Are you voting?

genessa comments on Jul 17, 2019:

well, if i am alive, then yes. in fact i don't even have to be alive on election day because i will vote early using an absentee ballot. g

What is it that makes holy water holy.

genessa comments on Jul 17, 2019:

sorry, raised jewish, no experience of holy water. ask me about kashruth. i still might not know; i was raised secularly. g

I am not an atheist.

genessa comments on Jul 17, 2019:

congratulations. i happen to be an atheist. you ask why everyone thinks agnosticism and atheism are the same thing but no one can answer that because it most certainly is not true that everyone thinks they're the same. you may as well ask why all women eat asparagus. it's not a valid premise. maybe you met someone who thinks they're the same. that doesn't mean everyone does. i am an atheist because i don't need proof that there are no gods, and i have enough information to reject the idea of a god, which is as ridiculous as the idea of a tooth fairy or a leprechaun or a magic wand or a talking horse named mr. ed, as amusing as some of those things may be. if i am an agnostic about one i should be agnostic about all of them and more, and if i was interested enough, i would be exhausted searching for more information. there is just as much evidence of a god (or two or three) as there is of those other entities: none. if i am uncertain about god(s) then you can make up any old thing and i have to be uncertain about it instead of using my common sense and my education. i cannot be an agnostic by your description of it. some can. obviously you can. i cannot. g

To be clear, Trump said that women of color were not qualified unless they stopped crime and ...

genessa comments on Jul 16, 2019:

he is right, of course, though he has no clue how right he is. three of the four women of color whom he attacked were born in the united states, and they certain are trying to stop crime and corruption in their place of origin, as is the fourth, a u.s. citizen since her teenaged years. that crime and corruption is rampant in the republican party and in the president and his administration. they are fighting against them. trump is inviting his own doom and doesn't even know it (add it to the long, long list of stuff he doesn't know). g

Religion is the most hideous invention in the history of Mankind.

genessa comments on Jul 16, 2019:

religion is annoying and how people use it can be awful, but the single most horrible thing ever? seriously? worse than the guillotine? there is only one way to use a guillotine and you have to take it seriously. people who go to church and listen to the music and donate to the church food drive (i'm guessing; i am not christian; i know synagogues have drives for local food shelves) and go home and act like normal people and don't hurt anyone and don't proselytize, or vote based who will reverse roe v wade, and don't tell people they're going to hell, are worse than a guillotine? and that's just ONE example. g

How do my fellow progressives feel about this?

genessa comments on Jul 16, 2019:

if a used piece of toilet paper wins the nomination, remember that a used piece of toilet paper won't put children in concentration camps, surround itself with criminals (including child rapists), alienate all our allies and suck up to dictators, consider starting wars to distract folks from his crimes, and... wait, i don't really need more, do i? g

Technology may seem to be the enemy cz it continuously and successfuly replaces humans.

genessa comments on Jul 16, 2019:

i don't see either as true. if technology takes human jobs it created other human jobs, and it's a human decision, but technology isn't good on the basis of replacing humans. it's good on the basis of prolonging human life and quality of life (at least theoretically, since rich people hog this for themselves) and making life easier in general (same caveat applies). as for human life being so valuable, humans tend not to act as if that is true, and if we keep killing the planet i will doubt it myself. g

Name your US reps and what they do for you/your district

genessa comments on Jul 15, 2019:

the rep from my district is ilhan omar and this is a list of her sponsored and cosponsored legislation, the crafting of which and the voting-on of which are her job; https://www.congress.gov/member/ilhan-omar/O000173 g

Tell us about your first time ...

genessa comments on Jul 15, 2019:

i realized there were no gods when i saw the monkees' tv show. my mom and dad had told me that long-haired boys were dirty and rebellious. these guys clearly were neither. i thought, what else have i believed that maybe i should rethink? god went out the window right away. i told my best friend about it, maybe not right away, because it wasn't on my mind a lot, but the next time the subject came up, and found out she was an atheist too. g

Why would, or wouldn't, you date a believer?

genessa comments on Jul 15, 2019:

i don't date. i am spoken for. my guy happens to be of the belief that there is a god. when pressed to say what his god was like he balked but finally told me he believed in a god who created evolution. ooookay. it's not a big deal in either of our lives. it isn't a dealbreaker. if he was religious that'd be different but he's not. g

How do you respond to cashiers saying "have a blessed day"?

genessa comments on Jul 15, 2019:

i don't respond. i am never going to see that person again. i don't care what they believe. i don't care what they assume i believe. it bites a little but it doesn't ruin my life. g

Is religion the same as government?

genessa comments on Jul 15, 2019:

of course not. some religions are not government and some governments are not religion. there is such a thing as theocracy but it is not the only form of government and it is not the only form of religion either. as for the purpose of religion, there are many purposes. i find no use for any of them. g

[paction.

