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Hey! Let's take a look at Twitter these days

Given some things I saw earlier today (and can't track right now), it's possible/likely that "Cindy Steinberg" was not a real person, but a bot or sock puppet account run to generate backlash.
Faux leftist rhetoric inspires artificially intelligent antisemitic response.

This is not the gritty cyberpunk future I was promised. This is just awful.
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'Grounding' exposed: Former psychic calls trend spiritually dangerous, scientifically baseless

When someone says “grounding” to me, I think of electrical connections. I had to look it up. My opinion? “Ah, no.”

First, let’s talk about electric currents in the earth. As with most things, it gets complicated. First in mind are stray currents. Stray currents are man-made and a result of grounding problems. That statement involves hand-waving, but let’s go with it. Then there’s ground-loops, also a man-made problem and results from a difference in potential between electrical grounding. People are more familiar with that one from the infamous ground-loop hum that can afflict audio systems. There is current from galvanic corrosion, which can occur from dissimilar metals in the ground close to each other. There is current when a power line falls, and it can kill you from the different in potential between one leg and the other. Seriously. That’s one reason why we (electric utility) are issued special insulated overshoes that go over our work boots. There is current from lightning strikes, which is the same thing.

The last is real and simultaneously weird: telluric currents. These are natural, weak, low-voltage currents in the earth and oceans. Very low voltage. It has a number of natural sources. Just a few years ago, I took cheap metal tent pegs, drove them down in a square with the corners as far apart as the leads of my swing-arm multimeter would reach, and barely picked up something. I used my old swing-arm voltmeter because I hoped it would put just enough burden on it to eliminate “phantom” voltage that digital voltmeters can sometimes “pick up.”

Telluric currents are not the currents hypothesized in “grounding.” If I had put two slabs of pork meat on the ground, skin touching the soil, and stuck the probes in them, I’m confident that the meter would read zero. What I picked up during my experiment was so weak I doubt it would get past the skin.

That’s pretty much it. If “grounding” were a thing, you would be able to measure it with a multi-meter. You can’t. Worse for the hypothesis is that if it did exist, everything already in contact with the soil would have the same charge potential. It would be like birds on a power line. There’s no difference in potential, so they don’t get zapped. But let them contact something with a different potential, and they will get fried, likely knocking out power in the process. Been there, seen that. You need a good insulator to separate potential, which is where lightning strikes come in: Air gap between cloud and ground serves as an insulator until the charge reaches the point that it exceeds the insulation value, then zap!

The closest thing to “grounding” than I’ve encountered before was the idea among scythe users that mowing pastures barefoot was “therapeutic.” Since hookworms around here are connected to going barefoot, I’m rather chilly with that idea to start with. Since one of the sources for mowing barefoot began with a short poem that was essentially worship of the pasture, my opinion is a strong “Nope.” I’ll keep my shoes on, thank you.

Having lived through the woo of the 1970s New Age junk, and some casual investigation of some of it as natural phenomena, most of it is based on unproven assumption and wishful thinking. Even that’s a risk of going deeper into the woo, and what’s often there is religious belief that’s not Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
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Believers being bullied by other brothers and sisters in Christ.

but that doesn't mean that all are.
No of course it doesn't, but if they had been the majority instead of being the persecuted for failing to fall in line, then God's will would have been done a long time ago instead of man's. The 'system', be it religious or secular, has never favoured God, but only the backwards ways of mankind.
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US revokes terror label for Syria’s HTS after it toppled Assad; Christian group decries 'injustice'

I don't see how.
After what happened in Iraq, following the toppling of Saddam Hussein, I am hoping US Christians will at last realise that the instability created in the Middle East has not helped the Christian minorty there in the least bit.
They don't care about the Christians of the Middle East, they care about the Jews living in Israel more.
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Despite apologies, Trump DC Attorney nominee Ed Martin can't escape connection to Hitler-loving Jan 6 hostage (He's out, Pirro is now interim)

ingrassia has now been named to the Office of the Special Counsel

Jewish Groups Deny Endorsing Trump’s Far-Right Pick for Watchdog Chief

Paul Ingrassia, tipped to lead the Trump administration’s Office of Special Counsel, has known ties to white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.​

Apparently mindful of their nominee’s colorful resumé, White House told CNN last week that Ingrassia in fact has the backing of “many Jewish groups,” by which it then clarified it meant just four organizations.

The network has now contacted those groups. Three said they’d never heard of him, while a fourth initially denied backing him, before getting back in touch several days later to say he had their support.
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Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters faces possible prosecution after supporting banned Palestine Action

I think a lot of the societal gripes and conflicts that occur are precisely the result of people not paying close enough attention to state & federal politics.
Perhaps, though it seems to me people care far too much about national politics especially the presidency and far too little about downballot races. Far easier to hold politicians drawing from a smaller pool accountable, and I'm not just talking about local.
I consider "30% of my income getting taken" as more than just a minor intrusion, especially when that money will be used to dictate policy that the local and county government will have no choice but to follow.
Death and taxes. Comparitively speaking, US taxes are quite low.
If you look at any of the hot button issues out there today (whether it be guns, abortion, school curriculum accreditation, etc...), those are almost all going to come from the state and/or federal level and your mayor or city council will have little to no say in those matters.
Most of those don't have a whole lot of effect on my life, so I don't get worked up about them. And the ones that do like curriculum generally aren't all that inflexible and aren't usually directly affected by voting since the officials who decide such things are generally appointments rather than voted into office. Part of my disinterest is I live in a state where I am grossly outnumbered and caring about state and national politics would simply be angering with little real possibility of change. So I focus on where my voice actually makes a difference, and pray that the rest doesn't get too mangled.
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Which US President since 2000 has had the most hate directed at them?

Wow, I am surprised Obama is in the lead considering it is a conservative forum.
in my opinion people should not be disgusted by the attacks on Obama
sure , there was a minority of racists that attacked him for being black
However Obama mocked people for clinging to guns and religion, which was ridiculously inappropriate. If I was an American that supported gun control because I wanted old ladies to be able to protect themselves and was religious because it helped me fight my baser nature I would have savaged Obama.
He did mock the Bible. I didn’t appreciate that. I still respected him as the president even if I didn’t agree with some of his policies.

Peace
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Flat or round earth -The final experiment.

Revelation wasn't written to teach people about the shape of the earth. Why would it have been?
Revelation contains a vision of God, angels, cherubim etc worshipping. It contains letters from Jesus to 7 churches. It tells of how Satan will be finally overthrown, defeated and how there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
It is about the end of the world, not the beginning - and certainly not about the shape that God made the earth.

It's a picture of what the END of the world will be like.

No, it doesn't.
Such a comment shows that you do not understand Revelation - nor do you understand that God did not inspire the Bible to teach people about the shape of the earth.
It's not important. It cannot keep people from God. Satan may deceive people about many things - the shape of the earth is not one of them.
You have said, several times, that if people believed the earth was flat they would realise the Bible was true and there'd be more converts. If that were true, everyone in the Flat Earth Society would be Christians, and they're not.

You have never been able to explain how Christians who believe in a globe earth and Christians who believe the earth to be a flat, yet 40,000 foot deep, object surrounded by Antarctica will both be in heaven.
You can't explain how I, a globe earth Christian, believe Genesis 1 and how I am a Christian just as much as you are.
The obvious answer is that they have nothing at all to do with each other. Maybe you haven't answered because you don't want to believe/accept that.
Jesus didn't teach the shape of the earth and the idea that a person can believe in him, have eternal life, belong to the Good Shepherd, be filled with his Spirit etc etc and then be deceived, punished or miss out in some way because they were mistaken about the shape that God made one of the planets in the solar system to be, is ludicrous.

Revelation contradicts all notions of Globe as does Genesis 1.
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Episcopal Church court sides with priest disciplined for 'Eucharistic fast' against racism

In the Episcopal Church in the US, it is considered a means of grace. I have never met an Episcopalian that considers it otherwise. Even among the Evangelical party.

It sounds to me like the Episcopal church's court was addressing a technicality, without approving of his decision.
Thanks for the input.
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As Texas Flood Deaths Rise, Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by National Weather Service

Yeah he was as wrong to do that as every single person on this thread was wrong to blame Trump. Trump should have have just said the weather service did their job and shouldnt be blamed for this tragedy and point out we are doing whatever we can to help those in need at this time.
Hmm....nothing about Trump needing to repent.
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Salvation by grace through faith and our responsibility?

A curse can be a tormenting spirit nagging a victim, or as from Genesis and Pandora's box, war, famine, plague... cursed land to til. I suppose also, infertility, and Jesus was very badly cursed on the tree. All human kind's sin in Him, but He overcame it.

Are infants condemned? Even infants cursed with OCD? Are they alive in the spirit to God? If someone loves God, there is life towards God in them. A person of the apt nature, when taken up like Saul of Tarsus into the light of life, comes alive and is refreshed apart from curses. A person in a quiet faith supporting environment who receives the laying on of hands for Jesus's sacred and powerful blood, might be cleaned of heart and justified, if they trust and receive in heart. There is infusion.

Spiritual death and curse can block receiving, even amidst good preaching.
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NATO Leader Lauds Trump as ‘Man of Strength’, ‘Man of Peace’

Thank you for your opinion. Curious, what did they get out of flattering him?

peace? Paying 5% of gdp, which they said would never happen?
He spoke more favorably about NATO as to keep it together.

Hey, flattery is working for Putin.
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Consequences of firing government employees - USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them

So, do you think there is some sort of secret liberal cabal coordinating assignments in an insurgency against the CF political orthodoxy? LOL.
Speaking of cabals, this is the second poster recently to ask why I'm posting to threads that don't have much other activity.

Since they're addressing the poster and not the post, I ignore it.

And if they don't like the thread, there's lotsa other threads around here.
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$15 Billion And Climbing: Trump’s Tariffs Deliver Record High Revenue

You know thats a good point. Progressives really like sales taxes even though those sale taxes affect everyone including the poor. They raise prices. And they keeping adding on more. Then when tariffs come along suddenly they are concerned that it might raise prices on some products?


Actually, you made me curious. Looking at Tax Foundation reporting, it appears that conservatives that really love income taxes. So, the top 10 income tax states (highest percentage income taxes, combined state and local rate):
  1. Louisiana
  2. Tennessee
  3. Arkansas
  4. Washington
  5. Alabama
  6. Oklahoma
  7. California
  8. Illinois
  9. Kansas
  10. New York
The bottom four, all tied with no income tax in the state (no state or local) are, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon.

Last, most states have eliminated sales tax on groceries to help keep the tax from being as regressive. Ten states still allow taxes on groceries and most are conservative states. Four states allow full sales tax on groceries, those are: Hawaii, Idaho (though both Hawaii and Idaho offer tax credits to offset the tax for low income households), Mississippi, and South Dakota (neither Mississippi nor South Dakota have any type of program to offset the tax on food for low income). Then six states offer a reduced tax rate for food: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois (and the state tax in Illinois will be eliminated at the end of the year), Missouri, Tennessee, and Utah.
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Gibbons Decline & Fall & Christianity

If the emperor had capriciously decreed the death of the most eminent and virtuous citizen of the republic, the cruel order would have been executed without hesitation, by the ministers of open violence or of specious injustice. The caution, the delay, the difficulty with which he proceeded in the condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop, discovered to the world that the privileges of the church had already revived a sense of order and freedom in the Roman government. The sentence which was pronounced in the synod of Tyre, and subscribed by a large majority of the Eastern bishops, had never been expressly repealed; and as Athanasius had been once degraded from his episcopal dignity by the judgment of his brethren, every subsequent act might be considered as irregular, and even criminal. But the memory of the firm and effectual support which the primate of Egypt had derived from the attachment of the Western church, engaged Constantius to suspend the execution of the sentence till he had obtained the concurrence of the Latin bishops. Two years were consumed in ecclesiastical negotiations; and the important cause between the emperor and one of his subjects was solemnly debated, first in the synod of Arles, and afterwards in the great council of Milan, which consisted of above three hundred bishops. Their integrity was gradually undermined by the arguments of the Arians, the dexterity of the eunuchs, and the pressing solicitations of a prince who gratified his revenge at the expense of his dignity, and exposed his own passions, whilst he influenced those of the clergy. Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was successfully practised; honors, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; and the condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully represented as the only measure which could restore the peace and union of the Catholic church. The friends of Athanasius were not, however, wanting to their leader, or to their cause. With a manly spirit, which the sanctity of their character rendered less dangerous, they maintained, in public debate, and in private conference with the emperor, the eternal obligation of religion and justice. They declared, that neither the hope of his favor, nor the fear of his displeasure, should prevail on them to join in the condemnation of an absent, an innocent, a respectable brother. They affirmed, with apparent reason, that the illegal and obsolete decrees of the council of Tyre had long since been tacitly abolished by the Imperial edicts, the honorable reestablishment of the archbishop of Alexandria, and the silence or recantation of his most clamorous adversaries. They alleged, that his innocence had been attested by the unanimous bishops of Egypt, and had been acknowledged in the councils of Rome and Sardica, by the impartial judgment of the Latin church. They deplored the hard condition of Athanasius, who, after enjoying so many years his seat, his reputation, and the seeming confidence of his sovereign, was again called upon to confute the most groundless and extravagant accusations. Their language was specious; their conduct was honorable: but in this long and obstinate contest, which fixed the eyes of the whole empire on a single bishop, the ecclesiastical factions were prepared to sacrifice truth and justice to the more interesting object of defending or removing the intrepid champion of the Nicene faith. The Arians still thought it prudent to disguise, in ambiguous language, their real sentiments and designs; but the orthodox bishops, armed with the favor of the people, and the decrees of a general council, insisted on every occasion, and particularly at Milan, that their adversaries should purge themselves from the suspicion of heresy, before they presumed to arraign the conduct of the great Athanasius.

But the voice of reason (if reason was indeed on the side of Athanasius) was silenced by the clamors of a factious or venal majority; and the councils of Arles and Milan were not dissolved, till the archbishop of Alexandria had been solemnly condemned and deposed by the judgment of the Western, as well as of the Eastern, church. The bishops who had opposed, were required to subscribe, the sentence, and to unite in religious communion with the suspected leaders of the adverse party. A formulary of consent was transmitted by the messengers of state to the absent bishops: and all those who refused to submit their private opinion to the public and inspired wisdom of the councils of Arles and Milan, were immediately banished by the emperor, who affected to execute the decrees of the Catholic church. Among those prelates who led the honorable band of confessors and exiles, Liberius of Rome, Osius of Cordova, Paulinus of Trèves, Dionysius of Milan, Eusebius of Vercellæ, Lucifer of Cagliari and Hilary of Poitiers, may deserve to be particularly distinguished. The eminent station of Liberius, who governed the capital of the empire; the personal merit and long experience of the venerable Osius, who was revered as the favorite of the great Constantine, and the father of the Nicene faith, placed those prelates at the head of the Latin church: and their example, either of submission or resistance, would probable be imitated by the episcopal crowd. But the repeated attempts of the emperor to seduce or to intimidate the bishops of Rome and Cordova, were for some time ineffectual. The Spaniard declared himself ready to suffer under Constantius, as he had suffered threescore years before under his grandfather Maximian. The Roman, in the presence of his sovereign, asserted the innocence of Athanasius and his own freedom. When he was banished to Beræa in Thrace, he sent back a large sum which had been offered for the accommodation of his journey; and insulted the court of Milan by the haughty remark, that the emperor and his eunuchs might want that gold to pay their soldiers and their bishops. The resolution of Liberius and Osius was at length subdued by the hardships of exile and confinement. The Roman pontiff purchased his return by some criminal compliances; and afterwards expiated his guilt by a seasonable repentance. Persuasion and violence were employed to extort the reluctant signature of the decrepit bishop of Cordova, whose strength was broken, and whose faculties were perhaps impaired by the weight of a hundred years; and the insolent triumph of the Arians provoked some of the orthodox party to treat with inhuman severity the character, or rather the memory, of an unfortunate old man, to whose former services Christianity itself was so deeply indebted.(The History of the decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 2, Chap. 21, pgs. 340 - 343 of the Everyman's Library edition)


We will allow for the testimony of Hilary of Poitiers, mentioned by Gibbon’s as a persecuted prelate in the above quote, to address the conditions of the Catholic Church of his day.

HILARY OF POITIERS (300-368)

“ He [Hilary] begins by speaking the blessings of peace, which the Christians of that day could neither enjoy nor promote, beset as they were by the forerunners of Antichrist…….. They bear themselves not as bishops of Christ but as priests of Antichrist. This is not random abuse, but sober recognition of the fact, stated by St. John, that there are many Antichrists. For these men assume the cloak of piety, and pretend to preach the Gospel, with the one object of inducing others to deny Christ. It was the misery and folly of the day that men endeavoured to promote the cause of God by human means and the favor of the world. Hilary asks bishops, who believe in their office, wether the Apostles had secular support when by their preaching they converted the greater part of mankind……

“ The church seeks for secular support, and in so doing insults Christ by the implication that His support is insufficient. She in her turn holds out the threat of exile and prison. It was her endurance of these that drew men to her; now she imposes her faith by violence. She craves for favors at the hand of her communicants; once it was her consecration that she braved the threatening of persecutors. Bishops in exile spread the faith; now it is she that exiles bishops. She boasts that the world loves her; the worlds hatred was the evidence that she was Christ’s……. The time of Antichrist, disguised as an angel of light, has come. The true Christ is hidden from almost every mind and heart. Antichrist is now obscuring the truth that he may assert falsehood hereafter.” (E. W. Watson, Introduction to Hilary of Poitiers, in NPNF, 2d series, vol. 9, pp. lii, liii.) Vol. 1, p. 409.
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Shoe bombs are back in fashion!

When you fly through 3rd world airports, like Cleveland

Actually, when I saw the comedian Rich Vos perform in Cleveland some years back, he made a joke about it

He said the slogan for the airport should be "The Cleveland Airport: It's the Cleveland of airports"

Although to be fair, I've heard other recorded sets from him where he did the identical joke about Newark, so it's probably part of his usual schtick.
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