1. The Devil’s Advocate
Time Stamp: 8:26
- Prayer is Prevarication Ritual is Reality – Part 2
- 02 October, XLVI A.S. – Part 1 (9 years ago)
- Prevarication is a sneaky lie
- Mass ritual in Jerusalem at the wailing wall and getting rain
- I am less concerned about proving the fallacies of other religions than I once was. I don’t care if people believe in prayer and pray to save me.
- I take the intention and use it as a benefit.
- People also pray when they feel like something is out of their control, and they need help from a ‘higher power.’
- A 2011 study found prayer can help reduce anger and aggression.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1010.259&rep=rep1&type=pdf - Another study found that when dating and married partners prayed for one another, they tended to be less aggressive and more inclined to forgive.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-21606-001 - Why Rituals Work
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-rituals-work/- even simple rituals can be extremely effective. Rituals performed after experiencing losses do alleviate grief, and rituals performed before high-pressure tasks do in fact reduce anxiety and increase people’s confidence.
- rituals appear to benefit even people who claim not to believe that rituals work
- The outcome of the ritual isn’t as important as the act of the ritual itself to support future action.
- We use the vigor gained from ritual to take further control of our lives
- Whether you believe in prayer or ritual is not as important than realizing their potential benefits
- Do what works for you, and ignore the rest.
2. The infernal Informant
Time Stamp: 26:24
- Trump signs executive actions after stimulus talks break down on Capitol Hill
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/08/politics/trump-executive-order-stimulus/index.html- President Donald Trump tried to assert executive power by signing four actions on coronavirus relief Saturday, one of which will provide as much as $400 in enhanced unemployment benefits after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a stimulus bill this week.
- But that memorandum on enhanced unemployment benefits has more strings attached than the White House acknowledged and is seen as a cumbersome effort that may not help a lot of the unemployed.
- The other three actions he signed include a memorandum on a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year, an executive order on “assistance to renters and homeowners” and a memorandum on deferring student loan payments.
- A state must agree to enter into a financial arrangement with the federal government for any unemployed person living there to get any of the additional benefits. And the federal government is requiring states to pick up the tab for 25% (or $100) of the $400 additional benefit each person may able to receive weekly in additional aid.
- But when asked about the President’s executive action asking states to pay 25% of the $400 unemployment relief, an official from a northeastern state run by a Democratic governor laughed. “We don’t have that money,” the official said.
- This official went on to say that they were not given any heads up on this executive action and that in the wake of the pandemic, their funds are completely tapped.
- In fact, states have asked Congress to provide them with an additional $500 billion to help shore up their budgets, which have been crushed by the loss of tax revenue amid the pandemic. This has been one of the main points of contention between Democrats, who want to allocate additional aid, and Republicans, who don’t want to bail out what they say are badly managed states.
- Already, 10 states have borrowed nearly $20 billion from the Treasury Department to cover their share of payments, which typically last 26 weeks.
- Also, because Congress has not authorized an extension of extra federal unemployment assistance, the state will have to set up an entirely new system to deliver the additional aid, which could take months.
- Lastly, according to the memorandum, an individual can only receive the $300 federal benefit if he or she first qualifies for $100 in aid from their state. Evermore said this will cut out a large group of people. “There are so many problems with people getting a benefit under this,” she told CNN.
- Trump said he believes that the unemployment aid will be “rapidly distributed,” even though there are potential challenges over the legality of his executive action.
- “The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop,” Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said in a statement Saturday night. “President Obama did not have the power to unilaterally rewrite immigration law with DACA, and President Trump does not have the power to unilaterally rewrite the payroll tax law. Under the Constitution, that power belongs to the American people acting through their members of Congress.”
- The payroll tax cut is one of Trump’s favorite tax moves that both parties had opposed, including in the latest stimulus bill. One of his memoranda calls for deferring the employee portion of payroll taxes — 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare — for workers making less than $100,000 a year through the rest of 2020.
- If he’s reelected, Trump said, he plans to forgive the taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll taxes.
- Otherwise, presumably, workers would have to pay the taxes at the end of the year.
- Consequences:
- A suspension of payroll taxes would halt money being taken out of worker’s paychecks to pay for government programs like Social Security and Medicare.
- Joe Biden says he won’t stand in the way of a possible prosecution of Trump
https://www.salon.com/2020/08/08/joe-biden-says-he-wont-stand-in-the-way-of-a-possible-prosecution-of-trump_partner/- Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden told NPR on Thursday that while he was unsure if it was “good for democracy,” if elected he would not stand in the way of a hypothetical Justice Department prosecution of President Donald Trump for crimes committed in office.
- “Look, the Justice Department is not the president’s private law firm,” the former vice president said. “The attorney general is not the president’s private lawyer. I will not interfere with the Justice Department’s judgment of whether or not they think they should pursue the prosecution of anyone that they think has violated the law.”
- Trump has been connected with alleged illegal activity by his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and investigators working for former special counsel Robert Mueller. What isn’t clear is whether federal authorities are investigating the president or whether prosecutors might take action against Trump if he no longer enjoyed the privileges that protect him from being indicted as a sitting president.
- “In terms of saying, ‘I think the president violated the law. I think the president did this, therefore, go on and prosecute him’—I will not do that,” Biden said.
- Progressives have expressed concern that Biden could follow the lead of his former boss President Barack Obama, who said that the country should “look forward, not back” when it came to his predecessor, former President George W. Bush.
3. Creature Feature
Time Stamp: 43:28
- Host
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12749596/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_(film)- Six friends get together during lockdown for their weekly zoom call. It’s Haley’s turn to organise an activity and instead of a quiz, she’s arranged for a Medium to conduct a séance. Bored and feeling mischievous, Jemma decides to have some fun and invents a story about a boy in her school who hanged himself. However, her prank gives license for a demonic presence to cross over, taking on the guise of the boy in Jemma’s made-up story. The friends begin noticing strange occurrences in their homes as the evil presence begins to make itself known, and they soon realise that they might not survive the night.
- Written by Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage & Jed Shepherd
- Directed by Rob Savage
- The film has its basis in a short video created by Rob Savage in early 2020. Shudder asked him to make it a feature.
- Host was filmed while quarantine restrictions were in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Savage had to direct the actors remotely while they had to set up their own cameras, lighting, and stunts.
- Practical effects were also handled by the actors and a virtual workshop was held on how to set up effects such as “moving doors, making things fly off shelves”. Savage has stated that the movie took twelve weeks to complete, from conception to its delivery to Shudder.[