Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:58 pm**

Depends on your definition of the appearance of sinful conduct. My guess is that the average person wouldn't think most training duties qualify but who knows.

Torres, a Baptist who serves as a deacon at his local church, said in the suit that training his colleague would leave the appearance of “sinful conduct.”

Posted: **Tue Sep 03, 2019 5:56 pm**

gameoverman wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:08 pm On that Billy Graham rule thing, how long is an 'extended period' of time? How does the Bible define 'alone'? I mean if I'm training someone, yeah we might be alone, as in no one else is around, for periods of time. But unless the job involves working by yourself, we will likely be around other people every so often. We might, if we were law enforcement, be within sight of many people although we might be 'alone' together, in a car for example.

That's my long winded way of saying I think this rule is BS. It depends on arbitrary measurements of time and space. Let's say this guy is in a staff room with other cops during a meeting. After the meeting the room clears out, except for him and one female deputy, both of them are busy writing notes or whatever. How long can he stay in there with her before the rule kicks in? Does he need to keep checking the time so he's ready to bolt before the countdown hits 0:00? If another deputy returns to the room briefly because he forgot something then leaves again, does that reset the timer? If there's a window and someone outside walks by and looks in the room does that count as alone or not?

It's easier not to sweat the details. Simply remember that the point is to reinforce archaic models of gender in which women don't belong in the male world of serious professional life.

Posted: **Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:28 pm**

Liberty University is loaded with graft:

Falwell presides over a culture of self-dealing, directing university resources into projects and real estate deals in which his friends and family have stood to make personal financial gains...

...“We’re not a school; we’re a real estate hedge fund,” said a senior university official with inside knowledge of Liberty’s finances. “We’re not educating; we’re buying real estate every year and taking students’ money to do it.”

Posted: **Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:59 pm**

The article on Falwell has hit a nerve. Falwell said today that he has asked for the FBI to investigate the "stolen emails" which are university property. He claims there is a criminal conspiracy:

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/46069 ... at-liberty

I normally would laugh at this but under Trump I'd have to wonder, since Falwell is a major political ally.

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:50 pm**

Watching Falwell twisting and turning over the photos taken of him and his wife and kid at a nightclub in Florida is oddly satisfying. I have nothing against real Christians, but Falwell and his kind aren’t real Christians. They’re just bottom feeding parasites that wrap themselves in religion so they can get away with whatever they feel like doing.

Posted: **Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:53 pm**

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:50 pm Watching Falwell twisting and turning over the photos taken of him and his wife and kid at a nightclub in Florida is oddly satisfying. I have nothing against real Christians, but Falwell and his kind aren’t real Christians. They’re just bottom feeding parasites that wrap themselves in religion so they can get away with whatever they feel like doing.

Amen!

Posted: **Sun Oct 06, 2019 2:25 pm**

I dont get Pence. He is supposed to be this big Christian with morals yet he works for a the devil. He knows who and what Trump is yet he is following him anyways. I guess he is hoping any good stuff he has left will outweigh the bad and keep him from Hell.

Posted: **Sun Oct 06, 2019 8:50 pm**

The religious right is willing to commit any sin as long as the end result is an America that fears THEIR God, hates gays, doesn’t want women to have a choice, and keeps those minorities in their place. As far as I’m concerned, they’re closer to the devil than they are to God.

I wish true Christians would organize and rise up against their kind.

Posted: **Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:08 pm**

The evangelicals who follow Trump believe that he was chosen by God, who works in mysterious ways but obviously has a warped sense of humor.

Posted: **Fri Nov 22, 2019 9:42 pm**

Joel Osteen is the Anti-Jesus.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 1:27 am**

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 7:15 am**

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:59 am**

"Speaking in tongues" is so weird. Practitioners seem to believe that are actually speaking in a (or, I guess, the) Divine Language. They don't know what they're saying, but God does.

