What is more damaging in Western societies religion or conspiratorial thinking?

David1955 comments on Apr 24, 2020:

Well, my loathing of religions is well known. On conspiracies, the more I see of the corruption, officially santioned criminality, collusion, and perversion of good governance in the US, the more I understand why so many people there see conspiring going on at the highest levels. Of course, I have lived through the 60s assassinations, Pentagon papers, Watergate, CIA and FBI revealed criminal collusion, just to name some, so I tend to take nothing at face value anymore. Power corrupts, power colludes and power conspires to conceal it. This the great lesson of the past 50 years.

Read a comment that said being "atheist" was claiming there is no god.

David1955 comments on Apr 24, 2020:

Some theists and even agnostics claim this. It is false. You don't have to prove a negative. And anyway, there are literally thousands of gods in human culture. Ought atheists prove each one does not exist? Stupid. In response I usually say, "Do you believe in dragons? No? Then prove they don't exist. "

Smokers 'four times less likely' to contract Covid-19, prompting nicotine patch trials on patients

David1955 comments on Apr 24, 2020:

Well now I've heard everything. I have read that those with weakened lungs often succumb to this virus. Last I heard, smoking is not real beneficial to the lungs. The world has truly gone crazy.

Ok I've seen christianity described as a 'doomsday cult" and a "death cult", but can we describe it ...

David1955 comments on Apr 22, 2020:

I consider it a death cult. Always have. Torture and death go together in such cults. What else would glorifying crucification be?

It is dumb to blame China, or any country for the epidemic.

David1955 comments on Apr 21, 2020:

While we can criticise the Chinese government's handling of the crisis initially, that's the corrupt authoritarian government of that country. As to the virus, I also wrote in a post a while back that ultimately where these come from is still a mystery. The 1918 Spanish Flu may have originated in the US. Do we blame America? No. I got dumped on in the post by people saying that, supposedly, all these people predicted years ago a virus would come from that part of China. Ok, fine. They are fortune tellers.

Corona virus has shown us once again how useless religion is.

David1955 comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Yes. I keeping asking what the impact will be on the increasingly secular younger populations. The irrelevance of religion and the power of science in evidence.

This was one of my favorite Dawkins Debates.

David1955 comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Terrible performance by Pell. I remember watching it back then. Why did God choose the Jews, since the Egyptions were more advanced, he asks? Duh! We evolved from Neandathols. Double Duh! We know this because they aren't around anymore. Triple Duh! The look on Dawkin's face. It was shameful to pitch a doofus like Pell against Dawkins. But that's our ABC, now. Anything for ratings, entertainment, forget serious debate. As an Australian I was appalled by this episode.

The presumptive nominee.

David1955 comments on Apr 19, 2020:

Another disastrous Biden interview again today, on CNN I see. It is going to be tortuous watching this Biden Train Wreck when he actually has to stand next to Trump and try to get a sentence out. After the catastrophe, all the corporate media and the corrupt Democratic Party will stand there saying, 'We never saw it coming." No, it's hard to see things when you close your eyes, hold your hands over your ears, and say, like the recently late comic (due to COVID-19) Tim Brooke-Taylor used to say in humour, 'I'm a tea pot! I'm a tea pot! I'm a tea pot!".

Bill had a great interview with a very astute Conservative from Texas.

David1955 comments on Apr 18, 2020:

I saw it. His conservative spin was: Trump doesn't lie, he justs projects 'positive' because that's what marketing people do. (rationalization). The Democrats are just as bad. (false equivalence) I don't agree with all Trump's actions, but look how great he has been at the economy! (Well, before the virus) (false equivalence, evasion) How could Trump have handled COVID-19 better? What is he, a fortune teller? (blatantly false, given facts) I'm a veteran, so be nice and don't challenge my thinly disguised right wing views too much. (emotional blackmail) In my view, though I'm a great fan of Bill Maher, he wasn't up to this interview. A better progressive doing a deconstruction of this guy's smiley devious apologism for Trump was needed.

Feds charge San Diego physician Jennings Staley, the drug hydroxychloroquine​, approved to treat ...

David1955 comments on Apr 18, 2020:

Because your President is effectively above the law, a situation which is absurd given American posturing and bragging about breaking away from the Old World and Kings.

I would love to see how they make this app compulsory, and what would they do with me?

David1955 comments on Apr 17, 2020:

It's so stupid. It assumes people won't leave them behind or off. But, on the other hand it's curious that people are happy to have their lives tracked by big brother both corporate and government, as long as they don't think about it. (Ever listened to Edward Snowden? We know so much about this stuff due to him.) But publicly tell people about an App, and up their backs get.

When I am explaining about Atheists, Many People are not ready to listen but due to Covid-19 ,All ...

David1955 comments on Apr 17, 2020:

Well, this is an interesting issue, but it needs a little parsing, in my view. Usually, catastrophes work to religion's advantage. But this is different. No good flocking to churches now. God's "House' will not save you. God and Jesus won't turn up either. (They never do.) This terrible virus has brought home how fundamentally important science is, and how impotent religion is, in my view. But the real issue, in my humble view, will be the impact on the young, eg Millennials. We know from research that secularism and apatheism is rife amongst the younger groups. This experience has been a further wake up call for them, namely how *irrelevant* religion is when the chips are really down; how important facts, evidence, science and reason are instead. It is hard to say, but I am looking forward to reading research in the future about the impact of this virus on their thinking and behavior. I do not believe it will be in religion's favour. Also to mention the appalling behaviour of evangelical religions in America, especially during this crisis. Real colours revealed. Rampant hypocrisy.

