When will they get it through their thick skulls that you cannot have freedom of religion without freedom from religion. Oh yeah, they don't really want that.
They’re religionists, they choose to be enslaved by an imaginary dictator. Of course they aren’t interested in religious freedom, that’s just a phrase they use to manipulate the masses into putting them in charge.
I predict that they'll have that moment of realization right about the time they get exactly what they wish for... but with a sect 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 than their own in the driver's seat.
"The Christian Nationalists are in a minority. That minority, however, is very loud."
The fact that they're a minority should NOT give us comfort. Infectious microbes such as COVID, Ebola, Malaria, Tuberculosis, and a host of others are always a minority in your body. Even at the apex of their infection, measured by their numbers compared to the number of microbes in your gut or all the cells of your body, they're a tiny, miniscule fraction. By their weight, they're almost not measurable on the most sensitive scale.
BUT when those minorities have done enough damage to your vital organs, you die.
Minority political movements have destroyed countries.
They are loud, and the GOP has found a way to super glue their votes to their candidates along with several other "Land Time is Forgetting" voters are being relegated to irrelevance, but are not quite there yet.
Combine that with swing voters and others who will routinely vote their pocketbooks, and you have a near majority.
I find it interesting that this issue should come up EXACTLY at the time when Christian numbers in the United States are in decline and those who are either indifferent, unaffiliated, or flat-out disbelievers are on the rise. At some level or other, those Christians who are so determined to have the US declared a Christian nation KNOW that their numbers are on the skid, and they don't like it. Their current push for such a pronouncement is reflective of the fear that they are losing control, that possibly at one point or another, calling oneself a Christian will not generate the traction and privilege it once did. Nota bene: evidence of the participation of Christian Nationalists was all over the January 6th insurrection.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Christian nationalism and the movement to have the United States sealed as a Christian nation needs to be confronted head on ... and it needs to be STOPPED.
The change in religiosity and what you hear said openly in the US over the last 15 years or so has been extreme, I think lots of folks don't really realize this. That was about when the trend you mention really took off and I said about in 2010 that the believers were starting to sound more and more desperate as the deference shown to religions and belief started dissolving. I figured we were going to have to put up with increasingly extreme measures to stop the inevitable further slide away from faith. So, yeah, interesting it is. So interesting that we have SCOTUS blatantly throwing the 1st Amendment under the bus with wildly dishonest BS decisions and a growing list of laws that are clearly in gross violation of the Constitution attempting to force the vile, hateful, bigoted, and ignorant versions of christianity on the whole country. See my comment aways down below where I also urge confronting this BS at every opportunity and suggest the ammo that should be used in this fight.
I see Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care. Apparently according to many not a great president, but he always seemed to me to be a decent human being, particularly for a Christian.
He helped the GOP bury the utter irrelevance of Ford and the criminal malfeasance of Nixon, and put Reagan in a good light from his, Carter's, inability to solve any of the horrible 'stag-flations' economic issues dogging Ford, while creating a few, nasty ones of his own.
He was 4 years of showing how the rest of the government could pull the US through. His later life was attempted atonement.
He seemed to be a reasonably good person for a Good Ole Boy, but he still enjoyed that privilege all his life, especially as a Christian Leader/Big Fish in a Small Pond.
He showed that even a reasonably ethical and moral person can't be a successful President if the economy is in a continual dive, especially as the result of the huge shock of Saudi/Middle East petroleum blackmail. For example, you could see his entire term in light of the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the bungling loss of the embassy and failed 'rescue' attempt. That was one of the big conspiracy allegations of the Dems against Reagan for as long as I can remember, continuing on into the Iran-Contra obvious criminality later on in Reagan's time.
What really put Reagan over the top was the "Iranian Hostage Crisis". We saw it on the news every night. In fact, the Nightline news show was created at that time to keep us informed on the daily changes to the hostage crisis. (Originally titled "The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage: Day "xxx"". Granted, the economy, perception of foreign policy and Rock and Roll had an effect but by election day we had been watching that show nightly for a year. President Carter was directly blamed for the crisis due to some of his fumbling of diplomacy with Iran. Carter won only his home state and 5 others plus DC.
Regardless of Iran-Contra, itself, we had also been living his failed economic policies and his feckless foreign diplomacy based on ethics and morals (which helped lead to Iran-Contra) for 3 years.
That's not mentioning his aides acting like boors in society and Billy Beer side-shows.
There wouldn't have been enough angular momentum on Earth to let him spin out of his entire track record as President.
America didn't exist at the time of the oral tales that make up teh bibel. Those who concocted those tales were primitive, fearful, superstitious nomads who lived in a tiny region of the planet and didn't know where the Sun went at night.
Taking a then-nonexistent country back for a figment of the imagination who had no idea of what the world truly looked like is a ludicrous concept fit only for those in thrall of superstitious twaddle.
