Trump rolls back trans and gender-identity rights and takes aim at DEI

[rawfuckingonly]

21 hours ago, PozBearWI said:

And hopefully the larger society rediscovers our moral compass

You don't have one

[PozBearWI]

@rawfuckingonly you've never met me.  You have no idea who I am, what I do.  And yet you confidently declare I don't have a moral compass?  The adage "pot calling the kettle black" applies to you.  

 

[TaKinGDeePanal]

On 2/1/2025 at 7:01 AM, hntnhole said:

His pale, sallow complexion is showing without benefit of a blanket of orange.  

What is this a harbinger of? 

 

He has his tongue so far up RFK's brainworm-ridden hole that he now wants to look like him, so he's changed the orange for brown boot polish. 😂

[BBArchangel]

Hopefully, with RFK’s nomination moved out of committee the right will stop blaming hearing about the delusional dangers of DEI. Not by any stretch of the imagination is Robert Kennedy ascending to this lofty position based on. ”merit.” Aside from using heroin and steroids and having some sort of brain worm, he has no qualifications at all for running health and Human Services.

[BootmanLA]

On 1/30/2025 at 4:34 PM, Erik62 said:

As I use the word quite often, I can only assume a rather pointed personal "shot" at myself. I have no idea why it has become "ATTACK" me week (I refer to another comment aimed at myself).

I thought this was a site where we were able to agree / disagree without any targeted invective. 

IF wrong, I apologise but, two targeted comments in 12hrs are unsettling. 

Without pointing to the member to whom my quoted post was a reply, I will only note that no, it was not a personal shot at you. That member had given examples of using "woke" in sentences that disparaged those who might conventionally be called "woke", and I was simply pointing out that using it as an epithet the way he did was stupid.

[hntnhole]

On 1/31/2025 at 5:15 PM, PozBearWI said:

FWIW, non religious here

Depending on how you define "religious", so am I. 

I suppose Deism would be the closest I can bring myself to come to terms with. as far as an "organized" belief-system goes. 

While there have been (and may well be in the future) enlightened teachers throughout history, the claptrap of crustations built up by the clerics of varying stripes has long buried the original messages of these enlightened ones.  

As Ronnie Reagan (jr.) says occasionally on tv:  "not afraid of burning in hell ..." 

 

[PozBearWI]

Religion made all sorts of sense centuries ago.  Whether the "sometimes" intellect we humans display in the larger sea of what Hilary referred to as deplorables comes from a deity or is simply how we have evolved as a species doesn't change who and we are today.  Religion hasn't been a bad way to look at things when we haven't developed skills to explain our world;  

Mediums these days do a big business when they get followers.  Fortune tellers are nothing new.  Right there with snake oil salesmen, and IMO a few steps below prostitutes in the career scale which have been around throughout our ability to record a history.  We've a history, even in the USA's short 250ish years, of exploiting our neighbors and fucking them behind their mates back.  

We assume since we have a birth and death, everything else must as well.  And we refer to that "on-going-ness" I think as 'god'.  Religions developed social controls.  I'm not sure "the board" sat down one day and did that; but they've evolved to be the arbiters of moral behaviors.  All have a "god" figurehead with whom no one alive can actually shake hands with.  Which is quite convenient. But the common thread around a good part of the differing religions are around survivability of the religion.  So it became quite popular among humans to kill humans who didn't believe the same stories they did.  Sort of like killing people for not believing Harry Potter's books aren't diaries of a real life.  As we've grown as a species we.  Rather rapidly; doubling twice now in my lifetime.  

We are for multiple reasons facing some big human decisions again as we approach the 100th anniversary of WW2.  It has been a pretty good run.  There are a lot of viable options if we can shift from catering to the few to catering to the most.  We may see this rather soon, this year or next; or we'll weather through, achieve stasis for awhile; and then experience whatever methods get chosen for resolution.  

 

[Erik62]

6 hours ago, PozBearWI said:

Religion made all sorts of sense centuries ago.  Whether the "sometimes" intellect we humans display in the larger sea of what Hilary referred to as deplorables comes from a deity or is simply how we have evolved as a species doesn't change who and we are today.  Religion hasn't been a bad way to look at things when we haven't developed skills to explain our world;  

Mediums these days do a big business when they get followers.  Fortune tellers are nothing new.  Right there with snake oil salesmen, and IMO a few steps below prostitutes in the career scale which have been around throughout our ability to record a history.  We've a history, even in the USA's short 250ish years, of exploiting our neighbors and fucking them behind their mates back.  

We assume since we have a birth and death, everything else must as well.  And we refer to that "on-going-ness" I think as 'god'.  Religions developed social controls.  I'm not sure "the board" sat down one day and did that; but they've evolved to be the arbiters of moral behaviors.  All have a "god" figurehead with whom no one alive can actually shake hands with.  Which is quite convenient. But the common thread around a good part of the differing religions are around survivability of the religion.  So it became quite popular among humans to kill humans who didn't believe the same stories they did.  Sort of like killing people for not believing Harry Potter's books aren't diaries of a real life.  As we've grown as a species we.  Rather rapidly; doubling twice now in my lifetime.  

We are for multiple reasons facing some big human decisions again as we approach the 100th anniversary of WW2.  It has been a pretty good run.  There are a lot of viable options if we can shift from catering to the few to catering to the most.  We may see this rather soon, this year or next; or we'll weather through, achieve stasis for awhile; and then experience whatever methods get chosen for resolution.  

 

I still think that religion has a part to play in today's society. It provides a base-line for developing a moral compass. These religious "mantras" may or may not change as we get older (some priests, teachers, people in authority). It is undeniable that a child brought up in a family unit of physical/emotional /verbal abuse risks an adult life in a similar vein. 

I came out of a family charged with physical/ emotional/verbal abuse: father, mother & older sibling. Had it not been for my weekly Sunday school & ministers guidance, I do not believe I would be the person: caring, loving, socially aware that I am today. 

Yes, I have prejudices, racial, social, motor car drivers, airlines etc but, just because I disagree with Netanyahu’s actions does not mean I would refuse help to a Jew on the street. 

I am not perfect but, I have molded my religious instruction into a model that best fits me, dropping tenets, against homosexuality, alcohol (I'm a Methodist 😱), contraception, sex before marriage & de-facto relationships but I also don't necessarily believe in at will abortions (being male & gay, my view doesn't / shouldn't be relevant anyway). 

Without religion we ended up with Lenin, Stalin, Idi Amin, Xin Ping & ALL THE OTHERS who use it as a cover, Hitler, Trump, Putin, Nasrullah, bin Laden, Netanyahu & his radical zionists.

I'll stick with the values instilled in me by my religious education 🙏😇🕊️🕊️🕊️. 

[PozBearWI]

8 hours ago, Erik62 said:

I still think that religion has a part to play in today's society. It provides a base-line for developing a moral compass. These religious "mantras" may or may not change as we get older (some priests, teachers, people in authority). It is undeniable that a child brought up in a family unit of physical/emotional /verbal abuse risks an adult life in a similar vein. 

I came out of a family charged with physical/ emotional/verbal abuse: father, mother & older sibling. Had it not been for my weekly Sunday school & ministers guidance, I do not believe I would be the person: caring, loving, socially aware that I am today. 

Yes, I have prejudices, racial, social, motor car drivers, airlines etc but, just because I disagree with Netanyahu’s actions does not mean I would refuse help to a Jew on the street. 

I am not perfect but, I have molded my religious instruction into a model that best fits me, dropping tenets, against homosexuality, alcohol (I'm a Methodist 😱), contraception, sex before marriage & de-facto relationships but I also don't necessarily believe in at will abortions (being male & gay, my view doesn't / shouldn't be relevant anyway). 

Without religion we ended up with Lenin, Stalin, Idi Amin, Xin Ping & ALL THE OTHERS who use it as a cover, Hitler, Trump, Putin, Nasrullah, bin Laden, Netanyahu & his radical zionists.

I'll stick with the values instilled in me by my religious education 🙏😇🕊️🕊️🕊️. 

Thanks.  FWIW (for what its worth) I strongly support religious freedom.  However if your religion instructs you to kill me for my beliefs, we have a problem right?  

[Erik62]

44 minutes ago, PozBearWI said:

Thanks.  FWIW (for what its worth) I strongly support religious freedom.  However if your religion instructs you to kill me for my beliefs, we have a problem right?  

Agreed, so we need to watch👀 out for ALL those moronic & radical Christian (Trumpists), Hindus, Muslims😱.

I'll call anyone friend, if the sentiment is mutual 🥰, otherwise I'm happy with guns 🔫 at ten paces in order to defend those I love & those who can't stand for themselves. 

[PozBearWI]

2 hours ago, Erik62 said:

Agreed, so we need to watch👀 out for ALL those moronic & radical Christian (Trumpists), Hindus, Muslims😱.

I'll call anyone friend, if the sentiment is mutual 🥰, otherwise I'm happy with guns 🔫 at ten paces in order to defend those I love & those who can't stand for themselves. 

Yeah, I have other friends thinking along gun lines.  If that is where we're going as a society I rather hope I am one of the first ones shot.  But I am a senior citizen; retired; been retired for about a decade.  No matter the outcome I am not going to be living it for a lot of years anyway.  Therefore disposable?  I hope not.  I do actively work on community committees.  If we're not part of our immediate neighborhood, aren't we just sort of floating?  

[hntnhole]

To your thoughts above, beginning ..........

 

14 hours ago, Erik62 said:

I still think that religion has a part to play in today's society

I agree that religion has a role to play in many - maybe the majority - of people's lives.  OR (Organized Religion) no longer pushes the notion that only their specific answers are acceptable, and all other viewpoints are worthy of extinction.  It still harbors an unspoken, yet clear, assumptions.  When it chooses, OR can be a force for good, unifying humanity.  It can also do the reverse, and has countless times in the past.  

I wouldn't refuse to help anyone on the street either - most of us wouldn't allow an inhumanity like that to even cross our minds - let alone source it to some foreign government's leader.  That would be akin to renouncing our humanity in favor of joining the animals of 1984.  We're already Orwellian enough.  

I'm really glad that you found what you did in the Methodist Church.  I had a job (musician) in a Methodist Church years ago, and it was really refreshing after decades in the LCA churches (and the MO Synod was even worse).  More, I agree that your second paragraph would be sourced in that denomination, as opposed to - say - and LCA church.  I had a Sunday school teacher (I was maybe in 2nd, 3rd grade) that taught us that all Catholics were going to Hell because they worshipped statues.  Now that's just depraved.  

Your penultimate paragraph is perfectly stated;  OR has often used fragments of sayings, re-interpretations of older interpretations, to promote their own purposes.  Denigration of other belief-systems to support their own, self-serving variations on the theme.  Yes, the Institutions of OR failed in Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, countless other principalities throughout history.  But that was because the people turned away from the inherent weaknesses of those Institutions and followed a real hound of hell.  

I admire folks who use their intellectual abilities, rather than follow the crowd.  

[PozBearWI]

38 minutes ago, hntnhole said:

To your thoughts above, beginning ..........

 

I agree that religion has a role to play in many - maybe the majority - of people's lives.  OR (Organized Religion) no longer pushes the notion that only their specific answers are acceptable, and all other viewpoints are worthy of extinction.  It still harbors an unspoken, yet clear, assumptions.  When it chooses, OR can be a force for good, unifying humanity.  It can also do the reverse, and has countless times in the past.  

I wouldn't refuse to help anyone on the street either - most of us wouldn't allow an inhumanity like that to even cross our minds - let alone source it to some foreign government's leader.  That would be akin to renouncing our humanity in favor of joining the animals of 1984.  We're already Orwellian enough.  

I'm really glad that you found what you did in the Methodist Church.  I had a job (musician) in a Methodist Church years ago, and it was really refreshing after decades in the LCA churches (and the MO Synod was even worse).  More, I agree that your second paragraph would be sourced in that denomination, as opposed to - say - and LCA church.  I had a Sunday school teacher (I was maybe in 2nd, 3rd grade) that taught us that all Catholics were going to Hell because they worshipped statues.  Now that's just depraved.  

Your penultimate paragraph is perfectly stated;  OR has often used fragments of sayings, re-interpretations of older interpretations, to promote their own purposes.  Denigration of other belief-systems to support their own, self-serving variations on the theme.  Yes, the Institutions of OR failed in Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, countless other principalities throughout history.  But that was because the people turned away from the inherent weaknesses of those Institutions and followed a real hound of hell.  

I admire folks who use their intellectual abilities, rather than follow the crowd.  

A bit of an amendment if you please....  Most religions here in the US no longer push the notion that only their views are acceptable.  But some in the US do, Westfield Baptist for example.  Globally, which will only influence us more in the coming years, we still have plenty of zealot sects.

[Erik62]

10 hours ago, PozBearWI said:

A bit of an amendment if you please....  Most religions here in the US no longer push the notion that only their views are acceptable.  But some in the US do, Westfield Baptist for example.  Globally, which will only influence us more in the coming years, we still have plenty of zealot sects.

Unfortuneately, zealot religious sects have a bad habit of comandeering, the "poor" in hard times or when a "nip & tuck" is required by those with power. 

1947 Amritsar Muslim passenger train Massacre by Sikhs, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots & Genocide by Hindus, 9/11 (needs no explanation), the Inquisition, Henry VIII, the Crusades & of course the most current, the Israeli zionist governments total betrayal of International law by encouraging the ILLEGAL settlements of the Palestinian West Bank. 

FWIIW & I accept the resulting "flack" but, I would ask if we have not allowed those  "morals" , religious or otherwise, to have degenerated to a level where we accept social & business upheaval, civic unrest, educational confusion & violence as everyday occurrences.

This is quite apparent by what has been happening, in Australia 🇦🇺, over the last few years by Unionist actions during COVID, Indigenous, LGB+ with violence occurring at pro & anti Trans rallies, Feminist rights rallies & right wing activities that are being legislated against on the claims that they are spreading Anti-semitism. 

Can we rid our society of these burdensome & quite often religiously based radicals that continue to disrupt our relatively peaceful societies by simply saying, "violence is NOT OK & we as civilised people have the power & desire to ensure that we do not allow ourselves to fall into this dynamic again. 

Am I a simple Idealist 🤔 or do we, as a united world have the incentive, inclination & power to cap these moronic lunatics, FOREVER. 

 

 

[Erik62]

12 hours ago, hntnhole said:

To your thoughts above, beginning ..........

 

I agree that religion has a role to play in many - maybe the majority - of people's lives.  OR (Organized Religion) no longer pushes the notion that only their specific answers are acceptable, and all other viewpoints are worthy of extinction.  It still harbors an unspoken, yet clear, assumptions.  When it chooses, OR can be a force for good, unifying humanity.  It can also do the reverse, and has countless times in the past.  

I wouldn't refuse to help anyone on the street either - most of us wouldn't allow an inhumanity like that to even cross our minds - let alone source it to some foreign government's leader.  That would be akin to renouncing our humanity in favor of joining the animals of 1984.  We're already Orwellian enough.  

I'm really glad that you found what you did in the Methodist Church.  I had a job (musician) in a Methodist Church years ago, and it was really refreshing after decades in the LCA churches (and the MO Synod was even worse).  More, I agree that your second paragraph would be sourced in that denomination, as opposed to - say - and LCA church.  I had a Sunday school teacher (I was maybe in 2nd, 3rd grade) that taught us that all Catholics were going to Hell because they worshipped statues.  Now that's just depraved.  

Your penultimate paragraph is perfectly stated;  OR has often used fragments of sayings, re-interpretations of older interpretations, to promote their own purposes.  Denigration of other belief-systems to support their own, self-serving variations on the theme.  Yes, the Institutions of OR failed in Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, countless other principalities throughout history.  But that was because the people turned away from the inherent weaknesses of those Institutions and followed a real hound of hell.  

I admire folks who use their intellectual abilities, rather than follow the crowd.  

I have NEVER followed the crowd (Well 🤔big cocks & fists excepted🙄😁) . Probably why I don't even have great regrets over being Poz. Humility is a tenet learnt early & it has always been a good  backup.