A lot like parents telling kids not to hit or swear when the parents, who hates getting hit back from their kids, does all the hitting and the swearing themselves. Parental hypocrisy at its finest.
To be fair, this guy apparently lied quite a bit about being in private security, so I'm willing to hazard that he did not, in fact, go to the Levant to minister to militant Islamists.
It's not violence when done in the name of the True God. Unfortunately, for him, the one true God is Mister Rogers. And if you kill in the name of Mister Rogers, the true God will be disappointed in you. It a catch 22 of religious violence.
Being outside the white evangelical Christian bubble, and having once been deep inside of it, I can say with some degree of certainty that the role religion may have played is so fully intertwined with the political motivation that they can be considered one and the same. We have seen this trend for decades as Goldwater's warning proves prophetic. It is a very short set of steps from believing that anyone not sharing his belief is destined for hell, to believing that his God will smite those people, to believing that every single one of them is a Democrat, to believing that 𝘩𝘦 is God's instrument for smiting.
Not only is indoctrination one hell of a drug, it is demonstrably dangerous to both the indoctrinated and their targets.
For a long time now, preachers have been telling congregations that you cannot be Christian and Democrat. There has been plenty of pulpit politics that dehumanize and marginalize the Democratic Party, convincing people that the Republican Party is the only godly party and the democrats are enemies of god himself. Though it may not seem mainstream, it has gained a lot of traction in the last decade, at least. There are many plebes on the right who mindlessly recite this idea to anyone who will listen. But that is what the identity politics and culture wars are all about. Placing the right win in opposition to the left wing. And they’ve been using religion as the weapon.
I'd argue that for some places, being "godly" = being Republican is, in fact, mainstream for the area. That idea has been gaining traction for at least 45 years, because I remember hearing it as a child in Alabama back then. It wasn't scary at the time only because I was a kid and didn't understand, nowadays I'd call it high-octane nightmare fuel.
Thanks Joe. I am an ex-tongue-speaking-teenage-charismatic-catholic who aspired to be a soldier of god, who became an agnostic within a few months of attending college (and now an atheist). I think it is tough for some to understand the potent mixture of faith & hate that religion inspires. I think this act of Boelter is a bad prognostic sign for this country. And to not even get performative "thoughts & prayers" from the Orange One & his minions is not good.
Prepare for 1970s style Italian political violence. And MAGA is equally at risk for taking some incoming. I don't understand why they think they are immune.
So it turns out that the man who murdered a Minnesota State Representative and her husband, on top of wounding another House member and his wife is a bigoted, reductive, right-wing jackass. Well, well. Honestly, I can't work up the gumption to even pretend that I'm surprised anymore. People like Boelter have hyped themselves up on Christian agitprop to the point where they'll believe any outlandish lie peddled by their fellows, especially if it paints Democrats and the left as inhuman monsters. In THIS case, though, Boelter felt moved to take action, and in this case, deadly action.
As I said in Hemant's piece yesterday, I fully expect Minnesota justice to land on Boelter with both feet. That's part of the job done, but not all of it.
"This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way." So posted Utah Senator Mike Lee on X, not long after the news hit about Rep. Hortman and her husband. Oh, he retracted that statement later and was confronted by several of his fellow senators about his initial statement, but to use a well-worn phrase, "We heard you the FIRST time, Mike." This is the level of depravity that the Republican party has descended to.
And it is well past time he and those like him were well and publicly SPANKED for their poor judgment.
Lee has it backwards; this is what consewertives do when they don't get their way. Minnesota hasn't outlawed abortion, so he decided to eliminate pro-freedom legislators.
I think I would rather see someone like Senator Adam Schiff step into Mike Lee's office, close the door, then unapologetically tear into him.
"Mike, you self-involved son of a bitch! Do you care about nothing and no one other than yourself? Four people have been shot, two of them are dead, because people like you put dangerous ideas in their heads, and they were stupid enough to believe them! I don't care that you deleted that post and apologized. I care far more that you MADE that ill-considered post in the first place, without thinking and clearly without caring. You are NOT making matters any better with comments like that. You are making them far worse, and whether you believe it or not, there are people out there who will remember it, especially when it comes time to pull a lever, either for or against you, in a voting booth.
"So either grow up and give some thought to your actions ... or consider a different line of work."
Yeah, I know. I think that Mike really needed it to hear the message from someone who might actually intimidate him, which is why I mentioned Schiff. As it comes to women, though, Elizabeth Warren sure knows how to lay it down as well and with proper fire.
Of course, if it is a fact that Mike Lee is just ignoring it all, then I'd say censure him, though in the current political environment, that isn't happening and we both know it.
Maybe not, but then I don't have the gift of words that Schiff has, and I have little doubt but that Lee would feel as though he were torn a new one after the junior senator from California had left his office.
It's a difficult job, but in the right hands and done properly, I still think some impact can be had.
Mike Lee is deeply repugnant to this cultural Mormon. Unfortunately, too many Utah Mormons find some justification to return him to office where he can use his bully pulpit to mock more victims of violence.
I've used the word "agitprop" multiple times here and elsewhere to describe both what radical Christian organizations pump out as well as what we hear from the extreme right.
Of course, those two entities might damn will be the same thing.
As I have told others, there but by the grace of empathy go I.
You see, it's easy to get someone into a mindset like that and it starts with telling them to obey God or God will punish you with eternal burning. Tell them that at 3 or 4. Scare them. Terrify them. Make them scared of authority figures and tell them that the only way to escape the eternal burning is obedience to God and since God isn't here to say otherwise, the pastors who speak for God.
If done right, you have effectively trained them to unquestioningly obey you and all respected authority figures. And to believe that doubting you or respected authority figures places them in danger of eternal burning.
But you need to isolate that impulse. So you tell them there is an enemy. An enemy that is both weak but incredibly powerful. An enemy that wants to destroy them. And everyone outside of our group is under the control or in service to the enemy, so you can't trust all authority figures. Only ours. Don't trust science, medicine, politicians who disagree with us, pastors who disagree with us. They're all pawns of the enemy.
So now you've killed education, critical thinking, doubts, and competing authority in their minds.
Next get them to doubt themselves. You can't trust yourself. You are evil too. Your natural intuition, your natural empathy are trying to lead you astray. It doesn't matter what your heart or conscience says. Your heart is deceitfully wicked. Don't trust it. Trust us. Trust what we tell you that God says.
Okay, well, now you've got them doubting their conscience, empathy, and intuition. They are trapped in an "Us vs. Them" worldview. They see "God" (aka you) as the only valid authority. They're primed.
Next, just feed them a constant string of propaganda to reinforce everything you've done so far. Make it up if you have to. They won't check. Make it outrageous what "THEY" are doing. Satanic Baby Killers is a good one. So is kidnapping, raping, and eating children. "Mutiliating" children. They are predators. They are coming after us. They are coming after the innocent. Just 24/7 bullshit to push them a little further.
Congratulations. You've probably created a monster. Your success rate will vary, of course. Not everyone is ready to be pushed into destroying their lives and taking the lives of others for the glorious cause, but you've probably created a few who will.
Well, all I can say is that if he had a copy of the 10 Commandments tattooed on his forehead, or perhaps posted prominently in his bathroom, home, and car, it would’ve prevented him from murdering anybody.
Uh-huh, SUUUUUUURE it would. And the Musical Arts Association of The Cleveland Orchestra is pounding down my door, begging me to appear as a soloist with their world-class ensemble.
When I was told that story as a child, I remember being amazed that anyone was left to invade, uhm, enter the Promised Land. And it was a little unsettling to learn that Gawd would go to all that trouble of getting them out of Egypt just to have them slaughtered by their friends and neighbors. I couldn't Ask Questions so I finally eased my misgivings by noting that there were no golden calves around anymore for people to worship, so we were basically okay.
Geez Louise, the things I repressed as a child.
Ever since I heard that story, I had a hard time warming up to Moses. Now I know why.
I don’t have a uterus anymore, but my opinion on the matter hasn’t changed. Having children didn’t change it either. Losing a pregnancy didn’t change it. I’m confident that my opinion on the matter is the least harmful and current events and history has shown it to be true. Abortion is healthcare and ought to be accessible always. Pro choice!
In junior high, when we were learning how to do research papers, I chose the Salem Witch Trials as my topic. What struck me over and over again was that there was literally NO DEFENSE against such an accusation, not even for the saintly and well-regarded Rebecca Nurse. The accusation itself was all the evidence needed, bolstered by the antics of the accusers.
