332 Comments
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David V. Miller's avatar

A simple solution to a simple problem: NO GOVERNMENT FUNDS FOR RELIGIOU$ SCHOOLS.

We desperately need Total, Absolute, Permanent Separation of Religion & State.

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Brianna Amore's avatar

Exactly. Religions enjoy tax-free status for a reason. They don't pay into the system, therefore they should NOT benefit from the system.

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David V. Miller's avatar

It's even worse than that. They seek exemptions from education requirements that laws, regulations, policies require from other schools, yet they want the money but not obedience to those requirements. On top of that they also want exemptions to personnel laws, occupational safety laws, hiring/firing laws, anti-retaliation laws, wage standards, compensation laws, etc. Talk about having cake, eating it & SOMEONE ELSE pay for it too!!!

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Ethereal Fairy's avatar

πŸ‘†πŸ‘†πŸ‘†πŸŽ―

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Ethereal Fairy's avatar

πŸ‘†πŸ‘†πŸŽ―But some spend all their time plotting "how to bleed the beast" as some fanatics refer to our gov't.

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David V. Miller's avatar

OF COURSE they do. And with their ill begotten filthy luchre they fund preacher's lush posh lifestyles & protect churchly pedophiles from the legal consequences of their depraved perversion.

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Ian D's avatar

Yes, and while at it, no corporate welfare and tax concessions for the already privileged.

US workers and citizens tax dollars are criminally used & abused and done so by republicans and the old guard within the DP. These people at the behest of others have sold democracy and undermined sound governance for decades to the point that Trump types were are given.

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PhillyT's avatar

This is the way...

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Alverant's avatar

I remember in Louisana they tried setting up a similar thing and the person who submitted the law was outraged when Muslim schools got the same treatment. She's quoted as saying, "I thought 'religious' meant 'Christian'!" and got the law repealed.

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Straw's avatar

She didn't know that xianity, sionism and islam is pretty much the same originally.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Fact they don't like to acknowledge: They're all the same god!

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

Actually, they’re not all the same God. The granddaddy of the three religions is the same God, but he’s in an old folks home now and is split off into multiple entities β€”errr, ummm, personalitiesβ€” that all think they’re the same God. It’s dissociative personality disorder on a galactic scale.

They like to promote that idea when it’s valuable for their political, culture war, social, and religious aims. But they deny it for exactly the same reasons.

The Jewish God didn’t have a heaven or hell, but had a wife. He didn’t like bacon sandwiches. The Christian God has a heaven or hell, didn’t have a wife, but has a son, who is both the Christian God and not the Christian God. He likes bacon sandwiches. It is sacrilege to think That the Muslim God had a wife or a son, but he also likes bacon sandwiches, but tells everyone they shouldn’t.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Terrific – a deity with Dissociative Personality Disorder!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

The Three Faces of Evil.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

I see what you did there! πŸ˜‰

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Eric B's avatar

Brings to mind an old Tom Baker Dr Who story where the computer with a split personality was god. Spoiler alert: it was the doctor who responsible for the computer’s split personality in some past era!

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

They all have it. They all think they’re God. They all think they’re real.

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Brianna Amore's avatar

Sounds like this "God" of theirs can be whatever they want it to be, huh?

Funny that.

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

It’s practically a surprise. See how surprised?

0

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Ethereal Fairy's avatar

That is part of plot of the "Sandman Slim" series by Richard Kadrey.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/46424-sandman-slim

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Holytape's avatar

I am just wanting for the white mohammad pictures

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

And the screams of BLASPHEMY that would follow!

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Kukaan Ei MissÀÀn's avatar

Which is why Mo is a body double in these comics - https://www.jesusandmo.net/comic/body/

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Good old Jesus and Mo. What a great strip!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

The ones where he is consumating his marriage to a 9-year-old Aisha?

(Muhammad was in his 50s at the time. 53, IIRC)

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phelpsmediation's avatar

All the same general mythology with different flavors, no evidence just blind faith.

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Kukaan Ei MissÀÀn's avatar

"They're all the same god!"

They aren't. The other day I mentioned Leibniz's "Indiscernibility of Identicals", the idea that two things are identical if and only if they hold on their properties in common. For a number of reasons, the idea is controversial.

However, you can invert it, two things are not identical if they do not hold at least one property in common.

The Judaic god and the Christian one are different, in that the former is strictly monotheistic, whereas the latter is a trinity, the same goes for the Islamic and Christian gods.

