Top 10 Conservative Idiots #8-8: 4 Pardons & A Penance Edition

[Top 10 Idiots]

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #8-8: 4 Pardons & A Penance Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up University Of Wisconsin? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! Next week you guys, Stupidest State 2020! Are you ready? I know I am! I cannot wait for the return of the NFFSA this year and I promise it's going to be a good one! And I can also guarantee that it will be more entertaining to watch than your local XFL team is this season! Too soon? Ah who am I kidding? It's so easy to make fun of the XFL isn't it? Do we have time for the thing? So Leap Day is this Saturday everybody! Yes, it’s that magical day that happens only once every 4 years when we gather to worship Leap Day William. Oh wait, that was on 30 Rock. No, it’s that extra day of the year that happens once every 4 years. And if you’re looking for something to do, why not get married… IN HELL!!! Yes, the town of Hell, Michigan, which only has a population of 72, has a deal for you. You can get married – for FREE – at the tiny chapel in Hell, Michigan. Because I mean come on, what happy couple out there wouldn’t want to say that they got married in hell? Although let’s face it – you’re in Michigan in February. Under about 6 feet of snow. That pretty much is the definition of hell in my book! Hey o!!! But there of course is a catch – it’s a mass wedding. And come on, what good can come from a mass wedding, am I right? But the real hell is for your outside guests – because like I said they’re in the middle of Michigan – in February. Want a white wedding? Well this will be a really white wedding! OK that’s enough of the intro, we got a lot of idiocy to get to but first John Oliver is back and he catches up with the high crimes and misdemeanors from India’s Najendra Modi and the rise in Hindu nationalism is particularly scary:

Another week, another round of conservative insanity and lunacy. In the first slot this week, is of course the guy who we currently call “president”, Donald J. Trump (1), and now that he’s been vindicated, he thinks he can let a whole bunch of his criminal buddies off the hook, most troubling is former Illinois governor and con man Rod Blagojevich (BLAGO!!!). Where is Jon Stewart when you need him? In the second slot this week is Julian Assange (2). And some extremely troubling new revelations from ex-communicated former California representative, Dana Rohrabacher point to a Trump pardon if Assange engaged in some election tampering at Russia’s expense. Shit just got real! In the third slot this week, is Bill Barr (3). He’s been dropping hints that he might resign due to Trump’s incessant tweeting and interfering with DOJ investigations, but will he really? Only one way to find out! Taking the fourth slot this week is the Alt Right (4). Alt Right snowflakes are melting down after “Gun Girl” Kaitlin Bennett, who became famous for taking her AR-15 to her Kent State graduation ceremony, went to Ohio University and was met with a mob. Or was it a mob? The level of intensity varies depending on who you talk to about the incident. In slot #5 this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5), and why were Delta Airlines passengers allowed to board a flight to Kona, Hawaii when they were possibly infected with the Corona Virus? And why weren’t they stopped? Our crack investigative team will get to the bottom of this subject! At slot #6 this week of course is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6), and this week’s sermon – is faith based tourism coming to an end? Our resident pastor discusses what’s going on at Orlando’s “Holy Land Experience” theme park and other religious tourist destinations! In slot #7 this week is the return of one of our favorite segments – “Explaining Jokes To Idiots” (7) and this week, over the top daytime talk show host Wendy Williams is under fire for a disgusting joke about the murder of Drew Carey’s ex fiancé, and we’re reminded of another incident that happened last year involving the band NOFX! At slot #8, we have a new edition of “This Fucking Guy” and we’re going to profile Frank Amedia (8), the creator of a super far right pro-Trump prayer group called “POTUS Shield”, and whew, this guy is insane! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new “I Need A Drink” (9), and what are people bringing on planes? There’s everything from tents to miniature ponies, stop it people, just stop it! Finally this week, our segment that is our 2020 voters’ guide “Keeping Up With The Candidates”, is coming to an end. Now don’t be sad! We start Stupidest State next week! But before we go, we are going to talk about the madness that went down at the Democratic debates. Plus the palate cleanser for listening to my bullshit, we have some live music for you from heavy metal supergroup Sons Of Apollo! Buy their new album MMXX, or you are no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Rod Blagojevich
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Remember when we used to just lock crooks up? I miss those days. But with a crook in charge it seems like all the criminals who got locked up before him are now getting off the hook. Perhaps the most famous of these is former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. BLAGO!!!! Yeah where is Jon Stewart when you need him? Yes, I understood that reference. But this week Trump pardoned a whole bunch of criminals who got locked up, mostly for financial crimes, but the most troubling of this bizarre series of pardons is most definitely Blago himself. And when you see the group that Trump included Blago in, well, it gets worse and worse!

President Donald Trump wielded his powers of clemency Tuesday for convicted white-collar criminals and the former Illinois governor accused of attempting to sell a US senate seat.
The wave of pardons and commutations, some of which Trump has been considering for years, came amid a post-impeachment flurry of presidential prerogative, from ridding his team of aides he deemed disloyal to flagrantly inserting himself into Justice Department matters.

Trump announced midday he had commuted the prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat who has served eight years of a 14-year sentence for the pay-for-play charges. Trump had been weighing the move since at least since 2018.

"He served eight years in jail, a long time. He seems like a very nice person, don't know him," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, suggesting the television appeals of Blagojevich's wife Patti helped cement his decision.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Tuesday night that Blagojevich was released from the Colorado federal prison where he was housed. Patti Blagojevich announced on her Twitter account that the family will hold a "homecoming press conference" at noon ET Wednesday at their residence.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/18/politics/donald-trump-rod-blagojevich-commutation-sentence/index.html

Aw… poor baby! He served in jail a long time? Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time! Man, conservatives can dish it out but they sure as hell can’t take it. By the way if you want to see the company that Trump keeps, not only did he pardon Blagojevich, he also pardoned people like former San Francisco Giants owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr, who was busted for fraud. And former NYPD commissioner Bernie Kerik, also busted for fraud. Or financial kingpin Michael Milkin, also busted for fraud. I’m sensing a patten here but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Oh wait.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday granting a full pardon to Edward DeBartolo Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers for his involvement in a gambling fraud case in Louisiana in the late 1990s, according to White House spokesman Hogan Gidley.

DeBartolo was suspended from the NFL in 1997 and fined $1 million over an extortion case involving then-Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards. As the star witness, DeBartolo testified that he paid Edwards $400,000 in exchange for his help in securing a riverboat casino license. Edwards ultimately was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy and extortion charges in 2000 and DeBartolo pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to report a felony.

DeBartolo eventually ceded control of the 49ers to his sister, but was still inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016 for presiding over a team that earned five Super Bowl trophies during the 1980s and ‘90s.

Jerry Rice, a legendary wide receiver who played under DeBartolo, credited him with his success and described him as the "12th man that was on that football field."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/18/trump-grants-full-pardon-former-san-francisco-49-ers-owner-debartolo/4793992002/

Except that there is no bad court thingy here. Trump pardoned a bunch of fraudsters, hucksters and scam artists. If we extrapolate this, does that mean that Trump is a fraudster himself? Of course everyone in this audience already knew that! But let’s go back to that thing that Trump said about him not knowing Rod Blagojevich. YES YOU DID!!! He was on the Celebrity Apprentice!! Kiss Trump’s ass and it is a get out of jail free card!

There had been rumblings for a while now about President Donald Trump commuting Rod Blagojevich’s sentence — something multiple Illinois Republicans were advising against two years ago — but it’s finally happened.

And naturally, it’s brought renewed attention to how Trump and Blagojevich know each other — going back to the days of The Celebrity Apprentice.

The episode Blagojevich got fired on was focused on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, and his time on the show ended with Donald Trump grilling him over his lack of research on Harry Potter facts.

As Trump confronted BLagojevich over what his group did wrong, he said, “Your Harry Potter facts were not accurate. Who did the research?”

Blagojevich tried to make excuses but ultimately Trump said the onus was on him because he “went to Orlando to learn about Harry Potter.”
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/throwback-when-blagojevich-appeared-on-celebrity-apprentice-and-trump-confronted-him-over-harry-potter-research/

Ah yes, Celebrity Apprentice – the show where Meatloaf and Gary Busey practically murder each other over art supplies and former governors get fired for doing some poor research on Harry Potter. This is such a great time to be alive isn’t it? But there is an interesting development in all of these pardons – it turns out that they could have a huge damper in the GOP’s election strategy in Illinois – a key swing state, because Rod Blagojevich is considered persona non grata in that state!

A new report from the Herald Tribune claims that the Illinois Republican Party’s election strategy has been thrown into disarray after President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of infamously corrupt former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

“Looking ahead to the November general election, leading Illinois Republicans thought they had a marketable message to voters by pointing to myriad federal investigations that have ensnared Democrats at the city, suburban and state level,” the publication writes. “But Republican President Donald Trump’s decision Tuesday to commute former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s prison sentence on federal corruption charges may have short-circuited the GOP’s strategy.”

Even though Republicans across the country typically hold their tongues when it comes to criticizing the president, Illinois Republicans did not hesitate to knock Trump for his decision to free a man who was convicted on multiple corruption charges after trying to sell the Senate seat of former President Barack Obama.

“Blagojevich is the face of public corruption in Illinois, and not once has he shown any remorse for his clear and documented record of egregious crimes that undermined the trust placed in him by voters,” five Illinois Republicans said in a joint statement after the commutation. “As our state continues to grapple with political corruption, we shouldn’t let those who breached the public trust off the hook. History will not judge Rod Blagojevich well.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/trump-may-have-short-circuited-illinois-republicans-election-strategy-with-blagojevich-pardon-report/

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[font size="8"]Julian Assange
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Is quid pro quo a crime or is it not a crime? Well this isn’t so much an act of quid pro quo as it is a complete and total clusterfuck. And of course if former California representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Kremlin) were one of the witnesses in the impeachment trial against Donald J. Trump, then this could have serious implications. Just because Trump was implicated on two crimes does not excuse him from the other 100,000,000 he’s accused of! And it doesn’t take a Harvard educated lawyer to figure that one out! So what happened between Rohrabacher, Assange, and Trump? Calling this entire thing a “clusterfuck” is a misnomer if there ever was one!

President Donald Trump offered a pardon through an intermediary to Julian Assange if the WikiLeaks chief agreed to say that Russia was not involved in hacking emails from Democrats during the 2016 presidential election, a lawyer for Assange reportedly told a court in London on Wednesday.

Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald made that claim during a hearing related to the U.S. request to extradite Assange from the United Kingdom to face more than a dozen criminal charges in the United States, according to The Daily Beast news site.

Fitzgerald referred in that hearing to a statement from Jennifer Robinson, another lawyer for Assange, saying that then-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told Assange that, “on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr. Assange ... said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC [Democratic National Committee] leaks,” The Daily Beast reported.

Rohrabacher, whose pro-Russia stance led to him being derisively nicknamed Vladimir “Putin’s favorite congressman,” allegedly made that claim during a visit in the summer of 2017 to Assange at Ecuador’s embassy in London.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/19/trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-for-covering-up-russian-hacking.html

Yeah that’s kind of what trying to figure out this whole thing is like. So Assange was offered a pardon if he could clean up the hacking mess and say that it didn’t happen? After seeing the shape he left the Ecuadorian embassy in, asking Assange to clean something up would be like hiring Walter White’s pest control service to kill your bugs. Kills bugs dead! So how did this whole thing go down?

A judge in the United Kingdom will allow Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange to argue that he was offered a pardon by U.S. President Donald Trump in exchange for issuing a statement that Russia was not the source of leaks beneficial to Trump’s 2016 campaign.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser signed off on the request made by Assange’s defense team during a Wednesday court appearance that was mainly administrative in focus—but which supplied the evidentiary bombshell—in anticipation of a Monday extradition hearing.

Assange is controversially charged in the U.S. with disclosing state secrets in a move that was heavily criticized by First Amendment advocates and civil libertarians. His defense is currently fighting an extradition request.

SBS reporter Ben Lewis broke the news by noting that Trump’s alleged request was said to be delivered via former California GOP congressman Dana Rohrabacher.
https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/interview-from-3-years-ago-appears-to-corroborate-assange-lawyers-claims-of-trump-pardon-dangling/

This whole thing is absolutely fucking crazy. And why is this already page 6 news? This should be on the front page with big, bold headlines highlighting that there was a former Congressmen in all of this and that the entire administration was in on it! These guys are completely insane. And come on, it’s Trump, he’ll give you a pardon and you don’t have to do anything! Just have your lips firmly placed on Trump’s ass! And his ass is big, it needs a lot of kissing!

A former corporate chief executive who spent his post-prison years helping inmates return to society received a pardonfrom President Donald Trump on Tuesday at the urging of former Gov. Chris Christie.

Christie and long-time ally Jeff Chiesa, a former state attorney generaland interim U.S. senator, represented Ariel Friedler, the founder and former CEO of Virginia-based Symplicity Corp., in his application for a pardon. They submitted the request for a pardon more than a year ago.

Trump called Christie on Friday and they discussed the pardon for the first time, the former governor told NJ Advance Media.

He said Trump asked him, “Are you convinced he’s a really good guy?" and Christie responded, "Yes, Mr. President.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/chris-christie-asked-trump-to-pardon-this-former-ceo-so-the-president-just-did/

Please!! And come on, if you think this whole Assange thing is bad, just wait until you see what he has in place for Roger Stone! Instead of 4 weddings and a funeral, this is 4 pardons and a penance. Getting the R next to your name is basically a get out of jail free card when they’re the most corrupt and out of control administration in American history? Yeah break the law and you get a slap on the wrist!