Once you were denounced by your neighbor, you were screwed.
Same over 3 CENTURIES of witch hunts in Europe. Inquisitions demanded "Convert of die." Those who converted were often burned at the stake as not being "sufficiently devout."
ANY god that needs its followers to practice violence to force its point is very weak. It cannot do its own violence and needs mere humans to enforce its bullshit. Love at the point of a sword is dictatorship.
How god aborted babies of defeated enemies. How victorious skygodders proved they won. Followers of abrahamic superstitions get this as an example of love.
Stochastic terrorism refers to the public demonization of a person or group, often through inflammatory rhetoric, that incites violence from an unpredictable individual or group. It's characterized by the use of hateful and dehumanizing language, making the violence statistically probable but not directly ordered or planned by the speaker. The perpetrator of the violence is often seen as a "lone wolf" while the instigators, using indirect language, can plausibly deny responsibility
I would never pretend to know what is or was going on in this man's head. If he was religiously motivated, he would hardly be the first person to justify murder in the name of his God. Like far too many evangelicals, he appears to see his religion as the solution to all the world's problems. That is an idea history does not even come close to supporting.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that women in states with abortion bans will be sentenced to similar terms for suffering a miscarriage as this guy who planned and executed murders.
Burn the whole place down!
At least there will be state charges and Trumpty Dumpty won’t be able to pardon those.
At JoeMyGod website, there are those who say and fear that Stupid idiot will pardon him regardless of whether they're state or federal. They way they commented seems that he'll do it, but then again, wanna bet he won't and just allow him to be executed once convicted of all those crimes he's committed?
Thank you so much for saying it how it is here. It couldn’t be CLEARER what is going on. Where did all that hate rhetoric come from that made him think this was appropriate behavior? Don’t forget Trump pardoned violent criminals that violated the FACE ACT and told them and everyone at the “March for Life” to go terrorize clinics and providers all they want. Currently, Republicans are trying to repeal the FACE ACT altogether. We can expect this violence to ramp up all over the country, while media plugs their ears and cries both sides.
Boelter is a great example of a simple Christian principal I've always objected to: the idea that love and violence go hand-in-hand.
This idea isn't new, it's baked into the Christian system. The whole plan works on it. Jesus' message is, for the most part, about peace and love and so on, but he gets violently killed by the state for it, and he's okay with that because his loving sky-daddy demanded it. The violence is inherent in the religion itself.
Plenty of Christians will undoubtedly protest that either Boelter wasn't a very 'good' Christian, or that he was very sick, or whatever the excuse du jour is. I'm sure that will help them sleep better at night, and I'll even grant that he probably had a number of other issues that weren't helping. The reality is still that Boelter's Christianity was very likely a good-size chunk of his problems, though, and his Christianity wasn't helping him the way a loving, supportive community should.
I can't wait to read senator Mike Lee's insightful retrospection now that it has been revealed that this wasn't a "Marxist who didn't get his way.I am going to guess that his essay will read like the sound of crickets and tumbleweeds.
Not a drag queen. Not an immigrant. Not transgender.
Nor a librarian.
Oooh, librarians are the worst.😛
(inside joke....my wife is a librarian)
I've worked as a librarian. Oh, the things I did with the Dewey Decimal System. ;)
Tell her I said Ook!¹
(¹ Sir Terry Pratchett can explain, he's listed in the Necrotelicomnicon.)
Just don't call him the m word.
Master's in Library Science?
I’m a (radical militant) retired librarian who can appreciate this.
If cornered by a librarian, never look it in the eyes. Look at the floor and accept your fate.
And beware of the Library policeman, Mr Bookman!
Handing them a banana is a positive gesture (if given sincerely, they'll know if you're playing fuck-around).
Not an evolutionist, either.
Not a Muslim. Don't forget that one.
Are you sure? Those people are very good a pretending to be white cis men from the Midwest.
Tells militant Islamists that violence isn't the answer and then murders people and attacks others while planning more such attacks.
Disconnect, much?
Violence isn't the answer for those Muslims because the Christian violence doesn't like it when the opposition shoots back.
A lot like parents telling kids not to hit or swear when the parents, who hates getting hit back from their kids, does all the hitting and the swearing themselves. Parental hypocrisy at its finest.
To be fair, this guy apparently lied quite a bit about being in private security, so I'm willing to hazard that he did not, in fact, go to the Levant to minister to militant Islamists.
It's not violence when done in the name of the True God. Unfortunately, for him, the one true God is Mister Rogers. And if you kill in the name of Mister Rogers, the true God will be disappointed in you. It a catch 22 of religious violence.
Yes, I read about it too! I think it was on NPR/PBS, but to say he inflated his resume would be an understatement! :P
I think Mister Rogers resume was simply "I am all that was, is and will be."
𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎 “𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑” 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑.
Being outside the white evangelical Christian bubble, and having once been deep inside of it, I can say with some degree of certainty that the role religion may have played is so fully intertwined with the political motivation that they can be considered one and the same. We have seen this trend for decades as Goldwater's warning proves prophetic. It is a very short set of steps from believing that anyone not sharing his belief is destined for hell, to believing that his God will smite those people, to believing that every single one of them is a Democrat, to believing that 𝘩𝘦 is God's instrument for smiting.
Not only is indoctrination one hell of a drug, it is demonstrably dangerous to both the indoctrinated and their targets.
Truth!
For a long time now, preachers have been telling congregations that you cannot be Christian and Democrat. There has been plenty of pulpit politics that dehumanize and marginalize the Democratic Party, convincing people that the Republican Party is the only godly party and the democrats are enemies of god himself. Though it may not seem mainstream, it has gained a lot of traction in the last decade, at least. There are many plebes on the right who mindlessly recite this idea to anyone who will listen. But that is what the identity politics and culture wars are all about. Placing the right win in opposition to the left wing. And they’ve been using religion as the weapon.
How many republican christians got a Nobel prize ?
I'd argue that for some places, being "godly" = being Republican is, in fact, mainstream for the area. That idea has been gaining traction for at least 45 years, because I remember hearing it as a child in Alabama back then. It wasn't scary at the time only because I was a kid and didn't understand, nowadays I'd call it high-octane nightmare fuel.
“Not only is indoctrination one hell of a drug, it is demonstrably dangerous to both the indoctrinated and their targets.”
Great point, Joe. It helps us understand their drive to access the young and impressionable.
Thanks Joe. I am an ex-tongue-speaking-teenage-charismatic-catholic who aspired to be a soldier of god, who became an agnostic within a few months of attending college (and now an atheist). I think it is tough for some to understand the potent mixture of faith & hate that religion inspires. I think this act of Boelter is a bad prognostic sign for this country. And to not even get performative "thoughts & prayers" from the Orange One & his minions is not good.
Prepare for 1970s style Italian political violence. And MAGA is equally at risk for taking some incoming. I don't understand why they think they are immune.
So it turns out that the man who murdered a Minnesota State Representative and her husband, on top of wounding another House member and his wife is a bigoted, reductive, right-wing jackass. Well, well. Honestly, I can't work up the gumption to even pretend that I'm surprised anymore. People like Boelter have hyped themselves up on Christian agitprop to the point where they'll believe any outlandish lie peddled by their fellows, especially if it paints Democrats and the left as inhuman monsters. In THIS case, though, Boelter felt moved to take action, and in this case, deadly action.
As I said in Hemant's piece yesterday, I fully expect Minnesota justice to land on Boelter with both feet. That's part of the job done, but not all of it.
"This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way." So posted Utah Senator Mike Lee on X, not long after the news hit about Rep. Hortman and her husband. Oh, he retracted that statement later and was confronted by several of his fellow senators about his initial statement, but to use a well-worn phrase, "We heard you the FIRST time, Mike." This is the level of depravity that the Republican party has descended to.
And it is well past time he and those like him were well and publicly SPANKED for their poor judgment.
"When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe that nothing can stand in their way." Frank Herbert - DUNE
I might add especially when carrying high-powered weapons.
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠.
-- Lady Jessica, concubine of Duke Leto Atreides
The first one appears as one of those chapter header quotes somewhere late in the original book.
It is language like Senator Lee's that 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 this kind of violence.
Indeed. Trump isn't the only one who indulges in stochastic terrorism.
It is language like Trump’s that triggers this kind of violence.
Lee has it backwards; this is what consewertives do when they don't get their way. Minnesota hasn't outlawed abortion, so he decided to eliminate pro-freedom legislators.
Every accusation is, after all, a confession.
But according to some washed up actor, Tim Walz should step down because the left’s violent rhetoric is dangerous.
Whoever that "washed-up actor" is, I'd give real money to see him or her try to say that to Walz's face and get his reaction.
The resulting interaction would be, at minimum, INTERESTING.
Which one?
James Woods.
And here I learned late last week that my replacement shocked face is on backorder........crap.
May Mike be next.
I think I would rather see someone like Senator Adam Schiff step into Mike Lee's office, close the door, then unapologetically tear into him.
"Mike, you self-involved son of a bitch! Do you care about nothing and no one other than yourself? Four people have been shot, two of them are dead, because people like you put dangerous ideas in their heads, and they were stupid enough to believe them! I don't care that you deleted that post and apologized. I care far more that you MADE that ill-considered post in the first place, without thinking and clearly without caring. You are NOT making matters any better with comments like that. You are making them far worse, and whether you believe it or not, there are people out there who will remember it, especially when it comes time to pull a lever, either for or against you, in a voting booth.
"So either grow up and give some thought to your actions ... or consider a different line of work."
Tina Smith already did that:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/16/mike-lee-tina-smith-minnesota-shooting/
Yeah, I know. I think that Mike really needed it to hear the message from someone who might actually intimidate him, which is why I mentioned Schiff. As it comes to women, though, Elizabeth Warren sure knows how to lay it down as well and with proper fire.
Of course, if it is a fact that Mike Lee is just ignoring it all, then I'd say censure him, though in the current political environment, that isn't happening and we both know it.
Jasmin Crockett.
WOOF!!! I LIKE Ms. Crockett! She knows her stuff and has NO PROBLEM AT ALL in going on the offense!
He's had more than enough opportunities to do the right thing. A talking-to from Schiff isn't going to accomplish anything.
Dispose Of Properly.
Maybe not, but then I don't have the gift of words that Schiff has, and I have little doubt but that Lee would feel as though he were torn a new one after the junior senator from California had left his office.
It's a difficult job, but in the right hands and done properly, I still think some impact can be had.
A Minnesota cop once tol me restraining orders don't stop anyone from doing anything, they only matter after the fact, and that I'd be safer moving.
Words aren't going to affect the likes of Mike.
Neither is reality!
Mike Lee is deeply repugnant to this cultural Mormon. Unfortunately, too many Utah Mormons find some justification to return him to office where he can use his bully pulpit to mock more victims of violence.
Their justification is just the (R) after his name.
“Agitprop,” use it twice and it’s yours for life. 😊
I've used the word "agitprop" multiple times here and elsewhere to describe both what radical Christian organizations pump out as well as what we hear from the extreme right.
Of course, those two entities might damn will be the same thing.
As I have told others, there but by the grace of empathy go I.
You see, it's easy to get someone into a mindset like that and it starts with telling them to obey God or God will punish you with eternal burning. Tell them that at 3 or 4. Scare them. Terrify them. Make them scared of authority figures and tell them that the only way to escape the eternal burning is obedience to God and since God isn't here to say otherwise, the pastors who speak for God.
If done right, you have effectively trained them to unquestioningly obey you and all respected authority figures. And to believe that doubting you or respected authority figures places them in danger of eternal burning.
But you need to isolate that impulse. So you tell them there is an enemy. An enemy that is both weak but incredibly powerful. An enemy that wants to destroy them. And everyone outside of our group is under the control or in service to the enemy, so you can't trust all authority figures. Only ours. Don't trust science, medicine, politicians who disagree with us, pastors who disagree with us. They're all pawns of the enemy.
So now you've killed education, critical thinking, doubts, and competing authority in their minds.
Next get them to doubt themselves. You can't trust yourself. You are evil too. Your natural intuition, your natural empathy are trying to lead you astray. It doesn't matter what your heart or conscience says. Your heart is deceitfully wicked. Don't trust it. Trust us. Trust what we tell you that God says.
Okay, well, now you've got them doubting their conscience, empathy, and intuition. They are trapped in an "Us vs. Them" worldview. They see "God" (aka you) as the only valid authority. They're primed.