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Nishi's avatar

They are the same in that they are all complete made up bullshit

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OwossoHarpist's avatar

I remember reading about how Christianity spawned the religions of Islam, Muslim, and Zionism while Christianity was spawned from Judaism, Egyptian style religions, even certain Roman cults, like the one where the Romans worship Mithras, a nude young man who was born holding two ears of corn in his hands. This is claimed by some people to be the inspiration behind the religion of Christianity, since the young man had 12 male disciples, like Jesus had, and was the founder of an all male cult.

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Brianna Amore's avatar

Mithras was also born of a virgin on December 25th. Funny that, huh?

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Straw's avatar

Just a coinsident, right?

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PhillyT's avatar

Well that is at least one way for the law to get repealed.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I do believe this falls under the heading of "Be careful what you wish for. You might get it."

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Joe King's avatar

They fucked around. They found out.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Hee hee hee! Boy, this popcorn sure tastes good.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Want a Guinness to wash it down? 😁

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

While you're at it, open one for DM πŸ˜‰

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Gladly. If I'm drinking beer, it's frequently either Guinness or Killian's Red.

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Joe King's avatar

π‘‡β„Žπ‘–π‘  𝑖𝑠 π‘›π‘œπ‘‘ β€œπ‘‘π‘–π‘£π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘ π‘–π‘‘π‘¦.” π‘‡β„Žπ‘–π‘  𝑖𝑠 π‘Ž π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘£π‘Žπ‘™ π‘™π‘’π‘”π‘Žπ‘™-π‘π‘–π‘£π‘–π‘™π‘–π‘§π‘Žπ‘‘π‘–π‘œπ‘›π‘Žπ‘™ π‘ π‘¦π‘ π‘‘π‘’π‘š 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑑 π‘€π‘–π‘‘β„Ž 𝑝𝑒𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠.

π‘ƒπ‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘’π‘›π‘‘π‘  π‘‘β„Žπ‘–π‘›π‘˜ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘¦ π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘’ π‘β„Žπ‘œπ‘œπ‘ π‘–π‘›π‘” π‘“π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘’π‘‘π‘œπ‘š β€” 𝑏𝑒𝑑 πΉπ‘™π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘–π‘‘π‘Ž 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑏𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘π‘œπ‘›π‘ π‘‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘π‘‘π‘–π‘œπ‘› π‘œπ‘“ π‘Ž π‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘šπ‘Žπ‘›π‘’π‘›π‘‘ πΌπ‘ π‘™π‘Žπ‘šπ‘–π‘ π‘π‘œπ‘€π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘π‘Žπ‘ π‘’ π‘‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘‘ 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑙 π‘›π‘œπ‘‘ π‘£π‘Žπ‘›π‘–π‘ β„Ž π‘€β„Žπ‘’π‘› π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘šπ‘œπ‘›π‘’π‘¦ π‘ π‘‘π‘œπ‘π‘ .

Pot, meet kettle.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Translation: "Our Christian priviledge is being threatened!"

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

Sofa, meet Shay Dee Vance.

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Holytape's avatar

I don't support a school teaching that Allah condones and commands rape, murder and slavery when obviously they should be teaching that Yahweh condones and commands rape, murder and slavery.

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dammit barry's avatar

AND dashing babies against rocks for funsies.

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Holytape's avatar

Pop quiz. Which of the following programs we created by white christians for the benefit of white people that suddenly became a problem when non-white christians accessed it.

a) food stamps

b) welfare

c) public education

d) medicare

e) every fucking program

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Die Anyway's avatar

Easy fix for that problem....don't let non-whites and non-christians access those programs. We've done it before, we can do it again. I recommend hiring Mr. James Crow as a consultant.

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

As I always say, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the propaganda. Also, there’s never a mirror when you need one. Also, florida man is clueless.but then, florida Man is a Nationalist Christianβ€” Nat-C for short.

β€œ Sharia law seeks to destroy and supplant the pillars of our republican form of government and is incompatible with the Western tradition. The use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote Sharia law likely contravenes Florida law and undermines our national security.”

More like it….

β€œNat-C law seeks to destroy and supplant the pillars of our republican form of government and is incompatible with the Western tradition. The use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote Nat-C law likely contravenes Florida law and undermines our national security.”

We have a felon in the White House and most of what he is doing seems to be illegal, or ineffective, or counterproductive. But then, Nat-C law really is the Republican form of government he’s talking about, isn’t it?

β€œThis selective outrage exposes their real aim: Christian privilege, not freedom.”

Say ot ain’t so.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Christian privilege to the point of Christian LICENSE ... to pretty much do as they please. Yet one more reason why the link between faith and automatically assumed goodness and/or morality needs to be BROKEN.

