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NOM Just Started An Ugly Boycott Of Angie’s List And An Attack On Its Service Providers

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The National Organization For Marriage has just launched a war against Indiana-based Angie’s List, because it spoke out against a discriminatory anti-gay law in its home state.

For over a week, Indiana’s anti-gay “religious freedom” law has been the top news story across the nation, spurred in large part thanks to the courageous cries from companies like Apple, Salesforce, Elly Lilly, and Angie’s List.

For almost 20 years, Angie’s List has been headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The $315 million corporation which lets users review local businesses, especially home improvement professionals, had been planning a $40 million renovation of its own, moving its headquarters across town and adding 1000 new jobs over five years.

Until Governor Mike Pence signed the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. 

Angie’s List then canceled that $40 million renovation, and with it, the 1000 new jobs it would have brought.

Certainly a brave move.

Even after Gov. Pence called for an amendment to the RFRA to “clarify” that the law was not to be used to discriminate against the LGBT community, Angie’s List continued to raise concerns, calling the new language “insufficient.”

“Our position is that this ‘fix’ is insufficient,” Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle said in a statement. “There was no repeal of RFRA and no end to discrimination of homosexuals in Indiana.”

Oesterle, it should be noted, is a Republican and was the campaign chairman for Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence’s predecessor. He also  “donated $150,000 to Pence’s gubernatorial campaign,” the IB Times reports.

Of course, smelling an opportunity to expand its fundraising list, NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, has seized upon the call for equality and nondiscrimination from Angie’s List and today launched an ugly boycott affecting not just Angie’s List, but the service providers who list on the company’s website.

NOM calls the original anti-gay Religious Freedom Restoration Act a “common sense religious liberty bill that simply gives people of faith their day in court to fight government from coercing them to participate in something they oppose on religious grounds.”

Of course, that’s not correct, as the law before it was amended allowed for overt anti-LGBT discrimination. Even now, since Indiana has no nondiscrimination statute protecting LGBT people, anyone can still discriminate, they just can’t use the RFRA as a “get out of jail free card.”

NOM is claiming, “Angie’s List thinks attacking the rights of Christians and other faiths is smart business.” 

And they’re calling not only for Angie’s List members to cancel their accounts, but to randomly choose a service provider and leave a review that has absolutely nothing to do with that small business owner, making them “pay” for a negative review of Angie’s List.

“Leave one last review on Angie’s List of any company you like that makes clear that you are leaving Angie’s List because they oppose religious freedom. Encourage everyone else to do this same.”

How mean and ugly is that?

NOM, it should be noted, isn’t even being original. Both the Family Research Council and the American Family Association – two anti-gay hate groups – have already started boycotts against Angie’s List.

A spokesperson for Angie’s List would not comment on the boycott, and referred The New Civil Rights Movement to its CEO’s comments (above.)

One final note.

NOM has just removed its failed boycott of Chase bank, Void Chase, from its website. 

Since it started that boycott eight and a half monrths ago, NOM has managed to get all of 7424 people to support it:

void_chase.jpg 

 

Image, top: Screenshot via NOM

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‘What Could Go Wrong?’: Religious AI Chatbots Let You Text With ‘Jesus’ — or ‘Satan’

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As Americans drift from organized religion and congregations consolidate, pastors are turning to artificial intelligence to shoulder parts of their ministry — while some worshippers are turning to AI for something else entirely. Certain AI tools help clergy manage schedules or craft sermons; others invite believers to text directly with “Jesus,” or even “Satan.”

Calling it a “new digital awakening,” Axios reports that “AI is helping some churches stay relevant in the face of shrinking staffs, empty pews and growing online audiences. But the practice raises new questions about who, or what, is guiding the flock.”

“New AI-powered apps allow you to ‘text with Jesus’ or ‘talk to the Bible,’ giving the impression you are communicating with a deity or angel,” according to Axios. “Other apps can create personalized prayers, let you confess your sins or offer religious advice on life’s decisions.”

READ MORE: GOP ‘Complicit’ in ‘Massive’ Epstein Files ‘Cover-Up’: Democrat

The apps that “allow” people to “talk” to “Jesus,” “Mary,” the “Bible,” or even “Satan” are reportedly the most popular.

“What could go wrong?” Robert P. Jones, CEO of the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, sarcastically asked, according to Axios.

Text With Jesus bills itself as “a new, interactive way to engage with your faith.” Its website calls it “a revolutionary AI-powered chatbot app, designed for devoted Christians seeking a deeper connection with the Bible’s most iconic figures.”

In the FAQ section of the website, one question asks, “Am I really talking to Jesus? Isn’t this blasphemous?”

“Our app is a tool for exploration, education, and engagement with biblical narratives,” is the response, “and it is not intended to replace or mimic direct communication with divine entities, which is a deeply personal aspect of one’s faith.”

READ MORE: White House Eyes Major Blitz as GOP Voters Blame Trump for Failing Economy

Last month, FOX 32 Chicago reported on criticism of the app.

“Critics call the app blasphemous. In an essay for The PreachersWord, minister Ken Weliever wrote that he would ‘just open my Bible and read it for myself,’ questioning how accurate an AI ‘Jesus’ could ever be. He pointed to answers on same-sex marriage signed with rainbow emojis and called the app’s ‘Satan’ feature chilling.”

“Moody Center President James Spencer wrote in The Christian Post the AI ‘Jesus’ seemed ‘less concerned with fulfilling the Law and the Prophets than providing answers palatable to the itching ears of 21st century users.'”

