The rule of thumb is, if a news piece comes out on Tuesday or Wednesday, it might lead to a followup. Not that it would be true, but people will pretend it is, so you can at least keep up with the fashion. Mondays and Thursdays are iffy, and anything on Friday or the weekend is something you can sleep off without losing track of the narrative.
In short, check the news two days a week, and enjoy some more productive activity on the rest. You won't miss a thing.
There was a time when Judaism, Christianity and Islam were the new religions - and I dare say, they also overcomplicated things compared to the old ones. I mean, looking at the state of the world, it's far simpler to acknowledge that there are many gods, some benevolent, some malicious, a lot of them powerful but none omnipotent - as opposed to claiming there is only one omnipotent and benevolent god, and then looking for excuses as to why bad stuff happens anyway. Never mind the habit of blaming natural disasters on people's sins, which feels like a global-sized version of the "look what you made me do" line uttered by countless abusers.
You can even consider Buddhism, which attests that gods are irrelevant to one's own enlightenment, and morality - that is, karma - is inherent in one's actions and intentions, rather than determined by any god. Which again reduces the need for excuses for all the evils in the world, since in the Buddhist view, these evils stem from disharmony, and are an expectedl part of an already imperfect world.
Bear in mind, even in the Bible, there are explicit passages saying that following the rules has the chance of getting you to heaven, but there's no obligation for it on god's part. This is the sola fide doctrine, which Calvinism further develops - or twists, depending on your view - into the concept of predestination - that some people are inherently bound for heaven, others or hell, and there's nothing to be done about it. I mean, I'd prefer it if it was as you said - that your life decisions determined where you end up - but it's just not supported in Christian religious doctrine. As opposed to Buddhism again, where this is very much the case, and following the Noble Path does lead to a way out of the cycle of suffering.
Hard to say about god, but in general terms of morality, that's not quite how psychopathy works. Hollywood movies and superhero comics may like to use it as some kind of shorthand for "eeevil", when writers can't create proper motivations for characters, but in actual fact, most the time it's found in victims of abuse, not the actual abusers.
And vice versa - there are countless examples, from barbarian conquerors to modern day suicidal jihadists, who exhibit the full range of empathy and emotion, while committing the most heinous of acts.
The operative word is feedback - if you've been raised to believe something is "good", and have always received positive reinforcement for doing it - no matter how violent and destructive it can be to people outside your social circle, tribe, clan etc. - you'll be able to do it without compunction. And in turn, if you were taught that something is "bad", regardless of the lack of practical evidence, and punished, often violently, for even talking about it, you'd need a considerable effort of will to go against this sort of programming - which can result in psycho-pathologies, regardless of the actual moral merit of the thing in question.
As for whether the alphabet agencies look for that when selecting operatives - it's not too likely. Actual psychopathy is debilitating when it comes to empathy and social awareness, which are essential qualities for intelligence work. The image of the suave and stylish psychopath is just as much a movie myth as that of the violent lunatic.
Instead, oftentimes it's actually something that comes after joining, simply because that's the nature of the job. You'll find similar symptoms and pathologies in many high-pressure professionals, from ER surgeons and paramedics, to firefighters - people whose work involves working under extremely harsh conditions and schedules, who sometimes need to overcome even their own survival instincts to get the job done. So if the alphabet agencies really are screening for that sort of thing, it's more of a way to see who'd work better under pressure, than just looking for the most evil emotionless bastards they can find.
Tell me about it. Picture this in your head:
"Hey, Serhey, now that we're free and armed and all, why should we actually go fight the Russians, since the Zelensky regime is likely to round us up even if we survive anyway?"
"No worries, Nykolay, we'll fire a couple of rockets at an empty tank, then hightail it to Poland and claim refugee status. Nothing left to steal or rape here anyway."
"Good plan."
I've browsed CGTN every now and then, and what can I say - western news is typically propaganda meant to make you feel like crap, so that you need to buy a bunch of stuff to feel better about yourself. Eastern news is propaganda made to make you feel great, so that you ignore the fact you're too poor to buy anything. That, and the pictures are usually prettier.
Most likely, yes. The reason Americans tend to level cities to the ground in their wars, is because they have no interest in permanently settling in the region. Here, however, we're seeing the kind of siege tactics that usually precipitate annexation - destruction of strategic wartime resources and buildings, avoidance of actual urban warfare in favor of tactical strikes, and the use of low level troops, foreign skirmishers and de facto mercenaries instead of going in with the regular army. In short, the Russians are moving in to stay.