For all that they keep proclaiming about "if it isn't in teh bible then it doesn't exist" they ALWAYS ignore it when you try to point out that America isn't in the bible either.
People who think Christian Nationalism is good have completely different definitions of pretty much every word in the English dictionary than everyone else, but particularly the words: patriotism, nationalism, Christian, justice, freedom, love, family, rights, and citizen. They like it that way because “racism is so ingrained in American culture, that people think of you protest racism you are protesting America.” And that is not too far from the truth.
I think, regarding the survey, we need to work on teaching civics better (of course, this is part of the right wing takeover, defunding public education and undermining the standards, so we are fighting an intentional effort to keep people ignorant of the basics of our country’s government) as The. Very. First. Amendment. Of our constitution states we cannot be a Christian nation. We can be a nation with a majority of Christians, but the government cannot make an official national religion. This should be common knowledge of anyone living in the country, but for some reason it is not. It certainly isn’t as known as the ideas in the second amendment. Or what the Kardashians have for dinner.
What is a “true patriot” anyway? It is certainly not someone who wants to murder his neighbor to keep that neighbor from having freedom.
Hard-core Christians (including Catholics) are impervious to facts and reason. "Education" on civics of Christians by Christians will never succeed. Christianity survives because no product inculcates fear and conformity like it. Paul done good creating Jesus Inc. Fictional Jesus was the most destructive, clever and divisive human ever to roam this planet.
I would say the Christians absolutely believe they are on the right side of history. The fact that our entire time system is built around the birthday of one Jesus H. Christ should tell you that.
I see desperation and forced bravado in their eyes, not certainty. I see it because they know they have lost the major battles of the last 60 years, including losing so much of the minds of their children. They only have 'wins' from NAFTA and other neo-liberal theft that ruined their opportunities to just stay even with where they started. That's in personal conversations with blue collar colleagues over the last several decades AND conversation with their 'children'.
Oh, and they REALLY like Social Security and Medicare even though it is Socialism.
That's the eyes of the Great Unwashed mobs, not the eyes of the parasites feeding off them.
Even in my country, christianity was mostly presented as a positive and unitive force in my history manuals (k12), the exception being the Europeans 16th and 17th centuries religions wars. It's probably still the case, too bad I can't check my nephew's.
I've noticed on my local political blog that some Conservative posters are a little "uncomfortable" with democracy. Or at least democracy that includes anyone but people who look like them.
Don the Con wants to kill!kill!kill! now? Funny how he had the chance to serve his country in Vietnam where he could've unleased his inner killer yet filed 5 deferments to avoid doing so.
Now why would he do that? Was he following a family tradition?
His father would have disowned him. In T̲o̲o̲ ̲M̲u̲c̲h̲ ̲a̲n̲d̲ ̲N̲e̲v̲e̲r̲ ̲E̲n̲o̲u̲g̲h̲, there is a passage where Fred Trump told Donald that, if he ever joined the military, Fred would disinherit him.
The message is simple: Trumps 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗘𝗗. They never, EVER SERVE.
Donny's malignant narcissism was still in a nascent stage at that time. It took 3 decades of conning New York City, building and then bankrupting 3 Atlantic City casinos, becoming indebted to the Brooklyn-based Russian Mafia, and finally getting bailed out as a celebrity in The Apprentice for Donny to reach the apex of self-serving malignant narcissism to rise in the political sphere. His ascent was fully enabled by the Christian right...for reasons that are abundantly clear from everything this site stands for.
The psychopathology of malignant narcissism and the utter stupidity and gullibility of the evangelical/Christian/Catholic right to fall for it is a topic that few, if any journalists have the temerity or intelligence to tackle. They all dance around it because nobody wants to "offend" the electorate: that is, Stupid 'murica. Once again, Trump does his voodoo right in plain sight.
Sasha Baron Cohen in segments of Who Is America and in Borat 2 has done the best job thus far. He's not a journalist but is a brilliant satirist--for whom the LEFT finds "offensive" enough to CANCEL.
The same guy who bragged that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue had no intention of finding himself in a situation where his enemy could shoot back.
Life without the possibility of parole would give them closure a hell of a lot sooner than waiting through all of the appeals to get their bloodthirsty revenge.
And yet there is always a clamour in NZ for "getting tough on crime" commonly called Laura Norder. And I keep saying, if tough on crime worked then the US would be the safest place in the world and yet it isn't. But it's beating your head against a brick wall essentially.
Same morons don't understand that The State with financial and monetary policy in it's control don't need balanced budgets like the in-duh-vidual think.
Knowing the difference is one of those things that separates the demagogues from the democrats.
A man on death row is decapitated and his executioner is decapitated right after and it continues (you can see the row of guillotines in the last picture).
By the way in the first and second pictures there is a priest playing with his crucifix like it's a plane toy 😁
BTW, wonder if Dorito Benito would suddenly grow Shoulder Spurs if he was required to personally execute these people?
