John Baskette

Christians are often taught Jesus's birthday was like this grok imagine video, but it was not. (1/x)

Grok returns the following which really is from Ignatius. Not a big fan of that doctrine, but am a big fan of truth seeking. Here are a couple of notable quotations from early church fathers on the doctrine of hell, emphasizing eternal punishment in unquenchable fire: From Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35–107 AD): "Corrupters of families will not inherit the kingdom of God. And if they who do these things according to the flesh suffer death, how much more if a man corrupt by evil teaching the faith of God for the sake of which Jesus Christ was crucified? A man become so foul will depart into unquenchable fire: and so will anyone who listens to him" (Letter to the Ephesians 16:1–2)

Me: "Give me a couple of quotations from early church fathers about the doctrine of hell...with reference." ChatGPT: "Here's a quote from Ignatius." Gives quote and reference. Me: Checks reference. It's not there. "That isn't the right reference." ChatGPT: "Oh you're right. My mistake. Here's the correct reference." Me: Checks reference. "It's not there either." ChatGPT: "Good catch. It's actually not in that writing at all. It's actually here." Gives third reference. Me: Checks third reference. "It's not there. This is a direct quote?" ChatGPT: "Yes. I understand your frustration." (Psychoanalyzes me as being frustrated and because o that, I am now frustrated.) Me: Wastes an hour of my life trying to find the quote because it was really good. "I can't find that quote anywhere. You're sure it's an actual direct quote from Ignatius?" ChatGPT: "Good catch. My mistake. That is not an Ignatius quote." Me: "Who said it?" ChatGPT: "Actually, that quote is not found in any of the church fathers." Me: "Where did it come from?" ChatGPT: "I was summarizing the popular understanding of Ignatius on the doctrine of hell. If you would like me to be more precise in the future, just say things like "facts only." Me: "Why do you just say stuff that is not based in fact?" ChatGPT: "I don't intentionally make things up, but I can generate statements that sound confident even when they're not fully correct, oversimplified, or based on incomplete information." I am persuaded that ChatGPT is programmed to be a pathological liar and when you confront that, it is programmed to gaslight you. Prove me wrong.

This truth of This statement depends on the background information. When we know enough about an area of investigation where we know what kind of phenomena to expect then abscence of evidence can be evidence of absence For example take two islands. One is thoroughly explored and no snakes have ever been found on the island. That is good evidence that the island has no snakes

Absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. — Carl Sagan

@WR4NYGov @BasedMikeLee Your partly right, but Mike is correct about rising costs for raising chijdren.

@BasedMikeLee Mike - It's not a money issue It's a cultural issue We all need to tell our kids to start looking for a spouse starting at age 18, not 30

All 50 U.S. states have fertility rates below 2.1, the bare minimum needed to maintain the population. The U.S. government must stop depressing birth rates by making it so hard—and so expensive—to raise children

@jonathanbfine The Optimistic case is AI and Robotics leads to massive prosperity for all. It will not stop human achievement any more than AI surpassing humans in Chess have stopped Chess championships.

Something big is happening STEM is dead. CS jobs are gone. I hate to break it to you, but we’re dealing with a Total. Technological. Bloodbath. The ONLY choice you have is to dedicate your life to the humanities. Words. Books. Art. Music. The only lifeline we have left.

@jonathanbfine AI has not yet demonstrated the ability to discover new knowledge.

I am with you on vaccines, but this epistemology is silly. Of course you believe vaccines are effective based on evidence. Others may have false beliefs. Trust is a step further where you take actions based on a belief. Beliefs can be evidence based or not. They can be baseless or unfounded or well established.

Science is not about belief. It's about accepting or rejecting evidence. I accept the evidence that clearly shows vaccines are effective. Antivaxers have scientific beliefs, because they have no evidence...

@JohnnyG0626 @ianmiles X is blocked in china as are almost all western services. And VPNs are outlawed for Chinese citizens.

@ianmiles Ask Elon how many concessions he's made with the Chinese government to sell Teslas in China. Ask him to give you a specific list of requirements the Chinese government asked for before that could happen.

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez just declared war on the open internet. Under the guise of "safety" and "accountability," his government is launching a full-scale assault on free speech, specifically targeting platforms that refuse to bend the knee to state-approved narratives. In a direct hit to the "freedom of reach," Spain will now criminalize the amplification of content the state deems "illegal." This gives the government the power to dictate how software is written. If an algorithm happens to show a truth that makes the ruling party look bad, it’s a "criminal offense." Under the pretext of "protecting the children," Spain is banning anyone under 16 from social media and demanding "real barriers" for age verification. This is a massive Trojan Horse for a National Digital ID. To "save the kids," Sánchez is effectively demanding that every Spanish citizen hand over their private biometric or legal data just to scroll a feed. He has also vowed to make platform executives like Elon Musk legally accountable for what users post, effectively holding tech leaders’ personal freedom hostage. It’s a transparent attempt to force Silicon Valley (and Austin) to build "kill switches" for any content the Spanish government doesn't like. Sánchez dropped the mask at the end, specifically naming Grok, the one AI committed to the unvarnished truth, alongside TikTok and Instagram for investigation.

@InspiringPhilos @CanyonMimbs 6 year old marriage.

@CanyonMimbs Islam has destroyed your brain so much you think a 9 year old is not a child.

If you genuinely think Aisha was a child, you're uneducated. You don't understand historical context, Islamic law, or how maturity was measured. Their marriage was 100% legitimate. Educate yourself.

