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American Atheists has unveiled the latest episode
of their annual report, State of the

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Secular States, exposing the huge surge
and legislative bills favoring religious extremism. The

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report reveals a record breaking crescendo of
bills threatening civil rights, with LGBTQ protections

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and abortion access being the prime targets. As we approach the twenty twenty four

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election season, we can expect more
religious fanaticism from lobbyists threatening one of the

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Constitution's core principles. The stage is
now set for a multifront assault on freedom,

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and the unholy alliance between politics and
religion is taking the forefront. So

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brace yourselves for a dark comedy where
the punchlines come at the expense of civil

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rights and reason. This story is
from American Atheists, published January ninth,

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twenty twenty four, and I'm going
to pass that straight to Phoebe to start

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this story off. So, how
do you solve a problem like America?

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You break it down to smaller and
smaller pieces, and you get even weird

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a prot I'm not surprised by this. This is the probably the least surprising

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piece of empirical data that I've seen. There are all these bills wending their

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way through. Good for the bill, Good for the legislator waiting its time,

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Yeah, Good for the judge that
is gonna be overturned on appeal.

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Good for the Supreme Court that's going
to be filled up with ruling all this

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junk. I'm pretty sure that far
rather deal with, you know, actual

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court cases on actual issues. But
you know, eighty of these bills made

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it into law. Are wonderful the
twenty twenty two to three legislative session in

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Texas, they passed Could you not
hear six hundred and sixty six bills into

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more? You couldn't make that number
up? So what eighty is an undesirable

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number? The most desired number of
these bills should be this and nothing more.

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I'm not going to lose any sleep
over it. I'm not going to

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worry about it. Maybe I should, but I'm too busy getting on with

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my life. I'm too busy ignoring
these people, and I'm too busy telling

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the pieces of legislation. What oh
fuck off? I mean this ties a

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lot into like previous segments that we've
done here, just looking at the way

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that these legislators have weaponized the government
against vulnerable communities and doing so for nothing

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more than political gain. And I've
spoken on this in the past, but

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what we're continuing to see are these
celebrities doing what made them celebrities, and

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that's been the loudest and most hateful
person in the room. Oh you want

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to build a wall, I'm putting
alligators in a fucking moat. Let's see

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you outdo that, Wokester like,
That's what they do. Every time we,

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the sane onlookers, see their next
racist, sexist, transphobic move,

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these people are rewarded with either adelation
from their sycophantic supporters or a media frenzy

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saying that how insane they are so
and that somehow activates their base to defend

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them and echo the insanity. So, of course, in all of this

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insanity, there's this veneer of religious
righteousness. They hide behind that book and

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they push their agenda all the while
projecting that that's what's happening to them.

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Nobody's pushing their agenda on you.
By existing you're an adult, you should

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know this. But they also know
when I say I'm doing the anti human

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thing because the almighty sky Wizards said
to do so. But when they say

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that they're gonna do something horrible because
sky Wizard sky Daddy said to do it,

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the rest of their believers will follow
online because we're taught not to question

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the word. So what these people
fail to realize is exactly what Nick fish

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in this article what he said.
It's not just the others who will have

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their civil rights taken, it's just
the door they will open as they waltz

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in to take everybody's rights everybody.
So like, have these people never read

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Animal Farm? Like I thought that
was required reading. People will always find

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a way to separate themselves from the
other, And when there is no longer

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anyone to hate because of their outward
appearance, it will become hate amongst economic

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classes. Then thought policing. There
will always be the others in the mind

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of some, and at some point
you're going to be the other. So

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hey, if you're celebrating these things, enjoy, Hey, you remind me

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original T. Davis. He said
the following. You see, Britain you

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do racism for better than America.
America does racist against people who look different

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to each other. Britain you do
racism against people who don't the same as

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each other. There's time and again
we see this and as you mentioned,

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you know, this isn't really anything
new. This is the same old grab

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bag. They're just reaching into it. But it is a really good example

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of once again how fixated they are
on clickbait. They're legislating by clickbait.

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It's not about thinking, because you
know, legislation and actually a government that

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works is boring. You're never going
to get a bunch of clicks and you're

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not going to be the next hit
on TikTok. It's just not going to

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happen. It's a boring process,
but it's an important process. But if

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you can get up there and say
something stupid and everybody goes into a tizzy,

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well they succeeded with this, and
that's one thing. It's one thing

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for them to do that. It's
entirely another for them to decide on what

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becomes law according to what's going to
be the best thing to get me clicks,

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what's going to get me views.
So let me make sure I say

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these terrible, hideous things that one
half has a stroke and the other half

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applauds, and all I'm doing is
laughing all away, hopefully, and for

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these people let's be honest. All
these state representatives and state senators, they

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all dream of being US representatives and
US senators. So while they lay in

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bed dreaming their big dreams of that, they wake up in the morning and

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say, hey, what can I
do to be the next person who's who

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virtually become politics by mean And that's
really all we're seeing here because everything else

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is just a distraction. They don't
want to deal with the real issues.

