ONE SHOW. TWO MEN. NO RULES..

The Tennessee state House of Representatives passed a bill Monday designed to prevent geoengineering, the practice of intentionally modifying the atmosphere to counteract global warming.

The bill, which had already passed in the state Senate, covers a variety of technological interventions. They include theoretical ideas about cooling the climate by an approach known as solar radiation modification, as well as more limited practices that affect the weather, like cloud seeding, a technique used to increase rain and snowfall. 

Most geoengineering options are theoretical and untested. Federal researchers have taken only a few small steps toward studying their feasibility, and atmospheric scientists say there is no evidence of any large-scale programs.

On its face, Tennessee’s bill represents an attempt to prevent experimentation with or deployment of such technologies. 

The Tennessee state House of Representatives passed a bill Monday designed to prevent geoengineering, the practice of intentionally modifying the atmosphere to counteract global warming.

The bill, which had already passed in the state Senate, covers a variety of technological interventions. They include theoretical ideas about cooling the climate by an approach known as solar radiation modification, as well as more limited practices that affect the weather, like cloud seeding, a technique used to increase rain and snowfall. 

Most geoengineering options are theoretical and untested. Federal researchers have taken only a few small steps toward studying their feasibility, and atmospheric scientists say there is no evidence of any large-scale programs.

On its face, Tennessee’s bill represents an attempt to prevent experimentation with or deployment of such technologies. 

However, lawmakers’ discussions of the proposal toed a line between fact and fiction, with several suggesting that solar geoengineering projects are already underway and others referring to fears and misunderstandings that appeared to stem from the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory.

“This will be my wife’s favorite bill of the year. She has worried about this, I bet, 10 years. It’s been going on a long, long time,” Republican Sen. Frank Niceley said at a hearing about the bill last month. “If you look up — one day, it’ll be clear. The next day they will look like some angels have been playing tic-tac-toe. They’re everywhere. I’ve got pictures on my phone with X's right over my house. For years they denied they were doing anything.”

ANYTHING GOES ON OPEN FORUM NIGHT

Hackman, the two-time Academy Award winner whose Hollywood career spanned four decades, and classical pianist Arakawa did not die from carbon monoxide poisoning, Santa Fe’s sheriff concluded on Friday, ending speculation that a gas leak killed the couple, who were found Wednesday in separate rooms of their home during a wellness check; both showed no signs of external trauma, police said, but Hackman’s pacemaker had sent its last record on Feb. 17, suggesting he had been dead for at least one week before his body was discovered slumped over in a mud room off the kitchen. Over the weekend, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza repeated that he does not believe there was foul play in the deaths of the couple, who had spent more than 30 years together in the house on Old Sunset Trail Road. 

“In recent times, [Hackman was] essentially kind of homebound,” Daniel Lenihan told the news outlet. Barbara Lenihan added while speaking to People that around a year ago, the retired actor “quit riding his bike through the neighborhood.”

Aaron explained how Arakawa, who at 64 was more than 30 years Hackman’s junior, took extra good care of him in his twilight years.

“Betsy tried to keep him kind of active and engaged,” he said, sharing that Hackman kept his mind active by working on puzzles and doing yoga via Zoom. “She was still trying to keep him as active and engaged and healthy as possible,” Aaron said. “She was very protective of him in terms of COVID-19, so she’d always wear a mask when we’d see her out.” 

This was corroborated by Hackman’s good friend, Doug Lanham, who told TMZ that the actor’s wife was sure he maintained a strict, healthy diet that saw him “order either the halibut or rice-paper salmon rather than a big steak” at the bistro he owned for years.

“They were one of the tightest couples I’ve seen,” he concluded. “They seemed like real life partners, really, really close to each other, and they were both incredibly kind. And they were reserved, but they were real, [and] a lot of fun.”

While Hackman’s health appeared to be declining, according to the Lenihans, Arakawa seemed to be the picture of health ahead of her death. 

“Betsy was in perfect health,“ Barbara Lenihan told People. “She was so fit.”

All of the Lenihans’ claims about their famous friend’s health decline, however, stand in sharp contrast to what one of Hackman’s daughters told the press after his body was discovered last week. Leslie Ann Hackman told the Daily Mail last week that “there was no indication that there was any problem” with her dad’s health before his death.

“Despite his age, he was in very good physical condition,” she told the outlet. 

Leslie Ann, one of the actor’s three children from a prior marriage to Faye Maltese, and her siblings were convinced that a gas leak had caused the death of her dad; that was ruled out by authorities last week. While speaking with the Daily Mail, Leslie Ann admitted that she had not spoken with her father in the months before his death. 

This is strikingly similar to the situation with Arakawa and her mother, Yoshie Feaster. According to a housekeeper who tends to Arakawa’s 91-year-old mother, who has dementia, regular calls placed to her in Hawaii stopped in October — a similar timeframe to the “couple of months” in which Leslie Ann Hackman had not spoken with her father. 

“Betsy hadn’t called her mother in months,” Keiko, the housekeeper, told the Daily Mail. “She usually called every one or two months. Last time she called was in October. We were thinking, what happened?”

Sheriff Mendoza on Friday repeated that investigators are still putting together a timeline of the past few months. A personal calendar found in the house was listed as one of the items removed from the property when a search warrant was executed last week. The full toxicology reports on Hackman and Arakawa are expected in a few months.

Atheism is not an affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question about what a person believes. It is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defined incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Older dictionaries define atheism as “a belief that there is no God.” Clearly, theistic influence taints these definitions. The fact that dictionaries define Atheism as “there is no God” betrays the (mono)theistic influence. Without the (mono)theistic influence, the definition would at least read “there are no gods.”

While there are some religions that are atheistic (certain sects of Buddhism, for example), that does not mean that atheism is a religion. To put it in a more humorous way: If atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby.

Despite the fact that atheism is not a religion, atheism is protected by many of the same Constitutional rights that protect religion. That, however, does not mean that atheism is itself a religion, only that our sincerely held (lack of) beliefs are protected in the same way as the religious beliefs of others. Similarly, many “interfaith” groups will include atheists. This, again, does not mean that atheism is a religious belief.

Some groups will use words like Agnostic, Humanist, Secular, Bright, Freethinker, or any number of other terms to self identify. Those words are perfectly fine as a self-identifier, but we strongly advocate using the word that people understand: Atheist. Don’t use those other terms to disguise your atheism or to shy away from a word that some think has a negative connotation. We should be using the terminology that is most accurate and that answers the question that is actually being asked. We should use the term that binds all of us together.

If you call yourself a humanist, a freethinker, a bright, or even a “cultural Catholic” and lack belief in a god, you are an atheist. Don’t shy away from the term. Embrace it. 

Agnostic isn’t just a “weaker” version of being an atheist. It answers a different question. Atheism is about what you believe. Agnosticism is about what you know.

In recent surveys, the Pew Research Center has grouped atheists, agnostics, and the “unaffiliated” into one category. The so-called “Nones” are the fastest growing “religious” demographic in the United States. Pew separates out atheists from agnostics and the non-religious, but that is primarily a function of self-identification. Only about 5% of people call themselves atheists, but if you ask about belief in gods, 11% say they do not believe in gods. Those people are atheists, whether they choose to use the word or not.

A recent survey from University of Kentucky psychologists Will Gervais and Maxine Najle found that as many as 26% of Americans may be atheists. This study was designed to overcome the stigma associated with atheism and the potential for closeted atheists to abstain from “outing” themselves even when speaking anonymously to pollsters. The full study is awaiting publication in Social Psychological and Personality Science journal but a pre-print version is available here.

Even more people say that their definition of “god” is simply a unifying force between all people. Or that they aren’t sure what they believe. If you lack an active belief in gods, you are an atheist. 

Being an atheist doesn’t mean you’re sure about every theological question, have answers to the way the world was created, or how evolution works. It just means that the assertion that gods exist has left you unconvinced.

Wishing that there was an afterlife, or a creator god, or a specific god doesn’t mean you’re not an atheist. Being an atheist is about what you believe and don’t believe, not about what you wish to be true or would find comforting.

The only common thread that ties all atheists together is a lack of belief in gods. Some of the best debates we have ever had have been with fellow atheists. This is because atheists do not have a common belief system, sacred scripture or atheist Pope. This means atheists often disagree on many issues and ideas. Atheists come in a variety of shapes, colors, beliefs, convictions, and backgrounds. We are as unique as our fingerprints.

Atheists exist across the political spectrum. We are members of every race. We are members of the LGBTQ* community. There are atheists in urban, suburban, and rural communities and in every state of the nation.

I’m a Roman Catholic priest and I make videos on priesthood and life in the Catholic Church. Be sure to subscribe if you find the content helpful! God bless!

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Fr. David Michael Moses is a Catholic Priest in Spring, TX.

Grab your martini shaker and settle in for 'Stories To Tell,' a brand-new show from Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Richard Marx.

Our first guest is The Starchild himself—Paul Stanley talks life after touring, coming up in those early years of KISS (and his first big splurge), finding a new creative outlet with Soul Station, and more! It's a fun conversation between two old pals and the very FIRST of many Stories To Tell!

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