There are a lot of edgy athiests using all their time attacking trans people these days, because an unfortunate number of them are mainly athiests as a way to hate Muslims. And the ones taking the time to attack trans people have almost all joined the alt right, which has been responsible for a lot of attacks on innocent people.

They may not be killing in the name of atheism, but they have been in the same of "reason" and "defence of women".

In today's political climate, when there are several groups trying to paint China as completely and uniquely evil in every sense, it is important to note that similar actions have been taken by other nations against them.

Additionally, from the opposite angle, by providing examples of times when other nations did similar horrible things, it shows both that the information is plausible and that China definitely knows what the result of this will be. This arguably makes it even worse, given that they have seen the way that lives can be ruined by addiction and overdose when supplied with these substances.

The poster you replied to said nothing except stating the fact, and too many people don't know their history and are apt to think that situations like this are only a part of modern history. If he brought up an unrelated bad thing someone had done, that would be derailing, but providing this information opens up some real discussion about how this happened and how to deal with it.

Saint Francis of Assisi did this. He renounced his family name, inheritance, and (according to legend) the clothes on his back when his dad took issue with him giving alms. He spent the rest of his life wandering with a small group of other penitents and providing comfort to the sick, especially those with leprosy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi?wprov=sfla1

Birthday sibling! Happy birthday 🥳

Full article is as follows:

Toronto police sergeant gets eight-month demotion for her role in violent ‘mistaken identity’ arrest of U of T student

Officers were looking for a different Black man — wanted in a domestic incident — when Sgt. Rachel Saliba spotted Hasani O’Gilvie on his way to class. The “mistaken identity” arrest ended with O’Gilvie being Tasered and the subject of a knee-to-neck restraint.

Sgt. Rachel Saliba, one of two Toronto police officers who pleaded guilty to misconduct charges in the “mistaken identity” arrest and Tasering of Hasani O’Gilvie, a Black university student, was penalized with an eight-month demotion on Monday.

Saliba pleaded guilty earlier this year to an unlawful exercise of authority in making an unnecessary arrest that she initiated — even though O’Gilvie had identified himself — triggering a violent take down of an innocent man.

If they had any sense, they would release a chocolate orange that doesn't have milk ingredients. Too many people can't have milk due to intolerance and allergies nowadays, and I miss being able to enjoy chocolate oranges around Christmas.

I know Jack is bi/pan, but him kissing another man would be described by most as being a gay kiss.

The headline did specify that they were talking about the first gay kiss for the character of 'The Doctor', not the show as a whole, so Captain Jack kissing other men in general doesn't make the headline wrong. The Ninth Doctor, who was a man, specifically kissing Jack on the lips is a gay kiss for their character though, and that makes the headline wrong.

Fruits are also available but usually tend to be more expensive and are usually considered a treat for people on limited budgets. Me not listing them was part of keeping to the usual budget shopping lists recommend for people with limited income. Unless you are further being a pedant and insisting that tomatoes are fruits and not vegetables.

And while I am fortunate enough to live in the continental US, I mostly buy what is in season and local and therefore on sale for relatively cheap. And anywhere where that isn't available, frozen veggies are available, often for even cheaper and with no difference in nutritional value or content. If you don't have a fridge/freezer, dried veggies are also available in most markets (dried peppers especially) and canned goods are far better for you now than they ever have been, with only marginal decreases in nutritional value.

Where do you live that absolutely no vegetables are available in any form for a dollar a can or five dollars for a family pack that would make a couple dozen meals for a family of four?

(Edit: Or, if not in the US, where you can't even buy local produce, unless you are in an area where there is famine. In which case you may object to the fact that almost half our farmable land is used to grow crops to feed to animals instead of being used to grow more food for humans.)

Hey, just as an FYI, bell hooks specifically asked that her name not be capitalized. Takes a bit of getting used to, but wanted to pop a message in so that people knew the spelling on the cover shown here is deliberate.

I did watch the video. I also read the sources at the bottom of the video, and like several other comments noticed, the documents do not support a lot of the claims made in the video. However, even if they were supported by the documents, I still don't agree with the stance of the video.

The argument is that because he did something bad at one point, people should consider his past actions before any of his current ones, and that this justifies distrust of his current actions. When we live and operate in a world where trust is necessary for cooperation and survival, even suggesting to distrust someone indefinitely for long past actions and ignoring all steps taken to remedy is asking for him to be barred from that society.

It also assumes that the only reason people would support him is if they were unaware of his past actions, and they heavily imply that people who do trust him are unable to make sound decisions, not in the least by doing one of the least anarchist things possible by trusting the words of government entities known for targeting leftists and charging them with exaggerated crimes.

You are right that you can't institutionalize trust, but I am calling out a pattern that I am recognizing of people who advocate for this particular social model being unwilling to put their money where their mouth is in regards to acknowledging and supporting input from people with convictions or marred histories. The video states nothing new and instead is continuing to repeat this 'questioning' without accounting for the fact that this questioning has already taken place and done nothing except draw people away from a community that values direct action and social support.

If his past had anything to do with his current content and actions, I agree more scrutiny would be needed. But my question still stands, what should the guidelines be for deciding that a person no longer deserves to have their participation in society treated as suspect or worthy of excess questioning? At what point do people deserve to be allowed to change and exist without their motive being questioned?

A big thing that helped me is knowing that, even if nobody knows what it is like to be me, specifically, everything I have ever felt and experienced has been felt and experienced by at least one other person, somewhere. Feelings are far more universal that we realize as we are feeling them, and no matter how alone you feel, there are other people with that same feeling.

This isn't meant to minimize your experience. In fact, it enhanced mine. By realizing that a lot of people feel the same feelings as me, it helped me communicate better. Even if I have a hard time identifying the name of a feeling, describing it in general terms opens a new point of communication that can bridge a lot of gaps.

For example, I have been able to go to a friend group and explain that, while jokes are okay, a particular joke made me feel unwelcome, and explained why. The fact that I felt excluded stopped being seen as a barrier, and instead it was the thing that started the conversation about the joke, why it was made, and it helped both parties learn some context for next time.

Even if it doesn't work in your current situation, it can help in similar, future situations by helping you avoid this feelings trap in the future. It has certainly helped me a lot.

It may not do much right now, but it is important to start the work on it now, for a few reasons.

One, every little bit helps. We have doubled the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution, and removing any of it is a good thing. Even if we stopped all carbon emissions today, we can't leave things the way they are, we would still need to remove that carbon from the air.

Two, these types of technologies need time and real-life demonstration to improve upon. If we wait to start working on carbon capture until we become carbon neutral, then we will not have carbon capture technology that will make a meaningful difference when we need it most.

I agree we need to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, and that there are a lot of people who want to use carbon capture as a complete alternative to switching to renewable energy. But we can't afford to wait, so we should support any company that is working towards improving our current situation.