283 Comments

Welcome to the Buckeye State, where State / Church separation means exactly NOTHING. Back in 2015 when Mike DeWine was Ohio Attorney General, his office gave an organization known as Athletes in Action a grant of $300,000 to support their activities. I think it was Hemant himself who reported that AiA is a Christian proselytizing organization. When I became aware of that report, I wrote DeWine, telling him that his actions were unconstitutional and that the grant should be rescinded. I got a form letter back, saying how PROUD he was that he could offer that support!

And now we not only have a voucher program but are funding construction of private religious schools? What. The. Actual Fuck??? The way things are, the camel might as well be fully occupying the tent and the Arab is out in the cold. I find this entire situation maddening and unacceptable, but with DeWine currently in the governor's office and our legislature gerrymandered to a fare-the-well, there's not a whole lot I can do about it.

We're SUPPOSED to un-gerrymander this state with a ballot measure this November, though Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose is doing everything in his power to screw up the ballot language. [sigh] I can remember when Ohio was purple, and things were a LOT more tolerable.

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They have lots of reasons for eliminating church / state separation. Primarily, it would allow them to mandate their version of Christianity, but just doing that isn't enough. Eliminating public education altogether means that poor people (read: black) can no longer get an education, due to cost, proximity, and selectivity of admission. That gives them a permanent underclass that cannot climb out of poverty if they try. All of these uneducated children need to be kept busy somehow, so they work to eliminate child labor laws. Finally, pushing the drug war keeps enough of that underclass incarcerated so they never have the numbers or education to do what needs to be done to undo the damage. They get their White Christian Dystopia that they always wanted, making Gilead look like a decent place by comparison.

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I think you nailed it. You only forgot "poisoning the public water supply" as another tool the GOP is using to create this underclass.

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And their voters feeling secured that "the other people" are not them.

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Prayer is still worthless, I see. Christians are still picking the pocket of the American taxpayer. Their awesome god is so useless that they have to keep calling on the government for help. A government that is not supposed to be propping them up at all.

I'd sure like to know how they can't pay for anything theselves, given the fact that religion takes in billions of tax-free dollars every year.

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George Carlin : "He needs money ! He's all-powerful, all-knowing but just can't handle the cash."

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We're back with our live coverage of the 2024 Race to the Bottom, with Texas and Florida still neck and neck, both coming in strong with voter intimidation ahead of the election; Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri in the middle of the pack, still struggling to be half as awful to their citizens- but wait! I don't believe my eyes- it's rookie midwest sensation Ohio, out of nowhere with a church/state violation so egregious it's making my head spin! Will it be enough to catch up before the frontronners' faces meet the dirt? It doesn't look like it now, but anything can happen in... the Race to the Bottom! Stay tuned!

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When they reach bottom, they're going to break out the jackhammers and backhoes.

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They've already hit bedrock. They're going to start blasting.

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There is No Bottom

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Sshhhh... you're spoiling next season's clever plot twist!

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"Incidentally, voters in Ohio could put an end to gerrymandering this November. "

Is it too much to hope that Ohio voters take back the state, in part because of Trump/Vance lies about Springield?

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We're trying like hell, though Frank LaRose (Ohio Secretary of State) is doing his darnedest to confuse the ballot issue with screwed-up language. Typical Republican tactic, of course.

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The more I see of kkkons the more impressed I am with their desire to kiss Vlad's ass.

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Wich one ? Tepes or poutine* ?

* French spelling, you can guess why, though the "putain" (whore and shit, depends of the context) from your parodic song the other day hit the mark too.

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Vlad as in putin. Possibly a descendant of Vlad the Impaler.

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OT- Judge Aileen "Loose" Cannon, who evidently took a page from Uncle Thomas' playbook, failed to disclose multiple trips to attend right-wing judicial seminars which, by amazing coincidence, happened to take place at luxury resorts: https://www.propublica.org/article/judge-aileen-cannon-trump-documents-case-travel-disclosures

...and if you're surprised by this, I have some 𝘣𝘢𝘥 news for you about that slightly used bridge you also bought.

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Well thank goodness Florida has a judicial complaints committee...of which 5 of 15 members are hand selected by the Governor. I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of it.

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And by "the bottom of it," I presume you mean "the seat of their master's trousers."

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They don't have jurisdiction over federal judges.

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"She explained that “Judges often do not realize they must input the information twice.”

If it's true, and it wouldn't surprise me with cannonfodder. Then it's on the clerk(s) who assist her. From what DM told me about the time she worked for a lawyer, his office needed no less than 5 or 6 secretaries to follow with all the administrative work and there was only two lawyers.

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Oh, Cannon not realizing something is hardly a new development in her career. The list of things 𝘴𝘩𝘦 hasn't realized could re-fill one of the libraries Gov. DeSeptic is busy emptying out; every court order and ruling she issues is positively stuffed with instances of her spilling the beans on how little she knows about the job her petulant patron handed her.

