Soulmates (Until 'The Love Of Your Life' Arrives)

'Game of Thrones' Star Maisie Williams talked about the relationship with her dad, in a "cult"

My life in a secretive sect and how I escaped from the whisky drinking multi-millionaire Holy Spirit

Artificial Intelligence tool ChatGPT was used at a Methodist church in North Austin, Texas 

   

 Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar Carjacked at Gunpoint in D.C.

Cartel murders own boss by mistake

Bono visits historic Las Vegas church

Advice (Get Out Of It) Column

“The Trump years revealed people were misogynistic and racist and homophobic and transphobic.”

OR THEY'RE JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU

TMR's advice: get out of it.

I spent 40 years hiding that I was gay. Then my husband’s dementia wiped away my fear

HOW BRAVE YOU'VE BEEN AND LUCKY HE IS

TMR's advice: get out of it.

Las Vegas strip club offers free lap dances to customers affected by MGM Resorts cyberattack

THAT'S ONE REASON, ANYWAY

TMR's advice: get out of it.

"Science—impugned by postmodernism—is desperately needed to sort out New Age"

THIS IS LIKE DEMANDING MEN SUPPORT THE WNBA

TMR's advice: get out of it.

This Rapping Preacher Is Selling Bleach to Parents Trying to ‘Treat’ Autism in Kids

THERE IS NO TRY - ONLY BLEACH

TMR's advice: get out of it.

I-So-Lay-Shun (And When I Say "Shun" I Mean "Shun")

There's a reason I've become an (online) old fart:

One night while in Vegas, I met up with a group of friends—who were in town at another, unrelated conference—and I struck up a conversation with a woman who seemed reasonably intelligent and decently informed. Interrupting her soliloquy on the importance of eating natural foods, I mentioned that I was afflicted with type 1 diabetes. Her eyes widened, savoring the opportunity to help. She offered something that no endocrinologist previously had: a possible cure. “Switch to a raw-food diet,” she advised. Now my eyes widened. “You mean that raw food would help lower blood sugar?” I asked. “No, no,” she said with exasperation. “It can cure diabetes.” When I doubted that chewing on uncooked yams would kick-start my crippled pancreas, she accused me of lacking an “open mind.”

A friend was advising me recently, saying that even before I got injured, I stayed indoors too much. I was always working. I should get out more, like he does.

I told him no thanks, I have my friends and see people when I go shopping or to work, and there's no need to do more because, honestly, I no longer wanted to hear anybody's crazy beliefs. Actually watching and hearing people say crazy shit to my face, and then attacking me (as the speaker in the quote, above, did)? I'm done with all that. The rest can spout their "energy" baby talk to each other, use it to get laid, and then find someone else to do the Round Robin with - it's "fun" as Ann Althouse famously defined it - but it's also too stupid a way to go through life for me.

My friend, bless his heart, was only concerned for me. That I'll never meet another woman (he knows I won't make the effort) will shop alone, and one day die that way, too.

But, based on the evidence, I'd say my "problem" is I've already met waaay too many women.

Enough to know dying a hermit, sometimes, can be a pretty damn inviting proposition,...

 

Barking Mad: Rationalists Discuss Romney's "Beliefs"

Joseph Smith was a known convicted con man,...

Joseph Smith didn't even understand the religions he was stealing from,...

"Mitt Romney,...should be made to feel the burden of our incredulity."

The Mormons partnered with the Mafia to build Las Vegas,...

 

Young, Dumb, And Full Of (The Queen Mum's Credibility)

Alright, now that he's in trouble, Drudge has got me thinking about it: 

Poor Harry. It's gotta be a drag having to live up to the whole "I'm a prince" thing, even if it includes frolicking with six naked girls.

There was a band I used to tour with, where part of the show included the lead singer giving a speech about his love for the wife and kid, but every night he'd bed a couple of blondes, a hypocrisy that never sat right with me. (Now his show includes a heavy dose of "spirituality," so you can imagine the duplicity involved there.) I mention that because, even then, questions of personal dignity and ethics were raging through my mind, making me wonder if anyone else shared them.

It's gotta be tough on Harry. Born into Di and Charlie's sick and twisted NewAge "heir and a spare" situation (made morbid by her death) he's richer than shit - and in a time when life holds about as little meaning as it ever has - how's he supposed to figure anything out when nobody else appears to? Sure, it's just keeping your pants up in public, but come on:

There were six of them!

And girls are weird. Other than in a dressing room of some kind, I think I've only been naked with other men enough times that I can count them on one hand. But women? It seems like all you have to do is tell them it's O.K. and they'll "drop trou" anywhere, no matter how many others are around - nude beaches, wet T-shirt contests, saunas, photography studios; anywhere there's a camera they'll provocatively pose. Hell, they now take naked photos of themselves and send them to others.

I guess that's what happens if they haven't developed an inner life of some kind. And, considering any man can see that hole in their psychological makeup, it's mighty hard not to take advantage. Pimping is based on it. What's that old pimp line? "Let [women] run they own lives and they go crazy,…"

O.K., I'm saying too much - I know too much - and because of that, in truth, I don't care. Thanks to the hippies, people have long ago taken "freedom" to mean from responsibility, and especially from anyone's long-term interests, so some red head kid's commonly idiotic behavior in Vegas holds about as much interest, for me, as it did the birds flying by his hotel. (There were six of them!) Once the Queen's gone, all that "royalty" nonsense will be over anyway.

Watch.

 

A 100% All-True Story From My 100% All-Amazing Life

I remembered this, while eating breakfast, and thought I'd "share" - tell me if you want to hear more:

I had an acquaintance, who I used to join with friends for beers after work. He was married to a woman who would make bizarre "healing" concoctions, in mayonnaise jars, that she would give to her friends. He had a good job in construction and they lived in a place I marveled at every time I was invited over.

One day, his wife went to a "psychic" who informed her it was time to move. They needed to travel north, you see, because that's where the stars (I assume) said the grass was greener.

Our circle of friends sadly helped them move, but the wife was adamant this was necessary and the right thing to do. We didn't hear from them again for months.

At Christmas we all went north to visit our friends and see their new digs, which were abysmal, compounded by the problem of their new location being union, so the husband couldn't find work. They were broke. We bought them groceries that year - including milk for the new baby.

The wife spoke to the "psychic" again, but this time was told to go to Las Vegas, as her crystal ball (I assume) said the prospects were much better there. So the couple dutifully moved to Nevada, but the problem was the same:

All the work was union, so the husband couldn't find employment, and their situation deteriorated further.

He started to drink. She got a job as a waitress in a casino. There she met, and fell in love with, a black dishwasher who just got out of prison for armed robbery. She left her husband and got pregnant with the ex-con, who proceeded to beat her for starting arguments over the outlandish claims she regularly made.

The husband became a tragic bum, alone and isolated in Sin City. The wife escaped the dishwasher and, with her kids, ended up living with her mother. Years later, when she finally returned with her children to pay us a visit, the first thing the daughter of the dishwasher did was look up at me and ask, "Are you my daddy?"

Just a reminder, Sasquatch: 

Jesus Loves You,…

Wow: More Proof That Meditation Keeps You Calm And Helps You Think Much More Clearly

"A US judge has set a 2.26 million dollar (£1.38 million) bail for a British spiritual healer accused of murdering a Las Vegas woman and stuffing her body in a rubbish bin.

Michael Lane, 37, originally from London, is alleged to have hit 44-year-old Ginger Candela with a frying pan and strangled her after deciding during a meditation session that she should die, police documents show."

-- The United Kingdom Press Association.

High Prices And Meditation: Sounds About Right

"This audience was in hero mode. And on the Oprah side this was the first time I saw the Caesars Colosseum's ample souvenir stand empty Just imagine how many Oprah shirts, magazines or coffee mugs with inflated prices the worshipful audience would have snapped up. When the usher confused Steve Friess' ticket with mine, one lady begged us to let me sit in front of her like her life depended on it. Why? I am shorter. But instead the crowd of potential shoppers was left only with the nearby Bette Midler souvenir store. The other totally empty spot in the packed arena was the men's restroom: vacant enough for Buddhist meditation."

-- Richard Abowitz, describing the shooting of the Oprah Winfrey Show in Las Vegas

Gullibility-A-Go-Go

""We have bagpipers march through the club to march out any bad energy and bring good energy for the club's opening. We want to create good energy. We had a Buddhist monk come in earlier today. He burned sage and blessed the club, worked with us on our energy, got our minds focused right. We did meditation and had acupuncture for all our key employees. It is important to us that there is no ego and we work as a team. So, we blessed the club as a family."

- Greg Jarmolowich, the very-superstitious managing director of Prive, a Las Vegas nightclub, describing the various silly rituals he undertook before opening night.

Notice that only the "key employees" got the acupuncture? That's how he's going to make a team of "equals". A team of equals where some get (useless) perks that the others don't. That's a sure way to eliminate egos, huh? (And can someone explain to me why bashing someone's ego, ambition, etc., is always so important to superstitious folk? Is it so they, who dictate how these things will go, can always stay on top?)

And how much did all this mumbo-jumbo cost? As managing director, I thought his job was to make the club money, not to start burning through it on nonsense before the place even opened. Yea, he's a real find, this guy.

After all my years in the music business, I guess I just don't understand nightclub culture like I thought,...yet, based on Jarmolowich's "spiritual" outlook, I still think I can guess who his opening act will be: Obviously, it has to be an artist that shares his beliefs, and is willing to "march through the club to march out any bad energy and bring good energy for the club's opening." Someone who will be enthusiastic about it even.

Yea, I know exactly who it'll be. I can see the in-house video advertisements playing right now: