunts, classroom disruptions and distinctive countenance, even then his lips pursed in a way that would inspire future mimics. Taller than his classmates, he exuded an easy confidence and independence.

<snip>

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/young-donald-trump-military-school/2016/06/22/f0b3b164-317c-11e6-8758-
d58e76e11b12_story.html

And from the Huffington Post:

Campaign Reeling, Donald Trump Pivots To, Uhh...Scotland? Okay, Man.



<snip>

Animosity for Trump in Scotland has hardly dimmed. As Fortune’s Michael D’Antonio reports, “there is probably no country in the world where he is least welcomed.” Among other things, the Scottish people retain the memory of Trump promising that his resorts would provide a vital economic boost and create some 6,000 permanent jobs. Trump fell about 5,850 jobs short of his projection. And along the way, Trump had numerous occasions to display his patented petulance — especially as he attempted to snap up land for his golf courses. Per D’Antonio:


The political tide began to turn against Trump as Scots learned of how he was bullying the few landowners who refused to sell to him. When Susan Munro rejected his bid to buy her property, she said Trump’s workers built a ten-foot high berm of earth around it, blocking her view. Munro’s neighbor just to the north, David Milne, saw Trump’s men plant evergreens twenty feet from his windows when he refused to sell. To the south, farmer Michael Forbes was attacked – his family lived like “pigs,” said Trump — and the developer’s lawyer approached the local government about taking his land by eminent domain.

Opposition to Trump grew, with rallies and protests. An artist displayed caricatures of the man inside the barn on the Forbes property. Hundreds of people became co-owners of the Forbes land, buying tiny interests in the farm in order to make a transfer of the property extremely cumbersome and costly.

When Trump arrives in Scotland, he will be greeted by locals who’ve endeavored to raise Mexican flags within sight of his properties — and who will have their animosity for Trump well primed by Vice President Joe Biden, who will be firing potshots from nearby Ireland.

The Scottish people have a saying: “Why don’t you go take a running fuck at a rolling doughnut.” Reached for comment, Republican strategist Liz Mair — who, like Trump, is both American and Scottish (but unlike Trump has a more substantial affection for property rights) — was slightly more measured in offering her perspective on Trump’s decision to quit the campaign trail at this heady time.

<snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-serious-candidate-no-really_us_576ae8eee4b0c0252e782180

June 22, 2016

From what I can see, there are valid reasons to oppose Brexit and valid reasons

to support it.

Personally, I don't know enough to have an opinion on Brexit, but I've been reading about it.

Here is a pro leaving argument:

Brexit: the 7 most important arguments for Britain to leave the EU

On Thursday, Britain will vote on whether to leave the European Union — an option dubbed "Brexit." It’s expected to be a close vote, with the "leave" side currently enjoying a razor-thin 1 percent lead in the polls (45 percent for "leave" versus 44 percent for "remain&quot .

Although the "leave" campaign has often focused on emotional arguments about immigration, there are in fact many reasons those in favor of leaving believe it will benefit the UK. They come from across the political spectrum, and some of the arguments even contradict others. Here are seven of the most significant.

<snip>

read:http://www.vox.com/2016/6/22/11992106/brexit-arguments

Editorial from the L.A. Times:

Brexit would be a disaster for Britain

On Thursday, voters in the United Kingdom will decide whether to remain in the European Union. That the electorate is apparently so closely split between the options of “Leave” and “Remain” is ominous. At issue in this dramatic struggle over Britain’s identity, culture and independence is nothing less than the future of the 65-year move toward a closer, more integrated Europe.

On the merits, the Remain option — supported by Prime Minister David Cameron — should win overwhelmingly. Britain benefits enormously from its participation in the 28-member economic and political union, and the consequences of withdrawal could be catastrophic for the British economy — particularly for London’s role as an international financial center.

<snip>

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-brexit-vote-20160622-snap-story.html

June 22, 2016

Trump: "When he comes, we can almost feel the hair up the spine of Scotland stand up"

Why Some People in Scotland Really Hate Donald Trump

Donald Trump will be greeted by at least two Mexican flags, placed near his Aberdeenshire golf course in Scotland, when he visits the country later this week.

It’s a symbolic reminder of those he’s offended locally and internationally and a sign that the presumptive Republican U.S. presidential nominee should not expect a warm welcome after years-long contention surrounding the links, locals say.

“He’s notoriously disliked here,” said Stan Blackley, an Edinburgh resident who famously rubbed a yellow balloon on Trump’s head in 2012. “When he comes, we can almost feel the hair up the spine of Scotland stand up.”

Blackley, a 46-year-old environmental campaigner, is one of many who oppose the real estate tycoon’s presence in Scotland. Almost 600,000 people earlier this year signed a petition calling for Trump to be banned from entering the U.K. Many of the signatures came from Scotland, according to The Atlantic.

<snip>

read:http://time.com/4378489/donald-trump-scotland/

I suspect Trump will get quite the reception in Scotland on Friday.