There is no situation so bad it cannot be made worse by religion. Religion really does poison everything. Scarcely a day goes by when we do not read about a horror perpetrated by religious people in the name of their faith. In spite of this, America's religious right is determined to break down the barriers between church and state operating under the delusion we will somehow be better off for it.
On Jan 20, 2025, at 12 noon, the christofascist theocracy will be declared. All of the xtian nationalists will rejoice. By 6 p.m., they'll be having screaming arguments about minor points of doctrine (like which version of the 10 commandments will be posted in schools, city halls and so on). Come dawn on Jan 21, they'll be calling out their private religious militias. At noon on Jan 21, they'll be slaughtering each other in the streets. That may be delayed by a few days, til after they get done slaughtering anybody who isn't a christofascist. But, mark my words, this tactical alliance amongst the various RWNJ xtian denominations is just that: a tactic that just delays them taking out their shit on anyone who isn't a member of their particular version of the cult. I've heard the RCC version of this sort of language and justification since I was a toddler--more than 70 years now--and they mean what they say. Sorry to be such a downer.
This is a tragedy, full stop and unfortunately, it's not the first, second, or third time we've heard about such things. Some person or people get it in their heads that all they have to do is pray to Yahweh or Jesus or whomever, and their ailing child will be healed ... except that not only doesn't it work, but the kid gets to pay the price for their foolishness with his or her life. And then we go to court for what at minimum should be criminally negligent homicide, if not murder, all because someone BELIEVED something.
And as it comes to belief, what was it that Carl Sagan said? Oh, yeah:
+++ How many prayers, do you suppose, were offered up during the Holocaust, and to what effect? Apart from the psychological effects on the believer, prayer never affected the outcome of anything.
This is apocalyptic Christianity. Each generation of it thinks it's special and final and unique and different. History doesn't matter; Jesus chose *them*.
Christianity began as a violent movement with the crucifixion then went on to use violence to control heretics. The crusades, Spanish inquisition, burning of witches, etc. has been a hallmark of christianity wielding power over the masses.
Death cult. They are obsessed with death; people will either get gold mansions in the sky or hell in the fiery pits. The cross itself is the death cult object.
The whole thing is a sickness and I think that it is safe to say that if Jeebus hasn't shown back up after 2000 years, he seems to have taken a powder.
They think everything bad that happens in this country, including mass shootings, is because the United States has turned its back on god - they consider mass shootings to be messages from god that we are not worthy, that we must all capitulate to the bible. The Christian Taliban is completely deranged and delusional.
christian god's terrible aim, it's why it actually works in country who regulate their firearms. It's the same as why there are tornadoes in babble belt, it's the fault of gays or lesbians weddings in Europe or South Africa.
The whole 'God moves in mysterious ways' BS has an implication that I never see mentioned: it means you really can't say with ANY certainty what god actually thinks/wants etc. ALL creeds and dogmas are nothing more than empty claims.
Exactly - and I read that the Jewish people in the concentration camps specifically wanted to put god on trial- but they didn't know where to find him. And think about the thousands if not millions of children who are physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually abused or trafficked that have literally prayed every night to be rescued, but they are not rescued.
So even if god was real, he does not deserve to be worshiped.......and if god was real, he acts more like satan, so again he does not deserve to be worshiped.
A relationship with god is akin to being in an abusive relationship.
The Christian Taliban will twist, contort, manipulate everything horrible to justify their fucked up ideologies.
So, if nothing more than a band aid is allowed, why the father wears fucking GLASSES ?! Why the prosecution went with his "remorse" while neglecting this fact ? Why the children weren't placed with the older sister earlier or at least monitored by a social worker ? Why different charges for the parents when they are both repeated offenders ?
I have diabetes AND I am Pagan. Plus, I have needle phobia. I take my treatment, DM inject me my insulin, and the only thing I pray for is for scientists to find a better way to help patients without having to prick themselves several times a day !!!
A thousand thanks to whoever invented sensors and apps).
That's exactly what I noticed, the dad has glasses - he should not have had glasses, he should have fasted and prayed until his eyesight was repaired by his God!
Thwnk you for helping me. So, I checked your link, and it's not suited for me due to this "Are having an episode of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)."
The link brlow will lead you to two screenshots who represent a typical day for the former and what happens to me about every couple of weeks for the latter
Looked at your graph and you do have some lows that you want to avoid, but overall, your weekly graph isn't too awful at all! Afrezza combined with a once a day long acting insulin reduces the lows and the highs when used correctly. That's why you need an endo who prescribes it regularly along with a certified diabetes educator to help you with the differences. Did you get type 1 as an adult or a child? Your BS graph leads me to think you got it older. Anyway - just a suggestion! I know how tough it is.
Probably as an adult, it was discovered last year. I don't show symptoms unless my glycemia is above 4.5* or under 0.60. I have posted another comment where I list things high in “bad” sugar that I don't eat or drink like soda, alcohol, white bread and so forth, because I don't like them. My lows happen most of the time upon waking up** (irregular sleeping schedule due to insomnia), my highs are very rare, they happen only when I miscalculate the ration between carbs, proteins and any glucophage ingredient I include in my meal.
*Even then, there is a particular symptom I don't get, maybe the keto you mentioned earlier. I lack the vocabulary to explain it in English.
** A fruit yoghurt or an apple sauce give me the short boost needed until I can eat something with more stable sugar.
Yes. Your blood sugar does not vary as much from highs to lows as people who get it at relatively young ages. One "advantage" (if you can call it that) to getting it as an older adult. Having a little protein with some carb after bringing your sugar up can help stabilize it. If your lows tend to be early in the morning, it might help to change the timing of your long acting insulin injection. Also don't inject fast acting insulin too late at night. Ask your doc about that!
I don't have fast acting insulin. I wouldn't be able to use it anyway, I have needle phobia (The diabetologist who prescribed my treatment knows about it) and it's my mother who does my injections. I am unable to see or touch an insulin pen without nearly fainting.
I referred to the statement in the link. All that is telling you is that IF you are currently having a low BS event, don't inhale Afrezza! Just like you wouldn't inject humalog or other rapid acting insulin if you were having a low. In reality, you are much less likely to have low BS in the first place with Afrezza because its onset is so rapid that you can inhale after meals. Also, the duration is much less so you don't have extra insulin in your system causing lows later. You use it very differently than injected meal time insulin. You still need to inject a basal insulin - a long acting one, but that's just once a day.
Fun fact. My Aria, when older, found a way to have hypoglycemia as a chronic condition without having diabetes likes most old dogs. Running after her* with a spoonful of jam or honey twice a week was so fun 😅
* She hated anything sweet, starting with chocolate 🙂
Generally, I would say many consider me cold-hearted. I teared up watching that video clip.
I experienced something similar in the second grade. A kid I knew pretty well, one half of a pair of twins, got ill; I don't remember what, but the family refused treatment and prayed over him. Somehow, the man who owned the feed store found out about the sick kid and called the rescue squad. The family wouldn't let them, and the sheriff was called. That's when they found him dead. That was 65 years ago, I'm 72. I still think about Jerry when I hear these faith healer stories. I remember my parents were outraged that the sheriff wouldn't even take the other kids away. My father and the feed store crew talked about it for years.
The wife only gets manslaughter? She went to jail for 6 months over withholding insulin, she does it again the moment she gets out, but only manslaughter? Must be some legal weirdity.
Full props to the sister. Incredibly sad that the government is only (maybe!) listening to her after one of her siblings dies.
Probably wives are required to submit to and obey their husbands and the church's leadership. Maybe that's why she's held less accountable. What would be the consequences to her for disobedience?
Disgusting. This little girl didn't have a chance at the one chance at life she had, thanks to religion.
Science invents airplanes. Religion flies them into buildings.
Science invents medicines. Religion invents reasons not to use them.
But I am wondering why there were such light sentences given to the parents the first time around. Who was responsible for that? who was not overseeing this little girl's Living situation, knowing what they must've known about the cult she was raised in?
Why is religion yet again being given a goddamn pass for behaving responsibly?
If she was still alive, with her temper, she would probably asked me, or X who toured Australia and New Zealand for a year, for help to go there and have these "parents" met her cane.
Kerrie Struhs only gets charged with manslaughter. Imagine what the charge would've been if she weren't a Christian. I think we know the answer to that one. Especially since she previously only got 18 months for denying her daughter insulin, yet only served 5 months. Oh, but Christians are soooo persecuted.
I was looking at a few other articles on this. It looks like the prosecution initially charged a bunch of them with murder and then downgraded the charges, because they're not sure who did vocal encouraging (to withhold medical treatment) and who might have been more actively involved. So sounds like a 'charge what you can prove' move rather than Christian privilege.
More legal factoids: none of the 14 hired a lawyer. None of them chose to attend the pre-trial hearing to discuss admission of evidence. It won't be a jury trial, just one judge.
Maybe they're taking the position that no legal defense is necessary because it's in God's hands. IANAL but if so, God wants them to be toast.
I agree with you for the second time, both should have faced the same charges. But her husband got a lighter sentence the first time. And it was not because he was a christian. There was a case of a father causing the death if his toddler after forgetting him in his car. He was acquitted for emotional distress. Would his wife got scot free if it was her ? I am not so sure.
I am, luckily, not to his taste, but had he tried, his face would have met my backpack* and his crotch my fist. Sauce for the wanker or something like that.
* Being small and a big backpack help with those who would be tempted to try and cope a feel in public transportation.
Meanwhile, the senile current US President, who can't produce a coherent complete sentence without reading from. a teleprompter, declares he will only obey orders directly from "The Lord Almighty" and nobody seems bothered by it.
Homo sapiens and planet Earth are doomed by the God Delusion.
I am significantly bothered by the whole situation. But I will hold my nose and vote. I just hope that most moderates feel the way I do and not "I am so bothered by it I will just stay home today."
Me too. I do NOT want a second Trump term. And I hope the Democrats use the second four year reprieve to seriously get their shit together. Trump is not going away unless he dies, and the MAGAts would only need another Fearless Leader to rile them up again.
