The only thing scarier than people like Paul Mackenzie Nthege is that there are people out there who are not only willing to listen to his crap, but are equally willing to do anything he tells them to do, completely disregarding their own common sense and judgment. Like Donald Trump, Nthege probably just LOVES the poorly educated, of which there are likely plenty to find in and around Kenya.
The Kenyan government appears to be taking action on this twit. Personally, I vote that they put him in jail and throw away the key.
The phrase refers to the NT. But I don't recall the NT telling people to intentionally starve themselves or their children.
On top of everything else, the fact that this guy is still alive while there are hundreds of secret graves of his followers should clue the government in that he's some sort of scam artist. I would bet money he's taking their stuff. "Jesus wants you to kill yourself! But He doesn't want me to kill myself. I have to stick around. And oh by the way, Jesus says to leave all your wealth to me."
Starving to death is a terrible, tortuous way to go. It’s very difficult to do it to yourself intentionally if you have access to food. The children were killed for certain since they couldn’t decide this for themselves and had to have their food kept from them. But I would bet there was more influence than just a charismatic leader convincing the adults to die this way. It is possible that someone physically kept the adults in a state where they couldn’t break down and eat when it got to be too much. I doubt this guy did this on his own.
Actually Jesus wouldn't "tell" them anything. There still is no evidence, outside of religious texts, that confirm that he not is just another character in a book of fiction. He never existed, at least in the way he's "described" in the Bible because there is no verified writings about his life until at least 30 years (and more times 60 to 130 years) AFTER his supposed existence. Sorry, but that's the accepted science backed knowledge there is today and it IS backed with evidence.
We needn't limit the discussion to "cults." Over the course of history, 100s of millions of people have been sacrificed to the god of war. Not just the Crusades: clergy men bless the troops in every war.
I'd guess the chances of him getting convicted of wrongdoing in the case of adult followers truly starving themselves to death is low.
But hiding the dead bodies. Killing people who decide to leave the cult.. Starving children he or his group are legally responsible for...hopefully there will be no problem getting him on those things.
There is no horror that cannot be, and has not been, justified in the name of religion. The herd instinct may have been what allowed our distant ancestors to survive, but it is also something that can be horribly destructive in the modern age.
The first time I can almost understand. He was innocent until proven guilty, so I would say they wouldn't have sufficient evidence that he was a continuing danger. OTOH I'm not sure whether to blame the prosecutor or the judge, but even if the first case hasn't been tried to be accused twice of such a crime should be sufficient reason to grant remand rather than bail.
I realize that no reasonable person would believe *this* monster was innocent. But at the same time I don't like the idea that on the basis of an accusation someone, who may be innocent, be held in jail for 4 years waiting for trial.
I know that, in hindsight, we can see if he'd been held in 2019, hundreds of people would (most likely) still be alive, but I don't see how we could reasonably have known that then.
It finally became official yesterday. Gov. Inslee of my state signed Bill 1240 into law. The law bans the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale or offer to sell AR-15s or any other assault rifles. It went into effect immediately.
It is, of course, being fought by the gunnies who decided that assault rifles are their best defense in home protection. Exsqueeze me? You don't need a weapon of war to defend yourself. Or to hunt. Assault rifles are good for only one thing: mass destruction.
If you need more than 6 shots to hit a deer or an intruder, you don't know how to use a gun and shouldn't be allowed near one outside a firing range with a certified instructor.
That's gonna be a problem isn't it. I once watched one of those YouTubes where a cop emptied his magazine into a car from about 6 inches away, shooting at the driver and managed to hit him once ... in the wrist. 😁
We already know we need to seriously re-think how we train cops in this country. Make sure they can actually aim their guns is just one more thing to add to the list along with training them to never use the damn things.
I saw that on Democracy Now this morning. Congratulations. I hope you can find a way to get some of the money the NRA will be pumping into the state come election time.
Inslee and the DA (Bob Ferguson) were the main guys behind this bill and have worked for years to blunt the NRA/gun lobby.
Luckily, Democrats control the governorship and both Houses. The only folks fighting against gun legislation here are...you guessed it...the minority Republicans.
Just yesterday the PA House introduced (fort the first time, believe it or not) anti-discrimination and hate crimes protections for LGBT citizens of the state. Guess which party is already trying to stop them.
Bertrand Russell said that there was no difference between a man who eats too little, and sees heaven, and a man who drinks too much and sees snakes.
