Top 10 Idiots

Top 10 Idiots's Journal

December 8, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots Best Of #23: The Best Of Holy Shit #1 Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots: The Best Of Holy Shit Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Oh… hello! I know, right? Well we are busy tidying up the set here at our home base at the Constellation Room in Santa Ana for our big season finale which is our forthcoming Year In Review spectacular! Oh man it’s going to be great. But because we unfortunately had to cancel this week, never fear because we’re still bringing you Idiots content that you know and love, so it’s going to be a Holy Shit special edition! That’s right! We’re still celebrating 5 years of all of the religious themed news that you know and love. We brought you the Holy Shit 5th Anniversary Special a few months ago (see: Idiots #13-3 ). But we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of everything that Holy Shit has to offer! So with that in mind we’re letting our pastor take over this edition to bring you some of his favorite segments! So let’s go already !

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

My fair congregation! Thank you for joining me for this Best Of edition! That’s right – we have painstakingly combed through the archives to bring you 10 nuggets of religious insanity from all corners of right wing religion! For the first slot, from Idiots #4-11, Holy Shit takes a look at the world of Christian cinema (1) which covers everything from that Mercy Me bio picture to the nauseating pillar of religious cinema, “The Shack” and who’s producing this stuff and who’s going to see it? Not me! From the COVID era, in honor of Kanye West’s account being restored on Twitter after a permanent ban, from Idiots #8-16, Holy Shit takes on a Jewish theme after New York’s Jewish Community (2) defied orders from the government and held services anyways. In the number 3 slot, from Idiots #6-18, Q Anon (3) stages a “godly” themed protest outside of Hillary Clinton’s home in upstate New York, because reasons. In the number 4 slot this week is from Idiots #9-3 and we take a look at the one time that the Unholy Dark One (4) actually went to church, and it was as predictable of a disaster as you could get! In the number 5 slot this week from Idiots #12-3, we take a look at a good old fashioned Christian book burning (5) only this book burning takes place in the year 2022! Are we going forwards or backwards? In the number 6 slot this week, from Idiots #12-3, we’re absolutely dumbfounded that Christians are at the literal book burning stage, which is one of the steps towards a genocide. In the number 7 slot this week, from Idiots #11-9, our old buddy Sean Feucht is back, and he’s super-spreading his way to the top of the Christian conspiracy theory echo chamber! In the number 8 slot this week, from Idiots #13-5, Christian conservatives have hatched a plan to get back at liberals for a number of events that have happened over the last 2 years in a piece that we’re naming after the classic Judas Priest album “Screaming For Vengeance”. In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot, from Idiots #8-8, we’re taking a look at what’s happening with the Faith Based tourism industry after the collapse Kentucky’s Ark Encounter theme park. Finally this week we’re going to close things out by answering your prayers from the Holy Shit Hotline To Heaven! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Holy Shit [br] [/font] [br]

From: Idiots #4-11

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened, and it is our weekly duty to remind you that the holiest among us are also the most full of:

So this week rather than talk to you about the usual nonsense that the Christian right has been up to, my fair congregation, because we can only tell the same joke 1,000 times before it gets old, we are instead going to tell you about a world of entertainment that you will soon be seeing more of. And if you think the Mercy Me bio picture “I Can Only Imagine” or other flicks like “The Shack” are anomalies, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

As Hollywood struggles with sexual harassment scandals and box-office woes, it could do worse than turn to God. For while religious movies have traditionally been considered a niche phenomenon, that assessment may need to be revised.

Last weekend I Can Only Imagine, a Christian-themed independent biopic, beat a series of studio-backed films to win the number three spot behind Black Panther and Tomb Raider. And as Easter approaches, films with Christian messages are experiencing an upswing not seen since Mel Gibson’s 2004 crucifixion drama The Passion of Christ.

I Can Only Imagine stars Dennis Quaid and was produced and directed by brothers Jon and Andy Erwin, the duo behind other faith-based hits such as Woodlawn, the story of a spiritual awakening among an Alabama high-school football team, starring Jon Voight and Sean Astin, and October Baby, an anti-abortion drama.

That did not impress film executives. Jon Erwin says he was told there “was no audience for a Christian music movie ... But everybody I knew – in the Christian world that we live in – knew and loved the song, so we just believed that there was an audience for this movie and that they would show up”. I Can Only Imagine was ultimately picked up by Roadside Attractions, maker of Manchester By The Sea, and Lionsgate. The distributors agreed to promote it as a general audience production. With a $25m box-office take so far, it is also showing Hollywood that Christians can make consistent, repeat filmgoers. Audience polling found that 79% said they planned to pay to see the movie again.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/mar/25/i-can-only-imagine-christian-faith-film

Even our good LAWRD is down with YOLO! But really, what does it takes to please Hollywood executives? $25 million in 7 days is pretty damn good for an independent bio picture! Maybe that’s why Hollywood hates them! But apparently the faith based film industry is trying some new things to attract audiences! How about, I don’t know, making good movies? Remember Ben Hur in the 1960s? Try making movies like that!

Christians are an appealing market for Hollywood, which is looking for ways to expand the cinema audience as digital competition causes long-term declines in theatrical attendance. The movie business is routinely criticized for overlooking the values of religious Americans, and faith-based filmmaking was seen as a way to rebut that narrative and attract an audience that usually doesn't go to the movies.

Facing a wearied audience, some filmmakers are trying to adapt by expanding into more subgenres, including romances, sports dramas, comedies and documentaries.

"We're developing beyond just the genre of sermon-on-film," said Bill Reeves, head of Tennessee-based WTA Group, a marketing firm that specializes in faith-based media. "We're trying to answer the question of 'What else is out there?'"

Others are putting their faith in Bible-based stories with big-name stars. On March 23, Affirm Films will release "Paul, Apostle of Christ," which blends scripture and fiction to tell the story of the apostle's last days. The new movie features actor Jim Caviezel in his first biblical role since he played Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-christian-films-i-can-only-imagine-20180314-story.html

That’s not exactly what we are looking for, oh LAWRD! But in the world of faith based movies, well, producers are looking for anything that channels our lord and savior, creator of all that is good and holy, for ways to attract an audience. Because GREED is a sin!!!!!! And it is one of the most egregious of SINS!!!! It even says so in the good book!

As the market for Christian movies becomes more crowded, studios must work harder to attract devout audiences.

“Because there have been so many movies made for this audience, they have become much more discerning,” said Howard Cohen, co-founder of Roadside Attractions, distributor of “I Can Only Imagine.”

“And they will choose the ones that not only have a strong Christian message but are bigger-feeling.”

“I Can Only Imagine,” released nationally on March 16, exceeded opening-weekend expectations at the box office, reaping $17.1 million in ticket sales ($14 million was projected).
http://www.dispatch.com/entertainmentlife/20180324/christian-film-genre-struggles-as-glut-breeds-pickier-audience

Now if they could just get a book about a holy super hero published and create the multiverse surrounding it, they would be set! I mean after all the Holy Bible is the original shared universe! They had 12 different characters and each one had their own stories, then they had the Last Supper super finale! Come on movie producers, get on that! For it is not that easy, my fair congregation! But of course the revenues have surpassed expectations! Because of course they did! But now my fair congregation, here’s where the idea of the good Christian faith-based film can and will go wrong! It will make the wrong people famous! And blasphemy is a sin!!! One of the most egregious of sins!!!

Mark Taylor is a former firefighter who claims that while he was watching Fox News back in 2011, God personally told him that Donald Trump would become president of the United States. Taylor initially thought that meant that Trump would challenge President Obama when he ran for re-election in 2012, but when that didn’t happen, Taylor realized that was because it was God’s plan to keep Obama in office for a second term so that Americans could “build a righteous anger” necessary to elect Trump and thereby save the world.

When Trump was elected president in 2016, Taylor penned a book titled “The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story Of The Man Who Saw Tomorrow… And What He Says Is Coming Next” and quickly made a name for himself as a modem-day prophet and radical conspiracy theorist.

In the last year, Taylor has claimed that God told him that Trump will replace five members of the Supreme Court, three of whom will be removed from the bench after being indicted for corruption, and that two of the five currently living former presidents will die as punishment for criticizing Trump, while the other three will be imprisoned and possibly executed for treason.

Taylor, who claims that Trump will release the cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease during his second term in office and asserted that God made journalist Megyn Kelly ill as a “warning shot” to all those who would dare to criticize Trump, believes that thousands of elite satanic pedophiles have been secretly arrested and that we will soon start seeing them prosecuted via military tribunals that will “make Nuremberg look like a cakewalk.” Taylor actually predicted that we’d see mass arrests in February, but the fact that that obviously didn’t happen doesn’t seem to have harmed his standing as a “prophet” in any way.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/liberty-university-is-making-a-movie-about-trump-loving-firefighter-prophet-mark-taylor/

Yes because even JAYSUS doesn’t know what to say regarding how stupid Brother Mark is!!! I hope that is the take away you get from today’s sermon – Mark Taylor is insane! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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From: Idiots #8-16

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

Shabbat shalom, my fair congregation! You know on this program we talk a lot about the Christian right and make fun of their antics on this program and rightfully so! But this week, we have to talk about what went down in New York City. Now do we necessarily agree with Gov. Cuomo’s actions here? No. We believe in the right to free expression, even in the worst pandemic not seen in over a century. And the very sad thing is that it’s my fellow zealots, who see the virus as an attack on their personal freedoms, that are going to keep this thing going. See, guys, there’s nobody attacking your rights, and the virus has put us all on the same page until there’s a way to deal with it. So in the meantime definitely don’t do something like this. Because that’s not what the good LAWRD would want!

The Anti-Defamation League and a New York City councilman are calling out Mayor Bill de Blasio after he condemned a large funeral gathering, saying he targeted the entire Jewish community when only one group of people broke the rules.

De Blasio said the gathering for a rabbi's funeral Tuesday in Williamsburg, New York, was "absolutely unacceptable" and noted it won't be tolerated.

"Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic," de Blasio tweeted. "When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus."

"My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed," de Blasio said in another tweet. "I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/us/new-york-city-mayor-large-funeral/index.html

But let’s not drink to this just yet. Here’s the thing, Rabbis, and no matter what your religious beliefs happen to be – this virus doesn’t care what your religion is. It doesn’t care what your status is or your economic level. Instead it targets all of us. And until there’s a cure, we’re all in the same boat. You know last week, we talked about how Christians think it is their GAWD given right to gather in large groups against what the CDC says. Well, here’s where we are in disagreement.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said the mayor himself was on the scene with Police Commissioner Dermot Shea breaking up the crowd of mourners.

De Blasio spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein retweeted photos of Mertz's funeral on Tuesday night, writing, “I empathisize [sic] with the desire to mourn those we’ve lost, but this is absolutely unacceptable.”

The mayor tweeted that such gatherings "WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus."

"My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period," he wrote.

"We have lost so many these last two months + I understand the instinct to gather to mourn. But large gatherings will only lead to more deaths + more families in mourning. We will not allow this. I have instructed the NYPD to have one standard for this whole city: zero tolerance," he added.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/495178-scores-turn-out-for-funeral-of-rabbi-in-new-york

Yes, to life! Because we still want to be able to maintain ours! I’m sure that’s what the good LAWRD JAYSUS, er, ABRAHAM would want! And look the long we continue to go out in groups, the worse this thing gets. I want to get back to my congregation and I’m sure you all would too! But no one is singling out anybody. We’re all on the same page here. New York is the worst city in America for this thing and it’s pretty understandable why DeBlasio would want to break up any large gathering!

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is being accused of unfairly singling out the Hasidic Jewish community, in enforcing COVID-19 restrictions.

He personally called on police to disperse hundreds of mourners, who gathered for a rabbi's funeral, defying social distancing rules.

He was furious the gathering took place at all, and mentioned the Jewish community by name in a tweet, saying the time for warnings has passed and arrests would be made of those who gather in large groups.

Some called on the mayor to apologize, resign, or called him anti-Jewish. Saying it was unfair for him to single out all Jews when it was just some from the Hasidic Orthodox community who gathered for the funeral. But the issue divided New York: Others expressed support for the mayor, and defended him calling out the funeral gathering.

On Wednesday, the mayor said he was not trying to single out the Jewish community, but did not back down from his criticism.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/york-city-mayor-accused-singling-jewish-community-200430092936501.html

See? Even Walter agrees with me! You all should too. If Saturday is supposed to be the day of rest for my Hebrew brothers and sisters, then you should absolutely abide by it! Because what’s a religion without a day of rest? But no one is getting any rest in the day and age of the Great Pandemic, for this virus is the unholy DEVIL himself! But you just got to suck it up and roll with it. We all need you to!

It started with a funeral that got out of hand. It ended Wednesday with some of New York City’s Jews at odds with the mayor over his criticisms of the Orthodox community as it struggles to deal with the coronavirus.

The funeral was for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, a revered Hasidic Orthodox leader whose death was reportedly linked to the coronavirus. The congregation that was hosting the gathering said Wednesday a funeral appropriate to the times was planned, with mourners wearing masks and saying their farewells from a distance.

Instead, thousands gathered Tuesday night at the Kahal Tolath Yakov synagogue in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg area. De Blasio personally joined in the dispersal of the crowd, and then tweeted that “my message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed.”

He told reporters Wednesday that he was sorry “if in my passion and in my emotion” he had caused offense, but described “no regrets” about calling out the Hasidic funeral.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/orthodox-jews-beset-virus-grapple-nyc-mayors-rebuke-70416441

So next time guys, just remember that next time, we’re all in the same boat no matter what religion you belong to. We should have a common goal of eliminating the enemy, and that enemy is a virus! Temple has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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From: Idiots #6-18

Gather around, my fair brothers and sisters, it’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate! For the Holy Church of the Top 10 has convened and it’s our weekly duty to remind you why the holiest among us are also the most full of:

My fair congregation! You know I have been monitoring a potentially nasty situation happening in Chappequa, New York. That of course is the home of the woman who should currently be our president, Hillary Clinton. Instead we are stuck with the Dark One, whose name shall not be spoken under any circumstances in my church!!! Now those of you may have friends and / or loved ones who support the Dark One. But they are up to some really shady activities. Do they really need to go to New York to demand Hillary Clinton’s arrest? NO!!!! Thank you! You know that is the one and only correct answer, all others shall be cast out! What is going on???

On his “Pass The Salt Live” webcast this morning, Dave Daubenmire declared that he and other right-wing activists will be descending on the Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, New York, over Memorial Day weekend to demand Hillary’s arrest because failure to put her in prison would be “spitting in the face of God.”

All week, Daubenmire has been promoting what is being called The March for Equal Justice that is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 26, outside the Clintons’ home, where right-wing activists will gather to demand that President Trump arrest Hillary Clinton. On his show today, Daubenmire said that once Clinton is locked away in prison, she will finally have the chance to meet Jesus.

“The Bible says this, ‘The law is the schoolmaster that drives us to Christ,'” he said. “Do you have any idea how many in the deep state are going to meet Jesus as a result of justice coming to them? Do you have any idea? You say, ‘Well, Coach, we just need to share the Gospel with them.’ You’re daggone right we do. Let’s lock ’em up. Let’s lock ’em up and let’s let ’em know they’re not above the law, they’re not above God, and drive them to their knees and they’ll meet Jesus.”

“This is so important,” Daubenmire added. “It dishonors our Lord if we let Hillary Clinton be declared not guilty and she ain’t even been tried. That’s spitting in the face of God.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-failure-to-imprison-hillary-clinton-is-spitting-in-the-face-of-god/

Now Brother Dave, do you have any evidence at all that Hillary Clinton is guilty? Do you have anything that supports this claim of the almighty GAWD? No? Then maybe you are the one who is spitting in the face of our good LAWRD JAYSUS!!!! But it gets weirder, apparently this is an ultimatum from the good LAWRD JAYSUS!! But no, Dave, GAWD does not speak in that kind of tone!

Daubenmire said on his “Pass The Salt Live” webcast today that the video he filmed outside of the Clintons’ home was just a “spark” from which a nationwide movement to imprison Clinton will grow and that Limbaugh’s comments were part of this growing movement that is being orchestrated by the Holy Spirit.

“This idea came from the Lord, and it came to me, and then it went to Rush Limbaugh,” Daubenmire said. “You say, ‘Boy, that sounds arrogant.’ Well, that shows how spiritually disconnected you are.”

“The same Holy Spirit that influenced Coach Dave influenced Rush Limbaugh,” he added. “Don’t you understand that the same Holy Spirit that speaks to me is the same Holy Spirit that can speak to Rush Limbaugh and he doesn’t even know it?”

“I’m believing that this ‘indict Hillary’ spark has been lit and she ain’t going to get out from under it,” Daubenmire declared. “There ain’t anywhere she can run. She can run but she cannot hide. The Holy Spirit has issued an indictment because we will never have free government in America if this criminal goes off scot-free simply because her ‘father’—the devil, in my honest opinion—has declared it so. My daddy said, ‘Coach, you go say, “Indict,” and I’m going to do something that is going to smack her daddy down.’ My daddy is bigger than her daddy.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-the-holy-spirit-has-issued-an-indictment-against-hillary-clinton/

So here’s the thing, Dave, you might want to channel your obsession into something a bit more healthier. Because this is quite literally insane. You and whoever listens to your show are lit by a spark, but it didn’t explode! Instead it’s a sparkler! You know it kind of fizzles out after a while. But you know they can’t kill us all!! I heard a guy say that on TV once!

Dave Daubenmire appeared on “The Hagmann Report” last night to promote the demonstration being organized by right-wing activists for Memorial Day weekend outside the Chappaqua, New York, home of Bill and Hillary Clinton, where they will demand that President Trump arrest the former first lady and presidential candidate.

The event, which was originally billed as “The March For Equal Justice,” has now been changed to “The Equal Justice Tour” after organizers were informed by lawyers that they would need permits if they intended to hold any sort of rally or protest outside the Clintons’ home. In response, organizers are now billing the event as a “tour” since tours require no such permits, meaning that now it will merely consist of right-wing activists driving past the Clintons’ home and around Chappaqua demanding Hillary’s arrest.

Daubenmire admitted to being a bit fearful about taking part in this event, but then likened it to fighting in a war.

“What if our forefathers had that same attitude?” he said. “What about the guys who stormed Iwo Jima? What about those guys who stormed Normandy Beach? What about those guys in the Vietnam rice paddies? They did not fight and die for us to be afraid and not do our job when our time is before us.”

“As long as Hillary is more equal than me, as long as Obama is more equal than me,” Daubenmire said, “then that is not liberty. That is displeasing to our Lord and it spits on the graves of those brave men, living and dead, who struggled for liberty, justice, and the American way.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/they-cant-kill-us-all-dave-daubenmire-urges-christians-to-join-anti-clinton-tour/

And that is true, no one does say those things! But this begs the question – does Brother Dave not know the definition of the word “equal”? I mean how can he claim that someone is “more equal” than him? It is easy – there is no such thing!!!! Cause according to GAWD and our good book, we are all the LAWRD’s children! But this might be my favorite thing said about this whole failed social experiment. I mean you just can’t make this stuff up!

On Monday, we noted that Dave Daubenmire will be joining other right-wing activists in protesting outside the Clintons’ home in Chappaqua, New York, over Memorial Day weekend to demand that President Trump arrest Hillary Clinton.

On his “Pass the Salt Live” webcast this morning, Daubenmire proclaimed that The March for Equal Justice, as the event is being called, is an act of spiritual warfare so significant that the angels in Heaven are scalping tickets to get a front row seat to watch what goes down.

“The FBI will be there and the Secret Service,” Daubenmire said. “Why? Because they’re going to try to force you to not do it. Don’t you see? Can’t you see the contention happening in the natural realm as a result of what is going on in the spiritual realm?”

“I’ll be those guys up there, they’re selling tickets to watch,” he added. “I’ll bet they’re scalping ’em. ‘I got a front row seat, I want to watch our boys fight down there on earth, I want to watch that.’ You think I’m crazy. I think that’s what’s going on.”
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dave-daubenmire-they-are-scalping-tickets-in-heaven-to-watch-our-anti-clinton-protest/

Why yes, Brother Dave, we do think that you are crazy! You call yourself a coach and preach in front of a blank stadium backdrop. I call myself a pastor but I have a real audience and congregation to show for it!!! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: The Dark One Goes To Church
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From: [link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213684652] Idiots #9-3]

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair online congregation! You know with churches going online and not congregating in public for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus, we’re kind of running low on material right now. But thankfully last week that SAYVED! For the unholy, ungodly Dark One whose name shall not be mentioned in my church – even if it is an online and virtual one, actually went to a church. He is a SINNER, who does some absolutely unspeakable things, yet he views himself as the godliest of the godly! And among that crowd, he can do no wrong! So why is he pandering to the holiest among us? Well, also why not? Because screw everyone that he doesn’t agree with, that’s why!

After a disappointing showing at his campaign rally over the weekend, President Donald Trump renewed his performance for a packed crowd of students on Tuesday, telling his Arizona audience that they were guardians in a cultural war over the heritage of the country.

“We’re here today to declare that we will never cave to the left wing and the left-wing intolerance,” the president said at a Students for Trump event in Phoenix.

The appearance, at the Dream City megachurch, was one of his first rallies since taking a three-month hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. Images from the event showed a large crowd tightly packed together, with almost no one wearing protective masks. There were no temperature checks for the estimated 3,000 cheering attendees who, like many of Trump’s staunchest fans, ignored a new local ordinance requiring them to wear a mask, despite a public-health plea from the Democratic mayor on Monday.

The coronavirus is out of control in the Grand Canyon State after its governor lifted a stay-at-home order last month, and the president is polling relatively poorly here against his presumptive Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/23/trump-rally-arizona-336565

Yes let’s wait two weeks to see where this is heading and it cannot be good. For the commander in chief is doing an absolutely terrible job of setting such an example of what to do during these trying times, he is failing on every level! But how is his second in command doing? Well he’s not doing much better, and he was the guy who was picked to lead us in charge to tackle this forsaken virus!

A choir of about 100 performers sang at a megachurch campaign event featuring Vice President Pence on Sunday. They did not wear masks while they sang.

Many epidemiologists and singing experts currently fear that singers may be superspreaders of COVID-19, due to aerosolization of the virus. Singing involves much more forceful and deep breathing than simple talking.

The choir was performing at the Celebrate Freedom Rally, which took place at Dallas' First Baptist Church and was billed as an event "to celebrate our freedom as Americans and our freedom in Christ with you through worship." According to CNN, about 2,200 people attended the rally at the Texas megachurch, which can hold about 3,000 people. The singers reportedly wore face coverings between their selections.

Last Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a "pause" on his state's reopening after saying that Texas is facing a "massive outbreak" of the coronavirus.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/06/29/884614249/cdc-says-singers-could-be-virus-super-spreaders-but-100-sang-unmasked-with-vp-pe

Seriously guys, this isn’t the 1980s, this is 2020 and there is a deadly virus roaming the landscape, and it is not stopping! It’s going to get worse. And you shouldn’t be going to church right now. But no one is canceling church, and I’m sure that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would back me up here! If you want to get back to your old life and I know we all do, real change starts at the top! Of course I still won’t mention his name in my church, even if it is virtual!

One month after President Donald Trump ordered the nation’s governors to immediately reopen churches, his administration is facing a difficult dilemma.

Clusters of Covid-19 cases are surfacing in counties across the U.S. where in-person religious services have resumed, triggering questions about whether his administration should reassess its campaign to treat houses of worship the same as other essential businesses, or leave them alone and risk additional transmission of the deadly coronavirus — including in communities that are largely supportive of the president.

An outbreak at a Pentecostal church in Oregon, where hundreds of worshipers resumed gathering over Memorial Day weekend, forced an entire county to return to phase one of its reopening after local officials traced 258 cases of Covid-19 back to the facility. In West Virginia, six health departments across the state have reported coronavirus outbreaks linked to churches. One of them, a Baptist church in Greenbrier County, had 34 congregants test positive for the virus. And in Texas, which hit an all-time high of new cases last week, health officials have received numerous reports of church-related exposures.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/28/trump-coronavirus-spread-churches-342296

Yes, churches are the biggest problem that the unholy, ungodly Dark One and his DAYMONS are facing at the moment. But he’s not going down without a fight. For his network is actively encouraging people to defy orders and defy the LAWRD, you’ve got another thing coming! And you are most definitely not welcome in my church – online or in person – until you get a grip on reality! But this is not the kind of thing you want to hear in a sermon, and you won’t hear it in my church! I won’t allow it!

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?

Watching from home, at first it was hard to say which moment in Donald Trump’s rally at a Phoenix megachurch on Tuesday was the ugliest. Was it when the president of the United States repeated the racist joke he told last weekend in Tulsa, calling Covid-19, the viral disease that emerged in China last year, the “Kung Flu;” or was it a split second later, when thousands of his young supporters erupted in cheers?
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/24/trump-made-racist-joke-phoenix-megachurch-crowd-went-wild/

So do not take any medicine offered by the Dark One, for he is the virus! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: The Dark One Goes To Church
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From: Idiots #9-4

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

So do not take any medicine offered by the Dark One, for he is the virus! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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From: Idiots #12-3

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know we here at the Holy Church Of The Top 10 are doing our job heavily keeping tabs on what our brothers and sisters on the far right are up to. Well this week I am completely dumbfounded that we are at the literal book burning stage. Which if anyone follows world history or the history of famous dictators, we’re about to do some really evil shit. But how were they able to hold a literal book burning in the year 2022? Well in the US it’s not illegal to burn a book that *YOU* own. Not necessarily a book that someone else owns. Yet, pastors took to the streets to burn the books of popular franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight. Like what, do they have a problem with emotional teenage vampires who listen to equally emotional rock music? But anyway this situation we have brewing is what we might call a “holy clusterfuck” and it’s definitely not something that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would approve of now, is it?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Middle Tennessee pastor held a burning of books and other materials on Wednesday night, citing the church's "biblical right" to "burn ... cultic materials that they deem are a threat to their religious rights and freedoms and belief system."

The event took place in Mount Juliet, Tenn. at the Global Vision Bible Church led by Pastor Greg Locke.

The pastor has been no stranger to controversy, calling the COVID-19 delta variant "nonsense," vaccines a form of government control, and the pandemic "fake." The assertions led to a ban of his account on Twitter. In addition, Pastor Locke has criticized Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, calling the governor a "coward...noodle...waffler" for an executive order which allowed the National Guard to assist hospitals strained during the heights of the pandemic last year.

Now, the pastor has turned his ire to books and other materials deemed "demonic." During a sermon before the burning, Locke also targeted the Department of Homeland Security which he claimed was at the event, saying "Homeland security showing up to a church cause we're gonna have a burning. This country's lost its mind."
https://fox17.com/news/local/tennessee-pastor-holds-burning-of-books-other-materials-deemed-demonic-nashville-mt-juliet-religion-church-state-politics-twitter

No Rev, it is you who are the devil! For you are a supporter of the unholy, ungodly Dark One – a man who is so foul, depraved, and disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! So why are they targeting popular franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight? What did they do to hurt Pastor Locke and why is he getting revenge on them? Well Pastor Locke is a hit with the newly converted “born again” segment of Christianity, unfortunately.

A pastor from Tennessee, U.S, organized a burning of books and objects from Harry Potter, Twilight and Disney for considering them “demonic influences”. A few weeks ago, the same state made headlines after the school board removed Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” from the curriculum.

“We have a constitutional and biblical right to do what we are going to do. Witchcraft and cursed things must goPastor Greg Locke, leader of the Global Vision Bible Church, says in a video.

In a sermon, which he also shared through his Facebook page, Locke called for a “burning service”, that is, a service to burn different objects linked to “witchcraft”. This activity, he added, will be part of “an ongoing series to free us from demons.”

“Gather all your Harry Potter stuff. Let the haters laugh all they want. I do not mind. It’s 100 percent witchcraft”, assured the pastor. He also asked to bring tarot cards, Ouija boards, healing crystals and “everything else related to the occult” to the burning. “You have to go,” he stated.
https://then24.com/2022/02/09/a-tennessee-pastor-organized-a-harry-potter-book-burning/

Don’t burn books people, because that leads down a slippery slope to some true evil here. But in addition to last week’s banning of a book about the holocaust by white supremacist pieces of shit, this week’s book burning should be a human rights cause for alarm. But in case you’re wondering, burning books is but step one of something leading a country down a very dark path. And you might be wondering where does it end? It could end with Nazi Germany or it could not.

In November Greg Abbott told state agencies to develop standards to block books with "overtly sexual" content in schools.

Two books removed by schools recently were based on LGBTQ characters. One of the books includes a graphic illustration and the other includes depictions of sex.

The political fight started when Keller Independent School District“Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe.

Texas state Rep. Matt Krause, from Fort Worth, who chairs the Texas House’s General Investigating Committee, made a 16-page list of roughly 850 book titles he said might make students feel “discomfort.”
https://www.kxxv.com/news/in-depth/in-depth-burning-books-in-tennessee-texas-pushes-to-keep-certain-books-off-shelves

OK now that is something that you should burn! Burn hot pokers, don’t burn books! You do not want to go down that path! What’s even more disturbing is that Pastor Locke isn’t alone here. Look at Texas where religious wingnuts want to ban something like 850 books. And this is the party that frequently rails about free speech. Let’s examine the irony of this for a minute here. The “free speech or die” crowd is burning and banning books! I’m getting mixed signals here!

Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church held a mass book burning last week, targeting volumes he considers to be “demonic.” NBC News reported that during the event, which was livestreamed on Facebook, “churchgoers hurl books and other items deemed associated with ‘witchcraft’ into a massive bonfire on the church’s parking lot in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.”

In the same state, a school board in McMinn County captured national headlines after it voted last month to remove the graphic novel Maus, a retelling of the Holocaust, from the eighth-grade language arts curriculum.

Not to be cut out of the action, the mayor of a small city in Mississippi has apparently decided that his religious beliefs give him the right to decide what everyone else in town can read at the public library.

Mayor Gene McGee of Ridgeland, a community of about 24,000 residents in Madison County, is holding back $110,000 in funding for the county library system, reported Mississippi Free Press, an online news site.

Tonja Johnson, executive director of the county libraries, told the Free Press she reached out to McGee after she failed to receive a quarterly payment from the city. What he told her was surprising.
https://www.au.org/blogs/Miss-library-ban

Well, free speech was great while it lasted everybody. See everyone in the gulags! When you see events like that you know that can’t be that far behind! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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From: Idiots #11-9

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know my fair congregation… we live in times of great suffering. And people like our next subject certainly aren’t helping things. I am of course talking about our old buddy Sean Feucht. Last time we checked in on him was about a year ago (see: Top 10 #9-17 and he was holding these events called “Let Us Worship” that were doing nothing but bad things to every city he goes to. So one year later? Well of course he’s back to his old tricks! Here’s the thing guys, no one ever said you couldn’t worship during this nightmare world in which we live. No! you only assumed we did, and you went apeshit because of it! We only said you couldn’t gather in mass groups. But the good LAWRD JAYSUS wants you to worship. Yeah that’s not of course in the eyes of Sean Feucht. You know the old saying – judge not lest ye be judged.

Sean Feucht, a missionary, musician, and failed congressional candidate who met with former President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, is bringing his COVID-be-damned tour of worship rallies to the nation’s capital this weekend, along with an organizing event sponsored by Hold the Line, a “political activist movement” that Feucht launched after voters in his northern California congressional district rejected his congressional bid last year.

This weekend’s events include a Hold the Line event at the Trump International Hotel during the day on Saturday, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and a “Day of Prayer for America” on the National Mall on Saturday evening. Sunday features prayer gatherings at the Supreme Court, White House, and Lincoln Memorial capped off by a worship gathering on the National Mall Sunday evening.

Scheduled speakers for Saturday’s Hold the Line gathering include California pastor-politician Rob McCoy, an ally of Christian nationalist political operative David Lane; religious-right podcaster and author David Harris, Jr.; pastor-podcaster Landon Schott; pastor and End Times author Phil Hotsenpiller; and Timmy Teepell, who is scheduled to make a presentation about polling and the 2022 elections.

Feucht has kept up an ambitious touring schedule of public “worship protest” events under the banner of “Let Us Worship”—a rebuke to pandemic-related restrictions on public gatherings—and he has mocked public health officials’ concerns about his large events during the COVID-19 pandemic by selling T-shirts that say, “Jesus Christ Super-Spreader.” His tour included an Aug. 28 stop at Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, home of the ever-shouting hard-right pastor Greg Locke.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/sean-feuchts-super-spreader-road-show-returns-to-washington-d-c/

But now really Christians, you disappoint me. Not so much that you would actually attend this horrid event but that you would throw your support behind the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of an EVIL man so terrible that his name dare not be spoken in my church! Really why would you support anything he does? He only stands for darkness and evil! Even Jesus spoke of such a man when he said that the “dark one shall pose as a creature of light”!

Declaring that “turning to God” is “the ultimate answer to evil,” former President Donald Trump joined missionary and political activist Sean Feucht in calling the nation to a period of 21 days of prayer on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 during a prayer event at the National Mall on Saturday.

“Turning to God, the ultimate answer to evil that we see here today as thousands of Americans gather on the mall to pray for our beloved nation and to pray for one another,” Trump said in a video message during the event known as "Let Us Worship.”

"I want to thank ‘Let Us Worship’ for calling Americans to 21 days of prayer in the coming weeks. America is a nation strengthened and sustained by God and the prayers of all His children. Your faith is a force that our enemies can never, ever extinguish," he said. "Your love of God, family, and country is more powerful than any adversaries' hatred, or malice, or scorn. So as we remember those Americans we lost two decades ago, we return again and again to the same simple prayer that was heard echoing all across our land in the days after the Sept. 11th attacks. God bless our first responders. God bless our service members. God bless the memory of all who died on 9/11 and God bless America."

Trump called 9/11 “a terrible day” as he honored the memory of the nearly 3,000 people killed during the attacks and praised especially the resilience of the “incredible city” of New York.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-joins-missionary-sean-feucht-in-call-for-21-days-of-prayer.html

Only these people don’t feel anything about anything. They are that terrible. Because once again, they align themselves with the master of darkness. And come on, he doesn’t care about New York! He bragged the day after 9/11 that he had the tallest building in New York. Like seriously how stupid can you get? But that said, Feucht is clearly a member of the cult that is trying to take over the United States of America. And these people are dark and disturbed!

Meanwhile, the “Covid Vaccine Exposed” website present in Treinen’s bio is believed to be run by Project Veritas under James O’Keefe. The disgraced “documentary” body was known to give out massive push, misleading edited clips that focus on politicians on the other side of the fence. In their history, O’Keefe and Project Veritas said they will release “POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST WHISTLEBLOWER SERIES”. Treninen’s shared website link collects interested internet users to register in order to be included in the Project Veritas’s email distribution. The said promise is set to go out by Monday evening.

In addition, the Dodgers pitcher has re-posted a contentious Redding missionary, Sean Feucht, who has been vocal against anti-virus measures and vaccines.

A popular worship musician, Feucht has defied appeals of local officials and organizers’ appeals and pushed through huge gatherings since the pandemic. Among which is an event called “Let Us Worship” in Portland when he took to Facebook his gratitude for the security team, saying: “If you mess with them or our 1st amendment right to worship God, you’ll meet Jesus one way or another.” While not completely identified, Feucht’s security team consists of individuals with former police or military background and are now serving as Christian nationalists and neo-fascists, SFGATE reported.

Treinen’s home ballpark, the Dodger Stadium, has once served as a COVID-19 vaccination location. Treinen has been vaccinated, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, adding that the team’s vaccination rate was previously around 85 percent.
https://sftimes.com/blake-treinen-ex-as-and-now-dodgers-pitcher-allegedly-uses-socmed-for-covid-19-election-conspiracies/

You know you did something bad when these guys are facepalming! But really steer very clear of Pastor Feucht. Because he is certainly a very dark and wicked soul who is trying to bring down humanity to his level and the level of the unholy Dark One! For he is the most foul of all creatures! That said, these are the people who think that the church should be more politically active. Really? Have you actually read the Constitution? If anything it’s the exact opposite!

To commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Redding-based Christian singer, songwriter and worship leader Sean Feucht hosted a two-day “Let Us Worship” event at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The event took place on September 11 and 12 and attracted hundreds of attendees. The first night’s show lasted nearly three hours, and the second night’s lasted nearly four hours. Hold the Line, a religious and political activist organization launched by Feucht in 2020 after his unsuccessful run for Congress in California’s 3rd District, sponsored the event.

As stated on the organization’s website, Hold the Line’s goal is to “engage with the church and with millennials in a way that charges them to become more politically active.”

The first night of the two-day “Let Us Worship” event consisted of a series of guest speakers and music, while the second night consisted mostly of music.

In addition to the shows on both nights, Feucht and the team of musicians, pastors, and activists joining him in the nation’s capital also lead a series of unplugged concerts and informal prayer sessions in front of the White House, the Supreme Court Building, the Lincoln Memorial, and other locations on September 12.
https://anewscafe.com/2021/09/20/redding/sean-feucht-far-right-christians-descend-on-washington-d-c-for-september-11th-let-us-worship-event/

Yes so if this man and his events come to your city, be afraid! Because they do not represent our good LAWRD JAYSUS! They represent all that is evil! They represent the unholy Dark One! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: Screaming For Vengeance
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From: Idiots #13-5

Whew, got the set fixed. Let’s get the wheel going, shall we? And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop! Ah, it’s another Clip Without Context!

No, that’s when I call him an idiot and leave. Spin it again! Oh hey, it’s time for Holy Shit!

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about how dangerous the rhetoric coming from our brothers and sisters on the right is getting, and how increasingly hostile they are becoming. It’s getting intense, ladies and gentlemen. In fact I’ve seen what the churches are spreading, and they’re spreading some ridiculous stuff. I am particularly frightened by their full on embrace of the Dark One’s conspiracy theories. But if you’re wondering why your fundamentalist friends and neighbors are suddenly turning on you, you might want to consider the sources that they’re peddling. Because as I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the fact that a Dark One supporter like Doug Mastriano has a chance, is scary. These people don’t worship GAWD or the good LAWRD JAYSUS, they worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, vile and disgusting that his name dare not be mentioned in my church! But the propaganda is getting intense and the calls for violence are growing every day. It’s scary out there, folks!

An evangelical church in Pennsylvania is in hot water after it premiered a right-wing propaganda film promoting Republican political candidates, including gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, earlier this month.

Community members have since filed complaints with the Internal Revenue Service, arguing that the church, located in Lower Allen Township (about seven miles from Harrisburg), violated federal 501(c)(3) rules banning the promotion of political candidates and should therefore have its tax-exempt status revoked.

At first glance, the controversy surrounding the Christ Community Church might just seem like hyper-local drama. However, its apparent embrace of Mastriano’s campaign puts it squarely in a simmering national concern about surging Christian nationalist ideology politicizing American churches around the country. That concern has reignited the decades-old debate around churches, specifically accusations that some are just political organizations masquerading as religious entities in order to maintain tax-exempt status.

Mastriano, currently a state senator, attended and spoke at the premiere of The Return of the American Patriot: The Rise of Pennsylvania, along with its producer, Steve Turley, a self-described “populist nationalist” who devotes much of his YouTube channel to hyping the possibility of red-state secession.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4axwm3/doug-mastriano-christ-community-church

And yes he does, my fair congregation! The devil takes many forms and they all claim to be on the side of JAYSUS, but many of them worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! But you know this whole experiment falls under the classic saying “play stupid games, win stupid prizes”. But they’re not the only ones threatening freedom and democracy. There’s plenty of events out there that look like they are religious, but they really are indoctrination centers for batshit crazy extremely far right conspiracy theories. If one of these events comes to your city, you’d better be aware of it, and run as far away in the other direction as possible! These people worship SAYTAN!

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

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

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

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

These people don’t! When you worship the foul Dark One, you get all the hatred and insanity that comes with his massive pile of bullshit. But don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about this guy – and we may have to do a deep dive in a future episode. This came across my desk the other day and I am greatly disturbed by the antics of this gentlemen. This guy Dalton Clodfelter – and he is about as extreme as one can possibly get. Do they not realize that this rhetoric is getting akin to Nazism? Oh who am I kidding? Of course they don’t!

Earlier this year, far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters gave white nationalist, Christian fascist Dalton Clodfelter a nightly program on his Stew Peters Network called “The Right Dissident.”

Peters is a white nationalist-promoting broadcaster who, despite using his nightly program to spread wild conspiracy theories and calls for violence, has managed to build close ties to various far-right political candidates and to interview several elected officials, GOP candidates, and former members of the Trump administration. Peters clearly saw something he liked in Clodfelter’s brand of radical right-wing bigotry, Christian nationalism, and antisemitic fascism, all of which Clodfelter has openly promoted five nights a week on Peters’ platform.

Last Thursday, Clodfelter used his show to call for the establishment of a “far-right authoritarian government” in this nation that will imprison its political enemies, establish Christianity as the national religion, and outlaw all secular education.

“Once we take our country back, we will have federal agents kicking down the doors of every treasonous Democrat, every treasonous globalist, every homosexual couple that has molested a child, and they will be arrested, and they will be sentenced to prison,” Clodfelter declared. “I believe in a far right-authoritarian government. No, I am not a fascist. No, I am not a white supremacist. No, I am not a Nazi. But I do believe that hierarchy, structure, and authority are very important. I do believe that our society needs these things in order to progress and maintain its cultural framework.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/once-we-take-control-dalton-clodfelter-lays-out-his-christian-fascist-agenda/

OK yeah you say you’re not a Nazi or you’re not a Christian nationalist in one breath but then in the next you literally say things that would make even the Nazis cringe. Now you might ask yourself “Where does the GOP find these clowns? They don’t just grow on trees, do they?”. Well, I answer you, sir or madam, they absolutely do! Because we talked about this last year – there’s a tour out there going around to megachurches called the “ReAwaken America Tour”. And its’ where the most loud mouth conspiracy theorists become even louder. So add toxic nationalism to toxic racism to toxic politics and you have a melting pot for today’s insane fire brand of Christian conservatism!

The ReAwaken American Tour that recently visited a Batavia church features Christian nationalist ideology in several ways: the proclamation that America is a Christian nation, the idea that Donald Trump’s presidency was God’s will, and even anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

But perhaps the most glaring example was when tour organizer and Trump’s first national security advisor Michael Flynn spoke at a San Antonio, Texas church last November.

“So if we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,” Flynn told the ReAwaken America crowd. “One nation under God and one religion under God.”

Scholars generally define Christian nationalism as believing the U.S. was founded by and for Christians, and that the government should take steps to keep America Christian. Taken to the extreme, scholars say, it can discriminate against religious minorities, the non-religious and LGBTQ people, and be used to justify violence.
https://www.wbfo.org/politics/2022-08-21/jan-6-comes-to-church-a-look-at-the-christian-nationalism-surrounding-reawaken-america

Well it might not be over, but the right wing is getting nuttier, crazier, and way more toxic than you could ever imagine. They may be screaming for vengeance about the 2020 election, but their screams are just that – screams. Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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From: Idiots #8-8

Gather around my fair brothers and sisters of Madison! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! You know I don’t like to revel in the sorrow of others. Because that’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want, is it? Well to be fair, engaging in schadenfreude is kind of what these guys do on a daily basis. And does it not say in our Good Book “Judge not lest ye be judged?”. Of course it says that! But what am I talking about today? I am of course referring to everyone’s favorite Bible-based theme park, called “The Holy Land Experience”. It’s such a fun loving family destination where people can watch live crucifixion on the hour, explore ancient Biblical artifacts, and watch live gladiator battles. Just fun for the whole family! And its all tax free. Well, for them, not for you. So how is this dog and pony show losing money? Well there’s a lot of factors.

Orlando’s biblical theme park, the Holy Land Experience, will lay off most of its employees as it undergoes a corporate restructuring, according to a letter sent to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

In January, Trinity Broadcasting Networks announced the theme park with a nonprofit status will focus more of its efforts on highlighting the Biblical museum, The Scriptorium, and history-changing religious figures.

The religious experience at Vineland and Conroy Roads near The Mall at Millenia draws hundreds of people every year for the park’s annual free admission day, allowing the organization to keep its tax-exempt status. A “charity day” for 2020 has not been finalized yet but officials said it will happen before April 18.

Nathan Daniels, TBN’s Marketing Director, told News 6 in January performers will be laid off but he couldn’t give an exact number of employees.

However, a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice sent to Dyer dated Feb. 14 indicates almost all of the nonprofit’s employees will lose their jobs. More than 120 positions will be eliminated, according to the letter.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/02/18/holy-land-experience-laying-off-most-employees-under-corporate-reorganization/

Yes, come to the light and see Buddy Jesus! He is the Jesus that we worship, oh LAWRD! You know how can something faith based, which enjoys tax exempt status be hurting financially? Everyone knows that the fastest growing religion on earth is atheism. And with such gawdy tourist attractions like these, why would anyone spend time and/or money on them? Well let’s take a look at another faith based theme park, The Ark.

It seems that Ark Encounter, the $100 million Noah’s Ark theme park in Kentucky, isn’t doing so great.

According to the Louisville Courier Journal, around 860,000 tickets were sold for the Ark between July 2017 and June 2018, which falls pretty far short of the 2 million in annual ticket sales predicted by Ken Ham, the Ark’s creator, before it opened. (A spokesperson for the attraction told the Courier Journal that ticket sales did not reflect the number of people who visited due to annual passes and free tickets for under fives. They put the actual number closer to a million.)

Ham has previously blamed multiple factors for the underwhelming performance of the attraction. From local business owners to atheists. But is there a simpler explanation? Is it possible that people don’t want to visit the Ark because it sucks?
Before examining this, it's worth looking at what the makers of the Ark were going for when they embarked upon the project. According to Ham, the aim was to produce something so entertaining it would attract Christians and non-Christians alike. "How do you reach the general public in a bigger way?" he asked in an interview last year with the Washington Post. "Why not attractions that people will come to the way they go to Disney or Universal or the Smithsonian?" Which, presumably, is why he hired Patrick Marsh, an attractions designer who has worked on Universal Studios and the Sanrio theme park in Japan, to work on the Ark.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/neg9yq/this-dollar100-million-noahs-ark-theme-park-is-a-boring-homophobic-mess

You know Ken Ham and his flock also need to go to the light and see JAYSUS! Because he is the way and the truth, can I get an amen??? It’s no wonder that Christianity is on the decline in America, and if faith based leaders like Paula White are any indication, is it really any wonder? JAYSUS just isn’t selling and moving merchandise like he used to. So why open a faith based theme park in 2020 when there is a huge possibility you could go out of business?

In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. And one-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population – a group also known as religious “nones” – have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population.

These are among the key findings of a new analysis of trends in the religious composition and churchgoing habits of the American public, based on recent Pew Research Center random-digit-dial (RDD) political polling on the telephone. The data shows that the trend toward religious disaffiliation documented in the Center’s 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies, and before that in major national studies like the General Social Survey (GSS), has continued apace.

Pew Research Center’s 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies were huge national RDD surveys, each of which included interviews with more than 35,000 respondents who were asked dozens of detailed questions about their religious identities, beliefs and practices. The Center has not yet conducted a third such study, and when the Landscape Study is repeated, it is likely to use new methods that may prevent it from being directly comparable to the previous studies; growing challenges to conducting national surveys by telephone have led the Center to rely increasingly on self-administered surveys conducted online.
http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/syndicated/bankrupt-faith-new-research-shows-accelerated-decline-christianity-america/

Hey we’re on a mission from GAWD! So if you’re Christianity, and your Holy Land Experience theme park isn’t drawing the crowds that it used to, how can you be expected to make a profit in 2020? Because that’s what JAYSUS would want! He would want us to be rich and to prosper monetarily! After all it says so in our Good Book here! Oh and give it up for our gospel choir, how great are they? Well if we want faith-based tourism, maybe our good friend Kanye can bring ‘em in! JAYSUS merches, after all, people!

Kanye West is taking his talents to Miami.

The rapper, 42, announced plans Tuesday to bring his Sunday Service Experience worship event to Florida the morning of the Super Bowl.

The event, a partnership with Miami's VOUS church at the FPL Solar Amphitheater is set for 11 a.m. before the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs' 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

West has taken his mostly L.A.-based Sunday Services on the road: He visited Dayton, Ohio, in August to support the community after a mass shooting; and also recently made stops in Detroit and Arizona.

West's "Sunday Service," a weekly event that started in January 2019, brings together a group of lucky attendees – with celebs including Paris Jackson, Courtney Love, Rick Rubin, Kid Cudi, Busy Philipps and Diplo recently in the audience – to watch West lead a choir and perform new compositions of his old hits. West sings, often standing in front of a keyboard, as the guest vocalists provide backup in gospel rearrangements of his songs.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/01/30/super-bowl-kanye-west-sunday-service-miami/4618411002/

Yes, we are serious, Kanye! How about you open up your own religious theme park! And you can sell $225 sweatshirts, and enjoy tax exempt status! That’s how you expand the faith-based tourism industry if others can’t! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]The Holy Shit Hotline To Heaven
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Welcome back to the Holy Shit Hotline To Heaven! As you know, this is a free form segment where we answer your burning prayers on any subject you can think of. My fair congregation, I want to use this space to formally say goodbye. To the official Holy Shit Twitter account @churchoftop10. You didn’t let me finish! But yes, because of Elon Musk’s insanity, on December 31st, we are terminating the Holy Shit Twitter account and we’re setting up shop on Mastodon.social. So when that happens you can bet that we’ll be making the official announcement. Now if you have any thoughts and prayers you want answered in the meantime, you can hit us up at the official Top 10 Conservative Idiots e-mail account – top10conidiots@gmail.com. That said, let’s dive into it and start answering!

Nicholas J. from San Antonio, Texas writes:

“Heavenly Father, what’s with my brothers and sisters on the right suddenly admiring Hitler? In all seriousness – why?”

Well, Brother Nick, we aren’t exactly sure why the sudden admiration for the worst mass murderer in world history is suddenly a thing. We do have our theories that it originated in the dark corners of the internet, that’s for damn sure!

No, Ye is not being used. He’s just saying the quiet part out loud! Our next prayer comes from:

Kristin V. from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma writes:

Heavenly Father, why do churches think they can get away with holding political on church grounds, is it because of people like Paula White? Or is she just a symptom of the problem?”

Well, my Sister Kristin, it’s a combination of a number of factors. But these people don’t worship GAWD or JAYSUS. They worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! But with politicians like these as “friends”, then who needs enemies?

James C. from Rochester, NY writes:

“Heavenly Father, why does it seem like my brothers and sisters on the right are getting increasingly more violent?’

Well Brother James, I can’t quite put my finger on it but it does seem like the religious right is getting way more violent and crazy these days! And I’m sure that most of it can be tied back to the Dark One and his minions, they live for this sort of thing!

Our final prayer this week comes from:

Sarah J. from San Clemente, California writes:

Heavenly Father, I live next to one of the largest megachurches in the world. Why does it seem like everyone I know is increasingly getting history wrong?

Well, Sister Sarah, Kanye West, aka Ye, is basically saying the quiet part out loud. He opened the flood gates for modern neo-Nazism. And if there’s one guy who the misinterpretations can be traced back to, it’s David Barton. He’s a Christian pseudo-historian who wears a cheap cowboy hat and goes to churches basically completely misinterpreting history. In fact we even covered him in Idiots #11-6. In fact he has a very long and easily traceable history of this sort of thing. These are all real clips by the way!

Thanks for indulging me in the Best Of Holy Shit! We’ll be back next week with our season finale and our 2022 Year In Review Spectacular! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Constellation Room at Observatory OC, Santa Ana, CA
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
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Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
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Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
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Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

December 1, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-16: Showdown At The Golden Corral Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-16: Showdown At The Golden Corral Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yooooooooooo! What’s up Irvine? It’s good to be home after nearly 2 months out on the road! We’ve had a great time, though! Especially our stops in Honolulu and Los Cabos! But because next week’s Top 10 got canceled, this is our last regular Top 10 of the year. We originally planned to have this at our home base in Santa Ana, but the schedule got fucked up and well, here we are! So before we begin, I want to address the 800 pound gorilla in the room. That concerns the official Top 10 Twitter account - @10Idiots. Look, we’ve seen the requests. We know about Elon’s plans to unleash hell by letting white nationalists and other undesierables back on the platform after being banned. Rest assured, we will be terminating both the Top 10 account @10Idiots and the Holy Shit account @churchoftop10 on Dec. 31st. We’re currently researching alternatives. We hope to launch on Mastodon when we come back in January. I will make the official announcement when we are ready to do so. OK do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! If you’re a 90s kid like I am, you remember the utter disaster that was the Super Mario Bros. movie. Although in all fairness, it is one of those movies that you watch with your friends while drunk and/or high and make fun of with snide comments about how stupid it is. Well, guess what? Nintendo is at it again with a new Mario Bros. movie that’s being planned for next summer. Only this time – it’s animated. And the “you ruined my childhood” people are already complaining about it! These morons can ruin everything and anything! But… Princess Peach is “woke” now? That’s what you have to complain about? I guess these are the guys who either played as Peach in Mario Kart because they could, or they played as Bowser because they thought they were bad asses. But really guys, do you know what you need to do now? That’s it - just put down the bong and back away from the computer very slowly. Also turn off Fox News, it’s good for you! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he highlights the human rights atrocities committed by FIFA and the nation of Qatar in the 2022 World Cup:

&t=21s

So where do we begin? Well unfortunately this week another week, another mass shooting in America happened while we were off last week. And that’s not even the weird part. I’m of course talking about the Club Q shooting (1) and the more you go down the rabbit hole on this subject, and the people behind it, the weirder it gets! In the second slot this week is of course our old buddy Elon Musk (2) who continues to take a wrecking ball to the social media platform known as Twitter, and it’s much like the way Surtur destroyed Asguard at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. It’s truly stunning. In the number 3 slot this week is another one of our old buddies, Kanye West (3). Yes, Ye is hanging out with notorious anti-Semitic racist, sexist piece of shit podcaster Nick Fuentes and they went and had dinner with Trump at Mar-A-Lago, and it’s quite the shit show. Of course the MAGA camp is in full “move along, nothing to see here, please disperse” mode. In the number 4 slot this week is Kevin McCarthy (4) and his first week back as House Speaker is already proving to be the colossal shit show that it is. Why do people keep electing these clowns? Madness. Speaking of madness, the number 5 slot this week is going to go to Election Deniers (5). Yes, specifically Arizona, where the madness over the Kari Lake – Katie Hobbs election is the stuff of insanity, but the GOP’s newfound smugness could cost them big time! In the number 6 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and of course, this week, when there’s a mass shooting at a gay bar, Christian right preachers are naturally going to shoot their hateful mouths off and start spouting the same insane conspiracies and hateful rhetoric we’ve heard a million times, and we’ve got the best (and also worst) reactions! In the number 7 slot this week, is our newest segment on corporate greed, Late Stage Capitalism (7)! So it looks like everyone is going on strike – from Amazon to the University Of California, and employers are not liking it one bit! It’s truly a clusterfuck. Speaking of clusterfucks, in the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8) and our old buddy, Creepy Pillow Man, aka Mike Lindell, is convinced by God that he is going to be the new RNC chair. The GOP is continuing to swirl its’ way down the drain! In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have a new “I Need A Drink” – and this week we’re going to have some drinks and talk about the lack of beverages available at the 2022 World Cup, and what’s being done about it! Maybe having the World Cup in a country known for religious totalitarianism and egregious human rights violations was a bad idea? probably! Finally this week it’s time for our 2022 World Tour (10)! This week we’re heading south of the border to the land of tequila, Mayan pyramids, futbol, and Chicen Itza – Mexico! Plus to close things out, we have some live music from Death Cab For Cutie! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

[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"]The Club Q Shooting: Heroes And Villains
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Fuck. Another day another mass shooting. And it will most likely never end. Gun violence is increasingly becoming an inherent danger to American society. But nothing is gonna change. We’re going to go through the same fucking routines we’ve been going through the last 20 years when it comes to this shit and it’s getting really old. The United States really follows the textbook definition of insanity on this subject. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Look, we’re a laughing stock because of this shit. Other countries have travel advisories to the United States because of it. The target this time? It was a drag show at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Drag shows lately have been the target of violence ranging from Twitter accounts like @libsoftiktok and the Tucker Carlson show. But once you get to the details, it paints an incredibly fucked up picture of an individual driven to acts of violence after being rejected by society. Almost kind of sounds like the plot of Joker when you think about it. But before we introduce the villain, let’s talk about the hero.

Richard M. Fierro said he was at a table in Club Q with his wife, daughter and friends on Saturday, watching a drag show, when the sudden flash of gunfire ripped across the nightclub. His instincts from four combat deployments as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan instantly kicked in. Fight back, he told himself.

snip-"...tackling the gunman and beating him bloody with the gunman’s own gun.."

snip-" Mr. Fierro, who served in the Army for 15 years, said he raced across the room, grabbed the gunman by a handle on the back of his body armor, pulled him to the floor and jumped on top of him."

snip-" As the fight continued, he said, he yelled for other club patrons to help him. A man grabbed the rifle and moved it away to safety. A drag dancer stomped on the gunman with her high heels. The whole time, Mr. Fierro said, he kept pummeling the shooter’s head while the two men screamed obscenities at each other."
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/21/us/colorado-springs-shooting-news

Yeah so let’s think about this – without Mr. Fierro risking his life in this heinous act of violence, the situation would have been that much worse. Remember the Pulse shooting? Picture a scenario that’s worse than that. But it’s another day, and another mass shooting. And we’re going to hear Fox News spout the same damn arguments we’ve heard about guns a thousand times. It’s truly the definition of insanity. Now let’s talk about the villain. Yes, Fox and other right wing sources were extremely quick to bring up the sexual orientation of the shooter.

Another weekend passed in America with yet another mass shooting, this time at a gay bar in Colorado Springs.

In an attack that lasted barely more than a minute, five people were killed and at least 18 others injured when a gunman stormed Club Q, a bar that had functioned as a rainbow safe haven for the conservative town’s small LGBTQ community.

Were it not for the heroism of patrons who confronted the shooter and subdued him with one of his own weapons, many more might be among the dead. That inconceivable act of bravery is worth unending celebration.

But for LGBTQ people across the country, the most devastating part of this slaughter was its sense of inevitability. All year long, it has felt like we have been inching toward some form of fated tragedy, like a car crash in slow motion. Now the horror has manifested.

For some time now, a resurgent right-wing strategy of portraying queer people as an invasive species of predators — who “groom” children in classrooms, “mutilate” the bodies of transgender children, or otherwise corrupt young minds — has burrowed into mainstream political discourse with horrifying efficiency. “Don’t Say Gay,” the edict goes, or else it will spread like a virus.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-bar-politicizing

Holy shit. It’s truly insane what right wing propaganda has done to people. It’s destroyed and ruined many lives and driven people to violence and madness. But once again the circle of death rears its’ ugly head around us. Will nothing be done about this terrible tragedy? Nope. Will we hear the same damn arguments about guns that we’ve heard 1,000 times before? Oh yeah that’s coming. But you know what we haven’t seen yet? Ho w violence happens. In fact the relationship between the shooter and his father is an incredibly fucked up one, and the more you dig into it, the more fucked up it gets. But please, conservatives, continue to lecture us on how much better straight relationships are.

When Brink asked his ex-wife why their son had changed his name, she blamed it on the father’s involvement in a reality TV show called Intervention, as well as his acting career in the adult film industry.
“His mother told me he changed his name because I was in Intervention and I had been a porno actor,” said Brink.
For six years Brink believed his son was dead, until Aldrich unexpectedly called his father six months ago, and started arguing with him over the phone.
“He’s pissed off. He's pissed off at me. He wants to poke at the old man,” Brink recalled.

Then, two days ago, Brink got a call from his son's defense attorneys, telling him Aldrich was involved in a shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Brink said he's a Mormon and his first reaction was to question why his son was at a gay bar. “You know Mormons don't do gay. We don't do gay. There's no gays in the Mormon church. We don't do gay,” Brink said.

SNIP——-
Brink currently works as a mixed martial arts coach. He says he taught his son how to fight.
“I praised him for violent behavior really early. I told him it works. It is instant and you'll get immediate results,” the father said.
https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/im-sorry-i-let-my-son-down-father-of-accused-colorado-club-shooter-speaks-out/509-6c4ad66e-35ef-41a5-9255-bca31cea3a73

Hooooooooooooooooooly shit. You want to know why violence happens, this is how violence happens, people! The shooter’s own father is a violent psychopath who praised his son for his violent behavior, and then thought he was dead. And then was surprised to learn that the worst part was that his son wasn’t gay, but a mass murderer! This is fucked up on multiple levels. And if you can’t see that then you’re part of the problem! Oh and don’t think we’ll be hearing the last of these cretins either, because this is, like we always say, one of those stories that’s like peeling an onion. The more layers you peel back, the more it stinks, and the more likely you are to cry as a result.

The mother of the suspect accused of fatally gunning down five people and wounding 18 at a Colorado Springs gay bar was herself arrested in the hours after the deadly shooting, according to a summons obtained by The Daily Beast.

Laura Lea Voepel, 45, is facing two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest over a meltdown she allegedly had when police showed up at her home around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 20. Roughly three-and-a-half hours earlier, authorities say 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich opened fire on patrons and staff at Club Q, a local LGBTQ nightspot.

Aldrich, whose lawyers say he identifies as non-binary but whose mother used male pronouns in text messages to him on the day of the shooting, was born Nicholas Franklin Brink in 2000 to Voepel and MMA-fighter-turned-porn-actor Aaron Franklin Brink. The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Aldrich, who is listed as male in jail booking records, changed their name in 2016 to escape their father’s criminal past, court filings show.

After the Club Q massacre, officers with the Colorado Springs Police Department showed up at Voepel’s North Union Boulevard apartment building, the summons states, noting that cops warned Voepel “multiple times to stop yelling” or she would be arrested.

“Subject continued to make unreasonable noise directly next to multiple apartments,” the summons, which was first reported by Denver Fox affiliate KDVR and Denver NBC affiliate KUSA, continues. “While I attempted to place subject into custody, she became combative by physically resisting officers’ control by force.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/laura-voepel-mom-of-colorado-springs-suspect-anderson-lee-aldrich-facing-charges-after-club-q-shooting

[font size="8"]Elon Musk
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This whole thing with Elon’s plan to buy Twitter and make it a haven for racists, sexists, anti-Semites, violent thugs, and other undesirables is backfiring on him big time. You know, this week, we made the extremely difficult decision to terminate the two official accounts we have on Twitter - @10Idiots and @churchoftop10, and it was definitely not an easy one. But as of right now, it is the right thing to do at this time. But we do plan to setup shop on Mastodon when we come back in January after our extended break. Anyway enough about us, this is about Elon’s descent into madness, and you can watch it unfold in real time on Twitter. You’ve probably heard by now that Apple may pull Twitter from the Apple App Store entirely. Needless to say, the fight between Elon and Apple isn’t going away anytime soon, and they’re only just getting started.

Elon Musk loves starting fights. It’s been a hallmark of his brief, omni-shambolic tenure as the owner of Twitter. From the legal battle waged before the purchase was even completed to the waves of disruption that his management choices sparked to his disdain for federal regulators to his ongoing campaign to be the troll king of the internet, Musk has done nothing but gleefully antagonize his supposed enemies, inside and outside Twitter.

But on Monday, Musk decided to pick a fight with one of — if not the — the biggest companies in the world: Apple, Inc. And this is a fight that he absolutely cannot win. There is no legal gambit he can pull, public shaming he can inspire or money he could set on fire in the pursuit of either, that could force Apple to save Twitter from the corporate devastation Musk has unleashed.

Musk’s latest fight began, as so many have in the last two months, with bad news about advertising. Musk tweeted that Apple had “mostly stopped advertising on Twitter,” an unwelcome development for a social media platform that’s already seen a major hit to the $5 billion in annual revenue that advertising has provided. According to The Washington Post, “Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter, spending $48 million on ads on the social network” in the first quarter of 2022, accounting for “more than 4 percent of Twitter’s revenue” in those months. That makes any pullback from Apple a big problem for Twitter and Musk.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-going-war-apple-rcna59211

Yeah and that’s one thing about Elon – he is not afraid to start a fight, doesn’t matter whose side he is on, but he usually picks the wrong one. But my favorite part about this whole thing is that Elon plans to pull a Bender and launch his own phone in the event that Twitter gets banned from the Apple Store for the lack of content moderation. But yeah what’s he going to get for advertising support? We have our speculations! Cash 4 Gold maybe? Whatever company makes the end times slop that Jim Bakker sells on his show? Nutritional vitamin supplements? But one thing that we can say for sure is a definite – Elon has gone quite mad with power and he’s not coming back to earth anytime soon.

Musk's remark came after being asked about the potential scenario of Twitter being removed from app stores, which could conceivably happen if the social media network fails to sufficiently moderate content posted on its platform. Twitter has undergone considerable changes since Musk acquired the company in October, losing hundreds of employees and offering verification via a paid subscription. The questions around the future of Twitter's moderation emerged since Musk has repeatedly expressed his desire to promote free speech, reinstate suspended accounts, and make the platform more open.

Elon Musk has pledged to offer an "alternative phone" if Apple and Google remove Twitter from their app stores, adding to long-standing rumors about an iPhone rival from Tesla.

Musk's remark came after being asked about the potential scenario of Twitter being removed from app stores, which could conceivably happen if the social media network fails to sufficiently moderate content posted on its platform. Twitter has undergone considerable changes since Musk acquired the company in October, losing hundreds of employees and offering verification via a paid subscription. The questions around the future of Twitter's moderation emerged since Musk has repeatedly expressed his desire to promote free speech, reinstate suspended accounts, and make the platform more open.

While Musk affirmed that he hopes no such clash with Apple and Google will occur, he recently signaled displeasure with Apple's App Store fees and, in light of his plans to significantly expand the Twitter Blue subscription service, further conflict in the future seem likely. Musk's other companies, such as Tesla, have a strained relationship with Apple, and are reluctant to integrate features like Apple Music or CarPlay. There were even rumors that Musk demanded to become Apple CEO in talks over Apple potentially acquiring Tesla.

Musk is behind influential companies such as PayPal, SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and, now, Twitter, so the prospect of him initiating a project to offer a new consumer smartphone to rival the iPhone seems plausible, especially if his companies' relationships with Apple worsen in the future. Tesla making a phone has long been an unsubstantiated rumor on account of its experience with hardware and software, but it may now be more likely given Musk's growing propensity to publicly disagree with Apple.
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-pledges-to-build-iphone-rival/

Oh yeah? Well I’ll found my own cell phone company! With blackjack! And hookers! On second thought, forget about the cell phone company! Now here’s where it gets weird. Elon has reportedly fired and disbanded Twitter’s entire Belgium office, and put his company in jeopardy as he’s now on an EU watch list because his platform is not moderating content. See this is what happens when you buy an international corporation like Twitter. What applies in the United States does not apply internationally, and the EU doesn’t fuck around with this sort of thing.

Elon Musk’s plans to turn Twitter Inc. into a free speech haven could run into its biggest political obstacles in the European Union, where he has to contend with its new Digital Services Act, which forces companies to take down illegal content.

Musk said he’ll follow national laws — and specifically reassured concerned EU officials that he’ll follow the DSA — but this will be difficult in practice with so few staff left to moderate content. It won’t be easier in the EU’s lawmaking capital of Brussels, where Twitter’s office is now lifeless.

EU leaders know Musk himself was a controversial speaker on Twitter — he was taken to court for defamation after he called a British caver a “pedo guy” (Musk won), the US SEC sued him for tweets about taking Tesla Inc. private (Musk settled), he tweeted a Nazi meme (then deleted it), and posted misinformation about an attack on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband (also deleted.)

While most if not all of these wouldn’t have breached the DSA, it’s certainly made lawmakers attentive to the possibility that they were signs of what’s to come.
https://fortune.com/2022/11/24/elon-musk-sacks-twitter-brussels-staff-collision-course-eu-laws-gdpr/

Oh and this isn’t the most evil thing that Elon has done yet. You know why he’s going out of his way to pick fights with Apple and Google? Because his plan to add paid verification is not only backfiring on him big time, but it’s apparently because he wants to avoid paying a 30% cut to Apple. And even Apple hasn’t even fed the troll, probably because they know better than that. But the thing is the GOP can whine all they want about Apple and Google’s Terms Of Service agreements. The logic is clear though – it's their TOS agreements. They can do whatever the hell they want. So unless you create your own phone and app store, you have to abide by their rules. So we really hope this failed experiment shuts them up for good. But it won’t.

Twitter’s revamped Blue subscription might not be available as an in-app purchase on iOS when it eventually relaunches so that it can dodge Apple’s 30 percent cut of App Store purchases, according to Platformer. When the new Blue was briefly available earlier this month, you could only purchase it through Twitter’s iOS app. But while Elon Musk is publicly tweeting his displeasure with Apple, it appears he wants to avoid having to pay Apple’s fees.

Musk had said that the new Blue, which allows people to purchase a blue verification check mark, was set to relaunch on Tuesday after signups were paused following a wave of impersonators. But that launch has been delayed, Platformer says, and The Verge has also heard of the delay from a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Twitter employees have been told that there will be other changes to Blue, including a one-cent price increase from $7.99 to $8 and requiring phone number verification, Platformer reports.

Over the course of this month, Musk has ramped up his tweets targeting Apple. On November 18th, he criticized the App Store’s cut by calling it a “hidden 30% tax on the Internet.” And on Monday, he claimed that Apple, reportedly one of Twitter’s biggest advertisers, has “mostly” stopped advertising on the social network and that it has “threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why.”
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/29/23485300/elon-musk-twitter-blue-avoid-in-app-fee-ios

[font size="8"]Ye, Trump, and Nick Fuentes
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You know it’s a fucked up week when that guy who we inexplicably used to call president, Donald Trump, met with noted anti-Semite Kanye West, aka Ye, and notorious racist, sexist anti-Semitic podcaster Nick Fuentes, and that’s not even the craziest thing that has happened this week! Trump always loves him some fast food, not to mention his tacky, faux gold decorating lifestyle, and we all know this. So maybe instead of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", let's modernize it and call it "Showdown At The Golden Corral". Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I love our graphics department! But there’s definitely tension brewing in the GOP between hardcore members of the MAGA community and the more sane, rational members of the GOP who aren’t racist. Wait, what? Who am I kidding? Those people don’t exist in today’s republican party, which is now the party of Alex Jones and Trump. And by the way, like most things involving Trump, the more you dig into it, the weirder it gets. Also too, just even having dinner with Ye already makes this the worst Thanksgiving ever!

Just two days before Thanksgiving, Donald Trump was planning to have a private, uneventful dinner with an old friend: Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

The two had arranged to break bread Tuesday night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after weeks of private phone conversations as Ye lost lucrative partnerships and became a mainstream cultural pariah for his antisemitic remarks, according to those familiar with the talks between the two men.

But Trump may have been walking into a trap in Mar-a-Lago’s gilded halls — one that leveraged his own penchant for spectacle and showmanship against him. Ye arrived with three guests, including white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes.

Trump has since said he didn’t know Fuentes or his background when they dined together, a claim Fuentes confirmed in an interview, but others at the crowded members-only club figured out his identity. News of the meeting prompted an avalanche of criticism, from some Republican rivals and allies of Trump and his then-week-old presidential campaign.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/story-trumps-explosive-dinner-ye-nick-fuentes-rcna59010

Yeah come on, Trump, you can’t tell me you didn’t know who Nick Fuentes was prior to having dinner with him. I mean come on, how lax is the security detail at Mar-A-Shithole? But here’s the thing – if sponsors are dropping Kanye to the point where he's lost almost a billion dollars, you might want to do that thing called “reading the room”. Oh wait, the MAGA crowd doesn’t do that sort of thing. In the event of a shooting, their first instinct is to buy more guns. But that just paints a picture with the MAGA world – it’s always someone else’s fault. Or it didn’t happen. Or it was a false flag. Or some other bullshit nonsense.

Donald Trump, who had dinner and fun times last week with virulent antisemite Kanye West (now known as Ye) and white-supremacist-slash-Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes, initially defended himself by claiming that he had no idea who Fuentes was. Posting on his own network, Truth Social, as the firestorm began to build over Thanksgiving weekend, the former president defended the dinner by explaining that as it occurred, Ye “expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’ Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”

This is, of course, the long-standing Trump defense: He can’t ever have done anything wrong because he simply doesn’t know anything, ever. It affords durable protection because, over time, the more things Trump acknowledges he doesn’t understand or care to find out, the less we expect him to comprehend or research anything in the future. It’s actually very much the mirror image of QAnon admonishment that everyone “do your own research.” In this iteration, “I did no research at all” somehow means that you are off the hook for knowing nothing.

He uses this excuse regularly. In 2017, after the white supremacist and antisemitic Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, Virginia, ended in the murder of an anti-racist protester on the street, Trump said there had been “very fine people on both sides” of the violent rally. He refused to walk that back, even in the face of threatened resignations from people around him. In part, Trump could assert things about who was there that day and what their character was like because he seemingly never tried to figure anything out. Fuentes, by the way, was at Unite the Right, as was David Duke, whom Trump had claimed to “know nothing about” during the 2016 primary.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/11/what-donald-trump-never-knows.html

Yeah come on, you can’t take back your blatant racism. That’s one thing I learned during the Trump years – racists don’t like being called racists. And if you play the tape back for them when they say racist things they don’t admit saying, they always pass the blame. It must be nice to live in reality denying fantasy land. Yeah I didn’t fail that class – some other crazy people made me fail that test! And this entire dinner was basically an exercise in “don’t fuck with me” mantra, while the GOP is going full on into “nothing to see here, please disperse” territory!

House and Senate Republicans are speaking out against former President Donald Trump's dinner last week with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

"There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. "And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States."

Earlier in the day, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy denounced Fuentes, who is labeled as a white supremacist pundit and organizer by the Anti-Defamation League, in language similar to McConnell's, though he stopped short of condemning the former president.

"I don't think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican Party," McCarthy said. "I think President Trump came out four times and condemned him and didn't know who he was."
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/29/1139742844/republicans-denounce-trump-dinner-white-supremacist-nick-fuentes

Yeah so there’s a lot of infighting in the GOP right now. And the weird thing is that Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson are awfully silent on this issue. Which is a first because they’re usually the biggest loud mouth jackasses in the room. So why did Trump arrange this dinner? Well, it turns out there may be sinister forces afoot! But hey as long as these pricks keep fighting with each other and losing elections, I’m OK with it! But wait… why don’t we take off the mask and see who’s really behind this? Milo YIANNOPOLOUS???? Thanks, Velma!

As fallout from Donald Trump’s meeting with the white supremacist Nick Fuentes continues, a far-right activist has claimed the meeting was a set-up, meant to “make Trump’s life miserable”.

NBC News reported that in an attempt to “send a message” to the former president, Milo Yiannopoulos, a rightwing provocateur and former Breitbart editor, helped arrange for Fuentes to travel to Mar-a-Lago in Florida for a dinner between Trump and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

Trump dined with Fuentes and Ye at his resort on 22 November. Since the meeting, Trump has been criticized by senior Republicans and by conservative Jewish leaders.

Trump said Ye was invited to dinner and “unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends … whom I knew nothing about”. He has not condemned Fuentes and his views. Fuentes has been described by the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League as “among the most prominent and unapologetic antisemites in the country”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/30/milo-yiannopoulos-nick-fuentes-donald-trump-dinner

[font size="8"]Kevin McCarthy
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You know what my favorite thing about the right wing is? They love them some American symbolism, and they cannot get enough of it. It’s not enough to just have an American flag. There has to be a bald eagle in front of it. Riding a tank. Carrying an AR-15. And the American flag has to be torn. And set on fire. And you know what? Fuck it, let’s add some fireworks for good measure. And maybe a ripped piece of the Constitution that says "WE THE PEOPLE" in a large font. You get the idea. Unfortunately, Kevin McCarthy (Q – Batshit) is going to be our Speaker Of The House for the next two years. Here’s the thing – now that conservatives are back in control of the House, we can expect that Fox News will be calling a lot of the shots. So expect investigations into child grooming (whatever that is), the border crisis (whatever that is), and of course, Hunter Biden’s laptop. Which is the Benghazi of Pizzagates. So what does Kevin McCarthy plan to do on his first day as the new House Speaker? Why he plans to waste Congressional time by reading every single word of the US Constitution. Every one,.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is still short on the Republican support he’ll need to succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the next Congress. The GOP leader is also still looking for ways to impress members of his conference, especially on the far right.

To that end, McCarthy last week pitched an idea via Facebook: “Next year, Republicans will start every day of Congress with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. No exceptions.” It wasn’t long, of course, before annoying people like me reminded the congressman that Congress already starts every day with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance — it’s literally a written rule of the U.S. House of Representatives, as it’s been for many years — and his vow was entirely redundant.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s not your imagination. As readers with long memories might recall, shortly after the 2010 midterms, the newly elected GOP majority leadership arranged for the entire Constitution to be read out loud. Two years later, Republicans did it again.

There wasn’t any harm in the stunt, of course, but there wasn’t any point, either. It seemed to be the Republicans’ way of trying to tell the political world that they are the ones who truly love the Constitution.

The practice soon after fell out of favor, even under GOP majorities, in part because no one seemed to find any value in that symbolic gesture, and in part because the process became more contentious than expected. As The Washington Post reported in 2011, “They skipped several passages that no longer apply, including those that condoned slavery, angering some Democrats. On a day designed to celebrate the Founding Fathers’ growing role in the nation’s political discourse, Democrats accused Republicans of distorting history and the men who wrote it.”
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/still-looking-gop-backing-mccarthy-pitches-another-stunt-rcna58971

Yeah ‘Murica!!!!! Hey do we have any statistics analysts in the audience? What’s the Vegas over / under on him actually reading the part about “no religious test shall be required to hold public office” in Article 3? If I were a betting man, I would be willing to bet good money that he skips over that section. But really prayer in Congress? That won’t sit well with the growing atheist population in this country. And of course because the Infowars wing of the GOP doesn’t know how the government actually works, their solution in the coming months will be to impeach or investigate anyone they don’t agree with, and that’s going to be insane.

Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and warned of potential impeachment proceedings if he doesn’t step down, marking the House Republican leader’s strongest comments on the matter to date as he scrambles to lock down the votes for his speakership.

McCarthy, speaking from an event at the southern border, said that when Republicans take over the House in January, they will “investigate every order, every action, and every failure” to determine if they should begin impeachment proceedings.

“Our country may never recover from Secretary Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty. This is why today I am calling on the secretary to resign,” he said. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure. And we will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.”

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Mayorkas has no plans to resign and called on Congress to come up with legislative solutions to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. The agency continues to maintain that the border is secure, but has acknowledged it is dealing with an unprecedented number of noncitizens seeking to enter the country and that shifting demographics have added to the migration challenges they are facing.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/politics/kevin-mccarthy-homeland-security-secretary-alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment/index.html

So yeah GOP the question is – is this really your guy? Is this who you want to lead your party? If the answer is yes then that’s huge sign that the GOP is in disarray and is being taken over by batshit crazy conspiracy theorists. And already you know what they say about first impressions. And that is that you only get one. Mr. McCarthy isn’t even the speaker yet and he’s already made quite the first impression and that’s a total shit show. I guess he plans to get revenge for Greene and Boebert being booted off of committees by booting Omar and Swalwell? The stupid never ends.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is toeing a delicate line on national security issues in the lame-duck session as he seeks to win enough votes on the House floor to win the Speakership in January.

McCarthy is torn between competing factions of the GOP as he weighs a series of moves targeting the Biden administration and other Washington Democrats in the next Congress — all while trying to convince conservative GOP lawmakers to back him for Speaker.

He’s vowed to boot California Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell off the House Intelligence Committee and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He’s also threatened to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the southern border.

And McCarthy has indicated he will withhold GOP support for a lame-duck vote on a bipartisan defense policy bill as a way to fight “wokeism” in the military.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3754749-mccarthy-speaker-quest-leaves-balancing-act-on-national-security/

What other nonsense will the new MAGA-friendly House GOP be up to when they take over in January you might ask? Well I answer you. Even Marjorie 3 Names admitted that most of this is basically a “get revenge quick” stunt designed to, well, get revenge for the 2020 elections and lockdowns. Their plan is to get revenge on… Dr. Fauci? What did he do? Oh yeah that’s right – the MAGA morons who have no idea how government works think that one guy was single-handedly responsible for the 2020 lockdowns. Really, grow up, losers. Most of us have moved on from that shit already.

Democrats are bracing for pressure from GOP lawmakers as they threaten investigations of the Biden administration while fighting over who will be speaker when Republicans assume control of the House in the next congressional session.

After clinching the House in this year’s midterm elections, Republicans are expected to use their new subpoena powers on top Biden officials.

Those could include top White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has drawn GOP ire for record-high migrant-crossing numbers at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Has he been derelict in his responsibilities? I think so,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday of Mayorkas on ABC’s “This Week.” “I have a wide-open border in my home state. We have all these people coming in. We don’t know who they are.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-gop-eyes-fauci-dhs-secretary-probes-20221127-rrrwmidrf5cwbps5kanbtepi2q-story.html

[font size="8"]Kari Lake
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Q Anon. It’s like watching the kid who failed the test convincing the entire school board that he’s right and it was all a big lie. That’s what it’s like to watch the madness unfold in Arizona. Kari Lake (Q – Batshit) continues to deny that she lost the election to Katie Hobbs. Watching the shit show unfold in Arizona this week has been the true stuff of insanity. There were election deniers and Infowars fans coming out of the woodwork. So of course, the natural course for anyone connected to the MAGA world is if you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em. And that’s exactly what Lake did after refusing to concede. You just know they’re setting this up for a SCOTUS challenge, and god help us if they do. It’s funny that for the party that claims to hate trial lawyers, they really do love them some trial lawyers, don’t they? We probably won’t be hearing the end of this for a while.

Kari Lake, the defeated Republican candidate for Arizona governor, has filed a public records lawsuit demanding Maricopa County hand over a variety of documents related to the election.

Lake has refused to acknowledge that she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs and has for weeks drawn attention to voters who said they experienced long lines and other difficulties while voting on Election Day in Arizona’s largest county.

Her lawyer, Tim LaSota, says in the suit filed Wednesday that the county has not fulfilled public records requests filed on Nov. 15 and 16. The requests seek to identify voters who may have had trouble casting a ballot, such as people who checked in at more than one vote center or those who returned a mail ballot and also checked in at a polling place.

Lake is also asking for information about counted and uncounted ballots that were accidentally mixed. County officials have acknowledged the problem occurred at a handful of vote centers but say it happens in most elections and can be reconciled.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/kari-lake-files-elections-records-suit-after-losing-arizona-governors-race

Yeah sue ‘em now! Who cares? All they want to do is keep the grift going so they don’t have to, you know, do any real, actual work. But it gets worse – Kari’s nonsense is apparently spilling out into the Arizona Election Board certifiers. One county in Arizona – Cochise County – is refusing to certify the election results. And their nonsense could potentially cost them big time. Not just in the monetary department – which this will be ridiculously expensive – but it may also cost them a House seat! So keep playing with fire, Arizona GOP! Eventually you will get burned in the end!

Officials in a rural Arizona county Monday delayed the certification of November’s midterm elections, missing the legal deadline and leading the Arizona secretary of state’s office to sue over the county’s failure to sign off on the results.

By a 2-1 vote Monday morning, the Republican majority on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors pushed back certification until Friday, citing concerns about voting machines. Because Monday was the deadline for all 15 Arizona counties to certify their results, Cochise’s action could put at risk the votes of some 47,000 county residents and could inject chaos into the election if those votes go uncounted.

In the lawsuit filed by the office of Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs – a Democrat who will be the state’s next governor – officials said failing to certify the election results violates state law and could “potentially disenfranchise” the county’s voters.

The standoff between officials in Cochise County and the Arizona secretary of state’s office illustrates how election misinformation is continuing to stoke controversy about the 2022 results in some corners of the country even though many of the candidates who echoed former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election were defeated in November.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/28/politics/arizona-county-delays-election-challenges/index.html

Yeah why do we keep putting up with these losers? It’s absolute madness! Whatever happened to “you lost, get over it!”. I don’t remember how many times I was told that after Hillary Clinton lost in the 2016 election. The good news is that most of the election deniers and hardcore conspiracy theorists like Doug Mastriano and Kari Lake lost their elections. But I always love when the Infowars wing of the GOP makes absurd claims like they’re fighting the Battle of Lexington And Concord in 2022. Well I got news for you conspiracy theorist kooks: you ain’t fighting shit. Keep fighting these pretend wars in your head.

According to the political website FiveThirtyEight, “the vast majority of election-denying candidates who lost their races have conceded.” They no more deserve applause than would arsonists who, at the last minute, decide to fight the fire that they had set.

But unlike these candidates, Kari Lake, the two-fisted, election-denying Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, adamantly refuses to concede even though the Associated Press declared that she lost the election by 17,000 votes. No surprise there because Lake had vowed during the campaign only to accept a result in which she was the winner — in other words, “heads I win, tails the election was rigged.” To emphasize her election-denying grit, Lake’s campaign recently began playing on social media the late Tom Petty’s song, “I won’t back down.”

Time will tell whether the 2022 midterms were the Gettysburg of election denial, the kind of battlefield defeat that in hindsight was a turning point. But, as the midterms demonstrated, election denial is certainly losing traction. Its adherents’ most realistic hope of a revival depends on a replay of 2020 in which Donald Trump, as the Republican nominee, loses the 2024 general election in a tight race and then uses election denial to rouse his MAGA mercenaries, at least those no longer serving prison terms, and the lunatic conspiracy theorists, to stop the electoral certification. It will be harder in 2024 since Trump won’t be rabble-rousing from a presidential perch and President Biden will have considerable means available to prevent a Jan. 6 replay.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3752836-kari-lake-and-the-last-stand-of-the-election-deniers/

Oh Kari, Kari, Kari. You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is – never try. And of course because rule of law doesn’t matter to the party of Alex Jones and Donald Trump, they’re simply wishing Kari into office. By the way if you’ve seen the protest pictures from Maricopa County, they’re ridiculously laughable. But apparently, Trump is attempting to just wish Kari into office. Yeah you know you can wish for anything. Like… I wish I was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now I am! Ya…! But this new version of the GOP is like The Secret, but for moronic conspiracy theorists.

Much of Lake’s Trump-backed campaign was centered around bolstering unfounded claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 election, and the former TV anchor has lived up to her commitment to only accept election results if she won.

Lake, who lost her bid for governor to Democrat Katie Hobbs, has refused to acknowledge the election results, instead filing a lawsuit requesting public records from Maricopa County that would detail which voters experienced issues casting their ballots, and information regarding errors in ballot counting.

“We know we won this election,” Lake said in a weekend interview with far-right streaming service Real America’s Voice. “We are going to do everything in our power to make sure that every single Arizonans vote that was disenfranchised is counted.”

Her efforts are clashing with a major electoral deadline. Monday is the last day for Arizona counties to certify the results of the 2022 midterms, and several counties have held out to register challenges. Cochise and Mojave country — both rural, Republican strongholds in the state — voted not to certify and instead delay their final decision until the last possible moment. If the counties fail to certify their election in time, Arizona state officials have indicated that they will go to court to force a certification, or all of the county’s ballots shall be discarded. If not resolved, the challenges could cause issues with Arizona’s scheduled statewide certification on December 5th.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-calls-for-kari-lake-to-be-installed-governor-of-arizona-1234637436/

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know I’m becoming increasingly alarmed by the outright disgusting behavior coming from our brothers and sisters on the right. It’s getting truly beyond the pale and I’m tired of going through the same song and dance every single time we have a mass shooting in this country. Nothing changes. Nothing. That’s because our brothers and sisters on the right don’t worship GAWD or JAYSUS. They worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! But that said, every time something like this happens, the politics of the Dark One get in the way of any progress being made in this country. It’s truly the stuff of insanity. And once again, our brothers and sisters on the right don’t help any and in fact make the situation that much worse. I’m of course talking about the terrible Club Q tragedy in Colorado Springs last week. But wait, my fair congregation, just wait! Because the reactions to this terrible tragedy are every bit as equally horrifying!

A Washington state pastor celebrated the mass shooting last weekend at an LGBTQ nightclub that left five people dead.

Aaron Thompson, of Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, said the massacre was a "good thing" and falsely claimed the victims had been molesting children, although he walked that back moments later by saying their had only been looking at children in an inappropriate way, reported Only Sky.

"Am I sad that five homos got shot?" Thompson said Tuesday in a sermon. "No, I’m not sad at all. As a matter of fact, I think it’s a good thing that they’re not here anymore to molest kids."

The gunman opened fire during a drag performance, which have become a target of conservative outrage, but the event at Club Q in Colorado Springs was not open to anyone younger than 18, unlike child-friendly "drag queen story hours" hosted by many libraries.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/right-wing-pastor-celebrates-club-q-massacre-as-good-thing-in-hate-filled-sermon/ar-AA14xW7e?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b733479cd5c44d5ab83c1adac0443899

Now this is the problem that I have with the unchecked and unfiltered system of nonstop right wing propaganda in this country. It makes people do and say things like this that are truly horrible and beyond the pale. Oh and he’s apparently not the worst of them either. Check out this crazy woman Jenna Ellis – a former employee of the unholy Dark One. And here’s what she had to say. She is definitely on the side of the unholy Dark One. And the shit coming from the right after finding out the shooter’s orientation is just as cringe worthy as you might expect.

Jenna Ellis, one of the right-wing lawyers who represented former President Donald Trump in his failed attempts to overturn the 2020 election, proclaimed on Wednesday's edition of The Jenna Ellis Show that the five victims who were murdered in the massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado early Sunday morning are burning in Hell.

"The five people who were killed in the nightclub that night, there is no evidence at all that they were Christians. So assuming that they were not, that they had not accepted the truth of the gospel of Christ and affirmed Jesus Christ as the lord of their life, they are now reaping the consequences of having eternal damnation," Ellis said. "And that is far, far greater – we should be having that conversation. Instead of just the tragedy of what happened to the body, we need to be talking about what happened to the soul and the fact that they are now in eternal separation from our lord and savior Jesus Christ."
https://www.rawstory.com/reaping-the-consequences-of-eternal-damnation-jenna-ellis-says-club-q-victims-are-burning-in-hell/

Pretty sure those who give comfort and aid to our enemy will be the ones answering to SAYTAN, yet they are convinced that they will see the light. But of course we are currently living in a world where the lunatic right wing fringe is convinced they are always right, and we also live in Elon Musk’s Twitter world, where white supremacists are freely given a megaphone. This is yet another sad tale of America’s lust for the firearm. And of course another lunatic on the right, Herschel Walker – a man who claims to be a man of GAWD. With followers like these, who needs heathens?

On Saturday, a 22-year-old man with a history of domestic violence killed five people and injured 22 others with an AR-15 at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Some people were at the venue, Club Q, to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a commemoration of people killed in anti-trans violence. One of the victims, bartender Daniel Aston, was transgender.

Some gun-loving Republicans offered their typical thoughts and prayers after the 34th mass shooting in the U.S. this year; others just carried on with the kind of homophobic rhetoric that fuels hate crimes like this. Herschel Walker, who’s currently campaigning for a December 6 runoff election in Georgia against incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D), went ahead with his wildly bigoted stump speech on Sunday in Carrollton, without acknowledging the shooting at all.

Here’s what Walker told voters yesterday, according to audio obtained by Jezebel:

“Do y’all know what the definition of an enemy is? A enemy is somebody that don’t like you. But they been telling you they don’t know the definition of a woman either. So think about that either. They don’t know the definition of a woman. But I’m going to tell you the definition of a woman. Because it written in my great book. It said ‘a man and a woman.’ And there’s a difference between the two of them. So that’s the reason men shouldn’t be in women’s sport—here’s a difference.

-snip-
Read more: https://jezebel.com/herschel-walker-delivers-unhinged-transphobic-speech-th-1849808603

Yes you should! Because the one that you’re currently on isn’t working! You know we may have to do a deep dive on Herschel Walker’s insane religious views in a future Holy Shit. But there is one thing I wanted to touch on. Colorado Springs isn’t just a symptom of the problem in this country in the growing war on hate vs free speech, they are a part of the problem. Because Colorado is the home to an organization that you may have heard of, that we discuss on this program from time to time, called Focus On The Family. So yeah how do you fight back against toxic religion? Well with this.

A sign at the Colorado Springs headquarters of anti-LGBTQ+ Christian group Focus on the Family was vandalized in protest of the mass shooting at Club Q in that city, a crime that left five people dead and nearly 20 injured.

Someone spray-painted “Their blood is on your hands” and “Five lives taken” on the sign at Focus’s headquarters, The Denver Post reports. Officials at the organization wouldn’t say exactly when the incident happened.

A group called Colorado Peoples Press claimed responsibility for the incident. “We chose to proceed with this action because of the incredible violence that Focus on the Family continues to perpetuate” against LGBTQ+ people, the group said in a press release shared on Twitter.

“These [five] individuals gathered at Club Q with friends and loved ones, new and old, to be in community and to grieve all the lives lost to transphobia,” the group added. The shooting was an “act of hate,” it said.
https://news.yahoo.com/focus-family-anti-lgbtq-group-180059790.html

Sigh… so that’s why things will never get better after every mass shooting. It’s the circle of death and it screws us all! There you go! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Late Stage Capitalism – Everyone’s On Strike
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When mega corporations have nowhere to go but excessive profits and are trying to squeeze out your every last dollar, there’s extreme greed, and then there’s:

Welcome everybody back to our segment, Top 10 presents: Late Stage Capitalism! That’s right – what’s a few extra zeroes on your quarterly profit statement? At the expense of the entire rest of the world. So when mega billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson have more wealth than entire continents combined, it’s time to take them down a few pegs! And how do you do that, you might be asking? Well, I answer you, ladies and gentlemen. That answer is: the strike. And it seems like everyone is going on strike these days. Whether it’s Amazon workers in Kentucky. Or Starbucks workers in New York City, or it’s automotive workers in Michigan. Look, the entire world is coming out of the nightmare of the last two years known as the COVID-19 pandemic. And nobody ever said that reopening the world after being closed for nearly a year and half was going to be easy. But of course leave it to the union busting tactics of the likes of Jeff Bezos to reel in those sweet, sweet profits.

Amazon workers at the air hub outside the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky international airport, Amazon’s largest air hub in the world, are pushing to organize a union in the latest effort to mobilize workers at the tech company.

Workers say they are dissatisfied with annual wage increases this year. About 400 of them have signed a petition to reinstate a premium hourly pay for Amazon’s peak season that hasn’t been enacted at the site yet. Their main demands also include a $30 an hour starting wage, 180 hours of paid time off and union representation at disciplinary hearings.

“We have to operate a lot of heavy machinery, freight loaders, cargo tractors and things like that, and people aren’t paid any extra to do that work,” said Griffin Ritze, an air associate and ramp agent at the Amazon air hub, and a member of the organizing committee. “They just cross-train you in as many roles as possible and you’re constantly shuffled around.”

About 4,500 workers are employed at the expanding air hub in Kentucky. Those organizing have already filed two unfair labor practice charges over Amazon’s response to the unionization effort, which has included anti-union talking points on televisions and its communications system for employees that characterize the effort as a third-party scheme.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/27/workers-amazon-air-hub-union-cincinnati-northern-kentucky

It’s a lot more complex than just money. Amazon has been at the center of some egregious human rights violations in its’ warehouses which are becoming the size of the Costcos like the one in the movie Idiocracy. But Amazon isn’t the only company where workers are going on strike. There’s also Starbucks where strikes are happening in multiple states. Not only that, the Cal State University system is going on strike! Where does it end? Well it will probably end with a pissing contest between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk over who controls most of the internet world and most of the money, that’s what.

Finals start next Tuesday at UC Irvine but there are still a lot of unanswered questions as protests at all 10 University of California campuses go into a third week.

Almost 48,000 UC student researchers, teaching assistants and postdoctoral scholars walked off the job on Nov. 14 demanding better pay and benefits.

Negotiations between United Auto Workers, the union that represents the student workers, and the university continue.

"I'm stressed but I'm still hopeful," said Yiwen Lin, an education department graduate at UCI.

Picketers remain united at UCI.

"I can't believe we're into week 3 and still doing this," said Biraj Bisht, who is also a graduate researcher. "I imagined we'd be over a longer; earlier but we're still here and we'll still be here as long as it takes."
https://abc7.com/university-of-california-student-worker-strikes-campus-uc-irvine/12504448/

And you know what, people? This is why we say all elections matter. It matters who you vote for and where they stand on the issues. You think your job conditions are miserable? Well, the conservatives voted for this. But if you vote right, you won’t have to worry about it. But if you vote R because the talk shows and internet propaganda tells you to, this is what you wind up with. And it’s a good thing that we have cooler heads at some levels of the government and in the White House, otherwise things could be a hell of a lot worse.

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote Wednesday to block a potential rail strike after President Joe Biden warned of the dire economic consequences of a rail disruption that could happen as early as Dec. 9.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers will vote Wednesday to impose a tentative contract deal struck in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers.

"I don't like going against the ability of unions to strike but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike," she said Tuesday after a meeting with Biden.

Biden had warned Monday of a catastrophic economic impact if railroad service ground to a halt, saying up to 765,000 Americans could lose their jobs in the first two weeks of a strike.

"Congress, I think, has to act to prevent it. It's not an easy call, but I think we have to do it. The economy is at risk," Biden said.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-urges-congress-act-avert-potential-rail-strike-2022-11-29/

But here's why things aren't getting any better. It's because of one word: profit. That's right. The right can keep fighting with the left all they want, but in the end, the only thing that matters to these corporate scumbags is the almighty dollar. See the railroad strike is a thing and President Biden can only do so much to stop it. It's inherently evil and Wall Street is very broken. To stop corporations from raiding every last dollar we have, we have got to fix the profit margin.

Railroad workers are unionized and their contract is set to expire on Dec. 9, which has prompted speculation about a possible railroad strike that could disrupt travel and cripple supply chains.

President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh helped broker a tentative deal earlier this year, but four out of 12 rail unions voted against it, mostly because the proposed contract included just one single paid sick day. In their current contract, the workers have zero sick days.

-snip-

On Monday, Biden issued a statement saying Congress should intervene immediately and pass legislation to force the tentative contract on the rail workers. Taking this step would erase the workers’ right to strike, and yet, in the same statement, Biden called himself “a proud pro-labor President.”

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted on a bill to adopt the tentative contract, which passed 290-137. Many Democrats were also furious about the sick time issue, so the House also voted on Resolution 119, which would add seven days of paid sick leave to the contract. A whopping 207 Republicans voted against it. The resolution still passed with 221 votes, from 218 Democrats and a measly three Republicans.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/more-than-200-republicans-voted-against-paid-sick-days-for-railroad-workers/ar-AA14L1Xx

Yes BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! So all 207 Republicans currently sitting in the house, once again vote against our best interests. Because god forbid that people need assistance in this country. Only Americans can be tricked into voting against free money. But the good news is that while all of these strikes aren't exactly good, people should be in favor of the workers instead of the giant corporations and hundreds of billions of dollars in quarterly profits they make. Of all of these strikes, the most devastating would be a rail strike, because that would affect everyone. At least it was stopped. For now.

The House overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday afternoon that would help avert a freight rail strike the White House fears could cripple the U.S. economy – 30 years after Congress last intervened in a looming rail shutdown.

Lawmakers also passed a related measure that would provide seven days of additional paid sick leave to rail workers.

The bipartisan vote to avert the strike was 290-137 while the paid sick leave amendment passed 221-207 almost entirely along party lines. Both measures now head to the Senate.

After the vote, President Joe Biden thanked House Democratic and Republican lawmakers for "taking urgent action" and prodded the Senate to act fast.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/30/house-avert-freight-rail-strike-unions-economy/10800247002/

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! Because when people just don’t feel like reading the full article, they just make shit up to fill in the gaps. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter in New Mexico, undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference. They are trying to read both yours and my thoughts, after all! Ah, there we go! This week, a man who is a regular guest here on Conspiracy Corner, and a man with currently both nothing and everything to lose, Mr. Creepy Pillow Man himself, Mike Lindell is getting out of the conspiracy theory basement and into the spotlight. That’s right – he plans to run for the chair of the Republican National Committee! So why not you might ask? And I counter your question with – why would you? Because the GOP is now the party of Trump and Fox News. Of course the “Trumpier Than Thou” party is going to go berserk and replace the sane members with bootlickers.

Don't sleep on the upcoming Republican National Committee chair campaign, says Mike Lindell.

The MyPillow CEO whose cause célèbre in recent years has been casting doubt about the validity of election results announced his candidacy for chair of the RNC Monday.

Lindell, who made the announcement on an online show hosted by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, said in an interview with CBS News that he was unsatisfied with the party's performances in the 2018, 2020 and 2022 elections – in which the Republican Party failed to maintain or regain control of both houses of the federal legislature.

"You need a different input to get a different output. That's business 101," Lindell said.

The Minnesotan said if he got the job he'd approach it full-time, leaving behind the pillow business that made him famous. Lindell said he has not yet developed a campaign platform, but is first conducting "due diligence," in part, he said, by trying to talk to all 168 voting members of the committee.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mypillow-guy-mike-lindell-republican-party-chair/

Could you seriously imagine this guy in charge of anything? Let alone the Republican Party? Well the merging of the GOP with the Trump / MAGA world and the Christofascism world was pretty inevitable, this would make it official. So why now? Well like most bad things, he did some praying, and he decided that it was “God’s Will” that he run in the election. Yeah when you start thinking that it’s god’s will for you to do something like this, you should probably be locked up before you become a danger to yourself and others.

Beleaguered MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell announced on Monday that he would challenge longtime Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel for the party's leadership at the RNC's meeting in January.

"I am 100% running for the RNC chairman against Ronna McDaniel," Lindell declared during an interview with former White House adviser Stephen Bannon. "One of the big donors said to me, he said, 'Mike, everybody wants you to be head of the RNC, some of them just don't know it yet,'" he continued.

Speaking with Axios, the outspoken supporter of Donald Trump denied that the former president had influenced his decision to run for RNC chair, telling the outlet that "I did not call him and say, 'What do you think about this?' "This is my decision."

Lindell's announcement comes after days of telegraphing his intent to oust McDaniel, who has increasingly come under fire from within her own party, following the GOP's lackluster showing in the recent midterm elections. McDaniel, however, has reportedly locked in the backing of the majority of RNC members who will elect their next chair in January. Lindell, meanwhile, has largely spent the past several years in the spotlight for his wild, conspiratorial proclamations, and for having his phone seized by FBI investigators at a Minnesota Hardee's drive-through.
https://www.yahoo.com/now/mypillow-boss-mike-lindell-100-204646193.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACUQ131MT_dcPo_8iu_hM1Y7GwerkyPMAJRuvASRZkCl-8X8hraiOTQT5g1SW85eI7E7ZyKpTx8TprSirbuaCiZIX3mL-7sM_zihqG5IHehj-jI3JeRStaqL_PQ3pEM8B-lAf01Cb9ZRRInXK5Ot9-O2UHVvHt0YhXaIM31spD2_

So yeah what a great idea! Let’s replace anyone decent that the GOP has left with election denying conspiracy theorists, MAGA bootlickers, Fox News bots, and neo Nazi extremists! What a great idea, Mikey! And yeah it’s “god’s will”, sure, why not. I’m sure that God is great with you hanging out with all of these undesirable people. So is he the GOP’s Dark Knight? Is he the leader that they deserve? Oh yeah you betcha! Throw in Steve Bannon as his sidekick too. He’s the leader they need, but not the one they deserve. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. But no, he’s no Dark Knight.

Ronna McDaniel’s tenure as chair of the Republican National Committee has not been without setbacks. In her first election cycle as the RNC’s leader, her party lost control of the U.S. House. In her second election cycle atop the party, Republicans lost the White House and the U.S. Senate. And in her third election cycle at the RNC — this year — McDaniel saw her party fall far short of expectations.

On Fox News over the weekend, South Dakota’s Republican governor, Kristi Noem, in apparent reference to McDaniel, said, “I don’t know if a party can continue to lose like we have and keep their jobs.”

The incumbent RNC chair is nevertheless seeking a fourth term. For McDaniel’s intra-party detractors, the good news is that she now has a high-profile rival. The bad news for Republicans looking for an alternative to McDaniel is that the rival is the pillow guy. Axios reported overnight:

As part of the same interview, Lindell told Bannon, “I’m all in ... and one of the things that one of the big donors said to me, he said, ‘Mike, everybody wants you to be head of the RNC, some of them just don’t know it yet.’”
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/mypillow-ceo-mike-lindell-launches-odd-campaign-rnc-chair-rcna59136

That’s not enough tin foil there, Bart! But let’s think about this here for a minute – imagine having the balls to say that it’s “God’s will” that you’re going to do something like this? It’s true mind-boggling insanity. We think Mikey should probably be locked up before he becomes a danger to himself or to others. But it may be too late for that. And what better way to keep losing than to have noted Neo Nazi and election denier Blake Masters as your chief strategist? Well, I mean if you’re going to lose, you might as well lose in such a way that people scream “Holy shit, what a loser!”.

GOP flop Blake Masters has been tapped by the Republican National Committee to serve on an advisory council conducting a midterms postmortem and helping shape the party’s 2024 strategy, according to a report from Politico.

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel has allegedly brought in a slew of advisers, including both successful and unsuccessful 2022 candidates to serve on the new “Republican Party Advisory Council.” Members alongside Masters include Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, Representatives-elect Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) and John James (R-Mich.), and senator-elect Katie Britt (R-Ala.).

Masters, who lost his bid to unseat incumbent Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, was one of several high-profile MAGA candidates whose culture war-heavy campaign strategy failed to resonate with voters. The former venture capitalist ran with the financial backing of his former boss, billionaire Peter Thiel, and the endorsement of former President Trump. Despite the loss, i a statement to Politico Masters indicated he remains interested in a future in politics. “I look forward to working with Ronna to make sure the party effectively supports our candidates and wins big in 2024,” Masters said. “Our party needs to modernize. We’re fighting against Big Tech, the media, and now, the Democrats’ GOTV early voting machine.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/blake-masters-rnc-advisory-committee-1234638130/

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

Of course you know by now that the idea of this segment is that if you’re tired of all the terrible news in the world, the only solution is to belly up to the bar with a glass of your favorite beverage, embrace the nonsense, and forget about life for a few minutes! Only rules we got in this bar – no fightin’, no cussin’, and most importantly - no politics! We do allow swearing to some extent, as long as it’s never at someone. Only with. This week we’re drinking for all of those who are brave enough to attend the World Cup in Doha, Qatar and are unable to enjoy a glass of their favorite beverage! So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about a lack of beer? Beer! You read my mind! Bring me the largest glass of IPA you got! That’s… a pretty big one! So of course the World Cup is going on in Doha, Qatar, and everyone is harping on FIFA for the lack of their ability to drink. Gee, you think maybe holding an international event in a country that’s run by a religious dictatorship and notorious for human rights violations may be a bad thing? Well duh of course it was!

On Saturday evening, on the fifth floor of the Crowne Plaza hotel, one solution to what has become the World Cup’s first-week crisis is revealed. The answer lies in the name of this establishment: Brewskis and Grub, a restaurant that serves pub food, is decorated with flags from all over the world, plays soccer on its myriad flatscreens and delivers something that has been endlessly debated.

Beer.

When Brewskis opens at 5 p.m., it’s empty, save for a staff from all over the world. In the corner, near the bar, there’s a sign made from light bulbs that glows like a water station in the, well, desert. BEER YOURSELF it says in neon lights, next to an image of a frosty mug with a slogan—it’s ok to tap it!—glowing red inside.

The sign is literal, in that there are taps below it. Those taps work with cards that can be purchased. Grab a frosty mug, place the card against a scanner, pour, watch the balance whittle away by the ounce and … voila. It’s time to go full Homer Simpson.

Fans the world over can buy beer—and wine and booze—all over Doha, at hotels with licenses and exorbitant upcharges. (The $12.36 at Brewskis for a—gulp—Budweiser is actually cheaper than most places). But the sentiment that’s being peddled by the host country and its FIFA enablers—that it’s not hard to find alcohol, so it shouldn’t matter if it’s sold in stadiums—is little more than clumsy, intentional misdirection.
https://www.si.com/soccer/2022/11/19/qatar-world-cup-2022-beer-stadium-ban-fifa-gianni-infantino

Yes, beer! That glorious concoction of hops, yeast and barley that’s enjoyed all over the world by, you know, people who like to have fun. Except at the World Cup. You can buy beer in Doha, you just can’t buy it at the stadium. So of course what happens after the Qatari government decides to ban beer? The fans demand it! Come on, let’s face it – beer and futbol go together like, well, beer and anything. Like pizza for instance. Pizza is so much better with a tall frosty glass of your favorite cerveza! And this is what happened after beer was banned:

Fans of victorious Ecuador were heard chanting "We want beer" during their World Cup-opening win over Qatar, while the host nation's supporters left en masse before the end of the game on Sunday.

Large swathes of empty seats in the second half summed up the Qatar soccer team's disappointing start to their first World Cup, but a lively and outnumbered group of Ecuadorians in the stands provided some levity by chanting for beer toward the end of the first half.

It was a humorous intervention two days after Qatar decided to ban beer sales at the stadiums during the World Cup. It was a late change by the conservative Islamic nation where access to alcohol is strictly limited, with only alcohol-free Bud Zero sold at the game.

The night started with more than 67,000 mostly Qatari fans filling the cavernous Al Bayt Stadium, enjoying an opening ceremony that showcased the tiny Arab emirate to a global audience 12 years after winning the right to host soccer's biggest event.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4807743/ecuador-fans-chant-we-want-beer-qatars-leave-opener-early

Yeah you know things are fucked up when your country’s most hardcore fans – the fans that are willing to travel half way across the fucking world to see your country’s team play – leave early because there’s no alcohol sold at the stadium. That is colossally fucked up! Oh and it gets weirder, my friends! Alcohol isn’t the only that’s being banned in Qatar. Free speech is limited, so is freedom of religion, and other social issues like homosexuality are all limited. Yeah maybe send a warning to FIFA that the next World Cup shouldn’t be held in a country like this!

The World Cup is equal parts sporting event and international celebration — and for many fans, alcohol plays a large role. That's been true in stadiums, and in bars that open early or stay open late to show games.

But the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is unlike any before it. Just two days before the tournament's first match in the Muslim nation, officials made the surprise announcement that fans won't be allowed to drink beer at the country's eight World Cup stadiums — a reversal of a previously announced policy.

Alcohol is tightly regulated in Qatar, where customs agents are under orders to seize any booze visitors try to bring into the country.

It's one of many cultural clashes and potential legal issues that fans might encounter in Qatar, particularly if they're traveling from more open societies. Here's a quick guide:

Islam is the official religion of Qatar — and anyone found to be proselytizing for other religions or criticizing Islam "may be criminally prosecuted," the State Department said, in a factsheet about Qatar for World Cup visitors.

It's also not safe to assume you can practice your faith openly: "Qatar allows some non-Muslim religious practice in designated areas like Doha's Religious Complex, but all faiths are not accommodated equally," the U.S. agency said.

Speech that's deemed critical of the Qatari government could trigger an arrest. Those laws apply both to spoken words and social media.

And while past World Cups have brought a heaping of argy-bargy — scenes of rival crowds yelling or even singing obscenities at one another — open conflicts can bring big problems in Qatar.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/19/1137783957/world-cup-qatar-fan-restrictions-alcohol

Yeah so you might be wondering what happened to all the beer, exactly? Well there’s everything from finding alternatives to beer to drinking beer outside the stadium. But many people are wondering what exactly, the king of beers, Budweiser, is going to do with all of the beer that they produced specifically for the World Cup? Budweiser is the official beer of FIFA and the World Cup. They produced some $75 MILLION DOLLARS worth of beer. Well, the good news is that whichever country wins the whole tournament, they will get all of the beer! Come on USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

Cases of Budweiser that were meant to be sold during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will instead go to fans of whichever country wins the global soccer tournament, the beer brand's parent company announced this week.

The World Cup kicked off on Sunday with fans cheering on their favorite teams from living room couches, neighborhood bars and in the stadiums — but without booze, as the host county announced a surprise ban on alcohol sales in stadiums. Now Anheuser-Busch InBev said it plans to bring the "celebration from the FIFA World Cup stadiums to the winning country's fans."

"We will host the ultimate championship celebration for the winning country," the Belgium brewer said in a statement, adding that it will provide more details on the beer giveaway as the tournament approaches the December 18 final.

FIFA officials announced last week that no alcohol will be sold at the eight stadiums in Qatar hosting matches, drawing complaints from visiting fans. The Muslim country is conservative and tightly regulates alcohol sales and usage.

Fans can still purchase Bud Zero, Budweiser's non-alcoholic beverage, inside stadiums in Qatar, FIFA said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-cup-qatar-alcohol-beer-ban-budweiser/

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #15 - Mexico
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Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

[font size="4"]Destination #15: Mexico: [/font]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/313g+A58k3L._AC_.jpg

Well we’re finally back in North America everybody! Unfortunately our World Tour hit a couple of bumps along the way but we’ve since got those ironed out! We have just two more destinations left in our World Tour and a couple more planned for next year! But this week we’re heading to that country that’s just south of the border of the United States, Mexico! Mexico is of course the home of one of my favorite cuisines of the entire world, Mexican food! But Mexican food is so much more than what you get at Taco Bell. Mexico is also the home of the ancient Mayans and Aztecs, and its’ chief export is corn, or what they call “maize”. But Mexico is also now apparently in a war with the US over genetically modified foods. But we can’t fault Mexico here, you don’t want to mix genetically modified foods with the naturally growing ones, that could spell utter disaster!

A row between the US and Mexico over a plan by the latter to ban imports of genetically modified corn by 2024 deepened on Monday.

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warned Mexico's president that the US would be forced to take legal action if no "acceptable resolution" was found.

Mexico argues that genetically modified seeds are a threat to its own ancient native corn varieties.

But on Tuesday, Mexico's president said he would seek a deal with the US.

A ban would have "significant impact" on US-Mexico trade, Mr Vilsack had earlier warned.

Mexico is the second-largest importer of corn in the world after China, and much of the corn it buys comes from the United States.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63793651

Yeah not the corn! But moving on, you know all the jokes and rumors that you hear about Mexican prisons losing prisoners? It’s true! It’s all true! In fact one of the worst criminals in Mexican history, Edgar Villareal, is missing, and the Mexican Federales have no idea where he is! Yeah that’s exactly the kind of person who you don’t want to go missing. At least as much as we give the US prison system a lot of shit, there’s no way a guy like that would go missing. They’d keep him locked in maximum security behind glass Hannibal Lecter style.

The whereabouts of Édgar Valdez Villarreal, alias “La Barbie,” one of the most bloodthirsty drug-traffickers in Mexican history, is unknown. The cartel chief does not appear to be in the custody of the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), where he is serving a sentence running until 2056, as an EL PAÍS search of the database records of all inmates within the system has confirmed. A lack of official information as to Valdez Villarreal’s current status has seen his name back in the headlines, more than a decade after he was arrested in August 2010.

“There are a number of reasons why an inmate may be listed as ‘not in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons,’” a spokesperson for the US corrections agency tells EL PAÍS. “Inmates who were previously in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons and who have not served their sentence may be out of custody for a period of time to attend court hearings, receive medical treatment or for other reasons. We do not provide specific information about the status of prisoners who are not in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for security or privacy reasons,” he adds. Until he vanished from the system, Valdez Villarreal had been serving his sentence in the Coleman II high-security penitentiary in central Florida.

The Mexican Attorney General’s Office and Secretariat of Foreign Affairs have both also confirmed to this newspaper that they also have no knowledge of La Barbie’s legal situation. One of the lawyers who represented the drug lord in court in Atlanta, Georgia, where Valdez Villarreal was sentenced in June 2018, gave no comment, arguing that he did not know why his client’s name does not appear on the BOP registry of inmates in the US federal prison system.
https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-11-30/mexico-asks-us-for-answers-as-notorious-drug-lord-la-barbie-vanishes-from-federal-prison-system.html

And remember what I said about Mexico and what we call soccer? Well there they refer to it as “futbol” and our version of football as “futbol Americano”. And they are a country that is very passionate about sports and their national team. Of course you know that the World Cup is still a currently ongoing thing right now, and Mexico got eliminated after scoring big against Saudi Arabia, but failed to advance after Poland won. Yeah the rules are ridiculous, I know,. But one thing you don’t do is disrespect a country or their culture or team or they will come after you!

Mexican boxer Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez has sent a warning to Lionel Messi, who he accused of disrespecting Mexico.

“Did you see Messi cleaning the floor with our shirt and flag????” Álvarez tweeted, apparently in reference to a video which shows Messi celebrating with his teammates in the changing room.

As the Argentine takes off his football boots, the video shows Messi’s foot appearing to make contact with a Mexico shirt that was on the floor. There is no indication that Messi kicked the shirt intentionally.

“He better pray to God that I don’t find him!!” Álvarez added in another tweet, with a series of angry emojis. “Just like I respect Argentina, he has to respect Mexico! I’m not talking about the country as a who, just about the bulls**t that Messi pulled.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/28/football/canelo-alvarez-lionel-messi-warning-spt-intl/index.html

Yeah it’s a lot more than that! One thing I will say is that if you’re planning on traveling to Mexico anytime soon, and you should. We went to Los Cabos a few editions ago and had a blast. But you should be aware that there’s some Mexican states that you probably shouldn’t visit for the foreseeable future, because well, there’s some bad shit going on there. And by “bad shit”, I mean kidnapping, extortion, and of course the famous ultra-corrupt Mexican police that the entire world knows about. But like all travel, just don’t wander too far from the tourist destinations and you should be good.

The United States could soon change the way it formulates its travel advice for Mexico, the Tourism Ministry (Sectur) has suggested.

Mexico is pushing for the U.S. government’s travel alerts to be more specific than they currently are, arguing that the State Department’s advice against traveling to some destinations is misguided.

Federal Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, and state tourism ministers met virtually with State Department officials to discuss the issue on Wednesday. Sectur subsequently issued a press release with the heading “Mexico and the United States move forward on agreements so that travel alerts are correctly targeted.”

In its current advisory, the State Department warns U.S. citizens not to travel to six states — Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas — due to crime or crime and kidnapping, and advises Americans to reconsider their need to travel to seven others.

The Sectur statement noted that Torruco, during a trip to Washington, D.C., in May, suggested that U.S. travel alerts should “detail the areas that could represent problems and not generalize, as some isolated cases of insecurity are numerous kilometers from tourism destinations.”
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/travel/mexico-tourism-us-travel-alerts/

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

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

Overall: B-

Change from 2017: No change

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

When we come back on the 15th, it’s our final stop of our 2022 World Tour as we visit the land of Carnivale, the rainforest, and futbol – Brazil!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Death Cab For Cutie[/font]

Folks, my next guest has a great new album out called “Asphalt Meadows”. You can see them at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas at the Kia Forum on Dec. 10th! Playing their song “Here To Forever”, give it up for Death Cab For Cutie!

Thank you Irvine! It’s good to be back home! We’re off next week but we will bring you The Best Of Holy Shit, and on the 15th we come back with our season finale and our 2022 Year In Review spectacular! See you in two weeks!

Credits

Host: Initech
Death Cab For Cutie Appears Courtesy Of: Atlantic Recording Corporation
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Irvine Improv, Irvine, CA
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
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

November 17, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-15: Wheel Of Corruption: The Rise Of Gru Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-15: Wheel Of Corruption: The Rise Of Gru Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yo what’s up Honolulu? We made it! We are in the HNL! Mahalo! How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! You know what? We have 2 more Top 10s before we say goodbye to this insane year that was 2022! How about that? We come back home to Irvine. Unfortunately one of our planned shows at the Constellation Room (12/8) had to be canceled. Of course ending with our big annual Year In Review edition! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! It’s my show, I make the rules! OK so we are very thankful that we get to perform live again, and trust us, until the show ends, we won’t take this for granted! But OK… Morrissey, WTF? I mean most people who know, know that Morrissey is a far right fascist who is not ashamed to let his far right views be known. And he’s also NOTORIOUS for canceling shows and bailing on tours. Well, it happened again last week. The Greek Theater in LA, had its’ last show of the season before closing down for the winter, and it was Morrissey. So what happens? He literally walks off stage and ends the show about ½ hour into it. Yeah, imagine paying a hundred bucks for a ticket and probably another hundred in merch, food, etc, and then having the artist literally walk out on you? And the venue for hosting because it was the last event of the season? Oh wait… I’m told that our guest Morrissey this week walked out on us, but we got Rebelution so I consider it an upgrade! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he has a bizarre (and also completely fucking hilarious) way to get back at the British Monarchy for canceling his segment on King Charles:

Hey everyone, the Wheel Of Corruption is back! YAY!!!!! Holy crap, this was a banner week for conservative idiocy! Like truly insane! So where do we begin for this week? Well in the number one slot this week it goes to the 2022 election (1). Yeah the GOP is most likely going to take the House, and the Senate is still in limbo, but it wasn’t exactly the conservative bloodbath the media was anticipating! It was more of a gross miscalculation! In the second slot, speaking of misfiring, is our old buddy Elon Musk (2). Yes, the CEO of Tesla and Space X is continuing to tank his newest toy, purchasing Twitter. And it’s an absolute dumpster fire now and a class on how not to run a business! In the number 3 slot this week is that guy who we inexplicably used to call president (3) and he was a massive factor in how the 2022 midterms played out, and not in a good way, but that’s not stopping him from running in 2024 anyways! Ugh. In the number 4 slot this week is more midterm propositions (4). This week we’re looking at abortion referendums around the country, and it looks like the Christian right is 0 – 4 since the overturning of Roe V Wade! In the number 5 slot this week is Alex Jones (5). Yes, the Mad Man Of Infowars got his hateful, sorry ass handed to him again, and we really wonder – does anyone still listen to this POS? No. in the number 6 slot this week of course is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and this week our pastor is going to have some fun reliving recent history by taking a look at the new Hulu documentary “God Forbid” that takes a look at the Liberty University Pool Boy Scandal that took down Jerry Falwell Jr! in the number 7 slot this week, we add the new governor of Arkansas and former Trump dumpster fire press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to that ever-growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected (7). In the number 8 slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8). And MAGA supporters – yes, the usual group of idiots, are already claiming that the 2022 midterms were stolen. So what keeps a good conspiracy theorist down? Nothing! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new People Are Dumb, because stupid doesn’t take a holiday and neither do we! Finally this week we have the next stop of our 2022 World Tour and this week we’re heading to the land of kangaroos, boomerangs, and the Sydney Opera House, the Land Down Under, Australia! Plus to close things out, we have some live island music from the great Rebelution! 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"]More 2022 Election Results
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Hey kids, it’s time for the: WHEEL. OF. CORRUPTION!!! YAY!!!!

Of course you know the rules by now – I spin the wheel and we have to talk about whatever the subject it lands on. Of course if it lands on the guacamole option, you know that it costs $1.50 extra. And the wheel is all new with lots of items on it! Here’s what is on the wheel this week:

- Guns
- Crime
- Abortion
- Poverty
- The 2022 Midterms
- The Insurrection
- Treason
- Buy A Vowel
- Donald Trump
- Midterm Elections
- Clip Without Context
- 5,000
- Nazi Germany
- Fox News
- Russia
- ‘Merica
- My Pillow
- Bankrupt
- International Politics
- Chance
- Fox News
- Something Random In The News
- Whammy
- Twitter
- Community Chest
- The Hurricane
- Death
- Space
- Drink
- Homosexuality
- The US Constitution
- Greed
- Clip Without Context
- Top 10 Investigates
- Beating A Dead Horse
- This Fucking Guy
- Intermission
- Holy Shit
- A Random Tweet
- World Tour 2022
- Double Whammy
- Buy A Vowel
- Drink
- Conspiracy Corner
- Random Movie Reference
- Guacamole
- 10,000
- People Are Dumb
- I Need A Drink
- Infowars
- Go Directly To Jail
- Random TV Reference
- T-Shirt Cannon
- Infowars
- People Who Somehow Got Elected
- COVID-19
- Lightning Round
- Bonus Spin

Let’s get this party started! Come on, spin that shit! No whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop! Oh and it’s one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Dude, seriously, their obsession with military tribunals and public executions is creepy as fuck. Stop it already! Having the military counting votes isn’t going to do anything, and you’ll still lose! OK spin it again! And it lands on… the 2022 midterm elections! Folks, I don’t need to tell you that the 2022 midterm elections basically painted a picture of just how polarized this country is becoming. Like, picture a middle school dance and the boys are on one side and the girls are on the other, and nobody crosses over to the middle. Not even during the chicken dance. But the one thing that is on everybody’s mind of course is the previous administration. And it’s no mistake that his middle of nowhere pity parties didn’t exactly help things. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that in the next entry. But one thing is for certain is that we’re going to see yet another divide. Kind of like the stages that a cell goes through when splitting. We’ll see the MAGA die-hards split with moderate (sane) conservatives right down the middle. And it’s gonna get ugly.

Today, Republicans engaged in a full-scale brawl as the party grappled with its failure to win the Senate majority and the likelihood of a narrow edge in the House despite GOP predictions of significant gains in President Biden’s first midterm elections. The fallout from the disappointing performance was evident in the Senate as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Tuesday announced a challenge to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has led the party since 2007. While McConnell dismissed the challenge, insisting he has the votes, Scott received his first public endorsement in the race from Indiana Sen. Mike Braun (R).

In the House, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was nominated by fellow Republicans to be speaker in the next Congress, surviving a challenge from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) on a 188-to-31 vote. The real test will be in January, when McCarthy must win a majority vote of the full House — 218 votes — which could require offering concessions to disaffected Republicans.

Later Tuesday, former president Donald Trump is expected to announce a 2024 White House bid in Palm Beach, Fla., even as many in his party blame him for a weaker-than-expected Republican showing in the midterms. The announcement is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern time. President Biden remains in Indonesia for the Group of 20 summit.

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/15/mccarthy-speaker-house-control-midterms/

Yeah that’s what it is going to be like the next two years if the GOP does indeed capture the house as many are predicting. But the even bigger loser that nobody is talking about is the media. Yes, remember we used to have a place to go to actually watch and read about the news and what was happening in the world? I miss those times. But Fox News is one of the biggest losers in this election because that “Red Tsunami” they predicted was going to happen? It was more like a red “low tide wave” and it wasn’t even much of a wave at that.

The headlines coming into Tuesday’s elections almost uniformly predicted a Democratic wipeout. Here’s just a small sampling:

So what happened? Political journalists were suckered by a wave of Republican junk polls in the closing weeks of the campaign. They were also swayed by some reputable polling organizations that, burned by past failures to capture MAGA voters, overweighted their polls to account for that in ways that simply didn’t make sense. And reporters fell for Republican feints and misdirection, as Republican operatives successfully created an artificial sense of momentum by talking about how they were spending money in reliably blue areas.
An extraordinary profusion of bad partisan polling flooded the media late in the campaign, coming from GOP outfits such as Trafalgar (which had Blake Masters over Mark Kelly in the Arizona Senate race, Don Bolduc over Maggie Hassan in the New Hampshire Senate race, among others) and Rasmussen (which gave Republicans a five point edge in the generic ballot).

It was telling that Republican campaigns didn’t release their own polls to confirm the dubious results Trafalgar and Rasmussen were producing. Still, such polling helped skew handicapping websites. RealClearPolitics, for example, moved Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) into “toss-up” status in the closing days of his reelection bid. Bennet beat his Republican opponent by double digits.
https://wapo.st/3DZuxH8

Yeah it was pretty much that much of a miscalculation! There was some good news though is that America elected more female governors during this midterm election than any other midterm election in recent history! Yeah how about that? There’s one governor who can sit out and should probably be in prison, and that’s Kari Lake. She can go bye bye. But the nice thing is that America seems to be making progress in the never ending circular firing squad that is the battle of the sexes, even if it is a very slowly progressing one!

Twelve women have been elected to serve as governors in the US, a new record following Tuesday's election.

Ten have already been confirmed and two will emerge from women-only contests in two states, Arizona and Oregon.

There are currently nine female governors in the US - and women will also form at least 24% of the total in the newly-elected Congress.

State governors are key figures with enormous power, controlling many aspects of American life.

From education to abortion rights, governors have a say on issues decided at the state level.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, women standing for and elected as governors will comprise at least 24% of all governors in the country.
***
more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63564060

Yes, good news everyone! And the other good news – is that Kari Lake lost! Yes, that’s right – Katie Hobbs is the next governor of Arizona! Or… is she? Because the MAGA conspiracy theorists are having the biggest shit fit over this election. See, Kari Lake has gone completely and totally psychotic, which is about par for the course for the MAGA / America First crowd. But while we can expect a good fight, we pretty much think that Kari will go quietly into the night, like the losers that they are.

The two Republicans who control the elected board in a rural Arizona county have sued their own elections director to force her to conduct a greatly expanded hand-count of ballots cast in the Nov. 8 elections, a standoff that could affect certification of the results.

They want Cochise County Elections Director Lisa Marra to hand over the roughly 12,000 ballots cast on Election Day to the county recorder, an elected Republican. The elected county prosecutor warned the private lawyers representing the two GOP board members that taking ballots without authorization could subject their clients to felony charges.

At a raucous board meeting Tuesday, several members of the public berated the two Republicans on the three-member board for pursuing the hand-count and seeking to pay for the case with county funds. One called a board member a “demagogue” who is “making a disgusting sham” of the democratic process.

The push to hand-count ballots in the Republican-heavy county in the state’s southeast corner, which is home to the iconic Old West town of Tombstone, gained impetus from false claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies of widespread fraud and voting machine conspiracy theories in the last presidential contest. There has been no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines in 2020 or during this year’s midterm elections.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-arizona-government-and-politics-3f61a9901101e72b1af39fb56caac854

[font size="8"]Elon Musk
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Let’s spin the wheel shall we? Come on… spin! Wheel goes round… wheel goes round… where it stops, nobody knows! And it lands on… Twitter!

https://twitter.com/evilbmcats/status/1592336630332858368

Yes, that’s an actual Twitter account that combines sinister looking cats with black metal lyrics. A great use of the platform! Spin it again… and it lands on… oh Twitter again!

You know we’ve often joked that Elon Musk is just a furry cat and an island fortress away from becoming a full blown real life Ernest Starvo Blofeld. Ever since he decided to insert himself into the social media landscape by purchasing Twitter and making it a free speech haven for neo Nazis and MAGA supporters, it’s no secret that site has just turned into a complete dumpster fire. And it looks like Elon is preparing to go down with the ship. And the ship metaphor is definitely just because he’s channeling his inner slave driver and basically ordering the staff that’s still there to “do extreme work or leave”. Yeah he is a fucking mad man and he’s gone mad with power. It’s only a matter of time before he becomes a full blown James Bond villain. I can’t imagine that if I were on the Twitter staff that I would stay after this announcement.

CEO and sole director Elon Musk sent a companywide email to remaining employees of the social media business on Wednesday, demanding they commit to working “long hours at high intensity” or receive “three months of severance,” if they did not consent to these conditions, or support his vision for “Twitter 2.0.”

The companywide ultimatum, sent around midnight in San Francisco time and shared with CNBC by current Twitter employees, comes after Musk has already fired key Twitter executives, laid off half of Twitter’s full-time employees, and slashed the number of contractors working with the company without notice. This week, he also fired veteran engineers at Twitter after they criticized him in public, or in the company’s internal Slack channels.

Since Musk, who’s also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, took over Oct. 28, he has announced sweeping changes planned for Twitter. One change that he insisted the company roll out quickly, called Twitter Blue verification, had to be rescinded, however.

The $7.99/month Blue subscription service allowed people to pay for a blue check mark that looked like the mark previously reserved to show an account was verified or official.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/16/elon-musk-demands-twitter-staff-commit-to-long-hours-or-leave.html

No don’t abandon the ship just yet! Although you should probably abandon the ship. Because the flaming monster is rising up and destroying Twitter. Though he’s most likely just tanking it. But apparently those who actually still work at Twitter are speaking up at the monstrosity that is Elon Musk as CEO. The guy is an absolute monster. And it’s about time that the whole world knows exactly where he stands. Not only is this affecting Twitter, but it’s affecting Elon’s other businesses like Tesla and Space X, and he’s giving a master class on how to *NOT* run a business.

Elon Musk has publicly clashed with a growing number of Twitter employees about the state of the platform, and fired at least one of them in a tweet, in an unusually visible sign of corporate chaos after his $44 billion takeover of the influential company.

Musk on Monday got into a dispute with software engineer Eric Frohnhoefer on Twitter that ended with the billionaire tweeting “he’s fired,” and Frohnhoefer confirming he’d lost access to Twitter’s internal systems. The public termination came after Frohnhoefer tweeted evidence suggesting that Musk was “wrong” about his claims that Twitter was running, in the billionaire’s words, “super slow” in various countries.

Frohnhoefer told CNN Monday night that he found out about the firing when a friend sent him Musk’s tweet and said that “no one even reached out to me from Twitter.” Frohnhoefer added that he had been “willing to give it a try” under Musk and described himself as “in the wait-and-see camp,” but that “everything that has been reported is true.” He described working for Musk as a “total sh*t show” and the current state of affairs as pure “chaos.”

At least one other employee who chimed in offering context on the issue had also been fired as of Tuesday morning, according to a tweet by that employee. And a handful of other Twitter employees said Tuesday on the platform that they were fired by an email that said their “behavior has violated company policy,” with some speculating that the move may have been a reaction to comments they made in internal Slack channels. Sources have indicated to CNN that employees in recent days had been very candid in criticism of Musk in the company’s Slack. (CNN has attempted to contact fired employees to confirm.)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/tech/elon-musk-twitter-employees/index.html

Holy shit! Seriously, Elon is giving a master class in not only how to *NOT* run a business, but also how to tank an existing and highly successful one at that! There’s no doubt that Elon is the giant flaming monster (Surtur) who will destroy Twitter for good. But let’s face it, when we first heard word of his meddling in the social media site – we had no idea that things would tank this fast. It’s only been what, two weeks? And in that time, he’s laid off half the staff, fired nearly all of the board members, and is basically operating on what is the social media equivalent of the Titanic. Where’s the iceberg? Oh yeah ice berg!!! RIGHT AHEAD!!!

On Thursday evening, after a full day of chaos on the timeline, Elon Musk’s Twitter halted new enrollment into its $8-a-month Blue subscription offering. Offering anyone the chance to slap a “verified” badge on their account had led to widespread impersonation of government officials, corporations, and celebrities. The resulting mayhem, which led to memorable hoaxes from accounts misrepresenting themselves as Eli Lilly, Tesla, Lockheed Martin and others, had triggered an advertiser pullout and a general sense that the platform had descended into chaos.

As the significance of all this began to register with Musk, he tweeted that satirical accounts must now include “parody” in both their name and bio. But if any of the fallout had come as a shock to Musk and his team, they can’t say they weren’t warned.

Days before the November 9th launch, the company’s trust and safety team had prepared a seven-page list of recommendations intended to help Musk avoid the most obvious and damaging consequences of his plans for Blue. The document, which was obtained by Platformer, predicts with eerie accuracy some of the events that follow.

“Motivated scammers/bad actors could be willing to pay … to leverage increased amplification to achieve their ends where their upside exceeds the cost,” reads the document’s first recommendation, which the team labeled “P0” to denote a concern in the highest risk category.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/14/23459244/twitter-elon-musk-blue-verification-internal-warnings-ignored

Yeah so Elon’s plans to make Twitter better are backfiring on him faster than you can type out a 240 character message! It’s truly insane and we can stay here all day and talk about how much of a shitty plan this is. And Elon is definitely planning on going down with the ship here. But needless to say that things at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco are looking pretty grim at the moment. And it’s also affecting his other businesses like Tesla and Space X. But how could things possibly get any worse for the platform? And what could go wrong? Just… this will go down in history as one of the all time worst financial disasters in history.

Elon Musk’s on-again, off-again quest to acquire Twitter has already cost Tesla shareholders a fortune this year, but the pain won’t stop there.

His chaotic reign over the social media platform has soured investor demand for Tesla stock so thoroughly that Morgan Stanley fears it could wipe another quarter off its value in the coming weeks.

In a research note published by the investment bank on Monday, veteran auto industry analyst Adam Jonas warned Musk’s management style could deter consumers from buying his cars and predicted price cuts for its key domestic market.

“Tesla shares are currently in the throes of bearish sentiment momentum,” wrote the longtime Tesla bull, predicting Tesla could test his $150 bear case price target before the year is out.
https://fortune.com/2022/11/15/elon-musk-twitter-tesla-stock-price-morgan-stanley/

[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Let’s spin the wheel, shall we? And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP!!! Chance!

Nice! A get out of jail free card! I’ll just put that away for later! Spin it again! And it lands on… speaking of get out of jail free cards, Donald Trump!

It's no secret that the exit polls from the midterms revealed that Trump’s middle of nowhere rallies actually hurt conservatives more than they helped them. And I’m also not at all shocked in the slightest that his fanbase consisting of mostly older, wealthy far right Christian males is staying exactly the same as it was back in 2016. Yeah diversity and youth are not exactly what one would call strengths in the republican party. The GOP may be trying to attract young voters, but their attempts to do so are ridiculously laughable. Yes, we know Trump made his big announcement last night as we were putting together this week’s edition. We’ll get to that in a minute. But there’s no mistake that this country is getting younger. And the youth vote definitely is not in tune with how increasingly far right the Christian right is getting. And there’s one guy who’s absolutely to blame for all of this. That’s right – it’s their favorite president!

Imagine you knew the results of the 2022 exit polls in advance of last week’s election. That the Republican Party would be trusted more to handle crime (52 percent to 43 percent), immigration (51-45) and foreign policy (51-45). That inflation would rate as the most important issue among voters, and that the GOP would be the party trusted more by voters to handle it — by a double-digit margin (54-42).

Further, imagine those same exit polls revealed that voters said Republicans should control the House, by a 50-47 margin. That President Joe Biden’s job approval rating would be underwater (44-55) and his favorability rating would be even worse.

Between those numbers and the historical precedent of the party out of power picking up seats in midterm elections, it would have seemed like the GOP was poised for a runaway victory. Instead, Democrats have held the Senate and control of the House remains up in the air, almost one week after Election Day.

Abortion rights played an important role in altering the dynamics of the 2022 election. But the exit polls and the still-unfolding House and Senate map increasingly tell the story of an election where Donald Trump torpedoed his party — and, on the eve of his widely expected announcement of another presidential run, he might do the same again in 2024. The more races are called, the more obvious it becomes.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2022/11/14/how-donald-trump-torpedoed-his-own-party-00066875

You know, I got to be honest here for a minute. Like most people, I was fully expecting the bloodbath that all the media – both right wing and left wing were predicting. But we didn’t get that. The “red tsunami” that was supposed to happen turned into more of a red “light stream”. And don’t get me started on Herschel Walker either. Ugh that guy is the worst! But Trump is the product of the GOP propaganda sphere and it now looks like they’re quickly abandoning the Frankenstein monster that they’ve created. But there’s no mistake that this country is more divided than ever.

Disgruntled and polarized, voters rendered a split decision on Tuesday that left control of Congress still in doubt 12 hours after the polls closed.

According to voter surveys, broad swaths of the electorate disapproved of the job Joe Biden is doing as president and described the economy in negative terms.

And while Republicans are still favored to win the House majority and could yet flip the Senate, too, their gains were curtailed — in large part because even dissatisfied voters viewed the Donald Trump-led GOP as an unpalatable option and because of anger over the Supreme Court’s abortion decision this summer.

In the National Election Pool exit poll, conducted by Edison Research, roughly three in four voters described the condition of the U.S. economy as either “poor” or “not so good.” And 73 percent said they were dissatisfied or angry about the way things are going in the country today.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/exit-polls-biden-trump-abortion-divisions-00065922

Yeah everybody! Get a load of this loser! Well, Trump must love losing because as we mentioned, last night, he announced! Save your boos! That’s right – he’s going to run in 2024 whether we want him to or not. That’s right – he’s trying to be the next Grover Cleveland. Though actually those comparisons are pretty justified, seeing as how Cleveland was one of the least liked presidents in history and by all accounts, he was a truly colossal asshole. So 100 years later, I guess that nothing has really changed at all, or has it?

Former President Donald Trump, aiming to become only the second commander-in-chief ever elected to two nonconsecutive terms, announced Tuesday night that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront estate in Florida, where his campaign will be headquartered.

Surrounded by allies, advisers, and conservative influencers, Trump delivered a relatively subdued speech, rife with spurious and exaggerated claims about his four years in office. Despite a historically divisive presidency and his own role in inciting an attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump aimed to evoke nostalgia for his time in office, frequently contrasting his first-term accomplishments with the Biden administration’s policies and the current economic climate. Many of those perceived accomplishments – from strict immigration actions to corporate tax cuts and religious freedom initiatives – remain deeply polarizing to this day.

As Trump spoke to a roomful of Republicans who expect him to face primary challengers in the coming months, he also claimed the party cannot afford to nominate “a politician or conventional candidate” if it wants to win back the White House.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/trump-2024-presidential-bid

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Come on, just like the late great Freddie Mercury, I don’t have time for losers! And you know the old saying – fool me once, shame on you. Fool me, you won’t get fooled again. Yeah I heard a guy on TV say that once! But let’s not make a mistake that the announcement was nothing more than just a glorified MAGA rally. And one that was held in an actual city that people go to instead of a farm in the middle of nowhere. That no one goes to. and of course he keeps lying his ass off!

Former defense secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday sharply criticized his old boss Donald Trump after the ex-president announced his 2024 presidential bid.

"I think he's unfit for office," Esper, who served under the Trump administration from 2019 to 2020, said of Trump on CNN.

At his Mar-a-Lago club on Tuesday evening, Trump announced to a crowd of supporters that he's launching a third campaign for the White House. His remarks, which lasted more than an hour, "were very subdued and uninspiring," according to Esper.

"I think it's time for the Republican party, and frankly both parties, to move on to a next generation of leaders," he added.
https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-esper-says-trump-cant-win-elections-after-his-2024-launch-2022-11

[font size="8"]The Abortion Issue
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Let’s spin the wheel shall we? Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop!!! Oh it’s one of our patented Clips Without Context!

So it’s basically “The Secret” but for deranged psychopathic conspiracy theorists. Got it. Spin it again and it lands on… abortion!

Folks, I don’t need to tell you that abortion is the hottest of all the hot button issues facing this country, with guns tied for first place. Well, it’s no secret that since the shocking overturning of the landmark SCOTUS decision known as Roe V Wade, that the hottest hot button issue in this country has only got that much more intense. But there is one thing that is perfectly clear. One of the biggest losers in the 2022 midterm elections? The Christian right. That’s right. For this particular segment we’re going to find out how the states that had abortion referendums on the ballots did. And well, the results were about as expected – a bit of a mixed bag. And also shows just how divided we are as a country that we can have something like this happen. The first state was the good state of Montana. That’s right, Montana – one of the most hard right states in the union – rejected one of the most hard lined abortion bills in the entire country!

Montana voters have rejected a legislative referendum that raised the prospect of criminal charges for health care providers unless they take “all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life” of an infant born alive, including after an attempted abortion.

Health care professionals and other opponents argued the proposal could rob parents of precious time with infants born with incurable medical issues if doctors are forced to attempt treatment.

“Today’s win sends a clear message to state leadership: Montanans demand our right to make private health care decisions for ourselves and our families with the help of our trusted medical teams — and without interference from politicians,” Hillary-Anne Crosby, a spokesperson for an organization called Compassion for Montana Families that opposed the measure, said in a statement Thursday.

The outcome comes after a series of wins for abortion rights supporters in states around the country where abortion was directly on the ballot during the midterm elections. Voters enshrined abortion protections into state constitutions in Michigan, California and Vermont. They also voted down an anti-abortion constitutional amendment in conservative Kentucky, just as voters did in Kansas in August.
https://www.heraldstandard.com/news/national/montana-voters-reject-born-alive-abortion-referendum/article_1885e3a2-6ab8-5c38-93f6-149c98a8794a.html

REJECTED!!! Oh man that felt good. Especially after this upside down election where people actually voted for a guy who admitted to having an abortion and illegitimate children… oh wait, wrong state. I do digress, though! This year has been absolutely insane with the Christian right firmly implanting it’s middle finger to the rest of America who doesn’t buy their Jesus fascist beliefs. Next up – my home state of California! Did they approve or reject an abortion referendum on their ballot? Well it won’t surprise you to learn that Californians voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping abortion rights!

California will amend the state constitution to guarantee the right to abortion and contraception. Voters approved the ballot measure known as Proposition 1, according to a call by The Associated Press.

Proposition 1 was a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling. State Democratic leaders introduced the proposition language after a draft of the Dobbs decision leaked last spring. Following the high court's final decision in June, the Democratically controlled state Senate approved putting it on the ballot.

The language voters endorsed will add to the California Constitution that "the state shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives."

Current state law allows abortions before the fetus is viable, generally around 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Abortions can also be performed after viability, but only if a doctor determines a pregnant person's life or health is in danger.
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/09/1134833374/california-results-abortion-contraception-amendment-midterms

So two for, and zero against! How’s that feeling of rejection hitting you, MAGA Christians? Not very good, I bet! Next up – Wisconsin! That’s right, the Badger State is another state that voted to end a cruel and unjust abortion ban in the state that was once again the product of far right, uber religious state legislators. Another state where there was a lot of turmoil and protests from both sides after Roe V Wade was overturned. So how did Wisconsin vote? Well not surprisingly, they voted in favor of overturning the ban!

In a series of advisory referendums Tuesday, residents in several Wisconsin communities voted overwhelmingly in support of repealing the state's abortion ban and for the legalization of marijuana.

In Dane County, 85 percent of voters said they wanted the state to repeal its 1849 abortion ban, while 71 percent of Racine residents voted yes on a similar non-binding referendum, according to unofficial election results. It's another indicator of Wisconsinites' views on the issue, as national polls show the majority of Americans want abortion to be legal.

Meanwhile, 81 percent of Dane County voters and 74 percent of Milwaukee County voters said marijuana should be legalized and regulated across the state.

Election results from eight Wisconsin cities and counties showed similar numbers for legalization through advisory referendums in their communities, including in more rural areas in the state, showing support for marijuana legalization is rising in popularity.
https://www.wpr.org/wisconsin-voters-show-overwhelming-support-abortion-rights-marijuana-legalization-through-advisory

Yes, approved! Take that, MAGA Christians! Last but not least – Kentucky! That’s right the Blue Grass State keeps electing shitheads like Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell to the senate. Surely even they would vote along party lines for these bills, right? Wrong! Yes, even Kentucky might be finally waking up from the damage that the right wing is continuing to do to that state. So while most of the anger lies with SCOTUS for this incredibly damning and damaging decision, how did the Blue Grass State vote on this referendum? Did they approve or reject? The results might surprise you!

The result here follows three other pro-choice victories in this year's midterm elections: Vermont, Michigan and California have all enshrined the right to abortion in their constitution.

However, in Kentucky the result won't automatically reverse the state's current legislation, which almost entirely prohibits abortion.

The wave of ballot initiatives - which were voted on alongside other midterm elections - comes on the heels of the June Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade, ending a national guarantee to abortion access.

In a hotel ballroom in downtown Louisville, Kentucky hours before the results came through, pro-choice advocates milled around, exchanging small talk and nervous smiles, the roomed flanked by bright yellow balloons, emblazoned with the words "Bans off our bodies".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63564062

[font size="8"]Alex Jones
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Let’s spin the wheel shall we? Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! No, a whammy!!!!! Yeah cue the fail horn!

Spin it again! Inforwars? Come on, do I really have to? Make me! Fine I’m having a sit-in. OK here it goes.

We here at the Top 10 Home Offices in Santa Ana, California, have been wondering how does the Alex Jones saga end? Yes, between him, Kanye West, and Elon Musk, who is out in a quest to lose the most money? Well of course the mad man of Infowars has already lost nearly a billion dollars after he chose to mock and threaten the families of murdered children, so he’s definitely in the running. You know those “how it started / how’s it going” memes? This is definitely one of those, and the downfall of Alex Jones really just shows how completely out of touch the republican party is. And here’s the thing they don’t tell you about being rich – it’s extremely easy to lose it all. Whether it’s one foolish night in Vegas or it’s the systematic destruction of the families of the children and teachers involved in that horrifying tragedy at Sandy Hook. Well, of course the latter only applies to one guy, while the former can happen to just about anybody. And here’s how that is going!

Infowars host Alex Jones and his company were ordered by a judge Thursday to pay an extra $473 million for promoting false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school massacre, bringing the total judgment against him in a lawsuit filed by the victims’ families to a staggering $1.44 billion.

Connecticut Judge Barbara Bellis imposed the punitive damages on the Infowars host and Free Speech Systems. Jones repeatedly told his millions of followers the massacre that killed 20 first graders and six educators was staged by “crisis actors” to enact more gun control.

“The record clearly supports the plaintiffs’ argument that the defendants’ conduct was intentional and malicious, and certain to cause harm by virtue of their infrastructure, ability to spread content, and massive audience including the infowarriors,” the judge wrote in a 45-page ruling.

Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, said he hopes the award sends a message to conspiracy theorists who profit from lies.
https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-shootings-business-connecticut-alex-jones-c6d0563dc17e7bfa83a881b44e7b9eec

Thank you Nelson! For those of you keeping score at home, that now brings the total to… let’s see… carry the one… $1,473 million or pretty close to $1.5 billion. Yes, that’s BILLION. With a B. So yeah you know that old saying that when you’re in a hole, stop digging? That’s exactly what Mr. Jones should do, but no, he continues to dig a hole and it’s getting worse for him. Which, you know, I hate to kick a man when he’s down, but Alex Jones has built an entire career out of kicking and heckling people when they’re down. And the death threats. Don’t forget about the death threats.

A former FBI agent and families of eight victims killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are set to receive an additional half a billion dollars in damages from Infowars host Alex Jones, a Connecticut judge ruled Thursday.

Jones was ordered by a Connecticut jury last month to pay 15 plaintiffs $965 million for lies he told about the shooting, including that the massacre was a government-engineered “false flag” to take guns away from American citizens.

On Thursday, a Waterbury judge ordered him to pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages.

“Our hope is that this serves to reinforce the message of this case: Those who profit from lies targeting the innocent will face justice,” plaintiffs’ attorney Chris Mattei said.

Judge Barbara Bellis awarded two punitive damages in this case: one to cover attorneys’ fees and nontaxable costs for plaintiffs and another for a violation of the plaintiffs’ civil rights under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act.
https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2022-11-10/alex-jones-ordered-to-pay-473m-more-to-sandy-hook-families

Yeah… dig up, Alex! Oh no, would you rather make it $2 billion? $3 billion? More? Well it’s your funeral, I can’t feel sorry for you. So you’re a billion and a half in the hole, what does a guy do to regain that kind of money? Well, as the Joker pointed out, it’s not about money. It’s about sending a message. So of course he’s going to seek a new trial and he’ll probably still get found guilty. Maybe that judge in Florida who let Trump get that consultant could probably get Alex off the hook. But we’re not going to give him any new ideas now, are we?

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a Connecticut judge to throw out a nearly $1 billion verdict against him and order a new trial in a lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, who say they were subjected to harassment and threats from Jones’ lies about the 2012 Newtown school shooting.

Jones filed the requests Friday, saying Judge Barbara Bellis’ pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and “a substantial miscarriage of justice.”

“Additionally, the amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence offered at trial,” Jones’ lawyers, Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith, wrote in the motion.

Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the 15 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Jones, declined to comment on the filing Saturday, but said he and other attorneys for the Sandy Hook families will be filing a brief opposing Jones’ request.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/alex-jones-seeks-new-trial-after-965-million-verdict-in-sandy-hook-lawsuit

Now don’t think that we’ve heard the last of Mr. Jones, at least not yet. Yes, he is currently $1.5 BILLION in the hole. And especially with Trump’s latest announcement, who knows what could happen when it comes time for the 2024 election? Well let’s not begin speculating just yet. But the fact that he’s allowed to remain free and spew his bile and garbage every single night for those who are insane enough to actually listen to him, well, he should be in jail. Because what he did crossed multiple lines and it should be enough for anyone who still believes in a sane America.

A Connecticut jury on Wednesday ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion for defaming the families of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting victims. Given Jones’ wealth, which was estimated at $135 million to $270 million if you include his media company, this verdict would seem bound to put Jones out of business. (To be clear, that damages number, which includes penalties imposed in a previous trial in Texas, will also likely change; Jones has one more trial left, and state sentencing caps and other considerations could ultimately limit the financial payout.) No matter how many millions Jones will ultimately have to pay, many are finding solace and relief in the fact that he has to pay at all.

This is natural, and fair. But we must keep in mind that Jones is just one of many conspiracy theorists and provocateurs who spread hate and falsehoods. And even he is not going down without a fight.

As soon as the verdict was announced, Jones called the lawsuit a political weapon for the Democrats. Holding his head high, he called on his followers to donate money and vowed to keep speaking his truth while claiming he would not have to actually pay out the damages. Clearly, defamation lawsuits alone cannot break the lie machines created by men like Jones, which have inflicted tremendous pain on private individuals, eroded citizens’ confidence in democratic institutions and radicalized segments of our society to engage in violence.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/alex-jones-getting-sued-lawsuits-are-not-enough-rcna52179

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: Reviewing “God Forbid”
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? And it lands on… come on… wait for it… STOP! It lands on – another Clip Without Context!

Of course they were, Mike. I know a place you can go with a nice padded cell and they give you a straight jacket for warmth. Come on, spin it again! Hey, it’s time for Holy Shit!

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know we’ve been talking about a lot of extremely dark stuff in the last couple of weeks. But we’re in Hawaii this week and I decided that we need to take a week off and have some fun going down memory lane! Because I was watching the Hulu documentary called “God Forbid” about the Jerry Falwell Jr. Liberty University pool boy scandal. And like any good scandal, there’s multiple layers to it. Add even worse that it happened while their favorite president was in power and they were servicing his every move. I’m of course talking about the unholy, ungodly Dark One and you know who he is, a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! But if there’s one thing I love, it’s a good story about Liberty University, because as we’ve often discussed, that “school” is nothing more than a front for a right wing political organization. Like most churches are these days.

You might well recall the basic elements of the salacious scandal that toppled Jerry Falwell Jr.’s reign as arguably the most powerful evangelical in the country, with Falwell and his wife Becki getting involved in some sort of ongoing “throuple” relationship with a Miami pool boy. But as we’re reminded in the wildly entertaining Hulu documentary “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty,” there was a whole lot more to the story.

The skilled and versatile veteran director Billy Corben is a native of South Florida and he has consistently mined his home state for fast-paced, visually “popping” films that often play like non-fiction versions of Scorsese’s work, from the “Cocaine Cowboys” docs to “The U” and “The U Part 2” on ESPN to last year’s “537 Votes,” which revisited the 2000 U.S. president election in Florida. With “God Forbid,” Corben serves up a neon potpourri of slick visuals, quick cuts, clever re-creation techniques, needle drops such as “Jesus Piece” by The Game, the use of archival footage and sit-down interviews to tell the incredible but true story of one of the most stunning sex/religious/political scandals in of this century. (And let’s face it, that’s saying a lot.)

“God Forbid” kicks off in March of 2012 and the party scene at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach, where one Giancarlo Granda, just 20 years old, was working as a pool attendant when he saw a woman in her 40s not only giving him the eye but snapping pictures of him on her cell phone. “She was attractive, you know, she was a cougar,” says Granda, who comes across as mostly empathetic albeit naïve in the extensive interview sessions featured in the doc. “She tells me, ‘Don’t waste your time with the younger ones, they don’t know what they’re doing.’ … She makes a proposition, ‘You wanna go back to my hotel room?’ ”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2022/10/31/23431114/god-forbid-review-hulu-jerry-falwell-jr-documentary-becki-giancarlo-granda

Of course we have! But the real scandal there was the pool boy. And it’s true what they say about the people more likely to be the more righteous among us are the ones more likely to commit the most horrifying sex crimes known to man! But I digress, that’s what happens when you only worship GAWD and JAYSUS in name only now, isn’t it? But like most scandals, it gets weirder the more you dig down into it to see the very real stories behind the shock and awe that is presented in the documentary. It is quite insane, that’s all!

Granda was a pool attendant at a Miami hotel when he met Falwell and his wife, Becki, in 2012. Today, he alleges that he was persuaded to have sex with Becki while Falwell watched, and that the pair engaged in an ongoing campaign of communication with him that could be described as coercive. His energies were consumed with managing their tempers and occasionally threatening behavior, and he blames the swirl of scandal around them for derailing his professional future. Plainspoken and only occasionally visibly emotional, Granda is his own best advocate as he describes a couple who, he says, craved his body and were willing to discard the rest of him.

This is a baleful and unfortunate tale; one feels for Granda, who describes his suicidal ideation at one point. But director Billy Corben’s attempts to connect his collision with the boomer-generation Falwells to the broader story of evangelicals in the United States seems at times like a stretch. Sure, Liberty University has been a key landing pad for various Trump-era figures, including the 45th president himself, and Falwell Jr. was a key early endorser. But that mutable morality, the idea that the weight of a purportedly biblically rooted movement has been put behind an ungodly figure, is, first, a somewhat trite point the audience will have picked up elsewhere already. It also demands more time to unspool its historical basis — the question of how we got here — than “God Forbid” provides.
https://variety.com/2022/tv/reviews/god-forbid-hulu-review-1235409557/

Or have sex with pool boys for that matter! But when you’re in a cult, you do more to please “the leader” than you do to actually protect yourself or your loved ones, and the MAGA cult isn’t any different than any of the other radical cults out there. the cult is out to please the Unholy Dark One and hide their many scandals, of which there are plenty to choose from, my fair congregation! And if you love a good political scandal, you should definitely check out God Forbid! And if you’re a pastor going to Liberty University for a weekend, don’t be surprised if your wife hits on the pool boy!

Hulu is exploring the private life of Evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr. The streamer has dropped a trailer for “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty,” an upcoming documentary exploring the scandal that lead to Falwell’s fall from grace in his community.

The documentary is built around interviews with Giancarlo Granda, who met Fallwell’s wife Becki as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach and engaged in a years-long affair with her. Granda alleged that the affair occurred with the knowledge and approval of Jerry Falwell, and that he occasionally watched the two have sex, which he has denied.

News of the affair became public in 2020, when Reuters published a story based on Granda’s account. The resulting controversy forced Falwell to resign from his position as president of Liberty University, the Evangelical University established by his father. Since then, it has been reported that both Donald Trump and his then-attorney Michael Cohen assisted in helping Falwell keep the affair a secret.

“As a pool attendant, I’ve been hit on, but if I would have known that accepting this woman’s invitation to go back to her hotel room would have lead to a scandal involving the president of the largest Christian university in the world and the president of the United States, I would have walked away and just enjoyed my private life,” Granda said in the trailer.
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/10/god-forbid-sex-scandal-hulu-trailer-1234771957/

Yeah… think about it! But if there’s one thing that we’ve learned in the 5 years that we’ve been doing this, is that if you can’t beat ‘em, then sue the shit of them! That’s what the unholy Dark One does and he does it to everybody so dares looks at him funny! Of course that’s what happens when you sell your soul to SAYTAN! But the pool boy is doing his best to make sure that nobody sees God Forbid, because otherwise his reputation might be damaged. Excuse me? His reputation was already damaged quite a long time ago!

A lawsuit filed in Miami seeks to block Hulu from airing Billy Corben’s new documentary on the Jerry Falwell Jr. sex scandal, with one of the men involved in the saga suing over audio recordings he said were made without his knowledge.

Gordon Bello is a former friend of Giancarlo Granda, the young man from Miami branded “the pool boy” in the media storm surrounding his business and personal relationship with Falwell and his wife, Becki, after meeting them as a 20-year-old working at the Fontainebleau resort. The Hulu documentary “God Forbid” includes recordings comedian

Tom Arnold made of Bello talking about his dispute with Falwell and Granda over his alleged piece of a South Beach hotel deal, a falling out that allegedly included threats by Bello over personal photos of Becki Falwell he had obtained.

At one point in 2015, Michael Cohen, then a lawyer for future president Donald Trump, intervened on behalf of the Falwells to negotiate with Bello’s lawyer to keep the photos private.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article268027977.html#storylink=cpy

But these people don’t feel bad about themselves! That’s what happens when you vote for the Dark One, everybody!I might need to go watch this movie again. Mass has ended, may you go in peace!That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]People Who Somehow Got Elected: Sarah Huckabee Sanders
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… Intermission! OK fine, I think this is a good time to take a break. I’ll just sit here and enjoy a nice pint of Big Swell IPA and amuse myself with that black metal cat Twitter feed. Go on, take a break!

We’re back! Spin it again! And it lands on… People Who Somehow Got Elected!

Politicians at the state and local levels who are so toxic, you wonder how they’re able to get away with the things they get away with. This is:

This week – the former press secretary under the Trump administration and the new governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Before we go any further, we want to emphasize that Trump is not the president. He is the leader of a scary and deranged cult that’s out for dominant power, and probably absolute power. So this latest round of midterm elections isn’t about so much running the country as it is for scoring points with the cult which will translate into votes for future elections. It’s not about running the country, it’s about pleasing the cult. And Sarah Sanders has convinced her voters that it’s about pleasing the guy who we once inexplicably called the president. And it’s also truly disturbing that they still refer to him as “president”. But then again that’s one of the signs that you are in a cult is that it’s all about pleasing “the leader”. And there’s no one on earth that likes getting his ass kissed more than Donald Trump. Nobody.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders called Tuesday's election a "huge victory" for President Donald Trump -- even though Republicans lost control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sanders appeared on NBC after the network projected that Republicans would retain control of the U.S. Senate but lose the House.

"I think [it is] a huge victory for the president tonight," Sanders said, "with the announcement of the Senate looking like it's going to stay with Republicans and pick up a couple seats. The president spent the last week campaigning heavily for Senate candidates and we're seeing that pay off."

NBC host Savannah Guthrie asked Sanders if she had spent time with the president and if he had reacted to the news that Republicans lost control of the House.

"I have and he's happy," Sanders insisted. "We had a great night particularly when it comes to the Senate, and still some solid wins in the House."
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/11/sarah-sanders-proclaims-huge-victory-president-republicans-lose-house-control/

That’s right, Sarah, you’re not helping by referring to him as the existing president. The correct answer to the question “who is the current president?”, that would be Joseph R. Biden. And by the way if this is the kind of thing that Sarah says on the campaign trail, just imagine the kind of stupid things she will say as governor. Come on, kids are as safe in the womb as they are in the classroom? What kind of fucked up logic is that? And somebody want to tell her about gun fatalities in her home state? It must be nice to be able to shut off reality like that.

On May 24, 2022, Arkansas Republican gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders made a campaign promise that touched on the subject of abortion, saying, "We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they're as safe as they are in a classroom, the workplace, a nursing home. Because every stage of life has value. No one greater than the other." This was a genuine quote.

Sanders said this during her victory speech after winning the Republican nomination in her home state's 2022 primary election. The victory came just hours following the deadly massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen children and two teachers died in the mass shooting. The tragic incident reignited the debate over enacting stricter gun control laws in the U.S.

While Sanders indeed made the remark that compared the presumed safety of fetuses in pregnant people's uteruses to nonbiological spaces such as classrooms on May 24, the video of her statement did not spread widely until the next month.

On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which effectively stripped away the constitutional right to an abortion. Two days later, progressive political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen tweeted the video of Sanders making the in-question remark. According to retweet and "like" numbers on Twitter, the tweet took off like a rocket, receiving well over 100,000 engagements. Cohen's tweet was also quote-tweeted by film actor Mark Hamill, which gave it a big boost in shares.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sanders-abortion-womb-classroom/

The sad thing is that republicans could probably run a trained monkey for any office in Arkansas and they’d probably win, because conservative propaganda has a stranglehold on that state. Yes, Sarah Sanders is the new governor of Arkansas and the first female governor this state has ever seen. That’s right – in nearly 200 years as a state, Arkansas has never elected a female governor. And this is who they chose? Remember the freakout at the Red Hen restaurant (see: [link: https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100210798615 | Top 10 #5-3] ) ? But like most MAGA cultists, Sarah Sanders also has a beef with the press, and after remembering that stupid incident, we can clearly see why!

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended her avoidance of local media in her bid for Arkansas governor on Friday as she appeared in her only debate ahead of next month’s election.

Sanders, the Republican nominee who is heavily favored in the November election, has conducted few local interviews during her bid for the state’s top office. Sanders had agreed to only one debate with Democratic nominee Chris Jones and Libertarian Ricky Dale Harrington.

Sanders said she’s been speaking directly to voters by campaigning around the state.

“Freedom of the press is incredibly important, but with freedom of the press comes a great deal of responsibility,” Sanders said. “When they don’t live up to their end of the bargain, it forces some of us to go outside the box, which I have done every single day for the past two years.”
https://katv.com/news/local/at-debate-sarah-huckabee-sanders-defends-avoiding-arkansas-press-president-donald-trump-white-house-secretary-republican-democratic-chris-jones-baptist-pbj-libertarian-ricky-dale-harrington-asa-hutchinson-covid-freedom-gala-pbs-joe-biden-associated-press

Yes, Sarah, the party that hates the press and wears incredibly offensive shirts that say things like “Rope, tree, journalist, some assembly required”, has no idea what “freedom of the press” actually means. But that’s what happens when you elect a petulant man baby who wants the world to worship him and build statues of him like he’s some kind of god. But do we not forget about how Sarah Sanders just blatantly lied to the press on a daily basis while shilling for Trump? And that one time she actually told the truth, Trump simply replaced her with someone even more slightly to the right and way more insane.

Sanders’ record of taking questions as a paid interloctur for Donald Trump’s lies was spotty and eventually non-existent. Is that what we can expect in a Sanders governorship? Will she hold news conferences? Or will she answer only written questions through intermediary Judd Deere (another Trump alumnus)?

Issues? Sanders is for motherhood and apple pie, of course. But you could also read between the lines of her non-specific written responses easy enough:

First, it’s all about the “radical left” in Washington. Though she is running for governor of un-radical Arkansas.

Teacher pay raises? She’s for them, of some unspecified amount, particularly merit pay. In this system, teachers fortunate enough to have higher-income students generally tend to rewarded disproportionately for success with students most likely to succeed anyway.
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2022/10/16/sarah-huckabee-sanders-mail-in-candidate-for-governor

So lying for Trump and then praising him even though he’s not the current president. That’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders, yet another politician in the inexplicable and ever-growing list of:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin shall we??? And it lands on… wait for it… Go Directly To Jail? NO!!!!

Oh wait, I’ve got that Get Out Of Jail free card! Woohoo! Spin it again! Oh hey it’s time for Conspiracy Corner!

Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! Of course when the times are dark, and people just don’t feel like reading the news, they just make shit up and hope that something sticks. Which is why we have conspiracies. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands, undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference – undisclosed location of course! Ah there we go! This week… you know folks, the dust is still settling from the 2022 midterm elections to end all midterm elections! And here’s what we know – the biggest loser from the midterm elections are Donald Trump and The Conspirators. Which would not only make an awesome band name, but hate and conspiracies just aren’t selling the way they used to! So what’s the right wing to do? Resort to more conspiracies, of course! Like the election was stolen… or was it?

In the run-up to the US midterm elections, a trend emerged that set off alarm bells for those concerned about the stability of United States democracy. An estimated 345 Republican candidates embraced the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump through massive fraud, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, DC-based think-tank.

Those fears eased slightly as the Republican Party underperformed in the polls on November 8, disappointing predictions of a “red wave” at the ballot box.

Election deniers lost closely watched contests in swing states and failed to gain new ground in about 95 percent of statewide races, according to an analysis by States United Action, an organisation that tracked races with election deniers on the ballot.

On Monday, President Joe Biden hailed the midterm results as a “strong rejection of election deniers at every level”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/15/election-deniers-lose-key-races-in-us-midterm-elections

Thank you Nelson! But there’s no mistake that hate, conspiracies, and just flat out reality denial are a losing proposition! And of course you can’t keep a good conspiracy theorist hate monger down. These people are clinically insane, and that’s no question about it. So what happens when you lose an election after being told that you’d win by… right wing pundits? There’s only one thing to do – you make shit up and hope that it sticks! Also if you’re Nick Fuentes, you call for a dictatorship because damn if people have the will to choose, and they don’t choose you!

Nick Fuentes, the racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, America-hating, Christian fascist leader of the white nationalist America First movement, reacted to the results of the midterm elections by declaring that the failure of Republican candidates to take sweeping control in a “red wave” is precisely why this nation needs to be taken over by a far-right-wing dictatorship.

Fuentes has been very open about his desire to see a “white uprising” in the United States that will install former President Donald Trump as a dictator, cancel all future elections, and impose Christian fascism throughout the country, allowing for women to be burned at the stake.

During a Wednesday night livestream, Fuentes admitted that the election results showed that his agenda is wildly unpopular and therefore the only way he can achieve his goals for this nation is by literal force.

“You gotta recognize the fact that this is a godless country,” Fuentes said. “I hate it. It’s immoral. It’s wrong. It’s heinous. It’s evil. But this is an evil country, and this country will surprise you with how evil it is. And that’s why you’ve got to get this out of your head that there is some silent majority cavalry that’s going to come out of the woods and save us at the last minute. It’s not.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/nick-fuentes-says-the-results-of-the-2022-elections-prove-why-we-need-a-dictatorship/

Hey Nick, if you hate freedom and diversity, and you prefer a religious fascist dictatorship, then maybe you might want to consider the possibility that America isn’t for you. Russia or Saudi Arabia might be more up your alley. India and Pakistan too. But nevertheless, Fox News is in full blown meltdown mode, and they’re also in “nothing to see here, please disperse” mode. Because what happens when they’ve been telling their base how they’ll be big winners in 2022 and then they lost big time? Well, they just make shit up!

As voters head to the polls today, a right-wing campaign to sow doubt in the 2022 midterms is underway.

Since former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and tried to overturn the election results by alleging voter fraud, the GOP has fallen in line behind him, making so-called “election integrity” a key component of its platform. Nearly 300 Republicans who have denied the results of the 2020 election are running for office this year, and many refuse to say whether they will accept the results of their elections should they lose. A network of right-wing groups has set the groundwork by fearmongering about widespread voter fraud, with groups like True the Vote catapulting their voter fraud conspiracy theories to propaganda hits.

Perhaps no one was so blunt as to what all of this election denialism means as Ali Alexander, the leader of the so-called Stop the Steal campaign, which after Trump’s loss in 2020, worked to overturn the election. “Any election I don’t like is stolen,” Alexander said during a livestream last week. “If I don’t like it, it’s stolen. If I like it, it’s not stolen. If you win, it’s stolen.”

Election deniers running for office are playing by the same rules. In Arizona, Kari Lake built her gubernatorial campaign on denying the results of the 2020 election. When asked if she would accept an election in which she lost, Lake said she wouldn’t lose. “I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” she said. “The people of Arizona will never support and vote for a coward like Katie Hobbs.” As the New York Times noted, this sets “up a framework in which, if Ms. Hobbs were to win, Ms. Lake could present the result as evidence of election fraud.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-the-right-is-sowing-doubt-in-our-elections/

That is a good question and we don’t know the answer to that one! But when your neighbor with a giant Ford F-150 and a MAGA hat and a Stop The Steal t-shirt starts spouting insane conspiracy theories he heard from the dark corners of the internet, it’s good to know where they’re getting their information from. And their theories are only getting weirder and nuttier, folks. Don’t expect that we will ever see the end of the hate in this country any time soon. It’s only going to get worse. Don’t think we haven’t seen the last of the Q nuts like Kari Lake… yet.

Last month, GOP nominee for governor of Arizona Kari Lake suggested it would be impossible for her to lose without Democrats cheating. Today, with 70 percent of the vote counted, Lake trails in the polls by less than a percentage point, but she points to printer errors in Maricopa County that delayed the tabulating of votes as evidence of a potentially nefarious plot to stymie her win.

“We had a big day today,” Lake told a room full of her supporters late Tuesday night. “And don’t let those cheaters and crooks think anything different. Don’t let them doubt. Don’t let them put doubt in you.”

Such claims by Lake, and other Arizona Republican candidates, harken back to the so-called Stop the Steal movement, a disinformation campaign aimed at overturning the 2020 presidential election and which had a strong foothold in Arizona. Like then, Lake has lashed out at election officials over the conduct of this week’s elections.

“The fake media back there tried to tell us we were wrong for asking questions about our elections,” Lake said on election night. “We needed another stark reminder that we have incompetent people running the show in Arizona.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/arizona-election-deniers-see-cheaters-and-crooks-in-delayed-results/

[font size="8"]People Are Dumb
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy…. STOP!!! Oh it’s time for one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Sure, it was demons! Right! I mean come on, just admit it! You lost because you had terrible candidates and no messaging, and that’s it! People are tired of your “own the libs” shtick, this isn’t 2016 anymore, guys! Spin it again! And it’s time for… People Are Dumb!

Hit it!

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb! So who is dumb this week you might ask? Well before we go any further, I want to preface what makes a People Are Dumb story, and it couldn’t be more clear. So a guy robbing a McDonald’s? Not a People Are Dumb story. But a woman who goes berserk and destroys a McDonalds because they ran out of chicken nuggets? Now that’s a People Are Dumb story! So who is dumb this week? I think we’re going to do one of our famous all Florida editions of People Are Dumb, because the Sunshine state always brings the crazy! Well I want to start with this story out of Tampa and it combines two things that if combined are usually spelling disaster. First is flying one of the bottom 3 airlines. I’m talking Frontier, Spirit, Allegiant. Pretty much anything goes on those airlines. The other thing? Florida. So combine low budget travel with a crazy Florida man and here’s what you get.

The Transportation Security Administration said its employees did not follow standard procedures when a man made it through a checkpoint with box cutters onto a flight to Tampa.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the “unruly” passenger ended up causing an emergency when the crew found him with the box cutter, causing the flight to be diverted to Atlanta.

He was then taken into custody by Atlanta police and the FBI. The TSA said authorities also found a second box cutter in his carry-on luggage.

A statement given to 8 On Your Side said the traveler went through the TSA checkpoint at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport at around 5:30 p.m. Friday.

When he put his two backpacks and loose items into a bin for screening, the CT technology did not detect the box cutters. According to the TSA, a review of the incident found that the machine’s image review abilities “were not fully” used by the CT operator.
https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/tsa-employees-allowed-man-to-keep-box-cutter-before-he-boarded-tampa-flight/

WTF! How do you get a box cutter through security in this day and age? Just… WTF man! Next up – here’s a perfect People Are Dumb story! And this comes to us from the nearby city of St. Petersburg, and it’s crazy. You know the old saying “never bring a knife to a gun fight”? Well in this case never bring anything to a fight where a sword is involved. Yes, folks, we have a good old fashioned sword fight here and let’s hope the other person involved doesn’t have a bigger sword on them otherwise we would have a Black Knight situation on our hands!

A St. Petersburg woman was arrested Saturday afternoon after police say she allegedly threatened a man with a sword.

An arrest report said Quiana Manning, 41, had gotten into an argument with the man over a parking spot in her apartment complex.

Police said the woman exited her vehicle and approached the victim’s box truck while wielding a sword, described as being approximately two feet in length.

According to the report, the woman raised the sword close to the man’s open driver’s side window and told him “you can get f— up.”

The document said the suspect did not have any intention of killing the victim, but the man still was afraid of being harmed.
https://www.wfla.com/news/pinellas-county/you-can-get-f-up-st-pete-woman-threatened-man-with-sword-over-parking-spot-police-say/

Oh come on it’s merely a flesh wound! How did the one legged man win the ass kicking contest? He had a leg up! OK bad joke, I know! Next up – you know how we always say that if you give an idiot a gun, don’t be surprised when they do something stupid with it? Well in this case, not only was the guy being stupid with a gun but he could have got a whole lot of innocent people killed. At least he admits that he was being stupid with it. So I guess that’s a consolation prize? Either way he’ll be going away for a long prison stay.

A central Florida man faces a host of charges after deputies accused him of shooting towards two people and pointed a rifle and laser at a sheriff’s helicopter Saturday night.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Kenneth Massey, 48, was arrested near Avon Park.

In a tweet, the sheriff’s office said Massey told detectives that he did everything because he was “being stupid.”

Massey faced two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful use of a laser device and discharging a weapon under the influence of alcohol.

Records showed Massey remained in the Polk County Jail as of Monday.
https://www.local10.com/news/florida/2022/11/07/sheriff-florida-man-says-he-shot-at-2-pointed-laser-at-helicopter-because-he-was-being-stupid/

OK next up – Florida is a state that elects politicians as stupid as the people who inhabit it. And if you’re sponsored by a crypto currency company and your crypto is worth a mere fraction of what you originally invested in it… well can’t say that we feel too sorry for you. And crypto currency is bad, OK? It’s worse for the environment than actual paper money is. But you know the old saying – buy low, sell high. You can’t really sink that much lower than this. Think of it like that scene from Office Space… or maybe you prefer Superman 3.

Miami and cryptocurrency truly are a match made in hell. While the city is sinking beneath sea level with the rest of South Florida, digital currencies are also taking a nosedive into the drink.

Just this week, Sam Bankman-Fried, onetime-billionaire CEO of crypto exchange platform FTX, pleased cryptocurrency skeptics fond of schadenfreude when he lost the vast majority of his wealth in a matter of days.

Bankman-Fried's company and bank account collapsed as investors rapidly pulled out of FTX, leaving him with a paltry fraction of his previous net worth, once estimated to have reached more than $20 billion. Competitor exchange Binance also pulled out of a deal to purchase FTX, sending Bankman-Fried scrambling for cash to keep his company afloat.

Meanwhile, the prominent cryptocurrency Bitcoin has been on a steady collision course over the past year. Bitcoin's price reached a low of about $16,000 per coin on November 9, down from an all-time high of $66,000 in November of 2021. Other cryptocurrencies are also facing an intense crash.
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/five-francis-suarez-cryptocurrency-tweets-from-before-the-ftx-downfall-15676667

Finally this week – OK you know how we say that nobody is immune from being in a People Are Dumb story. Doesn’t matter where you are from or what you do. Although if you live in Florida you’re probably 100 times more likely to appear in a People Are Dumb story. It’s science. Maybe not an exact science and definitely not statistically accurate, but it’s true. And this is a perfect pre-Thanksgiving story, but it’s multiple levels of stupid. Bringing a gun on a plane? Check. Bringing raw meat on a plane? Check. If you combine both, well it’s perfect for People Are Dumb!

A prospective air traveler was roasted by the Transportation Security Administration on social media on Monday after officers with the federal agency said it caught the person trying to conceal a gun inside a raw chicken stashed in their carry-on luggage.

The weapon was flagged by TSA at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, where officers found it wrapped in what looked like thin paper packaging and hidden inside a raw chicken.

A post shared to the official TSA Instagram account on Monday included photos of the uncooked bird being examined in an airport security screening area and the gun once it was removed and unwrapped. Its caption leaned heavily into Thanksgiving-themed puns, starting with, "There's a personal fowl here..."

"The plot chickens as we barrel our way closer to Thanksgiving," a TSA spokesperson wrote. "For us, it's a time to be thankful that our officers are always working around the cluck to keep you safe. Take for instance this 'hen you believe it?' find at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tsa-gun-raw-chicken-carry-on-bag-plane-florida/

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #13 - Australia
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Let’s give the wheel one final spin this week! And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! Oh it’s another Clip Without Context!

No! I don’t know a lot, but I definitely know for sure that’s not how ballot counting works! Spin it again… and it’s time for the World Tour 2022!

Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

[font size="4"]Destination #13: Australia[/font]

Good day, mates! We’re here in the Land Down Under – Australia! Australia is a country with a land mass that’s about equal to the United States, but is broken up into just 7 territories. It’s home to some of the most beautiful nature in the entire world. I’s also home to two natural wonders – the Great Barrier Reef, and Ayer’s Rock, which you can see Tom Cruise climbing here in Mission: Impossible 2. It is also the home of Australia Rules Football, which is basically American football without the helmets, larger dudes, and much higher scoring. It’s also the home of the legendary Sydney Opera House. But what else is Australia famous for? Well it’s also home to some of the most notoriously anti-privacy tehc companies in the entire world. Think like China’s Huawei that we talked about last week, but much, much worse!

Australia has confirmed an incoming legislative change will significantly strengthen its online privacy laws following a spate of data breaches in recent weeks — such as the Optus telco breach last month.

“Unfortunately, significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown existing safeguards are inadequate. It’s not enough for a penalty for a major data breach to be seen as the cost of doing business,” said its attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, in a statement at the weekend.

“We need better laws to regulate how companies manage the huge amount of data they collect, and bigger penalties to incentivise better behaviour.”

The changes will be made via an amendment to the country’s privacy laws, following a long process of consultation on reforms.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/24/australia-privacy-law-update/

And speaking of data breaches, crypto currency! You might have heard of a crypto currency based company called FTX, and they’re in a lot of hot water right now. We may have to cover their troubles next week in Late Stage Capitalism. But unlike America, Australia is a country that actually punishes its’ white collar criminals. So what’s next for the embattled retailer of the 21st century equivalent of fool’s gold? Well it turns out that they’re going to get their license pulled in Australia. So keep that in mind next time you see a Miami Heat game (which is at FTX Arena).

Australia’s financial markets regulator has suspended FTX Australia’s financial license following the appointment of a voluntary administrator to help nearly 30,000 Australians and 132 Australian companies get their funds back from FTX.

The announcement was made by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on Nov. 16 local time, which suspended the Australian Financial Services (AFS) license of FTX’s local entity until May 15, 2023.

Before its suspension, FTX Australia’s AFS license permitted it to create a market for derivatives and foreign exchange contracts to Australian-based retail and wholesale clients. Australian traders who signed up to trade digital assets were routed through FTX Australia.

FTX Australia has however, been permitted to provide limited financial services that strictly relate to the termination of existing derivative contracts with its clients until Dec. 19.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/ftx-australia-s-license-suspended-as-30k-aussies-left-in-the-lurch

.

I always wonder if people from Australia love or hate this kind of stuff? If you’re from Australia, let us know in the comments! But Australia is also home to one of the world’s premier sporting tournaments with the Australian Open. And of course one participant in the sport of professional tennis – notorious anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist douchebag Novak Djvokovic (see: Idiots #12-1 ). Well, the pandemic is finally winding down so I guess… they can let him in now?

The Australian government confirmed on Thursday that Novak Djokovic had been granted a visa to compete in the Australian Open in January a year after he was deported over his stance against COVID-19 vaccination.

The 21-time Grand Slam singles champion had his visa canceled on public interest grounds on Jan. 14 and lost an appeal against deportation in the Full Federal Court.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said he had approved Djokovic’s application to revoke the cancellation decision because the ground for canceling the visa no longer existed. The visa ban could have lasted for three years.

“Mr. Djokovic has subsequently been granted a temporary visa to enter Australia,” Giles said in a statement.

The 35-year-old from Serbia is clear to compete at the Australian Open, which runs from Jan. 16-29 in Melbourne.
https://apnews.com/article/novak-djokovic-health-sports-australia-immigration-17a9c21acdd77b5f2db1748e5da2804c

Ha ha ha… right? Well in case you’re wondering what could go wrong, we do have an answer for you! So yeah the pandemic is still a thing and it’s not going away anytime soon. So why do we get mad at anti-vaxxers, you might ask? Well you’re an anti-vaxxer by choice. No one is born this way. You choose it through hate and misinformation. In the coming months, we’re going to see how disastrous zero COVID policies were from countries like Australia, New Zealand, and China. Sure, people are probably going to die because of this bullshit. But yeah, let a guy who spread baseless conspiracy theories like Novak Djokovic in the country. It’s only lives, right?

Covid hospitalisations have increased by 11% in the past week, the federal health minister Mark Butler said, as he announced new vaccines have been approved to boost supply.

However, a fifth vaccine dose has not been recommended by the Australian Technical Advisory Group of Immunisation [Atagi] for the general population at this time, Butler said. However, he said this may change next year ahead of winter, particularly if other variants emerge.

Butler said the Omicron subvariant XBB, now present in Australia, led to a “short and small” wave of infections in Singapore, with severe disease and death very rare for people who had at least two vaccine doses.

This was part of the evidence that led to Atagi’s decision not to recommend a fifth vaccine dose, he said.

Atagi has recommended an Omicron-targeting vaccine from Pfizer be added to the booster doses available, and it will be available for people aged 18 and over from 12 December. Meanwhile the paediatric vaccine from Pfizer for children aged six months to five years will be available in limited circumstances for vulnerable children.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/15/confused-mask-rules-in-hospitals-pose-major-covid-risk-for-holiday-season-ama-president-warns

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

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

Overall: A-

Change from 2017: Australia has been through a lot, but now that the lockdowns are over, it’s safe to visit! Just be sure you’re fully vaccinated!

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

When we come back on 12/1, we’re heading to the home of anime, sashimi, and more hardcore baseball players than the US, the Land Of The Rising Sun, Japan!

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

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest has a great new album called “In The Moment”. You can see them at the Cali Vibes Festival in Long Beach in February! Playing their song “Old School Feeling”, give it up for Rebelution!

Mahalo Honolulu! This was fun! We’ll be back again soon! We’re going to take a week off for Thanksgiving next week! We’ll be back on December 1st live from Irvine with live music from Death Cab For Cutie! See you in two weeks! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Credits

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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

November 10, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-14: The Secret Life Of Chief Twitty Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-14: The Secret Life Of Chief Twitty Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yooooooooooooo!!!! What’s up, Riverside! How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! So I do have some Top 10 news – December 1st is our anniversary. But we’re not doing a 6th anniversary special this year. Why? Because Top 10 #300 is very quickly approaching! How about that? We have done 300 of these! Yes, the 300th edition will be edition #14-9 on March 16th of next year will be edition #300 and we will have a major celebration planned! So we will be making some announcements of what to expect relatively soon! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! What… no! I’m not going to congratulate the Astros on winning the World Series. Fuck the cheaters. Make me. OK. I’m having a sit in. What? I’m not going to tell the affiliates that we’re running late. OK fine. My producer is making me. Yeah I know we have a lot of Dodgers fans in the audience here. This is Riverside after all! Though there is one thing that made me chuckle with sheer delight about the Astros winning the World Series. And before we show the clip, I’m going to say that we do not encourage this sort of thing at all. but can we show that clip?

OK so my official stance is that I can’t stand the Astros because of that whole cheating scandal. But I am going to side with the fans who booed Ted Cruz and threw the beer can at him. So I guess that means that the enemy of my enemy is my friend? OK enough nonsense, we have a lot of idiocy to get to! But first in the election, John Oliver spells out the dangers of voter intimidation around the world:

Yes the midterms are finally over! Thank fucking god!!!! So we survived…. barely! But seriously if I had to watch another CA proposition advertisement I was about ready to chuck my TV out the window! Trust me if you live here, you know! So where do we start this week? in the number one slot is the Election Results (1)! Who are the big winners and losers this week? We’ve got a long list of them and we honestly don’t know which way this is going to go! In the second slot this week is of course our old buddy Elon Musk (2). Yes, the Tesla and Space X CEO, or as he’s now known – “Chief Twit”, is predictably turning Twitter into the flaming mess we all knew it would be if he took over. Speaking of flaming messes, the Brazil elections are over, and Jair Bolsonaro (3) goes down swinging! But as predicted, his supports are making a total mess of things! In the number four slot this week, we’re going to talk about something very unique to my home state of California – the propositions (4)! Yes, if you live here, you’re probably sick of them too. But we are going to talk about the big winners and losers of this election! In the number 5 slot this week is a new “We’re All Gonna Die” (5)! So is the UN correct about getting countries to join their international, non-partisan climate accord? Oh yeah and things are going to get way worse in the coming years if they don’t! in the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week it’s a rare two part sermon! We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the Christian right’s Great Schoolboard Takeover because there’s so much out there and it’s happening all over the country! Don’t let it come to your city! In the number 7 slot this week we have a new Beating A Dead Horse (7) and Harry Potter author JK Rowling finally got called out on her anti-trans bullshit by the guy who played Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, and this is definitely a fight years in the making, and we’re here for it! In the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8). Yes, Mr. Creepy Pillow Man himself, Mike Lindell is at it again, this time claiming that Brazil’s election was stolen, but he’s got a “hotline” and an “insider”. I’m personally calling bullshit on that! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, is a new “I Need A Drink”! San Francisco is the land of wealth and excess, but do we really need a Michelin starred restaurant for your dog? Why does Rover get a $200 meal while I’m paying $10 to eat at Popeye’s? Madness! Finally this week, it’s the continuation of our World Tour 2022! And this week we’re heading to the land of the Great Wall and a communist dictatorship, China (10)! Plus to close things out, we’ve got some live music from the legendary Mars Volta! 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"]2022 Election Highlights
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You like everyone else, at 9:00 on Tuesday, I was about ready to throw in the towel with everyone else watching the election results. But you know what? Thank god the midterm election to end all midterm elections is finally over! And we can reveal what we all hoped was going to happen: freedom wins and fascism loses! That’s right! But you know what? Can we at least let the dust settle on 2022 before we begin the circular firing squad that will be the 2024 elections? I mean shit come on media, let us have this one! So we still don’t know the outcomes of the senate and governor races in Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona and we probably won’t until next week. Same with CO-4, the largest district in Colorado which is currently being held by Infowars’ favorite Congresswoman, Lauren Boebert. But there are things we do know that are giving us massive hope for the outcome of the midterms. The first is that we can say that we are extremely happy that Pennsylvania is still blue! That’s right – John Fetterman and Doug Nazi Mastriano were both sent packing! Yeah how about that???

Democrat John Fetterman won Pennsylvania's pivotal race for U.S. Senate, flipping a Republican-held seat as he recovered from a stroke during the bare-knuckled campaign and giving Democrats hope they can retain control of the closely divided chamber to boost President Joe Biden's agenda for two more years.

Fetterman, Pennsylvania's towering and plainspoken lieutenant governor, who became a progressive hero as mayor of a downtrodden steel town, defeated Dr. Mehmet Oz, the smooth-talking and wealthy heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity who had just moved to the presidential battleground state to run for Senate.

Fetterman credited his "every county, every vote" campaign strategy, in which the tattooed and hoodie-wearing candidate sought to bring the Democratic Party back to predominantly white working-class areas that have increasingly rejected it, even as he ran on a progressive platform.

"And that's exactly what happened," Fetterman, 53, told a cheering crowd early Wednesday at a concert venue in Pittsburgh. "We jammed them up. We held the line. I never expected that we would turn these red counties blue, but we did what we needed to do and we had that conversation across every one of those counties."

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-senate-race-2022-midterm-elections-93709b5b7ab4cef658f45751cd76c090

Fuck yes!!! How about that??? You know we had a much different entry planned where we weren’t as optimistic. But now that Fetterman sent Dr. Oz packing we are celebrating like there’s no tomorrow! So how is Der Trumpenfuror taking this? Well he’s not taking this particularly well. But is right wing America’s love of Trump getting stronger or have they had enough? Well judging from the exit polls, people have had just about an ass full of his nonsense. But of course he is whining on his own social media shit hole site and it’s about as predictable as possible!

Former President Donald Trump posted on social media on Tuesday to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the midterm election in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania. “Here we go again!” he wrote. “Rigged Election!”

Trump’s supposed evidence? An article on a right-wing news site that demonstrated no rigging. Rather, the article baselessly raised suspicion about absentee-ballot data the article did not clearly explain.

In 2020, Trump and his allies made a prolonged effort to discredit the presidential election results in advance, spending months laying the groundwork for their false post-election claims that the election was stolen. Now, in the weeks leading up to Election Day in 2022, some Republicans have been deploying similar – and similarly dishonest – rhetoric.

Trump is not the only Republican trying to baselessly promote suspicion about the midterms in Pennsylvania, a state that could determine which party controls the US Senate.

After Pennsylvania’s acting elections chief, Leigh Chapman, told NBC News last week that it could take “days” to complete the vote count, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who has repeatedly promoted false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, said on a right-wing show monitored by liberal organization Media Matters for America: “That’s an attempt to have the fix in.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/06/politics/trump-midterms-casting-doubt-pennsylvania/index.html

Thank you Nelson! So why was the “Red Wave” such a whimper? Well, the tradition generally is that the midterms go to the opposite party of who’s in the White House. But that hasn’t been the case since about 2015, when we launched this program. Everything has been entirely unpredictable and nothing is off the table. This latest round of midterms definitely is not the same as it was throughout history. And that’s mainly because of the changing demographics of this country. This country is getting younger and more diverse than it was and the days of old, rich, white religious conservative males deciding elections through AM and Fox talking points is over!

Trump is still the dominant figure in the Republican Party, and he’ll be the favorite to win the GOP nomination for president if, as expected, he runs again.

But Trump’s place in the party is far weaker after Tuesday. Truth is, if not for the former president’s interventions, the night could have been a lot better for the GOP.

Just look at how the most Trump-y candidates fared in states where more traditionalist Republicans were on the same ballot.

In Georgia, Herschel Walker was locked in a neck-and-neck contest with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Gov. Brian Kemp, whose resistance to overturning the 2020 results infuriated Trump, easily defeated his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams.

In New Hampshire, Republican Don Bolduc lost to Sen. Maggie Hassan in a race that didn’t even look close, while Gov. Chris Sununu, who once referred to Trump as “fucking crazy,” cruised to reelection. Trump’s preferred candidate in Ohio, J.D. Vance, did better, beating Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan by a comfortable margin in that state’s U.S. Senate race. But he came nowhere close to the margin that incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine, a more traditionalist Republican, put up.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/2022-election-results-analysis-and-takeaways-00065878

You know, speaking of demographics, let’s talk about it for a minute. Some states are still dominated by older, white, Christian conservative males ( *COUGH* Texas *COUGH* ). And because of that, states like Texas are still red because of that. Yeah we’re pissed off that Beto didn’t take the Texas governorship away from the Christian right. Because once again, if the exit polls are anything, then white Christian males still dominate the southern states. Which is why we’re nervous about Georgia, come on Warnock! But this is hardly the least surprising news of the night!

The GOP’s success in Texas, even as it fell short of expectations nationally, signaled voters’ endorsement of Abbott following a second term marked by aggressive actions on the border and immigration, conservative positions on LGBTQ and other social issues and a near-total ban on abortion. And it was another rebuke of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke, who lost his third election in four years.

“Voters seem to be fine with the status quo,” said Drew Landry, assistant professor of government at South Plains College in Levelland, west of Lubbock.

If Democrats have anything to show for this election, it’s that they won two of three congressional seats up for grabs in South Texas — denying Republicans their hopes of statement victories in a heavily Hispanic region. Hispanic residents now represent the largest ethnic group in Texas, surpassing non-Hispanic white residents earlier this year in a census estimate.

The state’s shifting demographics had given Democrats hope, as margins at the top of the ticket have shrunk in recent years. In Abbott’s first bid for governor in 2014, he won by more than 20 percentage points. In 2018, he won his second term by just over 13. And Donald Trump won the state by less than 6 percentage points in 2020. Tuesday night, that Democratic progress seemed to halt. Abbott appeared likely to win by a similar margin as in 2018 — possibly larger.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/09/texas-election-results/

[font size="8"]Elon Musk
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For those of you who are not familiar with Norse mythology, there’s a mythical being known as Surtur who is a giant flaming monster. When Surtur’s skull is placed atop the eternal flame in Asguard, it turns into a giant flaming monster that destroys the entire planet. Well, I’ve often compared Trump to Surtur, but now I think that designation might be more suited to Elon Musk. That’s right – he’s become a giant flaming monster that is ripping Twitter apart at the seams. Users are leaving, communities are being ruined, and it’s all because he feels the need to be Chief Twit. Well, Chief Twit is doing a hell of a lot of damage to the platform since he took it over. He’s basically turned the entire thing into a laughing stock and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. You know, it might be interesting to see who’s lost more money in the last two months by siding with right wing extremists – Ye or Elon? I think Elon might be the winner in this. Especially if his proposed Twitter Blue platform ever has a chance of getting approved and it will be a bloodbath!

The new Twitter Blue, which now costs $7.99 per month and gets you a blue verified check mark, is officially available in its app for iPhones and iPads. Twitter owner Elon Musk began hyping the new Blue just days after taking over the company at the end of October, promising features like verification, priority in replies, mentions, and search, and “half as many ads,” and now you can actually get the new subscription.

Right now, for people who subscribe to the new package, their account instantly adds a verified check, but the other new benefits aren’t available yet. According to a support page, “only accounts subscribed to Twitter Blue on iOS on or after November 9, 2022 are eligible for the blue checkmark moving forward.” It’s unclear when the new subscription will become available for users on Android, Twitter web, or in countries where Twitter Blue wasn’t already available. And new Twitter accounts created on or after Wednesday aren’t eligible to sign up for Blue “at this time,” Twitter says.

On the signup form on iOS, the $7.99 per month price is positioned as a “limited time offer.” For the moment, you can’t sign up on the web — you have to sign up on iOS. And some users already subscribed to Blue are reporting they have to subscribe again and specifically to the new tier.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/9/23448317/elon-musk-twitter-blue-verification-live-ios

So Elon, or Chief Twit, is the giant flaming monster that is destroying Twitter and his platform is losing big time. What is this? The Secret Life Of Chief Twitty? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Oh man another awesome one! But here’s the thing – even the advertisers are starting to worry! I mean come on, they endorse Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity’s hate speech every night. So what was the final straw to get them to leave Twitter? Well as Kanye showed, being a Nazi is bad for business, so it’s only natural that Twitter could follow suit.

Elon Musk held a giant conference call for advertisers and more than 100,000 other people today. He sounded thoughtful about his plans for Twitter, unsure about how it was all going to work out, but solicitous for feedback. “I only got the keys to the building last Friday,” he said, adding later: “I’m open to ideas.”

The problem for Musk is the advertisers he has spooked since buying Twitter for $44 billion are unlikely to be swayed by any of this. They tell me they don’t mind what Musk says in outreach calls like this. They’re concerned about what he does and what he tweets.

This is a new problem for Musk, who became the world’s richest man by selling electric cars and building rocket ships, and not by caring about what other people think about him. Or, at least, not caring what controversy-hating advertisers think about him.

But now he very much has to. At the moment, advertisers are Twitter’s entire revenue stream, and they aren’t happy with Musk. If he can’t turn that around, he’s in very big trouble.
https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/11/9/23450150/twitter-elon-musk-advertising-problem-conference-call-peter-kafka-column

So get ready everybody, Elon is about to do some ridiculously dumb stuff. And that’s not already in addition to the bloodbath that he caused earlier. But if you’re like me and you’re watching with sheer horror the damage that one man can do to a multi-billion dollar corporation like Twitter, you’re not alone. Remember that you can spend a lifetime or two building a business and reputation, and then some jackass with a wrecking ball can ruin it literally within seconds. It’s truly insane what is happening and don’t expect things to get better any time soon. But it’s also affecting Elon’s other businesses too, and it’s the stuff of insanity.

Elon Musk sold $3.95 billion worth of Tesla stock since completing his purchase of Twitter late last month.

Musk’s Tesla stock sales, totaling 19.5 million shares, have been widely anticipated ever since the Tesla CEO reached a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion. Musk had sold blocks of Tesla shares worth a total of $15.4 billion earlier this year since his deal to buy Twitter was announced.

Twitter confirmed Musk bought the social media company October 27, but he waited until November 4 to start selling additional Tesla shares. He also sold blocks of Tesla stock on Monday and Tuesday this week, according to filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday night.

It’s not clear if the money Musk raised went toward the Twitter purchase, or to support losses at Twitter since he took over.

Musk disclosed last week that Twitter has seen a “massive drop in revenue,” as a growing number of advertisers pause spending on the platform in the wake of his takeover of the company. He blamed “activist groups” pressuring advertisers for the loss of ad dollars.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-stock-sale-twitter-purchase/index.html

Yeah so Elon is basically Surtur for Twitter. You know what would make things even worse than they already are? Well you enjoy browsing Twitter for free? You soon won’t be able to anymore. Hope that doesn’t give any other platform owners like Zuckerberg any ideas! So while right wing trolls may miss their social media accounts, if they have to pay, they won’t be able to wreak havoc on social media for free anymore. Between Elon owning Twitter and Ye soon to be owning Parler, who’s going to be the bigger loser in the loser patrol? My money is still on Elon.

If Friday brought massive layoffs to Twitter, Monday brought fresh evidence that the company will never be the same. Elon Musk has discussed putting the entire site behind a paywall, Platformer has learned. Meanwhile, the company is scrambling to lure back employees who it laid off mere hours ago, and some workers say the economics behind its soon-to-relaunch Twitter Blue subscription could actually lose the company money.

All of this took place against the backdrop of a company that still has yet to hear anything official from Musk, via email or a companywide meeting. As Monday began, after losing thousands of their colleagues days earlier, many employees didn’t know who their managers are.

Meanwhile, Musk’s increasingly erratic leadership, coupled with his habit of tweeting in eye-watering bad taste, gave many current and former employees I spoke with a sinking feeling about the future of their company.

Today let’s talk a bit more about how the company botched its layoff process, what happened inside Twitter on Monday, and what that paywall might look like.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/7/23446262/elon-musk-twitter-paywall-possible

[font size="8"]Jair Bolsonaro
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We at the Top 10 occasionally like to check in with our friends overseas, because as is our motto and mission statement here – conservative idiocy isn’t just a uniquely American problem. It’s become a global problem, and far right fascists and conspiracy theorists are no different no matter what country you visit. Case in point: Brazil. Their current president Jair Bolsonaro was elected by far right conspiracy theorists from Brazil with help from America’s far right conspiracy theorist activists like Steve Bannon and Alex Jones. But that’s not to say that the election between Jair Bolsonaro and Lulu Da Silva was incredibly close. And for those of you watching America’s elections – just beware that your vote absolutely does matter! Don’t throw it away! Because when the election comes down to a million or so votes, don’t think for a minute that your vote doesn’t matter. You absolutely can make a difference, because just look at how close the two parties were in Brazil.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday that he would “continue to fulfill all the commandments of our constitution” in a short speech at the presidential palace in Brasilia, after days of silence following his election loss to the leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

He did not explicitly concede defeat, though the event appeared to signal his intention to cooperate with the transfer of power.

Taking the podium after the President, chief of staff Ciro Nogueira said that he would work with the new government and is waiting for Lula da Silva’s transition team to begin the handover.

“President Jair Messias Bolsonaro authorized me, when it is time, based on the law, to start the transition process,” Nogueira said.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/americas/bolsonaro-brazil-elections-protests-intl-latam/index.html

Yeah so Lula won the election, how about that! But the transition of power considering this unstable lunatic at the helm, is probably going to go about as well as the transition of power here did. See, the world’s far right leaders are learning lessons from Trump about what *NOT* to do and it’s going to get scary and worse. But Bolsonaro’s systematic destruction of the Brazilian rainforest and his gross mishandling of COVID is what did him in. Yeah that’s right – that virus that conservatives called a hoax and acted like a massive death toll wasn’t happening.

When Brazil elected Jair Bolsonaro as its president four years ago, this journal was among those that feared the worst. “The election of Jair Bolsonaro is bad for research and the environment,” we wrote (Nature 563, 5–6; 2018).

A populist and a former army captain, Bolsonaro charged into office denying science, threatening Indigenous peoples’ rights, promoting guns as a solution to security concerns and pushing a development-at-all-costs approach to the economy. Bolsonaro has been true to his word. His term in office has been disastrous for science, the environment, the people of Brazil — and the world.

This weekend, Brazilians will go to the polls in the second round of one of the country’s most important elections since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985. Bolsonaro is standing for re-election for the Liberal Party. His opponent is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Workers’ Party leader who was president for two terms between 2003 and 2010. In the first round of the election, held on 2 October, Lula beat Bolsonaro into second place, but by an unexpectedly narrow margin. He failed to win an overall majority, forcing the two into a run-off election.

Bolsonaro’s record is eye-popping. Under his leadership, the environment has been ravaged as he rolled back legal protections and disparaged Indigenous peoples’ rights. In the Amazon alone, deforestation has nearly doubled since 2018, with yet another increase expected when Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research releases its latest deforestation data in the coming weeks.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03388-y

Yeah people, seriously! Vote for science and logic and against fascism! They did it in Brazil, we can beat the right wing pundits here! But that being said, Lula is not getting off easy. There was some ridiculously shady shit going on in the Tropics. You know how we have the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and III%ers and 1776ers here? Well, Brazil has their own share of far right groups. They have their own organizations like the Federal Highway Police, which while it is a completely stupid name and they are probably not real police, they did cause some real trouble.

Citizens denounced these checkpoints are taking place mainly in the Northeast, a region that has traditionally supported Lula da Silva.

A few hours before the conclusion of the Brazilian runoff on Sunday, democratic social and political forces denounced events that could be hindering the electoral process.

In response to the complaints, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) asked the Federal Highway Police (PRF) for explanations for carrying out operations that are hindering the free movement of citizens.

TSE President Alexandre de Moraes summoned PRF Director Silvinei Vasques to ask why the police are carrying out checkpoints, despite the fact that the electoral authority expressly prohibited any police action that could hinder the transportation of voters.

The tweet reads, "Using the police, Bolsonaro is preventing people in the Brazilian northeast from being able to vote freely. In other cities, buses full of voters remain stopped in precincts near voting centers."

Through social networks, citizens denounced the checkpoints are taking place mainly in the Northeast, a region that has traditionally supported the Workers' Party presidential candidate Lula da Silva.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Brazilian-Police-Make-Checkpoints-Hindering-Movement-of-Voters-20221030-0011.html

Seriously for all of you thinking what could possibly go wrong in 2024? Don’t think for a minute that what happened in Brazil couldn’t happen here. Trump is that batshit fucking crazy and the GOP will do anything to attain power again. Which is why they’re resorting to extremism. But going forward, we could see absolute chaos in elections around the world if world leaders adopt Trump’s election denying tactics. So thankfully Brazil decided to choose freedom and democracy over fascism and authoritarianism. For now. Let’s hope they don’t come back.

The party of Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, recently defeated by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will be the main opposition to Lula when he takes office on Jan. 1, its leader, Valdemar Costa Neto, said on Tuesday.

The right-wing Liberal Party (PL) emerged from elections last month as the largest party in the Brazilian Congress, riding the unexpected rise in support for Bolsonaro, who narrowly lost his re-election bid to Lula.

Bolsonaro will be the party's candidate for president in the next elections in 2026, and will be named the party's honorary president, Costa Neto said.

"Bolsonarismo (his conservative movement) is growing a lot. It's getting bigger than Bolsonaro," he told a news conference.
https://news.yahoo.com/bolsonaros-party-gears-lulas-opposition-180414111.html

[font size="8"]California Propositions
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For this entry, we’re going to do something different from what we originally planned. We’re going to talk about something that’s unique to living in my home state of California. If you are a Californian, then you know what we’re going to talk about – the propositions. As part of our election system, every year Californians get a number of propositions to vote on. But beware – the advertising on all of these propositions gets worse and worse every single year. If you see sports or any show on TV worth a damn, you know that every single year, the advertising blitz that bombards your TV will make you want to throw things at it up to and including the night of the election. One of the biggest propositions is one that seemingly occurs every year. But this year it lost, and all I have to say is fuck all y’all who listened to the advertising on this one. This was one that basically said that your corporate masters own you. I mean come on, we all know that Davita is an evil corporation and only cares about its’ bottom line and doesn’t give a shit about you. And you know what? Not having on staff doctors at their facilities is going to hurt you while they laugh all the way to the bank. If you’re on dialysis, and you vote so Davita doesn’t have any accountability, and you die because of them, well it’s your own fault. And they will be laughing all the way to the bank! Because they are psychopaths.

For the third time in three straight elections, California voters rejected a ballot measure that would have mandated major changes to the operations of dialysis clinics that provide life-saving care to 80,000 people with kidney failure.

Proposition 29 failed after nearly 70% of Californians voted “no” in returns late Tuesday.

The measure would have required a doctor, nurse practitioner or physicians’ assistant to be present during treatment at the state’s 600 outpatient dialysis facilities.

Dialysis clinic companies said that under the mandate, between two and three doctors would be required at every facility because most are open at least 16 hours a day. That would have created a financial burden that could lead some clinics to close, making it harder for patients to find treatment, they said.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Californians-get-third-chance-to-alter-dialysis-17567417.php

Come on people, three times in three elections and you still vote to reject that shit? I mean I know I’m sick of the ads too… but damn it! Davita is an evil corporation and they only care about profits, not whether you live or die. Moving on, another big loser this week was legalized gambling. Yes, we were actually supportive of the SCOTUS decision to allow legalized gambling in the United States. But that being said, it could have the potential to have a serious dark side to it. And yes, we do understand the risks of addiction before anyone points that out!

California residents who want to be able to bet on sports received bad news on Tuesday night. The state's residents voted against the most expensive ballot proposition sports betting bill in United States history, refusing initiatives by Native American tribes and the gaming industry that were attempting to legalize sports betting in the state.

Nearly $600 million had been raised in an effort to legalize sports betting in California, but voters didn't want to make that concept a reality. A bill that would've allowed adults to bet on mobile devices and online only received received just 16 percent of the vote in its favor.

Meanwhile, a proposition that would've legalized sports betting at tribal casinos and horse tracks received less than 30 percent support.

Currently, 30 states allow sports betting either at brick-and-mortar sportsbooks or via mobile devices.
https://www.cbssports.com/general/news/california-voters-reject-bill-that-wouldve-legalized-sports-betting-in-state/

https://www.tdpri.com/attachments/gifwhatcouldgo-wrong-gif.540525/

Yeah let’s turn every cell phone in the country into a microtransaction betting device, what could possibly go wrong? Though unlike in app purchases, spending money on betting will actually give you real rewards as opposed to virtual, non-monetary ones. But yeah don’t expect an MGM Grand property to be constructed in Newport Beach anytime soon. Besides, who could afford the rent there? Moving on, the other big loser this week was the flavored tobacco industry. Yeah flavored tobacco and vapes for people with an addictive personality, again, probably not the best idea!

California voters on Tuesday passed a ballot measure to uphold a 2020 law that banned the sale of most flavored tobacco products, giving anti-tobacco advocates an expected victory in a multiyear fight against the industry to mitigate a youth vaping crisis.

Proposition 31 was placed on the ballot soon after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 793, the Legislature’s bipartisan effort to crack down on e-cigarettes and other products popular with kids. The law banned the sale of certain flavored tobacco products in stores and vending machines, including menthol cigarettes, but with exceptions for hookah, premium cigars and loose-leaf tobacco.

The Associated Press called the race, though official results will take longer to finalize.

“In California’s battle against Big Tobacco, voters have overwhelmingly decided to protect kids from being lured into a lifetime of addiction to nicotine,” Lindsey Freitas, regional advocacy director for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-08/2022-california-election-prop-31-ban-flavored-tobacco-results

Probably the most controversial of all the propositions was Prop 30. Here’s the thing – the official Top 10 stance on the electric vehicles is that we support them. Even if one of the companies is run by an egomaniacal mad man (Musk). Though right now unless you’re making 6+ figures getting an electric vehicle like the Lucid Air or Mercedes EQS is probably unattainable for you. Prop 30 would have taxed higher cost models in order to make people who can’t necessarily afford them. But come on, we go to do something about emissions! Just wait until the next entry!

California voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure that would have raised taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents to accelerate the sales of electric cars, particularly for low-income residents.

The measure, Proposition 30, was meant to help the Golden State meet its aggressive clean air and climate change ambitions. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. In August, California’s Air Resources Board cemented a ban on the sales of gasoline and diesel cars by 2035. The state passed a law in September that requires it to cut its emissions 40 percent relative to 1990 levels by 2030 and zero out its contributions to climate change by 2045. Legislators also approved close to $54 billion to fund climate change adaptation and mitigation.

“There is just no feasible path to meeting our climate, air quality, and equity goals without zeroing out tailpipe pollution,” said Max Baumhefner, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups backing Prop 30.

To help meet this goal, Prop 30 aimed to subsidize electric cars, charging stations, and fund wildfire protection. The money was slated to come from a 1.75 percent tax on incomes above $2 million. Advocates estimated that it would raise $100 billion over 20 years, with more than half of the money earmarked for low-income and disadvantaged communities. The vote came on the anniversary of the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state’s history.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/23447268/prop-30-california-ev-electric-car-tax-newsom-lyft

[font size="8"]We’re All Gonna Die: UN Climate Accord
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Hey everyone guess what? We’re all gonna die! Woooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Woooooooooooooooo! Woooooooo. Woooooooo. Woo. So what’s going to kill us all this week you might ask? Well I answer you: Climate change! So remember way back in the before times in 2019 when that guy who we inexplicably used to call president gave that absolutely bonkers rambling speech at the UN on climate change and Greta Thunberg got called a Nazi (see: Idiots #7-14 )? Well, shocker, it turns out that the UN was right and America’s conservatives are dead wrong! Because if you haven’t noticed, we had our hottest summer on record this year and it’s only gonna get hotter! Pack your best short shorts and mini-skirts, folks! Also be sure to stock up on sunscreen because sunscreen is definitely going to be a rare commodity when next year’s summer gets even hotter! But we got to get moving on fixing the climate change problem because also, if you haven’t noticed, our lakes are drying up! So conservatives, you love your boats and jet skis? Tell us how climate change is a threat again and we’ll tell you that you can’t use your toys in the lake when they dry up! OK enough of my rambling, but the fact is that the UN is right about this, and we have to do something about it or it will be too late!

Rich countries must sign a “historic pact” with the poor on the climate, or “we will be doomed”, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has warned, as a deepening gulf between the developed and developing world has put climate talks on the brink.

The stark warning comes as world leaders start to gather for the UN Cop27 climate summit, which opens on Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but which even the hosts admit will be the most difficult in at least a decade.

Cop27 is taking place amid the worst geopolitical tensions for years, over the Ukraine war, a spiralling global cost of living crisis, and deepening economic gloom.

But the gulf must be bridged if humanity is to have a hope of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown, Guterres said.

“There is no way we can avoid a catastrophic situation, if the two [the developed and developing world] are not able to establish a historic pact,” he told the Guardian in an interview on the eve of the summit. “Because at the present level, we will be doomed.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/04/un-chief-antonio-guterres-climate-crisis-cop27

No we’re all not gonna die, just yet! But the UN Chief is right – this shit is serious and it’s no longer a joke, and conservatives can’t deny this problem exists anymore. But if you dig into this report, it gets worse – so much worse! Look, you’d think the gradual transition to all electric vehicles would help the planet, right? Well some people are expecting the opposite will happen. And in fact it’s not really doing all that much to help curb emissions, at least not in the current state! And it’s definitely not stopping the change in temperature!

U.N. Climate Change said its new report also showed that countries’ pledges, as they stand now, would see emissions jump by 10.6% by the year 2030, compared to levels in 2010.

“Last year’s analysis showed projected emissions would continue to increase beyond 2030,” it said.

“However, this year’s analysis shows that while emissions are no longer increasing after 2030, they are still not demonstrating the rapid downward trend science says is necessary this decade.”

In a statement Wednesday, Simon Stiell, executive secretary of U.N. Climate Change, pulled no punches about the current position the world finds itself in.

“We are still nowhere near the scale and pace of emission reductions required to put us on track toward a 1.5 degrees Celsius world,” he said.

“To keep this goal alive, national governments need to strengthen their climate action plans now and implement them in the next eight years,” he added.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/26/emissions-reductions-pledges-nowhere-near-whats-needed-un-says-.html

Uh… Mr. Stiell? You’re obviously not from America, so allow me to America ‘splain some things to you about this. We have this network called “Fox” and they are run by a megalomaniacal Australian billionaire with a messianic world domination complex named Rupert Murdoch. He employs these two commentators – Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, both of which, are very actively involved in persuading the American people to systematically deny climate change and have been doing so for over 20 years now! This is serious, we have to ignore Fox to move forward. Even the tiny nation of Tuvalu makes more sense than Fox.

The island nation of Tuvalu has become the second country in the world to call for an international Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Modeled after the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the international mechanism would stop the expansion of fossil fuels, phase out existing production, and create paths to renewable energy development.

Announced at the United Nations climate summit, known as COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the Non-Proliferation treaty would complement goals set by the Paris Climate Agreement.

“We all know that the leading cause of the climate crisis is fossil fuels,” Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano said. “Tuvalu has joined Vanuatu and other nations in calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to steer our development model to pursue renewables and a just transition away from fossil fuels.”

In September, the Republic of Vanuatu became the first country to call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty at the United Nations General Assembly. The European Parliament, the Vatican, the World Health Organization, and a number of major cities across the globe have also called for the treaty in the last year.
https://grist.org/global-indigenous-affairs-desk/at-cop27-tuvalu-joins-call-for-an-international-treaty-to-stop-fossil-fuel-expansion/

In case you’re wondering how small of an increase we’re currently at right now before the proverbial shit hits the fan, let me explain. On a scale of 1 to 100 of how much we’re doing in order to stop the devastating 1.5’C number, it’s not enough! Shit, it’s barely a registerable number on the scale. It’s like 0.00000001/10th of 1%. We’re not doing enough. Especially when giant clouds of pollution from China are visible from space! We’ve got to get our shit together. Or the proverbial shit is going to hit the fan and when that happens and people start dying in the streets because it’s too hot outside, well guess what conservatives? There’s no vaccine for that.

Long-term climate goals will be jeopardised if we fail to achieve one gigatonne emission reduction from forests by 2025, warned a new report.

The world is not on track to achieve forest goals of ending and reversing deforestation by 2030, which is critical for a credible pathway to the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming by 1.5°C.

Emission reduction must be achieved every year post-2025 for the 2030 goals to remain within reach, added the report published November 7, 2022.

The report was published by the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Green Gigaton Challenge.

Only 24 per cent of the necessary commitments for emissions reductions have been made so far, the analysis showed.

“There is no Paris Agreement and no sustainable development goals without forests. As UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report reminded us once again, the window is closing,” said Susan Gardner, director of the ecosystems division at UNEP.
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/less-than-a-quarter-of-emission-targets-from-paris-climate-agreement-met-in-7-years-85870

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: The Great Schoolboard Takeover Pt 2
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know I couldn’t help but think, jumping to my inevitable conclusion last week, about how batshit insane and off the deep end our brothers and sisters on the Christian right are. They’re engaging in some serious Nazi-esque tactics and that definitely won’t end well for them. You know, last week, we barely scratched the surface of the Christian right’s planned “Great Schoolboard Takeover” because it’s happening all around the United States. It’s truly scary to think that the church has gone off the deep end and has begun to embrace full fascist authoritarian beliefs. That’s not what GAWD and JAYSUS intended! No, these are the wishes of the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name dare NOT be spoken in my church! But here’s the thing – when you elect a bunch of psychopaths who support the Dark One unequivocally, you’re going to see the proverbial shit hit the fan, and if it comes to your city you’d better be prepared!

Employees of Chattanooga’s Bess T. Shepherd Elementary School blasted a prayer meeting over the school’s exterior loudspeaker during the night, although district officials said it was an accident.

An unidentified neighbor who could hear the praying from inside his or her home Monday night posted a video on the Reddit website that recorded about two minutes of a speaker praying over the intercom, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

“This went on for 45 minutes,” the video caption said.

The video included a woman’s voice repeatedly saying, “We need you in this school, God. We need you in every school, God.”

She spoke of casting the things of hell “back to the abyss” and said, “You cannot rule in this school. You cannot rule in the hearts and minds of the children.”

The speaker also prayed over staff members.
https://www.wbbjtv.com/2022/10/22/tennessee-school-staff-accidentally-broadcast-prayer-meeting/

That’s exactly what this is – it’s no longer a church. It’s a cult. The shift from Christian church to full blown cult is complete, my fair congregation! But this lone district in Chatanooga is not alone in their batshit insanity, folks. Take a look at what happened in Austin after far right MAGA fundamentalists took over another school board. Guess what happened? Things predictably went to shit and they decided to do whatever Fox News told them to do! May the good LAWRD strike those down who do their every evil bidding! This will not STAND!

School boards are among the smallest building blocks of democracy, the most basic components of our representative government. Their meetings, in a normal universe, can be exceedingly dull. But that is no longer the case in the Round Rock Independent School District. Video archived on RRISD's website shows that screaming, accusations, and meetings that last until 2am have become common – fomented, Harrison says, by a pair of far-right school board trustees, Danielle Weston and Mary Bone, who have served since late 2020.

This fall, five candidates – allies of Weston and Bone – are running to take complete control of the board in the November 8 election. (The Chronicle contacted Weston, Bone, and candidates Linda Avila, Christie Slape, and Don Zimmerman for this article. Weston chose not to speak with us. As of press time Wednesday, we had not received responses from the rest.) Campaign finance reports show that members of what's called the Round Rock One Family slate have received significant funding from billionaires outside the district. As laid out in the CNN documentary "Deep in the Pockets of Texas" and other media sources, these billionaires are evangelicals who believe that Christians should "have dominion" (as in Genesis 1:28) over modern American life, particularly the education of its young people.

Harrison, her supporters, and her fellow board members told us that since becoming trustees, Weston and Bone have echoed the values of Christian nationalism. The opposition of the pair to COVID safeguards and the accommodation of LGBTQ students have become focal points of RRISD Board meetings. They've denounced their five fellow board trustees and, several trustees say, tacitly invited the Texas Education Agency to take over the school district. They've transformed school board meetings by encouraging the activism of a loud, rude, and threatening minority of community members. These community members, though small in number, have tried to intimidate those with whom they disagree – in person and, as the "gifts from Tiff" may illustrate, through the mail and online.
https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2022-11-04/has-round-rock-isd-hit-rock-bottom/

Yes, the devil does walk among us, and if he preaches that he or she is going to “bring family values” to the schoolboard, you should totally beware that they have a far more sinister agenda! Remember a couple of weeks ago we touched on that “Christian” cell phone company called Patriot Mobile that was funneling profits to far right school board candidates (see: Top 10 #13-6 )? Well it turns out that their main provider T-Mobile is facing a lot of shit in the press over their ties to the company. Beware that they are fueling the devil and he sees all!

You’d be pretty hard pressed to find a company that leans more right wing than AT&T. The company was a big ally to President Trump and drove most of his telecom policy (which was basically to give AT&T everything it wants). AT&T has a long, long record of supporting politicians who oppose civil rights and supported the January 6 insurrection. They even funded and helped create OAN.

But for some reason, the right wing propaganda echoplex got it stuck in their craw recently that AT&T was too “woke” (read: anything a modern Trump era Conservative does not like, especially if it involves showing empathy to marginalized populations). Apparently AT&T was deemed too “woke” because it owns CNN (they don’t any more, of course, as that property was spun off as part of the Discovery merger).

So the right wing grifter and propaganda echoplex has been pushing a wireless carrier alternative dubbed Puretalk, which portrays itself as a small business alternative to big companies purportedly hostile to “Conservative values.” Right wing bullshit artist Mark Levin put it this way:

“AT&T customers, your company owns far-left CNN. And T-Mobile, your CEO reportedly advised Democrats how to beat [former President Donald] Trump,” Levin exclaimed this week while reading an ad script during his radio show. “Don’t give your money to these corporatists, these corporatist wireless companies. Instead, choose PureTalk.”
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/10/25/right-wingers-fight-att-by-embracing-anti-woke-cell-carrier-thats-just-rebranded-att/

Yeah so you’re basically just swapping one “big tech” company for another, morons. Where do you think Patriot Mobile is getting its’ service from? It’s just another way to funnel profits to right wing campaigns no matter how insane the candidates are! But I digress, the Christian right plan to remake school curriculum is fading fast! People are tired of the hateful Murdoch agenda and the fact that they are at the book banning stage is a very scar y and alarming prospect! It’s truly insane how far off the deep end the church has become and I feel like they have truly lost their way. They used to be about helping people and now they’re about hurting them. Insanity.

“The path to save the nation is very simple — it’s going to go through the school boards,” Steve Bannon declared on his podcast last May. Parent outrage, opined the former Trump adviser, could be mined by the GOP for electoral gold — from the most local elections to Congress, all the way to the White House.

Suddenly the news cycle was awash in stories of formerly staid school board races transforming into partisan battlegrounds, as Republicans seized on parent discontent over mask mandates, teaching about race and gender inclusion policies. After Glen Youngkin’s upset victory in Virginia and the recall of three school board members in San Francisco, a narrative of Democratic crisis and conservative triumph clicked into place.

But what if that narrative is wrong? What if it turns out that even Trump-aligned Republicans happen to like their public schools and support their local teachers?

As it turns out, GOP candidates running on scorched-earth education platforms have fared quite poorly in school board elections. In places like Georgia, Montana, New Hampshire and New York, voters have rejected culture warriors running for school board, often doing so by wide margins. A recent Ballotpedia review of more than 400 school board contests in Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin found that race, gender and COVID were indeed influential in determining election outcomes, but not in the way one might expect. As they found, candidates who ran in opposition to a “conflict issue” — sexual education curricula, for instance, or a focus on race in the district — were more likely to lose their races.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3572821-the-gops-school-board-takeover-strategy-is-falling-flat/

Well… I’ve said my piece. The Christian right taking over school board is extremely dangerous for this country. It should be a warning that every election is important, no matter what the office! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse
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Look… if there’s one argument that is never going to end, it’s the argument between supporters of the LGBT community and detractors of the LGBT community. If there’s one thing we’ve been trying to teach you on this program - unless it’s something that happens directly to them, you will never convert the haters to your side. That we can all agree on right? Well it’s happened again this week when Daniel Radcliffe, the star of Harry Potter and current star of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story was being interviewed on TV about his role in the latter movie. So naturally the interviewer asked Mr. Radcliffe what his opinions about JK Rowling’s stance on trans people is. And of course, like any conversation on that subject, it got pretty heated pretty quickly! Yeah once you open that can of worms, it’s hard to close it.

At this point, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling’s transphobia is widely known, so vehemently has she used her international notoriety to spew hateful views against the most vulnerable segment of the LGBTQ+ community. Fans of her popular books and films have been blindsided, shocked, and left scratching their heads as to why the author of a seemingly positive fantasy tale about acceptance of differences would become so radicalized against a single marginalized group.

But Daniel Radcliffe, who rose to international fame playing “the boy who lived” onscreen, is most concerned about the young trans fans who have felt betrayed and hurt deeply by Rowling’s dangerous comments.

“The reason I was felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing ‘Potter,’ I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that. And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important,” Radcliffe told IndieWire during a recent interview.
. https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/daniel-radcliffe-jk-rowling-transgender-harry-potter-1234778156/

So for those of you who don’t follow the entertainment industry, allow me to explain the controversy for you. The LGBT community is desperate to get representation in an industry that would otherwise cast straight white people to fill LGBT roles. It would be like if Chris Pratt played a drag queen character in a comedy. Well yeah he’s fabulous all right! But this controversy isn’t anything new, it’s just another dead horse that’s been beaten to death and set on fire and thrown into the river. But really this entire thing is on casting directors. And JK Rowling definitely isn’t helping things! Just… stop it already!!

The controversial author of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling, says that she has been receiving threats online and that she doesn't believe there is any way to de-escalate the situation.

During an interview on the Graham Norton Radio Show, Rowling was asked about the threats she's been receiving on social media. "You're talking about the threats online [...] How can we de-escalate all of the things that are going on?" Norton asked. "Is there a way that you as this very visible, vocal person can de-escalate the conversation?"

"I think, on one level, I'm not sure I can," Rowling replied. "I'm not sure any individual can. I mean, I try and behave online as I would like others to behave... I've never threatened anyone, obviously, and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to go to their houses or anything like that. Social media... can be a lot of fun, and I do like the sort of 'pub argument' aspect of it. That can be a fun thing to do. But there's no doubt that social media is a gift for people who want to behave in a malign way."

The threats directed toward the author started following an attack on fellow author Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed while attending an event in New York. Soon after the assault, Rowling began to receive tweets from anonymous figures online threatening her life. One user wrote, "Don't worry you are next," in response to her concerns for Rushdie's wellbeing.
https://www.cbr.com/jk-rowling-social-media-strife-harry-potter/

Well you’re not wrong! I mean come on people, if there’s one thing we’ve taught you on this program is that if you’re trying to make an argument, death threats don’t help your case. Like if you say “Star Wars Episode VIII is the best movie in the franchise”, and your follow up argument is “No it sucks, I’m going to kill you motherfucker!!!”, that really doesn’t help, does it? But here’s the thing too – I never in a million years ever thought that the video game industry would be more open and inclusive than the movie and TV industry is! That is an absolute shocker!

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) may have plans for more Harry Potter movies in the future, but will the controversial creator J.K. Rowling be involved?

For many years, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter franchise was among the biggest in Hollywood after eight successful movies adapting the seven-book series. That era came to an end in 2011 with Deathly Hallows Part 2, but recent years have seen an attempt to resurrect the world in several ways.

2016 proved to be the beginning of a return to the Wizarding World as The Cursed Child stage play debuted and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them began a new prequel saga. There have even since been rumors of more blockbuster efforts including bringing the popular stage play to live-action and an HBO Max series.

But as everything has been going on, Rowling has been the subject of intense controversy for her anti-transgender comments. Although WBD has continued its relationship with the divisive creator through this as she led the Fantastic Beasts franchise, it appears to have more aspirations to work with her again.
https://thedirect.com/article/harry-potter-movies-new-warner-bros-jk-rowling

But on the subject of drag and LGBT roles, there will never be someone as good as Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show. OK maybe there will be at some point. However, there’s two valuable life lessons that can be learned from this whole shit show. The first is that anyone can be a total asshole on social media, doesn’t matter if you’re a celebrity or you’re just some schmo who hosts a z-grade comedy show in the middle of the afternoon. But the other lesson? Anonymous death threats are just that – anonymous, and anyone can make them. In fact it’s almost a contact sport for some people.

Ralph Fiennes has defended J.K. Rowling over her controversial stance on transgender rights.

Fiennes, who played the villainous Lord Voldemort across four Harry Potter films, told The New York Times Magazine that the “verbal abuse” Rowling receives online is “disgusting” and “appalling.”

Added Fiennes: “I mean, I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women. But [she’s] not some obscene, über-right-wing fascist. It’s just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman.’ And I understand where she’s coming from. Even though I’m not a woman.”

The controversy began in June 2020 when the author of the mega-popular Harry Potter books first tweeted about an op-ed piece regarding “people who menstruate” and mocked the story for not using the word “women.” The tweet generated backlash, which prompted the author to repeatedly and ever-more adamantly defend herself, eventually elaborating on her views in a lengthy essay.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/harry-potter-ralph-fiennes-defends-jk-rowling-1235248133/

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment that explains the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In these dark times when people are too lazy to read through an entire article, they simply make stuff up to fill in the gaps, like some kind of fucked up version of Mad Libs. The trans satellites are using pronouns and Obamacare to kill your grandma! Yeah it’s kind of like that. We are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter from deep in the New Mexico badlands – undisclosed location, of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference… they are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all! Ah, there we go! This week, the Brazil elections are in and they voted to fire Jair Bolsonaro, the Trump of the Tropics! Yeah how about that? Bolsonaro, you’re fired! But some here in the States aren’t too happy with the results of the election. And as you can guess, the usual group of MAGA clowns are the culprits!

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell seemed to hint Wednesday that Brazil's presidential election results may not be sound while detailing concerns about the country's voting machines.

In a clip shared on Twitter Wednesday, Lindell, an ally of former President Donald Trump, said on his "The Lindell Report" podcast that he had his "cyber guys" watching the election in Brazil. He did not say who these individuals were, or how they were monitoring the vote.

He also spoke about how "corrupt judges" voted down what he said was an attempt to have paper put into electronic voting machines so that it could print out "paper copies" that can be used to conduct an audit.

"So they have pure machines, everybody," Lindell said. "When I say pure machines, there's no paper...So whatever that tells you, whatever program is inside, here's who won."

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, was elected as Brazil's new president in a runoff this week after neither he nor current President Jair Bolsonaro managed to secure 50 percent of votes in initial voting early last month. In a short speech on Tuesday, Bolsonaro did not concede the election or recognize Lula's victory but did say that he would follow the Constitution in an apparent indication that he was prepared to leave office regardless.
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-hints-brazil-election-rigged-cyber-guys-watched-race-1756803

To the idiot mobile!

But here’s the thing my fellow conspiranoids! The far right lost the election in Brazil. But that hasn’t deterred some of the more insane among them to resort to their favorite outlet: Youtube! That’s right, the right hates big tech and social media, but they need that stuff to spread their hateful messaging! But just like our idiots on the right, Brazil’s conservatives certainly know how to put on a shit show! But there’s no mistake that Brazil’s elections were targeted by some very shady characters and the same who attempted to influence US elections. Yeah our elections are bad enough as it is, we don’t need influencers, damn it!

The Carter Center said on Friday that Brazil's presidential election was marked by a proliferation of sophisticated disinformation attacking the voting system and then questioning the impartiality of the national electoral authority.

The U.S.-based non-profit group, a pioneer of international election observation since the 1980s, said that both the winning leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and far-right President Jair Bolsonaro were targets of disinformation.

However, "our analysis of the leading fact-checking organizations indicates that most attacks targeted the Lula campaign," it said in a statement wrapping up its mission on observing the Brazilian election.

The Carter Center sent a mission of experts to the South American country at the invitation of the electoral authority, the Superior Electoral Court, or TSE, which invited a record number of foreign observers as a way to tackle repeated criticism by Bolsonaro of the electronic voting system.

Bolsonaro has argued without evidence that the system is vulnerable to fraud and, in the weeks prior to the runoff vote, stepped up his attacks on electoral officials.

Until the first round of the vote, on Oct. 2, the dominant disinformation narrative centered around flaws of the voting system, the group said, adding that the court provided an extensive set of audit procedures to address the claims.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-election-marked-by-disinformation-networks-says-carter-center-2022-11-05/

Dude, seriously, Jair, you don’t need to look around to see that there’s hucksters, fraudsters, scammers and con artists everywhere. Whether it’s your votes or your wallets, they’re coming for you! But one thing I will say is that Brazil’s far right protestors know how to put on a protest! Like seriously the idiot trucker convoy earlier this year doesn’t hold a candle to these guys. But the thing is no matter what country you live in – the right wing is the same no matter where you go. Brazil’s election denying conspiracy theorists are definitely no better than ours.

Truckers who support Brazil's outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro escalated their protests on Monday, blocking roads throughout the country in actions that could affect exports in one of the world's top food producers and cause wider economic chaos.

Bolsonaro lost Sunday's election to leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but has yet to concede defeat. He will not publicly address his defeat until Tuesday, a cabinet minister said on Monday evening, amid doubts over whether the far-right nationalist will accept Lula's victory.

Video footage showed some truckers at roadblocks calling for a military coup to prevent Lula becoming president, as protests spread from Mato Grosso and Santa Catarina to Parana, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais,

In Brasilia, police shut off traffic access to the central government esplanade on a tip that Bolsonaro supporters were planning to occupy the square in front of the Supreme Court, which they consider has acted to favor Lula.

Brazil's federal highway police said 321 protests had partially or fully blocked roads in 26 states. Truckers - who have benefited from Bolsonaro policies such as lowering diesel costs - are one of the president's key constituencies, and they have been known to disrupt Brazil's economy when they shut down highways......................

