Monday, August 27, 2018

And another day of shootings, Archbishops, nuns, and God comes to a close:

“Dear God, hope you got the letter.” -- XTC

In a letter read by a longtime aide, Sen. John McCain urged Americans to unite around the ideals that connect them rather than focus on divisions. He also pointedly asked Americans to tear down walls rather than build them.

Here’s House Republicans’ list of all the Trump scandals they’re covering up. It’s not a short list. Jonathan Swan at Axios reports that a “senior House Republicans office” has compiled a spreadsheet of all the things they believe House Democrats will investigate if they win a majority in November — and they are terrified of what these inquiries might turn up.

Archbishop Viganò testifies about corruption and cover up. Pope Francis knew.

Former top Vatican official says pope should resign over abuse crisis.

Nuns Killed Children, Say Former Residents Of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage. But for all these revelations — including this month’s Pennsylvania grand jury report on how the church hid the crimes of hundreds of priests — a darker history, the one to which Sally’s story belongs, remains all but unknown. It is the history of unrelenting physical and psychological abuse of captive children. Across thousands of miles, across decades, the abuse took eerily similar forms: People who grew up in orphanages said they were made to kneel or stand for hours, sometimes with their arms straight out, sometimes holding their boots or some other item. They were forced to eat their own vomit. They were dangled upside down out windows, over wells, or in laundry chutes. Children were locked in cabinets, in closets, in attics, sometimes for days, sometimes so long they were forgotten. They were told their relatives didn’t want them, or they were permanently separated from their siblings. They were sexually abused. They were mutilated. Darkest of all, it is a history of children who entered orphanages but did not leave them alive. Wow. Just...holy fuck, wow. This is amazingly horrifying. If these are people of “God” then God is not worth having faith in. This one could haunt for awhile. Fuck.

A retiring Roman Catholic bishop is moving into a 3,300-square-foot, $2.3 million home in California's Silicon Valley, paid for with funds from his diocese. Obscene. Oh yeah, seems churches should be taxed.

Gunman kills two, wounds several others at video game tournament in Florida. Then kills himself.

After Sandy Hook, we said never again. Then we let 1,822 mass shootings happen.

Millions of Texas voter records have apparently leaked online, thanks to an unprotected server. The data — a single file containing an estimated 14.8 million records — was left on an unsecured server without a password. Texas has 19.3 million registered voters.

States split in taking action to combat sexual misconduct.

Give your kid a secret code to help them get out of sticky situations.

“All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.” -- Edgar Allan Poe

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Good night.