This was one of the places Russell was wrong. The difference is: one sees heaven, and the other sees snakes. Unless, of course, heaven doesn't exist. Snakes certainly do.
And so the Good News International Church went down in history beside Heaven's Gate and Jonestown- and it will happen again, and again, because nothing was learned.
Nope. They have hired four different law firms and plan to raise taxes on Disney to pay for them. Keep in mind Disney was already taxing themselves at 3x the limit.
Figured that was coming at some point... little bit surprised it took this long, but I guess they wanted to let Deathsentence play out enough rope to hang himself with.
Faith is believing something in the absence of supporting evidence, or even in the presence of refuting evidence. It is a seductive and addictive poison of the mind.
It can be used to manipulate people in small steps: Once you get someone to believe a pleasant thing without any evidence, then you can get them to believe innocuous, neutral things. Then, slowly, you can get them to believe increasingly unpleasant, ghastly, and even monstrous things. Along with their beliefs, you can also get them to DO pleasant, then innocuous, neutral, unpleasant, ghastly, and even monstrous things. Having that kind of power over people is ITS OWN seductive and addictive poison of the mind.
Skepticism is a rare and precious virtue. It's not the stubborn refusal to believe; it's the WILLINGNESS to withhold belief until acceptable evidence is presented. Even then, accepting the evidence should always be conditional, always subject to review. Unfortunately, skepticism is not seductive and addictive, it's challenging at the very least, and it can cause disappointment. But it can mean the difference between life and death.
Practice skepticism diligently, like a personal discipline. Make it one of your primary values, like compassion, truthfulness, fairness, and integrity.
Horrific, truly. I don’t even have words. It’s too bad so many Americans will wring their hands over this and then go attend a church that is only marginally better.
Someone in Ohio needs to write her boss and demand an apology for such insensitivity. She and other U.S. Attorneys need to know that that kind of dismissive attitude is not okay.
Is this any surprise after DeSantis stochastic terroristic lies? Not that he can be held accountable, since we have no hate speech laws and defamation requires a specific target not a group to have standing. If the masses don't wake up, I have no doubt there will be interment camps for LGBT individuals, probably before the decade is out.
The only thing scarier than people like Paul Mackenzie Nthege is that there are people out there who are not only willing to listen to his crap, but are equally willing to do anything he tells them to do, completely disregarding their own common sense and judgment. Like Donald Trump, Nthege probably just LOVES the poorly educated, of which there are likely plenty to find in and around Kenya.
The Kenyan government appears to be taking action on this twit. Personally, I vote that they put him in jail and throw away the key.
Good News International Church
I'm struggling to find the good news here.
The phrase refers to the NT. But I don't recall the NT telling people to intentionally starve themselves or their children.
On top of everything else, the fact that this guy is still alive while there are hundreds of secret graves of his followers should clue the government in that he's some sort of scam artist. I would bet money he's taking their stuff. "Jesus wants you to kill yourself! But He doesn't want me to kill myself. I have to stick around. And oh by the way, Jesus says to leave all your wealth to me."
That is probably the case. Reminds me of Joseph Smith when he was attempting to have sex with other members wives. God wants this...Yea, sure he does.
Religion reverses everything.
Yup. Aron Ra asserted as much many years ago, and he wasn't wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vquOuWx6NlA
One of my favorites.
I was going to say less stupid people once they are dead, however that isn't much of a consolation because there are more where they come from.
It's a metaphor, not to be taken literally.
(It's a lousy metaphor, too. : )
Starving to death is a terrible, tortuous way to go. It’s very difficult to do it to yourself intentionally if you have access to food. The children were killed for certain since they couldn’t decide this for themselves and had to have their food kept from them. But I would bet there was more influence than just a charismatic leader convincing the adults to die this way. It is possible that someone physically kept the adults in a state where they couldn’t break down and eat when it got to be too much. I doubt this guy did this on his own.
No true christians. Jesus would never tell people to give up their earthly goods and follow him.
Well, except that one time, but other than that...
Actually Jesus wouldn't "tell" them anything. There still is no evidence, outside of religious texts, that confirm that he not is just another character in a book of fiction. He never existed, at least in the way he's "described" in the Bible because there is no verified writings about his life until at least 30 years (and more times 60 to 130 years) AFTER his supposed existence. Sorry, but that's the accepted science backed knowledge there is today and it IS backed with evidence.
You are preaching to the choir here! Larry Parker is well aware of the myth of the historical Jesus, as are the most of the rest of us.
Add a supposedly anywhere you want.
We needn't limit the discussion to "cults." Over the course of history, 100s of millions of people have been sacrificed to the god of war. Not just the Crusades: clergy men bless the troops in every war.
I'd guess the chances of him getting convicted of wrongdoing in the case of adult followers truly starving themselves to death is low.
But hiding the dead bodies. Killing people who decide to leave the cult.. Starving children he or his group are legally responsible for...hopefully there will be no problem getting him on those things.
Hopefully. Hopefully this time they’ll hold him until trial too.
There is no horror that cannot be, and has not been, justified in the name of religion. The herd instinct may have been what allowed our distant ancestors to survive, but it is also something that can be horribly destructive in the modern age.
He is a repeated offender and yet was able to be released upon paying bond. I hope this time Kenyan legal system will learn this lesson.
The first time I can almost understand. He was innocent until proven guilty, so I would say they wouldn't have sufficient evidence that he was a continuing danger. OTOH I'm not sure whether to blame the prosecutor or the judge, but even if the first case hasn't been tried to be accused twice of such a crime should be sufficient reason to grant remand rather than bail.
I realize that no reasonable person would believe *this* monster was innocent. But at the same time I don't like the idea that on the basis of an accusation someone, who may be innocent, be held in jail for 4 years waiting for trial.
I know that, in hindsight, we can see if he'd been held in 2019, hundreds of people would (most likely) still be alive, but I don't see how we could reasonably have known that then.
OT
It finally became official yesterday. Gov. Inslee of my state signed Bill 1240 into law. The law bans the manufacture, importation, distribution, sale or offer to sell AR-15s or any other assault rifles. It went into effect immediately.
It is, of course, being fought by the gunnies who decided that assault rifles are their best defense in home protection. Exsqueeze me? You don't need a weapon of war to defend yourself. Or to hunt. Assault rifles are good for only one thing: mass destruction.
Let the ammosexuals fight. They'll lose.
If you need more than 6 shots to hit a deer or an intruder, you don't know how to use a gun and shouldn't be allowed near one outside a firing range with a certified instructor.
That's gonna be a problem isn't it. I once watched one of those YouTubes where a cop emptied his magazine into a car from about 6 inches away, shooting at the driver and managed to hit him once ... in the wrist. 😁
We already know we need to seriously re-think how we train cops in this country. Make sure they can actually aim their guns is just one more thing to add to the list along with training them to never use the damn things.
We should give them each one bullet to carry in their breast pocket.
Would that our cops were as competent as Barney. At least he never broke down the wrong door and killed someone or terrorized kids.
Just wait for the dark, gritty Netflix reboot.
Bingo. And I'm willing to bet these bozos know nothing about trigger safety either.
Hell, an AR-15 isn't even useful in the middle of a zombie horde. You've got to actually aim to kill a zombie.
I saw that on Democracy Now this morning. Congratulations. I hope you can find a way to get some of the money the NRA will be pumping into the state come election time.
Inslee and the DA (Bob Ferguson) were the main guys behind this bill and have worked for years to blunt the NRA/gun lobby.
Luckily, Democrats control the governorship and both Houses. The only folks fighting against gun legislation here are...you guessed it...the minority Republicans.
Just yesterday the PA House introduced (fort the first time, believe it or not) anti-discrimination and hate crimes protections for LGBT citizens of the state. Guess which party is already trying to stop them.
Torries?
Labour?
Surely not Republicans, they love LGBT people. Just ask them, they love everybody.
Let's see...does said party favor red like the butts of the baboons they are?
You have to be a complete fool to think you'll meet Jesus if you starve yourself to death. Everyone knows the way to do it is to handle rattlesnakes.
Without milking them first.
Personally I prefer almond milk (but I'm damned if I know how they find the udders).
Underneath, by the back legs.
Try sugar free hazelnut.
Nobody here gives away free hazelnuts.
Apparently prayer isn't sufficient to meet the Big Man in the Sky.
Bertrand Russell said that there was no difference between a man who eats too little, and sees heaven, and a man who drinks too much and sees snakes.
This was one of the places Russell was wrong. The difference is: one sees heaven, and the other sees snakes. Unless, of course, heaven doesn't exist. Snakes certainly do.
And so the Good News International Church went down in history beside Heaven's Gate and Jonestown- and it will happen again, and again, because nothing was learned.
