(Obviously, this is not a dig at Catholicism in general- the laymen are quite faithful.
Besides, Protestants have their own problems. The leadership of the Catholic church, however, has been heavily compromised. Pray that God cleanses His church, and pray that cleansing speaks to the world- for if God will not spare the Bride of Christ, what hope does the unsaved world have?)
With older conservative bishops aging out of eligibility to elect new popes, more younger bishops take their place and look to elect popes that are more progressive. Nevertheless, there are plenty of conservative Catholics who disagree with liberal talking points coming from the pope and still strive to follow their faith as best they can.
It's genuinely Jarring when a big city Bishop visits and he's spouting off about racism, sexism, and wealth inequality.
Big city Bishops running dioceses in predominantly blue areas all do this very thing. The diocese for this part of Kiwi Land is similar with each new bishop being slightly more progressive than his predecessor. With one exception that comes to mind, nearly every big election year sees this diocese
urge the faithful to join the Vote Blue No Matter Who Crowd by parroting liberal talking points on the Sunday before Election Day.
Still, there is a pretty good split between conservative and liberal Catholics. It's not uncommon to attend one event and hear Catholic Democrats stressing the importance of voting for officials who are pro worker and pro migrant only to attend another event and hear Catholic Republicans talk about voting for someone who will preserve traditional/family values. No matter what the bishop may say or encourage, these groups are going to vote for whomever they want.
A church allows people to offload some of that burden but when a church is failing its' people intentionally and for power and profit it is worth it to split from it.
I've seen churches across multiple faiths struggle and close when the appointed pastors or leadership are out of touch with the congregation and do nothing to cater to their spiritual needs while ensuring the church remains viable for the future as existing members become inactive for whatever reason. It doesn't help when pastors adopt the "My way or the highway" mindset which inevitably leads to a mass exodus of members. Instead, it's better to acknowledges there will be differences in what people do and don't accept as church teachings and focus on common ground and a solid spiritual foundation. Not every clergy member knows how to do this, unfortunately.
As funny as it would be for California to be forced to pick between 2 Republicans, I don't think it was ever actually happening.
In California, it's almost a given the Dems will do anything in their power to keep this from happening - and it won't be surprising if they use the usual shenanigans to accomplish that. Still, it would be fun to see how salty Dems got if their fragmented primary vote produced two Republicans as the top vote-getters.
If I recall. this is the same system that saw Schwarzenegger become governor with such a minuscule percentage of the total vote.
This reminds me of what happened in Iraq post 9/11. I still recall seeing an Iraqi spokesperson on the world news making a speech that insisted there would be no invasion while praising Allah every other sentence. Naturally, US forces overran the country within hours faster than the flood of illegal migrants pouring over the Biden-Era US/Mexico border.
This is also a good reminder that governmental media can't be trusted because they don't want to tell the public uncomfortable truths.
There's no guarantee the prices will drop when the conflict ends. It's going to take a significant effort to get the retarded oil companies back in line and to get certain states to repeal gas tax price hikes done exclusively to fuck with Trump. I wanted to mention it in the past but look how diesel prices never dropped back to pre COVID levels. The diesel market got pegged to the standard gas speculation market and it's never EVER going back because people are willing to pay for it. Buncha retards.
They will do it as slowly and begrudgingly as possible if past history is a good indication
Private companies are even less likely to lower their prices as gas prices drop back down again. I know of a company that first imposed a $5 "Energy Charge" in 2008 in response to gas hitting $4 per gallon for the first time. Even when gas prices dropped, the surcharge stayed in place - presumably as a money maker - and continued even when COVID saw gas plummet below $2 a gallon for the first time in a long time due to the lockdowns decreasing demand.
Anyone who can profit on higher costs and uncertainty will do so with little to no intent to roll back policies intended as "temporary" measures when costs drop again.
If you want to make an actual controversial opinion, point out that official political polls are based off of extremely weird demographics that engage in one of the strangest behaviors, answering a phone call or intentionally visiting a website to answer a poll. As the old generations die out, polls are becoming increasingly worthless to gauge public perception.
A retired political analyst I know talked to me about this very subject the last time we saw each other. If I recall our conversation correctly, polling methodology has changed dramatically and not for the better. Between using a less reliable method, increasing confirmation bias, and younger voters having less predictable patterns, political polling has turned into a giant mess with a lot of seasoned vets retiring or leaving the field because it just isn't the same anymore.
