Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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   “The curriculum had already drawn tensions among the county’s religious parents, with some worrying about appropriateness and arguing the material…

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   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

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   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

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   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

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   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

EARLIER this month Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis told 10,000 ecstatic Christian students at Liberty University in Virginia that his state—a “refuge of sanity” and a “citadel of freedom”—was where “woke goes to die.”

DeSantis, who positions himself as a defender of “God-fearing” people, often refers to putting on “the full armor of God”—a biblical reference and an evangelical touchstone, wrote Ruth Graham for The New York Times.

And she pointed out that the visit was part of DeSantis’ national tour of centres of conservative influence as he builds momentum for his widely anticipated entry into the 2024 presidential campaign.

More than that, it was a crucial opportunity to gauge, and perhaps advance, his relationship status with evangelical Christians—a voting bloc that helped vault Donald J. Trump to the presidency and appears to be open to new presidential suitors.

DeSantis in the UK

DeSantis is now in the UK, which prompted this headline in The Independent today:

In reporting DeSantis’ visit, Ryan Coogan said that, while UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “will be avoiding” Florida’s Governor, he was welcomed by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Referring to DeSantis “disasterous mishandling” of Florida’s Covid-19 pandemic and the mess the fool got into with Disney, Coogan said:

It’s honestly a wonder that even Cleverly hosted him. It’s one thing to host a volatile politician when you know they might be president soon, but doing so when he hasn’t even announced his intention to run feels like jumping the gun a little bit. He should change his name to James not-so-Cleverly. I’m not going to check, but I think I might be the first person to ever make that joke.

Image via YouTube

DeSantis and Cleverly, above, apparently discussed “the close and important partnership between the UK and Florida”.

Coogan elaborated:

You know, those close and important ties we famously have with the sunshine state. We send them our most obnoxious Disney adults. They send us an annual hamper full of gator meat (I assume).

I had occasion to write about Cleverly last October when he caused outrage by suggesting that the barbarism so common in Islamic states is no more than a “cultural difference that should be respected.”

Responding to protests over Qatar’s hosting of the football World Cup because homosexuality is illegal in the country, he said:

I think it’s important when you’re a visitor to a country that you respect the culture of your host nation.

Florida ‘the Utah of the Southeast’

Before landing in the UK, DeSantis invited ridicule when he he divulged a “little secret”—Florida might be “the Utah of the Southeast.”

Frank Cerabino, writing for Yahoo!, pointed out the idiocy of this statement:

Little secret? No, it’s a big secret. For starters, where has Utah been hiding all its Black people? OK, other than the bench of the Utah Jazz basketball team.

Not for anything, but Utah’s so white, it made Jell-O the state snack.

Diversity in Utah is a Mormon with an unusual color of bicycle.

And while we’re on the subject of religion, good luck finding a decent loaf of challah for Shabbat in your average Utah shtetl.

There are also not enough old people in Utah. It’s a fact. Utah has the lowest percentage of senior citizens in the nation, while here in Florida, we have the highest percentage—so many retirees here that it’s a struggle to keep the Voltaren gel in stock at Costco.

Utah’s also really dry. The second driest state in the nation, while Florida is so wet that mold is the official state vegetable. (Note to editor: You may want to fact-check this.)

And the there was his ridiculous claim that he prayed away a hurricane in Florida in 2019.

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If you spot any typos in this report please notify me at freethinkered@aol.com