NYPD officials could learn a lot about respect from families of Eric Garner, Michael Brown

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image of Eric Garner's daughter via youtube
image of Eric Garner’s daughter via youtube

Too many police leaders and politicians have responded to the recent tragic double murder of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos by blaming Barack Obama, Bill de Blasio, and peaceful police brutality protestors. At the same time, they refuse to acknowledge, let alone condemn, the police violence and brutality that have claimed the lives of countless people, including Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

This New Year’s, a good resolution for these professional pugilists would be to learn from the very families who have lost their loved ones to police brutality. The families of Michael Brown and, Eric Garner, in particular, would be good to study. While grieving their own losses, they have been able to extend condolences and sympathy to the grieving families of officers Lui and Ramos. And they have condemned violence in any form.

Keep reading at RawStory

 

Cannibalism, castration & cocaine: 9 Christian Right warnings against New Year’s

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image via wikipedia
image via wikipedia

If you plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve Wednesday or New Year’s Day Thursday,  I’m glad you’re reading this. In an attempt to understand whether New Years celebrations are actually Christian, I did some research on the internets. While some Christians celebrate New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, it turns out that God most definitely does NOT want you to celebrate it. Here are some reasons why.

1. History proves it is wrong. 

Lest you think celebrating New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day is no big deal, The Church of God Faithful Flock proves just how wrong you are in an essay called The Truth About New Year’s, which makes GREAT USE OF ALL CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!

Notice the proof of history… The celebration of New Year’s began in ancient Babylonia in Mesopotamia. It was a pagan custom of ancient sun-worship 2000 years before the birth of Jesus. The celebration of New Year’s is never once commanded in the Bible. Jesus and the apostles never observed it. Moses forbade it!

Apparently, Bill de Blasio disrespects police because he has bi-racial children and acknowledges racism

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image via wikipedia
image via wikipedia

The other day, something I wrote here– If ‘Black Lives Matter’ killed NYPD officers, Tea Party killed Las Vegas police–caused a not very surprising or remarkable Facebook fight, which evolved into a debate over Bill de Blasio’s role in and response to the murders of two NYPD officers.  After people accused Bill de Blasio of being part of the problem and failing to do his job, I commented,

After I review the evidence, I will offer advice to the Mayor on how he can best move forward and redeem himself.

First, what exactly did Bill de Blasio say that has landed him in so much trouble. On December 3, after a StatenIsland grand jury decided not to indict the officer whose chokehold killed Eric Garner, de Blasio said that he was “astonished by the decision” and that it was a  “very painful day for so many New Yorkers.” De Blasio also made the following unspeakable comments about how he and his wife Chirlane have worried about the safety of their son, Dante:

Continue reading at RawStory

 

New study shows that sharing abortion stories changes people’s minds

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Screen Shot 2014-12-23 at 1.36.40 PM

A new study shows that when anti-choice people hear in person accounts from women who have had abortions, they are more likely to start supporting reproductive freedom. 

A public opinion research team led by UCLA doctoral candidate Michael LaCour has already demonstrated how door-to-door canvassing can change people’s opinions on LGBT issues. A study from earlier this month, for instance, determined that when conservatives talked to an LGBT canvasser for 20 minutes, they became more supportive of LGBT rights and remained supportive even nine months later.

Now, the same research team has started working with Planned Parenthood and is looking at the effect of talking to canvassers who have had abortions and those who haven’t. The preliminary results show that in-person conversations with both groups of volunteers lead to increased support of legalizing abortion. In initial surveys, 39 percent of voters said they supported legal abortion access but after talking with the volunteers support reached almost 50 percent.

Ant the effect of speaking with the volunteers who had had abortions was even stronger. For instance, people who spoke to that group were more likely to tell other members of their households about their conversations. In addition, after the Supreme Court struck down Massachusetts’ buffer zone around abortion clinics, anti-abortion attitudes were strengthened among most participants except for those who had spoken to a volunteer who had discussed her own abortion. As LaCour explains, “This finding suggests that discussion at the doorstep affected the way in which people subsequently received and interpreted the news.”

Just a reminder that the personal is very much political, and telling abortion stories can be powerful.

Originally posted on Feministing

The Surprising Relationship Between Sex and Pizza: 4 Things We Learned About Sex This Week

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The Surprising Relationship Between Sex and Pizza: 4 Things We Learned About Sex This Week

This week, we answer several fascinating questions: how long do car-based sexual interactions last on average? Why should you consider rolling around in pumpkin pie and/or cheese pizza? Why do people watch condom-free porn? Enjoy, and be sure to share these discoveries with your loved ones over the holidays.

1. Friends don’t let friends sex and drive. Or maybe they do, but they probably shouldn’t. It turns out lots of young people are have sex in cars, and the results can be a little dangerous. Looking at 195 men and 511 women, researchers from the University of South Dakota found that 33 percent of men and nine percent of women had sex while driving, and nine percent of men and 29 percent of women had sex as a passenger. According to the study, the sexual activity lasted 1-10 minutes for 42.7 percent of the respondents. Approximately 49% traveled at 100-130 km per hour during sex. The most common side effects were speeding (37.8 percent), drifting into another lane (36 percent) and letting go of the steering wheel (10.8 percent). Ah ha! “Letting go of the steering wheel.” So, that’s what the kids are calling it these days. Though fewer that two percent of those DWS (driving while sexing) had an accident.

2. The sexy smell of cheese pizza and Good and Plenty. If you want to turn on a man, you may want to put your face in a pumpkin pie or rub some pizza grease behind your ears. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, reveals some interesting findings about smell in his book The Real Science Of Sex Appeal, which will be published in January. Dr. Hirsch looked at how 46 different scents affected penile blood flow in 31 men and found that lavender and pumpkin pie (individually, not combined) increased it by 40%. Cheese pizza increased it by 5%. So maybe you should wear lavender oil instead of pizza grease.

Hirsh also surveyed 30 women and found that vaginal blood flow was increased by pumpkin pie smell as well. But the winning combination was the scent of cucumber and Good & Plenty licorice candy, which increased vaginal blood flow by 13%. I guess if you really want to increase your odds, you should make a pumpkin pie with plenty of lavender, licorice, and cucumber, topped with cheese and tomato sauce. Then bring it out with you and see who comes around.

Continue reading “The Surprising Relationship Between Sex and Pizza: 4 Things We Learned About Sex This Week” →

5 creepy Merry Christmas messages from the Right Wing

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image via Instagram
image via Instagram

As we all know, the Right Wing has single-handedly defeated the non-existent war against Christmas. And they still have time to send out Merry Christmas greetings that are totally creepy. Come to think of it, they may be the behind an unintentional war against Christmas because these scary and sad social media shout messages are pretty much the worst PR Christmas could get. So (try to) enjoy!

Newt Gingrich’s Merry Christmas card: dead behind the eyes. 

via instagram
via instagram

See the rest at RawStory

Pistol Healing Emporium: ‘We’re gun-licensed therapists and our customers are insane’

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via youtube
via youtube

Check out Big Bif’s Pistol Healing Emporium!

Have you been turned away from other gun shops for mental issues?

Has a pinch of PTSD kept you away from the AK 47 of your dreams?

Then come on down to Big Bif’s Pistol Healing Emporium. Cuz we’re gun-licensed therapists and our customers are insane.

That’s the opening of this video, which satirizes the gun industry’s reckless insistence on arming just about anyone, regardless of their criminal or mental health history.

Continue reading and watch the video at RawStory

If ‘Black Lives Matter’ killed NYPD officers, Tea Party killed Las Vegas police

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Jerad-and-Amanda-Miller-800x430
Jerad and Amanda Miller

On Saturday, a lone mentally ill shooter, not from New York City and not part of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest movement, executed two NYPD police officers, before killing himself. In June of this year, a couple who had spent time on Clive Bundy’s ranch executed two Las Vegas police officers, wrapped their bodies in Don’t Tread on Me flags, and then shot themselves. Republicans, right wing media and police officials are blaming the NYPD murders on BLM. But why didn’t they blame the murders of the Las Vegas officers on the Tea Party movement?

Obviously, the way to honor the two police officers murdered on Saturday is by exploiting their tragic murder for political purposes in a way that actually defies logic. To do this, simply blame the actions of a single lone shooter with a history of mental illness and suicide attempts on a non-violent protest movement which outrageously demands that police not kill people for the crime of being Black. Also claim that Mayor Bill de Blasio, Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama are to blame but don’t bother pretending that there is any evidence for that claim because you won’t find it. But if you’re Ray Kelly, Rudy Giuliani, Patrick Lynch, George Pataki or Fox News, that’s no big deal anyway.

Keep reading at RawStory

Christmas songs, movies and traditions you didn’t realize were Jewish (Jew’re Welcome)

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Irving Berlin and Tony Martin via wikimedia
Irving Berlin and Tony Martin via wikimedia

Merry Christmas! As a Christmas-Tree Jew, I like Christmas just as much as the next goy. But even Jews who don’t celebrate Christmas deserve credit for helping the world celebrate the holiday. In fact, my Christian friends, you may want to think about sending your Jewish friends thank you notes instead of seasons greetings cards. Here are some of the Christmas songs, films and major players brought to you by the Jews.

CHRISTMAS MAJOR PLAYERS

Jesus Christ! (The original birthday boy!)

Brought to you by his Jewish mother, Mary. Since we Jews always get blamed for Jesus Christ’s death, we should really get some credit for his birth!

CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Holiday Inn Directed by Mark Sandrich

White Christmas Directed by  Michael Curtiz.

See the rest at RawStory

New survey shows the gender leadership gap in the non-profit world

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The corporate world is famous for its all-too-often shatter-proof glass ceilings and old-boy network sexism. But, as a new study of Jewish non-profits highlights, the non-profit sector isn’t exactly a beacon of gender equality either.

When Jane Eisner became the editor-in-chief of The Forward, the largest and oldest running national Jewish newspaper, she was shocked by how few of the leaders of non-profits were women. As she explained to me, “I come to The Forward and that first summer in 2008 my boss takes me around to meet all these Jewish leaders and they were all men. So, I’m thinking, well, just because this was my anecdotal experience doesn’t mean that’s in fact the landscape.”

So, Eisner decided she would look at the actual data. In 2009, The Forward published its first salary survey which determined that only 11 of the 75  biggest Jewish non-profits had women leaders. Today, The Forward came out with its 6th annual salary survey. Continue reading “New survey shows the gender leadership gap in the non-profit world” →