The United States enjoys as much freedom of religion as can be found on earth, and I will never understand why that isn’t enough for some people. Christianity is the most factionalized religion on the planet. Nothing else even comes close, so it begs the question of which Christian tribe is going to be in charge? The obsession with forcing their religion into the public schools is also a open admission as to just how weak their message ultimately is. Why is it ever acceptable to present things to children as facts an educated adult would most likely reject if hearing them for the first time?
We're talking about Christians who are SO INSECURE about their beliefs that they cannot tolerate alternative opinions, let alone religions. They need EVERYTHING and EVERYONE to LOOK LIKE THEM, including and especially RELIGION, and I suspect they won't stop until they either get their way or are presented with such an impermeable barrier that they CANNOT get their way.
And once again, we're looking at a fight which has no endgame.
I believe the great diversity among True Christians (TM) is what will ultimately save us from their domination. Baptists do not accept Pentecostals, and Church Christ folks believe they are the only pathway to heaven. And conservative Protestants will never accept Catholics of any background.
Possibly. But then again, why don't these evangelical (Protestant) Christians stop wasting their time try to infiltrate the public schools and instead form more of their private schools? Let them pool their money instead of spending it on lawyers' fees.
Btw - have you ever heard of a metre of beer? (Not to confuse with a yard of ale.)
In some parts of Europe you can order a metre of beer: That's a long plank of wood (1m length) with cutouts of 10 or 11 glasses, it's used to serve 10 or 11 glasses of beer or lager.
Fantastic point, oraxx. Christians can't even agree among themselves what their dogma is, why should we let them force any particular flavor onto our kids? Want to hear what's wrong with christianity? Just ask a member of any other denomination.
I see the UK comes in at No. 3 despite having a state-supported religion, responsible for installing the head of state who reciprocally endorses the Church of England (but not other parts of the UK). The C of E also has twenty-six reserved places in the House of Lords (another institution that needs reforming), the upper House of Parliament, where they are currently (along with others) delaying the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill for religious purposes, although they deny that, of course.
I tried to understand their methodology but it didn’t seem intuitive. As Vanity Unfair points out, the UK scores very highly despite some structural provisions that favor one particular flavor of one religion fairly strongly.
Agreed. I come from a Mormon religious tradition, and it absolutely baffled me how Mormons could align themselves with Christian Nationalists in supporting tRump, as so many of them do. Those same Christian Nationalists would rip a Mormon to shreds and cannibalize him, while other Mormons padded along behind, panting like needy little lap dogs begging to be accepted.
The KPOP Act gives all appearances to be a deft counter to Project Blitz, which is little more than the Gish Gallop, taken to the next level. It's a recognition that the US is NOT a Christian nation and that students studying in the US deserve a neutral environment to study in. Oh, of course, Christian Nationalists will gnash their teeth and rent their hair at its proposal, and its passage in the current political milieu is a distance from guaranteed.
Long overdue. It’s also what those of us who oppose this regime are looking for more broadly in leadership. Someone to step up and strengthen our institutions and ALSO make them better.
The KPOP name might appeal to younger folks (see K-POP or KPop Demon Hunters) but it’ll probably frighten the religious folk (not necessarily a bad thing). I think Secular Bill of Rights is pretty self explanatory.
It likely varies by the kind of Christian. During my explorations of Christian Post, which caters to the batshit crazy evangelicals (YECs, biblical literalists, Islam is a false religion, etc) secular definitely equals atheist. Pagans are heathens.
There’s a cottage industry among the commenters there for redefining words. Legal abortion is murder because god has defined it that way. I got a great one a few days ago: “libertarianism today means leftist communism”.
Example after example that shows that the Christian fascist assholes don’t know the meaning of words they toss around! The worst part is that these jesusfuckers won’t look words up in the dictionary, because the fluff that passes for their brain believes that dictionaries are books written by the devil!
That is the level of ignorance that we (non-MAGAS) have to deal with!
The worst of the move is accomplished. I’m waiting for my 1st cup of coffee on my third morning in the new house. We got overwhelming response from craigslist to give away a bunch of stuff, when buynothing.com got only one or two responses.
And maybe some people are finally starting to fight back against the religious reich and their overweening pride, prejudice, smugness, and desire for religious Dominion over the lives of people who don’t share their beliefs.
When I was moving I put everything I wanted to get rid of on the side of my house (I lived on a corner), code in my neighborhood for “FREE”. Everything found a new home. I’ve since discovered my newish neighborhood does the same thing. If it’s sitting on the parkway, it’s free.
Thanks. We did a lot of putting stuff out on our driveway. But the largest stuff wasn’t going to work and it’s raining. I got a huge response to a free craigslist ad. That’s what I’m dealing with now
You are quite right. That’s not quite the link. It’s just the one that was told to be originally. But it wasn’t the one I used. I have the pictures up on the site, but got only one or two inquiries. Craigslist free maybe around 30 of them. Now I have to answer all of those emails with the news that whoever gets there first gets the stuff.
