Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-1: Meet The Old Boss, Same As The Old Boss Edition

[Top 10 Idiots]

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-1: Meet The Old Boss, Same As The Old Boss Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! YOOOOOOOOO!!!! What’s up Santa Ana? We are back! We are baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! We are back! And whew, does it feel like an eternity since we last left you guys back in December, doesn’t it? And has Kevin McCarthy broken the House beyond repair yet? And has Ron DeSantis killed of most of his voters yet? No? Damn, I lost the office pool. You need to bet higher, not lower! But damn, we missed a metric fuck ton of conservative idiocy bordering on light terrorism with a side of treason. Served with a side of some garlic MAGA confit. Yeah we’re getting gourmet up in this piece! So how’s everybody doing? It’s good to be back and to be back home too! We’re heading to the East Coast next week for a brief tour before our big shindig in France in March. In case you didn’t notice, we are going to France for the 300th edition of the Top 10. Trust me we’re beyond excited for this! Plus we’ve also got the return of our popular long running Stupidest State contest! March 9th, it will be time to fill out those brackets! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! It’s my program! So it’s January and it’s awards season. A lot of people are wondering how the Oscars are going to handle last year’s Will Smith debacle, and you know what? Most of us have moved on from that and Mr. Smith got pretty much what he deserved from it. I’m more interested in the anti-Oscars – the Razzie Awards! Yes, the Razzie Awards were announced this week and it’s got some good or bad ones in it! No surprise that Machine Gun Kelly and Jared Leto’s Morbius both got deservedly raked over the coals for their terrible movies. Though one huge snub is that Jurassic World: Dominion should have been nominated for Worst Picture, though it did get Worst Remake / Ripoff or Sequel and that will probably take that category! Yes, I like those odds! Though my favorite nominee has to be Worst Couple and “Tom Hanks and his Latex Laden Face, Elvis”. I didn’t think the Elvis movie was bad, but that character was certainly ridiculous! Uh huh… guess you could say it’s all shook up? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first Stephen Colbert is back and he talks about the latest round of Proud Boys that are going to jail:

So where do we begin this week for our season premiere? Well as usual whenever the Top 10 is on an extended break, we like to play Catch Up On Stuff We Missed and holy crap did we miss a lot of stuff since we’ve been gone. So much that it’s taking up the first 3 slots this week! The first slot this week is obviously going to Kevin McCarthy (1) and his utterly epic fail attempting to unite the conservative party with the batshit MAGA wing of the GOP in his quest to become Speaker Of The House. In the second slot, just as we were going to air with our 2022 Year In Review edition, we missed Trump’s (2) epic fail of a ”BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!” which turned out to be some stupid, useless NFT trading cards with his picture on various poorly photoshopped images. In the third slot, we are playing catch up on some miscellaneous conservative shenanigans (3) and we missed a hell of a lot of crazy in the last two months! In the fourth slot this week, we got to check in with our friends in Brazil (4) because it’s really the same MAGAs but in a different country, and Trump and Steve Bannon may or may not be hiding former president Jair Bolsonaro. It’s quite the clusterfuck bordering on international incident! Taking the number 5 seed this week is a new We’re All Gonna Die (5) and the latest software update to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the XBB1.5 subvariant, is the latest variant that could probably kill us all. Or will it? There’s only one way to find out! Taking the 6th slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” – and what’s the link between the January 6th participants and Jesus? Our resident pastor is going to do some investigative journalism and find out what he thinks the link might be! Taking the 7th slot this week is a new edition of “Beating A Dead Horse” (7) and has your Fox loving neighbor been going on a tirade against a new M&Ms commercial? Well we think it might be because Tucker Carlson has a crush on the green M&M. Dude, just admit that the green M&M is hot and get it over with already! In the number 8 slot this week, is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8)! You may have heard about Brooklyn’s newest representative George Santos (Q – Batshit) but the more you dig into who funded him, the weirder it gets! We think Putin may be behind this but we can’t quite put our finger on! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new People Are Dumb (9) because of course they are! Finally this week it’s time for the first stop of World Tour 2023 and we’re visiting the home of the Lord Of The Rings movies, New Zealand! Plus to close things out, we’ve got the legendary Greta Van Fleet joining us! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Catch Up On Stuff We Missed: The Kevin McCarthy SNAFU
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So as usual whenever the Top 10 is off for an extended period of time, we like to play Catch Up On Stuff We Missed. And man when we ended the season last year, we had no idea that we would hit peak conservative idiocy! That’s right, kids, and adults, it’s all downhill from here! We lost a great leader with Nancy Pelosi leading, and we’re unfortunately stuck with Kevin McCarthy (Q – Batshit). And as was predicted, the inmates have been not only let out of the asylum, they’re currently manning the control tower. What could possibly go wrong? And in typical cliffhanger fashion, we’re saving that for next week’s edition! Yes, we’re leaving you hanging while we’re heading to New York! But we can’t deny what a truly spectacular and colossally epic fail his quest to become Speaker Of The House has been, and I just am totally done with these lunatics. I don’t know how much more of this shit this country can take. Fuck Fox News.

Republican Kevin McCarthy is the new House speaker, but as bruising as it was for him to seize the gavel in a history-making election, it may be even more difficult for the embattled leader to do much with the powerful position — or to even keep it.

Like the two most recent Republican speakers, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, McCarthy takes the helm of a restive, rebellious majority split in much the same way as the party itself, between what’s left of the Grand Old Party conservatives and a new generation of tea party-to-Donald Trump hard-liners preferring almost no big government at all.

The chaos that erupted in four days of House voting, halting start of the new Congress, is a prelude to the highly uncertain path ahead as McCarthy tries to lead an unruly Republican majority to achieve its priorities and confront President Joe Biden’s agenda — and maybe even keep the government from shutting down.

“This is the great part: Because it took this long, now we learned how to govern,” McCarthy, who was first elected in 2006, suggested as he rounded toward victory.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-house-of-representatives-kevin-mccarthy-government-e986c620149b72030bb418bd5fadb4a2

Yeah no, Kevin, you’re a loser, get over yourself. He’s not really the new boss, he’s more like the new old boss. He’s just the old boss. You know, in the immortal words of The Who – meet the old boss, same as the old boss! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Nice one! Nobody wants this group of lunatics to take over the House, they barely won as it is. And of course the usual group of MAGA insane asylum inmates – you know, Greene, Gosar, Boebert, Gaetz, Hageman, and so on are letting their conspiracy theory freak flag fly! These idiots want to run the country? I wouldn’t trust them to run a convenience store! Oh and speaking of convenience, guess who’s conveniently taking credit for McCarthy’s win? That’s right, that guy who we inexplicably used to call president. Because he always has to make everything about himself like the perverted sociopath that he is.

Donald Trump previously urged House Republicans to stand behind McCarthy or risk having a far worse speaker.

After earlier appearing to back away from Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker of the House, Donald Trump was taking credit Saturday for the California Republican’s hard-fought victory.

Trump, who recently said, “let’s see what happens” as McCarthy lost vote after humiliating vote, took credit for “greatly help[ing] McCarthy attain the position of Speaker of the House.” Trump preened on Truth Social: “Thank you, I did the Country a big favor!”

He even claimed the “fake news” was “very gracious” in reporting his crucial help. He posted stories from Fox News, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post and far-right media noting that McCarthy thanked Trump for his support after finally pulling off a win late Friday following a record 15 votes.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-takes-bow-kevin-mccarthys-234347443.html

Yeah no Trump, stop talking now! Nobody cares about your bullshit. But one thing we definitely can’t deny is that this latest mess in the House is all feces that was left behind from his administration. Of course that’s what happens when you court poorly educated dolts who wouldn’t know their asses from a hole in the ground they blew up yesterday. But here’s the thing – voting to “make the other side cry” not only is an absolutely terrible policy, but it’s going to backfire on you in the most hilariously spectacular ways possible.

Despite his best efforts, the leopards have finally come for Kevin McCarthy’s face. For those not extremely online, I’m referring to a 2015 tweet from YA novelist Adrian Bott: “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.”

It’s nearly eight years later and McCarthy is learning this lesson the hard way, as his quixotic quest for the Speakership, which spanned most of that time, is falling apart on C-SPAN. Rumors of an affair (which McCarthy denied) might have derailed McCarthy from taking over the gavel from John Boehner in 2015. And again, in 2018, when McCarthy was set up to be Speaker, Republicans lost the House. Now finally, Republicans have a razor-thin majority, but their party is too dysfunctional to govern. McCarthy is finding it impossible to stop a brakeless freight train driven by morons, making a mess of the 118th Congress before members are even sworn in.

How Republicans in Congress unraveled isn’t a mystery. There’s a straight line from Newt Gingrich to the Tea Party to Donald Trump to a Colorado congresswoman named Lauren Boebert saying she wants a “single-member motion to vacate.” Such a motion would mean that any member of the House, at any time, could call a new Speaker election. In other words: The Speakership would be held hostage by whichever congressperson was feeling craziest that day. McCarthy has already agreed to a five-member threshold for a motion to vacate, which means that five members can get together and throw sand in the gears whenever they want. Not exactly a recipe for legislative success.

