Has the entire country gone mad? The headlines sure seem to point in that direction.<\/p>\n
Many Americans are too stupid to understand, for instance, that proscription of all<\/i> assemblies, including churches, are not breaches of religious freedom because they do not single-out churches; churches are merely one type of assembly that is forbidden. Opposing Church Closures Becomes New Religious Freedom Cause<\/a>. True: You can’t expect much from people who believe in talking snakes and hope to spend eternity with a psychopath who’s got more blood on his hands than Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot combined, but … still.<\/p>\n Natural selection is clearly at work at Pastor Tony Spell’s church, however. According to police, traffic was down about 75%<\/a> after a congregant died, and its lawyer died of coronavirus. There will doubtless be more.<\/p>\n And the hit taken by The Church of God in Christ<\/a> has been brutal.<\/p>\n Certainly, social distancing works. After all, you can’t catch a sickness from people you never encounter. But Governor Cuomo is catching grief<\/a> from some pious loon for saying the obvious: It isn’t Our Invisible Friend who flattened the curve, but thinking, conscientious citizens who isolated themselves — we did that<\/i>. If an Invisible Friend is involved, that’s who sent Covid-19.<\/p>\n But, you know, take that for what it’s worth; I’m well-known to be extremely wicked.<\/p>\n On the other hand, here is a guy<\/a> who confronted the Covid-19 demon face-to-face and vanquished it by invoking Jesus’ name. Or, something.<\/p>\n Meantime, Pat Robertson has been thinking deeply about our troubles and — What do you know? — says it’s all the fault of same-sex marriage<\/a>. Unfortunately, Robertson doesn’t explain why anti-gay pastors and congregations are dying like flies as they insist upon assembling.<\/p>\n It’s just one more example, I guess, of the Mysteriousness of His Ways.<\/p>\n The White House, which has degenerated into a bad cartoon under the First Felon’s management, is redirecting<\/a> the U.S.’ contribution to WHO to — get ready — Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse. This can’t possibly be legal, but they’ll probably get away with it because the good guys are busy fighting more grave offenses against the law.<\/ul>\n The Pious aren’t the only unhinged people out there. The anti-government cranks are energized, too.<\/p>\n An Idaho legislator says her state’s governor is just like Hitler<\/a> because he has issued a lockdown order.<\/ul>\n Just so’s you know, there is<\/i> some good news out there.<\/p>\n The University of Chicago is setting-up a live webcam<\/a> at Botany Pond, the home of Dr. Jerry Coyne’s beloved ducks. I’ll post a link to the cam just as soon as Dr. Coyne does.<\/p>\n “That woman in Michigan” is trouncing the First Felon <\/a>in the polls. This is good news, because Trump seduced Michigan into his camp in 2016; there would be a sort of poetic justice in it if his abusive characterizations of her prove fatal to re-election this time around.<\/ul>\n Last, I pointed a few days ago<\/a> to a recent issue of Philosophy Now<\/i> that focuses on Friedrich Nietzsche. In my follow-up discussion of Nietzsche, I alluded twice to his sister, who didn’t have a clue what her brother was all about.<\/p>\n Here’s a book review<\/a> that discusses Elizabeth’s role in screwing-up her brother’s legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Has the entire country gone mad? The headlines sure seem to point in that direction. Continue reading \n
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