I have just started reading Bertrand Russell's essay "Why I am not a Christian".

David1955 comments on Apr 17, 2020:

If you haven't read his essay about why he was an atheist instead of an agnostic, I recommend it. His thinking on the subject is unsurpassed in my view, and I've yet to encounter serious challenge to his argument that agnosticism is a problematic position.

I'd like to see Joe Biden challenge trump to a fistfight.

David1955 comments on Apr 15, 2020:

Trump would KO Biden in 5 seconds. Don't be fooled. Trump is a street fighter. Coward, yes, but he'd drop Biden standing there playing by Queensberry rules. I fear the same will happen figuratively in any debate they have. Biden is fast on his feet like a dinosaur in quicksand.

Ever wonder what possesses a religious person to come onto an Agnostic/Atheist site and pretend that...

David1955 comments on Apr 15, 2020:

Who? Such people should be outed, if the case is made. I have suspected that a few so called agnostics here fall into that category and I have called them out as pseudo religionists. John Lennon put it well: 'One thing you can't hide, is when you're crippled inside.' As to why, it's obvious. Religious people get self confirmation when they feel they are infecting others.

To the Biden Supporters.

David1955 comments on Apr 13, 2020:

Speaking from an international perspective, you absolutely nailed the situation. Biden's supporters can be delusional; the corporate corrupt media can be delusional; the Democratic Party can be delusional. However, there is no reason why progressives and the Left need or should be delusional. Again speaking from an international perspective, I expect Trump to win, yes, despite Corona virus, and may the God I don't believe in help us all, wherever we are. This situation has not resulted in a vacuum, but is the result of America's utter corruption at the top. I know huge numbers of good Americans know this too.

I'd like to introduce you to our new community manager, @CommunityTom who is starting this week.

David1955 comments on Apr 13, 2020:

"help us to advocate atheist-related causes"....."has proved himself to be a kind and motivated atheist leader"...."runs a centrist atheist organization.." I like him already! Thou art most welcome @CommunityTom

Just a thought for Americans.

David1955 comments on Apr 13, 2020:

Do you think the impact will be that great, statistically? Moreover, the US has optional voting. Huge numbers of younger people may not vote, due to the hopeless Democratic Party and silly old Biden. It is clear that the US Establishment will destroy any real progressive candidate. Look what Obama did to Bernie recently. Don't know where they go from here. The US is so corrupt at the top. I fear Trump will win gain. 'God' help America; 'God' help us all.

Biggest COVID 19 threat to the world - USA [independentaustralia.net].

David1955 comments on Apr 13, 2020:

I've had to stop watching TV cable news. Just too terrible. I feel very sorry for our American cousins. And still millions or moronic Trump Cultists follow him, many to their deaths. An American Tragedy, indeed. A failure of US systems, political, legal, administrative, and medical, all leading to Trump and from Trump to tragedy. The only bright spot is that some Governors are doing such a good job, given their circumstances. Overall, it's like watching a third world country, which, as some commentators have said, America has sort of become.

One might say that there is an air of intellectual superiority about enthusiastic libertarians, ...

David1955 comments on Apr 12, 2020:

There is and has been, particularly post 1930s Depression. It is called a Mixed Economy, a balance of public and private enterprise, which is the basis of social democratic political and economic ideology, much maligned by the Right as 'Socialism" which they falsely equate to Communism. It was particularly effective in the post WW2 decades, in both economic and social outcomes, until the rise of economic rationalism and its ilk in the late 1970s which has been disastrous, again both in economic and social outcomes. So, it is not a matter of creating something new in economics, but returning to economic theory that balances both economic and social outcomes. Simply put, the contagion of extreme Right Wing ideology needs to be neutralized in much the same way that the current viral contagion needs to be.

‪Pastor says his worshippers would rather die than miss his services [the-sun.com]‬

David1955 comments on Apr 9, 2020:

As long as they give some money to him before they die. Bastard.

With all these churches having services and spreading a deadly disease, it feels like survival of ...

David1955 comments on Apr 9, 2020:

Let's be honest. These churches want people to turn up at services so they can GET MONEY out of them. They are businesses, first and foremost, all of them, especially these evangelist religions, but all of them really. They are exposing their real motives.

Out in time for Easter ... Unreal!

David1955 comments on Apr 9, 2020:

He doesn't seem to be Cardinalling, I see, I mean in Cardinal garb.. He hasn't had his frock taken away, has he? Pope Frank-the-Wanker will probably want him back in the 'Holy City' to start looking for more billions of money, like last time. He's good at that, apparently. What a farce! Still, I blame millions of kitchen Catholics who hang on to this criminal organization, for no good reason that I can see.

Who avoids discussing religion and spirituality?

David1955 comments on Apr 8, 2020:

I don't. I condemn the first, and dismiss the other as woo woo. That's why I'm so popular! :-) One shouldn't be apathetic about religion in my view; but proactive, in neutralizing it.

Joe Biden Ad: Medicare for All Would Be an Insult to My Dead Son - VICE

David1955 comments on Apr 7, 2020:

Watching US cable tv, CNN and MSNBC in particular, you can tell that they know that Biden is in significant mental decline, and they shield it as much as possible, and since they've invested so much in supporting him, though thinly veiled, they are just praying that he'll get there, win the election, and somehow it will work out. Purely delusional behaviour. He won't get there; the Democratic Party nomination process will fall into a heap, and you can see this train wreck a mile off.

What a bloody travesty of Justice in Australia and a Judicial "Up Yours" to ALL Victims and ...

David1955 comments on Apr 6, 2020:

How about you tell us what you really think? :-) You know, I'm beginning to think there really is a God, and he's a total prick and pricks serve him.

