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oraxx's avatar

I think it's safe to assume this mayor is a Christian. Christians are the first people to claim they're being persecuted any time they are prevented from forcing their religion on others. They are also the people most likely to persecute others if given the opportunity to do so. Our secular government cannot choose one religion over another. That has been settled law for over two hundred years, and yet conservative Christians persist with the idea it doesn't really apply to them. Such is their sense of privilege and entitlement.

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mechtheist's avatar

"claim they're being persecuted any time they are prevented from forcing their religion on others"

Bingo! And this is now SOP for SCOTUS, utter denial of the most basic rational thinking, facts, and the law.

[Edit: I can't believe I mispelled 'bingo'[and 'and']

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Matri's avatar

It’s getting near impossible to NOT think that this kind of behaviour is exclusively Christian, or at the very least religious.

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Joe King's avatar

Application only on government website, government liability disclaimer, contact info for the "organizer" only on government website, mayor has final say in who is included, but it's not a government sponsored event?

Sure, Jan. And I have some oceanfront property in Des Moines I will sell you cheap.

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Name: lenora good, Guest's avatar

no one, absolutely no one, does Hate like those of the Abrahamic religions. first they steal the holidays, then they deny they stole them, and won't let anyone else enjoy them. bah! humbug!!!

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BlueHarridan's avatar

Exactly. But goddess forbid anyone point out to the church sheep that they only have Christmas at all because the early church never saw an existing party day they couldn’t co-opt. So in that light — BLESSED YULE, assholes.

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Richard S. Russell's avatar

Speaking of yule, ChatGPT informs me that evergreens native to the eastern Mediterranean include Aleppo Pine, Stone Pine, Mediterranean Cypress, Kermes Oak, Junipers, Carob Trees, Wild Olive, and Bay Laurel. A quick visit to Google images shows that none of these resemble the traditional “Christmas” trees, which are normally Firs, Spruces, Scots Pines, or White Pines. Kinda gives you a clue as to how “Christian” this tradition is, doesn’t it? [Here insert reference to syncretism.]

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Those came out of Germany, with Queen Victoria starting the modern tradition, she also started the wearing of white as a bride tradition.

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Straw's avatar

God jul folkens. Raining now, so all the snow we had are gone. 😉

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Joan the Dork's avatar

A creator god who's simultaneously one being and three beings, his son who is also himself but maybe not who died and then got better, the son's mother who got magically knocked up under suspicious circumstances, a chubby, fiercely bearded elderly man with a flying sleigh that can traverse the globe in a single night while still allowing time to visit each and every house, apartment, and condo on Earth for several minutes to deliver presents (which also must be bigger on the inside, leading one to suspect that it might be a stolen TARDIS) and eight (sometimes nine) similarly flight-capable reindeer, a legion of extremely cold-resistant toy-building elves, and a mildly misanthropic snow golem brought to life with a magic hat... these are all completely fine and reasonable.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴!

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Bill Wilson's avatar

Queen: "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carrol, 'Through The Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There'

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Obviously she was a right-winger.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

What the hell was in those tarts anyway?

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cdbunch's avatar

The elves don't need to be cold-resistant, they're working in east Asia these days making 5 cents an hour, building iPhones and PS5s.

A TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit? Will wonders never cease?

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Duke  Stuart's avatar

might be a Dalek

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Fromper's avatar

There's no race like gnome!

There's no race like gnome!

There's no race like gnome!

-- My D&D character creation philosophy

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Dio the Lost's avatar

Gnomes rule!

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

"This parade is not organized by the city" ... because THAT way, a private individual or organization can play fast and loose with approvals and rejections and the city can disavow any responsibility. At least that's the way it smells to me, yet calling it the PARKERSBURG Christmas Parade tends to contradict the supposed private nature of the event.

Something is rotten in Parkersburg ... and I think some further digging is in order.

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Joe King's avatar

"This parade is not organized by the city" on the Facebook page is only there to provide plausible deniability because they know they are in the wrong.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

That rotten stench is xtians.

