Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oklahoma. Show all posts
Monday, May 31, 2021
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.
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
President Biden wants to protect my favorite creatures. That's a good thing.
 |
 |
|
|
Friday, November 13, 2020
Celebrating Maria Tallchief
In honor of Native American Heritage Month in the U.S., today’s video Doodle—created in partnership with Native American guest artists Lydia Cheshewalla, Chris Pappan, and Yatika Starr Fields— celebrates Maria Tallchief, member of the Osage Nation who was America’s first, major prima ballerina. Not only a trailblazer for Native American dancers, Tallchief is widely considered one of the country’s most influential ballerinas of all time. On this day in 2007, a bronze sculpture of Tallchief and four other Native American ballerinas was unveiled in Oklahoma at the Tulsa Historical Society in a piece titled “The Five Moons” by artist Gary Henson.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Idiot America, wear a mask for fuck's sake.
New York Times
BREAKING NEWS |
The U.S. reported a record of more than 500,000 cases this past week, as the coronavirus raged across the country, especially the American heartland. |
Tuesday, October 27, 2020 10:43 PM EST |
The U.S. has reported a record daily average of about 71,000 new cases over the past week, an increase of about 40 percent from the average two weeks earlier. Eighteen states, including Illinois, have recorded their highest seven-day average of new cases, and three states (Tennessee, Wisconsin and Oklahoma) have set a record seven-day average for deaths. On Tuesday, Oklahoma and Wyoming broke single-day death records and Kentucky reported a new daily cases record. |
Saturday, October 24, 2020
This is interesting because I live in Illinois. "Record numbers of daily infections are reported in six states, including Ohio and Illinois."
New York Times
Reports of new infections poured in at alarming levels on Saturday as the coronavirus continued to tear through the United States. Six states reported their highest-ever infection totals and more than 76,000 new cases had been announced by evening, one day after the country shattered its single-day record with more than 85,000 new cases.
The country’s case total on Saturday, which was sure to rise through the evening as more states reported data, was already the second highest in a single day. Case numbers on weekends are often lower because some states and counties do not report new data, so the high numbers on Saturday gave reason for alarm.
“This is exploding all over the country,” said Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, whose state is among 16 that have added more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch. “We’ve got to tamp down these cases. The more cases, the more people that end up in the hospital and the more people die.”
Officials in Alaska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Illinois announced more new cases on Saturday than on any other day of the pandemic.
Rural areas and small metropolitan regions have seen some of the worst outbreaks in recent weeks, but by Saturday, many large cities were struggling as well.
The counties that include Chicago, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Anchorage and El Paso all set single-day records on Saturday. Across the country, hospitalizations have grown by about 40 percent since last month, and they continued to rise on Saturday. Around Chicago, where new restrictions on bars and other businesses took effect Friday, more than twice as many cases are now being identified each day than at the start of October.
“This moment is a critical inflection point for Chicago,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said.
States in the Midwest and Mountain West have been reporting some of the country’s most discouraging statistics, but worrisome upticks are occurring all over. New cases have emerged at or near record levels recently in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas and New Mexico.
“Over the next week, two weeks, three weeks, please be extremely conservative in deciding how much time to spend outside of the home,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico said Friday as she imposed new restrictions on businesses. “The visit to friends can wait — it’s not worth your life, or theirs.”
Experts worry that the growing numbers in need of hospital care will only get worse if cases continue to mount, especially in rural areas where medical facilities could be quickly overwhelmed.
The high case count in part reflects increased testing. With about one million people tested on many days, the country is getting a far more accurate picture of how widely the virus has spread than it did in the spring.
But public health officials warn that Americans are heading into a dangerous phase, as cooler weather forces people indoors, where the virus spreads easily. It could make for a grueling winter that tests the discipline of the many people who have grown weary of masks and of turning down invitations to see family and friends.
Friday, October 16, 2020
Some more David Horton stuff. Well done as usual. It's about Idiot Oklahoma.
David Horton
Not in Kansas
April 25, 2009 - Updated May 25, 2011
Why can’t I be banned in Oklahoma? Look, I know I haven’t actually been invited to give a talk there, but that’s not the point.
I’ve tried to get banned, tried so hard - insulted the religious believers here, insulted creationists there, insulted climate change denialists another day, said that I would rather have a monkey as a grandfather than an evangelist, suggested that children be vaccinated against the disease of religion at a young age, said that believers in Noah’s Ark should be forced to sail on one to Australia. How much ruder can I be? But do they pass resolutions in the Oklahoma legislature condemning me and asking that my books be burnt, my blog be wiped from the server’s hard disc, my identity expunged from Huffington Post? No they don’t. But they do try to ban Richard Dawkins.
Is Richard a better atheist than me? A truer unbeliever? Someone with less faith in invisible friends in the sky? Someone more convinced than I that from May 1859, the origin of the Origin of Species, it was impossible for an intelligent person to be religious? I think not. Are not all atheists evolved equally? So this must be just prejudice, and I demand my right to have my freedom of speech trampled on too.
If China can put blocks on words like freedom and Tiananmen, and fundamentalists put bans on words like sex and condom, then why can’t Oklahoma put a total block on words like evolution and chimpanzee and speciation and Dawkins and Horton? Just block it all from crossing the electronic border into the land of tall corn and short elephants.