Thank you, Secular Coalition! It's about time people started standing up for the rights of conscience that the Founding Fathers sought to protect from the time Jefferson first penned the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. As for the 'ten commandments', which exist more the breach than in practice, not only are they not historical in that there's no evidence they ever existed, we don't even have reliable evidence that Moses existed. Stop passing off fairy tales as history, christians! And leave the kids alone!
If the bible were truly historical, then the ancient Egyptians would've been wiped out in the so-called great flood (a tall tale plagiarized and exaggerated from an earlier tall tale). Yet those pesky Egyptians are there to allegedly enslave Moses and the Israelites. Another story for which there is no evidence. On top of that, the bible offers no explanation of how a civilization that supposedly drowned should reappear as if by magic.
The Bible is full of magical explanations for everything. So I’m sure somewhere in there it’s how the Egyptians could reappear and build all of those pyramids. After all, if Noah could build an arc, Egyptians could build a lot of monuments.
All the pyramids were built 1,000 years before Moses. Oops! :)
If we're talking about whether or not the pyramids were built before or after the non-existent flood, we cannot go by the fairytales found in the bible (especially numbers by YECs).
This is the way. Do everything possible to prevent the NatCs in the NSGOP from destroying true religious freedom. The theocrats hate the Establishment Clause. They want the Free Exercise Clause to only apply to Christianity. Their end goal is mandatory conservative Christianity, and we must do everything we can to prevent that.
About damn time is right. We need to fight as dirty as our opponents do, or they'll end up getting their way simply because we've declined to step into the ring. Playing by the old rules in a fight against creeping theocracy is suicidal. They don't recognize the old rules, only their own rules- the ones they make up on the spot every time they move the goalposts around. They see things in absolute terms, and they'll do anything they think they have to in order to get what they want; any concession made to civility or propriety in the face of that kind of lawless zealotry is an open invitation to greater abuse. They want to "flood the zone?" Then it's time for some fucking sandbags. Enough of this "they go low, we go high" shit.
That "they go low, we go high shit" should have been tossed out the window years ago, like sometime shortly after Watergate revealed the first glimpse into the total disregard for rule of law that has become the GOP trademark. There may have been prior glimpses, but this is the first one I remember hearing about on the news when I was a child. IMHO, from that time forward, Democrats should have just assumed the GOP would continue their disregard for laws they held others to, and come out prepared for a fight every day.
Instead, they have (until recently) continued playing by the Marquess of Queensbury Rules while the GOP was brandishing switchblades. I am generalizing, of course, and we have had some really great moments from Jasmine Crockett, AOC and others, but it is really heartening to see the gloves finally begin to come off across the board.
Actually, I've spent many, many summer vacations in Indianapolis and I can't remember it raining. I'm sure it did, but it has been years. I do remember a blizzard there once over christmas vacation.
Not really related but we had the hottest, most humid, and weirdly driest summer last year in Maryland. My bride and I, both in our 60s, remember the decade from roughly 1966 to 1976 as being exceptionally snowy. I grew up in the Midwest and she on Long Island. And, still not really related, Maryland schools are almost paranoid about snow and cancel school at the mere hint of a storm so my kids think that any snow at all is a five alarm emergency.
“You can't argue with insanity. You can stare at it, gaping and incredulous, but arguing with it is futile.”
Richelle E. Goodrich
Imagine if there was just one Christian? In truth, there was only one Christian and that was Jesus. He died on the cross. Without these types of numbers of so-called Christians, I think collectively we might deem that person insane and in desperate need of mental help.
I've always wondered how these people can reconcile the fact that their Christian God was Jewish. I know they go on about Judaeo-Christian and all that, but they are so often anti-Semitic. I did once argue online with an American lady who thought that – well "knew" that Jesus was 6 foot tall and blond.
When I say he was the only Christian I mean it in the way that he “created” it and I believe it died along with him (the first, the last, the only). I’m not sure what it turned into after that, but probably not what he intended it to be. I guess we will never know a dead man’s intentions and frankly I don’t care as the current version/reality/history of it is what we are living with.
I was also told that jeezyboy was a Christian. So I said if jeezyboy was a Christian, then why in the book of Luke does Mary and Joseph present Jesus to the Jewish elders in a Jewish temple. I also mentioned if jeezyboy was a Christian, then why would he celebrate Passover which is a Jewish religious festival.
Usually when I point that out I get no response, or I am told that I am going to hell, or I hate goddybitch. The Christians will hem and haw, or give me a nonsense answer, anything but actually answer my question.
As for Christianity history of antisemitism, well it is there if they only look for it! Most Christian fascists only care about the Jews in terms of their end times fantasy; which is for Jews to return to holy land and rebuild the temple so jeezyboy can come back. Then the Jews must either convert or be sent to hell with the rest of us!