For specific tactics, I suspect the strikes on civilian buildings are either meant to enforce the siege - like the above hit on a heating station, that provides incentive for a region to surrender or face the frost - or are a response to the Ukrainian irregulars with RPGs deployed inside - which itself is also a war crime, no matter how heroic it looks in pictures.
Moreover, if what Coach Red Pill says is true, Zelensky has effectively granted the local mob thugs free reign on the big cities, with military-grade firepower at that, and they're now settling scores among themselves. This is a classic "scorched earth" tactic used when abandoning a soon-to-be-captured region, since the approaching forces will be busy clearing up the criminal element. Thing is, it's also not very ethical to inflict on your own citizens.
All things considered, it looks like Russia will take a major bite out of Ukraine, but it's doing it in a way that would leave most of the infrastructure intact. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian combat effort is focused more on inconveniencing the incoming forces, even at the expense of its own citizens, than on organizing a concerted resistance.
The short answer is: Yes, and national governments are working on it right now.
As for the long answer, ever since the fall of the Soviet Union, nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain have realized that this might not have been such a great idea after all. Not only did it allow for various terrorist splinter cells breaking away from their masters' control, but it led to the entanglement of national economies, to the point an otherwise local banking crisis in 2008 affected the whole world. One way or another, national economies and major currency players would need to get separated.
The solution: Well, how about starting another Cold War? One side does something so reprehensible (or so the media say) that it's "sanctioned" by getting cut off major banking systems and currency markets; its supporting nations face similar restrictions; international companies also pull out citing moral reasons; their remaining on-site assets are quickly nationalized... and the lines are drawn. Welcome to Cold War 2.0, now in glorious HD quality. And maybe some peace and quiet, where both sides have a great foreign enemy to fight, economies are kept lean and mean, and international banking cartels are torn to shreds.
Fact of the matter is, the conflict we're seeing right now has been coming for a long time. Not in the sense of being planned to unfold exactly in the way it is, but rather, the current events are merely the excuse for measures prepared long in advance.
Well, now that he's desperately calling for an in-person meeting with Putin, I suspect the spiel might be for Zelensky to get "killed" just before or even during the talks. He dies a noble martyr, Putin's reputation as a villain is solidified in the west, and the Second Cold War officially breaks out. And of course, nations that continue trading with Russia - such as Brasil, China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia etc. (basically half the world) will be met with similar sanctions, further detaching the individual national economies.
Thing is, it might be for the better - after all, if you were part of a global banking and financial authority wishing to dominate national economies, the last thing you'd want is for them to suddenly break away from one another, each with its own separate currency and financial system.
Really slunk away, didn't ya?
Nah, just got the "thread reached maximum depth" line from the site. Not that the conversation was going very far. But as for the other matter...
Who said it was Satanic?
It's the calendar observed by the people in charge of organized religion... which you called Satanists. Now, as with the matter of complaining about me attacking others while doing it yourself, I'd leave you to practice basic self-consistency. It might take a while, but I bet you just might get it right eventually.
The whole deal with Zelensky wandering around Ukraine like a social media influencer is a bit off. He's supposed to be a head of state - in times of war, those are put in the deepest bunker available, since their political decisions should matter more than their public image. But no, he's apparently off doing open-sky photo ops with minimal security - which looks great as an Instagram story, but has no real value otherwise.
Now, it does make sense if these photo ops have been staged in advance, but even as a publicity stunt, it has no political utility - the EU/NATO bigwigs certainly aren't falling for it, judging by how his appeals to join have been quietly brushed off.
Potentially, the real benefit might come if he's "killed" while doing another open sky video podcast, making for a major social media event, further mass condemnation of Russia etc. After all, he did start out as an entertainer, and his political career is short enough for him to be sacrificed - that is, retired under a false name and swept off the political board. Who knows, perhaps that would be the new "shot heard around the world", as it were.
Yeah, now who's attacking... And of course, the supreme argument - "I'm right, look it up online". With debate skills like that on its side, it's a real mystery why religion has lost its relevance for practical matters, calendar or otherwise.
Why, did I personally change the calendar or something? I mean, I'm all for a four-day workweek, but somehow, that doesn't strike me as a cardinal sin against the creator.
