University Statement on Diversity and Inclusion - Notre Dame

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.
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University Statement on Diversity and Inclusion

(The author offers a snippet of Matthew 11:28. One might be led to think that this is as far as it goes with Jesus. However, just prior to this in 11:20-24, Jesus pronounces judgment on certain cities. And Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus calls people to repent and stop sinning, viciously condemns the religious leaders of the day, and speaks extensively on the coming judgment. 

The author, however, isolates the welcoming nature of Jesus to establish his entire case.)

13 Ridiculous Things Ben Carson Actually Believes - BY KIRA LERNER

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.
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Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson has become an unlikely frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, leading recent polls in Iowa and surpassing all of the other Republican candidates’ recent fundraising totals.

Though he has never held political office, his short time in the spotlight has given him plenty of opportunity to make controversial and often factually incorrect statements. In May, ThinkProgress highlighted seven ridiculous things that Ben Carson believes. But in the past six months, Carson (Um, Dr. Carson. You will note in this article that the author never refers to Dr. Carson as Dr. I suspect this is a subtle way to diminish him. The author refers to him as "Carson" 27 times, and "Ben Carson" twice.)

Letter writer doesn’t understand Constitution - By Judith Heilman

Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.

Richard Holper wrote a letter, and Judith Heilman wrote a response. 

First, Mr. Holper's letter:
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Why Do We Say, ‘God Told Me’? - By Nancy Guthrie

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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It's almost become a quest of ours to find a genuine biblical argument for the cessation of the supernatural gifts. John MacArthur has failed. George Faull fell short. Steve Finnell couldn't step up. Tom Pennington, Phil Johnson, David Vaughn Elliot, Nathan Busenitz, and Lyndon Unger didn't make the cut.

We are not a biblical scholars. Nor are we particularly smart. We are not here to decimate theological enemies and proclaim our superiority. We simply want to know the biblical case for cessationism. Not the failings of contemporary charismatics. Not the extrapolations from the silence of the Bible. Not the error of prosperity teachers or televangelists. No, we want the biblical case.

Let's see what Ms. Guthrie is able to do for us:
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What One Historian Wishes Bernie Sanders Said About Being a Socialist - by Bernard Weisberger

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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We enter this article with the hope that some coherent, logical points will be made without dissembling or obfuscation. It is so rare that we get an analytical, on-topic analysis from the Left. 

Maybe today?
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5 Reasons Christians Need to Stop Using the Term 'Illegal Immigrant' - By Benjamin Corey

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.

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It's interesting how the "religious" Left loves to make up rules about what we can say or think or have opinions about, but they chafe under the principles the church has been governed by for centuries. In essence, "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie..." because they prefer their own rules, they are offended by the Bible, and they want to exercise power over people, cheerfully policing peoples' thoughts, bank accounts, and hate level.

This from Sojourners:

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5 Popular Conservative Talking Points Debunked By Common Sense - By Allen Clifton

Found here. (Link disabled due to virus.) My comments in bold.

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This is another attempt to debunk conservatives with supposedly devastating arguments, but it's just another failure. In fact, it's such an embarrassing failure that I'm surprised forwardprogressives.com published it. (Now defunct...) Oh. The writer is also the website owner...

Read on:

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The words “common sense” and “conservative” don’t often go together. Especially since the rise of the tea party. You know, the people who base facts and reality based on what they want to be real instead of what actually is real. (First an insult, a distinctly non-intellectual approach.)

Our new moral framework (part 3 of 3) - by David Murrow

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. A very good article.

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When PC (politically correct) thinking made its debut in the 1980s, it was widely mocked. PC ideas such as gay marriage, multiculturalism, affirmative action, transgender pronouns and hate speech were once derided as follies of the loony left.

Here we sit three decades later. Many PC ideas are no longer laughable distractions — they’re moral imperatives.

