After all immigrants have been forced out, all social safety nets removed, and child labour laws repealed; after the resulting widespread poverty and famine. When Americans have no choice but to work in sweatshops for a dollar a day, then US manufacturing will finally be competitive enough for trump merch to be made in the US.

Sounds like nominative determinism

I’ll bet he’s seething today. Like ketchup on the walls, needing 20+ diaper changes seething. Probably didn’t sleep last night because he was glued to the teevee, clicking through news reports and getting angrier by the minute at the coverage.

Whomever runs interference was likely up all night trying to find favourable articles to print to placate him during his briefing this morning, and it didn’t work. They probably had to dodge a hurled half-empty Diet Coke as they scurried away.

His narcissistic injury must be yuge. I hope it was. (Though we’ll all pay for it soon, this image is worth it.)

(e come to think of it, we’d be better off if he had an actual jester. I totally get the point of them now.)

Pretty sure they do. They still own Clearwater, Florida (including the police department) and have a significant presence in East Grinstead, England, plus at least one mega-yacht in international waters. All they need to do is relocate you there then ‘handle’ the investigation when you come up missing.

Shelly is still missing to this day.

e: they may have toned down the crazy publicly because they were attracting too much attention, but I don’t think their power has diminished.

The whispered part of that is that members should run for office; that way they have the power to make laws conform to their ideology. I was surprised by the number of Mormons in Congress. They’re pretty over-represented for the population they represent.

On the age scale, they’re barely a blip. On the size scale, they’re massive enough to disappear people with zero accountability.

They’re a full-blown religion.

You’re right, and that’s fair. I guess I was talking about general atheists in one breath, then the specific vocal atheists OP seemed to be talking about in another.

I shouldn’t generalise like that. Atheism is simply the lack of belief in a god – any god. And there are many gods. You can be atheistic about any of them.

Scientology is pretty new, and pretty big.

I think you’ll find vanishingly few even fervent atheists who wouldn’t be persuaded by actual evidence. I know some percentage of fervent atheists would say if real evidence of a god were presented, they wouldn’t follow it because it’s a monster (I’m in this camp), but I don’t believe any real percentage would stick their fingers in their ears and say lalalala. That’s kind of the opposite of what atheism is about. It’s literally about evidence.

You can’t really blame people who were raised in religious environments and have newly discovered intellectual freedom, though, right? Sure, they can be obnoxious sometimes, just like we all are when we learn a new thing that’s blown our minds. They’ll grow out of it, and we should have patience, like in all things.

Hilariously, many of these companies already fired staff because their execs and upper management drank the Flavor-Aid. Now they need to spend even more rehiring in local markets where word has got round.

I’m so sad for them. Look, I’m crying 😂

Some, sure. Most, no.

Atheism is simply the state of nonbelief in a deity. It requires no declaration nor even conscious thought. I don’t believe in leprechauns, but I don’t belong to an anti-leprechaun cult.

e: you’re likely atheist about Ra, Thor, Sheba, and Quetzalcoatl, right? Most atheists feel the same about Yahweh, and aren’t likely to bring it up unless you do. Most will even hold out for dozens or hundreds of times. Many Christians seem oblivious to how often they reference their religion in casual conversation. Often, Atheists only have to say it once.

The only difference between religions and cults is the size.

Oh good lord no.

Those are almost universally built on religion, and most are very cult-like. If that’s your take on them, I suspect you haven’t had more than a superficial interaction with them.

The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe. It seems like a tropey romance-action flick, but is more a parody of genre clichés. The writing, acting, and humour are pretty good.

‘Here’s an idea: let all those around you know your status.’

‘Revolutionary!’

It’s weird we haven’t already done this, but good.

There’s already a codebase for bursting from the ground in an explosion of lava. Everyone wants that.

You’re the first person asking for a scarf, and our system doesn’t even know what a neck is.

Hahahaha relatable.

Oh nice. Just remember to hydrate and get some sleep. It’s so easy to lose hours to that game!

Medieval Dynasty: New Settlement in VR. It’s quite good, though a bit glitchy here and there. Finished the main quest line and am now running my tavern whilst waiting for my baby to be born.