Top 10 Conservative Idiots #8-9: Life's A Beach, Then You Die Edition

[Top 10 Idiots]

Last edited Thu Apr 9, 2020, 08:09 PM - Edit history (3)

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #8-9: Life’s A Beach, Then You Die Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! What’s up Wichita? I think this is our first time ever in Kansas, how cool is that? Well you guys are in for a treat because today marks the return of the National For Fucks Sake Association and our 2020 Stupidest State! This is my favorite Top 10 of the year (with the exception of our Year In Review edition) because it’s Selection Sunday. And that means that we have all the info you need to fill out your brackets! Do we have time for the thing? OK so spring training is a thing that is happening. You know we had a planned piece this week about people who are planning to boo the Astros on opening day, but we’re going to save that when it gets much closer to MLB opening day. Of course if the Coronavirus happens, the Astros will get booed after someone uses their computer to hack the Angels’ PA system. Oh you know it’s happening. Some Dodgers and Yankees fans right now are plotting that. But I got to show this footage of my team, the Angels. And Mike Trout just launched this ball into pretty much low earth orbit:

Link to tweet

That is fucking insane. I think that thing is in low earth orbit right now. Hell I’m pretty sure that it hit the windshield of the Tesla roadster that Elon Musk launched into orbit last year. Some guy in Portugal is going “where the hell did this golf ball come from?”. I’m pretty sure that’s what the crazy aunt in Christmas Vacation saw when she started singing the National Anthem at the end of the movie. Yes, he hit that ball so far it could travel through time! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first John Oliver tears into myths and stupidity surrounding the Coronavirus:

This week, the Coronavirus has dominated the news, and as such it’s going to dominate the Top 10 this week! In the first slot this week is of course the guy who we currently call president, and that’s Donald J. Trump (1). Here’s the thing – does everything have to be a conspiracy with these kooks? Well for those of us who live in reality, he’s gone off the rails on his response to the Corona Virus scandal and it’s quite insane. At slot #2 – is our annual look at all the ramblings from CPAC in Washington DC and this time the merger of the Alt Right and far right traditional conservatives is complete. Think the end of Terminator 2. Taking the third slot this week, is also Donald J. Trump (3). And his week-long stint in India as a guest of their Hindu nationalist prime minister Narajendra Modi was insane, and Modi has committed far worse crimes than Trump has. In slot number 4 is, well, we had a piece planned about Louis Gohmert and the lynch mob (great band name, BTW), but instead we have to talk about what happened between hip hop hall of famers Public Enemy and now former member Flavor Flav over what happened at the Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles. Yeah… WTF? Taking the fifth slot this week, is of course our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and in light of Trump’s trip to India this week we’re taking a look at some (not) shocking revelations surrounding the diet of our 45th president, and what he eats on a daily basis, and is it good for you? Easy answer: No. In slot #6 is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit”, and the Christian right has some insane responses to the Coronavirus, and our resident pastor is going to go through some of them including Jim Bakker's controversial "Silver Solution" and praying away the virus! Taking the 7th slot this week, is a new “Beating A Dead Horse”. Dennis Prager’s Prager U sued Google after getting banned from Youtube, and there was a surprising verdict in the trial and we will tell you about it! In slot #8 is a new edition of “NO!” (8), and people, don’t profit from a tragedy. eBay shut down people selling items from Kobe Bryant’s memorial service, so yeah really don’t do that! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new “I Need A Drink”. And this week we’re going to raise our glasses and have a toast for Mad Mike Hughes, the Flat Earther who was so obsessed he built a homemade rocket to prove it, and sadly ended up dying in the process. Mad Mike, we salute you! Well, maybe not. Finally this week this is my favorite Top 10 of the year because it’s time for our 4th annual Stupidest State contest! And we kick off the games with our NFFSA presentation of Selection Sunday! Yes, we will give you all the states, stats, odds, and info you need to fill out your brackets and select our 4th annual Stupidest State winner! Plus the palate cleanser, we have some live music from our good friends 311 have returned and they are celebrating their semi-annual celebration of all things 311 on the Las Vegas Strip! 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"]Corona Virus Hysteria
[br] [/font] [br

The Corona Virus is absolutely dominating the news this week. As such, it takes up the top spot this week on the list. Of course when something goes viral this fast, things get weird. And if you are in the Trump world, everything that he is doing is fine, because Trump is every god in the book according the Trumpers, and everything else is a conspiracy against him. No, there’s no conspiracies here. The only thing working against Trump is some complete and utter incompetence, and it’s really starting to show, so the only people in denial are Trump’s biggest fans. It’s like the Corona slogan “Life’s a beach”, well, in this case, life's a beach, then you die, and you can fuck right off. And really, you don’t hand off the keys to a guy who will steer the ship right off the cliff and that’s exactly what Trump did to Mike Pence.

Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday that it is certain additional people in the United States will contract the new coronavirus spreading rapidly across the globe, but he said the risk to the average American remains low and the government is doing "everything possible to prevent the spread."

"There will be more cases. There's no question," Pence said on NBC News' "Meet the Press." But, he said, "the vast majority" of Americans who become infected "will be treated, they will recover."

President Donald Trump has put Pence in charge of a task force charged with coordinating the government's response to the outbreak. Pence stressed that the administration was taking "a whole of government approach."

"I'll have one of the most renowned experts in infectious diseases literally joining my staff in the West Wing tomorrow. We're going to bring the best scientific minds, experts together," Pence said, "We’re going to work every day to, to contain this disease, to treat those that are contracted.".
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/01/coronavirus-pence-says-there-more-cases-but-were-ready/4922246002/

Oh yeah this is fine. But here’s why you don’t put a guy like Mike Pence in charge of eradicating an evolving threat like the Corona Virus. He’s not very good at it! Pence can be “very confident” all he wants, but putting him in charge is like giving a blindfolded monkey a bunch of darts and expecting him to hit a dart board. Sure, he’ll try, but he will hit everything but the target no matter how many darts he has. But let’s look at Pence’s track record on diseases.

On Wednesday February 26, President Trump placed Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the response to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. The gesture was partly politics—signaling the disease was important enough to require the vice president’s attention—but also built on a claim about Pence’s expertise as the former governor of Indiana. As he assigned him to this task, the president praised Pence, maintaining that Indiana under his leadership was a model for the country in its approach to health.

This weekend, on Saturday, Trump doubled down on that claim. Asked about Pence’s role in the response to an HIV outbreak in Scott County, Indiana, during his governorship. Trump responded, “I think he’s done a phenomenal job on healthcare. One of the best, if not the best, in the country.” He then turned the podium over to the Vice President.

Pence described his response to the outbreak of HIV in Scott County: “the state of Indiana did not allow for providing a needle exchange to citizens. But the CDC came in and made a recommendation. And I declared a public health emergency. And made for 30 days a needle exchange available in the state of Indiana. And I’m proud to say that every one of those patients was treated. We ended the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus in that community.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/02/how-mike-pence-made-indianas-hiv-outbreak-worse-118648

Oh and fuck you, Trump. Not everything that happens against you is a personal attack brought on by the other side. It’s your own incompetence that is to blame!! The sad thing is that this whole thing could have been prevented. But it’s gross incompetence and the US media’s tendencies for over the top theatrics that is making this that much worse. And let’s not forget that Trump gutted the funding for the CDC. Then blames it on everyone else.

The night before the South Carolina Democratic primary, President Donald Trump appeared in that state at a rally in North Charleston, where he appeared to downplay the threat of the novel coronavirus — and Covid-19, the disease it causes — by decrying it as a “hoax.”

Speaking before a crowd of thousands, Trump accused Democrats of politicizing the spread of the Covid-19, which has killed almost 3,000 people worldwide and infected at least 15 people (not counting those who were diagnosed with Covid-19 following their exposure to to the virus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship) in the US to date.

“One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it.’ They tried the impeachment hoax,” said Trump. “And this is their new hoax.”

“The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus,” Trump continued, and mocked the party by saying “can’t even count their votes in Iowa,” referring to the technological and human errors that led to a delay in the release of Iowa caucuses results. In response to those who have criticized his response to the virus’ spread, he said that his administration’s closing of US borders have kept the number of infections low domestically.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/2/29/21159054/trump-coronavirus-strategy-democrats-hoax

Damn right!!! Funny that the people who accuse the other side of politicizing a tragedy are the ones politicizing a tragedy. Is it sad that we have to get our news from the president at one of his MAGA campaign rallies? It’s like watching a really bad stand up comedian who bombs at the chuckle hut and somehow gets promoted to selling out Madison Square Garden. Oh wait, I don’t have to, that guy is Sebastian Manascalco. They might as well just say that we’re on our own and it’s every man and woman for themselves. But one thing – it’s not Mexico’s fault, jackass.

The U.S. is banning travel to Iran in response to the outbreak of the new coronavirus and elevating travel warnings to regions of Italy and South Korea.

Vice President Mike Pence announced the new restrictions and warnings as President Donald Trump said 22 people in the U.S. have been stricken by the new coronavirus, including four deemed “very ill” and that additional cases are “likely.” Trump added that he was considering additional restrictions, including closing the U.S. border with Mexico in response to the virus’ spread.

“We’re thinking about all borders,” Trump said.

Trump provided an update on the virus from the White House press briefing room for the second time this week after the first reported U.S. death Saturday, of a woman he described as being in her late 50s and having a high medical risk. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was “no evidence of link to travel” in the case of the woman who died.
https://time.com/5793068/trump-border-covid-19-travel-iran-south-korea-italy/

[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"]CPAC Recap
[br] [/font] [br]

You know there was quite a lot to unpack from the last week. What happened? There was a deadly disease that’s spreading around the world… you had Public Enemy break up, there’s a giant election in California that could decide the next president… oh yeah! There was the annual gathering of the deplorables known as the Conservative Political Action Committee, which this year got overshadowed by a hip hop group from the fucking 1980s! Lost in the news was all the insanity going down in Washington, DC which included an appearance from everyone’s favorite conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in his armored tank.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, associates of his media operation Infowars, and other far-right activists are traveling to the nation’s capital this week for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. They’re also sponsoring separate right-wing events in the Washington, D.C., region, including one featuring former Republican U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart of Virginia, according to the event’s registration page.

Stewart’s Senate candidacy drew criticism for its ties to right-wing extremists, so much so that the National Republican Senatorial Committee decided not to invest in his 2018 campaign. Stewart was the Virginia state chair of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and received Trump’s endorsement for his 2018 bid for Congress. He was previously set to appear at a similarly fringe-right event in 2018 but withdrew after our reporting.

Jones announced on his Sunday Infowars broadcast that he planned to travel to CPAC and that his company had sponsored two other events hosted by National File, a right-wing media outlet led by the operator of a popular pro-Trump Facebook page called God Emperor Trump. National File will host two events featuring Jones and like-minded speakers: an “Emergency Save the First Amendment Summit” in Washington Wednesday, where Stewart is set to appear, and a separate reception near the CPAC venue in Maryland Thursday.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-and-pals-are-coming-to-cpac/

Excuse me a minute… but that wasn’t the only batshit crazy thing that happened at CPAC this year, it was exactly the shit show that everybody expected it was going to be. So of course if you follow the GOP lately, like I do, you know that they view Trump as a deity and anyone who opposes him as a socialist Satan worshipper. But who’s the real economic threat? If you ask conservatives, it’s not billionaires like Jeff Bezos or Charles Koch. They have a much different opinion. Hold your boos.

Continuing the “America vs. socialism” theme of the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Friday, Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser to President Donald Trump, and Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, presented the U.S. economy under Trump as a bastion of freedom under attack by socialist forces.

Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, began the conversation by addressing the heightened anxiety around the coronavirus and the stock market, which had its worst week since 2008, telling CPAC attendees that socialism is a far bigger threat to the American economy than the coronavirus is.

“The virus is not going to sink the American economy. What is or could sink the American economy is the socialism coming from our friends on the other side of the aisle,” Kudlow said.

Kudlow told American investors that they shouldn’t worry if they’re longterm investors; he then proceeded to encourage investment, adding, “you might think about buying the dip.” Studies show that timing the market—trying to buy cheap stocks when the market crashes—doesn’t work, which prompts the question why Kudlow is encouraging it or if he’s just trying to make his boss happy.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-cpac-ivanka-trump-and-larry-kudlow-paint-democrats-as-economic-threat/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Shut up!!! Do you guys even know what the idea of socialism is? We have socialism but for the billionaires. Come on, you guys have the fucking Daily Caller as a moderator. You might as well have the KKK moderate. And there’s no coup going on here either, not everything that happens is a personal affluent to Trump, OK? If you think that’s insane, wait until you see how they treat one of their own!

Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) today, where he praised the audience for booing when he mentioned the name of Sen. Mitt Romney, who was publicly “uninvited” to the event after he voted to call for witnesses during President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

When Kirk mentioned Romney’s name during his speech, the audience booed and Kirk encouraged them to do so.

“Correct answer,” Kirk said. “Every time his name is mentioned, you should respond that way because he lied to every single person in this room that knocked on doors for him, that made phone calls for him, that donated to his campaign. We thought that he was going to be a crusader against the Marxist president that preceded Donald Trump. And now he asks and he begs for the endorsement of Donald Trump for the Senate in Utah, and then he goes and votes for the sham unconstitutional impeachment.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/charlie-kirk-mitt-romney-should-be-booed-every-time-his-name-is-mentioned/

Uh oh, Mitt Romney had an independent thought! That’s bad for the cult! You know that’s one thing – if you join our side, we have all the cool celebrities! If you join the conservative side, you have to put up with dipshits like Charlie Kirk and Kid Rock. And by the way, in case you’re wondering where their Socialist Derangement Syndrome is showing, they are terrified at the mere mention of the word “socialist”. It’s their kryptonite. Oh be afraid, GOP, be very afraid!

President Donald Trump's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday was short and sweet compared to his more than two-hour long address last year, which remains the longest speech of his presidency.

Like his campaign rallies, Trump's CPAC speech this year catered to his base -- in particular, the mix of conservatives the conference attracts -- and its content reflected that. Between mocking the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and thanking God for his administration's accomplishments, Trump managed to speak more honestly than at last year's CPAC address, which had the most false claims for any single speech he's given as President.

During Saturday's speech, Trump made a point of noting he does not like to be repetitive. Nevertheless,r he repeated at least six false claims on topics ranging from impeachment to the economy.
Russia, if you're listening

Ragging on the media, Trump claimed the video of his previous "Russia, if you're listening" comment was cut off "right at the end so you don't then see the laughter, the joke." The comment Trump is referring to was from a 2016 press conference where he asked for help obtaining his opponent Hillary Clinton's deleted emails and infamously said, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/01/politics/trump-cpac-fact-check/index.html

[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"]Donald Trump
[br] [/font] [br]

Let’s take a look at the relationship between India and the United States. The two countries are undergoing a dynamic shift in culture and thanks to social media propaganda, are shifting extremely far to the right. So why does India love Trump? Well as John Oliver pointed out, Trump and India’s PM Modi have a lot in common. They’re both loved and supported by nationalist extremists and they’re both self-centered egomaniacs who spend a lot of time on social media. That said, the differences between the two are uncanny. The only difference is that Trump doesn’t exactly participate in state sanctioned murder, at least not yet. We hope it doesn’t come to that.

A potentially brilliant foreign policy strategy unfolded last week during President Trump’s trip to India. Hardly anyone in America knows that, or has been talking about it, because it’s hard to find a journalist who filed an interesting or insightful story from New Delhi.

Trump’s visit to India reflected a complex approach for strengthening America’s hand in South Asia and triangulating Russia, China and India in Central Asia. But, rather than assessing what was happening on this trip from a geopolitical perspective, most journalists subjected Americans to a predictable Trump-diminishing snarkfest. A central storyline was that Trump flew halfway around the world to get the adulation of 100,000 Indians in a cricket stadium, broadcasted back to the U.S. at 3 a.m. Eastern time. Pseudo-psychologist commentators branded the trip an effort to “seek adulation” and “a sightseeing tour.”

But, as they like to say, here is the breaking news: Any day of any week, Trump could fill stadiums from Cleveland to Dallas with 100,000 cheering Americans who actually could vote for him, rather than flying a grueling 20 hours to India for affirmation. Actually, global power politics took place under the noses of an evidently clueless press corps and major agreements were discussed that could change the balance of power in Asia.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/485452-trumps-namaste-magic-in-india-eludes-american-media

You first. Come on, we elected the meanest, most self-centered jackass in American history. But is it any wonder why we’re going to shit? Trump isn’t just a side effect he’s the problem. Don’t worry, we will get to what he did with the food in a minute. But Trump’s idea of diplomacy isn’t exactly bringing what one would call “peace and good will”. Instead, Trump’s level of diplomacy is chaos and destruction. Think the Gotham riot scene in the Joker movie.

U.S. President Donald Trump visited India last week for the first time. The trip packed in a massive welcome rally in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat – one that Trump is unlikely to forget – and an array of deals touching upon defense, telecom, energy, and so on.

Modi wished to use Trump’s visit for various political and economic gains. The Modi government has suffered from international backlash against policies such as the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the lockdown in Kashmir. This was an opportunity for Modi to rebuild his image. Further, India is also in desperate need of foreign investment to fight record levels of unemployment and boost sagging demand in its economy.

Yet, for the most part, these objectives were undermined during Trump’s visit, as the world’s eyes were transfixed elsewhere. Not far from Trump’s hotel in Delhi, communal riots erupted, resulting in an ever-increasing death toll and pulling away the attention of the international press corps who were accompanying the president. The riots turned out to be Delhi’s worst since the 1984 communal violence against the Sikh community. And even Trump himself admitted to having talked to Modi about the importance of religious freedom during their meeting.
https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/delhi-riots-turned-trumps-india-visit-counterproductive/

Trump is the Arthur Fleck of presidents. If he actually did shoot someone on 5th Avenue, I could guarantee that he could utter the line “YOU GET WHAT YOU FUCKING DESERVE!” and it would not feel out of place! And guess what? With all that diplomacy they got very little to show for it. It was pretty much a MAGA rally in another country and it began and ended nearly the same as that rally in New Jersey a couple weeks ago did – disappointed fans and large piles of trash.

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has Donald Trump’s number. More to the point, he understands the president’s obsession with numbers. How many people attended Trump’s inauguration? You guessed it. More than were present at any previous presidential inauguration. Trump’s IQ? Right again; it’s “one of the highest” and exceeds that of several really smart people, including, of course, former President Barack Obama. The intelligence of the participants on Trump’s former television show, The Apprentice? Well, they are geniuses with IQs that nudge two hundred. And so it goes.

Little wonder then that Modi assured Trump that vast numbers of admirers—five to seven million people, according to the president—would show up to greet him in Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat, Modi’s home state. Let’s go with a charitable interpretation: something must have gotten garbled in translation. Ahmedabad’s population totals 8.6 million, so even Modi, who has his own fascination with numbers (he claims to have a fifty-six-inch chest), couldn’t possibly have mobilized his many minions to muster a crowd that met Trump’s outlandish expectations.

The prime minister did deliver on another front, though. He doubtless knows that Trump loves big walls and had some built to grace the occasion. Modi’s wall was four feet high and nearly a kilometer long. Its purpose: to ensure that the president’s delicate sensibilities wouldn’t be offended by the sight of slums during his motorcade from the airport. India’s poor population apparently shame Modi and had to be erased for the August occasion, which lasted all of thirty-six hours. Trump then promptly departed, having seen the Taj Mahal as well the fawning posters hailing the greatness of the American president and his host. An example: “Two Dynamic Leaders: One Momentous Occasion.” Kim Jong-un couldn’t have done better.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/trumps-india-visit-was-little-substance-and-all-show-129002

[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"]Public Enemy Vs Bernie Sanders
[br] [/font] [br]

There’s no debating that Bernie Sanders is arguably the most polarizing candidate of this or any presidential election cycle. Those that love Bernie, reeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly love Bernie (see: Top 10 #8-7 ) and those that hate Bernie, well, they really hate him. I actually had the privilege of attending the rally in Los Angeles this week where the shit show between Public Enemy and long time collaborator and founding member Flavor Flav (FLAVOR FLAAAAAAAAAAV!!!!) clashed for what may be the final time in their career. I mean really if Bernie can’t keep Public Enemy together, how is he going to unite the country? Seriously, I’m asking for a friend. Although when you look at it, one wonders how Chuck D and Flavor Flav did anything together, let alone for 37 fucking years. That is a long ass time to do anything! So here’s what went down.

Rapper Chuck D has fired comical hypeman Flavor Flav from the iconic Long Island hip-hop group Public Enemy following long-simmering tensions and a dispute over participation in a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav," a representative for the group and its spinoff said in a statement Sunday. "We thank him for his years of service and wish him well."

Flav, 59, born in Roosevelt and raised in Freeport, had sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sanders Friday objecting to "unauthorized use of his likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials circulated by the campaign." Posted by the online music magazine Pitchfork, the letter from Flav's attorney Matthew Friedman goes on to say, "While Chuck is certainly free to express his political views as he sees fit — his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy. … [T]here is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav."

In a statement to HipHopDX, Chuck D's attorney said, "From a legal standpoint, Chuck could perform as Public Enemy if he ever wanted to; he is the sole owner of the Public Enemy trademark. He originally drew the logo himself in the mid-80's, is also the creative visionary and the group's primary songwriter, having written Flavor's most memorable lines."
https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/public-enemy-flavor-flav-chuck-d-bernie-sanders-1.42392260

FLAVOR FLAV!!! Holy shit, I think the craziest thing about this story is that Flavor Flav is 59 years old, damn! That means that Public Enemy has been a band as long as I have been alive! But here’s where this story escalated quickly. Public Enemy states that their dispute with Flavor Flav wasn’t about politics. Uh, what? I mean it’s Chuck D, pretty much everything he does is about politics. Shit, I remember when he hosted that Air America show way back when that was a thing.

Rap group Public Enemy split with founder member Flavor Flav but said on Monday that the move had been a long time coming and was not because of a dispute over its performance at a rally for U.S. presidential contender Bernie Sanders.

“Public Enemy did not part ways with Flavor Flav over his political views,” co-founder Chuck D and four other members of the hip-hop group said in a statement.

The band said Flav has been suspended from Public Enemy since 2016 when he failed to show up at a benefit in Georgia for singer Harry Belafonte.

“That was the last straw for the group. He had previously missed numerous live gigs from Glastonbury to Canada, album recording sessions and photo shoots. He always chose to party over work,” the statement added.

Flav and Chuck D were founder members in 1985 of New York-based rappers Public Enemy, known for making music with a strong political message. Their 1988 album “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” is considered one of the genre’s most influential.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-music-public-enemy/public-enemy-splits-with-flavor-flav-over-bernie-sanders-rally-idUSKBN20P35X

And in case Flavor Flav didn’t already regret this decision, well, he’s got a much different story than what Chuck D was telling the press. Now at this point you might be asking “HEY! Isn’t this supposed to be Top 10 *CONSERVATIVE* Idiots?”. And I answer you – this is my show, I get to talk about whatever the hell I want, damn it, and I was at this rally. So that said, here’s what Flavor Flav had to say.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Flavor Flav isn’t taking his firing from Public Enemy lying down. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer took to social media Monday to respond to news that he had been dismissed from the group, as well as several social media posts from co-founder Chuck D.

Flavor Flav was booted from the legendary hip hop act after the two sides engaged in a beef over Chuck D and other members of PE performing at a Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles under the name Public Enemy Radio.

Flavor Flav had issued a cease and desist letter to Sanders’ campaign, saying they were engaging in the “the unauthorized use of [Flavor Flav’s] likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials.”

This enraged Chuck D, who fired off several vicious posts on Twitter accusing Flavor Flav of being a drug addict who was desperate for money. Public Enemy then released an official statement saying, “Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,” the group said in a statement. “We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.”
https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/03/flavor-flav-tells-chuck-d-you-cant-fire-me-from-public-enemy.html

Dude, seriously, Chuck D, you should have just given him a severance package and a gold watch, he’s probably already eligible for retirement. Hey come on, I kid. I’m not age shaming. But the disputes going between the two should probably stop. And Flavor Flav don’t do free benefits, that’s just the way he rolls. So who approved of what and where is this going? Well the answer is very polarizing.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Public Enemy would be performing at a Bernie Sanders rally this Sunday in Los Angeles ahead of Super Tuesday. However, not everyone in the legendary group is on board.

In a cease and desist letter obtained by SPIN, Flavor Flav, through his attorney Matthew H. Friedman of the Las Vegas law firm Ford & Friedman, accused the Sanders campaign of using the Public Enemy name and “likeness, image and trademarked clock in promotional materials” without his permission.

He went on to say that the Sanders campaign created “a false narrative” that the legendary rap group is supporting him. Flav said it is just Chuck D. performing at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday.