Even Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to the London Packet in 1772, noted that the varying sects of Christianity were, in their turn, either a) Persecutors or b) Complainers of persecution.
I am trying to understand the thinking behind letting her go back to her kids after the first time. All I can come up with is, maybe they thought the first shot across the bow (5 months in prison AND nearly losing her daughter) was a wake-up call.
And it would be for any normal person. But these people are not normal, and shots across the bow appear to only make them drill down harder.
Youth? The sister is 25. Millions are parents by that age.
My question is why did the Queensland equivalent of Child Services allow Elizabeth to go back to her parents' custody or the other siblings to remain? After the hospitalization, the parents should have lost all parental rights.
The Diagnostic and Statistics Manual [AKA the DSM], the psychological professions attempt to catalog mental disorders and the behaviors that characterize them has this in the definition of 'delusion':
delusion--A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly held despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture (i.e., it is not an article of religious faith).
So, what this means is these murderers were NOT delusional. That's seriously effed up, but OK, if they're not delusional, then clearly that religion is delusional and clearly, the courts agree, the believers are a danger to their own family. When will we, as a society and any other society that harbors religious nutjobs, realize that a religion that can lead to such beliefs and, even more importantly, demeans and dehumanizes others simply for not being members of that religion are delusional and a danger to the whole population? How much history do you have to delusionally deny to not recognize this?
And these Australian parents would want you to do the heimlich maneuver on them! They would run crazy through the restaurant looking for someone to perform the maneuver. They would NOT sit around in a circle and pray. This Christian cult are murderers- and they always do these experimentations on the defenseless little ones, almost never themselves. They WANT to be saved..... when their appendix bursts they go to the emergency room.
Pardon me while I peel myself off the ceiling on this one.
I'm a father. The one time my daughter needed to go to the hospital for emergency treatment, I ran out of work in the middle of an assignment to take care of it. She had spilled "Oodles of Noodles" on herself while cooking it and suffered a burn.
While we waited in the ER, she had me distract her from the pain...by telling her again how the First World War broke out. I can tell history in a way that keeps people educated and entertained. It helped. She was treated. She was okay.
I took the next day off, of course, so we could do the follow-up.
Parenthood 101, folks. These folks failed. Penalty for failure is prison. Go to Jail. Go Directly to Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.
Your story reminds me one in a documentary about Amish. When the daughter of a couple fell sick, they prayed with their community, but first they took her to the hospital. Diagnosis ? A cancer, maybe leukemia. They got there early enough for her to be cured.
I read that the Amish have a vacation site in Florida they go to where they peel off the traditional wear, and dress in more modern togs to enjoy the beach.
I've seen them using cell phones and wearing sneakers beneath those outfits. They may be devout, but they're practical.
Phones and electronics are ok. Phones are a huge necessity given they are on farms. Motors are the taboo. When doing work for others power tools are okay. Cameras are taboo because they feel photos with faces steal the 'soul.' Pix of barns, landcapes, implements etc are okay.
That was just harassment, pure and simple. Amish is religion. I have photographed Amish buggies on the road and have always taken care to see no faces. They have always been nice to me and I treated them the same.
Another example of cameras "stealing the soul" could be the pornography industry -- particularly child porn. Then I remember how the "Girls Gone Wild" TV show was crushed by lawsuits from women they put on TV. The producer made the elementary mistake of NOT getting photo-releases.
The same couple had electricity and a phone in their barn because while modern technology is forbidden in the house, it says nothing about other building. The husband dropped out of school at 14 but he was quite the smart ass 😁
My heartfelt sympathies go out to Jayde Struhs and her family on the needless death of her sister. I hope the court uses common sense this time and hands over custody of the remaining minor children to Jayde. I don't know why all the children weren't removed from that home when Elizabeth was admitted to the ER in a coma and weighing less than half the normal weight for a child her age. That shows she hadn't been getting proper care for a long time.
IF faith was enough to 'cure' Elizabeth, why did she end up in a coma in the ER instead? Her parents and their cult knew full well that failing to provide Elizabeth with insulin would result in her death. I'm still having trouble processing why these irresponsible people were given a second chance to abuse this child to death. What an absolutely heartbreaking story.
Can't be sure but it sounds like the father admitted in the first court case that they should've given her insulin, and then actually followed through by obeying the court and giving her insulin for the months the mother was in jail. So that's probably why the courts didn't remove custody. Then when mom gets out, either mom takes over or with mom back the cult's influence gets stronger.
After that child was admitted to hospital in a coma and severely underweight, those parents should have been under court supervision to make sure Elizabeth received proper treatment and nutrition. It's just impossibly sad and heartbreaking that that little girl was left in the hands of these irresponsible monsters.
This is exactly the sort of behavior I expect from the Christian community anymore. Not only is this one tiny church an extremist group that refused a child the medicine she needed to survive, the Christian community as a whole did absolutely nothing at all to put a stop to it. Now that the poor kid is dead, the government is having to step in to see any sort of justice done and yet the Christian community is silent on the issue.
There comes a point where loving one's neighbor means taking the kids they're abusing away from them. Why Christians never seem to be willing to do that for their own people is beyond me.
Religion says ALL are sinners and deserving of god's punishment. This makes it very easy to turn away from those in need.
Churches are now proclaiming wealth is a gift to the virtuous from god's hands. This means the unfortunate re undeserving of help. The entire thing is criony capitalism run amok.
Do we really want them deciding to take kids from their parents when they've determined that providing gender affirming care, or simply just acceptance of LGBTQ status, is abuse? They could easily decide not forcing children to go to church weekly (daily even) is abuse and anyone who isn't christian is automatically abusing their children. Christians should be upset over the sects that are abusing children by denying healthcare, and we as a society should decide through careful thought and scientific study what is abuse, and let's hope and vote so that we are not run by the type of cruel, heartless people like rightwing Christians.
I am all for removing any exceptions for religion from child abuse laws. And so many other laws, while we're at it.
I swear I responded to this ages ago now. First it double posted the response, now they're both gone?!
Anyway. You have a fair point in your criticism. I would completely agree that removing all exceptions for religion in the legal code is a great idea, too. The issue I intended to call out here is simply the complete lack of policing churches do of their own membership; it's clearly reached a point where apparently Christians think anything other Christians do to kids is just fine and dandy. That isn't love, it's permission to be monsters to the most vulnerable members of the human population.
From where I stand, the silence from the Christian camp on this issue says volumes.
Instead of incarceration, which those responsible in this case surely deserve, how about sterilization of the adult members of this cult. And they lose custody of the existing children to prevent further abuse or worse.
"Jason Richard Struhs and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs were eventually sentenced to six months and 18 months in jail, respectively, for that incident. "
Why the actual fuck were they allowed to have any of their kids without close supervision after this? The Australian government needs to accept some of the fault for this poor child's murder.
As near as i can figure out, the father admitted in court that what he did was wrong. And while he was out and his wife was in jail, he gave their kid the insulin she needed. Then the wife gets out, the insulin stops, and *he* is getting the harsher sentence. They're both responsible, but in this case it appears that being the cultier one, the less decent parent, got the wife the lesser sentence.
So what does that teach other cultists? Stick to your guns. Never admit you know medicine works or prayer doesn't. Never ever use it on your kid. Because if you ever admit that or use medicine on your kid, you get murder, but if you don't, you only get manslaughter.
Reading some of the other news articles, it does appear that he was the one who pushed for it, knowing she might die. Fully deserving of a murder charge.
There is no situation so bad it cannot be made worse by religion. Religion really does poison everything. Scarcely a day goes by when we do not read about a horror perpetrated by religious people in the name of their faith. In spite of this, America's religious right is determined to break down the barriers between church and state operating under the delusion we will somehow be better off for it.
On Jan 20, 2025, at 12 noon, the christofascist theocracy will be declared. All of the xtian nationalists will rejoice. By 6 p.m., they'll be having screaming arguments about minor points of doctrine (like which version of the 10 commandments will be posted in schools, city halls and so on). Come dawn on Jan 21, they'll be calling out their private religious militias. At noon on Jan 21, they'll be slaughtering each other in the streets. That may be delayed by a few days, til after they get done slaughtering anybody who isn't a christofascist. But, mark my words, this tactical alliance amongst the various RWNJ xtian denominations is just that: a tactic that just delays them taking out their shit on anyone who isn't a member of their particular version of the cult. I've heard the RCC version of this sort of language and justification since I was a toddler--more than 70 years now--and they mean what they say. Sorry to be such a downer.
plausible
Keep your powder dry, your kit maintained, and your skills honed.
It may well get fugly, make it far fuglier for them. 🙂
https://DictatorForADayShow.com
Listen to the title song, Dictator for a Day (scroll to bottom of page).
Or click here: https://sweatingthesmallstuff.substack.com/p/dictator-for-a-day
"I only need 24 hours
Of unlimited fascist powers
Sunrise, sunset, that's all
To build a border wall."
...
Some of them will be, and to hell (literally) with the rest.
+++ It's all about the preachers wanting to control people. They will never be able to point to any tangible good.
This is a tragedy, full stop and unfortunately, it's not the first, second, or third time we've heard about such things. Some person or people get it in their heads that all they have to do is pray to Yahweh or Jesus or whomever, and their ailing child will be healed ... except that not only doesn't it work, but the kid gets to pay the price for their foolishness with his or her life. And then we go to court for what at minimum should be criminally negligent homicide, if not murder, all because someone BELIEVED something.
And as it comes to belief, what was it that Carl Sagan said? Oh, yeah:
𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒; 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾.
+++ How many prayers, do you suppose, were offered up during the Holocaust, and to what effect? Apart from the psychological effects on the believer, prayer never affected the outcome of anything.
This is apocalyptic Christianity. Each generation of it thinks it's special and final and unique and different. History doesn't matter; Jesus chose *them*.
From the get go, christianity has been a doomsday cult.
Christianity began as a violent movement with the crucifixion then went on to use violence to control heretics. The crusades, Spanish inquisition, burning of witches, etc. has been a hallmark of christianity wielding power over the masses.
Death cult. They are obsessed with death; people will either get gold mansions in the sky or hell in the fiery pits. The cross itself is the death cult object.
𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢, ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑁𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑚𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒.
-- Sam Harris, from his debate with William Lane Craig
The whole thing is a sickness and I think that it is safe to say that if Jeebus hasn't shown back up after 2000 years, he seems to have taken a powder.
"Jesus chose *them*."
.. and they aren't even jewish, gods chosen(tm)
"If there is a God, he will have to beg my forgiveness.”
― Jewish concentration camp Prisoner
Likewise, how many 'thoughts and prayers' have been offered up after every mass shooting in this country? Did they prevent the next one? Oh hell no.
They think everything bad that happens in this country, including mass shootings, is because the United States has turned its back on god - they consider mass shootings to be messages from god that we are not worthy, that we must all capitulate to the bible. The Christian Taliban is completely deranged and delusional.
christian god's terrible aim, it's why it actually works in country who regulate their firearms. It's the same as why there are tornadoes in babble belt, it's the fault of gays or lesbians weddings in Europe or South Africa.
The universe thinks they want more/s
Don't you suppose the people drowning in their attics during Katrina were praying?
You could say it affected the rest of the poor girls life.
No freaking kidding. And the lack of positive, effective action can obviously have DISASTROUS results!
+++ That's when the 'God moves in mysterious ways' BS comes into play.
𝐼𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 — ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 — 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠’ 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑, 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑔𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑡.
-- Sam Harris, from his debate with William Lane Craig
+++
Without the net, without the racquets, without the balls, without the players.
The whole 'God moves in mysterious ways' BS has an implication that I never see mentioned: it means you really can't say with ANY certainty what god actually thinks/wants etc. ALL creeds and dogmas are nothing more than empty claims.
It's pretty difficult to say anything with certainty when you're talking about something that doesn't exist!
Exactly - and I read that the Jewish people in the concentration camps specifically wanted to put god on trial- but they didn't know where to find him. And think about the thousands if not millions of children who are physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually abused or trafficked that have literally prayed every night to be rescued, but they are not rescued.
So even if god was real, he does not deserve to be worshiped.......and if god was real, he acts more like satan, so again he does not deserve to be worshiped.
A relationship with god is akin to being in an abusive relationship.
The Christian Taliban will twist, contort, manipulate everything horrible to justify their fucked up ideologies.
So, if nothing more than a band aid is allowed, why the father wears fucking GLASSES ?! Why the prosecution went with his "remorse" while neglecting this fact ? Why the children weren't placed with the older sister earlier or at least monitored by a social worker ? Why different charges for the parents when they are both repeated offenders ?
I have diabetes AND I am Pagan. Plus, I have needle phobia. I take my treatment, DM inject me my insulin, and the only thing I pray for is for scientists to find a better way to help patients without having to prick themselves several times a day !!!
A thousand thanks to whoever invented sensors and apps).
That's exactly what I noticed, the dad has glasses - he should not have had glasses, he should have fasted and prayed until his eyesight was repaired by his God!
Ask your endocrinologist about Afrezza inhaled insulin. https://afrezza.com/afrezza-fast-facts/is-afrezza-discontinued/ A recent study was very positive in terms of benefits, reduced risks for low BS and acceptability. However, be sure to see an endo who has good experience with it. https://diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/study-shows-promising-results-inhaled-insulin-treatment-type-1-diabetes
Thwnk you for helping me. So, I checked your link, and it's not suited for me due to this "Are having an episode of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)."
The link brlow will lead you to two screenshots who represent a typical day for the former and what happens to me about every couple of weeks for the latter
https://ibb.co/3ccbdR5
https://ibb.co/fS33k35
Looked at your graph and you do have some lows that you want to avoid, but overall, your weekly graph isn't too awful at all! Afrezza combined with a once a day long acting insulin reduces the lows and the highs when used correctly. That's why you need an endo who prescribes it regularly along with a certified diabetes educator to help you with the differences. Did you get type 1 as an adult or a child? Your BS graph leads me to think you got it older. Anyway - just a suggestion! I know how tough it is.
Probably as an adult, it was discovered last year. I don't show symptoms unless my glycemia is above 4.5* or under 0.60. I have posted another comment where I list things high in “bad” sugar that I don't eat or drink like soda, alcohol, white bread and so forth, because I don't like them. My lows happen most of the time upon waking up** (irregular sleeping schedule due to insomnia), my highs are very rare, they happen only when I miscalculate the ration between carbs, proteins and any glucophage ingredient I include in my meal.
*Even then, there is a particular symptom I don't get, maybe the keto you mentioned earlier. I lack the vocabulary to explain it in English.
** A fruit yoghurt or an apple sauce give me the short boost needed until I can eat something with more stable sugar.
Yes. Your blood sugar does not vary as much from highs to lows as people who get it at relatively young ages. One "advantage" (if you can call it that) to getting it as an older adult. Having a little protein with some carb after bringing your sugar up can help stabilize it. If your lows tend to be early in the morning, it might help to change the timing of your long acting insulin injection. Also don't inject fast acting insulin too late at night. Ask your doc about that!
I don't have fast acting insulin. I wouldn't be able to use it anyway, I have needle phobia (The diabetologist who prescribed my treatment knows about it) and it's my mother who does my injections. I am unable to see or touch an insulin pen without nearly fainting.
I referred to the statement in the link. All that is telling you is that IF you are currently having a low BS event, don't inhale Afrezza! Just like you wouldn't inject humalog or other rapid acting insulin if you were having a low. In reality, you are much less likely to have low BS in the first place with Afrezza because its onset is so rapid that you can inhale after meals. Also, the duration is much less so you don't have extra insulin in your system causing lows later. You use it very differently than injected meal time insulin. You still need to inject a basal insulin - a long acting one, but that's just once a day.
BHm has BOTH diabetes AND hypoglycemia.
See my comment. Hypoglycemia is a result of diabetes treatment - not a separate condition.
Fun fact. My Aria, when older, found a way to have hypoglycemia as a chronic condition without having diabetes likes most old dogs. Running after her* with a spoonful of jam or honey twice a week was so fun 😅
* She hated anything sweet, starting with chocolate 🙂
Generally, I would say many consider me cold-hearted. I teared up watching that video clip.
I experienced something similar in the second grade. A kid I knew pretty well, one half of a pair of twins, got ill; I don't remember what, but the family refused treatment and prayed over him. Somehow, the man who owned the feed store found out about the sick kid and called the rescue squad. The family wouldn't let them, and the sheriff was called. That's when they found him dead. That was 65 years ago, I'm 72. I still think about Jerry when I hear these faith healer stories. I remember my parents were outraged that the sheriff wouldn't even take the other kids away. My father and the feed store crew talked about it for years.
The wife only gets manslaughter? She went to jail for 6 months over withholding insulin, she does it again the moment she gets out, but only manslaughter? Must be some legal weirdity.
Full props to the sister. Incredibly sad that the government is only (maybe!) listening to her after one of her siblings dies.
These kids need to be away from and protected from this cult.
Yep. I hope their big sister gets help to get them removed from their hostile home.
Probably wives are required to submit to and obey their husbands and the church's leadership. Maybe that's why she's held less accountable. What would be the consequences to her for disobedience?
Except she was the one who got a harsher sentence the first time.
You're right, of course. I have no explanation really, was speculating based on past experience
Disgusting. This little girl didn't have a chance at the one chance at life she had, thanks to religion.
Science invents airplanes. Religion flies them into buildings.
Science invents medicines. Religion invents reasons not to use them.
But I am wondering why there were such light sentences given to the parents the first time around. Who was responsible for that? who was not overseeing this little girl's Living situation, knowing what they must've known about the cult she was raised in?
Why is religion yet again being given a goddamn pass for behaving responsibly?
DM's grandmother was catholic and illiterate, yet when she, or a member of her family, was sick, she didn't call for a priest.
Because she wasn't insane?
If she was still alive, with her temper, she would probably asked me, or X who toured Australia and New Zealand for a year, for help to go there and have these "parents" met her cane.
Kerrie Struhs only gets charged with manslaughter. Imagine what the charge would've been if she weren't a Christian. I think we know the answer to that one. Especially since she previously only got 18 months for denying her daughter insulin, yet only served 5 months. Oh, but Christians are soooo persecuted.
I was looking at a few other articles on this. It looks like the prosecution initially charged a bunch of them with murder and then downgraded the charges, because they're not sure who did vocal encouraging (to withhold medical treatment) and who might have been more actively involved. So sounds like a 'charge what you can prove' move rather than Christian privilege.
More legal factoids: none of the 14 hired a lawyer. None of them chose to attend the pre-trial hearing to discuss admission of evidence. It won't be a jury trial, just one judge.
Maybe they're taking the position that no legal defense is necessary because it's in God's hands. IANAL but if so, God wants them to be toast.
I agree with you for the second time, both should have faced the same charges. But her husband got a lighter sentence the first time. And it was not because he was a christian. There was a case of a father causing the death if his toddler after forgetting him in his car. He was acquitted for emotional distress. Would his wife got scot free if it was her ? I am not so sure.
Seems like women always get the shit end of the stick in patriarchal cultures.
"They let you grab em by the pussy." --Former US President amd current Republican presidential nominee. (With no current media attention to this fact)
I am, luckily, not to his taste, but had he tried, his face would have met my backpack* and his crotch my fist. Sauce for the wanker or something like that.
* Being small and a big backpack help with those who would be tempted to try and cope a feel in public transportation.
_"his face would have met my backpack* and his crotch my fist"_
in his face would hurt more imo. Or his hair, now that would be super injurious !!
Your hit on his crotch would have to be accurate considering the small target :-)
Not when you are half hobbit sized. A step ladder is not very practical to transport 😁
Meanwhile, the senile current US President, who can't produce a coherent complete sentence without reading from. a teleprompter, declares he will only obey orders directly from "The Lord Almighty" and nobody seems bothered by it.
