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.”

Hate Crusade; Playgrounds in Court; Russian Intercept Deux; Taking the Fight to Abu; Pact Uncertainty Lingers; and Negative Mass

Society

LGBTQ Advocates Seek to Label Conservative Opponents as Hate Groups reuters

The Eliminate Hate Campaign seeks to draw attention to groups it sees as extreme and hateful against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, accusing them of hiding behind ostensibly Christian or family values.

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.

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.

With Love from Hitler; Still Some Religious Protection; 3D Printing Funds; Zircon 2017; Metal Prediction; A Human Touch; and Two-Legged Delivery

Anti-Semitism

A Hitler Valentine’s Day card was handed out on campus. University officials want to know why. washingtonpost

The card was in a bag that was handed to the students Wednesday night by a member of the College Republicans at Central Michigan, which immediately apologized while distancing itself from the incident. The card, which the group called “very inappropriate,” shows Adolf Hitler alongside the words “my love 4 u burns like 6,000 jews,” according to Central Michigan Life, a student newspaper.

Canada's Wedding Photographer; A Peace of Bowl; Sanctioning that Old Enemy; Vespa's Bot; and Mindreading Regulations

Society

Montreal photographer allegedly refuses to shoot gay wedding ctvnews.ca

“I mentioned that there’s only going to be one house, since we already live with each other, and I said there is no bride: we’re two guys.”

I haven't yet seen a less biased story, but I believe that this is the company's site: Premiere Production premiereproduction.net

Holocaust Denial Result; Tunnel Tales; Declaring War on New Zealand; NK Sees Nuclear Opportunity; Secret Deals No Longer; China's Moon-Mars Hop; Position by the Centimeter; Mech Wars; Murder on Echo's Watch; Gene Drive Made EZ; Diamond Wires; Push, Pull, Power; AI Job Loss...or Not; The 3-Day Wait Free Speech; and Andy Stanely Opens His Mouth Again

Google

Holocaust Denial Article No Longer in Google’s Top Search Results forward

Now, when users search “Did the Holocaust happen?” they must first scroll through articles about the search controversy, two articles by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ushmm.org, and a wikipedia page on Holocaust denial before they arrive at the Stormfront article.

What's interesting about this is the potential ramifications if, say, people started complaining that the top results were "anti-homosexual" or promoted only one Way (John 14:16) or the like. I'm all for Holocaust denial (AKA anti-semetic) sites being treated as the "fake news" they are, but to intervene to control how specific results get sorted up (or down) seems to be a slipperly slope.

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]

Embracing the Sting; Death by Insurance; Sermons on their Mind; Balfour Repentance; and Seeing Again (One Day)

Suicide

The right to die on one’s own terms: At 94, sick, tired and living alone, ‘Dad got the death he wanted’ news.nationalpost

Richard Brown wanted to die. An elderly widower who lived by himself in the same Vancouver house that he’d owned for decades, he wasn’t terminally ill. He wasn’t immobile. He had coronary heart disease and he’d endured painful episodes of gout. He’d been in hospital frequently.

Ireland's Coercion Cake; Hate = Flag Celebration; The First 10 Transitions; NY/CA Universities: Excellence in Antisemitism; Torah Journeys; Turkey's Stretchy Border; NK Fume; International First: Instant Trade; The Global Economy Resistance Blues; Predicting Future Trial Outcomes; China Bots; Water from Air; and Too Big to Exist

Society

[Ireland] 'Gay cake' appeal: Christian bakers Ashers lose appeal bbc v

Reacting to the ruling, Daniel McArthur from Ashers said he was "extremely disappointed" adding that it undermined "democratic freedom, religious freedom and free speech".

What Will Obama Do?; Aleppo Crush; Triple Down on Military; Philippines Talks Divorce; Another NK Fail; Ghost War Games; Toxic Springs; Hot Not-Dog; Getting Around Privacy; White Blight; Speak Freely or Graduate; Father Shakes Son's Arm; Air Fuel; ExoMars Phone Home; and Cloudy Pluto

Israel

Netanyahu tells settlers of worries of possible U.S. action at U.N. in.reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday expressed concern that U.S. President Barack Obama, during the final days of his term in office, might take diplomatic steps that could harm the fate of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Obama's strong opposition to settlement building on land Palestinians seek for a future state has also raised speculation in Israel that he might try to define parameters for a final peace agreement that has eluded Israel and the Palestinians since interim deals were signed in the early 1990s.

Closed Liberty; Church Bathrooms; Russia's Regress Begins; Aussies Block (ish) SSM; Drugged Out; Bio-Hacking at the Top; Censoring the Censors; Nod to Pay; Nano Transistor; Spacey Brain; Houthi in the Machine; and Drone Death

Society

Christian-owned bakery in Oregon closes after religious freedom fight results in steep fines christiandaily

On Sept. 29, the Christian-owned bakery Sweet Cakes thanked the people who prayed for and supported the business, but at the same time announced that the bakery has already closed. No explanation was provided on the Facebook statement, Catholic News Agency details.

According to Q13 Fox News, Sweet Cakes' storefront in Oregon has been closed since 2013. However, owners Aaron and Melissa Klein continued to operate their business from their home. Their legal representative Hiram Sasser explained that the bakery was closed "months ago" but the couple still received inquiries for possible orders, thus the Facebook announcement.

