Blogaround

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1. Planned Parenthood’s “Government Funding”: The Same Kind Your Doctor Receives (posted October 5) "Any attempt to bar Planned Parenthood—a qualified provider—from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for providing birth control, STD testing, and other women’s healthcare services to Medicaid beneficiaries is not about reducing abortion. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that defunding Planned Parenthood would result in an increase in unplanned pregnancies, and that in turn would lead to an increase in abortions. Defunding Planned Parenthood is about punishing Planned Parenthood for providing abortions by making it more difficult to provide women with birth control and other women’s healthcare services."

2. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mental Health (HBO) (posted October 4) "Because if we're going to constantly use mentally ill people to dodge conversations about gun control, then the very least we owe them is a ****ing plan."

3. Why We Need To Stop Devaluing Femininity (posted October 6) "Little girls are, for the most part, taught that women can be anything. This is a message that we try to instill in them from day one. However, what they aren’t taught is that people who dress, think, or act in a traditionally feminine manner can be anything."

4. "Female Privilege" and Sexist Arguments (posted October 6) "The legal and political decisions regarding both the draft and when to engage in war remain firmly in the hands of other men. If men are to be seen as disposable, it must be acknowledged that they’re disposing of each other."

5. A Three Tiered Universe – Earth, Heavens, and Seas (RJS) (posted October 6) "The earth is either supported on pillars or floats on top of the cosmic seas." About the Ancient Near East view of the world, which the biblical authors totally also believed.

6. The symmetric property of 2 Timothy 3:16 (posted October 5) "Justice is what 2 Timothy 3:16 says scripture is for. But justice is the very thing that our fundie friends ignore — completely — in their efforts to hijack this passage into an assertion about epistemology."

7. See How Smartphones Have Become a Lifeline for Refugees (posted October 8)

8. ‘Worst nightmare': Woman with concealed gun permit shoots at fleeing shoplifter outside Home Depot (posted October 8) "'I am more worried about an armed vigilante than a non-armed petty theft criminal,' one Michigan man wrote."

9. Why it’s so mind-blowing (and important) to see Asian parents kissing on TV (posted October 7)

10. 'What's Wrong with a Hug?' (posted October 8) "Despite feeling increasingly uncomfortable around the volunteer, the child had not gone to another adult for help because she was afraid that refusing the hugs would be considered rude. Unfortunately, her fears were confirmed. When they heard about the incident, many people did question the child’s “politeness” in refusing to let an adult hug her."

11. the not-so-ridiculous reasons people leave church (posted October 9) "It’s not that the people who make these memes or write these posts are unaware of the reasons I gave here, it’s that they don’t think these reasons are legitimate."

12. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards Is Not Overpaid. Here’s Why. (posted October 6) "In the 2014 video cited above, Cecile Richards was not willing to speak about death threats made against her personally, preferring to discuss those made against providers, clinic workers, and patients, but given her position, there is no way she doesn’t receive threats."