Friendly reminder that the group that is the most politically engaged is atheists.

Atheists engage in about twice as many political activities as white evangelicals.

50% of atheists made a political donation in 2020.

It was 26% of white evangelicals.

Huge statement from Ali Karimi— Iran’s most celebrated soccer star and probably the most famous and popular Iranian celebrity.

Welcome to the post religious right:

“unabashedly hierarchical, as well as sometimes also scornful of Christian-inflected concern for the weak.” unherd.com/2024/04/the-fu…

In 2017, I did something dumb. There was a total solar eclipse passing through the US, but I was in NY, far from the path. Was I really gonna get on a plane to see a cool thing for two minutes? Nah. I had shit to do.

The day came. I put my stupid glasses on and saw the sun…

Hamas has rejected another hostage deal ceasefire proposal. Every chance it has to relieve the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, it rejects. Why is there no focus on its blocking any humanitarian pause? Why no pressure on it to end the suffering of Gazans? Past time to do so.

10 paradoxical truths from 10 brilliant men

1. C.S. Lewis: Originality is best attained via copying.

2. Nietzsche: Compassion is a psyop designed by the weak to redirect resources from the most deserving to the least.

3. Chesterton: You need to hate the world enough to change…

From brain imaging data, practically nothing can be deduced about the psychological state of a particular person. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

bad news for biden: his approval ratings
good news for biden: his approval ratings, compared to his peers

This is cold comfort for Democrats, since Biden isn't running to win 'highest approval rating-over-replacement among developed-democracy leaders'

But it's an important thing to remember if you're trying to answer the Q: Why is Biden so unpopular? (Answer: Everyone is, kind of.)

A review in Nature, by Candice Odgers, asserts that I have mistaken correlation for causation and that “there is no evidence that using these platforms is rewiring children’s brains or driving an epidemic of mental illness.” Both of these assertions are untrue.…

New evidence of rapid moral perception.

People engage in moral thin-slicing--they identify moral transgressions from visual scenes presented in the blink of an eye (< 100 ms), in ways that are consistent with judgments made with no time constraints. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

“the share of Hispanic Americans who have a favorable view of Trump has doubled over the last year from around 20 percent to 40 percent.” nationalreview.com/2024/03/americ…

These #Palestinian poll results (from March 2024) tell a depressing story:
- 71% say 10/7 attacks were 'correct'
- 91% say #Hamas committed no war crimes in this conflict
- 59% say Hamas should control #Gaza after the war is over
- Hamas has double the popular support of #Fatah ,…

WOW -- Jake Sullivan just ripped Hamas and the media, noting they're not talking about how Hamas is the one who's refusing to negotiate on releasing hostages in exchange for a #ceasefirenow :

“One of the things that I have found somewhat absent from the [media] coverage is that…

I recently sat down and read these three books. They are required reading for anyone concerned about our civilizational crises. Very happy for my friends Brad Wilcox Tim Carney and Abigail Shrier for having researched and written such essential works.

Law school faculty donations to political campaigns from 2017 to 2023, from Derek T. Muller. excessofdemocracy.com/blog/2024/3/la…

Latest sign of rank-and-file Dems softening on Israel: 'Sen. Mark Warner: Netanyahu’s war ‘threatens to undermine’ long-term support for, security of Israel'

jewishinsider.com/2024/03/sen-ma…

University of Texas data dump on test-optional students. I've been waiting for this! Ivies will never publish out of embarrassment, but UT did.

Test-optional admits had a first semester GPA 0.86 points lower than those who submitted SAT/ACT. A whole grade!

The median SAT of…

' liberal perceivers judged a conservative job candidate to be more prejudiced than a liberal candidate, whereas conservative perceivers saw no difference between the two candidates. This result is ironic given the level of prejudice exhibited by liberals in the present study.'…

As for the personality differences between liberals and conservatives, political psychology has probably made a mountain out of a molehill. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/po…