Roger Stone has come a long way.

He was once the subject of an acrimonious departure from the Trump campaign, despised by one of Donald Trump’s closest aides. When he was later convicted of lying to the Congress, obstructing investigators and intimidating a witness, the same person cheered from the sidelines.

But now, after Stone received his three-plus year sentence on Thursday, the longtime Trump political whisperer has become a MAGA-world symbol of deep state overreach and judicial corruption. The president is championing his cause on Twitter, risking a rift with his attorney general. Stone’s erstwhile critics are now decrying his unfair treatment.

And it’s all become the worst kept secret in Washington: Trump won’t let Roger Stone go to prison.

“It’s not a question of if,” said a former senior administration official who remains in contact with Trump and his senior advisers. “It’s when.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/20/roger-stone-pardon-saga-116172

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[font size="8"]Bill Barr
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See here’s the thing Bill, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it! When you work for an unstable man child like our president, @realDonaldTrump, he’s going to break the rules and treat you like shit. It just goes with the territory. But there’s been lots of calls for our Attorney General, Bill Barr, to resign. The Trump administration has created a revolving door and an absolute mockery of the highest institutions in the USA. Doesn’t matter if it’s the Attorney General, the State Department, or even the White House janitor. Well, given Trump’s diet, I would hate to have that job! But why does Bill Barr suddenly have a beef with Trump over his tweets?

Attorney General William Barr has told people he's considered resigning over President Donald Trump's interference with Justice Department matters, particularly the President's tweets, according to a source close to the situation.

While it's not clear if Barr is serious about potentially resigning or looking to send Trump a message, those discussions punctuate a palpable tension between Trump and Barr in recent days after the Justice Department was roiled by a cascade of controversies this past week, a separate source said, adding that the two appear to be in a cooling-off period after Barr's remarkable interview with ABC News.
"I think they have calmed down. I think they're cooling off," the source said.

Barr has been frustrated with the President chiming in on federal law enforcement matters in recent weeks, which he has made clear privately to Trump, though people close to the President said it's unlikely he will stop and pointed out that Trump weighed in on Justice Department issues long before Barr took the job. So far, Trump has ignored Barr's requests to stop weighing in, though some inside the administration have raised questions about whether the attorney general is seriously considering resigning or simply attempting to send a message to Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/18/politics/barr-resign-trump-tweets/index.html

Well yeah actually Bill is the guy who is in the wrong here! Stop saying wrong!!! But come on Bill, are you serious? Have you seen @realDonaldTrump’s Twitter feed? Dude, he’s calling Adam Schiif an idiot right now! Oh look he used “Shifty Schiff” again! What a remarkably clever stable genius he is! And if you need any further proof that these two are stable, functioning geniuses who should be in charge of the highest levels, just check this out!

More than 1,100 former Department of Justice officials are calling on Attorney General William Barr to resign after his department lowered the prison sentence recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Trump, in a move that's led to accusations of political interference.

In a letter released Sunday, the former DOJ officials, who have worked across Republican and Democratic administrations, wrote that Barr's intervention in the Stone case has tarnished the department's reputation.

"Such behavior is a grave threat to the fair administration of justice," the former officials wrote. "In this nation, we are all equal before the law. A person should not be given special treatment in a criminal prosecution because they are a close political ally of the President. Governments that use the enormous power of law enforcement to punish their enemies and reward their allies are not constitutional republics; they are autocracies."

On Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington had recommended a prison sentence of up to nine years for Stone's 2019 conviction on charges including making false statements to Congress and witness tampering.
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/16/806525297/1-100-former-doj-employees-call-on-barr-to-resign-after-intervening-in-stone-cas

Dude, Bill, we need to have an intervention here. When 1,100 of your fellow attorneys are calling on you to resign, you should probably resign. Shit, even Bill’s own close, personal friends are calling on him to resign. Yeah, cue the Sad Hulk Music! We haven’t heard that in a while. At this point is there really no one who has called yet on Bill to resign? Maybe Trump but he’s claimed the Attorney General as his own personal fixer. That’s what happens when you’re run by the mob!

Nine U.S. senators signed a letter on Friday calling for Attorney General Bill Barr to immediately resign after the Justice Department submitted a new sentencing recommendation for former Trump adviser Roger Stone this week, NBC reports.

What they're saying: "The interference in this case by you or other senior DOJ officials working under you is a clear violation of your duty to defend fair, impartial, and equal justice for all Americans."

"It appears to show that you and other top DOJ officials intervened in a clearly political fashion to undermine the administration of justice at the President's behest in order to protect a well-connected political ally who committed a 'direct and brazen attack on the rule of law.'"

"The shocking actions taken by you or your senior staff to seek special protections for Mr. Stone make a mockery of your responsibilities to seek equal justice under the law and reveal that you are unfit to head the DOJ."
https://www.axios.com/democratic-senators-bill-barr-resign-letter-545a8b3c-91a7-4793-b3db-82fb3a8fe1f8.html

Dude, Bill, you fucked up! You trusted Trump! That’s what is going to happen! And you know Trump can’t exist without his fixer. I mean the average lawsuit against him is currently hovering around the $20 million mark. Of course that’s a conservative estimate. So really, how are you going to manage all those lawsuits? You need an asshole. Trump’s an asshole, Barr is an asshole. It seems only natural that these two would be compatible with each other!

Former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer called on Attorney General William Barr to resign or be impeached, Monday, in an article for the Atlantic.

In the article, titled “Bill Barr Must Resign,” Ayer, who served under President George H. W. Bush, claimed Barr desires “the creation of a president with nearly autocratic powers.”

“Barr’s Federalist Society speech suggests that he is ready to say nearly anything in pursuit of his lifelong goal of a presidency with unchecked powers. As Napoleon is reputed to have said, the man who will say anything will do anything,” wrote Ayer, adding that the “benefit of the doubt that many were ready to extend to Barr a year ago” has “now run out.”

“He has told us in great detail who he is, what he believes, and where he would like to take us,” Ayer continued. “For whatever twisted reasons, he believes that the president should be above the law, and he has as his foil in pursuit of that goal a president who, uniquely in our history, actually aspires to that status.”
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/former-deputy-attorney-general-calls-on-bill-barr-to-resign-hes-made-america-subject-to-the-whims-of-a-dictatorial-president/

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[font size="8"]The Alt Right
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The Alt Right. They’re the younger, hipper version of the KKK. Proudly terrorizing cucks and libtards since 2017. It’s so easy to make fun of them isn’t it? And for a group who claims to hate safe spaces, they sure do need a lot of safe spaces don’t they? But like I said it is really easy to make fun of the Pepe The Frog crowd. One we need to talk about is Kailin Bennett. Yes, you know her as the gun-toting, 2nd amendment absolutionist who gained internet notoriety and a job at Infowars when she took her AR-15 to her Kent State graduation ceremony. Well, Bennett is the host of a talk radio podcast called “Liberty Hangout”, because they’re so cool and hip. Well, Kaitlin Bennett is one person who probably should not be invited anywhere, because she’ll get kicked out.

I, too, know the joys of watching Kent State "gun girl" Kaitlin Bennett get marched off a campus.

Before Bennett was driven off Ohio University campus by a crowd of protesting students this week — more on that later — I had the pleasure of watching as she was ejected from a Bernie Sanders town hall for workers at a high school in Lordstown, Ohio. Later that night, conservative conspiracy theorist, pal of white supremacists and (former) Bumble aficionado Jack Posobiec tweeted a video of Bennett’s ejection from the event that went viral and, to my surprise, I made a cameo.

While the focus of the video is on Bennett as she’s marched out of the event, one eagle-eyed Twitter user chose instead to focus on the joy it brought others. Namely, me.

Yeah, that’s me in the gray peacoat, mockingly waving at Bennett as she was led out of Sanders’ rally.

I’m ashamed to admit that my brain has been poisoned by the internet enough that I actually recognized Bennett when she arrived at the event. Evidently no one else did, as they let her simply walk into the town hall.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/kaitlin-bennett-gun-girl-first-amendment-university-campus-a9343251.html

No, they’re saying boo-urns!! Yeah why don’t we file that one in Reddit under “Oddly Satisfying” because nothing is more fun than watching a trash talker get her ass handed to her. You can’t go out in public like that, honey after shit talking people. And then you can’t go to your safe space to complain about it later. This is the real world, you got to be tough!!! There are no safe spaces! Of course the degree of this event varies depending on who you talk to.

Gun rights activist and Kent State graduate Kaitlin Bennett was greeted by a crowd of screaming protesters Monday when she visited Ohio University.

Bennett came to internet fame for taking a celebratory stroll around campus carrying a semi-automatic rifle after her graduation from Kent State University in 2018.

A video she posted on Twitter, referring to it as a “riot,” showed a crowd of students yelling and throwing drinks at her car as it drove slowly through the campus.

“This is what happens when a Trump supporter goes to a college campus,” she said. “I think @realDonaldTrump should strip funding from universities like this that harbor terrorists.”

Ohio University Police said in a statement they posted on Twitter that Bennett never notified police of her visit.

“Although such notice is not required, the lack of it deprived the department of the ability to plan staffing levels,” the statement read.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/18/kent-state-gun-girl-kaitlin-bennett-faces-protests-ohio-university/4792457002/

Wow, she seems like a real upstanding citizen! Not notifying police of who she is or the fact that she was going to be filming at the campus? Sounds like something Trump would do. So how does someone as crazy as Kaitlin Bennett become a media star? Well to become a star in the conservative world, all you have to do is launch a podcast talking about how much you hate Democrats and Hollywood, then retreat to your safe space when you get called out. And that’s exactly what she did!

Conservative activist Kaitlin Bennett arrived on the campus of Ohio University on Monday to film candid interviews with students about Presidents’ Day. Instead, she was quickly surrounded by student protesters, who hounded her off campus within two hours. Bennett posted a video online in which she called the fracas a “riot.” The university’s police department said in a statement that Bennett had not alerted them about her campus appearance, which prevented them from planning protection for her. Police also said the event “did not rise to the level of a riot,” involving only strong language and splashing water. Bennett may not have finished filming the video she planned to shoot, but the one she made instead surely reached an even broader audience. The incident had one clear takeaway: Kaitlin Bennett has turned herself into a bona fide conservative media star.

That’s an identity she has been working toward since she was an undergraduate at Kent State University. As a student, Bennett was an outspoken gun rights activist who organized an open-carry demonstration on campus. She had also served as president of the campus chapter of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA (a nonprofit whose mission is, in its own words, to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote freedom”), devising a viral stunt in which club members wore diapers to ridicule “safe spaces”; she resigned when the event became a national laughingstock and the national group distanced itself from her chapter. In her bridge-burning resignation letter, Bennett called Turning Point “an organization founded by a college dropout who hires some of the most incompetent, lazy, and downright dishonest people I have ever encountered.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/how-kaitlin-bennett-became-a-bonafide-conservative-media-star.html

Shut up!!! Yeah so in order to become a star in the conservative world, all you have to do is wave a Bible, shoot a gun, and talk shit about Democrats. It’s a winning formula! I’ve figured it out! Well, Kaitlin Bennett must be grinning to join Tomi Lahren as the Fox News blonde du jour. But really you can’t talk trash, and not expect people to fight back. And don’t go crying to your safe space the next time you get your ass kicked in public, honey!

Gun rights activist and social media personality Kaitlin Bennett received a less-than-warm welcome from the students of Ohio University during a visit to the Athens campus on Monday.

Bennett is best known for her viral photos on Kent State University's campus, where she posed with her gun and graduation cap in 2018.

Since then, she's become a controversial figure on social media.

When Bennett and her 'Liberty Hangout' tour arrived at Ohio University on Monday, students greeted her vehicle by throwing beverages in her direction and giving her the middle finger.

"This is what happens when a Trump supporter goes to a college campus," Bennett tweeted along with video of the incident. "Leftists at @ohiou started a riot when @Joelpatrick1776 and I showed up, and the @oupolice let it happen. I think @realDonaldTrump should strip funding from universities like this that harbor terrorists."
https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/ohio/kaitlin-bennett-faces-riot-at-ohio-university/95-708f5577-b519-49cb-b9fd-a765ce8115f4

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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: The Corona Flight
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Hey everyone it’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

News about the dreaded Corona Virus has everyone on their toes and wondering what is going on as news of the virus spreads all over the world. In fact how safe is it to travel as news of the Corona Virus spreads to the far corners of the globe and beyond? It’s not limited to just one specific case in one state or any states, or any countries for that matter. The Corona Virus is making it difficult to travel with place after place getting quarantined. So how safe are you on your next flight? Where are you the most vulnerable? Let’s take a look at some cases that may be arising all over the world, some maybe even in your own back yard. No, don’t cue the horror music just yet.

A Japanese man from Aichi Prefecture in Central Japan who visited Maui and Oahu with his wife in late January and early February was confirmed Friday to have the novel coronavirus after returning home, the state Health Department reported.

But because he did not have symptoms while on Maui, from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, “there is no increased risk on Maui from possible exposure,” said Dr. Sarah Park, state epidemiologist, on Friday. This position was reinforced by Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino and local Health Department officials.

“We doubt there’s anything out there, but we are taking prudent precautions,” said Dr. Lorrin Pang, Health Department Maui District Health officer. “We are aggressively looking for any cases on Maui where this visitor passed through.

“We have to do it quickly and thoroughly to contain any possible spread and protect the public health. Please don’t be alarmed. We’re moving quickly.”

There is greater concern on Oahu, where the man stayed from Feb. 3 to 7 and developed coldlike symptoms but no fever.
https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2020/02/japanese-visitor-with-coronavirus-visited-maui/

So with the Corona Virus landing in Maui, it’s safe to say that it has lead to all airports in Hawaii have begun screening for the virus. But what if you’re traveling to Mexico or Canada? Or anywhere in Europe or South America? Well there’s no telling where it could land next, and is one of the biggest nuisances lately. In fact if you travel to Italy you might want to have second thoughts, at least for the time being.

The world has been scrambling to contain the new coronavirus, which has infected tens of thousands of people and killed nearly 3,000.

The travel industry in turn faces an unprecedented situation. What is the U.S. government recommending? How can airlines, cruise lines and hotels accommodate travelers?

While the coronavirus situation is fluid, the government and the industry are taking and recommending precautionary measures to both assist travelers and stem the outbreak.

Here's a look at what the U.S. State Department, airlines, cruise lines and hotels are telling passengers amid the coronavirus outbreak. We will be updating this story as we learn more information.
Coronavirus travel warnings from CDC, State Department

The State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are increasingly warning travelers about coronavirus. Here's a look at the most recent warnings from the CDC and State Department.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/02/25/coronavirus-travel-advisory-flights-cruises-hotels-info/4866634002/

In fact at this point you’re probably better off sitting at home with a nice glass of your favorite beverage and some music. And seriously, don’t go anywhere, do anything, or buy anything for the foreseeable future, because you could probably die of the Corona Virus. Just quarantine yourself in an encased dome and stay at home. And if you do go somewhere that could come in contact with the Corona Virus, you should probably stay at home after you get home.

Children returning from holidays in northern Italy have been sent home from school after new government health advice on the coronavirus.

Two schools in England have shut completely for a "deep clean" after pupils came back from skiing trips.

The Foreign Office has now updated its travel advice, warning against all but essential travel to 11 quarantined towns in Italy.

The government said anyone returning from those towns must self-isolate.

And those who have travelled north of Pisa are asked to stay at home for 14 days if they develop flu-like symptoms.

Italy has put the 11 towns in Lombardy and Veneto - areas which attract tourists for their ski resorts - into lockdown.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51625733

No, and in fact self-isolation isn’t the solution either. So what do you need to do if you have travel plans that involve a place that has the Corona Virus? Where do you go? How do you protect yourself? And no, wearing a tent contraption like that one guy did. But no if you need to travel and you want to know what to do to protect yourself ahead of time there’s plenty of precautions that you can take to make sure that you don’t get the dreaded virus.

Earlier this month, thousands of people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship were quarantined in Japan after 10 passengers were diagnosed with the new strain of coronavirus (COVID-19).

In the weeks that followed, more than 600 of the 3,700 passengers and crew members on the ship tested positive for the virus.

Some of the passengers have been airlifted to quarantined facilities in their home countries, while others are still waiting to be repatriated.

This has left many people with questions and concerns about the safety of traveling by cruise ship or other means.

Prospective travelers may worry about the risk of contracting the virus — as well as the chance that they might get quarantined in a foreign port if their fellow travelers get sick.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-to-protect-yourself-while-traveling-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

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

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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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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:




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[font size="8"]Explaining Jokes To Idiots: Wendy Williams Insensitivity
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Yes it’s the segment where we in the comedy profession explain humor to people who just don’t quite get jokes. Or in this case someone who is really bad at telling them. You never, *EVER*, joke about someone’s death. Ever. Sure, we’ve joked about death, destruction, and mass shootings a lot on this program. Hell, we even started the Top 10 when the San Bernardino mass shooting happened. And that one hit way too close to home. But you know what? We never joke about a specific person. We joke about the politicians who put us in these positions. We joke about the circumstances that lead to tragedy, but we never joke about death. And never at someone. If you want to know where that leads, just check out Top 10 #5-3, when punk rock band NOFX, a band known for having a low brow, self-deprecating sense of humor, made a joke about the Route 91 tragedy while they were in Las Vegas. That resulted in them losing sponsorship deals with Stone Brewing Company and getting kicked out of their own festival. So you can imagine what happened this week when talk show host Wendy Williams joked about the tragic murder of the ex-fiancé of Price Is Right host Drew Carey. Yes, she went there, and as you can imagine, a shit show ensued.

Days after she came under fire for saying gay men should "stop wearing our skirts and our heels" on an episode of her daytime talk show, Wendy Williams is being criticized for appearing to make insensitive remarks about the death of celebrity sex and relationship therapist Amie Harwick.

"Drew Carey's ex-fiance was tragically murdered over the weekend," Williams said of Harwick. "She was killed. Not by Drew."

Williams then yelled the famous "The Price Is Right" catchphrase, "Come on down!" and shifted her head, as if miming watching someone fall.

According to authorities, officers were called to Harwick's Los Angeles home at 1:16 a.m. after a report of a "woman screaming." Upon entering the property, officers found Harwick beneath a third-story balcony with injuries consistent with a fall. They arrested Harwick's ex-boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse, whom she had previously filed a restraining order against, on a murder charge Saturday.

Upon watching the episode, some viewers called for Williams to be terminated from her position, citing a series of "inappropriate" comments from the talk show host..
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/wendy-williams-faces-backlash-joke-about-celebrity-sex-therapist-amie-n1137971

Now see Wendy? That's how you do a Price Is Right joke! No one is getting fired, but you can bet that some heads are definitely rolling at the Wendy Williams show. So when you say something that ridiculously insensitive, you can only imagine the backlash that is going to follow. Made of course worse by the fact that we live in the social media era where everyone and anyone can say literally whatever they want, and you can imagine that Wendy Williams is getting some well deserved shit.

The brother of Amie Harwick — the allegedly murdered sex therapist once engaged to “The Price Is Right” host Drew Carey — demanded Wednesday that Wendy Williams apologize for making a joke about his sister’s fatal balcony plunge.

Chris Harwick slammed the 54-year-old talk show star for an on-air comment in which she quipped “Come on down!” while gesturing as if she were watching a person fall from a building, according to Fox News.

“Domestic violence is something no one should be joking about,” Harwick told the outlet in his first statement since his sister’s tragic death on Feb. 15

“This is a difficult time for my family and for Wendy Williams to make light of this tragedy is very upsetting to us and extremely distasteful,” he said. “My sister worked tirelessly for domestic violence victims and women’s rights. Wendy Williams should apologize publicly to my family for her comment.”
https://pagesix.com/2020/02/19/brother-of-amie-harwick-rips-wendy-williams-for-making-joke-about-her-death/

Yeah they should probably pull a Liz Lemon here and tell the entire writing team to fuck off. You'd think that they would have standards and practices and quality control and about a hundred other channels before this goes on TV, and someone would say "Hey! This is a really bad idea!". But nope, that ain't happening here. The thing about this whole incident though – the reason why we can say whatever we want is that we’re not on a major network! We have that coveted Wednesday at 2:00 PM slot at the local chuckle hut! Or the university commons which is where we're at right now! We’re not on nationally syndicated TV with millions of viewers! And this comes off after literally a week when she made insensitive comments about trans people.

