EOMMD

Cartoon President

We are trapped in a reality TV cartoon circus!

Randy Rainbow

Love this guy.

A Very Good Person

I discovered Roy Zimmerman at last years Freedom From Religion Foundation convention in Madison, Wisconsin. The man is busy!

OK, time for just one more, and this one is a live performance.

Randi Rhodes

Yep, Randi is still out there doing her thing. Her video broadcast values are not too high, but we can overlook that.

US launches

Finally, it looks like starting next year, the United States will no longer have to rely upon Russian rockets to get them into space.

NASA chief: 'Without question,' U.S. rockets will launch astronauts from U.S. soil next year

from USA Today

WASHINGTON - NASA Administrator James Bridenstine is all but guaranteeing his agency will soon be back in the business of carrying humans into low-Earth orbit in 2019.

"Without question, by the middle of next year, we'll be flying American astronauts on American rockets from American soil," he told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview at NASA headquarters. "We're so close."

The pronouncement indicates the confidence the agency has in the two aerospace companies – SpaceX and Boeing – contracted under its Commercial Crew program to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station.

The last space shuttle – Atlantis – carried a crew to the orbiting lab in 2011. Since then, NASA has been hitching rides on Russia's Soyuz rockets. The cost to U.S. taxpayers is $82 million a seat. Washington's reliance on Moscow for rides to the space station the past several years has been a source of frustration among lawmakers and many of those involved in the U.S. space program.

Though the shuttle replacement program began under  President Barack Obama, the resumption of crewed missions from U.S. launch pads would present a symbolic victory to President Donald Trump, who has touted a renewed space program as part of his Make America Great Again agenda

Earlier this month, NASA named the astronaut test pilots who will be the first to fly SpaceX and Boeing capsules launched from Florida's Space Coast to the International Space Station within a year, according to updated schedules.

The latest schedules show SpaceX appearing slightly ahead in the competition to reach the space station, with plans to fly two astronauts – NASA's Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley – in a Crew Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in April 2019.

Boeing aims to launch a CST-100 Starliner capsule on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in mid-2019, carrying a three-person crew: NASA's Eric Boe and Nicole Mann, and Boeing's Chris Ferguson That flight test would go to the station and could last two weeks to six months, depending on NASA’s needs, said  Boeing spokeswoman Rebecca Regan.

The tests flights would be preceded by unmanned orbital shakedown cruises. On a visit last week to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the National Space Council, praised the "remarkable progress" NASA has made to replace the space shuttle program.

But even if all goes smoothly next year, the arrival at the space station would be four years behind schedule. When Commercial Crew was unveiled in 2010 under the Obama administration, the target date was 2015. But a lack of full funding from the Republican-controlled Congress led to delays. By the time Boeing and SpaceX won contracts in 2014, the date was pushed back to 2017. Further delays have slid schedules to next year.

NASA's contract with Russia's space agency Roscosmos goes through 2020, which gives the agency extra time in case Boeing and SpaceX run into problems. But Bridenstine said he envisions U.S. astronauts would keep riding Soyuz rockets for years to come.

"Even when commercial crew is fully ready, we want to maintain this partnership with Russia," he said. "We would launch American astronauts on Soyuz and we would launch Russian cosmonauts on Commercial Crew (rockets)."

Original.

Steve Hughes

Comes now Steve Hughes, an Australian heavy-metal drummer/comedian. Must keep laughing. It will help us to stay sane.

Is it worth it?

Republicans had better start putting some brakes on Trump before he causes irreparable harm. Is it any surprise people are turned off to politics when they see things like how the GOP keeps deep-throating Trump?

The Full-Spectrum Corruption of Donald Trump

Everyone and everything he touches rots

by Peter Wehner in the New York Times

There’s never been any confusion about the character defects of Donald Trump. The question has always been just how far he would go and whether other individuals and institutions would stand up to him or become complicit in his corruption.

When I first took to these pages three summers ago to write about Mr. Trump, I warned my fellow Republicans to just say no both to him and his candidacy. One of my concerns was that if Mr. Trump were to succeed, he would redefine the Republican Party in his image. That’s already happened in areas like free trade, free markets and the size of government; in attitudes toward ethnic nationalism and white identity politics; in America’s commitment to its traditional allies, in how Republicans view Russia and in their willingness to call out leaders of evil governments like North Korea rather than lavish praise on them. But in no area has Mr. Trump more fundamentally changed the Republican Party than in its attitude toward ethics and political leadership.

For decades, Republicans, and especially conservative Republicans, insisted that character counted in public life. They were particularly vocal about this during the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, arguing against “compartmentalization” — by which they meant overlooking moral turpitude in the Oval Office because you agree with the president’s policy agenda or because the economy is strong.

Senator Lindsey Graham, then in the House, went so far as to argue that “impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.”

All that has changed with Mr. Trump as president. For Republicans, honor and integrity are now passé. We saw it again last week when the president’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen — standing in court before a judge, under oath — implicated Mr. Trump in criminal activity, while his former campaign chairman was convicted in another courtroom on financial fraud charges. Most Republicans in Congress were either silent or came to Mr. Trump’s defense, which is how this tiresome drama now plays itself out.

It is a stunning turnabout. A party that once spoke with urgency and apparent conviction about the importance of ethical leadership — fidelity, honesty, honor, decency, good manners, setting a good example — has hitched its wagon to the most thoroughly and comprehensively corrupt individual who has ever been elected president. Some of the men who have been elected president have been unscrupulous in certain areas — infidelity, lying, dirty tricks, financial misdeeds — but we’ve never before had the full-spectrum corruption we see in the life of Donald Trump.

For many Republicans, this reality still hasn’t broken through. But facts that don’t penetrate the walls of an ideological silo are facts nonetheless. And the moral indictment against Mr. Trump is obvious and overwhelming. Corruption has been evident in Mr. Trump’s private and public life, in how he has treated his wives, in his business dealings and scams, in his pathological lying and cruelty, in his bullying and shamelessness, in his conspiracy-mongering and appeals to the darkest impulses of Americans. (Senator Bob Corker, a Republican, refers to the president’s race-based comments as a “base stimulator.”) Mr. Trump’s corruptions are ingrained, the result of a lifetime of habits. It was delusional to think he would change for the better once he became president.