On Tuesday morning, McCarthy must’ve woken up convinced that he could wear down his fellow Republicans by just holding the vote again and again to get to the 218 votes needed in a quorum of 434. McCarthy lost the first vote, and the second, and the third. Meanwhile, every Democrat voted for Hakeem Jeffries, giving the New York congressman a higher tally than McCarthy, albeit short of 218. Not only were Democrats unified, but they busted out the popcorn to enjoy watching the car crash across the aisle.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-vote-gop-trumpism

Good god these are some stupid ass people in the right wing. Of course that’s what happens when your brain is turned to mush by a constant, non stop barrage of 24 hour a day extremist propaganda. So now that this whole speaker mess is over with, what’s on the agenda for the new MAGA / America First controlled House? Why as I said earlier, the lunatic wing of the GOP is letting their conspiracy theory freak flag fly. And with Kevin McCarthy, you can bet that he’ll impose an agenda drafted by Fox, and attack everything that’s considered “woke”. Just… argh, the stupid… AHHHH!!!!

Newly elected U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy took the gavel of the chamber after a bruising weeklong battle within his own party, promising to carry out a conservative, America-first agenda, tackling the immigration crisis at the Mexican border, cutting back funding at the IRS and fixing “woke indoctrination in our schools.”

After 14 failed votes since Tuesday, the California Republican was able to overcome opposition after making extraordinary concessions to a small bloc of far-right holdouts who refused to support his speaker bid.

McCarthy laid out an ambitious plan in addressing the 118th congressional session early Saturday morning, saying he wants to “be the check and provide some balance” to President Joe Biden’s policies. He said the first legislation he plans to tackle will repeal funding for more than 87,000 new IRS agents. He highlighted immigration reform as a top priority, saying the Republican-controlled House will hold some of its first hearings of the year at the Southern border.

“No more ignoring this crisis of safety and sovereignty,” he said. “We must secure our border.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/07/us-house-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-pledges-to-tackle-immigration-woke-education-policies-and-irs-funding.html

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[font size="8"]Catch Up On Stuff We Missed Pt 2: Trump’s NFT Collection
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We’re approaching nearly 300 editions of the Top 10 and that might be the first time I’ve ever used the Plagiarism icon. But we got to talk about it, because we got absolutely flooded with requests to talk about this topic, so we can’t ignore it! Got to give the audience what they want! So, as we were finalizing our season finale, the 2022 Year In Review Edition, Trump was breaking right wing social media with his announcement that there was a “BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!” coming. Many were speculating that he was going to be naming his 2024 VP pick, for which Marjorie Greene and Kari Lake were both getting their prime ass kissing lips ready for. But nope. In fact nobody was expecting this. Trump announced his own line of collectible, randomly assigned NFT trading cards. Yes, NFTs. Which are basically everything you don’t know about art combined with everything you don’t know about finance. And it was in typical Trump fashion, truly the stuff of insanity!

Former President Trump’s digital trading cards have sold out less than 24 hours after he first announced they were available.

As of Friday morning, the site selling the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) says they are sold out, and links to purchase the digital cards are no longer available.

OpenSea Data, which tracks the sales and markets for NFTs, indicated there were 45,000 of the Trump cards initially made available for purchase for $99 each. The Trump digital cards were the top trending item on the site as of Friday morning.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday that he would be making a “major announcement” without providing any details. Some had speculated the announcement would be related to the Speaker race playing out among House Republicans or Trump’s largely inactive 2024 presidential campaign.
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3777969-trumps-digital-cards-sell-out-within-a-day/

You know, say what you want about the MAGAs, but one thing that we have learned and seen in the years that we’ve been doing this program, is that they spend a lot of money on a lot of ridiculously stupid shit! But never in a million years did I ever think they would spend $99 for a JPG image of him as an astronaut or a wild west sheriff in made up cryptocurrency money. And here’s the thing that I’ve been learning about crypto currency – the whole fucking thing was made up! So yeah they can control the value of these NFTs, and my favorite thing was that Trump included a clause that if you resold NFTs, he got a cut of the profits! You can’t make up what a cheap asshole he is! But look at the fabulous prizes you can win!

According to data from NFT marketplace OpenSea, the same wallet that sold the original NFTs is minting tokens that serve as access passes to the sweepstakes prizes touted during the launch of the Trump Digital Trading Card collection in December.

The tokens feature images of Trump holding a sign resembling a ticket, listing the prizes promoted during the original mint. These include a group Zoom call, a gala dinner and a hardcover copy of his book “Our Journey Together.”

The collection now has a trading volume of 35 ETH, or about $48,500, and a floor price of 0.021 ETH, or nearly $30.

Where the tokens in the original mint cost $99 to mint and enter the sweepstakes, the new token prices range depending on the rarity of the experience. While the group Zoom call costs 0.03 ETH, or $40 to access, a one-on-one meeting with the 45th president is listed at 200 ETH, or about $278,000. According to the official sweepstakes rules, the average retail value of the one-on-one meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago is “$0/Priceless.”

The original collection has seen a dramatic drop in trading volume since it launched, with a current floor price of 0.17 ETH (about $235) and an almost 99% drop in trading volume since its peak, according to data from CryptoSlam.
https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/01/12/trump-digital-trading-card-project-mints-nfts-for-winners-of-prizes/

See here’s the thing MAGAs, we’re not “owned” and you’re not making us “cry”. If anything we’re laughing at how stupid and ridiculous you are. You’re the ones who bought Trump NFTs based on imaginary made up money that was proven to be a ponzi scheme and you’re the ones who got owned in this. I mean come on, Trump’s too cheap to even hold the grand prize in Mar-A-Shithole! And did you really think you were getting a 5 star gourmet meal? No! You’ll probably get Big Macs that were left under a heat lamp for 2 hours or maybe a well done steak slathered in ketchup. If you’re lucky. And you’ll also be on the hook for your own travel expenses. Some prize.

Buyers of newly released NFTs featuring former President Donald Trump will be entered to win a 20-minute meeting with him at Mar-a-Lago, but winners will have to cover their own travel and lodging expenses, according to the project's website.

Trump announced the digital trading cards — which feature images of the former president as a superhero, an astronaut, and a Top Gun-style pilot, among others — on Thursday after hyping up a "major announcement" the day before. The trading cards are being sold as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, for $99 each.

Although Trump in November announced his plans to run for president in 2024, money from the sale of the cards will not go to Trump's campaign, according to the website. The company behind the cards is not owned by Trump but uses his likeness and image under a paid license.

Purchasers of the card will also automatically be entered into a sweepstakes for a "chance to win 1000's of incredible prizes and meet the one and only #45!" though a purchase of a card is not required to enter the contest. According to the fine print, the prizes include 2,533 NFTs, totaling an approximate value of $54,695.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nft-win-mar-a-lago-meeting-pay-travel-lodging-2022-12

See MAGAs? You got conned and you fall for scammers and hucksters and con artists and sleazy talk show hosts every single time. While you’re losing money on stupid shit because you’ve been had with your imaginary crypto money, I’m putting my feet on the desk, drinking a beer and laughing straight the fuck at you. You bought something that’s totally worthless and Don The Con is laughing all the way to the bank! And by the way not only are the NFTs you paid $99 for completely worthless, they’ve also diminished any hope Trump has of being a serious politician ever again. Hell, even Saturday Night Live at the height of the Trump administration with Alec Baldwin playing him every week, couldn’t possibly think up something this ridiculous!

Donald Trump’s first official NFT collection was the talk of the crypto world late last week, captivating Twitter and late night TV in the process. But after prices and trading volume surged over the weekend, both metrics have fallen sharply as the hype around the disgraced former U.S. president’s project is apparently fading.

Trump’s digital trading cards, which are minted on Ethereum scaling network Polygon, peaked on Saturday, December 17 with over $3.5 million worth of trading volume, per data from CryptoSlam. Sales price rose even higher on Sunday, with the NFTsselling for an average of just over $680 apiece, although total volume fell to nearly $1.95 million for the day.

On Monday, however, day-over-day trading dropped 57% to about $836,000 worth of ETH, with the average sale price falling to about $466. Today, the cheapest available Trump NFT up for sale on leading marketplace OpenSea is listed at just 0.21 ETH, or about $255.

(snip)

Momentum peaked over the weekend, with the floor price—or cheapest listed NFT—hitting 0.84 ETH (about $990) on Saturday. Prices rose and fell in a volatile market ahead of the NFTs being skewered on NBC’s late-night comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Just three days later, the floor price has fallen 74% when measured in USD.

Read more: https://decrypt.co/117663/trump-nfts-tanking-sales-prices-fall-sharply

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[font size="8"]Catch Up On Stuff We Missed Pt. 3: Miscellaneous Shenanigans
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Being gone from the scene for over a month means that we missed a ton of shit and wacky antics that conservatives and the MAGA conspiracy theory wing of the GOP has been up to. So this entry is going to be dedicated to some of the miscellaneous things we missed in the last month because we missed a hell of a lot of shit. How about let’s start with Florida and our old buddy Ron DeSantis (Q – Florida Man) who has fully embraced the fact that Rupert Murdoch is going full Nazi on the culture wars and is in the book banning stage – which has been identified by the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum as one of the foretelling signs a genocide is going to happen. It’s fucking insane that we have got to this point and shame on the MAGAs for banning books and whatever the fuck Critical Race Theory is from our schools right now. And fuck you too Rupert Murdoch, don’t think you are getting away from this one, but yeah they can all go straight to hell.

Teachers in Manatee County, Florida, are being ordered to remove or make inaccessible libraries of books inside their classrooms or face possible felony prosecution, as the district responds to legislation Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law prohibiting any books that have not been thoroughly vetted by a credentialed librarian.

The law, which went into effect at the start of this year, “is based on the premise, promoted by right-wing advocacy groups, that teachers and librarians are using books to ‘groom’ students or indoctrinate them with leftist ideologies,” according to Judd Legum at Popular Information.

He puts it simply: “classroom libraries that are curated by teachers, not librarians, are now illegal.”

“My heart is broken for Florida students today as I am forced to pack up my classroom library,” one teacher wrote on Facebook, Legum reports.

Calling it a “travesty to education, the future of our children and our nation,” another teacher lamented they have spent 18 years “dedicated to providing students with quality literature,” and helping them “connect with books and develop a love of lifelong learning,” but now they will have to dismantle their classroom library.

Kevin Chapman, the Chief of Staff for the Manatee County School District, “says that school principals in Manatee County were told Wednesday that any staff member violating these rules by providing materials ‘harmful to minors’ could be prosecuted for ‘a felony of the third degree.'”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/my-heart-is-broken-florida-teachers-ordered-to-remove-block-class-libraries-or-face-felony-prosecution/ar-AA16Faeo?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=6aeea1140a7a43958fe42226dd366655

Yeah so Ron DeSantis is currently engaged in some constitutional crimes against humanity and maybe some light treason by doing the every evil deed declared by Tucker Carlson. Oh yeah even the public is getting pissed at the nonstop barrage of Tucker Carlson talking points becoming national policy. So fuck off Fox. And by the way speaking of Fox, everyone’s favorite election-denying president is preparing for a return to the White House (god forbid please!!!) and he’s asking Twitter and Facebook to reinstate his account. I take it posting on his own echo chamber isn’t working out for him?

Mounting a comeback for the White House, Donald Trump is looking to regain control over his powerful social media accounts.

With access to his Twitter account back, Trump's campaign is formally petitioning Facebook’s parent company to unblock his account there after it was locked in response to the U.S. Capitol riot two years ago.

“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s campaign wrote in its letter to Meta on Tuesday, according to a copy reviewed by NBC News.

Trump’s campaign didn’t threaten a lawsuit, as some sources close to Trump thought he would. It instead talked about the importance of free speech and petitioned Meta for a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/donald-trump-prepares-return-facebook-twitter-rcna65809

Yup, we’ll soon add Trump Social Media to the long, long, long list of failed products associated with the Trump brand name. We also missed the Greta Thunberg – Andrew Tate controversy. Yes, this human shitstain who apparently has a fleet of high end supercars and regularly flaunts his wealth tweeted at Greta Thunberg who issued a “clap back” on Twitter right at him, and nearly broke Twitter. Yes, for once Twitter was broken and it wasn’t Elon’s fault! Hey o!!! Thank you I’m here all week! Don’t forget to tip your servers! OK I had to do that one. But in case you were wondering how that whole thing is going, well, why don’t we check in on Tate who’s currently in a Romanian prison on rape charges! I did not think that’s how that was going to end!

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in custody until Feb. 27 after a Romanian court extended their detention on Friday.

The British-American kickboxing champion-turned-sexist influencer and his brother are being investigated over allegations of rape and human trafficking. A judge at the Bucharest Court determined that the pair should remain in police custody for another 30 days while authorities carry out their inquiries.

The Tate brothers and two Romanian women were arrested last month over allegations of being part of an organized crime group that local authorities say exploited women by coercing them into making pornography. Prosecutors say Tate would pretend to want romantic relationships with the alleged victims before forcing them into creating the explicit content. All four suspects deny the allegations.

Before the hearing Friday, lawyers for the Tate brothers argued that prosecutors had failed to produce any new evidence against the defendants and that they were “optimistic” the detention extension would be denied, the BBC reports.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/andrew-tate-will-be-locked-up-for-another-30-days-romanian-court-rules

The final thing I want to talk about that we missed on our long break was the Damar Hamlin saga from the Buffalo Bills. Yes, we all watched that Monday Night game in horror as he collapsed on the field and was carried off on a stretcher and they were forced to cancel the game. That saga showed both the best and the worst of humanity. The best was that his charity called Chasing M’s. But then the worst of humanity had to make things just that much worse. Yes, I’m talking about the batshit crazy conspiracy theory wing of humanity. Did you know that Mr. Hamlin actually died while in the ER and he’s been secretly replaced with a body double? Yes, that is a sentence that was written. Fuck you conspiracy theory lunatics. We may have to expand on this in Conspiracy Corner next week because we’re just barely scratching the surface here!

Did you do a double take when you saw Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin trending again on social media on Tuesady? After all, Hamlin, who had suffered a cardiac arrest during a January 2 Monday Night Football game, has seemed to be on the road to recovery. He’s already left the hospital and was even seen attending the Bills playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday, right? Well, there are now claims that the person who appeared at that game wasn’t even Hamlin. Instead, it was, drum roll please, a body double. Yes, a body double.

Talk about doubling down on conspiracy theories. Soon after Hamlin had collapsed on the football field, anti-vaccination accounts on social media had started asserting that the Covid-19 vaccine had somehow led to his cardiac arrest. That’s despite the fact that such accounts offered no real evidence to support such a theory, as I explained for Forbes back then. And now, the latest anti-vaccination conspiracy theory around Hamlin is that “they”—whoever “they” may be— have found a body double for Hamlin to conceal the so-called true nature of what had happened to him.

As you can see, she first noted, “Oh, Damar Hamlin is trending. Maybe there’s some health update.” Then she indicated, “Oh…it’s paidchecks tweeting ab how he’s actually dead, there’s a ‘body double; & his fam is ‘in on it.’” By “paidchecks” she was referring to the Twitter accounts that had managed to find $8 to pay Elon Musk and Twitter in order to get those no longer so-coveted blue verified check marks.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/01/25/new-conspiracy-theory-damar-hamlin-has-a-body-double-hiding-vaccine-injury/?sh=63aad65e6937

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[font size="8"]Brazillian Coup: Same MAGAs, Different Country
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So it’s been two years since the January 6th attempted coup and possible mass murder of half of the United States Congress. Things should have got back to normal by now, right? WRONG! Because our friends in South America in Brazil are learning the hard way that Christian white nationalist MAGA authoritarianism isn’t just a uniquely American problem. In fact, some of the American MAGA shitheads we all know and loathe, like Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, may have been helping their MAGA counterparts in Brazil – the same people who helped get Jair Bolsonaro elected the first time – in a big way. Yeah you know I’ve been totally fascinated with what’s going on in Brazil because Brazil’s politics right now are almost like looking into a mirror of what we’re going through in the US. You might even say that Brazil is almost like looking into a parallel universe.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has taken a carrot-and-stick approach to asserting authority over Brazil's armed forces and containing sympathies in the barracks for his predecessor after violent unrest in the capital this month.

On Saturday, Lula fired the army commander for not following his government's orders to dismantle a tent city of Bolsonaro supporters who clamored for a military coup and stormed government buildings on Jan. 8, a government source said.

Lula replaced the commander with another army general who days earlier was seen in a video on social media haranguing his troops on the need to respect the result of the October election in which the leftist Lula narrowly defeated far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

In a televised interview last week, Lula said he was convinced that parts of the armed forces were complicit in the storming of Brasilia, the worst attack on Brazil's seats of power since the end of a 21-year military dictatorship in 1985.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/lula-confronts-brazil-militarys-pro-bolsonaro-lean-with-carrot-stick-2023-01-23/

Oh come on people, stop your rabbling! Look, Brazil in the last 100 years, has been through a hell of a lot, and they’re no strangers when it comes to political violence. And the last thing they need is help from our far right shitheads about how to overthrow the government. Come on, leave the far right shit in America. It doesn’t need to be exported! And here’s what I don’t get – if you saw that Brazil was about to experience it’s own version of what we experienced at January 6th, why don’t we arrest and prosecute the people responsible? I’m looking at you, Steve Bannon and Rupert Murdoch!

Horrifying images careening out of Brazil are reminding Americans — and the world — of the high cost that election disinformation brings with it as mobs of people, fueled by conspiracy theories, stormed the South American country’s Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential offices in a violent outburst of chaos that overwhelmed authorities over the weekend.