Talk-show host Wendy Williams has issued an apology to the LGBTQ community after drawing criticism for anti-gay comments she made during a recent episode of her daytime program.

On Thursday’s “Wendy Williams Show,” the veteran host unleashed a rant against gay men, scolding them for “wearing our skirts and our heels” and declaring, “You’ll never be the women that we are. No matter how gay.” Many Twitter users immediately slammed Williams for her remarks and pointed out the harms of assuming that gay men aspire to be women.

“I’ll start by saying, ‘I apologize,’” Williams said in a video shared Friday on social media. “I did not mean to offend my LGBTQ+ community on yesterday’s show. ... one thing that I can tell you right now is that I never do the show in a place of malice. ... I didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s feelings. I’m just having a conversation.”

The comments in question came about during a “hot topics” segment about Galentine’s Day, the faux holiday inspired by the sitcom “Parks and Recreation.” While discussing the sisterhood celebration, Williams scolded the men in her audience for clapping, insisting, “You’re not even a part of this.”
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-02-14/wendy-williams-apology-lgbtq-comments-show

So there’s plenty of comments about Wendy Williams both for and against. So according to Wendy Williams, gay men (or any men, for that matter) can’t wear skirts, and premediated murder is just something to joke about. Just a hearty gut laugh. Does anyone even watch the Wendy Williams show? Does anyone at all? Besides people in nail salons during their lunch breaks? Oh was that insensitive? Yeah see what I did there? Only difference is, I don’t command a national audience! At least Ms. Williams apologized to one part of her audience.

Wendy Williams is apologizing after making some controversial comments toward the LBGTQ community that social media users deemed "homophobic."

In anticipation of Valentine's Day, the outspoken talk show host asked her studio audience on Thursday who was planning to celebrate Galentine’s Day, an unofficial holiday created on the NBC show "Parks & Recreation" where women celebrate the other women in their lives.

Williams switched gears when she noticed some men in the audience applauding.

"If you’re a man and you’re clapping, you’re not even a part of this," said Williams, 55. "You don’t understand the rules of the day. It’s women going out and getting saucy and then going back home. You’re not a part."

She continued: "I don’t care if you’re gay. You don’t get a (menstruation) every 28 days. You can do a lot that we do, but I get offended by the idea that we go through something you will never go through."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/02/13/wendy-williams-tells-men-stop-wearing-our-skirts-and-heels/4753977002/

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[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Frank Amedia
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is Frank Amedia. You may not know the name but he’s a far right Trump loving pastor and creator of a group called POTUS Shield. Of course only in the Trump administration could such a group exist. And if you guessed that this group is steeped in some super far right, batshit crazy conspiracy theories, well, you guessed correctly! Like what? Well, the Corona Virus is probably the worst thing to come out of a Chinese fish market since that piece of Tilapia that you ate at Applebees that gave you food poisoning. Well, POTUS Shield has an opinion on that, and it’s about as crazy as you might expect.

Frank Amedia, a former Trump campaign adviser and founder of the Trump-supporting “prophetic” network POTUS Shield, told Charisma CEO Stephen Strang Monday that Chinese Christians told him that the death toll from coronavirus infection in China is in the “tens of thousands” rather than the official count of about 2,000.

Amedia was a guest on Strang’s podcast, where he also promoted a conspiracy theory about the coronavirus having been created in a lab in Wuhan, China, that he said is engaged in biological warfare research. Amedia praised Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas for having been “brave enough” to publicize the laboratory theory, which has been debunked, in an interview on Fox News.

But Amedia suggested that there’s a silver lining to the coronavirus “plague,” claiming that people were going “in swarms” to house churches and experiencing supernatural healings.

Amedia said that China is in the center of what missionaries refer to the 10/40 window—that part of the world between the 10th parallel north of the equator and the 40th parallel north of the equator where most of the “unreached people groups” live—and that Wuhan is in the center of that area of China. He believed that the virus emerging from Wuhan is a “strategic strike” and “what the enemy has intended for bad, God intends for good.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/steve-strang-and-frank-amedia-promote-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory/

Yeah it’s becoming increasingly a common pattern among these kooks is to say the most absolutely batshit crazy thing that comes to mind. But the Christian right is getting really dangerous with their rhetoric and groups like POTUS Shield aren’t helping things. And here’s where things get scary – in an era where the Christian right is amping up its’ game on the abortion front, maybe don’t call the impeachment effort a “political abortion”. Yeah that’s a very poor choice of words!

Frank Amedia, an early supporter and campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, declared last week that the impeachment process was a “political abortion” meant to stop Trump’s “anointed and appointed” mission. Amedia said a “form of witchcraft” is keeping the name of the whistleblower “in obscurity.”

Amedia heads POTUS Shield, a “prophetic” prayer network that he founded on the night of Trump’s 2016 election victory to mobilize prayer for the president and to promote a new prophetic order of the United States. Last Tuesday, Amedia was a guest on Charisma CEO Stephen Strang’s “God, Trump, and the 2020 Election” podcast, where he said that Trump has an “assignment from God” and that he is “absolutely convinced” that Trump will win in 2020. But Amedia warned that the anti-Trump witchcraft will “regroup” and the “devouring spirit” that has been manifested in politics “will not be satisfied” and “will not stop” attacking Trump after he is reelected. He warned that something bad could happen to Trump in 2022, claiming that Trump’s enemies would “continue to lay snares and traps and try to net him.”

Strang wanted to hear more details about what God was telling Amedia about 2022, but Amedia was coy, claiming that he’s not revealing some things because he is pleading with God to give America more time:

And to be blunt with you. One of the reasons why I’m not comfortable to share it is I’m pleading at the altar of God. I’m pleading for him to reverse some things. I’m pleading for him to have more grace, more mercy, transforming a heart and hearts. But all I’ve received from the Lord, Stephen, is that we are in this window of grace and change and transformation that involves the five major categories of the mission that were put upon this man and his anointing and his breaker anointing, and that persists through 2022. After that, I believe we enter into a large, very large test.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/impeachment-effort-a-political-abortion-to-kill-trumps-divine-mission-says-frank-amedia/

I’m pretty sure that somewhere, even Jesus is going “fuck this shit”. But yeah that’s a very poor choice of words there, Frank. And by the way in case you’re wondering which God people like Frank Amedia worship, it’s not the fun loving father of Jesus presented in the New Testament. No, they worship the Old Testament God, the God that reigns down fire and brimstone, and is a raging, egomaniacal asshole, you know, like a certain president that they also worship. Yeah, that guy!

Frank Amedia, a pastor, former Trump campaign adviser, and founder of the “prophetic” network POTUS Shield, released a video message Monday portraying opponents of President Donald Trump as agents of evil.