Some of us who have been lifelong Republicans and previously served in Republican administrations held out a faint hope that our party would at some point say “Enough!”; that there would be some line Mr. Trump would cross, some boundary he would transgress, some norm he would shatter, some civic guardrail he would uproot, some action he would take, some scheme or scandal he would be involved in that would cause large numbers of Republicans to break with the president. No such luck. Mr. Trump’s corruptions have therefore become theirs. So far there’s been no bottom, and there may never be. It’s quite possible this should have been obvious to me much sooner than it was, that I was blinded to certain realities I should have recognized.

In any case, the Republican Party’s as-yet unbreakable attachment to Mr. Trump is coming at quite a cost. There is the rank hypocrisy, the squandered ability to venerate public character or criticize Democrats who lack it, and the damage to the white Evangelical movement, which has for the most part enthusiastically rallied to Mr. Trump and as a result has been largely discredited. There is also likely to be an electoral price to pay in November.

But the greatest damage is being done to our civic culture and our politics. Mr. Trump and the Republican Party are right now the chief emblem of corruption and cynicism in American political life, of an ethic of might makes right. Dehumanizing others is fashionable and truth is relative. (“Truth isn’t truth,” in the infamous words of Mr. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.) They are stripping politics of its high purpose and nobility.

That’s not all politics is; self-interest is always a factor. But if politics is only about power unbounded by morality — if it’s simply about rulers governing by the law of the jungle, about a prince acting like a beast, in the words of Machiavelli — then the whole enterprise will collapse. We have to distinguish between imperfect leaders and corrupt ones, and we need the vocabulary to do so.

A warning to my Republican friends: The worst is yet to come. Thanks to the work of Robert Mueller — a distinguished public servant, not the leader of a “group of Angry Democrat Thugs” — we are going to discover deeper and deeper layers to Mr. Trump’s corruption. When we do, I expect Mr. Trump will unravel further as he feels more cornered, more desperate, more enraged; his behavior will become ever more erratic, disordered and crazed.

Most Republicans, having thrown their MAGA hats over the Trump wall, will stay with him until the end. Was a tax cut, deregulation and court appointments really worth all this?

Peter Wehner (@Peter_Wehner), a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the previous three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer.

Original.

conserve water!

It has been dry, dry, dry here on South Padre Island this summer. One short burst of rain, and then nothing for weeks and weeks. So the Laguna Madre Water District is implementing Stage II (voluntary) water conservation measures. It's a shame that we here in South Texas have to rely on hurricanes to get water!

LMWD implements water conservation measures

from the Port Isabel-South Padre Island Press

Laguna Madre Water District residents and businesses are now are facing water restrictions as a result of a recently implemented Stage II water conservation measure. 

The conservation includes restricting lawn watering on a two-day per week staggered schedule. Residents throughout the area received notice of the restrictions in their August water bill. 

LMWD General Manager Carlos Galvan said the voluntary Stage II restrictions are due to the water levels at both the Falcon and Amistad reservoirs falling below 50 percent. If the levels fall below 25 percent, water utilities throughout the Rio Grande Valley will implement much more stringent water conservation measures, which will be mandatory, Galvan said. 

For Laguna Vista and Laguna Heights, the decree allows landscape watering only on Mondays and Thursdays between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. South Padre Island residents and businesses are regulated to Tuesdays and Fridays and Port Isabel can water on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 

Washing vehicles, boats, trailers and other mobile equipment is also restricted to these days, the notice indicates. Water use for non-essential purposes is prohibited. In July 2018, the Water District entered Stage II conservation measures for Mild Water Shortage Conditions.

According to the Laguna Madre Water District Water District’s website, the Conservation Plan was approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2009. “The Five year Water Conservation Plan provides an outline of current water conservation initiatives approved by the Board of Directors of the LMWD and conservation measures for the future. Execution of these programs will definitely help the LMWD meet its water conservation goals, and will also allow the District to save money by delaying the construction and expansion of water treatment plants and purchase of additional water rights,” it reads. 

“The Laguna Madre Water District uses the drought and emergency contingency plan during a drought or a number of other uncontrollable circumstances that can disrupt the normal availability of the District water supply. In addition, the purpose of this plan is to conserve and limit the demand of water during emergencies in the LMWD’s water system,” the website notes. 

The Water District has the authority to implement four stages of the overall conservation plan: 

Stage 1 Triggers- Voluntary conservation is the first phase of the plan. This stage is always in effect unless a higher phase is required and enacted. 

Stage 2 Triggers- Mild Water Shortage Conditions. This stage initiates when the level of U.S water stored in Amistad and Falcon Reservoirs reaches 51 percent or 1,660,000 AF (or below). When the level of water is above this amount, this stage may be terminated. 

Stage 3 Triggers- Moderate Water Shortage Conditions. This stage initiates during peak demand days such as Texas Week, Easter, Memorial Day, and Labor Day. When the level of U.S water stored in Amistad and Falcon Reservoirs reaches 25 percent of 834,600 MAF (or below). 

Stage 4 Triggers- Severe Water Shortage Conditions- This stage initiates when the level of U.S. water stored in Amistad and Falcon Reservoirs reaches 15 percent or 504,600 MAG (or below). When the level of water is above this amount, his stage may be terminated. 

Notice of the restrictions haves been posted on various community websites and social media. No reference to violation penalties has been included.  Galvan said water usage in the Laguna Madre region will begin to decline soon as the summer tourist season comes to an end, which should aid things. Water usage within the area doubles during the peak tourist season. 

Sunday, Aug. 12 saw the highest demand for water, with the district pumping some 6.6 million gallons into service that day, Galvan said. The average water draw during the summer is approximately 6.5 million gallons per day, while off-season water usage hovers around 3.5 million gallons per day, he said. 

