Right off the top ... West Virginia, eh? Of course, I could also have said, Tennessee or Mississippi or Alabama and it still would have tracked.
Seriously, it seems as though a great number of states in the Deep South need to understand that it is NOT within their purview to push religion on those entrusted to their care, as was the case with Miller. Sadly, this brand of religious rehabilitation / indoctrination is the default and the go-to too often and not just in southern states. Because many state officials can't be bothered to think in State / Church separation terms, people like Miller end up having to go through the wringer in order to have their rights, and particularly their right of freedom FROM religion, recognized and acted on.
For the sake of EVERY non-Christian who is incarcerated, this lesson needs to be broadcast to all 50 states and American territories ... because it's clear that the message has yet to fully get through.
As a resident of Kentucky it's really interesting to me how states like this one and W. Virginia use their status as Border States in their own self-mythology. I remember the much hammered home crux of our state history class across all grades was that we WEREN'T part of the Confederacy. So we could all relax and rest assured no racism here, right? Not once in K-12 education was I informed that the Emancipation Proclamation DIDN'T apply to Border States, only Confederate States (who weren't following Lincoln's laws anyway). Kentucky and Delaware didn't end slavery until December 1865 and that was only because it was ratified by a majority of states federally. Kentucky wasn't one of them. West Virginia did much better here, ratifying the 13th Amendment state-wide in February 1865. The way religion, poverty, racism and labor intersect in these states is to see how MAGA spread before MAGA existed. It could so easily have gone another way if labor hadn't been racist itself for so long maybe it could have held onto more power longer under a wider umbrella.
The majority of America's racists live where slavery was most common a new study has revealed.
The University of Rochester has found that despite the abolition of slavery 150 years ago, white Southerners who live in the Cotton Belt where the economy was build on slaves and plantations are much more likely to express negative attitudes toward blacks than their fellow Southerners who live where there were less slaves.
Indeed, these white people are also more likely to identify as Republican and to hold opinions on race-related political policies such as affirmative action.
According to the findings represented in a map based on the 1860 Census, the most racist parts of the United States are in a narrow band that crosses through Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
In addition there are notable bands of racial resentment that run through Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina and surprisingly, Houston, Texas.
The most interesting findings from the research team was that in the areas where historically there had been few slaves, the political views held among the residents deviated little from those white people in the North.
IIRC both the split and joining the north was engineered by pro-northern politicians. The general populace was probably never for either, so yeah it's perfectly reasonable (though also with reasonable people disagreeing) to consider the state a southern state.
I doubt that many people go into penology because they're constitutional scholars. When I was in the Wisconsin State Employees Union, I was struck by the difference between some of my fellow delegates from the Protective Services bargaining unit. The state-patrol officers were the nicest people, apparently having taken to heart the precept that they're out on the roads to help people (those involved with car crashes, flat tires, directing traffic after ball games, getting drunks off the road, etc.), but the prison guards were just mean as hell and had very limited appreciation of the concepts of dialog and compromise.
I suppose they got into that line of work for the same reason that pederasts are attracted to the priesthood: because it's where they get to exercise their basest instincts with a stamp of approval.
I would bet money that the state attorney responsible for defending the DoC told them it was a loser case but the client didn’t listen until they got their ass handed to them after the injunction hearing.
I hadn't heard about the A/C issue in Texas. (Not that I'm surprised. Not all that long ago the OK prison that my stepfather worked for, still had some un-airconditioned buildings).
I'm sure Abbott and Patrick are falling all over themselves to get those prisons upgraded. You know instead of cutting school funding through property tax. /s
We have that huge budget surplus they keep talking about (Not to mention the Rainy Day fund). Seems like there's money to do something about the A/C or maybe they can use some of that Energy Upgrade fund they just created. I'm sure the oil tycoons on that board would love to see some more A/C use in this state.
But, the far superior privatized energy company wouldn’t be able to handle the demand of all the A/C in all the prisons in the state. How can you ask Texans to pay for these folks who gave up their humanity for drugs to lay around all comfortable all day while the righteous citizens can’t afford A/C or have to deal with rolling blackouts or just don’t wanna pay for degenerates to suckle off the state. They’re all criminals, they deserve to cook slowly to death in a prison cell. They shoulda thought about that before they committed crime.
While there are no national statistics on air conditioning in prison, we found that at least 13 states in the hottest regions of the country lack universal air conditioning in their prisons:
Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
If America was to lose all its atheists, we would lose about 90% of the National Academy of Sciences, and reduce our prison population by about 2%. The people in our prisons today overwhelmingly self-identify as Christian. Their religion evidently did not deter them from crime.
I have to wonder how many of those Christians are only Christian because they think it'll help them get out sooner, and how many are Christian just because they were so desperately fucking bored on the inside, having nothing better to do with their time.
I took a business law class in college that was taught by a judge who was working as adjunct faculty. He had very broad experience with the Treasurey department and the FBI. He laughed about all the prisoners who get born again shortly after being locked up.
Yesterday, I responded to one of Val's comments on the christian singer post about how I received an award at a military base I worked at (as a civilian federal employee) for a project I wasn't even present for. I am a member of an engineering club (we provide scholarships and do some occasional community projects and get continuing education credits to maintain professional licenses, etc.) and one guy who had been coming for a couple years, but I had never really talked to, came up to me last night at our meeting. He said someone told him I had worked at this base and he was wondering when, because he was there as well. I told him roughly when, and the first thing he said was "Oh, so you were there for the base commendation too!" We talked a bit, I had no idea about most of what he was saying. I was there for less than two years as my first job out of grad school, he had worked in the industry all his life and was on the base for over a decade.
Anyway, I thought it was completely insane that I hadn't thought about that award in years, and the same day I mention it, I come across someone who happened to work in the same place I did get the same award and bring it up.
I got to meet Colin Powell several years ago...we worked for the same company at the same time some two decades earlier, but he probably didn't remember me as he was up in the c-suites and I was more of a field (or desert, at least at that time) operative. 😉
I know times are tough, but... there ain't enough green in the US Mint to get me to ghost-write a book for a MAGAt. I like to think I have 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 standards.
You aren't fooling anyone, ladies- we all know you believe the same shit they do. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 know it, too. That's why they agreed to have their pictures taken with you. It 𝘪𝘴 funny to watch you eat your own, though!
Well, it's nice to see some 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 news for a change! Rehabilitation should be based on science, not superstition, and nobody should face harsher punishment than other people convicted of the same crimes just because they don't have an imaginary friend.
So… if you don’t follow the Christian religion, you are automatically more of a security threat. Meaning if you aren’t Christian you are a threat. “But it just spiritual not religious.” Doesn’t make any sense especially when the only acceptable responses to their “spiritual” questioning are based on Christianity.
I’m glad there was a sober judge on this case to make a reality based ruling.
I’m glad Mr. Miller won his lawsuit and is now a free man. He seems to have been a model inmate and there were secular programs he could have accessed. I have to wonder why did the prison deny that in the first place? Did they want to force the pesky Jesus-y program just to fuck with him? I wonder how many others before him went through that indoctrination just to get out (A: too many). Also, how many others were able to use the secular route? Statistics would be interesting and probably appalling.
I know in most states on the community/county level when you enter a diversion program for substance abuse as a condition of the program your only treatment options are going to be 12 Step programs like AA and NA. The majority of the halfway houses you'll be put into will have Christian themed names and rules. They will TELL you that your higher power can be anything at all and they aren't religious but in practice the entire program depends on you giving over your control to your chosen higher power. They really don't understand what atheists believe. The phrase I hear over and over is "Your higher power can be a door knob". The fact that that isn't compatible with atheistic beliefs anymore than Jesus Christ is something they seem incapable of comprehending. It has always seemed so obviously a violation of the separation of church and state to me but it's ubiquitous.
It’s that spiritual vs religious argument too. I don’t believe in anything spiritual either, supernatural entities do not exist, be they gods or chakras or vibes. A doorknob as a higher power is just as nonsensical as a god, it’s nice that these folks acknowledge that. But really, giving in to a higher power removes a great deal of personal responsibility, so those who do not find some doorknob to worship are less likely to be a risk than more. And certainly less likely to return than someone who leaves their thinking up to god.
