Monday, May 31, 2021
New York City
Up Three Flights
Dear Diary:
We had just finished moving my daughter into an apartment on DeKalb Avenue when she said that she and her roommate had bought a sofa from a woman in Queens and that we had to pick it up before 5.
It was starting to sleet, and I was contemplating how three women with little upper body strength were going to lug a heavy piece of furniture up three flights of stairs.
We got the sofa into the back of the van easily enough, but when we returned to the apartment we struggled to get it through the doorway.
A young man in an overcoat and hat walked by.
“Excuse me, sir,” I said. “Can you help us carry this sofa upstairs?”
“Of course,” he said, picking it up at one end and calling out instructions for how to angle it up the stairs.
After we had gotten it upstairs and I was on my way down, I asked the man if I could give him some money.
“Oh, no, absolutely not,” he said. “I live next door. I’m your neighbor.”
— Madeline Monde
Dear Diary:
We had just finished moving my daughter into an apartment on DeKalb Avenue when she said that she and her roommate had bought a sofa from a woman in Queens and that we had to pick it up before 5.
It was starting to sleet, and I was contemplating how three women with little upper body strength were going to lug a heavy piece of furniture up three flights of stairs.
We got the sofa into the back of the van easily enough, but when we returned to the apartment we struggled to get it through the doorway.
A young man in an overcoat and hat walked by.
“Excuse me, sir,” I said. “Can you help us carry this sofa upstairs?”
“Of course,” he said, picking it up at one end and calling out instructions for how to angle it up the stairs.
After we had gotten it upstairs and I was on my way down, I asked the man if I could give him some money.
“Oh, no, absolutely not,” he said. “I live next door. I’m your neighbor.”
— Madeline Monde
Sunday, May 30, 2021
One hundred years ago, one of the nation's most affluent Black communities was attacked by ground and air. A mob of armed rioters used torches and private airplanes to destroy 35 square blocks of an area in Tulsa, Oklahoma known as "Black Wall Street." The Tulsa Race Massacre remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history.
I wrote this for an asshole at the Washington Post:
"Islamophobic" means "knows too much about Islam". The ridiculous word was invented to suppress freedom of speech.
"People are starting to travel again and they’re acting like assholes." "The coronavirus restrictions were tough, but at least it forced many of the nation’s assholes to stay home."
Mother Jones
MAY 29, 2021
People Are Starting to Travel Again and They’re Acting Like Assholes
NATHALIE BAPTISTE
Reporter Bio | Follow
Southwest Airlines announced it would not resume alcohol service on its flights. The airline had stopped serving alcohol during the beginning of the pandemic, but was set to rescind that policy next month—until a passenger assaulted a flight attendant last week. The incident was just the latest in a disturbing rise of unruly and dangerous passengers on planes.
According to the Port of San Diego Harbor police, a woman was arrested on felony assault charges after striking a flight attendant. “The passenger repeatedly ignored standard inflight instructions (tray table in upright position, seat belt, etc.) and became verbally and physically abusive upon landing,” a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. The suspect has been banned from the airlines. Sonya Lacore, the airline’s head of in-flight operations, decided “based on the rise in passenger disruptions in flight, I’ve made the decision to re-evaluate the restart of alcohol service on board.”
Southwest isn’t the only airline experiencing a rise in horrible customers. The Federal Aviation Administration announced that since January 1, the agency has received 2,500 reports of “unruly behavior” with 1,900 of those being passengers refusing to comply with the federal mask mandate. In a January incident, a passenger on an unidentified airline shoved a flight attendant who was walking down the aircraft’s aisle to ensure each passenger was complying with the mask mandate. The FAA has announced penalties as high as $15,000 for disruptive customers.
As vaccine rates climb and local governments lift restrictions, more people are traveling. But that also means more people are engaging in troubling behavior. “We’ve never before seen aggression and violence on our planes like we have in the past five months,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said in a statement. “The constant combative attitude over wearing masks is exhausting and sometimes horrific for the people who have been on the front lines of this pandemic for over a year.”
It’s exhilarating to see public life resume in a quasi-normal way, after a year of being unable to see our family and friends. But in a classic case of This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, some people are choosing to treat the return to widespread travel as a chance to act like utter jerks. The coronavirus restrictions were tough, but at least it forced many of the nation’s assholes to stay home.
MAY 29, 2021
People Are Starting to Travel Again and They’re Acting Like Assholes
NATHALIE BAPTISTE
Reporter Bio | Follow
Southwest Airlines announced it would not resume alcohol service on its flights. The airline had stopped serving alcohol during the beginning of the pandemic, but was set to rescind that policy next month—until a passenger assaulted a flight attendant last week. The incident was just the latest in a disturbing rise of unruly and dangerous passengers on planes.
According to the Port of San Diego Harbor police, a woman was arrested on felony assault charges after striking a flight attendant. “The passenger repeatedly ignored standard inflight instructions (tray table in upright position, seat belt, etc.) and became verbally and physically abusive upon landing,” a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. The suspect has been banned from the airlines. Sonya Lacore, the airline’s head of in-flight operations, decided “based on the rise in passenger disruptions in flight, I’ve made the decision to re-evaluate the restart of alcohol service on board.”
Southwest isn’t the only airline experiencing a rise in horrible customers. The Federal Aviation Administration announced that since January 1, the agency has received 2,500 reports of “unruly behavior” with 1,900 of those being passengers refusing to comply with the federal mask mandate. In a January incident, a passenger on an unidentified airline shoved a flight attendant who was walking down the aircraft’s aisle to ensure each passenger was complying with the mask mandate. The FAA has announced penalties as high as $15,000 for disruptive customers.
As vaccine rates climb and local governments lift restrictions, more people are traveling. But that also means more people are engaging in troubling behavior. “We’ve never before seen aggression and violence on our planes like we have in the past five months,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, said in a statement. “The constant combative attitude over wearing masks is exhausting and sometimes horrific for the people who have been on the front lines of this pandemic for over a year.”
It’s exhilarating to see public life resume in a quasi-normal way, after a year of being unable to see our family and friends. But in a classic case of This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, some people are choosing to treat the return to widespread travel as a chance to act like utter jerks. The coronavirus restrictions were tough, but at least it forced many of the nation’s assholes to stay home.
Idiot Texas has made it easy to own a gun, and they made it difficult to vote.
New York Times
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign a wide-ranging bill that would allow virtually anyone over the age of 21 to carry a handgun — no permit required. It’s part of a string of Republican-led initiatives that the State Legislature has pushed through during its most conservative session in modern history. Next up: a voting bill that critics say will make Texas “the most difficult place to vote in the country.”
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign a wide-ranging bill that would allow virtually anyone over the age of 21 to carry a handgun — no permit required. It’s part of a string of Republican-led initiatives that the State Legislature has pushed through during its most conservative session in modern history. Next up: a voting bill that critics say will make Texas “the most difficult place to vote in the country.”
The United States is not the only country with a Christian asshole problem. These morons for Jeebus are becoming a problem in Australia.
Independent Australia
Religious fundamentalists railroad democracy
By Brian Morris
30 May 2021
Electing candidates from churches like Scott Morrison's Pentecostal Church and packing them into parliament is damaging to a viable democracy, writes Brian Morris.
WITH THE rise of Pentecostal and charismatic megachurches there’s a rational concern that a "literal" belief in the Bible has led to anti-science trolls, climate change denial, and an anti-vax movement. But the endgame will be more serious if the trend continues to morph into a full USA-style of Christian dominionism.
Most people will roll their eyes when overzealous Christians say their life’s mission is to convert us all to be "Disciples of Christ". But it’s more difficult to tolerate those who firmly believe all positions of power and authority – in government, the judiciary, media and corporations – can only be held by those spiritually committed to the "literal truth" of the Christian Bible. That includes Genesis and the whole Old Testament.
Biblical literalism underpins the growing belief in creationism – that God created everything – and it’s this belief which drives dominionism; that only Christians can govern a nation. Australasian Science in 2011 reported 31% of Australians believes in creationism. With the rise of evangelism since 2011, the figure is likely much higher.
This is the basis for dominionism, an American export from the 1990s that gave birth to the American Tea Party movement in 2010 and the same Christian conservatives who elected Donald Trump in 2016. The Republican Party is now fully enmeshed with dominion theology which has been exported to many countries — including Australia.
As early as 2005, Marion Maddox, a professor of politics at Macquarie University – and a Uniting Church Christian – published “God Under Howard: The Rise of The Religious Right In Australia”. It flags the rise of dominionism here.
Genesis is God’s rule book, for biblical literalists. They take literally that God said “subdue the earth” and “take dominion over it”. The influx of U.S. evangelism includes Hillsong and a plethora of Pentecostal churches such as Horizon Church in Sutherland NSW, whose congregation includes Prime Minister Scott Morrison and family. Hillsong pastor Brian Houston is also Scott Morrison’s mentor and the Prime Minister runs a recognised Christian government.
Democracy is in retreat around the world — a trend over the past 13 years, according to Freedom House, which monitors the rise of authoritarian governments.
Professor of Psychology Paul Wink, College of Liberal Arts University of New Hampshire Dean Michele Dillon and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bryn Mawr College Adrienne Prettyman write that far-Right authoritarianism:
'...is positively associated with a religion that is conventional, unquestioned and unreflective.'
That’s Christian dominionism.
Their ultimate goal is to gain control – or at least to have influence – over the “7 Mountains” of any society. The "mountains" are education, media, government, churches, business, family and the arts. Christians who work in these areas are required to fulfil the Seven Mountains Mandate — to take control and execute God’s plan.
It is anything but conspiratorial to reflect on the growing influence of these fundamentalist brands of religion over the past 30 years. Islamic extremism gains international headlines with its ruthless aggression, but Christian evangelism (now morphing into dominionism) increases its political influence by flying under the media radar.
The bizarre aspect of fundamentalism is its anti-science foundations. Human evolution is seen as a hoax and the earth as 6,000 years old — based on the alleged lifespans of biblical characters since Adam and Eve. Australian Christian fundamentalist Ken Ham built a giant Noah’s Ark in Kentucky, complete with life-size displays of humans living with dinosaurs.
In Australia, evangelical Christians are being groomed by a host of religious lobbies to run for election in federal, state and local governments, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. America is the most Christianised nation on Earth; Australia is not far behind — with one of the highest ratios of fundamentalist MPs in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
That is not surprising when we consider recruiting drives by the religious Right, as seen in February from the Church and State crusade – its annual Australian summit – "arming Christians for the Kingdom to come". Again, pure dominionism. The aim of fundamentalist churches is to wind back secular policy to make abortion and voluntary assisted dying (VAD) illegal, and to ban LGBT+ people from working in church businesses.
The public is largely oblivious to all this and there is no mainstream media analysis of Right-wing Christian agendas. But many "moderate" Christians are concerned by the anti-democratic objectives of fundamentalist Christianity.
One Baptist Church minister, Reverend Dr Craig de Vos, says groups like the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) are pursuing an agenda "straight out of the Dominionist theology playbook”. In 2011, the ABC ran an article titled, 'Is the Australian Christian Lobby dominionist?' — when ACL was then linked to the 7 Mountains website.
