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Darling no more
Only days ago during his trip to the United States, Pope Francis was a liberal darling and could no wrong. After he made pronouncements on climate change and illegal immigrants, the left figured the pope was eating out of its hand. And then he went and secretly met with Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to sign marriage licenses for gay couples because she felt to do so would violate her Christian faith.
Panelists on MSNBC’s “All In,” among others, were apoplectic over the action.
“It just shows you,” said anti-religion zealot Dan Savage, “that homophobia is really what unites people across different Christian faiths now, and it’s disgusting.”
Daily Kos columnist Shaun King opined that liberals had “imposed, kind of out of hope, a lot of our views on him.” Nevertheless, he said he was “very deeply disappointed about the meeting,” but maybe they had been “read[ing] too much into what the pope thinks about gay marriage and the LGBT community in general.”
Savage then said any thought about the Catholic Church becoming more liberal was just a “smoke screen.”
“I think it’s very revealing,” he said. ” [T]his secret meeting where he encouraged this woman to continue to discriminate against LGBT couples and then framed her as a conscientious objector I think it really reveals what goes on with the Catholic church under the pope I don’t call it a racket or a scam, but it just shows that the church wishes it could engage in this [discrimination] activity.”
Mining discrimination
The Colorado School of Mines, recently seeking donations for a new athletic facility, offered those who gave, in exchange for a donation, the opportunity to have whatever they liked inscribed on a nameplate that will go in the football locker room. In due time, the university approved phrases such as “Give ‘Em Hell” and “OK gentlemen, it’s time to gird your loins.”
But what Michael Lucas, who donated $2,500, wanted was out of bounds. The former college football player requested the Bible verse citations Colossians 3:23 and Micah 5:9 – not the actual verses – on nameplates. The school said no, adding that the words “Lord,” “God” and “Jesus” – none of which are in the verse citations – were forbidden.
Lucas, backed by the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, has filed a federal lawsuit.
“Public colleges and universities should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas, especially in a forum like this,” ADF Legal Counsel Natalie Decker said in a statement. “The school initially imposed no restrictions – or even guidelines – on the type of message a donor could include, and contrary to what the school is arguing, the First Amendment protects – not restricts – a simple reference to a Bible verse. It’s patently ridiculous to argue that a Bible reference that doesn’t include the text of the verse is somehow inappropriate simply because someone might look it up and see that ‘Lord’ is mentioned there.”
Bitter cup
Hillary Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign has been in free-fall recently, and now she’s lost the Pumpkin Spice Latte vote.
On an open Q&A on Facebook last week, she was asked by a former staffer (since apparently such questions make her more relatable): “Hillary – are you a pumpkin spice kinda gal?”
“Ha!” the 67-year-old former secretary of state replied. “The true answer is I used to be until I saw how many calories were in them.”
Apparently, she had her Starbucks coffee drinks confused, according to The Washington Post. While a grande 2 percent Salted Caramel Mocha has 360 calories and a grande 2 percent White Chocolate Mocha has 400 calories, the fall favorite Pumpkin Spice Latte, grande with 2 percent milk, has but 310 calories.
“It’s practically good for you,” the Post said.
The next day, which happened to be National Coffee Day, the devastating news for the former first lady’s campaign began to pour in.
“Hillary Clinton hates the PSL,” one voter tweeted. “Lost my vote.” Another added, “I don’t take Hillary Clinton’s advice, so I am going to vote for [Marco Rubio] and continue drinking [Pumpkin Spice Lattes].”
Warning: Actress speaks about politics
Businessman Donald Trump is not the favorite of every voter for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, but an actress has weighed in with an outlandish statement about the candidate as Hollywood types who know little about politics and the world seem to do every presidential election.
This time the culprit is Jennifer Lawrence, who said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine that “if Donald Trump becomes president, that will be the end of the world.”
“I genuinely believe that reality television has reached the ultimate place where now even things like this might just be for entertainment,” she said.
However, Lawrence did get in a good zinger, something voters who aren’t so hot on Trump could appreciate.
“It’s either that,” she said of the entertainment value of Trump’s campaign, “or it’s Hillary’s brilliant idea.”