Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of the decade, so it’s no great surprise that Duke University chose it as one of the summer reading selections for its incoming freshman class. But the selection has also sparked controversy among some students who have refused to read Fun Home, citing personal religious and moral beliefs.
The Duke Chronicle profiled a number of students who objected to being asked to read Fun Home, which depicts Bechdel’s experience coming out as a lesbian, as well as her father’s own closeted homosexuality. “I feel as if I would have to compromise my personal Christian moral beliefs to read it,” wrote freshman Brian Grasso in a much-discussed Facebook post. (Read more from “Duke Freshmen Refuse to Read Fun Home, Citing Christian Beliefs” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-25 02:10:302015-08-25 02:10:30Duke Freshmen Refuse to Read Fun Home, Citing Christian Beliefs
A photo of a little boy in St. Louis, Missouri, helping a classmate tie her shoe at school went viral.
The boy’s mother originally posted the photo to the St. Louis Language Immersion School Facebook page. It later went viral after Richmond, Virginia, news reporter Karla Redditte shared it on her Facebook page, garnering over 16,000 likes and nearly 7,000 shares.
Photo Credit: Facebook
“This is a picture of little Randy, who is in 1st grade, stopping to help his classmate tie her shoe at the St. Louis Language Immersion School,” Redditte wrote. (Read more from “See This Heartwarming Photo of Boy Helping Girl at School That Has Gone Viral” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-25 02:07:442015-08-25 02:07:44See This Heartwarming Photo of Boy Helping Girl at School That Has Gone Viral
By Kasey Jackson. It has been a public mantra of Planned Parenthood since the Clinton administration – this idea that abortion should be safe, and legal, but also, as rare as possible. With induced abortion being the most invasive and painful medical procedure available to prevent and/or end an unintended pregnancy, even those that passionately identify as pro-choice agree that preventing an unintended pregnancy is preferred over the need to terminate one. Both pro-life activists and Planned Parenthood affiliates alike publicly celebrate and take credit for the fact that abortion numbers across the United States are at the lowest point since 1973 . . .
I recently had the opportunity to speak with a post-abortive woman by the name of Nancy Tanner who shared her story with the Silent No More Awareness Campaign about her experience at a Washington D.C. Planned Parenthood clinic where she had her abortion:
“I was second-guessing my decision to have the abortion,” Nancy says. “And as I was filling out the paperwork, I saw a permission slip that dealt with the disposal of the ‘products of conception.'”
After reading the permission slip, Nancy realized that the form gave Planned Parenthood permission to donate her fetus for scientific research, and she didn’t feel comfortable signing the form. She says that the nurse must have sensed her uneasiness about signing it, because she recalled that the nurse “asked me if I was an organ donor, and I told her that I was.” Nancy said, “she told me that this (the fetal tissue donation) was of a similar value” . . .
I said I didn’t want to sign it (the fetal tissue donation consent form) and they said I had to or I couldn’t have the abortion. I didn’t want my baby to be used for scientific research and I was told, “Don’t worry, it’s not a baby.” I told her I had two daughters already and I knew what a baby was. She said, “We don’t think its a baby.”
(Read more from “Woman: Planned Parenthood Said I Had to Donate This, or I Couldn’t Get the Abortion” HERE)
Boehner Aide, Sister of CEO Who Discussed Shipping ‘Intact’ Aborted Baby Parts, Resigns to Join Lobbying Firm
By Michael W. Chapman. Charlotte Ivancic — the older sister of Cate Dyer who runs the biotech company StemExpress, and who discussed and laughed about shipping “intact” aborted baby parts in an undercover video released on Friday – is leaving her position as the health policy adviser to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to go to work for the lobbying firm Tarplin, Downs & Young.
The resignation of Ivancic–who worked for Boehner and as legal counsel to the House Budget Committee–was announced on August 5, as reported in The Hill.
In late July, StemExpress and its founder and CEO, Cate Dyer, were mentioned in undercover videos of Planned Parenthood’s harvesting of aborted baby parts by the Center for Medical Progress, a pro-life organization.
StemExpress obtained a temporary restraining order on July 28 against the release of any further investigative videos, but that order was lifted on Aug. 21 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joanne O’Donnell.
After the restraining order was lifted, the Center for Medical Progress released a new video (on Aug. 21) that includes footage of a luncheon meeting with StemExpress’ Cate Dyer and the investigators who discuss how the procurement, supply, and shipping of aborted baby parts and their tissue operates. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-24 02:09:172015-08-24 02:09:17Woman: Planned Parenthood Said I Had to Donate This, or I Couldn’t Get the Abortion
Sen. Ted Cruz, who has assiduously courted evangelicals throughout his presidential run, will take a lead role in the launch this week of an ambitious 50-state campaign to end taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood — a move that is likely to give the GOP candidate a major primary-season boost in the fierce battle for social-conservative and evangelical voters.
