just saw a security video where a person was beaten without mercy. where was your god I heard myself...

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. These fools have no idea that PP is where the women get birth ...

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? I recently learn Survival is ...

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. We seem to be living in the society of The Hunger Games as it reminds...

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? I think most of us here will vote for whichever ...

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. Mueller to testify ...

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. That ...

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.org] Chuck Todd's terrible interview with fabricator in chief, Trump snapped the rope ...

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.is] Private company profits off of immigrant children in prison at $750/day for substandard...

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

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

Is Google indoctrinating us? The attached screen shots are what Google returns today when you start...

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

no. google isn't choosing those things. the frequency with which people search for those things is controlling the choice. yes, people who pay get their listings farther up than those who don't, but not THAT kind of search result. g p.s. i am more worried about what ag dot com does to my words lol. i just had to edit after noticing some of my words got changed!

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? I've had quite a number...

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? No tithes, no ties, no Gods, ...

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? I found this ...

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... "Church abolished $4 million of medical debt for ...

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.com] i include the link even though i am pasting the text here not only so you ...

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. I'm flummoxed how people can convince themselves 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. I no longer have to live ...

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. For years now, I've suspected he may be a ...

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. Don't Let It. All the candidates want ...

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

User: michaelinlivonia Sealioning Troll. [agnostic.com] [agnostic.com] This is one thread ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

if anyone would like to see (and maybe back me up) i have just fed him. may he choke on it. https://agnostic.com/group/CriticsofCapitalism/post/360898/powerful-video-report-on-immigration-concentration-camps-in-usa-today-06-14-19-what-we-can-do-b?aid=1822902 g

User: michaelinlivonia Sealioning Troll. [agnostic.com] [agnostic.com] This is one thread ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

you will notice my numerous posts in that thread; you are correct in your assessment of him. it is good that he is blocked but i felt obligated to counter his claims for the benefit of anyone less well informed who might find the topic interesting and in ignorance and innocent tend to believe him. it wasn't for his benefit, that's for sure. i have not blocked him personally... YET. g

You really are priceless you lot, how you all come out of the woodwork when someone makes a ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

to whom do you refer and to what post? g

How and when did you lose your religion?

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i never lost my religion. i just realized when i was 15 that there were no gods. it didn't have much to do with religion itself; my family was never religious. g

Does anyone else think the depth and breadth of discourse about religious detriment on this site has...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

some has. some hasn't. i would not want to characterize every dialogue the same. it is possible to be quite articulate and thoughtful here and it is possible to be a snert and everthing in between is possible too. the site isn't what's making the posts. we are. is it superficial? so post something less superficial. g

Do you have to be a rationalist to be agnostic/ atheist? Is there space for magical thinking?

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

it depends on whether you play with magical thinking because it's fun or whether you would have a heart attack from the guilt if you stepped on a sidewalk crack. i enjoy magical thinking. i don't believe it, but it's fun. g

I had to block antidronefreeman. He truly believes Obama killed more people than Hitler. Also, ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

hahahaha i just looked antidronefreeman up and found that i seem to have blocked him. i don't remember him. the provocateurs all seem to fade and blend into one big mass of unpleasantness, don't they? but blocked he is and blocked he shall remain. g

I had to block antidronefreeman. He truly believes Obama killed more people than Hitler. Also, ...

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i had to block someone (not the same person) from my group, liberals who don't hate each other. he started spewing hatred and when i extremely gently pointed out what the group was for, he got personal and exhibited some gaslighting techniques as well. it's rampant. these people are behaving as they do deliberately, and cannot be convinced that the ideas they promote are wrong because they're promoting them with an agenda, not necessarily because they believe them. blocking is the only way to deal with them. g

How did you come to be atheist, agnostic, etc.?

genessa comments on Jun 17, 2019:

i was raised in a secular jewish family. cultural identity was important to us but religion itself was not. i never even learned whether or not my parents believed in a god until i was an adult, and i only asked them because someone had asked me and i didn't know the answer. i believed in a kind of personal god, sort of like an invisible friend, just an observer or witness, until i was 15, at which point i realized that something else (unrelated to religion) my folks told me, believing it themselves, turned out not to be true. i decided to examine every belief i'd taken for granted and god went right out the window. g

Tuna! I love tuna!