genessa comments on Jul 14, 2019:

i would except you KNOW he is not going to pay any attention to petitions. he is beyond that. getting him the hell out of there and into an orange jumpsuit is our only reasonable option. g

If God is God He is not good If God is good He is not God Take the even take the odd {If God is ...

genessa comments on Jul 14, 2019:

why would you want to alter something you found quotable enough to quote, in order to make it sound more quotable? g

So do we atheists, agnostics, own the privilege to examine others negatively, own the privilege to...

genessa comments on Jul 14, 2019:

well, we wouldn't be judgmental if it were not for posts like this, and the believers i have encountered, whom i have never ONCE attacked or lashed out at, don't want to be my friend; they want to convert me, or damn me to hell, or (worst of all) bless me and pray for me. you're being awfully judgmental of atheists et al, without knowing us very well, as friends, aren't you? you are lashing out at us, are you not, making this accusation? your accusation is a blanket one, just the kind of thing you are supposedly warning us against. maybe we are not the ones who need to grow up. g

What do atheist/agnostic authors tell you that you don’t know already?

genessa comments on Jul 13, 2019:

i do not seek out atheist authors, or avoid them. i read what interests me and i don't care whether the author is an atheist. i don't particularly seek out books ABOUT atheism. i learned a lot from carl sagan and i happen to know he was an atheist, but what i learned from him had nothing to do with religion or lack thereof. i'm not that interested in so-called holy writings, and i never did rebel against religion per se -- i suspect mostly because i have never been christian. i just stopped believing in any gods is all. it wasn't something i felt i needed to back up with someone else's belief or nonbelief. once in a while i see something pithy someone wrote about gods. i can appreciate that. it's not a huge part of my life. i am more interested in separation of church and state, and separation of myself from people who want to pray for me lol g

[yahoo.

genessa comments on Jul 12, 2019:

i would call the cops and make it VERY clear i was calling them on the threatening white trash woman, not the subject of her abuse. g

Fox News Hasn’t Asked Paid Contributor Ken Starr About His Pedophile Client Jeffrey Epstein ...

genessa comments on Jul 12, 2019:

just to remind everyone who ken starr is: apart from the slime he has been since and is now, he is most famous for being the special counselor investigating bill clinton for having consensual sex with an adult -- oops, i mean lying to congress in response to a question congress had no business asking and would not have been asking but for starr's efforts. whatever you feel about clinton's mobile zipper (which did not affect his work as president, by the way), starr had no business going after him for that, especially considering starr's own cordiality to epstein, who rapes children. g

(The pit and the pendulum) [youtu.

genessa comments on Jul 10, 2019:

as usual, the original is better. https://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Poe/Pit_Pendulum.pdf g

[jta.

genessa comments on Jul 10, 2019:

boca has a huge jewish (new york migrants) population. my parents lived there for a while. i don't know why ANY school in any part of the country would hire such a principal, but especially there, wow. that's just insane. i wonder how much pressure they endured before letting him go; maybe they are with him in spirit. i wonder if they gave him a good recommendation so he can go misinform and offend other students. g

[myjewishlearning.

genessa comments on Jul 10, 2019:

not i. i'd say so if i had, but i know i haven't, because all four of my grandparents came over from europe (three from ukraine, one from romania, all but one of the ukrainians as children, with a parent or two) at the turn of the 19th-to-20th century. they were escaping pogroms as well as local, disorganized but still sometimes deadly persecution. they came to american and lived, at least at first, in cities, new york and philadelphia, so they were not sharecroppers (almost slaves!) any more than they were slaveowners or sharecropper bosses. back in the old world they were poor -- their own ancestors were not slaveowners either, unless the mongolians were, for the ukraine was conquered and held by the mongolians for at least 300 years, and surely i have some mongolian blood in me. g

Atheist Medical Practioners- Are there very many?

genessa comments on Jul 10, 2019:

i don't ask my doctors what they do or do not believe except as it relates to medicine. i did go to a chiropractor once, on the advice of someone i knew, and this chiropractor had a big picture of jesus (not his real name and not his real image) over the treatment table. that doctor also touched me inappropriately, and no, i am not shy with doctors but i know an inappropriate touch when i receive one. that's the only indication i ever had that a doctor believed in any religion much less a particular one, and it didn't work out so well even though we didn't talk about religion. g

Atheism Is Inconsistent with the Scientific Method, Prizewinning Physicist Says - Scientific ...

genessa comments on Jul 10, 2019:

my atheism has nothing to do with science, or lack of science, or anything except my belief that there is no more chance of their being a god than there is of being a tooth fairy -- somewhat less, in fact, because the tooth fairy still owes me a quarter (plus interest). i don't care whether agnostics think i am unscientific. i don't need to waste my time and energy trying to figure out whether or not there is a god; i don't CARE. it's a nonissue, a nothingburger. the only time it's half a burger is when someone tries to legislate, execute or adjudicate religion where it doesn't belong. apart from that, i just live my life quite happily without any gods (but i might take the tooth fairy to people's court). g

