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[Egan_BW]

I like when this topic comes up, because I get to link this comic panel.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[bloop_bleep]

88 days ago, Jayme Closs's parents were both murdered and she went missing. This morning, she stumbled back into her home town, malnourished, disheveled, and confused.
The town Sheriff and Mayor immediately called a press conference so that they could jack each other off over how the girl's return was entirely because of them, and the power of their prayers. Godsdamn religious people are stupid. I mean, I assume some of them are not completely self-centered and delusional, but a lot of them are just unbelievably stupid.

Stupid because they believe as part of their religion that prayers can have positive effects? Somehow this harmless religious belief necessarily implies they are self-centered and delusional? What exactly is your problem with this?

[Rolan7]

It's pretty harmless to pray when there's nothing to do.  They're claiming that they did their job (which they didn't) through prayer.  At best, they're taking personal credit for a miracle.  At worst, they're justifying their next act of negligence.

[hector13]

That they are taking the credit for something they had nothing to do with, and giving props to an invisible (imaginary, some cynics might say) thing.

The girl got out on her own, found someone to call 911 and then gave enough details to have the guy arrested within 15 minutes. How did prayers help that? How did the promises the sheriffs make help her do that?

I live in Wisconsin. This is the first time I’ve heard anything about the case in two months.

[bloop_bleep]

That they are taking the credit for something they had nothing to do with, and giving props to an invisible (imaginary, some cynics might say) thing.

The girl got out on her own, found someone to call 911 and then gave enough details to have the guy arrested within 15 minutes. How did prayers help that? How did the promises the sheriffs make help her do that?

I live in Wisconsin. This is the first time I’ve heard anything about the case in two months.

Well, they don’t think it’s imaginary, do they? And it could be argued that God helped with her finding someone, and other luck-based things. What is the problem with giving some credit to God, if that’s what they believe?

[hector13]

God also let the girl experience her family being murdered and being kidnapped by the killer, and who knows what else in the ensuing three months. They notably omit that.

[Dunamisdeos]

I haven't heard the press conference, are they literally saying it was their work which led to her escape and rescue? Or are they thanking the piles of investigators/police that worked on this in the interim? The first would be shitty, the second would be routine.
 
Either way I don't see the problem with acknowledging a belief in prayer. Maybe they think they finally prayed enough for God to open a window of escape, I don't know. Taking vocal offense about them mentioning their beliefs to the point where you start broadly painting all religious people everywhere as stupid and self-centered is.... stupid and self-centered. Additionally, maybe let's not turn this into a place to discuss God is real or not, yeah? This is Ameripol. The point is they can believe what they want, and absolutely no part of this thing was damaged by Mayor/Sheriff whatsisname except that you were reminded that religion exists.
 
Also, I've heard about it as recently as yesterday, and before that was last week in my Facebook feed. That was not the first time I'd heard about it, either, so I don't think they had stopped trying, if that's what's being implied there.

[misko27]

That's a great idea! A national emergency is, if anything, an understatement of Global Warming, so I think that's fair.

And will it still be fair when the next president unilaterally declares the emergency over and reallocates those funds to the Wall 2.0 or something equally asinine? Will it continue to be fair when Congress reasserts its power of the purse and the bureaucracy bloats under the weight of increasingly specifically appropriated funding, cutting back on needed services? Will you still think it's a great idea when it becomes funded purely at the pleasure of those presently in power?

The most extraordinary exceptions to governmental processes are also the most ephemeral. Don't be so quick to advocate for taking the most extreme measures you know to override everyone else's priorities; once they do it to you and it becomes normal, the resilience lost is not easily regained.

Ayiyiyi! PTTG?? isn't the one advocating for using a national emergency to get around the constitutional process, that's the current President! Democrats are the ones saying "Well if you want to go down that road, we'll start making our list (perhaps checking it twice)." to spook the man out of it. He seems, for now, sufficiently spooked, since at least some Republicans seem capable of thinking past the immediacy of the Trump Presidency that this may be a Bad Idea. This does mean we have no solution, nor a prospective solution, to the shutdown.

Related: it's now the longest shutdown in history! Yay! Unfortunately, due to unforeseen budgeting issues I've left my party supplies elsewhere, so you'll have to simply imagine an animated gif or two of party streamers coming down.

[Dunamisdeos]

Come on now, you know we can't afford streamers, not with the shutdown and all.

[Culise]

Well, the longest American shutdown in history.  We still have a long way to go, however; we can't let Belgium beat us with their 541 days without a functioning federal government back in 2010-2011.  Make America great again!  Aim for two full years without federal government! 

[Hanslanda]

Prayer: the action of telling an omnipotent, omniscient god with a perfect plan that you know better and how to fix his plan.

[nenjin]

God also let the girl experience her family being murdered and being kidnapped by the killer, and who knows what else in the ensuing three months. They notably omit that.

All part of his divine plan to show how awesome He is.

[Dunamisdeos]

I fixed the title. Alternatively, we can just talk about how we can't discriminate against religion when it comes to work, holding office, or immigration in America, but only so long as no-one ever talks about their religion. Like yeah you're allowed to live here, but I don't want to know about it if you go to synagogue.

You guys know we can't afford religion anyway, not with the shutdown and all.

[Hanslanda]

No go back to Ameripol. We have railgun elsewhere

[Dunamisdeos]

I am the Lord of Chaos, fite me.

You know we can't afford railguns, though. I forget why.