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

i am with that cat in spirit! but i like my tuna either raw or in steak form. from a can... i don't mind it sometimes but it's SO good the other two ways. then again, i'm only a cat in the eyes of my felines. g

Despite the fact that there has never been any corroborated truth of the existence of any deity, why...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

it's just language. it has a specific meaning and it usually refers to nature, not deities. when i hit my toe and yell "oh shit" i am not deluded into thinking i have encountered a pile of poop, nor am i trying to direct anyone to defecate; if i hear about something awful and i say "jesus" i am not invoking that likely fictional character who has at any rate never been a part of my life. "act of god" doesn't offend me either. if the company tried to make this in some way literal, that would be different. it quite obviously isn't meant to be taken literally. g

Does anyone else struggle with hating religion? It is a daily struggle, letting go of hate, as I ...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

not i. first of i don't hate religion. i hate that some people want to push it on me, either personally or through legislation or adjudication, but i don't hate religion. i think it's mostly silly, and i believe there are no gods, but why would i waste my energy hating religion? so no struggle either. second of all, i've been openly atheist since the age of 15 (and wasn't closeted before that; i believed in a vague god in a vague way and then realized how silly that was and stopped). so i do not hide or diminish my beliefs, political, regarding deities or in any other way on any other topic, to make others feel better. why should i? g

I am without a doubt an Atheist,but a few days ago I saw a Ghost !!! If anybody is interested I ...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

i had a poltergeist once where i lived at the time. there is no such thing as a poltergeist but whatever caused the phenomenon hasn't got a name because it hasn't yet got an explanation, so calling it a poltergeist is all i can do apart from admitting it wasn't an actual spirit from a dead person but rather a phenomenon that i cannot explain. g

If religion didn't exist, would opposition to abortion or LGBT rights even be a primary poitical ...

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

yes of course it would. men would still want to control women. men don't control women because of religion. religion is just one of their tools. g

New report finds many non-believers still believe in the supernatural - Big Think

genessa comments on Jun 16, 2019:

lol yep! we all indulge in magical thinking. i enjoy it, myself. i have found that when the old toilet in my house doesn't flush, singing to it makes it flush. my singing can't POSSIBLY effect old plumbing (or anything but the mood of any inadvertent listeners) but there you go. so i sing to the damned toilet. it's magical thinking and it can't possibly work but i enjoy it so i do it. g

I tried this once, did not care for it. 😖

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

not a pop fan. g

Is it just me or is it those who refuse to except the world for what it is that seek out religion?

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

some do. it's accept, by the way, not except. different words, different meanings. i'd say it would be more accurate to say that people who seek out religions refuse to accept the world, rather than saying that those who refuse to accept the world seek out religion. some seek other things instead. g

Is there Left and Right inside Democrats as well & what is the general position of Democrats Party,...

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

i don't agree with everyone who has responded. i think most democrats are farther left than nondemocrats and even some democrats suspect. are they as leftwing as i am? hardly anyone is lol. but they are more liberal than they look, and some of that is because some democrats bravely ran and won in red states, but are still stuck representing their constituents. being voted out would be disastrous for those constituents, who (from their habitual voting records and public attitudes do NOT always or even usually vote in their own best interest). such democrats have to compromise more than democrats who come from liberal states. that doesn't make the former less liberal; it makes them more cautious. i am not talking about someone like joe manchin, who really is center-right, if not worse. i am talking about someone like ex-senator claire mccaskill, who is a wonderful person and had to balance where she came from with what she believed, not as a cop-out but in order to keep doing good. as for the majority of democratic public servants, they are definitely not ANYTHING right, center or otherwise. the majority of democratic voters nationwide are left of center to varying degrees. don't be fooled by how the elections come out either: rightwingers have gerrymandered many states to death. there are states where the voters repeatedly vote for democrats and end up with republicans due to gerrymandering. the fact that democrats get into congress at all, not to mention took over the house this past election, is a tribute to how much farther left the people are than they appear to be. g

Bob Dylan was a great songwriter. Can't stand his singing voice.

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

lol i love his early voice, which was no more in-tune than his later voice, after the accident (that is when it deepened) but had a fresh quality. post-accident bob is lower-pitched, maybe even less nasal -- and i like it less. but he never was about vocal talent, right? so one does look past all that. g

Supreme Court denies Flint officials' request to block lawsuit over water crisis

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

i whitelisted nbc and it still blocks me, so please tell me the date on this article. i hope it's brand new! that would be very good news indeed! g

[agnostic.com] Scammer and not a very clever one. Asking to message women in open chat. Usual ...

genessa comments on Jun 15, 2019:

i guess he got gone :-)) g

Poor Melania, she made her bed and now she has to lie in it, with a midget that likes golden ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i feel approximately zero sympathy for melania. you get what you're bought for. g

If his fans riot ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

they would have to agree on a place to hold their riot wouldn't they? do they know anywhere beyond their own back yards apart from the local bar? g

tRump spent about 1 million dollars on Facebook ads wishing himself happy birthday. Ill celebrate ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

you would waste valuable urine that way? g

My Pillow: my mother had bought one of these last year and I recently tried it, and it's awesome. ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i was going to ask about your mother's awareness of that, but your editing answered, and that is a relief. i wouldn't buy one for the same reasons you state. i don't know about using one; i mean, he gets no support or money from you if you use it. if it reminds you of him and thus repulses you, then yeah, you can't, right? otherwise, sew a donkey patch on it and sweet dreams! g

So many choices, so little time! :D

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

this chart is moderately humorous but since when do jews not like hummus? g

WHO NEEDS GOD? -- Does religion appeal primarily to broken people? Could the argument be made ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

religion is too widespread for us to generalize about broken people. i know a lot of broken atheists too. in addition, not all religions are the same and thus while the appeal of having a deity on which to rely to a greater or lesser degree is the same, the details are not, and the details are important too. furthermore, not everyone, even within the same religion, is equally religious, or interprets that religion the same way. so there is no way to generalize about any of it. i do not see jimmy carter as broken, ignorant, lonely, insecure, depressed or any of the rest, and he is a deeply religious man. g

What's a simple thing you did for someone that thrilled them?

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i picked some low-hanging peonies from our front garden, put them in a bottle of water and sneaked them into richard's room so he could enjoy them. g

[dailykos.com] Joe Biden is a relic from the past and this one exchange with a 13 year old girl ...

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

i will post positive comments. i am not going to post negative comments because i saw how in 1980 a negative comment by ted kennedy was used against jimmy carter the night before the election in 1980. it was outrageous and i was outraged. if we don't like a particular democratic candidate there are two good things we can do. one is to vote for the person we think would make the best president. the other is to be active in promoting that choice of ours. there is no harm in comparing candidates (e.g., i like this person's plan for health care better for that person's) or argue against someone's declaring one candidate more electable than another (the candidates are equally electable if we honor the results of the primaries and all vote for the eventual nominee; anyone who isn't electable to the presidency won't become the nominee anyway) but slamming a candidate, knowing that candidate could become the nominee and need our support, even our grudging support, is counterproductive. g

Atheist media?