Peer support may be enough for some people. Belief in a higher power *may* help some find their inner strength. But I think many need help finding and addressing the stresses that led to substance abuse in the first place to lessen the need to fight to 'just' the addiction.
It's so much easier to give it over to Sky Daddy, and then that way if you stay sober it's because God must want you to, and anyone else it's because they haven't prayed/observed/followed the rules/met the criteria so it's therefore THEIR own fault. This is convenient since it's what capitalism and conservatives are mainly selling and it eliminates the need to address any of society's ills. You never have to do harm reduction if only sinners are being harmed.
I don’t either. I belong to a monthly discussion group and whoever leads picks the topic. I kid you not, our next one is on spirituality v religion. I’m dreading it. I’ll probably offend someone and they’re nice people.
Science-based, secular substance abuse programs cost money. Doesn't cost the county anything to insist you go to a 12-step program which have nothing but anecdotal evidence for effectiveness and just as much anecdotal evidence for ineffectiveness.
I've heard there are atheist/agnostic 12 step programs, but to me the only way you can achieve that is to remove steps. Higher power steps and the atonement steps would have to go,which would only leave three steps.
If your higher power can be a doorknob, then your higher power can be your own brain. And it can be your social network. Both of which are good candidates for an atheist addict's realization that they can't kick the habit without acknowledging the importance and assistance of this higher power.
And to the detractors who say "it can't be your brain, because that makes a hash of the idea that you can't do it yourself," well the same is true for the doorknob.
The idea that you can't do it yourself is a load of hooey. Whatever you talk yourself into believing, you are the one who decides not to use at that moment in time. People believe in whatever magic feather helps them to choose not to use at that moment, but they are really the ones making the choice. Early on, you can only choose not to use "right now". As time goes by, it can become easier to choose not to use so that it becomes choosing not to use today instead of only this moment. Those moments when you again have to choose not to use right now may recur; again, you are the one choosing not to use, not some magic feather.
This is exactly why we have to be vigilant. Christians have no problem pushing their beliefs down the throats of anyone under their control. They are ruthless with their unwanted proselytizing. They must be stopped
How ironic: backasswards West Virginia is run by a right wing MAGA Christian named Jim Justice. In his world, this ruling is a travesty of justice. He and his band of Jesus puritans will undoubtedly appeal and bring it up to the Righteous Catholic Majority of the United States Supreme Court to overturn, in keeping with In God We Trust that's printed on every piece of US currency.
Jim Jesus Justice will be replacing pseudo-Democrat Joe Manchin next year in the Senate, ensuring complete Red-State dominance for representation of the Christian nation of West Virginiastan.
But we are ignoring the truth of the situation, and that is that no true Christian is a drug user. It is just not possible. And that is why in such a strong Christian state like West Virginia, drug use isn't a major problem as it is for Godless New York and California. For instance, meth use is... **check meth statistics for West Virginia**..oh.... Like I was saying there are only 4 possibly 5 true Christians in all of West Virginia. It is a godless state of wickedness.
I wouldn't call Mike's relationship with crack love. It is not love. Lust barely covers it. It is the feeling that can only be found in the darkest room of the seediest brothel in the worst neighborhood of Tijuana.
Right off the top ... West Virginia, eh? Of course, I could also have said, Tennessee or Mississippi or Alabama and it still would have tracked.
Seriously, it seems as though a great number of states in the Deep South need to understand that it is NOT within their purview to push religion on those entrusted to their care, as was the case with Miller. Sadly, this brand of religious rehabilitation / indoctrination is the default and the go-to too often and not just in southern states. Because many state officials can't be bothered to think in State / Church separation terms, people like Miller end up having to go through the wringer in order to have their rights, and particularly their right of freedom FROM religion, recognized and acted on.
For the sake of EVERY non-Christian who is incarcerated, this lesson needs to be broadcast to all 50 states and American territories ... because it's clear that the message has yet to fully get through.
I find it funny that West Virginia thinks of itself as Southern when they joined the North during war that defined who the South is.
