Secular Zoom Community

For all new people, please get yourself vetted before the meeting date. With the last meeting we had six people who had not been vetted asking to join our meeting as it started. Several of those were very grateful that I was able to respond to them but few of them were able to actually join us. Our meetings are much more pleasurable without Christian trolls zoom booming our discussions. The vetting is worth the effort.

It may not be obvious how the cruelty and anti-science lunacy we see relates to religion. Christian dominion theology promotes a seven mountain mandate. For them, the end times will come when Christians dominate the seven mountains of culture, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and religion. For us, this theology might still not explain how and why anyone would think that cruelty and scientific absurdities advance any of these seven area of culture. They are operating on vastly different models of how the world works. What is absurd for us is seen as big positives to many.

This meeting announcement will highlight some local issues first. A Maryland Federal judge issued a ruling that all people detained by ICE needed to have their right to a legal hearing respected. In response the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against all 15 sitting Maryland Federal judges. The Virginia judge hearing this case recently dismissed the case with very strong wording about the global threat to the Judiciary if such suits are allowed. He was a Trump appointee with integrity. Kilmar Abrego Garcia resided in Maryland before he became the most visible case of someone ICE wanted to deport without any judicial hearing. They now want to deport him to Uganda. This is a hideous new illegal tactic. They were willing to deport him to Costa Rica if he admitted to the charges against him. The threat to deport to Uganda is a category of coercion designed to eliminate judicial review.

Trump has declared that in DC there will be the death penalty for all murders. This is blatantly unconstitutional and explicitly against current DC law. The Supreme Court has declared that there must be a thoughtful review of the individual circumstances in all cases. He has also declared a one year prison sentence for all burning of the US flag. He has no right to legislate new law by decree. A veteran with 20 years of service was arrested for doing this across from the White House in a protest against a wannabe tyrant. Justice Scalia in a Supreme Court decision opinion against penalties for flag burning declared that he would like to see a prison sentence but he could not allow his personal values to decide the issue because he was not a monarch. However, it was a 5-4 decision and the current court might reverse that prior decision. Trump has also declared that he wants an end to cashless bail, and asserted that DC is letting out murderers with cashless bail and they murder again. In DC less than 4% of violent offenders are let out with cashless bail. It is unlikely that there exists exists any real case that is consistent with Trump’s absurd claim.

The over 2,000 National Guard troops imported from Republican states are now armed. Trump has ordered the Defense Department to focus on training the National Guard explicitly for policing “national disturbances.” This is likely to be another illegal action. There are over 300 lawsuits against this administration to restrain the vast number of illegal actions and attempted illegal actions.

DC violent crime is at a 30 year low and Baltimore is at an all time low. Chicago and Baltimore seem to the next major urban targets for Trump’s “anti-crime efforts.” Our Baltimore mayor is an excellent spokesperson for their very effective crime reduction actions. There is no legal basis to send National Guard troops to Baltimore or Chicago. It would only be performative action to create fear in all urban jurisdictions that this national administration might deem to be “woke.”

The George Mason University President is refusing to apologize for his DEI policies. The Department of Education is ramping up its anti-DEI actions across all 50 states. They are demanding that Sex Ed in all school systems no longer talk about trans or non-binary people.

Susan Minares, the head of the CDC has been fired after only a few weeks on the job. She did not support the anti-science absurdities defining policy. We can shortly expect a position paper making unfounded claims about autism. Health science is being systematically destroyed in this country. The US is becoming an international laughing stock.

Our actual meeting topics will have many other national and international issues. AI issues will also be discussed because it is changing everything.

Many other dimensions of the existing world order are being destroyed as I post this invitation for us to meet. We will survive and hopefully prosper if we understand how to survive and prosper in spite of the Christian nationalism and related lawless autocratic insanity permeating desired right wing Christian inspired governance.

Let us not to forget to have fun. Our community is here to both acknowledge the chaos and somehow remain sane in spite of insanity. We can connect and share our thoughts on how to remain positive.

This meeting will be closed in that only vetted secular members will be allowed to join in our discussions. That has worked perfectly so, please see directions below for new members who wish to attend.

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Our meetings have become a target for organized zoom bombing. Our major topic of discussion has been Christian nationalism and its hideous impacts across America. They have good reason to try to force us to stop our meetings. This requires us to work to preclude militant religious extremists from wrecking our meetings.

We will not post the zoom link for our meeting. The zoom link information will be delivered by email or direct personal messaging to trusted attendees only. I am now comfortable that this procedure works well enough so that a zoom waiting room will not be required.

I have a Google Voice phone number, (202) 643-4366. I do not answer calls to that number. But it does an excellent job of transcribing messages. People can use this number to verbally describe items requested in a possible email below.

I use the email: don1wharton (at) outlook (dot) com for social media, including Meetup. Please email the following:

Name:
Zoom ID if different than name:
your email to receive zoom info:
Specify that you are RSVPing for this meeting only if you
do not want to receive future zoom invites.

--People can UNSUBSCRIBE by replying to a future zoom invite with UNSUB in the subject line.
If you are a first time attendee, please share prior secular activities or cite your prior secular meetup attendance (making sure it is visible for us to confirm it) or arrange for a brief phone or zoom interview at a time of your convenience. This should insure enjoyable meetings.
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