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Jane in NC's avatar

And now the case gets kicked to the College of Cardinals, where 5 of the 6 extremists are catholic [Roberts, Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito, Coney Barrett] and one is nominally episcopalian but was raised catholic [Gorsuch]. Deck. Stacked.

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larry parker's avatar

I'm sure the catholic justices will recuse themselves.

I crack myself up sometimes.

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Jane in NC's avatar

You're such a card, Larry!

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

He's an ace! He is a deuce of an ace!

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Munchygut's avatar

Episcopalian is just a catholic without the pope.

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Dianne Marie Leonard's avatar

Episcopalian: 1/3 less guilt than your regular religion.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

That's why they get the big bucks, for cases such as these.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I remember a time when rightwing xtians objected to the idea of a Catholic (JFK, in this case) being President because they were convinced the Vatican would have his ear and that he would take his marching orders from Rome. Nothing could have been further from the truth. John Kennedy thoroughly debunked that notion and stated that he was firm believer in strict church-state separation.

Compare and contrast to now, where a Catholic-dominated SCOTUS is making the rules. Or at least "interpreting" them. My, how times and positions have changed.

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Holytape's avatar

As the CEO of Our Lady of the Private Jets and as managing partner in Jesus's Health Care Consortium, I hope that the wise and unbiased supreme court rules correctly that religious organizations are religious and therefor are tax exempt and should be exempt from all laws. The laws of men are meant to guide the non-religious to righteousness. But the religious are righteousness, by default. And as such, I don't see how it would benefit a religious organization and society in general, to allow IRS or the SEC or OSHA to have any oversite over how we worship God, be it by offering security-back bonds or by running a chemical plant? Do you atheists even know the meaning of the word freedom?

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Bagat's avatar

Father bigbux of the Rollin' Cadillac Church of the Holy Pedophiles.

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RegularJoe's avatar

You misspelled "Wholly".¹

(¹ Those pesky homos².....)

(² Homophones. 😁)

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Julie Nickell's avatar

What a stupid comment. Gee how long did it take you to think that one up.

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larry parker's avatar

Who's Dom? And why should we let him go?

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Marilyn Lemons's avatar

OK, I'm done trying to be reasonable on this issue; tax all religious organizations period end of story.

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Bagat's avatar

They have already taken over government. This is just one more overreach by scrotus goddamned kkkatlik (_!_)

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

👆👆👆👆🎯

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Joe King's avatar

𝑇𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐... 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑥. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑑.

Of course SCOTUS is planning on overturning the Wisconsin decision. The current (mostly Catholic) conservative supermajority has shown much hostility to the Separation of Church and State. Even before the usurper, fratboy, and the handmaiden were installed, the conservatives there decided Hobby Lobby v Burwell, paving the way for this. I think at least a few of them would like to see every organization that wants to get oout of taxes declare they are (approved) religious. What are the odds they will rule so broadly that it will effectively eliminate ALL corporate taxes?

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Henri Issacson's avatar

love-- "the usurper, frat boy and the handmaiden" It made my day Joe, never underestimate the political power of them.

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John Smith's avatar

Religion allows one (SCOTUS) to be WRONG with authority! Paraphrasing a quote from the 2nd Doctor, Doctor Who The Mind Robbers

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

My guess is that, if someone sticks the label "Catholic" in front of their organization's name, they automatically get a free pass. Hell of it is, they could probably put "Baptist" or "Methodist" or "Lutheran" in the same place and get the same effect. Thing is, we have a total of SIX CATHOLIC JUSTICES on the Supreme Court at the moment. Anyone wanna dare to tell me that they'll put their religious beliefs aside and rule purely based on the law?

I double-dog DARE you to.

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Joe King's avatar

The biggest problem I have with religious organizitions (especially churches) tax exemptions is that those exemptions are granted 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. Every other tax exempt organiztion must jump through hoops to achieve that status. They have to follow certain rules and file certain forms to maintain that status. Religious organizations not so much. That is why Dobson's Focus on the Family declared itself a church, taking advantage of a gigantic loophole to start ignoring the IRS. If SCOTUS rules broudly on this, other organizations won't even need to resort to that obious subterfuge.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

It may be the single biggest assumption out there: that churches and especially Christian churches are GOOD as a matter of course, and thus should not be subject to the slings and arrows of federal oversight / taxation / et cetera. I still remember when American Atheists tried to force churches to file 990 forms like every other 501(c)(3), and SCOTUS shot that down with barely a blink.