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-famato-says-does-not-support-protestor-roadblocks-could-disrupt-2022-10-31/

Yeah so people don’t do this. I know that people can get passionate about the candidates and causes that they support. But don’t be a dick. I think that’s the best thing we can say going forward. Don’t be a Steve Bannon or Mike Lindell or Donald Trump. There’s ways to be a good loser without being a total dick the way these guys are. We’ve had enough political turmoil these last six years and the last thing we want to do is escalate it the way Trump, Fox and the MAGAs are. At least Bolsonaro is proving that he is the better man than Trump is in this case. Can’t say the same for the rest of the loser patrol.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday said he would “follow all the orders and prescriptions of the constitution” during a short and ambiguous speech at the presidential palace in Brasilia, after days of silence following his election loss to the leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

He did not explicitly concede defeat, though the event appeared to signal his intention to cooperate with the transfer of power. Speaking after the President, his chief of staff Ciro Nogueira said that he would work with the new government and is waiting for Lula da Silva’s transition team to begin the handover.

“Contrary to what my opponents say I always played within the limits of our constitution,” Bolsonaro said, without congratulating Lula da Silva, who won with 50.9% of the vote, while Bolsonaro gained 49.1%.

The President-elect received the most votes in Brazilian history – more than 60 million votes, breaking his own record from 2006 by almost two million votes, according to the election authority’s final tally.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/americas/bolsonaro-brazil-elections-protests-intl-latam/index.html

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

So of course you know the idea behind this segment is that there’s way too much dark shit in the news right now. So the best course of action is to belly up to the bar with a glass of your favorite beverage and forget about life for a bit! Only rules we have in this bar – no fighting, no cussing, and no politics! OK, we do allow swearing. As long as it’s not at someone. Only with. And don’t worry my sober brothers and sisters, we got ya covered too! This week we’re going to talk about the city of San Francisco. This week a former Michelin chef has ignited controversy with a bizarre new startup that promises gourmet dog food. Yes, that’s right – gourmet dog food! So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about gourmet dog food? Red Tick Beer? Ha ha ha ha! No thanks! I’ll just have my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack! Well anyway, the gourmet pet food industry is here and it’s really seemed to piss off some folks. So what exactly can you get when you plunk down $75 to give your dog a gourmet feast?

A new restaurant in San Francisco is turning heads and wagging tails, promising an experience that some might call indulgent. Others see it as a dog-gone good time.

Dogue opened its doors on Valencia Street on Sept. 25, welcoming four-legged friends and their humans to dine in a café-like setting. The food caters mainly to canines, with items ranging from a $4.95

“It’s kind of a mixing of the dog food sector and the restaurant and hospitality sector,” explained Chef and Co-Founder, Rahmi Massarweh. “At its core, we are a fresh food company for dogs.”

Massarweh, who is trained in classical French cuisine, says he was inspired to start the business because of his own pets, which include four dogs.

“If you have responsibility over a family member, and you knew your choices affected how long that family member would live, wouldn’t you want to make the best choice possible?” he added.
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-francisco-restaurant-offers-fine-dining-experience-for-dogs/

Oh yeah!! So here’s the thing – I’m a dog person. I have dogs, I’ve had many dogs. But I’ve never understood the concept of “pet parenting”. I think it’s absolutely insane and absurd. Your dog is not your child, though it does seem like they need a lot of taking care. But why should I plunk down $75 so Rover can have a gourmet feast while I am spending $6 for the Popeye’s Big Box? Shit. My dog doesn’t care what he eats, he just eats! I don’t think he would ever consume a pastry and be like “Oh man that’s so good!!!”.

When you walk into one newly opened San Francisco restaurant, the first thing you'll notice is its striking color-coordinated selection of French patisserie-inspired pastries. The slightly-bigger-than-bite-sized treats start at $15 each, and include savory options like the green Spirulina and Pulled Pork pastry made with raw unfiltered honey and organic lemon, or the "Red Rose," which includes pastured cream, beetroot powder and, uh, wild antelope heart.

Yes, those pastries — and everything else on Dogue's menu — have been designed with your dog in mind. The San Francisco restaurant, which opened on September 25, offers bespoke meal plans for your pup, a range of "Dogguccinos" and pastries, and a three-course dog-centric tasting menu that is served every Sunday.

Rahmi Massarweh, the chef and owner behind Dogue, told Food & Wine that dogs are encouraged to dine-in during the Sunday "Bone Appetit Cafe" service. The current menu — which runs around $75 — includes a starter of pastured chicken and organic chaga mushroom soup; an organic chicken skin waffle with a coconut-charcoal custard; and a main course of grass-fed steak tartare with a quail egg and organic broccoli sprouts.
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/dogue-dog-restaurant-san-francisco

Come on, even Superman needs a drink every once in a while! But seriously, my dog is, and I don’t know how to put this eloquently, a garbage disposal. Most dogs are. That’s why dog food comes in large bags and in cans. But here’s where the controversy comes in. Look, I totally get that people are hurting right now because of rampant inflation caused by Russia’s illegal invasion of the Ukraine. But on the other hand, San Francisco is the land of “fuck you” money. And you know it’s also a good thing that Oprah isn’t on the air anymore because this is one trend we hope doesn’t get picked up!

The news of a restaurant for dogs opening in San Francisco was met with impassioned reaction from both critics and enthusiasts.

Some said Dogue, which opened last week with a $75 tasting menu and French-inspired pastries just for dogs, feels emblematic of everything wrong with San Francisco right now — a place where dogs are treated better than humans. Fervent dog owners and supporters, meanwhile, simply see it as a good business idea.

On social media, people quickly labeled it as an “only in San Francisco” story.

“This signals the collapse,” one Instagram commenter wrote. “As if the rest of the country didn’t hate us enough already,” another posted. Others blasted the idea of a fine-dining restaurant for dogs against the backdrop of the city’s most pressing issues: homelessness, gentrification, drug abuse, the pandemic’s devastation of small businesses.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/dogue-reactions-17486907.php

Say what you want about the WWE… but damn that man knows how to drink! But really that’s the collapse? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… apparently 4 years of the previous administration wasn’t enough for you? It’s gourmet dog food? Just wow… some people really need to turn down their hyperbole meters, seriously. But what’s it like to eat the world’s most expensive dog food? These people actually went to Dogue to try it out for themselves. Well, their pets anyway. I can only presume that their food isn’t fit for human consumption.

I’ll admit, I’m someone who can appreciate the finer things in life. So when my editors approached me with the idea of visiting a luxury dog cafe, I couldn’t say no.

The canine cafe in question? Dogue (pronounced like “Vogue” with a “D”), a San Francisco luxury dog food business with a recently opened canine restaurant on Valencia Street and a $75 tasting menu. Dogue is the brainchild of professional chef Rahmi Massarweh, who dreamed up the concept in 2015 when he decided his mastiff, Grizzly, deserved seasonal, human-grade food.

Dogue has been scrutinized by countless think pieces and internet critics since local news highlighted the cafe earlier this month. Some say that the cafe is emblematic of everything wrong with San Francisco, a city that bathes in Silicon Valley’s riches as a worsening housing and homelessness crisis festers beneath the tech veneer. Others think that this is precisely par for the course for SF, a city that—according to The Standard’s recent voter poll—boasts more dog owners than it does parents.
https://sfstandard.com/arts-culture/we-tried-out-sfs-luxury-dog-cafe-so-you-dont-have-to/

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #13 - China
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Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

[font size="4"]Destination #13: China [/font]

https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/c/cn!6ptds.gif

Well we are here in one of the world’s largest countries – China. China is of course the land of the Great Wall and Buddhism. It’s also the home of the Vegas of the East – Macau, and one of the largest cities in the entire world – Hong Kong! But China’s outer beauty hides a very inner ugly. See, China is currently ruled by an egomaniacal mad man known as Xi Jianping, a prime minister with an ego so fragile that by the time we’re finished making fun of him, the Top 10 will probably be banned in China. Oops, too late, that was quick! But China, much like the Los Angeles Angels, have a history of some extremely terrible trade scandals and internal turmoil. But if there’s one thing that we don’t want – it’s an alliance between two megalomaniacal warlords. I’m of course talking about Xi and Vladimir Putin. That’s right – the Russian mad man and the Chinese mad man could team up, and that won’t be good for anybody!

The Pentagon says Russia and China appear to be “edging toward an alliance” at a time when Western nations are seeking to isolate Moscow over its war on Ukraine.

Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters on Tuesday that “we should expect the Russia-China relationship to deepen.” Nine months ago China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin signed off on their so-called “no limits” strategic partnership just days before Russia invaded Ukraine.

“They’ve really been much more willing to signal this thing is edging towards an alliance as opposed to a superficial partnership,” Kahl said, pointing to their joint military exercises ― which involved more than 50,000 troops for a week in early September.

China appears to view Russia as a counterweight to the U.S., while Russia, hemmed in by Western sanctions and export controls, “increasingly has nowhere else to go” and could depend more and more on China “economically, technologically and potentially militarily,” Kahl said.
https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/11/08/pentagon-xi-and-putin-edging-toward-an-alliance/

Yeah no, these are the last two people on earth who should be forming an alliance! But also too, China’s got a problem in the form of a technology company called Huawei. You’ve probably heard of Huawai, they’re the Z grade Android phone knockoff brand that’s been repeatedly accused of spying on its’ users without their permission. In fact the US has pretty much banned Huawei phones and tablets on the account of them being a possible national security risk. Which of course gives fuel to those right wing conspiracy theorists who were worried that the COVID vaccine had a microchip in it. Yeah.

Germany’s self-styled “China City” Duisburg has halted its controversial smart cities collaboration with Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, with city officials saying it was partly due to Beijing’s ties with Russia.

A memorandum signed in 2018 would see Huawei transform Duisburg “from a traditional industrial city into a service-oriented smart city”, modernising its public administration, port logistics, education and traffic infrastructure, using advanced 5G technology.

But this agreement expired last month and has since been scrubbed from the city’s website. City officials told the South China Morning Post that it would not be immediately renewed in light of “the current relations between Russia and China”.

All cooperation with Huawei is now on hold, said Falco Firlus, a spokesman for mayor Sören Link’s office, pending the federal government’s new China policy, which is due next year and set to recommend a sterner approach to dealing with Chinese entities.

“The federal government/EU is currently waiting to see whether an exchange with Huawei can be maintained – also against the background of the current relations between Russia and China,” Firlus said in an email.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3199049/germanys-china-city-duisburg-cuts-ties-huawei-citing-beijings-relations-russia

It’s also pretty hard to not spy on someone when you’re a giant technology conglomerate that’s been repeatedly accused of spying. Shh, nobody tell them what Google and Apple are up to! Well, remember what we said about China having a history of terrible trade deals, like your favorite sports franchise? So China’s Xi has become, what one might call a bit of a burden. In fact it’s causing the Chinese Yuan to drop dramatically. Though on the flip side it would make a trip to Macau very affordable. Yeah I know that we have an MGM in Vegas, but Macau has nicer weather!

China’s producer price index fell in October for the first time since December 2020, dragged down by drops in iron and steel prices, according to official data released Wednesday.

The producer price index, which tracks the price of raw materials and other input costs, fell by 1.3% in October from a year ago. That slightly missed expectations for a 1.5% decline, according to a Reuters poll.

The decline comes off double-digit gains last year as commodity prices soared.

In October, measures for ferrous metals, which include iron and steel, and the coal industry saw the sharpest declines within the producer price index.

Changes in China’s producer price index tend to precede similar changes in that of the U.S. by about one or two months, Francoise Huang, senior economist at Allianz Trade, said in October.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/one-of-chinas-inflation-gauges-drops-for-the-first-time-since-2020.html

Yeah so if you’re thinking about visiting China, you might want to hold off for now. At least until World War III is over. Wait, did I say that World War III is over? No, it’s just beginning! In fact, Xi has a way of inserting himself into other people’s business, just like the GOP’s favorite president. You know who he is, that guy. That’s right – right wing wannabe military dictators of a feather certainly flock together and they have very similar traits. Is Xi Jianping imitating Trump or is Trump imitating Xi Jianping? Well either way, both spell bad things for China in the near future.

Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, has said China has become “increasingly disruptive” on the world stage as she hinted in a speech at a new Indo-Pacific strategy expected to be released this month.

Her comments come ahead of several summits that Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is to attend, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, the G20 in Indonesia, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Thailand.

“China is an increasingly disruptive, global power,” Joly told a Toronto audience. “It seeks to shape the global environment into one that is more permissive for interests and values that increasingly depart from ours.

“And China’s rise as a global actor is reshaping the strategic outlook of every state in the region, including Canada.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/09/china-increasingly-disruptive-global-power-canadian-foreign-minister

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

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

Overall: C-

Change from 2017: Xi has turned into an insane lunatic, which is hardly surprising. If you’re thinking about visiting, don’t wander too far from the tourist areas.

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

Next week – we are having some fun and heading to the land of the Sydney Opera House, kangaroos, Australian Rules Football, and boomerangs – Australia and New Zealand!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]The Mars Volta[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, playing their song “Graveyard Love” from their album “The Mars Volta”, give up for The Mars Volta!

Thank you Riverside! We’re doing our first ever show in Hawaii next week with the famous Wheel Of Corruption! But I will warn that next week’s will be late. Check our official Twitter feed @10Idiots for more information. See you next week!

Credits

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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

November 3, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-13: Death Of A Shoe Salesman Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! What’s up, Mexico? We made it, we are here live from Los Cabos, or as us gringos refer to it – Cabo San Lucas! How are you guys doing? Are you doing fucking good? Well you know we want to thank the good folks at Cabo Wabo for inviting us out here. Unfortunately we could not bring the famous Wheel Of Corruption as it didn't clear customs in time. But we will make up for it by bringing you some of our famous Clips Without Context! Now don’t be sad, it will be back in 2023! So why are we doing a show in Mexico? And I answer you: Why not? Well we actually got approached by the good people at Cabo Wabo and the Los Cabos Tourism Bureau to do a show here last year to help promote tourism to Mexico, but couldn’t because of COVID, but now we are here, we are tanned, rested and ready to go! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! Look… look. This is why the MAGAs give cities like San Francisco a hard time. And I’m a dog person. But why the hell does my dog really deserve a finer dining experience than the one I’m getting? This is the stuff of insanity. Here’s the thing – dogs don’t care what they eat. You could literally put anything in front of them. But I do have to give this guy credit because there really is one born every minute. But why should Rover get a better meal for $75 while I’m spending $10 to eat Popeye’s? It makes no damn sense! And yeah we expect this trend to get even crazier and Oprah to pick it up, which means it will soon cost more to raise a dog than it will to raise a kid. We may need to explore this further in I Need A Drink next week. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first John Oliver is back and he discusses bail bonds reform:

Holy crap this was another banner week for conservative idiocy, so where do we start? I know I promised the Wheel this week but it had some technical difficulties and it didn’t work in time for this week’s show. So we will make it up with some of our famous Clips Without Context sprinkled throughout this edition! In the number one slot this week is the insane, brutal, and unnecessary attack on Nancy Pelosi’s house that sent her husband Paul Pelosi (1) to the hospital and the more you dig into that, the weirder it gets! In the second slot this week is Elon Musk (2). Yes, we know that Elon completed his hostile takeover of Twitter, but what’s not at all surprising is the sheer volume of racist and homophobic tweets that got put up in the 24 hours after the deal was done. In the third slot, speaking of racist stuff, our old buddy Kanye West (3) cost himself billionaire status when he kept shooting his mouth off, and his racist crap is only echoing and getting worse! In the number 4 slot this week is Clarence Thomas (4). Yes, the bony king of SCOTUS went rogue in a decision challenging the 2020 election results in Georgia, and yes, this story gets very weird, very quickly. Especially when you consider his treasonous wife Ginny. In the number 5 slot this week we have an all new Top 10 Investigates (5). This week we take a look at the world’s largest shipping hub – the UPS Worldport in Louisville, Kentucky. But would it surprise you that the working conditions there aren’t exactly what one would call “ideal”? We’re not! And it gets worse the more you dig into it! In the number 6 slot this week, is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, our resident pastor has discovered an alarming plot by fundamentalist Christians to take over your local schoolboard and replace them with lackeys and yes men is quite frankly disturbing! In the number 7 slot this week, we have a new edition of “This Fucking Guy” (7) and this week we’re profiling right wing white supremacist conspiracy theorist Dalton Clodfelter in a new edition! In the number 8 slot this week we have a new Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week it’s the return of the two dumbest con artists of all time – Jacob Wohl and Jack Berkman, and this week they’re finally getting their just deserts! Or are they? Only one way to find out! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we’re at a Cantina, so of course we have to have a drink or three in a new “I Need A Drink” and this week we’re going to talk about the rise of one of the most insane movies to come out in the last 5 years and it’s about one of our favorite subjects – creepy clowns (9)! Yes, Terrifyer 2 is the stuff of creepy clown nightmares! Finally this week it’s time for our World Tour 2022! And this week it’s Destination #12 and just in time for Diwali, we’re heading to the land of Bollywood, Rugby, and the Taj Mahal – India! Finally to close things out, we have a live appearance from the legendary Duran Duran! Buy their new album “Future Past” or you’re no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]The Attack On Nancy Pelosi’s House
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Let’s get things started with one of our patented (patent pending) Clips Without Context!

Channeling his inner Archer is he? Damn cyborgs! Wait, that’s cyborg-ist! Oh well, back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Well it finally happened. After years of conservatives threatening to “take out” liberals with a *wink wink, nudge nudge* variety of stochastic terrorism, one MAGA actually went out and committed a real act of terrorism. The intended victim? Current speaker of the house, and third in line for the presidency of the United States, Nancy Pelosi. What they got instead? They got Nancy’s 82 year old husband Paul Pelosi. And yes, in case you’re wondering – the suspect they arrested was a hardcore MAGA lunatic who had multiple Fox and right wing talking points on his social media feeds. Look, we can’t say this enough – stochastic terrorism is real. And there’s a lot of it out there. So much that we can’t even process it all, and we also say that stochastic terrorism turns into real terrorism if we’re not careful. The real scary thing is that as violent as this attack was, it will spawn copycats. And we haven’t even begun to dig into the Fox News attempts to pass it off like nothing’s happening. But here’s what happened.

Paul Pelosi is awake and coherent and talking with investigators from his hospital bed days after he was attacked and brutally beaten in a home invasion early Friday, according to a report from NBC News, citing a source with knowledge of the investigation.

On Sunday, investigators from San Francisco police, Capitol Police, the FBI and the San Francisco District Attorney's Office took Pelosi's testimony, NBC News reported. Pelosi has all of his cognitive functioning and appeared to remember everything as he recounted his version of the events, according to the report.

Meanwhile, federal charges were filed Monday against the suspect, David DePape, in the attack on Pelosi. Prosecutors announced charges of attempted kidnapping and retaliating against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member.

The San Francisco DA's Office also is expected to charge DePape with attempted murder and several other felonies.

Read more: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/san-francisco/formal-charges-in-paul-pelosi-attack/3063619/?fbclid=IwAR3GxL3JtneJxyfu704k76UudHHThkRmbppT3xAs7tpBDnyDQUhKxvm0KlU

Yeah hooooooooooooooooooooooooooly shit! What’s even worse than that is that it didn’t even take 24 hours for the conspiracy theories to start flying! And this is where we say that stochastic terrorism is real, folks. The right wing has been doing this for nearly 50 years now. It probably will never end, either, as hate is a nearly multi-billion dollar a year industry in the United States. But there’s no denying that this entirely on MAGA conservatives, who’ve been making veiled threats against us for years. And it’s only natural that they’re in full on “move along, nothing to see here, please disperse” mode.

Prominent figures on social media, including some of the loudest voices on the political right, are pushing a salacious and false conspiracy theory about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, in an apparent attempt to shift the narrative about the assault.

The claim that big names like Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jr., and Dinesh D’Souza have promoted to millions of their followers: Paul Pelosi and the man who attacked him were gay lovers who had gotten into a fight.

The spurious theory traces back to an incorrect early news report and a handful of pieces of evidence that its proponents have spun wildly out of context. It runs contrary to the explanation police and federal law enforcement have outlined – that the suspect in the attack, David DePape, broke into Pelosi’s house and attacked him.

“There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pelosi knew this man,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told CNN in an interview. “As a matter of fact, the evidence indicates the exact opposite.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/politics/pelosi-attack-right-wing-conspiracy-theories-invs/index.html

So Fox News is obviously in “nothing to see here, please disperse” mode. And you just know they’re still going at it on Hannity and Tucker every night with the same “wink wink nudge nudge” attitude that got us here in the first place. Look, the official stance of the Top 10 is that we’re a comedy show. We condemn violence of all kinds – political or not. But the guy who should be setting a good example for his user base – new Twitter owner and king of the trolls, Elon Musk, certainly didn’t help things. Instead, he amplified the already vicious conspiracy theory and inspired even more hate speech! Seriously, I give up some times.

Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, tweeted and deleted an unfounded anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory Sunday morning about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband from a website that has a history of publishing false information.

Musk responded to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she tweeted out a Los Angeles Times story about how David DePape, the suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi, had spread far-right conspiracy theories.

Clinton tweeted the link to that story along with the message: "The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories. It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow."

Musk wrote to Clinton at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, linking to a story published on a right-wing website called the Santa Monica Observer that questioned the circumstances of the attack on Pelosi, according to an archived version of the story. “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” he wrote. (The website was no longer accessible late Sunday morning.)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/elon-musk-new-owner-twitter-tweets-unfounded-conspiracy-theory-paul-pe-rcna54717

Yeah seriously, you got to wonder what the absolute hell is wrong with people like this. Well, we’ve been trying to figure that one out for 5 years and haven’t been able to, so the answer to that question is we don’t know. But one thing we do know is that you know how we like to show you conservative reactions to things? We could spend all day on this topic, because there were some pretty spectacular reactions, but maybe the worst of the worst came from inexplicable Arizona gubernatorial candidate and MAGA super fan Kari Lake. Who is definitely loving this, we presume. It’s campaign fodder now for these lunatics. That’s what happens when the opposition party has been taken over by psychopaths.

Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, made light Monday of the violent assault against Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband on Friday.

“It is not impossible to protect our kids at school. They act like it is,” Lake said at a campaign stop along her “Ask Me Anything” tour.

“Nancy Pelosi — well, she’s got protection when she’s in D.C. Apparently her house doesn’t have a lot of protection,” Lake said, prompting laughs and applause from the crowd and the event moderator beside her.

The Speaker was in Washington, D.C., when an intruder broke into her California home and attacked her 82-year-old husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and significant injuries to his right arm and hands, according to the lawmaker’s spokesperson.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-governor-candidate-kari-lake-221539673.html

[font size="8"]Elon Musk
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You ever get the feeling like something really bad is going to happen? That’s kind of what it was like when our old buddy Elon Musk – you know him better as the CEO of Tesla and Space X, finally completed his hostile takeover of Twitter. And it seemed like he was determined to become king of the internet trolls whether we wanted him to or not. He spent a total of $44 billion dollars to do this. That’s right - $44 BILLION. With a B. If you’re an avid Twitter user like we are (yes, the @10Idiots account is still active, for now), naturally you were pretty horrified. Because once Elon took over Twitter, the hate speech flew. Don’t worry we’ll get to that in a minute.. And we’ve often said that Elon is a furry cat and an island fortress away from becoming a full blown James Bond villain. Well, he might have those things, or he might not. You don’t know, man! You don’t know! But one thing he does have control of, and I say complete control, is Twitter.

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, the world's richest person, finally completed his purchase of social media platform Twitter (TWTR) on Oct. 27 in a deal that takes the company private, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Dogecoin (DOGE), a cryptocurrency that's become synonymous with the billionaire, rallied.

Announced in April, the acquisition hit multiple roadblocks along the way, with Musk threatening to pull out because of allegations about the number of bots who use Twitter. The company at one point erected a barrier known as a poison pill to block the takeover.

But earlier this month, Musk proposed moving ahead again at the original price of $44 billion, or $54.20 per share, according to a letter from Musk's attorneys to Twitter's lawyers that was also filed with the SEC. Shares of Twitter were suspended from trading after Thursday's close, last trading at $53.70, and they are getting removed from the S&P 500, a benchmark for the U.S. stock market.

Meanwhile, DOGE surged, up 13% from 24 hours earlier as of 17:01 UTC on Friday. The billionaire has suggested using DOGE for payments on Twitter, and it's also become a proxy for sentiment about Musk. DOGE had rallied strongly in the lead-up to the deal's completion.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/28/elon-musk-finally-closes-deal-to-purchase-twitter-cnbc-reports/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! In case you’re wondering about Elon’s plans to have a moderation free Twitter, well, be prepared for an absolute shocker here – it wasn’t even 12 hours after the acquisition was complete that racist tweets started pouring in. And some of your favorite accounts probably got kicked off or muted. Yes – that means that gratuitous use of the “N” word and Nazi memes were flying. Not to mention whether or not former president Turd Burgler would return. But yeah the trolls were fast and furious.

Not long after Tesla founder Elon Musk took control of Twitter, trolls littered the site with hate speech and Nazi memes, raising fears that the social media platform could become a home for online hate.

The Washington Post reported that the flood of racist and hateful posts is a clear signs the site has changed ownership. One tweet, a racial slur in capital letters, was retweeted more than 700 times and liked more than 5,000 times. Other accounts have included swastikas as profile pictures, glorifying Nazi Germany, and tweets denouncing the LGBTQ+ community.

The rise in hate speech has led many to believe the return of Former President Donald Trump to the site is imminent. However, Musk tweeted that he has not made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.

One change that numerous outlets have reported is that Twitter will begin charging $20 per month for its blue check verification. The blue checkmark is typically used to verify that statements are coming from specific individuals and organizations. Musk seemingly wants to turn it into a status symbol.
https://www.yahoo.com/video/racist-tweets-fly-across-twitter-170055558.html

Seriously, remember way back in the early days of the Top 10 when we talked about Microsoft’s chat AI bot that got turned into a suicidal racist (see: Idiots #1-22 )? We thought it was a joke back then! Oh if only we knew then what we know now! But I digress, we must move forward, not backwards. Anyway the idea to combat this by charging $20 a month is insane. Who’s going to pay for that? Not me! Well now reports of a Twitter rival have begun to surface and if everyone goes over to that platform to say “screw you” to Elon, then well, he deserves it. But you also deserve it if you don’t know what you’re getting into before you sign up! Buyer beware!

Just as Elon Musk was finalizing his purchase of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, the company's founder and former CEO, announced a beta for a new social-media company.

Dorsey's blockchain-based Bluesky Social announced last Tuesday that it's launching soon and is currently enlisting users for beta testing. The initial news drew 30,000 sign-ups within two days, company representatives said. Users can still sign up to join the app to become a beta user before the platform is publicly available.

Bluesky's website said it's intended to support "a new foundation for social networking which gives creators independence from platforms, developers the freedom to build, and users a choice in their experience." According to Gizmodo, one of its Bluesky's main selling points is that its technology — which it calls "AT Protocol" — will give users control of their algorithms.

Dorsey had said in 2019 that Twitter was funding work into developing "an open and decentralized standard for social media."
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-jack-dorsey-launches-beta-bluesky-social-app-2022-10

OK, Jack! And seriously people, stop being nice to the MAGAs! They won’t accept anything you do, so screw them! They tried to overthrow the government and are going full Nazi, they don’t get to have nice things. By the way, in case you’re wondering – why yes, the acquisition of Twitter is costing Elon in more ways than just the $44 billion that he spent on it. Turns out, as we keep saying here, that actions have consequences! Shocker, I know! But who knew that blowing the GDP of a small country on a free speech platform would have problems? I saw it coming!

Twitter is free. You can go on there and type your embarrassing little thoughts for the whole world to see any time you like. Millions of us have been doing this for years. Revealing to everyone how dumb your inner thoughts are may cost you your reputation, sure, but it won’t cost you any money. Not even if you’re the richest man in the country.

So why spend $44bn to buy it? That’s a fair piece of change, even to someone whose net worth hovers above $200bn. It’s also much more than the company is actually worth, as evidenced by Elon Musk’s desperate attempt to get out of the deal almost as soon as he had gotten irretrievably into it. The price is too high to be a pure lifestyle purchase – if you want a media property just for the social cachet and party invitations, it can be had much cheaper. Fellow villainous mega-billionaire space tourist Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for a mere $250m, less than 1% of what Musk just paid for a cacophonous global collection of weird, hollering self-promotion.

In truth, Musk probably bought Twitter for the same reason that sickeningly rich people throughout history have become press barons: to try to control the conversation. About themselves, in particular, and secondly about their own economic interests, and thirdly about their own inevitably selfish, bizarre, half-witted political beliefs. Once you have ascended the ladder of wealth past buying real estate and cars and boats and models and the other tawdry baubles that come with money, there comes a time when a hardworking plutocrat begins to be irked by the fact that, beyond their sphere of servants, people are still talking trash about them. It upsets their sense of omnipotence. After the thrill of bending the material world to their whim has worn off, the desire to bend the public conversation – and, by extension, the public mind – to their own liking takes root.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/28/elon-musk-twitter-disaster

[font size="8"]Kanye West
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Let’s do another one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Holy crap, that sounds like the worst campout ever! Back to our regularly scheduled programming!

For all of you complaining about our gratuitous use of clips from the infamous Kanye gay fish episode of South Park, well I got news for ya. If Kanye can go full Nazi and inspire hate and racism all across the country, we get to fling any amount of shit we can possibly fling at him. And it’s got incredibly bad since the last week. But I first want to start with this story because I got numerous requests for it over the weekend. So last week we touched on the campaign to get Adidas to drop Ye’s line of shoes, which they did – even if it was unwillingly. But I literally fell on the floor laughing when I saw Ye’s attempt to find an alternate shoe supplier backfired on him spectacularly. So apparently what happened was that Ye was distraught that his full blown Nazi remarks cost him status as a billionaire. So what does a billionaire former rapper turned gospel king turned shoe salesman do when he’s down? You go find an alternate shoe supplier. And I gotta tell ya, I have to admire Sketchers for having the balls to do this. Because this is pretty ballsy!

Athletic shoe company Skechers said in a statement Wednesday that two of its executives escorted embattled musician Kanye West from one of its Los Angeles buildings.

The company said West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, “arrived unannounced and without invitation.” It said he was engaged in “unauthorized filming” and he was escorted out “after a brief conversation.”

“Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West,” the company said in its Wednesday statement. “We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate antisemitism or any other form of hate speech.”

West’s visit to Skechers (SKX) comes a day after Adidas ended its partnership with the musician with “immediate effect.” Adidas put the “partnership under review” in early October after he wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt in public. The Anti-Defamation League categorizes the phrase as a “hate slogan” used by White supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan.

Recently, West said “I can say antisemitic s*** and Adidas cannot drop me,” during a tirade against Jews on the Drink Champs Podcast. He also threatened on Twitter to “Go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/business/kanye-west-skechers

Thank you Nelson! And this is another one of those things – play stupid games, win stupid prizes! No prize is more stupid than getting canceled because you went full Nazi. You know what Kanye and white supremacists out there? We fought two whole world wars over this shit. And you lost both of them. You are on the wrong side! Get over yourselves, you racist assholes! Thank you Los Cabos! You know this is a lot like that movie Death Of A Salesman. But let’s update this for 2022 and call it “Death Of A Shoe Salesman”. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Graphics department does it again! But what took so long for Ye’s sponsors to finally drop him?

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has been making controversial statements for years. Over the past few weeks, his latest tirade, laden with antisemitism, triggered the loss of major partnerships and widespread condemnation from Hollywood.

Ye’s problematic comments have gone largely unchecked for years. It was only his latest antisemitic rants, which have been embraced by far-right groups as an excuse to ramp up hate speech, that brought in sweeping economic and social repercussions for the rapper and fashion designer. What took so long for Ye to face real consequences? And what can we learn from the discourse around double standards in hate speech?

Ye's incendiary speech has spanned years. He said in 2018 that slavery "seemed like a choice." In October, he debuted sweatshirts that read "White Lives Matter" in large block letters at his Yzy Paris Fashion Week show (and wore it again a few days later to his daughter's basketball game). A few days after that, he falsely claimed that George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose, rather than being killed by a police officer.

The rapper has spoken about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which mental health experts have noted can explain why he may make provocative comments – but does not excuse them.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/11/01/kanye-west-ye-antisemitic-comments-public-opinion/10623906002/

No dude, you’re just a guy who wrote a couple of good rap albums and haven’t performed a full tour since 2016. Here’s the thing – I’ve always had a serious ick factor when it comes to Ye. Never liked the guy, but never quite hated him either. Though in the last year, and especially in the last month, he’s made himself hateable. Especially since he’s been inspiring and enabling the haters across the country in the last week or so. And don’t expect this to end either. It’s not a sitcom where we can just say what we learned and laugh about ourselves. It’s not going to end any time soon. It’s going to get worse.

An electronic antisemitic message appeared at TIAA Bank Field at the end of the Georgia-Florida game Saturday night, according to a video shared by a television reporter.

The hate message came as similar messages appeared on signs elsewhere in Jacksonville Friday and Saturday.

The message "Kanye was right about the jews" was projected onto TIAA Bank Field's videoboard. It referred to Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, who posted hate speech attacking Jews on social media earlier in the week.

Other hate messages reported in Jacksonville included banners hoisted on an Interstate 10 overpass on Jacksonville's Westside and on the Arlington Expressway and a message projected on the outside of a downtown building. A similar message was reported on a Los Angeles freeway a week ago.

The Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida condemned the "antisemitic rhetoric and messages of Jewish hatred here in our city."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2022/10/30/antisemitic-message-citing-kanye-west-shown-at-florida-georgia-game/10646218002/

Yeah so for those of you keeping score at home, last week, we had a Nazi rally on the I-405 freeway in Los Angeles, which is way too close to home for my comfort. And then on the other side of I-10 in Jacksonville, Florida, you have people displaying anti-semitic messages outside of Jacksonville Jaguars games. But the bad thing is that if we’re going to tackle the growing issue of increasingly extremist hate speech in this country and around the world, canceling or taking your frustrations out on Ye isn’t going to be the answer. We have to address the root of the problem before we can begin to heal.

This is exactly why Kanye West’s recent antisemitic interviews are so dangerous. Ye has over 50 million followers on Instagram and Twitter combined. His words carry weight and it’s his failed responsibility to know others would adopt his belief because of his lofted and unworthy celebrity status. At the end of Georgia and Florida’s neutral-field SEC game in Jacksonville, someone projected the statement “Kanye was right about the Jews!” onto the TIAA Bank Field scoreboard.

West lost his partnership with Adidas and other brand deals after his repeated antisemitic remarks. The message seen in Jacksonville was incredibly similar to the one seen last weekend on a banner hanging over the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles, with another asking passing cars to honk their horns if they agree, all while giving Nazi salutes. The Anti-Defamation League, whose mission is to stop the mistreatment of Jewish people and provide equal treatment for all, found 2,717 antisemitism events in 2021, a 34 percent increase from 2020. That averages to more than seven such incidents per day.

It’s another disturbing example in a recent awful trend of antisemitism boiling to the surface, joining examples of Jason Whitlock and Kyrie Irving posting antisemitic content on social media. TIAA Bank Field is home to the Jaguars, who luckily don’t play in Florida this week and could expose more fans to the antisemitic rhetoric. They’re in London to play the Broncos. That message was far from a mistake. Someone with access to the scoreboard intentionally put it there and should be disciplined. Nothing else is acceptable for posting that. If I worked at the Southeastern Conference, I’d want to be sure no one from the Bulldogs or Gators athletic departments was involved. If not, I’d consider moving the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” to a campus site next season.
https://deadspin.com/no-kanye-isnt-right-so-stop-sharing-antisemitic-hate-1849720347

[font size="8"]Clarence Thomas
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It's time for another one of our patented (patent pending) Clips Without Context!

Dude, you do realize this is 100% going full Nazi here, right? And speaking of dangerous extremists, let's check in on SCOTUS!

We all knew that with a SCOTUS full of religious fundamentalist extremists, that it was only a matter of time before they went rogue, right? Well who knew that time would be now? As we were putting together last week’s edition, Clarence Thomas went full obstructionist and interfered with Lindsay Graham testifying before the Georgia Elections Board about interference in the 2020 election. George Carlin was right – it’s a big club and we’re not in it. If you’re in the audience, or you’re viewing this show at home, you know that we’re not in the proverbial Big Club. But there’s no mistaking that what Clarence Thomas did was a “do not fuck with us” kind of message – you know, like that infamous Brad Pitt scene in Fight Club. Yes, the lunatic right wing fringe that has taken over has devolved into their own real life version of Project Mayhem. Only a matter of time before they start destroying public works of art and trashing franchise coffee houses.

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday temporarily put on hold a requirement that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., testify in a Georgia prosecutor's probe of allegations of interference in the 2020 election by former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The decision by Thomas, who handles emergency requests that arise from Georgia, freezes the litigation while the justices weigh Graham's plea that the Supreme Court quash the subpoena. Thomas had asked lawyers for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office to respond to Graham's request by close of business Thursday. Thomas can handle the application by himself, although generally such issues get referred to the full nine-justice court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.

Last week, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Graham's attempt to avoid answering questions about two phone calls he made to Georgia election officials after the 2020 election because, he argued, his actions were protected under the Constitution’s speech and debate clause.

Graham's lawyers argued in a request filed last week that the court needs to step in or else Graham's “constitutional immunities will be lost, and his statutorily guaranteed appeal mooted, the moment the local Georgia prosecutor questions him.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/justice-clarence-thomas-temporarily-blocks-graham-testimony-georgia-el-rcna53723

Yes the right, alt right, far right, and all the other flavors of extreme conservatism have gone into “do not fuck with us” mode. So why did they do it? Well for one thing it could have something to do with Clarence Thomas’s treasonous wife Ginny, who we’ve all established is a die-hard Trump supporter, founding member of and supporter of campus conservative group TPUSA, and she probably got paid some 6 figures from the Federalist Society. Yeah wait, what? Yeah that happened! Shit, give me close to a mil and I’ll happily do anything you say!

Who knew that working for a conservative think tank paid so well?

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Virginia Thomas, the politically active wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, earned over $680,000 over five years while working at the Heritage Foundation. That’s pretty nice scratch.

A possible problem: according to Common Cause, Clarence Thomas never reported the income in his federal financial disclosures…

Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, according to a Common Cause review of the foundation’s IRS records. Thomas failed to note the income in his Supreme Court financial disclosure forms for those years, instead checking a box labeled “none” where “spousal noninvestment income” would be disclosed…

In his 2009 disclosure, Justice Thomas also reported spousal income as “none.” Common Cause contends that Liberty Central paid Virginia Thomas an unknown salary that year.
https://abovethelaw.com/2011/01/clarence-thomas-and-his-wifes-680000-of-unreported-income/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Look before anyone points out that this story is over 10 years old, first off – the answer is yes, we know. And the second answer is – this story is back in the news because, since the overturning of Roe V. Wade back in June, it shows the kind of corrupt asshole that Clarence Thomas really is, and why we should have removed him from the court when we had the chance to. And you know what? MAGA conservatives can cry all they want about “shadow banning” (which isn’t a thing), but what’s a shadow docket? That seems like a fact worth knowing!

The Supreme Court’s new term is barely three weeks old, and already public discussion has been dominated by transparent Republican efforts to use the court to secure political victories — or, at least, to avoid political defeats. There was former President Donald Trump’s effort to have the justices step into the ongoing dispute over his classified Mar-a-Lago files. There was the attempt by Wisconsin taxpayers to have the court shut down President Joe Biden’s student loan debt forgiveness program. There was South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s request that the court block a lower-court ruling requiring him to answer questions before a Fulton County grand jury investigating attempted interference in the 2020 election. And, most recently, there was Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward's request to block a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.

All these came as requests for emergency relief — efforts to have the court issue interim rulings on its so-called “shadow docket,” temporarily freezing the relevant lower-court decision while the appeals process plays out. And the common thread uniting them wasn’t lost on commentators; Steven Mazie, who covers the court for The Economist, tweeted that the docket is becoming a magnet for "generalized GOP gripes.”
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-trying-exploit-supreme-court-docket-trend-n1300236

Of course it would directly benefit that asshole! It all comes back to him doesn’t it? Well, while the right plays a dangerous game of “quid pro quo”, conservatives are definitely taking the time to scratch each other’s backs while growing their cult and spreading their hate. So was the ruling on Lindsay Graham an actual ruling or was it a “do not fuck with us” message? We’re guessing the latter because conservatives are trying to escalate the conservative – democratic cold war into an actual war, and things are probably going to backfire on them big time.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to block a subpoena demanding his testimony before a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in that state’s 2020 presidential election.

The court in its ruling said a federal judge’s earlier order upholding the subpoena adequately protected Graham from being questioned about what he has claimed was legislative activity during his testimony, as provided for by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.

There were no noted dissents by any of the Supreme Court’s justices to the order, which lifts a temporary hold placed on the subpoena last week by Justice Clarence Thomas.

The Fulton County special grand jury is probing the actions of former President Donald Trump and his allies, including Graham, on the heels of Georgia’s 2020 election, which was won by President Joe Biden.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/01/supreme-court-denies-sen-lindsey-grahams-request-to-avoid-testifying-in-georgia-election-interference-case.html

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: UPS Worldport
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It's time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

Mega warehouses like the ones owned by Amazon have recently come under fire for how they treat, or in most cases, mistreat their employees. Louisville, Kentucky is home to one of the world’s largest shipping hubs – the UPS Worldport at SDF Airport. The shipping hub – which is about the size of a small city and has more gates than even some of the largest airline hubs in the United States – is the latest mega business to come under fire. The UPS Worldport is capable of processing 115 packages a second, and that’s extremely impressive. But what’s not impressive is the horrifying conditions that lay underneath the surface of the flashy exterior. And the more you dig into the workplace conditions surrounding one of the world’s largest shipping hubs, the worse it gets. So what is it like to work at the world’s largest shipping hub? Well there are some caveats, but they’re the same ones that currently come with any large employer.

“The working conditions are tragic,” said a UPS worker who has been at the site for a year. “She was pregnant, I believe she was in her second trimester, and she got fired because she fell asleep on the job and instead of being walked out, because whenever a person gets fired, the manager who fires them has to walk them off into the property and that manager didn’t do that. She said that she has to collect herself in the bathroom and he didn’t make sure that she came out of the bathroom, so she was given free rein of the property.”

She was found dead at the facility later that evening.

The company declined to comment on the specifics of the case. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our employee and extend our sympathies to her family and friends. We do not share personal employment and health-related information about our employees, although you should know that there are a number of inaccurate posts on social media about this tragedy.”

One worker who spoke to the Guardian said they weren’t surprised something like this had happened at the facility. They said workers at the site were under immense pressure, with threats of termination for being late, for going to the bathroom one too many times, all while under constant surveillance and scrutiny. The worker is recovering from having their hand smashed by heavy packages. They said losing fingernails, smashing fingers and bruised toes from heavy package loads are a common occurrence that workers have to work through.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/oct/24/ups-worker-suicide-employees-disclose-tragic-conditions

Yes – WTF. And why does it not happen more often? It’s a combined shit storm of failed conservative right to work policies and an insane workplace culture. The UPS Worldport is classified as a “super factory”. But the terrible working conditions are not the only thing affecting United Parcel Service, one of the world’s largest shipping providers. No, they’re also looking at the possibility of a massive strike, something that could affect more companies than just UPS. Could it happen? It’s possible that it will, but Gov. Beshear is taking steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen.

Talk of a national strike at United Parcel Service (UPS) is a welcome change from the two decades of retreat under the Teamsters’ former General President James P. Hoffa. There has only been one national strike in UPS’s history, in 1997, under the leadership of the union’s first democratically elected leader, Ron Carey.

A national strike is long overdue. Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters have paid a catastrophic price for a compliant leadership–Teamsters leader James Hoffa’s ratification in October in 2018 of a contract that members voted down.

Strike talk has been in the air for nearly two years, so few will be ill-prepared if a strike appears imminent. The Teamsters will be holding strike authorization votes across the country next year. We should expect members to vote overwhelmingly in favor. All of the parties interested in preventing a national strike are in the initial stages of mobilizing their forces, including UPS, the Biden administration, and major retail giants reliant on UPS’s delivery network.

The close political relationship between the Teamsters—along with the major trade union federation, the AFL-CIO—and the Biden administration is likely to weaken, if not outright undermine, any move toward a national strike at UPS, despite the bluster coming from union officials. Fred Zuckerman, General Secretary-Treasurer of the Teamsters, recently said, “We want to go to UPS and kick the shit out of them.” Yet, Teamsters officials welcomed the intervention of the Biden administration in the rail negotiations that produced a weak and unpopular tentative agreement.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/10/27/will-there-be-a-national-strike-at-ups/

Yes so working in an Amazon Fulfillment Center is kind of like that. But the conditions that are plaguing the UPS Worldport Center are the same problems that are popping up at mega factories all over the world, and it’s not just limited to the United States. If the solution is unionization, well look at what happened to Amazon employees on Staten Island when they tried to unionize. Amazon immediately suspended them. Because god forbid that employees should happen to have an independent thought free from their bosses and soul-crushing mega conglomerate.

The International Amazon Workers Voice calls on all workers to oppose the blatant victimization of these workers and demand their immediate reinstatement with full back pay.

The fire started in a trash compactor inside the building around 4 p.m. on Monday. As shown in several videos taken by warehouse workers and posted on social media, the blaze was significant and not isolated from the rest of the facility; a clear danger to those working inside.

One worker, a stower in the warehouse, told the World Socialist Web Site Tuesday that management, responding to the fire alarm, initially told day-shift workers to remain at their work stations. Keeping workers at their stations during an emergency is apparently standard operating procedure at JFK8. The worker told the WSWS that during past fire alarms, despite work stations powering down, management instructed workers to, “Stay at your stations while we investigate.”

Workers were eventually told to evacuate the facility after management saw the fire firsthand, and they were sent home with pay. “This was not surprising,” one worker told the WSWS. “The day shift was almost over anyway, so they thought they might as well send us home.” Workers also reported that they were not allowed to use nearby fire exits but had to use turnstiles to “badge out” before leaving the facility.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/10/05/csus-o05.html

There is another option – which is a shocker, but it could be that companies need to pay their workers more! After all, while everyone is arguing about corporations’ bottom lines, there is one thing that is perfectly clear. That is that your corporate overlords own you. And when you work there, you’re there a long time. So is more pay the goal? Or is less hours and more benefits the goal? The key take away here is that there’s no one solution that will satisfy everyone. And every solution cuts into your employer’s 10 digit profit margins. Which makes them unhappy. But death definitely isn’t the solution.

The world's largest iPhone factory in central China told staff on Tuesday it would quadruple their bonuses if they remained at the plant after scores of workers fled a coronavirus outbreak at the facility.

China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to stamp out emerging outbreaks.

But new variants have tested local officials' ability to snuff out flare-ups faster than they can spread, causing much of the East Asian country to live under an ever-changing mosaic of Covid curbs.

Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn's plant in the city of Zhengzhou in east-central Henan province has been under lockdown since mid-October, with the company saying it was testing employees daily and keeping them in a closed loop.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/11/02/news/world/iphone-plant-ups-bonuses-to-keep-workers-inside/1864682

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

[font size="8"]Holy Shit: The Great Schoolboard Takeover
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It's time for another one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Yeah "godly" people gave us the biggest boorish jackass who's ever dared to call himself a leader. Yeah if anything we need less of them in power! Speaking of godly people, it's time for Holy Shit!

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know I hate to keep talking about this, but I fear that this is where the Christian right is heading. We keep saying that the party that bans books is about to do some really evil shit. Yes, it’s OK to swear in my church! But if your local schoolboard is being infiltrated and taken over by Christian extremists and is banning books, it’s about time we traced back to where this shit is coming from. Apparently the Christian right has appointed themselves the savior of the American school system whether we want them to or not. But it’s taking the idea of the culture war to ridiculous extremes. Why? Because these people worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, depraved and disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! But just look at where one school board is going – let’s check out Placer County, California. Which is the home of? You guessed it – one of the biggest megachurches in America! And their agenda is the exact opposite of what GAWD and JAYSUS want now, isn’t it!

Of the candidates running for three open seats on the five-member board of the Eureka Union School District, which includes elementary and middle schools in Roseville and Granite Bay, three are running as a slate promising to preserve parental rights. But what exactly does that mean?

“Parental rights,” a phrase that has grown in popularity throughout Placer County during the pandemic, is shorthand for opposition to everything from school masking and vaccine requirements to coursework perceived to promote “critical race theory” by dealing with matters of race or diversity. It’s not exactly parental rights so much as it is the supposed right of a subset of parents and others to impose their particular beliefs on a public school system.

“There is a contingent in Placer that feels very strongly that matters around health and safety are a personal decision for parents and students,” said Phil Escamilla, one of the school board candidates running on the slate. “There is a strong movement in support of opposing mandates and supporting individual choice.”

Escamilla is the vice president of academic affairs at William Jessup University, a private Christian college in Rocklin that has been accused of homophobia. Also running on the slate are orthopedic surgeon Robert Jamieson, an outspoken opponent of so-called critical race theory, and district parent Erin Grover, a real estate agent and former daycare operator.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article267229167.html#storylink=cpy

But this is the exact kind of bullshit that we’ve had to put up with the last two years! But that’s just one county! In fact this shit is happening across the country. If you think that elections don’t matter, think again, my fair congregation! Do not leave any checkmark on your ballot box unchecked, because someone might decide to vote for you. If you don’t have children, you may think that school board elections aren’t important. Well I can assure you – they are extremely important! And it’s where fascism begins. Because as we’ve said before, the party that bans books is about to do some really evil shit, and we’ve fought two world wars over this sort of thing.

Residents of the Forest Hills School District lined up out the door last month for the first FHPS school board candidate forum, waiting to get past security and have their state I.D. checked to make sure they live in the district.

That’s an unusual level of security for a school board candidate forum — but this year, running for the school board has been anything but typical. The group hosting the forum brought in the security in case the forum got out of hand.

It didn’t. But the dozens of raucous school board protests that have happened over the last few years in Michigan have given some reason to be cautious.

Local races have become significantly more politicized than in recent election cycles, said executive director of the Michigan Association of School Boards Don Wotruba, especially as national political leaders have focused on divisive and partisan issues in schools.

This election season is different. National and statewide political groups have gotten involved in local school board elections this season by leading candidate trainings, endorsing candidates, sharing talking points and providing resources and funding.

Vladimir Kogan, an associate professor of global politics at Ohio State University, said public interest in school boards ebbs and flows. Usually the public is more involved in their local school board when controversial issues are discussed by national leaders.
https://michiganadvance.com/2022/11/01/contentious-school-board-elections-create-new-divides-in-communities-across-michigan/

No it isn’t. But what is being tossed around at school board meetings is. Look, if these people show up to your school board and they don’t live in your county, they should be shown the door and that’s about it, because they are paid protest groups. And they are there to stir shit and convert followers who don’t worship GAWD and JAYSUS to their side! They are there to do the bidding of an evil mad man whose news network they are glued to 24 hours a day! It is the news network that worships the unholy, ungodly Dark One and stole the Supreme Court from us!

God, please help the teachers, for the Conway School Board does not know or care what havoc it reaps.

First, the board adopted two policies targeting transgender students. Then it banned two books from its library shelves about transgender young people. Now, it’s considering a fascist dictum targeting not only gender issues but also racial and religious ones — the latter being at the root of the gender bashing, of course.

Under consideration is policy proposal 5.5.2 Use Or Display Of Instructional Materials (3). It’s an eight-page horror story that already is being shared by email and other social media among frightened parents and others across the city. Once known for having three colleges, Conway is now known for homophobia, Christian nationalism and a sermon about death and damnation during a public school board meeting.

Policy proposal 5.5.2, drafted by school district attorney Jay Bequette at the board’s request, apparently started out as a room-decor policy but has evolved, or rather devolved, into a seemingly endless list of forbidden language and concepts.

The proposal begins by saying it would ban the teaching or advocacy of critical race theory and the 1619 Project — neither of which is taught in the Conway School District, noted Superintendent Jeff Collum.
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2022/10/24/conway-school-board-considering-frightening-policy-to-ban-teaching-of-dozens-of-concepts

?

Yes they do! They are out to change your schoolboard and install a radical religious agenda on our youth, and that can’t be good! That is not what GAWD and JAYSUS have intended, now is it? But we can be certain that this isn’t going to end well for either side. But let this be a lesson – do not leave any box on your ballot unchecked! Because shit like this can happen. Oh and by the way in case you’re wondering, yes, politics does make for strange bedfellows. Because radical Christians are siding with another group of religious radicals. And you know what they say about the company you keep!

A recent school board meeting at which about 1,000 people gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, to pressure district officials to censor books with LGBTQ+ themes was in most ways similar to hundreds of other recent book ban hearings across the US.

Speakers alleged the books “promote mental health issues” and “self harm”, while the school district and liberals were seeking to “indoctrinate children”. Gay people, they said, were “creeps and pedohiles”, and gay lifestyles were equated with zoophilia.

“American values and the American way is not child pornography,” one angry parent told the Dearborn public school board.

But the speakers were not the white, rightwing conservative Christians usually behind efforts to censor literature in public schools. Instead, the heated audience was almost all Muslim Arab Americans.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/16/dearborn-michigan-book-bans

Sigh… this isn’t a conflict that is going to end any time soon, and it’s the product of the Dark One, SAYTAN, and a news network with an incredibly evil agenda. Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Dalton Clodfelter
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is Dalton Clodfelter. You might know the name, but he’s a right wing white wing religious extremist and full blown racist podcaster. In case you’re wondering what kind of guy this Mr. Clodfelter is, he’s the poster child for Christian nationalism and what happens when one takes their beliefs way too far. In case you’re wondering what Mr. Clodfelter’s right wing credentials are, well, he speaks Fox. And he also speaks white supremacy. So with that if you’re on the dark corners of the internet, you can gain lots of followers. It’s almost scary the cult-like presence that right wing propaganda has on people. But this is one scary extremist. And it’s also scary to think that this is what the future of the right wing is going to be. After all the Christian propaganda and right-wing extremism that’s being broadcast 24 hours a day, it’s starting to have an effect on the youth, which is definitely not a good thing.

In addition to being a racist, antisemitic Christian fascist and white nationalist, Dalton Clodfelter is, like many others in the America First movement, a raging misogynist. And his misogyny was on full display Wednesday night during his “The Right Dissident” program broadcast on The Stew Peters Network.

Ostensibly outraged about a woman who killed and skinned a Siberian husky dog that she thought was a wolf, Clodfelter went on a 15- minute-long rant in which he declared that women are too dumb to be allowed to vote or have any sort of career outside of the home.

“We hear oftentimes mainstream conservatives talk about radical feminism as being a threat to the United States,” Clodfelter said. “I disagree. I think feminism in general is a threat to the United States; not radical feminism, but feminism in any way, shape or form. People say, ‘Well, I’m like the 1920s feminists, I believe women should have the right to vote, etc. etc.’ No, that was evil too, that was terrible. Our country started really going down the pooper once when women got the right to vote. That’s evident.”

“The way women vote, they vote mostly based on looks and compassion and empathy without taking into account logical reasoning and without taking people’s policy decisions into account,” he continued. “Women are dumb voters. Women have a place in a society, and that place is in the home, that place is being subservient to their husbands, that place is looking to the husband as Jesus looks to God or as the church looks to Jesus.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dalton-clodfelter-is-a-proud-sexist-and-misogynist/

Holy shit! This is a guy who thinks that women are dumb voters and shouldn’t be allowed to vote and belong in the house? Because they don’t kowtow to religious fascism? Get the fuck out of there with that shit. And it gets worse, my friends! So much worse! This is the future of the Chrisitan right – they’re out to reverse 200 years of progress. Hell, they want to take the country back to when only rich, white, land holding slave owners were the ones allowed to vote. But even then those guys had standards, while these guys clearly don’t. I mean have you seen their choice of president? Yeah, me too!

Patrick Howley, a racist, antisemitic, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who uses his position at the National File to write glowing profiles of neo-Nazi organizations, was recently banned from Twitter after having used the platform to spread his bigoted views for years.

Following his ban, Howley appeared last Thursday on a program hosted by America First streamer Dalton Clodfelter, a follower of white nationalist Nick Fuentes who streams on Fuentes’ “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” platform.

During the stream, Howley discussed the controversy that erupted in April after he complained that there were too many Black people at the CMT Music Awards.

“Country music is different,” Howley said about the awards program. “It’s not Wakanda.”

Howley defended his comments, insisting that he was “making fun of the politicization of” the awards show and asserting that “if something sucks, I’m allowed to make fun of it.”

“The CMT Music Awards sucked,” Howley declared. “Making fun of that politicization is what we do, and it’s something that we should do. That’s why I’m glad that free speech is making a comeback and free speech is prevailing, and free speech is going to be ascendant because people should have the right to say whatever they want if it’s funny and if it’s righteous.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/i-want-to-censor-the-opposition-completely-patrick-howley-and-dalton-clodfelter-prove-right-wing-free-speech-absolutists-are-nothing-of-the-sort/

Oh wait you’re serious! OK there’s a lot to unpack with this one. First off – you do know that the key to comedy is timing, right? And if something sucks of course you’re allowed to make fun of it. I mean come on, that’s comedy 101. That’s why we make fun of conservatives and the Christian right every week! But seriously guys Black Panther offends you? That movie was awesome. Someone is – dare I say it – they’re triggered! And come on, completely censoring the opposition – that’s extremism. And it also borders on Nazism. Who am I kidding? It is Nazism! Where are the Blues Brothers when you need them?

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Holy shit, you do realize that’s full on genocidal talk, right? And fuck that shit! I mean come on, taking your country back? What is this, 2008? Seriously these people are fucking insane and should probably be committed before they become a danger to themselves or to others. And by the way in case you’re wondering where Mr. Clodfelter gets his news from? Well guess what? He uses a neo-Nazi website for his views. Which is why they are so extreme and bordering on genocidal talk. That’s not just borderline Nazism, that’s full blown Nazism! And dude, you’re an extremist. Get over yourself.

Earlier this year, Dalton Clodfelter, a radical right-wing bigot, Christian nationalist, and fascist who openly dreams of imposing fundamentalist Christianity on the United States and censoring any opposition, was given a nightly show on the network run by far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters.

Peters—who has close ties to various far-right political candidates and has used his program to interview several elected officials, GOP candidates, and former members of the Trump administration—has made his network into a haven for white nationalists, racists, and Christian nationalist bigots. Clodfelter fit right in and has consistently used his program to promote white nationalism, anti-LBGTQ bigotry, and outright fascism.

During a livestream broadcast over the weekend, Clodfelter revealed that he gets all of the content for his nightly “The Right Dissident” show from the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer.

The Daily Stormer, which took its name from an infamous Nazi propaganda tabloid Der Stürmer, is run by neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin and is filled with virulent racism, bigotry, and antisemitism.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/dalton-clodfelter-admits-to-using-neo-nazi-website-as-main-source-for-his-nightly-program/

Yeah where are those guys when you need them? That’s Christian neo-Nazi extremist Dalton Clodfelter, this week’s:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: The Return Of Jacob Wohl
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Let’s do another one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Why am I getting Samuel L. Jackson vibes in Pulp Fiction from this one? Whatever, these people are nuts. And speaking of nutty people, it’s time for Conspiracy Corner!

Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In the these dark times, when people simply don’t want to read the actual news articles, they skip ahead and make stuff up, which is why we get conspiracy theories in the first place! We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter from deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands, undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read yours and my thoughts, after all! Ah, there we go! So this week the two men who originally inspired this segment – perhaps the two single dumbest criminals in the Trump era (and believe me, there was a lot of competition for that title!), Jacob Wohl and Jack Berkman are in the news again. This time because of a 2020 robodialer scam that spread across Ohio like a bad chemtrail. But cue your tin foil hats – the longer you go down this wormhole, the weirder it gets!

Conservative activists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman have each pleaded guilty to one count of telecommunications fraud after authorities in Ohio accused them of running a voter suppression campaign in 2020 that relied on thousands of illegal robocalls that targeted multiple states with election misinformation.

The alleged scheme, which occurred during the 2020 US election cycle, falsely told recipients that voting by mail could lead to their information being used to carry out forced vaccinations, debt collection or other consequences.

The campaign prompted the Federal Communications Commission to seek a $5 million fine against the two men, a record-breaking figure at the time, while states such as New York and Michigan have pursued their own charges against them.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley, a Democrat, told CNN in a statement Tuesday that Wohl and Burkman had “infringed upon the right to vote, which is one of the most fundamental components of our democracy.”

“By pleading guilty, they were held accountable for their un-American actions,” O’Malley added.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/25/politics/jacob-wohl-jack-burkman-robocall-guilty/index.html

LMAO!!! Conservatives are actively engaging in “un American” acts? I’m shocked, shocked! Well… not that shocked! I mean come on, these are the same lunatics standing next to voting boxes wearing camouflage and carrying AR-15s, because they watched “2000 Mules”. But of course it’s a hoax – that’s all these cretins do. They just fling poop against the walls and hope that something sticks. Which is why they constantly get in trouble for lying their asses off! But why the hell would they need a “robocall enforcement unit”? Everyone hangs up on robocalls.

Two right-wing activists each pleaded guilty in a Cleveland court Monday to single felony counts of telecommunications fraud over false robocalls in Ohio ahead of the 2020 election, prosecutors announced.

Driving the news: Jacob Wohl, 24, and Jack Burkman, 56, were indicted in October 2020 in connection with a scheme that Cuyahoga County prosecutors said targeted thousands of minority voters with pre-recorded messages that falsely claimed they could face mandatory vaccines or be tracked by law enforcement if they voted by mail.

What they're saying: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement after the pair pleaded guilty that voter intimidation would "not be tolerated" in the state.

He said his Robocall Enforcement Unit, along with Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, assisted in the investigation and was able to partner with Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael "to shut down these two people who were trying to commit voter intimidation."

The big picture: Wohl, of Irvine, California, and Burkman, of Arlington, Virginia, gained national attention for several stunts in recent years seeking to smear public officials and Democrats.
https://www.axios.com/2022/10/25/election-robocalls-jacob-wohl-jack-burkman-plead-guilty

Again, no one listens to robocalls! Smart people hang up on them before the message even begins to start playing! But there’s no doubt that these are two of the stupidest criminals ever to come out of the Trump administration. See again lies the problem with living in an echo chamber. When you hear the lies and the hate being spewed 24 hours a day, you eventually start to believe it. And when you believe that shit, you act on your beliefs. So it’s definitely no shocker at all that these two idiots are the ones behind robodialing scams.

Two right-wing operatives pleaded guilty on Monday in Cleveland to single felony counts of telecommunications fraud for having placed thousands of false robocalls in Ohio that told people they could be arrested or be forced to receive vaccinations based on information they submitted in votes by mail.

Jacob Wohl, 24, of Irvine, California, and Jack Burkman, 56, of Arlington, Virginia, could each receive a year in prison when they are sentenced Nov. 29 in common pleas court. They were indicted in October 2020 on numerous counts of telecommunications fraud and bribery.

Wohl's attorney, Mark Wieczorek, declined to comment about the his client's plea. Burkman's attorney, Brian Joslyn, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

The two men were accused of arranging for a voice broadcast service to make about 85,000 robocalls to predominantly Black neighborhoods in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois during the runup to the 2020 general election. Prosecutors said the pair were responsible for 3,500 calls to residents of Cleveland and East Cleveland.
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/2-conservatives-accused-in-hoax-robocall-scheme-17531292.php

Also – again not at all shocking – is that there’s a racist bent behind these conservative robo calling schemes. And by the way don’t think that Wohl and Berkman are alone in their idiotic scheming – they’re just the ones that got caught. But there’s definitely others out there. The best way to protect yourself is the same way you do with telemarketers. If you don’t know who the number is that is calling you, hang up immediately! And if you do answer and there’s no one on the other end, hang up immediately and block the number. Scammers are out there and they are everywhere!

North Carolina is seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in a lawsuit Attorney General Josh Stein filed Tuesday against a company accused of helping scammers place some of the robocalls that inundate people’s phones.

Texas-based telecommunications business Articul8 helped facilitate scam calls across the country, the lawsuit says. That includes tens of millions of calls to North Carolinians, even though the company either knew or should’ve known that it was helping criminals try to defraud people, the lawsuit says. Rather than targeting individual scammers, many of whom are overseas, the state is instead going after the company that has been routing their calls and making a good profit doing so, Stein said in an interview Tuesday.

“All of these robocalls that inundate our phones can only happen if there are telephone companies willing to turn a blind eye,” he said. Articul8 couldn’t be reached by phone or email for comment Tuesday.
Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article257705623.html#storylink=cpy

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink: Terrifyer 2
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Hey everyone let’s do one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Dude, are you for real? My local baseball team is called the Angels. And they’re a train wreck. What makes you think you’re going to find Angels in every precinct? We don’t even have Angels in the Outfield! Terrible movie, but I’ve been waiting a week to use that joke! OK moving on…

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

So of course you know by now that the purpose of this segment is that we have some drinks, and why we are drinking we talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics! Doesn’t matter what you drink – even sober people, we got ya covered! But just let’s talk about literally anything but politics, because there’s a lot of dark shit in the news and this place is a safe space from it! This week, since it was Halloween, naturally we’re going to talk about horror movies. And one horror movie has captivated audiences across the country in an otherwise dry spell for movies right now while we wait for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about creepy clown movies? What’s in that? You just drink it while you play circus music? Eh, since we’re in Mexico I’ll drink some tequila shots! Anejo, please! The good shit! Well, anyway a low budget clown movie has drawn in audiences everywhere and is actually single-handedly rejuvenating box offices around the country and maybe even around the world. It’s called Terrifier 2. And if you haven’t seen the first one – don’t worry, most of us haven’t. And if you’ve heard of this movie, it’s because it’s in the news right now for a very insane reason.

Have you heard of the movie that’s so disturbingly stomach-churning, so horrifyingly gruesome, it’s allegedly causing some audience members to vomit, faint and even need to get carried out of movie theaters?

That very question (the movie, by the way, is “Terrifier 2”) is inspiring horror fiends and skeptics to go to their local cinemas in droves to assess the hype for themselves. The ultra-gory, micro-budget slasher film has overcome relative obscurity to defy the odds and emerge as one of the unlikeliest box office successes of the season. “Terrifier 2” — and no, you don’t need to watch the original movie first — has landed in the top 10 in recent weeks on its path to generating a scary-good $7.73 million in domestic ticket sales. And it’s achieved those returns without a major movie star on the marquee and hardly any promotion.

“This is where word-of-mouth becomes more important than any paid advertisement,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “When the target audience hears ‘vomit-o-rama’ — that’s worth the price of admission.”
https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/terrifier-2-box-office-success-1235417905/

Oh yeah keep ‘em coming! See that, Hollywood? Look, we’ve been in a major pandemic, we haven’t been able to go to movies for two years. While your billion dollar franchises are really the only thing drawing people to theaters, people are clamoring for something different! So naturally when they hear the words “vomit-o-rama”, why are they not going to buy tickets to that? Although to be fair, if I’m going to see a movie advertised as “vomit-o-rama”, I’d seriously hate to be the guy who has to clean up that theater afterwards! And in case you’re wondering, yes, even the deleted scenes are exactly as disturbing as described!

Terrifier 2 has been one of the year's sleeper hits. Sure, its box office takings might be humble compared to the big superhero blockbusters, but the film was made on a very small budget and has made millions off the back of strong word of mouth.

Specifically, the film has received a ton of buzz for its violence and gore, with reports of people vomiting and fainting from the visuals.

While director Damien Leone wanted to push the boundaries of horror movies, there were a few things even he decided were a bit too much to include.

"Art the Clown likes to play with people’s entrails," Leone told Variety. "There’s the scene where he cuts off a man’s penis. He could have taken it further.

"We had conversations of things he could do once he took the guy’s penis off. We explored those and joked about it, but then we said, 'No, that’s way too far. That’s too distasteful'."
https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a41816319/terrifier-2-distasteful-scrapped-scene/

Oh yeah sure, a scene about a creepy clown playing with someone’s intestine has to draw the line somewhere! But here’s where it gets intense! In fact it gets so intense that I need another shot to explain it, my fair audience! Terrifier 2 is so violent and disturbing that other governments around the world are warning potential viewers what they’re in store for. Does that mean that we need a parental advisory warning for this segment? Oh sure we do, but it’s too late for that! Not too late for the Australian government to warn their viewers what they’re getting into!

The Australian film classification board has issued a warning about the ultraviolent horror flick Terrifier 2 - a movie so gory it has made cinemagoers collapse and vomit in theatres across America.

Terrifier 2, directed by Damien Leone, was approved for theatrical release with an R 18+ rating for 'high impact violence, blood and gore' and hit cinemas last Friday just in time for Halloween weekend.

A notice on the website of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts includes a detailed summary of the film's extreme content, warning it is not for the faint of heart.

'The film features a series of sadistic and gory murders perpetrated by an evil clown,' the notice reads in part.

'In some scenes, the clown eats pieces of flesh and internal organs of his victims.

'The film features a series of murders that include copious amounts of blood and graphic injury detail such as mutilation, decapitation and dismemberment.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11371329/Terrifier-2-Australian-government-issues-warning-ultraviolent-horror-film.html

So you’d better watch out when this vomit-a-palooza comes to your local theater. In fact unless you’re curious you should probably not stick around, or see a movie in the adjacent theater. Yes, projectile vomiting does tend to have splash back! But the good news for the fans of this new franchise – there’s sequel potential! That’s right because of course what horror movie wouldn’t have a franchise if you can’t sequelize it? I mean come on, there’s 15 different Halloween movies. There’s a new Scream movie like every other year. Not to mention Child’s Play. Nightmare On Elm Street. Saw. The Purge. Now we can add creepy clowns to that ridiculously long list!

The director of clown slasher movie sensation Terrifier 2 has more gory adventures in the works for audiences.

On Friday, Damien Leone — who made the indie horror sequel for less than $250,000 — told Variety that the series' villain, Art the Clown, will continue on after the success of the sequel to 2016's Terrifier.

"I had a 'Part 3' in mind when writing 'Part 2,' " Damien Leone told Variety. "There are so many questions brought up in 'Part 2' that are not answered, and that was part of the design because I know I'm going into a 'Part 3.' "

Leone said that he "pretty much" has an entire story treatment already written for a third Terrifier movie, but he noted that "it's getting so big that it could potentially split into a 'Part 4,' " because he does not want to make another long slasher film — Terrifier 2 runs two hours and 18 minutes.

"So we'll see," Leone said in the interview. "My fear is that eventually the well is gonna run dry, we're gonna wind up jumping the shark, there will be nothing left to say with this character. It happens with a lot of franchises that I'm still a huge fan of."
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/terrifier-2-director-says-could-180445344.html

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #12 - India
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Let’s have a go with one a final Clip Without Context for this week!

Yeah tell me you’ve never read the Bible or a history textbook without telling me that you’ve never read the Bible or a history textbook. Now it’s time for the World Tour 2022!

Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

[font size="4"]Destination #12: India [/font]

Welcome back to our World Tour everybody! We have left Africa and the Middle East and now we are onto Asia, starting with India! We are here in India, folks! We are exploring one of the world’s largest countries that was at one time its’ own subcontinent. India is home to some of the world’s wonders including the world’s biggest house of worship – the Taj Mahal. It’s also home to Bollywood, Rugby, Masala cuisine, luxury trains, and one of the world’s highest bridges. India also has an entertainment industry that’s big enough to rival Hollywood. That’s right – Bollywood music and movies dominate the Indian entertainment industry and they’re slowly starting to trickle over here into the United States, which is why the Indian entertainment industry is experiencing a problem that once was unique to Hollywood – casting actors in roles that don’t have any real world experience with these roles! Or as John Oliver referred to it – Hollywood whitewashing!

The leading role in a Bollywood film about a transgender activist has been given to the non-trans actress, Sushmita Sen, a former Miss Universe. The decision has divided opinion among India's trans community with some arguing it should have gone to one of many trans actresses waiting for their big break.

The audition had gone well.

Navya Singh was up for the role of the best friend of the leading lady. She had delivered her lines with a confidence that didn't tip into arrogance. She had been friendly with just a flash of sexiness, but not enough to steal limelight. She had, most importantly, remembered her lines.

Yet once she finished, the room remained silent for longer than was comfortable.

Finally, one of the casting directors spoke up.

"But what are you?" he asked Navya, "a woman or a man?"

"I felt my heart sink to my feet," Navya says. "It was the kind of brash comment I had become used to as an actress in Bollywood. But it never got easier."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63415626

Could you seriously imagine that movie if it were made here? Fox News would be decrying it every single night and Hannity and Carlson would be heckling the producers until it got shut down. Yeah they’re assholes, I know. And here’s the thing – countries China wants to compete with India on the global stage? Well, I got news for ya, Jack – India is also the home of a toxic pollution problem that could also be as devastating as what’s happening in mainland China. So yeah those of you who own electric vehicles and hybrids because you think it will save the planet? Well, the planet needs a lot more saving than that!

Indian authorities were scrambling on Tuesday to address deteriorating air quality as farmers burning crop stubble and calmer winter winds turned the capital city into a smog chamber. On Monday, the Delhi government halted all construction and demolition work in the city as India's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed air quality deteriorating to "severe" levels.

At that level, air pollution "affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases," according to the board's categorization system.

Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI), which measures the concentration of very fine particles know as PM2.5 in the air - particularly harmful pollutants, as they're easily inhaled and can settle deep in the lungs - crossed 403 on Monday per the CPCB's data. On Tuesday, the AQI in New Delhi even hit 600 in some places. Anything over 300 is classed as "hazardous" on the international AQI rating system.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/india-delhi-smog-air-pollution-2022-farm-fires-fireworks-forecast/

Oh yeah and you know how well Myanmar’s military coup is going? And a military coup with full blown martial law at that? Something that the MAGAs and uber-religious of America would love to see come to the States? Well guess what? A coup like that doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes planning and strategy to actively overthrow a government. Also too it also takes partners if you’re willing to get your people oppressed. So what happens? Guess what? The unholy trio of evil steps in to help Myanmar over throw its’ government and install a military dictatorship.

Support from China, Russia and India is enabling Myanmar’s military to sustain itself and carry out human rights abuses despite its failure to consolidate power following last year’s coup, a group of international legislators has said.

In a report published on Wednesday, the parliamentarians said this “steadfast and uncritical” support, particularly from Beijing and Moscow, for Myanmar’s military has come amid an “utter” lack of progress on a peace plan proposed by the country’s neighbours in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

It is now time to abandon the ASEAN plan and take stronger measures to shore up support for Myanmar’s democratic opposition, said the group of eight legislators, who with the help of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) conducted a four-month long inquiry into the international response to the February 2021 coup.

Most importantly, they said, countries that profess support for democracy must immediately recognise Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate authority in the country and provide funding for the NUG and the ethnic armed groups with which it has allied itself.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/2/china-russia-india-enabling-myanmars-military-report

Yeah that is a shocking level of evil there! So see, MAGAs? These are not good things! And they are really the antithesis of that freedom and free speech you’re always droning on about. So yeah India has rampant pollution and some very horrible international relations to deal with. But if you do plan on visiting India, you should be aware of what you’re getting into. If the headline “bridge of doom” is any indication, then yeah you should probably stay away! Of course we did have that horrible bridge collapse in Florida last year, so no one is totally immune!

Questions are being asked in India after a popular foot bridge collapsed, plunging scores of pedestrians into a river in the western state of Gujarat.

The horror in the town of Morbi on Sunday evening is one of the worst tragedies in India for years, killing 135 people, most of them women, children and the elderly.

The 137-year-old suspension bridge had reopened just five days earlier following repairs - so what went wrong?

The BBC spoke to survivors, first responders, local journalists and officials to piece together a story of needless tragedy.

Local residents and journalists blame the company which operated the bridge - and the police and local authorities are also accused of failures.

Just after 18:30 (13:00 GMT) on Sunday, Mahesh Chavda and two of his friends bought their tickets and stepped onto Morbi's swaying 'jhulto pul' (hanging bridge).

It's described by the state's tourism website as a "technological marvel" and is popular with sightseers - it had been Mahesh's favourite go-to place ever since he'd been a child.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63477292

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

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

Overall: C-

Change from 2017: If you plan to visit India, just don’t go outside the tourist areas and you’ll be fine. But if you do go to the tourist areas, then definitely prepare for it!

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

Next week we’re heading to the largest country in the world and the home of militant communist authoritarianism – China!

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

Folks my next guest is a legendary group from the 80s that just finished up a massive world tour (their last show was in Highland CA)! Their latest album is called “Future Past”. Playing their song “Invisible”, give it up for Duran Duran!

