Somebody created a video of the 1st part of the book Why Evolution Is True by Jerry Coyne. It was very well done. Jerry Coyne wrote about it at Should WEIT be a “videobook”?. Here it is:
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
OH YEAH
Wikipedia: "Oh Yeah" is a single released in 1985 by the Swiss band Yello and featured on their album Stella. The song features a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals. The song gained popularity after being featured in the films Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Secret of My Success, among other films. It is a popular staple in pop culture.
Monday, April 29, 2019
Russia will be a much better place when their dictator drops dead.
Wall Street Journal - Standing Against Putin’s Tyranny
The ranks of political prisoners grew fivefold in four years.
By Irwin Cotler and Katrina Lantos Swett
April 28, 2019
Russia’s attempts to interfere in the U.S. election have been in the news, but its internal abuses deserve more attention. According to a report published today, the ranks of Russian political prisoners have grown over the past four years from 50 to more than 250.
The report was commissioned by four leading Western human-rights organizations, including ours, and written with the help of the Memorial Human Rights Centre, one of the most important rights groups in Russia. It documents in extraordinary detail how President Vladimir Putin has turned Russia’s legal system into a tool of repression, using it to suppress dissent, undermine political opposition, and detain anyone the Kremlin views as a potential threat.
Mr. Putin began building this system from the moment he took the presidency in 2000. During his first term, the Kremlin imprisoned Alexey Pichugin, who is now Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner, having spent almost 16 years in jail on what all the evidence points to being fabricated murder charges. In reality, he was jailed as part of Mr. Putin’s personal vendetta against the outspoken executives of the Yukos oil company, where Mr. Pichugin was the head of Internal Economic Security.
The report also highlights the case of Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director and activist imprisoned on false terrorism charges as punishment for his vocal criticism of the Russian occupation of Crimea. Held in Moscow, Mr. Sentsov was tortured, tried and convicted. Last year he went on a 145-day hunger strike to demand the release of the Kremlin’s 26 Ukrainian political prisoners. They remain in prison, as does Mr. Sentsov.
Anastasia Shevchenko was arrested in January for her involvement with Open Russia, a nonprofit that promotes democracy. Ms. Shevchenko was the first person charged criminally for repeated violations of Russia’s new Undesirable Organizations Law, which targets any organization Mr. Putin dislikes. If convicted, she faces up to six years in prison.
In the report we identify 16 Russian officials who are responsible for detaining these political prisoners. Eight are high-level officials with command responsibility, including Mr. Putin. The other eight are judges, prosecutors and investigators who have been involved in multiple political-prisoner cases and are foot soldiers in the Kremlin’s war against its own people.
Condemnation of these key perpetrators is insufficient. They must face meaningful consequences for their actions. An important first step would be for other countries to impose targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against those officials identified in the report under global Magnitsky laws. They qualify due to their gross human-rights abuses, and it’s fitting as these laws—currently on the books in the U.S., Canada and Lithuania—are named after Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who was tortured and killed while imprisoned on phony charges.
Many of the men and women caught in the Kremlin’s brutal grasp sacrificed everything to stand up to its tyranny. It’s only decent that those of us safe in the U.S. and elsewhere do everything we can to stand with them.
Mr. Cotler is chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Ms. Swett is president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice.
Appeared in the April 29, 2019, print edition as 'The Kremlin Tightens Its Fist.'
The ranks of political prisoners grew fivefold in four years.
By Irwin Cotler and Katrina Lantos Swett
April 28, 2019
Russia’s attempts to interfere in the U.S. election have been in the news, but its internal abuses deserve more attention. According to a report published today, the ranks of Russian political prisoners have grown over the past four years from 50 to more than 250.
The report was commissioned by four leading Western human-rights organizations, including ours, and written with the help of the Memorial Human Rights Centre, one of the most important rights groups in Russia. It documents in extraordinary detail how President Vladimir Putin has turned Russia’s legal system into a tool of repression, using it to suppress dissent, undermine political opposition, and detain anyone the Kremlin views as a potential threat.
Mr. Putin began building this system from the moment he took the presidency in 2000. During his first term, the Kremlin imprisoned Alexey Pichugin, who is now Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner, having spent almost 16 years in jail on what all the evidence points to being fabricated murder charges. In reality, he was jailed as part of Mr. Putin’s personal vendetta against the outspoken executives of the Yukos oil company, where Mr. Pichugin was the head of Internal Economic Security.
The report also highlights the case of Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director and activist imprisoned on false terrorism charges as punishment for his vocal criticism of the Russian occupation of Crimea. Held in Moscow, Mr. Sentsov was tortured, tried and convicted. Last year he went on a 145-day hunger strike to demand the release of the Kremlin’s 26 Ukrainian political prisoners. They remain in prison, as does Mr. Sentsov.
Anastasia Shevchenko was arrested in January for her involvement with Open Russia, a nonprofit that promotes democracy. Ms. Shevchenko was the first person charged criminally for repeated violations of Russia’s new Undesirable Organizations Law, which targets any organization Mr. Putin dislikes. If convicted, she faces up to six years in prison.
In the report we identify 16 Russian officials who are responsible for detaining these political prisoners. Eight are high-level officials with command responsibility, including Mr. Putin. The other eight are judges, prosecutors and investigators who have been involved in multiple political-prisoner cases and are foot soldiers in the Kremlin’s war against its own people.
Condemnation of these key perpetrators is insufficient. They must face meaningful consequences for their actions. An important first step would be for other countries to impose targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against those officials identified in the report under global Magnitsky laws. They qualify due to their gross human-rights abuses, and it’s fitting as these laws—currently on the books in the U.S., Canada and Lithuania—are named after Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who was tortured and killed while imprisoned on phony charges.
Many of the men and women caught in the Kremlin’s brutal grasp sacrificed everything to stand up to its tyranny. It’s only decent that those of us safe in the U.S. and elsewhere do everything we can to stand with them.
Mr. Cotler is chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Ms. Swett is president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice.
Appeared in the April 29, 2019, print edition as 'The Kremlin Tightens Its Fist.'
In this video Sam Harris talks about Muslim scum.
In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris reads from an issue of Dabiq, the magazine of ISIS, and discusses the beliefs and goals of jihadists worldwide.
I saw a video of a young sea turtle sleeping under water. How is that possible? They have to breathe above the water.
I looked it up. It's amazing what other creatures can do and what we can't do.
"As sea turtles are air-breathing reptiles, they need to surface to breathe. Sea turtles can hold their breath for several hours, depending upon the level of activity. A resting or sleeping turtle can remain underwater for 4-7 hours."
Natural Selection makes this stuff possible.
"As sea turtles are air-breathing reptiles, they need to surface to breathe. Sea turtles can hold their breath for several hours, depending upon the level of activity. A resting or sleeping turtle can remain underwater for 4-7 hours."
Natural Selection makes this stuff possible.
If you get in big trouble with the police, you want to be in Norway. If you get in big trouble in Alabama, you need to kill yourself.
This video is about a paradise, aka prison, in Norway.
Bloomberg
Published on Jun 22, 2018
Prisons in Norway look very different than prisons in the rest of the world. In Norway the incarcerated have access to the outdoors and they can garden, learn to cook and take vocational classes. Pretty much the only thing they can’t do is leave. With one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world, Norway’s novel approach to prison might be working better than more traditional, harsher prisons. This episode of “Then This Happened” takes a look at what can be learned from Norway’s radical humanity.
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This New York Times article is about a hellhole, aka prison, in Alabama.
Alabama’s Gruesome Prisons: Report Finds Rape and Murder at All Hours
The segregation unit at Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility houses inmates in solitary confinement. Many have come to see the unit as a haven from the prison’s general population.
By Katie Benner and Shaila Dewan
April 3, 2019
One prisoner had been dead for so long that when he was discovered lying face down, his face was flattened. Another was tied up and tortured for two days while no one noticed. Bloody inmates screamed for help from cells whose doors did not lock.
Those were some of the gruesome details in a 56-page report on the Alabama prison system that was issued by the Justice Department on Wednesday. The report, one of the first major civil rights investigations by the department to be released under President Trump, uncovered shocking conditions in the state’s massively overcrowded and understaffed facilities.
Prisoners in the Alabama system endured some of the highest rates of homicide and rape in the country, the Justice Department found, and officials showed a “flagrant disregard” for their right to be free from excessive and cruel punishment. The investigation began in the waning days of the Obama administration and continued for more than two years after Mr. Trump took office.
The department notified the prison system that it could sue in 49 days “if State officials have not satisfactorily addressed our concerns.”
[The New York Times received more than 2,000 photos taken inside an Alabama prison. This is what they showed.]
Alabama is not alone in having troubled, violent prisons. But the state has one of the country’s highest incarceration rates and its correctional system is notoriously antiquated, dangerous and short-staffed. The major prisons are at 182 percent of their capacity, the report found, contraband is rampant and prisoners sleep in dorms they are not assigned to in order to escape violence.
“The violations are severe, systemic, and exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision,” the report said, noting that some facilities had fewer than 20 percent of their allotted positions filled. It also cited the use of solitary confinement as a protective measure for vulnerable inmates, and “a high level of violence that is too common, cruel, of an unusual nature, and pervasive.”
State officials said the report addressed issues that Alabama was already aware of and working to fix.
“For more than two years, the D.O.J. pursued an investigation of issues that have been the subject of ongoing litigation and the target of significant reforms by the state,” a statement from the office of Gov. Kay Ivey said. “Over the coming months, my Administration will be working closely with D.O.J. to ensure that our mutual concerns are addressed and that we remain steadfast in our commitment to public safety, making certain that this Alabama problem has an Alabama solution.”
But the report called the state “deliberately indifferent” to the risks prisoners face, and said, “It has failed to correct known systemic deficiencies that contribute to the violence.” Legislative efforts to reduce overcrowding through measures such as reducing sentences were not made retroactive and have had “minimal effect,” the report said.
Alabama’s prisons have for years been the subject of civil rights litigation by the Equal Justice Initiative and the Southern Poverty Law Center, nonprofit legal advocacy groups based in Montgomery. Maria Morris, the lead lawyer for the center’s lawsuit, also disputed the assertion that the problems were being fixed.
“They’re not fixing them,” Ms. Morris said. “They’re giving a lot of lip service to the need to fix them, but the lip service always comes back to we just need a billion dollars to build new prisons and, as the Department of Justice found, that’s not going to solve the problem.”
Alabama inmates continue to die in high numbers. There have been 15 suicides in the past 15 months, and the homicide rate vastly exceeds the national average for prisons.
The Justice Department report focused on the failure to prevent prisoner-on-prisoner violence because of what it said was inadequate training, failure to properly classify and supervise inmates, and failure to stem the flow of contraband including weapons and drugs, among other problems.
The department is still investigating excessive force and sexual abuse by prison staff members, an investigation that former federal prosecutors say could lead to criminal indictments.
Violence in Alabama’s Prisons
Here is some of the violent and illegal activity reported during a single week in September 2017.
Friday: Three stabbings, including one that resulted in death.
Saturday: One beating and one discovery of a drug cache.
Sunday: Two beatings, one stabbing, one sexual assault and one beating with a sock full of metal locks.
Tuesday: One discovery of a drug cache and one case of arson, when a prisoner's bed was set on fire while he slept.
Wednesday: One sexual assault.
Thursday: One beating, one sexual assault and one overdose that resulted in death.
The Department of Justice
[Our reporter went inside St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Ala. He found it was “virtually ungoverned” and the inmates were armed.]
Investigators visited four prisons and interviewed more than 270 prisoners. To “provide a window into a broken system,” the report detailed a single week’s worth of injuries and attacks, including days that saw multiple incidents including stabbings, a sleeping man attacked with socks filled with metal locks and another man being forced to perform oral sex on two men at knife point.
The department also concluded that the system does not provide “safe and sanitary” living conditions. Open sewage ran by the pathway that government lawyers used to access one facility, which the state closed soon after the visit. One investigator grew ill from the toxic fumes of cleaning fluids while inspecting the kitchen, the report said.
The report said the state failed to track violent deaths or adequately investigate sex abuse. At least three homicide victims — including one who was stabbed and another who was beaten — were classified as having died from natural causes, the report said. The report listed nine killings in which the victims had been previously attacked or officials had received other warnings that they were in danger.
Sexual assaults occur in “dormitories, cells, recreation areas, the infirmary, bathrooms, and showers at all hours of the day and night,” the report said. Prisons must screen inmates and separate sexually abusive prisoners from those at risk of sexual abuse, particularly gay and transgender people; the report said Alabama does not do so.
Inmates are raped to pay off debts, and one mother told the Justice Department that a prisoner had texted her to say he would “chop her son into pieces and rape him if she did not send him $800,” the report said.
Last month, Governor Ivey warned of “horrendous conditions” in the prisons and an impending federal intervention in her State of the State speech.
Ms. Ivey said the department had increased the prison budget in recent years, given raises to corrections officers and requested $31 million to hire 500 more correctional officers and increase pay in the coming fiscal year.
But Mac McArthur, the executive director of the Alabama State Employees Association, which includes state corrections workers, said attrition was still outpacing recruitment, in part because starting salaries were still below $30,000 a year for some officers, and in part because the job was so dangerous.
The federal investigation was opened during the Obama administration, after the lawsuits over prison abuses and published accounts of endemic brutality, violence and torture. The investigation continued under former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had also served as a longtime senator from Alabama.
The report included a series of measures necessary to remedy the constitutional and other violations that regularly occur in the Alabama prison system, including additional screening for those entering the prisons, moving low-risk inmates, hiring 500 additional corrections officers and overhauling disciplinary processes around violence and sexual assault.
Similar federal civil rights investigations have resulted in consent decrees — court-approved deals that include a road map of changes that institutions such as police departments and state correction departments must adhere to in order to avoid being sued.
But in a break with past practice, Mr. Sessions placed three key restrictions on consent decrees. He said that a top political appointee must sign off on any deal. Department lawyers must show proof of violations that go beyond unconstitutional behavior. And the deals must have a sunset date, meaning they can expire before violations have been remedied. The current attorney general, William P. Barr, has not changed Mr. Sessions’s policy.
Mr. Sessions said that the consent decrees interfered with states’ rights, a position echoed by Ms. Ivey in her statement insisting on an “Alabama solution.”
But Vanita Gupta, a head of the civil rights division in the Obama administration and one of the officials who opened the investigation, said that given the pervasive problems and the history of inaction, “nothing short of a comprehensive consent decree will adequately address these constitutional violations.”
The Justice Department declined to comment on whether it would seek a consent decree.
Ms. Ivey is hardly the first governor to reckon with the prison system and its decrepit conditions. Her immediate predecessor, Robert Bentley, pushed a plan for $800 million in bonds to build four new prisons and to close some existing facilities.
But governors have only so much influence in Alabama, and the Legislature balked, especially as a scandal left Mr. Bentley weakened. This year, Ms. Ivey proposed a similar plan for new prisons that state officials hoped would be ready by 2022.
Alan Blinder contributed reporting.
Follow Katie Benner and Shaila Dewan on Twitter: @ktbenner and @shailadewan.
A version of this article appears in print on April 3, 2019, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Common, Cruel’ Violence Met by Indifference.
Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
A comment somebody wrote at the New York Times:
The federal report cited in this article is being discussed on local TV and local news websites in Alabama. The vast majority of respondents say they don't care if prison is horrendous, it's supposed to be. So much for "constitutional conservatism" if the Eighth Amendment is ignored. So much for Christian charity in the supposed Bible Belt.
Bloomberg
Published on Jun 22, 2018
Prisons in Norway look very different than prisons in the rest of the world. In Norway the incarcerated have access to the outdoors and they can garden, learn to cook and take vocational classes. Pretty much the only thing they can’t do is leave. With one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world, Norway’s novel approach to prison might be working better than more traditional, harsher prisons. This episode of “Then This Happened” takes a look at what can be learned from Norway’s radical humanity.
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•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
This New York Times article is about a hellhole, aka prison, in Alabama.
Alabama’s Gruesome Prisons: Report Finds Rape and Murder at All Hours
The segregation unit at Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility houses inmates in solitary confinement. Many have come to see the unit as a haven from the prison’s general population.
By Katie Benner and Shaila Dewan
April 3, 2019
One prisoner had been dead for so long that when he was discovered lying face down, his face was flattened. Another was tied up and tortured for two days while no one noticed. Bloody inmates screamed for help from cells whose doors did not lock.
Those were some of the gruesome details in a 56-page report on the Alabama prison system that was issued by the Justice Department on Wednesday. The report, one of the first major civil rights investigations by the department to be released under President Trump, uncovered shocking conditions in the state’s massively overcrowded and understaffed facilities.
Prisoners in the Alabama system endured some of the highest rates of homicide and rape in the country, the Justice Department found, and officials showed a “flagrant disregard” for their right to be free from excessive and cruel punishment. The investigation began in the waning days of the Obama administration and continued for more than two years after Mr. Trump took office.
The department notified the prison system that it could sue in 49 days “if State officials have not satisfactorily addressed our concerns.”
[The New York Times received more than 2,000 photos taken inside an Alabama prison. This is what they showed.]
Alabama is not alone in having troubled, violent prisons. But the state has one of the country’s highest incarceration rates and its correctional system is notoriously antiquated, dangerous and short-staffed. The major prisons are at 182 percent of their capacity, the report found, contraband is rampant and prisoners sleep in dorms they are not assigned to in order to escape violence.
“The violations are severe, systemic, and exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision,” the report said, noting that some facilities had fewer than 20 percent of their allotted positions filled. It also cited the use of solitary confinement as a protective measure for vulnerable inmates, and “a high level of violence that is too common, cruel, of an unusual nature, and pervasive.”
State officials said the report addressed issues that Alabama was already aware of and working to fix.
“For more than two years, the D.O.J. pursued an investigation of issues that have been the subject of ongoing litigation and the target of significant reforms by the state,” a statement from the office of Gov. Kay Ivey said. “Over the coming months, my Administration will be working closely with D.O.J. to ensure that our mutual concerns are addressed and that we remain steadfast in our commitment to public safety, making certain that this Alabama problem has an Alabama solution.”
But the report called the state “deliberately indifferent” to the risks prisoners face, and said, “It has failed to correct known systemic deficiencies that contribute to the violence.” Legislative efforts to reduce overcrowding through measures such as reducing sentences were not made retroactive and have had “minimal effect,” the report said.
Alabama’s prisons have for years been the subject of civil rights litigation by the Equal Justice Initiative and the Southern Poverty Law Center, nonprofit legal advocacy groups based in Montgomery. Maria Morris, the lead lawyer for the center’s lawsuit, also disputed the assertion that the problems were being fixed.
“They’re not fixing them,” Ms. Morris said. “They’re giving a lot of lip service to the need to fix them, but the lip service always comes back to we just need a billion dollars to build new prisons and, as the Department of Justice found, that’s not going to solve the problem.”
Alabama inmates continue to die in high numbers. There have been 15 suicides in the past 15 months, and the homicide rate vastly exceeds the national average for prisons.
The Justice Department report focused on the failure to prevent prisoner-on-prisoner violence because of what it said was inadequate training, failure to properly classify and supervise inmates, and failure to stem the flow of contraband including weapons and drugs, among other problems.
The department is still investigating excessive force and sexual abuse by prison staff members, an investigation that former federal prosecutors say could lead to criminal indictments.
Violence in Alabama’s Prisons
Here is some of the violent and illegal activity reported during a single week in September 2017.
Friday: Three stabbings, including one that resulted in death.
Saturday: One beating and one discovery of a drug cache.
Sunday: Two beatings, one stabbing, one sexual assault and one beating with a sock full of metal locks.
Tuesday: One discovery of a drug cache and one case of arson, when a prisoner's bed was set on fire while he slept.
Wednesday: One sexual assault.
Thursday: One beating, one sexual assault and one overdose that resulted in death.
The Department of Justice
[Our reporter went inside St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Ala. He found it was “virtually ungoverned” and the inmates were armed.]
Investigators visited four prisons and interviewed more than 270 prisoners. To “provide a window into a broken system,” the report detailed a single week’s worth of injuries and attacks, including days that saw multiple incidents including stabbings, a sleeping man attacked with socks filled with metal locks and another man being forced to perform oral sex on two men at knife point.
The department also concluded that the system does not provide “safe and sanitary” living conditions. Open sewage ran by the pathway that government lawyers used to access one facility, which the state closed soon after the visit. One investigator grew ill from the toxic fumes of cleaning fluids while inspecting the kitchen, the report said.
The report said the state failed to track violent deaths or adequately investigate sex abuse. At least three homicide victims — including one who was stabbed and another who was beaten — were classified as having died from natural causes, the report said. The report listed nine killings in which the victims had been previously attacked or officials had received other warnings that they were in danger.
Sexual assaults occur in “dormitories, cells, recreation areas, the infirmary, bathrooms, and showers at all hours of the day and night,” the report said. Prisons must screen inmates and separate sexually abusive prisoners from those at risk of sexual abuse, particularly gay and transgender people; the report said Alabama does not do so.
Inmates are raped to pay off debts, and one mother told the Justice Department that a prisoner had texted her to say he would “chop her son into pieces and rape him if she did not send him $800,” the report said.
Last month, Governor Ivey warned of “horrendous conditions” in the prisons and an impending federal intervention in her State of the State speech.
Ms. Ivey said the department had increased the prison budget in recent years, given raises to corrections officers and requested $31 million to hire 500 more correctional officers and increase pay in the coming fiscal year.
But Mac McArthur, the executive director of the Alabama State Employees Association, which includes state corrections workers, said attrition was still outpacing recruitment, in part because starting salaries were still below $30,000 a year for some officers, and in part because the job was so dangerous.
The federal investigation was opened during the Obama administration, after the lawsuits over prison abuses and published accounts of endemic brutality, violence and torture. The investigation continued under former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had also served as a longtime senator from Alabama.
The report included a series of measures necessary to remedy the constitutional and other violations that regularly occur in the Alabama prison system, including additional screening for those entering the prisons, moving low-risk inmates, hiring 500 additional corrections officers and overhauling disciplinary processes around violence and sexual assault.
Similar federal civil rights investigations have resulted in consent decrees — court-approved deals that include a road map of changes that institutions such as police departments and state correction departments must adhere to in order to avoid being sued.
But in a break with past practice, Mr. Sessions placed three key restrictions on consent decrees. He said that a top political appointee must sign off on any deal. Department lawyers must show proof of violations that go beyond unconstitutional behavior. And the deals must have a sunset date, meaning they can expire before violations have been remedied. The current attorney general, William P. Barr, has not changed Mr. Sessions’s policy.
Mr. Sessions said that the consent decrees interfered with states’ rights, a position echoed by Ms. Ivey in her statement insisting on an “Alabama solution.”
But Vanita Gupta, a head of the civil rights division in the Obama administration and one of the officials who opened the investigation, said that given the pervasive problems and the history of inaction, “nothing short of a comprehensive consent decree will adequately address these constitutional violations.”
The Justice Department declined to comment on whether it would seek a consent decree.
Ms. Ivey is hardly the first governor to reckon with the prison system and its decrepit conditions. Her immediate predecessor, Robert Bentley, pushed a plan for $800 million in bonds to build four new prisons and to close some existing facilities.
But governors have only so much influence in Alabama, and the Legislature balked, especially as a scandal left Mr. Bentley weakened. This year, Ms. Ivey proposed a similar plan for new prisons that state officials hoped would be ready by 2022.
Alan Blinder contributed reporting.
Follow Katie Benner and Shaila Dewan on Twitter: @ktbenner and @shailadewan.
A version of this article appears in print on April 3, 2019, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Common, Cruel’ Violence Met by Indifference.
Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
A comment somebody wrote at the New York Times:
The federal report cited in this article is being discussed on local TV and local news websites in Alabama. The vast majority of respondents say they don't care if prison is horrendous, it's supposed to be. So much for "constitutional conservatism" if the Eighth Amendment is ignored. So much for Christian charity in the supposed Bible Belt.
Two normal people, aka atheists, explained why the Magic Jeebus Man was not real.
Julius Caesar died on 15 March 44 BC. We don't know the exact date Jeebus died. Does this mean Jeebus was not very important?
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Not only that, we know exactly what Julius Caesar looked like, there were countless eyewitness accounts of him, he left writings, Roman historians mention him, and his accomplishments were recorded by many people. This is because he really existed. We have NONE of these things from Jesus.
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Yea that's one of the hiccups in the Christ myth.
To me the biggest hiccup is the fact that Jesus never wrote one word and supposedly left correspondence to illiterate witnesses. It's a mystery why god sends his supposed son who by all accounts would have been the ideal conveyance vehicle but is silent other than thru testimony.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Not only that, we know exactly what Julius Caesar looked like, there were countless eyewitness accounts of him, he left writings, Roman historians mention him, and his accomplishments were recorded by many people. This is because he really existed. We have NONE of these things from Jesus.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Yea that's one of the hiccups in the Christ myth.
To me the biggest hiccup is the fact that Jesus never wrote one word and supposedly left correspondence to illiterate witnesses. It's a mystery why god sends his supposed son who by all accounts would have been the ideal conveyance vehicle but is silent other than thru testimony.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
How Whales Change Climate
This video was created as a gift to humanity by Chris and Dawn Agnos.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
-- John Muir
When whales were at their historic populations, before their numbers were reduced, it seems that whales might have been responsible for removing tens of millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere every year. Whales change the climate. The return of the great whales, if they are allowed to recover, could be seen as a benign form of geo-engineering. It could undo some of the damage we have done, both to the living systems of the sea, and to the atmosphere.
A comment somebody wrote:
"Every living species on this planet has a role in keeping it alive. Humans don't control nature, we're not gods. We are part of nature. And should respect it as it respects us. Or else perish because of us."
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
-- John Muir
When whales were at their historic populations, before their numbers were reduced, it seems that whales might have been responsible for removing tens of millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere every year. Whales change the climate. The return of the great whales, if they are allowed to recover, could be seen as a benign form of geo-engineering. It could undo some of the damage we have done, both to the living systems of the sea, and to the atmosphere.
A comment somebody wrote:
"Every living species on this planet has a role in keeping it alive. Humans don't control nature, we're not gods. We are part of nature. And should respect it as it respects us. Or else perish because of us."
BBC Science - How cow dung can help fight climate change
Click this link to see the video - How cow dung can help fight climate change
There's three times more carbon in the soil than in the atmosphere - but that carbon's being released by deforestation and poor farming.
Hurting the soil affects the climate in two ways: it compromises the growth of plants taking in carbon from the atmosphere, and it releases soil carbon previously stored by worms taking leaf matter underground.
Fans of re-wilding say the best way to protect soil and fight climate change is to let forests grow back, but some farmers believe they can keep producing food while changing the way they farm to keep the soil in good shape.
Idiot America. The stupid, it burns.
The Noah's Ark genocide myth is one of the most disgusting and most childish fantasies ever invented. If the bible god was real we would have to kill it.
I asked some Christian assholes why they worship an asshole god who loves to murder babies. They said the genocide was deserved. It's not god's fault. It was the parent's fault because they didn't suck up to the Magic Man.
60% of Americans believe this insane bullshit. Americans are fucking morons.
This fucktard for Jeebus thinks stupidity is a good thing:
“These are surprising and reassuring figures — a positive sign in a postmodern world that seemed bent on erasing faith from the public square in recent years,” said the Rev. Charles Nalls of Christ the King, a Catholic-Anglican church in the District.
Washington Times - 2004 - Most Americans take Bible stories literally
God’s creation of the Earth, Noah and the flood, Moses at the Red Sea: These pivotal stories from the Old Testament still resonate deeply with most Americans, who take the accounts literally rather than as a symbolic lesson.
An ABC News poll released Sunday found that 61 percent of Americans believe the account of creation in the Bible’s book of Genesis is “literally true” rather than a story meant as a “lesson.”
Sixty percent believe in the story of Noah’s ark and a global flood, while 64 percent agree that Moses parted the Red Sea to save fleeing Jews from their Egyptian captors.
The poll, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points, was conducted Feb. 6 to 10 among 1,011 adults.
“These are surprising and reassuring figures — a positive sign in a postmodern world that seemed bent on erasing faith from the public square in recent years,” said the Rev. Charles Nalls of Christ the King, a Catholic-Anglican church in the District.
“This poll tells me that America is reading the Bible more than we thought. There had been a tendency to decry or discount Bible literacy among the faithful,” he said.
“But this indicates a strong alliance among Americans with the inerrant word of God, as opposed to simply the inspired word of God, as viewed in the context of faith tradition,” Father Nalls said.
The levels of belief in the stories, however, differed among Christians.
The poll found that 75 percent of Protestants believed in the story of creation, 79 percent in the Red Sea account and 73 percent in Noah and the ark.
Among evangelical Protestants, those figures were 87 percent, 91 percent and 87 percent, respectively. Among Catholics, they were 51 percent, 50 percent and 44 percent.
The stories still proved somewhat compelling among those who had “no religion.” A quarter said they believed in Creation, almost a third said Moses parted the Red Sea, and 29 percent believe in Noah.
In anticipation of the Feb. 25 release of Mel Gibson’s controversial movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” the poll also found that 80 percent of Americans do not feel that the Jews of today bear responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ, against 8 percent who said they did.
Some critics contend that Mr. Gibson’s film unfairly portrays Jews, although he removed a scene which depicts a crowd asking that the death of Jesus “be on us, and on our children,” a phrase from the Book of Matthew.
Who killed Jesus, then?
“The big answer is, we all did,” Mr. Gibson said in an ABC interview which aired last night.
The network’s poll found some slight differences among respondents when asked about blame for the Crucifixion, however: 12 percent of evangelical Protestants, 11 percent of Protestants and 6 percent of Catholics said today’s Jews still are responsible for Jesus’ death.
Gauging American religious beliefs has been the focus of other recent surveys as well.
A Harris poll of 2,201 adults charting “Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2003” found last year that 93 percent of the nation’s Christians believe in miracles, 95 percent in heaven, 93 percent in the virgin birth of Christ and 96 percent in Christ’s resurrection.
In another survey of 2,306 adults released in October, Harris also found that 42 percent felt God was a male, while only 1 percent said God was a female. Thirty-eight percent said God was neither male nor female, and 11 percent said God was both genders.
The poll also found that 48 percent said God was a “spirit or power that can take on human form but is not inherently human,” 9 percent said God was “like a human being” and 27 percent said God “does not take on human form.”
Meanwhile, a Gallup Poll of 1,004 adults released Dec. 30 found that 61 percent of Americans believe “religion can answer all or most of today’s problems,” although 64 percent felt that religion is losing its influence on the nation.
Another Gallup Poll released in November found that six out of every 10 Americans said religion was “very important” in their lives — compared with 28 percent of Canadians and 17 percent of the British.
I asked some Christian assholes why they worship an asshole god who loves to murder babies. They said the genocide was deserved. It's not god's fault. It was the parent's fault because they didn't suck up to the Magic Man.
60% of Americans believe this insane bullshit. Americans are fucking morons.
This fucktard for Jeebus thinks stupidity is a good thing:
“These are surprising and reassuring figures — a positive sign in a postmodern world that seemed bent on erasing faith from the public square in recent years,” said the Rev. Charles Nalls of Christ the King, a Catholic-Anglican church in the District.
Washington Times - 2004 - Most Americans take Bible stories literally
God’s creation of the Earth, Noah and the flood, Moses at the Red Sea: These pivotal stories from the Old Testament still resonate deeply with most Americans, who take the accounts literally rather than as a symbolic lesson.
An ABC News poll released Sunday found that 61 percent of Americans believe the account of creation in the Bible’s book of Genesis is “literally true” rather than a story meant as a “lesson.”
Sixty percent believe in the story of Noah’s ark and a global flood, while 64 percent agree that Moses parted the Red Sea to save fleeing Jews from their Egyptian captors.
The poll, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points, was conducted Feb. 6 to 10 among 1,011 adults.
“These are surprising and reassuring figures — a positive sign in a postmodern world that seemed bent on erasing faith from the public square in recent years,” said the Rev. Charles Nalls of Christ the King, a Catholic-Anglican church in the District.
“This poll tells me that America is reading the Bible more than we thought. There had been a tendency to decry or discount Bible literacy among the faithful,” he said.
“But this indicates a strong alliance among Americans with the inerrant word of God, as opposed to simply the inspired word of God, as viewed in the context of faith tradition,” Father Nalls said.
The levels of belief in the stories, however, differed among Christians.
The poll found that 75 percent of Protestants believed in the story of creation, 79 percent in the Red Sea account and 73 percent in Noah and the ark.
Among evangelical Protestants, those figures were 87 percent, 91 percent and 87 percent, respectively. Among Catholics, they were 51 percent, 50 percent and 44 percent.
The stories still proved somewhat compelling among those who had “no religion.” A quarter said they believed in Creation, almost a third said Moses parted the Red Sea, and 29 percent believe in Noah.
In anticipation of the Feb. 25 release of Mel Gibson’s controversial movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” the poll also found that 80 percent of Americans do not feel that the Jews of today bear responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ, against 8 percent who said they did.
Some critics contend that Mr. Gibson’s film unfairly portrays Jews, although he removed a scene which depicts a crowd asking that the death of Jesus “be on us, and on our children,” a phrase from the Book of Matthew.
Who killed Jesus, then?
“The big answer is, we all did,” Mr. Gibson said in an ABC interview which aired last night.
The network’s poll found some slight differences among respondents when asked about blame for the Crucifixion, however: 12 percent of evangelical Protestants, 11 percent of Protestants and 6 percent of Catholics said today’s Jews still are responsible for Jesus’ death.
Gauging American religious beliefs has been the focus of other recent surveys as well.
A Harris poll of 2,201 adults charting “Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2003” found last year that 93 percent of the nation’s Christians believe in miracles, 95 percent in heaven, 93 percent in the virgin birth of Christ and 96 percent in Christ’s resurrection.
In another survey of 2,306 adults released in October, Harris also found that 42 percent felt God was a male, while only 1 percent said God was a female. Thirty-eight percent said God was neither male nor female, and 11 percent said God was both genders.
The poll also found that 48 percent said God was a “spirit or power that can take on human form but is not inherently human,” 9 percent said God was “like a human being” and 27 percent said God “does not take on human form.”
Meanwhile, a Gallup Poll of 1,004 adults released Dec. 30 found that 61 percent of Americans believe “religion can answer all or most of today’s problems,” although 64 percent felt that religion is losing its influence on the nation.
Another Gallup Poll released in November found that six out of every 10 Americans said religion was “very important” in their lives — compared with 28 percent of Canadians and 17 percent of the British.
It's about fucking time: New York Archdiocese Releases List of Clergy Accused of Sex Abuse. Cardinal Timothy Dolan said disclosure of names is response to hearing from many victims and priests.
I used to be a brainwashed Catholic. I threw out the bullshit when I grew up. Fortunately, I was never an altar boy so there wasn't a child abuse problem.
Altar Boy: a boy who acts as a priest's assistant during a service, especially in the Roman Catholic Church.
Priests become priests because they want to have their way with little boys.
I remember the nuns were stupid fucking assholes. At the Catholic Church instead of teaching us something which was their job, they had stand in the church for a very long time because they enjoyed torturing us.
The moron nuns repeatedly said "Christ died for your sins" and "You must have faith". At least a thousand times they repeated this bullshit and that's why I remember the exact words many decades later.
According to every branch of Christianity, everyone on this planet has sinned. Normal people don't use the word "sin" because it's a ridiculous idea.
Sin: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
Those ugly nuns can take their divine law and shove it somewhere.
Kindergarten thru 8th grade, 9 years of my life wasted. Never once did those uneducated moron nuns teach us anything about science. I lived in a wealthy Chicago suburb. If I went to their public schools I would have had a real education. Instead, the only thing I learned was the bullshit about the Magic Jeebus Man dropping dead for my sins.
The rest of this post is a cut & paste job from the Wall Street Journal about the stupid fucking assholes who cared more about the reputation of the Church instead of the children who were abused. That turned out to be a bad idea but still the asshole pope refuses to require bishops to call the police when this abuse happens. The pope belongs in prison.
New York Archdiocese Releases List of Clergy Accused of Sex Abuse
Cardinal Timothy Dolan said disclosure of names is response to hearing from many victims and priests.
By Melanie Grayce West
April 26, 2019
The Archdiocese of New York released a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse, a turning point for victim-survivors of abuse and one of the largest dioceses in the country.
In a letter to Roman Catholics on Friday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said the disclosure of the names—which include former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Bishop John Jenik—comes in response to hearing from many victim-survivors and priests.
“I pledge again today that I will do all in my power to ensure the safety of our young people, and to react with sympathy, understanding, and respect towards those who come forward with an allegation of abuse,” Cardinal Dolan said in his letter.
The list, with more than 120 names, reports only clergy who were officially employed by the Archdiocese of New York, not priests who were either visiting or on loan from other religious orders.
Those on the list were either credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor, possessing child pornography or were named in a claim to the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, a multimillion-dollar victim-compensation fund launched in late 2016. So far, the fund has provided compensation to 350 people.
Zach Hiner, executive director of SNAP, a nonprofit network of church-abuse survivors, applauded the release of names and said it would encourage some victims to come forward. The list was long resisted, he said, and doesn’t include the work histories of the clergy or the date of the first allegation. “The only way we can know how to prevent these cases in the future is to know what went wrong in the past,” Mr. Hiner added.
Robert Hoatson, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Newark and president of Road to Recovery, a nonprofit survivors-advocacy group, said Cardinal Dolan has taken a “good first step in being transparent and truthful about sexual abuse by clergy.”
“However, his list is incomplete and must contain names of religious order priests and ‘extern’ clergy who have been accused,” said Mr. Hoatson, who has said he is an abuse survivor.
The inclusion of a cleric’s name on the list doesn’t imply he is guilty of a crime or liable for any civil claim, according to the archdiocese. Roughly three-quarters of the credibly accused clergy were ordained between 1908 and 1969. Of those named on the list, roughly two-thirds have died.
Three clergy included on the list have been removed from ministry or placed on leave, pending the outcome of their criminal cases or investigation by the archdiocese. Eight other priests, who were removed from ministry, are awaiting a final canonical or archdiocesan review.
Former Cardinal McCarrick was dismissed from the priesthood in February. He has previously said he is innocent. Bishop Jenik, who was removed from his post and is awaiting canonical review, has denied the accusation of abuse.
The decision to report all of the clergy names is something that Cardinal Dolan had long declined to do. Typically, names were released publicly through the parish where an accused clergyman served and often included in a church bulletin. The archdiocese is sprawling, with some 2.6 million Catholics in nearly 300 parishes. The disclosure of the clergy names comes after similar moves across the country, including in New Jersey earlier this year.
Write to Melanie Grayce West at melanie.west@wsj.com
Altar Boy: a boy who acts as a priest's assistant during a service, especially in the Roman Catholic Church.
Priests become priests because they want to have their way with little boys.
I remember the nuns were stupid fucking assholes. At the Catholic Church instead of teaching us something which was their job, they had stand in the church for a very long time because they enjoyed torturing us.
The moron nuns repeatedly said "Christ died for your sins" and "You must have faith". At least a thousand times they repeated this bullshit and that's why I remember the exact words many decades later.
According to every branch of Christianity, everyone on this planet has sinned. Normal people don't use the word "sin" because it's a ridiculous idea.
Sin: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
Those ugly nuns can take their divine law and shove it somewhere.
Kindergarten thru 8th grade, 9 years of my life wasted. Never once did those uneducated moron nuns teach us anything about science. I lived in a wealthy Chicago suburb. If I went to their public schools I would have had a real education. Instead, the only thing I learned was the bullshit about the Magic Jeebus Man dropping dead for my sins.
The rest of this post is a cut & paste job from the Wall Street Journal about the stupid fucking assholes who cared more about the reputation of the Church instead of the children who were abused. That turned out to be a bad idea but still the asshole pope refuses to require bishops to call the police when this abuse happens. The pope belongs in prison.
New York Archdiocese Releases List of Clergy Accused of Sex Abuse
Cardinal Timothy Dolan said disclosure of names is response to hearing from many victims and priests.
By Melanie Grayce West
April 26, 2019
The Archdiocese of New York released a list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse, a turning point for victim-survivors of abuse and one of the largest dioceses in the country.
In a letter to Roman Catholics on Friday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said the disclosure of the names—which include former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Bishop John Jenik—comes in response to hearing from many victim-survivors and priests.
“I pledge again today that I will do all in my power to ensure the safety of our young people, and to react with sympathy, understanding, and respect towards those who come forward with an allegation of abuse,” Cardinal Dolan said in his letter.
The list, with more than 120 names, reports only clergy who were officially employed by the Archdiocese of New York, not priests who were either visiting or on loan from other religious orders.
Those on the list were either credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor, possessing child pornography or were named in a claim to the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, a multimillion-dollar victim-compensation fund launched in late 2016. So far, the fund has provided compensation to 350 people.
Zach Hiner, executive director of SNAP, a nonprofit network of church-abuse survivors, applauded the release of names and said it would encourage some victims to come forward. The list was long resisted, he said, and doesn’t include the work histories of the clergy or the date of the first allegation. “The only way we can know how to prevent these cases in the future is to know what went wrong in the past,” Mr. Hiner added.
Robert Hoatson, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Newark and president of Road to Recovery, a nonprofit survivors-advocacy group, said Cardinal Dolan has taken a “good first step in being transparent and truthful about sexual abuse by clergy.”
“However, his list is incomplete and must contain names of religious order priests and ‘extern’ clergy who have been accused,” said Mr. Hoatson, who has said he is an abuse survivor.
The inclusion of a cleric’s name on the list doesn’t imply he is guilty of a crime or liable for any civil claim, according to the archdiocese. Roughly three-quarters of the credibly accused clergy were ordained between 1908 and 1969. Of those named on the list, roughly two-thirds have died.
Three clergy included on the list have been removed from ministry or placed on leave, pending the outcome of their criminal cases or investigation by the archdiocese. Eight other priests, who were removed from ministry, are awaiting a final canonical or archdiocesan review.
Former Cardinal McCarrick was dismissed from the priesthood in February. He has previously said he is innocent. Bishop Jenik, who was removed from his post and is awaiting canonical review, has denied the accusation of abuse.
The decision to report all of the clergy names is something that Cardinal Dolan had long declined to do. Typically, names were released publicly through the parish where an accused clergyman served and often included in a church bulletin. The archdiocese is sprawling, with some 2.6 million Catholics in nearly 300 parishes. The disclosure of the clergy names comes after similar moves across the country, including in New Jersey earlier this year.
Write to Melanie Grayce West at melanie.west@wsj.com
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Some extreme Christian stupid. Idiot America has millions of these fucktards.
Why do Christians think God loves them? Isn't that wishful thinking?
"He has told us he does and has offered to give us the ability to become his child if we will just accept our faults by believing on Christ. In other words, he has offered to give us immortality forever in paradise. Yes, I'm pretty sure he loves us and that this 2 second life is worthless. Just think about it. Heaven is FOREVER, so after 1 TRILLION years in Heaven, I probably won't even remember this life, no matter how bad or good it may have been. It will have been nothing to me."
"He has told us he does and has offered to give us the ability to become his child if we will just accept our faults by believing on Christ. In other words, he has offered to give us immortality forever in paradise. Yes, I'm pretty sure he loves us and that this 2 second life is worthless. Just think about it. Heaven is FOREVER, so after 1 TRILLION years in Heaven, I probably won't even remember this life, no matter how bad or good it may have been. It will have been nothing to me."
I used to think American Christians are the most retarded people on the planet but the Muslim scum in Pakistan are worse than retarded.
Muslim morons will always be morons. There is no cure.
Scaremongering Video Undermines Anti-Polio Drive in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD —
Police in northwestern Pakistan have detained a man and are hunting down his suspected associates for spreading unfounded rumors through fake social media videos that a polio vaccine led to fainting and vomiting.
The detainee, Nazar Muhammad, who teaches at a private school near the Peshawar city, is seen in the scaremongering Twitter videos instructing his students to faint and pretend to be sick from the oral polio vaccine (OPV).
The videos emerged Monday during the ongoing three-day polio vaccination campaign and quickly went viral. The videos sparked widespread protests, with angry mobs destroying a local health unit. Clerics in mosques used loudspeakers to warn parents against having their children vaccinated.
The scare prompted panicked families to rush their children to hospitals, where doctors examined more than 25,000 and concluded that none had suffered an adverse reaction after receiving the vaccine drops.
The provincial government took action, and a police crackdown detained Muhammad by midnight. Raids continued Tuesday to search for about a dozen other suspects.
Islamic clerics and residents in parts of the religiously conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, have long been suspicious of the polio vaccine, claiming it is a Western conspiracy to harm or sterilize Muslim children.
Police also confirmed that one of their officers deployed to guard polio vaccinators in the province's Bannu city was gunned down by unknown men. Militants also have taken responsibility for attacks against polio workers, accusing them of working as government spies.
'Panic and hysteria'
World Health Organization officials say Peshawar is "the most stubborn hotbed of poliovirus." The three-day national vaccination campaign aims to reach 1.6 million children up to the age of 10 in the city. It is due to end Wednesday.
WHO country chief for polio eradication, Abdi Mahamud, said in a statement he also personally visited hospitals across Peshawar and found no children with any adverse side effects from the OPV.
He noted that the scare had nothing to do with vaccine safety, but rather "panic and hysteria." He said more than half a million children have been successfully vaccinated in the city.
Attacks against polio teams and security personnel escorting them have killed dozens of people in Pakistan, one of three countries in the world — along with Afghanistan and Nigeria — where wild poliovirus is still endemic. Nigeria has not reported any new cases for two consecutive years.
Scaremongering Video Undermines Anti-Polio Drive in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD —
Police in northwestern Pakistan have detained a man and are hunting down his suspected associates for spreading unfounded rumors through fake social media videos that a polio vaccine led to fainting and vomiting.
The detainee, Nazar Muhammad, who teaches at a private school near the Peshawar city, is seen in the scaremongering Twitter videos instructing his students to faint and pretend to be sick from the oral polio vaccine (OPV).
The videos emerged Monday during the ongoing three-day polio vaccination campaign and quickly went viral. The videos sparked widespread protests, with angry mobs destroying a local health unit. Clerics in mosques used loudspeakers to warn parents against having their children vaccinated.
The scare prompted panicked families to rush their children to hospitals, where doctors examined more than 25,000 and concluded that none had suffered an adverse reaction after receiving the vaccine drops.
The provincial government took action, and a police crackdown detained Muhammad by midnight. Raids continued Tuesday to search for about a dozen other suspects.
Islamic clerics and residents in parts of the religiously conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital, have long been suspicious of the polio vaccine, claiming it is a Western conspiracy to harm or sterilize Muslim children.
Police also confirmed that one of their officers deployed to guard polio vaccinators in the province's Bannu city was gunned down by unknown men. Militants also have taken responsibility for attacks against polio workers, accusing them of working as government spies.
'Panic and hysteria'
World Health Organization officials say Peshawar is "the most stubborn hotbed of poliovirus." The three-day national vaccination campaign aims to reach 1.6 million children up to the age of 10 in the city. It is due to end Wednesday.
WHO country chief for polio eradication, Abdi Mahamud, said in a statement he also personally visited hospitals across Peshawar and found no children with any adverse side effects from the OPV.
He noted that the scare had nothing to do with vaccine safety, but rather "panic and hysteria." He said more than half a million children have been successfully vaccinated in the city.
Attacks against polio teams and security personnel escorting them have killed dozens of people in Pakistan, one of three countries in the world — along with Afghanistan and Nigeria — where wild poliovirus is still endemic. Nigeria has not reported any new cases for two consecutive years.
American morons love their Magic Man.
What we have here is a nation of fucking idiots who believe supernatural magic is real. I live in a country where virtually everyone is insane.
The percent of American fucktards who believe in the Magic Man, magical angels, a magical heaven, a magical hell, and a magical devil. Americans live in an everything-is-magic fantasy world.
Idiot America - Gallup Poll, May 2016
79% of American fucktards believe in the Magic Man. Another 10% of Americans believe in the god fairy but they're not sure about it. Only 11% of Americans are certain magical beings are not real.
Some more bullshit American morons think is real:
Angels: 72% believe in, 12% not sure about, 11% say angels is a bullshit fantasy.
Heaven: 71% are certain a magical paradise for dead morons is real. 10% think heaven might be real. Only 16% say a magical 2nd life is bullshit.
Hell: 64% believe in, 13% not sure, 22% don't believe in.
The devil: 61% of American fucktards are certain a devil is real. 12% think a devil might be real. 27% don't believe in a magical devil.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Reality:
The Magic Man was invented to explain what uneducated morons didn't understand. We know things these days so the Magic Man is not necessary. Even without the science, the Magic Man fantasy is too ridiculous and too impossible to take seriously.
Dead people don't go anywhere because they're fucking dead.
Anyone who thinks their loving god tortures people who don't suck up to it is a stupid fucking asshole.
Angels and the devil? How is it possible to believe this bullshit? Americans are fucking morons.
The percent of American fucktards who believe in the Magic Man, magical angels, a magical heaven, a magical hell, and a magical devil. Americans live in an everything-is-magic fantasy world.
Idiot America - Gallup Poll, May 2016
79% of American fucktards believe in the Magic Man. Another 10% of Americans believe in the god fairy but they're not sure about it. Only 11% of Americans are certain magical beings are not real.
Some more bullshit American morons think is real:
Angels: 72% believe in, 12% not sure about, 11% say angels is a bullshit fantasy.
Heaven: 71% are certain a magical paradise for dead morons is real. 10% think heaven might be real. Only 16% say a magical 2nd life is bullshit.
Hell: 64% believe in, 13% not sure, 22% don't believe in.
The devil: 61% of American fucktards are certain a devil is real. 12% think a devil might be real. 27% don't believe in a magical devil.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Reality:
The Magic Man was invented to explain what uneducated morons didn't understand. We know things these days so the Magic Man is not necessary. Even without the science, the Magic Man fantasy is too ridiculous and too impossible to take seriously.
Dead people don't go anywhere because they're fucking dead.
Anyone who thinks their loving god tortures people who don't suck up to it is a stupid fucking asshole.
Angels and the devil? How is it possible to believe this bullshit? Americans are fucking morons.
It's almost May and it's snowing in Chicago.
Climate change is real. It's April 27 and it's going to snow all day in Chicago. This has never happened before because it's impossible. Sometimes there would be snow the 1st week of April but never when it was almost May.
These days I live in Northwestern Illinois. It will rain all day here and it's going to be cold, but there won't be any snow.
These days I live in Northwestern Illinois. It will rain all day here and it's going to be cold, but there won't be any snow.
Friday, April 26, 2019
Another quote I found about faith.
"Faith, the ever popular imaginary gift for avoiding reality."
Christian fucktards like the word faith. They think believing in bullshit that has zero evidence is a virtue.
The problem with Christians is their extreme stupidity. They are very hard of thinking. I will never understand why these morons for Jeebus can't learn how to grow up. It's pathetic. They are wasting their entire lives being a cowardly fucking retard.
Christian fucktards like the word faith. They think believing in bullshit that has zero evidence is a virtue.
The problem with Christians is their extreme stupidity. They are very hard of thinking. I will never understand why these morons for Jeebus can't learn how to grow up. It's pathetic. They are wasting their entire lives being a cowardly fucking retard.
What I wrote for a Christian fucktard who complained about my contempt for his childish religious fantasies. I never met a Christian who wasn't a stupid fucking asshole.
For an article about faith I wrote a comment about faith. If my comment "demeans" a crybaby, how is that my problem? Freedom of speech is a basic human right. I'm not going to throw out my human rights to accommodate crybabies. Also, since when did religion deserve respect? It's like asking me to respect the Islamic State terrorists. This is a free country. Get used to it.
South Korea has Christian fucktard problem.
A nature.com article surprised me. South Korea has an "Idiot South Korea" problem and it's worse than the "Idiot America" problem where I live.
In Idiot America there never ending Christian war against teaching evolution. South Korea's Christian fucktards also want to suppress the teaching of the foundation of biology in biology classrooms. And the anti-science assholes are winning their war.
The nature.com article is 7 years old but it's probably still true today. Here is the whole thing:
South Korea surrenders to creationist demands
Publishers set to remove examples of evolution from high-school textbooks.
Soo Bin Park
05 June 2012
SEOUL
Mention creationism, and many scientists think of the United States, where efforts to limit the teaching of evolution have made headway in a couple of states. But the successes are modest compared with those in South Korea, where the anti-evolution sentiment seems to be winning its battle with mainstream science.
A petition to remove references to evolution from high-school textbooks claimed victory last month after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) revealed that many of the publishers would produce revised editions that exclude examples of the evolution of the horse or of avian ancestor Archaeopteryx. The move has alarmed biologists, who say that they were not consulted. “The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge,” says Dayk Jang, an evolutionary scientist at Seoul National University.
The campaign was led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR), which aims to delete the “error” of evolution from textbooks to “correct” students’ views of the world, according to the society’s website. The society says that its members include professors of biology and high-school science teachers.
The STR is also campaigning to remove content about “the evolution of humans” and “the adaptation of finch beaks based on habitat and mode of sustenance”, a reference to one of the most famous observations in Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. To back its campaign, the group highlights recent discoveries that Archaeopteryx is one of many feathered dinosaurs, and not necessarily an ancestor of all birds. Exploiting such debates over the lineage of species “is a typical strategy of creation scientists to attack the teaching of evolution itself”, says Joonghwan Jeon, an evolutionary psychologist at Kyung Hee University in Yongin.
The STR is an independent offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research (KACR), according to KACR spokesman Jungyeol Han. Thanks in part to the KACR’s efforts, creation science — which seeks to provide evidence in support of the creation myth described in the Book of Genesis — has had a growing influence in South Korea, although the STR itself has distanced itself from such doctrines. In early 2008, the KACR scored a hit with a successful exhibition at Seoul Land, one of the country’s leading amusement parks. According to the group, the exhibition attracted more than 116,000 visitors in three months, and the park is now in talks to create a year-long exhibition.
Even the nation’s leading science institute — the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology — has a creation science display on campus. “The exhibition was set up by scientists who believed in creation science back in 1993,” says Gab-duk Jang, a pastor of the campus church. The institute also has a thriving Research Association for Creation Science, run by professors and students, he adds.
Antipathy to evolution
In a 2009 survey conducted for the South Korean documentary The Era of God and Darwin, almost one-third of the respondents didn’t believe in evolution. Of those, 41% said that there was insufficient scientific evidence to support it; 39% said that it contradicted their religious beliefs; and 17% did not understand the theory. The numbers approach those in the United States, where a survey by the research firm Gallup has shown that around 40% of Americans do not believe that humans evolved from less advanced forms of life.
“The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge.”
The roots of the South Korean antipathy to evolution are unclear, although Jeon suggests that they are partly “due to strong Christianity in the country”. About half of South Korea’s citizens practice a religion, mostly split between Christianity and Buddhism.
However, a survey of trainee teachers in the country concluded that religious belief was not a strong determinant of their acceptance of evolution. It also found that 40% of biology teachers agreed with the statement that “much of the scientific community doubts if evolution occurs”; and half disagreed that “modern humans are the product of evolutionary processes”.
Until now, says Dayk Jang, the scientific community has done little to combat the anti-evolution sentiment. “The biggest problem is that there are only 5–10 evolutionary scientists in the country who teach the theory of evolution in undergraduate and graduate schools,” he says. Having seen the fierce debates over evolution in the United States, he adds, some scientists also worry that engaging with creationists might give creationist views more credibility among the public.
Silence is not the answer, says Dayk Jang. He is now organizing a group of experts, including evolutionary scientists and theologians who believe in evolution, to counter the STR’s campaign by working to improve the teaching of evolution in the classroom, and in broader public life.
Related stories and links
From nature.com
Tennessee ‘monkey bill’ becomes law
11 April 2012
If you want to win the game, you must join in
07 December 2011
Science and society: A Pacific divide
22 September 2010
Back to basics by way of evolution
12 May 2010
What a shoddy piece of work is man
03 May 2010
Nature special: Darwin 200
In Idiot America there never ending Christian war against teaching evolution. South Korea's Christian fucktards also want to suppress the teaching of the foundation of biology in biology classrooms. And the anti-science assholes are winning their war.
The nature.com article is 7 years old but it's probably still true today. Here is the whole thing:
South Korea surrenders to creationist demands
Publishers set to remove examples of evolution from high-school textbooks.
Soo Bin Park
05 June 2012
SEOUL
Mention creationism, and many scientists think of the United States, where efforts to limit the teaching of evolution have made headway in a couple of states. But the successes are modest compared with those in South Korea, where the anti-evolution sentiment seems to be winning its battle with mainstream science.
A petition to remove references to evolution from high-school textbooks claimed victory last month after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) revealed that many of the publishers would produce revised editions that exclude examples of the evolution of the horse or of avian ancestor Archaeopteryx. The move has alarmed biologists, who say that they were not consulted. “The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge,” says Dayk Jang, an evolutionary scientist at Seoul National University.
The campaign was led by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR), which aims to delete the “error” of evolution from textbooks to “correct” students’ views of the world, according to the society’s website. The society says that its members include professors of biology and high-school science teachers.
The STR is also campaigning to remove content about “the evolution of humans” and “the adaptation of finch beaks based on habitat and mode of sustenance”, a reference to one of the most famous observations in Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. To back its campaign, the group highlights recent discoveries that Archaeopteryx is one of many feathered dinosaurs, and not necessarily an ancestor of all birds. Exploiting such debates over the lineage of species “is a typical strategy of creation scientists to attack the teaching of evolution itself”, says Joonghwan Jeon, an evolutionary psychologist at Kyung Hee University in Yongin.
The STR is an independent offshoot of the Korea Association for Creation Research (KACR), according to KACR spokesman Jungyeol Han. Thanks in part to the KACR’s efforts, creation science — which seeks to provide evidence in support of the creation myth described in the Book of Genesis — has had a growing influence in South Korea, although the STR itself has distanced itself from such doctrines. In early 2008, the KACR scored a hit with a successful exhibition at Seoul Land, one of the country’s leading amusement parks. According to the group, the exhibition attracted more than 116,000 visitors in three months, and the park is now in talks to create a year-long exhibition.
Even the nation’s leading science institute — the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology — has a creation science display on campus. “The exhibition was set up by scientists who believed in creation science back in 1993,” says Gab-duk Jang, a pastor of the campus church. The institute also has a thriving Research Association for Creation Science, run by professors and students, he adds.
Antipathy to evolution
In a 2009 survey conducted for the South Korean documentary The Era of God and Darwin, almost one-third of the respondents didn’t believe in evolution. Of those, 41% said that there was insufficient scientific evidence to support it; 39% said that it contradicted their religious beliefs; and 17% did not understand the theory. The numbers approach those in the United States, where a survey by the research firm Gallup has shown that around 40% of Americans do not believe that humans evolved from less advanced forms of life.
“The ministry just sent the petition out to the publishing companies and let them judge.”
The roots of the South Korean antipathy to evolution are unclear, although Jeon suggests that they are partly “due to strong Christianity in the country”. About half of South Korea’s citizens practice a religion, mostly split between Christianity and Buddhism.
However, a survey of trainee teachers in the country concluded that religious belief was not a strong determinant of their acceptance of evolution. It also found that 40% of biology teachers agreed with the statement that “much of the scientific community doubts if evolution occurs”; and half disagreed that “modern humans are the product of evolutionary processes”.
Until now, says Dayk Jang, the scientific community has done little to combat the anti-evolution sentiment. “The biggest problem is that there are only 5–10 evolutionary scientists in the country who teach the theory of evolution in undergraduate and graduate schools,” he says. Having seen the fierce debates over evolution in the United States, he adds, some scientists also worry that engaging with creationists might give creationist views more credibility among the public.
Silence is not the answer, says Dayk Jang. He is now organizing a group of experts, including evolutionary scientists and theologians who believe in evolution, to counter the STR’s campaign by working to improve the teaching of evolution in the classroom, and in broader public life.
Related stories and links
From nature.com
Tennessee ‘monkey bill’ becomes law
11 April 2012
If you want to win the game, you must join in
07 December 2011
Science and society: A Pacific divide
22 September 2010
Back to basics by way of evolution
12 May 2010
What a shoddy piece of work is man
03 May 2010
Nature special: Darwin 200
Something I wrote for a cowardly Christian fucktard.
"What is your opinion of a person who would rather have nothingness over Heaven if it were possible?"
A few things.
The magical heaven fantasy is impossible. There is no magic in the universe.
I would not want to live in a universe where magic is real. I prefer reality. In other words I don't want to go anywhere after I drop dead.
Why do morons believe in a magical 2nd life? It's because they're cowards. Reality makes them cry.
Why can't you Christians grow up and face facts? Is it a stupidity problem or what?
A few things.
The magical heaven fantasy is impossible. There is no magic in the universe.
I would not want to live in a universe where magic is real. I prefer reality. In other words I don't want to go anywhere after I drop dead.
Why do morons believe in a magical 2nd life? It's because they're cowards. Reality makes them cry.
Why can't you Christians grow up and face facts? Is it a stupidity problem or what?
Ex-Muslims have extreme contempt for Muslim scum.
In this 6 minute video a woman, an ex-Muslim, has a few things to say about the disgusting Islam cult. She is a real atheist. She is 100% certain Allah and all other god fairies are bullshit fantasies. She has a lot of contempt for Islam and the fucktards who belong to it. I recommend watching the whole thing.
Also, this is interesting: EX-MUSLIM.ORG.UK. "Those of us who have come forward with our names and photographs represent countless others who are unable or unwilling to do so because of the threats faced by those considered ‘apostates’ – punishable by death in countries under Islamic law."
Ex-muslim Shock and Provoke - Maryam Namazie's speech at CEMB anniversary 2012
Also, this is interesting: EX-MUSLIM.ORG.UK. "Those of us who have come forward with our names and photographs represent countless others who are unable or unwilling to do so because of the threats faced by those considered ‘apostates’ – punishable by death in countries under Islamic law."
Ex-muslim Shock and Provoke - Maryam Namazie's speech at CEMB anniversary 2012
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Tomaso Albinoni - Adagio in G Minor - Albinoni's Piece that Portrays the height of Neo-Baroque Music. This Beautiful piece has become -sometimes regrettably- a synonym for sorrow and sadness. This Version is Probably the best interpretation of this Immortal Piece. By The Prague Baroque Orchestra Conducted By Trevor Pinnock.
Inside Amazon's Spheres, the Biodome Office in Seattle
Seattle, a city on Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest, is surrounded by water, mountains and evergreen forests, and contains thousands of acres of parkland. Washington State’s largest city, it’s home to a large tech industry, with Microsoft and Amazon headquartered in its metropolitan area. The futuristic Space Needle, a 1962 World’s Fair legacy, is its most iconic landmark.
Seventh-day Adventist Fucktards
I nice thing about being a normal person (aka atheist) is there are no rules. Normal people can do what they want any time they want.
One of the numerous fucktard branches of Christianity is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Like every other moronic cult ever invented, the Seventh-day Adventists have rules. This rule is about Saturday. If they have a job they are required to never work on a Saturday. The employer either accommodates the moron or the moron gets fired.
Why do these cults have bullshit rules? It's to show respect for the Magic Man.
Some stuff from Google:
"The Seventh-day Adventist Church keeps the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, because God set apart the seventh day of creation week to be a day of rest and a memorial of creation."
"Seventh-Day Adventists observe the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and can't work on the Sabbath."
As if a magical master of the entire fucking universe cares what days the human apes on this insignificant planet don't work.
These fucktards think their Magic Man magically created this planet and the human apes who live here. Who needs science in a universe where everything we see was magically created in 6 days?
The rest of the post is a cut & paste job from the god-soaked Wall Street Journal. The WSJ has a god bullshit article every week. They call it the "Houses of Worship". I call it the "Houses of Extreme Stupidity". This is from one month ago.
This bullshit is disgusting:
"But true pluralism—across all faiths and identities—requires collective sacrifice, even for the sake of some of the smallest minorities. That in turn requires meaningful accommodations for religious practice. Americans shouldn’t have to give up their faith to make a living."
There's that word "faith" again. Faith is an excuse to not think. Faith is an excuse to believe in ridiculous bullshit. Here in Idiot America our fucktards think faith is a virtue.
OPINION
COMMENTARY
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
A Day of Rest May Get a Day in Court
The justices could undo a 1977 decision that gutted workers’ religious protections.
By Michael A. Helfand
March 21, 2019
The Supreme Court inched closer this week to undoing a decades-old mistake that has denied meaningful workplace protections for religious employees. On Monday the high court asked the solicitor general to outline the government’s view in Patterson v. Walgreen, a case under consideration for a full hearing.
Darrell Patterson, a Seventh-day Adventist, alleges that his employer, the Walgreens drugstore chain, failed to accommodate his Sabbath observance. According to Mr. Patterson, the company said he faced demotion or termination after he refused to conduct training on a Saturday. Walgreens asserts that Mr. Patterson rejected reasonable alternatives, and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the company’s favor in March 2018. The case raises a fundamental legal question: What exactly constitutes a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s religious practices?
In 1972 Congress amended Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to require that employers “reasonably accommodate” employees’ religious practices, unless doing so would create an “undue hardship.” Absent real financial consequences, the law expects employers to let people of faith make a living without giving up their religious commitments. Federal law simply calibrated the interests of employers and employees, which often requires difficult compromises.
But in 1977 the Supreme Court upset this delicate balance. In Trans World Airlines v. Hardison—another case about an employee’s sabbath observance—the court defanged the religious-accommodation requirement. In translating “undue hardship” to the far more indulgent “de minimis” standard, the court effectively told employers that they need to expend only trivial resources on religious accommodation.
This bizarre interpretation was motivated by an outdated concern about separation of church and state. On this theory, it would be unconstitutional to require an employer to take anything more than minimal costs to accommodate someone else’s religion. This stingy view of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, however, has largely been repudiated by the Supreme Court in recent years. Over several cases, the justices have held that legislation to accommodate religion is not an endorsement of religion but only part of a collective commitment to protect religious practice.
When Congress amended Title VII, it explicitly meant to protect employees of minority faiths. Sen. Jennings Randolph of West Virginia explained that his goal was to protect all sabbath observances, “whether the day would fall on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.” Randolph—himself a Seventh Day Baptist—hoped the law would ensure the “opportunity to earn a livelihood within the American system, which has become more pluralistic and more industrialized through the years.”
But the Supreme Court’s adoption of the de minimis standard undermined the law’s defense of religious minorities. Having to let workers swap shifts and share responsibilities undoubtedly puts pressure on employers. Yet defining these accommodations as posing undue hardship has all but eliminated employers’ obligation to their employees’ religious practice. This is why federal courts have been siding with employers in the overwhelming majority of “undue hardship” cases even before the claims make it to trial.
By asking the solicitor general for input, the Supreme Court has signaled its willingness to hear Patterson v. Walgreen. A subsequent ruling in Mr. Patterson’s favor could prevent past precedent from doing further damage to those seeking religious accommodations in the workplace. It’s especially encouraging because Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh recently suggested they were searching for a case that would allow the court to reconsider Hardison. The solicitor general should seize this opportunity and outline for the high court why the law, as written, requires employers to provide substantive religious-accommodation protections in the workplace.
No doubt protecting religious pluralism is hard. It would be easier to capitulate to a cultural inertia, where life remains oriented around the traditional practices of the majority. And for employers whose sole focus is conquering the competitive marketplace, expending effort and resources on religious accommodations might be seen as a distraction. But true pluralism—across all faiths and identities—requires collective sacrifice, even for the sake of some of the smallest minorities. That in turn requires meaningful accommodations for religious practice. Americans shouldn’t have to give up their faith to make a living.
Mr. Helfand is a professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law.
One of the numerous fucktard branches of Christianity is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Like every other moronic cult ever invented, the Seventh-day Adventists have rules. This rule is about Saturday. If they have a job they are required to never work on a Saturday. The employer either accommodates the moron or the moron gets fired.
Why do these cults have bullshit rules? It's to show respect for the Magic Man.
Some stuff from Google:
"The Seventh-day Adventist Church keeps the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, because God set apart the seventh day of creation week to be a day of rest and a memorial of creation."
"Seventh-Day Adventists observe the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and can't work on the Sabbath."
As if a magical master of the entire fucking universe cares what days the human apes on this insignificant planet don't work.
These fucktards think their Magic Man magically created this planet and the human apes who live here. Who needs science in a universe where everything we see was magically created in 6 days?
The rest of the post is a cut & paste job from the god-soaked Wall Street Journal. The WSJ has a god bullshit article every week. They call it the "Houses of Worship". I call it the "Houses of Extreme Stupidity". This is from one month ago.
This bullshit is disgusting:
"But true pluralism—across all faiths and identities—requires collective sacrifice, even for the sake of some of the smallest minorities. That in turn requires meaningful accommodations for religious practice. Americans shouldn’t have to give up their faith to make a living."
There's that word "faith" again. Faith is an excuse to not think. Faith is an excuse to believe in ridiculous bullshit. Here in Idiot America our fucktards think faith is a virtue.
OPINION
COMMENTARY
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
A Day of Rest May Get a Day in Court
The justices could undo a 1977 decision that gutted workers’ religious protections.
By Michael A. Helfand
March 21, 2019
The Supreme Court inched closer this week to undoing a decades-old mistake that has denied meaningful workplace protections for religious employees. On Monday the high court asked the solicitor general to outline the government’s view in Patterson v. Walgreen, a case under consideration for a full hearing.
Darrell Patterson, a Seventh-day Adventist, alleges that his employer, the Walgreens drugstore chain, failed to accommodate his Sabbath observance. According to Mr. Patterson, the company said he faced demotion or termination after he refused to conduct training on a Saturday. Walgreens asserts that Mr. Patterson rejected reasonable alternatives, and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the company’s favor in March 2018. The case raises a fundamental legal question: What exactly constitutes a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s religious practices?
In 1972 Congress amended Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to require that employers “reasonably accommodate” employees’ religious practices, unless doing so would create an “undue hardship.” Absent real financial consequences, the law expects employers to let people of faith make a living without giving up their religious commitments. Federal law simply calibrated the interests of employers and employees, which often requires difficult compromises.
But in 1977 the Supreme Court upset this delicate balance. In Trans World Airlines v. Hardison—another case about an employee’s sabbath observance—the court defanged the religious-accommodation requirement. In translating “undue hardship” to the far more indulgent “de minimis” standard, the court effectively told employers that they need to expend only trivial resources on religious accommodation.
This bizarre interpretation was motivated by an outdated concern about separation of church and state. On this theory, it would be unconstitutional to require an employer to take anything more than minimal costs to accommodate someone else’s religion. This stingy view of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, however, has largely been repudiated by the Supreme Court in recent years. Over several cases, the justices have held that legislation to accommodate religion is not an endorsement of religion but only part of a collective commitment to protect religious practice.
When Congress amended Title VII, it explicitly meant to protect employees of minority faiths. Sen. Jennings Randolph of West Virginia explained that his goal was to protect all sabbath observances, “whether the day would fall on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.” Randolph—himself a Seventh Day Baptist—hoped the law would ensure the “opportunity to earn a livelihood within the American system, which has become more pluralistic and more industrialized through the years.”
But the Supreme Court’s adoption of the de minimis standard undermined the law’s defense of religious minorities. Having to let workers swap shifts and share responsibilities undoubtedly puts pressure on employers. Yet defining these accommodations as posing undue hardship has all but eliminated employers’ obligation to their employees’ religious practice. This is why federal courts have been siding with employers in the overwhelming majority of “undue hardship” cases even before the claims make it to trial.
By asking the solicitor general for input, the Supreme Court has signaled its willingness to hear Patterson v. Walgreen. A subsequent ruling in Mr. Patterson’s favor could prevent past precedent from doing further damage to those seeking religious accommodations in the workplace. It’s especially encouraging because Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh recently suggested they were searching for a case that would allow the court to reconsider Hardison. The solicitor general should seize this opportunity and outline for the high court why the law, as written, requires employers to provide substantive religious-accommodation protections in the workplace.
No doubt protecting religious pluralism is hard. It would be easier to capitulate to a cultural inertia, where life remains oriented around the traditional practices of the majority. And for employers whose sole focus is conquering the competitive marketplace, expending effort and resources on religious accommodations might be seen as a distraction. But true pluralism—across all faiths and identities—requires collective sacrifice, even for the sake of some of the smallest minorities. That in turn requires meaningful accommodations for religious practice. Americans shouldn’t have to give up their faith to make a living.
Mr. Helfand is a professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law.
Everything you always wanted to know about Uruguay.
I just played chess with somebody in Uruguay. I like to look things up so I found this stuff at Wikipedia.
I'm still waiting for Illinois to make the special substance legal, so I thought this was interesting:
Wikipedia - Cannabis in Uruguay
Cannabis is legal in Uruguay, and is one of the most widely used drugs in the nation.
President Jose Mujica signed legislation to legalize recreational cannabis in December 2013, making Uruguay the first country in the modern era to legalize cannabis. In August 2014, Uruguay legalized growing up to six plants at home, as well as the formation of growing clubs, a state-controlled marijuana dispensary regime, and the creation of a Cannabis regulatory institute (IRCCA in Spanish). In October 2014 the Government began registering growers' clubs, allowed in turn to grow a maximum of 99 cannabis plants annually; as of August 2015, there were 2,743 registered personal growers. After a long delay in implementing the retail component of the law, in 2017 sixteen pharmacies were authorized to sell cannabis commercially.
Wikipedia - Uruguay
Uruguayans are of predominantly European origin, with over 87.7% of the population claiming European descent in the 2011 census. Most Uruguayans of European ancestry are descendants of 19th and 20th century immigrants from Spain and Italy (about one-quarter of the population is of Italian origin), and to a lesser degree France, Germany and Britain. Earlier settlers had migrated from Argentina. People of African descent make up an even smaller proportion of the total.
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in the southeastern region of South America. It borders Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east, with the Río de la Plata (River of Silver) to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. Uruguay is home to an estimated 3.44 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city, Montevideo. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America, after Suriname.
Uruguay was inhabited by the Charrúa people for approximately 4,000 years before the Portuguese established Colonia del Sacramento in 1680; Uruguay was colonized by Europeans relatively late compared with neighboring countries. Montevideo was founded as a military stronghold by the Spanish in the early 18th century, signifying the competing claims over the region. Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a four-way struggle between Spain, Portugal, and later Argentina and Brazil. It remained subject to foreign influence and intervention throughout the 19th century, with the military playing a recurring role in domestic politics.
A series of economic crises put an end to a democratic period that had begun in the early 20th century, culminating in a 1973 coup, which established a civic-military dictatorship. The military government persecuted leftists, socialists, and political opponents, resulting in several deaths and numerous instances of torture by the military; the military relinquished power to a civilian government in 1985. Uruguay is today a democratic constitutional republic, with a president who serves as both head of state and head of government.
Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America in democracy, peace, low perception of corruption, e-government, and is first in South America when it comes to press freedom, size of the middle class and prosperity. On a per-capita basis, Uruguay contributes more troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions than any other country. It tops the rank of absence of terrorism, a unique position within South America. It ranks second in the region on economic freedom, income equality, per-capita income and inflows of FDI. Uruguay is the third-best country on the continent in terms of HDI, GDP growth, innovation and infrastructure. It is regarded as a high-income country by the UN. Uruguay was also ranked the third-best in the world in e-Participation in 2014. Uruguay is an important global exporter of combed wool, rice, soybeans, frozen beef, malt and milk. Nearly 95% of Uruguay's electricity comes from renewable energy, mostly hydroelectric facilities and wind parks. Uruguay is a founding member of the United Nations, OAS, Mercosur, UNASUR and NAM.
Uruguay is regarded as one of the most socially advanced countries in Latin America. It ranks high on global measures of personal rights, tolerance, and inclusion issues. The Economist named Uruguay country of the year" in 2013, acknowledging the policy of legalizing the production, sale and consumption of cannabis.
Wikipedia - Cannabis
Wimpy atheist wimps
Most people who call themselves atheists are not real atheists. A real atheist doesn't use wimpy words like "lack of belief" or "doesn't believe" or "My mind can still be changed". I real atheist is 100% certain magic-god-fairies are not real.
Do these fake atheists say "I have a lack of belief in Easter Bunnies." "I don't believe in Easter Bunnies." "My mind can still be changed about Easter Bunnies."
These fake atheists think magic god fairies are more likely to be real than Easter Bunnies.
Do these fake atheists say "I have a lack of belief in Easter Bunnies." "I don't believe in Easter Bunnies." "My mind can still be changed about Easter Bunnies."
These fake atheists think magic god fairies are more likely to be real than Easter Bunnies.
The Wall Street Journal - September 12, 2009: "Where does evolution leave God?"
The magic-god-fairy fantasy has a few problems besides being ridiculous, childish, and completely impossible. The god thing was never necessary for anything, therefore the thing is not real.
Wall Street Journal - "Where does evolution leave God?"
This is what Richard Dawkins wrote:
What if the greatest show on earth is not the greatest show in the universe? What if there are life forms on other planets that have evolved so far beyond our level of intelligence and creativity that we should regard them as gods, were we ever so fortunate (or unfortunate?) as to meet them? Would they indeed be gods? Wouldn't we be tempted to fall on our knees and worship them, as a medieval peasant might if suddenly confronted with such miracles as a Boeing 747, a mobile telephone or Google Earth? But, however god-like the aliens might seem, they would not be gods, and for one very important reason. They did not create the universe; it created them, just as it created us. Making the universe is the one thing no intelligence, however superhuman, could do, because an intelligence is complex—statistically improbable —and therefore had to emerge, by gradual degrees, from simpler beginnings: from a lifeless universe—the miracle-free zone that is physics.
To midwife such emergence is the singular achievement of Darwinian evolution. It starts with primeval simplicity and fosters, by slow, explicable degrees, the emergence of complexity: seemingly limitless complexity—certainly up to our human level of complexity and very probably way beyond. There may be worlds on which superhuman life thrives, superhuman to a level that our imaginations cannot grasp. But superhuman does not mean supernatural. Darwinian evolution is the only process we know that is ultimately capable of generating anything as complicated as creative intelligences. Once it has done so, of course, those intelligences can create other complex things: works of art and music, advanced technology, computers, the Internet and who knows what in the future? Darwinian evolution may not be the only such generative process in the universe. There may be other "cranes" (Daniel Dennett's term, which he opposes to "skyhooks") that we have not yet discovered or imagined. But, however wonderful and however different from Darwinian evolution those putative cranes may be, they cannot be magic. They will share with Darwinian evolution the facility to raise up complexity, as an emergent property, out of simplicity, while never violating natural law.
Where does that leave God? The kindest thing to say is that it leaves him with nothing to do, and no achievements that might attract our praise, our worship or our fear. Evolution is God's redundancy notice, his pink slip. But we have to go further. A complex creative intelligence with nothing to do is not just redundant. A divine designer is all but ruled out by the consideration that he must at least as complex as the entities he was wheeled out to explain. God is not dead. He was never alive in the first place.
Wall Street Journal - "Where does evolution leave God?"
This is what Richard Dawkins wrote:
What if the greatest show on earth is not the greatest show in the universe? What if there are life forms on other planets that have evolved so far beyond our level of intelligence and creativity that we should regard them as gods, were we ever so fortunate (or unfortunate?) as to meet them? Would they indeed be gods? Wouldn't we be tempted to fall on our knees and worship them, as a medieval peasant might if suddenly confronted with such miracles as a Boeing 747, a mobile telephone or Google Earth? But, however god-like the aliens might seem, they would not be gods, and for one very important reason. They did not create the universe; it created them, just as it created us. Making the universe is the one thing no intelligence, however superhuman, could do, because an intelligence is complex—statistically improbable —and therefore had to emerge, by gradual degrees, from simpler beginnings: from a lifeless universe—the miracle-free zone that is physics.
To midwife such emergence is the singular achievement of Darwinian evolution. It starts with primeval simplicity and fosters, by slow, explicable degrees, the emergence of complexity: seemingly limitless complexity—certainly up to our human level of complexity and very probably way beyond. There may be worlds on which superhuman life thrives, superhuman to a level that our imaginations cannot grasp. But superhuman does not mean supernatural. Darwinian evolution is the only process we know that is ultimately capable of generating anything as complicated as creative intelligences. Once it has done so, of course, those intelligences can create other complex things: works of art and music, advanced technology, computers, the Internet and who knows what in the future? Darwinian evolution may not be the only such generative process in the universe. There may be other "cranes" (Daniel Dennett's term, which he opposes to "skyhooks") that we have not yet discovered or imagined. But, however wonderful and however different from Darwinian evolution those putative cranes may be, they cannot be magic. They will share with Darwinian evolution the facility to raise up complexity, as an emergent property, out of simplicity, while never violating natural law.
Where does that leave God? The kindest thing to say is that it leaves him with nothing to do, and no achievements that might attract our praise, our worship or our fear. Evolution is God's redundancy notice, his pink slip. But we have to go further. A complex creative intelligence with nothing to do is not just redundant. A divine designer is all but ruled out by the consideration that he must at least as complex as the entities he was wheeled out to explain. God is not dead. He was never alive in the first place.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
In Sri Lanka a Muslim family was attacked by Christian assholes: “They even beat my kids."
In Sri Lanka a Muslim family was attacked by Christian assholes: “They even beat my kids."
Muslims are assholes and Christians are assholes. If everyone in Sri Lanka was a normal person, aka atheist, there would be no problems. Everywhere there's religion there is violence.
New York Times - Sri Lanka’s Muslims Face an Angry Backlash
By Jeffrey Gettleman and Dharisha Bastians
April 24, 2019
NEGOMBO, Sri Lanka — Auranzeb Zabi was cooking rice at a friend’s house on Wednesday when he heard angry shouting outside, looked out the window and saw a mob of Sri Lankan men carrying iron bars.
A day after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for suicide bombings that killed more than 350 people, Muslims in some areas of Sri Lanka were facing a rising backlash.
The mob surrounded the house. Mr. Zabi, a Pakistani refugee who has lived in Sri Lanka for two years, said he grabbed his two children, dashed into the yard and scampered over two walls before reaching an army checkpoint.
There the mob caught up with him, he said, and delivered a harsh beating, begging the soldiers to let them kill him. Hours later, Mr. Zabi still looked terrified.
“When you face 100 people,” he said, and then his voice slipped and he couldn’t finish the sentence. His eyes hardened.
“They even beat my kids,” he said.
In the town of Negombo, where an attack on a church during Easter services killed more than 100 people, gangs of Christian men moved from house to house, smashing windows, breaking down doors, dragging people into the streets, punching them in the face and then threatening to kill them, dozens of residents said. No deaths were reported, but many Muslims fear it is only a matter of time.
If one of the bombers’ goals in slaughtering hundreds of innocent men, women and children at hotels and churches on Easter Sunday was to stir new religious hatred in Sri Lanka, that may now be happening in some areas.
Despite pleas for calm from religious leaders of all faiths, tensions are rising and fear is traveling across this island nation like a fast-moving shadow. Many Muslims in different parts of the country say they are lying low and avoiding public places.
Until this week, Sri Lanka didn’t have much history of Christian-Muslim violence. The two faiths are small minorities: The country is about 7 percent Christian, 10 percent Muslim, 13 percent Hindu and 70 percent Buddhist.
Religion was not a driving factor in Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, in which ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils nearly tore the country apart.
During the war years, many Muslim men rose up the ranks of the government’s intelligence services because they were known for their fluency in Sri Lanka’s three major languages — Sinhala, Tamil and English.
But after the civil war ended in 2009, militant Buddhism began to surge. Some observers have said it was as if powerful forces in Sri Lankan politics were looking for a new enemy to fight. Hard-line Buddhist monks targeted churches and mosques, priests and imams, often with the tacit support of the security services.
While Muslims bore the brunt of these attacks, Christians suffered, too, and the two communities were essentially on the same side. But that informal alliance was seriously challenged by Sunday’s attacks, which the authorities say were carried out by Muslim extremists, primarily against Christians.
In an instant, everything changed again, said Malik Farhan, another Pakistani refugee.
“We don’t feel safe anymore in Sri Lanka,” he said.
Many Muslims have tried to help grieving Christians, offering food and friendship, but the outreach has been complicated. Feelings are so raw that one priest told members of a mosque to stay away from the funerals.
On Wednesday, as Christian gangs roved their neighborhood, hundreds of Pakistani Muslims including Mr. Farhan and Mr. Zabi, rushed for protection first to a police station and then to a mosque. Soldiers and police officers guarded the mosque gates and checked the identification of any visitors. Still, elders felt uneasy about the location.
By late afternoon a string of buses chugged out of the mosque with every seat filled and people packed in the aisles, instantly relocating an entire community of Muslims to a small town miles away where none had ever lived.
The Pakistani refugees are easy targets. They look different, speak a different language and were already on unsure footing, living in Sri Lanka as guests of the government while refugee agencies sorted out longer-term resettlement plans.
But they are hardly the only Muslims who are frightened.
About two hours away, in the town of Bandaragama, Mohamed Iqbal, a Muslim man as Sri Lankan as anyone else, winced as he looked at his shoe shop.
He had run Shoe Fashion for 15 years and the few hundred dollars it generated each month supported his wife, his three adult sons and two grandchildren. But Shoe Fashion is no more.
It was gutted by fire the night of the suicide bombings — “obviously revenge,” a neighboring shopkeeper said. A rock lay on the ground that had been used to smash the lock and open the roll-top shutter. Inside, it still smelled like char.
“Our religious beliefs could not be more different from the Islamic State’s,” said Mr. Iqbal’s son Ifaz. “But now everyone is looking at us as if we were the ones who bombed the churches.”
Sri Lanka is a complicated tapestry of ethnicities and religions. Many Muslims said they have gotten used to discrimination operating in the background, even during the peaceful times.
“Say you walk into a bank and someone sees your beard,’’ Mr. Ifaz said. “They might make you wait, even when they don’t have to.’’
In June 2014, after years of dehumanizing speech by hard-line Buddhist monks, religious bigotry exploded. Mobs of young Buddhist men attacked a Muslim neighborhood in a southern town, burning down houses, killing at least three Muslims and sending fear into just about every Muslim household in Sri Lanka.
Police officers were accused of standing by and sometimes even helping the Buddhist mobs. The Iqbal family wonders if the same is happening again.
On Wednesday, officials played down reports of violence, saying no one had been seriously hurt. The police said they were beefing up security around mosques and in Muslim neighborhoods, and trying to tamp down tensions.
“But you know,” Mr. Ifaz said, “there was a curfew the night our shop was burned. Maybe the police were there.”
A version of this article appears in print on April 24, 2019, on Page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘They Even Beat My Kids’: Muslims Face Backlash From Christians.
Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Muslims are assholes and Christians are assholes. If everyone in Sri Lanka was a normal person, aka atheist, there would be no problems. Everywhere there's religion there is violence.
New York Times - Sri Lanka’s Muslims Face an Angry Backlash
By Jeffrey Gettleman and Dharisha Bastians
April 24, 2019
NEGOMBO, Sri Lanka — Auranzeb Zabi was cooking rice at a friend’s house on Wednesday when he heard angry shouting outside, looked out the window and saw a mob of Sri Lankan men carrying iron bars.
A day after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for suicide bombings that killed more than 350 people, Muslims in some areas of Sri Lanka were facing a rising backlash.
The mob surrounded the house. Mr. Zabi, a Pakistani refugee who has lived in Sri Lanka for two years, said he grabbed his two children, dashed into the yard and scampered over two walls before reaching an army checkpoint.
There the mob caught up with him, he said, and delivered a harsh beating, begging the soldiers to let them kill him. Hours later, Mr. Zabi still looked terrified.
“When you face 100 people,” he said, and then his voice slipped and he couldn’t finish the sentence. His eyes hardened.
“They even beat my kids,” he said.
In the town of Negombo, where an attack on a church during Easter services killed more than 100 people, gangs of Christian men moved from house to house, smashing windows, breaking down doors, dragging people into the streets, punching them in the face and then threatening to kill them, dozens of residents said. No deaths were reported, but many Muslims fear it is only a matter of time.
If one of the bombers’ goals in slaughtering hundreds of innocent men, women and children at hotels and churches on Easter Sunday was to stir new religious hatred in Sri Lanka, that may now be happening in some areas.
Despite pleas for calm from religious leaders of all faiths, tensions are rising and fear is traveling across this island nation like a fast-moving shadow. Many Muslims in different parts of the country say they are lying low and avoiding public places.
Until this week, Sri Lanka didn’t have much history of Christian-Muslim violence. The two faiths are small minorities: The country is about 7 percent Christian, 10 percent Muslim, 13 percent Hindu and 70 percent Buddhist.
Religion was not a driving factor in Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, in which ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils nearly tore the country apart.
During the war years, many Muslim men rose up the ranks of the government’s intelligence services because they were known for their fluency in Sri Lanka’s three major languages — Sinhala, Tamil and English.
But after the civil war ended in 2009, militant Buddhism began to surge. Some observers have said it was as if powerful forces in Sri Lankan politics were looking for a new enemy to fight. Hard-line Buddhist monks targeted churches and mosques, priests and imams, often with the tacit support of the security services.
While Muslims bore the brunt of these attacks, Christians suffered, too, and the two communities were essentially on the same side. But that informal alliance was seriously challenged by Sunday’s attacks, which the authorities say were carried out by Muslim extremists, primarily against Christians.
In an instant, everything changed again, said Malik Farhan, another Pakistani refugee.
“We don’t feel safe anymore in Sri Lanka,” he said.
Many Muslims have tried to help grieving Christians, offering food and friendship, but the outreach has been complicated. Feelings are so raw that one priest told members of a mosque to stay away from the funerals.
On Wednesday, as Christian gangs roved their neighborhood, hundreds of Pakistani Muslims including Mr. Farhan and Mr. Zabi, rushed for protection first to a police station and then to a mosque. Soldiers and police officers guarded the mosque gates and checked the identification of any visitors. Still, elders felt uneasy about the location.
By late afternoon a string of buses chugged out of the mosque with every seat filled and people packed in the aisles, instantly relocating an entire community of Muslims to a small town miles away where none had ever lived.
The Pakistani refugees are easy targets. They look different, speak a different language and were already on unsure footing, living in Sri Lanka as guests of the government while refugee agencies sorted out longer-term resettlement plans.
But they are hardly the only Muslims who are frightened.
About two hours away, in the town of Bandaragama, Mohamed Iqbal, a Muslim man as Sri Lankan as anyone else, winced as he looked at his shoe shop.
He had run Shoe Fashion for 15 years and the few hundred dollars it generated each month supported his wife, his three adult sons and two grandchildren. But Shoe Fashion is no more.
It was gutted by fire the night of the suicide bombings — “obviously revenge,” a neighboring shopkeeper said. A rock lay on the ground that had been used to smash the lock and open the roll-top shutter. Inside, it still smelled like char.
“Our religious beliefs could not be more different from the Islamic State’s,” said Mr. Iqbal’s son Ifaz. “But now everyone is looking at us as if we were the ones who bombed the churches.”
Sri Lanka is a complicated tapestry of ethnicities and religions. Many Muslims said they have gotten used to discrimination operating in the background, even during the peaceful times.
“Say you walk into a bank and someone sees your beard,’’ Mr. Ifaz said. “They might make you wait, even when they don’t have to.’’
In June 2014, after years of dehumanizing speech by hard-line Buddhist monks, religious bigotry exploded. Mobs of young Buddhist men attacked a Muslim neighborhood in a southern town, burning down houses, killing at least three Muslims and sending fear into just about every Muslim household in Sri Lanka.
Police officers were accused of standing by and sometimes even helping the Buddhist mobs. The Iqbal family wonders if the same is happening again.
On Wednesday, officials played down reports of violence, saying no one had been seriously hurt. The police said they were beefing up security around mosques and in Muslim neighborhoods, and trying to tamp down tensions.
“But you know,” Mr. Ifaz said, “there was a curfew the night our shop was burned. Maybe the police were there.”
A version of this article appears in print on April 24, 2019, on Page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘They Even Beat My Kids’: Muslims Face Backlash From Christians.
Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
"Mobs of Christian men began to attack Muslims, driving hundreds from their homes."
This New York Times article has lots of interesting information about the stupid fucking assholes who murdered more than 300 people. Some of the suicide bombers were from a wealthy family.
Now Christian morons are attacking Muslim morons. This is what religions are good for, never-ending violence, brainwashing, and extreme stupidity.
Here is the whole thing:
New York Times - Suicide Bombers Included Two Sons of Sri Lanka Spice Tycoon
By Jeffrey Gettleman, Dharisha Bastians and Kai Schultz
April 24, 2019
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — He built his fortune on black pepper, white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla. His family lived in a beautiful white villa and traveled in a chauffeured BMW. He was feted by Sri Lanka’s former president for “outstanding service provided to the nation.”
But on Wednesday the narrative of Mohammad Yusuf Ibrahim, one of Sri Lanka’s wealthiest spice traders, was ripped apart. Officials revealed he was in custody in connection with the devastating suicide attacks on Easter Sunday that killed more than 350 people.
An Indian official said that two of Mr. Ibrahim’s sons, who have been identified in Indian media reports as Inshaf and Ilham, were among the eight suicide bombers who struck at hotels and churches across this island. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, and investigators said Mr. Ibrahim was being extensively interrogated.
During a raid Sunday at his family’s villa near Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, a female suspect blew herself up in front of two of her children, killing them all, along with several police officers who were closing in, investigators said. The Indian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of a major terrorism investigation, said the woman who killed herself and her children was most likely the wife of one of Mr. Ibrahim’s sons.
Sri Lankan officials have been reluctant to identify the suicide bombers, saying that could hamper their investigation.
But at a news conference on Wednesday, Ruwan Wijewardene, Sri Lanka’s minister of defense, said most of the bombers had been well educated and had come from middle-class or upper-class families.
“Financially they are quite independent and their families are stable financially. So that is a worrying fact,” he said. “Some of them have studied in various other countries. They hold degrees, LLMs. They are quite well-educated people.”
Sri Lankan investigators are being assisted by a team of F.B.I. agents who flew into Colombo amid a sense of urgency. The American ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, said there were “ongoing terrorist plots” and Mr. Wijewardene said “there could be still a few people out there.” He urged Sri Lankans to remain vigilant.
Officials said they were trying to determine what exactly were the bombers’ links to the Islamic State. The extremist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, released a video showing Mohammed Zaharan, who has been identified as one of the suicide bombers, leading masked, black-clad disciples as they pledged allegiance to the organization.
Before this attack, Mr. Zaharan was a not-so-successful Islamist preacher whose own village in eastern Sri Lanka ran him out because they did not appreciate his divisive views. He spread militant Islamist ideology on YouTube and, according to Indian investigators, helped inspire at least one Indian to draw closer to the Islamic State.
Some Muslim leaders in Sri Lanka had been watching him closely and said he had developed a small but loyal band of followers.
As of Wednesday the Islamic State had not provided any further proof for its claim of responsibility of the attacks, and Mr. Wijewardene said investigators were eager to know if the group had provided training or financing. He said they had found no evidence to suggest that the bombers had traveled to the Middle East to fight for the Islamic State. Several dozen Sri Lankans recently returned home after having served the Islamic State in various capacities, including as soldiers, a Western security official said.
The bombings on Sunday struck nearly simultaneously at three churches and three upscale hotels. One was so powerful that it blew off the church’s roof, raining heavy clay tiles on people’s heads. It has been a puzzle trying to figure out how a little known local group could carry out one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years.
Still in recovery from a bitter civil war that ended a decade ago, Sri Lanka remains uneasy. In the last couple of days, security near the bomb sites has tightened. Schools have been shut until Monday, and the postal department is requiring that items sent by mail be wrapped in front of workers at post offices.
The flow of funerals continued, and many mourners on Wednesday focused their anger on the government and the security forces. In some areas, mobs of Christian men began to attack Muslims, driving hundreds from their homes.
All morning long, people gathered near one of the targeted churches, St. Sebastian’s in Negombo, to mourn the deceased at a mass burial.
One distraught woman could not stop crying and shouting at the police. She blamed them for not having acted on intelligence warnings of the attacks.
It was the Indian intelligence services that warned Sri Lanka about the possibility of these attacks. Indian agents had interrogated a man last year who was linked to the Islamic State, and who said he had been inspired by Mr. Zaharan’s videos on social media. That intelligence led to an investigation into Mr. Zaharan, and it was part of the basis for a detailed warning that the Indians provided to the Sri Lankan authorities about the possibility of suicide attacks on churches.
The warning was never relayed to church officials or shared broadly among Sri Lanka’s security services. The country’s own prime minister didn’t even know about it. Sri Lankan security agencies apparently took no action against members of Mr. Zaharan’s group, despite specific information provided by the Indians that included names, addresses and phone numbers. Nor did they beef up security at churches. The warning of impending attack was repeated by the Indians just hours before the bombings, according to an Indian official.
During a national address on Tuesday, President Maithripala Sirisena tried to deflect criticism that he was at least partly responsible for the security failure. He acknowledged that “there was an intelligence report about the attack” but said he was “not kept informed” about it by subordinates.
On Wednesday, Mr. Sirisena asked Hemasiri Fernando, the defense secretary, and Pujith Jayasundara, the inspector general of the police, to resign, according to a senior official at the president’s office. A lawmaker, Wijedasa Rajapakse, called for the two security officials to be arrested and prosecuted.
Many lawmakers dismissed assertions that the president would not have known about the threat memo, saying that blame for the security lapse should go all the way to the top.
Sarath Fonseka, a member of Parliament who was an army chief in the last stage of Sri Lanka’s civil war, told Parliament on Wednesday that he had known about the memo, as had the national intelligence chief. He said it was “obvious that the letter would have gone to the president.”
Mr. Sirisena, as president, also serves as minister of defense.
Authorities were saying little about their investigation into Mr. Ibrahim, the wealthy spice trader, and his family. He was a celebrated figure in Colombo’s business circles and politically connected.
One of Sri Lanka’s political parties, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, wanted to nominate him for a seat in Parliament, though that party failed to win enough votes to get him the actual seat.
Vijitha Herath, a leader within that party, said he did not know anything about Mr. Ibrahim’s possible role, or his sons’, in the terror attacks.
“He is a multibillionaire and a recognized businessman,” Mr. Herath said. “He wouldn’t have known what his sons did. There are things sons do, and fathers don’t know.”
Others seemed eager to distance themselves from the appearance of any prior associations with Mr. Ibrahim. Reached by phone, State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe, who was photographed presenting the Presidential Export Award to Mr. Ibrahim in 2016, angrily denied any knowledge and hung up.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “We give so many awards.”
Mujib Mashal contributed reporting.
Now Christian morons are attacking Muslim morons. This is what religions are good for, never-ending violence, brainwashing, and extreme stupidity.
Here is the whole thing:
New York Times - Suicide Bombers Included Two Sons of Sri Lanka Spice Tycoon
By Jeffrey Gettleman, Dharisha Bastians and Kai Schultz
April 24, 2019
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — He built his fortune on black pepper, white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla. His family lived in a beautiful white villa and traveled in a chauffeured BMW. He was feted by Sri Lanka’s former president for “outstanding service provided to the nation.”
But on Wednesday the narrative of Mohammad Yusuf Ibrahim, one of Sri Lanka’s wealthiest spice traders, was ripped apart. Officials revealed he was in custody in connection with the devastating suicide attacks on Easter Sunday that killed more than 350 people.
An Indian official said that two of Mr. Ibrahim’s sons, who have been identified in Indian media reports as Inshaf and Ilham, were among the eight suicide bombers who struck at hotels and churches across this island. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, and investigators said Mr. Ibrahim was being extensively interrogated.
During a raid Sunday at his family’s villa near Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, a female suspect blew herself up in front of two of her children, killing them all, along with several police officers who were closing in, investigators said. The Indian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of a major terrorism investigation, said the woman who killed herself and her children was most likely the wife of one of Mr. Ibrahim’s sons.
Sri Lankan officials have been reluctant to identify the suicide bombers, saying that could hamper their investigation.
But at a news conference on Wednesday, Ruwan Wijewardene, Sri Lanka’s minister of defense, said most of the bombers had been well educated and had come from middle-class or upper-class families.
“Financially they are quite independent and their families are stable financially. So that is a worrying fact,” he said. “Some of them have studied in various other countries. They hold degrees, LLMs. They are quite well-educated people.”
Sri Lankan investigators are being assisted by a team of F.B.I. agents who flew into Colombo amid a sense of urgency. The American ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, said there were “ongoing terrorist plots” and Mr. Wijewardene said “there could be still a few people out there.” He urged Sri Lankans to remain vigilant.
Officials said they were trying to determine what exactly were the bombers’ links to the Islamic State. The extremist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, released a video showing Mohammed Zaharan, who has been identified as one of the suicide bombers, leading masked, black-clad disciples as they pledged allegiance to the organization.
Before this attack, Mr. Zaharan was a not-so-successful Islamist preacher whose own village in eastern Sri Lanka ran him out because they did not appreciate his divisive views. He spread militant Islamist ideology on YouTube and, according to Indian investigators, helped inspire at least one Indian to draw closer to the Islamic State.
Some Muslim leaders in Sri Lanka had been watching him closely and said he had developed a small but loyal band of followers.
As of Wednesday the Islamic State had not provided any further proof for its claim of responsibility of the attacks, and Mr. Wijewardene said investigators were eager to know if the group had provided training or financing. He said they had found no evidence to suggest that the bombers had traveled to the Middle East to fight for the Islamic State. Several dozen Sri Lankans recently returned home after having served the Islamic State in various capacities, including as soldiers, a Western security official said.
The bombings on Sunday struck nearly simultaneously at three churches and three upscale hotels. One was so powerful that it blew off the church’s roof, raining heavy clay tiles on people’s heads. It has been a puzzle trying to figure out how a little known local group could carry out one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years.
Still in recovery from a bitter civil war that ended a decade ago, Sri Lanka remains uneasy. In the last couple of days, security near the bomb sites has tightened. Schools have been shut until Monday, and the postal department is requiring that items sent by mail be wrapped in front of workers at post offices.
The flow of funerals continued, and many mourners on Wednesday focused their anger on the government and the security forces. In some areas, mobs of Christian men began to attack Muslims, driving hundreds from their homes.
All morning long, people gathered near one of the targeted churches, St. Sebastian’s in Negombo, to mourn the deceased at a mass burial.
One distraught woman could not stop crying and shouting at the police. She blamed them for not having acted on intelligence warnings of the attacks.
It was the Indian intelligence services that warned Sri Lanka about the possibility of these attacks. Indian agents had interrogated a man last year who was linked to the Islamic State, and who said he had been inspired by Mr. Zaharan’s videos on social media. That intelligence led to an investigation into Mr. Zaharan, and it was part of the basis for a detailed warning that the Indians provided to the Sri Lankan authorities about the possibility of suicide attacks on churches.
The warning was never relayed to church officials or shared broadly among Sri Lanka’s security services. The country’s own prime minister didn’t even know about it. Sri Lankan security agencies apparently took no action against members of Mr. Zaharan’s group, despite specific information provided by the Indians that included names, addresses and phone numbers. Nor did they beef up security at churches. The warning of impending attack was repeated by the Indians just hours before the bombings, according to an Indian official.
During a national address on Tuesday, President Maithripala Sirisena tried to deflect criticism that he was at least partly responsible for the security failure. He acknowledged that “there was an intelligence report about the attack” but said he was “not kept informed” about it by subordinates.
On Wednesday, Mr. Sirisena asked Hemasiri Fernando, the defense secretary, and Pujith Jayasundara, the inspector general of the police, to resign, according to a senior official at the president’s office. A lawmaker, Wijedasa Rajapakse, called for the two security officials to be arrested and prosecuted.
Many lawmakers dismissed assertions that the president would not have known about the threat memo, saying that blame for the security lapse should go all the way to the top.
Sarath Fonseka, a member of Parliament who was an army chief in the last stage of Sri Lanka’s civil war, told Parliament on Wednesday that he had known about the memo, as had the national intelligence chief. He said it was “obvious that the letter would have gone to the president.”
Mr. Sirisena, as president, also serves as minister of defense.
Authorities were saying little about their investigation into Mr. Ibrahim, the wealthy spice trader, and his family. He was a celebrated figure in Colombo’s business circles and politically connected.
One of Sri Lanka’s political parties, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, wanted to nominate him for a seat in Parliament, though that party failed to win enough votes to get him the actual seat.
Vijitha Herath, a leader within that party, said he did not know anything about Mr. Ibrahim’s possible role, or his sons’, in the terror attacks.
“He is a multibillionaire and a recognized businessman,” Mr. Herath said. “He wouldn’t have known what his sons did. There are things sons do, and fathers don’t know.”
Others seemed eager to distance themselves from the appearance of any prior associations with Mr. Ibrahim. Reached by phone, State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe, who was photographed presenting the Presidential Export Award to Mr. Ibrahim in 2016, angrily denied any knowledge and hung up.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “We give so many awards.”
Mujib Mashal contributed reporting.
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