Outspoken Brits don't want Franklin Graham and other American hate mongering Evangelical ministers anywhere near them.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Several British pastors and politicians are voicing concerns about a controversial American evangelist’s plans to preach in the U.K. next year. 

Franklin Graham, a prominent evangelical pastor who has made blatantly homophobic and Islamophobic statements in the past, is scheduled to headline the Lancashire Festival of Hope in Blackpool in September 2018. Graham’s three-day event — similar to the “crusades” once led by his famous father, Billy Graham — is reportedly taking place with the blessing of more than 300 church leaders and members in England. 

But not all residents of the area are enthused about Graham coming to town. Some have urged the U.K.’s home secretary Amber Rudd to ban the preacher from entering the country altogether, the Guardian reports. 

Nina Parker, the pastor of a church in Blackpool, told HuffPost in an email that she’s worried that Graham’s visit could embolden those who are prejudiced toward Muslims and queer people to express that hate. 

“It will give oxygen to those who hate as they will be aware of hatred being expressed by a man of high status in the Church,” Parker wrote to HuffPost. “It will portray a Trump style, hard line, hate filled version of Christianity devoid of understanding of and acceptance of ordinary people. It will destroy the reputation of Christianity in this region as it will be assumed that this man speaks for all. It will bring Christians into disrepute.”

Parker has more than 60,000 signatures on a petition to block Graham and his merry band of trouble makers from poisoning the UK with their hate speech. 

Personally I wish we could start a petition here in America to kick Franklin Graham and his toxic crew of evangelicals the hell out of this country.

But it wouldn't help.

Even if they left they would be quickly replaced by more just like them, some perhaps even worse.

You know it seems these days that all America exports anymore is stupidity, racism, and intolerance.

I guess that's what MAGA really means.

A petition is circulating calling for Melania Trump to move to the White House or pay her own security while Florida wants Donald Trump to start reimbursing them for his visits.

Courtesy of AOL News:  

An online petition is calling for first lady Melania Trump to move to the White House or pay for her own security at New York City's Trump Tower. 

The Change.org petition, addressed to the U.S. Senate, has collected tens of thousands of signatures since it was started a week ago. 

"The U.S. taxpayer is paying an exorbitant amount of money to protect the First Lady in Trump Tower, located in New York City," the petition reads. "As to help relieve the national debt, this expense yields no positive results for the nation and should be cut from being funded." 

Police Commissioner James O'Neill told lawmakers last month that securing Trump Tower cost his department $127,000 to $146,000 each day, with this daily rate reaching $308,000 when the president is actually in the city.

This seems more than fair to me.

Florida is also being crushed beneath the financial burden of having a president visit their state almost every weekend.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) called on Trump to either provide federal reimbursements to the local governments incurring increased security costs or cut back his trips to the resort. 

“While we want the fullest protection for your visits, we hope you would be responsive to the losses of small businesses and residents of Palm Beach County,” Frankel wrote in a letter to Trump released on Monday, which was co-signed by fellow Democratic Florida Reps. Alcee Hastings and Ted Deutch. 

“If compensation is not assured of being forthcoming, we respectfully ask that you curtail your visits until such time as that matter is resolved favorably to our area.” 

The lawmakers outlined the piling costs of Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago to date: $1.7 million in overtime work paid by the the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department and Fire Rescue and $60,000 in overtime to the City of West Palm Beach law enforcement handling protests. 

 Trump’s hosting of Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago next month is expected to cost the sheriff and fire departments $280,000 alone, according to the letter. 

Trump's weekend visits also interrupt air traffic, costing the airport around $30,000 each time.

It does not take a financial wizard to recognize that this is easily the most expensive presidency in American history. And let's not forget that Trump is also planning to cut taxes for the extremely wealthy and will instead attempt to finance his extravagant lifestyle by cutting social service programs that serve the neediest among us.

Let's face it, this country simply cannot afford a Trump presidency.

The French want Obama to lead them. Seriously, who can blame them?

Courtesy of CNN: 

Could France elect Barack Obama president? Not really -- but that's not stopping the organizers of Obama17, a guerrilla campaign trying to entice the former U.S. president to head to Paris. 

"It's totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it's possible. Who cares that he's not French? He's Barack Obama," one of the campaign organizers told CNN. 

They've launched a website and they put up 500 posters of Obama around Paris last weekend, said the organizer. He asked to be identified only as Antoine. 

They're hoping to get 1 million people to sign a petition urging Obama to run.

This can't happen of course, but some citizens in France are panicking because they are on the verge of electing their own version of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen.

Hopefully they will be luckier than we were, and THEIR voters will be a little smarter.

Anti-science Christians sign petition urging future VP to ban the teaching of Evolution.

Here is the petition in question: 

To Mike Pence, Vice-President of the United States of America: 

We the undersigned note that, when you were a member of the U.S House of Representatives, you spoke out on the subject of science education and for presenting students with all available information. Recently, we have seen the passage of academic freedom bills in Louisiana and Tennessee which have allowed for critical evaluation in the classroom and improved educational standards. However, whilst an important development, they were only enacted owing to the need to protect students from indoctrination. We object to the teaching of the very controversial theory of evolution as part of the K-12 science curriculum which we regard to be unnecessary and unhelpful. 

It is obvious to us that Evolutionism-Darwinism is an anti-Christian atheistic dogma masquerading as science. According to renown philosopher of science, Professor Michael Ruse, himself an ardent evolutionist, there is no doubt that the theory of evolution represents a philosophical worldview: “Evolution is promoted by its practitioners as more than mere science. Evolution is promulgated as an ideology, a secular religion—a full-fledged alternative to Christianity.”

Evolutionists, indeed, themselves speak about their “theory” with an unmistakably religious fervour.

The petition then goes on to trip all over itself misrepresenting, and misunderstanding the science in order to claim that Evolution is false and should not be taught to children.

Now this would usually be dismissed as laughable as Mike Pence really does not have the power to simply strip the teaching of Evolution from school books in every classroom, and in every state, in the country.

However the signers of this petition clearly recognized that if Mike Pence could, he would do just that. It is a new dawn in America my friends.

A dumber, religiously fundamental, scientifically illiterate, new dawn. 

A last pitch by Hollywood to appeal to the conscience of the Electoral College.

Donald Trump has not been elected president. The real election takes place December 19, when the 538 Electoral College Electors cast their ballots – for anyone they want. 

If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win. However, in 14 of the states in Trump's column, they can vote for Hillary Clinton without any legal penalty if they choose. 

We are calling on “Conscientious Electors” to protect the Constitution from Donald Trump, and to support the national popular vote winner. 

Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic. 

I have to admit that I was not on board with this attempt to get the electors to change their vote, but the closer we get to D-Day (January 20th) the more I am looking for must about ANYTHING to stop the inevitable from being inevitable.

Here is the petition if you feel the same.

Petition urging the Electoral College to choose Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump now has the most signatures in Change.org history.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

A petition urging the Electoral College to make Hillary Clinton the president of the United States is now the largest in Charge.org history. The petition, started by social worker Daniel Brezenoff last month, has received more than 4.6 million signatures. 

Millions of people have added their names to the online petition calling to block President-elect Donald Trump from taking the White House. The petition called on 149 electors to ignore their states' votes and instead cast ballots for Clinton on Dec. 19. 

 "Donald Trump is a danger to the Constitution," Brezenoff said, in a release, "and the electors have the power to stop him." The petition argues that Clinton should be president because she won the popular vote.


Damn 4.6 million is nothing to sneeze at!

It kind of makes me wonder how many of them were third party voters or former Bernie Bros who decided to sit this one out and are now desperate to somehow repair the damage done by their ignorance about the political system.

Not that it makes much difference, the chance of this actually changing the outcome of this election is incredibly unlikely.

Which is something that the Clinton campaign understands all to well:

"Believe me if there was anything I could do to make Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States I would," said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a longtime Clinton supporter. "But this is a big waste of time."

If this whole election debacle makes any positive change whatsoever, I would hope it would be to  finally convince Americans that voting third party or sitting out elections opens the door for the very worst candidates to win an election that they have no business winning.