As a resident of Kentucky it's really interesting to me how states like this one and W. Virginia use their status as Border States in their own self-mythology. I remember the much hammered home crux of our state history class across all grades was that we WEREN'T part of the Confederacy. So we could all relax and rest assured no racism here, right? Not once in K-12 education was I informed that the Emancipation Proclamation DIDN'T apply to Border States, only Confederate States (who weren't following Lincoln's laws anyway). Kentucky and Delaware didn't end slavery until December 1865 and that was only because it was ratified by a majority of states federally. Kentucky wasn't one of them. West Virginia did much better here, ratifying the 13th Amendment state-wide in February 1865. The way religion, poverty, racism and labor intersect in these states is to see how MAGA spread before MAGA existed. It could so easily have gone another way if labor hadn't been racist itself for so long maybe it could have held onto more power longer under a wider umbrella.
The majority of America's racists live where slavery was most common a new study has revealed.
The University of Rochester has found that despite the abolition of slavery 150 years ago, white Southerners who live in the Cotton Belt where the economy was build on slaves and plantations are much more likely to express negative attitudes toward blacks than their fellow Southerners who live where there were less slaves.
Indeed, these white people are also more likely to identify as Republican and to hold opinions on race-related political policies such as affirmative action.
According to the findings represented in a map based on the 1860 Census, the most racist parts of the United States are in a narrow band that crosses through Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
In addition there are notable bands of racial resentment that run through Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina and surprisingly, Houston, Texas.
The most interesting findings from the research team was that in the areas where historically there had been few slaves, the political views held among the residents deviated little from those white people in the North.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428103/Majority-Americas-racists-live-areas-slavery-common-says-new-study.html
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐤𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚
We’d be less violent, more mobile and in general more normal if not for Dixie.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-the-south-skews-america-119725?o=0
Freaky Friday: The Virginias Edition.
IIRC both the split and joining the north was engineered by pro-northern politicians. The general populace was probably never for either, so yeah it's perfectly reasonable (though also with reasonable people disagreeing) to consider the state a southern state.
Some places are so backward it looks like forward to them.
Before incarceration, he had four years of sobriety and was participating in a secular program.
I doubt that many people go into penology because they're constitutional scholars. When I was in the Wisconsin State Employees Union, I was struck by the difference between some of my fellow delegates from the Protective Services bargaining unit. The state-patrol officers were the nicest people, apparently having taken to heart the precept that they're out on the roads to help people (those involved with car crashes, flat tires, directing traffic after ball games, getting drunks off the road, etc.), but the prison guards were just mean as hell and had very limited appreciation of the concepts of dialog and compromise.
I suppose they got into that line of work for the same reason that pederasts are attracted to the priesthood: because it's where they get to exercise their basest instincts with a stamp of approval.
I would bet money that the state attorney responsible for defending the DoC told them it was a loser case but the client didn’t listen until they got their ass handed to them after the injunction hearing.
I’m glad in this one instance of how our prison system mistreats people that there was a religious freedom issue to challenge the mistreatment over.
Too bad there apparently is not a constitutional right to air conditioning in Texas prisons, or a right to be safe from prison rape.
I hadn't heard about the A/C issue in Texas. (Not that I'm surprised. Not all that long ago the OK prison that my stepfather worked for, still had some un-airconditioned buildings).
I'm sure Abbott and Patrick are falling all over themselves to get those prisons upgraded. You know instead of cutting school funding through property tax. /s
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/21/texas-prison-heat-deaths/
Wouldn’t surprise me if the number of annual prison heat deaths in Texas exceeded the annual number of Texas elective third term abortions, pre Dobbs.
Pro-life party gonna pro-life.
What was it Ron White said a couple of decades ago? "Other states are abolishing the death penalty, mine's putting in an express lane"
We have that huge budget surplus they keep talking about (Not to mention the Rainy Day fund). Seems like there's money to do something about the A/C or maybe they can use some of that Energy Upgrade fund they just created. I'm sure the oil tycoons on that board would love to see some more A/C use in this state.
That razor wire on the Mexico border and New Mexico State line isn’t going to erect itself. Priorities.
But, the far superior privatized energy company wouldn’t be able to handle the demand of all the A/C in all the prisons in the state. How can you ask Texans to pay for these folks who gave up their humanity for drugs to lay around all comfortable all day while the righteous citizens can’t afford A/C or have to deal with rolling blackouts or just don’t wanna pay for degenerates to suckle off the state. They’re all criminals, they deserve to cook slowly to death in a prison cell. They shoulda thought about that before they committed crime.
/s
Floriduh prisons aren't air conditioned either.
𝟏𝟑 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐀/𝐂 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬
While there are no national statistics on air conditioning in prison, we found that at least 13 states in the hottest regions of the country lack universal air conditioning in their prisons:
Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/06/18/air-conditioning/
Just a reminder here, but Arizona has worse prisons than just no AC in the summer.
https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/aug/6/arpaios-infamous-tent-city-gone-arizona-state-prisons-tent-city-remains/
Has his successor maintained the tent city?
From what I can tell, the jail is gone now, but well:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3n8wj/phoenix-homeless-tent-city
If America was to lose all its atheists, we would lose about 90% of the National Academy of Sciences, and reduce our prison population by about 2%. The people in our prisons today overwhelmingly self-identify as Christian. Their religion evidently did not deter them from crime.
I have to wonder how many of those Christians are only Christian because they think it'll help them get out sooner, and how many are Christian just because they were so desperately fucking bored on the inside, having nothing better to do with their time.
I took a business law class in college that was taught by a judge who was working as adjunct faculty. He had very broad experience with the Treasurey department and the FBI. He laughed about all the prisoners who get born again shortly after being locked up.
They were probably already nominal Christians, just needed to put on a show. I don't think many criminals really think enough to be atheists as such.
Probably similar results if you took out all college graduates.
A college degree also appears to be a decent vaccine against Trumpism, although there are numerous breakout infections.
Education almost always helps. The strongest opinions you run into will likely be coming from the people who know the least.
Or – those who have "done their own research". If there ever was a God he should preserve us from people like that.
Crazy OT follow up from yesterday:
Yesterday, I responded to one of Val's comments on the christian singer post about how I received an award at a military base I worked at (as a civilian federal employee) for a project I wasn't even present for. I am a member of an engineering club (we provide scholarships and do some occasional community projects and get continuing education credits to maintain professional licenses, etc.) and one guy who had been coming for a couple years, but I had never really talked to, came up to me last night at our meeting. He said someone told him I had worked at this base and he was wondering when, because he was there as well. I told him roughly when, and the first thing he said was "Oh, so you were there for the base commendation too!" We talked a bit, I had no idea about most of what he was saying. I was there for less than two years as my first job out of grad school, he had worked in the industry all his life and was on the base for over a decade.
Anyway, I thought it was completely insane that I hadn't thought about that award in years, and the same day I mention it, I come across someone who happened to work in the same place I did get the same award and bring it up.
I ran into Troy Polamalu the other day. Turns out he played in a couple of those Super Bowls that I won. : )
How's his hair looking?
Dandruff free.
I got to meet Colin Powell several years ago...we worked for the same company at the same time some two decades earlier, but he probably didn't remember me as he was up in the c-suites and I was more of a field (or desert, at least at that time) operative. 😉
OT but ... https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/15/marjorie-taylor-greene-book-january-6-mtg
I don't suppose we should expect any consistency from crazy lady, but I thought the capital rioters weren't actually rioters, just tourists?
Her relationship to reality is roughly the same as my relationship to Kim Jung-un ... NON-EXISTENT!
Her relationship with reality is like Donnie’s relationship with his first wife.
Are you sure it's THAT good?!? 🤣🤣🤣
I mean the part where her headstone is just another decoration on his golf course.
I want to know what he really buried there.
She can write? And read?? She can barely speak correctly. Gazpacho, anyone?
Truth is the natural enemy of Marjorie Traitor Greene.
And who was it that was rioting, Margie? Why, it was Trump supporters just like you.
Ray Epps and the Antifa Boys, with BLM as the opening act.
I would have loved to watch drumpster trying to outrun rioters.
He wouldn't have gotten very far. That's why he was hunkered down in his bunker while his loyal mindless sheep wreaked havoc.
"Gentlelady" odd term, but totally inappropriate with reference to Majorie Taylor-Greene.
"That's no lady..."
No it's a brain slug.
Let's All Have Trump Babies: https://sweatingthesmallstuff.substack.com/p/trump-babies
Gad ... Johnson is SO full of shit, never mind not knowing fuck-all about this country's founding or those who did the heavy lifting:
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑝𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒, ℎ𝑦𝑝𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦. 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎, 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑑𝑠, 𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛, 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒; 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑠.
-- John Adams, “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” 1787-1788
He needs to be kicked in his Johnson. Repeatedly.
The same MTG who claimed back in December 2022 that if she ran the Capitol riot, she and the rioters would've won.
After she got heat for her twerpery, she claimed she was being sarcastic. Suuure, Margie.
Now I’m wondering where she was during the insurrection.
First out of the building? Cowering in the toilet? Leading the “tour group”?
Tweeting the locations of her colleagues.
She probably tried to write Salisbury steak.
I know times are tough, but... there ain't enough green in the US Mint to get me to ghost-write a book for a MAGAt. I like to think I have 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 standards.
also secret fbi and antifa members.
Are they going to ban her book too? Oh, wait....
OT- Two chapter leaders of Moms for Liberty (more like Morons Against Libraries) got the boot after doing photo-ops with the Proud Boys: https://apnews.com/article/moms-for-liberty-proud-boys-kentucky-d073732a6bbf2a65e08dcc76bc53cf06
You aren't fooling anyone, ladies- we all know you believe the same shit they do. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 know it, too. That's why they agreed to have their pictures taken with you. It 𝘪𝘴 funny to watch you eat your own, though!
What? Did they think they were too Nazi for the Nazis?
Their error was to leave traces like pictures.
Morons Against Libraries. MAL. Appropriate, as "Mal" is Spanish for "Evil."
In French le Malin* is a name for the Devil.
* Not to mix with malin who can mean smart or cheeky.
They don’t condone hate? Since when?
IIRC, the Sarasota County chapter chair is married to a Nazi Boy, and she refers to them as "patriots."
"Und ve are completely loyal to Ron DeFuhrer und ze glorious Fahzzerlant of Sousvest Florida!"
Well, it's nice to see some 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 news for a change! Rehabilitation should be based on science, not superstition, and nobody should face harsher punishment than other people convicted of the same crimes just because they don't have an imaginary friend.
So… if you don’t follow the Christian religion, you are automatically more of a security threat. Meaning if you aren’t Christian you are a threat. “But it just spiritual not religious.” Doesn’t make any sense especially when the only acceptable responses to their “spiritual” questioning are based on Christianity.
I’m glad there was a sober judge on this case to make a reality based ruling.
I am glad that Trump did not manage to get the entire federal judiciary replaced with Christian Nationalists.
He came awfully close ... and I'm looking at YOU, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and Barrett!
Yet.
TRUMP 2024!!!
Sorry. Trump, 20-24 years in the pen!!
He'd have no difficulty pretending to be a Christian in order to get out of jail. He already manages to pretend to be a decent human being.
But he's already the world's greatest christian.
America's Best Christian (the mighty Betty Bowers) begs to differ.
I’m glad Mr. Miller won his lawsuit and is now a free man. He seems to have been a model inmate and there were secular programs he could have accessed. I have to wonder why did the prison deny that in the first place? Did they want to force the pesky Jesus-y program just to fuck with him? I wonder how many others before him went through that indoctrination just to get out (A: too many). Also, how many others were able to use the secular route? Statistics would be interesting and probably appalling.
I know in most states on the community/county level when you enter a diversion program for substance abuse as a condition of the program your only treatment options are going to be 12 Step programs like AA and NA. The majority of the halfway houses you'll be put into will have Christian themed names and rules. They will TELL you that your higher power can be anything at all and they aren't religious but in practice the entire program depends on you giving over your control to your chosen higher power. They really don't understand what atheists believe. The phrase I hear over and over is "Your higher power can be a door knob". The fact that that isn't compatible with atheistic beliefs anymore than Jesus Christ is something they seem incapable of comprehending. It has always seemed so obviously a violation of the separation of church and state to me but it's ubiquitous.
It’s that spiritual vs religious argument too. I don’t believe in anything spiritual either, supernatural entities do not exist, be they gods or chakras or vibes. A doorknob as a higher power is just as nonsensical as a god, it’s nice that these folks acknowledge that. But really, giving in to a higher power removes a great deal of personal responsibility, so those who do not find some doorknob to worship are less likely to be a risk than more. And certainly less likely to return than someone who leaves their thinking up to god.
