ORLY-EP0142 - 2nd Week Damage Report - How Bad Could It Be?

ORLY-EP0142 - 2nd Week Damage Report - How Bad Could It Be?  

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #142 recorded Friday February 3rd, 2017 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen, with my usual suspects, Stephen Griffith, Amber Bieseker, Fred Sims, and David O’connor.

Audience Feedback From Previous Shows:

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Thank you to our Patreon Supporters!

Donald Davis

Melissa G.

Henry

Daniel Duncan

Dan Smith

 

  1. Federal judge blocked the Muslim Ban, and then enforcement continued causing a possible constitutional crisis as the Judicial and the Executive clash. - Canada says they will take those we cast aside.

  2. Trump puts Bannon on security council, dropping joint chiefs. The reshuffling of the National Security Council downgrades the military chiefs and gives a regular seat to his chief strategist Steve Bannon. The director of national intelligence and the joint chiefs will attend when discussions pertain to their areas. (BBC)

  3. Bannon is making sure there’s no White House paper trail. The Trump administration’s chief strategist has already taken control of both policy and process on national security. (Foreign Policy)

  4. At this point Trump CNN, WaPo, and New York Times as FAKE NEWS, and urges FOX as a source. (Politico) White House ices out CNN. Trump administration refuses to put officials on air on the network the president called “fake news.” (Politico)

  5. White House statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day didn’t mention Jews or anti-Semitism because “others were killed too.” (CNN)

  6. Trump fires acting attorney general Sally Yates, after she defiantly refused to defend his immigration executive order. (NY Times)

  7. Senate altered rules to approve Steve Mnunchin, Trump's nominee for treasury secretary, and Tom Price, the nominee for health secretary push Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General.Republicans suspend committee rules, advance Mnuchin, Price nominations after confronting a boycott from Democrats. Senate Committee rules normally require at least one Democratic senator present to have a vote. But when Democrats refused to show, the committee’s chairman suspended those rules. (CNN)

  8. Trump signs executive order requiring that for every one new regulation, two must be revoked. (Politico)

  9. Trump Picks Neil Gorsuch, A Scalia Clone, For The Supreme Court. Ideologically, Gorsuch would almost certainly represent a reliably conservative vote and voice. Gorsuch would be the most conservative justice save for the silent stalwart Justice Clarence Thomas and would sit somewhere just to the right of the ideological space occupied by Scalia. (FiveThirtyEight)

  10. Rex Tillerson is confirmed as Secretary of State amid record opposition. The votes against Mr. Tillerson’s confirmation were the most in Senate history (NY Times)

  11. Bannon thinks there will be war with China in the next few years. Comments on his radio show are re-surfacing as the “special counsellor” assumes unprecedented power in the White House. (The Independent)

  12. Trump to Mexico: Take care of “bad hombres” or US might. Trump threatened in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart to send U.S. troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them itself. (Associated Press)

  13. Trump badgered, bragged and abruptly ended phone call with Australian leader. Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refu­gee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win. Trump called it “this was the worst call by far.” (Washington Post)

  14. Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on Islam. (Reuters)

  15. Trump administration “officially putting Iran on notice.” National security adviser, Michael Flynn, issued a statement in reaction to an Iranian missile test and an attack on a Saudi warship by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. “It’s either an empty threat or a clear statement of intent to go to war with Iran.” (The Guardian)

  16. Trump tells Israel to hold off on building new settlements, saying new settlements “may not help” achieve Middle East peace. (NY Times)

  17. Trump Putin Call - Off the record. https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint/status/826826543779479557/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

  18. Spicer falsely accuses Iran of attacking U.S. Navy vessel, calling it an act of war. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said he was “officially putting Iran on notice” following the country’s ballistic missile test and an attack on a Saudi naval vessel – Iran did not attack a U.S. Navy vessel. (The Intercept)

  19. House rolls back rule restricting gun sales to severely mentally ill. Republicans are using the Congressional Review Act to roll back all manner of regulations. Rep. Kevin Brady said the Social Security Administration “overstepped its mission.” The vote was 235-180. (CNN)

  20. Trump vows to “totally destroy” law restricting political speech by tax-exempt churches, a potentially huge victory for the religious right and a gesture to his political base. Repealing the law would require approval by Congress. (NY Times)

  21. Trump at national prayer breakfast: “Pray for Arnold… for those ratings”. Trump veered off script at the start of the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday when he asked a room full of lawmakers, foreign dignitaries and religious leaders to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger so that ratings of his show – NBC’s “The Apprentice” – would go up. (CNN)

  22. Schwarzenegger to Trump: “Why Don’t We Switch Jobs?” (NY Times)

  23. Leaked draft of Trump’s religious freedom order reveals sweeping plans to legalize discrimination. If signed, the order would create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity. (The Nation)

  24. The G.O.P. campaign to repeal Obamacare hits a wall. Republicans are struggling to come up with a replacement and a key senator has declared that the effort is more a repair job than a demolition. (NY Times)

  25. Why Congress just killed a rule restricting coal companies from dumping waste in streams. (Vox)

  26. Kellyanne Conway cites “Bowling Green massacre” that never happened to defend travel ban. Kellyanne Conway has taken “alternative facts” to a new level. During a Thursday interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the counselor to the president defended President Trump’s travel ban related to seven majority-Muslim countries. At one point, Conway made a reference to two Iraqi refugees whom she described as the masterminds behind “the Bowling Green massacre.” (Washington Post) (CNN)

  27. Government reveals over 100,000 visas revoked due to travel ban. (Washington Post)

  28. Trump will order a sweeping review of the Dodd-Frank Act rules enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Trump also will halt regulations that requires advisers on retirement accounts to work in the best interests of their clients. (Bloomberg)

  29. http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/politics/house-vote-guns-mental-illnesses/

  30. Black History Month Fuckery http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/a-full-transcript-of-donald-trumps-black-history-month-1791871370

  31. http://www.epicprogress.com/daily-trump-damage-report-2317/

If you’ve enjoyed what we do here and would like to help us out, there are a few ways.

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  • And if you don’t like what we’ve done here this evening, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and talk to someone who cares. The Lifeline provides free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.

Thank you for choosing us to waste your valuable time on! This has been ORLYRADIO, Part of The Random Acts Company.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License, including the music Rocket and Pamgaea created by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

ORLY-EP0140A - This Cabinet Does Not Lead To Narnia

ORLY-EP0140A - This Cabinet Does Not Lead To Narnia

Welcome to ORLYRADIO #140a recorded Friday January 13th, 2017 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen, with my usual suspects, Stephen Griffith, Amber Biesecker, and Fred Sims.

Audience Feedback From Previous Shows:

We make mistakes. Please, if you find one, pause the podcast, and send us a note. orlyradiopodcast@gmail.com or phone it in 470-222-6759

  1. Russian Hacking (Sanctions Exec Order Document https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/cyber2_eo.pdf)

  2. Trump’s Cabinet https://www.graphiq.com/vlp/dRdfE5mtfL?data-script-version=true&data-sv=1.1.1&data-index=0&utm_source=viz&utm_medium=viz.referral&utm_campaign=viz.ref&utm_viz_id=dRdfE5mtfL&utm_cat=Bar%2FLine%2FArea&utm_click_loc=title&utm_pubreferrer=s.yimg.com%2Fos%2Fyc%2Fhtml%2Fembed-iframe-min.7f33a83d.html

    1. Ben Carson for HUD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carson)

    2. Jeff Sessions for Attorney General (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions)

    3. James Mattis for Defense Secretary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mattis)

    4. Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Tillerson)

    5. Mike Pompeo for CIA Director (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pompeo)

    6. John Kelly for Homeland Security Secretary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kelly_(politician))

    7. Elaine Chao for Dept of transportation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Chao)

    8. Tom Price for Health and Human Services (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Price_(U.S._politician))