Political Correctness didn’t just appear out of the ether. It’s rooted in a new moral framework which I call maternalism. I define maternalism as the belief that society and institutions exist to provide care for their citizens and customers. Key words are protection, nurturing, loving, and affirmation. Modern society places a premium on protecting the weak, leveling the playing field and being nice to one another.

This differs greatly from the old paternal framework, which is rooted in the idea that society and institutions exist to enforce standards and create order. Paternalism believes that society should challenge people to conform to agreed-upon social norms. We place a premium on developing the best and brightest, accumulating wealth and power, and speaking the truth – even when it offends.

Letter writer misconstrues liberal positions - By Jay Moor

Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.

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I have commented a number of times regarding Mr. Moor in these pages. In the below letter he attempts to refute an observation about the Left from another letter writer, Jack Levitt. What I find delightful is that Mr. Moor actually deals with the matter at hand and addresses the points Mr. Levitt raised. This is indeed rare in leftism.

Mr. Moor ultimately fails, but I commend him for the effort.

Read on:

Constitution authors never envisioned mass shootings - By Rev. Jim Shelden

My comments in bold.

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The author attempts to make a case for gun control by appealing to the lack of foreknowledge by the founders. Unfortunately, his ignorance hinders his reasoning. 

Read on:

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You might be a charismatic...

You might be a charismatic (and didn't know it) if:

Strange Fire Redux - One Year After - by JohnMacAurthur

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Dr. MacAuthur follows up with his assessment of the condition of the cessationist church after his conference.

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Ministering at Burning Man - a postscript about a seeking generation

My friend is part of a team who goes to Burning Man every year. They have a tent on the playa, and invite people in to interpret their dreams. It's cutting edge stuff, perhaps even controversial. 

Rather than beat them over the head with the Gospel, they love these people, they listen to them, they minister to them at their point of need.

Read on:
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Strange Fire Conference - by John MacArthur

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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We always find it dangerous for pastors and ministry leaders to single out and criticize and condemn other groups or ministers from the pulpit. The danger is to those pastors and ministry leaders, for they are tearing down, not edifying. They are creating enmity, not restoring. They are driving their followers to an ideology, not encouraging them to pray.

Dr. MacArthur does this, and in a most egregious fashion, for he lumps everyone who disagrees with his doctrine into the same category, all of them having the same practices, understandings, failings, and motives. He seems to believe charismatics are all deceived, all are preaching false doctrine, and all are believing unbiblical things. And there is absolutely no good at all that comes from charismatic churches. 

This is cultic thinking. It is a fear of someone having an independent thought. It is an intellectual and spiritual rigidity that demands that everyone who calls themselves Christian to walk in lock-step conformity with his ideas and practices. Any deviation invites condemnation, exclusion, derision, and persistent attack.

We'll be deleting (...) large sections of his presentation which do not come to bear on his argument.

Finally, we'll note that Dr. MacArthur will rarely quote or even reference Scripture in this long missive. For the most part, he will level unsubstantiated charges and make undocumented claims as well as broad generalizations.

It is a truly embarrassing presentation.
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THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN - sermon notes

I apologize for too many Scriptures. Each is worth a sermon. I'm focusing on concept, the Kingdom, and how these connect.

I will point out where there is gold, you go dig for it!

PART ONE:

Kingdoms have kings. Brief history. Ancient kings were kings of cities, sometimes an area, less frequently a region, or even a nation. Barbaric. A king holds life and death in his hands.

The kings of the O.T. speak of promises of a coming king, a warrior king, a savior king, a priest-king.

Early important O.T. King: Ge. 14 Melchizedek king of Salem (peace, shalom, Jerusalem), Psalm 110, Warrior king “in the order of Melchizedek.” Also Hebrews 5, 6, and 7. Melchizedek is worth additional study. There’s some gold to be dug there.

