Well this is a sobering, and sadly reasonable, prediction.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 15, 2022:

It's important to note that Thorpe, while accurately summarizing the current bleak state of affairs, does not take a definitive position on the future. Instead, he hedges his bets. And rightly so. No one knows what the future will bring. Personally, I think the future will continue to be a lot like the present: precarious, muddled, strident, full of potential for both good and ill. But what do I know?

Marjorie Taylor Greene argues global warming is actually good for us [ca.sports.yahoo.com]

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 15, 2022:

FFS! LMAO @ MTG 🤣

Christians believe in the miracle of the virgin birth : The Holy Spirit inseminated Mary and she ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 15, 2022:

The scientific revolution was definitely NOT a miracle. The progression of human thought and learning towards a logical, self-correcting, and fact-based investigation of nature emerged as a result of the evolution of a big brain with massive problem solving capacity. The scientific method evolved for reasons similar to why the brain evolved: because they both have adaptive value. They both increase the survival probabilities of individuals. And this revolution is not even complete (yet). Rates of scientific literacy are still low in many places around the world (e.g. Texas, Alabama, etc.).

Shit birds and scumbags [apnews.com]

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 14, 2022:

Pathological priests, corrupt clergy, ridiculous religion.

Ukraine War: President Zelenskyy Says The Russian Death toll Could Reach 40,000 In June

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 13, 2022:

Only 3 months into this war and Russia already has way more casualties than the USA suffered in 20 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

George Carlin On Dogs - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 13, 2022:

🐶 convenient gas leak scapegoat 😂

Jan. 6 panelists: Enough evidence uncovered to indict Trump.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 12, 2022:

...enough to indict, convict, and jail for considerable length of time.

President Biden urges Congress to pass bipartisan gun framework: '

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 12, 2022:

This bill obviously does not go far enough, as President Biden said. It seems that the sponsors of the bill think that the baby step this bill represents is better than nothing. I disagree. I think that it will only serve to temporarily let the Republicans off the hook for their lousy anti-gun control stance while doing nothing to protect kids in schools or the general public. What is needed is a whole suite of gun control measures, including raised age limits for legal purchases, universal background checks (including juvenile records), red flag laws, stiff penalties for straw buyers and possession/manufacture of untraceable guns, a national ban on assault rifles, caps on magazine capacities, mandatory safety training, safe storage requirements, and repeal of laws protecting gun manufacturers from liability for bad outcomes stemming from their marketing practices. We should have all that AND the other, peripheral items like more funding for mental health and better school security. In my opinion, Democrats are committing a tactical error by not holding out for a bill that will actually have a meaningful effect on gun violence in America. And let's face it: even if such a bill were to pass today, it would still be years, maybe decades before the violence dropped significantly. There are already more guns than people in this country, and guns are durable items. We have to be prepared for the long haul.

WHY USA IS AFRAID OF RUSSIA’S MEDIA, RT Even if RT is a propaganda tool, the western media has ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 12, 2022:

The premise that "all western media are the same on critical matters" is simply not true. In fact, it's laughable. However, there IS wide agreement that Russia's invasion of Ukraine in illegal. Because it is. 😂

The sky according to Islam😁😁😁

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 11, 2022:

Now I know where the phrase "seventh heaven" comes from! 😂👍

The girl I'm mentoring won $64,009 in scholarships so far.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 11, 2022:

That oughta get her through her freshman year! 🤓

Welcome to America.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 11, 2022:

I think I would prefer to be killed by a gas explosion caused by gas company negligence. That way my heirs could sue the bloody fossil fuel barons for millions.

George Carlin | The Smothers Brothers Show (1975) - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 11, 2022:

This clip is funny, but it's not his best work. I prefer his later stuff, when he really tears into religion and politicians.

ORBITAL | YOU LOT - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 11, 2022:

Yes, too often we ask if we can do something when the better question is, "should we?"