At the core of the impeachment inquiry against Trump is a “spirit of witchcraft,” and a “twisted conspiracy” by demonic spirits, he said. Amedia portrayed POTUS Shield—a network he founded on the night of Trump’s election—as a spiritual weapon. “We are a weapon, a spiritual weapon of God that has been anointed and called for such a time as this,” he said.

Amedia told viewers not to be shocked if another whistleblower shows up with charges against Trump. “Do not be shocked or surprised,” he said. “This is the tactic of the enemy.” He said to expect more “putrid incriminations” and “vitriolic ranting.” He denounced Trump opponents in the “deep state” and prayed that they would be exposed and removed.

Amedia also addressed the Trump administration’s targeted killing of Iranian Maj. General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq. “God is a man of war,” Amedia declared, saying that the “righteous blood” of soldiers who had been killed over the years at the direction of Soleimani had “cried out to God” and “the time came when God judged.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/potus-shield-god-is-a-man-of-war-who-will-bring-disaster-on-trumps-opponents/

Yeah really, with friends like these who needs enemies? So let’s put it this way – Frank Amedia is the Paula White of Billy Grahams – just enough of an audience to go full batshit crazy with a bit of Trump’s over the top ego-maniacism. Do we really need people like Paula White or Frank Amedia preaching from inside the White House? I’m pretty sure that’s how dictators are created. And if you see the way that the world is heading, that’s the last thing we need!

Frank Amedia, the tsunami-stopping and ant-reviving pastor who founded the POTUS Shield prayer effort to wage spiritual warfare on behalf of President Donald Trump, told Charisma Magazine’s Stephen Strang that he was very excited by the news that prosperity gospel preacher Paula White has taken an official position with the Trump administration.

“I think it’s significant in showing this president’s resolve to walk on the light side,” Ameiai said during a recent episode of Strang’s podcast. “This statement comes from the seat of government. Our God honors sovereignty and he honors the words of the king. ”

“For [Trump] to put her in that position,” Amedia added, “to have the boldness to say, ‘I’m going to put my pastor in a directorship position of faith right in the White House and I’m not going to be concerned about the political crocodiles’ … She is the Billy Graham inside the White House at this moment and we need to stand with her, we need to pray for her.”

“To have a woman of God seated in the White House in a high position, sitting there which is called the throne of this country, I believe this is, to me, very significant that there’s been a humbling before God,” he said.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/frank-amedia-paula-white-is-the-billy-graham-inside-the-white-house-at-this-moment/

Yeah with these two at the helm of far right Christian conspiracy theorists, is it any wonder that we’re doomed? Doomed, I tell you! That’s Frank Amedia, this week’s:




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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you that when the news gets way too dark, the only solution is to kick back with your favorite beverage, chill out, and talk about literally anything else. So that’s what we do here is to bring the lighter side of the news while imbibing our favorite beverages. This week we’re going to talk about planes. Of course, traveling has been miserable since 9/11 but these days it’s getting way more entertaining. So tell me bartender what goes well with a story about travel? Oh you mean that I can have anything I want as long as it’s served in those tiny liquor bottles? OK then I will take an airplane sized Jack & Coke thanks. Anyway, hysteria, stupidity, and misinformation surrounding the Corona Virus is a thing. And this guy, in a perfectly normal flight from Cincinatti, this guy whipped out a tent to protect himself from the virus. Or so he thought.

A US businessman has tested out his wearable plastic tent on an aeroplane in an attempt to avoid coronavirus.

Rick Pescovitz is the CEO of StadiumPod, which produces plastic tents worn over the torso by sport spectators wishing to avoid the rain.

The Cincinnati man tested a second use for his pods by wearing one on an aeroplane in light of the coronavirus outbreak which has killed 638 people to date.

Pescovitz's brother David told blog Boing Boing that a flight attendant happily took his brother's photo after he wore one of his blue tents on a plane.

"As travelers are taking unusual steps to protect themselves from the Coronavirus...my brother thought to see how his StadiumPod would work on an airplane," David said.

"The man who sat next to him didn't even bat an eye.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2020/02/us-man-wears-plastic-tent-on-plane-to-avoid-coronavirus.html

Come on dude, you do realize that thing has holes in it right? You’re about as safe as if you wore laser proof sunglasses to protect you from a laser pointer. But if the Corona Virus is inhibiting your travel plans, there’s plenty of other things that you should probably stay away from the next time you board your next trip. Like emotional support animals for instance. Can we please let this trend just fucking die already?

A federal proposal unveiled Wednesday would significantly limit the types of animals entitled to fly in aircraft cabins as emotional support animals.

It's a crackdown the industry has sought amid concerns some passengers are bringing their untrained pets aboard by fraudulently passing them as emotional support animals. The result, the industry and Transportation Department have said, is an increase in incidents such as bitings aboard planes.

"The days of Noah's Ark in the air are hopefully coming to an end," said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 50,000 crew members.
The proposal would free airlines from the requirement to accommodate passengers' emotional support animals and reclassify them as pets. Airlines have greater leeway to determine their pet policies, including charging passengers fees and setting size limits.

It would continue to require airlines accommodate service animals, but restrict that category to dogs only. The current regulations allow a limited list of service animals species, including miniature horses.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/22/politics/airlines-emotional-support-animals/index.html

Thank god! If I get on a plane and I have to sit next to someone’s emotional support parrot, I’m getting off that plane! Whether it’s strange guys in tents or your next door neighbor’s emotional support donkey, there’s plenty of reasons why you might want to make your next trip to Oklahoma City a road trip. Like for instance, no, I don’t need a donkey on my next flight to Detroit, OK? There’s a reason why people haven’t been allowed to bring pets like this on planes!

Cats and dogs are not unusual sights to be spotted on a plane journey in the US.

But one passenger, from Michigan, US, took her miniature horse onboard for his first-ever flight – in first class no less.

The miniature horse, called Fred, is a trained therapy and service horse.

Fred’s handler, Ronica Froese, told local news outlet Fox 17 that the journey from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Ontario, California via Dallas was his first plane journey.

“I spent a year of my life training this horse extensively for what he has and I was totally prepared for everything,” Ms Froese said.

“I purchased two first class seats in bulkhead seating, I paid an arm and a leg for tickets but I did so because it was Fred’s first time and I wanted him to be comfortable, I wanted him to have the most room,” she said.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/miniature-service-horse-fred-flight-california-grand-rapids-michigan-video-a9341526.html

Yeah I need to chug some beers like Steve Austin does! Because this whole thing is getting way out of hand. We don’t need guys in tents on planes. And we certainly don’t need your emotional support peacock on my flight to Boca Raton. Why is Florida immediately the first place that comes to mind when I think of this? This trend started with the super rich. You know what the only difference is? The rich fly on private planes! They’re not on a United A320 that stops in Denver! The good news is that this insanity might be ending soon, we can only hope.

The plague of small, poorly trained dogs running amok on planes and in airports may be about to end. The Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing removing Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) from commercial air travel altogether, while tightening up regulations on flying with actual service dogs.

“The Department recognizes the integral role that service animals play in the lives of many individuals with disabilities and wants to ensure that individuals with disabilities can continue using their service animals while also reducing the likelihood that passengers wishing to travel with their pets on aircraft will be able to falsely claim their pets are service animals,” reads a press release issued by the DOT earlier today.

Following an exponential increase in the number of supposed ESAs being brought into the passenger compartments of planes, and complaints from airline staff, passengers, and travelers with disabilities, the department is finally taking action. Proposed modifications to the Air Carrier Access Act could ban ESAs, formalize the documentation required to travel with a service animal, restrict the number of service animals traveling with any one disabled person to a maximum of two, and dictate that the service animal must be small enough to fit into the disabled passenger’s foot space.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2408374/esa-air-travel-ban-department-transportation

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[font size="8"]Keeping Up With The Candidates Ep.25: The End
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Welcome back to our 2020 voters’ guide Keeping Up With The Candidates! This is the very last and final edition of Keeping Up With The Candidates. But why is it coming to an end? Because we are head fast heading into the primaries. We’re going to take a break with our 2020 Stupidest State contest, and Selection Sunday is next week. That said, when we come back after our traditional Memorial Day break, we are going to jump into the deep end of the election. And as such, this segment will be called “Stumble To The White House (Probably)”. When we should hopefully have a candidate picked out by then that the Democratic party can get behind. Well the debate in Las Vegas proved to be extremely interesting.

Mike Bloomberg became a piñata, and Elizabeth Warren resurrected her feisty side.

The Democratic candidates formed a circular firing squad Wednesday night, with arrows flying in all directions and fights breaking out among a seemingly infinite permutation of candidates on matters from health care policy to lewd comments about women.

The debate was not only Bloomberg's first time on a presidential debate stage; it was also the first night of his surging 2020 campaign that wasn't choreographed. The result: He faced direct criticism from rivals he has bested in recent polls. It was the most contentious evening of the nine faceoffs so far, coming three days before the candidates face the most diverse voting electorate yet in their quest to make Donald Trump a one-term president.

"It's a little bit like a presidential version of 'Survivor,'" former Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said on MSNBC after the debate.

Here's a look at who was the most aggressive, who took the toughest punches and who missed their marks over the course of the debate, which was hosted by NBC News, MSNBC, Telemundo and The Nevada Independent.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/who-won-democratic-debate-las-vegas-n1139561

Holy shit, Liz, where the hell have you been this whole time? If we can see more of that before the election, that would be great! Someone has to beat Trump, someone has to! Now the question is how do we go about doing this? Well, for one thing the Dems really need to cut out the Circular Firing Squad, because it’s not helping.

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s momentum in the Democratic presidential race has stalled after a lackluster debate performance in Las Vegas this week, according to a new poll.

The Morning Consult poll released Friday shows Bloomberg falling into third place behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden, dropping 3 points compared to a similar Morning Consult survey from before the debate.

The former mayor is still registering double-digit support, at 17 percent, but Bloomberg’s post-debate dip was the largest of any candidate.

Sanders, meanwhile, held on to his first-place position in the poll and even gained 2 points compared to the pre-debate survey, rising to 30 percent support. Biden stayed steady at 19 percent.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) finished in fourth place in the survey with 12 percent support — a 2-point gain since earlier this week — while former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg fell into fifth place with 11 percent support and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) trailed at 5 percent.

The Morning Consult poll, which was conducted entirely after this week’s debate, suggests that Bloomberg’s debate performance has slowed his rise in the Democratic presidential race.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/484097-poll-bloomberg-stalls-after-vegas-debate

This is going just great guys! Come on, we need to get the lead out! It’s going to take a miracle to beat Trump and the Christian right and send them packing in November. So how? How do we get the lead out and where do we go forward and not backward? Because in order to beat Trump it’s going to take an army to do so. And last week I said that Bernie Sanders commands that army. But really why is Bloomberg still in it? At this point he’s the XFL of AFLs competing against the NFL.

Billionaire ex-New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg has a plan to improve his performance after what was widely panned as a subpar showing during last week's Democratic primary debate. The strategy: make Tuesday's contest all about Bernie Sanders.

A top Bloomberg campaign official who spoke with NBC News said the debate "is definitely going to be about Bernie Sanders" after the Democratic front-runner scored a commanding victory in Nevada and has skyrocketed ahead of the rest of the field in recent national polling.

"It's everyone's last opportunity to really hold him accountable and really challenge his record," the aide said of the last debate before the pivotal Super Tuesday contest. "And so we have to take on the front-runner on that stage. And that's Bernie."

The Bloomberg campaign is predicting that with Sanders continuing to gain momentum, much of Tuesday's debate will focus on the Vermont senator rather than their own candidate. But the aide said: "It's hard to assess what other candidates are going to go after."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/mike-bloomberg-has-plan-turn-around-his-debate-fortunes-hammer-n1141541

Yeah and have you seen how much of a dumpster fire the XFL is this week? Whew, we’re only 3 weeks into the XFL and it’s the shit show that everyone expected it to be. Oh yeah and that seems to be about how many weeks Bloomberg has been in it. It’s like when your favorite team makes the wild card and they’re going up against the Yankees. Come on, dude, you’ll get lucky if you make it past the first round.

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s momentum in the Democratic presidential race has stalled after a lackluster debate performance in Las Vegas this week, according to a new poll.

The Morning Consult poll released Friday shows Bloomberg falling into third place behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden, dropping 3 points compared to a similar Morning Consult survey from before the debate.

The former mayor is still registering double-digit support, at 17 percent, but Bloomberg’s post-debate dip was the largest of any candidate.

Sanders, meanwhile, held on to his first-place position in the poll and even gained 2 points compared to the pre-debate survey, rising to 30 percent support. Biden stayed steady at 19 percent.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) finished in fourth place in the survey with 12 percent support — a 2-point gain since earlier this week — while former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg fell into fifth place with 11 percent support and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) trailed at 5 percent.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/484097-poll-bloomberg-stalls-after-vegas-debate

By the way normally this is where we would end it, but we got to show how Bloomberg is faring in cities like Flint, Michigan, and yeah it’s exactly what you would expect.

Link to tweet

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

There is no next week. This is the end everybody! Thank you for watching. We will be back with our Road To The White House… Probably segment after Stupidest State 2020!





[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]Sons Of Apollo[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, I am super excited to have this next group on! They are a progressive metal super group featuring members of a bunch of different metal bands. Playing their song “Goodbye Divinity” from their album MMXX, give it up for Sons Of Apollo!

Thank you Madison! We had a great time! We are off to Wichita next with the kickoff of our 2020 Stupidest State contest! See you next week!

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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: University Of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
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