100% and it's by design so that people won't unionize and ask to be treated better. Christianity in service to the investor class is precisely what it is!
And to be able to expect that christians/they will be praised because - they don't rape children, steal, murder and carry out other crimes - but only because their "god" stops them. Atheists refrain too, even better than the religious (e.g.,, check Google re the number of criminals in prison who identify as christian vs those who identify as atheists), because atheists have personal moral standards and value the lives of others. Shame the religious don't have personal morals.
Seems to me these Christians do, in fact, care about some lives on earth - their own. (They've gotta stay well enough to proselytize to the rest of us, after all.)
☝🏽 This! So much. I need to listen w/my headphones. I just read the subtitles.
I was terrified of being "left behind" when I was a kid. Almost as afraid of that as my mom. And I couldn't tell anyone. Church people would've thought that I was doing something wrong (I wasn't) & my mom would've just lit into me & I couldn't take her "help" b/c I knew what that would entail. I literally never told anyone until I got well out, and away from, all that nonsense.
Also the biggest self-fulfilling prophecy in all of history, except of course, you know, for the "fulfilling" part. I'm actually thinking of writing a piece about that at some point.
Same here. I was often afraid to let mom out of my sight, and terrified of going to sleep. If I woke up in the middle of the night, I would sneak into my parents' bedroom to make sure they were still there.
I actually thought the Rapture had happened one summer afternoon. There was a cake or something cooling on the kitchen counter and the car was in the garage, but I couldn't find mom anywhere in the house or yard. I freaked out for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only about ten or fifteen minutes, enough for me to search the house and yard three or four times. I was sobbing on the living room floor when I heard her outside, talking to the next door neighbor. She had gone over there to return something, I think, and had stayed to chat for a few minutes. I retreated to the hallway and crouched against the wall where I could see her come in while I tried to calm down. Like you, I couldn't tell her or anybody else about it, because what would she think?
To cope with that kind of mind fuckery, I eventually became very, very good at denial. christianity is child abuse.
And why catholic priests/nuns and other religious criminals continue to rape children and often get away with it for decades - with the help of their religious co-criminals - e.g., catholic priests can always rely on their bishops, cardinals, popes, devout parishioners, republican congress people, etc., to cover up their crimes. One example out of thousands,
Which is how so many parents can justify being heartless, judgmental, abusive, & manipulative to their offspring. B/C Jesus is more important than anything. My mom loved to tell me "No one ever said you'd get to be happy", & "tomorrow isn't promised" (they love that one) or other such awesome, pithy bits of wisdom. I used to think it was just her generation, but that's only a small part of it. Jesus was her answer to everything. Including all suffering. If you were suffering, it was your problem b/c you didn't pray enough, believe enough, or whatever. That brand of so-called Christianity made me so upset, miserable, & depressed when I was a teenager. I couldn't reconcile any of it w/what & how I felt.
If you look at the consumption habits of products and services plus general materialism of many US Christians - or those who identify as such because there is a difference - it could be argued that their consumption habits is evidence that they get their identify and sense of purpose through here and now material things and here and now experiences.
Any historical research on christian saints will reveal lives of material and physical contentment.
Ian, I think you make a great point and I see it regularly. Perhaps what I really mean is that Christians tend to exhibit their social welfare and environmental views in a way that suggests this is just a temporary existence that shouldn't matter as much as the ultimate eternal existence. They tend to express the view that those in need shouldn't worry so much and simply need to put their faith in God and focus on the next life. They seem to have the same views about the earth. Earth (and the environment) is just a temporary stop and we don't need to worry about preserving it for future generations. That even extends to the idea that we need to preserve this planet for future life, after humans cease to exist. Christians believe human beings were placed here by God and this planet is ours to do what we want with it. This is obviously contrary to reality.
We all are going to die, but Jesusing more makes it ok? Is she that clueles, or that cruel, or some combination of the two? Senator Ernst: 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. What you are trying to defend is letting people die from preventable conditions. If you allow people health care they live longer and better lives.That is something we have data for. Whether or not someone buys in to your religious dogma, if you take their health care, their lives will be nasty, brutish, and short. And here you are, telling people to accept that short and painful life for an undemonstrated good time in the sweet by and by pie in the sky.
Our forefathers knew this, too, Joe. They did everything they could, when writing our Constitution, to keep all religions out of our government. That was one of the most intelligent things they ever did when creating our country’s laws. It’s in the very First Amendment, so it was obviously an integral part of the general consensus.
Christian Nationalists are not good citizens. They cloak themselves in the dirty robes of their church and support evil. They are the enemy.
Section III of Article VI bans religious tests for holding public office, and it pre-dates the Bill of Rights. This speaks directly to how the framers of the Constitution felt about the issue of church-state separation.
Reminds me of the religious gruel the overlords fed the serfs and slaves…suffer now for a good time after death. And Christians have the audacity to demonize Radicalized Islamic terrorists for the same or similar mindset.
If this Big Bloated Bill passes, it is going to throw tax cuts at the ultra wealthy who already have more money than they can spend... It is only possible because they all auto propagandize at the trough of the reichwing media bubble. Spending cuts at this level will throw us into a depression, which will trigger more spending cuts (Paygo). They are trying their damnedest to throw us into an economic positive feedback loop.
They don't want to understand that if you give poor people money, it stimulates the economy because they go and spend it. Giving money to rich people only makes rich people richer and does nothing for the economy. The trickle down lie was debunked by the outcomes or Reagan's policies 40 years ago. They cling to it because they don't really care about the economy, they only care about having more for themselves.
But if you’re ILLEGAL, too old, sick & crippled to keep working N to EARN Medicaid then DEATH to you too you bums! Joni Earst, judge, executioner & super Christian will decide. No hurry cuz you’re goin
g to die anyway. THIS is America. NO FREE RIDES unless you’re a RICH WHITE REPUBLICAN politician. Then citizens will pay for your every need even if you’re a corrupt, grifting rapist, felon, traitor POS. THATS all OK with Joni!
Yes, Happy Pride Month everyone! I wonder if Jacksonville will light up the bridges, with flashlights for Pride Month, like they did last year because Deathsantis forbid them from celebrating with bridge lights?
I love it! They actually denied him over the land grabs of the state parks to a developer donor, and threw in a law that they can’t build golf courses in our parks!
It's no wonder why Christianity is often regarded as a form of a "death cult." They, just like Joni, always claim to have a way to eternal life only to end up leading people to their deaths in one way or another.
My daughter has a t-shirt that says "capitalism is a death cult." Capitalism and Christianity have worked together for a very long time--missionaries recruiting colonized peoples into giving away their resources, and now pastors telling cultists that they don't need to wear masks bc if they die of Covid, it was god's will, and the likes of Dave Ramsey telling Christians to worship their billionaire overlords as more holy than them. Let's not address the 40 year wage stagnation. No, let's shame people in debt and call them sinners.
And the likes of Dumb Idiot Ken Ham telling his "sheep" to disregard life saving forms of science, deny all of climate change, believe every lie the oil lobbyists tells them, and blame all of the bad things in the world on Darwin, Evolution, and Adam biting into the apple so they can use all the sin blaming as the best excuse they can come up with for not lifting a single finger to help people alleviate the sufferings cause by natural disasters and climate change.
Sorry. British usage. When you say “I’m pissed” we say “I’m pissed off” but we also “take the piss” ie “take the Mick” or “extract the Michael” depending on how prissy we are feeling.
If there were any one statement that demonstrated unequivocally just how disconnected and uncaring the Trump administration is from the general public, Joni Ernst put it out there in boldface. It may be tied with Trump's: "I don't care about you; I just want your vote," which could have been dismissed as a joke [piss poor joke!]. Trump never took back that line, but Ernst's piss-poor attempt at an apology further showed off just how clueless she is about her position and the impact she and her actions have on Americans.
That she got raked over the coals by a newspaper in fire-engine-red Iowa only seals the deal on Joni. She tried to defend the indefensible and got her words shoved down her throat.
Think she learned anything from this? Nah, neither do I.
I hope that's true. Unfortunately, Iowa has such a large rural population, and they are all Fox News conservatives. If they even hear that clip, they won't care any more than they care about the crap that comes out of trump. I hope I'm wrong. Fox News has another year to make their sheep forget about it of make them not care about it.
FAUX News also has to worry about the $2 Billion lawsuit they are facing (soon I hope) from SmartMatic. They will lose that case just as they lost the Dominion Voting Systems case. It could mean the end of FAUX News. Here’s an update:
Yes Joni, you vile hateful sadistic tight-assed control freak See You Next Tuesday, we are all going to die. You are not telling us anything that everybody on the entire fucking planet with two brain cells to rub together doesn't already know. We all get one life to live and most decent ordinary human beings try to help make life a little better for themselves, their family, and their friends, and sometimes even for people they don't know. If they are too poor and overworked to be George F. Baileys, at least they usually don't try to actively harm any one else for NO FUCKING REASON WHATSOEVER.
You on the other hand belong to that privileged subset of (often religion-addled) reptilian subhumans who get off solely on the meanness and cruelty they dish out to people already in desperate circumstances, people who don't have the resources to fight back when you attack them and take away their access to decent food and healthcare. No living out the only lives they get in a couple of decent rooms and a bath for them, oh HELL NO we can't have that! And oh, how watching their misery compounded by your actions must warm the cockles of that vile nasty little void where a heart should be. In your eyes, the poor and the sick don't deserve anyone's help precisely because they're poor and sick. That's what you and your ilk live for, and it is disgusting.
It isn't even enough that you live for this. You also find it offensive to your delicate Republican Jesus sensibilities that others want to help the very people you punch down on so cheerfully and enthusiastically in-service to your Republican Jesus. WTAF.
But no, the poor and sick should suffer because "we all die." That is a non sequitur of monumental proportions that you are either too evil or too willfully stupid to recognize.
So we all die. So what. That's an immutable part of the human condition, but it has absolutely nothing to do with why you want people you hate for no valid reason to suffer first. It's not that they're going to die anyway, it's that you want to enjoy the spectacle of human suffering you cause. If they could live forever and suffer forever because of you, that would be gravy. In fact, that is why your ilk invented the concept of hell in the first place.