My “published statements on the theory of evolution and opinion about those who do not believe in the theory” are just as “contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma” as those of the good Professor Dawkins. So come on Oklahoma legislators, this is not the time for wimps, demand that every computer in Oklahoma has a block on The Watermelon Blog. And hurry up, or next thing you know young Oklahomans will start thinking for themselves, and then where will you be? Kansas?
Not in Kansas
April 25, 2009 - Updated May 25, 2011
Why can’t I be banned in Oklahoma? Look, I know I haven’t actually been invited to give a talk there, but that’s not the point.
I’ve tried to get banned, tried so hard - insulted the religious believers here, insulted creationists there, insulted climate change denialists another day, said that I would rather have a monkey as a grandfather than an evangelist, suggested that children be vaccinated against the disease of religion at a young age, said that believers in Noah’s Ark should be forced to sail on one to Australia. How much ruder can I be? But do they pass resolutions in the Oklahoma legislature condemning me and asking that my books be burnt, my blog be wiped from the server’s hard disc, my identity expunged from Huffington Post? No they don’t. But they do try to ban Richard Dawkins.
Is Richard a better atheist than me? A truer unbeliever? Someone with less faith in invisible friends in the sky? Someone more convinced than I that from May 1859, the origin of the Origin of Species, it was impossible for an intelligent person to be religious? I think not. Are not all atheists evolved equally? So this must be just prejudice, and I demand my right to have my freedom of speech trampled on too.
If China can put blocks on words like freedom and Tiananmen, and fundamentalists put bans on words like sex and condom, then why can’t Oklahoma put a total block on words like evolution and chimpanzee and speciation and Dawkins and Horton? Just block it all from crossing the electronic border into the land of tall corn and short elephants.
My “published statements on the theory of evolution and opinion about those who do not believe in the theory” are just as “contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma” as those of the good Professor Dawkins. So come on Oklahoma legislators, this is not the time for wimps, demand that every computer in Oklahoma has a block on The Watermelon Blog. And hurry up, or next thing you know young Oklahomans will start thinking for themselves, and then where will you be? Kansas?
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
None of these people are wearing a mask. This is Idiot America stupidity.
 |
| Gov. Kevin Stitt is recognized as President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center on June 20th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. |
New York Times - Some stuff about Oklahoma.
| BREAKING NEWS |
Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma tested positive for the coronavirus, as cases surge in his state. He is the first U.S. governor known to be infected. |
| Wednesday, July 15, 2020 1:22 PM EST |
Mr. Stitt, a Republican, said that his own infection had not prompted him to second-guess his response to the virus. The governor has resisted issuing a statewide mask order, and continued to do so on Wednesday.
“I’m probably getting tons of texts right now from other governors around the country,” he said. “I was pretty shocked that I was the first governor to get it.”
|
| Read the latest |
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
It was Trump's fault.
New York Times
The top health official in Tulsa, Oklahoma, suggested on Wednesday that a surge in cases in and around the city was probably connected to a contentious indoor campaign rally President Trump held there last month.
Tulsa County reported 206 new confirmed cases on Tuesday and 261 — a record high — on Monday.
“The past two days we’ve had almost 500 cases, and we know we had several large events a little over two weeks ago, which is about right,” Dr. Bruce Dart, director of the Tulsa Health Department, said at a news conference. “So I guess we just connect the dots.” Recent protests in the city were among the events.
Asked whether contact tracing had confirmed a link between the Trump rally and the increase in cases, Leanne Stephens, a spokeswoman for the health department, said the department “will not publicly identify any individual or facility at risk of exposure, or where transmission occurred.”
But Dr. Dart said the large gatherings of people in the city had “more than likely contributed to that.”
Dr. Dart was among those urging the Trump to cancel the rally at the 19,000-seat Bank of Oklahoma Center arena, citing the risk of infection. The rally did not come close to filling the arena to capacity; most in attendance did not wear masks.
As of Tuesday, Oklahoma’s seven-day average had risen to 495 new cases; a month before the average was 92. The state’s spike in cases has mirrored a resurgence elsewhere in the country’s South and West.
The top health official in Tulsa, Oklahoma, suggested on Wednesday that a surge in cases in and around the city was probably connected to a contentious indoor campaign rally President Trump held there last month.
Tulsa County reported 206 new confirmed cases on Tuesday and 261 — a record high — on Monday.
“The past two days we’ve had almost 500 cases, and we know we had several large events a little over two weeks ago, which is about right,” Dr. Bruce Dart, director of the Tulsa Health Department, said at a news conference. “So I guess we just connect the dots.” Recent protests in the city were among the events.
Asked whether contact tracing had confirmed a link between the Trump rally and the increase in cases, Leanne Stephens, a spokeswoman for the health department, said the department “will not publicly identify any individual or facility at risk of exposure, or where transmission occurred.”
But Dr. Dart said the large gatherings of people in the city had “more than likely contributed to that.”
Dr. Dart was among those urging the Trump to cancel the rally at the 19,000-seat Bank of Oklahoma Center arena, citing the risk of infection. The rally did not come close to filling the arena to capacity; most in attendance did not wear masks.
As of Tuesday, Oklahoma’s seven-day average had risen to 495 new cases; a month before the average was 92. The state’s spike in cases has mirrored a resurgence elsewhere in the country’s South and West.
Friday, June 5, 2020
Evolution makes Idiot America's Christian assholes cry.
I never met a Christian who wasn't a stupid fucking asshole. Christian scum and their never-ending war against science education. These stupid fucking assholes need to drop dead.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The Atlantic
EDUCATION
The Evolution of Teaching Creationism in Public Schools
A new study shows that anti-evolution lessons have become more stealthily integrated into curricula.
ERIC JAFFE and CITYLAB
DECEMBER 20, 2015
Some 90 years out from the Scopes Monkey Trial, and a full decade after the legal defeat of “intelligent design” in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the fight to teach creationism alongside evolution in American public schools has yet to go extinct. On the contrary, a new analysis in the journal Science suggests that such efforts have themselves evolved over time—adapting into a complex form of “stealth creationism” that’s steadily tougher to detect.
Call it survival of the fittest policy.
“It is one thing to say that two bills have some resemblances, and another thing to say that bill X was copied from bill Y with greater than 90 percent probability,” Nick Matzke, a researcher at the Australian National University and author of the new paper, tells CityLab via email. “I do think this research strengthens the case that all of these bills are of a piece—they are all ‘stealth creationism,’ and they all have either clear fundamentalist motivations, or are close copies of bills with such motivations.”
Matzke performed a close textual analysis of 67 anti-evolution education bills proposed by local government since 2004. (Three U.S. states have signed them into law during this time: Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee.) The result was a phylogenic tree—in effect a developmental history—tracing these policies to two main legislative roots: so-called “academic freedom acts,” and “science education acts.”
Matzke's analysis shows that academic-freedom acts were popular in 2004 and 2005 but have since been “almost completely replaced” with science-education acts, which emerged as the strategy of choice after the adoption of a 2006 anti-evolution policy in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. (That policy’s lingering impact on creationist teaching was thoroughly exposed by Zack Kopplin in Slate earlier this year.) These acts tend to call for “critical analysis” of scientific topics that are supposedly controversial among experts. They often lump evolution alongside research areas like climate change and human cloning—an effort, argues Matzke, to skirt legal precedents that connect policies solely targeting evolution with unconstitutional religious motivations.
“Kitzmiller was mostly about policies that specifically mention ‘intelligent design,’” says Matzke, who uncovered an explicit link between creationism and intelligent design during that case while working for the U.S.-based National Center for Science Education. “If a policy encourages evolution bashing, and has the same sorts of sponsors and fundamentalist motivations, but doesn't mention intelligent design or creationism, is it unconstitutional? If I were a judge, I would say ‘yes, obviously,’ but judges have all sorts of different philosophies and political biases.”
Another marker of science-education acts is that they typically go out of their way to note that only scientific information, not religious doctrine, is protected by the policy. That’s a revealingly insecure stipulation, given that U.S. public schools are secular arenas by default.
A review of six anti-evolution education bills proposed at the state level in 2015 shows many of these legislative tactics on display:
Missouri. This act looks for ways “to assist teachers to find more effective ways to present the science curriculum where it addresses scientific controversies”—with “biological evolution” among them.
Montana. This House bill pushes “critical thinking” in science class on the grounds that “truth in education about claims over scientific discoveries, including but not limited to biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, random mutation, natural selection, DNA, and fossil discoveries, can cause controversy.”
South Dakota. State S.B. 114 gives teachers full freedom to help students “understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories,” with “biological evolution” mentioned as one such theory alongside global warming.
Oklahoma. This bill—creating a “Science Education Act”—urges teachers to help students develop “critical thinking skills” about unidentified “controversial issues” with the understanding that it “not be construed to promote any religious or non-religious doctrine.”
Alabama. Much in line with the aforementioned legislative efforts, the sponsor of this bill, Representative Mack Butler, betrayed its intentions when he noted on Facebook that its aim was to "encourage debate if a student has a problem learning he came from a monkey rather than an intelligent design!"
Indiana. S.B. 562 only mentions “human cloning” as a controversial scientific subject, but its mission to help students “understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing conclusions,” with its caveat about protecting “only the teaching of scientific information,” tags it firmly within the science education act lineage.
That none of these bills passed in 2015 isn’t the point, says Matzke. After all, several states have adopted such policies into law in recent years, placing millions of public-school children in the hands of educators who might promote creationist alternatives to evolution, either because they have religious motivations themselves or simply weak scientific backgrounds. That Matzke’s analysis links two such laws to science education act language—those in Louisiana and Tennessee—is evidence enough that anti-evolution policies can, indeed, adapt to new times.
“Successful policies have a tendency to spread,” he says. “Every year, some states propose these policies, and often they are only barely defeated. And obviously, sometimes they pass, so hopefully this article will help raise awareness of the dangers of the ongoing situation.”
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
The Atlantic
EDUCATION
The Evolution of Teaching Creationism in Public Schools
A new study shows that anti-evolution lessons have become more stealthily integrated into curricula.
ERIC JAFFE and CITYLAB
DECEMBER 20, 2015
Some 90 years out from the Scopes Monkey Trial, and a full decade after the legal defeat of “intelligent design” in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the fight to teach creationism alongside evolution in American public schools has yet to go extinct. On the contrary, a new analysis in the journal Science suggests that such efforts have themselves evolved over time—adapting into a complex form of “stealth creationism” that’s steadily tougher to detect.
Call it survival of the fittest policy.
“It is one thing to say that two bills have some resemblances, and another thing to say that bill X was copied from bill Y with greater than 90 percent probability,” Nick Matzke, a researcher at the Australian National University and author of the new paper, tells CityLab via email. “I do think this research strengthens the case that all of these bills are of a piece—they are all ‘stealth creationism,’ and they all have either clear fundamentalist motivations, or are close copies of bills with such motivations.”
Matzke performed a close textual analysis of 67 anti-evolution education bills proposed by local government since 2004. (Three U.S. states have signed them into law during this time: Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee.) The result was a phylogenic tree—in effect a developmental history—tracing these policies to two main legislative roots: so-called “academic freedom acts,” and “science education acts.”
Matzke's analysis shows that academic-freedom acts were popular in 2004 and 2005 but have since been “almost completely replaced” with science-education acts, which emerged as the strategy of choice after the adoption of a 2006 anti-evolution policy in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. (That policy’s lingering impact on creationist teaching was thoroughly exposed by Zack Kopplin in Slate earlier this year.) These acts tend to call for “critical analysis” of scientific topics that are supposedly controversial among experts. They often lump evolution alongside research areas like climate change and human cloning—an effort, argues Matzke, to skirt legal precedents that connect policies solely targeting evolution with unconstitutional religious motivations.
“Kitzmiller was mostly about policies that specifically mention ‘intelligent design,’” says Matzke, who uncovered an explicit link between creationism and intelligent design during that case while working for the U.S.-based National Center for Science Education. “If a policy encourages evolution bashing, and has the same sorts of sponsors and fundamentalist motivations, but doesn't mention intelligent design or creationism, is it unconstitutional? If I were a judge, I would say ‘yes, obviously,’ but judges have all sorts of different philosophies and political biases.”
Another marker of science-education acts is that they typically go out of their way to note that only scientific information, not religious doctrine, is protected by the policy. That’s a revealingly insecure stipulation, given that U.S. public schools are secular arenas by default.
A review of six anti-evolution education bills proposed at the state level in 2015 shows many of these legislative tactics on display:
Missouri. This act looks for ways “to assist teachers to find more effective ways to present the science curriculum where it addresses scientific controversies”—with “biological evolution” among them.
Montana. This House bill pushes “critical thinking” in science class on the grounds that “truth in education about claims over scientific discoveries, including but not limited to biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, random mutation, natural selection, DNA, and fossil discoveries, can cause controversy.”
South Dakota. State S.B. 114 gives teachers full freedom to help students “understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories,” with “biological evolution” mentioned as one such theory alongside global warming.
Oklahoma. This bill—creating a “Science Education Act”—urges teachers to help students develop “critical thinking skills” about unidentified “controversial issues” with the understanding that it “not be construed to promote any religious or non-religious doctrine.”
Alabama. Much in line with the aforementioned legislative efforts, the sponsor of this bill, Representative Mack Butler, betrayed its intentions when he noted on Facebook that its aim was to "encourage debate if a student has a problem learning he came from a monkey rather than an intelligent design!"
Indiana. S.B. 562 only mentions “human cloning” as a controversial scientific subject, but its mission to help students “understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing conclusions,” with its caveat about protecting “only the teaching of scientific information,” tags it firmly within the science education act lineage.
That none of these bills passed in 2015 isn’t the point, says Matzke. After all, several states have adopted such policies into law in recent years, placing millions of public-school children in the hands of educators who might promote creationist alternatives to evolution, either because they have religious motivations themselves or simply weak scientific backgrounds. That Matzke’s analysis links two such laws to science education act language—those in Louisiana and Tennessee—is evidence enough that anti-evolution policies can, indeed, adapt to new times.
“Successful policies have a tendency to spread,” he says. “Every year, some states propose these policies, and often they are only barely defeated. And obviously, sometimes they pass, so hopefully this article will help raise awareness of the dangers of the ongoing situation.”
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Idiot America
The Washington Post
May 7, 2020
The dining area at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma City had been closed because of safety precautions intended to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. But when a customer entered Wednesday evening and was informed of the rules, things got violent.
A woman authorities identified Thursday as Gloricia Woody got into a physical confrontation with an employee after being told to leave, police said in a statement. Employees forced the 32-year-old out of the restaurant, but she returned with a handgun.
She allegedly fired about three rounds. One employee was hit in the arm, while shrapnel struck two others. The employee involved in the initial encounter with Woody had a head injury. Three of the four employees were taken to a hospital, but all were expected to recover, police said.
The incident was the latest in a growing trend of violence directed at employees of businesses trying to enforce social distancing measures. Last week, a Family Dollar security guard was fatally shot in Flint, Mich., after telling a customer that her child had to wear a face mask to enter the store.
“Obviously it’s a heinous crime, particularly because these two people were trying to really support public health,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said Thursday on “Good Morning America.” “I think what you’re seeing in this situation is really what you’re seeing in a variety of situations across the country, which is this tension about opening and people’s concern about it. But there’s absolutely no excuse for violence, particularly gun violence.”
May 7, 2020
The dining area at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma City had been closed because of safety precautions intended to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. But when a customer entered Wednesday evening and was informed of the rules, things got violent.
A woman authorities identified Thursday as Gloricia Woody got into a physical confrontation with an employee after being told to leave, police said in a statement. Employees forced the 32-year-old out of the restaurant, but she returned with a handgun.
She allegedly fired about three rounds. One employee was hit in the arm, while shrapnel struck two others. The employee involved in the initial encounter with Woody had a head injury. Three of the four employees were taken to a hospital, but all were expected to recover, police said.
The incident was the latest in a growing trend of violence directed at employees of businesses trying to enforce social distancing measures. Last week, a Family Dollar security guard was fatally shot in Flint, Mich., after telling a customer that her child had to wear a face mask to enter the store.
“Obviously it’s a heinous crime, particularly because these two people were trying to really support public health,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said Thursday on “Good Morning America.” “I think what you’re seeing in this situation is really what you’re seeing in a variety of situations across the country, which is this tension about opening and people’s concern about it. But there’s absolutely no excuse for violence, particularly gun violence.”
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Many years ago somebody wrote about the liars for Jeebus who were selling magical intelligent design creationism.
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
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
Saturday, November 16, 2019
It was a good thing for America when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 because of our long history of racism.
1921 massacre[edit]
On May 30, 1921, a young African-American male and shoe shiner named Dick Rowland went to a restroom in Drexel’s Building, which was one of the few restrooms that African-Americans could have used. Sarah Page, a young white female, was currently on the elevator that Rowland was on. Next, many sources claimed that Page screamed, “RAPE” and then proceeded to run off. Page claimed that Rowland “sexually assaulted” her.
Many local news media outlets quickly published Page's story. One newspaper distributed a headline that said, “To Lynch Negro Tonight". Another headline read “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl In Elevator”. These controversial headlines sparked outrage among the white residents in the Tulsa community. As a result, a large crowd of whites marched at the Tulsa Town Hall demanding that Rowland be lynched for the allegations. Soon afterwards, a group of fifty to seventy mostly black men arrived to provide support for the sheriff in protecting Rowland from the hostile white residents. J.B. Stradford and several other influential black residents offered their support to the sheriff in protecting Rowland. After arriving, a verbal dispute broke out where a white resident threatened to take a black resident’s rifle by calling him several derogatory words[citation needed]. After the black man refused, shots were fired, and one of America’s most violent race riots emerged.
According to first-hand sources, thousands of armed white residents surrounded the Greenwood district of Tulsa and trapped the residents. Many of these angry protesters began to break into ammunition stores to secure bullets and others loaded weapons for their attacks. Law enforcement also supported the brutal attacks against the black residents by arresting several black residents during the scattered altercations around the community[citation needed]. In response to the large white mobs, the black residents began forming defense lines near the Frisco railroad lines, which served as the boundary between the segregated black and white communities in Tulsa and began to exchange fire with the organized white mobs. While this outburst of violence was occurring, Law enforcement officials had refused to halt the organized white mobs and even reportedly encouraged white residents to throw flamethrowers at the black residents[citation needed]. During the trial, one white resident claimed that a local law officer had said, “Go get a gun and go get a nigger.” Other white residents even boldly claimed that law officers had joined the angry white mob in breaking into windows and destroying property[citation needed]. Furthermore, it is also reported that the local Tulsa chapter of the National Guard had begun deploying aircraft over "Black Wall Street" and used this advantage to rain bullets on the residential houses of black residents[citation needed].
After the initial attacks, many members of the organized mob began to loot from many of the businesses and residential houses located on "Black Wall Street". After looting these properties, they destroyed the vast majority of the properties, which left the vast majority of "Black Wall Street" destroyed[citation needed].
By June 1, most of the race riot had come to an end. The vast majority of "Black Wall Street" residents were either murdered, fled from the city, or in custody by law officials[citation needed]. Because of concerns of African-Americans in surrounding communities plotting revenge and launching a counterattack, Tulsa officials required that black residents, who were still in custody, acquire a green card, which only was required if a white employer had promised to keep their employee inside. This policy continued into July as the remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Riots were required to keep their green cards to ensure that there were no more counterattacks.[10]
Foundation of resentment[edit]
When evaluating the prosperity of "Black Wall Street", one angle to take into consideration is this perceived threat to the status quo and how this perceived threat may have eventually led "Black Wall Street" to its ultimate demise.[11] In the specific example of Greenwood, Oklahoma, this perceived economic threat led to the eventual downfall of "Black Wall Street". For instance, many white residents felt intimidated by the growth and expansion of "Black Wall Street". Not only was Greenwood, Tulsa expanding in population growth but it was also expanding its physical boundaries, which eventually collided with the boundaries of white residents. According to several newspapers and articles at the time, there were reports of hateful letters sent to prominent business leaders within "Black Wall Street", which demanded that they stop overstepping their boundaries into the white segregated portion of Tulsa.[12] Paradoxically, the economic success and prosperity of "Black Wall Street" also contributed to its eventual downfall as white residents grew increasingly frustrated and anxious of the wealth of the Greenwood community. Although White Americans enacted acts of violence against blacks frequently in the early 20th century, there was no justification until an allegation surfaced about an African-American male allegedly “assaulting” a white woman[citation needed].
Improvements[edit]
Revitalization and preservation efforts in the 1990s and 2000s resulted in tourism initiatives and memorials. John Hope Franklin Greenwood Reconciliation Park and the Greenwood Cultural Center honor the victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre, although the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce plans a larger museum to be built with participation from the National Park Service.[13]
In 2008, Tulsa announced that it sought to move the city's minor league baseball team, the Tulsa Drillers, to a new stadium, now known as ONEOK Field to be constructed in the Greenwood District. The proposed development includes a hotel, baseball stadium, and an expanded mixed-use district.[14] Along with the new stadium, there will be extra development for the city blocks that surround the stadium.
The legacy of Tulsa Race Riots[edit]
After the Tulsa Race Riots, many white residents had promised to rebuild after the massive destruction, but that did not come to fruition. Instead, many white residents attempted to profit off the destruction and exploit African-Americans by approaching them with offers to purchase their lands for extremely low prices. Some residents attempted to sue the city legally and filed insurance claims against the city government for , but all of those claims were denied by the city government. People within the African-American community after the Tulsa Race Riot rarely discussed the historical significance of Greenwood after the Tulsa Race Riots because of fear that it may occur again.
In 1997, a commission was established to examine recommendations to compensate and support the descendants of the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. In 2001, a final report was released that highly recommended that victims’ descendants receive full reparations. Alfred Brophy, an American legal scholar, outlined four specific reasons why survivors and their descendants should receive full compensation: the damage affected African-American families, the city was culpable, and city leaders acknowledged that they had a moral responsibility to help rebuild the infrastructure after the race riot.[15]
Saturday, August 24, 2019
This is another excellent "Testimonial" from PZ's blog by Sheila Galliart. She threw out the god bullshit when she was 45 years old. Better late than never.
Why I am an atheist – Sheila Galliart
My background: I will be 49 years old next week; I am a white heterosexual married woman with two almost-grown children (one girl, a sophomore at university majoring in computer engineering; the other a boy, high school sophomore). I live in Edmond, Oklahoma; a suburb of Oklahoma City. I was raised as a member of the Church of Christ; fundamentalist xtianity at it’s strongest here in the bible belt. The Church of Christ (COC) claims to be the only original, direct descendant church of the New Testament; members are right and everybody else on the planet is WRONG, including the local popular by numbers Southern Baptists.
Why are they wrong? Because they believe that being baptized is just something extra one does to demonstrate faith; whereas members of the COC count baptism, being physically buried in water (dunked not sprinkled) as a KEY, necessary action required for entrance into Heaven. Those that aren’t members of the COC? Why, they shall burn forever in the Lake of Fire aka Hayull.
Please understand that the following constitutes an embarrassment to me, NOW:
I graduated from a COC University, Oklahoma Christian University, with a BS degree in Medical Technology, in 1984. I made a 30 on the ACT; I have always been interested in science. Since that time, I have been employed as a Medical Technologist/Clinical Laboratory Scientist (two terms meaning the same thing). My current position is as a US Government Employee (drone), as the Supervisor of Transfusion Services (aka ‘blood bank) at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oklahoma City, OK.
Unfortunately, I was a product of my environment and was a bible believing church-every-Sunday xtian until approximately five years ago; more or less, I cannot exactly recall. At any rate, I have not been ‘to church’ in over five years, for certain.
Okay, I hear the wheels of your mind turning, and you are thinking to yourself: GHEEZ LOUISE HERE IS A CLASSICAL MEMBER OF THE SLOW READING GROUP! A SCIENCE major who believes in the absolute truth of the Bible? Right?
Well, I can’t argue with that! Yes, I am a victim of my upbringing; in no small part which meant that as a person lacking a penis, I was to follow; not to lead. Please understand, I don’t BLAME anybody for my behavior but I am trying to explain how an intelligent human being can believe in total and complete BS until she is 45 years old. I was always a ‘good girl’; and ‘good girls’ made good grades; good girls studied. Good girls also married a fellow xtian; good girls submitted to their fathers and their husbands, good girls did not question.
In my case, I had the fortune of meeting a man with ‘no religion’ at all. Unfortunately, for HIM, I ‘converted’ him to my religion. And, his brother. And, his parents. OOO, look at me; I have converted four persons to the true gospel of keereyst! So many jewels, in my crown of the hereafter! Awesome; I am; and awesome is my jeeebus/gayd! NOT.
Let us Fast Forward, please, to absolve me of at least some embarrassment in your eyes. I began to read a lot of books. CORRECTION: I have always read a lot of books. I keep lists of every book I have read for the past 20 years. More and more, my reading lists consisted of non-fiction books (still overwhelmingly a favorite by at least a 4-1 margin).
The books I read that began to convince me that I and my religion were full of kerap? I know you are thinking I read ‘The God Delusion’. Well, Yes I did! But not right away. The books I read that began to convince me that I was; shall we say politely, in ‘error’?
The major one was, Ghosts of Vesuvius, by Charles Pellegrino. I bought this book just because I was interested in science, and archeology, and how ancient societies functioned. After that? I read a couple of his other books. Here is another mainstream media production that convinced me, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384766/, ROME, the HBO series. It explains so exquisitely the way the Roman gods affected the common societal norms. I began to see, that my beliefs were not unique at all, but just like the ancient Romans. In other words? Ridiculous.
After that? Laugh if you wish, but the comment threads on religion stories on www.fark.com; convinced me. I was furious, at first! Those heathen godless hellions commenting on the religion threads! But as I read, I assimilated, and I learned. Those horrible liberals! I need not mention that I was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, and the first presidential vote I ever made? Was for Ronald Reagan.
Eventually I made my way to Pharangula, likely through a Fark thread although I cannot recall for certain. At any rate, for the past five years I have been a ‘gnu atheist.’. I trust and believe in the beauty of the cosmos, and it is more than enough for me. Interestingly, long before I was an admitted atheist, I made sure my grade school children were exposed to Bill Nye The Science Guy. I have the VCR tapes to prove it. So I would have to credit Bill Nye as well as Charles Pellegrino, as ‘de-converting’ me.
Today, I visit scienceblogs.com daily, as well as The Friendly Atheist (Hemant deserves some credit too in my anti-xtian-conversion), and FARK, and am a member of Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Sorry, PZ, for the length of this. I realize you are a busy important person, and I want to extend my kudos to you and everything you do, every day. PLEASE know that there are those ‘on the bubble’ out there, as I was at one time, who count on you and your blog to convince them of the truth.
In conclusion, if you have read this far, thank you so much! I hope to meet you at Skepticon in November.
Sheila Galliart
United States
My background: I will be 49 years old next week; I am a white heterosexual married woman with two almost-grown children (one girl, a sophomore at university majoring in computer engineering; the other a boy, high school sophomore). I live in Edmond, Oklahoma; a suburb of Oklahoma City. I was raised as a member of the Church of Christ; fundamentalist xtianity at it’s strongest here in the bible belt. The Church of Christ (COC) claims to be the only original, direct descendant church of the New Testament; members are right and everybody else on the planet is WRONG, including the local popular by numbers Southern Baptists.
Why are they wrong? Because they believe that being baptized is just something extra one does to demonstrate faith; whereas members of the COC count baptism, being physically buried in water (dunked not sprinkled) as a KEY, necessary action required for entrance into Heaven. Those that aren’t members of the COC? Why, they shall burn forever in the Lake of Fire aka Hayull.
Please understand that the following constitutes an embarrassment to me, NOW:
I graduated from a COC University, Oklahoma Christian University, with a BS degree in Medical Technology, in 1984. I made a 30 on the ACT; I have always been interested in science. Since that time, I have been employed as a Medical Technologist/Clinical Laboratory Scientist (two terms meaning the same thing). My current position is as a US Government Employee (drone), as the Supervisor of Transfusion Services (aka ‘blood bank) at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oklahoma City, OK.
Unfortunately, I was a product of my environment and was a bible believing church-every-Sunday xtian until approximately five years ago; more or less, I cannot exactly recall. At any rate, I have not been ‘to church’ in over five years, for certain.
Okay, I hear the wheels of your mind turning, and you are thinking to yourself: GHEEZ LOUISE HERE IS A CLASSICAL MEMBER OF THE SLOW READING GROUP! A SCIENCE major who believes in the absolute truth of the Bible? Right?
Well, I can’t argue with that! Yes, I am a victim of my upbringing; in no small part which meant that as a person lacking a penis, I was to follow; not to lead. Please understand, I don’t BLAME anybody for my behavior but I am trying to explain how an intelligent human being can believe in total and complete BS until she is 45 years old. I was always a ‘good girl’; and ‘good girls’ made good grades; good girls studied. Good girls also married a fellow xtian; good girls submitted to their fathers and their husbands, good girls did not question.
In my case, I had the fortune of meeting a man with ‘no religion’ at all. Unfortunately, for HIM, I ‘converted’ him to my religion. And, his brother. And, his parents. OOO, look at me; I have converted four persons to the true gospel of keereyst! So many jewels, in my crown of the hereafter! Awesome; I am; and awesome is my jeeebus/gayd! NOT.
Let us Fast Forward, please, to absolve me of at least some embarrassment in your eyes. I began to read a lot of books. CORRECTION: I have always read a lot of books. I keep lists of every book I have read for the past 20 years. More and more, my reading lists consisted of non-fiction books (still overwhelmingly a favorite by at least a 4-1 margin).
The books I read that began to convince me that I and my religion were full of kerap? I know you are thinking I read ‘The God Delusion’. Well, Yes I did! But not right away. The books I read that began to convince me that I was; shall we say politely, in ‘error’?
The major one was, Ghosts of Vesuvius, by Charles Pellegrino. I bought this book just because I was interested in science, and archeology, and how ancient societies functioned. After that? I read a couple of his other books. Here is another mainstream media production that convinced me, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384766/, ROME, the HBO series. It explains so exquisitely the way the Roman gods affected the common societal norms. I began to see, that my beliefs were not unique at all, but just like the ancient Romans. In other words? Ridiculous.
After that? Laugh if you wish, but the comment threads on religion stories on www.fark.com; convinced me. I was furious, at first! Those heathen godless hellions commenting on the religion threads! But as I read, I assimilated, and I learned. Those horrible liberals! I need not mention that I was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, and the first presidential vote I ever made? Was for Ronald Reagan.
Eventually I made my way to Pharangula, likely through a Fark thread although I cannot recall for certain. At any rate, for the past five years I have been a ‘gnu atheist.’. I trust and believe in the beauty of the cosmos, and it is more than enough for me. Interestingly, long before I was an admitted atheist, I made sure my grade school children were exposed to Bill Nye The Science Guy. I have the VCR tapes to prove it. So I would have to credit Bill Nye as well as Charles Pellegrino, as ‘de-converting’ me.
Today, I visit scienceblogs.com daily, as well as The Friendly Atheist (Hemant deserves some credit too in my anti-xtian-conversion), and FARK, and am a member of Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Sorry, PZ, for the length of this. I realize you are a busy important person, and I want to extend my kudos to you and everything you do, every day. PLEASE know that there are those ‘on the bubble’ out there, as I was at one time, who count on you and your blog to convince them of the truth.
In conclusion, if you have read this far, thank you so much! I hope to meet you at Skepticon in November.
Sheila Galliart
United States
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Here is some more extreme "Idiot America" stupid. An asshole for Jeebus wants to force biology teachers to give equal time to her childish magical creationism fantasy. Evolution makes this know-nothing bible-thumping fucktard cry. This is Idiot Oklahoma, not far from Idiot Texas.
Why restrict science teaching to one side of issue?
by YOUR VIEW -- LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Published: Friday, March 4, 2011
In response to the Rev. Deborah Meinke (Your Views, Feb. 26): Education isn't about some authority deciding what is or what is not truth. Education is about presenting all sides of an issue and allowing students to think critically about the issue and decide what they believe. As a college student with minimum firsthand knowledge of the Bible, I sat in a science class and listened to the Big Bang Theory. In order to pass the course, I regurgitated this theory back to the instructor and got the needed credit for the class. It didn't hurt me, but it also didn't make sense to me. I observed my own respiratory and circulatory systems and decided Big Bang could explain neither of those magnificent systems.
Forty-five years after becoming a daily reader of the Bible and seeing its truth all around me, I'm glad to be aware of both sides of the argument over evolution vs. creationism. Why do adherents of the “evolutionary process” (who lack intermediary fossil evidence of it) want to restrict a student to one side of this issue? Is not true education the presentation of all sides of an issue? As a retired classroom teacher, restricting the argument to one side isn't the kind of critical thinking I wanted for my students.
Jean Kemp, Ardmore, Oklahoma
by YOUR VIEW -- LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Published: Friday, March 4, 2011
In response to the Rev. Deborah Meinke (Your Views, Feb. 26): Education isn't about some authority deciding what is or what is not truth. Education is about presenting all sides of an issue and allowing students to think critically about the issue and decide what they believe. As a college student with minimum firsthand knowledge of the Bible, I sat in a science class and listened to the Big Bang Theory. In order to pass the course, I regurgitated this theory back to the instructor and got the needed credit for the class. It didn't hurt me, but it also didn't make sense to me. I observed my own respiratory and circulatory systems and decided Big Bang could explain neither of those magnificent systems.
Forty-five years after becoming a daily reader of the Bible and seeing its truth all around me, I'm glad to be aware of both sides of the argument over evolution vs. creationism. Why do adherents of the “evolutionary process” (who lack intermediary fossil evidence of it) want to restrict a student to one side of this issue? Is not true education the presentation of all sides of an issue? As a retired classroom teacher, restricting the argument to one side isn't the kind of critical thinking I wanted for my students.
Jean Kemp, Ardmore, Oklahoma
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
The Universe is trying to kill Oklahoma and Texas. Nobody cares.
 |
| Two funnel clouds in Crescent, Okla., on Monday. The Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch classifying the weather as a ‘particularly dangerous situation. |
Powerful storms could bring flooding, baseball-size hail, hurricane-force winds
By Erin Ailworth
Updated May 20, 2019 10:36 p.m. ET
Forecasters say a dangerous mix of warm air and fast, shifting winds is expected to spawn severe thunderstorms and violent tornadoes from the Texas panhandle into Oklahoma Monday evening and into Tuesday.
“The intensity of those ingredients is of a sort that we have rarely seen before,” said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center. “The atmosphere is not only unstable, it is extremely unstable.”
The Storm Prediction Center on Monday issued a tornado watch for the region classifying the weather as a “particularly dangerous situation.” Forecasters warned any tornadoes that touch down could travel dozens of miles.
The local National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., 20 miles south of Oklahoma City, was prepping for roughly baseball-size hail, hurricane-force winds and flash flooding. Forrest Mitchell, observations program leader, said he and his colleagues were also bracing for tornadoes rated near or at the top of the Enhanced Fujita scale.
“Anything it encounters will be destroyed,” Mr. Mitchell said, describing the destruction such a tornado could cause. “There’s an extreme threat to life and property.”
Late Monday, the National Weather Service in Norman said there had been several tornado warnings in Oklahoma and two confirmed tornadoes, one 60 miles north of Oklahoma City and one in southwest Oklahoma.
As the tornado threat continued, meteorologists cautioned that flooding was a major concern overnight, with several inches of rain expected to drop on already saturated parts of Oklahoma and Kansas.
“This rain is not going to help,” said Mr. Bunting, with the Storm Prediction Center. “I think at the end of this event, the flooding will be as impactful as the tornadoes.”
The dangerous weather, forecasters said, was caused by a combination of low pressure, warm humid air and shifting winds that increase in speed as they move higher. Tornadoes are often created when those shifting winds are strong at low altitudes—around 1,000 to 2,000 feet—and meet with pockets of warm, moist air.
Matt Lanza, managing editor with Space City Weather, a blog that tracks weather in Texas, said Monday’s forecast contained pointed language he has rarely seen from federal forecasters.
“Right away that tells me as someone who respects the [Storm Prediction Center] that they are deathly serious about this,” he said. “The atmosphere in parts of the Texas Panhandle and parts of southern Oklahoma, it’s a powder keg and it just needs a trigger to set it off.”
Write to Erin Ailworth at Erin.Ailworth@wsj.com
Appeared in the May 21, 2019, print edition as 'Oklahoma, Texas Brace for Storms.'
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)