More than 100,000 pastors received e-mail invitations over the weekend to participate in conference calls with Cruz on Tuesday in which they will learn details of the plan to mobilize churchgoers in every congressional district beginning Aug. 30. The requests were sent on the heels of the Texas Republican’s “Rally for Religious Liberty,” which drew 2,500 people to a Des Moines ballroom Friday.
“The recent exposure of Planned Parenthood’s barbaric practices has brought about a pressing need to end taxpayer support of this institution,” Cruz said in the e-mail call to action distributed by the American Renewal Project, an organization of conservative pastors.
The push comes as Cruz seeks to grab a decisive edge in a crowded primary-within-a-primary, with half a dozen GOP contenders battling for what he has referred to as “the evangelical bracket.”
Roughly 1 in 4 voters have identified themselves as evangelical in exit polls from the 2004 campaign on. In key Republican contests such as Iowa, and in some of the Southern states that Cruz has said are critical to his run, that figure was higher during the last presidential campaign — nearly 50 percent. (Read more from “Cruz’s Evangelical Outreach Shifts Into High Gear” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-24 02:01:322015-08-24 02:01:32Cruz’s Evangelical Outreach Shifts Into High Gear
Tougher State Department rules governing federal workers’ speech — covering everything from their congressional testimony to tweets — have critics warning of a chilling effect that could be a way to put officials on notice as Congress probes the Benghazi attack and Hillary Clinton email scandal.
“Boy, does this smell like bad fish,” said Peter Van Buren, an ex-foreign service officer who was squeezed out of his job in 2012 after he published a book and a personal blog critical of the State Department’s Iraq reconstruction efforts.
“This does seem kind of coincidental that these new rules, after three years, have been issued in the same time frame as the Hillary Clinton [email] situation … and looking forward to [Benghazi] hearings in October,” he told FoxNews.com. “It looks like they are trying to chill the speech of their employees.”
The 19-page revised rules, first reported by the blog Diplopundit, were issued on July 27 and include three major changes or clarifications, critics say, that could clamp down on government workers’ speech. They include specific wording about congressional testimony, wait times for review of blog posts and social media like tweets, and additional restrictions on what material can be published in a personal capacity by either current or former employees.
“It’s an absolute overreach,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told The Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal. (Read more from “Critics Say New State Department Guidelines Meant to ‘Chill’ Employee Speech” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-08-24 01:59:252015-08-24 01:59:25Critics Say New State Department Guidelines Meant to ‘Chill’ Employee Speech
By Daily Mail Reporter. A second, even bigger, cache of files exposing details about the adultery website Ashley Madison has been released.
Hacking group ‘the Impact team’ at lunchtime on Thursday released another mine of documents and confidential information to back up their first 9.7 gigabyte leak, according to Vice.
The new documents were dumped with a taunting message to the adultery website’s founder as exposed users began to publicly admit their involvement.
‘Hey Noel, you can admit it’s real now,’ read the post – presumably directed at the company’s millionaire CEO Noel Biderman, who has refused to admit the material is all legitimate.
The 20GB is focused on the inner workings of the website rather than individual subscribers but the release will do little to calm the nerves of the cheaters whose personal details have been exposed. (Read more from “Hackers Dump SECOND, Even Bigger Batch of Ashley Madison Records” HERE)
Report: Popular Christian Video Blogger Had Ashley Madison Account
By Michael Allen. Sam Rader, a popular Christian blogger (along with his wife Nia), was allegedly a member of the adultery web site Ashley Madison, according to a new report.
The couple, who have two small children, made news earlier this month when Sam secretly tested his wife’s urine from a toilet and told her that she was pregnant. Nia claimed three days later to have miscarried, but some medical experts questioned the pregnancy, noted Buzzfeed News. In response, Sam followed up with diatribe against the “haters,” and said his family was being persecuted for being Christians.
The Daily Mail reports today that Sam was listed as a former paid member per the Ashley Madison data that was recently dumped online by hackers.
Sam allegedly paid Ashley Madison $189 twice in September 2013, which would have been when his second child was born during his fourth year of marriage to Nia. There were allegedly four more payments by Sam to Ashley Madison for $14 each.
According to the Daily Mail, the account info was first revealed in an online 4chan forum, which are notorious for exposing hacked content. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-08-22 03:11:442015-08-22 03:11:44Hackers Dump SECOND, Even Bigger Batch of Ashley Madison Records
The mother of one Ohio elementary school student is enlisting the assistance of local and social media to determine why a recent classroom assignment was peppered with what she felt to be inappropriate references.
She posted a social media photo showing an assignment sent home on the second day of the school year, prompting the press and concerned parents to share the image.
Specifically, references to liquor and food stamps were deemed particularly controversial, the unidentified parent concluded.
She updated her original Facebook message after contacting the teacher who assigned the homework:
I suggested that with questionable wording, he should, maybe, have the pages retyped with new words and recipes he agreed. So not sure this resolved anything, but at least this teacher is aware that parents do pay attention to their kids’ assignments.
