United Methodist Church Splinters Over Some Members’ Refusal To Accept LGBTQ Christians

This is why there are about 45,000 different Christian denominations, and counting:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/united-methodist-church-lgbtq-schism_n_5c74470ee4b03a10c2309f0c

So much for Jesus' prayer for Christian unity:

John 17:20-23 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, THAT THEY MAY BE ONE AS WE ARE ONE--I in them and you in me--SO THAT THEY MAY BE BROUGHT TO COMPLETE UNITY. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

Mitch McConnell Says Democrats Are To Blame For Election Fraud That Benefited GOP

In case you need more evidence Mitch McConnell is an asshole:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-north-carolina-election-fraud_n_5c7570cee4b02efbde1f42a8

Scientists Are 99.9999 Percent Sure Humans Caused Climate Change

"The narrative out there that scientists don’t know the cause of climate change is wrong. We do."

https://futurism.com/climate-change-caused-humans

Are we on the road to civilization collapse?

This article lists what factors brought down previous civilizations...and those factors are growing in our civilization:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190218-are-we-on-the-road-to-civilisation-collapse

At High Enough CO2 Levels, Clouds Will Start to Physically Break Apart

This paints an unlikely but ugly picture:

https://www.sciencealert.com/high-levels-of-co2-could-stop-these-cooling-clouds-from-forming-warn-scientists

Trump Wants To Set Up ‘Ad Hoc’ Panel To Fight Conclusions About Climate Change: Report

This is really no different than the propaganda that was used by cigarette manufacturers to defend against cancer accusations:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-climate-change-panel-deniers_n_5c734b44e4b00eed0835f1d5

and

http://time.com/5535086/trump-climate-change-national-emergency/

The Warmest and Coolest Months since 1880

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/ataimc/the_warmest_and_coolest_months_since_1880_oc/

This is Trump’s America. See this interactive map to see where hate groups exist in your state.

Great, we in California have the most (but at least we're not first per capita):

https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map

Trump’s Presidency Is Getting Weaker

Good! This should help minimize the damage he causes:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-21/donald-trump-keeps-picking-losing-fights

Trump’s Pick To Lead Climate Panel Once Compared CO2 To Jews In Nazi Germany

More incompetency:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/william-happer-climate-jews_n_5c6e0f2be4b0f40774cbfa70

A tipping point on climate change

This time it's some good news:

https://www.axios.com/climate-change-action-tipping-point-056c7163-3258-4f18-ab19-8efc289ef956.html

Leaked Fox News Segment With Rutger Bregman Gets Out of Hand

So worth watching the whole video:

https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1098282209834950657

The 4 Legal Challenges Facing Trump's Emergency Declaration

All sorts of legal hurdles for Drumpf:

http://time.com/5532449/donald-trump-emergency-declaration-lawsuits/

When the Nazis held a ‘Pro-America’ Rally in New York

A mostly unknown stain on US history:

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2019/02/19/when-the-nazis-held-a-pro-america-rally-in-new-york/

A Fence, Steel Slats or ‘Whatever You Want to Call It’: A Detailed Timeline of Trump’s Words About the Wall

This just puts into perspective how it's all about politics, not about benefiting the country:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/13/upshot/detailed-timeline-trumps-words-border-wall.html

Republicans Keep Admitting Everything They Said About Obama Was a Lie

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/republicans-admit-everything-they-said-about-obama-was-a-lie.html?ch=99&share=d33358db

Chris asks Stephen Miller about past National Emergencies

I love it when even Faux News pushes back against this administration:

https://twitter.com/FoxNewsSunday/status/1097148819819552768

The Green New Deal Could Launch Republican Climate Solutions

As long as it gets done and done right:

http://time.com/5529135/green-new-deal-republicans-carbon-tax/

Trump’s most hypocritical quotes on unilateral executive action

Trump has a tweet for everything:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/15/trumps-national-emergency-is-exactly-kind-thing-he-used-call-failure-leadership/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.243a5a652880

After Explosive Sex Abuse Allegations, Southern Baptist Leaders Promise Reform

Of course these guys were not going to be any better than the Catholic church:

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/11/693668194/southern-baptist-leaders-grapple-with-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct-by-pastor

House Dems plan vast Russia probe

Good!

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-76c2bd4f-4f3b-4626-9902-a8fa1560c732.html?chunk=0&utm_term=emshare#story0

In the age of fake news, here’s how schools are teaching kids to think like fact-checkers

"In their own words, the researchers initially found themselves “rejecting ideas for tasks because we thought they would be too easy”—in other words, that students would find it obvious whether or not information was reliable.  They could not have been more wrong. After an initial pilot round, the researchers realized that most students lacked the basic ability to recognize credible information or partisan junk online, or to tell sponsored content apart from real articles. As the team later wrote in their report, “many assume that because young people are fluent in social media they are equally savvy about what they find there. Our work shows the opposite.”"

https://qz.com/1533747/in-the-age-of-fake-news-heres-how-schools-are-teaching-kids-to-think-like-fact-checkers/

The 3 Richest Americans Hold More Wealth Than Bottom 50% Of The Country, Study Finds

This is insane. And it's why capitalism--despite all its benefits--needs regulation and oversight:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/11/09/the-3-richest-americans-hold-more-wealth-than-bottom-50-of-country-study-finds/#51c568d03cf8

What is socialism like in Scandinavia?

I'm a fan of social democracy:

https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/what-is-socialism-scandinavia?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 'Green New Deal' Wants to Get Rid of Nuclear Power. That's a Great Idea.

Too slow to develop, and too expensive:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a26255413/green-new-deal-nuclear-power/

With AI, it's all hands on deck

FOR ONCE Trump is doing something actually good. It needs a lot more detail, but it's a great first step:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-future-541ce70d-20d4-4d38-b339-1fda98d7b3e8.html

Insects Are Dying En Masse, Risking ‘Catastrophic’ Collapse Of Earth’s Ecosystems

Yet another reason why climate change mitigation needs to be at the top of our agenda:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/insect-population-decline-extinction_us_5c611921e4b0f9e1b17f097d

What tackling climate change means, illustrated

Different perspectives:

https://www.axios.com/what-tackling-climate-change-means-illustrated-5102232a-524b-46c7-8d40-9314535ac56e.html

China’s Aging Population Is a Major Threat to Its Future

So despite China's rising political/economic/military clout, it seems they may have planted the seeds to their own collapse during the one-child policy era:

http://time.com/5523805/china-aging-population-working-age/

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out Dark Money

AOC does have chutzpah:

https://twitter.com/JKCorden/status/1093634176845139968

As Trump Visits El Paso to Sell His Wall, Locals Refute His False Claims About Their City

We need more Republicans like this who refute Trump's border wall claims:

http://time.com/5522904/donald-trump-el-paso-wall/

18 of the 19 warmest years have occurred since 2001

An effective and depressing illustration of the rising world temperatures:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-1ddb5186-b30e-4d07-81d2-af79a70386f8.html

Also note...the last five years have been the hottest in recorded history....

Your online shopping has a startling hidden cost

Well this is disappointing...although certainly no surprise:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90301638/your-online-shopping-has-a-startling-hidden-cost

A Wall And Trump Immigration Policies Benefit Drug Cartels

Ironically, it appears Trump's border wall will do the exact opposite of what he claims:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2019/02/07/a-wall-and-trump-immigration-policies-benefit-drug-cartels/#11ae6b977888

The real fight begins: Dems vow "MRI" of Trump money

The Democrats are carefully but definitely stepping over Trump's "red line":

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-1ddb5186-b30e-4d07-81d2-af79a70386f8.html

An Arizona City Warns It Will Sue If Razor Wire Isn't Removed From Its Border Fence

Glad to see border towns defying Trump's excessive border protection fixation:

http://time.com/5523605/nogales-arizona-razor-wire-border/

Middle Class Dads Freak Out About Trump Tax Hike

Another self-induced assault on his own supporters finally coming home to roost:

https://www.fatherly.com/news/middle-class-angry-trump-tax-hike

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Unveils Landmark Green New Deal Resolution

AOC has spunk. Climate change IS the biggest threat we face, so I'm glad support for legislation is gaining steam:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ocasio-cortez-green-new-deal_us_5c588e7fe4b09293b20730d7

Democrats Are Taking the First Steps Toward Getting Trump's Taxes. But Don't Expect to See Them Soon

Yeah, do it right, not fast:

http://time.com/5523040/donald-trump-taxes-house-investigation/

Donald Trump is Facing a Dilemma That Could Define His Presidency

Trump's support is waning and he's bloviated himself into a corner. Music to my ears:

http://time.com/5523776/donald-trump-presidency-dilemma/

Why sex behind the Iron Curtain was better for women

Well this is curious:

https://bigthink.com/sex-relationships/women-sex-socialism

Here Are the Facts Behind President Trump's Biggest State of the Union Claims

A good detailed rundown:

http://time.com/5520715/state-union-donald-trump-fact-check/

What Is the Most "Godless" City on Earth?

