Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapillus. Click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapillus. Click for full size.
© C. Ford. All rights reserved.
The newly described dinosaur Zhenyuanlong suni measured 5 feet in length and was a relative of the velociraptor. The fossil’s well-preserved wings bore complex feathers, not simple hairlike structures. Illustration by Zhao Chuang.
Click image for full size. I don’t know about you, but if something like that was chasing me…godsdamn. Feathers, much more terrifying than scales, hands down.
They Had Feathers: Is the World Ready to See Dinosaurs as They Really Were? (Via Pharyngula.)
Shutterstock.
Kali Holloway has an article at AlterNet about how America compares to the rest of the world.
…The conservative American notion that people with far better healthcare, civil rights laws and gun control “hate our freedom” is a wishful imperialist delusion. Worse, it’s not fooling anybody at this point.
That said, if all the world’s a stage, America is a prime player: a rich, loud, attention-seeking celebrity not fully deserving of its starring role, often putting in a critically reviled performance and tending toward histrionics that threaten to ruin the show for everybody else. (Also, embarrassingly, possibly the last to know that its career as top biller is in rapid decline.) To the outside onlooker, American culture—I’m consolidating an infinitely layered thing to save time and space—is contradictory and bizarre, hypocritical and self-congratulatory. Its national character is a textbook study in narcissistic tendencies coupled with crushing insecurity issues.
How to reconcile a country that fetishizes violence and is squeamish about sex; conflates Christianity and consumerism; says it loves liberty yet made human rights violations a founding principle? In conversations with non-Americans, should the topic of the U.S. come up, there are often expressions of incredulity and bewilderment about things that seem weird when you aren’t from here. Talk and think about those things enough, and they also start to seem objectively weird if you are from here, too.
That perception is held even by countries that share similarities with America. The Pew Research Center rounded up surveys from recent years that point out some of the ways American and European attitudes diverge, not infrequently widely. Obviously, there’s plenty of cultural difference among European countries, and surveys aren’t necessarily nuanced in describing how the citizens of entire countries see the world. But these polls do tell us something about the things large swaths of those countries agree on, as well as how those popular ideas tend to differ from pervasive notions and sensibilities within America.
Swale, a collaborative floating food project, is dedicated to rethinking and challenging New York City’s connection to our environment. Built on an 80-foot by 30-foot floating platform, Swale contains an edible forest garden. Functioning as both a sculpture and a tool, Swale provides free healthy food at the intersection of public art and service. With Swale, we want to reinforce water as a commons, and work towards fresh food as a commons too.
Swale is an artwork. Art is integral to imagining new worlds. By continuing to create and explore new ways of living, we hope that Swale will strengthen our ways of collaborating, of cooperating, and of supporting one another. At its heart, Swale is a call to action. It asks us to reconsider our food systems, to confirm our belief in food as a human right, and to pave pathways to create public food in public space.
This is a great way to get fresh, healthy food to known food deserts. Have a look around Swale’s space, and donate if you can.
Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel.
From Right Wing Watch: On today’s “Faith and Freedom” radio program, Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver asserted that North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law and the Religious Right’s boycott of Target are necessary because efforts to allow transgender people to use facilities that match their gender identity are being pushed by pedophilia advocates.
“The fact is we know sexual assaults occur,” he said, “they are going to occur with or without these laws, there’s no question about that. People commit sexual assaults, they commit them in buildings, they commit them in restrooms; but what you have now done, knowing that sexual assaults occur, knowing that they occur in these places where women are trapped and they can’t get out, now what we’ve done, through these laws, is we’ve opened the door for every rapist and pedophile.”
“Frankly,” he continued, “when you look at some of the people behind the North Carolina law and some of these other laws, who are they? They have been identified, some of them that have been advocating this, as pedophiles. Some of this is being financed by those who are actively promoting pedophilia.”
Naturally, Staver did not state just which groups are advocating child abuse.
FDI screen grab.
Faith Driven Consumers are Christians who choose to live out our faith in every arena of life – including the marketplace. We make daily decisions based on our biblical worldview and see everything we do in the context of stewardship. Our heartbeat is to give honor to God with every choice we make.
Like other groups, Faith Driven Consumers are a minority in the rich tapestry of American diversity. As a rapidly emerging and economically powerful movement with a legitimate voice in the public square, Faith Driven Consumers comprise 17 percent of the population – 41 million Americans – and spend $2 trillion annually.
While many companies routinely target other consumer segments, Faith Driven Consumers have been largely overlooked. However, we’re actively seeking to do business with companies that welcome us and respect our values – and we’re ready, willing and able to switch our loyalties to brands that include us.
As Faith Driven Consumers, we choose to match our wallets to our worldview and support companies whose corporate actions are compatible with biblical faith. This is action every one of us can take, every day. And we can advocate for and grow faith-compatible businesses all over America.
Faith Driven Consumers are creating space in the American marketplace for those who hold to a biblical worldview. If you seek to steward the resources you’ve been entrusted in ways that create a more faith-compatible marketplace, join the Faith Driven Consumer community today. It all starts with you!
Faith Driven Consumer Website.
The Advocate took a closer look at some of the companies listed.
a group called Faith Driven Consumer, which purports to represent “Christians who choose to live out our faith in every arena of life — including the marketplace,” put together a list of retailers that it suggests its followers patronize instead of Target. But are these companies anti-LGBT? Well, not all of them. Click through the next pages for an analysis.
Nykolas Alford and Stephen Thomas.
An engaged same-sex couple in Mississippi today filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the implementation of the state’s sweeping anti-LGBT “religious freedom” law before it takes effect July 1.
The federal complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, contends that Mississippi’s Protecting Freedom of Conscience From Government Discrimination Act, also known as House Bill 1523, violates the promises of equal protection guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
The named plaintiffs are Nykola Alford and Stephen Thomas (pictured above), who have been engaged for nearly two years, according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union and its Mississippi chapter, which is representing the couple.
“When HB 1523 passed, it was heartbreaking because it takes away our chance to finally be treated equally,” the couple said in the ACLU’s statement. “At a time when we’re supposed to be excited as a couple engaged to be married, this law permits discrimination against us simply because of who we are. This is not the Mississippi we’re proud to call home. We’re hopeful others will come to realize this and not allow this harmful measure to become law.”
Facing a federal government about to crack down, Gov. Pat McCrory is suing to stop them, arguing there’s no such thing as federal protections for transgender people.
At a press conference at the state capitol in Raleigh today, McCrory repeated his earlier claims that he and his conservative colleagues in the legislature did not “seek out” this issue, placing the blame squarely on members of the Charlotte City Council, which approved a trans-inclusive public accommodations ordinance in February. The statewide law was drafted explicitly as a response to these protections, which McCrory has consistently called “government overreach.”
[…]
North Carolina’s chief legal counsel, Bob Stephens, confirmed during today’s press conference that the state’s lawsuit, seeking declaratory judgment, “is our response to that deadline” set by the DOJ. “So we’ve met the deadline and now we’ll go forward,” he added.
The lawsuit blasts the United States, in particular the federal Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, “for their radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which would prevent plaintiffs from protecting the bodily privacy rights of state employees while accommodating the needs of transgendered state employees.”
Mischaracterizing the law as a “common sense privacy policy,” the complaint admits that House Bill 2 does not grant citizens access to public restrooms based on their gender identity. The suit continues:
“The Department [of Justice] contends that North Carolina’s common sense privacy policy constitutes a pattern or practice of discriminating against transgender employees in the terms and conditions of their employment because it does not give employees an unfettered right to use the bathroom or changing facility of their choice based on gender identity. The Department’s position is a baseless and blatant overreach.”
North Carolina’s complaint contends that there is no legal precedent affirming that transgender individuals are protected by federal employment law, but relies upon cases decided up to 16 years ago, notably failing to mention the numerous pro-trans equality rulings handed down in federal courts under the Obama administration.
At today’s press conference, Stephens told reporters that the DOJ is misunderstanding federal civil rights law, and argued that transgender people are not protected under Title VII. “The class of people that the Justice Department are referring to, are not a protected class,” Stephens told reporters, speaking about transgender employees who are now barred from using public restrooms that match their gender identity.
The Advocate has the full story. This just keeps plumbing brand new depths of stupidity and bigotry. How is it possible that holding on to bigotry is worth so much?
Columbus division of police
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police in Ohio’s capital are searching for a man who’s been pilfering plumbing from stores, hospitals and restaurants.
Dubbed the Bathroom Bandit, Columbus police say he enters various local establishments, visits the men’s restroom, disconnects the plumbing and leaves with the stolen parts in his backpack.
A police department spokeswoman says the businesses won’t only have to replace the parts, but hire a plumber to repair the man’s toilet tinkering. She said his crimes may be unusual, but they’re still felonies.