“This is to raise awareness of the water situation,” Laguna Vista City Manager Rolando Vela said. “We have posted it on our website,” he said. Mayor Susie Houston urges Laguna Vista residents to follow the water conservation guidelines. “At least we can still water on the designated days,” she said, adding, “We will get through this.” 

Galvan remained optimistic that the water conservation measures would have an impact. The last time the district implemented such measures was in 2011. “We did conserve water because our revenue was lower,” he said with a laugh.

Big Think

You have probably come across Big Think once or twice, or more. They do a lot of thought-provoking work. Hence, Big Think. Brilliant. Stretch your mind now and then.

never before

Never have we seen a liar the likes of Donald J. Trump. Still, I feel that the truth will win, and Trump will go down in flames. Hopefully we won't go down with him.

Black Collar Crime

This items seems to be a good follow-up to the Scathing Atheist post, where they discussed the recent grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania. All of the items below appeared in newspapers of TV over the last 30-day period.  Over the last thirty days!

This column is generated monthly be the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Black Collar Crime (August 2018)

Vol. 35 No. 6 August 2018

Compiled by Bill Dunn

Arrested / Charged

William E. Smith Jr., 48, Palmer, TN: Attempted rape of a child. Smith, pastor at Church of God International, was found in a vehicle with his pants down on top of a girl by deputies looking for a stolen pickup in a wooded area, the complaint said. Deputies said Smith told them several times the girl was 18 but she later told them she was 12. Source: WTVC, 6-1-18

Alfonzo Carter, 45, Chicago: Criminal sexual assault. Carter, assistant pastor at Greater First Baptist Missionary Baptist Church and father of 8, is charged with seducing a 16-year-old girl from the church in April during counseling for problems she was having at school.

Prosecutor Jacqueline Marquardt said Carter asked the girl if she was sexually active. “When [she] told [Carter] that she was not, [he] asked if he could teach her how to have sex. The teen said ‘yes,’ ” Marquardt alleged.

After she became suspicious, the girl’s grandmother allegedly found Carter hiding in a bedroom closet in the house where the girl was staying with her grandmother, Marquardt said. Source: Sun-Times, 5-30-18

Randall K. Carter II, 42, Overland Park, KS: Rape of a child, aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Carter, a youth pastor at an unidentified church and 5th-grade teacher at Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy in Kansas City, is charged with assaults on 2 girls under age 14 between July 2013 and August 2016 when he was teaching at Pathway Academy and University Academy.

Tolbert Academy, a public charter school, is named after a Pentecostal pastor. Classes are held in the 24-classroom wing of Victorious Life Church. A woman who knows Carter from church told a reporter she thinks the allegations are false. Source: fox4kc, 5-25-18

Joshua W. Wright, 67, Donald Jackson, 40, and William J. Wright, 46, face 11 counts related to sexual assault of 4 teen girls enrolled in a program run by the Oxon Hill Assembly of Jesus Christ in Fort Washington, MD, where the Wrights were pastors and Jackson was a congregant from 2001-08.

The program, which ended in 2011, was called Children Having Overcoming Power and provided living accommodations and classes for at-risk youth. Source: WUSA, 5-23-18

Phillip P. Ratliff, 77, Norman, OK: 2 counts of performing lewd acts on a child. Ratliff, pastor at Alameda Baptist Church, was arrested after a forensic interview of Ratliff’s juvenile granddaughter and an allegation he had child pornography on a computer. Source: Norman Transcript, 5-24-18

Sheldon R. Johnson, 55, Goldthwaite, TX: Violating a criminal trespass warning. Johnson, pastor of First United Methodist Church, had been barred from any Goldthwaite public school after a vehement April 20 argument with a middle school administrator when police were called. But on April 26, he returned twice and the school, which Johnson’s child attends, was locked down as a precaution.

The United Methodist Rio Texas Conference said in a statement that Johnson will retire July 1. Source: KWTX, 5-22-18

Larry A. Holley and Patricia E. Gray, Flint, MI: Conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, 2 counts of wire fraud and 4 counts each of mail fraud and money laundering. It’s alleged that Holley, pastor of Abundant Life Ministries International Inc., and Gray, his Treasure Enterprise business partner, bilked about $6.7 million from over 80 investors, many of them church members around the region. Ads were aired on Christian radio stations soliciting laid-off auto workers to invest their severance packages. Source: mlive.com, 5-22-18

Matthew S. Everly, 25, Bloomington, IL: 11 criminal counts, including aggravated battery of a child, aggravated domestic battery and reckless conduct. Everly, associate pastor of worship arts at Eastview Christian Church in Normal, is accused of injuring his 2-month-old daughter in March when she sustained 2 broken legs and a broken arm.

The girl was temporarily removed from the home but was returned to live with her mother, who’s not criminally charged. Source: WJBC, 5-21-18

Kenneth Lewis, 56, Arvada, CO: Predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. Lewis, a Catholic priest defrocked in 2007 after serving in Tulsa, OK, is accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy at a hotel in Evanston, IL. His parents filed a complaint with Tulsa police in 2004. Two more alleged victims have come forward and charges are pending.

The diocese sent Lewis to treatment in 1994 but he was allowed the return to active ministry in 1995. Source: Sun-Times, 5-21-18

William A. Nolan, 64, Madison, WI: 6 counts of sexual assault of a child under 16. Nolan, a retired priest-in-residence since 2014 at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Parish, is accused of abuse of a former altar boy that allegedly started while he was pastor at St. Joseph’s Parish in Ft. Atkinson.

Nolan retired from full-time ministry in 2007. A man, now 25, told police in April he had a “continuous sexual relationship” with Nolan from 2006-10.