A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.

The scenes that played out on January 8 shared a striking commonality with those that played out in the US on television screens almost two years to the day earlier. And, like in the US, the warning signs were apparent for some time, with election deniers mobilizing on social media ahead of the attack.

“We did see this coming,” Wendy Via, the president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told the Associated Press. “This doesn’t just happen in Brazil, or the United States. This is a global problem. Should we compare what happened in Brazil to Jan. 6? I say 100%, because it’s the same playbook.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/09/media/brazil-government-reliable-sources/index.html

So seriously, if you saw it coming – then arrest these fuckers already! I mean come on, it’s no secret that Jair Bolsonaro was hanging out at Mar-A-Shithole in Florida and attempting to resonate with the common man. I mean could you imagine browsing the aisles at the store and seeing Jair attempting to pick out a box of Rice Krispies? Yeah that’s a great indication of how the mighty have once fallen. But it’s apparently true that Bolsonaro was seen at a local grocery store in Miami and he’s attempting to backslide on what he did in Brasilla. Come on already Brazil! Let’s extradite him, Bannon and Trump for harboring a wanted international criminal!

Outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro landed in Florida on Friday, after delivering a teary message to his supporters less than two days before his fierce leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is set to take office.

An official Brazilian plane landed in Orlando, Florida late on Friday, flight tracking website FlightAware showed. Although Bolsonaro's destination has not been officially confirmed, his security staff were already in place in Florida.

Bolsonaro's exit from Brazil came after he repeatedly said he would not hand over the presidential sash to Lula at Sunday's inauguration, breaking with Brazil's democratic tradition. He may also face legal risks from remaining in Brazil as his presidential immunity expires when Lula takes office.

His departure followed an emotional final address on social media earlier on Friday, in which he ran through the highlights of his time in office, sought to defend his legacy, and tried to inspire his followers into keeping up the fight against Lula.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-bolsonaro-says-no-justification-attempted-terrorist-act-capital-2022-12-30/

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Come on, we kid! We love Florida! Except for Ron DeSantis and Trump – they can both go eat a bag of shit, and we’ll cover that next week. But what we can’t deny is that the same election denying idiots here are also the same election denying, flag waving, Murdoch watching idiots in Brazil. Yes, Brazil has a Fox affiliate, who knew? But come on, can we please keep right wing, uber-patriotic conspiracy theory garbage limited to the United States? There’s no reason why we should be exporting that shit. But then again my producer is reminding me that Facebook and other social media sites exist.

Rows of cars, some of them rentals, line the shoulder of a highway, outside the security office of a gated community in this Orlando suburb.

Lutty Sutton is among the dozens of people who have shown up at the gated community on a Tuesday afternoon in the hopes of seeing Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right former president of Brazil, who is staying in a vacation home there owned by Brazilian mixed martial artist José Aldo.

"I want to see him. I'm going to cry," says Sutton. "I want to say to him. 'Don't give up.' I have so much hope in him. I want him to come back to Brazil."

Bolsonaro came to Florida on Dec. 30, two days before he was supposed to hand over the presidential sash signifying the peaceful transition of power to the rival who had recently defeated him, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"He really just doesn't like Lula and did not want to hand the presidential sash over to him at the inauguration." says Bryan Pitt, assistant director at UCLA's Latin American Institute.
https://www.wbur.org/npr/1149984117/bolsonaro-backers-in-florida-decry-what-they-see-as-a-stolen-election-in-brazil

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[font size="8"]We’re All Gonna Die: The XBB1.5 Variant
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Hey everyone, guess what? We’re all gonna die! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! WOOOOOOO. WOOO. WOO. So unless you’ve been living under a bubble you know that our entire way of living has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic that’s been plaguing the world for the last 3 years. It’s looking more and more like the Omicron variant is the definitive variant of this virus and it hasn’t produced any new offspring. But… like Windows 10 or your mobile phone, it’s getting software updates. But the question on everyone’s minds is that is this going to do the kind of damage that the original Omicron Variant did when it first hit at the end of 2021? Well, we have an answer to that. And the answer is – it’s complicated. This latest software update, you’re not likely to die from it, but you are likely to get a more contagious version of it. Is it something that we should be concerned about? Again, the answer is – it’s complicated. But unlike the first three waves of COVID, we’re less likely to die from it, and it’s not going to lead to lockdowns or the end of society in any way like it has before.

The latest COVID variant is XBB1.5. Where did this thing come from? The family tree started with Omicron in January 2022, which spawned BA4 and BA5 in the summer of 2022.

Those two gave way to BQ1 and BQ1.1 in the fall of 2022.

Our local health experts call XBB1.5 the great, great-granddaughter of Omicron and made a point of mentioning it is a recombinant virus. Here's why that is important.

“When two viruses, a Messenger and RNA pop a bottle of wine and light some candles and exchange their information and you get messenger RNA that's half of one virus and half of the other and it creates a whole new virus that's what XBB1.5 is,” said Dr. Christopher Ohl, Atrium Wake Forest Baptist.

Why are COVID variants all a mishmash of Greek letters and numbers? The World Health Organization designed it that way to avoid confusion with scientific names and to prevent discrimination that can come with naming variants after locations where they begin. But it's still confusing, right? So, let's get to some plain talk.
https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/2-wants-to-know/xbb15-is-the-latest-covid-variant-what-it-is-why-its-more-infectious-dr-christopher-ohl-atrium-wake-forest-baptist-omicron-recombinant-infectious/83-5e0cbd71-760f-44ee-805b-78ac0f296417

All right everyone calm down! We’re not all gonna die! Yet. Give the GOP and the MAGAs a couple more election cycles, they’ll eventually find a way to kill us all. But wait, you might be asking “don’t we have things like mathematical modeling and statistics that prove that the world is experiencing its’ lowest case counts since the start of the pandemic? Right?” WRONG! Yes, you are wrong! Because once again the exponential math shows that it will become dominant in the EU in the forthcoming weeks! And again like previous statistical data, this is all projection. It could work, or it could not.

In a Threat Assessment Brief released today, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) assesses the overall level of risk to the EU/EEA associated with the spread of the Omicron XBB.1.5 SARS-CoV-2 sub-lineage as low for the general population. The risk is moderate to high for vulnerable individuals such as the elderly and non-vaccinated and immunocompromised people, depending on their immunity against SARS-CoV-2. Several knowledge gaps exist with XBB.1.5 and this assessment may change in the coming weeks as more evidence becomes available.

Mathematical modelling by ECDC indicates that XBB1.5 could become dominant in the EU/EEA after one to two months, given the current low proportions reported in the EU/EEA and its estimated growth rate. There are currently no signals that the infection severity of XBB.1.5 is different to that of previously circulating omicron sub-lineages. The proportion of XBB.1.5 in the EU/EEA was lower than 2.5% for the final two weeks of 2022 (the most recent period where variant proportions at this low level can be accurately estimated).  In the United States (US), XBB.1.5 is currently spreading 12% faster than other circulating variants.

The XBB1.5 sub-lineage is currently present only at very low levels in the EU/EEA but may become dominant in the EU/EEA in the next few months,” said Andrea Ammon, ECDC Director. “In light of this, ECDC recommends carrying out appropriate testing and sequencing, increasing COVID-19 vaccination uptake, and reinforcing infection prevention and control measures. Non-pharmaceutical interventions such as staying home when ill, teleworking, good ventilation of indoor spaces and appropriate use of face masks should also be considered.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/covid-19-implications-spread-omicron-xbb15

Yeah no we’re not all gonna die yet. Come on, this modeling is like saying that there’s a hurricane projected to hit the US east coast, and it’s going to hit somewhere between Key West, Florida and Portland, Maine. You don’t know! You don’t know! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah that’s about as accurate as a Trump hurricane prediction! But what’s to stop Omicron XBB1.5 from infecting and killing us all? Why guess what, MAGAs? It’s those vaccines you all labeled a government conspiracy to control us all! Yes, the current vaccines work and it’s no reason to get your underwear in a wad over the latest media fearmongering. Take a chill pill.

XBB.1.5 and XBB.1 are the omicron subvariants with the greatest immune-evasive properties. Therefore, one of the most contentious issues surrounding XBB.1.5 relates to the degree of protection afforded by currently available mRNA vaccines, including the latest bivalent booster formulations.

Researchers from the University of Texas determined that first-generation and bivalent mRNA booster vaccines containing BA.5 result in lackluster neutralizing antibody responses against XBB.1.5. A report (yet to be peer reviewed) from investigators at the Cleveland Clinic found that bivalent vaccines demonstrate only modest (30 per cent) effectiveness in otherwise healthy non-elderly people when the variants in the vaccine match those circulating in the community.

Furthermore, some experts believe the administration of bivalent boosters for the prevention of COVID-19 illness in otherwise healthy young individuals is not medically justified nor cost-effective.