It purports to be based on an episode in Acts where the apostles (after Jesus' departure) gained an ability to speak other languages so that they might better spread the word to all people. But in the story these were real human languages, and you can see how useful this would be for evangelizing new converts in the polyglot world of the Roman empire. Historically, it tracks with the fact that the new faith spread quickly to non-Jewish, non-Aramaic/non-Greek speaking communities.

That's not this, though.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:06 am**

malchior wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 7:15 am

I’m not sure here, but from the views outside the windows in that video, I’m not sure that was inside the White House

I’m probably wrong about this; but there is no building, like the one shown, directly outside the White House.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:13 am**

Unagi wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:06 am I’m not sure here, but from the views outside the windows in that video, I’m not sure that was inside the White House

I’m probably wrong about this.

I think they're on the northeast corner of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, just next door to the White House. (The dark/light paving pattern of the plaza visible at 0:47 really stands out on Google Maps.)

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:29 am**

Precisely

that's the Blair House by the fire engine.

Anyhow - I am just annoyed in that it is indeed Not happening IN the White House.... and this just gives credit to false reports from the media, etc, etc...

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 1:02 pm**

Unagi wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:29 am Anyhow - I am just annoyed in that it is indeed Not happening IN the White House.... and this just gives credit to false reports from the media, etc, etc...

FWIW, the source is not an established media journalist but a podcaster with a Twitter account. And of course the building in question is no less federal government property than the White House itself.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 1:16 pm**

Just throwing this out there, the quote reads, "In a White House...". I could be totally wrong, but I think sometimes people use "White House" interchangeably with "administration".

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 2:06 pm**

In *A* White House is indeed the key phrase. I didnt take that to mean the literal White House. I get the confusion but I feel like people are stretching this. What I dont understand is an instinct is to qualify this in a way that misses the point. Things are abnormal. Minor language imperfections are not very important and like pointed out this wasnt the NY Times reporting this. It was an amateur. To be clear the administration hosting this is the problem. Not exactly what room it was in.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:02 pm**

How is this different from a White House prayer breakfast or the annual Christmas tree or whatever?

I mean those have always made me uncomfortable too why is this version of superstition and magic different than any other?

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:20 pm**

There's a lot of things about religion that utterly baffle me. The idea that high functioning, (supposedly) intelligent people would participate in something like this is pretty high up on the list.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:26 pm**

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:02 pm How is this different from a White House prayer breakfast or the annual Christmas tree or whatever?

I mean those have always made me uncomfortable too why is this version of superstition and magic different than any other?

Somewhat different but not entirely.

The National Prayer Breakfast is not a WH event. It's private, but top government officials are invited to attend and always do. (It's also pretty shady, and during Trump's tenure it has been packed with Russians. It's essentially a conference where foreign lobbyists meet American officials.)

The Christmas tree is a Christian thing (or a Christendom thing, anyway), but decent presidents have for a couple of generations gone out of their way to balance it with official recognition of other faiths' holidays.

But there have been many religious ceremonies held on administration property. What makes this one different isn't any 1st-amendment issue but that fact that tongue-speaking lies on an evangelical fringe that has seldom met with political or elite-social recognition.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:30 pm**

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:02 pm How is this different from a White House prayer breakfast or the annual Christmas tree or whatever?

I mean those have always made me uncomfortable too why is this version of superstition and magic different than any other?

Those aren't great either but also not unusual over the years. However, this WH is pretty openly courting evangelicals so that context matters quite a bit too.

Posted: **Sun Dec 08, 2019 4:03 pm**

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 1:16 pm Just throwing this out there, the quote reads, "In a White House...". I could be totally wrong, but I think sometimes people use "White House" interchangeably with "administration".

I hear ya, but just to be technical here (as to what I was talking about) ... it started with the tweet that said "Either way, this shit shouldn't be happening in the White House" and then, if I follow my imbedded-tweets correctly, the next person said "In a White House".... which I agree - implies 'In a white house administration...', where as 'the' makes it more literal.

Posted: **Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:03 pm**

CHRISTIANITY TODAY, a flagship Evangelical magazine, has called for Trump's removal from office.

