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Is it a fact that paddlefish and sturgeon lived in North Dakota with dinosaurs?

I still remember when a Republican representative from Arkansas, arguing about a bilingual education bill, dropped this whopper on the house floor: “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, then it’s good enough for me.”

That statement certified he ain’t a philosopher-king. Evidently he missed a lot of stuff sitting in a pew or student desk.

We have progressed since then. We have learned that liberals and conservatives need to know a lot about history and science to keep a democracy running – and, even above that, have to remember history.
It has also become evident that Trumplicans and white fascists who wear “Make America Great Again” red caps on empty heads need only to “Heil!” with that arm salute and yell “Yes!” to their cult leader.

Scientists have determined that on a spring day 66 million years ago three paddlefish and three sturgeon were killed in southeastern North Dakota about 30 minutes after an asteroid 7.5 to 10 miles wide flying at 19 miles per second hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, which was 2,200 miles away. The impact left a crater 110 miles wide and 12 miles deep and eventually killed about 75% of the earth’s species, including all the dinosaurs.

The researchers figured most of this out by examining the fossilized bones of the paddlefish and sturgeon.

Many species were killed by an immense tsunami wave hundreds of yards high that swept the area. A “nuclear” winter was created by the dust of the Yucatan explosion. Our oldest son Mark fished for paddlefish and sturgeon often in those waters.

Death of a heretic and birth of the battle between religion and science

This interpretative science of the fish fossils and the asteroid may last forever or it may be altered by discoveries next week. Prior to Polish astronomer Copernicus in 1543, the world thought the sun revolved around the earth. That was the best science available at the time. Even the Vatican believed it.

But other scientists believed Copernicus was right. In February of 1616 the Vatican issued a prohibition against the theory because they preached God had created the earth and all of its environs and creatures.

But Galileo, known later as the father of modern science, in the years 1609 and 1612 had used the newly invented telescope to study the stars, planets, moon and cosmology. He determined Copernicus was right and defended him.

Galileo was accused of heresy, was tried by the Catholic Inquisition and found guilty. He saved himself from the stake by withdrawing his views.

Giordano Bruno, a contemporary of Galileo, also believed the work of Copernicus and said so loudly, but he had other problems with the Catholic Church. He did not believe in several core doctrines, including eternal damnation, the divinity of Christ, the idea of the Trinity, the virginity of Mary and transubstantiation (the turning of bread and wine into Christ’s body).

To get rid of this heretic before he converted many, the Vatican convicted him of heresy and burned him at the stake in Rome on Feb. 17, 1600. T’was rumored the Inquisitors cut out his tongue before tying him to the stake. The battle between science and religion began in embers of his stake.

Decisions by scientists and researchers may last forever – or 30 minutes!

Science marches on while some religions are anchored in ignorance. A decision by Dr. Fauci on vaccinations, masking, and variants of COVID-19 may last for years, months or days depending upon the latest data.

The bubonic plague has been around for 5,000 years, COVID-19 for two. Please understand that half the stuff on the Internet is crap inserted by Fox News, NEWSMAX, scoundrels and the ignorant trying to gain a louder voice in the tower of babbling bullshit.

Sweden’s government has admitted it should have followed the spacing, masking and vaccination recommendations of virus experts such as Fauci. It never closed schools and kept most businesses open.
Consequently 17,000 Swedes died of the virus, leading all Nordic and most European countries in deaths per capita. Science always Trumps ignorance. stupidity and prosperity gospels.

Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, came out of retirement to support and praise Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. Pat, who says God talks directly to him once a week, relayed God’s message that He had “compelled” Putin to start wars to destroy Israel.

Pat is said to have a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars earned by opposing the LBGTQ+ community, abortion, socialism, communism, democratic socialism and Bernie Sanders. He is a man of the cloth – as long as it’s cashmere.

Is it possible to not have enough knowledge to know you’re dumb?

Sounds a little crazy, but well-controlled psychology studies indicate many humans don’t have enough knowledge to realize they don’t have enough knowledge to function well. It is known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Psychologists use it to explain why people like former president Donald Trump have absolutely unwavering support from their supporters. Think Benito Mussolini. Think Adolf Hitler.

A new study published in Political Psychology by political scientist Ian Anson reveals that those who score low on political knowledge tend to overestimate their expertise when greater emphasis is placed on political affiliation.

In other words, today’s Republicans, who are less educated than Democrats according to all research, are very vulnerable to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. That’s why Trump can tell the “Big Lie” and more than 30,700 others and still have cult support.

It raises the big question of the decade: How do you combat ignorance when the ignorant believe they are well-informed?

Listeners to Fox News have always been found to actually know less than other network listeners about politics. A deeper and more sinister problem exists when a cult leader such as Donald Trump is “worshipped” as an all-powerful, God-like figure.

When one sees war veteran Republican Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on national news refuse to criticize Trump for supporting Putin and calling him a genius and a “smart” great leader in the Ukraine War, it’s enough to make one puke.

Poets have created the Christian picture of heaven and hell

And Purgatory! Christians range from those who believe the Bible is just a guide for living in a society to those who believe Almighty God wrote or approved every word.

So far there are 1,700 versions of the Bible translated into 1,200 different languages. Maybe some have been well-written.

Actually, most Christians get their mental pictures and philosophy from two long-verse poems. One titled Paradise Lost was published in 1667 by John Milton, who had gone blind in 1652. He completed the work by dictating to secretaries and friends. He writes about the fall of man, the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the fallen angel Satan. It is a huge descriptive work containing more than 10,000 lines of verse requiring your full attention. I don’t think anybody has counted the number of words, but the average book published in the U.S. has about 65,000 words.

The famous 19th century English artist and painter William Blake beautifully illustrated most of the scenes created by the blind Milton. The drawings often tell most of the story without having to read the verses.

The other revealing work is Dante Alighieri’s narrative poem Divine Comedy composed of 14,233 lines of verse. My book has 693 pages with very few illustrations. This work covers the state of the soul after death and consists of guided tours through hell, purgatory and heaven.

The most fascinating for me were the nine stages of hell, graphically described by tortures, environment and the travails of eternity. It is so graphic one is tempted to place friends, enemies and politicians on the stages they deserve for their transgressions.

It’s interesting that purgatory was not a Vatican item until the 12th century. The temporary stop to heaven was developed by my French ancestors.

The idea of paid indulgences to make your stop in purgatory shorter became a cash cow for popes and other miscreants until Martin Luther pounded his objections on the door of a Wittenberg church.

Cynics came up with a short ditty about the cash and release program of the church: “As soon as a coin in the coffee rings/ The soul from Purgatory springs.” It must have been an effective commercial. Fortunes were made through indulgences.

I wish Robertson or the Pope would reveal the week’s business to me

I assume if God talks to Pat every week to tell him what’s going on, He must at least whisper to Pope Francis with a message. In a recent column in the Fargo Forum about an interview with Dr. Stacy Transancos, a chemist PHD who has converted to Catholicism, this quote stood out the most: “There’s nothing in science that can contradict what God has revealed.”

But she didn’t follow through with what He has revealed! Please reveal what He has revealed to you. We stopped living in caves because of science. We got electricity because of science. We have defeated a number of viruses because of science.

Actually science has revealed a lot of things that have not been revealed by God. It would be wonderful if He revealed why up to one in four pregnancies end in a miscarriage. He told us to multiply, so why not reveal why He causes so much trouble with fetuses?

He created the joy of sex, but didn’t put any limit on the results. The science of economics tells us it takes about $235,000 now to raise a child to 18. He hasn’t revealed how a single mother on minimum wage can raise another child.

Is there something in the Bible about contraceptives and abortion? There’s certainly snaky sex in it.
There are religions that do not accept the LBGTQ+ community as equal to heterosexuals.

Evidently God approves of homosexuality. The Bible states God examines all fetuses in the womb. Only about four out of five are actually born and up to 10% are gay. Some are conjoined. Some are born with both sets of genitalia either in or out of the body. Some are born with organs outside the body. Some are born with female bodies and male brains-and vice-versa. Some marry members of the same sex.

Two queers have made a lot of money for the Vatican. A pope commissioned Leonardo DaVinci to finish St. Peter’s Cathedral and Michelangelo to decorate ceilings that have amazed paying tourists for centuries. Dr. Transancos says “Scientism chains the intellect.”

Let’s have another column why a strong majority of Catholics approve Roe V. Wade, abortion, the use of contraceptives and treat all gays as equal.

Why does the Vatican have so much trouble with sex? It pays out billions and bankrupts dioceses because of horny priests, bishops and cardinals.

Maybe vasectomies or castration should precede ordinations. Remember when the Vatican paid poor parents for the sacrifice of testicles and turned young boys into altos and sopranos so they wouldn’t have to have girls in choirs? Or in pulpits? Or under cardinal hats?

What does more for humankind? Thoughts and prayers by ministers--or facts gathered by scientists?