“Sanders has promised to ‘Fight the Power’ with hip hop icons Public Enemy – but this Rap Icon will not be performing at the Sanders Rally,” the letter read. “To be clear Flav and, by extension, the Hall of Fame hip hop act Public Enemy with which his likeness and name have become synonymous has not endorsed any political candidate in this election cycle and any suggestion to the contrary is plainly untrue. The continued publicizing of this grossly misleading narrative is, at a minimum, careless and irresponsible if not intentionally misleading.”
https://www.spin.com/2020/02/flavor-flav-rips-bernie-sanders-campaign-for-using-public-enemy-name-for-rally-does-not-approve-your-message/

[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"]Top 10 Investigates
[br] [/font] [br]

It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

The philosophy of “garbage in, garbage out” is certainly one that is not sustainable, and it doesn’t matter if it’s plants, humans, animals or the environment. And it certainly doesn’t help that the man who leads the United States Of America engages in this philosophy. Since the President’s trip to India, there have been some alarming revelations about what he eats on a daily basis. And none of it is good in any way, shape or form. In fact, what Trump eats on a daily basis is what you should teach your children not to eat. And when he went to India, the meal that they attempted to make for him didn’t exactly go over well with him. Which, as you can imagine, we are not at all shocked by.

Trump spends most of his day not eating. He prefers to skip breakfast and lunch. In the book Let Trump Be Trump, the authors, former aides of the President, wrote, "the president would usually go 14 to 16 hours without eating”. When Trump does eat however, he makes up for lost calories, and is notorious for his love of fast food. Let Trump Be Trump relates, “On Trump Force One there were four major food groups: McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza, and Diet Coke." Trump is also known for his love of deep fried macaroni and cheese, and fried taco bowls with extra sauce.
During The Day

When speaking to Fox News’ Jesse Walters in 2016, Trump stated, “If I can, I’ll avoid breakfast. In terms of that, I will have a lunch but my big thing is dinner. Breakfast, Jesse, if I can avoid it, I’m very happy to do that.” When he does eat breakfast however, his preference is either bacon and eggs or a McDonald’s McMuffin. “My favourite would be bacon and eggs…bacon medium and the eggs over-well.”

For lunch, the President enjoys a well-done steak, pizza, burgers or a meatloaf sandwich. He keeps the White House kitchen well-stocked with snacks including Dorritos and Lays chips.

Having mostly fasted throughout the day, Trump goes to town at dinnertime. According to his former aides, his preferred dinner is “a full McDonald’s dinner of two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a small chocolate shake – a total of 2,430 calories.” The average person eats about 2,000 calories a day. Trump spoke to CNN host Anderson Cooper about his dinner order, explaining, “It’s great stuff.”

Trump’s love of McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC and other fast foods comes from an appreciation of reliability and safety as well as taste. CNN quotes Trump as saying: “One bad hamburger, you can destroy McDonald’s. One bad hamburger and you take Wendy’s and all these other places and they’re out of business.”
https://www.newidea.com.au/donald-trump-diet

That sounds about right for the presidential diet. Now translate this to his trip to India last week, where things didn’t exactly go as planned when it came to meal time. As you can imagine Indian food is very vegetarian heavy, and Trump is mainly a meat eater. So when they attempted to serve Trump a vegetarian food, naturally it didn’t go over very well. In fact, it, like just about everything else from that trip to India, was the disaster everyone called it out to be.

United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump did not eat anything, including Gujarati delicacy Khaman which was part of the high tea menu, during their visit to the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Monday afternoon, its trustee said.

Trump and the First Lady visited the Ashram in afternoon for about 15 minutes in the midst of their roadshow from the Ahmedabad International airport to the cricket stadium in Motera. They were welcomed by Prime Minister Narednra Modi at the ashram.

"Some food items were arranged for the members of the visiting delegation, but neither the US President nor the First Lady had anything during their visit to the Ashram," said Sabarmati Ashram trustee Kartikeya Sarabhai.

Apart from ''Khaman'', a famous Gujarati delicacy, items like broccoli and corn samosa, apple pie, kaju katli and a variety of teas were part of the menu of the high tea for the Trumps.

"We saw the list of food items which might have been arranged for the officials who were part of the visiting delegation. But none of the dignitaries ate them," Sarabhai said.
https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/donald-trump-and-melania-skip-food-at-sabarmati-ashram-menu-included-khaman-and-broccoli-samosa-1649589-2020-02-24

So the President Of The United States essentially acted like a toddler when he was supposed to try new foods. Is anyone really surprised? Now here’s where it all comes into focus. Donald Trump of course acts like a 73 year old child in just about every aspect of his life. He is a fussy eater, he’s a bully, and he wants everything to be about him. So how do you treat a fussy eater? Well, you hide vegetables in his diet, and that did not go over very well.

President Trump’s former doctor reportedly hid cauliflower in his mashed potatoes in an attempt to improve the president’s diet.

Former White House physician Ronny Jackson told The New York Times that he regretted leaving his position before he could implement the diet and exercise regimen planned for Trump.

“The exercise stuff never took off as much as I wanted it to,” he said. “But we were working on his diet. We were making the ice cream less accessible, we were putting cauliflower into the mashed potatoes.”

Jackson announced in an early 2018 press conference that he intended to help the president lose 10 to 15 pounds and transport an exercise bike or elliptical machine into the White House, according to the Times.

The former physician left the White House after withdrawing his name for consideration as the nominee to become the Veterans Affairs secretary amid allegations of professional misconduct.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/484496-trump-doctor-hid-cauliflower-in-mashed-potatoes-to-improve-diet

Unfortunately, Trump’s diet is not that simple. Just like a toddler, Trump has to be embarrassingly force fed vegetables. And he will most likely pick around them. But let’s ask someone who knows a thing or two about being force fed food, and that’s Ethan Suplee of the TV show “My Name Is Earl”. Since the show ended, he has been a champion on the diet and weight loss circuit after losing a shocking amount of weight and transforming his body. But then, he argues that some people can’t be changed, and it looks like Trump is one of those people.

Even though it's been reported that President Donald Trump's staff had been sneaking vegetables into his food, Ethan Suplee doesn't think it'll help. The My Name is Earl star has recently turned heads after shedding hundreds of pounds and replacing much of it with muscle. Though he was able to radically transform himself through diet and exercise, the actor told TMZ that it worked because he wanted to make the change.

"The biggest issue there, I think, is that if the person doesn't want to change, they're not gonna change," Suplee began. "So sneaking vegetables in food, I don't know if it's gonna be successful until that person wants to make a change for himself."

"As a little kid, my parents, my grandparents put me on all sorts of diets, they did nothing," Suplee continued. "They just made me, actually, sneak unhealthy food more. Sneaking vegetables to the dude, he's gonna be at Popeye's and Chik-Fil-A at night."

He also brought up chef Andre Rush, who's going to be on Suplee's new podcast, American Glutton. After describing him as a "bada— dude," he added his connection to the 45th president.
https://popculture.com/celebrity/2020/02/27/donald-trump-diet-ethan-suplee-reacts-my-name-is-earl/

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

&feature


[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]

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Wichita! 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! There is mass hysteria right now and I think we all need to remain calm. But no, I don’t see that happening in the near future. Because there is a dreaded, deadly virus that is coming our way. No, I’m not talking about the disease known as SATANism. I’m talking about the disease known as the Coronavirus. Because the news of the virus has gone mainstream and there’s lots of disinformation out there. And we don’t need a product of the Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken in my church, making things worse. But Mr. Bakker, is a man who is no stranger to conning people. And cons are not good in the eyes of our good LAWRD JAYSUS! When you are seeking a cure for the Coronavirus, don’t fall for scams like this. Go see a real doctor, people!

A guest on televangelist Jim Bakker's show suggested on Wednesday that a product sold on Bakker's website might be effective at protecting against and killing the novel coronavirus.

The guest, naturopathic Dr. Sherrill Sellman, said that Silver Solution—a product that can be purchased on Bakker's web store—has been found to be effective on viruses related to the one from Wuhan. Further, she said Silver Solution could bolster a person's immune system and potentially make their bodies less susceptible to the virus.

"Well, let's say [Silver Solution] hasn't been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it's been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours," she said. "Totally eliminate it. Kills it, deactivates it. And then it boosts your immune system so then you can support the recovery, because when you kill the virus, then the immune system comes into action to clear it out. So you want a vibrant immune system as well as an ability to deactivate these viruses."

Newsweek contacted Sellman via her website for further comment and clarification but did not receive a reply before publication.

The novel coronavirus emerged from the Chinese city in late 2019. The virus has since spread to 24 other countries, including the United States, though the majority of those infected remain in China. As of Wednesday, the virus has infected over 45,000 people and killed at least 1,100, according to the World Health Organization.
https://www.newsweek.com/televangelist-show-guest-promotes-silver-solution-cure-coronavirus-1487069

Hey wait a minute, why is my skin turning blue and my hair falling out? If only there were some kind of miracle cure. Damn you Brother Jim!!! What? Of course we’re allowed to swear in my church here. I believe in freedom of speech! But in case you’re wondering – no, there is no such thing as a silver cure for Coronavirus. If you’re going to ask then you are most likely in the wrong place, sir or madam!

There is no medical cure for coronavirus and all viral infections, which is why people are turning to nature for solutions. One of the known natural antivirus agents is colloidal silver, a traditional remedy whose antiseptic properties were used in ancient Egypt, the Middle East and India by royal households to keep water and other fluids fresh and to treat various infections. Until its ban in the 1930s, it was recognized and used as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial by clinicians to treat bacterial, parasitical, fungal and viral infections. But is Colloidal silver a cure for coronavirus as televangelists in the US and several news outlets claim? This article focuses on its antiviral properties in connection with coronavirus.

In the absence of medical solutions for coronavirus, people are turning to natural solutions such as colloidal silver. Because colloidal silver is a broad-spectrum antivirus, that also strengthens the immune system, it can potentially prevent or help to treat coronavirus infection. Many people are now taking it prevent infection. Websites that sell colloidal silver have seen an increase in article views and purchases of colloidal silver by people in Hong Kong and China.

On the Jim Bakker show, naturopathic doctor Sherrill Sellman said Silver Solution has been tested on some of the strains of coronavirus and found to effectively deactivate them and to boost the immune system. The product in the article sells for $125 (£95) but high quality colloidal silver can also be sourced from reputable sellers in the UK who ship globally – for as little as £9.99 for a 15ml bottle.
https://filmdaily.co/health/is-colloidal-silver-a-cure-for-coronavirus/

Well speaking of that, good Reverend, now, if modern medicine isn’t helping and turning to the good LAWRD JAYSUS isn’t helping, then what is? Well that’s where we come in! See here’s the thing – a deadly virus like the Coronavirus doesn’t take sides, it doesn’t care whether or not you got SAVED or not, it don’t matter. But can we pray away the Coronavirus or will it simply ignore us? Well, here’s one absolutely insane theory.

Right-wing pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth predicted during a livestream last week that “America will be minimally affected” by the global coronavirus outbreak because of President Donald Trump’s support for Israel.

“If it’s a plan from the deep state to practice shutting America down [for] population control, it will fail,” Shuttlesworth said. “The Lord looks at the plans of the wicked and laughs, and men can’t override God’s blessing.”

“If God is for you, who can be against you?” he asked. “Read the Bible. A nation doesn’t have to be run by a perfect man for God to give goodness to a nation. ‘I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.’ Even Trump’s critics would have to say that he honors Israel. Now they can say, ‘He just does it to appeal to the Christian [base].'”

“They can say whatever they want, he honored Israel. Obama honored the enemies of Israel; Trump honors Israel, and it’s a massive difference. And because of that, I predict America will be minimally affected by coronavirus,” Shuttlesworth continued.

Shuttlesworth then added “a little caveat” to his prediction to claim that if America is affected by the virus, it will impact liberal states that “have chosen to give God the middle finger.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jonathan-shuttlesworth-america-will-be-minimally-affected-by-the-coronavirus-because-of-trumps-support-for-israel/

Well that won’t work, especially when you consider that the man who the Dark One has put in charge of eradicating this deadly disease was responsible for brought about the worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history! And that is something that the GOOD LAWRD will not tolerate! Nor will the good LAWRD JAYSUS tolerate stupidity of this magnitude. I mean even the Center For Disease Control is saying that this is complete and utter madness!

Earlier this month, right-wing pastor Hank Kunneman proclaimed that God would protect the United States from the coronavirus outbreak because of the Trump administration’s support for Israel and opposition to abortion.

While the Centers for Disease Control warned today that the spread of the virus in the United States is now all but inevitable, last night Kunneman and his wife Brenda held a “Prophetic Pulse” conference call in which Brenda rebuked the virus and commanded a “supernatural inoculation of the spirit” to come on the Earth and “bring forth healing and a cure.”

“Right now, we speak over this situation with this coronavirus,” she proclaimed. “We say to that virus that the hands of the Lord have come to clap against you and destroy you, and we say that it shall be quarantined by the mercy of the living God.”

“It’s being contained in Europe and Heavenly Father, it’s being contained in various parts of the world,” Brenda Kunneman continued to prophesy. “While they say cases are popping up, we speak a holy containment and a quarantine by the Holy Spirit to go across the land. And we say, ‘Lord, Let the angels of the most high go forth to be commissioned, to walk, and to benefit those that are heirs of salvation.’ But even those that are not part of the covenant, Lord, we ask for your mercy to be upon them and to drive this virus out into the dark places.”

“Let it be cast out from the nations and be contained, and to dissolve, and to be broken and neutralized by the power of the living God,” Kunneman declared. “We say, ‘Coronavirus, be neutralized in the name of Jesus and lose your power.’ We command that demon that is going forth, we say in Jesus’ name that it loses its strength and this thing dissipates, and even a supernatural inoculation of the spirit comes now and brings forth healing and a cure.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/brenda-kunneman-commands-a-supernatural-inoculation-to-cure-the-world-of-coronavirus/

Could this be the beginning of the rapture? Well I always thought it was going to be a horrible, fiery apocalypse. Instead it’s a trip to the fish market! I have figured it out everybody!! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:





[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"]Beating A Dead Horse: Google Vs Prager University
[br] [/font] [br]



Ever since the demise of Trump University in 2010 when it went belly up for bankruptcy issues (shocker), there’s been a number of fake universities peddling tons of misinformation vying to take it’s place. Well, we’ve found the one university that might be able to take its’ place and put Trump University to shame. And neither of these two things are easy to do! That “university” is called Prager U, founded by ultra conservative right wing talk show host Dennis Prager. Just like Trump University, Prager U has no central campus. Also, just like Trump University, Prager U is not an accredited college in any way, shape or form. Both universities exist entirely online. But there’s a huge difference between the two conservative “universities”. Trump University was out to scam regular students into what they thought was getting a degree in the real estate business. Prager U, on the other hand, is out to scam our social media outlets.

Dennis Prager, founder of the right-wing propaganda outlet Prager University, has a First Amendment right to lie about climate change, deny that straight people get HIV, viciously vilify Muslims, and declare that “men get turned on by any sight of female flesh.” He does not, however, have a right to upload these claims to YouTube and make money off them, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.

PragerU may not be a household name, but it has a surprisingly broad reach: Its five-minute videos have racked up well over 2 billion views across platforms. Although these videos are presented as unbiased educational lessons, they promote exclusively conservative, often fringe views. Prager and his friends regularly condemn Muslims, LGBTQ equality, abortion, feminism, gun control, and campaign finance reform, and deny climate change. (The company is partly funded by fracking billionaires.) The outlet has mastered the art of grabbing viewers’ attention with a provocative video, presented as fact, then pulling them deeper down the rabbit hole into Prager’s bizarre world of toxic propaganda.

It is strange, and more than a little pathetic, that the 9th Circuit had to remind PragerU that YouTube is incapable of unconstitutionally censoring its videos. The Constitution prohibits Congress or the states from abridging the freedom of speech; as the Supreme Court reiterated last year, the First Amendment simply does not apply to private entities, even if they create an open forum for varying viewpoints. Yet PragerU has spent more than two years hounding YouTube in court. Its lawyers insist that PragerU has a constitutional right to host its videos on the platform and profit from them.
https://slate.com/technology/2020/02/prageru-first-amendment-youtube.html

You know there’s been no mistake that since Trump got elected to office, conservatives have been on a warpath against social media companies. We’ve pointed this out in Top 10 #5-2, when conservatives had Mark Zuckerberg testify on Capitol Hill about a bizarre conspiracy known as “shadow banning”. That’s not a thing. What is a thing is conservatives trolling social media sites to get their messages of hate and racism out in the open. Sorry to break it to you guys, but that’s private industry and they have the right to police the content they want. And in case you’re wondering what kind of person Dennis Prager is, well, this is not at all shocking.

Conservative radio host and founder of PragerU, Dennis Prager said that the left had made it "impossible" to say the n-word, even to decry its usage, on his radio show Thursday.