Alas, it's Shanghai, but at least there are a lot of other atheistic cities:

https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/what-is-the-most-godless-city-on-earth

The World Might Actually Run Out of People

This is unexpected, if true:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-world-might-actually-run-out-of-people/

Soak the rich? Americans say go for it

It's about time people started coming around to seeing the problem with such massive wealth inequality:

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/04/democrats-taxes-economy-policy-2020-1144874

'Willful Ignorance.' Inside President Trump's Troubled Intelligence Briefings

Trump rejects intelligence. Yeah, that sounds about right:

http://time.com/5518947/donald-trump-intelligence-briefings-national-security/

Surely ignoring valid intelligence from one's own intelligence agencies is tantamount to treason?

Winner-take-all race to rule tech

This is why it's imperative to keep anti-science people out of government:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-ceabc528-0d60-49bd-90c9-f15644caa2c0.html

7-Year-Old Boy Killed While Being Punished For Failing To Memorize Bible Verses

And they say religious belief deserves respect?

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2019/02/7-year-old-boy-killed-while-being-punished-for-failing-to-memorize-bible-verses/

New EPA Advisory Board Member Believes Burning Fossil Fuels Is Good For Earth

Hiring a witch doctor to give you medical advice:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-epa-board-member-john-christy-is-climate-change-skeptci_us_5c565b84e4b00187b55185fa

Democrats Announce Hearing On Trump’s Tax Returns

Great to hear! Although Mnuchin could cause problems so it has to be done right:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-tax-returns-hearing_us_5c536582e4b0bdf0e7d972f0

Howard Schultz Could Flip the 2020 Election. Just Not Necessarily to Trump's Favor

I'd still rather him gone, frankly:

http://time.com/5517544/howard-schultz-president-trump/

More Republicans Than You Think Support Action on Climate Change

This is encouraging:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/29/opinion/sunday/republicans-climate-change-polls.html

How Donald Trump Lost More Than Just the Shutdown

I hope this perspective prevails:

http://time.com/5513459/donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-shutdown-congress/

How is the psychology of conservatives different from that of liberals?

An interesting post from a conservative that does a pretty good job of explaining the overall differences between liberals and conservatives:

https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-psychology-of-conservatives-different-from-that-of-liberals/answer/Obinna-Onwuchekwa-2?ch=99&share=779cb364&srid=piGp

My meeting with Donald Trump: A damaged, pathetic personality — whose obvious impairment has only gotten worse

An interesting perspective from someone who's met the Tangerine Turd:

https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/my-meeting-with-donald-trump-a-damaged-pathetic-personality-whose-obvious-impairment-has-only-gotten-worse/

Evangelical Foster Agency Gets Federal Waiver To Reject LGBTQ Or Non-Christian Parents

Using federal funds to promote a religion rather than working in the best interest of the kids:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/miracle-hill-south-carolina-foster-care_us_5c49d498e4b0287e5b88b91d

Trump administration quietly changes definition of "domestic violence" and "sexual assault"

Yet another reason to despise the Trump administration:

https://www.salon.com/2019/01/23/trump-administration-quietly-changes-definition-of-domestic-violence-and-sexual-assault/

Extreme Weather Is Preventing Plants From Processing Carbon

More bad news....

https://futurism.com/the-byte/co2-plants-processing-carbon

More Americans Believe in Global Warming Than Ever Before

Good to hear it's going in the right direction:

https://futurism.com/the-byte/global-warming-survey-americans

'A Tipping Point.' Greenland's Ice Is Melting Much Faster Than Previously Thought, Scientists Say

Ice melting on land is much more problematic than ice melting at sea, since it raises the sea level much more. And Greenland has a LOT of ice:

http://time.com/5509148/greenland-ice-melting-four-times-faster/

Chris Wallace presses Pence: "You could open the government tomorrow"

I LIKE it when the Fox News dog bites its owner:

https://twitter.com/mattshuham/status/1087018774153310211

This Engineer Is An Actual Wall Expert And She Just Destroyed Trump’s Wall Proposal In One Post

Add to this the fact that 90% of drugs come through legal ports of entry and that almost two thirds of undocumented people simply enter the country on a legal visa and then overstay the deadline, and it's pretty clear the wall is a boondoggle:

https://www.boredpanda.com/actual-engineer-wall-explanation-amy-patrick/

Collusion Isn't a Specific Crime. But These Four Things Are Against the Law

This spells out the legal problems brought out by Trump allegedly telling Cohen to lie to Congress:

http://time.com/5506815/collusion-crime-obstruction-finance-trump-cohen/

US Undocumented Population Continued to Fall from 2016 to 2017, and Visa Overstays Significantly Exceeded Illegal Crossings for the Seventh Consecutive Year

Yet another reason why building an expensive wall is a boondoggle:

http://cmsny.org/publications/essay-2017-undocumented-and-overstays/

Exactly How Bad Is Trump At Making Deals? Even Worse Than You Think.

I've yet to see any good defense of anything to do with this mouth-breather:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harvard-law-negotiation-bad-trump-deal-making-donald_us_5c3e42cee4b0e0baf541d979

Trump's strategic planning inspiration: Mike Tyson

More insight into the Planner in Chief:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-9e0942a3-c61e-4e89-91e3-4ae4197d0878.html

A Complete Psychological Analysis of Trump's Support

This clarifies a few things:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201812/complete-psychological-analysis-trumps-support

How marginal tax rates actually work, explained with a cartoon

A useful explanation anyone can understand...even a conservative:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/7/18171975/tax-bracket-marginal-cartoon-ocasio-cortez-70-percent

'Scary': Warming of Oceans Is Equivalent to 1.5 Atomic Bombs Every Second Over Past 150 Years

Put in these terms, it's alarming:

https://www.ecowatch.com/ocean-warming-atomic-bombs-2625539789.html

President Trump says he's cutting off FEMA money for California fires

This is a pretty dickish move:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/09/donald-trump-fema-california-wildfires/2523581002/

Is Frum right that if conservatives become convinced they can not win by democratic means at the ballot box, then they will give up on democracy?

I've generally thought the Electoral College was a bad idea, but this gives some credible reason for it (although I think we can do better):

https://www.quora.com/Is-Frum-right-that-if-conservatives-become-convinced-they-can-not-win-by-democratic-means-at-the-ballot-box-then-they-will-give-up-on-democracy/answer/Jon-Davis-10?ch=99&share=b893686e&srid=piGp

Why Trump’s Generals Have Abandoned Ship

This makes a lot of sense. Not just why generals have abandoned Trump, but why Trump abandoned generals:

http://time.com/5492636/donald-trump-generals/

Where climate change will hit the U.S. hardest

Good to know if you're planning to move for good:

https://www.axios.com/where-climate-change-will-hit-the-us-hardest-1513303282-6566eea4-6369-4588-88cc-c2886db20b70.html

Demand for Combustion Engine Cars May Have Peaked in 2018

Encouraging news, if true:

https://futurism.com/the-byte/combustion-engine-cars-peaked-2018

If you want to spot a narcissist, look at the eyebrows

Just sayin'...

https://bigthink.com/matt-davis/if-you-want-to-spot-a-narcissist-look-at-the-eyebrows

Latino support for GOP steady despite Trump immigration talk

This is both amazing and disheartening to me:

https://www.apnews.com/d7b5b923883141d99a5c0da768a5e59a

Fact checking fibbing politicians works, study finds

Great to hear this works...but it may not in the US:

https://www.geo.tv/latest/222692-fact-checking-fibbing-politicians-works-study-finds

The Tucker Carlson Boycott Isn’t Censorship. It’s Fighting Speech With Speech.

