"And now I'm going to 'work in the yard.'"

Me being BillJ, since every movement must be posted.

"Source": well, ok.

Yes, I'm aware.

Right now I'm typing to you.

"Frothed up," Eb? Like Santorum?

This isn't Forrest Gump. You often know what you're going to get. Playing the odds.

I had a friend who was way past legally blind. When he was a teenager going for his driver's license, the person said their job was to make sure this guy was never on American roads.

Forty years later (2010s) and his eyesight far worse, he's a movie reviewer for a prominent US city alt-weekly. He rarely sees the whole movies but uses plot summaries and characters and such to riff on the Zeitgeist. Quite popular.

I never saw so many people work hard to be lazy.

#35 | Posted by eberly

Also called considering the source, Eb. Usually saves time.

Math don't lie, Trucker dong gobbler.
#55 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-08-18 01:20 AM

Morning, noon, and night.

"allegedly encouraging students to wear Islamic religious attire during a field trip to a local mosque"

That's called respect and education.

"If the field trip was to a Catholic Church you'd be so angry you'd spit rather than swallow.
#28 | Posted by BellRinger"

Huh? Would your imaginary field trip include delivery of the Eucharist? Is that what you're referring to? Priests would have to clean that up.

We're talking about religion, not anonymous man-on-man bathroom sexual encounters. If rightwingers ever want to regain any cred here, they wouldn't load up almost every thread with this crap.

There are queer people on the Retort who don't talk about it much at all, and you folks claim genderqueer people are always trying to get in our face. Why don't you STFU for a change?

My son told me the other day (I don't believe it) that if you keep clicking on the first link of any Wikipedia page after the pronunciation, eventually you end up with "philosophy." That's like the Retort. Hang around long enough, and this will come up.

Hey, BellRinger, why don't you and Lefty and FortFisher go research that for a few weeks and get back to us? Come back with something new.

"But it was fun firing them off!"

"I shot an arrow in the air
Where it lands, I do not care
I got it wholesale."
--Curly Howard

For most, a jobs program. Get to use guns and drones and maybe hunt different-looking people, like in video games. Nothing more. No patriotism involved.

Then parlay that into the illusion of stability for having been in the military . . . while people deal with a generation or two's much-delayed adolescence.

Petrous: "I want a _____ on the ballot for EVERY OFFICE. Not just President. Every position I'm voting for. I want a write in vote for every job."

Seems like I've always had that opportunity; maybe not. I'll pay more attention down-ballot next time. I've voted in Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. I know I've written in one of my sons for Commonwealth Attorney at some point.

Petrous: "Every President would be facing the ICC for what they did in office. . . . they'd all be facing the ICC, charges, and arrest. The next US President will probably violate some ICC."

100 percent agree.

Petrous: "The only balance for a Dem/Rep is 4 vs 4 on the bench with no deciding 9th vote. This prevents ideology deciding cases. If the result is 4-4, act like a jury. Go back and get a verdict and don't come back until you do."

The Supreme Court should be staffed by legal scholars regardless of party affiliation, not hacks. Bork got Borked, but at least he had serious legal cred. Stop with the wet-behind-the-ears dopes -- except when Trump dies, maybe they'll relocate their souls. Give me a Bork and a similar stringent anticonservative on the court to have legitimate legal discussions about the Constitution; fine by me. Maybe we can reach a reasonable middle.

Petrous: "Get rid of the law that says the US must provide troops in any country but at home. We freaking have 76,000 minimum troops under the NDAA? Those nations overseas should be putting up troops and defense spending. Bring back the WPA. Able bodied people should be working for public assistance. Partially disabled is partially able."

Defund the entire military-industrial complex, encourage public service, and forget contributions to the humanitarian left while we're at it. We have a nation, and we're already taxed amply. If I had a line-item on my election ballot, it would be, "Which would you rather fund? The military or more tangible human benefits, like edible food, and clean air and water?"

The US doesn't need a worldwide military to protect "its interests," which aren't the people's interests. The MIC is driving all the wars anyway.

However, if there was nothing more to it than an absence of belief, they would have nothing to advocate for.
They most certainly are in Washington advocating for something.

#153 | Posted by BillJohnson at

I'd venture they are there to provide a balance given that theists control our laws.

Adults can't experience unconditional love for one another?
That's a new one on me.
#144 | Posted by Corky at 2026-08-17 09:48 PM | Reply
I guarantee that goes away when she knocks your teeth out.
#145 | Posted by Alexandrite at

I've got pictures of my arm from last summer where my Alzheimer's-afflicted wife was trying to gain her daily protein allotment from my flesh. Big bite marks.

Yeah, that's an illness talking and those moments were stressful, and maybe it's not different from a cancer patient vomiting.

But 40 years of a relationship also underlie that chomping, and obviously she's not been feeding on my flesh for 40 years. That's life. We're fine.

"Yes. Love between adults is conditional on behavior. If your wife started slapping you around, or screwing the mailman, you'd leave."

Sorry to hear this. I was raised by example to honor my marriage vows: My father was a serial adulterer and used me as his beard through his teenage years (my parents had divorced, so this was with my first stepmother). So when I married, I was in it for good, for good or ill. It's worked out fine.

Love between adults should emerge from a common empathy that we're all in this together. My spouse isn't perfect; neither am I.

No conditions. We're human. Which comes with resentments, problems, joys, unexpected joys, and unexpected misery.

Unconditional love should be our default for everyone until we have a need to think otherwise. Time also heals.

Wikipedia: "A 2024 poll indicates that 41% of American Christians believe in the Seven Mountain Mandate."

"White Christian Nationalism"
buzzwords...
#157 | Posted by BillJohnson

Not at all. Not at all. National policies these days are being driven more by the Seven Mountain Mandate than the will of Americans.