Okay, I’ll admit to being terribly curious as to the why here. The ‘Bathroom Bandit’ doesn’t seem to be terribly concerned with being identified or caught.
UPDATE: The bathroom bandit, Gilbert Duwayne Courts, has been caught. The police say Courts was stealing the fixtures for scrap to support a drug habit.
Via Colossal Art.
!['North Rim Grand Canyon Cape Royal' [Shutterstock]](https://i0.wp.com/freethoughtblogs.com/affinity/files/2016/05/North-Rim-Grand-Canyon-Cape-Royal-Shutterstock-800x430.jpg?ssl=1)
‘North Rim Grand Canyon Cape Royal’ [Shutterstock]
The National Park Service is opening the door to corporate sponsorship by expanding the definition of philanthropy.
Corporate sponsors won’t be able to place advertising or marketing slogans at the 411 national parks, but they will be allowed to prominently display their logos and gain naming rights for some features in return for their gifts, reported the Washington Post.
Proposed new rules — which are set to go into effect later this year — will allow corporations to design and build park buildings and operate them over the long term, and some donors will be granted naming rights to park programs, positions and endowments.
[…]
The new rules for park managers include a shift away from protecting environmental resources toward fundraising.
“Does that become a major part of the job?” said John Garder, budget and appropriations director for the National Parks Conservation Association. “Can the park service say, ‘This person’s doing an awesome job protecting bison, but they’re not raising enough money?’”
Full Story Here. Every day, I get the feeling that a huge sign has been put out, ‘AmericaLand Park! A fine example of how to fuck up a country.’
Quiverfull founder and blogger Vaughn Ohlman.
Once denied permission to hold the retreat, Ohlman and the Quiverfull cult began to cry persecution, believing that people’s horror over the idea of marrying off children has more to do with Christian religion rather than the idea that children are neither physically or mentally prepared for marriage. It was also the girls’ lack of choice that enraged many, as Ohlman himself wrote that “there is no decision to be made once the betrothal is final. There is no approval required or veto allowed.”
Once the Quiverfull retreat was cancelled, Ohlman took to his blog to express his own disgust at the “left wing” media and “anti-Christian” sites that expressed disgust over the idea of children marrying.
“Well our main blog and my daughter-in-law’s blog have been picked up by Raw Story, Free Jinger, and a dozen or so more left wing and anti-Christian sites. Words cannot describe how much we appreciate their well thought out, pleasantly written, Biblical commentary on our various posts. They are especially impressed with our proposed ‘Get Them Married’ retreat idea.”
Ohlman then tries to claim that arranged marriage forced upon children, as advocated by the Quiverfull movement, is preferable to what else is offered.
“The government schools and other organizations charged with managing the sexual lives of our children seem to believe that our children should learn all about the joys of anal sex at five years old, and by twelve should be getting condoms out of vending machines, rolling in the sack with their partner of choice, and then (when the condoms fail) going out and murdering their children at taxpayer expense without even bothering to inform their parents.”
Ohlman’s blog has since become protected, but he did make previous claims that the Bible “provides many reasons for marriage, and most if not all of them demonstrate that marriage typically ought to happen in the youth (as in, before the age of 20).” But, Ohlman claims that he and his fundamentalist Christian cult does have limits — the children must be over the age of 11. They also have to have breasts.
There’s more at Inquisitr. It’s good to shine a light on such things, but the downside is that they will simply go further underground, but this practice won’t stop. I wonder, will any women be able to get out in the future?
With a Monday deadline looming and federal funds on the line, Gov. McCrory said he needs more time to consider how he addresses his state’s anti-LGBT legislation.
In a Sunday interview with Fox News host Chris Wallace, he revealed that he had requested an extension from the federal government. In response, officials offered a week-long deadline “if the governor admits publicly that their language regarding bathrooms does in fact discriminate.”
“I’m not going to publicly announce that something discriminates,” McCrory said, continuing, “there is no clear definition of gender identity. It is the federal government being a bully.”
Everyone’s a bully except for you, right, Pat?
[…]
Wallace questioned McCrory’s classification of the federal government’s response to HB 2 as “overreach,” comparing the debate to bathrooms segregated by race.
“We can definitely define the race of people. It’s very hard to define transgender or gender identity,” McCrory responded.
It is? How about a person’s gender being what they say it is? Problem solved. I’m getting flashbacks to when people used to grouse and complain that you couldn’t tell men and women apart because of those damn dirty hippies and that long hair, oh my.