The Trumps could even be like the Pierrepoints, in the UK and it might even give the Stupidest Trump Son a lifetime job, while freeing up his 'corporate' responsibilities for someone (that's just about anyone) more competent.
The Dems could also 'fix' the system when they're in power with the ole 'Ko-Ko of Titipu Solution' for ending executions in the land.
What's so painfully obvious about this delusional belief is that if "God"--Jesus himself, or his father Yahweh-- is so omnipotent and omniscient, then all humans would already be Christian, and there would already be a theocracy, in which case the USA would be a paltry third world country like every other theocracy. For that matter, there would be no need to have 168 separate nations on the planet. Christianity is no longer a belief: it's a full blown delusion.
The latest Mark Maron Special on HBOmax is tremendous as commentary on Christinanity from a Jewish POV, and on the banality of Organized Religion from a Humanist POV.
If only these scared little bunnies could start thinking like adults.
But, as long as a buck is to be made or a free lunch to be snuffled down at the Congressional Pig Trough there will be parasites to take advantage of that situation.
When will the Dems REALLY harness all the dissatisfaction, because it CAN be done as the last presidential and mid-terms showed?
NO religion gets to decide or declare what is and isn't true. NO religion gets to decide or declare what is and isn't moral. This is very a very simple and undeniable FACT. It's also the law in the US because of the 1st Amendment establishment clause. These whackos need to be reminded of this EVERY time they try to push their hateful, ignorant, bigoted BS on the rest of us. What their religion tells them is of absolutely zero value, has ZERO meaning for anyone not of their particular faith, no more than the commands of Zeus or the mud god from some tribe dead thousands of years. It would help to also remind them there are thousands of different christian sects in this country, so which one gets to choose?
Isn't 'declaring' stuff just about the only Business Model they have?!
In the US, The Law says they are not allowed to force their 'declaring' on The People, especially those who think Religion's 'declaring' is dogshite. But, other parts of the Constitution allow people to say what they want, within certain boundaries affecting public safely (as defined by the zeitgeist) and to meet with each other to participate in their religion (again, within limits). The Religion still is People, unless there's a verifiable god who has come to live on Earth we don't know about.
Sounds like a case of merely enforcing The Law, which is, of course, impeded by the SCOTUS Religious Bigot Bloc and 200+ years of Christian Privilege. The Founding Religious Bigots would never have allowed that Religious Freedom to become law if they thought it would end their descendants' occupations as Professional Religious Parasites, which is why that precedence, etc. is NOW an issue. Similarly, the slave trade was bolstered by religion, and even the Founding Father who concocted the Freedom of Religion wasn't about to let slavery be ended.
Sure, it's hard, to maintain The Law, and sometimes change isn't fast enough, but Democracy is messy and The Law is all we got apart from outright rebellion, which is what The Other Side also has as an option.
BTW, if you're thinking of moving to an atheist country to live, one that forbids organized religion (maybe not folk religion), let us know what you find out there. It would be interesting to see what other things they ban, or what other things are absolutely required.
'Declare' can mean simply assert something, but it can also mean to state something as the official position, e.g., what should be assumed as fact. Why would I want to move to some authoritarian country? Everyone really should understand that atheists are BY FAR the best friends of religious freedom. Alito and the rest of the 5 exposed the massive contempt they have for the citizens and the Constitution by claiming their rulings were FOR religious freedom, it's a show of not just contempt but profound dishonesty.
The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life. —Guess Who, Berlin, 1933, first radio address after coming to power.
The church was a tool Hitler used but seemed to intend to supplant, later, because there would be no power sharing in his State and by his Furher. To me, that quote doesn't put Christinanity in charge, just a basis for a docile Volk.
The French Revolution and much of Communism used atheism to avoid having Religion challenge the power of the state from the beginning.
The US Constitution is a quasi-stable attempt to tame Relgion, but Goobers will be Goobers.
This is exactly why the (mostly) Deist founders disliked and distrusted Christians and why they didn't want religion of any kind to have a seat at the table of governance.
Jesus' statement that his kingdom was not of this world would seem to put the kibosh on any idea of a "Christian America" but it wouldn't be the first time we believers have disregarded something he said.
His statement giving his return before the current generation passed away also pissed off the Uber driver left waiting for him at The Holy Pickup Site, too.
In very fundamentalist West Virginia, they are indeed moving mountaintops in search of coal. I’ve seen a few of these flat mountains* and they are ugly. And they dump all the dirt and rock somewhere where it fouls the nearby rivers and streams. And then they burn the coal. So yes, you can move a mountain but it’s a dumb thing to do.
“Mountain Top Removal” if you haven’t heard if it.
* They don’t look at all like the buttes and mesas in the west.