Next, just feed them a constant string of propaganda to reinforce everything you've done so far. Make it up if you have to. They won't check. Make it outrageous what "THEY" are doing. Satanic Baby Killers is a good one. So is kidnapping, raping, and eating children. "Mutiliating" children. They are predators. They are coming after us. They are coming after the innocent. Just 24/7 bullshit to push them a little further.
Congratulations. You've probably created a monster. Your success rate will vary, of course. Not everyone is ready to be pushed into destroying their lives and taking the lives of others for the glorious cause, but you've probably created a few who will.
"Trust what we tell you that God says."
That's the really scary bit.
Empathy is a stranger to people like Boelter. If you're not in his in-group, you're fair game for any untoward event that should befall you.
And it's not as though he's alone in that attitude, either.
I think you've described the likes of Jim Jones, Adolf Hitler, and Dumb Idiot Ken Ham here.
Fucking aye, Old Man! 💯
Mormons also believe that the government will fall and they will take over.
Kolob not good enough for them?
You got me to look up “Kolob.” 😂
My work is done here. :)
I guess if you can believe the nonsense Joseph Smith came up with, you can probably believe that as well.
Well, all I can say is that if he had a copy of the 10 Commandments tattooed on his forehead, or perhaps posted prominently in his bathroom, home, and car, it would’ve prevented him from murdering anybody.
You may have a future in stand-up comedy.
Can I sit down for it? I’m old.
What about your career in christian music ?
I don’t want to molest anybody. I have no career future there.
I use a rollator.
https://www.amazon.com/Rollator-Walker-Seat/s?k=Rollator+Walker+With+Seat
Pretty sure I saw a video of someone in one of those being arrested by ice or whatever the other day. Can't find it now though.
Uh-huh, SUUUUUUURE it would. And the Musical Arts Association of The Cleveland Orchestra is pounding down my door, begging me to appear as a soloist with their world-class ensemble.
OY!!! 🤪
Do we get "friends of the artist" discount tickets?
Ohhhh ... I SUPPOSE so. 😏 😁
After the 10 Commandments were created, Moses and the tribe of Levi killed 3,000 Isrealites who had worshipped the golden calf.
So much for "thou shalt not kill."
When I was told that story as a child, I remember being amazed that anyone was left to invade, uhm, enter the Promised Land. And it was a little unsettling to learn that Gawd would go to all that trouble of getting them out of Egypt just to have them slaughtered by their friends and neighbors. I couldn't Ask Questions so I finally eased my misgivings by noting that there were no golden calves around anymore for people to worship, so we were basically okay.
Geez Louise, the things I repressed as a child.
Ever since I heard that story, I had a hard time warming up to Moses. Now I know why.
That one originally meant only one's own tribe. Other tribes were fair game.
Just for you, I wrote my “Concerto for Klezmer clarinet and kazoo ensemble” and you simply didn’t answer the door?
Thanks a lot. We both had a shot at fame here.
ALLLLLLL RIGHTY, THEN!!! 🤣🤣🤣
It was written on his heart. ; )
Considering that both his head and his heart were stuck so far up his ass that he could see Russia through his teeth, I’m not sure that that helps.
“he really hated abortion”
Then don't get one. It's that simple.
Those who can't get pregnant should not have an opinion about abortions.
I don't have a uterus but I do have an opinion regarding them: It's their choice, not mine.
I don’t have a uterus anymore, but my opinion on the matter hasn’t changed. Having children didn’t change it either. Losing a pregnancy didn’t change it. I’m confident that my opinion on the matter is the least harmful and current events and history has shown it to be true. Abortion is healthcare and ought to be accessible always. Pro choice!
Hear-freaking-HEAR!!!
I would go with they shouldn't participate in the debate or have a vote in it.
Christianity has a long history of murdering its enemies in the name of love in large quantities.
The Crusades.
The Spanish Inquisition.
The Conquest of the New World, Africa, and Asia.
The Pogroms.
The Holocaust.
For a religion whose leader preaches universal love, it seems to enjoy genocide.
Don't forget the Medieval Witch Hunts.
"The Religion of Love", they say. I think not. The records tell a vastly different story.