As for actual antisemitism, the Christian fascists will ignore it or indulge in it: from Musk’s Nazis salute, to what’s her name that stated that the forest fires were caused by Jewish space lasers (a variation of it is the fault of the Jews), to having an actual stage in a form of a Nazis symbol at CPAC.
It is amazing that Christian fascist can walk and chew gum at the same time!
Yes! We should use their strategies against them. We need to bolster the constitution and clarify rules, that is what legislation is for. Let’s hope more states use this tactic and introduce these bills, even if some don’t pass, there might be some that do.
OT there are quite a few more typos in this article than I usually see. Is Hemant okay? Or should we expect more articles coming today?
“Two brothers were arrested the same day by the Kentucky State Police: Glen Dale McKinney, a 64 y/o Trump supporter, and Donnie McKinney, 62. Both face charges of first-degree r*pe and first-degree s*xual ab*se involving children UNDER 12.
Glen Dale McKinney’s Facebook page is filled with Bible-thumping morality signaling and pro-Trump posts.
Court records show bond set at only $5K cash each.”
Child abuse by clergy is getting to be so “common” that we (people that frequent this blog) that we are no longer surprised about it! In fact, we actually expect it; that clergy would verbally, physically, and sexually abuse children. That is the sad part it seems not to be a rare occurrence, but a daily reminder of one of the evils of religion!
The response from schools around the state of Texas to these ridiculous mandates is showing the limits of this push. Parents are pulling their kids out of some of these rural schools that went along with the plan and it has forced the school districts to rethink what they are doing. Nothing terrifies a poor school more than a dwindling student body. Some of the larger districts saw the writing on the wall and have refused to go along with the idiocy for the same reason- parental pushback.
This brand of ideology, for what I can see, cares little about anything other than its own maintenance and promotion. Welfare or education of students? Meh. Advancement of the state or its contribution to the nation? Feh.
It amounts to a particularly egregious form of narcissism.
It is. These morons have spent so long inside their silos they have forgotten about reality. Start messing with the kids and the people wake up pretty fast. I have said for years that Texas was the laboratory for what we see happening now. That means also that we have decades of corruption and incompetence and its effects on society as evidence. I believe it all crashes here first because it started here first.
Another thing is the long term plan in Project 2025 ( fully informed by Dunn et al) is to permanently create a de facto slave class here. Their plan is to shunt all the public school students to the military and the rich kids in their private schools will be exempt. The TEA started this years ago when they dropped Algebra 2 as a requirement for hs graduation. You can’t get into college without Algebra 2. Kids and parents that aren’t aware of this probably just assumed they weren’t cut out for college. Personally I want more trade schools back as an option like it was when I went to hs in the 80s. Fuck them and what they are trying to do to my grandkids future and trust me now when I say that covers all the kids in this state. https://tea.texas.gov/academics/graduation-information/state-graduation-requirements/required-notification-regarding-algebra-ii.pdf#:~:text=A%20student%20is%20not%20required%20by%20state,not%20successfully%20complete%20an%20Algebra%20II%20course.
I’d guess that nothing would be a more effective pushback in Texas than pulling some of the best football players out of school. “I’m sorry, it’s either the 10 commandments posters or my boy the starting quarterback. Take yer pick!”
What we have seen in Texas for the last thirty years or so is an attempt to turn this state into a theocracy. Texas Monthly has been writing about it for years. All of the carpetbagger’s ( outsiders- see Ted Cruz et al) that moved to this state quickly sucked up to these fracking billionaires for power. Now the red maga counties like ector (Odessa ) are in play because as it turns out when there is no water everyone starts to notice the incompetence of why that happened. Factor in the schools, the lack of employees available to critical sectors and the loss of hospitals in rural areas and the Texas GOP has no where to run- they have been in power for decades here. And now the Epstein files are out there and that is unforgivable. Here is a recent story from Texas Monthly on this. They have been writing about this for decades. The Texas Tribune is also excellent. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/billionaire-tim-dunn-runs-texas/
Could I ask a different question, it's related to you mentioning water. I've read about water issues in Jackson, where it seems that there was systemic and consistent neglect of the water infrastructure, because the (state) government chose to spend money in the [insert colour] suburbs. And I've read stories about parasitic worm problems due to sewage not being connected to any treatment systems.
The above stories were from elsewhere, can I ask what's the situation in Texas? We outsiders think of Texas as Houston and Dallas (!), of oil wealth and technology, but you must have rural areas, which are very different. I'd be interested to hear a bit more? Thank you.
I am not sure about the parasitic worm or sewage issues since each town usually has its own treatment plants. I do know at least two metro areas (El Paso and Wichita Falls) retreat and reuse their water due to the extreme droughts and it’s pretty effective. As for ground water we have no way of really knowing how much the oil and fracking companies are using since they lie so much and have the regulatory body of the Tx Railroad Commission in their pockets. I have read national reports from out side the state that offer alarming estimates. It’s enough settling of the bedrock that we have earthquakes normalized here now. I was physically threatened by one of these oil and gas guys for suggesting that in the desert water was more valuable than oil or gas and suggesting that he seemed a little dehydrated from hiking in the heat lol. He insisted it was only “dinosaur water” and I told him he and his family should be forced to drink it every day for the rest of their lives. Of course his family was based out of Laredo and we are talking the Permian Basin so …Each ground water district has elected managers at the local level and I know at least in far west Texas they are really fighting to maintain the water and prevent fracking and drilling out there . El Paso owns one ranch out there as does the Ysleta tribe ( I think it’s the Ysleta) so they have access to the last major aquifer in Texas out west .
And now they are bringing in the data centers which will need so much water it will threaten life as we know it. Corpus Cristi which is actually ocean facing, has a desalination plant and a groundwater district is facing running out of water because of the data centers in their area. I am fairly sure the data centers are the only reason Abbott and the GOP put any money into the ERCOT grid because their past actions show they don’t give a flying fuck about actual Texas people.
Not sure if that helps. The groundwater reports are available on line . Not sure why the oil and gas industry can’t partner with the data centers to treat and reuse the water I stead of reinjecting it or putting it into the streams.
Texas does show what happens when a population doesn’t believe / understand science anymore and is run by religious nut jobs stripping and extracting every resource . Dunn and his bro bought land in Idaho so they can flee when this place is used and unrecoverable. I hope Texans wake the hell up and soon.
They can't / won't do it. They have their stinking Great Commission, and they can't look past that. What they purposefully ignore, at least in North America and most of Europe is that the word about Jesus is already out.
And the reviews are getting more negative by the day.
The United States enjoys as much freedom of religion as can be found on earth, and I will never understand why that isn’t enough for some people. Christianity is the most factionalized religion on the planet. Nothing else even comes close, so it begs the question of which Christian tribe is going to be in charge? The obsession with forcing their religion into the public schools is also a open admission as to just how weak their message ultimately is. Why is it ever acceptable to present things to children as facts an educated adult would most likely reject if hearing them for the first time?
We're talking about Christians who are SO INSECURE about their beliefs that they cannot tolerate alternative opinions, let alone religions. They need EVERYTHING and EVERYONE to LOOK LIKE THEM, including and especially RELIGION, and I suspect they won't stop until they either get their way or are presented with such an impermeable barrier that they CANNOT get their way.
And once again, we're looking at a fight which has no endgame.
I believe the great diversity among True Christians (TM) is what will ultimately save us from their domination. Baptists do not accept Pentecostals, and Church Christ folks believe they are the only pathway to heaven. And conservative Protestants will never accept Catholics of any background.
That is a dangerous fantasy.
No kidding. Sisyphus and his stone would be child's play by comparison.
Possibly. But then again, why don't these evangelical (Protestant) Christians stop wasting their time try to infiltrate the public schools and instead form more of their private schools? Let them pool their money instead of spending it on lawyers' fees.
But, but, but….the Tiny Commission.
Because with Christians, freedom of religion is never enough. It must their religion and their religion alone that should receive any recognition.
Christians do not play well with others.
History has definitely shown that Christianity never plays well with others!
Or each other!
ESPECIALLY each other!
True, I did forget that, but I am sure everyone knew what I was driving at!😇
Sorry John - I had not read your post before posting myself.
Can’t be repeated too often.
A fact supported by world history.
Freedom of religion isn't enough for them because they don't want freedom of religion.
Fascists don’t like freedom.
Or, they want it for themselves, but no one else.
An mile for mee, an inch for thee.
I thought you Brits went metric!
Btw - have you ever heard of a metre of beer? (Not to confuse with a yard of ale.)
In some parts of Europe you can order a metre of beer: That's a long plank of wood (1m length) with cutouts of 10 or 11 glasses, it's used to serve 10 or 11 glasses of beer or lager.
Here's a pic: https://media.s-bol.com/PlpMMQvqnXQy/j1K02l/1200x394.jpg
And an explanation: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meterbier
In the US, a “flight” of small samples of beer (3 or 4 ounces each) is common.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_flight
I have not heard of that. Shame on me!
I just thought of a metric option:
A metre for mee, a litre for thee.
;-)
I'm trying to fit in with everyone else around here ....
:-)
Any more than the people who won't shut up about freedom of speech want freedom of speech. They want freedom from consequences for themselves alone.
Fantastic point, oraxx. Christians can't even agree among themselves what their dogma is, why should we let them force any particular flavor onto our kids? Want to hear what's wrong with christianity? Just ask a member of any other denomination.
"The United States enjoys as much freedom of religion as can be found on earth."
Do you have a source for that? I haven't found a source that has the US even in the top ten.
