I see this here all the time.

David1955 comments on Feb 18, 2020:

Rant. Your post is full of it should be this and should be that. It is like that. People can believe whatever they want. Yes, there are differences. Well, adults disagree. Not really different from religious fanatics? Give us a break. What a sermon.

How many of you have lied or decieved a potential employer about your being agnostic or atheist.

David1955 comments on Feb 12, 2020:

Why on earth would it come up in an interview? These things, like marital status and sexual orientation should have no bearing. Having said that, I know you are in the US and I have read awful stories about the power of religion there, in some states especially. Appalling. I can't think of any time that has been a factor for me. Were it to happen I would scold severely and leave.

Dear Voters, This is what Bernie and others are not telling you! What Bernie Sanders and other ...

David1955 comments on Feb 11, 2020:

This is a paid political message from the American Ruling Class. "Hi. I'm from the American Military Industrial Corporate Political Complex, and I approved this message." "Remember, never trust anyone who wants a fairer more just society. Wealth is for those who are deserving. That is to say, people who are already stinking rich." Worried about social-economic inequality? Just give up.

[yahoo.

David1955 comments on Feb 11, 2020:

So, I'm right again. News today confirms that Roger Stone will get a light touch. Prosecutors have resigned. RIP US justice. The decline and fall of the US Republic.

[yahoo.

David1955 comments on Feb 11, 2020:

$20 bucks on Trump pardoning him. Nothing will stop Trump, now that the worthless Republicans have given him legal immunity from everything. He'll do the same for that slimy General and anything they throw at Rudy Giuliani. Even Manafort might be in line.He stayed 'loyal'. What are they going to do about it - impeach him? That's a laugh, in a country where the highest political office in the land is effectively above the law. America has entered a new phase in it's history. I remember about a year ago when I predicted here that Mueller would do nothing to Trump. I got told I was wrong and that Mueller was a great "institutionalist" and he would do his duty. Yeah, right. I was right. Another prediction. Trump will pardon all his criminal cronies. That's what happens in Banana Republics, see.

Pete Buttigieg Faces Backlash After Speech At Tea Party Event Resurfaces Online: 'He's Done.

David1955 comments on Feb 10, 2020:

I can't stand this guy. He's like a bad white version of Obama, but lacking Obama's charm, wit, and oratory skills. I hope he implodes. He's a nothing burger, another Democratic nothing burger.

WOW! Talk about a fast moving high-level political debate.

David1955 comments on Feb 10, 2020:

I have thought for a long time that Trump is just a puppet and avatar for people like this evil man who want to rebuild America as a white religious autocracy. That's why Bannon went to Trump and talked him into running. They won't stop. If Trump falls, they'll find a new avatar. They are a fascist core hiding behind populism and working class grievance. They won't stop. Bill was right: this guy is evil. He reminds me of Nazi propagandists.

Kirk Douglas Dead at 103 | PEOPLE.com | PEOPLE.com

David1955 comments on Feb 5, 2020:

I always think of Kirk and Burt Lancaster as the two of the greats in an industry of phonies. In Burt's case a great atheist too. I watched them recently in a great 60s movie 7 days in May ( I think that's right) Great scenes together. RIP Mr D.

Iowa's caucus to nowhere, I caucused last night.

David1955 comments on Feb 4, 2020:

A national electoral commission or agency, run by non partisan people, independently running and counting elections, with strong laws against electoral fraud, which re runs electoral contests where irregularities are found, seems a concept beyond the US. It's another aspect of reform of US political systems badly needed.

What is a Hippie?

David1955 comments on Feb 2, 2020:

Just don't believe Tarrantino's reactionary depiction of hippies in his recent American Establishment approved bollocks movie about 1969. Unless one is foolish enough to think the Manson cult were hippies. 50 years later and the power elites are still kicking hippies. That's what you get for challenging authority. Hippies didn't disappear. They just mutated into environmentally and ecologically friendly groups. Before hippies they were beatniks, before that something else, going back to the industrial revolution when groups warned against separation from nature and our connections to it. History rolls on.

Food for thought "The end of the Roman Republic: senators gave their power to Julius Caesar, ...

David1955 comments on Feb 2, 2020:

Don't forget Big Julie got a dagger in the retunda after getting all those powers, so it didn't end well for him. What is it they say? History doesn't repeat himself, but it does rhyme. (For the Wayne and Schuster fans)

I went to a job interview and the lady that interviewed me said that they were very close and all ...

David1955 comments on Jan 30, 2020:

These days Christian values is a term synonymous with right wing, moralistic, family-fantasy oriented, social and sexual diversity intolerant, wealth-gospel biased and money-success assumptions, that have nothing to do with even the fiction and fantasy of the Christian religion. Frankly, I loathe the term. It's one of those terms that makes my biologicals spike, were I attached to a electronic monitor.

Religion and its manifestations come from our imagination exclusively.

David1955 comments on Jan 29, 2020:

No argument from this atheist.

Bernie is the opponent Trump wants.

David1955 comments on Jan 29, 2020:

Yes. A nice safe, moderate, corporate loving, status quo believing, rich liking, steady as she goes, candidate would be much much better. .. like Hillary Clinton in 2016. ... Oh, wait a minute......

What are some things that you constantly catch yourself saying to theist arguing for their god?

David1955 comments on Jan 28, 2020:

All religions are based on several fraudulent claims: False history from the Bronze Age dressed up as mythology to become theology. Supernatural claims, for which no evidence exists. Fear -- fear of retribution or judgement, from a 'loving' god. All these premises are false, unproven and invalid. Nothing valid can come from false premises. This I say, looking them right in the eye.

The reason I answered that there's a 50% God exists is that I really don't think it matters.

David1955 comments on Jan 27, 2020:

Why do people continue to have arguments here about a singular god? God this, god that, god the other. We live on a planet that has huge numbers of gods that people believe in, past and present. Believers talk about the god they believe in. That's one out of 3,000 +. Forget the others. Agnostics talk about their agnosticism about "god". That's the one they grew up with and care about. Forget the others. Even atheists , my position sometimes say they are atheists about "god". No, you're atheist about ALL of them, and that's consistent anyway. I get so sick of posts and comments about "god". It's not just semantics. It's a fact that we don't all believe , not believe or are agnostic about one damn god. Yet on it goes.....

Please, please, please is there a way for this to not become a porn site?

David1955 comments on Jan 26, 2020:

Yes, we don't want any of that sort of thing here.

Today is Australia Day and I thought you might be interested in how it is celebrated.

David1955 comments on Jan 26, 2020:

Quite right. I just do not celebrate it, for the reasons you gave, but also because Australia is just not the country I think it could or should be. Ok, huge numbers would strongly disagree with me. I don't care. I studied Australian history and my first job was teaching 19th and 20th Australian history at university. So, I know my country's history, and this horrid politically correct Liberal Party Rupert Murdochized Australian history that is foddered now on days like Australia day, is not the history I know or reflect my values. As an Anglo Australian I say that. I suspect huge numbers of Australians are either apathetic or hostile towards it. I'll be working online, teaching, as usual.

"It just makes sense that god exist"`is an argument that annoys me to no end.

David1955 comments on Jan 25, 2020:

For thousands of years everyone said the sun went around the earth. Everyday it went around the earth. Day after day. Of course the sun went around the earth. It just made sense. Trouble is, they were wrong. Millions of them. Just plain wrong.

SEEKING THE COMPANY OF COMPLETE ATHEISTS--i.

David1955 comments on Jan 22, 2020:

Please don't conflate atheism with some kind of Ayn Randian libertarian individualist anti- government political agenda of your own. To call what you believe in a 'complete atheist' is semantic nonsense. If you want to call yourself an atheist, but have an anarchic individualist reactionary anti-government political philosophy, then fine. Atheists come in all political flavours. You might, repeat might, find some like-minded souls. But conflating the two by suggesting 'complete' atheism requires adoption of anarchistic views is indefensible and unarguable.

Boeing has temporarily stopped making 737 Max airplanes [cnn.com]

David1955 comments on Jan 22, 2020:

They should make it permanent. I'd never fly on one. Any flight in the future I will check first. Did you read those company emails from the workers? Jeez!

Star Trek often gets it right, I wish we got it right even half as often as Gene Roddenberry.

David1955 comments on Jan 20, 2020:

Roddenberry's prediction for the 21st Century included in the ST mythology was scarily right: collapse in the early to mid 21st C followed by dark times. In his timeline humanity emerges afterwards a better species and begins the world from which ST TOS eventually emerges. I am far less sanguine about that, myself. I suspect he would agree, were he still with us.

And you are worried that big brother is watching? Get paranoid! [smh.com.au]

David1955 comments on Jan 20, 2020:

Orwell was right about a lot of things, but a few he didn't see: - BB doesn't need to watch us at home: we carry BB around with us. - not only do we conveniently put all our intimate info out there, we all add pics to show it all. - It wasn't so much that 1984 was a warning for us, but rather it proved to be a training manual for BB. They read it too, you see. They learnt all the ways to avoid people realizing they they were living under BB. - Finally, Orwell didn't quite capture the reality that BB isn't really Government, but should have Corp. after its name. At 15 I read 1984 and thought, "Yuk, I'd hate to live under that. Scary" 50 years later I think, "Yuk, I'm living under that. Scary." Orwell got the main point, however: that Power + technology = Control; Irresistible, Seems obvious now. Not so much in the 1940s.

[yahoo.

David1955 comments on Jan 20, 2020:

The weakness of US government systems revealed during the Trump years has been a revelation to the world. It won't be soon forgotten. The US looks powerful, but its government structures are weak, brittle and corrupt. A fish rotting from the head.

Are you using a smartphone or a portable laptop?

David1955 comments on Jan 20, 2020:

check check check and check. I'm graduating towards mobile device as computing. Not quite there. Feet in 2 camps: chomebook for professional work and computing; and tablet/phone with Samsung DEX to replace desktop interface for most else. No Windows, and no longer Apple -- greedy arrogant company it now is. The security issue is an important one. The trend is towards single device for all computing. Connect it to a display etc. WIndows and Apple won't like it. Good. Let them rot.

if Parnas ends up going to prison I won't be surprised if he hangs himself in his cell and there's ...

