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oraxx's avatar

Jesus has never come riding to the rescue of humanity before, so why do the evangelicals think he will when large parts of the globe become uninhabitable? By the time they figure it out, it will be far too late to do anything about it. As always, they seem convinced their religious beliefs trump science.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠.

-- me

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oraxx's avatar

Indeed!

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XJC's avatar

Please tell us how to format text in italics on this site. Regular HTML commands (e.g., <i>, </i>) don't work.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

I use yaytext.com as well, and it works.

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XJC's avatar

𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑. Thank you, kind of clunky but I guess it works.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽'𝓼 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓮 𝓭𝓸 𝓲𝓽.

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Whitney's avatar

No idea what anyone else uses, but I normally head over to https://yaytext.com/ for that.

Good luck.

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avis piscivorus's avatar

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒀𝒂𝒚𝑻𝒆𝒙𝒕 - https://yaytext.com/bold-italic/

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XJC's avatar

They BELIEVE burning fossil fuels is their "god-given" right, while vehemently DENYING that fossil fuels came from dinosaurs who lived millions of years ago, and from which humans evolved. Christianity is truly the religion of the deluded.

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Len Koz's avatar

We didn't evolve from dinosaurs. We're from a different branch, the synapsids. We're more closely related to the famous dimetrodon than we are to tyrannosaurus.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Go back far enough, we all came from the sea.

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jomicur's avatar

Glug, glug, glug.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

🎵 I'd like to be, under the sea... 🎵

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cdbunch's avatar

🎵Everything's better down where it's wetter. Under the sea.🎵

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jomicur's avatar

Right. And fossil fuels didn't come from dinosaurs, either. They come from coal deposits (i.e plant remains) laid down in the Carboniferous, tens of millions of years before the first little dinosaur squeaked at the first primitive mammal.

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XJC's avatar

Metaphor for disbelief of evolution.

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XJC's avatar

<i>'You can't explain the obvious to people who need the obvious explained.'</i> -- Not god.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Sadly, this attitude isn't even all that new. Who here remembers Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, who seemed to think that we didn't really need to work on the environment because: “I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns” [and yes, that's a direct quote from the New York Times!]? I was a considerable distance from being a committed atheist during the Reagan administration and even then, I thought that Watt was being both irresponsible and foolish in his statement.

The obvious problem is that there are a whole bunch of evangelicals who think precisely the same way. Armageddon will arrive and Jesus and Yahweh will clean EVERYTHING up, smooch it on the head and make it all better, yadda-yadda-yadda. SPARE ME.

The ONLY saving grace in the midst of all of this is that such people are in a currently shrinking minority, while those who either dismiss or utterly reject religion and its irrationality are on the rise. The hell of it is, once and IF we are able to cure this planet of our stupidity, what evangelicals may have survived from that fracas will probably claim that their prayers are what saved us.

Typical.

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oraxx's avatar

Reagan appointed a lawyer whose career was largely dedicated to representing strip miners, as Secretary of the Interior.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Here's the guy Trump put in charge of the EPA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pruitt

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Len Koz's avatar

I saw someone on the internet last night mention that it would really burn Mango Mussolini's butt if someone were to take his cameo in "Home Alone 2" and replace him with Biden.

Personally, I think someone should replace his cameo with Obama. I think Agent Orange would have a stroke.

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Joan the Dork's avatar

It was easily the most unrealistic part of the movie- Chump being 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 and 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭 to a lost child who wandered in off the street? 𝘉𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵. He'd have had Kevin arrested on the spot.

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Len Koz's avatar

Sometimes I look at the things Cheeto did while president and the praise his worshippers bath him with and wonder if I didn't wake up on Htrae.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Trump touted "Only the best people" for his admin. You can see what THAT led to.

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Len Koz's avatar

Did you see his new claim that Israel was attacked by Hamas because our 2020 election was rigged?

To him, the entire universe revolves around him.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I did. It was posted on the previous article.

I had pretty much the same reaction you did. There is no subject Trump cannot make about himself.