Peer support may be enough for some people. Belief in a higher power *may* help some find their inner strength. But I think many need help finding and addressing the stresses that led to substance abuse in the first place to lessen the need to fight to 'just' the addiction.
I agree, and I can see the higher power focus detracting from all of that.
It's so much easier to give it over to Sky Daddy, and then that way if you stay sober it's because God must want you to, and anyone else it's because they haven't prayed/observed/followed the rules/met the criteria so it's therefore THEIR own fault. This is convenient since it's what capitalism and conservatives are mainly selling and it eliminates the need to address any of society's ills. You never have to do harm reduction if only sinners are being harmed.
Exactly!!
I have great difficulty understanding what "spiritual" actually means. I say great difficulty, I don't understand it at all.
I don’t either. I belong to a monthly discussion group and whoever leads picks the topic. I kid you not, our next one is on spirituality v religion. I’m dreading it. I’ll probably offend someone and they’re nice people.
Science-based, secular substance abuse programs cost money. Doesn't cost the county anything to insist you go to a 12-step program which have nothing but anecdotal evidence for effectiveness and just as much anecdotal evidence for ineffectiveness.
I've heard there are atheist/agnostic 12 step programs, but to me the only way you can achieve that is to remove steps. Higher power steps and the atonement steps would have to go,which would only leave three steps.
Six minute abs?!?
If your higher power can be a doorknob, then your higher power can be your own brain. And it can be your social network. Both of which are good candidates for an atheist addict's realization that they can't kick the habit without acknowledging the importance and assistance of this higher power.
And to the detractors who say "it can't be your brain, because that makes a hash of the idea that you can't do it yourself," well the same is true for the doorknob.
Snoop Dogg could work too.
The idea that you can't do it yourself is a load of hooey. Whatever you talk yourself into believing, you are the one who decides not to use at that moment in time. People believe in whatever magic feather helps them to choose not to use at that moment, but they are really the ones making the choice. Early on, you can only choose not to use "right now". As time goes by, it can become easier to choose not to use so that it becomes choosing not to use today instead of only this moment. Those moments when you again have to choose not to use right now may recur; again, you are the one choosing not to use, not some magic feather.
Power corrupt.
How sad. It’s said that W Virginia is a place where men are men and sheep are scared!
This guy needs to sue for compensation; otherwise, they will continue to deny parole to atheists based on religious doctrine.
"It’s said that W Virginia is a place where men are men and sheep are scared!" They stole that directly from NZ.
I first heard it as; "Greece, where the men are men, and the sheep are nervous."
How is this even possible in 2023????
Easy – a lot of people want to return to 1823.
More and more of them seem to want to return to 1323.
These are far too scary times!
This is exactly why we have to be vigilant. Christians have no problem pushing their beliefs down the throats of anyone under their control. They are ruthless with their unwanted proselytizing. They must be stopped
How ironic: backasswards West Virginia is run by a right wing MAGA Christian named Jim Justice. In his world, this ruling is a travesty of justice. He and his band of Jesus puritans will undoubtedly appeal and bring it up to the Righteous Catholic Majority of the United States Supreme Court to overturn, in keeping with In God We Trust that's printed on every piece of US currency.
Jim Jesus Justice will be replacing pseudo-Democrat Joe Manchin next year in the Senate, ensuring complete Red-State dominance for representation of the Christian nation of West Virginiastan.
But we are ignoring the truth of the situation, and that is that no true Christian is a drug user. It is just not possible. And that is why in such a strong Christian state like West Virginia, drug use isn't a major problem as it is for Godless New York and California. For instance, meth use is... **check meth statistics for West Virginia**..oh.... Like I was saying there are only 4 possibly 5 true Christians in all of West Virginia. It is a godless state of wickedness.
I hear that Mike Pillow Guy up in Minnesota is a Christian who can't figure out if he loves Christ or Crack more.
I wouldn't call Mike's relationship with crack love. It is not love. Lust barely covers it. It is the feeling that can only be found in the darkest room of the seediest brothel in the worst neighborhood of Tijuana.