314 Comments

Hemant, I believe you misspelled "MAGAchurch".

Expand full comment

"One man. One woman. One marriage. One sex partner. One flesh. For one lifetime.”

Jesus wept, are they kidding? How many of their leaders are divorced? How many of their prominent citizens are divorced – several times. Including at least one who divorced his wife while she was in hospital for cancer treatment. I wouldn't mind them saying this quite so much if they lived up to their own rules but very few if any do. Look at that woman who was Trump's spiritual adviser for instance. Paula White – married 3 times. At least when I last checked.

Expand full comment

They never say that these ones have to be the same one. Everyone is allowed one man, one woman, one married couple, one dealer's choice..... and apparently one cannibalism fetish, during their life.

Expand full comment

Nah, the cannibalism happens weekly at their church.

Expand full comment

And let's not forget the bible versions of marriage. There was Adam and Lilith, then Adam and Eve. Then there was a man, a wife and his concubines. Then a man his wife and all her property. And of course the polygamous marriages (Esau, David, Solomon), etc., forcing raped virgins to marry their rapists, and prisoners of war had to marry their captors.

Expand full comment

I have that video saved in my favorites! Love Betty Bowers!

Expand full comment

And don’t forget Jesus and his harem.

Expand full comment

The twelve pool boys?

Expand full comment

On the first day of Christmas my pool boy gave to me, some syphillis and also gonorrhee.

On the second day of christmas, my pool boy gave to me, two anal warts, and syphillis and also gonorrhee.

On the third day of Christmas, my pool boy gave to me...

I'll stop now.

Expand full comment

Lilith actually isn't in the Bible.

Expand full comment

She was on Frasier, though.

Expand full comment

No, she was a part of Judaic mythology that never made it into the bible, you're right.

Expand full comment

Jesus's replacement, 2005: 'Grab 'em by the pussy. They let you do anything you want.'

Expand full comment

Jesus: The Reboot.

Expand full comment

"I and my whatever-the-fuck aren't involved in politics" translates as "I only consider things I myself disagree with as 'political,' and my own opinions are just 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭."

Expand full comment

Bingo!

White, Christian, cis-het, male is people, everything else is a political statement.

Expand full comment

OT - DeNazi's personal mercenary group

𝐕𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬’ 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

Many were told they would volunteer for a revived State Guard with a nonmilitary mission: help Floridians in times of need or disaster.

Instead, the state’s National Guard trained the volunteers for combat. Khakis and polos were replaced by camouflaged uniforms. Volunteers assured they could keep their facial hair were ordered to shave. And they were drilled on how to rappel with ropes, navigate through the woods and respond to incidents under military command.

<snip>

“The program got hijacked and turned into something that we were trying to stay away from: a militia,” said Brian Newhouse, a retired 20-year Navy veteran who was chosen to lead one of the State Guard’s three divisions.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/veterans-quit-desantis-florida-state-guard-over-militialike-training/ar-AA1dSxth

Expand full comment

Clearly, they did Nazi that coming.

Expand full comment

That was fast.isit a pun?

Expand full comment

A pun thread? I'm a little late and that makes me fuhrious.

Expand full comment

Democrats really need to start calling him Da Fascist

Expand full comment

I call him DeNazi.

Expand full comment

There's a reason their uniform shirts are brown.

Expand full comment

Remember DeSantis 3 golden rules. Brown shirts ok. Brown skin not ok. Brown underwear, we don't talk about that.

Expand full comment

So, I’m in Tennessee for the party I was venting about the other day. I forgot the photos I had blown up to decorate. Half of the few folks who rsvp’ed that they were coming, won’t make it. We’re not expecting many people.

I drove down, 10+ hours and made it safely. But this morning as I left the hotel to get to my parents’ house, I was in a pretty good accident. My kids and I are fine, I have a decent bruise from the airbag and a ringing in my ear. I went to a clinic to get checked out and they say I’m okay. The kids had no injuries, they were both on the other side of the car from where it was hit. So all my plans for today were shot. Plus we still have to figure out how we are getting home, since the car is totaled.

Still going to have a good time at the party no matter who shows up. My hubs is flying in tonight and he’s bringing most of the photos with him. So all is not lost.

Expand full comment

I hope that rest of the weekend works out better for you.

Expand full comment

Yikes- glad you and the young'uns are intact, at least!

Expand full comment

Glad you and yours are okay.

Expand full comment

Glad you're fine, was the van that caught fire?

Expand full comment

Yes, it’s the same vehicle that caught fire. It was not my fault and I will be filing a claim with the other driver’s insurance. I’m definitely glad it happened at my destination where I have family to help me out.

Expand full comment

Well, you have our thoughts if not our prayers. I presume you have the other guy's details and everything? I don't know how it works in the US but we are supposed to take down the details of the other person – not at all easy when you're in shock from an accident. And kids in the car wouldn't help much either, because you'd be focused on them.