Police Chief Adrian Bump said there may be more victims. “This is a delayed report of almost 13 years. Based off our interaction and working closely with the victim, it was identified that a concern that there may be other kids out there that were assaulted and that resulted in motivating the complainant to come forward.” Source: WMTV, 5-16-18

Thomas W. Allen, 49, Abingdon, MD: 4 counts of assault. Allen, rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, is accused of hitting his wife in the face during an argument in May while driving home from dinner out. According to the police report, Allen allegedly had been drinking during much of the day and also assaulted 3 of their 5 children, including kicking his 18-year-old stepdaughter in the chest as she tried to help a sibling. Source: Baltimore Sun, 5-15-18

Daniel Ramos, 29, Burbank, IL: Grooming, indecent solicitation of a child and 6 counts of child pornography. Ramos, youth pastor at Victory Worship Center, is accused of sending 4 female church members between the ages of 12 and 17 lewd photos and videos of him masturbating. Some of them sent him photos of themselves, clothed and unclothed. Source: Sun-Times, 5-15-18

Jacob “Yanky” Daskal, 59, Brooklyn, NY: 3rd-degree rape, forcible touching, sex abuse, criminal sex act and acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17. Daskal, founder and president of the Shomrim Brooklyn South Safety Patrol, is charged with assaults on a 16-year-old girl in his home between ­August and November 2017.

Shomrim, a private Orthodox Jewish neighborhood patrol, received $425,708 in city contracts between 2010-15. Daskal has also been a major local political contributor. Source: NY Post, 5-10-18

Inés Pérez and Rosa Tróchez Joaqui, Catholic nuns who worked respectively as director and assistant at Hogar Renacer Santa Clara in Popáyan, Colombia, are charged with aggravated torture of about 65 displaced children under their care from 2014-17. After neighbors reported screams coming from the facility, investigators allegedly found children who’d had their hands burned and their shaved heads pushed into toilets as punishment. Source: Newsweek, 5-9-18

Jackie D. Woodburn, 63, Burtchville, MI: Producing or attempting to produce child pornography, receipt or possession of child pornography and coercion. Woodburn, associate pastor until recently at Colonial Woods Missionary Church, is charged with posing as a teen online “to sexually exploit minor teenage and preteen girls,” the complaint said.

Among the more than 50 alleged victims is a 13-year-old Texas girl who chatted with “jd windwalker” in 2016. That IP address was traced to Woodburn’s home, police said. A seized computer allegedly had least 70,000 Skype chat messages between “windwalker” and others.

The church website said he was among 60 people worldwide selected for a counseling enrichment program at Focus on the Family in 1991. Source: Detroit News, 5-9-18

Joseph Cramer, 66, Gardner, KS: Theft of property greater than $25,000 and 2 counts of unlawful use of a computer to defraud or falsely obtain money, property or services. Cramer has resigned as pastor of Divine Mercy Catholic Parish. More than $40,000 is involved. A bail condition bars him from casinos. Source: KMBC, 5-9-18

Meally M. Freeman, 55, Brooklyn Center, MN: 2 counts of criminal sexual conduct. Freeman, pastor at Grace Mountaineer Tabernacle Church, is charged with assaulting a 28-year-old woman who had gone to him for “spiritual guidance” last September.

The complaint alleges the woman lost consciousness during 2 sessions after Freeman gave her small cups of anointing oil to drink and that when she awoke after the 2nd session, she found her private areas exposed and covered with oil. In a recording made later, he allegedly admitted touching her genitals and breasts and said, “We insert things into people” during “deliverance.” Source: KMSP, 5-8-18

David Poulson, 64, Oil City, PA: Indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. Poulson, pastor at several Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Erie, is accused of molesting 2 boys for several years. It’s suspected there are more victims.

One boy was 8 and was an altar boy when the alleged assaults started. Prosecutors said Poulson would make him admit the “sins” during confession. The other boy was 15. Nine other males told investigators similar abuse stories. Source: Philly Voice, 5-8-18

William H. Randall, 73, Fleming Island, FL: Custodial sexual battery against a victim under 18. Randall, retired pastor at St. Simon Baptist Church, is charged with molesting a girl at the church between 2007-15. The girl told police he coerced her into taking off her clothes and performing oral sex on him. Source: WJAX, 5-7-18

Dennis McCarty, Pocahontas, AR: Criminal mischief. McCarty, pastor at Pyburn Street Church of Christ, is charged with keying a car parked in a handicapped spot and doing about $1,000 damage. The owner, who’s not disabled, said she parked there to run into a college dorm briefly.

The pastor, who saw her and told her she didn’t look like she had a handicap, was later seen next to the car on surveillance video, the complaint said. Source: KARK, 5-5-18

Billy Leveille, 51, Orlando, FL: Sexual activity with a minor. Leveille, pastor at Bethel Eglise Haitienne des Adventistes (Seventh-day Adventist), is charged with having sex in late 2016 with a 17-year-old girl 3 times at hotels.

An affidavit said she “did not feel comfortable with this but was scared to tell Leveille anything, as he was the pastor of her church.” She alleged Leveille would say “he was really stressed and needed a stress reliever.” An online video purportedly showing the pastor having sex led to the charges. Source: WFTV, 5-2-18

Carlton L. Marks, 60, Henagar, AL: Theft of property. Marks, clerk/treasurer at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church until resigning last September, is suspected of stealing over $200,000. Source: WAFF, 5-1-18

Jerry R. Newton, 54, Slidell, LA: Theft of government funds. It’s alleged that Newton, pastor of Bogalusa Baptist Church, didn’t disclose to the Social Security Administration that he was employed as a pastor and owned 2 businesses when he applied for and received $95,316 in disability benefits. Source: Times-Picayune, 4-27-18

Philip Smith, 52, Lancaster, PA: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault of a person under 16 and 15 related offenses. Smith, a radio host for Christian station WJTL, is accused of assaults on a girl from 2013-17, starting when she was 15. Source: Lancaster Online, 4-27-18

Jermaine Grant, 43, Burlington Township, NJ, and Lincoln Warrington, 48, Teaneck, NJ: Tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. Grant, leader of the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, and church treasurer Warrington allegedly failed to report a combined $5.3 million in income from the church from 2007-15, with a tax loss to the government of $1.9 million. Source: Courier Post, 4-27-18

Cesar M. Rios Martinez, 35, Laurel, DE: 25 counts of dealing in child pornography. Martinez is pastor at Iglesia El Espiritu Santo in Salisbury, MD. Source: AP, 4-27-18

Pleaded / Convicted

Jerry Gross, 72, and Jason L. Gross, 51, Spindale, NC: Pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Father and son, who are business partners and pastors at Word of Faith Fellowship, are accused of getting dozens of church members to falsely file for unemployment benefits in order to funnel money to the church from 2009-13. The Grosses also filed false claims.

A criminal investigation is ongoing into the church’s alleged involvement in physical and emotional abuse of members. Source: AP, 5-25-18

Philip Wilson, 67, archbishop of Adelaide, Australia, was found guilty of failing to report a serious crime committed by another person. He’s the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in the world to be convicted of such an offense and faces a maximum of 2 years in prison.

Wilson denied under oath that 2 altar boys told him they were molested in 1971 and 1976 by James Fletcher, a New South Wales priest later convicted of multiple assault counts and who died in prison in 2006. Magistrate Robert Stone said he could not accept Wilson’s claim that he didn’t remember the conversations, including an allegation made to him in the confessional booth by the boy, who was 11. Source: NPR, 5-22-18

Fernando Sayasaya, 53, a Catholic priest extradited from the Philippines in December, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of felony gross sexual imposition involving 2 boys under 15 when he served parishes from 1995-98 in Fargo, ND.

The boys alleged he touched or tried to touch their penises when they visited his apartment. One told police Sayasaya showed pornographic movies and served him alcohol. Source: AP, 5-18-18

Christopher Collins, 32, Buena Vista, VA: Pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and attempting to send obscene material to a minor under 16. It was alleged that in November 2016 when an undercover officer posing online as a 13-year-old girl contacted Collins (username NavyGuy4Yng), he sent images of his erect penis and a video of a male masturbating and claimed to be a youth pastor.

Collins is studying to be a youth pastor, a government press release said, but didn’t name the institution. Source: WLNI, 5-18-18

Daniel S. Johnson, 40, Coos Bay, OR: Guilty by jury of travel with intent to engage in illicit conduct, aggravated sexual abuse and 6 counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. He was accused of molesting 6 boys aged 8 to 17 while running a Cambodian orphanage from 2005-13.

Johnson’s work with Hope Transitions ministry was funded for several years by Calvary Baptist Church in Gladewater, TX. Source: Register-Guard, 5-16-18

Kenneth Butler, 38, Toledo, OH: Pleaded guilty to obstruction of a sex-trafficking investigation and 2 counts of sex trafficking of children. “This defendant has admitted to crimes that include preying on a foster child who was previously the victim of sexual abuse, and he committed these crimes in a house of worship,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said.

Butler, pastor at Kingdom Encounter Family Worship Center from 2007-12, is accused of having sex with 2 minor girls. Two other pastors, Cordell Jenkins, 47, and Anthony Haynes, 39, also face charges involving the same girls. Source: Toledo Blade, 5-14-18

Alan Devine, 74, Stockport, UK: Guilty by jury of 6 counts of indecent assault on 2 girls between 1972-76 when Devine was chaplain at a Catholic school. Prosecutors said he became enamored with a 15-year-old, which led to her getting pregnant and giving the child up for adoption.

The victim, now 58, didn’t go to police until 4 decades later. Her sister, now 54, alleged Devine also molested her during the same period. He admitted fathering the child but claimed the affair didn’t start until the girl was 18. He later started a relationship with the girls’ mother after her divorce. Source: Daily Mail, 4-30-18

Berl Fink, 57, a Hasidic rabbi from Brooklyn, NY, pleaded no contest, paid a $100 fine and received 5 points on his driver’s license for eluding a Vermont state trooper on I-91 for more than 4 miles shortly after midnight Aug. 8. Trooper Justin Thompson alleged Fink was going 83 in a 65-mph zone and swerved at times.

Fink said he didn’t realize at first that he was being pulled over, but that once he did, he looked for a safe place to stop. Thompson ordered Fink out of the car at gunpoint and handcuffed him and his wife and 2 sons before releasing them. A review of video footage concluded Thompson acted properly. Source: Valley News, 4-26-18

John P. Aitchison, 67, Canberra, Australia: Guilty by jury of 5 counts of rape and 8 counts of indecency involving against a 13-year-old girl in the 1980s. The woman testified Aitchison first assaulted her after violin practice at the Anglican church where he was pastor.

She testified he told her during the assault to look into the corner and pray she would see her pet dog that had died and kept muttering “please God forgive me.” Two men also testified Aitchison molested them as youths. Source: abc.net/au, 4-26-18

Sentenced

Klint Bitter, 35, Omaha, NE: 10 to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted sexual assault. Because most sentences are cut in half under state law, Bitter will serve 5 to 10 years. He was a youth pastor at Christ Community Church in February 2017 when he contacted a male teen to set up a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl and then met her in Bellevue for sex, prosecutors said.

The male teen, DeArch Stubblefield, 19, pleaded guilty to attempted human trafficking and was sentenced to 20 to 40 years. Source: World-Herald, 5-23-18

Justo J. Ilarraz, an Argentinian Catholic priest, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexual abuse of 7 boys between the ages of 10 and 14 at the minor seminary in Paraná from 1985-93 where he was prefect of discipline and spiritual guide. Prosecutor Juan Ramirez Montrul said it’s clear there are other victims who haven’t filed complaints. Source: AP, 5-21-18

Gary Uhlenkott, 67, Spokane, WA: 6 months in jail after pleading guilty to viewing minors engaged in sexual explicit conduct. Uhlenkott, a Catholic priest and Gonzaga University music professor, was arrested after federal agents seized videos from his office and apartment in 2013.