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

ricky gervais is always a joy. oddly, i don't like his tv series at all, but i like him, himself, and his standup work. g

Though Atheism is not a religion, which one of them are more generous? :)

genessa comments on Jun 14, 2019:

we are to judge by one guy's one-time experience? how many people of each religion passed by that day? how many of them had any money on them? it's ridiculous. g

A hypothetical moral dilemma: Dan melody are dating, Dan ask Melody" are you on birth control?"...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

yes of course. what if she were on birth control pills only in order not to get pregnant? yes, okay, we know she's not on them, but he didn't know that when he made the decision not to tell her about the vasectomy, so as far as he knew, she was taking a pill that, while extremely helpful to many women not only to avoid pregnancy but to ease dysmenorrhea and regulate periods, also has its serious physical dangers. he let her take it when she might not have had to. the fact that it turns out she wasn't taking it is irrelevant. you haven't asked whether she should have told him she wasn't taking the pill. one lie doesn't justify another. g

I ran across a more-twisted-than-usual, Right Wing, batshit crazy website where the members want ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

apart from the fact that jfk jr died two decades ago, if he were alive he would be horrified by trump's very existence within the political scene; i think the idea of trump as a dogcatcher would have horrified him. but you know, if they're going to pick dead people for trump's running mate, maybe they could choose frederick douglass. trump thinks douglass is going places.... g

Now, this is a nice religion. It protects women, and doesn't allow men to "break their bones". ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

yes islam is horrible, isn't it? i mean, it's not as if christians beat their children and marry 12-year-olds. oh wait, only SOME christians do? only SOME christian pastors advocate this? but if one imama says it, i guess that means ALL muslims believe this, right? g

mckinney1 What do you think? Has written 3 times about nothing and wants to google mail already. ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

nothing that suspicious in his profile, and we can't see what he has written to you. some of his posts seem really inane; that is typical of scammers but not in and of itself an indication of a scammer; sometimes people just ARE inane. however, if he is already wanting to communicate offsite and you haven't encouraged him, that IS suspicious. have you told him point blank you're not interested? g

Is anyone else bored to death with the entire atheist theist debate? I've been hearing it since I ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

most folks are not woke. i never had that debate in my early life. i've been an atheist since age 15 (yeah, i know, a late bloomer) but it was never a topic for debate; no one was interested. i wasn't in a religious family and didn't hang out in a religious community. i had been taking shit for being jewish since, well, birth i guess, and that shit continued throughout most of my life (which isn't quite over yet). so bored? not especially. fascinated? not especially. i'm not worried about it. let people believe what they believe, as long as they leave me the hell alone and honor the separation of church and state. unfortunately, neither is happening. g

Michele Bachmann has made it clear she thinks it's the end of time, Jesus will come back soon. ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

she is no longer in power. she is irrelevant. g

The brain washing continues. I saw this posted in Facebook by a Trump fan and I had to laugh. ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

i cannot swear that this is photoshopped but i can swear that it likely is. a point where a new hand could be photoshop-grafted onto trump's arm is conveniently and blurrily blocked, making the adjustment easy. i blew the picture up in windows paint and the line of trump's face looks odd, as if cut out and pasted in. it's subtle; i can't swear to it. i'm not good enough. g

Remember this or do you still use them?

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

i don't even wear shoes! g

[jta.org] When young Israelis move to Germany or Austria it's a hard pill for their families to ...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

germany is one of the most anti-antisemitic countries around right now, despite a neonazi element. it certainly has the best holocaust history education (whereas when i lived in japan, 20th-century history simply was not taught in school at any level). austria is having nazi troubles right now; i wouldn't go there. i'm pretty pissed off at switzerland. i am afraid i don't know much about poland's current situation so i can't speak for or against visiting it. i do NOT believe in letting the "sins of the father" be visited upon the offspring; realizing that a country has evolved is not the same as forgiving and forgetting. g

[agnostic.com] Kingwood He says he is religious but leaning towards agnosticism. Willing to...

genessa comments on Jun 13, 2019:

i responded to his lone post in which he shares a video from someone who can't spell "atheist." i don't know that he's necessarily a troll or scammer but he doesn't leave a good impression. g

How any woman can continue to embrace Christianity is beyond me. This concept is totally Biblical. ...