There is a way, use it wisely.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 11, 2022:

The colors in this poster are wrong. "Stupid" should be in red and "vote" should be blue.

"The history of scientific thought is closely linked to that of religious thought, and with much ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 10, 2022:

True, but the discontinuity has been increasing over the last few hundred years, as science has steadily uncovered more and more evidence that contradicts literal interpretations of scripture. Now there is a yawning chasm between science and fundamentalist sects.

The Morning today is...wrong YLE

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 10, 2022:

I hope Dr. Jatelina notified the NYT of their mistake. I'm sure they would want to print a correction.

Religion of peace?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 10, 2022:

Christianity, Islam, Judaism,...they are all guilty. A pox on all their houses.

You often get the apologists, asking for disproof of some vague, often deist, god concept.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 10, 2022:

Except for the odd Jehovah's Witness who knocks on my door or sends me a handwritten letter, almost no one ever tries to engage me in a theological discussion. It just doesn't seem to come up. I guess my non-attendance at church is working for me. 😂

I have had heart palpitations off and on for decades; they vary from actual palpitations to a pause...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

So I guess we can assume that you don't have anything seriously wrong going on? Yay! 😊

How to Atone for Your Vile, Disgusting Thoughts | Animated Cartoons - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

Sooooo true! Sad too. Poor Kevin, spineless worm, abject toady. It will be a very dark day for the country if the guy ever becomes Speaker. I shudder to think of it.

Joshua Knobe - What is Intentionality?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

So our sense of morality can affect or perceptions of intentionality. Interesting. I will try to remember that next time I have jury duty. 😂

Can't y'all, Americans, mind your own business and leave each other alone instead of getting in each...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

A majority of white folks in America are culturally dextrous, accept diversity, and want to see multiculturalism work. But, unfortunately, we have a large minority who have allowed themselves to be whipped into a froth of fear over a mythical "great replacement." The social and economic conditions that set up large-scale discontent were driven mostly by Republican policies, and Democrat capitulation to them. Hence the steady rightward turning in both Parties. Democrats have been too weak, too ready to give in to a very well organized and well funded neoliberal ad campaign. Progressives need stand up for their values more, but they are afraid of being called socialists. That they have reason to be is due to Republican success in controlling the debate. Republicans are wrong on policy, but much better organized.

How to be straight lessons are now on the school curriculum, a least in church sponsored schools it ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

Christianity is at war with human nature (and the US Constitution).

Will Science Someday Rule Out the Possibility of God? | Live Science

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

Science has provided free thinkers reason to place the PROBABILITY of God's existence at vanishingly small. Will we ever be able to rule it out entirely? Probably not. In a big universe, you can't prove the non-existence of something. Especially if by definition that something defies observation.

Army chaplain's Ph.D. thesis: Using the military to win Christian converts

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

Wouldn't using the military to convert people to Christianity violate the 1st Amendment? Yeah...

Mega church leader with 5 million world wide followers gets more than 16 years for sexual abuse.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

Will these guys never learn? Will their followers?

Many atheists don't like it at all, to say the least, when science is called the child of religion.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 9, 2022:

There is something to what you say. Gregor Mendel, discoverer of the basic rules of inheritance, was an Augustinian monk. He was, in his time, representative of a long tradition of clerical inquiry into the workings of God's handiwork. This should come as no surprise, since for much of civilized history religious officials were the only people who knew how to read and write. The tradition of inquiry and recording of observations was not limited to any one religion. There were Christian chemists and apothecaries, Moslem mathematicians and astronomers, Buddhist ecologists and meteorologists, Egyptian anatomists, and medical doctors.

Christian hate-preacher calls for the execution of 'every single homosexual'

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 8, 2022:

What an asshole. What a moron. Really. Ugh!

