I am trying to explain to an Irish-American MAGA supporter that it is not the fault of the Democrats that there is a government shutdown. I explained it along the lines of the following:

“That’s not how it works. The House — which the Republicans control — is where all spending bills start. If the House GOP can’t agree among themselves on a budg…[Read more]

Strega wrote:
Simon, with the introduction of ‘a personal relationship with Jesus’ concept, no two Christians have the same set of strongly held views – your post seems to imply that it’s a set based on the religion, rather than on the individual’s pick-and-choose approach to what God wants 🙂

The “cafeteria Christian” picks and chooses what to b…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
Bondi managed to get through her hearing without answering any substantive question, the list being detailed by Adam Schiff:

These combative non-answers remind me of a taught and practiced, primary tactic of LRH’s (inventor of Scientology), when cult members argue with wogs (non cult members): “The best defense is an…[Read more]

(if on AZ front page, click on the timestamp, above, to watch)

PopeBeanie wrote:
Y’all heard Kennedy now blaming autism on Tylenol, linked directly to it being taken right after circumcisions, right?

My favorite comedian, recently. He’s brilliant. He has some “tells” on his face when he’s about to say something funny, and is trying not to s…[Read more]

Simon, with the introduction of ‘a personal relationship with Jesus’ concept, no two Christians have the same set of strongly held views  – your post seems to imply that it’s a set based on the religion, rather than on the individual’s pick-and-choose approach to what God wants 🙂

Unseen wrote:
One embodies an irrational belief with no need to support it in any way

I think there’s more to it than that.  Religious people usually have a strong “conscience” – whether that means humble self-guidance on one hand, or entitled, authoritarian meddling in the affairs of the rest of us, on the other extreme.  They have strongly h…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
What the difference between a religious exemption and a philosophical one?

One embodies an irrational belief with no need to support it in any way and the is based on facts and a rational argument in support of the belief. Of course, that would mean that someone qualified to examine those the arguments would be…[Read more]

Bondi managed to get through her hearing without answering any substantive question, the list being detailed by Adam Schiff:

Re the AI video, it is not possible to jailbreak ChatGPT or any LLM either. The presenter is being disingenuous. At best he has modified the way the “voice” reacts to him, which anyone can do in settings.

Most commercial AI systems like OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), Microsoft (Copilot), Perplexity, etc.  all work the same way: the…[Read more]