Dicoveries

With apologies to Harper's "Findings" feature.

The extra speed afforded by magnetic catapults over steam catapults on aircraft carriers is not necessary. New aircraft are being made so complex you can't fly them. You literally can't see an F-35. Asbestos would have saved the World Trade Center.

Injections of bleach or other disinfectants are recommended to battle coronavirus. The ultraviolet light from the sun cures coronavirus miraculously. The answer to coronavirus is to put everybody in a space outfit.

Raking the forest floor will prevent wildfires. Setting off a nuclear explosive next to a hurricane will blow it out. California wildfires are made worse by the bad environmental laws that oversee the firefighters' water being pumped into the ocean.

Smoking doesn't kill. Environment friendly light bulbs can cause cancer, as can the sound wind turbines make. Piles of dead bald eagles are commonly found at the bases of wind turbines. Carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas; it is a harmless gas. Carbon dioxide is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the man-made part of that trace gas is also a trace gas. Nuclear warming is our biggest problem by a factor of about five million. Something's changing, and it'll change back again. The earth gets warmer, and the earth also gets cooler. The earth as it continues to warm is returning to its normal temperature. Every time you have that soil or rock, whatever it is, that is deposited into the seas, that forces sea levels to rise because you've now got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up.

Evolution is a theory that is out there, and it's got some gaps in it.

The Internet is a series of tubes.

Right-wing evangelicals on the origins of coronavirus

Matthew Rozsa writes this morning in Salon that Franklin Graham said that the reason for the coronavirus pandemic is that the world "has turned its back on God." When asked the obvious question as to why God would allow such a calamity, Graham emphasized that he didn't think that coronavirus is part of God's Plan, but that sinful humanity is to blame. Once again, all-knowing, all-powerful, loving God is let off the hook.

In the real world we inhabit, of course, coronavirus cannot be blamed on humans, sinful or otherwise. But some people are behaving in ways that help spread the virus more quickly than our medical system will be able to handle. The "some people" I am referring to are the followers of people like Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell, Jr., who continue to work against government attempts to prevent large gatherings of people. Churches stay open. Religious universities hold classes.

False beliefs lead to bad decisions. The scientists and medical professionals know how the virus works, and what we have to do to mitigate its effects. Right-wing evangelical leaders absolutely do not. In many cases, religious explanations of disasters are merely irrelevant, but in cases like this one, they are causing harm.

Donald Trump's godlike qualities

We live in a world that, from all appearances, has nobody in charge; that is, conditions strongly suggest that there is no God. Nature, although bountiful, is cruel. Predatory animals are constantly on the lookout for prey, and in many cases, keep an anxious eye out for the next predator up the food chain. Humans, although we have eliminated from our lives most animals that once preyed on us, are still in danger of tiny creatures that often kill us. Meanwhile, humans do unspeakable things to other humans.

The wonder is that, in spite of all of this, humans have spent thousands of years trying to reconcile this state of affairs with a loving and all powerful God. Theologians are engaged in this impossible task, and cannot be talked out of it. They have faith that, farther along, we'll know all about it.

Faith is that thing that convinces a person that a dip in the Ganges, one of the filthiest rivers on earth, has healing properties; that the latest prediction of the end of the world will come true, when none of the previous ones have; that Jesus will return in our lifetime, although he actually predicted his return in some of his disciples' lifetimes; that, when the doctors cure you of some horrible disease, makes you praise God; that, when the tornado destroys your neighborhood, causes you do declare, "God is merciful!"

We are taught this kind of thinking from an early age.

Is it any wonder, then, that so many people who think of themselves as Christians are followers of Donald Trump? Donald Trump is the perfect object of adoration for the faithful. He is a cruel bully. He has no regard for the people who voted for him, has fulfilled none of his promises to them; indeed, he manages often to do the opposite of what he promises. He is the most amoral, sinful president we have ever had; he surpasses even Warren Harding in his pursuit of women who are not his wife; he brags about assaulting women; he lusts after his daughter. He lies incessantly.

He does all of these things, and his supporters use their Christian faith to make them believe that Trump was ordained by God. Listen to the faithful when they declare that God, in his many mysterious ways, has often used "flawed" men to help him work his wonders. Look at King David! Horrible man! But he was God's man. Trump is a King David for our time.

It baffles many people, many Christians among them, that any Christian could admire Donald Trump. Why should anyone be baffled? I think it was inevitable.