OT - The Mouse Strikes Back
𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐍𝐚𝐳𝐢, 𝐅𝐋 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 '𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧'
https://patch.com/florida/orlando/disney-sues-desantis-florida-over-government-retaliation-report
Disney was making power moves when DeathSentence was still soiling his diapers.
And I guarantee they have access to far more expensive lawyers than DeSantis does. After all we all know what they say about government work.
Nope. They have hired four different law firms and plan to raise taxes on Disney to pay for them. Keep in mind Disney was already taxing themselves at 3x the limit.
His lawyers might be almost as razor-sharp as Trump's. At least, they couldn't be much dumber than Powell, Giuliani and Tacopina.
Who was the one that ... Ah, just remembered – Matt Staver wasn't it?
Mat Staver. The dumbest lawyer not named Larry Klayman.
He can't even spell his own first name.
Staver is a real dimbulb's dimbulb, but I don't think he has ever represented Trump.
So...last week?
Men who soil their diapers for fun are much more mature than Ronnie.
I'm willing to take your word for that. Believe me, I never owned a brown hanky. Even I have to draw the line somewhere.
Hankies? What century are you dating in? (I'm a few decades ahead of you. I'm still using the Internet rather than a smartphone)
Somehow I got the impression we're about the same age. I'm 75. You?
I only use my smartphone to make phone calls. Weird, huh?
You've not heard of the hanky code? :)
I was issued a stack of brown handkerchiefs from the army when I joined. But I don’t think that was what you were talking about.
NSFW: https://closetprofessor.com/2016/03/24/the-hanky-code/
I can picture Ronnie having tantrums when he doesn't get his way.
To be fair, it's not that hard to picture since he pitches them on live TV.
Just like his idol.
I still say they were separated at birth.
Ain't it a pity?
I'm pretty sure Disney has more lawyers than DeSantis has judges.
Or brains.
A zombie has more brains than Ron DeSantis.
Figured that was coming at some point... little bit surprised it took this long, but I guess they wanted to let Deathsentence play out enough rope to hang himself with.
"But what harm can religious belief cause?"
To any religious slug who still has this notion, read this article and disabuse yourself of it.
But...but...but they weren't true christians or it wasn't a true religion or they/it not true something something.
It means nothing because...
(Add the bullshit reason of your choice).
Faith is believing something in the absence of supporting evidence, or even in the presence of refuting evidence. It is a seductive and addictive poison of the mind.
It can be used to manipulate people in small steps: Once you get someone to believe a pleasant thing without any evidence, then you can get them to believe innocuous, neutral things. Then, slowly, you can get them to believe increasingly unpleasant, ghastly, and even monstrous things. Along with their beliefs, you can also get them to DO pleasant, then innocuous, neutral, unpleasant, ghastly, and even monstrous things. Having that kind of power over people is ITS OWN seductive and addictive poison of the mind.
Skepticism is a rare and precious virtue. It's not the stubborn refusal to believe; it's the WILLINGNESS to withhold belief until acceptable evidence is presented. Even then, accepting the evidence should always be conditional, always subject to review. Unfortunately, skepticism is not seductive and addictive, it's challenging at the very least, and it can cause disappointment. But it can mean the difference between life and death.
Practice skepticism diligently, like a personal discipline. Make it one of your primary values, like compassion, truthfulness, fairness, and integrity.
As a certain Mr. Clemens wrote, "Faith is believin' what you know ain't so."
Horrific, truly. I don’t even have words. It’s too bad so many Americans will wring their hands over this and then go attend a church that is only marginally better.
TBF, most shamans are smart enough to realize dead people pay no tithes.
Fair point. Makes me wonder if he’s in their will.
OT - So now they're going after churches in order to stop drag queens
𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬
https://news.yahoo.com/man-charged-trying-burn-down-191432513.html
"Violence and destruction are never an acceptable way to express a disagreement with a particular viewpoint"
A particular viewpoint? The "disagreement" is about our right to fucking exist. And this from a U.S. attorney. 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Someone in Ohio needs to write her boss and demand an apology for such insensitivity. She and other U.S. Attorneys need to know that that kind of dismissive attitude is not okay.
Is this any surprise after DeSantis stochastic terroristic lies? Not that he can be held accountable, since we have no hate speech laws and defamation requires a specific target not a group to have standing. If the masses don't wake up, I have no doubt there will be interment camps for LGBT individuals, probably before the decade is out.
What do you burn apart from churches?
More churches!