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Christina Bishop's avatar

If they reject a float with Krampus, what do you think that says to German Americans and their children?

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Joan the Dork's avatar

That they should've bought their Christmas from the Coca-Cola company like 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 'Muricans!

(/s)

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Christina Bishop's avatar

American Christian Nationalist close mindedness and stupidity should be laughed at. Yet next time I hope that no reasonable German American will ever vote for Trump again and actually lift up their sleeves fight for cultural rights and traditions we take for granted. https://substack.com/@christinabishop/p-147038795

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I wish we could ditch all those damned 'Muricans and go back to being Americans.

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Christina Bishop's avatar

My Grandma Lill told me to be German First and American Second.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I'm fine with German American, African American, Asian American, and so on, whatever country one is from and however they want to identify with their home country. Honoring one's birthplace and heritage is important, and it's fine with me if it comes first in one's life. The variety of people and their uniqueness is what makes - or has made - America such a grand and fascinating country to me, especially once I was in college and started meeting people from all around the world.

Those 'Murican MAGAts, though, have got to go. They don't contribute, they take/steal. They don't create, they trash. They don't build, they tear down. They don't uplift, they stomp down. And all their blather about their particular "heritage" being in danger (from what, I have no idea)is just a smokescreen for a naked power grab so they can force everyone to be just like them and deport everyone who isn't.

They emerged from a toxic swamp brew of religion and conservatism, and have been a cancer eating away at everything since 2015 when they found their Lord and Savior in the Rotting Mango, and coalesced around his diseased personality. I think we are now at Stage 4, or pretty close.

I hope it's not fatal for the country, but I am not that optimistic anymore. The prognosis is not good.

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Christina Bishop's avatar

What you described is what I call toxic patriotism. Is it ok to have pride and respect for your culture yes. However when you create an environment where cultural participation is demonized and assimilated to respect another’s toxic values then it becomes dangerous. That’s why my Grandma Lill told me to be German First because she saw in her own life and in her children’s lives that culture is something that needs to grow and thrive in a good environment. And I think she did a good job.

My Dad is not a hunter like my Uncle Gorge or my Uncle Bobby and Uncle Pat, he is a Fisherman and loves to fish. In both Hunting and Fishing in the German American Tradition there is a devoutness and honor to a living thing. Both St. Peter and St. Eustice are the Holy Helpers in German Catholic tradition. Yet Hunters are the hero’s in German Society because they both kept land and people safe which is why there’s so many songs about them and a opera called Die Freischultz about hunters that changed how German theaters and composers did their own theater. The Jagermister bottle has the symbol of St. Eustice which is a deer with a glowing cross. The only composer who comes close to writing about Fishermen is Schubert and his leider that mention that relationship from Der Frolle to Fischerweise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYzPqx63LKs

https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=14546

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Lynn Veit's avatar

No matter WHO sponsors the parade, it will use municipal (public) resources. Police officers to place barricades and ensure crowd safety is a must-have. A parade also uses blocked off public streets (often the main drag through the middle of town) paid for with taxpayer dollars.

So no, Parkersburg bigwigs. It doesn't make one damned bit of difference if the parade is publicly or privately sponsored. It requires public resources to make it actually happen, unless this parade is confined to circling a church parking lot or similar privately owned land. Wrap your pointy little heads around that basic fact. YOU DON'T GET TO DISCRIMINATE OR DECIDE WHICH BELIEF SYSTEMS ARE WORTHY OF REPRESENTATION.

Suck it up or get sued. I personally don't care which. You assholes make me want to scream bloody murder.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I'd like to see a counter-parade consisting of figures who truly were born on December 25th. This would include Humphrey Bogart, Rod Serling, Annie Lennox, Isaac Newton, Jimmy Buffett, Sissy Spacek, Cab Calloway, Clara Barton, etc.

Imagine the figures and floats in THAT parade.

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Duke  Stuart's avatar

Yup, Bogie would fit right in...in his final bedside hours, Lauren Bacall (his wife)asked him if he wanted a priest...He told her no.Babe,..."for me,when its over,its OVER" -attributed-

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Lynn Veit's avatar

That would be cool!

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Maltnothops's avatar

What an interesting idea!

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nmgirl's avatar

The application is on the city's official website, not a private citizen's. that to me is a pretty clear indication of sponsorship.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

To the Mayor of Parkersburg, West Virgina...

Will you be tossing Santa Claus out of your parade next? He is, after all, a pagan figure.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Right behind the Christmas trees ... more pagan nasty stuff! 😝

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Christians aren’t even suposed to decorate trees like the pagans, Their own god says so in Jeremiah10:2-5.

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Len Koz's avatar

That's the Old Testament. That only counts when Christians want to kill gay people, silly.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

And they shed needles everywhere.

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Maltnothops's avatar

The parade application specifically stated that Santas were NOT allowed on floats because there would be a Santa after the parade.

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

The Appalachian Pagan Ministry people are not trying to be offensive in any way to anybody. They want to be included in the parade and even their float is Christmasy( and even if it wasn't so the f what!) I for one say let them participate. They do good work. Include them too.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

But - but - but ... they're not CHRISCHUN!!! EEEEK! [he shakes his head and groans!]

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

So what obviously not everybody is.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

The problem is that the CHRISCHUNS only see OTHER Chrischuns, and don't really want to see anyone OTHER than Chrischuns.

And when they DO see non-Chrischuns, they tend to lose their shit.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

How dare them nasty heathens exist on the same planet as us! Horrors!

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cdbunch's avatar

Believe me, if we heathens had somewhere else to go, we would. Let them make the planet uninhabitable waiting on their savior to restore it.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Yup, trashing our only planet, and home, to trick some obviously stupid deity into coming back, to rescue the very people that trashed the lovely planet we were suppose to be guardians of, makes perfect sense! /s🤪They just aren't very fucking smart.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Yeah. sigh

The only country we could feasibly immigrate to is Mexico, and with global warming I’m not sure how livable that would be in the long run. Canada is too expensive. I looked into Germany, but my husband’s relations were too distant to count and there was a language proficiency requirement. Most of the other European countries I looked at had language requirements as well.

And if we did get accepted into one of those countries, with my rotten luck, it would suddenly start going fascist as well.

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Straw's avatar

There are few maniac religious people here, so I don't need to go elsewhere. App. 65% say they belong to a religious group. app 40% visits a moské, church, synagoge, tempel, whatever during a year.

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Fromper's avatar

But they're PAGAN!!! That stands for "People Against Goodness And Normalcy"!!!

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Fromper's avatar

I suspect nobody gets the reference.

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

Also stands for People Are Good And Nice. I got no problems with Pagans.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I think you've got them mixed up with Chrish-chuns. ;-)

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NOGODZ20's avatar

If the powers that be in Parkersburg want to remove all things pagan in favor of Christianity, it's going to be a very short, very small parade. Take away all the things Christians stole from the pagans and you're left with a Nativity scene.

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Joan the Dork's avatar

And if they go the extra mile and remove all the brown-skinned furriners, all they'll have left is a cut-rate petting zoo.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Shepherds who wouldn’t have been there in December and 3 astrologers (heathens!) who only appear in one gospel.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Yeah, that always bugged me, as a farm kid I knew lambs come in the spring, because they survive better. Not in December.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

And as for the 3 Magi? Joseph and Mary were devout Jews who would've turned away both the 3 sorcerers and their rather impractical gifts.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

I love your sensible added context.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Thanks. It’s a point that doesn’t get a lot of “airplay” (certainly not by Christians).

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

And what happened to all that wealth? Maybe gawd wasn't the only one with a gambling problem.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Joseph disappeared from the story when Jesus was 12. No explanation, just gone. Hmmm...

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Hey! Everbody knows Jebus is white! Look at all them paintings in the museums!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Painted by white guys. 😉

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Yep. Whitewashing Jesus to look like them.

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cdbunch's avatar

And many of them probably painted on the diaper later.

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cdbunch's avatar

The Segways are a nice touch.

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Straw's avatar

Hmm, now I got an idea.

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Kay-El's avatar

That’s hilarious! More real than the typical one.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I love it!

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Hank Long's avatar

When you consider just how many "pagan" celebrations and "heathen" traditions and practices (Yule, Saturnalia, Mithraism, Norse mythology, etc.) were stolen and re-structured by the Chrishuns to make up their own religion more palatable to the masses, it's a wonder ANY group is allowed to participate in this annual Seasonal Parade of Hypocritical Nonsense. Ignorant people worship made-up magical deities and discard the historical realities of the beginnings of their exclusive blood cults. May the Olde Gods piss on the mayor's head and call it a baptism.

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Donrox's avatar

It does not matter what culture celebrated at the end of December, the sun was coming back! Axial tilt is the reason for all winter solstice celebrations!

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Richard S. Russell's avatar

If there really was a Jesus, and he really was born "while shepherds watched their flocks by night", then that would've been in lambing season in the eastern Mediterranean, late March or early April. Late December was chosen by early Christians living in the Roman Empire so they could disguise their celebration under cover of the general Saturnalia festivities going on everywhere.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Thank you, the lambs alone prove the lie.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

So mote it be!

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xenubarb's avatar

They need to hold a Krampus March in that town!

And don't tell the town that trees, gnomes, canes, garlands and lights are Pagan, left over from the christian invasion of the solstice celebration!

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larry parker's avatar

I hope it rains.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Literally rain on their parade.

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Straw's avatar

It does rain here right now. Ugh.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Freezing rain, and sleet!

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Scott's avatar

https://newrepublic.com/post/187811/trump-harris-halloween-float-chains-pennsylvania

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/www/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=110x9558

I live in York Pennsylvania. For years York City has held a Halloween parade. It is solely for the benefit of the children. In the early 2000s, pastor Jim Grove started entering a float in the parade. The float had larger than life posters of aborted fetuses and body parts. It was very graphic. And pretty much everyone no matter what side of the fence they were on, found this offensive especially since children were being forced to view these images. The city attempted to put him at the very end of the parade with some distance between the last participant and his float. There are multiple articles online about it. Violence erupted. The courts ruled that he had every right to participate. And eventually the city decided to end the parade. JC's we're going to take it over with restrictions on who could participate, but then they changed their mind because of whatever legal counsel they got. The city went for several years without a Halloween parade which upset many of the parents. I saw that we did have a parade this year, but I have not read anything about whether there were any anti-abortion floats in it. There are other articles as I've listed here across our nation where parades have been impacted by groups with offensive floats. Each time the court has ruled that they have every right to participate. But according to the article posted here, the satanists are being discriminated against. They need to sue the shit out of this city and the organizer. I need to make a huge deal out of it so that the public hears about all the details. They need to give the examples including the two I've listed that come from Pennsylvania where offensive floats found legal permission to be part of a parade. I am so disgusted with this country. Fuck Jesus. Fuck Christians. No, on second thought, that might produce more Christians. My bad. The future is not looking positive here in the US. I used to imagine the light at the end of the tunnel. Problem was it was always a bus and it ran me over.

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Jane in NC's avatar

A pagan group is, by definition, not satanist. Satan is a christian construct. It's also an epithet thrown at any non-christian group which seeks to claim the same civil participation rights as christians automatically assume they have.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

The Halloween float as described...I have no words. And yes, I am very much afraid that it is a harbinger of things to come.

I also remember an incident in a town I once lived in -- had to be before 1980, I think (?) it was either the waning days of the Carter administration, or the beginning of Ray-gun's Regime, when the KKK wanted to hold a rally on the courthouse lawn and sued the city to get a permit.

Long story short, the fuckers held their damned rally. The crowd of curious onlookers mostly heckled them or booed loudly. A few people driving by threw eggs and rotten produce. Damn, I was so proud of that town. The country may not have been perfect, but it felt good, being an American back then. Like we were moving forward toward a better society.

What a difference a few decades make. The MAGAts have taken all that away from me. From us. And I hate their goddamned pig-fucker guts for it.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Pagans, not satanists.

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