Understand the thinking atheist. It's not a person, it's a symbol, an
idea. The population of atheist in this country is going through the rule,
rejecting faith, pursuing knowledge, challenging the sacred. If I tell the truth,
it's because I tell the truth, not because I put my hand on
a book and made a wish and working together for a more rational world.
Take the risk of thinking feels much more happiness, truth, beauty, and
wisdom will come to you that way. Assume nothing, question everything, and
start thinking. This is the Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews Man.
I'm looking forward to speaking in Denver, Colorado. That's coming up May twenty
seventh. Later in the summer it's Tulsa, Ronchester, and Sarnia, Ontario,
and others may be coming soon for the rest of twenty twenty three.
If you want to see my entire speaking schedule, times, dates, places,
links Seth andrews dot com slash Events. So my wife Natalie went to
San Diego, California to spend four days with her cousin. Yes, some
time with family, going to go and enjoy the California air and the ocean.
You know, water that is not brown, how novel for someone who
lives in Oklahoma. And I stayed back here. I've been traveling a lot,
and somebody needed to watch the dogs, and so she left for the
West coast and we were checking in with each other. Hey, baby,
how's your trip going. You having funds? Send me pictures? How's every
body doing? Water some of the fun things that you have been doing.
And I think it was the second day, she said Shanna, her cousin.
Shanna has a heated toilet seat and it is the greatest thing in the
universe. I'm sorry she has a heated toilet seat. Yes, yes,
I love sitting on the toilet. It's so warm and comforting. I'm sorry,
you love sitting on the toilet seat? Yes, yes, all right,
we'll describe what you're talking about. And so she goes into it.
It's this electric plug in thing like the seat heats, and I guess it's
got a biday, which is a weird concept for Americans, but apparently not
for most of the other countries of the world, like they have the days
and the biday is that water cleaner that I guess to a degree, replaces
toilet tissue. It cleans you from beneath. This device apparently doesn't just have
a bi day, but it's got an ass dryer. So you sit on
the warm seat and you do what you've got to do, and then afterwards
you use a remote there's like a panel and it sprays you to clean you.
And then instead of needing toilet paper, apparently you hit the dryer button
and it shoots warm air up and drives you from beneath. So Natalie is
like, this is the best part of my whole trip. I am laughing
so hard on the bottom of what are you talking about? I was,
by the way, informed that the South Park had done an episode on Japanese
toilets, because I guess this kind of thing is very common in Japan,
like high end luxury heated toilets. With all of these they have toilets that
apparently when you walk into the room, they open automatically, the lid goes
automatically, and when you're done, it closes automatically. Some have led lights
that change colors, like little Disco toilets. I did not know these things
existed. So she gets back on a plane. She ends up coming home.
I scoop her up at the airport take her home and we are hanging
out now. I took a one day trip to Dallas, Texas, and
while I was on the road, I'm checking in with my wife. Hey,
honey, Yeah, I'm driving south. I'm near Sherman, Texas.
You know, I am about an hour and a half or whatever away.
What are you up to? Well, I'm browsing. Yeah, what are
you browsing? I am shopping for heated toilet seats for the master bathroom.
I'm sorry, we're gonna get one of those, Like you want one of
those? Yeah? Oh my goodness. It's one of the first things she
did when she got back. So so she has ordered. She has ordered
an ass warming toilet seat with bidet and dryer, and apparently it is supposed
to be delivered in a few days. I mean, she doesn't need my
permission to populate her life with the things that make her happy. We have
raysed eyebrows at each other, right, We're very different people as equals.
I mean, you know, if it makes you happy, great, But
there are times when you know, you look at the other person and you
raise an eyebrow and go, what what did you buy? What is it
that you want? Then? Why I don't really understand. I mean,
I think all couples can relate to that. You know, I'm guilty.
I've bought plenty of stuff, A lot of it's just crap, but it
just makes me happy. I do that. Okay, It's not like I'm
not a total hypocrite, but I give her grief about something. But you
know the truth is it's you know, it's kind of her party. You
want this terrific? Okay, great, knock yourself out. Well, we'll
kind of see what happens. Hell, I mean, Natalie's damn superhero.
Anyway, have I told you this story. I'll make it quick if you've
heard it already. This was before we got married. We were together and
we had a house in Broken Arrow suburb, another suburb, and I think
she had some unfinished business. She's like, you know, I didn't finish
college when I was eighteen. You know, I went to college, but
I left to pursue my then husband's career to help him build his business.
But now I want to build something for myself. I want to go get
my degree, and she wanted to go into the medical field. The college
to do that a hundred miles away. It's a hundred miles down the turnpike,
but she didn't want to be away from her children or displace everyone by
moving. Natalie decided that she was going to drive it a hundred miles each
direction, five days a week for two years. I don't know how she
did it. I mean it was. It's remarkable, I mean every sense
of the word. So, I mean, even if we didn't have this
sort of attitude that hey, whatever, you know, she didn't owe me
anything. She doesn't know me an explanation. She gonna have whatever she wants.
She's a damn superhero. So anyway, as much as I have been
laughing, not have I been mocking. No, don't know if it's mocking.
I think I'm just amused. She has said, and her cousin,
who has found out that this is going on, they have both said,
you are going to owe us an apology, because the first time you use
it, you will also determine that this is the greatest thing in the universe.
So, somewhere between my house and a toilet seat manufacturing distribution center,
somewhere some intransit at this moment, there is a heated toilet seats and washer
dryer mechanism thing, and I will have a report for you. I'm gonna
I guess is it a beta test? I guess it wouldn't be a beta
test because it's already a released product. But this would be a home demonstration.
I can't believe I haven't already done this. Hang on just a second.
I'm gonna google search Japan luxury. It comes right up, Japan Luxury
toilet. CNN has an article about this from a few years ago, about
walking into a Tokyo bathroom and the smart toilet greeted the reporter. You could
set the temperature of the water heater, you could set the water pressure level.
It had lights, and it played music music to poop. Bye,
Okay, all right, this is the thing. Where have I been?
Okay? What else have I been doing? Oh? Oklahoma, I swear
so we made national news again for not good reasons again. This time.
I've been following the recent passage of Senate Bill four oh four, otherwise known
as the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Acts, And isn't that a punchline. It was
co authored by Republican Representative John Eccles, and he was saying it's discriminatory against
religions if we don't allow taxpayer money to give them government funds, benefits,
programs, and exemptions. Oh, no, religious institutions are essentially being discriminated
against if Oklahoma's of all faiths and none aren't funneling tax benefit to them and
guests which religion John Ecoles belongs to? And then several Democrats stood up and
stated the obvious. In fact, it was Representative Monroe Nichols who said this
discrimination against religious institutions does not happen in Oklahoma, And of course he's absolutely
right. Now. One of my favorite lines, this is actually from a
news report from kfor News in Oklahoma City. Channel four was profiling the approval
of this bill, and the report featured this line. eCos admits he doesn't
have current examples of religious discrimination in Oklahoma, but says this proposed law provides
future protection against ideas like removing tax exempt status for churches. Oh, it's
priceless. There are no examples that this shit has actually been going off,
But one day, you mean you never, now, I mean, if
it happens, look out right, they've invented a crisis so that they can
solve the crisis that does not exist. Refreshingly on the debate floor. It
was Mickey Dollins, representative for Oklahoma's ninety third district. In fact, let
me play you a few minutes of his statement. It is refreshingly reasonable.
Throughout my years here at the Capitol, it seems we've gone beyond bluring the
lines of separation of church and state to just a church and state. But
today I stand and advocate for that wall of separation. And I'm going to
give you three reasons why I believe our taxpayer dollars, everyone's taxpayer dollars,
should not subsidize religious institutions. In twenty sixteen, I took my first oath
of office, and I've taken it every two years since, the same one
you took, Madam Speaker, and the rest of the people in this chamber.
And in that under Article two, Section five, it says no public
money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used directly
or indirectly for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church,
denomination, or system of religion, or for the use benefit or support
of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher, or dignitary
or secretary institution. As such. When I first took this oath in twenty
sixteen. There is a state question that very same year, and that state
question had to deal with using tax dollars to fund religious activities and programs,
specifically the Ten Commandments at the state capitol. I think we all remember how
that turned out. The people of Oklahoma overwhelmingly said they do not want their
tax dollars to fund religious institutions and programs on government property, and that includes
in our schools as well. The Attorney General recently reversed an opinion that speaks
to this very issue. Madam Speaker, a good representative earlier brought up the
fact that this bill will result in lawsuits. This bill will end up costing
taxpayer money. I heard the suggestion that representatives should have to foot that bill
if they pass unconstitutional laws and ends up in a losing lawsuit, which this
one most certainly will. It was also stated publicly by the Senate author that
the Catholic Archdiocese is behind this bill. I wish someone would explain to me
why one of the most wealthiest religious institutions in the history of the world feel
that it's appropriate to use taxpayer dollars, or how it's Burdensen on them to
not receive taxpayer dollars in order to fulfill their religious mission. And then Mickey
Dollins goes on to educate the other Christians or Christian nationalist in the room that
all right, fine, you're going to open that door. Prepare yourself because
here come the Hindus and the Jews, and the Sikhs and the Muslims and
the Satanists and the Church of the Jedi Order. I think he even invoked
Dudaism, which is an actual religion, by the way, the Church of
the Latter Day Dude, which is based on the movie of the Big Lebowski.
I am a dudist priest. I am not kidding. I went to
the church to the Latter Day Dude and I filled out the form and I
am I'm an ordained Dudist priest. And so these Oklahoma Christian zealots are I
think, totally unprepared for the implications of what they are doing, because here
comes everybody else, and they are going to act shocked and dismayed and chagrined.
Oh goodness, church is that, aren't Jesus Jakes? You're going to
benefit from the tax dollars of Christians. That's an attack on my religious freedom
hashtag irony. Oh please let it happen. Please let the Satanic Temple show
up and say, hey, we heard there was a party and their seats
for religions were a non theistic religion based around Satan. Looking forward to receiving
those checks. Thank you so much for being so inclusive to our religion.
Oh please let it happen. Please please let me read that headline. Let
it happen. Oh, I'm watching, I'm watching closely. I've also been
spending time on Twitter teaching Christians their own Bible. The guy named Ben Zeislot,
and he writes for the Daily Wire. By the way, the editor
in chief of the Daily Wire is Ben Shapiro. So I'm just letting you
know kind of what to expect. Okay, So ben Zeysloft tweets this out.
He says, examples of Christian laws murderers and rapists executed innocence until proven
guilty, equal protection punishment fits the crime. Examples of Pagan laws, child
sacrifice, widow burning, people are chattel, castration of young boys. And
I looked at the tweet and I thought, you're just going to waste your
time. You've got so much to do. Look at your inbox. You've
got show prep and you're going to be traveling. You're going here, You're
going you gotta speech to work on, and you're gonna no. No,
I'm gonna respond. I am going to teach another Christian about their Bible.
Sunday school is in session, folks, you are welcome. Click, I
said, Rape victims forced to marry their rapists after the father is paid off
Deuteronomy twenty two. Slavery and slave beating is condoned Exodus twenty one, Human
sacrifice judges twelve, Genocide and kidnapping numbers thirty one. Executing disobedient children Deuteronomy
twenty one. You're not even trying now. Did I expect to change his
mind? Absolutely not. I just felt like he needed to be publicly educated
while other people are watching the exchange play out well, Ben responded, would
you like to hear some of what happened next? I'll spurious some of it
because it went on for a while before I finally got smart and decided to
do something productive. Ben said, you're a professing atheist. On what basis
do you consider whether a given law is moral? Or immoral. Now,
this is a play on the objective moral standard argument. A lot of apologists
pinball back to this one. How do you know rape is wrong and murder
is wrong, and theft is wrong, etc. If there isn't a God
that told you so, if there's not an objective moral standard that was put
in place by a standard bearer or standard maker, And of course then they
make the chasm size leap to their specific pet deity with a proper name.
In this case, it's going to be yahweh Jesus. How do you know
that a given law is moral or immoral? So I responded that understanding evolved
ethical systems isn't difficult for those who are actually interested pro social species survive and
thrive. More interesting, here is your redirect away from the chapters and verses
I cited. Ben jumps back in why are murder and rape wrong? How
do you decide this? I said, you need to be informed by a
third party that rape and murder are destructive behaviors. That's scary, But back
to your Bible where rape is allowed and rape victims are punished. He still
doesn't want to talk about it. He says, you're borrowing capital from the
Christian worldview, you have a god given conscience by opposing rape and murder,
but you have no basis to account for this beyond saying most people agree with
you. This is the same basis of morality which enabled the whole cost And
we just knew he was going to invoke the Nazis, and it went on
and on. He essentially said that, you know, an Islamist, a
Muslim can come in and say that you were borrowing your moral capital from Allah
and the Islamic God, and you would both have an equal amount of evidence
to prove this zero. I'm also interested in how ben Zeisloft called me a
professing atheist, and I have to wonder if he's one of those guys who
says, well, everybody believes in God, some people just don't want to
admit it. Did I hear that quite a bit? You know, Well,
everybody knows that God is real, some people just profess otherwise, you
know, And then we just prepare ourselves for the barrage of all the familiar
stuff that's going to come next. Right, Evolutionists just a theory. It
takes more faith to be an atheist. Atheism is just another religion. The
God of the gaps. You were never a true Christian because a true Christian
would never have walked away from the love of Jesus. You're taking the Old
Testament out of context. I had a personal experience with Jesus and that proves
Jesus better safe than sorry. I'd rather believe and go to Heaven even if
I'm wrong. I haven't wasted anything. How did something come from nothing?
The eye is too complex to have evolved. Here's scientist X like Stephen Meyer,
and he believes in God. It's true because the Bible says it's true.
We are a Christian nation. The Lord is mysterious, He moves in
mysterious ways. Of course, he is also not the author of confusion,
so he is really undeniable. If you look around, atheists reject God because
they wish to be God. There are no transitional fossils. You know what
prove God doesn't exist. Well, for somebody who doesn't believe in God,
you sure talk about him an awful lot. This seems suspicious to me.
And of course my favorite you may not believe in God, but he believes
in you. These people, it's like somebody decided to write out theology on
bumper stickers, and then they use those bumper stickers to train a parrot how
to speak. And then when you engage them, it's like these little Christian
ease fortune cookies. MAP. It's not a religion, it's a relationship,
man. I mean, Christians have no idea how offensive the question actually is.
If you don't believe in God, how would you even know not to
rape people? This is what religion does to the brain. This, to
them seems like a reasonable and unoffensive question. Why aren't you a rapist?
If you don't believe in God, specifically my God named Jesus or whoever,
why aren't you a rapist? Well, you either stole morality from my God
or you might actually be capable of rape you. And I look them in
the eye and say, is the Bible the good book? Absolutely? Would
you do me a favor? Open it up to Judges twenty one, Numbers
thirty one, Deuteronomy twenty and twenty two, Second Samuel twelve, Judges,
Chapter five, Exodus twenty one, Zachariah fourteen. Just open up the Bible
and read these segments, among others, and then call me, okay,
call me and we'll talk. Okay. Rondis Santis is being sued by Disney.
Oh, I'm so happy. I'm so happy. We're going to talk
about that next. I have been struggling lately. I try not to hate
people. I can't think of a time I've said I hate this person,
because I feel like the world already has too much hates. We're opponents of
hate. Hate has driven so much destructive behavior against our fellow human beings.
I don't want to hate, but I struggle with some people on the planet.
There is a famous quote that's attributed to Mark Twain. I don't think
Twain actually said it, but the quote is I've never wished a man debt,
but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure. Oh, I feel
the statements. I mean, I don't need Tucker Carlson to die. But
let's say aliens came and abducted him, and they took him away somewhere and
he was just gone, never to return. I would read that headline with
great pleasure, because what did we lose and what did we gain? Marjorie
Taylor Green, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, etc. They accidentally say the
magic words open a porthole to a paralleled dimension, stepped through they are never
seen or heard from again. What have we lost and what have we gained?
The net goodness of humanity would go up. The stock price of our
species would increase, would it not, Governor Rond Santis of Florida. By
the way, and this is just in his side. This is the same
guy who ran for the midterms twenty twenty two. And let me display you
some of the audio from round Santis's political television commercial. And on the eighth
day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, I need a
protector. So God made a fighter. God said, I need somebody willing
to get up before dawn, kiss his family goodbye, travel thousands of miles
for no other reason than to serve the people, to save their jobs,
their livelihoods, their liberty, their happiness. So God made a fighter.
God said, I need someone to be strong, advocate truth in the midst
of hysteria, someone who challenges conventional wizm and isn't afraid to defend what he
knows to be right and just. So God made a fighter. By the
way, that's a play on an old nineteen seventy eight speech that was given
by Paul Harvey called so God made a farmer. It was a tribute to
the American farmer. Ron de Santists just sort of retooled it to tell the
world God has anointed him, the great Crusader, to come and save the
state of Florida. I look at this man, and I'm seeking I'm desperate
to find a single redeeming quality. I can't find anything. Nothing, zero,
zip, nil, nothing. Florida Governor Ron de Santist this is the
guy elected back in twenty eighteen, took office in January of twenty nineteen.
The same guy who not only sort of brushed off COVID mask requirements and made
it illegal for businesses and government offices to require vaccination cards and saw COVID cases
spike and COVID deaths spike in the state of Florida. This the same guy
who had a data scientist. Her name is Rebecca Jones, and she worked
for the State of Florida, for the government of Florida, and she was
ordered to manipulate data on COVID nineteen cases and deaths. Being a scientist,
she refused. What happened to her, Governor Ruanda Santis fired her. He
fired her for not falsifying records, and he's been accused of falsifying or shielding
other public records, anything that makes him look bad. Bloggers were writing about
ran das Santis. They were heavily criticizing the stuff he was saying and doing
in the state of Florida. And oh look who suggested that bloggers in Florida
who write about the governments and representatives, congresspeople, and the governor, they
would all have to register with the state. They would have to send in
reports on everything they write and document how much money they make as bloggers.
And if that sounds suspiciously North Korea, you would be absolutely right. Ron
de Santis doesn't want discussion about race or sexual orientation in school. He thinks
teaching people that our past isn't all harps and roses, and that the United
States has a history of discrimination against minorities, whether it's women or LGBTQ people
or people of color, etc. By acknowledging and teaching about things like I
don't know, the Civil Rights movement, the Civil War or whatever, we
are teaching children to hate America. He has waged war on the actual teaching
of our history. He's behind a ton of book bannings going on throughout the
state. Who would have thunk we would live in the time of book bannings,
But here we are, and there is Governor Rondssantis. This was last
year. Round Santiss chartered two private planes and then he lured migrants to board
the airplanes under false pretenses. Fifty of these people got onto the plane.
They were flown to Martha's Vineyard. On September fourteenth, they were dumped off.
Neither they nor Martha's Vineyard were informed about what the hell was going on.
DeSantis just had him dumped off. Did you watch the residence of Martha's
Vineyard after that happened, They all joined together. They provided temporary shelter,
and they gave them food and blankets and clothing and everything that they might need
urgently, even though they were overwhelmed. This was an island community unprepared for
this influx of people on two jet planes. They were humanity and they did
the humanist thing. All the while. Ron de Santis is back in Florida
congratulating himself for displacing human beings after lying to them. And now we've got
round Santis's feud with Mickey Mouse, and you're just not going to win a
war with Mickey Mouse. She can't beat Mickey Mouse. Short version of a
very long and messy story. I'm going to miss some of the details here,
but Disney has been in charge of its own municipal services and zoning and
acting almost like a mini state within the state of Florida. They're able to
do what they do because they bring so much benefit to the state of Florida.
It's a symbiotic relationship. Disney says, Look, we know how to
run our own show, and Florida gets a ton of tourism dollars. We
help put Florida on the map. In this way, everybody wins. Okay,
great, But Ronda Santis has become concerned that Disney has gone woke.
Disney fires back and says, hey, we're a private entity and we can
decide to accept all people, no matter who they are, and celebrate the
diversity, the wide, wild spectrum of humanity on our terms. Get over
it. Ronda Santis says, oh yeah, I'm going to sign a bill
that strips away your ability to operate with autonomy. The government's now going to
take control of many of your critical services. So what you've been doing for
the last fifty years. It's pretty much over. We are going to tell
you how to do what you do. Disney responded, oh yeah, here's
a lawsuit. Have a nice day. By the way, Governor DeSantis and
the state of Florida was actually asked or required in court to define what it
means to be woke. This was a separate lawsuit that was going on.
There was a Democratic state attorney, a guy named Andrew Warren, and he
said that he would not prosecute abortion seekers or providers. He simply refused to
do it, and he signed a pledge I am not going to wage a
war on reproductive rights or punish people who want an abortion. Ron de Santis
says, you are in dereliction of your duty. I'm going to sue you.
So they take the whole thing in front of a judge and they start
talking about how Attorney Warren is being woke. The judge said, what do
you mean by woke? How do you define woke? And listen to the
definition woke is quote the belief that there are systemic injustices in American society and
the need to address them. Wait a minute, there are systemic injustices in
American society and there is a need to address them. How is that controversial?
How would any moral person look at structures in place, many which have
been grandfathered in by hugely racist foundations, and not acknowledge that, Yeah,
yes, there are some systems that are unjust and we need to work against
it to benefit all in promote equality. Wokesm. How is this controversial?
But welcome to the tiny, tiny, tiny world of Ron DeSantis, where
apparently this is a problem. Anyway, Disney decides they're not having any of
this, and they're not going to let the government come in and jack with
them in this way. So on the twenty sixth of April, they filed
their lawsuit. Let me just read a little bit from the front of the
lawsuit. Usually it's a bunch of legal speak that's hard to get through.
This is actually really, really well worded. Let me read just a few
paragraphs from the introduction. For more than half a century, Disney has made
an immeasurable impact on Florida and its economy, establishing Central Florida as a top
global tourist destination and attracting tens of millions of visitors to the state each year.
People in Emily's from every corner of the globe of travel to Walt Disney
World because of the unrivaled guest experience it provides and the deep emotional connection that
generations of fans have with Disney's timeless stories and characters. A targeted campaign of
government retaliation, orchestrated at every step by Governor Dissantis as punishment for Disney's protected
speech, now threatens Disney's business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region,
and violates its constitutional rights. Today's action is the latest strike at the
governor's bidding. The state's oversight Board has purported to void publicly noted and duly
agreed development contracts which had laid the foundation for billions of Disney's investment dollars and
thousands of jobs. This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti business,
and patently unconstitutional, but the governor and his allies have made clear they do
not care and will not stop. Declared that his team would not only avoid
the development agreement just as they did today, but also planned to look at
things like taxes on the hotel's tolls on the roads developing some of the property
that the district owns with more amusement parks and even putting a state prison next
to Walt Disney World. Who knows. I just think the possibilities are endless,
he said, skipping down to the last paragraph of the introduction. Disney
finds itself in this regrettable position because it expressed a viewpoint the governor and his
allies did not like. Disney wishes that things could have been resolved a different
way. But Disney also knows that it's fortunate to have the resources to take
a stand against the state's retaliation, a stand smaller businesses and individuals might not
be able to take when the state comes after them for expressing their own views.
In America, the government cannot punish you for speaking your mind. And
so Governor Rondis Santis has poked the bear, or poked the mouse. He
has unleashed the whirlwind. This isn't some mom and pop shop on the corner
where the lawyers can just bleed him dry, so they can't retaliate. Disney's
going okay, fine, If anybody can afford a legal battle, I guess
it's us here we go. Government counter suits have already been filed. There
was an article in Esquire from a few months ago that was commenting on the
cruelty, the celebrated cruelty of round Santis, which you and I, I
mean, we see all around us, right, some people are like,
well, they're strong, they're not afraid to speak their mind, they're beholden
to no one. That's strength. Well is that really strength? Or I
mean, are you strong? You're just a bully? Or you just cruel
Esquire magazine from February. The article is titled round Santis is a man of
no qualities, and the article covers much of what you and I have covered
here and a lot more. But I really like the way this is phrased.
Normalization of cruelty matters. Normalization of authoritarianism matters, normalization of Orwellian approaches
to governance anti democratic to their core matter. It is dangerous to let fascism
become a concept that lazily yawns and breathes in the morning air, whistles a
cheerful tune on the way to a cafe coffee and a breakfast sandwich before getting
down to the serious work. Thankful that once more it has not had to
explain itself. The santist may be less flamboyant than Trump, but he supports
his style and substance of governance just as inflammatory. He weaponizes others emotions to
create an image of himself as imbued with the qualities of some quasi religious savior
of Florida, while actually making people's lives worse. Florida and its people don't
deserve this desecration. No place does, even as de Santists and his Republican
predecessors have managed to turn an absolute paradise into a play that is close to
a failed state. Because what Roun Dyssantis does at base, including too his
base, is simple. He inflicts damage in pursuit of political gain, on
purpose and with abandon with no regard for collateral harm. This is the Roundissantis
of Florida who wants to become the Roundissantis of America, to tell us to
our dying day that we are not communities of loving grace and communion, that
we are not all connected, that acts of loving kindness are for fools and
traitors, To tell us that only some of us matter, not all of
us. Maybe, in the end, if we do not heed the warnings,
Dyssantis will tell us in a thousand lacerating ways, direct and indirect,
that none of us matter. Again. That's from an article from February and
Esquire by Jeff Vandermere. Our listeners have opinions about much of this short break.
We'll talk to them next. I've been curious how the whole Ron DeSantis
Disney lawsuit is going to play out. I think many of our listeners are
curious as well. We go to the switchboard, three oh one, I've
got Ray, Ray, Are you with me? Yes? Disney de Santis.
You know, two men enter, one man leaves. I guess you
have I don't know. Do you have any respect it? Yeah? I
turned it around a little bit. I think no matter what DeSantis loses,
even sixty ms against Disney, with the BS word that you put in,
I think that win is like another case of dog catches car. Ultimately,
we have a layer of voters that will say, even the ones that are
are so called conservative, they'll see that and I'll go, oh shit,
this is not what I wanted when they see what happens next. And I'm
thinking. My basis for this thought is that I listened to the Rachel Meadow
podcast called Ultra when America went through a period where Nazis were infiltrating Congress or
Nazi simitizers and state level of governments, and we had basically bosses in these
power positions. When prosecutors were going after politicians, the prosecures would get fired.
Or when trials are going on judges with these people who blew up or
attacked institutions, then the judge dies in the middle of the trial. All
these things happen. Ultimately, what happens is the vote in this case has
happened with forties saw what was going on. They said, okay, enough
and they voted all of those Nazi sympathizers out, even though they were winning,
and not everybay saw justice, and some people that were fine for justice
never saw success. But there's something built into our culture on a very fundamental
level, very basic level, that might in the end, when things get
worse and worse and worse, protect us. That's my thought. When Trump
was running in twenty sixteen, I remember seeing one awful revelation after another,
enough thought, well that'll be it. That's unsurvivable. And throughout twenty sixteen,
seventeen, eighteen ninety right, I kept thinking, well, you know,
at some point people are going to say we've had enough and they're just
going to cast the guy aside. And I'm still waiting for that day.
I struggle with that. I don't know if I have your level of what
I call it optimism. Have you noticed that the layers of support for Trumps
peeled away, Not enough where you can just breathe a sigh of relief,
but the number, the overall numbers, even though the percentages go up,
the overall numbers go down. I am seeing more dissent and dissatisfaction sometimes.
For there are some people, I think who have woken up and said,
holy shit. Right then they've come forward and they're like, you know,
I was that person and I was wrong. And I think that's fair and
it's good. I think we have to allow throughout humanity the opportunity for people
to grow through failure. We've all been wrong about something something critical. I
also think there are other people who are pissed off at Trump because he wasn't
as awful as they wanted, like where's the damn wall? And how come
Muslims are here? And shit like that and so. But it is interesting
to watch the division and discent, and I do wonder if it's going to
cost him at some point. You know, Well, they end up attacking
each other. Right, they'll go to war with each other while the rest
of its watch from the grand stand kind of thing. Right, And do
you know there is that conundrum regarding Trump. If he wins the primary,
he might increase the odds of losing the general election. I've been watching him
more and more invoked the name of God recently as he is doing his thing.
He's talking more and more about the Bible and God. He's doing these
sit down interviews on religious networks. And I keep saying, and I will
stand by this, I would pay a thousand dollars out of my savings,
out of my life's I would take a thousand dollars for the opportunity to give
Donald Trump a ten minute basic Bible quiz on live television. Right for all
the Bible waving he does, I would. I'll ask him the basics,
No trick questions, right, no minefield, no potholes. I'm just going
to ask him the basics to see how much he knows about the God that
he continues to invoke. And he will fail beautifully. I'm convinced a great
idea, a great idea. In fact, I would add on to that
naked a game show where you have him verse a five year old him versus
a five year old from Sunday School. Let's try that, yeah, yeah,
and let's penalize him financially for every wrong answer or you know, six
months in prison for every time you get one wrong. And here we go,
right, thanks for calling it, so appreciate you being a part of
today's conversation. Be safe out there, okay, all right, see you
later. They used to have a game show when I was growing up,
and I kind of wanted to be on the game show called the Bible Bowl.
It was like a national televised thing, and so kids would qualify locally
and then they would compete all the way up the chain until they ended up
on this television show and it was like a arena, circular arena, and
then they would bring kids down to answer Bible questions for points. And now
I'm looking and I'm like, I'd like a chance to formulate the questions.
Now. Somebody in the chat made the legitimate point that I don't want to
use the traumatizing stuff on very young children, right, Probably not the slavery
and rape versus on a five year old and I think that's fair. Okay,
so let's call it older kids junior high, high school kind of thing.
Let me formulate the questions. How many for skids did King Saul wants
David to slice off of the penises of philistines as a dowry for his daughters
and in marriage. One hundred ding ding ding ding correct? Actually David brought
two hundred four skins. He was like, oh, you want a hundred,
I'm going to double that. I'll impress you. Who wants a dowry
of four skins? Someone explain this Bible story to me. And these are
God's people, Saul and David, who says I would like fleshy penis tips
so that you can marry my daughter. How are those even delivered? You
bring him in a basket? Is it like a serving bowl? He put
him in a bag? Do you bring him in one by one with a
little jewelry case? I like you would give somebody an engagement ring and you
just take the top off. Oh look, foreskin times two hundred? How
do you deliver for skins to the king? I have questions. Let's call
it a fifteen year old who thinks the Bible is the good book? How
many pieces of silver did God command the rapist to pay the dad of the
rape victim before marrying the young woman he raped? Right, use this as
an exercise to inform of just how jacked up the Bible really is. Okay,
Jennifer from New England? Are you there? Yes? I am.
Can you hear me? Okay? I can? So glad you called?
What's on your mind? So? I know? Political question, not too
much religious. I have recently met a group of that are actually like Marxist
socialists that are actually supporting bringing Primmanism back to the United States, and they're
not quite as scary as you think they would be. It's kind of like
when you meet a church of Satanism people. They're a lot more cuddly than
you would expect. Still as fine as I'm a democratic socialist. We have
some overlaps in terms of the Vinn diagram. But I was just wondering,
what is your experience in terms of meeting some of these people. They're getting
a lot of coverage with like the college crowds. People are a little more
open minded to changing the current system, seeing that capitalism really just has not
worked for them. Did you have an opinion on some of these rising clubs.
Well, you have a point about meeting our opposition, or meeting people
who are different or have what we consider to be an unusual or foreign point
of view. And as somebody raised in Strawberry Red, Oklahoma, you know,
I'm very much that way. Whenever we hear communists, people tend to
blanch and brace their shoulders and flip out, and sometimes here in this state
than they invoke the name of Satan. I'm with you. I think communism
is a utopian fantasy, that will is not the way. And I'm not
an expert, but in my fifty five years of being alive, I think
I align more with you as a democratic socialist. You know, I think
there do need to be guidelines and requirements, and I do think that we
have a societal responsibility for infrastructure, for caring for our poor, for establishing
healthcare, for those types of things. But the larger point about meeting people
of differing viewpoints where they are listening and discovering their humanity, even if we
disagree, I think that's a valid one. Yeah, I got you one
up more with the in terms of being stuck in backwards area. I'm actually
originally from southern Louisiana. Oh. I moved up here when I was twenty
four, so it was a bit of a culture shock there, big fun
in Louisiana, especially during the election season. So you escaped to New England.
What's the political climate there? To give my ignorance about New England,
what's it like? Wonderfully liberal? Wonderfully liberal I am. I'm driving around
with an atheist sticker on the back glass of my car and nobody messes with
me. I don't get keyed, I don't get threatened. It is wonderfully
liberal, especially they all it's all lealized pot around here. So everybody's just
baked and happy, and you know, lots of lots of colleges, and
it is truly just like the Wonderland, coming here after being stuck in the
Deep South. Okay, I'm gonna that's a potential show title, Baked and
Happy. By the way, if you have a guest couch, Natalie and
I may need to come up there, just because things are insane here in
Oklahoma. But I agree. I tend to resist this tribalistic binary bumper sticker
vilification of everybody even those who do have a bad idea, you know,
rather than scream evil or Nazi or whatever or garbage. I think sometimes it
really does behooves to be able to sit down and have a human to human
conversation, which is an opportunity for minds to be expanded, perceptions to be
expanded, and sometimes opinions to be changed. That's a great point, Jennifer.
Thanks for making it. Thank you so much, and you have a
great day. I do watch you as much as I possibly can. Oh,
you're the one. Thanks so much, Jennifer. You take care all
right, you watch you listen. Thank you so much. By the way,
and shameless plug, thank you again for listening to my second podcast,
True Stories with Seth Andrews, approaching four hundred thousand downloads. People are enjoying
it and they're fun to do and I would love it if you would help
me get the word out True Stories podcast dot com, or you can just
subscribe on all major podcast apps. True Stories with Seth Andrews. Yes,
it's a digression, a self serving one and a shameless one, and I
don't apologize for it. I've got Scotts at two two nine. Are you
there? Yes, I am, let's talk. You want to talk de
Santis? Yeah, I wanted to discuss the possibility I'll voting for Trump and
just to give them Republicans or the Democrats and something to vote against the generalist.
Help me understand what you're saying. You want Trump to receive the nomination
and that would make the right wing evangelical Republican Party easier to defeat in twenty
twenty four. I'm considered it, Yes, Okay, I'm just trying to
understand the strategy. Do you think between I think that Trump has done for
He may be operar into folds, but I don't think he will win another
eliction. He's certainly in the hot seat with all these lawsuits that have been
filed against him, whether it's a business fraud or sexual assault allegations, etc.
I know that things are just going to get worse for him, that
he's going to get turned up, and I think he's going to become increasingly
unhinged. Well, actually I don't know. It's hard to believe he's more
unhinged than he actually is. If have you seen the screenshots from truth Social
He's just lost his freaking mind. Everything from saying we should do away with
the constitution to calling himself clairvoyant, just whack the NFTs. Have you seen
the digital NFTs they've made where he's like some superhero with lasers and ship coming
out of his eyes and it's insane. Absolutely, that's I think it's a
be a viable SAT. He's a vote for him in the primary. What's
what's your take on rhnd de Santis? You watched him from your advantage,
what do you think. I don't like him whenever he pulled the political stunt
of taking all the people up to over to Martha. Yeah, that's basically
all I need to know about him. What's that line when someone shows you
who they are, believed them right right exactly? Yeah, he was done
for whenever he pulled that political stunt. I didn't know much about him before
them. But it's it's kind of a lot of the same fate when Trump
and Trump has passed this many many times. If you only knew one thing
about Trump and now those many things, it would be enough not to vote
boy and the Santist has already cross that line. Think basic human decency for
President twenty twenty four. And you know there are some people who think that
everybody's equal, everybody's equally bad, both parties are equally bad. Or if
I make a choice that I love the Democrats and I'm worshiping at the Church
of the Democrats, you know, or Biden is my savior, and these
people, I think are just straw manning the shit out of what is a
very complex issue. I don't love. I think that's one of the difference
of people who worship Donald Trump or even de Santists. They'd see them as
savior figures, and I'm like, no, no, this is not how
I approach elected officials. They are both leaders and accountable servants. And I'm
doing a cost benefit on which party, which platform, which candidate is more
inclusive or accepting and more aligned with my values. And this is not to
you know, throw the baby out in the bathwater. I think at some
point you have to make a choice. So it's an interesting perspective. If
they nominate Trump, he's easier to defeat in twenty twenty four. That's interesting.
That's my thank you man. I'd like to say that I'm I don't
align myself with Democrats or Republicans. I how voted Democrat and I how voted
Republican in the past. But I will say that when I did vote Republican,
it was a completely different party than it is today. I get that.
I get that. Thanks for sounding off. Are you on the road
today? Yes, I'm a commercial prob. Yes you've seen the highways.
How many miles a week do you think you drive? Probably between twenty eight
three thousand a week. Holy cow. Well be safe on the road,
my friend. I'm glad I'm able to help you kill a few minutes of
the commutes and we'll talk again. Okay, thanks for you, Tom,
all right. Sometimes I wonder if that'd just be a great way. I
mean, just you in the open road, you know, the sound of
the wind against the windshield, and you throw something on like I enjoy.
It's funny. I fly a lot. I'm I feel like i'm some years.
I'm I'm on a plane so much. But it's when I'm in the
car that I stick an audio book on and kick back and get your snacks.
And I don't know why, but I only eat cheddar popcorn and beef
jerky on a road trip. I don't know why. I don't know why
I do that. It's a weird quart. Oh, there's a convenience store.
I'm three hours out from home heading to destination. Why I need to
stop off and get a cheddar, popcorn and beef jerky. I have no
idea why do that, but there's something relaxing about it, and I enjoy
the road trips more and more as I get older. Won't be taking a
road trip to Flora. Well maybe I will not to you know this antis
house, But Florida also has some really, really really encouraging organizations, the
free thought organizations down there that host free thought events. And there are secular
activists and scientists and people who are pounding the drum and ringing the bell and
sounding the alarm down there to try to undo the damage, to promote science,
reason, humanism, humanity. So props to you. So I'm not
discounting the whole state. I do, although look at you much like I
look at Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, etc. And I lament
that there are so very many people that seem to want to set fire to
the rest of us. Anyway, I appreciate your input and participation. I
hope you're safe and well this week, and I'll see you back here in
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