Thank you to Maya K. Van Rossum for joining us this week. Learn more about The Green Amendment and Maya at:
http://www.mayavanrossum.green/
https://twitter.com/delriverkeeper
Stories from the Week
Vatican launches $110 ‘click to pray’ wearable rosary – CNN
Ben Shapiro Threatens Beto O’Rourke With Gun Violence Because The Gays | Michael Stone
Trump says again that Americans need ID to buy groceries. They still don’t – CNNPolitics
U.S. Department of State – United States Department of State
In regards to an animatronic Jesus getting down off the cross, I wanted to recommend this little story:
https://telltalepressscifilibrary.blogspot.com/2019/05/creatures-story-4-k-t-event-by-manuel.html
(As it happens, Manuel Royal is my pen name.)
Carry on.
Regarding Beto’s statement that churches should loose tax exempt status if not supportive of LGBTQ rights (specifically marriage), I think it might be worthwhile to re-examine the potential implications/ramifications of your stance on this point. First, I should be clear that I wholeheartedly agree with your low opinion of Beto, and I’m very likely significantly MORE opposed to the parasitic and malignant existence of churches—let alone the fact that they are tax-free factories for the propagation of lies and bigotry. That being said, I think that your support of Beto’s assertion is not well placed. This is a good mental exercise of putting the shoe on the other foot…
At its heart, what Beto was saying is, “We should penalize this organization for the beliefs of its members.” That is essentially what losing tax exemption for an intra-organizational ceremonial prohibition aims to do, after all. While I would be in favor of faaaaaaar more horrid things happening to organized religion, we have to consider the fact that churches benefit from tax exemption under the same laws that protect 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations (minus the financial disclosure). As long as a 501(c)(3) group follows the pertinent laws, and does not directly engage in politics, then the government stays out of their coffers (i.e. our donations). Beto takes a moral stance that’s easy to support, but it implies an action that’s not.
So, now let’s take Beto out of power and put Pence in the Oval Office. What 501(c)(3) organizations might cause Pence to say, “We should penalize this organization for the beliefs of its members”…?? Planned Parenthood, FFRF, National organization for Women, and how many others?
It’s pretty easy to imagine Pence completely revoking 501(c)(3) status to a group of ‘baby-killers,’ like Planned Parenthood. ‘Surely murder is worse than not marrying someone, right?’ Now, I don’t know about you, but that sort of scenario scares the hell out of me …and I don’t even have a uterus for gov’t to annex. I understand natural objections about the old “slippery slope” argument, but once we’re inserting the government’s taxation leverage for the internal beliefs, actions, or prohibitions of a non-profit/charity/church, then it becomes the same soggy hillside.
Thats’s my $0.02, anyway. Probably worth just as much as you paid for it . ツ
38:50
WHAT?!
If the insurance company doesn’t pick up a bill before you hit some cost threshold, your healthcare cost is not the premium, it’s the premium + that cost threshold.
And I suppose you can pay a higher premium to lower that cost threshold, so you’ll earn the privilege of giving more money to the insurance company rather than the hospital, which would save you very little if at all, when they pick up the bill at a lower cost threshold.
Hey Fuckers,
Just reeling from The Canadian Election (what a garbage country), and I decided to listen to you guys for some sanity. However, after listening to you talk about healthcare and taxes, I asked a question: How much more do Canadians pay in taxes because we have Universal Healthcare?
Guess what the answer is?
We pay LESS in taxes AND we pay half of what Americans pay in healthcare.
I pretty happy in this garbage country; you guys are fucked and you have Trump.
Gloryhole!!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Canadian_and_American_economies
I couldn’t find the survey they talked about on the show in the notes. I think this is it: https://www.secularsurvey.org