Dot Calm's Page of Truth & Sedition: Happy Friday! Well, sort of...

So, now we've lost David Bowie and Alan Rickman, who played Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the rather annoyed angel Metatron, the Voice of God, in Dogma. At 69, both were still in the prime of their careers; both were dearly loved, and both will be sorely missed.

*sigh*...
Why is the news always so...bad?!??

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Sorry, creationists--EVERY species is a transitional species!

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Chomsky dispels 9/11 conspiracies with sheer logic

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Religions are like children:
the less you're allowed to criticize them,
the brattier they turn out.

-- a Psalm by Mrs. Betty Bowers to mark the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack

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Man Without Gun Attempts Mass Murder--Proves Guns DO Kill People (Video)

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Q: Why did Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz wait so long to renounce his Canadian citizenship?
A: He didn't want to give up free health care.
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Bernie Sanders and Bill Maher explain Socialism
Bernie Sanders is not some radical
trying for some crazy socialist revolution.
He is all for capitalism.
He just wants to improve issues that ordinary Americans care about in ways that ordinary Americans agree with when not biased by the "s"-word.
If you're a Republican, and you like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the military...not to mention clean drinking water and paved interstates...YOU are a socialist like Bernie Sanders!

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Dr. Ben Carson is drawing intense criticism after reports have surfaced that he may have embellished his history of violence as a teen,
his scholarship to West Point,
and other parts of his life story.

Not only that, but it turns out the twins he separated were fraternal.

-- Seth Meyers

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Hey, Ben Carson--when did YOU choose to be straight?

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USA Today's GOP "Power Rankings"

had some big shake-ups this week,

with Marco Rubio in the lead

and Chris Christie in the top five.

Yep, Rubio is number one,

while Christie is numbers two through five.

-- Jimmy Fallon

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From 350.org:

Friends,

Last night, during his final State of the Union address, President Obama talked a pretty good game on climate. He made the case for clean energy, defended the Paris climate deal, and made climate deniers squirm in their chairs.

Just as important was what he didn’t say. He didn’t tout an “all of the above” energy policy or brag about increased drilling and fracking. In fact, last night’s speech teed up the next climate fight perfectly: the fight to keep oil, gas and coal on “public lands” in the ground.

The President said: “Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future — especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. That’s why I’m going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.”

The President intends to make changes to how our government sells fossil fuels, and that's welcome. But we think it’s wrong for our government to be selling fossil fuels in the first place.

President Obama needs to rise to the challenge of the moment and go beyond mere reform -- he needs to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Click here if you agree.

Since 1920, the government has been selling coal, oil, and gas on federal land to the highest bidder. President Obama has rightly identified that this is an antiquated system due for an overhaul. But these federal fossil fuel auctions don’t just require minor adjustments -- each and every one of them needs to be cancelled. (Last year, local activists mobilized around six government fossil fuel auctions, and managed to get two of them called off.)

Half the fossil fuels under U.S. soil are on these public lands. That includes coal in Montana, offshore oil in Virginia, and fracked gas in Colorado. If he wanted to, President Obama could say “let’s keep it all in the ground” tomorrow, and we could keep 450 gigatons of carbon out of our atmosphere (without interference from climate deniers in Congress).

Fossil fuel companies already have five times more oil, gas, and coal than they can burn. We can’t afford to sell them any more. We have to just start saying no.

Now is the time to tell Obama that we expect him to go further. If he wants to be remembered as a leader on climate change, that means keeping fossil fuels in the ground.

For communities living next to fossil fuel extraction, this fight is far from new. Indigenous communities in the interior west and communities of color along the Gulf Coast have been fighting fossil fuel expansion for generations.

Climate change brought many of us into the fold through fights like Keystone XL and Arctic drilling, but we always knew we couldn’t win this thing one pipeline at a time. That’s why we’re calling on President Obama to get out of the fossil fuel business altogether, and stop selling coal, oil, and gas to the fossil fuel industry.

We’re in an extraordinary moment right now, and it’s going to require extraordinary boldness.

Click here to tell the President to get our government out of the fossil fuel business once and for all.

This new fight is exciting, but it’s important to remember how this all came about: change doesn’t start with great men making speeches -- it starts with people taking action, taking to the streets, and calling for justice.

Our movement has made it much harder for elected leaders like President Obama to side with the fossil fuel industry. When we march in the streets, kayak in front of oil rigs, and mobilize against tar sands pipelines, we can change the game.

So let’s change it some more: act.350.org/signup/kiitg-obama-petition

It takes a movement to move politics, and it’s going to take a movement to turn strong words into strong action.

In solidarity and gratitude,

Sara

Sources:

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The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.

-- George Orwell

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How about a little Secular Talk?
...Take two--they're small!

However Artful, it is to Laffer...

Mental compartmentalization that religious folks do:

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Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused the same-sex marriage licenses, was also at the State of the Union address. She was sporting her meanest scowl and her fullest mullet for the event. She said she was there to encourage all Christians—she even wore Joseph's amazing Technicolor dream coat.

-- Jimmy Kimmel

Someone needs to tell Sister Kim Davis that the State of the Union isn't like one of her weddings: it only happens once a year. Dress up, girl!

-- Mrs. Betty Bowers

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This is how easy it is to buy a gun without a background check:

These sales happen online and at gun shows every single day.

It's terrifying. There's no other word for it. The good news is, President Obama has the power to curb these "no questions asked" sales now, without waiting on Congress.

But he's running out of time to act. So we're plastering ads exposing these dangerous sales all over Washington, D.C. -- but how big we can go depends on you.

Donate $25 today to help us keep pressure on the President to take executive action on gun violence before time runs out:

One seller in Florida sold more than 400 guns without a license, made up to $50,000 dollars in one year -- and didn't have to run a single background check. [1]

With an executive action, the President can make sure these sellers get licensed and run checks before selling deadly weapons. But with his time in office winding down, the window of opportunity is closing. Fast.

These ads are going up in 3,000 taxis across Washington, but we need your help to keep the message out there as long as possible.

Make a donation of $25 or more today to help spread this message all over D.C.
Keep up the pressure. Let's be impossible to ignore.

Samantha Rodgers
Chief Organizing Officer
Everytown for Gun Safety
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1. Everytown for Gun Safety, October 2015, “Beyond Gridlock”

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Sometimes, people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

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"President Obama is right, the NRA has made the U.S. Congress frozen with fear." - Kathleen Matthews

In Congress, Kathleen will fight the NRA.

Listen to our first radio ad about gun safety,
then sign your name to tell Congress to stand up to the NRA.

Listen here >>

http://go.kathleenmatthewsforcongress.com/stop-the-nra

Thanks,
Team Matthews

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Pro-choice

is not pro-abortion.
It is recognizing

that someone else's body

is not your decision.

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From CREDO Action:

It’s time to discipline Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore

Tell Alabama’s Judicial Inquiry Commision:
“Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s attempts to block marriage equality in Alabama are a violation of Alabama’s Canon of Judicial Ethics. He must be removed from the bench.”

Add your name:

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Christian morality is not concerned

with WHAT is done

but with WHO does it.

Christian sexual purity is not

what Christians do with their own bodies

but what they can force others to do with theirs.

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A word from Alan Grayson:

Gerrymandering: it’s how elected officials choose their voters, instead of voters choosing their elected officials. Last night, President Obama talked about the importance of ending gerrymandering, and I couldn't agree more. That's why I filed a constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering.

Become a citizen co-sponsor of my constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering.

The U.S. House of Representatives and our state legislatures elect one candidate from each district. And who decides where those districts are located? Most often, the legislatures themselves.

Sounds like a conflict of interest? It is.

Sometimes the lines are drawn to benefit a particular party – for instance, most Congressional lines are drawn by Republicans to favor Republicans. Sometimes the lines are drawn to benefit incumbents of both parties. Either way, the system is rigged; rigged against the voters.

In 2012, House Democratic candidates received a million votes more than House Republican candidates. But thanks to gerrymandering, Republicans kept control of the House.

My state, Florida, has 350,000 more registered Democrats than registered Republicans. But in 2010, thanks in large part to gerrymandering, Florida sent 19 Republicans to Congress, and only 6 Democrats.

Gerrymandering. It’s evil. So we’re going to end it.

Add your name, now, as a citizen co-sponsor of my constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering.

Real democracy – what a concept.

Courage,

Rep. Alan Grayson

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Police killed over 83 unarmed Christians in 2015.
The Christians were Black.
Do Christians care?
Or is thug > Christian?

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From Democracy Now!

An Alternative State of the Union: Progressives on Obama's Legacy & Their Hopes for His Final Year

President Obama's State of the Union Tuesday night was the seventh and final of his presidency. Obama defended his record while implicitly criticizing the Republican ... Read More →

Why Has a Texas-Born Marine Veteran Been Left "Stateless" Under U.S. Immigration Policies?

We speak with Claudia Palacios, a racial and migrant justice activist and a U.S. Marines veteran. Palacios was among seven people arrested on Friday after blocking ... Read More →

Tavis Smiley Calls Out Corporate Media for Uncritical Coverage of "Racial Arsonist" Donald Trump

The broadcaster Tavis Smiley made headlines this week for an appearance on ABC's This Week when he called out Donald Trump for being an "unrepentant, irascible religious ... Read More →

Medea Benjamin: Gitmo, Korean Peninsula, "Toxic" U.S.-Saudi Ties Should Top Obama's Agenda in 2016

Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of CodePink, known worldwide for activism in the cause of justice and determination to confront politicians directly. Benjamin has ... Read More →

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Republicans believe

life begins at conception

and ends at birth.

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Daily Kos

Speaker Paul Ryan describes his struggle to 'be respectful' during Obama's State of the Union speech

Right-wing caravan to DC in doubt after co-founder killed his fellow 'patriot' in drunken gun fight

Watch the dancing part in this Republican senator's hair unmask him as a phony

Elizabeth Warren is our champion in Washington. Sign if you agree with Democratic Governors Association to tell her you stand with her.

What did Republican lawmakers hate about President Obama's State of the Union address?

Virginia Republican wants to 'protect' children by mandating their genitals are inspected in school