0:00

Hey everybody, well from

0:02

Salt Lake City, Utah,

0:04

it's Thank God I'm

0:06

Atheist, a podcast about

0:26

politics, religion, and life in

0:28

America and just

0:30

living through it as an atheist. I'm

0:32

Frank Feldman. I'm Rachel. And

0:35

coming up on the show

0:37

today, well first let's actually acknowledge,

0:39

yeah Rachel's here. Hello. Dan's

0:43

not. What am I? Rachel's

0:48

sitting in for Dan and Dan

0:51

is off gallivanting around the

0:54

globe as he does. And

0:56

he should be back next week. So, but

0:59

yeah, coming up on

1:02

the show today, this

1:04

political season has been

1:06

a very interesting one. And

1:10

we, at the beginning of the

1:12

year, long time listeners, you'll

1:14

recall, regular listeners, you'll recall us,

1:16

Dan and I talking about sort

1:19

of the year that was ahead

1:21

of us and the

1:23

importance of just

1:26

sucking it up and voting for Biden. And

1:29

we just kind of wanted to do a little

1:32

bit of an update. This was a big political

1:34

week for America with the Democratic National Convention. And

1:37

there were some highlights and some things. Just

1:40

seems like that

1:44

felt right to talk about. So we'll

1:46

be getting to that. But first we have some things

1:48

that happened this week, news of the week. And

1:51

I'm going to start with a story from

1:54

Afghanistan. Oh yeah. Great story.

1:56

All the best stories. the

2:00

best stories come from Afghanistan. And

2:03

by best stories, I mean some of the

2:05

most horrifying, um, dealing

2:07

with human rights and whatnot. Um,

2:10

but, uh, this one, uh, sort

2:13

of tickled me just a

2:15

little, apparently, um, the,

2:17

the Taliban, uh, the,

2:20

the government, I suppose

2:22

in Afghanistan, uh,

2:24

released a, some, some stats

2:27

about this year. And,

2:30

uh, how, uh, their sort of

2:32

enforcement of strict Sharia law is

2:34

going. And they

2:36

wanted everybody to know that, uh, this

2:38

year, 281 beardless

2:43

officers in their ministry, or I'm sorry,

2:46

in their security forces, uh,

2:49

were fired, um,

2:51

for not being able to grow beards. For not being

2:53

able to. For not being able to. Either

2:55

not having a beard, like refusing to grow

2:57

a beard. Yeah. But, um, I don't know

3:00

why you would do that because you will

3:02

get fired. Um,

3:05

you also might find yourself

3:07

in front of a military tribunal for

3:10

refusing to follow orders. Currently.

3:12

Yeah. And so, yeah,

3:14

not so good. Uh, also the hairstyles of

3:16

450 military

3:18

Mujahideen, um,

3:21

were corrected to comply with Sharia

3:23

law. Um, and,

3:27

uh, the Taliban has taken the steps

3:29

to, uh, prohibit barbers,

3:33

uh, in several provinces from shaving or

3:35

trimming beards is now also illegal.

3:38

Uh, the beard is very important in

3:40

its natural state. It cannot be absolutely

3:43

groomed and tenet to according to

3:45

the Taliban. The beard is considered

3:47

a distinctive feature given to men

3:50

to set them apart from women.

3:53

Uh, some women have beards. Right.

3:57

What do they do then? But also like

3:59

when I think about. distinctive features that separate

4:01

men and women. Usually

4:04

I'm not thinking about the

4:06

beard. There

4:08

are other things that spring to mind.

4:10

Yeah. One feature in particular that I,

4:12

I think of, but let's

4:14

see, they taught this article that I read,

4:17

uh, talked to somebody who was fired and

4:19

he says, I cannot grow a beard and

4:21

they constantly called and harassed me around three

4:23

months ago. The commander told me that I

4:25

could no longer stay in the unit because

4:27

of my beard. I joined

4:30

them for financial reasons, but

4:32

throughout my year with them, I

4:34

faced lots of harassments over my inability

4:36

to grow a beard. They would say

4:38

I wasn't a true Muslim. Well

4:41

yeah. If God wanted you, if

4:45

God blessed you and you

4:47

were one of his, Allah's

4:50

followers, he would have given

4:52

you a beard. There's

4:54

a reason Allah is not letting

4:56

you grow a beard. Yeah. And because

4:59

you're unworthy and he doesn't like you

5:01

and he, you did something wrong. Yeah.

5:03

So, so you don't deserve, so

5:05

you don't deserve anything to be on the job.

5:08

You don't deserve a job or fired.

5:11

Be gone with you. And your beardless

5:14

woman like face, um, yeah,

5:18

the beard, uh, the, the standard that

5:20

they're they're using is that the beard

5:22

must at least be the length of

5:24

a fist. So

5:28

that's, that's a pretty long beard. Yeah.

5:30

I, I sort of rotated my

5:32

fist a few different ways. I think it probably is

5:34

like if you sort of

5:36

put whose fist also the, the,

5:39

the bearded person or your own fist,

5:41

you get your little baby and you're

5:44

like, you hold baby. Well, I guess

5:46

they're like a beard measurer on the

5:50

council and he, he has

5:52

like this massive hand. Yeah. And

5:54

he's just like, yeah, you're not,

5:56

you're not manly enough. Not long

5:58

enough. Yeah. Apparently. also been cracking

6:00

down on other things like musical

6:03

instruments. They've, this past

6:05

year, they have, they've destroyed

6:07

over 21,000 musical instruments. Because

6:12

having any joy at all

6:14

is just not godly. Oh,

6:16

any form of happiness. Yeah.

6:19

Oh, no, no kidding. The

6:21

article talked about this guy

6:23

who was a former guitar

6:25

teacher. And

6:28

he had the security forces show up at

6:30

his door. He, like,

6:35

like the criminal that he is,

6:37

clearly, jumped out

6:40

of, he ran out of the back and climbed over

6:42

the gate, jumped into the yard.

6:45

Let's see. The police

6:47

ransacked his house and discovered five guitars.

6:50

And he was taken to the police station where

6:52

he was severely beaten. Again,

6:55

as the criminal he clearly is. Because of his guitars.

6:58

They were saying, apparently,

7:01

the foreigners are gone and you

7:03

cannot live with the devil's instruments

7:05

anymore. They flogged me and repeatedly

7:07

punched me in the face. Oh,

7:09

my god. So,

7:11

yeah, things, things are

7:13

great now.

7:17

They just keep seemingly outdoing

7:19

themselves. And they're, they

7:23

never cease to amaze. Awfulness. They're how

7:25

awful they can be. They're, they're the

7:30

hatred that they have for the human

7:33

spirit. Humanity. Yeah. Yeah.

7:36

They've, they've prioritized their

7:40

religion over humanity.