You're absolutely right: the response is automatic, knee-jerk, action taken with barely a thought.

And it damned well should not be that way.

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Len Koz's avatar

Tax the churches.

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Old Man Shadow's avatar

If this is overturned, state government should start revoking all tax exemptions for religious organizations.

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Bagat's avatar

They love the idea that they can be a hate group and pay no taxes.

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RegularJoe's avatar

Everything I do is "religious" in nature, therefore I'm exempt from all your silly rules and laws. Right?

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

My religious belief is that LIFE IS A SACRAMENT and my every action becomes dedicated to that principle, through the Great Juju at the Electronics Department at Walmart.

So my tax exemption is in the mail, right?

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RegularJoe's avatar

As a follower of Tak, my religious obligation is to think. For me, that's a relatively simple task; for some others it's nigh on impossible, bless their little hearts.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

THINK??? Be careful, using that word around some Christians. Half of 'em won't know what you're talking about, and the other half will claim that you're persecuting them BY THINKING!

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Gail Shields-Miller's avatar

The muck and mire we are in now takes my breath away! The manipulations by the Catholic Church & the religious right/ evangelical forces just adds to the autocratic forces taking over with the election of TFG…chaos and inequality reign. America is sinking slowly down a rabbit hole of anti democratic laws , endowing oligarchs to reign, honest media to disappear and the country I know and cherish to slowly disappear. I am beyond frightened!

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Len Koz's avatar

The descent is speeding up.

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Robot Bender's avatar

After January 20 2025, I expect the descent of this country to become vertical. I see little reason for immediate hope right now. A blizzard of (undoubtedly already written) Executive Orders will hit the next day. I don't think many know what's going to happen and just how bad it will get.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

““The Wisconsin Supreme Court got this case dead wrong,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law firm that is representing Catholic Charities and its subentities. “CCB is religious, whether Wisconsin recognizes that fact or not.””

What an indictment of the church.

“Consider us religious so we don’t have to take care of or protect our employees.”

Is that really the bill you want to die on? Really? Ironic that these particular employees work to provide the same services you are fighting to deny them.

Why is this your stance? Why is refusing this particular responsibility so damn important to you? It seems like it’s because you don’t actually care about the charity or the people, just the power, control and funding doing this work gives you.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

I would have thought that religious organisations would WANT to take care of their workers. You know – it's the Christian thing to do. Hahahahahahahaha – I don't believe I just said that.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

If you’re paying attention, it actually is the Christian thing to screw over the employees and beneficiaries of your charity.

What they claim is Christian is the opposite of what they show us is Christian.

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Tinker's avatar

There is a really easy way to fix this:

Tax the churches. We would not need to delve into their religious motivations; they would just pay tax like everyone else does.

OK maybe not really easy but really correct.

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Marianne Cromarty's avatar

The courts are so biased there’s no way I believe that they are fair and impartial! It’s absurd to give the religions tax exemption! It absolutely makes zero sense if you take it from the stance of equality and impartiality.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

I wrote the following a couple years back:

This is an open letter to people who work for the government officially on our behalf, anyone from a cop to a president. This is addressed to those who serve in our government, yet cannot separate their job from their belief system. I’m thinking especially of those people who are convinced that the United States is a Christian nation.

I just have a little something to say. This won’t take long:

𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝐽𝑒𝑤, 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑚, 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡, 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑔𝑢𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒, 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 𝑶𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑰𝒔 𝑻𝒐 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑨𝑾. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐵𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑄𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝐵ℎ𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑑 𝐺𝑖𝑡𝑎 𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑯𝑨𝑺 𝑵𝑶 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬 ... 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑵𝑬𝑼𝑻𝑹𝑨𝑳.

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ... 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐼𝑂𝐷.

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Joe King's avatar

So well said, and so roundly ignored. Shame on those religiously motivated government officials.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

At times I think the whole concept of setting personal beliefs aside in favor of the law has been ignored / dismissed / disregarded more than this very moment in time. Believers have all decided to wear their faith on their sleeve, and any contradiction or alternative opinion amounts to persecution at minimum or a blatant personal attack at most.

It makes you wonder what happened to the grownups in the room.

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Joe King's avatar

Most of us are here in the FA commentariat.

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cdbunch's avatar

Hey, a handshake is considered assault now.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Yeah if you are shameless self-promoter/attention whore Nancy Mace.

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Robot Bender's avatar

No wonder public confidence in the USSC is at record lows.