But she for damn sure, if she had a scrap of either professional ethics or common sense about her, should've recognized and avoided a blatant donor schmooze when she saw it. Instead, she indulged in it a few more times, because for her (and far too many others) a little palm-greasing was one of the expected perks of the position.

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Sometimes, I wonder how much money she or her parents were conned for to buy her diploma, not counting the tuitions fees.

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She's married to a mob lawyer, she knows.

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I thought dystopia would come from the Gothic mists of the bayous down South - but I guess the rusted girders and infinite billboards and parking lots of the Midwest are good enough.

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OT

Gov. Andy Beshear (both a Democrat and a Christian) used an executive order to ban conversion therapy on minors in Kentucky. Good on him. He had to use that EO after efforts to ban the widely discredited practice were repeatedly stricken down by the Republican-dominated Legislature.

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We need to distinguish the actual christians,™ perhaps like that?

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Long ago, religion was spread by attraction. Then it started also being spread by promotion. Then by compulsion. But after centuries of blood-soaked destruction, most nations backed off from compulsion. But what we have now is deceptive compulsion. Force taxpayers to pay for it by not telling them.

Live it, then sell it, then force it, now sneak it.

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Meanwhile, the Mayor has declared a state of emergency in Springfield.

https://wgntv.com/news/trump-vows-to-travel-to-springfield-following-false-pet-eating-claims/

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Leave it to Trump to push a position that isn't just BAD but could only get WORSE by his presence. Still ... Donnie Dumb-ass HAS to get his ego stroked.

And if he goes there, it's more likely he'll get his ass kicked.

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The Secret Service is too professional to allow that, no matter how much they would like to.

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I hope they greet him with a barrage of rotten eggs and tomatoes!

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Trump knows he's in no danger in going to Springfield (though after he leaves, having spread even more lies, all hell may break lose because of his toxic visit). Or will he go there to try and claim victory in having 'defused' the situation (that he created) with his presence? He's so desperate, I wouldn't put anything past him.

Trump also knows that there aren't any Venezuelan gang members taking over apartment buildings in Aurora. Think that 🐔 would go if he thought his life was in danger?

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That’s precisely WHY he’s going. He knows the chaos he’ll cause by being there. He’s hoping for his Very Fine Nazis to show up and cause rioting that he can then blame on the Dems.

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And the people that caused this will take absolutely no responsibility, in spite of being from the party of personal responsibility so-called. And they'll pass off the problems to someone else. And yet they blame the Democrats for the attempts to kill Trump. Oh so typical hypocrisy.

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Without public oversight, there should be zero dollars for private schools.

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It should be zero even WITH public oversight.

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👆👆👆🎯

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I see Natalie beat me to it, but "HELL, YEAH!"

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OT : DM still under artificial coma and dialysis. Her blood is no longer acidic but she still has too much metformine in her system. She is stable for now.

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I hope she recovers soon.

How are you doing? Have you figured out your insulin needs?

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I have an appointment next Thursday, who was scheduled from before. I cut on carbs and augmented my protein intake to keep my prevent my glycemia to skyrocket. I am currently at 1.07 and I ate a banana about an hour ago. Dinner will be mushrooms, zucchini and eggplants with a small portion of sweet potato noodles.

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I take metformin but never OD'd. I make up pill minders for the week and am very careful about numbers. Now with the way my hands shake, my visiting nurse does it since a blood thinner went flying about 5 feet. Nearly 2 meters. Luckily, the cat is not one to eat things. Soup is always an adventure but now I add bread or crackers to form something thick enough to not flow. 8^). Keep us posted.

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She didn't took too much pills, she overdosed because her kidneys didn't do their job correctly. From what I was told, human bodies have a hard time metabolising metformine.

I am younger and tend to drop pills all the time. Luckily neither Aria, nor Rhapsodie stole meds.

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My test results came back pre-diabetic a couple months back, so my doctor has me cut my dosage in half.

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Prolly why my kidney levels are borderline high?

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No sé, DM is under chemo, it could have contributed to her problems since it's a strain on the body.

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𝑆𝑜… 𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦.

If they don't know what the money will be used for, it is going into a slush fund to l̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶p̶o̶c̶k̶e̶t̶s̶ pay for miscellaneous school needs. If they do know but refuse to disclose, it is definitely going to l̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶p̶o̶c̶k̶e̶t̶s̶ illegal proselytizing and they don't want church-state watchdog groups to know. Grifters gotta grift.

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Honestly, I think they know EXACTLY what they are doing: they're rendering State / Church separation MOOT, at least as regards Christian organizations. I would love to shout at someone about this, but right now, I'm not convinced that there's anyone around with actually influence that would LISTEN.

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Welcome to Project 2025. How can we help you?

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Large Coke, large french fry

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I wonder if TST could acquire a bulding in Cincinatti to demand some of that cash to build a physical facility for their Hellion Academy? Bonus: field trips to the Ark Park to point and laugh!

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It's a thought, but I can already hear DeWine and the Ohio House scream bloody murder about it, if they tried.

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Let them scream.

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Or really any other religion other than Christianity....... anything beyond Christianity won't make it in the budget.

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What do you suppose is taught at the "Ohio Christian University for Science" and why do they need half a million dollars of taxpayer money?

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Pour les copistes, la presse à imprimer c'est trop woke.

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everything they don't like is woke.

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Only god knows. : )

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Maybe they are trying to disprove the Zeus Theory of Lightning.

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The Thor theory of thunder included? Or is that a separate $10,000 course?

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I'd get down on my knees and worship him. https://www.zentaur.org/memes/shirtless-thor.png

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Soooooo……instead of propping up public schools, Ohio props up religious schools, which don’t need it, except for propping up their religion, and leaves public schools right properly screwed. 🖕🏼

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You shall know them by their love...

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more like by their lies.

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Nailed it.

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OT: They put two stents in and I may get to go home today. So far I still haven't gotten a room.

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Good for you! May you get home, healing, very soon! When something similar happened to my mom, she didn't escape with a stent. The doc ended up doing a quadruple bypass.

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Had a triple three years ago. This time they decided I just needed stents and I didn’t have to schedule a separate procedure.

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Good! Hang in there and heal!

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> "They put two stents in..."

Does that make you a stentorian?

Joking aside, I have friends for whom stents have greatly improved circulation.

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They say I go home today, but now we wait on the discharge paperwork. They haven't let me put on pants. (Yeah, who knew there'd come a day I *wanted* to put on pants)

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I got home just before 2p. They made me wait a good 30 minutes to give me a dozen low-dose aspirin, for which they charged $4.18. I spent 8 on an over-the-counter name brand with 300( or maybe it was 500)

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Yes, but are you wearing pants? ;)

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They were chafing the entry point so I'm down to my boxer-briefs and considering removing those as well. (Yes, they did a check of both the right and left sides of the heart so they used a vein in my right elbow and the femoral artery in my groin, which has left a tender spot in a very tender spot.)

I'll give advice that I'm not going to take. Listen to your doctor when they tell you to change your diet and get off your lazy butt occasionally.

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Get a kilt.

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Or do what I did and just become a nudist.

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It's the same in France, and it's worse when you have to take an ambulance to get home, it's better to ask for a taxi (some of them work with the state and have a dpecial license, you don't pay) if you can walk.

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You couldn't pay for an ambulance home. Insurance isn't going to cover non-medical transportation. They barely pay for medical transportation, especially if the wrong ambulance company shows up.

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Lucky. My mother was sent to a hospital miles away when there was one within a couple of kilometres. They took no responsibility for getting her home even though she was well into her 80s at the time. She spent $80+ on a taxi which she had to organise herself. Luckily it wasn't my father who would have been incapable of doing that at that time as his mind was going. The NZ the US, but not up to anything in Europe – even the British NHS. Unless you're having a baby or had an accident in which case it is excellent.

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DM isn't in the nearest hospital but the nearest is in another département, it's like county lines, even if it's the same country, you have to go to the nearest hôpital de référenve in your département.

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That is sooo fucked up. Good luck.

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This is the break down for the requested $500,000 Ohio Christian University for Science --

$5,000 for texts books.

$50 for gasoline

$1 for matches

$494,949 for a custom 2024 Bentley Continental GT Convertible to help spread the gospel.

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5000 for textbooks ? It's expensive for bad photocopies of Gessner's Historia animalium.

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Would it be at all surprising if A Beka Books or Bob Jones University Press doubled or tripled their textbook costs because they knew the school was going to get reimbursed for the full amonut? You've got some private school of 40, they get charged $100 per creationist text book + incidentals...that really isn't out of the range of the possible IMO.

Frankly we don't even have to imagine that bad an actor. Tell any *regular* publishing house that the purchasing school is going to get reimbursed by a third party who won't look at the finances too closely, and just watch the sudden markups happen.

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At the college level a $100 textbook wasn't that unusual, and that was 20-30 years ago.

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The University I just completed my degree at – with better grammar than that to be honest – has digital copies of pretty much everything you might need to borrow. Not quite sure how it works, because I mostly sent for physical copies, but I assume only a set number of people can borrow them. Probably more than if they just had BHM's two copies though.

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A's public libraries do that since at least 2006. Up to 5 digital copies could be borrowed at the same time for 3 weeks, non renewable unlike physical books.

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I don't think I spent more than 30 euros for any of the books* I bought, and they were first hand.

* The college library only has 2 exemplaries at most of each mandatory reading book. You can imagine the competition.

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Well, they want to make sure that their homecoming bonfire/ witch burning pyre is bigger than their cross-state rival - Ohio State School of Proselytization and Mining.

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