Broken Gods; Total Abortion Ban Possible (Hint: Not Here); 3 Parent Baby Born; Origin Myth; Swiss Unveiling Muslims; Predictive Policing Blues; Approved Satan Club; Bye Bye Internet; Veto Vetoed; Hurry Up and Deploy; UN's Dream Chaser; Translation Almost Human Good; Sitting in Line; and Sam Schmidt the Driver

Archaeology

Gate shrine from First Temple period unearthed at Tel Lachish National Park jpost

A rare gate shrine dating to the First Temple period (8th century BCE), unearthed in Tel Lachish National Park, near Mount Hebron, may prove King Hezekiah’s Biblically-recorded efforts to abolish worship in the region, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.

Also see II Kings 18:1-8

Forced Murder; Christi Cross; Colombian Peace; (Toy) Air Show; On Being Judge, Jury, and God; Born High; Roman Coins in Japan; Shrinking Mercury; SpaceX's Lucid Dream; Augmented Lowe's; Googling Everyone; Risk of Driving; Uber Awaaaay; Printing the Future; and Dr. Computer

Abortion

Forced abortion and euthanasia? creation

A group of ‘bioethicists’ have recently released a 10-point “consensus statement” that outlines how they think doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers who conscientiously object to ‘medical’ procedures like abortion and euthanasia should be forced to believe in and practice them

Cleaning Out the Jews; The Atheist Woman Minister; Celebratory Prayer, Hurt Feelings; Heroin of the Book; Getting to Know You...; $4.4B Stealth Destroyer; App for the Blind; Water Spray Away; Video Pictures; and Balanced Roboting

Israel

PM: World silent as Palestinians seek ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Jews in West Bank timesofisrael v

Speaking in English in a video message posted on his Facebook page, Netanyahu asked whether people in other parts of the world would accept such demands in their own countries.

See also Netanyahu 'ethnic cleansing' comment against Palestinians draws U.S. rebuke reuters

Intolerant Religious Code Words; Unprotecting >24 Week Babies; The No Homework Experiment; Hiroshima-Sized Test; Russia Shows Off in Crimea; Volvo Miner; and Riding a 3 Wheelie

Society

‘Religious freedom,’ ‘liberty’ just ‘code words’ for intolerance, U.S. Civil Rights chairman says washingtontimes

The remarks, released Thursday in a report on “Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties,” is the latest example of an increasingly hostile reception in liberal circles to one of the six specified rights at the core of the First Amendment — the “free exercise” of religion.

Enemy of the State; Plan D(ie); Welcoming Evangelicals; Bad Hair Scene; Light Sound; Abbas the KGB Spy?; Father Russia Welcomes Peace Talks; Humanless Driverless Cars; Chosen for Alien Hunting Abilities; and 3D Printing Milk

Society

How A Cakemaker Became An Enemy Of The State thefederalist

...those 30 seconds [when Phillips declined to participate in celebrating the wedding of David Mullins and Charlie Craig] were clarifying in many other ways. It showed us that most of the media are incapable (or unwilling) to lay out the debate over religious freedom in an honest or enlightening way. It’s shown us that many of those who praise the diversity of American life have, in reality, lost their compassion and the ability to tolerate anyone who disagrees with their worldview.

A Gushee Response; Pragmatically Arguing Against Life; AI Weapon Dreamin'; Subway Plugs; Recreating Faces; Self-Administered, Brain-Controlled Drugs; and Deep Diving Anti-Tumor Bacteria

Religious Liberty

On David Gushee’s Dishonesty mereorthodoxy

I could quote multiple lines, but this one will suffice, to begin. In talking about those awful backwards bigots (that he used to hang out with), Gushee writes, “(Religious conservatives) are organizing legal defense efforts under the guise of religious liberty, and interpreting their plight as religious persecution.”

This is another response to Mr. Gushee, mentioned by Tim Challies today.

Conservative Christians - Such a Progress Drag; A Gender Perspective; Antisemitic Jews; Sharing Turkey; Seeing Through the Rat; Self-Building Phone; DNA Calculator; and Man-Made Eclipse

Religious Liberty

We Have Been Warned theamericanconservative

Last year, the Baptist ethicist David Gushee david-gushee.squarespace was quoted by gay New York Times columnist Frank Bruni as saying that “Conservative Christian religion is the last bulwark against full acceptance of L.G.B.T. people.” Gushee has fully embraced gay rights, and doesn’t simply tolerate gay relationships, but affirms their goodness. Now he has written an extraordinarily important column laying out the future for Christians who reject the Sexual Revolution in its latest form.

Judged Not Liberal; Transgender Delayed on Technicality; Religious Freedom and Gasps of Horror; Syria: One Way or Another; Iranian Shield; NK Snub; Poor Folk Down Below; Teaching Kids to Hate Jews; Apologize Just Enough; and Stereo in Space

Sorry there was no blog yesterday - I prepared it, but then after running some unexpected errands I forgot that I never actually posted it :) Today includes yesterday's articles...

Society

Christian judge fights to keep job world.wng.org

The Wyoming Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics wyo.gov has asked the high court to remove Judge Ruth Neely, the Pinedale municipal judge and part-time circuit court magistrate, from office, ban her for life from the Wyoming judiciary, and fine her $40,000. Her offense? In response to a reporter’s question, Neely stated her Christian perspective on marriage precluded her from officiating a same-sex wedding. That statement, the commission said, was enough to show bias and an inability to adjudicate the law impartially.