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Saturday, December 14, 2019

News Weakly - 12/14/19

Offensive Compliment
Michael Bloomberg last week felt he had to apologize for complimenting Senator Cory Booker. He called him "well spoken." So sorry. He's not well spoken, and only a racist would think that Cory Booker was well spoken. Come on, people. You must begin with "'Well spoken' can only mean that you're a racist" to conclude, even from the context, that it was intended as a racist remark. And I don't even like Bloomberg.

Murder Ads
Planned Parenthood is running out of time. They're about to lose $60 million in federal funding because of the Trump administration's "gag order" that prevents clinics that use federal dollars to refer women to kill their babies from getting federal dollars. They're outraged and plan to start a million dollar ad campaign to urge people in Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina to contact their senators and get them to change it. Apparently they need your money to keep on killing those babies and it's up to you to get it done.

Try China
A Frenchman in China who plays for a Chinese basketball team was formally warned and fined for failing to look at the flag of China during the pre-game playing of the national anthem. The rule is that the players are supposed to stare at the flag for the duration of the song. He bowed his head instead. I'd bet that they don't have any Colin Kaepernicks there, eh? It always amazes me when people use the unique rights and privileges of this country to protest the unique rights and privileges of this country.

Christmas in California
A church in California decided that they wanted a different sort of nativity scene, so they put Joseph in a chain link cage topped with barbed wire and Mary in another and the baby in the manger in another. Because, as we all know, Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus were illegal immigrants trying to find asylum in Egypt. "We thought about the most famous refugee family in the world, the family of Jesus," lead pastor Karen Ristine said. Oh ... hang on ... I see the problem ... what we have here is a failure to read the Bible. They fled to Egypt, but there is no hint of problems in that story and no suggestion of illegal activity and not even the remote idea of being separated, caged, breaking laws, mistreated ... but using misrepresentations of Jesus to make a political point is fine at this church.

Mutable God
Recently the Religion News Service published a piece by David P. Gushee titled "Christian higher ed can't win the LGBTQ debate unless it transforms." Guess what his argument was. "Gushee received his Ph.D. in Christian ethics from Union Theological Seminary in 1993, having earned his M.Phil. from Union Theological Seminary in 1990. Gushee earned his M.Div. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1987." You'd think he'd know better. His argument is that in order to "win," Christian higher education needs to convert from a traditional, historical, biblical perspective to a modern, cultural, generational perspective. They need to understand that truth is not objective, that Christianity is not set, and that "winning" means "Do whatever the culture tells you." Apparently, then, God changes His mind all the time. At least, that's the only conclusion I can come to. Most disturbing given his level of education (and he's passing it on as an educator). What does it say about most seminaries today?

That's Just Impeachy
So, in its immense sense of hatred justice and without any actual evidence political motives, the House has released its articles of impeachment with which they hope to sweep Vice President Pence into office to replace President Trump. Mind you, it's a long way off. I mean, they still have to vote on it (it is a foregone conclusion) and then it has to go to the Senate and they have to repeat the process and vote on it (it's also a foregone conclusion; ain't gonna happen). Shouldn't take more than, oh, 6-8 more months ... to not impeach him. Too bad, too. I was really hoping to get Pence as president.

Lessons Not Learned
Meet Laurent Simons, a 9-year-old Belgian prodigy who was due to graduate college in mid-2020 with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering. His parents wanted him to graduate in December, before he turned 10. His university said it couldn't be done and he should be happy to graduate in the spring of 2020. So, in an effort to educate their child properly, his parents pulled him out of school. No graduation at all. Lesson learned. Education is not important; getting your way is. If you don't get your way, cut your nose off to spite your face. Got it. Now, they tell me that it was actually was the 9-year-old that chose to drop out because he couldn't graduate before 10. Which only says that he was not ready for college in maturity and his parents let him down by letting him cut off his nose to spite his face. Much better.

Babylon Bee Headlines
I'll leave you with a few headlines from the Babylon Bee:

'You Have Stolen My Dreams And My Childhood,' Says Girl Currently Gracing Cover Of Time Magazine

Trump's Popularity Surges After Nation Learns He May Have Obstructed Congress

Oh, and a follow up to that Nativity display at that church in California, Report: Jesus, Mary, Joseph Were Actually Detained Under Obama Administration.

Always good for a few laughs.

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