Predilection predicted: Predator christian arrested for raping children

From the files of the sadly predictable: A far right christian "leader" and loudmouth named Ken Adkins has been charged in Georgia for the rape of two children.

His arrest comes two months after he gleefully cheered the mass murder of people at the Pulse nightclub in Florida.

Pastor who said Pulse victims deserved to die busted for child abuse

Conservative Pastor Ken Adkins of St. Simons Island, Georgia, who has led a public campaign against the rights of LGBTQ Americans, is now an inmate at the jail of Glynn County, charged with two counts of child molestation.

Political Game Shows: Play THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!

Play the THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS game!

How many lives can you save from mass shootings through your thoughts and prayers?  You too can be as equally ineffective as US politicians at stopping:

- religiously motivated hate crimes
- male gun violence
- religious terrorism




 And other threats to the lives and safety of innocent people.  Show that you don't care by effectively using your thoughts and prayers instead of actions that will actually make a difference.

Vomiting induced: Religion aids and abets a criminal. Again.

Briton Richard Huckle is currently on trial in England, facing twenty two potential life sentences for his crimes in Cambodia and Malaysia, the rape of dozens of children.  He worked for christian bible schools and ESL schools in those countries, gaining access to children through his job.

Christopher Neil is a serial child rapist who taught in Asia and committed crimes against children in Cambodia.  He was given an unfortunately short prison sentence in 2007 and has since re-offended after his release in 2012.

Neil is an ardent christian who studied to be a priest.  Is Huckle also an ardent christian like Neil?  I don't know.  But like Neil, he used his religiosity to gain access to children.  Those whose responsibility to hire foreign workers and protect those children failed to do their jobs.  They were all too willing to employ people based on religious fervour and willingness to accept poor working conditions.


Every non-christian I have met refuses to work for christian run ESL schools because such schools engage in questionable employment practices.  Most of them ask for unpaid work, excessive hours and six day workweeks, offer substandard pay or fail to pay as promised, provide poor living conditions, refuse to apply for or provide a legal work visa, etc.  Religious schools are scraping the bottom of the barrel in who they hire, so it doesn't surprise that they end up hiring slime.

From Buzzfeed:

Paedophile Who Raped Malaysian Children Faces 22 Life Sentences 

One of the UK’s most prolific paedophiles abused and raped children and babies in poor Southeast Asian communities for years, while bragging about it online and publishing a guide on how to carry out the abuse undetected.

Huckle taught English and Bible studies to children in Cambodia and Malaysia, outwardly appearing to be a trustworthy Christian. He even featured in a promotional video made by the British Council in Malaysia highlighting its work.

From The Telegraph, UK:

Britain's 'worst paedophile' Richard Huckle who targeted poverty-stricken children faces life in prison after admitting scores of offences

He then began to visit Malaysia regularly, posing as a teacher, photographer and philanthropist in order ingratiate himself with a local Christian community before raping and abusing their children.

There is no evidence at this stage that he abused any children in the UK, but the authorities have not ruled out victims coming forward.

Huckle's favourite method was to target vulnerable children in poverty stricken communities, even boasting of his exploits to other paedophiles online

Predators Target: Rightwing christian fanatics are enabling and encouraging cisgender rapists

In the US, all known cases of sexual assault against women and children in public bathrooms have been perpetrated by cisgender heterosexual men.  Police departments across the US report not a single instance of transgender women assaulting anyone in bathrooms anywhere.

Breitbart's ignorant attempts to smear transgender women backfired when they showed that twnety five cases of sexual assault were by cisgender men.  In their typical incompetence, not-so-Breitbart did the exact opposite of what they intended, and showed that transgender women pose no danger to anyone.

Since straight men are the danger, why are christians and various rightwing groups repeating the lie of "man in a dress raping women"?  Why are christians encouraging sexual predators to enter women's washrooms at Target stores (and elsewhere) and endangering women?

Right-Wing Anti-LGBT Activists Are Sending Men Into Target Bathrooms to 'Test' the Store

Do you know how many reports of transgender people assaulting others in bathrooms there have been? The grand tally stands at none, a number also expressed as zero, zip, nil, nada. Yet several jurisdictions and states—North Carolina most notoriously—have passed “bathroom bills,” and a number of others have pending legislation targeting trans people and restroom access. In response to the ginned-up scaremongering at the heart of these laws, Target issued a message stating it “welcome[s] transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.” Now, anti-LGBT activists have appointed themselves restroom guardians, and have been going into bathrooms in the company’s stores to "test" the store's vigilance.

Among the greatest ironies of this story is that these bigots claim they’re trying to protect women from trans people, but they’re overwhelmingly men. In other words, a bunch of dudes, in the misguided name of “safety,” are invading women’s rooms. As if having a random guy in the bathroom while you go isn’t a bajillion times worse, more invasive, and something far closer to harassment than having a trans woman in the stall next to you. It’s utterly ridiculous.

Children Abused: Beating kids until morals improves doesn't work

Wow, what a shock.  Abusing children with physical violence is as mentally and emotionally damaging as sexually abusing them.  Who would have expected that?

Pretty much everyone who has ever endured physical violence from their parents, that's who. 

Risks of harm from spanking confirmed by analysis of 5 decades of research

The more children are spanked, the more likely they are to defy their parents and to experience increased anti-social behavior, aggression, mental health problems and cognitive difficulties, according to a new meta-analysis of 50 years of research on spanking by experts at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan.

The study, published in this month's Journal of Family Psychology, looks at five decades of research involving over 160,000 children. The researchers say it is the most complete analysis to date of the outcomes associated with spanking, and more specific to the effects of spanking alone than previous papers, which included other types of physical punishment in their analyses.

"Our analysis focuses on what most Americans would recognize as spanking and not on potentially abusive behaviors," says Elizabeth Gershoff, an associate professor of human development and family sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. "We found that spanking was associated with unintended detrimental outcomes and was not associated with more immediate or long-term compliance, which are parents' intended outcomes when they discipline their children."

I have asked a question to every person who attempts to justify "spanking" (a/k/a child abuse):

If spanking kids is okay when they disobey or do something wrong (e.g. break something), does that mean your partner or employer can do the same if you do the same things?  Unlike a child, an adult who has the knowledge and education to know better.

Unsurprisingly, defenders of child abuse say "No".  In their hypocritically "thinking", it's perfectly okay to physically and mentally abuse a child who can't fight back and doesn't know their legal rights and protections available to them.  But hitting an adult who can call the police, file a lawsuit or physically fight back is suddenly somehow wrong.

Money Talks: Tennessee kills its bigoted anti-trans law...for now

US state of Tennessee republican Susan Lynn has withdrawn her hateful anti-trans bathroom law, but not out of any sense of decency.  (She obviously doesn't have any, since she was the one who presented it.)  She withdrew it because her personal bigotry will cost Tennessee US$1.2 billion in school funding, something she would not be able to explain to taxpayers.

Tennessee Lawmaker Kills Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill, Leaving North Carolina All Alone

On Monday, Tennessee Republican Rep. Susan Lynn announced that she will pull her anti-trans bathroom bill, at least until next year.

[...]

In a defensive [read: indefensible] press conference, Lynn insisted that she was not responding to the widespread outrage her bill had provoked among major corporations and businesses, as well as from trans students and LGBTQ advocates. Instead, she seemed concerned by the attorney general’s (correct) assertion that the measure would cost the state $1.2 billion in federal education funding, since federal law prohibits public schools from engaging in gender identity discrimination. 

The last part of this story is interesting. 

Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, had also implied that he might veto the bill, noting that he wasn’t “hearing about problems” relating to trans bathroom use.

Is Haslam admitting to reality?  Police across the US have recorded ZERO instances of "transgender predators in bathrooms", though they have recorded countless instances of transgender people being harassed by cisgenders.  If there were even a single instance of transgender people harassing others, the rightwing media would have pounced on it and repeated it incessantly.

Or did Haslam realize what happened in Uganda would happen to his state?  For those who don't remember or don't know, Uganda attempted to put forward a "kill the gays" law which legalized murder.  It was only withdrawn when foreign donors threatened to withhold millions of dollars in foreign aid to the country.

Maybe Susan Lynn should be appointed ambassador to Uganda and sent their permanently.  I'm sure she would be very happy to live in such a christian-dominated nation.

Being Nickel-And-Dimed: The elimination of voters in the US

There are a plethora of news stories from the US that make absolutely no sense to anyone who lives in a functioning democracy.  This is only a partial list of such things:

A twelve year old child being bodyslammed into a floor.
Police threatening violence and arrest without any justification or crime. 
Adults threatened with jail time for loss of a library book.
Usury "fees" that goverments force people to pay before paying fines or tolls.
Nationalizing local incidents that do not merit the effort.
Militarism of civic policing.
Seizure laws that presume guilt until innocence.
Governments steal more private property than criminals do.

The goal of the 1%ers in the US is, and always had been, to turn the country into a Plutarchy or dictatorship.  But doing it overnight is unlikely to be accepted without a popular revolt.  The only way to do it is a slow, gradual elimination of the general populace from the voting lists and taking away their rights.  So how can that be done? 

By catapulting the propaganda about "getting tough on crime". 

By redefining minor acts into criminal acts. 

By creating a Soviet-style legal system ("Anything that is not explicitly permitted is forbidden."). 

By criminalizing as many of the population as possible.

By revoking the right to vote from people with criminal records.

With enough laws and enough time, the majority of Americans will no longer have the right to vote.  Only those with wealth and lawyers will have rights. 

The US is turning into a feudal society where the working poor pay taxes while the rich pay none.  The poor can be arrested, jailed or subjected to violence for questioning the hierarchy.

Toilet Stall: What is the rightwing obsession with trans people and bathrooms?

I would really like the republiclowns who write these anti-transgender hate laws to answer some simple questions about trying to criminalize transgender people in bathrooms.

1) Many transgender women (myself included) are heterosexual and attracted to men.  How are we a "threat to women and girls" in a women's washroom?

2) Many transgender men are heterosexual and attracted to women.  How are they a "threat to men and boys" in a men's washroom?

3) How are lesbian transgender women a "threat" in women's washrooms while cisgender lesbian women are not?

4) How are gay transgender men a "threat" in men's washrooms while cisgender gay men are not?

5) re: 3 and 4, Is it the rightwing's intent to first criminalize and ostracize transgender people to later justify re-targeting cisgender gay and lesbian people for discrimination and hate in society?

Considering that there is not a single instance in the US of transgender women preying on women and girls in toilets (and none of trans men doing it either), one really has to question the motivation of those who want these laws. 

And considering the history or "family values" republicans who have affairs and rape children (e.g. Robert Bentley, Jack Ryan, Mark Foley, Mark Sanford, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Dennis Hastert, Scott Desjarlais, David Vitter, Chris Lee, Michael Duvall, Carly Fiorina, John Ensign, Vito Fossella, David Petraeus, Bill Young, etc., ad nauseum), the motivation is most likely misdirection.  The easiest way to avoid mention of their own actions is to pander to hateful bigots who are predisposed to believing lies.

Terrorists interrogate: Again, the religious display their lack of originality

"Questions for christians to ask atheists" is a list that has been making the rounds on the internet for years or perhaps decades.  Periodically, some theist finds it and ignorantly assumes that no one has ever posed the questions to atheists before.  It's like a child seeing a classic movie from the 1930s and assuming no one has ever watched it other than themselves.  The theist also ignorantly assumes that atheists can't answer the questions because the theist can't answer them without saying "godidit".

Other atheists have been answering them, so I'll throw my hat in the ring and take my turn.

1. How Did You Become an Atheist?

I always was an atheist.  I never believed the godswallop (*) despite my cultist parents' attempts to forcibly indoctrinate me.  They could never explain the contrdictions and inconsistencies in their cult when I was a child, so why would I believe as a better educated adult?

godswallop (n.) theistic statements that make no sense; religious belief

2. What happens when we die?

Nothing.  We die.  There is no "afterlife".  The religious may ignorantly fear non-existince, but once you get over your self-importance, you put more effort into living and enjoy life more.

3. What if you’re wrong? And there is a heaven? And there is a HELL!

Prove such mythical places exist before making the claim.  I don't believe in the fairy tales of the buybull because there is no evidence.  The Iliad and the Odyssey are more relevant as fables.

4. Without God, where do you get your morality from?

If you can only act morally because your religion threatens you with eternal suffering,  then you are a danger to society and should be locked up.  I don't need to the threat of a mythical being to make me act morally. I do it by choice because it's the right thing to do.

5. If there is no God, can we do what we want? Are we free to murder and rape? While good deeds are unrewarded?

Theists regularly use religion to do what they want, including murder and rape.  "My god wants me to do this!" is the religious justification for mass murder, rape, racism, sexism, bigotry, child molestation, theft, and other acts.  My reward for ethical behaviour is building a civilized society I get to live in.

6. If there is no god, how does your life have any meaning?

The purpose of life is to survive and propagate.  Any other "meaning" is something a person chooses to put into life, and I choose to help make other people's lives better.  If you need a religion to tell you what to do, you lead a very sad and empty life.

7. Where did the universe come from?

The Big Bang.  If you deny that the Big Bang happened, you're not educated enough to be ask questions.  If you were never taught the theory or told it was false, then you received an inferior education.

8. What about miracles? What all the people who claim to have a connection with jesus? What about those who claim to have seen saints or angels?

Come with me to a hospital morgue and bring a three day old decapitated corpse back to life.  If your mythical god can't do it, then it doesn't exist.  This is your claim, so put up or shut up.  Demonstrate, don't remonstrate.  Don't babble about miracles if you won't perform them on command.

As for people who claim to speak with supernatural beings, hearing voices is an auditory hallucination and may be associated with a mental health problem.

9. What’s your view of Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris?

Those three are irrelevant to my life, unlike pedophile priests, the Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Jones cult who are directly relevant to yours.  You unquestioningly follow leaders and do their bidding no matter how unethical.  I think for myself and choose my own actions.  Only I speak for myself.

10. If there is no God, then why does every society have a religion?

Every society has a religion because fearful and ignorant people couldn't explain the world, or because an oppressive invader imposed religion upon them.  Religion only propagates through ignorance and the use the force and violence.