Expand full comment

The police were there almost immediately, an ambulance shadowed up before i even realized what had happened and I was still wearing my seatbelt. The police took a report and got the tow trucks and all that. I have his insurance card and my insurance is already on the case.

I did have to say goodbye to the Red Baron though and I went to the tow yard to get all my things. Never seeing it again.

Smaller accidents I’ve handled like you said, but this one was all on the police.

Expand full comment

"an ambulance shadowed up"

Were the EMTs vampires? How many layers of clothes were they wearing?

Expand full comment

I didn’t fix that? I saw it but I guess I didn’t fix the typo, I see there are other typos on other comments too, but I’m not fixing them either.

Expand full comment

That’s pretty much the US system too.

Expand full comment

So glad you and the kids are okay. Vehicles are replaceable, people are not. Take care.

Expand full comment

I'm sorry this happened but I'm glad you and your kids are fine. When our car broke down in Missouri, we had to have it towed to a local dealership to get repaired but we had to drive home in a rental car. I'm assuming that you have the money to get a rental. If not, I can send some.

Expand full comment

Thank you for your kind offer, we will be able to manage the rental. I appreciate the thought.

Expand full comment

Is this Facebook? Ts & Ps.

Expand full comment

Bigots are cowards by definition. Mega churches are just bigger rooms filled with them.

Expand full comment

Arguing with an arse on my local political blog at the moment, who took exception to me saying I'd sooner leave my kids in care of a trans person than a priest. He managed to come up with one person who may or may not have been trans - who raped and killed someone. I posted records of hundreds of thousands of kids who'd been abused by priests. I doubt somehow if it will change his mind – apparently he "reveres women". If only he revered statistics to the same degree.

Expand full comment

He is probably like a lot of alpha men, they refer women but they really hate them.

Expand full comment

Why would he want anyone to leave their children unattended with a pedophile; instead of a mature and responsible adult?

Expand full comment

He can revere my fist in his crotch.

Expand full comment

I unconsciously crossed my legs when I read that.

Expand full comment

If you are around NOGODZ height, your crotch is safe from my fist.

Expand full comment

Okay. It is 3 AM in Metropolitan France. Are you still up from yesterday, sleepless in the middle of the night, or already up for the day?

Expand full comment

I slept between somewhere after 9 pm and 2 am.

Expand full comment

Apparently he never heard about what happened in Boston ... or Pennsylvania ... or Buffalo ... or any one of who-known-how-many places where priests have sexually abused children and are STILL abusing them to this day.

Some people not only don't get it, they REFUSE to get it.

Expand full comment

See, pizza night makes bigotry fun and acceptable.

Expand full comment

Well, pizza 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 make everything better. Maybe not 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦... but 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, at least!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdG9pBtP9D4

Expand full comment

The pizza party photo on their website looks like a stock photo. So do a lot of the other pics.

Expand full comment

The mega-churches can talk about the glorious after-life and their loving Jesus until the cows come home, but more than anything, they care about wealth and power in this world. Power few people would be more unfit to exercise. If you want to see what genuine persecution looks like, . . . hand power to the preachers.

Expand full comment

Organized religion is a trillion dollar industry and should be taxed like it. If they want to participate in politics, that is.

Expand full comment

I couldn't agree more.

Expand full comment

Especially when they want some of the taxpayer money for their schools.

Expand full comment

Just last month, the NYT published an article titled "In Pitch to Evangelicals, Trump Casts Himself as Christian Crusader Who Helped End Roe v. Wade"

If the Christian religion doesn't get involved in politics, will they reject Trump and his plea to them? Or does his claim of helping end something they despise now make him irresistible to them? By the way, he made that claim at a gala in DC of the evangelical activist group Faith & Freedom Coalition. It was the 8th time he appeared in front of F&FC.

Wonder how many Christians we'll see throw their lot in with Trump in the months to come.

Expand full comment

Most of the fundamentalists and evangelicals I would imagine. They seem to be able to ignore all the things that their leaders do that go against Christian "principles" – as long as they appear strong, authoritarian, and male. It never ceases to amaze me – sorry it actually has ceased to amaze me come to think of it – how they can ignore "character" in people they intend to vote for but apply it across the board to people they dislike.

Expand full comment

Divorced twice. Has five children with three different women. A casino owner. A person who DEFENDS his wife's past nude modeling. The "Two Corinthians" gaffe. Referred to the communion wafer as "a cracker." Said he doesn't think he's ever asked god for forgiveness.

Trump is practically the caricature of the type of person who evangelicals are supposed to oppose for public office.

Expand full comment

Don't forget the shameless bragging about sexual assault, buying a teen beauty pageant so he could creep on girls in the changing room, lusting after his own daughter, and... 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦. 2/3 of that is actually biblical, isn't it? Bet the third thing would be, too, if beauty pageants had been a thing when the goat-herders were writing their holy books...

Expand full comment

Weren't harems a kind of beauty pageants ?

Expand full comment

No. That's why they wore veils.

Expand full comment

Well he might get some chops for the cracker thing given that that's catholic. 😁

Expand full comment

Catholics are supposed to view the communion wafer as "the flesh of Christ," not as simply a cracker (which is what it is, of course).

Expand full comment

As a kid, I wished they were sugar wafers.

Expand full comment

I keep saying, the least they could've done was make it taste like what it was supposed to be, but for some reason 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 likes it when you call them out on their cracker cannibalism...

Expand full comment

Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry?

Expand full comment

The first time I took communion — 8th grade and a Very Big Deal — I was very anxious. My mouth was very dry and the cracker essentially glued itself to the roof of my mouth. The tiny sip of wine wasn’t nearly enough to help dislodge the thing. I had to spend the rest of the confirmation service in view of the congregation trying to discreetly get the damn thing down my throat.

Expand full comment

Held a bible upside down and kicked out protesters, one pastor included, for a photo op.

Expand full comment

He tear gassed the church so he could do a photo op with an upside down bible.

I like to headcanon that he tossed the book over his shoulder as soon as the photographer called the session finished.

Expand full comment

"The Faith and Freedom Coalition" eight times had a speaker who tried to prohibit people from entering America based solely and exclusively on their religion.

I guess NOW will start having women-haters at their conferences as well.

Expand full comment

If I had a nickel for every time someone with a sticker from Cornerstone tried to intimidate me with their SUV, I'd never need to work again. (Cornerstone's website, if you want to look: https://www.cornerstoneaz.com/ ) The truly scary part is Cornerstone is not an LDS church; they're managing to be a megachurch in an area commonly called "Little Salt Lake" due to the Mormon presence.

The truth is that no religious organization can ever stay truly away from politics, they want to dictate how people live their lives too much for that. Most churches have a tendency toward authoritarianism anyway, and the politics are an extension of that since nobody's really willing to call out the leadership when they're wrong on something. Sure, plenty of church leaders like to think they stay away from politics and they won't hesitate to make that claim, but as Hemant said, the one those leaders are really deceiving is themselves.

Expand full comment

The whole scam is based on the premise that there's an eternal, all-powerful cosmic dictator who owns their souls forever; authoritarianism is baked right into their religion's DNA. Really, the fact that there are any denominations which 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 run at every level by odious control freaks is the only surprising thing about it.

Expand full comment

THAT would be a (real) miracle...

Expand full comment

I poked around the Liquid Church website and got creepy vibes. The usual authoritarian theology presented in a touchy feely “we are so hip and friendly” wrapping.

Expand full comment

Churches are apolitical in exactly the same way that the human race is asexual*. IOW. NOT ONE FUCKING BIT.

*yeah, some PEOPLE are 'asexual' or 'non-sexual' or 'multi-sexual' etc etc.. but the race as a whole has lots and lots of sex... We aint little sponges... Hopefully people know what I mean and don't take this as talking about GENDER affiliation. Thats different.

Expand full comment

As a Methodist minister in small Southern towns, I always had leading citizens in my congregations, and often had at least one person running for office. I did not dare even trying to encourage people to vote for them. Not my place.

I have been a liberal Democrat since May 4, 1970, when an incident at a local state university changed my life and ideological focus. I am sure my Democratic leanings came out in my preaching, even if I tried to stay neutral. I tended to highlight justice, peace, tolerance, equality, etc. With those themes, I could never have been accused of hawking Republicanism!

Expand full comment

♫♪ Tin Soldiers and Nixon coming / We're finally on our own / Last summer I heard the drumming / Four dead in O-HI-O ... ♪♫

Expand full comment

OT- Serial fraudster and alleged congressman George Santos (if that is his real name), while under indictment for embezzling money from his own campaign, reaches into the cookie jar again: https://apnews.com/article/george-santos-congress-campaign-finance-a634ccca4653d34ea648c03428e42d43

He just can't help himself, can he? If he winds up in prison, he'll be trying to pay the commissary in scraps of toilet paper with pictures of real money drawn on them.

Expand full comment

"a relatively paltry $138,000"

Paltry because elections fundraisers are insane. With this amount I would have enough to live comfortably for several years.

Expand full comment

There's so much money washing around in the US electoral system that corruption is pretty much a given. How can you not be tempted when there is so much money and so little accountability for it.

Expand full comment

Dammit I read that as De Santis and posted a reply about the the Florida Guard or whatever they call themselves. Or as other people call them "brownshirts". I had a rough night.

Expand full comment

Your comment disappeared just as I was clicking on "reply."

Expand full comment

Or else with Trump bucks.

Expand full comment

Or his trading cards.

Expand full comment

Do any of you gay folks own a gayer jacket than the one that preacher is wearing?

Expand full comment

I was wondering about that but I’m colorblind so I wasn’t quite sure…

Expand full comment