Overcoming depression

genessa comments on Jul 10, 2019:

everyone overcomes it differently because there are different kinds. you have made a start by asking the question! that means you want to overcome it. that's good. some depression is situational and not chronic. that's not usually what we mean by depression but it exists too. i have a feeling that's not what you mean. some depression is caused by your brain not producing enough neurotransmitters. it's an ailment like any other and nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed of. even more often, your brain is producing the neurotransmitters but absorbing it back up before it can do its job. what is its job? circulating around your brain telling different parts of it what to do, particularly the parts that make melatonin so you can sleep (and know WHEN to sleep), and the parts that produce dopamine so you can have a reasonably good, stable mood (apart from when situational stuff interferes; no one expects you to be mindlessly cheerful every second!) that's where the ssri's amisja mentioned come in. they are selective sereatonin reuptake inhibitors and they concentrate mostly on seratonin and norepinephrine, two of the most likely neurotransmitters to be reuptaken before they can circulate. now here's the catch: everyone responds to these things differently and one that works for me might not work for you, but another that works for you might not work for me, and the psychiatrists (psychologists can't prescribe) can't know which one will work for you without just trying one on you, and waiting (could be a couple/few MONTHS to feel a difference) and watching for side effects (usually not serious but sometimes annoying -- nausea that goes away after a week or so, or gaining weight, for example). then if it's not working they wait for that to get out of your system and start you on another one. it sounds stupid but it's actually pretty effective once they find the right one. then there is depression that is half of bipolar disorder; the other half is mania. the meds are different for that one and i don't know much about it, but a psychiatrist will. a psychiatrist won't see you often, or for long, and will be in charge of your medications. some of them sigh that they'd like to be able to talk more but their profession has become such that they really can't. they usually do spend a little more time with you, too. now that's the chemical side. but even if the cause is chemical, the cure usually isn't ONLY chemical. that's where the psychologist comes in, and it's important to find one who is willing to listen, to gain your trust, and to figure out what kind of therapy will suit you best, and again, that's an individual thing. if you find a therapist and that person isn't helping you, don't blame psychology; find a different ...

I’m tired of losing friends and family, seeing good people taken too soon by something horrific or...

genessa comments on Jul 10, 2019:

mark twain said he was glad there was no god, for if he existed "surely he is a malign thug." don't be mad at god for not existing; things would be worse. look how bad they are just because some folks are convinced he does exist lol. g

What do you think are some of the root causes of apathy in our society?

genessa comments on Jul 9, 2019:

some folks have joked here "who cares?" but in fact, that is a good answer, since it is likely not just one thing that causes apathy, so pinpointing one "root" cause will be incorrect. g

ATTORNEY'S ADVICE - NO CHARGE Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer ...

genessa comments on Jul 9, 2019:

this is good information with which i have the teeniest, tiniest quibble: putting a po box instead of your home address on your checks may violate some company's policies, and who cares about that... unless you are trying to buy something from that company and pay by check. if you think your job is secure lol i suppose you could use your work address; i am not sure how acceptable that is to most vendors but one can always ask. g

You know, before all of the new age religions and beliefs, there had to have been a "seed" or "root"...

genessa comments on Jul 9, 2019:

i don't know that that's necessarily true. it may well be that early man, pre-formal language and prehistorical, took the world as he saw it, and that the diaspora from africa was pre-religion. the deviations are natural because of the diaspora, and the similarities are also natural because they were developed from uneducated observation of the same basic phenomena: rain, snow, grass, trees, lightning, earthquakes, whatever, lots of food, not so much food, poisoned water, pillars of salt from a receding sealine.... different versions of the same elements. g

I was a member of this site a year or so ago.

genessa comments on Jul 9, 2019:

what a great and encouraging post! mazel tov :-)) g

Sassy! Saw your post in the General forum about concentration camps.

genessa comments on Jul 8, 2019:

i'll answer (i am sure sassy will too). the alternative would be what we USED to do, which had a 90 percent success rate (success being that the asylum-seekers showed up for their hearings): ankle bracelets. they have broken no law; why take away their children, and why detain them, never mind in such horrible conditions? oh wait... trump's private prison operating friends are making a hell of a profit from this. THAT's why. as for people who cross the border illegally, barely represented in these concentration camps, since we have had negative immigration with mexico for a couple/few years now, that's a misdemeanor. do we incarcerate people who park illegally? do we imprison their children? g

Heaven and Hell are a state of minds.

genessa comments on Jul 8, 2019:

you can call those states of mind those words, or you can eschew religious lingo altogether and call them something else. i don't find this assertion any more useful than saying "god is love" or "god is everywhere" in an attempt to redefine and even recycle religious lingo. it's not necessary, it confuses some folks and it's not even especially original. a tree is a tree and a bad situation is a bad situation. they don't have to be god and hell. those words already have meanings. g