Thank you Los Cabos! And also thanks to the good folks at Cabo Wabo Cantina for being excellent hosts for us! We’re off back home to Riverside next! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Duran Duran Appears Courtesy Of: BMG Rights Management
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Cabo Wabo Cantina, Los Cabos, Baja California, MX
Special Thanks To: City Of Los Cabos, Cabo Wabo Cantina
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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

October 20, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-12: The Man With The Golden Toilet Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-12: The Man With The Golden Toilet Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yo what’s up Fargo? How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! As we stated last week we’ve got just 7 more Top 10 editions before our big annual Year In Review shindig on December 15th to close out this insane year that was 2022! And man it has been completely insane so far. And don’t worry – we have plenty of surprises up our sleeve as we get closer to the end. Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do. So let’s talk about celebrities for a minute. Specifically when celebrities are out in public being huge assholes. Does that really surprise anyone here? But the one I want to specifically talk about is James Corden. Yes, you know him as the host of that show that follows Stephen Colbert. So he was out in New York at one of the more popular restaurants there – Balthazar. But was he banned or wasn’t he banned? But here’s James Corden doing his best Larry David imitation and complaining that some egg yolk got mixed in with the egg. Like really that’s what you have to complain about? That your breakfast somehow isn’t Instagram perfect worthy enough? Like talk about your most first world problems. But this is a perfect example of why people hate celebrities. I mean really… that’s completely insane. Hey wait, my beer doesn’t have enough foam at the top! Take it back and pour me a new one! OK sorry that’s not me. I can’t be that angry. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he reunites the original Daily Show cast to discuss trans rights and it’s an absolute must see:

Holy shit was that a banner week for conservative idiocy last week, wasn’t it? Where to start? Well, as we went to air last week, the January 6th Committee dropped the big one and that is that the guy who we inexplicably used to call president (1) must testify before the Committee, and, knowing him, we’re all betting that he probably won’t show up, and if he did, he’ll turn it into one of his idiot rallies. Look at my crowd size!!! In the second slot this week is Alex Jones (2). Yes, the Mad Man of Infowars was ordered to pay the Sandy Hook families nearly $1 BILLION dollars (yes, BILLION), but even that is still not enough to undo the damage that he did. In the third slot this week is Nickolas Cruz (3). Yes, you know him as the Parkland mass murderer, and he was also sentenced in this crazy week, which theoretically should bring that tragic chapter to a close, but like everything else we’ve seen, that still isn’t enough. In the number 4 slot this week is our old buddy Kanye West (4). That’s right, Ye has gone way too far off the deep end and it looks like he isn’t coming back any time soon, but did he get cut from JP Morgan? Well the answer is yes or no depending on who you talk to, but actions have consequences! Taking the number 5 seed this week is Elon Musk (5). Yes, in one of the more extreme examples of flip flopping we’ve ever seen, suddenly Elon can’t pay for Starlink services in Ukraine, which was a game changer, but is now taking Vladimir Putin’s side? Really? What the absolute fuck? In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 this week in “Holy Shit” and this week, we’re going to do something different because Dennis Prager of the Prager U Youtube Channel made some extremely disturbing remarks regarding religion and incest, so we’re going to dive into it and find out what’s up, and we also suspect he has some rather interesting Porn Hub searches! In the number 7 slot this week we’re profiling Arizona senate candidate and possible insurrectionist Blake Masters (Q – Insurrectionist) in a new edition of This Fucking Guy (7). In the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8) and in light of the Sandy Hook verdict, always the one who is a master at reading the room, Marjorie Greene decides to side with Alex Jones on this one, and well, all we can say is those two are absolutely made for each other. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are, and we’ve got some good ones this week! Finally this week it’s the continuation of our mammoth World Tour 2022 (10) and this week we’re visiting a new destination that we haven’t covered on our previous tour – we’re heading to the land of pyramids and pharaohs, the mighty Egypt (10) ! And to close things out, we have some Halloween music for you from Motionless In White! Buy their new album “Scoring The End Of The World” or you’re no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]That Former President
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You know, we’ve been covering conservative idiocy for over 5 years now. No matter what happens after the 2022 midterms and the 2024 elections, as long as the United States doesn’t take a hard slide towards fascism and religious authoritarianism, last week may have been the absolute peak, at least as long as we have been doing this show. On the same day, Alex Jones was forced to pay $965 million to his victims (we’ll get to that in a minute) and the January 6th committee is ordering that guy who we inexplicably used to call president to testify. This is fucking huge. Now there’s many questions being raised like will he actually do it? And who will he throw under the bus? The speculation is exciting, and we predict that it’s going to be a category 5 shit storm, like pretty much everything that he does. And everything that he touches dies. But the main question on the table is – will he testify or won’t he testify? Of course with him, it would be surprising and also not completely unexpected no matter which he goes.

In response to the Jan. 6 committee’s vote on Thursday to issue a subpoena for his testimony, former president Donald Trump released a rambling, seemingly unhinged reply that doesn’t answer whether he intends to testify.

When the committee formally subpoenas Trump, there will be very good reason for him to turn it down, or at least continue blustering to delay answering whether he’ll comply, as his new response does.

The web of illusions Trump has spun around Jan. 6 can’t survive contact with a legitimate, fact-based, rules-bound process. But not testifying is also problematic: It admits to fear of facing genuine questioning, which looks weak. So, Trump must try for as long as possible to inhabit a gray area where he blusters about owning his enemies on the committee while avoiding testifying to the committee at all costs.

Trump’s new response, a three-page letter that he plainly dictated while his lawyers cringed in the background, is aimed at fitting this bill. In a stream of delusion and megalomania, it rehashes all kinds of grievances, most prominently the lie of the stolen 2020 election. This is supposed to show Trump “owning” the committee while refraining from conceding that he does not plan to answer its direct questions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/14/trump-jan-6-committee-subpoena-justice-department/

Can you imagine Trump going full Sideshow Bob on the January 6th Committee? That would be a scary thought. Though he’s more likely to go full Ernest Starvo Blofeld on them. Actually since this is the 60th anniversary of the James Bond franchise, and Trump always fancies himself as a James Bond villain, let’s give him a proper Bond nickname. How about let’s call him “The Man With The Golden Toilet”? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Graphics department does it again! But guess what – for those of you cheerleading Trump’s eventual demise, I got news for ya, Jack – he’s not going down without a fight.

The House Jan. 6 committee investigating last year's Capitol riot would need to negotiate with former President Donald Trump if he were to offer to testify live in response to the panel's subpoena, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Sunday.

"I think that's going to be a negotiation," Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the committee, told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos. "I'll only address that when we know for sure whether or not the president has tried to push to come in and talk to us live."

"He's made it clear he has nothing to hide, [that's] what he said. So he should come in on the day we asked him to come in. If he pushes off beyond that, we'll figure out what to do next," Kinzinger said.

He dodged Stephanopoulos' question on whether Trump should be held in criminal contempt if he does not comply with the subpoena.

"Do you believe that the Justice Department, if the president refuses, should hold him in criminal contempt?" Stephanopoulos asked.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-testifying-live-jan-committee-require-negotiation-kinzinger/story?id=91553525

He’s got nothing to hide? Really? Then why is he going out of his way to say that he’s got nothing to hide? You might as well say that you’re guilty there. Truly innocent people don’t go around bragging about how they’re innocent. So what happens if he refuses? Well let’s think about this for a minute. It’s quite literally a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. Because if Trump does testify, his narcissistic ass will love being in the news 24 hours a day. If he doesn’t, it will just prove why this committee is needed more.

Two House Jan. 6 committee members said Sunday that the panel has not yet determined its next steps if former President Donald Trump refuses to comply with the subpoena it issued at its latest public hearing.

The committee’s ninth public hearing Thursday, its last before the midterm elections, concluded with the panel’s voting unanimously to subpoena Trump.

In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press," Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., was asked whether the committee would push for the House to send a criminal referral to the Justice Department if Trump refuses to comply with its subpoena.

“I won’t engage in any hypotheticals at this moment, as the subpoena hasn’t yet even been served. But I will say is that with previous subpoenas, what you’ve seen the committee do is be very deliberate and take the response to our subpoenas on a case-by-case basis,” Murphy said. “And I imagine that we will also do that, because we understand the seriousness of the charge of our committee.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/jan-6-committee-members-unclear-comes-trump-refuses-comply-subpoena-rcna52463

Yeah that’s a fucking huge “what if”! Of course you know that the GOP is now officially the party of “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me”. Like if you said the sky was blue, the GOP would find some way to say that the sky is yellow, and they’d argue until they’re blue in the face that they are right and you eventually accept the results, while muttering under your breath what an idiot they are. But that said, we’re getting a bigger picture of what exactly the MAGAs were planning to do on January 6th if they actually took over and seized the Capitol. Just look at what one Oath Keeper was saying about his plans that day. Trump is a monster and he needs to answer for this.

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers who stormed the U.S. Capitol testified that he was ready to fight to keep President Donald Trump in office and was preparing himself in the weeks before Jan. 6, 2021, to say goodbye to his family, he testified in a seditious conspiracy trial Tuesday.

Jason Dolan, 46, a military veteran, pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy and a count of obstruction of an official proceeding in September and testified in the trial of five other members of the extremist group under a cooperation agreement with the government.

Other cooperating defendants are also expected to testify in the trial. Dolan has not pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy; three other Oath Keepers have.

Dolan testified Tuesday that before the Jan. 6 attack, he was drinking — often alone and in his garage — and getting sucked into online conspiracy theories. "I was watching a lot of videos about the election. At the time I felt like the election had been stolen," he said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/oath-keeper-testifies-was-ready-die-jan-6-keep-trump-office-rcna52838

[font size="8"]Alex Jones
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When we were putting together last week’s edition, the jury deciding the fate of the Mad Man of Infowars, Alex Jones, dropped the big one. That’s right – he must pay the families of the victims of the terrible Sandy Hook tragedy to the tune of nearly $1 billion dollars. Yeah that’s right, how about a round of applause for that! But as we have repeatedly stated how much of a blithering psychopath that Alex Jones is, and the fact that he’s a rich white male, he probably won’t have to pay a dime. Yeah we know it's insane. There’s no justice for real criminals like this. But what people need to know about Mr. Jones and all the shit he’s put this town through is that he didn’t just deny a mass tragedy. He heckled and abused these people to the point where they had to enlist in Witness Protection, all because of some bullshit belief that someone is going to take away your guns. And if you care more about your guns than you do the victims – you deserve to have them taken away. We don’t expect him to go down without a fight, either.

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay at least $965 million in damages to numerous families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting for falsely claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy, a Connecticut jury said on Wednesday.

The verdict, which came after three weeks of testimony in a state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, far outstripped the $49 million Jones was ordered to pay in August by a Texas jury in a similar case brought by two other Sandy Hook parents.

The Connecticut verdict applies to both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, the owner of Jones' Infowars website. FSS filed for bankruptcy in July.

The plaintiffs in the Connecticut case included more than a dozen relatives of 20 children and six staff members who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Jones claimed for years that the massacre was staged as part of a government plot to take away Americans' guns.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/jury-begins-third-day-deliberations-alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-trial-2022-10-12/

Thank you Nelson! So that happened. But what’s even more disturbing is now that the trial has reached its’ inevitable conclusion, we’re learning just how sick and demented some of the people who voluntarily listen to Infowars are. In the last year or so we’ve been expressing just how bad and psychologically damaging living in an echo chamber can be. These are some seriously sick assholes that we are dealing with here. And the testimony coming from the parents of the victims is absolutely frightening. $965 million may not be enough for what these poor parents had to put up with.

During the trial, jurors had revisited testimony from the husband of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim as a third full day of deliberations began Wednesday.

At the jury’s request, court began with a replay of a roughly hourlong audio recording of William Sherlach’s trial testimony. His wife, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, was among the 26 people killed in the 2012 shooting.

Her husband is among the lawsuit’s 15 plaintiffs, who include victims’ relatives and an FBI agent. All testified about being harassed by people who say the shooting was staged in a plot for more gun control.

William Sherlach, who goes by Bill, testified that he worried for his and his family’s safety because of the shooting deniers’ vitriol.

Sherlach testified that he saw online posts falsely positing that the shooting was a hoax; that his wife never existed; that she didn’t have the credentials to be a school psychologist; that his family was actually named Goldberg and lived in Florida; and that he was part of a financial cabal and somehow involved with the school shooter’s father.
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/deliberations-continue-in-alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-trial/2890908/

OK first off tell me you don’t know what a kangaroo court is without telling me that you don’t know what a kangaroo court is. Second, Alex didn’t just cross a line by doing what he did – he crossed multiple lines. He totally undermined society. And the fact that we still have sitting members of Congress going on his show is really detrimental to society. So where was he while this was going on, you might ask? I answer you – he was in his Infowars bunker in Austin not only heckling the jurors who were reading the verdict, he asked his viewers for money and said that none of it was going to the victims! Yeah the words “fucking asshole” don’t even begin to remotely describe this piece of shit!

As Alex Jones was being ordered by a jury in Connecticut to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to the families of eight Sandy Hook victims and an F.B.I. agent he accused of being actors, he scoffed live on his show: “Do these people actually think they’re getting any money?”

Broadcasting in tandem on Wednesday with the court hearing, which he did not attend, Mr. Jones called the $965 million judgment against him a “joke.” He then tried to convince his audience to send him money.

Mr. Jones, a fabulist who was ruled liable for defamation over his lies about the 2012 massacre being a hoax, told viewers that the Democratic establishment was out to get him and that “your pennies counter their millions.” The top headline on his website, which was covered in ads for the diet supplements he hawks, was about the verdict, and linked to an appeal to buy his book.

He planned to hold an “emergency” broadcast for more than 16 hours to “save Infowars,” he said, urging people to “flood us with donations.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/alex-jones-denounces-verdict.html

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I’d say how I feel about that worthless piece of shit, but I think people already know my true feelings about him. And second, who the hell would watch 16 hours of Infowars? I could barely stomach 5 minutes. Yeah so Alex Jones is getting fined to the tune of nearly $1 BILLION dollars and he laughs hysterically about it like the psychopath he is. But no matter what happens, any amount of money that this POS has to pay isn’t nearly enough. The internet disinformation sphere is here to stay no matter how much we try to make it go away.

Alex Jones is likely the most visible and well-known conspiracy theorist in the United States, and his self-founded, alt-right platform InfoWars has become a bastion for a number of debunked myths and bizarre plots. Jones' luck finally ran out last week, though, when he was ordered during a defamation trial to pay $965 million to families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, which Jones has previously referred to as a fake "drill" perpetrated by crisis actors.

During the trial, Jones eventually admitted to understanding the massacre was "100 percent real," but by then he had been promoting Sandy Hook as a false flag operation for years on InfoWars. As a result, this conspiracy theory was propagated to a massive audience, as InfoWars reportedly had a larger audience than mainstream publications such as Newsweek and The Economist.

With Jones now financially liable for his rhetoric on Sandy Hook, many believe he should be held responsible for the spread of other misinformation, too, given the reach of his platform and the fact that his baseless claims often receive significant media attention. However, others believe the spread of misinformation has been a wider problem for years, and say it's unfair to simply blame Jones for the rise in conspiratorial thinking. Just how much lasting damage has Jones caused, and how culpable is he for the spread of misinformation
https://news.yahoo.com/alex-jones-verdict-lasting-damage-090709836.html

[font size="8"]Parkland Shooter
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You know we’ve been covering the tragic mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida for the better part of four years now. And I remember when it first happened (see: Top 10 #4-7 ). And now that the verdict has been handed down to the shooter himself, Nikolas Cruz, we are not exactly sure how to feel about this. It’s completely understandable to be out for blood for this guy and for the people who enabled him to carry out this completely senseless and unnecessary act of violence.. And we totally get that. We were also stunned when we found out that he wouldn’t be getting the death penalty. The thing we don’t get is the gun nuts who are constantly making excuses for his mass murdering actions. It’s not fucking Call Of Duty. You don’t get extra lives or armor to come back to life. You’re killed in a mass shooting – that’s it. Game over. There’s no excusing the actions of Mr. Cruz either. What he did was absolutely inexcusable. And his mass murdering ass will pay dearly for it.

A Florida jury on Thursday decided to spare Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who killed 17 people in 2018 at a high school in the city of Parkland, from the death penalty, instead calling for life in prison.

Some family members of victims shook their heads in the Fort Lauderdale courtroom as the jury rejected the prosecution's request for the death penalty for Cruz in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, determining that aggravating factors were outweighed by mitigating circumstances.

Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Fort Lauderdale. Cruz used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 students and three staff members.

The sentencing trial, held after Cruz's guilty plea, lasted three months. Jurors began their deliberations on Wednesday. Under Florida law, a jury must be unanimous in its decision to recommend that a judge sentence Cruz to be executed. The only other option in the case was life in prison.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-jury-has-reached-verdict-parkland-shooter-case-media-reports-2022-10-13/

Yeah seriously our reaction to this is, is quite simple: What the actual fuck? Look there’s nothing funny we can make out of this so we won’t try. And make no mistake that Nikolas Cruz is equal parts psychopath and sociopath and he’s enabled and emboldened by the NRA and the GOP in order to carry out these senseless acts. But what we don’t get is how one lone juror can completely fuck up the entire verdict. Maybe one of our legal friends who has a law degree can explain it to us? Because quite frankly we don’t get it, and something stinks about this.

Prosecutors in the Nikolas Cruz Parkland shooting case are calling for law enforcement to interview a juror who said they felt threatened by another juror during deliberations, according to a court filing obtained by CNN. The state’s motion asks Judge Elizabeth Scherer to compel law enforcement officers to interview the juror. It does not identify the juror and does not indicate which sentence the juror supported. “Juror X spoke to a support staff member and informed the support staff member that during deliberations she received what she perceived to be a threat from a fellow juror while in the jury room,” the filing says. “The State did not call Juror X back and instead, filed a Notice to the Court.”

It is not clear whether Scherer will comply with that prosecution request. The motion is the latest indication of behind-the-scenes tension among the jury. Thursday, a juror wrote a letter to the judge calling the deliberations “tense” and denying an accusation she heard that she had made up her mind to support a life sentence before the trial began. And in an interview the jury foreman described disagreement among the jury, saying only three jurors opposed the death penalty in this case. It is not clear whether the juror who reported the perceived threat is the same juror who wrote the letter to the judge.

As the panel’s decision to recommend a lifelong prison sentence without the possibility of parole was read aloud in court Thursday, jurors stared straight ahead or gazed into their laps. The group of jurors didn’t look in the direction of visibly emotional victims’ families, many of whom hoped the shooter would receive the death penalty after he pleaded guilty to massacring 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida 2018. The jury’s decision punctuates a monthslong trial to determine whether Cruz, 24, would be sentenced to life in prison or be handed the death penalty, which would have required a unanimous decision from the jury.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/us/parkland-nikolas-cruz-jury-verdict-friday/index.html

So that begs the question – who was the mystery threatener? And you know what – who was the mystery threatener? Let us know in the comments! Well it might not be much of a mystery because shortly after the verdict was reached, three of Miami’s biggest schools – including Douglas High – were all the victims of swatting calls. Come on seriously, swatting? That’s the best you got? How is this shit still a thing and how do police departments fall for it every single time? It’s definitely part of the huge devolving of society.

"Unfortunately this morning we had three schools targeted with the hoax threats to shoot up the schools. These hoax threats cause a big problem for us here law enforcement because it drains our resources," said Miami-Dade schools police Chief Edwin Lopez.

It is believed they were swatting calls, in which a person makes a prank call which leads to a massive police response. The call usually relates to extreme violence and these types of calls are becoming more frequent nationwide.

"We have zero tolerance for that. Historically we have been affected by this. A couple of years ago, right after Parkland, we had an influx of these types of hoax calls. We had multiple threats. We went on a marketing campaign advising students to think before they hoax. We partnered with the FBI and a host of agencies and it seems that we are getting the same influx of calls again," said Lopez.

Lopez told CBS4 he believes all the calls came from the same source.

In Broward, Pembroke Pines police posted on Twitter that officers were sent to West Broward High School to investigate a possible swatting call. Police said there is no evidence of any threat at the school. The school was also placed on lockdown as a precautionary measure while a search was conducted.
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/police-investigate-swatting-calls-concerning-miami-dade-broward-schools/

Damn right, George! And by the way let this be a lesson in “same shit, different day”. Also another lesson that elections have consequences. Florida elects politicians as crazy as its’ people and Marco Rubio is absolutely no exception to this rule. Look, mass shootings are so out of hand in this country that we’re all sitting ducks. Doesn’t matter where it is. But Marco Rubio is of course giving the finger to the families of the victims and siding with that most evil of corporations, the National Rifle Association. The NRA is one of the reasons why we can’t have nice things.

On the election debate stage Tuesday night, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) turned his back on a promise he made to Floridians after the tragic Parkland school mass shooting four years ago: to raise the age limit on AR-15 rifle purchases from 18 to 21.

The proposed enhanced restriction would be an attempt to make it more difficult for young adults to buy a semiautomatic rifle that can fire bullets as fast as a person can pull the trigger—one with minimal recoil that makes it easier to continue shooting accurately.

The senator revealed his change of heart Tuesday when answering a question from the moderator, who asked if Rubio still sticks by the pledge he made in the days after the Valentine’s Day school rampage.

Although Rubio first dodged the question, WPBF 25 News anchor Todd McDermott pressed on.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/marco-rubio-reneges-on-parkland-promise-to-raise-age-limit-to-buy-ar-15s?ref=home

[font size="8"]Kanye West
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Just like that guy who we inexplicably called president, our old buddy Kanye West, or as he’s currently known, Ye, never knows when to shut up. And since he’s been hanging out with noted social media troll and notorious COVID serial killer Candace Owens, you know that he’s been going off the deep end and isn’t coming back any time soon. But the weird story about Ye this week isn’t that he’s hanging out with Candace Owens or his recent racist tirades. It’s that he may have had his ties cut with his longtime banking partner JP Morgan over what he recently said. Of course now the trolls are coming out in force saying that Ye is being “canceled” (he isn’t) and that he’s being censored. Look trolls, it’s that simple – if you don’t want to be pegged as a racist and sexist or get “canceled” then guess what? Don’t say racist and sexist stuff! It’s that fucking simple! But really Ye has just joined the right wing troll circuit, just like Tulsi Gabbard did, and the last thing we need is more trolls to fuel the hate and division in this already fragile country. But Ye getting “canceled” by his bank after the horribly racist things he said last week is absolute hilarity. Bottom line: don’t be racist!

Mr West had previously taken to social media to criticise JP Morgan's leadership and said they would not give him access to the bank's chief executive Jamie Dimon.

He told Bloomberg in September that he was severing ties with his corporate partners and that "it's time for me to go it alone".

Representatives for Mr West did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

The move by JP Morgan comes as Mr West's business partnerships have come under increased scrutiny.

Last week, sportswear firm Adidas said it was reviewing its deal with him days after he showed a "White Lives Matter" T-shirt design at Paris Fashion Week.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63252035

Yeah so actions definitely have consequences. You can’t criticize your bank on a public platform where you have millions of fans and expect that they won’t get pissed off about it! Look, we talk a lot of shit about people on this crappy program, but you know what? We don’t have millions of fans like Kanye does! That’s why we have that coveted Thursday at 2:00 PM slot at the chuckle hut and we’re not on after the Daily Show! But apparently the Ye – Chase breakup didn’t happen overnight – it’s been weeks in the making. Yeah trolls, canceling someone takes time apparently!

JPMorgan Chase and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West are ending their business relationship, but the breakup is not a result of the controversy over the hip-hop star’s recent antisemitic comments.

The letter ending West’s relationship with JPMorgan was tweeted Wednesday by conservative activist Candace Owens, who has been seen publicly at events with the rapper, who is now legally known as Ye.

While Owens claimed that JPMorgan did not disclose the reason for severing ties, the letter was sent to West on Sept. 20, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak about it publicly. The decision was made after Ye publicly said he was going to cut off ties with the bank. JPMorgan is giving West 60 days from the date of the letter to find a new banking relationship.

West told Bloomberg News on Sept 12 that he planned on cutting much of its corporate ties, saying he “It’s time for me to go it alone.” In that interview, he also criticized JPMorgan for not giving Ye access to Jamie Dimon, the bank’s CEO and chairman.
https://apnews.com/article/kanye-west-jpmorgan-banking-fc6abe29e3a0b0e2ee5c28736d6a3774

Yeah so that happened. Even worse is that Ye is expanding his social media trolling capabilities and is in the process of acquiring Parler. That’s right, the social media site for people who thought Twitter wasn’t racist enough and is owned by the husband of Candace Owens, is selling the service to Ye. I mean come on, between Ye buying Parler and Elon’s repeated hostile takeover attempt of Twitter, is it any wonder why sane people don’t use social media? It’s true that social media is making people meaner and nastier and the last thing we need is another social media echo chamber!

Kanye West is acquiring Parler, the alternative social media platform favored by many conservatives.

Parler’s parent company announced the deal on Monday morning, saying West had made “a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again.”

The acquisition comes after West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, had his account temporarily locked by Twitter this month over an antisemitic tweet.

Exact terms of the Parler deal weren’t disclosed, though Parler said it must still enter into a definitive agreement with West and expects to close in the fourth quarter. Parler’s parent, Parlement Technologies, would remain involved by providing technical services and cloud support.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/tech/kanye-west-ye-parler/index.html

Could you seriously imagine users of Ye’s Parler and Trump’s Truth Social gathered in the same room? I mean think about it – that would be a category 5 shit storm! Though it looks like Ye might have trouble buying Parler if this latest news goes through. Once again, MAGA conservatives show that they just don’t care to read the room at all, because if they did, they would know that saying this sort of thing is not OK! We were all horrified at the senseless killing of George Floyd back in 2020, but really when people say shit like this, it’s just rubbing salt in the wound. Because that’s what psychopaths do, and Ye is a certified psychopath.

George Floyd’s family is seeking legal action against rapper Kanye West over comments he made about the circumstances surrounding Floyd’s death.

West, who now goes by the name Ye, falsely claimed that Floyd died from fentanyl use on the podcast Drink Champs, despite the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office ruling Floyd’s death a homicide after former police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

“Kanye’s comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death,” said Attorney Pat D. Dixon III, who is taking on the case for Floyd’s family. “We will hold Mr. West accountable for his flagrant remarks against Mr. Floyd’s legacy.”

The suit is being filed by Floyd’s mother Roxie Washington on behalf of Floyd’s only daughter, who is a minor. A statement from Dixon said the lawsuit against Ye is over “harassment, misappropriation, defamation and infliction of emotional distress seeking $250 million dollars in damages.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/george-floyds-family-is-suing-kanye-west-for-250-million-over-flagrant-remarks-about-his-death-11666197078

[font size="8"]Elon Musk
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OK look, it’s been over 6 months since Russia’s shockingly evil, immoral and illegal hostile takeover of Ukraine began. And here’s the thing – we cannot stress this enough. By now you should know which side you’re on – you’re either on the side of Putin and his neo-fascist authoritarian viewpoints, or you stand with the people of Ukraine and you stand for freedom and democracy. But we’re going to focus on our old buddy Elon Musk in this segment. That’s right – the CEO of Tesla and Space X can’t figure out which side he is on. But let’s face it – he’s ruled by the almighty dollar. The saga last week of Elon, his Starlink satellite internet service, and Ukraine has been criminally insane. We’ve often said that Elon is just a furry cat and an island fortress away from being a James Bond villain. So what’s the latest with Elon and Starlink? Well apparently running a high speed satellite internet service is – wait for it – expensive. And Elon is apparently having second thoughts about giving it away for free to a country that’s been torn apart by war and the king of social media trolls, Vladimir Putin. And we’re not even going to get into his attempted hostile takeover of Twitter this week. But the social media mad man has a few tricks up his sleeves, and it’s the stuff of insanity.

Billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday SpaceX's Starlink services have not received any funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, a day after reports said The Pentagon is considering paying for Starlink satellite network in war-torn Ukraine.

SpaceX is losing approximately $20 million a month from unpaid service and costs related to security measures for cyberwar defense, but "we'll keep doing it (sigh)", Musk tweeted.

"No money from DoD, but several other countries, orgs & individuals are paying for ~11k/25k terminals," Musk said.

Musk, the world's richest person and chief executive of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), said SpaceX spends nearly $20 million a month for maintaining satellite services in Ukraine and that the company has spent about $80 million to enable and support and support Starlink there.

The Pentagon is considering paying for the service to Ukraine, Politico reported on Monday, citing two U.S. officials involved in the discussions.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-says-starlink-network-ukraine-has-not-received-us-funding-2022-10-19/

Gee, who could have guessed that running a satellite internet service would cost money? Oh wait, that’s right – we just pointed that out a few minutes ago! But there’s no mistake that having a well connected communications network has been the key to helping Ukraine turn the tables on Vladimir Putin and his evil warmongering scheme. And it’s made Elon seem slightly… I don’t know, slightly less evil? But if there’s one thing you don’t want to do in a war is piss off the wrong people, and if you take back what you gave them, well, they’re gonna be pissed off.

The Russian state television program 60 Minutes has welcomed tweets by Elon Musk who proposed a plan to end the Ukraine war that would leave Crimea under Moscow's control.

The program on the Russia-1 channel, which pushes fiery anti-Western rhetoric and the pro-Kremlin line on the war in Ukraine, featured a segment about the Tesla CEO on Wednesday.

Standing in front of a screen showing Musk's tweet, anchor Olga Skabeyeva read out how the world's richest man had put forward a four-point plan for peace

This included redoing elections under U.N. supervision in the four Ukrainian regions that President Vladimir Putin has claimed he has annexed—the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Musk also called for the Crimean peninsula that Moscow seized in 2014 to be made formally part of Russia, guarantees that the territory has a working water supply and for Kyiv to remain neutral.
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-russia-ukraine-60-minutes-skabeeva-1749754

Oh god… look, if there’s one thing that I have learned about diplomacy, the way to solve hostile international relations is by tweet. And apparently Elon has pissed off both Ukraine and Russia with this medium. You know, if you have all the money in the world, and you have nothing else to do but troll entire nations using social media, you might want to take a step back and reevaluate your life choices because you definitely have too much free time on your hands. But there is some good news is that after the massive international uproar, Elon is keeping Starlink in Ukraine… for now.

In September, SpaceX sent a letter to the Department of Defense, asking the Pentagon to take over paying for the expenses related to Ukraine's use of its Starlink satellite internet. According to CNN, SpaceX told the department that continuing to provide the Ukranian government with access to Starlink would cost the company over $120 million for the rest of 2022 and almost $400 million over the next 12 months. "We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time," the company wrote. Now, company chief Elon Musk seems to have backtracked on the decision to ask the Pentagon for assistance and wrote on Twitter that SpaceX will "keep funding [the] Ukraine [government] for free" even though Starlink is still losing money.

Musk confirmed what he said in his tweet to The Financial Times and added that SpaceX will continue funding Ukraine's access to Starlink's satellite internet "indefinitely."

When news about the letter came out, Musk defended his company's position and clarified that SpaceX is not asking the Pentagon to pay for previous expenses. He explained that SpaceX simply can't fund the existing system in Ukraine and regularly send thousands of new terminals to replace the ones routinely destroyed by the Russian forces at the same time. Musk added that the "burn" for keeping the Starlink system running in the country is $20 million a month, since it's had to "defend against cyberattacks and jamming," as well.
https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-spacex-keep-funding-ukraine-starlink-satellite-internet-075616416.html

Yeah so Starlink is hemorrhaging money. So on one hand it’s easy to see why Elon had to at least ask for more funding. But on the other hand – there’s an apparently dark and sinister motive for asking for money. Apparently Elon – like most of us – has a fear of nuclear war. And it’s easy to see why, especially since Vladimir Putin actually has nuclear power and isn’t afraid of using his power, and Joe Biden recently said that we’re closer to the possible use of nuclear weapons than we were at any point since the 1960s. But social media trolls better watch the monster they created, because he very well could, and that would spell doom for us all.

Starlink is SpaceX’s attempt to deliver affordable, reliable Internet service to parts of the world that otherwise lack access. This constellation of simple, small, easily replaceable satellites is already remaking the way that we communicate globally. Further, it’s remaking the way we wage war.

Thanks to Musk’s contribution of free Starlink service to Ukraine in its hour of need, the billionaire helped to ensure that the Ukrainians could defend their country from being consumed by the brutal Russians.

Yet as the war has dragged on – and with Ukrainian forces achieving victory after victory against the Russians – fears abound that rather than lose a war that everyone believed would be easily winnable by the Russians, President Vladimir Putin might decide to launch nuclear weapons.

For Elon Musk, this risk is a red line. So he declared his intention to stop providing free Starlink service to Ukraine, though he has since backtracked.
https://asiatimes.com/2022/10/elon-musk-fears-nuclear-war-not-ukraine/

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know the last few weeks we’ve been going hard on our brothers and sisters on the right for taking a hard turn towards fascist and authoritarian beliefs and that the church has completely lost its’ way and lost its’ mind. But that’s not what we’re here for this week, oh no my friends! This week we’re here to highlight one of the many sources of misinformation that panders to the people who are willing to consume it. And as we all know, the misinformation sphere is one of the hallmarks that got the Unholy, Ungodly Dark One elected! Of course you know that I speak of a man so foul, so vile and disgusting that his name dare NOT be spoken in my church! But the focus of our sermon this week is a man named Dennis Prager, who runs a Youtube channel called Prager U, which is basically a university with none of the credibility of an actual institute of learning. But it has plenty of certified grade A bullshit. Like this for instance, and we have no idea where he got this or what it even means.

Right-wing radio host Dennis Prager declared on Tuesday's broadcast of The Dennis Prager Show on the Salem Radio Network that incest between immediate siblings that results in childbirth should not necessarily be avoided.

Birth defects due to inbreeding are well-documented and result from a lack of DNA diversity, increasing the chances that a baby will inherit and display recessive genetic traits. The risks grow if the illicit reproductive practice is continued by future generations.

But Prager's views are formulated from his fundamentalist interpretation of a verse from the biblical book of Deuteronomy.

"It's a big deal, and I try to explain everything. Just this one verse that men should not wear women's clothing or women men's clothing. So, let's go to my motto, preferring clarity to agreement. Either the Bible's right or the left is right. They can't both be right," Prager said in the latest edition of "The Ultimate Issues Hour."
https://www.salon.com/2022/10/13/right-wing-host-dennis-prager-theres-no-secular-argument-against-adult-incest_partner/

OK let’s take a moment to dissect this here. he’s not wrong about incest and inbreeding, but on the other hand, it totally goes off the rails when he says that the BIBLE is the only source of wisdom and morality in the universe. What the what? So for that we decided to do a deep dive on this channel and see what we could find and if anything they say is as crazy as that incest comment. In fact this might be my favorite comment. Like the “leftists won’t debate us”? Really? I’m sure that GAWD and JAYSUS would have a problem with that!

Elsewhere in the program, Prager told the program hosts that the left doesn’t want to live in a free nation, citing the fact that “you suppress dissent.” The hosts immediately pointed out the absurdity of saying that they suppress dissent when he was literally appearing on their show that very moment. (Many conservatives insist they are being suppressed or silenced when speaking from well-funded and far-reaching platforms. Let us also once again note that historically, American socialists have been at the forefront of the fight for free speech, and the millennial left’s leading socialist magazine publishes staunchly civil libertarian opinions.)

The “leftists won’t debate us” posture is very common on the right. But it’s simply not true. Bernie Sanders, the leading leftist politician in the country, has had debates with Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham (and done very well both times). In Prager’s video, he specifically singles out Ta-Nehisi Coates as someone who “won’t debate,” and while I don’t know if Coates has specifically turned down an invitation from Prager, if you want to watch him engage directly with someone harshly critical of his ideas, see his conversation with Woke Racism author John McWhorter. Ana Kasparian, a skilled debater, has not only gone head-to-head with Prager but also Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro, and Tomi Lahren. Krystal Ball has effectively defended left positions against Bill Maher, and Elizabeth Bruenig and Katie Halper have both gone on Fox to face hostile questioning. On YouTube, you can watch many debates between conservatives and leftist broadcasters like Sam Seder, Ben Burgis, Vaush, and the late Michael Brooks.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/09/of-course-well-debate-them

Yeah…….. think about it. But look – here’s the thing, Prager U, we debate you people constantly and you never accept the results! Thank you my fair congregation! Which makes us wonder, why we do it? What purpose does it serve us? Well when your faction is replaced with a deranged cult that embraces fascist and authoritarian ideals, and any sane rational leaders you once had are replaced with insane lunatics like Dennis Prager and Jordan Peterson, you’re heading straight for the proverbial cliff and not coming back to reality anytime soon!

PragerU and the Daily Wire, two of the internet’s biggest spreaders of climate crisis denial, got seed money from two ultra-religious fracking brothers from Texas.

It was the height of summer and Pastor Farris Wilks was warning that if we didn’t all stop sinning, God was going to scorch the Earth and melt the polar ice caps.

“We’re going to reap what we have sown, and what we have sown has not been good,” Wilks explained in his self-assured Texas drawl. “Think of all the murder that has happened in this country… all the babies that have been murdered… sexual perversion of all kinds.”

Wilks told his congregation in the small Texas town of Rising Star that the spike in global temperatures could be related to these sinful excesses. Maybe, he said, us “getting a little scorched here” was a message from God, and there was little if anything we could do about it.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3p33j/fracking-farris-dan-wilks-prageru-climate-crisis-denial-shapiro

No, it’s just absolute nonsense! So Prager U isn’t just a misinformation source about crazy theories relating to sex and abortion, it’s a misinformation resource on everything! And when you have friends like Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro, who needs enemies? But make no mistake that the reason why the church seems like it’s going backwards at a frighteningly disturbing rate is because of people like Dennis Prager and Ben Shapiro. It’s all connected, people. Just follow the crazy train! But yes, he’s also a huge part of the puzzle why the right wing is steering towards fascism and authoritarianism. People like him are why we can’t have nice things!

A Hungarian education foundation paid Dennis Prager $30,000 in public funds for two appearances during an August youth festival where he and Fox News host Tucker Carlson touted the country’s far-right stances on the media, immigration and LGBTQ issues, according to a contract obtained by Hatewatch.

The Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) invited Prager, who hosts a popular talk radio show and co-founded the influential right-wing nonprofit PragerU, and Fox News host Tucker Carlson to give speeches praising Hungary’s far-right, Christian nationalist model as the savior of Western culture.

PragerU is not a university. It hosts five-minute videos where hosts provide a right-wing explanation of controversial topics. Most hosts are establishment conservatives, but many videos feature extremist far right talking points, including anti-immigrant rants and anti-trans rhetoric.

Prager’s and Carlson’s appearances are part of a continuing effort by Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “to take over, slightly soften and then mainstream extreme right messages to unite the right under his flag,” according to Bulcsú Hunyadi, head of the Radicalisation and Extremism Programme at Hungarian think tank Political Capital.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/01/13/hungary-paid-dennis-prager-30000-hour-appearances-far-right-education-conference

So that’s Dennis Prager – a man who claims to be a man of GAWD but worships the Dark One, insane conspiracies, and authoritarianism! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Blake Masters
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is a candidate who is running to be the newest Senator from Arizona and a possible participant in the January 6th Insurrection, Blake Masters! In case you’re wondering who this fucking guy is, he’s running to be senator of Arizona against a guy who’s actually qualified for the position – Mark Kelly. So in order to be considered a MAGA-backed candidate for any office, all you have to do is watch Fox News on a continuous loop like the trainees in Full Metal Jacket until your eyes and ears bleed, then start speaking MAGA at every rally until people start listening to you. Attending a Trump rally, and / or the January 6th Insurrection will definitely boost your standings. As does having multiple accounts on right wing social media like GAB, Telegram, Truth Social, and Dlive. And too, denying your election results before the election even happens. Yes, the MAGA world is going there, and it’s not going to end well for anybody.

In his campaign to unseat Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Republican Blake Masters has consistently amplified skepticism and conspiracy theories surrounding the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

But during the final stretch of his own 2022 race, Masters is starting to cast doubt on the outcome of this election—before the votes are even counted.

At a campaign stop on Tuesday in a small town north of Phoenix, Masters was confronted with one voter’s concern that he could win by a “landslide” but that voting machines would “flip the vote” in Kelly’s favor, according to audio of the event obtained by The Daily Beast.

“Unfortunately, we still have the machines in this election,” Masters replied. The “machines” refer to Dominion Voting Systems’ machines, which were used in Arizona and have been the subject of countless unfounded conspiracies. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, used paper ballots in the 2020 election; audits found no evidence of fraud.

Masters expanded on the voter’s concern by recounting a conversation he had with his father before launching his campaign. In Masters’ telling, his father said he didn’t want him to run because he couldn’t beat Kelly, because of voter fraud.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/blake-masters-is-already-claiming-his-election-will-be-stolen-arizona-mark-kelly

Dominion Voting Systems? Someone’s been watching too much Lindell TV lately! But people who know and work with Blake Masters know that he’s not a guy who can be trusted – which makes him absolutely perfect for a MAGA senate candidate. And you know how the right loves to blame everything on George Soros? Well, we’ve got our own version of that – this fucking guy, Peter Theil – who’s a super far right billionaire entrepreneur, and this fucking guy – Lachlan Murdoch, the son of the billionaire News Corp tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Don’t worry, we’ll get to them in a minute. But don’t think for a minute that Blake Masters is a guy you can trust. Oh no, my friends, he’s far from it! Just ask anyone he ever went to school or has done business with.

Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters was fiercely rebuked in an open letter penned by former teachers and classmates, along with other alumni from his school.

The Donald Trump-backed Masters “will lead Arizona down a dark, dystopian path” if he wins election in November, the alumni of Green Fields Country Day School in Tuscon warned in the letter shared by the Arizona Mirror on Thursday.

“He peddles extremist ideology — attacking veterans, calling abortion ‘demonic,’ being endorsed by Neo-Nazis, blaming gun violence on ‘Black people, frankly,’ and that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” they wrote.

Masters is now “barely recognizable” from his time at the school, the letter that was signed by 75 people continued, recalling he was “kind.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-candidate-blake-masters-torched-075612256.html

See, kids, this is the inherent danger that lies from when you’re being fed nothing but a steady, nonstop media diet full of hate, harassment, lies and deceit 24 hours a day. Blake Masters once started out as a mild mannered, every day guy. Then he went down the Fox / Infowars conspiracy theory wormhole on social media and became a batshit crazy stark raving lunatic. It can happen to anyone! In case you’re wondering where I’m going with this – it’s all connected, don’t you know? And it appears that conservatives are going after “Big Tech” because they’re tired of getting banned from social media for saying racist and sexist stuff.

It’s become de rigueur for Republicans—especially Republican candidates—to blast away at Big Tech, assailing it for an assortment of ills, such as privacy violations and a presumed (and often unproven) bias against conservatives. Two GOP Senate candidates, in particular, JD Vance in Ohio and Blake Masters in Arizona, have pounded technology companies. Yet both have had connections to tech firms that have spurred privacy concerns, and their Senate bids have each been funded by Big Tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who has founded and financed ventures that prompt similar worries.

In an interview with conservative talk show host Bill Cunningham last year, Vance complained that Big Tech has become “more powerful than our own government” and controls “what you’re allowed to say and what you’re allowed to think in your own country.” He railed against tech companies that don’t respect consumers’ privacy: “They steal their data from them, and then they sell it back to them in the form of targeted ads. That’s really what Silicon Valley is all about.” Vance called for “breaking up these companies” and complained “there are very few senators willing to go after Silicon Valley.” On a Breitbart podcast, he accused Big Tech of “stealing our data and selling it to our enemies, selling it to our enemies, foreign, sometimes the Chinese… There is nothing that says that Google should be allowed to harvest your data as a consumer. Sell it back to you. Sell it to our adversaries.” He characterized the “entire economic engine of Big Tech, of Facebook, of Google, of everyone” as “harvesting your data, it’s effectively spying on you.” On his campaign website, Vance says, “The solution is simple: we need to break up the big tech companies, to reduce their power in our economy and our politics. We also need to ban the theft of our personal information. If they want our data, it’s time they paid for it.”

Masters has pushed a similar line, assailing Big Tech companies for perpetrating “acute harms” on the American public regarding data privacy, as he noted on the Andrew Klavan Show earlier this year. “Data privacy in the United States,” he added, “doesn’t exist.” Masters blasted “giant multinational corporations” for taking “our data” and using “it against us every which way.” Appearing on Steve Bannon’s podcast a year ago, he insisted, “We need comprehensive federal data privacy legislation. You own your data; giant multinational corporations do not.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/10/jd-vance-blake-masters-peter-thiel-and-their-anti-big-tech-hypocrisy/

Hey conservatives, here’s a pro tip for ya: Don’t want to get banned from social media? Then don’t say racist and sexist shit! It’s that simple! People like Rob Schnieder are complaining that they’re getting silenced for speaking out as a conservative. Guess what? You’re not getting silenced. The answer is simple: no one wants to hear that bullshit! We get bombarded with conservative shit 24 hours a day and the last thing we need is more of it! Thank you audience! Because this is the kind of thing you get with a conservative viewpoint – it’s all bullshit, it’s been debunked a thousand times, and we’ve all heard the lies and deceit. Enough already!

Tech investor and Arizona Republican Senate hopeful Blake Masters acknowledges that the United States has a gun violence problem. But he also has a theory about why there’s a problem—it’s “Black people, frankly.”

Masters boiled the issue down in an April 11 interview on the Jeff Oravits Show podcast, telling the host that “we do have a gun violence problem in this country, and it’s gang violence.”

“It’s people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly,” Masters clarified. “And the Democrats don’t want to do anything about that.”

It’s unclear why Masters—who has pushed the baseless “great replacement” conspiracy theory narrative—felt compelled to single out Black people. Moments earlier in the interview, during a discussion about Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, Masters told Oravits that “most Americans just, you know, just want to stop obsessing about race all the time,” adding that “the left’s biggest tool in their toolkit is just to divide people on the basis of race, and that’s really messed up.”

Republicans frequently cite urban gang violence, most often in Chicago, in attempts to tap out of the gun control debate. While their redirections are often as misleading as they are cliche, those officials aren’t always as forthright as Masters about the racial undertones.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/blake-masters-blames-gun-violence-on-black-people-frankly?source=articles&via=rss

So running on a platform of racist conspiracy theories and backed by billionaire right wing philanthropists, that’s Arizona senate candidate Blake Masters, this week’s:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Marjorie Loves Alex
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Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In times like these, people tend to turn to conspiracy theories when they either can’t accept reality or they just would rather have someone else do their thinking for them. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter from deep in the New Mexico badlands. Undisclosed location, of course! Let me just adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference. They are trying to read yours and my thoughts, after all! There we go! Folks, as you know, conservatives are never great at reading the room. When a mass shooting happens, they harass the victims and buy more guns. When climate change threatens to destroy the world, they install giant smoke stacks on their already oversized trucks. When people tell them not to be racist, they spout the most racist shit you’ve ever heard in your entire life. When a raging pandemic happens, they tell you it’s a hoax and that you shouldn’t get life-saving vaccines or wear face masks. You get the idea. Case in point – our old friend Marjorie Greene is definitely not one who is adept at “reading the room”. Yes, while the Alex Jones verdict showed the world what a colossal, festering piece of shit that guy is, Marjorie is sticking by her man. I mean really, read the damn room!

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene came out in defence of InfoWars host Alex Jones once again after a jury ordered him to pay nearly $1bn in compensatory damages to the families of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre.

The far-right politician, who has spoken for the controversial talk show host in the past as well, said “all he did was speak words” and evoked freedom of speech.

“No matter what you think of Alex Jones all he did was speak words. He was not the one who pulled the trigger,” the Georgia representative wrote on Twitter following the verdict on Wednesday over the second of three defamation trials.

“Were his words wrong and did he apologize? Yes. That’s what freedom of speech is. Freedom to speak words.”

She also labelled the trial as “political persecution” and said it must end.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-alex-jones-trial-b2201781.html

Oh fuck off!!! First off, no, Marjorie, it’s not political persecution. What Alex Jones did to the people of Sandy Hook crossed multiple lines. He didn’t apologize for shit! He actually doubled down and went back on Infowars the day of the verdict and told people that the money donated to him now would not go to Sandy Hook victims. Yeah he’s that much of a festering piece of shit. Yeah so the more you go down this wormhole, the worse it gets. And really, you can’t get much worse than this slimy piece of shit, what he did is completely inexcusable.

Alex Jones was nowhere to be found in a Connecticut courtroom on Wednesday as a jury ordered the Infowars host to pay nearly $1 billion in compensatory damages to the families of Sandy Hook victims.

Instead, the conspiracy theorist was livestreaming and laughing at the monumental verdict, assuring his viewers that he has no plans to actually pay what is owed.

"Do these people actually think they're getting any of this money?" he said, according to NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny.

Jones spent years pushing false theories that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 first graders and six adults were killed, was a government hoax aimed at restricting gun access.

As the damages continued to mount on Wednesday, Jones mocked the verdict in an "emergency" live broadcast on his website.
https://www.insider.com/alex-jones-mocks-sandy-hook-verdict-as-he-solicits-donations-2022-10

Seriously, I picture the Infowars saga ending much like the Waco debacle from the 90s. I see tanks showing up to the Infowars HQ in Austin and Alex Jones just going down in a massive shoot out, a final blaze of glory if you will. And if you’re more concerned about the government coming to take your guns away than you are about the people who have been needlessly murdered over baseless bullshit, then you probably should have your guns taken away! And by the way, Alex is getting even nuttier with his conspiracy theories. Really, he should be committed before he becomes a danger to himself or others.

Shortly after Alex Jones was hit with a $965 million verdict by a Connecticut jury for spreading lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Newtown, the InfoWars host was calling for mass executions in another conspiracy theory.

Jones responded to the verdict with a fist bump as part of his "extended emergency broadcast" as he pushed InfoWars' store and asked for personal donations.

The call for mass executions was based on Jones' debunked conspiracy theory that COVID-19 vaccines have killed tens of millions of people.

"If you're going to bio-attack people, with a virus and then the vaccine that's even worse — it's not a vaccine — you've got to have a story of how you messed up," Jones said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/alex-jones-calls-for-mass-executions-over-covid-bio-attacks/ar-AA12TsnR

So let’s recap the caliber of person that a SITTING CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE likes. He is a boorish jackass who spouts batshit insane stuff to anyone who’s willing to listen to him in his hidey hole in the dark corners of the internet. A guy who makes baseless threats and harasses mass shooting victims and denies the results of elections. And in case you’re wondering, no, he’s not stopping at Sandy Hook. No, he’s out to deny the elections and turn things over to the darkest corners of humanity and well, unless he’s stopped, he’s going to get worse.

Texas Secretary of State John Scott (R), in an interview with Texas Monthly published Monday, decried the “absurd” amount of threats faced by election workers in recent years, pointing the finger at conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones.

“The Infowars guy has unleashed hell on our election people,” Scott said.

Law enforcement officials have pointed to a worrying trend of rising threats against election personnel and infrastructure, particularly in the wake of the 2020 election, which former President Trump and many of his supporters have falsely said was skewed by voter fraud.

“That behavior is unacceptable under any scenario,” Scott said of the threats. “Just because somebody said something, or they saw something on TV, that doesn’t excuse it.”

Texas Monthly pointed to a survey conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice that found that one in six election workers has received threats because of their job.

In response, Scott said, “It’s a huge problem … [it] is pathetic — the fact that they’re in that much fear of their life, that it’s gotten that heated. I think it’s obscene.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/texas-secretary-of-state-alex-jones-unleashed-hell-on-our-election-people/ar-AA12OA4W

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

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb! I want to preface this segment by saying what exactly makes a People Are Dumb story. A person in Florida finding an alligator in their bathroom? Not a People Are Dumb story. Come on, it’s Florida. But a person in Florida burning their house down while they were high on meth and they thought they saw a talking alligator? Now that’s a People Are Dumb story! I want to start with this story that a number of people sent across my desk last week. Here’s the thing – with the right wing thinking that everyone who’s not them is a sex offender, you should probably think twice about giving out these stickers. Especially if you happen to be a youth pastor. I have many questions about this story – mainly, my first question is: why? And my second question is: What the absolute fuck??? But if you’ve ever seen that HBO show The Righteous Gemstones, this looks like it could be a plotline directly out of that show. But really, people, the lesson here is quite simple – don’t do this!

A church in South Carolina says that it has placed a pastor on leave after a social media post claimed he had given children stickers that read "I [heart] hot youth pastors."

Fairview Baptist Church youth pastor Cory Wall has been "placed on administrative leave," according to the church.

The decision comes after a widely-shared Twitter post claimed a youth pastor gave kids, including a 14-year-old girl, a sticker that said "I [heart] youth pastors" on it. The post claimed the youth pastor was a 35-year-old man and that the sticker made the 14-year-old "very uncomfortable."

In another widely-shared social media post, alleged emails from the pastor attempt to explain that the stickers were meant to be a "joke," even if "in hindsight, the joke was of very poor taste and a mistake."

Online backlash apparently prompted a response from Fairview Baptist Church. On both its website and its Facebook page, the church announced that Wall has been placed on administrative leave.
https://wpde.com/news/local/i-heart-hot-youth-pastors-stickers-given-to-kids-leads-to-pastor-being-placed-on-leave-south-carolina-youth-children-love-fairview-baptist-church-cory-wall

Yeah right, sure, it was a joke. OK whatever. Being super creepy definitely isn’t a joke, dumbass. Next up – you know we hear about the “border crisis” from the GOP constantly. But definitely never heard anything quite like this yet. Plus it also answers the question “Is that a snake in your pants or are you just happy to see me?”. The answer is yes – there is quite literally a snake in this guy’s pants. How he didn’t die is insane. And this might be the real border crisis that the GOP is constantly whining about – no, it’s not drugs that immigrants are bringing across the border – it’s snakes! Big ones!

A New York City man has been charged with smuggling three Burmese pythons in his pants at a U.S-Canadian border crossing.

Calvin Bautista, 36, is accused of bringing the hidden snakes on a bus that crossed into northern New York on July 15, 2018. Importation of Burmese pythons is regulated by an international treaty and by federal regulations listing them as “injurious to human beings.”

Bautista, of Queens, was arraigned Tuesday in Albany on the federal smuggling charge and released pending trial, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman.

An email seeking comment was sent to Bautista’s lawyer.

The charge carries the potential for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000, according to federal prosecutors.
https://www.sunjournal.com/2022/10/06/man-charged-with-smuggling-pythons-in-his-pants-at-us-border/?

Yeah I’m pretty sure it isn’t like that. Next up – of course we have to go to our old friends in Florida, because what would People Are Dumb be without a visit to the Sunshine State? Or as Tracy Jordan once called it, America’s penis? And this is a classic People Are Dumb story – look we’ve all been there. Going out to the bars and drinking until who knows where. While we’re all attempting to find a ride home after getting loaded, this guy found a pretty creative way to do so. But then again, you should probably never get a kid who’s way under age to drive you home. That just seems like a bad idea all around.

In another Florida man report, a man reportedly got a 9-year-old kid to drove him home, and the kid almost drove as many as three miles, before being intercepted by the witness.

The incident occurred earlier on Sunday, and the man has been charged with one count of child neglect without great bodily harm. During interrogation, the man told cops that his decision was a “mistake”, but didn’t divulge further details or his motive behind the actions.

According to reports, 22-year-old Alexander Berrios gave directions to the child and asked him to drive him home. The kid almost drove 3 miles on the 7-mile trip, as per the Okaloosa County Sherrif office’s press release. The child was finally rescued from the entire ordeal after a witness spotted the car.

“A witness spotted a car entering Oak Hill Road from a neighborhood around 8 am yesterday and suspected the driver was impaired due to the vehicle being all over the roadway. He cut off the car near the intersection of Highway 85 and Old Bethel Road and noticed a child was behind the wheel,” read the press release by the sheriff’s office.
https://hinduwire.com/florida-man-gets-9-year-old-to-drive-him-home-kid-drove-almost-3-miles-before-being-intercepted/

Next up – you know how we always say that if you give an idiot a gun, don’t be surprised when he does something stupid with it? Well, in Florida (obviously), a state that is dominated with MAGA gun toting lunatics, if someone gets involved in a road rage incident, there’s two ways that this could end, and neither of them are good. What are those two ways, you might ask? Well, either someone is going to get shot, or bystanders are going to get shot. But then again, this is a perfect example of why you should never give an idiot a gun. Oh and for this particular story we will be omitting the names, because reasons.

Two Florida men, fathers, who shot each other’s daughters during a road rage incident were arrested and each charged with one count of attempted second-degree murder.

Per court filings, , 35, and, 43, were both arrested on Saturday evening and booked at the Nassau County Jail.

During a press briefing on Monday, Bill Leeper, Nassau County Sheriff described the men’s behavior as “stupid” and “crazy.” On Saturday, just after 6 o’clock on U.S. 1, there was a “road rage incident” that led to numerous 911 calls alleging “people being shot,” according to Leeper.

The witness who spoke to authorities said Hale was driving a black Dodge Ram with five people inside, and was driving a gray Nissan Murano with three people inside.

Leeper maintains that the witness contacted 911 because both vehicles were driving so recklessly that he thought something horrible was about to happen and that the interaction between the two vehicles was like a “cat and mouse game.”.
https://justsentinel.com/two-fathers-shot-each-others-daughters-during-a-road-rage-incident/

Finally this week – we go to the Land Down Under, I’m of course talking about Australia, for this insane story. So here’s the thing, if you’re a viral celebrity, you should probably refrain from committing a crime, especially if you can be easily identified. And how was this man going viral? Because of his uniquely identifiable face tattoos. Look, this is why we say that you should never get a face tattoo, because if you’re involved in a crime, you can be easily identified. No matter how much you try to cover it up. That’s right, we’re giving you crime pointers on this show! But yeah, this is another example of “just don’t do it”!

A wanted man who went viral because of his distinctive face tattoos has been arrested by police in NSW’s south west.

On September 28, Murray River Police issued an alert seeking assistance in locating Jaimes Sutton, who was wanted on two outstanding arrest warrants in relation to alleged traffic, property and domestic-related offences.

Mr Sutton, 24, quickly captured the attention of social media users, who said he “shouldn’t be hard to find” thanks to a huge “BEAST” face tattoo which “might make him stand out”.

Some compared his tattoos to a sharpie drawing, while others pointed out the lack of tattoos on his upper lip, eyelids and ears.

His knuckles are also branded with the phrase “game over”.
https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/beast-tattooed-wanted-man-caught-by-police/news-story/0f9a9d17ddeb19b1fa265007e4322046?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #12 - Egypt
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Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

[font size="4"]Destination #12: Egypt [/font]

Welcome to Africa everybody! We’ve officially left Europe and now we’re heading to Africa and the Middle East! When I said this was a World Tour, I definitely meant it! Egypt is unfortunately our only Africa destination for this tour, but they are a new destination that we did not cover in 2017! Egypt as you know is home to one of the wonders of the world – the Great Pyramids Of Giza! As well as the mysterious Sphynx monument. But Egypt is more than the land of Pharaohs and King Tut. It’s home to one of the world’s top gambling destinations, Sharm El’ Sheikh, which sits at the top of the world famous Suez Canal. It’s also home to the Nile River and the Valley Of The Kings, where King Tut was discovered. But what else is Egypt the home of? Well it could be the home of the world’s first multi-nation World Cup if this unprecedented 3-nation deal takes place.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece 'will proceed' with their extraordinary bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

The governments of all three countries have given the green light to push on with the application process for what would be the second winter staging of the World Cup after Qatar this year.

Most of the costs will be borne by the Saudis, with the majority of matches staged in their country.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has sent the joint nomination file to a company in the United States for 'processing', according to Greek website TO10.

Previous reports have suggested a Egypt-Greece-Saudi finals would be staged during the European domestic season because temperatures in June and July in the host countries would be too high.

Saudi Arabia would be the lead partner and at least contribute to the infrastructure costs of Egypt and Greece.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-11330931/World-Cup-Saudi-Arabia-Egypt-Greece-proceed-2030-bid.html

I’m not sure how I feel about this because on one hand, it would be cool to see three drastically different nations come together. But on the other hand – we all know that the Saudis are evil and out for power and money, that we know is true. But speaking of being evil, Egypt is not exactly a country that is OK with people having rights. Other than of course wealthy males. They get all the rights. The rest of us? Eh, we can all go rot. But really I swear this planet is inching closer and closer to the world envisioned in the flick Elysium – the rich will live on their own plane of existence, while the rest of us fight for what’s left of the scraps.

Egypt has missed out on an additional $75 million in American military aid after a senior Democratic U.S. senator blocked the funding over concerns about Cairo's human rights record including holding political prisoners.

Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, rejected an assessment offered by the U.S. State Department to justify the aid, which was subject to conditions under a law passed by Congress last year. The committee has jurisdiction over spending legislation including U.S. financial assistance for Egypt.

"We should take this law very seriously, because the situation facing political prisoners in Egypt is deplorable," Leahy told Reuters in a statement.

"We can't give short shrift to the law because of other policy considerations. We all have a responsibility to uphold the law and to defend the due process rights of the accused, whether here or in Egypt," Leahy said.

The conditions set by Congress require Egypt to make "clear and consistent progress" in releasing political prisoners and providing detainees with due process of law.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/senator-blocks-75-million-us-military-aid-egypt-over-rights-concerns-2022-10-17/

Oh wait that one was meant for Saudi Arabia. But still, the Islamic middle eastern countries have a terrible track record when it comes to human rights,. But there is good news on the diplomacy scene, you know how we always say that when nations like each other, they help each other out. As is the case with two very unlikely partners – Egypt and South Korea. Think of this like Tom Brady being on the same team with Aaron Rodgers – it’s something that’s very unlikely to happen but stranger things have happened, you know.

Egypt and South Korea are now at the stage of the best government-to-government cooperation of all time since the establishment of the Comprehensive Cooperative Partnership in 2016, when President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi paid an official visit to Korea, according to South Korea Ambassador to Cairo Hong-Jin-Wook.

He stressed that the support from each country’s people is crucial for two countries to sustain the excellent relations.

His remarks came during a reception hosted by him at his residence on Monday in commemoration of Korean National Day (3 October) and Armed Forces Day (1 October) of 2022, which also marks the 27th anniversary of Egypt-Korea diplomatic relations.

More than 650 friends of Korea — including Egyptian government officials, businessmen, journalists, and citizens — and Koreans in Egypt joined the reception and witnessed how Egyptian-Korean relations have developed on all levels.
https://dailynewsegypt.com/2022/10/18/egypt-south-korea-experiencing-their-best-government-to-government-cooperation-of-all-time-ambassador/

Maybe you could do without the “douchebag” part. Although one thing ever since Russia decided to illegally take over Ukraine in a hostile takeover, we’re feeling the pinch around the world. And since Egypt is a country that is way closer to Ukraine than we are, they’re feeling the pinch just as much as we are. Though if you’re the economic minister of Egypt, is this really your plan? To rally local business when your problem is the lack of foreign currency? That would be kind of like the Fed tapping that guy who sells oranges on the side of the freeway for advice about how to handle Elon Musk. They’re just… after all, one guy.

The shortage of foreign currency has hit local manufacturers hard and led to a months-long backlog of goods warehoused at ports across the country waiting for banks to pay their value in dollars to secure their release.

Authorities have recently dimmed the lights on streets and in government buildings throughout Cairo to save energy and make more liquefied gas available for export to earn foreign currency.

Egypt is already exporting $600 million worth of gas to Europe every month, according to Finance Minister Mohamed Maait. The government plans to increase that to $1bn next year, he said.

Mr El Sisi’s Tuesday meeting with Egyptian businessmen and investors came amid persistent speculation the state has taken an outsized role in the economy, using a wide range of privileges to push out private investors.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/egypt/2022/10/19/egypt-needs-you-el-sisi-tells-local-businessmen-in-call-for-economic-assistance/

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

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

Overall: D-

Change from 2017: Egypt is a new destination we have not yet covered, but from what we’ve seen, if you’re thinking about visiting the Pyramids, you might want to reconsider.

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

We’re taking a short break next week (schedule got screwed up) but when we come back on 11/3, we’re heading to the land of Hinduism and Bollywood – India!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Motionless In White[/font]

Folks, my next guest are a great hardcore band from Scranton, PA. That’s Joe Biden’s hometown! You can see them on the Trinity Of Terror tour with Ice Nine Kills and Black Veil Brides through December 15th. Playing their song “Slaughterhouse” from their album “Scoring The End Of The World”, give it up for Motionless In White!

Thank you Fargo, this was fun! We’ll be back again soon! We’re taking a short break next week but we’ll be back on November 3rd with our first ever show south of the border live from Cabo San Lucas with the famous Wheel Of Corruption! See you in two weeks!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Fargo Brewing Company, Fargo, ND
Motionless In White Appears Courtesy Of: Roadrunner Records
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Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
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Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

October 6, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-10: Wheel Of Corruption: Love And Thunder Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-10: Wheel Of Corruption: Love And Thunder Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots!

Yooooooooooooooooooo!!!! What the fuck is up Denver???? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! We made it! We are here, to drink your beer. Like the song says! But I can't believe this is happening after two years! Look at these guys, they’re drunk already and the festival hasn’t even started yet! Now that’s either commitment or the beginning of admitting that you have a problem. Don’t worry our sober brothers and sisters, we are here for you, we got your back too! Just… one day at a time! We made it, we are here! First off, before we go any further, I want to address last week’s cancellation. We had the best intentions of doing our show in Des Moines but our ISP, which shall remain nameless, caused a massive fuck up at the home office in Santa Ana, where most of our bits are written. So that plus some staff illnesses created a perfect storm which resulted in the cancellation. But we are working on a rescheduled date for Iowa, we’ll be coming soon! And this week will feature a couple of segments that were meant to air last week but did not get aired because of this. But enough business talk. The fucking Great American Beer Fesitval is back! How about that? It’s been two god damn years and we need to go get our drink on, drinking the best brews throughout this great United States of ours! Oh yeah! Even just walking around downtown at the 16th St. Mall, I was getting a bit teary knowing that this festival is finally happening after two years of cancellations and sheer disappointment because of COVID. I want to thank the good folks at the Brewer’s Association for helping us land this shindig, and for providing today’s drinks. And as you can see, we have the famous Wheel Of Corruption all fired up and ready to go, and it is wearing its’ beer goggles! Yeah! How many brewers are at the festival? 500? Is that a new record? Holy shit, 10,000 different kinds of beer? Yeah I think if you start now, you might be able to hit all of them by Saturday night! But you know, you got to pace yourselves! OK enough of the intro, let’s get right to it! But first John Oliver is back and he disccuses how Brazil’s Trump wannabe learned from Trump’s mistakes:

So as you can see, the famous Wheel Of Corruption is all lubed up and ready to go! And I myself will be nice and oiled through this edition! I’m talking about beer of course! In the number one slot this week is our old buddy Ron Desantis (1). Yes, the Fox News installed governor of Florida is mad that Biden didn’t call him, but he actually did and they agreed to actually work together to help the Sunshine State in a time of crisis. Wait, what??? Yes that’s right! In the second slot this week is Vladimir Putin (2). Yes, the premier warlord of Mother Russia is celebrating some ill gotten gains in the Ukraine war, but wait until you hear how he plans to escalate things, and trust us – it gets weird really quickly! In the third slot this week, also on the international front, Italy elected its’ new prime minister (3) – who happens to be an ultra far right, Trump-esque nutjob and we should probably be worried when the election is over and Mussolini immediately starts trending on social media. In the number 4 slot this week is our favorite Q Anon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q – Insurrectionist) who has filed for divorce with just under a month to go before the election! In the number 5 slot this week, we’re going to lighten things up and talk about Space Force (5). Yes, the sixth branch of the US military has been releasing a lot of details, and it’s pretty apparent that they stole most of them from Star Trek and other science fiction programs. In the 6th slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, remember the ridiculous 7 Mountains Dominionist theory? Well it’s back and it has become self-aware, and your megachurch pastors have just the guy who’s going to put everything into motion, even though his poll numbers are tanking! In the number 7 slot this week, we have a new Beating A Dead Horse (7), and in one of the more bizarre controversies we’ve seen lately, pop singer Lizzo visited the Library Of Congress in DC and played James Madison’s crystal flute, and the racist white wing of the GOP naturally has their underwear in a wad over it! Taking the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8) and we want to know, why was queen insurrectionist Ginni Thomas smiling on her way to her J6 Committee hearing? Plus why is the company behind Trump’s rallies going bankrupt? We’re not sure these two things are related, but they might be! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week of course we’ve got a new “I Need A Drink” (9) and this week whenever a hurricane is in the news, there’s a unit of measurement to determine how screwed the East Coast is, and that’s the Waffle House Index. But what is it? We’ll have some drinks and find out! Finally this week, because of last week’s screw up, our World Tour 2022 stops at the home of the original Oktoberfest, the land of luxury cars, Bundesliga, and Neuschwanstein – Germany (10)! Plus to top things off, we’ve got one of the classic drinking bands of all time joining us – the legendary Flogging Molly! Really buy their new album Anthem or you’re no friend of this program! 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"]Ron DeSantis
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Hey kids, it’s time for the: WHEEL. OF. CORRUPTION!!! YAY!!!!

Of course you know the rules by now – I spin the wheel and we have to talk about whatever the subject it lands on. Of course if it lands on the guacamole option, you know that it costs $1.50 extra. And the wheel is all new with lots of items on it! Here’s what is on the wheel this week:

- Guns
- Crime
- Abortion
- Poverty
- The 2020 Election
- The Insurrection
- Treason
- Buy A Vowel
- Donald Trump
- Midterm Elections
- Clip Without Context
- 5,000
- Nazi Germany
- Fox News
- Russia
- ‘Merica
- My Pillow
- Bankrupt
- International Politics
- Chance
- Fox News
- Something Random In The News
- Whammy
- Family Values
- Community Chest
- The Hurricane
- Death
- Space
- Drink
- Homosexuality
- The US Constitution
- Greed
- Clip Without Context
- Top 10 Investigates
- Beating A Dead Horse
- This Fucking Guy
- Intermission
- Holy Shit
- A Random Tweet
- World Tour 2022
- Double Whammy
- Buy A Vowel
- Drink
- Conspiracy Corner
- Random Movie Reference
- Guacamole
- 10,000
- People Are Dumb
- I Need A Drink
- Infowars
- Go Directly To Jail
- Random TV Reference
- T-Shirt Cannon
- Infowars
- People Who Somehow Got Elected
- COVID-19
- Lightning Round
- Bonus Spin

Let’s get this party started! As you can see the wheel is beer themed because we’re in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival! Come on, spin that shit! No whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… stop! Oh and it’s one of our patented Clips Without Context!

OK… something is drastically fucked up when white supremacists like Nick Fuentes side with the Taliban, though you’d think they would be natural allies. They both hate the same stuff. Spin it again! And it lands on… The Hurricane! Folks, I don’t need to tell you why elections matter. Because if you get into a natural disaster, and you have someone who’s grossly incompetent at the helm, like the Fox News installed governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, you’re gonna have a bad time. Well, ol’ Ronny is currently up a creek without a paddle. The pictures coming out of southern Florida because of Hurricane Ian are absolutely devastating. And look, we’re not here to make fun of the situation at hand. But we are here to make fun of the politicians who put us in these situations. But this is entirely on DeSantis. And there’s no low that the GOP won’t stoop to. While Biden is out touring the devastation from Hurricane Ian in Florida and Puerto Rico, Desantis is out making his touring of the disaster areas a campaign stop. Yes that’s right! Hold your boos!

From wearing campaign garb at hurricane recovery events to falsely asserting that Ian’s landfall wasn’t “even in the cone” three days earlier, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking his combative, hyper-partisan style into his first major natural disaster response since taking office and just weeks before the Nov. 8 election that would give the Republican a second term.

“He doesn’t handle scrutiny well. The governor suffers from a glass jaw and quick temper,” said David Jolly, a former GOP congressman from Tampa. “It becomes apparent as he’s challenged with facts that don’t fit his narrative. It may be tough to confront a governor’s word during tragedy, but it’s important the state know the truth.”

On Monday, DeSantis grew testy in an interview with a CNN reporter who asked him if Lee County, where Hurricane Ian made landfall, should have called for a mandatory evacuation earlier than Tuesday, just a day before the storm hit, the way neighboring counties had done.

“Where was your industry stationed when the storm hit? Were you guys in Lee County? No, you were in Tampa,” he said to the reporter. “So they were following the weather track, and they had to make decisions based on that. But, you know, 72 hours, they weren’t even in the cone. Forty-eight hours, they were on the periphery, so you’ve got to make the decisions best you can.”

The archived charts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website, however, prove DeSantis wrong.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/florida-gov-ron-desantis-campaign-garb-hurricane-press-events_n_633b550ee4b02816452cd733?cbu

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! OK here’s the thing – you would think that a natural disaster like Hurricane Ian would be a perfect time for democrats and republicans to set aside their petty differences and work together, right? WRONG! For those of you who still watch cable news, you might have seen Desantis and other GOP talking heads like Sean Hannity complaining that Biden isn’t nice enough to Florida during this trying time. But this isn’t on Florida. This is purely on the GOP talking heads because history is once again repeating itself! You know, fool me once, shame on you, etc.

This is the story of a ravaging storm, severely shifting winds and gusts of hot air. I’m not talking about Hurricane Ian, but the actions of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) when Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York almost exactly 10 years ago.

In 2012, my congressional district on Long Island, and others around it, was devastated. Power lines down, homes uprooted or imploded, entire neighborhoods under water. Parts of our region looked war-torn. Not much different, actually, than the heartbreaking images we see in Florida today.

When Congress considered a $9.7 billion relief package for my region, then-freshman Rep. Ron DeSantis voted no, saying that he’d been elected to oppose the “put it on the credit card mentality.”

Apparently, things have changed. Now, when Floridians survey the wreckage of their homes, beaches and businesses, the governor has learned that he must, well govern. Now, the same man who refused to support a lifeline for flooded New Yorkers argues that we’re all in the same boat. He’s gone from chest-thumper to glad-hander with the Biden administration. In February, he wrongly said that President Biden “stiffs” storm victims for political reasons. This week, he proclaimed that he was “thankful” for the Biden administration’s efforts.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/for-ron-desantis-what-a-difference-a-deluge-makes/ar-AA12y5N5?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=13fa06d99f5945bba8c99d45d5b4875d

Yeah so 10 years! 10 fucking years! Florida has had four hurricanes since then! It’s truly mind boggling how incompetent these people are! But then again have you seen how toxic the politics in the Villages are? Basically a haven for fascism. Oh and guess what? You know how we love to point out how actions have consequences on this show? Well, here’s a perfect example of why you shouldn’t vote for incompetent buffoons like Desantis. If you live in Florida and you value your property, well, while Desantis was fighting bullshit culture wars and pulling horrifying stunts to get points with Fox News viewers, this happened while you weren’t looking.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has had a busy year. He has enacted legislation prohibiting teachers from acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ people. He has banned private businesses from conducting trainings about racial bias. And he has flown dozens of migrants from San Antonio, Texas to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, under false pretenses.

But while DeSantis was fighting the culture wars and positioning himself for a future presidential run, he has failed to meaningfully address one of the state's biggest problems: its dysfunctional and collapsing property insurance market.

Florida's property insurance system was in crisis even though the state had not been struck by a major hurricane since 2018. Then Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida's west coast, killing at least 74 people and inflicting tens of billions of dollars in property damage. Things are about to get much worse.

Florida property faces catastrophic risks from weather events that worsen each year due to climate change. For years, many of the nation's major insurers have wanted little to do with covering property in Florida. Currently, State Farm covers 8% of Florida’s home insurance market, but "no other major national insurer has more than 4%."

That leaves Floridians reliant on thinly-capitalized local insurers with very high rates. Floridians pay an average of "$4,231 a year per [property insurance] policy, compared to a US average of $1,544." Premiums have increased as much as 30% per year. Nevertheless, these companies are having a hard time surviving. In the last five years, six Florida insurance companies have gone out of business "without responding to a hurricane, and four more are in the process of liquidation."
https://popular.info/p/what-happened-while-ron-desantis

Seriously, Fox News wants this guy to be president! Can you imagine? And no, Ronnie, the press wasn’t rooting for the hurricane, you dipshit. But you want to know the most bizarre thing about all of this? So remember that migrant story that I talked about a couple of weeks ago? Well guess what? Now they’re being lured back to Florida to help assist with the Hurricane Ian clean up. You really can’t make any of this shit up. Florida doesn’t want migrants coming to their state, because Fox News told them so, but now they want them back because… reasons. And this is after Desantis accused the hurricane looters of being migrants. We got to get these morons out of power. Sigh.

The Venezuelan migrants were cold and disoriented, wandering streets in Queens, New York, looking for a white van that would shuttle them to jobs cleaning up after Hurricane Ian in Florida.

They didn't find the vehicle. Instead, community organizers discouraged the migrants from taking a job with people they didn't know. The whole thing, they warned, was a scam.

"It sounds like human trafficking," said Ariadna Phillips, of community organizers South Bronx Mutual Aid, who intercepted the migrants and steered them to a shelter. "They recruit migrants, take them down there, don't pay them and get them deported. We've seen it with other hurricanes."

Immigrant workers from Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras and other countries are often at the center of the multibillion-dollar disaster recovery industry, and the aftermath of Hurricane Ian probably will be different. Experts predict migrants will descend on Florida to help repair properties after the deadly storm, putting their lives at danger for little pay.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/10/05/migrants-key-to-rebuilding-florida-after-hurricane-ian-but-vulnerable-to-scams/8177904001/

[font size="8"]Vladimir Putin
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Let’s spin it to win it! And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! And it lands on… DRINK! Come on everyone let’s get a toast! Ziggy socky Ziggy socky oy oy oy!

Spin it again! And it lands on… Russia! For those of you who thought that Vladimir Putin’s illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Ukraine would be over by now, guess what? It looks like we’re in it for the long haul. Because it looks like Pooty is determined to take over that country at any cost, even if it winds up killing him. While last week’s edition was canceled, during the planning stages, we found out that Putin plans to escalate the war on Ukraine. And like everything Russia does, it’s going to get weird. And it’s going to get really weird, really quickly. So Vladimir Putin basically went to plan B – a draft. And it’s mandatory. That’s something no one wants to participate in. So naturally you can imagine that this is creating some serious chaos in Mother Russia. But Putin isn’t taking no for an answer and he’s determined to completely destroy Ukraine at any cost. Think we’ve seen the worst of it? Oh hell no. Like the song says – you ain’t seen nothing yet!

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nationwide mobilization has dramatically raised the stakes — not just for the war in Ukraine, but for his legitimacy at home. Putin is wagering that the addition of 300,000 or more reservists will turn the tide for Russia’s attempted neo-imperial conquest of Ukraine.

The risk, though, is that the Kremlin’s heavy-handed mobilization — really, a forced conscription — will undermine Russian domestic support for the war effort, and potentially topple the Putinist regime itself. Already, stories and videos are emerging of young men fleeing Russia by air, rail, and road, inflicting gruesome injuries upon themselves in hopes of disqualification, protesting the mobilization, or tearfully acceding to an uncertain fate on the front lines.

And while it is still too soon to say whether Putin’s gamble will ultimately help him or hurt him politically, he’s not the first Russian autocrat to attempt a mass mobilization to change the tide in a war of uncertain value to ordinary Russians. In the 20th century, there were two that sparked similar unrest — one in 1904 for the Russo-Japanese war, and another in 1914 during World War I.

Both those mobilizations eventually contributed to popular uprisings that culminated in the Russian Revolution of 1917. But the history of that unrest holds important lessons on the impact of war mobilization on the stability of Russia’s autocratic institutions and the risks facing Putin.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/28/putins-military-draft-is-unpopular-so-what-00059145

Yeah so like all drafts, this one is woefully unpopular with the Russkies. But remember what I said about things getting weird quickly? Well… there’s a caveat. And I saw a lot of requests to do this story come across my desk so we got to talk about it. That caveat? You got to supply your own medical equipment should you get drafted. So what happens if one of these troops should get shot while on the front lines of the war? Well… the Russian government has a plan for that. And it’s about as insane as it sounds. I can’t even say it, it’s too insane.

Russian troops in Ukraine are running out of medical provisions, according to the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence, and have been asked to source their own combat first aid supplies.

The advice to reservists mobilized under President Putin's recent partial draft and now heading to the battlefield, according to British intelligence, is to use female sanitary products.

"Medical provision for Russian combat troops in Ukraine is probably growing worse," wrote the U.K. Ministry of Defence on Friday.

"Some newly mobilised Russian reservists have been ordered to source their own combat first aid supplies, with the advice that female sanitary products are a cost-effective solution."

Russian troops, including reservists, likely lack proper medical training and first-aid awareness, the U.K. Ministry of Defence says.

Modern tourniquets—the strap-like tool used to apply pressure on a limb to stop the flood of blood—are also "scarce," British officials say.
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-troops-female-sanitary-products-supply-issues-uk-1747749

Yes that’s a good question! And I have many questions about this as well. So let’s put the pieces together. The Russian government is going broke. No one wants to fight in Putin’s illegal war. So they’re resorting to a draft. And if you get drafted, you got to supply your own medical equipment in the event that you get shot. And when tourinquets are in short supply… you know what works? And honestly I got to admit that I didn’t have this on my 2022 apocalypse bingo card! Maybe this is how we end Putin’s illegal war!

Russian President Vladimir Putin's newest conscripts are being advised to pack sanitary products as a form of first aid, according to the UK's Ministry of Defence.

"Medical provision for Russian combat troops in Ukraine is probably growing worse," read a statement from the MOD on Friday.

"Some newly mobilized Russian reservists have been ordered to source their own combat first aid supplies, with the advice that female sanitary products are a cost-effective solution," it said.

Russia's Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

However, Russian Defense Committee member Dmitry Perminov denied similar reports on Tuesday, telling Russian news site Podyum that "this is the first time" he hears that such items were being used in the army.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-soldiers-told-use-sanitary-products-first-aid-uk-mod-2022-9

This whole thing is insane. Make no mistake that Vladimir Putin is a mad man who’s out for world domination. He is grossly unpopular even in his own country. I think even naval lint, fertilizer, and moldy cheese have higher approval ratings than he does. History is not going to be kind to this war mongering tyrant. In fact his draft is so unpopular that people are resorting to some absolutely drastic measures to get out of it. And this is something that we can’t make fun of so we won’t even try. But we will say this – Vladimir Putin, nobody likes a tyrant, and history is not kind to them or to you.

An estimated 400,000 Russians have fled to nearby countries like Kazakhstan, Georgia, Mongolia—as well as the European Union and countries further afield like Turkey—since the draft was announced in late September, according to Bloomberg, an exodus that has prompted several neighboring states to restrict Russians entering on tourist visas.

Fleeing Russians sometimes faced days-long queues to cross the border and soaring demand sent the prices for plane tickets skyrocketing, particularly to countries offering Russians visa-free entry like Turkey, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates.

Those unable or unwilling to leave Russia have sometimes resorted to drastic means to evade the draft by other, usually medical, means, and Russian search terms like “how to break an arm,” “how to break an arm at home” or “how to break a leg” spiked on Google (which is still used by millions in Russia) in the days after the draft was announced, suggesting more interest in the topic than usual.

Gruesome videos of men allegedly breaking their arms or legs in a desperate bid to avoid being drafted have reportedly cropped up online, including footage showing men taking sledgehammers to a friend’s limb.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/10/04/russians-use-drastic-measures-to-avoid-putins-military-draft-including-self-mutilation/?sh=29f688c26d1b

[font size="8"]Georgia Meloni
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Now entering the spin cycle! Come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! No, a whammy!!!!

Spin it again! And it lands on… International Politics. Sigh… remember the old saying “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”? Well guess what? It’s happening. Shit, not even two weeks ago, when our World Tour stopped in Italy did we warn of the dangers of what’s happening with the Italian election. And here’s the thing, Italy. We’ve been there. America flirted with fascism and totalitarianism. One of the lessons learned? Anyone who comes along saying “ First” is bad, OK? Nationalism is bad. Fascism is bad. And authoritarianism – wait for it – is also bad! So when Italy elects a far right prime minister and the first thing that trends on Twitter is immediately “Mussolini”, should we be worried? The answer to that question is undeniably yes! Especially considering that Italy is a country that has been here before in its’ history. That being said, we have learned nothing about history. And because of that, we are doomed to repeat it, and it’s probably going to be worse than the first time. Italy’s new PM, Georgia Meloni, is going to be utterly terrifying.

Giorgia Meloni, who is poised to become Italy’s next prime minister, has promised to put national interests first in tackling soaring energy costs as she made her first public outing since her Brothers of Italy party won the most votes in the country’s national election.

Meloni addressed farmers and producers on Saturday at an agricultural fair in Milan sponsored by Italy’s influential Coldiretti farm lobby.

She emerged from a week of closed-door meetings with allies and the outgoing government following the vote on 25 September that is poised to give Italy its first far-right-led government since the second world war.

Her appearance came after Germany this week announced it would spend up to €200bn (£175bn) helping consumers and businesses cope with surging energy prices caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, while refusing to back a European price cap on gas, as Italy and other countries have sought.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/01/giorgia-meloni-says-she-will-put-italy-first-in-tackling-high-energy-costs

Yeah think about that – first far right government in Italy since the second World War. I mean come on, we fought two World Wars against far right ideals, and now it looks like we’re going to be fighting a third any day now. Let’s go through future PM Meloni’s qualifications. She’s far right. Check. Hates immigrants and immigration. Check. Hates workers. Check. Also brands herself in the same way that our GOP brands themselves? Check mate. So yeah welcome to your new nightmare, Italy!

Giorgia Meloni, leader of Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), will become the first female prime minister in Italy’s history.

Her election last month will move the country to the far right for the first time since Benito Mussolini’s fall during World War II. The Brothers of Italy, which was founded by Meloni, is a national-conservative populist party that opposes undocumented immigration, according to its website.

Meloni’s victory now means uncertainty for those who migrated to Italy.

When Baryali Waiz, a refugee in Italy, heard the results of the general election, he said he was worried.

“What happens when voters can’t find work? They blame migrants,” Waiz told ABC News.

As of August, Italy’s unemployment rate stood at 8.1%, the third highest in the European Union after Spain and Greece.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/migrants-italy-face-uncertainty-prime-ministers-win/story?id=90916653

You know part of our motto here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we believe that the rising tide of fascism and authoritarianism that hit the US with the Trump regime isn’t just unique to the United States Of America. No, it’s a global problem that is toppling countries and turning governments inside out all over the world. Italy is just the latest domino to fall. So what are Meloni’s policies? Well, Meloni is very much Italy first. And if we know anything from Trump’s America First policies, things are going to get very bad very quickly for our friends in Italy.

And by the way, in case you’re wondering, why yes of course the American right is praising the Italian far right’s gains in government. Again, these are some truly sick and twisted people we are dealing with. But again, like I keep saying, the rising tide of fascism around the globe is affecting the entire world. If you don’t believe me, Italy’s far right is acting exactly like our far right. No matter where you go in the world, the far right is pretty much the same. Just different labels for different parties. We have to stop these fascist fucks from getting elected. The world depends on it!

Giorgia Meloni is set to become Italy's first-ever female prime minister after her Brothers of Italy party won a startling victory on September 26. Yet, actually governing Italy may prove a difficult task, with most Italian governments lasting less than two years in office.

She captured the premiership with a take-no-prisoners style and skillful use of populist politics. For example, she once struck at French President Emmanuel Macron with a critique of France's role in Africa that reflects her careful political instincts in a video shared widely on social media.

"Do not come to teach us lessons, Macron; the Africans are abandoning their continent because of you," Meloni said at an Italian conservative conference in 2018. "The solution is not to transfer Africans to Europe but to liberate Africa from some Europeans."

Some consider the Brothers of Italy to be far-right due to their ties to political groups formed in Italy after World War II. Meloni herself shrugs off the label as a smear. Though as a teenage activist, she once publicly praised Mussolini. Yet, her willingness to embrace anti-imperialist rhetoric suggests ideological flexibility and a rejection of Italian fascism of which imperialism in Africa was a key tenet.
https://www.newsweek.com/what-we-know-about-italy-next-prime-minister-giorgia-meloni-views-1748307

[font size="8"]Marjorie Taylor Greene
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! Oh it’s one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Really, a guy who arrests people on reality television is a religious fascist? Never would have guessed!

Spin it again! And it lands on… Family Values! You know I always love when the GOP champions themselves as the party of “family values”. Because if anything, they don’t know what family values actually are. Case in point, our old friend Marjorie Taylor Green (Q – Insurrectionist). Who claims to be a “god fearing Christian white mother”. Which only really looks good to the white wing of the GOP. We all knew her affairs were weird. But now that she’s actually filed for divorce, we’re going to see just how weird things are really going to get. Like answer me this, what part of family values involves a tantric yoga sex guru? I thought so! But like most divorces, after 27 years, you really got to wonder what was the line that was finally crossed that shouldn’t have been? We have our suspicions, and Marjorie Three Names has crossed many of those lines repeatedly. Whether it’s harassing mass shooting victims or going on Steve Bannon’s show to complain about the January 6th investigation. But one thing we can be assured of – things are going to get weird.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) husband filed for divorce Wednesday on the grounds that the marriage is “irretrievably broken,” according to court documents.

Perry Greene is also asking the Floyd County Superior Court to seal the divorce proceedings, “because the parties’ significant privacy interest in sealing the records outweighs the public’s miniscule interest in access to said records.”

The filing contends that “sensitive personal and financial information” will likely be revealed throughout the case, “which would negatively impact the parties’ privacy interests.”

Perry Greene’s divorce petition requests an equitable division of the pair’s assets and debt. The filing notes that he and his wife have already separated.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3666094-marjorie-taylor-greens-husband-files-for-divorce/

This is the Christian right hypocrisy in a nutshell right here. they say they’re all about family values and respecting the family. But in case you’re wondering the caliber of person that Marjorie Trash Garbage is, she’s the kind of person that would literally kick a man when he’s down. Case in point – Greene kicked a man when he was down and started hurling racist slurs at him. Yeah that’s the kind of caliber person you can expect to find when you get an Infowars approved Congressperson. And yes, Marjorie Greene is approved by the Infowars sphere because she appears on that show almost daily.

A Gen-Z political group said it will file a formal complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, alleging she physically and verbally attacked two staffers.

According to Voters for Tomorrow, which engages, educates and represents youth in politics, the alleged incident occurred as the group's deputy communications director Marianna Pecora and executive director Santiago Mayer confronted Greene about her stance on gun safety in schools last month.

During the encounter, they said Greene kicked 18-year-old Pecora and made xenophobic comments at Mayer, a 20-year-old Mexican immigrant.

Voters of Tomorrow said the complaint will accuse Greene of conduct unbecoming of a member of Congress. House Rule XXIII, Clause 1 requires a member to "behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House."

"Violence and xenophobia are always wrong, and we must hold members of Congress to those standards as well," Voters of Tomorrow spokesperson Jack Lobel said in a statement provided to Newsweek.
https://www.newsweek.com/complaint-against-marjorie-taylor-greene-kicking-teen-1748638

Yeah so that’s totally baffling to me. Any other job, Marjorie would have been fired on the first day for her irreprehensible behavior. Yet, somehow in Congress, this is acceptable. Of course that happens when the opposition party has been taken over by a deranged cult. So that’s the kind of caliber of character that Marjorie Greene is. So naturally her husband wanted to blow the lid off on the divorce, because naturally we suspect that he knows things about her that we don’t. But here’s what we do know in the initial filing here.

Marjorie Taylor Greene 's husband is filing for divorce from the controversial 48-year-old Georgia Republican congresswoman

Husband, Perry Greene, filed for divorce on Tuesday after 27 years of marriage
The pair were married in August 1995 whilst she was still a student at the University of Georgia - the pair brought up three children, all now adults

In 2012, Marjorie Taylor Greene had filed for divorce following affairs with tantric sex guru Craig Ivey and fitness gym manager Justin Tway
Last year it was revealed how she planned to leave Perry in July 2012 but reconciled with him two months later

Divorce papers show Taylor Greene blamed the marriage breakdown on their relationship being 'irretrievably broken'
She had met her two lovers while working at a gym in Georgia in 2012
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11260893/Marjorie-Taylor-Greenes-husband-files-DIVORCE-just-years-met-gym-manager-lover.html

OK… OK… I have many questions here. Look these are the people who preach endlessly about family values but then they go out and have countless affairs. Well, I ask you – what kind of “family values” involve having an affair with a tantric yoga sex guru? Not too many that I can think of. Which is why we say this thing is going to get really weird really quickly. Because abusive adulterators are the kind of mind that Trump attracts. And if you think Marjorie and Lauren Boebert are the only ones out there, we can assure you they are not!

The husband of controversial Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed for divorce Wednesday on grounds their marriage is “irretrievably broken.”

Perry Greene, who married the firebrand politician, filed the divorce petition in the Georgia Superior Court of Floyd County. Court papers show Greene and his wife, 48, had already separated.

In his initial filing, Greene asked to seal the divorce proceedings, “because the parties’ significant privacy interest in sealing the records outweighs the public’s minuscule interest in access to said records,” court documents show.

"Sensitive personal and financial information” will likely be revealed throughout the case, according to that filing, “which would negatively impact the parties’ privacy interests.”

On Monday, Greene filed a motion to withdraw his request for the sealing.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/29/marjorie-taylor-greene-husband-files-divorce/10459286002/

[font size="8"]Space Force
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! Chance!

Nice! I get a Get Out Of Jail Free card. I’ll just put that away for later. Spin it again! And it lands on… Space!

Our former president doesn’t have much claim to his name, but he did get the 6th branch of the US military established in 2019 – Space Force! Which doesn’t even make sense considering that space travel isn’t really a thing and is the fevered dream of a mad man. Oh wait, that guy was a mad man. But now the details are coming out about what exactly the 6th branch of the military is. And as you may have guessed it’s extremely laughable. I mean after all, how do you command a branch of the military that is something straight out of science fiction? Well, you basically copy science fiction! I mean come on, anyone with half a brain who’s spent any amount of time watching science fiction programs – whether it's classic programs like Star Trek, or newer programs like The Orville, will recognize all of the things that Space Force is doing. But this week, Space Force unveiled its’ official song. Before we go any further, can we play that please?

Wow. Just… wow. OK here’s more.

As those lyrics indicate, members of the Space Force are called "guardians," which cues the service up for "Guardians of the Galaxy" jokes. Every branch of the U.S. military has a specific name for its personnel; for example, those in the Army and Navy are called soldiers and sailors, respectively.

Each branch also has its own song. You may have heard "The Army Goes Rolling Along (opens in new tab)," which uses a melody written by march master John Philip Sousa.

The Space Force was officially established in December 2019, becoming the first new branch of the U.S. military since the Air Force began operations in 1947. The Space Force is part of the Air Force, much as the U.S. Marine Corps is part of the Navy.

The Space Force "is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way our joint and coalition forces fight, while also offering decision makers military options to achieve national objectives," the branch's mission statement reads (opens in new tab).
https://www.space.com/space-force-official-song-semper-supra

That is a good point! But I do love the fact that they’re called “Guardians”. Yes, that is a good point, sir, they really are the Guardians Of The Galaxy! When do we get our own Groots? Now you might be asking – what is Space Force going to do exactly? Well, that is a good question. Because as we have said space travel currently is but the fevered dream of a mad man. So for right now, Space Force has taken on the very unexciting task of managing the US Army’s satellite communications. Yeah it’s about as exciting as it sounds!

After taking control of all of the Defense Department’s satellite communication functions earlier this year, the Space Force is continuing to look for ways to consolidate more systems into its portfolio of capabilities.

The Army’s satellite communications mission was officially transferred to the Space Force in August, following the transfer of the Navy’s Satellite Operations Center in June. This marks the first time all Defense Department military satellite communication functions have been consolidated under a single service, a Space Force release said.

Having all of these missions under one service has had a major impact on the Space Force, said Maj. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, vice commander of Space Operations Command.

“The whole satcom architecture is within one Delta commander at one field command,” Schiess said during a panel discussion at the Air and Space Forces Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber event in National Harbor, Maryland, on Sept. 19.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/9/19/space-force-consolidating-us-satcom-capabilities

No, that was from the Steve Carrell show Space Force. Now again, there’s a lot of questions about how the mysterious sixth branch of the US military is going to operate. Like ranks, which again, are basically straight out of Star Trek. So yes, it is possible to have a branch of the military that will be dedicated to outer space exploration. But then again, so far literally everything that has come about it has been derived from some sort of science fiction program. But at least the current administration has a plan to move Space Force forward.

The Space Force may be the youngest service branch but it's not exactly new anymore, and on Monday the White House finally got around to some housekeeping that will officially make Guardians eligible for medals and citations such as the Bronze Star.

The changes made by President Joe Biden add the Space Force, founded in December 2019, into executive orders issued over the decades that govern the awarding of the Bronze Star, Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal and others. The president also amended some of the language in the orders that date back to the World War II and Vietnam eras to indicate women may either bestow or receive the awards.

The official recognition from the White House comes as the Space Force approaches its third birthday this winter. Its second chief of space operations, Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, will be taking command of the service after being confirmed last week by the Senate.

The Bronze Star and Air Medal both were created during World War II and are awarded by all the military service branches for meritorious achievement on the battlefield. The Air Medal deals specifically with air operations, as the name implies.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/10/03/space-force-guardians-are-officially-eligible-bronze-star-and-other-awards-biden-says.html

Gotta love an alien race that worships an ancient rental car company! But right now, while we don’t have any enemies coming from space, we do have a new leader for Space Force. And no, it’s not Zapp Brannigan. So who’s going to lead the sixth branch of the US Military? Well it’s interesting now that we have a president who is actually you know, good at his job, to do something about it. And we hope that the new guy who is going to lead Space Force is actually going to give us some idea of what it’s actually about. Because we still have no clue!

President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Space Force was confirmed last week by the U.S. Senate, giving the service its second ever chief.

Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman was selected in August to replace outgoing Chief of Space Operations Gen. John "Jay" Raymond. He was confirmed by voice vote late Thursday and will receive his fourth star.

"I'm humbled and honored to be confirmed as the next Chief of Space Operations," Saltzman said in a press release. "I look forward to leading the US Space Force and building on the strong foundational leadership Gen. Raymond has provided for almost three years."

Raymond is retiring after 38 years in the military that spanned both the Air Force and Space Force. He has led the Space Force since its founding in December 2019 and helped shape its mission, culture and identity as the newest military service.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/10/03/new-space-force-chief-confirmed.html

[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… oh hey it’s one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Hey! Get a room you two! Do I need to break out the fire hose? Ew, I need a drink after that one. I’ll just have some more beer. Spin it again! Oh hey it’s time for Holy Shit!

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know we live in some dark and very interesting, yet also scary times. The world is flirting with fascism and authoritarianism as opposed to freedom. In the past, we talked about a theory that’s popular in Dominionism called “7 Mountains” (see: Idiots #7-7 ) . Well, after years of attempting to get this theory off the ground, which is part white nationalism, part Nazism, and part Christian extremism, they now have a plan to put into action. Not only that, they’ve signaled out the guy who is going to lead them to prosperity. Wait, prosperity? That isn’t the kind of country that I want to live in. Because the man who they want to lead this country is the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so vile, and so disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! So who is the man who the religious fundamentalists want to bring this insane theory into practice? Well, they have chosen Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. Yes, that guy. And well, their idea of bringing their theory into practice is going about as expected.

Lance Wallnau, a self-styled “prophet” and one of America’s most strident Christian Nationalists, and Doug Mastriano, the GOP candidate who casts his bid for governor of Pennsylvania as a mission from God, are birds of a feather.

They each fired up the faithful at the Jericho March / ”Let the Church ROAR!” event in Washington, D.C., in December 2020, a Christian protest seeking divine intervention to keep Donald Trump in office. And both men were on the ground in Washington a few weeks later on Jan. 6 — each billed as speakers at Stop the Steal’s “Wild Protest” event in the shadow of the Capitol. (The speeches were preempted by the insurrection that overran the Halls of Congress.)

So it’s little surprise that the pair flocked together in mid-September, when Wallnau landed in Pennsylvania to stump for Mastriano at a rally in the candidate’s hometown near Gettysburg.

Wallnau believes that America should be a theocracy, declaring unequivocally in a 2021 online rant: “I am a Christian Nationalist.” But in his stump speech for Mastriano, Wallnau used more coded language. He turned to local history to hype up the GOP candidate, comparing him to the “Christian colonel” who led a desperate bayonet charge to victory down from Little Round Top.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/lance-wallnau-doug-mastriano-christian-dominion-1234602214/

You want the evolution debate, that’s next door. But should we be judging what our brothers and sisters on the right are doing? I say yes because once again they are worshipping the unholy Dark One! And I dare say that the church has lost its’ way. We have seen what extremist religion does if we look at countries like India and Pakistan. Do we want that here? Hell no! And I do say that with the utmost sincerity, my fair congregation! But in case you’re wondering, the extremism that is happening in the church right now is crossing a very dangerous line!

In April 2021, business consultant and right-wing podcast host Clay Clark organized a conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, aimed at defying national and local restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. A radical right-wing conspiracy theorist, Clark filled the event with a variety of like-minded COVID-19, election, and QAnon conspiracy theorists such as Michael Flynn, Greg Locke, Scott McKay, Ann Vandersteel, Mark Sherwood, Gene Ho, Patrick Byrne, Stella Immanuel, Jackson Lahmeyer, Leon Benjamin, Mark Burns, and Mike Lindell.

The event was such a success among the MAGA crowd that Clark decided to launch a nationwide “ReAwaken America” tour to bring his carnival of misinformation to churches all across the country. Later this month, the tour will be stopping in Manheim, Pennsylvania, and listed among the speakers is Doug Mastriano, the election-denying, Christian nationalism-promoting Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania (Mastriano can be seen in the lower right-hand corner of the promotional image below).

Mastriano already has deep ties to the far-right fringes of the conservative movement, having appeared earlier this year at a QAnon conference that was rife with wild conspiracy theories. Organizers of that conference even presented him with a “Sword of David” because, they said, “you are fighting for our religious rights in Christ Jesus.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gop-nominee-doug-mastriano-to-speak-to-radical-conspiracy-theorists-ahead-of-election/

And you know, that’s kind of what these events feel like. For they are the products of SAYTAN, ruler of all that is dark and certainly EVIL! But that said, the Christian church is certainly morphing into something, and what it is, isn’t exactly what one would call “good”. But when the Christian church morphs with a movement called “America First”, think of it like the end of the Terminator when the T1000 melts down and becomes something even more dangerous! By the way, peddlers of the “7 Mountains Theory” and other acts of extremism, can you guess where they get their material?

Wow, they’re not even trying to hide it anymore, aren’t they? Yeah yeah, we all know the old saying – those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Well guess what? When your church courts a guy who frequently is known for lying and misleading claims about history? You’re going to get people who don’t learn from it! And these are the people who are leading the United States down a very dark and dangerous path. If this guy shows up at your church, you might want to think about leaving it!

Earlier this month, we published a piece exposing how religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton routinely misrepresents history and scripture to support his Christian nationalist political agenda.

In that case, we examined how Barton distorted a speech delivered by Benjamin Franklin during the Constitutional Convention to claim that it was filled with Bible verses.

As we have explained before, one of Barton’s favorite methods of convincing his audience that America was founded as a Christian nation is to assert that Americans of the founding era were so deeply knowledgeable about the Bible that they referenced it continuously in their writings and speeches. If people today are incapable of recognizing all of those Bible verses, Barton asserts, that is just because they are “biblically illiterate.”

Even though we debunked Barton’s claim about Franklin’s speech, he continues to make this false claim in his presentations to churches around the country. On top of that, he recently started citing additional historical speeches and documents that he claims are overflowing with biblical citations. Here are just a few of his misleading and grossly exaggerated claims.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/bartons-bible-bunk-more-evidence-of-how-david-barton-misuses-history-and-scripture-for-political-purposes/

So flirting with neo Nazism, using some dangerous people who call themselves “prophets” and intentionally misleading the masses on US and world history, they really are gearing up for them to repeat history. Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse
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Let’s spin it to win it! And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! Intermission! Come on, I’ll just sit here and drink some more beer. What’s in the glass this time? Does it really matter at this point? Everything tastes good! But seriously, take a break! Do whatever you feel like. I’ll just drink and look at amusing clips on Instagram. Go!

Spin it again! And it’s time for Beating A Dead Horse!

Sigh… once again, the same old argument peddled by the same old racist jackasses who you know and you definitely hate. You know, I like Lizzo. I thought she was great hosting Saturday Night Live. And her music is pretty good too. In case you don’t know who Lizzo is, she’s a large black woman who is extremely proud of being a large black woman. And she also is a very talented flute player. So you can imagine during the DC stop of her tour when she visited the Library Of Congress and played James Madison’s rare crystal flute, that of course the white wing of the GOP would collectively have their underwear in a wad over this “controversy”. And who couldn’t see that Lizzo playing this particular flute would summon professional trolls like Ben Shapiro? Again, I can’t stress enough how many times must we have this same damn argument?

Lizzo, a classically trained flautist, introduced the instrument before playing it, stating:

“This is from the early 1800s, this was a gift to James Madison from a French crystal flute designer to celebrate his second term. There was a fire… and the only two things that were saved were a portrait of George Washington and this crystal flute right here. I am the first person to ever play it, so you’re about to hear what it sounds like for the first time. Thank you to the Library of Congress for preserving our history and making history cool. History is freaking cool, you guys!”

Lizzo went on to play a haunting melody with the flute, and for her final flourish, began twerking onstage, before ending the performance and giving the flute back to its handler. Unbeknownst to her, Lizzo breathing music into that ancient flute summoned a legion of trolls, furious that she had “desecrated” the sacred instrument by daring to shake her rear.

For some reason, the simple act of twerking is a move guaranteed to boil the blood of right-wing culture warriors; it’s their kryptonite, a dance move which practically requires a trigger warning in advance, lest they burst a blood vessel in blinding rage.

Jenna Ellis, a former campaign lawyer for Donald Trump, said Lizzo’s performance was a “desecration, purposefully, of America’s history.” Matt Walsh, an right-wing influencer, described Lizzo’s performance as “a form of racial retribution, according to the woke Left.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/10/02/lizzo-plays-a-200-year-old-crystal-flute-accidentally-summons-a-swarm-of-trolls/?sh=230679dadc4d

Yes, that is the correct and appropriate response to this. Come on, George Takei even called out the white wingers for their inherent racism on this one. But you know that conservatives love them some good old fashioned American imagery and symbolism. However, they just like the symbols. They don’t really care to do any deep dives or search for any actual history behind them. But even worse – no, she didn’t “defile” the rare flute. Turn down the hyperbole, you bunch of drama queens. Sheesh, no one plays the victim better than GOP white wingers.

Conservative commentator Candace Owens, however, claimed that the way Lizzo played the historical relic offended her. “They’re giving her something that means a lot. The way and manner in which they gave it to her and the way and the manner in which she used it offends me, I’m not going to lie,” Owens said while frowning and shaking her head during a clip from her Candace show on Thursday (Sept. 29).

“No, she’s not making history here, she’s defiling history,” Owens added. “It’s like spraying graffiti on a historical building and going, ‘Oh, it’s art.’ No, it’s not art. We’re not gonna call it art. We’re not gonna call it making history. But she doesn’t see that. She thinks that when these companies, these organizations reached out to her with these opportunities, it’s because they love her. And in reality, the reason [is] because they hate and want to corrupt the people that follow her. That don’t want more people to make it out like Lizzo did.”

Owens’ claims came after the Library of Congress posted a series of tweets on Wednesday in which they clarified that not only is it a routine, necessary practice to loan out historic instruments, but also that Lizzo came in beforehand to practice and take a tour of the collection featuring more than 173 million objects. “For those concerned about the flute: Music Division curators made sure it could be played without damage,” read one tweet from the Library. “This sort of thing is not all that unusual, in fact. Some of the Library’s priceless instruments were donated with the stipulation that they remain functional & be played.”
https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/lizzo-performance-james-madison-crystal-flute-reaction-candace-owens-1235148072/

Yeah no shit! And come on, Candace Owens – there’s no better portrait of someone who was tricked into voting against their best interests better than Candace! And come on, do we really need Doug Mastriano’s (Q – Insurrectionist) opinions on this one? You just know he’s going to be a complete ass and say something that’s horrible and disrespectful. Like one thing we always say about the white wing of the GOP – not only do they know how to dish it out, they also know how to pile it on. Because they’re just that classless and trashy assholes.

Lizzo made history by playing a 200-year-old crystal flute once owned by former President James Madison during a Tuesday night concert that was part of The Special Tour.

But since she surprised her fans by playing the historic flute borrowed from the Library of Congress, a slew of Republicans have blasted the pop superstar. In response, many Lizzo supporters are arguing that these right-wing pundits’ criticisms are rooted in fatphobia and racism.

Investigative journalist Eric Hananoki tweeted a bit from “The Jenna Ellis Show” criticizing Lizzo, “Jenna Ellis -- who is Doug Mastriano’s senior adviser -- claimed yesterday that Lizzo ‘is basically famous, I think, for being one the most morbidly obese people in the world’ and said of the Madison flute playing: ‘This is just desecration purposefully of America’s history.’”

“I could cry over how nasty and ugly and cruel people are to Lizzo. Not like she cares but because it means we are irredeemable. Just horrible people who made a horrible culture,” Tressie McMillan Cottom, a professor at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and New York Times columnist, responded to Hananoki’s tweet.
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/09/doug-mastrianos-senior-advisor-calls-lizzo-playing-historic-flute-a-desecration-of-history.html

That is a good question! I mean come on, you could cry over how mean and cruel people are? Have you been alive the last 5 years? The cruelty is the point! So after a week of being targeted by conservative media before they get bored and move on to their next controversy (I’m looking at you, M&Ms), at least Lizzo still has a very admirable fanbase. So yeah no matter how cruel the white wing professional trolls of the GOP are, you know what? Fuck ‘em. This story has been dead and beaten into the ground. They’re just mad because Lizzo is talented and all they do is complain.

Philadelphia had nothing but love for Lizzo on Thursday night in her first concert after performing on stage with a historic crystal flute, which drew ire from right-wing critics.

It was a triumphant night at the Wells Fargo Center for the Grammy-winning singer and rapper as Philly fans overwhelmed her with support and applause.

Lizzo expressed her gratitude to the sold-out crowd, and at one point appeared moved to tears by the audience’s unreserved affection.

The artist has been targeted in conservative media following her Washington, D.C. concert earlier this week, in which she played a 200-year-old crystal flute that was once gifted to President James Madison.

The Library of Congress had invited Lizzo, a classically trained flautist, to view and play its collection of flutes while she was touring Washington, DC. The Library also loaned the Madison instrument to Lizzo, and she played it with reverence — and a slight twerk — on Tuesday night.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/lizzo-flute-philly-concert-20220930.html

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Let’s spin it to win it! And it lands on… come on no whammy no whammy no whammy no whammy… STOP! Go directly to jail? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Wait, I’ve got that Get Out Of Jail Free card! Woohoo! Spin it again! And it’s time for Conspiracy Corner!

Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In these trying times, or when people don’t simply feel like reading the news past the headlines, they turn to conspiracy theories to fill in the gaps. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands, undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all! There we go! This week, the king purveyor of grade A bullshit, Donald J. Trump, may soon be up a creek without a paddle. Because he’s finding he’s reaching the Spinal Tap portion of his showbiz career – he’s speaking to increasingly dwindling audiences at smaller and smaller venues in the middle of nowhere. But now not only is he leaving piles of trash and trails of hate behind, he’s also leaving piles of unpaid bills. And when you don’t pay your bills, guess what happens? That’s right – the company responsible for putting on his shit shows files for bankruptcy!

A company that organized a lucrative series of post-White House paid speeches for former president Donald Trump is now struggling to pay vendors, investors and employees, angering Trump allies who supported the effort.

The American Freedom Tour, which struck a multimillion-dollar deal with Trump after he left office, has lost two top executives and canceled events in a number of locations as it has failed to pay its bills, according to people familiar with the activities and documents obtained by The Washington Post. Its founder and owner, who has a history of bankruptcy filings, recently sought bankruptcy protection again.

The group has promised events in a number of locales but canceled them before they began and appears to be banking on a large event at Mar-a-Lago in December to turn its financial position around.

With speakers, affiliates and investors all clamoring for their money, one of the people involved who did get paid was Trump, people close to the former president say. Some Trump advisers have warned against doing future events, though Trump has expressed interest.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/29/trump-speeches-bankruptcy-vendors/

Yeah well once again everything that Trump touches dies. And what’s he’s doing is putting on an act – that’s about the most accurate way to describe these things. But with any act, how many times can you hear him play the same character? Or let’s put it this way – how many times can he record the same song on an album before you eventually get sick of it? Yeah that’s what I thought. And just like Spinal Tap, Trump looks like he’s getting increasingly bad food and even worse service at his rallies, and he’s speaking to emptier and emptier rooms.

Former President Donald Trump praised Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for telling the Jan. 6 committee that she believes the 2020 election was stolen.

"She didn't wait and sit around and say, well, let me give you a different answer than what I've been saying for the last two years," Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Saturday, referring to Thomas.

"She didn't wilt under pressure, she said what she thought, she said what she believed in," Trump continued.

Many state and public officials investigated the elections and found no evidence that it was stolen, including Trump's former Attorney General William Barr.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/10/02/trump-praises-ginni-thomas-false-election-claims/8159239001/

Yeah probably! See? This is exactly what I’m talking about. Trump thought he could get the big cities and even bigger rallies the way Obama did. Instead, he’s playing to community college gymnasiums in the middle of nowhere that are barely half full! And come on, what city wouldn’t want the Freedom Tour stopping in their area no matter how large or small that particular city happened to be? Just look at the concerns of the mayor of Warren, Michigan. But really if the MAGA Freedom Tour is stopping in your area, the traffic would be the least of my concerns!

Excavators, bulldozers, front loaders and other heavy machinery have been up and down the railroad in Warren at the derailment site. Warren fire commissioner Skip McAdams said Canadian National has made “significant progress,” including removing the 13 damaged rail cars.

Some residents said they haven't felt an impact with the road closures, but that could all change.

The derailment happened as Warren is preparing for a big influx of traffic on Saturday. Former President Donald Trump will be in town for a rally at Macomb County Community College. That's about 2 miles east of the train derailment.

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts told 7 Action News the city is expecting high traffic volumes.

“Saturday in Warren should be a great challenge if everything isn’t put back together as quick as possible," he said.
https://www.wxyz.com/news/warren-mayor-railroad-repair-trump-rally-could-mean-traffic-trouble

OK let’s think about this here – a train derailing is literally the perfect metaphor for this entire miserable excuse for an administration! Trump can barely fill a community college gym, because he’s not allowed in the major cities. And by the way you know that whole civil war thing that his MAGA followers have been talking up? It turns out it’s just that – talk. So while your neighbor with the giant F350 and boat that gets 12 miles to the gallon complains about gas prices, it turns out that he might not have an actual plan to deal with it. So the Freedom Tour is a bust, as is the MAGAs’ plans to carry out a civil war. It’s all bullshit and conspiracies, folks.

So, naturally, MAGA Republicans have gone them one better. “Defund the FBI,” chants Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia Republican insists that “Joe Biden has weaponized the FBI and DOJ against President Trump and his supporters.”

She’s selling T-shirts and ball caps with the motto for $30 each on her campaign website. Amazon has a page offering anti-FBI gear for half that price. Be the first on your block to offer support for bank robbers, kidnappers, Russian spies and your friendly neighborhood terrorist cell.

Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and other members of the Mighty Trump Art Players have endorsed similar notions. There’s even a guy running for the Florida legislature who posted a notice on Twitter to the effect that “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds on sight!”

Remember when Texas led the nation in deluded right-wing cranks? The Sunshine State’s definitely catching up.

Maybe that’s why God sent this hurricane — to wet them down.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2022/9/30/23377597/qanon-donald-trump-maga-republicans-fbi-gene-lyons-column

[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Let’s give the wheel a good strong spin, shall we? And it lands on… wait for it… DRINK! Come on, raise your glass! Ziggy socky Ziggy socky Ziggy socky oy oy oy!

Spin it again! And hey the party is really getting started because it’s time for I Need A Drink! Come on, Denver, don’t let me down!

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

So of course you know that the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks, and while we’re drinking we talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Because there’s a lot of dark shit in the news and sometimes the only solution is to say “fuck it” and crack open a cold one and talk about anything else. Before we go any further, I want to stress – we’re not making fun of the hurricane or natural disasters or anything of that nature. So this week, we’re going to talk about something that comes up in the news that is a measurement of a hurricane that’s unique to the US, and that’s the Waffle House Index. Tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about hurricanes? An actual hurricane? Eh no. This is the Great American Beer Festival, so give me an extra large mug of Stone IPA. Yeah biggest you got. What is the Waffle House Index, you might ask? Let’s put it in simple terms for this discussion. It’s basically a measurement created by FEMA that measures the severity of a storm by how your local Waffle House gets damaged in a major storm.

As Hurricane Ian barrels into South Carolina after leaving behind a trail of destruction in Florida, people are keeping a close eye on something that might surprise you: Waffle House.

The well-known restaurant chain currently has 10 locations closed in the hardest hit areas of Florida, a number that will “fluctuate rapidly” as staff works to re-open and aid community members, Waffle House spokesperson Njeri Boss tells CNBC Make It.

Such closures are incredibly rare for the Norcross, Georgia-based chain, which has roughly 2,000 locations spread mostly across the southeast U.S. And they mean more than just a community being waffle-less: A local Waffle House’s status actually serves as unofficial shorthand for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to track the severity of a weather disaster, and how much damage it’s done to an area.

It’s known as the “Waffle House Index,” created by former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate after he and his colleagues discovered the last places that stayed open during Hurricane Charley in 2004 were Waffle House locations.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/30/fema-waffle-house-index-hurricane-ian-makes-landfall-again.html

Yeah so even something as simple as the most devastating hurricane in 20 years destroying parts of Florida hasn’t exactly stopped Florida Man from being Florida Man. So if your house is underwater and you still have the urge to get your drink on, well, there’s some bad news for ya. Apparently over half of the Waffle Houses east and west of I-75 are closed for the time being, so you will have to wait to get your late night grub and next morning hangover grub. Just remember – if you do imbibe too much, the Waffle Houses in green are good to go, red are not!

Fugate, who helmed FEMA for eight years, is known for his Waffle House Matrix that has been used internally to gauge how the restaurants are faring: Stores that are open and offering a full menu are green, stores that are open and serving a limited menu are yellow, and stores that are closed are red.

How a business like Waffle House, which boasts its own storm center that it activates when necessary, plans for a natural disaster is not that different from how a government agency would plan for the same event.

"There is logistics planning in staging and getting additional supplies and manpower into an affected area right after a storm, however it's our show up that sets us apart from other companies," Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer wrote in a FEMA blog post about the company's response to Hurricane Irene. "Our planning gets us ready for the storm and so once it has passed our managers can see what's going on in the area and respond right after an emergency."

While Waffle House might be the agency's most well-known partner, FEMA said in 2017 that it has similar relationships with a variety of other private-sector partners like Target, Walmart, Wegmans, Macy's, Walgreens, Lowes and Safeway.
https://abc11.com/waffle-house-index-open-hurricane-food/12282129/

Come on, this is the Great American Beer Festival, even Snoopy is getting in the spirit! So other chains are partnering with FEMA, but Waffle House is the one who is the most well-known. Where else are you going to get your eggs, waffle and sausage combo at 3:00 AM? So all in all, a total of 35 Waffle Houses closed during Hurricane Ian. That according to our index, is what one would refer to as a “metric shit ton” of Waffle Houses. Even in the event of a major hurricane you got to have that breakfast bowl fix, and nothing else will satisfy, am I right?

The popular restaurant chain known for its waffles and smothered hash browns rarely closes it doors, often providing food and resources to first responders during natural disasters.

But every so often, like this week in Florida, the weather is just too dangerous.

"We do have closures in mandatory evacuation zones and locations within low-lying areas that are subject to severe flooding," Waffle House Vice President of Public Relations Njeri Boss told USA TODAY prior to Hurricane Ian's landfall th. The hurricane was one of the strongest systems in U.S. history, slamming into the west coast of Florida on Wednesday.

As a precaution, the business closed 21 locations across the state from Naples along the Gulf of Mexico north some 120 miles to Bradenton in Manatee County

On Thursday morning, she told USA TODAY an additional 14 stores had also closed, some without power after heavy rains and strong winds hit, bringing the total number of closures to 35.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/restaurants/2022/09/28/waffle-house-closes-florida-hurricane-ian/10448278002/

Oh come on, we don’t need the shots yet! The festival hasn’t even started! OK I’ll do one! But here’s the thing – in the event of a natural disaster, you know the shit has hit the proverbial fan when our places that are open 24 hours a day suddenly start to close. Here in Los Angeles we have this place called The Counter which is open 24 hours a day and even that had to close. So when you can’t get your late night grub fix, you know that shit is serious! But when the dust has cleared from even the most devastating storms or viruses – there’s one place we can thank. And no it’s not Dennys. It’s Waffle House!

Waffle House closes so rarely, FEMA uses it as an unofficial measurement for how serious a storm is.

It's called the "Waffle House Index."

True to form, Middle Tennessee's Waffle Houses mostly remained open, despite all the snow and ice tormenting the mid-state. The location on Dickerson Pike went to take out only due to staffing issues, but the signature yellow lights remained on.

It was a different story over at the new Whataburger location in Hermitage. The store that just opened Wednesday decided to close down at 1:30 p.m. Thursday to give their employees a chance to get home before all the ice froze back over.

That is a rarity for Whataburger locations. They've been known to stay open during ice storms in Texas and hurricanes in Florida. Bernard Salaney was the final car in line, before hired security guards had to start turning people away.
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/whataburger-closes-waffle-house-remains-open-during-the-snow

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #9 - Germany
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Let’s give the wheel a final spin this week! And it lands on… oh hey it’s one of our patented Clips Without Context!

Uh… I’m pretty sure we fought an entire war against terrorist cells who use children as soldiers. But nice try. I can’t even. Spin it again! It’s time for the World Tour 2022!

Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

Welcome back to our World Tour everybody! This is our last stop in Europe before we head off to Asia and Australia! Wilkommen! We’re here in the land of Bavaria, Germany! So Germany is one of the oldest countries in Europe and it’s home to such wonders as Neuschwanstein, which you’ve probably seen in movies like Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, and Murder On The Orient Express. It’s also the home to such luxury automobile manufacturers as BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, and the list goes on and on. It’s also the home to the football league Bundesliga which includes teams like Dortmund, Leipzig, and Bayern Munich. You know what else Germany is the home of? World War II. And it appears that they’d like to forget that ugly chapter in their history. But then again their next door neighbor Poland is making some absolutely ridiculous demands as to how much money they are actually owed because of past fuck ups.

Poland’s foreign minister on Monday signed an official note to Germany requesting the payment of about $1.3 trillion in reparations for the damage incurred by occupying Nazi Germans during World War II.

Zbigniew Rau said the note will be handed to Germany’s Foreign Ministry. The signing comes on the eve of Rau’s meeting in Warsaw with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who will attend a security conference.

Rau said the note expresses his view that the two sides should take action “without delay” to address the effects of Germany's 1939-45 occupation in a “lasting and complex, legally binding as well as material way.”

He said that would include German reparations as well as solving the issue of looted artworks, archives and bank deposits. He said Berlin should make efforts to inform German society about the “true” picture of the war and its disastrous effects on Poland.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/poland-demands-13-trillion-war-damages-germany-90912498

You know what else? Germany is currently a leader in producing energy throughout the world, and as such, they have a hard time believing our energy prices. Uh… excuse me? Have you not been crushed yet under the weight of American capitalism? But while America is currently in fights over who’s the wokest and whether or not companies like Disney are “grooming” our kids (whatever that is), other countries like Germany are light years ahead of us in terms of providing things that matter to their country, you know, like a working infrastructure and electricity.

The German chancellor on Tuesday said a €200 billion ($198 billion) energy support package was justified and that similar steps were being taken elsewhere.

The "defensive shield" includes a gas price brake and a cut in fuel sales tax. It is aimed at protecting businesses and households from the impact of rising energy prices.

"The measures we are taking are not unique but are also being taken elsewhere and rightly so," Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a press conference in Berlin during the visit of his Dutch colleague Mark Rutte.

"Some have long been in the process, with major supports and measures, of doing exactly what we have set out to do this year and the next two years," Scholz said.
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-olaf-scholz-defends-energy-support-plan-as-justified/a-63331185

Yeah… what Germany plans to do is basically a 513. But bailing out the energy industry has already drawn controversy across Europe, mainly from its next door neighbors France. See, here’s another lesson in diplomacy for our MAGA viewers, and we do know that we have some. So when countries like each other, they help each other out. And you don’t get that when you basically cut yourself off from the rest of the world because a batshit insane podcaster rails about the evils of globalism. But when Germany proposed this, other countries said that it might give Germany an unfair advantage. Oh the horror!

The German government is punching back against criticism from France and its EU commissioner over Berlin's €200 billion gas price relief scheme, arguing that Paris is rolling out energy support measures of a similar scale.

The giant German scheme, which comes on top of an additional €95 billion of energy price support measures that Berlin announced in recent months, has triggered both strong censure from Italy and barely veiled warnings from French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, who said Germany is in danger of creating an unfair advantage for its industry over poorer EU countries that can't afford such support measures.

French EU Commissioner Thierry Breton was forthright in his opprobrium and cried foul about Berlin's behavior in an op-ed he penned with his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni, sparking a Franco-Italian revolt in Brussels.

Berlin has reacted with annoyance to the condemnation — particularly since it is coming from Breton, who appeared to speak more in his function as a French envoy than a politically neutral European Commission representative. At a press conference on Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued that Breton should take a closer look at the energy support measures Paris is taking.
https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-criticism-energy-subsidies-france-eu/

But there is some good news and this is something we wanted to bring up while on the subject of Germany and also since we’re at the Great American Beer Festival – it’s back! That’s right, the original Oktoberfest has returned after a nearly two year hiatus. Think about it – it’s been two years since we were able to drink large quantities of lager and eat our weight in pretzel bread with Bavarian mustard until we puke! But we are very grateful for the return of Oktoberfest, just as we are with events and festivals all over the world. So to that we say: drink up!

The beer is flowing at Munich's world-famous Oktoberfest for the first time since 2019.

With three knocks of a hammer and the traditional cry of “O'zapft is” — “It's tapped” — Mayor Dieter Reiter inserted the tap in the first keg at noon on Saturday, officially opening the festivities after a two-year break forced by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Oktoberfest has typically drawn about 6 million visitors every year to packed festival grounds in Bavaria’s capital, The event did not take place in 2020 and 2021 as authorities grappled with the unpredictable development of COVID-19 infections and restrictions.

Those worries were put aside this year. The city announced in late April that Oktoberfest would go ahead, and Reiter said Saturday that “it was a good decision.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/tapped-germanys-oktoberfest-opens-year-hiatus-90054229

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

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

Overall: B+

Change from 2017: No change

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

Well, because of last week’s SNAFU, we are skipping Mother Russia next week and heading directly to the land of oil and old, old, really old school religion – Saudi Arabia!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Flogging Molly[/font]

Folks, my next guest has a great new album out called Anthem. You can see them on tour this spring and their own cruise this December. Playing, appropriately enough, their song “These Times Have Got Me Drinking”, give up for the one, the only Flogging Molly!

Thank you Denver! Oh look at that, we’re just in time for the mile long festival line! Let’s get out there and drink some beers! I want to thank the good folks at the Brewers’ Association for helping us put on this cross-promotional shindig! We’re off to Missoula, Montana next! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Flogging Molly Appears Courtesy Of: Rise Records
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Ogden Theater, Denver, CO
Special Thanks To: Brewer’s Association
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
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HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
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Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

September 22, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-8: We Have The Meats And Also The Subpoenas Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-8: We Have The Meats And Also The Subpoenas Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yoooooooooo!!! What’s up, Salt Lake City! How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! As I said last week we are definitely hitting the ground running for season 13 right now. The next few weeks we’re doing our first ever shows in Des Moines and Fargo, and we’re returning to Montana on 10/13. But… I can’t wait for our 10/6 edition which is in Denver and we’re celebrating the triumphant return of the Great American Beer Festival with a beer themed edition and the famous Wheel Of Corruption! We’ve definitely got some fun stuff planned for that one, so stay tuned! So I want to start this week by talking about our old buddy Kanye West. I don’t know if you saw this report last week but a reporter was apparently asking the former Mr. Kardashian about his “school” that he allegedly set up. We probably assume the school does nothing and was set up as a shell organization so that way Kanye could claim it as a charity to avoid paying taxes. But a reporter asked him about education and he said that he’s never read a book. Shocker! Yeah and my favorite part is that not only has he *NEVER* read a book, he said that reading is like eating brussels sprouts – it’s icky and gross. Dude, what is he, a 5 year old? Like why do people still listen to someone like this? Well he proudly represents the anti-education wing of the GOP, so it’s all starting to make sense! But you know here’s the thing, you can’t found a school if you’ve never read a book. Just ask his BFF Trump about that one. Hey o! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to this week, but first Stephen Colbert is back and he talks about the Queen and other things:

So where do we begin this week? Well the number one slot this week goes to our old buddies Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott (1). Yes, the Fox News appointed governors of Texas and Florida pulled one of the most douchebag racist stunts you could pull and sent planes and buses full of migrants to blue states, just to be dicks and to win points on conservative talk shows. God damn them. In the second slot this week is another old buddy of ours, Mike Lindell (2). Yes the My Pillow magnate had his phone seized at a fast food restaurant in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota, and we can’t wait for the details! In the third slot this week is that guy who we at one point inexplicably called president (3) – he attempted to invite himself to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and got shut down by the Royal Family. Did conservative talk radio really think Biden would extend him an invite? Get fucking real! In the number 4 slot this week is Libsoftiktok (4). If you haven’t heard of this social media account, it’s run by a criminally insane woman who really hates trans people, and has been targeting children’s hospitals that treat trans care as if they’re performing chemical castrations on children. Which they’re not. But the two hospitals in question have been the subject of real world violence and it’s all linked to this account. Yeah it’s stochastic terrorism at its’ finest! In the number 5 slot this week we have our first Top 10 Investigates of Season 13! So what’s up with catalytic converter thefts? If you have a late model Toyota Prius, you may want to take steps to protect it, or you’ll be next! In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week our resident pastor has become alarmed at the increasing rate of calls for violence coming from the Christian right, and we’re going to take a look at some podcasts and internet shows that delve into some light Nazism. It’s going to get real dark real fast everybody! In the number 7 slot this week, is a new Beating A Dead Horse (7) and this week while the right wing is targeting Disney for being “woke” against Ron DeSantis, the white wing is attempting to white wash Disney’s controversial casting choice in the Little Mermaid and come on, do we really need to go through with this again? They say yes unfortunately. In the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8)! And this week if you’ve been following the Russian government at all, it seems like Vladimir Putin’s associates are dropping like flies, but it also seems like China might be dropping Putin next! If you’re in Moscow, watch out! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have a new I Need A Drink (9)! This week, why the hell do we need 16 minute standing ovations? It’s a truly bizarre new trend that’s popping up at film festivals everywhere and we have one thing to say: Stop it, people! Just stop it! Finally this week it’s time for World Tour 2022 Destination #7 and this week we’re going to the land of ghoulash, the Danube River, and a gateway to neo Nazi politics – Hungary! Plus we have some live music from the legendary Indiana jam band Umphrey’s McGee for you! 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"]Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott
[br] [/font] [br]

There is one thing I think everyone in this room can agree on – the two worst governors in the country are Ron DeSantis (Q – Florida Man) and Greg Abbott (Q – Lite Nazi). But lately these two are in some kind of weird contest to see who can kiss up to the right wing conservative media sphere the most, because both of these guys want to be president. And this story is one of those stories that we say is like peeling an onion. The more layers you pull back, the more it stinks, and the more likely you are to cry as a result. But the really scary thing about what Desantis did to those migrants? He did this all to score points on conservative talk radio. OK don’t boo just yet. I see this one guy in the middle of the front row getting ready to boo. Don’t get mad just yet sir. And this thing is not only fucking weird, it’s pure fucking evil and represents the sheer cruelty of AM hate radio and Fox News policies. They’re going full fascist whether we want them to or not, and this is just the beginning.

Authorities in Massachusetts said Sunday that they have requested a federal human trafficking probe after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis boasted of sending about 50 Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard to shine a national spotlight on immigration issues.

"We are requesting that the Department of Justice open an investigation to hold DeSantis and others accountable for these inhumane acts," state Rep. Dylan Fernandes tweeted Sunday. "Not only is it morally criminal, there are legal implications around fraud, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, and human trafficking."

Fernandes said he had spoken with Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins and was "grateful to hear she is pushing for a response from the DOJ."

The migrants were picked up in Texas, but DeSantis said the flights were part of a $12 million Florida program to transport undocumented immigrants to so-called sanctuary destinations. DeSantis denied claims that the migrants were duped into taking the flights with promises of jobs that did not exist. And he said he was "perplexed" to hear that President Joe Biden was "surging resources" to the Texas border in response to the flights.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/massachusetts-seeks-human-trafficking-probe-191103773.html

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! So Ron Desantis sent a plane full of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard and now he’s paying for it. This is one of those things that I would put in the “play stupid games, win stupid prizes” file. Oh and it gets weirder the more you dig into it, because after all this was a political hit job and that’s about it. Apparently the migrants were lured by Ron with pamphlets and false pretenses. That’s right – they were tricked and conned by a guy who is associated with one of the worst known con artists of all time. Just for ratings.

A Texas sheriff on Monday announced a criminal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chartering flights to send 48 migrants from San Antonio in Texas' Bexar County to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts last week, calling his actions "an abuse of human rights."

Bexar County Javier Salazar said in a news conference on Monday that the migrants were "lured under false pretenses" into staying at a hotel before being flown to Florida and then Martha's Vineyard. They were handed misleading brochures promising cash assistance, housing, job placement services, and more, according to their lawyers.

Salazar, whose office's organized crime investigators are looking into the issue, said a recruiter was paid a "bird dog fee" to recruit people to board a plane. The woman, who migrants identified as "Perla", according to NPR, promised the group they would receive expedited work permits in Boston.................

...............Senator Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Inspector General urging them to review Florida's apparent misuse of federal pandemic relief funds intended to help communities recover from the pandemic for "an inhumane program to transport newly arrived immigrants"......................................

After being flown to the Massachusetts island where the asylum-seekers were taken "for little more than a photo op or a video op," they were left "unceremoniously stranded," Salazar said..................

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2022/09/20/lured-under-false-pretenses-furious-texas-sheriff-investigating-desantis-marthas-vineyard-stunt/

Look, look. We could spend all day talking about this subject, but we don’t have that kind of time! But here’s my favorite part of this whole thing. See the entire idea behind this stunt was to give credence to the conservative AM radio talking point about how bad the liberal concept of a “sanctuary city” is, which was designed to rile up the conservative base 60 days before the midterms. And this thing backfired on them spectacularly. In fact it may have even more severe consequences for the schoolyard bully who currently occupies the Florida governor’s office and was installed by Fox News and Rupert Murdoch. But don’t get mad at Desantis, get mad at the source!

Sunday night, I sat in the ballroom of a Miami resort and watched Florida governor Ron DeSantis tell the crowd about how Texas governor Greg Abbott had been sending busloads of illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C. His envy was undisguised. Stunts like this, which use humans as props for a set piece about owning the libs, are the trademark of his own governing style. (He has done this with ex-felons, splashily arresting 20 and charging them with fraud.) You could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

Last night, DeSantis pulled off the stunt. He lured a couple dozen immigrants onto a pair of planes and flew them to Martha’s Vineyard, where he deposited them onto an unprepared island. He then handed the story to Fox News, a network that has coordinated closely with him and predictably gloated over his latest triumph.

The conceit of Abbott’s stunt is that his state is so overwhelmed with illegal immigrants he needs to send them to the place that is supposedly causing their arrival. DeSantis, not having a land border with Mexico, had no such pretext. Instead, he had to find immigrants in Texas and, essentially, kidnap them for his own use.

To acquire the bait for his stunt, DeSantis apparently deployed staff into Texas to mislead the targets. “The migrants said a woman they identified as ‘Perla’ approached them outside the shelter and lured them into boarding the plane, saying they would be flown to Boston where they could get expedited work papers,” reports NPR.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/desantis-tries-fails-to-prove-liberals-hate-migrants-too.html

Thank you Nelson! And by the way in case you’re wondering – yes this is a stunt designed to rile up the conservative / MAGA base for the 2024 elections. The cruelty is the point! And it’s truly insane to think that the conservatives paint themselves as the party of children, babies, and anti-human trafficking. I am going to say – they don’t care about kids. Maybe if they’re white, blonde, and of European descent, then they might. But make no mistake that this is a white supremacist’s wet dream and this is only the beginning. If Desantis isn’t called out on this, expect him to do worse, with Fox News pulling the strings on his every move.

In a crowded 2024 presidential field, Republican politicians are seeking any path available to the nomination. Lately, they’ve decided the most promising one is paved on the backs of vulnerable immigrant children......

For months, the DeSantis administration has been jerking around shelters and foster families that care for unaccompanied migrant kids, including by refusing to renew these providers’ licenses. One shelter, run by Lutheran Services of Florida, had to close entirely in November because the state wouldn’t respond to its renewal application. The shelter scrambled to relocate the nearly 60 traumatized children in its care.

The shelter sued over the state’s unexplained stonewalling. On Thursday, on the eve of a court hearing, the new license magically materialized. DeSantis then released a confusing new “emergency rule” the following morning, which said existing shelters could continue operating and renewing their licenses for the next 45 days only. After that period, the state will license or re-license care providers only if the Biden administration agrees to onerous and possibly illegal demands, such as giving shelters new obligations usually handled by other federal contractors.

At best, these demands would make it more financially challenging for shelters in the state to continue operating; at worst, they might be a poison pill designed to force providers to lose their licenses and close......

DeSantis is copying similar measures announced earlier this year by other red states, including South Carolina and Texas. Both of those states ultimately watered down their policies following pushback from the faith community, which is deeply involved in foster care nationwide.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/13/ron-desantis-is-paving-his-path-white-house-backs-vulnerable-immigrant-children/

[font size="8"]Mike Lindell
[br] [/font] [br]

Like I said last week, I am loving watching the MAGA world fall flat on their face. Yeah you know the old saying that two wrongs don’t make a right. Well, in this case, fuck that shit. Because you know their favorite president spent the last five years calling us losers and morons and now he’s going full whack job conspiracy theorist and embracing full blown Nazi ideology, yeah really the only acceptable response is fuck these losers. But here’s the thing MAGAs – you know the old saying, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time! This might be one of my favorite stories in a long while. I’m sure that everyone remembers where they were when they heard that Mr. Creepy Pillow Man himself, Mike Lindell got his phone seized by the FBI while at a fast food restaurant in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota. Me? I was sitting here in my hotel room on the Top 10 workstation laughing my ass off. At this point, it’d probably be easier to list who connected to Trump isn’t a criminal (hint: 404 file not found).

MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell said Tuesday that federal agents seized his cellphone and questioned him about a Colorado clerk who has been charged in what prosecutors say was a "deceptive scheme" to breach voting system technology used across the country.

Lindell was approached in the drive-thru of a Hardee's fast-food restaurant in Mankato, Minnesota, by several FBI agents, he said on his podcast, "The Lindell Report." The agents questioned him about Dominion Voting Systems, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and his connection to Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who claims voting machines have been manipulated, he said.

The agents then told Lindell they had a warrant to seize his cellphone and ordered him to turn it over, he said. On a video version of his podcast, Lindell displayed a letter signed by an assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado that said prosecutors were conducting an "official criminal investigation of a suspected felony" and noted the use of a federal grand jury.

The circumstances of the investigation were unclear. The Justice Department did not immediately respond Tuesday night to a request for comment about the seizure or investigation.
https://www.wgal.com/article/mypillow-mike-lindell-says-fbi-agents-seized-cellphone/41215022

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Excuse me a minute…. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! You can’t keep a good election denier everybody! But I do love this. The initial reports were kind of vague about where he was detained. Some say it was an Arby’s, others say it was a Hardee’s. So let’s use the Arby’s slogan – we have the meats… and also the subpoenas! Thank you for that, Top 10 Graphics Department! But I love that the official Hardee’s social media account took a jab at the incident:

Fast-food outlet Hardee's has mocked Mike Lindell online, after the prominent Donald Trump supporter had his phone seized by the FBI at one of their restaurants on Tuesday.

FBI agents surrounded the MyPillow CEO at the drive-thru of a Hardee's branch in his home town of Mankato, Minnesota, as he was returning from a hunting trip.

Lindell, 61, is a vocal supporter of the discredited conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Trump, and that the former president was the true victor rather than Joe Biden.

Vikki Migoya, a public affairs officer at the FBI's Denver Field Office, told Newsweek confirmed the agency "executing a search warrant authorized by a federal judge" at the Hardee's outlet, but didn't go into details.
https://www.newsweek.com/hardees-trolls-mike-lindell-discount-if-you-still-have-phone-1743179

Gotta love whoever does fast food social media accounts, because they do have a great sense of humor about things! But you know who doesn’t have a great sense of humor? Mike Lindell. One thing I will say about living in the social media and smartphone era, is that smartphones are great to have but people also get addicted to them. So when you take away the phone of one of the world’s most notorious hard right MAGA trolls, you get them screaming and whining like the 5 year old yelling at his parents to buy him a toy at Target. So yeah that’s happening!

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell recently complained that he no longer had access to accounts that allowed him to transfer money between businesses after his phone was confiscated by the FBI.

While speaking to Steve Bannon on his War Room podcast, Lindell said he runs multiple businesses through his phone.

Lindell also said he would almost prefer to be arrested by the FBI than have his phone confiscated.

A clip of this has since gone viral on social media after being posted by the Patriot Takes Twitter page. The video has been viewed more than 125,000 times since being posted on Monday.

Lindell's comments come following his announcement last week that he and his team would be suing the FBI and the United States government over the phone seizure.
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-fbi-phone-confiscation-money-seizure-steve-bannon-podcast-1744506

Look, here’s the thing, conservatives, you’re knee deep in some ridiculously shady stuff! If you don’t do shady shit, you won’t get your phone seized! It’s that fucking simple. The old adage is true – don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time! But of course, in the MAGA world, instead of joining them if you can’t beat them, guess where they’re resorting? The lawsuit. That’s right – in the MAGA world, if you can’t beat them, then sue the shit out of them! For the party that claims to hate trial lawyers, they really do love them some trial lawyers, don’t they?

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell announced on Friday that he is planning to sue the FBI after his phone was seized this week, saying that "this will set a precedent."

"We are suing the United States government and the FBI, and this isn't just to get the phone back," Lindell said while appearing on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast. "My First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were broken....We're not going to put up with this."

Lindell told Newsweek on Friday said that he plans to file the lawsuit next week and noted that following the seizure of his phone, some vendors on his website, MyStore, canceled their agreements "because of what the FBI did."

"We lost a huge chunk of business because of that," Lindell said. "There was four products that got canceled. Four different people because they're afraid of what the FBI did."
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-sue-fbi-over-phone-seizure-this-will-set-precedent-1743805

[font size="8"]That Former President
[br] [/font] [br]

OK we got to talk about Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral for this entry. Now I know you’re probably all sick of hearing about as it ran almost as long as the line to see her lying in state at Westminster Abbey did. Yes that was a ridiculously long line. And you know this is one of those times when I am extremely thankful that we have a competent, graceful and classy leader back in the White House. Because he didn’t make it about him. Unlike… that other guy. Yes, you know who I am talking about. That guy who we inexplicably used to call “president of the United States”. Last week I talked about the insane debate raging on right wing conservative media about That Guy not being invited to the Queen’s funeral because previous leaders have been invited and Biden got a +1. Hey look, right wing conservative media – the Queen *HATED* Trump. And he looked like a massive buffoon when he went to England during his term. And also, right wing talk shows, that decision wasn’t Biden’s to make. It was the decision of the Royal Family themselves! Well, once again, Asshole 45 has decided to make it all about him.

Former President Donald Trump is claiming he would have gotten a better seat than President Joe Biden at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral.

Monday's state funeral was one of the biggest gatherings of world leaders in years, to bring closure to Britain's longest-reigning monarch, who died Sept. 8 at age 96.

More than 500 foreign heads of state, monarchs and dignitaries attended the event, including Biden and first lady Jill Biden.

The first family's leaders were placed in the 14th row of the church's south transept, seven rows from the back, The Times of London reported.

On his social media platform Truth Social, the former president mocked Biden by posting a photograph that showed all the assembled world leaders sitting in the abbey, with a red arrow pointing to Biden seated toward the back.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/20/trump-claims-better-seat-biden-queen-funeral/10433083002/

Hey asshole, look! That decision where you sit at Westminster Abbey isn’t yours to make, it’s the Royal Family’s! Does anyone else besides me have the feeling that even if Asshole 45 got invited to the White House that he’d get the same seat and complain that he couldn’t see anything? Or if he somehow did get a better seat, he’d find something else to complain about? Because he’s that much of a colossal horse’s ass who has no respect for anybody. Also: IT’S A FUCKING FUNERAL! It’s not like you’re sitting in the nosebleeds at an Arsenal game or something. Sigh… I can’t even.

World leaders began arriving in London this weekend to attend the state funeral service of the late Queen Elizabeth II Monday at Westminster Abbey in London.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden were among hundreds of world leaders paying their respects to the monarch as she lies in state.

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska met with the royal family as her country’s representative, the BBC reports.

Controversial invites were also extended to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, though the BBC reports neither is expected to attend.

However, not all world leaders made the invite list. Leaders of these countries will not be joining Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral service.
https://thehill.com/policy/international/3649622-these-world-leaders-were-not-invited-to-the-queens-funeral/

Yeah that’s Trump right there in a nutshell. He didn’t get invited to the party and is now acting like quite the spoiled child. But again, let me spell it out for conservatives who still don’t quite get it: it’s a fucking funeral! It’s a somber occasion. And we don’t need this jackass ruining it. But one thing they don’t tell you about Royal Family events, unless you Google it, is that everything happens for a reason. It’s not like they purposefully put Biden in the nosebleed section. Even though everyone was seated at the same level.

In the one day since President Joe Biden attended Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in London on Monday, much has been made of him being seated far from the front row at Westminster Abbey.

With 2,200 guests at the abbey, the president, who was accompanied by the first lady, Jill Biden, was among the approximately 500 people invited who were overseas heads of state or foreign dignitaries.

The regal ceremony saw the Bidens settling into pew seats some 14 rows from the front, directly behind Polish leader Andrzej Duda and one row ahead of Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala. Ignazio Cassis, the president of Switzerland, was seated to the left of the first lady.

Former President Donald Trump, who was defeated by Biden in his bid for a second term in November 2020, used the optics to take a swipe at the U.S. leader.

Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump shared a photo of the mourners at the funeral, highlighting the seating occupied by Biden, while also suggesting that it he would have been placed more prominently if he were still president.
https://www.newsweek.com/why-president-joe-biden-was-seated-far-behind-other-world-leaders-queen-elizabeth-funeral-1744377

Yeah that pretty much sums it up! But no – he would not have got a better seat, you assholes! In fact they only invited the current president and didn’t invite any previous leaders. The venue at Windsor Castle that they chose can only seat so many people. So some people just shouldn’t get mad if they didn’t get an invite. This is really supposed to be a private family service. Again, I can’t stress this enough – it’s a fucking funeral! It’s not an Arsenal game. It’s not the finals matches at Wimbledon. Just chalk this one up to a loss and move on. Oh wait, Asshole 45 doesn’t do that sort of thing.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden received an invitation to the funeral, and in the past, presidents have invited their predecessors to join them for high-profile funerals, USA Today reported. But the invitation was for only the Bidens, and Buckingham Palace didn’t give the president permission to bring a delegation with him.

Jimmy Carter told the newspaper he didn’t get an invitation. Spokespeople for Trump and former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton didn’t comment.

Politico reported that it had obtained official documents from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the United Kingdom that said only heads of state and their spouses or partners from each country have been invited to the funeral.

At a press conference Sept. 12, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre whether Biden "would bring any former presidents with him" if he’s allowed.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/sep/14/viral-image/no-trump-wasnt-only-former-president-not-invited-q/

[font size="8"]LibsOfTikTok
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Let’s talk about the phrase “stochastic terrorism” for a bit. So the definition of the phrase basically means that when a group gets repeatedly dehumanized through repeated lies and slander, someone is going to take out their frustrations. Think of it like playing baseball for a minute. You can throw 1,000 pitches and maybe one or two are knocked out of the park home runs. So a stochastic terrorist will talk shit about, say, transgender people for days, weeks, maybe even years. See where I’m going with this? I want to talk about a particular stochastic terrorist for this entry. You may have been hearing recently about a social media account called “LibsOfTikTok” which in reality has nothing to do with liberals or Tik Tok. But lately that particular account has been banned from Twitter multiple times for threatening violence, yet is still present on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. And this particular account has over 1.3 million followers. But again, see where I’m going with this. The people who run this account are massive transphobes and have been feeding the lies and hate on programs like Tucker Carlson about transgender people. To the point where this happens.

Boston Children’s Hospital has warned employees about mounting threats and is coordinating with law enforcement after far-right activists on social media began targeting the hospital with false claims about its treatment of young transgender people.

It’s the most recent in a series of attempts to target hospitals for their work with trans youth, adding to an ongoing wave of anti-LGBTQ sentiment that has hit libraries, schools and even a trans-inclusive Los Angeles spa.

The public relations office of Boston Children’s Hospital sent an email to employees with guidance on how to respond to harassment and threats earlier this week, citing an “increase of threatening and aggressive” phone calls and emails sent to the hospital commenting on treatment of transgender patients.” The email was confirmed to NBC News by a current employee.

Boston Children’s Hospital first became the target of activists in recent weeks, when well-followed social media accounts such as LibsofTikTok, which has often promoted “groomer” discourse that falsely linked LGBTQ teachers and parents to pedophilia, began to make a variety of false claims. One allegation said that the hospital offered gender-affirming hysterectomies to children under 18 years old.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/boston-childrens-hospital-warns-employees-far-right-online-harassment-rcna43376

Ah, that’s the analogy I was looking for! It’s not baseball, it’s Russian Roulette. Pull the trigger, nothing happens. Pull the trigger, nothing happens. Pull the trigger again? BAM! Someone starts targeting hospitals over the conservative outrage du jour. Look, I know this gets into the whole “policing speech” debate and I ain’t touching that one with a 10 foot pole. But this shit is getting dangerous, and it’s a perfect example of what happened when people take what’s being said on Fox News and social media way too seriously. But look at what happened last week when someone actually attempted to take out their transgressions.

The FBI said Thursday an arrest has been made in connection with a bomb threat against Boston Children’s Hospital last month.

Catherine Leavy of Westfield, Massachusetts, was arrested without incident and charged with one count of making a false bomb threat by telephone, according to charging documents filed in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. She faces up to five years in prison.

FBI Special Agent Joseph R. Bonavolonta said at a news conference Thursday that the threat was one of “well over a dozen” against Boston Children’s Hospital. He said authorities are investigating others.

Boston Children’s Hospital had been subjected to “a sustained harassment campaign based on dissemination of information online” about trans health care at the hospital.

Rachael Rollins, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said at the news conference. A caller to the hospital on Aug. 30 is alleged to have said: “There is a bomb on the way to the hospital. You better evacuate everybody, you sickos.”

Several children’s hospitals, most notably Boston Children’s, have been the targets of a far-right harassment campaign for months, led by anti-trans influencers with millions of collective followers who have spread misinformation about the hospitals’ gender-affirming treatment for minors. The influencers have similarly waged anti-LGBTQ campaigns against schools and libraries that have been featured on conservative news programs.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/fbi-charges-massachusetts-woman-boston-childrens-hospital-bomb-threat-rcna47973

Yup, good ol’ Russian Roulette! And by the way in case you’re wondering if this woman in question is a MAGA supporter, I can happily say that “all signs point to yes”. Just like noted MAGA terrorist Ashlii Babbitt, who was killed after assaulting police officers on January 6th, this woman is another excellent case for a study on what happens when living in an echo chamber causes one to snap. By the way you might be wondering – where is this shit coming from? Well I answer you – it’s mostly linked to a closely monitored social media account called “LibsOfTikTok” which I mentioned earlier, that’s at – shocker – the center of a Russian disinformation campaign. See? All bad things can be traced back to Russia.

A video posted this month by the far-right anti-LGBTQ Libs of TikTok Twitter account has since spread among anti-LGBTQ Russian and European disinformation networks, effectively furthering the anti-queer agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The account’s founder has pledged to do even more to threaten LGBTQ lives in the future.

On August 10, Chaya Raichik, who goes by LibsofTikTok on social media, posted a video of a therapist who works with jailed sex offenders. In the video, the therapist announces their pronouns and advises people to use the term “minor-attracted persons” (MAPs) rather than “pedophiles.” They said the latter term has “moved from being a diagnostic label to being a judgmental, hurtful insult that we hurl at people in order to harm them or slander them.”

Indeed, the Libs of TikTok account itself has regularly accused pro-LGBTQ teachers of being “groomers” and has called the youth anti-suicide organization The Trevor Project a “grooming organization.” Grooming is a term for gaining the trust of a child so you can rape them. The term has since become a common anti-LGBTQ slur. Gay men were frequently accused of being pedophiles by the religious right although that accusation had faded over the years.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/libsoftiktok-linked-russian-disinformation-campaign-stir-outrage-lgbtq-rights/

Oh come on, people! Stop your rabbling! Yeah these people are criminally insane and they’re going to keep making threats and harassing hospitals until they get the attention that they seek. It’s a classic narcissistic personality trait. But we can’t stress enough how dangerous the propaganda is getting and it’s eventually going to get people killed. And don’t think they’re stopping in Boston either. Expect the hate and harassment to come to a children’s hospital near you. Like we said in the beginning, stochastic terrorism turns into actual terrorism if we’re not careful. And just because one bomb threat didn’t work, these wannabe terrorists aren’t stopping there.

When first grade teacher Jake Daggett posted a photo of himself holding a mug with the phrase “Ask me about my pronouns” on it to Instagram, he didn’t imagine it would lead to a massive right-wing online hate campaign. But after the Wisconsin teacher’s post was picked up by LibsofTikTok — a right-wing Twitter account infamous for targeting teachers and LGBTQ+ people with incendiary language and accusations — the barrage of hate comments was swift and unrelenting.

“Honestly, what was so interesting is that it was one of the most mild posts — like, I've made posts about things that are way more than just a mug. I've talked about my partner, and books about girls with two dads, and more,” Daggett told Them. “It was bizarre to me that they chose that image out of it all.”

Daggett has substantial followings on Instagram and TikTok, where he shares literacy and phonics instruction strategies that he uses in his own classroom at a public school in Milwaukee. But he had to take a break from social media after LibsofTikTok posted the photo, which included his username, as well as the name of the district where he teaches.

“They have amassed a huge right wing extremist following that will do their dirty work for them,” Daggett told Them. “I started to get death threats. A lot of comments about showing up to the school and beating me, some about sending me through a wood chipper. Others saying that I should be hanged. I got images of a rainbow cartoon with a noose around the neck.”
https://www.them.us/story/queer-teachers-are-under-attack-libsoftiktok-conservatives-school-board-protests

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

Any late model vehicle is going to have this device. It’s called a “catalytic converter”. The catalytic converter is a device that’s installed on your vehicle’s exhaust system in order to help prevent the pollution it would otherwise normally cause. But lately, the theft of these devices installed on vehicles has been increasing. The Toyota Prius has been a particular target of catalytic converter thefts everywhere, and it’s not just in one part of the country either. The thefts have been increasing all over the country. But it’s not just the Prius that’s being targeted. There’s a huge list of current and former models that are being targeted. So what’s the purpose of these thefts? The thieves aren’t after this device because they want their cars to pollute. No, they are after the precious metals contained within the device. So if your converter is missing from your car, probably consider it gone. So what are governments doing to stop the madness? Well it varies from one city to another.

The catalysts in the gas-changing chemical reaction happen to be an assortment of metals. According to CARFAX, they include platinum along with two other similar (and even more precious) metals: rhodium and palladium. This makes the part very valuable, both in resale and scrap value.

As of Aug. 22, YS Catalytic Recycling, a catalytic converter recycler based in Albany, New York, will pay an average of $336 per converter, although there’s a lot of variation depending what car it’s for, with the least expensive worth $13 to the most expensive up to $1,116.

As of Aug. 26, platinum is selling for about $28 per gram, while palladium is going for $68 per gram and rhodium a whopping $448 per gram, according to Daily Metal Prices. Catalytic converters are understandably expensive considering each will have between 3 and 8 grams of platinum group metals, according to Vehicle Freak.

A BeenVerified analysis showed that as of April 2022, thefts in Arizona are only about half of what they were in 2021, catalytic converter thefts are still on the rise nationally this year. Between January and April 2022, there were approximately 26,000 catalytic converter thefts, which accounts for about a 34% increase.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2022/09/05/catalytic-converters-why-thieves-target-them-and-what-do/7908640001/

But there seems to be a common pattern among these thefts – the thieves are targeting people who live in apartments and homes who don’t park their cars in a garage. And the thieves seem to be getting more creative with each theft. It seems like the more creative you are in protecting your car and home, the more the thieves seem to be getting around any anti-theft devices that you may have installed on your property. And it’s happening all over the country.

It’s an issue that communities and mechanics around the country are experiencing. Catalytic converter theft now comes with another problem. Once you lose it, it may be difficult to find another one.

It’s time to head into work, or wherever your destination may be. You have your keys in the ignition, turn them, wait for your vehicle to start and you’re on your way. But for one Wichita woman, the sounds coming from her vehicles when she starts them sound quite different - and it’s all because of the misdeeds of catalytic converter thieves.

“It got started, and it sounded like a jet engine going off,” said Lynn Bryan, who has been hit twice this year by catalytic converter thefts.

The first one happened to car she’s trying to sell. Although it cost her, she replaced that one with no problem.

“It had been sitting right there up by the house,” Bryan said. “Porch light on at night -- everything.”

Then in late July, thieves targeted another car in broad daylight.
https://www.kwch.com/2022/09/14/parts-shortage-compounds-frustrations-with-catalytic-converter-thefts/

So what happens in the event that your catalytic converter is stolen? Well, the first thing is perfectly clear – you’re going to have to wait. You’re definitely not alone in having your converter stolen. This Staten Island mechanic has stated that he’s been replacing this particular part in droves. The other thing that will happen? It’s gonna cost you. And by costing you, we mean in the four figure range, easily. If your catalytic converter is stolen, you’ll not only be paying through the nose, but you’ll also have to wait up to several months for a replacement.

A mechanic in Meiers Corners estimated his garage has been replacing stolen catalytic converters once every two weeks. He said the cost just to replace the part ranges from $500 to $2,500, depending on the precious metals used to make it.

That’s in addition to the cost of other repairs.

Customers on average have paid a total of between $1,000 and $2,000 when all is said and done, he said.

“[Thieves] aren’t gonna go in there and make it nice and neat, they’re gonna just rip it out.”

Experts say the converters on larger and newer vehicles tend to have have more value, while thieves sometimes haphazardly cut fuel and electric lines — adding damages that could reach up to $10,000.

The NYPD has said the stolen converters on average are sold to scrap yards for around $200.

There are some “big money” exceptions though, experts say, including a Prius converter that’s gone for $1,500, or a part from a turbo-diesel-engine truck that can bring in $5,000.
https://www.silive.com/crime-safety/2022/09/staten-island-mans-catalytic-converter-was-stolen-surveillance-video-shows-individual-emerging-from-bottom-of-car.html

So the thieves will steal the part and sell it on the black market and once the part is stripped of the metals within, it’s disposed of. What can be done to protect your precious catalytic converter? New laws being passed aren’t helping much, neither are new devices that are being aimed at stopping the thieves before they take your device. But no matter how many new ways there are to combat these types of thefts, the thieves are getting more creative. That being said, that doesn’t stop people from attempting to combat theft and one day we might just find something that works. Expect to see something like this appearing on a late night infomercial relatively soon!

Are you tired of seeing catalytic converters stolen? So is a Somerville man, and now he is inventing a device to stop them.

"I would say to them there are a lot better ways to make money without destroying people's lives and pocketbooks," said Ronald Royse, an inventor and decades long welder.

Royse just got a provisional patent on a steel cage he created to keep the pesky thieves away. He treated the cage with a coating that is supposed to dull saw blades.

"Even if they were able to cut the pipes on the side of the catalytic converter, they don't have the room to slide it out," adds Royse.

It can be installed on any vehicle for a few hundred dollars. A new converter can cost thousands. Royse says he was inspired to create the device after a friend had her converter taken. He hopes his device slows down the crooks or scares them off.
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/catalytic-converter-theft-prevention-device-ronald-royse-somerville-massachusetts/

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

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

My fair congregation! You know we live in quite a tumultuous time. And it seems like our brothers and sisters on the right are hell bent on taking this country down the path of fascism and neo-nationalism, whether we want it or not. And I can tell you right now, that is not the country I want to live in. Yeah I know you’re probably tired of me talking about this subject, but we can no longer ignore it! Last week, one of my parishoners tipped me off to a podcast from a guy named Dalton Clodfelter. And if you want to know what the future of the Christian right is going to be and where that party is planning on heading, well, just listen to his podcast. For this cretin does not worship the good LAWRD JAYSUS! No, he worships the unholy, ungodly Dark One! A man who is so foul, depraved and disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! But we’ve mentioned Mr. Clodfelter in our sermons the last few weeks, but he is not pulling any punches and is well, to put it succinctly, a Nazi.

So stop me if you’ve heard this one before – a fascist, a Nazi, and a white supremacist walk into a bar, and the bartender says “So, Mr. Clodfelter, what will you have?”. Hey o!!! But yeah this evil POS is all of those things and more. I’m not even going to play the clip of him drunk at 5:00 AM. But these people don’t worship GAWD or JAYSUS, they worship the unholy Dark One! And if you think I’m kidding about where that party is heading, it doesn’t just stop at Mr. Clodfelter, either! It’s a virus and it’s very quickly spreading and mutating!

Dominionist author, speaker, and political operative Lance Wallnau is a right-wing anti-LBGTQ activist, conspiracy theorist, and unabashed Trump cultist who has repeatedly praised authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. He is also a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist who has urged former President Donald Trump to organize public rallies across the nation and infuse them with right-wing Christianity in order to bring about a revival in the United States.

The reason Wallnau has urged Trump to hold such rallies is that Wallnau is one of the leading advocates of Seven Mountains dominionism, a theology connected to right-wing political ideology that teaches that Christians are to “do whatever is necessary” to take control of the seven main “mountains” that shape our culture—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion—in order to implement the will of God throughout the nation and the world.

As Wallnau explained earlier this year, if right-wing Christians can gain control of the seven mountains, they can control a nation.

On Monday night, Wallnau announced on his Facebook page that he will be joining Donald Trump Jr. in speaking later this week at a fundraiser for election-denier and Christian nationalism promoter Doug Mastriano, who is the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/christian-nationalist-and-seven-mountain-dominionist-lance-wallnau-to-speak-at-fundraiser-for-doug-mastriano/

Well if these people are on that side, I don’t want to be a part of it, thank you Reverend! Ah yes, our old buddy Lance Wallnau and his ridiculous Seven Mountains theory. We covered this quite a while ago but it seems to have festered and mutated into something even more ridiculous (see: Idiots #7-7 ! But extreme nationalism takes on many forms. And it’s getting weirder, nuttier, and darker my fair congregation! None of this appears in the Good Book and none of it is certainly what the GOOD LAWRD JAYSUS would ask for now, does it? No, this appears to be the bidding of SAYTAN!!! And I say: SAYTAN be gone!!! Get the devil out of this house now!!!

President Joe Biden delivered a speech last week from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in which he warned that former President Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters “represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Nick Fuentes, the racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, America-hating, Christian fascist leader of the white nationalist America First movement, is precisely the sort of MAGA activist that Biden was warning about. So naturally, Fuentes reacted to Biden’s speech Thursday night by unleashing an extended rant in which declared that “the United States of America is controlled by Satan” and has been taken over by “the Jews.”

“[Biden] is saying ‘Look, I’m the big gay American empire, and I’m gonna kill all the enemies of liberalism,” Fuentes said. “That’s what he’s saying. Biden is there saying, ‘This is global homo and I’m the puppet face of it. I’m the puppet face of world Jewry and global homo and we’re gonna crush all these fascists.'”

“The whole thing is just a lie,” Fuentes continued. “The whole thing is a sham. Biden is a puppet. The elections are fake. The social media companies are rigged. The elections are rigged. The news couldn’t be more Jewed-up; Jewed-up, moneyed-up, corporate, under the thumb of the Illuminati, whatever. It’s all real man.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/this-is-an-evil-country-christian-fascist-nick-fuentes-fumes-over-biden-speech/

Yes he does! And SAYTAN is taking on many forms in white nationalism! And in case you’re wondering where your right wing Christian friends and neighbors are getting their talking points from, consider this – there’s dark forces at work right now in right wing churches. And one of them is a Christian influencer – David Barton, a man who we’ve also covered on this program previously for his uncanny ability to misconstrue history in favor of religious fascism (see: Idiots #11-6 and Idiots #7-5. But it’s truly uncanny – it's almost like the Christian right wants totalitarianism whether we want it or not. And people like Clodfelter and Barton will continue to drag this fine nation of ours down to their level!

There is perhaps nobody more responsible for the widely held belief among right-wing activists that the United States was founded to be an explicitly Christian nation than religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton. Despite the fact that Barton’s misuse and misrepresentation of both American history and the Bible have been well-documented, his work has played a key role in laying the foundation for the Christian nationalist worldview being widely espoused today by Republican leaders and their right-wing political allies.

Recently, Barton delivered a presentation at Radiant Church in Colorado which provided a helpful example of how he misrepresents history and scripture to create false impressions that support his Christian nationalist political agenda.

In Barton’s telling, “there were 14 Bible verses that [Franklin] quoted” in this one short speech. Barton claims that while Franklin is generally considered to be one of the least religious of the Founding Fathers, he delivered a speech filled with Bible citations, which Barton claims is proof that the Founding Fathers were all deeply religious men who intended to create a Christian nation.

“If that is the least religious, what does the most religious look like?” Barton asked rhetorically, analogously arguing that even in the church audience listening to his presentation, someone is the least religious person there but “maybe that just means you’re 99.6 percent Christian when everyone else is 99.7 [percent].”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/14-bible-verses-how-david-barton-misuses-history-and-scripture-for-political-purposes/

Yes that’s true. We’ve got a long four years ahead of us and whether or not the United States descends into fascism or emerges unscathed remains to be seen. How much is a plane ticket to New Zealand again? Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: The Little Mermaid
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Can we please stop with the culture war bullshit already? If you ever want to know if there’s a difference between democrats and republicans – here’s the difference. We’re concerned about a rising tide of Nazism and religious neo-fascist authoritarianism that’s about to engulf this country and send us back to the stone ages. They’re concerned with children’s cartoon characters. Every time. Every fucking time there’s a reboot of a classic children’s movie we go through this same damn debate. And before we go any further, I will point this out – if you spend even one iota of a minute thinking about the race of The Little Mermaid, you’re a racist. But the thing is, the right just can’t let this shit go. It’s like any time a studio attempts to cast some diverse actors and actresses to play roles that are well, iconic, they scream like spoiled children that they’re not white. And to put it succinctly, they are beating their own dead horse here. Yeah I can’t think of any better phrasing. But really, this whole thing is certifiably insane.

Two new adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Little Mermaid are prompting deep outrage and indignation among fans who are arguing that the projects’ increased diversity has weakened their faithfulness to the original story.

Detractors of Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings series, which debuted this month, claim that casting Black and Asian actors undermines the show’s faithfulness to Tolkien’s world. Meanwhile, some ostensible fans of Disney’s animated Little Mermaid are rejecting the new live-action version for swapping out the titular mermaid’s famous blue eyes and red hair for the features of Black actress Halle Bailey.

The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power first drew widespread anger from fans because it casts Black and Asian actors as characters across the spectrum of fictional Middle Earth races. Fans’ chief complaint was that the decision to include nonwhite characters had ruined the authenticity of Tolkien’s world, because he had never described his elves, hobbits, men, and dwarves as anything other than white. Then last week, Disney released the first trailer for The Little Mermaid, featuring Bailey singing “Part of Your World.” Thousands of YouTube users brigaded, leaving more than 2 million dislikes and countless derogatory comments on the trailer, and creating memes ridiculing the film for casting Bailey and mocking all of its supporters.
https://www.vox.com/culture/23357114/the-little-mermaid-racist-backlash-lotr-rings-of-power-diversity-controversy

Come on movie studios, this is the 2020s, this shit has been happening for 8 years now and it will happen every time. So what’s the solution? Do we ignore the trolls? And we certainly can’t keep feeding them. Like honestly who that lives in the real world gives a shit? Honestly what happened to you that you care so much if a Disney princess is white or not? Disney princesses can be whatever the fuck they want to be! I mean remember when they floated the idea of Else having a girlfriend in Frozen 2? Yeah we don’t care. But white male conservatives lose their shit every time!

Disney’s latest live-action remake, The Little Mermaid, has been engulfed in controversy ever since the casting of singer Halle Bailey was announced.

While Disney’s tepid remakes always receive criticism from nostalgic fans, this time, the backlash is transparently racist, with all of the negativity aimed at the casting of a non-white actress to play the titular mermaid.

The film’s trailer has been flooded with 1.5 million dislikes from angry “fans” - despite YouTube removing the dislike counter, the numbers are still available through an extension.

Comment sections have exploded with absurd talking points, defending the sanctity of the original Danish story (which Disney’s original animated adaptation sanitized almost beyond recognition).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2022/09/14/disneys-little-mermaid-backlash-has-reached-insane-heights/?sh=189f59e35592

Seriously, take a page from Elsa there! Just… let it go! Let it go, let it go… I don’t know how the rest of the song goes… But yeah anyway… enough of that. What’s insane is that you really can’t please everybody, and it seems like the people who you can’t please are given a megaphone. But come on, when you have a self-proclaimed AI “scientist” digitize a white Aerial over a black one, well, not only are you a batshit fucking crazy racist with too much free time on your hands, you really need to take a step back and reevaluate your life choices.

Trevor Noah does not want to be part of a world with racist trolls.

After the first footage of Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” featured lead star Halle Bailey singing “Part of Your World,” the teaser trailer received online backlash, triggering 1.5 million “dislikes” on YouTube before the rating feature was disabled. Bailey was cast as Ariel in 2019, leading to a #NotMyAriel racist Twitter campaign. The new teaser for the film reignited the color-blind casting debate.

“Really, people — we’re doing this again?” Trevor Noah slammed the criticism that Bailey looks “nothing like” the animated Ariel from the 1989 Oscar-winning animated film. “Nothing like? They both have the tail, they both have the red [hair].”

The “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” host continued, “Once again, a bunch of internet racists are upset that a fictional character is being played by a Black person. This is so ridiculous.”
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/09/trevor-noah-slams-racist-response-halle-bailey-little-mermaid-1234763368/

Yeah obviously! And here’s the thing – there’s nothing, and I repeat, nothing that is more pathetic than a bunch of adults complaining that the casting of a movie ruined their childhood. I know my own childhood had a lot more going on than just The Little Mermaid. So instead of pouting or being a racist douchebag, why don’t you ask the people who really matter – the kids, what they think of the new version of the Little Mermaid? Because this is after all, a children’s movie. It was made – wait for it – for children! Shocker, I know! Grow up, people!

The trailer for Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid is out and with Halle Bailey playing the lead role of Ariel, and her casting has delighted many young children, with reactions posted online showing the importance of representation.

The first footage of the highly anticipated movie was unveiled at Disney's D23 expo over the weekend, showing the R&B singer's casting in the iconic musical.

When the 22-year-old was cast in the role back in 2019, the movie's director Rob Marshall said that after an extensive search it was "abundantly clear" that Bailey was the perfect choice.

Sadly, a backlash against casting a Black Ariel ensued and the trailer's release prompted yet more racist criticism on social media.

The hashtag #NotMyAriel trended in 2019 and this weekend it saw something of a resurgence, not dissimilar to the current conversation surrounding the diverse casting of House of the Dragon and Rings of Power.

However, despite the backlash, people praising the film and Bailey's performance appear to outweigh the negativity and a heartwarming thread of Black children reacting with joy to the trailer has now gone viral.
https://www.newsweek.com/kids-reactions-little-mermaid-trailer-viral-cast-controversy-halle-bailey-1742071

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Putin’s Associates
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Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! So when times are tough, or people don’t simply want to read the actual article, they turn to conspiracy theories floated by crazy people like Alex Jones to fill in the gaps. We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the heart of the New Mexico badlands. Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference… they are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all! Ah there we go! So I don’t know how closely you’ve been following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, or the three ring circus that is the totalitarian Russian government, but Vladimir Putin’s associates have a habit of “dying” mysterious deaths. Here’s the thing I want to preface before we go any further – we don’t usually make fun of death on this program. That’s beneath us. But when you have an authoritarian mad man like Vladimir Putin who’s on a quest for world domination through right wing propaganda at the helm, there’s nothing that is off the table. So anyway in the last few weeks or so there’s been a lot associated with the Russian mad man. Like this for instance.

A senior Russian oil executive has died after falling from the window of a Moscow hospital, months after his company criticised the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ravil Maganov, the chair of the board of directors of Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company, “fell from a window at Central clinical hospital”, the Interfax news agency wrote on Thursday, citing a source. “He died from injuries sustained.”

Lukoil said Maganov had “passed away following a severe illness”. The company did not say what Maganov was being treated for.

It was not immediately clear whether his death was an accident, a suicide, or caused by foul play. Russian state media agencies citing an unnamed source reported that Maganov had been admitted to the hospital with a heart condition and had been on antidepressants.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/russian-oil-executive-dies-in-fall-from-moscow-hospital-window

Yeah sure, he… “fell” out of the window of a hospital, and that’s after he questioned the Russian government’s illegal occupation of Ukraine. Don’t do that! You know that Pooty has a habit of knocking off his associates and they all die mysterious deaths. But what’s even weirder is that the list keeps growing of Putin critics who have suddenly died. And if that’s not enough, there was another one that fell off a boat. So like we said, Vladimir Putin’s critics have a bad habit of dying mysteriously and until Putin kicks the bucket expect this to become more widespread!

Another Russian energy boss has died in mysterious circumstances after "falling overboard" from a boat, according to local media reports.

Ivan Pechorin's body was found washed up around 100 miles from Vladivostok in Russia's far east, on Monday after a two-day search, local outlet VL.ru reported.

Pechorin fell off his moving boat on September 10 as it sailed near Russky Island, the outlet reported. He was the Aviation Director for Russia's Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV), which described his death as an "irreparable loss."

The KRDV is President Vladimir Putin's project for developing the rich energy and mining resources of Russia's farthest eastern region, which has become a crucial objective under the weight of international sanctions.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-executive-falls-off-boat-in-latest-mystery-businessman-death-2022-9

Sounds about right for Putin! But don’t blame the victim for this, blame the source. Vladimir Putin is one scary individual. He might be the first world leader who’s out for global domination since Adolf Hitler, though Hitler was another leader who had a bad habit of silencing his critics. There’s a great comparison for you! But come on, after nearly 8 years of watching Russia annex Crimea, committing genocide against Ukraine, and committing other unspeakable crimes against humanity, you’re just now coming to the conclusion that he might be dangerous? Just now?

At least seven Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin may have been murdered as the president purges his inner circle of former wealthy allies.

Since the start of the year, several of Putin’s cronies have died in mysterious circumstances, The Sun reports.

But sources believe they may have actually been murdered as it’s claimed there were similarities in their deaths.

The latest apparent victim was Ivan Pechorin - Putin’s point man for developing Russia’s vast Arctic resources.

He fell off the side of a boat in waters close to Russky Island in mysterious circumstances, it is reported.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/chilling-clues-that-seven-russian-oligarchs-were-murdered-by-putin/news-story/f43a9907df4b58d20cf7ea3c7e2f3de3

Yeah probably! But come on, Sky News – just say it! He was murdered and Vladimir Putin is a terrorist out for global domination. That’s why I’m hiding out in this basement bunker because there’s no way he could get to me! But there’s a connection between all of these deaths and I can’t quite put my finger on it. If you’re living in Russia and you speak ill of Vladimir Putin or his illegal and immoral occupation of Ukraine, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Because otherwise they’ll be coming to take you away, ha ha, and you’ll be next!

Another prominent member of Russian society has died, the latest in a string of mysterious deaths among top businessmen and oligarchs in the embattled country.

Vladimir Nikolayevich Sungorkin, 68, editor-in-chief of major state newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, died “suddenly” after appearing to “suffocate,” according to the newspaper he used to helm.

The Kremlin confirmed the death Wednesday, calling his passing “a great loss to Russian journalism.”

Sungorkin was in Primorye, in Russia’s far east, gathering material for an upcoming book and accompanied by his colleague Leonid Zakharov, when he died.

“It happened absolutely suddenly, nothing foreshadowed,” Zakharov wrote of the incident on Wednesday. “We were in the village of Roshchino. We were driving. We were already making our way towards Khabarovsk. We planned to get there in the evening today, and from there to Moscow. All was good.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/9131060/vladimir-sungorkin-dead-russian-newspaper-editor-sudden-stroke-suffocating/

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

Of course you know that the idea of this segment is that we cozy up to the bar and have some drinks, but we only got one rule in this saloon – and that’s no politics! Because there’s a lot of really dark shit in the world right now, so sometimes the best solution is to just say “fuck it” and crack open a cold one with your buddies. This week it’s the height of festival season – film festivals, that is. So we’re naturally going to see how long people can stand and applaud without getting sick of it. So tell me, bartender, what goes well with a story about long applauses? Seriously, that doesn’t even make sense. So what is in it? Bacardi 151? Are you trying to kill me, man? Well it does make all your hairs stand up on end. You know what, I need a beer for this one, but make it large and plentiful! IPA please. So after two years of not having box office records, the film industry is poised to make a roaring comeback with some new movies that are getting widespread critical acclaim and it’s about time we get some fresh blood in the box office because I’m sure everyone is tired of sequels, reboots and remakes, am I right? But that said it's been 2 years since we had film festivals and we’re getting stupid crap like this happening.

This weekend, a bunch of highly anticipated movies made their debut at the Venice Film Festival, and more than a handful of them were met with absurdly long standing ovations. Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All had the crowd on its feet for a whopping 8.5 minutes. Brendan Fraser’s comeback vehicle The Whale received an emotional six-minute standing O that had the star in tears, while Todd Field’s Tár received an equally long ovation. Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, nonetheless had people standing and clapping for a solid four minutes. And Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin topped them all, receiving a rapturous 15-minute standing ovation.

With all due respect to these films, enough is enough. These insanely long ovations have become silly and performative. (Even if a movie happened to be the greatest thing you’d ever seen, would you really feel compelled to stand and applaud it for the amount of time it takes the average human being to walk a mile?) It seems as though these standing Os are less about the actual quality of the movies themselves and more about festival-goers pushing the limits of fandom, getting lost in the moment and trying to one-up those who came before them. But when the vast majority of the films screening at a festival receive a standing ovation, the standing ovations become meaningless; if everything is given such a warm reception and it becomes the norm, then it’s no longer any indicator of quality.

If a movie like Don’t Worry Darling, which currently has a deeply mediocre 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, warrants a four-minute standing ovation, how long are we now expected to stand for something that’s…actually good? Festival audiences keep moving the goalposts; will we soon start seeing Oscar contenders getting hour-long applause sessions?
https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/movies/venice-film-festival-standing-ovations

Yeah keep ‘em coming! So wait a minute, let me get this straight... they’re applauding for four straight minutes for a movie that only has a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Come on. Well to be fair, we haven’t had a real box office for over 2 years so I guess that film festival audiences will literally applaud just about anything right now. If that wasn’t enough, you remember Brendan Fraser right? The embattled star of such hits as the Mummy and the Mummy 2, is in the process of making his comeback with another film that starts with “The” in the title – The Whale. And this happened.

The Toronto International Film Festival, unlike the Euro film fests, isn’t known as a place for standing ovations. As soon as those credits roll, they need to jump into a post-screening Q&A, clear the theater and get into the next screening.

But it was a different story tonight at the Royal Alexandra Theater as The Whale director Darren Aronofsky and the cast of the A24 film kept he standing ovation momentum going for what seemed more than three minutes (long by TIFF standards) as Brendan Fraser took the stage teary eyed in what his second major fall festival reception after Venice where he sobbed for six minutes.

Based on the Samuel D. Hunter play, Fraser plays a reclusive English teacher, with a penchant for teaching Moby Dick, who lives with severe obesity and attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter (Sadie Sink) as he struggles to stay alive.

Yes, a lot of prosthetics went into the performance, but a lot of heart. And that’s what bowled Aronofsky over when he took a meeting with The Mummy franchise actor one frozen afternoon in January.

“To find the right actor at the right time, it’s not a calculation,” says Aronofsky
https://deadline.com/2022/09/brendan-fraser-the-whale-tiff-premiere-1235115216/

That is one long ass standing ovation! Look, I get it, we haven’t seen a movie in the theaters for over 2 years now! So look long standing ovations, I kind of get it. But do we really need ones that last 5 minutes or 10 minutes? Well, according to the Guinness Book Of Records, opera star Placido Domingo currently holds the record for the world’s longest standing ovation at 80 minutes. I really can’t believe that I had to look that up. But 14 minutes seems paltry by comparison! We’ve got a long way to go before we reach Italian opera star status!

Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” debuted to a massive 14-minute long standing ovation during its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. Ana de Armas, who plays Marilyn Monroe, was in tears at the screening, her face glowing as tears streamed down.

Before the film’s world premiere Brad Pitt, who is among the film’s producers, de Armas, director Andrew Dominik, Adrien Brody and Julianne Nicholson created commotion on the red carpet, largely for Pitt who worked the crowds wearing a black Covid mask when he came into close contact with fans to sign autographs and do selfies. Pitt made a surprise appearance in Venice since he was not present at the film’s press conference earlier in the day. Dede Gardner, who is also among “Blonde” producers, was also on hand.

The biographical drama, based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, is one of the most anticipated titles of the festival due to de Armas’ casting as the Hollywood icon.

Co-star Brody also shed a few tears. Pitt was visibly pleased.
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/blonde-ana-de-armas-standing-ovation-venice-nc-17-marilyn-monroe-1235337816/

Oh come on, the Marilyn Monroe biopic can’t be that good, can it? But if you think the long standing ovation is getting to be quite a bit ridiculous, well we ain’t seen nothing yet! Just wait until the 2023 film festivals! We’ll see standing ovations that are 28 minutes long! Hell, why not give a 32 minute standing ovation? Maybe we might even reach Italian opera star status! Seriously, give it a couple of years and we might see standing ovations as long as the movies themselves! The MPAA might need to give a run time on the applause after the movie! Or maybe we need Dave Chappelle’s “Wrap It Up” box. Who knows?

Standing ovations for movies at film festivals is nothing new, but with the current instant-coffee news cycle that demands content 24 hours a day, every ovation is worth a post. So if you're going to a movie anytime soon, please remember to clap. Oh, and make sure to start a stopwatch before you put your hands together because we need to know how long people are clapping.

The celebs are absolutely dominating the ovation game this year. Don't Worry Darling, a movie about darlings not worrying, starring a bunch of darlings who have done a lot of worrying, which has widely been panned by critics, received a four-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. That appears to be the baseline both for the quality of film that deserves an ovation and the length of which people will take note of. Or maybe it was just an excuse to point out how awkward the entire damn cast is for... reasons.

As impressive as that ovation was, it was nothing compared to the six-minute ovation that announced loudly to the world that Brendan Fraser was back. Fraser was seen overcome with emotion during the reaction to The Whale in Venice.

Of course, standing ovations aren't just for great comeback stories. Timothee Chalamet is as young and hot as you can get without being sucked into the Don't Worry Darling universe and his new movie Bones & All got received an eight-and-a-half minute ovation in Venice according to Collider. Or maybe it was full 10 minutes as Deadline reported.
https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/venice-film-festival-standing-ovations-blonde-dont-worry-darling-01gcy2ekzsqf

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #7 - Hungary
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Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

[font size="4"]Destination #7: Hungary [/font]

Hello everyone! This week we’re in Eastern Europe and visiting the country of Hungary! The country is pretty much smack dab in the middle of Eastern Europe. It’s capital is Budapest, and no relation to the Wes Anderson flick the Grand Budapest Hotel. It’s home to the Danube River, who you might be familiar with from the classical song “House Of The Blue Danube”.

Here’s the thing I want to stress before we go any further – it’s not all fun and games on this World Tour 2022. We’re going to see some great parts of the world and we’re also going to see some very dark parts – this country being one of them! Now you might be wondering why we’re visiting Hungary and the reason is because… conservatives. Hungary is one of the key allies that Vladimir Putin has left with their populist prime minister Viktor Orban. Who American conservatives love for some reason and I really can’t quite put my finger on it. Oh wait yeah that’s right – he’s a full blown fucking Nazi. And the fact that he keeps getting elected and reelected should not only scare you, but it should scare the entire world. Because populist / (*insert country here*) movements are not good. They’re terrible. And things like this can happen as a result.

The European Union is moving to cut off funds to Hungary after accusing its leader, prime minister Viktor Orbán, of eroding the country’s democracy and ruling as an autocrat, further isolating one of the continent’s last Putin supporters.

The southeastern European country of Hungary, which has been led since 2010 by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, may have to forgo as much as €7.5 billion in funds from the European Union, which is accusing the country’s leaders of democratic backpedaling and corruption.

Lawmakers say that Orbán’s history of anti-democratic governance in Hungary, which EU lawmakers said last week could no longer be considered a “full democracy,” is concerning enough to cut the country off from the EU’s €1.2 trillion ($1.2 trillion) shared budget.

On Sunday, the European Commission announced that lawmakers had proposed “budget protection measures” that would severely limit funding to Hungary under the current EU budget regime. If it goes through, it will be the first time the EU enacts a 2020 law designed to protect the bloc’s budget from being “misused by EU governments who bend the rule of law.”
https://fortune.com/2022/09/19/eu-trying-cut-off-funding-hungary-putin-ally/

Look people, I cannot emphasize this enough – STOP VOTING FOR FASCIST FUCKWADS!!! Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t we fight two world wars to stop fascist populism from taking over the planet? I think my grandparents would be rolling around in their graves if they knew what was happening all around the world in 2022. But make no mistake, like Brexit, Hungary’s election of Viktor Orban was no joke and it was done intentionally by design. Because the whole goal of the current movement is to tear down all the establishments. I said all of them!

After his headline performance at Hungary's Sziget Festival last month, pop star Justin Bieber held a grandiose party for his staff in a luxurious countryside setting — a 19th century castle owned by the son-in-law of the country's prime minister.

The castle, to the critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, is emblematic of the corruption, nepotism and largesse of which the populist leader and his government have been accused for years — the kinds of behavior which now threaten to cost Hungary billions in European Union funding.

Standing beside the iron gates of Schossberger Castle this week, an independent Hungarian lawmaker who has made a name for himself as an anti-corruption crusader snapped pictures of the structure and its expansive manicured grounds.

A former member of Orban’s ruling Fidesz party, Akos Hadhazy left the nationalist-populist party in 2013 after becoming aware of what he describes as a clientelistic system of unchecked corruption taking shape in the Central European nation.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hungary-faces-reckoning-eu-cost-billions-90053030

Yeah that is kind of what it feels like right now. But here’s the thing – we can no longer ignore the rising tide of fascism and neo-authoritarianism that is seeming to rear its’ head around the world. Whether it’s Boris Johnson in the UK, or it’s Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, or it’s Xi Xianping in China, or Hungary’s Viktor Orban, these fuckers are scary and dangerous. Even worse when you combine them with the head villain of them all, the Thanos of the modern world, Vladimir Putin. No wonder the GOP loves Orban so much, he’s on Putin’s side and so are they.

Hungarian civil liberties groups have welcomed a new EU report that says the country cannot be considered a full democracy.

The EU parliament voted to approve the report on Thursday, which accused Prime Minister Viktor Orban of creating an "electoral autocracy".

Budapest rejected the findings and Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called the report an "insult".

But a number of pro-democracy groups in the country welcomed the EU's move.

"For Hungarian human rights organisations, this is sadly not surprising," Dr Marta Pardavi told the BBC. "This is obviously something that is very painful for us as Hungarian citizens, but we do see that the report's conclusion is inevitable."

Dr Parvdavi, who is co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee - a human rights monitoring group - said "very serious violations" of democratic norms have been documented against Mr Orban's regime.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62925460

You might be wondering – why are we spending so much time talking about Viktor Orban? Well I will answer you, good sir or madam – because he’s been invited to speak at two different American conservative conventions this year! They see this guy as a role model for far right fascist authoritarian viewpoints! That’s why! It’s truly scary to think that the US religious right is heading in a neo-fascist direction. Well there is one good thing, don’t want you to think it’s all doom and gloom – but the party opposing Orban finally has some webbing under its’ feet! Yes, things could get interesting in the next election cycle!

A foundation led by prominent critics of the Hungarian government and conservative forces in general allegedly helped the Hungarian opposition’s electoral campaign with significant funds from the United States. According to a Hungarian government politician, this could have amounted to “abusing the law.”

Péter Márki-Zay, the mayor of Hódmezővásárhely (southeast Hungary), and former prime ministerial candidate of the joint opposition coalition in the parliamentary elections in April, made some remarks about his campaign funding and US connections, raising eyebrows in the Hungarian media and public discourse.

During Magyar Hang’s podcast last week, Márki-Zay said that he had only recently received the “42,000-rows-long” account of the campaign budget – which he intends to publish in its entirety soon – and it shows that as recently as in July of this year, two months after the elections, his campaign received several million HUF “from America.” He noted that he did not think billionaire George Soros was among the donors, the donations most probably coming from “Americans and Hungarians living in America.”

The politician said that his Everybody’s Hungary Movement (MMM – Mindenki Magyarországa Mozgalom) used the above-mentioned funds to pay for this year’s campaign bills. According to Márki-Zay, around one hundred million HUF (approx. 250,000 EUR) still remains in the funds, which he intends to transfer to the bank account of his movement.
https://hungarytoday.hu/hungarian-opposition-received-millions-from-the-usa/

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

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

Overall: C-

Change from 2017: Hungary has made a bit of progress in turning things around but as long as Viktor Orban is at the helm of that country, I cannot in good conscious recommend people travel there for the time being.

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

Next week – we’re heading to the land of Neuschwanstein, luxury cars, and Oktoberfest – the heart of Bavaria, Germany!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Umphrey’s McGee[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is a legendary jam band from South Bend, Indiana. This is their new album called “Asking For A Friend”, you can see them on tour through the end of October. Playing their song “Small Strides”, give it up for Umphrey’s McGee!

Thank you Salt Lake City! We’re off to do our first show in Iowa next! See you next week!

Credits

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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Zanies Comedy Club, Salt Lake City, UT
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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

September 15, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-7: It's The End Of Democracy As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-7: It’s The End Of Democracy As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! YOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! What’s up, Las Veags? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! We’re hanging out at the MGM…. Somewhere in this giant labyrinth of a casino! But no specifically we’re at Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club which is an excellent venue in Vegas. Last time we were here we were at the Dragon Room, which is another great Vegas comedy club. But we’re hitting the ground running for this season and we’ve got editions coming the next 5 weeks! And don’t forget we will be breaking out the Wheel Of Corruption again when we hit Denver on October 6th to help celebrate the return of the Great American Beer Festival! Also, don’t forget we’ll have the wheel in Riversie and again at our show in Mexico when we hit Cabo. How about that? Ok enough of my rambling, do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! OK look it’s film festival season. I get it – you saw a great movie. Do we really need a contest to see who can stand and clap the longest? It started when the Elvis movie got a 12 minute standing O at Cannes. But then it happened again when the Marilyn Monroe flick “Blonde” got a 14 minute standing O. Then it happened again when Brendan Fraser’s flick “The Whale” got a 9 minute standing ovation. Come on stop it, people! Look it’s one thing to get a standing ovation, but this recent trend of timing how long they are is insane. We may have to do a deep dive on this for next week’s I Need A Drink. But just… how… who… what??? Has it really been two years since we’ve been at a film festival? Sigh, anyways, things are getting really weird. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first John Oliver delves into the subject of Law & Order and its’ actual effects on America’s legal system:

Well, where do we begin this week? Sadly, the world lost a truly great leader as Queen Elizabeth II died at age 96. While the world is paying their respects, naturally the group of idiots here at home are paying theirs, and it’s about exactly what you’d expect from these clowns. In the second slot this week is the Supreme Court (2). On the SCOTUS chopping block in the next term is a little unheard of case that could fundamentally destroy the integrity of US elections as we know them, Moore V Harper, and we will tell you all about it! We also can predict exactly how the MAGA SCOTUS is going to vote on this one. in the third slot this week is Florida MAGA judge Aileen Cannon (3) who, despite all actual judgement, allowed that former president to appoint a “special master” in yet another attempt to avoid any actual criminal charges being filed. It’s a conspiracy! In the number 4 seed this week is Steve Bannon (4). Yes, Steve Bannon is going to prison after bilking MAGA stooges out of their money in that fake Build The Wall charity and we’re enjoying every minute of it! In the number 5 slot this week is that Former President (5) and last week Obama finally got his portrait in the White House after Shithead denied it, and it’s great seeing competence back in the White House! In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and this week our resident pastor was alarmed that a right wing nationalist billionaire decided to give megachurches a $2 billion reward for helping the efforts to overturn Roe V Wade, so we decided to do some digging on who benefits, and we sure don’t! In the number 7 slot this week is a new Beating A Dead Horse (7) and we’ve been saying since the very beginning of this segment that toxic fandom in movies and TV shows, particularly among major franchises, is something of a problem. But lately it seems to be getting worse and the targeted harassment is more than just a “this movie / TV show sucks” argument. It’s something much worse! In the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8) and if you think that right wing reactions to the Queen’s death were crazy, wait until you see what the Q Anon reactions are! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new People Are Dumb, because of course they are! Finally this week, it’s time for the World Tour 2022 Destination #6 and this week we’re going to the land of exotic villas, fast cars, and the best pasta dishes in the world – Italy! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Insane Reactions To Queen Elizabeth II’s Death
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You know I’d like to extend the proverbial olive branch to our friends in the UK. Because let’s face it, Queen Elizabeth II was a hell of a leader, and her legacy may never be topped. But you know, this entry will not be about whether we love or hate the monarchy. We’ll save that for a future edition. No! Here’s the thing – we’re not making fun of the Queen’s death in this entry. No, we’re making fun of the American reactions to the Queen’s death. Because let’s face it, we have some insensitive douchebags in this country and that’s putting it lightly! Last week’s edition in fact, the reason why we didn’t have any news about the Queen is that it happened right when we were going live. However, like I said, we have some insensitive fuckwads in the US. Because while most of us were mourning the loss of Queen Elizabeth, Q Anon folks had an entirely different take. And oh yes it gets weird. These are some truly deranged, sick and twisted fuck heads we’re dealing with here.

Despite spending years claiming she’d already been executed, QAnon on Thursday openly celebrated the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death.

“May she burn in hell for eternity,” one QAnon account on Telegram wrote moments after the queen’s death was announced. “So happy! The evil witch is dead,’ another wrote.

For years, the queen has been a central figure in the QAnon conspiracy as part of a cast of elites who followers believe are operating a child sex trafficking ring that traverses the globe.

In the hours before her death, some referenced wild QAnon conspiracies about the queen participating in satanic rituals and drinking the blood of children: “They’re preparing the black mass and baby buffet as we sit here,” adding, “I think you’ll find she’s already gone.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy7d5k/qanon-queen-elizabeth-ii

Yeah really, we’re with Shaq on this one! If you think that’s weird, wait until you see what Q Anon thinks that King Charles did in his first act! Do these idiots not know that the Queen and most of the Royal Family hated Trump:? But this might be my favorite thing is that usually heads of state are invited to weddings and/or funerals involving Royal Family members. Joe Biden got an invite and he’s in. There’s one guy however, that didn’t get an invite. And he’s fuming mad.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman says that former President Donald Trump was surprised that he did not receive a personal invitation to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Speaking on CNN Tuesday morning, Haberman was asked by host John Berman about Trump's reaction to not being invited to the funeral, which will be attended by President Joe Biden later this week.

"Trump and people around Trump believe he had some sort of special connection to the queen," she replied. "There's, for some reason, some expectation around people close to Trump that he should be getting an invitation. He fancied himself as having some kind of close relationship with her. A former aide to Trump told me, 'No, the queen really liked him.'"

However, Haberman said she had heard of no concrete proof that the late queen liked Trump, whom she met when the former president visited the United Kingdom in 2019.
https://www.rawstory.com/queen-elizabeth-trump/

Yeah that’s basically Trump’s reaction in a nutshell. It must seriously suck to live in an alternate universe from him. Hey Trump, let me spell it out for you: YOU ARE HATED! NOBODY LIKES YOU! YOU ARE THE WORST PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY!! Only your deranged cultists still support you! Oh and it gets weirder. So much weirder. Trump apparently attempted to invite himself to attend the Queen’s funeral and right wing media went along with it. There were some truly insane discussions on Fox News, but the answer direct from the Royal Family was a big fat “no”.

Answering questions aboard Air Force One on September 12, 2022, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed the White House had only received an invitation for President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.

"So, the invitation for the president and the first lady came in the form of a note sent by the protocol directorate of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office," Jean-Pierre said.

"It was received late Saturday night and as you all know the president accepted the invitation on Sunday morning and, [in] so far as invites, I would refer you to the United Kingdom, their government, on that protocol generally.

"The invitation... extended to the U.S. government was for the president and the first lady only."

When asked whether Biden, if allowed, would bring former presidents to the funeral, Jean-Pierre said "this is a
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-donald-trump-not-invited-queen-elizabeth-iis-funeral-1742444

Yes! That’s exactly what it must be like! Now the reactions around the world are pouring in, and it varies depending on who you talk to. But as we’ve seen here in America, we have some insensitive douchebags who are shooting their mouth off. World leaders have had a mixed bag of reactions, and we can’t post them all here. Everyone from Bill Clinton to Emmanuel Macron to Angela Merkel have expressed their views on the Queen, as have celebrities and musicians like Daniel Craig, Elton John, Paul McCartney, and Mick Jagger. And then there’s Howard Stern. Who does make a point but really it’s the wrong time.

Radio host Howard Stern fumed over what he deemed the excessive media coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

On the Monday edition of SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show, the host let loose on the fact that news outlets have seemingly ditched the story of former President Donald Trump housing classified documents at his Florida home in favor of coverage of the queen’s death.

“It’s weird traditions and everything. And I’m like, Jesus, enough with the Queen! I mean, it’s America. We don’t have a queen. I get it. You know, Queen was a nice lady, I guess she was born, you know, my whole life, the queen has been the same queen and there’s a tradition there and she did her duty to her country. I get it. I get it. I get it. But we gotta get back to Trump and where those papers are that they found that Mar-A-Lago,” he said.

“You don’t like the distraction of the queen?” co-host Robin Quivers asked.

“No, it’s like annoying. It’s like, everyone wants to hear about Trump. Trump 24/7,” Stern said. “I mean, he, you know, it’s so weird. I knew Donald for so many years, not in touch with him now, obviously, but the only thing that I used to say about Donald — the guy just wants to be the focus of attention. He wants the whole world looking at him and the son of a gun — If he didn’t make that happen, it’s unbelievable. He got his wish.”
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/jesus-enough-with-the-queen-howard-stern-fumes-over-annoying-media-coverage-of-monarchs-passing/

[font size="8"]The Supreme Court
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If you haven’t seen last week’s edition, we touched base on Biden’s speech on MAGA extremists and how they could destroy democracy in an election cycle or two if we’re not careful. Well, forget the elections, the fate of democracy could boil down to one single upcoming SCOTUS case. There’s some big name cases coming up in the upcoming SCOTUS sessions, and while many are talking about SCOTUS eroding rights like gay marriage, interracial marriage, and hell I’ve even heard them talk about overturning Brown V. Board Of Education, but that one may be a conservative pipe dream. But there’s one upcoming SCOTUS case that could have some catastrophic consequences for American elections depending on the way they rule on this, and given their recent history, we can probably kiss fair elections goodbye. But that being said, conservatives are going about this in the same manner that Wiley Coyote attempts to catch the Road Runner.

...At the heart of the case, according to SCOTUS blog, is the legal theory called "independent state legislature doctrine," which suggests that, under the Constitution's election clause, "only the legislature has the power to regulate federal elections, without interference from state courts."

"The theory would disable state courts from protecting voting rights in federal elections by eliminating state constitutional protections in those elections," Legal experts Leah Litman, Kate Shaw and Carolyn Shapiro wrote of the case in an opinion piece for The Washington Post. "And it would do so at a time when voting rights are under attack, including at the Supreme Court itself."

Under the most strict readings of the doctrine, provisions in state constitutions which restrain lawmakers' from influencing elections would be rolled back. The governor, who could usually veto new election laws, would lose the ability to do so and state courts would be unable to reverse anti-democratic laws or challenge gerrymandered districts.

This interpretation of the constitution "could make it easier for state legislatures to suppress the vote, draw unfair election districts, enable partisan interference in ballot counting," the Brennan Center for Justice tweeted about the case...

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-moore-v-harper-supreme-court-case-voting-rights-2022-7

Yes, holy shit indeed! So let’s explain this a bit – the case is a simple redistricting case, but it’s one of those things that we say is like peeling an onion. The more layers you peel back, the more it stinks, and the more likely you are to cry as a result. Because while it may seem like a simple redistricting case, the layers are a lot more complex. Basically the high courts would have the power to redraw district maps for their state. And if the high court approves this, it would basically give whoever is in charge of the state judiciary the power to rig elections. That could be catastrophic!

A conference of chief justices, including Missouri's top state judge, and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft have gotten involved in a U.S. Supreme Court case that could drastically change how elections are conducted.

The case, Moore v. Harper, is based out of North Carolina. Republicans in the state are asking the Supreme Court to allow a congressional redistricting plan rejected by their state court, citing what is called the "independent state legislature doctrine." If the theory is recognized by the high court, it could give state lawmakers the final say over how elections are conducted and district maps are drawn, without court review.

Ashcroft and a group of top judicial officials that includes Missouri Chief Justice Paul C. Wilson appear to see the controversial case differently, based on written arguments recently submitted to the high court.

Ashcroft, a Republican, cites the Tenth Amendment in a brief arguing that "in Missouri, the state constitution states that congressional district lines are to be drawn by the state legislature; therefore, we need to keep the federal government out of Missouri elections."
https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/08/top-state-judges-including-missouri-weigh-scotus-elections-case-jay-ashcroft/8014653001/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Let’s call this “It’s The End Of Democracy As We Know It”. Come on sing it with me! It’s the end of democracy as we know it! it’s the end of democracy as we know it! It’s the end of democracy as we know it! And I feel fine! Yeah I can’t sing for shit but you know how it is! But here’s the thing – we know that the GOP can’t win unless they cheat. And this latest fight – which once again they started – is yet another one that they started. Because they know that the political climate in this country is changing, and it’s changing against them. So they are doing whatever they can to hold onto what little power they have left.

One of the biggest cases on the Supreme Court’s docket next term is Moore v. Harper. At its core, it is yet another fight over North Carolina’s congressional maps. But this is one that will likely have far reaching effects beyond the state’s boundaries.

Boiled down to its essence, Republicans in North Carolina are pushing the nation’s highest court to invalidate a state court’s redistricting decision under a constitutional interpretation referred to as the “independent state legislature” theory. The theory revolves around the Elections Clause of the Constitution, which reads that “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof,” subject to regulations from Congress.

Proponents of the ISL theory argue that that wording — an explicit mention of a “legislature,” and not the judiciary — means there is little, or no, role for the state judges to check the election-related decisions of state legislators. Many prominent election scholars and voting rights groups, however, say that could mark a dramatic remaking of America’s election laws resulting in a consolidation of power in the hands of state legislatures. It could, for example, give them near-unchecked authority to draw political boundaries in the favor of one political party, or pass more strident requirements around registration or voting practices without a way to challenge them in state court.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2022/09/09/the-court-case-that-could-transform-u-s-elections-00055997

So yeah, think about it. American democracy and free and fair elections are literally hanging on by a thread. Biden wasn’t wrong to call out MAGA extremism. Because the extremists are the ones trying to rig elections. And if we’re not careful, they may get their wish. Especially with the highest court in the land currently stacked against us. The fate of this country may be decided by a drunken rapist and a deranged cultist. And given their recent history on rulings, you know they’re not going to be using their powers for good. Sleep tight everybody, we’re going to be in for a hell of a ride! Come on sing it with me! It’s the end of democracy as we know it…

A group representing the top judges in all 50 states is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to shield actions taken by state legislatures affecting federal elections - such as reconfiguring electoral districts and imposing voting restrictions - from the scrutiny of state courts.

The bipartisan Conference of Chief Justices filed the brief on Tuesday in a closely watched case involving a map drawn by the Republican-led North Carolina legislature of the state's 14 U.S. House of Representatives districts. The state's top court struck down the map on Feb. 4, concluding that the districts were crafted in a manner intentionally biased against Democrats, diluting their "fundamental right to equal voting power."

The Conference of Chief Justices argued that the U.S. Constitution does not prevent state courts from reviewing such congressional maps for violations of state constitutions, as the Republican state legislators defending the map argue.

The North Carolina Supreme Court rejected the Republican arguments seeking to exempt U.S. congressional electoral maps from legal review in state courts. A lower state court on Feb. 23 rejected a redrawn map submitted by the legislature and instead adopted a different map drawn by a bipartisan group of experts.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/top-state-court-judges-defend-their-election-oversight-us-supreme-court-2022-09-07/

[font size="8"]Florida MAGA Judge
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Why am I not at all surprised that Florida is involved here? The MAGAs are just constantly making one excuse after another as to why they keep putting Asshole 45 up on a pedestal. It’s seriously like America’s march towards a religious fascist totalitarian regime is inevitable whether we want it or not, like Ragnarok or something. Maybe Ragnarok is a bad comparison. Or is it? Well for those of you who follow Norse mythology, or maybe you just watched Thor: Ragnarok, but Raganrok is the inevitable destruction of Asguard when the skull of the mythical being known as Surtur is placed atop the eternal flame and turns into a giant flaming monster that destroys the whole world. Well, if we use that analogy, you could say that Trump is the inevitable flaming monster that’s going to destroy America, and a judge in Florida may have just placed his skull atop the eternal flame. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s accelerating placing him atop the eternal flame.

The best thing one can say about Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision Monday appointing a special master to review the documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is that it’s not the end of the world: the Justice Department can continue its investigation of Donald Trump’s apparent theft and retention of highly sensitive defense-related documents, at least those that weren’t seized in the August 6 search. The Washington Post reported that those documents included nuclear secrets of other nations.

It can also continue to investigate his efforts to overturn the presidential election, culminating in his role in the violent insurrection of January 6, keeping in mind the historic holding of a New Mexico state court this September 6 that the 14th Amendment bars all who played such a role from ever again holding public office in the United States.

That said, Cannon’s ruling has to rank high in the annals of the worst reasoned judicial decisions in American history. Even former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr called it “deeply flawed.” If it signals that judicial Trumpism has spread more broadly than we thought, there may be danger ahead to our entire system of equal justice.

Apart from its abysmal reasoning, her ruling gives the Justice Department no good options. The need to prosecute Trump as soon as possible after this November’s midterm elections points to avoiding the delay an appeal could cause and just moving forward with the special master’s document review.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-trump-special-master-ruling-violates-the-principle-that-no-one-is-above-the-law/ar-AA11ym25

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Think of this as like attempting to write your own get out of jail free card. Yeah you can try but only the Monopoly gods are the ones that really hold the cards! OK yeah bad analogy. But you can’t deny that this is certifiably insane. And yes in case you’re wondering about the judge’s credentials, Aileen Cannon is utterly, laughably unqualified to be a federal judge. Her qualifications? She’s a Federalist society appointee whose only credentials we can tell are that she speaks MAGA and was reamed through when Trump appointed all those judges back in 2017, that’s about it.

On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced it would appeal Judge Aileen Cannon’s indefensible order blocking the criminal investigation into the classified documents seized from Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago last month until a special master can review them. The department also put Cannon on the spot by asking her to stay her order pending appeal, but only as to those 100-plus classified documents. It was a shrewd move that will help protect our national security and hopefully assure the success of the larger appeal.

First, as we noted in our Slate op-ed initially reacting to the judge’s decision, the single most disturbing part of Judge Cannon’s order was always its application to classified documents. Don’t get us wrong, none of the thousands of government documents at issue belong to a former president under the terms of the Presidential Records Act or the well-established rules of executive privilege, as the government points out in its brief.

But classified materials are in a category by themself. Federal law expressly says as much. As DOJ points out in its filing, classified information must be “owned by, produced by or for, or [be] under the control of the United States [g]overnment.” One of the authors, Eisen, helped write Executive Order 13526, the order issued by President Barack Obama which articulates that principle and which the government cites in its motion to Judge Cannon for a partial stay. The special status of classified documents is also rooted in the case law, including the seminal precedent in this area, Nixon v. GSA. It held that only the current president can assert executive privilege relating to “state secrets and sensitive information concerning military or diplomatic matters.” Many additional laws and rules apply to the handling of such materials, including that they be stored in or utilized in special, secure government locations. A former president’s heavily trafficked resort is certainly not one of them.

Nor is there any reason to believe that these materials were declassified, as Trump and his allies have claimed in public media without foundation. Notably, his lawyers made no such claims in their court papers, which they signed pursuant to legal penalties if they make false statements of facts or law. In its motion on Thursday, the DOJ notes this fact and practically dares Trump’s attorneys to attempt to assert before the court the former president’s public claims that those documents were declassified.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/mar-a-lago-appeal-snooker-trump-judge-cannon.html

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! OK let’s go over her qualifications again. 39 years old. And a member of the Federalist society and a deranged Christian cult. No legal experience whatsoever. Gets a fucking LIFETIME APPOINTMENT because she speaks MAGA and kisses the right asses. And will do their every evil bidding. Just…. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Is the MAGA world trying to run a kakistocracy here? I just can’t even fathom what reality shit like this is happening, and it shouldn’t be happening in this one we’re currently living in! Come on, you know that you fucked up when Bill Bar says you fucked up!

Former Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday said the decision by a Florida judge to grant former President Donald Trump’s request for a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago is “deeply flawed” and urged the Justice Department to appeal it.

“The opinion, I think, was wrong, and I think the government should appeal it. It’s deeply flawed in a number of ways,” Barr said during a Fox interview Tuesday.

“I don’t think the appointment of a special master is going to hold up – but even if it does, I don’t see it fundamentally changing the trajectory. In other words, I don’t think it changes the ball game so much as maybe we’ll have a rain delay for a couple of innings.”

Trump-appointed District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday ordered that a third-party attorney be brought in to review the materials that were taken from Trump’s home and resort in Florida. The order also halts the Justice Department from continuing its review of the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago “pending completion of the special master’s review or further Court order.”
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/bill-barr-special-master-doj-trump/index.html

Oh come on now, here’s where it gets weird and you knew it was going to. So you might be asking yourself, if Trump can get away with this shit, can the people who participated in the insurrection and attempted to storm the Capitol on January 6th? And the answer is? Maybe. And it’s a huge “maybe” at that. Because the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, is attempting to write his own ‘get out of jail free’ card in the attempt to stall these trials until well after the midterm elections. Seriously, how much is a plane ticket to New Zealand? I give up sometimes.

The leader of the Oath Keepers has asked a federal judge to appoint a special master to manage the massive amount of evidence in the January 6 investigation, according to a motion filed in federal court on Tuesday.

Elmer Stewart Rhodes is charged with conspiracy to commit sedition along with nine other members of the group, including two from Central Florida – Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon.

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According to the motion filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., Rhodes claims he cannot be ready for his trial, which is slated to begin in two weeks.

His attorney claims Rhodes has had only seven months to prepare for trial, and even the preparation has been challenged.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2022/09/13/oath-keepers-leader-wants-special-master-appointed-trial-delayed/

[font size="8"]Steve Bannon
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I don’t know about you, but I am personally loving watching Trump’s inner circle implode. First Alex Jones got his ass handed to him by the mass shooting victims he demonized. Now Steve Bannon is about to go to prison. Gee, where will Marjorie Greene complain to now? But only in MAGA bizarro world where bad is good and good is bad, does shit like this happen. Like dude, you’re getting arrested for money laundering – and somehow it’s the best day of your life and you’re “totally in the zone”? And seriously, what the fuck does being “in the zone” mean? Was I watching someone get arrested or was I watching someone enter the octagon for a UFC fight? These people are just absolutely bonkers, but that’s the kind of mind Trump attracts. I guess that the MAGA world has got to have something to complain about in the 1,000,000 right wing podcasts that pollute the social media landscape. But there’s something definitely wrong with Mr. Bannon if this is his hot take after getting arrested. But then again, if you’re here, you probably already knew that. I just wish these morons would go away. Although if you tell them to go away, that just gives them an excuse to get in your face more.

Steve Bannon, who was arrested earlier this week in connection with a scheme to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border, said the experience of being handcuffed marked one of his favorite days.

"It was a very powerful, spiritual day for me," he said in a segment of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk's podcast on Friday. "A lot of things came into high clarity."

He then called the event "one of the best days of my life."

"I was totally in the zone — as you say in sports — the entire time. They're not gonna shut me up," he continued.

Bannon, who served as an advisor to former President Donald Trump in the White House, was indicted Thursday on money laundering and conspiracy charges in connection to his role in the "We Build the Wall" organization, as Insider's Laura Italiano reported.
https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-said-arrest-one-of-best-days-of-life-2022-9

Yeah keep talking, doesn’t necessarily mean anyone will listen to you. I mean look at this program, we’ve been doing this thing for over 5 years and we’re still headlining the 2:00 PM slot at the chuckle hut! But we don’t speak conservative crazy which is why we’re not selling out Staples Center anytime soon. But what’s even weirder about this is that the more you read about it, the more it almost feels like Mr. Bannon actually wanted to get arrested for something. Does it mean more people will listen to him and Marjorie Three Names whine about Biden relentlessly? Maybe.

Former top Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon was criminally charged in New York on Thursday with a scheme to fraudulently funnel and obscure salary payments to the CEO of a non-profit fundraising effort to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. said that Bannon “acted as the architect of a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud thousands of donors across the country — including hundreds of Manhattan residents.”

Bragg said that Bannon, “We Build the Wall” Chief Executive Officer Brian Kolfage and others involved in that campaign had repeatedly claimed that Kolfage would not be paid “a penny” for his work.

“But instead of pennies, [Kolfage] received more than $250,000 in a salary fund by donations,” Bragg said.

“At least $140,000 of which, we allege, was laundered by Stephen Bannon,” said Bragg, who spoke several hours after Bannon surrendered at Manhattan Criminal Court to face a grand jury indictment, which also charged WeBuildtheWall Inc.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/08/trump-white-house-aide-steve-bannon-surrenders-to-face-criminal-charges.html

Holy shit! So he got paid $250K and $140K of that was laundered by Bannon and his goons? Wow, these guys really are reverse Robin Hoods! But the good news is that he’s been ordered to surrender his passports, so yeah keep him in the US! Don’t allow this criminal to flee to Mexico! And of course he’s claiming the charges are phony. Like there’s always an excuse with these clowns. No matter what kind of damage they do, they always find some way to weasel out of it. Because that’s what republicans do – they destroy something and then blame it on the other guy when that thing doesn’t work that they intentionally broke.

Former United States President Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been indicted in a new criminal case in New York, and is expected to turn himself in on Thursday, The Washington Post newspaper has reported.

In a statement released to reporters late on Tuesday, Bannon pledged to fight the “phony charges” which he claimed were politically motivated.

The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the situation, reported the indictment was expected to “mirror aspects” of earlier federal charges lodged against Bannon, which alleged he had duped thousands of people into donating funds they were told would be used to build Trump’s promised wall along the border between the US and Mexico.

In his final hours in office in January 2021, Trump pardoned Bannon of the federal charges.

“They are coming after all of us, not only President Trump and myself,” Bannon said in the statement, parroting allegations that authorities have systematically gone after the former Republican president and his allies.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/7/trump-ally-bannon-set-to-turn-himself-in-after-new-indictment

Yeah seriously, Steve, get the fuck out of here! This arrest wasn’t politically motivated. Shut the fuck up, you screwed up. Just admit it, and the sooner you do that the better. Seriously, this is like if the bully gets sent to the principal’s office and he alleges that you ratting him out to the principal for shoving you in that locker was politically motivated. You laugh but just watch, tomorrow Tucker and Hannity will be turning up the spin cycle to “heavy load” to sweep this shit under the rug. It’s quite the criminal racket they’re building over at the GOP, and trust us, we’ll be there to cover all of it!

Conservative political strategist and former Donald Trump campaign adviser Steve Bannon turned himself in to law enforcement on Thursday regarding his alleged role in a money laundering scheme, marking a significant break in New York State Attorney General Leticia James' inquiry into a fundraising scheme to build a wall on the southern border.

Bannon, a top figure in conservative media, was officially arraigned Thursday afternoon on a bevy of charges, including money laundering, fraud and conspiracy related to his alleged role in a scheme to raise $15 million in funds for a wall that was ultimately never built.

Hundreds of thousands of those dollars went directly into Bannon's pocket via a nonprofit organization Bannon owned, prosecutors claimed, after he initially said that he would not accept a single cent of those dollars.

While President Trump preemptively pardoned Bannon in the case shortly before exiting office in 2021, federal and state prosecutors have continued to pursue charges against him and We Build The Wall Inc., for which Bannon served as chairman of the board.
https://www.newsweek.com/steve-bannon-could-behind-bars-before-fraud-trial-begins-1741257

[font size="8"]The White House Portrait
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You know, it’s a long standing tradition that the portrait of the previous president is unveiled in the White House when the new president takes office. Of course that tradition, like nearly all good traditions died with the most untraditional president in US history. I’m of course talking about that Former Guy, who literally ruins everything he touches. Of course Trump got elected president because of how much he hated and trolled Obama during the 8 years he was in office. So naturally when the time came to unveil the official Obama portrait in the White House, Trump gave him the ultimate “FU” he possibly could. But man the fact that it’s finally taken 5 years to formally unveil the official Obama White House portrait has really got to burn Trump and Fox News. I bet they’re just seething with rage over this. I can just picture Tucker Carlson screaming at the camera right now. What? No, we don’t need the Tucker reaction cam. Stop that! Much better. But for those of you who are wondering, this is what the Obama White House portrait entails. And it’s much different than your average White House portrait.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama headed to the White House Wednesday for the unveiling of the couple's official portraits.

It marked the first time in 10 years that a sitting president has invited former leadership back for a revealing of the portraits — a tradition that stalled when an unveiling did not take place during the Trump years.

Tapped for the assignment of a lifetime were artists Robert McCurdy, for the president, and Sharon Sprung, for the first lady.

"These portraits have a special significance," Barack Obama said, adding that "it was important to find the right people to paint them."

Obama thanked Sprung for capturing Michelle Obama, "Her grace, her intelligence – and the fact that's she's fine," Obama said, as the former first lady rolled her eyes, later thanking him for his "spicy remarks." Obama said McCurdy captured all his flaws — his gray hair, his large ears — and quipped that he had talked him out of wearing a tan suit for the image.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/1121281696/obama-portrait-white-house

All right, kids – history lesson time! Remember in the time before Trump that the president of the United States represented things like class and dignity? Well, Trump doesn’t stand for those things and he took all of that and threw it out the window! It’s truly insane how much the Christian right and Fox News lowered the bar for someone that batshit insane to take over. But we’re not going to talk about that for this segment. Let’s have some good news for a change! Don’t want you to think this show is all about negativity.

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama returned to the White House on Wednesday for the formal unveiling of their official White House portraits, revealing the paintings that will hang in the White House for years to come.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden hosted the couple for what marked Michelle Obama's first visit to the White House since her husband left office in 2017. The former president visited the White House in April for a celebration of the anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

"Barack and Michelle, welcome home," Mr. Biden told the Obamas Wednesday. "Welcome home."

"It is great to be back," Obama said after their portraits were unveiled. "Thank you so much for your hospitality. Thanks for letting us invite a few friends to the White House. We will try not to tear up the place."
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/barack-obama-michelle-obama-white-house-portraits/

Wow, even the Minions are applauding you! But really, we do occasionally like to report good news here and we also show you what class and elegance looks like. As opposed to a guy who merely thinks he embodies class and elegance. I mean come on, just look at Trump Tower in New York City or Chicago, doesn’t that just scream elegance? Actually it more screams “third world dictator” chic. But people have been giving the Obama portraits a hard time, and to those people I say with all due respect: shut the fuck up. We’ve been putting up with right wing bullshit for far too long!

Two artworks are officially joining the White House’s collection of presidential portraits: the long-awaited paintings of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.

You may be asking yourself: Didn’t we already see the Obama portraits? Well, yes. In 2018, two portraits—Barack Obama’s by Kehinde Wiley and Michelle Obama’s by Amy Sherald—joined the National Portrait Gallery’s collection. But former presidents and their spouses typically commission two portraits each: One is added to the gallery’s collection, and the other is kept in the White House.

Traditionally, presidents’ White House portraits are introduced in a ceremony held by their successors: Before this week, the last White House portrait ceremony that took place was in 2012, when then-President Obama unveiled the portraits of George W. Bush and Laura Bush. In a deviation from custom, former President Donald Trump held no such ceremony for the Obamas. On Wednesday, the tradition returned in a ceremony held by President Joe Biden.

The Obamas caused a stir in 2018 with the news that, for their first round of portraits, they opted for artists who intentionally break from traditional portraiture conventions. Those sensational works are currently touring museums across the country. Their selections for the White House portraits are no less groundbreaking: Barack Obama commissioned Robert McCurdy, and Michelle Obama commissioned Sharon Sprung. So, who are these artists?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/obama-white-house-portraits-robert-mccurdy-sharon-sprung-180980728/

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

My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know it’s not all fun and games here at the Holy Church Of The Top 10. Sometimes we have to do GAWD’s dirty work. We live in an era right now where right wing Christian fundamentalists are getting increasingly hostile and more violent with their rhetoric. In fact in the last few weeks we’ve been calling out their attempts to go full nationalist led by the likes of Mike Lindell and Marjorie Greene, both servants of the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, depraved and disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! But last week one of my parishoners tipped me off to what’s going on in the spiritual world. It seems that ever since the disgusting and unnerving decision by the United State Supreme Court to overturn the decision known as Roe V. Wade, it seems like our brothers and sisters on the right aren’t stopping there. They plan on going full fascist totalitarian. And it’s going to get ugly. But they also have a few billionaire backers on their side who will get them there whether we want it or not.

Curt Landry is a Trump-loving right-wing pastor and purported “prophet” who regularly teaches the concept of “wealth transfer“—the theological belief that God will financially reward those who are doing his work on Earth so they will have abundant resources to fund their efforts. In a YouTube video, Landry described a recent $1.6 billion dark-money contribution to right-wing political operative Leonard Leo, who helped engineer the far-right majority on the Supreme Court, as a sign that “The great latter day wealth transfer has begun.”

The idea that God will engineer a great End Times wealth transfer to enable his followers to take dominion over nations is popular among “prophets” associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation. In his 2015 book “The Great Transfer of Wealth: Financial Release for Advancing God’s Kingdom,” the late NAR leader Peter Wagner wrote, “Throughout the course of human history, three things, above all others, have caused permanent changes in society—violence, knowledge, and wealth. And the greatest of these is wealth!”

Prosperity-gospel evangelists portray wealth as a sign of God’s blessing, and use the promise of a coming wealth transfer to urge their followers to sow “seeds”—sending contributions that they promise will open the door to greater financial blessings. “Prophets” like Cindy Jacobs urge Christians to break the “spirit of poverty” and energetically pursue the accumulation of wealth. Some even saw former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election as sign that the great transfer was about to begin.

On Monday, the New York Times reported that a conservative donor had given $1.6 billion to a “new political group controlled by Leonard A. Leo, an activist who has used his connections to Republican donors and politicians to help engineer the conservative dominance of the Supreme Court and to finance battles over abortion rights, voting rules and climate change policy.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/curt-landry-says-1-6-billion-donation-to-right-wing-group-is-gods-reward-for-overturning-roe-v-wade/

Sigh…….. I can’t even. The religious right’s theories get nuttier and nuttier, and the bullshit and the con artists are getting smarter with their messaging. God’s Reward is basically just the Prosperity Gospel but with smartphones and scammers. That’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want, is it? In this twisted upside down world, people who do EVIL things get rewarded and people who do good things get banished or shunned. It’s truly insane. But in case you’re wondering where the Christian right is heading, they’re not stopping at Roe V Wade, they’re bankrolling some ridiculously scary candidates. And they plan to go full fascist in 2024 should they retake power!

For years, right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell has been using his fortune to fund a wide variety of far-right efforts. In addition to spending tens of millions of dollars pushing the big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, Lindell has long used his MyPillow company to provide financing to right-wing media outlets and activists by allowing broadcasters to receive a portion of the profits whenever their audience purchases MyPillow products using targeted coupon codes.

White nationalist Vincent James has become the latest far-right voice to benefit from Lindell’s largess, announcing during a livestream broadcast last Thursday that Lindell recently offered him just such a personalized code for his Daily Veracity website.

James currently serves as the treasurer of the white nationalist organization America First and is an unapologetic racist, antisemite, misogynist, conspiracy theorist, and fascist who declares that when Christian nationalists such as himself seize power, they intend to “dominate without mercy.”

What would a nation under the control of someone like Vincent James look like?

LGBTQ people would be thrown off of buildings and have their children kidnapped by government task forces.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mike-lindell-is-bankrolling-white-nationalist-christian-fascist-vincent-james/

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooly shit! That’s what the evil organization known as My Pillow is supporting. No wonder sane department stores dropped them! And by the way people, this is what happens when you don’t vote in elections. We get people like this. Supporters of the unholy Dark One who are threatening to take over America’s school boards and install their own fire brand of religion into America’s classrooms. That’s not God’s Reward, my fair congregation! That’s actually GAWD’s punishment, and trust me, we’ve seen where this goes in history and we do not want history repeating itself! I think even the good LAWRD JAYSUS would agree there!

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder of the Christian Zionist group Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, is a Trump–loving, anti–Islam, religious-right activist who has recently begun to focus her efforts on ensuring that public school textbooks eliminate what she claims is “anti-Semitic, anti-Judeo/Christian, Anti-American, pro-Islamic indoctrination of students.”

Last year, Cardoza-Moore was appointed to a seat on Tennessee’s State Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission, but it seems that she has been expanding her efforts beyond her home state.

Speaking at the Nashville Women’s Conference last week, Cardoza-Moore bragged about her ties to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying that because of her efforts, public school students in the state are now being taught that this nation “was founded on the Torah.”

Cardoza-Moore reported that she met with DeSantis when he was running for governor in 2018 and that he promised her that he’d get rid of the textbooks she opposed. After he was elected, Cardoza-Moore claims that she was invited to help review the civics standard for Florida public schools.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/our-nation-was-founded-on-the-torah-christian-zionist-laurie-cardoza-moore-brags-about-shaping-floridas-public-school-curriculum/

This is really a dark time for our nation, folks. The Christian right is totally off their rocker and out of control. But between God’s Reward and the rise of Christian fascism and the remaking of America’s schools toward the Christian right, it’s getting scary out there. And it’s being laid out what the Christian right really wants to do for this country. The fact that we have these billionaire scumbags out there rewarding churches for doing the wrong thing is only making it worse. But at least they’re spelling out their real intentions, like what this douche is doing.

Holy shit. I bet that guy is fun at parties. And yes, dude, you are a fucking Nazi and a fascist and a white supremacist, get over yourself, asshole. How much does a plane ticket to New Zealand cost? I do not want to live in the Christian right’s vision for America. Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Toxic Fandom
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You know since the very beginning of this segment, we’ve stressed time and time again how toxic fandoms can be. The thing is living in the social media age, it’s a great time to be a fan of whatever your favorite franchise is. And right now, it’s also the worst time to be a fan of whatever your favorite franchise is. Doesn’t matter if it’s the Avengers, or Star Wars, or Lord Of The Rings, or Game Of Thrones, or the Walking Dead, or the Simpsons, or hell, whatever your favorite band or TV show is. The problem is that social media has given lunatics a megaphone. And you know when you give a lunatic a megaphone, that nothing good comes from it. Remember when we used to watch movies and shows, or listen to music or read books, and I don’t know, enjoy them? Well, that’s getting increasingly harder to do in the age of extreme fandom. The problem is today’s toxic political climate is trickling down to your favorite programs, movies, music, books, and so on and so forth. Take for instance Lord Of The Rings, legendary franchise and it is attracting some of the worst fans imaginable.

Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and the core cast of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy are understandably protective of the beloved fantasy property. But they won’t tolerate racism or hatred toward the new generation of Tolkien actors.

Several performers in Amazon’s new series “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” have been besieged by hateful comments from viewers who have criticized casting people of color as Elves, Dwarves and Harfoots, among other fictional races. (Most of the roles were created for the show, including the Silvan elf Arondir, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova, and Princess Disa the dwarf, portrayed by Sophia Nomvete, two actors who have been the targets of hateful messaging.)

Cast members have spoken out about the racist comments they’ve received, and now, they have the support of original hobbits Wood, Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, who played Frodo, Samwise, Merry and Pippin, respectively. All four actors appeared wearing gear that reads, in Elvish, “You all are welcome here,” along with several ears of different characters in a spectrum of skin tones. (Tolkien created various dialects of Elvish for his works.)

The shirts and hats were made by Don Marshall, a TikTok user with more than 590,000 followers who shares “obscure ‘LOTR’ facts.” Earlier this month Marshall, who expressed enthusiasm about the new series and its new characters, asked his fans to help him identify users who left racist comments on his videos, saying he’d blocked around 100 of them already.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/07/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-stars-criticize-racism-cec/index.html

Sigh… seriously next right winger who uses words like “woke” and “identity politics” is getting slapped upside their heads Three Stooges style. Like seriously those phrases have been beaten into the ground so many times that they’ve lost all meaning. Fuck off with that shit, OK? Franchises evolve with the times and you need to get used to that. Instead of embracing diversity, white wingers attack the person and the idea. Lord Of The Rings wasn’t the only franchise that got the latest round of shit from toxic internet fandom. There’s also the Amazon series The Boys.

Erin Moriarty is calling out the “misogynistic trolling” she has experienced by some fans who watch Amazon’s The Boys. The actor portrays the character of Annie January, Starlight, who has been heavily criticized.

Moriarty took to Instagram where she shared an article titled “#IStandWithStarlight?: The betrayal of Erin Moriarty by The Boys ‘fans’.” The article points out the hate that the character of Starlight receives on social media, which transcends to hurtful comments to Moriarty.

“I do feel silenced. I do feel dehumanized. I do feel paralyzed. I’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into this role (over & over & over again). I’ve grown UP in this character’s shoes (*emphasis on grown up – we change & evolve mentally AND physically),” Moriarty posted on Instagram.

Moriarty thanks @butcherscanary, who wrote the article and added, “this does break my heart – I’ve opened up a vein for this role and the misogynistic trolling is exactly what this role (Annie) would speak out against.”
https://deadline.com/2022/09/the-boys-erin-moriarty-calls-out-misogynistic-trolling-by-fans-1235109753/

OK look, here’s the thing – you can like something, guys! And it must suck to be a beautiful star like Erin Moriarty and have to deal with these sexless losers. That’s why I said earlier that right now it’s the absolute worst time to be a fan of whatever your favorite franchise is. Because the vicious trolls are only getting that much worse. Like it’s OK to not like something. It’s another thing entirely to hate something to the point of wanting to murder the entire cast and crew that made it. Just ask Kellie Marie Tran about that one (see: Top 10 #5-1. Just stop it already!

Whoopi Goldberg is slamming trolls criticizing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon over their casting choices. Some fans on social media have called out the series on Prime Video and HBO for becoming “woke” and showing people of color in the fantasy worlds originally created by J. R. R. Tolkien and George R. R. Martin.

On the premiere episode of The View Season 26, Goldberg put the racist trolls on blast at the “Hot Topics” table.

“I want to start by saying these are not real. OK?” Goldberg started. “The new Lord of the Rings series, The Rings of Power and Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon are both massive hits, but they don’t exist in the real world. OK? There are no dragons, there are no hobbits you know, you know that.”

Goldberg added, “Are you telling me Black people can’t be fake people too? I don’t know if there’s a hobbit club, I don’t know if they’re going to protest. But people, what is wrong with y’all?”
https://deadline.com/2022/09/the-view-whoopi-goldberg-blasts-the-rings-of-power-house-of-the-dragon-trolls-racist-backlash-1235109652/

Oh come on, Whoopi! You don’t think the trolls know that already? This is 2022, racist trolling has been a thing for 10 years now. And it’s absolutely 100% a white supremacist movement. But really most internet white wingers like Ben Shapiro think of diversity like an old, old wooden ship from the Civil War era, like Ron Burgundy does. But the good news is that the cast of the new Lord Of The Rings series has united against the vicious white wing trolls that seem to dominate internet discussion these days.

If you've been following our coverage of Neil Gaiman (The Sandman) pushing back on toxic trolls who've been attacking J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power because of its diverse casting, claiming without a clue that it goes against J.R.R. Tolkien's wishes. Well, that's just a small part of a bigger problem that the trolls have been unleashing upon the series, with cast members going public with their experiences of being abused online by supposed "fans" who apparently can accept anything and everything that goes on in a fantasy series except the idea of a woman or an actor of color actually starring in one. Now, the cast of the streaming series is letting everyone know that they're done putting up with it, they won't stand for it, and that they are in "absolute solidarity" when it comes to pushing back on racist, narrow-minded trolling wherever it rears its ugly head. Following that, the statement set the record straight when it comes to the world Tolkien created and how it was intended to reflect the world around us. And then it wraps with a pledge of love and support to the fans, who've made the series successful, despite the abuse they've also had to endure on social media simply for appreciating being represented. Here's a look at the full statement:

Heading into the Prime Video series' two-episode debut, the streaming series was riding an impressive 83% "Fresh" average score on Rotten Tomatoes (RT) with critics. But over on RT, there was a shocking contrast when it came to the audience review, hovering around an average 37% "Rotten" score, resulting in many viewing it as another example of "review bombing." And over on the streamer, Amazon suspended its ratings system for the show, with a source telling The Hollywood Reporter that "reviews are being held 72 hours to help weed out trolls and to ensure each review is legitimate," a policy reportedly instituted earlier this summer for all of Prime Video's shows.
https://bleedingcool.com/tv/lord-of-the-rings-cast-in-absolute-solidarity-against-racist-trolls/

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment where we explain the unexplainable – Conspiracy Corner! When there’s a lot of particularly dark shit in the news, people don’t exactly want to read beyond the headlines because it gets that much worse. So naturally they turn to conspiracy theories to explain what they can’t. We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter in the New Mexico badlands. Let me just adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference… they are trying to read both yours and my thoughts, after all! Ah, there we go! This week in order to stir up the crazies and potentially incite violence, Fox News is going all in on a “border crisis”. You may have heard your Fox loving friends and neighbors drone on and on about a “border crisis”. But what is it? Do they even know why they’re mad at Biden about the border or are they just going on about what Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson tell them every night? If I were a betting man, I’d say they have absolutely no clue what they are talking about and only want an excuse to use their precious guns.

Republican leaders are increasingly framing the situation as an "invasion." Immigrant advocates say the word has a long history in white nationalist circles, and warn that such extreme rhetoric could provoke more violence against immigrants.

Still, the polling shows that the word "invasion" has been embraced by a wide range of Americans to describe what's happening at the border.

"We are not actually screening enough people to make it safe for the rest of the country," said poll respondent Michael Cisternino, a Republican from Nevada, in a follow-up interview.

"We, the people of the United States, really don't have control over who's coming in, and where they're going or what they're going to do when they get there — if they're criminals, if they're not criminals," Cisternino said.

Studies have consistently shown that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be incarcerated than native-born Americans. In the NPR/Ipsos poll, a plurality of Republicans answered incorrectly that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes.
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1117953720/a-majority-of-americans-see-an-invasion-at-the-southern-border-npr-poll-finds

Yes, the GOP leaders (read: talk show hosts) are attempting to define what’s going at the border as an “invasion”. So how exactly do they define what an “invasion” is? Do they even know themselves? Well they probably do, but you won’t hear an exact definition on Fox News. But while the border spans California – Arizona – New Mexico – Texas, ever notice how it’s only the Texas border that gets the most press coverage among the right wing? Well, there might be a reason for that. And the blame does not lie where you think it might.

When he appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” last week, Gov. Greg Abbott kept smiling.

Four months prior, he had announced that the state of Texas was planning to bus migrants from near the Texas-Mexico border to Washington, D.C., a move that drew mixed reviews — even among conservatives — and soon fell off the political radar. But then New York City Mayor Eric Adams began raising alarms about the impact on his city.

“This just shows the hypocrisy of these liberal leaders up in the northeast who think, ‘That border crisis created by Joe Biden, that’s fine as long as Texas has to deal with it,’” Abbott told the host, Sean Hannity. “But as soon as they have to deal with the real consequences of Biden’s border-caused crisis, they are up in arms.”

For days, Abbott had denied Adams’ claims that Texas was even sending migrants to New York. But that Wednesday night, he told Hannity that he was looking at “new cities to send them to.”