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oraxx's avatar

Oh yes. I remember.

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XJC's avatar

Don't forgot the other environmental wunderkind, Anne Gorsuch, a who ran EPA into the ground. Her offspring is Neil Gorsuch, right-wind SCOTUS. From Wikipedia on her career in Congress prior to this appointment: "She was voted Outstanding Freshman Legislator, but was considered by some to be a member of the "House Crazies," a group of "conservative lawmakers intent on permanently changing government.""

Sound familiar?

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

TOO familiar. 😝

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Sandra Carmen Marrujo's avatar

Damn, I should have read further down the thread. I just posted with a reference to Watt. Your post is more detailed. Thanks!

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

No worries. Thanks for the comment!

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Holytape's avatar

Well, reality and white Christian Conservatives have never been the best of friends. But it is completely justified and biblical. See if you rearrange the letters in "Climate Change" you get "George Soros smuggling illegal aliens to force guns to get gay-marry so that you AR-15 changes its pronoun to Ze/Zer and thus steal the election from Trump and have Hillary preform abortions on the American Flag." It the rest of the world that doesn't get how satanic reality real is.

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Bill Wilson's avatar

Soros' mantra: " A baby in every pot with some Adrenochrome on the side."

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Len Koz's avatar

I like to braise them until they're fork-tender.

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Die Anyway's avatar

But doesn't cooking neutralize the adrenochrome? I've heard that you have to eat them raw to get the full effect.

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Len Koz's avatar

You may be right. That could be why I've looked older than my age since my 30s.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

They still think the Earth is 6 - 10,000 years old. You also have people truly believing the word is flat. Both despite the mountain of evidence that quite clearly states otherwise.

How did humankind ever make it this far.

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Len Koz's avatar

We continue blindly down a road to remove ourselves from the planet. Will another intelligent species arise here in 65 million years and wonder about our fossils?

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Now I'm thinking of Planet of the Apes.

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Len Koz's avatar

That damn Ricardo Montalban. If he hadn't hidden Caesar...

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I was thinking right back to the very first film where science and religion got mixed together to the detriment of science.

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Len Koz's avatar

I like the parallel to our religious leaders who blocked scientific knowledge in favor of ignorant beliefs.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Not a surprise, as the screenplay was co-authored by Rod Serling, a humanist.

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Bill Wilson's avatar

Obviously rocking out on George Michael's Faith.

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Richard S. Russell's avatar

Oh, for goodness sake. I can’t believe that, this deep into the 21st Century, we still have people who apparently don’t understand the difference between weather and climate. Here’s the deal:

 • Weather is short-term; climate is long-term.

 • Weather is individual measurements; climate is average measurements.

 • Weather is what you get; climate is what you expect.

 • Weather is umbrellas; climate is ice ages.

 • Weather is the city council; climate is the United Nations.

 • Weather is 3 minutes on TV; climate is doctoral dissertations.

 • Weather comes and goes; climate just keeps on coming.

 • Weather change kills off individual plants and animals; climate change kills off entire species.

 • Weather is Angry Birds; climate is <I>The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</I>.

Any American adult who doesn’t understand this by now must be:

1) a social promotion from a special-ed class.

2) working for a fossil-fuel company and whose salary depends on the public not wising up during her or his lifetime.

3) deliberately disingenuous.

4) a religious fanatic who buys into the 2000-year-old lie that their favorite dead guy is due back tomoro, having disappointed a hundred previous generations of True Believers because he’s been waiting especially for YOU to be around when it happens, because that’s how important YOU are!

These categories are not mutually exclusive.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

It's not that they don't understand it. It's that they've got their BOOK, and therefore, anything that isn't of the BOOK or from the BOOK just isn't worthy of consideration. Yet they are more than willing to take advantage of 20th- and 21st-century technology and promote their religious foolishness with it, while failing to acknowledge that said technology and their BOOK have an effective ZERO intersection set.

Welcome to the wonderful world of compartmentalization.

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cdbunch's avatar

I wonder if there has been a species in the history of the planet with such self-destructive instincts as humanity.

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ericc's avatar

I think the main problem in the US is that there are a lot of moderately religious people who would normally not be #4s, but have become #4s on this issue because they are in political alignment/service to the #2s.

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Sandra Carmen Marrujo's avatar

Well, it's just an extension of that Secretary of the Interior's "bibilical" attitude (was that Watt?) - the Rapture and/or Armageddon (esp. in view of recent events in Israel) is just around the corner, so use up natural resources, no matter what the effect on the climate of continued use of fossil fuels, etc. No need to save anything for generations to come, because there won't be any future generations, etc.

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Richard Wade's avatar

Faith is belief in something in the absence of supporting evidence, or even in the presence of contradictory evidence. So when people are convinced that faith is a primary moral virtue, then the more absurdly unrealistic a person's beliefs are, the more virtuous they think they are. Want to be seen as a better person? Believe in sillier things.

The chart shows that Mormons and white Evangelical Protestants are the least accepting of climate change. These two groups in particular pride themselves on the "strength of their faith," which translates to the extreme refusal to accept reality.

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jomicur's avatar

Twain stated it much more succinctly: "Faith is believin' what you know ain't so."

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Old Man Shadow's avatar

The funny thing is that none of those quoted "ideas" from Christian Evangelical leaders are biblical. They're based in American consumer capitalism that views the self and personal comfort as the highest good.

The Earth was a gift according to that book. Mankind was to stand in the place of God as an administrator and take care of the Earth and the creatures and flora it contained which include other people, the poor, the powerless, the oppressed, the forgotten, the people who will suffer the most during Climate Change. Who already are suffering with land lost to the oceans. Christians are supposed to sacrifice their own personal comfort for the good of others.

But that message doesn't keep the tithes rolling in, I guess.

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Joan the Dork's avatar

People whose worldview is based on reality are more likely to accept reality? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘵? Next you'll be telling me water is wet. Get outta here with that nonsense.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it."

-- Neil deGrasse Tyson

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RegularJoe's avatar

Define "wet".

(Because very cold ice.)

(Also very hot steam.)

Science!

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Joan the Dork's avatar

Superheated steam makes 𝘺𝘰𝘶 wet when it liquefies your skin on contact... does that count?

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RegularJoe's avatar

Once it condenses, it's no longer steam but water.

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Bindersfulohostbodies's avatar

Jehovah’s Witnesses are threading the needle. The ones that show up on my porch try to connect with me through my obvious appreciation of nature (lots of plants on my porch and more natural landscaping). I mentioned to them that there’s stuff in the Bible about man being obligated to protect nature, and that the planet was basically a natural “Eden” before we shat upon it. They wholeheartedly agreed! And that’s why their god is gonna punish everyone who doesn’t respect its creations, and climate change is the warning, and it’s way too late to stop the retribution so the best course of action is to get right with their god while there’s still time. No need to try and fix what we broke and show that type of respect for the creation. That can’t be done just by the “good” people because there are more “bad” people who don’t care. Lost cause. But don’t fret. Just get your butt to their church and probably give them some money so they can keep up the good work of not saving the planet but saving the “good” people. Lol! They are actually pretty adept at marketing though.

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ericc's avatar

𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛

𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 “𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒” 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚. 𝑂𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑… 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛.

These arguments don't even make theological sense. Starting with a conservative biblical worldview that there was a garden of eden and it's somewhere in the middle east, it is now a desert. So very clearly, even within the context of a biblical worldview, God can and does allow the climate to change in ways that are bad for humans.

***

In any event, IMO my generation has failed, and will continue to fail to do much. We should, but we lack the political will to do so. The millenials and beyond are going to inherit our problems "with interest" and be forced to clean up everyone else's mess. I think they will take it more seriously. The only upside is, as Mr. Silk says, there are fewer denialists with every year, and thus the calculus on "do we have the political will to do something about it" is slowly, year by year, going more towards "yes."

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NOGODZ20's avatar

To Jesus...

Would you PLEASE rapture your followers up to your gated community?

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Joe King's avatar

They will think they're in hell because of all the judgmental religious assholes the judgmental religious assholes have to put up with.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

He’s already raptured the worthy, that why they’re all still here.

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Lynn James's avatar

You mean,,,(gulp)...we're STUCK with these people?!?

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

‘Fraid so.

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Lynn James's avatar

*whimpers and crawls back under covers*

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NOGODZ20's avatar

It's the 7-year Tribulation for them...which has no scriptural basis. It is simply mentioned nowhere in the bible.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

This is the religion that has a deity who destroyed a planet through a flood.

Think THEY give a rat's ass about either the Earth or its inhabitants?

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larry parker's avatar

The world is pretty messed up right now and god hasn't decided to start over. Imagine how messed up it must have been before the flood. /s

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Cathy G's avatar

Well of course they don't care. God is in charge of climate so nothing we can do. As far as they are concerned, climate disaster gets them all a bit closer to the rapture.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Hurricanes and tornadoes that devastate the bible belt are called Acts of God. Their deity is punishing them for their wickedness.

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Matri's avatar

Funny how those tornadoes ONLY hit the bible belt.

It's like it's trying to tell them something...

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NOGODZ20's avatar

He hates trailer parks.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

And grits. Bible-belt-located-disasters are all the result of the South being punished for grits.

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Matri's avatar

And also for the Confederacy, but we all know that.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

Civil War recreations alone deserve a mighty punishment.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Hominy times are you going to post that?

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larry parker's avatar

A little immature, a poor age.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Groan – through gritted teeth.

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Daniel Rotter's avatar

Florida gets hit with so many of those due God punishing that state for being the birthplace of Pat Boone.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

It's the gayz fault if the christian god is myopic.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

YHVH can't be nearsighted. He's a perfect being. :S

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jomicur's avatar

Good gosh, nothing like this has ever happened before. At least not on that block.

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Mr.E's avatar

i knew you would be surprised..... excuse me while I go clutch some pearls.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Don't forget the smelling salts. They'll be on the table next to the fainting couch.

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jomicur's avatar

How can a couch faint?

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RegularJoe's avatar

They're upholstered with fainting goat leather.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

They are shipped on end, so they have to faint for you to sit on them. Fortunately, they are accompanied by two kind-hearted delivery people to make sure they don't injure themselves during the process. 😉

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NOGODZ20's avatar

It's difficult, I'll admit.

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larry parker's avatar

Couches don't take bad news well. You have to cushion the blow.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

OT

You know you're old when your SNL references stump younger people

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2023/10/10

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Funny, when I was studying a couple of years ago I'd be doing an assignment and looking for journal articles to read, and I'd see something published in 1993 and think all that's quite recent. And then realise it was almost 30 years old.

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jomicur's avatar

I knew you were old a long time before you posted that.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

You're 4 years older than me, grandpa. 😃

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jomicur's avatar

Who better to recognize what a disagreeable old geezer you are? Takes one to know one, and all that.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

"Who better to recognize what a disagreeable old geezer you are?"

Don't forget to oil the wheels on your walker, Methuselah. 😂

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jomicur's avatar

I'll take care of it just as soon as my 37-organ transplant is done.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Is that for real or are you just kidding? If real, yikes! I'd have the doctor take a look at the other 41.

(so much for us riffing off of each other like 2 old guys in a Neil Simon play)

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scenario's avatar

You can't tell now. Some kids like old music. If its on Netflix it new again. But a from meme 6 months ago is ancient history.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Next Friday, the Rolling Stones drop their first new LP in 18 years. It's called Hackney Diamonds.

Keith is 79 and Mick is 80.

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Lynn James's avatar

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez....that makes my head hurt.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

The Beatles gave it 10 years. They knew how to bow out gracefully.

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RegularJoe's avatar

No Coke! Petsi!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

No, no fries. Chips.

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RegularJoe's avatar

Cheeps!

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Blasphemy!

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I've had cheeseburgercheeseburgercheeseburger with something other than fries. Chips, tater tots, onion rings...

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