(Read more from “When a Mom Spotted This Question on Her Fourth Grader’s Math Homework, She Lost It” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-22 03:09:462015-08-22 03:09:46When a Mom Spotted This Question on Her Fourth Grader’s Math Homework, She Lost It
(Editor’s note: this is likely a garbage poll, similar the scientifically vacuous work of child-molesting Alfred Kinsey, but it reflects how the left is attempting to convince society that pretty much everyone is a pervert) According to a new poll, 31 percent of Americans between the ages of 18-29 do not identify as exclusively heterosexual on the seven point “Kinsey Scale.”
The 0-6 scale, created by sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, has a range of sexual orientation from completely heterosexual (0) to completely homosexual (6).
The YouGov poll found that 78 percent of all Americans are totally heterosexual, but only 64 percent of people between the ages of 18-29 were.
When it comes to bisexuality, 24 percent of Americans, ages 30-44, claim to be on that scale, but only 8 percent (or less) of people over 45 years old would classify themselves that way. (Read more from “Poll: 31 Percent of Young Americans Are Not Completely Heterosexual” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-22 03:02:432015-08-22 03:02:43Poll: 31 Percent of Young Americans Are Not Completely Heterosexual
By Kate Scanlon. Arkansas and Utah have become the fourth and fifth states to block or partially block taxpayer dollars from going to Planned Parenthood, following a series of undercover videos depicting senior executives discussing prices for fetal body parts.
Planned Parenthood spokespersons have condemned the Center for Medical Progress, the pro-life organization behind the videos, as “anti-choice extremists” and the videos as “heavily edited” . . .
On Friday, the governor of Arkansas directed the state to end its Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood, and the governor of Utah ordered the state to stop distributing funds to the organization.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said in a statement that he has directed the state’s Department of Human Services to end its contracts with the organization.
“It is apparent that after the recent revelations on the actions of Planned Parenthood, that this organization does not represent the values of the people of our state and Arkansas is better served by terminating any and all existing contracts with them. This includes their affiliated organization, Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma,” Hutchinson said. (Read more from “Arkansas, Utah Become the Latest States to Defund Planned Parenthood” HERE)
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Bobby Jindal Plays Planned Parenthood Videos on Massive Screen Outside Governor’s Mansion
By Austin Ruse. Bobby Jindal is showing once more he’s making the biggest play of any 2016 candidate for the pro-life vote.
This afternoon, while abortion supporters protested outside the Governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge, Jindal set up a huge movie screen and speakers and played on a continuous loop all of the videos released in recent weeks showing the brutality of Planned Parenthood’s baby-parts business.
One of the problems faced by the Center for Medical Progress is that many people are refusing the watch the grisly undercover videos where Planned Parenthood personnel discuss dissecting aborted babies in order to sell their eyes, lungs, livers, hearts, and even brains.
Among the handful of states that have either started investigations or defunded Planned Parenthood altogether is Jindal’s Louisiana. Supporters of Planned Parenthood are protesting Jindal’s moves against Planned Parenthood funding. Earlier this month, Jindal ended the state’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood’s Louisiana state director Melissa Flournoy said today, “Governor Jindal isn’t even in Louisiana today, but he’s made sure to prove that he’s always ready to put politics before Louisianan’s health.” She called his screening of the videos “a stunt”, which is certainly is, and certainly one to get under the skin of the protesters. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-21 23:44:402015-08-21 23:44:40Arkansas, Utah Become the Latest States to Defund Planned Parenthood
Given what the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has just announced, the next phase of Caitlyn Jenner’s new reality show — if there is one — might be shot behind bars.
The Los Angeles Times reports that authorities will soon present to prosecutors evidence that could support charges against Jenner in connection with the deadly crash in which he was involved on Pacific Coast Highway earlier this year. Investigators say that Jenner was “driving at an unsafe speed for the road conditions that day” in February when his vehicle hit a car driven by a woman named Kim Howe. She died in the chain-reaction crash.
“The evidence will be presented to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office next week. Prosecutors will review the case and decide whether to formally charge Jenner. Typically, a single misdemeanor manslaughter charge could carry a sentence of a year in jail,” according to the Times report.
Because the deadly crash involved a high-profile celebrity — one who has been honored for “courage” by ESPN and now stars in the I Am Cait reality series on E! — the exhaustive sheriff’s investigation has taken some six months to conclude. The Times article on the possible charges against Jenner notes:
At the time of the crash near Corral Canyon Road in Malibu, authorities said Howe’s Lexus rear-ended Steindorff’s Prius when it slowed down or suddenly stopped, and that Jenner’s Escalade then rear-ended Howe’s car, thrusting it into oncoming traffic. A Hummer struck Howe’s Lexus after it was pushed into traffic.
(Read more from “Police Announce Bombshell About Bruce Jenner That Could Mean Huge Trouble” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-08-21 23:43:132015-08-21 23:43:13Police Announce Bombshell About Bruce Jenner That Could Mean Huge Trouble
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of the decade, so it’s no great surprise that Duke University chose it as one of the summer reading selections for its incoming freshman class. But the selection has also sparked controversy among some students who have refused to read Fun Home, citing personal religious and moral beliefs.
