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Joe King's avatar

𝑍𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔, 47, 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡-𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑-𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒, 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡-𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑-𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑦, 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡-𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑦 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠.

𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑛.

𝑁𝑜, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦.

Finally the mainstream media points out what we have been saying all along.

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SeekingReason's avatar

As if drag queens and trans people are the common perpetrators…quite the opposite. They have far more understanding of the damage of cruel treatment. We will see the churches eventually become irrelevant. I think it will happen in my lifetime. Look forward to better use for church property. All religious cult facilities. It is utterly bizarre that people still belong to these cults. Freaky.

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Jim Sanders's avatar

Good slogan in there somewhere.

Who is really molesting the children?

Praying can lead to being molested

Beware of for the Holy Spirit of the molestor

Give your tithings to your local molestor

Come together in prayer for moletration

Yea though I walk through the valley of molestration

Repent to your local molestor

The way to the gates of molestration heaven

Support you local molestor

Sex is a sin unless with the churches molestor

Walk with your molestor up the stairway to heaven

Your molestor loves you

I’m sure someone can come up with something good.

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Runfastandwin's avatar

I hope so.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

In this day and age it is very weird.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Badly, BADLY overdue. I just have to wonder how long it will be before the media recognize that it's not just a couple bad apples, but damned near the whole barrel.

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Matri's avatar

Spoiler alert: Its the whole orchard that’s rotten.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Again, I have to disagree. I still remember the pastors I grew up with when I was a kid, and particularly as a teen. They were good people, insofar as I knew, and genuinely gave a damn about their congregants. Granted that that's well over half a century ago and in a church which was about as liberal as you would find in 1960s America. I suspect that such people still exist.

It may be that they are fewer and further in between.

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xenubarb's avatar

My parents attended a Presby church they helped build back in the 50s. And they went to that church for decades. Then they got a new pastor from the Presbyterian Pastor-Matic. Then suddenly, they left.

I never got the whole story, but there were murmurs... something about that preacher getting caught with kiddie porn. Folks didn't discuss it much beyond that.

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Jim Sanders's avatar

Bingo. Maybe it is because some fruits are poisonous and not good for one’s health. Anyone that looks for guidance from those that speak for a mythical spirit suffer a type of illness endemic to humanity. It is like lead poisoning is to the body—ingestion of lead over a long period of time—slowly debilitate the body and brain and causing mental retardation—this poison over time also results in a type of retardation.

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RegularJoe's avatar

It's a manchineel orchard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchineel

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Bingo! The good non-molesters are the exception.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Also, do any of them not know how that expression goes about one bad apple?

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

If we can get them to take off the blinkers and the god-glasses (a VERY big "IF!"), they have a chance to apply that thought to their situation.

But it IS a big "IF."

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Bill Wilson's avatar

If a rehab group called God Fanatics Anonymous existed the first step in their program is to admit that humans are gods with anuses (Earnest Becker). The only species, so far, that knows they’re going to die and eventually extinct. Religion is an after life survival school.

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Len Koz's avatar

I saw some celebrity recently citing that life is too good for there not to be anything afterwards. All I could think was, "Really? That's your reason for believing in a fairy tale?"

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Tell that to the Palestinians, the Jewish people during the Holocaust, Ukrainians, ...

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RegularJoe's avatar

...don't spoil the whole bunch, girl?

https://youtu.be/30Cxl5bVmVU?si=Hwp4Fc4gz3CzwMBa

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Jane in NC's avatar

Not even for you, Regular Joe, am I going to click onto an Osmonds link! 😜

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RegularJoe's avatar

That's what passed as "popular music" back in my youth.

(Fortunately, I found AOR - Album Oriented Rock - early and was thus saved from mediocrity. 😁)

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Jane in NC's avatar

The Osmonds were white bread America's less-talented answer to The Jackson 5.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

They were from Utah, and had too many teeth!

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xenubarb's avatar

In this case, the donors who left in disgust is a bright note. Let's hope this becomes a trend. In the past two weeks, it seems at least 3 churches have closed down due to pastoral diddling of parishioner's kids. Yeah, they can open another church, that's true. If only there were laws preventing that... or activists willing to expose them before their new churches get rolling. Attending a new church that has people out front with signs might give people second thoughts about joining.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Or they will think the church is being persecuted, which will make them want to join.

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Elena Christian's avatar

It's horrifying how badly some people want to believe they are being persecuted for their faith.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Yes, I call that "Martyrbation."

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

The full saying is ""One bad apple spoils the whole barrel."

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

These are road apples. You don't want to eat them unless you bake them into a special pie.

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maddog7's avatar

using a cow as a 'mixer'

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RegularJoe's avatar

A cow with a bad case of scours.

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Rachel Baldes's avatar

To be fair The Herald-Leader is the best paper left in the state. The difference between being sold to McClatchy versus Gannet (Louisville's Courier Journal) has played out pretty starkly. I wish they'd cover Louisville news so there'd be a paper I could subscribe to here.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Should have also included 'Not trans', but otherwise agree with your point, Joe.

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Joe King's avatar

Baby steps.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Indeed. I'm actually shocked a mainstream news outlet called it like it is. A good start.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Is it possible that someone in the news media has been reading us or something like us? That would be truly far out!

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Jane in NC's avatar

That would be awesome, but perhaps it's that the weight of the evidence has finally broken through. Whatever it is, I'm glad to see this.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

"what lessons are they really going to learn"

To use burner phones, with innocuous text messages and stay away from Snapchat and WhatsApp.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

My suspicion is that King will also shortly learn not to drop the soap in the prison shower.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

And to keep his back against a wall all the time.

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xenubarb's avatar

Holy Soap Flakes, Batman!

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Jim Sanders's avatar

Why? Maybe that is his secret desire.

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xenubarb's avatar

I get a lot of telemarketer BS that involves Snapchat and whatsApp, two things I don't use. Also something similar to Paypal, can't remember the name, but if people are trying to get you to load those, it's likely a scam. One hacked account on FB was downright pushy, as they were "feeling generous" and wanted to give me free money.

I told them to give it to Planned Parenthood, then narked them off to the real owner of the account.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

I regularly receive emails about a problem with my bank account and if I will be kind enough to use the link provided to connect to it. From my mother's bank, not mine 🤣

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Leon Brown, Jr.'s avatar

Falling for those phishing emails makes about as much sense as joining a church.

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xenubarb's avatar

I just got a call from a guy with a heavy Indian accent, telling me he was from "garble." I said, "You're calling about what?" "Garble." Okay, I got it, he's calling from my "tv service." I got him to say it six times before he hung up on me. :D

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

When DM and me still used our landlines*, we received calls from telemarketers, even as we were on "liste rouge" and our phone number was not public. So, instead of hanging up, we put the phone near the computer and put some music (In Extremo or Children of Bodom). The calls decreased quickly 😁

* We didn't have the means to afford two cell phones at that time.

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cdbunch's avatar

Venmo?

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

The Matt Gaetz preferred underage sex payment company. He didn't know to make his account private.

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AER's avatar

Yes, I remember that now. Such a dumb ass.

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AER's avatar

I’ve never had any problems with Venmo and I use pretty regularly.

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xenubarb's avatar

Yep, that's it!

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Of course. Evil always adapts.

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Jane in NC's avatar

Closing up shop is the protestant equivalent to catholic diocese declaring bankruptcy. Both are a way to avoid accountability.

People in authority at LexCity church must have had strong suspicions that King was shady or they wouldn't have acted so quickly to offload him. Youth minister, pastor, catholic priest, scout leader, take your pick, they're all synonymous with pedophile. Kind of like Willie Horton robbing banks because that's where the money is, men with certain predilections go into ministry or youth work because that's where the kids are.

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xenubarb's avatar

And the added benefit of trust the sheep have for Men of Gawwwwd...

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Bill Wilson's avatar

Nicely done.

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cdbunch's avatar

But they're all 'gay' men. So all gay men are pedophiles. Or so the propaganda goes.

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Leon Brown, Jr.'s avatar

I was with you until you mentioned Willie Horton.....

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

Pastor Zachery King! She was 15 and you knew it. Still a child. How many others pedophile! Go to prison. Did you become a priest just to rape children? Fking ahole. I can't say what I really feel about priests like you Zachery.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

She is a Jezabel who wronged an honest man !

(USA futur if the republicons party get its dreamed theocracy).

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

15 year olds are too young to be having sex! He raped a minor. Seems like most if not all priests indulge in sex with children these days. And the people they report to look the other way. This is on him not on her.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

I think you'll find that my friend BHm just didn't put in a "/s" at the end of her statement. Little doubt but that she's as appalled as the rest of us are about what happened to that kid.

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

Thanks for clarifying! I'm wicked sarcastic too but sometimes on comments it's harder to tell. 👍 Don't stop the sarcasm!

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Il faudra me passer sur le corps.

(Just in case of a literal translation, it doesn't mean what it seems to mean😁)

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Psittacus Ebrius's avatar

The Devil made him do it.

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

So right. Every church. Not just the mega- churches. Every church. And the higher ups look the other way. Look at Boston. I still remember 20 years ago when that came out. Still happening here and they point the fingers at parishioners.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Marty Baron reported that story of the Boston Globe, then he shared his talent with th Washington Post, back when it was still good.Once he left it went downhill. Now Bezos has hired a Murdoch UK tabloid man, a very slimy one. And all they post is "Joe's old!"

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EllenThatEllen's avatar

Marty Baron did the right thing putting it out there in the cold light of day. Back then Cardinal Law knew and was enabling priests by re-assigning them. Cardinal Law when he left Boston got the second biggest church at the Vatican and quite the send-off for a jerk currently in Hell.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Was he on vacation from Amityville ?

