I absolutely agree that we should abolish the worst offenders, I just don’t agree that religion at large is such a worst offender. The Nazis were a horrific secular organization and ISIS is a horrific religious organization. Both should be destroyed, but that doesn’t mean we should destroy all religious associations…

How do you think I feel? I was your 1-year limited warranty, and you weren’t exactly doing either of us any favors coming across all desperate like that.

But religion didn’t really cause most of those atrocities, it just provided a convenient excuse. People will find any reason to mistreat, subjugate and abuse those who are different. Power dictates the result, religion is merely the rationale. And without that rationale, another would have been substituted.

“The institutions of organized religion themselves are deeply corrupt and flawed at a fundamental level.”

Depends. Can religion save someone from cancer, who knows (although research shows that faith, and mental states generally, can have a powerful effect on medical outcomes). But if the enemy is boredom, drudgery, depression, the fear of death, loneliness, etc., I would argue that religion absolutely can have a positive…

If everyone in history only studied religion, that school would be under assault by fanatical rock-throwers, not shooters, and that guy’s carrier pigeon message would be reading that he’s recovering nicely from his minor bruises.

Other than probably anyone who went to Catholic school, but yeah, point taken.

“an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”

Yeah, they come in “Trump ego” and “Trump hand” sizes, so there’s not a great middle ground. It’s enough to give Goldilocks a nervous breakdown.

The real question is, how did he get the words “Make America Great Again” to float on the air above his head, attached to no discernible object?

Even assuming, though, that voluntary intoxication is permitted as a defense to specific intent crimes in PA, the circumstances, from what I know, would make proving intent to arouse pretty easy notwithstanding that the assailant was drunk. The hard thing to prove in these cases, usually, is the mens rea regarding…

That is not actually what mens rea means, though. It is the mental state component of a crime, and generally describes some level of culpability with respect to the conduct giving rise to criminal liability (such as negligence, recklessness, knowledge or intent). But it is not usually required that an actor know their…

I do agree that the phrasing is weird. And maybe you’re right, and they’re confusing copyright and trademark protection, in which case, damn, hire some new lawyers. My original reading was that the distinctiveness of the work was the main issue, and that they explained their argument in more detail in the passage not…

Actually, I think it’s the article that is misleading, or at the very least the title. While the artist claims Zara said she wasn’t famous enough, what they actually said is that her work is not distinctive enough, which absolutely is a relevant concept in copyright law. If the art is basically just an idea, it’s not…

“The Washington Post, like several other media outlets, has rented out an entire restaurant to serve as their office for the duration of the RNC. Which is mostly just disappointing a lot of hungry people who walk by: “Washington Post? Is that the name of the restaurant? Why is it so empty?””

Four more years of an improving post-recession economy? Of job growth? Of increased health insurance enrollment?

As a travelling Lego salesman, I want our children inspired by giant walls.

Badass. Throwing his phone into a regular sea would have been petty, but throwing it into the Aegean Sea is some Hera level mythological revenge shit.

That only matters if Trump will himself be a party in a proceeding before the Supreme Court (so I assume RBG is not anticipating another Bush v. Gore). Having to rule on a policy matter involving someone a Justice has personal feelings about, even if that person is a nominal party, does not, apparently, destroy the…

I’m assuming it’s a joke.