@#1 ... "Vertical morality teaches that authority, power, and a moral code of right and wrong, or acceptable and unacceptable, come from above' -- an external superior who designates rules, systems, and tenets that must be obeyed by those beneath," ...

So, in other words, an unfettered fealty to Pres Trump instead of God?

More from the article ...

... The key to understanding this apparent contradiction might lie in something called "vertical morality."

This ethical framework measures righteousness not by goodness to others, but by something more simplistic. Below, Christian advocates and former fundamentalists break down what vertical morality means and how it explains our political landscape today.

What Is Vertical Morality?

"Vertical morality teaches that authority, power, and a moral code of right and wrong, or acceptable and unacceptable, come from above' -- an external superior who designates rules, systems, and tenets that must be obeyed by those beneath," said Tia Levings, a former Christian fundamentalist and author of A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy. ...

@#24 ... Then refute something. ...

Still trolling for replies?

Speaking of before the Internet was available, there was this fun video ...

@#73 ... Sure there is. ...

Really?

I've not yet seen that characteristic recently.

Though, I do remember a discussion your current trolling alias and I had a couple years ago. That discussion was most good and informative.

But lately, well, your trolling alias seems to have taken a different approach.

Even to the point of one message from it that I remember that said something along the lines of that it posts here mainly to garner replies.

So, it does appear that at some point a decision was made to pivot away from contributing and towards trolling.

imo, of course.

@#6

Looks like cherry-picking data to me.

@#6 ... Thought it was common knowledge.. ...

From the PDF your current alias cites in #6...

...Estimates of Improper Enrollment.

CBO has no direct knowledge of the intentions of enrollees or others acting on their behalf, so estimating the number of people who have improperly received subsidies for marketplace coverage is difficult.

The agency has, however, specifically estimated that 1.3 million marketplace enrollees improperly claimed the premium tax credit via intentional overstatement of income for 2023; 2.3 million enrollees did so for 2025. CBO is able to estimate the extent of such misrepresentation because it appears in enrollment data as an unusual concentration of enrollees reporting income just above the FPL. ...

(FPL = Federal Poverty Level)

@#6 ... Thought it was common knowledge.. ...

And, if it were common knowledge, why didn't VP Vance mention it?

Didn't he know of it, to give a manner of credence to what he is saying?

You have to remember, VP Vance is the person who spoke of immigrants eating pets ...

So why should anyone believe things that erupt from his lips?

@#27 ... Wow... you mean they go from depending on the government... to depending on the government? ...

@#2

Yeah, but, we are only in the first four or five steps of the 20-step plan.

Yeah, major kudos to Pres Trump for getting the war to the point of a cease-fire.

But now the difficult parts remain ...

More from the article ...

... Why It Matters

Trump and his team brokered a deal that has finally ended the conflict between Israel and Hamas after two years of fighting.

Hamas on October 7, 2023, took about 250 hostages and killed around 1,200 people. Over the past two years, Hamas released 148 hostages, eight of whom were dead, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Since October 2023, Israel's ground and air offensives in Gaza have displaced more than 2 million people and killed more than 67,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

The deal brokered by Trump will see the remaining hostages - dead or alive - released back into Israel as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) partially withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

The proposal marks the most substantial effort yet toward a lasting agreement, after earlier deals yielded only temporary cease-fires. Trump has been applauded by Israelis and Palestinians on the matter, as well as world leaders. ...

... Ancient life has been resurrected from the bowels of a military tunnel that penetrates the Alaskan permafrost. ...

Aside from the CO2 aspect of this discovery, I have a concern about age-old "life" that has been resurrected from the bowels of a military tunnel, and how that "age-old life" may possibly infect the current life of this planet.

@#3

Still apparently trying to fit in ...

@#15 ... Sometimes I wonder about Pres Trump's end goals ...

Then I realize ...

His end goal seems to be the destruction of Democracy in the Country, in favor of unfettered adulation of a self-proclaimed almighty leader.

Sometimes I wonder about Pres Trump's end goals ...

Back in the 80's and early 90's, before the Internet was available, I remember tuning in to the BBC NewsHour on my shortwave radio each day.

More from the OpEd ...

... But the two-minute program is heard by 6.5 million people. That is more than the nightly audience for Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon combined.

"The Shipping Forecast" is a fixture of British life. It has been featured in songs from Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, and Chumbawamba, and satirized by British comics and on TikTok. Seamus Heaney saluted the show in his poem "The Shipping Forecast," in which he wrote, " ... Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux, Conjured by that strong gale-warning voice ... "

The edition of "The Shipping Forecast" that runs at 48 minutes after midnight on BBC 4 has been especially hailed for what I'll just call its restful qualities. There is something reassuring in the roll of old, Oliver Twist-ian names you hear: Humber, Biscay, Dogger, Fisher, Fair Isle, FitzRoy, Lundy, Malin, Rockall, Utsire, Mull of Galloway. Are your eyelids growing heavy?

But the persistence of "The Shipping Forecast" may remind us of how the human voice, even crackling through static, can fire up images, memories, and feelings. ...

@#69

Yawn.

Still trolling for Putin, it seems.

Can you say, "tipping point?"

I knew you could.

More from the article ...

... "These are not dead samples by any means," says microbiologist and geochemist Tristan Caro, a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) during the study.

"They're still very much capable of hosting robust life that can break down organic matter and release it as carbon dioxide."

Caro and his colleagues aren't just raising the undead for the thrill of it.

As our fossil fuel addiction continues to warm the world, Arctic permafrost " the frozen soil, ice, and rocks beneath nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's landmass " is melting, releasing the greenhouse gases stored within.

As these layers thaw, many microscopic creatures -- like the ones in the team's samples -- will come to life, and, with newfound appetites, consume whatever decaying matter surrounds them. This will release more methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further contributing to climate change. ...

@#6 ... 2.3Million misstate income to qualify for premium tax credits that make coverage and care more affordable. ...

What percentage of the total are they?

But, more important to me ...

Well, if it seems to be so obvious that they should not have had coverage, maybe that coverage should have been denied for them.

I mean, simple, no?

The CBO seems to have found them.

Perhaps the DOGE cuts have prevented other parts of the Fed government from finding these apparent freeloaders?

@#27 ... When domestic terrorists are using anti-aircraft weapons against US personnel, is that not possibly grounds for a military response? ..

Domestic terrorists?

Got a definition for that assertion?

And, fwiw, I will say that any person who shines a laser onto an aircraft should be tracked down and prosecuted. There is no question in my mind about that.

But, domestic terrorists?

You are usually more grounded than that assertion.

What's up?