In response to a phone call to The Dennis Prager Show about racial hate and anti-Semitism in America, Prager addressed a question about why he chose to say "the n-word" before using a slur for Jewish people in a previous segment about the private racism and anti-Semitism of former presidents Harry Truman and Richard Nixon.

"But you mentioned that President Truman used to use the n-word all the time, and then, two seconds later, you followed it up with the word [a slur for Jewish people]," the caller asked.

"So, why didn't I say 'k-word'? Because the left has made it impossible to say the n-word any longer. That's disgusting, it's a farce. It's the only word that you can't say in the English language," Prager said.

"But why is it OK to say the k-word?" the caller asked.

"Because the left doesn't give a damn about that word. That's why. The left runs the country in the culture. The Republicans have the Senate and the presidency and that's very important. But the culture? And the more the left controls the more totalitarian it is. That is not an attack, it's a statement of fact, like two plus two equals four. It is idiotic that you cannot say the n-word. Idiotic," Prager replied.
https://www.newsweek.com/dennis-prager-thinks-its-idiotic-that-you-cannot-say-n-word-blames-disgusting-left-1487284

?noredirect

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Fucking A we don’t give a damn about that word! See, unlike you guys, we actually embrace diversity. We care about having a variety of opinions from all different walks of life. Just look at the range of opinions on Fox News. White man, white man, white man, old white man, bald white man, fat white man. And maybe an attractive blonde woman or two wearing short skirts thrown in for good measure. And don’t forget Jeannie Pirro, who probably thinks that animals getting tortured is funny, we don’t know. We’re just guessing. But there is one thing conservatives waging war on social media websites just can’t wrap their head around – they can police their own content!

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that internet giants like Google and Facebook can censor content on their platforms, rebuking arguments from conservatives who claim the tech companies violate users' First Amendment rights by removing certain messages or videos.

With its unanimous opinion, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the latest court to dismiss arguments that platforms like YouTube can be sued under the First Amendment for decisions on content moderation.

"Despite YouTube's ubiquity and its role as a public-facing platform, it remains a private forum, not a public forum subject to judicial scrutiny under the First Amendment," Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, a Clinton appointee, wrote in the opinion.

The three-judge panel upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss the case.

Dennis Prager, founder of the conservative advocacy organization Prager University, first sued Google in 2017 over claims that its subsidiary YouTube was prioritizing left-leaning content over Prager U's popular conservative videos.
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/overnights/485050-hillicon-valley-federal-court-rules-tech-giants-can-censor

No, diversity is not an old wooden ship from the Civil War era. But in case you’re wondering where the content for the conservative-based “university” comes from, if you say that it’s from shady sources, well, you are absolutely correct! Here’s the thing Prager U, you can talk all the shit you want about social media websites censoring conservatives. But as many a girlfriend would say “It’s not me, it’s you!”, and it is so much you! If you want to be taken seriously, altering your data to present a conservative viewpoint while trying to amp up the hysteria surrounding something that is really nothing is not exactly how one should go about doing things. I mean come on, how can you take something seriously when they got Yakov Smirnov as a guest lecturer?

PragerU cloaks its extremism in a veneer of respectability, and that’s crucial to its success.

The site, founded in 2011, is known for its polished and persuasive five-minute videos. Some videos focus on history, like the legacy of Christopher Columbus (apparently he’s gotten a bad rap) or the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt (the “New Deal” actually made things worse). Others tackle ongoing issues dividing the world such as religion (the West can thank “Judeo-Christian values” for its success) or the push for a $15 minimum wage (a bad idea!).

If you didn’t know much about the specific presenters, their bios give the impression that many of them are relatively mainstream right-leaning media figures. For instance, PragerU has videos hosted by multiple Pulitzer Prize winners, popular TV hosts, sports journalists, current and former Washington Post columnists, a Canadian former prime minister, a five-time Emmy Award winner, a nominee to head the Labor Department, a two-time presidential candidate, a former White House press secretary, as well as current and former faculty at respected institutions such as West Point, Stanford, UCLA, Harvard, and Princeton, among others.

Some of the site’s videos are … well, they’re fine. Comedian Yakov Smirnoff hosts a clip about the importance of laughter in healthy relationships. Col. Ty Seidule delivers a straightforward answer to the question of whether or not the Civil War was really about slavery (he says it was). Other clips, such as Adam Carolla’s ode to personal change, Jordan Peterson’s call to “fix yourself,” or Michele Tafoya’s “secret to success,” are just boilerplate self-help speeches we’ve all probably heard dozens of variations on in our lives. It’s the combination of respectable-sounding presenters with a handful of harmless clips that cover for the site’s hard-right ideology.
https://www.mediamatters.org/dennis-prager/prageru-relies-veneer-respectability-obscure-its-propagandist-mission

[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"]NO!: Corona Virus Stupidity
[br] [/font] [br]



The Corona Virus is dominating the news right now. It’s like the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich, or the Korean boy band BTS – no matter where you turn, you can’t look away from these things. And like both of these things, there will be some weird guy in the comments section who is posting and spamming a video of scantily clad Korean dancers trying to get the views up... HEY! STOP IT! GO AWAY!!! SHOO!! Let me just block and report that guy. And when that happens, well, people get stupid. And when people get stupid, you can bet that things will get weird in a hurry. And you want to know how a story involving a deadly disease spreads? About as fast as the disease itself. Well let’s examine all the stupidity surrounding the Coronavirus, because it’s quite the stuff of insanity. It’s not just that the Coronavirus is a thing, but nobody wants anything having to do with the name “Corona” itself, like Corona Beer for instance. Just because it has the Corona name in it does not mean that it’s automatically associated with the Coronavirus, OK? I live right next to Corona, California and I still sit in traffic on the 91 freeway everyday for 3 hours in that city, and I still have to go there!

Chances are, you've heard sometime in the past week that "38 percent of beer-drinking Americans would not buy Corona under any circumstances now." The statement came from a survey conducted by 5W Public Relations, which argued the threat that coronavirus (Covid-19) would become a global pandemic is a PR disaster for the famous beer brand. The statistic proceeded to spread rapidly across news outlets, aided by a CNN tweet that went viral.

But is it true?

Constellation Brands, which owns Corona, just released a statement fighting the notion that recent events have negatively affected the brand. In fact, the company claims sales are actually up 5 percent in the U.S. over the latest four-week period, nearly doubling the 52-week trend for the brand.

But rather than jump into a defense against rapidly spreading misinformation, Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands did something very important, first.

He recognized the gravity of the situation, and shared a little empathy.
https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/the-ceo-behind-corona-just-responded-to-claims-that-coronavirus-is-hurting-beer-sales-its-a-lesson-in-emotional-intelligence.html

Yes, people, stop acting so stupid. And the reason why we act stupid in a time like this is because we have no emotional intelligence. Yes, that is a thing. When our emotions run high, we go crazy. it’s human nature. There’s plenty of reasons not to drink Corona beer. For one thing, it’s shitty beer. I mean really shitty beer. The only reason you should have Corona in your refrigerator is to use it to cook with when the recipe calls for a Mexican beer, or to pour one out for your homies. But here’s how insane this has become. Let’s look at Japan, where the TV manufacturer Sharp stopped producing TVs and stopped producing masks.

A television factory owned by Japanese electronics giant Sharp is to produce up to 150,000 masks per day, local media has reported.

Hi-tech “clean rooms” with low levels of dust and airborne organisms will be used to manufacture the masks.

The coronavirus crisis has seen many stores in Japan run out of masks, and the government establish a strategic mask reserve, the BBC reported.

The production line in Mie near Osaka normally makes LCD panels, but will switch over part of its production to making masks.

While medical opinion is divided over the effectiveness of masks, Japanese people often wear them during the cold and allergy season.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sharp-coronavirus-masks-factory-193412689.html

Oh come on, we can’t buy flat screens in the month of March 2020? Now how am I going to find out how the Los Angeles Wildcats lost to the New York Defenders by 3 lousy points? You should have gone for that weird 4 point conversion rule, LA! But at least the Surgeon General is proving to be one of the few sane voices in this otherwise insane administration. Because he is saying that masks might actually make the situation worse!

Community transmission of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, has officially begun in the U.S., with two cases in California and one in Oregon of unknown origin. The first COVID death was reported Saturday, Feb. 29, in Seattle. The natural human response to a strange, new disease making its way to a neighborhood near you is to feel anxiety and want to DO SOMETHING. That’s why many people have been buying up and stockpiling masks. But even if you could buy any in the midst of global shortages, should you?