    9. Betsy DeVos for Education (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_DeVos)

    10. Rick Perry Energy Secretary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Perry)

    11. Ryan Zinke Interior Secretary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Zinke)

    12. Linda McMahon Small Business Administration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McMahon)

    13. Scott Pruitt EPA Administration (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pruitt)

    14. Andrew Puzder Labor Secretary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Puzder)

    15. Wilbur Ross Commerce Secretary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbur_Ross)

    16. Steven Mnuchin treasury Secretary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Mnuchin)

  3. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio hammered former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson during a Wednesday morning confirmation hearing https://www.yahoo.com/news/marco-rubio-grills-rex-tillerson-for-refusing-to-call-putin-a-war-criminal-174525761.html

  4. Something “Extremely” Concerning Happened in a Confidential Briefing to Congress on Russian Hacking (so usually I try not to cite Jezebel but they have a comprehensive write-up of other sources) http://theslot.jezebel.com/something-extremely-concerning-happened-in-a-confidenti-1791170629

    1. Related: Senate Probe Into Election Hacking http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/13/politics/senate-probe-into-election-hacking-to-review-possible-links-between-russia-campaigns/index.html?adkey=bn

  5. Can we briefly talk about Trump refusing to answer CNN’s questions at a press conference and how terrifying his attitude toward the press is?

Wrap:

If you’ve enjoyed what we do here and would like to help us out, there are a few ways.

  • You can donate to the show through www.Patreon.com/orlyradio and get early access to full show content.

  • Reviews on iTunes - which helps the show gain audience.

  • Tell someone about us.

  • And of course, engage us! Send us an message on social media or the electronic mail @ ORLYRADIOPODCAST@gmail.com or if you are the more talkative sort 470-222-ORLY (6759) it’s always ready to take your call or text.

Thank you for choosing us to waste your valuable time on! This has been ORLYRADIO, Part of The Random Acts Company.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License, including the music Rocket and Pamgaea created by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

ORly Radio Show 81 - The 1st CNN Democratic Primary Debate MST3K

ORly Radio Show 81 - The 1st CNN Democratic Primary Debate MST3K

Welcome to ORly Radio Show 81 for Friday October 16th, 2015 - where we dismantle the current events for your edutainment through mostly rational conversations that make you go ‘Oh Really’! I’m your host Andy Cowen with my usual suspects Michael Robinson and Ophelia Falls.

You can find Ophelia here: http://opheliainthedark.tumblr.com/

Michael is over here: http://fathergrigorivonklaussen.tumblr.com/


Errata From Last Week: We make mistakes. Please, if you find one, pause the podcast, and send us a note. orlyradiopodcast@gmail.com or phone it in 470-222-6759  

RANT Segments & Headlines:


  1. It’s a Special!

  2. Welcome to the 1st Democratic Primary Candidate Debate! Time to get to it.



Acknowledgements:

Music: "Rocket and Pamgaea” by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

PSA: Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia - GSoW https://www.facebook.com/GSoWproject


ORly Radio Show 52 - A Whole Year! RFRA or How Bigotry Becomes Law...

ORly Radio Show 52 for Friday April 3rd, 2015 - A whole year! RFRA or How Bigotry Becomes Law...

Hosts: Andy & the Usual Suspects: Mike, David, and Don!!!
Music: "Rocket and Pamgaea” by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)

Errata From Last Week: We make mistakes. Please, if you find one, pause the podcast, and send us a note. orlyradiopodcast@gmail.com or phone it in 470-222-6759

The Good

Education: Stanford University's tuition is now free for students whose families make less than $125,000 a year http://theweek.com/speedreads/547755/stanford-universitys-tuition-now-free-students-whose-families-make-less-than-125000-year

SCIENCE: Humans are evolving more rapidly than previously thought, according to the largest ever genetics study of a single population. Scientists reached the conclusion after showing that almost every man alive can trace his origins to one common male ancestor who lived about 250,000 years ago. The discovery that so-called “genetic Adam”, lived about 100,000 years more recently than previously understood suggests that humans must have been genetically diverging at a more rapid rate than thought.

