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Have Evangelicals Who Support Trump Lost Their Values? IN 2006, the television comedy “The Office” aired an episode in which one of the characters, Dwight Schrute, nervously faces the prospect of delivering a speech after winning the title of top salesman of the year for his company, Dunder Mifflin. As a prank, his co-worker preps him for his moment by cribbing a speech from a dictator, coaching him to deliver it by pounding the lectern and waving his arms wildly. Dwig... 1

Baptist Pastor Crushes Kim Davis And The Hypocrisy Of His Fellow Evangelicals Pastor Russell Williams of McCormick Road Baptist Church in Florida says that Davis and her fans are actually hurting Christianity by committing hypocrisy and acting so vile that it turns people away from religion. Williams posting on his Facebook page begins:"Since I am a pastor of a southern Baptist church please allow me to weigh in on the case of Kim Davis, the lady in Kentucky who refuses to issue a marriage license...

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Why You are Key to a Successful 2016 Political Revolution in the U.S. Two of major elements for a successful 2016 political revolution in the U.S. will be the increased awareness of the corruption and/or unresponsiveness of our political leaders, via social media, and the subsequent record voter turnout in 2016. According to the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer, friends and family are the #1 most trusted content creators on social networking sites, therefore you are key to a successful 201... 2

The Grand Old Party's Future Shock In a week of painstakingly drafted Supreme Court decisions, no literary effort was crafted more gingerly than Jeb Bush's statement following the high court's 5-to-4 endorsement of same-sex marriage rights on Friday. First, the former Florida governor paid homage to his beliefs and to evangelical political orthodoxy. "Guided by my faith, I believe in traditional marriage," he wrote. Then, he quickly pivoted to the more popu... 1

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Exposes TPP's Contents; Other Elected Officials Should Do the Same The debate in the Senate on fast track Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) begins on Tuesday, May 19. This is an opportunity for Senators to tell their colleagues the truth about what is in the TPP. (R-AL) Senator Jeff Sessions' "Dear Colleague" letter revealed to members of Congress what he read. He told the truth about what the TPP says and why Congress should oppose it in a five page letter to his colleagues. Senators from... 2

Hillary's Prayer: Hillary Clinton's Religion and Politics "It was an elegant example of the Clinton style, a rhetorical maneuver subtle, bold, and banal all at once. During a Democratic candidate forum in June, hosted by the liberal evangelical group Sojourners, Hillary Clinton fielded a softball query about Bill's infidelity: How had her faith gotten her through the Lewinsky scandal?" After a glancing shot at Republican "pharisees," Clinton explained that, of course, her "very s...

Russell Brand's Critique of Sean Hannity (It Really Doesn't Get Much Better than This) England's outrageous but brilliant bad boy, Russell Brand, takes a few moments to make a thoughtful (!) critique of a particular broadcast of Sean Hannity's Fox News show, from the comfort of his sofa. Calmly, and almost supernaturally spot-on, Mr. Brand creates what must be one of the truly great, classic TV reviews in history.... 2

44 Facts About The Death Of The Middle Class That Every American Should Know There just aren't as many "middle class jobs" as there used to be. In fact, just six years ago there were about six million more full-time jobs in our economy than there are right now. Those jobs are being replaced by part-time jobs and temp jobs. The number one employer in America today is Wal-Mart and the number two employer in America today is a temp agency (Kelly Services) but you can't support a family on those kinds of ... 5

"Mad Men Party in a Modern Family world" Snub Chris Christie over Medicaid Choice Highlighted in Nate Silvers' New York Times' article: Conservatives' Love Affair With Christie Is Over was Mr. Christie became the eighth Republican governor to announce that he will accept Medicaid expansion under the president's health care law, in spite of his party's general opposition to the law. Some human endeavors bring out the best in people, others the best and worse, and even others like politics, more often than n...

The Land of the Binge - NYTimes.com " Moderation. It was once held up as an indisputable virtue, virtually synonymous with prudence. Don't get too carried away with any one thing. Don't become too set in your ways. That was the message from parents and teachers and from our culture"We compete extremely (look at Lance). Work out extremely (look all around you). Eat extremely. Watch extreme amounts of whatever we've decided we love, which we love in extremis. Eve...

The Assassination Bureau: the CIA and Zero Dark Thirty Article about the Oscar-nominated movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, "Zero Dark Thirty", and its presentation of the President and CIA's right to go around the world killing people.

You Are Going to Die - NYTimes.com "Plenty of people before me have lamented the way that we in industrialized countries regard our elderly as unproductive workers or obsolete products, and lock them away in institutions instead of taking them into our own homes out of devotion and duty. Most of these critiques are directed at the indifference and cruelty thus displayed to the elderly; what I wonder about is what it's doing to the rest of us." "Segregating t...

Torture and the Dark Side of "Zero Dark Thirty" Critique of the Oscar-nominated film "Zero Dark Thirty" and an analysis of the controversy surrounding its depiction of torture. 2

"Overcoming Powerlessness" by Ralph Nader "In the Depression-Wracked 1930s, the famous British economist John Maynard Keynes wrote an essay titled "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren." In that piece, he made a prophecy that we have shamelessly failed to fulfill. At the time of his writing, the world economy had reached a level of productivity that would enable society to eliminate the "economic problem"--that is, the persistence of abject poverty. "The econo... 1

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It's Time to Hate Mass Murder and the "Liberal" and "Conservative" Idiots Who Help It Happen A provocative rant by Frank Schaeffer, NY Times bestselling author of "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back."