Among the movies purchased with his credit card were “Boy Fights XXVIII: Bucharest Holiday,” “Boys of Europa” and “God or Goat.” Source: AP, 5-16-18

Wisdom Kusorgbor, 25, Korle-Gonno, Ghana: 24 months’ hard labor for putting his fingers in a 3-year-old’s vagina and “brushing” it with his penis in December 2016. Kusorgbor, pastor of Soldiers of the Cross Ministries, lived in the same housing compound as the girl and her mother. Source: Graphic Online, 5-13-18

Mark C. Adams, 56, Mt. Carmel, TN: 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to using means of interstate commerce to persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity. Adams, a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Oak Grove Baptist Church, posed in March 2017 as a 17-year-old boy on the Kik app to have explicit chats with an 11-year-old girl in Michigan.

“He made specific instructions for her to position her body in front of her camera so that she may take photographs of her genitals,” the plea agreement stated. Source: WJHL, 5-8-18

Jacob A. Bertrand, 35, San Diego: 10 years’ probation and a $1,000 fine after pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct. Bertrand, a Catholic priest, had sex with a young adult woman in her Minnesota home after saying a private Mass there in 2010. Afterward, he told her they had “fulfilled the second holiest sacrifice next to Jesus and Mary on Calvary.”

Minnesota clergy can be charged with 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with persons they’re not married to while being asked for or giving spiritual advice, even if the sex is consensual. Source: WCCO, 5-7-18

Robert D’Aversa, 70, and Anthony Criscitelli, 63, Altoona, PA: 5 years’ probation, $1,000 fine and costs after pleading no contest to endangering the welfare of children. They are Franciscan friars accused of covering up sexual abuse by fellow friar Stephen Baker in the 1990s.

Baker killed himself in 2013, days after announcement of a multimillion-dollar settlement. He was first accused of sexual abuse in 1988 but his superiors never reported allegations to police. Source: Tribune-Review, 5-4-18

Andrew Rushford, 64, Yantic, CT: 5 years in prison suspended, 5 years’ probation and $43,000 restitution after pleading guilty to larceny for stealing from Grace Episcopal Church, where he had been treasurer since 2013. Source: Norwich Bulletin, 5-3-18

William J. Walters, 33, Roanoke, VA: 6 years in prison suspended and restitution of $180,000 after pleading no contest to 3 embezzlement counts. He was charged with stealing from the church, where he was pastor from 2007-15. Source: Roanoke Times, 5-1-18

James D. Worley, 45, Gresham, OR: 12½ years in prison and $12,000 compensation to a family member he was convicted of molesting in the early 2000s when she was between the ages of 5 and 7. He was senior pastor of Powell Valley Church from 2012 until his arrest in 2014.

Worley’s initial indictment included accusations from another family member but charges were dropped days before his trial started. The jury deadlocked on 8 other counts. His victim, now a teen, read a statement in court. She said the smell of Worley’s brand of cologne “makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.” Source: Bend Bulletin, 4-30-18

Komar Uddin, 68, Leicester, UK: 15 years in prison after convictions for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old in her home during a 2015 exorcism. Uddin worked as an imam at several mosques after entering the country from Bangladesh on a visa in 2006. A married father of 11, he stayed illegally before fleeing to Germany after his arrest. Source: Leicester Mercury, 4-27-18

Branden E. Shumate, 39, Koloa, Hawaii: 45 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of 3 counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14. Shumate was an assistant at Shekinah Fellowship in 1997 in Lake Forest, CA, where his father was pastor, when he met the 6-year-old victim whose family attended the church.

The other victim was 10 in 2010-11 when she told her mother that Shumate molested her while she was drying off after a shower while her family was living with the Shumates. Source: OC Weekly, 4-27-18

Jose L. Pizarro, 42, Mansfield, TX: 50 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of indecency and sexual abuse of a child younger than 14. Pizarro, pastor of Iglesia de Dios Nuevo Amanecer, was accused of abusing an 8-year-old girl at church in 2016 and a 10-year-old girl in 2013. Source: Dallas News, 4-27-18

Asaram Bapu, who has founded hundreds of Hindu ashrams in India, was sentenced to life in prison for raping a girl in 2013 when she was 16. He’s in his 70s. He and his son are also accused in 2 other cases involving alleged repeated assaults of 2 sisters 10 years ago in Gujarat state. Source: NPR, 4-25-18

Gregorio Martinez, 50, N. Bergen, NJ: 5 years in prison for bail jumping. Martinez, a Pentecostal deacon and pastor, fled to Nicaragua in 2015 after being convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy and sentenced to 4 years, time he just started serving after being extradited. He’s scheduled to face trial for another assault on an 18-year-old male. Source: Jersey Journal, 4-23-18

Civil Lawsuits Filed

Sabine Griego, Las Vegas, NM, a former Catholic priest, is being sued by 6 men and 1 woman, now in their 50s, who allege he raped or molested them between 1968-84. He’s the sole defendant. Past lawsuits have targeted the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which in every case has settled out of court to keep the 32 plaintiffs quiet.

“The goal in these 7 survivors in focusing on Griego specifically is to draw attention to the fact that he has escaped any kind of prosecution, even though he has been known as a credible abuser for more than 20 years,” said attorney Levi Monagle. Source: KOB-TV, 5-15-18

St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, is being sued by 3 former students whose suit calls the school affiliated with the Episcopalian Church a “haven for sexual predators” that has failed to protect children for decades.

Two male plaintiffs attended the school from 1966-70 and 1973-76. One alleges he was inappropriately touched by 3 faculty members, including Gerry Studds, who later was elected to Congress. The other alleges administrator Coolidge Chapinbrought him and other students to a New York City brothel in the winter of 1973-74, where Chapin stripped to his underwear and ordered students to have sex with prostitutes.

