Cognitive dissonance is the whole point. Anyone can believe something true; 'believing' something that you know if false is what takes faith. It's how you prove you're in the club.

Proof or disproof doesn't even mean anything in the context of God. 'God' is a metaphor - the whole idea was never meant to be taken literally.

Not to mention a wonderful and legal role for bittorrent.

"[H]iding the content of legislation" is bipartisan, and (from their perspective) it isn't a problem, it's the goal.

Probably for most people, but not in my case. I work for a doctor's office and the USB drive is the permanent location of the patient data I work with, so I can disconnect it and lock in a safe.

Perhaps "hurting the U.S. renewable energy industry" is the goal.

Doing something because it had practical benefit (or is even a necessity) does not mean it's optimal. Certainly neural pathways that are unused may atrophy, and repetition will make us better at any activity mental or physical, but I'm not sure that's really something I would call optimization.

Can it really be considered 'wasting' money given that the function of the TSA is to spend money without constructive purpose?

(Of course it also inconveniences travellers and violates rights, but nothing beats a large government budget for making something look more important than it really is.)

Now we know why Luke started hearing voices in his head all of a sudden.

There are polluters with guns and private cops. The EPA is not a social club the does a bit of advocacy, it's a law enforcement agency.