Paul Krugman: Life, Death and Deficits Right now the most dangerous zombie is probably the claim that rising life expectancy justifies a rise in both the Social Security retirement age and the age of eligibility for Medicare. Even some Democrats -- including, according to reports, the president -- have seemed susceptible to this argument. But it's a cruel, foolish idea -- cruel in the case of Social Security, foolish in the case of Medicare -- and we shouldn't let ... 2

The attack on the California Community College System: Financialization, Wall Street cyber education, savaging education Stripping students of a liberal arts education, forcing them on job tracks for corporate domination, creating the need for more student debt as students are forced to attend community colleges full time, giving students the bums rush by hurrying their graduation and time in college while forcing them to accept a curriculum that will lead to no-paying jobs or low paying jobs in the failing world of capitalism,is being fought ou... 2

Activist Post: From the Desert to Wembley Arena Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges has pointed it out, as well as the late Lakota warrior, Russell Means, who the L.A. Times once described as the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse: "'Indian policy' has now been brought down upon the American people, and the American people are the new Indians of the 21st Century." We must face the sad truth that we have become so-called Hang-Around-the-Forts: wea... 2

A New Buyer Appears for a Threatened Wright House This is truly an American story. A house by America's greatest architect is bought by developers looking to turn a quick buck by razing it, or, maybe just threatening to do so. PHOENIX -- The coiled concrete-and-steel house built by Frank Lloyd Wright here, which had been under threat of demolition since its sale in June to a pair of luxury home developers, may have found its savior in an anonymous buyer who has agreed to ...

Proof of Heaven: A Doctor's Experience With the Afterlife In the fall of 2008, after seven days in a coma during which the human part of my brain, the neocortex, was inactivated, I experienced something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death. While the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked them, my brain-free consciousness journeyed to another, larger dimension of the universe: a dim... 5

"Democratic Womanism": Poet and Activist Alice Walker on Women Rising, Obama and the 2012 Election With less than 40 days to go before the 2012 presidential election, poet and activist Alice Walker reads her new poem, "Democratic Womanism," and discusses her thoughts on President Obama's legacy, including his use of drone strikes. on Democracy NOW with Amy Goodman. "You ask me why I smile when you tell me you intend in the coming national elections to hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils," reads Walker. "Ther...

Subliminal Message Discovered in Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling Pretty much everyone is familiar with the 'Creation of Adam', even if they might not know that it is a section of a fresco painted by Michelangelo for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Like the Mona Lisa, the picture is so commonly parodied and depicted on T-shirts and postcards as to have become a piece of kitsch. However, what almost everyone has missed is the hidden message that Micheloangelo inserted: a hum... 1

Full Frontal Freedom: Wrong Direction's "Disclosure" video parody Hilarious and pointed parody based on One Direction's hit song, "What Makes You Beautiful." Five guys took a boy band anthem and created one of the best Romney parodies, hands down. NOTE: If you are offended by buff young men in bathing suits, dancing near a pool, this video might not be for you. Full Frontal Freedom is a coalition of independent artists and media folks using our creativity to promote civic engagement. Join... 6

Many students at elite public New York City high schools write fewer than five research essays a year, according to surv This article offers the truth about how class size effects teachers and students. What is crucial for students to do in order to acquire the skills necessary to write well? One crucial element is practice. No skill, not tying a shoelace, riding a bike or playing an instrument can be acquired without practice. Large class size impedes this crucial practice, because the teacher's assessment is essential, and no teacher ...

Mark Morford: How to have your big gay moment Shall we count Obama's sort of stunning, sort of overdue, sort of obvious, sort of shockingly open-throated support of gay marriage as one of those things? One of those turning points, a truly ballsy, pivotal moment in the culture, in politics, in the way we view ourselves? Is it not something that explodes the way we think and re-orients the nation in the same way his skin color already did, something that, a generation from ...

The Bull Market - Political Advertising, by McChesney and Nichols The United States is in the midst of its quadrennial presidential election, a process that now extends so long as to be all but permanent. The campaign is also drenched in more money given by a small handful of billionaires than has been the case in the past. Since the 1970s the amount spent on political campaigns has increased dramatically in almost every election cycle. It has led to the formation of what we term the "money-... 2

The truth about creativity Jonah Lehrer talks about why brainstorming doesn't work and why artists need to cultivate grit. Why did Bob Dylan compose the classic "Like a Rolling Stone" only after he had become so disgusted with his own music that he was planning to quit the business permanently? How did Silicon Valley become a hub of innovation while other genius-packed cities did not? And what does the placement of a company's bathrooms have to do with ...

Gail Collins: Opening Newt's Marriage There seems to be a streak of almost crazed self-absorption that runs through the Newt saga. Who would ditch a spouse of 18 years in a phone call? Shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis? And, of course, he broke up with his first wife while she was battling cancer. Do you see a theme developing here? This is the same guy who proudly announced "I think grandiose thoughts" during the last debate.

The Dark Becomes Light The birth of Jesus has become so intertwined with the traditions normally associated with the season that itâ€™s difficult to distinguish whatâ€™s Christian and whatâ€™s Pagan.

Goodbye 'Shop Til You Drop'! In this country, shopping is not just a national pastime. Consumer spending, which makes up about 70 percent of the economy, is a sort of patriotic duty -- never more so than in the last four years of economic malaise. So news from the National Retail Federation that the country is on track for a record-breaking holiday shopping season -- $469.1 billion in sales, up 3.8 percent from last year -- could only be a good thing, rig...