No.

And if you already have masks, should you wear them when you’re out?

No.

Even if there are COVID cases in your community?

Even if there are cases next door, the answer is no, you do NOT need to get or wear any face masks—surgical masks, “N95 masks,” respirator masks, or anything else—to protect yourself against the coronavirus. Not only do you not need them, you shouldn’t wear them, according to infection prevention specialist Eli Perencevich, MD, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2020/02/29/no-you-do-not-need-face-masks-for-coronavirus-they-might-increase-your-infection-risk/#45a98ccc676c

Thank you miss! It’s not enough that the surgeon general is telling people that the masks are completely fucking useless, it’s that the worst thing to come out of this whole thing is sheer, utter , total incompetence! And things aren’t getting better, they’re getting worse. But let’s make one thing clear – there are 3,000 cases right now. In a world where there is 6 BILLION people. Keep calm, everyone, and pull your heads out of each other’s asses. Ooh, I like that graphic. But self isolation definitely isn’t the way to go.

When LeighAnn Rorex woke up in her house near Los Angeles over the past two weeks, the only thing she looked forward to was one fewer day of coronavirus quarantine.

From Feb. 14, when she arrived from China and her aunt and uncle met her at Los Angeles International Airport, until Friday, Rorex was confined alone to her four-bedroom Hacienda Heights house, which does have a backyard. Her neighbor put up her roommate down the street, or else Rorex would have been trapped in her bedroom for two weeks.

“I would probably go crazy,” Rorex said on the phone during her last full day of quarantine.

The 36-year-old warehouse worker was one of some 8,700 people who have been under home quarantine in California to watch for coronavirus symptoms, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for people who recently visited China. There are hundreds in the Bay Area.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Surviving-coronavirus-self-quarantine-in-15093364.php

[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"]I Need A Drink: RIP Mad Mike
[br] [/font] [br]

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

[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"]Stupidest State Selection Sunday
[br] [/font] [br]

16 states will enter and only one state will be crowned the new Top 10 Conservative Idiots Stupidest State!



Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to commence the 4th annual Top 10 Conservative Idiots Stupidest State contest! The National For Fuck’s Sake Association is back for another go-round with all four corners of conservative idiocy being represented: god, guns, greed, and pure batshit insanity! Last year we had quite the upset when Alabama stunned Florida and went on to win the tournament! What will happen this year? Just about anything goes! There will be 16 teams throughout this great United States of ours all vying for control of that most coveted of prizes: The Delay Trophy, named after NFFSA Hall Of Famer Tom Delay, who took his state of Texas to an unprecedented 8 consecutive titles during the George Bush administration. Now we go to the beautiful Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, California for the kick off ceremony and Selection Sunday!



[font size="6"]Statement From The Commissioner [/font]

Welcome welcome welcome!!! It is my honor and privilege to be doing this for the fourth year in a row representing this fine organization and these fine teams. Of course before we kick this thing off, I want to congratulate last year’s winner, Alabama, again for a job well done! You represent the kind of conservative idiocy needed to win the tournament. Of course previous winners including Texas and Florida are no slouches either, they are also shining examples. Now as always, allow me to go over the rules of the contest. For the first round, it will be consisting of 2 rounds each week with 4 teams duking it out. Then in round 2, it will expand to two teams each week for the Elite 8 as it gets paired down to the Final Four. Round 3 will have 4 teams in two matches and the championship will have the last two teams standing get down to it. Of course, since we do encourage gambling, we will provide you with your own bracket and all the states, states, odds and info that you need to fill it out. Now let’s do this thing!!!



[font size="6"]The Batshit Conference[/font]



Since 1952, the Batshit Conference has the distinction of being the oldest and largest conference in the NFFSA. Consisting of a whopping 18 states, all flinging the finest guano at each other, and you never know what is going to happen! These states elect the craziest politicians to the game and they have an electorate to match their insanity. When you’re in the batshit conference, you don’t know whether or not your vote was cast or if your local police officers murdered an innocent man in his car during a routine traffic stop. It’s also the conference where armored tanks roam through the streets shouting social media propaganda and gun nuts roam the state capitol buildings armed with AR-15s and AK-47s. The Batshit Conference: Proudly bringing the insanity since 1952!

1. Virginia: Virginia may be for lovers, but it is also for some of the most insane things to happen in the country. Whether it’s angry teenage white boys rioting in Charlottesville carrying tiki torches and wearing uniforms that wouldn’t look out of place in a used car showroom, or gun nuts protesting liberal policies at the capital, you can bet that Virginia is always there to provide some entertainment and comic relief!
Smoking Gun: Jerry Falwell Jr has a completely insane plan to annex counties from Virginia and give them to West Virginia in a poorly named and poorly thought out plan called “Vexit”.
Odds: 2:1 – Virginia was one of the strongest teams in the regular season and they have the strength and drive to go far, earning them the top spot!

2. Kentucky: The home of everyone’s favorite senator that they love to hate, Mitch McConnell, is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact they may have fired their coach Matt Bevin, but Kentucky still has a long way to go before it can be flipped. But the Bluegrass State never fails to bring the crazy, and expect them to bring the crazy extra hard in the tournament!
Smoking Gun: Matt Bevin used his powers of pardoning to pardon a child rapist because – quote – her hyman was intact! Creeeeeeeeeeeepy.
Odds: 7:1 – While they are going up against one of the best teams in the tournament, Kentucky is always full of surprises and could advance in an upset!

3. Idaho: After a relatively quiet showing in the Gun Nut Conference last year, Idaho reexamined its' place in the tournament, changed conferences, and recruited a whole bunch of fresh new talent. The Gem State is also a very heavily rural state. And with rural living comes a lot of hardcore drugs and crystal meth laced insanity. But if a controversial plan to annex half of Oregon goes through, Idaho could become an even larger state!
Smoking Gun: Oregon’s gun nuts are so fed up that they’re considering leaving and joining Idaho.
Odds: 10-1. Idaho had a strong regular season and they could pull off an unexpected surprise but don’t count on it.

4. South Carolina: Another newcomer to the tournament. The home of Lindsay Graham has had no shortage of good old fashioned fire and brimstone conservative insanity. It’s a melting pot of hardcore evangelism, hardcore racism, gun nut insanity, and extreme fiscal irresponsibility. Not to mention they still love the Confederacy even in 2020!
Smoking Gun: Mike Pitts, a South Carolinian state representative with a history of being a staunch defender o f the Confederacy, was a Trump appointee for a judicial position.
Odds: 5:1 – South Carolina pulled out a last second win to secure a high seed in the tournament, expect them to go far!

[font size="6"]The Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference[/font]



Welcome to the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference, where going for broke isn’t just a way of life, some consider it to be a contact sport. Since 1952, all of these teams are sponsored by Koch Industries. Along with other billionaire families like the Waltons and the DeVos family. You’re drowning in student debt while your boss is buying his sixth Maserati and enjoying a day of golf out at the country club. You’re in the negatives, your boss is out there burning money like the Joker in the Dark Knight. The Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference: Proudly going for broke since 1952!

1. Michigan: The Wolverine State is always a show boater and a conference favorite in this race. They were once the backbone of the US economy, but since the US auto industry went bye bye, so did the city of Detroit. And their neighbors in Flint aren’t exactly doing what one would call prosperous business either. Will they go far in the tournament? Only one way to find out!
Smoking Gun: The manufacturing city of Battle Creek spent a whopping $93,000 for a Trump rally back in December and has yet to pay it back.
Odds: 2-1. They have upgraded their team in the offseason and got some very strong defenders, expect them to go far!

2. Pennsylvania: The Keystone State is home to two of America’s largest cities – Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. It’s also home to some crippling, Koch induced debt. While the major cities are home to some of the biggest businesses in America, rural Pennsylvania is home to the coal mines. Which with extreme climate change affecting the entire world, people aren’t exactly buying the “Clean Coal” argument these days.
Smoking Gun: Pennsylvania’s economy is hurting so badly that the Roman Catholic dioceses filed for bankruptcy!
Odds: 5-1: They are another team that got hot at the right time. They have a strongly upgraded defense, and they could be a major upset if healthy!

