"Casual Cruelty" -- Oof!
Some Republicans with nothing to lose are starting to speak their mind about our failing President.
Today Senator Bob Corker, who has nothing to lose since he announced that he is retiring after this term, said on national television that Trump was “debasing” the United States and that the President struggled with the truth. Tuesday Corker had said Trump was “absolutely not” a role model for the children in America. “I don’t know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases our country,” Corker said on CNN, suggesting that he is going to call for hearings to investigate the ways Trump “purposely has been breaking down relationships around the world.” He added, “It’s unfortunate that our nation finds itself in this place.”
Yesterday Republican Senator John McCain, who also probably has nothing to lose since he has been diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer, commented on the Vietnam War with a swipe at Trump: "One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never, ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America, and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur. That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve." You get the bone spur thing, right?
This week, George W. Bush, of all people, came out and said, “Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.” He went on, “We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty.” He said, “At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together.” And man, I never thought I would agree with him! Bush said, “[W]e need to recall and recover our own identity. Americans have a great advantage: To renew our country, we only need to remember our values.”
Today Jeff Flake, Senator from my home state of Arizona, gave a speech on the Senate floor where he said he is not going to run in the next election. Now that he has nothing to lose, Flake...
The Republicans who remain in the political game are still afraid to speak out against the big bully Trump, who is the most disastrous President ever. You just know they can't stand him, but they have not got the courage of their convictions. It is fascinating in a way to see what they really think about what's going on, and it is even more fascinating to see what unmitigated cowards they all are.
Today Senator Bob Corker, who has nothing to lose since he announced that he is retiring after this term, said on national television that Trump was “debasing” the United States and that the President struggled with the truth. Tuesday Corker had said Trump was “absolutely not” a role model for the children in America. “I don’t know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases our country,” Corker said on CNN, suggesting that he is going to call for hearings to investigate the ways Trump “purposely has been breaking down relationships around the world.” He added, “It’s unfortunate that our nation finds itself in this place.”
Yesterday Republican Senator John McCain, who also probably has nothing to lose since he has been diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer, commented on the Vietnam War with a swipe at Trump: "One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never, ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America, and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur. That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve." You get the bone spur thing, right?
This week, George W. Bush, of all people, came out and said, “Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.” He went on, “We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty.” He said, “At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together.” And man, I never thought I would agree with him! Bush said, “[W]e need to recall and recover our own identity. Americans have a great advantage: To renew our country, we only need to remember our values.”
Today Jeff Flake, Senator from my home state of Arizona, gave a speech on the Senate floor where he said he is not going to run in the next election. Now that he has nothing to lose, Flake...
offered a blistering take on Republican acquiescence in the age of Trump, which Flake said represented a compromise in moral authority.Look, I'm not saying these guys are good people. Not one of them had the moral courage to speak out until the risk was gone. GWB was a terrible President but amazingly the new guy actually makes him look not so bad. McCain kept his mouth shut even when Trump attacked him ruthlessly, until he got sick. Corker, same thing, he zipped his lip until he had announced his departure, and even then he was circumspect up to a point, though he got a few barbs in. Now he and Trump are slinging mud at each other on Twitter every day. And Flake, same thing, he would not confront Trump if there was a chance it would come back to bite him. Flake was likely to lose the next election anyway, so dropping out saves face plus he can throw some shade on Trump like those guys in high school who yelled "Hold me back! Hold me back!" instead of actually getting into a fight.
“Without fear of the consequences and without consideration of the rules of what is politically safe or palatable, we must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal,” said Flake, who has seen his approval ratings in Arizona plummet after his attacks on Trump.
Despite those poll numbers, Flake said it would be irresponsible to not criticize Trump for his behavior.
Trump’s actions “are not normal,” he said, adding that the president’s “reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has been excused.”
Flake said he was “rising today” to say “enough.”
“We must dedicate ourselves to making sure that the anomalous never becomes the normal,” he said. “We have fooled ourselves for long enough that a pivot to governing is right around the corner.”
Flake also criticized Republicans who believe that “anything short of complete and unquestioning loyalty to a president who belongs to my party is unacceptable and suspect.”
“Silence can equal complicity,” he said. Flake, Corker push Trump criticism to new level
The Republicans who remain in the political game are still afraid to speak out against the big bully Trump, who is the most disastrous President ever. You just know they can't stand him, but they have not got the courage of their convictions. It is fascinating in a way to see what they really think about what's going on, and it is even more fascinating to see what unmitigated cowards they all are.
82 Comments:
I would have more admiration for Senator Flake if he had decided to stand and fight for his principles. He will never have a better platform within his own party to do so, to convince, in the Arizona primary, his fellow Republicans that a civil approach to disagreement is better than Trumpism. So now only three male Republican Senators have enough principle to truly stand up to Trumpism. One knows he will never have to run again in a Republican primary; the other two — Flake and Corker — have decided to speak truth, but do not have the courage or the dedication to the public interest to bring their case to their constituents. If they think the Republican electorate is irretrievably poisoned by Trumpism, they should say so.
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time for a third political party?
is there really any other way?
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/10/25/can_non-trump_republicans_spark_a_multi-party_system_135355.html
Listening to Flake on Morning Joe. He just admitted that the Republican primary electorate is so committed to Trump that he could not win. This is not based on policy, both Flake and Scarborough point out, but on what is effectively a Cult of Personality (not the phrase they use, but that is what it is).
oh, I think you're wrong, David
those primary voters have their issues that Trump has exploited
personally, most people see him as an embarassment
looks like you guys were right
Republicans are as bad as Harvey Weinstein (and Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton and Anthony Weiner and Barney Frank and...)
this actress is bravely standing up to confront her attacker
he may be the ex-president but she has justice on her side, giving her courage
(also, he's 93 and wheelchair bound, so there's that)
let's hope this is quickly prosecuted
we need to get this guy off the streets:
"An AMC actress claims that former President George H.W. Bush groped her from his wheelchair during a screening.
Heather Lind, who starred in “Turn: Washington’s Spies,” detailed her accusations in a lengthy Instagram post Tuesday.
“I found it disturbing because I recognize the respect ex-presidents are given for having served. And I feel pride and reverence toward many of them. But when I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a photo,” Lind, 34, wrote.
“He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not again.’ His security guard told me I shouldn’t have stood next to him for the photo.”
Lind, who played Anna Strong on the drama about “America’s first spy ring,” met the former President, 93, during a special screening of the show in 2014, a week before its premiere.
“We were instructed to call him Mr. President. It seems to me a President’s power is in his or her capacity to enact positive change, actually help people, and serve as a symbol of our democracy. He relinquished that power when he used it against me and, judging from the comments of those around him, countless other women before me,” Lind wrote.
“What comforts me is that I too can use my power, which isn’t so different from a President really. I can enact positive change. I can actually help people. I can be a symbol of my democracy. I can refuse to call him President, and call out other abuses of power when I see them. I can vote for a President, in part, by the nature of his or her character, knowing that his or her political decisions must necessarily stem from that character.”
Lind went on to say that she told her castmates about the alleged assault and that she decided to come forward because of “the bravery of other women who have spoken up and written about their experiences.”
A rep for Bush did not immediately return a request for comment.
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Maybe Harvey could say it was all just a joke...JK, gals!
Former President George H.W. Bush has apologized for an “attempt at humor” after being accused of sexual assault by actress Heather Lind.
Lind, in a now-deleted Instagram post Tuesday, accused Bush, 93, of touching her from behind during a photo-op while in his wheelchair.
POLL: Majority Says Trump Is Unstable, Dishonest
Reckless. Thin-skinned. Not honest. Not compassionate. Not stable. Those aren’t just the extraordinary, harsh judgments of President Donald Trump by two retiring, Republican senators on Tuesday — they are also shared by majorities of voters in a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.
“As we have seen in past polls, most voters, 56 percent, say President Trump is reckless, while 31 percent disagree,” said Morning Consult co-founder and hief Research Officer Kyle Dropp. “Even among Republicans, 33 percent think this is an accurate characterization — notably higher than the percentage of Republicans that disapprove of the president overall, 20 percent.”
Only 33 percent of voters in the new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll say Trump is compassionate, while 54 percent say he isn’t. A 52 percent majority says Trump is thin-skinned, and 33 percent say he isn’t. Trump scores poorly on other measures in the poll as well. Only 39 percent of voters say Trump is a strong leader; half say he is not. Just a third say he is stable, while a 54 percent majority say he is not stable.
The popular vote losing, Russia elected, pussy grabber is the most illegitimate U.S. president ever.
If Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Paul Ryan were drowning, and you only had enough time to save one, and your choice would determine who is left in control of the country, What Type of Sandwich Would You Make?
The answer's obvious. If I was going to make a sandwich, while letting those deplorable traitors drown...it would be a HERO sandwich !!
This is disturbing:
“Even among Republicans, 33 percent think this is an accurate characterization — notably higher than the percentage of Republicans that disapprove of the president overall, 20 percent.”
So a bunch of people think tRump is reckless, yet they don't disapprove of him? This shows that hating liberals is more important to Republicans than their own survival. Perfect example is Wyatt/bad anonymous who said "Trump will be elected president - I hope our republic survives" and yet voted for him and praises him at every opportunity because as he said, it was all about having an anti-gay supreme court judge appointed.
Who knew so many Americans were mentally ill?
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake Cites McCarthyism In Brutal Editorial Blasting “Contagious Sickness” Of Trump Administration
Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake cited the most famous moment of McCarthy hearings today in a Washington Post editorial which continues his savaging of the Trump administration. An excerpt:
In words that today echo from his time to ours, Joseph Welch delivered the coup de grace: “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” The moral power of Welch’s words ended McCarthy’s rampage on American values, and effectively his career as well. After Welch said his piece, the hearing room erupted in applause, those in attendance seemingly shocked by such bracing moral clarity in the face of a moral vandal. Someone had finally spoken up and said: Enough.
By doing so, Welch reawakened the conscience of the country. The moment was a shock to the system, a powerful dose of cure for an American democracy that was questioning its values during a time of global tumult and threat. We had temporarily forgotten who we were supposed to be. We face just such a time now. We have again forgotten who we are supposed to be. There is a sickness in our system — and it is contagious.
You’ll want to read the full editorial.
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Problem for you Wyatt/bad anonymous is that Trump admitted his pussy grabbing wasn't consensual - "I don't even ask, I just do it".
Trump is an admitted sexual predator. Anyone who voted for Trump and criticized Harvey Weinstein is a hypocrite.
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Wyatt/bad anonymous said "there is no reason to believe Russia had any more influence than anyone else".
There you go again telling lies you don't even believe yourself. Because loyalty to your republican/conservative tribe is more important to you than the truth. No honest and informed person would make such an obviously false claim.
The Russian interference with the election was massive and unprecedented. Trumped barely eked out a win by 78,000 votes in three states. Russia had an army of 1000 trolls posting targeted fake news lying about Hillary and lying about Trump being good on Facebook that reached 10 million voters Without a doubt Trump would not have been elected without the aid of Russia.
Even with the FBI creating fake concern about Hillary's emails and Russia colluding to interfere in the election to favour Trump and Republican politicians wide spread suppression of minority voters (who typically vote Democrat) Trump still lost the popular vote! Imagine if there had been a fair election!
And of course Wyatt/bad anonymous never stops repeating that tired old easily debunked lie that Trump didn't lose the popular vote - he did:
Trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million
Donald Trump is the most illegitimate president in U.S. history.
"I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination.
"My husband, Martin Luther King Jr., once said, 'We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny... an inescapable network of mutuality,... I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be.' Therefore, I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people." -- Coretta Scott King
Shorter Wyatt/bad anonymous:
"If Trump didn't lose the popular vote he wouldn't have lost the popular vote!!!11!!".
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lie of the day by Priya:
"Russia had an army of 1000 trolls posting targeted fake news lying about Hillary and lying about Trump being good on Facebook that reached 10 million voters"
Anon, seriously, are you saying "And they let me" means that he had consent? Is that how you think it works, if they let you it's okay?
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"If Trump didn't lose the popular vote he wouldn't have lost the popular vote!!!"
lyin' Priya
yes, if Trump had lost the popular vote, he would have lost the popular
he didn't though
we didn't have a popular vote for him to lose
states did have their own popular votes for their electors
Trump won most of them, which is why he's President
to add up all 50 popular votes and treat them as one big popular vote is nonsense
that would be like adding up all the runs a baseball team scored during the season and saying the one with the most runs wins the World Series
anyone who thinks Hillary wom a popular vote is stupid
Trump:
"I have a plan, a very secret plan, to defeat ISIS in 30 days".
Its now Day 277
The secret is that he's continuing the Obama admin's anti-Isis strategy.
Just like he's still riding the Obama economic expansion.
The maximum territory ISIS captured started shrinking in 2015.
It takea about a year for an incoming presidents' policies to start having an effect on the economy. Trump has failed to pass any major legistlation that could undo the Obama economic expansion. He's signed executive orders to allow companies to pollute more but hurts the economy in the long run by harming workers' health and productivity and increasing health care costs.
A few economic indicators since Trump became president improved marginally but there is no significant difference between them now under Trump than what they were under Obama. I even forced Wyatt/bad anonymous to admit this. He falsely claimed the jop participation rate was terrible under Obama and that under Trump it had drastically improved to pre-obama levels. When I posted a link to the labour particpation rate over the past 15 years he retreated to saying "The best labour participation rate under Trump is the same as it was under Obama in 2014".
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Good anonymous said "Anon, seriously, are you saying "And they let me" means that he had consent? Is that how you think it works, if they let you it's okay?"
About a dozen or so women came forward after Trump's admission of being a sexual predator came out and corroborated Trump's statement that he sexually assaulted women by kissing and sexually touching them against their will without their consent.
Trump hoped to shut them up by promising to sue all of them but of course he never did because he knew doing so would put him through discovery and all his sexual predation would come out in court.
Former Wharton Professor: "Trump was the dumbest g*ddamned student I ever had"
(and the rapiest no doubt)
Trump Decides Not To Deport Fugitive Chinese Billionaire After Learning He’s A Member At Mar-A-Lago
Raw Story reports:
President Donald Trump was reportedly on the verge of deporting billionaire Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui, but changed his mind after aides informed him that Guo is a fellow billionaire and a member in good standing at the president’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. According to Vanity Fair‘s Isobel Thompson, Guo is wanted on charges of rape, bribery and kidnapping in his native China.
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"Guo is wanted on charges of rape, bribery and kidnapping in his native China."
this is true of anyone who disagrees with the government in China
so, let's get this straight:
Trump's GOP opponents hired a British spy to make up false facts about Trump
after they lost to Trump, Hillary picked up the tab
she lost too
but somehow, Putin's false facts won it all for Trump
huh?
why would Russian spies be better than Britain's
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Keep talking, anon, you've almost got yourself convinced of something.
All this has been known for months. David Corn broke this story last year. Political groups pay for "the stuff" on the other guys. Republicans hired him first but then he won the primary, so the Dems picked up the tab when he became their opponent. And none of it has been "discredited."
Russians are not "for Trump." They are against America. No contradiction in any of this. They have embarrassed us and weakened us and they continue to do so.
But keep talking. You might get Tucker Carlson's mouth to gape open. Maybe Sean Hannity will be outraged. Maybe you will convince yourself of something.
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Jordana Grolnick told Deadspin that the incident happened in August 2016, while she was working at a Maine production of Hunchback of Notre Dame and the crew gathered for a picture with the visiting former president:
Grolnick added the others in the room "laughed politely and out of discomfort" while Barbara reportedly said: "He’s going to get himself put into jail!’ to which we laughed harder."
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Are you saying that Trump's Attorney General agreed to a settlement to blame Obama's IRS for scrutinizing the tax-exempt status of political organizations parading as charities?
How can anyone continue to work at the Department of Justice?
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Luckily anon we have a Constitutional process that will review the evidence and decide what is factual. And nothing you have said here will pass the test.
Just think Benghazi ten times over, wasting money of fake accusations that under scrutiny turn out to be nothing.
You seem to think that if you just keep piling lies on lies you will eventually have built up a truth, and no, you will not have. You can get to a point where people don't listen any more but that is not the same as winning an argument with facts and logic. What you are doing is called trolling, I understand you are not the only one but man it get tiresome.
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Mom Sent To Prison After Beating Daughter For Reciting Bible Verses Incorrectly
A Pennsylvania woman who brutally beat her daughter for failing to recite Bible verses correctly has been sent to state prison.
Rhonda Shoffner, 41, was sentenced by Dauphin County Judge John F. Cherry after she pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault, strangulation, child endangerment and making terroristic threats.
Last March Shoffner was arrested after severely beating her daughter for incorrectly reciting Bible verses.
Police say Shoffner tried to strangle her daughter and eventually kicked her out of their house for incorrectly reciting Bible verses. During the attack, her daughter, who is under the age of 13, was forced to kneel on the bathroom floor and repeat Bible verses.
Shoffner, police say, asked her daughter, “What did God tell the man to do with his son?”
When the girl said she didn’t know, police say, Shoffner said, “God told the man to kill his son.”
Police say the girl told them she replied, “God said to forgive his son,” and Shoffner grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the bathroom wall.
They say each time the daughter made a mistake Shoffner slammed her head into the wall, about five times. They allege Shoffner told the girl to lie down because she was going to kill her and then tried to strangle her.
When the girl tried to fight off her mother, the mother bit her on the left shoulder and forearm, police say.
Eventually Shoffner told her daughter to leave the house and never return, police say. The girl fled and called her father, who drove her to a police station.
Shoffner will now spend 21/2 to 5 years in state prison for brutally assaulting her daughter because the girl didn’t recite Bible verses correctly.
"And they'll know we are christians by our love, by our love!"
Ejaz: I would ask you a similar question you asked me. “One of the positive aspects of religion is how it can provide motivation for people to do good” is what you asked me. How does lack of an organized belief system or doctrine shapes your moral and ethical values to do good? What do you think are the origins of the humans to ‘do good to others’?
Matthew: For me, losing my religion seemed to make me more concerned with the well-being of others. Because I only believe we have one life, I feel like we should try our best to make the most of it and be as kind as possible to other people. And because I don’t believe there is any supernatural force protecting us, it’s on us to fight against social injustices.
I’m often asked, why I should care about others if I don’t believe in an afterlife. My answer is fairly simple. Empathy. I know what it is like to feel pain and I don’t want other people to have those feelings. Since I’m a social scientist, I also understand that we are motivated to maintain certain social rules to help us co-exist in a society.
So as far as “origins of humans to do good to others” I would say much of it is programmed in our biology. We feel empathy. We want our social groups to survive and flourish. Unfortunately, we can also learn really harmful beliefs that allow us to hurt others as well.
Ejaz: Most religions believe in some kind of afterlife, with the promise for the believers in God to end up in a good spot. What are your views on the afterlife, and if you don’t believe in it, has the thought ever crossed your mind, “what if…”?
Matthew: I don’t believe in any sort of afterlife now, but as I said above, I used to when I was religious.
I actually don’t wonder about “what if” very much. It’s possible I am wrong and there is an afterlife, but I feel fairly certain that there is not. I believe once we die, that is it. It is just like the experience of before we were born. It makes me try to cherish my time alive even more.
The idea of an afterlife actually makes me feel pretty uncomfortable. Being stuck somewhere for an eternity, whether it is a positive or negative place, doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. Also, the idea of a God controlling our existence also makes me uncomfortable.
So even though I see the allure of believing evil people will be punished in an afterlife, I still don’t like the idea of our universe being controlled by an all-powerful being. The uncertainty of our universe and awareness of my own mortality is actually rather calming in comparison.
Ejaz: Is it possible for society to be able to do good without belief in God beyond the altruism? What prevents an atheist from “sins” when ‘no one is watching’, such as adultery/premarital sex, cheating on taxes, backbiting, telling lies, pornography, not keeping promises and so on?
Matthew: As I said above, I believe a lot of it boils down to empathy. We are all capable of feeling empathy (well except for sociopaths), so we generally don’t want other people to hurt. Sadly, many of us do learn bad behaviors for our social groups.
I have no desire to hurt others. I want other people to be happy. I feel those are pretty standard feelings for humans as we are social creatures. Additionally, I feel like some sins can be pretty harmful. Gayness is often considered a sin for example. As a bisexual, I’m glad I don’t feel guilt from my religion telling me my sexuality is wrong.
So I honestly feel pretty perplexed by these kinds of questions because it’s hard for me to imagine doing good only for God or to avoid going to hell. Even, when I was religious, I didn’t constantly check if what I was doing was a sin or not. I had a basic understanding of ethics and avoiding harming other people.
Ejaz: Believers have long held that the complex universe could not have come into existence without supreme intelligence and planning. As a medical doctor, studying vastly complex mechanisms to maintain good health has often made me wonder, ‘how is all this possible to come into being without divine intervention, when millions of very intelligent human minds have been working for centuries to justunderstand how these systems work?’ And we are still able to scratch the surface of what we know.
Without that supreme intelligence, how do you explain the order and harmony we see in the universe, including human physiology, stemming from seemingly a spontaneous event (the big bang)?
Matthew: I can’t explain it! And that is what makes it so beautiful to me. Considering how old the Earth is, we are still a very new species. Of course we haven’t figured out very much! But it’s also amazing how much we have learned in a short time!
Also, while there is a lot of harmony in universe, there is also a lot of chaos. Stars die. Asteroids hit planets. Lifeforms die. Sometimes in very cruel ways. There is a lot of pain in the universe too.
So for me, I’m just so grateful to have been alive and have a conscious experience the of universe. Despite the chaos and pain, there is a great beauty too. All we can do is try and appreciate the good, reduce the bad, and hopefully leave our world a little better before we turn back into stardust.
No, I don’t believe in God. Here is what I do believe
by Matthew Facciani
“If you don’t believe in God, then what do you believe?”
As an atheist, this is one of the most common questions I am asked. I can understand why religious people sometimes find atheism perplexing because it goes against their entire worldview, but it’s still a frustrating question to me. No, I don’t believe in God, but I still hold many other beliefs, just like everyone else. In this post, I’d like to briefly explain two central, but simple principles I believe in as an atheist.
I believe in understanding reality as best as I can
Somehow the human race stumbled onto this rock hurling throughout the galaxy. Our consciousness allows us to explore our world and learn about ourselves and others. That is all super cool and I feel like because I am lucky enough to be alive, the least I can do is try to understand reality as best I can while I’m here. Even if some facts make me uncomfortable, it’s still most rewarding for me to try and understand what is true about the universe. Because we are conscious and are made of star stuff, we are literally a way for the universe to know itself.
I believe in reducing suffering as best I can
There are many nuanced articles that discuss how atheists can have morals, but my take is quite simple: I know what it feels like to experience pain and I do not wish it upon anyone else. Because I know what suffering feels like, I want to try to eliminate it as much as I can. This involves being kind to others, fighting social injustices, and trying to leave the world a little better than I found it. Because I don’t think there is any supernatural force looking out for us, it’s up to us to make our world the best place we can for as many people as we can.
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This fake news is sick. This blog has been taken over by bots. All this stuff is completely bogus and these bots are just filling up the comments with this BS.
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Washington (CNN)A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.
The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are.
A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment.
Mueller was appointed in May to lead the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Under the regulations governing special counsel investigations, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight over the Russia investigation, would have been made aware of any charges before they were taken before the grand jury for approval, according to people familiar with the matter.
On Friday, top lawyers who are helping to lead the Mueller probe, including veteran prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, were seen entering the court room at the DC federal court where the grand jury meets to hear testimony in the Russia investigation.
Reporters present saw a flurry of activity at the grand jury room, but officials made no announcements.
Shortly after President Donald Trump abruptly fired then-FBI Director James Comey, Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel. Mueller took the reins of a federal investigation that Comey first opened in July 2016 in the middle of the presidential campaign.
Mueller is authorized to investigate "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation," according to Rosenstein's order.
The special counsel's investigation has focused on potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as obstruction of justice by the President, who might have tried to impede the investigation. CNN reported that investigators are scrutinizing Trump and his associates' financial ties to Russia.
Mueller's team has also examined foreign lobbying conducted by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and others. His team has issued subpoenas for documents and testimony to a handful of figures, including some people close to Manafort, and others involved in the Trump Tower meeting between Russians and campaign officials...
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/politics/first-charges-mueller-investigation/index.html
""It is obviously true that Steele’s sources had some contact with the Kremlin. That, of course, is why they were sources."
obviously, but you (and Hillary) were adamant that when DJT Jr met with Russians who had Kremlin connections, who were going to tell him about Hillary's involvement with the Russians, that it was collusion"
Some of the people in that June 2016 meeting at Trump tower were actual Kremlin connections themselves.
Christopher Steele is British, not Russian, and he was never on any Kremlin payroll. Further, Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, and Clinton campaign manager, John Podesta, did not meet with Steele or any Russians with Kremlin connections.
But Donny boy Jr. jumped at the opportunity to collude with Russians with his "I love it" response to email saying the June meeting could lead to harm for Hillary's campaign.
Don Jr. and Trump campaign manager at the time, Paul Manafort, did attend that June 2016 meeting with a bunch of Russians with Kremlin connections in Trump tower.
"the last eight posts are"
rebuttals to the more than 20 unattributed right wing crap articles from trash sites like the Moonie Rag and the NY Post.
Ban the Troll Jimk!
Good idea.
JimK
All right JimK!
I said "Russia had an army of 1000 trolls posting targeted fake news lying about Hillary and lying about Trump being good on Facebook that reached 10 million voters"
Wyatt/bad anonymous said "lie of the day by Priya:".
Its been well documented that Putin had an army of 1000 trolls posting targeted fake news to Facebook and Jeff Zuckerberg confirmed that 10 million voters had seen that fake news.
Remember, Wyatt/bad anonymous is the one who says "there are many situations where its appropriate to lie", not me.
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