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A collection of 649 posts

Mitch McConnell Going Nuclear

What is it with this man? He is single-handily destroying democratic mechanisms and accountability in the Houses of the States. This is genuinely scary stuff: &list=WL&index=3

"Socialism Always Fails"?

[This is a guest post from J Enigma - enjoy]. The other week I was engaged with an individual on Facebook arguing the merits of employing a universal healthcare system (why yes, I am American. How did you guess?) Normally this is a waste of time, but I wasn’t

Trump Effectively Endorses NZ White Nationalist Killings

Trump Effectively Endorses NZ White Nationalist Killings

Trump came out in a press conference in condolence for the terrible killings in Christchurch, New Zealand. Some 49 worshippers were gunned down in several mosques by a white nationalist. After giving short condolences to NZ, Trump went on a rant about an invasion of immigrants into the borders of

Trump's CPAC Speech

I don't want to obsess too much about Donald Trump, but the man has lost the plot. Whether he ever had the plot is another discussion entirely… This video, although it admittedly edits for effect, does show him as being…well…completely unprofessional. Completely unpresidential. If I was

Psychiatrist: Trump's Pre-Dementia & Cognitive Decline Getting Worse

This is something about which we have laughed and joked to some time. However, this really may be a far more serious threat or issue than we have given it credit for. Donald Trump is the single most powerful man in the world, arguably. With great power comes great responsibility

Tucker Carlson Gets Owned by Bregman

There is nothing particularly unusual about Tucker Carlson getting owned but this video is pretty fabulous. It never got aired, precisely because Carlson gets real pushback from Bregman. Luckily for us, Bregman recorded the exchange. You may recognise Bregman from his now viral outburst at the Davos conference. I will

On Sovereignty: The UK

This is another guest piece from Rhys Chellow. He, like me, is very interested in politics, and in particular, the growing cluster...bomb that is Brexit. Over to him: Whilst Parliament has remained sovereign throughout membership of the EU, it has not always felt like that. (UK Government, 2017) Foreword

Trump and the Real Motivation for Wars

Modern wars for the arguably imperialistic United States have, according to many cynics, been about money. Yes, they cost a lot, but to offset the monetary costs of war (and the massive human tragedy they inflict), the possibility of bountiful spoils is truly influential. Indeed, the spoils of oil appear

Humanists Cheer Darwin Day Resolutions Introduced in the 116th Congress

Humanists Cheer Darwin Day Resolutions Introduced in the 116th Congress

This is from the American Humanist Association: American Humanist Association (AHA) leaders applaud the introduction of House Resolution 123 and Senate Resolution 63, also known as the Darwin Day Resolutions. Introduced by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the resolutions commemorate the birthday of famed biologist Charles

Candace Owens, Climate Change and Motivated Reasoning

This Joe Rogan excerpt is well worth a watch: Motivated reasoning is a powerful thing: the impetus to believe something irrespective of evidence and often in spite of it, due to other influencing factors. Climate change is a prime example of this. People tend to "believe" in climate

Problem of Evil

Sanders: God Wanted Trump To Be President? What a Dolt.

You've already heard it, I know, but for those living under a stone, Sarah Huckabee Sanders (not good ole Bernie, as I first thought from the headline!) is an eejit. And, if she can be believed, so is God: In an interview on Wednesday, White House press secretary

Is Trump Stoking up the Religious Left?

The American religious left is a nebulous thing in modern times; never quite hitting the headlines or having enough causal power, at least not as far as I am aware. An interesting NPR article recently claimed that Trump could be stoking the fires of the religious left: Nearly 40 years

Ocasio-Cortez, Hannity and Tax

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), in the news for shaking up the Democrats and Washington's political landscape, was interviewed recently by Stephen Colbert. She talks a little about how she has successfully used social media, including how she has helped some of her Democratic Congressional colleagues improve their understanding of

A Suggestion for Ballots (Perhaps a 2nd Referendum, too)

I was speaking to Alan Duval and he had this interesting idea for a 2nd EU Referendum (Ior indeed to remedy the shortcomings of the first if we could rewind), though you could apply the principle to any vote. His idea was to have 3 questions concerning the EU at

How to Tackle Climate Change

Climate change is on the agenda, and for good reason. Here is occasional contributor Ed Atkinson on creating an effective proposal to deal with the challenges ahead: The photo introducing this blog need not alarm you too much because I originally found it on the Daily Mail website. Yes, sea

Right/Left Paradigm Defunct in Totalitarian Regimes

This is effectively a quote of the day from 3lemenope: To the substance, I find the overlay of the Left/Right dichotomy onto regimes that have no significant democratic play in their regime types to be rather pointless, since the purpose of the Left/Right dichotomy in political science is

Trump and Doubling Down

I know, there is a general obsession with Trump and politics at the moment. I guess it's that kind of time in the four-year cycle. I just want to point out that Trump's response to, in what is appearing to be more of a blue wave

47 openly nontheist or humanist elected officials at the federal and state levels

From the Freethought Equality Fund: (Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2018)—Tuesday’s election will make 2019 the Year of the Freethinker. Once sworn into office, there will be 47 openly nontheist or humanist elected officials at the federal and state levels. “Prior to the 2016 elections we knew of

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Democratic Party

Midterm Summary

Well, what a mixed bag of nuts that was. It wasn't quite the Democratic blue wave that we were warned in the media hype that could happen. However, there were some notable movements within the American political system. No doubts, all of you will know by now facts

Anger and Despair: Brazil's Rejection of Politics-As-Usual

Brazil has elected far-right populist Jair Bolsonaro as president in an event that reflects what I have written about several times previously. As Simon Tisdall reports in "Disillusioned Brazilians swap politics of hope for politics of anger and despair": Jair Bolsonaro’s hard-right campaign for Brazil’s presidency

What's Really Warming the World? Compare and Contrast.

What's Really Warming the World? Compare and Contrast.

Bloomberg have produced a brilliant interactive infographic that is well worth having a peek at. It uses NASA modelling and the data and methodology are there for the reader to access. Please check this out here; it'll just take a minute or two. Stay in touch! Like A

Valerie Tarico on the Psychology of (Political) Tribalism

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist whom I respect and whom I have shared book space within previous anthologies (the latest being Christianity in the Light of Science). I was recently party to a conversation by email that was concerning Kavanaugh and his selection, and with regard to the book The

The World Seems to Be Lurching to the Right: Why?

The other day, I posted about how the world seems to be lurching to the right. Today, I am going to look into why this might be happening. If this is indeed the case, then why so? I have a few ideas, though these are predominantly from my own thinking

NZ's Ardern vs Trump

Jacinda Ardern is the Labour Prime Minister for New Zealand. Although she has riled some with her raising of taxes (my brother-in-law ain't too happy), she is doing some good work in raising the reputation of her country, certainly within the realm of younger or more media hip

On Answering Questions: Kavanaugh vs Ford

On Answering Questions: Kavanaugh vs Ford

This is an interesting little analysis from Vox from a Bloomberg transcript: Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher