4 Oct 2017: Daily Homily (Praying for Victims) and Tweets

by | Oct 4, 2017 | Tweets, USA | 29 comments

Twitter is still full of tweets about the massacre in Las Vegas. I’m still angry that so many people have to suffer and die because a small number of people want to make huge profits. They are death merchants.

Making firearms is a legitimate business if you are supplying the military and security forces of legitimate governments. There is also a genuine use in sport and hunting. Most other uses aren’t valid.

I’m not going to go on about the subject. Most of what I have to say is covered by the tweets. I would just be repeating myself.

One thing that isn’t covered enough in the tweets is religion. Almost every message is full of people telling us to pray for the victims. Most of you agree with me that prayer is a complete waste of time. There are many reasons for this, and I won’t go into all of them – it would take a whole book!

For a start, even if the particular god that people are praying to is real, the idea that He (it’s usually He) would help is delusional. Let’s stick to the Christian God that a majority in the US worship.

We’re told God has a plan for our lives. That plan has presumably been going for some time, and continues well into the future. Why would He suddenly change his plan because of a few prayers?

We’re also told that God doesn’t make mistakes. That means that this massacre is part of His plan, and because He did it, it’s good. That’s something that people should remember when they point to God as a moral authority too. This is a God who makes all the bad things happen, as well as the good things. God considers this massacre was the right thing to happen. Is He really someone who we can trust to make good moral decisions?

Prayer does nothing. Instead, if you can, use the time to do something to help. Donate a dollar to a good victim charity. If every USian gave just one dollar, and most can afford to do that, to a charity like the National Compassion Fund, it would be set for years to come.

 

 

Las Vegas Tweets

THIS is the result of the Gun Control Lobby in the USA and the failure of politicians to stand up to them. They put money before people like these. People who are now dead. And it’s lovely that some of them believe they will see each other again in heaven. Maybe that’s how the NRA, politicians and others salve their consciences. But unfortunately it’s not true. The relationships are over for ever. Death is permanent. They are never going to be able to see, or talk to, or hold, the people they love again.

 

I’ve made this point on Heather’s Homilies in the past. I’m glad NOW THIS is saying it too because the message will get to many more people than I can reach.

 

What a great response from the local community.

 

Gun Control Tweets

The statistics are shocking.

For too many, it’s never the right time to talk about gun violence.

 

I hadn’t thought of this before – the ease with which people can get guns in the US means they don’t need laws around assisted suicide.
(Via Ann German.)

 

From the Rosanne Cash (daughter of Johnny Cash) op-ed: “The NRA funds domestic terrorism.”
(Via Ann German.)

 

There are a lot of these about …
(Via Ann German.)

 

When people try and do something about the problem, NRA stooges put the kibosh on it.

 

Human Rights Tweets

This is something that should be leading news bulletins, and most of us never hear about it.
(Via Ann German.)

Political Tweets

Apparently there’ll be a press conference with “news” tomorrow on the status of the Russia Investigation by the US Senate Committee on Intelligence. Personally, I think this is probably little more than a public relations exercise. The GOP won’t allow anything substantive to come from this committee. My eggs are in the Mueller investigation basket. However, I hope I’m wrong.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Helping disaster relief victims in Puerto Rico. Now you know how it’s done.

Scenic Tweets

And now onto the nice stuff! Look at this! Lovely!

 

Amazing Temples is right!

 

Another incredible Mayan temple.

 

So lovely!

 

In case my mother is looking in today, this is for her. My brother took her to Mt Rushmore in 1999 and it blew her away. Those two men look suspiciously like a bogey though. ????

 

Cool public benches!

 

How did he do it?

 

Art Tweets

Makes you feel.

 

History Tweets

I’m not sure what’s really happening here – the caption can’t be correct. The Great Plague of London was in 1665, they used carts to transport the dead, and there were no cameras.

 

Life before modern medicine.

 

Considering it was made around 1,000 years ago, the quality of this bowl is amazing.

Space Tweets

Andromeda Galaxy. I always hoped I’d get to go there in my lifetime as a child. ???? There might be a colony on Mars before I’m dead, but I doubt they’d consider me fit to join it. ????

 

More cool science.

 

 

Fossil Tweets

I didn’t know trilobites had these. Very cool. And what a fantastic fossil!

 

 

Marine Tweets

I’m glad I’m not an Anglerfish!

 

Science it cool!

(Yes, I know the Venice Lagoon and waterways aren’t really “Marine”.)

Other Animals Tweets

SWCC doing more great work caring for hedgehogs.

 

Wow!

 

 

Bird Tweets

Owls are cool! This is one of my favourite tweets ever!

 

So, what would you do with your “gifts” from your owl?

 

 

Dog Tweets

We all need more hugs.

