Dictionary Redefines Marriage As Gender Neutral
The Chambers Dictionary has released its 13th edition with changes to the previous definition of marriage. Marriage is now defined as “the ceremony, act or contract by which two people become married to each other.”
“Husband” and “wife” were altered as well to encompass married gay couples. Husband is defined as “a man to whom someone is married,” while wife is “a woman to whom someone is married.”
The Chambers Dictionary was not the first to edit definitions in response to cultural changes. The Macmillan Dictionary changed the definition of marriage to “the relationship between two people who are husband and wife, or a similar relationship between people of the same sex,” in August 2013.
Macmillan has not yet altered the definitions of “husband” and “wife,” but may do so in the future. Editor-in-chief Michael Rundell said, “In a same-sex relationship, two men are probably not going to refer to themselves as ‘wife,’ but it’s two women, they might, so we need to keep an eye out for that.” -Christian Headlines
77% Say Losing a Wallet Worse Than Losing a Cell Phone
Despite the fact that most Americans use a mobile phone several times a day or more, most still think losing their wallet is scarier than losing their phone.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 82% of American Adults who own a mobile phone use it to make calls, send text messages and e-mails or use the Internet at least once a day. That includes 13% who use their phone every hour, and another 13% who do so constantly. Seventeen percent (17%) rarely or never use their mobile phone. –Rasmussen Reports
Putin Claims 'Gay Nazis' Behind Ukrainian Unrest
The Russian president takes a page out of a notorious antigay American evangelical's playbook and claims that gay people are the cause of the current conflict in Ukraine.
A U.S.-based Russia scholar contends that Vladimir Putin is looking to galvanize support for Russian rule in Ukraine by linking ultranationalist, neo-Nazi values and support for LGBT equality, which Putin frequently laments as a Western phenomenon.
Matthew Schmidt, an assistant professor of national security and political science at the University of Connecticut who holds an MA in Russian studies, told Raycom News Network that Putin has positioned himself as a defender of "traditional values" in his propaganda war with the West," going so far as to claim that "gay Nazis" were responsible for the initial uprising in Kiev, when pro-Ukrainian demonstrators took to the street to oppose the since-deposed pro-Russian regime.
"The gay Nazis label was simultaneously an attempt to tie the new pro-Europe camp in Kiev to the hated German Third Reich while also taking advantage of the growing acceptance of gay marriage in the West, particularly in the United States," reports Raycom.
Massachusetts-based evangelical preacher and noted homophobe Scott Lively — whose most notorious book claims that the Nazi Party was run by gay men — made the same argument Putin advanced in March, asserting that gay people were responsible for the crisis in Ukraine.
"Putin has said homosexuality is not our values, and that sense of tolerance of homosexuality is not part of Euroasia," Schmidt told the news network, while noting that Schmidt will be in Ukraine monitoring the latest referendum on independence, scheduled for May 25.
Schmidt believes that Putin is hoping to reunite much of the former Soviet Union into a new empire known as Euroasia, noting that the Russian president has "written extensively on the subject of Euroasia," envisioning a far-reaching empire with Moscow at its center of power.
Putin, who was reelected to an unprecedented third presidential term in 2012, has already come under fire for his support of Russia's laws criminalizing so-called gay propaganda, which essentially bans any positive depiction of LGBT people or identities in any public forum, publication, or digital space where minors might access it.
Since Putin signed the draconian law into being last summer, LGBT Russians and visitors have been arrested, beaten, kidnapped, and killed. But in the run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Putin repeatedly claimed that gay people faced no discrimination in Russia, while simultaneously saying the nation needed to be "cleansed" of homosexuality, and warning LGBT athletes and Olympic spectators to "leave the children in peace." -Advocate
The Chambers Dictionary has released its 13th edition with changes to the previous definition of marriage. Marriage is now defined as “the ceremony, act or contract by which two people become married to each other.”
“Husband” and “wife” were altered as well to encompass married gay couples. Husband is defined as “a man to whom someone is married,” while wife is “a woman to whom someone is married.”
The Chambers Dictionary was not the first to edit definitions in response to cultural changes. The Macmillan Dictionary changed the definition of marriage to “the relationship between two people who are husband and wife, or a similar relationship between people of the same sex,” in August 2013.
Macmillan has not yet altered the definitions of “husband” and “wife,” but may do so in the future. Editor-in-chief Michael Rundell said, “In a same-sex relationship, two men are probably not going to refer to themselves as ‘wife,’ but it’s two women, they might, so we need to keep an eye out for that.” -Christian Headlines
77% Say Losing a Wallet Worse Than Losing a Cell Phone
Despite the fact that most Americans use a mobile phone several times a day or more, most still think losing their wallet is scarier than losing their phone.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 82% of American Adults who own a mobile phone use it to make calls, send text messages and e-mails or use the Internet at least once a day. That includes 13% who use their phone every hour, and another 13% who do so constantly. Seventeen percent (17%) rarely or never use their mobile phone. –Rasmussen Reports
Putin Claims 'Gay Nazis' Behind Ukrainian Unrest
The Russian president takes a page out of a notorious antigay American evangelical's playbook and claims that gay people are the cause of the current conflict in Ukraine.
A U.S.-based Russia scholar contends that Vladimir Putin is looking to galvanize support for Russian rule in Ukraine by linking ultranationalist, neo-Nazi values and support for LGBT equality, which Putin frequently laments as a Western phenomenon.
Matthew Schmidt, an assistant professor of national security and political science at the University of Connecticut who holds an MA in Russian studies, told Raycom News Network that Putin has positioned himself as a defender of "traditional values" in his propaganda war with the West," going so far as to claim that "gay Nazis" were responsible for the initial uprising in Kiev, when pro-Ukrainian demonstrators took to the street to oppose the since-deposed pro-Russian regime.
"The gay Nazis label was simultaneously an attempt to tie the new pro-Europe camp in Kiev to the hated German Third Reich while also taking advantage of the growing acceptance of gay marriage in the West, particularly in the United States," reports Raycom.
Massachusetts-based evangelical preacher and noted homophobe Scott Lively — whose most notorious book claims that the Nazi Party was run by gay men — made the same argument Putin advanced in March, asserting that gay people were responsible for the crisis in Ukraine.
"Putin has said homosexuality is not our values, and that sense of tolerance of homosexuality is not part of Euroasia," Schmidt told the news network, while noting that Schmidt will be in Ukraine monitoring the latest referendum on independence, scheduled for May 25.
Schmidt believes that Putin is hoping to reunite much of the former Soviet Union into a new empire known as Euroasia, noting that the Russian president has "written extensively on the subject of Euroasia," envisioning a far-reaching empire with Moscow at its center of power.
Putin, who was reelected to an unprecedented third presidential term in 2012, has already come under fire for his support of Russia's laws criminalizing so-called gay propaganda, which essentially bans any positive depiction of LGBT people or identities in any public forum, publication, or digital space where minors might access it.
Since Putin signed the draconian law into being last summer, LGBT Russians and visitors have been arrested, beaten, kidnapped, and killed. But in the run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Putin repeatedly claimed that gay people faced no discrimination in Russia, while simultaneously saying the nation needed to be "cleansed" of homosexuality, and warning LGBT athletes and Olympic spectators to "leave the children in peace." -Advocate
83% Think Americans Are Not Informed Voters
Most Americans think voters in this country don’t have enough say in their government, but at the same time they overwhelmingly believe their fellow countrymen don’t fulfill their responsibility to be informed about the things they vote on.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 90% of Likely U.S. Voters think voters in countries with democratically elected governments have a responsibility to be informed about major policy issues. Just five percent (5%) disagree, while another five percent (5%) are undecided. –Rasmussen Reports
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