Good point:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-tucker-carlson-boycott-censorship_us_5c1c1a65e4b05c88b6f68c5c

While Paris and Washington Battled Over Climate Measures, Costa Rica Went 300 Days on Renewable Energy Alone

This is encouraging, although they're a small country and evidently have abundant alternative energy resources:

https://www.newsweek.com/while-paris-and-washington-rejected-climate-measures-costa-rica-went-300-days-1251147

CBO Dismisses Costs Of Global Warming, Posing Hurdle For Climate Legislation

On what basis is the CBO making such a contradictory claim?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congressional-budget-office-climate-change_us_5c1a735de4b01059bfc62b8c

Green New Deal Has Overwhelming Bipartisan Support, Poll Finds. At Least, For Now.

This should be a winning platform...and it's critical!

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/green-new-deal-poll_us_5c169f2ae4b05d7e5d8332a5

Creator Of Floating Garbage Collector Struggling To Capture Plastic In Pacific

Well this is disappointing:

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/18/677663325/creator-of-floating-garbage-collector-struggling-to-capture-plastic-in-pacific

17 holes, rats everywhere

A summary of 17 known investigations into Trump. 17!

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-b7b32462-96fe-4743-a9a1-806c1356f73b.html

COP24 Climate change deal to bring pact to life

Very interesting interactive chart. Notice that from 1880 until 1940, temperatures were almost entirely below the average for the entire 20th century:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46582025

Mountain of Evidence Confirms: Climate Change Is Really, Really Bad for Human Health and Well-Being

A good summary of the bad effects:

https://www.livescience.com/64300-climate-change-endangers-human-health.html

Wisconsin’s Scott Walker Signs Bills Stripping Powers From Incoming Governor

What a dick move. The courts had better rule against this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/us/wisconsin-governor-scott-walker.html

Once Again, House Republicans Are Trying to Repeal the Johnson Amendment

How I despise the religious right:

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2018/12/12/once-again-house-republicans-are-trying-to-repeal-the-johnson-amendment/

Green New Deal Gains Key Support At Home As Trump Undercuts UN Climate Talks Abroad

At least the non-Trumpian parts of America are providing some good ideas:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/green-new-deal-democratic-support_us_5c117be8e4b0449012f65edf

NIH says cancer study also hit by fetal tissue ban

Yet another Trump fuck you to evidence-based policy:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/12/trump-administration-has-quietly-barred-nih-scientists-acquiring-fetal-tissue

Trump EPA Proposes Major Rollback Of Federal Water Protections

More Trumpfuckery:

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/11/675477583/trump-epa-proposes-big-changes-to-federal-water-protections

Following Trump lead, Republicans avoid "climate change"

This is reason enough to kick out Republican lawmakers, since they avoid even talking about climate change:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-aca76f69-2982-4b0e-a36c-512c21841dc2.html

Trump's "reality tremor"

Cracks are forming in Trump's support base:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-aca76f69-2982-4b0e-a36c-512c21841dc2.html

America's BIG problem

Liberals will get richer and stronger with more advantages, while conservatives will have fewer opportunities:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-3430f387-eb2f-4406-ae57-93965ade736b.html?chunk=0&utm_term=emshare#story0

How the U.S. Became the Top Climate Leader — Despite Trump’s Denialism

I did not expect this...but it's actually somewhat depressing because it means we're the best among a sorry bunch:

http://time.com/5473013/cop24-climate-change-europe-eu-trump/

Why We Don't Need a Moonshot to Solve Climate Change

The painful global politics of responding to the looming climate change disaster:

http://time.com/5473167/climate-change-katowice-poland-conference/

Family Separation

A good John Oliver take on the immigration issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygVX1z6tDGI&feature=youtu.be

Republicans Around The Country Are Working To Declare Democrats Unconstitutional

This is how democracy dies:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wisconsin-michigan-north-carolina-lame-duc_us_5c0b4c42e4b0ab8cf693737b

Don't Expect Mueller to Charge a Grand Conspiracy

Perhaps a more realistic assessment of how things will likely roll out:

http://time.com/5472317/mueller-investigation-results/

EPA Moves To Roll Back Coal Plant Rule In A Stunning Rebuke Of Global Climate Talks

And this is another step...backwards. Deliberately ignoring scientific warnings is tantamount to treason:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-coal_us_5c096995e4b0b6cdaf5d16ba

California Now Requires Solar Panels on All New Homes

I think this is a good step:

https://futurism.com/california-first-state-require-solar-panels-new-homes