David1955 comments on Jan 17, 2020:

No disrespect to American people, who most I think are hard-working and good people, but i suspect you are right. America is rotten at the top, like a rotten fish, and no one can be surprised at anything that happens.

Thoughts on the Bernie/Warren kerfuffle?

David1955 comments on Jan 17, 2020:

And to think that one time I liked her..... Then we truth came out... links the MI Complex.... doesn't really stand for change ... the big ideas about attacking wealth watered down... and now a knife in Bernie's back. I think people are on to her. She knows it and also that she shares similar supporters to Bernie. I think he did his best not to have run ins with her, but now the game is up and she did it. They have to choose between him and her. Hope they choose him.

While I like the Utopian future of Star Trek, I have to assume that Artificial Intelligence will ...

David1955 comments on Jan 16, 2020:

Wouldn't it be funny if AI goes self-aware and instead of killing us actually becomes better than us and inspires us to be a better species? All contrary to our fears. We create an AI consciousness that is better than us. But of course our evil people would then want to kill it. Now there's a idea for a movie. Anyone got Spielberg's number? :-)

Depressed Agnostics?

David1955 comments on Jan 16, 2020:

Fortunately I'm an atheist, not an agnostic, so depression isn't a problem. :-) The article sounds like another a religionist BS talking point, like non believers can't be trusted, have no morals, and kill themselves more than believers.

While I like the Utopian future of Star Trek, I have to assume that Artificial Intelligence will ...

David1955 comments on Jan 16, 2020:

So, according to the pic, robots will kill all the men and ravish all the women. They used to use this sort of thing about our enemies during war time. Some things never change.

According to David Corn of Mother Jones, all these characters, including a Congressional candidate ...

David1955 comments on Jan 15, 2020:

Yep, they're all Goodfellas, Trump too. We smarties have known this since the beginning.

RefundWarren Trends After Elizabeth Warren Accuses Bernie Sanders of Saying a Woman Couldn't Beat ...

David1955 comments on Jan 15, 2020:

Just a matter of time before they cut down her political carcass swinging in the electoral breeze.

I have just read the following and the thought occurs "how often has this happened in Australia" and...

David1955 comments on Jan 14, 2020:

Of course our governments are complicit in kill lists and assassinations by the US and others. Note how the mainstream media and tv shows and movies and spy novels, and all the rest, fashion public consciousness into thinking the 'Licence to Kill" by governments is both legal and moral. There are no good guys and bad guys in the real world. Just bad, worse, and worst.

I don't watch too much reality TV shows but have seen a number of them dealing with the after life ...

David1955 comments on Jan 14, 2020:

If only there were some scientific evidence to prove the paranormal, but, alas, like all supernatural claims there never seems to be any. Be aware of the fakery of these shows. I once forced myself to watch a show about the guy who has the house nearest to the Cielo Drive property in LA where the murders took place in August 1969.( I only watched to confirm my loathing of this sort of thing and this murder is an subject I know well.) This guy has built a business of exploiting his haunted house near the murder property. Any tv team or journalist gullible enough to pay him will get stories of fallen figurines and photos and strange noises in the night. (Why do ghosts hate figurines and always knock them down!? ) He has on "professional ghostiologists" with ghostometers that measure all kinds of paranormal energy, if one is stupid enough to believe them. All fakery. This stuff is addictive to some, like all supernatural beliefs.

Bing loses out to DuckDuckGo in Google’s new Android search engine ballot [theverge.com]

David1955 comments on Jan 13, 2020:

Does anyone use Bing? Can't imagine why. Go DuckDuckGo! Everyone should use it.

[youtube.com]

David1955 comments on Jan 13, 2020:

I watched this recently. Very good. It seems religious belief is becoming recognized as a psychological disorder within the field of psychology. About time. His last sentence, as I remember, is one to note.

God is not necessary for religion.

David1955 comments on Jan 12, 2020:

A very obvious point, really. There's a whole swag of new age type religions that waffle on about the universe or whatever, and although they really use quasi gods, like "energy" and "the universe", technically they don't have a god or gods. Also, Buddism is not religion based on gods. Some might say it's not really a religion but a philosophy but that's crap and I say so. Let's also remember that cults don't have gods but cult leaders and mumbo jumbo, but they're still cult religions with the same psych going on. We need to use a broad definition of religion.

Religion was not created to control anyone or groups of people.

David1955 comments on Jan 12, 2020:

This is one of those big subjects. I agree that the notion of religion being deliberately created sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory, to use that modern term, and doesn't convince. I agree that religion, specifically a god, is used to explain the gaps. But I've always felt that religion evolved to explain what couldn't then be understood, to pray to some protective force in a scary unpredictable world, and to deal with death: the curse of the knowledge of our own mortality. The fact that religions then become tools of the powerful to exercise control over the powerless is of course beyond doubt. We should consider all the contributing factors why religions exist. How else can we confront and neutralise it?

Why don't Christians understand what a parable is or that it is a mystery religion?

David1955 comments on Jan 12, 2020:

Well, but all religions do this, of course, fudging history into mythology and then theologizing it.

Coming Soon to a Battlefield: Robots That Can Kill Tomorrow’s wars will be faster, more ...

David1955 comments on Jan 12, 2020:

A real Skynet, looking for Sarah Connor. Marvelous. Every day I dislike the 21 Century more and more. Humanity's last century.

Sometimes, ya just gotta Zone out.

David1955 comments on Jan 11, 2020:

A recent YouTube channel called Hollywood Graveyard, which I recommend to anyone who appreciates respectful videos to those who have passed away, stopped by Rod Serling's grave, and he said over the grave how much we remember him and his stories and contribution. As I don't think I'm going to get the opportunity to do myself, I really appreciated it. I have the whole TZ series on my storage drives.

Love this! Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert talk about atheism. (starts around 1:13) [youtu.be]

David1955 comments on Jan 10, 2020:

Colbert compares faith in God with "faith" in the field of cosmology and the Big Bang. Really? Note how Colbert changes tack as soon as Gervais tells him in effect he's an atheist about 99.9% of gods and chooses just one. This is what believers do: when it's awkward, they drop it and ignore. I like Colbert, but on religion he should keep away from it. He's full of doubts himself and barely manages to conceal it. He hits atheists like Gervais and comes off not well.

Who see these fires as an oppourtunity?

David1955 comments on Jan 9, 2020:

That's sounds like a visionary country. Australia doesn't do visionary. We do play it safe, never trust smart people, suck up to big foreign countries, and be good mates.

Truth is I've actually moved a bit to the conservative side from 50 years ago, yet still...

David1955 comments on Jan 8, 2020:

In my language that would be moving in 50 years from a democratic socialist to the more outspoken determined democratic socialist. We haven't all turned into right wing bigoted narrow-minded racist xenophobic fascist leaning slogan chanting morons, thankfully. Let Mr Sanders be a global inspiration to all of us on the Left.

Jim Bakker To Christians: You Must Love Trump To Prove You're 'Saved'

David1955 comments on Jan 8, 2020:

Why do they allow this convicted felon, crook, and sexual abuser a platform on right wing media? Oh, I know why. He's a Republican supporter.

The test of a false god.

David1955 comments on Jan 8, 2020:

From my experience believers will generally say something like, "Yes, but MY God is real." So, being stumped, as you put it, doesn't prevent them from embracing logical absurdity and contradiction. Since religion is always based on bad history/mythology, unproven supernatural claims, and fear, I have not found logic a very effective tool in engaging with believers. But, I admire your determination to try.

Do you think there's a posibility of extraterrestrial life and why?

David1955 comments on Jan 7, 2020:

Recognising the possibility is the only sensible position, since it's a huge universe and we know there are vast numbers of planets now. But we need evidence. On UFOs, some disparage all sightings and accounts and video and photos. What I ask is: ok, will someone with expertise or authority please explain what all the pictures and videos are. What are they, what natural or terrestrial phenomena explains them. I am very interested in knowing. But there is nothing. They've stopped with the usual suspects -- ball lightning, Jupiter, clouds, meteors and alike. Sometimes they wheel out government scientist spokes-spinner dancing bears like Neil Degrasse Tyson to do his laugh a minute routine, "there ain't nothing to see hear, folks," but not very convincingly. Since I have no confidence in the word of Power, in any of its forms, anymore, I take nothing from them at face value, including this subject.

Hi.

David1955 comments on Jan 7, 2020:

Absolutely not, and I hope you don't as well, though in situations like yours there can be a lot of pressure to conform. My view is: they are the ones who believe in nonsense from the Bronze Age, not me. In the end, people only respect you for being what you are. Also, have you ever thought that being open about your views might encourage others to reveal themselves also? Welcome to the Community.

Agnostics doubt whether there is a god, Atheists are adamant that there isn't.

David1955 comments on Jan 7, 2020:

And with what do we contemplate this? If Socrates couldn't decide, in between running after young Greek boys, as Woody Allen once humorously put it, and no one is further advanced on it, despite claims of white lights and so on, I don't see how contemplation helps.

Killing Soleimani reflects U.S. desperation in the Middle East

David1955 comments on Jan 7, 2020:

Killing him represents Trump's desperation to avoid being impeached and removed or losing the 2020 election. Trump is a mortal danger to the US and the world.

I have come to find agnostic/atheists decrying "know it all" atheists to be nearly as wrong and ...

David1955 comments on Jan 7, 2020:

Talk about Straw Manning oneself.

Obviously we will be served the same propaganda as the yanks since they have murdoch as well but are...

David1955 comments on Jan 7, 2020:

As intellectually uncreative as many Australians are, and as much as too many Australians fall for right wing bullshit and right wing fear campaigns and right wing propaganda, nevertheless most Australians still remain skeptical of Yankee war mongering and will be opposed to any involvement. Like Vietnam, after a few years. Like Iraq, from the beginning. But that will not stop the Liberal government felating the US and being the US's bitch in the asia Pacific region and going along with it, no matter public opinion. The useless gutless ALP doubtless will comply, never wanting to be wedged on principles it no longer has.

New evidence shows that the key assumption made in the discovery of dark energy is in error

David1955 comments on Jan 6, 2020:

Interesting. Not my area of knowledge, so would never offer an opinion, but i watch all docs on it. As long as new Agers don't try to tell us that dark energy/matter is god in another form, I'm happy. Let the science go forth.

Any thoughts on Gervais' speech?

David1955 comments on Jan 6, 2020:

The right message from the right atheist. But, really, does anyone really watch those silly award shows anymore? Hollywood and the entertainment industry generally are the very epitome of hypocrisy and illusion, incestuously connected to government agencies, the military and corporate oligarchs, essentially the propaganda arms of the US Ruling Class. I'm totally over all that crap, the phoney stars and their false progressivism. A few rich asshole stars at the top doing "good deeds", a swag of people below in the industry getting by, and a bunch of corporate oligarchs like robber barrons running the set up. In other words, Capitalism, wrapped up with phoney glamour.

Robert Dinero said he would like to see trump get hit by a bag of shit

David1955 comments on Jan 6, 2020:

Can a bag of shit get hit by another bag of shit?

God is that "thing" that, to the best of your knowledge, is at the top of your hierarchy of values.

David1955 comments on Jan 5, 2020:

So, God can mean anything, basically. A bit NewAgy isn't it skado?

As an Australian Prime Minister once said many years ago "life isn't meant to be easy".

David1955 comments on Jan 4, 2020:

Malcolm Frazer was Jewish?

GENERAL SOLEIMANI'S DEATH, THE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND ASSASSINATION OF OUR DAY? [united-cats.com]

David1955 comments on Jan 4, 2020:

Who the hell from the Pentagon suggested such a thing to Trump? Are they out of their minds? I know the US military are self-serving, arrogant and full of their own self- importance and invincibility, despite repeated failures since WW2, but I would have credited them with more intelligence than that. Or are Trump flunkies now running the Pentagon?

The more time I spend on this site, the more I realize that atheists know WAYYYYY more about ...

David1955 comments on Jan 3, 2020:

We know this experientially, and PEW research shows it statistically: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/21/among-religious-nones-atheists-and-agnostics-know-the-most-about-religion/ Not all atheists are former religious people, notably Christians. I was born in a Catholic family. Never believed it, though technically a "Christian". Atheist always. That's me. Not agnostic.

I was listening to One of Richard Dawkins books and it surprised me when he said that on his scale ...

David1955 comments on Jan 2, 2020:

I know Dawkins meant well with this scale, and I'm a big admirer of this, but this sort of scaling has contributed to the fragmenting of the non-religious across a spectrum which I find unhelpful and frankly silly to some extent. It has had the effect of atheists and agnostics bikering over what number they are on the scale. Perhaps I have been influenced in my life by Bertrand Russell whose view was that we should think deeply about what we believe about God/s and religion, and affirm that position confidently. Others I know see it differently.

Fantastic! Our DH PM has made international news That woman is early contender for Aussie of the ...

David1955 comments on Jan 2, 2020:

He's a corporate Christian -- that's what I call variants of Christianity like his -- with a heartless attitude towards anything other than elites. He cares no more for average Australians than he did for refugees when he was Minister for Immigration. Australians should hang their heads in shame for voting for him. As unappealing as Shorten was in the election, this government should never have been.

Galloway believes that Sanders is the only Democratic candidate that can defeat DJT.

David1955 comments on Jan 2, 2020:

Do you think a centrist might be as successful as Hillary Clinton was in 2016? I guess the principle is, if at first you fail miserably, try try again the same old way.

Well Peeps, the penultimate day of 2019 has arrived here in Australia, the countdown begins for the...

David1955 comments on Dec 30, 2019:

And what a disappointing decade it was. Began with a disappointing Rudd/Gillard debacle. Then years of misery under Abbott, the retro-virus of Oz politics. Then the disappointment continued with the underwhelming Turnbull, the political light-weight of Oz politics. Now finally we have no disappointment with ScoBlo Morrison, as he only continues to prove his worthlessness every day, as we expected. So much to look forward to in the 2020s. Happy New Decade.

Why are we buried in a box.

David1955 comments on Dec 29, 2019:

We aren't, necessarily. Cremation accounts for many. At its very core, burial is about safe disposal of organic matter, as clearly dead bodies all over the place would be an environmental and health issue. The dead are dead, but the living go on. The affectations to burial sites is something the living observe for the dead. So, whether it be a box or a urn or a dispersal, it's really about the living.

I remember sitting around with friends in elementary school and we all thought that wow the year ...

David1955 comments on Dec 28, 2019:

On Christmas Day I sat next to brother, 10 years older and me, and I said to him I had decided the 21st Century was a huge massive disappointment and sometimes I'm sorry I ever lived to see it. Further I added that every day I give thanks for having experienced the post WW2 20th century decades, a high point in western civilisation, despite many issues, now in palpable daily decline. I do not think this is just age talking. Were things improving I would be positive about it. Sadly, I do not feel sanguine about younger generations having the mindset or consciousness to do anything about it, utterly absorbed they are by their identity group grievances and technological addictions. Exceptions apart, they seem incapable of thinking "up", only around them or right in front of them. Perhaps my youthful 1960s visions about the future were fanciful and unrealistic, but I couldn't have imagined this 21st century and its realities.

My grandma told me that a Christian evangelist told her yoga isn't good.

David1955 comments on Dec 27, 2019:

And yoga is bad because, why, being physically flexible is the pathway to the devil? And I thought I'd heard them all.

White Christian America ended in the 2010s

David1955 comments on Dec 27, 2019:

Enemies are never more dangerous than when cornered, to quote a cliche. They see their salvation in an American variant of 'National Socialism' and it will get worse.

Trump’s Favorite Cable-News Channel is Now One America News President Trump’s current ...

David1955 comments on Dec 27, 2019:

I'm surprised they have called it "Reich TV America" -- the station for those of the master white race of America. They'll get there.

I was having a conversation with a Christian friend about free will.

David1955 comments on Dec 27, 2019:

Christians vacilate between a personal god who practices free will and doesn't when it suits it. If they truly believed in free will, then they would believe in an impersonal non- interventionist god. Such a 'let the cards fall where they may' god might at least be consistent. But of course, they don't believe in such a god. Churches, prayer, commandments and all the rest would be irrelevant. Free will means god doesn't interfere. Instead they believe in a god which allows free will and abrogates free will when it suits. Every time god "saves" someone, or performs a miracle or responds to a prayer, or 'comes into my life", and other such claims, is an intervention, or put another way means interfering with human free will. Their god is hopelessly inconsistent, responding to some prayers, but ignoring most. Why would a god "save" someone like rich boy G W Bush from his excesses, while ignoring the desperate prayers of parents with children with terminal diseases in hospitals? What made Bush more deserving than poor little dying children? (Free will isn't just people's decisions, it's also the interaction between people and their environment, like disease.) Christians never explain these inconsistencies. They want to have their cosmic cake and eat it too on free will. All this is utterly consistent with Gods conjured up in human minds and projected onto their lives and the world. From my experience, religious practitioners ( priests, etc) will not thank you for asking such questions as well.

Definitely.

David1955 comments on Dec 26, 2019:

I assume this is a joke, not a real Time cover. Nice one though. Agent Orange, The Siberian Candidate, The Spy who came in from the hair dye. Vlad's squeeze.

The Importance and Relevance of Endorsements in Presidential Candidates Joe BIden has the most ...

David1955 comments on Dec 26, 2019:

Does the prospect of a real progressive President -- Sanders -- worry you that much? Guess so. Watching the mainstream media's attempts to scuttle and ignore Bernie's campaign is almost as amusing as watching all those corporate Democrats do the same. Bernie's popularity and loyalty amongst his supporters keeps rolling along. Endorsements indeed!

'Civil war' among evangelicals is the last thing Trump needs | MSNBC

David1955 comments on Dec 26, 2019:

Sadly I think most of the hypocritical evangelicals are still with him. A few with some decency have called him out, but most see him as pursuing their right wing moralistic agenda. They're reactionaries wearing religious masks.

If you find mainstream religions troublesome, watch this series about cults.

David1955 comments on Dec 26, 2019:

Religions and cults, all on the same spectrum. All vile. Look at the Trump cult. I've loathed cults for 50 years, since the Manson Cult.

The Inevitable Death of Evangelical Christianity | Keith Giles

David1955 comments on Dec 26, 2019:

Religions don't die but they die out when people stop believing in them. Christianity is a GodMan meme that has antecedents going back thousands of years before the first century AD. New variants like evangelicalism will continue to evolve, sadly. But we should see evangelicalism now more as a reactionary political movement with a religious mask, rather than just a religion. Expect it to get worse.

What I do not understand is the fact that although the Prime Minister is in denial and devoid of ...

David1955 comments on Dec 24, 2019:

The Right are so terrified of being wrong on climate change and the Left being correct. As if it's a political issue not a scientific one. They voted for him. They can have him.

I really despise Christmas, the music, the militant adherence (my "family) to stupid rituals and ...

David1955 comments on Dec 24, 2019:

Personally speaking, I took charge of the Xmas thing long ago. Family knows my views on religions. Enough of the gift giving nonsense. Ignore the phoney Xmas joy, as preached by capitalism. Ignore the carols. Anyone tackles on Jesus, set them straight with some history. Sort of rise above it. That's what I do. At least it's not as ghastly as that Easter torture sacrifice zombie fest they get on with at Easter. I'll have nothing to do with that. Ps. Xmas is such a miserable time for many people. Sick, alone, grieving, financially struggling, just to name some. I never forget that.

Is 'god' an impersonal force of nature, a 'universal consciousness' similar in quality to other ...

David1955 comments on Dec 23, 2019:

Unless you can prove consciousness amongst those physics, then all you've got is another projection by humans onto the universe and calling it god. Not real scientists but pseudo scientists might go on about this stuff.

It's the logical thing to do.

David1955 comments on Dec 23, 2019:

I'm now not sure where in ST mythology Vulcans stand on religion. In the 60s TOS you always got the impression that Vulcans had nothing to do with religion. Very much Roddenbury's views on religion. Then decades later they had Vulcan mystical ceremonies, and even bringing Spock back from the dead, though I think this was not Roddenberry. I see that as part of the corruption of ST principles by later writers, pandering to popular religious drivel. I myself like to think of 60s Spock, rejecting all that is not logical, including silly religions. The more they make new fancy shallow ST, the more I look at the original series and appreciate it.

Afterlife thoughts... Do you believe in an afterlife?

David1955 comments on Dec 22, 2019:

If one follows a religion, then the afterlife reflects that theology. Christian afterlife, Muslim afterlife, Buddhist nirvana afterlife, sort of, ancient Egypt afterlife, Hindu afterlife, etc etc. All ridiculous. They can't be all correct. They're all wrong, is my view. But now we have new age pseudo religious afterlives: alternative universes, higher planes of existence, astro travelling alternate lives, yadayadayada. These get traction these days because they sound a bit like science, but with religious salvation in another form. Too many even smart people get hooked on this nonsense. But, it always comes back to the same question: where is the evidence? If the answer is, 'there is none, but it isn't about evidence" then you're just back in the religious corner but with another name.

This is what you vote in vain for .

David1955 comments on Dec 22, 2019:

One of my areas of interest over recent years has been researching the links, connections and control between the US military-industrial-corporate-security agencies complex (which it now is) and government levels, news organizations, entertainment industry -- tv, Hollywood, all forms -- education, and much more, and how they control, manipulate, stifle, manage messaging, and exercise such power in accordance with the US Ruling Class. This is not the so called deep state, but the ruling class that directs them. It comes as no surprise to me that Presidents are controlled from the get go. In Obama's case, you could see it work immediately after his swearing in. The US is not a democracy, but a Republic run by a ruling elite, whose tentacles reach everywhere. Then the soap opera is peddled through mainstream media and Hollywood and the rest to fool the populace to believing the fantasies that keep the show going. I've long since pulled back the veil to reveal the Wizard of US. The worst part is that they are slowly strangling the US to death.

Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Has Officially Moved (Toward Russia) [forbes.

David1955 comments on Dec 22, 2019:

Trump will be delighted. He'll probably take credit for that too.

Aw, Scummo Shouty Shittypants Happy Clappy Jesus Chappy has 'offered' an apology for taking his ...

David1955 comments on Dec 22, 2019:

I read somewhere that there is some buyers remorse amongst Australians for voting for Scum Mo. Well, that's a bit like someone paying top dollar for a clapped out rust bucket of a car and then having regrets. If you're that stupid then I have no sympathy for you. A fool and his money, or in this case fools and their votes. Shorten and co were the most underwhelming gang ever assembled by the Australian Loser Party, but anything would have been better than Scumbo and his gaggle of half-wits. What a farce Australia has turned into. What would Curtain, Chifley and even Gough say now?

Dissecting Christianity's Mind-Snaring System by Stephen Van Eck While Judaism was never a ...

David1955 comments on Dec 21, 2019:

So now I know: The Truth? I can't handle the Truth. I want Jesus on that wall. I need Jesus on that wall. At least according to Paul. I do wish they would rename that silly religion 'Paulianity". Would be more honest.

I am a syntheist who accepts both theism and atheism.

David1955 comments on Dec 21, 2019:

Further, atheism has never assumed that we judge people negatively simply on the basis of their religious belief, unless other information reflects on them. Atheism is a rejection of a religious view not the person. What synthesizing is required?

I am a syntheist who accepts both theism and atheism.

David1955 comments on Dec 20, 2019:

This is just word play, like saying matter and anti-matter are the same. Don't think science would agree. If one wants to say that they are an atheist who is tolerant of religious believers, then fine. But a silly hybrid word like this is reflective of the fracturing and fragmenting of definitions in the non-religious position which I find annoying.

Data has something on his mind

David1955 comments on Dec 20, 2019:

I guess his emotions chip kicked in.

Billy Graham's evangelical magazine calls for Trump's removal

David1955 comments on Dec 20, 2019:

Better woefully, pathetically, inexcusably and inexplicably late than never, I suppose. I'm not fooled by these Christo hypocrites. They just think Trump has outlived his usefulness pushing their right wing moralistic religious agenda, and now Pence could do that better. There's not a genuine decent molecule in their hypocritical bodies. Shameful.

Actress Julianne Moore was asked during an interview what she'd like to hear God say to her at the ...

David1955 comments on Dec 19, 2019:

And that God might add, "But you were wrong about the god you didn't believe in. I'm not that god, but another one. How do you do! I'm Apollo. Yes, your ancients were right!"

I am a 100 % sure atheist! The Bible is a fairy tale! Try to imagine an omnipotent being (God) who...

David1955 comments on Dec 19, 2019:

Good to have you here amongst the atheists. It does seem to me that since that the old religious claim, "Someone had to create the universe, you can't get something from nothing" has been destroyed by science, there's nothing left for them to hang on to, other than their inner child attachment to a big Boppa in the sky.

"If you don't believe in god, what religion are you?

David1955 comments on Dec 19, 2019:

"If you don't believe in god, what religion are you?" Well, that's a first. Usually it's "If you don't believe in God, what DO you believe in?" Did you think saying agnostic sounded better than atheist? I would have said, "if I am an atheist I go to hell. But as an agnostic I'd get a suspended sentence and counselling." But I'm a sarcastic bastard.

Afterlife

David1955 comments on Dec 18, 2019:

I take comfort from the fact that, despite all their talk, fancy ornate buildings, dudes in silly hats, threats, promises, blackmail, fairy stories, and worthless assurances, religions know nothing more about death than anyone else, indeed probably less, so wherever your thinking goes, leave religion out of the equation. The only thing religion knows is how to make money out of fear of it.

CHRISTMAS why do we celebrate the birth of a bastard child from an unwed mother, now revered.

David1955 comments on Dec 17, 2019:

I don't think you are thinking correctly about the birth of Jesus. In fact God impregnated a woman with himself (her permission and Joseph's approval not confirmed) in order to live to do party tricks and sacrifice himself to himself, in order that we may be forgiven for all the sins that he, God, created in the first place. Christmas is a stolen celebration from the pagans in order that we remember God's convoluted logic, and to be grateful for it. There. That will help the dry turkey go down. :-)

[alternet.

David1955 comments on Dec 17, 2019:

The Republicans call these never Trumpers, but in fact they are going to end up on the Right side of history. Rick Wilson is especially scathing and insightful and funny. I watch him on CNN and NBC.

Captain picard srumped

David1955 comments on Dec 17, 2019:

Just fire a tacheon beam at it. That fixes most things in ST TNG, it seems. :-)

Fox News Today , the guest made the statement “ one of reasons why young people are leaving ...

David1955 comments on Dec 16, 2019:

As a baby boomer I have taken some pleasure in reading that young people, Millennials, are increasingly non religious or apathetic about religion. On the other hand, I despair that many, not all, are apathetic about *everything* except social media, their damn iPhones, and whatever identity group they belong to, and the grievance they have over it. On the other, other, hand, I despair of baby boomers who are becoming increasingly right wing, self-ish, pro-autocratic, anti-modernist, regressive and closed minded. So, all in all its a depressing time.

Ever notice how The Wizard of Oz is basically about religion?

David1955 comments on Dec 16, 2019:

Oh I don't know. Maybe it's just thinly disguised Hollywood Right Wing subliminal propaganda, as so much of Hollywood is, funded and controlled by corporate military industrial complex structures. Don't ask for anything, just do it yourself, or put up with what you have, and don't expect anything, if you are not lucky enough to be rich, like us. The wizard is the government, or the public interest. Can't say I've ever had much time for that movie, even less now that it has been revealed that they drugged poor Judy, and all the men, munchkins included, molested her when they could. Charming. Hollywood, a "dream factory" built on the pretense of glamour, based on pure capitalist exploitation at its worst.

Lucky Australia switched to metric in time .

David1955 comments on Dec 16, 2019:

The Celsius, I don't mind. It's those damned centimetres and millimetres I loath. Give me feet and inches yards and so on; the brain can approximate with those. Think I'm old hat? Well people still walk into shops and by a 24" tv or a 60" one, and they are still advertised as such. Must be a reason.

Back in Summer 2009 at the age of 21, I was baptized after I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal ...

David1955 comments on Dec 15, 2019:

Keep rolling along and at some point you might realize that you are done, completely done, with all the religious crap, that it can't hurt you anymore, and then you might find that you're an atheist.

Trends in Atheism. [pewresearch.org]

David1955 comments on Dec 15, 2019:

Atheist is used here as a catch all phrase for the non-religious. That's questionable. For example it says, "Some people who describe themselves as atheists also say they believe in some kind of higher power or spiritual force." I suspect it is agnostics and new age types and alike who claim they are not religious but say things like that. Atheism is a clear and strong self-statement, and I don't find that atheists say things like that. Who is the author really talking about here - atheists, or a grab bag of non religious people who technically still are religious in my view? Articles like this don't help when they paint in broad brush strokes.

UK Election results Fucking Nightmare It is a like a plague of insanity Never seen 70,000,000 ...

David1955 comments on Dec 13, 2019:

It's a western nightmare, UK, US and here in Australia. Increasingly older populations, poorly informed, limited sources of information, angry, don't know who to blame and don't understand class and power, attracted to 'strong' conservative reactionary autocratic leaders. Looked at from a distance, I see the evolution of capitalism away from the west, the resulting decline in western consensus and systems, and the growth of autocracies. Gods knows what Johnson will do now he has a 'mandate'. I fear Trump will win again too, and his autocratic tendencies will be unstoppable. Our smiling god-bothering PM is no better, no doubt encouraged by the trends in the UK and US. Old populations, reactionary thinking, and autocrats ready to take advantage of it. It will get worse before it gets better, if it ever does.