The online editorial staff comprises Betsy Shirley, Jenna Barnett, Josiah R. Daniels, Mitchell Atencio, Heather Brady, Kierra Bennning, and Zachary Lee.
Posts By This Author
2 Things You Can Do to Prevent Voter Suppression
Image via pne/Shutterstock.com
You should call the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law hotline 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) if you, or someone you know, are notified that you can’t vote, or can vote only under certain circumstances, and you suspect that unlawful practices are to blame for the difficulty.
Likewise, you should call the hotline if you notice at the poll any of the following eight possible signs of voter suppression, or if you notice blatant voter intimidation.
Pope Francis Says Catholic Church Unlikely to Ever Ordain Women
Image via Giulio Napolitano / Shutterstock.com
Pope Francis offered no new position on the issue of women’s ordination while on a flight returning from Sweden. When asked if the Catholic Church may one day allow women priests and bishops, he responded, as done previously, that the question was already settled in 1994 with St. John Paul II
Supreme Court to Hear School Case on Transgender Bathroom Rules
Next year, the Supreme Court will decide whether the federal government can require that public schools allow transgender students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, according to the Washington Post. Again, the Supreme Court — short one justice, following Antonin Scalia's death in February and Congress' failure to confirm a new justice — finds itself at the center of a deeply divided social issue across our country.
With New Emails, FBI Continues Investigation of Hillary Clinton
Image via Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock.com
On Oct. 28, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI director James Comey announced that the FBI will investigate newly discovered Hillary Clinton emails, reports NBC News.
Weekly Wrap 10.28.16: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
8. LifeWay Stops Selling Jen Hatmaker Books Over LGBT Beliefs
Evangelical Christian author and HGTV star Jen Hatmaker on Tuesday said LGBT relationships can be “holy” in an interview with Jonathan Merritt. The statements prompted far-right blogger Matt Walsh to write a fairly incoherent hit piece against Hatmaker in The Blaze. And yesterday, LifeWay decided to pull her books from the shelves because her statements “contradict LifeWay’s doctrinal guidelines.”
9. In Pop Culture, There Are No Bad Police Shootings
“Hollywood has promoted the very myths that result in our being shocked when we see an officer shoot a fleeing person or fire into a parked car, as well as an inflated narrative of valor that generates a near-automatic presumption of the guilt of those killed by police.”
10. The Yale Record Does Not Endorse Hillary Clinton
As a 501(c)3 organization, there are some rules against political endorsements. Here’s how the Record handled things.
Standing Rock Activists Arrested ... Oregon Militants Acquitted
Image via Fibonacci Blue/Flickr
The Black Lives Matter statement of solidarity reflects a sentiment expressed by many in reaction to yesterday's news: The price of protest in America depends largely on who you are, what you look like, and how much privilege you hold.
Newt Gingrich Accuses Megyn Kelly of Being 'Fascinated with Sex' for Coverage of Trump Accusers
Former Speaker of the House and Donald Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox News' The Kelly File Tuesday evening to discuss the final campaign push two weeks from Election Day. In a conversation about the debates and state of Trump's campaign, Gingrich quickly accused Kelly of media bias for not giving equal attention to Hillary Clinton's leaked emails and speech in which she mentioned "open borders." But when Kelly pointed out the seriousness of sexual assault allegations, Gingrich went on the attack.
Pope Directs Catholic Church in Argentina to Release 'Dirty War' Records
Political mural in Buenos Aires commemorating the Dirty War. Image via Carsten ten Brink/Flickr
Many have accused the Catholic Church of being complicit in the government-sanctioned violence, and the Argentinian Pope Francis has been criticized for being silent in the face of such atrocity. But today’s statement says the decision to release the archives came at the pope’s direction.
The move is noteworthy, given that many of the records would traditionally never be made public, while others would not typically be released for decades. The break with tradition, according to the statement, comes “in the service of truth, justice and peace.”
Demolition of Calais 'Jungle' Begins
Image via Sean Hawkey/World Council of Churches.
As of Oct. 25, French authorities have begun demolishing the migrant camp known as “the Jungle” in the city of Calais, reports CNN. The camp — stretching nearly 4 square kilometers — was home to more than 3,100 migrants. Many of these migrants have been bussed from the camp to other regions in France.
NAACP Seeks Hate Crime Investigation After Noose Is Tied Around Black Student’s Neck
Image via theerapong28/Shutterstock.com
As many as four white students were accused of putting a noose around the neck of a black student during football practice at Stone High School in Wiggins, Miss., earlier this month. The President of the Mississippi NAACP is now demanding a federal probe to investigate the matter.
SNL's 'Black Jeopardy' Shows How We Can All Make It Through Election 2016
Image via Leonard Zhukovsky/Shutterstock.com
In “Black Jeopardy,” two African-American contestants play a game of "Jeopardy!" with questions geared toward black culture. The third contestant is usually a white person who’s painfully out of touch with the game's subject matter. In the latest installment, two African-American contestants compete against a Trump supporter — easily the most out-of-touch white person they have faced yet. Or so they think.
White Evangelicals Noticeably More Forgiving of 'Immoral Behavior' in Elected Officials Today Than in 2011
A poll by PRRI, published Oct. 19, shows that 72 percent of white evangelical Protestants now believe that immoral behavior by an elected official doesn’t mean the official is incapable of performing their duties. This is a vast increase from the year 2011, when only 30 percent of white evangelical Protestants shared this view.
NYPD Investigates Its Own Fatal Shooting of a 66-Year-Old Black Woman
Image via a katz/Shutterstock.com
“We failed,” said NYPD commissioner James O’Neill.
“Every life to me is precious. I think that we’ve been in this business a very long time, we’ve established procedures and protocols for handling emotionally disturbed people. That’s to keep everybody safe, that’s to keep the cops safe, the community safe, and the person that we’re dealing with safe.”
#EvangelicalTrump Translates Bible Verses for Election 2016
Image: a katz / Shutterstock.com
Recently, evangelical groups have gained massive support in denouncing Trump, making it "publicly clear that Mr. Trump’s racial and religious bigotry and treatment of women is morally unacceptable to us as evangelical Christians." While some, like Jerry Fallwell Jr. and Pat Robertson, remain staunch Trump supporters, it seems the candidate is hemmorhaging evangelical support. Enter: Christian Twitter, satirizing #EvangelicalTrump. Here are some of our favorites:
President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Apologizes to Communities of Color
Image via Greg Browning/Shutterstock.com
Terrence M. Cunningham, the president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, apologized Oct. 17 on behalf of police in the U.S., “for the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in society’s historical mistreatment of communities of color,” reports the Washington Post.
Scientists to Media: Don't Call the Great Barrier Reef 'Dead,' We Can Still Save It
Image via Edward Haylan/Shutterstock.com
Outside Magazine’s obituary went viral online, but drew criticism from scientists who considered it irresponsible to deem the Great Barrier Reef dead. Terry Hughes, the director of the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, told the Huffington Post that it’s still possible to “save the Great Barrier Reef.”
'Planet Earth II' Trailer is a Moving Reminder of Earth's Beauty
Screenshot from 'Planet Earth II'/YouTube
BBC Earth released online on Oct. 14 an official extended trailer for Planet Earth II, an upcoming sequel to the popular television series Planet Earth, which premiered in 2006. The nearly three minutes long trailer for Planet Earth II is visually striking and a clear reminder of our shared responsibility to protect the incredible planet we’ve been gifted.
Weekly Wrap 10.14.16: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
1. How Are You Celebrating Oilfield Prayer Day?
Yes, it’s a thing.
“Increasingly, we’re filling our heads with soundbites, the mental equivalent of junk. Over a day or even a week, the changes, like those to our belly, are barely noticeable. However, if we extend the timeline to months and years, we face a worrying reality and may find ourselves looking down at the pot-belly of ignorance.”
3. The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Child-Care Problem
“In 33 states and Washington, D.C., it costs more to put an infant in day care than it does to pay in-state college tuition and fees at a four-year public school.” This, and other depressing stats in this great examination of the state of childcare.
#WhyWomenDontReport Is Trending on Twitter, After Trump Accuser's Address Was Shared
Image via arindambanerjee/Shutterstock.com
On Oct. 13, Lou Dobbs, an anchor for Fox Business Network, helped circulate the address and phone number of Jessica Leeds, one of the women who have recently come forward to accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual contact. Dobbs tweeted a link to a news site that published Leeds’ address and phone number taken from public records and also quoted a tweet that included Leeds’ contact information. Dobbs has 794,000 followers.
#MuslimsReportStuff Goes Viral On Twitter During the Debate
Image via Ms Jane Campbell/Shutterstock.com
During the second U.S. presidential debate on Oct. 9, Donald Trump said, when asked about Islamophobia, that Muslims in the U.S. need to “report when they see something going on.”
“In San Bernardino, many people saw the bombs all over the apartment of the two people that killed 14 and wounded many, many people. Muslims have to report the problems when they see them.”
In response Muslims began to tweet using the hashtag #MuslimsReportStuff: