I theorize that the fragile straights aren’t actually straight. Which I assume is what the developer is poking fun at with the quotation marks.

Our social default is still to assume that most people are straight. It doesn’t make sense for a straight person to have a driving need to prove that they are straight … unless they think someone would have a good reason to put them into a “non-straight” category.

They do. There are a few elite non-religious private schools in Louisville.

But they are far outnumbered by parochial schools.

I grew up in the Assemblies of God denomination. When I graduated from high school, I left home to go to college, expanded my horizons, and ultimately ended up deconstructing my religious beliefs. I have considered myself to be an atheist for more than 20 years, but I still have strong ethical beliefs that basically parallel the Christian teachings of empathy for the marginalized and the disadvantaged.

For the past 8 years, I’ve watched my “decent Christian” family slide further and further into Trumpism. They are unrecognizable as the people who taught me the value of Christlike behavior.

Most days, I feel like I’m a better Christian than they are. I’ve wondered for a long time how the same people who instilled those values in me have been led so far astray.

I recognize in hindsight that they were motivated by fear of God rather than love for their fellow humans. Fox News and Trump have preyed on that fear and gradually expanded it until it has turned to hatred of anyone who doesn’t look or vote like them.

American voters do seem to have very short memories.

Even faced with actual data that indicates that the economy has consistently performed better under Democrats over the past 75 years, they still pretend that the party of the oligarchs is somehow going to solve the problems of the working class.

Donald Trump is very open about his own anti-labor policies as an employer, yet the very people who hate being screwed over by their bosses worship him.

I don’t understand how anyone can function with this level of cognitive dissonance.

Are we definitely skipping the 2028 election, then?

If Dobbs continues to be the law of the land for any real length of time, we can also expect crime rates to rise in 18 to 20 years, just as they fell in the same time frame after Roe. But I’m sure the GOP is already planning to spin that as the Democrats’ fault, too.

To be honest, I don’t trust The Telegraph any more than I trust The Onion. At least The Onion is straightforward about what they are.

Yes. Yes it does.

From Media Bias/Fact Check:

Bias Rating: RIGHT

Factual Reporting: MIXED

Country: United Kingdom

MBFC’s Country Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE

Media Type: Newspaper

Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic

MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY

It has taken the better part of 50 years to get from there to here. I wouldn’t say it was easy.

The evangelical bloc was the hardest to convince. They had to get some capitalist representation in the churches to counteract all of that business about “helping the poor” and “blessed be the meek” that Jesus was always going on about.

Once they got Joel Osteen to convince millions of viewers that Jesus wanted them to be rich, that really clinched it for them.

Every case of a random person hiring a “hitman” that I have heard of has, in fact, been someone hiring an undercover cop. And the people soliciting the services went to jail for a good long while.

There’s a big cake mix manufacturing plant near where I grew up, and I knew a lot of people who worked there. They all confirmed that the only difference between the name brand cake mix and the store brand they made was the box they put it into at the end of the process.

Teacher here. I consider all of the teachers I’ve worked with, and I consider how few of them I would trust with a loaded firearm under the best possible circumstances (maybe 10 percent).

Then I consider the number of those who would actually consider using a firearm (down to about 3 percent).

And then I consider how many of those I would trust with a firearm in a room full of students… and it’s zero.

I finally just avoided the problem by moving to a country where civilians are not generally allowed to own guns and school shootings are not a problem.

Though the divorce judge found there was evidence that Hawkins had physically abused the oldest son, the judge said in his ruling that was “one instance that does not involve either of the two children at issue.”

As far as information in the article, it sounds like the two kids in court-ordered Christian therapy are the only two the guy didn’t (allegedly) abuse.

But still, the whole thing is disgusting. These children should be protected from such an abusive garbage human. Their mother is doing the right thing.

I don’t understand how it’s legal for a court to order religion-based therapy that costs $1500 per month. That’s absolutely insane from every possible angle.

I would like to know what source you have for claiming that pedophiles are “born the way they are.”

We understand some of the genetic and intrauterine developmental reasons for homosexuality, being trans, etc. That has scientific backing, and our understanding continues to grow and expand.

Lumping child predators in with consenting adults smacks of the evangelical slippery slope argument against all forms of what they consider to be “sexual deviance.” I’m not buying it.

There are multiple references to this in the Bible. This is the most uplifting one I found.

Psalm 90

10 Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Not all protestants do this, BTW.

US politics have moved so far to the right that I’m pretty sure contemporary moderate Democrats are nearly interchangeable with Reagan-era Republicans.

A lot of my favorites have already been mentioned, but I don’t see “Caper” yet.

“Thanks for stopping by; thanks for breaking my cow lamp,” is still common parlance in our household.

And “The Cheat Is Not Dead” is a classic Strongbad hit.

I wonder what would happen if the world found out that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (or any other celebrity/athlete/role model) was using Chat GPT to respond to fan mail. My gut feeling is that people would find it disingenuous at best – and there would probably be significant outrage.

Where’s the AI that does my dishes and cleans my house so I have more time to write, create, and connect with others? That’s the technology I want – not one that does the meaningful part and leaves the menial stuff up to me.