If you're not a YECcie, there's a whole subcontinent that was tearing through an ocean like a sports car and ended ended up in a MASSIVE collision with an 18 wheeler, raising the currently highest geography on the planet.
The Constitution, unfortunately, offers protection only so long as the people doing their dead level best to gut its protections are still willing to pay lip service to it as they do so. When they decide that they don't need to keep up the act anymore, we're going to find out very quickly how fragile that document really is.
I agree regarding the Constitution but unfortunately there's more than a few of our fellow Americans who take a different position. What Jesus said is not irrelevant to the issue, though, because his statement can be used to challenge Christian Nationalists. You never know, it might get through to some of them. I like how easy it is to respond on Substack instead of how slow and painful it is on the OnlySky site.
Even if this country were founded on Christian values and teachings (it wasn't), that wouldn't be a very good argument for establishing a state religion, nor for operating a modern country based on those same values and teachings. I rather think that the many abuses of religious groups in this country alone would provide arguments aplenty 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 theocracy, not for it... and if we then weigh the balance of human history, it's perfectly clear that those governments functioned best which were influenced by religion the least.
The whims of deities and their eternal thirst for worship- even if they ever did exist- are entirely incompatible with secular government, whose goals must be the security and welfare of mortal beings in the here and now.
When will they get it through their thick skulls that you cannot have freedom of religion without freedom from religion. Oh yeah, they don't really want that.
They’re religionists, they choose to be enslaved by an imaginary dictator. Of course they aren’t interested in religious freedom, that’s just a phrase they use to manipulate the masses into putting them in charge.
They want religious freedom FOR THEMSELVES, and to hell with everyone else.
Yeah, but they still support Freedom to Pay Taxes for everyone else, along with Freedom to Take Subsidies for themselves.
I predict that they'll have that moment of realization right about the time they get exactly what they wish for... but with a sect 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 than their own in the driver's seat.
They lack the empathy and emotional capacity to see it that way.
They want freedom from OTHER religions. Not what they [think that] they believe.
"The Christian Nationalists are in a minority. That minority, however, is very loud."
The fact that they're a minority should NOT give us comfort. Infectious microbes such as COVID, Ebola, Malaria, Tuberculosis, and a host of others are always a minority in your body. Even at the apex of their infection, measured by their numbers compared to the number of microbes in your gut or all the cells of your body, they're a tiny, miniscule fraction. By their weight, they're almost not measurable on the most sensitive scale.
BUT when those minorities have done enough damage to your vital organs, you die.
Minority political movements have destroyed countries.
They are loud, and the GOP has found a way to super glue their votes to their candidates along with several other "Land Time is Forgetting" voters are being relegated to irrelevance, but are not quite there yet.
Combine that with swing voters and others who will routinely vote their pocketbooks, and you have a near majority.
I find it interesting that this issue should come up EXACTLY at the time when Christian numbers in the United States are in decline and those who are either indifferent, unaffiliated, or flat-out disbelievers are on the rise. At some level or other, those Christians who are so determined to have the US declared a Christian nation KNOW that their numbers are on the skid, and they don't like it. Their current push for such a pronouncement is reflective of the fear that they are losing control, that possibly at one point or another, calling oneself a Christian will not generate the traction and privilege it once did. Nota bene: evidence of the participation of Christian Nationalists was all over the January 6th insurrection.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Christian nationalism and the movement to have the United States sealed as a Christian nation needs to be confronted head on ... and it needs to be STOPPED.
The change in religiosity and what you hear said openly in the US over the last 15 years or so has been extreme, I think lots of folks don't really realize this. That was about when the trend you mention really took off and I said about in 2010 that the believers were starting to sound more and more desperate as the deference shown to religions and belief started dissolving. I figured we were going to have to put up with increasingly extreme measures to stop the inevitable further slide away from faith. So, yeah, interesting it is. So interesting that we have SCOTUS blatantly throwing the 1st Amendment under the bus with wildly dishonest BS decisions and a growing list of laws that are clearly in gross violation of the Constitution attempting to force the vile, hateful, bigoted, and ignorant versions of christianity on the whole country. See my comment aways down below where I also urge confronting this BS at every opportunity and suggest the ammo that should be used in this fight.
I see Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care. Apparently according to many not a great president, but he always seemed to me to be a decent human being, particularly for a Christian.
He helped the GOP bury the utter irrelevance of Ford and the criminal malfeasance of Nixon, and put Reagan in a good light from his, Carter's, inability to solve any of the horrible 'stag-flations' economic issues dogging Ford, while creating a few, nasty ones of his own.
He was 4 years of showing how the rest of the government could pull the US through. His later life was attempted atonement.
He seemed to be a reasonably good person for a Good Ole Boy, but he still enjoyed that privilege all his life, especially as a Christian Leader/Big Fish in a Small Pond.