Allow me now to refer you to another Jesus found in Matthew 25: 41-46, although this Jesus is nowhere to be found in the rancid cherry orchard where you and your sordid kindred spirits abide:
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
But go ahead and look forward to fucking your Republican Jesus in Pottersville Heaven. If I may paraphrase a line from another movie, you are in more dire need of a good fuck than any white woman in history.
I was with you all the way to the last sentence. Why do men think women they don't approve of for one reason or another are in need of a good fuck? And why do you think that would solve anything? Sorry, just too misogynistic for me.
Does make them non-misogynistic and if you find the idea that relieving sexual frustration can improve a person’s disposition offensive, well that’s on you.
I find Joni's hateful attitude and willingness to allow people she doesn't deem worthy, to die of preventable deaths, far, far, far more offensive than anything I could possibly think of to say to her, and that includes the c-word.
Sorry if you're bothered by the f-bomb, but she deserves far, far, far worse than than what any of us can dish out at this point. The words she deserves haven't been invented yet.
If you want to see really raw, hop over to Wonkette. I've read some things over there that would make a pro blush.
What cdbunch says below. And BTW I'm a woman too, and I know that would piss her off.
These folks, male and female, simultaneously find sex incredibly tempting and repulsively evil, so they fear it, obsess about it, and seek to rigidly control the sex lives of others, hence their fear of LGBTQ people. They have taken a natural, biological, and enjoyable (for most) part of being human, demonized it, and seek to control others' personal choices regarding it. Twist yourself into a pretzel over a part of what makes you human, you start seeing others who view it differently as disgusting and not-human, and treat them accordingly. Lacking the ability to be open about feelings and natural urges does make people mean.
Additionally I was speaking of consensual and ONLY consensual sex. That was the underlying sentiment of Robin William's line in "Good Morning Vietnam," addressing a particularly nasty and vicious male character. And too, he was actively trying to piss the guy off.
So yes, I imagine someone as ice cold and repressed and evil as Joni would fly into a rage if someone spoke to her in what she would regard as an incredibly obscene manner. I would hope that would piss her hateful ass off to no end.
This type of statement has been directed at both sexes, so I guess one could say it's both misogynistic AND misanthropic. If Joni were a man, I could have left the line in its original form. "You are in more dire need of a blow job than any white man in history."
I sent Joni the following email. Wonder if she'll reply?
Your response to your constituents' concerns was, "We All Are Going to Die".
Yep, we are. You go first. Swallow the business end of an M1911A1.
You voted *against* the PACT Act. As a former soldier, you should know damned well that there's a special place in Hell for those who leave their buddies behind. Again, you voted *against* the PACT Act. Go suck off the aforementioned M1911A2 and fuck straight off to Hell, you vile cunt. Go die in a dumpster.
You already know this, but the problem with letters to congress critters these days is that they are unlikely to read any of 'em. They get scanned by underlings, addresses and general content noted, MAYBE a form letter returned to the poster, then relegated to File 13. I haven't bothered to write either Bernie Moreno or Jon Husted since their election / appointment because I'm not convinced that EITHER OF THEM LISTEN.
And I mourn the departure of Sherrod Brown, because I know that HE DID.
My congresspig is Elise Stefanik. Any letters sent to her get get a form response back telling me what a magnificent job she thinks she is doing without addressing any issue I wrote about.
Yup. I get similar emails from Moreno and Husted, and I honestly don't expect anything different from them. Some years ago, I got a NON-form letter from Sherrod Brown, when I wrote him about proselytism in the military.
HE CARED. The current idiots couldn't give a rotten dump, so long as they get to cootchie-coo Donnie Dumb-Ass.
I am the lucky one, I live in a in a circonscription firmly anchored on the left, the only exception is the mayor (center-right) but he does a decent job. The only way for it to shift on the right would be to kill the voters before they cast their ballot.
Most recent form letter from my Congrasshole Walberg was in response to my query on his possible support for the Do No Harm Act. I asked if he would support it, and what reasons he had for either support or opposition. "If it comes to the floor for a vote, I will keep your position in mind." Weasel word minion response.
Not slowly enough. At best a minute or two. None of these scum rate that level of mercy. They need to scream until they lose the ability to make sound.
She just admitted to the extortion that Christianity is. We all know this but they try to make it out to be love anyway. She said we are going to kill you, you’re too stupid to figure that out, and you better get your house in order quick.
If we get to vote in the midterms, we need to eliminate every single republican from the house and senate we can.
Where jeezyboy says he comes to enforce the old law? Where he comes with a sword? Where he demands you hate your family? Where he told his followers to STEAL a horse and donkey? Where he kills a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season?
Funny how she wants everyone to play by the rules, now that she can kick people she doesn't like off a support system for not being eligible by the rules.
I'm currently 50 years old. Social Security is not funded though my retirement, and I have zero expectation that will change before I reach retirement age; my plan at this point is pretty much just flat not retiring and hoping for the best. Let me be completely clear here: 𝐼 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑎𝑔𝑒. I expect Medicare, Social Security, and any other government safety nets for the aging to vanish before I can claim them thanks to the largely Republican shenanigans of "you're not eligible!" despite having worked for most of my life and payed into those very same systems.
So when I hear some politician bleating on about 'eligibility' and 'abusing the system' and such, what I hear is an outright admission that the plan is to take the funding form these programs and spend it on what they consider to be the right people - wealthy, white, Christian households that do not include me. Throwing in the whole 'well, we are all going to die' bit really doesn't change a thing, it just makes the shallow indifference to anyone else's problems more obvious and from where I sit, it's completely on-brand.
Every last one of us as atheists have been accused to not giving a damn about morality, our fellow man, or doing good in the world because we don't believe in an afterlife or heaven. But look who the truly immoral, don't give a shit people really are: elected christians from 'real' America who think most of us should live on the economic edge so her billionaire campaign donors can live even higher on the hog.
Be afraid, not of dying, but of living in a world with people who care more about their afterlives than their real lives.
”It should be embarrassing to Christians how often Republicans use Jesus to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.”
Ryan Reynolds should be my boyfriend. Ryan and I should have a three-way with Ryan Gosling. I should be as pretty as I was 50 years ago.
The entire premise of Christianity is about not taking responsibility for your actions. All you have to do is apologize to Jesus and you can clear your mind of any atrocity.
meanwhile, Miss Hogclipper has given pro choice people the perfect argument. “We’re all going to die anyway” so why are you screaming about abortion?
Were her Jesus and afterlife real, Ernst would find herself taking a long chute to the hot place for not feeding, clothing and housing the needy. May she shuffle off this mortal coil at her earliest opportunity.
(Just now logging in. I thought today would simply be a carry over from yesterday, so I didn't chime in at my regular time. Should've known there'd be a new article). :)
The problem with most Christians is that they prioritize the afterlife and don’t value the life we have now.
You may be a slave, but if you're a really good slave, you'll get a tremendous reward, . . . after you're dead.
Pie in the sky by and by when you die. [it's a lie]
LOLOLOL
Yup keep that reward later BS GOING!
It keeps the peons in line. Keeps them working right up to the afternoon of their funeral.
𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 '𝐵𝑖𝑔 𝐵𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟,' 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑, 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑚 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑟 – 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟-𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏. [emphasis mine]
-- Christopher Hitchens
I really like that quote.
So do I. Can't ya guess? 😁
100% and it's by design so that people won't unionize and ask to be treated better. Christianity in service to the investor class is precisely what it is!
They use the afterlife as a catch-all excuse for their wildly inconsistent values and actions.
And to be able to expect that christians/they will be praised because - they don't rape children, steal, murder and carry out other crimes - but only because their "god" stops them. Atheists refrain too, even better than the religious (e.g.,, check Google re the number of criminals in prison who identify as christian vs those who identify as atheists), because atheists have personal moral standards and value the lives of others. Shame the religious don't have personal morals.
Seems to me these Christians do, in fact, care about some lives on earth - their own. (They've gotta stay well enough to proselytize to the rest of us, after all.)
They value it for those they deem inferior, they love their material comfort very much.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHjkTwzyjlP/?igsh=MTJyODhveWlwamIwNg==
😂😂😂
☝🏽 This! So much. I need to listen w/my headphones. I just read the subtitles.
I was terrified of being "left behind" when I was a kid. Almost as afraid of that as my mom. And I couldn't tell anyone. Church people would've thought that I was doing something wrong (I wasn't) & my mom would've just lit into me & I couldn't take her "help" b/c I knew what that would entail. I literally never told anyone until I got well out, and away from, all that nonsense.
Also the biggest self-fulfilling prophecy in all of history, except of course, you know, for the "fulfilling" part. I'm actually thinking of writing a piece about that at some point.
I’m so sorry you went through that as a kid.
THIS.
Same here. I was often afraid to let mom out of my sight, and terrified of going to sleep. If I woke up in the middle of the night, I would sneak into my parents' bedroom to make sure they were still there.
I actually thought the Rapture had happened one summer afternoon. There was a cake or something cooling on the kitchen counter and the car was in the garage, but I couldn't find mom anywhere in the house or yard. I freaked out for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only about ten or fifteen minutes, enough for me to search the house and yard three or four times. I was sobbing on the living room floor when I heard her outside, talking to the next door neighbor. She had gone over there to return something, I think, and had stayed to chat for a few minutes. I retreated to the hallway and crouched against the wall where I could see her come in while I tried to calm down. Like you, I couldn't tell her or anybody else about it, because what would she think?
To cope with that kind of mind fuckery, I eventually became very, very good at denial. christianity is child abuse.
and there are so many horrid religious songs with that message🤮
Yes, there are. Our youth group frequently sang that 'left behind' song from "A Thief in the Night."
And what makes that such a huge problem is that they don’t think it’s even a problem.
Religion has served the rich, powerful and upper classes well to keep the rubes from revolting.
🎯
Any Christian who believes this has clearly not read the New Testament enough.
And why catholic priests/nuns and other religious criminals continue to rape children and often get away with it for decades - with the help of their religious co-criminals - e.g., catholic priests can always rely on their bishops, cardinals, popes, devout parishioners, republican congress people, etc., to cover up their crimes. One example out of thousands,
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/the-new-pope-was-accused-of-covering-up-child-abuse-why-is-no-one-talking-about-it/
Which is how so many parents can justify being heartless, judgmental, abusive, & manipulative to their offspring. B/C Jesus is more important than anything. My mom loved to tell me "No one ever said you'd get to be happy", & "tomorrow isn't promised" (they love that one) or other such awesome, pithy bits of wisdom. I used to think it was just her generation, but that's only a small part of it. Jesus was her answer to everything. Including all suffering. If you were suffering, it was your problem b/c you didn't pray enough, believe enough, or whatever. That brand of so-called Christianity made me so upset, miserable, & depressed when I was a teenager. I couldn't reconcile any of it w/what & how I felt.
Hear what your saying but unable to fully agree.
If you look at the consumption habits of products and services plus general materialism of many US Christians - or those who identify as such because there is a difference - it could be argued that their consumption habits is evidence that they get their identify and sense of purpose through here and now material things and here and now experiences.
Any historical research on christian saints will reveal lives of material and physical contentment.
Ian, I think you make a great point and I see it regularly. Perhaps what I really mean is that Christians tend to exhibit their social welfare and environmental views in a way that suggests this is just a temporary existence that shouldn't matter as much as the ultimate eternal existence. They tend to express the view that those in need shouldn't worry so much and simply need to put their faith in God and focus on the next life. They seem to have the same views about the earth. Earth (and the environment) is just a temporary stop and we don't need to worry about preserving it for future generations. That even extends to the idea that we need to preserve this planet for future life, after humans cease to exist. Christians believe human beings were placed here by God and this planet is ours to do what we want with it. This is obviously contrary to reality.
I wish they would all leave and colonize Mars with Elno.
We all are going to die, but Jesusing more makes it ok? Is she that clueles, or that cruel, or some combination of the two? Senator Ernst: 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. What you are trying to defend is letting people die from preventable conditions. If you allow people health care they live longer and better lives.That is something we have data for. Whether or not someone buys in to your religious dogma, if you take their health care, their lives will be nasty, brutish, and short. And here you are, telling people to accept that short and painful life for an undemonstrated good time in the sweet by and by pie in the sky.
NSGOP cruelty is the point.
"What you are trying to defend is letting people die from preventable conditions."
↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑
ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY THIS!!!!!
Our forefathers knew this, too, Joe. They did everything they could, when writing our Constitution, to keep all religions out of our government. That was one of the most intelligent things they ever did when creating our country’s laws. It’s in the very First Amendment, so it was obviously an integral part of the general consensus.
Christian Nationalists are not good citizens. They cloak themselves in the dirty robes of their church and support evil. They are the enemy.
Section III of Article VI bans religious tests for holding public office, and it pre-dates the Bill of Rights. This speaks directly to how the framers of the Constitution felt about the issue of church-state separation.
💯
Reminds me of the religious gruel the overlords fed the serfs and slaves…suffer now for a good time after death. And Christians have the audacity to demonize Radicalized Islamic terrorists for the same or similar mindset.
If this Big Bloated Bill passes, it is going to throw tax cuts at the ultra wealthy who already have more money than they can spend... It is only possible because they all auto propagandize at the trough of the reichwing media bubble. Spending cuts at this level will throw us into a depression, which will trigger more spending cuts (Paygo). They are trying their damnedest to throw us into an economic positive feedback loop.
They don't want to understand that if you give poor people money, it stimulates the economy because they go and spend it. Giving money to rich people only makes rich people richer and does nothing for the economy. The trickle down lie was debunked by the outcomes or Reagan's policies 40 years ago. They cling to it because they don't really care about the economy, they only care about having more for themselves.
It was debunked by Keynes about a century ago.
*Sigh
Here we go again with trickle-down economics:
https://ibb.co/sp1xL0FL
It is a sickness. They can never have enough - never.
👆🎯
I think it is a real personality disorder in need of a name.
I do not disagree.
Well said. Do you mind if I send it to Joni in my weekly rant to her?
Go for it!
Dickensian levels of nasty, brutish, and short are what the repukes live for. Where else are they going to get that level of quality entertainment?
But if you’re ILLEGAL, too old, sick & crippled to keep working N to EARN Medicaid then DEATH to you too you bums! Joni Earst, judge, executioner & super Christian will decide. No hurry cuz you’re goin
g to die anyway. THIS is America. NO FREE RIDES unless you’re a RICH WHITE REPUBLICAN politician. Then citizens will pay for your every need even if you’re a corrupt, grifting rapist, felon, traitor POS. THATS all OK with Joni!
Sorry, this is the comment I'd like to send to Joni.
Until it happens to them, or someone they love, then they'll begin to champion assistance, benefits, & aide, as long as it helps them.
They'll champion it for themselves only, not for anyone else.
She is a Tumpite? Doesn't that say just about everything about this person?
Restacked your reply it was so good, thanks Joe.
Happy Pride Month to all who celebrate! 🏳️🌈🇺🇸
Just came back from a local pride festival. It was packed and no red hats in sight.
IOW, a perfect day! Awesome! 👏👏🏳️🌈
Yes, Happy Pride Month everyone! I wonder if Jacksonville will light up the bridges, with flashlights for Pride Month, like they did last year because Deathsantis forbid them from celebrating with bridge lights?
DeSantis has fallen so far out of favor, there might even be some republicans participating in the flashlight Pride Month lighting!
I love it! They actually denied him over the land grabs of the state parks to a developer donor, and threw in a law that they can’t build golf courses in our parks!
Oh, the horror!!! 😂
I'm a creature of the indoors, but even I think we need the tree museums.
They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them
No, no, no
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
https://stormlake.org/301/Heritage-Tree-Museum
𝐈𝐬 𝐑𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠’𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥?
After his WWE boos in Tampa, a case for Florida’s governor to go full villain.
https://www.creators.com/read/stephanie-hayes/05/25/how-to-remake-a-political-career-in-wrestling
He's not already full villain?
Got our flag out mid-morning.
It's no wonder why Christianity is often regarded as a form of a "death cult." They, just like Joni, always claim to have a way to eternal life only to end up leading people to their deaths in one way or another.
My daughter has a t-shirt that says "capitalism is a death cult." Capitalism and Christianity have worked together for a very long time--missionaries recruiting colonized peoples into giving away their resources, and now pastors telling cultists that they don't need to wear masks bc if they die of Covid, it was god's will, and the likes of Dave Ramsey telling Christians to worship their billionaire overlords as more holy than them. Let's not address the 40 year wage stagnation. No, let's shame people in debt and call them sinners.
And the likes of Dumb Idiot Ken Ham telling his "sheep" to disregard life saving forms of science, deny all of climate change, believe every lie the oil lobbyists tells them, and blame all of the bad things in the world on Darwin, Evolution, and Adam biting into the apple so they can use all the sin blaming as the best excuse they can come up with for not lifting a single finger to help people alleviate the sufferings cause by natural disasters and climate change.
Wow! 100% correct!
Your daughter’s t-shirt is absolutely correct, Sarah. You raised her well.
Etsy has several options (T-shirts, stickers, buttons) with that phrase, if anyone is interested.
She might just have got away with it were it not for the Tooth Fairy line. That killed her whole “apology” shtick stone dead.
Don’t give up the day job, love.
No, by ALL means, give up your day job and retire from the Senate, Joni!
Being a Brit I’d never come across her before and when u first saw it I thought it was a comedian taking the piss. What an altogether awful woman.
Making fun of.
A truly shitty comodian, more likely.
Taking the piss ?
Sorry. British usage. When you say “I’m pissed” we say “I’m pissed off” but we also “take the piss” ie “take the Mick” or “extract the Michael” depending on how prissy we are feeling.
I learned British English at school but not this kind.
And I would say "J'chuis vénère", not "I'm pissed" 🤣
If there were any one statement that demonstrated unequivocally just how disconnected and uncaring the Trump administration is from the general public, Joni Ernst put it out there in boldface. It may be tied with Trump's: "I don't care about you; I just want your vote," which could have been dismissed as a joke [piss poor joke!]. Trump never took back that line, but Ernst's piss-poor attempt at an apology further showed off just how clueless she is about her position and the impact she and her actions have on Americans.
That she got raked over the coals by a newspaper in fire-engine-red Iowa only seals the deal on Joni. She tried to defend the indefensible and got her words shoved down her throat.
Think she learned anything from this? Nah, neither do I.
If she survives a primary challenge, Iowa will have a democratic senator when her opponent at her next reelection plays that clip on repeat.
I hope that's true. Unfortunately, Iowa has such a large rural population, and they are all Fox News conservatives. If they even hear that clip, they won't care any more than they care about the crap that comes out of trump. I hope I'm wrong. Fox News has another year to make their sheep forget about it of make them not care about it.
Rural Iowan here. I don't watch Fox News and I'm not conservative.
FAUX News also has to worry about the $2 Billion lawsuit they are facing (soon I hope) from SmartMatic. They will lose that case just as they lost the Dominion Voting Systems case. It could mean the end of FAUX News. Here’s an update:
https://san.com/cc/smartmatic-says-fox-news-destroyed-evidence-in-2-7-billion-defamation-case/
"It could mean the end of FAUX News."
Oh please, oh please, please,please,pleaepleasepleasepleaseplease let it be so.
You're giving too much credit to that magat trash. They don't have the ability to reason or change.
I'll be watching and I'll be voting!
She made a massive mistake with that, and Dems should lean into that HARD.
All she'll do is whine about unfairly she is being treated.
Christian persecution in 3...2 ...1
Ya want some CHEESE to go with that WHINE, Joni? 😝
No shit, Sherlock.
Yes Joni, you vile hateful sadistic tight-assed control freak See You Next Tuesday, we are all going to die. You are not telling us anything that everybody on the entire fucking planet with two brain cells to rub together doesn't already know. We all get one life to live and most decent ordinary human beings try to help make life a little better for themselves, their family, and their friends, and sometimes even for people they don't know. If they are too poor and overworked to be George F. Baileys, at least they usually don't try to actively harm any one else for NO FUCKING REASON WHATSOEVER.
You on the other hand belong to that privileged subset of (often religion-addled) reptilian subhumans who get off solely on the meanness and cruelty they dish out to people already in desperate circumstances, people who don't have the resources to fight back when you attack them and take away their access to decent food and healthcare. No living out the only lives they get in a couple of decent rooms and a bath for them, oh HELL NO we can't have that! And oh, how watching their misery compounded by your actions must warm the cockles of that vile nasty little void where a heart should be. In your eyes, the poor and the sick don't deserve anyone's help precisely because they're poor and sick. That's what you and your ilk live for, and it is disgusting.
It isn't even enough that you live for this. You also find it offensive to your delicate Republican Jesus sensibilities that others want to help the very people you punch down on so cheerfully and enthusiastically in-service to your Republican Jesus. WTAF.
But no, the poor and sick should suffer because "we all die." That is a non sequitur of monumental proportions that you are either too evil or too willfully stupid to recognize.
So we all die. So what. That's an immutable part of the human condition, but it has absolutely nothing to do with why you want people you hate for no valid reason to suffer first. It's not that they're going to die anyway, it's that you want to enjoy the spectacle of human suffering you cause. If they could live forever and suffer forever because of you, that would be gravy. In fact, that is why your ilk invented the concept of hell in the first place.
Allow me now to refer you to another Jesus found in Matthew 25: 41-46, although this Jesus is nowhere to be found in the rancid cherry orchard where you and your sordid kindred spirits abide:
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
But go ahead and look forward to fucking your Republican Jesus in Pottersville Heaven. If I may paraphrase a line from another movie, you are in more dire need of a good fuck than any white woman in history.
Hé bin, t'es en forme aujourd'hui.
Thank you. I am also thoroughly pissed at this evil creature. I need a very strong drink to calm down and it's not even noon here yet.
I'll have a Quinta Ruban Glenmorangie later and think of you. All the best! 🥃
That's why it's always 4:20 at my house.
That's a good policy.
So you really, really like her!
/s
😈
Awwww, c'mon, Lynn! Tell us how you REALLY feel!
Seriously ... WOOF! An elephant could evacuate through what you just tore her!
Iowa is just below Minnesota. That is too close.
Yeah, and Ohio USED to be purple before Republicans fucked things up. 😖
Heavy sigh.
But, at least, we're above Missouri. : )
"I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah."
I was with you all the way to the last sentence. Why do men think women they don't approve of for one reason or another are in need of a good fuck? And why do you think that would solve anything? Sorry, just too misogynistic for me.
TBF, I've heard just as often "He needs to get laid" about a man who is too uptight or unpleasant, even cruel.
Or even a line in a favorite movie, "He's so horny, he's turned mean."
Doesn't make any of them less offensive.
Does make them non-misogynistic and if you find the idea that relieving sexual frustration can improve a person’s disposition offensive, well that’s on you.
I find Joni's hateful attitude and willingness to allow people she doesn't deem worthy, to die of preventable deaths, far, far, far more offensive than anything I could possibly think of to say to her, and that includes the c-word.
Sorry if you're bothered by the f-bomb, but she deserves far, far, far worse than than what any of us can dish out at this point. The words she deserves haven't been invented yet.
If you want to see really raw, hop over to Wonkette. I've read some things over there that would make a pro blush.
What cdbunch says below. And BTW I'm a woman too, and I know that would piss her off.
These folks, male and female, simultaneously find sex incredibly tempting and repulsively evil, so they fear it, obsess about it, and seek to rigidly control the sex lives of others, hence their fear of LGBTQ people. They have taken a natural, biological, and enjoyable (for most) part of being human, demonized it, and seek to control others' personal choices regarding it. Twist yourself into a pretzel over a part of what makes you human, you start seeing others who view it differently as disgusting and not-human, and treat them accordingly. Lacking the ability to be open about feelings and natural urges does make people mean.
Additionally I was speaking of consensual and ONLY consensual sex. That was the underlying sentiment of Robin William's line in "Good Morning Vietnam," addressing a particularly nasty and vicious male character. And too, he was actively trying to piss the guy off.
So yes, I imagine someone as ice cold and repressed and evil as Joni would fly into a rage if someone spoke to her in what she would regard as an incredibly obscene manner. I would hope that would piss her hateful ass off to no end.
This type of statement has been directed at both sexes, so I guess one could say it's both misogynistic AND misanthropic. If Joni were a man, I could have left the line in its original form. "You are in more dire need of a blow job than any white man in history."
Edited for typo and missing word.
I sent Joni the following email. Wonder if she'll reply?
Your response to your constituents' concerns was, "We All Are Going to Die".
Yep, we are. You go first. Swallow the business end of an M1911A1.
You voted *against* the PACT Act. As a former soldier, you should know damned well that there's a special place in Hell for those who leave their buddies behind. Again, you voted *against* the PACT Act. Go suck off the aforementioned M1911A2 and fuck straight off to Hell, you vile cunt. Go die in a dumpster.
You already know this, but the problem with letters to congress critters these days is that they are unlikely to read any of 'em. They get scanned by underlings, addresses and general content noted, MAYBE a form letter returned to the poster, then relegated to File 13. I haven't bothered to write either Bernie Moreno or Jon Husted since their election / appointment because I'm not convinced that EITHER OF THEM LISTEN.
And I mourn the departure of Sherrod Brown, because I know that HE DID.
