Can you elaborate on what specifically the “lie” is? The logical side of me takes the words “truth”, “fact”, and “lie” very seriously, and I worry that we too often use them to express a point of view including pragmatism. I’m genuinely curious!

I don’t know: Does that framing take away from the international law argument? How long has that argument been in play and how has that worked so far? It’s a powerful framing in that it illustrates the power that money being used to fuel hate could instead have for some semblance of good. Even if it’s impractical among today’s US elected officials. Also, arguments like this are how to get negotiation leverage. In general in this political climate, while we might want to be prepared to compromise I challenge the wisdom of leading with a compromise. I say different strategies need to be tried until something sticks.

Ok, so typically when you do an appeal you don’t use the same lawyer. So while I get that this is “news”… maybe we can focus our attention somewhere else?

I don’t game much anymore, but I have been fascinates by city sims recently. Last year I got sucked into Tropico (again). This year it’s City Skylines (1) and all the DLC

When I rolled my own blog software I wasn’t spending my time writing. Switched to static blog software a few years ago, namely Hexo, because I wanted my articles in markdown. Now I have to troubleshoot someone else’s code occasionally.

I strongly dislike JS. But I have a lot of old school HTML/CSS experience so I don’t mind creating my own layout. It’s mostly the lack of sufficient documentation and how upgrades can break without a hint to what changed. Ug

Thanks for the book recommendation! Yeah, discrimination can happen with or without religion. It seems to me that any human system is capable of being exploited or corrupted.

I look at religion from the perspective of "what purpose does the manufacturing of religion serve?" assuming there's good intention. I am with you that what organized religion typically offers is not exclusive to religion.

What is "community"? Is it surrounding myself with people who are exactly like me?

Personally, I find it helpful to have a "safe space" to talk to other people who are going through a similar experience that I am. Although I am not great at it I also think it's healthy to interact with the outside world from time to time. At best we learn something from one another, at worst (I hope) we tolerate one another.

For me as an non-sectarian, the good parts from organized religion are advice and lessons about living life, which science doesn’t particularly address.

I recently read an elder theologist reflecting on the stages of enlightenment and I realized that I agreed entirely with them. The difference was our journeys for how we arrived at these same conclusions. They spent their entire life figuring that out. And I had figured it out probably by the end high school. I am not saying I am smart or flawless, because the other person has a lifetime of experience that I don’t have culminating in their wisdom. But they chose to spend their time on such matters, and I chose to spend my time differently.