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Jack's avatar

These churches “closing” are simply a version of the old time marketing ploy of furniture stores. They close one location and open across the street with a different name. After all, this is nothing but another business conning the suckers.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Christian version of the shell game.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

🎯And they excell at it.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Christians are told to fear their god. King raped a 15-year-old not only at at his home AND her home, but even in his god's house of worship. I'm thinking he doesn't really believe in the god he spews about. He wasn't even worried about the ministry. He took it down with him when the civil authorities finally caught up with him.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

Many of them do not. See "Caught in the Pulpit" by Daniel Dennett.

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Joan the Dork's avatar

Considering the god we're talking about, he was probably spectating with a beer and a bucket of popcorn, and taking notes for his next book.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Got it in his search history and watches it over and over.

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oraxx's avatar

Somehow they will find a way to play the victim. They always do. Pedophiles go where the kids are, and that's never going to change. Child molesters do not fare well in prison, and I don't care what happens to this creep. Things like this would be less of a problem if people just stopped delegating an important part of their thinking to those claiming to speak for the almighty. Unfortunately, humans are natural born herd animals.

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Joe King's avatar

Tribalism is one hell of a drug.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

♫♪ When you're a Jet, let them do what they can. / You got brothers around; you're a family man! ♪♫

It's one of the oldest tropes out there, and that's why it's such a bear to overcome.

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oraxx's avatar

+++ It is, and I suspect it may be part of our survival strategy as a species. Our puny little ancestors survived by banding together. While cooperation is as important as it ever was, it can have some very undesireable outcomes when religion gets involved.

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Joe King's avatar

The trick we have to learn now as a species is to expand who we count as our tribe to include many more of those who are not exactly like us.

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oraxx's avatar

Absolutely! Unfortunately, there is an entire industry dedicated to taking people in the opposite direction. I call it the Christo-fascist screech machine.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

That's a great name, very evocative.

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ericc's avatar

The issue here is hierarchy and Milgram's 'obedience to authority' problem. The more hierarchical/authoritarian the tribe, the more abuse flows down from the top. Adding more people who don't look/act like us to our tribe does not solve this problem.

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Bill Wilson's avatar

Hey, we just want to be loved. Is that so wrong? We’re headed for one tribe national order. A love hate relationship. It seems free love to all, is too expensive.

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xenubarb's avatar

That's why they are "sheep," and the unchurched are wolves. Yeah, wolves run in packs, but they don't behave the way herd animals do.

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Bill Wilson's avatar

Humans are natural born predators that can form giant packs that collectively hunt.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

I have an associate that is a retired prison guard and he says that is wishful thinking, they fare no worse than anyone else but it is an urban legend .Unless they are Jeffrey Dahmer.

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wreck's avatar

“we have lost the ability to remain financially viable.”

Thoughts and prayers.

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AER's avatar

Tots and pears

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Annie54's avatar

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

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MikeinSonoma's avatar

Once again demonstrating, that it never is a drag queen in a library.

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Joan the Dork's avatar

It was, however, Mr. Green in the Hall with the Revolver.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Miss Scarlet in the conservatory with a dildo.. wait, wrong game.

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Annie54's avatar

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

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cdbunch's avatar

No. It was Mrs. Peacock in the Study with the Revolver.

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MikeinSonoma's avatar

Oh come on, Mustard is all over the place.

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xenubarb's avatar

Hmmm. "Student and teaching pastor."

I guess "youth minister" now has pedophilic nuance these days. Gosh, we sure wouldn't want that now, would we?

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

Project 2025 in tax trouble according to Farron.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y8yP2EaM0Y

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

The question is: will the IRS actually DO something about it? Considering their indifference to the Johnson Amendment, I wonder if this has any more ability to stir them up.

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Elena Christian's avatar

The IRS isn't indifferent, it has been hampered by the budget of a film nor detective and legislation that shelters these SOBs. It is the number one, maybe two thing they really hate about Joe Biden--he funded the IRS.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Remember the IRS (under Obama) were investigating the mushrooming of 501c's non-profits? That coincidentally sprung up after the Citizens United decision? They screamed bloody murder, and the republicans managed to cut their funding.

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Len Koz's avatar

Between the church being named LexCity Church and the picture of a bald guy preaching, I thought somehow DC comics universe had bled into ours and Lex Luthor was running a church.

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Joan the Dork's avatar

Y'know, our current reality sure as hell 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 like one of the DC AUs where Lex won.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Luthor knows real evil when he sees it.

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SeekingReason's avatar

Good! Most churches today are suffering the same issue. People aren’t buying in to their money schemes & political opinions. Make these places community centers to help all, a place for people to gather without the fantasy religious non-sense. Sexual abuse in churches seems more the rule than the exception.

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maddog7's avatar

"Sexual abuse in churches seems more the rule than the exception"

so true !!

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Pretty much every major sector has a dog in that race.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Shutting down also helps them avoid paying for the crimes happening under their watch. It is good they got rid of him, but it does still seem like a pr move more than a protect the congregation from a predator move.

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cdbunch's avatar

Student and Teaching Pastor? Check for underage skeletons in that closet.

Student and Teaching Pastor is to Youth pastor like Custodial engineer is to Janitor?

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NOGODZ20's avatar

King was grooming children. That thing Christians falsely accuse others of doing.

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