Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Republican lawmakers consider a massive expansion of North Carolina’s private school voucher program. Things ain’t okay for schoolchildren in Oklahoma either.  But high school in Utah can be more fun than you expect it to be.

Support for legal abortion is widespread in many countries, especially in Europe while nonreligious Americans are the new abortion voters.

The Dalai Lama is coming back to haunt China.

Members of the Religion of Peace stone a man to death for blaspheming their imaginary god.

German Catholic church ‘dying painful death’ as 520,000 leave in a year.

Anti-Transgender legislation: A classic case of voter manipulation.

Neil Gorsuch has a problem with telling the truth while SCOTUS rules that religious discrimination is now legal.

If the State allows Christians to take Sunday off work, does that mean that employers will have to ask atheists to cover for them?  If someone works Sunday, will they be deemed to be an atheist in their locality or be forced to come out as atheist only to be met with further discrimination and hatred? Worse still, is the State not in violation of the Establishment Clause by ruling in favor of religion in the public sphere? I think it is, so please tell me if I am wrong.

The cast of Netflix’s hit show Heartstopper gave anti-LGBTQ+ religious protesters the middle finger at Pride in London.

You may need to prepare as Bud Light has triggered the End Times.

World of Woo: Propaganda, Russia’s Secret ‘War Against the West’.

Environment: What we have here is a failure to communicate.

The hard problem of consciousness is a difficult problem to crack.

Do you agree with the definition of ‘agnostic’ is this article?

Faith-based beliefs are inescapable in science.

India’s long goodbye to Darwin.

Could the expanding Universe truly be a mirage?

My conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Middle East nations took seven of the top 10 slots in a ranking of the top blockers of virtual private networks (VPNs) globally.

Long Reads: How plastics are poisoning us. No Justice without Love. The human-chimp bond captured in an iconic photo. A simple explanation of quantum entanglement. Hollywood has a Climate Problem.

Sunday Book Club: The Myth of Sisyphus.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  These are interesting questions to ask theists. There’s more to life than being happy. Putin takes a beating (A Naked Gun Parody).

• This topic was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by  Reg the Fronkey Farmer.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by  Reg the Fronkey Farmer. Reason: edited the Sunday off work link

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Have a great week everyone!

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

Earlier this past month, I seen a documentary about a little-known fact of World War II. Having seen it makes me so damn glad on this Independence Day Weekend that the 13 Colonies broke from an Empire that let terrible things transpire in it’s own midst just right across its pond.

The documentary was Hitler’s England narrated by John Nettles, the actor who played Detective Bergerac in the eponymous BBC TV show.

Basically, it tells how The Channel Islands–who had been loyal to the Crown since the 1200s–got abandoned by the The British Empire to Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1945. It also tells of Russian POWs who were brought over by the Nazis to do slave labor on the tunnels and fortifications, as well as both Channel Island collaborators and some of the few who did acts of resistance.

The thoughts that kept running through my mind were: “Would the British Empire have done something as treacherous to the 13 Colonies had we remained a part of the Empire?”. And “Why didn’t Channel Islanders resist the Nazi even more and then demand their own Independence from the British Empire after the War?”

Well, Void Bless The U.S.A. and it’s Republic if we can keep it and may we regain appreciation of what freedom means!

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Addendum

[UnseenParticipant]

While disagreeing with the Supremes’ decisions on affirmative action, student debt relief, and others, I think they made the right decisions on state legislatures being insulated from court supervision and the “LGBTQ decision.”

My reasoning is that creative people are different from laborers, normal contractors, and professionals in that they do more than just a task or job. They are expected to put themselves in their work and their work represents them in a different way than the more mundane kind of work.

Let’s do a bit of a thought problem here.

In the context of the American justice system, consider that Picasso has painted the ultimate antiwar painting in Guernica and yet he believes gay marriage is wrong. So, let’s imagine a gay person wants him to paint a painting the equal of Guernica celebrating gay Nazis (and yes, there were gay Nazis…lots of them).

In our system, that would be illegal?

 

 

[UnseenParticipant]

To expand on my previous post since I can no longer edit it, to put my point in much simpler terms.

Creative artists are different, and it’s wrong to ask them to represent political views they find repugnant in their works simply because the person seeking their work is in a protected class.

If you think about it, what people in protected classes want clashes with First Amendment protections.

We have free speech in the U.S., and it’s legal to be a Nazi, racist, misogynist, homophobe, or atheist and to express those views in creative works. It’s the First Amendment, stupid.

If you’re an atheist in any of the creative arts or crafts and you are asked to create a pro-religious product, don’t you want the right to refuse based on your fundamental belief that religion is wrong and harmful? That is what is at stake.

[UnseenParticipant]

@Enco

War forces governments to make hard choices. For example, to let the enemy successfully attack one’s ships or troops even though the attacks could be prevented, but the problem is in doing so the enemy would know that you’re reading their communications.

I’m guessing that preserving the home island came first. A very rational decision.

They did take the Channel Islands back when they could safely do so, did they not?

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Unseen,

@Enco

War forces governments to make hard choices. For example, to let the enemy successfully attack one’s ships or troops even though the attacks could be prevented, but the problem is in doing so the enemy would know that you’re reading their communications.

By that standard, no defense or counter-attack could ever be permitted. The key to successful defense and counter-attack should be making the enemy run out of ammo, fuel, food, logistics, and morale, not to mention using diversion, stealth, and surprise.

I’m guessing that preserving the home island came first. A very rational decision.

They did take the Channel Islands back when they could safely do so, did they not?