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Bagat's avatar

Associated Press

After investigating Jan. 6, House GOP sides with Trump and goes after Liz Cheney

https://www.yahoo.com/news/investigating-jan-6-house-gop-225434491.html

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Bagat's avatar

W are witnessing the end of democracy.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

The GQP is taking orders from a guy who's been a private citizen for 4 years and still is for the time being.

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Bagat's avatar

Hoping for a heart attack

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NOGODZ20's avatar

His brain is turning into tapioca. Even if his body makes it, his mind won’t.

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Maltnothops's avatar

How will we be able to tell?

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Matri's avatar

Unfortunately not soon enough.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Turning into? Nah, the tapioca is going rancid.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

You're not the only one. I check online every morning for good news that scenario has occurred.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Well, as someone put it this morning – the only difference between her and the rest of the Republicans is that she doesn't believe in armed insurrection. So if I was American and voted in the US I'd be getting out my tiny violin.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I dislike her, but she hasn’t committed any crimes (unlike a certain spraytanned shithead).

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I can't even think od what the hell they could charge her with. Chairing a committee and carrying out its stated goals?

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Len Koz's avatar

Lack of loyalty to the Beast.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

JUST Liz Cheney, not the entire J6 committee? RINOS./s

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Lynn Veit's avatar

In their eyes, she's worse than a Democrat. She SIDED with them. She's a traitor.

Apparently these days, investigating crime is a crime.

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Len Koz's avatar

Investigating the burnt orange god-king is the crime.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Yes, it's like the arsonists in the republican party who worry about who blew the whistle on them, not the thing they set on fire.

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cdbunch's avatar

In news that will surprise no one, Monica has the vapors over the film 'Wicked' for openly queer characters and witchcraft.

https://www.comicsands.com/one-million-moms-wicked-boycott

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Good old "1 million" moms – Facebook following just over 4000.

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Matri's avatar

M.O.M.

Mathematically Obtuse Morons.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

It's one lady ,Monica Cole.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

It may come as a shock to Moronica, but Disney isn't losing any sleep over what she has to say.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I saw "Wicked." Mommy is deluded. But then, we already knew that.

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larry parker's avatar

It's not even that the characters are gay, they're not, it's that the actors portraying them are gay.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

She probably wouldn't be asking for their autographs then? :)

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larry parker's avatar

as of December 15, 2024:

US box office: $359,038,000

International box office: $165,933,000

Global box office: $524,971,000

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cdbunch's avatar

I wonder how she'd respond if Disney released 'Song of the South' from the vault.

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larry parker's avatar

It's probably her ring tone.

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cdbunch's avatar

And republicans want to force schools and teachers to out LGBT students. "It's not homophobic, we're 'protecting parental rights'" and people let them get away with this bullshit.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

If they could come out to their parents, they would come out to their parents. The fact they don't tells you they will be abused, and no parent has the "right" to abuse their kid, though so many in the ridiculous cults do.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠.

-- Forrest Gump

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Stupid often does too damned much. Or not enough depending.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Thing is, there's Forrest Gump stupid (and really, he wasn't), and then there's the kind of stupid reflected in what SCOTUS very likely will rule here, despite 200+ years of rulings favoring the secular nature of our government and maintenance of State / Church separation.

Those justices should know better ... and yet, more than likely, they will demonstrate either that they don't or that they don't care.

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cdbunch's avatar

They know better, they just don't care. They're bought and paid for.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

I wonder if ol' Monica got as bent about Margaret Hamilton and Billie Burke in the original Wizard of Oz!

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cdbunch's avatar

You’re assuming she saw either movie.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Yeah ... there's always THAT. 😝

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Bagat's avatar

THIS JUST MADE IT A "MUST SEE" MOVIE.

IT DOES **NOT** PUSH THE XTIAN AGENDA OF HATRED, DAMNATION AND PERSECUTION.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

saw "Good Omens" mini series for the same reason the xtians were having conniptions!

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XJC's avatar
Dec 17Edited

Meanwhile, Good ✝️ Christian children are exercising their God given Second Amendment rights in Wisconsin to shoot up a religious school. "Abundant Life": truly an oxymoron.

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Bagat's avatar

gOD HAS ALWAYS LOVED VIOLENCE, AS THE KKKAtlik church proved over and over again. Witch hunts, crusades, inquisitions, murder of the kkkatlik cathars.

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XJC's avatar

God has spoken: Fuck you, fools.

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Robot Bender's avatar

A certain sad irony there. 😔

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