He showed that even a reasonably ethical and moral person can't be a successful President if the economy is in a continual dive, especially as the result of the huge shock of Saudi/Middle East petroleum blackmail. For example, you could see his entire term in light of the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the bungling loss of the embassy and failed 'rescue' attempt. That was one of the big conspiracy allegations of the Dems against Reagan for as long as I can remember, continuing on into the Iran-Contra obvious criminality later on in Reagan's time.
What really put Reagan over the top was the "Iranian Hostage Crisis". We saw it on the news every night. In fact, the Nightline news show was created at that time to keep us informed on the daily changes to the hostage crisis. (Originally titled "The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage: Day "xxx"". Granted, the economy, perception of foreign policy and Rock and Roll had an effect but by election day we had been watching that show nightly for a year. President Carter was directly blamed for the crisis due to some of his fumbling of diplomacy with Iran. Carter won only his home state and 5 others plus DC.
Regardless of Iran-Contra, itself, we had also been living his failed economic policies and his feckless foreign diplomacy based on ethics and morals (which helped lead to Iran-Contra) for 3 years.
That's not mentioning his aides acting like boors in society and Billy Beer side-shows.
There wouldn't have been enough angular momentum on Earth to let him spin out of his entire track record as President.
"Taking America Back For God?"
America didn't exist at the time of the oral tales that make up teh bibel. Those who concocted those tales were primitive, fearful, superstitious nomads who lived in a tiny region of the planet and didn't know where the Sun went at night.
Taking a then-nonexistent country back for a figment of the imagination who had no idea of what the world truly looked like is a ludicrous concept fit only for those in thrall of superstitious twaddle.
At least, the Mormons had Jesus showing up in America. Just forget that the founder was a known conman.
A known conman who was a raging polygamist with a taste for young flesh.
He came to a rather bad end.
You're supposed to forget that!
Helen Mar Kimball, one of his many wives, was just 14.
Oops! I forgot that I was supposed to forget that. Sorry.
Muhammad still has Joey beat. How old was Aisha, nine?
Married at 6 or 7 and "consummated" the marriage at 9 or 10, according to Islamic sources of the classical era.
They know what they believe [mostly]. Don't confuse them with facts.
For all that they keep proclaiming about "if it isn't in teh bible then it doesn't exist" they ALWAYS ignore it when you try to point out that America isn't in the bible either.
The bible makes no mention of other planets, let alone galaxies, nebulae, black holes, etc. All of which exist and can be seen/detected.
Searching for the biblical god (or any god) is a wild goose chase with the unreal.
People who think Christian Nationalism is good have completely different definitions of pretty much every word in the English dictionary than everyone else, but particularly the words: patriotism, nationalism, Christian, justice, freedom, love, family, rights, and citizen. They like it that way because “racism is so ingrained in American culture, that people think of you protest racism you are protesting America.” And that is not too far from the truth.
I think, regarding the survey, we need to work on teaching civics better (of course, this is part of the right wing takeover, defunding public education and undermining the standards, so we are fighting an intentional effort to keep people ignorant of the basics of our country’s government) as The. Very. First. Amendment. Of our constitution states we cannot be a Christian nation. We can be a nation with a majority of Christians, but the government cannot make an official national religion. This should be common knowledge of anyone living in the country, but for some reason it is not. It certainly isn’t as known as the ideas in the second amendment. Or what the Kardashians have for dinner.
What is a “true patriot” anyway? It is certainly not someone who wants to murder his neighbor to keep that neighbor from having freedom.
Hard-core Christians (including Catholics) are impervious to facts and reason. "Education" on civics of Christians by Christians will never succeed. Christianity survives because no product inculcates fear and conformity like it. Paul done good creating Jesus Inc. Fictional Jesus was the most destructive, clever and divisive human ever to roam this planet.
They KNOW they are on The Wrong Side of History, YET AGAIN, either by hormones or actual thimking.
They are running scared, and the prehensile noses of the 'Publican Demagogues can smell it.
I would say the Christians absolutely believe they are on the right side of history. The fact that our entire time system is built around the birthday of one Jesus H. Christ should tell you that.
I see desperation and forced bravado in their eyes, not certainty. I see it because they know they have lost the major battles of the last 60 years, including losing so much of the minds of their children. They only have 'wins' from NAFTA and other neo-liberal theft that ruined their opportunities to just stay even with where they started. That's in personal conversations with blue collar colleagues over the last several decades AND conversation with their 'children'.
Oh, and they REALLY like Social Security and Medicare even though it is Socialism.
That's the eyes of the Great Unwashed mobs, not the eyes of the parasites feeding off them.
Even in my country, christianity was mostly presented as a positive and unitive force in my history manuals (k12), the exception being the Europeans 16th and 17th centuries religions wars. It's probably still the case, too bad I can't check my nephew's.
Why do Republican hate America?
They've certainly shown nothing but contempt for the Constitution and our secular government. So the question remains: Why do they hate America?