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Once again, that's busy. But
blaytant, let me remind you. All

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animals are created equal, but some
are more equal than others. Kelly,

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I have to disagree with you on
one point. I don't think they're doing

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this instead of being busy with real
issues. These are the real issues to

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them. This is them trying to
make a theocracy out of this country.

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This is real to them, and
we need to act like it's real to

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us too if we want to try
to stop something like a religious takeover,

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unconstitutional religious takeover of this country is
bb You mentioned the quotes from Nick Fish,

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the president of the American Atheist I
even another one hear from them.

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White Christian nationalists are undottedly going to
keep pushing their culture war agenda in state

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legislatures and on the campaign trail.
We know their goals and strategies, and

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we believe they can be stopped.
But the media and the public need to

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understand what's at state in twenty twenty
four and are not only protections for women,

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LGBTQ people and racial and religious minorities
and atheist but the civil rights of

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all Americans. And I think that
sums up what this report is about.

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I think it conveys the message that
I think that the American Atheists is just

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trying to convey with the State of
the Secular State Reports. And I look

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through it, it's a really interesting
document. There's a lot of information on

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it. To be honest, I
wish there was a better breakdown of national

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information, but there's a lot of
really, really really good state by state

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information. And if you're interested in
getting involved in something and looking for a

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cause, if you look at their
state by state information, I'm sure there's

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something in there that you're going to
agree with. I'd agree with because they

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also list bills that are pro religious
freedom, like trying to get religion out

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of schools and stuff like that.
So they really just bills on both sides.

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So if there's something you really want
to get involved in, you could

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probably find it on this website in
this report. So there's a lot of

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like I said, a lot of
state by state, and even if you

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want to get even closer, there's
a lot of things that are happening right

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in your neighborhood that are just totally
local issues. If you want to get

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involved, these are the things that
are really affecting your day to day life.

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The president doesn't, but these things
that are happening right now in your

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town do. And I really encourage
people to get out there and get more

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involved in what's happening with your life
and your society. And I kind of

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wonder if the panel thinks that this
trend of more and more religious bills that

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we're seeing now, because it's definitely
on the rise, do you think that

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this is going to continue? Or
do you think this is more like the

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dying throwers of a cornered animal phoebe. You want to start with you roads

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are boring, plumbing is boring,
river and wastewater management is boring. Taxes

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are boring. They're supposed to be
boring. This is what politicians are supposed

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to do. You're supposed to be
boring. In my opinion, the job

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of a politician is boring. It's
meant to be boring. You can get

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all you know excited about effluent management
if you really want to. But what

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we've got here, and I will
come to Kelly's question, is we have

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people who are living in a very
privileged world. You don't go to countries

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that don't have plumbing and see this
kind of thing being done in their legislator.

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You don't see countries that have roads
that don't exist, that want roads

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to exist, have this happen in
their legislature. I'm pretty sure Madagascar does

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not have bills of this nature when
it doesn't have roads, plumbing, a

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functioning tax collecting system, a functioning
wastewater management system for its country. I'm

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pretty sure Madagascar doesn't. If you
want in the comments below water to email

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us and say that, yeah,
actually Madagascar does, I will make an

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on screen apology if you can prove
me wrong. But I don't believe that

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this is anything other the bored politicians
that are bored doing the boring things.

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And if you're bored doing the boring
things, go and do something exciting.

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Just because you think you should be
doing this doesn't mean you should actually be

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doing this. It's boring doing things
that make a difference to people's lives.

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Building houses is boring. Going and
fixing potholes is dull. It's not,

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you know, the most exciting work. You're not rocket scientists that are going

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to the moon. If you are
in your local city council and you're discussing

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milages and you're discussing cannabis licensing,
or you're discussing pothole fixes, or you're

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discussing the latest ordinance on fire pits
in back gardens, that is Dalla's dishwater.