Permethrin spray repels and kills ticks, mosquitoes and 39 other biting insects

genessa comments on Jul 7, 2019:

my cat minky was poisoned with pymethrin, a synthetic version is permethrin, by a stupid pca (she almost poisoned my fiance too). she sprayed it on FOOD. minky died. the characteristics of both substances are the same. i would NEVER use this stuff! i loved minky! g

I'm looking for songs which have a saxophone line. Do you know some interesting ones?

genessa comments on Jul 7, 2019:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrpjD20bIyA g

The more I date the more I am disappointed.

genessa comments on Jul 7, 2019:

maybe the trick isn't to keep looking for someone, but instead to keep being the best you that you can be so someone who is looking for someone finds YOU. be that someone. g

What is the DMZ, and why is this a good thing?

genessa comments on Jul 6, 2019:

the dmz is the demilitarized zone, which allowed troops from both north and south korea (and china, and the united states) to withdraw in relative safety from the korean police action (which never officially ended; there was an armistice and that's all). it did its job. do we need it now? i have no idea. i don't know what port forwarding is, but it doesn't sound like anything related to the korean "war" (which as i say, is still on -- but we seem to be on the wrong side now!) g

If he doesn't call back, I caught him cheating.

genessa comments on Jul 6, 2019:

are you sure nancy is his wife? some people do include their pets in their messages! g

Religious indoctrination in public schools.

genessa comments on Jul 6, 2019:

there is a difference between teaching ABOUT religion, which is a thing that exists and has a profound effect on history and society, and teaching a religion, as if its tenets are facts. there are classes here and there called (something like) comparative religion. there are also classes that teach religion as fact. the latter is indoctrination. the former is education. they must not be confused. g

For many of us who are seniors now, this shows the tools of society and how we were brainwashed into...

genessa comments on Jul 5, 2019:

sorry but not all of us were brainwashed. my first career goal, age maybe four or so, was to be an "indian." i didn't know it wasn't a job description and that i could never be one. that's just what i wanted to be. my dad was against the vietnam war before most people knew what was even happening there; i was a peacenick as a teen. i still am. g

Why would a man write to me for another guy? A scam?

genessa comments on Jul 5, 2019:

the man has no friend. he would be writing on his own behalf; the idea is to lure you offsite so he can scam you without being censured by the site. you did the right thing, gave the right answer. g

Raised religious?

genessa comments on Jul 3, 2019:

my observation is that a lot of people who escape religious thinking go through the phase of "if god is all-powerful why does evil exist" and similar thinking, which in and of itself isn't about evidence that there is no god, only evidence that there is no good god or no all-powerful god. HOWEVER, that seems to be a good steppingstone to realizing there is no evidence for the existence of any gods at all, and a necessary step for many. i was not raised religious and the god in whom i vaguely and casually believed wasn't a very active god at all, he was more like an invisible friend, a pretty quiet one at that. so i didn't expect anything from him other than just an eye and an ear. it wasn't particularly traumatic to discover he was like the invisible rabbit i had as a toddler. i understand that this is not everyone's experience. being jewish, i also didn't have to dump jesus too; he was already a nonentity. i had it easy in that regard! g

I am a 100% skeptic about all things supernatural! Do any of you hold on to any supernatural ...

genessa comments on Jul 3, 2019:

never had to let them go because i never believed in any of them, but i LIKED astrology. liking and believing are not the same. i still like tarot, and no, it's not magic; it's just an intuitive tool, at least the way i use it. pretty cards, too. ghosts? i actually encountered a poltergeist and i STILL don't believe in them. i just don't have another name to call what i encountered. g

Have you ever had popcorn for dinner?

genessa comments on Jul 3, 2019:

i had it for breakfast once. g

Sealioning (also spelled sea-lioning and sea lioning) is a type of trolling or harassment which ...

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

i see it all the time here and on facebook. if i hung out elsewhere i am sure i'd see it there too. it's rampant. g

if there is not God, I would like to know where did everything come from?

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

oh, haha, my response will go unread by this questioner. apparently this person is not available, which means he was removed or banned or some such thing. he sounded like a troll. i guess he WAS one. emphasis on past tense. g

if there is not God, I would like to know where did everything come from?

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

if there IS a god then where did god come from? do you have access to a library? there are lots of books in the science section to explain how much we do and do not know about where matter came from. remember, though, that just because we don't know everything doesn't mean there's a god. g

Dating a Christian?

genessa comments on Jul 2, 2019:

i never dated much but i never knowingly dated a christian. i've dated nonjews. i can't even imagine having a serious relationship with a true believer. that would be like... dating a republican or something! g

Trump Lashes Out at New York AG’s Probe Into His Businesses: My Kids Are ‘Spending a Fortune on ...

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

awww his kids are paying lawyers? do we BELIEVE this? or do they take after their dad and not PAY their lawyers (or any of their other bills)? g

A current snapshot of Jewish views towards the importance of Israel as well as the handling of the ...

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

i am a zionist. what does that mean? does it mean israel above all else? no. does it mean screw the palestinians? no. does it mean a one-state solution? no. it means israel has a right to exist. that's ALL zionism means. the word is used to mean all that other crap. it doesn't mean that at all. i am in favor of a two-state solution. the palestinian people, regardless of their cruel leaders, regardless of israel's current dictator and horrible policies, deserve a home of their own. but so does israel and the palestinian leadership has never changed its tune from not only intending to sink israel into the sea but to sink jews all over the world into the sea. that doesn't change my stance; i still am in favor of a two-state solution. but israel has a right to exist too. i hope it votes out the asshole in charge. i do not think bibi won the last election honestly and i think he's a criminal. (remind you of anyone?) but that doesn't mean the country should not exist, any more than trump's horror means america should not exist. it just means, just as trump must go, bibi must go. g

How do you respond when somebody you have never met in person and only exchanged a sentence or two ...

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

i tend not to trust them. why did they even think to say it unless they thought you doubted them, or might doubt them? because they're about to try to con you in some way! g

DMary.

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

she just went "not available" as was looking! g

Survey: As many Americans claim no religion as there are evangelicals, Catholics - CNN

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

... keeping in mind that claiming no religion is not the same as disbelieving in any deities. g

Yesterday, while cooling my heels in the ER.

genessa comments on Jun 29, 2019:

yes i know what "the man" is and my response is still "let's elect 'the woman.'" g

just saw a security video where a person was beaten without mercy.

genessa comments on Jun 29, 2019:

cruelty doesn't prove there is no god, nor is it even evidence there is no god. it is evidence there is no good or just god. of course there are no gods at all, but that's a different story. g

Have you had intense friendships that dissolved once you get home?

genessa comments on Jun 28, 2019:

i don't get out much :-(( g

Ok. Anybody besides me are fed up with the amount of time before new episodes! Whats the hold up??

genessa comments on Jun 28, 2019:

yes it's frustrating but we've known about this and expected it for half a year at least. it's not a surprise. g

Christianity is a fraud religion since it is based on two events that never happened; a virgin birth...

genessa comments on Jun 28, 2019:

so other religions are NOT fraudulent because all of THEIR stories are true? really? g

Ohio de-funds Planned Parenthood.

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

yes, they know. they're anti-woman. they know and they're glad to stop women from getting birth control and basic health care. g

WE ALL WORSHIP one GOD, It's called the GOVERNMENT! Some say, you can not be an anarchist without...

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

we all worship the government? what universe do you inhabit? i don't even want to read the rest when it starts with such a ridiculous and false assertion. g

God created nature or are we an evolution of bio organisms first?

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

i am not the king of anything, being a woman. i am not the queen of anything, not being a royalist and not caring to rule over anyone. god isn't love; god is just a fictional character, or a series of fictional characters. these characters don't concern me. my domain is my body and it extends outward to wherever i am welcome. i am not worried about what anyone's conception of god is; my conception of that word is that it described any number of nonexistent, unimportant things. i spend almost no time at all thinking about it; it isn't worth my time or energy. evolution continues to operate without us. you have a personal solution but i fail to see what problem you're trying to solve. as for your claim that the medical profession is the leading cause of death, most people in the world have never met a doctor and they persist in dying anyway, usually younger than we would consider to be normal here in the western world. i'd be long dead were it not for the medical profession, so i am evidence to the contrary of your assertion. i am not alone in that. g

DEMOCRATIC DEBATE Just a placeholder for discussion: I felt Warren was short-changed on ...

genessa comments on Jun 27, 2019:

she had the third most time of anyone (npr came out with a chart). g

Watching the first Dem debate.

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

i did not see it as a game show at all, not even remotely. it didn't seem at all fake. why did it seem fake to you? we'll see how biden et al comport themselves tomorrow. but i like warren (and others) very much. g

As an Atheist who just turned 40 and is single I am now for the first time really grappling with my ...

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

i have no gods and no human children, and my furbabies are preceding me into nonexistence. i am a writer but i am not well known, and my novel may never be finished or published. so much for that kind of immortality. i may have to give up on feeling immortal. i mean... we're not. we just aren't. g

How do you teach your teenagers ethics and values?

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

my oldest cat is over 17 and dying of cancer. i am trying to teach her not to lie in the little box looking as if she is going to die right away, but rather to eat and survive longer. but if i had human teens, i would not even THINK about religion as a possible way to teach "morals." what has religion got to do with morals, apart from PRETENDING that whatever its rules might be are moral and everyone else's religion's rules are not? rational values are being good because we're human, not being good because skydaddy will spank. you are their best resource; they don't need a guidebook or a rulebook. they need logic and compassion. lead by example, answer and ASK questions. g

Who else will be watching the Democratic debates?

