TheEncogitationer

Jake and Simon:

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]

Simon:

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]

Jake:

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]

Jake:

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/

Jake:

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]

Jake:

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]

Jake:

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]

PopeBeanie:

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.

Jake:

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]

Fullermingjr:

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]

FullermingJr:

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]

Reg:

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]

Fullermingjr:

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]

Fullermingjr:

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]

Reg:

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]

PopeBeanie:

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!
🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