The thing is that Great Britain had forces on the Islands but withdrew them. Also, Great Britain was sending troops and supplies to France, which had surrendered in 6 weeks. And the Nazis used seizure of the Channel Islands and the friendliness of the Islanders as a propaganda measure.

Word also came out from hush-hushed British documents requested by modern-day Russia that the Nazis built forced labor camps for European and Russian P.O.Ws on the Channel Islands and that hundreds of the P.O.W.s had died or were killed. So now Putin has a propaganda tool against Great Britain.

Alderney Camps–Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alderney_camps

While Great Britain did get back the Island after the war, before they did, Churchill’s War Bureau refused to send food aid ships, saying “They can starve to death in their own fashion.” It was never clarified whether that was directed at the Nazis on the Island or the Channel Islanders and Churchill was probably too busy nursing a Beefeater’s Gin bottle for breakfast.

The whole story was saddening, maddening, and sickening.

It was saddening that the few people who resisted met bad fates or couldn’t do more. 😞

It was maddening that “we shall fight them in the fields and in the streets…” didn’t include the Channel Islands. 🤬

And it was sickening to hear that there were Channel Islander women who thought the German troops looked “sharp,” “smart,” and–wait for it–“sexy.” 🤢

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling and addendum

[NoelParticipant]

Thanks for the Sunday School Reg!

“Neil Gorsuch has a problem with telling the truth while SCOTUS rules that religious discrimination is now legal.

If the State allows Christians to take Sunday off work, does that mean that employers will have to ask atheists to cover for them? If someone works Sunday, will they be deemed to be an atheist in their locality or be forced to come out as atheist only to be met with further discrimination and hatred? Worse still, is the State not in violation of the Establishment Clause by ruling in favor of religion in the public sphere? I think it is, so please tell me if I am wrong.”

The Supreme Court ruled that a person can be allow to refuse service to someone if it goes against their beliefs. There are a lot of assholes out there that think that people of color are inferior to themselves. That people of color should be forced to use separate bathrooms. There are a lot of assholes out there that have deep convictions and antipathy towards Jews, Moslems, Druids, etc. So would the ruling allow them to excercise that First Amendment right and just poo poo the Fourteenth? Because of the their deeply held personal convictions?

[NoelParticipant]

“German Catholic church ‘dying painful death’ as 520,000 leave in a year.”

Weird! I was walking my dog Coltrane and always don my headphones to listen to tunes on the walk. Gravitated to Apples New “Classical” app and dialed up Beethoven’s 9th. You know the one where he was completely deaf but managed to still roll out a masterpiece. In the fifth movement, the one with the vocals, I listened to the words (everyone I know calls it “Ode to Joy”) and despite it being in German I looked up the translation to the lyrics. They’re all about god and the glory of god and how god will grant you peace. Now reading this article about Germans leaving the religion that gave them that I’m a little bummed. These people wrote masterpieces in the name of that religion. Now they’re abandoning it. Good for them!

[NoelParticipant]

“Some photographs taken last week.”

Gravitated to the website for this photograph.

Stan Lee and the illustrators at Marvel Comics would be proud. Someone invented Dr. Octopus’s arms! Now for Steve Rogers shield, and Iron Mans metal suit.

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/_iPp4MTO3Akg-81WG0XaDXC4Ig8=/1500×1040/media/img/photo/2023/06/photos-week-5/a10_RC28O1ANROHY/original.jpg

[UnseenParticipant]

By that standard, no defense or counter-attack could ever be permitted. The key to successful defense and counter-attack should be making the enemy run out of ammo, fuel, food, logistics, and morale, not to mention using diversion, stealth, and surprise.

After the fall of France in June 1940, the British government determined that the defense of the Channel Islands was not feasible due to their proximity to the French coast and the limited military resources available. After all, the invasion of the main island by a (at that time) superior military power with an effective air force and battle-hardened troops was the overriding concern. Consequently, the decision was made to demilitarize the islands and withdraw British troops and to return when there was a realistic prospect of success.

The thing is that Great Britain had forces on the Islands but withdrew them. Also, Great Britain was sending troops and supplies to France, which had surrendered in 6 weeks. And the Nazis used seizure of the Channel Islands and the friendliness of the Islanders as a propaganda measure.

Friendly? Maybe on the face to deal with a fact of life, but are you implying they were actually pro-Nazi? I doubt it. More likely it was an understandable attitude aimed at self-preservation.

Word also came out from hush-hushed British documents requested by modern-day Russia that the Nazis built forced labor camps for European and Russian P.O.Ws on the Channel Islands and that hundreds of the P.O.W.s had died or were killed. So now Putin has a propaganda tool against Great Britain.

Putin? A tool to use to effect on which audience, exactly.

[UnseenParticipant]

@Noel

Bach, too, wrote religious masterpieces, and the ones that weren’t specifically for religious purposes were dedicated to the dubious “glory” of the imaginary sorcerer in the sky.

Atheists or even agnostics were not exactly a dime a dozen back then and a nonbelieving musician who depended on patronage for survival wisely kept his doubts to himself.

[StregaModerator]

On the subject of WWII and the Channel Islands, evacuations were offered and effected. It wasn’t an entire abandonment.

Bloody hell I hope that link works.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by  Reg the Fronkey Farmer. Reason: Link works now 🙂

[UnseenParticipant]

@strega

This link works equally well and is much shorter:

https://tinyurl.com/52sehhcn

There are websites that shorten long links. However, TinyUrl is supposedly the best totally free one. All the other ones have limited free plans at best.

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