Even devout Christians should fear these influential leaders' refusal to separate church and state.

Though it’s seldom mentioned by name, it’s one of the major forces in Texas politics today: dominion theology, or dominionism. What began as a fringe evangelical sect in the 1970s has seen its influence mushroom — so much so that sociologist Sara Diamond has called dominionism “the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right.” (Italics hers.) That’s especially true here in Texas, where dominionist beliefs have, over the last decade, become part and parcel of right-wing politics at the highest levels of government.

So, what is it? Dominionism fundamentally opposes America’s venerable tradition of church-state separation — in fact, dominionists deny the Founders ever intended that separation in the first place. According to Frederick Clarkson, senior fellow for religious liberty at the non-profit social justice think tank Political Research Associates, dominionists believe that Christians “have a biblical mandate to control all earthly institutions — including government — until the second coming of Jesus.” And that should worry all Texans — Christians and non-Christians alike.

Dominionism comes in “soft” and “hard” varieties. “Hard” dominionism (sometimes called Christian Reconstructionism), as Clarkson describes it, explicitly seeks to replace secular government, and the U.S. Constitution, with a system based on Old Testament law.

https://www.texasobserver.org/dominion-theology/

If the levee wall is constructed, it will essentially destroy the refuge, a federal official told the Observer.

For at least six months, private contractors and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have been quietly preparing to build the first piece of President Trump’s border wall through the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge in South Texas. The federally owned 2,088-acre refuge, often called the “crown jewel of the national wildlife refuge system,” could see construction begin as early as January 2018, according to a federal official who has been involved in the planning but asked to remain anonymous.

“This should be public information,” the official told the Observer. “There shouldn’t be government officials meeting in secret just so they don’t have to deal with the backlash. The public has the right to know about these plans.”

CBP plans to construct an 18-foot levee wall that would stretch for almost three miles through the wildlife refuge, according to the official. The structure would consist of a concrete base, which would serve as a levee, and be topped with a fence made of steel bollards, similar to a levee wall built almost a decade ago near Hidalgo, Texas. A second federal official confirmed these details to the Observer.

https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-border-wall-texas-wildlife-refuge-breaking/

then they came for drivers, soon the lawyers

Google taught A.I. to make pro-level photos out of Street View panoramas — check out the results

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/13/google-a-i-makes-pro-level-photos-from-street-view-panoramas.html

I got a glimpse into the future world of our robot overlords today. It was nervy at times.

I watched two robots go on stage at a tech event to “debate” the future of humanity with each other.

The robots in question are Sophia and Han, and they belong to Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong-based company that is developing and deploying artificial intelligence in humanoids. The duo took to the stage at Rise in Hong Kong with Hanson Robotics’ Chief Scientist Ben Goertzel directing the banter.

The conversation, which was partially scripted, wasn’t as slick as the human-to-human panels at the show, but it was certainly a sight to behold for the packed audience. Topics ranged from an early (and creepy) joke about taking over the world with a drone army, to ethics in robots and humans, robot job potential, and whether it is better to be rich or famous. There was even singing.

The event organizers claimed a world first for two robots talking on stage, and it isn’t difficult to imagine that it could become a more common sight in the future.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/12/the-future-is-scary/

As Local Politicians and Amazon Employees Demand He Drop Ads from the Alt-Right Site, Seattle's Largest Private Employer Remains Silent

On a recent Monday, an Amazon employee named Ernesto stopped at a South Lake Union street corner to take a picture. In front of him was a mobile billboard. Its all-caps message blared: "AMAZON, STOP FUNDING BIGOTRY. PLEASE PULL YOUR ADS FROM BREITBART."

Picture taken, Ernesto continued on his walk to lunch. When I caught up with him, he told me he's a 26-year-old software engineer and he moved to Seattle about three years ago from Miami. He declined to give his last name but said he voted for Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. "I haven't read it so much," Ernesto said of the conservative website Breitbart. "But from what I've read, it's the leading website for the so-called alt-right."

True. Breitbart, in the words of founder and current White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, is "the platform for the alt-right." That's one reason an anonymous online group called Sleeping Giants has spent the last eight months running a campaign aimed at getting companies to pull their ads from Breitbart.

http://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/07/12/25281019/bezos-wont-quit-breitbart

Donate gently worn professional attire to the 10th annual National Suit Drive to #MensWearhouse throughout July.

https://twitter.com/menswearhouse/status/881179940426850306

Sean Hannity: Obama is a Kenyan Muslim trying to destroy America

Hannity (about Trump): I've never seen a President face such criticism

https://twitter.com/DTrumpExposed/status/884397045938782209

"Some of the disclosure forms have been amended..." - Kellyanne Conway when asked about previous denials of Russian meetings

https://twitter.com/GMA/status/884369871693258753

"There is no collusion between certainly myself & my campaign. But I can only speak for myself & the Russians, zero"

https://twitter.com/riotwomennn/status/884370710717759488

Don Jr. July 24, 2016. On the Clinton campaign's claims that the Russians were helping Trump: "It's disgusitng. It's so phony."


https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/884206457843068928