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JAMMY

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    Catholic hospital refuses hysterectomy for transgender due to religious beliefs

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    Posted

    evan-michael-minton.jpg?w=760&h=485&l=50http://www.christiantoday.com/article/catholic.hospital.refuses.hysterectomy.for.transgender.due.to.religious.beliefs/94796.htm

    http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/man-claims-carmichael-hospital-canceled-surgery-because-he-is-transgender/41428916

    Quote

    Then on Monday, his doctor, Lindsey Dawson, found out the hospital would not allow her to do Minton's surgery. Dawson explained she was scheduled to do two hysterectomies Tuesday, but only Minton’s was canceled.

     

    GM Recalls 4M Vehicles for Air Bag Defect Linked to 1 Death

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    Posted

    http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/GM-Airbag-Recall_Dallas-Fort-Worth-392938681.html

    Quote

    General Motors recalled more than 4 million vehicles, most of them in the U.S., to fix an air bag software defect that has been linked to one death.

    460x.jpg

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    The vehicles involved in the recall are all from the 2014-2017 model years and include models from Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac.

    The company is recalling 4.28 million vehicles worldwide, including 3.6 million in the U.S.

     

    The company said Friday that in rare cases, the car's sensing and diagnostic module — a tiny computer that senses what the vehicle is doing and controls air bag deployment — can go into test mode. If that happens, the front air bags won't inflate in a crash and the seat belt pretensioners may not tighten up around occupants to help prevent injuries.

     

    GM says the defect is linked to at least one death and three injuries.

    The company learned of the problem in May when a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado crashed and its air bags didn't deploy. GM notified Delphi Corp., the supplier that made the module. The two companies tested the modules and decided to recall the vehicles last week. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced the recall Friday.

    General Motors Co. will notify customers and update the software for free. GM says dealers already have access to the software update so they should be able to repair the vehicles quickly.

    The recall involves 3.6 million vehicles. They are:

    — 2014-2016 Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet SS, Chevrolet Spark EV

    — 2014-2017 Buick Encore, GMC Sierra 1500, Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Trax, Chevrolet Caprice police car and Chevrolet Silverado 1500

    — 2015-2017 Chevrolet Tahoe, Chervrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Silverado HD, GMC Yukon, GMC Yukon XL, GMC Sierra HD, Cadillac Escalade and Cadillac Escalade ESV.

     

    Oil! Massive shale discovery in Texas

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    Posted

    http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/investing/apache-huge-oil-discovery/index.html

    Quote

    An overlooked corner of West Texas is believed to contain billions of barrels of newly-discovered shale oil.

    Apache (APA) revealed the huge find this week after more than two years of stealthily buying up land, extensive geological research and rigorous testing.

    The Houston company estimates the discovery, dubbed "Alpine High," could be worth at least $8 billion.

    Apache believes the new shale play spans at least five formations, contains over three billion barrels of oil and 75 trillion cubic feet of rich natural gas.

    "We feel very confident with what we have and believe this is a story that's only going to get better," Apache CEO John Christmann IV told CNNMoney.

    Wall Street is already seeing dollar signs, sending Apache's stock price surging 10% in the two trading days since the find was unveiled.

    "The play has the potential to be a transformative event for the company," Raymond James analyst John Freeman wrote in a research report. "Apache sees an incredible opportunity to establish the next big resource play in the U.S."

    Apache oil discovery West Texas
    Apache Energy's huge shale oil discovery in West Texas, named "Alpine High," is estimated to contain three billion barrels of crude.

     

    Apache has identified at least 2,000 drilling locations, and estimates an initial value of between $4 million to $20 million per well. That translates to at least $8 billion in value for the company, but potentially a lot more. The company has already drilled 19 wells in the play, with nine currently producing "limited quantities" due to infrastructure constraints.

    Rob Thummel, a portfolio manager at energy investment firm Tortoise Capital, said the announcement will "definitely open investors' eyes" and could lead his firm to make an investment in Apache.

    However, Thummel also urged caution, noting that Apache's management team doesn't have the long track record of more established shale companies like EOG Resources (EOG) or Pioneer Energy. (PES)

    "It's going to be more of a prove-it story," Thummel said.

    Christmann, the Apache boss, said his company looks forward to "proving the significance of this discovery over time." He added that the find is the result of "intense technical work," including 3D seismic research

    So what's next? Apache will need to continue testing the land to decide where it makes the most sense to start drilling at current prices. Both oil and natural gas prices remain depressed due to a huge glut, mostly fueled by excessive shale production from the U.S. over the past decade.

    Apache will also need to build infrastructure to handle all the potential oil and gas coming out of Alpine High. The company is expected to install a temporary processing facility later this year and eventually build a more permanent presence.

    "Rome wasn't built in a day, neither are major oil and gas fields," Thummel said.

     
     
    CNNMoney (New York) First published September 8, 2016: 10:51 AM ET

     

    Arthritis Medicine Is New Front in War on Costly Drugs

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    Posted

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/business/express-scripts-urges-narrower-coverage-of-anti-inflammatory-drugs.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-3&action=c09drugcosts-master768.jpglick&contentCollection=DealBook&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article

     

    Dr. Glen Stettin, the chief innovation officer at Express Scripts. The company is advising insurers and employers to cover a narrower range of anti-inflammatory drugs to try to foster competition and control prices. Dilip Vishwanat for The New York Times

    Americans have expressed outrage at drug companies for raising prices on products like EpiPen, the severe allergy treatment needed by thousands of children, and Daraprim, a rarely used but essential drug to treat a parasitic infection.

    But insurers and employers — who pay the bulk of the cost for drugs — say that a bigger financial shock has come from a largely overlooked source: expensive anti-inflammatory medications like Humira and Enbrel, drugs taken by millions of people for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. In recent years, the price of the medications have doubled, making them the costliest drug class in the country by some calculations.

    Now, one of the most powerful forces on the side of drug payers is pushing back. On Thursday, Express Scripts, the nation’s largest drug benefits manager, changed its recommendations to insurers and employers, saying they should cover fewer drugs for many inflammatory conditions. The idea is that the new limits will force drug companies to lower their prices, saving insurers and employers money.

    The approach has already set off some complaints among patients, who rely on regular injections of the drugs to keep painful and uncomfortable symptoms in check. If an approved drug does not work, patients will have to take extra steps get a different drug. But Express Scripts said that the move was necessary to contain costs. The drugs account for nearly 10 percent of all drug spending among its members in the United States, the company says — costing an estimated $7.5 billion — even though fewer than 1 percent of its members use them.

    “This is a category of drugs that are used for crippling, very painful conditions, yet they don’t affect huge numbers of people,” said Dr. Glen Stettin, the chief innovation officer at Express Scripts. The rising costs, he said, are due less to a rising number of patients who need the products and “much more because of the increase in the prices of these medications.”

    The approach is the latest effort by insurers and drug-benefit managers to more closely manage drugs in high-cost diseases, limiting which ones are covered or requiring patients to take additional steps to get approval for certain products. In 2014, Express Scripts shook up the market for hepatitis C drugs when it required its patients to use a new treatment by AbbVie rather than more expensive competitors. It made similar moves last year with the approval of expensive new treatments for high cholesterol.

    Like those previous efforts, the effort for inflammatory conditions will most likely help the company’s mail-order specialty pharmacy, Accredo. Express Scripts said patients getting the anti-inflammatory medications through the new program would need to use Accredo, not a competing pharmacy, giving the service a bigger base of customers.

     
     

    As a drug benefit manager, Express Scripts provides services like negotiating with drug companies and approving or denying drug claims. The new program is voluntary for employers and insurers who use the company, but its recommendations are usually widely adopted.

    Humira, made by AbbVie, and Enbrel, made by Amgen, each carry a monthly list price of just over $4,000, and each have increased those prices by about 130 percent from 2011 to 2016, according to the Gold Standard Drug Database compiled by Elsevier Clinical Solutions. That price does not include rebates that the manufacturers negotiate with insurers. Express Scripts said that the actual monthly cost of anti-inflammatory drugs, before the new program, was about $3,000.

    Representatives for large employers, who subsidize the health insurance of their employees, said the efforts were welcome. Drugs like Humira and Enbrel are known as specialty drugs, a category of products that treat serious conditions and whose rising costs have increasingly alarmed those who are paying the bills.

    “If you go back to 2014, it wasn’t even on the radar screen for employers, and now it’s No. 1,” said Brian J. Marcotte, the chief executive of the National Business Group on Health, which advocates for large employers.

    But some patients questioned whether it would further limit the options for some people or make it more cumbersome to get the medications they needed. The program would apply only to new patients; those already stable on drugs would be allowed to remain on them.

    “Jumping through hoops may not seem like a big thing to somebody that doesn’t have to live with the condition,” said Nicole Martin, 33, of Blaine, Ky., who has rheumatoid arthritis and takes Enbrel. “But even being a day or two behind can cause massive issues for somebody.”

    Traditionally, patients were offered all the drugs that were covered by their plans no matter which inflammatory condition they had — from rheumatoid arthritis to psoriasis and ulcerative colitis. Under the new guidelines, Express Scripts has devised a separate list of preferred and nonpreferred drugs for each condition. Patients who want to use a drug on the nonpreferred list will need a letter from their doctor.

    The company said the move would require drug companies to compete more directly. The motivation to get on the preapproved list, the company said, would push drug companies to offer better discounts to employers and insurers. Express Scripts declined to provide specifics about the discounts that it had negotiated through the new program.

    “We expect to make a big dent in the cost of caring for people in this category, without compromising the care that people get,” Dr. Stettin said.

    Dr. Stettin said the company looked at patient data first when deciding which drugs would be preferred. “Clinical always comes first, and the cost is second,” he said.

    Representatives for drug companies, including AbbVie and Amgen, said they believed doctors and patients — and not insurance companies — should decide which therapy is best. And they said the list price does not reflect the rebates and other discounts that insurance companies and drug-benefit managers negotiate, which make the actual cost lower.

    “Because of the magnitude of these rebates,” said Kristen Davis, a spokeswoman for Amgen, “price increases have become part of the competitive dynamic.”

    The program will also refund up to $2,000 a month to employers and insurers if a patient has to switch from a preferred drug to a different medication in the first three months, a potential savings of about $250 million a year. About a quarter to a third of patients end up switching to a new drug in the first few months, Express Scripts said.

    But that money-back guarantee does not necessarily go to the patient, even if the patient has a high-deductible plan and paid for all or most of the drug. Employers will decide whether to pass that refund along to the patients, Express Scripts said.

    A reason that the rising cost of drugs like Humira and Enbrel hasn’t stoked greater outrage is that many patients are shielded from the costs. In addition to the discounts the companies negotiate with drug-benefit managers, AbbVie and Amgen run assistance programs that often reduce patients’ out-of-pocket costs. The average Express Scripts member paid $127 in monthly co-payments for a drug to treat an inflammatory condition, the company said.

    Dr. Stettin said patients would be better served by using the company’s specialty pharmacy, Accredo, which has pharmacists that specialize in inflammatory conditions. He cited company data showing that patients with those conditions were more likely to take their drugs when they used Accredo compared with other pharmacies.

    But some industry observers said the move was a ploy to build Accredo’s mail-order business, by essentially locking in patients whose employers opt in to the new program, then making money by filling the prescription.

    “They really, really want their hands on that script,” said Michael Rea, the chief executive of Rx Savings Solutions, which advises employers on how to reduce drug costs.

    Wells Fargo Fined for Years of Harm to Customers

    in Topics

    Posted

    Wells Fargo employees opened roughly 1.5 million bank accounts and applied for 565,000 credit cards that may not have been authorized by their customers, regulators said. Eric Thayer/Bloomberg

    Quote
     

    Credit cards issued secretly without a customer’s consent. Bank employees creating fake email accounts to sign up customers for online banking services. Customers accumulating late fees on accounts they never even knew they had.

    Those illegal banking practices were widespread and pervasive at Wells Fargo, which on Thursday was fined $185 million, including a $100 million penalty from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the largest such penalty the agency has ever issued.

    Federal banking regulators said the practices reflected serious flaws in the internal culture and oversight at Wells Fargo, one of the nation’s largest banks.

    In all, Wells Fargo employees opened roughly 1.5 million bank accounts and applied for 565,000 credit cards that may not have been authorized by their customers, the regulators said in a news conference.

    The bank has 40 million retail customers.

    Regulators said the bank’s employees — many of whom have since been fired — had been motivated to open the unauthorized accounts by compensation policies that rewarded them for drumming up new business

    Many current and former Wells employees told regulators they had felt extreme pressure to expand the number of new accounts at the bank.

    “Unchecked incentives can lead to serious consumer harm, and that is what happened here,” said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    This is an ugly moment for Wells Fargo, one of the few large American banks that have managed to produce consistent profit increases since the financial crisis.

    In addition to the fine from the consumer protection bureau, Wells paid an additional $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the City and County of Los Angeles.

    Wells has also refunded $2.5 million to customers and agreed to hire an independent consultant to review its procedures.

    Regulators said such illegal sales practices had been going on since at least 2011.

    “Wells Fargo is committed to putting our customers’ interests first 100 percent of the time, and we regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request,” the bank said in a statement.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/business/dealbook/wells-fargo-fined-for-years-of-harm-to-customers.html

    Kendall Jenner is a 'trypophobic'

    in Topics

    Posted

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trypophobia

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    Trypophobia

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Trypophobia
    Nelumbo Nucifera fruit - botanic garden Adelaide.jpg
    The holes in lotus seed heads have been claimed to cause anxiety in some people.[1]
    Classification and external resources
    ICD-10 F40.2
    ICD-9-CM 300.29
    MeSH C562465

    Trypophobia is a proposed phobia (intense, irrational fear) of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps.[2][3] The term is believed to have been coined by a participant in an online forum in 2005.[4] The word is from the Greek: τρύπα, trýpa, meaning "hole" and φόβος, phóbos, meaning “fear”.[4]

    Trypophobia is not the name of a diagnosis in the American Psychological Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) and it is rarely used in scientific literature, according to Jennifer Abbasi of Popular Science.[1][4] Abbasi said, "professionals who study and treat phobias tend not to use all the Latin and Greek names that get tossed around on message boards and in the press."[4] However, on blogs and in internet forums, thousands of people claim to have trypophobia.[1][4][5] Psychiatrist Carol Mathews said, "There might really be people out there with phobias to holes, because people can really have a phobia to anything, but just reading what's on the Internet, that doesn't seem to be what people actually have." According to Mathews, most people writing online are likely disgusted by these types of images without meeting criteria for a real phobia.[5]

    Arnold Wilkins and Geoff Cole of the University of Essex's Centre for Brain Science were the first scientists to publish on the phenomenon. They believe the reaction is based on a biological revulsion, rather than a learned cultural fear. In a 2013 article in Psychological Science, Wilkins and Cole write that the reaction is based on a brain response that associates the shapes with danger. Shapes that elicit a reaction were said to include clustered holes in innocuous contexts such as fruit and bubbles, and in contexts associated with danger, such as holes made by insects and holes in wounds and diseased tissue such as those caused by mango worms in animals, especially dogs. Upon seeing these shapes, some people said they shuddered, felt their skin crawl, experienced panic attacks, sweated, palpitated, and felt nauseated or itchy.[6] Some said the holes seemed "disgusting and gross" or that "something might be living inside those holes".[1][7][8] Psychiatrist Carol Mathews believes that the responses are more likely from priming and conditioning.[5]

    A website, trypophobia.com, describes the phenomenon with videos and images. Images containing clusters of holes are presented in an arrangement that claims to rank the likelihood they will induce fear. Early images in the series include fruits such as oranges and pomegranates. Then, clusters of holes with a possible association with danger are presented, such as honeycombs, frogs, and insects and arachnids. Finally, images feature wounds and diseases. Using data from the site, Wilkins and Cole analyzed example images and believe that the images had "unique characteristics".[9] They state that the reaction behind the phobia was an "unconscious reflex reaction" based on a "primitive portion of the brain that associates the image with something dangerous".[6][7] In another research article, Le, Cole and Wilkins developed a symptom questionnaire that they say can be used to identify trypophobia.[2]

     

    http://okcfox.com/news/entertainment/kendall-jenner-is-a-trypophobic

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    Kendall Jenner has gone public with her trypophobia battle.

    In a blog post on Monday, the model and reality TV star revealed she's terrified by irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps.

    "Anyone who knows me knows that I have really bad trypophobia," the 20-year-old wrote." Trypophobics are afraid of tiny little holes that are in weird patterns.

    "Things that could set me off are pancakes, honeycomb or lotus heads (the worst!). It sounds ridiculous but so many people actually have it! I can't even look at little holes - it gives me the worst anxiety. Who knows what's in there???"

    Kendall also suffers from panic attacks, according to her mother Kris Jenner.

    The Kardashian/Jenner matriarch recently revealed she had to fly to London to accompany her daughter home to Los Angeles during a recent episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, because Kendall couldn't make the trip alone.

    "Kendall had a really awful night last night flying to Paris because she gets really bad panic attacks and anxiety," she told daughter Kim Kardashian. "I don't know what to do."

    And the Estee Lauder spokeswoman revealed she's the shy Kardashian clan member earlier this year in a post on her website, writing: "When I think something, I don't usually say it, which is fine. It's more that I'm introverted."

    "I never had anxiety about it. I knew it was part of who I am and I owned it... I only get shy if I'm around people who make me nervous, which I guess is normal."

     

    Miss America Could Crown 1st Openly Lesbian Contestant

    in Topics

    Posted

    http://www.nbcdfw.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/Miss-Missouri-Miss-America-Openly-Lesbain-392408761.html

    Quote
    The Miss America Pageant gets underway in Atlantic City with three nights of preliminary competitions. A new Miss America will be crowned on Sunday night and among the competitors is Miss Missouri Erin O'Flaherty, the first openly lesbian contestant. (Published Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016)
     

    After competing in pageants for generations in the closet or working behind the scenes, gays and lesbians finally get to see one of their own take one of pageantry's biggest stages.

    Miss Missouri, Erin O'Flaherty, will compete for the Miss America crown this weekend as the first openly lesbian contestant.

    "Behind the scenes, we've been well-represented, but I'm the first openly gay title holder, so I'm very excited," she told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I knew going in that I had the opportunity to make history. Now I get to be more visible to the community and meet more people."

    miss-missouro.jpg

    In this Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016 file photo, Miss Missouri, Erin O'Flaherty waves as she is introduced during Miss America Pageant arrival ceremonies in Atlantic City.
    Photo credit: AP

     

    Rich Helfant, executive director of the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance, helps run the Miss'd America pageant, a drag spoof of the Miss America pageant that has become popular in Atlantic City as an entertainment and fundraising event. He said he'll watch the Miss America pageant finals Sept. 11 with extra interest this year.

    Miss'd America took its name from the fact that many gay pageant workers toiled behind the scenes during Miss America and never got to see what was happening onstage.

    •  

    "They literally missed Miss America," Helfant said.

    Robert Hitchen of Philadelphia appears regularly in the Miss'd America pageant under the stage name Sandy Beach and recalled decades of behind-the-scenes work on pageants, including designing floats, and later riding on them in Miss America parades.

    •  

    The "Show Us Your Shoes" parade that has become a fixture of Miss America, in which contestants ride in vehicles on the Boardwalk and show off their state-themed footwear, sprang from the interest of gay spectators, he said.

    "We would watch the parade from the deck of a hotel and we'd look down into the cars and see some of the women wearing slippers or being barefoot, and we started calling out, 'Show us your shoes!'" he recalled. "We sort of embarrassed them into wearing these big elaborate shoes, which are the highlight of the parade now."

    •  

    Antwan Lee, who won the Miss Gay America 2016 pageant under the stage name Asia O'Hara, would excitedly watch Miss America every year as a child and a young man, imagining what it would be like onstage.

    "I would always gravitate toward celebrities and singers and actresses that had a high level of glam: beautiful, poised people who would live their life with a high degree of dignity," he said. "To see that on TV with 50 women, as a young gay boy, that's the first place you see such a concentration of that. I was like, 'Wow, look at all those beautiful women, all the class, all the glamor!' It's very alluring."

    •  

    Lesbians have been more visible in pageants lately. Djuan Trent competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Kentucky in 2011, when she finished in the Top 10. She came out as a lesbian in 2014.

    Patricia Yurena, two-time winner of the Miss Spain contest and a runner up in the 2013 Miss Universe competition, announced in 2014 that she is a lesbian, posting a photo of her and her girlfriend cuddling, titling it "Romeo and Juliet."

     

     

    Apple to Show Off New iPhones and Maybe New Ways to Listen

    in Topics

    Posted

    APPLE_AP_16246675609511.jpg

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    This Sept. 2, 2016, photo shows the earphone jack and charging port on an Apple iPhone 6, in New York. Apple is getting ready to unveil new iPhones on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

    Apple is expected to show off new iPhones, an updated smartwatch — and maybe some new gear for listening to both — during its annual fall product launch event today.

    Hard-core Apple fans will be watching closely for details about the newest features coming to Apple's gadgets, from a widely anticipated dual-lens camera for the iPhone to a rumored GPS sensor in the Apple Watch.

    But even casual users of consumer technology may be interested to see if Apple follows through on reports that it's eliminating the iPhone's analog headphone jack, since that could pave the way for a big shift in the way people listen to digital music.

    Getting rid of the traditional analog jack means future iPhone owners will need earbuds or headphones that use a digital connection, either through a wireless signal like Bluetooth or a cord that fits in the same port used for recharging the device.

     

    Remember This Starving Nigerian Kid? See How He Looks Now

    in Topics

    Posted

    Quote

    #1 Starving Nigerian Boy    This picture, of a starving Nigerian boy on the verge of death, went viral.

     

    cf96a7a0c5a96c1827477ae767d7c51b.600x.jp

     

    Quote

    #2 Took Him In

    Anja Ringggren took in the boy, cleaned him up and nurtured him, after he was abandoned by his community when they believed that he was practicing witchcraft.

    ae12496918d13ddd6f3d8b7aad561dd5.600x.jp

     

    Quote

    #3 No Mother Or Father

    Loven is the co-founder of African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation in Nigeria and was appalled at the reason that the boy was not being fed or cared for. She was told he had no mother or father.

    d771b65ef0478289058042e7069e8ea0.600x.jp

     

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    #4 Look At Him Now

    Under Loven's care, the boy began to gain weight and get healthy.

    5cf67bed09b1437dc7ddbb6cd6ce440b.600x.jp

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    #5 Hope

    Loven named him Hope, and 7 months later he has made a complete transformation.

    cdf80aa709590eab69a18cd721f92583.600x.jp

    Rev. Graham: Obama Promotes 'Ungodly Sexual Behavior' -- Now There Is 'All-Out War on Religious Liberty'

    in Topics

    Posted

    bible_chain_1.jpg?itok=-SSDvrbdhttp://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-obama-promotes-ungodly-sexual-behavior-now-there-all-out-war

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    Commenting on the upcoming election and the state of the nation, Reverend Franklin Graham said America is "increasingly hostile and intolerant" of its Christian and Biblical foundation, and with President Barack Obama leading "the fight to promote ungodly sexual behavior" over the last eight years, there now is an "all-out war on religious liberty" in the United States.

    Whoever is elected in November, that person "will take the helm of a nation that has grown increasingly hostile and intolerant of the very foundation and principles upon which it was so nobly founded -- the Christian faith and Biblical values," said Rev. Graham in his commentary for the September issue of Decision magazine, published by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). 

    That's why this election is "the most significant since Abraham Lincoln," said Rev. Graham.

    "For if the forces of evil that are allied against the free exercise of our faith succeed -- and they have done severe damage already -- then I have no doubt that the nation we love will devolve into moral anarchy more quickly than we can imagine," he said.

    The reverend, who is the son of world-renowned preacher Billy Graham, then discussed how Obamacare's abortion-drug mandate is crippling (and closing) Christian-run businesses by directly violating the religious liberty of its owners and staff. Further, same-sex marriage is also destroying religious freedom, said Graham.