Fuck me George Pell just got his conviction squashed. Lost for words except fuck the high court

David1955 comments on Apr 6, 2020:

Hate to play devil's advocate, but the case was problematic, and though I despise the man, in a way I'm not surprised.

Why are we condoning our members wishing infection and death upon people for flaunting gathering ...

David1955 comments on Apr 6, 2020:

Quite wrong to say such things, and you are right to call it out.

The end of capitalism.

David1955 comments on Apr 6, 2020:

Not Communism surely, but social democracy, which in fact was the dominant economic model post depression and WW2, to varying degrees in the western world, and which yielded major socio-economic gains, until the economic virus of neoliberalism infected the western world in the late 70s and 80s. It would be an irony indeed if a biological virus helped wipe out that economic virus. But know this: after the so-called GFC a decade or more ago, (I call it CCC - Cyclical Collapse in Capitalism) there was a lot of talk about reforming Capitalism that never happened. The right wing economic fundamentalists took the money and then thwarted serious reform. I predict the same here. They'll take the money then subvert reform.

Trump Fires Inspector General Who Handled Impeachment Complaint In what critics say is ...

David1955 comments on Apr 5, 2020:

Straight out of the Autocrat playbook. Hitler didn't create the Nazi state overnight. Bit by bit, dismantle by dismantle, elimination by elimination. The Weimar Republic's structures looked strong but were weak. The US Republic now likewise.

Mike Huckabee Claims COVID-19 Death Risk Small and Sin Risk Lethal Former Republican ...

David1955 comments on Apr 4, 2020:

Birdbrain Republican. Oh, that's a tautology, isn't it? If there's one positive outcome from this terrible virus, it might be that conservatives might learn that science and facts can't be ignored just because they are inconvenient or contrary with mysticism. Maybe.

How Trump let coronavirus take over America

David1955 comments on Apr 2, 2020:

In a parliamentary system, a PM or Minister resigns (or used to) as acceptance of responsibility for failure or incompetence. In the US system, no such convention exits. Bush resigning after incompetence leading to 9/11, after they dismantled Clinton structures watching Islamic terrorists? Never. Trump resigning due to criminal incompetence and inaction, which will lead to many more deaths than would have been the case? Again, never. Don't know where the Buck stops, but it sure doesn't stop with Trump, or the pirate Republican Party.

I tend to think THIS may be going just a bit too far.

David1955 comments on Apr 2, 2020:

Hard to see what the health issue was. He could give the Kebab the virus? The Kebab might give him the virus? Were he eating at home alone the risk would be the same. Over zealous cops who like sound of their own 2 cents of real authority.

MyPillow CEO Heaps Praise on Trump at Coronavirus Briefing President Trump turned a recent ...

David1955 comments on Apr 1, 2020:

Note to self: Never buy a pillow from this fanatic.

spread agnosticism

David1955 comments on Mar 31, 2020:

While you are at it, spread atheism.

If you have ever wondered about the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in November, ...

David1955 comments on Mar 30, 2020:

The killer lyric is this ballad is the following: "Don't worry, Mr. President, help's on the way Your brothers are comin', there'll be hell to pay Brothers? What brothers? What's this about hell? Tell them, "We're waiting, keep coming," we'll get them as well." Just when I thought Bob Dylan was past his use by date, here he comes with this extraordinary song, rich in political, cultural, historical and musical references. I wonder who Bob thinks "We" are in that verse?

[politico.

David1955 comments on Mar 29, 2020:

Yes, but at some point Biden has to perform as an actual functioning candidate, not just a myth of one harking back to his loyalty days to Obama. At that point the reality check will be enormous. The polls at the moment don't mean much, in my view. Don't know if you have watched any of his painful to watch interviews recently.

I know we all hate Trump, but seriously, why personify what is really a "vast, right-wing ...

David1955 comments on Mar 29, 2020:

I tend to think like a historian, because that was my first field and it is how my mind works. What are the causal factors? What is the wider context? What led to X or Y, thinking beyond contemporaneous thinking? So, the more I think about Trumpism, the more I put my historian hat on. I've come to think that the broad macro economic factors are the changes in American capitalism over the past 40 years, globalization, the creation of a great economic divide, the creation of a kind of underclass with a class grievance, which has mutated into the dreaded Trump Cult base, of which we all despair. But I also believe that while many of us rejoiced when Obama became President, because he was the first black President and because it seemed a wonderful correction after 8 years of the dim witted GB Bush Presidency, a great many in the US Ruling Class -- the corporate privileged elite and their instruments -- saw something very different. They feared the end of white rule in America. They saw non white America finding its voice and its power. They set about to thwart this trend. Never mind that Obama was nothing more than a corporate democrat, with little or no real progressive change agenda. Look at the Steve Bannons, and right wing forces around him, and you see what happened. They needed a populist, white grievance exploiting front man. They found one in a shonky businessman and reality show conman. The rest is history. As Trump destroys US credibility, structures and systems, the class behind him don't care. As more Americans die needlessly due to this virus due to Trump and co's incompetence they don't care. Yes, the US needs a massive populist progressive movement to rise up and do battle. Bernie has one, but they have scuttled that, through Obama and his ilk. Will this virus catastrophe bring about a popular uprising? I don't know. I hope so, or the US is finished.

Well the GOP is going to jump on this. Biden faces sexual assault claim. [yahoo.com]

David1955 comments on Mar 28, 2020:

Don't worry, the mainstream media are colluding to make sure it gets buried, like the reality of his cognitive decline. That lady has been trying to get the media to listen to her for some time, and the media has ignored her. Now, if it had been an accusation against Bernie, well...that's different.

Right-Wingers would rather believe Donald Jackass Trump, a failed "businessman," con artist, ...

David1955 comments on Mar 28, 2020:

That's what you do in a cult. The cult leader lies, steals, abuses you, even murders, but the cult leader can do no wrong and everyone else is lying about him.

ST: Picard s01e10 As far as I know, the last episode of this season.

David1955 comments on Mar 28, 2020:

Well, I saw it. And I agree. A real Hollywood happy ending. The death of Data and the goodbye scene with Picard was quite good however. I never forget that in Roddenberry's day he pushed boundaries, fought with studios, stood his ground, and pressed his vision. That's what we love about ST TOS 66-69, even now. Now, ST is everything the US Military-industrial-corporate-security complex wants us to believe. Sorry, I remain aloof.

Okay Fellow Aussies and Aussie sceptics, I read through the Stimulus Proposals of the ScumMo ...

David1955 comments on Mar 27, 2020:

Of course. Right wingers are right wingers. Like the US, just like here. Give fortunes to business and crumbs to everyday people. Trickle down bullshit. Right wingers cannot bear the thought of giving anything to the 'undeserving' populace. But businesses and the wealthy, well they are always deserving. Watch as Australians go along with it and accept it. I like the French. When right wingers try to screw their entitlements the French go out and riot, burn cars and say no! The right wingers back off. Australians are push overs.

Colorado Pastor: I’m Ignoring All COVID-19 Safety Rules That Aren’t in the Bible | Hemant Mehta...

David1955 comments on Mar 27, 2020:

Stupid does as stupid prays.

Anti-theism

David1955 comments on Mar 27, 2020:

In the profile you can indicate antitheist. I most certainly am. Take care to be equally antitheist on all religions, that's all monotheistic religions. Antitheism should not be directed more to one than another. The history and practice of Christianity is just as horrid as Islam, or any other religion.

Mate of mine just flew back Thailand-Sydney.

David1955 comments on Mar 27, 2020:

He could infect a lot of people between arrival to Tamworth. I had family members just get back from Bali. Airport to home. Stay. Thats how i thought it worked.

Seems life insurers in Australia want to bail out of obligations for Covid19 payouts.

David1955 comments on Mar 27, 2020:

I was expecting that. They'll be a subclause, paragraph 3, dot 3 point, that allows exclusion in these circumstances. I've got life insurance and I bet if I kark it due to this thing it won't cover it. I have set my heart on karking it during a canter, or waltsing off during a power walk, or even jiffing off into oblivion during a jog, and that's what I'm going to do! I'm danged if I'm going to kark it because some fuckwit in China decided to have bat for lunch! Like, noodles wasn't good enough.

ST: Picard s01e10 As far as I know, the last episode of this season.

David1955 comments on Mar 26, 2020:

Don't spoil it... Don't spoil it.... Ok, let me guess... Picard has been an android all along and didn't know it. No? Well, I'll know tomorrow. I'll watch the final dark, grim episode then.

In case you haven't seen the DNC anti-Trump ad; scary stuff; [youtube.com]

David1955 comments on Mar 26, 2020:

The face of fascism.

Is this true and if so can we arrest him?

David1955 comments on Mar 25, 2020:

Your Republican Party is pure evil. I never use that term usually, but I cannot think of a more appropriate word. Why are so many Americans incapable of understanding that this party does not care about them, does not care if they live or die. Even cult thinking, which I've researched a lot in my time, does not explain why so many Americans are incapable of connecting self-interest to their understanding of politics.Have you read Trumps latest popularity poll results? Oh, by the way, the age of the post WW2 American Empire dies with this virus, I predict. It was teetering under Trump, now comes the final nail. The implications will be enormous, for all of us.

It's funny how one's views can alter over time, even on trivial matters.

David1955 comments on Mar 23, 2020:

I sort of get what you're saying. I watch modern Star Trek and feel it has descended into a darkness and a grimness I find at variance with the original series and Roddenberry's vision. Some true believer trekkers get snarky when I say that. I don't care. The original series posed that we were a better species dealing with the challenges of the trek out there. The new series see us as the same backbiting, backsliding and backstabbing people we are now, with a few 'heros', but surrounded by 24th century toys. Never forget, ST is not made by idealists like Roddenberry. It is made by studios with complex and insidious connections to the US military industrial corporate security complex, which has its tentacles in every facet of US news, TV, movie, and all other areas of entertainment and information services. Everything you watch in mainstream media in America is part of the manufactured consent and public discourse control exercised by the power elites who run the country, and for whom mainstream information and entertainment instruments ultimately serves. That includes Star Trek, and hence the dark dystopian themes they peddle now suits perfectly that manufactured consent, as Noam Chomsky, brilliant analyst of US power structures oft says. It's only entertainment, but I for one never forget what's really going on when I watch TV, movies, news and the rest, including Star Trek.

How many sincere atheists are on this site? Click on 'like' fer yes & 'wha' for wha!

David1955 comments on Mar 23, 2020:

I don't come across insincere atheists, either here or anywhere else. That's because the term atheist is so loaded, considered such a negative by so many ill-informed people, that calling oneself an atheist takes a degree of courage, or self- confidence certainly, that insincerity doesn't usually apply. From my experience atheists make a clear statement and doing that insincerely is at odds with that. You specifically asked about atheists and my comment is on that basis.

Today is march 23rd - Atheist International Day. Happy Atheist day to everyone

David1955 comments on Mar 22, 2020:

Didn't know that. Being as strident aa atheist as I am, I should have. Of course, the corporate media draw such attention to it, don't they. Oh wait, they don't.