3. Tennessee: The Volunteer State missed out on last year’s tournament but they are back and ready to tangle! The home to the Smoky Mountains is also the home of some serious coal mining towns run by some seriously shady crooks. But that’s not all, some extreme fiscal irresponsibility is making Tennessee a surefire contender to win the conference.
Smoking Gun: An organization that tracks state spending has figured out that Tennessee has over $1 billion that it could spend on needy families but hasn’t!
Odds: 10:1 – They had a few injuries and stumbled a bit in the regular season. But if key players get healthy before the tournament starts, they could go all the way!

4. Nebraska:: A newcomer to the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference, Nebraksa is home to farmland as far as the eye can see. It’s also the home to some extreme industrialization that’s polluting the atmosphere. Nebraska’s chief export may be corn, but there’s nothing corny about the financial situation that their mostly hard right governors and representatives have got them into. See what I did there?
Smoking Gun: The University Of Nebraska outpatient center is so hurting that Madonna (yes, that Madonna) sponsored a wing to the total of $4 million.
Odds: 15-1: They are an underdog in the tournament as the experts expected them not to be here, but they did it and could be an upset happening!

[font size="6"]The Gun Nut Conference[/font]



Armageddon days are here again! Well, they most certainly are if you live in the Gun Nut Conference! In these states, while you are busy figuring out which bucket of heavily preserved slop to add to your doomsday shelter, others are stockpiling weapons and ammo and driving through the streets in custom built armored cars! You have 50 rounds of ammo ready to shoot? Well the other guy has 500! And yes it’s the states where “pistol whip” is a dessert topping. It’s the conference where the ongoing debate between concealed carry and open carry could be considered a contact sport! It’s the conference where Dirty Harry is considered a documentary and then everyone and everyone is packing heat including your mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers… oh you don’t think Great Gam Gam is packing some heat? If only I had some kind of device I could use. The Gun Nut Conference: Proudly shooting first and asking questions later since 1952!

1. Oregon: Oregon got an upgraded team this year mainly because of how vigilant the Proud Boys were against those dreaded Antifa protestors in downtown Portland. But outside of Portland? Why you can guarantee that America’s farmers are packing some serious heat and prepping some hotel quality doomsday shelters in preps for the coming end times!
Smoking Gun: Oregon’s gun nuts are so fed up with Oregon’s leadership that there’s actually a plan similar to Virginia to annex Oregon counties and give them to… Idaho!
Odds: 5:1 – They have had some injuries during the regular season but they are always full of surprises. Could they go far? Only time will tell!

2. Florida: Florida *ALWAYS* has a strong showing in this conference because they are home to some extremely crazy felons, cons, ex-cons, and meth addicts, all of whom are packing some serious heat. Yes, they are known to have a mass shooting or two. But the addition of the always entertaining Florida Man prove that the Sunshine State is always fun to watch!
Smoking Gun: On the two year anniversary of the Parkland shooting, Florida is quietly advancing a bill that could allow guns in church!
Odds: 7:1 – Last year’s stunning loss to Alabama proved just how volatile having Florida Man on your team is. But you never know what could happen!

3. New Mexico: The state that gave us both Walter White and Nick Fury is no stranger to guns and heat. Especially heat considering that they live in a freaking desert! So of course 110 degree temperatures and very little to no moisture is going to screw with your head. In fact New Mexico’s gun nuts are so out of control that the government is taking measures to prevent things from escalating!
Smoking Gun: You know the first state that actually could take your guns away? New Mexico if their firearm seizure bill gets passed!
Odds: 3:1 – The desert warriors are new to this division, but they are no slouches when it comes to shooting both their mouths and their guns off ! Expect them to go far!

4. Missouri: The Show Me State is back for another go round! The state that is the home of Ferguson that gave birth to the Black Lives Matter movement, is no stranger to being surrounded by the almighty firearm. Sure, Missouri has Kansas City (which may or may not be in Kansas according to a certain president) and St. Louis and the inner cities and rural farmers are packing some serious heat! A second amendment heaven for absolutionists!
Smoking Gun: Missouri is debating a bill in the House that would allow concealed carry operators to carry guns on college campuses. What could go wrong?
Odds: 5:1 – Missouri has an upgraded defense from last year, but injuries plagued them during the regular season. A win over New Mexico would be a major upset!

[font size="6"]The Family Values Conference[/font]



When you’re coveting your neighbor’s goods and bearing false witness, the only place to go is to head to your local house of worship and repent those sins, you godless heathens! It’s the conference where you can go pray to god one minute and then feed your vice the next. And the people in these states care more about a person when they are in the womb than when they are out of it. That’s right, while you are incubating in your mother’s uterus, the Christian right will do everything to protect you. And debating between the first and third trimester abortions and consulting the opinion of an actual doctor is considered sacrilege. But when you are out, you are on your own! It’s the states where Jon Bon Jovi is replaced with Toby Mac on the radio and your TV can’t say any icky words. The Family Values Conference: Proudly praying to god and preying on those who can’t help themselves since 1952!

1. Alabama: Last year’s NFFSA champions are back and they are better than ever. After pulling off a stunning upset against Flyover League champions Florida, they got a massive upgrade thanks to some trades at the trade deadline. Alabama’s worshippers are praying to their god daily and getting it done.
Smoking Gun: The 85 year old Senate candidate you love to be creeped out by, Roy Moore, is back to take on Doug Jones, and he is naturally tanking in the polls. If only there were some way to save him!
Odds: 2:1 – The odds on favorite to win the Family Values Conference is ready to take on the league’s best, and they can do some serious damage in this tournament!

2. Oklahoma: The Sooner State has been through some real Family Values shit in the last 100 years including race riots, and of course Trump. But now they’re back and ready to tangle with the best of the best in the league. And now they have a Trump-loving family values advocate for governor with the addition of Kevin Stitt, they have a governor who is ready to tangle!
Smoking Gun: A little known loophole in Oklahoma’s abortion laws says that it forces doctors to lie, which one clinic caught them red handed!
Odds: 10:1 – They’re going up against Alabama. They could win, but it would be a long shot and a huge upset if they did.

3. Ohio: The Buckeye State is no stranger to Family Values scrutiny and has been the home of some of the country’s worst sex crimes, made of course even worse by the fact that have elected and re-elected Jim Jordan, a Congressional representative who has actively tried to hide some absolutely horrifying sex crimes at one of this country’s most prestigious universities, Ohio State.
Smoking Gun: There’s allegations that Jim Jordan may have told multiple wrestlers at Ohio State to lie repeatedly about the abuse they were going through!
Odds: 5:1 – They can go far in this tournament due to the Ohio State scandal, but there’s plenty of other family values atrocities that take place in the Buckeye State all the way!

4. Indiana: The Hoosier State is always a Family Values champion. Of course you know them as the home of our current vice president Mike Pence. They are the home of Notre Dame University and one of the highest concentrations of Catholic churches in the country. Which means lots of potential for some crazy abuse scandals. Indiana is also a hotbed of anti-abortion idiocy where you can be arrested for just thinking about it! Well, not really. But we’re getting there!
Smoking Gun: There’s a plan pushed by Indiana pro-life conservatives to push through anti-abortion bills that have already failed in the state senate. Fool me once, shame on you! fool me twice, you know.
Odds: 10:1 – A true underdog in the tournament for sure, but with the right strength, Indiana could pull off a major upset in the tournament!

[font size="6"]The Schedule:[/font]



[font size="6"]The Bracket:[/font]



[font size="6"]Next Week:[/font]

There is no next week. But when we come back on March 18th, it’s show time! Round 1 Week 1 will be live in Denver, Colorado at the home of the Denver Nuggets, Pepsi Center, for all the first round action action action! Featuring the number one team in the nation Virginia, battling neighbors Kentucky in a Battle For The Batshit! Meanwhile, over in Family Values country, the reigning champion Alabama takes on hot division winner Oklahoma! Stay tuned for all the excitement!


[font size="8"]And Now This:[/font]
[font size="8”]311[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is one of our favorites here at the Top 10. And they are here promoting their epic 311 Day concert at the Park Theater in Las Vegas March 11 – 13. Playing their song “Good Feeling” from their album Voyager, give it up for 311!

Thank you Wichita! We are off next week, I am taking a much needed break. We will be back on 3/18 in Norman, Oklahoma at the University Of Oklahoma, for the kickoff of Stupidest State 2020! See you in two weeks!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of Live Audience At: Wichita State, Wichita, KS
Special Thanks To: Wichita State University
Holy Shit Gospel Choir: The Rock Church Band, Wichita, KS
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
311 Appear Courtesy Of: BMG Rights Management
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
New! Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: [e-mail]


Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo