Just want to add a couple of things

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. There were no extra-Biblical references to Pontius Pilate until 1961. Now imagine how much documentation must have surrounded the Roman prefect of Judea. All of it gone, except for a bit of limestone.

Also an argument (I think I heard it from Hitchens, but not sure): We know that the Nativity story is bogus because the Census that was supposed to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem is anachronistic. And we know that it’s important that Jesus be from Bethlehem (City of David) because the Messiah was prophesized to be from there.

So the question is: if were making up Jesus from whole cloth, why not just make him Jesus of Bethlehem? Why go to the trouble unless Jesus of Nazareth was something people were already familiar with?

Any platform that’s advertising based is a propaganda outlet. Reddit’s function is to manipulate pubic opinion.

Why not both?

Usually, when the FBI arrests “terrorists”, you find out that the FBI was the mastermind of the plot; provided materials and weapons; and the people arrested were recruited by the FBI. This pattern holds true with the militia types and the jihads.

Not that violent idiots don’t belong in jail, but it’s just funny that the FBI has planned more attacks on US soil than any other terrorist org. And it’s depressing because any smart and capable terrorist would never come within a mile of the FBI’s amateur hour entrapment.

Just for some context: the prohibition of using the Military in the States dates back to reconstruction. Slaveholding States didn’t like the Yankee Army protecting Civil rights.

I’m not defending Trump, but the idea that using troops as law enforcement is “Un-American” or tyrannical is Confederate propaganda.

Yea it’s funny to call powerful men gay because that would undermine their legitimacy as a leader and a person!

Nvidia is worth more than the pharmaceutical industry. Tesla is worth more than all other car manufacturers combined.

Anti immigration politics cannot be understood without racism.

Ideals like immigration is going to change the national character is just another way to say some people are better than others.

Opposition to immigration is incoherent unless racism is true.

What you describe is individualism. And while I agree that individualism has poisoned the Western mind, it comes from enlightenment philosophy, industrial capitalism, and economics, not faith. Viewing the whole world as the sum of individual choices is way younger than any major religion.

I would argue that the atomization of Western society has harmed religion as much as anything since religion is a cultural relic that still relies on communal activities.

The second Bernie became popular, a backlash like this was inevitable.

A material analysis of Bernie Sanders would rule out a backlash because he’s never held power or set policy.

But even if you rate effectiveness by how much they aggravate the right, politicians like Pelosi prove that being effective is more threatening than being left. Politicians like Obama prove that being black is more threatening than being radical.

I think you’ll find Bernie Sanders rates far higher in MAGA circles than Pelosi or Obama. Because he doesn’t represent any threat to them. (check out his defense of Trump’s immigration policy)

Just stopping by to point out that murdering, spying, and overthrowing a governments is the most normal President shit Trump has done. If your looking for the “return to normality” of Biden or Obama, this is it.

The oldest praying automaton we know of is from the 16th Century. This is basically that but with more capitalism.

I can’t help but notice how captured the Christian mind is, when even the return of the Savior is a business opportunity; a revenue stream. These people are already robots who can’t worship without a prospectus and a spread sheet.

Is 2021 a good year to study? Not only is this during the pandemic, but it was early when people were still taking the pandemic seriously.

I don’t think Parsons was talking about taxes, but a reordering of society where oligarchs don’t control government. That’s not on the ballot of any State in this Union. And it’s never ever going to be.

The FBI isn’t being corrupted, it’s being utilized. Haven’t you noticed that so many of our institutions were tools laying around for fascists to pick up? Like the machinery was already in place and oiled.

That’s why they say the US has “slid” into fascisim, because we didn’t have to move far.

Democrats will always do the right thing, after having exhausted every other option.

There is nothing more totalitarian in existence than government regulating people’s reproduction. It’s for people who see abortion bans and think: this is great, but how can we extend the same principals and logic to men?

Purdue pharma followed strict manufacturing and purity standards to produce a drug that killed more Americans than the Viet Cong and Al Qaeda combined.

Can we say that the American healthcare industry really protects it’s customers from harm any better than the cartels?

Cheap plastic bowl scrapers. Like these:

I use these every time I cook. I use them every time I clean the kitchen.