7:42

Well, but it, but it's also like one

7:45

of the most horrible

7:47

readings of their religion. Like they're

7:50

Muslim countries aren't great

7:53

on human rights. Right. No matter which

7:55

one you look at. It's a shitty

7:57

religion. Right. But there are

7:59

degree, degrees of shittiness. Absolutely.

8:02

And Afghanistan under the

8:04

Taliban continues to figure out how

8:06

to make it even

8:08

shittier. Yeah. Be the worst. Yeah.

8:10

And so what, you know, good

8:12

on you Taliban, I guess. Well,

8:15

I also have Taliban Taliban

8:18

story. Oh yeah. Okay. There's

8:20

always, there's always more.

8:23

So more shittiness, more shittiness, just

8:26

yeah. So, so they don't like

8:28

this guitar guy. Well, they also

8:31

don't like the sound

8:33

of women's voices singing or

8:35

reading in public. Women

8:38

cannot, women,

8:40

women's voices should not be heard in

8:42

public. We should not. What

8:46

are they supposed to do? They are not allowed.

8:48

They have like a sign language that they're working

8:50

with now to like, I don't know. How do

8:52

you ask for, I mean, I assume women have

8:55

to go. You type it on your cell phone and hold

8:57

it up and give me,

8:59

they can't, they don't let women look

9:02

men in the eyes unless they're related

9:04

to them. Right. They obviously

9:06

they make the women cover from head to

9:08

toe. Right. It's like they

9:10

don't want women to exist at

9:13

all. Like, could you just go

9:15

completely unnoticed? Thank you. Jesus. Yeah.

9:18

And like what purpose, what

9:21

do the men making these rules? What

9:23

purpose do they see women serving

9:25

in society? If they

9:27

can't really exist or and

9:30

be noticed and, and be

9:32

part of society. What, what do you see

9:34

their purposes then? They don't

9:36

see a purpose in society for women.

9:39

They see women as, is

9:42

it just a baby maker and

9:44

baby razors, right? And

9:46

baby feeders. So they have this,

9:49

the Taliban made this committee, basically,

9:52

this is like a few years

9:54

old and it's, to,

9:58

it's like the vice committee. But it's

10:00

a propagation of virtue and prevention of

10:02

vice is what the point of it

10:04

is. So they issued a 114 page

10:08

document and this women

10:12

not talking and singing in public or

10:14

reading in public is part of

10:16

that. A reading

10:18

out loud. A reading out, yeah. Anyway,

10:21

they justify it by saying a woman's

10:23

voice is just so intimate that

10:26

like it shouldn't be, this

10:29

is me now, like projecting that that might

10:31

tempt a man or something like

10:33

just the sound of a delicate

10:36

woman's voice would just make him do bad things.

10:39

Like it's her fault if she even

10:41

exists that he does bad things. Right.

10:44

I had a one also like the fact

10:46

that they can't encounter

10:49

a woman without

10:51

thinking about sex. Right. Right.

10:54

The one who's the perpetrator

10:56

of vice at this point,

10:59

right? It's not the woman

11:01

speaking. Yeah. Who has the

11:03

problem? Yeah. Right. It's

11:05

clearly these men, these improperly or

11:07

poorly socialized middle schoolers, right?

11:10

Or in cells who can't

11:14

conceive of a woman outside

11:16

of the context of her

11:19

ability to seduce. Well,

11:22

it's a pleasure him. Yeah. Everything

11:25

she does might, might seduce him.

11:28

So it's and that would be very, very bad. Yeah,

11:31

exactly. Um, I

11:34

went to this Muslim event once. I

11:37

know, seriously. Like what are you saying about

11:39

yourself when you need women around you to

11:41

do this? Yeah. So

11:44

fuck the Taliban. I'm still the kind

11:47

of the world's shittiest government. Yet

11:50

another. Another week of them being

11:53

number one in shittiest government in the

11:55

world. Well,

11:58

close second, Rachel. The

12:01

state of Texas. Yeah. Yeah.

12:05

Sorry, Texas. We

12:08

love you, Texas. We don't. We

12:11

love Austin. We'll take Austin.

12:14

Parts of San Antonio. Yeah. There's

12:16

a neighborhood or two in Dallas. The

12:21

rest of it can... Yeah. Anyway.

12:24

Texas is

12:27

in an unfortunate position of having

12:30

a really awful government. Yeah. But

12:34

there's a lot of good people in Texas, right?

12:36

They got Beto. They have

12:38

Beto. Yeah. Yeah. They

12:40

got to sound good. Yeah. I don't really

12:43

care for their governor. No. But

12:45

anyway, this story comes

12:47

from a school district

12:49

in South Texas. It

12:53

is, let's see, the South Texas

12:55

Mission School District. The

12:58

superintendent this year, at the

13:00

end of this last school year, so

13:02

the beginning of summer, he received...

13:07

Actually, I'm not sure he

13:09

or she, but they

13:11

received an email with

13:13

a list of 676 books that

13:18

a group of local pastors believed

13:21

were claiming to be,

13:23

were quote, filthy and evil. Filthy.

13:26

Filthy and evil books, Rachel. 676

13:28

of them. And

13:32

this is actually, I thought this was... At

13:35

first I thought this was going to be a good

13:37

response from the superintendent

13:39

who replied saying

13:42

that they would check to see if they even had the

13:45

books. Okay. Right?

13:47

And I was like, oh, that's actually a good

13:49

point. This person spotted

13:52

that this is just a list... None

13:54

of these pastors have read these books. Yeah. Right?

13:58

This is just a list generated by someone.

14:00

somebody somewhere, right? Which

14:02

apparently that's exactly what it

14:04

was. But the superintendent was actually kind

14:06

of a piece of shit and forwarded

14:08

the email on to the deputy superintendent

14:12

asking them to ask the

14:14

district's director for

14:18

instructional technology and library services to

14:21

look into removing them. Can

14:23

you, this is from the email, can

14:26

you prioritize researching these books to ensure

14:28

we remove them from the school libraries?

14:30

So this superintendent is just

14:33

taking marching orders from this

14:35

group of pastors, right? Can

14:38

your IT coaches help you track

14:40

the location of the books to

14:42

expedite this request? As

14:44

though just because somebody

14:46

asks for a book to be removed.

14:49

They can then make it your priority.

14:52

And apparently this is, you know, I always

14:54

assume that these must be like books

14:57

with sexual themes

14:59

or LGBTQ plus

15:01

themes or whatnot. But

15:05

apparently this list, if it's

15:07

like touching upon religion or

15:10

race, God forbid,

15:13

these, they're all

15:17

freaking out about it. And so like I pulled

15:19

up the list of titles on this list and

15:23

I have to admit, I don't know what most any

15:26

of these are. I

15:29

don't read children's books and young

15:31

adult books, but there's, but I do recognize

15:34

some of the titles from when I was

15:36

younger and just cultural or culture in general.

