Marriott is now placing both Bibles and Books of Mormon in the new hotel chains they purchased. I noted that luxury hotels among all chains "were the least likely to offer them, with just 51 percent saying they did. And urban and resort hotels were less likely to offer them than hotels in suburbs or along interstates." Sounds like a good indicator of the lifestyles, practices, and religious views of the upper crust? Guess they don't want to be reminded of the straight and narrow. Kek!

https://apnews.com/a81def375dba4b7ebcbef2b5daff1d43/Holy-nights:-New-Marriott-rooms-to-get-Bible,-Book-of-Mormon

Holy nights: New Marriott rooms to get Bible, Book of Mormon

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

26 minutes ago

Sheraton, Westin and other Starwood hotels are finding their religion.

Marriott International, which bought Starwood two years ago, has begun putting copies of the Bible and the Book of Mormon in the recently-acquired hotels. By year’s end, it expects to place the books in 300,000 rooms.

Marriott, whose namesake founding family is active in the Mormon church, has been putting both the Bible and the Book of Mormon in its rooms since opening its first hotel in the late 1950s. Like most major chains, Marriott doesn’t own the majority of its hotels. However, it stands out from the other companies by requiring — in franchise or licensing agreements — its 6,500 properties to have the books in each room.

It’s not a policy Marriott relishes discussing. The company declined to make an executive available to comment, but issued a statement to The Associated Press: “There are many guests who are not digitally connected who appreciate having one or both of these books available. It’s a tradition appreciated by many, objected to by few.”

Judging from lively internet discussions, however, travelers are divided on the issue. Some say they’re not bothered by seeing a Bible or a Book of Mormon in the room, and note that they’re usually tucked away in a drawer. But others say they have complained to managers and asked for the books to be removed. …

Marriott gets the Bibles for free from Gideons International, a group that donates Bibles to prisons, hospitals, hotels and other public places. The costs for the Books of Mormon are shared by the Marriott Foundation and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Marriott is alone among big hotel chains in requiring religious materials in its rooms. Hilton and IHG, which owns Holiday Inn and other brands, say they let local hotel managers decide whether to offer Bibles. Hyatt has no official policy, but says it will obtain religious texts if guests ask for them.

According to STR, a hotel data firm, the number of U.S. hotels that offer religious materials in their rooms has dropped over the last decade, to 79 percent in 2016 from 95 percent in 2006. Luxury hotels were the least likely to offer them, with just 51 percent saying they did. And urban and resort hotels were less likely to offer them than hotels in suburbs or along interstates.

The change at some of the 1,300 former Starwood hotels could come as a surprise to some guests; Marriott says those rooms haven’t had religious materials in them until now. Starwood — which was founded by Jewish businessman Barry Sternlicht in 1991 — also includes nearly a dozen brands such as the St. Regis, Le Meridien, Aloft and Four Points.

Some brands, however, are holier than others. Starwood’s 50 W hotels — one of the first chains to sell “intimacy kits” that include condoms — won’t get the books. Neither will the 140 independently owned Design Hotels, most of which are in Europe. Marriott’s youth-focused Moxy brand and its luxury Edition brand also don’t have the books in their rooms.

Marriott says there’s no single reason why religious materials are excluded from some properties. …

Hotels in certain locations — such as Vietnam and Indonesia — also don’t have a Bible or a Book of Mormon because it might be considered inappropriate, Marriott said. In those places, hotels have the option to provide a card in the room that tells guests to call the front desk if they would like religious materials. …

>>2732418

Obituary says he was cremated. Another Arkancide with no trace?

>>2732398

Going off on a tangent here, but the site below has a great story on our "favorite" (/sarc off) news network totally got it all wrong (not just on the politicians but also the science). Good video on how the ancient Greeks calculated the circumference of the Earth.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/23/cnn-opinion-piece-if-trump-and-gop-dont-understand-climate-change-they-dont-deserve-public-office-wrong-on-every-level/

Hope the new liberal management at Fox News (the sons of Rupert Murdoch) don't dump Tucker. All it takes anymore is one tiny complaint. So much for free speech and discussion of all sides of an issue. Sad …

https://apnews.com/69edd18af846491fa2c27b5bd3d483d4/Fox's-Carlson-stunned-by-reaction-to-stories-on-South-Africa

Fox’s Carlson stunned by reaction to stories on South Africa

By DAVID BAUDER

Yesterday

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Friday he’s shocked his segments this week on a South African land reform policy should be considered an appeal to white nationalists — let alone spark an international incident.

Carlson argued against a proposal that would allow the South African government to seize some white-owned agricultural land, part of an effort to address inequities left over from apartheid. Whites own more than 70 percent of such farmland despite being about 8 percent of the population.

Two hours after Carlson reported on it, a prominent viewer — Republican President Donald Trump — tweeted that he asked the secretary of state to look into the issue.

The South African government then lashed out at Trump, condemning his tweet as racially polarizing.

“The government of South Africa wishes to caution against alarmist, false, inaccurate and misinformed, as well as - in some cases - politically motivated statements that do not reflect the policies and intentions of the South African government,” the government’s statement said.

“This is not an appeal to a racial group,” Carlson said in an interview on Friday. “This is an appeal to universal principles that protect all racial groups that are true regardless of people’s color. We don’t mete out justice based on what people look like.”

Carlson has become an influential figure at Fox News Channel, his success in prime-time allowing the network to absorb the loss of Bill O’Reilly following sexual misconduct charges. The media veteran, who worked at CNN and MSNBC and started the conservative website The Daily Caller, was the second most-watched figure in cable news behind colleague Sean Hannity in July.

The South African segments, though, are a reminder that his popularity extends to some white nationalists, where figures like David Duke and the website The Daily Stormer have praised his work. He’s aired repeated segments critical of immigration and multiculturalism, for instance.

One critic, Carlos Maza of the Vox website, said white nationalists applaud Carlson “not because they think he’s one of them, but because as long as he’s teaching audiences to view differences as dangerous, he’s making their job easier.”

More harshly, the Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple dubs his show “White Grievance Tonight.”

Asked about the support of these groups, Carlson said, “Joseph Stalin loved his daughter. I love my daughters. Does that make me a Stalinist? That’s such a stupid question I don’t know what to say.

“I don’t know anything about these groups,” he said. “I’ve never had any contact with them or read any of their stuff. I have no idea what they think.”

He said he doesn’t believe anyone should be rewarded or punished based upon characteristics they can’t control, and pointed out that his show Thursday had a segment critical of China for mistreating Muslims.

“It’s an argument against tribalism,” he said.

In his initial segment on Wednesday, Carlson falsely said that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had “changed the country’s constitution to make it possible to steal land from people because they are the wrong skin color.” He also said that the government had begun seizing land from people without compensation. A night later, Carlson corrected those statements without admitting error. He noted that the proposed constitutional change was being debated in parliament. No land has yet been seized, although Carlson said the government was trying to confiscate two game farms.

Trump’s tweet referred to “the large scale killing of farmers.” That’s been a story spread among some white nationalists, although South Africa officially attributes deaths among farmers to the country’s high crime rate.

Carlson’s two stories on the subject this week did not mention the killing of farmers. He said it was because of a dispute over some of the statistics involved.

In editorializing against Trump’s tweet, The New York Times criticized Carlson’s “grossly one-sided report.” …

Fox News Channel’s prime-time audience is 91 percent white, according to the Nielsen company. It’s 69 percent white at MSNBC and 57 percent at CNN.