It probably would’ve worked, too, especially if he could’ve put things off until Trump’s return to power.

I don’t need it, strictly speaking, but I definitely prefer it. White noise is okay if I need to drown other sound out.

Maybe yes, but realistically no. It’s open source, so anyone could make their own clone of it with whatever monetization methods they want. If you ran an instance, you could also charge people to post on it. That said, with the way Lemmy is organized, people would just leave the offending instance for a different one.

Weirdest would have to be that miracles were actively occuring at their Penacostal church. On the one hand, if that were true it would be strong evidence for a god. On the other hand, I don’t believe the claim is true.

A lot of believers point towards the fine-tuning argument. It’s “the god of the gaps.” Essentially, the argument boils down to the claim that since we don’t know why various laws and properties of nature and physics are the way they are, there must of have been a god that set them. Like many theist arguments, it falls apart when you consider that the lack of an alternate explanation doesn’t mean that there is no alternate explanation and that the believing explanation has to be correct.

As an atheist, I think the strongest argument for god is the moral argument. It’s simple. For objective morality to exist, there must be an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-moral being capable of establishing it (that is, a god). Objective morality exists, so God exists.

It’s easy to look at that and say “Well, objective morality doesn’t exist. End of story!” I think there is a decent argument that can be made for the existence of objective morality, though I don’t believe in it. Still, do I not believe in god because I think objective morality doesn’t exist, or do I think objective morality doesn’t exist because I don’t believe in god? If I’m being honest, it’s more the latter than the former, and that’s not really a great way to come to the conclusion.

It’s a terrible idea. Isn’t the military a strong enough institution in the US as it is? What right does the government have to rob years from the lives of their youth by having them go play soldier, especially in times of peace?

Look into technical writing. I took it in college but I’m sure you can find free resources online about it. In short, good technical writing is:

• accurate
• concise
• clear
• usable
• readable

Of course, that’s easier said than done. It makes sense to make a rough outline of what you want to write before you write it. It’s also good to look over what you’ve written afterwards. If you keep these basic principles in mind while planning, writing, and revising, you can make your writing more effective.

It matters very little. It’s performative, trying to justify the conflict by framing it one way or another. The reality on the ground will remain the same no matter what the media calls it. Ultimately, it will be historians that name the war.

The combatants are Israel and Hamas. The location is Gaza. Conclude from that what you will as far the “proper” name for the conflict.

This coming massacre brought to you by taxpayers like you! Thank you!

The prompt just says the revolution was successful and that now it’s time for a new constitution. It’s not even US-specific, so there’s no reason to assume that state governments even exist in the context of the prompt, much less need to approve this new constitution. There’s no need for such niceties if we’re in a world where a revolution has destroyed the old regime in its entirety.

Frankly, that’s a ridiculous scenario. States are an artificial construct. There’s no reason California couldn’t be split into five states so they can get more senators, and there’s no reason tiny east coast states couldn’t be merged together. It’s just a matter of political will. States rights do nothing to benefit the individuals living in those states. Often when we talk about states rights, states are imposing some kind of oppression or restriction on their citizens, abortion being the most recent example. The Supreme Court threw it back to the states, many of which banned it immediately.

The states don’t matter! They’re overgrown, glorified municipalities. If we are going to redesign the system, we need to reduce their power all together. States are a relic of a colonial system founded by the British, where each colony was individually granted a charter, and a of a constitution written at the same time the Holy Roman Empire was alive.

What stops ridiculous, punitive laws from being passed? What stops them from being passed now? The courts, for one, and the federal government. Often it’s the states that are trigger happy in committing some kind of mayhem.

We’ve lived with states for so long that we’ve been gaslit into thinking that their existence is in our best interest. While states might be useful in some form, like in organizing regional infrastructure projects, their power should be diminished, and they are not deserving of house on par with the house of the people.

Of course, Congress is in need of other dire reforms as well. It should be bigger, for one, and first past the post should be replaced with some kind of alternate system (perhaps California-style jungle primaries?).

Should we care about the states or the people in the states? There are less people in Rhode Island than California. Are those people so much more important that they get more representation, proportionally speaking?

People have locational representation in their local governments. Let them rule over themselves if you want, but don’t give them disproportionate authority over the rest of us.

Occupy and commit war crimes in the name of “nation building.” Do this until political winds change at home and force us to pull out.

What was the question, again?

Just start your car. It’s cheaper

A bit of both. It dries out your skin to shower every day, and I honestly don’t feel like I need to shower every day with not-particularly-active lifestyle. Saves water and electric, as well, but not enough for that to be the reason why.

Every other day, but sometimes more often depending on what I’ve been up to

Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

• Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan)
• Blood on the Tracks: New York Session (Bob Dylan
• Willie and the Poor Boys (CCR)
• Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Tally Hall)
• 1990 (Daniel Johnston)
• Z (My Morning Jacket)
• I Had A Dream That You Were Mine (Hamilton Leithauser & Rostam)
• London Calling (The Clash)
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles)
• Roast Beef (Biff Rose)

If I thought about it longer, I’d probably end up with a more varied list as far as genre.

I’ve heard this before, but more in the context of a proverb than a proper joke. As far as meaning, I think it’s along the lines of “correlation doesn’t equal causation,” but not exactly.

CIA blew up the Nordstream pipeline.

I thought they went back and changed it after the fact.

No, I’m not Raid. I’m my own original game, Rage. People really need to get their facts straight…