This is significant. CT is in no way a liberal or even a centrist publication. I would imagine it reflects the mood of the "Evangelical intelligentsia" (leading writers and professors at evangelical colleges) pretty well.

(It's telling that right now the article won't even load because their website is overloaded.)

Posted: **Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:41 pm**

Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion.

Really? That's part of their argument?

But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

I guess we can at least agree on this. I'm still kinda surprised *this* was the thing that put them over the edge.

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 1:02 am**

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:41 pm
Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from day one, and therefore nearly everything they do is under a cloud of partisan suspicion.
Really? That's part of their argument?

I can't stand Trump but i think this is pretty much true for the most part. Not that he hasn't given them reason since day one but there was talk of impeachment going way back before there were even grounds, such as the Mueller report. It's clear many were gunning for him.

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 1:03 am**

As an Christian myself, this is the part that really spoke to me and describes where I have been coming from:

To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:13 am**

Wondering more and more just how many evangelicals and televangelist hell can hold....or will have to hold. I think some of them have given up on God buying them that personal jet and are hoping Trump will get it for them. Honestly I dont think Trump has a lot of money. Any money his dad left him seems to be tied up in gaudy gold colored decorations and wallpaper.

But Im not kidding when I think they are all going to hell.

Anyone else find the words of the GOP in DC strange as in everything they say or claim about what the Dems are 'doing' to Trump is actually describing themselves to a T?

Blackburn was running her foul mouth on the local news with her pro Trump brainwashing and then Fleischmann the brown noser that he is said he left Congress crying. Buncha asshats.

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 8:16 am**

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 8:48 am**

Entertainment Tonight was pretty harsh with him in their last piece, too.

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 10:12 am**

a perfect transcript

Soon it will be a publicly broadcast call, listened to by more people than any call in history.

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:00 pm**

What do you mean?
Is there a recording now?

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:12 pm**

Unagi wrote: ↑Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:00 pm What do you mean?
Is there a recording now?

Check your sarcasm meter - it needs calibration

Posted: **Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:15 pm**

Grifman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:12 pm
Unagi wrote: ↑Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:00 pm What do you mean?
Is there a recording now?
Check your sarcasm meter - it needs calibration

You say that but an official White House audio reenactment would not surprise me in the least. This is where we are.

Posted: **Sat Dec 21, 2019 11:20 pm**

Grifman wrote: ↑Fri Dec 20, 2019 1:03 am As an Christian myself, this is the part that really spoke to me and describes where I have been coming from:

To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

I honestly and seriously do not understand how evangelicals can look at the Republican party of the last 10 years and think that it reflects the teachings of Jesus in even the smallest way. I do completely understand the issues around Abortion, but what about everything else Jesus commanded? Care for the least among us? The current Republican party would grind the least of us into nutrient paste if it would increase the quarterly profits of ConAgra. The good Samaritan? Some republicans are so against anything that smells of free health care that they want to turn people away from often the last resort of emergency rooms. How do you look at parental separation on the border and sign off on that as a Christian? I fully support the Jesus of the Bible - it just feels like the current incarnation of the evangelical church hasn't ever read it.

Posted: **Sun Dec 22, 2019 12:14 am**

Ive heard of resting bitch face but this man has resting Im trying hard to take a shit face....all the damn time. I think Ive seen one pic of him smiling. Someone probably slipped him a $100 bill for a favor which he instantly ignored.

Posted: **Sun Dec 22, 2019 12:53 am**

Still funny after all these years.

I think that's technically resting asshole face, though.

Posted: **Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:28 am**

That’s actually the term they used (accidentally?) in the video

Posted: **Mon Dec 23, 2019 2:59 pm**

JUST RELEASED! Nearly 200 influential evangelical leaders send letter (attached) to CEO OF Christianity Today criticizing them for publishing pro-impeachment editorial on @realdonaldtrump : “Your editorial offensively questioned the spiritual integrity and Christian witness (1/4)

They should probably share the signatures just so we're all clear. Not sure if that is an accident or intentional.

Octopus Overlords

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