Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 18, 2014

Peace is Possible

Peace is possible, here and now. If peace were as much a priority as, say, economic expansion, there would be peace. There’s no lofty Buddhist philosophy that’s necessary to explain it. It’s very simple. Peace is absolutely possible if you stop listening to people who would have you believe otherwise, and if we truly wish it.

- Samdhong Rinpoche, “Democracy in Exile”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 19, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

Via JMG: ABC's Bachelor: Gays Are Perverts

Details.  (Graphic source)

Labels: assholery, reality shows, television

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: CUBA: Cops Arrest Gay-Bashing Russian Fugitive Maxim Martsinkevich

 

Fugitive Russian gay-basher Maxim Martsinkevich was arrested in Cuba today. Note that the following report is from the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Russia was informed by Cuban police of the arrest of Maxim Martsinkevich through Interpol, the Russian Interior Ministry said in a statement. More widely known under his nickname of Tesak, or machete, Martsinkevich was arrested in absentia by a Russian court last month on extremism charges. Martsinkevich said during a January 8 interview that the criminal charges against him were orchestrated by Russia’s “pedo-lobby,” and that he did not intend to return to Russia, according to Russian tabloid Life News that has close links to the security services. The details of Martsinkevich's extradition were currently being finalized, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement Saturday. In a January 9 post on his website, Martsinkevich wrote that he had flown to Cuba from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, via the German city of Frankfurt. In 2011, Martsinkevich founded the Occupy Pedophile vigilante group, which lured men to abusive meetings with false promises of sex with minors. The encounters were recorded and then posted online. The group was also reported to target gay men, who were subjected to similar abusive treatment.

The above-linked report notes that Martsinkevich, who is also wanted by Ukrainian authorities, has over 130,000 subscribers on the Russian social media site Vkontakte. For more about his history of brutal attacks on gay men, read my earlier reports. (Tipped by multiple JMG readers)

 

Labels: closet cases, crime, Cuba, evil, gay bashing, Maxim Martsenkevich, Russia, Ukraine

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: STUDY: Divorce Rate Of Evangelicals Higher Than General Population

According to a study to be published in the American Journal Of Sociology, "religiously conservative Protestants" divorce at a higher rate than the general population.

Researchers discovered that higher divorce rates among conservative Protestants were tied to earlier marriages and childbearing – factors known to ramp up divorce. Starting families earlier tends to stop young adults from pursuing more education and depresses their wages, putting more strain on marriages, University of Texas at Austin professor Jennifer Glass said. But the study went a step further: Glass and another researcher also discovered that people living in areas with lots of conservative Protestants were at higher risk of getting divorced, even if they weren’t conservative Protestants themselves. County by county, for every 1% increase in the share of conservative Protestants compared with mainline Protestants, the divorce rate increased 0.02%, the study found. Glass argued that community institutions in such areas might encourage early marriage, affecting divorce rates for everyone who lives there.

Save that bolded sentence for the next time you get told that you are destroying traditional marriage. (Tipped by JMG reader Str8 Grandmother)

Labels: divorce, marriage equality, religion

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Russian Vigilantes Targeting Gay Men

Via FB:

What I want to be when I grow up: Daniel Orey at TEDxSacramento

1670 hits... woo hoo!

Via George Takei / FB:

Via JMG: Putin: Gays Won't Be Bothered At Sochi As Long As They Leave Children Alone

Via the Associated Press:

Russian President Vladimir Putin says gays should feel welcome at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but they must "leave the children in peace." Putin told volunteers Friday that gays visiting Sochi "can feel calm and at ease," and vowed that there would be no discrimination at the games. But he emphasized that, according to a law banning homosexual "propaganda" among minors, gays cannot express their views on gay rights issues to anyone underage.

So protesting to adults will be allowed?

Labels: LGBT rights, Russia, Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: NIGERIA: Dozens More Arrested

Via the Associated Press:

Activists say that dozens more people have been rounded up, arrested and questioned across Nigeria for being perceived to be gay just over a week after the president signed a law criminalizing gay organizations and meetings as well as same-sex marriage. Ifeanyi Kelly Orazulike, Executive Director of the Nigeria-based International Center for Advocacy on Right to Health, said Friday that over two days more than 30 people have been detained. He says 12 people have been arrested in Oyo state in the southwest, six in Imo state in the southeast, eight in central Abuja and six in Anambra state in the southeast.

(Tipped by JMG reader Akim)

Labels: Africa, homosexuality, Nigeria, religion

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: HRC Demands US Action On Nigeria

The Human Rights Campaign has written to Secretary of State John Kerry, demanding a "strong and proactive American response to the humanitarian crisis" in Nigeria. From the list of suggested actions:

Directing the U.S. Embassy in Abuja to perform in-country refugee processing for LGBT Nigerians who are being targeted for arrest under the newly passed law. Recommending that President Obama evaluate removing Nigeria from the list of countries currently eligible for assistance under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The law requires the President to determine on an annual basis which countries are eligible based “on progress in meeting certain criteria, including progress toward the establishment of a market-based economy, rule of law, economic policies to reduce poverty, protection of internationally recognized worker rights, and efforts to combat corruption. ”Suspending bilateral engagements between the United States and Nigeria that are of particular importance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, such as suspending Nigeria’s participation in the Young African Leaders Initiative. Using any regulatory, administrative, or statutory means in your arsenal to combat implementation of this law.

Read the full letter.

Labels: Africa, Chad Griffin, Goodluck Jonathan, HRC, John Kerry, LGBT rights, Nigeria, Obama administration, State Department

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: Petition Of The Day

Details.

Labels: Indiana, marriage equality, Mike Pence

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Jon Stewart Navigates the Difficult Plumbing of Gay Marriage in Red States - January 16, 2014

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma

Tricycle Daily Dharma January 17, 2014

Changing Views

For, as the Buddhist view has consistently demonstrated, it is the perspective of the sufferer that determines whether a given experience perpetuates suffering or is a vehicle for awakening. To work something through means to change one's view; if we try instead to change the emotion, we may achieve some short-term success, but we remain bound by forces of attachment and an aversion to the very feelings from which we are struggling to be free.

- Mark Epstein, “Shattering the Ridgepole”

Read the entire article in the Wisdom Collection through January 18, 2014
For full access at any time, become a Tricycle Community Supporting or Sustaining Member

Via JMG: NIGERIA: Eleven Muslim Men On Trial, Face Stoning To Death For Homosexuality

The BBC reports:

An Islamic court in Nigeria's northern state of Bauchi has put on trial 11 Muslim men accused of being homosexuals in violation of their religion, a religious leader has told the BBC. A 12th person arrested - a Christian - would be tried under secular law, a BBC reporter says. Under Islamic law, a person can be sentenced to death by stoning if convicted of homosexuality. It is also illegal to have gay sex in Nigeria, according to its secular laws. Jibrin Danlami Hassan, the commissioner of Bauchi state's Sharia Commission, said the alleged homosexuals were arrested by residents of Bauchi city. They were handed to the Islamic police force, which interrogated them, he said. "They accept that they are doing that dirty game," Mr Hassan said. Ms Aken'Ova said some of those arrested had been beaten up and tortured, but Mr Hassan denied this. The BBC's Ishaq Khalid in Bauchi says the Sharia Commission confirmed to him that a Christian had been arrested with the 11 Muslims, and would be tried in a "conventional court".

There have not yet been any confirmed "death by stoning" executions in Nigeria, although several such sentences have been handed down.

Labels: Africa, homosexuality, Islam, LGBT rights, Nigeria, religion, Sharia Law

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Via JMG: The Professor Dies At Age 89

Russell Johnson, the professor on Gilligan's Island, has died at the age of 89.

Johnson, who played Professor Roy Hinkley, died of natural causes at his home in Washington. Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann, just posted on Facebook, "My 2 favorite people are now gone. The professor past (sic) away this morning. My heart is broken." The other person who died is Bob Denver, who played Gilligan. He died in 2005. Johnson was on the show from 1964 to 1967. Johnson was not in the original opening of the show. He and Mary Ann were referred to as "The rest." But Denver insisted that they be included and that happened later.

In his later years Johnson became a full-time fundraiser for AIDS research. His son died of the disease in 1994.

Labels: Hollywood, obituary, television

Reposted from Joe Jervis

Judy Garland-I Don't Care

Via TabooJive.com / FB:

Via HimalayaCrafts / FB:

At the bottom of patience is Heaven. - HimalayaCrafts