    "Same-sex marriage zealots have launched an all-out war on traditional marriage, which is defined in Scripture -- and virtually every civilization in history -- as a union between one man and one woman," said Franklin Graham.  "Human sexuality itself is being completely redefined by elite sexual revolutionaries who seek to impose their warped views on society, resulting in fierce battles over such things as transgender bathrooms -- supported by none other than the president himself."

    "The same anti-Christian forces are seeking to strip funding from Christian colleges to keep them from educating students with a Biblical worldview," said the evangelist.  "Business owners across the nation have been forced to close their doors because they refused to participate in same-sex ceremonies due to their religious faith."

    obama-gay.jpg?itok=3MdxVatR

    (AP photo.) 

    Rev. Graham continued, "The skirmishes over moral standards have turned into pitched battles over the last decade and now have become an all-out war on religious liberty. Think of the moral degeneration that has transpired under our current president, who has helped lead the fight to promote ungodly sexual behavior while failing to protect basic religious liberties."

    "What if that depraved trajectory continues over the next few decades?" he said.  "Can you imagine what our great nation, whose foundation was laid by a moral and religious people, will look like?"

    Quoting Samuel Adams, Rev. Graham said voting is "one of the most solemn trusts in human society, for which [a person] is accountable to God and his country."

    "My hope is in Almighty God alone," said Graham, who added that "a careful vote could extend the time we have to freely preach the Gospel."

    "The Bible says, 'Sin is a reproach to any people' (Proverbs 14:34)," said Rev. Graham.  "The disgrace of America due to persistent, willful, rebellious sin is shameful. We will not survive as a 'city set on a hill' (Matthew 5:14) without God’s help."

    Rev. Graham concluded, "I want God’s blessings on America, but that will only come to a people who forsake sin and pursue righteousness. That’s the vision of America that I have, and one that I hope will once again hold sway for our children, grandchildren and generations to come."

    Franklin Graham, 64, is married and has five children. He runs the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the Christian humanitarian group Samaritan's Purse. He regularly preaches in the United States and abroad, and frequently comments on cultural and political issues on television and radio. 

    bible_chain_1.jpg?itok=-SSDvrbd

    (AP image)

     

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    Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov has died

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    Posted

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    Islam Karimov had been the only president of Uzbekistan since the establishment of the office, and won three consecutive elections which many consider to have been rigged. The third election was the most controversial since he had been elected twice, and the current Constitution stipulated a maximum of two terms. The explanation given by him was that his first term in office, of five years, was under the previous Constitution and did not count towards the new limit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Uzbekistan

     

    islam-karimov.jpg

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/uzbekistan-president-islam-karimov-dead-illness-a7221366.html

     

    Jackie Chan to get lifetime achievement Oscar

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    Posted

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-awards-oscars-lifetime-idUSKCN1175L5

    http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20160901&t=2&i=1151918791&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=780&pl=468&sq=&r=LYNXNPEC803G6

     

    Chan made his movie debut at the age of 8, and has acted and sometimes written and directed more than 30 martial arts movies in Hong Kong. He has never won an Oscar.

    In August, he was ranked the second-highest paid actor in the world by Forbes with estimated 2016 earnings of $61 million, just below "Fast and Furious" star Dwayne Johnson.

    An experimental drug for Alzheimer's disease is showing early promise, according to research reported in the journal Nature.

    in Topics

    Posted

    http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Experimental-Drug-for-Alzheimers-Disease-Shows-Progress-392083811.html

    Drug maker Biogen developed the drug called Aducanumab and funded the latest research. The drug was found to significantly reduce toxic plaques in the brain, which experts believe play a critical role in the development of Alzheimer's. It also seemed to slow down the loss of memory and thinking, says researchers. Dr. Cindy Marshall, Medical Director at Baylor AT&T Memory Center says "there's a great deal of debate about what the actual cause and cascade of Alzheimer's is, but one of the targets for treatment is to eliminate the plaques or to prevent the production of the abnormal plaques in the first place."

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