15:38

Apparently Anne Frank's diary

15:41

is on

15:43

the list. It's

15:45

filthy. Filthy. Well,

15:48

it's the graphic adaptation. So

15:52

it's like a graphic novel version

15:55

of it, which

15:58

I'm sure is just awful. Just

16:00

absolutely terrible. Yeah. Let's

16:04

see. There was like a Maya

16:06

Angelou book on the list, which

16:08

is just like, what the fuck?

16:11

A Clockwork Orange. I mean, that's

16:13

kind of an adult. It

16:16

has some adult themes, but like kids

16:18

reading that. Yeah, seriously. Like, whatever.

16:21

And of course the handmaid's

16:23

tale. Oh, of course. Made it because

16:25

they don't want their secret, top secret

16:27

mission. They don't want to be outed.

16:29

Yeah. Don't tell them what we're planning.

16:35

Oh, I know why the Caged Bird

16:37

sings. That's the Maya Angelou book. I

16:39

just don't see what they would have

16:41

issue with. Catcher in the Rye. Catcher

16:45

in the fucking Rye. Everyone reads Catcher

16:47

in the Rye. Everybody reads it. And

16:49

no one's damaged from it. No, because

16:52

it's like, it's a book that like,

16:55

yeah, anyway, that

16:57

these fucking is teenage,

16:59

you know, angst and

17:03

whatnot. I can't remember all the themes of

17:05

that book, but, but yeah, it's

17:07

just wild. Like you go through

17:09

and there's all of these like classics that are

17:11

on the list. And then, and

17:14

then some books that, you know, what titles like sex

17:17

and uncensored introduction, but kids need

17:19

to learn about sex. And I

17:22

highly doubt this is being presented

17:24

in a way. Right. It's not

17:26

appropriate for the age level. If

17:28

it's called sex and introduction or

17:30

education, it's clearly, it's not smut.

17:33

Right. It's written in a

17:36

textbook manner. Yeah. And

17:38

honestly, like, yeah,

17:40

anyway. So that's going on

17:43

in Texas. The

17:46

superintendent was super excited. So like,

17:48

just get rid of all these books. Word

17:50

got out and

17:53

people, enough

17:55

people, I guess were outraged enough that

17:57

the, that the. the

18:01

process was put on hold from

18:03

my understanding. But

18:06

I'm sure a number of these will eventually

18:09

just be removed. We have a friend here in

18:11

Salt Lake who is on

18:13

the school district's book removal

18:16

review, like request review

18:18

committee. I don't know the exact name

18:20

or exactly what it's called. The book

18:22

Nazis. Well, she's not a

18:25

book Nazi. She's trying to protect. They want

18:27

them to be book Nazis. Their educators are

18:29

on this committee and they read

18:32

the books that people have been requesting

18:35

to have removed from the school libraries.

18:38

And we were talking a couple of weeks about sort

18:42

of it all going on. And it's

18:44

just, you know, the cultural

18:46

conservatives are, this

18:51

is not a new drum for them to be

18:54

beating, right? Book banning

18:56

is just a constant, constant

18:58

fight. But there's this,

19:01

like there's now like this official process because

19:06

the states are passing laws. Like here in Utah,

19:08

I remember this law

19:11

getting passed a couple of years ago. And

19:14

so like, as long as the

19:16

majority of the school districts committees,

19:19

like this one that our friend is on, don't

19:24

vote to ban it, then the

19:26

book can stay. But as soon as like this

19:28

book that she was telling me about, it's like

19:30

this beautiful, great book dealing with

19:32

a teenager coming to

19:34

awareness about his own sexuality, right?

19:39

But dealt with not in

19:42

like explicit ways in

19:44

ways that are appropriate, right? And

19:48

every kid in America has already heard about,

19:50

right? And

19:52

it's experiencing. Not reading about it doesn't make

19:54

it not exist. It

19:57

was one school district that ended up. Um,

20:02

like if, if it was, it was,

20:04

I don't know how many school districts there

20:06

are or whatnot, but it was like four

20:08

to five. Right. Like

20:10

there was one school district that basically

20:12

decided, okay, this book can

20:15

stay. Yeah. But if one additional school district

20:17

had voted to get rid of it, it would have been banned

20:20

statewide. That's so ridiculous. And it's

20:22

just like, what the fuck? So

20:25

these people that want personal

20:27

freedom and freedom from government

20:30

and then don't allow

20:33

children to choose which books it's

20:35

a fucking book. Yeah. Let

20:38

their parents be in charge of overseeing that. What's

20:41

can you imagine if a school district told it

20:44

said every child must be vaccinated for, for a

20:46

COVID before you can come to school. Those people

20:48

will lose their goddamn mind. But if you say,

20:50

but we all, but we are all going to

20:52

tell you what other, we're going

20:55

to make decisions about other freedoms for you. Right. And

20:58

they're okay with that. Yeah. Well,

21:00

I mean, yeah, exactly. Or

21:02

if the, you were going to cancel the

21:05

football team. Oh God. Right.

21:08

Yeah. These same people would lose their minds. The

21:10

same people would lose their fucking minds. Yeah. You

21:12

know? And it's just

21:14

like, no, like, like

21:17

you get to decide, right? Yeah.

21:21

And then your children participate in something or

21:23

not, or if they read something or not.

21:27

And that's up to you. Right?

21:30

Like these are not also not the books

21:32

that are being taught in the classroom. Right.

21:35

Right. These aren't, these aren't

21:37

part of the curriculum. Right. Right.

21:40

I mean, some of, some of them are like the diary van Frank is

21:42

on school curriculum. Right. Catcher

21:45

in the Rye. I feel like I just

21:47

taught it. Yeah. Yeah. But

21:50

yeah, these kids can still go to a

21:52

library and get it. Yeah. Just

21:54

not the school library. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Or

21:57

they go to a bookstore and get it. It's, you're not preventing. Anything.

22:01

Well, this is step one. Let's face.

22:03

Yeah, that's true. Once they get the

22:05

schools libraries, then they're coming for the

22:07

public libraries Yeah, so it's and then

22:09

Barnes and Noble. Yeah You're

22:12

right Okay,

22:14

well I'm gonna go to a Texas

22:16

story also I'm just gonna follow you

22:18

around the globe today this This

22:21

is Houston though. I don't know where yours

22:23

was South Texas somewhere, but some random Well,

22:26

I found Our

22:30

Golden Girls retirement community so

22:35

You might want to explain that Many

22:39

years as most people

22:41

are huge fans of the Golden Girls, but

22:43

just the concept of like

22:46

living in a Living

22:48

in a community together when we're older

22:50

so that we're like really

22:53

close together proximity wise But

22:55

we want to maybe modernize the Golden

22:57

Girls concept so that we're not all

22:59

under one small roof we want like

23:02

a giant mansion and so We

23:06

figure Hopefully by the time we're

23:08

like 60 we could pull

23:10

our real estate resources and get and

23:12

get Something

23:14

really great. Well, I found

23:17

in Houston

23:20

The New Light Church their mega

23:22

church like 20,000

23:25

members or something Jesus their compound is

23:27

up for sale for 15 million

23:30

dollars This thing

23:32

is insane It

23:35

has like this enormous mansion. Holy

23:37

shit. It has Six

23:40

or seven guest houses. It's got this

23:43

whole tennis court Glorious

23:45

pool in the middle of

23:47

all the houses. Yeah volleyball

23:49

court. This thing is nice

23:51

Each of these little guest houses is also bigger than

23:54

any of our houses like This

23:58

is amazing these fuck have

24:01

not paid property taxes on their $15 million property

24:07

because they're exempt because

24:10

it houses religious leaders.

24:14

So the pastor, bishop

24:16

of this church, it's him and

24:18

his wife and they just living

24:20

the life of luxury. So

24:24

this is from the Houston Chronicle

24:26

and the Chronicle went and

24:30

looked up all of the properties

24:32

in Texas' most

24:37

populated counties that are tax exempt

24:41

under this rule. And it's over

24:43

a billion dollars in real estate

24:45

that aren't paying taxes. These

24:48

are tied up in sort of...

24:50

Their religious housing or whatever. A

24:52

billion dollars of real estate. I

24:54

mean, we're talking hundreds

24:56

of millions in tax dollars not being

24:59

paid. Yeah,

25:01

it's a lot of money. Over years and years,

25:04

you know? Like this is a lot of money.

25:06

Oh my God. And these doctors

25:08

just live in the life. How telling

25:11

is that? Like I would love for

25:13

somebody to do an analysis of

25:16

similar properties throughout the

25:18

state and add up to see how

25:20

much that's worth, right? Like to

25:23

just know how much like

25:25

these churches are paying or

25:27

enriching just douche

25:29

bags. Yeah, I know. Because like, oh

25:32

my God. Complex is crazy

25:34

looking. It's so crazy. I mean, how

25:36

many of those, one, two, three, four, five,

25:38

six little houses. I think this

25:40

is like a cultural center for like

25:43

parties. But yeah, six little houses. They're

25:45

calling them cabanas. These are not cabanas.

25:47

Those are not. These are like really

25:49

large houses. Three, four bedroom. Yeah, two

25:52

car garages. Yeah. Oh

25:55

my God. And they have their own little yards. Everyone

25:57

has their own yard. They

25:59

all meet in the. courtyard in the big mansion

26:01

in the back. Those

26:03

are just like guest houses? These are the guest houses.

26:06

It looks like a small condominium

26:11

development. It does, it

26:13

looks like a planned development of homes, like

26:15

a subdivision, but it's all just one property.

26:17

So is this for sale? What's

26:19

going on? It's for sale for $15 million. So

26:22

I don't have that today.

26:26

I'm a little short. I'm

26:29

a little short. A little short on the

26:31

$15 million. But if any of your listeners

26:33

like our proposal of a Golden Grawls, Yeah,

26:35

I want to buy it. We're

26:38

accepting applications. If

26:41

you have $15 million, if

26:43

you buy it for us, we might

26:45

consider letting you join us. Well,

26:49

the thing that I think is really interesting about this is why are

26:51

they selling it? Does it say? I

26:56

don't think it's selling it. So

26:59

the church is selling it. And

27:02

this is also kind of a fun thing. Churches

27:04

don't pay capital gains. Did you know that?

27:09

I mean, I guess it makes sense. Corporations do.

27:11

Yeah. But private individuals

27:13

obviously do. But

27:16

churches, it being an

27:19

income tax, a federal income tax, churches do

27:21

not pay capital gains. Makes

27:24

sense that they wouldn't, but also total bullshit. Yeah.

27:29

Especially for like churches that have a lot of

27:31

money invested. Yeah. And

27:34

so like they get to just

27:37

sit on this wealth that's growing

27:39

and whatnot. And

27:41

then you step back and you look at

27:43

something like the Mormon Church and you're like,

27:45

yeah, no wonder they just have

27:47

amassed so much wealth because they don't have a wealth.

27:53

They're a church. All of the little taxes that

27:55

we have to deal with. Yeah. They

27:58

don't have. I literally make decisions. about where

28:00

I'm going to live based

28:02

on if I'm paying capital gains tax

28:04

or not. Like I can't

28:06

even just like move right now because I feel

28:08

like I'll have to pay cap like too much

28:11

in capital gains and I'm just

28:13

a little lady in Salt Lake and these

28:15

fuckers are billionaires and they don't have to

28:17

pay. They're living in this 15 million dollar

28:19

house. Rachel as long as you buy a

28:21

new house you'll be fine. As

28:24

long as you roll it over into a

28:26

new property. Well if I sell yeah.

28:28

Anyway let's not get into whatever.

28:31

Whatever. Anyway I'm rich guys. No.

28:35

Nope. Alright. Alrighty

28:39

well I just

28:41

referenced the Mormon Church. My

28:44

next story actually is a Mormon

28:46

Church policy update. They've

28:49

just released a new general handbook

28:51

which is the the

28:54

manual that bishops sort of

28:56

local congregations operate on. Right.

28:59

Bishops and stake presidents are gonna be

29:01

using this. I mean it goes for

29:04

leadership of all levels of

29:06

the church down to like Bishop.

29:08

I don't think like below

29:11

bishops would would ever really see a

29:14

general handbook. I

29:17

thumbed through one when my dad was Bishop.

29:20

And it's literally anything that can come up.

29:22

Right. How do you handle this? How do

29:24

you handle that? And just like

29:26

little tiny little basic rules. And

29:31

I have a feeling that this new updated

29:34

general handbook is going to

29:38

cause an exodus out of the church.

29:40

Oh. A mass resignation

29:42

along the lines of like you remember

29:44

the November policy right? Yeah. That

29:47

was the policy about children of

29:50

LGBTQ plus parents not being able

29:52

to be baptized. Until

29:54

they were 18 and tons of

29:56

people just looked at that saw

29:59

how absurd. and cruel and

30:01

unfair of a policy that would be

30:03

or was

30:05

while it was on the books. They

30:08

four years later they rescinded it because it was

30:10

awful. But a

30:12

lot of people left after that. A lot of people left

30:14

over Prop 8 out in

30:16

California, the church's involvement in passing or

30:19

trying to pass that. And

30:21

there have been a number of these like even when

30:23

the proclamation on the family came out back was

30:26

that in the 90s or early 2000s

30:29

that caused a lot of people to be really

30:31

pissed off and leave. It's just sort of these

30:34

moments in Mormon circles they talk about it your

30:36

your shelf breaking. Yeah right. It's

30:38

just one more thing that you're putting up

30:40

on your little shelf of disbelief or whatnot.

