Gotta hurt the right people.

FYI, it's "bald faced". It comes from "barefaced", as in, having nothing to hide behind. A bare/bald face has no hair to hide behind, so it is out in the open.

Hmm, I wonder if people should be judging them based on their actions instead of their professed religion.

They do it often and even when proven to be a lie, they just keep saying it for years.

Of course! After all, not questioning things regardless of evidence to the contrary is what religious "faith" is all about. Why would religious leaders push "faith" so hard if they weren't planning on taking advantage of it?

Frank Zappa had a few choice words of the direction of Christian Nationalists, 40 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IETm_lVIHR8

You're right, I forgot. Christianity comes with an endless "get out of jail free" card by asking forgiveness from Jesus. All you gotta do is let Jesus into your heart and boom bam thank you ma'am all your endless fuckups and unwillingness to be a better person are forgiven! Surely you'll somehow be a better person in heaven!

No one in the upper echelons, including those of the Vatican, believes any of that. If they did, they would out and shame pedophiles with extreme prejudice.

I think the counterargument here is that hurting people is bad, even when they've done harm,

but even that falls pretty short, because it's not just that the upper echelons of the Catholic Church aren't "outing and shaming" them, but also that the system is literally protecting them.

Homelander on ‘The Boys’ Was Always Meant To Be Donald Trump

The comic series was released in 2006 and concluded in 2012, so that's doubtful. He was supposed to be the synthesis between European White Nationalism and American Exceptionalism, both of which predate Trump by centuries.

Starr straight out rejects the notion that the character is just Trump with powers, and tries to get back to why this character is the product of his conditions rather than just a reflection of an IRL ideological peer.

The through line from this abused and exploited child to an emotionally starved and psychotically included adult is what makes the character fun.

They play stupid games like this. They refer to the "Democratic party" as the "Democrat party" to remove "democracy" from their opponents name.

Really proving the point of "if there really was a big conspiracy and attempted coverup, someone will eventually leak it"

Flat earth fake moon landing, alien pyramids, got nothing, despite people super actively looking for evidence, but the republicans, NSA, and the shit CIA did (and the myriad other proven conspiracies)? Yeah, those did not stay secret. A lot of them are quite in the open too, people just don't tend to be too interested

Already registered to vote. I live in a county that's been pretty carved up to dilute the democratic vote, but I'll be doing so nonetheless.

We need to do more. Much more. Trump and his followers are intending to use every means at their disposal, up to and including violence, to achieve a dictatorship. They have already subverted SCOTUS and are moving themselves into position to massively interfere with the election itself. Why the fuck are we still talking like just voting and business-as-usual campaigning is anywhere near enough to counter that?

Consider the recommendations of this article, for instance (which, frankly, are even themselves toned down compared to what is actually necessary):

Still, pro-democracy Americans need to be organized en masse as part of a larger project of corporeal politics that will involve massive non-violent protests, nationwide strikes, and other disruptions to the country’s day-to-day routine if Trump and the MAGA Republicans take power in 2025. Pro-democracy civil society organizations must focus their attention on the ongoing coup and widespread right-wing attacks on American democracy and leverage their particular resources and networks to stop it.

...

Viewers, listeners, readers, and especially subscribers need to embark upon a public pressure and boycotting campaign if the mainstream news media—and especially the elite agenda-setting news media such as the New York Times and Washington Post—continue with their Trump-MAGA enabling agenda.

...

The Republican Party has been fully MAGAfied and needs to be torn down and rebuilt (or outright replaced) in a way that is consistent with basic democratic principles such as respect for the rule of law and civil society.

In his essay at the New Republic, Rothkopf gives these marching orders to his fellow pro-democracy Americans:

The Democracy Future Project’s exercises can’t tell us whether the descent into authoritarianism will be fast or slow if Trump wins. Most likely, it will involve a combination of highly visible steps and subtler, possibly even more dangerous changes far from view. But the exercises make it clear that should Trump win in November, there is every reason to expect the worst. And that’s why there is also every reason to prepare for the worst case. If those who care about democracy start coordinating now to shore up democracy’s defenses, we’ll have a fighting chance of slowing or preventing Trump’s most egregious plans should he regain the White House.