In contrast, public health experts from Atlanta, Ga. and Stanford, Calif. reported that although the neutralizing antibody activity of bivalent booster vaccines against XBB.1.5 is 12 to 26 times less than antibody activity against the wild-type (original) SARS-CoV-2 virus, bivalent vaccines still perform better than monovalent vaccines against XBB.1.5.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/what-to-know-about-xbb-1-5-a-new-and-highly-transmissible-covid-19-subvariant

No we’re not going to die. This is 2020, not 2023. So why are virus researchers calling this new variant the “Kraken Variant”? Well for one thing, Kraken sounds more human than “XBB1.5” does. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Yes, I would love to see that on a hockey jersey! But like the last 1,000 variants, does the latest Omicron software update warrant a “we’re all going to die” type of response from the WHO and the CDC? No. And also probably yes. But there is one thing we do know, even though China’s response to the latest surge was the stuff of nightmares, see if you can guess which country is number one? That’s right – the good ol’ US Of A! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! We’re number one!

While accounting for just 2% of all Covid cases at the start of December, the latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that it surged to become the second-most dominant strain in the first week of January, responsible for about 28% of all national infections. In the northeast, that figure has jumped above 70%.

XBB.1.5 is “the most transmissible sub-variant which has been detected yet,” said the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, during a press conference on Jan. 4. Health authorities are warning it could be much more widespread than current data show, thanks to its undetected proliferation tied to a drop-off in testing.

The US has accounted for the bulk of sequenced variant cases — around eight in 10 — reported across the world since October 2022, followed by the UK. The proportion of infections caused by XBB.1.5 is lower in other countries, although the picture may rapidly change. Estimates from the Wellcome Sanger Institute found that the variant made up around 4% of Covid infections in England as of mid-December, while Canada has found a handful of such cases.

In Europe, XBB.1.5 may drive an increase in the number of cases, though it’s unlikely to happen in January since it’s present in such low levels currently, according to a Jan. 9 statement from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-05/what-is-the-kraken-covid-variant-xbb-1-5-and-why-it-s-causing-concern

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[font size="8"]Holy Shit: God & The Insurrection
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:



My fair congregation! Please be seated! We are back everybody! We are back! And boy does it feel good to be back, doesn’t it? How is everybody? I trust that your Christmas and New Year’s celebrations were good? Great? Poor? Doesn’t matter, because now that we’ve had our break, it’s time to get back to fighting fascism in all of its’ forms! Because I don’t know if you remember, but two years ago, supporters of the unholy, ungodly Dark One attempted to take over Congress and murder half of the representatives that they didn’t agree with! And of course who know who the Dark One is. I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name dare *NOT* be spoken in my church! I know you know who that is! Of course, he attempts to disguise himself as a “creature of light”. You know in our Good Book, which you can buy a copy of, says that the “Dark One Shall Pose As A Creature Of Light”. JAYSUS said it, and so did his disciples! We know these facts to actually be true because we read the Bible! But we can’t deny that the Dark One attracts people who are just like him. And new information has come to light!

In one of RNS’ latest pieces, published in December, grantees Bob Smietana and Emily McFarlan Miller delved into Christian nationalist homeschooling. The trend has stoked the rise of homeschool curriculum industries that some say spread racism and political intolerance. One popular textbook teaches children that “since the 1960s, decisions of the Supreme Court and other judges have contributed to the moral decline of our country.”

An earlier piece by grantee Jack Jenkins reported that the January 6 attack further spread Christian nationalism and that “intermingling patriotism and piety” is common among violent nationalist groups. An extremism expert told RNS that mainstream religious leaders can unintentionally contribute to radicalization by condemning violence, as one leader did, while lamenting that America has lost its foundational ??story” rooted in a “biblical worldview.”

Another RNS report on far-right digital platforms found them flourishing post-January 6. Platforms bristle with posts that are “heavily pro-gun, anti-vaccine, anti-Biden, vociferously pro-Trump and frequently laden with rhetoric that connects adherence to Christianity with American identity.”

A pandemic-related story about anti-vaccine “theology” showed how pastors mix “assertions the United States was founded as a Christian nation with conspiracy theories derived from the QAnon movement and a conviction that government efforts to curb COVID-19 are oppressive.”
https://pulitzercenter.org/blog/religion-and-extremism-us-two-years-after-insurrection

Yeah… think about it! It’s no secret that the conservative party and supporters of the Dark One are getting way more evil and savage because they live in an echo chamber. It’s like the angel and the devil on your shoulder. But the devil killed the angel and replaced it with a devil clone, so now you’ve got two devils on your shoulders! The GOP is getting weirder and scarier and it’s truly frightening the direction that they are heading in. When they have their annual convention in a nation that embraces their true inner selves, you know something is wrong! But religion and right wing politics go way back.

Much of the media coverage of last year’s siege on the US Capitol focused on the political beliefs of the rioters. Cameras zoomed in on their cherry red MAGA hats, oversized Trump banners, and handwritten Qanon posters. What went largely ignored was the role of religion. Yet images from that day tell a different story—one that is at risk of being whitewashed from history.

On January 6, significant religious imagery, symbolism, and sounds accompanied the mob that stormed the Capitol building. Rioters waved flags glorifying Jesus and Trump, shouted prayers and sung hymns through megaphones, and wore “Armor of God” patches on their tactical gear. During a recent event, the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program gathered religious scholars to discuss how the rise of Christian nationalism drove the insurrection.

Religious rhetoric encouraged and justified the attack. “It gave permission to rioters and created a psychological safety net to make their cause seem righteous,” said Peter Manseau, the Lilly Endowment Curator of American Religious History at the Smithsonian who moderated the panel.

According to Maneasu, the religious context was not accidental, and it points to an increase in Christian nationalism that threatens the country’s pursuit of equality and true democracy.

Christian nationalism protects––and promotes––the Manifest Destiny belief that Anglo-Saxon Protestants are God’s sacred people and the only ones with citizen rights in the United States. “It serves as a theological and ideological legitimation for a white supremacist narrative in this country,” said Dean Kelly Brown Douglas, who holds leadership positions at Union Theological Seminary, Washington National Cathedral, and Trinity Church Wall Street.
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/we-cant-ignore-the-role-of-religion-in-the-us-capitol-siege/

But attempting to overthrow the government is OK? Look, we’ve spoken a lot about the coming dangers of the rise in white supremacist Christian nationalism in this country, and nationalism is EVIL on every single level! There’s no denying that there’s a percentage of American pastors who are in favor of the devil himself, the unholy Dark One! And it’s this imposter version of Christianity that seems to be taking over what sanity the Christian church has left. If the church keeps sliding down an authoritarian path because of a certain alliance with a certain news network, who’s to say how far they will go in achieving their ultimate goal?

Three men, eyes closed and heads bowed, pray before a rough-hewn wooden cross. Another man wraps his arms around a massive Bible pressed against his chest like a shield. All throughout the crowd, people wave “Jesus Saves” banners and pump their fists toward the sky.

At first glance, these snapshots look like scenes from an outdoor church rally. But this event wasn’t a revival; it was what some call a Christian revolt. These were photos of people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, during an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The insurrection marked the first time many Americans realized the US is facing a burgeoning White Christian nationalist movement. This movement uses Christian language to cloak sexism and hostility to Black people and non-White immigrants in its quest to create a White Christian America.

A report from a team of clergy, scholars and advocates — sponsored by two groups that advocate for the separation of church and state — concluded that this ideology was used to “bolster, justify and intensify” the attack on the US Capitol.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/us/white-christian-nationalism-blake-cec/index.html

Yes, the devil does walk among us! And you know what makes this problem even worse? The fact that Christian nationalist ideologies aren’t just uniquely American! In fact the Christian nationalist supremacist worldview is spreading to other countries! You know there was a coup in Brazil a couple of weeks ago? And it nearly mirrored the coup we almost experienced in every way possible! In fact, some of the EVIL forces who are at work in the US were at work in Brazil! It’s got wings people, and we may never defeat SAYTAN himself, but we can make a dent in his underlings’ and their evil ways, can we do that my fair congregation? We certainly can!

The images were eerily similar: Insurrectionists were storming the halls of Congress, beating police officers who tried to fend them off, wreaking havoc in the offices of legislators, desecrating the very symbol of democracy itself—all in the name of an allegedly stolen election. The Big Lie hasn’t only taken hold of the Right in the US, but in Brazil as well. And so two days after the second anniversary of January 6th, the storming of the U.S. Capitol, supporters of the defeated Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro attempted their own coup—after he’d told them, again and again, that the election had been stolen by his progressive rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

It is, however, no coincidence that the two insurrections are so strikingly similar. The reason for that, according to political scientist Brian Klaas, is “authoritarian learning,” or the process of authoritarian systems feeding off each other, exchanging tactics and strategy (even those that fail). In his newsletter Klaas warns of dismissing the similarities between the two failed coup attempts:

Indeed, while we don’t know enough about those who planned the Brazilian insurrection yet, the close ties between the American and Brazilian Right stand out. Bolsonaro and his allies have received ample support by the American right-wing in spreading their version of the Big Lie. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former advisor who has received a pardon from the former president, has spent months on his “War Room” podcast claiming the Brazilian election was stolen. Bannon, who called the Brazilian insurrectionists “freedom fighters” as the attack was underway, wrote on the right-wing platform Gettr: “The Criminal Atheistic Marxist Lula stole the Election and the Brazilians know this… now see Lula crackdown like all Communist dictators.”
https://religiondispatches.org/coups-of-a-feather-the-striking-similarities-between-brazils-insurrection-and-jan-6-may-be-due-to-authoritarian-learning/

It might be! Especially if these lunatics manage to regain power! Oh man it’s good to be back, everybody! That’s it for our first sermon of 2023! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse:: Tucker Vs M&Ms
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Once again, the right wing has their collective underwear in a wad over a commercial. And here’s the thing that we’ve been emphasizing from the beginning since we’ve been doing this thing. The right wing uses Fox News to keep us fighting over bullshit culture war issues while the Republican party consolidates all the wealth and power in this country. So why are they so bent out of shape over a stupid M&Ms commercial? Any Google search will tell you that the green M&M has been presented as female since the 90s – way before Fox News and 20 years before the word “woke” was a thing. But come on, conservatives, just admit that the green M&M is hot and get it over with already. This infighting over this stupid advertisement is getting way out of hand. Of course if you watch the Tucker Carlson show, you would know that the green M&M is a threat to the very existence of humanity because it makes the most manly of alpha males feel insecure! I mean really, dude bros, if your masculinity is threatened by a commercial for chocolate candy, you should probably take a step back and rethink your life choices.

Early last year, Fox News host Tucker Carlson warned Americans of one of the greatest threats the nation had ever faced: “Woke M&M’s.” Driven into a no-doubt-completely-legitimate fury over a chocolate mascot redesign that saw the green M&M become less sexy, Carlson ranted that “M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous—until the moment you wouldn’t want to have a drink with any one of them.”

We laughed at the time, not taking his warning that we would no longer want to bang sentient cocoa spheres seriously. And, left unchecked, the M&M’s advertising team pushed even further into realms of political and moral decay we could never have imagined.

M&M’s have now, god help us all, become even more woke.

The above clip, tweeted by @leash_kid_ earlier this week, sees Carlson take up the mantle of the battle-hardened freedom fighters of generations before him when faced with an all-women M&M’s package, furrow his brow in trademark puzzlement over the sugary complexities of this modern world of ours, and announce: “Woke M&Ms have returned.”

“The green M&M got her boots back, but apparently is now a lesbian maybe, and there’s also a plus-sized, obese purple M&M,” he states, before concluding, “So, we’re going to cover that. Of course. Because that’s what we do.”
https://www.avclub.com/m-ms-tucker-carlson-fox-news-outnumbered-ben-shapiro-1849985704

Link to tweet

That’s a real clip by the way! We did not alter this in any way, shape or form! Damn, a bunch of easily amused second graders running Fox. Come on, conservatives, just admit that you want to sleep with the green M&M and get it over with already! By the way I love that our old buddy Nick Adams proposed that Mars manufacture an “all male” M&Ms packaging because I think he might be into that sort of thing. Fine if you are! But really of all the issues facing this country right now, shouldn’t we have more important things to focus on instead of fawning over which M&M is hot? Oh who am I kidding? It’s Fox News, of course they will attempt to distract us with shiny things!

Fox News host Tucker Carlson is infamous for his unusual pop culture rants, which often focus on inclusive marketing campaigns, framing corporate “wokeness” as a symbol of societal decline.

Carlson has tackled important issues such as Elmo’s opinions on BLM, and the supposed cancellation of Dr. Seuss, whose books continue to be massively popular. Recently, Carlson was triggered by a redesign of the M&M cartoon characters used to market the candy.

The M&Ms are set to shift their focus, for some reason, reflecting a new era of diversity and inclusiveness, in a move that amused many Twitter users; the focus on Orange M&Ms “anxiety” proved a particularly popular joke.

Carlson, however, didn’t see the funny side; the Fox News host seemed particularly upset by the change seen in the two female M&Ms, as the green M&M has traded her knee-high boots for comfy trainers, while the brown M&M has shortened the height of her heels.

In one of the Fox News host’s most unhinged rants yet, Carlson condemned the chocolate-coated characters as “less sexy.” Carlson went on to make some odd assumptions regarding the motive of M&M’s marketing team, passionately stating:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/01/22/tucker-carlson-widely-mocked-after-criticizing-less-sexy-mms/?sh=1b6259172b62

Again, conservatives – let me spell it out for you. It’s a fucking commercial. For chocolate candy. It’s not something to waste time thinking about! But of course, you know how the conspiracy theorists tend to ruin everything they talk about. Well, guess what? The M&Ms commercial is no exception. Because it was, wait for it, a Chinese psy-op! Which we must ask the question – are you fucking kidding me? Do you even know what a psy-op is? Well,. I don’t, and I know enough not to make ridiculously stupid claims like this. Seriously, MAGA conspiracy theorists, stop talking. Now.

An event of cataclysmic proportions has captured the attention of Fox News. Something so egregious, horror-inducing, and shocking that it has even prompted the network to deprioritize coverage of an attempted coup in Brazil. Sensitive readers please close this article now: The girl M&M’s got their own publicity campaign.

I know. Absurd.

Mars Wrigley is featuring their delectable chocolate mamasitas on new limited-edition “Flipping the Status Quo” packages. The company even introduced a new purple M&M (she’s really cute). A portion of proceeds from the campaign will benefit two nonprofits dedicated to supporting women in the music industry: She Is the Music and We Are Moving the Needle.

Fox News is apoplectic.First, they de-slut the green M&M. Now, they want to shove candy-coated femininity down our throats? What if China is behind this sinister attempt to convince viewers that the gender of a candy mascot has real-world implications? No ma’am, it must be stopped.

“When you look at the package, the women are upside down,” said Harris Faulkner on Outnumbered, a show whose literal premise is having female commentators outnumber a male guest. “And I understand ‘flipped’ but thank you very much we stand on our own, we don’t need to be shown upside-down on a package looking crazy.” Note to readers: you will not transform into an upside down anthropomorphic M&M if you consume the new purple M&M. Or maybe you will. We don’t know, we’re not doctors. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fox-news-melts-down-feminist-mms-campaign-1234658005/

You know what? Just take a step back and imagine what life would be like if Fox News didn’t exist for a minute. Wouldn’t society be so much better without their nonsense and bullshit polluting the airwaves on a nightly basis? But come on really, imagine masculinity so toxic that you feel threatened because Mars decided to out their most popular character. Dude, it’s a 30 second commercial. You know what to do with it? Just watch it and move on. But there’s no need to really get your underwear in a wad over this nonsense. Really it’s time to end the culture wars, this crap is getting more ridiculous every week and it’s hard to keep up with all the plot twists!

Yes, M&M’s are in the news again. Yes, it’s once again because conservatives are freaking out. You may remember when, in an effort to promote diversity and inclusion, M&M’s parent company, Mars, updated the look and backstory of their infamous M&M’s characters. The green M&M lost her boots in favor of sneakers, which made Tucker Carlson steaming mad. Now, Mars announced its first ever all-female package (brown, purple, and green) and faux alpha-male conservatives are once again furious.

"Man-hating!" they yell. "Woke mob!" they whine. At this point it shouldn’t be surprising that these people will take any opportunity to rant and rave toward a camera with wild-eyed zealotry, but it shocks me every time. Let me take this opportunity to be crystal clear: I support the green M&M’s possible budding sapphic love! I support the brown M&M’s choice of chunky heel! I support the purple M&M’s girlbossery! I’m giving the new all-female M&M’s packaging a delicious, candy-coated, 4.8/5 delicious. —Sam Stone, staff writer
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/m-and-m-all-female-character-packages

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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Who’s Funding George Santos?
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Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable – Conspiracy Corner! In these times, real journalism exists behind a paywall, while bullshit is free and readily available! We’re of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the New Mexico badlands, undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all! Ah, there we go! So this week, I don’t know if you’ve been following the saga of the latest MAGA lunatic to hit the airwaves, Brooklyn representative George Santos (Q – Batshit) is clinically insane. And he literally cannot stop lying about his past. But we know where you were last summer, Mr. Santos! And several summers before that. But the sheer amount of lying that this guy does on an almost daily basis is totally mind blowing. You could say that the GOP is better than this slime bag, but no they really aren’t. In fact considering the likes of who the GOP is currently attracting, it’s totally on brand for them.

Since the New York Times revealed that George Santos was not quite the man he sold himself as to voters, it’s been hard to track down exactly what is true about the incoming representative’s life story. Is he broke or rich? Is he Jewish or Catholic? Did his family members really die in the Holocaust or September 11? Most often, it’s best to assume what the Republican from Long Island has said about his life is bogus, but in case you need to double-check, here is the guide to everything he has made up about himself — and the few things that actually appear to be true.
He lied about where he went to high school …

Santos, whose parents emigrated from Brazil, says he attended the Horace Mann School in the Bronx during his first years of high school but had to leave the prestigious private academy in his senior year because “my parents fell on hard times, which was something that would later become known as the depression of 2008.” But a spokesperson for the school told CNN in December that there was no evidence he attended Horace Mann. Later, he obtained a high-school equivalency diploma.
… and college.

Santos claims he graduated with a degree in economics and finance from Baruch College in 2010, which suggests he would have made it through a four-year program in just two years if he actually graduated from Horace Mann in 2008. But a Baruch representative told the Times there was no record of Santos being in the class of 2010. (Nor is there a record of Santos being a “star” on the Baruch volleyball team, as he claimed to Nassau County GOP chair Joseph Cairo.) A biography of Santos on the National Republican Congressional Committee states Santos also spent time at New York University, a claim NYU could not corroborate. Later, he told the New York Post that he “didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning.”
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/the-everything-guide-to-george-santoss-lies.html

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! So yeah lying his ass off is definitely the main objective here, which makes him perfectly suited to be the lates t MAGA shithead we can’t get rid of! And of course when you’re caught lying your ass off, there’s only one thing to do – deny the whole thing ever happened, which is par for the course for the MAGA party these days. Don’t worry – Hannity and Tucker are in full blown “move along, nothing to see here, please disperse” mode since the news broke that George Santos is a lying weasel con artist.

George Santos, the freshman Republican congressman from New York who lied about his biography, has deeper ties than previously known to a businessman who cultivated close links with a onetime Trump confidant and who is the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, according to video footage and court documents.

Andrew Intrater and his wife each gave the maximum $5,800 to Santos’ main campaign committee and tens of thousands more since 2020 to committees linked to him, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Intrater’s cousin is Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his role in the Russian energy industry.

The relationship between Santos and Intrater goes beyond campaign contributions, according to a statement made privately by Santos in 2020 and a court filing the following year in a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against a Florida-based investment firm, Harbor City Capital, where Santos worked for more than a year.

Taken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/01/16/george-santos-andrew-intrater-columbus-nova/

Yeah probably! In fact George Santos lies so much that if you ask Google the question of whether or not he’s lying or not stretches out well beyond 100 pages! It’s absolute insanity. In fact Mr. Santos has lied about where his mom was on 9/11, whether or not he was the first COVID survivor, where he went to college, and even whether or not he stole Go Fund Me money from a service dog. But the latest in the long list of insane lies? He may have been a Brazilian drag queen who was auditioning for a spot on RuPauls’ Drag Race.

George Santos has positioned himself as a proud, unabashed conservative—on social issues and all. He has expressed support for Florida’s regressive “Don’t Say Gay” law that bars teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in school. Accusing Democrats of wanting to “groom our kids,” Santos peddled right-wing talking points that equate discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with children with sexual abuse. Such talking points often go further, holding that drag shows, or even LGBTQ people generally, groom and abuse children.

It now appears Santos has participated in drag himself.

A 2008 photo from Brazil depicts Santos, known at the time as Anthony, in a drag costume under the moniker Kitara Ravache.

The photo comes from Santos’s old friend Eula Rochard, a Brazilian drag queen who spoke with journalist Marisa Kabas. According to their conversation, Rochard met Santos when he was a teenager, and they bonded over both being gay and enjoying drag. After Rochard had seen a news story about Santos, Rochard shared the photo to her social media to prove the old connection.

“Me with the American Republican deputy at the Niterói parade, as I had said he wouldn’t leave my house, there’s the proof for those who called me a liar,” Rochard wrote on Instagram (in rough translation from Portuguese).
https://newrepublic.com/post/170070/george-santos-drag-queen-kitara-brazil

Yeah so that’s a thing that has happened. The GOP – which famously is against the LGBT people of the world and especially lately the T’s, has elected a guy who once posed as a Brazilian drag queen. That is some next level insanity. Of course they’ll deny it and they’ll keep denying it, because all that matters to them is that precious vote. Oh and also money. Don’t forget the money. Eventually when Mr. Santos gets kicked out of office like he rightfully deserves to be and resorts to being a Fox News content generator, he’ll keep the grifts and the Go Fund Mes active, because that’s all the GOPs do anymore – lie and grift. Lather, rinse, repeat.

A member of George Santos’ political team had a plan to raise money for the Republican congressman’s campaign: Impersonate the chief of staff of now House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Wealthy donors received calls and emails from a man who said he was Dan Meyer, McCarthy’s chief of staff, during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, according to people familiar with the matter. His name was actually Sam Miele, and he worked for Santos raising money for his campaign, according to one GOP donor who contributed to Santos’ campaign. This financier and some others in this story declined to be named in order to speak freely about private discussions.

The impersonation of the top House Republican’s chief of staff adds to an emerging picture of a winning congressional campaign propelled by fabrications and questionable tactics. Santos now finds himself in the sights of investigators and in danger of losing his political career even after he’s been sworn into office. In raising money for his campaign, Santos fed donors the same falsehoods he gave voters, campaign fundraisers and others say.

At private events with GOP donors and political leaders, Santos would flaunt or hint at key parts of his resume that have turned out to be false, according to records and people familiar with the matter. The Republican would also tout his business record that’s now in question, including claims that he worked on Wall Street, as a way to encourage donors to contribute to his campaign, according to financiers and party operatives familiar with the matter.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/09/george-santos-raised-money-from-wealthy-gop-donors-while-lying-about-his-resume.html

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[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb. Before we go any further, I always have to clarify what makes a People Are Dumb story. You know a guy gets murdered? That’s not a People Are Dumb story. But a guy gets murdered and the primary suspect leaves behind a search engine history full of searches like “how long does a body decompose” and “where to buy inexpensive lawn darts?”, that’s a People Are Dumb story. I want to start with this story out of Warwick, England where a jury was caught in perhaps the dumbest way possible of attempting to rig a trial through a series of bribes and got caught. Yeah if there’s one thing you don’t want to do is get caught attempting to rig a jury. Unless of course you have Mr. Burns’ money. And even if you do have Mr. Burns’ level of money, really, just don’t do it. And of course you also know that the first rule of jury duty is that you never speak of the case outside of court. Like how is that possible not to know that?

Four people have been found guilty of trying to fix the trial of a drugs kingpin.

Leslie Allen was jailed for 13 years at Warwick Crown Court in 2018.

A fresh trial at the Old Bailey heard how the 66-year-old had recruited a juror and witnesses in a failed bid to secure a not guilty verdict.

Allen, Damien Drackley, Mark Walker and Laurence Hayden were convicted of perverting the course of justice on Thursday.

The Old Bailey heard Drackley had been promised £5,000, via middleman Walker, to influence fellow jurors back in 2018.

During the latest trial, the 37-year-old from Nuneaton admitted speaking to his mother Lorraine Frisby about the case on a daily basis.

The court also heard incriminating communications between the two was recorded on Drackley's mobile phone via an app.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-63904253?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

Next up – we go to India for this insane story that might be the plot of the next hit Bollywood movie. I mean come on, if this isn’t a Bollywood movie in development by now then I will have lost all faith in the internet. So here’s the thing – you need money, right? Well 3 guys attempted to get money by kidnapping a dog. Which if I remember was the plot of a Christopher Walken movie. But then your dog napping plot goes completely awry. So what do you do? Kidnap the dog owner’s brother and *THEN* demand the ransom money! Which of course backfired on the schemers big time! Come on, Bollywood producers! Green light that shit!

On December 15, the suspects released Rahul under police pressure. However, they are on the run at the moment. Police teams are working to nab them,’ said the SHO.

Three men entered a Greater Noida house to steal a dog of an exotic breed, but when their attempt was thwarted by a man living there, they abducted him and demanded the dog as ransom from his next of kin. According to Shubham Pratap Singh, a resident of Unitech Horizon in Greater Noida, who is the complainant in the case, the incident took place on December 14 in Alpha-2, Greater Noida.

“I have two dogs, a Rottweiler and Dogo Argentino. I had purchased the latter breed just six months ago for ₹1.5lakh. My brother Rahul (30), who resides in Alpha-2, helps in taking care of the dogs and often takes them to his residence,” said Singh (26).

On December 14, Vishal Kumar, an acquaintance of Rahul, came to meet him along with two others -- Lalit and Monty -- said Singh.

“Vishal tried to forcibly take the Dogo Argentino with him, but Rahul intervened after which the three men took away my brother in their car, while the dog was left behind. They later called me and asked me to bring them the dog if I want my brother back,” said Singh.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/noida-news/unable-to-steal-pet-dog-3-men-kidnap-man-s-brother-and-demand-dog-as-ransom-101671213073960.html

Next up – look, we don’t mean to pick on Florida all the time, but they kind of do this to themselves on a near daily basis. We go to the city of Miami for this one, where a guy attending the Spurs – Heat game at the Miami Arena (I hear they are looking for a new sponsor) got arrested for bringing his dog to the game. Why was the man arrested, you might ask? Well he was charged with 1 count of animal cruelty because he spray painted his dog to look like Pikachu. That’s right – you read that correctly. The dog looks like the Pokemon character Pikachu.

A Florida man was cited by Miami-Dade Animal Services after photos of a dog with its fur died to look like the Pokémon character “Pikachu” went viral this week.

The Pomeranian was spotted sitting courtside at a Miami Heat game on Monday, according to NBC Miami, but the dog was already on animal officials’ radar. Animal services noticed its bright yellow fur during an inspection at the World Famous Puppies store in Doral on Dec. 21.

“Pikachu was in the store,” Kathleen Labrada, Assistant Director of Miami-Dade Animal Services, told NBC Miami. “There was a staff member holding the dog in her lap.”

Labrada said it is “unlawful for any person to possess, sell or otherwise transfer within the County any dyed or artificially colored rabbit or other animal.” One week after the inspection, animal services informed shop owner Eric Torres they are issuing a $200 citation.

It was the 16th citation filed against World Famous Puppies since they were licensed in March 2021, according to NBC Miami. Many of the citations came from customer complaints alleging the store sold them sick dogs.
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-man-cited-after-dog-dyed-to-look-like-pikachu-spotted-courtside-at-nba-game/

Finally this week – we have to talk about one of the stupidest criminals of all time. And certainly one of the stupidest since we’ve been covering this show. And this goes back to what we said in the beginning of this segment. Look, if you’re going to commit a murder, the last thing you want to do is leave a Google search history trial of highly suspect phrases. Like for instance “how to murder someone” probably is not a phrase that anyone should have in their search history. But this guy did, and the more you dig into this the weirder it gets! I mean come on, have you not seen Dateline? They literally tell you all the things you shouldn’t be doing if you’re going to commit the perfect crime!

Brian Walshe dismembered the body of his wife, Ana Walshe, before discarding it, prosecutors alleged during Walshe's arraignment Wednesday morning as he faces a murder charge.

Walshe, who was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and had a blank stare painted on his face throughout the proceeding, was held without bail. Wednesday was his second arraignment in the case of his wife's disappearance.

Prosecutors laid out an intricate timeline of the days following Ana Walshe's New Year's Day disappearance, saying that DNA testing of items discarded in a Swampscott dumpster link back to the Walshe couple, including slippers, tissues and a Tyvek suit.

Walshe allegedly made a number of Google searches on his son's iPad that dealt with discarding a dead body in the days following the last time his wife was seen, including "How long before a body starts to smell?" and "Dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body."

"It might have been a crime of passion or an accident, especially given the frantic search nature after the fact," said Dr. Kellie Wallace, a professor of criminal justice at Lasell University in Newton. "These are very compelling pieces of evidence and there's a lot of them and they all point in the same direction. All of them align to tell a very clear story."
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/brian-walshe-to-appear-in-court-wednesday-as-he-faces-murder-charge/2947964/

That’s it this week for:

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[font size="8"]World Tour 2023 Destination #1 – New Zealand
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Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:



So folks we’ve got 6 more stops on our World Tour 2022 / 2023 before we pack it all in, and it’s been fun, what can I say? Here’s where we’re going to round this out:



This week we’re heading to New Zealand! That’s right New Zealand is Australia’s neighbor. The country consists of two giant islands, and has a population of about 5,000,000. It’s most famous for being the filming locations of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and the country is known for its’ scenic beauty. New Zealand, believe it or not, was also the first country in the world to give women the right to vote! That’s right, ladies, you can thank New Zealand for your rights! New Zealand is also the country that had the best response to the pandemic when it first hit. And its’ prime minister, Jacinda Ardern was commended very handily for it. But last week the world was shocked when she announced that she was going to resign from the PM’s position. And it’s not because of the threats that she was getting from internet COVID conspiracy theorists. But that’s beside the point.

Jacinda Ardern made her final public appearance as New Zealand’s prime minister Tuesday, saying the thing she would miss most was the people, because they had been the “joy of the job.”

Ardern, who has been a global icon of the left, shocked the nation Thursday when she said she was resigning as leader after more than five years because she had nothing left in the tank. Labour Party lawmakers voted unanimously Sunday for Chris Hipkins to take over as prime minister, and he will be sworn in Wednesday.

Ardern’s final act as leader was to join Hipkins and other lawmakers attending celebrations at the Rātana meeting grounds, the home of an Indigenous Māori religious movement.

Ardern told reporters she’d been friends with Hipkins for nearly 20 years and spent two hours with him on the drive to the meeting grounds. She said the only real advice she could offer was, “You do you.”

“This is for him now. It’s for him to carve out his own space to be his own kind of leader,” Ardern said. “Actually, there’s no advice I can really impart. I can share information, I can share experiences, but this is now for him.”
https://apnews.com/article/politics-jacinda-ardern-new-zealand-c3129930cdea2161330ed31ce44c69d3

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! No, her resignment wasn’t anything like that. And of course her resignation has ignited once again the absolute worst in humanity. That’s right – the usual group of far right internet shitheads are of course celebrating her resignation. God damn it. Do we have to put up with these assholes all the time? Why must they ruin everything? And they do ruin everything they touch, like some kind of fucked up reverse King Midas. But really these assholes are the reason why we can’t have nice things.

Far-right networks around the world reacted jubilantly to Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation as New Zealand’s prime minister Thursday, in the continuation of a global hate campaign that experts say likely played a role in her departure.

Ardern, who gained an unprecedented global profile for a New Zealand politician since becoming the country’s youngest-ever prime minister at the age of 37 in 2017, held back tears as she announced she was standing down next month as she no longer felt able to meet the demands of the job.

“I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice,” she said.

"I know there will be much discussion in the aftermath of this decision as to what the so-called 'real' reason was ... The only interesting angle you will find is that after going on six years of some big challenges, that I am human," she said. "Politicians are human. We give all that we can, for as long as we can, and then it's time. And for me, it’s time."
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zpgz/jacinda-ardern-resignation-new-zealand-far-right

That’s kind of how I feel. Fuck those assholes. Let’s talk about something else for a minute. But you know what else New Zealand has a problem with? Parrots! That’s right – pet parrots are a thing in New Zealand and they’ve become such a problem that they’re threatening the country’s natural wildlife inhabitants. So what do we do? Just flat out ban them? Of course not. If New Zealand had their own version of Fox News, they would be complaining incessantly about how the government is trampling on your right to own a parrot. The reason why we can’t have nice things, people!

Birds sold in the pet trade are often colorful and charismatic creatures. Some can even be taught to talk, and they often provide owners with much-needed companionship.

But there are negative aspects of the pet trade that warrant a closer look.

Concerns about the billion-dollar global pet industry have usually focused on issues associated with the trade in endangered species, but the industry also plays a critical role in moving invasive species around the globe. For birds, it is the primary source of invasive species.

Our new study highlights how many pet birds, particularly parrot species, are reported as lost by their owners. They are contributing to a consistently large pool of escapees in our suburbs, with the potential to breed and spread.
https://phys.org/news/2023-01-pet-parrots-threaten-zealand-vulnerable.html

Damn it, now I have that song stuck in my head! And by the way while Fox wants to take away voting rights in the US, New Zealand is actually close to increasing the number of people who can vote. Yes that’s right, people younger than 18 could potentially have the right to vote in New Zealand. I can just imagine how Tucker’s head would explode if such a bill were to be proposed in the United States. Fox would be on TV every night complaining about how Spongebob Squarepants was influencing your kids’ right to vote. But this could be a very interesting experiment.

New Zealand's Supreme Court has ruled that the country's current voting age of 18 is discriminatory, meaning parliament must discuss whether it should be lowered.

The case was brought by campaign group Make It 16, which wants the voting age reduced to include 16 and 17 year olds.

"This is history," Make It 16 co-director Caeden Tipler said.

The group argued that young people should be able to vote on matters affecting them, such as climate change.

The issue must now be brought to parliament, after the court ruled that New Zealand's minimum voting age of 18 was inconsistent with the country's Bill of Rights - which gives people who are 16 years and over the right to be free from age discrimination.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63699786

[font size="4"]Scorecard: [/font]

Tourism: A
Culture: B+
Political Spectrum: B+
Liberal Appeal: A+

Overall: A-

Change from 2017: Internet conspiracy theory assholes got to the New Zealand PM, but we can’t let them stop us from visiting the country. Still a safe place to visit!

[font size="4"]Next Week: [/font]

We’re hanging out in the home of the 2022 World Cup champions, Argentina!



[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Greta Van Fleet[/font]



Folks my first guest of this season is an amazing prog rock band out of Michigan. Their latest album is called “The Battle At Garden’s Gate”. You can see them at Honda Center on March 24th and the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on March 26th! Playing their song “Heat Above”, give it up for Greta Van Fleet!

Thank you Santa Ana! So great to be back! We’re off to New York City next week with live music from one of the hottest bands in music, Bad Omens! See you next week!

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