Top 10 Idiots

Top 10 Idiots's Journal

February 9, 2023

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-3: House Of Chinese Spy Balloons Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-3: House Of Chinese Spy Balloons Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yoooooooooooo!!! What’s up Philadelphia? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? And how about those fuckin’ Eagles huh? I predicted that the Eagles were going to be in the Super Bowl early in the season, but damn they are just the team that cannot be beat! It has been way too long since our last trip to the PHL! Last time we were here was what, 2018 I think? Yeah so it’s been way too long! But we got some fun things planned to get you through all the dark shit in the news happening right now. By the way, we're in the home stretch here. This is Idiots #294! We are 6 editions away from our big 300th edition shindig in France! You know people give us shit because we don’t give the East Coast enough love. Well that’s not true. Part of it is that we’re based in Southern California, Orange County to be exact. And the other part of it has been because, you know that whole COVID thing we’ve had to deal with the last 3 years. And if you haven't noticed lately, travel is fucking expensive. I mean holy shit! Have you priced plane tickets and hotels lately? I mean, damn! But moving on, do we have time for the thing? You all watching that AI Seinfeld on Twitch? If you haven’t been watching, there’s a Twitch stream where these people programmed an AI to run episodes of Seinfeld. And we may have to expand on this in I Need A Drink next week. But this is some weird, wild stuff and the creators believe that AI generated content is the future of entertainment. What? Who’s going to host our Z grade podcasts then? I mean we may have to use ChatGPT to run a fully AI generated version of the Top 10. Wait, where are you taking me? Where are you throwing me???? OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. but first Christopher Titus is back, and the Armageddon Update is one of the best podcasts on Youtube, and he delves into the right wing book banning insanity that’s going on:

Where do we begin this week? In the first slot this week, we nearly had an international incident pending last week when an unidentified aircraft appeared in Montana airspace , which was later identified as belonging to China. Conservatives (1) naturally went apeshit and many joked about the idea of shooting it down with AR-15s, and this is why we can’t have nice things, people! In the second slot this week is our old buddy Ron DeSantis (2). In case you’re unaware, Florida has a college that’s simply called New College that was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement back in the 60s. Well, last week Ron went nuclear on the college in his quest to be “anti-woke” and fired the head of New College in a preview of him bringing you Rupert Murdoch’s full sadistic agenda. In the number 3 slot this week is AT&T (3). Remember when AT&T gave OAN the heave ho (see: Idiots #11-12 )? Well this week they’re also giving Newsmax the heave ho, which is causing the MAGA wing of the GOP to melt down, but don’t get too comfortable because Newsmax is being replaced with more right wing horseshit. Sigh, the reason we can’t have nice things, people! In the number 4 slot this week is our old friend Marjorie Taylor Greene (4) who can’t help but show her addiction to the right wing conspiracy theory bullshit machine and got suspended from Facebook and Twitter again. Right wing propaganda rots your brain, people! In the number 5 slot this week is a new Top 10 Investigates (5)! This week a viral Tik Tok video exposed just how easy it is to break into some late model Hyundai and Kia SUVs, which are making them the most stolen cars on the road, but are Allstate and State Farm right to deny coverage to owners? Well it’s definitely a grey area which we will explore further. In the number 6 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, our resident pastor is going to take a look at the National Prayer Breakfast, and what seems to be the increasingly inevitable hostile takeover of the state by the church. And it’s not going to be pretty when that happens, if it does! In the number 7 slot this week, we add Texas’ batshit crazy Q Anon representative Ronny Jackson (7) to the ever growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected! In the number 8 slot this week we have a new Conspiracy Corner (8)! A recent Vice article exposed that right wing homeschoolers are trending towards Nazism, and if you’re not scared about this, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new People Are Dumb because of course they are! Finally this week it’s stop #3 of 6 on our 2023 World Tour and this week we’re heading to Germany’s next door neighbors, Poland (10) ! Finally to close things out we’ve got some live music from the Dirty Heads who are promoting the Cali Vibes Festival! Buy their new album “Midnight Control” or you’re no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]The Chinese Spy Balloon Incident
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Last week is one of those times when I absolutely thank the highest of high gods that Joe Biden is president and not the orange bloviating asshole. Because we had an incident and you may have heard about it, involving a Chinese spy balloon that appeared over Montana airspace. Of course it sent the MAGA conspiracy theory wing of the GOP into batshit overdrive mode. And you know what? For the purposes of this segment, let’s name this week’s edition after the Weeknd’s debut album “House Of Balloons”. Though let’s change it a bit and call it “House Of Chinese Spy Balloons”. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! By the way before next week’s edition we want to know who wore it better – Marjorie Greene or the Howler Monkey? Our money’s on the monkey. Let us know in the comments section! But OK getting back to the story though, this whole thing is insane. And like most things that have happened in the last 7 years, this story is the stuff of insanity and it only gets weirder the more you dig into it.

A mysterious object high above commercial air traffic. Military aircraft scrambled, then ordered to stand down. Urgent phone calls between U.S. and Chinese officials.

A single missile, fired from an F-22 stealth fighter jet.

As a Chinese spy balloon made its way east across the United States last week, a military and diplomatic crisis played out on the ground.

Here’s a day-to-day timeline of events leading up to the dramatic shootdown over the water off the East Coast on Saturday. The following is based on interviews with three senior U.S. officials, all of whom asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/05/timeline-a-chinese-spy-balloons-7-day-trip-across-the-united-states-00081222

Yeah calm your t’s, people! Come on really! By the way, Fox News and the MAGA conspiracy theory wing of the GOP, no, we don’t give a flying fuck about what Trump would have done if he had been in the same situation. Trump would have launched a nuke over St. Louis and caused tons of casualties and we’d be dealing with nuclear fallout damage for the next century. That much we know is true! But apparently one thing we do know is true is that China apparently did spy on us with these balloons during the Trump administration, and he of course did nothing about it. I would assume because all the Big Macs and Diet Cokes went straight to his head during his rage tweeting toilet sessions.

A US military intelligence report from last year that focused on China’s use of high-altitude balloons mentioned sightings in Hawaii and Florida during the Trump presidency, according to an excerpt of the report reviewed by CNN.

The April 2022 report, titled “People’s Republic of China High-Altitude Balloon,” found a Chinese spy balloon “circumnavigated the globe” in 2019 – while Donald Trump was president – at an altitude of roughly 65,000 feet, and “drifted past Hawaii and across Florida before continuing its journey,” the US Air Force document states.

The Air Force intelligence report is the first indication that the US military was aware of Chinese spy balloons well before the latest incident.

However, it is not clear from the documents when US officials first became aware of the Chinese flights or what they assessed regarding their purpose.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/06/politics/military-intelligence-report-china-balloon-trump/index.html

And here’s where it gets weird, because you knew it was going to. Of course, like most weird things, it involves our good friend Marjorie Three Names. So any time something doesn’t go 100% in favor of the Fox News MAGA America First Taliban Oath Keepers Proud Boys Conspiracy Theory cult, their natural instinct is to assume that there’s some kind of underlying conspiracy or it didn’t happen or it was a false flag. It’s so hard to keep their bullshit straight anymore. But one thing we do agree on is that something doesn’t pass the smell test here.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Monday called for a probe into why former President Trump was apparently not informed of previous Chinese surveillance balloons that Biden officials are saying crossed over the U.S. at least three times during the previous administration.

“If it’s true the Pentagon purposely did NOT tell President Trump of Chinese Spy Balloons during his administration then we had a serious breach in command during the Trump admin,” Greene said on Twitter.

“The POTUS is the Commander in Chief. We must investigate and hold accountable those who broke rank,” the longtime Trump ally said.

President Biden ordered the U.S. military on Saturday to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had spent days floating over the country in what defense officials later said was a clear effort to spy on sensitive sites.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3845713-greene-calls-for-probe-into-why-trump-was-unaware-of-previous-chinese-balloons/

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! OK, MAGAs, let’s play your conspiracy theory game here for a minute. What if this were a bigger story in 2019? It would have absolutely broken social media feeds everywhere, and it probably would have triggered an international incident. But Trump always takes the wrong side on everything and he would have reacted very poorly. It must suck to be a fact checker these days because the claims coming from conspiracy theorists get weirder and nuttier by the hour. No, the Pentagon didn’t detect these balloons back in 2019. Sorry, Tucker and Hannity.

A top U.S. general said that the Pentagon did not detect previous Chinese spy balloons as they were in the air, after former President Trump and members of his administration vehemently denied a claim from defense officials that such balloons had flown over the U.S. at least three times during his presidency.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, the head of U.S. Northern Command, said Monday that the Defense Department “did not detect” the previous balloons, adding that the intelligence community was made aware of them through other means of information collection.

“We did not detect those threats,” VanHerck told reporters. “The intel community after the fact — I believe as has been briefed already — assessed those threats from additional means of collection and made us aware of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transited North America.”

President Biden ordered the latest Chinese surveillance balloon, which spent days in U.S. airspace, to be shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. The U.S. is currently trying to recover the debris, hoping to glean intelligence from the wreckage.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3846363-pentagon-did-not-detect-previous-chinese-spy-balloons-us-general/

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[font size="8"]Florida GOP
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History time, kids! Gather around, don’t be shy! There’s a small liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida that’s simply called “New College Of Florida” that was founded as a forefront of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and eventually became a full blown member of the University Of Florida collegiate system. Well now that college has been the target of conservatives, particularly the reigning king of Florida, the Fox News installed wannabe dictator Ron DeSantis (Q – Florida Man). See, DeSantis has been utterly sadistic in his quest to bring you the full Fox News / America First / right wing outrage machine “anti-woke” agenda. And he hasn’t even hit peak evil yet. Don’t worry, it’s going to get worse, so much worse. But, make no mistake – this attack on New College was a deliberate and intentional political hit job, carefully calibrated, timed, and executed with the precision of a high end Rolex watch, and that’s about the only thing conservatives do now these days.

The whirlwind unleashed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that rapidly is reshaping New College of Florida picked up speed Tuesday with the president fired amid a broad leadership overhaul that capped a momentous few hours for the Sarasota school.

A slate of new board members installed by DeSantis earlier this month replaced college President Patricia Okker with former GOP House speaker and education commissioner Richard Corcoran, installed a DeSantis appointee as the new board chair, moved to hire a former Republican lawmaker as the school's new general counsel and began the process of abolishing programs aimed at increasing diversity, equity and inclusion on campus, turbo charging a dramatic conservative culture shift.

Corcoran has been an eager participant in the governor's education culture war battles, and soon will take the lead in his experiment in overhauling a public university to match his conservative approach to higher education. Corcoran can't takeover as interim president until March, so a college administrator will serve in the role until then.

The board also selected DeSantis' appointee Debra Jenks as the new chair and voted to negotiate with Bill Galvano, a former GOP state Senate president from Bradenton, to become the college's new general counsel.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/sarasota/2023/01/31/richard-corcoran-becomes-interim-president-of-sarasotas-new-college/69858928007/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! There’s no mistake that the hardcore right wing is out to remake education. Because a party that wants the church and state to merge and is run by a billionaire media mogul with a world domination complex doesn’t want a well educated populace that’s capable of critical thinking. Education is not in Rupert Murdoch’s best interests, which is why Fox News intentionally is making people stupid. Florida has basically become a product development test bed for News Corporations’ new line of fascist American legislation, coming soon to a municipality near you!

The New College of Florida Board of Trustees is moving quickly to finalize an agreement with former Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to take over as interim president after the board ousted former President Patricia Okker last week.

A meeting is scheduled for Feb. 13 to vote on Corcoran's contract, which is the only item on the agenda.

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed six new trustees to New College's board on Jan. 6, and 25 days later they all voted to fire Okker without cause during a contentious meeting on the Sarasota campus. The leadership shakeup is part of an effort to transform Florida's liberal arts honors college into a showcase for conservative ideas about higher education.

After firing Okker, DeSantis board appointee Matthew Spalding, a dean at conservative Hillsdale College, moved to hire Corcoran as interim president, calling him a longtime friend.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/06/ally-of-gov-ron-desantis-set-to-become-sarasota-college-president/69878635007/

Yeah this is absolutely insane! And it’s also completely bonkers that Desantis can just fire people like that and install lackeys, ass kissers and bootlickers. The GOP really is going hard totalitarian in Florida and if there’s one thing we know it’s two things. The first is that too much right wing propaganda rots your brain. The second is that the GOP echo chamber is really going way too far here. They must seem to be testing the limits of what people will tolerate before we rise up as one and overthrow the fascist tyrants like DeSantis. So why does the GOP want to take over New College so badly and make it an example of Fox News’ fascist policies? Well the answers are few and far between.

Ron DeSantis has made a tiny liberal arts college the latest target of his public education culture war. And the students on campus say they feel like they’ve been turned into guinea pigs in a right-wing social experiment.

The Florida Republican governor’s aggressive move to fundamentally change the character of New College, a tiny public liberal arts school with fewer than 700 students in Sarasota, is his latest plan to dramatically remake Florida’s educational system in his image and build his right-wing bona fides ahead of a likely presidential run. In a few short weeks he’s appointed a hard-right board of trustees who promptly fired the school president and are promising wholesale changes to remake the college in their image. And it’s left the school’s tight-knit community shaken to its core.

“This last month has felt a little dystopian. These people like DeSantis and the people he’s appointed, they clearly don’t know what New College is, but they’re trying to control what we’re learning and who we are,” Madison Markham, a fourth year sociology major, told VICE News.

Students on campus see DeSantis’ aggressive efforts as part of a wider program of right-wing educational indoctrination—an effort that could go national if he becomes president.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d37g3/ron-desantis-new-college-christopher-rufo

Yeah expect more independent thought alarms and fewer criticisms of Ron DeSantis and Fox News in the event that he should become president. It’s truly beyond the pale and a slap in the face to the Bill Of Rights what is going on in Florida. The Christian right really is stepping in it, and we can’t help but wonder why DeSantis and Tucker Carlson haven’t been dragged before The Hague yet to answer for these disgusting crimes against humanity. But DeSanits seems bent on remaking Florida education to answer to conservative white males and it’s not going to stop at New College. If you’re not frightened by this, you’re not paying enough attention. What Fox and Desantis are doing to Florida education is stunningly evil and we can’t have this happen on a national level. Fuck.

The Ron DeSantis takeover of Florida higher education was on full display Tuesday. First the Republican governor announced plans to defund diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at state colleges and universities. Then, later that day, his handpicked trustees at New College of Florida convened for their first board meeting, where they ousted the president and began the process of reshaping the institution into a facsimile of Hillsdale College, a private Christian institution in Michigan.

DeSantis, now in his second term, launched the opening act on Tuesday when he announced promised higher education reforms. He proposed defunding DEI efforts and restricting the use of DEI statements in hiring practices, giving boards and presidents the power to review tenure at any time, and requiring that state research universities spend $50 million annually on research related to STEM and business initiatives. Lawmakers are likely to take up the reforms when the state Legislature convenes in March.

The legislation DeSantis championed mandates that “any general education course be based on providing a strong educational foundation, and not promote ideological indoctrination.” DeSantis also announced plans to develop civics institutes at the University of Florida, Florida International University and Florida State University.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/02/01/desantis-puts-action-his-plan-end-woke-activism

[font size="8"]AT&T
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Well, we did have a brief bit of good news last week as it announced that the network that I’ve heard on Twitter being referred to as “Fox News on bath salts”, Newsmax, was getting the heave ho from DirecTV that it so richly deserved. But it’s causing the right wing outrage machine to melt straight the fuck down and we’re here for every second of it. But don’t get too comfortable. Because right wing media is so easily interchangeable, there’s thousands of shows out there. Whether it’s Alex Jones or Tucker Carlson or Ben Shapiro or Candace Owens or Charlie Kirk or Sean Hannity or Dennis Prager. Right wing propaganda is so highly specialized that you can get your shows custom tuned to your level of racism and sexism. Of course you know the one guy who has to ruin everything managed to stick his nose in this crap. Yes, I’m talking about the grand exalted leader of the MAGAs, that guy who we inexplicably used to call president. You know, him. He is the ruiner of all things that are considered good and decent. So naturally when he sticks his nose into someone else’s businesss, it’s not going to end well for anybody involved. But don’t boo yet. Hold your boos.

Donald Trump is famously addicted to television, obsessing over ratings throughout his presidency and even preferring to watch the Capitol riot play out live across the rolling news channels on 6 January 2021 rather than intervene as members of his inner circle begged him to do.

While the Republican was once dependent on Fox News for favourable coverage, he has more recently experienced a more fractious relationship with the conservative broadcaster and preferred its upstart right-wing rivals like Newsmax and One America News (OAN).

But, on Wednesday, US streaming service DirecTV – formally part of AT&T but now an independent entity – announced that it would be dropping Newsmax from its lineup, just as it had previously ditched OAN. The move provoked a furious reaction from the ex-Apprentice host.

“WOW. AT&T DIRECTV REMOVES NEWSMAX FROM ITS CHANNEL LINEUP,” Mr Trump complained on his Truth Social platform. “This disgusting move comes after ‘deplatforming’ OAN last year. The Radical Left seems to have taken over the mind and soul of AT&T. This is a big blow to the Republican Party, and to America itself.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-at-t-newsmax-directv-oan-b2269881.html

Come on, I said don’t boo just yet! Calm down MAGA conspiracy theory addicts, you’ll get your next fix. Right wing news is a powerful drug and some are helpless when they fall under its’ spell. So guess what the conservative Congress is doing? They’re holding hearings and investigations! Because this was a blatantly political hit job! No it wasn’t, it was just another one of those DirecTV subscriber disputes that they use as an excuse to jack up your satellite bill. And these hearings are going to accomplish… absolutely nothing! That’s right, just like most of their outrage nonsense.

Republican lawmakers have rushed to the defense of far-right TV network Newsmax after the channel was dropped by AT&T’s DirecTV. According to the satellite television provider, the split stemmed from a carriage fee dispute that would have resulted in “significantly higher costs” and increased customer fees. The channel claims they are being wrongfully censored for their political viewpoints, and have already found allies amongst Republican lawmakers.

The party of free-market capitalism has responded to DirecTV booting Newsmax by arguing that the network should carry the Trump-loving propaganda network, financial considerations be damned. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told Newsmax, which is still available for free on their website, that the “censorship” of conservative voices has “got to stop.”

“They’re trying to shut down our voices, and we’ve gotta fight for this,” Scott said.

House Republicans — who have prioritized petty cultural grievances over actual issues like the debt ceiling crisis — are even calling for an investigation. Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), and Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) all called for hearings to be held, as did Scott.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/newsmax-dropped-att-republicans-hearings-1234668934/

Ooooooooooooooooooh… big threat conservatives! Just like your Disney bullshit. It’s hilarious that the party of free enterprise is busy literally dictating and threatening business enterprises that they don’t agree with politically. But then again, that’s what happens when a political party morphs into a way too literal death cult. Now here’s where you can boo. We’re not getting rid of right wing propaganda, it’s merely being replaced by – wait for it – more right wing propaganda! Remember what I said about propaganda being custom tailored to your level of racism and sexism? Well, it’s basically the same shit on Newsmax but with a different label!

Fox News castaway Bill O’Reilly and Donald Trump sycophant Liz Wheeler, formerly of OAN, lead The First’s lineup of talent, which also includes former Breitbart editor Dana Loesch. Adding insult to injury, The Daily Beast reports The First will take over the very channel formerly occupied by Newsmax.

“On multiple occasions, we made it clear to Newsmax that we wanted to continue to offer the network, but ultimately Newsmax’s demands for rate increases would have led to significantly higher costs that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base,” DirecTV told the Daily News on Wednesday.

Newsmax spun the unsuccessful negotiations differently.

“This is a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship against Newsmax,” the network’s CEO Christopher Ruddy claimed.

Former President Donald Trump called DirectTV’s split with Newsmax “disgusting” on social media, blaming the “Radical Left” for the separation. Donald Trump, Jr. called for a boycott on Twitter. Numerous Republican congressmen signed a letter urging DirecTV and its parent company AT&T to explain its decision before learning a new conservative network would replace Newsmax.
https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-newsmax-replace-the-first-directv-20230126-ckerivy4f5dghjsjip4x4k52qa-story.html

OK! Now you can boo! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Come on, AT&T, if there’s one thing we don’t need in this country, it’s more right wing bullshit polluting our airwaves, stop it with that nonsense! There’s too much of this shit out there. Right wing propaganda is a perfect example of a perfectly competitive industry for you economics majors who might be tuned in – there’s thousands of shows out there and they all show the same bullshit. It’s fear porn, bombastic headlines, and talking points. Just stop it with this nonsense already! But the MAGA conspiracy theory junkies won’t have to wait long before their next fix.

Last week, DirecTV announced it would be dropping the right-wing TV channel Newsmax from its lineup, which Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy called “a blatant act of political discrimination.” Pouring cold water on this accusation, DirecTV has since announced it will be replacing Newsmax's empty slot with a different right-wing channel, The First, whose on-air personalities include former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch and disgraced Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. Newsmax's removal has sparked a chorus of condemnations from GOP lawmakers, including House Oversight Chair James Comer, who promised last week to hold congressional hearings into the matter, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who vowed Monday, “You’re going to see action taken.”

But while right-wing outrage might abound in Congress, the same, surprisingly, cannot be said for the country's leading conservative news network. The Daily Beast reported Monday that Fox News “has only devoted 35 seconds of airtime to Newsmax getting the boot—via a brief mention from Howard Kurtz,” who undermined Newsmax’s claims of discrimination against conservatives in noting “that DirecTV replaced Newsmax with another right-wing channel.” Newsmax railed against Fox’s silence in a statement to The Daily Beast Monday, with a rep telling the outlet, “The fact Fox News won’t cover this blatant censorship of a conservative network like Newsmax demonstrates they can’t be trusted to be the only source of news for millions of Americans.” (Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/newsmax-directv-fox

[font size="8"]Marjorie Greene
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Holy crap. We’re nearly a month into this Congress and it feels like a fucking eternity has passed, hasn’t’ it? And we still have two more years of this shit show? OMG it’s going to be a long two years, isn’t it? At least there is some good news to report out of this preview of what American fascism is going to look like. It’s at least good to know that there’s at least a few rules that are still being enforced on Elon Musk’s insane version of Twitter. Cause our old friend Marjorie Three Names (Q – Batshit) got suspended yet again, and this time it looks like it may be permanent. Which is pretty sad. You’re in Congress! You’re not supposed to be a social media troll or an Infowars correspondent! Stop going on Steve Bannon’s show, nobody wants to hear your white supremacist replacement theory bullshit besides other white supremacists. They don’t call it an “echo chamber” for nothing. But I do love that Marjorie is the only person from this Congress who so far got permanently suspended. We can’t help but think that Lauren Boebert, Ronny Jackson, and Paul Gosar won’t be too far behind her.

Twitter permanently suspended the personal account of far-right politician Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for repeated violations of the social network’s policy prohibiting COVID misinformation.

Greene’s @mtgreenee account on Twitter has been permanently suspended; she still has access her official congressional account, @RepMTG. Before Twitter banned the @mtgreenee account, it had 465,000 followers. The account’s bio read, “Congresswoman for GA-14, Christian, Wife, Mom, Small Business Owner, Proud American 100% Pro-Life Pro-Gun Pro-Trump.”

Twitter banned Greene after she tweeted false information on New Year’s Day (Saturday, Jan. 1) about COVID vaccines. In a post on Twitter, she in part called vaccines “dangerous” and made the bogus claim that “extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths are ignored.” The U.S. currently is experiencing a massive spike in COVID cases related to the spread of the omicron variant of the virus.

“We permanently suspended the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy,” a Twitter rep said in a statement to Variety. “We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.”
https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/marjorie-taylor-greene-twitter-banned-covid-1235145900/

Thank you Nelson! Well, in case you’re wondering how the MAGA / America First / Infowars / American Taliban / Fox News agenda is going in the 2023 Congress, well, it’s not going well. People are waking up to how dangerous this ideology is, and it could end very badly for America if it is not dealt with in a timely manner. Because tomorrow may be too late. Apparently the latest outrage du jour in MAGA conspiracy theory crazy land is that Joe Biden was selling oil to the Chinese Communist Party (which is a MAGA racist dog whistle), but even conservatives knew this bill was a steaming pile of bullshit.

For the last year, President Joe Biden has released a record amount of oil from America's petroleum reserves in order to increase oil supply and lower the price of gasoline that skyrocketed at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

-snip-

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Thursday proposed an amendment that would have prevented Biden from selling oil in the future to combat high gas prices.

In justifying the amendment, Greene argued that "we need to chart a path back to energy independence and ensure President Biden is not able to sell our critical oil supplies to China and other enemy nations," this is why she wants to "prevent Biden from claiming an emergency to further reduce our strategic oil supplies."

It seems that the vast majority of members of Congress -- including the vast majority of her Republican colleagues -- thought that this was a bad idea, as a vote on the amendment ended with just 14 votes in favor and a whopping 418 votes opposed.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-s-amendment-to-bar-biden-from-selling-oil-goes-down-in-massive-bipartisan-defeat/ar-AA16MAbk?cvid=73ea0b2fdbc64a489c9650af7cf1b05f

Ha ha!!! OK Nelson, we heard you! See, MAGA, you can cue up the outrage, hyperbole, and fear porn all you want. But the truth is that we’re not “owned” or “melting down” by your shenanigans. We’re laughing at you, because you have no original thoughts of your own! Your thoughts are all manufactured by the right wing outrage machine, which includes Fox, right wing talk radio, Infowars, TPUSA, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, nearly 2,000 right wing talk shows your megachurch pastor, I could go on and on! Thank you New York! Right wing propaganda is so highly specialized that you can get it tuned to your preferred level of racism and sexism. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! But moving on, it’s just proving more and more that these are losing ideals that have no place in post COVID America.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) offered an amendment on Thursday ― and it quickly went down in flames.

New House rules put in place by the Republican majority allow any lawmaker to offer an amendment. The Hill reported that led to some 140 amendments being proposed for a bill regarding the use of the strategic petroleum reserve. Greene’s proposed amendment would have forbidden President Joe Biden from selling oil from the reserve.

The conspiracy theorist ― who spoke last year at a white nationalist event ― was joined by just 13 others as the amendment failed 14-418.

Some believe Greene frenemy Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) was subtweeting her with this boast later in the day:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/oof-marjorie-taylor-greene-mocked-095052768.html

Yes, “working”. You keep using that word, but I do not think it means what you think it means. I mean come on, what actual work have you done other than be a social media troll? This is going to be a long two years, isn’t it? And I love when MAGAs scream that they didn’t do anything wrong but post a message on a social media board. You got suspended for being racist and posting COVID conspiracy theory bullshit! You did everything wrong! I like Congressional representatives who aren’t social media trolls. I’ll make an exception for Ted Lieu though, because that guy knows how to troll these morons good. Argh I’m so tired of these idiots!

Facebook suspended an account of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's for 24 hours for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, a day after Twitter permanently suspended the Republican's personal account on that platform.

On other social media platforms Monday, Greene shared a screenshot of a message from Facebook, alerting her that her account had been blocked.

"Facebook has joined Twitter in censoring me," Greene reportedly wrote in posts on the Telegram and Gettr networks. "This is beyond censorship of speech."

A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook, told NPR: "A post violated our policies and we have removed it; but removing her account [permanently] for this violation is beyond the scope of our policies."
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069753102/twitter-bans-marjorie-taylor-greenes-personal-account-over-covid-misinformation

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Hyundai And Kia Thefts
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It's time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

Certain late model Hyundai and Kia vehicles have recently become the target of car thieves. A viral Tik Tok video has been showing thieves just how easy it is to break into vehicles such as the Hyundai Kona, Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Optima, Optima Hybrid, and Kia Soul. The models can range anywhere from 2015 – 2021. Thieves can break into these cars and start them using nothing more than a flat head screwdriver and a USB-A cable. And the reason why these cars were so easy to break into is because they lack engine immobilizers which means that the car could be started without a key fob present in the cabin. But does this mean that insurance companies are right to blacklist the owners of these vehicles? Two of the biggest insurance companies – State Farm and Progressive are declining coverage of these cars because of how easy it is to break into them. Which really is more punishing the owners than it is anything else.

he aftermath of the Kia Boys continues, as major insurance companies now refuse to insure new Hyundai and Kia models for being too easy to steal. Now, according to a recent report from WWL-TV in New Orleans, two State Farm employees have provided a list of all the Hyundai and Kia models that are blacklisted from being added to insurance policies. The list allegedly applies to Louisiana, Georgia, Oregon, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Although, the Louisiana Department of Insurance claims it hasn't been made aware of such restrictions.

The Drive has reached out to Hyundai for a statement and will update this story when we get one.

Earlier this year, stealing certain Hyundai and Kia models became so popular it was a TikTok trend. If thieves had access to the inside of the car, they could get away with certain models in under a minute, using nothing but a flathead screwdriver and a USB-A cable. Stealing the cars was as simple as yanking down on bottom of the plastic steering wheel column housing, thus breaking it off, ripping out the ignition cylinder, and using the end of a USB cable to turn the ignition.

The reason why such a simple theft worked was because a shocking amount of Hyundai and Kia models lacked engine immobilizers, which meant they didn't require a key or keyfob present to start the engine. However, Hyundai made engine immobilizers standard on all models starting in 2021, while Kia made them standard in 2022. Certain models received immobilizers earlier, such as the Kia Optima Hybrid (2016), Kia Sorento, and Hyundai Veloster (2018).
https://www.thedrive.com/news/these-hyundai-and-kia-models-are-blacklisted-by-state-farm-insurance-over-thefts

Things have got so bad because of this video that State Farm and Allstate are declining coverage of these vehicles. A lot of owners of these cars are screaming that this isn’t their fault that video is out there and causing people to break into these cars. So what is Hyundai and Kia doing to reassure owners that it’s OK to own these vehicles? Well both the insurance companies and the car manufacturers are exploring lots of different options to combat theft, much like Toyota is doing with late model Priuses and catalytic converter thefts. But it’s a complicated scenario with no easy solution.

Progressive and State Farm have dropped some older Hyundai and Kia vehicles due to their lack of anti-theft features, according to the companies and multiple reports.

The move comes after social media posts showed how to start certain Kia and Hyundai cars without the use of a key, prompting theft warnings from police.

James Bell, a spokesperson for Kia, said Monday the insurance companies' move impacts certain Kias built between 2011 and 2021 that are equipped with a steel key to "insert and turn to start" the ignition.

Ira Gabriel, a Hyundai spokesperson, hoped the actions would be temporary, he said in a Monday email to USA TODAY, but did not specify which vehicle years were affected.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2023/01/30/kia-hyundai-theft-issues-state-farm-progressive/11148537002/

One of the solutions being talked about is that could be just a simple fix in the car’s Bluetooth system. A car dealer in St. Louis has a novel solution called a “Bluetooth Interrupter” that would prevent the cars from being stolen. So is that all it would take? Anything is possible, and insurance companies and the car manufacturers are exploring different options to prevent car thefts. Hyundai is also exploring the option of simply providing a software update that could fix the issue. But software is only as good as the hardware. This could end the crisis. O r not.

“With my device on the car, even if they have a USB cord and turn it, it won’t start the car at all,” Silk said. “My product will keep the car from starting. Hence, they can’t steal it.”

So far, Silk has sold the product for $99, or $199 with technician installation.

He told NewsNation that Hyundai had reached out to him and asked him to send his product to them because they are not having any luck with their own product.

“They are actually looking at my product to possibly work together to stop this,” Silk said.

Due to the popularity of his product, Silk launched a website for the device so that Americans across the nation can have access to it. In addition to the device, he offers a sticker for $5 for the vehicle window that warns possible thieves that the car is equipped with the technology.

A Hyundai spokesman told Fox News Digital the company is aware of Silk’s product but is exploring options to provide a free software solution for customers that it hopes to make available by March.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/kia-hyundai-thefts-solution/

And by the way if you’re an owner of these cars and wondering just how bad it’s got, well you ain’t seen nothing yet. Well there’s reports of these thefts all over the country. In fact the DC Metro area reported something like 1/3 of all car thefts in the last two months were just Hyundai and Kia alone and nothing else even came close. So a software update could fix the problem – or it could make it worse. But there’s one thing we do know – is that thieves are not using these cars for good, and it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.

Own a Hyundai or Kia? Well, you should know they’ve proven to be popular brands for car thieves in D.C. this year.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), those two brands accounted for 31% of all stolen cars in D.C. through the first three weeks of the year.

D.C. Police Department data also showed, through the last three months of 2022, an uptick in the number of those cars stolen from District streets.

Two Northeast D.C. residents, living in the same apartment building, off the 1600 block of Maryland Avenue, Northeast, said their Kia Souls were targeted by thieves this week too.

On Saturday, Northeast D.C. resident and 'Congress Heights on the Rise' blogger Nikki Peele, said someone took her Kia Soul out of her garage at the Union Heights apartment building.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crime/mpd-kia-hyundai-thefts-made-up-one-third-of-dcs-stolen-cars-in-early-january/65-d5aa395c-1443-4667-ba61-97ab0c046447

That’s it this week for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: Satanic Panic At The Grammys
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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! You know we live in strange times. The social media era has brought about new levels of conservative nuttery that we’ve never seen before. For my audience members who were alive during the 80s, you all remember the Satanic Panic? It was when conservative Christians everywhere reported satanic abuse rituals. It was kind of the modern day version of the Salem Witchcraft Trials from the 1600s. It may have been started by a book called “Michelle Remembers”. OK, enough history. Let’s fast forward to the present. Last week was the Grammy Awards. Since the news has been replaced with conspiracy theories, people who speak MAGA wouldn’t know what a real musical performance is if it jumped up and bit them. But Sam Smith and Kim Petras may have sparked a new modern Satanic Panic movement and it’s the stuff of insanity. And the more you go down the wormhole, the weirder it gets.

The post Ted Cruz Calls Sam Smith and Kim Petras “Evil” as Right Spreads Satanic Panic Conspiracies appeared first on Consequence.

Following Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ performance of “Unholy” at the 2023 Grammy Awards, Senator Ted Cruz called the artists”evil” and conservatives flooded social media with Satanic panic and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.

Smith, who is nonbinary, and Petras, a transgender woman, performed their international smash hit “Unholy” in moody red lighting, with Smith dressed like the display window in a Spirit Halloween while centered in a circle of dancers who looked like they’d just stepped out of the television in The Ring. Afterwards he threw it back to Petras, writhing suggestively inside a cage in front of a fiery backdrop.

“This… is… evil,” Cruz wrote on Twitter, the ellipses perhaps representing the breaks he took to consume more pornography. His post was a re-tweet from conservative commenter and former OANN presenter Liz Wheeler, famed for having the kind of brain you normally find in an aquarium. “Demons are teaching your kids to worship Satan,” she wrote. “I could throw up.”
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ted-cruz-calls-sam-smith-163422752.html

Evil??? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! That’s a good one, Teddy! You might want to take a look in the mirror, because you are EVIL! You and your Christian right buddies! Because you do not stand for anything good in this world. You represent darkness! Your favorite president is the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! But I do love that Sam Smith’s performance at the Grammys is causing conservatives to let their conspiracy theory freak flag fly!

Conservatives are clutching their pearls in horror over Sam Smith and Kim Petras' cheeky performance at the Grammys.

During Sunday night's ceremony, the pair took center stage to perform their hit song "Unholy," which also won the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The hell-themed showcase featured several red-robed dancers, cages, whips and Smith sporting a top hat adorned with red devil horns.

Naturally, conservative critics took offense at this apparent love letter to the Prince of Darkness and took to Twitter to slam the performance. The comments ranged from interpreting the number as an actual Satanic ritual to – what else? – an attempt to advance the vaccine agenda.

"If as a Christian, you think we are reaching when we talk about the dominance and normalization of Satan worship in pop music, you need discernment," wrote Christian life coach Solomon Buchi. "Sam Smith's performance at the Grammy's last night was satanic, gory. No, it's not art; it's symbolic of who they serve."
https://www.salon.com/2023/02/06/sam-smith-grammys-satan-phizer-unholy/

You know what conservatives? If this bothers you, I highly suggest turning off Fox News and coming back to the real world, OK? But it’s not just conservatives, it’s the usual group of MAGA idiots and Fox News hosts that are sparking the outrage machine. But why are they fueling anti-vaccine hysteria too? Well it’s because Mr. Smith’s performance was sponsored by Pfizer. So yeah naturally link the vaccine to SAYTAN hysteria! Because you know that it’s the conservative thing to do. Sigh, you know this is going to get worse before it gets better.

Right-wing influencers in the US on Monday stoked moral panic over Sam Smith dressing as Satan for a performance at the Grammy Awards.

In a posting on Twitter, Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized the performance and referenced anti-vaccine conspiracy theories about pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, one of the sponsors of the awards.

Some right-wing figures have pushed baseless claims about the COVID-19 vaccines developed by the company.

"The Grammy's featured Sam Smith's demonic performance and was sponsored by Pfizer. And the Satanic Church now has an abortion clinic in NM that requires its patients to perform a satanic ritual before services. American Christians need to get to work," said Greene.
https://www.businessinsider.com/conservatives-kim-petras-sam-smith-satan-unholy-grammy-devil-2023-2

Come on, conservatives, live a little! It’s just music! If you’re offended by Sam Smith’s performance, well I’ll have to tell you about this band called Twin Temple. Or maybe Ghost is more to your liking. But that’s some light satanism. You know what they say about the devil being in the details. Well, of course here, in my church, we’re pretty much for anything that would cause the Christian right to get their collective underwear in a wad. And of course it’s more culture war bullshit being brought to you by Fox News and Christian right megachurch pastors. You know what? I say let ‘em melt down. Just grab some popcorn and watch your religious right friends’ heads explode.

“I know we on the right probably use the word satanic too often but this performance from Sam Smith is literally a tribute to Satan,” wrote Human Events editor Ben Kew.

While many conservatives were melting down over Smith and Petras’ performance, the majority of Grammy viewers were celebrating the duo’s historic evening. “Unholy” won the Grammy for best pop duo/group performance, making Petras the first openly transgender woman to win in the category.

“I just want to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open before me so I could be here tonight,” Petras said in her acceptance speech. When asked about the fiery performance backstage at the Grammys, Petras said it was inspired by not feeling accepted by religion.

“I think a lot of people, honestly, have kind of labeled what I stand for and what Sam stands for as religiously not cool, and I personally grew up wondering about religion and wanting to be a part of it but slowly realizing it didn’t want me to be a part of it,” Petras said. “So it’s a take on not being able to choose religion. And not being able to live the way that people might want you to live, because as a trans person I’m already not kind of wanted in religion. So we were doing a take on that and I was kind of hell-keeper Kim.”
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/ted-cruz-slams-sam-smith-kim-petras-grammys-evil-performance-1235514438/

Well, like I said, just sit back and watch the meltdown! It’s fun to watch the Christian right be in hysterics over a music performance. Next week’s outrage du jour will be fun to watch too! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]People Who Somehow Got Elected: J.D. Vance
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Politicians at the state and local levels who are so toxic, you wonder how they’re able to get away with the things they get away with. This is:

This week: newly installed Ohio senator, trust fund manager, and self-proclaimed hillbilly with money, J.D. Vance. How did this guy get elected? Well the qualifications for running for any office in the republican party are simple: speak Republicanese. And spout the stupidest shit that comes to mind no matter how toxic it can get. JD Vance is a fundamentalist Christian conspiracy theorist. He’s so devout that he might as well be a member of the American Taliban. So of course he’s going full in on the conspiracy theory train. Starting with some insane beliefs about Ukraine. Yes, the Ukraine war has been going on for over a year now and we’re doing everything possible to humiliate Vladimir Putin and his terrorist army. But American MAGA republicans on the other hand, might as well start kissing Putin’s ass because they’re on his side. And you can’t tell us that there was no Russian collusion in the 2016 election because there absolutely was.

When JD Vance took over for Rob Portman on Jan. 3 it may have been a Republican replacing a Republican in the U.S. Senate, but in the Northeast Ohio Ukrainian Community there was a stark contrast between the two men.

"Senator Portman was one of the leaders in the Senate, he was co-chair of the Senate Caucus on Ukraine,” said Andy Fedynsky, director, Ukrainian Museum-Archives. “And JD Vance ,in his campaign, came out very negatively on Ukraine— so sure it's a big concern."

Concerns that grew last week when Vance penned a letter to the Biden administration demanding an accounting of funds the U.S. has sent to Ukraine. Money that Portman pushed hard for.

“I’ve been very skeptical from the beginning that our Ukraine policy is actually accomplishing much other than destroying the country of Ukraine,” Vance told News 5 Wednesday. “And, obviously raising the risk of potential escalation down the road in a way that can affect us, can affect a lot of our allies in Europe.”

But regardless of where you stand on the war, he said it’s just a question of fiscal responsibility.
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/politics/ohio-politics/ohio-sen-jd-vance-has-concerns-about-ukraine-sending-tanks-overseas

Yes, we’re booing. A somewhat sane republican got replaced with a hard lined MAGA ass kisser and bootlicker. But what accounting are they looking for? Obviously, there is no playing nice with the MAGAs, because they’re just looking to fuck things up and be against anything remotely resembling progress, and that’s about it. What do they want? No matter what answer we give them, they’ll just dismiss it as saying that it’s a fake or it didn’t happen or it was a false flag. Because there is no accountability with the MAGAs. None, whatsoever.

Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance will call on the Biden administration to release an "accounting" of how U.S. aid to Ukraine is being used.

The freshman senator told WLWT his office is circulating a letter among fellow Republican colleagues in Congress to try and shore up support.

"We've sent close to $120 billion to Ukrainians, who, of course, are fighting off a really bad invasion from Russia. If you compare that, we spend $60 billion on our own homeland security," Vance said. "All I'm asking for at this stage is just some accounting of where we're spending that money."

The exact amount of aid the U.S. has sent to Ukraine is unclear. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The UNHCR reports as of October 2022, more than 7.7 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe.
https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-sen-jd-vance-letter-u-s-accounting-of-aid-to-ukraine/42474381

And by the way, you may have heard your MAGA conspiracy theorist friends and neighbors spouting crap about the Biden administration and gas stoves. Well, the MAGA crowd has to make everything an issue and we’re not going to hear the end of the gas stove controversy anytime soon. So expect plenty of pictures on right wing social media feeds about lighting up every single burner on your gas stove and just letting it run. Sure, you may kill yourself by asphyxiation or by a gas fire explosion, but hey, you’re owning the libs! Anyway, here’s where J.D. Vance stands on the issue:

In an interview with WLWT, freshman Sen. JD Vance says the Biden administration was caught “pretty red-handed” with a push to step in over gas stoves.

“Now they face some political blowback. They're kind of rolling it back and that's a good thing. But that's why you try to raise these issues and try to elevate these issues is to make sure that the administration doesn't get too far ahead of the science or public opinion on this,” Vance said.

A consumer safety official recently suggested to Bloomberg that the Consumer Product Safety Commission pursue a ban over gas stoves. One study links an associated risk of developing asthma in kids to gas stoves. Vance says Ohio itself has a robust industry in the appliance field and thousands of Ohioans, like the Vance household, already use them.

“Depending on which numbers you're looking at, between 20 to 40% of Ohioans cook their meals every night. So just banning those would be destructive economically, really, really challenging to a lot of families. But the flip side of it is we've got a home appliance industry in Ohio that's close to $5 billion in wages, 26,000 employees,” Vance said.
https://www.wlwt.com/article/ohio-senator-jd-vance-biden-gas-stoves/42476539

Yeah so that’s happening. In the MAGA world, anything that we might be for, they’re automatically against. It’s the “I know you are but what am I” logical fallacy. That might have worked on the Pee Wee’s Playhouse show, but it doesn’t work in real life. And in case you’re wondering what Mr. Vance’s political beliefs are, well, let’s just say that he’s on the side of MAGA and the side of insane right wing religious conspiracy theory beliefs. Yes, he’s in a war on pornography and women’s rights. He thinks the Handmaid’s Tale is an instruction manual. It isn’t. In case you’re wondering who he’s endorsing for the 2024 election, well, you’ll be shocked.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a rising conservative star who won a hard-fought race to replace retired Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), announced Tuesday that he will back Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

Vance, who won Ohio’s competitive Senate Republican primary last year after receiving Trump’s endorsement, told radio host Hugh Hewitt “the simple fact is Donald Trump’s policies were incredibly good for this country and he’s very popular among Republican voters.”

“In Ohio Republican circles, I’d say well over half the people in our party want Trump to run and will vote for him in the primary if he does. You know, look, I’m planning to support the [former] president in ’24,” Vance said.

“I’m actually going to have an article come out here in the next couple of days that explains why,” he added.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3837732-vance-says-he-will-back-trumps-2024-presidential-campaign/

That’s newly installed Ohio MAGA senator J.D. Vance – living proof that anyone speaking republican and being in tune with the cult can get elected in red areas. Just another one of the toxic politicians to add to the ever growing list of:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner

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Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! See, conspiracies are for people who don’t want to read beyond the headlines or think for themselves, which is why they are getting weirder and weirder with each day. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter in the New Mexico badlands, undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all! There we go! So this week we’re going to lighten the mood and talk about Nazis, that’s right! Nazis and white supremacy are becoming fashionable again, thanks to Donald Trump dining with neo Nazi influencer Nick Fuentes and embattled social media troll and former shoe salesman Kanye West, who famously said that we should love everyone, including Hitler. So no surprise that Nazism is filtering into places where we least expect it.

An alleged “Nazi homeschooling group” based in Ohio has been widely condemned, amid reports that it distributed lesson plans which included writing exercises based on quotes by Adolf Hitler.

A couple calling themselves “Mr and Mrs Saxon” established the “Dissident Homeschool” channel on Telegram in 2021, according to reporting by Anonymous Comrades Collective, an anti-fascist research group, verified by Huffpost and Vice.

The channel, which has almost 2,500 subscribers, distributes “ready-made lesson plans”, Huffpost reported, including history lessons which praise the Confederate general Robert E Lee as a “grand role model for young, white men” and denigrate Martin Luther King Jr as “the antithesis of our civilization and our people”.

The Saxons were identified by Huffpost and Vice as Logan and Katja Lawrence, from Upper Sandusky, a town of about 7,000 in northern Ohio.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/01/nazi-homeschooling-group-ohio-condemned

So for those of you who don’t know what Telegram is, it’s a Russian owned social media service that’s way more racist than Twitter. Not at all surprised that there are Nazis lurking on that platform. But the good news is that the people who found out about the alleged scheme gave the man who founded the group the heave ho. But it’s scary to think that there’s actual Nazis on American soil. If I recall, didn’t we fight an entire World War against them? But really it’s truly insane that this is happening in this country right now.

A small family-run business that employed one of the purported leaders of a White supremacist, pro-Nazi homeschooling network announced he is no longer an employee as a result of “this disturbing and secretive behavior.”

The Lawrence Insurance Agency, with an office in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, released a statement condemning the messages and so-called lessons that have come to light from the social media-based homeschooling network.

“The viewpoints & ideology recently expressed by Logan Lawrence and his wife in no way represent the values of Lawrence Insurance Agency,” the statement said. “We emphatically denounce what they have said and done & we wholeheartedly empathize with all who have been hurt, upset, and disturbed by their conduct.”

Based on an investigation by online anti-fascist research group Anonymous Comrades Collective and resulting media reports, local officials believe the group is run out of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. The online research group named Logan and Katja Lawrence as the leaders of the homeschooling network, otherwise known as “Mr. Saxon” and “Mrs. Saxon.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/02/us/ohio-white-supremacist-homeschooling-network-employment/index.html

You know with friends like these, who needs enemies? And you might be asking where are the real educators in all of this? Well the superintendent of said area where the Saxons reside spoke out, and naturally they’re beyond horrified. Even one Nazi is too many but the fact that there’s 2,500 of them out there? That’s some really scary shit. And you know we all know the only acceptable thing to do with Nazis – is to throw them in the dumpster and that’s about. Instead we have a megalomaniacal billionaire who pays $44 billion for a social media network to give them a megaphone!

The school superintendent of an Ohio city where neo-Nazi-themed home-schooling curriculum is reportedly being used and widely shared online says his "district vehemently condemns any such resources."

"The allegations are egregious," Eric Landversicht, superintendent of Upper Sandusky Exempted Village Schools, wrote in a letter to the school community that he provided Monday to the USA TODAY NETWORK Ohio.

The curriculum made national news in an article published online by Vice News based on a report published last week by the anti-fascist research group Anonymous Comrades Collective.

The Vice article claims that a couple from Wyandot County created the "Dissident Homeschool" channel, a social media outlet that distributes its lesson plans for elementary students to more than 2,400 subscribers nationwide.
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/state/2023/01/30/ohio-superintendent-speaks-against-nazi-curriculum-created-by-family/69854810007/

Wow, I did not see that coming! Oh come on, that’s the joke you choose to walk out on? You knew that one was coming! So America’s got a Nazi problem on our hands and it’s definitely going to get worse before it gets better. And you might be wondering – how did it get this bad? Well, I answer you good / sir madam, it’s once again thanks to reckless conservative policies. And we always say that what the parents watch has an effect on how the kids grow up. If the parents spend all day listening to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson, don’t be surprised when they grow up to be raving, gun toting neo nazis with an ego complex and a grudge against the government.

Bishop Sycamore was laid bare in 2021 when its football team was getting beaten so badly during a nationally televised game in Canton that the analysts on ESPN were heard expressing concern for the boys' safety.
Charita Goshay

It was later discovered that the team at times played two games a week, and that the school itself barely existed.

But Bishop Sycamore is Harvard University compared to an online charter school in Upper Sandusky in which hundreds of American children are being instructed in the elements of Nazism.

Until recently, "The Dissident Homeschool" channel on Telegram offered pro-Nazi lesson plans for elementary-age kids.

It has been subscribed to by more than 2,400 families.
https://www.the-review.com/story/opinion/columns/2023/02/05/neo-nazi-school-in-ohio-was-made-possible-by-the-states-weak-policies/69856822007/

[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. And before I begin I always like to preface what makes a People Are Dumb story. And not all People Are Dumb stories are stupid criminals, but I do love me a good stupid criminal story. Like give me a story where a guy steals a car and then runs over the “do not back up” tire spikes, or a guy who steals a car and doesn’t know how to operate a manual stick shift, and I’m a happy guy! I want to start with this story out of New York City, that surprisingly isn’t a stupid criminal story. But it is the epitome of People Are Dumb. So New York City has been busy building a shiny new Grand Central Station to the tune of $11 billion dollars. Now since the opening of said train station, one plaque has been getting a lot of attention. See, here’s the thing, if you’re spending $11 BILLION on a new train station, you’d better make sure everything is perfect, otherwise you might want to skip town for a bit. Wanna get away ?

New York gained a bright, shiny new train terminal last week and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority decorated the walls with brilliant and moving quotes about the Big Apple from some of the city’s most famous residents. Unfortunately, one quote features an embarrassing typo.

“One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt,” is attributed to one “Georgia O’Keefe” and adorns the mezzanine wall in Grand Central Madison. That name is only one letter off from the name of one of the most important modernist American painters of the 20th Century.

“We clearly f-ed this one up and it’s being fixed,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority Communications Director Tim Minton said in a statement to Bloomberg, referring to the missing F in the name.

Known primarily for her modernist paintings of flowers, animal skulls and skyscrapers, O’Keeffe learned her craft at the Art Students League in New York, as well as lived in the city early on in her career. Here’s what the Georgia O’Keeffe museum says about her connection to New York:
https://jalopnik.com/nycs-brand-new-11-billion-train-terminal-misspelled-ge-1850055134?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=dlvrit&utm_content=jalopnik

Next up – we go to this story out of Mexico. Because as we say, there’s no shortage of stupid people anywhere in the world! OK so here’s the thing – you’re at a Christmas or holiday party and someone is serving up some really good grub. Well, what if that person was a zoo director and the animals were part of said zoo? Yeah this whole story is absolutely insane and it’s a perfect example of People Are Dumb because if there’s one thing you never want to do, it’s get caught. And how this guy got caught is really the stuff of insanity. I really can’t wait for the Netflix documentary on this guy!

The former director of a zoo in southern Mexico killed four of the zoo’s pygmy goats and served them up at a Christmas-season party, authorities said.

José Rubén Nava was replaced as director of the local zoo in the city of Chilpancingo on Jan. 12 following the death of a deer there.

But officials said Tuesday that an investigation found some of the animals in the zoo’s collection had allegedly been sold off, traded or eaten under Nava’s orders.

The state environment department said a zebra was traded for tools and deer and Watusi cattle were traded off to private individuals, without proper accounting.

It was not clear if Nava had been formally charged in the case, or if he had a lawyer.

But the most shocking accusation was made by Fernando Ruiz Gutierrez, the state environment department's director of wildlife. He said Nava had four of the zoo's male pygmy goats killed and cooked for an end-of-year banquet.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/former-mexico-zoo-director-killed-cooked-4-goats-for-christmas-party?taid=63dbbe659511e10001d540cd&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

Next up – Florida Man, what are you doing? Florida has been consistently putting out quality People Are Dumb stories since the inception of this program. We don’t mean to pick on Florida all the time, but we do pick on Florida all the time. Because of stories like this. So when you see “Florida Man threatens to fight everyone after the bars close”, you gotta click on it, right? I’ve been to a lot of bars in my lifetime, and I’ve consumed quite a lot of drinks. But I’ve never been so drunk that I wanted to fight everyone who was hanging out at the bar!

The line between night and morning was blurred Saturday in Cape Coral. Last call had come and gone, and the lingering crowd was beginning to disperse.

Cape Coral Police watched the clock click past three in the morning, yet the street outside the establishments was still a frenzy of activity.

“Can you go over and take care of that guy?”

A random citizen approached the patrol car, concerned about a half-naked man turning the evening celebrations into chaos. “He spit in my friend’s face and was running around grabbing people.” As another man, swiping spittle from his face, confirmed the act of aggression, police made their way to the mass of alcohol-induced to check the situation. ...........(more)

https://nbc-2.com/news/crime/2023/01/27/florida-man-challenges-all-comers-to-fight-following-dixie-roadhouse-last-call/amp/

Next up – bodily waste! Yes, they have a story for everything in the Sunshine State. So here’s a guy who broke into a Joe’s Crab Shack… and really of all the chain restaurants, you pick Joe’s Crab Shack? The discount Red Lobster? But when your police nickname is the “Pooping Perpetrator” then you should probably take a step back and rethink your life choices. Though I will say that “Pooping Perpetrators” are an awesome band, I saw them at the Troubadour!

Police in Florida are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying a man they have dubbed the “pooping perpetrator.“

Around 2:30 a.m. Jan. 21, a man caught on surveillance video broke into a Joe’s Crab Shack in Fort Myers, police say.

He allegedly climbed through a small window that he broke prior to stealing multiple items, including alcohol, and defecating on the floor prior to leaving.

He also stole a Joe’s Crab Shack hat off a shelf and wore it as he walked around the restaurant, WFLA-TV reports. ..............(more)

https://nypost.com/2023/01/23/florida-man-dubbed-pooping-perpetrator-sought-by-police-for-break-in/

Finally this week – this is the kind of story as to why People Are Dumb exists. You know I always say that at the end of the day after you hear all the bad news in the world, you really just want to see a story about someone who goes crazy and destroys a McDonalds because they ran out of chicken nuggets. So this story is along those lines.

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]World Tour 2023 Destination #3 Of 6 - Poland
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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:

[font size="4"]Destination #3 Of 6: Poland [/font]

We’re nearly at the end of our 2022 / 2023 World Tour and we’ve spanned the globe once again looking for conservative idiocy across this big blue marble floating in space that we call Earth. Or as it’s called by beings from another world, Midgard. This week we’re heading to Germany’s next door neighbors, the almighty Poland! Poland is of course home to ejector seats on helicopters and screen doors on submarines. Oh come on! I kid! I kid! Poland is the home to the world’s oldest salt mines and the world’s largest castle. It’s also the home of Vodka. That’s right, vodka didn’t originate in Russia, it originated in Poland. It’s also the home of Ekstralasa, it’s national football league. What else is Poland the home of? It is the home of what could possibly be the subject of Vladimir Putin’s next hostile takeover. But we learned a lot from the current Ukraine conflict and we hope to meet Putin at the door with advanced artillery the next nation he chooses to invade.

The US plans to sell Poland about $10 billion in weapons including 18 Himars rocket launchers and ammunition for the highly accurate mobile platform, the Pentagon announced Tuesday, shoring up a crucial NATO ally as Russia presses its war in neighboring Ukraine.

The package will also include the ATACMS long-range missile system and the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, according to a Defense Department statement. Two people familiar with the matter said Congress has been notified of the proposed deal, under the Foreign Military Sales program.

The sale builds on stepped-up US assistance since Russia’s Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago. Poland has been a strong supporter of Ukraine, including successfully pressing Germany for permission to send German-made Leopard II tanks to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s forces.

“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s military goals of updating capability while further enhancing interoperability with the United States and other allies,” the Pentagon said. “Poland intends to use these defense articles and services to modernize its armed forces and expand its capability to strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-07/us-to-sell-poland-10-billion-in-himars-ammunition

You know what? This seriously feels like we’re living in that movie Don’t Look Up, except replace the meteor in that movie with a megalomaniacal dictator with his finger on the nuclear weapons trigger who’s attempting to take over the world. And if too many people don’t stop his crap, his taking over the world may be inevitable. So we must stop him with everything that we got! You know what else Poland is the home of? Windmills! That’s right, windmills - you know that thing that Trump says will decrease your property values and give you cancer. That’s right. I still cannot believe that was a thing that happened, and that people want this guy to be a leader.

Poland's parliament on Wednesday passed two pieces of legislation the government hopes will unblock billions in European Union funds, but doubts remained over whether the president would sign the judicial reform bill into law.

Brussels has withheld 35.4 billion euros ($38 billion) in COVID-19 recovery funds in a row over the rule of law, and has set milestones on issues such as judicial independence and green energy which Warsaw must fulfil to get the cash.

The most contentious reforms for those in Poland's ruling camp concern the judicial system.

The bill would mean the Supreme Administrative Court would deal with disciplinary cases of judges instead of a contested chamber of the Supreme Court, which critics say has been used to punish judges critical of the government's judicial reforms.

It would also mean judges would not face disciplinary action for questioning the independence of colleagues appointed by organs that critics say are politicised.
https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/polish-parliament-passes-law-changing-rules-wind-power-investments-2023-02-08/

Now here’s something interesting – it turns out that Poland is the home of some long lost World War II treasures. That’s right – there apparently were some underground Nazi bunkers from World War II that were being excavated in Warsaw, and they were finding treasures in, of all places – the toilets! Yes, it’s quite the disgusting tale but it has a pretty interesting outcome. So what did they find in the old toilets, you might ask? Well I answer you good sir or madam – they found a lot of interesting stuff like gild, sculptures, medallions, fragments of destroyed artwork… interesting finds!

For most people, a trash-filled toilet is a headache to be dealt with, a mess to be cleaned or both. For archaeologists in Poland, however, a trash-filled toilet was a curiosity to be explored. Archaeologists in Warsaw were excavating the ruins of Saxon Palace — a 400-year-old structure destroyed by Nazi troops during World War II — when they found something in the cellars, according to a Jan. 26 news release from Science in Poland.

In the cellar, archaeologists uncovered a number of toilets and wells, most filled with trash. The structures had become less of a sewage system and more of a garbage can, explained excavations coordinator Maria Wardzyńska in the release.

Shoved between the bricks of one toilet, researchers found a diamond ring made of silver and gold. The valuable item is one of nearly 46,000 artifacts unearthed from the royal rubble
Archaeologists have also found coins, pottery vessels, fragments of destroyed sculptures and medallions, according to the release. Videos from Polska Agencja Prasowa, the Polish Press Agency, shows the red-brick palace ruins.

The Saxon Palace was originally built in the 1660s and became a royal residence in the 1720s, according to the State Archives in Warsaw. The building was expanded as its functions shifted throughout the 1700s.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article272219173.html#storylink=cpy

But remember what I said about that movie Don’t Look Up? It turns out that Poland was one of the countries that first alerted the world to the dangers of what Russia and the Vladimir Putin regime are up to, and all of their evil shenanigans. And Don’t Look Up is a very prophetic movie for the times that we live in right now. Everyone wants to go about living their lives like it’s no big deal, but there’s a mad man with nuclear weapons out for global domination. He’s knocking countries and governments off one by one and is going after the big prize. We need to stop him before it’s too late!

Ramzan Kadyrov, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has begun rattling off threats about attacking Poland after Ukraine.

Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, suggested Monday that Russia should “denazify and demilitarize” Poland next.

“What if, after the successful completion of the NMD, Russia begins to denazify and demilitarize the next country? After all, after Ukraine, Poland is on the map! I will not hide that I personally have such an intention,” Kadyrov said on Telegram. “I personally have such an intention, and I have repeatedly stated that the fight against Satanism should continue throughout Europe and, first of all, on the territory of Poland.”

Kadyrov warned Tuesday that the time has come for the West to fall to its knees before Russia, predicting that the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, would be over by the end of 2023.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-putin-ally-ramzan-kadyrov-says-he-will-not-hide-intention-to-invade-poland-anymore

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

Tourism: B
Culture: B
Political Spectrum: C
Liberal Appeal: C-

Overall: C-

Change from 2017: Poland is probably a good place to avoid right now, especially if Putin does target the country after he’s done with Ukraine. Hopefully they won’t have to use those tanks and rockets.

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

For destination #4 of 6, we’re heading back to Africa and specifically South Africa! Cue up some Toto for this one!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]The Dirty Heads [/font]

Folks my next guest has a great new album out called Midnight Control. You can see them at the Cali Vibes festival in Long Beach on Feb. 19th. Playing their song “Island Glow”, give it up for the Dirty Heads!

Thank you Philadelphia! This was fun! Go Eagles! We’re heading to Boston next week. See you next week!

Credits

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February 2, 2023

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-2: Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-2: Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yo!!! What’s up New York City??? So how you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Man it has been way too long since we’ve been back here and it feels good! It’s been since what… 2019 was the last time we were on the east coast? So yeah it has been a while. At least it’s good to know that LaGuardia hasn’t changed! Well I don’t know if you saw last week but I do have some bad news to report – we lost our primary source for all of the wacky clips that we bring you during our Wheel Of Corruption editions. Yes, I bid RIP to the Right Wing Watch channel on Youtube. Don’t worry though, we are currently searching for alternative methods to bring you all of our patented Clips Without Context! Oh and before we begin too, I want to preface by saying we will *NOT* cover the violent and brutal murder of Tyre Nichols. At least not yet. Because the Top 10 policy has always been that we don’t make fun of stories that are too horrifying to make fun of. So we will refrain at least for the time being. Do we have time for the thing? Well this is something that we may need to further explore in “I Need A Drink” next week. But there’s apparently a new restaurant in Connecticut that is the cause of the latest conservative freak out called “Woke”. Yup, that’s the name, and considering that things being “woke”, whatever that is, is the latest conservative outrage du jour, is totally crazy. I personally blame Fox News for this because they are the ruiner of everything that is good in this world. But come on, Woke is the perfect name for a breakfast place! But even Fox News has completely ruined that word now. Oh come on, people! It’s going to be a long 2 years isn’t it? But this just proves my point that conservatives and Fox News literally ruin everything that they touch. They’re like locusts, or maybe some kind of reverse King Midas. For which I could substitute the Spanish word for shit, Mierdas, and it would be fitting. Rupert Murdoch is King Mierdas! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Nice one! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to!But first Stephen Colbert is back with the return of a long favorite Colbert Report segment – The Word is back, kids! Yay!!!!!!

So far 2023 is barely a month old and there’s definitely no shortage of MAGA lunatics and conspiracy theorist nutjobs out there. It’s a melting pot of insanity! For that, the number 1 slot this week is going to go to Ron DeSantis (1) who seems hell bent on bringing you the full Fox News anti-“woke” hysteria fearmongering agenda and it’s going to tank the state and probably cost lives! Yeah we can totally thank Rupert Murdoch for this shit! In the second slot is our former vice president and guy who people wanted to publicly execute on January 6th, Mike Pence (2). So once again, Fox News, the source for most of our current misery, had this insane debate about classified documents being found at Biden’s house vs Trump’s Mar-A-Lago, and guess what? They found docs at Pence’s house too! The plot thickens! In the third slot this week is the GOP (3) and we’re going to to talk about the GOP and their increasingly hostile and grossly unconstitutional attacks on the drag community. And these are the same idiots who cry “freedom of speech”. Speaking of drag queens, in the fourth slot this week is our old buddy George Santos (4) who once again proves what a compulsive lying asshole he is and he can’t stop lying! But it’s totally on brand for MAGA! In the number 5 slot this week, we’re going to bring back our segment “Good Guys With Guns” (5) because a 6 year old in Virginia shot and almost murdered his teacher, and the more you dig into this story the weirder it gets, and just shows you how reckless and stupid America’s gun policies have become! In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, speaking of melting pots, our resident pastor is taking a look at the insanity coming from the ReAwaken America tour, which is a melting pot of far right conservative insanity with some insane religious fearmongering. What could go wrong? In the number 7 slot this week is our segment on relentless corporate greed, Late Stage Capitalism (7) and this week we’re taking a look at the battle between Congress and Ticketmaster over the Taylor Swift Eras tour, and Ticketmaster may have fucked with the wrong fan base here! in the number 8 slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week, did you know that Buffalo Bills linebacker Damar Hamlan died during that Monday Night game and was replaced with a body double? Neither did we, and the Q nuts are turning the crazy way past 11! In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have a new edition of “I Need A Drink” (9) and this week we’re taking a look at an incredibly bizarre lawsuit between the hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas and the makers of a toy unicorn that poops. Personally we’re rooting for the Black Eyed Peas in this one! Finally this week it’s stop #2 of 6 on our 2023 World Tour and we’re heading to the land of the 2022 World Cup Champions, Argentina! Plus to close things out, we have live music from one of the hottest bands in rock right now – Bad Omens! Really, buy their new album “The Death Of Peace Of Mind” or you’re no friend of this program. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Ron DeSantis
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Fox News is like that spoiled toddler that you see in Target who cries at the top of his lungs for his parents to buy him a shiny new toy until they cave in and do. See, since 2020, that network is mad that they lost their plaything – in this case their direct, nightly Batphone to the Trump White House on Sean Hannity’s show, so now they’re just unleashing their inner asshole. They don’t have Trump? Fine, they’ll go to the next most senior man on the list – Ron DeSantis (Q – Florida Man). He speaks Republican and prays to whatever conservatives call “god” these days, so he can do some damage. Well he is doing just that. In fact, what’s happening in Florida is a preview of what Rupert Murdoch’s vision for the United States is – a country that’s just descended to absolute chaos. That’s why the MAGA party has no intention of leading the United States. Their goal is to destroy it from within. Well, here’s a preview of what’s to come, and it’s a mish mash of insane COVID vaccine conspiracy theories, and whatever Fox News calls “woke”.

Despite facing pushback from medical professionals and businesses, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced legislation Tuesday that would make permanent a law to penalize companies that require employees to wear masks or be vaccinated for COVID-19 and added a new ban on medical boards reprimanding doctors for spreading COVID misinformation.

“This is just nuts that we’re still doing this,’’ DeSantis said to cheering supporters in Panama City Beach. “We need to be leading on this by making all of these protections permanent in Florida statute as we need to do in the upcoming legislative session.” The proposal will attempt to make permanent a series of laws passed by legislators in November 2021 after DeSantis called a special session aimed at restricting Florida businesses that were following a federal law requiring mask mandates or requiring employees to be vaccinated.

If approved by Florida legislators, the measure would continue to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements in schools and government, and prohibit COVID-19 vaccine requirements for employment or travel.

This year, DeSantis wants to expand the sanctions on businesses by prohibiting employers from hiring or firing based on vaccine status or wearing a mask, and he wants to revive a failed proposal from last year’s legislative session that would make it more difficult for a medical licensing board to reprimand or sanction a doctor for views expressed by the medical professional — including on social media.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article271286472.html#storylink=cpy

Yes that is a good question! What could possibly go wrong? Well a hell of a lot! And let’s face it, conservatives decided that COVID was over in July of 2020. Remember when Miami partied while the rest of the world watched in horror? And then Florida was the state with the highest case count in the entire country? That happened. So what else does Ron DeSantis have in store for the people of Florida who inexplicably voted to reelect him? Well for starters he’s going nuclear on Disney’s special district in the state of Florida.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that strips Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) of self-governing authority at its Orlando-area parks in retaliation for its opposition to a new law that limits the teaching of LGBTQ issues in schools.

The Republican-controlled legislature on Thursday approved the bill, which will eliminate the special governing jurisdiction that allows the company to operate Walt Disney World Resort as its own city. Within the 25,000-acre tract, it operates four theme parks, two water parks and 175 miles of roadway.

Disney's special status "was really an aberration," DeSantis said at a news conference where he signed the bill into law. "No individual or no company in Florida is treated this way."

Disney did not immediately comment on the bill's signing.

While the financial impact on the company and the state is uncertain, the change could alter how Disney operates its sprawling Central Florida empire and sour the close relationship it has enjoyed with the state for more than 50 years.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-governor-signs-bill-stripping-disney-self-governing-authority-2022-04-22/

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I love the South Park Mickey Mouse! But you know what? You don’t go there, Ron. I live 20 minutes from Disneyland. Disney fans are a whole different breed of animal. You don’t fuck with the mouse! It will definitely come back to haunt you! And I’m sure Fox News’ war on Disney has nothing to do with them buying the bulk of Fox Entertainment properties now does it? Yeah probably not. You know what else Ronnie is going nuclear on? Book bans. You know I never in a million years thought I’d be living in 1984, but here we are. This is some straight up Nazi shit and I fear it’s going to get worse.

An advocacy group that promotes free expression reports that Florida is among the states with the most book bans.

PEN America, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression in literature, released the report Monday, the start of Banned Books Week.

The findings are similar to those released last week by the American Library Association, which said efforts to censor books in the US are on track to surpass last year's count.

PEN America notes that Florida has book bans in 21 of the state's school districts involving 566 titles. The majority of banned books contain themes or characters involving the LGBTQ community and people of color.

The report also says most of the bans have been pushed by about 50 groups, including Moms for Liberty -- a parental rights group founded in Florida -- and the Florida Citizens Alliance. In St. Lucie County Schools, a complainant submitted official reconsideration challenges for 44 titles from the FLCA’s “Porn in Schools” report.
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/education/2022-09-20/florida-ranks-second-among-states-with-the-most-book-bans-report-finds

?b64lines=IElUJ1MgQSBQT1JOT0dSQVBIWQogU1RPUkUuIEkgV0FTIEJVWUlORwogUE9STk9HUkFQSFku

Seriously? What’s their definition of porn? What kind of searches are these people putting into Porn Hub that that’s what they’ve come up with? But book bans and vaccine bans are one thing. It’s insane to me that the party that’s bent on banning things and killing you for disagreeing with them are the ones who are most likely to scream “FREEDOM” at the top of their lungs! Because while they’re crying for their freedoms, they secretly want the other thing – fascism and authoritarianism. But leave it to Ron and Fox News to give us their definition of freedom in the 2024 elections. 2024 is going to get very ugly very quickly.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rocketed to Republican stardom thanks to his high-profile battles with the Biden administration, the millions he raised from donors, and his policies in Florida.

Today, he's the only Republican who polls close to former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 nomination race for the White House.

After handily winning reelection in November, his work in Florida isn't finished. The next few months of proposing and implementing his agenda are widely viewed in political circles as representative of the issues DeSantis plans to run on if he seeks the GOP nomination.

"I think you have seen that over the last four years when we say we are going to get something done, we get it done," DeSantis said during a press conference on January 12.
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-desantis-second-term-agenda-2024-presidential-run-2023-1

[font size="8"]Mike Pence
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Well the whole classified document debate is the gift that keeps on giving. Yes, I’m sure most people saw the endless debate between Fox and sane, rational people who don’t watch Fox about the classified documents found at Mar-A-Shithole vs the classified documents that were found at Joe Biden’s house in Delaware. Here’s the difference MAGAs – Joe Biden has been complying with the authorities and has actually returned pretty much everything that was found there. Trump on the other hand is like “But I’m the president! Aren’t I entitled to a few souvenirs?”. Sigh… a souvenir isn’t a document that contains highly classified documentation about where America’s nuclear arsenal is. And no, Biden didn’t show his documents to Saudi nationals, either. But now the tables have turned, my friends! Because even more documents were found at the home of former vice president and guy who people wanted to publicly execute on January 6th, Mike Pence. Let’s get the latest, shall we?

A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence’s house in Indiana.

The classified documents were discovered at the former vice president’s new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden’s private office and residence, the sources said. The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession.

It is not yet clear what the documents are related to or their level of sensitivity or classification.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/politics/pence-classified-documents-fbi/index.html

OK, look MAGAs – if you’re going to go there, here’s the thing, just keep this in mind that Joe Biden didn’t hold a golf tournament at his estate with a bunch of foreign nationals representing a nation that’s hostile to the United States! I mean it’s totally insane and it proves once again that Fox News is the reason why we can’t have nice things. This whole debate is the stuff of insanity and the fact that they found documents at Mike Pence’s house just goes to show you that there’s some extremely dark forces out there keeping these psychopaths from getting the justice that they so greatly deserve. But it’s not over yet!

The roughly 12 classified documents found at the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence included materials described as background briefing memos that were prepared for Pence’s foreign trips, multiple sources told CNN.

One source said some of those classified documents were likely used to prepare Pence for foreign meetings while he was vice president and may have been overlooked during the packing process because they were tucked into old trip binders.

According to another source, the classified briefing materials would not have been visible unless the packers went through the binders page by page.

It is not unusual for presidents and vice presidents to be given travel briefing binders that include background memos on people they are meeting with in foreign countries. The sources who spoke to CNN said they sometimes include basic biographical information on foreign leaders, but sometimes also include more sensitive information.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/politics/pence-classified-documents-briefing-memos-foreign-trips/index.html

Yeah so Pence may have had classified information about foreign nationals and Trump may have held secrets about America’s nuclear arsenal. That is truly insane. So of course this is going to change the narrative that you’re going to hear on Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson every night. But again this is the direct result of living in an echo chamber filled with talking heads all saying the same talking points 24 hours a day is that you get a group of people who think they’re entitled to power. And Fox News is basically just putting conspiracy theory idiots on a megaphone and letting them say the dumbest shit possible to half the country.

The discovery of classified documents at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home is complicating efforts by congressional Republicans to coordinate their lines of attack on President Biden’s handling of similar materials from his time as second-in-command.

Pence’s team disclosed Tuesday that his attorneys conducted a search of his Indiana home out of an abundance of caution following news that classified documents were found at Biden’s home and a former Washington, D.C., office he used after leaving the White House in 2017.

The revelation came just as Republicans in Congress were digging in on Biden, painting the president as careless and possibly jeopardizing sensitive information.

But similarities between how Pence and Biden each handled their respective cases, with lawyers quickly notifying the Justice Department and National Archives, could blunt some of those GOP attacks against the White House.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3829022-pence-documents-complicate-gop-attack-lines-on-biden/

Yes, shut up Fox talking heads. Because the first rule of debate is that when you’re in a hole, you really need to stop digging! The rest of the world that doesn’t live in Fox MAGA crazy land is onto your evil shenanigans. And here’s the thing, if Trump and the MAGAs are going to weaponize the FBI to fuel their wildest conspiracy theory fantasies, then you should know that two can play at that game! So if you’re trying to nail Joe Biden for something that Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson made up out of thin air with nothing to back it, well, you’re beating the wrong dead horse here.

The FBI conducted a "planned search" Wednesday of President Joe Biden's home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, according to Biden's personal lawyer amid an ongoing probe into the potential mishandling of classified documents.

Biden's attorney said no documents with classified markings were found, but "DOJ took for further review some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate to his time as Vice President."

The search took place for three and a half hours -- from 8:30 a.m. to noon ET.

"Today, with the President's full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware," wrote Bob Bauer, personal attorney for the president, in a statement after pool reporters spotted four vehicles there. "Under DOJ's standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate. The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate. We will have further information at the conclusion of today's search."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-conducting-planned-search-bidens-rehoboth-beach-home/story?id=96817125

[font size="8"]The GOP
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Well the GOP is at it again, taking away those freedoms we’ve been fighting for the last 50 years. Sigh, it was a nice country we once had. But it seems that they’re going full Nazi on the LGBT community and especially the T’s. If you think it’s ending at Florida, you are wrong. Because it’s happening all across the country and it’s getting especially scary if you happen to live in a red state, like Texas, Florida, Arkansas, or Ohio. But this is another example of how dangerous echo chamber politics can get. When you live in an echo chamber and you’re fed nothing but hate, lies and bullshit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for over 40 years, these are the kind of things that are going to happen. So let’s start with Arizona who is proposing a law based on an absolutely batshit internet conspiracy theory involving drag queens and children. Look if anything these laws aren’t going to protect kids from anything. If anything these laws are going to have the opposite effect and suppress kids from expressing their true identities and will force them to go into hiding, doing further psychological damage.

A pair of Arizona lawmakers have started the state’s 2023 legislative session with bills seeking to set drag shows in the same legal box as strip clubs and adult cabarets.

The bills are among the latest salvo in a nationwide glut of local Republican legislation targeting members of the LGBTQ community.

But one organizer of drag shows in Arizona believes that the bills haven’t a snowball’s chance in a Phoenix summer of becoming law, owing to the state’s recently-elected Democratic governor.

“The most important thing to realize, with Katie Hobbs as governor, it’s a very different situation with these bills” than if far-right GOP candidate Kari Lake had won, said David Boyles, the president and treasurer of Drag Story Hour Arizona. The organization has partnered with public libraries and businesses across Arizona doing drag story and craft events since 2019.

The two drag show bills by State Sen. Anthony Kern seeks to define drag shows as "adult cabaret" performances, and would criminalize holding one in a place where it could be viewed by a minor, and would limit when and where drag shows could occur. They would also grant supervisory boards to create drag show permits and drag performer permits.
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/01/14/arizona-legislature-anti-drag-show-bills-lgbtq-rights

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Oh if you think that law is bad, it gets worse! And this is why we say that Fox News is increasingly becoming a hostile danger to this country. Because that right wing propaganda shit is powerful stuff. Like most people I’ve lost friends and relatives to the right wing echo chamber. And now the social media conspiracy theory wormhole too. It’s doing some insanely crazy things to people. Well as I said it gets worse. Look at what they’re planning to propose in Oklahoma, and they have a mostly right wing government there too.

Oklahoma Republicans are trying to pass legislation aimed at banning drag performances with kids in attendance, according to a bill authored by Republican state Representative Kevin West and introduced to the state House on Thursday.

In the bill, West claims that "drag queens or similar entertainers" are among the categories of artists who take part in "adult cabaret performances," essentially comparing drag artists to topless dancers and strippers. He generally defines drag as "a male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic feminine persona with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup."

He goes on to suggest passing a law banning this kind of performance from taking place in a public property or location "where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is a minor."

Any person found violating this law, West writes, could be punished with imprisonment for a term no shorter than 30 days and no longer than two years, the payment of a fine of no less than $500 and no more than $20,000, or both.

From there, West takes the bill one step further, proposing the approval of legislation banning drag queen story hour events—which he describes as "an event hosted by a drag queen who reads children's books and engages in other learning activities with minor children present"—from being organized or viewed in public, where a child could see them.
https://www.newsweek.com/oklahoma-anti-drag-bill-outlaw-feminine-persona-1775277

Hey MAGA republicans let me spell something out for you: The Handmaid’s Tale is a fucking fictional novel, OK? It is not a blueprint for how to run a free country! Holy shit, they might as well bring back burqas at this point. Then there’s Missouri, which is even worse than Oklahoma. It’s criminally insane how backwards the right wing is taking us, and the attacks on our freedoms seem to be increasing more at a very alarming rate. I really wonder when do we start arresting the MAGA lawmakers for crimes against humanity? Because you know that’s coming. Again, it’s the dangers of living in a country controlled by an increasingly hostile echo chamber.

JEFFERSON CITY — Missourians descended Tuesday on the Capitol to speak out against a wave of Republican-backed bills aimed at transgender children and drag shows, what one advocacy group characterized as a “direct hate attack” on the state’s LGBTQ community.

GOP lawmakers placed eight LGBTQ-related bills on the agenda for a Tuesday hearing of the House General Laws Committee. In the Senate, lawmakers considered legislation to keep transgender girls out of girls sports.

The timing of the hearings so early in the Legislature’s annual session reflected the priority Missouri Republicans have placed on addressing controversial culture war topics ahead of the next election.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican weighing a bid for governor in 2024, testified in favor of House legislation to ban transgender girls from girls sports, suggesting it was a matter of fairness.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/missouri-gop-bills-targeting-transgender-people-and-drag-shows-draw-fire/article_7d0d8304-5afb-5cfe-a1ed-e8c99096de9b.html

Holy crap this is some next level evil here! The attacks on free speech are increasing, which is completely fucking ironic coming from the party that keeps trying to claim that their free speech rights are being attacked! It’s totally OK if you’re a stochastic terrorist threatening to blow up a hospital or murder doctors based on bullshit internet conspiracy theories, but it’s apparently not OK if you’re a drag performer putting on a show! Thank you audience! The good news though is that these horrifying bills being proposed seem to be backfiring on the MAGA Taliban. Just look at what happened when Arkansas proposed an anti-drag bill. But god the right wing is getting more embarrassing and horrifying by the day.

Republicans in Arkansas have been trying to pass a law that would classify any event featuring drag performances as an adult event, but one legal expert thinks their proposal as currently written might not even achieve its intended purpose.

In an interview with Business Insider, UCLA School of Law professor Eugene Volokh argued that the GOP's bill might not even apply to drag shows given how confusingly written it is.

At issue, said Volokh, is a clause in the bill that tries to lump drag shows in with events that are of "prurient interest," which he says has a very specific definition that may not apply to all drag events.

"It's one of the prongs essentially of the three-prong obscenity test," Volokh told the publication. "And it means a shameful or morbid interest in sex or excretion and sex in the sense of sexual activity... It has to be, essentially in some respect, erotic."
https://nordot.app/993523580465414144?c=644607769890374753

[font size="8"]George Santos
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Sigh… this George Santos thing is the absolute peak of conservative idiocy. It’s all downhill from here, my friends! It’s also a lesson in why you need to vet your candidates. Because this guy lies so much that it’s like playing a game of Lie-Ception – it’s a lie within a lie within a lie. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! That’s a good one! In fact when trying to come up with a title for this week’s edition, the only thing I could think of was the Phish song “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.”, because it would take all of the drugs being consumed at your average Phish concert and then some in order to properly figure out exactly what the fuck is going on here! In fact this is one of those stories that we’ve often said is like peeling an onion – the more layers you peel back, the more it stinks, and the more likely you are to cry as a result of it! So what’s the latest? Well apparently Mr. Santos may have forged a signature on a federal document:

With a disclosure filing deadline approaching as questions swirl around his use of campaign funds, embattled Rep. George Santos' campaign appears to be left without a treasurer.

On Wednesday, several fundraising committees associated with the freshman congressman from New York filed amendments to their statements of organizations, notifying the Federal Election Commission of a new treasurer.

But the newly listed treasurer, Thomas Datwyler, a veteran campaign finance treasurer who has served on multiple other political organizations, says he does not work for the Santos campaign and that the filings were signed under his name without his consent.

"On Monday, we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer," Datwyler's attorney Derek Ross told ABC News. "It appears that there's been a disconnect between that conversation and the filings today, which we did not authorize."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/santos-lists-new-treasurer-claims-doesnt-work-congressman/story?id=96675494

Man it seems like there’s no end to the amount of lies coming out of this man. Even worse is that he lied about being a Nazi on social media. You know we’re deeply disturbed here by the rising tide of Nazism and white supremacy in this country and it does seem like it’s going to get worse before it gets better, sadly. But if there’s one thing we don’t need, it’s that a newly elected republican representative is spouting these hateful things on social media. This is fucking scary and an indication of where the GOP is heading if we don’t do something about it now.

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) reportedly made “deeply offensive” comments about Adolf Hitler, Blacks and Jews in decade-old posts on social media.

The lying lawmaker appears to mock critics of the Nazi leader in a comment on a friend’s 2011 Facebook post of a photo of a military leader with a caption reading “something like Hitler,” the Patch news outlet reported Thursday.

“hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhiiiiiiiiiiiitlerrrrrrrrrrr (hight hitler)lolololololololololololol sombody kill her!! the jews and black mostly lolllolol!!! Dum,” Santos wrote in a barely intelligible post.

The Anti-Defamation League called the post “deeply offensive,” especially because Santos also falsely claimed Jewish heritage and lied about his grandparents fleeing the Holocaust.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-santos-financial-firm-address-florida-mailbox-store-20230126-7blu7mfulzhqfhaj5qyavkebee-story.html

Yes, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! You don’t joke about that kind of thing. Fuck Nazis and white supremacists. But this is the kind of mind that the GOP and especially Trump and the MAGAs attract. He’s a lying asshole with a massive superiority complex and a host of other mental health issues that should probably be diagnosed by now. Because this is truly the stuff of insanity and these MAGA nutcases are like vending machines. You can’t knock them over on the first try. You have to rock it back and forth a few times, then it goes over.

The former boyfriend of New York Rep. George Santos says the Long Island Republican facing growing calls to resign for extensively lying about his past will never do so, even as he faces multiple investigations, including into his finances.

“His ego is too big. He’s not gonna resign. If they don’t find out something to get him (to leave) he’s not gonna do it. That’s for sure, knowing the person that he is,” Pedro Vilarva told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday on “OutFront.”

Vilarva said he met Santos in 2014, when he was 18 years old. Santos was 26 at the time and married to a woman. They moved in together shortly after Vilarva graduated high school. The relationship broke down, Vilarva said, as he became increasingly suspicious of Santos, who repeatedly said he was going to take Vilarva to Hawaii and propose, but never did. Vilarva believes that Santos eventually stole his phone and hawked it for cash.

CNN has reached out to Santos’ lawyer for comment on the allegation.

Asked if he was surprised that Santos is now a member of Congress, Vilarva said he was not.

“What he always looked for was fame and power,” Vilarva said. “That’s all he cared about and he got it.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/george-santos-former-boyfriend/index.html

And by the way in case you were wondering what a lying shitbag George Santos is – and at this point you’ve probably Googled what a lying shitbag he is, well, the lies just don’t stop. He might be in a competition with Trump and DeSantis over who lies the most in this country. And it’s a lesson in why the people who actively seek out power and fame are the ones that shouldn’t have it, because it will end very badly for them. If the conservative party ever had any balls to stand up to the echo chamber and get rid of this lying shitbag, then well people might actually respect them for that. But no, we’re going to have to find another way to fire this loser.

As Rep. George Santos continues to face mounting scrutiny over fabricating large swaths of his biography, multiple men have described to ABC News past relationships with the New York congressman -- some allegedly occurring when they were still teenagers -- that they said turned toxic due to a flood of lies that Santos told to try to manipulate and trap them.

The new allegations come as Santos on Tuesday informed his Republican colleagues at a closed-door conference meeting that he would be recusing himself from committee assignments.

Several of the men ABC News spoke with said that they met Santos as young men, when Santos, who later ran for Congress as an openly gay Republican, was several years older than they were.

Leandro Bis said he was 19 years old when he met Santos at a bar in Manhattan in 2013, when Bis was in town from Brazil. Bis told ABC News in an interview that he knew the now-embattled congressman as Anthony Zabrovski, one of a handful of aliases that Santos has reportedly used over the years.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/promised-green-cards-catfishing-threats-santos-boyfriends-left/story?id=96797395

[font size="8"]Good Guys With Guns
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“No matter what the situation, a guy with a gun is a guy with a gun.” – Michael Weston in Burn Notice

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Presents:

You know, Wayne La Pierre, the president of that most American of institutions known as the National Rifle Association has famously said that “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”. But what happens when said bad guy is 6 years old? Yes, that is the conundrum that we’re dealing with. This incident just only goes to show you how completely reckless and stupid America’s “no frills” policy towards guns is. Like 20 years ago this would have been front page news. Hell, we had a gunman shoot up an elementary school and there were extremist fuckheads out there that not only acted like it didn’t happen, they heckled and abused the poor parents out of existence. Now people are just like “eh”, whatever. We’ve become so numb to gun violence that literally you could picture any scenario happening that you could think of and it would barely be a blip on page 4. Which brings us to this bizarre story out of Virginia. You may have heard about the 6 year old who obtained his parents’ gun and nearly murdered his teacher. Well, the more you dig into this story the weirder it gets.

A 6-year-old student shot and wounded a Virginia teacher Friday during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom, police and school officials in the city of Newport News said.

No students were injured in the shooting at Richneck Elementary School, police said. The teacher — a woman in her 30s — suffered life-threatening injuries. Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters that her condition had improved somewhat by late afternoon.

“We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting,” Drew told reporters. “We have a situation in one particular location where a gunshot was fired.”

He added that the shooting was not an accident.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/newport-news-virginia-88dfe91f65173cbbd198a8816a21b5be

Well you might be asking yourself – how the hell did a 6 year old get a gun? And the answer is easy – ‘Murica! What? Come on, I know what country I live in! But like I said, the more you dig into this story, the weirder it gets. And it’s also a perfect example of how the right wing echo chamber affects everyone around it. Like if the parents listen to Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson for 6 hours a day, don’t be surprised when the kids grow up to be gun toting neo Nazi incels. And of course take it out on the administrators. But you should never, ever question how easy it is to get a gun in this country, because you’d be a fool and a communist if you did.

A school board voted Wednesday evening to oust its superintendent, weeks after a 6-year-old allegedly shot a teacher in one of the district’s schools and on the same day that the teacher’s lawyer said school administrators were warned that the child had a gun the day of the shooting.

The Newport News Public Schools school board voted 5-1 in favor of a separation agreement and severance with Superintendent Dr. George Parker III.

The teacher’s lawyer alleged earlier Wednesday that school administrators had multiple warnings about the boy the day of the incident.

“Over the course of a few hours, three different times – three times – school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people,” Diane Toscano, an attorney for the teacher, Abby Zwerner, told reporters in a news conference Wednesday. “But the administration could not be bothered.”
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/us/newport-news-virginia-school-board-superintendent-vote/index.html

Yes, how can that happen? The superintendent’s not the one who brought the gun to school! Of course this will bring about the usual debate of guns vs gun safety, nothing will get done, and our Congressional representatives under the NRA’s payroll will do anything to avoid the actual problem and make things worse, while simultaneously passing laws to make it easier to get guns and enough ammo to take out a small army. So now thanks to ‘Murica’s reckless gun laws, a 6 year old is looking at a life sentence behind bars for attempted murder. Insanity.

'Virginia teacher who was shot by six-year-old tried to confiscate gun – report,' The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2023. - Abby Zwerner, 25, had life-threatening injuries but is now continuing to improve in hospital -

The Virginia school teacher shot by her six-year-old student was injured after she sought to confiscate the weapon from the child who had revealed the gun in class, a parent of another child in the class has said. Brittaney Gregory, whose son is in the same class as the shooter at Richneck elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, detailed her son’s reaction to the shocking scene to the Washington Post newspaper. Gregory said her son told her he that he felt like he couldn’t breathe when the gun was fired.

Gregory said the class was reading and about to go to art class when the child pulled a handgun from their backpack and pointed it at his teacher, Abby Zwerner. “She was going to confiscate it, and that’s when he shot,” Gregory told the Post. Gregory described Zwerner as a “sweet lady” and “very attentive”. She said Zwerner was her son’s favorite teacher. Zwerner, 25, had injuries described as life-threatening but she is now continuing to improve in the hospital. She was shot in the abdomen through her hand. After she was shot, the teacher told the other students to run. The students stayed in lockdown in another teacher’s classroom.

It is not known how the child came to be in possession of the handgun he used to shoot his teacher. The six-year old remains in custody and Newport News city officials have said it is not likely a child so young can be prosecuted, but his guardian or other adult could face misdemeanor charges if the gun came from the child’s home.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/09/virginia-teacher-shot-newport-news-richneck-elementary-abby-zwerner

Yeah sure, blame the cigarettes! But ignore the actual problem: it’s the fucking guns!!! Now here’s where it gets weird. Remember what I said earlier about what the parents watching having an effect on the kids? Well guess what? It does! Because how could a 6 year old already be a violent psychopath with abusive behavior red flags? Fox News that’s what. If the GOP is so concerned about the health and well being of kids, they should stop caring less about drag shows and more caring about the violent content that’s appearing on Fox News every night. Because when you are fed hate, lies, and bullshit 24 hours a day, this is what you get. We’re really surprised this doesn’t happen more often in this country.

Concerned staff warned administrators at a Virginia elementary school three times that a 6-year-old boy had a gun and was threatening other students in the hours before he shot and wounded a teacher, but the administration “was paralyzed by apathy” and didn’t call police, remove the boy from class or lock down the school, the wounded teacher's lawyer said Wednesday.

Diane Toscano, an attorney for Abigail Zwerner, said during a news conference that she has notified the school board in Newport News that the 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School plans to sue the school district over the Jan. 6 shooting, which left Ms. Zwerner with serious injuries.

“On that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times — three times — school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people. But the administration could not be bothered,” Ms. Toscano said.

She said that Ms. Zwerner first went to an administrator at around 11:15 a.m. on the day of the shooting and said the boy had threatened to beat up another child, but no action was taken.

Read more: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/25/newport-news-virginia-abigail-zwerner-us-shooting-richneck-elementary/stories/202301250086

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: ReAwaken America 2023 Tour
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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! You know we’ve talked a lot on this program the last few months about the rise of religious fascist authoritarianism in the United States. And I don’t need to tell you that if you’re not frightened by the return of Neo Nazis and white supremacists in this country, then you aren’t paying attention! These people claim to worship GAWD and JAYSUS, but they do not! Instead they worship the Unholy, Ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man who is so disgusting and appalling that his name dare NOT be spoken in my church! Well there’s a tour going around, you may have heard of it, it’s called the ReAwaken America tour. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s sort of a tent revival sermon that was started as a lockdown protest. Now they protest, well, just about anything and everything. Well, the 2023 edition of the ReAwaken America tour is a melting pot of far right insanity and religious anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and of course those insane idiots who call themselves “prophets”. I mean imagine the balls that it takes to call yourself a “prophet”. Well, it doesn’t take much because there’s apparently a lot of these idiots.

A far-right project that has helped spread Donald Trump’s false claims about voting fraud in 2020, and misinformation about Covid vaccines, is trying to expand its mission, while facing new criticism from scholars and religious leaders about its incendiary political and Christian nationalist messages.

ReAwaken America, a project of the Oklahoma-based entrepreneur Clay Clark, has hosted numerous revival-style political events across the US after receiving tens of thousands of dollars in initial funds in 2021 from millionaire Patrick Byrne, and become a key vehicle for pushing election denialism and falsehoods about Covid vaccines.

ReAwaken America also boasts close ties to retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn, who in December 2020 met with Trump, Byrne and others at the White House to plot ways to reverse Trump’s election loss. The meeting happened shortly after Trump pardoned Flynn, who was convicted for lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador before serving briefly as Trump’s national security adviser.

Clark’s project also has links to Dr Simone Gold, who served a 60-day jail sentence for illegally entering the Capitol on 6 January and founded America’s Frontline Doctors, an anti-vaccine group that has also touted bogus cures.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/30/far-right-project-disinformation-trump-2024-campaign

These people should feel bad about themselves because they are spreading lies and hate and false information about conspiracy theory nonsense! That’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would have in mind now would it? And now of course we have no doubts that the fiery pit of hell in Miami that is the property of the Dark One would host such an event would they? Well they are, because of course that maniac would! You know if you’re not horrified by the systematic teardown of one of the basic principles that this country was founded on – separation of church and state – as much as we are, then you’re not paying attention!

A resort owned by former President Donald Trump is set to host a spring conference led by former national security adviser Michael Flynn and radio personality Clay Clark whose past speakers have echoed false claims about the 2020 election and COVID-19 as Trump launches a third bid for the White House.

The conference, known as the ReAwaken America Tour, had no official lineup of speakers for the May event at Trump's Doral hotel in Miami, but past events have featured speakers who have echoed conspiracy theories that Trump has supported, including Eric Trump, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne, Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, and former chief of staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense Kash Patel.

Also included previously in the lineups are Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), attendees of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, QAnon influencers, and some of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the country.

The former president is central to QAnon and its ideology. The conspiracy theory includes the unfounded belief that a cabal of famous Democratic politicians and liberal elites run a child sex trafficking ring, and that Trump will arrange for mass arrests and military tribunals of corrupt politicians, among other outlandish ideas. The FBI has warned that conspiracy theories like QAnon pose a growing domestic terrorism threat.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-resort-in-miami-set-to-host-qanon-conference/

I will repeat this just to reiterate how serious I am about this subject – the merger of church and state is extremely dangerous and Q Anon is playing with fire here. These people are turning into a scary cult and none of this will end well for anyone involved! Phew, now that I got that off my chest, we must move on because that’s what we do. But we can’t deny that this tour is a melting pot of crazies, whackos, and conspiracy theorists. Since the Dark One was elected with the help of a certain politically oriented news network that I shall not name, the church has been hijacked by lunatics and is being driven off a cliff, and it’s truly disheartening to watch.

About two hours into the ReAwaken America Tour’s stop in Batavia Friday morning, the crowd of a couple thousand under a large, white revival tent got loud.

They chanted, “now,” as in they want Donald Trump back as president — not in 2024 — but right now.

They did so at the urging of Mark Burns, once called “Trump’s top pastor” by Time Magazine. Burns, speaking from the stage, then got the crowd to chant for something else to happen right now.

“We need to hold Joe Biden for treason right now,” Burns exclaimed, causing the crowd to chant back “now.”

More than 3,500 people from Western New York and across the U.S. heard a mix of pastors, former Trump officials, Jan. 6 participants and vaccine skeptics make false claims about everything from the 2020 election to the COVID-19 pandemic during the far-right roadshow’s two-day stop at Batavia’s Cornerstone Church this past weekend.
https://www.wbfo.org/politics/2022-08-14/reawaken-america-tours-batavia-stop-calls-for-overturning-2020-election-new-york-ag-to-repent

Yeah it’s very dirty and sinful, all right! These people are the opposite of everything that is good and decent in this world. Why is that? Well for one thing they support the Unholy Dark One! He is the ruiner of all things that are good and decent in this world! It’s totally scary what the Christian right has become since the Dark One took over. It’s like the church has just unleashed its’ inner asshole and is not coming back to reality any time soon! And by the way for those of you wondering what kind of hateful rhetoric you can expect if you attend this event, well, let’s just say that today’s Christian conservatives are letting their conspiracy theory freak flag fly proudly!

Maybe you remember Jim Breuer from his stint on Saturday Night Live.

The “Goat Boy” character had a run.

Since then?

Well, Breuer never really evolved past “Goat Boy” so he has faded from film and television. He’s still touring doing comedy, though, and there was a time there when he had a few funny jokes.

Breuer had a recent standup set for the ReAwaken America Tour.

And it’s that set that has gotten the 55-year-old more headlines than he has had in quite a while. How did he manage that? Well, Breuer thought it would be fun to, apparently, mock Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field while making jokes about vaccine shots and boosters.

As he was running through his lines, Breuer said, “Here in the NFL,” before face-flopping onto the stage.

There is no evidence that a vaccination played any role in Hamlin’s near-death experience.

Considering the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety is still struggling to recover and reportedly has a “long-road” ahead of him, it would seem like an odd thing for a crowd at an event that markets itself as being for conservative Christians to laugh at.
https://www.pennlive.com/sports/2023/01/reprehensible-jim-breuer-makes-fun-of-damar-hamlins-cardiac-arrest-at-christian-event.html

Sigh… it’s these people that are the reason why we can’t have nice things. You know with friends like these, who needs enemies? This is definitely going to get worse before it gets better, folks! Just sit back and watch the destruction! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Late Stage Capitalism: Congress Vs Ticketmaster Vs Taylor Swift Fans
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When mega corporations have nowhere to go but excessive profits and are trying to squeeze out your every last dollar, there’s extreme greed, and then there’s:

Welcome back to our segment that explores the lifestyles of predatory mega conglomerates, Late Stage Capitalism! It’s not enough to make a $50 billion dollar quarterly profit, you have to make a $75 billion quarterly profit! Sure, layoff a few employees and charge customers more for a subpar product! Well this week, we got flooded with requests to do this one – we have to talk about the Congressional hearings on Ticketmaster for what they did during the Taylor Swift Eras tour fiasco. But before we do let’s wind back to when Pearl Jam sued Ticketmaster back in the 90s for predatory practices and got their asses handed to them. It was a good idea at the time. But now in the post-COVID 2020s, when ticket scalping and reselling is at an all time high, Ticketmaster may have just fucked with the wrong fan base, because let’s face it – hell hath no fury like a Swifty scorn!

In mid-November, Swifties looking to secure tickets to the singer’s upcoming Eras Tour were foiled en masse by monopolistic incompetence of Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, which melted down amid the surge in demand. It was a poignant demonstration of monopolism run amok — and of what a mistake it had been for the Obama administration to have greenlighted the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger that effectively ended competition in the ticketing industry.

Politicians dutifully denounced the decrepit company, and Big Tech spied an opening to deflect and distract.

The next day, the lobbying firm NetChoice, which represents the Big Tech conglomerates in Washington, urged Congress and antitrust policymakers to focus their attention on Ticketmaster.

“Congress and progressives like Amy Klobuchar are spending all this time going after tech leaders including Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple, which are far from monopolies,” NetChoice policy counsel Jennifer Huddleston said in an email November 16 to press and Washington power brokers. “Instead, the government should use existing laws and resources to protect consumers and investigate Ticketmaster’s anti-competitive practices in the concert marketplace.”
https://theintercept.com/2023/01/25/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-big-tech-lobby/

Come on, Swifties. Take it from PC gamers who know far too much pain since 2018 when it comes to buying a graphics card or high end gaming console – nothing sucks worse than when you have an item in your cart and then it’s gone before you click the “buy” button!. Bot selling is nothing new. It’s been around the last 10 years and it’s been a colossal pain in the ass. But here’s the thing – if Ticketmaster is getting shit for automated bot selling, then why not go after Best Buy, Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, you name it? Everything is highly suspect these days.

In November, millions of Taylor Swift fans logged on to Ticketmaster hoping to scoop up tickets to arguably the most-anticipated tour of 2023. When the time came, the site crashed, rendering verified users unable to purchase admission to the singer's first slate of shows in five years. In the immediate aftermath, Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation explained that while 1.5 million people had signed up as legit customers, over 14 million hit the site when tickets went on sale — many of which were bots.

Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold told the Senate Judiciary Comittee on Tuesday that the company "learned valuable lessons" from the Swift debacle. "In hindsight there are several things we could have done better – including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets," he said.

Berchtold told Senators that Ticketmaster experienced three times more bot traffic that day than it ever had before, and that a cyberattack on the company's verified fan password servers exacerbated the problem. He explained that despite investing over $1 billion in ticketing systems since the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, mostly to combat fraud and scalping, the company has a massive bot problem that it can't get a handle on.

"We also need to recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience," Berchtold said. What he called "industrialized scalping" led to the Taylor Swift fiasco, he explained, but the executive wants Congress to act to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
https://www.engadget.com/ticketmaster-live-nation-senate-judiciary-hearing-195504179.html

You know what, Congress? Here’s the thing – you can’t just go after the bot / minion seller industry, you’re going to have to go to all of them! The scalping industry has evolved far beyond the reach of just concert tickets. Bot and minion sellers are everywhere, and they’re coming for your hard earned dollars, and it’s getting to be ridiculous. Yes, the hearing did focus on the Taylor Swift Eras Tour fiasco, but that wasn’t the only tour being scrutinized in this hearing. The underlying problem is the bot sellers. It’s going to get worse as more big ticket tours are announced.

Though today's hearing wasn't solely focused on Taylor Swift, few speakers missed the chance to slip in references to the pop star whose ticket sale disaster offered the catalyst for a congressional inquiry.

Klobuchar opened her remarks with a sly reference to "All Too Well," a fan favorite, at the start of the hearing. But Mike Lee quickly caught up, referencing "You Belong With Me" in his own opening.

Lee might have even outnumbered his colleagues, later referring to the idea of limits on ticket transfers as a "nightmare dressed like a daydream." He also ended his closing remarks with a reference to some of Swift's newest work.

"I have to throw out, in deference to my daughter Eliza, one more Taylor Swift quote," Lee said. "Karma is a relaxing thought. Aren't you envious for you it's not?"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-senate-committee-hearing-live-updates-rcna66687

Probably the most ridiculous part of this whole hearing was hearing our representatives attempt to quote Taylor Swift lyrics. But Ticketmaster is a perfect example of monopolistic capitalism at its’ finest here. When you see one company holding way too much power over the populace, then it’s definitely time for a change. But the bots may be one of the bigger problems facing the ticket industry, it has a long way to go before things are cleaned up. Bot sellers are everywhere. If Ticketmaster is going to get rid of them, then so do Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, Target, Wal-Mart, the list goes on. But it’s also a reason why unregulated capitalism isn’t working and needs some serious reform. It’s a small part of a much bigger picture.

The pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour imploded in November, when tens of thousands of fans waited unsuccessfully in hours-long Ticketmaster and still failed to secure tickets. Empty-handed super fans were then devastated a second time when, later that week, Ticketmaster cancelled its scheduled public sale for remaining tickets, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”

Fans blamed Ticketmaster. Taylor Swift blamed Ticketmaster. Congress blamed Ticketmaster. But Ticketmaster argued the pre-sale blunder was largely due to an unprecedented number of people seeking concert tickets, paired with a never-before-seen onslaught of bots that were attempting to buy up the tickets in order to scalp them.

Joe Berchtold, chief financial officer of Ticketmaster parent Live Nation, doubled down on that theory during a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy. Though he expressed remorse for the negative experience fans had and promised Ticketmaster would do better, Berchtold also called on Congress to “recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-monopoly-senate-hearing/

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In these trying times, we take a good hard look at the people who are simply too lazy to read the news articles past the sensationalist headlines. We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter in the New Mexico badlands! Undisclosed location, of course! Let me just adjust my trust 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, the NFL season has come to a close with the Super Bowl being set between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. And I’m sure that everyone watched that Monday Night game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinatti Bengals, right? If you didn’t see it, Damar Hamlin took a blow to the chest and collapsed on the field, and needed to be carried off in a stretcher. Well, the incident brought out the best and worst of humanity. We’re going to talk about the worst for this segment! That’s right, the MAGA conspiracy theorists wasted no time formulating bizarre, off the rails theories about Mr. Hamlin!

Anti-vaccine activists who believe without evidence that a Covid vaccine caused Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest this month have pivoted to a new conspiracy theory to explain his swift recovery: that the Buffalo Bills safety has been replaced by a body double.

Though outlandish, the theory has gained enough attention to draw a response from Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who responded on a podcast this week.

“That’s stupid,” he said.

This most recent conspiracy theory about Hamlin underscores the lengths to which anti-vaccine activists will go to further the false narrative that Covid vaccines cause widespread injury and death, and highlights a widening audience susceptible to even the most absurd misinformation that powers the anti-vaccine movement.

Hamlin’s cardiac arrest Jan. 2 following a collision during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals immediately sparked unfounded speculation that the Covid vaccine was to blame, adding to a growing narrative among anti-vaccine voices that many vaccinated people were dying unexpectedly.
https://news.yahoo.com/damar-hamlin-recovery-fuels-anti-220524891.html

You know this is a perfect example of why we need better education in this country. We all know on this program that anti-vaxxers are criminally insane. And just to clarify, we’re not saying that all insane people are anti-vaxxers… oh who am I kidding? That’s exactly what we’re saying. Oh and as you would expect, it gets weirder! Apparently there’s another theory that Mr. Hamlin was replaced with a clone which would suggest that cloning technology exists somewhere, and that’s something *THEY* don’t want you to know about!

Among those spreading the rumours was Stew Peters, one of the people behind a documentary called Died Suddenly, an online hit in anti-vaccination circles that includes a number of dubious and false claims.

An account linked to the documentary was among the first to start trying to link Mr Hamlin's injury to vaccines, despite the fact that he had taken a hit to the chest just seconds before collapsing.

Mr Hamlin's injury, which resulted in the unprecedented cancellation of a primetime American football matchup between two top teams, was quickly seized upon by anti-vaccination activists to further their cause.

Other influential accounts spreading the most recent rumours include a former reporter for fringe right-wing news outlets and Juanita Broaddrick, a woman who once accused Bill Clinton of rape and later became a supporter of Donald Trump.

In a tweet viewed more than 2.7m times, she declared: "Everyone thinks Damar Hamlin is dead... the whole thing smells." She did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Mr Peters.

Conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild, author of a book on the QAnon phenomenon, said some of those spreading the rumours had financial motives - promoting their websites, books, podcasts and unproven cures.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64404824

Somehow I don’t think that tin foil hat is big enough! But really, right wing conspiracy theorists are the reason why we can’t have nice things. You know this, you all know this! Though it does give us enough cannon fodder to keep this segment going! But it’s insane in this day and age that these conspiracy theories just keep getting weirder and weirder. But the thing about this story just proves what I’ve been saying from the beginning is that anti-vaxxers and internet conspiracy theorists ruin everything. The Damar Hamlin situation could have been much worse, but you got to credit the doctors who saved his life. Not everything is a conspiracy, OK?

Did you do a double take when you saw Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin trending again on social media on Tuesday? 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=3d79386b6937

Of course Elon has to ruin everything too! I mean come on, Twitter used to verify users through a huge vetting process. We here at the Top 10 know that because we had been trying for years to get a blue check mark, but we never did! Yeah suck it, Twitter! But yeah the one thing we can definitely count on in modern society is that we’ll never get rid of disinformation. The truth is…. not out there! Yes, that’s because real information is hidden behind a paywall. Bullshit is free, readily available, and there’s many forms of it available for your consumption. The Damar Hamlin controversy is just another reason why we can’t have nice things.

Last week more than 23 million people tuned in to watch the Buffalo Bills play the Cincinnati Bengals and instead became witness to a terrifying, life-or-death emergency as safety Damar Hamlin collapsed suddenly on the field. His teammates knelt in prayer while medical staff fought for his life. (According to doctors, Hamlin is "doing well" and was released from a hospital in Cincinnati and returned to Buffalo on Monday, where he is now in stable condition.)

But on the internet, anti-vaccine activists filled in the silence with unfounded theories that Hamlin's collapse was brought on by COVID vaccines.

"The term is a data void," said Kolina Koltai, a misinformation and social media researcher who until very recently, worked for Twitter. She too was watching the game and immediately braced herself for incoming anti-vaccine narratives.

"We've seen this trope applied over and over again, not just to athletes, but any sort of celebrity malady," said Koltai.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/10/1147969504/how-damar-hamlins-collapse-fueled-anti-vaccine-conspiracy-theories

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Hey everyone, I don’t know about you, but I could really use a drink!

So of course you know the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking, we talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics! Because there’s a lot of dark shit in the news and we want to escape reality by cracking open a cold one or two. This week we’re going to be talking about lawsuits. Specifically, lawsuits involving pooping unicorns. Yes, that is a sentence I never thought I would have to write or say! So tell me, bartender, what goes well with a story about pooping unicorns? A unicorn daiquiri? What’s in that? No thanks. I’ll just stick to my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack. But anyway this story concerning the hip hop collective Black Eyed Peas and the makers of a toy unicorn that poops, is quite possibly one of the more insane things to happen this decade. And like most stories that we feature here, the more you dig into it, the weirder it gets.

In what’s an early frontrunner for the silliest lawsuit of 2023, music giant BMG has sued a toymaker alleging that a parody song based on the Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps” — titled “My Poops,” and used in the marketing for a line of slime-shitting unicorns — infringes on the copyright of the 2006 hit.

BMG Rights Management filed the lawsuit at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claiming that MGA Entertainment, the makers of the Poopsie Slime Surprise toys, displayed “willful copyright infringement” and “exploited, without authorization” when the toy company turned “My Humps” into “My Poops” to advertise their product line over two years ago.

“My Humps,” as the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone notes, “won Best Hip Hop Video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Award,” and coupling that with its 700 million views on YouTube and hit single status, the defendants “clearly had access” to the song. Following the release of “My Humps,” BMG alleges that the toymaker “created a product line called Poopsie Slime Surprise,” which featured “a unicorn doll that excretes sparkling slime.”

To promote that product, “Defendant created a song called My Poops that clearly copies from, and is substantially similar to, My Humps,” the lawsuit states while asserting comparisons between the two songs’ lyrics, bass line, and the Fergie-like inflection in which “My Poops” is delivered.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bmg-lawsuit-toymaker-black-eyed-peas-my-humps-my-poops-1234664931/

OK… OK… OK… OK. Somehow, I don’t think that bottle is going to be big enough. Come on, bartender, keep ‘em coming! I have many questions here. First of all, who the hell thinks playing with poop is even slightly funny? There’s only one place poop belongs and that’s in the toilet. It does not belong anywhere else, and the fact that this is marketed to kids to me is far more disturbing than drag queen story hour any day of the week. Just… no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Hell no. No. And come on, we’re siding with the Black Eyed Peas on this one.

Singer-songwriter Anjulie claims she was never paid for singing some of Fergie's parts for the Black Eyed Peas.

Anjulie dropped the allegations in a TikTok, claiming she sang all the background vocals on 2010 track "The Time," as well as lead vocals on "XOXOXO."

She claims will.i.am told her the vocals she recorded would be used as guide vocals for Fergie to "recreate," but that they used Anjulie's vocals instead on the final track, with no credit or payment.

The singer alleges she was never paid or credited for any of her work with the band.

In a follow-up video, Anjulie claimed she attempted to take legal action, but that it was ultimately too pricey.

"I tried. I got in touch with will.i.am's lawyer. I had a bunch of e-mail exchanges with him, and then he told me it was out of his hands," Ajulie said.

Read More: Singer Claims She Was Never Paid for Singing for Black Eyed Peas | https://popcrush.com/anjulie-claims-black-eyed-peas-never-paid-fergie-singing-parts/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

So… really? That’s the reason why this lawsuit has taken so long? Are you going to go through with it or are you going to cave in? Personally I’m not just mortified that a toy called “Poopsie Slime Surprise” exists, I’d also be terrified that they were using my property without my permission. Oh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… very funny, smart guy! But this is the kind of thing that is completely insane and we’re absolutely here for it! And by the way this isn’t the first time that MGA Entertainment, the makers of Poopsie Slime Surprise have been involved in a ridiculous lawsuit. They also attempted to sue Louis Vitton over a handbag design that backfired on them spectacularly.

MGA Entertainment — the company behind holiday toy sensation the Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn — has filed a preemptive lawsuit against luxury designer Louis Vuitton.

Poopsie, a wide-eyed unicorn who slides out a pile of glittery slime at the press of a button, has a number of accessories, sold separately. Among them is a $60 poop-shaped purse, filled with additional slime-making tools, with the cheeky name “Pooey Puitton.”

The Pooey Puitton handbag is white with small pastel-colored designs that resemble a recognizable colorway of Louis Vuitton’s famous Tuileries monogram pattern. Vuitton has been trying to block production of MGA’s tongue-in-cheek product since early last month, according to a post on the respected blog the Fashion Law.

MGA Entertainment’s suit is an attempt to block any official claims of trademark infringement. In it, the California toymaker defends its purse as parody and says that “no reasonable customer would mistake the Pooey product for a Louis Vuitton handbag” (as Julie Zerbo of Fashion Law explains, the potential to confuse one product for another is critical in any trademark case).
https://nypost.com/2019/01/02/poopsie-unicorn-is-taking-louis-vuitton-to-court/

So MGA Entertainment is an already shady company to begin with. I mean come on, you manufacture a pooping unicorn doll. Not reinventing the wheel. But the fact that this company has a history of doing some shady shit is definitely someone who you don’t want showing up on your radar. Especially when they don’t respond for comment. Maybe because this is way too ridiculous? I mean come on, 2023 is barely a month old and already you’ve won the dumbest lawsuit of the year. But a company that’s been accused of ripping off songs against a band that’s been accused of ripping off songs? That’s a fight where there’s not enough popcorn and beer in the world to justify watching! But one thing’s for certain - dis gonna be good!

The company could argue that “My Poops” is a parody of “My Humps,” and is thus protected as “fair use.” In Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music in 1994, the Supreme Court held that parody can be a form of “comment” or “criticism” on the original work, which is protected by the Copyright Act of 1976.

But that does not mean that the toymaker is automatically in the clear.

Judges look at “fair use” claims on a case-by-case basis, applying a four-factor analysis. At its heart is the question of whether the new work is transformative of the original, or whether it simply copies the original and substitutes for it in the marketplace.

Berman is no stranger to such analyses. A few years ago, he represented the estate of the Notorious B.I.G. in a copyright lawsuit. A poet, Abiodun Oyewole, alleged that Biggie stole a three-word phrase, “Party and Bullshit,” from a 1968 poem entitled “When the Revolution Comes.” Berman argued that it was fair use, and prevailed.
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/black-eyed-peas-my-humps-poopsie-slime-surprise-1235496721/

[font size="8"]World Tour 2023 Destination #2 of 6 - Argentina
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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:

[font size="4"]Destination #2: Argentina [/font]

Folks we’re back in Argentina! It’s capitol is Buenos Aires. It’s president is Alberto Fernandes. The country is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the entire world including the Andes Mountains and some real live glaciers. It’s favorite food is a caramel sauce known as dulce du leche, which they put on everything. OK maybe not everything. It’s also the home of the infamous chain of islands known as Tierra Del Fuego. We last visited Argentina back on our first World Tour in 2017 in Edition #3.14. So what’s changed since then? Well Argentina knocked France out of the World Cup in what might be one of the best games ever. Argentina is also the home of the Falkland Islands which has been at the dispute of a border war with Brazil the last 30 years and not a whole lot has really changed.

Falkland Islands leaders have accused Argentina of “unprovoked and open hostility” towards the people of the remote archipelago after Buenos Aires blocked plans to resume direct weekly flights from Brazil. The Falkland Islands Government has been trying to reestablish the airlink, suspended since March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials had been hoping to repeat the success they had with similar weekly flights from Chile, which resumed in July 2022.

Any discussions relating to connectivity between the Falkland Islands and South America require discussions with the Falkland Islands Government, the UK Government and the Government of Argentina, led by President Alberto Fernandez.

Talks in relation to the Brazil flights have been ongoing since the start of last year, but despite multiple meetings being agreed upon between the various parties, all were either cancelled or postponed by Argentina.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1728660/falkland-islands-argentina-flights-from-brazil-blocked-chile

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! There really is a Simpsons clip for everything! But you know what we say about when nations like each other, they’ll help each other out, right? Well now that Brazil has given fascist Jair Bolsonaro the heave ho that he so rightfully deserves, Lulu DeSilva and Alberto Fernandez have begun work on what they say is a “universal currency”. Well, they tried that with crypto and we’re finding out now just what a colossal failure that bitcoins, especially Ehterum, has been the colossal scam that we all knew it was. If they can make it work more power to them!

Argentina and Brazil, the two largest economies in South America, are in early talks to create a common currency, as part of a coordinated bid to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar.

But some analysts are highly skeptical, dismissing the proposal as “pie in the sky” because of the discrepancies between the two economies and the rapid shift of political winds in the region.

“Our finance ministers, each with his own economic team, can make us a proposal for foreign trade and transactions between the two countries that is done in a common currency,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday at a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to Reuters.

Speaking on his first international visit since taking office, Lula said that the currency would initially be designed for trade and transactions between Brazil and Argentina. It could later be adopted by fellow members of Mercosur — South America??s major trade bloc.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/24/argentina-and-brazil-are-discussing-plans-for-a-common-currency.html

So that begs the question – if Argentina’s currency is tanking so much that they need to partner with a much wealthier nation, then what do they do with the currency that’s piling up? Well that’s a good question because there’s a solution. You turn them into works of art! That’s right – one Argentinian artist has a brilliant solution to turn Argentina’s bills that are piling up into actual works of art. So yeah that’s a pretty cool idea coming from something that’s a potential crisis. But why can’t this be real money? It should be!

An Argentinian artist is combating his country’s ongoing inflation crisis by selling miniature paintings on depreciated banknotes.

Sergio Guillermo Diaz, a painter and museum worker from the northern province of Salta, has been raising the value of increasingly valueless currency to support his family. From two-peso bills to 1,000-peso notes — which are now worth about $5 — Diaz renders pop culture icons and historic artworks directly on their facades, often combining bills to develop larger compositions.

One of Diaz’s larger pieces stacks two 200-peso notes atop a single United States dollar to recreate the poster from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, alluding to Argentina’s dependence on the dollar. Others show popular sports scenes, such as soccer star Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup and Muhammad Ali standing over a defeated Sonny Liston, referencing competition between Global South countries.

An ongoing project since 2017, Diaz’s banknote paintings cleverly intersect income inequality at home with free-market capitalism. He previously worked in black and white but says the birth of his daughter, as well as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, gave him the time and inspiration to raise more awareness in color.
https://hyperallergic.com/792675/argentine-artist-sergio-guillermo-diaz-making-paintings-on-devalued-currency/

Oh and speaking of gross financial fuck ups, one thing we learned about the World Cup this year is that Argentina loves them some soccer, or as they call it there, futbol. And the stories that were coming out of Buenos Aires were wild. And come on, leave it to FIFA to literally rain on one’s parade. Because the guys at the top can ruin it for everyone else. Well, if you plan to celebrate your World Cup victory, maybe do so on a much smaller scale. But really, FIFA, here’s the thing you need to know – and it’s the same saying in dorm rooms and frat houses everywhere – is that you can retake a test, but you can’t relive a party!

FIFA opened a disciplinary case against the Argentine Football Association on Friday for alleged offensive player misconduct and violations of fair play at the World Cup final.

FIFA cited its media and marketing regulations for prosecuting the case, which appears to relate to a boisterous celebration by players running through the interview zone after the game on Dec. 18.

Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout after a thrilling 3-3 draw at Lusail Stadium in Qatar.

About three hours later, players led by captain Lionel Messi ran and sang through the official interview area and damaged flimsy partition walls without stopping to speak to international broadcast and print media.

The disciplinary charges that include “offensive behavior and violations of the principles of fair play” did not specify Emiliano Martinez, who crudely brandished the trophy he received on the field as the best goalkeeper at the World Cup.

FIFA gave no timetable for the Argentina disciplinary case.
https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-sports-argentina-national-soccer-team-lionel-messi-e883d73df7cec8f102f60fe95dde5e92

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

Tourism: B+
Culture: B+
Political Spectrum: C
Liberal Appeal: B-

Overall: B

Change from 2017: No change

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

Next week on stop #3 of 6 on our World Tour we’re heading to Germany’s next door neighbors, Poland!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Bad Omens[/font]

Folks my next guest are one of the hottest bands in rock music! Their new album is called “The Death Of Peace Of Mind”. You can see them at the Sonic Temple festival in Columbus, Ohio on May 19th. Playing their song “Concrete Jungle”, give it up for Bad Omens!

Thank you New York! This was a lot of fun! It’s great to be back on the east coast! We’re off to Philadelphia, the PHL next! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Bad Omens Appear Courtesy Of: BMG Rights Management
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Grammercy Theater, New York City, NY
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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

January 26, 2023

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

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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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:

[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

https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1613556569580490752

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

[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

[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:

[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!

Credits

Host: Initech
Greta Van Fleet Appears Courtesy Of: UMG Recordings
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Constellation Room At Observatory OC, Santa Ana, CA
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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

January 16, 2023

Top 10 Conservative Idiots: The Complete 14th Season

Top 10 Conservative Idiots: The Complete 14th Season

Season 13 (Jun 2022 - Dec 2022): https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216941147
Season 12 (Jan 2022 - Jun 2022) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216216353
Season 11 (Jun 2021 - Dec 2021) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215586273
Season 10 (Jan 2021 - May 2021) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214798830
Season 9 (May 2020 - Dec 2020) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213570012
Season 8 (Jan 2020 - May 2020) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212831883
Season 7 (Jul 2019 - Dec 2019) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212164633
Season 6 (Jan 2019 - May 2019) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211623942
Season 5 (Jun 2018 - Dec 2018) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210720590
Season 4 (Jan 2018 - May 2018) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210083764
Season 3 (Jun 2017 - Dec 2017) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210008235
Season 2 (Nov 2016 - May 2017) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029078791
Season 1 (Dec 2015 - Nov 2016) : https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016169212

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Wow, can you believe that it's been 14 seasons already? We're entering our now 7th year of existence and it's unbelievable that we've lasted this long. But needless to say that we've got some fun and exciting things planned for this season including the Top 10 Conservative Idiots 300th Edition spectacular live from Paris, France! That's right, we're heading to France to do another one of our famous themed editions. Plus we've also got a stop planned in Vancouver later this year as we're going to hang out in the Great White North! You can expect all of your favorite segments like Holy Shit, Conspiracy Corner, Late Stage Capitalism, I Need A Drink, People Are Dumb, and We're All Gonna Die are going to return, as well as People Who Somehow Got Elected, How Is This Still A Thing, and This Fucking Guy. And we've also been cooking up ideas at the home office in Santa Ana for some new segment ideas which we will definitely be bringing you throughout the year! It's also the first half of the year, which means that we've got the 6th edition of our popular and long running Stupidest State contest! That's right, you can bet that the NFFSA is back for another year and we're going to shake things up a bit! We've also got our new home on social media through the burgeoning platform known as Mastodon, so don't forget to follow us at top10conidiots@mstdn.party and the official Holy Shit Mastodon account at churchoftop10@mstdn.party. We have a lot of exciting stuff planned! This guide will serve as a handy way to link all of the forthcoming season 14 editions together. Enjoy! And as always don't forget the key!

Edition #14-1: Meet The Old Boss, Same As The Old Boss Edition (1/26/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217592662

Live from Santa Ana! As usual whenever the Top 10 is off for an extended period of time, we like to play catch up on stuff we missed which includes one of the most insane and unintentionally hilarious things we've seen with the Trump NFT collection which was basically a bunch of poorly photo shopped images of him. We also missed the insane fight to elect a Speaker Of The House, which ended with Kevin McCarthy, and he's ultimately going to enact the Fox News / Infowars agenda for the new House. Plus we also catch up on some other random insanity that we've missed in the last month or so. Meanwhile, in Brazil, supporters of Jair Bolsonaro attempt to storm the capital of Brazil to stop the election from being certified... holy crap, sound familiar? Yes it really does! In a new edition of our segment "We're All Gonna Die", the XBB1.5 variant of COVID that has emerged is the most contagious yet, but it sounds like a software update. This will be a good test for anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists. Or maybe not. In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", what does the Capitol Riot have to do with Jesus? Our resident pastor is going to turn on his tin foil hat and let the conspiracy theories fly! In a new edition of our pop culture segment, "Beating A Dead Horse", why do conservatives suddenly hate M&Ms? We have our theories, and it may have something to do with Tucker Carlson having the hots for the green M&M or not. In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, newly elected Congressional rep George Santos has some ridiculously shady ties to Russian oligarchs, or does he? We suspect Vlad's tentacles are heavily interspersed throughout Congress. We also have a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are! Finally this week it's time for World Tour 2023 and we are heading to Australia's next door neighbors and the home of the Lord Of The Rings movies, New Zealand!
Live Musical Guest: Greta Van Fleet

Edition #14-2: Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. Edition (2/2/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217610825

Live from New York City! Now that he survived reelection, Ron DeSantis seems hell bent on bringing you the full Fox News anti-"woke" agenda and it's going to tank the entire state and possibly get people killed, and that's completely intentional. After the insane debate between Biden's classified documents and Trump's classified documents, the feds raid former VP Mike Pence's home and discover, well, more classified documents! Meanwhile, conservatives escalate their war on drag shows across the country with some seriously ridiculously draconian laws being proposed that border on Nazism, and it's going to get really weird fast Speaking of weird things, the George Santos controversy continues to get weirder and weirder and we will examine just how far the madness is going! We bring back our segment "Good Guys With Guns" because while mass shootings are still unfortunately a thing in America, we have to discuss the Alabama teacher that was shot by a six year old student, and well, it's the stuff of insanity. Only in America. In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", our resident pastor delves into the ultra far right conspiracy theory insanity coming out of the ReAwaken America tour and it's a melting pot of religious insanity and conspiracy theory insanity, and those two things should never mix! In our segment on the seemingly never ending corporate greedfest known as "Late Stage Capitalism", we take a look at why our Senators were spending time on Ticketmaster and their SNAFU regarding Taylor Swift's Eras tour, and it was nuts! Also speaking of nuts, in our segment Conspiracy Corner, we take a look at some insane far right theories about Buffalo Bills linebacker Damar Hamlan, and we wasted a lot of time going down this wormhole! In a new edition of "I Need A Drink", the hip hop group Black Eyed Peas are getting sued by the makers of a toy unicorn that poops. Yes, we're going to need a lot of drinks for this one, and personally we hope the Black Eyed Peas win over the pooping unicorn. Finally this week it's time for stop #2 of 6 on our World Tour 2023 and this week we're heading to the home of the 2022 World Cup winners, Argentina!
Live Musical Guest: Bad Omens

Edition #14-3: House Of Chinese Spy Balloons Edition (2/9/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217632198

Live from Philadelphia! It was just a normal Friday when all of a sudden a Chinese spy balloon entered US airspace and both sides of the internet shut down and went "LET'S FIGURE IT OUT!!!". Of course the MAGA conspiracy theory wing of the internet's first response was to shoot it down, while that former president's Truth Social went into totally ridiculous territory. Meanwhile in Florida, Ron Desantis and the Christian conservative Hillsdale College go nuclear in their war on Sarasota's New College and it's truly frightening what the GOP is up to in that state. Elsewhere, Nikki Haley launches her bid in the republican circus between Trump and Desantis for the 2024 nomination. So is it a good thing? Bad thing? Little column A, little column B. In social media news, stochastic social media terrorist Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q - Batshit) gets suspended from Facebook and Twitter, again and has no idea what CRT is. Sigh. In a new Top 10 Investigates, certain Hyundai and Kia models have become the targets of Tik Tok thieves after a viral video exposed how easy it is to break into them, so what's to stop them? Insurance definitely isn't helping things. In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", Conservative Christians everywhere are melting down at the sight of Sam Smith's performance of his hit song "Unholy" at the Grammy Awards, and we can't help but laugh at the snowflakes! We add former hedge fund manager and current Ohio senator J.D. Vance (Q - Batshit) to the ever-growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected. In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, a recent Vice article is exposing the move to turn homeschooling extremely far right, and may border on some light Nazism. Yeah, want to know how you get Nazis? That's how you get Nazis. We also have a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are! Finally this week, stop #3 of 6 on our 2023 World Tour is taking us to Germany's next door neighbors, Poland!
Live Musical Guest: The Dirty Heads

Edition #14-4: We Don't Talk About Ronnie Edition (2/16/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217654633

Live from Boston ! We bring you highlights of President Joseph R. Biden's 2nd State Of The Union and what some of the things he's talked about are happening. We also bring you the lowlights of President Joseph R. Biden's 2nd State Of The Union, where republicans acted like spoiled children during his speech, particularly our favorite MAGA scumbag Marjorie Three Names, who screamed the whole time and surprisingly wasn't escorted out. Meanwhile in Florida, Ron DeSantis escalates the Fox News culture wars by initiating a hostile takeover of the Disney World central Reedy Creek district in Florida, because the voices in his head and also Tucker Carlson, told him to. Back in Congress, the current Congress is already hard at work, attempting to dig up dirt on Twitter for "silencing conservatives", only to have it backfire on them big time! Elsewhere in Congress, the first hearing from Jim Jordan's revenge driven insanity in the "Weaponization Of Government" hearing is over, and well, it's going to be a long two years, isn't it? In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", our resident pastor takes a look at the hostile takeover of the state by the church, and it seems like America's march towards religious fascism is increasing at an alarming rate! Our segment examining the culture wars, Beating A Dead Horse, takes a look at the recent insanity coming from the right wing surrounding gas stoves and their impact on the environment. In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, conservatives are still obsessed with the Chinese Spy Balloon and their theories about it are, as completely expected and on brand for them, treading into absolutely ridiculous territory. We also have a new "I Need A Drink" - and for Pink Floyd fans everywhere, it looks like mommy and daddy are never getting back together again as Roger Waters and David Gilmour not only take their longstanding feud public, it gets weird! And we will need several drinks and maybe some edibles for this one! Finally this week it's destination #4 of 6 on our 2023 World Tour and this week we're heading back to Africa and checking out the nation of South Africa! Where's Toto when you need them?
Live Musical Guest: Stick Figure

Edition #14-5: Wheel Of Corruption: Wakanda Forever Edition (2/23/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217674682

Live from Boston! 40 years of conservative deregulation has turned America into both a literal and figurative dumpster fire as some actual disasters and near disasters are taking place all over the country, and it's entirely the fault of reckless republican policies that put profit over people. In the Midwest, another week, another mass shooting, this time at the home of the Spartans, Michigan and this one could have been prevented but the NRA's 2nd Amendment absolutism meant that this maniac got a gun despite red flag warnings against him. This is why we can't have nice things. Meanwhile, state governments across the country are escalating their war on trans people, and the laws being passed and proposed border on ridiculous, extremely scary and downright creepy. Elsewhere in Miami, a conservative Catholic school went full racist on their Jewish opponents, and it's the stuff of nightmares. Didn't we fight an entire World War on this? In a new Top 10 Investigates, we take a look at ridiculous applications for new AI tech, which includes sitcoms and plagiarism! In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", the Unholy Dark One has revealed his plans should he ascend to the presidency in 2024, and it's stuff of nightmares. Particularly his plan to bring about Public Executions For Jesus, and our resident pastor might be forced to break his one rule. In a new edition of Beating A Dead Horse, Comedy Central is trying out new hosts to fill the newly departed Trevor Noah's spot hosting The Daily Show, and Chelsea Handler's comments about being single and childless at 47 seem to have really irked Tucker Carlson, and the back and forth blows they are trading are insane! In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, conservative anti-vaxxers have upped their game in the war on vaccines as Idaho is attempting to criminalize mRNA vaccine distribution. Hey if conservatives want to voluntarily remove themselves from the gene pool, we won't stop them! We also have a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are! Finally this week it's time for the final stop of our 2023 World Tour and this week we're heading to the land of baseball, apple pie, and Chevrolet, our home country, the United States Of America!
Live Musical Guest: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Edition #14-6: Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready To Play Edition (3/2/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217694561

Live from Portland, Maine! Joe Biden takes a trip to visit war torn Ukraine and President Zalensky, causing the MAGA world to throw an absolute shit fit. Meanwhile, Trump pretends that he's president by going to a disaster zone by visiting East Palestine, Ohio where that nightmare train wreck occurred, and well it basically turns into one of his idiot campaign rallies, complete with a repeat of what happened the last time he visited a disaster area! Elsewhere, in what may be one of the ultimate partisan dick moves in Congressional history, speaker Kevin McCarthy (Q - Batshit) basically gave Tucker Carlson a treasure trove of January 6th footage, because he's trying to win points with Fox viewers and that's about it. We also play a game of "Is It Racist?" after Dilbert creator Scott Adams gets caught saying some extremely racist stuff on an internet podcast, then goes full Trump on social media complaining about getting "canceled". Trust us, nothing of value was lost. In a new edition of "We're All Gonna Die", just as it seems the world is finally getting over the COVID pandemic, the Marburg Virus is striking parts of Africa and are we all gonna die? Probably. In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", we take a look at the controversial "He Gets Us" advertising campaign - which has been brought to you by the owners of Hobby Lobby. Yup, it's a cult all right! We add Ohio governor Mike DeWine (Q - Batshit) to the ever growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected. In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, Marjorie Three Names suggests a "national divorce" so we break down what that would entail, and that it would spell certain doom in the red states. We also have a new I Need A Drink - Dilbert creator Scott Adams claims he was canceled after going on a podcast and saying racist stuff, so we show him how little sympathy we have for him (hint: zero). Finally it's that time of year! Stupidest State 2023 is here! We kick off the tournament and break down the participants with our Selection Sunday ceremonies! That's right - we give you all of the states, the stats, the odds and the info you need to fill out those brackets!
Live Musical Guest: Post Malone

***Top 10 takes a week off***

Edition #14-7: We Don't Need No Sex Education Edition (3/16/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217732118

Live from Washington DC! Fox News is in some extremely deep shit after the fight against Dominion Voting Systems takes a massive turn in the disinformation wars, and we're here for every second of it! Speaking of disinformation, our old buddy Tucker Carlson is in some hot water after his interpretation of the January 6th footage that was given to him by Kevin McCarthy, was exactly what we expected. Meanwhile, the House has a vote on whether or not to condemn white nationalism and the controversial "Great Replacement" theory, and not at all shocking - all 26 MAGA conservatives voted no! Gee, I wonder why? Elsewhere, Lauren Boebert brags about being a grandma at 36 while at the same time rails on why we don't need sex education. But if anything, she's the perfect example of why we do need proper sex education. We also bring you some highlights (or maybe lowlights?) of the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference, which at this point is basically just another glorified Trump rally. n our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", our resident pastor is completely dumbfounded that the religious right's insane war on drag queens and transgender people has turned into a full blown, 80's style Satanic Panic, and we take a look at some of the crazier laws being proposed. We profile last place presidential candidate and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy in a new edition of "This Fucking Guy". And in a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, our old friend and lunatic conspiracy theorist Marjorie Greene should probably put down the bong and back away from the computer very slowly, because some of her theories are off the deep end! Plus we also have a new "I Need A Drink" that actually involves drinking! We attempt the latest viral craze that's sending people to the ER in large numbers - the Tik Tok BORG challenge! Do not try this at home, folks! Finally this week it's time for Stupidest State 2023! This week it's Round 1 Week 1, and it's a battle of Fiscal Irresponsibility heavyweights as #1 Kansas takes on #2 Nevada, while over in the Gun Nut Conference, #3 Montana takes on #4 Idaho! We're live from the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles with all of the exciting action!
Live Musical Guest: Anti-Flag

Edition #14-8: I Wanna Be Woke With Somebody Edition (3/23/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217753791

Live from Miami! We recap the latest insanity coming from Florida governor Ron DeSantis, which includes him trying to revoke a hotel's alcohol license because they hosted a drag queen Christmas show, among other things. Speaking of being "woke", a conservative MAGA author on a religious podcast recently couldn't define what being "woke" was, and that's actually pretty damn scary! Meanwhile, on the interwebs, That Former President's social media hub, Truth Social, has come under fire from the DOJ because of ties to Russian money laundering, but hey, let's blame Hunter Biden's laptop, for something. Also, speaking of "woke", the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed thanks to conservative deregulation, affecting potentially millions of accounts worldwide, but instead of blaming deregulation, what do conservatives blame? Being woke. That's right. In our segment "We're All Gonna Die", California is being pounded by storms, freeway closures, and disastrous climate change, so are we all gonna die? Probably. In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", Conservative Christians are running in states based on the controversial 7 Mountains dominionist theory, and it's becoming self aware, and it's becoming a problem. Yikes. After a series of high profile blunders, mostly relating to social media shit posting, we profile Tennessee Lt. Governor Randy McNally (Q - Batshit) in a new edition of This Fucking Guy. In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, Steve Bannon's right hand man gets arrested, while creepy pillow man Mike Lindell says his company is going broke, but needs money because, grifters gotta grift! We also have a new All Florida edition of People Are Dumb, because the Sunshine State never runs out of crazy people! Finally this week it's time for Stupidest State Round 1 Week 2! It's a battle for Batshit supremacy as #1 Florida takes on #2 Kentucky, while over in the Family Values Conference, red hot newcomer #3 Utah takes on fan favorite #4 Oklahoma! We're live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the exciting action!
Live Musical Guest: The Winery Dogs

Edition #14-9: The Man Who Didn't Know Much Edition (3/29/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217771039

Live from Vancouver! The entire world was watching and waiting as the New York Attorney General announced that Trump might possibly be indicted, but then quickly backed down, causing the conspiracy theories to fly! Meanwhile, state legislatures are growing increasingly hostile in their attempts to curb trans and women's issues, and we present to you some of the more draconian legislation being passed, and it's getting really ugly! In Gun Nut news, another day another shooting in Colorado, but this time, the shooter is presenting some rock solid evidence as to why we need some red flag laws passed immediately. But the right wing will do anything to block them. In Florida, as Ron DeSantis continues to unload the full Nazi authoritarian agenda in his push to be the more conservative lunatic for 2024, Disney defies him and announces they're hosting the largest LGBT summit in the country! You don't mess with the Mouse, man! We also have a new "We're All Gonna Die" - California is getting pounded with rain, snow, and other natural disasters. Is it part of a trend? Will it get worse or better? Only one way to find out! In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit" - our resident pastor is going to take a look at the holy side of campus grassroots political group TPUSA - and if they come to your local church, you should be aware of your church's after hours activities! In our segment "Beating A Dead Horse" - we take a look at the argument about whether Tik Tok should be banned or not, and either way, it's going to piss off a lot of groups of people! And in our segment Conspiracy Corner, in what is no doubt a ridiculous political stunt to earn points on right wing conspiracy theory podcasts, Marjorie Three Names goes to prison, and unfortunately it's not for the reason you'd think! And in a new "I Need A Drink" - we have some drinks while talking about the ridiculous lawsuit against hot wing restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings, and well, I need some wings and some beer! Finally this week, it's time for Stupidest State 2023! In Round 1 Week 3, it's a Beltway Battle for Fiscal Irresponsibility supremacy as #3 Ohio takes on #4 Wisconsin, while over in the Gun Nut Conference, heavily favored #1 Texas looks to unseat red hot challenger #4 Missouri! The Elite 8 is shaping up, folks!
Live Musical Guest: Alter Bridge

Edition #14-10: Best Of #27: Sanity Plea Edition (4/4/23) (official Idiots edition #298!) .
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217801835

Best Of Edition! The Top 10 is kind of off this week so we have a Best Of for your enjoyment! From Idiots #13-11, we take a look at the time when MAGA candidate Herschel Walker (Q - Batshit) got into a whole heap of trouble over recent scandals, and it may have cost him the election! Thank every god in the book! From Idiots #13-4, Elon Musk's plan to charge money for blue check marks on Twitter backfired on him in a hilariously spectacular fashion! From Idiots #14-5, we take a look at some of the disgustingly draconian and increasingly hostile bills aimed at trans people across the US, and it seems to get worse every single day! We can thank Fox for bringing us here! From Idiots #13-13, Clarence Thomas, probably thanks to his Ultra MAGA wife Ginny, blocks an election inquiry into the 2020 election, because they just won't stop. From Idiots #14-2, our segment "Good Guys With Guns" takes a look at an insane situation in Alabama where a 6 year old brought a gun to school and shot his teacher with it. Because, wait for it, "shall not be infringed". From idiots #14-3, our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", our resident pastor takes a look at the hilarious satanic panic unfolding because of Sam Smith's performance of his hit song "Unholy" at the Grammy Awards, and well, it's like the 80s all over again! Just sit back, grab a beer (or your drink of choice) and watch the insanity begin to unfold! From Idiots #14-1, our segment "Beating A Dead Horse" takes a look at Tucker Carlson's insane attempt to gaslight Mars Corp over their changing the M&Ms to celebrate diversity, because apparently Diversity is an old wooden ship to them. From Idiots #14-4, our segment that dissects the latest in tin foil hat nuttery, Conspiracy Corner, takes a look at why Marjorie Three Names is obsessed with the Chinese Spy Balloon, because distraction issue. From Idiots #14-5, we have another look at all the stupid people and even stupider criminals in the country and around the world with People Are Dumb! Finally this week it's time for Stupidest State! It's Round 1 Week 4 and it's a hot one as #3 South Dakota takes on #4 Arizona for control of the Batshit Conference, while over in the Family Values Conference, #1 Tennessee looks to unseat red hot challenger #2 Arkansas for the crown! We're live at the home of the Sacramento Kings, the fabulous Golden 1 Center in Sacramento for all the exciting action! One more round until the Elite 8!
Musical Guest: Bad Omens

Edition #14-11: "The Gang Gets Arrested" Edition (Official Idiots Edition #299!) (4/13/23)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/100217823620

Live from Hollywood! The impossible has happened - white collar criminals are getting held accountable for their crimes with Trump getting arrested and charged with 34 felony counts! The circus surrounding the arrest even felt like a sitcom plot with its' own B plot when Marjorie Greene took her side show shit show to New York and quietly left with her tail between her legs after getting humiliated by way too literal whistle blowers! Meanwhile, Tennessee's republicans are getting some blowback for their ridiculous pro-gun policies, so what do they do? Attempt to remove House members who marched in the protest, because god forbid someone has an independent thought not in the Fox cult. After controversy surrounding the NCAA Women's Championship game, we play a game of "Is It Racist?" because we always say, if you have to ask, it's probably racist! Elsewhere, Elon Musk's latest hairbrained scheme to profit off of Twitter's blue checkmark for verified accounts is backfiring on him in spectacular fashion! In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", Lauren Boebert, aka Gunny Boo Boo, says we shouldn't nitpick parts of the Bible in order to suit a narrative. OK Lauren, challenge accepted! In a new Beating A Dead Horse, the latest targets of white male conservative dude bros everywhere are Jack Daniels and Bud Light, because, reasons. This has to be some kind of derangement syndrome or something. In a new edition of our continuing look into the world of online tin foil hat nuttery in Conspiracy Corner, notorious online anti-vaxxer keyboard warrior RFK Jr announced that he's running for president, and as you can guess, there's of course a very sinister motive behind it. Sigh, this is why we can't have nice things. We also have a new People Are Dumb because stupid doesn't take a holiday, and neither do we! Finally this week it's time for Stupidest State 2023! The Elite 8 is here, and this week it's Round 2 Week 1 which means it's the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference Finals! Kansas. Ohio. One of these teams advances. The other goes home!
Live Musical Guest: Clutch

Edition #14-12: The Top 10 Conservative Idiots 300th Edition Special Edition (4/20/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217844544

Live from Paris, France! We celebrate 300 editions of the Top 10 with a special highlight reel from the first 299 editions leading up to edition #300! Plus in France, the shit hits the fan in the protests against prime minister Emmanuel Macron's attempt to raise the retirement age - and we find out that this is a really terrible idea! Back at home, the mystery leaker of Trump administration classified documents has been revealed and let's just say that he could be going away to prison for a very, very long time. FAFO. Meanwhile, Florida has passed what could be some of the most draconian anti-abortion legislation since Roe V Wade was overturned, and we're not shocked at all that the anti-abortion movement is just another form of neo-Nazism. Speaking of neo-Nazism, we check in with the latest antics from Mar-A-Shithole in Florida where Trump is being reduced to DJ'ing the MAGA hits, while a UFC fight basically morphed into one of his idiotic rallies. In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", our resident pastor has been digging up some dirt on a right wing extremist group called "Moms For Liberty" after they rallied to get a book about Anne Frank banned, so let's just say if they come to your city, they are up to no good! Speaking of things that are no good, we profile Clarence Thomas' billionaire Nazi benefactor Harlan Crow in a new "This Fucking Guy". In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, we're going to take a look at the right wing's Fox News addiction - everyone from Ron DeSantis to Trump to Elon Musk has appeared on Tucker Carlson in the last week and they are letting their conspiracy theory freak flags fly! We also have a new "I Need A Drink" - and we're going to take a look at a rather bizarre attempt to capitalize on the recent "woke Bud Light" controversy and it's about as hair brained and half assed as you can possibly get! And finally this week it's time for Stupidest State! This week it's Round 2 Week 2 which means it's the Gun Nut Championships! Missouri. Montana. One of these two teams will advance to the Final Four, the other goes home! We're live at the home of the Florida Panthers, the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida, for all the exciting action!
Live Musical Guest: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Edition #14-13: There's A Rocket In My Pocket Edition (4/27/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217865491

Live from Denver! It's the end of an era at Fox News as the network announces a whole slew of firings in the wake of the Dominion lawsuit which includes Jeannie Pirro, Maria Baritromo, and.... Tucker Carlson? Is this real or some kind of dream? Meanwhile, the latest experiment from Elon's Space X quite literally crashes and burns, but you will be shocked to find out who's funding him, well, not that shocked! In Florida, Ron DeSantis' latest wave of cruelty includes him signing one of the most shocking and controversial pieces of legislation in the country regarding the death penalty, and even his fellow conservatives think that he might have gone too far on this one! In House news, Marjorie Greene becomes one stop closer to making the internet conspiracy theory voices in her head a reality with a controversial bill that looks to flat-out ban trans athletes in sports, which passed the House. Ugh. Elsewhere, the murder charges against Alec Baldwin were finally dropped in the controversial "Rust" suit, and we can't wait to see the MAGA world meltdown over this one! In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", the MAGA world wants to allow guns in church and we take a look at what's happening in Missouri and other states, plus the NRA's dream scenario! In a new edition of Beating A Dead Horse - after the MAGA world melted down over Budweiser's ad campaign with trans model Dylan Mulvaney, there's a whole slew of "anti-woke" products that have emerged. Make it stop already, for the love of god! In a new edition of Conspiracy Corner, we delve into the recent history of Mike Lindell saying and doing stupid things on his social media hidey hole, Lindell TV, after he challenged people to disprove him on election fraud and refused to pay. We also have a new "I Need A Drink" - and this might finally be the time humanity has dreaded, when artificial intelligence becomes self aware, as songs by "The Weeknd" and "Oasis" go viral, but are they real or not? One way to find out! Finally this week, it's time for Stupidest State 2023! This time it's Round 2 Week 3 which means it's the Batshit Conference Finals! Florida. Arizona. One of these teams will advance to the Final Four, the other goes home!
Live Musical Guest: Joe Bonamassa

**TOP 10 TAKES A WEEK OFF**

Edition #14-14: Wheel Of Corruption: Quantumania Edition (5/11/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217906900

Live from SF Sketch Fest In San Francisco! In what might be one of the more shocking and stunning developments this decade, Fox News decides to part ways with its' leading prime time host Tucker Carlson. Pop the champagne! In Montana, in another shocking and absolutely evil move, they decided to overrule and expel Rep. Zooey Zephyr because - wait for it - trans derangement syndrome. Meanwhile in Florida, Ron DeSantis (Q - Batshit) takes his ongoing feud with Disney to some shockingly dangerous and disturbing new levels, only for it to backfire on him spectacularly! Elsewhere, if you thought that Trump's first round of poorly photoshopped trading cards were ridiculous, wait until you see Phase II! In our segment "Good Guys With Guns", we bring you a series of horrifying shootings, while Greg Abbott decides to issue a manhunt to rile up his crazy base! In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in Holy Shit, Christian extremism is increasingly becoming self aware, and there's some crazy things being said on the right and far right, but it all depends on your flavor of racism! In a new edition of our pop culture segment Beating A Dead Horse, we take a look at trans issues with two very different rock stars - on the left is Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, and on the left is the Cat Scratch Fever guitarist Ted Nugent! Both are not shy of making their opinions be known on social media either. In our segment exploring the world of internet tin foil hat nuttery in Conspiracy Corner, we bring you some highlights from CPAC 2023 in Hungary - where racism, populist ideals and insane conspiracy theories are flowing freely! We also bring you a People Are Dumb, because of course they are! Finally it's time for Stupidest State 2023! This week - it's Round 2 Week 4 which means it's the Family Values Conference Finals! Tennessee. Utah. One of these two states will punch their ticket to the Final Four, the other goes home!
Live Musical Guest: NOFX

Edition #14-15: Humpty Trumpty Shat On A Wall Edition (5/18/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217926097

Live from Observatory OC in Santa Ana! Well, the verdict in the civil case between Trump and E. Jean Carroll is in - and that verdict is GUILTY!!! Yes, we may have won yet another battle, but the war is far from over! And speaking of President Shit For Brainss, his town hall meeting on CNN was to put it lightly, an absolute clusterfuck. His bullying and nastiness were on full display for the whole country to see, and it was free advertising for 2024. Ugh. Unfortunately Tucker Carlson may be back with a new show on... Twitter? And he can be as racist as he wants with no consequences either. Thanks, Elon. Meanwhile, SCOTUS is fast tracking a case that could reverse state and local gun and magazine bans nationwide! Yay, just what we need - more guns! In our segment on never ending corporate greed, Late Stage Capitalism, we take a look at the Hollywood WGA Writer's Strike. Pay your employees, you deadbeats! In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", we take a look at the town of Woodland Park, Colorado - an innocent Denver suburb until 2020 then it went full fascist and things went to shit! How did it happen? We set out in search of the source of this madness and how to prevent it from happening in your city! We also ask the question that's on everyone's minds lately: White nationalism - how is this still a thing? And in our weekly venture into the world of online tin foil hat nuttery in Conspiracy Corner, a guy called into Infowars pretending to be Tucker Carlson, and an utter shit storm ensued, and seeing Jones' meltdown is quite spectacular! We also have a new "I Need A Drink" and in the latest attempt by social media to end all of humanity, we take a look at a bizarre Tik Tok challenge that has people smuggling Fruit Roll Ups past airport security. Yeah, we also ask "tha fuck?". And finally it's time for Stupidest State 2023! It's the Final Four! Two of these states will advance to the championships!
Live Musical Guest: Iggy Pop & The Losers

Edition #14-16: Everybody Wants To Impeach The World(5/25/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217944844

Live from Observatory OC in Santa Ana Marjorie Greene, obviously inspired by hanging out with the worst people on the internet, is on an impeachment warpath and is getting ridiculed with every single threat of impeachment, because hey, trolls gotta troll. Don't elect trolls. In Florida, Ron Desantis' quest to go full Nazi is getting worse and worse, and it's only a matter of time before he starts recommending killing folks and signing Order 66. Montana becomes the first state to ban Tik Tok over fears of the "Chinese Communist Party", but honestly, we're more fearful of people who watch way too much Infowars and Fox News for their own good, and it's scary. Plus, CNN, once a favorited news network among the liberal elite, is now in a freefall after last week's disastrous Trump Town Hall, and we play a game of "how it started / how's it going", and it's not good. Don't hang out with Nazis, guys! In our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", our resident pastor is very alarmed at a recent audit of the Mormon church in Salt Lake City that finds that the church has so much money that they don't know what to do with it! Can we have some please? We add former Auburn coach and inexplicable current Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville to the ever-growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected. And in our weekly venture into the world of internet tin foil hat nuttery in Conspiracy Corner, Trump attempts to deflect from his recent woes by going after... the Clintons? And he's using a right wing toilet paper manifesto called "Clinton Cash" as evidence. Right. Plus in I Need A Drink - there's dueling Mexican fast food restaurants vying for control of the phrase "Taco Tuesday" - the multi-national Taco Bell vs the Wyoming-based Taco John's. Advantage Taco Bell! Finally this week, it's time for the Stupidest State 2023 Championship! Florida. Missouri. One of these two states will win it all! The champagne is on ice!
Live Musical Guest: Metallica

Best Of #27: Best Of Season 14 Edition (6/15/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218010579

Best Of Season 14! From Idiots #14-3, we take a look at what happened when conservative conspiracy theorists flouted some absolutely batshit theories when a Chinese spy balloon mysteriously appeared over Montana, but the truth is that it's not the first time China was caught spying on the US! From Idiots #14-1, we play catch up on stuff we missed, and over the holidays, we missed Trump's absolutely bonkers attempt to cash in on his popularity by selling some bogus and worthless NFT trading cards. From Idiots #14-3, in his first move as House Speaker, in a fuck you to sane media, Kevin McCarthy gifts Tucker Carlson with 14,000 hours of January 6th footage, and the end result is exactly what you would expect. From Idiots #14-8, MAGA conservatives blame the collapse of California's Silicon Valley Bank on the bank's "woke" policies and diversity training, but the truth of the matter is that these wounds were entirely self-inflicted. Stop voting for stupid people! From Idiots #14-5, our award winning segment Top 10 Investigates, takes a look at some absolutely bizarre new uses for AI technology, which includes non existent influencers and create entire websites and newspapers that don't exist! Skynet is real, everybody! And in our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit", we have a brand new segment that discusses the death of everyone's favorite hate-spewing Christian televangelist Pat Robertson, and we pay tribute to him by airing some of his greatest hits, or misses. From Idiots #14-13, our segment Beating A Dead Horse explores that the right wing's constant rage boycotts against companies they find to be "woke", whatever that is, are causing new anti-woke products to come around, that are somehow more expensive than the cheap brands. Seriously, it'd be easier to boycott capitalism at this point! From Idiots #14-14, our segment that ventures into the world of online tin foil hat nuttery in Conspiracy Corner, the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, went to Hungary, where it was letting authoritarianism and populist ideals fly, and none of it was good! From Idiots #14-9, our segment "I Need A Drink", takes a look at what happened when the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, attempted to rebrand to attract tourists, and the result is exactly what you'd expect! Finally, from Idiots #14-11, it's the Stupidest State 2023 Elite 8! And Ohio takes on Kansas for control of the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference with some amazing action!
Musical Guest: Joe Bonamassa

Best Of #28: Writer's Strike Edition (7/13/23)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218086709

Viewer Mailbag Best Of! We dip into the viewer mailbag to answer your burning questions! From Idiots #6-2, we tell you about the time Trump thought it was funny to serve a championship football team some cold fast food - and that's not the first time, either! From Idiots #6-14, Trump went to Scotland and said some unbelievably stupid things about windmills, and well, apparently he's the only one whose property values this affects. From Idiots #8-5, Trump apparently has a habit of stiffing cities on picking up the cleaning tab whenever one of his stupid rallies comes to town. One born every minute! From Idiots #11-4, Hobby Lobby gets caught attempting to steal artifacts to fill its' insane Bible Museum - and gets caught, and has to pay - and does not get much further punishment. From Idiots #10-2, our pandemic related Top 10 Investigates takes a look at people who are willing to go great lengths and get unnecessary plastic surgery to look good on camera, because, insanity. From Idiots #11-14, our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in "Holy Shit" takes a look at a problem facing Liberty University, because its' students, are, as the late, great Rick James once said, freaks between the sheets! From Idiots #13-17, we profile former Trump speechwriter, Hooters aficionado, and self-proclaimed alpha male Nick Adams in a new edition of "This Fucking Guy". From Idiots #10-16, our weekly venture into the seemingly never-ending world of online tin foil hat nuttery in "Conspiracy Corner", takes a look at a proposed state border redrawing that would make a new state out of the rural parts of California, Idaho, and Oregon. And well, they failed miserably at that. The lesson is never try. From Idiots #5-7, our segment "I Need A Drink" takes a look at a guy who attempted to rig the McDonalds Monopoly contest for millions and got caught. D'oh! Finally from Idiots 11-15, our segment exploring red state insanity in "Red State Diaries" takes a look at some Q Anon fans hanging around Dealy Plaza in Dalls because apparently JFK is coming back from the dead, because, reasons.
Musical guest: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

January 12, 2023

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #25 - The Best Of "I Need A Drink" Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #25 – The Best Of “I Need A Drink” Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Oh hello! I know, right? We’re into week 2 of our winter break and I don’t know about you guys, but I could really use a drink! While we’re on our extended hiatus for the winter, we’re bringing you a series of Best Of Editions, and this time we decided to focus on some of our more popular segments. We did this with Holy Shit and last week we brought you the best of Conspiracy Corner. This week, we’re bringing you the best of I Need A Drink! I Need A Drink debuted in Idiots #2-20 (original airdate: 4/19/2017) and it’s been one of our most popular segments ever since. The idea behind this segment of course is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking we talk about literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Because there’s a lot of really dark shit in the news right now – whether it’s hate crimes on the rise or mass shootings or Kanye openly saying that he loves Hitler. Yeah, we could all use a bit of escapism from the every day madness. Like most things we do, this bit was obviously inspired by Stephen Colbert, but way back on the old Colbert Report show. And I can’t find the clip on Youtube but here's a clip of the man himself drinking a cold one and kicking back on the couch:

So where do we begin for this Best Of? Like all things, we need to go back to the beginning and the very first “I Need A Drink” (1) that we ever did way back in Idiots #2-20, where we covered all the fun things to do on the stoner holiday of 4/20 and we could also use a smoke for that one! In the second slot, from Idiots #4-17, where we take you all the way back to the much more innocent times of 2018 when the family Windsor, aka the British Royal Family, was celebrating a wedding and there were some absolutely ridiculous prop betting and speculation (2) regarding the wedding. I do love me some prop bets! In the number 3 slot, we go back to Idiots #5-23 and one of my favorite events of the year – the annual New York gathering of jolly old St. Nicks known as SantaCon, and these Santas don’t care if you’re naughty or nice, they just want to drink and get laid, and most of these Santas would probably wind up on the real Santa’s naughty list! In the number 4 slot, from Idiots #5-16, we take you back before Kanye went full Nazi and we learned that his iPhone password is 123456, and the entire world laughed at his glorious lack of cyber security. In the number 5 slot, we go back to Idiots #6-18 and one of the most overhyped events of the century turned into one of the biggest marketing failures ever, and that’s the Fyre Festival (5) which proved to be an absolute disaster. In the number 6 slot this week, from Idiots #7-5, remember school sports? Well there was a bizarre campaign to get the sport of Dodgeball banned (6) because of absolutely ridiculous reasons, and we’re not sure if Peter LaFluer would approve or not. Taking the number 7 seed is from Idiots #8-9, our last proper Idiots before we went into full apocalyptic lockdown mode, we drank to toast the unfortunate demise of wannabe rocket scientist and Flat Earther Mad Mike Hughes, who as we predicted, went out in a literal blaze of glory! At #8, from Idiots #11-12, apparently celebrities not showering is a thing and we drink and nearly vomit over the thought of people not taking a shower for weeks at a time! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot from Idiots #12-6, we go back to summer of 2021 and tell you the tale of a gigantic black bear terrorizing the residents of Lake Tahoe who the locals have dubbed “Hank The Tank” and it’s even crazier than the headlines said! Finally closing out this Best Of Edition, from Idiots #12-14, sorry ladies, but we got to do it – we have to talk about a national study that came out that said that American males are suffering from increasingly smaller average penis sizes, and maybe that’s why Tucker Carlson started hawking testicle tanning salons? Who knows? Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[font size="8"]420 Events[/font]

From: Idiots #2-20

It’s now time for another installment of:

You know what? Fuck it, I need a joint. And can we get some appropriate music?

Especially before Jeff Sessions unleashes The War On Drugs II: Electric Boogaloo Die Harder. Ah yeah that’s some good shit right there! And it has to be some good shit because you don’t want to smoke the wrong ganja. Am I right about that? Because… yeah… we don’t want you here at the Top 10 to think it’s all about negativity. No, we want you to leave here with a positive vibe. Especially since it’s legal now!

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — We’re less than a month away from the 4/20 festival at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

But the pot-smoking holiday will look a lot different this year.

Every year thousands of stoners converge on the park’s Hippie Hill to celebrate 4/20.

Sarah Madland Director of Policy and Public Affairs at the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department said, “This has been a rogue kind of spontaneous thing.

And for just as long, the city’s police and officials have chosen to sit back, hope for the best and then spend around $50,000 cleaning up after everyone.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/03/29/san-franciscos-420-marijuana-festival-will-be-a-city-permitted-event/

And there’s other 420 Events that you could choose to go to if you’re into smoking the reefer. You can go watch 2 Chainz in downtown Denver celebrating 4/20. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Denver since weed was made legal in Colorado, but on 4/20 downtown Denver is so smoky that it gets a contact high!

Following a 2016 event that was postponed because of a snowstorm and finally staged a month later, the 2017 Denver 4/20 Rally is scheduled to take place on the actual date of April 20 for the first time in four years. That means it should happen on a Thursday instead of a weekend, but this timing hasn't caused promoter Santino Walter of Civic Center Park Productions to lower his expectations for the gathering, which is centered around a free concert headlined by 2 Chainz.

"I think it's going to be huge," Walter says. "Denver is still the biggest destination to travel to and legally buy and consume retail cannabis for 4/20. You can see it in the way the hotels are already booked out, the cost of flights out here, how flights are booked up, the amount of superstar celebrities who will be in our city the four or five days of 4/20 weekend. So I think we're probably going to have the largest event we've ever had."

When he's asked if there were any lessons learned from last year's postponement, Walter is adamant: "No. That is a major misconception." Granted, the ultra-late postponement of the 2016 rally stirred controversy, and Walter says decisions about any possible weather-related delays will be made at least 24 hours in advance going forward. But otherwise, he sees the way things worked out as having been "a gift from God."
http://www.westword.com/news/inside-the-2017-denver-4-20-rally-starring-2-chainz-8939505

God, I love that movie! Or maybe go to Miami where there’s going to be some bumping 4/20 parties, and don’t tell Jeff Sessions!

Much like Super Bowl Sunday (and the Hangover Monday that follows), April 20 — or 4/20 — has become an unofficial holiday. Employees will call in sick and students will skip classes. It’s a national day of stoned joy resulting from the now-mainstream embrace of those three simple numbers: 4, 2, and 0.

The date has been nearly ubiquitous in weed culture for the past 30-odd years. The term originated with a group of California potheads in the '70s and was popularized by the Grateful Dead once the bandmates caught a whiff of the super-duper-secret code and spread its use with every show thereafter. Considering the close relationship marijuana has enjoyed with music for the better part of the past half-century, it seems natural that a rock 'n' roll jam band became the Johnny Appleseeds of planting 4/20 in the minds of the masses.
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/miamis-five-best-4-20-parties-in-2017-9277737

But whatever you do, don’t be like this douchebag and start selling tickets to free events. That shit isn’t cool, and it definitely doesn’t fly here at the Top 10!

People have been flocking to Hippie Hill for years to smoke weed on 4/20, and now someone is apparently trying to capitalize on the occasion by selling tickets.

The only problem? The event in Golden Gate Park is free of charge.

The opportunist is advertising the event as "HIPPY HILL 420 EVENT IN GOLDEN GATE PARK" on Eventbrite. Beyond the fact they misspelled Hippie Hill, the tickets are $20 each.

According to the Eventbrite page, the organizer is "Kind Friends Advertisement." A Google search yields nothing on the organizer, and their profile page on Eventbrite is empty.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/hippie-hill-golden-gate-park-420-tickets-sf-11071698.php

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #4-17

Spin that shit! Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy stop!!! And it lands on… oh look it’s another clip without context!

Boy the fundies sure do love being dominated, don’t they? Spin it again! It’s now time for:

Yes I need a drink this week! And man this week has got particularly dark. So tell me, bartender, what goes well with the Royal Wedding? Elton John’s tears in a glass? Yeah I think that might be impossible to obtain. Since we are talking about the royal wedding, just bring me some tall boys of Boddingtons Lager – that’s some good shit! So the Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and Megan Markle is happening on May 19th. And we’re going to do you the favor and show you how you can turn the forthcoming Royal Wedding into a money making opportunity! Because this is 2018 we’re talking about here. For one thing if you live in London and you happen to own a company that manufactures high end wedding invitations you are gettin’ paid!

We may not know the exact price of the invitations, but we do know the May 19 wedding is on track to cost an estimated $2.8 million, according to the U.K.-based wedding planning app Bridebook. Experts in the U.S. have their own guesses about the invitations’ value.

Sarah Sadler, a client coordinator with New York printer Bella Figura, tells MONEY that she thinks printing 600 of Harry and Markle’s invitations probably cost about $7,500. With inserts or envelopes, the total was likely about $10,000.

The bulk of the cost came from the die stamping, also called engraving. Sadler said it’s more expensive than letterpress because “it requires a lot more work and a lot more high-end materials.” It’s an older, traditional process that involves someone making each invitation by hand.

Die stamping isn’t easy. Small likely had to keep checking the color and making sure the pressure was consistent. She also likely had to print double the amount of invitations just to get 600 good ones to send out.
http://time.com/money/5212801/royal-wedding-invitations-cost/

Of course Seinfeld has taught us that you never go cheap on wedding invitations! So that’s just one of many possibilities that you can make money on. But for us average chumps – there’s always one of my favorite things that come up at times like this – the prop bet! I love some good prop bets! And there are some awesome ones for the Royal Wedding:

Royal watchers have been abuzz with anticipation following the recent announcement that Prince Harry will soon tie the knot with American actress Meghan Markle. Naturally, that enthusiasm has spread to the entertainment betting odds, where a host of proposition wagers are now available covering the happy couple’s impending nuptials and future children.

Currently fifth in the line of succession to the British throne, Harry played a very active role in the wedding of his older brother, Prince William, to Kate Middleton in April 2011. William broke with royal tradition at his wedding by having Harry stand with him as best man.

Little brother is widely expected to return the favor at his wedding next spring, making William a heavy -3300 favorite to be Harry’s best man, while Tom Inskip, a close boyhood friend of the prince, trails at +800.

Far more mystery surrounds which musical artist will be the wedding performer at what is expected to be one of the most watched events of 2018. Singer/songwriter Elton John enjoyed a close personal relationship with Harry’s mother, Diana, and is warmly remembered for his rendition of Candle in the Wind at the funeral of the People’s Princess in September 1997.

The 70-year-old star leads a star-studded list of British artists as a +125 favorite to serenade the happy couple on their big day, followed by pop star Ed Sheeran, who is pegged at +400 after publicly stating his desire to get the gig, while Grammy Award-winning singer Adele trails at +800.
http://www.bovadasportsbook.com/prince-harry-meghan-markle-betting-props/

And why wouldn’t Elton John be the favorite of the Royal Family? Well if gambling isn’t your thing, there’s always merchandising! Why place money on odds if the house always wins? And in this case it’s the royal house! Even Las Vegas and London can’t help but get in on some of that sweet prop betting action:

There are several more Royal Wedding betting markets which could prove popular with punters as there is a semblance of value to be had. Alas the markets on the wedding date has now closed – May 2018 was an odds-on favourite from the moment the engagement was announced.

And the Royal Wedding odds on the venue were only opened for a short time – one day after announcing their engagement, Buckingham Palace has announced that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be married in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

However, the invite list makes for some fascinating Royal Wedding bet opportunities. As it is 5/4 Elton John will perform at the wedding, the 1/25 about him attending the event is something of a gimme.

At the other end of the scale 50/1 about Donald Trump attending should have a nought or two added to it. But Paddy Power’s 3/1 about the Sky F1 reporter Natalie Pinkham smacks of a good thing.

It may have once been reported Prince Harry and Pinkham shared a kiss but that was over a decade ago. The former World Poker Tour presenter has since got married and become a mother. More importantly she is a very close friend of Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall (nee Phillips), Prince Harry’s aunty.
https://www.freebets.co.uk/royal-wedding-betting/

So if prop bets aren’t your thing there’s always making money selling stupid shit! Yes, as the great Mel Brooks said in the movie Spaceballs – the real money being made is in merchandising!

In the King and Queen Gift Shop at the foot of Windsor's Castle Hill, Harry and Meghan memorabilia have been flying off the shelves. Tourists have been snapping up fridge magnets, T-shirts, tea towels and mugs bearing images of the happy couple and costing $18 or more. Margaret Tyler from London was in Windsor recently adding to her collection of royal souvenirs.

“I’ve already got about 10,000 at home. Everything you can imagine, from mugs and plaques and figurines, covering several generations of royals. I’ve got so much that there’s hardly any room to move around my house. I’ve got a sofa, a television and a little kitchen. I haven’t got room for anything else,” Tyler said. “Nevertheless, I’m still looking for more commemorative items. I love the royal family.”

The royal wedding has triggered an avalanche of royal tat, including some bizarre products like the Harry and Meghan breakfast cereal, and the aim is obvious: to make a quick buck.

But in tune with the socially aware image that the young couple has been energetically projecting, there’s been an effort to link this demand for souvenirs to a charitable cause. “For Richer, For Poorer” is the result. This is a new brand of souvenirs, launched by a group of design and marketing consultants, and aimed at raising funds for the homeless of Windsor. Giulia Watson of Revolt Communications leads the project.
https://www.marketplace.org/2018/04/20/world/royal-wedding-knick-knacks-flying-shelf

So at least the money there is going to a good cause, but people love merchandise for things. And only in England would you see a merch booth outside Westminster Abbey on Royal Wedding day, because, reasons, and money. Even if you own property in London you’re in luck!

Windsor residents are renting out their homes over the royal wedding weekend for extremely high prices.

One two-bedroom property that sleeps four is listed on Airbnb as being “located perfectly for the royal wedding” – and it costs £3,195 for the night.

The host is just one of many homeowners capitalising on public interest in the upcoming nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by renting out their properties at increased prices.

On Airbnb, various homes are listed as “luxury royal wedding accommodation” and are going for more than £2,000 a night.

Other people are merely renting out spare rooms in their Windsor houses – although these are still going for increased rates.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/windsor-residents-renting-out-homes-royal-wedding-airbnb-3000-night-a8305396.html

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #5-23

Hey London I really need a drink!

So of course you know by now that the idea of this is that we have a few drinks, get drunk, and talk about anything in the news that doesn’t relate to politics. And this week we’ve got our annual holiday gift guide. So tell me bartender, what goes well with Santa? Peppermint schnapps? No thanks, I can’t stand mint flavor. I’ll stick with my Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. Well the reason I bring up Santa is that this week was Santa Con in New York City and well, you should never mix booze and bros, because this is the kind of shit that happens. And the people of New York City always dread this kind of year. For good reason.

Over the last two decades, NYC has slowly turned into a playground for the rich—but for one very special day of the year, it transforms into a playground for the drunk. SantaCon swept into town on Saturday, leaving a trail of spilled beer, abandoned Santa hats, and candy cane colored upchuck across Midtown and the East Village.

There are of course plenty of Long Islanders and NJ residents who just want an excuse to have a fun day out with their friends, and organizers have taken pains to snuff out the worst behavior from participants... but there are the people, like the gentleman below, who are just obliterated. If you want to see one SantaCon video that summarizes what it's all about, here you go:

Charitable contributions aside, there is no culture or purpose to SantaCon other than binge drinking (and perhaps reliving fraternity days of yore). The first step to making SantaCon tolerable to the rest of New York is admitting that, letting go of the defensiveness, and then maybe erecting an electric fence around Murray Hill and letting participants roam free without worrying about anyone shouting "MAKE AMERICA SANTA AGAIN" at innocent passersby.

Despite alcohol being banned on all Metro North, LIRR and NJ Transit trains for the day, plenty of people got started nice and early Saturday morning. "We haven’t done anything but wake up and drink," visiting Philly resident Charlie Rahr admitted to the NY Post, inadvertently coining the official motto for the event.
http://gothamist.com/2018/12/10/santacon_photos_2018_nyc.php#photo-1

Wait, you can drink on the LIRR and I wasn’t aware of this? I will have to remember that for my next trip to New York City! Get the paper bag PBR special, or maybe you can go even cheaper and get a 40 of Thunderbird! But come on, the draw of Santa Con is that you can get drunk and get holly jolly on everyone’s ass. Just like in Jingle All The Way!

Nothing brings people together quite like getting drunk in a Santa costume — just ask Andy Cohen.

After ridiculing the boozy tradition, Cohen couldn’t help but join in on New York City’s annual SantaCon bar crawl over the weekend when he spotted a party on the roof of a nearby building.

“This is out my kitchen window. This is the beginning of SantaCon,” he said in his Instagram Story on Saturday while recording a party forming across the way. “There are four Santas on this roof. This can’t end well.”

As the party continued to grow, a few partygoers noticed Cohen’s videos and invited him over.

“Do I go? I feel kind of funny, but it could be classic,” he said.
https://people.com/tv/andy-cohen-crashes-santacon-party/

But people think that Santa Con is exclusively a New York City thing but the truth is – it happens all over the country! And besides NYC, San Francisco famously holds an annual Santa Convention and it is just as batshit crazy as, just like its’ NYC counterpart, also has a tendency to draw a particularly rowdy crowd.

Seven Santa Clauses who got higher than a rooftop were busted for being drunk on Saturday in San Francisco during the annual SantaCon pub crawl.

The Santas were nabbed downtown and at the northern waterfront, according to police officer Robert Rueca. Fifteen other Santas were treated by medics for being drunk, tipsy, wobbly, sick or in other conditions brought on by excessive good cheer.

SantaCon, the annual celebration that started in San Francisco in 1994 and spread around the world, features countless celebrants in Santa suits fanning out from Union Square and bellying up to countless bars.

“It’s not officially sanctioned,” said Rueca, “but people do have the freedom to wear whatever disguise they want — that’s out of our control.”

It was not immediately known if there were more drunk Santas this year than in past years. Rueca said that everyone, including Santa, is subject to the same rules about public drunkenness “and it doesn’t matter what outfit you’re wearing.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Seven-Santa-Clauses-busted-for-public-drunkeness-13455721.php

And then what happens when a group of rowdy Santas goes to get booze? Well let’s just say it ends badly as it started, with these Santas trashing a popular restaurant in San Francisco. Which begs the question – if Santa’s on the naughty list, who is on the nice list?

Some Santa Claus revelers in San Francisco have made the jolly one's naughty list after trashing a popular Polk Street restaurant Saturday night.

On Monday, in the aftermath of the Santa Con participants' bad behavior, there was growing outrage over videos showing just how bad these Santas were.

Workers at Shalimar, a Pakistani restaurant, were still cleaning up Monday but managed to capture video Saturday night of Santa Con partiers demanding food they never ordered then one woman with a Santa hat in her hand shoving a cash register, a stereo and just about everything that was on the counter onto the floor.

Alejo Cano Chang said the group came in around 7 p.m. During the woman's outburst, she also threw a sugar shaker at him. The vandalism didn't stop there.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Naughty-List-Santa-Con-Revelers-Trash-San-Francisco-Restaurant-502428271.html

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
[br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #5-16

Hey Boston, I’m in one of the biggest drinking cities in America, I really need a drink!

So of course you know the idea behind this segment is that we have a few drinks and talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. But this week we’re actually going to break our rule and talk about something in politics. While I generally don’t mix booze and politics I do mix booze and fails. So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about Kanye? Really? There’s a beer called “Stable Genius”? Why didn’t I think of that? Ah I’ll just have my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. So I’m sure by now you heard that Kanye West was meeting with Trump last week and somebody may have discovered that his passcode is 000000. Even Saturday Night Live made fun of it:

Excuse me a minute… Yeah that happened. So there’s of course more to this story than you might think:

Kanye West may need a new iPhone password. The outspoken musician accidentally revealed his password when unlocking his iPhone X on video during a meeting with President Trump, shown to be the incredibly weak combination of 000000.

West revealed the password as part of a stream of consciousness speech to the president, which saw him break off on a tangent to show off a GIF of what West referred to as “the iPlane 1,” a hydrogen-powered concept aircraft that he felt “our President should be flying in.” (Trump: “Can we get rid of Air Force One? No?”)

Despite using an iPhone X or XS — which both support Face ID, therefore negating the need for a typed-in password — West chose to unlock his phone manually. (Whether Face ID failed, was disabled, or is simply not fast enough for West is unclear.) Apple doesn’t recommend that users set such a simple password on its iOS devices. If you attempt to change your password to something like 000000 or 123456, a notification will pop up, suggesting that the combination can be easily guessed and recommending that you choose something else.

Despite using an iPhone X or XS — which both support Face ID, therefore negating the need for a typed-in password — West chose to unlock his phone manually. (Whether Face ID failed, was disabled, or is simply not fast enough for West is unclear.) Apple doesn’t recommend that users set such a simple password on its iOS devices. If you attempt to change your password to something like 000000 or 123456, a notification will pop up, suggesting that the combination can be easily guessed and recommending that you choose something else.
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/10/11/17964848/kanye-west-iphone-passcode-trump-iplane-apple-meeting

Come on, Kanye! You’ve got an iPhone X! You can unlock the phone with your face, and the fact that Kanye doesn’t do that already to me is beyond baffling. You know that Kim somewhere has her phone setup to unlock by selfie. Of course it’s a bad idea to use 000000. You might as well have a sign on your back that says “hack me”!

It’s still not exactly clear why Kanye West is so enamored with the science denying, race-baiting commander-in-chief. But fortunately, it’s only a matter of time before the truth gets out thanks to some noble iPhone hacker: My dude’s lock-screen password is literally 000000.

We know this because the Chicago rapper visited the Oval Office on Thursday to discuss topics ranging from prison reform to job opportunities for ex-cons. At one point in the meeting, Kanye wanted to show the president something on his phone, and proceeded to unlock it on live television. In short order, the whole world had an opportunity to grasp just how much Ye’s commitment to cybersecurity leaves to be desired.

All of this could have been easily avoided if he had used FaceID to unlock his phone. But, it seems that he either didn’t activate the facial recognition feature introduced with the iPhone X — or it simply didn’t work.

The musician’s ensuing rant left the President speechless as well as many onlookers, making Kanye’s dumb-ass password the photo-op’s main takeaway. One viral tweet amassed more than 39,000 likes, 12,000 retweets, and almost 800 replies at the time of this writing.
https://www.inverse.com/article/49813-kanye-west-password-is-terrible

Come on Kanye, you’re one of the most famous people in the world. Like I said you might as well invite people to hack you. I’m sure Trump somewhere is going “Come on, my iPhone passcode is 123456, no one can hack me!”. Of course you can. In fact it’s probably illegal.

The day has come: Kanye West met with Donald Trump for the second time since the 2016 election. There were hugs. MAGA hats. West praised Trump's relations with North Korea, and gave a monologue that touched on everything from the 13th and 2nd amendments to Superman. The whole event was confusing, uncomfortable, and deeply depressing. But there was one small spark of joy.

West, a man who has referred to himself on a number of occasions as "Steve Jobs," a man who expresses unreserved admiration for Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, uses 000000 as the passcode for his iPhone. He is one of the biggest celebrities in the world. The contents of his phone are probably more valuable than Elon Musk's current net worth. How could he have such bad security?!

He'll probably change it now, but it was still hilarious. Do you think the passcode is performance art? Has Kanye heard of two-factor authentication? Will that cousin who stole his laptop come back for the iPhone?

Jobs is turning in his grave.
http://www.papermag.com/kanye-west-passcode-2611721610.html

Does anyone get the irony of this? The guy who travels with a 50 person entourage for security purposes obviously doesn’t give a shit about cyber security! So go on, if someone is dumb enough to give their passcode is 000000, don’t be surprised when you get hacked! And I guess Kim isn’t too concerned either!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks for Kanye West, whose Trump-supporting antics peaked this past week when he met with Donald Trump in the White House. The meeting was a bizarre spectacle to say the least, with Kanye pitching Air Force 1 ideas, dropping quotes like 'Time is a myth,' and accidentally revealing his uninspired iPhone passcode.

Despite the backlash, CNN says that Kim Kardashian West is "not embarrassed" by Kanye's behavior, contrary to previous reports. "Kim is incredibly supportive," a source said, adding that West's mind "moves at lightning speed" and suggested the forum for the White House meeting wasn't the best representation of West's "genius."

Leading up to Kanye's White House appearance, Kardashian told Extra that she excited for it. "I always say he isn't the best communicator, but he has the best heart," Kardashian said. "I know what he wants to accomplish... and I can't wait to see that happen."

Shortly after Kanye's surprise post-show rant on SNL, the rapper deactivated his social media accounts. But he made his return to Twitter yesterday for a lengthy discussion on mind control.
https://www.elle.com/culture/a23763905/kim-kardashian-not-embarrassed-kanye-west-report/

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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From: Idiots #6-17

Hey Montana we’re at a brewery and I really need a drink!

So you know the idea behind this segment is that too much talking about politics and everything else that goes on in the world causes us to drink. But we have a rule here at the Top 10 – while we are drinking, we talk about literally anything in the world as long as it doesn’t relate to politics, because mixing drinking and politics never ends well. Tell me bartender – what goes well with a music festival fail? Really? You don’t have any suggestions for that? Why don’t you bring over a couple of pitchers of IPAs? Oh yeah that’s the stuff! Two years ago, we went through the epic fail that was the Fyre Festival, and it was a colossal fail. Now this year the 50th anniversary of Woodstock also crashed and burned. So how did it happen?

The troubled Woodstock 50 festival has run into more difficulties, as multiple sources told Variety late Friday that the April 22 on-sale date for the event has been postponed.

Agents for artists scheduled to perform at the festival — which include Jay-Z, Dead & Company, Chance the Rapper, Miley Cyrus, Imagine Dragons and Halsey — received a notice from festival talent buyer Danny Wimmer Presents that reads, according to Hits Daily Double, “There is currently a hold on the Woodstock 50 on-sale date. We are waiting on an official press statement from Woodstock 50 regarding updated announce, ticket pricing, and overall festival information. We will get this information to you as soon as we receive it.”

Tim O’Hearn, administrator for Schuyler County, where the event is scheduled to be held, told the Poughkeepsie Journal that the state Department of Health is reviewing Woodstock 50’s permit application, which he said was submitted April 15. The state must issue a temporary permit for events before ticket sales can begin, he said. Ticket prices have not been revealed in the month since the festival’s lineup was announced.

A spokesperson for the festival seemed to dispute reports of trouble in a statement to Variety that reads: “Woodstock is a phenomenon that for fifty years has drawn attention to its principles and also the rumors that can be attached to that attention. Just more rumors.”
https://variety.com/2019/music/news/woodstock-50-festival-postpones-ticket-on-sale-date-1203193881/

Of course it’s executive drunk! It’s like regular drunk except there’s no bar required. And it’s apparently still slightly OK to drive. But we don’t encourage that here. Getting off topic. So of course we’ve all been burned by bad ticket sales – just ask anyone who attempted to get tickets for the Rolling Stones’ Honk tour, or Metallica’s S&M show in San Francisco. Now what are other ways this could possibly go wrong? Well several!

A dispute among Woodstock 50 organizers over whether the upcoming anniversary concert is canceled or not marks the latest issue to plague concerts linked to the famous festival held in August 1969.

In fact, the original concert — the Woodstock Music and Art Fair — lost its site in July 1969, about a month before it was scheduled to be held. Woodstock co-producer and co-founder Michael Lang quickly found farmland owned by Sullivan County farmer Max Yasgur and announced within days that Woodstock would be held in Bethel.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Uncertainty, however, now hangs over plans for a 50th anniversary Woodstock concert scheduled for Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, Schuyler County.
https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2019/04/29/woodstock-2019-canceled-michael-lang-bethel/3620971002/

So is Woodstock 50th anniversary concert an even bigger fail than the Fyre Festival? Well time will certainly tell on that one and you can always judge a fail by the quality of the people behind the fail, but this is my favorite part of the story. What are the odds on the festival’s cancellation? Anyone? Well of course for those compulsive gamblers, Vegas has you covered!

It’s not just amateurs who look at the ongoing imbroglio over the Woodstock 50 festival and think: What are the odds that it ends up being a go? Don’t worry — the pros in Las Vegas have set their minds to it, too.

Jay Kornegay, the head of the Race & Sports Book Operations at Westgate Resorts in Las Vegas, has done his research. “You have so many different views here, with a lot of contradictory information,” he says. “I don’t have a dog in this fight, but based on what I’ve gathered, it’s close to a ‘pick-em,’ a 50-50 bet.”

Woodstock founder Michael Lang is used to bucking odds. After all, no one thought the beatific hippie could pull off the original Woodstock back in 1969, but after all the location disputes, gridlocked traffic, mud and free admission, he and his partners ended up with a money-making documentary and a brand that has seemingly withstood the test of time.

The promoter continues to insist Woodstock 50 will take place August 16-18 at Watkins Glen Speedway in upstate New York, and the acts remain on hold, having been paid. But the well-publicized travesty of the Fyre Festival has people increasingly gun-shy about how to overcome such tough logistics. The loss of Japanese financiers Dentsu and now Lang’s production company, Superfly, compounded by a missed on-sale ticket date of April 22, have left the fate of the festival very much in doubt.
https://variety.com/2019/music/news/woodstock-50-las-vegas-oddsmakers-lay-odds-whether-festival-will-take-place-1203203258/

Yeah so if you’re gambling don’t bother with statistics and odds, just go with the flow here, and have another drink. I mean if the odds are that Woodstock 50 is a go, why wouldn’t it be? Oh wait, the show has effectively been cancelled. Well at least the Woodstock 50 people and the Fyre Festival people can maybe trade some notes because they are both are total clusterfucks.

The festival is scheduled to begin Aug. 16 at Watkins Glen International raceway in Schuyler County.

Lang declined to say when, if the list of needs is not met in the next two weeks as hopes, he would pull the plug on the festival. But, he said, “If it’s going to happen it’s going to come together very quick.”

Underscoring this all is a pattern in which Lang says one thing and others say something else, or nothing at all. And, though Lang has the experience of promoting three previous versions of Woodstock, the brand’s legacy as a cultural touchstone cannot be separated from its legacy of problems.

Even the original, held in Sullivan County on Aug. 15-18, 1969, is known for its traffic, rain and attendees who found a way around buying tickets.

What impact those issues have had on the music industry’s confidence in Lang’s ability to smoothly create a festival of this scope is unclear. But, there are those who have faith in his ability to rally.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2019/05/03/woodstock-50-problems-michael-lang-dentsu-aegis-watkins-glen/3661459002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-lifetopstories

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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From: Idiots #7-5

Ah Dallas, it’s the end of our Texas Roadshow. We traveled nearly 1600 miles to get here, and I really need a drink!

So of course you know the idea behind this segment is that we don’t mix booze and politics, but we do mix booze and comedy! So tell me, bartender, what goes well with dodgeball? Oh a poppy flavored lollipop? Well you’re a doo doo head!! Ah you know I’ll just take my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack! Folks, one of America’s most time-honored traditions, the trash talking, playground bullying sport known as Dodgeball is under attack. And really, you are just now figuring this out about Dodgeball? I mean just how bad is our favorite playground pastime?

Most people would call dodgeball a harmless playground activity, but a team of Canadian researchers argue the game is a tool of oppression that can unfairly target students perceived as “weaker individuals.”

The group presented their argument Monday at a conference organized by the Canadian Society for the Study of Education in Vancouver, according to CTV News.

They claim dodgeball — which requires players to eliminate their opponents by hitting them with rubber balls — teaches students to dehumanize each other and creates unsafe conditions in schools.

“Dodgeball is the only game where the human is the target. No other games focus on it,” study co-presenter Joy Butler, a professor at the University of British Columbia, told CTV News.

“It’s tantamount to legalized bullying,” she added.

Butler worked alongside David Burns, a professor at the Kwantlen Polytechnic, and Claire Robson, a professor at Simon Fraser University.
https://wgntv.com/2019/06/09/researchers-dodgeball-is-more-than-a-game-its-legalized-bullying/

Legalized bullying? Seriously, dude, lighten up. Were you the one who always got picked last for softball? Come on, Dodgeball combines two things that are as old as time itself – trash talking and human targets! And I mean come on, if a game of dodgeball breaks out, you should expect to get hurt followed by some trash talking. And I mean really why stop there? Just ban all playground activities while we’re at it. You’re it!

An old State Department of Education document recommending the elimination of “inappropriate” games such as kickball and tag from Alabama physical education curriculums is getting new attention this week.

The state department said it was fielding calls from national media outlets such as CNN and Newsweek on Wednesday after the list was shared by a state department employee earlier this week. As of Wednesday, the document was no longer on the website and the state said it doesn't reflect an official position of the department.

Many of the games and descriptions that are “highly recommended and suggested” not to be allowed in Alabama schools’ P.E. programs also appear to be copy and pasted from one website's so-called "P.E. Hall of Shame," whose director said the recommendations are backed by decades of research.

“Duck, Duck, Goose: A game of minimal participation; the chosen “goose” attempts to get up from a sitting position and try to catch the “ducker” who only has to go about 60 feet and already has a full running head start. Everyone else just sits and screams at ear-shattering pitch and decibel levels,” one item reads.
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/education/2018/08/29/alabama-recommends-eliminating-kickball-tag-schools-why-old-document-has-received-new-interest/1133618002/

Yeah when kickball is outlawed, only outlaws will have kickballs! Suck on that!! OK I think I might have taken things a bit too far here. Nah, this is the Trump administration that we’re living in here, nobody apologizes for anything! So in case you’re wondering whether or not schools are removing our favorite playground past times, let’s take a look at the list of the reasons why.

Bullying

Bullying has been a hot topic in recent years, as the incidence of bullying and cyberbullying and the resultant student anguish has received national news attention. A closer eye has been taken to the issue of student-on-student harassment. Human target games can encourage students to participate in hostile targeting and can mask bullying under the guise of team sports. Games such as dodgeball can inadvertently promote violence, and it can be hard for authority figures to distinguish what’s a hostile attack from what’s innocent play.

Individual Capacity

Each student is different, and that means that their physical fitness, strength, and personality are all individualistic. In games like dodgeball, students who fall on the lower side of the physical fitness or extroversion scale become easy targets, typically enduring consistent early elimination from such games. This can weigh heavily on young psyches as some students may be routinely excluded from full participation.

Quality of Activities

Although some games like dodgeball are old classics, a growing concern lies within the educational aspect of such exercises. Meeting the needs of all children, spurring them to take a vested interest in physical activity, teaching them to work together, and also challenging their brains are all integral parts of a well-rounded physical education program. As the health of the nation becomes a growing concern, teaching children how to become active and participate in sports is part of constructing a framework that can lead them to a lifetime of health and wellness.
https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/fall-dodgeball-why-schools-are-removing-competitive-elimination-games-their-pe-curriculum

Come on, why so serious, guys? There’s plenty of reasons to love competitive elimination contests, and you just listed all the reasons. Did you not see the movie Dodgeball? That was the whole point for the stronger ones to beat up on the much weaker ones! And by the way if you ban Dodgeball, only outlaws will be the ones who have Dodgeballs!

The game everyone from the sports teaching know almost. During Dodge ball, two Teams are formed, which are on each side of the field. Then it comes to the players of the opposing team with a Ball to throw, until only one player is left. For generations, international ball is a part of the teaching of sport in Germany and many other countries. And not a few students have carried on from their time at school, a veritable dodgeball Trauma that has developed for some is also a General aversion to ball sports.

scientists from Canada have engaged in a study of how students perceive the game. They came to the conclusion that Dodge ball can be “oppressive” and “dehumanizing”. These are the findings of a survey of students presented to three researchers at a Congress in Vancouver and the “Washington Post” reported. In North America, is played with “Dodgeball” is often an even more stringent version of the international ball, at the several balls at the same time be used.

especially weaker students suffer from dodgeball

“dodgeball is the equivalent of legalized bullying,” said Joy Butler, one of the authors of the study, the TV station CBC. Butler teaches in Vancouver at the British University of Columbia and has worked long as a teacher. The study will soon appear in the journal “European Physical Education Review”.
https://www.oracleglobe.com/breaking/legalized-bullying-scientists-want-to-ban-dodge-ball-from-physical-education-11758.html

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink: RIP Mad Mike
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From: Idiots #8-9

Folks here in Kansas, it’s my first time here, and I could really use a drink!

When the news gets too dark, the only solution is to kick back with a glass of your favorite beverage of choice and talk about literally anything else. Well, sadly I wish I had better news, but this week, we are saluting the accomplishments of Mike Hughes. Now you might be thinking, “where do I know that name from”? And I answer you – he’s the member of the Flat Earth Society known as “Mad Mike”. We were first introduced to Mad Mike in Idiots #3-24 when he first attempted to shoot to the moon in a homemade rocket. Well, tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about the Flat Earth Society? A flat martini? I think I’ll have an actual martini thanks, and plenty of them! So how did our friend Mad Mike meet his fate? Well the phrase “homemade rocket” immediately is suspect. Also the phrase “self-taught rocket science”. Where did he get that knowledge from? Watching Wile E Coyote cartoons?

A US daredevil pilot has been killed during an attempted launch of a homemade rocket in the Californian desert.

"Mad" Mike Hughes, 64, crash-landed his steam-powered rocket shortly after take-off near Barstow on Saturday.

A video on social media shows a rocket being fired into the sky before plummeting to the ground nearby.

Hughes was well-known for his belief that the Earth was flat. He hoped to prove his theory by going to space.

Saturday's launch was reportedly filmed as part of Homemade Astronauts, a new TV series about amateur rocket makers to be aired on the US Science Channel. The project had to be carried out on a tight budget.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51602655

Dude, you don’t have to go into space to prove that the earth is flat. There’s this thing we have called “the sun” and “the moon” that are in the sky that are round. And if I recall my physics classes, that’s exactly what the first astronomers used to disprove this theory over a thousand years ago! Now, we give groups like the Flat Earth Society a whole bunch of shit and they deserve it. But Mad Mike and his sad tragic demise aside, the Flat Society has grown in leaps and bounds in the last 3 years!

It is said that humans are not rational animals but rather rationalizing ones. We often find what is comfortable for us to believe and then look for the information that will justify these beliefs. How else could we explain the recent worldwide growth in the Flat Earth Society? You would think that with so much irrefutable evidence readily available on the web such crazy ideas would be in decline. The opposite is happening.

“Researchers believe they have identified the prime driver for a startling rise in the number of people who think the Earth is flat: Google’s video-sharing site, YouTube,” The Guardian reported in 2020. On the web, it seems that misinformation is battling with information and that misinformation is often winning.

Misinformation is certainly helped by those with a bottomless greed and lust for power and dominance. Mark Zuckerberg has decided that Facebook’s continued growth strategy is to profit from misinformation and fake news. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is how Mark thinks. ‘We’ve made so much money already from fake news, why would a growth-at-any-cost company like Facebook change when it’s winning?’

Misinformation feeds off human emotion. Those in power can’t resist pushing the emotional buttons. It is so easy to manipulate people by calling to their most basic instincts. Fear, hate, violence and ‘common sense’ are powerful drivers. Why, it’s common sense that the earth is flat. Just look out your window. It’s flat, isn’t it?
https://www.cmswire.com/digital-experience/we-need-more-editors/

That is a good point. Mad Mike is a reminder that misinformation can not only hurt people emotionally, it can also literally kill you, as we have seen here in this story. But in trying to find stories on Mad Mike for this piece, I also had an interesting thought. And that is why do people who believe the earth is flat also support Trump’s proposed Space Force? Yeah that’s weird ven diagram of people isn’t it? That would be like if you asked Weight Watchers members what their favorite brand of quadruple cheeseburger is. I have my own opinion. It’s Wendys. Just because they’re square.

Not all conspiracy theories are necessarily destructive. Compared to the Birthers, the anti-Vaxers, the deniers of the Sandy Hook Shooting, the Holocaust and Climate Change, the resurgence of the Flat Earth Society of the 1800s seems relatively harmless.

Disagreement over the shape of our planet isn’t being led by the under-educated or the overly impressionable. Thousands of people admit they don’t believe that the Earth is round, and many attend the annual Flat Earth International Conventions for the past several years, posting an active presence on social media. As Tom Nichols, a Ph.D professor at the US Naval War College and author of “The Death of Expertise” says, “it takes a reasonably smart person to construct a really interesting conspiracy theory, because conspiracy theories are actually highly complex explanations. They are also challenging intellectual exercises both for those who hold them and those who would disprove them.”

After all, to suspect we’re being fooled about the curvature of the earth — what damage could that cause? It’s not the first time NASA has been accused of photo-shopping rocket launches, and little wonder; so many of its staff are rocket scientists and would know how to pull it off. It’s impossible for us land-based laypeople to verify such high-tech feats as a rendezvous with Russian Cosmonauts on the International Space Station; to believe that we live on a sphere suspended in an infinite cosmos requires faith in science, rather than faith in a god.
https://www.journal-news.net/journal-news/space-force-for-the-flat-earthers/article_c3bbf57a-710d-5017-8074-f99038a0e951.html

Whoa whoa whoa… they had to get actual Ph.D level physicists involved in this? I mean just… wow, that is completely insane. But just like all insane conspiracy theories, it is definitely dark in nature. And I could really go on all day about how insane the Flat Earth Society it. They’re just like any other group of crazy people out there. But when we think of Mad Mike and the Flat Earth society, we’ve got a long way to go to dispel all the media disinformation out there. But that said, Mad Mike, we salute you!

Michael “Mad Mike” Hughes was an enigma on a mission — to inspire and to upend.

The 64-year-old daredevil limo driver taught himself rocket science, crowdfunded the money to build his own steam-powered rocket out of spare parts and launched himself into the sky three times. He was also a flat-earther who didn’t believe in science. Or gravity, for that matter.

Those may sound contradictory, but maybe they’re not.

He also ran for governor of California in 2018, held a Guinness World Record for longest limo ramp jump in 2002, hosted a flat earth conference in Las Vegas in May 2019, had a documentary made about him called “Rocketman,” had an upcoming Science Channel TV show called “Homemade Astronauts” and harbored fringe beliefs about the government.

On Feb. 22, Hughes launched himself for the third and final time in his homemade rocket, just off Highway 247 in Barstow, California.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mad-mike-hughes-flat-earth_n_5e597924c5b60102211080c8

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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From: Idiots #11-12

Hey everyone I don’t know about you but I could really use a drink!

So of course you know that the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks, and we talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. This week we’re taking a look at the growing phenomenon of celebrities who refuse to take a shower. Yeah it’s a disgusting subject, I know. So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about BO? The BO cocktail? What’s in it? Why don’t you just bottle that and sell it as a COVID cure to idiots who refuse to get the vaccine? All right I’ll go partners with you. In the meantime I want my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I mean come on, we’re in Salt Lake City. We have to jump through hoops for our booze! But this week we’re going to talk about the phenomenon of the stinky celebrity. It’s been reported that a growing number of celebrities are among those who refuse to shower. So what is going on exactly? Well it just seems like it’s one after another after another!

From juice cleanses to keto diets, and more recently, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, it seems wealthy celebrities always have something to say about how we, the humble poors and normies, should be living our best, healthiest lives. This sort of out-of-touch prescriptivism is, after all, the stuff of multi-million dollar celebrity lifestyle brands, from Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop to Kourtney Kardashian's Poosh. If we try this life hack or that, our lives will supposedly become like those of the celebrities we're taught to worship.

Enter: the celebrity bath debate, that's split up an entire roster of A-listers into Team Shower vs. Team Anti-Shower. Somewhere in the shuffle between noting the shower statuses of Chris Evans and Cardi B, one has to take a step back and ask themselves, what does any of this really mean? Why do we, as a culture, even care? And is anyone really all that shocked that Jake Gyllenhal doesn't bathe? To answer these and other questions requires us to go back to the start, when the controversy first emerged earlier this summer.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis got us started in July when they opened up about only bathing their children when they start to smell, and fellow celeb parents Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard co-signed. What followed was a symphony of celebrity confessions and rebuffs.
https://www.salon.com/2021/08/17/celebrity-bathing-kutcher-kunis-gyllenhaal/

Ah I needed that! So that’s the entire thing about celebrities – they’re weird. We get it. But that’s why they’re celebrities. It’s why Gwenyth Paltrow sells a $100 candle called “This Smells Like My Vagina” that exploded. Yeah picture that for a minute. I’m getting off topic here. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, and there’s plenty of bizarre celebrity behavior that could span over several editions of our favorite segment here. But none have gone as far as Paul Wall who doesn’t even wear deodorant! Get the puke bucket ready!

Just when you thought the great shower debate was over, 97.9 The Box kicked it back into gear. We recently witnessed celebrities coming forward to reveal that they didn't shower daily. Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Jake Gyllenhall, and several others admitted that they do not have a habit of showering daily, and Paul Wall has joined the list.

He appeared on 97.9 and was asked about his routine. “Every few days. I’m not gonna say—‘Few’ is like more than two, so it could mean three, it could be thirteen maybe," the rapper joked. "Today is shower day.”

Wall also stated that he does not wear deodorant for health reasons. "I used to, but when I stopped—it’s something you gotta get out of your system—but when I stopped wearing deodorant, I stopped getting as funky when I sweat. I don’t know if it’s just a hormone thing when I got older. Maybe it’s ’cause I got older, I don’t know.”

The rapper said that his wife and children continue to wear deodorant even though he has chosen not to. Wall was insistent that he does not smell bad and cited the "aluminum in deodorant" as the reason why he has opted to not use certain products. Swipe below to listen to the rapper explain himself in full.
https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/paul-wall-doesnt-shower-daily-explains-why-he-no-longer-wears-deodorant-news.139410.html

Yes, we like our booze in mass quantities here! And me being the host of the show, I get my drinks comped! But that said, there’s not all celebrities who are refusing to cleanse themselves. The antidote to this madness comes from Jason Momoa. Yes, Aquaman himself has the cure for the BS. That’s right – he’s the king of the fucking water, and that’s according to his words. So why wouldn’t he want to bathe or use a pool? Good question!

After the trend of celebrities sharing their controversial bathing habits went viral, Aquaman star Jason Momoa made his position on personal hygiene clear while doing press for his upcoming movie, Sweet Girl. Momoa first hit the scene in 1999 playing Jason Ioane on Baywatch: Hawaii. However, it wasn't until 2011 when he truly stepped into the spotlight after playing Khal Drogo in the first two seasons of HBO's hit fantasy series, Game of Thrones. Since 2011, Momoa has portrayed the half-human, half-Atlantean superhero, Aquaman (a.k.a. Arthur Curry), in the DCEU.

Celebrity hygiene has—strangely enough—become a trending topic in recent weeks, sparking somewhat of a Hollywood bathing debate. The conversation started when Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher told Dax Shepard that they don't bathe daily, Kunis adding: "I don't wash my body with soap every day." They also explained that they didn't wash their kids daily when they were young, raising some eyebrows from readers, and yes⁠, other celebs. On Twitter, Dwayne Johnson said that he's "the opposite of a 'not washing themselves' celeb," and showers at least 3 times a day. Other A-listers have taken their sides, with Shepard's wife, Kristen Bell, and actor Jake Gyllenhaal agreeing with Kunis and Kutcher's more casual approach to bathing. Jodie Turner-Smith, on the other hand, reacted by tweeting: "Before you lot even ask: in this house, we bathe."

In an interview with Access Hollywood alongside co-star Isabel Merced, the whole celebrity showering debate came up in conversation. Momoa insisted that while other celebs might skip out on their daily hygiene rituals, he prefers to stay squeaky clean. Momoa told the interviewer, "I'm Aquaman. I'm in the f–king water. Don't worry about it. I'm Hawaiian. We got saltwater on me. We good."
https://screenrant.com/aquaman-jason-momoa-celebrity-shower-bathe-response/

So now you might be asking “what’s the solution?”. Well I answer you sir / madam, with a simple “I don’t know”. But is going au natural the solution? Well you’re about half right. It turns out that the human need for showering and cleanliness stems out of fear. The most obvious targets being the smelly kids in middle school. You know, kind of like Pig Pen from the old Peanuts cartoons. Ask yourself this – do you want to be Pig Pen or do you want to be like Mila Kunis? Yeah that’s a weird question, but I am kind of drunk right now. No wait, I’m extremely drunk.

This summer, we as an adoring, dutiful public watched in horror as our glamorous perception of celebrities was shattered thanks to waves of rich and famous people coming out as proudly … dirty. The people we’re supposed to hold up as the pinnacle of beauty, taste, and presumably hygiene set the internet ablaze with seemingly endless interviews in which they reveal that they are forgoing the traditional bathing schedule for something a little more, how do you say, au naturel. It turns out all that glitters is in fact not gold, and maybe on top of that is kind of stinky. Well, I’m coming to you today, dear reader, to potentially ruin my own life by saying that actually, this is not that big of a deal. I’m here to stand up for our celebrity brethren and defend their right to be a little bit crusty.

First, I think it’s important to note that I am riddled with personal biases. For example, I have in my past claimed to be a “lil stinker,” which I define as someone who showers when needed based on smell and comfort but not necessarily a daily schedule, and who doesn’t really wear deodorant unless I’m going to something where it would be actively impolite to sweat (think: warm-weather funeral). Does this lead to me being “gross”? My internal polling of those close to me has led me to believe that I am of neutral scent and therefore completely inoffensive (there’s obviously room for error in the event that everyone is lying to me, but I cannot go down that rabbit hole). I guess my deal is mostly like: Some days I don’t shower … and that’s okay.
https://www.vulture.com/2021/08/the-stinky-celebrities-are-right.html

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink: Hank The Tank
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From: Idiots #12-6

Hey everyone, I don’t know about you, but I could really use a drink!

Of course you know by now that the idea of this segment is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking we talk about literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics or COVID, or hell war. Yeah that’s right, we’ve got a war brewing right now and it’s not pretty. So this week we are going to talk about a bear that’s been taking America by storm. Let’s go to Northern California, to the city of Lake Tahoe for this story. And yes I could spend all day making jokes about Yogi stealing picnic baskets, but we’ll save that for another discussion. So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about a bear attack? Bear Juice IPA? What’s in that? No thanks, though I do like my IPA s to be large and plentiful, preferably with a high alcohol content. So yeah large IPA please and the largest size ya got! So let’s talk about the bear known as Hank The Tank, who I am sure you’ve probably all heard this story by now.

You may know him as Hank the Tank, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife knows him as a threat to a Lake Tahoe neighborhood.

For months now, the 500-pound black bear has been roaming the streets in the Tahoe Keys area of South Lake Tahoe, about 100 miles east of Sacramento.

In the span of seven months, the animal caused extensive damage at 33 properties and forcefully entered at least 28 homes, according to a February 17 blog post by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department told CNN on Tuesday it believes Hank is responsible for two more break-ins over the weekend.

A Facebook post by the department says he broke through a small window and somehow squeezed inside a house Friday when no one was there. He did not break into the garage, however, which is where the trash was kept.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/us/hank-the-tank-bear-lake-tahoe-break-ins-trnd/index.html

No that’s Frank The Tank, but I like where you’re going with that! Yeah so Hank The Tank has been terrorizing Lake Tahoe homes for the better part of the last few weeks. But here’s the weird thing about this is that Lake Tahoe has some bizarre laws about bear attacks and the many scenarios that have been proposed for how to get Hank The Tank to stop, have not been good. In fact all the ways that this has been proposed will not end particularly well for our bear friend here.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) explained that Hank likely became a little too comfortable with the local amenities. Bears instinctively fatten up to hibernate. However, if food is plentiful, like in Hank’s case, they may avoid hibernation.

“They’re supposed to be hibernating,” Lt. Jeff Roberson of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department told NBC News. “[But if] they’re used to people and being fed year-round, they don’t really do the bear stuff.”

However, after gathering more evidence, it appears Hank took all of the heat when he wasn’t the only one guilty of the looting. Recent DNA tests by CDFW show that at least three different bears partook in the raidings.

“While recent incidents of bears invading homes were originally thought to be a single bear, DNA evidence collected from the most recent incident as well as prior incidents over the past several months prove that at least three bears were responsible for breaking into numerous residences,” CDFW said in a statement.

This could be good news for Hank since authorities were considering capturing and euthanizing the animal. Now, the agency is hoping to “trap, tag and relocate” the bears.
https://news.yahoo.com/500-pound-black-bear-hank-182120324.html

Yeah that’s great! Keep ‘em coming! But yeah… death for Hank The Tank? That’s something that escalated very quickly! And relocation isn’t going to help things either, those animals are large and very territorial. So the good news is that Hank The Tank has staved off death for now. But here’s where it gets weird – it wasn’t just one bear attacking those homes, it was more than one. Why am I reminded of that line in Hot Fuzz where Nick Frost says “It’s just the one killer, actually!”. Thank you sound effects guy!

Hank the Tank is actually a three-bear battalion.

DNA evidence now shows that the 500-pound black bear the public had nicknamed “Hank the Tank” is, in fact, at least three not-so-little bears who have damaged more than 30 properties around Lake Tahoe in recent months.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife on Thursday said it will soon begin trapping bears in the South Lake Tahoe area to tag the animals and collect evidence for genetic analysis. The bears will be released in a “suitable habitat” and the agency said no trapped animals will be euthanized as part of the project.

The bears are responsible for more than 150 incident reports in the region straddling Northern California and Nevada, including a break-in at a residence in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood last week.

One of the Hanks smashed a window Friday and squeezed into the house on Catalina Drive while the residents were at home, CBS Sacramento reported. Police responded and banged on the outside of the house until Hank exited out the back door and disappeared into the woods.
https://apnews.com/article/oddities-environment-and-nature-lakes-california-environment-88d0877a87956c563016476fc5e1c58f

I’m pretty sure that’s not how Hank The Tank’s fate will end though that is a pretty realistic simulation of what could happen. So the residents of Lake Tahoe are baffled as to what to do with this particular string of bears who are stealing their picnic baskets. And by picnic baskets, I mean they are just looking for something to eat. But that said they can’t keep Hank The Tank and his buddies from finding food, because they’ve ransacked the same home more than once. They are the smarter than the average bear here, but fool me once shame on you. And such. I’m drunk now!

An enormous and locally famous black bear, dubbed Hank the Tank, has reemerged in a South Lake Tahoe neighborhood last week.

According to photos and security footage, the 500 pound bear broke into a house on Catalina Drive in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe Friday morning.

“This bear did not break into a garage where trash was kept that he was sniffing out,” the South Lake Tahoe Police Department said in a social media post. “He broke into a secured home, through the small window in the photo, and somehow squeezed inside.”

Officers responded to the home and banged on an exterior door until the bear “popped” out a back door, the department said. Officers remained in the area to make sure the bear did damage any other homes.
https://www.modbee.com/news/california/article258645383.html

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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From: Idiots # 12-14

Hey everyone! I don’t know about you but I could really use a drink!

So of course you know that the idea of this segment is that we have some drinks and while we’re having drinks we talk about literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Because let’s face it, there’s a lot of really dark shit out there. And it’s about to get even darker. So let’s kick back with a glass of your favorite beverage and just relax, OK? The topic this week? Well, sorry ladies, but we have to talk about the male anatomy this week. And a particular part is getting a lot of bad press. So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about average penis size? Cream soda? I know there’s a joke there but I’m not touching that one with a 10 foot pole! I’ll just stick with my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. So that being said, we need to talk some biology here. The fact of the matter of this study is… it’s not good. And being an American male, I of course have a vetted interest in this subject, but it’s for research purposes! Research purposes! And where’s my drink? But anyway here’s the gist of what’s happening.

If you’ve ever wondered which country has the largest average penis size then look no further, as a recent poll of 86 nations has ranked them all from biggest to smallest.

Online pharmacy From Mars used google data from 86 countries to conduct their study – and you might be surprised to hear their findings.

Pharmacist Navin Khosla, who reviewed the study, said: “Whether people are concerned about the size or the shape, or any other aspect for that matter, most of us have wondered at some point or another whether ours is big enough.”

“Penis size can have a massive impact on confidence and self-image,” he added.

So, which country came out trumps?

According to the study, men in Ecuador are the most well-endowed, with an average penis size of 6.93 inches when erect. This makes the measurement more than 10 percent of the average height.
https://www.ladbible.com/news/country-with-biggest-average-penis-size-in-the-world-revealed-20220418

I don’t think that wine glass is big enough! And speaking of things not being big enough… thank you, audience! See what I did there? You might be asking yourself “Where does the United States rank among the world’s largest penises?”. And I answer you - we didn’t even make the top 50. Yeah I know this article comes from the New York Post but I couldn’t find a more reliable source. But come on, we rank 59th? No wonder white American Christian males are so insecure! Guess Tucker’s Testicle Tanning doesn’t cut it, does it?

American men’s penises are only the 59th biggest in the world, a study reveals.

The average length of 5.35 inches is shorter than their Haitian, French, and Aussie counterparts.

The poll, of 86 nations, revealed that French men’s genitals are 6.20 inches in length, while Australia ranks 43rd at 5.69.

Men in Haiti have an average penis size of 6.30 inches when erect, according to the data.

Ecuadorian men apparently have the biggest penises, at an average of 6.95 inches, while the smallest can be found in Cambodia at just 3.95 inches long when erect.

Men in the US narrowly beat those in the UK as the average size recorded was 5.17 inches.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/18/american-mens-penises-are-only-the-59th-biggest-in-the-world/

Oh yeah that’s the good stuff! Oh and by the way, you might also be wondering – which country is most likely to lie about it’s penis size, average or not? The answer to that question is – Australia. That’s right, the Land Down Under has a huge problem with lying about its’ average size. Although in Australia they’re much more laid back than they are here. Maybe that’s because they might be bigger than the average? Or smaller? Or they just don’t care which is why they are lying about it. I don’t know, it could be all of the above.

According to the Daily Mail, researchers asked men to measure the length of their erect penis, while asking women how big their last sexual partner was while hard. The survey found that Australians are most prone to exaggeration — the men surveyed claimed an average of 7.09 inches, while the women reported an average of 5.58 inches, which is a pretty big discrepancy.

Like their Australian counterparts, American men also oversold their goods, reporting an average penis size of 7.3 inches. American women most decidedly do not agree with that assessment: They reported an average of 6.64 inches instead.

British men exaggerated a bit as well, with an average of 6.89 inches, while British women reported the same length as American women (6.6.4 inches). In contrast, Indian men underestimated the size of their penises, with Indian women claiming that the average penis size is 6.3 inches — .23 inches longer than the men reported.

Necessary caveat: Obviously, asking people to self-report data like this runs the risk of people either exaggerating, but also estimating and getting the information wrong. Plus all the respondents came from SaucyDates’ membership pool, so take the results with a heft dose of salt. That said, it is interesting how often men and women’s perceptions of penis size differed. The moral of the story: When it comes to penis size, honesty is probably the best policy.
https://www.menshealth.com.au/country-who-lies-about-penis-size/

Honesty is the best policy? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh even harder.… Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Honesty is the best policy…said literally no one ever when it comes to penis size. Trust me, I’m a guy, I have literally heard some of the dumbest shit ever said when it comes to the subject of penis size. And by the way in case you’re wondering which part of the body can also determine what the guy is like downstairs? Well look to the face! That’s right – it’s the only other part.

The scientists behind the Feb. 2021 study, which was published in the journal Basic and Clinical Andrology, were inspired by "the saying 'big nose, big hose,' [which] suggests that nose size indicates penile length." Since there was no scientific data to prove it, they set out to do the research themselves.

They looked at the lengths of the penises and noses of recently deceased adult men in Japan, ranging between the ages of 30 and 59. Penises were measured in a vertical, upright position to recreate an erection (a measurement called stretched penile length), and noses were measured from between the midpoint of the eyes down to the left or right side of the nose (whichever was longer). What they found was that "the average stretched penile length gradually increased in the longer nose size groups," leading the researchers to determine that the two measurements are "highly related."

"This study is the first to demonstrate the relationship between stretched penile length (SPL) and nose size but is limited in Japanese male cadavers, and the reason why SPL and nose size are related is still unclear. Therefore, we consider it an interesting subject to pursue from now on," the Japanese researchers wrote in their findings. "The fact that nose size is related to SPL indicates that penile length may not be determined by age, height or body weight, but has already been determined before birth."
https://bestlifeonline.com/penis-size-news/

Next week we’ll be bringing you our Best Of Season 13 and all the info you need to know for season 14 and some other cool stuff we’re planning! See you next week!

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January 5, 2023

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #24: Best Of Conspiracy Corner Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #24: Best Of Conspiracy Corner Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! So how’s everyone doing? I hope that everyone had a great Christmas, New Year’s and whatever other holidays you decide to worship! So we’re bringing you a series of Best Of editions while we’re taking our extended break and since last year we celebrated 5 years of our favorite religious themed segment Holy Shit and did two Best Of editions to celebrate. So we decided to pool from some of our other popular segments and one of our favorites has always been Conspiracy Corner, which we debuted during the worst of the pandemic. Since the Top 10 began we’ve always wanted a space where we can talk about all the crazy tin foil hat nuttiness of the internet this is what we came up with. Conspiracy Corner debuted in edition #8-12, and it’s been one of our favorite regular features ever since. Of course like most things we do this one was inspired by Stephen Colbert (obviously). The joke is that we tear apart all the crazy conspiracy theory shit you hear on the internet from the comfort of our underground doomsday shelter from the New Mexico desert. So we’ve pulled from our Top 10 archives and are bringing you the 10 best segments dissecting your favorite internet conspiracy theories coming from the dark corners of the internet and beyond! In fact here’s the original Stephen Colbert sketch that we used as the inspiration for Conspiracy Corner:

So to start the Best Of Conspiracy Corner, in the first slot we’re going to take it back to where it all began from Idiots #8-12, and bring you the very first edition of Conspiracy Corner (1) where we discussed Q Anon fans and an insane theory about a drug called “Adrenochrome”. In the second slot, from Idiots #12-12, we bring you what may be the best Conspiracy Corner segment we’ve ever done where we discussed Tucker Carlson’s (2) batshit insane documentary called The End Of Man, which really was just a way to hawk some new service that browns your testicles. In the number 3 slot, from Idiots #11-14, you ever wonder if your neighbor is a Nazi (3)? Well we have an answer for that, and it’s definitely not the answer that you want to hear! In the number 4 slot from Idiots #11-6, the COVID pandemic (4) is still a thing and anti-vaxxers are stupid enough to pay $400 for a fake vaccine ID but they won’t get the actual vaccine, which is free to everybody. In the number 5 slot, from Idiots #10-9, we bring you some Q Anon hot takes mainly having to do with shipping companies and a cargo boat that got stuck in the Suez Canal for several weeks. In the number 6 slot is another edition also relating to the pandemic – and it’s hilarious that conspiracy theorists think that a 5G microchip (6) will be implanted in their brain because of the vaccine, but will actually get a real chip implanted in their brains from Elon Musk. What could possibly go wrong? In the number 7 slot from Idiots #9-6, one of the stupidest conspiracy theories we’ve ever seen involves Q nuts and people who have way too much time on their hands accusing Wayfair (7) of human trafficking because their filing cabinets were so expensive, they were obviously filled with - you guessed it - live human beings! I mean really, FML. In the number 8 slot, from Idiots #12-16, we channel our good friend Tom DeLonge from Blink-182 (8) and ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind – “do aliens exist”? And the answer is…. Probably! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week from Idiots #13-4, there’s an insane theory going around Fox News about the Biden administration hiring 87,000 IRS agents (9) and if they’re complaining about that, the chances are good that they’ve got some tax crimes that they are probably hiding! Finally this week, from Idiots #13-8, our old buddy and premier Russian warlord Vladimir Putin (10) has a habit of offing his associates, and we will go through some of the more bizarre “coincidences” to happen in the Russian government. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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From: Idiots #8-12

Hey everyone welcome to our first ever edition of a segment that we’re sure will take off – Conspiracy Corner! Yes, it’s the segment where we dissect the latest batshit nuttery from conservative conspiracy theorists. And you can rest assured that in this day and age where there’s a killer virus on the loose, the tin foil hat batshit will be flying hard and fast! And specifically I want to start by talking about a conspiracy that I knew nothing about until COVID hit Kathy Griffin last week, and the usual amount of hate coming from Trump trolls was exactly what I expected was there. But then there was this absolutely baffling conspiracy theory that I had no idea even existed until now. And this might be the single nuttiest thing they’ve come up with yet.

Right-wing “journalist” and Trump–worshiping conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin posted a video on YouTube last week in which she declared that the current COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is really just a cover for the Trump administration to carry out the mass arrests long promised by QAnon, the right-wing conspiracy theory that posits that President Donald Trump has been working diligently to arrest countless prominent political, media, and business leaders for allegedly being part of a global satanic pedophile ring.

Crokin doubled down on this predication in a new video that she posted last night in which she and also speculated that celebrities like Tom Hanks and Idris Elba have contracted the virus by drinking adrenochrome that had been intentionally laced with the virus by “the white hats”—a computer security term used to refer to hackers who use their skills for good.

“I also believe that this virus was created by the cabal, specifically Bill Gates,” Crokin said. “I also believe that the good guys, the white hats, knew that they were going to release this virus, and they intercepted their plans to use this virus as a false flag. They are now using their plans with the virus against them by using the virus as an excuse to lock down the country and many other countries, so the military can go in and safely conduct these raids and military operations to sweep up these criminals.”

“There’s a lot of anons (i.e., believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory) that believe the white hats tainted the elite’s adrenochrome supply with the coronavirus, and that’s why so many members of the elite are getting the coronavirus,” she added. “Adrenochrome is a drug that the elites love. It comes from children. The drug is extracted from the pituitary gland of tortured children. It’s sold on the black market. It’s the drug of the elites. It is their favorite drug. It is beyond evil. It is demonic. It is so sick. So there is a theory that the white hats tainted the adrenochrome supply with the coronavirus.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/liz-crokin-claims-celebrities-are-getting-coronavirus-from-tainted-adrenochrome-supply/

Absolutely! This might be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard coming from the Trump / Q crowd, and I’ve heard them say a lot of crazy shit. So their quest to find a global satanic pedophile ring has dwindled into believing that a tainted batch of a drug is made from the brainstems of children and aborted babies. See, this is what happens when we lack access to mental health facilities. They tend to become conspiracy theorists. So just how crazy are they lately? Well let’s ask Tom Hanks’ son, Chet.

Following a bizarre video posted to Instagram, Tom Hanks' son, Chet, now loses it completely over claims his family is involved with the Illuminati and the coronavirus.

After his mother and father were diagnosed with the coronavirus, Chet Hanks took to Instagram to post a shirtless video of himself where he offered an update about his parents' condition.

Conspiracy theorists immediately recognized the All-Seeing Eye of the Illuminati, aka the All-Seeing Eye of Horus, aka the All-Seeing Eye of Lucifer (in some circles), tattooed on the 29-year-old's chest.

The bizarre video saw Chet Hanks say that it came to his attention that a lot of Trump supporters realized the truth about him and his family, that they are Illuminati.

It also didn't help that his father, Tom Hanks, dropped the number "201" in a tweet about the coronavirus, as right around the release of the Coronavirus in China, the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY.
https://cosmicbook.news/tom-hanks-son-chet-illuminati

Yes, you absolutely sound insane, oh followers of the Q! I think I get it now – Tom Hanks is using 5G technology to send tainted batches of adrenochrome to his fellow celebrities so they purposefully get Coronavirus as part of an illuminati plot to destroy Trump! It’s so obvious now! Except of course for that part about nothing in that sentence being true. But this whole thing is all part of a massive disinformation campaign.

Scientific warnings are being ignored, misinformation is spreading, and prominent Republicans have said that addressing the problem is either too expensive or too difficult. No, this isn’t climate change: This is the new reality of the novel coronavirus, the deadly pandemic sweeping the planet.

Over the past several weeks, as global cases of COVID-19 have climbed to over 500,000, conspiracy theories and fake news have also been on the rise. On Monday a man died after ingesting chloroquine phosphate, an ingredient in an anti-malarial drug that President Trump had heralded as a coronavirus cure.

Meanwhile, the website Snopes has been forced to scale back its fact-checking work in response to the overwhelming number of fake stories around the pandemic. (Some disturbing highlights: claims that the coronavirus was released by world governments to distract from a planet-ending doomsday asteroid, or that breathing hot air from a hair dryer can kill the virus.)

But these wild conspiracy theories hide a larger problem: widespread skepticism about the severity of the crisis. President Trump downplayed the risk of the virus for months, saying the situation was “very much under control” and that the pandemic would go away by April. Anchors on Fox News initially denied that the coronavirus was a significant threat, calling concerned scientists and policymakers “panic pushers” conspiring to take down the president. Sean Hannity referred to it as “a new hoax.”
https://grist.org/climate/misinformation-kills-the-link-between-coronavirus-conspiracies-and-climate-denial/

Dude, come on, you know things are bullshit when you overload Snopes. I mean that’s a site dedicated to tracking bullshit! You broke the fact checker, conspiracy theorists! I hope you are happy with yourselves! But this has opened up a can of worms that should not have been opened! Here’s the thing people, keep your god damn fake news and conspiracy theories to yourself. You want to see where this is leading? Let’s head to Iran to find out!

Two peculiarities to Iran are undercutting its response. One, Iranian scientists say, is U.S.-led sanctions that cripple the country’s ability to import drugs and protective gear or produce them at home. “It’s medical terrorism imposed on Iranian civilians,” fumes Mohammad Kazem Jafari, president of the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology in Tehran. The other is self-inflicted: Iranian media has been awash with dubious “cures” for COVID-19—hundreds of Iranians reportedly have died or become blind after consuming bootleg methanol—and rhetoric dismissing the outbreak as a Western plot. “It’s a high-stakes battle between science and conspiracy theories,” says Kaveh Madani, an Iran specialist at Yale University and formerly a senior environmental official in Iran.

Iran reported its first confirmed COVID-19 cases on 19 February: two fatalities in the holy city of Qom. Many observers suspect the virus had gained a foothold earlier, and its spread may have been accelerated by rallies across Iran on 11 February to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that drew hundreds of thousands of people, then by parliamentary elections 10 days later. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei implored Iranians to come to the polls—the virus, he said, was being used as a pretext “to discourage people from voting.”

As the disease spread, Iran’s health ministry teamed up with the military and volunteers to equip and staff more than 1200 centers nationwide to screen for infected individuals, says Reza Malekzadeh, vice minister for research. But the government resisted imposing social distancing. President Hassan Rouhani on 25 February called the novel coronavirus “one of the enemy’s plots to bring our country into closure by spreading panic.”
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/iran-confronts-coronavirus-amid-battle-between-science-and-conspiracy-theories

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Tucker’s Testicle Tanning
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From: Idiots #12-12

Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! Yes, in a time when everyone questions the news, people turn to conspiracy theories to explain what the news can’t. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the heart of the New Mexico Badlands, undisclosed location, of course! Just let me adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference. You know, they are trying to read yours and my thoughts, after all! This week we have to talk about an absolutely bizarre new documentary from our old buddy Tucker Carlson. The documentary is called “The End Of Man”. You know, maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never seen a group of people more insecure about their sexual identity more than white males who watch way too much Fox News than they probably should. You know what? Can we roll the trailer for that because it’s truly indescribable how insane this is.

https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1515130557675581442

What……. And I cannot emphasize this enough…………. The fuck??? Dude, seriously is this a list of Tucker’s insecurities or his fanbase in general? Anyway this raises way more questions than it answers and it’s going to get real weird real quick.

Tucker Carlson has a new special on Fox Nation, the streaming platform where Fox News tries to hide some of its more extreme content.

There are jacked, shirtless men wrestling. There are jacked, shirtless men chugging raw eggs. There are jacked, shirtless men obliterating bottles of canola oil with assault rifles. There are jacked, shirtless men milking cows. There are even jacked, shirtless men standing on rocks, posing like Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man as a mini monolith illuminates their nether regions.

It’s hard to know where to begin with all of this. We’d probably need a therapist to really get into it. We can at least say this particular special, “The End of Men,” doesn’t seem like it’s going to claim that the attack on the Capitol last Jan. 6 was a false flag, like last year’s “Patriot Purge” did. So that’s good.

We also now know what’s going on with the guy on the rock exposing his private parts to a wash of red light. He was tanning his balls. Carlson endorsed the practice in the special as one of several ways men can return themselves to testosterone-fueled dominance, which the special argues is necessary for society to “reestablish order” after collapse.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/tucker-carlson-end-of-men-testicle-tanning-1338944/

OK I have many questions here. And the first and most important one is: why? But really, testicle tanning is a thing? And also why is there no punk band called “The Testicle Tanners” yet? I feel like putting your balls up to a UV light would have the opposite effect of what it’s supposed to do, am I right? I really can’t wait for the inevitable CDC report where they tell you that you’re a fucking idiot if you try this. Maybe not the official words that the CDC will use in their report but it gets the point across! Although if you tell the MAGAs that you shouldn’t do something, they will do it anyways, because, fuck you, that’s why! But really Tucker is going to get mercilessly mocked for this and he totally deserves every bit of it!

The documentary covers the "total collapse" of testosterone levels in men, which has been noted in medical studies but has been attributed to an aging population and other comorbidities.

The trailer also speaks of unexpected tough times that will inevitably create "men who are strong enough to survive" and "reestablish order." Carlson and other Fox News hosts have lately referenced manliness and the idea that men are less "manly" now in various segments of their shows.

Carlson even suggested, falsely, in an interview that COVID-19 would emasculate men and that vaccine mandates in the US military were meant to weed out and dismiss men with high testosterone levels.

Twitter users were quick to suggest the trailer – which focuses a lot on the men's bodies and the close contact between them – appeared homoerotic in nature.
https://www.insider.com/tucker-carlson-promo-video-sparks-reaction-homoerotic-undertones-testosterone-fox-2022-4

Yeah not only is it homoerotic, I got some serious 2001 vibes from that trailer. And come on isn’t that scene called “The Dawn Of Man”?

Oh I’m playing around enough. But is this really the answer to America’s masculinity crisis? The short answer is: no. The longer answer is: what masculinity crisis? America is not being run by the dude bros right now and that’s a good thing. But don’t think for a minute that we’re not letting Tucker get away with what has to be one of the craziest things we’ve seen since we started this segment! But come on, let’s let white insecure males run the show, what could go wrong?

Are there three words in the English language that can strike quite as much trepidation into the hearts of the sane and rational person as “Tucker Carlson original”? Yes, the documentary strand that brought you such titles as Hungary vs Soros: The Fight for Civilization and Patriot Purge, a BS-laden fantasy about the January 6 riots that contained so many bonkers claims about false-flag operations that it forced a tranche of Fox News veterans to quit the network, has returned.

The latest addition to the Carlson oeuvre is called The End of Men and its Magic Mike-style trailer just dropped.

It begins with a familiar Make America Great Again-style montage, centering on a John F Kennedy speech in which he extols the virtues of strength and exercise and berates America’s “soft, chubby fat-looking children”. Quickly, Kennedy’s reasonable-for-the-time approach to childhood obesity is equated with a precipitous decline in sperm counts and testosterone over the last 50 years.

And then what could only be described as a series of money shots. As the booming timpanis of a Richard Strauss piece from 2001: A Space Odyssey swell – we see huge buff topless men, cutting wood, milking cows, firing guns, barbecuing, fighting, drinking egg yolks and most strikingly, tanning their genitals. This supposed sequence of real red-blooded males is perhaps the campest thing Fox News has aired since Glenn Beck doused a handsome model in gasoline.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/18/tucker-carlson-masculinity-crisis-testicle-tanning

Well so my question now is this really the solution to the end of man or is this an informercial for a testicle tanning booth? Excuse me a minute…. Thank you graphics department, that’s exactly how I pictured a testicle tanning booth to look! But really this is one of those things when you hear it, you immediately drop what you are doing and just go “What the serious fuck????”. Because that’s the only thing that can prepare you for something as absurd as testicle tanning. But when even Kid Rock gives you a WTF look, that’s when you really need to stop and question your life choices. And, I got to be honest, I side with Kid Rock on this one!

Tucker Carlson and good pal Kid Rock had another friendly conversation on Fox News on Friday, with one topic of discussion being “testicle tanning.” The subject had been raised earlier in Carlson’s show by Andrew McGovern, an Ohio-based fitness professional who was brought on to help answer Carlson’s question, “How do you reverse the effects of falling testosterone?” One of the solutions McGovern offered was red light therapy, which, when Carlson asked, he said includes “testicle tanning.”

Rock had apparently been listening along, because when Carlson addressed him minutes later, the first thing the musician said was, “Dude, stop! Testicle tanning? Come on. I haven’t heard anything like that in a long time.” The Fox News host replied, “Open your mind, Bobby!” He then asked, more seriously, “Don’t you think at this point when so many of the therapies, the paths they’ve told us to take, have turned out to be dead ends that really hurt people, why wouldn’t open minded people seek new solutions?” Rock demurred: “I don’t know what the hell is going on in this world. I’m not even sure if I understood that question. But some days you just want to stop this planet and let me off.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-and-kid-rock-talk-about-testicle-tanning

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Backyard Nazis
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From: Idiots #11-14

Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We tackle everything from UFOs to the Illuminati to the JFK assassination to why there’s no new System Of A Down album. Come on guys, we want some new material! We’re coming at 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 your and my thoughts, you know! Oh there we go! This week we’ve got a problem. And the problem is Nazis. I mean come on, have we not learned the lessons from World War II? Nazis are bad! But now… they’re coming to your backyard! But first off… how do you identify a Backyard Nazi? Backyard Nazis… not a very good band, don’t go see them. Well first off, backyard nazis and neo-white supremacists have abandoned the traditional swastika in an attempt to go mainstream.

America’s white supremacists ban swastika in bold attempt to ‘go mainstream’

THEY burn crosses, worship the swastika and associate with figures in white hoods, but don’t tell America’s predominant neo-Nazi party it’s racist. “We are not racist, and I do not like that term,” Jeff Schoep tells news.com.au.

The commander of the National Socialist Movement — described as the party “for every patriotic white American” — has a brand new reason to protest the point.

His party is about to do something it has never done. It is making a run at the mainstream, and it is even banning the swastika. Gone. Banished from uniforms that haven’t changed since the 1960s, well before the commander joined the ranks as a 19-year-old.

... The Odal rune, a less-well-known Nazi Germany symbol, will take the place of the swastika on all official uniforms and banners. Mr Schoep says it’s a gentler approach to preaching the same messages.
https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/americas-white-supremacists-ban-swastika-in-bold-attempt-to-go-mainstream/news-story/53f68100ba52a1e33b13cf25b794d028

Well he’s not wrong there. But you know what else is wrong? Nazi comparisons. People make Nazi comparisons so much that “Ad Hitlerum” has become a logical fallacy in and of itself. Here’s the thing – if you don’t know, or you fell asleep during the World War II part of high school history class, don’t make shit up. Because people who were actual victims of the Nazis will come after you, and you will look like the colossal idiot that you are. But yeah… this happened.

he American flag behind her and microphone in hand, Connecticut state Rep. Anne Dauphinais stood on the stage at the America First rally in Plainfield Saturday and once again equated Gov. Ned Lamont's COVID-19 policies to those of former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Earlier this month, Dauphinais stirred controversy after she made a Facebook post comparing Lamont to Hitler, following the governor's order for all state employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Later, she would reaffirm the sentiment in another, lengthy, Facebook statement.

“Do you know why I said that?” she asked the crowd about her now-infamous social media diatribe.
“I said that because Hitler was mentioned to me almost every day by my constituents and they compare this forced medical procedure on them to the days of early Hitler when he started slowly, slowly, slowly doing what he did that led to the death of over a million, several million people – do you think that is OK?"
https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/local/2021/10/26/plainfield-america-first-rally-u-s-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene/6120760001/

Sigh… yeah fuck Nazis. Elwood and Jake had the right idea. As if Nazi comparisons aren’t inane enough and way overused, there’s actually a logical fallacy called “Ad Hitlerum” that negates any argument where comparisons to Hitler and Nazi Germany are used. But there are always exceptions. And if you want to see real backyard Nazis at work, just head over to your local school board meetings. They have been attracting the crazies like flies to a bug zapper lately and it’s not going to go away any time soon, but I’ve never seen one where it’s been this blatant before. Just wait until you see what this answer is, and it will shock you!

An antisemitic tirade at a school board meeting in suburban Phoenix last week has spurred an extensive response among local officials and Jewish leaders — some of whom say they were distressed that board members did not rebut the comment at the time.

During the public comment portion of the meeting of the Chandler Unified School District board, a woman who identified herself as Melanie Rettler spoke for over a minute about critical race theory and vaccines — topics not listed on the meeting agenda but at the center of heated public debate nationwide.

Her comment crescendoed with an antisemitic claim drenched in the language of right-wing conspiracy theories.

“Every one of these things, the deep state, the cabal, the swamp, the elite — you can’t mention it, but I will — there is one race that owns all the pharmaceutical companies and these vaccines aren’t safe, they aren’t effective and they aren’t free,” Rettler said. “You know that you’re paying for it through the increase in gas prices, the increase in food prices — you’re paying for this and it’s being taken from your money and being given to these pharmaceutical companies and if you want to bring race into this: It’s the Jews.”
https://www.jta.org/2021/11/02/united-states/its-the-jews-an-antisemitic-tirade-at-an-arizona-school-board-meeting-spurs-a-response-and-debate-over-it

Oh snap!!!! There it is! Someone at a school board meeting actually went full Nazi! And you never, ever go full Nazi! Don’t be a stupid, be a smarty! Come and join the Nazi party! And by the way in case you’re wondering if your neighbor is a Nazi or not, you might want to check what he’s got recorded on his DVR because if he’s got a backlog of Tucker Carlson episodes on his DVR and a Confederate flag flying from his zip code sized F-150, you might want to alert the nearest FBI branch office, because that’s the makings of a domestic terrorist right there. And again, I’ve said it before and I will say it again – fuck Nazis!

Christopher “Crying Nazi” Cantwell, one of two dozen white supremacists and their affiliated groups being sued for their participation in the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, prepped for his trial by watching Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, according to a report. A man who shared a prison unit with Cantwell told BuzzFeed News that a group of “the whites” would regularly gather to watch Carlson’s evening diatribes together.

Cantwell, according to the source, felt a kinship with the TV host, whose messages he reportedly found emboldening. In a 2019 filing related to the Charlottesville case, Cantwell—who is incompetently representing himself after being dumped by his disgusted lawyers—specifically wrote of sharing the same views as Carlson “on the pressing issues of our time.”

BuzzFeed News also reported that Cantwell has been receiving free legal advice from two other inmates, including a prominent white supremacist known for founding “one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in America,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Matthew Hale, the SPLC has said, earned a law degree and passed the bar, but “the Illinois State Bar Association deemed Hale unfit for practice due to his racial activism.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/neo-nazi-christopher-cantwell-reportedly-watched-tucker-carlson-in-prison-to-prep-for-charlottesville-trial

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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From: Idiots #11-16

Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable – Conspiracy Corner! We are coming back to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands! Undisclosed location, of course! Now just let me adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read our thoughts after all! There… got it! Well folks this week, the anti-vaccine movement is going to strange new levels, which includes everything from fake vaccine passports to this guy in Italy who used a fake arm to attempt to get a vaccine and was caught red handed. So while he’s a hero to the anti-vaxxer movement he’s really just a blithering idiot and will get the criminal prosecution that he so deserves. But the virus denial is out there, folks. And the anti-vaccine movement is getting weird. So here’s what happened with the guy in Italy.

A 50-year-old man tried to pass off a silicone arm as his own at a Covid-19 vaccination clinic in northern Italy, in an attempt to get a vaccine certificate without actually getting inoculated.

The deception was spotted by a nurse, Filippa Bua, as she was about to administer the vaccine in Biella, Piedmont on Thursday. Bua told CNN she noticed something odd about the arm.
"The color of the skin was anomalous, much lighter compared to the hands or the face of the patient," she said.

After inspecting the area, she realized that the arm was fake, made of silicone.

"I first felt sorry for the man, thinking that he had a prosthesis and wondering if I had somehow forced him to give me the wrong arm," Bua said. "But then he admitted he was wearing the fake arm on purpose to avoid getting the vaccine!"
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/03/europe/italy-man-silicone-arm-vaccine-intl-scli/index.html

Yeah that’s not how that works but I wouldn’t trust Dr. Nick to carry out this operation. I’m just saying, that’s all. But the war on vaccines is heating up and heading in strange and bizarre new directions, and I’m not shocked in the least that those who aren’t taking the vaccine are dying in huge numbers. But don’t tell that to people like Antonio Brown, who used a fake vaccine card to get around NFL safety protocols and got busted red handed for it!

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians left the door open on Antonio Brown's future this week in his first comments after the receiver was suspended three games for violations of the NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 protocols.

With Brown and safety Mike Edwards penalized for misrepresenting their vaccination status, Arians was asked if they'll remain on the team and he said, “We’ll address their future at that time.” The answer appropriately fueled speculation.

One source said no decision has been made on whether Brown will return to the team after his suspension, and another said it is possible the team keeps the players -- with the insinuation being that it's possible they do not.

Arians was particularly frustrated, considering the efforts his team made in getting to 100% vaccination status. He also said he hoped the league would continue to look for players who were not honest about their vaccination status.
https://www.nfl.com/news/bucs-wide-receiver-antonio-brown-s-future-up-in-the-air-following-suspension-for

Then again no one wants to deal with this deadly virus and the battle over fake vaccine passports has just begun. Hey anti-vaxxers, you can run, you can hide, but you’re going to have to face reality and it’s something that is the opposite of what your stupid Facebook memes convey. Just take a look at what happened in Germany when police raided a group that was caught making fake COVID passports. Yeah you do not want to be involved in this.

German police on Wednesday arrested 12 individuals suspected of being involved in the production and sale of falsified COVID-19 vaccine certificates.

Criminal investigators in the state of Hesse said in a press statement that more than 200 officers had taken part in raids on a total of 23 locations throughout the central German state, as well as two cities in the neighboring state of Baden-Württemberg.

Vaccine passports — either shown as a QR code or in an official vaccine paper booklet — are required as evidence of vaccination. Most bars, restaurants, and entertainment facilities require proof of vaccination or recovery from an infection. Some also allow proof of a recent negative test.

Germany has one of the highest rates of vaccine deniers who refuse to be vaccinated against the virus.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-police-arrest-12-in-fake-covid-vaccine-passports-raids/a-59847837

And if you think this is just a first world problem, oh no! That I can assure you it is not – it’s a global problem and the more it spreads the more it becomes a thing. And this is a thing you don’t want coming to your country, but just like the Omicron variant, it might already be here! And here’s the irony – the vaccine is free and it’s reliable and it works! If you don’t take the vaccine it’s going to cost you, and the harder you work to not do the easy thing, the more difficult is going to be for you as we attempt to get out of this nightmare pandemic. Yeah that makes sense.

A prolific Irish drug dealer is selling fake Covid-19 vaccine certificates on the dark web for as much as €350 each.

It is believed the digital certificates are likely functional and are being sold to people who want to travel abroad on holidays but do not want to be vaccinated.

The seller is one of a number of people advertising what are purporting to be Irish vaccine certificates on dark web marketplaces. Also available on other sites are fake negative PCR tests and fake documents stating the holder has recently recovered from Covid-19.

While many such items have been available for months, prices increased after the Government announced in October that vaccine passports will be required for the immediate future.

Gardaí said they are consulting with health officials on how to respond. The Department of Health said it is working with other EU countries to put in a system to revoke or invalidate fraudulent certificates at short notice.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/fake-irish-vaccine-passports-for-sale-on-dark-web-for-350-1.4722949

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Q Anon Hot Takes
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From: Idiots #10-9

Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We’re of course coming to you live from our undisclosed underground bunker deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands! This week we’re going to talk about the world’s biggest conspiracy – Q Anon, which is the cultivation of all of the BS endured under the Donald J. Trump administration come to a peak. This week, I think Q Anon might need more to do. But sadly for a lot of people, this is not only their hobby, but their way of life. This week I’m sure everybody knew where they were when they heard that one of the world’s largest containerships, Boaty McBoatface, er, I mean the Ever Given, was stuck between the walls of the Suez Canal. Well, here’s the original story and even that’s crazy by crazy standards and we wish we were making this up!

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A cargo container ship that’s among the largest in the world has turned sideways and blocked all traffic in Egypt’s Suez Canal, officials said Wednesday, threatening to disrupt a global shipping system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

The MV Ever Given, a Panama-flagged container ship that carries trade between Asia and Europe, became grounded Tuesday in the narrow, man-made waterway dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the Ever Given to turn sideways in the canal. GAC, a global shipping and logistics company, described the Ever Given as suffering “a blackout while transiting in a northerly direction,” without elaborating.

Evergreen Marine Corp., a major Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the ship, said in a statement provided to The Associated Press that the Ever Given had been overcome by strong winds as it entered the Suez Canal from the Red Sea but none of its containers had sunk.

A Egyptian official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to brief journalists similarly blamed a strong wind in the area for the incident. Egyptian forecasters said high winds and a sandstorm plagued the area Tuesday, with winds gusting as much as 50 kph (31 mph).
https://wgntv.com/news/massive-cargo-ship-still-stuck-sideways-blocking-suez-canal/

No! No need to abandon ship just yet! Now here’s where it gets weird. Of course Q Anon followers would float conspiracy theories about the disaster – especially when your fuck-up is so huge that it’s visible from space. But that didn’t stop Q Anon followers from going there. And by going there, I mean they blamed the whole thing on Hillary Clinton. And they also suspected the boat might be trafficking children. Yes, that is a thing that happened. It’s completely insane. But not really that far from the course for Q Anon cultists.

Within minutes of the Ever Given ship getting stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Wednesday, an incident that’s created chaos in global supply chains, QAnon supporters were spreading wild conspiracies that the ship was operated by Hillary Clinton and carrying a cargo of child sex slaves.

The claims were based on the fact that the Taiwanese shipping company that operates the ship is called Evergreen, which was Clinton’s secret service name when she was first lady.

The baseless theory was given further credence — in the minds of QAnon followers at least — when it emerged that the ship’s call sign was “H3RC” which is close enough to Clinton’s own initials (HRC) for QAnon followers to make the link.

The theory quickly spread on Telegram and Gab, the platforms QAnon followers have fled to in the wake of a purge by mainstream social networks in recent months.

But the claims also made their way to Twitter and Facebook, where fact-checking group PolitiFact flagged and debunked them.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8n9q/suez-canal-qanon-cargo-ship-conspiracies-are-getting-wild

That’s right! The theory got so bizarre and crazy that actual news outlets had to employ real-life fact checkers to get to the bottom of this scandal. I mean shit, our janky little operation here could have told you that! No, Hillary Clinton is *NOT* trafficking children from Dubai to Europe through container ships traveling through the Suez Canal. Or is she? And my producer is throwing things at the stage!

A shipping vessel that could clog the Suez Canal for weeks is the latest piece added to an ever-evolving conspiracy theory about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other members of a so-called “deep state” and links to human trafficking.

Communications channels where QAnon conspiracy theories spread were humming this week about a connection between Clinton and the quarter-mile-long ship that ran aground as high winds cut across the canal.

Those seeped into mainstream social media as well, including posts on Facebook and Instagram, where users tied Clinton’s Secret Service codename to the ship and suggested its radio call sign intentionally matched Clinton’s initials.

A Facebook user who shared the post did not respond to a request for comment. It speculates without evidence that Evergreen "is most likely a cover for human and sex trafficking."

Others pushing the same theory allude to the containers being opened on television to reveal trafficked people inside. It is the latest potential disclosure related to the QAnon conspiracy theory that says former President Donald Trump was elected to thwart a deep-state cabal of pedophiles and cannibals, including Clinton.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/03/26/fact-check-no-evidence-hillary-clinton-suez-canal-vessel-linked/7014647002/

And by the way remember that Nashville bombing last November? Q Anon thought that Lizard People were involved. Yes, actual, bonafied, real life lizard people. You seriously cannot get much crazier than that. The funny thing is that they, and only they, are talking about this. So if you want wild theories, then Q Anon is the group for you! But if you’re into Q Anon, you’re probably not listening to our shit, either!

The deadly Capitol siege was fueled by far-out conspiracy theorists, including Ashli Babbitt, a QAnon supporter fatally shot by police as she tried to breach a barricaded doorway. Meanwhile, federal investigators are still looking into the belief system of Anthony Quinn Warner, who made statements about a conspiracy of lizard people taking over the planet before the explosion that damaged 41 buildings and injured three people in Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Day.

Many are scratching their heads. Why are people embracing such bizarre ideas?

The notion of shape-shifting, blood-sucking reptilian humanoids invading Earth to control the human race sounds like a cheesy sci-fi plot. But it's actually a very old trope with disturbing links to anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic hostilities dating to the 19th century.

Bonkers? Sure. Harmless? Definitely not.

Law enforcement sources say Warner's writings indicate his interest in a number of conspiracy theories — including the lizard people takeover. He may even have had a pastime of hunting such aliens in the park. Before the blast, Warner sent packages to friends filled with material expounding on his bizarre worldview. They included a letter that began "Hey Dude, You will never believe what I found in the park."
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/qanon-s-capitol-rioters-nashville-bomber-s-lizard-people-theory-ncna1253819

There really is a Gif for everything! Even with our budget of zero, we can still find some freaking hilarious shit out there. But here’s the thing about Q Anon – is that they do network. And when they network, things get really insane. And if you want to delve into the mind of Q Anon supporters, there’s a convention! Yes, an actual real life convention! I can just imagine the halls and panels that they will have at such a convention.

In this politically charged, hyperpartisan era, many hospitality brands would go out of their way to avoid being linked to a group that helped fuel the Capitol riot on January 6.

But this Memorial Day Weekend, the Omni Dallas Hotel is slated to host a QAnon conference, reports the Dallas Morning News. Attendees who stay at the upscale 1,001-room property in downtown Dallas for $149 a night can enjoy eight restaurants, a heated infinity pool, a full-service spa—and a stacked lineup of QAnon favorites.

The “For God & Country Patriot Roundup” kicks off at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 28, with a private VIP meet-and-greet reception at the hotel’s Texas Spice restaurant. The hotel is connected by skybridge to the Dallas Convention Center, though event organizers have scheduled the bulk of the activities at Gilley’s Dallas, a seven-venue complex just down the road.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2021/03/25/qanon-conference-omni-dallas-hotel-memorial-day-weekend-michael-flynn-sidney-powell/?sh=399756243778

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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From: Idiots #10-6

Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We are coming to you live from our underground bunker deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands – undisclosed location of course. Just know that it is in New Mexico. And I say “attempt” because there’s no making sense of the Alex Joneses and the Mark Taylors of the world. So there are times when you just have to smile and nod at the ridiculous shit that they say and say “what the fuck”. This week we’re taking a look at a conspiracy being peddled by anti-vaccination crusaders about a microchip being implanted in you when you go to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. And I’m here to tell you this – you are wrong. Just let me adjust my trusty tin foil hat here for maximum government interference to tell you exactly why!

A new conspiracy theory making its rounds among the population of the unskeptical, including my own family members this time, alleges the COVID vaccines not only contain microchips, but also control your mind with them. There are a few reasons why this is neither possible nor practical.

The first and probably least severe roadblock to controlling humans via injected chip is size restrictions. COVID vaccines are reportedly 22 gauge, or less than half a millimeter across, and even the simple microchips commonly seen in pets is about 2 millimeters wide, or over four times as large. That’s a chip that has no internal energy source and is essentially a barcode, so it seems reasonable to assume that a device with necessary systems to control an entire human brain would be even larger, and certainly wouldn’t fit inside the vaccine needle.

Let’s say the microchip did fit inside the needle though. Now it needs to get from the injection site to the brain. The fastest and only practical way to move would be through the circulatory system, but because the vaccine isn’t administered directly into any veins, the chip would have to move itself into one. The only vessel known to freely travel undetected through the human body is The Magic School Bus, but unfortunately Ms. Frizzle retired over 20 years ago and she’s enjoying her golden years in Palau.
https://www.messagemedia.co/aitkin/opinion/other_opinions/no-microchips-in-covid-19-vaccine/article_e4e1de8c-6bed-11eb-b866-9bff807f1b98.html

Of course we are, Milhouse! But that’s neither here nor there. But there’s plenty of things out there concerning the vaccine that would leave you to believe some insane bullshit. And there really is some insanity floating out there, folks. But the thing you have to remember is that Facebook is a place where disinformation and unchecked claims run rampant and it can be difficult to separate truth from fiction, but Facebook has a solution for that.

Facebook is expanding its ban on vaccine misinformation and highlighting official information about how and where to get COVID-19 vaccines as governments race to get more people vaccinated.

"Health officials and health authorities are in the early stages of trying to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, and experts agree that rolling this out successfully is going to be helping build confidence in vaccines," said Kang-Xing Jin, Facebook's head of health.

Social media platforms including Facebook have played a big role in the spread of false claims, hoaxes and conspiracy theories about the pandemic over the last year, despite efforts by tech companies to clamp down on harmful content and promote authoritative sources.

In December, Facebook said it would remove claims about COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts, such as posts saying, falsely, that the vaccines contain microchips.
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/08/965390755/facebook-widens-ban-on-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-in-push-to-boost-confiden

Mmmmmmmmm…. Not really. But even the WHO themselves traveled to China with the idea of putting behind the ridiculous myth that the virus originated in a lab and the outbreak was the result of a careless worker. So why are there so many conspiracy theories out there? The answer is insane, and it’s insane that the WHO had to spend so much time, money, and resources into putting an end to this ridiculous myth!

World Health Organization investigators said Tuesday that they would no longer pursue research into whether the coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.

Peter Ben Embarek, a food safety and animal diseases expert, announced the decision during a press conference to wrap up a visit by an international team of WHO experts to the city where COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019.

Embarek said there was not enough evidence to support a hypothesis that the virus escaped from a Chinese biosafety laboratory in Wuhan – the Wuhan Institute of Virology – and that the WHO stood by its previous determination that COVID-19 most likely entered the human population through an intermediate animal.

The WHO team has spent several weeks on a fact-finding mission in Wuhan. Experts from 10 nations have visited hospitals, research institutes and a wildlife market tied to the outbreak. However, WHO's field work and other activities in Wuhan have been closely monitored by Chinese officials and security officers, and Beijing has repeatedly resisted called for a completely independent investigation into the origins of the virus.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/02/09/covid-origin-world-health-organization-end-research-wuhan-lab-theory/4446839001/

Not really, you’re among fellow conspiracy theorists, Bart. But then again the people who are watching the watchers are now denying that the watchers exist. That’s right – Q Anon, you know them as the protectors of the children from the child molesters of the world! While Facebook may be cracking down on Q related groups and misinformation, they still haven’t cracked the code. Hell I’m sure even the Q Anon idiots have cracked the code yet, it’s the Da Vinci Code for idiots! And they’re largely responsible for about 95% of the misinformation out there! And come on, who needs microchips when we have cell phones?

You’re not reading this on a smart phone or tablet, are you?

I hope not, for your sake. They say the government can use imperceptible fluctuations in the light to reprogram your brain waves, giving them complete control over your thoughts and actions. You’ll be Joe Biden’s zombie and you won’t even know it.

You think that’s crazy? Shows what you know. You probably think the moon landing was real. You probably think Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman. Heck, you probably think Kennedy was killed. (He was actually a crisis actor.)

If Bill Gates can track your whereabouts by injecting nanobots into your body through a vaccine that supposedly “protects” you from a virus, what makes you think your devices can’t be programmed to program you? If the federal government can paralyze Texas and leave millions in the dark using fake snow and the Green New Deal, anything is possible.
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article249547008.html

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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From: Idiots #9-6

Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable! It’s Conspiracy Corner! Oh hello, I am broadcasting the inner most thoughts from deep inside my brain from an underground bunker in the vast cornfields of the rural Iowa farmlands! Of course it’s an undisclosed location! Just let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government blockage. They are trying to read my thoughts and your thoughts after all. So this week, an extra dose of crazy happened as Trump’s favorite cult Q Anon attempted to dig up some dirt on furniture purveyor Wayfair, and not only did it backfire on them spectacularly, they have lost one of their biggest social media hangouts where they can wreak their brand of conspiracy theory havoc!

The claim: Expensive products on Wayfair are coded listings for missing children being sold in a human-trafficking scheme

The internet has been gripped with a conspiracy theory this month as thousands of viral posts allege that online furniture firm Wayfair is involved in a child sex-trafficking operation.

“So wayfair has third party vendors that are HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING on their website,” various social media posts have alleged. “There are items like throw pillows, cabinets etc. priced at 10-20,000 dollars and named after missing girls. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!”

Posts point to the high prices of items like pillows and dressers as evidence that the products are secretly fronts for child trafficking. Theorists further note the names of some of the dressers, which are allegedly the same children who have gone missing over the past few years.

Some users also allege similar activities occur on other e-commerce sites like Amazon, Etsy and Walmart. Others claim the scandal can only be tracked by using the Russian search engine Yandex.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/22/fact-check-wayfair-not-involved-child-sex-trafficking/5460739002/

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Put a warning label on that one! But seriously, Q Anon has gone full batshit, and in a world where we currently don’t have anything to do, can we at least get something to do for the Q Anon nuts? Because they clearly need a hobby, and this one ain’t it. So who started this insane conspiracy theory? And why are they so convinced? Yeah right now we’re trying to survive a horrible pandemic and retailers might be going a little overboard with price gouging, but not this.

Last weekend, an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that online furnishings retailer Wayfair is trafficking children through listings of products with inflated prices and human names erupted on social media.

An Arizona couple helped fuel the rumor by posting on Instagram that they had purchased a $17,000 desk from Wayfair and would share their experience with their followers.

The theory that pillows and cabinets being sold at wayfair.com for thousands of dollars is somehow evidence of a child trafficking scheme has been debunked by independent fact-checking publication Snopes. It gained traction through a July 9 Reddit post on a forum dedicated to discussing conspiracy theories, Snopes notes.

Maddie and Justin Thompson, of Gilbert, are not convinced.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/16/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-arizona-couple-spread-instagram-rumors/5449777002/

Well I guess that’s one way to go furniture shopping right now! But yeah sure, buy a $17,000 desk and it contains a… child? How did that one get past the loading docks? Really, these people are fucking batshit crazy, and they really need to find a hobby. But you know what is not to be done? Don’t overload the national child sex trafficking hotline with bullshit conspiracy theories, OK? This is a fake crisis, don’t make it a real one!

A national organization fighting to end human trafficking says the believers in the unfounded Wayfair human trafficking conspiracy theory are overwhelming the organization with reports and making it harder to do its work.

Polaris, a non-profit that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, said in a press release on Tuesday that "the extreme volume of these contacts has made it more difficult for the Trafficking Hotline to provide support and attention to others who are in need of help."

Polaris said that the reports included no information "beyond what has been widely shared online. Nor have any of these reports been made by someone who has a specific connection to any alleged missing children."

Believers in the conspiracy theory think that the furniture company is selling human children who have gone missing by disguising them as pillows and other goods. The theory went viral in the last few weeks after being spread by QAnon believers on Twitter and Facebook, though both platforms told Insider they had removed certain posts containing this misinformation.
https://www.insider.com/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-theory-national-hotline-call-2020-7

Yes, we get it, this is one of the worst crimes imaginable. But why the fuck are you so obsessed with it right now? I get that we don’t have anything to do. Really, don’t waste Wayfair’s time, and don’t waste the time of actual officials who are trying to find real sex traffickers. And by the way this can have some real world consequences for you if you get caught trying to do this. So really, shut the fuck up and keep the batshit insanity to yourself.

Twitter (TWTR) has removed thousands of accounts linked to QAnon, a group known for spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation online.
"We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm," Twitter's safety team said late Tuesday in a tweet. "In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called 'QAnon' activity across the service."

More than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks, according to Twitter. It also expects that additional actions it is taking to limit the reach of QAnon activity on its platform could affect 150,000 accounts worldwide.
QAnon began as a single conspiracy theory. But its followers now act more like a virtual cult, largely adoring and believing whatever disinformation the conspiracy community spins up.

Its main conspiracy theories claim dozens of politicians and A-list celebrities work in tandem with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse. Followers also believe there is a "deep state" effort to annihilate President Donald Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/tech/twitter-qanon-crackdown/index.html

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Aliens Exist!
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From: Idiots #12-16

Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In these trying times, when we have a brewing war and a raging pandemic, now a possible civil war, people often turn to conspiracy theories when they just don’t want to read past the headlines. We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the New Mexico badlands! In an 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, with all the problems going on in the world – war, pandemic, poverty, record inflation , Congress chose to devote an entire day to discussing the one topic that’s on everyone’s minds – do aliens exist? Come on, was Tom DeLonge headlining the keynote speakers here? Oh come on, we kid! We know that Tom is an avid UFO conspiracy theorist! But it’s truly insane that this is what Congress chooses to waste time on, no wonder they have ridiculously low approval ratings!

The first public congressional hearing into UFO sightings in the US in over 50 years ended with few answers about the unexplained phenomenon.

Two top military officials tasked with probing the sightings said that most can ultimately be identified.

But they said a number of events have defied all attempts at explanation.

The sightings recorded by the military include 11 "near-misses" with US aircraft.

Some Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) - as the military terms UFOs - seem to have been moving without any discernible means of propulsion.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61474201

So come on, unexplained ariel phenomenon? That could literally be anything. It could be an experimental airplane. It could be chemtrails. It could be the lizard people. You don’t know, man, you don’t know! But that said is the truth really out there? There’s only one real explanation for all of this, and of course there is. I’m not saying that it’s UFOs, but it’s UFOs. But I love that it’s attempting to dispel disinformation, like what President Biden is attempting to do. Alas, it’s too late for that, but you can’t blame them for trying! Or can you?

Last week the Pentagon sent some of its top brass to Congress to deliver a briefing on UFO sightings. The hearing was the first of its kind in over 50 years. It involved two members of the Department of Defense, two new UFO videos, and a whole lot of unanswered questions.

The hearing was conducted by the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and featured two speakers: Ronald Moultrie, the Pentagon’s top intelligence official, and Scott Bray, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence. The goal of the hearing was to update lawmakers on the progress made by a newly formed UFO task force, except UFOs are now called Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP). The task force was setup after a 2021 government report that documented 144 UAP sightings by military pilots since 2014, according to Reuters. That report stated only one UAP — a large, deflating ballon — was able to be explained. The rest fell into five categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, USG or U.S. industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a catchall “other” bin.

The hearing got interesting when Mr. Bray revealed the task force’s latest UAP footage. As an example of an “observation in real-time,” he played a video of an object whizzing by a Navy aircraft. It happens so fast that’s it’s impossible to observe it closely. He notes this is typical of a lot of UAP encounters, in that they happen in the blink of an eye. The brevity of the encounters and associated lack of high quality data is typical for a lot of UAP sightings. It’s indicative of the struggle the task force faces in trying to determine the nature and intent of UAPs, he said.
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/335893-pentagon-officials-brief-congress-on-ufos-in-historic-hearing

Oh come on, aliens exist! If there’s anything that I learned from my high school years, it’s that Blink 182 taught me that!

But here’s where it gets weird – and you knew that it was going to. But before we get into that, have you seen the Space Force recruitment video? Whew, man it is something else. Roll that tape.

Stay on target! Stay on target! OK I’m getting off topic here, but I am making a point – Space Force might have had something to do with that hearing on UFOs and the unexplained aerial phenomenon that Congress doesn’t have a clue what it is. And you know what? We don’t either! But that’s exactly what they want you to think!

A House Intelligence subcommittee on Tuesday held the first congressional hearing on UFOs in more than 50 years.

Testimony was heard from Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie and Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray, who are overseeing the Pentagon’s new task force investigating what are now being called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs).

Here are highlights from the hearing.
The Pentagon wants to destigmatize UAP reporting

Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), the chairman of the House Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation Subcommittee, began the meeting with a call to destigmatize UAP reporting for pilots and other military officials.
https://kfor.com/news/washington-dc-bureau/five-things-to-know-about-the-congressional-ufo-hearing/

Oh come on, is the truth out there? I’m asking for my many fans of aliens and alien conspiracies! In fact remember in the before times when the worst thing we had to worry about was when people wanted to storm the Rosewell military base that many believe to be known as Area 51 (see: Top 10 #7-6 and Top 10 #8-16 ) ? That was just a mere 3 years ago but it feels like an eternity. But the reason why they had those hearings – the truth may actually be out there! Yes, that’s right, my friends – the reason why Congress held these hearings is because there’s now 400 reported incidents! That’s right – our good friend Tom DeLonge might actually be right about this!

A database of reports of UFOs now includes about 400 incidents, up from 143 assessed in a report released about a year ago, a Navy intelligence official told lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

The military's 2021 report said no evidence of aliens had been found. Scott W. Bray, the deputy director of Naval intelligence, told lawmakers that they still haven't uncovered anything "nonterrestrial in origin," even though there are incidents they can't explain.

None of the documented objects had attempted to communicate with U.S. aviators, and no attempt had been made to communicate with them, he said, as they all appeared to be unmanned.

Reports of unidentified flying objects – now called unexplained aerial phenomena or UAPs by the military – have been increasing, said Bray. He cited improved sensors, an increase in drones and other non-military unmanned aerial systems, and "aerial clutter" such as Mylar balloons as causes for the uptick.
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/17/1099410910/ufo-hearing-congress-military-intelligence

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: 87,000 IRS Agents
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From: Idiots #13-4

Welcome back to the segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! You know when times are dark, people turn to conspiracy theories to explain the news because they don’t want to take the time to read beyond the headlines! We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter from deep in the New Mexico badlands. 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! Well this week, you may have heard your Fox loving friends and relatives spouting off about the Inflation Reduction Act being used as an excuse to expand the IRS and hire an insane amount of new agents. And that they are going to be capable of “using force”. Yes, that’s right. And if they’re worried at all about this, it’s probably because they’ve got some extreme financial crimes that they are hiding. You really can’t make this stuff up.

While Donald Trump spins out ever more brazen lies and nonsense to sow confusion over the seizure of stolen classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Republicans have seized on a particularly gross conspiracy theory to justify their ridiculous claim that all of this somehow impacts the personal freedoms of every day Trump voters: "87,000 new IRS agents."

A reference to new federal funding in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, this latest talking point appears to have been crafted originally as some anti-tax propaganda to get the base to defend the ability of the wealthy to cheat on their taxes. But it almost immediately morphed into something far more threatening. It is now an unhinged conspiracy theory that's spreading rapidly through social media, as armed right-wing nuts are riling each other up to commit more acts of political violence.

The entire situation shows that Trump's tactic of winking at right-wing extremists, in hopes they will commit violence on his behalf, has spread throughout the Republican Party. With this new lie about the IRS, both Republican leaders and Fox News have made it clear that they will not hesitate to stir up the most violent elements in their base, inflaming serious tensions for no other reason than the belief it helps them score political points during a midterm election.
https://www.salon.com/2022/08/15/87000-irs-agents-new-conspiracy-theory-proves-encouragement-of-violence-is-standard/

Yeah so the mere fact that they’re worried about this means that Trump’s definitely hiding some serious financial crimes! And your republican friends probably are too! But here’s the thing – none of this nonsense that Fox News is spouting is true. Shocker, I know. And if you’re worried about being audited, well, I got some news for ya. If you’re making some money on the side, you’re probably not going to get audited. If you have a giant crypto mining account, you probably will get audited. You commit some egregious errors on your 1040? You probably will get audited. But most of us most likely won’t have to worry about it.

One of the most gut-tightening phrases for taxpayers is "IRS audit," but years of underfunding and a decline in staffing at the tax agency have pushed the audit rate to a decade-long low. That could soon change under the Inflation Reduction Act, the bill that proposes to give $80 billion to the IRS to beef up enforcement and hiring.

The prospect of a revitalized IRS is causing some consternation among some Republican lawmakers and taxpayers, who express fears that the proposed funding could be used to target workers and middle-class families. Indeed, Republicans on Tuesday warned taxpayers that the agency wants to hire "87,000 new IRS agents to audit Walmart shoppers."

That has raised fears the new agents would target middle-class workers with invasive audits, although the Treasury Department on Wednesday pushed back against those concerns.

Households earning less than $400,000 "will likely see the chance of an audit decline," Treasury said in a statement. "Instead, new funding will crack down on tax evaders among the wealthy and large corporations, invest in technology upgrades that help taxpayers, and hire more customer support staff to prevent backlogs."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/irs-audit-rates-taxes-inflation-reduction-act/

Sorry, ultra-wealthy people, but the free ride is over! You want to steal money from your businesses and treat government stipends like your personal piggy bank? Guess what? You pay! That’s why Fox News is turning up the alarm on this – they’re probably guilty too! And also guess what? The idea that they are going to “use force” to audit people? Also bullshit! And it gets weirder! So much weirder! The fact that Tik Tok had to employ massive counter measures to endure the onslaught of fake news relating to this to bullshit is stunning. First rule of the internet – if it sounds like bullshit, it probably is!

A story about weapons seized before they could reach the IRS comes from Real Raw News, a website that has previously fabricated stories, many involving the military.

Much of the reaction shared on social media about a Democratic bill that would provide billions of dollars in new funding for the IRS has focused on fears that more Americans will face tax audits as a result.

But one outlandish claim suggested those new IRS agents might soon be coming to your door armed to the teeth to collect your taxes, if not for a dramatic early morning intervention by "Delta Force" soldiers.

An Aug. 8 TikTok video’s headline read, "Delta Force seizes IRS weapons shipment." The video shows screenshots of an article with that same headline. But the article is from Real Raw News, a website that has a long track record of creating fake news stories.

TikTok identified this video as part of its efforts to counter inauthentic, misleading or false content. (Read more about PolitiFact's partnership with TikTok.)

The article describes 16 soldiers and four SUVs stopping a tractor-trailer from entering the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Maryland soon after Vice President "Kabula Harris" cast the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act on Aug. 7. That bill, the article said, allows the IRS "to hire and arm 87,000 new agents."
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/tiktok-posts/no-weapons-headed-irs-werent-seized-military/

Yeah probably! So should we fear our new heavily armed tax auditors or not? Yes, there’s some accounting professions where you’re required to carry a gun, but those actual positions are very few and far between. But why are Americans afraid of the IRS? Well it’s pretty simple – if you’ve got nothing to hide financially you won’t be a target. But the fact that republicans put pressure on the IRS to drop the “heavily armed” requirement for new IRS hires means that they’re definitely scared of the feds coming after their pocketbooks. If you see your conservative friends and neighbors hiring shredding trucks or burning their papers out in the yard, you know trouble is coming!

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) removed the requirement that special-agent applicants carry firearms and "be willing to use deadly force" from a job listing.

Documentarian Ford Fischer tweeted a screenshot of the IRS careers website, which included mentions of "irregular hours" and being on-call 24 hours in addition to holidays and weekends. It also cited the IRS' Criminal Investigation team—described as "the law enforcement branch of the IRS"—which requires special agents to "combine accounting skills with law enforcement skills to investigate financial crimes."

At the time of Fischer's tweet, the IRS website's job description for special agents included the requirement that they be able to carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force if necessary. However, as of Friday morning, the listing had been edited to omit those two requirements.
Newsweek Newsletter sign-up >

Josh Cole, communications director for the IRS, told Newsweek via email that the change was "minor" and on only one page of the IRS website regarding the 1811 special agent job posting.
https://www.newsweek.com/irs-deletes-requirement-that-new-agents-willing-use-deadly-force-1733352

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Putin’s Associates
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From: Idiots #13-8

Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! So when times are tough, or people don’t simply want to read the actual article, they turn to conspiracy theories floated by crazy people like Alex Jones to fill in the gaps. We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands. Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference… they are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all! Ah there we go! So I don’t know how closely you’ve been following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, or the three ring circus that is the totalitarian Russian government, but Vladimir Putin’s associates have a habit of “dying” mysterious deaths. Here’s the thing I want to preface before we go any further – we don’t usually make fun of death on this program. That’s beneath us. But when you have an authoritarian mad man like Vladimir Putin who’s on a quest for world domination through right wing propaganda at the helm, there’s nothing that is off the table. So anyway in the last few weeks or so there’s been a lot associated with the Russian mad man. Like this for instance.

A senior Russian oil executive has died after falling from the window of a Moscow hospital, months after his company criticised the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ravil Maganov, the chair of the board of directors of Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company, “fell from a window at Central clinical hospital”, the Interfax news agency wrote on Thursday, citing a source. “He died from injuries sustained.”

Lukoil said Maganov had “passed away following a severe illness”. The company did not say what Maganov was being treated for.

It was not immediately clear whether his death was an accident, a suicide, or caused by foul play. Russian state media agencies citing an unnamed source reported that Maganov had been admitted to the hospital with a heart condition and had been on antidepressants.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/russian-oil-executive-dies-in-fall-from-moscow-hospital-window

Yeah sure, he… “fell” out of the window of a hospital, and that’s after he questioned the Russian government’s illegal occupation of Ukraine. Don’t do that! You know that Pooty has a habit of knocking off his associates and they all die mysterious deaths. But what’s even weirder is that the list keeps growing of Putin critics who have suddenly died. And if that’s not enough, there was another one that fell off a boat. So like we said, Vladimir Putin’s critics have a bad habit of dying mysteriously and until Putin kicks the bucket expect this to become more widespread!

Another Russian energy boss has died in mysterious circumstances after "falling overboard" from a boat, according to local media reports.

Ivan Pechorin's body was found washed up around 100 miles from Vladivostok in Russia's far east, on Monday after a two-day search, local outlet VL.ru reported.

Pechorin fell off his moving boat on September 10 as it sailed near Russky Island, the outlet reported. He was the Aviation Director for Russia's Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV), which described his death as an "irreparable loss."

The KRDV is President Vladimir Putin's project for developing the rich energy and mining resources of Russia's farthest eastern region, which has become a crucial objective under the weight of international sanctions.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-executive-falls-off-boat-in-latest-mystery-businessman-death-2022-9

Sounds about right for Putin! But don’t blame the victim for this, blame the source. Vladimir Putin is one scary individual. He might be the first world leader who’s out for global domination since Adolf Hitler, though Hitler was another leader who had a bad habit of silencing his critics. There’s a great comparison for you! But come on, after nearly 8 years of watching Russia annex Crimea, committing genocide against Ukraine, and committing other unspeakable crimes against humanity, you’re just now coming to the conclusion that he might be dangerous? Just now?

At least seven Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin may have been murdered as the president purges his inner circle of former wealthy allies.

Since the start of the year, several of Putin’s cronies have died in mysterious circumstances, The Sun reports.

But sources believe they may have actually been murdered as it’s claimed there were similarities in their deaths.

The latest apparent victim was Ivan Pechorin - Putin’s point man for developing Russia’s vast Arctic resources.

He fell off the side of a boat in waters close to Russky Island in mysterious circumstances, it is reported.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/chilling-clues-that-seven-russian-oligarchs-were-murdered-by-putin/news-story/f43a9907df4b58d20cf7ea3c7e2f3de3

Yeah probably! But come on, Sky News – just say it! He was murdered and Vladimir Putin is a terrorist out for global domination. That’s why I’m hiding out in this basement bunker because there’s no way he could get to me! But there’s a connection between all of these deaths and I can’t quite put my finger on it. If you’re living in Russia and you speak ill of Vladimir Putin or his illegal and immoral occupation of Ukraine, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Because otherwise they’ll be coming to take you away, ha ha, and you’ll be next!

Another prominent member of Russian society has died, the latest in a string of mysterious deaths among top businessmen and oligarchs in the embattled country.

Vladimir Nikolayevich Sungorkin, 68, editor-in-chief of major state newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, died “suddenly” after appearing to “suffocate,” according to the newspaper he used to helm.

The Kremlin confirmed the death Wednesday, calling his passing “a great loss to Russian journalism.”

Sungorkin was in Primorye, in Russia’s far east, gathering material for an upcoming book and accompanied by his colleague Leonid Zakharov, when he died.

“It happened absolutely suddenly, nothing foreshadowed,” Zakharov wrote of the incident on Wednesday. “We were in the village of Roshchino. We were driving. We were already making our way towards Khabarovsk. We planned to get there in the evening today, and from there to Moscow. All was good.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/9131060/vladimir-sungorkin-dead-russian-newspaper-editor-sudden-stroke-suffocating/

Next week we’ll be bringing you the best of I Need A Drink! See you next week!

Credits

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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Constellation Room at Observatory OC, Santa Ana, CA
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December 18, 2022

Announcement: The Top 10's new social media home!

We are extremely proud to announce that the Top 10 has a new home on social media! We've decided to cast off the shackles of the proverbial online hellscape known as Elon Musk's Twitter and we're setting up shop on Mastodon!

You can follow our two accounts at:

- Top 10 Conservative Idiots: Top10ConIdiots@mstdn.party
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This will be the official social media home for all official Top 10 announcements from here on out. We will be making announcements relating to new Top 10 editions as well as our patented (patent pending) Throwback Thursdays and are even planning on some additional exclusive content! We are also exploring the possibilities of a Top 10 Subreddit as well.

The Top 10 Twitter accounts will be deactivated on January 1st, 2023 but will remain up for the time being while we make the transition. New posts will occur on Mastodon starting on Jan. 2nd, 2023.

Thanks for your continued support and we'll see you back in January!

December 15, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-17: 2022 Year In Review Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-17: 2022 Year In Review Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yooooooooooooo! What’s up Santa Ana? Oh man it’s good to be home after many weeks of being on the road. We do want to state that we might go a bit long tonight as it’s our last show of the year, so alert the affiliates! We had a great time in all of the cities and states we visited, plus our big trips to Hawaii and Mexico. We got some big things brewing next year including shows in Vancouver and Paris! That’s right – we’re going to France for our big 300th edition spectacular! And I honestly can’t think of a better way to celebrate #300 either, can you? No I most certainly cannot! So we’re here at the end of the year and once again it’s time for our annual Year In Review edition where we attempt to cram as much as possible about the entire year into six short entries. Now you might be wondering about our plans for next year. Well, I can tell you what we’ve got in store. Season 14 is going to start on January 26th. But before that, we’ve got a new Top 10 home on social media to launch, but we’re still figuring out the logistics of it. We are also looking at the possibility of launching a Top 10 Subreddit as well! We will also be bringing you some Best Ofs and Throwback Thursdays in the meantime, including the Best Of Conspiracy Corner. And of course, starting in March, it’s the return of our popular and long running Stupidest State contest! That’s right, the NFFSA that you know and love is back and better than ever! Then for season 15, we are going to debut a brand new, never before seen feature that even we don’t know what it is yet! Then after that, I honestly don’t know what the future is going to hold for the Top 10. But we will keep you informed as it happens! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Seth Myers discusses Trump’s absence from the main stage, it’s almost Howard Hughes esque.

So here we are folks, it’s the end of the year which means that it’s time for our big annual end of the year 2022 Year In Review spectacular! How do we close out this incredibly insane year that was 2022? Well we of course have to go back to the beginning. In the first slot is January and February (1) when everyone was sick with the Omicron variant of COVID-19, while the January 6th committee started heating up their investigations and popular musicians gave Spotify the heave ho over Joe Rogan’s anti-vaccine nonsense. In the second slot is March – April (2) and the headlines were dominated by Vladimir Putin’s illegal and immoral hostile takeover of Ukraine, but Ukraine decided to fight back against his evilness! Also back at home, Will Smith pimp slapped Chris Rock during the live Oscars telecast. Yeah that happened! In the third slot this week is May – June (3) which saw the Christian right getting what they wanted – the overturning of Roe V Wade, while Tucker Carlson is in the hot seat after inspiring a mass shooting and getting roasted for decrying the “end of man”. In the number 4 slot this week is July – August (4) when Ivana Trump died (mysteriously) and people began speculating what was buried at her gravesite at Trump’s Bedminster golf course, while Trump hosted Saudi Arabia’s controversial NIV golf league against the rest of the country’s protests. In the number 5 slot is September – October (5) which saw the death of England’s longest serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, while Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis channel their inner asshole. Finally, in the number 6 slot, closing out the year is November – December (6) which saw MAGA conspiracy theorists getting their asses handed to them in the midterms, while Elon finally completes his hostile takeover of Twitter and is running the site into the ground. Nice service we had once! At the number 7 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, and this week, our resident pastor is giving a summary of the year that was and offers his annual predictions of what could happen to the Christian right next year! Taking the number 8 seed this week is a new edition of This Fucking Guy (8) and this week we’re profiling former Trump speech writer, MAGA superfan, and self proclaimed alpha male Nick Adams in a new “This Fucking Guy! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new People Are Dumb, and we bring our favorite People Are Dumb stories from the entire year of 2022! Finally, closing out the edition is the last stop of our World Tour 2022, and we end by visiting the land of Carnival, the rainforest, and futbol – Brazil! How much is a Brazillian? Plus to get the annual party started, we got some live music from the legendary Black Keys! Buy their new album “Dropout Boogie” or you’re no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]January And February: The Omicron Variant
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So begins our annual look back at the year that was! For the last two years the entire world has been turned upside down and inside out by the COVID-19 pandemic. But that was finally coming to an end in January, right? WRONG!!!! Say hello to the most contagious variant of the virus yet – the Omicron variant! So goodbye to whatever plans you were planning on doing that you’d been saving up for the last two years because we’ve still got this shit to put up with! Oh well. Back to Netflix. While we were all waiting for the Omicron variant to subside, we watched a hell of a lot of shit unfold on TV. Easily the most compelling TV was the January 6th trial which the GOP totally unleashed their inner asshole and did everything they could to get Liz Cheney censured or even expelled from their ranks. Because you know, Liz Cheney had an independent thought, and that’s not good when you have a deranged white supremacist cult running the show. Season 12 feels like it was eternity ago,, but really it was only 10 months. But the January 6th Commission was certainly some compelling television!

In the weeks after the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump's allies sent fake certificates to the National Archives declaring that Trump won seven states that he actually lost. The documents had no impact on the outcome of the election, but they are yet another example of how Team Trump tried to subvert the Electoral College -- a key line of inquiry for the January 6 committee.

The fake certificates were created by Trump allies in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico, who sought to replace valid presidential electors from their states with a pro-Trump slate, according to documents obtained by American Oversight.

The documents contain the signatures of Trump supporters who claimed to be the rightful electors from seven states that President Joe Biden won. But these rogue slates of electors didn't have the backing of any elected officials in the seven states -- like a governor or secretary of state, who are involved in certifying election results -- and they served no legitimate purpose.

The documents were first posted online in March by the government watchdog group. But they received renewed attention this week, as the January 6 committee ramps up its investigation into Trump's attempted coup, including how his allies tried to stop states from certifying Biden's victory, in part, by installing friendly slates of electors who would overturn the will of the voters.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/12/politics/trump-overturn-2020-election-fake-electoral-college/index.html

Holy shit! Trump was so desperate to not only win 2020, but also overturn it in the same way that Wiley Coyote attempts to catch the Road Runner. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic was still a thing and everyone was becoming numb and tired to the bullshit. That was until Joe Rogan went and shot his mouth off, which is what he does for a living. Look, the anti-vaxxer movement, is, was, and has always been complete 100% certified grade A bullshit, and now it’s killed almost 600,000 people who follow this nonsense. So naturally we were on Neil Young’s side when he decided to bail on Spotify because they sided with Joe Rogan.

Spotify is in the process of removing Neil Young’s music two days after Young posted a letter on his website demanding that his catalogue be removed in response to the “fake information about vaccines” on the platform. “We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators,” a Spotify spokesman told The Washington Post in a statement.

“We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.” Young’s letter, which has since been deleted, was addressed to his manager and an executive at his record label and cited Joe Rogan by name as part of his issue with Spotify.

“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he wrote in the letter, according to Rolling Stone. “Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”

“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” the letter continued. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” Representatives for Young have not yet responded to The Post’s request for comment. Rogan, who hosts one of the most popular podcasts on the platform, has repeatedly spread misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines. In April, for example, he came under fire for suggesting healthy, young people shouldn’t get vaccinated.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/01/26/neil-young-spotify-joe-rogan/

Let’s not forget that there were Nazi protests in Florida and California (the official Top 10 stance on this, by the way – is fuck Nazis and white supremacists!). Back in the MAGA world, Trump went from flat out denying that Antifa and BLM were behind the 2020 riots to full on embracing the Q bullshit. But seriously, we can’t let January and February go by without addressing what might be one of the biggest casting SNAFUs in reality television history. Yes, someone on the TV show The Masked Singer had the bright idea to let former America’s mayor and current insurrectionist Rudy Giuliani be the man behind the mask. It was insane.

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when Rudy Giuliani was seen as a future face of the Republican Party. Now, he's a punchline.

Giuliani's journey from "America's Mayor" to eye-rolling embarrassment hit another low this week, when it was revealed that not only had he appeared on the latest season of the reality show "The Masked Singer," but also that when his identity was revealed, two of the show's hosts walked off in protest.

As CNN's Chloe Melas reports: "Robin Thicke and Ken Jeong walked off stage following the revelation of Giuliani as a contestant on the popular Fox reality show in which contenders perform in full costume until they are eliminated." The episode is expected to air next month, Melas notes.

It's cringe-inducing all around. And, unfortunately for Giuliani fans -- and I assume there are still some out there -- it's the latest in a series of increasingly desperate attempts by the former New York City mayor to stay relevant.

Giuliani's descent began slowly -- and then all at once. It was tied directly to his association with Donald Trump, whom he had known for decades as they orbited each other in New York City circles.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/politics/masked-singer-rudy-giuliani-analysis/index.html

Oh and remember all those idiots who post extremely hateful right wing memes? Well they decided to leave the computer and go out protesting into the real world with the “Freedom Convoy”. It screwed up our neighbors to the north in Canada and their capitol of Ottawa. So if you’re the Canadian government, how do you get rid of some unwanted guests? Well there was no good answer to this, and Canada’s attempts to drive the MAGA protestors out (yes, they do exist in Canada, so… MCGA protestor?), was not exactly what one would call “ideal” but it got the job done!

Canada is lifting the emergency powers it enacted more than a week ago to get street protests under control, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying the unprecedented authority is no longer needed.

His government invoked the never-before-used Emergencies Act after hundreds of semis and other heavy vehicles blockaded the downtown of Canada’s capital city for three weeks. The demonstration in Ottawa sparked offshoots that shut down key U.S. border crossings, including the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit.

“Today, after careful consideration, we’re ready to confirm that the situation is no longer an emergency,” Trudeau said alongside his attorney general and other top ministers in Ottawa on Wednesday. “We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are now sufficient to keep people safe.”

The legislation gave authorities financial tools to cut off funding to the protesters and compel towing firms to clear out the vehicles, among other measures. Canadian banks froze about C$7.8 million ($6.1 million) in just over 200 accounts under the emergency powers, government officials told lawmakers Tuesday.
https://fortune.com/2022/02/23/justin-trudeau-emergency-powers-trucker-protest-freedom-convoy/

That’s it for January and February! Now it’s on to…

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[font size="8"]March And April: The Ukraine Invasion
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There was so much that happened in March and April of 2022 that it would be absolutely impossible to list everything. It started out innocently enough. It was the glorious return of March Madness after two years of not having it, and Duke attempted to rig their way to the top in favor of Coach K’s retirement , but Kansas ultimately prevailed. The entire world was horrified by the idiotic Freedom Convoy moving across Canada and spreading to the US. They were definitely spreading something, all right! But the real news happened overseas. Vladimir Putin, who we’ve always said is a furry cat and an island fortress away from going full Ernest Starvo Blofeld on us, decided to say “fuck it” and simply invaded the Ukraine. But like most evil supervillain schemes, this one backfired on him big time. Not sure that this plan was brilliant enough for Blofeld. This was more of a downgrade. It’s more of a plot suited for someone like Gru or Shrek. Just make sure there’s plenty of cute cartoon characters making fart noises and you’ll turn a dark plot into a family friendly comedy!

Russia's multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine has thrust the country into a conflict that many on the European continent had thought was one for the history books. Now the country is in the throes of war, with a humanitarian disaster unfolding.

After months of military buildup and brinkmanship on Russia's side of the border, Ukraine's 44 million residents woke up to an all-out conflict on Thursday. Fighting has erupted in several cities across the country, including in the capital, Kyiv, and nearly a half a million people have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.

Russia had been tightening its military grip around Ukraine since last year, amassing tens of thousands of soldiers, as well as equipment and artillery, on the country's doorstep.

Frenzied diplomatic efforts early this year failed to avert the worst-case scenario. Now those troops are engaged in combat with Ukrainians for control of the country.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-conflict-explainer-2-cmd-intl/index.html

How best to describe the Russian invasion of the Ukraine? Think of it like getting spam e-mails that you didn’t ask for or don’t want, and the more you try to unsubscribe from the e-mail list the more junk you get! But the longer the Russian war, or as we’ve been calling it, Putin’s grossly illegal and completely immoral invasion, is dragging on, the weirder it gets. My favorite was the Russian version of McDonalds completely pulling out of the country and it being replaced with a much jankier version. Because everything is weirder and jankier in Russia.

What could possibly replace McDonald's iconic Golden Arches? In the case of its Russian replacement, the answer appears to be orange backslashes. Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted McDonald's to withdraw from the country after more than 30 years, a process that entailed pausing operations, looking for a buyer and "de-arching" its restaurants.

Last month, it announced that the existing licensee Alexander Govor would acquire its 850 Russian locations and operate them under a new brand — as well as retain and pay its 62,000 Russian employees for at least two years. The rebranded chain is set to open its first 15 locations in the Moscow region on Sunday, followed by another 200 across the country later this month. And while its new name is still under wraps, it has revealed its colorful new logo. Sistema PBO, which manages the chain, confirmed the design to the state outlet TASS on Thursday.

It depicts a small red circle and two orange lines (aka a burger and pair of fries) against a green background, which the spokesperson said represents the quality of the chain's products and service. Altogether, the three shapes somewhat resemble an abstract letter "M." Twitter users have noted its similarity to the logos of other popular brands, including the Japanese chain Mos Burger, Marriott hotels and the Warner Brothers logo from 1972. Others compared it to a drowning stick figure, cricket bats and the flag of Bangladesh.

The spokesperson added that the name of the new chain has not yet been approved. Citing the state newspaper Izvestia, the BBC reports that the company has submitted eight potential names to the Russian government agency in charge of intellectual property. They reportedly include "Tot Samyi," which translates to "The Same One," and "Svobodnaya Kassa," meaning "available cash register."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/10/1104194213/russian-mcdonalds-rebrand-logo

Yeah it’s almost exactly like McDowell’s. Of course while the entire world was staring in horror at Russia’s shockingly evil crimes against humanity that they were committing in Ukraine, we have our own problems here at home. The main problems of course being the Fox / Q Anon wing of the GOP shooting their mouths off on things they don’t understand. And like most things, they ruin everything. But probably the best news out of this terrible time in world history was that Joe Biden did the impossible – he got an extremely qualified black woman nominated and confirmed to SCOTUS! Yeah how seriously awesome is that?

The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson are now over. And they were incredibly ugly.

In advance of the hearings, my colleague Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux wrote that Jackson’s identity as a Black woman as well as her professional background as a former public defender meant that it was likely she’d be subjected to more questions regarding her qualifications than another nominee would be. And sure enough, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee wasted little time grilling Jackson — often in ways that suggested women and people of color are less qualified than their white counterparts, or that their race makes them inherently biased against white people.

There were attacks both inside — and outside — of the hearings that tried to paint Jackson as a supporter of critical race theory, a legal framework for understanding systemic racism that the GOP has co-opted as a catch-all term for anything related to race. Her judicial record in cases involving child pornography was also heavily scrutinized, even though there is no evidence that she was uncommonly soft in her sentences.

We don’t know yet whether the hearings will dramatically alter Americans’ support of Jackson, but at this point, many Americans support her confirmation. Per a March 1-18 poll from Gallup, 58 percent of Americans said the Senate should vote to confirm Jackson, versus 30 percent who thought she should not be confirmed and 12 percent who had no opinion. Notably, that’s the second-highest level of support that Gallup has recorded for a Supreme Court nominee dating back to Robert Bork’s nomination in 1987.1 Only Chief Justice John Roberts scored higher than Jackson, and only slightly higher — 59 percent of Americans said they supported his nomination in 2005.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-broadly-want-the-senate-to-confirm-ketanji-brown-jackson-to-the-supreme-court/

Yeah the GOP are quite literally a broken record. We embrace diversity, they embrace white supremacy and Christian extremism. We want less guns, they want more guns. It’s a truly vicious cycle. But things definitely get weird in April. The GOP is obsessed with the Hunter Biden laptop conspiracy that just won’t go away, while the GOP decided to say “fuck you” to participating in future debates. Because why listen to someone who’s never going to change their opinion on anything? Hello brick wall! But I can’t get out of spring without mentioning the Will Smith – Chris Rock confrontation at the Oscars. It was the Pimp Slap Heard ‘Round the World (see: Idiots #12-10 ) ! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Good one! You just got knocked the fuck out! But what I really can’t get out of here without mentioning is Tucker Carlson’s bizarre solution to men’s waning testosterone problem, which resulted in one of the best Conspiracy Corner we ever did (see: Idiots #12-12 ).

That’s it for spring everybody! Now we’re moving on to the begging of summer where…

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[font size="8"] May and June
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Summer time and the livin’s easy. Initech is on the microphone with Ras MC. All the people in the dance will agree that we’re… well qualified to represent the LBC! OK enough of that. That’s my Sublime chunk, you know, because we’re all up on what the kids listen to! Well anyway May is where all the shit in 2022 really started to hit the fan. The Golden State Warriors won the NBA finals and the Colorado Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup. And there was also the grand return of the Kentucky Derby in there somewhere. We were first greeted with our old buddy Elon Musk and his plans to buy Twitter to turn it into a safe haven for white supremacists and election denying conspiracy theorists – you know, Trump’s people. Don’t worry, we will get to that later. But the big war was just beginning with Fox News just saying “fuck it” and going after Disney. Why were they going after Disney? It’s just more culture war bullshit started by Ron DeSantis over a controversial bill that would stifle freedom of speech laws everywhere. But it resulted in one of the stupidest circular firing squad arguments we’ve ever seen as a country. And what was the end result? Conservatives decided to go nuclear on Disney, because it’s what Fox wanted. We assume it has nothing to do with the recent megapurchase of all of Fox’s entertainment properties by Disney. Nothing at all.

Disney (DIS) versus DeSantis.

As the media conglomerate continues to grapple with the aftermath of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis revoking the company's special tax district, business leaders around the globe are contemplating their own company values as political issues take center stage.

"I don't think [Disney CEO Bob Chapek] did his homework," Bill George, a Harvard Business School professor and former chairman and CEO of medical device company, Medtronic, told Yahoo Finance.

"We're in a different world today — he was acting like he was back in the 1990s. In this world of 2022, you have all kinds of stakeholders who expect you to take a position, especially your employees," the professor continued, adding that workers today have found their voice "particularly in this post-COVID world."

"They want to be respected and heard, and they want their CEOs to speak on their behalf," he said, saying that Bob Chapek's silence on the Parental Rights in Education Act, or what critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill, created the "uproar" that eventually led to the political crossfire with DeSantis.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-vs-de-santis-chapeks-dont-say-gay-fumble-a-warning-to-ce-os-says-harvard-professor-142706701.html

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Love the South Park Mickey Mouse, by the way. But then of course it can’t be a day, week, month or even year in America without a mass shooting. This time it happened in Beffalo, New York. And what makes this one even weirder? It’s no secret that the typical American mass shooter enjoys a life of isolation on the computer browsing the dark corners of the internet with his router’s security protections turned off. And leaving lengthy manifestos. But this shooter directly cited the increasingly violent rhetoric coming from Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, which immediately prompted Fox to go into “please disperse” mode.

As a New York Times investigation revealed in April, Tucker Carlson has spent more than 400 shows and counting “amplify[ing] the idea that a cabal of elites want to force demographic change through immigration,” i.e. the “great replacement,” a racist conspiracy theory that liberal politicians are trying to silence and ultimately wipe out white Americans. That conspiracy theory featured heavily in the suspected Buffalo shooter’s 180-page manifesto, the one he allegedly wrote and published detailing his plans to kill Black people before he went on to take 10 lives. Viewed side-by-side, it’s not difficult to see that the two men share a stomach-turning, dangerous, deeply deranged point of view. But Carlson, a smirking vector of hate, would like people to know that his racist point of view has nothing whatsoever to do with the Buffalo shooter’s racist point of view. Absolutely nothing!

During his Monday night show, the Fox News host took pains to distance his rhetoric with that of accused killer Payton Gendron, which he attempted to do by noting that the cold-blooded killer’s declaration was all over the place and in need of a good editor. “What [Gendron] wrote does not add up to a manifesto,” Carlson explained to his viewers. “It is not a blueprint for a new extremist political movement, much less the potential inspiration for a racist revolution. Anyone who claims that it is is lying or hasn’t read it. Instead Gendron’s letter is a rambling pastiche of slogans and internet memes, some of which flatly contradict one another. The document is not recognizably left-wing or right-wing, it’s not really political at all. The document is crazy, it’s the product of a diseased organized mind. At one point Gendron suggests that Fox News is part of a global conspiracy against him. He writes like the mental patient he is. Disjointed, irrational, paranoid.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/tucker-carlson-buffalo-shooting-payton-gendron

And speaking of violent rhetoric, what’s more violent than full on embracing authoritarianism? The GOP has been increasingly looking up to Hungary’s populist dictator Viktor Orban as a role model for what American conservatism should be. Uh… excuse me? The guy is a literal Nazi! What the actual fuck? An American political party embracing an authoritarian dictator is like rooting for the bad guy in whatever movie you’re watching. You know they’re not going to win, but it sure is fun to root for them, because screw the other guy.

It might seem strange that a nationalist conservative group identified with Donald Trump and America First is holding its annual meeting this week in Hungary.

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, is one of the biggest gatherings of conservatives in the world, and Budapest makes sense when you consider that this year's keynote speaker — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — is a hero to some.

"Right now, the political leader of the conservative resistance in the West is the prime minister of a small central European [country] that most Americans never even think about," Rod Dreher of The American Conservative said at a conservatism conference last year.

Orban has been criticized as a white ethno-nationalist authoritarian. He's restricted Muslim immigration and LGBTQ rights while building a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many American conservatives, however, see Orban's Hungary as a kind of anti-woke paradise.
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/18/1099680587/a-prominent-conference-of-american-conservatives-is-taking-place-in-hungary

You always wonder how previously free countries turn authoritarian? Well let’s look at what happens here in the states. You know we were taking our summer break when this happened. We were all watching in shock and awe when the January 6th Committee laid the smackdown on the Trump administration. In fact, the news coming out of the committee was so huge that we actually had to take time and do a one entry special report for it. Because you know what the old saying is – a failed coup is just practice for a successful one!

The House committee investigating the Capitol assault has heard accounts of the former president’s remarks as he watched the riot unfold on television.

Shortly after hundreds of rioters at the Capitol started chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” on Jan. 6, 2021, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, left the dining room off the Oval Office, walked into his own office and told colleagues that President Donald J. Trump was complaining that the vice president was being whisked to safety.

Mr. Meadows, according to an account provided to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, then told the colleagues that Mr. Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hung.

It is not clear what tone Mr. Trump was said to have used. But the reported remark was further evidence of how extreme the rupture between the president and his vice president had become, and of how Mr. Trump not only failed to take action to call off the rioters but appeared to identify with their sentiments about Mr. Pence — whom he had unsuccessfully pressured to block certification of the Electoral College results that day — as a reflection of his own frustration at being unable to reverse his loss.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/us/politics/trump-pence-jan-6.html

That’s it for the early part of summer. Now onto the heart of summer…

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[font size="8"]July – August: The Overturning Of Roe V. Wade
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So here we are. You know how parents are always threatening to take their kids’ video game systems away from them if they scream in public one more time? And then they scream in public one more time only to find their toy taken away from them? That’s what happened when Republicans did the impossible – they overturned the 1969 landmark SCOTUS decision known as Roe V. Wade. Yup, they actually did it. Which of course set off red flags around the world that something terrible was happening and brewing in the United States. In fact we could barely comprehend the madness of the Supreme Court now being stacked 6 – 3 in favor of batshit extreme religious fundamentalists. And these people all have lifetime appointments by the way. It’s going to take 20 years or more to get rid of these MAGA cretins and they’ll probably be replaced with much worse. In fact we couldn’t even comprehend the madness and we had to do another special report about it.

Women's decisions about their reproductive healthcare are no longer theirs to make. It's now up to the individual states to decide whether or not you can terminate a pregnancy, because the Supreme Court has decided that there is no constitutional right to an abortion.

That's right, the U.S. Supreme Court has officially overturned 50 years of established legal precedent, effectively sending American women back to pre-1973 America, before Roe v. Wade was decided and then repeatedly upheld, and the right to seek an abortion depended on which state you lived in.

That's true again, today. As of June 24, it is now a question for state legislatures whether women should be allowed to access abortion care.

In a 6-3 decision, the court decided that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, and that it is up to the states can choose whether or not to impose extreme restraints on reproductive healthcare (including the possibility of criminalization).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-overturning-roe-v-120022373.html

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! This is basically setting it up for a religious fascist totalitarian takeover of the US. And it will happen if we let it. in fact the soft coup is already starting in our school boards. And the shit show that Roe V Wade started isn’t ending. In fact people attacked Brett Kavanaugh’s house (see: Idiots #13-2 ) . But meanwhile in the sports world there was a lot of controversy about this new Saudii Arabia-backed NIV golf league. And well, guess who had to intervene? Yup, he did., because the GOP’s new motto is apparently “fuck all y’all”.

Thin crowds were reported at the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament taking place at former President Donald Trump's New Jersey club this weekend—with tickets reportedly being sold for as little as $1 online.

LIV Golf, which aims to rival the near century-old PGA Tour, has drawn substantial controversy due to it being financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The kingdom has faced strong criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike for its documented human rights abuses, and particularly for the grisly murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

While LIV Golf managed to attract some high-profile professional golfers, the PGA Tour barred its members from participating in the competition. Trump, however, embraced the new tournament after the PGA Tour ended its plan to host its championship at his Bedminster club following the events of January 6, 2021.

The New York Times reported Friday that the crowds at the event were "thin and scant at many holes," although it also noted the "easy camaraderie" among the players. Similarly, The Wall Street Journal reported that many holes "had just a smattering of fans as the day progressed" on Friday. The conservative newspaper additionally reported that tickets for the event were being sold for as little as $1 on StubHub.com.
https://www.newsweek.com/liv-golf-tournament-trump-club-sees-thin-crowds-1-tickets-reports-1729410

Yeah so that happened! I love that tickets were going for $1. Meanwhile, Fox News basically gave up on attempting to overthrow the 2020 election so they’re focusing on going full Nazi in the culture wars. Yes, we know what happened to the guy who sponsored the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that launched this entire controversy. But we can’t let Ron DeSantis (Q – Batshit) off the hook for fueling the controversy in the first place. The entire shit show that resulted from this is absolutely the responsibility of Fox News and they should apologize to Disney for it, but you know they won’t. Because again, the new motto of the GOP is fuck all y’all.

A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ruled that a law pushed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis restricting conversations around race in schools and the workplace is unconstitutional.

In a 44-page ruling blocking enforcement of parts of the law, US District Judge Mark Walker said that Florida's Individual Freedom Act (IFA), better known as the "Stop WOKE Act," "discriminates on the basis of viewpoint in violation of the First Amendment and is impermissibly vague in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment."

The law, which took effect on July 1, is a key component of DeSantis' war on "woke ideology," and was intended to prevent teachings or mandatory workplace activities that suggest a person is privileged or oppressed based necessarily on their race, color, sex or national origin.

Two Florida-based employers who want to require their staff attend diversity and inclusion trainings, and a consultant who provides such instruction, requested the injunction on the portions of the law dealing with corporate trainings.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/18/politics/desantis-woke-law-block/index.html

Fox News – the reason why we can’t have nice things. And speaking of people not being able to have nice things – Donald Trump. This might be what happened to be the best news out of the entire summer was when the FBI raided Trump’s home at Mar-A-Shithole, which he basically turned into some kind of fucked up Studio 54 for election denying conspiracy theorists. Watching the MAGA meltdown with their calls to threaten and disband and defund the FBI was absolutely hilarious! The fucking irony – these are the same people who said that “defund the police” was bad messaging!

The FBI seized multiple sets of documents marked top secret from former President Donald Trump’s Florida resort home, Mar-a-Lago, when agents raided it Monday, according to a search warrant unsealed Friday.

The warrant directed agents to seize “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed” in violation of three laws related to handling of government documents.

The warrant indicates that statutes relating to espionage and obstruction of justice are the foundation for the search. Convictions under these statutes can bring fines or prison sentences.

One of the statutes, which relates to removing or destroying government records, includes a punishment of being “disqualified from holding any office under the United States,” according to the text of the law.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/documents-taken-in-trump-raid-included-files-marked-top-secret-report-says.html

We’re almost there! We are officially done with summer! Now it’s onto the fall…

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[font size="8"]September – October: The Death Of Queen Elizabeth II
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Two things happened in 2022 that we thought were never going to happen in our lifetime. The first was the overturning of Roe V. Wade. But then again we didn’t think we would have a batshit crazy president who would stack SCOTUS in favor of a small minority faction of religious fundamentalists. The other thing is much sadder – the death of England’s longest serving monarch – Queen Elizabeth II. You know, say what you want about the British monarchy. Like my British friends have some extremely mixed opinions on it. The people who love the monarchy love the Family Windsor. But the people who hate the monarchy on the other hand, have a serious hatred for it. The thing about Queen Elizabeth II was that she was a true champion of women’s and minority rights and progressive values. You know, things that go against what a monarchy typically stands for. But that being said, love her or hate her, we did lose a legend this year.

With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, there is a new line of succession to the British throne.

The queen's oldest son, Charles, has become king. And with his ascension to the throne, members of his direct family, including his sons Princes William and Harry, are now higher in the line of succession.

In general, succession falls to the first-born child of the heir and their children, followed by the next oldest sibling of the heir and their offspring and so on. That's why, for instance, Prince Charles' children and grandchildren are ahead in line of Charles' oldest brother, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

Other rules make the order more complicated.

Under British laws established in the late 1600s and early 1700s, the succession to the throne can be regulated by Parliament, which can remove monarchs for "misgovernment," according to the royal family's website.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/News/queen-elizabeth-dies-96-british-royal-line-succession/story?id=65427816

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… love me some Archer. But that being said, some in America weren’t having any of it, and there were some incredibly fucked up conspiracy theories about how Queen Elizabeth II really died. My personal favorite was that Q Anon said that the Queen died a long time ago, and that she was replaced with a body double. File that one under things that no one has ever said, ever, and things that aren’t happening anywhere. But one guy didn’t get invited to an international celebration of life, and he’s pissed. Yeah, you know who I am talking about. And no, Fox News, Biden did not take him as a “plus one”.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman says that former President Donald Trump was surprised that he did not receive a personal invitation to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Speaking on CNN Tuesday morning, Haberman was asked by host John Berman about Trump's reaction to not being invited to the funeral, which will be attended by President Joe Biden later this week.

"Trump and people around Trump believe he had some sort of special connection to the queen," she replied. "There's, for some reason, some expectation around people close to Trump that he should be getting an invitation. He fancied himself as having some kind of close relationship with her. A former aide to Trump told me, 'No, the queen really liked him.'"

However, Haberman said she had heard of no concrete proof that the late queen liked Trump, whom she met when the former president visited the United Kingdom in 2019.
https://www.rawstory.com/queen-elizabeth-trump/

Hey Trump, you’re not the president and you’re not British! You don’t get to attend! Not even as a “plus one”, OK? Fuck off. By the way, we here in the United States were horrified at yet another mass shooting in an elementary school, this time involving the deaths of 23 students and teachers that happened at the end of July. But the investigation into the shooting was getting weird. And it really shows what happens when we live in an America that values the importance of owning a gun over the importance of the life that guns take away. It’s truly fucked up.

A small army of 376 federal, state, and local law-enforcement officers disastrously botched their tactical response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a preliminary report by an investigative committee of the Texas House of Representatives revealed Sunday, painting a picture of dysfunction that went well beyond an embattled school police chief. At a press conference several hours later, state Rep. Dustin Burrows (R), the committee’s chairman, emphasized the simple phrase that best encapsulated the report’s contents: “multiple systemic failures.”

The 77-page document—a page for each minute of the leaked video showcasing the massacre—was compiled in 44 days, the product of more than 35 interviews with witnesses, including school police officers, the district superintendent, the school’s principal, and others. Investigators also interviewed 39 more independent subjects, and reviewed crime scene photos, 911 calls, and both audio and video from the day, according to Burrows.

The result provides a fresh rundown of what happened inside the building, a profile of the gunman who got inside, and a beat-by-beat account of how mistakes or inaction by officers, the school, and the family of the shooter led to catastrophe. “The Committee issues this interim report now, believing the victims, their families, and the entire Uvalde community have already waited too long for answers and transparency,” the report reads, according to a copy reviewed by The Daily Beast.

The document lays out how a bevy of police resources failed to prevent tragedy, even as individual school staffers tried to protect children. Not a single law enforcement officer was on the school’s campus when gunman Salvador Ramos attacked, according to the report. Instead, the school was alerted to his presence by coach Yvette Silva, who the report says “almost certainly saved lives.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-house-of-representatives-tries-to-explain-what-happened-during-uvalde-massacre

Holy shit! When you have nearly 400 cops at the scene of a guy with an AR-15, the problem isn’t that we need more cops! The problem is the guy with the AR-15! But you know a favorite discussion topic of mine lately is stochastic terrorism. It’s basically when someone spouts so much hateful rhetoric that it eventually drives someone to listen to it to violence. But the good news is that the fall ended with one of our favorite bad guys here, Alex Jones, finally getting his just deserts. That’s right – you may have heard that the Mad Man of Infowars got his ass handed to him by the Sandy Hook parents.

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay at least $965 million in damages to numerous families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting for falsely claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy, a Connecticut jury said on Wednesday.

The verdict, which came after three weeks of testimony in a state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, far outstripped the $49 million Jones was ordered to pay in August by a Texas jury in a similar case brought by two other Sandy Hook parents.

The Connecticut verdict applies to both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, the owner of Jones' Infowars website. FSS filed for bankruptcy in July.

The plaintiffs in the Connecticut case included more than a dozen relatives of 20 children and six staff members who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Jones claimed for years that the massacre was staged as part of a government plot to take away Americans' guns.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/jury-begins-third-day-deliberations-alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-trial-2022-10-12/

Thank you Nelson! We’re almost at the end of the year everybody! Moving on to:

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[font size="8"]November – December: The GOP Goes Full Nazi
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We made it everybody! We’re at the end of the year! And much to the rest of the MLB’s objection, the cheating Houston Astros somehow managed to win another World Series. Ugh. Whether you love or hate the Astros, at least we did get this out of it:

There’s so much we could discuss about what’s happening right now, but we cannot deny that the end of the year 2022 was dominated by one piece of news – the systematic and hostile takeover, and complete destruction of the Twitter platform by Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk. If you’re familiar with Norse mythology, or at the very least the movie Thor: Ragnarok, you know that Surtur is a mythical being that is a giant flaming monster that destroys Thor’s home world of Asguard. Elon is basically a real life version of Surtur. He took over that platform and basically nearly completely destroyed it. How did he do that? He let on racists, sexists, white nationalists, neo Nazis and other undesirables that have been banished to the dark corners of the internet. Yeah that’s a bad thing, Elon. When you play with neo Nazis and white supremacists, you are playing with fire. You might as well burn the place down at this point.

Elon Musk sold $3.95 billion worth of Tesla stock since completing his purchase of Twitter late last month.

Musk’s Tesla stock sales, totaling 19.5 million shares, have been widely anticipated ever since the Tesla CEO reached a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Musk had sold blocks of Tesla shares worth a total of $15.4 billion earlier this year since his deal to buy Twitter was announced.

Twitter confirmed Musk bought the social media company October 27, but he waited until November 4 to start selling additional Tesla shares. He also sold blocks of Tesla stock on Monday and Tuesday this week, according to filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday night.

It’s not clear if the money Musk raised went toward the Twitter purchase, or to support losses at Twitter since he took over.

Musk disclosed last week that Twitter has seen a “massive drop in revenue,” as a growing number of advertisers pause spending on the platform in the wake of his takeover of the company. He blamed “activist groups” pressuring advertisers for the loss of ad dollars.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-twitter-purchase/index.html

Yeah so Twitter is an absolute fucking disaster of a platform right now. And in fact we here at the Top 10 have made the announcement that we’re abandoning Twitter and setting up shop on Mastodon when we come back in January. In fact the Twitter news dominated the other headlines, like the fact that Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi, was the victim of an actual terrorist attack (see: Idiots #13-13 ). Yeah remember that thing we said about stochastic terrorism? That’s what the right wing has been doing, and stochastic terrorists are now turning into actual terrorists! It’s really fucked up! It of course caused Hannity and Tucker to go into full “nothing to see here please disperse” mode.

Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, made light Monday of the violent assault against Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband on Friday.

“It is not impossible to protect our kids at school. They act like it is,” Lake said at a campaign stop along her “Ask Me Anything” tour.

“Nancy Pelosi — well, she’s got protection when she’s in D.C. Apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection,” Lake said, prompting laughs and applause from the crowd and the event moderator beside her.

The Speaker was in Washington, D.C., when an intruder broke into her California home and attacked her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and significant injuries to his right arm and hands, according to the lawmaker’s spokesperson.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-governor-candidate-kari-lake-221539673.html

Early November / December was also dominated by the Club Q shooting (see: Idiots #13-16 ) and that was colossally fucked up. And don’t worry – the conspiracy theories surrounding that shooting were not only fucked up, but definitely worth seeking out because they are about as off the deep end as it gets. And then there was Kanye West, aka Ye, who we’ve largely avoided discussing because of his rabid anti-semitic views. But we had no idea that he’d be hanging out with white nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes and saying “I Love Hitler”.

Just two days before Thanksgiving, Donald Trump was planning to have a private, uneventful dinner with an old friend: Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

The two had arranged to break bread Tuesday night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after weeks of private phone conversations as Ye lost lucrative partnerships and became a mainstream cultural pariah for his antisemitic remarks, according to those familiar with the talks between the two men.

But Trump may have been walking into a trap in Mar-a-Lago’s gilded halls — one that leveraged his own penchant for spectacle and showmanship against him. Ye arrived with three guests, including white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes.

Trump has since said he didn’t know Fuentes or his background when they dined together, a claim Fuentes confirmed in an interview, but others at the crowded members-only club figured out his identity. News of the meeting prompted an avalanche of criticism, from some Republican rivals and allies of Trump and his then-week-old presidential campaign.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/story-trumps-explosive-dinner-ye-nick-fuentes-rcna59010

And by the way, you know that we can’t get out of here without tying everything together in one nice, neat little package, right? So this year has been plagued by war and threats of white nationalism and neo-Nazism. Well the story that happened TODAY, as we’re putting together this week’s edition, is one of those things that ties up this year quite nicely. In fact it sums up everything about the year 2022 that we couldn’t even come up with if we had like 1,000 former Saturday Night Live writers. Hanging out with Nazis is bad, and Elon’s invitation of them is bad. But you can always judge a person by the company they keep, and it’s pretty safe to say that Dave Chappelle’s career might be coming to an end.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk was met with a mixture of boos and cheers from an audience at a Dave Chappelle comedy show Sunday night.

The comedian brought the Tesla CEO out on the stage at a special Punchline Comedy Club event at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

In a video shared on Twitter, the crowd can be heard jeering Musk, whose recent purchase of the social media platform has attracted criticism due to concerns about mass layoffs and looser content moderation.

“Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for the richest man in the world,” Chappelle tells the audience. A number of audience members cheered — though there was also a loud chorus of boos, too.

“You weren’t expecting this, were you?” Musk tells Chappelle following the boos.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/elon-musk-booed-by-crowd-at-dave-chapelle-comedy-gig.html

That’s our 2022 year in review everybody!

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: 2023 Predictions
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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! You know we come to the end of the season and the end of the year of our LAWRD 2022. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in January. Now we’ve had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs this year. We’ve also had a lot of scary things happen this year. So we are devoting our end of the year edition to our favorite thing which is predicting what’s going to happen next year. And there’s a lot of different ways that we could go. But in this increasingly upside down world that we live in, it is fun to speculate about next year, isn’t it? Because supporters of the unholy, ungodly Dark One are getting weirder and nuttier. I call him “The Dark One” because I speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name dare NOT be spoken in my church! So which way should we start? I know let’s start with a guy who is currently dominating the headlines – Kanye West. Or as he’s also known, Ye. Did you know that Ye loves Adolf Hitler? A man who is commonly so associated with the word “evil” that his face appears in the dictionary? Well here’s how that is going.

Kanye West praised Adolf Hitler and Nazis, denied the Holocaust, and attacked Jewish people at length during a disturbing Thursday afternoon interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

“Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,” Ye said. “Also Hitler was born Christian.”

“I see good things about Hitler also” said Ye, who wore a full face mask throughout the interview. “I love everyone. Jewish people are not going to tell me you can love us, and you can love what we’re doing to you with the contracts, and you can love what we’re pushing with the pornography. But this guy that invented highways, invented the very microphone that I use as a musician, you can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good, and I’m done with that.”

When Jones said he didn’t like Nazis as the show moved to a commercial break, Ye interjected.

“I like Hitler,” he said.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kanye-west-alex-jones-i-like-hitler-1234639617/amp/

Yes, my fair congregation! Hitler is the face of EVIL! He is not “loved” and nobody should love him. He is the face of mass murder and genocide and this attempt by Ye is most certainly gaslighting! But speaking of Ye, how about his white supremacist friends? You know the ones that Elon Musk considers to be close friends of his? Well, the Proud Boys have been turned into some kind of weird version of Project Mayhem from Fight Club! They’re disrupting drag shows and destroying power grids, we presume to disrupt drag shows. It’s absolute madness. But here’s where we think that is going.

A holiday drag story time event was canceled in Columbus, Ohio, after the Proud Boys and other right-wing extremist groups showed up in force.

Red Oak Community School and the First Unitarian Universalist Church had advertised its “Holi-Drag” story time charity event for kids last month. Shortly after, members of the Proud Boys announced plans to disrupt the event, Right Wing Watch first reported.

On Saturday, scores of Proud Boys dressed in the signature black and yellow uniforms and members of Patriot Front, some of whom were armed, rallied outside of the First Unitarian Universalist Church, which was hosting the event. Alleging that the story time event amounts to “grooming”—the rhetoric at the heart of recent political attacks on LGBTQ people—the Proud Boys held signs with messages like, “Groomers make Santa sad” and “Groomers go home.” Another read “Proud Boys Story Hour Today’s Book Death of the West Chapter 9,” in an apparent reference to a book authored by far-right activist Pat Buchanan, who fearmongers about immigrants replacing “America’s white majority.”

Other videos show Proud Boys members dancing to the “YMCA,” the unofficial LGBTQ anthem, and a police officer acknowledging that he high-fived a Proud Boy because he had complimented his mustache.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/proud-boys-promise-to-disrupt-more-drag-story-time-events/

Oh yes, my friends! The devil is most certainly walking among us, and he works in mysterious ways. That is right, he moves… in mysterious ways! That’s my Bono impression. Screw it, it’s our last show of the year and I’m doing whatever I feel like! The man can’t keep us down, you all know this, my fair congregation! Happy hour in the confession booth later! Anything goes! OK I’m revealing way more than I probably should. But moving on, come on we’re predicting the future here! What about our old buddy Mike Lindell? Yes, Mr. Christian voter fraud himself wants to run for the RNC chair. Come on, if creepy Pillow Man is the future of the GOP… I’d rather be stuck in the past!

Businessman Mike Lindell—aka the MyPillow Guy—poured tens of millions of dollars into spectacularly failed efforts to prove that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump by fraudulent election machines, while portraying his efforts as a spiritual crusade. The election conspiracy theorist is still at it.

A fundraising email sent Tuesday for the Lindell Legal Offense Fund features a Christian nationalist logo (see above) and a familiar claim. “It’s being stolen again,” declares the email, mixing claims about Trump’s 2020 loss and the recently concluded midterm elections. “Great people ran for office across this country, earned your vote and are now being cheated by electronic voting machines!”

Lindell is among the Trumpist conspiracy theorists being sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems, whose voting machines Lindell singled out. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the lawsuit to proceed.

Lindell spread these claims by funding far-right media outlets and personalities during Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, sometimes through affiliate programs allowing media personalities to give listeners a discount code for MyPillow purchases in return for a percentage of the sales.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mike-lindell-wants-more-money-to-make-bogus-claims-about-voting-machines/

No… no… nothing is over here! We’re just having some fun predicting the future! Because if the followers of the unholy, ungodly Dark One can call themselves “prophets”, then so can I! I’m just a prophet who knows how to have a good time! But we think one of these groups of people will probably wind up either taking themselves out by drinking the Kool-Aid, or they’ll go down in a fiery blaze of glory like Waco! People who don’t know how to have a good time, though, are fundamentalist Christians. No sir, they are the kind of people to literally rain on your parade. Biden signed into law the Defense Of Marriage Act, but these are people who take things way too literally! They only want one form of marriage.

Second, anti-LGBTQ leaders have sounded false alarms about equality legislation for decades—but their dire predictions about freedom disappearing as LGBTQ people make strides toward legal equality have failed to materialize.

Consider, for example, the frenzied opposition to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which passed Congress in 2009 and was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The legislation strengthened an existing federal hate crimes law by including crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

If the apocalyptic warnings from far-right religious and political leaders during debate on the bill had any grounding in truth, the years since then would have brought about the criminalization of Christianity, prisons filled with pastors who preached against homosexuality, and conservative Christians piled into boxcars and sent to concentration camps. Influential Christian nationalist “historian” and serial liar David Barton told a California church that sponsors of the hate crimes law—which explicitly targets violent crimes—wanted to make it a federal crime for preachers to read Bible verses denouncing homosexuality. Religious-right leaders and far-right members of Congress falsely claimed, without the slightest evidence, that the law would create legal protections for bestiality and pedophilia.

More than a decade later, of course, none of that has happened. No preachers were dragged from their pulpits. Far-right Christian leaders are still quite free to rage against legal equality for LGBTQ people, and political operatives are free to run political campaigns that smear us with dishonest propaganda. Freedom has survived, and the campaign against the federal hate crimes law has been exposed as a lie.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/old-habits-are-hard-to-break-anti-equality-leaders-dishonest-and-alarmist-attacks-on-the-respect-for-marriage-act/

Well the bigots lost! Biden passed the Defense Of Marriage Act! All right folks, that’s it for me! I’m outta here for the winter! Before we get out of here, we want to thank everyone for supporting us for five straight years! We’ll see you again in January! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this year for:

[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Nick Adams
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is a former Trump speechwriter and current TPUSA Influencer, Nick Adams! In case you haven’t heard the name, Nick Adams is a real man’s man. Yeah he’s a self-proclaimed “alpha male”. In fact he wears the “alpha male” badge much in the same way that Mayor Quimby wears a sash that says “mayor” on it, in case you forgot his title. And for some reason he has a weird obsession with Hooters. That’s right – Hooters. You know, that restaurant where scantily clad women in tight t-shirts and short shorts serve you beer and barely passable buffalo wings? Yeah that place. Apparently they also have football on the TV monitors there. But this fucking guy has a completely weird obsession with the so-called “Brestaurant”. Look, I love drinking beer and watching football as much as the next guy. I personally had no idea that my choosing not to eat there has made me less of a man. If you go there with the intention of harassing and oogling the waitresses, that just makes you a creepy pervert. And you're also the kind of guy who the waitresses point and laugh at behind your back when you leave the restaurant. If you have had one order of Buffalo Wings, you’ve pretty much had them all. But this whole alpha – beta male debate is quite possibly the stuff of pure insanity, and this fucking guy, Nick Adams, is at the heart of the argument.

A conservative author was blasted online Monday after he defended the right of “alpha males” to enjoy wings and brews at Hooters with their buddies — and their families.

Nick Adams, who claims to be President Trump’s favorite author, said he was “sick and tired” of being shamed by “feminists” after he tweeted about his favorite restaurant chain.

“I am sick and tired of beta males and feminists trying to guilt alpha males out of eating at Hooters,” Adams tweeted.

“There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with eating at Hooters on a weekly basis, EVEN with the family and kids.”

The MAGA writer was responding to a deluge of online attacks that came from an earlier tweet that used some outdated cliches to explain the difference between the alphas and betas.
https://nypost.com/2022/11/07/nick-adams-blasted-for-saying-alpha-males-should-take-their-families-to-hooters/

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Well in case you’re wondering what the average “alpha manly male” gets offended by, the answer is that it doesn’t take much to offend the guy who’s more of a man than you will ever be. You know what offends the average alpha male? Oat milk. That’s right – milk that’s made from nature. But wait, milk is supposed to come from cows! No there’s plenty of other substitutes for it. Of course that’s what happens when the guy who we inexplicably used to call president loves to court the poorly educated.

He insists he is an “alpha male” and “Trump’s favourite author”, but it seems US political commentator Nick Adams can be easily defeated with a morning coffee containing oat milk.

Yes, really.

In a revelation no one asked for on Friday night, Adams tweeted that he was asked earlier that day if he “wanted ‘oat milk’ in my coffee” – the quote marks around “oat milk” doing a good job of telling you where this story is going.

“I informed the girl behind the counter that it’s not physically possible to milk an oat and immediately left the coffee shop.

We hate that we have to explain this, but oat milk is made by mixing rolled oats and water together before straining to produce the liquid. Hardly controversial.

Fortunately, many Twitter users agree with us, and thus, his status as an “alpha male” was called into question.
https://www.indy100.com/politics/nick-adams-oat-milk-alpha

By the way in case you’re wondering how ridiculous the alpha male – beta male debate gets, well, apparently Mr. Adams has a solution for why the GOP did so poorly in the midterms . it’s because of – wait for it – Gen Z doesn’t eat at Hooters enough. In fact Nick Adams tweets so much about Hooters that you might think he owns stock in the company or something. His Twitter account basically only tweets about two things – alpha males and Hooters. It’s something else. Here’s a small sampling.

https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1602780258339545089
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1602391787343335424
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1601293897908424704
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600702774991167488
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600710827505774592
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600671093970567174
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600642940031885312
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600632133386752000
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600627913921073153
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600623572891979777
https://twitter.com/NickAdamsinUSA/status/1600254209433010176

Who the hell spends four hours at Hooters on Sunday even during football season? You’d think people have better things to do. But playing Nick Adams’ game is like playing a game of Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon. Except there’s just one degree, and he’s an alpha male who eats at Hooters and everyone else is a beta male! You know how the GOP did so poorly in the midterms? Beta males didn’t eat enough at Hooters to qualify for elite alpha male status.

Conservative political commentator Nick Adams was mocked after he complained once the "red wave" Republican legislators and pollsters had anticipated failed to materialize and offered a rather absurd criticism of Generation Z, who've represented the youngest and newest demographic at the ballot box.

Adams claimed that the "red wave" would have happened if Gen Z kids had eaten at Hooters—yes, the restaurant whose wait staff are primarily young women whose revealing outfits and sex appeal are played up and are a primary component of the company's image—when they were children.

Writing on Twitter, Adams said that if that had been the case, that he could have "guaranteed" a red wave on Election Night.

Adams, who refers to himself as an "alpha male" on his official Twitter profile, issued several more tweets advocating for parents to take their minor children to Hooters.

In one tweet, he said he is "sick and tired of beta males and feminists" who've tried to "guilt" so-called alpha males from eating at the restaurant.
https://www.comicsands.com/nick-adams-gen-z-hooters-2658636299.html

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… great movie! It’s like a broken fucking record with this guy. You spin me right round, like a record baby, right round, right round… yeah we’re turning this place into Hooters! Because you know that restaurant is synonymous with being a family friendly joint! By the way, even Hooters themselves are sick of the bad publicity they’re getting from him. Oh and did we mention that Mr. Adams is from Australia? That’s right – he’s not even a natural born citizen! Of course the Trump people don’t care about that sort of thing. They do apparently care too much about whether you eat at Hooters or not. And worshipping Trump and Baby Jesus. Don’t forget Baby Jesus.

Hooters, the restaurant chain equally famous for its wings and its well-endowed waitresses, started trending on social media Monday thanks to a conservative commentator's tweets.

Australia-born pundit and author Nick Adams argued that true "Alpha males" dine at Hooters. From there, Twitter users had a field day making fun of Adams' hot take.

Adams shot off a series of Hooters-related tweets, with one explaining that he'd visited the franchise recently.

"I was at Hooters over the weekend when I overheard two stunning waitresses discussing their plans to vote on Tuesday," Adams tweeted on Monday. "They both were undecided but said they were leaning Republican because of the cost of gas and groceries. I pray those two lovely ladies make the right call!"

Four minutes later, he continued on his Hooters tangent, writing: "I am sick and tired of beta males and feminists trying to guilt alpha males out of eating at Hooters. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with eating at Hooters on a weekly basis, EVEN with the family and kids." https://www.newsweek.com/hooters-alpha-male-comments-conservative-pundit-spark-backlash-1757656

That’s more manly than you Christian alpha male who eats way too much at Hooters, Nick Adams. This week’s:

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
[br] [/font] [br] BO

Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb! And this is my favorite People Are Dumb of the year because we get to bring you the best of People Are Dumb! That’s right – the stupidest of the stupid, the dumbest of the dumb, the biggest idiots of all time! So where to start? I mean there’s so many places that we can go. Probably one of my favorite People Are Dumb stories from this year is this story that came out of South Carolina. You know the church gets so much scrutiny because of its’ stance on sex (which is: don’t do it), but what happens when a youth pastor gets caught doing something creepy? Well, of course the church fires the guy and then they have to go into major damage control mode. But yeah after watching that Hulu documentary God Forbid, you should definitely be questioning what your local churches’ after hours activities are. Especially after you see this insane story!

A church in South Carolina says that it has placed a pastor on leave after a social media post claimed he had given children stickers that read "I [heart] hot youth pastors."

Fairview Baptist Church youth pastor Cory Wall has been "placed on administrative leave," according to the church.

The decision comes after a widely-shared Twitter post claimed a youth pastor gave kids, including a 14-year-old girl, a sticker that said "I [heart] youth pastors" on it. The post claimed the youth pastor was a 35-year-old man and that the sticker made the 14-year-old "very uncomfortable."

In another widely-shared social media post, alleged emails from the pastor attempt to explain that the stickers were meant to be a "joke," even if "in hindsight, the joke was of very poor taste and a mistake."

Online backlash apparently prompted a response from Fairview Baptist Church. On both its website and its Facebook page, the church announced that Wall has been placed on administrative leave.
https://wpde.com/news/local/i-heart-hot-youth-pastors-stickers-given-to-kids-leads-to-pastor-being-placed-on-leave-south-carolina-youth-children-love-fairview-baptist-church-cory-wall

Next up – we go to this story out of Japan from September. Look, no one is immune from being featured in a People Are Dumb story. But my favorite thing about this year is how conservatives went nuclear on Disney because they were mean to Ron DeSantis over his “Don’t Say Gay” bill. I mean come on, Disney is the largest employer of LGBT people in the entire country! But one thing you don’t do is that you don’t take Star Wars memorabilia or any other kind of memorabilia from Disney. Because they will come down on you faster than Fox did.

A man was caught and arrested for impersonating a hotel guest and a Cast Member as he took a gold necklace and an R2-D2 droid worth about $10,000, according to sheriff’s reports detailing the man’s scheme that unfolded across Disney property this year.

Proudfoot caught security’s attention last month as he pushed a cart on Epcot Resorts Boulevard to Walt Disney World Swan Reserve. He wore a Disney World name tag that said “David” and a bright orange safety vest.

The security officer “noticed the behavior as (suspicious) and offered to assist the male with the cart onto the property. The male appeared confused about the location of loading docks or proper procedures of the Swan Reserve. Security then called deputies to respond,” the arrest report said.

Proudfoot claimed to be David Rodgers and said he was a Walt Disney Company employee stationed at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort’s receiving division. ...........(more)

https://wdwnt.com/2022/06/florida-man-poses-as-cast-member-steals-10000-r2-d2-droid-in-supposed-attempt-to-earn-a-job-in-disney-world-security/

Next up – of course we can’t do a People Are Dumb segment without a trip to the Sunshine State! And there were a lot of crazy Florida Man stories to choose from this year. Let’s start with this one from Pinellas County where of course it involves someone naked, and it also involves copious amounts of alcohol, which is pretty much the standard for Florida Man stories! Add an alligator and some of that famous weather that Florida is known for and you’ve got yourself a Florida Man cocktail! And this one must be some pretty strong stuff!

Police in Naples, Florida, arrested a 31-year-old man early Friday after they found him in possession of a baby alligator, firearms and drugs during a traffic stop, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.

Officers arrested Michael Marolla, of Naples, the front-seat passenger, at about 12:30 a.m. near 12th Street SE and Golden Gate Boulevard after they stopped the driver of the pickup truck for driving with a suspended license.

Police found a live baby alligator in an open plastic tub in the bed of the pickup truck, according to the Facebook post, which said officers also found two firearms in the truck and loaded syringes that tested positive for methamphetamine in Marolla’s jacket.

Police charged Marolla with two counts of carrying a concealed firearm. He also faces charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of narcotic equipment.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna23772

Next up, I love this story from back in May out of Minneapolis. Look, if you’re going to run from the cops, it’s probably never a good idea to drive directly into a concrete wall. Because we all know that the wall is going to win ten times out of ten, right? Well yeah it was probably a dumb decision and that’s exactly what makes this People Are Dumb material. Because remember – it’s not just that someone is stupid and does something stupid. There has to be a bit of pure insanity thrown into the mix as well, because reasons!

A Minnesota woman was arrested Monday night after her attempt to flee from police ended when she drove into fresh concrete.

According to Hubbard Broadcasting affiliate KAAL-TV, Rochester police saw the woman drive through a red light at around 4:40 p.m. When the officers tried to stop her vehicle, she refused to stop.

A short time later, another officer tried to stop the woman near Westover Lane and Seventh Street Northeast but she accelerated, crashed through construction barricades and drove into 150 feet of freshly poured concrete, bringing her to a stop. She was then arrested and taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation.

KAAL reports that the woman is estimated to have caused between $30,000 and $40,000 in damages.

Police told KAAL that they have received at least nine complaints about the woman driving erratically and using a bullhorn to “spread the word of God” since May 11.
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/woman-arrested-after-driving-through-fresh-concrete-while-fleeing-police/

Finally this week – this might be one of the single most insane Florida Man stories ever, and there were plenty to choose from, believe me! And this is one of those stories where we promise you that life imitates art. And also that the Simpsons predicted it! This is what happens when you involve a stolen car and a plot to destroy said stolen car by train. It’s a real life Simpsons episode. Where can I go see Hail To The Chimp? Surely I have time for one little movie. Off to the drive in!

A 38-year-old Florida man was arrested after a bizarre string of events that started after he allegedly stole a car and abandoned the vehicle on train tracks. An oncoming train hit the car, sending it flying into a nearby home, according to the Martin County Sheriff's Office.

Miraculously no one was injured, police said.

The man, identified as Bradford Weitzel, of Port St. Lucie, was charged with grand theft, and criminal mischief. Additional charges are expected, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Weitzel told police that he somehow ended up on the train tracks along Indian River Drive, according to police. Police said he claimed that the vehicle suddenly stopped dead on the tracks as a train was coming. He then told police that he got out and ran, leaving the car on the tracks, according to the sheriff's statement.

Police say the man told them that within seconds the train hit the car, hurling it into a nearby home where the homeowners were asleep. The suspect then allegedly told police he continued on to a nearby fruit stand, where he reportedly vandalized the business and tried to steal a forklift.
https://www.insideedition.com/florida-man-steals-car-which-ends-up-in-a-house-after-its-struck-by-a-train-police-73102

That’s it this year for:

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #16: Brazil
[br] [/font] [br]

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:

[font size="4"]Destination #16: Brazil [/font]

We come to the final stop on our 2022 World Tour everybody! And we’re in one of the world’s largest countries – Brazil! Brazil is home to the largest city in South America – Sao Paulo. It’s also home to the largest parade in the world – Carnivale. It’s capitol, Rio De Janeiro, is home to a world wonder – the Cristo Redentor statue. But you know what else Brazil is the home of? Well you might have heard about it, and we’ve been covering it, but Brazil was the home of a major presidential election this year. One that was, to use a technical term, a clusterfuck. On one hand, you have incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, who may media pundits around the world dubbed “the Trump Of The Tropics”. He lost to this guy – Lula De Silva. But needless to say Bolsonaro has taken some lessons from his American doppleganger. And like what happened in the United States, Brazil had a January 6th style riot on its’ hands, and the shit hit the fan!

Supporters of Brazil's outgoing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, tried to attack the headquarters of the federal police in Brasilia on Monday.

Tension escalated after police arrested a pro-Bolsonaro indigenous leader.

Mr Bolsonaro was defeated in last month's election by his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, but some of his supporters refuse to recognise the president's defeat.

They set alight several vehicles and blocked a number of roads, police said.

Police said the protesters "attempted to invade" the federal police building, where José Acácio Serere Xavante was being held.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had ordered that the indigenous leader be detained for 10 days for "alleged anti-democratic acts".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63956778

Yeah it’s funny how the people who claim that they’re “saving” democracy are the ones who are working the most to actively destroy it! Brazil is also the home of the world’s rainforest, or at least what’s left of the rainforest. At least they finally have a president who’s going to stop the devastation of it for the time being. Ask me again in six years and I will tell you whether or not this post is accurate. But things are bad there. Like really bad. In fact things are so bad that the people of Brazil are calling it the “Road To Chaos”. Which would also make a bad ass progressive rock album name.

Aerial photos from reconnaissance mission reveal effort to smuggle excavators into Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory

The surveillance plane eased off the runway and banked west towards the frontline of one of Brazil’s most dramatic environmental and humanitarian crises.

Its objective: a clandestine 120km (75-mile) road that illegal mining mafias have carved out of the jungles of Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory in recent months, in an audacious attempt to smuggle excavators into those supposedly protected lands.

“I call it the Road to Chaos,” said Danicley de Aguiar, the Greenpeace environmentalist leading the reconnaissance mission over the immense Indigenous sanctuary near the Brazilian border with Venezuela.

Aguiar said such heavy machinery had never before been detected in the Yanomami territory – a Portugal-sized sweep of mountains, rivers and forests in the extreme north of Brazil’s Amazon.

“We believe there are at least four excavators in there – and that takes mining in Yanomami territory to the next level, to a colossal level of destruction,” the senior forest campaigner said, as his team prepared to take to the skies to confirm the road’s existence.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/12/brazil-goldminers-carve-road-to-chaos-amazon-reserve

Oh come on it’s not like Avatar. Though, like Avatar, in that rainforest, there are some very bad people doing some very bad things! But even with a new president, Brazil is still corrupt as shit. There’s a reason why we don’t mix big business monopolies with government. Because it could end very badly for all parties involved. And it’s a situation that is probably going to play out in Brazil. We saw how badly things like this fucked up countries like Russia and Iran. But we definitely do not want Brazil or any other country venturing down this path. What could go wrong?

Brazil's lower house of Congress voted late on Tuesday to make it easier for politicians to take roles at state-run firms, hammering shares of the state-run oil company, devastated by a political graft scandal over the past decade.

The proposed change to the State-Owned Enterprise Law, which now heads to the Senate, cuts the quarantine from three years to just a month for people with decision-making roles in political parties or campaigns to take positions at state-owned companies.

Shares in state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) (Petrobras) closed 10% lower on Wednesday. State lender Banco do Brasil SA lost 2.5%.

Petrobras was at the center of a record-breaking political corruption scandal over the past decade, due in part to political appointments in its senior management under the Workers Party (PT), which returns to power next month.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-congress-votes-relax-rules-politicians-state-run-firms-rattling-2022-12-14/

Yes, good question! What could possibly go wrong? Well a whole lot, but we’re not going to talk about that now. We’ll save it for future editions. But you know, we don’t want you to think that this show is all about negativity! No sir, or ma’am, or they, or whatever you prefer to be called. This is why elections of all kinds and all positions matter! It looks like people are finally turning the tides of conservative madness and isolation, because that’s no way to run a life, or a country. Because Lula definitely looks like he wants to bridge the gaps that Bolsonaro tore apart! Yeah how about that?

Brazil's future foreign relations minister on Wednesday said President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has asked him to restore relations with Venezuela once he is inaugurated on Jan. 1.

Mauro Vieira said a diplomatic mission will be sent to Caracas at the beginning of January to organize the official Brazilian residence before an ambassador is appointed and approved by Congress.

Diplomatic relations were broken in 2020 by the current rightist government of Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro also signed a decree in 2019 banning the entry of the top officials of leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's administration into Brazil, including Maduro himself.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-12-14/brazil-president-elect-lula-to-restart-diplomatic-relations-with-venezuela

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

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

Overall: B-

Change from 2017: It will be interesting to see where Brazil goes under Lula. Hopefully he can undo a lot of the damage sustained under Bolsonaro.

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

There is no next week, we’re at the end everybody! We will be heading out for a brief 6 city World Tour at the start of next season beginning with Costa Rica on Jan. 26th! See you next year!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]The Black Keys[/font]

Come on people, let’s get this post season party started! My next guest has a great new album called “Dropout Boogie”! You can see them at the iHeartRadio festival Jan. 14th with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Muse! Playing their song “Wild Child”, give it up for the Black Keys!

Well folks this is it! This is the end of the season and the end of the year! I want to thank my staff, my crew, all of our host venues and most importantly, our fans! We had an awesome time this season and it was really great to get back out on the road again! We’ll see you back on January 26th , 2023 for our first new edition of 2023! Don’t worry – we will be bringing you plenty of content until then including Best Ofs, Best Of Conspiracy Corner, and scrapped entries! Also don’t forget we will be announcing the Top 10’s new social media home relatively soon! Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

We’ll see you next year!

Credits

Host: Initech
The Black Keys Appear Courtesy Of: Nonesuch Records, Inc.
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Constellation Room At Observatory OC, Santa Ana, CA
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December 8, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #23: The Best Of Holy Shit #1 Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots: The Best Of Holy Shit Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Oh… hello! I know, right? Well we are busy tidying up the set here at our home base at the Constellation Room in Santa Ana for our big season finale which is our forthcoming Year In Review spectacular! Oh man it’s going to be great. But because we unfortunately had to cancel this week, never fear because we’re still bringing you Idiots content that you know and love, so it’s going to be a Holy Shit special edition! That’s right! We’re still celebrating 5 years of all of the religious themed news that you know and love. We brought you the Holy Shit 5th Anniversary Special a few months ago (see: Idiots #13-3 ). But we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of everything that Holy Shit has to offer! So with that in mind we’re letting our pastor take over this edition to bring you some of his favorite segments! So let’s go already !

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! Thank you for joining me for this Best Of edition! That’s right – we have painstakingly combed through the archives to bring you 10 nuggets of religious insanity from all corners of right wing religion! For the first slot, from Idiots #4-11, Holy Shit takes a look at the world of Christian cinema (1) which covers everything from that Mercy Me bio picture to the nauseating pillar of religious cinema, “The Shack” and who’s producing this stuff and who’s going to see it? Not me! From the COVID era, in honor of Kanye West’s account being restored on Twitter after a permanent ban, from Idiots #8-16, Holy Shit takes on a Jewish theme after New York’s Jewish Community (2) defied orders from the government and held services anyways. In the number 3 slot, from Idiots #6-18, Q Anon (3) stages a “godly” themed protest outside of Hillary Clinton’s home in upstate New York, because reasons. In the number 4 slot this week is from Idiots #9-3 and we take a look at the one time that the Unholy Dark One (4) actually went to church, and it was as predictable of a disaster as you could get! In the number 5 slot this week from Idiots #12-3, we take a look at a good old fashioned Christian book burning (5) only this book burning takes place in the year 2022! Are we going forwards or backwards? In the number 6 slot this week, from Idiots #12-3, we’re absolutely dumbfounded that Christians are at the literal book burning stage, which is one of the steps towards a genocide. In the number 7 slot this week, from Idiots #11-9, our old buddy Sean Feucht is back, and he’s super-spreading his way to the top of the Christian conspiracy theory echo chamber! In the number 8 slot this week, from Idiots #13-5, Christian conservatives have hatched a plan to get back at liberals for a number of events that have happened over the last 2 years in a piece that we’re naming after the classic Judas Priest album “Screaming For Vengeance”. In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot, from Idiots #8-8, we’re taking a look at what’s happening with the Faith Based tourism industry after the collapse Kentucky’s Ark Encounter theme park. Finally this week we’re going to close things out by answering your prayers from the Holy Shit Hotline To Heaven! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"]

[font size="8"]Holy Shit [br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #4-11

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 is our weekly duty to remind you that the holiest among us are also the most full of:

So this week rather than talk to you about the usual nonsense that the Christian right has been up to, my fair congregation, because we can only tell the same joke 1,000 times before it gets old, we are instead going to tell you about a world of entertainment that you will soon be seeing more of. And if you think the Mercy Me bio picture “I Can Only Imagine” or other flicks like “The Shack” are anomalies, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

As Hollywood struggles with sexual harassment scandals and box-office woes, it could do worse than turn to God. For while religious movies have traditionally been considered a niche phenomenon, that assessment may need to be revised.

Last weekend I Can Only Imagine, a Christian-themed independent biopic, beat a series of studio-backed films to win the number three spot behind Black Panther and Tomb Raider. And as Easter approaches, films with Christian messages are experiencing an upswing not seen since Mel Gibson’s 2004 crucifixion drama The Passion of Christ.

I Can Only Imagine stars Dennis Quaid and was produced and directed by brothers Jon and Andy Erwin, the duo behind other faith-based hits such as Woodlawn, the story of a spiritual awakening among an Alabama high-school football team, starring Jon Voight and Sean Astin, and October Baby, an anti-abortion drama.

That did not impress film executives. Jon Erwin says he was told there “was no audience for a Christian music movie ... But everybody I knew – in the Christian world that we live in – knew and loved the song, so we just believed that there was an audience for this movie and that they would show up”. I Can Only Imagine was ultimately picked up by Roadside Attractions, maker of Manchester By The Sea, and Lionsgate. The distributors agreed to promote it as a general audience production. With a $25m box-office take so far, it is also showing Hollywood that Christians can make consistent, repeat filmgoers. Audience polling found that 79% said they planned to pay to see the movie again.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/mar/25/i-can-only-imagine-christian-faith-film

Even our good LAWRD is down with YOLO! But really, what does it takes to please Hollywood executives? $25 million in 7 days is pretty damn good for an independent bio picture! Maybe that’s why Hollywood hates them! But apparently the faith based film industry is trying some new things to attract audiences! How about, I don’t know, making good movies? Remember Ben Hur in the 1960s? Try making movies like that!

Christians are an appealing market for Hollywood, which is looking for ways to expand the cinema audience as digital competition causes long-term declines in theatrical attendance. The movie business is routinely criticized for overlooking the values of religious Americans, and faith-based filmmaking was seen as a way to rebut that narrative and attract an audience that usually doesn't go to the movies.

Facing a wearied audience, some filmmakers are trying to adapt by expanding into more subgenres, including romances, sports dramas, comedies and documentaries.

"We're developing beyond just the genre of sermon-on-film," said Bill Reeves, head of Tennessee-based WTA Group, a marketing firm that specializes in faith-based media. "We're trying to answer the question of 'What else is out there?'"

Others are putting their faith in Bible-based stories with big-name stars. On March 23, Affirm Films will release "Paul, Apostle of Christ," which blends scripture and fiction to tell the story of the apostle's last days. The new movie features actor Jim Caviezel in his first biblical role since he played Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-christian-films-i-can-only-imagine-20180314-story.html

That’s not exactly what we are looking for, oh LAWRD! But in the world of faith based movies, well, producers are looking for anything that channels our lord and savior, creator of all that is good and holy, for ways to attract an audience. Because GREED is a sin!!!!!! And it is one of the most egregious of SINS!!!! It even says so in the good book!

As the market for Christian movies becomes more crowded, studios must work harder to attract devout audiences.

“Because there have been so many movies made for this audience, they have become much more discerning,” said Howard Cohen, co-founder of Roadside Attractions, distributor of “I Can Only Imagine.”

“And they will choose the ones that not only have a strong Christian message but are bigger-feeling.”

“I Can Only Imagine,” released nationally on March 16, exceeded opening-weekend expectations at the box office, reaping $17.1 million in ticket sales ($14 million was projected).
http://www.dispatch.com/entertainmentlife/20180324/christian-film-genre-struggles-as-glut-breeds-pickier-audience

Now if they could just get a book about a holy super hero published and create the multiverse surrounding it, they would be set! I mean after all the Holy Bible is the original shared universe! They had 12 different characters and each one had their own stories, then they had the Last Supper super finale! Come on movie producers, get on that! For it is not that easy, my fair congregation! But of course the revenues have surpassed expectations! Because of course they did! But now my fair congregation, here’s where the idea of the good Christian faith-based film can and will go wrong! It will make the wrong people famous! And blasphemy is a sin!!! One of the most egregious of sins!!!

Mark Taylor is a former firefighter who claims that while he was watching Fox News back in 2011, God personally told him that Donald Trump would become president of the United States. Taylor initially thought that meant that Trump would challenge President Obama when he ran for re-election in 2012, but when that didn’t happen, Taylor realized that was because it was God’s plan to keep Obama in office for a second term so that Americans could “build a righteous anger” necessary to elect Trump and thereby save the world.

When Trump was elected president in 2016, Taylor penned a book titled “The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story Of The Man Who Saw Tomorrow… And What He Says Is Coming Next” and quickly made a name for himself as a modem-day prophet and radical conspiracy theorist.

In the last year, Taylor has claimed that God told him that Trump will replace five members of the Supreme Court, three of whom will be removed from the bench after being indicted for corruption, and that two of the five currently living former presidents will die as punishment for criticizing Trump, while the other three will be imprisoned and possibly executed for treason.

Taylor, who claims that Trump will release the cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease during his second term in office and asserted that God made journalist Megyn Kelly ill as a “warning shot” to all those who would dare to criticize Trump, believes that thousands of elite satanic pedophiles have been secretly arrested and that we will soon start seeing them prosecuted via military tribunals that will “make Nuremberg look like a cakewalk.” Taylor actually predicted that we’d see mass arrests in February, but the fact that that obviously didn’t happen doesn’t seem to have harmed his standing as a “prophet” in any way.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/liberty-university-is-making-a-movie-about-trump-loving-firefighter-prophet-mark-taylor/

Yes because even JAYSUS doesn’t know what to say regarding how stupid Brother Mark is!!! I hope that is the take away you get from today’s sermon – Mark Taylor is insane! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

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From: Idiots #8-16

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:

Shabbat shalom, my fair congregation! You know on this program we talk a lot about the Christian right and make fun of their antics on this program and rightfully so! But this week, we have to talk about what went down in New York City. Now do we necessarily agree with Gov. Cuomo’s actions here? No. We believe in the right to free expression, even in the worst pandemic not seen in over a century. And the very sad thing is that it’s my fellow zealots, who see the virus as an attack on their personal freedoms, that are going to keep this thing going. See, guys, there’s nobody attacking your rights, and the virus has put us all on the same page until there’s a way to deal with it. So in the meantime definitely don’t do something like this. Because that’s not what the good LAWRD would want!

The Anti-Defamation League and a New York City councilman are calling out Mayor Bill de Blasio after he condemned a large funeral gathering, saying he targeted the entire Jewish community when only one group of people broke the rules.

De Blasio said the gathering for a rabbi's funeral Tuesday in Williamsburg, New York, was "absolutely unacceptable" and noted it won't be tolerated.

"Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic," de Blasio tweeted. "When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus."

"My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed," de Blasio said in another tweet. "I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/us/new-york-city-mayor-large-funeral/index.html

But let’s not drink to this just yet. Here’s the thing, Rabbis, and no matter what your religious beliefs happen to be – this virus doesn’t care what your religion is. It doesn’t care what your status is or your economic level. Instead it targets all of us. And until there’s a cure, we’re all in the same boat. You know last week, we talked about how Christians think it is their GAWD given right to gather in large groups against what the CDC says. Well, here’s where we are in disagreement.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said the mayor himself was on the scene with Police Commissioner Dermot Shea breaking up the crowd of mourners.

De Blasio spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein retweeted photos of Mertz's funeral on Tuesday night, writing, “I empathisize [sic] with the desire to mourn those we’ve lost, but this is absolutely unacceptable.”

The mayor tweeted that such gatherings "WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus."

"My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period," he wrote.

"We have lost so many these last two months + I understand the instinct to gather to mourn. But large gatherings will only lead to more deaths + more families in mourning. We will not allow this. I have instructed the NYPD to have one standard for this whole city: zero tolerance," he added.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/495178-scores-turn-out-for-funeral-of-rabbi-in-new-york

Yes, to life! Because we still want to be able to maintain ours! I’m sure that’s what the good LAWRD JAYSUS, er, ABRAHAM would want! And look the long we continue to go out in groups, the worse this thing gets. I want to get back to my congregation and I’m sure you all would too! But no one is singling out anybody. We’re all on the same page here. New York is the worst city in America for this thing and it’s pretty understandable why DeBlasio would want to break up any large gathering!

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is being accused of unfairly singling out the Hasidic Jewish community, in enforcing COVID-19 restrictions.

He personally called on police to disperse hundreds of mourners, who gathered for a rabbi's funeral, defying social distancing rules.

He was furious the gathering took place at all, and mentioned the Jewish community by name in a tweet, saying the time for warnings has passed and arrests would be made of those who gather in large groups.

Some called on the mayor to apologize, resign, or called him anti-Jewish. Saying it was unfair for him to single out all Jews when it was just some from the Hasidic Orthodox community who gathered for the funeral. But the issue divided New York: Others expressed support for the mayor, and defended him calling out the funeral gathering.

On Wednesday, the mayor said he was not trying to single out the Jewish community, but did not back down from his criticism.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/york-city-mayor-accused-singling-jewish-community-200430092936501.html

See? Even Walter agrees with me! You all should too. If Saturday is supposed to be the day of rest for my Hebrew brothers and sisters, then you should absolutely abide by it! Because what’s a religion without a day of rest? But no one is getting any rest in the day and age of the Great Pandemic, for this virus is the unholy DEVIL himself! But you just got to suck it up and roll with it. We all need you to!

It started with a funeral that got out of hand. It ended Wednesday with some of New York City’s Jews at odds with the mayor over his criticisms of the Orthodox community as it struggles to deal with the coronavirus.

The funeral was for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, a revered Hasidic Orthodox leader whose death was reportedly linked to the coronavirus. The congregation that was hosting the gathering said Wednesday a funeral appropriate to the times was planned, with mourners wearing masks and saying their farewells from a distance.

Instead, thousands gathered Tuesday night at the Kahal Tolath Yakov synagogue in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg area. De Blasio personally joined in the dispersal of the crowd, and then tweeted that “my message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed.”

He told reporters Wednesday that he was sorry “if in my passion and in my emotion” he had caused offense, but described “no regrets” about calling out the Hasidic funeral.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/orthodox-jews-beset-virus-grapple-nyc-mayors-rebuke-70416441

So next time guys, just remember that next time, we’re all in the same boat no matter what religion you belong to. We should have a common goal of eliminating the enemy, and that enemy is a virus! Temple has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

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From: Idiots #6-18

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 our weekly duty to remind you why the holiest among us are also the most full of:

My fair congregation! You know I have been monitoring a potentially nasty situation happening in Chappequa, New York. That of course is the home of the woman who should currently be our president, Hillary Clinton. Instead we are stuck with the Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken under any circumstances in my church!!! Now those of you may have friends and / or loved ones who support the Dark One. But they are up to some really shady activities. Do they really need to go to New York to demand Hillary Clinton’s arrest? NO!!!! Thank you! You know that is the one and only correct answer, all others shall be cast out! What is going on???

On his “Pass The Salt Live” webcast this morning, Dave Daubenmire declared that he and other right-wing activists will be descending on the Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, New York, over Memorial Day weekend to demand Hillary’s arrest because failure to put her in prison would be “spitting in the face of God.”

All week, Daubenmire has been promoting what is being called The March for Equal Justice that is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 26, outside the Clintons’ home, where right-wing activists will gather to demand that President Trump arrest Hillary Clinton. On his show today, Daubenmire said that once Clinton is locked away in prison, she will finally have the chance to meet Jesus.

“The Bible says this, ‘The law is the schoolmaster that drives us to Christ,'” he said. “Do you have any idea how many in the deep state are going to meet Jesus as a result of justice coming to them? Do you have any idea? You say, ‘Well, Coach, we just need to share the Gospel with them.’ You’re daggone right we do. Let’s lock ’em up. Let’s lock ’em up and let’s let ’em know they’re not above the law, they’re not above God, and drive them to their knees and they’ll meet Jesus.”

“This is so important,” Daubenmire added. “It dishonors our Lord if we let Hillary Clinton be declared not guilty and she ain’t even been tried. That’s spitting in the face of God.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-failure-to-imprison-hillary-clinton-is-spitting-in-the-face-of-god/

Now Brother Dave, do you have any evidence at all that Hillary Clinton is guilty? Do you have anything that supports this claim of the almighty GAWD? No? Then maybe you are the one who is spitting in the face of our good LAWRD JAYSUS!!!! But it gets weirder, apparently this is an ultimatum from the good LAWRD JAYSUS!! But no, Dave, GAWD does not speak in that kind of tone!

Daubenmire said on his “Pass The Salt Live” webcast today that the video he filmed outside of the Clintons’ home was just a “spark” from which a nationwide movement to imprison Clinton will grow and that Limbaugh’s comments were part of this growing movement that is being orchestrated by the Holy Spirit.

“This idea came from the Lord, and it came to me, and then it went to Rush Limbaugh,” Daubenmire said. “You say, ‘Boy, that sounds arrogant.’ Well, that shows how spiritually disconnected you are.”

“The same Holy Spirit that influenced Coach Dave influenced Rush Limbaugh,” he added. “Don’t you understand that the same Holy Spirit that speaks to me is the same Holy Spirit that can speak to Rush Limbaugh and he doesn’t even know it?”

“I’m believing that this ‘indict Hillary’ spark has been lit and she ain’t going to get out from under it,” Daubenmire declared. “There ain’t anywhere she can run. She can run but she cannot hide. The Holy Spirit has issued an indictment because we will never have free government in America if this criminal goes off scot-free simply because her ‘father’—the devil, in my honest opinion—has declared it so. My daddy said, ‘Coach, you go say, “Indict,” and I’m going to do something that is going to smack her daddy down.’ My daddy is bigger than her daddy.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-the-holy-spirit-has-issued-an-indictment-against-hillary-clinton/

So here’s the thing, Dave, you might want to channel your obsession into something a bit more healthier. Because this is quite literally insane. You and whoever listens to your show are lit by a spark, but it didn’t explode! Instead it’s a sparkler! You know it kind of fizzles out after a while. But you know they can’t kill us all!! I heard a guy say that on TV once!

Dave Daubenmire appeared on “The Hagmann Report” last night to promote the demonstration being organized by right-wing activists for Memorial Day weekend outside the Chappaqua, New York, home of Bill and Hillary Clinton, where they will demand that President Trump arrest the former first lady and presidential candidate.

The event, which was originally billed as “The March For Equal Justice,” has now been changed to “The Equal Justice Tour” after organizers were informed by lawyers that they would need permits if they intended to hold any sort of rally or protest outside the Clintons’ home. In response, organizers are now billing the event as a “tour” since tours require no such permits, meaning that now it will merely consist of right-wing activists driving past the Clintons’ home and around Chappaqua demanding Hillary’s arrest.

Daubenmire admitted to being a bit fearful about taking part in this event, but then likened it to fighting in a war.

“What if our forefathers had that same attitude?” he said. “What about the guys who stormed Iwo Jima? What about those guys who stormed Normandy Beach? What about those guys in the Vietnam rice paddies? They did not fight and die for us to be afraid and not do our job when our time is before us.”

“As long as Hillary is more equal than me, as long as Obama is more equal than me,” Daubenmire said, “then that is not liberty. That is displeasing to our Lord and it spits on the graves of those brave men, living and dead, who struggled for liberty, justice, and the American way.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/they-cant-kill-us-all-dave-daubenmire-urges-christians-to-join-anti-clinton-tour/

And that is true, no one does say those things! But this begs the question – does Brother Dave not know the definition of the word “equal”? I mean how can he claim that someone is “more equal” than him? It is easy – there is no such thing!!!! Cause according to GAWD and our good book, we are all the LAWRD’s children! But this might be my favorite thing said about this whole failed social experiment. I mean you just can’t make this stuff up!

On Monday, we noted that Dave Daubenmire will be joining other right-wing activists in protesting outside the Clintons’ home in Chappaqua, New York, over Memorial Day weekend to demand that President Trump arrest Hillary Clinton.

On his “Pass the Salt Live” webcast this morning, Daubenmire proclaimed that The March for Equal Justice, as the event is being called, is an act of spiritual warfare so significant that the angels in Heaven are scalping tickets to get a front row seat to watch what goes down.

“The FBI will be there and the Secret Service,” Daubenmire said. “Why? Because they’re going to try to force you to not do it. Don’t you see? Can’t you see the contention happening in the natural realm as a result of what is going on in the spiritual realm?”

“I’ll be those guys up there, they’re selling tickets to watch,” he added. “I’ll bet they’re scalping ’em. ‘I got a front row seat, I want to watch our boys fight down there on earth, I want to watch that.’ You think I’m crazy. I think that’s what’s going on.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-they-are-scalping-tickets-in-heaven-to-watch-our-anti-clinton-protest/

Why yes, Brother Dave, we do think that you are crazy! You call yourself a coach and preach in front of a blank stadium backdrop. I call myself a pastor but I have a real audience and congregation to show for it!!! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

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From: [link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213684652] Idiots #9-3]

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 online congregation! You know with churches going online and not congregating in public for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus, we’re kind of running low on material right now. But thankfully last week that SAYVED! For the unholy, ungodly Dark One whose name shall not be mentioned in my church – even if it is an online and virtual one, actually went to a church. He is a SINNER, who does some absolutely unspeakable things, yet he views himself as the godliest of the godly! And among that crowd, he can do no wrong! So why is he pandering to the holiest among us? Well, also why not? Because screw everyone that he doesn’t agree with, that’s why!

After a disappointing showing at his campaign rally over the weekend, President Donald Trump renewed his performance for a packed crowd of students on Tuesday, telling his Arizona audience that they were guardians in a cultural war over the heritage of the country.

“We’re here today to declare that we will never cave to the left wing and the left-wing intolerance,” the president said at a Students for Trump event in Phoenix.

The appearance, at the Dream City megachurch, was one of his first rallies since taking a three-month hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. Images from the event showed a large crowd tightly packed together, with almost no one wearing protective masks. There were no temperature checks for the estimated 3,000 cheering attendees who, like many of Trump’s staunchest fans, ignored a new local ordinance requiring them to wear a mask, despite a public-health plea from the Democratic mayor on Monday.

The coronavirus is out of control in the Grand Canyon State after its governor lifted a stay-at-home order last month, and the president is polling relatively poorly here against his presumptive Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/23/trump-rally-arizona-336565

Yes let’s wait two weeks to see where this is heading and it cannot be good. For the commander in chief is doing an absolutely terrible job of setting such an example of what to do during these trying times, he is failing on every level! But how is his second in command doing? Well he’s not doing much better, and he was the guy who was picked to lead us in charge to tackle this forsaken virus!

A choir of about 100 performers sang at a megachurch campaign event featuring Vice President Pence on Sunday. They did not wear masks while they sang.

Many epidemiologists and singing experts currently fear that singers may be superspreaders of COVID-19, due to aerosolization of the virus. Singing involves much more forceful and deep breathing than simple talking.

The choir was performing at the Celebrate Freedom Rally, which took place at Dallas' First Baptist Church and was billed as an event "to celebrate our freedom as Americans and our freedom in Christ with you through worship." According to CNN, about 2,200 people attended the rally at the Texas megachurch, which can hold about 3,000 people. The singers reportedly wore face coverings between their selections.

Last Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a "pause" on his state's reopening after saying that Texas is facing a "massive outbreak" of the coronavirus.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/29/884614249/cdc-says-singers-could-be-virus-super-spreaders-but-100-sang-unmasked-with-vp-pe

Seriously guys, this isn’t the 1980s, this is 2020 and there is a deadly virus roaming the landscape, and it is not stopping! It’s going to get worse. And you shouldn’t be going to church right now. But no one is canceling church, and I’m sure that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would back me up here! If you want to get back to your old life and I know we all do, real change starts at the top! Of course I still won’t mention his name in my church, even if it is virtual!

One month after President Donald Trump ordered the nation’s governors to immediately reopen churches, his administration is facing a difficult dilemma.

Clusters of Covid-19 cases are surfacing in counties across the U.S. where in-person religious services have resumed, triggering questions about whether his administration should reassess its campaign to treat houses of worship the same as other essential businesses, or leave them alone and risk additional transmission of the deadly coronavirus — including in communities that are largely supportive of the president.

An outbreak at a Pentecostal church in Oregon, where hundreds of worshipers resumed gathering over Memorial Day weekend, forced an entire county to return to phase one of its reopening after local officials traced 258 cases of Covid-19 back to the facility. In West Virginia, six health departments across the state have reported coronavirus outbreaks linked to churches. One of them, a Baptist church in Greenbrier County, had 34 congregants test positive for the virus. And in Texas, which hit an all-time high of new cases last week, health officials have received numerous reports of church-related exposures.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/28/trump-coronavirus-spread-churches-342296

Yes, churches are the biggest problem that the unholy, ungodly Dark One and his DAYMONS are facing at the moment. But he’s not going down without a fight. For his network is actively encouraging people to defy orders and defy the LAWRD, you’ve got another thing coming! And you are most definitely not welcome in my church – online or in person – until you get a grip on reality! But this is not the kind of thing you want to hear in a sermon, and you won’t hear it in my church! I won’t allow it!

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/24/trump-made-racist-joke-phoenix-megachurch-crowd-went-wild/

So do not take any medicine offered by the Dark One, for he is the virus! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: The Dark One Goes To Church
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From: Idiots #9-4

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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:

So do not take any medicine offered by the Dark One, for he is the virus! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

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From: Idiots #12-3

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! You know we here at the Holy Church Of The Top 10 are doing our job heavily keeping tabs on what our brothers and sisters on the far right are up to. Well this week I am completely dumbfounded that we are at the literal book burning stage. Which if anyone follows world history or the history of famous dictators, we’re about to do some really evil shit. But how were they able to hold a literal book burning in the year 2022? Well in the US it’s not illegal to burn a book that *YOU* own. Not necessarily a book that someone else owns. Yet, pastors took to the streets to burn the books of popular franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight. Like what, do they have a problem with emotional teenage vampires who listen to equally emotional rock music? But anyway this situation we have brewing is what we might call a “holy clusterfuck” and it’s definitely not something that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would approve of now, is it?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Middle Tennessee pastor held a burning of books and other materials on Wednesday night, citing the church's "biblical right" to "burn ... cultic materials that they deem are a threat to their religious rights and freedoms and belief system."

The event took place in Mount Juliet, Tenn. at the Global Vision Bible Church led by Pastor Greg Locke.

The pastor has been no stranger to controversy, calling the COVID-19 delta variant "nonsense," vaccines a form of government control, and the pandemic "fake." The assertions led to a ban of his account on Twitter. In addition, Pastor Locke has criticized Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, calling the governor a "coward...noodle...waffler" for an executive order which allowed the National Guard to assist hospitals strained during the heights of the pandemic last year.

Now, the pastor has turned his ire to books and other materials deemed "demonic." During a sermon before the burning, Locke also targeted the Department of Homeland Security which he claimed was at the event, saying "Homeland security showing up to a church cause we're gonna have a burning. This country's lost its mind."
https://fox17.com/news/local/tennessee-pastor-holds-burning-of-books-other-materials-deemed-demonic-nashville-mt-juliet-religion-church-state-politics-twitter

No Rev, it is you who are the devil! For you are a supporter of the unholy, ungodly Dark One – a man who is so foul, depraved, and disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! So why are they targeting popular franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight? What did they do to hurt Pastor Locke and why is he getting revenge on them? Well Pastor Locke is a hit with the newly converted “born again” segment of Christianity, unfortunately.

A pastor from Tennessee, U.S, organized a burning of books and objects from Harry Potter, Twilight and Disney for considering them “demonic influences”. A few weeks ago, the same state made headlines after the school board removed Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” from the curriculum.

“We have a constitutional and biblical right to do what we are going to do. Witchcraft and cursed things must goPastor Greg Locke, leader of the Global Vision Bible Church, says in a video.

In a sermon, which he also shared through his Facebook page, Locke called for a “burning service”, that is, a service to burn different objects linked to “witchcraft”. This activity, he added, will be part of “an ongoing series to free us from demons.”

“Gather all your Harry Potter stuff. Let the haters laugh all they want. I do not mind. It’s 100 percent witchcraft”, assured the pastor. He also asked to bring tarot cards, Ouija boards, healing crystals and “everything else related to the occult” to the burning. “You have to go,” he stated.
https://then24.com/2022/02/09/a-tennessee-pastor-organized-a-harry-potter-book-burning/

Don’t burn books people, because that leads down a slippery slope to some true evil here. But in addition to last week’s banning of a book about the holocaust by white supremacist pieces of shit, this week’s book burning should be a human rights cause for alarm. But in case you’re wondering, burning books is but step one of something leading a country down a very dark path. And you might be wondering where does it end? It could end with Nazi Germany or it could not.

In November Greg Abbott told state agencies to develop standards to block books with "overtly sexual" content in schools.

Two books removed by schools recently were based on LGBTQ characters. One of the books includes a graphic illustration and the other includes depictions of sex.

The political fight started when Keller Independent School District“Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe.

Texas state Rep. Matt Krause, from Fort Worth, who chairs the Texas House’s General Investigating Committee, made a 16-page list of roughly 850 book titles he said might make students feel “discomfort.”
https://www.kxxv.com/news/in-depth/in-depth-burning-books-in-tennessee-texas-pushes-to-keep-certain-books-off-shelves

OK now that is something that you should burn! Burn hot pokers, don’t burn books! You do not want to go down that path! What’s even more disturbing is that Pastor Locke isn’t alone here. Look at Texas where religious wingnuts want to ban something like 850 books. And this is the party that frequently rails about free speech. Let’s examine the irony of this for a minute here. The “free speech or die” crowd is burning and banning books! I’m getting mixed signals here!

Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church held a mass book burning last week, targeting volumes he considers to be “demonic.” NBC News reported that during the event, which was livestreamed on Facebook, “churchgoers hurl books and other items deemed associated with ‘witchcraft’ into a massive bonfire on the church’s parking lot in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.”

In the same state, a school board in McMinn County captured national headlines after it voted last month to remove the graphic novel Maus, a retelling of the Holocaust, from the eighth-grade language arts curriculum.

Not to be cut out of the action, the mayor of a small city in Mississippi has apparently decided that his religious beliefs give him the right to decide what everyone else in town can read at the public library.

Mayor Gene McGee of Ridgeland, a community of about 24,000 residents in Madison County, is holding back $110,000 in funding for the county library system, reported Mississippi Free Press, an online news site.

Tonja Johnson, executive director of the county libraries, told the Free Press she reached out to McGee after she failed to receive a quarterly payment from the city. What he told her was surprising.
https://www.au.org/blogs/Miss-library-ban

Well, free speech was great while it lasted everybody. See everyone in the gulags! When you see events like that you know that can’t be that far behind! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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From: Idiots #11-9

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! You know my fair congregation… we live in times of great suffering. And people like our next subject certainly aren’t helping things. I am of course talking about our old buddy Sean Feucht. Last time we checked in on him was about a year ago (see: Top 10 #9-17 and he was holding these events called “Let Us Worship” that were doing nothing but bad things to every city he goes to. So one year later? Well of course he’s back to his old tricks! Here’s the thing guys, no one ever said you couldn’t worship during this nightmare world in which we live. No! you only assumed we did, and you went apeshit because of it! We only said you couldn’t gather in mass groups. But the good LAWRD JAYSUS wants you to worship. Yeah that’s not of course in the eyes of Sean Feucht. You know the old saying – judge not lest ye be judged.

Sean Feucht, a missionary, musician, and failed congressional candidate who met with former President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, is bringing his COVID-be-damned tour of worship rallies to the nation’s capital this weekend, along with an organizing event sponsored by Hold the Line, a “political activist movement” that Feucht launched after voters in his northern California congressional district rejected his congressional bid last year.

This weekend’s events include a Hold the Line event at the Trump International Hotel during the day on Saturday, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and a “Day of Prayer for America” on the National Mall on Saturday evening. Sunday features prayer gatherings at the Supreme Court, White House, and Lincoln Memorial capped off by a worship gathering on the National Mall Sunday evening.

Scheduled speakers for Saturday’s Hold the Line gathering include California pastor-politician Rob McCoy, an ally of Christian nationalist political operative David Lane; religious-right podcaster and author David Harris, Jr.; pastor-podcaster Landon Schott; pastor and End Times author Phil Hotsenpiller; and Timmy Teepell, who is scheduled to make a presentation about polling and the 2022 elections.

Feucht has kept up an ambitious touring schedule of public “worship protest” events under the banner of “Let Us Worship”—a rebuke to pandemic-related restrictions on public gatherings—and he has mocked public health officials’ concerns about his large events during the COVID-19 pandemic by selling T-shirts that say, “Jesus Christ Super-Spreader.” His tour included an Aug. 28 stop at Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, home of the ever-shouting hard-right pastor Greg Locke.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/sean-feuchts-super-spreader-road-show-returns-to-washington-d-c/

But now really Christians, you disappoint me. Not so much that you would actually attend this horrid event but that you would throw your support behind the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of an EVIL man so terrible that his name dare not be spoken in my church! Really why would you support anything he does? He only stands for darkness and evil! Even Jesus spoke of such a man when he said that the “dark one shall pose as a creature of light”!

Declaring that “turning to God” is “the ultimate answer to evil,” former President Donald Trump joined missionary and political activist Sean Feucht in calling the nation to a period of 21 days of prayer on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 during a prayer event at the National Mall on Saturday.

“Turning to God, the ultimate answer to evil that we see here today as thousands of Americans gather on the mall to pray for our beloved nation and to pray for one another,” Trump said in a video message during the event known as "Let Us Worship.”

"I want to thank ‘Let Us Worship’ for calling Americans to 21 days of prayer in the coming weeks. America is a nation strengthened and sustained by God and the prayers of all His children. Your faith is a force that our enemies can never, ever extinguish," he said. "Your love of God, family, and country is more powerful than any adversaries' hatred, or malice, or scorn. So as we remember those Americans we lost two decades ago, we return again and again to the same simple prayer that was heard echoing all across our land in the days after the Sept. 11th attacks. God bless our first responders. God bless our service members. God bless the memory of all who died on 9/11 and God bless America."

Trump called 9/11 “a terrible day” as he honored the memory of the nearly 3,000 people killed during the attacks and praised especially the resilience of the “incredible city” of New York.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-joins-missionary-sean-feucht-in-call-for-21-days-of-prayer.html

Only these people don’t feel anything about anything. They are that terrible. Because once again, they align themselves with the master of darkness. And come on, he doesn’t care about New York! He bragged the day after 9/11 that he had the tallest building in New York. Like seriously how stupid can you get? But that said, Feucht is clearly a member of the cult that is trying to take over the United States of America. And these people are dark and disturbed!

Meanwhile, the “Covid Vaccine Exposed” website present in Treinen’s bio is believed to be run by Project Veritas under James O’Keefe. The disgraced “documentary” body was known to give out massive push, misleading edited clips that focus on politicians on the other side of the fence. In their history, O’Keefe and Project Veritas said they will release “POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST WHISTLEBLOWER SERIES”. Treninen’s shared website link collects interested internet users to register in order to be included in the Project Veritas’s email distribution. The said promise is set to go out by Monday evening.

In addition, the Dodgers pitcher has re-posted a contentious Redding missionary, Sean Feucht, who has been vocal against anti-virus measures and vaccines.

A popular worship musician, Feucht has defied appeals of local officials and organizers’ appeals and pushed through huge gatherings since the pandemic. Among which is an event called “Let Us Worship” in Portland when he took to Facebook his gratitude for the security team, saying: “If you mess with them or our 1st amendment right to worship God, you’ll meet Jesus one way or another.” While not completely identified, Feucht’s security team consists of individuals with former police or military background and are now serving as Christian nationalists and neo-fascists, SFGATE reported.

Treinen’s home ballpark, the Dodger Stadium, has once served as a COVID-19 vaccination location. Treinen has been vaccinated, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, adding that the team’s vaccination rate was previously around 85 percent.
https://sftimes.com/blake-treinen-ex-as-and-now-dodgers-pitcher-allegedly-uses-socmed-for-covid-19-election-conspiracies/

You know you did something bad when these guys are facepalming! But really steer very clear of Pastor Feucht. Because he is certainly a very dark and wicked soul who is trying to bring down humanity to his level and the level of the unholy Dark One! For he is the most foul of all creatures! That said, these are the people who think that the church should be more politically active. Really? Have you actually read the Constitution? If anything it’s the exact opposite!

To commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Redding-based Christian singer, songwriter and worship leader Sean Feucht hosted a two-day “Let Us Worship” event at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The event took place on September 11 and 12 and attracted hundreds of attendees. The first night’s show lasted nearly three hours, and the second night’s lasted nearly four hours. Hold the Line, a religious and political activist organization launched by Feucht in 2020 after his unsuccessful run for Congress in California’s 3rd District, sponsored the event.

As stated on the organization’s website, Hold the Line’s goal is to “engage with the church and with millennials in a way that charges them to become more politically active.”

The first night of the two-day “Let Us Worship” event consisted of a series of guest speakers and music, while the second night consisted mostly of music.

In addition to the shows on both nights, Feucht and the team of musicians, pastors, and activists joining him in the nation’s capital also lead a series of unplugged concerts and informal prayer sessions in front of the White House, the Supreme Court Building, the Lincoln Memorial, and other locations on September 12.
https://anewscafe.com/2021/09/20/redding/sean-feucht-far-right-christians-descend-on-washington-d-c-for-september-11th-let-us-worship-event/

Yes so if this man and his events come to your city, be afraid! Because they do not represent our good LAWRD JAYSUS! They represent all that is evil! They represent the unholy Dark One! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: Screaming For Vengeance
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From: Idiots #13-5

Whew, got the set fixed. Let’s get the wheel going, shall we? And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop! Ah, it’s another Clip Without Context!

No, that’s when I call him an idiot and leave. Spin it again! Oh hey, it’s time for Holy Shit!

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! You know the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about how dangerous the rhetoric coming from our brothers and sisters on the right is getting, and how increasingly hostile they are becoming. It’s getting intense, ladies and gentlemen. In fact I’ve seen what the churches are spreading, and they’re spreading some ridiculous stuff. I am particularly frightened by their full on embrace of the Dark One’s conspiracy theories. But if you’re wondering why your fundamentalist friends and neighbors are suddenly turning on you, you might want to consider the sources that they’re peddling. Because as I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the fact that a Dark One supporter like Doug Mastriano has a chance, is scary. These people don’t worship GAWD or the good LAWRD JAYSUS, they worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, vile and disgusting that his name dare not be mentioned in my church! But the propaganda is getting intense and the calls for violence are growing every day. It’s scary out there, folks!

An evangelical church in Pennsylvania is in hot water after it premiered a right-wing propaganda film promoting Republican political candidates, including gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, earlier this month.

Community members have since filed complaints with the Internal Revenue Service, arguing that the church, located in Lower Allen Township (about seven miles from Harrisburg), violated federal 501(c)(3) rules banning the promotion of political candidates and should therefore have its tax-exempt status revoked.

At first glance, the controversy surrounding the Christ Community Church might just seem like hyper-local drama. However, its apparent embrace of Mastriano’s campaign puts it squarely in a simmering national concern about surging Christian nationalist ideology politicizing American churches around the country. That concern has reignited the decades-old debate around churches, specifically accusations that some are just political organizations masquerading as religious entities in order to maintain tax-exempt status.

Mastriano, currently a state senator, attended and spoke at the premiere of The Return of the American Patriot: The Rise of Pennsylvania, along with its producer, Steve Turley, a self-described “populist nationalist” who devotes much of his YouTube channel to hyping the possibility of red-state secession.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4axwm3/doug-mastriano-christ-community-church

And yes he does, my fair congregation! The devil takes many forms and they all claim to be on the side of JAYSUS, but many of them worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! But you know this whole experiment falls under the classic saying “play stupid games, win stupid prizes”. But they’re not the only ones threatening freedom and democracy. There’s plenty of events out there that look like they are religious, but they really are indoctrination centers for batshit crazy extremely far right conspiracy theories. If one of these events comes to your city, you’d better be aware of it, and run as far away in the other direction as possible! These people worship SAYTAN!

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

These people don’t! When you worship the foul Dark One, you get all the hatred and insanity that comes with his massive pile of bullshit. But don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about this guy – and we may have to do a deep dive in a future episode. This came across my desk the other day and I am greatly disturbed by the antics of this gentlemen. This guy Dalton Clodfelter – and he is about as extreme as one can possibly get. Do they not realize that this rhetoric is getting akin to Nazism? Oh who am I kidding? Of course they don’t!

Earlier this year, far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters gave white nationalist, Christian fascist Dalton Clodfelter a nightly program on his Stew Peters Network called “The Right Dissident.”

Peters is a white nationalist-promoting broadcaster who, despite using his nightly program to spread wild conspiracy theories and calls for violence, has managed to build close ties to various far-right political candidates and to interview several elected officials, GOP candidates, and former members of the Trump administration. Peters clearly saw something he liked in Clodfelter’s brand of radical right-wing bigotry, Christian nationalism, and antisemitic fascism, all of which Clodfelter has openly promoted five nights a week on Peters’ platform.

Last Thursday, Clodfelter used his show to call for the establishment of a “far-right authoritarian government” in this nation that will imprison its political enemies, establish Christianity as the national religion, and outlaw all secular education.

“Once we take our country back, we will have federal agents kicking down the doors of every treasonous Democrat, every treasonous globalist, every homosexual couple that has molested a child, and they will be arrested, and they will be sentenced to prison,” Clodfelter declared. “I believe in a far right-authoritarian government. No, I am not a fascist. No, I am not a white supremacist. No, I am not a Nazi. But I do believe that hierarchy, structure, and authority are very important. I do believe that our society needs these things in order to progress and maintain its cultural framework.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/once-we-take-control-dalton-clodfelter-lays-out-his-christian-fascist-agenda/

OK yeah you say you’re not a Nazi or you’re not a Christian nationalist in one breath but then in the next you literally say things that would make even the Nazis cringe. Now you might ask yourself “Where does the GOP find these clowns? They don’t just grow on trees, do they?”. Well, I answer you, sir or madam, they absolutely do! Because we talked about this last year – there’s a tour out there going around to megachurches called the “ReAwaken America Tour”. And its’ where the most loud mouth conspiracy theorists become even louder. So add toxic nationalism to toxic racism to toxic politics and you have a melting pot for today’s insane fire brand of Christian conservatism!

The ReAwaken American Tour that recently visited a Batavia church features Christian nationalist ideology in several ways: the proclamation that America is a Christian nation, the idea that Donald Trump’s presidency was God’s will, and even anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

But perhaps the most glaring example was when tour organizer and Trump’s first national security advisor Michael Flynn spoke at a San Antonio, Texas church last November.

“So if we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,” Flynn told the ReAwaken America crowd. “One nation under God and one religion under God.”

Scholars generally define Christian nationalism as believing the U.S. was founded by and for Christians, and that the government should take steps to keep America Christian. Taken to the extreme, scholars say, it can discriminate against religious minorities, the non-religious and LGBTQ people, and be used to justify violence.
https://www.wbfo.org/politics/2022-08-21/jan-6-comes-to-church-a-look-at-the-christian-nationalism-surrounding-reawaken-america

Well it might not be over, but the right wing is getting nuttier, crazier, and way more toxic than you could ever imagine. They may be screaming for vengeance about the 2020 election, but their screams are just that – screams. Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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From: Idiots #8-8

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Madison! 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! You know I don’t like to revel in the sorrow of others. Because that’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want, is it? Well to be fair, engaging in schadenfreude is kind of what these guys do on a daily basis. And does it not say in our Good Book “Judge not lest ye be judged?”. Of course it says that! But what am I talking about today? I am of course referring to everyone’s favorite Bible-based theme park, called “The Holy Land Experience”. It’s such a fun loving family destination where people can watch live crucifixion on the hour, explore ancient Biblical artifacts, and watch live gladiator battles. Just fun for the whole family! And its all tax free. Well, for them, not for you. So how is this dog and pony show losing money? Well there’s a lot of factors.

Orlando’s biblical theme park, the Holy Land Experience, will lay off most of its employees as it undergoes a corporate restructuring, according to a letter sent to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

In January, Trinity Broadcasting Networks announced the theme park with a nonprofit status will focus more of its efforts on highlighting the Biblical museum, The Scriptorium, and history-changing religious figures.

The religious experience at Vineland and Conroy Roads near The Mall at Millenia draws hundreds of people every year for the park’s annual free admission day, allowing the organization to keep its tax-exempt status. A “charity day” for 2020 has not been finalized yet but officials said it will happen before April 18.

Nathan Daniels, TBN’s Marketing Director, told News 6 in January performers will be laid off but he couldn’t give an exact number of employees.

However, a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice sent to Dyer dated Feb. 14 indicates almost all of the nonprofit’s employees will lose their jobs. More than 120 positions will be eliminated, according to the letter.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/02/18/holy-land-experience-laying-off-most-employees-under-corporate-reorganization/

Yes, come to the light and see Buddy Jesus! He is the Jesus that we worship, oh LAWRD! You know how can something faith based, which enjoys tax exempt status be hurting financially? Everyone knows that the fastest growing religion on earth is atheism. And with such gawdy tourist attractions like these, why would anyone spend time and/or money on them? Well let’s take a look at another faith based theme park, The Ark.

It seems that Ark Encounter, the $100 million Noah’s Ark theme park in Kentucky, isn’t doing so great.

According to the Louisville Courier Journal, around 860,000 tickets were sold for the Ark between July 2017 and June 2018, which falls pretty far short of the 2 million in annual ticket sales predicted by Ken Ham, the Ark’s creator, before it opened. (A spokesperson for the attraction told the Courier Journal that ticket sales did not reflect the number of people who visited due to annual passes and free tickets for under fives. They put the actual number closer to a million.)

Ham has previously blamed multiple factors for the underwhelming performance of the attraction. From local business owners to atheists. But is there a simpler explanation? Is it possible that people don’t want to visit the Ark because it sucks?
Before examining this, it's worth looking at what the makers of the Ark were going for when they embarked upon the project. According to Ham, the aim was to produce something so entertaining it would attract Christians and non-Christians alike. "How do you reach the general public in a bigger way?" he asked in an interview last year with the Washington Post. "Why not attractions that people will come to the way they go to Disney or Universal or the Smithsonian?" Which, presumably, is why he hired Patrick Marsh, an attractions designer who has worked on Universal Studios and the Sanrio theme park in Japan, to work on the Ark.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/neg9yq/this-dollar100-million-noahs-ark-theme-park-is-a-boring-homophobic-mess

You know Ken Ham and his flock also need to go to the light and see JAYSUS! Because he is the way and the truth, can I get an amen??? It’s no wonder that Christianity is on the decline in America, and if faith based leaders like Paula White are any indication, is it really any wonder? JAYSUS just isn’t selling and moving merchandise like he used to. So why open a faith based theme park in 2020 when there is a huge possibility you could go out of business?

In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. And one-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population – a group also known as religious “nones” – have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population.

These are among the key findings of a new analysis of trends in the religious composition and churchgoing habits of the American public, based on recent Pew Research Center random-digit-dial (RDD) political polling on the telephone. The data shows that the trend toward religious disaffiliation documented in the Center’s 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies, and before that in major national studies like the General Social Survey (GSS), has continued apace.

Pew Research Center’s 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies were huge national RDD surveys, each of which included interviews with more than 35,000 respondents who were asked dozens of detailed questions about their religious identities, beliefs and practices. The Center has not yet conducted a third such study, and when the Landscape Study is repeated, it is likely to use new methods that may prevent it from being directly comparable to the previous studies; growing challenges to conducting national surveys by telephone have led the Center to rely increasingly on self-administered surveys conducted online.
http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/syndicated/bankrupt-faith-new-research-shows-accelerated-decline-christianity-america/

Hey we’re on a mission from GAWD! So if you’re Christianity, and your Holy Land Experience theme park isn’t drawing the crowds that it used to, how can you be expected to make a profit in 2020? Because that’s what JAYSUS would want! He would want us to be rich and to prosper monetarily! After all it says so in our Good Book here! Oh and give it up for our gospel choir, how great are they? Well if we want faith-based tourism, maybe our good friend Kanye can bring ‘em in! JAYSUS merches, after all, people!

Kanye West is taking his talents to Miami.

The rapper, 42, announced plans Tuesday to bring his Sunday Service Experience worship event to Florida the morning of the Super Bowl.

The event, a partnership with Miami's VOUS church at the FPL Solar Amphitheater is set for 11 a.m. before the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs' 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

West has taken his mostly L.A.-based Sunday Services on the road: He visited Dayton, Ohio, in August to support the community after a mass shooting; and also recently made stops in Detroit and Arizona.

West's "Sunday Service," a weekly event that started in January 2019, brings together a group of lucky attendees – with celebs including Paris Jackson, Courtney Love, Rick Rubin, Kid Cudi, Busy Philipps and Diplo recently in the audience – to watch West lead a choir and perform new compositions of his old hits. West sings, often standing in front of a keyboard, as the guest vocalists provide backup in gospel rearrangements of his songs.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/01/30/super-bowl-kanye-west-sunday-service-miami/4618411002/

Yes, we are serious, Kanye! How about you open up your own religious theme park! And you can sell $225 sweatshirts, and enjoy tax exempt status! That’s how you expand the faith-based tourism industry if others can’t! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]The Holy Shit Hotline To Heaven
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Welcome back to the Holy Shit Hotline To Heaven! As you know, this is a free form segment where we answer your burning prayers on any subject you can think of. My fair congregation, I want to use this space to formally say goodbye. To the official Holy Shit Twitter account @churchoftop10. You didn’t let me finish! But yes, because of Elon Musk’s insanity, on December 31st, we are terminating the Holy Shit Twitter account and we’re setting up shop on Mastodon.social. So when that happens you can bet that we’ll be making the official announcement. Now if you have any thoughts and prayers you want answered in the meantime, you can hit us up at the official Top 10 Conservative Idiots e-mail account – top10conidiots@gmail.com. That said, let’s dive into it and start answering!

Nicholas J. from San Antonio, Texas writes:

“Heavenly Father, what’s with my brothers and sisters on the right suddenly admiring Hitler? In all seriousness – why?”

Well, Brother Nick, we aren’t exactly sure why the sudden admiration for the worst mass murderer in world history is suddenly a thing. We do have our theories that it originated in the dark corners of the internet, that’s for damn sure!

No, Ye is not being used. He’s just saying the quiet part out loud! Our next prayer comes from:

Kristin V. from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma writes:

Heavenly Father, why do churches think they can get away with holding political on church grounds, is it because of people like Paula White? Or is she just a symptom of the problem?”

Well, my Sister Kristin, it’s a combination of a number of factors. But these people don’t worship GAWD or JAYSUS. They worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! But with politicians like these as “friends”, then who needs enemies?

James C. from Rochester, NY writes:

“Heavenly Father, why does it seem like my brothers and sisters on the right are getting increasingly more violent?’

Well Brother James, I can’t quite put my finger on it but it does seem like the religious right is getting way more violent and crazy these days! And I’m sure that most of it can be tied back to the Dark One and his minions, they live for this sort of thing!

Our final prayer this week comes from:

Sarah J. from San Clemente, California writes:

Heavenly Father, I live next to one of the largest megachurches in the world. Why does it seem like everyone I know is increasingly getting history wrong?

Well, Sister Sarah, Kanye West, aka Ye, is basically saying the quiet part out loud. He opened the flood gates for modern neo-Nazism. And if there’s one guy who the misinterpretations can be traced back to, it’s David Barton. He’s a Christian pseudo-historian who wears a cheap cowboy hat and goes to churches basically completely misinterpreting history. In fact we even covered him in Idiots #11-6. In fact he has a very long and easily traceable history of this sort of thing. These are all real clips by the way!

Thanks for indulging me in the Best Of Holy Shit! We’ll be back next week with our season finale and our 2022 Year In Review Spectacular! See you next week!

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December 1, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-16: Showdown At The Golden Corral Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-16: Showdown At The Golden Corral Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yooooooooooo! What’s up Irvine? It’s good to be home after nearly 2 months out on the road! We’ve had a great time, though! Especially our stops in Honolulu and Los Cabos! But because next week’s Top 10 got canceled, this is our last regular Top 10 of the year. We originally planned to have this at our home base in Santa Ana, but the schedule got fucked up and well, here we are! So before we begin, I want to address the 800 pound gorilla in the room. That concerns the official Top 10 Twitter account - @10Idiots. Look, we’ve seen the requests. We know about Elon’s plans to unleash hell by letting white nationalists and other undesierables back on the platform after being banned. Rest assured, we will be terminating both the Top 10 account @10Idiots and the Holy Shit account @churchoftop10 on Dec. 31st. We’re currently researching alternatives. We hope to launch on Mastodon when we come back in January. I will make the official announcement when we are ready to do so. OK do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! If you’re a 90s kid like I am, you remember the utter disaster that was the Super Mario Bros. movie. Although in all fairness, it is one of those movies that you watch with your friends while drunk and/or high and make fun of with snide comments about how stupid it is. Well, guess what? Nintendo is at it again with a new Mario Bros. movie that’s being planned for next summer. Only this time – it’s animated. And the “you ruined my childhood” people are already complaining about it! These morons can ruin everything and anything! But… Princess Peach is “woke” now? That’s what you have to complain about? I guess these are the guys who either played as Peach in Mario Kart because they could, or they played as Bowser because they thought they were bad asses. But really guys, do you know what you need to do now? That’s it - just put down the bong and back away from the computer very slowly. Also turn off Fox News, it’s good for you! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he highlights the human rights atrocities committed by FIFA and the nation of Qatar in the 2022 World Cup:

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So where do we begin? Well unfortunately this week another week, another mass shooting in America happened while we were off last week. And that’s not even the weird part. I’m of course talking about the Club Q shooting (1) and the more you go down the rabbit hole on this subject, and the people behind it, the weirder it gets! In the second slot this week is of course our old buddy Elon Musk (2) who continues to take a wrecking ball to the social media platform known as Twitter, and it’s much like the way Surtur destroyed Asguard at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. It’s truly stunning. In the number 3 slot this week is another one of our old buddies, Kanye West (3). Yes, Ye is hanging out with notorious anti-Semitic racist, sexist piece of shit podcaster Nick Fuentes and they went and had dinner with Trump at Mar-A-Lago, and it’s quite the shit show. Of course the MAGA camp is in full “move along, nothing to see here, please disperse” mode. In the number 4 slot this week is Kevin McCarthy (4) and his first week back as House Speaker is already proving to be the colossal shit show that it is. Why do people keep electing these clowns? Madness. Speaking of madness, the number 5 slot this week is going to go to Election Deniers (5). Yes, specifically Arizona, where the madness over the Kari Lake – Katie Hobbs election is the stuff of insanity, but the GOP’s newfound smugness could cost them big time! In the number 6 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and of course, this week, when there’s a mass shooting at a gay bar, Christian right preachers are naturally going to shoot their hateful mouths off and start spouting the same insane conspiracies and hateful rhetoric we’ve heard a million times, and we’ve got the best (and also worst) reactions! In the number 7 slot this week, is our newest segment on corporate greed, Late Stage Capitalism (7)! So it looks like everyone is going on strike – from Amazon to the University Of California, and employers are not liking it one bit! It’s truly a clusterfuck. Speaking of clusterfucks, in the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8) and our old buddy, Creepy Pillow Man, aka Mike Lindell, is convinced by God that he is going to be the new RNC chair. The GOP is continuing to swirl its’ way down the drain! In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have a new “I Need A Drink” – and this week we’re going to have some drinks and talk about the lack of beverages available at the 2022 World Cup, and what’s being done about it! Maybe having the World Cup in a country known for religious totalitarianism and egregious human rights violations was a bad idea? probably! Finally this week it’s time for our 2022 World Tour (10)! This week we’re heading south of the border to the land of tequila, Mayan pyramids, futbol, and Chicen Itza – Mexico! Plus to close things out, we have some live music from Death Cab For Cutie! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]The Club Q Shooting: Heroes And Villains
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Fuck. Another day another mass shooting. And it will most likely never end. Gun violence is increasingly becoming an inherent danger to American society. But nothing is gonna change. We’re going to go through the same fucking routines we’ve been going through the last 20 years when it comes to this shit and it’s getting really old. The United States really follows the textbook definition of insanity on this subject. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Look, we’re a laughing stock because of this shit. Other countries have travel advisories to the United States because of it. The target this time? It was a drag show at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Drag shows lately have been the target of violence ranging from Twitter accounts like @libsoftiktok and the Tucker Carlson show. But once you get to the details, it paints an incredibly fucked up picture of an individual driven to acts of violence after being rejected by society. Almost kind of sounds like the plot of Joker when you think about it. But before we introduce the villain, let’s talk about the hero.

Richard M. Fierro said he was at a table in Club Q with his wife, daughter and friends on Saturday, watching a drag show, when the sudden flash of gunfire ripped across the nightclub. His instincts from four combat deployments as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan instantly kicked in. Fight back, he told himself.

snip-"...tackling the gunman and beating him bloody with the gunman’s own gun.."

snip-" Mr. Fierro, who served in the Army for 15 years, said he raced across the room, grabbed the gunman by a handle on the back of his body armor, pulled him to the floor and jumped on top of him."

snip-" As the fight continued, he said, he yelled for other club patrons to help him. A man grabbed the rifle and moved it away to safety. A drag dancer stomped on the gunman with her high heels. The whole time, Mr. Fierro said, he kept pummeling the shooter’s head while the two men screamed obscenities at each other."
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/21/us/colorado-springs-shooting-news

Yeah so let’s think about this – without Mr. Fierro risking his life in this heinous act of violence, the situation would have been that much worse. Remember the Pulse shooting? Picture a scenario that’s worse than that. But it’s another day, and another mass shooting. And we’re going to hear Fox News spout the same damn arguments we’ve heard about guns a thousand times. It’s truly the definition of insanity. Now let’s talk about the villain. Yes, Fox and other right wing sources were extremely quick to bring up the sexual orientation of the shooter.

Another weekend passed in America with yet another mass shooting, this time at a gay bar in Colorado Springs.

In an attack that lasted barely more than a minute, five people were killed and at least 18 others injured when a gunman stormed Club Q, a bar that had functioned as a rainbow safe haven for the conservative town’s small LGBTQ community.

Were it not for the heroism of patrons who confronted the shooter and subdued him with one of his own weapons, many more might be among the dead. That inconceivable act of bravery is worth unending celebration.

But for LGBTQ people across the country, the most devastating part of this slaughter was its sense of inevitability. All year long, it has felt like we have been inching toward some form of fated tragedy, like a car crash in slow motion. Now the horror has manifested.

For some time now, a resurgent right-wing strategy of portraying queer people as an invasive species of predators — who “groom” children in classrooms, “mutilate” the bodies of transgender children, or otherwise corrupt young minds — has burrowed into mainstream political discourse with horrifying efficiency. “Don’t Say Gay,” the edict goes, or else it will spread like a virus.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-bar-politicizing

Holy shit. It’s truly insane what right wing propaganda has done to people. It’s destroyed and ruined many lives and driven people to violence and madness. But once again the circle of death rears its’ ugly head around us. Will nothing be done about this terrible tragedy? Nope. Will we hear the same damn arguments about guns that we’ve heard 1,000 times before? Oh yeah that’s coming. But you know what we haven’t seen yet? Ho w violence happens. In fact the relationship between the shooter and his father is an incredibly fucked up one, and the more you dig into it, the more fucked up it gets. But please, conservatives, continue to lecture us on how much better straight relationships are.

When Brink asked his ex-wife why their son had changed his name, she blamed it on the father’s involvement in a reality TV show called Intervention, as well as his acting career in the adult film industry.
“His mother told me he changed his name because I was in Intervention and I had been a porno actor,” said Brink.
For six years Brink believed his son was dead, until Aldrich unexpectedly called his father six months ago, and started arguing with him over the phone.
“He’s pissed off. He's pissed off at me. He wants to poke at the old man,” Brink recalled.

Then, two days ago, Brink got a call from his son's defense attorneys, telling him Aldrich was involved in a shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Brink said he's a Mormon and his first reaction was to question why his son was at a gay bar. “You know Mormons don't do gay. We don't do gay. There's no gays in the Mormon church. We don't do gay,” Brink said.

SNIP——-
Brink currently works as a mixed martial arts coach. He says he taught his son how to fight.
“I praised him for violent behavior really early. I told him it works. It is instant and you'll get immediate results,” the father said.
https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/im-sorry-i-let-my-son-down-father-of-accused-colorado-club-shooter-speaks-out/509-6c4ad66e-35ef-41a5-9255-bca31cea3a73

Hooooooooooooooooooly shit. You want to know why violence happens, this is how violence happens, people! The shooter’s own father is a violent psychopath who praised his son for his violent behavior, and then thought he was dead. And then was surprised to learn that the worst part was that his son wasn’t gay, but a mass murderer! This is fucked up on multiple levels. And if you can’t see that then you’re part of the problem! Oh and don’t think we’ll be hearing the last of these cretins either, because this is, like we always say, one of those stories that’s like peeling an onion. The more layers you peel back, the more it stinks, and the more likely you are to cry as a result.

The mother of the suspect accused of fatally gunning down five people and wounding 18 at a Colorado Springs gay bar was herself arrested in the hours after the deadly shooting, according to a summons obtained by The Daily Beast.

Laura Lea Voepel, 45, is facing two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest over a meltdown she allegedly had when police showed up at her home around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 20. Roughly three-and-a-half hours earlier, authorities say 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich opened fire on patrons and staff at Club Q, a local LGBTQ nightspot.

Aldrich, whose lawyers say he identifies as non-binary but whose mother used male pronouns in text messages to him on the day of the shooting, was born Nicholas Franklin Brink in 2000 to Voepel and MMA-fighter-turned-porn-actor Aaron Franklin Brink. The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Aldrich, who is listed as male in jail booking records, changed their name in 2016 to escape their father’s criminal past, court filings show.

After the Club Q massacre, officers with the Colorado Springs Police Department showed up at Voepel’s North Union Boulevard apartment building, the summons states, noting that cops warned Voepel “multiple times to stop yelling” or she would be arrested.

“Subject continued to make unreasonable noise directly next to multiple apartments,” the summons, which was first reported by Denver Fox affiliate KDVR and Denver NBC affiliate KUSA, continues. “While I attempted to place subject into custody, she became combative by physically resisting officers’ control by force.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/laura-voepel-mom-of-colorado-springs-suspect-anderson-lee-aldrich-facing-charges-after-club-q-shooting

[font size="8"]Elon Musk
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This whole thing with Elon’s plan to buy Twitter and make it a haven for racists, sexists, anti-Semites, violent thugs, and other undesirables is backfiring on him big time. You know, this week, we made the extremely difficult decision to terminate the two official accounts we have on Twitter - @10Idiots and @churchoftop10, and it was definitely not an easy one. But as of right now, it is the right thing to do at this time. But we do plan to setup shop on Mastodon when we come back in January after our extended break. Anyway enough about us, this is about Elon’s descent into madness, and you can watch it unfold in real time on Twitter. You’ve probably heard by now that Apple may pull Twitter from the Apple App Store entirely. Needless to say, the fight between Elon and Apple isn’t going away anytime soon, and they’re only just getting started.

Elon Musk loves starting fights. It’s been a hallmark of his brief, omni-shambolic tenure as the owner of Twitter. From the legal battle waged before the purchase was even completed to the waves of disruption that his management choices sparked to his disdain for federal regulators to his ongoing campaign to be the troll king of the internet, Musk has done nothing but gleefully antagonize his supposed enemies, inside and outside Twitter.

But on Monday, Musk decided to pick a fight with one of — if not the — the biggest companies in the world: Apple, Inc. And this is a fight that he absolutely cannot win. There is no legal gambit he can pull, public shaming he can inspire or money he could set on fire in the pursuit of either, that could force Apple to save Twitter from the corporate devastation Musk has unleashed.

Musk’s latest fight began, as so many have in the last two months, with bad news about advertising. Musk tweeted that Apple had “mostly stopped advertising on Twitter,” an unwelcome development for a social media platform that’s already seen a major hit to the $5 billion in annual revenue that advertising has provided. According to The Washington Post, “Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter, spending $48 million on ads on the social network” in the first quarter of 2022, accounting for “more than 4 percent of Twitter’s revenue” in those months. That makes any pullback from Apple a big problem for Twitter and Musk.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-going-war-apple-rcna59211

Yeah and that’s one thing about Elon – he is not afraid to start a fight, doesn’t matter whose side he is on, but he usually picks the wrong one. But my favorite part about this whole thing is that Elon plans to pull a Bender and launch his own phone in the event that Twitter gets banned from the Apple Store for the lack of content moderation. But yeah what’s he going to get for advertising support? We have our speculations! Cash 4 Gold maybe? Whatever company makes the end times slop that Jim Bakker sells on his show? Nutritional vitamin supplements? But one thing that we can say for sure is a definite – Elon has gone quite mad with power and he’s not coming back to earth anytime soon.

Musk's remark came after being asked about the potential scenario of Twitter being removed from app stores, which could conceivably happen if the social media network fails to sufficiently moderate content posted on its platform. Twitter has undergone considerable changes since Musk acquired the company in October, losing hundreds of employees and offering verification via a paid subscription. The questions around the future of Twitter's moderation emerged since Musk has repeatedly expressed his desire to promote free speech, reinstate suspended accounts, and make the platform more open.

Elon Musk has pledged to offer an "alternative phone" if Apple and Google remove Twitter from their app stores, adding to long-standing rumors about an iPhone rival from Tesla.

Musk's remark came after being asked about the potential scenario of Twitter being removed from app stores, which could conceivably happen if the social media network fails to sufficiently moderate content posted on its platform. Twitter has undergone considerable changes since Musk acquired the company in October, losing hundreds of employees and offering verification via a paid subscription. The questions around the future of Twitter's moderation emerged since Musk has repeatedly expressed his desire to promote free speech, reinstate suspended accounts, and make the platform more open.

While Musk affirmed that he hopes no such clash with Apple and Google will occur, he recently signaled displeasure with Apple's App Store fees and, in light of his plans to significantly expand the Twitter Blue subscription service, further conflict in the future seem likely. Musk's other companies, such as Tesla, have a strained relationship with Apple, and are reluctant to integrate features like Apple Music or CarPlay. There were even rumors that Musk demanded to become Apple CEO in talks over Apple potentially acquiring Tesla.

Musk is behind influential companies such as PayPal, SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and, now, Twitter, so the prospect of him initiating a project to offer a new consumer smartphone to rival the iPhone seems plausible, especially if his companies' relationships with Apple worsen in the future. Tesla making a phone has long been an unsubstantiated rumor on account of its experience with hardware and software, but it may now be more likely given Musk's growing propensity to publicly disagree with Apple.
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-pledges-to-build-iphone-rival/

Oh yeah? Well I’ll found my own cell phone company! With blackjack! And hookers! On second thought, forget about the cell phone company! Now here’s where it gets weird. Elon has reportedly fired and disbanded Twitter’s entire Belgium office, and put his company in jeopardy as he’s now on an EU watch list because his platform is not moderating content. See this is what happens when you buy an international corporation like Twitter. What applies in the United States does not apply internationally, and the EU doesn’t fuck around with this sort of thing.

Elon Musk’s plans to turn Twitter Inc. into a free speech haven could run into its biggest political obstacles in the European Union, where he has to contend with its new Digital Services Act, which forces companies to take down illegal content.

Musk said he’ll follow national laws — and specifically reassured concerned EU officials that he’ll follow the DSA — but this will be difficult in practice with so few staff left to moderate content. It won’t be easier in the EU’s lawmaking capital of Brussels, where Twitter’s office is now lifeless.

EU leaders know Musk himself was a controversial speaker on Twitter — he was taken to court for defamation after he called a British caver a “pedo guy” (Musk won), the US SEC sued him for tweets about taking Tesla Inc. private (Musk settled), he tweeted a Nazi meme (then deleted it), and posted misinformation about an attack on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband (also deleted.)

While most if not all of these wouldn’t have breached the DSA, it’s certainly made lawmakers attentive to the possibility that they were signs of what’s to come.
https://fortune.com/2022/11/24/elon-musk-sacks-twitter-brussels-staff-collision-course-eu-laws-gdpr/

Oh and this isn’t the most evil thing that Elon has done yet. You know why he’s going out of his way to pick fights with Apple and Google? Because his plan to add paid verification is not only backfiring on him big time, but it’s apparently because he wants to avoid paying a 30% cut to Apple. And even Apple hasn’t even fed the troll, probably because they know better than that. But the thing is the GOP can whine all they want about Apple and Google’s Terms Of Service agreements. The logic is clear though – it's their TOS agreements. They can do whatever the hell they want. So unless you create your own phone and app store, you have to abide by their rules. So we really hope this failed experiment shuts them up for good. But it won’t.

Twitter’s revamped Blue subscription might not be available as an in-app purchase on iOS when it eventually relaunches so that it can dodge Apple’s 30 percent cut of App Store purchases, according to Platformer. When the new Blue was briefly available earlier this month, you could only purchase it through Twitter’s iOS app. But while Elon Musk is publicly tweeting his displeasure with Apple, it appears he wants to avoid having to pay Apple’s fees.

Musk had said that the new Blue, which allows people to purchase a blue verification check mark, was set to relaunch on Tuesday after signups were paused following a wave of impersonators. But that launch has been delayed, Platformer says, and The Verge has also heard of the delay from a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Twitter employees have been told that there will be other changes to Blue, including a one-cent price increase from $7.99 to $8 and requiring phone number verification, Platformer reports.

Over the course of this month, Musk has ramped up his tweets targeting Apple. On November 18th, he criticized the App Store’s cut by calling it a “hidden 30% tax on the Internet.” And on Monday, he claimed that Apple, reportedly one of Twitter’s biggest advertisers, has “mostly” stopped advertising on the social network and that it has “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/29/23485300/elon-musk-twitter-blue-avoid-in-app-fee-ios

[font size="8"]Ye, Trump, and Nick Fuentes
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You know it’s a fucked up week when that guy who we inexplicably used to call president, Donald Trump, met with noted anti-Semite Kanye West, aka Ye, and notorious racist, sexist anti-Semitic podcaster Nick Fuentes, and that’s not even the craziest thing that has happened this week! Trump always loves him some fast food, not to mention his tacky, faux gold decorating lifestyle, and we all know this. So maybe instead of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", let's modernize it and call it "Showdown At The Golden Corral". Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I love our graphics department! But there’s definitely tension brewing in the GOP between hardcore members of the MAGA community and the more sane, rational members of the GOP who aren’t racist. Wait, what? Who am I kidding? Those people don’t exist in today’s republican party, which is now the party of Alex Jones and Trump. And by the way, like most things involving Trump, the more you dig into it, the weirder it gets. Also too, just even having dinner with Ye already makes this the worst Thanksgiving ever!

Yeah come on, Trump, you can’t tell me you didn’t know who Nick Fuentes was prior to having dinner with him. I mean come on, how lax is the security detail at Mar-A-Shithole? But here’s the thing – if sponsors are dropping Kanye to the point where he's lost almost a billion dollars, you might want to do that thing called “reading the room”. Oh wait, the MAGA crowd doesn’t do that sort of thing. In the event of a shooting, their first instinct is to buy more guns. But that just paints a picture with the MAGA world – it’s always someone else’s fault. Or it didn’t happen. Or it was a false flag. Or some other bullshit nonsense.

Donald Trump, who had dinner and fun times last week with virulent antisemite Kanye West (now known as Ye) and white-supremacist-slash-Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes, initially defended himself by claiming that he had no idea who Fuentes was. Posting on his own network, Truth Social, as the firestorm began to build over Thanksgiving weekend, the former president defended the dinner by explaining that as it occurred, Ye “expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’ Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”

This is, of course, the long-standing Trump defense: He can’t ever have done anything wrong because he simply doesn’t know anything, ever. It affords durable protection because, over time, the more things Trump acknowledges he doesn’t understand or care to find out, the less we expect him to comprehend or research anything in the future. It’s actually very much the mirror image of QAnon admonishment that everyone “do your own research.” In this iteration, “I did no research at all” somehow means that you are off the hook for knowing nothing.

He uses this excuse regularly. In 2017, after the white supremacist and antisemitic Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, Virginia, ended in the murder of an anti-racist protester on the street, Trump said there had been “very fine people on both sides” of the violent rally. He refused to walk that back, even in the face of threatened resignations from people around him. In part, Trump could assert things about who was there that day and what their character was like because he seemingly never tried to figure anything out. Fuentes, by the way, was at Unite the Right, as was David Duke, whom Trump had claimed to “know nothing about” during the 2016 primary.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/what-donald-trump-never-knows.html

Yeah come on, you can’t take back your blatant racism. That’s one thing I learned during the Trump years – racists don’t like being called racists. And if you play the tape back for them when they say racist things they don’t admit saying, they always pass the blame. It must be nice to live in reality denying fantasy land. Yeah I didn’t fail that class – some other crazy people made me fail that test! And this entire dinner was basically an exercise in “don’t fuck with me” mantra, while the GOP is going full on into “nothing to see here, please disperse” territory!

House and Senate Republicans are speaking out against former President Donald Trump's dinner last week with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

"There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. "And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States."

Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy denounced Fuentes, who is labeled as a white supremacist pundit and organizer by the Anti-Defamation League, in language similar to McConnell's, though he stopped short of condemning the former president.

"I don't think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican Party," McCarthy said. "I think President Trump came out four times and condemned him and didn't know who he was."
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/29/1139742844/republicans-denounce-trump-dinner-white-supremacist-nick-fuentes

Yeah so there’s a lot of infighting in the GOP right now. And the weird thing is that Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson are awfully silent on this issue. Which is a first because they’re usually the biggest loud mouth jackasses in the room. So why did Trump arrange this dinner? Well, it turns out there may be sinister forces afoot! But hey as long as these pricks keep fighting with each other and losing elections, I’m OK with it! But wait… why don’t we take off the mask and see who’s really behind this? Milo YIANNOPOLOUS???? Thanks, Velma!

As fallout from Donald Trump’s meeting with the white supremacist Nick Fuentes continues, a far-right activist has claimed the meeting was a set-up, meant to “make Trump’s life miserable”.

NBC News reported that in an attempt to “send a message” to the former president, Milo Yiannopoulos, a rightwing provocateur and former Breitbart editor, helped arrange for Fuentes to travel to Mar-a-Lago in Florida for a dinner between Trump and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

Trump dined with Fuentes and Ye at his resort on 22 November. Since the meeting, Trump has been criticized by senior Republicans and by conservative Jewish leaders.

Trump said Ye was invited to dinner and “unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends … whom I knew nothing about”. He has not condemned Fuentes and his views. Fuentes has been described by the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League as “among the most prominent and unapologetic antisemites in the country”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/30/milo-yiannopoulos-nick-fuentes-donald-trump-dinner

[font size="8"]Kevin McCarthy
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You know what my favorite thing about the right wing is? They love them some American symbolism, and they cannot get enough of it. It’s not enough to just have an American flag. There has to be a bald eagle in front of it. Riding a tank. Carrying an AR-15. And the American flag has to be torn. And set on fire. And you know what? Fuck it, let’s add some fireworks for good measure. And maybe a ripped piece of the Constitution that says "WE THE PEOPLE" in a large font. You get the idea. Unfortunately, Kevin McCarthy (Q – Batshit) is going to be our Speaker Of The House for the next two years. Here’s the thing – now that conservatives are back in control of the House, we can expect that Fox News will be calling a lot of the shots. So expect investigations into child grooming (whatever that is), the border crisis (whatever that is), and of course, Hunter Biden’s laptop. Which is the Benghazi of Pizzagates. So what does Kevin McCarthy plan to do on his first day as the new House Speaker? Why he plans to waste Congressional time by reading every single word of the US Constitution. Every one,.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is still short on the Republican support he’ll need to succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the next Congress. The GOP leader is also still looking for ways to impress members of his conference, especially on the far right.

To that end, McCarthy last week pitched an idea via Facebook: “Next year, Republicans will start every day of Congress with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. No exceptions.” It wasn’t long, of course, before annoying people like me reminded the congressman that Congress already starts every day with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance — it’s literally a written rule of the U.S. House of Representatives, as it’s been for many years — and his vow was entirely redundant.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s not your imagination. As readers with long memories might recall, shortly after the 2010 midterms, the newly elected GOP majority leadership arranged for the entire Constitution to be read out loud. Two years later, Republicans did it again.

There wasn’t any harm in the stunt, of course, but there wasn’t any point, either. It seemed to be the Republicans’ way of trying to tell the political world that they are the ones who truly love the Constitution.

The practice soon after fell out of favor, even under GOP majorities, in part because no one seemed to find any value in that symbolic gesture, and in part because the process became more contentious than expected. As The Washington Post reported in 2011, “They skipped several passages that no longer apply, including those that condoned slavery, angering some Democrats. On a day designed to celebrate the Founding Fathers’ growing role in the nation’s political discourse, Democrats accused Republicans of distorting history and the men who wrote it.”
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/still-looking-gop-backing-mccarthy-pitches-another-stunt-rcna58971

Yeah ‘Murica!!!!! Hey do we have any statistics analysts in the audience? What’s the Vegas over / under on him actually reading the part about “no religious test shall be required to hold public office” in Article 3? If I were a betting man, I would be willing to bet good money that he skips over that section. But really prayer in Congress? That won’t sit well with the growing atheist population in this country. And of course because the Infowars wing of the GOP doesn’t know how the government actually works, their solution in the coming months will be to impeach or investigate anyone they don’t agree with, and that’s going to be insane.

Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and warned of potential impeachment proceedings if he doesn’t step down, marking the House Republican leader’s strongest comments on the matter to date as he scrambles to lock down the votes for his speakership.

McCarthy, speaking from an event at the southern border, said that when Republicans take over the House in January, they will “investigate every order, every action, and every failure” to determine if they should begin impeachment proceedings.

“Our country may never recover from Secretary Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty. This is why today I am calling on the secretary to resign,” he said. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure. And we will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.”

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Mayorkas has no plans to resign and called on Congress to come up with legislative solutions to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. The agency continues to maintain that the border is secure, but has acknowledged it is dealing with an unprecedented number of noncitizens seeking to enter the country and that shifting demographics have added to the migration challenges they are facing.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/politics/kevin-mccarthy-homeland-security-secretary-alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment/index.html

So yeah GOP the question is – is this really your guy? Is this who you want to lead your party? If the answer is yes then that’s huge sign that the GOP is in disarray and is being taken over by batshit crazy conspiracy theorists. And already you know what they say about first impressions. And that is that you only get one. Mr. McCarthy isn’t even the speaker yet and he’s already made quite the first impression and that’s a total shit show. I guess he plans to get revenge for Greene and Boebert being booted off of committees by booting Omar and Swalwell? The stupid never ends.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is toeing a delicate line on national security issues in the lame-duck session as he seeks to win enough votes on the House floor to win the Speakership in January.

McCarthy is torn between competing factions of the GOP as he weighs a series of moves targeting the Biden administration and other Washington Democrats in the next Congress — all while trying to convince conservative GOP lawmakers to back him for Speaker.

He’s vowed to boot California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell off the House Intelligence Committee and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He’s also threatened to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the southern border.

And McCarthy has indicated he will withhold GOP support for a lame-duck vote on a bipartisan defense policy bill as a way to fight “wokeism” in the military.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3754749-mccarthy-speaker-quest-leaves-balancing-act-on-national-security/

What other nonsense will the new MAGA-friendly House GOP be up to when they take over in January you might ask? Well I answer you. Even Marjorie 3 Names admitted that most of this is basically a “get revenge quick” stunt designed to, well, get revenge for the 2020 elections and lockdowns. Their plan is to get revenge on… Dr. Fauci? What did he do? Oh yeah that’s right – the MAGA morons who have no idea how government works think that one guy was single-handedly responsible for the 2020 lockdowns. Really, grow up, losers. Most of us have moved on from that shit already.

Democrats are bracing for pressure from GOP lawmakers as they threaten investigations of the Biden administration while fighting over who will be speaker when Republicans assume control of the House in the next congressional session.

After clinching the House in this year’s midterm elections, Republicans are expected to use their new subpoena powers on top Biden officials.

Those could include top White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has drawn GOP ire for record-high migrant-crossing numbers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Has he been derelict in his responsibilities? I think so,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday of Mayorkas on ABC’s “This Week.” “I have a wide-open border in my home state. We have all these people coming in. We don’t know who they are.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-gop-eyes-fauci-dhs-secretary-probes-20221127-rrrwmidrf5cwbps5kanbtepi2q-story.html

[font size="8"]Kari Lake
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Q Anon. It’s like watching the kid who failed the test convincing the entire school board that he’s right and it was all a big lie. That’s what it’s like to watch the madness unfold in Arizona. Kari Lake (Q – Batshit) continues to deny that she lost the election to Katie Hobbs. Watching the shit show unfold in Arizona this week has been the true stuff of insanity. There were election deniers and Infowars fans coming out of the woodwork. So of course, the natural course for anyone connected to the MAGA world is if you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em. And that’s exactly what Lake did after refusing to concede. You just know they’re setting this up for a SCOTUS challenge, and god help us if they do. It’s funny that for the party that claims to hate trial lawyers, they really do love them some trial lawyers, don’t they? We probably won’t be hearing the end of this for a while.

Kari Lake, the defeated Republican candidate for Arizona governor, has filed a public records lawsuit demanding Maricopa County hand over a variety of documents related to the election.

Lake has refused to acknowledge that she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs and has for weeks drawn attention to voters who said they experienced long lines and other difficulties while voting on Election Day in Arizona’s largest county.

Her lawyer, Tim LaSota, says in the suit filed Wednesday that the county has not fulfilled public records requests filed on Nov. 15 and 16. The requests seek to identify voters who may have had trouble casting a ballot, such as people who checked in at more than one vote center or those who returned a mail ballot and also checked in at a polling place.

Lake is also asking for information about counted and uncounted ballots that were accidentally mixed. County officials have acknowledged the problem occurred at a handful of vote centers but say it happens in most elections and can be reconciled.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/kari-lake-files-elections-records-suit-after-losing-arizona-governors-race

Yeah sue ‘em now! Who cares? All they want to do is keep the grift going so they don’t have to, you know, do any real, actual work. But it gets worse – Kari’s nonsense is apparently spilling out into the Arizona Election Board certifiers. One county in Arizona – Cochise County – is refusing to certify the election results. And their nonsense could potentially cost them big time. Not just in the monetary department – which this will be ridiculously expensive – but it may also cost them a House seat! So keep playing with fire, Arizona GOP! Eventually you will get burned in the end!

Officials in a rural Arizona county Monday delayed the certification of November’s midterm elections, missing the legal deadline and leading the Arizona secretary of state’s office to sue over the county’s failure to sign off on the results.

By a 2-1 vote Monday morning, the Republican majority on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors pushed back certification until Friday, citing concerns about voting machines. Because Monday was the deadline for all 15 Arizona counties to certify their results, Cochise’s action could put at risk the votes of some 47,000 county residents and could inject chaos into the election if those votes go uncounted.

In the lawsuit filed by the office of Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs – a Democrat who will be the state’s next governor – officials said failing to certify the election results violates state law and could “potentially disenfranchise” the county’s voters.

The standoff between officials in Cochise County and the Arizona secretary of state’s office illustrates how election misinformation is continuing to stoke controversy about the 2022 results in some corners of the country even though many of the candidates who echoed former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election were defeated in November.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/28/politics/arizona-county-delays-election-challenges/index.html

Yeah why do we keep putting up with these losers? It’s absolute madness! Whatever happened to “you lost, get over it!”. I don’t remember how many times I was told that after Hillary Clinton lost in the 2016 election. The good news is that most of the election deniers and hardcore conspiracy theorists like Doug Mastriano and Kari Lake lost their elections. But I always love when the Infowars wing of the GOP makes absurd claims like they’re fighting the Battle of Lexington And Concord in 2022. Well I got news for you conspiracy theorist kooks: you ain’t fighting shit. Keep fighting these pretend wars in your head.

According to the political website FiveThirtyEight, “the vast majority of election-denying candidates who lost their races have conceded.” They no more deserve applause than would arsonists who, at the last minute, decide to fight the fire that they had set.

But unlike these candidates, Kari Lake, the two-fisted, election-denying Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, adamantly refuses to concede even though the Associated Press declared that she lost the election by 17,000 votes. No surprise there because Lake had vowed during the campaign only to accept a result in which she was the winner — in other words, “heads I win, tails the election was rigged.” To emphasize her election-denying grit, Lake’s campaign recently began playing on social media the late Tom Petty’s song, “I won’t back down.”

Time will tell whether the 2022 midterms were the Gettysburg of election denial, the kind of battlefield defeat that in hindsight was a turning point. But, as the midterms demonstrated, election denial is certainly losing traction. Its adherents’ most realistic hope of a revival depends on a replay of 2020 in which Donald Trump, as the Republican nominee, loses the 2024 general election in a tight race and then uses election denial to rouse his MAGA mercenaries, at least those no longer serving prison terms, and the lunatic conspiracy theorists, to stop the electoral certification. It will be harder in 2024 since Trump won’t be rabble-rousing from a presidential perch and President Biden will have considerable means available to prevent a Jan. 6 replay.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3752836-kari-lake-and-the-last-stand-of-the-election-deniers/

Oh Kari, Kari, Kari. You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is – never try. And of course because rule of law doesn’t matter to the party of Alex Jones and Donald Trump, they’re simply wishing Kari into office. By the way if you’ve seen the protest pictures from Maricopa County, they’re ridiculously laughable. But apparently, Trump is attempting to just wish Kari into office. Yeah you know you can wish for anything. Like… I wish I was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now I am! Ya…! But this new version of the GOP is like The Secret, but for moronic conspiracy theorists.

Much of Lake’s Trump-backed campaign was centered around bolstering unfounded claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 election, and the former TV anchor has lived up to her commitment to only accept election results if she won.

Lake, who lost her bid for governor to Democrat Katie Hobbs, has refused to acknowledge the election results, instead filing a lawsuit requesting public records from Maricopa County that would detail which voters experienced issues casting their ballots, and information regarding errors in ballot counting.

“We know we won this election,” Lake said in a weekend interview with far-right streaming service Real America’s Voice. “We are going to do everything in our power to make sure that every single Arizonans vote that was disenfranchised is counted.”

Her efforts are clashing with a major electoral deadline. Monday is the last day for Arizona counties to certify the results of the 2022 midterms, and several counties have held out to register challenges. Cochise and Mojave country — both rural, Republican strongholds in the state — voted not to certify and instead delay their final decision until the last possible moment. If the counties fail to certify their election in time, Arizona state officials have indicated that they will go to court to force a certification, or all of the county’s ballots shall be discarded. If not resolved, the challenges could cause issues with Arizona’s scheduled statewide certification on December 5th.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-calls-for-kari-lake-to-be-installed-governor-of-arizona-1234637436/

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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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! You know I’m becoming increasingly alarmed by the outright disgusting behavior coming from our brothers and sisters on the right. It’s getting truly beyond the pale and I’m tired of going through the same song and dance every single time we have a mass shooting in this country. Nothing changes. Nothing. That’s because our brothers and sisters on the right don’t worship GAWD or JAYSUS. They worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! But that said, every time something like this happens, the politics of the Dark One get in the way of any progress being made in this country. It’s truly the stuff of insanity. And once again, our brothers and sisters on the right don’t help any and in fact make the situation that much worse. I’m of course talking about the terrible Club Q tragedy in Colorado Springs last week. But wait, my fair congregation, just wait! Because the reactions to this terrible tragedy are every bit as equally horrifying!

A Washington state pastor celebrated the mass shooting last weekend at an LGBTQ nightclub that left five people dead.

Aaron Thompson, of Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, said the massacre was a "good thing" and falsely claimed the victims had been molesting children, although he walked that back moments later by saying their had only been looking at children in an inappropriate way, reported Only Sky.

"Am I sad that five homos got shot?" Thompson said Tuesday in a sermon. "No, I’m not sad at all. As a matter of fact, I think it’s a good thing that they’re not here anymore to molest kids."

The gunman opened fire during a drag performance, which have become a target of conservative outrage, but the event at Club Q in Colorado Springs was not open to anyone younger than 18, unlike child-friendly "drag queen story hours" hosted by many libraries.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/right-wing-pastor-celebrates-club-q-massacre-as-good-thing-in-hate-filled-sermon/ar-AA14xW7e?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b733479cd5c44d5ab83c1adac0443899

Now this is the problem that I have with the unchecked and unfiltered system of nonstop right wing propaganda in this country. It makes people do and say things like this that are truly horrible and beyond the pale. Oh and he’s apparently not the worst of them either. Check out this crazy woman Jenna Ellis – a former employee of the unholy Dark One. And here’s what she had to say. She is definitely on the side of the unholy Dark One. And the shit coming from the right after finding out the shooter’s orientation is just as cringe worthy as you might expect.

Jenna Ellis, one of the right-wing lawyers who represented former President Donald Trump in his failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election, proclaimed on Wednesday's edition of The Jenna Ellis Show that the five victims who were murdered in the massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado early Sunday morning are burning in Hell.

"The five people who were killed in the nightclub that night, there is no evidence at all that they were Christians. So assuming that they were not, that they had not accepted the truth of the gospel of Christ and affirmed Jesus Christ as the lord of their life, they are now reaping the consequences of having eternal damnation," Ellis said. "And that is far, far greater – we should be having that conversation. Instead of just the tragedy of what happened to the body, we need to be talking about what happened to the soul and the fact that they are now in eternal separation from our lord and savior Jesus Christ."
https://www.rawstory.com/reaping-the-consequences-of-eternal-damnation-jenna-ellis-says-club-q-victims-are-burning-in-hell/

Pretty sure those who give comfort and aid to our enemy will be the ones answering to SAYTAN, yet they are convinced that they will see the light. But of course we are currently living in a world where the lunatic right wing fringe is convinced they are always right, and we also live in Elon Musk’s Twitter world, where white supremacists are freely given a megaphone. This is yet another sad tale of America’s lust for the firearm. And of course another lunatic on the right, Herschel Walker – a man who claims to be a man of GAWD. With followers like these, who needs heathens?

On Saturday, a 22-year-old man with a history of domestic violence killed five people and injured 22 others with an AR-15 at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Some people were at the venue, Club Q, to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a commemoration of people killed in anti-trans violence. One of the victims, bartender Daniel Aston, was transgender.

Some gun-loving Republicans offered their typical thoughts and prayers after the 34th mass shooting in the U.S. this year; others just carried on with the kind of homophobic rhetoric that fuels hate crimes like this. Herschel Walker, who’s currently campaigning for a December 6 runoff election in Georgia against incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D), went ahead with his wildly bigoted stump speech on Sunday in Carrollton, without acknowledging the shooting at all.

Here’s what Walker told voters yesterday, according to audio obtained by Jezebel:

“Do y’all know what the definition of an enemy is? A enemy is somebody that don’t like you. But they been telling you they don’t know the definition of a woman either. So think about that either. They don’t know the definition of a woman. But I’m going to tell you the definition of a woman. Because it written in my great book. It said ‘a man and a woman.’ And there’s a difference between the two of them. So that’s the reason men shouldn’t be in women’s sport—here’s a difference.

-snip-
Read more: https://jezebel.com/herschel-walker-delivers-unhinged-transphobic-speech-th-1849808603

Yes you should! Because the one that you’re currently on isn’t working! You know we may have to do a deep dive on Herschel Walker’s insane religious views in a future Holy Shit. But there is one thing I wanted to touch on. Colorado Springs isn’t just a symptom of the problem in this country in the growing war on hate vs free speech, they are a part of the problem. Because Colorado is the home to an organization that you may have heard of, that we discuss on this program from time to time, called Focus On The Family. So yeah how do you fight back against toxic religion? Well with this.

A sign at the Colorado Springs headquarters of anti-LGBTQ+ Christian group Focus on the Family was vandalized in protest of the mass shooting at Club Q in that city, a crime that left five people dead and nearly 20 injured.

Someone spray-painted “Their blood is on your hands” and “Five lives taken” on the sign at Focus’s headquarters, The Denver Post reports. Officials at the organization wouldn’t say exactly when the incident happened.

A group called Colorado Peoples Press claimed responsibility for the incident. “We chose to proceed with this action because of the incredible violence that Focus on the Family continues to perpetuate” against LGBTQ+ people, the group said in a press release shared on Twitter.

“These [five] individuals gathered at Club Q with friends and loved ones, new and old, to be in community and to grieve all the lives lost to transphobia,” the group added. The shooting was an “act of hate,” it said.
https://news.yahoo.com/focus-family-anti-lgbtq-group-180059790.html

Sigh… so that’s why things will never get better after every mass shooting. It’s the circle of death and it screws us all! There you go! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Late Stage Capitalism – Everyone’s On Strike
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When mega corporations have nowhere to go but excessive profits and are trying to squeeze out your every last dollar, there’s extreme greed, and then there’s:

Welcome everybody back to our segment, Top 10 presents: Late Stage Capitalism! That’s right – what’s a few extra zeroes on your quarterly profit statement? At the expense of the entire rest of the world. So when mega billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson have more wealth than entire continents combined, it’s time to take them down a few pegs! And how do you do that, you might be asking? Well, I answer you, ladies and gentlemen. That answer is: the strike. And it seems like everyone is going on strike these days. Whether it’s Amazon workers in Kentucky. Or Starbucks workers in New York City, or it’s automotive workers in Michigan. Look, the entire world is coming out of the nightmare of the last two years known as the COVID-19 pandemic. And nobody ever said that reopening the world after being closed for nearly a year and half was going to be easy. But of course leave it to the union busting tactics of the likes of Jeff Bezos to reel in those sweet, sweet profits.

Amazon workers at the air hub outside the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky international airport, Amazon’s largest air hub in the world, are pushing to organize a union in the latest effort to mobilize workers at the tech company.

Workers say they are dissatisfied with annual wage increases this year. About 400 of them have signed a petition to reinstate a premium hourly pay for Amazon’s peak season that hasn’t been enacted at the site yet. Their main demands also include a $30 an hour starting wage, 180 hours of paid time off and union representation at disciplinary hearings.

“We have to operate a lot of heavy machinery, freight loaders, cargo tractors and things like that, and people aren’t paid any extra to do that work,” said Griffin Ritze, an air associate and ramp agent at the Amazon air hub, and a member of the organizing committee. “They just cross-train you in as many roles as possible and you’re constantly shuffled around.”

About 4,500 workers are employed at the expanding air hub in Kentucky. Those organizing have already filed two unfair labor practice charges over Amazon’s response to the unionization effort, which has included anti-union talking points on televisions and its communications system for employees that characterize the effort as a third-party scheme.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/27/workers-amazon-air-hub-union-cincinnati-northern-kentucky

It’s a lot more complex than just money. Amazon has been at the center of some egregious human rights violations in its’ warehouses which are becoming the size of the Costcos like the one in the movie Idiocracy. But Amazon isn’t the only company where workers are going on strike. There’s also Starbucks where strikes are happening in multiple states. Not only that, the Cal State University system is going on strike! Where does it end? Well it will probably end with a pissing contest between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk over who controls most of the internet world and most of the money, that’s what.

Finals start next Tuesday at UC Irvine but there are still a lot of unanswered questions as protests at all 10 University of California campuses go into a third week.

Almost 48,000 UC student researchers, teaching assistants and postdoctoral scholars walked off the job on Nov. 14 demanding better pay and benefits.

Negotiations between United Auto Workers, the union that represents the student workers, and the university continue.

"I'm stressed but I'm still hopeful," said Yiwen Lin, an education department graduate at UCI.

Picketers remain united at UCI.

"I can't believe we're into week 3 and still doing this," said Biraj Bisht, who is also a graduate researcher. "I imagined we'd be over a longer; earlier but we're still here and we'll still be here as long as it takes."
https://abc7.com/university-of-california-student-worker-strikes-campus-uc-irvine/12504448/

And you know what, people? This is why we say all elections matter. It matters who you vote for and where they stand on the issues. You think your job conditions are miserable? Well, the conservatives voted for this. But if you vote right, you won’t have to worry about it. But if you vote R because the talk shows and internet propaganda tells you to, this is what you wind up with. And it’s a good thing that we have cooler heads at some levels of the government and in the White House, otherwise things could be a hell of a lot worse.

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote Wednesday to block a potential rail strike after President Joe Biden warned of the dire economic consequences of a rail disruption that could happen as early as Dec. 9.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will vote Wednesday to impose a tentative contract deal struck in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers.

"I don't like going against the ability of unions to strike but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike," she said Tuesday after a meeting with Biden.

Biden had warned Monday of a catastrophic economic impact if railroad service ground to a halt, saying up to 765,000 Americans could lose their jobs in the first two weeks of a strike.

"Congress, I think, has to act to prevent it. It's not an easy call, but I think we have to do it. The economy is at risk," Biden said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-urges-congress-act-avert-potential-rail-strike-2022-11-29/

But here's why things aren't getting any better. It's because of one word: profit. That's right. The right can keep fighting with the left all they want, but in the end, the only thing that matters to these corporate scumbags is the almighty dollar. See the railroad strike is a thing and President Biden can only do so much to stop it. It's inherently evil and Wall Street is very broken. To stop corporations from raiding every last dollar we have, we have got to fix the profit margin.

Railroad workers are unionized and their contract is set to expire on Dec. 9, which has prompted speculation about a possible railroad strike that could disrupt travel and cripple supply chains.

President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh helped broker a tentative deal earlier this year, but four out of 12 rail unions voted against it, mostly because the proposed contract included just one single paid sick day. In their current contract, the workers have zero sick days.

-snip-

On Monday, Biden issued a statement saying Congress should intervene immediately and pass legislation to force the tentative contract on the rail workers. Taking this step would erase the workers’ right to strike, and yet, in the same statement, Biden called himself “a proud pro-labor President.”

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted on a bill to adopt the tentative contract, which passed 290-137. Many Democrats were also furious about the sick time issue, so the House also voted on Resolution 119, which would add seven days of paid sick leave to the contract. A whopping 207 Republicans voted against it. The resolution still passed with 221 votes, from 218 Democrats and a measly three Republicans.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/more-than-200-republicans-voted-against-paid-sick-days-for-railroad-workers/ar-AA14L1Xx

Yes BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! So all 207 Republicans currently sitting in the house, once again vote against our best interests. Because god forbid that people need assistance in this country. Only Americans can be tricked into voting against free money. But the good news is that while all of these strikes aren't exactly good, people should be in favor of the workers instead of the giant corporations and hundreds of billions of dollars in quarterly profits they make. Of all of these strikes, the most devastating would be a rail strike, because that would affect everyone. At least it was stopped. For now.

The House overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday afternoon that would help avert a freight rail strike the White House fears could cripple the U.S. economy – 30 years after Congress last intervened in a looming rail shutdown.

Lawmakers also passed a related measure that would provide seven days of additional paid sick leave to rail workers.

The bipartisan vote to avert the strike was 290-137 while the paid sick leave amendment passed 221-207 almost entirely along party lines. Both measures now head to the Senate.

After the vote, President Joe Biden thanked House Democratic and Republican lawmakers for "taking urgent action" and prodded the Senate to act fast.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/30/house-avert-freight-rail-strike-unions-economy/10800247002/

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! Because when people just don’t feel like reading the full article, they just make shit up to fill in the gaps. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter in New Mexico, undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference. They are trying to read both yours and my thoughts, after all! Ah, there we go! This week, a man who is a regular guest here on Conspiracy Corner, and a man with currently both nothing and everything to lose, Mr. Creepy Pillow Man himself, Mike Lindell is getting out of the conspiracy theory basement and into the spotlight. That’s right – he plans to run for the chair of the Republican National Committee! So why not you might ask? And I counter your question with – why would you? Because the GOP is now the party of Trump and Fox News. Of course the “Trumpier Than Thou” party is going to go berserk and replace the sane members with bootlickers.

Don't sleep on the upcoming Republican National Committee chair campaign, says Mike Lindell.

The MyPillow CEO whose cause célèbre in recent years has been casting doubt about the validity of election results announced his candidacy for chair of the RNC Monday.

Lindell, who made the announcement on an online show hosted by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, said in an interview with CBS News that he was unsatisfied with the party's performances in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections – in which the Republican Party failed to maintain or regain control of both houses of the federal legislature.

"You need a different input to get a different output. That's business 101," Lindell said.

The Minnesotan said if he got the job he'd approach it full-time, leaving behind the pillow business that made him famous. Lindell said he has not yet developed a campaign platform, but is first conducting "due diligence," in part, he said, by trying to talk to all 168 voting members of the committee.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mypillow-guy-mike-lindell-republican-party-chair/

Could you seriously imagine this guy in charge of anything? Let alone the Republican Party? Well the merging of the GOP with the Trump / MAGA world and the Christofascism world was pretty inevitable, this would make it official. So why now? Well like most bad things, he did some praying, and he decided that it was “God’s Will” that he run in the election. Yeah when you start thinking that it’s god’s will for you to do something like this, you should probably be locked up before you become a danger to yourself and others.

Beleaguered MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell announced on Monday that he would challenge longtime Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel for the party's leadership at the RNC's meeting in January.

"I am 100% running for the RNC chairman against Ronna McDaniel," Lindell declared during an interview with former White House adviser Stephen Bannon. "One of the big donors said to me, he said, 'Mike, everybody wants you to be head of the RNC, some of them just don't know it yet,'" he continued.

Speaking with Axios, the outspoken supporter of Donald Trump denied that the former president had influenced his decision to run for RNC chair, telling the outlet that "I did not call him and say, 'What do you think about this?' "This is my decision."

Lindell's announcement comes after days of telegraphing his intent to oust McDaniel, who has increasingly come under fire from within her own party, following the GOP's lackluster showing in the recent midterm elections. McDaniel, however, has reportedly locked in the backing of the majority of RNC members who will elect their next chair in January. Lindell, meanwhile, has largely spent the past several years in the spotlight for his wild, conspiratorial proclamations, and for having his phone seized by FBI investigators at a Minnesota Hardee's drive-through.
https://www.yahoo.com/now/mypillow-boss-mike-lindell-100-204646193.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACUQ131MT_dcPo_8iu_hM1Y7GwerkyPMAJRuvASRZkCl-8X8hraiOTQT5g1SW85eI7E7ZyKpTx8TprSirbuaCiZIX3mL-7sM_zihqG5IHehj-jI3JeRStaqL_PQ3pEM8B-lAf01Cb9ZRRInXK5Ot9-O2UHVvHt0YhXaIM31spD2_

So yeah what a great idea! Let’s replace anyone decent that the GOP has left with election denying conspiracy theorists, MAGA bootlickers, Fox News bots, and neo Nazi extremists! What a great idea, Mikey! And yeah it’s “god’s will”, sure, why not. I’m sure that God is great with you hanging out with all of these undesirable people. So is he the GOP’s Dark Knight? Is he the leader that they deserve? Oh yeah you betcha! Throw in Steve Bannon as his sidekick too. He’s the leader they need, but not the one they deserve. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. But no, he’s no Dark Knight.

Ronna McDaniel’s tenure as chair of the Republican National Committee has not been without setbacks. In her first election cycle as the RNC’s leader, her party lost control of the U.S. House. In her second election cycle atop the party, Republicans lost the White House and the U.S. Senate. And in her third election cycle at the RNC — this year — McDaniel saw her party fall far short of expectations.

On Fox News over the weekend, South Dakota’s Republican governor, Kristi Noem, in apparent reference to McDaniel, said, “I don’t know if a party can continue to lose like we have and keep their jobs.”

The incumbent RNC chair is nevertheless seeking a fourth term. For McDaniel’s intra-party detractors, the good news is that she now has a high-profile rival. The bad news for Republicans looking for an alternative to McDaniel is that the rival is the pillow guy. Axios reported overnight:

As part of the same interview, Lindell told Bannon, “I’m all in ... and one of the things that one of the big donors said to me, he said, ‘Mike, everybody wants you to be head of the RNC, some of them just don’t know it yet.’”
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/mypillow-ceo-mike-lindell-launches-odd-campaign-rnc-chair-rcna59136

That’s not enough tin foil there, Bart! But let’s think about this here for a minute – imagine having the balls to say that it’s “God’s will” that you’re going to do something like this? It’s true mind-boggling insanity. We think Mikey should probably be locked up before he becomes a danger to himself or to others. But it may be too late for that. And what better way to keep losing than to have noted Neo Nazi and election denier Blake Masters as your chief strategist? Well, I mean if you’re going to lose, you might as well lose in such a way that people scream “Holy shit, what a loser!”.

GOP flop Blake Masters has been tapped by the Republican National Committee to serve on an advisory council conducting a midterms postmortem and helping shape the party’s 2024 strategy, according to a report from Politico.

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel has allegedly brought in a slew of advisers, including both successful and unsuccessful 2022 candidates to serve on the new “Republican Party Advisory Council.” Members alongside Masters include Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, Representatives-elect Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) and John James (R-Mich.), and senator-elect Katie Britt (R-Ala.).

Masters, who lost his bid to unseat incumbent Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, was one of several high-profile MAGA candidates whose culture war-heavy campaign strategy failed to resonate with voters. The former venture capitalist ran with the financial backing of his former boss, billionaire Peter Thiel, and the endorsement of former President Trump. Despite the loss, i a statement to Politico Masters indicated he remains interested in a future in politics. “I look forward to working with Ronna to make sure the party effectively supports our candidates and wins big in 2024,” Masters said. “Our party needs to modernize. We’re fighting against Big Tech, the media, and now, the Democrats’ GOTV early voting machine.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/blake-masters-rnc-advisory-committee-1234638130/

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink: Beer At The World Cup
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey everyone, I don’t know about you, but I could really use a drink!

Of course you know by now that the idea of this segment is that if you’re tired of all the terrible news in the world, the only solution is to belly up to the bar with a glass of your favorite beverage, embrace the nonsense, and forget about life for a few minutes! Only rules we got in this bar – no fightin’, no cussin’, and most importantly - no politics! We do allow swearing to some extent, as long as it’s never at someone. Only with. This week we’re drinking for all of those who are brave enough to attend the World Cup in Doha, Qatar and are unable to enjoy a glass of their favorite beverage! So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about a lack of beer? Beer! You read my mind! Bring me the largest glass of IPA you got! That’s… a pretty big one! So of course the World Cup is going on in Doha, Qatar, and everyone is harping on FIFA for the lack of their ability to drink. Gee, you think maybe holding an international event in a country that’s run by a religious dictatorship and notorious for human rights violations may be a bad thing? Well duh of course it was!

On Saturday evening, on the fifth floor of the Crowne Plaza hotel, one solution to what has become the World Cup’s first-week crisis is revealed. The answer lies in the name of this establishment: Brewskis and Grub, a restaurant that serves pub food, is decorated with flags from all over the world, plays soccer on its myriad flatscreens and delivers something that has been endlessly debated.

Beer.

When Brewskis opens at 5 p.m., it’s empty, save for a staff from all over the world. In the corner, near the bar, there’s a sign made from light bulbs that glows like a water station in the, well, desert. BEER YOURSELF it says in neon lights, next to an image of a frosty mug with a slogan—it’s ok to tap it!—glowing red inside.

The sign is literal, in that there are taps below it. Those taps work with cards that can be purchased. Grab a frosty mug, place the card against a scanner, pour, watch the balance whittle away by the ounce and … voila. It’s time to go full Homer Simpson.

Fans the world over can buy beer—and wine and booze—all over Doha, at hotels with licenses and exorbitant upcharges. (The $12.36 at Brewskis for a—gulp—Budweiser is actually cheaper than most places). But the sentiment that’s being peddled by the host country and its FIFA enablers—that it’s not hard to find alcohol, so it shouldn’t matter if it’s sold in stadiums—is little more than clumsy, intentional misdirection.
https://www.si.com/soccer/2022/11/19/qatar-world-cup-2022-beer-stadium-ban-fifa-gianni-infantino

Yes, beer! That glorious concoction of hops, yeast and barley that’s enjoyed all over the world by, you know, people who like to have fun. Except at the World Cup. You can buy beer in Doha, you just can’t buy it at the stadium. So of course what happens after the Qatari government decides to ban beer? The fans demand it! Come on, let’s face it – beer and futbol go together like, well, beer and anything. Like pizza for instance. Pizza is so much better with a tall frosty glass of your favorite cerveza! And this is what happened after beer was banned:

Fans of victorious Ecuador were heard chanting "We want beer" during their World Cup-opening win over Qatar, while the host nation's supporters left en masse before the end of the game on Sunday.

Large swathes of empty seats in the second half summed up the Qatar soccer team's disappointing start to their first World Cup, but a lively and outnumbered group of Ecuadorians in the stands provided some levity by chanting for beer toward the end of the first half.

It was a humorous intervention two days after Qatar decided to ban beer sales at the stadiums during the World Cup. It was a late change by the conservative Islamic nation where access to alcohol is strictly limited, with only alcohol-free Bud Zero sold at the game.

The night started with more than 67,000 mostly Qatari fans filling the cavernous Al Bayt Stadium, enjoying an opening ceremony that showcased the tiny Arab emirate to a global audience 12 years after winning the right to host soccer's biggest event.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4807743/ecuador-fans-chant-we-want-beer-qatars-leave-opener-early

Yeah you know things are fucked up when your country’s most hardcore fans – the fans that are willing to travel half way across the fucking world to see your country’s team play – leave early because there’s no alcohol sold at the stadium. That is colossally fucked up! Oh and it gets weirder, my friends! Alcohol isn’t the only that’s being banned in Qatar. Free speech is limited, so is freedom of religion, and other social issues like homosexuality are all limited. Yeah maybe send a warning to FIFA that the next World Cup shouldn’t be held in a country like this!

The World Cup is equal parts sporting event and international celebration — and for many fans, alcohol plays a large role. That's been true in stadiums, and in bars that open early or stay open late to show games.

But the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is unlike any before it. Just two days before the tournament's first match in the Muslim nation, officials made the surprise announcement that fans won't be allowed to drink beer at the country's eight World Cup stadiums — a reversal of a previously announced policy.

Alcohol is tightly regulated in Qatar, where customs agents are under orders to seize any booze visitors try to bring into the country.

It's one of many cultural clashes and potential legal issues that fans might encounter in Qatar, particularly if they're traveling from more open societies. Here's a quick guide:

Islam is the official religion of Qatar — and anyone found to be proselytizing for other religions or criticizing Islam "may be criminally prosecuted," the State Department said, in a factsheet about Qatar for World Cup visitors.

It's also not safe to assume you can practice your faith openly: "Qatar allows some non-Muslim religious practice in designated areas like Doha's Religious Complex, but all faiths are not accommodated equally," the U.S. agency said.

Speech that's deemed critical of the Qatari government could trigger an arrest. Those laws apply both to spoken words and social media.

And while past World Cups have brought a heaping of argy-bargy — scenes of rival crowds yelling or even singing obscenities at one another — open conflicts can bring big problems in Qatar.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/19/1137783957/world-cup-qatar-fan-restrictions-alcohol

Yeah so you might be wondering what happened to all the beer, exactly? Well there’s everything from finding alternatives to beer to drinking beer outside the stadium. But many people are wondering what exactly, the king of beers, Budweiser, is going to do with all of the beer that they produced specifically for the World Cup? Budweiser is the official beer of FIFA and the World Cup. They produced some $75 MILLION DOLLARS worth of beer. Well, the good news is that whichever country wins the whole tournament, they will get all of the beer! Come on USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Cases of Budweiser that were meant to be sold during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will instead go to fans of whichever country wins the global soccer tournament, the beer brand's parent company announced this week.

The World Cup kicked off on Sunday with fans cheering on their favorite teams from living room couches, neighborhood bars and in the stadiums — but without booze, as the host county announced a surprise ban on alcohol sales in stadiums. Now Anheuser-Busch InBev said it plans to bring the "celebration from the FIFA World Cup stadiums to the winning country's fans."

"We will host the ultimate championship celebration for the winning country," the Belgium brewer said in a statement, adding that it will provide more details on the beer giveaway as the tournament approaches the December 18 final.

FIFA officials announced last week that no alcohol will be sold at the eight stadiums in Qatar hosting matches, drawing complaints from visiting fans. The Muslim country is conservative and tightly regulates alcohol sales and usage.

Fans can still purchase Bud Zero, Budweiser's non-alcoholic beverage, inside stadiums in Qatar, FIFA said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-cup-qatar-alcohol-beer-ban-budweiser/

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #15 - Mexico
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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:

[font size="4"]Destination #15: Mexico: [/font]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/313g+A58k3L._AC_.jpg

Well we’re finally back in North America everybody! Unfortunately our World Tour hit a couple of bumps along the way but we’ve since got those ironed out! We have just two more destinations left in our World Tour and a couple more planned for next year! But this week we’re heading to that country that’s just south of the border of the United States, Mexico! Mexico is of course the home of one of my favorite cuisines of the entire world, Mexican food! But Mexican food is so much more than what you get at Taco Bell. Mexico is also the home of the ancient Mayans and Aztecs, and its’ chief export is corn, or what they call “maize”. But Mexico is also now apparently in a war with the US over genetically modified foods. But we can’t fault Mexico here, you don’t want to mix genetically modified foods with the naturally growing ones, that could spell utter disaster!

A row between the US and Mexico over a plan by the latter to ban imports of genetically modified corn by 2024 deepened on Monday.

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warned Mexico's president that the US would be forced to take legal action if no "acceptable resolution" was found.

Mexico argues that genetically modified seeds are a threat to its own ancient native corn varieties.

But on Tuesday, Mexico's president said he would seek a deal with the US.

A ban would have "significant impact" on US-Mexico trade, Mr Vilsack had earlier warned.

Mexico is the second-largest importer of corn in the world after China, and much of the corn it buys comes from the United States.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63793651

Yeah not the corn! But moving on, you know all the jokes and rumors that you hear about Mexican prisons losing prisoners? It’s true! It’s all true! In fact one of the worst criminals in Mexican history, Edgar Villareal, is missing, and the Mexican Federales have no idea where he is! Yeah that’s exactly the kind of person who you don’t want to go missing. At least as much as we give the US prison system a lot of shit, there’s no way a guy like that would go missing. They’d keep him locked in maximum security behind glass Hannibal Lecter style.

The whereabouts of Édgar Valdez Villarreal, alias “La Barbie,” one of the most bloodthirsty drug-traffickers in Mexican history, is unknown. The cartel chief does not appear to be in the custody of the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), where he is serving a sentence running until 2056, as an EL PAÍS search of the database records of all inmates within the system has confirmed. A lack of official information as to Valdez Villarreal’s current status has seen his name back in the headlines, more than a decade after he was arrested in August 2010.

“There are a number of reasons why an inmate may be listed as ‘not in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons,’” a spokesperson for the US corrections agency tells EL PAÍS. “Inmates who were previously in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons and who have not served their sentence may be out of custody for a period of time to attend court hearings, receive medical treatment or for other reasons. We do not provide specific information about the status of prisoners who are not in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for security or privacy reasons,” he adds. Until he vanished from the system, Valdez Villarreal had been serving his sentence in the Coleman II high-security penitentiary in central Florida.

The Mexican Attorney General’s Office and Secretariat of Foreign Affairs have both also confirmed to this newspaper that they also have no knowledge of La Barbie’s legal situation. One of the lawyers who represented the drug lord in court in Atlanta, Georgia, where Valdez Villarreal was sentenced in June 2018, gave no comment, arguing that he did not know why his client’s name does not appear on the BOP registry of inmates in the US federal prison system.
https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-11-30/mexico-asks-us-for-answers-as-notorious-drug-lord-la-barbie-vanishes-from-federal-prison-system.html

And remember what I said about Mexico and what we call soccer? Well there they refer to it as “futbol” and our version of football as “futbol Americano”. And they are a country that is very passionate about sports and their national team. Of course you know that the World Cup is still a currently ongoing thing right now, and Mexico got eliminated after scoring big against Saudi Arabia, but failed to advance after Poland won. Yeah the rules are ridiculous, I know,. But one thing you don’t do is disrespect a country or their culture or team or they will come after you!

Mexican boxer Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez has sent a warning to Lionel Messi, who he accused of disrespecting Mexico.

“Did you see Messi cleaning the floor with our shirt and flag????” Álvarez tweeted, apparently in reference to a video which shows Messi celebrating with his teammates in the changing room.

As the Argentine takes off his football boots, the video shows Messi’s foot appearing to make contact with a Mexico shirt that was on the floor. There is no indication that Messi kicked the shirt intentionally.

“He better pray to God that I don’t find him!!” Álvarez added in another tweet, with a series of angry emojis. “Just like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico! I’m not talking about the country as a who, just about the bulls**t that Messi pulled.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/28/football/canelo-alvarez-lionel-messi-warning-spt-intl/index.html

Yeah it’s a lot more than that! One thing I will say is that if you’re planning on traveling to Mexico anytime soon, and you should. We went to Los Cabos a few editions ago and had a blast. But you should be aware that there’s some Mexican states that you probably shouldn’t visit for the foreseeable future, because well, there’s some bad shit going on there. And by “bad shit”, I mean kidnapping, extortion, and of course the famous ultra-corrupt Mexican police that the entire world knows about. But like all travel, just don’t wander too far from the tourist destinations and you should be good.

The United States could soon change the way it formulates its travel advice for Mexico, the Tourism Ministry (Sectur) has suggested.

Mexico is pushing for the U.S. government’s travel alerts to be more specific than they currently are, arguing that the State Department’s advice against traveling to some destinations is misguided.

Federal Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, and state tourism ministers met virtually with State Department officials to discuss the issue on Wednesday. Sectur subsequently issued a press release with the heading “Mexico and the United States move forward on agreements so that travel alerts are correctly targeted.”

In its current advisory, the State Department warns U.S. citizens not to travel to six states — Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas — due to crime or crime and kidnapping, and advises Americans to reconsider their need to travel to seven others.

The Sectur statement noted that Torruco, during a trip to Washington, D.C., in May, suggested that U.S. travel alerts should “detail the areas that could represent problems and not generalize, as some isolated cases of insecurity are numerous kilometers from tourism destinations.”
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/travel/mexico-tourism-us-travel-alerts/

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

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

Overall: B-

Change from 2017: No change

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

When we come back on the 15th, it’s our final stop of our 2022 World Tour as we visit the land of Carnivale, the rainforest, and futbol – Brazil!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Death Cab For Cutie[/font]

Folks, my next guest has a great new album out called “Asphalt Meadows”. You can see them at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas at the Kia Forum on Dec. 10th! Playing their song “Here To Forever”, give it up for Death Cab For Cutie!

Thank you Irvine! It’s good to be back home! We’re off next week but we will bring you The Best Of Holy Shit, and on the 15th we come back with our season finale and our 2022 Year In Review spectacular! See you in two weeks!

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About Top 10 Idiots

This is the official DU account for the new format Top 10 Conservative Idiots separate from the host account Initech. The new format Top 10 will launch June 13th, 2018 and all posts related to the Top 10 (promos, etc) will be posted from this account only. The Top 10 is posted once a week on Thursdays at 2:00 PM. There is a full archive of all past, present and future Top 10 editions that can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218599098\ Announcements for our current season schedule are posted in our Best Of editions that appear at the end of each season. Updates are posted regularly on the official Top 10 Mastodon account and the official Holy Shit Mastodon account. The Mastodon accounts are used to announce what's going to be in next week's edition, new content, advertising our segments, and so on. This account will post official Top 10 editions, and any related content including our spinoff series: Holy Shit The Sunday Sermons. If you wish to contact the Top 10 you may do so here: E-mail (all questions, concerns, suggestions, and hate mail welcome): Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com Follow the Top 10 on Mastodon: Top10ConIdiots@mstdn.party Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 on Mastodon: ChurchOfTop10@mstdn.party **This account will ONLY be used to post official Idiots editions, promos, and things related to the Top 10. No other posts will come from this account** Top 10 Wiki: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211322508

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