Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Voltaire2
Voltaire2's Journal
Voltaire2's Journal
October 9, 2018
Thinking back to my radical late 60s - 70s youth.
My wildest theories about the vile agenda of the ruling elites were way off base.
I could not imagine, back then, the capacity for evil, the callous indifference to the future of our country, the fate of all of humanity. Truly I was young and foolish.
September 27, 2018
Poll: 48% of white evangelicals would support Kavanaugh even if the allegations against him were true
A Marist poll illustrates how white evangelical culture minimizes the seriousness of assault.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/27/17910016/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-white-evangelicals-poll-support
Im surprised it isnt higher.
48% of white evangelicals would support Kavanaugh
Poll: 48% of white evangelicals would support Kavanaugh even if the allegations against him were true
A Marist poll illustrates how white evangelical culture minimizes the seriousness of assault.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/27/17910016/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-white-evangelicals-poll-support
Im surprised it isnt higher.
September 24, 2018
Al Franken.
I liked Al. I was truly sorry he had to resign. But he had to resign. If our party had given him a pass we would have no moral authority in the Kavanaugh scandal.
We threw Al under the bus, but we did so for good reason.
September 6, 2018
PAXTON For decades, James C. Graham was tormented by a simple, but profound question: Why did his father seem to dislike him so much?
On Tuesday, the South Carolina man confirmed the bittersweet truth: The man who raised him wasnt his father at all.
Grahams extraordinary 25-year effort to find the truth about his father ended when a forensic anthropologist told him that his DNA matched samples taken from a deceased Catholic priest who grew up in Lowell and graduated from Boston College.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/09/05/after-year-quest-dna-test-tells-man-bittersweet-truth-his-father-was-catholic-priest/3l98jFBeBfbdUsE5pIKNjK/story.html
Yet more awful behavior from this awful institution.
DNA test tells man the bittersweet truth: His father was a Catholic priest
PAXTON For decades, James C. Graham was tormented by a simple, but profound question: Why did his father seem to dislike him so much?
On Tuesday, the South Carolina man confirmed the bittersweet truth: The man who raised him wasnt his father at all.
Grahams extraordinary 25-year effort to find the truth about his father ended when a forensic anthropologist told him that his DNA matched samples taken from a deceased Catholic priest who grew up in Lowell and graduated from Boston College.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/09/05/after-year-quest-dna-test-tells-man-bittersweet-truth-his-father-was-catholic-priest/3l98jFBeBfbdUsE5pIKNjK/story.html
Yet more awful behavior from this awful institution.
August 31, 2018
The case of a Michigan couple charged in the death of their 10-month-old daughter is bringing to light a debate about withholding medical care because of religious beliefs.
Seth Welch and his wife, Tatiana Fusari, both 27, were charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse after their daughter, Mary, died earlier this month from malnutrition and dehydration, an autopsy revealed. The parents said they didn't seek medical help for their daughter because of their religious beliefs, though they declined to define their religion.
...
Every state in the U.S. has laws protecting children from abuse and neglect, but in 34 states and the District of Columbia, there are religious exemptions that allow parents to forgo medical treatment for a child if it conflicts with their religious beliefs, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
There are also religious exemptions to manslaughter laws in at least six states, Pew reported. However, in many states, including Michigan, these exceptions are not absolute.
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/31/643407967/michigan-childs-death-puts-spotlight-on-clash-between-medicine-and-religion?ft=nprml&f=1001
But no such thing as religious privilege.
Michigan Child's Death Puts Spotlight On Clash Between Medicine And Religion
The case of a Michigan couple charged in the death of their 10-month-old daughter is bringing to light a debate about withholding medical care because of religious beliefs.
Seth Welch and his wife, Tatiana Fusari, both 27, were charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse after their daughter, Mary, died earlier this month from malnutrition and dehydration, an autopsy revealed. The parents said they didn't seek medical help for their daughter because of their religious beliefs, though they declined to define their religion.
...
Every state in the U.S. has laws protecting children from abuse and neglect, but in 34 states and the District of Columbia, there are religious exemptions that allow parents to forgo medical treatment for a child if it conflicts with their religious beliefs, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
There are also religious exemptions to manslaughter laws in at least six states, Pew reported. However, in many states, including Michigan, these exceptions are not absolute.
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/31/643407967/michigan-childs-death-puts-spotlight-on-clash-between-medicine-and-religion?ft=nprml&f=1001
But no such thing as religious privilege.
August 31, 2018
...
Because he was against Ken Starr, Penns logic is that he has a unique perspective on why Robert Mueller is harming the country, too. And as a Democrat bashing the Mueller investigation and making arguments that are useful to President Donald Trump, Penn has found a prominent new perch in the Washington ecosystem. Our interview was the first time hes explained his Trumpian turn, which has earned him fresh enmity on the left.
Penn has now become a regular face on Fox News CNN and MSNBC wont book him and a contributor to The Hills right-leaning editorial pages. There, he has repeatedly bashed the Mueller investigation as a partisan, open-ended inquisition that, by its precedent, is a threat to all those who ever want to participate in a national campaign or an administration again followed up by more TV hits on Fox.
And despite the photos that decorate his office walls, he has willingly torched the Clintons, saying the Justice Department broke their own rules by ending an investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server, and noting that Clinton Foundation operatives urged the FBI to investigate Trump.
...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/31/mark-penn-clinton-strategist-mueller-investigation-donald-trump-219622
Penn has gone Full Dershowitz.
Why Mark Penn Is Sounding Trumpy
...
Because he was against Ken Starr, Penns logic is that he has a unique perspective on why Robert Mueller is harming the country, too. And as a Democrat bashing the Mueller investigation and making arguments that are useful to President Donald Trump, Penn has found a prominent new perch in the Washington ecosystem. Our interview was the first time hes explained his Trumpian turn, which has earned him fresh enmity on the left.
Penn has now become a regular face on Fox News CNN and MSNBC wont book him and a contributor to The Hills right-leaning editorial pages. There, he has repeatedly bashed the Mueller investigation as a partisan, open-ended inquisition that, by its precedent, is a threat to all those who ever want to participate in a national campaign or an administration again followed up by more TV hits on Fox.
And despite the photos that decorate his office walls, he has willingly torched the Clintons, saying the Justice Department broke their own rules by ending an investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private email server, and noting that Clinton Foundation operatives urged the FBI to investigate Trump.
...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/31/mark-penn-clinton-strategist-mueller-investigation-donald-trump-219622
Penn has gone Full Dershowitz.
August 31, 2018
In a sign of the Catholic Church's struggles with one of its most faithful followers, fewer than a quarter of an expected crowd of half a million people last weekend attended Pope Francis' public Mass in Dublin, Ireland.
The pope's Mass in Dublins Phoenix Park on Sunday drew 135,000 people, far short of the estimated 500,000 people forecast to attend, according to official estimates published by Irish Central, The Journal and other Irish news sites. During the last papal visit to Ireland in 1979 Pope John Paul II attracted more than 1 million for a public Mass. That's a drop-off rate of almost 90 percent.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/08/30/pennsylvania-abuse-scandal-irish-catholics-boycott-pope-francis-mass/1147203002/
The Irish have had it with the RCC.
Amid abuse scandal, 90% fewer Irish Catholics attend Pope Francis' Mass than Pope John Paul II's
In a sign of the Catholic Church's struggles with one of its most faithful followers, fewer than a quarter of an expected crowd of half a million people last weekend attended Pope Francis' public Mass in Dublin, Ireland.
The pope's Mass in Dublins Phoenix Park on Sunday drew 135,000 people, far short of the estimated 500,000 people forecast to attend, according to official estimates published by Irish Central, The Journal and other Irish news sites. During the last papal visit to Ireland in 1979 Pope John Paul II attracted more than 1 million for a public Mass. That's a drop-off rate of almost 90 percent.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/08/30/pennsylvania-abuse-scandal-irish-catholics-boycott-pope-francis-mass/1147203002/
The Irish have had it with the RCC.
August 29, 2018
Florida's high-stakes gubernatorial race will be fought between a progressive Democrat vying to become the state's first black chief executive and a Republican congressman closely allied with President Donald Trump.
In a late primary season shocker, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum defeated the front runner, former Rep. Gwen Graham, who had led in the polls for most of the campaign. He emerged from a field of five competitive candidates, in which he was the only non-millionaire and only supporter of "Medicare for all" single-payer health care, to become the state's first black gubernatorial nominee.
"The point has never been lost on me that my name on the ballot is simply a vessel, is simply the name,' Gillum told a raucous crowd of supporters in Tallahassee on Tuesday night. "But what is underneath that name are all the issues that we care so deeply about."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/28/politics/andrew-gillum-ron-desantis-florida-governor-race/index.html
Bernie-backed progressive Andrew Gillum will face a Trump-styled Republican in Florida's governor's
Florida's high-stakes gubernatorial race will be fought between a progressive Democrat vying to become the state's first black chief executive and a Republican congressman closely allied with President Donald Trump.
In a late primary season shocker, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum defeated the front runner, former Rep. Gwen Graham, who had led in the polls for most of the campaign. He emerged from a field of five competitive candidates, in which he was the only non-millionaire and only supporter of "Medicare for all" single-payer health care, to become the state's first black gubernatorial nominee.
"The point has never been lost on me that my name on the ballot is simply a vessel, is simply the name,' Gillum told a raucous crowd of supporters in Tallahassee on Tuesday night. "But what is underneath that name are all the issues that we care so deeply about."
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/28/politics/andrew-gillum-ron-desantis-florida-governor-race/index.html
August 21, 2018
Twitler is going to start handing out the pardons
as fast as his lackeys get convicted. Gods Only Party leaders will then have to figure out how to deal with their overtly corrupt criminal president.
My guess is they will do nothing.
August 14, 2018
Bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and police officers not to investigate it, according to a report issued by a grand jury on Tuesday.
The report, which covered six of the states eight Catholic dioceses and found more than 1,000 identifiable victims, is the broadest examination yet by a government agency in the United States of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. There have been ten previous reports by grand juries and attorneys general in the United States, according to the research and advocacy group BishopAccountability.org, but those examined single dioceses or counties.
The report catalogs horrific instances of abuse, including a priest who raped a young girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils out, and another priest who was allowed to stay in ministry after impregnating a 17-year-old girl, forging a signature on a marriage certificate and then divorcing the girl.
Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability, the grand jury wrote. Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/catholic-church-sex-abuse-pennsylvania.html
Just a few bad apples.
Catholic Church Covered Up Child Sex Abuse in Pennsylvania for Decades, Grand Jury Says
Bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania covered up child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years, persuading victims not to report the abuse and police officers not to investigate it, according to a report issued by a grand jury on Tuesday.
The report, which covered six of the states eight Catholic dioceses and found more than 1,000 identifiable victims, is the broadest examination yet by a government agency in the United States of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. There have been ten previous reports by grand juries and attorneys general in the United States, according to the research and advocacy group BishopAccountability.org, but those examined single dioceses or counties.
The report catalogs horrific instances of abuse, including a priest who raped a young girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils out, and another priest who was allowed to stay in ministry after impregnating a 17-year-old girl, forging a signature on a marriage certificate and then divorcing the girl.
Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability, the grand jury wrote. Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/catholic-church-sex-abuse-pennsylvania.html
Just a few bad apples.
Profile Information
Member since: Mon Mar 27, 2017, 06:57 AMNumber of posts: 15,200