Plaintiff “Jane Doe” alleges the school had a “hypersexualized environment” where older students scored points for having sex with younger ones and that officials failed to report her sexual assault during the 2012-13 school year. Source: NH Public Radio, 5-4-18

Chris Cunningham and the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles are being sued by at least 7 male plaintiffs who allege Cunningham molested them while he was pastor at several parishes from the mid-1990s to early 2000s when he was in his 20s.The suit claims officials knew about Cunningham’s behavior and gave him different assignments until 2004 when he left the priesthood. He’s now a licensed psychologist in Rhode Island. Source: Daily Breeze, 4-27-18

Legal Developments

Osher Eisemann, 61, Lakewood, NJ: Theft by unlawful taking, misapplication of government property, misconduct by a corporate official and money laundering. Eisemann, an Orthodox rabbi who founded the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence, is accused of using a private fundraising nonprofit for the school to launder $630,000 in public tuition funds.

He’s also accused of transferring another $200,000 of school funds into a personal account and then back to school accounts to create the false impression that he was using personal funds to repay debts he owed the school. The school receives $1.8 million a month from public school districts that send students with special education needs there. Source: nj.com, 5-25-18

Samuel Mullet Sr., 72, leader of a breakaway Amish sect in Bergholz, OH, lost his appeal for a new trial. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster ruled that alleged errors raised by Mullet during his trial for hair- and beard-cutting attacks in 2011 weren’t prejudicial.

Prosecutors alleged the motive was religious since hair and beards have spiritual significance for the Amish. Of the 16 men convicted in the case, only Mullet remains imprisoned. He was sentenced to 11 years. Source: USA Today, 5-3-18

George Pell, 76, Vatican finance minister, will stand trial on multiple charges of historical sexual abuse. Cardinal Pell is the most senior Catholic official to face criminal charges for assault. Allegations stem from his time as a priest in Ballarat in the 1970s until the 1990s, when he was archbishop of Melbourne. Details of the allegations and number of charges were not made public. Source: The Guardian, 4-30-18

Allegations

Fabian J. Maryanski, 77, is the subject of a renewed investigation by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, NY, into an accusation he had a sexual relationship for several years with a girl in the mid-1980s. The priest started his sexual advances when she was a 15-year-old parishioner, according to a 1995 letter sent by her lawyer to the diocese.

His accuser, now 49, alleged he got her drunk and had intercourse with her on her 18th birthday when he was 45 and that they didn’t stop having sex until she was 22. She said she’s still a practicing Catholic, adding, “the fact that the shepherds who were supposed to protect their flock decided to protect the wolves instead is beyond my ability to accept at this point.” Source: Buffalo News, 5-6-18

Peter Charland, a New York Catholic priest who died in 2004 at age 58, molested them in the 1970s, allege 8 men who have filed claims with the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s victim compensation program. All were members of the PJ Folksingers at a Long Island parish.

Steven Werner, 60, said Charland molested him over 100 times during “practice sessions” in the rectory. Group member Barbara Ryan Hausman said she first heard abuse stories in 1994 at a reunion. “As I look back, I could see how he orchestrated the whole thing.” Charland left the priesthood in 1978. Source: Newsday, 4-27-18

Removed / Resigned

Mark Froehlich, 75, Belmont, OH, was removed from public ministry by the Catholic Diocese of Steubenville during an investigation of historical sexual abuse of a minor. Msgr. Froehlich, who is retired, denied the allegation: “I’ve been doing this for 50 years,” he said of his time as a teacher and priest. “With this crazy #MeToo crap that’s going on, a defendant like me will have a tough time.” Source: News-Register, 5-30-18

Paige Patterson, 75, was removed by trustees as president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX, because of sexist remarks he made about women and charges he downplayed the seriousness of rape and domestic abuse.

A published report alleged Patterson encouraged a woman not to report a rape in 2003 when he was president of the church’s seminary in Wake Forest, NC, and that he told another woman to stay with and pray for her husband after he blackened both her eyes.

Another report detailed a 2014 sermon in which he “related a conversation he had with a woman while her son and a friend were standing alongside. As they talked, a teenage girl whom Patterson described as ‘very attractive’ walked by, and one of the boys said, ‘Man, is she built.’ ”

The woman scolded the boy but Patterson defended him: “I said, ‘Ma’am, leave him alone, he’s just being biblical. That is exactly what the bible says.’ ” Source: al.com, 5-24-18

Luigi Esposito, 77, was suspended by the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore during a probe of alleged sexual abuse while he was associate pastor at Our Lady of Pompei Church in the 1970s and the complainant was 14. He was also a teacher, coach and athletic director of Our Lady of Pompei High School from 1964-1987. Source: WBAL, 5-21-18

Shayne Duvall, Louisville, KY, pastor at St. Raphael Catholic Church, “will be away for a couple of weeks to be on retreat” for his involvement in an inappropriate relationship with an adult. Jeff Shooner, vicar for priests for the Louisville Archdiocese, told a reporter that “Father Shayne has apologized and hopes to continue as pastor.” Source: Courier Journal, 5-11-18

Charles Hanel, Pewaukee, WI, was put on leave as pastor at Queen of Apostles Catholic Parish during investigation of an allegation he had inappropriate contact with a minor. Hanel, who was ordained in 1983, had recently returned from sabbatical when the allegation surfaced in late April. The date(s) of the alleged incident(s) was not specified. Source: Journal Sentinel, 5-11-18

Steven Fink, rabbi at Temple Oheb Shalom in Pikesville, MD, was suspended with pay because of “an allegation of an improper incident of a sexual nature that may have occurred many years ago” involving a teen, a temple statement said. Source: WBFF, 5-3-18

Larry Bach, Durham, NC, resigned as rabbi at Judea Reform Congregation after the Central Conference of American Rabbis determined he committed an ethics violation that was sexual in nature in March. Bach was reprimanded for a similar violation in 2014 when he served a synagogue in El Paso, TX. Source: WTVD, 5-1-18

Gerry LeBouef, Clawson, MI, pastor at Guardian Angels Catholic Church and president of Bishop Foley High School, was placed on leave. Madison Heights police said in a press release that the department took a “suspicious circumstances” report from a student in April. Source: Detroit Free Press, 4-27-18

Les Hughey, 64, Scottsdale, AZ, resigned as pastor of Highlands Community  Church. Six women have alleged he assaulted them while working as a youth pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church from 1985-96 and earlier at First Baptist Church in Modesto, CA. Source: Arizona Republic, 4-27-18

Samuel Venne, pastor of St. Stephen Catholic Church, Grand Island, NY, and Art Smith, pastor of Blessed Mother of Calcutta Parish in Depew, NY, were put on administrative leave by the Diocese of Buffalo due to allegations of sexual abuse of minors. Source: WKBW, 4-23-18

Scathing Atheist

In these troubled times, we need to be reminded that religion is bullshit, no matter how many people point to the sky or pray for rain or rape children. You should take some time to read the Grand Jury Report (found here) that was investigating clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania all the way back to 1947. How many stories like this do you need to understand that the religion itself is the toxic mess everyone consumes?

