rjs330 said:

Is there an issue with pointing out someone's self control problem that is destroying their life?

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And often others than themselves.

perplexed said:

Zohran Mamdani statement "there should not be Billionaires" indicates a desire for high taxes on the rich lots of government interference which is often counterproductive.

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Yeah, it might not work, but let’s try it for, oh, say 50 years?

perplexed said:

It really annoys me that the American right has defined that as Marxism but they are blissfully unaware of how technically incorrect they are.

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They don’t need “accuracy“ if they can gerrymander enough districts.

BCP1928 said:

The other thing we must do is stop treating homelessness as a moral issue. Then maybe we can entertain practical solutions.

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It is a moral issue . Is ours as a society.

FireDragon76 said:

According to ChatGPT, the eye color and skin color were determined using DNA analysis, and represent approximations. The sister with darker hair likely had slightly darker skin as well, representing genetic diversity in ancient Europe. The two sisters would be more closely related to the Sami or Basque people, than most modern Europeans- but only distantly so.

Cheddar Man had dark skin but blue eyes, but he was mesolithic, not neolithic, and lived about 10,000 years ago. Quite a bit older.

People of European ancestry can have alot of physical variation, even among family. My brother has skin that is a full shade lighter than mine, red hair, and blue eyes, whereas I have dark brown hair, brown eyes, and almost a Mediterranean complexion.

Speculations in the article about the nature of the sisters work and deaths are also logical, if speculative. Alot of ancient cultures practiced slavery and forced labor, for all sorts of reasons. They also had ritual human sacrifices on occasion (though some writers, such as Greeks or Romans, had reasons to embellish or misunderstand such accounts), so it's not out of question as an explanation. Mines in particular were places of magical enchantment, liminal spaces that connected to unseen worlds, often full of creatures that guarded them and didn't take kindly to intruders (hence European stories of kobolds, goblins, and other spirits that guarded liminal spaces such as caves and mines).

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I get the feeling that modern writers, to include archaeologists, have reasons to speculate and embellish on their discoveries. Call me a skeptic.

By the way, the girl on the left looks like my cousin, sans makeup, with almost as much of a sense of humor. When National Geographic published a picture of "Lucy", I thought, "What's the big deal? She looks like a woman in town everyone knows."

Jamdoc said:

Coincidence? I don't think so, since Oct 7th I've seen God act in Israel's benefit to windfalls of elimination of their enemies right and left "like a torch in the sheaves"

Netanyahu is using the drought to call out for Iranians to seek freedom from the Ayatollahs, offering that Israel is the world leader in water recycling and desalination and would jump into help the moment they can (which the Ayatollahs absolutely would not accept help from "the Zionist entity" (they won't say the word Israel))

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Well Iran isn’t exactly known as a tropical paradise like Asia or Europe and nor is Israel or much of the middle east for that matter . If they needed extra water they could ask Libya. They tapped into the water basin decades ago under Gadifi’s green plan which was monumental work of some 10 yrs in the making with water pipes to irrigate much of Libya

Hans Blaster said:

Both the humans and the cows have evolved due to our agricultural modifications. We aren't drinking auroch milk.

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Venezuelan beaver cheese? (Cue the bouzoukis!)

The Barbarian said:

The Church points out that any theory of evolution that denies God's role is unacceptable. But since Darwin himself assumed that God created the first living things, the Church is good with modern evolutionary theory. According to the Church:
Converging evidence from many studies in the physical and biological sciences furnishes mounting support for some theory of evolution to account for the development and diversification of life on earth, while controversy continues over the pace and mechanisms of evolution. While the story of human origins is complex and subject to revision, physical anthropology and molecular biology combine to make a convincing case for the origin of the human species in Africa about 150,000 years ago in a humanoid population of common genetic lineage.

You aren't required as a Catholic to accept the Church's guidance on this, of course. It's not a salvation issue unless one makes an idol of one's interpretation.

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I thought Darwin was an atheist.

ozso said:

Yes, what am I missing that makes it funny?

View attachment 368671

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LOL

ThatRobGuy said:

I've seen a few people cite the concept of "wellness influencers" and the nonsense they peddle.
(which, for the record, if a celebrity is pushing a product or supplement or fad diet, 99% of the time, it's nonsense)


The issue with that (in terms of trying to bridge public perception with reality), is that the "wellness influencers" often look a lot more "well" than the people who aren't. As the saying goes "optics is everything".

Not everyone in the general public is going to be able to separate the nonsense from the stuff they're doing that's actually working.


Case in point: RFK Jr.
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To be honest, I don't know that I've seen another 71 year old who looks that good.

The reason he looks good? He's an exercise fanatic who watches his caloric intake, avoid excess sugar, and steers clear of fast food and processed food, and takes low-dose TRT (prescribed through a doctor) to get him up into the 500-600 range, and supplements with creatine.

He's promotes a lot of quackery, but if the message of non-quackery is coming from someone who looks like a slob, you can't necessarily fault a portion of general public for forming certain opinions about which of the two are the ones who "know what they're talking about".

"I just saw RFK bench 225 for reps at age 71...the person who says he's a quack gets winded walking up 2 flights of stairs" isn't a great look for mainstream medical science.

Compare the picture above with that of Peter Hotez, one of the scientists who's been a frequent critic of RFK
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they're roughly the same age...if you saw each of these two gentlemen out in public, and didn't know who they were, which one would be getting "Wow you great for your age, what's your secret?" inquiries?

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He’s buff, so he knows what he’s talking about health-wise…nah, non sequitur in an appeal-to-authority kind of way.

jacks said:

Looking up "wormholes" I found my next bumper sticker:

A white hole connects to a black hole via a wormhole.

Edit: This isn't a joke, that is really the theory.

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Thought occurs to me (since I can speculate right along with the experts), if one was to go through a wormhole, would one even know it? Maybe we live in a wormhole! Why do we consider our condition to be normative, and phenomena odd to us to be divergent?

Cabbage Patch Kids.

But more seriously--what does being funny have to do with being presidential?

-CryptoLutheran

ThatRobGuy said:

I would argue that a cow's milk isn't for human consumption... full stop. (Raw or otherwise)

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I haven’t had chocolate milk for a few years, but i wouldn’t want to live on a planet that didn’t have it available.

joymercy said:

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I look forward to such meaningful conversation...

keras said:

The crazy Mullahs of Iran must act, or they will be deposed.
How can they act? By destroying Israel with nuke missiles. This would change the whole scene in the Middle East and make Islam supreme there.

There is plenty of indications of their desperate race toward being able to do this. It is just a matter of getting everything together and pressing the firing button.
THEN.....it will be the Lord who will act:

Psalms 94:1-7 God of vengeance 1, show Yourself. Repay the arrogant as they deserve. Rise now and judge the earth, give to the godless their just penalty. Lord: How long will the wicked exult? Evildoers oppress Your people, Your chosen nation. They say: The Lord does not see, the God of Jacob pays no heed.

Isaiah 42:14-15 Long have I restrained Myself 2, I kept silence and held Myself in check, now I am like a woman in labour, as in the throes of childbirth. I shall lay waste to the land, dry up rivers and lakes will become deserts.

Psalms 102:13 & 19-20 You will arise and have mercy on Zion, for it is time to pity her. The appointed time has come3. The Lord looks down from His sanctuary on high and surveys the earth. He hears the supplications of the exiles and will set free those threatened with annihilation.

Psalms 78:65-66 Then the Lord awoke as a sleeper awakes 4, as a warrior suddenly disturbed. He struck His foes and defeated them, to their eternal shame.

Psalms 2:4-9 The Lord, enthroned in the heavens 5 laughs and derides His enemies. Angrily He rebukes them and in His wrath, He devastates the nations, shattering them like a clay pot.

Psalms 11:4-6 The Lord is on His throne in heaven 5. He observes all people and judges them. He hates those who love violence. He will rain fiery coals and brimstone upon the wicked peoples 6; scorching winds will be their sentence.

Psalms 50:1-5 Our God is coming and will not keep silent. A consuming fire runs ahead of Him and around Him a great storm rages 6.

Psalms 18:13 The Lord thundered from the heavens 5, He raised His voice amid hail and glowing coals. He hurled forth arrows of lightning6 and sped them to their mark.

Joel 1:15, 2 Peter 3:10, Malachi 4:1, Zeph. 3:8, Isaiah 13:9, Isaiah 66:15-16, Jer. 9:22 The Day is near, the Day of the Lord it comes, as a mighty destruction from the Almighty. On that unexpected Day, the sky will be dispersed with a great noise and the earth will be enveloped in flames 7. All peoples will be brought to judgement and many will die.
Ref; REB. Some verses abridged.

1/ We know God as a God of love, but also of justice and this means that He must exact a just punishment onto those who deny Him and ignore His commands. Nahum 1:2, Isaiah 1:24, Romans 1:18

2/ The Lord has kept out of world affairs and allowed people to follow their own desires. This is our free will choice. Isaiah 64:7, Eccl. 8:5-7, Psalms 89:46, 1 Thess. 4:6-8

3/ God has a plan and all that is prophesied will come to pass at its appointed time. Isaiah 46:10, Psalms 33:10-11

4/ The Lord springs into action! Haggai 2:21-22, Amos 5:9, Joel 2:11, Psalms 144:5-6

5/ This event is NOT the Return, the Lord stays in His sanctuary. Psalms 7:6-16, Isa 60:1-3

6/ The great Day of the Lord’s vengeance and wrath, prophesied over 100 times throughout the Bible, the Day of punishment on the nations, triggered by an attack on the State of Israel. Psalms 83:1-18, Habakkuk 3:12, Isaiah 34:1-5

7/ The only logical explanation for a worldwide fire, is a Coronal Mass Ejection, an explosion of the suns surface. This is confirmed by Isaiah 30:26 and Malachi 4:1.

A CME of unprecedented magnitude will strike the earth, the mass of superheated hydrogen plasma will fulfil all the prophesied effects: in the sky, heat, smoke, electrical, volcanic, earthquakes and the loss of our modern infrastructure. Deut. 32:22 & 34-35, Ezekiel 21:10, Revelation 6:12-17

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The dominant ideology of Iran is nationalism, Shia Islam is more like techne of statecraft than a totalizing geopolitical vision. Twelver Shia Islam, the official state religion of Iran, is essentially geopolitically quietist. Shia Islam, unlike Wahabism in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East, essentially has an attitude of quiet expectancy, awaiting the unveiling of the Mahdi or Guide from his Occultation (hiddnenness).

FireDragon76 said:

J.D. Vance gestures towards something real when he suggests a sense of place and community is vital, even if he does so through a cracked lens and questionable allegiances.

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The loss of community is probably one of the chief defining features of our modern industrialized world; and it's probably one of the most seriously dire problems we face moving forward. And that lack of community, of belonging, engenders grifters and con-artists and dangerous minds to try and fill the empty space with something--but not a good something. That is, in part, I think why we've seen a rise--among young men--the rise of the alpha male podcast phenomenon; but it's not just young men it's a bit of everybody. But that's an example of how people prey on vulnerability for those who desire community and belonging, and it's not all that different than the "traditional" cult/cult leader phenomenon.

I think there is genuine hunger for "the village". It's something that runs deep in our psychology, we aren't solitary animals, we're social animals--and we want our village.

There is, in the modern world, genuine and sincere opportunity for profound change in how we "do" civilization, for good. In ways that simply were not possible in previous generations. But present power structures are, in many ways, unfit for forward momentum; but they can be bent toward flexibility to provide smoother transition; or they can become rigid and inflexible to try and halt momentum--the problem with the latter is rigid structures can--and often--break when under too much strain.

I'm not convinced that the model of the nation state as it's existed for the last couple centuries is a model that is going to truly survive. The answer isn't empire-building, it's not large power; I think something that looks like small power is what could provide long term social stability.

The difficulties, as always in the world, is the human drive toward competition. Capitalism has maximized competition to the point of Social Darwinism and has reduced human beings to numbers and data to feed the perpetual hunger of economic exploitation. I don't see a stable answer in Marxist philosophy, a purely state-less society impossible because there will always be people who desire to be at the top and will do so even at the expense of others. I don't know what the solution to the problem of Capitalism is (or, at least, the solution to the problem of Capitalism on this side of the Eschaton, the solution to the problem of Capitalism from an eschatological, soteriological, is Christ and the renewal of all things in the Age to Come). I think democratic principles of individual freedom and participation in government, is crucial; but the emphasis on the individual must be balanced with community--which is why I think redistributive systems are crucial; safety nets and social equity is critical. But I suspect that works better on the small scale; rather than large empires.

Ideally some sort of cooperative model; but realism demands recognizing that competition is always there as a danger--the rival nation, the rival tribe, the rival gang, whatever it is--that sees you/yours not as a partner to cooperate with, but as a rival to compete with. Which is why certain state structures are necessary, St. Paul reminds us "he does not wield the sword in vain"--that is, for human flourishing there needs to be a curbing of evil--because the brigand and the bandit are very real. But so is the corrupt politician and the wicked businessman.

Anyway, I don't really have a point I'm going toward. It's just that when I read what you said it got me thinking and then I started rambling.

-CryptoLutheran

The Barbarian said:

Trump's comments on the Howard Stern show is the evidence. We don't need the Epstein files to know that he was creeping into the young girls' dressing room. He admitted it on the air.

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Why would we suddenly believe that Trump wasn’t prevaricating and this “evidence” is the tru-tru?
Lockeroom talk! (on-the-airwaves)!

Gregory Thompson said:

Since lying is part of a politician's job, and lying is the native tongue of the devil - I would say churches of God should not endorse politicians.

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Jesus seemed to think so.

DaisyDay said:

Yet. Wait until the Gerrymander Wars are done and the Voting Rights Act completely neutered.

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This would require Democrats winning State House majorities (in 2028/2030), lest they look like hypocrites by redrawing before the results of the 2030 census emerge, (should they win in ‘26).

Vambram said:

Trump’s Russia play isn’t about Ukraine, it's about China.
President aims to reduce Moscow's dependence on Beijing through energy and Arctic deals.
The headlines say the Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was about Ukraine. Commentators in Brussels and Washington rehearse the familiar debates: Was Trump too soft on Moscow? Did he undermine Kyiv?

But that framing misses the bigger picture.

The Trump administration has already set the terms of the 21st-century contest: The United States faces its greatest long-term threat not from Russia, but from China. From sweeping sanctions on Beijing’s access to advanced AI chips, to trading U.S. security guarantees for alignment in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific, Trump has consistently structured foreign policy around containing China’s rise. Against that backdrop, his Russia outreach is not a distraction. It is a deliberate attempt to bring coherence to an America-first strategy — one that pits him against the old globalist consensus now clinging to the EU–Ukraine agenda.

Trump’s Russia play isn’t about Ukraine, it's about China

Trump's Alaska summit with Putin aims to separate Russia from China alliance as part of broader strategy to contain Beijing's rise and focus US resources on Indo-Pacific

www.foxbusiness.com

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Oh?
So it wasn’t a failed diplomatic stunt mission, it was an end-around to China!

How does the knight move in 12-dimensional chess?

Vambram said:

Marco Rubio accuses CBS reporter of pushing 'stupid media narrative' in fiery clash over Zelensky.
Secretary of State rejects claims that European leaders are coming to protect Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from being bullied.

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Rubio is a good soldier. Those European leaders are not coming here to keep Trump from being a bully (although he may try it) but to show the solidarity with Ukraine that Trump cannot.