Trumps Presidency 2025

[Tiger337]

On the facebook feed of a good friend, I saw several of her friends saying God supports the war and that God chose Trump to save America.  Just two degrees of separation away from these lunatics.  That is creepy. 

I mean they live in New Hampshire, but still...

[CMRivdogs]

There was only one commercial running on MLTV here for the Tigers game. I old guy who sounded like Larry of Larry, Darrell and Darrell from the Newhart show telling us to vote no on the state redistricting thing. Quite annoying (I'm not even sure the deawl was real). Annoying enough that I'm not changing my vote

[Tiger337]

On 4/12/2026 at 11:07 PM, Motown Bombers said:

 

He is a doctor.  The patient has Covid.  That is why he's shining a light up his nose.  

[romad1]

3 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

There was only one commercial running on MLTV here for the Tigers game. I old guy who sounded like Larry of Larry, Darrell and Darrell from the Newhart show telling us to vote no on the state redistricting thing. Quite annoying (I'm not even sure the deawl was real). Annoying enough that I'm not changing my vote

there is a lot of money at work in Virginia.   The Yes vote leads the polling but you have to worry if the assault weapon stuff might bring the crazies out to register a protest. 

[guy incognito]

[casimir]

On 4/16/2026 at 1:04 AM, guy incognito said:

I've got some relatives that are very active in the Catholic church, one of whom is a deacon.  And some other relatives active in other churches.  Pretty sure most of them are red hats.  Just kind of curious if this term has made them found their true religion.  This moment in particular for a few of them.

[Tiger337]

14 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

On the facebook feed of a good friend, I saw several of her friends saying God supports the war and that God chose Trump to save America.  Just two degrees of separation away from these lunatics.  That is creepy. 

I mean they live in New Hampshire, but still...

On the other hand, a lot of religious posters in that thread are disgusted with him.  That picture seems to have struck a nerve.

[LaceyLou]

36 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

On the other hand, a lot of religious posters in that thread are disgusted with him.  That picture seems to have struck a nerve.

The people I grew up with in NH were mostly traditional conservatives. When they said they wanted government out, they meant it-and would take it upon themselves to make sure those who needed help got it from other community members. 

And religion was a private, personal subject that you only discussed in church. 

So we didn't agree on how to accomplish some things, but we often wanted the same things.

 

[chasfh]

44 minutes ago, casimir said:

I've got some relatives that are very active in the Catholic church, one of whom is a deacon.  And some other relatives active in other churches.  Pretty sure most of them are red hats.  Just kind of curious if this term has made them found their true religion.  This moment in particular for a few of them.

I’ve been really interested lately in how religion does intersect with all this.  There’s a few different ways I can think of that someone can relate to Christianity: for the intrinsic spiritual and moral value they see in its message; for the order, structure, and community it provides their lives; for the way church doctrine and documents support their existing thinking about how the society should be ordered; for the way it provides an answer to an important life question or problem they couldn’t answer before. I’m sure there are others.

I thought of all this especially the other day when I read that something like 42% of all men in their 20s now state that religion is very important in their lives, up from 28% just two years ago; whereas for other men importance is up only slightly, and for women of all ages importance went down. What can explain this surge in religiosity for just this particular group of people? Are these men suddenly discovering the mortal and spiritual value of religion in just the past two years to a degree that no one else is? Are they finding more community with one another by bonding over religion? Did they discover a message in religion that ratifies their existing thinking, or provides an answer to problem they couldn’t solve for themselves before? Is there anything in the cultural landscape that might be leading to this?

[gehringer_2]

5 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

The people I grew up with in NH were mostly traditional conservatives. When they said they wanted government out, they meant it-and would take it upon themselves to make sure those who needed help got it from other community members. 

And religion was a private, personal subject that you only discussed in church. 

So we didn't agree on how to accomplish some things, but we often wanted the same things.

 

there are some places where I would agree it's better not to get tied up with the gov in the first place. For instance I think NPR is  better off being fully independent. Turns out the public is willing to support them. Now they can stop looking over their shoulder all the time and do their thing.  But I think when it comes to services for the indigent, public/private is often a good mix. The private charity is usually is a lot more disciplined with money than a purely public one would be, the labor force is generally available at much lower costs (no-one volunteers to work for government agencies for free!), and services for the poor don't have appeal to middle/upper class donors that something like NPR (where they get a lot of the direct benefit) does.

[Tiger337]

15 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

The people I grew up with in NH were mostly traditional conservatives. When they said they wanted government out, they meant it-and would take it upon themselves to make sure those who needed help got it from other community members. 

And religion was a private, personal subject that you only discussed in church. 

So we didn't agree on how to accomplish some things, but we often wanted the same things.

 

I can respect that kind of thinking, although I don't think it can work in highly populated areas.  What I can't respect is the support for fascism and theocracy that I am seeing all over the place.    

Edited 1 hour ago by Tiger337

[gehringer_2]

29 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I thought of all this especially the other day when I read that something like 42% of all men in their 20s now state that religion is very important in their lives, up from 28% just two years ago; whereas for other men importance is up only slightly, and for women of all ages importance went down. What can explain this surge in religiosity for just this particular group of people? 

The easy answer that doesn't really answer the question - just move it up a level on the 'meta'-scale, is that this group hasn't found meaning, or maybe is more focused on finding meaning, than the generation of young men that went before them. To me a number like that is a double-edged sword. I think in general it's great if any group of people are approaching life a little more seriously. OTOH, young men searching for meaning are usually the willing clay for all kinds of radical movements and irrational/disastrous results.

Or it could be as simple as that they are unable to find fulfilling relationships with the opposite sex because relationship culture for the young in the US is really screwed up today.

Edited 45 minutes ago by gehringer_2

[LaceyLou]

27 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I’ve been really interested lately in how religion does intersect with all this.  There’s a few different ways I can think of that someone can relate to Christianity: for the intrinsic spiritual and moral value they see in its message; for the order, structure, and community it provides their lives; for the way church doctrine and documents support their existing thinking about how the society should be ordered; for the way it provides an answer to an important life question or problem they couldn’t answer before. I’m sure there are others.

I thought of all this especially the other day when I read that something like 42% of all men in their 20s now state that religion is very important in their lives, up from 28% just two years ago; whereas for other men importance is up only slightly, and for women of all ages importance went down. What can explain this surge in religiosity for just this particular group of people? Are these men suddenly discovering the mortal and spiritual value of religion in just the past two years to a degree that no one else is? Are they finding more community with one another by bonding over religion? Did they discover a message in religion that ratifies their existing thinking, or provides an answer to problem they couldn’t solve for themselves before? Is there anything in the cultural landscape that might be leading to this?

From the female perspective: a lot of women are seeing religion used as a tool to reduce their rights in multiple ways, and to trap them into dependence on men. Most of us do not want to go back to the days of being property.

[chasfh]

5 minutes ago, LaceyLou said:

From the female perspective: a lot of women are seeing religion used as a tool to reduce their rights in multiple ways, and to trap them into dependence on men. Most of us do not want to go back to the days of being property.

This would support the hypothesis this is it’s happening due to something other than the spiritual/moral angle.

[LaceyLou]

9 minutes ago, chasfh said:

This would support the hypothesis this is it’s happening due to something other than the spiritual/moral angle.

My guess it that the moral/spiritual angle is a part of it, just not the only or even the primary reason. 

I'm still curious to see if recent actions/statements by the Pope will create more interest in the Catholic Church.