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

it JUST began and my favorite so far is speaking -- that's elizabeth warren. i am watching with an open mind but i really like her. and yes i will vote for a used piece of toilet paper as long as it's blue, but i do like warren quite well. g

Please tell me not true.

genessa comments on Jun 26, 2019:

cannot tell you it is untrue because it is true. he actually did say that. and people are defending him. they're not just defending him; they're saying he is jesus returned. we are overrun with morons. g

This is great! I think Mueller wants to keep the report in the public eye.

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

he doesn't want to testify, but he is honoring the subpoena, and there will be two public sessions on the same day and either he or his staff members or both will also testify in closed session after that, also on the same day. i do not take his reluctance as a sign of anything bad about him. he has his reasons. i am glad he will testify. g

The Boomers Are to Blame for Aging America - The Atlantic

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

yes, how dare i be born when i was born and then recklessly keep living even until now. what a terrible thing i've done. i mean, it's not as if i ever was young, and it's not as if people can stay alive for several decades and still have hearts and brains and not be fogies, right? maybe i should just crawl off and die, because i wouldn't want to make an atlantic magazine opinion-holder mad. g

Fuck me jesus! A meme on FB said in 1776 that the British demanded we hand over our firearms.

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

ain't revisionism grand? g

Name Something Christians say when they know they are losing an argument with an atheist.

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

god loves you even if you don't believe in him. god believes in your even if you don't believe in him. i'm not a violent person but those two things definitely make me want to punch someone in the (smug) face. g

[alternet.

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

i cannot be disappointed in chuck todd, as i have never liked or trusted him. look, i watch msnbc every weeknight and i love chris hayes, rachel and lawrence, but just because someone works for the same network they do that doesn't mean they're worthy journalists. todd is not. i can't be disappointed in someone from whom i expected nothing good or even decent to begin with. i wish he were not going to be one of the moderators of the upcoming debates but i have no control over that. at least rachel will be there. g

[good.

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

substandard is an understatement. how about "disgusting" instead? g

I'm definitely a skeptic of the Bible, but there is an interesting phenomenon regarding the first 5 ...

genessa comments on Jun 24, 2019:

there is no one "the" bible, capital b or otherwise. there are a gazillion translations. hebrew has vowels; they're very small. every language, including the language of music, is mathematical in its way. why would a language without vowels, if that were true, be hard to put into an agnostic place? are religious sites more receptive to vowelless languages? i don't have any insight into why you would say that. i also have no especial interest in made-up codes and made-up specialness. all the bibles are just books written by people who 1. didn't know a lot about science or nature, 2. didn't know a lot about writing. g

We can all live without God, but what is one thing you can't live without?

genessa comments on Jun 24, 2019:

there is no ONE thing. g

Beaker to replace Sanders. [breakingburgh.com]

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

i don't know. i think oscar the grouch would fit in better with trump's agenda. g

Standing up for atheists, I reported a Christian zealot x-ray tech.

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

good luck! i hope you get the same creep and the manager witnesses that. that would be even better luck than getting a reasonable person, right? g

The reason I am agnostic is because there is no proof that a God told man to compose religious texts...

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

it didn't take much complicated logic for me. i was 15, i'd discovered that my folks had been wrong (in innocence, not lying, just wrong) about something i'd bought into, and decided to examine all my beliefs. it was no more difficult than it would've been for a christian child to realize there was no santa claus. it just made no sense to think there was any such thing as a god. i didn't worry about why this or how that. i had no especial expectations of the god in which i vaguely believed. there was no disappointment or anything like that. i just realized it wasn't real, that's all. i knew there was a word for someone like me: atheist. it wasn't like "oh i think i'll be an atheist now." g

What do you think about Deism?

genessa comments on Jun 23, 2019:

i think it's as delusional as anything else that presents deities. since i believe there are no gods, i have no use for any kind of theism, including deism. g

Two Questions??

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

i have one cat buried in the back yard but my elderly pets do insist on sometimes dying in the winter when the ground is frozen, and i don't believe they are in their bodies anymore, or anywhere else but my memory and heart, so cremation is the easiest disposition. i have no idea how i want my own to be handled. i am sure i won't know about it at any rate, when the time comes. g

What is the best knickname for our current President of the United States?

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

for a while i was calling him pri, but it didn't catch on because no one figured out it meant painful rectal itch, which is what he most resembles. g

Is this dress too short?

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

it's cute and you can get away with that length. i couldn't. so... not too short for you! g

Have you ever had anything that could be termed miraculous happen to you?

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

magical thinking is fun but sometimes misleading. the human brain is wired to see patterns and that's helpful -- we can't learn without that facility. unfortunately we see them whether they're there or not. so we find meaning where there is meaning and we find it where there is none, too. i guess that's the price we pay for being human. yes, my life has been full of strange stuff. no, i do not believe in (literal) miracles. no matter the degree, weird is just weird (and that's subjective anyway). g

Please tell me he never said this.

