*promote for the tag line “just shoot the water”

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Monday, December 18th, 2023 1:07pm PST - promote requested by newtboy.

I'm a Christian, and I absolutely detest American "thoughts and prayers"-ism. It's done so much damage to America (or abroad) and not just passively let evil deeds to keep happening, it also created and justified many of those deeds. Especially on gun violence, it's downright vile and the 2nd amendment "interpretation" (more like ignoring 100% of the context and 80% of the text before & after "right to bear arms").

This toxic combo of "thoughts & prayers" and "rights to bear arms".... is this "American Exceptionalism"? It happens to no other countries, and I don't see many of their government are less "democratic" or "free," nor its citizens have less rights.

The passivity of whole "thoughts and prayers" is NOT what Jesus said, nor what Jesus wants its followers do. If people read the NT, then they'll know Jesus is more of a SJW progressive/activist than what half of the US - the right leaning people - say Jesus is.

Oh, the all-too-easy "my heart breaks for..." whatever tragedy a politician/faith leaders heard and then DON'T do anything that they can help bring legislation to minimize said tragedy? Just as bad and hypocritical.

What gives a "law abiding" citizen the right to bare mass killing machine guns? Or owning hundreds and thousands of ammo in a home? For self-defense? Is that necessary? Really it's just a twisted sense of entitlement/freedom or some kind of nihilistic fetish. You know, I have the crazy "Borat" idea that if I'm an American (I'm Canadian, so I don't have the "right" to do anything directly), I'd troll the far-right Republican cultists using my Christian "credential" to demand my right to bear ANY arms... like anything from bombs, grenades to tanks, fighter jets and nuclear missiles as a private collection as long as I can afford it (Hooray, Capitalism!). It's my freaking "God"-given right! Carry the selective 2nd amendment reading to the extreme to see how ridiculous the status quo already is! ... But the thing is, I'm not sure anymore if there already IS a critical mass of far-right crazies that really believe what I said make total sense.

This is why priests across the country are worried…their parishioners are coming to them complaining that they keep talking about how woke Jesus was, and they’re sick of it.

You might be surprised to know that there is apparently now no federal ban on grenades, grenade launchers, or rocket launchers (just license requirements)…or tanks (easy to find if they’ve been decommissioned, legal to own fully functional with a federal explosive/destructive device license), or fighter jets (again, fairly easy to buy old models without the guns and missiles, but it’s not strictly illegal to make them if you can get the license).
A nuke is illegal to build, even offshore. You finally found the limit of America’s tolerance for civilians owning WMD’s.

It's a mad, mad world we live in. I may have confirmation bias from the media coverage, but to me it's tragically ironic that people still don't understand "The American Dream" is very much over for the vast majority of people going to America, as even most of those born in America are very much struggling compared to those in the G7 countries. American may be richer dollar-for-dollar, but standard of living and quality of life? Not so much.

That said though, it's still a huge financial, political and security improvement for most coming from the South. But the reality they faced vs the idealistic "American Dream" is very different.

Start at 6:23

I think the dream is still alive, but the odds of living it have gotten exponentially worse in my lifetime. It was never a guarantee, more a lottery, and the percentage paid back to the winners has steadily shrunk.

I remember seeing a live, ~30s version of the segment a long time ago, and I totally agree "thoughts & prayers" are worth less than nothing if you don't then tell what you're gonna do about it. Sometimes, those "thoughts and prayers" Christian contribute nothing positive, just full of hate and ego-boosting self-righteousness, and looks at the world as a zero-sum game.

*religion *dark

Adding video to channels (Dark, Religion) - requested by ant.

My job is to pick up and transport the dead. When there is family present I greet them with "Sorry for your loss."

Only once, I had a wife tell me, "It's ok. He was an asshole."

Old joke

"Other than that how was the play, Mrs Lincoln?"