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oraxx's avatar

It's hard to miss the fact there are no Republicans on this list. Republicans pander to the preachers while viewing human decency as a character flaw. I don't know who is using whom when it comes to Republicans and the preachers, but it is a symbiotic relationship that has done enormous damage to this country.

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Joe King's avatar

“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.”

― Barry Goldwater

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oraxx's avatar

I didn't agree with Goldwater on many things but he was right about the preachers. He was also someone who would have never sold his country out under any circumstances. I don't think that can be said about any of today's Republicans.

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Len Koz's avatar

Today's Republicans sell out our country daily.

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Stephen Brady's avatar

Hard to believe that I heartily agree with Barry Goldwater on something but he nailed this one.

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Psittacus Ebrius's avatar

They are now looking to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.

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Walt Svirsky's avatar

Au H2O had it down.

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Holytape's avatar

Free thoughts sounds like communism. What, do they not believe in the free market capitalism? People should pay for their thoughts. That's what has made America great for generations!

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Cathy G's avatar

Agreed

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Still not a single Republican (or even Independent).

Maybe they should form their own Caucus. Given how Republicans roll, how about the Thought-free Caucus?

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Walt Svirsky's avatar

How about “Fidelity Free?” That kinda rolls off the tongue.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

"(or even Independent)"

There are actually no Independents in the House of Reps. Literally all members in this Congress are Democrats or Republicans.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Wasn’t sure of the makeup. Took a guess.

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Bensnewlogin's avatar

All of the members of the free thought caucus are Democrats. There’s not one republican in there.

Does that mean Republicans are not free to think? So it would appear.

Does it mean that Republicans charge to think? So it would appear.

Does it mean that Republicans don’t think unless they are paid? So it would appear.

Does it mean that Republicans only want to think about cauc? So it would appear, at least to hear them Rail on about what people who are allegedly free do with their caucs.

Does it mean that Republicans cauc up? Always.

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dammit barry's avatar

Their gawd is a dictator in a totalitarian state. It demands total control over each life, mind, thought, word, deed and dream.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

That "all-seeing all knowing eye of Gawd" watching me every second of my life and reading my mind used to terrify me when I was a child, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't be perfect.

That kind of mind fuckery can stay with you for years even after you deconvert. It takes a while to dig all the insidious tendrils out of your psyche.

That's why I've said this before and I'll say it again. Religious indoctrination is child abuse.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Just following orders is not an excuse. It wasn’t for WWII it won’t be for this.

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dammit barry's avatar

The "Nuremberg Defense." As m0uch a failure as fascism in WWII. It did a great job of destroying religious superstition in Europe, thouigh

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Surprised Trump hasn't had this hotline shut down and everyone connected with it arrested. Probably doesn't know about it yet.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Don't give him any ideas.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Trump wouldn't know an idea if it bit his loaded diaper right off his gargantuan stinking ass. He just acts out of pure bile and hatefulness.

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Psittacus Ebrius's avatar

But he did say that egg prices are down 400%! We must give credit when it's due.

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Kay-El's avatar

Good news that there’s more free thinkers. The bad news is the others brains are still in captivity and/or being held for ransom. Hopeful that some can escape without their brains being permanently altered by the evil cosplayer and his henchmen.

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Bonnie Boyce's avatar

Interesting how republicans universally fear free thought.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Can't have freethought around a dictator, and that's what Donnie Dumb-Ass thinks he is.

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dammit barry's avatar

trumpy is betting on fear of "god the malevolent dictator" to hold the masses of kkkristers in line. Pope leroy is having wet dreams over this xtian dictatorship.

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Bonnie Boyce's avatar

Fear is the most powerful motivation behind the behaviors of both Republicans and most religion folks

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

And the hatred that comes from fear.

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dammit barry's avatar

Payback is a bitch!

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Everybody MUST get STONED!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

😂

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

That is HIGH-Larious!

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Lynn Veit's avatar

I did a Google search on the SBC and "willful childlessness." They are targeting this as a "problem" that the government needs to "address."

They've toppled Roe and are going after Obergefell with this thought in mind (gays can't procreate, so they shouldn't be allowed to marry and adopt families if they want to). They've criminalized abortion and even miscarriages, but that still leaves women who chose not have children and take steps to remain that way.

So how exactly is the government supposed to "address" the "willful childlessness" of such women? Round them up and forcibly impregnate them against their will?

This is what we may be looking at if the repukes successfully destroy all separation between radical batshit cray cray religionists and civil government.

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dammit barry's avatar

My Daughter suffers from Endometriosis. HOW would they impregnate her and make her carry to term?

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Either they wouldn't care and too bad if she dies, or eliminate her for not being useful.

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Linda Bower's avatar

They already don’t give a shit about endometriosis around the globe. Took me 12 years of gaslighting to get a diagnosis.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

Impregnate us how ? Don't forget, IVF is evil.

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John Smith's avatar

I thinking (I hope I am wrong) that the redneck will use rape to impregnate women, and it would be a weapon as well. Single women get married (stay married) and have kids or suffer the consequences. I felt very sick just typing that!!

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dammit barry's avatar

Revenge of the kkkrister InCels no woman wants asny part of.

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Matri's avatar

That is indeed their thought process.

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John Smith's avatar

Real men want women as equals to combine their differences for a greater and better whole. Only by working together and making compromises can the couple truly understand and grow as individuals and as a couple.

Immature, self absorbed boys in man suits are so afraid that women would see through the bravado. These “boys” think that they are god’s gift to women, so if the women are not throwing themselves at these “boys” for sex then women needs to be taught their place. Women see that and decide that they (women) don’t want to be part of that world.

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Linda Bower's avatar

Do you remember when Tucker Carlson said this!:

“There has to be a point at which Dad comes home,” he said, to full-throated cheers from the crowd. “Dad comes home and he’s pissed. He’s not vengeful, he loves his children. Disobedient as they may be, he loves them, because they’re his children. … And when Dad gets home, you know what he says? You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now. And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it’s not. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You’re getting a vigorous spanking because you’ve been a bad girl, and it has to be this way.”

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

That guy is seriously weird.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

It is not without precedent. During the Bosnian war in the 90's, there were widespread reports of systematic rape of female prisoners of war, with the intent of impregnating them with the child of the enemy.

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dammit barry's avatar

Turkey baster? Remember, god the holy spook is a known rapist. That god is a genocidal, mass murderer, a filicidal misogynistic jomophobic and sadistic terrorist. Theiur little brat is a sadistic terrorist and control freak. They comprise a troika of supreme evil

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Len Koz's avatar

They'll take Viagra so they can accomplish it the old-fashioned way.

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dammit barry's avatar

The holy spook was a rapist. This makes rape in the name of god legal. It is enshrined in their book of evil incantations, endless atrocities and genocide.

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Mr.E's avatar

how about a turkey baster?

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

"Gatling laser?!?" Oh, SWELL! 🤦‍♂️

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

J'ai pas la ref'.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

The Gatling gun was an early machine gun, firing multiple bullets very quickly. It had several barrels turned on a crank, you see it in movies about early mob activities. A Gatling laser would likely have a similar appearance and fire many lasers very quickly, destroying the dvd. (This is not how lasers work, but it’s a funny mental image.)

Here’s a link. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatling_gun

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Joe King's avatar

𝐴𝑠 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝑝𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑢𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒… 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦, 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒—𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡-𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎—𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠.

Shocking? No. Refreshing? Yes.

This news provide a small bit of hope for the future in the midst of the shitshow. Although, the lack of coverage by the reich-wing media might be partly due to their belief that the theocracy they are trying to force would make any non-Christian group irrelevant.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Two more members. GREAT! Honestly, I DO wish that at least ONE of them had an (R) next to their name, but in this day and age, that is probably a bit much to ask. So now we're up to 30. The real hell of it is, the REAL number should be 535, if those in Congress genuinely cared about State / Church separation. Sadly, there are a whole lot of Congresspersons who not only don't care about it; they want to see it abolished.

And I'm hoping that is where these gentlemen and ladies come in.

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Joe King's avatar

We are not likely to see one with an (R) until they flush the Christian Nazionalism from their ranks. IOW, likely never.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

I would like to think that, once Trumpism gets washed out of the Republican party (presuming that's possible, and I'm just enough of an optimist to think it is), we might get more than a couple (R)s in the ranks of the Congressional Freethought Caucus.

But yeah ... it'll be a while.

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Joe King's avatar

Christian Nazionalism and Trumpism are almost the same thing. Trumpism just adds a layer of mean-spirited bullying on top of the Christian Nazionalist cruelty and conformity.

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dammit barry's avatar

Their gawd's REAL FUN starts after death. Dictator rule ends at the subject's death.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

I have a feeling that when all is said and done with this crap, there won’t be a Republican Party anymore. The Democratic Party will likely split and we will have a completely new party created. We will still have conservative and liberal voices, they just won’t be republicans and democrats. Hopefully, though, the split will shift the Overton window left again.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

There's a good chance that you're right, though whether a fragmentation of our two major parties is a good thing or a bad one is major-league TBD.

And the outcome is anything but certain.

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Walt Svirsky's avatar

If the Republicon “hive mind” allowed even one of its drones to think outside the fascist box, AnusMouthPantLoad’s big fat pumpkin head would explode.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

If it does, I want it on video, played on and endless loop

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Something along these lines

imgur.com/YnSMmzS

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Yes, like that. Only with trumpy.

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dammit barry's avatar

Their gods are malevolent dictators. They burn people in hell for eternity for anydissent. Gods are a ductator's best friend.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

"There's a midget standing tall/and a giant beside him about to fall."

-from "Stand" by Sly and the Family Stone

I've always loved that song lyric.

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larry parker's avatar

Yo, Adrian!

Oops, wrong Sly.

Condolences to the Family Stone.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

They're more mature than either Musk or Trump.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

And unlike muskrump, they're mostly harmless.

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Holytape's avatar

Well, some heard about the free flights to El Salvador and wanted in on the action.

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dammit barry's avatar

DEPORT furriner trumpski to El Salvador.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

I don't think even North Korea or Afghanistan deserves that.

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dammit barry's avatar

Make him a slave to kim...

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Matri's avatar

Does this mean the National Guard operating in L.A. is actually illegal, according to the Posse Comitatus Act?

Especially since the state governor specifically did NOT give permission.

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8cbe7b73b3bea4064217b8bdfb97538a8d97d81ef79a3d76fc6c92e16e659e4f.jpg

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larry parker's avatar

Yes, it's illegal. Will anybody do anything about it? No (probably not).

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RegularJoe's avatar

It depends on what they're doing.

I expect at some point it'll be a mess, and I have no faith in SCOTUS doing anything.

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Matri's avatar

I have faith in SCOTUS doing The Wrong Thing.

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dammit barry's avatar

As much as I hate this, I have to agree. SCROTIS can now be depended on to push fascism and hate.

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Matri's avatar

Or as the MAGAts call it: “American Values”.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Marriage between one man and one woman? Like, ever? Can't divorce for any reason? Can't get remarried if a spouse dies?

How about adultery? Some cities/areas in the bible belt also have high rates of infidelity. In Texas alone, there's Dallas, Houston and even Fort Worth. One study of the users of the Ashley Madison "dating" (read: cheating) service website found that the most common religious affiliation among the study's participants were *drumroll* Evangelical Christians. The religious don't seem to take one man/one woman very seriously. Hell, even Adam and Eve never married.

Bottom line? I've said it before and I'll say it again: Christians did not invent marriage and they don't own it.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Don't forget all the religious leaders who commit adultery, divorce their wives, and engage in gay sex at various times. But then we are preaching to the choir here I guess.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

The bible belt is the biggest consumer of porn (including gay porn) in this country. The bible belt has the highest rate of divorce in this country.

"Do as I say, not as I do," xtians cry.

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John Smith's avatar

I wouldn’t be surprised that the Bible Belt has the highest rates for bestiality. The Christian Nationalists redneck do love the barnyard animals.

The redneck best and only skill is how to cook roadkill.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

The bible belt, where barnyard commandos take another meaning.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

LOL!!!

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Lynn Veit's avatar

True story...one morning at work about 15 years ago, a coworker came in royally peeved because she saw a deer freshly killed beside the highway. "The blood wasn't even dried!" She immediately rushed home to get her field-dressing tools but by the time she got back, "Somebody else beat me to it!"

That was her reason for being a few minutes late. The boss was totally sympathetic and commiserated with her.

I just sat at my desk thinking "holy cow." Or maybe that should have been "holy deer?"

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Matri's avatar

Don’t forget kinkiest porn search keywords.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

Examples?

For research purposes only.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

The correct way to phrase this is "asking for a friend." :)

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Asking for a friend?

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dammit barry's avatar

see my post above

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dammit barry's avatar

Add in all the child molesters.

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dammit barry's avatar

Their bible calls for my murder... At 80 yo and failing health, any punishment is not much of a deterrent... just sayin'

SEE. Leviticus 20:13, and paul.

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Lynn Veit's avatar

Of all the characters in the Bible, Paul is the one I despise the most.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

HELL YES, it is!

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Len Koz's avatar

Is Mike Johnson aptly named or what?

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dammit barry's avatar

hate mongger mike works for me.

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