Former CIA Director, and central figure in James Mueller's Russian investigation, has "lengthy conversation" with Donald Trump over dinner.

Courtesy of Business Insider:

Former CIA Director James Woolsey dined with President Donald Trump last weekend at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida — where, a report said, they had a "lengthy conversation" at the main dining table surrounded by several of Trump's friends, associates, and political allies. 

A tipster told Politico's Playbook about the conversation, which raised eyebrows given Woolsey's centrality to the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser. 

Woolsey, who served on the board of Flynn's lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group, was at a meeting on September 19, 2016, with Flynn and Turkish government ministers in which they discussed removing the controversial Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen from US soil, Woolsey has said. 

Woolsey apparently notified Vice President Joe Biden through a mutual friend about the meeting, which he thought could have been an illegal discussion, Woolsey's spokesman, Jonathan Franks, said earlier this year. 

Franks confirmed late last month that Mueller's team had interviewed Woolsey about the meeting. He said Woolsey and his wife had been in touch with the FBI since before Mueller began overseeing the bureau's Russia investigation in May.

I think there can be no doubt that Trump is attempting to either glean information about the investigation, or find a way to undermine it. 

And that is something that a former CIA Director would surely see coming.

So why would be go?

Hmm, I wonder if Trump had him searched for a wire? 

A little perspective.

My mother spent the night at my house the other night, because she did not want to drive back to Palmer in the dark.

While here she brought up the topic of religion and we had a long talk about my atheism and her very basic brand of faith.

I played for her Professor Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Most Astounding Fact, and explained how understanding that the entire universe, and everything in it, shared the same DNA if you will was both humbling and exhilarating, and how I saw the fables of religion as interfering with our understanding and acceptance of that simply truth.

She seemed to understand but also said that her faith gave her comfort, and she was worried that I would strip her of it just to make an intellectual point.

I said that I had no intention of doing that, and that at her age there was no reason for her to abandon her faith, so long as she was on guard against those who would use it to manipulate her or take advantage of her.

In the end it seemed that she understood me a little bit better, and that I certainly have no intention of doing anything that takes something away which gives her comfort and a sense of peace.

As I come to the end of this post it suddenly dawns on me that what I have written has virtually nothing in common with what is printed on that image up above.

Oh well it's my blog, and if think a story about a conversation with my mother about religion, and a Carl Sagan quote about the insignificance of human conflict are connected in some way, well so be it.

Two men argue over the existence of God. One man shoots the other. Gold star if you can guess who was the shooter and who was the shootee.

"Go ahead. Say you don't believe in me...one...more..time."

Courtesy of CBS:  

An Oakland man has been found guilty of first-degree murder for shooting and killing his friend during an alcohol and cocaine-fueled argument over the existence of God. 

33-year-old Douglas Yim was also found guilty Tuesday of assault with a firearm and mayhem for shooting a second friend in his living room two years ago. 

Yim killed 25-year-old Dzuy Duhn Phan after a night of partying and playing video games. Another friend, Paul Park, testified the two men had engaged in a heated discussion about God. 

Yim became enraged and grabbed his gun after Phan asked Yim where God was when Yim’s father died of a stroke several years earlier. 

Yim shot Phan at least six times. Park was also hit by a bullet.

Okay that remark about his father was certainly ill conceived, bu still SIX times?

You know the thing is that when somebody clings so desperately to a belief, and you challenge it, things can get very, very ugly. 

I still find it interesting that the person who believes in God, and therefore believes that they will be judged,  felt justified in taking a gun and murdering his friend.

I guess the only thing that stops a bad atheist with an opinion, is a good Christian with a gun.

So much for the idea of religion having a positive effect on morality.

Glenn Greenwald schools Bill Maher on WHY Islamic terrorists target America.

I am always amazed at how many Americans seem to feel that there is no legitimate reason for Muslims to be so angry at us, and seem to believe that it is solely the result of their religion with no causal connections linking their actions to our interventions in their countries.

In my opinion there is NO excuse for terrorism, but I can certainly understand why those who feel powerless would like to injure their powerful oppressors in any way that they can.

I also disagree that there is any more of a tendency for violence from Muslims then there is from Christians, and think that it has much more to do with the society in which those religions are practiced.

Having said that I think that ANYTIME the laws are taken directly from the Bible or the Koran that they are ALWAYS going to be more punitive to the populace as a whole and less fair to those who are not in positions of power. And that often means women specifically.

Does Hell exist? And if it does how do you feel about your loved ones being sent there? One woman's response might shock you.

The video below is from the BBC program "The Big Questions" which is a remarkable program with the kind of format that we in the states cannot seem to pull off effectively.

I must admit that I am somewhat addicted to the program and have watched numerous episodes, many dealing with religion, Atheism, the bible, and many of the types of controversial topics that I like to discuss here on IM.

In the one below they are talking about he existence of Hell and have a variety of experts representing various religions, faiths, and the nonreligious to discuss the topic. There are also a couple of regular church members included as they also are asked to provide their opinions.

This woman, Liz Weston, who has already established her belief in Hell, is asked at the 3:50 mark how she could enjoy heaven knowing that many of her loved ones are being tormented in hell.

Her response is so bizarre and irrational to me that it makes my head ache. Here take a listen:

Wow! Here is what she says, in case you also cannot believe it:

Weston: "No, it won't. Because I will be with Jesus."

Host: "But the people that you love.."

Weston: "The person that I love the most is Jesus."

Host: "But what about the people you love in your life?"

Weston: "But I don't love them as much as I love Jesus. That's the point."

The rest of the conversation is well worth watching and I encourage you to do so, but it is this one back and forth that quite literally caused me one or two sleepless nights.

Simply put I have NO frame of reference to understand how somebody could look forward to living for eternity while believing that the people she one loved are punished in the most excruciating manner possible, simply because she will be in the presence of a person that she has never met, and has no reality based relationship with.

Essentially, despite what she might believe, everything that she believes is admirable about Jesus, and worthy of her love, is something she read in a book or was told by a representative of the religion named in his honer.

She has NO actual relationship with Jesus, and yet gaining access to HIM after her death is more important than what will happen to the people who have loved her all her life, and those she has laughed, cried, and struggled beside for her entire existence.

It makes me wonder if she is able to really form relationships here on earth, if she is always thinking of how much more fulfilling the one she has after she dies will be? I mean is it possible to truly love, when you care more for the possibility to a perfect love that lays behind death's door than you do about the ones you are having as a mortal on this tiny rock in space?

I am anxious to hear what you have to say, because in my nonreligious brain this feels like the very definition of insanity.