30:42

Yeah. And then finally the weight

30:45

just becomes too much and the shelf breaks.

30:47

Yeah. And I think this

30:50

is gonna be one of those because let's get into the

30:52

details. The big the

30:55

big really awful policy changes

30:57

have to do with transgender people

31:01

and these are some of the new rules and

31:03

I'm gonna be using I'm gonna be reading from this

31:06

article so a lot of this is

31:09

their language not my language. Okay. So

31:11

even so if I happen to not

31:13

say quote okay everybody

31:15

just just be aware it's not me

31:18

saying this crap. Okay let's see.

31:21

So this is what the first bullet point.

31:24

Individuals are instructed to attend

31:27

gender-specific meetings and activities that

31:29

align with their assigned sex

31:31

at birth. Any

31:33

rare exceptions must be approved by the

31:35

area of presidency. Next

31:39

one. Individuals who have transitioned in

31:41

any way whether surgically medically or

31:44

socially cannot work with children. Oh

31:47

serve as teachers in their congregation

31:50

or fill out or fill any

31:52

gender-specific assignments such as president of

31:54

the Women's Relief Society. Instead

31:58

quote they

32:00

may receive other callings and

32:03

assignments that provide opportunities to

32:05

progress and serve others. And

32:07

I sat there and I was like,

32:10

if you're not a teacher working with

32:12

children or in a

32:14

gender specific assignment in the Mormon

32:16

Church, what are

32:18

you doing? You're the one that gets to go

32:20

on Wednesday nights and clean the church. You can

32:22

clean the church. You can

32:24

be maybe the guy that

32:26

clicks the button up and down the

32:29

aisles in sacrament meeting. The clerk. You

32:32

can be the clerk. You can be the chorister. Right.

32:35

Maybe the organist. Totally could

32:37

be the organist. Right. In fact, that

32:39

would be great. Yeah. But

32:42

not great because people are being being

32:46

relegated to these positions. Right. People

32:48

are being. Yeah. But I feel

32:50

like you could play it up more if you're given like

32:52

an artistic role. Well,

32:56

then you want to be the chorister. You want

32:59

to be leading the music. You want to lead

33:01

the congregation in music. Yeah. Let's

33:03

see the next bullet point when it

33:05

comes to gender specific overnight activities such

33:08

as youth camps, individuals

33:10

can attend only those that align

33:12

with their assigned sex at birth.

33:14

Because men never do anything bad

33:16

to the little boys at overnight

33:18

camps in the Mormon church. That's

33:22

never happened, huh? Never has. These

33:25

fucking idiots. In the case of

33:27

other overnight activities such as for

33:29

the strength of youth and

33:31

other youth conferences, those who

33:33

have transitioned in any way will be released

33:36

at the end of the day to a

33:38

guardian responsible for arranging accommodations. What does that

33:40

mean? What does that mean? You mean to

33:42

go by yourself? By

33:45

yourself. By yourself. You

33:48

and your guardian can go stay in a motel. Even

33:51

though these are co-ed events, I'm sure

33:53

the sleeping quarters aren't. They're not, yeah.

33:55

But all of everyone can go to

33:58

the same place. can go

34:00

to the like the youth weekends. And they're

34:02

just like, well, we don't, you

34:05

obviously can't sleep with the boys and

34:07

you obviously can't sleep with the girls.

34:09

Obviously. You pervert. Right. So

34:11

you can

34:14

go to La Quinta. You,

34:17

we banish you to La Quinta. Uh,

34:20

it's, it's, uh, it's

34:22

reaching a crescendo of cruelty

34:25

and, uh, and, uh,

34:27

really what, what's interesting

34:30

is how this is aligning

34:32

with right wing propaganda

34:35

at the moment. Anti-trans propaganda.

34:39

And I find it really

34:41

disturbing that the Mormon church

34:43

is going along with this. That

34:46

anybody would go along with it anywhere, but like the

34:48

Mormon church, they

34:50

weren't great on the topic. No. Um,

34:53

but I didn't think they were going to

34:55

get worse. I

34:57

just thought they would have backed away

34:59

from making any sort of, yeah. I

35:02

mean, like the trans quote unquote trans

35:04

issue for, for me, I,

35:07

for Christian groups,

35:12

it is such a missed

35:14

opportunity because where,

35:18

because trans is sort of emerging

35:20

into our consciousness in

35:24

a modern context, right? Like the

35:26

Bible doesn't talk about trans issues.

35:28

Right. And so they have

35:30

nothing to fall back on in the

35:32

Bible, telling them one, one

35:34

way or the other, essentially. Right. And

35:37

so it's like, it's like, so

35:39

your holy scriptures are,

35:42

um, quiet on

35:44

this topic. Why

35:47

not just look at the lessons

35:50

more broadly of your

35:52

religion about generosity

35:54

and compassion community

35:56

and an embrace.

36:00

people who are going

36:02

through a human experience, right, who are amongst

36:06

Live amongst your ranks and just

36:08

be like well if the scriptures are quiet

36:10

on this wine Clearly God

36:12

is giving us the opportunity Right

36:16

to be modern on this one topic, right?

36:18

But that's not how they think They're

36:21

old men. I know think whatever they

36:23

think must be a revelation but it's

36:25

just like but come on like it's

36:27

it for me it just it it

36:29

it betrays

36:32

their their bigotries on

36:35

all the in all the other ways that they

36:37

are bigots. Yeah as as Not

36:41

being based biblically religion. Yeah,

36:43

it's these you're finding your

36:45

justification within your religion. Yeah

36:49

Within yours within the Bible. Yeah Like

36:54

that Your

36:56

treatment of gay people is so weak, but

36:59

you found it in the Bible. Yeah, right

37:01

Yeah, your your treatment of women is pretty

37:03

much well established. Yeah in the Bible. Yeah

37:07

But black people right

37:09

it's in there. Yeah, right and

37:11

so but I've

37:13

I this for me makes me

37:16

realize or come to

37:18

the conclusion that Those

37:21

are just bigotries that they're that they're

37:23

basically didn't need they scriptural context To

37:25

back that up. They were gonna they

37:27

were gonna do it anyway sexist, right?

37:30

Homophobic racist anyway. Yeah, and

37:33

so that God told that so they're transphobic now

37:35

Yeah, and they have nothing to really back it

37:37

up. Right and I think it's It's

37:40

it's not I'm about to say it's great,

37:42

but it's it's it's it's not great. It's

37:44

revealing. Yeah, that's a good point Everything

37:48

else kind of falls apart. Yeah when

37:50

they do this. Yeah, and it's like

37:52

it's there there Also

37:56

my desire that they're consistent is

38:00

probably asking too much, but I

38:02

would, can't you just be consistent in

38:04

your bigotry? Yeah.

38:08

Nope. They can't. So

38:10

also, let's see. We were

38:12

talking about people who have transitioned in any

38:14

way. They

38:16

should use

38:18

a single occupancy restroom when

38:20

available. Okay. Think

38:23

about a Mormon chapel. They don't

38:25

have single occupancy bathrooms. So

38:28

you're just going to have your mom stand outside

38:30

and go like, don't go in there. There's my

38:32

trans kid is in there right now. If

38:35

unavailable, they thought this through. Oh,

38:37

okay. If unavailable, they can

38:40

counsel with leaders to find an

38:42

alternate solution to watch the door.

38:45

Examples suggest, they suggested include people

38:47

using the restroom that aligns with

38:49

their assigned sex at birth or

38:52

one that corresponds to the individual's quote,

38:55

feeling of their inner sense of gender

38:57

with a trusted person, ensuring that others

38:59

are not using the restroom at the

39:01

same time. They really do want someone

39:03

to stand guard. They want a

39:05

bathroom chaperone. Yeah. Yeah. Let's

39:08

see. There's additional language. Now this is

39:10

interesting. They say local leaders should not

39:13

determine or prescribe how members

39:15

address and address an individual. That matter

39:17

should instead be left to individuals and

39:19

their families, friends and church members as,

39:23

uh, as bef. So this is consistent

39:26

with, um, I guess,

39:28

um, their previous stance on this preferred

39:31

names can be noted in the person's

39:33

membership record. But, uh, this

39:35

article on the Tribune sort of points

39:37

out that these limitations

39:39

from like working

39:43

with kids and, um, teaching

39:46

and holding these positions in the ward,

39:49

that the, these

39:51

are the same rules for

39:54

like sex offenders. Right. Right.

39:58

Um, and that's

40:01

pretty that's pretty vile that's

40:03

disgusting yeah they're

40:05

treating trans people as though they

40:07

were sex offenders yeah and that's

40:10

that's that's pretty brutal yeah I

40:13

can't imagine I mean

40:15

I suppose it exists but what trans person

40:17

is going to the Mormon Church like this

40:19

is not the place for you I

40:22

know well there was the

40:24

article interviews Laurie

40:27

Lee Hall who

40:29

was a stake president and transitioned

40:33

and had a job

40:35

at the church designing an

40:38

architect she was an architect

40:41

who designed temples so

40:45

did she lose her job or excommunicated her

40:47

job yeah

40:50

so but she

40:53

kind of talks about how she hasn't been to church in

40:55

years but talks that

40:57

mentions that people that she

40:59

knows who are trans

41:03

who do still go to church

41:05

that's gonna be really really brutal yeah

41:08

absolutely and so I think

41:10

that trans people might who

41:13

were sort of still going to Mormon

41:15

Church might might decide to

41:18

stop yeah people who love them their

41:20

family members will stop are potentially

41:22

gonna see through this is just

41:24

bigotry and awfulness and

41:26

hopefully they stopped as well how it

41:28

works they still

41:30

haven't learned their lesson the Mormon Church still has

41:32

not learned their lesson oh they never will

41:35

topic yeah that it only leads to

41:37

people leaving yeah these

41:39

nothing to be gained hundred-year-old men which

41:41

that the president of Mormon Church is

41:44

a hundred years old and the one

41:46

next to him next in line is probably 99 yeah basically

41:52

really close yeah and

41:55

yeah they just they just know best and they

41:57

just have to say it they just have to

42:00

Yeah, and make make a handbook

42:02

about it. Oh, they love their handbooks I

42:05

want to get a copy of that handbook by

42:07

the way when you were saying you had you

42:09

saw your dad's As a

42:11

kid, I'm like, I think I would be

42:13

fascinated to read through one How

42:16

you can find is it online? I don't

42:18

know if the new one is online, but

42:21

you can find older ones online Yeah, totally.

42:23

Okay. I'm kind of curious. Okay.

42:25

Well, I'm gonna go to a story in Florida The

42:31

so Florida has a A

42:37

tourism board and they

42:39

have a website visit Florida calm Yeah,

42:42

it's most most all states. Yeah, and

42:44

it's funded by like public

42:46

resources. Yeah, so It

42:51

previously had an LGBTQ

42:53

travel section that has

42:55

mysteriously disappeared Of

42:57

course, no one made it wait

42:59

mysteriously mysteriously It's

43:03

a whodunit what

43:06

happened so the cult war oh Yeah,

43:13

basically someone decided

43:15

without Making

43:18

it public information that we're

43:20

just gonna we're just gonna do away

43:22

with this and the page consisted of

43:24

like Gay friendly itineraries

43:26

or like pride events. It's not

43:28

safe places to go Yeah, and

43:31

it's you can still go

43:33

to these places. They didn't have I mean

43:35

you still have None

43:38

of these places were gay in nature. It

43:40

was just if you're gay you might like

43:42

this itinerary. Yeah I've

43:46

also kind of always wondered how

43:48

effective these websites actually are. Yeah,

43:50

I'm going to a place Yeah,

43:52

like I have on a number

43:55

of occasions gotten on to you

43:57

know visit Maui calm or whatever

43:59

whatever it is, right? Yeah. And

44:02

look through and just be like, this is useless. This

44:04

is not where I want to stay. This is like,

44:06

okay, cool. Yeah, I know I can go snorkeling. Okay,

44:09

thanks. I'll find this information elsewhere.

44:11

I can hike. In

44:13

more informative and useful ways,

44:15

right? And yet every,

44:17

you know, visit Salt Lake

44:20

has their little site. I know, who travels this

44:22

way? Like, I'm gonna go see Florida.

44:24

Let me see what there is to do there. Let me check out

44:26

their state propaganda. What is there to do there? Oh, hey, look. Go

44:29

to the Everglades. Oh. So

44:31

I think this is a really

44:33

great opportunity for

44:38

someone to make a travel website

44:40

just for, and I'm sure these

44:42

exist too, but like. Oh,

44:44

they exist. You know where you're

44:46

going. They exist. Have a gay

44:49

travel of Florida, gayfloridatravel.com. I'm

44:51

sure that I can almost

44:54

guarantee you. Or visit gayfloridat.com.

44:56

gayorlando.com. Yeah, like this, someone's

44:59

gonna benefit from the state

45:01

doing this. Yeah, no

45:04

kidding. I mean, it's just, I'm

45:06

sure this was the direction of Ron

45:09

DeSantis or somebody, right? Who was just

45:11

like, nope, we

45:14

gotta get rid of this. I

45:16

shouldn't say stuff like that unfounded.

45:18

But like somebody. Someone decided. Someone

45:21

just. Without having. Gay

45:23

people coming to South Beach. We're

45:26

not gonna welcome them for hell's sake. I

45:28

mean, they can come I guess, but I'm

45:31

not gonna encourage it. Gay people wanna come

45:33

to Pride and spend money? I

45:37

think that's the thing, right? Like how

45:39

dumb are you? People with more expendable

45:41

income than the average household. We

45:43

don't want them as tourists. Gay people

45:46

going to Disney World, right?

45:48

It's the gayest place on earth, I've heard.

45:51

I've heard this too. I still never gonna

45:53

go. I'm gonna go one day. Are you?

45:56

Yeah. Go to Epcot. Yeah. Fulfill

45:59

some childhood fantasies. Yeah, see the big

46:01

the big castle. I want to

46:03

do it all palace Cinderella's palace

46:06

castle What is it? Well, you can

46:08

do that at Disneyland. Yeah, but the

46:10

one in Disney World is it better big?

46:13

I've heard that the Harry

46:15

Potter in Florida is better than California's

46:17

to the Harry Potter world is

46:20

that at Disney World? No. Okay But

46:23

I want to Florida has everything

46:25

better apparently than California Except

46:28

for being Florida That

46:33

it's fucking, Florida California

46:37

all right well Golly

46:39

gee if you have anything that you'd like

46:41

to add to this do your listener Some

46:45

travel suggestions. Yeah an

46:47

itinerary for me when I go I'm

46:51

sure we have listeners in Florida. Yeah, and Yeah,

46:54

so if you if you'd like to join the conversation anyway

46:56

respond to anything you've heard so far on the show We'd

46:59

love to hear from you. The email address

47:01

is podcast Thank God I'm atheist calm and

47:04

the telephone number to leave us a voicemail

47:06

is 424-666-8442

47:08

stick around there's more show coming up All

47:27

right, Rachel we are

47:30

skipping We're gonna skip

47:32

the whole middle section of the show Which

47:35

is for maybe a first-time listener.

47:37

That's where we would normally do

47:39

correspondence and new patrons and thanking

47:41

people I'll just say if you

47:43

would like to support the show go to our

47:46

website. Thank God I'm atheist calm slash donate but

47:50

without Dan we Always

47:53

like to kind of save those things for when

47:55

Dan's around so we can both thank everybody and

47:58

and all that kind of stuff stuff.

48:00

So, um, at the beginning of the show, we

48:02

talked about the fact that

48:04

the democratic national convention happened

48:07

this week. Um,

48:09

Kamala Harris is officially

48:12

the nominee, the nominee for

48:14

president. Um, Tim walls

48:16

and Tim walls, his

48:18

dad coach. Did you see, okay. So

48:22

we're going to be talking about the convention, everybody, and

48:25

different moments from the convention. And Rachel, I

48:27

just have to say, did you

48:29

see the moment where Tim walls

48:32

mentions his son by name and the kid bursts instantly

48:38

into tears and is

48:40

like, that's my dad. I lost it. I

48:44

literally lost it, but I'm a crier, but I,

48:46

yeah, I went, oh my God. And his, his

48:51

speech was so

48:53

good. I, when

48:55

they announced him as the, the burning me, I

48:57

went, well, whatever. Some fat white guy

48:59

from some state that I don't care about. And

49:02

now I am in love with him.

49:04

He's my favorite. He's

49:07

amazing. I love him. Yes. And

49:09

like, I have to say, aside from

49:12

maybe like Gretchen Whitmer and

49:14

Josh Shapiro, um,

49:17

seeing some of the other options get

49:20

up and speak this week. Yeah.

49:22

I was like, Oh, she made the

49:24

right choice. Yeah. Oh my God. Like,

49:26

like not, not bad. Just not, not

49:29

what we need right now. Yeah. Right. And,

49:32

uh, no, we need America's dad. We

49:34

need America's dad who, I

49:37

mean, for me, the thing that for

49:39

of Tim walls, the detail that just, that

49:42

just touched me, um, was

49:45

the fact that the, the, the, he

49:47

was the first teacher

49:50

at his school, the advisor for the gay

49:52

straight alliance. Because

49:55

he thought it would mean more to have

49:58

a football coach on the as

50:00

the advisor and he's right and

50:03

amazing. It's so, he's, anyway.

50:08

Yeah, he blew me away. I'm team

50:11

Waltz. I know. I love him. He's

50:13

absolutely, he was an incredible pick. But

50:17

the four nights of the DNC,

50:22

there were some standout moments. One

50:25

that I feel is related to

50:27

the show specifically comes

50:30

from Hillary Clinton's speech,

50:33

which she did a phenomenal job. She

50:36

was one of the really good speakers. But

50:39

there's a moment where, and

50:41

I had to go back and

50:44

actually find the transcript and it

50:46

doesn't read the same way as

50:48

when she said it. Her

50:51

delivery. But I know I'm not alone because I've

50:53

seen other atheist posts about it. She

50:57

says at one point, the freedom

50:59

to, she's sort of

51:01

listening out. She says, I want

51:03

to tell you what I see through

51:06

all those cracks and why it matters for each

51:08

and every one of us. What do I see?

51:10

I see freedom. I see freedom to make our

51:13

own decisions about our health, our lives, our loves,

51:15

our families. The freedom to

51:17

work with dignity and prosper, to worship

51:19

as we choose or not. And

51:22

there was, when I

51:24

read it, I don't know

51:26

that that sounds truly profound.

51:30

Or like a great moment. Just

51:34

the freedom to worship as we choose or

51:36

not. But there was

51:38

something in her delivery that connected,

51:42

I heard something and I know other people online

51:45

were posting about it, that they

51:48

felt seen as non-believers.

51:51

She stuck the landing on the last word or

51:54

not. Or not. There was

51:56

something in the delivery that didn't

51:58

sound like she was... just

52:00

doing lip service, right,

52:02

to the point. Because

52:04

there were plenty of other speakers who talked about

52:06

freedom to worship and they didn't say or not.

52:10

So it's clear it wasn't part

52:12

of the script for the week,

52:15

but it was a

52:17

big kind of profound moment. And

52:21

I was like, oh, you go

52:24

Hillary Clinton. Yeah. And

52:26

then, you know, yeah. With

52:29

any standout moments for you? Well,

52:32

I liked when Tim Waltz said, we

52:37

have a golden rule where I'm from,

52:39

mind your own damn business. Ha

52:41

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I

52:46

loved it. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

52:48

ha ha. And he said

52:51

it without missing a beat. You know he says that

52:53

line a lot. Oh yeah. One thing

52:55

that I noticed, so

52:57

mind your own damn business, right? Damn

53:00

is a word that's been tossed

53:02

around for a while now. Without

53:06

anybody feeling like, oh my God, he

53:08

just said damn. Yeah. But

53:10

there was something about get up off your

53:12

ass or something like that. And I was

53:14

like, wow, he said ass. Kamala was,

53:17

Kamala was just talking like. Directly

53:20

quoting her mom and she, I

53:23

think it was that one. Like get off your ass and

53:25

do something about it. Yeah. And

53:28

then there was a video that

53:31

they played right before Kamala came

53:33

on and in it, there

53:35

is a bleep, they bleeped

53:38

out Kamala saying the F

53:40

word. Oh right. But

53:42

it was in context. And

53:45

she knew she was being filmed,

53:47

but she also sort of, you

53:49

know, excuse my French or something,

53:51

excuse my language, whatever she said

53:53

right after it. But it's like,

53:56

they just showed a. A

53:59

candidate. presidential candidate,

54:02

the nominee for the Democratic Party saying

54:05

the F word. Right.

54:07

Doesn't matter if it's bleeped out or not. We

54:10

all know what she said. Yeah. Right. And there

54:12

was just like this realness. There

54:14

was this. In charge of this

54:16

convention are clearly younger

54:18

and savvier and know

54:20

that that's speaking

54:23

in that sort of real way. Yeah. Unedited

54:26

way is connecting with

54:28

people. Yeah. It's remarkable. Different

54:30

way than stupid Trump's. Yeah.

54:33

Cuff. No. Yeah. That's not connecting

54:35

in the same way. No. Yeah.

54:37

I mean, his is mean, right?

54:40

Like the one was just rambling. Yeah.

54:42

And like, there's, there's just something about like,

54:46

it was kind of one of the first times in,

54:50

in like a political context.

54:52

Right. That I feel like the

54:54

America that I live in, right,

54:57

was on display. Yeah. And

55:00

that it was, wasn't like, and

55:02

it, and it wasn't fake

55:05

or trying to be it. It felt like,

55:07

it felt like they've just settled into just

55:09

being like, well, fuck it, this

55:11

is who we are. Yeah. That's

55:13

it. These are our values. Yeah. And

55:16

we know this is how Americans

55:18

actually live. Yeah. And we know that

55:20

the majority of the people, this is

55:22

the world they live in. Yeah. And

55:25

it just felt, it felt

55:27

good. I think it's great that the

55:29

Republican party has gone off the rails.

55:32

Mm-hmm. Um, it's

55:34

a scary thing, but I think

55:36

it's given space to the

55:39

Democrats to just be like, well,

55:42

they've given us permission to be whatever the

55:44

fuck we want. Let's just be our authentic

55:47

version of us. By them being

55:50

so callous and mean and

55:52

awful and scary, like

55:54

we get to like slide

55:56

into whatever position we want

55:58

to. Yeah. And because they've,

56:00

they've seeded this. entire territory

56:02

in between. Yeah. Yeah. In

56:04

between fanaticism and crazy craziness.

56:07

Crazy on the left and crazy on the right. There's a

56:09

lot in between. Yeah. So

56:12

the Democrats can have all of it. Democrats

56:14

are literally, and they're taking it. Yeah. And,

56:17

um, but also like the

56:20

scariness of like, you know, Christian

56:22

nationalism and everything like there, the,

56:24

the Republicans have really. Carved

56:27

out this space for

56:30

themselves that fingers

56:33

crossed, right? This fall,

56:36

the Democrats win and

56:39

they can just sort of continue to

56:42

either, uh, recede

56:44

into your relevancy or

56:48

finally wake up from this

56:50

fever dream. Yeah. They've been in.

56:52

Yeah. And, uh, and, and, and

56:57

return to this, like some sensibility

56:59

because they're it's,

57:01

it's insanity. And I don't

57:03

like, well, Trump's definitely

57:06

not going away if he loses. No, he's

57:08

not going away, but I don't think we

57:10

need to worry about him. I mean, he

57:12

might try to run as an 83 year

57:15

old or whatever it would be. I mean,

57:17

he might try. He's already losing it. Like,

57:21

I don't think he's as sharp. No, yeah. As

57:23

he was even just four years ago. There's

57:26

people waiting in the wings though, to just take his

57:28

place. And yeah, I

57:30

still think this is a viable. Yeah.

57:32

There's nasty people, but

57:34

we see whatever, whatever

57:37

appeal Trump has had, right?

57:39

Whatever, whatever magic that he's

57:41

able to work, JD

57:44

Vance doesn't have it. No. Right. And

57:47

does, I mean, who are the

57:49

others? Marco Rubio. I

57:51

don't know. Or Gates and Matt Gates,

57:53

Taylor green. I don't think any of

57:55

them have that. None of them have

57:57

that. That that's that magic. probably

58:00

was the closest and he

58:02

definitely isn't gonna

58:05

lead the charge on anytime, anytime soon

58:08

on a national level. Yeah,

58:10

I mean, I don't know. Like,

58:13

obviously politics, everyone, just

58:16

to acknowledge the fact that we're completely

58:18

into politics. Yeah. Dan and I,

58:22

here's the deal. The Democrats need to win

58:24

and the Republicans need to like return

58:27

to normalcy. And when they do, politics

58:30

will stop being something that I feel like we

58:32

have to talk about. That religious

58:34

people or atheists need to make heads or tails

58:36

on. Well, that

58:38

is relevant for this show

58:40

as a topic. But unfortunately

58:43

at the moment it is. But

58:45

I will say, sort of acknowledging

58:47

again the fact that Dan and I had

58:50

a very different sort of message

58:52

at the beginning of the year. Boy,

58:55

it feels a lot better. I know. It feels

58:58

a lot better right now. It does. And

59:03

I really need for Kamala

59:05

to win. Me too. Because she

59:07

doesn't. The depression. Well,

59:11

just waking up after election day when

59:13

Trump won was like one of the

59:15

lowest places many of

59:17

us have ever been in this country.

59:19

And I don't want to feel that again.

59:22

I've been preparing for it for several

59:24

months. And when I thought Biden was

59:27

nominee and then I let go of

59:29

that now. So my

59:32

hopes are up. If

59:34

Trump wins, it's back to that really just

59:37

awful low place. It's going to be worse.

59:39

It's going to be worse than it was

59:41

because we were given a glimpse of like

59:43

sanity. Right? Like,

59:48

and I know she's not the perfect candidate,

59:51

but the hope for some sanity is really

59:53

great. And

59:56

also like, you know, Biden

59:58

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1:04:20

This episode was edited by

1:04:22

Roger Gowdy and music was provided

1:04:24

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1:04:27

Johnston. Yeah, thanks again

1:04:29

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1:04:31

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