2794

The replies tear him apart, but it appears he has everybody blocked.

2795

The organization is a mixture of religious ministry, grassroots political organizing and disaster prepping. At its core, their movement hopes to save the country by reshaping it to their interpretation of the Founding Fathers’ ideals.

They are advocating that their followers, and offshoot groups, form their own communities that will no longer have to rely on corporate America or the “tyrannical” federal government. They are encouraging neighbors to support “principled men” — such as themselves — who are willing to nullify laws and court rulings they don’t agree with, like abortion, gay marriage, gun restrictions and federal standards for driver’s licenses.

For their members who are not in political office, they advocate doing their part by finding their way onto juries in order to acquit people charged with crimes they personally believe are “unjust.”

If that doesn’t work, they will have “community preparedness centers," where there will be access to “reading material, tools, food storage, ammo, and more.”

The centers will be there when the economy collapses, a natural disaster occurs, a foreign nation attacks, the federal debt dooms the country or an electromagnetic pulse wipes out the nation’s infrastructure. All are scenarios they have considered.

2796

I’d also suggest moving away from any junkyards, because super mutants can be a pain.

2797

With a membership larger than many small towns, Briarwood has asked the state Legislature for permission to set up a private law enforcement department to watch over its flock and schools. The bill comes at a time when places of worship around the country are stepping up security, but a church-only police force raises constitutional questions that are ripe for a legal challenge. And opponents worry crimes could be covered up by the church.

Experts believe a church with its own police department would be unprecedented in the U.S.

“I’ve never even heard of this,” said Heath Grant, an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “From the perspective of security, churches usually have relationships with the local police departments. I don’t know why that wouldn’t be sufficient.”

The Birmingham church hires off-duty police officers from nearby jurisdictions to cover its events, but it says there often are not enough officers available to help. Church officials also worry about mass shootings, such as the attacks at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut and the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina.

The bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Arnold Mooney, whose wife and daughter work at Briarwood Christian School. All three of his children graduated from Briarwood schools.

“Officer presence is the No. 1 line of defense,” he said in an email.

Twenty-one of Mooney’s colleagues in the Republican-controlled House support his bill, which passed the Legislature last year but was not signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley. The governor did not give a reason for not acting on the proposal in 2016 and has given no indication what he will do this year.

Debate in the House is expected before the session ends in May.

2798

They’re called security guards. They don’t need law-enforcement powers.

2799

Sometimes Rick has the best lines. I think it’s probably pretty accurate as well.

2800

[quote=“Clay, post:2794, topic:126885, full:true”]https://twitter.com/ewerickson/status/842835996253274112

The replies tear him apart, but it appears he has everybody blocked.
[/quote]

There are some scholars who think Jesus was talking about his disciples in that passage, but there are also scholars who argue it is the poor. Most Christians that I have experience with simply ignore the passage. How Erick goes from “disciples” to “fellow Christians” is beyond me, there was no such thing as Christians when Jesus was speaking.

It also makes zero sense from a logical perspective, as Jesus is making good works towards the ‘least of these’ as a criteria for membership into the kingdom of heaven (i.e. what would later be considered as Christians). So to be a Christian you have to give stuff to other Christians? How does the first person become a Christian then? It actually sounds like something those televangelists would love.

2801

Who says Trump doesn’t work quickly?

2802

https://twitter.com/Max_Fisher/status/843652058330906624

2803
2804

Hmm… I had Falco in my head.

2805

That guy’s got Trump Jr.'s haircut.

2806
2808

Guess this can go here:

(The article linked in the tweet is a fawning treatise on what makes Tillerson and by extension US businessmen great. Granted, Tillerson isn’t as horrible as Devos or Pruitt or the vast majority of Bannon’s minions, but that bar is so low a slug could clear it.)

2809

I guess this belongs i this thread.

http://europe.newsweek.com/trump-abandoning-leadership-free-world-571625

I cannot fathom how much has happened in the last few weeks and how fast the old political landscape is already changing.

Alone in my country, Germany, old certainties are no longer valid. If you told me last summer that there would be a possibility that the EU had to defend itself on its own and with Brexit and the uncertainty about France we would need our own nukes to defend East Europe, I would have laughed in your face. Today that is still a highly unlikely scenario but it isn´t unthinkable anymore.

https://www.ft.com/content/277695dc-ec52-11e6-ba01-119a44939bb6

http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21717981-donald-trumps-questioning-natos-credibility-has-berlin-thinking-unthinkable-germans-are

So if Trump managed to change such a hot topic in my, rather pacifistic country from ‘No way you lunatic!’ to ‘well… let´s consider what we should do with a projected defense budget that would exceed that of Russia…’ within weeks, what policy shifts are currently happening in other countries…?

I guess the era of stability and predictability that is a hallmark of american ascendacy in the 20th century is waning.

2810

Back to the discussion of budget cuts to research - and the assertion that military spending will compensate because it includes research that might be applicable to civilian life. There is a good article from yesterday at oilprice.com which removes that fantasy:

One item that stood out was the elimination of funding for a much-heralded energy R&D unit within the DOE that is crucial for long-term energy innovation. Known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the agency is modeled after the highly-respected DARPA, a section of the Pentagon that has been responsible for military tech innovation since its inception in the 1950s in response to the launching of Sputnik.

ARPA-E funds high-risk, high-reward technologies that would not otherwise receive funding from the private sector because of the risk. The agency is relatively young, created a decade ago and funded with an initial $400 million as part of the 2009 stimulus package. ARPA-E has funded several hundred projects with its relatively paltry budget, everything from energy storage to biofuels, promising new renewable energy technologies, carbon capture and much more. The funded projects have, in turn, attracted an additional $1.8 billion in private sector financing, and 56 projects have moved forward to form new companies.

ARPA-E? Gone, completely. $400 million to $0.

One example is 1366 Technologies, a company that pioneered a new solar wafer that can be produced at half of the cost of prevailing technology and with one-third less energy. But the company is now in limbo. It has plans to build a manufacturing facility in upstate New York but has been banking on a loan guarantee from the Energy Department.

Nope, the loan budget is gone too.

But on the plus side even Republicans are starting to balk at this and so it will probably be watered down to just a terribly painful stab wound, rather than decapitation as proposed.

2811

Just 'cause:

2812

I could do with a hellride off this godawful shadow right now.

2813

👍

12345

2814

Trump said he would drain the swamp
Trump said he would build a wall
Trump took me on a war hellride
Trump is a fucking asshole
Trump has tiny hands
Trump has tiny hands
Trump has tiny hands
Trump has tiny hand
Rock over Chicago, rock over London
Cialis - when the moment is right