The only wrinkle I can see in that is that the article states that Ivy's condition is spastic quadriplegia - meaning her body can jerk and move involuntarily on its own. The few times I encountered children with spastic conditions, they very often cannot be confined to carriers for appreciable amounts of time, because…

Oh, the things a tiny amount of compassion could solve...

Single method of execution? Uh, no. America has its issues, but we do not, generally, murder religious minorities - and not under the color of government authority. Even my most ardent of non-religious friends, who often are the first to note the dominant Christianity of the country, will openly say that they do not,…

Eh. Last time I checked, the populace is not, and don't seem to be at risk of, slicing anybody's head off. Frankly, ISIS is still leagues ahead.

Are there any large-scale CEOs who are not nasty pieces of work? Like, really? I'm starting to think that in order to amass a crazy amount of wealth by heading a large corporation, you kind of inherently have to be a mean-spirited, nasty piece of work. Like basic decency and gross capitalism just aren't going to go…

My brother in law is from Russia and he tell fascinating stories about these people. He says it is extremely hard to be an activist in Russia (more so than the US) because Russian culture is not really hospitable to it. Most people are struggling to go about their daily lives and don't have a lot of care left over for…

I'm not disagreeing with you overall, but I do feel the need to point out that if you can go about your life in a feeling of general safety and well-being, that is, on some level, a privilege. I used to work in a social agency that dealt primarily with women who had been victims of domestic violence, stalking and…

Don't get me wrong - I think religion has a big part to play in society's ills. Many people have used religion to try to justify some terrible stuff. However, I'm also of the opinion that religion can be a force for incredible good, if it wants to be. I caught a screening of Selma a few days ago, and one thing the…

It's not crazy in the least. Overdose deaths from rape drugs are a distinct possibility. The drugs work by slowing down the metabolism and causing drowsiness and nausea. There have been plenty of documented cases of women choking to death on their vomit as a result of these drugs or dying because their hearts stop,…

It's actually physically painful to watch Janice Dickinson here. She's still so clearly torn up and shaken by the whole thing and it actually hurts to watch how much pain she must be in. I do not know how anybody could watch that and think that she is faking, or making it up. I don't know how anybody could watch them…

But if that isn't the sole explanation, then why argue it? You basically contended that non-religious homophobes are that way because they fail to shed the homophobia that was imparted on them as children. However, I'm not sure there's actual evidence for such. Most non-religious homophobes situate their objections…

I used to be in Mensa and left exactly because of what you describe.

Truthfully, I feel like that's a cop out. One could easily argue that if one is raised non-religious and later becomes religious and embraces a homophobic outlook that one is still acting from the non-religious norms one was raised with. It's a chicken or the egg question. What if one was raised as a religious…

Then I'd argue that you simply haven't been exposed to enough sources if you haven't seen the arguments yet. Non-religious homophobes usually fall back on Rand to justify their beliefs. Rand argued against homosexuality on multiple grounds (probably since she was trying to justify a belief she already held).

Thank you for the sources. Now I understand your objections more fully.

John Meyer (allegedly). And Adam Levin (allegedly). And other allegedlys.

Honest question - was anywhere not built on slave labor? Or is the Dubai slave labor still ongoing? Like where exactly do we draw the line?

Sadly, it's not limited to religious folks. I used to listen to some podcasts by people who are into the "freethinkers" movement and had to stop because of the anti-LGBT stuff that would crop up. The worst among them was probably Adam Corolla, who spews hardcore anti-trans, anti-gay nonsense and justifies it by…

These are the stories I just don't get. Even IF (and that's a big IF) you think a child who is trans has a problem, why is it inclement upon you as a parent to "fix" them? If you're a person of faith, shouldn't you be of the opinion that such matters are between the trans person and their diety of choice (if any)?…

Thank you. Honestly, what exactly is the appeal of Judd Apatow? I liked the 40 Year Old Virgin, but truthfully, that was totally thanks to Steve Carell, who carried it with such likability. I disliked Knocked Up because it was, frankly, so unbelievable. Did anyone believe that somebody like Heigl's character would…