Free Republic

"But the chain has declined in recent years due to a range of factors, including corporate mismanagement, say former leaders and restaurant analysts."

Saw this in my last two attempts to give them my money over the last few years (one attempt was unsuccessful).

Coming out of Covid, tried to go to dinner at the Tallahassee, FL location. Nearly empty restaurant and was quoted a 40 minute wait due to "health and safety concerns". Apparently either the local Red Lobster management was hanging out to the last bastion of Covid policy or it was still their corporate directive.

Went to another sit down restaurant up the street that was plenty busy, and got sat immediately.

Went for lunch at one closer to me in January...walked in the door close to noon and lights were low, no one available to seat us. Walked a bit back saying "hello---are you open?!" and a bartender came out of the back to tell us we would be seated soon (One other couple in the restaurant). Got sat and had a mediocre lunch with mediocre service.

Can't say this news is surpising.

"This seems pretty one sided."

What's the other side?

"I'm afraid that Tracy Beanz’s method of spreading antiscientific misinformation is not going to do anything to prevent people from getting sick."

Antiscientific like "safe and effective"?

So how’s the campaign going?

Appreciate your post. Any wargaming that does not take into account electronic and other types of warfare outside of the localized theater is remiss in my opinion.

For discussion from the author:

"You should be in church on Christmas. This is non-negotiable. Christmas morning and Sunday morning are only in tension with one another because Christians have their priorities screwed up."

"I never believed that."

Oh.

"The vaccines did what they’re suppose to do for Covid-19."

Yes, of course they did. I recall it being a "Pandemic of the un-vaccinated".

Why doesn’t the “vaccine” work?

"God may be rather disgusted at Christians expecting Him to rescue them while they do nothing but pray."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Here's what that means"

I think it means "Daylight saving time" would be permanent?

Anyone else tired of this new idiotic trend in headlines?

And the gov’t asks the businesses to have their lowest paid workers to be enforcers of The State. This wedge strategy will work until everyone decides it doesn’t.

"...mandated that you must first be a White Puritan Christian"

You say it like it's a bad thing.

And the Culture War continues on new fronts.

The global scientific community overwhelmingly accepts that all living humans are of African descent. Most scientific articles about our African origins focus on genetics. The part of the story that is not widely shared is about the creation of human culture. We are all descended genetically, and also culturally, from dark-skinned ancestors. Early humans from the African continent are the ones who first invented tools; the use of fire; language; and religion. These dark skinned early people laid down the foundation for human culture. Considering the short life span of our early ancestors, these original innovators were probably also very young. No one who follows artistic trends will be surprised to learn that, from the beginning, human culture was essentially invented by teenagers. And by culture I don’t just mean the arts, I mean the whole shebang.

I want to unmask the lie that evolution denial is about religion and recognize that at its core, it is a form of white supremacy that perpetuates segregation and violence against Black bodies. Under the guise of “religious freedom,” the legalistic wing of creationists loudly insists that their point of view deserves equal time in the classroom. Science education in the U.S. is constantly on the defensive against antievolution activists who want biblical stories to be taught as fact. In fact, the first wave of legal fights against evolution was supported by the Klan in the 1920s. Ever since then, entrenched racism and the ban on teaching evolution in the schools have gone hand in hand. In his piece, What We Get Wrong About the Evolution Debate, Adam Shapiro argues that “the history of American controversies over evolution has long been entangled with the history of American educational racism.”

At the heart of white evangelical creationism is the mythology of an unbroken white lineage that stretches back to a light-skinned Adam and Eve. In literal interpretations of the Christian Bible, white skin was created in God's image. Dark skin has a different, more problematic origin. As the biblical story goes, the curse or mark of Cain for killing his brother was a darkening of his descendants' skin. Historically, many congregations in the U.S. pointed to this story of Cain as evidence that Black skin was created as a punishment.

The fantasy of a continuous line of white descendants segregates white heritage from Black bodies. In the real world, this mythology translates into lethal effects on people who are Black. Fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible are part of the “fake news” epidemic that feeds the racial divide in our country.

For too long, a vocal minority of creationists has hijacked children’s education, media and book publishing. Statistics on creationist beliefs in the US vary. Depending on the poll, up to 40 percent of percent of adults believe that humans have always existed in their present form (i.e., they believe in an unbroken human lineage stretching back to Adam and Eve).

We have seen some progress in the classroom. From 2007 to 2019, the percentage of teachers who present evolution without a creationist alternative grew dramatically, from only 51 percent to 67 percent. But it’s still not enough. My hope is that if we make the connection between creationism and racist ideology clearer, we will provide more ammunition to get science into the classroom—and into our culture at large.

It’s common knowledge that some school boards, especially in the South, have fought long and hard to keep evolution out of school textbooks. What you might not know is how the policing of educational content morphs into what might be called “self-censorship” within the children’s book industry as a whole. Scientific findings about human origins have been slow to trickle down into books written for young people. This major omission reflects the outsize effect that science-denying voices have on the books that find their ways not just into classrooms, but also into libraries, bookstores and children's homes. Fear of economic punishment within the publishing industry creates a self-perpetuating lack of teaching materials about evolution.

If you go on Amazon and look up “children’s books on evolution” you will find about 10–15 relevant titles. This is in contrast to the hundreds of children’s books on other scientific subjects such as chemistry, astronomy and other less controversial subjects. I found only one book on evolution for preschoolers, called Grandmother Fish. The author had to self-fund the book through Kickstarter.

On the other hand, there are hundreds of children’s books available on Amazon that focus on biblical origin stories. Science deniers are pumping money into a well-funded antievolution machine. In 2007, the creationists built their own Bible-themed museum and amusement park. What they understand is that to reach young children you need music, colorful characters and celebration.

In the Adam-and-Eve scenario, the Creator bestows both physical and cultural humanity on the first people. From the get-go Adam knows how to name the animals. No one has to invent language or figure out how to make tools. Science, of course, tells us otherwise. The process of natural selection shaped our bodies and capacities. Our humanity emerged over the millennia as creative ancient people figured out the crucial skills—from storytelling to cooking to rope making—that we now take for granted.

And yet, even in the current literature about human origins that we do have, the end point of evolution is often depicted as a white man carrying a spear. This image not only eliminates our African heritage but also erases women and children from the picture. Because evolution is foundational knowledge, we need the story to be told in many different ways, by many different voices.

As we move forward to undo systemic racism in every aspect of business, society, academia and life, let’s be sure to do so in science education as well. Embracing humanity’s dark-skinned ancestors with love and respect is key to changing our relationship to the past, and to creating racial equity in the present. These ancient people made the rest of us possible. Opening our hearts to them and embracing them as heroic, fully human and worthy of our respect is part of the process of healing from our racist history.

And how can the Pentagon be both defaming Loo and releasing the various pieces of footage at the same time? This whole thing smells of psyops.

"A career in counterintelligence."

I am immediately skeptical given the fact that the MSM is all the sudden covering this topic in unison, including a friendly piece on 60 Minutes with Lue/Luis/Loo