I would like to open a thread related to the Trump trials as separate from the actually political campaign. I think they should be discussed differently. Court actions and accusations are not the same as the campaign issues are. My initial thoughts are that the opening arguments seemed to go rather badly for Trump. His lawyers seem to be irritating the judge by false claims, repeated arguments that have been previously dismissed, demands that Trump be addressed as "President", and "immunity from prosecution". So far, I think that Pecker's testimony has been damaging to Trump and there is wo ..read more

For some years now, I've believed that our laws and court systems are letting us—and specifically victims and their families—down.  This has led to a noticeable and concerning increase of crimes against the person.  With too many of those crimes receiving manifestly unjust sentencing.     This is a classic case of such a broken judiciary. In short: Kerrie Lee Catling has been sentenced to NINE years behind bars for the manslaughter of her husband, Chris Catling who was 51 when he died in hospital after he was stabbed in the chest in Rockhampton in March, 2021 ..read more

In the New York Times today, David French makes an interesting distinction between the various threads of what we call "evangelical" Christianity. (Personally, I just call it extremism.) He divides Christian evangelicals in the US into three categories: Fundamentalists, which he quotes someone else calling a "psychology" rather than a "theology," adding, "that psychology is defined by an extreme sense of certainty, along with extreme ferocity. Bob Jones represents this strain, he says.  Evangelicals, which he describes as  "more accepting of theological differences" and "more inter ..read more

I think most of us who reached atheism from an earlier mindset of belief did so because we kept finding aspects of belief that conflicted with not just our experience of reality, but also our advancing knowledge that accompanies our accumulating experience.  Becoming atheist in essence was choosing to stay intellectually honest.  Becoming atheist ends having to rationalize or excuse or ignore the absurdities that theism unavoidably raises.  Atheists don't struggle to find sensible answers, unlike the theist posters herein who find it necessary to write thousands of words of ..read more

helped in large part by the republiKKKunt fucks they have bought and paid for! https://www.nola.com/news/politics/legis...6107a.html Quote:Louisiana lawmakers vote to remove lunch breaks for child workers, cut unemployment benefits A House committee approved the bill along with others to reduce unemployment benefits and workers' compensation wages. Well...it is fucking Louisiana....I'm sure this jesus scumbag is fully supportive of this happy horseshit ..read more

and all other gods invented by the human imagination as well. https://www.rawstory.com/crucial-buildin...ter-space/ Quote:Crucial building blocks of life on Earth can more easily form in outer space The origin of life on Earth is still enigmatic, but we are slowly unravelling the steps involved and the necessary ingredients. Scientists believe life arose in a primordial soup of organic chemicals and biomolecules on the early Earth, eventually leading to actual organisms. It’s long been suspected that some of these ingredients may have been delivered from space. Now a new study,  ..read more

God is always depicted as outside nature, supernatural.  But why?  It would make a lot more sense to regard god as an aspect of nature not yet understood, not claim it can't be a dimension of nature.  To credibly make that claim would require complete knowledge of nature, something not actually achievable.  If such a thing as a god exists, it's just a facet of nature not yet understood. So what drives the need to make a god beyond nature ..read more

would he even know what a protestant is ..read more

Hello, all. I'm Ken. I heard about this board from a member and I am happy to see that people still have thoughtful conversations online. I am an atheist in the sense that I do not believe in a god or gods, or in supernatural beings in general. However, it is extraordinarily arrogant for us to say "supernatural" as if we fully understand everything in the natural world. When I say I am an atheist people often ask me, "Do you really think this is all there is?" Of course I don't. Whatever "this" they are referring to, it is a small part of a small planet at the edge of one of the many galaxies ..read more

From the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68777741 Quote:Pompeii: Breathtaking new paintings found at ancient city Quote:Stunning artworks have been uncovered in a new excavation at Pompeii, the ancient Roman city buried in an eruption from Mount Vesuvius in AD79. Archaeologists say the frescos are among the finest to be found in the ruins of the ancient site. Mythical Greek figures such as Helen of Troy are depicted on the high black walls of a large banqueting hall. The room's near-complete mosaic floor incorporates more than a million individual white tiles ..read more