Here's one example. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/20-countries-most-religious-freedom-063155059.html
I see the UK comes in at No. 3 despite having a state-supported religion, responsible for installing the head of state who reciprocally endorses the Church of England (but not other parts of the UK). The C of E also has twenty-six reserved places in the House of Lords (another institution that needs reforming), the upper House of Parliament, where they are currently (along with others) delaying the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill for religious purposes, although they deny that, of course.
I tried to understand their methodology but it didn’t seem intuitive. As Vanity Unfair points out, the UK scores very highly despite some structural provisions that favor one particular flavor of one religion fairly strongly.
Agreed. I come from a Mormon religious tradition, and it absolutely baffled me how Mormons could align themselves with Christian Nationalists in supporting tRump, as so many of them do. Those same Christian Nationalists would rip a Mormon to shreds and cannibalize him, while other Mormons padded along behind, panting like needy little lap dogs begging to be accepted.
One would think that members of the LDS Church would know enough about their persecution at the hands of christians in the 19th century.
Because they were NEVER about “freedom”.
Only domination.
The KPOP Act gives all appearances to be a deft counter to Project Blitz, which is little more than the Gish Gallop, taken to the next level. It's a recognition that the US is NOT a Christian nation and that students studying in the US deserve a neutral environment to study in. Oh, of course, Christian Nationalists will gnash their teeth and rent their hair at its proposal, and its passage in the current political milieu is a distance from guaranteed.
Doesn't change the fact that KPOP is NECESSARY.
Long overdue. It’s also what those of us who oppose this regime are looking for more broadly in leadership. Someone to step up and strengthen our institutions and ALSO make them better.
Might ALSO send the message that coercive Christianity IS NOT WELCOME!
The KPOP name might appeal to younger folks (see K-POP or KPop Demon Hunters) but it’ll probably frighten the religious folk (not necessarily a bad thing). I think Secular Bill of Rights is pretty self explanatory.
KPOP? We call it KSODA around here.
(Actually, usually pop. : )
Kcoke hereabouts. All pops or sodas are cokes where I grew up.
Same here. And all tissues are Kleenex, all bandages are Band-Aids, and all crayons are Crayolas :)
Hoover?
Dam.
Places where every soda is Coke, including Pepsi, are the reason I only ever order iced tea when I go out.
Sweet or unsweetened?
𝘕𝘰𝘯-sugared leaf water, if you please!
KSunkist here and KPepsi for my gal! 😉
Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TZmNObLkAU
Extra obligatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arQcprQvHOo
Yabbut….they think “secular” = “atheist”.
I think it’s more like secular = heathen, tomato tomahto, but your point is well taken
It likely varies by the kind of Christian. During my explorations of Christian Post, which caters to the batshit crazy evangelicals (YECs, biblical literalists, Islam is a false religion, etc) secular definitely equals atheist. Pagans are heathens.
There’s a cottage industry among the commenters there for redefining words. Legal abortion is murder because god has defined it that way. I got a great one a few days ago: “libertarianism today means leftist communism”.
Example after example that shows that the Christian fascist assholes don’t know the meaning of words they toss around! The worst part is that these jesusfuckers won’t look words up in the dictionary, because the fluff that passes for their brain believes that dictionaries are books written by the devil!
That is the level of ignorance that we (non-MAGAS) have to deal with!
The worst of the move is accomplished. I’m waiting for my 1st cup of coffee on my third morning in the new house. We got overwhelming response from craigslist to give away a bunch of stuff, when buynothing.com got only one or two responses.
And maybe some people are finally starting to fight back against the religious reich and their overweening pride, prejudice, smugness, and desire for religious Dominion over the lives of people who don’t share their beliefs.
When I was moving I put everything I wanted to get rid of on the side of my house (I lived on a corner), code in my neighborhood for “FREE”. Everything found a new home. I’ve since discovered my newish neighborhood does the same thing. If it’s sitting on the parkway, it’s free.
Enjoy your new place.
Thanks. We did a lot of putting stuff out on our driveway. But the largest stuff wasn’t going to work and it’s raining. I got a huge response to a free craigslist ad. That’s what I’m dealing with now
That's great news: Handing over some bread & salt for you.
xx
Thank you for your good wishes.
"buynothing.com" doesn't come up. You might want to check the URL.
Howzabout dis
buynothingproject.org
THERE you go! 😁
You are quite right. That’s not quite the link. It’s just the one that was told to be originally. But it wasn’t the one I used. I have the pictures up on the site, but got only one or two inquiries. Craigslist free maybe around 30 of them. Now I have to answer all of those emails with the news that whoever gets there first gets the stuff.
Thank you, Secular Coalition! It's about time people started standing up for the rights of conscience that the Founding Fathers sought to protect from the time Jefferson first penned the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. As for the 'ten commandments', which exist more the breach than in practice, not only are they not historical in that there's no evidence they ever existed, we don't even have reliable evidence that Moses existed. Stop passing off fairy tales as history, christians! And leave the kids alone!
If the bible were truly historical, then the ancient Egyptians would've been wiped out in the so-called great flood (a tall tale plagiarized and exaggerated from an earlier tall tale). Yet those pesky Egyptians are there to allegedly enslave Moses and the Israelites. Another story for which there is no evidence. On top of that, the bible offers no explanation of how a civilization that supposedly drowned should reappear as if by magic.
The Bible is full of magical explanations for everything. So I’m sure somewhere in there it’s how the Egyptians could reappear and build all of those pyramids. After all, if Noah could build an arc, Egyptians could build a lot of monuments.
All the pyramids were built 1,000 years before Moses. Oops! :)
If we're talking about whether or not the pyramids were built before or after the non-existent flood, we cannot go by the fairytales found in the bible (especially numbers by YECs).
I once asked a fundamentalist christian if there were high-water marks on the pyramids. No comment followed.
Well of course the flood covered the pyramids. And it ruined all of the grain stored inside.
😜
We don't call it the buy-bull for nothin'.
https://youtu.be/4wunGF3oMA0
Mel Brooks was sucha genius!! 😂😂
Is.
𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒; 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑘. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐼𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑—𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡-𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
This is the way. Do everything possible to prevent the NatCs in the NSGOP from destroying true religious freedom. The theocrats hate the Establishment Clause. They want the Free Exercise Clause to only apply to Christianity. Their end goal is mandatory conservative Christianity, and we must do everything we can to prevent that.
Of all the forms of government humans have dreamed up, few are worse than theocracy.
About damn time is right. We need to fight as dirty as our opponents do, or they'll end up getting their way simply because we've declined to step into the ring. Playing by the old rules in a fight against creeping theocracy is suicidal. They don't recognize the old rules, only their own rules- the ones they make up on the spot every time they move the goalposts around. They see things in absolute terms, and they'll do anything they think they have to in order to get what they want; any concession made to civility or propriety in the face of that kind of lawless zealotry is an open invitation to greater abuse. They want to "flood the zone?" Then it's time for some fucking sandbags. Enough of this "they go low, we go high" shit.
That "they go low, we go high shit" should have been tossed out the window years ago, like sometime shortly after Watergate revealed the first glimpse into the total disregard for rule of law that has become the GOP trademark. There may have been prior glimpses, but this is the first one I remember hearing about on the news when I was a child. IMHO, from that time forward, Democrats should have just assumed the GOP would continue their disregard for laws they held others to, and come out prepared for a fight every day.
Instead, they have (until recently) continued playing by the Marquess of Queensbury Rules while the GOP was brandishing switchblades. I am generalizing, of course, and we have had some really great moments from Jasmine Crockett, AOC and others, but it is really heartening to see the gloves finally begin to come off across the board.
Fingers crossed it's not too little, too late.
"And there’s no reason Republican lawmakers can’t get on board either."
Yer killin' me here Hemant! They can't because they're tRumpsucking morons who despise equality in religion, race, or any other area.
"That doesn’t mean conservative Christians won’t complain."
In between their cries of persecution and their arrests for raping children they will surely complain.
This strategy is long overdue. Use the same tactics that haters do: flood the zone with legislation that opposes christian nationalism.
Christians never don't not complain, ever.
And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time.
https://www.climatestotravel.com/images/charts/indianapolis-united-states.png
🌧️🌧️🌧️
Facts. Humph!
Actually, I've spent many, many summer vacations in Indianapolis and I can't remember it raining. I'm sure it did, but it has been years. I do remember a blizzard there once over christmas vacation.
Not really related but we had the hottest, most humid, and weirdly driest summer last year in Maryland. My bride and I, both in our 60s, remember the decade from roughly 1966 to 1976 as being exceptionally snowy. I grew up in the Midwest and she on Long Island. And, still not really related, Maryland schools are almost paranoid about snow and cancel school at the mere hint of a storm so my kids think that any snow at all is a five alarm emergency.
EEEEK, a TRIPLE negative! That earns style points!
One more and larry could be the quadgod!
Can't handle the landing. (Too soon?)
[shrug] I feel bad about Malinin, though. 😥
“You can't argue with insanity. You can stare at it, gaping and incredulous, but arguing with it is futile.”
Richelle E. Goodrich
Imagine if there was just one Christian? In truth, there was only one Christian and that was Jesus. He died on the cross. Without these types of numbers of so-called Christians, I think collectively we might deem that person insane and in desperate need of mental help.
I've always wondered how these people can reconcile the fact that their Christian God was Jewish. I know they go on about Judaeo-Christian and all that, but they are so often anti-Semitic. I did once argue online with an American lady who thought that – well "knew" that Jesus was 6 foot tall and blond.
When I say he was the only Christian I mean it in the way that he “created” it and I believe it died along with him (the first, the last, the only). I’m not sure what it turned into after that, but probably not what he intended it to be. I guess we will never know a dead man’s intentions and frankly I don’t care as the current version/reality/history of it is what we are living with.