Online petition to allow guns at the Republican convention exceeds 35,000. Donald Trump wants to study the fine print.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

Donald Trump says he wants to study a petition that calls for allowing the open carry of guns at the Republican convention this July in Cleveland. 

While proclaiming himself "a very, very strong person for Second Amendment," the Republican front-runner told ABC's This Week that "I have not seen the petition. I want to see what it says. I want to read the fine print." 

Posted on the website change.org, the petition of unknown origin notes that "though Ohio is an open carry state, which allows for the open carry of guns, the hosting venue -- the Quicken Loans Arena -- strictly forbids the carry of firearms on their premises." That "is a direct affront to the Second Amendment and puts all attendees at risk," said the petition that has more than 35,000 signers as of Sunday. 

The other Republican presidential candidates -- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- have not commented on the open carry petition.

Yeah I'll bet Donald Trump wants to study the fine print.

Could you imagine being in that building along with a crowd of armed Trump supporters at the very moment that they find out he DIDN'T get the nomination?

Not that I think there will actually be a better response from the other armed Republicans if he DOES get the nomination.

Let's face it, chances are SOMEBODY is getting shot.

Not that I necessarily condone violence but perhaps its past time for these assholes to have to dodge bullets like all of the young men and women that they helped send to the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan based on the lies told by the President they voted into office.

Call it karma.

Well it appears that my daughter was right about Bernie Sanders supporters.

Courtesy of the Washington Times:  

The movement is called “Bernie or Bust,” and it means just that: If Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont loses the Democratic presidential nomination, a group of his supporters will either write in his name in the general election or consider casting their ballot for a Republican. 

The one thing they certainly won’t do: Vote for Hillary Clinton. 

More than 50,000 people already have signed up at the Revolt Against Plutocracy, pledging to vote for the Green Party candidate in the general election or write in Mr. Sanders’ name if Mrs. Clinton wins the Democratic nomination. Other groups, such as Grassroots Action for Bernie, are taking to social media, using Facebook and Twitter to try to get the “Bernieorbust” hashtag trending. 

Even Sanders supporters not tied to the movement, or unaware of its existence, seem to agree with its principles, making one thing clear: The Democratic National Committee and Mrs. Clinton will have a hard time attracting many of Mr. Sanders’ voters.

Okay keep in mind that the Washington Times is the paper owned by Sun Myung Moon, so everything they write must be taken with a giant gran of salt.

However the paper is not the only place reporting this.

Of course in my opinion these are the actions of petulant children who do not see the big picture, and are simply going to take their ball, or in this case vote, and go cry in their room because they are not getting their way.

And that is not all that they are doing.

Check this out:

More than 45,000 people have signed a petition calling for the arrest and prosecution of former President Bill Clinton for what they alleged were violations of Massachusetts election laws — even though state officials have said he acted legally. 

Leading up to his wife's victory over U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Massachusetts primary on Tuesday, the former president went inside a polling station in Boston, according to multiple reports. Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state and senator, won by about 17,000 votes, according to NBC News. 

Bill Clinton talked with poll workers and took a photo with a woman at the Holy Name Parish School's gymnasium in West Roxbury, The Boston Globe reported, citing press pool reports. The petition, posted on Change.org, charges that Bill Clinton made a "clear, knowing and egregious violation of the campaign laws to swing an election in a significant way."

Now poll workers were warned in advance of President Clinton's visit, and election officials say he did nothing wrong, and yet 45,000 petition signers want him arrested and thrown in jail.

Do they REALLY think that his appearance at polling places stole Massachusetts from Bernie?

I am beginning to think that a whole lot of these so-called "Bernie Bros" are in fact conservatives masquerading as supporters in order to level misogynistic, and hate filled, attacks from what would be to them enemy lines.

At least I hope that's the case.

Because if not, then Bernie's support seems essentially to be made up of thin skinned crybabies who could never be counted on to show up at the polls in November in the first place.

So Bill Maher really, and I mean REALLY, wants President Obama to be a guest on his show.

Courtesy of Deadline: 

“Sean Penn can get an interview with El Chapo, but I can’t get the President who talks to the lady with green lips,” Maher said, the latter reference to Obama’s live-streamed chat with Youtube celebrity GloZell Green, known for her outrageous lipstick choices. 

Maher directed his viewers to visit the White House website petition page — petitions.whitehouse.gov — to sign the statement, “Herewith, on the occasion of Bill Maher’s 60th birthday, we the people, especially viewers of Real Time with Bill Maher, respectfully request that President Obama appear on Real Time and thereby honor that particular audience (and their support for him), as he has so honored viewers of so many other TV shows and media outlets; or if not, to please, respectfully, tell us why.”

As of this post the petition, which you can see here, already has just under 37,000 signatures and I have no doubt that it will reach its goal of 100,000 well before the February 14th cutoff date.

I have to confess that I did not see the show on Friday, because for some reason it escaped my notice that it was returning.

So if you are like me you can see come clips here at Salon, or if you have HBOGO  you can watch it anytime you want.

So here is perhaps the most disturbing advertisement about gun laws that you really need to see today.

 Courtesy of Vox: 

The Second Amendment is more than 220 years old. When it was written, the world did not have machine guns, assault rifles, or tanks, instead relying on clunky muskets that were a pain to reload. 

Yet as a video from States United to Prevent Gun Violence points out, America's lax gun laws are often based on a reading of the Second Amendment that makes it hard to pass restrictive gun laws, even as our weapons get much, much deadlier.

Powerful message don't you think?

Just imagine how few gun deaths we would have each year if our guns were still as primitive as they were when the 2nd Amendment was created.

There is also a petition you might consider signing located right here.

Elizabeth Warren responds to accusations that she does not understand TPP trade deal. Spoiler alert: She does.

I am going to simply put the whole response here for you to read, without adding my thoughts, and link to her petition as well.

I'm pretty sure that Warren wants as many people to read it as possible.

Courtesy of Elizabeth Warren.com:  

Have you seen what’s in the new TPP trade deal? 

Most likely, you haven’t – and don’t bother trying to Google it. The government doesn’t want you to read this massive new trade agreement. It’s top secret. 

Why? Here’s the real answer people have given me: “We can’t make this deal public because if the American people saw what was in it, they would be opposed to it.” 

If the American people would be opposed to a trade agreement if they saw it, then that agreement should not become the law of the United States. 

Let’s send a loud message to our trade officials: No vote on a fast-track for trade agreements until the American people can see what’s in this TPP deal. Sign this petition right now to make the TPP agreement public. 

The Administration says I’m wrong – that there’s nothing to worry about. They say the deal is nearly done, and they are making a lot of promises about how the deal will affect workers, the environment, and human rights. Promises – but people like you can’t see the actual deal. 

For more than two years now, giant corporations have had an enormous amount of access to see the parts of the deal that might affect them and to give their views as negotiations progressed. But the doors stayed locked for the regular people whose jobs are on the line. 

If most of the trade deal is good for the American economy, but there’s a provision hidden in the fine print that could help multinational corporations ship American jobs overseas or allow for watering down of environmental or labor rules, fast track would mean that Congress couldn’t write an amendment to fix it. It’s all or nothing. 

Before we sign on to rush through a deal like that – no amendments, no delays, no ability to block a bad bill – the American people should get to see what’s in it. 

Sherrod Brown has been leading this fight, and he points out that TPP isn’t classified military intelligence – it’s a trade agreement among 12 countries that control 40% of the world’s economy. A trade agreement that affects jobs, environmental regulations, and whether workers around the globe are treated humanely. It might even affect the new financial rules we put in place after the 2008 crisis. This trade agreement doesn’t matter to just the biggest corporations – it matters to all of us. 

When giant corporations get to see the details and the American people don’t, we all lose. Let’s level the playing field: No vote on fast-tracking trade until the public can read the TPP deal. 

We’ve all seen the tricks and traps that corporations hide in the fine print of contracts. We’ve all seen the provisions they slip into legislation to rig the game in their favor. Now just imagine what they have done working behind closed doors with TPP. 

We can’t keep the American people in the dark.

Yeah, it's pretty impossible to argue with any of that.

Thoughts?

More fallout from that traitorous Republican letter to the Iranian government.

Boy Senator Bernie Sanders certainly did not mince words:  

Speaking with a group of reporters following his speech at the International Association of Fire Fighters presidential forum in Washington, the Vermont senator said the 47 Republican senators warning Iran of a deal on its nuclear program are trying to “sabotage” a agreement. Story Continued Below 

“[M]y Republican friends seem to be itching for that war,” said Sanders, an independent who is openly considering a presidential bid as a Democrat. “When you sabotage the effort to reach a peace agreement by the leader of the United States of America — the man who is charged with dealing with foreign policy — that, to me, is really unspeakable.” 

My sentiments exactly!

And there are a whole lot of people who feel the same. Which explains why a petition urging the federal government to file charges against the 47 senators for violating the Logan Act has already received almost 150,000 signatures.

As for the traitors themselves, well some of them have started to rethink their decision to sign that letter in the first place: 

A day after releasing a letter that potentially threatened the administration’s negotiations with Iran, some Republicans who signed on are realizing it was a bad call. 

Behind the scenes, Republicans are wondering if sending an open letter to Iran’s leaders was the best strategy to keep a bad nuclear deal from being negotiated.

Yeah well too fucking late. This is adulthood, there are to "take backs."

No these assholes made this choice and let's hope that it causes them all kinds of problem with their constituents and in their bids for reelection.

I mean at some point, enough has to be enough.

MoveOn.org launches petition to hold John Boehner accountable for violating the "Logan Act."

"If you turn a little more to the right I can stab you in the back a little deeper."

Courtesy of MoveOn.org:  

By his inviting a foreign leader to address Congress, John Boehner deliberately dealt in foreign policy and thus violated the "Logan Act", thus usurping the powers of the presidency of the United States. 

In so doing, Boehner also deliberately violated the "separation of powers" clause in the US Constitution. By law, he must now be tried by Congress, and forced to resign. 

Under the "Logan Act" of 1799, (1 Stat. 613, 30 January 1799, currently codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953) Executive power to engage in Foreign Policy is ONLY vested in the President of the United States of America. 

The Logan Act (1 Stat. 613, 30 January 1799, currently codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953) specifically forbids any unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. 

The Act is intended to prohibit United States citizens without authority from interfering in relations between the United States and foreign governments. 

It was passed in 1799 and last amended in 1994. Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years. 

I don't usually have a lot of confidence in the ability of petitions to inspire real change, however considering that the rabid Republican base wants Boehner out anyhow, well you never know.

What I think we can all agree on is that John Boehner sucks at his job, and inviting Netanyahu to speak to the Congress and sabotage the President's progress with Iran, was completely unconscionable. 

And as it turns out, possibly illegal.

Anyhow I signed the petition. 

It's Wednesday so time for more Bill O'Reilly lies.

Okay you all can stop digging for lies now.

In his 2012 best-selling non-fiction book Killing Kennedy, O'Reilly writes on page 300 that as a "reporter knocked on the door of de Mohrenschildt's daughter's home, he heard the shotgun blast that marked the suicide of the Russian ... that reporter's name is Bill O'Reilly."

 Guess what, yep you're right, this never happened.

More courtesy of Media Matters:

George de Mohrenschildt was a Russian emigre who befriended Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and testified before the Warren Commission investigating the Kennedy assassination. On March 29, 1977, the same day he was contacted by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, he committed suicide at his daughter's home in Florida. At the time, O'Reilly was a reporter for Dallas' WFAA-TV who regularly reported on stories related to the Kennedy assassination. 

O'Reilly has bizarrely inserted himself into de Mohrenschildt's story, claiming in books and on Fox News that he was outside the house seeking to interview de Mohrenschiltd at the time of his death. O'Reilly is under heavy criticism and scrutiny for his false claims about his 1982 Falklands War reporting. 

O'Reilly's implausible tale was first flagged by Jefferson Morley in a 2013 post for his website JFKFacts.org. Morley has worked as an editor for The Washington Post, Salon.com, and Arms Control Today, and is a visiting professor at the University of California, Washington Center. 

New interviews with former O'Reilly colleagues who say he wasn't in Florida on the day of de Mohrenschildt's suicide and documents obtained by Media Matters bolster Morley's reporting.

Wait. so O'Reilly just made that entire incident up? Shocked, that's what I am, shocked!

So now, much like the Brian Williams incident, we are seeing a "journalist" who constantly puts himself into the story, in order to aggrandize himself. 

Here is more from Mediaite: 

In a series of audio tapes made by investigator Gaeton Fonzi, who Morley identified as O’Reilly’s “most reliable source on the JFK story,” O’Reilly can be heard saying he is going to travel from his office in Texas to Florida to look into the suicide after it happened. So there is no way he could have heard the “shotgun blast” with his own ears. 

“O’Reilly’s utterances prove that he was not knocking on George Mohrenschildt’s doorstep as he now melodramatically claims,” Morley wrote. “The truth is more prosaic. O’Reilly got a tip on a hot story, worked his sources to confirm it, and rushed to the scene. In making up this story for Killing Kennedy, he slighted the truth of his own professionalism.”

Media Matters has now launched a petition to "Hold Bill O'Reilly Accountable." Which I think all of us should sign.

And it is important that we continue to hold Billo's feet to the fire becasue there are a lot of people now trying to give O'Reilly a pass either because some of these incidents were in the past, or because it is well known that Bill O'Reilly is full of shit.

And that is kind of the problem.

You see the Right can go viciously attack the mainstream media whenever they get even the tiniest fact wrong, but if their side gets shit wrong, and they do that almost every single day, they simply shrug their shoulders and go "Well it's Fox News, what did you expect?"

That double standard only exists because WE let it.

So let's stop doing that shall we?

Just a petition to have the Bible removed from all Target stores. Here let me get a pen.

Courtesy of Change.org:

It's a book that encourages readers to murder women for entertainment. The incentive is to commit sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get 'god' points – and now Target are stocking it and promoting it for your Xmas stocking. 

This is The Holy Bible. This book means that after various sex acts, readers are given options to kill women by stoning her unconscious, Setting them on fire, cutting off their hands, and killing their children! 

One of many fan passages on In The Holy Bible depicts woman being set alight for having sex "And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire." (Leviticus 21:9). 

This misogynistic book literally makes a game of bashing, killing and horrific violence against women. It also links sexual arousal and violence. 

Just knowing that women are being portrayed as deserving to be sexually used by men and potentially murdered for sport and pleasure – to see this violence turned into a form of entertainments is sickening and causes us great pain and harm. 

This book spreads the idea that certain women exist as scapegoats for male violence. It shows hatred and contempt for women in the sex industry and puts them at greater risk. Women in the industry are 40 times more likely to be murdered by a man than any other group of women. 

Books like this are grooming yet another generation of boys to tolerate violence against women. It is fueling the epidemic of violence experienced by so many girls and women in Australia - and globally. 

Target, you pride yourself on being a family company, caring for local communities, and have a strong ethical sourcing policy. How can you do this while contributing to hostile and callous attitudes toward victims of violence and, more broadly, to all women? 

Please put ethics before profits and make a strong statement that you do not condone sexual violence, sexual exploitation or the abuse of women as ‘entertainment’. 

Well it's hard to argue against all that now isn't it?

It is hard to imagine that Target would comply with this request, but it is worth noting that the petition is only 134 signatures shy of reaching its goal of 25,000 as I write this.

So that tells us something.

And I do so enjoy tilting at windmills sometimes.

MSNBC video of Sarah Palin shows her going after undocumented workers and defending her waterboarding/baptism comments.

You know it is one thing to read Palin's comments as reported by a journalist, or as written on Facebook with or without a ghostwriter, but hearing her say this kind of crap in her own voice really underlines just what a nasty bitch she is.

The other day somebody pointed out that it seemed that she was becoming more hateful with every appearance, and I would agree that it certainly seems that way.

As if she is so angry that she has been marginalized, and that fewer people are reacting to what she says, that she is simply saying more and more horrible things in the desperate hope that somebody will be forced to respond to them in print.

Well they are responding to her alright. In fact a group Christians has even started a petition to make sure that people know she does not speak for them: 

For Christians, torture is not a joke or a political punchline, but a ghastly reminder of the suffering of Jesus upon the cross. By equating it with Holy Baptism -- the act by which we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection -- Sarah Palin is blasphemously twisting our faith into a weapon of hatred and violence. No media outlet should cover her remarks without reporting on how sincere Christians of all theological and political persuasions are appalled.

However she DOES still have supporters, as the American Conservative found out recently after they called her out over her remarks. 

I will restate what I have said before, and that was that the point of maintaining focus on Palin and blogging about her speeches, Fox News interviews, and reality show gigs was to continue to publicize her craziness, until everybody could see for themselves what I, and others, had been accused of making up about her.

I promised back in 2009, that I would stay on her ass until we finally saw her career in its death throes.

Well, now we are seeing just that.

Pretty entertaining isn't it?

Petition to have Alaska secede back to the Russians receives more than 10,000 signatures in three days.

Courtesy of KTUU:

A petition to the Obama administration for the secession of Alaska back to Russia has reached more than 10,000 signatures in three days. 

The petition, entitled "Alaska Back to Russia", was created by an unnamed Anchorage resident on Thursday, and has gathered signatures from Alaska and several other states. It cites historical evidence of previous visitors and claimants for ownership of the territory. 

The petition must reach 100,000 signatures by April 20, 2014, in order to be considered by the current presidential administration for review and an official response. The White House petition site currently has 120 petitions gathering signatures and awaiting consideration.

WTF?

As of this post the petition has 11,272 signatures.

Now I have no idea what the motivation of the "unnamed Anchorage resident" might have been to create this petition, but I can guess as to why it has received so many signatures so quickly.

So let me set the record straight. She no longer lives in Alaska!

That's right she now lives in Arizona, so giving Alaska back to the Russians will not do you any good.

Sarah Palin will not go with it!

She no longer sees Russia from her porch. Instead she sees Saguaro cactus, rattlesnakes, and fresh new skin cancer lesions on John McCain's forehead.

Besides if the Russians wanted Alaska back, don't you think Putin would have invaded us by now?

Petition to get Phil Roberston back on Duck Dynasty receives 250,000 signatures. Update!

Courtesy of Politico:  

A petition calling for the reinstatement of Phil Robertson on “Duck Dynasty” on Friday surpassed its goal of a quarter-million signatures. 

The “I Stand with Phil” petition, which met its target of 250,000 signatures by more than 1,600 as of Friday morning, calls for A&E to immediately reinstate Robertson on the popular television program after he was suspended indefinitely following the recent publication of an interview with GQ in which he made controversial remarks regarding homosexuality and African-Americans. 

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” Robertson told GQ when asked what was sinful. 

The letter included with the petition accuses A&E of “intolerant, discriminatory, and punitive treatment” of Robertson and says his views are “simply reflective of a Biblical view of sexuality, marriage, and family.” It also calls for A&E to formally apologize to Robertson, his family and viewers of the program. 

All I can think after reading this is that there are a LOT of idiots in the world today. At least a quarter of a million of them according to this.

So to be clear these idiots are defending Robertson's remarks because this is a free country and he was simply repeating a Biblical worldview, and nobody is allowed to be offended by that, and angry at A&E because though this is a free country, they are not allowed to exercise their right to suspend an employee that negatively impacts their image or may cost them revenue.

Oookay.

Update: As others have noted A&E has lifted the suspension:  

As a global media content company, A+E Networks' core values are centered around creativity, inclusion and mutual respect. We believe it is a privilege for our brands to be invited into people's home and we operate with a strong sense of integrity and deep commitment to these principals. 

That is why we reacted so quickly and strongly to a recent interview with Phil Robertson. While Phil's comments made in the interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs, and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the "coarse language" he used and the mis-interpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would "never incite or encourage hate." We at A+E Networks expressed our disappointment with his statements in the article, and reiterate that they are not views we hold. 

But "Duck Dynasty" is not a show about one man's views. It resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family… a family that America has come to love. As you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness. These are three values that we at A+E Networks also feel strongly about. 

So after discussions with the Robertson family, as well as consulting with numerous advocacy groups, A&E has decided to resume filming "Duck Dynasty" later this spring with the entire Robertson family. 

We will also use this moment to launch a national public service campaign (PSA) promoting unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people, a message that supports our core values as a company, and the values found in "Duck Dynasty." These PSAs will air across our entire portfolio.

In other words they really don't care about how offensive this  guy is, all they want is for those all capital letter, misspelled e-mails to stop clogging up their inboxes.

There exists over on MoveOn.org a petition calling for the arrest of the Republicans responsible for the government shutdown.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

A petition posted online at MoveOn.org is calling for the arrest of prominent House Republicans on sedition charges for their role in engineering a 16-day government shutdown. 

“I call on the Justice Department of the United States of America to arrest Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Speaker of the House John Boehner, and other decision-making House Republican leaders for the crime of seditious conspiracy against the United States of America,” the petition says. 

The petition had attracted nearly 36,000 digital signatures by Friday morning. (By the way the number as of this posting is 43,905 and it is only asking for 50,000.)

“Arrest and try all those who were a party to deliberately trying to destroy the American Economy,” said one signer. 

The petition’s author, Mark Belisle, said GOP lawmakers bent the rules to prevent the Democratic minority from bringing measures to the floor that could have allowed a so-called clean funding resolution to be brought to a vote. 

“The House GOP leadership’s use of the Hastert Rule and H. Res 368 to shut down the government and threaten the U.S. economy with default is an attempt to extort the United States government into altering or abolishing the Affordable Care Act, and thus, is self-evidently a seditious conspiracy,” the petition claims. “Arrest the perpetrators in Congress immediately and bring them to justice.”

I have to start by admitting that I am not the biggest fan of petitions, especially national ones, because I don't think they usually have much of an impact. 

However I have to admit that this man makes some very compelling arguments. And in a perfect world I would love to see thee people punished for what they did to this country and to the American people, especially considering that it was a lost cause from the very beginning.

Anyhow I signed it.

For nineteen years woman works as PE teacher at Catholic school without incident. But the publication of her mother's obituary, which identifies her as a lesbian, results in her firing for being "immoral."

Courtesy of Opposing Views:  

The firing of a physical education teacher from her job at a Catholic high school in Columbus, Ohio, could be a violation of a city ordinance. 

Carla Hale, 57, worked at Bishop Watterson High School for 19 years. She says school officials handed her a letter from an anonymous parent who had clipped Hale's mother’s obituary. Beside Hale’s name was the name of her female domestic partner. The parent was outraged that Hale would be allowed to teach at the school. 

"I was totally shocked," Hale said. "I mean, I think it was just one of those where everything was drained out of me." 

When she was fired on March 28, her dismissal notice explicitly referred to her same-sex relationship as the basis of her termination. 

Students and other supporters rallied around Hale, starting an online petition to have her job reinstated, which now has more than 10,500 signatures. (As of this post it has 21, 275 signatures. Including mine.) The petition asks the diocese of Columbus to “reinstate faculty member Carla Hale and apologize for discriminating against her on the basis of sexuality.” 

A contract between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus and the Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators establishes that teachers can be terminated on the grounds of immorality or serious unethical conduct. 

The school found Hale in violation of Diocesan Policy 45116.1, stating that Catholic school personnel will set an example of moral behavior, upholding the rules of the Catholic faith. The Church does not support homosexual lifestyles and teaches that people who feel they are attracted to the same sex must never act on those feelings. 

The woman works at the school for 19 years, Does her job very well, and is liked by both students and fellow teachers, And yet suddenly because of who she loves she loses her job?

And this happens right after her mother passes away?

Such Christian compassion on display don't you think?

Well as it turns out there are laws to protect employees from this type of blatant homophobia and discrimination.

There is a city ordinance in Columbus making it illegal for any employer to discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation. It carries up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. 

"We're fortunate in Columbus to have a municipal ordinance that was passed in 2008 that does protect people and there are no exceptions in that ordinance for religious institutions," said her attorney, Tom Tootle.

This is why, for all you Libertarians out there, that we have to give government the power to protect its citizens from unscrupulous, and unethical business practices. 

The woman's only "sin" is that she loves another woman. And by the standards of these primitive superstitious assholes that makes her unfit to educate their children. Personally I am getting tired of this bullshit.