The "D"* word.
*Democracy, or Diversity.
As well as Decency and Dignity.
Thanks. I wanted more D Words, but could only come up with two. : )
Damoiselle ?
They only like those in white hoods and red capes.
The ones with crosses on them.
I've noticed on my local political blog that some Conservative posters are a little "uncomfortable" with democracy. Or at least democracy that includes anyone but people who look like them.
"Oh, The Tribe is Tribe
And The Rest is Rest,
And never the twain shall meet"
Consewertives are neurologically predisposed against people who aren't like them. Plus they are control freaks.
They don't necessarily hate it, they just like $$$$ and Power more enough to break the rules until somebody holds them to task.
These are NOW the people who would have been Tories in Revolutionary times, as opposed to what they were too many decades ago.
This was one of my stock replies to consewertives at the TBT.
Q. What were conservatives called in 1770s and 80s?
A. Tories.
OT - Baby donny is truly deranged
𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐝𝐬, 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐇𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-death-penalty-firing-squad-executions-1234679447/
Don the Con wants to kill!kill!kill! now? Funny how he had the chance to serve his country in Vietnam where he could've unleased his inner killer yet filed 5 deferments to avoid doing so.
Now why would he do that? Was he following a family tradition?
His father would have disowned him. In T̲o̲o̲ ̲M̲u̲c̲h̲ ̲a̲n̲d̲ ̲N̲e̲v̲e̲r̲ ̲E̲n̲o̲u̲g̲h̲, there is a passage where Fred Trump told Donald that, if he ever joined the military, Fred would disinherit him.
The message is simple: Trumps 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗘𝗗. They never, EVER SERVE.
Bone Spurs sneers at veterans and calls them "suckers and losers."
Gods, how I despise that man.
Donny's malignant narcissism was still in a nascent stage at that time. It took 3 decades of conning New York City, building and then bankrupting 3 Atlantic City casinos, becoming indebted to the Brooklyn-based Russian Mafia, and finally getting bailed out as a celebrity in The Apprentice for Donny to reach the apex of self-serving malignant narcissism to rise in the political sphere. His ascent was fully enabled by the Christian right...for reasons that are abundantly clear from everything this site stands for.
The psychopathology of malignant narcissism and the utter stupidity and gullibility of the evangelical/Christian/Catholic right to fall for it is a topic that few, if any journalists have the temerity or intelligence to tackle. They all dance around it because nobody wants to "offend" the electorate: that is, Stupid 'murica. Once again, Trump does his voodoo right in plain sight.
"I love the uneducated" is a maxim that has served Trump well.
Hence the brilliance of 'Jesus Was Born January 6.' https://sweatingthesmallstuff.substack.com/p/jesus-was-born-january-6
Sasha Baron Cohen in segments of Who Is America and in Borat 2 has done the best job thus far. He's not a journalist but is a brilliant satirist--for whom the LEFT finds "offensive" enough to CANCEL.
Sounds like fleeing national service is a family past time.
They're only here because The Kaiser kicked grandpa out of the country for being a money-grubbing coward.
If someoene told him that he would have been followed by a camera crew he would have gone.
The same guy who bragged that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue had no intention of finding himself in a situation where his enemy could shoot back.
Thus is the way of the tyrant and the bully- always quick to use violence... but even quicker to flee 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 it.
Like capital punishment of any kind has ever done anything to deter violent criminals.
"Kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong." The Apricot Assassin lives a murderous fantasy world.
IIRC most murders are in the heat of the moment, not planned.
And for the most part, the victim's families feel no closure with the execution of the perpetrator.
Life without the possibility of parole would give them closure a hell of a lot sooner than waiting through all of the appeals to get their bloodthirsty revenge.
Also covers for Legal system malfeasance in election-winning, but utterly wrongful, convictions.
It's not just doctors who bury their mistakes.
The point isn't deterrence, it's retribution- and spectacle, for the bloodthirsty fucks who make up the MAGAt segment of the electorate.
...and 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, to get mass slaughter nice and normalized for the rest of the complacent masses, before the real party starts.
They're working on that, starting with the schools.
And yet there is always a clamour in NZ for "getting tough on crime" commonly called Laura Norder. And I keep saying, if tough on crime worked then the US would be the safest place in the world and yet it isn't. But it's beating your head against a brick wall essentially.
Same morons don't understand that The State with financial and monetary policy in it's control don't need balanced budgets like the in-duh-vidual think.
Knowing the difference is one of those things that separates the demagogues from the democrats.
Capital punishment is carried out by, and in the name of, The State.
Guess who IS The State?
Clue: It's a lot like the "What is a Church?" and "The Congregation" thang.
There is a French comic "Idées noires" which illustrate the idea that anyone who kill someone have to die too with a heavy load of sarcasm.
https://images.app.goo.gl/YFbHjGRb1dRZ7sQ86
Now if only I understood French. ;)
(And the illustrations are kinda blurry)
I know, I couldn't find anything better.
A man on death row is decapitated and his executioner is decapitated right after and it continues (you can see the row of guillotines in the last picture).
By the way in the first and second pictures there is a priest playing with his crucifix like it's a plane toy 😁
I am surprised he doesn't want concentration/death camps to go with it.
Give him time.
Don't give him any ideas. He used to keep a book of Hitler's speeches by his bedside, according to ex-wife Ivana.
I am not on twitter, there is no risk.
Keep, not read, I still believe he is dyslexic.
He couldn't get through anybody's written speeches because he loses interest if he doesn't see his name in at least every other paragraph.
What he WANTS and what he can GET at this point is an important distinction.
"Deranged" is clearly the word, among too many others.
BTW, wonder if Dorito Benito would suddenly grow Shoulder Spurs if he was required to personally execute these people?
The Trumps could even be like the Pierrepoints, in the UK and it might even give the Stupidest Trump Son a lifetime job, while freeing up his 'corporate' responsibilities for someone (that's just about anyone) more competent.
The Dems could also 'fix' the system when they're in power with the ole 'Ko-Ko of Titipu Solution' for ending executions in the land.
I have a feeling baby donny would enjoy being the executioner.
Probably depends on the skin color of the person on the business end of the firearm.
For a hilarious read on this topic of a Trump-led apocalypse, a must-read is Donald J. Trump: Anointed by God: Jesus Returns by I.M. Probulos. https://www.amazon.com/Donald-J-Trump-Anointed-Returns-ebook/dp/B09DCW2FCY
And whether he could make more money by killing them or keeping them alive.
What's so painfully obvious about this delusional belief is that if "God"--Jesus himself, or his father Yahweh-- is so omnipotent and omniscient, then all humans would already be Christian, and there would already be a theocracy, in which case the USA would be a paltry third world country like every other theocracy. For that matter, there would be no need to have 168 separate nations on the planet. Christianity is no longer a belief: it's a full blown delusion.
The latest Mark Maron Special on HBOmax is tremendous as commentary on Christinanity from a Jewish POV, and on the banality of Organized Religion from a Humanist POV.
If only these scared little bunnies could start thinking like adults.
But, as long as a buck is to be made or a free lunch to be snuffled down at the Congressional Pig Trough there will be parasites to take advantage of that situation.
When will the Dems REALLY harness all the dissatisfaction, because it CAN be done as the last presidential and mid-terms showed?
"From Bleak to Dark"? Will bookmark, thanks.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwYjFmP0boY
Agree up to Dems. Party of Woke finds the political Center to be Kryptonite.
If you think the Dems are the "Party of Woke" then you are as dumb as that remark.
NO religion gets to decide or declare what is and isn't true. NO religion gets to decide or declare what is and isn't moral. This is very a very simple and undeniable FACT. It's also the law in the US because of the 1st Amendment establishment clause. These whackos need to be reminded of this EVERY time they try to push their hateful, ignorant, bigoted BS on the rest of us. What their religion tells them is of absolutely zero value, has ZERO meaning for anyone not of their particular faith, no more than the commands of Zeus or the mud god from some tribe dead thousands of years. It would help to also remind them there are thousands of different christian sects in this country, so which one gets to choose?
Isn't 'declaring' stuff just about the only Business Model they have?!
In the US, The Law says they are not allowed to force their 'declaring' on The People, especially those who think Religion's 'declaring' is dogshite. But, other parts of the Constitution allow people to say what they want, within certain boundaries affecting public safely (as defined by the zeitgeist) and to meet with each other to participate in their religion (again, within limits). The Religion still is People, unless there's a verifiable god who has come to live on Earth we don't know about.
Sounds like a case of merely enforcing The Law, which is, of course, impeded by the SCOTUS Religious Bigot Bloc and 200+ years of Christian Privilege. The Founding Religious Bigots would never have allowed that Religious Freedom to become law if they thought it would end their descendants' occupations as Professional Religious Parasites, which is why that precedence, etc. is NOW an issue. Similarly, the slave trade was bolstered by religion, and even the Founding Father who concocted the Freedom of Religion wasn't about to let slavery be ended.
Sure, it's hard, to maintain The Law, and sometimes change isn't fast enough, but Democracy is messy and The Law is all we got apart from outright rebellion, which is what The Other Side also has as an option.
BTW, if you're thinking of moving to an atheist country to live, one that forbids organized religion (maybe not folk religion), let us know what you find out there. It would be interesting to see what other things they ban, or what other things are absolutely required.
'Declare' can mean simply assert something, but it can also mean to state something as the official position, e.g., what should be assumed as fact. Why would I want to move to some authoritarian country? Everyone really should understand that atheists are BY FAR the best friends of religious freedom. Alito and the rest of the 5 exposed the massive contempt they have for the citizens and the Constitution by claiming their rulings were FOR religious freedom, it's a show of not just contempt but profound dishonesty.
