Da Bomb

 

 Superstitious belief in faith healers is costing lives 

   

 In small-town Wisconsin, looking for the roots of the modern American conspiracy theory

Taking A "Side" In A World Spinning Round (With No Understanding Of Orbits)

TMR always feels kind of frustrated when peeking over to Instapundit, to see Glenn Reynolds, say, "punching down" to call Harvard students "enemies of civilization," instead of admitting the obvious:

Our educators aren't much when it comes to, you know, educating.

Otherwise, Harvard students (and others) would think the "correct" thoughts about Middle East wars, right-right? But, apparently, they don't. Instead, they share a singular vision:

From the outside looking in, anti-Zionists appear to think Israel was created from Nazi terror, but - for Israel to exist - it's had to terrorize the Palestinians. Now, if there's a problem with that narrative, some lie of omission or missing piece of evidence, I would think educators would make it their job to expose that, and end all disagreement. But, instead, "Teachers" call young people names.

Of course, TMR views all conflict as the inevitable result of people lacking reason. But very few are interested in fighting the enemies of reason - religion, other superstitious beliefs, and pseudoscience - that both Jews and Palestinians (and Iranians and Americans) share. Nah, history shows, in order to keep those going, they'd rather take metal tongs to each other if necessary.

Human Beings: Always using the old noggin.

 

Yep, It's A Sign - The IQ's Are Dropping: So We ARE Back In Kansas Once More!

One of society's problems is, while everybody else is arguing about principles, NewAge cultists are free to go about their business - and do. But, recent events keep indicating - now that Trump is president - that might be coming to an end through natural causes. Like now that Dorothy's stolen ruby slippers have been returned! "Whoa" (you might be thinking, pondering if I'm crazy) "now what do they have to do with anything, Mr. I Hate NewAge?" to which I would sagely answer:

While symbolism might not matter much to atheists, it's powerful juju to the superstitious, and this - an "actual" item from "Oz," stolen in the wicked year 2005, but returned to "reality" in 2018 - definitely could signal an ending to the last era of magical thinking for many believers.

At least that's the hope. TMR also hopes those witches out there "binding the president" are paying attention: The Universe doesn't seem to be at one with you.

Witchcraft Case Highlights U.S. Education Deficiencies

How can anyone, who's been sufficiently educated, believe in witchcraft? Face it:

Not only are Americans massively under-educated, but, because of that, we're still as superstitious as anyone in the "Old World" we're (supposedly) different from.

A lack of education is also why most Americans miss that point,...
 

NewAge Confuses Everyone But We Aware Of It's Works

They're all so "smart" - and they're looking directly at a phenomena that's been occurring for decades, if not a century or more, with their blessing - yet, now, they've got no answers:

“Young people believe less in God, and more in Darwin and superstition. What does this mean?"

Gee, I don't know, Hippies:

When I put Darwin and superstition together I get "Deepak"...

A Reason To Get Up In The Morning (The One Last Night)

I can dance with The Reaper better than most

Romance gettin' deeper, makin' metal to coast.

Digitals scrambled, cell phones to sell

Accomplices ramblin' 'bout goin' to Hell.

Ignorin' superstitious types, ripe for exploitin'

Join in the dark delight of subjugating men.

Reflect upon The Sunken Spade - Get out of the hole:

Forget of which life is made - focus my goal,...

 

I Need Donations (But Spreading This Around Will Help)

Cool - about 9 months ago someone on Reddit got the word out about TED - finally:

The TED name is being dragged through the mud in Valencia, Spain, where a TEDx-approved event is promoting pseudoscientific stuff like (and I quote): crystal therapy, Egyptian psychoaromatherapy, healing through the Earth, homeopathy and even "basic mind control".

I'm not really sure how this event got approved by the TED headquarters, but almost every respected scientific journalist in Spain is outraged by it.

Some of the speakers (Google-translated for non-Spanish speakers).

Amma - Mahatma (Great Soul) of Hugs, Lots of Politicians go to Her to Receive Her Blessings.

José Rius - Reiki Master, Master Reconnection, Basic Mind Control, Zen and Crystal Theraphy Specialist.

Aura Küpper - Energetic Healing through Earth, Rebirthing Therapy, Angelic Reiki and author of a book called "Doctors from Heaven".

Adoracion Ferreres - Master in Clinical Psychology and Natural Therapies. Technical Expert in Bio-Energetic and Holistic, Egyptian Psycho-Aromatherapy and Transpersonal Homeotherapy.

The whole event is "women-oriented" and marketed as a female empowerment gig, which to me adds insult to the injury, as if women were incapable to distinguish true science from utter superstitious, anti-scientific bullshit.

Seeing the TED name associated with this freak show in a country where science and education have already been cornered and budget-cut by its own government is extremely sad. TED should react and examine its own standards in order to avoid being ashamed by these hordes of rain-makers and mystic scam artists in the future.

Ask and you will receive - today I found this hysterical screed from Natural News' freakazoid ringleader, Mike Adams:

Allow me to be the first to announce that TED is dead. Why? Because the group that organizes so-called "TED talks" has been thoroughly hijacked by corporate junk science and now openly rejects any talks about GMOs, food as medicine, or even the subject of how food can help prevent behavioral disorders in children. All these areas of discussion are now red-flagged from being presented on any TED stage.

This is openly admitted by TEDx itself in a little-known letter publicly published on December 7, 2012.

In that letter, TED says that people who talk about GMOs are engaged in "pseudoscience." Those who discuss the healing potential of foods are spreading "health hoaxes."

The letter also advises TEDx organizers to, "reject bad science, pseudoscience and health hoaxes," meaning anyone who talks about GMOs, "food as medicine" or similar topics.

And, sure enough, here's the letter from TED, and a list of some of the banned topics - all of which are TMR favorites:

"Healing," including reiki, energy fields, alternative health and placebos, crystals, pyramid power

"Free energy" and perpetual motion machines, alchemy, time travel

The neuroscience of [fill in the blank] — not saying this will all be non-legitimate, but that it’s a field where a lot of goofballs are right now

The fusion of science and spirituality. Be especially careful of anyone trying to prove the validity of their religious beliefs and practices by using science.

That wording, alone, says this was a major "win" for common sense. And that means it was a good day. After all these years, a finger's been put in the dyke, somewhere where it matters:

Amongst the real barbarians - those who've encouraged it and/or let the nonsense go on.

So yeah, right now, you guys can't see me but - whether I need money or not - I'm smiling,...

ADDED:

 

Journalists - do your jobs!

 

Saturday, The 14th - I Hope Everybody Feels Safe Now

We haven't even begun to deal with this country's issues,...

Our Problem? Not Enough Astrology In Our Daily Lives

Poor India, it's taking so long to come out of the dark:

“Pune: In a setback to the progressive movement in Maharashtra, leading anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead by two unidentified assailants while he was out on a morning walk here on Tuesday. 

Known for his over two-decade long campaign against outdated and inhuman social practices, Dabholkar was currently engaged in mobilising public opinion and holding discussions with Maharashtra government for passing an 'anti-superstition and black magic' law in the state legislature, opposed by certain sections of the society, including the Warkari sect. 

69-year-old Dabholkar, who headed the 'Andhashraddha Nirluman Samiti' (anti-superstition movement), was out for a morning walk when two motorcycle-borne unidentified assailants fired two bullets from close range into his head from behind, police said quoting an eyewitness.”

Whether claiming to defend superstition or black magic, those bullets are all they've ever represented,...

 

This Photo's Surely From Someone As Patriotic As I Am

Despite what some think, once taken seriously, race arguments are compelling:

"Superstitions about black animals can be deadly."

I mean, it rarely gets mentioned, but I will tell you from experience:

It sucks to be the 13th floor on the elevator of your country's life,...

 ADDED:

Relying on a complex statistical analysis presented at trial, Judge Scheindlin found that the racial composition of a census tract played a role in predicting how many stops would occur. 

She emphasized what she called the “human toll of unconstitutional stops,” noting that some of the plaintiffs testified that their encounters with the police left them feeling that they did not belong in certain areas of the cities. She characterized each stop as “a demeaning and humiliating experience.” 

“No one should live in fear of being stopped whenever he leaves his home to go about the activities of daily life,” the judge wrote. During police stops, she found, blacks and Hispanics “were more likely to be subjected to the use of force than whites, despite the fact that whites are more likely to be found with weapons or contraband.”

Let's see, there's a "human toll" on minorities that's been "demeaning and humiliating" - and included "fear" and "force" - while law enforcement officers let whites with "weapons or contraband" go free.

Yes, after Rodney King, I can clearly see why so many Americans say Jim Crow's over and enough's been done,...

Stuck

Question: 

 Where would we be without superstitious people? 

"Chinese woman stuck in alleyway for 7 hours. No-one helps because they thought she was a ghost"

Answer: 

Wherever we'd be, it'd definitely be ahead of where we are now,...

 

I Watch Too Much T.V. (I Expect Something Different)

Tom, Jumping On The Couch, Sheryl Crow - Nothing?

Here's the mirror:

It's a particularly cheerful headline — "Stocks Hit 5 Year High" — with a picture of wine glasses splashily clinking, angled together in a position that parallels Oprah's hands in a picture just above and to the left. Oprah looks alarmed/outraged, but only because "He even lied — to Oprah?!" And how reassuring that is. The outrage of the day is Lance Armstrong, doping and lying, the same old thing, and it's something that only vaguely affects us. Thank God. 

What was the headline I saw in my dream? I won't tell you. It's not that I'm superstitious, but ideas affect minds, and it's an image I won't put out there.

Here's the image:

"Going Clear" is sometimes hard going on account of its subject matter. But it is an utterly necessary story even so. As "In Cold Blood" is now a monument to the age of New Journalism, "Going Clear" may wind up a monument to an age of enlightened corporate journalism, a time when powerful magazine editors and their book-publishing counterparts had the wherewithal to devote resources to vital stories of scant direct pertinence to their readers—stories told by full-time, expenses-paid writers backstopped by researchers, fact-checkers, lawyers and insurance companies. 

The surprise isn't that Mr. Wright presents Scientology as a perplexing and alarming organization. The surprise is that he has managed to tell its story at all.

Place something here about the inability to "see the forest for the trees",...

 

Acting (On Impulse) II

"Despite advancement of modern thought and practice,…many _________ still revere ‘godly’ people and have a staunch belief in faith healers."

If I could tell whether the country being discussed above was in the First or Third world, simply by looking at that sentence, I guess I could find reasons to venture out more often. But I doubt it.

 Is that a true fucking tragedy or isn't it?

I think I've been Traumatized By Travel™,... 

 

I'm Starting To Feel That Whole Science-y Thing Again,...

ADDED:

Every Time I Take A Crap I'm Reminded I'm An Asshole

Since Oct. 25th, 2005, my world has consisted mostly of one big betrayal after another. (I had no more idea my country would elect Barack Obama when it did, to my horror, than the Republican's nomination of Mitt Romney four years later.) So don't get this idea I see myself as some big shot political genius, because I don't.

I know my blind spots are as large as anyone else's, just as I know being able to see cultism isn't the same as controlling it. There are 300 million citizens in America, alone, and people are going to do what people are going to do. I just think, if we - all of us - made the effort to take Fear Of The Dark off the table for the coming New Year, we'd probably fare much, much better.

Personally, I don't see anything radical about it. (For instance, it doesn't infringe on preachers but prophets.) Simply put, it more closely orders our world around that one thing we always seem to need to "get back to" whenever we stumble - reality.

I don't get how some ever leave, but then, that's me.

Fortress Crack….