In junior high, when we were learning how to do research papers, I chose the Salem Witch Trials as my topic. What struck me over and over again was that there was literally NO DEFENSE against such an accusation, not even for the saintly and well-regarded Rebecca Nurse. The accusation itself was all the evidence needed, bolstered by the antics of the accusers.
Once you were denounced by your neighbor, you were screwed.
In HS I chose the Tarot, which had nothing to do with the fact that I was reading Peirs Anthony's Tarot series at the time. I swear.
Think maybe the bible had something to do with it? Nah, god's love is unconditional. Says so right in the bible.
Same over 3 CENTURIES of witch hunts in Europe. Inquisitions demanded "Convert of die." Those who converted were often burned at the stake as not being "sufficiently devout."
“What makes you think she’s a witch?”
“Well, she turned me into a newt! But, I got better…”
“Burn her anywaaaaay!”
Hold on. See if she weighs the same as a duck first.
Daffy or Donald?
Howard!
Use the largest scales.
Oops. Upvoted myself by mistake (itchy trigger finger).
Self-upvote removed. So embarrassed.
Only if she weighs as much as a duck…
They say there are strangers who threaten us
Our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theatres and bookstore shelves
Those who know what's best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves
https://youtu.be/wavKzXX-Vek?si=vjcweIdpyfrGAS8x
ANY god that needs its followers to practice violence to force its point is very weak. It cannot do its own violence and needs mere humans to enforce its bullshit. Love at the point of a sword is dictatorship.
"Love at the point of a sword" is oxymoronic.
How god aborted babies of defeated enemies. How victorious skygodders proved they won. Followers of abrahamic superstitions get this as an example of love.
Stochastic terrorism refers to the public demonization of a person or group, often through inflammatory rhetoric, that incites violence from an unpredictable individual or group. It's characterized by the use of hateful and dehumanizing language, making the violence statistically probable but not directly ordered or planned by the speaker. The perpetrator of the violence is often seen as a "lone wolf" while the instigators, using indirect language, can plausibly deny responsibility
I would never pretend to know what is or was going on in this man's head. If he was religiously motivated, he would hardly be the first person to justify murder in the name of his God. Like far too many evangelicals, he appears to see his religion as the solution to all the world's problems. That is an idea history does not even come close to supporting.
LIFE, so precious that religious extremists will kill to protect it.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that women in states with abortion bans will be sentenced to similar terms for suffering a miscarriage as this guy who planned and executed murders.
Burn the whole place down!
At least there will be state charges and Trumpty Dumpty won’t be able to pardon those.
At JoeMyGod website, there are those who say and fear that Stupid idiot will pardon him regardless of whether they're state or federal. They way they commented seems that he'll do it, but then again, wanna bet he won't and just allow him to be executed once convicted of all those crimes he's committed?
That's a pretty short limb.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/georgia-arrest-miscarriage-fetal-personhood-rcna199400
Thank you so much for saying it how it is here. It couldn’t be CLEARER what is going on. Where did all that hate rhetoric come from that made him think this was appropriate behavior? Don’t forget Trump pardoned violent criminals that violated the FACE ACT and told them and everyone at the “March for Life” to go terrorize clinics and providers all they want. Currently, Republicans are trying to repeal the FACE ACT altogether. We can expect this violence to ramp up all over the country, while media plugs their ears and cries both sides.
Boelter is a great example of a simple Christian principal I've always objected to: the idea that love and violence go hand-in-hand.
This idea isn't new, it's baked into the Christian system. The whole plan works on it. Jesus' message is, for the most part, about peace and love and so on, but he gets violently killed by the state for it, and he's okay with that because his loving sky-daddy demanded it. The violence is inherent in the religion itself.
Plenty of Christians will undoubtedly protest that either Boelter wasn't a very 'good' Christian, or that he was very sick, or whatever the excuse du jour is. I'm sure that will help them sleep better at night, and I'll even grant that he probably had a number of other issues that weren't helping. The reality is still that Boelter's Christianity was very likely a good-size chunk of his problems, though, and his Christianity wasn't helping him the way a loving, supportive community should.
I can't wait to read senator Mike Lee's insightful retrospection now that it has been revealed that this wasn't a "Marxist who didn't get his way.I am going to guess that his essay will read like the sound of crickets and tumbleweeds.