Democrats now lead in redistricting battle. Take that, Republicans! - Salem Political Snark Revenge is sweet. That’s how it felt to me last night as I rejoiced when Virginia voters approved a redistricting plan that is expected to result in a 10-1 Democratic majority in the state’s 11 congre...

Tonight's blog post: "Democrats now lead in redistricting battle. Take that, Republicans!"
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/04/demo...

Tonight's blog post: "All knowledge is a product of human consciousness, not reality itself"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/all-...

Trump's incessant lying is making it difficult to end the Iran war - Salem Political Snark If you’ve been in a coma for the past ten years and have just returned to everyday consciousness, here’s something important for you to know: Donald Trump is the president of the United States and he’...

Tonight's blog post: "Trump's incessant lying is making it difficult to end the Iran war"
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/04/trum...

Tonight's blog post: "We need a philosophical and spiritual Copernican Revolution"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/we-n...

Treat life like a science experiment: embrace trial and error - Hinessight Many years ago, a female massage therapist said, while we were chatting during the session, “I make more mistakes than my sister because I try more new things.” I’ve never forgotten that line. It ofte...

Tonight's blog post: "Treat life like a science experiment: embrace trial and error"
hinesblog.com/2026/04/trea...

Tonight's blog post: "QBism is the most mind-blowing scientific view of reality I've ever encountered"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/qbis...

We need more ways for seniors to live in their community, not in an institution - Hinessight My wife and I aren’t super old. We’re just old. Of course, our age limit for “super old” keeps increasing as our birthdays add up. I’ve had 77 so far. Laurel is a bit younger. What hasn’t changed over...

Tonight's blog post: "We need more ways for seniors to live in their community, not in an institution"
hinesblog.com/2026/04/we-n...

Mayor Julie Hoy keeps on lying as her ethics violation is finalized - Salem Political Snark There’s a lot not to like about Salem Mayor Julie Hoy — notably including how an Oregon Government Ethics Commission investigation found that Hoy was the ringleader of an illegal secretive scheme to g...

Tonight's blog post: "Mayor Julie Hoy keeps on lying as her ethics violation is finalized"
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/04/mayo...

Tonight's blog post: "Epilepsy and meditation: two paths to 'everything is as it should be'"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/epil...

Trump wanted a fellow authoritarian to continue ruling Hungary. Hungarians voted differently today. Yay! - Salem Political Snark Thank you, Hungarian voters. You brought a big smile to my face when I learned that Viktor Orban, the authoritarian who has ruled Hungary for 16 years, had conceded to Peter Magyar — the leader of a p...

Tonight's blog post: "Trump wanted a fellow authoritarian to continue ruling Hungary. Hungarians voted differently today. Yay!"
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/04/trum...

Though no gods would be ideal, many gods are preferable to one god As I wrote about on my HinesSight blog yesterday, the Artemis II voyage around the moon that ended with a splashdown in the Pacific yesterday showed the inspiring best of science and technology, while...

Tonight's blog post: "Though no gods would be ideal, many gods are preferable to one god"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/thou...

Tonight's blog post: "Artemis II return to Earth was inspiring. Iran war negotiations not so much."
hinesblog.com/2026/04/arte...

Tonight's blog post: "Past and future are optional concepts, since some cultures lack them"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/past...

Homelessness in Salem will be affected by the upcoming mayor and city council elections - Salem Political Snark Today the Salem Reporter published a great story about an important impact of the May election for mayor and four city council seats, “WHAT’S AT STAKE: How Salem city council races could impact local homeless policy.” This is a summary of how the progressive and conservative slates of candidates differ in their approaches to homelessness. Candidates this year are largely divided between two philosophical approaches. In general, progressives describe the homelessness issue as a matter of affordability, particularly around rising rent costs and challenges finding housing. Conservatives point to addiction and a lack of personal accountability as the main drivers…

Tonight's blog post: "Homelessness in Salem will be affected by the upcoming mayor and city council elections"
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/04/home...

Tonight's blog post: "Everyday awareness isn't optimal. Psychedelics are one way to improve things."
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/ever...

Trump is poised to order attacks on Iran that would be war crimes - Salem Political Snark Unless Trump reaches a deal with Iran’s leaders, he says that tomorrow, at 5 pm on April 7, Pacific time, he will order our military to destroy every power plant and bridge in Iran within four hours. ...

Tonight's blog post: "Trump is poised to order attacks on Iran that would be war crimes"
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/04/trum...

Easter means nothing to me, but like hockey, I'm fine with others enjoying it I almost forgot what today is, Easter Sunday. The main reason I was reminded of it came when the long-time friend I have coffee with every Sunday at 1 pm texted me this morning, saying our local coffe...

Tonight's blog post: "Easter means nothing to me, but like hockey, I'm fine with others enjoying it"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/east...

Claude is my new best friend. Google should be jealous. - Hinessight It wasn’t that long ago when “Googling” became synonymous with searching for something on the internet. Sure, there were other search engines, but Google was so dominant, few people used them. These d...

Tonight's blog post: "Claude is my new best friend. Google should be jealous."
hinesblog.com/2026/04/clau...

Tonight's blog post: "Reality is different from how we humans perceive reality"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/real...

Trump's Iran speech was just as useless as I thought it would be - Salem Political Snark If you didn’t see the 20 minute speech Trump gave yesterday in prime time, depriving Americans in several time zones of some actual quality television watching, congratulations. You saved yourself fro...

Tonight's blog post: "Trump's Iran speech was just as useless as I thought it would be"
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/04/trum...

Tonight's blog post: "According to Einstein, past, present, and future are all the same"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/04/acco...

With Tesla easing out of the car-making business, the BMW ix3 electric SUV looks appealing - Hinessight My wife and I were early electric car buyers. Too early. Because we only kept the 2011 Nissan Leaf we bought for about eight months. Even though it just had a range of about 100 miles, there were othe...

Tonight's blog post: "With Tesla easing out of the car making business, the BMW ix3 electric SUV looks appealing"
hinesblog.com/2026/03/with...

Tonight's blog post: "What if everything is okay just as it is?"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/03/what...

Intriguing idea: reality is stitched together from interlocking perspectives and experiences Reality. It’s everything that exists. Simple enough. Seemingly. But the reality is that reality is fiendishly difficult to define, figure out, get a handle on, tie down. Philosophers have debated the ...

Tonight's blog post: "Intriguing idea: reality is stitched together from interlocking perspectives and experiences"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/03/intr...

Tonight's blog post: "I love reality as it is. I also love reality as it isn't."
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/03/i-lo...

Trump ruins everything. He's the biggest threat to the American people. - Salem Political Snark Russia. China. Iran. North Korea. Cuba. Drug smugglers. Illegal immigrants. National debt. Global pandemic. Inflation. Recession. Global warming. Rising energy prices. There’s a lot out there to worry...

Tonight's blog post: "Trump ruins everything. He's the biggest threat to the American people."
salempoliticalsnark.com/2026/03/trum...

Tonight's blog post: "Magical realism is an apt term both for Zen, and for life as a whole"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/03/magi...

Tonight's blog post: "RSSB secret initiation meditation is public Sikh scripture"
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/03/rssb...

I'm irritated with this Salem doctor, and pleased with this Eugene doctor - Hinessight There’s a lot I could say about the prostate surgery (TURP) I had two months ago at the PeaceHealth Riverbend hospital in Springfield. But in this blog post I’m going to try to follow my adage, “The o...

Tonight's blog post: "I'm irritated with this Salem doctor and pleased with this Eugene doctor"
hinesblog.com/2026/03/im-i...

Tonight's blog post: "Defense secretary Hegseth thinks God is on U.S. side. Iran thinks the opposite. Both are wrong."
churchofthechurchless.com/2026/03/defe...