Reverend de Vos said in one of his sermons at North Adelaide Baptist Church:
“The Religious Right in this country want to take over the government either by stealthy insurrection...or by more aggressive means because they feel slighted, even persecuted, because all of us godless heathens don’t share their anti-science and conspiracy-laden ideas, their selective Biblical literalism, their Taliban-like morality and their prehistoric values.”
Dominion ethos is no different to Islamic theocracies that impose Sharia Law — countries such as Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, to name a few. The only Christian theocracy is Vatican City, which is an exclusive Catholic state, but fundamentalists want a return to the Christian controlled states of the middle ages.
Dominionism is unlikely to prevail — at least in the short term. But Australia is already a “soft theocracy”, with heavily Christianised governments at all three tiers. That is despite 78% of citizens who want “to separate personal religious beliefs from the business of government”. MPs have a religious ratio far higher than the public.
The question is whether we want Australia to become increasingly secular. That means working to elect federal, state and local governments which take a strong position on the nation’s future and advancing a progressive secular worldview. Or, if we simply don’t care, the public can acquiesce to fundamentalist Christian groups who actively recruit young Pentecostals, Creationists, and evangelicals in order to establish a Christian theocracy.
The world has been plunged into crisis with the coronavirus pandemic and a rise in fundamentalism. According to Demo Finland – the Finish democracy-watch organisation – almost 70% of the world’s population now live in non-democratic states. That is a rise of 20% in just the last ten years.
We need to stress again that authoritarianism is underpinned by religion. Australians need to decide whether they prefer a progressive secular future or a continuation of our trend to elect fundamentalist MPs and further Christianise our three tiers of government.
Both the Liberal National Party (LNP) and Australian Labor Party (ALP) leadership remain obsessed with pandering to the illusory “Christian vote”. This alone perpetuates our status as a "soft theocracy".
But taking political candidates from Pentecostal and evangelical churches and packing more Christians into parliament puts a distinct strain on a viable democracy.
Religious freedom is indeed a civil right for all — including the true public majority who do not practice a particular religion and who do not want any form of religion forced upon them. The problem with overzealous people of faith is they claim spiritual superiority to “know God’s plan.” Really? How?
We need to avoid religion becoming weaponised to assert Christian dominionism — with its ultimate aim to kill democracy and enthrone Jesus.
Religious fundamentalists railroad democracy
By Brian Morris
30 May 2021
Electing candidates from churches like Scott Morrison's Pentecostal Church and packing them into parliament is damaging to a viable democracy, writes Brian Morris.
WITH THE rise of Pentecostal and charismatic megachurches there’s a rational concern that a "literal" belief in the Bible has led to anti-science trolls, climate change denial, and an anti-vax movement. But the endgame will be more serious if the trend continues to morph into a full USA-style of Christian dominionism.
Most people will roll their eyes when overzealous Christians say their life’s mission is to convert us all to be "Disciples of Christ". But it’s more difficult to tolerate those who firmly believe all positions of power and authority – in government, the judiciary, media and corporations – can only be held by those spiritually committed to the "literal truth" of the Christian Bible. That includes Genesis and the whole Old Testament.
Biblical literalism underpins the growing belief in creationism – that God created everything – and it’s this belief which drives dominionism; that only Christians can govern a nation. Australasian Science in 2011 reported 31% of Australians believes in creationism. With the rise of evangelism since 2011, the figure is likely much higher.
This is the basis for dominionism, an American export from the 1990s that gave birth to the American Tea Party movement in 2010 and the same Christian conservatives who elected Donald Trump in 2016. The Republican Party is now fully enmeshed with dominion theology which has been exported to many countries — including Australia.
As early as 2005, Marion Maddox, a professor of politics at Macquarie University – and a Uniting Church Christian – published “God Under Howard: The Rise of The Religious Right In Australia”. It flags the rise of dominionism here.
Genesis is God’s rule book, for biblical literalists. They take literally that God said “subdue the earth” and “take dominion over it”. The influx of U.S. evangelism includes Hillsong and a plethora of Pentecostal churches such as Horizon Church in Sutherland NSW, whose congregation includes Prime Minister Scott Morrison and family. Hillsong pastor Brian Houston is also Scott Morrison’s mentor and the Prime Minister runs a recognised Christian government.
Democracy is in retreat around the world — a trend over the past 13 years, according to Freedom House, which monitors the rise of authoritarian governments.
Professor of Psychology Paul Wink, College of Liberal Arts University of New Hampshire Dean Michele Dillon and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bryn Mawr College Adrienne Prettyman write that far-Right authoritarianism:
'...is positively associated with a religion that is conventional, unquestioned and unreflective.'
That’s Christian dominionism.
Their ultimate goal is to gain control – or at least to have influence – over the “7 Mountains” of any society. The "mountains" are education, media, government, churches, business, family and the arts. Christians who work in these areas are required to fulfil the Seven Mountains Mandate — to take control and execute God’s plan.
It is anything but conspiratorial to reflect on the growing influence of these fundamentalist brands of religion over the past 30 years. Islamic extremism gains international headlines with its ruthless aggression, but Christian evangelism (now morphing into dominionism) increases its political influence by flying under the media radar.
The bizarre aspect of fundamentalism is its anti-science foundations. Human evolution is seen as a hoax and the earth as 6,000 years old — based on the alleged lifespans of biblical characters since Adam and Eve. Australian Christian fundamentalist Ken Ham built a giant Noah’s Ark in Kentucky, complete with life-size displays of humans living with dinosaurs.
In Australia, evangelical Christians are being groomed by a host of religious lobbies to run for election in federal, state and local governments, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. America is the most Christianised nation on Earth; Australia is not far behind — with one of the highest ratios of fundamentalist MPs in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
That is not surprising when we consider recruiting drives by the religious Right, as seen in February from the Church and State crusade – its annual Australian summit – "arming Christians for the Kingdom to come". Again, pure dominionism. The aim of fundamentalist churches is to wind back secular policy to make abortion and voluntary assisted dying (VAD) illegal, and to ban LGBT+ people from working in church businesses.
The public is largely oblivious to all this and there is no mainstream media analysis of Right-wing Christian agendas. But many "moderate" Christians are concerned by the anti-democratic objectives of fundamentalist Christianity.
One Baptist Church minister, Reverend Dr Craig de Vos, says groups like the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) are pursuing an agenda "straight out of the Dominionist theology playbook”. In 2011, the ABC ran an article titled, 'Is the Australian Christian Lobby dominionist?' — when ACL was then linked to the 7 Mountains website.
Reverend de Vos said in one of his sermons at North Adelaide Baptist Church:
“The Religious Right in this country want to take over the government either by stealthy insurrection...or by more aggressive means because they feel slighted, even persecuted, because all of us godless heathens don’t share their anti-science and conspiracy-laden ideas, their selective Biblical literalism, their Taliban-like morality and their prehistoric values.”
Dominion ethos is no different to Islamic theocracies that impose Sharia Law — countries such as Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, to name a few. The only Christian theocracy is Vatican City, which is an exclusive Catholic state, but fundamentalists want a return to the Christian controlled states of the middle ages.
Dominionism is unlikely to prevail — at least in the short term. But Australia is already a “soft theocracy”, with heavily Christianised governments at all three tiers. That is despite 78% of citizens who want “to separate personal religious beliefs from the business of government”. MPs have a religious ratio far higher than the public.
The question is whether we want Australia to become increasingly secular. That means working to elect federal, state and local governments which take a strong position on the nation’s future and advancing a progressive secular worldview. Or, if we simply don’t care, the public can acquiesce to fundamentalist Christian groups who actively recruit young Pentecostals, Creationists, and evangelicals in order to establish a Christian theocracy.
The world has been plunged into crisis with the coronavirus pandemic and a rise in fundamentalism. According to Demo Finland – the Finish democracy-watch organisation – almost 70% of the world’s population now live in non-democratic states. That is a rise of 20% in just the last ten years.
We need to stress again that authoritarianism is underpinned by religion. Australians need to decide whether they prefer a progressive secular future or a continuation of our trend to elect fundamentalist MPs and further Christianise our three tiers of government.
Both the Liberal National Party (LNP) and Australian Labor Party (ALP) leadership remain obsessed with pandering to the illusory “Christian vote”. This alone perpetuates our status as a "soft theocracy".
But taking political candidates from Pentecostal and evangelical churches and packing more Christians into parliament puts a distinct strain on a viable democracy.
Religious freedom is indeed a civil right for all — including the true public majority who do not practice a particular religion and who do not want any form of religion forced upon them. The problem with overzealous people of faith is they claim spiritual superiority to “know God’s plan.” Really? How?
We need to avoid religion becoming weaponised to assert Christian dominionism — with its ultimate aim to kill democracy and enthrone Jesus.
Saturday, May 29, 2021
This is one my favorite Charles Darwin quotes. It's about natural selection.
When we no longer look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as something wholly beyond his comprehension; when we regard every production of nature as one which has had a long history; when we contemplate every complex structure and instinct as the summing up of many contrivances, each useful to the possessor, in the same way as any great mechanical invention is the summing up of the labour, the experience, the reason, and even the blunders of numerous workmen; when we thus view each organic being, how far more interesting - I speak from experience - does the study of natural history become!
— Charles Darwin
This blog has 393 posts about Charles Darwin at Charles Darwin.
— Charles Darwin
This blog has 393 posts about Charles Darwin at Charles Darwin.
Somebody else wrote this about Charles Darwin.
Using science and evidence Charles Darwin absolutely tore the god myth to shreds.
-- Anonymous
-- Anonymous
If you're interested in Christian stupidity, I suggest click the link.
Someone wrote this comment on a UK website. It's about a bible-thumping retard.
"The deluded Meyer again. A 'bible expert' is about as worthwhile as being a Harry Potter expert. This fool knows nothing of the sciences."
"The deluded Meyer again. A 'bible expert' is about as worthwhile as being a Harry Potter expert. This fool knows nothing of the sciences."
I wrote this for some Catholic morons at the Wall Street Journal.
In all these beautiful cathedrals there were priests who had their way with little boys. Also, it was more important to protect the church than the victims.
Why there are still Catholics I will never understand.
Why there are still Catholics I will never understand.
40% of Americans want to throw out evolution and replace this science with god-did-it. They call it magical creationism. They also call it magical Intelligent Design creationism or "ID". Whatever these assholes call it, it still god-did-it. Someone else wrote about their stupidity and dishonesty. Here it is.
ID creationism is misrepresented by its adherents, not its critics.
The various statements of what ID creationism is are simply obfuscations of the following argument:
I don't understand the reason for X phenomenon. Therefore X phenomenon originated by magic.
For example, take the contention that the bacterial flagellum could not have originated through a step by step process. That's an obfuscation of the true argument, which is "I don't understand how the bacterial flagellum could have originated through a step by step process."
The response, of course, is: Well, maybe you not understanding something doesn't mean it can't be understood. There are other reasons why you might not understand something. Maybe you're just stupid.
Dembski gave some talk in Oklahoma, and he got totally pwned. He talked about the bacterial flagellum, and some guy in the audience, during the question and answer session, said, I can explain how the bacterial flagellum could have originated through a step by step process, and did it. Of course, then Dembski wanted more steps. No matter how many steps you present, the ID creationist wants more. This is a slight variation of the ID creationist argument, and reads as follows:
I won't admit that X phenomenon could have originated through natural means. Therefore, X phenomenon must have originated by magic.
And the answer, of course, is: Well, maybe you're just a liar.
The idea that proponents of ID creationism have been discriminated against is based on a misconception - namely, that every idea is of equal merit. ID creationists aren't able to gain acceptance for their ideas not because of philosophical resistance, discrimination, or conspiracy, but because their ideas are stupid. I mean, when a real scientist explains phenomena that an ID creationist says is unexplainable, is the ID creationist still entitled to a respectful hearing for his claim?
ID creationism adherents believe in ID creationism because they haven't considered, or don't want to consider, the possibility that they're just retarded. Well, it's time for them to consider it.
-- Mike Toreno
Friday, May 28, 2021
Namibia, I had to look it up. It's a beautiful place.
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|
|
New York City
Metropolitan Diary: Laces and canes |
|
Dear Diary: |
I was walking to work one day when I noticed an elegantly dressed older woman who was walking with a cane. Her shoelace was untied. |
I stopped her and began to tie it for her. |
“I am a mess today, and I detest these thin shoelaces,” she said in lovely British accent. |
I said that she was stunning, and she thanked me profusely. |
Arriving at that elevator bank at my office, I saw an older man who also had a cane and an untied shoelace. |
Do I? Yes! |
“Have I got a gal for you,” I said to him. |
— Nancy Hafter |
Some quotes about chess
The fascinating magic of the 64 squares.
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It's an entire world of just 64 squares. I feel safe in it. I can control it, I can dominate it. And it's predictable. So, if I get hurt, I only have myself to blame.
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Author Allan Rufus said “Life is like a game of chess. To win you have to make a move. Knowing which move to make comes with insight and knowledge, and by learning the lessons that are accumulated along the way. We become each and every piece within the game called life.”
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“Daring ideas are like chess men moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.”
When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote this, it seems he was speaking to the idea of being aggressive and taking chances. Seldom, does one win by staying in place or retreating. You have to be daring to win the game.
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“The winner is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake.”
Savielly Tartakower, of Russian descent, was an International Grandmaster and also a chess journalist during the 1920s and 1930s. He realized that in chess, mistakes lead to victory. His famous quotes on the topic include, “The mistakes are there, waiting to be made,” and, “Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders.” And, one more, “Chess is a struggle against one’s own errors.”
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“To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.”
This is another Tartakower quote in which he cautions players to look at the big picture. Tartakower had a way with words as evidenced by this famous chess quote, “An isolated pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard.” Here’s another good one, “The move is there, but you must see it.”
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“Not all artists are chess players, but all chess players are artists.”
Chess players see the board in a variety of different ways much like an artist paints a subject. While chess has a competitive sport aspect to it and a pure science component, it is also artistry. Just like a good book or movie can bring back memories, a well-played chess move can prompt one to recall one’s own experiences or memories playing. So, the originator of this quote, Marcel Duchamp, got it right. Duchamp was a French-American painter, chess player, and writer.
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“Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.”
-- Rudolf Spielmann
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There are more possible ways for a chess game to play out than there are atoms in the observable universe.
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“When you see a good move, look for a better one.”
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player who held the World Chess Champion title for 27 years. Lasker played contract bridge, Go, and his own game “Lasca,” a variation of checkers.
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“The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move.”
A big advantage can be gained with one move, and as such, the player with the next move is frequently in a position to advance.
David Bronstein was a Soviet chess player who passed away in 2006. His book on chess, Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953, is one of the best chess books.
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“An hour’s history of two minds is well told in a game of chess.”
A chess prodigy, Jose Raul Capablanca, was the world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. Born in Havana, Cuba, he beat the Cuban champion two days before he became a teenager. As you might describe chess as the ultimate thinking game, one’s mind is definitely on display in a game.
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“Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.
Bobby Fischer is regarded by many to be the best chess player of all time (although Magnus Carlsen fans may disagree). Born in Chicago in 1943, he passed away in 2008 in Iceland. Of Fischer, Miguel Najdorf said, “Bobby just drops the pieces and they fall on the right squares.” Fischer thrived on the competition once saying, “I like the moment when I break a man’s ego.”
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“Every chess master was once a beginner.”
Irving Chernev said this about chess but it fits in just about any other area of interest. Everyone was a beginner at one time. You have to make mistakes, learn from mistakes, and practice to advance. Chernev was a national master-strength player and wrote 20 books on chess.
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“One bad move nullifies forty good ones.”
-- Israel Albert Horowitz
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“Pawns are born free, yet they are everywhere in chains.”
-- Rick Kennedy
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“Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.”
-- Robert Hubner
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“In chess, as it is played by the masters, chance is practically eliminated.”
-- Emanuel Lasker
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“I have always a slight feeling of pity for the man who has no knowledge of chess.”
-- Siegbert Tarrasch
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“When the chess game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box.”
-- Irish Saying
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It's an entire world of just 64 squares. I feel safe in it. I can control it, I can dominate it. And it's predictable. So, if I get hurt, I only have myself to blame.
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Author Allan Rufus said “Life is like a game of chess. To win you have to make a move. Knowing which move to make comes with insight and knowledge, and by learning the lessons that are accumulated along the way. We become each and every piece within the game called life.”
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“Daring ideas are like chess men moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.”
When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote this, it seems he was speaking to the idea of being aggressive and taking chances. Seldom, does one win by staying in place or retreating. You have to be daring to win the game.
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“The winner is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake.”
Savielly Tartakower, of Russian descent, was an International Grandmaster and also a chess journalist during the 1920s and 1930s. He realized that in chess, mistakes lead to victory. His famous quotes on the topic include, “The mistakes are there, waiting to be made,” and, “Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders.” And, one more, “Chess is a struggle against one’s own errors.”
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“To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.”
This is another Tartakower quote in which he cautions players to look at the big picture. Tartakower had a way with words as evidenced by this famous chess quote, “An isolated pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard.” Here’s another good one, “The move is there, but you must see it.”
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“Not all artists are chess players, but all chess players are artists.”
Chess players see the board in a variety of different ways much like an artist paints a subject. While chess has a competitive sport aspect to it and a pure science component, it is also artistry. Just like a good book or movie can bring back memories, a well-played chess move can prompt one to recall one’s own experiences or memories playing. So, the originator of this quote, Marcel Duchamp, got it right. Duchamp was a French-American painter, chess player, and writer.
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“Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.”
-- Rudolf Spielmann
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There are more possible ways for a chess game to play out than there are atoms in the observable universe.
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“When you see a good move, look for a better one.”
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player who held the World Chess Champion title for 27 years. Lasker played contract bridge, Go, and his own game “Lasca,” a variation of checkers.
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“The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move.”
A big advantage can be gained with one move, and as such, the player with the next move is frequently in a position to advance.
David Bronstein was a Soviet chess player who passed away in 2006. His book on chess, Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953, is one of the best chess books.
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“An hour’s history of two minds is well told in a game of chess.”
A chess prodigy, Jose Raul Capablanca, was the world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. Born in Havana, Cuba, he beat the Cuban champion two days before he became a teenager. As you might describe chess as the ultimate thinking game, one’s mind is definitely on display in a game.
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“Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.
Bobby Fischer is regarded by many to be the best chess player of all time (although Magnus Carlsen fans may disagree). Born in Chicago in 1943, he passed away in 2008 in Iceland. Of Fischer, Miguel Najdorf said, “Bobby just drops the pieces and they fall on the right squares.” Fischer thrived on the competition once saying, “I like the moment when I break a man’s ego.”
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“Every chess master was once a beginner.”
Irving Chernev said this about chess but it fits in just about any other area of interest. Everyone was a beginner at one time. You have to make mistakes, learn from mistakes, and practice to advance. Chernev was a national master-strength player and wrote 20 books on chess.
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“One bad move nullifies forty good ones.”
-- Israel Albert Horowitz
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“Pawns are born free, yet they are everywhere in chains.”
-- Rick Kennedy
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“Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.”
-- Robert Hubner
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“In chess, as it is played by the masters, chance is practically eliminated.”
-- Emanuel Lasker
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“I have always a slight feeling of pity for the man who has no knowledge of chess.”
-- Siegbert Tarrasch
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“When the chess game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box.”
-- Irish Saying
Jerry Coyne wrote this 9 years ago in 2012. It's about Idiot America.
Theistic evolutionists are creationists, pure and simple; they differ from straight fundamentalist creationists only in how much of life God was involved in creating, ranging from those who think God set the whole plan in motion, knowing it would culminate in that most awesome of species, US, to those who think that God tinkered with mutations to create the right species (see the philosophical work of Elliott Sober), to those who think that humans are set apart from other species because God inserted a soul in our lineage (that’s the official view of the Vatican). That is being anti-evolution as scientists understand it, since we see evolution as a naturalistic process that has nothing to do with deities. Sadly, far more Americans are theistic evolutionists than naturalistic evolutionists: the proportions among all Americans are 38% to 16% respectively (40% are straight creationists, 6% are unsure). We have a long way to go.
-- Jerry Coyne
This blog has 336 posts about Jerry Coyne. Please click the Label "Jerry Coyne".
-- Jerry Coyne
This blog has 336 posts about Jerry Coyne. Please click the Label "Jerry Coyne".
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Fucktard China killed millions of people with their coronavirus mistake. They are still covering up the evidence. China does this to defend their disgusting dictatorship.
New York Times
BREAKING NEWS |
President Biden pushed to investigate the origins of the coronavirus after the White House was told of unexamined intelligence, officials said. |
Thursday, May 27, 2021 8:30 PM EST |
Intelligence officials have told the White House that computer analysis may shed light on the mystery. |
U.S. Is Said to Have Unexamined Intelligence to Pore Over on Virus Origins
Intelligence officials have told the White House that computer analysis may shed light on the mystery.
By Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger
May 27, 2021
WASHINGTON — President Biden’s call for a 90-day sprint to understand the origins of the coronavirus pandemic came after intelligence officials told the White House they had a raft of still-unexamined evidence that required additional computer analysis that might shed light on the mystery, according to senior administration officials.
The officials declined to describe the new evidence. But the revelation that they are hoping to apply an extraordinary amount of computer power to the question of whether the virus accidentally leaked from a Chinese laboratory suggests that the government may not have exhausted its databases of Chinese communications, the movement of lab workers and the pattern of the outbreak of the disease around the city of Wuhan.
In addition to marshaling scientific resources, Mr. Biden’s push is intended to prod American allies and intelligence agencies to mine existing information — like intercepts, witnesses or biological evidence — as well as hunt for new intelligence to determine whether the Chinese government covered up an accidental leak.
Mr. Biden committed on Thursday to making the results of the review public, but added a caveat: “unless there’s something I’m unaware of.”
His call for the study has both domestic and international political ramifications. It prompted his critics to argue that the president had dismissed the possibility that the lab was the origin until the Chinese government this week rejected allowing further investigation by the World Health Organization. And, administration officials said, the White House hopes American allies will contribute more vigorously to a serious exploration of a theory that, until now, they considered at best unlikely, and at worst a conspiracy theory.
So far, the effort to glean evidence from intercepted communications within China, a notoriously hard target to penetrate, has yielded little. Current and former intelligence officials say they strongly doubt anyone will find an email or a text message or a document that shows evidence of a lab accident.
One allied nation passed on information that three workers in the Wuhan virological laboratory were hospitalized with serious flulike symptoms in the autumn of 2019. The information about the sickened workers is considered important, but officials cautioned that it did not constitute evidence that they caught the virus at the laboratory — they may have brought it there.
The White House is hoping that allies and partners can tap their networks of human sources to find additional information about what happened inside the laboratory. While the United States has been rebuilding its own sources in China, it has still not fully recovered from the elimination of its network inside the country a decade ago. As a result, having allies press their informants about what went on inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology will be a key part of the intelligence push ahead.
The inquiry has not reached a dead end, a senior Biden administration official said. Officials would not describe the kind of computational analysis they want to do.
Administration and intelligence officials say it will be as much the work of scientists as spies in trying to unravel how the pandemic was unleashed. The Biden administration has been working to improve its scientific expertise on the National Intelligence Council. Senior officials have told the spy agencies that their science-oriented divisions, which have been working on the issue for months, will play a prominent role in the revitalized inquiry.
The new inquiry will also tap the national labs and other scientific resources of the federal government that previously have not been directly involved in the intelligence effort, the senior administration official said.
Mr. Biden’s announcement that he will require a report from the intelligence community had elements of showmanship. In terms of domestic politics, he is trying to take the initiative on an issue Republicans have long focused on. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who has long argued the coronavirus could have emerged accidentally from the Wuhan lab, said Mr. Biden’s order was “better late than never, but far from adequate.”
And on an international front, Mr. Biden called out Chinese recalcitrance to cooperate on investigations both to pressure Beijing to reverse course but also to push allies to focus their own intelligence efforts on examining the theory that the coronavirus might have accidentally leaked from the lab.
Like scientists and the broader public, the intelligence community remains uncertain about the origins of the coronavirus. No definitive intelligence has emerged, and some current and former officials expressed caution that much more can be gathered in 90 days. While the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will deliver a report before summer’s end, the inquiry will most likely have to be extended.
On Wednesday, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters he had not seen any conclusive evidence about the cause of the pandemic, but supported the effort to look deeper. “The amount of death, pain and suffering that was experienced in this pandemic is huge,” he said. “We need to know the origin, how this happened.”
The effort to uncover the origins of the coronavirus began more than a year ago, during the Trump administration. But some officials were wary of President Donald J. Trump’s motives, arguing that his interest in the origins of the pandemic was either to deflect blame from his administration’s handling of it or to punish China.
Current officials say the central goal of the new intelligence push is to improve preparations for future pandemics. As a result, Mr. Biden’s message this week was calibrated to leave open the possibility of future cooperation with China.
The White House’s frustration with China has risen after its announcement this week that Beijing would not participate in additional investigations by the World Health Organization. A Biden administration official said if the new inquiry failed to yield an answer, it would be because China had not been transparent.
But the administration is not trying to isolate China, and instead attempting to walk a careful line between pressuring Beijing to cooperate and demonstrating that in its absence, the United States will intensify its own investigation.
Administration officials also believe the new inquiry and Chinese obstruction of the World Health Organization will create the opportunity for stepped-up intelligence cooperation with allies.
Allies have been providing information since the beginning of the pandemic, one official said. But some, including British intelligence services, have been skeptical of the lab leak theory. Others, including Australia, have been more open to it.
As members of the so-called Five Eyes partnership, Britain and Australia already broadly share intelligence with the United States. But the new intelligence review, along with growing frustration with China’s failure to cooperate with the World Health Organization, could prod allies to focus more on the question of the lab leak.
A British official declined to comment. A request for comment from the Australian government was not immediately returned.
In his announcement on Wednesday, Mr. Biden said two intelligence agencies believed the virus most likely occurred naturally, while at least one other favored the theory that it leaked accidentally from a lab in China. None had high confidence in their assessments, the president noted.
In a statement on Thursday, Amanda J. Schoch, the spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said the intelligence agencies had come together around the two likely scenarios, but there were so far no high-confidence assessments of the virus’s origins.
“The U.S. intelligence community does not know exactly where, when or how the Covid-19 virus was transmitted initially,” Ms. Schoch said.
While 18 agencies make up the intelligence community, only a handful have been major players in assessing the likely origins of the virus. Most of the broader intelligence community, including the C.I.A. and the Defense Intelligence Agency, believe there is not yet sufficient information to draw a conclusion, even with low confidence, about the origins.
The intelligence community “continues to examine all available evidence, consider different perspectives, and aggressively collect and analyze new information to identify the virus’s origins,” Ms. Schoch said.
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
Julian E. Barnes is a national security reporter based in Washington, covering the intelligence agencies. Before joining The Times in 2018, he wrote about security matters for The Wall Street Journal. @julianbarnes • Facebook
David E. Sanger is a White House and national security correspondent. In a 38-year reporting career for The Times, he has been on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, most recently in 2017 for international reporting. His newest book is “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.” @SangerNYT • Facebook
A version of this article appears in print on May 28, 2021, Section A, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Data Remains Unexamined in Inquiry on Virus Origins, Officials Say.
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At the Wall Street Journal there was an article called "The First U.S. Cathedral Turns 200". This what a god-soaked fucktard wrote and what I wrote about Catholicism.
A stupid fucking god-soaked retard wrote this ridiculous bullshit:
"What a wonderful article. May the Lord keep blessing His Church and making the flock even more involved in the world."
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This is what I wrote for the Catholic scum. It's a copy & paste job from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia: Catholic Church sexual abuse cases are cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, nuns and members of religious orders. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, and revelations about decades of attempts by Church officials to cover up reported incidents. The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s. Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.
"What a wonderful article. May the Lord keep blessing His Church and making the flock even more involved in the world."
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This is what I wrote for the Catholic scum. It's a copy & paste job from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia: Catholic Church sexual abuse cases are cases of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, nuns and members of religious orders. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, and revelations about decades of attempts by Church officials to cover up reported incidents. The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s. Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.
According to 40% of Americans (aka Christian retards), the Grand Canyon is 6,000 years old. Reality: "The nearly 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old."
The Grand Canyon from Navajo Point. The Colorado River is to the right and the North Rim is visible at left in the distance. The view shows nearly every sedimentary layer described in this article.
Uplift of the region started about 75 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny; a mountain-building event that is largely responsible for creating the Rocky Mountains to the east. In total, the Colorado Plateau was uplifted an estimated 2 miles (3.2 km). The adjacent Basin and Range Province to the west started to form about 18 million years ago as the result of crustal stretching. A drainage system that flowed through what is today the eastern Grand Canyon emptied into the now lower Basin and Range province. Opening of the Gulf of California around 6 million years ago enabled a large river to cut its way northeast from the gulf. The new river captured the older drainage to form the ancestral Colorado River, which in turn started to form the Grand Canyon.
Wetter climates brought upon by ice ages starting 2 million years ago greatly increased excavation of the Grand Canyon, which was nearly as deep as it is now, 1.2 million years ago. Volcanic activity deposited lava over the area 1.8 million to 500,000 years ago. At least 13 lava dams blocked the Colorado River, forming lakes that were up to 2,000 feet (610 m) deep. The end of the last ice age and subsequent human activity has greatly reduced the ability of the Colorado River to excavate the canyon. Dams in particular have upset patterns of sediment transport and deposition. Controlled floods from Glen Canyon Dam upstream have been conducted to see if they have a restorative effect. Earthquakes and mass wasting erosive events still affect the region.
This is about a chess game I just won.
Chess: One of my favorite ways to win the endgame when the material is even.
Both me and my opponent have 6 pawns and 1 bishop. Both bishops are on the black squares.
My opponent's pawns were on black squares. My pawns were on the white squares.
This means my opponent can't capture my pawns with his bishop, but I can capture his pawns with my bishop.
This link shows the position in the endgame where everything looked even. The rest of the game showed how it was easy for me to win this game. I had the white king.
https://lichess.org/X79sQcaw/white#70
One more thing: During the game, my moron opponent asked for a draw 3 times even though he had a lost game. He was probably too stupid to know he was going to lose. Only an asshole would ask for draw 3 times. I blocked him because I don't play chess with assholes.
Both me and my opponent have 6 pawns and 1 bishop. Both bishops are on the black squares.
My opponent's pawns were on black squares. My pawns were on the white squares.
This means my opponent can't capture my pawns with his bishop, but I can capture his pawns with my bishop.
This link shows the position in the endgame where everything looked even. The rest of the game showed how it was easy for me to win this game. I had the white king.
https://lichess.org/X79sQcaw/white#70
One more thing: During the game, my moron opponent asked for a draw 3 times even though he had a lost game. He was probably too stupid to know he was going to lose. Only an asshole would ask for draw 3 times. I blocked him because I don't play chess with assholes.
Muslim scum are afraid of women.
Someone else wrote this comment at the New York Times:
"What I care about are the Afghani women and girls. They are already seeing the few fundamental rights they gained while the U.S. propped up the country's government quickly disappear again. Once the last U.S. troops are out, all Afghani women will once again be treated worse than farm animals, with no access to education, health care, or even a meaningful ability to walk outside their homes without being threatened by the religious police if an inch of their skin happens to show outside their burqas."
"What I care about are the Afghani women and girls. They are already seeing the few fundamental rights they gained while the U.S. propped up the country's government quickly disappear again. Once the last U.S. troops are out, all Afghani women will once again be treated worse than farm animals, with no access to education, health care, or even a meaningful ability to walk outside their homes without being threatened by the religious police if an inch of their skin happens to show outside their burqas."
Afghanistan will always be a shithole country because it's infested with Muslim scum. When the Americans leave the women will be treated like farm animals. Children, especially girls, will never learn anything.
New York Times
BREAKING NEWS |
A wave of Afghan military surrenders to the Taliban is picking up speed in rural areas as American troops withdraw. |
Thursday, May 27, 2021 10:55 AM EST |
Since May 1, at least 26 outposts and bases in just four provinces in Afghanistan have surrendered, according to village elders and government officials. With morale diving as American troops leave, and the Taliban seizing on each surrender as a propaganda victory, each collapse feeds the next. |
An interesting end to a chess game.
In this chess game, both sides made lots of errors. My last move surprised both of us. I checkmated my opponent in an interesting position.
This is the starting position. I had the White pieces.
https://lichess.org/qktcrceg/white#0
This is the checkmated king.
https://lichess.org/qktcrceg/white#93
This is the starting position. I had the White pieces.
https://lichess.org/qktcrceg/white#0
This is the checkmated king.
https://lichess.org/qktcrceg/white#93
New York City
Metropolitan Diary: The handoff |
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Dear Diary: |
It was 1995. My wife and I had a 6-month-old daughter, and my wife, a musician, had just returned to work. |
Her job often started in the evening before I got home from mine. She would take the train to the subway stop that was right below the building where I worked. I would be waiting there at the turnstile, and she would get off the train and hand the baby over to me before running back to get on the train again. |
She usually had to wait for the next train, but on this particular day, the train she had gotten off was still in the station and she was able to return to the seat she had been sitting in. |
The woman who was sitting next to her was visibly perplexed. She waited as long as she could before saying something. |
“What did you do to that baby you were holding?” she blurted out. |
— Nitash Balsara |
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
President Biden wants to protect my favorite creatures. That's a good thing.
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