Homo sapiens and planet Earth are doomed by the God Delusion.
I am significantly bothered by the whole situation. But I will hold my nose and vote. I just hope that most moderates feel the way I do and not "I am so bothered by it I will just stay home today."
Yup. If people can't tell the chasm of difference between Biden and Trump then something is seriously wrong with them.
Me too. I do NOT want a second Trump term. And I hope the Democrats use the second four year reprieve to seriously get their shit together. Trump is not going away unless he dies, and the MAGAts would only need another Fearless Leader to rile them up again.
ok comradeski
If I open the back door before starting the car, I get a warning to look in the back seat when I turn the car off. My last car had the same feature.
Was this feature available in 2016 ? I don't have my license, let alone a car and don't follow the tech about them.
My 2016 Buick did not. Luxury brands may have had it.
I never open the badk door so have NO idea on my Elantra.
I put clothes in the back seat when I travel and occasionally my cat. But he’s sufficient reminder that he’s back there.
Mine gives that warning too, I never thought about what triggers it.
They are the persecutors but scream they are persecuted. Oh, thee hypocrisy.
Even Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to the London Packet in 1772, noted that the varying sects of Christianity were, in their turn, either a) Persecutors or b) Complainers of persecution.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/2370-if we look back-into-history-for-the-character-of
C) They are both.
I am trying to understand the thinking behind letting her go back to her kids after the first time. All I can come up with is, maybe they thought the first shot across the bow (5 months in prison AND nearly losing her daughter) was a wake-up call.
And it would be for any normal person. But these people are not normal, and shots across the bow appear to only make them drill down harder.
Youth? The sister is 25. Millions are parents by that age.
My question is why did the Queensland equivalent of Child Services allow Elizabeth to go back to her parents' custody or the other siblings to remain? After the hospitalization, the parents should have lost all parental rights.
I wish Jayde success and quickly.
The Diagnostic and Statistics Manual [AKA the DSM], the psychological professions attempt to catalog mental disorders and the behaviors that characterize them has this in the definition of 'delusion':
delusion--A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly held despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture (i.e., it is not an article of religious faith).
So, what this means is these murderers were NOT delusional. That's seriously effed up, but OK, if they're not delusional, then clearly that religion is delusional and clearly, the courts agree, the believers are a danger to their own family. When will we, as a society and any other society that harbors religious nutjobs, realize that a religion that can lead to such beliefs and, even more importantly, demeans and dehumanizes others simply for not being members of that religion are delusional and a danger to the whole population? How much history do you have to delusionally deny to not recognize this?
There are a lot of people who make a lot of money off the believers. They aren't going to allow the delusions to go away.
Just like how the NRA makes money on gun sales, so they’re never going to let anyone stop school shootings.
As regards this whole tragic business, allow me to interject the following:
𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠: 𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑚𝑙𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑜𝑟 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜?
-- Lawrence Krauss (allegedly)
I learned basic help (choking, breathing, positioning an inconscious person). I am meant to use this, not pray.
You're trained and aware and you give a damn about your fellow human beings. The idiots who let poor Elizabeth die? Not so much.
And these Australian parents would want you to do the heimlich maneuver on them! They would run crazy through the restaurant looking for someone to perform the maneuver. They would NOT sit around in a circle and pray. This Christian cult are murderers- and they always do these experimentations on the defenseless little ones, almost never themselves. They WANT to be saved..... when their appendix bursts they go to the emergency room.
One and all they should get a Dalek hello.
EXTERMINATE!!!
Pardon me while I peel myself off the ceiling on this one.
I'm a father. The one time my daughter needed to go to the hospital for emergency treatment, I ran out of work in the middle of an assignment to take care of it. She had spilled "Oodles of Noodles" on herself while cooking it and suffered a burn.
While we waited in the ER, she had me distract her from the pain...by telling her again how the First World War broke out. I can tell history in a way that keeps people educated and entertained. It helped. She was treated. She was okay.
I took the next day off, of course, so we could do the follow-up.
Parenthood 101, folks. These folks failed. Penalty for failure is prison. Go to Jail. Go Directly to Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.
Your story reminds me one in a documentary about Amish. When the daughter of a couple fell sick, they prayed with their community, but first they took her to the hospital. Diagnosis ? A cancer, maybe leukemia. They got there early enough for her to be cured.
I read that the Amish have a vacation site in Florida they go to where they peel off the traditional wear, and dress in more modern togs to enjoy the beach.
I've seen them using cell phones and wearing sneakers beneath those outfits. They may be devout, but they're practical.
Phones and electronics are ok. Phones are a huge necessity given they are on farms. Motors are the taboo. When doing work for others power tools are okay. Cameras are taboo because they feel photos with faces steal the 'soul.' Pix of barns, landcapes, implements etc are okay.
Given how paparazzi drove HRH the Princess of Wales to that horrible death in a Paris tunnel…they may be right about cameras “stealing the soul….”
That was just harassment, pure and simple. Amish is religion. I have photographed Amish buggies on the road and have always taken care to see no faces. They have always been nice to me and I treated them the same.
Same with me...I was merely thinking out loud.
Another example of cameras "stealing the soul" could be the pornography industry -- particularly child porn. Then I remember how the "Girls Gone Wild" TV show was crushed by lawsuits from women they put on TV. The producer made the elementary mistake of NOT getting photo-releases.
The same couple had electricity and a phone in their barn because while modern technology is forbidden in the house, it says nothing about other building. The husband dropped out of school at 14 but he was quite the smart ass 😁
That's how you do it.
Pinecraft in Sarasota? Amish/Mennonites Gone Wild. :D
Wooden version of Minecraft?
Klippety klop, klippety klop bang bang. Klippety klop klippety klop. That is an Amish drive by shooting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5DC5cIbKUU
I think that's it.
My heartfelt sympathies go out to Jayde Struhs and her family on the needless death of her sister. I hope the court uses common sense this time and hands over custody of the remaining minor children to Jayde. I don't know why all the children weren't removed from that home when Elizabeth was admitted to the ER in a coma and weighing less than half the normal weight for a child her age. That shows she hadn't been getting proper care for a long time.
IF faith was enough to 'cure' Elizabeth, why did she end up in a coma in the ER instead? Her parents and their cult knew full well that failing to provide Elizabeth with insulin would result in her death. I'm still having trouble processing why these irresponsible people were given a second chance to abuse this child to death. What an absolutely heartbreaking story.
Can't be sure but it sounds like the father admitted in the first court case that they should've given her insulin, and then actually followed through by obeying the court and giving her insulin for the months the mother was in jail. So that's probably why the courts didn't remove custody. Then when mom gets out, either mom takes over or with mom back the cult's influence gets stronger.
After that child was admitted to hospital in a coma and severely underweight, those parents should have been under court supervision to make sure Elizabeth received proper treatment and nutrition. It's just impossibly sad and heartbreaking that that little girl was left in the hands of these irresponsible monsters.
It is sad, and terrible. It's going to the Australian Supreme Court so hopefully they will set a new precedent with the case.
[CORRECTION] That's Brisbane Supreme Court, not Australian.
Let's all hope for that kind of wisdom.
This is exactly the sort of behavior I expect from the Christian community anymore. Not only is this one tiny church an extremist group that refused a child the medicine she needed to survive, the Christian community as a whole did absolutely nothing at all to put a stop to it. Now that the poor kid is dead, the government is having to step in to see any sort of justice done and yet the Christian community is silent on the issue.
There comes a point where loving one's neighbor means taking the kids they're abusing away from them. Why Christians never seem to be willing to do that for their own people is beyond me.
Religion says ALL are sinners and deserving of god's punishment. This makes it very easy to turn away from those in need.
Churches are now proclaiming wealth is a gift to the virtuous from god's hands. This means the unfortunate re undeserving of help. The entire thing is criony capitalism run amok.
Do we really want them deciding to take kids from their parents when they've determined that providing gender affirming care, or simply just acceptance of LGBTQ status, is abuse? They could easily decide not forcing children to go to church weekly (daily even) is abuse and anyone who isn't christian is automatically abusing their children. Christians should be upset over the sects that are abusing children by denying healthcare, and we as a society should decide through careful thought and scientific study what is abuse, and let's hope and vote so that we are not run by the type of cruel, heartless people like rightwing Christians.
I am all for removing any exceptions for religion from child abuse laws. And so many other laws, while we're at it.
I swear I responded to this ages ago now. First it double posted the response, now they're both gone?!
Anyway. You have a fair point in your criticism. I would completely agree that removing all exceptions for religion in the legal code is a great idea, too. The issue I intended to call out here is simply the complete lack of policing churches do of their own membership; it's clearly reached a point where apparently Christians think anything other Christians do to kids is just fine and dandy. That isn't love, it's permission to be monsters to the most vulnerable members of the human population.
From where I stand, the silence from the Christian camp on this issue says volumes.
Instead of incarceration, which those responsible in this case surely deserve, how about sterilization of the adult members of this cult. And they lose custody of the existing children to prevent further abuse or worse.
in addition to prison
The cruelest words ever spoken are "It was God's will."
"Jason Richard Struhs and Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs were eventually sentenced to six months and 18 months in jail, respectively, for that incident. "
Why the actual fuck were they allowed to have any of their kids without close supervision after this? The Australian government needs to accept some of the fault for this poor child's murder.
As near as i can figure out, the father admitted in court that what he did was wrong. And while he was out and his wife was in jail, he gave their kid the insulin she needed. Then the wife gets out, the insulin stops, and *he* is getting the harsher sentence. They're both responsible, but in this case it appears that being the cultier one, the less decent parent, got the wife the lesser sentence.
So what does that teach other cultists? Stick to your guns. Never admit you know medicine works or prayer doesn't. Never ever use it on your kid. Because if you ever admit that or use medicine on your kid, you get murder, but if you don't, you only get manslaughter.
Talk about your perverse incentives.
Telling that a diminished capacity defense is a feature of the cult.
Reading some of the other news articles, it does appear that he was the one who pushed for it, knowing she might die. Fully deserving of a murder charge.