 

 

Cool dude!

 

As long as the pet is happy, so are most people …

 

THIS cannot be a real dog!

 

Another fake dog …

Cat Tweets

It makes a good kitten bed, therefore that’s what it’s for.

 

There’s a lot of character in those faces!

 

???? My bags are packed and I’m ready to go … ???? (Can you name the song?)


This tweet was on WEIT this morning, but when I watched it there I couldn’t see the yellow thing. And besides, Jerry pinches my tweets all the time, so I’m allowed to pinch his!

 

And you have to watch the two videos in this post! The cats are awesome! (Did I really just use that word?)

 

The problems of being cat staff …

 

Just making sure the staff get the right food.

 

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29 Comments

  1. j.a.m.
    j.a.m. on 4th October 2017 at 8:55 pm

    “Prayer does nothing.”

    In truth, it changes everything.

    Reply
      • j.a.m.
        j.a.m. on 7th October 2017 at 1:58 am

        By changing what your life is about.

        Reply
    • Federico Bär
      Federico Bär on 5th October 2017 at 8:00 am

      Incidentally, just after reading this post, an encouragement once pronounced by the late Pope Pius X was circulating in my whatsapp group of ultra Catholic relatives:
      “If each day a million families prayed a rosary, the entire world would be saved”.
      One prayer is not enough, people. He can’t hear you!
      .-

      Reply
    • Linda Calhoun
      Linda Calhoun on 5th October 2017 at 8:49 am

      Examples?

      Reply
      • j.a.m.
        j.a.m. on 7th October 2017 at 2:00 am

        See below.

        Reply
    • Jenny Haniver
      Jenny Haniver on 5th October 2017 at 11:43 am

      Just what does it change, pray tell?

      Reply
      • j.a.m.
        j.a.m. on 7th October 2017 at 2:00 am

        See below.

        Reply
    • Steven in Tokyo
      Steven in Tokyo on 5th October 2017 at 12:02 pm

      Another pronouncement for us, eh?
      So what, pray tell, does it change? Details please.

      Reply
      • j.a.m.
        j.a.m. on 7th October 2017 at 1:59 am

        It enlightens the intellect and creates a new heart. It lifts them up to commune with what is true and good and beautiful. It sustains the divine life within you.

        It goads, refines and steels the conscience. It encourages the virtues and discourages vices.

        It helps you to discern your own true needs and the needs of others. It inculcates a habit of gratitude.

        In sum, it changes everything.

        Reply
        • Steven in Tokyo
          Steven in Tokyo on 9th October 2017 at 10:39 am

          BS

          Reply
          • j.a.m.
            j.a.m. on 9th October 2017 at 1:31 pm

            My gracious, Tokyo, that seems rather harsh and unconstructive. What are you trying to say? Details please.

    • nwalsh
      nwalsh on 6th October 2017 at 8:19 am

      We won’t get an answer because there isn’t one.

      Reply
      • j.a.m.
        j.a.m. on 7th October 2017 at 1:59 am

        On the contrary, there are as many answers as there are people.

        Reply
  2. Stuartg
    Stuartg on 4th October 2017 at 9:12 pm

    For some reason, I remember the parody rather than the original song:

    ????My bags were lost an hour ago.
    As you can guess, I’m at Heathrow.
    For all I know, they’re on their way to Rome…

    I’m heavin’ on a jet plane,
    Don’t know if I could fly again????

    Reply
  3. ratabago
    ratabago on 5th October 2017 at 12:52 am

    Re. the great plague: perhaps it is referring to the cholera pandemic of 1863 to 1875, which I think reached London in 1865, and peaked there the following year?

    Trilobites: a class, say the equivalent organizational level as Mammalia, consisting of over 20,000 recognized species (and still counting). AFAIK most didn’t have eye-stalks. But this one is still a very cool fossil. For truly weird checkout the Genus Walliserops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walliserops

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 5th October 2017 at 6:46 am

      I thought of cholera, but I think that pic was taken in the 1950s.

      I don’t know whether they’re deliberately trying to fool people, or if it’s a joke, or what.

      Thanks for the link.

      Reply
      • ratabago
        ratabago on 5th October 2017 at 8:12 am

        I think it might be a joke, possibly spoiled by mistyping 1865 instead of 1665. I’ve got visions of the kid rushing off pronouncing “I’m feeling better!”. John Cleese in pursuit proclaiming “you’re not fooling anyone, you know.”

        For what it’s worth the photo is by Swiss born American photographer Robert Franks. It’s owned by the Swiss Foundation of Photography, and dated 1951. So the internet tells me, so it must be true.

        It’s kind of topical though. According to the World Health Organization there is an outbreak of plague in Madagascar at the moment, where the disease is endemic.

        Reply
        • Heather Hastie
          Heather Hastie on 5th October 2017 at 8:15 am

          Thanks for finding out about the photo. Now I’m feeling all smug for guessing the correct date. 🙂

          Reply
  4. Lee Knuth
    Lee Knuth on 5th October 2017 at 5:18 am

    Good ones again.

    Reply
  5. Federico Bär
    Federico Bär on 5th October 2017 at 6:06 am

    Incidentally, just after reading this post, an encouragement once pronounced by the late Pope Pius X was circulating in my whatsapp group of ultra Catholic relatives:
    “If each day a million families prayed a rosary, the entire world would be saved”.
    One prayer is not enough, people. He can’t hear you!
    .-

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 5th October 2017 at 7:00 am

      I’d like to see them do that publicly. Get all Catholics worldwide to pray for a particular unlikely but doable by a god outcome, like no deaths, or no babies born with birth defects, for a whole day. They wouldn’t do it because they know it would fail.

      Reply
      • Linda Calhoun
        Linda Calhoun on 5th October 2017 at 8:52 am

        Their reply to that is that you’re not supposed to test god.

        Every time I hear that, all I can think of is, “I just bet you’re not, sweetheart.!

        Reply
  6. Jenny Haniver
    Jenny Haniver on 5th October 2017 at 11:39 am

    Ha ha! They sure do look like dripping bogies, George Washington bogies, or as USians say, “boogers”, or snot.

    Yesterday, you posted a tweet video of Pat Robertson blaming the massacre on America’s refusal to submit to divine authority (including a lack of submission to the person PR evidently thinks is God’s legit representative on earth, Donald T. Rump (as in asshole). Rather neat, I thought, because it covers every “sin” not simply a specific one, such as homosexuality or abortion or some other particular supposed transgression against divine law That linked to the Raw Story website, and at the end of the article about Robertson, the next article in the queue was one of the efficacy of prayer https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/what-the-bible-says-about-prayer-versus-reality-2/. I think it’s an excellent article, and was particularly pleased to see this in Raw Story. Other readers may disagree with my conclusion because it doesn’t just come out and say that intercessory prayer is bullcorn, rather, it lets the preponderance of evidence speak for itself — I’m speaking of the skeptics who read your posts, not J.A.M., who (as they say, bless his heart) will vehemently disagree with the very question. It’s quite appropos to this post and I recommend it, even for those (most of yr. readers) who are already quite familiar with the matter.

    And I wonder if our modern day Croesus is tossing Koch Brothers’ paper towels to the people in that room? However sedately that was done, and in such controlled circumstances, it is an extremely obscene and degrading gesture — tossing trinkets (or food) to the starving hordes
    FYI: Here’s a list of the Koch Brothers’ products: https://www.niftyhomestead.com/blog/koch-brothers-products/. I heard that T and the KBs were on the outs, but have found common ground in something or other — haven’t investigated so my info may be a bit sketchy.

    I credit my perverse and destructive RC jones to the fact that I listened to Fr. Peyton’s Rosary Hour on the radio when I was very young. My atheist parents let me listen because I found it hypnotic and it would help me go to sleep at night. It was intoned in the deepest Irish brogue, which made it doubly unintelligible (“Daddy, what does Ale Maydee mean and what is it full of?” Daddy: “It’s all mumbo-jumbo, dear daughter.” And that is exactly what he’d tell me.) Unfortunately, it must have tickled some developing neurons at a crucial age because I have an unaccountable attraction to the Tridentine Rite and all things pre-Vatican II; yet no shred of belief in any of it. And I can’t even say, as Flip Wilson, often did, that “the devil made me do it.”

    Reply
    • Jenny Haniver
      Jenny Haniver on 5th October 2017 at 11:53 am

      Oh, yeah, I especially love this day’s animal tweets. Who wouldn’t want those owl presents? I would be honored (grossed out, to be sure to have a dead mouse dropped on my head or in my bed, but honored nonetheless). Such gratitude. My dear departed little black cat, Fido, sometimes brought big fat millipedes to my bed. Problem there, was that they weren’t dead. So I’d put them outside when she wasn’t looking — didn’t want her to think I was spurning her gifts.

      Reply
    • j.a.m.
      j.a.m. on 7th October 2017 at 2:04 am

      An “unaccountable attraction” to truth and beauty comes from deep inside.

      Reply
    • j.a.m.
      j.a.m. on 7th October 2017 at 2:49 am

      @JH: Actually, I would be as skeptical as you if a study purported to show a link between miraculous cures and acts of “prayer” by test subjects. These studies do raise questions, however, as to how the researchers define “prayer”, much less how they establish empirically that “prayer” occurred. Both the hypothesis and the methodology are bogus.

      Reply

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