I find this illustrative of how easily led and stupid the great majority of humans are. Berkley law students. That should mean something,…[Read more]

All of this is further complicated by shifting allegiances and overlapping interests.

I recall hearing an interview in the Nineties and with Alan Handleman of a Michigan Militia head who said that the membership included Muslims. Guess somebody was doing dress rehearsals.

Right-Winger Tucker Carlson also has waxed glowingly…[Read more]

There were 2977 deaths of victims from the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks. Any comparison of terrorist deaths between Islamist terrorists and any other terrorists from 2001 onward that doesn’t account for these victims is an absolutely crummy study, either on setting parameters or counting. And if this is the best PBS can do, it’s a small…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
i did not notice anything about Islamic terorism.

Based on government and independent analyses, right-wing extremist violence has been responsible for the overwhelming majority of fatalities, amounting to approximately 75% to 80% of U.S. domestic terrorism deaths since 2001.

Illustrative cases include the 2015 Charleston church…

[Read more]

Another story with more detail on the SPLC. “Forward” was a favorite word of You Know Who Else:

After Allegations Of Toxic Culture, Southern Poverty Law Center Tries To Move Forward
April 17, 20195:01 AM ET
Heard on Morning…[Read more]

The SPLC isn’t good at “living the Dream.”
Famous civil rights group suffers from ‘systemic culture of racism and sexism,’ staffers say
By Nick Valencia and Pamela Kirkland, CNN
6 min read
Published 6:12 AM EDT, Fri March 29, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/29/us/splc-leadership-crisis/

Politics should be divorced from this shit but good luck with that. I wonder how the far left attacks/violence line up with far right. Right has Waco wack job Branch Davidians and Timothy McVeigh and idk how many lone wolves and some other major incidents. Not sure how the shootings in schools are even categorized. Obviously…[Read more]

The Hate Map of the the Southern Poverty Law Center (SCLP) has several categories of ideologies that are mostly considered Far Right, including Anti-Muslim–but has no category for Muslim-Identifying Hate Groups or for Pro-Palestine Hate Groups, even though those would probably be about as numerous as the other categories:

Hate…[Read more]

Seems like a weird indictment…for paying informants? Stoking racial hatred? How did the informants do that?

Some years ago i read a book written by one of the top dogs in Southern Poverty Law Center. I don’t remember a lefty bent. Maybe i just wasn’t hip to it. Is there some indication they only want to uncover far right hate groups?…[Read more]

It never helps when those who proport to fight hateful, deadly ideologies turn around and assist them. Or when the Department of Justice is run by a drunk frat boy:

Civil rights organization indicted for paying informants in hate groups
Apr 21, 2026 at 01:33 PM EDT
Updated Apr 21, 2026 at 06:48 PM EDT
Eva Fedderly, Ally…[Read more]

It never helps when those who proport to fight hateful, deadly ideologies turn around and assist them. Or when the Department of Justice is run by a drunk frat boy:

Civil rights organization indicted for paying informants in hate groups
Apr 21, 2026 at 01:33 PM EDT
Updated Apr 21, 2026 at 06:48 PM EDT
Eva Fedderly, Ally…[Read more]

Ask me and I’d say this is The Self-Harm Club for Men. Does the Club have a President who is also a Patient?

Offhand, I’d say that true Masculinity is a man having spatio-temporal coordinates and being in one piece. Looks are just working on points for style.

Funny stuff on cult/religion. Funny cuz of its accuracy. And as i’ve indicated here a discreet cult of say 500 carrying on precisely as hard core Muslims would be viewed as a departure from any form of decent way to live. Cult members would be seen as victims who outside world helps to deprogram.

The deliberate entanglement in the…[Read more]

How many 10s or 100s of millions have died as a direct result of beliefs? Without looking at a search engine a group of educated people could come up with the goods to back the numbers i have given. Pol Pot was not a Scot.

There was one scholar who compiled the numbers of people murdered by their own government, not including warfare, in…[Read more]

If ya ain’t got the goods shut your fucking mouth or sell it to somebody who is no brighter than a rock baking in the sun.

Beliefs. How many times have i heard sentiments along the lines, ‘i don’t care about other’s beliefs as long as it does not affect me.’ Fooling a human is no more difficult than a dog that we train. There is nobody home in the majority of cases in which humans are hoodwinked by you name the ideology: communism, palestinianism,…[Read more]

I don’t speak for Strega, but beliefs are rational if they are based on evidence. Belief in supernatural beings are not rational and many believers, both clergy and laity, will concede that.

Now, not all beliefs held by any given person are irrational or rational. People frequently compartmentalize their beliefs.

As one example,…[Read more]

You wrote:

You asked where I work. I have worked in higher education for over 35 years as staff and recently as faculty, and I have watched the broader culture change. The changes in culture and law involve gender, pronouns, marriage, and related, and thus these changes impact corporate environments including policy.

I see.

Are…[Read more]

A religion is by definition a faith based construct, for which belief  is required, not reason. [emphasis added]… I suppose Religion could be arational – that might fit.
I agree that human beings often act as irr…

[Read more]

Ok, that’s a fair question. The word “forced” is too strong. In the article, the employee was offended by the email. I mean “forced” in a similar way. The issue is corporate culture, and indeed, the broader culture. You asked where I work. I have worked in higher education for over 35 years as staff and recently as faculty, and…[Read more]

1) Call me naive, I only learned about mogging today. Here’s a 1 minute intro:

2) Here it is in a Hegsethian context, within the Trumpian context. I like the whole episode but jump into it where it serves comedic effect wrt mogging, leaving 9 minutes to…[Read more]

Even so, customers should not be giving out their tracks unless they strike up a friendly conversation with another customer or even an employee and it’s a personal interaction.

If religionists wish to give out literature on a street corner while picking up any litter and allowing free movement of pedestrians or if they want to r…[Read more]

Remember Kim Davis in Kentucky? She was an elected county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Courts ordered her to comply. She refused and was briefly jailed for contempt of court.

Can a public official refuse to carry out a legal duty because of personal beliefs? There are two fundamentally different ways to…

[Read more]

Even so, one could tolerate her beliefs and maybe an opportunity may arise where a real dialog could happen.

As I recall from my reading, the gods mentioned in both The Tower of Babel myth and the Icarrus myth were jealous gods who didn’t want Man getting literally uppity. Believers in gods like these can’t possibly have a high…[Read more]

Were it not for indoctrination and the personal stake and emotions of wish thinking then god(s) would be as easy to discard as Santa Clause or fill in the blank. It is childish. It is infantile. But we are human and there you are.

So, from an atheistic perspective, our “nature” evolved in such a way that these experiences are universal? Is that what you are saying?

An important category distinction to make here:

Atheism is a philosophical position of non-belief in the existence of a supernatural being.

Evolution is a scientific explanation based on evi…[Read more]

I’ve watched some of Discovery, but didn’t like it as much. I also watch a few episodes of a new series, Star Trek Academy.  Finally, I’ve watched several Strange New Worlds and it feels a little like TOS but upgraded to modern cinematic technology.  Even so, the real science of space travel and many other things in the S…[Read more]

A religion is by definition a faith based construct, for which belief  is required, not reason.

A Venn diagram of Religion and Rationality would barely touch at their potential meeting point.
I suppose Religion could be…[Read more]

“Well, I don’t believe in learning other languages. I believe God gave men different tongues and divided them at The Tower of Babel and that’s how it’s meant to be.”

How very sad!  The woman’s faith system that said that statement… that thinks humanity should be divided this way has completely missed (a) the point of Babel a…[Read more]

To address your workplace concerns, first, understand, I’m not lumping you in with other religionists, but I’m just recounting what I’ve encountered:

I myself take my breaks and eat my lunch alone and only try to talk shop, not philosophy or religion. Politics sometimes unavoidably comes up at work with talk about health care…[Read more]

For me the issue is never “belief vs belie…[Read more]

I may be your token believer, but you have to admit, Star Trek, Tony Stark, and a lot of other “science myths” are fun aspects of telling some powerful – very human – stories! I know, I know – the worldview of many of these fictional universes generally support you all as “unbelievers” but human stories are human, regardless of…

[Read more]

Hi Fuller

Oh i remember. I recall. Not that i forgot at all. The afternoon, the street. Sweet convergence then unknown but put down with a given with the pencil of intent in which true meandering is written.

So i have been mulling Craig the apologist shill piece of human excrement aka a holy mofo and his takes on morality. I…[Read more]

I may be your token believer, but you have to admit, Star Trek, Tony Stark, and a lot of other “science myths” are fun aspects of telling some powerful  – very human – stories! I know, I know – the worldview of many of these fictional universes generally support you all as “unbelievers” but human…[Read more]

The article you linked on the topic, “Federal workers are having to endure Christian indoctrination in the workplace.” is interesting. As a theist, I strongly oppose the overall ideas, seeming values, and many of the practices of the current MAGA movement and the current US executive and…[Read more]

But when the “me” and “you” are are skeptics or blasphemers, or mothers and children not living and toiling in laundries as “us” dictate as “proper,” or a builder wanting to build new housing that might run against the aesthetics of “us”, the “us” can be a real buzz-kill on life.

And while having necessities and amenities within 15 minutes…[Read more]

Uh-Oh! The Tartaria Conspiracy-ologists are going to glom onto the mud volcanoes and claim that this was what destroyed the “Empire” of giants and all of their advanced technology of spired buildings providing “healing frequencies” and “free” energy!
🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

Yeah, there really is…[Read more]

This writer gets it about who the original “Doomers” are on the subject of AI:
The AI Doomers Who Are Playing With Fire
By Matt Novak
Published April 18, 2026, 8:00 am ET
Reading time 7 minutes
https://gizmodo.com/the-ai-doomers-who-are-playing-with-fire-2000747606

Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, et. al.…[Read more]

People tend to think in terms of community, family, and shared identity. There’s more value placed on cooperating and supporting each other. I would say that social norms often lean toward “we” over “me”.

But it is also a liberal society. We do have a small but vocal…[Read more]

Why more Americans are now moving to Ireland.

The Americans who can move anywhere else have not just First World Problems but Starfleet Federation Problems. They obviously aren’t impacted by tarrifs or rising fuel prices. The rest of us are stuck here.

🎶One of these things is not like the other. One of these things does not…[Read more]