News - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 13)

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A collection of 649 posts

Climate Change, Denialism and Changing Our Ways

Climate Change, Denialism and Changing Our Ways

I have got myself into thinking about climate change again with the torrent of depressing news concerning the environment, our climate and biodiversity. Recently, such news includes Brazil, under right-wing President Bolsonaro having an 88% increase in Amazon deforestation, governments and firms in 28 countries being sued over the climate

consequentialism

Quote of the Day: Zeichner on Trump

The other day, Martin Zeichner posted this on a Trump thread: Thank you for this post. I have also given the topic of "Why does Trump have any supporters at all?" some thought. I figure that it must be that Trump's hard core base must identify

The Disconnect Between News and Reality

The Disconnect Between News and Reality

These sorts of surveys are always fascinating reading and viewing. So often, there is a disconnect between what we think is the case in any number of scenarios in the world around us, and the reality. We are really bad at estimating and we are swayed by the news quite

Poll: Tory Party Members Would Rather Trash UK Than Remain In EU

Poll: Tory Party Members Would Rather Trash UK Than Remain In EU

This latest YouGov survey is an absolute shocker. It really is. And I can verify these stats with the last two party members I have spoken to (in my extended family). It has got to the point where political stubbornness has led to these extreme positions. We really are looking

Real Deconversion Story #18 - Manfred

Here is another account in my series of real-life deconversion stories. They are often painful, psychological affairs, as you can see from the various accounts. This one is different. it is not a deconversion to atheism, but one from right-wing Christian Republicanism to a vastly different form of Christianity and

Crime & Punishment

Trump, Yet Again, Shows Himself To Be An Utter Twit

I could have been far more rhetorically robust there, but I didn't want to have myself filtered... I'm sure you are well aware that Trump has got himself in the news again, on this side of the pond. He has taken to read retweeting someone who

The Religious Right & Project Blitz

The Religious Right & Project Blitz

I have written before about how the religious right is raising their game to capitalise on the chaos and distraction caused by Trump in order to pass laws concerning abortion. This move to force their pious views and hardline Christian values upon American society is part of an organised and

What a Speech!

I don't know an awful lot about the support (or lack of) and healthcare (or lack of) offered to first responders to the 9/11 disaster. Someone who evidently does is Jon Stewart, formerly of The Daily Show. He knows so much, indeed, that he feels emotionally connected

The State of Brexit: Thoughts following the EU elections

Here is another political one, this time guest posted by Rhys Chellow, someone I know from Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub. If you would like to guest post here, please let me know. Over to Rhys: Although The Brexit Party won the greatest number of seats in the UK for

Conservative Eviscerates Trump

Conservative Eviscerates Trump

This isn't click-bait. This is an evisceration that has so many talking points, I don't know where to start. I get a lot out of criticisms of people from their own side. Before we get into that, let's look at the welcome Trump has

Everyone's a Little Bit Racist: Trump, Farage and Modern Politics

The title really should be "Everyone's a Little Bit In-groupy..." but it doesn't flow so well... For various evolutionary reasons, we are very distrustful of people in the outgroup. There would have been benefits for troops of primates who would be more genetically different

False and Contradictory Brexit Promises

This list could be fifteen times longer. Such quotes could also be listed about Trump and his claims. This is the sort of context around which the Leave vote jus squeezed a victory (the latest poll has Remain winning at 60%). We are still debating and negotiating what looks to

Brexit: I Could Cry with the Stupidity of This...

Brexit: I Could Cry with the Stupidity of This...

I could be mistaken and perhaps this woman (in the video below) has some kind of genuine learning difficulty. If not, however, this is an example of the sort of crap that is happening at the moment in the Brexit debate in Britain. I was phoned up the other day

The Stupidity of Abortion Lawmakers

The Stupidity of Abortion Lawmakers

Let's whet your appetite: how did abortions get banned faster than assault rifles— Tay☁️ (@taywildin) 15 May 2019 Birth control? BAN IT!!Abortion? BAN IT!! What about guns? Look, banning things never works. People will find ways to get them#AlabamaAbortionBan — Debbie Redd (@DREDD_48) 15 May 2019

America, Sort It Out! Abortion Rates Go Down When Countries Make It Legal

Wow, things have really taken a turn for the worse. You blink, and states in the US suddenly go nuts. Here is what happens when you concentrate with a one track mind on President Trump and forgets to keep an eye on everything else. Before I get into what has

Skewed Data from Massive Inequality in the US

Here is something well worth knowing. What many people do with America is take averages, say of income, earnings etc. However, this skews data. Because the US has the highest inequality, and the rich are super fricking rich, those super super rich raise the average considerably to make the average

Dark Money, Social Media Influence and Voting

I know this is a few weeks old now, but I think this is a must-watch video concerning the influence of media organisations and dark money on elections, notably (here) Brexit and the EU referendum and result, as well as the policies and negotiations enacted thereafter. The talk description is

Quote of the Day: Nemo on Pence

The Christian demagogue that is Mike Pence there's an awful lot of that wet wipes if you are afraid that, if Trump is to go anytime soon, then this very conservative Christian will be in charge of America. But some commentators think that he is already in charge.

NYT: Trump, Taxes and Being A Rubbish Businessman

The New York Times report on trump taxes have been all the talk of the news today on the American side of the pond. And rightly so. The reports comment IRS tax transcript show that Donald Trump lost $1.17bn from 1985 to 1994. That's not very good

New Study: The Relationship between Religion and Redistribution

There is undoubtedly a complex relationship between religion and the idea of redistribution, compounded by the effect of conservative political values, as according to a new study. The study, published in PLOS One, indicates that conservative political views have the power to overcome some of the effects of religion, particularly

Is the Net Closing in for Trump?

Trump has been under enormous pressure from every conceivable angle you could imagine, but he remains almost impervious as far as his core voting bloc and the Republicans in both houses are concerned, it seems. Senator Lindsey Graham appears to have gone back on his word from the impeachment proceedings

AOC Took D'Souza to Town in 2018

Just quick one concerning this incredibly insensitive tweet from arch-conservative Dinesh D'Souza: The first thing I would say is...BOOM! But in all seriousness, AOC is a force to be reckoned with (and this was before she was elected). She is eloquent, erudite and, well, spot on. I

Article V - Consitutional Convention - A Massive Risk?

American Legislative Exchange Council - Alec - is an organisation that has a worrying amount of power and influence (See John Oliver's episode on them). One of the insidious things they are up to is campaigning for a constitutional convention. There is a clause in Article V of

ATP Interviews Luciano Gonzalez on Atheism, Activism, Latin and South America

This is the last interview I did whilst I was in isolation in the clinic in Moscow. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed chatting with fellow Patheos Nonreligious blogger, at "Sin God", Luciano Joshua Gonzalez-Vega. We touch many bases and I think it is

Humanists Launch National Effort to Combat Climate Change

Another one from the American Humanist Association: Today, the American Humanist Association (AHA), a national advocacy organization, launched the Humanist Environmental Response Effort (HERE) for Climate initiative. HERE for Climate raises awareness about what it takes to make a difference and connects local individuals and community organizations with the resources