I’ve got news for her. The average height for a man of Jesus’ time and region was 5’5”/5’6”.
"6 foot tall and blond." - and abs of steel.
Abs or ...?
I almost said buns of steel, but I've never seen him from behind.
Maybe he was like this
pinterest.com/pin/943856034389894223/
I was also told that jeezyboy was a Christian. So I said if jeezyboy was a Christian, then why in the book of Luke does Mary and Joseph present Jesus to the Jewish elders in a Jewish temple. I also mentioned if jeezyboy was a Christian, then why would he celebrate Passover which is a Jewish religious festival.
Usually when I point that out I get no response, or I am told that I am going to hell, or I hate goddybitch. The Christians will hem and haw, or give me a nonsense answer, anything but actually answer my question.
As for Christianity history of antisemitism, well it is there if they only look for it! Most Christian fascists only care about the Jews in terms of their end times fantasy; which is for Jews to return to holy land and rebuild the temple so jeezyboy can come back. Then the Jews must either convert or be sent to hell with the rest of us!
As for actual antisemitism, the Christian fascists will ignore it or indulge in it: from Musk’s Nazis salute, to what’s her name that stated that the forest fires were caused by Jewish space lasers (a variation of it is the fault of the Jews), to having an actual stage in a form of a Nazis symbol at CPAC.
It is amazing that Christian fascist can walk and chew gum at the same time!
Yes! We should use their strategies against them. We need to bolster the constitution and clarify rules, that is what legislation is for. Let’s hope more states use this tactic and introduce these bills, even if some don’t pass, there might be some that do.
OT there are quite a few more typos in this article than I usually see. Is Hemant okay? Or should we expect more articles coming today?
I didnt sea any typeos.
Christian nationalists:
Not trans
Not drag queens
Not immigrants
Not protestors
Just human filth.
“Two brothers were arrested the same day by the Kentucky State Police: Glen Dale McKinney, a 64 y/o Trump supporter, and Donnie McKinney, 62. Both face charges of first-degree r*pe and first-degree s*xual ab*se involving children UNDER 12.
Glen Dale McKinney’s Facebook page is filled with Bible-thumping morality signaling and pro-Trump posts.
Court records show bond set at only $5K cash each.”
https://ibb.co/6cwDskK0
Scum of a feather slime together, yet it’s atheist, gays etc that are proclaimed immoral.
Human filth is probably raising those two inbred, brain dead, jesusfuckers up to high a level!
If atheists had done this, there would have been ZERO bail. They would have remained behind bars.
But then again, atheists don't have a track record of raping children. That's a Christian thing.
Christian fascists assholes are synonymous with child abusers!
Especially "Youth Pastors."
Child abuse by clergy is getting to be so “common” that we (people that frequent this blog) that we are no longer surprised about it! In fact, we actually expect it; that clergy would verbally, physically, and sexually abuse children. That is the sad part it seems not to be a rare occurrence, but a daily reminder of one of the evils of religion!
Now, I am depressed that I think I will go have a damm drink to ease the pain and anxiety of my previous statement!😔
$5K? Neither one looks like they have that much money, but that is still way too low. Add a couple of zeros at least.
How many Trump-loving child rapists were at the Capitol on Jan 6 and were later pardoned by Trump?
I would wager most of them were Trump-loving child rapists. I would give none the benefit of the doubt.
Those two like the poster creeps for Stranger Danger.
The response from schools around the state of Texas to these ridiculous mandates is showing the limits of this push. Parents are pulling their kids out of some of these rural schools that went along with the plan and it has forced the school districts to rethink what they are doing. Nothing terrifies a poor school more than a dwindling student body. Some of the larger districts saw the writing on the wall and have refused to go along with the idiocy for the same reason- parental pushback.
This brand of ideology, for what I can see, cares little about anything other than its own maintenance and promotion. Welfare or education of students? Meh. Advancement of the state or its contribution to the nation? Feh.
It amounts to a particularly egregious form of narcissism.
It is. These morons have spent so long inside their silos they have forgotten about reality. Start messing with the kids and the people wake up pretty fast. I have said for years that Texas was the laboratory for what we see happening now. That means also that we have decades of corruption and incompetence and its effects on society as evidence. I believe it all crashes here first because it started here first.
Another thing is the long term plan in Project 2025 ( fully informed by Dunn et al) is to permanently create a de facto slave class here. Their plan is to shunt all the public school students to the military and the rich kids in their private schools will be exempt. The TEA started this years ago when they dropped Algebra 2 as a requirement for hs graduation. You can’t get into college without Algebra 2. Kids and parents that aren’t aware of this probably just assumed they weren’t cut out for college. Personally I want more trade schools back as an option like it was when I went to hs in the 80s. Fuck them and what they are trying to do to my grandkids future and trust me now when I say that covers all the kids in this state. https://tea.texas.gov/academics/graduation-information/state-graduation-requirements/required-notification-regarding-algebra-ii.pdf#:~:text=A%20student%20is%20not%20required%20by%20state,not%20successfully%20complete%20an%20Algebra%20II%20course.
It’s a thirty year plan folks. And we are in the action phase of it.
I’d guess that nothing would be a more effective pushback in Texas than pulling some of the best football players out of school. “I’m sorry, it’s either the 10 commandments posters or my boy the starting quarterback. Take yer pick!”
That sadly is where the leverage is.
I have cousins in western TX.
It’s a whole new world out there.
I'd really appreciate it if you could expand a little on your note. It might be obvious to Americans what you mean but I am baffled.
Thank you.
What we have seen in Texas for the last thirty years or so is an attempt to turn this state into a theocracy. Texas Monthly has been writing about it for years. All of the carpetbagger’s ( outsiders- see Ted Cruz et al) that moved to this state quickly sucked up to these fracking billionaires for power. Now the red maga counties like ector (Odessa ) are in play because as it turns out when there is no water everyone starts to notice the incompetence of why that happened. Factor in the schools, the lack of employees available to critical sectors and the loss of hospitals in rural areas and the Texas GOP has no where to run- they have been in power for decades here. And now the Epstein files are out there and that is unforgivable. Here is a recent story from Texas Monthly on this. They have been writing about this for decades. The Texas Tribune is also excellent. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/billionaire-tim-dunn-runs-texas/
Thank you.
Much appreciated.
It’s confusing but the truth is out there too.
I'll read the attached articles. Thank you.
Could I ask a different question, it's related to you mentioning water. I've read about water issues in Jackson, where it seems that there was systemic and consistent neglect of the water infrastructure, because the (state) government chose to spend money in the [insert colour] suburbs. And I've read stories about parasitic worm problems due to sewage not being connected to any treatment systems.
The above stories were from elsewhere, can I ask what's the situation in Texas? We outsiders think of Texas as Houston and Dallas (!), of oil wealth and technology, but you must have rural areas, which are very different. I'd be interested to hear a bit more? Thank you.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/13/alabama-raw-sewage-crisis-trump-dei
I am not sure about the parasitic worm or sewage issues since each town usually has its own treatment plants. I do know at least two metro areas (El Paso and Wichita Falls) retreat and reuse their water due to the extreme droughts and it’s pretty effective. As for ground water we have no way of really knowing how much the oil and fracking companies are using since they lie so much and have the regulatory body of the Tx Railroad Commission in their pockets. I have read national reports from out side the state that offer alarming estimates. It’s enough settling of the bedrock that we have earthquakes normalized here now. I was physically threatened by one of these oil and gas guys for suggesting that in the desert water was more valuable than oil or gas and suggesting that he seemed a little dehydrated from hiking in the heat lol. He insisted it was only “dinosaur water” and I told him he and his family should be forced to drink it every day for the rest of their lives. Of course his family was based out of Laredo and we are talking the Permian Basin so …Each ground water district has elected managers at the local level and I know at least in far west Texas they are really fighting to maintain the water and prevent fracking and drilling out there . El Paso owns one ranch out there as does the Ysleta tribe ( I think it’s the Ysleta) so they have access to the last major aquifer in Texas out west .
And now they are bringing in the data centers which will need so much water it will threaten life as we know it. Corpus Cristi which is actually ocean facing, has a desalination plant and a groundwater district is facing running out of water because of the data centers in their area. I am fairly sure the data centers are the only reason Abbott and the GOP put any money into the ERCOT grid because their past actions show they don’t give a flying fuck about actual Texas people.
Not sure if that helps. The groundwater reports are available on line . Not sure why the oil and gas industry can’t partner with the data centers to treat and reuse the water I stead of reinjecting it or putting it into the streams.
Texas does show what happens when a population doesn’t believe / understand science anymore and is run by religious nut jobs stripping and extracting every resource . Dunn and his bro bought land in Idaho so they can flee when this place is used and unrecoverable. I hope Texans wake the hell up and soon.
https://apple.news/A-ExKB1kASZKQH0GSjKW3gQ
You haven’t listened to K-pop until you’ve heard it in the original Klingon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arQcprQvHOo
I'm not going to click unless you can assure me that it's not about Bibbo Baggins.
It's actually fun.
It’s Bruce Horak.
I just now realized my mistake. Spock was Vulcan and not Klingon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsCVuO1yeJc
Konservative Khristian Komplainers: the new KKK.
Wouldn’t it be great if they would stay busy teaching their religious shit in their churches instead of their political beliefs?
They can't / won't do it. They have their stinking Great Commission, and they can't look past that. What they purposefully ignore, at least in North America and most of Europe is that the word about Jesus is already out.
And the reviews are getting more negative by the day.
I think we need to start referring to it as the Alright Commission.
Or perhaps the Proselytizing Commission!
Truth in Labeling.
Ohhhh, you betcha!