I don't know how true the idea is that Jewish folks funded the theory of evolution, but I do know we should be allowed to not believe in it. Science is always supposed to be in pursuit of answers, never assuming that all is already known about a specific topic. The moment people begin referring to things like the theory of evolution as fact, is the moment their minds become closed to searching for further answers on the subject, which is supposed to be the opposite of what the scientific community is all about.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
Quick disclaimer, I've not yet read the link, responding only to your comment on it, offering only my general thoughts on the subject over the years.
Let's get this out of the way, all over the planet people are trying to incite racist ideologies and anti-racist outrage. Either one produces a lot of psychic / political energy that can be tapped and manipulated. Power.
My personal belief on the larger subject is simple: Evolution is the process God used to create, well, everything. I believe humans are made in the image of God. Just as I couldn't simply walk out into the field, scoop up some dirt and suddenly be holding a Ming Vase, neither did God use a pair of giant hands to make some little humanoid figures out of the mud, blow on them and there they were. In both cases, time and refinement must take place to achieve the end result.
That's reality. Too many peoples notion of Creation is lost in magical thinking. They envision a scenario where something instantly appears, from nothing. Instantly. It may very well be instantly, for God, who exists beyond the confines of time, but here in reality of the time-space continuum we were raised from the dust, over time. Might there have been, say, DNA manipulation that resulted in sudden change? OK. But for me, Creation and Evolution are inextricably bound to each other.
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
@Amos_Umwhat said:
Quick disclaimer, I've not yet read the link, responding only to your comment on it, offering only my general thoughts on the subject over the years.
Let's get this out of the way, all over the planet people are trying to incite racist ideologies and anti-racist outrage. Either one produces a lot of psychic / political energy that can be tapped and manipulated. Power.
My personal belief on the larger subject is simple: Evolution is the process God used to create, well, everything. I believe humans are made in the image of God. Just as I couldn't simply walk out into the field, scoop up some dirt and suddenly be holding a Ming Vase, neither did God use a pair of giant hands to make some little humanoid figures out of the mud, blow on them and there they were. In both cases, time and refinement must take place to achieve the end result.
That's reality. Too many peoples notion of Creation is lost in magical thinking. They envision a scenario where something instantly appears, from nothing. Instantly. It may very well be instantly, for God, who exists beyond the confines of time, but here in reality of the time-space continuum we were raised from the dust, over time. Might there have been, say, DNA manipulation that resulted in sudden change? OK. But for me, Creation and Evolution are inextricably bound to each other.
I on the other hand, believe the account of Creation listed in Genesis and that the account is related in measurements of time that we understand, days. However, I acknowledge that this cannot be proven beyond a doubt and that this is an area open for discussion, which is why I don't like it when folks insist that evolution is factual and that there is no other feasible possibility. We can't prove Young Earth Creationism, intelligent design by Evolution, or Evolution, so let's all admit that and have some discussions without getting emotionally invested. Just my two cents.
Oh, and as a society we need all of this topic taken out of politics, it has no place there.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
@Hobbes86 , I absolutely agree with your belief regarding the accounts of creation in Genesis 1 & 2. That's at the core of what I said above. To be clear, I wasn't disagreeing with anyone, not an argument at all, just how I feel on the subject.
I believe absolutely that we, everything, is created. I think that the evidence found regarding evolution is merely a record of that creation. There is certainly natural selection within species, and, there is evidence of sudden shifts not accounted for by natural selection. Thus, we are created to evolve, and we evolve by creation.
I'll leave this here, now. I'm open to further discussion, but not in this thread, as we've left the political aspect of race manipulation behind and moved into the area of Religion, Philosophy, and Physics.
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
"I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form." -- Winston Churchill "LET'S GO FRANCIS" Peter
Just heard that Biden plans to expand the use of E-15 ethanol tainted gasoline in the U.S. I guess this is his idea of economic stimulus. Just think of all the new lawnmowers that will have to be built after this swill destroys the valves, burns holes in the pistons. Not to mention increasing the destruction of otherwise good automotive engines that won't withstand it. Oooh, and fuel additives produced to try to combat the deleterious effects of ethanol sucking moisture out of the air and into your fuel.
Many may disagree. That's OK. Just get yourself one of those new electric vehicles. Who needs to drive more than 85 miles in 24 hours anyway? And we all know, electricity is free, right? And it doesn't ever require burning coal, or diesel, or fossil fuels of any kind to produce. It's all good.
Isn't it?
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
A Republican congressman from New York embraced gun control measures. A week later, facing his party’s anger, he’s ending his re-election run.
Friday, June 3, 2022 4:20 PM ET
In the wake of deadly mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, Representative Chris Jacobs of New York stunned fellow Republicans by embracing a federal assault weapons ban and limits on high-capacity magazines.
It took only seven days for political forces to catch up with him.
On Friday, facing intense backlash from party leaders, a potential primary from the state party chairman and a forceful dressing down from Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Jacobs announced that he would abandon his re-election campaign.
There isn't a thing that 250 new gun laws will do to stop gun violence. The only thing gun laws do is hurt law abiding citizens the chance to defend themselves and others.
"I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form." -- Winston Churchill "LET'S GO FRANCIS" Peter
@Usaf06 said:
There isn't a thing that 250 new gun laws will do to stop gun violence. The only thing gun laws do is hurt law abiding citizens the chance to defend themselves and others.
Are you saying strict gun laws in places like Chicago are not working?
Interesting info but not news. The ar15 and other "assault" weapons make up a small fraction of deaths in this country. Handguns have always been the largest percentage of deaths due to easy portability and concealability. Criminals just can't carry rifles without being easily identified.
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
Those are great memes. Nick is right, we don't need 250 new gun laws, criminals by definition do not follow the law. Everyone here knows that I support gun ownership, and I don't mean the kind you keep at the range, like the Europeans do. Nor is it useful to have a pistol if it's locked up when you need it, especially if it is locked up in one place and ammunition is locked up elsewhere.
Now, with all that said, it's also time for every side of this national argument to calm down and grow up. I used to be an NRA member, but I realized they spent all the money I sent them on campaigns to get me to give them more money. Not what I had in mind when I contributed. But, beyond that, I also had a problem with their attitude that NO control or restraint was acceptable.
Case in point. One of Faye's grandsons just turned 21. He went right out and bought some kind of gun. I don't know what kind yet, I only know that it cost more than $700. He's not a bad kid or anything, no thug-ism, makes top grades at the junior college, or may have been accepted to University by now. Quiet, polite, smart, and almost completely inept at any practical activity. It's taken 3 years of driving before he isn't reporting some kind of minor accident every other week. Quite frankly, I'm afraid he'll shoot himself or someone else accidently because he'll feel a need to play with it. I've seen several of these injuries in ER before I retired.
So, my points are that he was able to simply show proof of age, no training whatsoever, I think you still have to pass some kind of background check for handguns, but not rifles in Tennessee, I may be wrong. I don't know the stats, but I think guns kill nearly as many people as automobiles on average every year. Maybe more. And you have to pass a test, get a license to drive. Personally, I think the test should be about 10 times harder, and the license should cost about 10 times as much, but there it is. Still talking driving there.
Why not institute similar processes for guns? I'm all for the background checks. I think one should have training and testing before owning a gun. There should be grandfather clauses, of course, and acknowledgement that if you completed a term of military service, or police service etc., then you simply pay for your license. The fees would go to fund the process.
The upshot of it all is that if we're to keep our rights, we're going to have to institute some common sense practices. If anyone has better ideas, I'd love to hear them.
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Those are great memes. Nick is right, we don't need 250 new gun laws, criminals by definition do not follow the law. Everyone here knows that I support gun ownership, and I don't mean the kind you keep at the range, like the Europeans do. Nor is it useful to have a pistol if it's locked up when you need it, especially if it is locked up in one place and ammunition is locked up elsewhere.
Now, with all that said, it's also time for every side of this national argument to calm down and grow up. I used to be an NRA member, but I realized they spent all the money I sent them on campaigns to get me to give them more money. Not what I had in mind when I contributed. But, beyond that, I also had a problem with their attitude that NO control or restraint was acceptable.
Case in point. One of Faye's grandsons just turned 21. He went right out and bought some kind of gun. I don't know what kind yet, I only know that it cost more than $700. He's not a bad kid or anything, no thug-ism, makes top grades at the junior college, or may have been accepted to University by now. Quiet, polite, smart, and almost completely inept at any practical activity. It's taken 3 years of driving before he isn't reporting some kind of minor accident every other week. Quite frankly, I'm afraid he'll shoot himself or someone else accidently because he'll feel a need to play with it. I've seen several of these injuries in ER before I retired.
So, my points are that he was able to simply show proof of age, no training whatsoever, I think you still have to pass some kind of background check for handguns, but not rifles in Tennessee, I may be wrong. I don't know the stats, but I think guns kill nearly as many people as automobiles on average every year. Maybe more. And you have to pass a test, get a license to drive. Personally, I think the test should be about 10 times harder, and the license should cost about 10 times as much, but there it is. Still talking driving there.
Why not institute similar processes for guns? I'm all for the background checks. I think one should have training and testing before owning a gun. There should be grandfather clauses, of course, and acknowledgement that if you completed a term of military service, or police service etc., then you simply pay for your license. The fees would go to fund the process.
The upshot of it all is that if we're to keep our rights, we're going to have to institute some common sense practices. If anyone has better ideas, I'd love to hear them.
A lot of the solutions that are being proposed by reasonably thinking people such as yourself seem to revolve around either age or money. The age ones I think have more standing than the money ones, though I'm opposed to both personally.
I think that gun control policies disproportionately limit poor people's abilities to defend themselves, when they're the ones who live in the worst areas and have the most need for a gun. The single mother waitress who works until closing and then has to take the subway home at midnight, while avoiding her abusive ex boyfriends pleas to take him back, has much more of a need for a gun than I do. If there's going to be a reform of some kind, and it affects that waitress's ability to buy a gun, without really affecting mine, then I'm going to be strongly opposed to it. Gun control policies almost always have a racist undertone, and something like a more expensive license would fit in with historical examples perfectly.
I'd like to go the opposite direction, and talk about making more things free such as a free license if you take a safety class. Maybe get the police involved and have them teach the safety class for free also. If we can send out free Covid tests to everyone, I'd like to see free gun safes or slide locks be available somehow. Maybe double the fines for domestic violence charges, and use the extra money to fund those? I haven't thought about the funding, just spit balling.
The reason I'm opposed to the age limit increasing is for somewhat more "extreme" reasons. Any revolution that has ever taken place has been done on the backs of 17 year olds. Adults with children and property are less idealistic, and will accept things as they are, while the teenagers go out and lead the charge at first until the adults join in. Pick any revolution, from ours to the Arab Spring that just happened a few years ago, and it's teenagers on the front lines. I know that moderates don't want to hear about potentially overthrowing the government when they're having a gun control discussion, but it's something that matters to me.
A waiting period is something I'd be willing to listen to. I'd also like to hear about real mental health solutions, instead of people saying "mental health is the problem" and then proceeding to not address it at all. If it's the problem, which I think it is, then we as a country need to find a way to improve it. I'd like to see republicans lead the charge on that, but I don't expect to see it happen because complaining is so much easier.
I don't have all the solutions, but I think we need to be very mindful of the fact that gun control policies should not be implemented if they're only going to stop those who most need a gun from getting one. I would make sure to think of that hypothetical waitress as a litmus test for any ideas that anyone has about making our country safer.
Comments
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/lara-logan-theory-of-evolution-anti-semitism-1328721/
I don't know how true the idea is that Jewish folks funded the theory of evolution, but I do know we should be allowed to not believe in it. Science is always supposed to be in pursuit of answers, never assuming that all is already known about a specific topic. The moment people begin referring to things like the theory of evolution as fact, is the moment their minds become closed to searching for further answers on the subject, which is supposed to be the opposite of what the scientific community is all about.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
Quick disclaimer, I've not yet read the link, responding only to your comment on it, offering only my general thoughts on the subject over the years.
Let's get this out of the way, all over the planet people are trying to incite racist ideologies and anti-racist outrage. Either one produces a lot of psychic / political energy that can be tapped and manipulated. Power.
My personal belief on the larger subject is simple: Evolution is the process God used to create, well, everything. I believe humans are made in the image of God. Just as I couldn't simply walk out into the field, scoop up some dirt and suddenly be holding a Ming Vase, neither did God use a pair of giant hands to make some little humanoid figures out of the mud, blow on them and there they were. In both cases, time and refinement must take place to achieve the end result.
That's reality. Too many peoples notion of Creation is lost in magical thinking. They envision a scenario where something instantly appears, from nothing. Instantly. It may very well be instantly, for God, who exists beyond the confines of time, but here in reality of the time-space continuum we were raised from the dust, over time. Might there have been, say, DNA manipulation that resulted in sudden change? OK. But for me, Creation and Evolution are inextricably bound to each other.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
I on the other hand, believe the account of Creation listed in Genesis and that the account is related in measurements of time that we understand, days. However, I acknowledge that this cannot be proven beyond a doubt and that this is an area open for discussion, which is why I don't like it when folks insist that evolution is factual and that there is no other feasible possibility. We can't prove Young Earth Creationism, intelligent design by Evolution, or Evolution, so let's all admit that and have some discussions without getting emotionally invested. Just my two cents.
Oh, and as a society we need all of this topic taken out of politics, it has no place there.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
Neither the Church nor the State seem all to keen on protecting the separation.
@Hobbes86 , I absolutely agree with your belief regarding the accounts of creation in Genesis 1 & 2. That's at the core of what I said above. To be clear, I wasn't disagreeing with anyone, not an argument at all, just how I feel on the subject.
I believe absolutely that we, everything, is created. I think that the evidence found regarding evolution is merely a record of that creation. There is certainly natural selection within species, and, there is evidence of sudden shifts not accounted for by natural selection. Thus, we are created to evolve, and we evolve by creation.
I'll leave this here, now. I'm open to further discussion, but not in this thread, as we've left the political aspect of race manipulation behind and moved into the area of Religion, Philosophy, and Physics.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Sorry if I misunderstood or misrepresented what you had said earlier, @Amos_Umwhat. That was certainly not my intent.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
I believe we were dropped off here by 👽.
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
-- Winston Churchill
"LET'S GO FRANCIS" Peter
I don't leave my city because the earth is flat and I don't want to fall off.
Oh hell, there's Patrick's number, been meaning to call him.
Let's go Brandon
Just heard that Biden plans to expand the use of E-15 ethanol tainted gasoline in the U.S. I guess this is his idea of economic stimulus. Just think of all the new lawnmowers that will have to be built after this swill destroys the valves, burns holes in the pistons. Not to mention increasing the destruction of otherwise good automotive engines that won't withstand it. Oooh, and fuel additives produced to try to combat the deleterious effects of ethanol sucking moisture out of the air and into your fuel.
Many may disagree. That's OK. Just get yourself one of those new electric vehicles. Who needs to drive more than 85 miles in 24 hours anyway? And we all know, electricity is free, right? And it doesn't ever require burning coal, or diesel, or fossil fuels of any kind to produce. It's all good.
Isn't it?
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Even with the lower concentration of alcohol my chain saw was a pita to run until I switched to the synthetic fuel.
Edit: not that chainsaws aren't a pita anyway
Conviction and politics don't mix
A Republican congressman from New York embraced gun control measures. A week later, facing his party’s anger, he’s ending his re-election run.
Friday, June 3, 2022 4:20 PM ET
In the wake of deadly mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, Representative Chris Jacobs of New York stunned fellow Republicans by embracing a federal assault weapons ban and limits on high-capacity magazines.
It took only seven days for political forces to catch up with him.
On Friday, facing intense backlash from party leaders, a potential primary from the state party chairman and a forceful dressing down from Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Jacobs announced that he would abandon his re-election campaign.
There isn't a thing that 250 new gun laws will do to stop gun violence. The only thing gun laws do is hurt law abiding citizens the chance to defend themselves and others.
-- Winston Churchill
"LET'S GO FRANCIS" Peter
A house divided can not stand. Abraham Lincoln
Are you saying strict gun laws in places like Chicago are not working?
Some interesting statistics here:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/type-gun-us-homicides-ar-15/story
They took it down ^
Just looked @VegasFrank and it is still up, here is, I think, a working link:
https://abcnews-go-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/US/type-gun-us-homicides-ar-15/story?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&id=78689504&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw==&fbclid=IwAR1nv7Ctj0y6rl-O_a3x83S_6bnbqp1JDbHrRXjQOLMVtL_rA93SjkcCjMg#amp_tf=From %1$s&aoh=16542114600923&referrer=https://www.google.com&ampshare=https://abcnews.go.com/US/type-gun-us-homicides-ar-15/story?id=78689504
Interesting info but not news. The ar15 and other "assault" weapons make up a small fraction of deaths in this country. Handguns have always been the largest percentage of deaths due to easy portability and concealability. Criminals just can't carry rifles without being easily identified.
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
Joe's coming for your 9. If the 2nd amendment isn't absolute, are any of them?
Don't let the wife know what you spend on guns, ammo or cigars.
Those are great memes. Nick is right, we don't need 250 new gun laws, criminals by definition do not follow the law. Everyone here knows that I support gun ownership, and I don't mean the kind you keep at the range, like the Europeans do. Nor is it useful to have a pistol if it's locked up when you need it, especially if it is locked up in one place and ammunition is locked up elsewhere.
Now, with all that said, it's also time for every side of this national argument to calm down and grow up. I used to be an NRA member, but I realized they spent all the money I sent them on campaigns to get me to give them more money. Not what I had in mind when I contributed. But, beyond that, I also had a problem with their attitude that NO control or restraint was acceptable.
Case in point. One of Faye's grandsons just turned 21. He went right out and bought some kind of gun. I don't know what kind yet, I only know that it cost more than $700. He's not a bad kid or anything, no thug-ism, makes top grades at the junior college, or may have been accepted to University by now. Quiet, polite, smart, and almost completely inept at any practical activity. It's taken 3 years of driving before he isn't reporting some kind of minor accident every other week. Quite frankly, I'm afraid he'll shoot himself or someone else accidently because he'll feel a need to play with it. I've seen several of these injuries in ER before I retired.
So, my points are that he was able to simply show proof of age, no training whatsoever, I think you still have to pass some kind of background check for handguns, but not rifles in Tennessee, I may be wrong. I don't know the stats, but I think guns kill nearly as many people as automobiles on average every year. Maybe more. And you have to pass a test, get a license to drive. Personally, I think the test should be about 10 times harder, and the license should cost about 10 times as much, but there it is. Still talking driving there.
Why not institute similar processes for guns? I'm all for the background checks. I think one should have training and testing before owning a gun. There should be grandfather clauses, of course, and acknowledgement that if you completed a term of military service, or police service etc., then you simply pay for your license. The fees would go to fund the process.
The upshot of it all is that if we're to keep our rights, we're going to have to institute some common sense practices. If anyone has better ideas, I'd love to hear them.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
My state requires safety training.
Live fire not required around here.
.> @Amos_Umwhat said:
A lot of the solutions that are being proposed by reasonably thinking people such as yourself seem to revolve around either age or money. The age ones I think have more standing than the money ones, though I'm opposed to both personally.
I think that gun control policies disproportionately limit poor people's abilities to defend themselves, when they're the ones who live in the worst areas and have the most need for a gun. The single mother waitress who works until closing and then has to take the subway home at midnight, while avoiding her abusive ex boyfriends pleas to take him back, has much more of a need for a gun than I do. If there's going to be a reform of some kind, and it affects that waitress's ability to buy a gun, without really affecting mine, then I'm going to be strongly opposed to it. Gun control policies almost always have a racist undertone, and something like a more expensive license would fit in with historical examples perfectly.
I'd like to go the opposite direction, and talk about making more things free such as a free license if you take a safety class. Maybe get the police involved and have them teach the safety class for free also. If we can send out free Covid tests to everyone, I'd like to see free gun safes or slide locks be available somehow. Maybe double the fines for domestic violence charges, and use the extra money to fund those? I haven't thought about the funding, just spit balling.
The reason I'm opposed to the age limit increasing is for somewhat more "extreme" reasons. Any revolution that has ever taken place has been done on the backs of 17 year olds. Adults with children and property are less idealistic, and will accept things as they are, while the teenagers go out and lead the charge at first until the adults join in. Pick any revolution, from ours to the Arab Spring that just happened a few years ago, and it's teenagers on the front lines. I know that moderates don't want to hear about potentially overthrowing the government when they're having a gun control discussion, but it's something that matters to me.
A waiting period is something I'd be willing to listen to. I'd also like to hear about real mental health solutions, instead of people saying "mental health is the problem" and then proceeding to not address it at all. If it's the problem, which I think it is, then we as a country need to find a way to improve it. I'd like to see republicans lead the charge on that, but I don't expect to see it happen because complaining is so much easier.
I don't have all the solutions, but I think we need to be very mindful of the fact that gun control policies should not be implemented if they're only going to stop those who most need a gun from getting one. I would make sure to think of that hypothetical waitress as a litmus test for any ideas that anyone has about making our country safer.