FirstCircle

"Put to silence", "exposed and struck down". In other words, doxxed and murdered. Just par for the course with the Christianity that I know and loathe.

"Christo-Trumpism" ... that's a new term to me, gonna have to remember it - it's accurate and descriptive.

At today's Trump rally in Waterloo, Iowa, Pastor Joshua Graber from the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Vinton, IA, came out with his prayer which largely involved asking God to intervene to help Donald Trump defeat his enemies. Not something I have been able to find in my Bible, but this is christo-Trumpism.

"We pray that you will impart wisdom to our president as he goes forth to stand in our place. We ask that those who stand against him be put to silence. That those horrendous actions against him and his family be exposed and struck down..."

Attorneys who've been defending MyPillow chief executive and election denier Mike Lindell against defamation lawsuits by voting machine companies are seeking court permission to quit, saying he owes them unspecified millions of dollars and can't pay the millions more that he'll owe in legal expenses going forward.

It’s the latest in a string of legal and financial setbacks for Lindell, who propagates former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him, in part by rigged voting machine systems. Several big-box retailers, including Walmart, have discontinued his products.

“MyPillow's been decimated. ... We've lost hundreds of millions of dollars,” Lindell said, adding that the other main assets he has left are his home and pickup truck. He blamed Dominion, Smartmatic and the news media, including the conservative outlets Fox News and Newsmax.

Hilton = cop, Hinton = victim

the deputy yanked Hinton out of his car by his legs and hit him multiple times while ripping his shirt and knocking out his false teeth. The violent arrest left Hinton with eight broken ribs, a punctured lung, severe concussion, shoulder injury and a disfigured lip, according to attorneys he hired

He was so beat up that jailers refused to book him and instead sent him to the hospital, Hinton’s attorneys said.

Police recommended charges against Hinton for resisting arrest and obstructing a law enforcement officer. When Note brought video of Hinton’s encounter to the attention of prosecutors, they promptly dropped the case.

Eventually, Hinton is handcuffed as other deputies arrive at the scene. He can be seen bleeding with a ripped shirt sitting on the ground handcuffed while at least a handful of deputies mill about.

Hilton turned off the audio of his body camera for a few minutes while talking with other deputies, who also turned off the audio of their body cameras.

Spokane County Deputies are required to have their body cameras activated, including with audio, when in contact with civilians.

Medics were called to the scene but cleared Hinton to be booked into the Spokane County Jail, according to Note. However, jail staff refused to book Hinton and he was instead taken to an area hospital, Note said.

Hinton stayed three nights in the hospital, where his upper lip had to be stitched. Three of his ribs had separated from his sternum and his concussion was severe, Note said.

"Fearing" = a local judge who's had problems with this same cop in the past.

“Deputy Clay Hilton’s conduct since the issuance of the decision in State v. Vaile suggests that he works as a law enforcement officer not to serve others and benefit the Spokane community, but to intimidate and dominate,” Fearing wrote. “I hold no ill will toward Deputy Hilton, but have concern about his anger, inability to reflect on his behavior, and insistence on retaliation. I lack confidence in his credibility.”

“When that number of officers show up and show that little interest in someone who’s been beaten nearly to the point where they have died and have had to be hospitalized for multiple days, that’s concerning to me,” Maurer said. “And that’s at least indicative that there may be a cultural problem within that department.”

"may be" ???

Just another day in Idaho. Feel free to send your kids (preferably girls of course) to ID and into the hands of companies like this, for a heapin' helpin' of abuse. Society and state gov't there will be happy to look the other way, as long as there's profit to be made.

One girl was raped by a staff member. Others were attacked, molested or berated. Girls fought and sexually assaulted each other, with one being continually called racial slurs and harassed because of her race. Several chewed and swallowed shards of glass as if they were ice and had to be hospitalized. Others attempted suicide again and again.

The staff who spent the most time with the girls had little to no experience working with kids and were paid less than $15 an hour, former employees said. For years, they didn’t have the mandated training to handle children who were a threat to themselves or others, state records show. Nor did they have proper training on child abuse and neglect protocols.

Police were there frequently breaking up fights, returning runaways or putting on handcuffs because staff couldn’t handle dangerous situations on their own. From 2017 to 2022, Post Falls police were called by Cornerstone Cottage 321 times, just over once a week on average, call logs show. It’s a significant number considering Cornerstone’s relatively small size — with only 16 beds — compared to other Idaho facilities. Boise Girls Academy, for comparison, has averaged 1.3 police calls per week since 2018, records show, but its capacity is three times that of Cornerstone.

The "Shea" mentioned here is the most foul Christofascist the PNW has to offer. The Spokane mayor, Woodward, is in tight with him (and Republican C. McMorris-Rodgers, and of course Trump) though being a little more discreet these days after catching general hell for attending one of his wingnut moneymaking events.

Ginny Applington's testimony Monday night would have felt at home spoken in front of any number of evangelical congregations. “In the body of Christ,” she said, “we pray for all of our leaders. We pray for all of humanity. We pray against biblical sin and repent for our own.”

But Applington wasn't at church. She was speaking in front of the Spokane City Council, and quickly into her 2-minute turn during open comments, those comments grew ominous.

"Darkness is about to fall," said Applington. “God is taking back Spokane and He is taking back all the nations. … God is raising up the church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against Him.”

Applington was one of at least eight people who spoke during the council’s open comment period to protest a proposed resolution to censure Mayor Nadine Woodward for her appearance at a Christian nationalist concert, where she accepted a prayer from the fiery local pastor Matt Shea.

Not everyone who spoke Monday night identified as a Christian, but those who opposed the censure resolution echoed similar sentiments, believing the proposed censure – which the council has discussed in committee but has not voted on – wasn’t just about Woodward. It was a step down a slippery slope toward the widespread persecution of the Christian faithful.

"If the city council wants to stop her from doing that, do they want to silence all Christians?" Rebecca Murakami told RANGE just before the meeting. “What is the plan behind that? One thing leads to the next.” Murakami is a member of On Fire Ministries, the church far-right former legislator Matt Shea, who prayed for Woodward at the concert, founded in 2021. Applington is as well.

$16K, that will sure teach 'em.

Vetter, 27, died due to a formwork collapse, according to the Spokane County Medical Examiner. Formwork is a mold used to form concrete.

"My daughter was obsessive compulsive about safety,” Vetter’s father, Laveron Vetter, said. “The union is just safety, safety, safety. And for her to fall just crushes me. Just how could that possibly happen?”

L&I found SAK Builders had three serious violations at the construction site.

The flipper deck, a working platform for employees doing formwork, was not sized correctly for the cores it was used in, according to the citation notice from L&I.

Employees worked on unstable surfaces that weren’t constructed in a way that would allow the flipper deck to meet the manufacturer’s maximum offset requirements, according to L&I.

SAK Builders did not ensure the required safeguards and safety devices for the flipper deck were installed and used correctly, L&I found.

Specifically, the secondary safety pins for the toggle locks were not installed and the pocket formers which help support the flipper deck were not left in place as required by the manufacturer.

SAK Builders did not ensure that the employees installing the flipper deck had access to the manufacturer’s safety documentation for the correct use and installation of the platform at all times.

In the aftermath of extreme weather events, major insurers are increasingly no longer offering coverage that homeowners in areas vulnerable to those disasters need most.

At least five large U.S. property insurers — including Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group and Berkshire Hathaway — have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums and deductibles.

Major insurers say they will cut out damage caused by hurricanes, wind and hail from policies underwriting property along coastlines and in wildfire country, according to a voluntary survey conducted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a group of state officials who regulate rates and policy forms.

Insurance providers are also more willing to drop existing policies in some locales as they become more vulnerable to natural disasters. Most home insurance coverages are annual terms, so providers are not bound to them for more than one year.

The General Assembly's narrow Republican supermajority is poised to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of an elections bill.

GOP lawmakers say the measure will strengthen election integrity in the state, but in his veto message last week, Cooper said the legislation "has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with Republicans keeping and gaining power." The governor warned the bill would "erect new barriers for younger and non-white voters" and "encourages voter intimidation at the polls by election deniers and conspiracy believers."

Perhaps the most significant change in the proposal is the elimination of a three-day grace period for counting mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day. The bill would also expand access for partisan poll watchers.

In a statement to CNN, the global affairs department of the Canadian government said: "Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the US have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender affirming care and from participation in sporting events."

Canada has provided specific guidelines to its LGBTQ+ citizens traveling abroad: "Watch for laws that: criminalize same-sex activities and relationships [and] criminalize people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics."

"Some countries may use laws related to 'vagrancy', 'public nuisance' or 'public morals' to criminalize 2SLGBTQI+ people."

A significant percentage of Newbern residents, Black and white, live below the poverty level. When Lewis, who was born in Newbern, moved her family back to the area, she decided to open a non-profit that would provide needed services, like food distributions, to people across Hale county.

She found out that Braxton was still trying to take his seat as mayor. And she joined forces with him to remedy the chaotic political situation, largely by themselves.

In October of last year, Lewis took her children to the movies. The evening quickly turned horrific as they arrived back home.

Lewis’s house was on fire. The family arrived just in time to see the second story collapse.

Lewis said it wasn't until she began receiving hate mail that she realized there might be a connection between the fire and her support for Braxton. One note she received reads: "You f**cking nr bh get your nr ass out of my town right now with non nr mayor braxton or die or get burn down. I've been watching you 4 kids right and your nr new home. If you do [sic] get out of my town you and that n*r non mayor Braxton gona [sic] die." The letter included images of swastikas and a drawing of Braxton and Lewis being hung from a tree.

Braxton, too, started experiencing retaliation after he won. He has been ostracized by some members of the white community in town, though, some support him and still consider him both a friend and their mayor.

When Black families called in to report fires, he would be the only firefighter to show up to the call. He would have to call firefighters from neighboring towns to help.

Later, a Black woman flagged Braxton down to tell him her elderly sister had gone into cardiac arrest. Braxton ran to the fire department to get a defibrillator, but he had been locked out of the building. He drove home, returned to the department, got the machine and tried to revive the woman, but it was too late.

Following the incident, Stokes and the council served Braxton, who has won awards for his service as a firefighter, with papers for suspension from the department, accusing him of theft and not showing up for trainings. After the Hale county emergency management agency director intervened, Braxton was reinstated.

Braxton has also spotted drones following him and his wife around town, at their home and at his mother’s home. At one point, he said, a white man attempted to run him off the road.

In all, the cluster that totaled five distinct glaciers, covering about 1.5 square miles back in 1984, has shrunk down to patches of ice less than one-third of a square mile. Nearby Overcoat Glacier, also in King County, is in the same throes.

"Only Lynch Glacier remains an active glacier," he said. "That one still has a chance to sustain itself for a time. It's effectively the last functional glacier left in King County, flowing west toward Puget Sound."

That last part is crucial. The Skykomish River below these peaks is already on a federal watch list for higher-than-healthy water temperatures. Pelto observed that the recommended max temperature of the river water for salmon, about 60 degrees, has been exceeded every day this summer since late July.

"The loss of the ice up there is causing issues that extend all the way to the Sound," he said.

This morning, a group of 28 local faith leaders and other community members sent Mayor Nadine Woodward a letter asking her to formally assert support for the separation of church and state.

"We ask that you make very clear that you renounce Christian nationalism and white supremacy," the letter reads, in part, "We ask you to show with your words and actions that you fully embrace Spokane's newly adopted slogan, 'In Spokane, We All Belong.' "

The letter is in response to Woodward's appearance at Sunday night's Let Us Worship rally, where she was introduced by Matt Shea, former Spokane Valley state representative and prayed over by Shea and Christian nationalist praise leader Sean Feucht.

"Every problem we face in this country whether it's a bonfire, homosexual marriage, transgender issues, whether we're talking the economy. Every single problem in this country has one answer and his name is Jesus Christ," Shea said, shortly before welcoming the mayor and other political leaders to the stage.

Feucht, Shea and Collier have spent years leading various movements that call for Christians to assume governmental power and remake society based on their interpretation of scripture. A quote from Feucht at an event earlier this year offers a succinct summary: "We want God to be in control of everything. We want believers to be the ones writing the laws."