“Well, New York sounds like a good one,” Hannity said. Then one of the highest-rated hosts in cable news reminded his viewers the importance of reelecting Abbott this fall.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/12/greg-abbott-eric-adams-migrants-bus/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Yeah so it’s all Greg Abbott’s fault! He’s not actually rounding up immigrants at the border. He’s just putting them on a bus and shipping them to blue states and letting them deal with it. So yeah, fuck that guy. And fuck Hannity too. He’s just doing this because it makes him look good on paper. You know, like when the Los Angeles Angels spend $300 million on Albert Pujols and then don’t make the playoffs for 10 years. Thanks, Arte! But nonsense aside, you can’t just attack what this douchebag is doing because otherwise, you attack the very things Texas stands for!

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has fired back at Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after she called his actions regarding the busing of migrants to the Midwestern city "racist" last week.

Lightfoot made the comments during a Thursday news conference in reaction to Texas sending two buses with approximately 95 migrants who arrived in Chicago on Wednesday. Abbott's office said the decision was made in response to President Joe Biden "putting the lives of Texans—and Americans—at risk" and "overwhelming our communities."

Southern border crossings are exponentially higher now, compared with the past few years, according to statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Border crossings in every month so far of the 2022 fiscal year besides July have exceeded the corresponding month's total in 2021.

"Mayor Lightfoot is attacking Texas instead of addressing the real cause of the border crisis: Joe Biden," Abbott tweeted on Monday. "His inaction at our border is putting the lives of Texans at risk & is overwhelming our communities. Texas is doing Biden's job to secure the border."
https://www.newsweek.com/texas-governor-greg-abbott-chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-migrant-busing-comments-1740016

Holy shit, hyperbole much, Greg? Seriously you’re an evil fucking coot and so is your buddy Ken Paxton, Texas deserves so much better than these ghouls. This is really just a political hit job and that’s about it, and it’s only to score points with Fox News viewers. Really the more you dig into this disgusting stunt, the worse it gets. Like a Snickers bar that’s been sitting out in 110 degree weather for 5 minutes. You’re welcome for that image by the way! But it is poop. And Greg Abbott is a colossal shit head for prolonging this crisis and making it worse..

Philip Bump, a national correspondent for the Washington Post, questions whether the border crossings can be considered an invasion. The migrants are stopped when they try to enter the United States, and the ones who are released are released on parole or alternatives to detention to wait for a hearing. Moreover, most of the migrants who are released show up for a hearing before an immigration judge.

He would have a good point if DHS maintained control over the released migrants, but that’s not the case.

Even if Bump is right that most of them appear for their hearings, “most” is not good enough when more than a million are released into the country: At past rates, more than 400,000 of them won’t appear at their hearings.

And what difference does it make that many of them appear at their hearings if some of the ones who receive a deportation order abscond after their hearings.
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/3615258-is-the-border-crisis-an-invasion/

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

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb! So before I begin, I always want to preface what makes a People Are Dumb story. Like for instance a person robbing a McDonalds is not really a People Are Dumb story. But a person who sends a live chicken through a Wal-Mart to distract security guards while they attempt to rob a place? Now that’s a People Are Dumb story! And look I know we pick on Florida a lot on this program. But Florida, really guys, you bring it on yourselves with all the crazy people who live in this state. First I want to start with this story out of Alaska. Or as it’s basically known, Florida with snow. Oh I kid, we love Alaska here. Anyway this is one instance where maybe you don’t want to play the race card. And let’s face it, playing the race card is dumb no matter what the situation is, but this is pretty much unparalleled levels of stupid!

A woman flashed a 'white privilege' card after being pulled over. Now, officers are in trouble for letting her go.

Two Anchorage police officers violated department policy during a traffic stop last month when a woman in town for a rally by former President Donald Trump showed them a “white privilege card” instead of a driver’s license and was not ticketed, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

However, it’s not clear what policy was violated or what, if any, disciplinary actions the officers faced, because the department is treating it as a confidential personnel matter, according to Anchorage Police Department Director of Community Relations Sunny Guerin.

Officers Nicholas Bowe and Charles Worland with the Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit conducted a traffic stop on July 7 “for a car weaving in the lane,” Guerin said. She didn’t identify the driver, who she said showed a "white privilege" card during the stop.

Bowe and Worland did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna41700

Next up – Italy! Yes, they are the subject of our World Tour this week! But even Italy isn’t immune from stupid people – in fact, nobody is! So here’s the thing – if you are going to tunnel your way into a bank, don’t you think that you should maybe, I don’t know – learn how to dig a tunnel first? Because if you don’t dig a tunnel properly, it could do that thing that tunnels are known to do and collapse on you, and that’s something that you don’t want. Particularly if you’re trying to rob a bank. And I honestly don’t know why the location of being in proximity to the Vatican was relevant, but whatever, you do you.

An Italian man has been rescued from a collapsed tunnel near the Vatican - and police suspect he could have been burrowing his way into a bank.

He is now recovering in hospital after firefighters spent eight hours digging him out from under a road.
...
Two other men were arrested for "resisting a public official" after trying to escape from the site, Rai News reports.

Three of the four men managed to escape before the tunnel collapsed, leaving the final man trapped six metres below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62517372

There really is a Simpsons GIF for everything! Next up – while we’re still in Europe, we go to the tiny Bavarian province of Liechtenstein. Sigh… here’s the thing. I live in California. We know a thing or two about earthquakes here. That’s because we live on a giant fault line that runs up and down the entire state called San Andreas. But if earthquakes are such a problem that you have to debate the pros and cons of earthquake insurance, there’s an easy answer to that – well fucking duh of course you need this type of insurance! And this only proves the point of the pro side.

Two earthquakes hit Liechtenstein just as lawmakers in the tiny Alpine principality were debating the pros and cons of quake insurance.

Lawmaker Bettina Petzold-Maehr had just warned that the chances of all Liechtenstein citizens being affected by an earthquake striking the country were high when the first small temblor hit shortly before 2 p.m. (6 a.m. Eastern) Thursday.

Petzold-Maehr laughed and continued until the second quake struck, visibly shaking the room. At that point she stopped speaking to look around the chamber.

That's when the parliament's speaker Albert Frick interrupted: "This is getting a bit much, you never know if there'll be aftershocks," he said, announcing a 15-minute recess.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/liechtenstein-earthquake-as-lawmakers-debate-quake-insurance/

Now it’s time for our old buddy Florida Man. Florida – as some of you may know it, America’s Wang, or as Tracy Jordan referred to it, the Penis Of America. Florida, what are you doing? You need to take a step back and reevaluate your life. But this is the perfect Florida Man story and it’s also the perfect People Are Dumb story. Here’s my whole thing – if you’re already committing felony drug possession, maybe don’t hide your stash underneath a cop car. Just saying.

Deputies in Volusia County made a caught-on-camera drug arrest after a traffic stop in DeLand.

John Schneider, 49, was charged with trafficking in methamphetamine, tampering with evidence and resisting without violence. His girlfriend, Lee Sanberg, was charged with conspiracy to traffic in methamphetamine.

In the video above, a deputy notices Schneider drop something while he is being patted down.

“He just dropped a bag that looked like dope,” one of the deputies said.

“Aww man,” Sanberg is heard saying. ..............(more)

https://www.wesh.com/article/volusia-county-meth-arrest-traffic-stop/40956233#

Next up – Naked Florida Man! Yes, we get a lot of these stories, and apparently both Florida Man and Florida Woman… like being naked. Shocker, I know! But as Jerry Seinfeld once famously said – there’s good naked and there’s bad naked. Bad naked is pretty much anything involving a knife. And you don’t want to have a knife come anywhere near that area if you don’t have any clothes on. But in terms of what this guy with a knife tried to do, it ended about as well as 4th of JaLuau did.

A naked Florida man who was armed with a machete when he allegedly tried to steal another man's clothes was arrested Monday morning at a DeLand gas station, according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office.

Shortly before 10 a.m., deputies arrived to an area near the Volusia County Fairgrounds after a surveyor working in the area said the suspect – later identified as 34-year-old Brandon Wright – was picking palmetto berries in the woods, and suddenly approached him with a large machete-style knife and demanded his clothes, wallet and phone.

When the surveyor began to comply with Wright's demands, Wright reportedly threw the machete at him, along with a handful of palmetto berries, before taking off into the brush and then into a white Dodge Challenger. Deputies said the handle of the machete bounced off the surveyor's chest, leaving him uninjured.

When the surveyor began to comply with Wright's demands, Wright reportedly threw the machete at him, along with a handful of palmetto berries, before taking off into the brush and then into a white Dodge Challenger. Deputies said the handle of the machete bounced off the surveyor's chest, leaving him uninjured. ..............(more)

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/naked-florida-man-tries-to-rob-surveyor-of-his-clothes-at-deland-gas-station-deputies

Finally this week – this might be one of the best Florida Man stories I’ve heard in a very long time. I mean it has everything! It has clothing theft, it has a Bible being hurled at someone, it has poop… yes, there’s poop involved. But nevertheless, you can always count on Florida Man to bring the crazy whenever possible. But this is one of those stories where the more that you get into it. And yes, the more you dig into it – the more the cliches you hear are true – meth is one hell of a drug!

Robert Otis Hoskins, 39, of Ocala, Florida, was arrested last week after police were called to his home following reports Hoskins had broken into his neighbor's home to steal clothes.

Marion County Sheriff's deputies found the half-naked suspected burglar outside his home last week.

When confronted, Hoskins allegedly screamed "I condemn you" at a sheriff's deputy and threw a Bible at him.

The Bible landed squarely in the deputy's face and jaw, the arrest affidavit reads.

Another responding deputy was able to capture the scene unfold through bodycam footage.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/1548815/florida-suspect-in-underwear-throws-bible-at-sheriff/

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #6: Italy
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Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

Welcome back to our World Tour 2022 everybody! In the last few weeks we’ve toured two very different sides of the USA, seen the Great White North in Canada, went to England and then took the train down to France. Now we’re in Italy! Italy is the home of ancient and current Rome. It’s the home of fast cars from manufacturers like Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, Maserati, and the classic Ferarri! Though actual Italian cars are more like whatever the hell this thing is. It’s also the home to the Serie A league if you follow European football and teams like Juventus and AC Milan. It is also the home of Vatican City – the Capitol City of the Catholic empire. Italy is also the home to such landmarks as the Roman Coliiseum and the Pantheon. What else is Italy the home of? Well, wait until you meet their potential new leader – Georgia Meloni. She might be the next new leader of Italy, but she’s also a member of Italy’s extreme far right party, which is really no different from the MAGAs here.

Almost exactly 100 years after Benito Mussolini staged his “March on Rome” mass demonstration, during which his National Fascist Party seized power, Italy appears likely to hand control of its government to Giorgia Meloni, another leader of the nationalist right.

Charismatic and driven, the 45-year-old Meloni, a parliamentarian, doesn’t hold a university degree, but as head of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), a far-right-wing party she formed a decade ago, the single mother has campaigned on a platform based on her belief in the virtues of God, motherhood and patriotism, while decrying immigration and LGBTQ rights. Polls show her and Brothers of Italy poised for victory in a Sept. 25 parliamentary election that will determine Italy’s next prime minister.

While many conservatives cheer her ascent — and the idea of the first woman to rule Italy — her candidacy has simultaneously raised concerns among Italians about racism and the future of abortion in the country as well as Italy’s role in the European Union.

Although she rejects being labeled “far-right” and “neo-fascist” by opponents and has toned down her attacks on the European Union, Meloni appeared at a June rally in support of Spain’s far-right Vox party and delivered remarks that renewed that criticism.
https://news.yahoo.com/a-century-after-mussolini-seized-power-giorgia-meloni-looks-to-steer-italy-back-toward-nationalism-183116834.html

Oh come on, Italy! Don’t you know that these types of movements never end well? And they’re about as shady as that scam call you get telling you that your car’s warranty is about to expire. When it’s two years old and still under manufacturer warranty. But really this is exactly like our situation with the MAGAs here. Far right movements never end well no matter what the situation is. But nevertheless, we will be covering the outcome of the election for Italy’s next top prime minister. And right now it’s not looking too great.

At a rally in L’Aquila, a medieval university city surrounded by mountain peaks, Giorgia Meloni bellowed with fervor. “On September 25, it will be you who decides if this country is ready to be free.”

The crowd cheered in response and waved tricolor flags as Meloni — flanked by local mayors — sang the national anthem from which her far-right party, Brothers of Italy, takes its name.

Polls suggest the Brothers will win the backing of one in four Italian voters in the election on September 25, putting Meloni on course to lead a right-wing coalition as Italy’s next prime minister.

After the resignation of Mario Draghi in July, a Meloni victory would mark a sharp change of direction for Italy at a critical time for the country’s economy, as Europe grapples with the twin threats of war on its doorstep and rocketing inflation.
https://www.politico.eu/article/giorgia-meloni-brothers-of-italy-abruzzo-mario-draghi-election-rome-berlusconi-salvini-far-right-aquila/

Oh come on, we kid! We kid! We love Italy here. What we don’t love is white nationalism and religious totalitarianism. Those are values we don’t share. And trust me when we say that this could get really ugly really quickly. And wait until you find out what their neighbors Greece are up to when we hit there in a couple of weeks. But this is exactly what the World Tour was made for – finding out stuff like this, because World War II didn’t just happen overnight. It was a long slow boil and the powder keg finally exploded when Hitler took over Poland. Well with leaders like Meloni at the helm, things could escalate very fast!

Current polls give high probability that a right-wing coalition will win Italy’s next elections on September 25. Giorgia Meloni, leader of Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia, or FdI), the right-wing party that is heading the polls, could become Italy’s first female prime minister — but if she wins, she will also be its first head of government whose political party has never fully renounced its fascist background.

During her campaign, Meloni alternated betweenreassuring and extremely controversial statements about her political agenda. She also ambiguously defined former Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini is a personality who needs to be framed in a specific historical context. The election comes almost exactly 100 years after Mussolini’s march on Rome that opened the way to his dictatorship.

From a statistical perspective, however, Brothers of Italy’s rise is no different from that of all other Italian anti-system parties from the 1990s onwards. The current developments — though traumatic for Italy’s political culture — appear to be a new round of the same phenomenon, with single parties suddenly rising and surfing the waves, one after the other, of endlessly protesting Italians. Those waves have not stopped rolling since the resurgence of anti-political sentiment in the early 1990s.

In the 2008 and 2013 elections, Brothers of Italy won less than 2% of the vote and in 2018 it got around 4%. Currently, four weeks ahead of the elections, polls ascribe around 24% to Meloni’s party. The same pattern has been methodically replicated over the last three decades. In 1994, Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, founded only five months earlier, became the first party with 21% of the vote. The Lega political party obtained only about 4% of votes between 2001 and 2006, but rose above 37% in 2019, shortly after the latest European elections. The Five Star Movement, founded in 2009, got 25% only four years later, and 32% in the 2018 elections.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2022/08/26/what-happens-if-right-wing-giorgia-meloni-wins-italys-elections/

No, Italy doesn’t use a king! Though that probably might be slightly better than a tip toward white nationalism and fascism, and a leader and political party that sound just like Trump and the MAGAs do here. See, kids? This shit is not a uniquely American problem! It’s happening all over the damn world and there’s one country that is to blame for it. And let’s see if you can guess who it is! If you said Mother Russia… you are 100% correct! That’s right, Pooty has his dirty fingers in governments and elections all over the world and is flipping governments left and right. It’s now time to start calling out the source!

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump authorized a retaliatory cyberattack on Russian government-backed trolls and hackers who were aiming to interfere in the U.S. midterm election. In 2020, the Biden administration sanctioned Russian entities and individuals for similar efforts.

In each instance, the Russians were capitalizing on divisions in American society, seeking to amplify a growing partisan gulf and erode faith in the democratic process via trolls, fake websites, and internet-based fronts.

But what if, horror-movie style, the enemy was already in the house—if the U.S. news media itself was a shill for Russian propaganda? That is the case in parts of Europe—most visibly in Italy, which has become a haven for Russian disinformation and propaganda since the invasion of Ukraine.

Those who follow the Russian war in Ukraine were particularly astonished when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, generally viewed in Western capitals as a smooth operator lacking some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cruder tics, announced that it was totally consistent for the Jewish president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to be running a neo-Nazi junta because, Lavrov explained, former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood” and some of the “most ardent antisemites are usually Jews.”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/13/russian-propaganda-italy-media-disinformation-ukraine-war/

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

Tourism: A
Culture: A+
Political Spectrum: D-
Liberal Appeal: C-

Overall: C

Change from 2017: Italy’s march towards a new era of fascism and white nationalism should have the entire world on notice. If you do plan to visit, you should be aware of where you are going and who you’re patronizing.

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

Next week, we’re heading to the land of the Danube River, Ghoulash and what the GOP thinks is a role model for a far right nationalist country – Hungary!

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

Folks my next guest is an awesome jam band from Connecticut, their latest album is called Dripfield and you can see them on tour through December 12th. Playing their song “The Whales”, give it up for Goose!

Thank you Vegas! We’ll be back again soon! We’re off to Salt Lake City next! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club At The MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV
Goose Appears Courtesy Of: Coincidence Records
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Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

September 8, 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-6: Money, That's What I (Don't) Want Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-6: Money, That’s What I (Don’t) Want Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yoooooooooo! What’s up, San Diego? How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Always great to be back in the 619, love it when I’m here! We have a great show for you tonight. Are you guys ready to have some fun at the expense of our elected right and far right officials? I know that I am! Hope everyone had a great Monday off! We have the legendary Elvis Costello here performing with us tonight. So do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! So I don’t know if you heard about the crazy lightning storm in Colorado that happened last Friday but it was quite intense. I was actually at Red Rocks Amphitheater expecting to get rained on at any minute, but thankfully that didn’t happen. But the real craziness was occurring across downtown Denver at the Phish show at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. So the storm got so intense and there was a lightning strike actually near the stadium that caused people to evacuate. But we got to show that footage. Can we show that please? See look there was the crowd evacuating the field… uh… uh oh! We got a streaker! That’s probably the best image that accurately sums up the year! Just a hippie streaker at a Phish show running across the field! Even funnier was when Phish was finally allowed to start playing, Trey changed the lyrics of Carin to reflect the streaker guy. Can we show that? Oh man that was awesome. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he looks at the future of AI – OMG, the rise of the machines! Everybody run!!!

So where do we begin this week? Well I don’t know if you saw President Biden’s speech against fascism in Philadelphia last week, but caused the MAGA community (1) to collectively lose their fucking shit, and we are enjoying every minute of it! In the second slot this week, we also have conservative reactions (2) to Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. Gee, who would have thought fighting against predatory student loan companies was a bad thing? Only in this country. In the third slot this week we have Truth Social (3). So Trump’s personal social media platform where he can say anything he feels like is facing some money problems, and it also got banned from the Google App Store because – wait for it – there were concerns about violent content. Gee, ya think? In the number four slot this week, the midterms are a mere 6 weeks away and we are taking a look at two of the crazier candidates running – Dr. Oz in PA (Q – Infowars) and Herschel Walker in GA (Q – Batshit) In the number 5 slot this week is Joe Rogan (5). So after all the shit that conservatives have put us through in the last six years and especially the last two, guess what his message is? That’s right – vote republican! Fool me once, shame on you, whatever. In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, our resident pastor did some undercover detective work – he found out that right wing cell phone company Patriot Mobile caters to the far right, but they have an even more sinister agenda of converting America’s school boards to Christian nationalist viewpoints. If they come to your city, beware! In the number 7 slot this week, we add New York’s increasingly insane MAGA sycophant and woman who may kiss Trump’s ass more than Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elise Stefanik (7) to the growing list of People Who Somehow Got Elected. In the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8). So there’s a growing concern about who might have seen the classified documents at Mar-A-Shithole, and if you guessed that Trump showed them to anybody who kissed his ass enough, you might be right! In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week, we have a new “I Need A Drink” (9) and you might have heard about a little known concept in the corporate world called “quiet quitting” but is it really quiet firing we need to worry about? Little column A, little column B. Finally this week we have our World Tour 2022 destination #5 and we’re going to the land of the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triumph, and the best wine and cheese money can buy, France! Plus we have the legend himself, the great Elvis Costello joining us! Buy his new album “The Boy Named If” or you are no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]MAGAs For Unity
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In case you haven’t noticed, the MAGAs have spent the last six years and especially the last two years dividing the hell out of us. Everything from race to religion to the programs we watch to the content we consume online to music to whether or not we got the vaccine to what books we read… everything is apparently on the table now. But I am loving this. So after Joe Biden gave his speech in Philadelphia last Thursday on the fact that we should be aware of the rising tide of fascism and political violence in this country, we should now be focused on… unity? Ha, that’s rich! I don’t know if you’ve watched Tucker Carlson (ed. Note: although I’m guessing if you’re here, you’re definitely not watching Tucker Carlson) lately but Fox News is turning up the hate way past 11. So needless to say I’ve been spending the last week watching the MAGA meltdown on social media and it has been rather glorious!

Republicans are in a rage over President Biden’s speech in Philadelphia, in which he flatly declared that the American democratic experiment is in serious danger due to Donald Trump and the Republicans who remain allied with his political project.

So here’s a question for those Republicans: What exactly in Biden’s speech was wrong?

Many objections have been general: Republicans say his speech disparaged millions, that it was angry, or divisive, or political, or hateful, or depicted Republicans as the enemy.

In coming days, these Republicans will retreat into right-wing media safe spaces to fulminate without facing cross-examination. But when they venture into mainstream forums, they should be pressed on specifics.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/biden-speech-philadelphia-trump-maga-republicans-democracy/

Yeah Biden hit ‘em where it hurts! Now of course my producer is telling me that we do have MAGA people lurking here, and I have to say MAGA lurkers – if you’re offended by what Biden said last Thursday, then guess what? You’re part of the problem! But Biden really hit the MAGAs where it hurts by exposing their extremism. That’s how we fight back against these clowns is to expose them for what they really stand for. And if they’re worried about Biden suddenly turning the MAGA brand toxic? Well that might actually work. And it is definitely hitting a nerve!

Now that Biden has gotten so much of his agenda enacted, and with the midterm elections looming, he has switched to a more combative mode. His Thursday speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia was billed as a salvo in the continuing battle for “the soul of the nation,” but it was really a well-justified expression of rage and despair about what the Republican Party has become. The president is finally telling Democrats what they want to hear: “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” This comes only a few days after he described the MAGA philosophy as “semi-fascism.”

As if on cue, Republicans screamed bloody murder, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) accusing Biden of choosing “to divide, demean and disparage his fellow Americans.” So does this mean that Biden’s previous commitment to working with Republicans was merely transactional and has now been discarded in the heat of the campaign?

That is certainly the right-wing interpretation of his speech, with conservatives accusing Biden of discarding his campaign pledge to “unite our country” and not stoke “division.” (Republicans demonstrated their own commitment to unity and uplift after the speech by comparing Biden to Hitler and accusing him of being a “raving lunatic.”)

But note that Biden wasn’t calling out all Republicans — he was not, contrary to the GOP talking points, attacking “half the country.” He was careful to differentiate between normal Republicans and MAGA Republicans. “Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans,” he said. “Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/05/biden-speech-gop-reaction-hysteria/

And here’s the thing – not every republican listens to Infowars and Tucker Carlson and subscribes to far right extremist ideology. And Biden is not calling out all republicans. He’s identifying the actual extremists who seek to takeover the government, which is a paltry 28% of identified republican voters. I mean if you’ve seen the meltdown on social media, it’s truly a thing of beauty. But seriously you can’t be offended when your party attempted to overthrow the government and murder half of Congress when your guy has a sad because he lost the election.

President Joe Biden charged in a prime-time address that the “extreme ideology” of Donald Trump and his adherents “threatens the very foundation of our republic,” as he summoned Americans of all stripes to help counter what he sketched as dark forces within the Republican Party trying to subvert democracy.

In his speech Thursday night at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Biden unleashed the trappings of the presidency in an unusually strong and sweeping indictment of Trump and what he said has become the dominant strain of the opposition party. His broadside came barely two months before Americans head to the polls in bitterly contested midterm elections that Biden calls a crossroads for the nation.

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” he said before an audience of hundreds, raising his voice over pro-Trump hecklers outside the building where the nation’s founding was debated. He said he wasn’t condemning the 74 million people who voted for Trump in 2020 but added, “There’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans,” using the acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-donald-trump-presidential-philadelphia-5d0f7c02df093f0d3a3340474a53be4b

Yeah that’s pretty much every MAGA republican right now. But like I keep saying if you’re shocked by Biden’s speech calling out MAGA extremism, then you are 100% a part of the problem. He is correct, we are seriously at the threshold of losing our freedoms in favor of a party that thinks that a Hungarian Nazi is a model leader (see: Top 10 #12-16 ). If that’s your idea of a model leader, conservatives, you really need to have your head examined. You can’t scream freedom one minute and then praise a fascist authoritarian the next. It doesn’t work that way, you can’t have it both ways.

President Joe Biden accused former President Donald Trump and his supporters of promoting an extreme ideology that threatens democracy in rare prime-time remarks Thursday as he stepped up attacks on conservatives ahead of the midterm elections.

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said in the speech from the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.

He accused so-called “MAGA Republicans,” a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, of refusing to recognize free and fair elections, increasingly talking about violence in response to actions they don’t like, and of being determined to thwart "the will of the people."

"MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies," Biden said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-give-prime-time-speech-battle-soul-nation-stepped-attacks-republ-rcna45766

[font size="8"]Conservative Reactions To Student Loan Forgiveness
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We need some music for this one!

Or maybe:

One of the things we love to do here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we love to point out conservative reactions to the hot button issues of the day. And last week after Biden passed the controversial Student Loan Forgiveness Act, we can handily say that the MAGA tears coming out from this were salty and sweet. For the sake of this piece, let’s call it “Money, That’s What I (Don’t) Want”. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… 13 seasons in and we still have janky production values. That’s why we’re in that coveted Thursday afternoon time slot at the Chuckle Hut and not after the Daily Show. But one thing we should be theoretically able to agree on is that everyone wants to have money to be able to live comfortably, right? And not be in crippling debt with unpayable loans for the rest of their lives? Well, I mean, right? Well not if you live in backwards “I won’t do what you tell me” MAGA la la land, where up is down, black is white, good is bad, and 2+2 = 5.

One of the most vocal critics of President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness recognized it might not be so easy to challenge the policy in court.

After Biden announced up to $20,000 in student-loan forgiveness for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year last week, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas didn't hold back on his opinion. He blasted the policy for benefitting the "slacker barista" who took out student loans for a "useless degree." Along with many of his Republican colleagues, he called the loan forgiveness unfair, bad for the economy, and costly to taxpayers.

Another big criticism surrounding Biden's relief is that it's illegal, with many conservatives arguing the president does not have the authority to cancel student debt broadly. Some politicians and groups have already threatened legal action — but Cruz acknowledged in his podcast that suing the administration might not be that easy.

"The difficulty here is finding a plaintiff who the courts will conclude has standing," Cruz said. "That may prove a real challenge."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/after-blasting-biden-s-student-loan-forgiveness-ted-cruz-says-it-may-prove-a-real-challenge-to-fight-the-relief-in-court/ar-AA11mpy7

Well duh, Ted, you think it might be a challenge? Face it, you got nothing. The sooner you face that, the better you will be. The MAGAs don’t have any solutions, they only have complaints. And by the way republicans, I don’t want some barely educated dolt who barely passed high school on the 4th try like Lauren Boebert lecturing me about student loans, OK? I don’t need advice about paying for college from someone who wasn’t able to pass the entrance exam. Just the stupidity and hypocrisy coming from these idiots is reaching unprecedented new heights on a daily basis!

Rep Lauren Boebert has come under fire for a “homophobic” rant where she claimed that President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan will be used to fund “Karen’s daughter’s degree in lesbian dance theory”.

The Colorado congresswoman raged about the president’s plans to scrap up to $20,000 of student debt for millions of Americans in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this week.

“How the heck can Joe Biden call America First conservatives a threat to democracy with a straight face and a dry diaper?” she said.

“He’s the one who has allowed millions to invade our southern border.

“He’s the one who is robbing hardworking Americans to pay for Karen’s daughter’s degree in lesbian dance theory.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/lauren-boebert-lesbian-student-loan-biden-b2154626.html

OK… two things. First… Why? OK make that three things. The second is – who goes to college to study “lesbian dance theory”? I didn’t even know that was a major! Most of us go to college to study things like math and science and athletics and finance and economics and art and law, so we can have careers with dignity and not have to own a gun themed restaurant that gave its’ patrons bloody diarrhea. And the third thing, Lauren – Biden is toilet trained and eats at a table with a knife and fork, like most civilized adults do. Trump is the one who wears diapers, craps on the floor, and eats shitty fast food in bed and throws the wrappers on the floor. Can’t believe I had to point that out. If that wasn’t crazy enough, then there’s North Carolina who wants to impose a tax on anyone who collects on the loan forgiveness. Yes, they are that evil.

Student-loan forgiveness will be considered taxable income in North Carolina, the state's Department of Revenue said on Wednesday.

Although the Biden administration's student-loan-forgiveness plan is exempt from federal tax, the debt relief is triggering some individual state taxes.

In North Carolina, student-loan relief is taxable because the state has not fully adopted a specific section of the Internal Revenue Code. Congress used the provision — Section 108(f)(5) — to exempt forgiven student loans from between 2015 and 2021 from federal taxes as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

The department said in the press release: "The North Carolina General Assembly did not adopt Section 108(f)(5) of the IRC for purposes of the state income tax. Therefore, student loan forgiveness excluded pursuant to IRC 108(f)(5) is currently considered taxable income in North Carolina."
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-carolina-student-loan-debt-forgiveness-taxed-2022-9

Does anyone see the fucking irony here? The GOP has been taken over by fucking idiots like Lauren Boebert and Charlie Kirk, who are telling me that my decision to actually go to college was apparently a terrible one. Just… AHHH!!! I’m so tired of stupid fucking people!! I do have to say that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the MAGA meltdown happening in the last 20 months since Biden has been the president. It’s been sweet. But is it really any surprise that the states that are taxing people collecting on the loan forgiveness are the heavily MAGA states? I just give up sometimes.

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, on Wednesday, Joe Biden announced that the government will forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for Americans making under $125,000 a year individually, or $250,000 a year as a married couple. While the move is projected to overwhelmingly benefit the middle class—the White House estimates that almost 90% of the relief will go toward people earning less than $75,000 annually—Republican lawmakers reacted to the news as though Biden had declared that starting Friday, members of his Secret Service detail will be going house-to-house to shoot blue-collar workers in the face. Also having a meltdown about the whole thing? Donald Trump Jr., who we’re guessing has never had to live under the weight of crushing educational debt on account of the whole born-with-a-silver-spoon-in-his-ass business.

“Canceling student debt is a tax on the most responsible people in the country,” Junior, whose tuition to the University of Pennsylvania was presumably footed in full by his father, tweeted on Wednesday. (At Penn, my colleague Emily Jane Fox reported in her book, Born Trump, the ex-president’s namesake was nicknamed “Diaper Don,” on account of the frequency with which he would get drunk and wake up in strangers’ beds “covered in piss.”) He similarly suggested that the loan forgiveness plan is ”nurturing incompetence and irresponsible behavior while penalizing hard work and fiscal responsibility,” asking, “How long can this continue before we collapse as a society and a nation?” (As Don is presumably unaware, many countries actually allow their citizens to go to college for free and are somehow doing just fine.) Responding to Congresswoman Cori Bush’s statement about the startling disparity between the debt held by Black borrowers versus white ones, the ex-president’s eldest son sneered that Biden’s loan program “discriminate[s]” against “Those that saved their money, skipped cool toys/trips and already paid their debts” and “those that went to work rather than getting a $300K gender studies degree.” (For those of you keeping up at home, the “gender studies” line is a popular one among the MAGA crowd.)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/donald-trump-jr-student-loans/amp

[font size="8"]Truth Social
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Let’s go through the ridiculously long list of business failures associated with the 45th president of the United States. Or at least the guy we used to call president. There’s Trump Steaks. Trump Airlines. Trump Bottled Water. Trump University. Trump Vodka. Trump Hotels. The United States Of America in 2020. And now we can add Trump Social Media, aka Truth Social to the list. But in order to go forward, we must go back to the beginning. I mean who thought it was a good idea to hire Mr. Russian Security Breach himself, Devin Nunes, as the CEO? And you know that Truth Social is just seethin with trolls and probably federal investigators looking for threats. But with Truth Social struggling to even just keep the lights on, why do people see Trump as an effective leader? He can’t even lead his own fucking echo chamber full of crazy people!

The blank-check acquisition firm that agreed to merge with Donald Trump’s social media company failed to secure enough shareholder support for a one-year extension to complete the deal, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

At stake is a $1.3 billion cash infusion that Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which operates the former U.S. president’s Truth Social app, stands to receive from Digital World Acquisition Corp, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that inked a deal last October to take TMTG public.

The transaction has been on ice amid civil and criminal probes into the circumstances around the deal. Digital World had been hoping that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is reviewing its disclosures on the deal, would have given its blessing by now for the transaction to proceed.

Most of Digital World’s shareholders are individual investors and getting them to vote through their brokers has been challenging, Digital World Chief Executive Patrick Orlando said last week.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/06/deal-partner-for-trumps-truth-social-fails-to-get-backing-for-spac-extension-reuters.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard

Seriously, how does the self -proclaimed richest guy in the world not have enough money to keep the lights on his own social media echo chamber? The idea of him getting reelected is not funny, though I do have to say it would be absolutely hilarious if he had no way to convey his message to the people, because he’s banned from all major platforms and his own platform went broke! Really, the MAGAs want to run the country? I wouldn’t trust them to run a 7-11! But what’s even funnier is that Truth Social got banned from Google Play over concerns about violent content! Big tech!! Section 230!!!1!

Truth Social, the would-be Twitter competitor created by Trump Media and Technology Group, remains unavailable on the Google Play store.

Google said the app lacks effective systems for moderating user-generated content, which violates the store’s terms of service.

“On Aug. 19, we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies in their current app submission and reiterated that having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,” the tech company, which is owned by Alphabet, told CNBC in a statement Tuesday.

Axios first reported the Google statement.

The restriction means that Android users, who make up 44% of smartphone users in the U.S., can’t download the app. Google will not let the app go live until the content issues are addressed. Truth Social acknowledged Google’s concerns and said it would work on addressing these issues, according to Axios.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/30/trump-truth-social-barred-from-google-play-store-content-moderation-concerns.html

Yeah so color me shocked! Who knew that Truth Social was attracting violent users who had a grudge against the government? Oh yeah we called that two weeks ago! But this might be my favorite statement made by the Slobfather. When asked about his social media site hemorrhaging money, he claims that he doesn’t even need financing! Yeah try not paying your bills for a couple of months. I think that crazy woman who declared herself queen of Canada knows a thing or two about what will happen to you if you don’t. Just what the absolute fuck do people see in this guy that they want him to be an emperor? It’s just… ahhhhh!!!

Donald Trump was mocked after he asked his followers on Truth Social “Why are people so mean?”

The one-term president, who has been infamously rude to his political opponents and critics over the years, asked the question during a 60-post spree on his social media website.

Mr Trump, the subject of a recent FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, also shared a string of QAnon-linked conspiracy theory accounts as well as 4chan message boards.

The ex-president posted a series of memes, “retruths”, and angry statements in the wake of the raid by agents who seized classified material at the Florida estate.

The president has yet to formally explain why he had documents against the wishes of the National Archives, but has suggested that Joe Biden, who could face Mr Trump in 2024, knew about the raid.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-truth-social-post-b2156201.html

Yeah we don’t need your money. By the way, you got a billion dollars we could borrow? And this from the morons who in the same week turned down free college money because, oh yeah they didn’t go to college. I don’t need financing because I’m really rich. I’m the richest guy ever. Oh god, go shove it where it don’t shine, Donny. But this is one instance where even a billion dollars couldn’t save Trump’s expensive little experiment. Because like we said, this website is hemorrhaging money and it’s only a matter of time before the lights are turned off for good.

Truth Social, the social media platform former President Trump started after he was booted from Twitter, faces an uphill battle as it reportedly racks up debt while generating little revenue.

The social media platform owes more than $1 million to RightForge, the service that hosts the app on the web, Fox Business reported earlier this week, citing three people with direct knowledge of the matter. According to Fox Business’ sources, Truth Social sent only three payments to RightForge — and hasn’t paid the company at all since March of this year. The sources claim RightForge is considering legal action to recover the $1.6 million it is owed, while sources tell The Washington Post that the two companies have been communicating exclusively through lawyers in recent weeks.

But at the moment, RightForge — which positions itself as supporting free speech and opposing “Big Tech censorship” — is still publicly supporting Trump. “We fully stand behind the president and his endeavors,” RightForge’s chief executive, Martin Avila, told the Post.

Truth Social may be struggling in part because traffic numbers are declining. The Post reported views on the site have declined significantly from when the site launched — down 300,000 views per day from the 1.5 million daily views it saw its first day. In addition to technical failures and a spate of fake accounts, the company has also faced setbacks in acquiring a trademark for “Truth Social.” The U.S. Patent Office noted that two other companies with similar names would lead to a “likelihood of confusion” if Trump were to get the name trademarked, so it declined the application. Trump will likely appeal the decision.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/little-revenue-lots-of-debt-trump-s-truth-social-faces-bleak-financial-future/ar-AA11crbv

[font size="8"]Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker
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You know with “friends” like Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker, who needs enemies? These two are horrifically batshit insane. And just about par for the course for the MAGA crowd. In a crowded 2022 midterm field of election deniers, insurrectionists, white supremacists, and batshit crazy religious zealots, Herschel Walker and Dr. Oz are standouts. How do they stand out exactly? Because they are just that batshit fucking crazy. Seriously, when Saturday Night Live comes back, they don’t need to lift a finger, they just need to follow Herschel Walker around and write down whatever he says. It’s kind of like the Governor Dunston episode of 30 Rock. When comedy and reality are that close, the comedy writes itself! So you might be wondering, what do these guys stand for? Well, they stand for everything that you don’t, and they told me that you guys look like dorks. Well let’s just see what Dr. Oz stands for on the pressing issues of the day, shall we?

The problem with being a celebrity before you enter politics is that you’ve definitely already said too much. And considering that Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for the Pennsylvania Senate, has already been saying too much as a candidate, you know the things coming out of his mouth must have been pretty bad before.

In an interview with morning radio show The Breakfast Club in February 2014, host Angela Yee asked Oz to weigh in on a question sent in by a listener about someone struggling with an incestuous relationship.

Oz went on to give a basic rehashing of genetics with the hosts. “Every family has genetic strengths and weaknesses,” he explained. “And so the reason we naturally crave people who are not so like us is because you just mix the gene pool up a little bit so that if I had one gene for, let’s say, hemophilia, which is a classic example where you bleed a lot if you cut yourself, I don’t want to marry a cousin who has the same hemophilia gene, because the chance of our child having both those genes is much higher.”

https://jezebel.com/dr-oz-on-incest-more-than-first-cousin-not-a-big-pro-1849501672?utm_campaign=Jezebel&utm_content=1662497927&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR34i2jOU6jXHfz1yZJB20b2uhw5CFmyE7fogz3U12ALoU6TE-F15Qie0iQ

I’m pretty sure that Dr. Oz doesn’t know what the meaning of incest is. And I’m not sure that’s going to go over well with his right wing fan base either. I mean come on, his favorite president wanted to date his own daughter! It doesn’t get much more incestual than that! Oh and it gets weirder. It seems that Dr. Oz is fundamentally seeking out the WRONG answer to everything. Like you know how the old saying goes that a broken clock is right twice a day? Well, Dr. Oz would smash that clock with a hammer repeatedly before the clock struck midnight or noon. Just because he could.

ennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dr Mehmet Oz has said he does not believe Americans have a right to health care, but he thinks the uninsured should have access to 15-minute checkups in a “festival-like setting”.

The celebrity doctor made the eyebrow-raising comments while speaking at the National Governors Association winter meeting.

He pitched governors on the idea of working with local health providers to host 15-minute screenings "in a festival-like setting" that would be inexpensive for the state and the participating hospitals.

He noted that when he held similar events in the past, many of the people who took advantage of the service had jobs but did not have health care coverage.

"Give them a way of crawling back out of the abyss, of darkness, of fear, of not having the health they need, and give them an opportunity," he said. "They don't have a right to health, but they have a right to access, to get that health."
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/dr-oz-says-uninsured-don-175029689.html

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/media/wtf-gif.2071/full

Like seriously are they trying to drive away voters? I mean just… AHHHHHHH!!!! It’s totally insane what they are doing, yet people keep voting for these idiots! Speaking of idiots, let’s check in on Herschel Walker (Q – Batshit) who it seems is also following the Dr. Oz model of intentionally coming up with the wrong answer for everything. Like let’s take the environment for instance. Trees are a good thing, we can all agree with that, right? WRONG!!!! Well at least if you vote or speak MAGA. Trees, which benefit the environment, are now apparently bad.

Georgia Republican Herschel Walker said the Biden administration’s sweeping new climate law represents unnecessary spending because it sets aside money to plant and protect trees.

“They try to fool you and make you think they are helping you out — they’re not. You know that some of this money is going into trees? We got enough trees — don’t we have enough trees around here?” Walker said Sunday in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Essentially, no — the planet does not have enough trees to neutralize the impact of burning fossil fuels.

While a 2015 study found the earth has over 3 trillion trees, the number of trees here now is far less than at the beginning of human civilization — and not nearly enough to offset the devastating effects of climate change, scientists say.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress without a single Republican vote, allocates $1.5 billion over a decade to the Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, which funds tree-planting in cities like Atlanta that struggle with poor air quality. Especially in lower-income areas, scientists agree that trees are beneficial, helping to reduce air pollution and temperatures.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/herschel-walker-trees_n_6303baede4b00c150d638be7

So let me get this straight – trees are good and beneficial to the environment, unless you’re a liberal politician who is attempting to enact life-saving climate change standards and regulations, then suddenly they’re bad? Oh my god, I can’t even. And by the way in case you’re wondering – no, Herschel Walker has no ties to law enforcement. Despite the fact that he’s the most rootin’ tootin’ sheriff this side of the Rockies. Seriously, how long is it until the midterms? My producer is telling me that we have six weeks to go. Six weeks! Ah fuck!! That’s what too many blows to the head does to someone!

In September 2019, Herschel Walker stood in front of an auditorium of soldiers in combat fatigues at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The motivational talk was, by now, familiar; Walker traced the obstacles he had overcome, including his struggle with mental health. But more than 30 minutes into the speech, Walker wandered off topic.

“I worked for law enforcement, y’all didn’t know that either?” he said. “I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?”

It wasn’t the first time Walker said he was in law enforcement, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found while reviewing dozens of speeches and motivational talks by Walker that were posted online.

”I work with the Cobb County Police Department, and I’ve been in criminal justice all my life,” he said in 2017.

In 2000, he told Irving, Texas, police that he was “a certified peace officer,” according to a police report.
https://www.ajc.com/politics/election/herschel-walker-said-he-worked-in-law-enforcement-he-didnt/BXWLLWXKLBBADDYPA3XBDSWQFU/

[font size="8"]Joe Rogan
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OK, remember the old saying “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me… you won’t get fooled again!”. Oh wait, that was the wrong saying. That was from former president George W. Bush. Well, the correct saying – “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”. And you know in the last few weeks, we’ve pointed out the problems with living in an echo chamber because it really starts messing with your head. Well that echo chamber is about to get a whole lot bigger. Look, Joe Rogan, what the fuck are you doing? You command millions of listeners. And assuming we don’t repeat the mistakes that were made in 2020, we will again. Especially with this flat out bullshit. We lost over 1,000,000 people due to COVID-19 and that number is still climbing. So what’s the takeway Joe Rogan is giving to his millions of followers who hang on his every word? That’s right – keep voting for the same douchebags who put us in harm’s way time and time again. Come on, really, do you want a country run by the dude bros who work out in Crossfit gyms? I know I don’t! I wouldn’t trust these people to run a 7-11.

Media personality Joe Rogan said that many people who are angry over COVID-19 protocols during the pandemic that forced their businesses to close should “vote Republican” in the upcoming midterms.

In an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Rogan added that now that the pandemic is over, “people are going to recognize that some serious errors were made and not repeat those.”

“That’s the best you can get out of it. But as far as compensation for all those people that were forced to close their businesses and keep their doors shuttered and lost everything they’d worked for decades to build. Now they’re … they’re just going to be angry,” he shared.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a guest on the podcast, then asked Rogan what he would tell those people, and Rogan replied: “Vote Republican”.

The podcaster also quoted an Associated Press article from July that highlighted a political shift taking place across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party’s gains in recent years are becoming Republicans.
https://thehill.com/homenews/3619394-joe-rogan-on-lessons-learned-from-pandemic-vote-republican/

Oh Aaron Rodgers, don’t think we haven’t forgot about your bullshit either. I mean come on, we lost a million fucking people to COVID-19. The most of any developed nation. And everyone knows someone who lost someone to this damn virus that has plagued us the last two years. So you’re going to tell me that the answer to stopping the next pandemic is to keep voting for the same assholes that made 2020 possible? And come on Aaron, you’re not even from California, so you don’t get to trash my state, you got that? No you don’t. You’re not welcome here, and we’ll definitely boo you when the Packers play the Rams, Chargers, and 49ers.

After Rogan finished his point regarding the lack of evidence that closing outdoor dining meaningfully reduces spread of the virus, Rodgers wanted to discuss beach closures. Newsom had a very public feud with Orange County officials after ordering that they close their beaches that spring.

"Joe, they closed the beaches in California," Rodgers said. "They closed the beaches where I live in California and all around the coast."

The pair then discussed the paddle-boarder arrested in Malibu for violating the state's stay-at-home order, with Rodgers joking, "He's passing COVID to the dolphins or what?"

Rogan concluded by stating that he thinks people angry about COVID-19 restrictions should "vote Republican," a remark that drew a chuckle but no subsequent comment from Rodgers.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Aaron-Rodgers-trashes-Gavin-Newsom-on-Joe-Rogan-17404763.php

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Holy shit! Talk about not learning a god damn thing from the pandemic. And it’s people like this that are only going to make the next pandemic that much worse. The 1918 influenza pandemic fundamentally changed society. COVID will too. Some things we used to take for granted will be permanently gone and that’s what happens with these kinds of things. But making completely idiotic comments like what Rogan and Rodgers were doing just minimizes the impact that a pandemic has on society, and will only serve to hurt the next one further. Well, at least it’s getting people talking about a Spotify boycott. Again.

Spotify is facing calls for a boycott once again after Joe Rogan recently voiced support for the Republican Party in the upcoming midterm elections.

The controversial podcast host recently said he felt business owners who were forced to close during the coronavirus pandemic should vote for GOP candidates in the fall. His comments came during a Saturday episode of Spotify's The Joe Rogan Experience, which featured NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a guest.

Occupy Democrats, a liberal political organization and media outlet urged people to boycott Spotify following Rogan's remarks. The streaming giant has faced boycotts in the past over Rogan's COVID-related content, including from prominent musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.

"We had never had this before," Rogan said about COVID-19 during the episode. "No one that was alive today had ever experienced a true pandemic, and I'm hoping that now that this is over, people are going to recognize that some serious errors were made and not repeat those."
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogans-gop-covid-comments-renewed-calls-spotify-boycott-1738279

OK , I will give Joe the benefit of the doubt here – he is right about that. We’ve never experienced anything that is on the magnitude of COVID-19 in our recent history, and we may never experience anything like this ever again. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from it. The biggest error was the rampant misinformation coming from social media that definitely brainwashed folks. But the biggest takeaway is not to vote for the idiots that put us in this position in the first place. Had we had a competent president in the early days of 2020, instead of the bloviating jackass, things would be a hell of a lot different. But Joe got a much different takeaway. And if he thinks Biden “can’t talk right” then what the hell was Trump doing that whole time?

Joe Rogan has opened up about why he did not vote for Joe Biden in the last presidential election, noting his concern with how the president speaks.

"He can't talk right anymore," Rogan said of the president on The Joe Rogan Experience this week.

In his latest podcast episode, Rogan was joined by fellow podcaster Coleman Hughes and their discussion turned toward the 2020 election.

"That was one of the things that people were saying, that I was a Trump supporter during the election because I said I would vote for Trump before I would vote for Biden," Rogan said.

"But I didn't vote for either," he explained. "The reason why I said that was like, 'You don't see this? Are you guys out of your f****** mind? You guys don't see that this guy can't, he can't talk right anymore?'"
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-joe-biden-vote-election-podcast-1681712

My fair congregation! You know that we always say around here that change happens at the local level, and today it is my reminder to you that it most certainly is that! Last week, one of my parishioners brought this to my attention. The reason why I say change happens at the local level is because there are currently dark forces at work looking to make changes to things they don’t agree with. Now there is a phone company based out of Texas, naturally, that is catering exclusively to fans of the Unholy, Ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! And once again, you know that we love to examine cause and effect around here. But before we tell you what these evil purveyors of cellular data are having on its’ customers, we must first tell you about their evil agenda! For it is not an agenda that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now, is it?

A conservative Texas-based phone company is planning a takeover of political offices in the US state, starting with public schools.

Patriot Mobile, which calls itself “America’s only Christian conservative wireless provider”, has been fueling an extremist conservative movement taking over curriculum in public schools across Texas

Leigh Wambsganss, the executive director of the company and its political arm, proudly declared victory in 11 out of 11 school board seats in the last election cycle in school districts around the Dallas-Fort Worth area on behalf of the company and conservative American Christians.

She said: “What this means is that now in north Texas, over 100,000 students who, before May, had leftist leadership now have conservative leadership!”

Earlier this year, the company established a political action committee, Patriot Mobile Action, which allows them to legally fundraise and finance political campaigns.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/05/texas-phone-company-conservative-takeover-schools

You know I think this question must be asked – how depraved is your political lifestyle that you need your own boutique cell phone company to cater specifically to your viewpoints? You can’t use Verizon or T-Mobile like the rest of us? Sigh… the polarization of this country is getting worse by the day I fear and it’s all thanks to extremist propaganda. That is the work of SAYTAN! And by the way in case you’re wondering – yes, the evil phone company and its’ minions are already at hand doing the work of the devil, because you know that this is what it’s coming down to!

Even though many of the titles passed the district's book challenge process, a school district in north Texas pulled dozens of books from its library shelves one day before the school year began. In response, concerned parents and educators are bringing attention to the conservative playbook implemented in Texas, which includes a cell phone company's mission to take over school boards.

Keller Independent School District principals were asked last minute to remove challenged books from classrooms and libraries on Tuesday, August 16.

Among the 42 books removed are the Bible, a graphic adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe.

Books were to be removed by Tuesday night before classes began on Wednesday, August 17.

The district's curriculum director, Jennifer Price, sent an email that said in part, "Please collect these books and store them in a location. (book room, office, etc.)."
https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/9/05/parents-blame-conservative-cell-phone-company-school-book-bans

That seems to be the way Christian conservatives are taking the country! It’s getting nuttier and weirder by the day everybody. But this isn’t what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now, is it? Because it says in our Good Book to love thy neighbor, which these people very clearly don’t. But if Patriot Mobile comes to your city, you should beware that they are clearly up to no good! Look at the damage that they are doing in San Antonio – and it could take a long time before this damage is being repealed. Sigh, we are currently being run by stupid people who worship the unholy Dark One. We’ve got to put and end to this in JAYSUS’ name!

A Dallas-based Christian conservative wireless provider known as Patriot Mobile funded the election of 11 new school board members in multiple North Texas school districts, according to a recent Axios report. Patriot Mobile was also responsible for getting a majority of conservative candidates elected to the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD school board that recently passed a "Don't Say Trans" policies.

The wireless provider backed the conservative candidates via its political action committee, Patriot Mobile Action, which also pushed for the transphobic policies that prohibit teachers from discussing anything related to "gender fluidity." The policies also prohibit conversations on critical race theory.

Patriot Mobile Action hired two Republican political consulting firms, Vanguard Field Strategies and Axiom Strategies, earlier this year. Those companies targeted school district races in Tarrant County, which Axios reports is the largest conservative county in the U.S. All together the PAC spent over $600,000 school board candidates in Southlake, Grapevine-Colleyville, Keller and Mansfield school districts.

Patriot Mobile Action also sent out mailers to residents in the area saying the school board members that were on the board earlier this year endangered students with "woke" ideologies. One of those mailers had a photo of a child that read, "They're not after you. They're after me."
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/christian-cell-phone-schools-texas-17405379.php

Same vibe. Now in case you’re wondering, yes, Patriot Mobile is a company that practices what they preach, even if their practices are absurdly evil and they are the exact opposite of what our founding fathers intended. If your neighbors have a Patriot Mobile subscription, you might want to think about moving to a different area. Because this corporation has an agenda, and it is most absurdly evil. We need to deliver us from this evil, oh good LAWRD JAYSUS! Be gone with these devils who worship the unholy Dark One!

The Christian conservative Patriot Mobile donated signs that read “In God We Trust” to Southlake schools Monday.

The Texas-based wireless provider is tied to Patriot Mobile Action, a political action committee that spent big money to support conservatives in North Texas school board races this year.

During Monday night’s Carroll ISD board meeting, the company made a presentation related to a new state law, which passed last year, that requires a public school to display the national motto if a poster or framed copy is donated to the campus.

Scott Coburn, chief marketing officer for the company, held up one of the framed blue posters, emblazoned with the national motto in white, all caps above the American flag while addressing the board.

“Patriot Mobile is here today to donate these beautiful ‘In God We Trust’ framed posters for each school,” Coburn said before posing for a photo with the trustees. “A full 15% of Patriot Mobile’s employees live here in Southlake. We live here. Our kids attend school here.”
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2022/08/15/conservative-christian-patriot-mobile-wants-to-donate-in-god-we-trust-signs-to-southlake/

Now if your neighborhood has gone backwards and is banning books and putting In God We Trust signs in your kids’ classrooms, you know where this madness is coming from. It’s coming from the purveyors of Z-grade cell phone data service! I can’t even! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

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

This week it’s New York representative Elise Stefanik (Q – Batshit). You may have heard of her because she’s a hardcore MAGA sycophant and fervent Trump ass kisser who may be duking it out with Marjorie Taylor Greene for the title of MAGA’s Next Top Vice President. Well we’ve often stated that the MAGA world doesn’t know what they want as far as a leader goes, because they don’t believe in having an education. All they know is that liberals are bad because that’s what the TV and the radio tell them and that’s all they listen to. After all, who needs to think when Fox News can tell you how to think for you and if you speak conservative long enough, they’ll believe anything you say? But as republicans fight each other in Congress and on social media – you can bet one thing, they now know how democrats feel when the midterms happen. Or maybe they don’t. Yeah they don’t.

As if Republicans don't already have enough problems with the midterm elections nearing, the Daily Beast is reporting that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) have opposing ideas who should be the Republican nominee for a House seat representing New Hampshire as they back opposing candidates.

As the Beast's Jake Lahut wrote, McCarthy has put his money and name behind former Donald Trump adviser Matt Mowers for the seat currently held by Rep. Chris Pappas (D), while Stefanik, who is third in line in the GOP leadership has thrown her weight behind her former press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

That has led to a pitched battle as Republicans choose up sides and McCarthy spends big in an effort to get Republican voters to hand his candidate the nomination.

According to the report, "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s Congressional Leadership Fund has already spent more than $1.3 million boosting Matt Mowers, a former Trump White House adviser at the State Department. The super PAC also placed a $407,369 ad buy for Mowers on Friday," before adding, "The endorsements in the primary—with Mowers and Leavitt neck-and-neck in the latest University of New Hampshire poll from the end of August—have largely fallen along similar lines to other MAGA proxy fights, but the demographics of the district and the involvement of House leadership give this power struggle its own flavor."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/elise-stefanik-butting-heads-with-kevin-mccarthy-in-new-hampshire-gop-primary-report/ar-AA11u2xv

Yes, the GOP has to keep their composure. After all, how are they expected to own the libs if they keep fighting themselves? That’s not going to work is it? So while the right wing must navigate between going MAGA and going far MAGA, Rep. Stefanik tries to get ahead of the January 6th committee. That’s right – remember that whole treason thing that happened last year? Now that Liz Cheney is gone the right wing is doing everything they can to sweep that whole incident under the rug. Sorry about that whole trying to kill you thing, other half of Congress. Oh did we say we’re sorry? We didn’t mean it.

House Republican Conference Chair and Donald Trump ally Elise Stefanik this weekend tried to get ahead of the January 6 select committee's public hearings by portraying the prime-time slotting of Thursday's high-profile presentation as proof that Democratic leaders are more interested in putting on a show than uncovering the truth.

House Republicans have attacked the legitimacy of the panel, which includes GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, since its creation last year. Stefanik, who the New York Post reports is scheduled to join the twice-impeached former president Monday night for a fundraiser at his golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York, added the timing of Thursday night's hearing to the GOP's laundry list of complaints about the politically charged investigation during an interview with right-leaning Breitbart News.

"Most committees in Congress start in the morning. That's the business hours," Stefanik said on June 4. But airing this committee's year-long investigation into the deadly siege at the US Capitol just in time for highlights to make the nightly news, Stefanik said, shows that "all they care about is trying to take back the narrative to try and target patriotic Trump supporters across the country."

The January 6 committee is tentatively expected to hold six public hearings this month, starting with the agenda-setting meeting at 8 p.m. on June 9. Recent media reports have outlined Trump's swirling counterprogramming plans, a team effort that's projected to include Stefanik, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Freedom Caucus members, MAGA-friendly media outlets, and Trump's fledgling social media channel.

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/trump-ally-rep-elise-stefanik-161353117.html

Yes, never mind that there was an angry mob that was out to murder half of Congress. But while Liz Cheney is the prosecutor of January 6th convicts, Elise is attempting to defend them. Wait, what? You can’t defend this crap. They had makeshift gallows and assault rifles and hand axes. That’s right – hand axes, in case you confused this for the 2nd century. But was the raid on Mar-A-Lago an “overreach”? For those of us who actually live in the real world, it wasn’t. But for those who live in batshit crazy make believe conspiracy theory land, it was.

House Republicans pushed back on the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home on Friday, as all eyes are focused on a release of the search warrant that could come as soon as today and provide more information about what authorities were seeking.

Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee held a press conference on Friday on the FBI search with a notably different tone than earlier this week, pledging support for rank-and-file members of the agency and condemning an attack on an FBI office in Ohio. But some reiterated claims made among Republican lawmakers earlier this week – even after major developments on Thursday – that the investigation is politically motivated and an “abuse” or “overreach” of the agency’s authority.

“House Republicans are committed to immediate oversight, accountability and a fulsome investigation to provide needed transparency and answers to the American people regarding Joe Biden and his administration’s weaponization of the Department of Justice and FBI against Joe Biden’s political opponent,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican, said on Friday. “President Donald Trump is Joe Biden’s most likeliest political opponent in 2024 and this is less than 100 days from critical midterm elections.”
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-08-12/republicans-slam-trump-search-as-overreach

Yes that’s pretty much what it’s like in Republican la la land right now. Because what we are witnessing right now is a party that is out for absolute power and they want blood for the 2020 election. If we don’t stop them in 2022 and the 2024 elections, things are going to get real ugly really quickly. And Rep Stefanik won’t be surprised if Trump announces a run for the 2024 election. Which will most likely be an inevitability if he’s not stopped. The republicans already took down one road block by getting rid of Liz Cheney. But with Rep. Stefanik, the MAGA influence runs deep.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, said Sunday she expects former President Donald Trump and Republicans generally will derive political benefits from the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Trump’s Florida residence.

When asked by CNHI if she was concerned the FBI investigation could erode support for Trump, who has yet to say whether he’ll mount a run for his old job in 2024, Stefanik responded: “Absolutely not.”

“It’s energizing Republicans because they see the politicization of the FBI,” added Stefanik.

In her nearly eight years in Congress, the 38-year-old Stefanik has a shot of becoming the most powerful female congresswoman in the nation if control of the lower chamber of Congress is captured by her party in the November election. She is now the House Republican Conference chair.

Stefanik argued the public has reason to be suspicious of the FBI in the surprise raid at the former President’s home last week.
https://www.niagara-gazette.com/news/local_news/stefanik-trump-more-likely-than-ever-to-seek-white-house/article_2dd3fa28-1c3f-11ed-a329-772deca308e0.html

Yes except there’s just one party that’s politicizing the FBI, Elise, and that’s your party. That’s noted Trump ass kisser Elise Stefanik, yet another hard right toxic politician to add to the ever-growing list of:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
[br] [/font] [br]

Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In these dark times or when people just don’t feel like actually reading the news and thinking for themselves, they turn to conspiracy theories because they just make shit up. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in the New Mexico badlands. Just let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are reading yours and my thoughts, after all! Well this week the noose is tightening around the classified documents that Trump stole from the White House and was stashing at his Miami mega mansion Mar-A-Lago, or as we sometimes refer to it around here, Mar-A-Shithole. Yes, those are actual images from health and building inspectors looking at Mar-A-Lago.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who has covered former President Donald Trump for decades, speculated that documents seized last week by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago could have been "personally advantageous."

Haberman, who is a New York Times reporter and a CNN analyst, appeared on Tuesday's episode of the podcast "Hacks on Tap" and discussed potential scenarios for why Trump held onto those documents.

She suggested that the former president could have kept the documents simply because he thought "something was cool."

"Another bucket is: He sees something personally advantageous — either because it's something that he can use to bolster himself or it's something that he believes will help him in his business or his personal brand," Haberman added.

"There's not just a possibility that a foreign adversary could accidentally see these things, there's also the possibility that Trump could have been — and I'm not saying this is the case for those listening, we don't know, there's a lot we don't know — but among the concerns are Trump has business ties overseas," she added.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-kept-personally-advantageous-documents-mar-a-lago-nyt-reporter-2022-8

Oh come on! Trump has been throwing keggers, raves, mixers and weddings at Mar-A-Lago and has been seen playing songs on his iPad there like he’s some kind of weird isolated DJ. You know he was waiting so he could show those documents to the highest bidder. And by the way in case you’re wondering – yes, Trump and his cronies are doing their hardest to quietly sweep this egregious act of espionage under the proverbial rug. Because as the noose keeps tightening around Trump’s crimes, expect his cronies and enablers to crank up the hate and the calls for political violence way past the 11 mark.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies say that any sensitive White House documents he brought with him to his Mar-a-Lago estate had been declassified, but some legal and presidential record experts are skeptical of that claim — and say that Trump could be in criminal jeopardy regardless.

While the Justice Department has a long history of prosecuting cases involving the mishandling of classified information, no such case has ever been brought against a former president — the one government official who can declassify information at will.

"As the facts stand now, his defense would be, ‘I declassified those documents. I am not therefore in possession of classified documents now,'” said Charles Stimson, a senior fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation and a former federal prosecutor.

Others take a different view — including, it seems, the FBI, which executed a search warrant at Trump's Florida resort on Monday tied to classified information Trump allegedly took with him from the White House in January 2021. Trump lawyer Christina Bobb said Tuesday that the warrant left by agents indicated they were investigating possible violations of laws dealing with the handling of classified material and the Presidential Records Act.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-allies-say-declassified-mar-lago-documents-experts-say-unclear-w-rcna42311

Now why do I suspect that this is a big steaming pile of grade A bullshit? Come on, do I even need to suspect it? We know Trump is lying his ass off here! And come on, we know that all Trump wants from the public is their undying loyalty and to give him a blank check to do whatever he wants. Like his fanbase doesn’t want a president, they want an emperor. But the fact that Trump hid the documents in other things he took from the White House, really shows what an insane sociopath he really is. Even his own former attorney general said there’s no reason for him to do this.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday released a detailed inventory from the Mar-a-Lago search that the Justice Department previously filed under seal in court.

The search inventory released showed that classified documents had been mixed in with personal items and other materials in the boxes in which they were stored.

Federal investigators also retrieved more than 11,000 non-classified government documents from former President Donald Trump's Florida home and resort.

One box containing documents marked with confidential, secret and top secret classification identifications also contained "99 magazines/newspapers/press articles," according to the inventory from last month's search filed in federal court in Florida.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/politics/judge-releases-full-detailed-inventory-from-the-mar-a-lago-search/index.html

Yeah probably! Oh and it gets weirder – next week we’ll have the full details for you but there’s reports coming that a MAGA judge in Florida – again not in the slightest bit surprised that Florida is involved here – is giving Trump a “special master” appointee. You know things are fucked up when the people who accuse you of running a conspiracy racket are the ones committing the conspiracy themselves, and all this is doing is delaying and obstructing. Delaying… and obstructing. We may honestly never see the end of this shit, with all these MAGA douchebags going to prison, but one can only hope!

A federal judge intervened on Monday in the investigation of former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of sensitive government records, ordering the appointment of an independent arbiter to review a trove of materials seized last month from Mr. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida.

The judge, Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, also temporarily barred the Justice Department from using the seized materials for any “investigative purpose” connected to its inquiry of Mr. Trump until the work of the arbiter, known as a special master, was completed.

The order would prevent, at least for now, federal prosecutors from using key pieces of evidence as they continue to investigate whether the former president illegally retained national defense documents at his estate, Mar-a-Lago, or obstructed the government’s repeated efforts to get them back.

While the order may ultimately serve only to delay the criminal inquiry into Mr. Trump, the scope and candor of Judge Cannon’s language and reasoning pointed to broader themes. Her ruling seemed to carve out a special exception to the normal legal process for the former president and reject the Justice Department’s implicit argument that Mr. Trump be treated like any other investigative subject.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/politics/trump-special-master.html

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

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

So of course you know that the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks and while we are drinking the only rule on the table is that we don’t discuss politics. Also, swearing is not only allowed but encouraged, so much as it’s not at someone, only with. Because we care. You know, there’s a lot of dark shit in the world, and sometimes the only correct response is to say “fuck it” and crack open a nice cold one! Or two or three. This week, we’re going to talk about the concept of “quiet quitting”. You may have heard this term being thrown around a lot lately, but what does it mean? Anyway before we get into that topic, tell me bartender, what’s the ideal drink for this subject? The “fuck it” cocktail? What’s in that? That sounds like a Mule but you don’t give a shit what else goes in it. I’ll just have my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the “Double Jack”. So what is the concept of “quiet quitting”? It’s a very complicated one and it can have multiple definitions of the meaning of the phrase depending on who you talk to.

The pandemic created a slew of changes. One of which is how people work.

Where they work, how long they work, and how long they stay in a job have all changed, and so too has a term that could easily fit in the same wheelhouse as the 'great resignation.'

It’s being called “quiet quitting.”

It's defined as performing a job that’s assigned to a person, but there’s no above and beyond action, extra work on those days off, or answering emails 24/7.

Natasha Bowman said this is nothing new. Rather, it's an updated name with a hashtag and an old adage.

"Which is something that has been around forever. I will tell you I have once or twice in my career been a quiet quitter," Bowman said.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-hillsborough/quiet-quitting-what-is-it-and-why-are-more-people-doing-it

Yeah keep ‘em coming! So the concept of “quiet quitting” is when someone has decided to quit their job but hasn’t exactly told their employers. So they just do everything really half-assedly. See, Homer Simpson had the right idea! But the question for America’s workers is this – is it quiet quitting we should worry about or is quiet firing the more worrysome trend? Both sides can be attributed to work from home models and some employers worry that employees are taking advantage of being able to work from home. But really it’s been two years since the pandemic, you’d think they would catch onto this by now.

There's been a great hue and cry lately over "quiet quitting"- also known as "working to rule," "lying flat," or otherwise declining to go above and beyond what you are paid to do in your job. Quiet quitting looks to many like a reasonable retreat from the round-the-clock hustle culture. But to others, quiet quitting represents disengaged employees sandbagging and shirking all but the minimum effort, not expecting - or not caring - that their employers might fire them for it.

But if we're going to accuse workers of quiet quitting, we should also acknowledge the phenomenon of "quiet firing," in which employers avoid providing all but the bare legal minimum, possibly with the aim of getting unwanted employees to quit.

They may deny raises for years, fail to supply resources while piling on demands, give feedback designed to frustrate and confuse, or grant privileges to select workers based on vague, inconsistent performance standards. Those who don't like it are welcome to leave.

The "work from anywhere" business model offers opportunities for both quiet quitting and quiet firing. Some remote workers, as I discussed recently, are moving out of commuting distance for personal reasons. And some employers are reducing and relocating their office spaces for business reasons. When employers or employees make these changes without due regard for the disruption it causes the other party, it starts to look like they're daring one another to end the work relationship.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/business/after-quiet-quitting-here-comes-quiet-firing/

Somehow I don’t think that bottle is big enough. So there’s quiet quitting and quiet firing. But here’s the thing – in the social media era, where everyone is connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, where there’s no such thing as free time anymore, can you really just blow off your responsibilities just like that? Or do you have your employers watching you all the time? Employers expect you go to above and beyond the usual duties in order to advance in your career, but these days people are taking more of a “fuck it” approach to that concept.

Quiet quitting or quitting the idea of going above and beyond at work is a concept that is gaining traction. In July, TikToker @zkchillin (now @zaidleppelin) made a video on quiet quitting, explaining that it simply meant quitting the idea of going above and beyond what you are getting paid for and not deriving your self-worth from your job. The video soon went viral and has already racked up more than 4 million views and nearly 500,000 likes.

Quiet quitting is a philosophy that champions prioritising an individual’s well-being and mental health by doing exactly what one is paid to do – nothing more, nothing less – to avoid job burnout. This means, no working weekends unless you’re being compensated to do so; no working overtime; no overpromising on projects and deadlines; and definitely not taking on extra responsibilities. It means that instead of burning out or actually quitting out of frustration, you establish clear boundaries between your work life and your beyond-work life. However, there might be work cultures where even what you are paid to do might be inherently toxic with unrealistic demands, as was the case with Para who realised that he was being ripped off for barely any money. If he had understood his boundaries earlier and demarcated them with his employer, perhaps he wouldn’t have been overworked to the bone.

“In my first job as a photographer, I was made to work three to four nights straight for almost 13 hours at a stretch, shooting those endless weddings,” he said. “My official title in the job was ‘candid photographer,’ which meant whatever the employer wanted it to mean. [I was] expected to shoot random skies as well as gruelling weddings for the same pay.”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvm7mv/why-people-are-quiet-quitting-from-their-work

Yeah light the drinks on fire! Now we’re talking! So that being said, what are the employers to do if they catch an employee in the act of “quiet quitting”? They can’t exactly quiet fire someone or quiet file a complaint with HR. The thing is, if the office is going to be redesigned in the coronavirus era, employers have to listen to their employees. Think of this as the “it’s not you, it’s me” phase of the break up with someone. Seriously, we’ve all been there at some point. But the employers need to listen to their employees more if working from home is becoming more of a reality.

“There’s no easy fix with office design because every office, every company, and every country are markedly different,” says Hinge. “Research-based design is needed to understand what employees want to do in the office and what they expect from the office.”

Redesigning goes beyond “putting up a potted plant or painting the wall blue”, he says, so listening to employees’ preferences and knowing which aspect of the office to tackle is paramount.

“Companies have to focus on what enables the experience that employees get when they come through the door till the time they leave,” says Hinge. “You have to understand what they like doing, seeing, and hearing so you can keep them coming back again.”

For instance, one of the most under-delivered aspects of the office experience according to employees is the quality of acoustics, JLL data shows. The lack of sound privacy and excessive noise levels, especially in open areas and hot-desking workstations, are affecting the workplace experience for some.
https://www.us.jll.com/en/trends-and-insights/workplace/what-firms-are-doing-to-address-quiet-quitting

[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination #5 - France
[br] [/font] [br]

Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:

.webp

Welcome back to our World Tour 2022 everybody! Our World Tour is well underway as we finally hit Continental Europe! In the last few weeks we’ve visited two very different sides of the USA, then we hit the Great White North, Canada, and last week we hit the United Kingdom! This week we’re taking a look at what’s going on in France! As you know France is home to the City Of Lights, Paris. Which not only has some of the best food in the world, it’s also home to such world renowned landmarks as the Arc De Triumph, the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre. And it’s also home to some fast cars and racing with the Formula 1 League, and the Monaco Grand Prix, which you’ve seen in movies like Iron Man and TV shows like Archer. You know what else France is the home of? It’s the home of some of the most extreme results of the global climate crisis.

France's river Loire, famous for the hundreds of castles gracing its shores, is a shallow river at the best of times, but this year even its flat-bottom tourist barges can barely navigate waters greatly reduced by a record drought.

Even some 100 kilometers from where the Loire empties into the Atlantic Ocean, sand banks now stretch as far as the eye can see, large islands connect to the shore and in places people can practically walk from one side of the river to the other.

The Loire valley - a UNESCO World Heritage site famed for majestic chateaux such as Chambord, Chenonceau and Azay-le-Rideau - has suffered historically low water levels before, but this year's drought should be a wake-up call, said Eric Sauquet.

"The Loire's tributaries are completely dried up. It is unprecedented," said Sauquet, who is head of hydrology at France's National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE).
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-river-loire-sets-new-lows-drought-dries-up-its-tributaries-2022-08-17/

We’re seriously setting up for a Mad Max Fury Road scenario in the near future, aren’t we? And when we’re in a crisis, it helps to have competent leaders in charge. Because in a recent election, far left president Emmanuel Macron once again spanked MAGA-adjacent Marie La Pen in the most recent general election. And here’s a pro-tip for the MAGAs: the thing is when leaders like each other, they help each other out. You can scream that it’s a “global elite conspiracy” all you want, but the truth is that people help each other out. The MAGAs don’t.

France will send gas to Germany if needed while Germany stands ready to provide it with electricity, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, saying this showcased European solidarity in the face of the energy crisis stemming from the war in Ukraine.

European gas prices surged, share prices slid and the euro sank on Monday after Russia stopped pumping gas via a major supply route, in another warning to the 27-nation EU as it scrambled to respond to the crisis ahead of winter. read more

"Germany needs our gas and we need power from the rest of Europe, notably Germany," France's president told a news conference following a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The necessary connections for France to deliver gas to Germany when needed would be finalised in the coming weeks, he said, adding that France, which had long been a net exporter of electricity, will need help from its neighbours because of technical problems its nuclear plants face.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/france-germany-will-help-each-other-face-energy-crisis-macron-says-2022-09-05/

Nah, not here. Just two countries that like each other helping each other out. That’s how we make progress in this world, kids! Yeah, the kids like progress! And I don’t know if you have heard or not, but there’s a country called China, and a country called Taiwan. And Taiwan has been in a conflict with China over its’ independence for the last 50 years and it recently escalated. Well, when Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan a few weeks ago, it was received by the right wing extremely poorly, and the reactions were about what you’d expect. Here’s how French diplomats were received when they recently went to Taiwan.

The French cross-party delegation is being led by Senator Cyril Pellevat, the vice president of the French upper chamber's European Affairs Committee.

The lawmakers are scheduled to meet with Taiwan’s Vice President Lai Ching-te, and Legislative Speaker You Si-kun, amongst other high-ranking officials to discuss a range of issues, including regional security, technological innovation, and reinforcing industrial supply chains.

It is the fourth visit by French lawmakers to Taiwan in the past 12 months.

"The arrival fully demonstrates good friendship between Taiwan and France," Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou said.

The parliamentarians will stay in Taiwan till Monday.
https://www.dw.com/en/taiwan-french-lawmakers-arrive-amid-escalating-tensions/a-63037555

Yeah that’s about what the China – Taiwan situation is like, but we’ll save that for another episode! And by the way, even though we make fun of all flavors of conservatism here – right, far, right, Infowars, conspiracy theorist, full blown Nazi, we’re just making fun. We don’t backstab and threaten to murder our political opponents the way the MAGA lunatics are. Shit, even in France their threats don’t escalate to murder. But while we’re dealing with the MAGA dipshits, France has their own version of the MAGAs called the Yellow Vests, and here’s what they are up to.

The most potent protest movement in recent French history, the Yellow Vest uprising looked at one point like it might bring a premature end to Emmanuel Macron’s presidency. More than three years after it was smothered, its politicised remnants are counting on their ballots to finish the job.

France’s upcoming presidential election has been described as the least suspenseful in decades, a lopsided contest in which Macron is widely expected to prevail over a motley crew of challengers rejected by a majority of voters.

It’s a prospect 56-year-old Jérôme Batret finds hard to stomach, more than three years after the farmer from rural Auvergne first donned a “yellow vest” in protest at Macron’s government – joining an unconventional insurgency that caught Paris elites napping, rattling the government, baffling commentators, and eventually inspiring copy-cat protests around the world.

Named after the now-famous fluorescent waistcoats that are mandatory in French cars, the Gilets jaunes (Yellow Vests) staged more than 60 consecutive weeks of protests against economic hardship, mounting inequality and a discredited political establishment. They manned roundabouts across the country night and day, took to the streets of towns and cities on every Saturday, and at their peak in December 2018 even stormed the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris, amid scenes of chaos not witnessed since May 1968.
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220401-will-france-s-yellow-vests-come-back-to-haunt-macron-on-election-day

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

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

Overall: A-

Change from 2017: The right wing was once again defeated in France, making it safe to visit again! Just make sure you don’t accidentally step in a Yellow Vest protest!

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

Next week we’re heading to the land of the Vatican, fast cars, luxury villas, and the best pasta dishes in the world – Italy!

[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Elvis Costello[/font]

Ladies and gentlemen my next guest has a great new album called “The Boy Named If”, you can see him at the Austin City Limits Festival December 2nd. Playing his song “The Man You Love To Hate”, give it up for Elvis Costello!

Thank you San Diego! This was fun! We’re off to fabulous Las Vegas next! See you next week!

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This is the official DU account for the new format Top 10 Conservative Idiots separate from the host account Initech. The new format Top 10 will launch June 13th, 2018 and all posts related to the Top 10 (promos, etc) will be posted from this account only. The Top 10 is posted once a week on Thursdays at 2:00 PM. There is a full archive of all past, present and future Top 10 editions that can be found here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218599098\ Announcements for our current season schedule are posted in our Best Of editions that appear at the end of each season. Updates are posted regularly on the official Top 10 Mastodon account and the official Holy Shit Mastodon account. The Mastodon accounts are used to announce what's going to be in next week's edition, new content, advertising our segments, and so on. This account will post official Top 10 editions, and any related content including our spinoff series: Holy Shit The Sunday Sermons. If you wish to contact the Top 10 you may do so here: E-mail (all questions, concerns, suggestions, and hate mail welcome): Top10ConIdiots@gmail.com Follow the Top 10 on Mastodon: Top10ConIdiots@mstdn.party Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 on Mastodon: ChurchOfTop10@mstdn.party **This account will ONLY be used to post official Idiots editions, promos, and things related to the Top 10. No other posts will come from this account** Top 10 Wiki: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211322508

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