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

not all christians believe this. i know people who self-identify as christian and do not buy into any of that crap. evangelicals buy it; some others buy it; it's written in; not everything written in is accepted by everyone who finds some value in his or her religion. those who do just make me shake my head. you can't argue with such people. they're brainwashed. g

I am a science teacher in an inner city school. My students don't listen and don't care. Their ...

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

no. keep believing as you have believed. the ones who seem not to care are not all the same. some really don't care. some do but are afraid to show they do. some do but are afraid of succeeding lest they be pulled down too. and some just don't know what to do so they go along with the crowd. education HAS to be available to all, or, for one important thing, we will start judging, without really KNOWING, who deserves it and who doesn't. when i was in high school, back in the stone age, black kids were slow-tracked, regardless of their interest or ability. i have a friend, not from my high school (i didn't know her until decades later) who told me that her guidance counselor advised her not to go to college, since she was only going to grow up to be a maid. how can we decide who wants to learn, who can learn, who deserves to learn, if such errors can be made, not only can be made but are made as a matter of course? how about dealing with behavior problems by giving kids the behavioral help they need instead of just deciding that education is not for everyone? g

Trump invokes executive privilege ahead of House Oversight contempt vote for Barr, Ross [cnn.com]

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

he can invoke all he wants. a court will overturn his invocation and no spirits will appear. g

Why do so many men think sarcastic humor is positive?

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

real sarcasm IS funny. some people, not only men, think flinging any old insult is successful sarcasm. they associate being mean with being clever. they're mistaken. g

People inspire you or drain you. Choose wisely. Agree/isagree?

genessa comments on Jun 12, 2019:

well... not so cut and dried, and with most people one can also choose a level of involvement, and choose whether or not to be drained -- one can also find inspiration in unexpected places. it's not either or, and it's not constant, either: one person can both drain and inspire. another person can do neither but have other value. also, not every person needs to be judged by what that person can do directly for us. g

I never heard of this, did you?

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

lol no but i think it's a red foxx joke. i don't think it's real. g

Trump Joke of the Day Albert Einstein dies and goes to heaven. At the Pearly Gates, Saint Peter ...

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

i heard this from a london taxi driver in the 1990s. it was a dan quayle joke back then. g

LOL... NO BALLS DEMOCRATS CNN reached out to 41 freshmen Democrats who flipped Republican seats ...

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

i read that article too. you left some really important things out. 1. all the democrats contacted were in red states and had flipped their seats from red to blue. they have constituencies that want them to be cautious. they DO represent their constituencies, right? 2. there are 235 democrats in the house. why reach out only to 41 in red states? maybe cnn already knew what kind of story it wanted to write! 3. when did cnn reach out? how much time did it give the reps to answer? the article doesn't say. is answering cnn the TOP priority any given representative has on his or her plate? 4. is it just POSSIBLE that someone could have a reason for not being in favor of immediate impeachment hearings, or being undecided, or not wanting to tell cnn until s/he HAS decided, and that reason might not be evil, cowardly or otherwise negative? is this even possible? could someone actually disagree about the efficacy of such a thing and still be working on a way to oust or otherwise defeat trump and the republicussians? or is everyone who doesn't do what you want when you want it automatically either a wimp or a villain? we've had this discussion before. i write this for the benefit of other readers. i know you think you know all the facts and are not open to the possibility that someone else's mindset has the least bit of value, and if that sounds like a personal attack, pardon me, it is not. it is merely an observation. g

Agnostics??

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

a whole lot. i don't think we've been counted, though. a good number of us, including me, are NOT agnostics. i myself am an atheist. g

weird phenomenon: used to be, if i clicked MY GROUPS i would be taken to a list of new posts ...

genessa comments on Jun 10, 2019:

it's IN my groups, not my groups. and the posts on the left used to be just posts in my groups. g