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Posts Tagged ‘weaponry’

Ugh, this sounds like something he mutters to himself during masturbation.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-15T03:01:51.899Z

I always have mixed feelings about "investigations" or "studies" that "find" things which were always completely bloody obvious. On the one hand, I'm glad more people are admitting the problem. But on the other hand, HOLY SHIT WHY DID IT TAKE Y'ALL OVER 30 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT SOMETHING SO OBVIOUS?

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-16T07:22:05.418Z

"School resource officer" is a cop euphemism for "sexually-predatory thug paid to lurk in schools so as to spy on, harass, and molest students, and burden them with criminal records for 'offenses' which in more enlightened times were punished with detention and writing lines on the chalkboard."

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-17T18:05:16.858Z

Long ago, I realized that thinking about the money bandits extort from you via threat of burning your farm as still somehow being "yours", and obsessing about what the warlords do with it, is the way to madness.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-20T03:30:11.795Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-21T03:38:05.129Z

This looks like a CGI image of a fake CGI sign. In other words, the sign *itself* is CGI, not just the image *on* the nonexistent sign.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-21T17:38:30.715Z

Yes, "health" obsessives truly are full of shit.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-22T17:07:46.039Z

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-23T07:24:33.815Z

Any decent car or motorcycle can do it in under 4 seconds once it gets moving.These figures mean less than nothing without context.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-25T03:16:33.048Z

Investors stupid and gullible enough to believe this deserve to lose their money when the bubble bursts.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-25T16:40:36.172Z

Modern policing began in most parts of the US in the 1870s. At that time, $1 had the buying power of $30 today.Imagine telling the people of that time that the "law enforcement" they were voting for would one day be used to persecute people for picking up A DOLLAR someone had dropped.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T17:25:54.126Z

N.B.: Cryptocurrency is not an "investment", and anyone who believes it is looks like this:

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-27T17:19:23.344Z

Americans have no "philosophy"; they have religion (including partisan politics and entertainment fandom). The number of exceptions in the whole country could comfortably attend a conference on my farm, with room left over for a convention of ethical cops.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-28T17:46:16.457Z

It's very rare that airports get named after people who gave something to the world rather than taking from it; I can only think of two other examples offhand, New Orleans and Oklahoma City.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-29T02:30:21.861Z

"Doctor" Carson thinks hot dogs grow out of the ground like corn.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-30T18:05:12.332Z

We live in a fallen world.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-08-31T17:24:10.226Z

Reporters: "controversial" should not be used as a euphemism for "evil", "unpopular", "tyrannical", "universally reviled", etc.Words mean things; please be more professional with your vocabulary choices.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-01T17:15:02.453Z

If I'd written a satire in which Goebbels Farms honored a Neo-Nazi, my editor would've said it was too obvious.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-03T03:19:20.912Z

Headline from 1989: "Has our oat bran obsession gone too far?"Same answer.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-03T18:04:13.456Z

"Return hub" is such a nice way to say "concentration camp".

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-04T17:05:19.288Z

I remember when we were at least ruled by adults.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-05T17:21:43.608Z

The idea that there could be such a thing as a "true-crime star" is like something out of a dystopian comic book universe.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-06T18:05:23.948Z

Your "leaders" want you to believe that you are a tabula rasa, a mere thing without free will to be acted upon (by media, websites, propaganda, the collective, etc) and shaped in a Skinnerian dystopia.Do not believe them. You can CHOOSE not to be warped in this way, BUT THE CHOICE MUST BE ACTIVE.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-08T17:30:09.952Z

The phrase "trusted ad partners", which appears on many adblocker-blocker popups, is really quite funny. Those "trusted partners" are picked by software in automated auctions; *y'all* may be greedy enough to trust these randos, but I'm not as gullible as you would like me to be.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T16:52:28.464Z

I'll just leave this here: archive.is/SGZcS

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-11T18:42:41.516Z

The only thing more infuriating than mansplaining is amateursplaining. Holy shit.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-12T07:47:56.110Z

Take THAT, "Woman of the Year"!

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-13T17:25:26.151Z

I blocked him so he won't have to be disappointed that I object to strangers driving by my house and throwing garbage on my lawn.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-14T17:44:05.619Z

It sounds like they're talking about a mad dog. Which, to be fair, isn't completely wrong.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T17:21:32.591Z

Dr. Altman of Dr. Altman's Medicine Show says people are right to fear snake oil, but should trust snake oil SALESMEN.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-16T19:24:36.788Z

Comparison for those of my age: just imagine if an official of Jimmy Carter's cabinet had been advocating for a no-fly zone over the "Bermuda Triangle", and other politicians were actually writing laws to ban such flights.

— Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-09-17T19:19:44.712Z

 

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Surveillance makes all of us less safe.  –  Evan Greer

The More the Better

Anything that helps demystify sex work is a good thing:

It shouldn’t be surprising that sex workers around the country are boning up on firearms education. There’s a long tradition of both armed self-defense and general firearms enthusiasm…within communities that have historically been targeted for violence and oppression.  Organizations like the Socialist Rifle Association, the Sylvia Rivera Gun Club, Yellow Peril Tactical, the Huey P. Newton Gun Club, the Pink Pistols, and Black Girls Shoot! take the activist maxim “we protect us” seriously, and offer their communities tools to do so in a world that doesn’t expect them to fight back…the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Chicago…announced their first Intro to Concealed Carry course specifically for sex workers.  All 40 spots filled up immediately…

Dangerous Speech (#1496)

Now that the damage is irreversible, the government can afford to grant him an appeal:

…the Ninth Circuit announced that it will hear oral arguments on Nov. 16 in Phoenix concerning one of the most significant First Amendment cases in recent memory — the vindictive prosecution of award-winning journalist Michael Lacey…Federal and state authorities hounded Lacey, the former executive editor of Village Voice Media, and his business partner, the late Jim Larkin, for more than a decade over their First Amendment-protected publication of speech in Backpage.com, the classified advertising website they co-owned…

Eavesdropping (#1611)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

LG smart TVs are almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes, even when offline or on standby mode…The…TV sets scan Wi-Fi networks for nearby devices, record audio logs through their microphones, and use audio and video sampling to recognize exactly what you’re watching from [connected devices like DVD players]…and feeding the information back to LG Ad Solutions…the TVs…[even] record…microphone audio when in standby; this continue[s] even after the TV [i]s disconnected from the internet, with audio files stored offline and uploaded once a connection [i]s restored…Automatic Content Recognition…is used by almost every [“]smart[“] TV manufacturer to figure out what you watch…In July…LG monitors [started] automatically installing an app that…ran pop-up ads for LG’s other apps and even McAfee antivirus…[but] public pressure…led to LG disabling the pop-up ads…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1632)

Cops hate it when people turn the tables on them:

…US [cops] are increasingly concerned about the potential for [perve]rt glasses to be used against them…to secretly record [cops]…in the [act] of [committing] crimes and acts of [violence and] terrorism…[cop]s in the US typically [steal or break] any and all devices that would be capable of recording video footage…[but] some [perve]rt glasses have gone unnoticed…[cops, spooks, and goons] want…the exclusive right to use surveillance technology and cameras to monitor the public without those cameras being turned back on them.  “These agencies surveil the public incessantly, but the moment we can watch them back, it’s deemed a security threat,” [said Ryan] Shapiro [of Property of the People]…

Welcome to the Future (#1660)

The dystopian future of Minority Report has arrived:

Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull [innocent] people over…[using bogus excuses in order to attempt to pin manufactured “]crime[s” on them]…The units…are called Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT).  In one case, a PITT analyzed the financial activity of a man who was driving across Montana, and [dispatched] local [pigs, who then] stopped him under the pretense of an obstructed license plate and charged him with a DUI…Border Patrol…us[es]…ALPRs…as part of the…program…“genuine probable cause cannot be synthetically generated,” [said] Jake Laperruque…of the…Center For Democracy & Technology…”Border Patrol [is]…using parallel construction to cloak the reason behind its car stops”…

The Cop Myth (#1668)

Domestic violence is never a cop’s sole offense:

A Huntsville [Alabama cop named]…John Holliday was…arrested…[on August 17 for slamming] his wife [to] the ground and [repeatedly] kick[ing] her…[then stealing] her…cellphone wh[en] she tried to dial 911…[the cop shop put him on desk duty and that did not change even]…after h[e was] arrest[ed again] on Sept. 3 for DUI…[but after] he was…arrest[ed a third time for waving a gun around while drunk]…he was [reward]ed with…a p[aid vacati]on…[A spokespig described this as] “tak[ing] allegations of misconduct involving its employees seriously”…

Panopticon (#1671)

Some aspects of the modern dystopia are too odious even for authoritarians:

…the City of Sheboygan…[Wisconsin will]…terminate [its] contract with…Flock S[urveillance after it]…offered to sell the Sheboygan Department of Public Works…five years of data [collected by] the…15 cameras already deployed in the city…in violation of the [contract, which pretends]…the company does not own the data…and [will supposedly] only…retain [it] for 30 days.  Since…their [announcement]…other cities have been following suit….[in] both…Fond du Lac County…and…Winnebago County…

But simply cancelling the contract won’t stop Flock:

Flock S[urveillance blamed a computer for illegally ordering]…the reinstallation of license plate cameras that Grass Valley [California] police had already removed after canceling the city’s contract with the company.  Residents alerted police…after spotting a utility crew replacing [the] cameras at several locations…Flock [claims] its automated maintenance system interpreted the…[removals] as equipment failures and generated replacement work orders…The [cancellat]ion followed months of pressure from residents and privacy advocates…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Torture, brutality, and abuse [are] endemic to New York’s prisons.  –  Jerome Wright

Vulture Watching (#1451)

I doubt this will do very much good until the current SCOTUS is neutralized:

…a U.S. district court judge in Idaho ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion to preserve their physical and mental health.  Not just to save their lives, and not just to prevent a major health catastrophe—but to protect their ongoing health…Dr. Stacy Seyb challenged Idaho’s [near-total] ban…argu[ing] that the U.S. Constitution also protects abortion in cases where pregnancy worsens existing conditions, could lead to suicide, or involves fatal or severe fetal diagnoses…Judge Lynn Winmill largely agreed, ruling that health-preserving abortions are constitutionally protected…[but] declined to block Idaho’s ban on abortions for doomed pregnancies…Judge Winmill ruled that ending a pregnancy for health reasons is rooted in American history and tradition, writing that Idaho’s ban is an “outlier position that contravenes basic principles of our constitutional order”…

No Escape (ROTW #17)

Much, much more of this, please:

California prison officials have [allowed female prisoners to be subjected to] sexual abuse and harassment…for years, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a new report…[compiled] after hundreds of [the victims] filed legal claims [because of rape and other] sexual exploitation by staff…investigators said they found an “unbroken pattern” of staff sexual assault dating back over 20 years at California’s two women’s prisons.  The department concluded that prison officials knew women faced a substantial risk of sexual abuse but [simply did not care]…Investigators pointed to gaps in surveillance camera coverage, a lack of confidential reporting options, inadequate investigations and [refusal] to hold staff accountable…[due] to “deliberate indifference”…

Creepy Coppers (#1573)

One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:

A [California] probation [cop named]…Damon Jon Luecke…[has been arrested] and…held without bail…[for talking a] 13[-year-old boy into sending him]…sexually explicit…photographs and [trying to talk him into] meeting in person…the mother…fo[und out]…and…re[ported him]…Luecke [has an]…extensive history working with youth…[embroiled with the in]justice system…[including] 16 years…as a [screw in a] juvenile [prison camp]…

Torture Chamber (#1608)

Your “leaders” call this “correction”:

[New York screws]…locked Rahkeem Brown in a [cell with]…a mattress on the floor and…no running water…[after barfing the magic word “]contraband[“] in his [face]…they replaced his prison uniform with a [stained] hospital gown…which…smelled like feces…gave him…a…bucket…and told him to [magically produce an unnamed] item [from his anus] and give it to them [as though he could lay golden eggs]…he spent the next eight days in the room, giving [pervert pigs] stool after stool…but [they kept robotically declaring that]…the stool was…an “insufficient amount”…They gave him cups of water, but it was barely enough to drink and…the room’s overhead lights never turned off…[screws torture their victims] in similar rooms across New York’s state prison system…[all they need to do is barf the magic word] “contraband”…in 2019, [one victim] sued [a prison] for holding him in a “[shit] room” for 61 days…[but] courts dismissed the suit, [barf]ing…the [magic torture-justifying word] “security”…In 2021, another man sued the s[ame prison] for [lock]ing him in a [shit] room…for over two months…a court…award[ed] him [a mere] $6,390 …Yet another [gang of screws tried to justify two weeks of the torture by]…plant[ing drugs in the room after their victim was released]…

Walled Garden (#1620)

I’m afraid this will be far too little, far too late:

France’s top court has struck down a ban on social media for under-15s…[because] it infringed upon freedom of expression…the French president immediately [vowed to ram through]…a new [version designed]…to [circumvent] the cou[rt’s objections despite]…the Constitutional Council…[finding] that…the legislation…”is neither appropriate, necessary, nor proportionate”…

Moloch (#1643) 

Pigs in schools should be abolished, not given torture devices:

[Pigs paid to lurk in] 29 public schools across the Omaha area have access to gloves capable of [painfully] shock[ing students into submission] — the same technology [ICE]…is [handing to its goons]…The Omaha P[igsty admits] that the gloves have been used [at least] twice…on students [they wished to brutalize, an atrocity spokespigs euphemized as]…”the officer was able to secure that individual”…