Well worth the 20 minutes.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 8, 2022:

I'm glad the Administration gave McConaughey the lectern. He spoke eloquently and powerfully. And being from Uvalde, he has great credibility in this matter. Will he sway the Republican sticks in the mud to meaningful action. I doubt it. But it's worth a try. And to the guy who asked McConaughey if he was grandstanding, fuck off, asshole!

Well worth the 20 minutes.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 8, 2022:

I'm glad the Administration gave McConaughey the lectern. He spoke eloquently and powerfully. And being from Uvalde, he has great credibility in this matter. Will he sway the Republican sticks in the mud to meaningful action. I doubt it. But it's worth a try.

Just a Little Something to Keep Me in Hot Water for the Day _____________________________ ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 8, 2022:

You're trolling. I'm not biting. 🐟 😂

Ukraine is getting with the program and banning art & books now based on.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 8, 2022:

Banning the propaganda of the people who are raining bombs down on your head does not seem like an unnatural reaction. And in light of the death and destruction, it is a minor thing, of little significance. Which begs the question, why would you choose to focus on that right now? How come you are not posting about Russians bombing Ukraine into the dark ages? How did you manage to end up with such backward priorities? Why are your posts always so effing lame?

7 dimensions of depression, explained.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 8, 2022:

"People suck." This is news? There is a great Albert Einstein quote about being alone, about how it is difficult for the young and delicious for the old. I can't remember exactly how it goes. I guess I could google it... Nah! Forgetting can be a blessing or a curse. Forgetting about bad stuff allows us to move on. When someone on a hallucinogenic drug forgets who or where they are, what was a pleasant experience can suddenly turn into a bad trip. You want to remember good things because that can help you maintain a grateful mindset. If you have to fucus on bad stuff, you can at least remember that however shitty things are, they could always be worse. (I doubt the parents of the slain children of Uvalde, Texas would agree.) Some people just have a natural emotional buoyancy. They have a nack for accentuating the positive. I try not to go too far in that direction. If you look at the world with a gimlet eye, you are less likely to be disappointed. Boredom is a gateway to depression. I try to avoid it. I try to stay engaged. There is usually something to capture my interest. There is nothing more fascinating than a train wreck, actual or metaphorical. One thing that I find absolutely unhelpful in times of emotional distress are religious platitudes. They just make me angry. (For example, saying that the slain children are in a better place now...that kind of rot.) I wouldn't want to live in Texas. But Ukraine is a lot worse right now. I'm pretty much focussed on (riveted by) the slide toward fascism evident in the USA today, as illustrated in recent Texas legislation, and in the mad MAGA hatter belief that the 2020 election was stolen. It's the same fascism at work destroying Ukraine. Looking at the USA and at Ukraine is like looking at the same train wreck from different angles and at different moments in time. I hear tell of an ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." These times sure ain't boring. Adding climate change into the mix is like packing your lunchbox with TNT. If I was a lot younger I would be both terrified and outraged. Now I'm mostly just outraged. I'm certainly not bored.

pridemonth lgbtqiacommunity

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 7, 2022:

What is falling from the sky in the 4th panel? Candy? Confetti? Brimstone? 😂

I was not surprised by this.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 7, 2022:

Here is evidence that fake conspiracy theories (in this case, anti-vax) kill.

Firearms: What you can do right now YLE

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 7, 2022:

All good measures HC! Hear her! 🤓

Did anyone else get a complaint warning message?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 7, 2022:

No, but I found some text in one of my posts got altered mysteriously. I do not think God did it. 😂

How do you respond to negative comments about your body?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 7, 2022:

Not something you have to worry about LH! 😉

Poland's Boy Scouts will no longer have to say 'God' in their oath

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 6, 2022:

The religious establishment doesn't like the new rule? Tough shit! The Polish Scouts may attract many more recruits now.

I'm 17 years past cancer!!! My mantra... doctor......clergy......?

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 6, 2022:

Congratulations! 👏👏👏🎉

Mark Twain's way with words

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 6, 2022:

Second only to Satan 😂

American Theocracy

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 6, 2022:

Buckle up kids, we are in for a hell of a ride.

That crazy finicky god.....

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

For Christian nationalists, being anti-"socialist" things like public health mandates (because they supposedly threaten our freedom), and pro-gun (because they supposedly ensure all our other freedoms) are tribal markers. And people are more afraid of being shunned by their in-group than they are of dying from either covid or gunshots. And they don't really think deeply about any of this stuff. They are already programmed to take things on faith.

Owning Guns Puts People in Your Home at Greater Risk of Death | Time

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

I've know about it for years. Hell, when I was just a baby my dad accidentally discharged a pistol in the house, only missing mom by inches. When I was older, I was teasing my little sister and she angrily picked up a loaded rifle and pointed it at my head. Don't ask me why the rifle was loaded.

I find myself wondering how a suicide or self murder as it is called in Scotland of a prominent ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

Depression is a killer.

White Christian Nationalism Is a ‘Threat to Democracy’

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

Thank you snytiger6 for the relevant post! This anti-democratic white Christian nationalist project is now the issue of the day. The only other thing more pressing is the growing climate catastrophe, but that will apparently have to wait for real action until we have put this fascist movement to bed. It's a shame, because the climate clock is ticking (klanging!), and we should be hitting it with a full-court press now. I sincerely hope that the coming Select Committee hearings serve to wake people up to the danger we face from the neo Nazis and their ilk. I hope we can snuff out their movement through legal means, and not have to take up arms to do it. I hope.

Letters From An American 06/04/2022

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

It's important to remember that small "d" democracy is a liberal ideal. When today's Republicans talk about "owning the libs," when members of their extremist wing fantasize about turning the USA in theocratic dictatorship, they should remember that libs won the Civil War AND the two World Wars. We liberals don't like to play with guns; we don't don't don military gear to play soldier on our weekends. But if forced to, we will take up arms to fight for democracy. We are going to try and snuff out the current anti-democratic project of the Done Cheato and his minions through our institutions and legal system. If that should fail, and force of arms becomes the next necessary step, we will take it. And woe to thee who opposes us. The silent majority will roar.

Link between religious fundamentalism and brain damage established by scientists [rawstory.com]

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

What I find most fascinating is the possibility that it may work both ways. Trauma to the prefrontal cortex can impair mental flexibility, but apparently so can early indoctrination in fundamentalist ideology. In other words, extremist ideologies and religious fundamentalism may cause, if not brain damage, at least a significant reduction of cognitive potential. This is what science is hinting at. And it sure seems that way to this casual observer! 😂

Here's a sick and perverse way to start your Sunday: Twas’ 24 days into the month of May, ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

The idea that the slain are "in a better place now" is supposed to assuage the pain of loss, to take the edge off, as it were. I am all for minimizing suffering. But I think in this case it is better to feel that pain keenly, and let it spur us all to rectify the great wrong that is the root cause of the tragedy: too easy access to guns in general, and weapons of war in particular.

Here's a sick and perverse way to start your Sunday: Twas’ 24 days into the month of May, ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 5, 2022:

Pablum. Opium. Sick fantasy.

The human brain and religion are in conflict

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 4, 2022:

God did not give us our fine brains; 3½ billion years of biological evolution did. Then our brains gave us God. 😂

"It is written...."

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 4, 2022:

Not exactly the Prince of Peace we are all familiar with, is he? That's because the words in Luke 19:27 were part of a parable about usury that Jesus told, which began at Luke 19:11: "And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." Jesus did not actually call for anyone to be slain before him.

Police Search For Wisconsin Cemetery Shooter [npr.org]

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 4, 2022:

Mass shootings are now quotidian occurrences in the USA. However, the one described in this post does not fall into the "mass" category, because the number of people shot is under three or four, And some definitions require that the victims die. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_shooting

Being an Atheist isn't always an easy path to walk, so many people will criticize and attack you for...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 4, 2022:

What a coincidence! I just heard some interesting commentary on the role of tribalism in the current gun violence crisis. I posted it only a moment ago. 😂

WATCH: Marjorie Taylor Greene's Promises For Christian Nationalism Are Truly Chilling

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 3, 2022:

To call MTG a "lawmaker" is a misnomer. She is nothing but a rabid, barking, right-wing demagogue.

It’s hard to explain (and fix) evil

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 3, 2022:

As the article's author states, "negative, antisocial thoughts, feelings, and actions associated with typical human functioning, such as anger, aggression, hate, envy, grievance, impulsivity, and reactivity" are usually not the result of mental illness. Only "15-20%" of mass shooters in the US "had a diagnosed mental illness before the event." The self-serving Republicans in Congress (and the NRA) know this. They are just trying to deflect attention away from the their own culpability. Republicans' continued insistence on lax gun regulation has led us to where we are now, and they need a scapegoat to distract the public from their bloody red hands. And so Republicans point their bloody fingers at a convenient scapegoat, the mentally ill. Circular thinking is an easy sell in the USA. So when Republicans claim that the act of killing a bunch of innocent people is "crazy," therefore the shooter mus be mentally ill, it resonates with many. So let's not describe it as "crazy." We should probably also avoid using the word "evil" to describe mass shootings. That will lead many religious believers to assume that the shooter was possessed by the Devil, or some such nonsense. There are many other words in the English lexicon that we can use to describe mass shootings without connoting either mental illness or possession by a malevolent supernatural being: deplorable, reprehensible, hateful, iniquitous, vicious, rotten, abhorrent, sickening, repulsive, and loathsome, to name a few.

Hobbyist DeWitt “Old Dog” Boyd began building pebble houses as toys for his kids decades ago.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 3, 2022:

Gives me inspiration to finish my house remodel project! 😂

Graduation speaker tells students to honor the Bible by avoiding gay marriage

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 2, 2022:

Jim McGuire is obviously a knuckle-dragging cave man. Who the hell gave him the microphone?

Letters From An American 06/01/2022

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 2, 2022:

With the Republican Party effectively highjacked by Trumpism, we are currently beset by Smith's "Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry and Smear.” "A fleeting victory for the Republican [P]arty, it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people." What she said! Hear her! "I condemn a Republican Fascist just as much as I condemn a Democrat Communist” And that is exactly what Trump is: a fucking fascist. “It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.” So true. Today's closest analog to Smith in the Republican Party is Liz Cheney. And I'm no fan of her old man. But I do admire her standing up for what is right. Adam Kinzinger is also a good man. I wish he was not leaving Congress. I wish he could win a Republican primary. The fact that he can't, and Cheyne may not either, is a serious indictment of the GOP and its voters.

([dailykos.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 2, 2022:

How come I log on and find this post one time, and then log off and when I log on again I can't find it? Weird!

"Want to dance naked with me after dark?" he asked.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 2, 2022:

I believe he is what, in an earlier time, would have been called a "masher." 😂

This should be the preaching

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 2, 2022:

Nice graphic! You do that yourself?

([dailykos.

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 2, 2022:

Ya'll know I been saying it. And it isn't just their anti-gun control stance the Republicans are wrong on. It's also reversing Roe, falsely accusing election fraud, climate science denial, inaction in the face of ecological catastrophe, voter suppression, book banning, anti-CRT, anti-LGBT, anti-BLM, anti-immigrant, anti-semitic, anti-democratic ideology, and belief in idiotic conspiracy theories. That's what Republicans are all about.

I stated 10 years ago that we could have a shooting damn near every day in this god infested ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on Jun 1, 2022:

You called it homie. Do you have to be so right all the time? Damn.

So next week I'm picking up a canvassed reproduction of "The Starry Night" by Van Gogh.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 31, 2022:

One of my favorites 😍

Your Local Epidemiologist COVID State of Affairs: May 31

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 31, 2022:

Interesting info. (e.g. "unvaccinated people had 17 times higher risk of dying in March and April 2022..." Thanks for the update.

Useless Jesus

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 31, 2022:

I have heard of studies indicating that sick people in hospital do worse, or have worse health outcomes, when they know that people are praying for them. We can speculate on why that might be the case, but one things seems clear: prayer does not cure disease. That being said, the language in this meme is a little jarring to me. I get that the joke sort of depends on the shock value, and it's not that I disagree with the premise. Jesus is not going to cure leukemia. At the same time, I don't think open hostility to Jesus the icon moves us forward in any way. I think the Christian institutions certainly deserve criticism, but even then, it should be measured and rational, and not overly emotional and hostile. IMHO

How many children is Congress prepared to sacrifice on the altar of its own ego before it enacts ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 30, 2022:

I'd like to see a modification in the wording before I vote. Instead of "Congress," it should be "Congressional Republicans," or "Republicans in Congress." If it was up to the Democrats alone, it would already be done!

Do you think this message will offend men on Fitness Singles?

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 30, 2022:

The thing is, you can put a lot if effort into crafting the perfect message and get no response at all. You begin to think you're wasting your time. So your icebreakers get shorter and more workaday.

Students protest against Seattle university's ban on hiring LGBTQ employees : NPR

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 30, 2022:

Here's a shining example of the teachers needing to learn from the students! 😂

A little Spinoza for your Memorial Day from Will Durant’s “The Story of Philosophy” ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 30, 2022:

Nominally Christian men (and women) do certainly "quarrel with...rancorous animosity, and display daily toward one another...bitter hatred..." Hence their obsession with guns. I'm pretty sure Jesus would not approve. 😂

Rocks: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Web Exclusive) - YouTube

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 30, 2022:

As a geologist I have to give this video my unqualified stamp of approval. Not that I'm not qualified, because I definitely am, but that my stamp of approval is at 100% strength, undiluted, without equivocation, which means if it were an alcoholic drink it would be 200 proof, which is not the kind of proof that scientists require in order to accept s hypothesis. In fact, scientists really try to avoid using the word "proof" because it implies that the case is closed, which it never is, because the nature of science is to always leave the door open a crack in case new, compelling evidence is unearthed, requiring the scientist to either modify or discard the hypothesis or theory. And geologists are scientists, which qualifies me to give this video my unqualified endorsement. 😂

One of the channels on YouTube I really like is The Clergy Project.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 30, 2022:

The guy is very smart and articulate (and funny!). Possibly his best line: "Christianity is a cult of human sacrifice." Also liked the idea of the lights coming on with the loss of faith (as opposed to a candle being blown out).

The Roman Catholic Church saw fit to canonize the torturer and murderer known as Mother Terese of ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 29, 2022:

I have read all the comments and links in this post and wind up pretty much where I was before. That is, Theresa was no saint, but neither was she a monster. She's somewhere in the middle, and deeply flawed. Maybe even vindictive. Certainly wrongheaded when is comes to abortion and contraception. But that's pretty much the whole Catholic Church. Did she withhold proper care from people on purpose? Or did she do the best she could in a difficult situation? I don't know. I think it's worth getting to the bottom of it, but until a definitive study is done, witnesses are deposed, and all the facts are laid out I am going to remain agnostic. Besides, this is all rapidly disappearing in the rear view mirror. We have bigger fish to fry right now. Like how to avoid climate catastrophe, or civil war in the USA, or global nuclear war.