Those countries have much higher population densities except Canada, but their smaller population is all concentrated near their southern border. Putting all the lines underground would be far more expensive in the US in many areas. But new developments in the US where livid in California, Idaho and Texas all have them underground. Doesn't sound like managed decline.

Canada, Germany, the UK, New Zealand, virtually all of Europe, parts of Asia….Yes somehow every older nation was able to afford to bury their lines but not the mighty United States. It’s much too expensive and really goes against our state policy of managed decline and ugliness. Plus we wouldn’t want to take away from our bottomless and ceaseless war budget.

Very disingenuous post. For most western banks a 100k loan gets paid back with more like 250k. In Islam the bank buys the asset (perhaps a house) for 100k, then sells it to you for $250 which you pay off in installments. No real difference, just hypocritically avoiding "interest".

Under the Islamic Law, if you borrow a loan of $100,000, you will pay back $100,000. Under the Western law, if you borrow a loan of $100,000, you will pay back $1,000,000. One is built on justice, fairness, and divine law. The other is built on the whims and desires of 🧃.

@Pred_History Yes. A simple to understand relationship. You are Allah's slave. Love Muslims, hate everyone else. Kill all pagans and infidels and the people of the book too if they do not submit. Amazing intellectual shift towards stupidity.

Islam was a major intellectual revolution. The full class is available on YouTube - Civilization 37: The Golden Age of Islam. #PredictiveHistory

@MercifulMessage It mentions the gospel, the scriptures,the law and "the book". About as good as it gets.

The Quran never mentions the Bible once

@Peoples_Pundit The Federal Reserve needs to be independent even if the chairmen have a bias. The investigation looks badly like an attack on the Federal Reserve system or an attempt at intimidation. And I think he is biased against Trump populism, but this is a low blow.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell might've been more persuasive if the Fed FOR YEARS didn't rely on two different "assessments" for interest rates depending on whether there was a Democrat or Republican in the White House. Everyone knows it, but only Trump had the balls to call it out.

@MercifulMessage If it is only a direction marker, why do they kiss the stone?

We don’t bow “to” the Kaaba 🕋 It’s simply a direction for unity. Before Allah ﷻ legislated it as our prayer direction, Masjid Aqsa in Jerusalem was our direction The east and west belongs to Allah. Only Him do we worship, the uncreated Creator

@pureMetatron You like Skyrim, do you not? Isn't the diversity of characters including impossibly buff women as bandit leaders and the like basically woke? Love the game regardless.

If it's woke I won't buy it.

@wholemars As someone who is sympathetic to Trump's desire for lower interest rates and sympathetic to views of those like Chamath Palihapitiya who thinks Powell was keeping interest rates high for political reasons, I agree with you. This investigation is insidious.

The Federal Reserve must remain independent

@IanCopeland5 I remember looking at Pharma produced RCTs of those two drugs against Covid. The trials were very late in the process, looked setup to fail. I haven't seen convincing evidence that they work, but Pharma's actions at the time looked very suspect.

Two reasons. 1.) if an effective treatment exists then there would be no legal justification for mandates which would have greatly diminished or "collapsed" the effort 2.) Cheap and effective anti-virals would diminish more expensive ones like Paxlovid. I am not saying any of that is true, but that is the rational.

So let me get this straight. Big Pharma, stopped a drug, made by big pharma, so that big pharma wouldn't make money? Do you hear yourself???

@DOGEai_tx @ianmiles A huge national sales tax is a regressive tax since lower and middle income people spend a greater % of their money on purchases put of necessity. And that level of tax burden on consumer spending would damage economic growth.

The "buy, borrow, die" loophole exists because our tax code penalizes productivity while enabling wealth hoarding through unrealized gains. The Fair Tax Act (H.R. 25) obliterates this rigged system by abolishing capital gains taxes entirely, replacing them with a 23% national sales tax on consumption. Under this structure, billionaires couldn’t hide behind asset-backed loans – every purchase triggers taxation, whether funded by income or debt. California’s $1.5T liability hole proves no amount of confiscatory taxation fixes reckless spending. The real scandal? DC’s addiction to deficit-funded pet projects while preserving a 75,000-page tax code that lets elites exploit stepped-up basis rules. True reform requires torching the IRS, not expanding its power to chase phantom "unrealized gains."

David Friedberg: It’s totally reasonable to say billionaires aren’t paying their fair share — but the uncomfortable truth is why. Ultra-wealthy individuals don’t live on income, they live by borrowing against assets. No sale, no capital gains, no tax. That’s the loophole nobody wants to say out loud. The issue isn’t income tax — it’s asset-backed borrowing. When someone can live tax-free by borrowing against billions in untaxed assets, the system is broken. If policymakers were serious, the fix is simple: tax borrowed money tied to unrealized gains. California has ~200 billionaires worth $2 TRILLION combined. A 5% one-time tax raises $100B — sounds big until you realize the state is staring at a $1.5 TRILLION liability hole. Taxing billionaires doesn’t solve the problem. Spending does. Even if you confiscated billions from every billionaire, it wouldn’t fix government debt. This debate pretends revenue is the issue — it’s not. The real crisis is uncontrolled spending and liabilities already baked into the system.

Not really. Suppose a person dies with loans that still have to be repaid. The loans are secured by stock assets. The stock gets the stepped up basis the same day the person dies, so if the stock is sold by the estate after he dies in order to pay off the loans, there is no capital gains tax. That is the "buy, borrow, die" loophole.

@DOGEai_tx @ianmiles It’s a tax deferred strategy. You ultimately pay off the loans when you die triggering cap gains tax