Anyway, the latest podcast at the Scathing Atheist (linked below) addresses the report rather well, if you have a little time. 

Here's the "About" from the Scathing Atheist

The Scathing Atheist is a weekly podcast dedicated to the harshest of criticisms against faith and religion. Firmly entrenched in our conviction that truth and rationality are virtues worth fighting for, we feel no need to apologize for our venomous characterizations of religion and its role in society.

What’s more, we firmly support the right of every man and woman to worship whatever sky-buddy they choose to, but only if it comes with the caveat that every man and woman has an equal right to say that Jesus sucks dingo balls. And he does.

We promise to keep the faithless entertained and informed while keeping believers infuriated and annoyed. We promise to shine the light of reason on the unwiped crevasse of blind allegiance. We promise to treat the rampant encroachment of superstition into our government and culture with the type of acidity and incivility it deserves. We promise to refute the feeble intellectual defenses offered for devoting oneself to sophomoric, antiquated mythology.  And we promise to do all of that while still maintaining a liberal dosage of fart jokes.

Hopefully, in so doing we can accomplish 2 goals. The first, clearly, is to push religion further into the margins of civilization. The second, and far more realistic, is to draw some of the trolls away from the more qualified and educated bloggers so that they won’t have to waste their time deciphering the grammatical jack-assery that betrays the true believer.

And here is the latest podcast: 

truth isn't truth

Yeah, right. Obviously these people have been watching too much Fox News, where "the truth" really is not "the truth", so that must be what Rudy is talking about.

Robinson: We are now having to defend truth itself

by Eugene Robinson

Whenever the Trump administration ends, we already have its shameful epitaph: “Truth isn’t truth.”

President Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, made that unintentional confession of method and purpose Sunday on “Meet the Press.” From the beginning of the campaign, this whole enterprise has been a lie, a fraud, a grift, a cruel deception — a sustained and increasingly frantic attempt to obscure inconvenient truth.

Earlier in the interview, as if to illustrate the point he was about to make, Giuliani told what can only be called a bald-faced lie. He claimed that when Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign chairman met at Trump Tower in 2016 with a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton, “all they knew is that a woman with a Russian name wanted to meet with them. They didn’t know she was a representative of the Russian government.” But in email traffic setting up the meeting, Donald Trump Jr. was told that the promised “information that would incriminate Hillary” constituted “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

Giuliani claimed Monday that his declaration about the nature of veracity was just a clumsy way of describing “he said, she said” situations in which the facts cannot be ascertained. But he had tried to peddle what White House counselor Kellyanne Conway once called “alternative facts” about the Trump Tower meeting. “Truth isn’t truth” should be taken as a suspect’s blurted admission of guilt.

Constant, relentless, shameless lying is not ancillary to the Trump administration. It is not a sideshow; it’s the main event. We have become inured to the fact that the president of the United States and his aides and associates simply cannot be relied upon to tell the truth.

Sometimes they lie about little things. Last week, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a rare correction — she had claimed, falsely, that more jobs have been created for African-Americans since Trump took office than during Barack Obama’s eight-year tenure. In acknowledging that this was absurdly wrong (the true figures are about 3 million new jobs under Obama and about 700,000 under Trump), Sanders claimed that numbers she had given were right but “the time frame for Pres Obama wasn’t.”

Even that, however, was a lie.

The tallies that Sanders claimed are correct use as their starting points the months when the two presidents were elected, not the months when they took office. This unusual shift in time frame has the effect of subtracting jobs from Obama’s total, since his transition took place during the 2008 economic meltdown, and adding them to Trump’s, since the economy was rapidly expanding during the months he was president-elect.

Why obsess over a few obscure numbers? Because the figures were prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers, which in previous administrations has meticulously provided accurate, definitive information about the economy. It appears that Trump’s vanity and insecurity have impaired the CEA’s ability to perform its most important function, which is to tell presidents economic news they might not want to hear.

Little lies lead inexorably, of course, to big lies. Trump and his aides want us to believe that of the estimated 4 million Americans who have security clearances of some kind, the only individuals who deserve to have their clearances reviewed — and ultimately, perhaps, revoked — are a handful of vocal critics of Trump, including such figures as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former national security adviser Susan Rice and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, who has accused Trump of “treasonous” behavior, said Sunday he may take Trump to court over last week’s decision to revoke his clearance. I hope Brennan does sue. The administration claims otherwise, but Trump has drawn up a Nixon-style “enemies list” and is punishing those on it — a clear and unacceptable abuse of power.

Trump’s acid-tongued Twitter feed and his public remarks are gushers of lies, falsehoods and exaggerations. As of Aug. 1, The Washington Post’s indefatigable Fact Checker column had counted a staggering 4,229 false or misleading claims by the president since he took office.

How can this not have a corrosive effect on our democracy? We are accustomed to politicians who shade the truth and spin the facts, but now we have a president who ignores unpleasant truth and rejects unflattering facts. Whether this is a diabolical plan to delegitimize critics or a reflection of Trump’s narcissism, the damage is the same. As a society we become less able to believe, less able to trust.

Truth is truth — and worth fighting for.

Original.