Armed Polite Society

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't both the bunny and the eggs remnants of the spring fertility calibrations that stuck around when pagan celebrations were kinda mushed into Christian celebrations? Much like the tree wasn't originally a "Birth of Christ" symbol?

Yes, I waited until Pentecost Sunday to respond to this. I promise I won't make some joke about the Spirit moving me. Then again, I guess I already did. 

There's good reason to be skeptical of claims that Christian thing X is really smuggled-in paganism, because there can be incentive on both sides to make those claims. Obviously, there's an incentive for some people to undermine Christianity by calling traditions into question, but the funny thing is that some Christians want to believe that stuff, too. It can be a way for some believers to be more spiritual; more pure than other Christians. There are other Christians that hear about supposed paganism, and their incentive is that it's easier to ditch the eggs or the Christmas tree than to actually do the research. (My church eschews eggs and rabbits during Easter, which I'm OK with, even though I doubt the claims of a pagan origin.)

So we have to watch out for a lack of objectivity from both sides. I can't claim to have done any exhaustive research, but I have found that for every claim of smuggled-in paganism, there is an at-least-equally valid debunking of that claim.

https://news.web.baylor.edu/news/story/2016/why-easter-was-never-anything-christian-holiday

"Many religions and traditional customs have used eggs and even rabbits," Barr said. "But this doesn't mean that the Christian use of these symbols, especially eggs, is 'pagan.' Historical parallels do not equal historical evidence."
The Easter bunny was not used in Easter celebrations until the early modern world, and therefore the use of the rabbit has no historical or significant connection to any pagan festivals.
"I have seen arguments connecting Easter eggs to Babylonian and even Zoroastrian traditions," Barr said. "But the medieval European world had no knowledge of these customs or celebrations; historians didn't learn about them until very recently. The most historically logical roots for Easter eggs is their use during Medieval Easter traditions. Eggs were prohibited during Lent, and so in preparation for their return to eating eggs, people decorated eggs and used them as part of their Easter celebrations. This is the most reasonable source for the traditions we continue today."

And here is a response from our Catholic friends:

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/no-easter-is-not-a-pagan-holiday

It seems like this year, they are being extra secure with the voter ID checks, and I had to repeat back my name and address at two separate stations. While machines were there, they seemed to be heavily promoting pen and paper ballots. I don't know how much of that is the state and how much of it is my voting jurisdiction being deep dark red. Which, kinda like with gun rights and gun violence, it's not the red areas you have to worry about so much regarding voter ID fraud, so while I like that they seemed to be very meticulous about ID checks, there's likely a very low probability anybody is trying to use a fake ID. It's the commie pinko areas you have to worry about.

I'm pretty certain I registered to vote as soon as I was old enough, and that was about 60 years ago. For most of that time, I have lived in the same town where I grew up. I am constantly perplexed by all the MSM blather objecting to showing proof of ID when voting, as if that's somehow an infringement on civil rights. As far back as I can remember (at least the day before yesterday), I have always had to show ID when voting. They have tables set up near the entrance to the old grammar school gym (which is where we vote). Usually there are four tables, and voters are directed to a table based on an alphabetical distribution by street name. At each table there's a Republican registrar and a Democrat registrar. They each have an identical list of registered voters. I hand my driver's license to the first registrar. He or she crosses my name off, then hands my driver's license to the other registrar, who then crosses my name off the other list and hands my license back to me.

No muss, no fuss, and I wouldn't want it to be any different. I would be VERY upset if I showed up to vote in the late afternoon or evening and they told me, "Sorry, you've already voted."

Yep
But the below article is not too happy with this particular one's IDF past and even before this current mess started there were those trying to get her canceled over it. Article is from 2017

Why Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is a slap on the faces of Palestinian girls in Gaza
https://tribune.com.pk/article/51227/why-gal-gadot-as-wonder-woman-is-a-slap-on-the-faces-of-palestinian-girls-in-gaza

I remember someone (Salon?) was roasting her a few years ago because Wonder Woman had shave armpits.  Basically, she's Israeli so they look for things to be pissed about because progressives are by-and-large anti-Semites.

I wonder if in this case, "hard landing" is a euphemism for "flying into a mountainside in the fog"?

The BBC on that very subject.
But in a nutshell "hard landing" = crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-middle-east-69035051?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=664a3c986a13b132383a4bc5%26What%20does%20%27hard%20landing%27%20mean%3F%262024-05-19T18%3A07%3A58.977Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:4489a6ff-4407-4c03-b944-474b981a9742&pinned_post_asset_id=664a3c986a13b132383a4bc5&pinned_post_type=share

Yes, I've calculated and posted that inflation factor a number of times to illustrate that it was an infringement, whatever "tax" bullshit you might call it.  I added that inflation number (or one like it) to the modern equivalent cost of a suppressor a couple of times for illustrative purposes.

The point was they were dishonest in attempting to circumvent what is probably the most simply and clearly stated limitation on the power of the government in the entire Constitution.

True in 1934, true today. 

You can call it "interest balancing" if you want to, but all the "interest balancing" was done by the colonies who endorsed the Bill Of Rights.  Those old boys, with their knowledge that all governments tend to limit freedom, knew what the hell they were doing.

Its time we all recognized and proclaimed that the NFA was just about the earliest "First Step" in total disarmament of the United States citizenry.

If they could pull that one off, they could piss on the Constitution any way they wanted without even closing their flies afterwards.

True in 1934, true today!

Terry, 230RN