The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life. —Guess Who, Berlin, 1933, first radio address after coming to power.
The Guess Who formed in 1965. I don't see any info about a European tour so I don't know if they ever played Berlin, but certainly not in '33.
Grrrr.
Mussolini ? Franco ? 🤔
Who?
A death "doctor".
No, I don't think jomicur means that publicity whore with a reality telly show on the BBC.
The church was a tool Hitler used but seemed to intend to supplant, later, because there would be no power sharing in his State and by his Furher. To me, that quote doesn't put Christinanity in charge, just a basis for a docile Volk.
The French Revolution and much of Communism used atheism to avoid having Religion challenge the power of the state from the beginning.
The US Constitution is a quasi-stable attempt to tame Relgion, but Goobers will be Goobers.
This is exactly why the (mostly) Deist founders disliked and distrusted Christians and why they didn't want religion of any kind to have a seat at the table of governance.
Jesus' statement that his kingdom was not of this world would seem to put the kibosh on any idea of a "Christian America" but it wouldn't be the first time we believers have disregarded something he said.
His statement giving his return before the current generation passed away also pissed off the Uber driver left waiting for him at The Holy Pickup Site, too.
Why would Jesus need an Uber when he drives a cab in hell?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_the_Galactic_Bus
Typical apologist response: Jesus said you can move a mountain. He did not say, don't bring a shovel.
In very fundamentalist West Virginia, they are indeed moving mountaintops in search of coal. I’ve seen a few of these flat mountains* and they are ugly. And they dump all the dirt and rock somewhere where it fouls the nearby rivers and streams. And then they burn the coal. So yes, you can move a mountain but it’s a dumb thing to do.
“Mountain Top Removal” if you haven’t heard if it.
* They don’t look at all like the buttes and mesas in the west.
And, amazingly, "God Tole'Em" they could do it!
More proof of God!!
Gonna need more than a shovel, unless it's one of them Special Mountains like the Bluegrass Big Rock Candy Mountain.
If you're not a YECcie, there's a whole subcontinent that was tearing through an ocean like a sports car and ended ended up in a MASSIVE collision with an 18 wheeler, raising the currently highest geography on the planet.
But, even that's just a matter of time.
The Constitutuon puts the kibosh on any idea of a christian America. What a supposed Jesus supposedly said is irrelevant.
The Constitution, unfortunately, offers protection only so long as the people doing their dead level best to gut its protections are still willing to pay lip service to it as they do so. When they decide that they don't need to keep up the act anymore, we're going to find out very quickly how fragile that document really is.
Well, I mean... Nicholas Cage got his hands on it pretty easily...
I agree regarding the Constitution but unfortunately there's more than a few of our fellow Americans who take a different position. What Jesus said is not irrelevant to the issue, though, because his statement can be used to challenge Christian Nationalists. You never know, it might get through to some of them. I like how easy it is to respond on Substack instead of how slow and painful it is on the OnlySky site.
Even if this country were founded on Christian values and teachings (it wasn't), that wouldn't be a very good argument for establishing a state religion, nor for operating a modern country based on those same values and teachings. I rather think that the many abuses of religious groups in this country alone would provide arguments aplenty 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 theocracy, not for it... and if we then weigh the balance of human history, it's perfectly clear that those governments functioned best which were influenced by religion the least.
The whims of deities and their eternal thirst for worship- even if they ever did exist- are entirely incompatible with secular government, whose goals must be the security and welfare of mortal beings in the here and now.
OT -
𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲’𝐬 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐱-𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/local-state/2023-02-17/only-in-florida-pasco-family-swimming-pool-shaped-like-six-shooter
Squirt gun.
Would he have accepted his friend's idea if he was a proctologist or a gynecologist ?
I forgot to include that the husband is registered as a Democrat and his wife is No Party Affiliation.
In the TV show 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐷𝑜𝑙𝑙 there is a vagina on the back of the bathroom door, and the door handle is a gun.
https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/j57gvx/russian-doll-netflix
"typical BOUGIE powder room"
Why a candle have anything to do with a bathroom ? 🤔
Pool looks almost as useless as a six-shooter at a real deer hunt.
Let's hope everyone from builder, to pool maintenance, to the tax man, to the insurance company got their claws into him.
Just another "Oh, Grandpa!" moment, assuming he has any grandchildren.
O/T: Another shooting incident - in Australia this time, with an extremist Christian cult - and US roots
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/18/2153431/-Another-shooting-incident-in-Australia-this-time-with-an-extremist-Christian-cult-and-US-roots?utm_campaign=trending
"Go forth and slaughter all nations."
Isn't that the directive given in the Tanakh to The Chosen?