According to the app’s Mac App Store pages, the company that produces Text With Jesus has additional offerings, including Text With History, Text With Authors, Texts From Bernie Sanders, and Texts From Oscar Wilde.

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

 

Image via Shutterstock

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GOP ‘Complicit’ in ‘Massive’ Epstein Files ‘Cover-Up’: Democrat

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The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee alleged a “massive coverup” of the Epstein files, accused congressional Republicans of being “complicit,” and signaled that he and his Democratic colleagues will release even more documents, likely later on Wednesday.

“Jeffrey Epstein referenced President Donald Trump in emails to his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and a journalist, claiming in one that Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ according to emails released by House Democrats,” NBC News reported. “Democrats on the House Oversight committee released three email chains, sent between 2011 and 2019, saying the documents came from the convicted sex offender’s estate as part of the committee’s investigation of the Epstein case.”

Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA) told MSNBC his committee received about 23,000 emails “last week, and we’ve been going through — our team, of course — through all of these very carefully over the last few days.”

READ MORE: White House Eyes Major Blitz as GOP Voters Blame Trump for Failing Economy

“We obviously released some today,” he said, referring to the bombshell emails. “We’ll be releasing additional documents, likely later today.”

Noting that “we’ve been demanding that Donald Trump and the DOJ release the full Epstein files,” Garcia added, “what’s been released today” are “some quite serious, I think, connections between what Donald Trump may have known.”

Garcia said, “what’s important right now is that we want to know why Donald Trump spent the entire campaign, saying that he would release the files. And now that he’s in the White House, there is a massive cover-up going on.”

Responding to claims from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that the release of the documents is a “hoax,” Garcia replied, “Then release all the files.”

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“If the president has nothing to hide, if the press secretary were there in her comments and statement, if they have nothing to hide at the White House or Department of Justice, then all we want is for them to release the full files,” he urged. “You can’t spend your entire campaign, saying you’re gonna do something, and make a commitment to the American people, and then backtrack.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

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White House Eyes Major Blitz as GOP Voters Blame Trump for Failing Economy

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President Donald Trump’s advisers are weighing a plan to have him blitz the nation in a series of domestic speeches focused on the economy in an effort to battle the perception by a strong majority of Americans — including a majority of Republicans — that he is not doing enough to bring down prices.

The President campaigned on reducing inflation and the cost of living, but inflation has crept up over a five-month period and remains higher than during President Joe Biden’s last full month in office.

“We’re going to get the prices down,” Trump said on the campaign trail in September 2024. “We have to get them down. It’s too much. Groceries, cars, everything. We’re going to get the prices down.”

“But here’s a promise I’m making to you,” he said during that same speech. “I will cut your energy and electricity prices in half, 50%, 5-0, within 12 months of taking the oath of office. Within 12 months, within 12 months of taking the oath of office, I will cut your energy prices by 50%, and it’s not going to be hard.”

READ MORE: ‘The Whole Thing Is Imploding’: Chaos and Rebellion at America’s Top Right-Wing Think Tank

American voters apparently have not forgotten those promises. Trump’s approval rating currently sits at a new low and his disapproval rating at a new high, according to data from The New York Times‘ polling average tracker.

Trump appears to be pushing back, calling the cries for greater affordability a Democratic “con job,” while claiming inflation and prices are down.

On Tuesday, the White House said inflation is “way down,” despite evidence to the contrary.

“Look, Donald Trump might be trying to downplay voters’ concerns about affordability, but I’m here to tell you that is a ginormous error,” declared CNN analyst Harry Enten. “It may be an error that goes down in political infamy.”

“Donald Trump was elected was to fix the problem of inflation,” he reminded viewers. “Donald Trump is underwater with the Titanic when it comes to inflation. His net approval rating is 26 points underwater.”

“Now, of course, it’s one thing if voters don’t like the state of the economy,” he continued. “But it’s another thing when they don’t think that Donald Trump actually gives a hoot.”

Enten went on to show that 75% of Americans, including 57% of Republicans, say Trump is “not paying enough attention to lowering costs.”

READ MORE: Johnson Refuses to Commit to Key Part of Senate Shutdown Deal

“If these numbers hold, and Donald Trump continues to try to ignore a problem that Americans very much think we have in terms of costs of living, affordability,” Enten said, “well, it might be adios, amigos, goodbye for that House Republican majority, and, I dare say, the Republican Senate majority as well.”

Trump’s White House advisers appear to be aware of the growing discontent across the nation.

“President Donald Trump’s advisers have had conversations about him traveling the country to give economy-focused speeches as they privately weigh a number of strategies to improve his standing on the issue, administration officials told CNN,” the news network reported on Wednesday.

“White House officials have advised the president not to brush away or outright dismiss that Americans are feeling squeezed by rising prices, they said. They have been actively putting ‘policy time’ — as one of the officials characterized it — on Trump’s schedule with the goal of accelerating the administration’s efforts to tackle inflation.”

“You can’t convince people that their experience, what they’re feeling at home, isn’t reality,” one of the officials acknowledged to CNN.

CNN also reported that advisers are weighing having Trump travel the country to give speeches about what he is doing to lower prices, although his recent claims, like planning to send low- and middle-income Americans $2,000 tariff dividend checks, are seen as unlikely by some experts.

READ MORE: White House Says Inflation’s ‘Way Down’ — Americans Aren’t Buying It

 

Image via Reuters 

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