So, to ask the question edgewise: What is wrong with changing the calendar? What is wrong with basing months and dates on the Earth's position around the Sun, rather than lunar cycles? What is wrong with having holidays based around practical utility rather than religious doctrine?
By all means, let's make it "institutions can't choose how to set the calendar", again for the same genocidal reasons. So, why not? What's so wrong about it? If anything, the solar calendar is far more useful as an agricultural measure, since the months follow seasons a lot more accurately. Never mind the stroke of genius that was the leap year, since that streamlined things further. So again, what's the big transgression here? What's the cardinal sin of... having a calendar that's actually useful for practical purposes?
Next thing you'll tell me that Christmas is satanic, because the date is set under the solar calendar... fittingly, again by the Romans, since that's when they celebrated the solstice.
That would be the reference to the "Roman SOLAR CULT calendar, product of those that are CONDEMNED for thinking "to change times and laws". Which, apparently, "will end and be destroyed, and the world will return to Yahweh's calendar ... of course AFTER a major purge of those in rebellion to His ways"
Or in other words, people can't even choose when to take a holiday, or fear genocidal retribution. Not exactly a freedom-loving mindset, I'd say.
He's free to post, people are free to comment... generally that's how a discussion works. The irony is that he's posting about how people aren't or even shouldn't be free, that they all have to exist in some preordained manner, down to the way they take a holiday. Not sure about whether that too counts as whining, but it's definitely got some "old man yells at cloud" vibes.
The Creator has spoken...
And I'm sure he just so happens to be in complete agreement with your own views, down to the smallest detail. Ain't that a convenient coincidence - out of billions of people, both today and through history, the grand creator of the universe just happens to agree precisely with you. And even though there's been thousands if not millions of people with the exact same idea - that the creator agreed with them instead - it's you who really has it right, isn't it?
Now, if the OP focus is to have your own echo chamber, nowadays you can actually create your own sub for that. Some guys already have. Sure, nobody else really visits those subs, so the "echo" isn't too loud, but you have the freedom to try anyway. You know, freedom - that thing where you don't need to always follow somebody else's orders or plans. Feel free to think on that concept one of these days. Namaste.
Understanding suggested information implies ignoring perceived inspiration....understanding affixed meaning (words) ignores comprehension of ongoing meaning (sound).
In other words, "The Tao that can be described, is not the true Tao." I can work with that.
Funnily enough, the very idea that the Universe "began" might not be so solidly based in scientific fact. The concept of the Big Bang depends on a particular understanding of the physics of light. Namely, that the speed of light is constant, and the observed Doppler effect - that light seems to redshift, or "slow down", the further its source from us is - is explained by these sources moving away - ergo, they were once far closer, down to a defined moment of beginning.
However, if light can slow down otherwise - perhaps as a property of spacetime itself - then redshifting would be a natural result of sheer traveled distance. And the Universe might thus be considered eternal, having no need for a designated moment of creation to begin with, let alone a creator.
On the contrary, the comment is plain and simple - the Roman emperor decreed that people would rest on Sunday, so they rest on Sunday. Nothing wrong with that. Personally, I'll take any holiday I can get - Roman, Christian, those weird Japanese holidays you see in anime... Though it's still a mystery how this constitutes some grand moral transgression, or how it fits under the conspiracy tag.
To be succinct, the idea that the Universe came about in either a completely scientific and rational manner or as the intentional and exact creation of a sentient being compatible with any popular religion, is the mother of all false dichotomies. For all we know, it might have been an accident spawned by some eldritch monstrosity that has since completely abandoned and forgotten about it.
If anything, the instinctive search and supposition of a creator of anything resembling humanoid sentience, is no different than what's called pareidolia - the penchant for seeing human faces in otherwise random objects. It's simply the first reaction in our own minds, since humans are social creatures to begin with - seeking out other humans tends to have advantages, even with a mechanism that's prone to false positives like that.
Respectively, this resulted in even the initial ideas of gods - beings of humanoid sentience, responsible for natural phenomena. Only even their number has dwindled considerably since the olden days. It's like the Face of Mars - the closer we got in exploring it, the less it looked like it was ever a face to begin with.
In other words, they'll send a bunch of obsolete gear barely worth a hundred mil, and launder and appropriate the rest of the money while scoring brownie points in the official narrative.