I think a part of the appeal of religion is from nostalgia.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 19, 2023:

I don't listen to the same music over and over, and neither did my late wife, who was 15 years older than me. She loved listening to modern singers, like Bruno Mars and Adele, etc., just as much as oldies, and really liked alternative and indie bands of today, same as me. But what really irritates the hell out of me, as a music and karaoke snob, is all the singers I see at karaoke, of all ages, but most noticeably and more commonly, the older people, is how many of them sing the same damned boring, stupid songs all the time there, every week, which gets really boring when you go to the same shows every week, and can usually predict exactly which songs they will sing, within an array of the same five songs or less. You can't tell me that these people only know five songs that they could sing as well as any other. I can't understand how they can't get bored with themselves or their repetition, but they don't seem to care and they sure don't care about boring the audiences at the shows. I just refuse to condone and approve their selfish boorishness, so when they sing, I duly ignore them, and then give them the perfunctory pity clap when they finish, no matter how well they sing. Because, whether they recognize it or not, this ain't American Idol, and they aren't singing it perfect, nor do they get any better at the songs with the repetition...

Monday morning cuteness

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 16, 2023:

Halloween colors..

Alabama Attorney General Wants Women Who Use Abortion Pills Prosecuted Alabama Attorney General...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 15, 2023:

Until men can get pregnant, they all need to STFU about abortion, unless they want to support women and be pro choice.

My son's houseplant, in full bloom.....

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 10, 2023:

Apparently, no boxes were available at the time...

The ginger genes run strong in this family 🥰

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 10, 2023:

Gingers tend to be very loyal, loving, and affectionate.

You have to understand that most people are not ready to be unplugged.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 9, 2023:

Sad but true. To me, a lot of people seem to be so consumed by social media and the internet, that for them those things are like The Matrix, and they don't even realize how dependently plugged in they are to it. And that's also true for all the reality TV and celebrity-worshiping junk TV they are also hooked on.

Feed me NOW hooman!

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 8, 2023:

The cat is always right, rather than the hooman..

My ice cream cone! Mine! [twitter.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 7, 2023:

The hooman has forgotten their place in the proper order of things... Kitties like milk, which ice cream is a form of, so why wouldn't they like it?

What is the most bizarre dream that you've ever had?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 6, 2023:

The most frequent dream I have had over the years is an odd and negative one, but not that surprising for me. In a couple variations of it, I am back at one of a few old jobs I had and grew to not like. And in each dream I end up having to go back temporarily, for some indeterminate amount of time, and work at that particular job. I suppose the dreams are all about some form of regret or feeling I had some unfinished business at each job, maybe feeling that I wish things had gone better at them, etc. But in each case, I wake up later, remembering most of the dream, and conclude that my unconscious was probably processing some unresolved feelings about that particular old job I was in.

Mister turned 3 a few days ago.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 6, 2023:

Already enjoying the easy, leisurely life of most human retirees...

I want to get off my chest, it seems like a disproportionate amount of time I run into arguments ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 6, 2023:

I voted for the first one, because these are always people who don't really know me at all, much less what I have experienced, so they usually make an argument that boils down to, "Be grateful for what you have and thank God for it, etc. because it could be worse, other people have it worse, etc.". And that is bullshit, because unfairness is something real and not easy to be happy about. Secondly, even if I need to adopt that attitude, it's already all there in psychology and therapy, that does not have to involve religion or a God in any way, so they can blow it out their ass, as far as I'm concerned, with their grateful to God and believing in him will solve all of your unhappiness crap. To me, that would be using religion as an anti depressant drug, and just another addictive crutch, same as Marx's remark about religion being the opiate of the masses..

We're not human beings having a spiritual experience.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 4, 2023:

Who fucking cares, either way? Certainly not me..

Why are Lyft and Uber letting Christian drivers preaching at passengers? - YouTube

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 4, 2023:

I will stick with rides from friends, or, if not that, take a taxi. The cab companies still have some standards, and I would always rather support them, rather than the more exploitive ride share companies. I almost never need rides with friends these days, and so I will mainly need taxis if I end up traveling by air, in the place I fly to, as that is far better than renting a car, if I'm going to visit a major city, or esp. if i finally go overseas somewhere.

Tuesday morning cuteness

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 3, 2023:

Maine Coons are so furry and majestic...

The sad truth!!!

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 3, 2023:

And I'd be willing to give my life to fight the fascists that support Trump and want to turn this country into a fascist, white supremicist, Christian Nationalist dictatorship. That is a cause worth finally dying for, unlike all the wars of choice during my lifetime, that were for oil and empire.

Nostalgias nice, but it was never as rosy as we remember.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 2, 2023:

The good ole days were great, as long as you were white, male, straight, and religious. Not so much if you were something different than that...

More people need to hear this.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 2, 2023:

Ever since Reagan, the above philosophy was replaced with Greed Is Good....

Thought this belonged here...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 2, 2023:

I wish I still had the confidence and swagger of that kitty...

It'z my burfday! I iz ayt!

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 1, 2023:

Such a cute birthday boy or girl.

Cheaters are going to cheat, big surprise.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 1, 2023:

To Repubs and their followers, cheating, and esp. getting away with it, is a badge of honor, rather than shame, despite all their phony talk about being morally superior to Dems and liberals. We all know that is crap, but many people lack critical thinking skills, so they are gullible to all that phony talk about morality from Repubs. To entitled, privileged rich brats like Trump, the rules are only for other people who aren't like him, suckers, slobs, etc., who don't have or deserve his status. He laughs at people who take any rules seriously, sees them as naive and stupid. At his age, going to prison and doing real time, would never improve his character, but it would rub some of that arrogance off of him, from finally getting caught at and punished for something..

Cheaters are going to cheat, big surprise.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jan 1, 2023:

Well duh... In my experience, by the time someone gets out of college, if not before then, their character is already pretty much set for life, so who they are back then will tell you everything you need to know about who they are now, and have always been... I have seen very few people change over their life, as far as their character, between their 20s and their middle aged selves. Changing in other ways, sure, but not as far as their character... And that is also why, at least for me as a voter, I want to know about someone's past behavior, going back to their young adult days, esp. if they have never run for office before, because I want to have some idea about their character as a private citizen first, before I trust them with the power of elected office.

Happy New Year kitty lovers!

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 31, 2022:

Too cute! I want to pet them all..

Just think how much better the years 2017 -- 2020 could have been.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 31, 2022:

I think more how much better the last six years would have been if we'd had Bernie as prez, but, suit yourself.

I guess they put him in his place.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 30, 2022:

Appropriate shelf placement, for a human douchebag...

Don't blame the wrong people.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 30, 2022:

So true, but the haters never are deep enough thinkers for that, and they are also too chickenshit and selfish to bother with actually opposing those who are powerful and connected enough to create refugees... Same as seeing the poor as their enemy, instead of as fellow victims of the system and the rich, same as them, but that would mean actually opposing and blaming those they envy, admire, and aspire to be someday, and would also involve making some personal sacrifice to practice class solidarity. It's much more effortless and convenient to just bash the poor and vote for whoever is cruelest to them. The people who create refugees are in both major parties in DC, and they collude to create trade and foreign policy that cause wars and economic dislocation..

When corporations are convicted of felonies, their CEOs should also be charged for the crime.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 30, 2022:

Agreed, but don't doubt for a minute that even if going to jail might be an occupational hazard for CEOs, there will still be plenty of them willing to risk it, in exchange for the obscene money they are paid... They can still easily afford early retirement in prison, with a golden parachute awaiting them after they are removed from their position...

The poor little rich boy entitlement is strong with this one.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 30, 2022:

Which makes you wonder why so many "regular people" keep voting for Repubs, since it never results in lower taxes for the peasants. My guess has always been that their motivation for voting Repub is either their delusion that they will be rich someday or, more likely, that the Repubs do a better job than the Dems of playing to their hatred of those who are different than them, ie, immigrants, colored people, queer folk, liberals, etc. With the latter, even tho the Repubs will never help them economically, they at least get the satisfaction of feeling they are sticking it to The Other-their perceived cultural enemies.... as well as owning the libs, etc.

🚨 Chris Cuomo on No Lie Podcast

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 30, 2022:

I would love to have RCV here in the US, because it's the only way to break the stranglehold of the duopoly on fed elections, by allowing third party candidates the chance to win, instead of being seen as spoilers that people are too afraid to vote for. The only other ways to do it would be eliminating big money from politics or having fully funded campaigns for fed elections, and we all know that neither of those is going to happen, until both major parties are thrown out of power.

We all have our personal standards, some of them are more realistic than others.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 30, 2022:

On the one hand, I can see ending up alone as the crazy cat lady being a sort of karmic justice for women who are too demanding about who they will date. On the other hand, it is a positive for all those cats, that they have a home and are loved, presumably. The point is valid tho, for men and women, that having unreasonable standards will ensure you ending up alone in the dating and mating game, unless you are very rich, great- looking, or both.

With age, the things that are really important seem to become much more clear.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 30, 2022:

I wish I had one more year with my late wife, alive and still healthy.

Good Samaritan finds cat frozen to the ground in Muskegon | kens5.com

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 27, 2022:

Glad he didn't end up as a catsicle. A neighbor of mine across the street from where I lived many years ago, would cruelly leave her cat out in the cold and not let him in, because he kept wanting to go outside on sunny days during the winter. I would let him go inside our garage to get out of the wind, and would bring him back home later, making them let him back in. My wife ended up reporting them to Animal Control for abusing him.

Continued Gains for Humanists and Atheists in the 2022 Election - TheHumanist.com

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 27, 2022:

I can tell you that the lone pol from Iowa is pissing in the wind at the state legislature, where she will serve, since Iowa is very much a one party state these days, and the Repub Party here is very controlled by the religious right. My state is very religious, and intolerant as well, of those who are non-religious. No doubt this official happened to be from one of the very few districts in the state that is blue and not so religious.

I have 4 cats and had many failed attempts at a group photo for Christmas.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 26, 2022:

I love how grumpy all of your cats look. They are all so adorable..

Conservatives are upset their kids don't want to spend Christmas with them

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 25, 2022:

All of it is so well said, and it also explains why I will not be friends with or date any conservatives or evangelical Christians, as they live in alien silos from me and share none of my values, so why waste the time and effort with them? Same as with my family of origin, who never shared my values, even the siblings that shared some of my politics, I realized long ago the less contact and relationship I had with them, the happier I would be, so I cut my ties pretty much with them.

As someone that spent too many years not doing this, I encourage everyone to begin as soon as ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 23, 2022:

I adopted that attitude many years ago, when I became a proud socialist, while others would instead bash me and insult me for supposedly being lazy or lacking ambition, because I didn't join the bandwagon of being a submissive, loyal, deluded wage slave. I had plenty of ambition tho, ambition to be my own man and not be owned by anyone. And I inherited enough money that I even got to retire early, so my plan to eventually retire and tell the bosses to kiss my ass, finally happened. It's so nice to no longer live in fear about anyone having power over whether I could have the money to pay my bills, eat, or survive. But so many Americans of my generation bought into the con, that if they worked hard, were loyal to their employers, etc., they would eventually be rich someday, or at least be able to move up the ladder and be the boss someday, or at least get a cushy job in management or something better than entry level jobs their whole life, sort of like a plantation slave buying into sucking up to the master or the overseer and moving up from being a field slave to a house slave. The actual terms for those last ones involve the N-word, but you get the point. Ain't no diff between being a wage slave and a plantation slave these, days, except that you do get paid in money these days, and you are free to move on to the next wage slave job, instead of being tied to the same plantation your whole life. But either way, you spend most of your life, just working for the man, every night and day, etc., like John Fogerty used to sing in CCR.

How any woman can make herself instantly unattractive to any thinking man: wear a necklace with a ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 23, 2022:

Unfortunately for me, the vast majority of women in my local online dating pool are religious, and usually strongly so, so they always reject me, even the ones who are only moderately religious, that I am willing to accept and tolerate, because, why should they be open-minded and make it a two-way street of tolerance and open-mindedness, when they have three other men, usually fellow believers, to choose from instead of me, in our local dating pool? I am so screwed in my local area, and even with a larger dating pool of two hours away, because almost always, the women there are not willing to date long distance, even if I am and I am otherwise compatible with them.

I bet they feel betrayed, it breaks my heart (not).

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 22, 2022:

Fundamentalist religion, just bigotry dressed up in Bible drag, a line stolen from the comedy character Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian...

You got all that?

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 22, 2022:

Serial killer of birds, lol...

I'm tired of being single I needed a companion

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 19, 2022:

"I'll take Scammer for $500, Alex"...

Such a nice, thoughtful kitty.....

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 19, 2022:

Hopefully, the mouse is smart enough not to fall for it..

After eviction, Christian hate-preacher Jonathan Shelley can't find a new home

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 19, 2022:

They have no shame, but they do get angry as hell after they say the quiet part out loud, and justly get called out as the bigots they are. In other words, I have the right to free speech, but you don't, because I'm right, you're wrong, so you have no right to call me a bigot, etc. To them, it's all a one-way street... Once a shithead, always a shithead....

I have been reading the dating profiles on Facebook.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 18, 2022:

I think you are being too technical in your interpretation. Like many dating profiles I have seen from women, the women may be either not quite as literate and educated as you or I, so their wording is rather misleading and imprecise. What it appears, at least to me, that they mean is, that they are serious about getting married to someone compatible, instead of just dating indefinitely or casually. Some people, men and women on dating sites, are just not that good at using language clearly or precisely, so they are often misunderstood, even if the writer is being honest and sincere. Your example also shows, the hazards of not having someone literate and at least as smart as you, or smarter, proofread your profile, before you finalize it, because that way the obvious and less obvious errors will be found and corrected. I recently saw the POF profile essay of a male buddy who got me to join POF, after he was already on there. He was a newbie himself, to online dating, and it showed, in his profile essay. A woman on there had replied to his initial message to her with a one word reply, "Fake!". Her reason for that was understandable, after all the scammer profiles I have seen, both on here and real dating sites. He said in his essay, three things that were inappropriate and suggestive of being a scammer, so she tagged him as one, even tho all three things were the truth, but they were what I called rookie mistakes. He said that he had worked in Antarctica, was 195 pounds for his weight, and that he had no prison record. The second item was just unnecessary, unusual and weird, so she was suspicious of that, the first one sounded like typical scammer stuff about working abroad, and the last one, even tho it was meant to be humorous and light, seemed very inappropriate and suggested he was lying and probably had done time. I told him to eliminate all three of those things in his essay, and he would be fine, as his photos were good and the rest of it was fine.

From our Stark Contrast Department:

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 17, 2022:

I wouldn't get too cheery about the Dem record. Food prices are still sky high, Assange is still getting shafted, DeJoy and Powell are still in their jobs, as Trump appointees, we traded Afghanistan for Ukraine, in the MIC making their profits, our manu jobs are still all overseas, corporations still have way too much power to price gouge, and the Dems do nothing about that, or even talk about it, health care costs are still way too high, Medicare and Social Security are still way too inadequate to give everyone decent healthcare and a decent retirement, the mass shooting continue every day, and are getting worse..... I could give you a lot more. The Dems are marginally better than the Repubs in DC, but not much.

Cat safe after hair-raising rescue from Pelican Bay storm drain

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 17, 2022:

I am very happy for the cute kitten, but I am disgusted at how likely these same people wouldn't care a fraction as much about some adult person, or possibly even a child, who was poor or a racial minority, for example, who needed to be rescued from poverty or homelessness. Something to think about...

Saturday morning cuteness

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 17, 2022:

A Lynx?

Looking for a new profile photo which one works the best?

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 13, 2022:

For what my opinion is worth, as a man, I would go with the second one. All I do know is that I am turned off by women with profile photos that have the fish lips or duck lips face, as well as other goofy faces. It makes them seem either spacey or trying to be showing off. I prefer just a warm smile, as if they were being comfortable with a friend, or maybe a bright, big smile. I stay away from women with no smiling photos or no teeth showing, because that could mean missing or bad teeth, or simply their bad personality, that my female friends call "Resting Bitch Face".

Said every cat at 3 am

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 13, 2022:

It's nothing personal...

Before we criticize, the current generation for their enthrallment we should remember

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 12, 2022:

To be fair, some of the Gabor sisters did have talent as entertainers, the Kardashian kids, not so much...

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will...

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Something tells me the OP is way under 50 yo...

Don't forget your little ones this Xmas

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 12, 2022:

Hard to tell if the kitty is excited or scared, lol..

Has anyone seen the new friends feature on the Facebook dating?

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 12, 2022:

I am on FB, but know nothing about it. Does it cost you any $ if you are already on FB? I am wary of using it, as I could see the potential of scammers using it even more than normal dating sites. Scratch that. I looked it up on Google, there is no web version of it yet, probably never will be. You need a smartphone to use it, which I have no interest in getting.

A very interesting discussion and worth the watch although it is a bit long.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 11, 2022:

In some ways, I feel it has already begun, at least on the part of the right wingers. Witness the steep increase in attacks on places where black, queer, Jewish, and immigrant people are gathered, and it's clear that one side has already begun fighting a civil war against the groups that they feel are their cultural, racial, ethnic, and political enemies. As to a point made in the video, I am retired, widowed, and not nearly as busy as most Americans, and I am also a born pessimist, so am also not inherently hopeful. Maybe that is why I tend to see things more clearly and realistically about how America is falling apart, saw Jan. 6 coming, and, like Chris Hedges, tend to see things coming more clearly than most Americans. I do know that I see things way more clearly about what is going on than my married friends with kids, who are totally clueless about what the author in the video calls, "the nuances of what's going on in politics herea". I only wish that everyone was required to be aware of those nuances, in order to get to vote,... As for the video overall, I generally don't have the patience to watch anything over a half hour long, since most times the videos are too long, either from repetition, or the presenter having too much filler or elaboration of their points being more detailed than it needs to be.

Who’s giving Americans spiritual care?

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 11, 2022:

As far as providing spiritual care, ministers are being, and have been replaced, for some time now, by mental health workers, like social workers, therapists, and counselors. It used to be that most religious people went to their ministers for counseling, because it was less embarrassing to them and they already knew the person. Nowadays, as more people become secular, and mental health therapy is less stigmatized, they go to secular helpers.

Here's a chestnut that often comes up when a religious person finds out that I am an Atheist.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 11, 2022:

Going to church, or even simply claiming a religion, makes someone a moral person no more than sleeping in a garage, makes you a car...

FreeLeonardPeltier

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

Same with Julian Assange, but neither one of those will every happen.

There is something very affirming when, as a heterosexual man, a woman is happy to confide in me ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

I can relate, somewhat to that, as I have been the confidant of many platonic hetero female friends, about their past relationships with men, including their stories of rape and sexual molestation, because, I guess, they feel safe with me. But I haven't had them confide that sort of sexual history with me, as far as how men have rated with or been involved with them sexually in the past, as far as normal relationship sex. Probably because I am clear that I am not interested in hearing it and that it's not my business. I am fine hearing from them about the emotional business of their past romantic relationships with men, because listening to them and then them hearing my perspective on it, helps both me and the woman learn from their past, and also hopefully from making similar mistakes on our part in the future, with other partners.

I took my Range Rover to a specialist mechanic 2.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

Sounds like someone needs to learn to keep their religion to themselves. I would have reported him to whatever authority there is, and I'm sure there is one in Ontario, that issues his cabbie license, and have them lean on him. I believe that they can yank his hack license if he is abusive to customers. Congrats to him, NOT, for living up to every stereotype that white people have of immigrant Muslim cabbies.

This exquisite amicus brief was submitted to the US Supreme Court, by the Onion.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

Maybe I'm too ignorant, or thick, as the British say, but is there any particular case that this brief is supposed to be in reference to?

I love how old people solve their problems

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

Any old guy that would say that to his longtime wife, deserves to be murdered in his sleep, for at least the insurance money, lol. If I were him, I would be sleeping lightly with one eye open, as she would likely be solving both their problems, promptly....

The hazards of growing up before the EPA.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

I survived lots of parental abuse, but I paid the price, and chose to never have kids or be a young parent. It also scarred me a lot emotionally. But I did end the cycle and that was worth it. I cringe at the people who survive spankings, but carry on the practice and cycle of abusive parenting...

The hazards of growing up before the EPA.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

Or for that matter, growing up now, where much of those regulations are being reversed or eliminated. For example, how is growing up now, in Flint or Detroit MI much safer or healthy than before the EPA?

Cheato's diabolically clever hiding place for classified documents.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

That's my parody title for that retarded country song, "Digging Up Bones", which I call Picking My Nose..lol..

This just in...

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 10, 2022:

I think the ketchup on the wall story, pretty well settles that ?....

Civil wedding Vs Traditional wedding.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 9, 2022:

I didn't vote and have no real interest in getting married again. The one time I was married was in 1999, at a Unitarian church with two Unitarian ministers officiating, one from her church and one from mine. My only LTR, because here in Iowa, as a young man who didn't want to have kids or be a stepparent, that pretty well disqualified me from marriage or an LTR, since young women here seem to all have kids on the brain, at least then, if not even at my current age. We were both Unitarians who were active with our neighboring churches. That was when I was 41, working poor and had nothing to really lose in a divorce. Now I am 64, financially secure, and comfortably retired, so no way I am getting married without an airtight prenup, since I can't afford to lose half what I have, with a heart condition and the possibility of a stroke from it down the line, costing me expensive care for possibly the rest of my life. So most likely if I find a partner, she needs to have her own money and place to live, and I will keep mine. What my late wife, in her community college course on Courtship, Marriage, and Family, called "Pension Pals", people who are a couple, but remain unmarried for mutual financial advantages... Even with a prenup and such, I would not get married again unless the woman really insisted on it.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona: Why I’m registering as an independent

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 9, 2022:

You're right, she will not even run for re-election. She already has her cushy corporate or lobbyist job lined up, secretly. In the meantime, she loves the spotlight, and will suck up all she can of it until she leaves office. The Dems should have wrote her off long ago, same with Manchin, but behind those two, there are plenty of other centrist, corrupt, corporate Dems to take a hit for the team and play the villain, so that voters think the rest of the party is actually on their side and responsive to us peasants... And the rubes who vote Dem, of course, keep buying the act...

See you later Mom! My ride is here! [twitter.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 9, 2022:

Ever since those vaccums came on the market, I have imagined cats riding them as Ubers. Now I've seen it with my own eyes.

Beauty, family , movie, traveling ,work ,dance , music,games ,shows,fun

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 8, 2022:

And our latest scammer takes the stage...

Do you give money to the red kettle bell ringers outside every store?

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 8, 2022:

Thanks Julie, very informative. I never give to anyone who is ringing bells, or otherwise panhandling, because I only give to charities I already have researched and then either give online or by mailing them a check, not spontaneously giving in person. I also find it annoying that they and other charities hang around outside stores, often enlisting children to assist them and add to the appeals to your guilt and conscience to give to them. Same with boy scouts, girl scouts, veterans groups, and Shriners. etc. In recent years, the only charities I have given to have been a local food bank, public radio in my state, and Planned Parenthood. Nothing else either appeals to my values or seems legit and valuable enough in their service to justify it on my part. And I sure as hell won't donate to the Dem Party, since for all I know, most of it might end up just going to help elect more corporate Dems to congress..

Georgia Senate runoff vote: What Warnock's win means for him, the Senate and Georgia [bbc.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 7, 2022:

What a joke, so they picked up one more Senate seat. I can already see how little things will change with either of the two they picked up this time, as Manchin and Sinema will still always be there to take the blame for the Dems never delivering anything good or substantial, plus they can always blame those meanie Repubs, as well as the fillibuster that the Dems refuse to abolish. "Nothing will fundamentally change", that should actually be the new Dem Party slogan. They should thank Biden for giving it to them.

Do you think "micro donations" in politics contribute to polarization and the vilification of the ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 7, 2022:

I am all for micro donations, like Bernie had the last two times, for almost all of his campaign funding. It is positive if, like Bernie, they use the money to fund their campaigns instead of selling out completely to corporations and the rich for all the funding of their campaigns. Almost all the other pols in DC, Dem or Repub, sell out to all the same donors I mentioned, unlike Bernie, so there are exceptions, and I would much rather support them than all the Repubs and corporate Dems I see in federal office, because we all know that voters don't matter to these pols, just their donors. Same for either party.

Time spent together

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 7, 2022:

Not really, in my book. To me, it is something to use intially to test for chemistry or positive vibe between two singles who either are too unavailable to meet in person for the first time, either due to distance or time commitments that are in the way, or, in the case of a long distance relationship with limited opportunities to meet up in person, it compensates for that. But so do and so can phone calls, this is just an enhancement of the old LD relationship phone calls, for the modern age. To me, after the couple have met in person and established a mutual interest and commitment to date, from then on, the video chatting is a pretty poor substitute for spending actual time together in the same place. It can be too artificial, compared to spending time together most of the time in the same location, and can lead to relationships dragging out while deteriorating while the couple grows apart, but is able to cover up and deflect from separation issues longer than they should.

Vandalism is getting to be a lot less in my area.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 6, 2022:

I would never live out in a remote or rural area, because I do not trust most people enough, esp. these days, with the right wing, violent nuts out there, to be at the mercy of strangers who might attack me or vandalize my property because they don't like my politics or non-belief. I would always rather be in a suburban area, like I am now, where crime is low. I live in a condo apartment building, with security doors and an underground, indoor garage, so if anyone who doesn't live here wants to get at me or my car, they would need to follow me after I left or look for me somewhere outside here. My neighbors know that I never have almost never have any visitors here, so they would be very unlikely to ever let anybody in the building, if they used the intercom and asked them to buzz them in to see me. And they know that I would be just as vigilante in protecting them. So, unless one of my neighbors develops a serious grudge against me and decides to vandalize my car or the door of my apartment, I have nothing to fear happening to me, my car, or my door from my neighbors. Because they also know that if anything like that did happen, it wouldn't be that tough to figure out who did it, and for me to retaliate. Mutually assured destruction, like the old Cold War days, lol...

Cat Will Do Anything To Fit In This Box | The Dodo - YouTube

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 5, 2022:

That is mean and deliberately frustrating the cat. It needs and deserves a bigger box and it's not right to frustrate the cat just to amuse the human. Cats seem to like boxes big enough to hug their whole body, because it gives them a full body snug feeling they like. Most likely it's a way for them to relive being in their mother's womb..

Hi, I was curious if anyone else felt as i do about birthdays.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 5, 2022:

My parents are dead, so my three siblings really have nobody left, except maybe their own guilt or sense of obligation, to have contact with me in recent years. My two sisters have some limited contact with me, initiated always by them, not me. My brother contacts me sporadically. I have never really been close to them after reaching middle age, and that is fine with me. In recent years, I have exchanged B-day cares with my two sisters, no B-day cards with my brother in a very long time. Also fine with me. I like my dealings with people to be completely straight up and honest, whether it's with family, friends, or acquaintences. I like it all clean and honest, no games. Life is too short to spend playing diplomat with people, and having to calculate or strategize how you deal with them, if it's with someone ongoing. Either I can be myself with them, or I don't need them in my life. So I guess, Lonnie, is that you and I are more alike than different on this score.

It’s official.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Like in the Mormon church, you are one of the elect, lol. Best wishes in retirement.

I just saw this.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 5, 2022:

Look an awful lot like the principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association Of America, which is the denomination of the Unitarian church.

Quick! To the Cat Cave!

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 5, 2022:

They do love to perch up high, plan their attack, and then pounce!

Time for some lanes to merge. Time for some worlds to collide.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 4, 2022:

We used to tax the shit out of the rich, esp. the multimillionaires, but then we stopped doing it. Back then there were very few billionaires, now there are way more. That's why, not so much because of inflation.

Judge blocks Indiana abortion ban on religious freedom grounds | Reuters

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 3, 2022:

This will never hold up once it gets to the top court..

Republican Elites Are Drawing on a Bizarre Blend of Cultural Weirdness

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 3, 2022:

Sounds like Amalric's motto lived on after him, like during the Vietnam War, when the bomber pilots said, " Kill them all, and let God sort out the mistakes"...

Re Kanye (Ye),

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 3, 2022:

I feel the same about MAGA hats, it saves me time and lets me know immediately who the idiots and assholes are. Kind of like someone wearing a special ed tag, it saves time, tho I don't despise them like the MAGAs.

Hey, How's everyone been?

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 2, 2022:

Well, you live in the US, like me, where we have had uniparty rule, at least since the late 80s, ever since. The only real differences these days, at the fed level, for the major parties, is the identity politics and culture wars, otherwise, the policies and agendas are pretty much the same, serving corporations and the ruling class with tax cuts and eliminating regulation of business, marching us to climate disaster, feeding the MIC and endless wars for oil and empire, etc. Right now, the Repubs are also moving towards open fascism and the end of elections, with a permanent dictatorship, while the Dems want to keep up the charade of democracy, with elections within the duopoly, instead of risking civil war and the disruption of civil war,, for their corporate masters to deal with. Both parties support the neofeudalism we have here, with neoliberal economics and trade policies, all to serve the rich and corporations, over the masses. I see no hope for getting out of this death spiral, unless either the masses collectively ignore the corporate media, quit believing in the major parties, and vote third party only in fed elections, throwing out both major parties in DC. Not very likely and the only way we can vote our way out of this. The other way would be tens of millions no longer cooperating with corporate control of our government, long general strikes, and massive protests, but I am afraid that if the masses took that first route, and voted in a true labor or worker's party, the ruling classes would have the major parties implement a military crackdown, declare martial law, and then we would have to either fight it out in the streets against the now openly fascist government, or else end up under permanent dictatorship.

Bipartisan bollocks.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 2, 2022:

Yup, two parties, both owned by and serving only the rich and corporate masters, but at least one of them offers some identity politics to the rubes in the 99%, who still think they are on their side, instead of just the 1%.

A burglar broke into our house last night...

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 2, 2022:

It's always good to have some attack cats in the home..

You know how they have the ugliest sweater contest? I am going for the gnarliest tree contest.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 1, 2022:

It is a bit scruffy, needs that makeover..

Lying pastor: Bible College students become atheists and infiltrate churches

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 1, 2022:

Someone sounds a bit on the paranoid and nutty side. Projection much?

Boy howdy.

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 1, 2022:

Because this is the world center of capitalism, baby, where money rules everything, when it comes to power and who makes the rules...

My new look babies

TomMcGiverin comments on Dec 1, 2022:

Hell man, you don't need this site at all. With your looks and all the women in Iowa City that are politically liberal, hip, and non-believers, you should have no problem finding compatible women to date. The only way you could lose or fail at it is if you are a conservative or an asshole.. My money is on the latter.....

For those of us that are the black sheep of the family, how true does this ring for you?

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 30, 2022:

It sure as hell fits me, and my role in my dysfunctional family. It was probably no accident that I was named Thomas, like the apostle, truth-teller in the New Testament gospels.

I yearn for simpler times and fear for the future.

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 29, 2022:

That's me, a psycho. I don't even have a smartphone, nor do I want or need one..But then, I've alway been a non-conformist. So sad that my kind is so rare nowadays, compared to the 60s. Nowadays, everybody likes to think they're hip, yet they are almost all very conformist. Fucking sheeple!....

All five found guilty, four on Conspiracy and Rhodes of Seditious Conspiracy, for at least ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 29, 2022:

Trump has nothing to worry about regarding Jan. 6. Only the smaller fish will ever see prison over it. He's a member of the club, like George Carlin said, and he hasn't stolen from rich people in the club, so he is safe.

1.

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 29, 2022:

We need a govt. sponsored buy back program, like I think Australia did, to first start to make a dent in it. Secondly, we need new SC or a much more progressive congress, to ban assault weapons with a constitutional amendment. Until then, we are fucked... The ruling class is fine with our status quo on guns, because they don't care how many of us peasant are killed, since it only happens among the peasant class. Until it actually starts affecting the ruling class and the political class, nothing will be done. But if the peasants somehow started using their weapons against the political class on a widespread scale, or ever began using them on the ruling class, we would see action so fast it would make your head spin!

Cat returns to Brooklyn after saved from bag at JFK Airport

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 29, 2022:

Not sure he should have been given the people food on that plate...

Cat returns to Brooklyn after saved from bag at JFK Airport

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 29, 2022:

Hope he was rewarded with tuna..

The business cry for years was train people for the jobs, don't train them to think and this is what...

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 28, 2022:

That is so true. I remember when I worked as a vending route driver at a state university that was all about science and tech, and listening to the students talk amongst themselves, nary a one that had any knowledge of humanities or liberal arts, all of them obviously grooming themselves for careers in science and tech where they would make good money, never join a union, and either loyally vote Republican, or, even worse, become Libertarians... To them, Ayn Rand was a god and science could solve all problems, it was their religion and the only thing that mattered, not people or humans...

You’ll see a lot of people try to blame Christian Nationalism on evangelicals, saying that it’s ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 28, 2022:

It's like Betty Bowers said, " Religious freedom, (or Christian Nationalism, for that matter) is just White Christian Nationalism (or fascism) dressed up in Bible drag"...

I wonder if the Theist and Atheist worlds will ever notice that God and Reality behave exactly the ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 28, 2022:

As the poet and philosopher, John Lennon once said, " God is a concept, by which we measure our pain"...

What ever the latest massacre, this is the republiscum response.

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 28, 2022:

Yup, the real answer is Fuck you, to the victims, their families, and the gun control crowd...

I'd like to think this is one of those great communities that are hidden unless you go looking.

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 27, 2022:

I think that is generally true here about Agnostic.com, Glen, unless you begin discussing the dating game and making any negative statements regarding any women in said game, no matter how much the statements are based on your personal experience. The sad fact is that most women on this site are so reflexively defensive of the sisterhood, that they have no tolerance for anything negative said about women in the dating game, no matter how much they may know it to be true. And the same thing with most men on here, they don't have the guts or integrity to stand up to those women I am referring to, either due to lack of courage, or their desire to curry favor with those women by lacking the integrity to admit it when they know a guy is being honest and right about something regarding women in the dating game. So, in summary, this is still not a safe or supportive place, like it used to be, for discussing one's online dating woes, at least if you are a man, and that is why almost no one but me is still willing to do or risk it here. And, as far as I can tell, with the many women who have blocked me over this subject, it also doesn't appear to be a place where women feel that safe or supportive, either, about sharing their experiences regarding online dating, because I don't see any posts from them either, even tho if they had me blocked, I would still see the post listed in the posts column for that group, not sure if that also is true for forum categories like Love And Relationships..

She makes a very valid point that they will deny and deflect.

TomMcGiverin comments on Nov 27, 2022:

So true, they will deny and deflect, she should have gone on to say, that instead of about faith, it really is all about control and domination of those they hate...She was too polite about it and stopped short of confronting their phoniness completely as fake religion... As the Betty Bower's character, America's favorite Christian, said recently, it isn't at all about religion, "It's White Christian Nationalism, dressed up in Bible drag"..... And in the case of abortion bans, it's misogyny and patriarchy, dressed up in Bible drag. As Betty would say, "Glory!".