My congresspig is Elise Stefanik. Any letters sent to her get get a form response back telling me what a magnificent job she thinks she is doing without addressing any issue I wrote about.
Yup. I get similar emails from Moreno and Husted, and I honestly don't expect anything different from them. Some years ago, I got a NON-form letter from Sherrod Brown, when I wrote him about proselytism in the military.
HE CARED. The current idiots couldn't give a rotten dump, so long as they get to cootchie-coo Donnie Dumb-Ass.
I am the lucky one, I live in a in a circonscription firmly anchored on the left, the only exception is the mayor (center-right) but he does a decent job. The only way for it to shift on the right would be to kill the voters before they cast their ballot.
Most recent form letter from my Congrasshole Walberg was in response to my query on his possible support for the Do No Harm Act. I asked if he would support it, and what reasons he had for either support or opposition. "If it comes to the floor for a vote, I will keep your position in mind." Weasel word minion response.
BRAVO!!!!
You are far braver than I am.
Wonder if I'll get a visit from the men in dark suits....I may well have been rude as fuck but I certainly did not express a threat, merely a wish. 😁
These scum need to be arrested, imprisoned, injected with cancer cells in every major organ and nature allowed to take its course.
Then we should have a national pool on who goes first and from which flavor of cancer.
Making them dance the Hemp Fandango on Pay-Per-View, and use the money to fund Drag Queen Story Hour events and other youth programs.
Too kind and too quick.
Zero-drop. Not at all kind nor quick. 😁
Not slowly enough. At best a minute or two. None of these scum rate that level of mercy. They need to scream until they lose the ability to make sound.
She just admitted to the extortion that Christianity is. We all know this but they try to make it out to be love anyway. She said we are going to kill you, you’re too stupid to figure that out, and you better get your house in order quick.
If we get to vote in the midterms, we need to eliminate every single republican from the house and senate we can.
You just cannot make this effluent up! She is the antithesis of the message, in the bible I read. But don’t believe in.
Where jeezyboy says he comes to enforce the old law? Where he comes with a sword? Where he demands you hate your family? Where he told his followers to STEAL a horse and donkey? Where he kills a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season?
Funny how she wants everyone to play by the rules, now that she can kick people she doesn't like off a support system for not being eligible by the rules.
I'm currently 50 years old. Social Security is not funded though my retirement, and I have zero expectation that will change before I reach retirement age; my plan at this point is pretty much just flat not retiring and hoping for the best. Let me be completely clear here: 𝐼 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑎𝑔𝑒. I expect Medicare, Social Security, and any other government safety nets for the aging to vanish before I can claim them thanks to the largely Republican shenanigans of "you're not eligible!" despite having worked for most of my life and payed into those very same systems.
So when I hear some politician bleating on about 'eligibility' and 'abusing the system' and such, what I hear is an outright admission that the plan is to take the funding form these programs and spend it on what they consider to be the right people - wealthy, white, Christian households that do not include me. Throwing in the whole 'well, we are all going to die' bit really doesn't change a thing, it just makes the shallow indifference to anyone else's problems more obvious and from where I sit, it's completely on-brand.
Remember this always. Their jesus in its unbounded love created eternal punishment in hell for finite sins.🤬
Man, was Tim Walz ever right with his "Republicans are weird" line.
An understatement of epic proportion!
I'm a gop,
I'm a qweirdo,
Why the hell there is aliens* here ?
They don't belong here 🎶
* American Natives.
Every last one of us as atheists have been accused to not giving a damn about morality, our fellow man, or doing good in the world because we don't believe in an afterlife or heaven. But look who the truly immoral, don't give a shit people really are: elected christians from 'real' America who think most of us should live on the economic edge so her billionaire campaign donors can live even higher on the hog.
Be afraid, not of dying, but of living in a world with people who care more about their afterlives than their real lives.
"Be afraid, not of dying, but of living in a world with people who care more about their afterlives than their real lives."
This bears repeating, loud and often.
Thanks, Lynn!
👍
”It should be embarrassing to Christians how often Republicans use Jesus to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.”
Ryan Reynolds should be my boyfriend. Ryan and I should have a three-way with Ryan Gosling. I should be as pretty as I was 50 years ago.
The entire premise of Christianity is about not taking responsibility for your actions. All you have to do is apologize to Jesus and you can clear your mind of any atrocity.
meanwhile, Miss Hogclipper has given pro choice people the perfect argument. “We’re all going to die anyway” so why are you screaming about abortion?
"I should be as pretty as I was 50 years ago."
I am. Depressing, isn't it.
I just like to say I’m better preserved than I was 50 years ago. Doesn’t that make it better?
That last sentence - good one!
Wouldn't you have to fight with cdbunch to get Ryan Renolds ?
YES.
No. I have utterly cowed him with my superior Christian manliness.
As long as they leave Chris Pine for me, I'd help set up their dates. 😊
Yep, jus helpin the babys get ta jebus faster.
Were her Jesus and afterlife real, Ernst would find herself taking a long chute to the hot place for not feeding, clothing and housing the needy. May she shuffle off this mortal coil at her earliest opportunity.
(Just now logging in. I thought today would simply be a carry over from yesterday, so I didn't chime in at my regular time. Should've known there'd be a new article). :)