But that isn't the case any more.

Canadian Press: Atheist United Church minister to keep her job at Toronto congregation

That's a self-described atheist, not somebody else calling her that.

I can understand a psychologist or a counselor or an outreach worker or a social worker being atheist; it makes no difference in those jobs. But how can somebody whose job includes preaching the existence of God say there's no God?

Starting Sunday, the performances of the Dominion Carillonneur will be livestreamed. (At least, in Canada.)

Get the program and the link here. EDIT: Oops; that's the permalink for Sunday. Get the daily program and link at this link.

(What? "Who's the Dominion Carillonneur?" She's the one who plays the bells in the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, at noon Eastern every weekday September to June and at 11 a.m. July and August. Sunday's a special occasion - 11/11, and this year the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI.)

In this particular case, How to spot a pattern of denials in the #MeToo movement, but it applies elsewhere, too.

It's a simple pattern with the acronym DARVO:

1. Deny
   
2. Accuse
   
3. Reverse Victim Order
   

Brett Kavanaugh Wrote:The drinking age was 18 in Maryland for most of my time in high school and was 18 in D.C. for all of my time in high school. I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer. But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out and I never sexually assaulted anyone.

Brett Kavanaugh Wrote:Dr. Ford's allegation is not merely uncorroborated, it is refuted by the very people she says were there, including by a longtime friend of hers. Refuted.

Brett Kavanaugh Wrote:This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.

Quote:University of Oregon psychology professor and Stanford fellow Jennifer Freyd, said that the reason it gets used frequently is that it works.

"I did not expect ... that so many people actually found the DARVO convincing. But it makes sense. I mean that's why people use it," said Freyd.

We only have 15 "guests" trying to force their way into the boards today.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

White House suspends credentials for CNN's Jim Acosta

Here is the video slowed down: https://twitter.com/sarahburris/status/1...51937?s=21

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/11/lie-wat...our-times/

Hi fellow snowflakes,

I just want to let you know that we are having our nationwide protest to defend Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and protest the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  Because in 2018, protesting the removal of a guy who never met a Jim Crow law he didn't like is something liberals do now.  This is because of the appointment of Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, who has already written that investigating any of the President's finances is out of bounds.

So anyway, show up at 5PM tomorrow: Find an event near you.

Been working on this protest for over a year now, and it's finally go time.  Unfortunately. I would have preferred not to have it.

Chair of astronomy Abraham Loeb and postdoctoral fellow Shmuel Bialy the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics suggest 'Oumuamua might be artificial.

Pop-culture report

The paper has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters, but I don't see it on the website yet.

CBC: How right-wing populism is returning to its fascist roots

This article is an in-depth discussion, not a simple declaration that it's happening. A few representative quotes:

Quote:Bolsonaro, who won Brazil's presidential election on Oct. 28, has made virulently racist, misogynist and homophobic statements. He has threatened to have political opponents jailed, exiled or killed, and staunchly defended the military junta that ruled Brazil before its transition to democracy in 1985.

On Nov. 2, President Trump's national security advisor John Bolton praised Bolsonaro as "like-minded" and said his election was a "positive sign" for Latin America.

Quote:While the labels fascist and populist are sometimes used interchangeably, Finchelstein explained they have distinct meanings.

A key difference is that while populist leaders often curtail democracy, they do not try to abandon it. While they often use violent rhetoric, especially towards those who disagree with them, that violent speech does not lead to the arrest or murder of political opponents.

Quote:While Finchelstein believes Donald Trump cannot accurately be described as a fascist today, he argued he bears a moral responsibility for both the string of pipe bombs sent to leading Democrats, and the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

It's no surprise to him that anti-Semitism has resurfaced in modern far-right populist and fascist movements.

"Anti-Semitism was key to every fascist movement that existed," he said.

If you are in the US, vote. Today.

Lyrics:

Spoiler

Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Search your soul and reawaken the undying light

On that day, when the sky fell away
Our world came to an end
In our eyes, did a fading sun rise in the dark?
Glimmering shadows

Silence grows, in the spaces between
stretching out beyond time
Rising up, as a chorus of souls find a voice
flickering through the void

These little sparks, cling on to life,
everyone caught in the struggle,
And then the storms of change, they fan the flames
scattering ashes to the wind

Every soul contains a whisper of light
gleaming faintly as it dwindles from sight
No escape, no greater fate to be made
In the end, the chains of time will not break


Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Search your soul and reawaken the undying light

As fate spins a thread without end,
new life draws its first breath,
Blossoming in a soil reclaimed from the past,
where destiny holds fast,

Here where we stand, hand clenched in hand
everyone caught in the struggle,
This is the day we finally find our way
stepping into our tomorrow

Every soul contains a whisper of light
growing louder as it calls to unite
From the distance sings a chorus of souls
rising slowly, stirring heat from the coals


Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Light will guide you, on your way to the ultimate fight