Mad Libs (#1660)

Amazon only cares about books as a path to profit:

Amazon is buying massive quantities of books, scanning them for [chatbot] training…and destroying them in the process…404 Media…plac[ed] a tracking device in a rare book we suspected would be acquired by a…[chatbot pusher] and follow[ed] it around the country to its final destination…[which] was an Amazon warehouse in Las Vegas…[where] all they do is receive massive shipments of printed books which they then cut the bindings off in order to scan the books more quickly.  The printed book is destroyed in the process. The logo of the Amazon team that works at this warehouse, called VGT3, is a dinosaur, brandishing its teeth and with a book in its hands…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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I liked Pride so much better when it was one day celebrated by grass-roots organizations than a whole month ballyhooed by major corporations with rainbow-hued consumer goods, and with hypocritical expressions of solidarity from politicians and cops.
–  “June is Tweeting Out All Over”

One…aspect of my neuroatypicality…[is] that…[I] spend [a lot of] time composing and performing a kind of music only I can hear.
–  “The Music in the Numbers”

Unfortunately, societies’ tendency to self-lobotomize into stagnation and decay is something that will almost certainly never be solved.
–  “The Eternal Frontier”

The only moral form of warfare is War of Assassins, in which the only combatants and the only legitimate targets are the rulers, their henchmen, and their agents.  –  “War of Assassins“

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Before today, I cannot think of a single time when a Bing search result was more valuable than the Google equivalent.  –  Russell Brandom

When I saw this essay from C.J. Ciaramella two months ago, I was immediately reminded of a different Australian nun who was also an early ’70s pop star, because this one got very heavy play on New Orleans Top 40 stations in 1974; it also made its way into the guitar masses which were popular at the time.  The links above the video were provided by Mike Siegel, Ryan Marino, Walter Olson, Violet Blue, and IncarcerNation (x2), in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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100% organic GMO-free dog shit.  –  Beeple

I loved this song from the first time I heard it in the mid-1980s, so there was no way I was not going to use it as Coe’s sendoff.  The links above it were provided by Kevin Wilson (x2); Jesse Walker and Franklin Harris; Nun Ya (x2); and Violet Blue, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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[Computer programs do] not understand “stakes” as humans perceive them.  –  Tong Zhao

When an especially-prolific musician dies, I often choose one of his lesser-known works as a memorial; this Neil Sedaka composition is quite different from the pop songs he’s known for.  The links above the video were provided by Matt Welch, Popehat, IncarcerNation (x2), T. Greg Doucette, and Mark Bennett, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Get back in the game, or I’ll shoot you.  –  Andrew Lawson

Due to the plethora of guillotine memes that have populated social media since the current guillotine-worthy regime took power, I’ve often thought of this song, but it was the recent death of Brigitte Bardot which finally moved me to feature it.  The links above the video were provided by Nicholas Grossman, Jesse Walker, The Onion, Nun Ya, Jesse Walker again, Jessica Pishko, and Popehat, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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You’re not the minority anymore.  –  Old Karen’s friend

When Mike Siegel tweeted a TikTok video of Creepy Stare Piano Guy performing “My Heart Will Go On” on rubber chickens, I went to YouTube to find a copy I could embed, but it was not there.  However, this cover of the same song by a different deadpan rubber chicken musician was, so here you go.  The links above it were provided by Nun Ya (x2), Ryan Marino (x2), Mike Siegel again, and Radley Balko, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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I know it’s difficult to grasp for the country that took claims of “300,000 sex trafficked children raped 100 times a day” and “invading hordes of terrorist immigrants” seriously, but there are no such things as demons.  And whatever God or gods there may be clearly do not tit-for-tat “punish” entire religions, as even the most cursory examination of the historical record will attest.  I’m bone-tired of having to endure stenographic “journalists” pretending that people who believe Bronze-Age myths are literally true should be taken as anything other than dangerous, deeply-stupid fanatics who can’t exceed a child’s capacity for rational thought.  I love mythology, and I often use idioms drawn from it in my writing; that is not, however, the same as my arguing on national TV that COVID was a pestilence sent by Zeus for our hubris, or claiming that we need a well-funded government program to locate Níðhöggr so we can prevent the collapse of the World-tree.  One thing I actually do agree with Carlson on is that nuclear weapons are much too dangerous a toy for a species largely comprised of perpetual moral and intellectual children who believe the kind of nonsense he believes, and still justify murdering and abusing each other by invoking anthropomorphic deities.

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