https://richarddawkins.net/2015/03/study-shows-humans-are-evolving-faster-than-previously-thought/

GARLIC: a team looked at the nutrient’s ability to inhibit ― and even possibly reverse ― brain cell damage caused by environmental stress. Environmental stress could include the aging process, smoking, pollution, traumatic brain injury or excessive alcohol consumption

http://medicine.missouri.edu/news/0263.php

CHOCOLATE: Scientists Work Out How To Make Chocolate Healthier And More Flavorful

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-work-out-how-make-chocolate-healthier-and-more-flavorful

Geopolitical: Deal with Iran pretty much in the bag.

http://www.vox.com/2015/4/2/8325447/iran-nuclear-simple-guide

The Bad

Geopolitical: Israeli Cabinet 'united in strongly opposing' Iran nuclear deal

http://theweek.com/speedreads/547925/netanyahu-israeli-cabinet-united-strongly-opposing-iran-nuclear-deal

VIDEO/AUDIO: Prisoner Calmly And Logically Explains Why He Had To Murder His Cellmate (hint: child molestation)

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/84491169/

NOT GONNA HAPPEN: California Forced To Allow Signatures For Appalling 'Shoot The Gays' Ballot Initiative

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/california-anti-gay-bill_n_6927464.html

The Ugly

“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’, thus building a wall of separation between Church & State” – Thomas Jefferson in his 1802 letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut

RFRA was passed overwhelmingly in 1993 and was brought about by Democrats in the House and Senate.
From Wikipedia: Religious Freedom Restoration Act 1993 United States federal law that "ensures that interests in religious freedom are protected." The RFRA was held unconstitutional as applied to the states in the City of Boerne v. Flores decision in 1997, which ruled that the RFRA is not a proper exercise of Congress's enforcement power. Stating that Congress had stepped beyond their power of enforcement provided in the Fourteenth Amendment.[10] In response to the Boerne ruling, Congress passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) in 2000, which grants special privileges to religious land owners.[12]
However, it continues to be applied to the federal government—for instance, in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal—because Congress has broad authority to carve out exemptions from federal laws and regulations that it itself has authorized.
Provisions: This law reinstated the Sherbert Test, which was set forth by Sherbert v. Verner, and Wisconsin v. Yoder, mandating that strict scrutiny be used when determining whether the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing religious freedom, has been violated. In the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Congress states in its findings that a religiously neutral law can burden a religion just as much as one that was intended to interfere with religion;[4] therefore the Act states that the “Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.”[5]

The law provided an exception if two conditions are both met. First, the burden must be necessary for the "furtherance of a compelling government interest."[5] Under strict scrutiny, a government interest is compelling when it is more than routine and does more than simply improve government efficiency. A compelling interest relates directly with core constitutional issues.[6] The second condition is that the rule must be the least restrictive way in which to further the government interest.

RFRA (1993) applies "to all Federal law, and the implementation of that law, whether statutory or otherwise", including any Federal statutory law adopted after the RFRA's date of signing "unless such law explicitly excludes such application."

A Little Background on why RFRA 1993 passed.  Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) the Court upheld the state of Oregon's refusal to give unemployment benefits to two Native Americans fired from their jobs at a rehab clinic after testing positive formescaline, the main psychoactive compound in the peyote cactus, which they used in a religious ceremony. Peyote use has been a common practice in Native American tribes for centuries. It was integrated with Christianity into what is now known as the Native American Church.[9]

The Smith decision outraged the public. Many groups came together. Both liberal (like the American Civil Liberties Union) and conservative groups (like the Traditional Values Coalition) as well as other groups such as theChristian Legal Society, the American Jewish Congress, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and the National Association of Evangelicals joined forces to support RFRA, which would reinstate the Sherbert Test, overturning laws if they burden a religion.[10]

The constitutionality of RFRA as applied to the federal government was confirmed on February 21, 2006, as the Supreme Court ruled against the government in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546U.S. 418 (2006), which involved the use of an otherwise illegal substance in a religious ceremony, stating that the federal government must show a compelling state interest in restricting religious conduct.

Post-Smith, many members of the Native American Church still had issues using peyote in their ceremonies. This led to the Religious Freedom Act Amendments in 1994, which state, "the use, possession, or transportation of peyote by an Indian for bona fide traditional ceremony purposes in connection with the practice of a traditional Indian religion is lawful, and shall not be prohibited by the United States or any state. No Indian shall be penalized or discriminated against on the basis of such use, possession or transportation."[5]

Basically, RFRA was to get the government to stop meddling in illicit substance use during native american religious ceremonies and mucking about with native land use in regards to sacred spaces. BUT that has been a subnote in actual use of the law.  

The Sherbert Test  - Sherbert v. Verner 1963

It is based on the following four criteria (sometimes referenced as 3 prongs)

For the individual, the court must determine

  • whether the person has a claim involving a sincere religious belief, and

  • whether the government action is a substantial burden on the person’s ability to act on that belief. Expanded: If government confronts an individual with a choice that pressures the individual to forego a religious practice, whether by imposing a penalty or withholding a benefit, then the government has burdened the individual's free exercise of religion.

If these two elements are established, then the government must prove

  • Interest Prong: that it is acting in furtherance of a “compelling state interest,” and

  • Narrowly-Tailored Prong: that it has pursued that interest in the manner least restrictive, or least burdensome, to religion.

The Lemon Test - Lemon v. Kurtzman 1971

The Court's decision in this case established the "Lemon test" (named after the lead plaintiff Alton Lemon),[2] which details the requirements for legislation concerning religion. It is threefold:

  1. Entanglement Prong - The statute must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religious affairs.

  2. Effect Prong - The statute must not advance nor inhibit religious practice

  3. Purpose Prong - The statute must have a secular legislative purpose.

If any of these prongs are violated, the government's action is deemed unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The act stipulated that "eligible teachers must teach only courses offered in the public schools, using only materials used in the public schools, and must agree not to teach courses in religion." Still, a three-judge panel found 25% of the State's elementary students attended private schools, about 95% of those attended Roman Catholic schools, and the sole beneficiaries under the act were 250 teachers at Roman Catholic schools.

The court found that the parochial school system was "an integral part of the religious mission of the Catholic Church," and held that the Act fostered "excessive entanglement" between government and religion, thus violating the Establishment Clause.[1]

Held: Both statutes are unconstitutional under the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, as the cumulative impact of the entire relationship arising under the statutes involves excessive entanglement between government and religion.[1]

NOW…

Video/Audio WALKERTON, Ind. -A small-town pizza shop is saying they agree with Governor Pence and the signing of the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
http://www.abc57.com/story/28681598/rfra-first-business-to-publicly-deny-same-sex-service

Video/Audio CNN's Tapper Battles Arkansas Pol: Does Religious Freedom Bill Discriminate or Not? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDhEwTbq5aI
From Mike - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

Video/Audio Speaking on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in his state, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas urged gay people to “have a sense of perspective” on the issue, mentioning that, in Iran, they hang gay people.

http://bluenationreview.com/tom-cotton-gays-consider-lucky-arent-hanged/

Don Lemon challenged guest Kristen Waggoner, attorney for the Alliance for Freedom, to defend the law after asking why it hasn’t been fixed as a result of the national backlash.Penn Jillette to CNN guest defending ‘religious freedom’ laws: No one is being asked to have gay sex http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/penn-jillette-to-cnn-guest-defending-religious-freedom-laws-no-one-is-being-asked-to-have-gay-sex/
http://www.ijreview.com/2015/04/286763-libertarian-atheist-penn-jillette-animated-clash-indiana-religious-freedom-law-supporter/

Entertainment/Reviews/(Nit)Picks

Andy’s: US, watch everything!
David’s: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OS5BTDU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1G1D6VG4GOCMX

Don’s: http://www.reaper.fm/download.php & https://www.audinate.com/products/software/dante-virtual-soundcard