I'm pro-life, but this is scary:

What Actually Happens When a Country Bans Abortion

Note: Romania banned birth control as well. I do not support such a ban.

Just what we need: the AI versions of Lorena Bobbitt.

Hackers Can Turn Sex Robots Into Killing Machines, Security Expert Warns

Grooming.

"The Worth of an Angry God: How supernatural beliefs allowed societies to bond and spread."

By Brian Gallagher May 30, 2019

http://nautil.us/issue/72/quandary/the-worth-of-an-angry-god?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Last paragraphs:

Q: A recent Gallup poll reported that 60 percent of Americans would now consider voting for an atheist. What do you make of declining religious belief or, at least the de-stigmatization of public atheism given the apparent role belief in moralizing gods plays in supporting cooperation amongst strangers?

A: The acceptance of atheists is the trailing figure on a bunch of trends, right? That same stack can be applied, for example, to having female and gay politicians—atheists are actually the lowest on that grouping. It seems clear that with the rise of strong secular institutions, representative governments, Western-style judicial processes, religion has become less and less important. And, in fact, one of the things our research shows is that it’s belief in a kind of punishing god that does a lot of the work of keeping people in line and policing people. What many Christians have today is a belief in this loving, kind God, who’s not much of a punisher. In fact, belief in Hell is on the decline. Ara Norenzayan has work showing that, if you believe God’s punishing and loving, you’re actually more likely to cheat. It’s the belief in Hell that seemed to do a lot of the work of keeping people in line.

Q: Does research suggest that effective secular institutions can keep people in line?

A: Let’s say we give people a chance to allocate money between themselves and a stranger. If you prime them with God unconsciously and they’re a religious person, like a Christian or Muslim, then you get a big increase in the amount that they give. If you prime an atheist with that, you don’t get any effect. But if you prime an atheist with courts and constables and police, you also get an increase—and you get that with a religious person. So it seems like effective secular institutions can take the place of God. But this doesn’t work in places without effective secular institutions. If the police are corrupt and nobody trusts the police, priming people with the police doesn’t help.

Q: Does this mean we don’t need to return to Judeo-Christian values for secular institutions to function well?

A: Right. The argument would be the Danish or the Dutch. These are places where there are high levels of atheism, very little belief in traditional religion, but super well-functioning societies. It could be like climbing a ladder: Once we build these things, then we don’t need religion anymore. But we never could have built these secular institutions without religion in the first place.

There are near zero correlations between Alabama and Ceausescu's Romania. Not only did Ceausescu ban abortion and birth control he also applied fines and other punishments to childless people. Ceausescu believed that there weren't enough Romanians to make the communist dream work. So he took action to increase the Romanian population drastically. Ceausescu fell into the classic management trap I call the warm body fallacy.

Any of us who've had experience with management has seen an overworked manager who is hiring anyone and everyone just to fill desks in the hope of keeping up. And we've also seen how that doesn't work. More people isn't good enough. You need the right people. Just filling in all the slots without making sure you've got everything that goes with it (right attitudes, education, and infrastructure) just causes more problems than being understaffed.

To his later detriment this is what Ceausescu found out as well. He caused a massive population boom. But he didn't provide for raising those kids. He didn't provide for employing them as adults. So these young people who were raised mainly as a tax dodge by their parents became criminals and revolutionaries, eventually taking Ceausescu down.

Rather than Alabama with it's new abortion laws the better parallel is LBJ's welfare programs. LBJ set things up so poor people got more money if you had more kids and if there wan't a father. People having kids just for the money and not raising those kids they didn't really want is an old story here in the US. And those kids turn to criminality at a far higher rate than other people, just like was seen in Ceausescu's Romania.

As seen on the internet.

I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting to see a huge Twitter war between Trump and David Duke, just so I can read The Times tell us what a great guy David Duke is.

America’s top Democrats repeatedly tout the need for “clean” energy and massive deployments of wind and solar power, but by denying the role that nuclear energy must play in any successful decarbonization efforts, they are ignoring the scientific consensus. If they truly care about the dangers posed by climate change, they should stand up and tell the truth about the need for nuclear energy. Until that happens, their various plans to address the issue will be impossible to take seriously.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/democrats-curious-disdain-for-nuclear-power/

https://twitter.com/SpeciesPodcast/status/1135196179929731072

News you can use.

http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/download-422-free-art-books-from-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art.html

Weather and climate.

https://www.climatedepot.com/2019/06/03/climate-statistician-rips-wash-post-for-unscientific-clams-misinformation/

The closing of Interstate 680 at the Missouri River brings the number of closed bridges between Omaha and St. Joseph, Mo., to six.

Only four crossings remain open, three in Omaha and the fourth at St. Joseph.

http://ncn21.com/featured-news/only-four-of-10-missouri-river-crossings-remain-open/

The article by the Times tells the tale of the losing side in great detail providing vital information of the self-defense group including their names, photographs, locations of their homes, the vehicle that one of them uses, and even the photographs of the two daughters of one individual. “If they were a nuisance for the MS13 gang, now they are a special target,” Martinez wrote.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/06/02/new-york-times-unmasks-honduran-community-fighting-ms-13/

Now she's selling merch.

And then there's the framing of the photograph.

I've officially achieved a metric buttload of Quillette/Lehman.

Cuteniss

> Hackers Can Turn Sex Robots
> Into Killing Machines

When you turn to robots for thrills, you're already dead

Stunning

This is a bad time to be having these problems.

The trick is to stare at the Demon's left temple, but the first pass of this example is particularly tough.

Facinating.

This is funny, but it nonetheless makes me want to pee in Queenie's delicate little teacup.…`

Arms race. Not certain what our best move is here.

Econ Jiu-Jitsu #1: Education, because OmiGod.

Econ Jiu-Jitsu #2: Kidnapping— Seems airtight if not infallible.

A Kenyan illegally in the USA may have murdered a whole bunch of elderly women.

But let's not call him an 'illegal', okay?

That's just so rude.

Rats with hooves:

Deer Collision Knocks High School Runner Out of First Half Marathon

A feel-good story.

(If you can get past the odd title)

"A recent Gallup poll reported that 60 percent of Americans would now consider voting for an atheist."

It is a surprise to many and a serious irritant to some to find that the Constitution forbids a religious test to qualify for public office.

"When you turn to robots for thrills, you're already dead"

It's OK. AI chicks will still dig you!

We see within in your subtle, beguiling shades of irony the twinkling nuances of a Sartre.