Pot Churches; JW's Rushed Out; allah Baby; Bench Press; GM's Lost Plant; Aborting in Missouri; Abortion in Every Campuses; Nanocar Race; Red-eyed Mutants; 3D Fabric; and Brain Drug

Society

Colorado rejects attempt to ban pot churches coloradoan

The International Church of Cannabis is set to open in Denver on April 20th and has been billed as "the first large venue in the world where adults can legally consume cannabis in a social environment.” According to Steve Berke, the 113 year old church's new landlord, “Elevationists believe that one can find the path to spiritual fulfillment through the ritual use of cannabis.” The church doesn't plan on selling marijuana or accessories, but plans to host guest speakers, artists, comedians, musicians, and documentary film screenings. Despite the affiliation with marijuana, Berke insists: “this is not just a bunch of lazy stoners getting together to get high. We really want to impact [the] neighborhood. We want to do great things for the community.”

Midwife Abortion; Delivering Falafel; Eye See All; Treadmill Legs; and Window Filter

Abortion

Christian midwife must perform abortions or lose job, Swedish court rules washingtontimes

Ellinor Grimmark was blacklisted by the medical community because of her pro-life convictions, despite longstanding Swedish law protecting the conscience rights of medical professionals.

The midwife is now considering whether to appeal the Swedish court’s decision to the European Court of Human Rights echr.coe.int, her lawyers said. A decision there would have major implications for conscience rights across the continent.

Charged Activists; Stripping Funds from PP; Misc Person; Reused Landing; Puddle Shark; Octopus Bot; Tailing Eye; Unparalyzing Thought; and Printed Interior

Abortion

Activists who filmed Planned Parenthood workers charged in California npr.org w!

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the charges against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt on Tuesday, saying the state "will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversations."

Brand Culture; Aborting God's Decision; Brexit Away (Finally?); Viable Target: Air Defenses; Rocket Progress; Those Dancing Feet; and Paperback Not So Dead Afterall

Society

It’s Time for Every Brand to Pick a Side time w!

Five weeks into Donald Trump's Administration, and at a time when expressing cultural values can end decades-long relationships in the time it takes to post 140 characters, consumers and employees are looking for new ways to be heard, represented and served. They’re increasingly voting with their voices, their choices and their wallets. Brands need to take heed, or pay the consequences.

'Beware of Jews' Retraction; Growing China; Stretching Philippines; AI Audit; Finding Recalled Cars; Brain 10x Faster Than Before; Google Filtering Hate; Sunscope; Third Arm Support; Defending Against the Hurtful; and Texan Bathrooms

Antisemitism

Artist behind 'beware of Jews' sign apologises for causing offence theguardian

Franck Allais, a freelance photographer, said the contentious sign was part of an artistic project, which includes depictions of a woman pulling a shopping trolley, a man pushing his wheelchair and a cat.

Allais said he intended the project to be a comment on identity and that the sign in Stamford Hill, one of the largest Hasidic communities in Europe, was not an antisemitic statement. He said he was left shaken by the offence he had caused.

I posted the original story of this 'antisemetic' act yesterday on the previous blog, but appears that I (as well as several others) jumped to conclusions about the intent. I appologize for my part in passing the original story around.

'Beware of Jews'; I Spied on Your Face; Criminal Intent; Unensuring Abortion; Spider Pigs; and Jacketing in

Antisemitism

'Beware of Jews' sign appears in Stamford Hill bbc

The sign depicts the silhouette of an orthodox Jewish man wearing a traditional Fedora hat and was spotted on a lamppost in Stamford Hill on Tuesday.

The Liberty Stumble; Gorsuch Review; Children Arte Their Future; Apes' Personhood; Child of Three; Pro-Life Scrub; Atom Bit; 3D Skyscraper; Power, 10% Off; and Japan's Tour

Society

WATCH: University Students Stumble over Who Has Freedom to Live and Work According to Beliefs adflegal.org v

Don’t like President Trump? It’s fine to tell people you won’t write a speech supporting him. Muslim singer? No one should force you to perform at an Easter service under threat of government punishment. But for a Christian creative professional, photographer, writer, or artist, it seems they must live by a different standard. To get a sense of just how confusing this issue seems to be for some, we visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison to hear what students have to say.

Denial in Graffiti; Boy Dolls; Garfield's Male???; Eno the Binary Chatbot; Religious Liberty in South Dakota; Calls for Even More Abortion; Muddied god; and 3D Printed Grenade Launcher

I know it has been a couple weeks since my last post! I had the opportunity to attend Shepherds Conference a couple weeks ago, which took all my time (and energy!). Last week I played catch up to make up for being off the previous week, and decided to give myself an extra week off from this blog for some breathing room.

But don't worry: In my absence it appears the world has continued to spin...along with the media, politicians, and even tech gurus :) I'm glad to be back, and look forward to getting back in the swings of things.

BTW: There were several great speakers at Shepherds! I hope to post links to a few of them here once they make the media available.

Antisemitism

Seattle synagogue vandalized with Holocaust denial graffiti cnn

Temple De Hirsch Sinai was spray-painted with graffiti calling the Holocaust "fake history," Rabbi Daniel Weiner said.

Cooked News; Lying Lily; CO's Aborted Bills; The North Korea Option; Elevated Russia; Oroville; and Passenger Drones

Fake News

Fake news is killing people's minds, says Apple boss Tim Cook telegraph.co.uk

In an impassioned plea, Mr Cook, boss of the world’s largest company, says that the epidemic of false reports “is a big problem in a lot of the world” and necessitates a crackdown by the authorities and technology firms.

But he is optimistic. “In some ways kids will be the easiest to educate. At least before a certain age, they are very much in listen and understand [mode], and they then push their parents to act. We saw this with environmental issues: kids learning at school and coming home and saying why do you have this plastic bottle? Why are you throwing it away?”

Trans Scouts; Protected LGBTQ; Pregnant People; Young Liberal; Midwife's Battle; Megaphone Executive; Missile Violation; NK Sensors; and Special Service Insects

Society

Boy Scouts of America to welcome transgender youngsters usatoday

The move marks a reversal of a policy in place for a century and is effective for the Boy Scouts scouting.org and the Cub Scouts. The organization vowed to recognize the gender a youngster lists on an application.

Trump's Missing Jew; Three Gender California; Bathroom Bowl Pressure; Scientific Sounding Rant; Pro-Life, Ambivalent-Trump; Sovereign California; and Singled Out in Turkey

Holocaust

Trump fails to mention Jews in Holocaust remembrance statement usatoday

In a departure from predecessors on both sides of the political aisle, President Trump’s statement Friday marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day ushmm.org did not mention the deaths of six million Jews — a lapse the head of the Anti-Defamation League adl.org called “puzzling and troubling.”

Also see Statement by the President on International Holocaust Remembrance Day whitehouse.gov

Designing DNA; Scale Wear; Going Dutch on Abortion; Bible Monitor; Orwell's Facts; 20,000 High; and Chinese Border Missiles

Research

New organisms have been formed using the first ever 6-letter genetic code sciencealert

While every living thing on Earth is formed according to a DNA code made up of four bases (represented by the letters G, T, C and A), these modified E. coli carry an entirely new type of DNA, with two additional DNA bases, X and Y, nestled in their genetic code.

Little Fake News Detectors; StemExpress Blinks; Rise of the Auroch; 2-State Liquid; Perching a Plane; Sick Sensors; and Deciding Robots' Legal Future

Society

If state lawmakers have their way, California schoolchildren may be taught how to spot ‘fake news’ washingtonpost

California Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D) introduced a bill Wednesday that would require the state to establish curriculum standards and frameworks to teach “civic online reasoning” to middle- and high-schoolers. The intention is to help give youngsters “the ability to judge the credibility and quality of information found on Internet Web sites, including social media,” the bill states.

Kentucky Pushes Back; The Very Bad, no Good, Terrible Church; Maximum Wage; Medical Toy; Think it, Shake It, Move it; Carefully Flooding California; and Northern Ireland Earthquake

Abortion

Kentucky abortion bills signed, effective immediately cnn

The first, House Bill 2, now requires a physician or technician to perform an ultrasound, describe and display the ultrasound images to the mother, and provide audio of the fetal heartbeat to the mother before she may have an abortion.

The second measure, Senate Bill 5, prohibits abortions in the state at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill would not apply in cases where an abortion is required to save the life of the mother or prevent serious risk of bodily harm to the mother, but it does not contain exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

Down Home Persecution; Dealing With Trump; The 6 Million Dollar Protest; Hope in Bitcoin; Ad Denied for Pricking Consciences; Home, Far Far Away; and Stronger Than Steel and Superman

Christianity

U.S. on List of Christian-Persecuting Nations wnd

The United States, Mexico and Russia were listed as “new and noteworthy” nations in the 2016 “Hall of Shame Report” published by the Washington, D.C., based human rights group International Christian Concern persecution.org, or ICC.

While ICC notes “there is no comparison between the life of a Christian in the U.S. with persecuted believers overseas,” the group noted a number of “worrying trends as an alarming indication of a decline in religious liberty in the United States.”

Here's the ICC report: Hall of Shame pdf

Jordan's Red Line; Signing Off; Self-Balancing Motorcycle; Holo Cube; Testing Your Future; Law Breaking Pollution; Texas Takes on Bathrooms; The Distressing Cross; When Human Remains Aren't People; Zuckerberg for Office; and Where to Stand to Be Left in the Dark

Israel

Jordanian official: Moving US embassy to Jerusalem would be ‘catastrophic’ jta.org

An embassy move would be a “red line” for Jordan, would “inflame the Islamic and Arab streets” and serve as a “gift to extremists,” [Jordanian minister Momani] said, adding that Jordan would use all possible political and diplomatic means to try and prevent such a decision.

Decapitation Speed Up; Greeced Out; UK's Laser Gun; Super Batteries; Light Rack; Handheld Car Lot; More Sight to the Seeing; Nano-Chimney; Magnetic Drug Delivery; The 103 Satellite Launch; Comet in Sight; and Planned Parenthood vs. the Activist

North Korea

South Korea speeds up creation of Kim Jong Un 'decapitation unit' cnn v

The country is speeding up plans to set up what some call a "decapitation unit," a brigade specifically tasked with targeting North Korea's "wartime command," including leader Kim Jong Un, according to a South Korea Defense Ministry official.

The brigade was initially supposed to be ready in 2019, but the Defense Ministry now says it'll be established "by this year."

Enshrined, Planned Funding; 3 Parent Approval; South Sea Range; Taiwan to Go; Duterte Shows 'em How; Sanctions Missile; Journalists (not) in Turkey; Driving, Touching Air; and AI Typewriter

Abortion

Obama Bars States From Denying Federal Money to Planned Parenthood nytimes

Mindful of the clock ticking down to a Trump presidency, the Obama administration issued a final rule on Wednesday to bar states from withholding federal family-planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates and other health clinics that provide abortions. The measure takes effect two days before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald J. Trump.

According to the department, repealing the rule would require a new rule-making process, or a joint resolution of disapproval by the House and Senate, with concurrence by the new president.

20 Too Many, Yet Better; Licensed Priest in Horns; Jews, Forever; Short-Term Government; 8 Secret Data Requests; Wet-Dry Military; Forget Your Troubles; Robotic Touch; The Uber Blow Off; Google Spin Out; and No...It's Amazon Air

Abortion

Ohio Gov. Kasich Signs 20-Week Abortion Limit, Rejects 'Heartbeat Bill' npr.org

The so-called heartbeat bill, which Kasich rejected, was considered more vulnerable to legal challenge. Provisions of the measure would have essentially limited the period during which women could get an abortion to about six weeks, when many women don't even realize they're pregnant, reports the Associated Press.

A Charlie Brown Grinch; Ze Oxford; Macy's Planned Parenthood; Spaghetti Bolognaise to the Rescue!; Venezuela's Currency Yank; Aleppo Falls; Anti-Israel Missiles; Sound Fridge; and Painless Patch

Society

Texas school gets in trouble with [Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton over 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' dallasnews

The 6-foot poster causing all the fuss was taped to a door at a middle school and shows Linus, Charlie Brown's best friend, citing Scripture about the birth of Christ. [Luke 2:8-12]