Anyone else find pantheism (sexed up atheism) interesting?

David1955 comments on Mar 21, 2020:

Looking up the meaning of pantheism after reading this post, I couldn't help but think it's another new age god replacement sort of religion. I read lots of definitions. I didn't read anything about proof or evidence. I don't see it as anything to do with atheism.

A good portion of Trump's base is convinced that the Corvid-19 pandenic is a hoax.

David1955 comments on Mar 20, 2020:

A cruel analysis but can't blame you for making it. There's a price to pay for rank stupidity, and Trump cultists may soon find out, though it would be better if they just got wise, about Trump, about the virus, about everything. Cultists don't think, that's the problem. Their minds are corrupted.

I’m looking for an Agnostic.

David1955 comments on Mar 20, 2020:

You're looking for a Trump voter that employs the reasoning part of their brain. Those still supporting Trump are now cultists -- excluding rich religious types, who know he's a creep and liar but see him imposing their autocratic religious right wing agenda and continue to support him. The Trump Cultists, like all cultists, have a disconnection with reality, so the reasoning part of their brain is corrupted. For some that will never change. So, I do not believe you will find what you are looking for. You can't engage in reason with the non-rational.

I have a theory about karma.

David1955 comments on Mar 20, 2020:

I'm still waiting for Karma to strike Rupert Murdoch. By your theory that should have happened by now, given the a-holes who surround him 24/7. He's 80++++ No sign. He'll die in his bed (assuming he hasn't bought tech to keep him alive forever); not a karma in site. I read about little kids dying in cancer wards in hospitals. How does that karma work? What kind of a-holes could they possibly have been in the few years they have been alive? Karma -- a load of hooey, not just theoretically, but experientially, just by looking at life around us.

Trump Invokes Defense Production Act At a White House press conference, President Trump claimed...

David1955 comments on Mar 19, 2020:

Martial Law is on the way. Trump's dream. The evil genius of this guy is that he turns every disadvantage into an advantage -- for him; never mind the country, people or the world. Don't think that the Trump Cultists won't love that too. They will.

Happy days will be here again.

David1955 comments on Mar 18, 2020:

Yes, Trump will be reelected. Happy Times, Comrade Sinner in Moscow. You can stop crowing. Why don't you just piss off now and give us a break.

"Joe Biden wins big in primaries across America.

David1955 comments on Mar 18, 2020:

The Democratic nomination process is in effect over. The November election in effect is over, too. You and we poor bastards around the world, will have another 4 years of Trump. The scenarios are: Trump survives politically and medically to fight Biden in November. Biden will be defeated. Trump does not survive politically or medically, is replaced, and his successor faces Biden in November, and Biden is defeated even more resoundingly. That's it.

Trump claims he always knew it would be a pandemic

David1955 comments on Mar 18, 2020:

You've got to hand it to Trump. He's got perfect hindsight vision. What a trouper. What a sportsman. What an asshole.

The following is sinister from an Australian doctor - [m.facebook.com]

David1955 comments on Mar 17, 2020:

I don't understand the contradiction of buying food only a week ahead, but self isolating. Buying only a week ahead means going to supermarkets when things get worse. What is the best thing to do now?

It was no surprise to me in finding that the Dead Sea Scrolls are mostly forgeries.

David1955 comments on Mar 16, 2020:

Add them to the Bible; all forgeries together.

Well, I don't know about anyone else around my part of Western New South Wales, BUT as of today I'm ...

David1955 comments on Mar 16, 2020:

Don't want to spoil your party, but having had the NBN for years I can tell you that your paid speed will never be the same as your actual speed. Also, all that bru ha ha about NBN is all very well, but the weakest link will always be your router. It will drop out, be affected by other people's wifi, so if you think your rebooting days for your router are over, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Also, i hope you are a rich man and can afford the outrageous cost of the highest NBN speed. All the best. Were it not for my teaching, I would ditch NBN and just have mobile internet. I think Australia wasted a huge amount of money on fibre optic and should have gone for national mobile internet, with no friggen router required or boxes or wires at home. Just my view.

Empty Store Shelves, Shortages, High Anxiety Make no mistake.

David1955 comments on Mar 15, 2020:

You raise false equivalence to an art form. Got news for you. There aren't just capitalist societies and socialist societies. Most western countries have a mixed economy, with a balance of private and public sectors. The balance varies and changes with left and right wing governments. Most advanced countries are a version of social democracies based on a mixed economy. Right wingers don't get that. They rail against socialism, but are happy for wasteful trillions to be spent on the military and business perks etc. Where does that money come from? Taxation and the government. You're happy with that, right? Congratulations, you're a socialist. It really would be good if people watch less reality TV and other nonsense and try to understand a little political philosophy.

ST: Picard, a few criticisms, and a question Generally speaking, I find almost all the scenes to...

David1955 comments on Mar 15, 2020:

Yeah, I've been saying the same thing about the new ST series, including Picard. Dark and grim. None of the idealism of ST survives now. Also, Patrick Stewart's once wonderful voice is scratchy and thin. Not his fault; he's pushing 80 now. But i find ST a grim watching experience these days. Looking forward to the return of The Orville. In that series they still have their challenges, but we're a better species by then. In ST we are the same grubby species but surrounded by higher tech.

Anyone else wondering what Trump is up to behind the scenes?

David1955 comments on Mar 15, 2020:

Planning Martial Law. All dictators do this. They either manufacture, or take advantage of, a disaster, calamity or a crisis. Hello virus. Of course, it needs to be permanent to 'keep people safe'. With his spineless and/or complicit colleagues, and a weak or even again compliant legal system, who or what will stop him? Who or what has stopped him to date? Nothing and no one. You ask what he is up to? That.

Democrats and Their Media Allies Impugned Biden’s Cognitive Fitness. Now They Feign Outrage.

David1955 comments on Mar 15, 2020:

The last two weeks observing US politics has made it very clear what the struggle is in the US. It's not between the Democratic Party and Trump and his syncos in the Republican Party. It's between the US working population and the Establishment, which controls both parties, and has the same interests, despite feigned waring. That's what the political coup to sandbag Biden was all about. Now, whether Biden wins or Trump wins, the Establishment power structure is secured. I look at the likes of Obama, who was a main operative in this power cementing, and wonder how we could have been so wrong about him. You sold out man! as they used to say in the 60s. As for the corporate media, they're owned lock stock and barrel by the elite. How some of those 'journalists' sleep at night, given their feigned concern for working people, I'll never know.

You're watching a YouTube video about atheism and an ad from a religious organization pops,this is ...

David1955 comments on Mar 15, 2020:

Sounds like Google should look seriously at their famous, or is that infamous, algorithms on YouTube. Mathematical genius I am not, but even I would exclude religious content from atheist content. I wonder if they put atheist ads on religious content? A promo from the Richard Dawkins Foundation, for example. Funny.

I won't attack everyone with a religious or "spiritual" view.

David1955 comments on Mar 14, 2020:

So, any atheist who criticises religion is rabid and militant? Do you also equate "attack" with "criticise"? Your 'agnostic skeptic" position seems like the typical 20th Century agnosticism and atheism. Don't know if you noticed, but that tolerance was rewarded by Islamic fanaticism, religious fundamentalism, rancid evangelism and alike, so, many of us consider it to have been a failed approach, and serious progress has been made in this century by exposing fraudulent religious history, theology, administration and practice and criminality, by criticising and "attacking" it (if you like) and many of us wish to see more and more of it.

All 16 of the Museum of the Bible’s “Dead Sea Scrolls” Fragments Are Forgeries.

David1955 comments on Mar 14, 2020:

They belong in the Bible with all the other forgeries.

As Covid19 continues on its merry way, Mr.

David1955 comments on Mar 14, 2020:

I think Rudd's hand out during the GFC (Gross Fuckup in Capitalism) at least did help to ameliorate the effects, but Christo Scotty's puff up for business and morsels for the "lower orders" will, as you suggest, do not much. They love to give money to business, don't they? Right Wing DNA is the same everywhere. Also, while one should not rejoice in the misfortunes of others, of course, hearing of Dutton -- the most loathsome piece of human political excrement in Australia in living memory -- does rather suggest there may be something in this karma thing after all.

I hope it IS nails in their coffin.

David1955 comments on Mar 13, 2020:

I teach business people English in France, by online, and I am hearing that French companies are cancelling projects in China, relocating functions, and taking a different view long term about reliance on China. These are big decisions, not little tin pot decisions. So, I think your post is right, and not just the US, but Europe and elsewhere. China does need to be reigned in.

I would not be surprised if Trump suddenly claims that he has been tested and has the COVID`19, and ...

David1955 comments on Mar 13, 2020:

You mean 'mild', mild effects, right? Nothing would surprise me about Trump. He might find you cannot spin viruses, however.

I like atheism 2.0. [youtube.com]

David1955 comments on Mar 11, 2020:

Alain's gentler kinder nicer atheism.... I remember this from a few years ago. Trouble is, it sounds a lot like 20th Century 'be nice to religions' atheism, which was a disaster, as we saw from the rise of religious fundamentalism and toxic abrahamic religions, including Christianity. This was Alain's attempt to ameliorate what was dubbed a while back as "New Atheism" and its more strident approach. Well, I like that new 21st Century muscled up atheism. Did then, still do. Alain should stick to pop philosophy; his forays into the atheism debate are not helpful, and he'll never define exactly what his position is anyway.

I came across an interview I’d not seen before.

David1955 comments on Mar 11, 2020:

Oh he certainly talks very well. He's a good talker. I'll give him that. 2008, great speeches. 2012, more great speeches. Yep, I'll give him that. A good talker. In 2008 when asked about Obama, the late Gore Vidal in an interview said, "He makes wonderful speeches. I've heard Chicago Democrats make wonderful speeches for 50 years. But what is he going to do? I've heard nothing but speeches." He was a wise and perceptive and intuitive man.

Catholic Churches Are Removing Holy Water Out of Fear of Spreading Coronavirus | David Gee | ...

David1955 comments on Mar 10, 2020:

Surely holy water will kill anything! :-)

Australia sues Facebook over Cambridge Analytica, fine could scale to $529BN [techcrunch.com]

David1955 comments on Mar 10, 2020:

Sounds a bit like that Dr. Evil movie when he said he wanted a trillion zillion zillion dollars (or something crazy like that) from the US government as a ransom demand. Kind of laughable.

What happens when Trump wins again, but only by cheating that is revealed as such?

David1955 comments on Mar 10, 2020:

Nothing. It's America, home of the brave, not to mention weak and corrupt institutions.

I have noticed quite a few negative comments regarding the cognitive skills of one Democratic ...

David1955 comments on Mar 9, 2020:

I'm am truly sorry for the man if he is at an early stage of dementia or something like it. But the truth is he did well last week in most of those states because he HADN'T been in them much, or talking publicly. He is a man walking into a Trump slaughter house, a man with more baggage that Grand Central Station, and is as fast on his feet as a dinosaur in quicksand. The delusional pro Biden media and so called Establishment Democrats are somehow fooling themselves that Trump's "fear" of Biden will work for them, and that his corny brand of Kumbaya politics will somehow transport them back to 2015. It's beyond pathetic. It's all based on popularity association with Obama, especially with many black voters. I make the following prediction: if he gets nominated, Trump will jump at any chance to debate him, he will unravel like a ball of wool rolling down a hill, and the reality of his mental condition will be obvious to all, but by then it will be too late. Kiev Joe, Ukraine Joe and Goober his dipso son, and the rest of the Trump taunts and skewers will have impaled him, and then it will just a matter of seeing how disastrous the outcome will be. Trump must be licking his chops and salivating. How could his opponents have been so stupid and delusional. Well, it's the US Democratic Party, isn't? Thank you Obama for helping to save Joe's ass last week, behind the scenes. You weren't that much of a President, and the backlash right wing popularism you helped to foster by your 'All Art and No Matter' presidency will only get worse, due to your interference.

"If you are somehow still wondering why Black, Brown, poor and young people - the Bernie Folx - ...

David1955 comments on Mar 5, 2020:

So true. I see these groups supporting Biden and I ask what do they have to lose from a Bernie Presidency and what do they have to gain from another do nothing Democrat like Biden? Nothing, in both cases. But Biden will beat Trump, some say, including here on this site. Are they serious? The clearly early dementia Biden (gives me no pleasure to say that) will be political road kill on election night. My prediction is that his mental infirmity will become obvious to all well before November and it will be too late. This train wreck will be unstoppable. As you suggest, even if Biden wins, it will be right wing US policy as usual.

To all y'all that voted status quo joe toniggt, enjoy 4 more years of Trump..you deserve it..

David1955 comments on Mar 4, 2020:

Trump has pulled off another con job. He's conned the stupid Democratic Party and their brain dead media hacks that he is "terrified" of Biden. In truth he can't wait to pummel Biden into the floor. "Kiev Joe", "Ukraine Joe and Son" etc etc. He will use the same play book he used against "Crooked Hillary". And those dumb asses fell for it. It's BERNIE he's scared of, because he has a populist movement, and can't touch him except for 'socialist' which has worn off. Stupid Democratic Party. Stupid media people. On election night in November look for 'road kill Joe' on the floor, Trump triumphant, the path to US autocracy inexorable, and the stupid Democratic party and media hacks saying "how could this be?" Answer: because you are corrupt and stupid. Those of us on the Left saw it coming, again.

The Stop Sanders movement has gone public [cnn.

David1955 comments on Mar 3, 2020:

I observe the Establishment campaign to stop Bernie. I fear we are watching the final nail in America's coffin. The casket will close when Trump wins in November, and dottery old Joe is little more than political road kill. As a non American it is awful to watch this slow motion train wreck unfold.

Does anyone here understand Hegel? Even Schopenhauer thought he was too much!

David1955 comments on Mar 3, 2020:

I would never say I understand Hegel, but I studied Hegelian philosophy as part of my political philosophy at University, and I consider Hegelian Dialectics to have been a major influence on my thinking in life, and of course the link to Marxian class analysis. While I'm not a Marxist, he got a lot right and is still very relevant, philosophically, to today.

Biden surges into lead nationally after Buttigieg, Klobuchar exits: poll

David1955 comments on Mar 3, 2020:

Despite the spin about Trump 'fearing' Biden, Trump will make mince meat out of him. He will 'Ukraine Joe' him into the ground, and Joe will stand there recycling half-baked feel-good Obamaisms and look like the old out of touch do nothing Democrat he is. Bernie has done a great job, but he is right when he says the entire Establishment, class and political, has lined up to stop him. If they succeed, it will be the final nail in America's coffin.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!! MSNBC 7:00 PM EST USA - Watching Hardball I watched Chris Mathews retire from ...

David1955 comments on Mar 3, 2020:

I wish the rest of them would follow. MSNBC is nothing more than the propaganda HQ of the Democratic party. I used to like Rachel M and Lawrence W, but their constant undermining of Bernie S has become intolerable. And as for Morning Joe and his wife Fritsi, or whatever her name is, they have become a Biden cheer group squad. I didn't even watch Chris Mathews, as he is so shrill, and yes goodbye and pick up your cheque from HQ.

Hi. Apologies in advance for this rather abrupt question: Is this site an echo chamber?

David1955 comments on Mar 2, 2020:

Hardly. People disagree about just about everything, including definitions of agnosticism and atheism. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind having a comfort zone of atheists who are on the same page with me, but this surely isn't it. There are some, but hardly the site in general. Having said that, I like it the way it is. .. apart from some Right Wing trolls, but what are you going to do?

George Stephenopoulous is trying to point out facts one after another with Bernie's past video clips...

David1955 comments on Mar 1, 2020:

A: this is not "General and Hellos" but "Politics". and B: I hope they are paying you well. On this site, really? Do you think you are going to change anyone's opinion, if they are progressive?

I think the each member on the site should be awarded at least 1.

David1955 comments on Mar 1, 2020:

Recognition of loyalty or commitment seems a good idea. It comes down to what the definition of "active" is, I guess. A minimum definition based on points accrued through log on, posting and commenting, perhaps?

Trophy hunting must stop

David1955 comments on Feb 29, 2020:

Couldn't agree more. I wish someone would hunt the cowardly hunters and teach them a lesson.

Ok so i am giving Star Trek Picard a try and so far at episode 6 i am not loving it.

David1955 comments on Feb 29, 2020:

I can't wait for THE ORVILLE to return. This endless dour, dark, pessimistic, depressing future that Star Trek series now wallow in, is getting a bit much. It's not really Star TREK, any more, since they do little actual trekking, but rather it's the same as Star Wars, where everybody is at war with everybody else and sticking them in the back. Well, I can turn on the nightly news and watch that here in this awful 21st Century, thank you very much. Were Gene Roddenberry to return, he would, I suspect say, "What the F--K have you done to my show?" Can't wait for The Orville to return, like I said. At least the show is optimistic about us as a species, even if there are challenges from 'out there'.

Democratic Socialism is Still Socialism - YouTube

David1955 comments on Feb 28, 2020:

So is giving billions to Wallstreet to bail them out for their criminality and incompetence; spending trillions on the military, which goes mostly to rich people and their corporations; and billions in subsidies to rich people and their companies. All these and much more is some form of socialism. Corporate Socialism. Socialism in any form is raising money and then redistributing it. It's only 'bad socialism' when that money goes to those who are not rich, and these mostly are the poor saps who create the wealth in the first place. The great myth is that we live in 'Capitalist' economies. We don't. We live in social democracies already, to a greater or lesser degree, and these are based on a MIXED ECONOMY -- a balance between private enterprise and public enterprise. But 40 years of right wing economic fundamentalism has destroyed that balance. When someone like Bernie Sanders calls for change, he is merely trying to bring some balance back to the mixed economy of the US, specifically services and remuneration for everyday people. The Right Wing have been playing this Boogy Man card of 'Socialism' for too long. It's time to shout back at them and defeat them, politically and intellectually. @St-Sinner

A little good news amonst all the bad news.

David1955 comments on Feb 28, 2020:

From what I can see, there's nothing that can stop Trump from doing anything now. The Democrats can't. The Republicans won't. The legal system, with the exception of some seemingly decent judges, is too corrupt, right up to the Right Wing corrupted Supreme Court. We now know that most of the apparent checks and balances to the US President are neither institutional nor legal, but rather convention and tradition, neither of which mean anything to a free radical lawless criminal President with the support of a criminally compliant and passive political party. The true weaknesses of the US political system are laid bare for all to see. So, Trump pardons his criminal associates, Stone et.al. Who is going to stop him?

We're all gonna die. LMFAO [abcnews.go.com]

David1955 comments on Feb 27, 2020:

Anyone taking bets that if this thing becomes catastrophic (gracious heavens let that not happen) then Trump would try to cancel the 2020 election, say he needs to be the Dictator, I mean President, of the US without end, due to the crisis. All despots do this. This bastard turns every disadvantage to suit himself, and the US systems are so weak he gets away with it. I look at Trump and I begin to believe in evil.

MSNBC is now a tool of the Obstructionist republicans just as much as Fox News!!! MSNBC has ...

David1955 comments on Feb 25, 2020:

Watching MSNBC, as I do, has become a bizarre sort of entertainment, with these rich pretend progressive tv people falling over themselves to support ANYONE but Sanders. It's pathetic, and you can see that they know that, when the very a occasional contributor takes them down. Morning sickness Joe and his side kick wife, Rachel 'I love Hillary' Maddow, West Wing Lawrence, Tall Tale Brian W, Donny Billionaire Deutch, and the rest are doubtless considering painless forms of suicide, should the 'horror' of a Sanders victory come about. These people don't report the problems of the US; they are the problem. One notable person is 'The Rev Al Sharpton is it? who moans all the friggen time that Bernie needs 'the black vote' but does nothing to help or support that, though he's clearly a Democratic supporter who longs to see the end of Trump. Lend a hand, Rev Al, or shut the f--k up for God's sake; you seem to believe in him. I left out Chris Mathews. He's a joke.

Bernie's message has always been consistent.

David1955 comments on Feb 23, 2020:

He's a lesson to the Left everywhere. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Don't listen to 'political consultants'. Ignore corporate media. Don't do 'focus group' research. Change the debate. Raise consciousness. Create momentum and build on it.

I went away for a few hours and returned to having made level 8! I'm confused though because all of ...

David1955 comments on Feb 23, 2020:

It's a miracle -- a miracle of the Agnostic.com point system. Where would our 'faith' be without these miracles? :-)

Bernie's winning in Nevada.

David1955 comments on Feb 23, 2020:

If Bernie can win fighting against the corrupt Democratic Party, the anti- progressive corporate media, the US Ruling Class and its military-industrial-corporate-security agency complex, and the Republican Party, then I might just start believing in miracles. I fear what they might do to stop him. The power structures in the are and have always been ruthless.

Okay folks, time to weigh in, your opinion is needed and appreciated.

David1955 comments on Feb 21, 2020:

I think of him as an articulate Troll, reactionary type, and in fact. I don't take him seriously, honestly. Occasionally I'll make a sarcastic comment, but I think he knows when people are on to him.

I have become more open to political conspiracy theories as I have grown older--not sure if it is me...

David1955 comments on Feb 20, 2020:

The US Ruling Class is hedging their bets. If the Democrats win, the Ruling Class don't want a real change candidate like Bernie. So, with Biden evaporating, they've sent their boy, Bloomers into the fray, to capture the party openly and make sure the status quo is maintained. Trump is so crazy they'd probably prefer their asset Bloomers as a Democratic President doing their bidding. US Democracy. What a great idea. Someone should create it.

I do NOT believe in God, demons, ,angels, ghosts, spirits, souls, horoscopes, astrology, third eyes,...

David1955 comments on Feb 18, 2020:

What about reading chicken entrails to determine the future? Is that out too? I'm joking. I know how you feel. Your self description and atheism are very clear. It's always good when members are very clear where they stand on these issues. Not all here are.