Firearms were the leading cause of death in children in 2020, researchers say : NPR

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 29, 2022:

This is completely avoidable! No other developed country has as many shootings. And no other developed country has as easy access to guns. The NRA, the gun lobby, the gun manufacturers, and the politicians in their pocket are as responsible for the mass shooting victims as the shooters themselves.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 29, 2022:

I don't know if this "cycle of fear" applies to ALL Christian sects. I rather doubt it. There is quite a bit of diversity there. (By some estimates, upwards of 40,000 different sects.) But it does seem to be a prominent characteristic in Evangelical Christianity. A giveaway is in the language that they use, e.g. if you "accept Jesus as your savior," being "saved." Saved from what? From eternal damnation. From spending eternity in Hell. That sort of thing. Blah blah blah. 😂

The Founding Father That Wanted the Constitution to Change Every 20 Years | Synonym

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

The whole idea of "originalism" in constitutional law is deeply flawed. Times change, conditions differ, and society has to adapt in order to survive. It's rather like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, who famously said you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in place. Thomas Jefferson was indeed a forward-looking man.

Trump tried to kick people out of office and face-planted.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

Cracks are appearing in the facade; more people are noticing that the emperor has no clothes. And the Select Committee's public hearings have not even begun yet! Stay tuned! We may yet see the dam break.

The response of the NRA to the Texas school shooting is nothing short of irrationality moral ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

I agree with most if what you say but the last word I heard was that the Uvalde shooter was not confronted outside the school, and that he entered completely unchallenged through an unlocked door.

Question : Is something morally wrong, reprehensible, because individuals , or a whole society, ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

When you say "universally accepted," does that include the slaves themselves? Or are we just talking about the non-slave part of the population? Notwithstanding that bit of ambiguity, I tend to think that morality is, to a certain extent, relative, and judgements upon it rather arbitrary.

My friend and I were discussing music with a group of young people when I mentioned Roger Daltrey.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

Who's on first? 😂

In front of the White House today

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

Yup, the wealth gap is large and continues to grow. Especially with Trump's huge (yuge) tax break for the rich. It's disgusting.

Concussions with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Leonard Marshall, & Heather Berlin

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

I love NDGT! 😎👍 The NFL needs to step up and start protecting players from CTE with rule changes and better equipment, and health insurance in retirement. The game itself needs to fundamentally change. Even better, fade into history.

The refusal of the NRA to acknowledge its part in the mass murder of children in the U$A merely ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 28, 2022:

Yup, I agree 100%. The outfit should be permanently shut down. Its assets should be distributed to the families of the victims of gun violence. It was once à reasonable organization mostly concerned with gun safety education. Most of the members were sportsmen, women, and children. Now its a political organization that feeds red meat to people in the thrall of wacko conspiracy theories.

In order to perform marriages in my state, I am a minister of the "Church of Spiritual Humanism.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 27, 2022:

I like! 😎👍👍

Arizona lawmaker Rick Gray: Atheism caused the shooting in Uvalde

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 27, 2022:

Arizona State Senator Rick Gray is obviously an ignorant SOB.

Southern Baptist leaders release once-secret list of accused abusers | nbcnews.com

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 27, 2022:

Yikes. What an ugly stain. Now watch their membership ignore it.

Letters From An American 05/26/2022

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 27, 2022:

The real Marlborough Man may well have been black. 😂

Christian predator Josh Duggar sentenced to over 12 years in federal prison

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 26, 2022:

Jesus may forgive him, and I might too...AFTER he has paid his debt to society.

It is so evident, Beto and most Americans are furious over the killing of people, while the the ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 26, 2022:

Go Beto! ✊ That's what we need! Direct confrontation! Give 'em hell!

It is so evident, Beto and most Americans are furious over the killing of people, while the the ...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 26, 2022:

Go Beto! ✊

Letters From An American 05/25/2022

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 26, 2022:

Bingo! 🎯 A very accurate explanation for how we got here. One thing I would add: it's not just capitalism that the right has been touting; it's UNREGULATED capitalism they want. They want corporations to be able to lay waste to the Earth with impunity. They don't care if they leave nothing for future generations; they want maximum profit now. So they foul the air, despoil the land, pollute the water, all the while privatizing the profits while the public picks up the tab for their mess. They are nominally against the welfare state, want to dismantle the social safety net, such as it is. That is, with the exception of corporate welfare. It's just fine for huge corporations making obscene profits to suck the government tit. The fossil fuel industry receives tens of billions in subsidies from Uncle Sugar every year. Meanwhile, student debt skyrockets. I'm so glad she mentioned Rush Limpdick, that "conservative" scourge whose award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom was a slap in the face felt around the country. It still stings, and it's little consolation that the son of a bitch is rotting in his grave. The damage is done. With his specious arguments demonizing the welfare state, the "dangerous" liberal elites, and the unwashed hordes of immigrants, he ginned up fear better than Orson Welles with his seminal broadcast of the radio play, War of the Worlds. Limbaugh, with help from that raging demagogue Newtie Gingrich and smooth operator Grover Norquist, got every rancher, farmer, construction worker, and oil man running for his gun. Meanwhile the Supreme Court gave the green light to corporations to flood the political system with dark money. And it's not like conservatives didn't already have the huge advantages of an electoral college AND a Senate designed at first to keep slavery in place and now serves to maintain minority rule. The Dakotas, with only 1.5 million people, are represented by four senators, while California, with 40 million people, only gets two. And so the Senate is where bill go to die. And that is exactly what the right wants: for government to be as absolutely ineffective as they can make it. Then they can say, "Look! Government doesn't work!" The self-fulfilling prophesy; the true lie. Ronald Reagan famously said the scariest words he ever heard were, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." And 50 years later we stand at the edge of the anarchic abyss. The fools don't realize they better be careful what they wish for. The Pandora's box they are opening is full of unpleasant surprises. They may succeed in dismantling the regulatory state, but they, we all, will literally reap the whirlwind. We have already fought one Civil War. We may fight another, this time on a battlefield where climate change-induced crop failure...

Spirituality is emotionality.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 26, 2022:

...and financial buoyancy 😂

10 Reasons Why Christianity Is Declining—and Atheism Is Growing - Soapboxie

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 25, 2022:

Joseph Cambell wrote, "Myth basically serves four functions. The first is the mystical function,... realizing what a wonder the universe is, and what a wonder you are, and experiencing awe before this mystery.... The second is a cosmological dimension, the dimension with which science is concerned – showing you what shape the universe is, but showing it in such a way that the mystery again comes through.... The third function is the sociological one – supporting and validating a certain social order.... It is the sociological function of myth that has taken over in our world – and it is out of date.... But there is a fourth function of myth, and this is the one that I think everyone must try today to relate to – and that is the pedagogical function, of how to live a human lifetime under any circumstances." -- Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth In short, religious myths have largely been supplanted or made irrelevant by advances in science and civil society. The disappearance of religious belief is part of a natural progression. It's progress! 🙂

"Ukrainian presidential advisor Alexey Arestovich resorted to obscene language to criticize those in...

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 25, 2022:

I agree with Ukranian presidential advisor Alexey Arestovich. Russia should not be rewarded for her bad behavior by gaining territory. Don't give Putin an inch. Like the shitty president under whom he served (Richard Nixon), Henry Kissinger is an asshole.

Although, i'm an agnostic i'm kinda leaning towards God as a malicious prankster.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 25, 2022:

The trickster god motif is as old a Methuselah. Older, in fact 😂

Your Local Epidemiologist: A note... and Q&A boosters for 5-11 year olds

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 25, 2022:

Very informative and relevant post! Thank you! 🤓

It's not a perfect rule, but it's as close as we've gotten.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 25, 2022:

"The Jewish Talmud tells of Rabbi Hillel who lived around the time of Jesus. A pagan came to Rabbi Hillel saying that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could teach him the whole of the Torah while standing on one foot. Rabbi Hillel replied to the pagan, “What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it.”" 😎

"At work they are doing a game where they guess our baby pics before age 3," my daughter said.

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 24, 2022:

Cute! 🙂❤️