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But you've chosen to do that.
Stop trying to make your job more

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than what it is, and stop
trying to make it more exciting. You

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picked a boring job. Live with
it or stop doing it. This is

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why I think they will continue.
But until these people realize that the job

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they're doing is actually pretty dull.
Sitting in a room discussing black and white

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ordinances all day long, we're always
going to have the dead you know,

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that countroversy that's there. We're always
going to go on right sensationalism. But

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do you think that this is going
to continue on a religious ban or do

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you think that's going to be dying. It is because it's it's exciting and

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they can defend whatever they do without
having to go into any real depth and

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reason. I get to draw up
some fanciful piece of organs that could say

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whatever I like, so I can
indulge my brain capacity and I don't actually

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have to defend it in any reasonableay
because I can just say Skydaddy said so

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or so. The book trend of
esc So you think this escalating trend is

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going to continue to escalating until people
get bored of these people doing a job

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that's boring in a way that doesn't
do the boring things. So roads need

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fixing, swimming pools need building for
municipalities, children's schools need plumbing. I

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want to get back to the issue
of religion now right. What I'm saying

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is what I'm saying is these religious
bills will continue because these people are bored

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with doing the job they should be
doing. So it's going to continue because

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these are bored people doing a boring
job. So they're going to find something

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they find interesting, and religion is
something they've chosen to find interesting. Okay,

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I'm gonna agree and disagree with something
Kelly said when we were talking about

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like this. The mean politicians.
They are, well, there is a

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set of true believers that are going
to continue to fight for this too and

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nail NonStop. This is what their
life work is. They take it very

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seriously. But the people that we
are discussing, the loudest people in the

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room. If your name has become
an acronym, like pretty much any politician

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that you know their name by heart
because you see them constantly, these are

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not serious people. These are just
people trying to freaking They're doing ads for

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their podcast every time they drop something
into freaking legislative body. Just what they

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do. I think politician is the
politician you do not know about. This

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isn't an endorsement of anybody, but
I will say I'd never heard the name

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Bernie Sanders until he ran for president. Never heard this man's name. I

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was just going to say, that's
how we just got Mike Johnson, right

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nobody because nobody knew who he was, you know, yeah, exactly exactly.

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So they use these loud people as
pretty much like they're the squeaky wheel

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that you're trying to fix without realizing
that the engine is on fucking fire.

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That's what these people are. They're
they're driving this train. Everything is going

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insane, but all you focus on
is the loud person screaming about brown people.

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That's what we focus on, because
that's their purpose. I expect this

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to continue until and this is something
that Blatant alluded to, and I expected

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to continue until people realize that the
things that need to get done aren't getting

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done. That's when this starts wearing
thin. It's like anything else. You

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know. You can tell me the
train's coming, and I might wait for

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but eventually I get tired and realize
the train's not coming. And right now

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we have state legislators that are so
tied up and bogged down with what they

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would say is saving the Republic from
craziness and wokeness and all these other things.

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But what they're really doing is promoting
their own agenda of controlling other people.

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And as long as they do that, they will continue to remind us

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just how bad they are at actually
that day to day legislation, and when

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that builds up, people will get
tired of that. So for the time

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being, yes, I expect voices
to get shrill. I expect them to

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get louder. I expect them to
get more dangerous, because a caged animal

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does that. But at the end
of the day, they are shrinking.

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Religion is dying. They can put
it any way they want to, they

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can scream to the rooftops, they
can say whatever they are, but just

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like their God on that cross,
they're dying, and unlike their God,

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are actually more accurately like their God. Once this dies, religion is going

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to stay in decay. So let's
give it time because we will we have

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to outlast it. But I do
think you're dead right, Kelly with It's

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important to be involved, to be
aware because yes, you're not going to

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tell you're not going to change what
happens on a presidential level, that's a

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joke. We we dilute ourselves into
that. But down at the local level,

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there is input, there are changes
that can be made, and we

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individually and collectively as well, can
have an impact on that. And that's

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what's so important, because time and
again we get reminded of just how bad

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these people are at the day to
days of legislation the real world. Kelly,

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Yeah, I think I think you're
right to me, I see these

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religious issues becoming less and less important
as time goes on, and I'm hoping

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that a decade from now, there's
escalating trend that we're seeing now won't be

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escalating anymore. It will be on, you know, on the opposite side

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and going downwards. At least that's
what I'm hoping for. But with the

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rise of the noun in the US, and even just the rise of atheism,

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which has gone up a good two
percent over the last couple of decades,

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I think these arguments aren't landing as
well for the political parties as they

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used to, so at least I'm
hoping so. And uh yeah. Other

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than that, I don't know what
to say else to say. If you

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would like to get some nice ACA
merchandise, though, you can go to

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00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:23.359
tiny dot cc slash to ACA merch