In Brazil’s political crisis, a powerful new force: evangelical Christians

— As he struggles to build support for his presidency, Brazil’s new leader, Michel Temer, has been dogged by the kind of character issue that pollsters refer to as “a strong negative.”

Temer, rumor has it, is a devil worshiper.

The origins of this falsehood are unclear. Temer, 75, a longtime politician, is a Christian of Maronite Lebanese descent. But the rumors have inflicted enough damage that Temer turned to prominent evangelical pastors for help. They encouraged him to make a video appealing for evangelicals’ support.  Continue reading…

Bible verse prompts GOP walkout after LGBT vote labeled a ‘sin’

rickallenA House conservative went after dozens of fellow Republicans on Thursday with suggestions that they’d sinned for backing an anti-discrimination proposal against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Rep. Rick Allen, a Georgia freshman, launched the GOP’s regular policy meeting in the Capitol basement by reading a Bible passage condemning homosexuality and suggesting that supporters of the LGBT provision, which passed the House the night before, were defying Christian tenets, attendees said.  Continue reading…

Egypt: Muslim mob attacks Christians, parade naked woman

Mideast Egypt ChristiansCAIRO (AP) — An armed Muslim mob stripped an elderly Christian woman and paraded her naked on the streets in an attack last week in which seven Christian homes were also looted and torched in a province south of the Egyptian capital.

According to the local Orthodox Coptic church and security officials, the assault in the Minya province village of Karma on Friday began after rumors spread that the elderly woman’s son had an affair with a Muslim woman — a taboo in conservative Egypt.  Continue reading…

Philippine President Duterte’s Seventh-day Adventist membership application in character review process

image-52MANILA, Philippines — An application for membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been submitted by newly-elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. The church has acknowledged receipt of the application and a character review of the baptismal candidate is under way.

President Duterte signalled his interest in the church in a recent interview with the Cebu Sun Star in which he said that if he was excommunicated from his own church he “might join the Seventh-day Adventists.”

Joining the Adventist Church would be a bit of an adjustment for the president, said University of the Philippines Anthropology specialist, Miguel Magnolia. “The Seventh-day Adventists don’t just baptize you on the spot. They want you to know what you are committing to. Plus, vegetarian chicken can be a shock to the system.”  Continue reading…

Philippines leader Duterte calls Catholic bishops ‘sons of whores’

2982The Philippines president-elect accused the Catholic church on Sunday of hypocrisy, saying the bishops who had condemned him during his campaign had been asking favours from the government.

Rodrigo “the punisher” Duterte, who won the 9 May presidential elections by a landslide, caused outrage in the church hierarchy in December after making a rambling and obscenity-filled speech cursing the pope. About 80% of Filipinos belong to the Catholic church. Continue reading…

The Latest: Chapman Tornado Had Winds of up to 180 Mph

wireap_58e0797ecfe049d2b5bb73ce1f859a98_16x9_1600The National Weather Service says a tornado that damaged or destroyed about 20 homes near the northeast Kansas town of Chapman was an EF4 with estimated peak winds of 180 mph.

Weather service surveyors determined the tornado started at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday and stayed on the ground for 26 miles before ending around 8:40 p.m. Kansas officials said Thursday numerous power lines and a set of railroad tracks were damaged in the storm.

The twister passed just south of Chapman, a community of 1,400 that in 2008 lost more than 60 homes and had several school buildings and churches damaged by a similar-sized tornado that cut through the heart of the town.

The weather service says Wednesday’s tornado was a half-mile wide and completely destroyed a farmstead near Chapman.

Earlier Thursday the weather service had rated the tornado as an EF3.  Source

Mississippi wants to be the 12th state to sue the Obama administration over bathroom guidance

gov mspA day after 11 states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over bathroom guidance for transgender students, a 12th state says it wants to get involved.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said in a statement Thursday that his office had already spoken with Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, who is leading the suit.

“I intend, as soon as possible, to join the lawsuit against this latest example of federal overreach,” Bryant said in a statement.  Continue reading…

FYI: Bill Gates of hell: Windows 10 hijacking computers

microsoft“Microsoft has turned “nasty” in its campaign to coerce hundreds of millions of customers to upgrade to its Windows 10 operating system, a program critics condemn as privacy-invading, data-swiping and “brimming with freemium services and ads.” Microsoft has been trying to lure computer users into its new operating system for months, bombarding them with unending pop-up screens. But many users are comfortable with the systems they have, have no interest in learning new operations and have simply clicked the “X” to get rid of the unwanted solicitation. You can’t do that anymore. Microsoft changed the coding on the “X” so that clicking it now instructs MS to “upgrade” your computer to Windows 10. Yes, really. In fact, the two options on the page, “OK” and “Upgrade Now,” do the same thing as the “X.” –Source

Finally, a somewhat mainstream article exposing Microsoft for unethical practices that everyone using Windows 7, 8 or even 10 need to know about. Yes, many PC mags touched on this already months ago. But not many people read or speak geek. And so I am glad this article came out using laymen’s terms so as to shine a light on something most people running the new Windows 10 operating system had no clue about.  Continue reading…

iPhone Maker Foxconn Has Replaced 60,000 Human Jobs with Robots

Tour Of The Foxconn Complex And Interview With CEO Terry GuoRobots will do repetitive tasks previously done by people.

The biggest manufacturer of Apple AAPL 0.79% products is going to replace human workers with robots.

Foxconn FXCNY -3.70% has cut 60,000 jobs historically reserved for humans and is in the process of replacing them with robots, according to the BBC and the South China Morning Post. (Foxconn manufactures for a great number of brands and it’s not clear whether these changes affect Apple products.)  continue reading…