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

Absolutely. One of my plans if I ever rule this country is a strict separation of church and state and as many words.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

EEEEK! You power-hungry madman! [giggle!]

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

Wait until you hear my personal plans for Ryan Reynolds. This country will never be the same when I’m done.

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Die Anyway's avatar

Please, please, please.....put me in charge of the Hypocrisy Police. There are more than a few hypocrites that need going after.

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

Sure, as long as there are lamp posts, ropes, and people yelling in Italian. I’ll even accept Romanian.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Time for this one again

"When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and when it cannot support itself, and God does not take to support, so that its Professors are oblig'd to call for the help of the Civil Power, 'Tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."

-- Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Dr. Richard Price (a Christian) dated October 9th 1780

I can just imagine what Franklin would have thought of school vouchers.

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oraxx's avatar

Where there is the expectation of privilege, equality will be seen as persecution. No group in this country expects privilege quite like the evangelicals.

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Bill Wilson's avatar

β€œFreedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by one and all.” - Billy Bragg, β€˜The Internationale’

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NOGODZ20's avatar

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

How's it taste, cristers?

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Claudia's avatar

What’s that saying? What’s sauce for the goose is gravy for the gander ….

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Stop looking at the funding for schools as a per student cost. The funding of public schools is about a city having a service that improves the city. Like the parks, or the fire department, or police department, or road maintenance, or utilities. We pay taxes for the city to be livable and beneficial. When we look at it based on per student cost, then decide to hand out funds to the students, calling it parental choice, we undermine the services that are there for all citizens. We all benefit from good public schools that educate all students in the area,even if we don’t have children in the schools. Good schools are a draw for businesses, because they will have a source of competent workers, a draw for people to move there because families want the best for their children, and they provide safety and security when all folks are educated well.

It is infuriating that racism is so fucking rampant, as was mentioned below all social services provided by the government were seen as a boon until the laws made them available to black people, but if we didn’t feel the need to punch down on people of color, the safety nets and services would alleviate much of the issues we face. Educated populations are more employed, which means they don’t commit crimes, they can pay for their needs. We don’t have universal healthcare because some underserving person might get something for free (we know that undeserving is dog whistle for person of color, as evidenced by the propaganda surrounding the shutdown and SNAP fiasco),but ensuring people have access to affordable healthcare keeps everyone healthier and keeps costs down. And even though the narrative is all about abortion, the reality is that people are so fucking racist, they would rather see brown people die than give them healthcare, even if they have to suffer, struggle and go bankrupt over a simple health issue. White folks on SNAP are arguing that not funding it is good because β€œthose people” don’t work and don’t deserve to eat. The voucher programs are a result of desegregation. It is their response to having their children sit in the same room as an undesirable. Private schools, especially the religious private schools, are inherently racist. They never had to desegregate and that is why they are still popular despite folks having plenty of access to a free alternative. The private schools can choose their students, and even with vouchers and rules about inclusion, they can just hike up tuition to weed out the ones they don’t want. And they are. So to see the Christian nationalists complain about schools that cater to mostly brown people is no surprise. How dare a brown person expect to be treated with human dignity!?!

Anyway, I’ve said all this before, and I’ll probably say it again over and over.

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dammit barry's avatar

"We don’t have universal healthcare because some underserving person might get something for free (we know that undeserving is dog whistle for person of color, as evidenced by the propaganda surrounding the shutdown and SNAP fiasco)..."

BINGO!

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Kay-El's avatar

100 gazillion percent!!! (Yes I know percentages don’t work this way)

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

How's the leg?

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

OMG, it was so great! I did so well, I remembered all my lines and got a boatload of laughs. When appropriate. I did get a technical error, my phone is supposed to ring at one point, but my director missed her cue, we just powered through but just as I’m answering the (silent) call, the phone rings in my ear. I played it off like I just missed the answer button and kept going. Folks laughed at the mistake but weren’t pulled out of the scene. I had them rolling the whole way through the scene though.

Anyway, I had a great time.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

I was in an 8th grade school play (so terrible...) and only had a small part, so also ran most of the sound effects. Everything was on a cassette tape which we would play into a microphone. During our first show, the teacher told me I was doing it wrong, even though I was doing the exact same thing as all rehearsals. The scene with the "secret signal" (some random beeps) comes up and I couldn't get it to play. Whoever was on stage stood around for a bit then said "look, there's the signal," everyone else also stood around for a few more seconds, then the beeping went off.

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larry parker's avatar

I was in the 8th grade play. I was the butler. (Spoiler.) I didn't do it.

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cdbunch's avatar

Ninth grade, I got to play the murderer. Only major part I got in two years of Drama class. I wonder if the teacher was trying to tell me something.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

That's exactly what I would expect a guilty butler to say.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

I played the innkeeper in my primary school's Christmas play. I can even remember one of the lines. Roughly. Something about silver pieces and pockets – except of course in those days they didn't have pockets. Which I didn't know at the time otherwise I would have fallen over laughing.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Most excellent! I'm glad you had a great time.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Was broken, but all healed today. ;)

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

Praise the lard!

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Brianna Amore's avatar

I mean was there ever any doubt that their promotion of "religious freedom" only includes Christianity?

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dammit barry's avatar

Their mascot has threatened death and destruction to anyone with a different/no god. I have been waiting nearly 70 years for this, but god seems to bee busy deciding ball games and finding parking spaces.

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Die Anyway's avatar

Parking spaces sure, but can He find my damn shed key? No!

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Whitney's avatar

Well, you wanted it somewhere safe, right? It's so safe right now, even you can't find it! See, prayer answered!

/s (just in case)

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NOGODZ20's avatar

To Christians...

"The law of unintended consequences." Learn it. Know it. Live it.

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larry parker's avatar

That's just a theory.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Like gravity. :)

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larry parker's avatar

"There's no gravity on the Moon." - One of the Kardashians. I kid you not.

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ericc's avatar
16hEdited

I saw that today!

I wanted to facepalm but, frankly, wasn't shocked enough.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Maybe she should have tried that line on Buzz Aldrin. I would have LOVED to see his reaction!

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larry parker's avatar

Some of her "evidence" is a doctored video of Aldrin saying we never went to the moon.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Tell that stupid [expletive-deleted!] to ask the Russians if we went to the moon!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Can't say I'm surprised.

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larry parker's avatar

It gets worse. She's (I think it was Kim) a moon landing denier. In context, she said something like "why is the flag flapping, there's no gravity to make it flap.". She did her research on TikTok.

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Hannah's avatar

Where all research is posted. Of course.

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Maltnothops's avatar

OT, because everyone else has already said anything I might have thought of.

My neighborhood has a Halloween tradition that I just love. Dozens of us gather at one house for a potluck dinner and adult beverages. We set up tables filled with candy for the treaters. And we put signs on our front doors with the address of the party house for the treaters. The kids show up and grab candy from 20 or more households. We all cheer them on and compliment their costumes. And we get to have a fun night.

I’m making fried green tomatoes again!

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Tonight I’m going out to a club with a bunch of friends for a costume contest. I’ll be wearing my Ursula costume from a couple years ago, because it’s awesome. I’m looking forward to it. We also have a bunch of alien decorations from when we did the hayride at the local farm park event two weekends ago. So I will deck out our lawn with a spaceship (made by myself and hubs) and aliens.

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Linda's avatar

I’m going as bloody Carrie and my husband is my prom date πŸ”₯

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larry parker's avatar

"I’m making fried green tomatoes again!"

If you hand them out the kids are going to TP your house.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

TP, eggs and me there encouraging them. ;)

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Maltnothops's avatar

We used to have an adult couple who trick or treated in the neighborhood with an ice chest on wheels. They wanted beer. It was sad when they divorced and both moved away.

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cdbunch's avatar
14hEdited

Good Movie.

"Face it, girls. I'm older and I have more insurance."

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dammit barry's avatar

It will be another quiet evening here. Secured entry and kids too small to reach the intercom.

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Whitney's avatar

More proof that when these extremists talk about freedom, what they really mean is 'everyone has the right to agree with my opinion.'

Given my choice, religion would be completely barred from all educational spheres entirely. I have yet to see a case where, instead of promoting itself, religion has been truly honest about its real teachings without any cherry picking, creative reinterpretation, 'white' lies, or other deceptive practices. To be successful, every religion I have ever heard of has a greater or lesser need to control how both members and outsiders perceive it; on the human scale that means controlling the narrative regardless of said narrative's relationship to reality or lack thereof. This concept is completely opposed to education at a fundamental level since the whole point of education is to help individuals understand the reality they live in.

Religion and education don't mix. No grandstanding or politicking is going to change that, and it's well past time we stopped trying.

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Damon Kovelsky's avatar

Only my imaginary friend can be talked about

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Joe King's avatar

They won't even acknowledge that it's the same imaginary friend with a different accent.

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