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

sorry, can't tell you he didn't say it. he did. he's THAT dumb. g

Ok,,, if I start an atheist "church",,, how many of you will join?

genessa comments on Jun 22, 2019:

not me. why would i? what would be its purpose? i do not need to join a group that tells me how to believe OR how not to believe. btw, i don't miss churchy rituals because i was raised in a secular jewish family. robes and saints and all that neither hearken back to nor mock anything in my background. it would be annoyingly like a christian thingy. g

As a liberal, what is one thing you think Donald Trump is doing right as President?

genessa comments on Jun 21, 2019:

the one thing he is doing right is eating all that horrible junk food. if we're lucky he won't live much longer. g

The baby to not throw out with the bathwater.

genessa comments on Jun 21, 2019:

so why can't the people who are in the church do all of this good stuff unless they're in a church? is church the only way to organize charity? i'm not knocking what they're doing. i just saying one doesn't need religion to do it. (and of course they support missionaries! missionaries are helping them exist!) g

Remember on November 3rd!! And share this everywhere!!

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

it may seem like a no-brainer but just to be clear, that's november 3, 2020. g

Trump admin argues in court: toothbrushes, soap, beds for kids they lock up shouldn’t be required

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

good article; i have two versions of it (not conflicting, just two sources) with the other source quoted in full in the post, in my group "liberals who don't hate each other," which i hope it is okay to mention here. and yes, it is disgusting and they are disgusting. g

[crooksandliars.

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

newsweek has a take on it too. much of it is exactly the same as the above; there are some additional details. https://www.newsweek.com/migrant-children-border-trump-administration-1445090?fbclid=IwAR0BDHyV_0E_eTpJ4qo8PCy5wuUDe4jRA_-1quLndYIiLi_PW_VtkuaoANA g

There are no words for how wrong this is.

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

very long and very nonjudgmental article. in a way that's good, but in another way, while there are people who see the wrong in this (you and me for example) there are others who will read this article as a sympathetic endorsement of the practice of influencing gun sales without actually advertising them. the work of being a gun influencer (a largely female industry, and using traditionally female sales techniques -- meaning appealing to men --- is so lucrative, some women may read this article and think, gee, i should get into that! so how nonjudgmental should such an article be, anyway? it's not an easy question to answer. i sure don't have an answer. g

I am wondering to what extent people decide to be atheist/agnostic or just grow out of religion

genessa comments on Jun 20, 2019:

i don't know anyone who decides to be an atheist. atheism is just a description or definition of not believing in any gods. you don't DECIDE not to believe. you just stop believing (or never did believe). you can decide to recognize what you believe. the belief itself is something that happens, sometimes despite your best wishes or efforts or decisions. that's one reason pascal's wager is ridiculous, yes? keep in mind, too, that believing or not believing in deities is not exactly the same as following a religion. plenty of people who don't follow a religion have some kind of belief in a deity. some people who don't believe in any deities still like aspects of one religion or another, and maybe even follow it to an extent, not being forced to but from choice, even if they don't take the god part literally. so being an atheist isn't a necessarily a matter of outgrowing or rejecting a religion in its entirety. g

Trump supporters ...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

oh PLEASE. i went to a buffet lunch with my guy, as an early birthday celebration for him, with a couple with whom we're friendly. the discussion turned to politics. we already knew that the husband of the couple had voted for trump but he had expressed regret and he started this conversation by saying anyone was better than trump. then suddenly he started railing against biden, warren, hillary (a definite clue -- i mean, she's not running!) and everyone but trump, and talking about how the economy is better and unemployment is down, particularly black unemployment.... a lot of what he said either was blatantly false or true but irrelevant in light of adjacent facts (such as unemployment being down because people are working two or three jobs at minimum wage and still not surviving! that's a lot of employment but it's not a good economy!) he said that we had concentration camps under clinton, then changed it to obama, and said specifically that obama separated children from their parents (not true; obama's administration did see -- not by order or policy of obama, i might add, which is different from what's happening now -- children incarcerated while waiting for fostering out to relatives, and it's also true that this was done badly and the children were not tracked after disposition. it is NOT true that the thousands of children said to be lost by the obama administration were lost; if a kid is given to a relative and the relative moves and the people who fostered the child out to the relative don't call for a year or two and then find out they have no more contact info, that's not a lost child; that's a family that moved, a family under no obligation to tell the u.s. government where it moved, either! there is more, but that's not what we talked about today.) he was upset about hillary's emails! (he didn't mention trump's use of insecure email.) when i tried to lay a few actual facts on him, he got really furious and started telling me that anything i liked was true and whatever i didn't like was fake news. (i think he has me confused with trump!) turns out he watches fox. oh huge surprise there. so i tried to end the conversation but he kept talking even after i turned to his shocked ex- (long story) wife (who hates trump) and when he saw i was ignoring his ranting, he told his wife to take him home; he was done, he was full and he was tired. my guy and i were not done eating AND it was supposed to be a birthday party of sorts for my guy; too bad -- this man was tired so we had to end it, right? she drove him home and then came back for us (they'd picked us up). she told me that when she got home he admitted he'd started it but said that i ended it. that would be a compliment i think, but in fact, i ended it by ceasing to ...

The bottom line for me becoming an atheist is the feeling of freedom.

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i am glad you are feeling free! i am also glad i never had to go through ANY of what you describe :-)) g

Would it appease the Trump haters if a Republican beat him to the White House in 2020 and not a ...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i don't care. i have no interest in appeasing racists, nazis and other "fine people" like that. i don't want them dead, just out of power and under rule of law (you know -- the law that says they CAN'T run people over and kill them, or beat them up because they're wearing hijabs or have dark skin). i don't want the ordinary delusional or duped trumpkin voter punished. indeed, they would benefit from having a democrat in office (beyond having someone to revile). their social security and medicaid would be safe. they don't KNOW this, but they would fare better under democrats. appeasing them is participating in their self-immolation. no thanks. i don't want to burn WITH them, either. g

‘My mum didn’t vaccinate me – this is what happened next’ "It started when I accidentally...

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

tetanus can be deadly and it's much easier to prevent than to cure; there is no actual cure. you can survive it if you are treated and are lucky. it takes both. g

The silence about black slavery in the Arab world | David Meir | The Blogs

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i was at a slavery conference in 1995 or '6, can't remember which, in nyc, and it focused largely on the sudan and mauritania. i have heard nothing since then about the abolition of slavery in those places. as for not living there, yes we do. we live on planet earth. there is here, and the sex slave trade at least, not to mention the household slave trade, is active here -- and not separate from or unrelated to the full-blown slave trade "there"; it's not a fixed thing. it's fluid and mobile. fixing it all over is the only way to fix it locally. g

So I have an uncomfortable suspicion regarding my father.

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

well i'd hate to judge without being an expert (i've watched a lot of svu and that's about it) and without knowing him, but the signs are all there. the scary thing is, (i think) more people use religion to justify acting on their pedophilia than to suppress it, and if he really was (still) acting on it, how would you even know? you would probably have to invade his privacy illegally (like breaking into his computer to see if kid porn was there) or following him around to know; i can't think of a way to get a confession... and what would you do if you got one? if you seriously think he may be harming children, you might want to get someone who knows how to investigate to do so instead of asking him. if you do not think so, leave it to the mysteries of time (if i may be all cliche-y). the statute of limitations has run out on anything he may have done in the time frame you mention, and you may need to make peace with your desire to know. troublingly, pedophiles don't just stop, and as i say, religion doesn't tend to hold them at bay -- not christianity, anyway. g

Which famous atheist/nonreligious person do you admire the most.

genessa comments on Jun 19, 2019:

i don't know the religious or irreligious bent of every single person i admire; i do know that of some, but not of others. it is a factor but not the only factor determining my admiration and would not alone be the determining factor. so there maybe someone i neglect to mention simply because i don't know. however, i very much admire carl sagan, and we know not only that he was an atheist but, because he was sufficiently famous and influential, all those other things about him, so i need not describe him. i suspect that hypatia was also irreligious and i much admire her as well. g

Do you suspect there is an evangelical arm of atheism that wants to convert religious practitioners ...

genessa comments on Jun 18, 2019:

look, there is an evangelical arm of everything. i have been proselytized to by vegans, by conspiracy theorists, by a vegan conspiracy theorist, by adele fans.... of course there is such an arm here too. it doesn't represent the majority. i think most of us just don't want to be discriminated against, and by extension wish that courtesy for others as well, and desire separation of church and state as well. the rest is just people being people. g

"The Democratic Party Is Trying To Downplay Climate Change.

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

this is an opinion piece, right? well i don't agree with that opinion. the democratic party is NOT trying to downplay climate change; at least one of the candidates is making his campaign ALL about climate change and the others are all in favor of reversing the damage trump is doing and proceeding to treat the issue as a serious emergency. i do not see any downplaying at all. the dnc won't host a climate change debate... as of right now. that means the democrats, as a group, are downplaying? maybe the dnc is waiting for a better time! it's not as if holding such a debate today is going to be more effective than holding it in a few months, since the ugly powers that be will do nothing regardless. and even if i'm wrong and the leaders of the dnc (i happen to like perez a LOT) are being pissy about this, how does that mean that the democrats as a group are downplaying climate change? g

School Board Jesus Prayer

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i don't think public schools should have prayers at all. why should they? it's not just christian ones that should be forbidden. but private religious schools can do what they want. g