God makes Abraham a promise, that his kingdom would never cease: Ge. 17:6-7 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Moses on the Holy Mountain. God speaks destiny to the Israelites: Ex. 19:6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

An interesting parallel for us: 1Pe. 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Are you destined?

I HAVE A DESTINY – BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN CALLED

30 Common Fallacies Used Against Libertarians - by BlameThe1st

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. THIS IS GOOD STUFF.

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I have all but given up on arguing against statists and anti-libertarians. It’s clear that they do not want an honest debate, especially since most of their arguments amount to strawman and ignorance.

If I have to hear someone ask “who will build the roads?” or tell me to “move to Somalia!” or call me a “Koch Brother shill!” for the umpteenth time, I would sooner bitch slap them senseless rather than waste my time replying to their ignorance. They’d only end up plugging their ears and screaming “la, la, la! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you!”

But for those with the patience of a saint to argue with this subspecies of human beings we sadly have to share the planet with, Max Borders from The Freeman compiled a list of 30 common fallacies used against libertarians and the rational responses to counter them.

I doubt statists would heed them. They love to plug their ears and scream like little children when people rationally demolish their arguments with logic and evidence. Most die-hard ideologues are that way!

Those against ordinance should mind own business - By Guy Crawford

Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.
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True believer Guy Crawford steps up yet again to obscure the issues and misdirect.

Read on:
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I read with interest your recent story in reference to the lawsuit that attempted to overturn Bozeman's LGBT non-discrimination ordinance.

The irony of a group of entitled non-LGBT individuals (The writer assumes they are non-LGBT, but he doesn't know this.)

Why Do Kindergarten Teachers Pay More Taxes Than Hedge Fund Managers? - by Theresa Riley

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.
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A popular meme that made the rounds last year revealed that the top 25 hedge fund managers in America made more money than all the kindergarten teachers combined. That’s right — just 25 men managed to take home more money in a year than all 157,800 kindergarten teachers in the entire country. (The author never explains why this is bad.)

These hedge fund managers make millions — sometimes billions — of dollars investing other people’s money with the expectation of realizing large capital gains. (The author never explains why this is bad.)

And a new video produced by Brave New Films points out an even greater absurdity: These millionaires and billionaires pay a lower tax rate than those teachers — and almost surely a lower rate than you, unless you’re part of the top .01 percent. (The author never explains why this is bad.

These types of investments gains are taxed at 20%, while income is taxed at rates up to 39.6%. Thus the author is comparing the income tax rate of kindergarten teachers with the capital gains tax rate of investors. 

The right’s deeply misleading new gun-control meme: America should be more like… Switzerland? -- by HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.
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I'm going to delete the first half of this piece, because it's obsessed with trivial matters.

Read on:
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If you follow gun rights and gun safety issues at all, you’ve undoubtedly seen this viral meme in your social media stream:




(...)

The second part of the argument, that large scale gun ownership doesn’t cause a high crime rate is more complicated. Certainly nobody is saying that guns fire bullets all by themselves. What most people who seek restrictions on gun ownership believe is that having easy access to firearms makes it too easy for flawed humans to make lethal choices in situations that do not have to be lethal. (I have to hand it to the author. This cleverly phrased statement deceptively sidesteps the issues at hand with an obfuscation. This statement is meaningless. 

"It's too easy for flawed humans..." "Flawed humans" is a emotionally manipulative statement that does not advance the logic. One could pick any topic at random and insert "flawed humans" as justification. "We need dietary controls because of our flawed humanity." "I favor internet censorship because we are flawed humans." Try it. It works for any topic you are arguing for.

"...make lethal choices in situations that do not have to be lethal." Ok, so you're bent on murder. You're making a choice to be lethal. Does it matter what weapon you choose to inflict your desires? Does it matter if you kill with a cinderblock as opposed to a pistol? 

These kinds of statements, typical for leftists, are emotional fluff for lazy intellects.)

Signs you might be brainwashed by corporate media

A FB friend posted this:

So I came up with my own list: