Scientology now tricks unsuspecting tourists, usually foreigners because they don’t know better, by pretending they’re just offering a free and fun “personality test”, a test that always says you have major problems (problems the church can definitely fix for a fee), but what they’re also doing is fishing for your personal contact info so they can harass you and your family members for life until you join the cult and hand over all your cash.

No religion needs to hide who they are or threaten people to get people involved in the religion, that’s a cult.

Any time someone tells you their Christian god is pro life and loves children, remind them of 2 Kings 2:23-25 when god tears 42 children to bits with bears just for teasing a bald man,
“ 23 He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. 25 From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.”

Then have them read psalm 137.9…
“ Blessed the one who seizes your children and smashes them against the rock: the children represent the future generations, and so must be destroyed if the enemy is truly to be eradicated.”

Then remind them that god killed every Egyptian baby out of spite against one man.

If you believe in the Judeo/Christian god, you must believe god loves to kill babies, he does it constantly, viciously, capriciously, and joyfully. If Christian’s knew their religion they would be 100% pro abortion….but if they knew their religion they wouldn’t be idolaters, disrespectful to their elders, dishonest, greedy, or selfish, they would live by the most important lesson of their religion, the golden rule…but they don’t even know what that is.

I’ve always thought it was a horrific decision, but not at all because of the immediate effects or massive death and destruction they caused in Japan….they fucked around and found out and deserved everything they got (and I was unaware the Russian Manchurian offensive timing, but it’s even more reason to not drop a second bomb or even a first if we knew it was coming).

I think it was horrific because we had no idea what the long term effects of even minimal fallout might be, and in fall/winter the jet stream runs from Japan directly to the highly populated West coast (which we knew well thanks to balloon bombs), so some portion of the fallout was guaranteed to fall on millions of US citizens. We lucked out that it wasn’t deadly a year later, and didn’t cause horrible birth defects with near zero exposure…we had no concrete idea at the time though just guesses, and still don’t have a clear idea of how much it contributed to higher cancer rates in the US.

Keep in mind, we had no idea what discussions the Japanese were having amongst themselves , so no idea how effective our bombs nor the Manchurian offensive were at persuading them to surrender. Hindsight is 2020, but at the time we were flying blind.

The uncertain risk there of possibly killing millions of ourselves or gimping or sterilizing or even Cronenberging entire future generations for the comparatively minimal convenience of not using conventional bombs, to me, is no where near worth it. There were just too many unanswered questions about too many factors. I’m sure the soldiers fighting at the time would feel differently.

*promote the history lesson, learned some new stuff!

This was not an attempted “life lesson”, it was an angry punishment that teaches the kid it’s ok to physically abuse those that can’t defend themselves.
The lesson that may be learned is if you can act the fool enough to make an employee lose their cool and get violent, you can cash in big time.

He was in no was showing respect. He was smacking a kid that made him mad. That’s the lesson he taught, resorting to violence is acceptable if you’re mad. A horrible life lesson that usually leads to prison.

It may be understandable, even cathartic, but it’s also wrong.

Such a ridiculous idiot, bob. Every time, on every subject.

Indeed a humanitarian, gesture. This is a life lesson.

Teaching respect for other peoples things is a philosophy,

I also don’t approve of the pro Hitler, Pro-racism, homophobic, history rewriting lessons from the Ohio home schooling network for elementary school students that Republicans are circulating to teach YOUNG children that Hitler was a heroic paragon of virtue and MLK was a “deceitful, dishonest, riot-inducing negro. He is the face of a movement that ethnically cleansed whites out of urban areas and precipitated the anti white regime that we are now fighting to free ourselves from.” Again, this is directly from the home school lesson plans for elementary school children in Ohio, from the right.


That, sir, is fascist indoctrination of extremely young kids….by the far right.
There is absolutely zero Republican outrage over this indoctrination.

I'd love to see that bit of poetic justice, but it won't happen. The Democrats don't have quite enough sociopaths in power to teach such a harsh lesson. The GQP, on the other hand...

Oops this turned into a semi rant. But I am legitimately open to discussion here, and am curious to get your thoughts on a few points Bob. That is, IF you're willing to actually think about them beyond the level of repeating talking points.

I find it interesting how divergent the two overall "sides" are in this country, in terms of where they focus. None of the issues brought up in this video are really on the radar of most progressives, beyond being aware some on the right are talking about them. And I'm guessing a lot of the concerns progressives discuss rarely come up in your chosen media landscape. A lot of the issues in the video are largely off of my radar, and I have to wonder how you feel they should be addressed - like, actual proposed solutions rather than just complaining about / worrying about them.

We only dedicate one day to remember our fallen soldiers

How many should there be? Arguably we have more than one already: there's Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and it seems that Sept 11th is often used for the purpose as well.

I'd argue we should spend more time acknowledging and understanding the principals behind WHY our soldiers died in the various conflicts which caused them to fall in the first place. Let's make sure our citizenry appreciates what we collectively rejected in the Revolutionary war. Why it was important that we kept the country together rather than allowing the south to split off in the mid-1800s. Why we chose to honor our diplomatic agreements and support our allies in WW1. Why we fought against the countries and governments we did in WW2. What our goals were in Korea and Vietnam, and what lessons we learned from those conflicts and from the Cold War in general. Commemorating and remembering those we've lost absolutely matters, but if we're ONLY doing that while forgetting why they fought OR ignoring what we learned then we're doing them an equal or greater disservice. Remember that America was built on the idea of forming "a more perfect union" - not a perfect one, a MORE perfect one - a work in progress. We're striving towards an ideal, not assuming we're already there. Learning from our past successes, failures, and our struggles around both outcomes is vital. If our self-analysis is no deeper than hero worship we'll never make real progress towards that theoretical perfect union.

The only mask that's gonna save us is duct tape on their mouths

Yeah, sound medical advice and evidence-based science is terrifying. Better to shut up those whose words we dislike, because we're reactionary authoritarian babymen. I truly do not understand being more afraid of reasonable safety measures than of a virus which has been shown to cause serious harm in the short and long terms. The only reason this "masks = liberal / maskless = conservative" crap came about is because politics has devolved to the level of team sports in the US, and one party has chosen "the opposite of whatever our political opponents say" as their entire governing philosophy. (And yes, ONE party - research and understand the GOP's 2020 platform if you want to argue the point.) This video even seems to reach a reasonable conclusion at the end, while coming up just short of that final logical leap to "maybe I should question what the public faces of MY side have been claiming in this Us vs Them madness." Seriously - keep going friend, you're almost there! George Washington was 100% right in wanting to avoid political parties being a force in the US, and it makes me immensely sad that his fears came true.

Big oil runs the world / the only wars to get fought are with the countries who have natural resources they want

Solid point here, no sarcasm. The US military has long been a tool of our profit-driven form of "free market" imperialism. A really great way to combat this, specifically with an eye to ending Big Oil's goddamn death grip on our foreign policy goals, would be an aggressive implementation of renewable energy projects. Remember the space race? America can be an absolute beast at clever engineering solutions when we dedicate ourselves to it. Fuck the petrostates, we have the available land and resources to absolutely kick ass in the realms of solar and wind power, and be leaders in the the post-hydrocarbon reality. We can certainly agree on that, right Bob? Left / Right nonsense fully aside, I think any reasonable American can agree on at least two points: let's stop sending heaps of cash to buy oil off of the Saudis (etc), and Fuck Cancer.

But if a white man acts too white he's white trash / he's a racist he's a bigot he's a monster

What the fuck is this horseshit? What does "acting too white" even fucking look like? Watching NASCAR on a sailboat while listening to polka? Typically when I see racism from white people it's in the form of denying that brown-hued people deal with any additional difficulties in life due to their skin tone, or denying that there have been structural obstacles for them through history, or lamenting that their white children are being burdened with a broader lens on culture or with (gasp! shock!) an accurate accounting of actual US history, including the ugly bits that we shouldn't be proud of (but MUST learn from). I'm progressive / lefty as fuck and there is no aspect of "white culture" or "acting white" which upsets me in the slightest. UNLESS one counts "denying racism exists / has ever existed" as a fundamental value of being white. Which... why would anyone want to claim that nonsense? If you want to listen to classic country music in a rusty pickup truck while driving to an evangelical church, then discuss hockey over Buds after 18 holes with the rest of your tractor pull team, then absolutely go nuts my fellow caucusoid! Just recognize and understand that your life experiences may not be the same as those of others. Further, if we care about trying to avoid unnecessary, avoidable unfairness in life (recognizing that life will never truly be fair, for anyone), then it might be reasonable for some governmental / legal / structural recognition in furtherance of that notion. There is absolutely room for legitimate policy disagreement here without being accused of racism. It's denial of others' reality which tends to garner the label of racist (sexist etc) - steer clear of denying the lived experiences of other people, allow for the possibility they may have encountered difficulties you haven't / won't, and we've room for further discussion.

Edit / final point: I voted the video back up to 0 from the -1 where I found it. Because while I disagree with a lot of the positions taken by the performer, they may have reached them through no fault of their own and with no true malice. Misinformation / disinformation is a devious shit of a motherfucker, and the rot it causes can run deep. It is painful to abandon deeply-held beliefs, on a fundamental level. If nothing else, the video gives us room to discuss some specific viewpoints held by people who think of themselves as good, but which can lead to harm.

Congratulations! Your video, Bret Hart teaching nerds a lesson, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 17 Badge!

Your video, Bret Hart teaching nerds a lesson, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Um….what? This stops any state from cheating and requires they send electors for the candidate that won more certified votes.
Today, without the bill, if a State legislature cheats like dozens of Republican legislatures did in 2020, there’s a good chance it’s still official….that’s what you want, the ability for dishonest Republican legislatures to pick the state winner, not voters.
This stops unsubstantiated claims of cheating from being enough to overturn an election…it stops anti democratic frauds like the ones Trumpsters tried in 2020 from being in any way legal.

Are you brain damaged? Democrats wanted the recount, Bush won because it was halted. Gore sued for recounts, Bush sued to stop them. YOU MORONIC IMBICILE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_presidential_election_recount_in_Florida
Holy fucking sheep shit buddy. You have everything totally backwards and upside down. It’s a shock you aren’t dead from shoving steak in your asshole and trying to shit out your neck.

This time Republicans tried to stop the count, not a recount, not a second recount, but the initial count of valid certified votes….also, moron, history lesson..republicans and the conservative court stopped the recount in 2000, not Democrats….after 1/4 of Florida counties failed to complete a legally required machine recount Gore sued for hand recounts and Bush successfully blocked them, that’s why Bush “won” despite not getting more votes. Are you really so insane you think Democrats stopped the recount that had them ahead, handing unearned victory to Bush? You probably are.

Tried to stop the Trump count? What the everloving fuck are you making up now? Clinton conceded the day after the election (after she won with 3 million more votes), no one tried to stop the count, you moronic liar. WHAT!?!

Again…WHAT? What do you mean by the meaningless “if a state cheats”? That’s some meaningless nonsense speak….define this chimeric right wing term. This bill STOPS state legislatures from cheating, ignoring the vote and sending electors they choose. That STOPS cheating, it doesn’t allow it. It also still lets congress to invalidate electors if there’s corruption…but by 2/3 vote not just one.

You’re smoking too much meth again. Derp.

Buy oceanfront property in S Florida, or farmland in N India and put your money where your mouth is….but know you can’t get flood/drought insurance. 🤦‍♂️

Yes, don’t look up is fiction, just like your religion. It still has lessons to teach.

For my understanding, the general meaning of the word "Zionism" is vastly changed throughout the eras. And there isn't a homogeneous kind of Zionism anyway. What kind of "Zionist agenda" the people/government living in the land of "Israel/Palestine" in the 30-50s to today had in mind and pushing for is totally different. Let's be concerned with today's general definition of Zionism, as mostly defined by the Likud and the other far-right/Nationalist parties in today's Israel shall we?

Also, I can't imagine there are a whole lot of countries that would deny Israel's right-to-exist (like, physically, wholeheartedly want to wipe them of the face of the earth kind, NOT the expedient, political rhetorics for their own domestic consumption kind). And those that could really be crazy enough, like Iran, I constantly (naively?) felt the Ayatollahs would rather opt for silent, staus-quo relations than go to war with Israel (they must see the Ukraine invaison and see Russia/Putin isolation as a lesson, they can't afford to put themselves in the same position as Putin's in a Israel/Iran war. The Ayatollahs don't have even Iranian people standing behind them).

The good is that for Israel vs. the Arab countries, trust building is possible, but incredibly slow -- it only takes one wrong step to negate a mile of trust building -- but still, the past few years have seen some Arab countries opening up bilateral embassies with Israel along wiht increased trades & direct flights, etc.

The no good, very bad news of the statehood issues, daily IvP conflict, land grabs and from low-level militray incursions to the occasional missiles trading military operations, are happening far too often. Thus making hard-core Zionism, support of Hamas, the isolation of the Palestinian people & economy, etc. all the more severe. None of these are paths towards peace and/or creating the conditions for mutually agreeable settlement. All the flashpoints needs to be addressed in an even-handed way. But we just don't see balance in the media and/or the world political arena.