Top 10 Idiots

Top 10 Idiots's Journal

May 27, 2021

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-16: Fear And Loathing In Orlando Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-16: Fear And Loathing In Orlando Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Here we are folks, it’s the season finale! You know last week I mentioned that we’re going to be taking a bit of an extended hiatus in June. We're going away for a bit which means I won't get to cover some news items like Trump allegedly bribing Arlen Spector or Tucker Carlson eating a fly while on camera, or the Gun Church buying a literal compound. That's right - there is a literal full fucking cult that worships AR-15s! Of course it's mainly a Christmas and Easter thing, but gun worship is gun worship. We'll save that one for a future edition of Holy Shit! Stay on target! Anyway, now I can reveal why: live Idiots are coming back! That’s right – the Idiots that you know and love that’s been shuttered the past 18 months because of COVID are coming back! We will be revealing tour dates in our 6/17 Best Of edition! Man does it feel good to be back! I can’t wait to finally do this in front of crowds again! Of course I'm not forgetting our limited audience at the Observatory OC, we love you guys! Now do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! Can we talk vaccine perks? I mean come on if this isn’t an incentive to get vaccinated, I don’t know what is. So in Las Vegas, Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club is turning their club into a vaccination center. And these are the perks you get – a lap dance from the stripper of your choice. You also get bottle service, VIP service, and you get VIP membership to the club for a full year! I’m sure Larry Flynt would approve of this. Man I feel cheated, I got my vaccine at a CVS in West Covina. I should have held out! Entice me to get the vaccine then I will take it! Yeah that guy in the back knows what I’m talking about! OK enough of the intro – we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he delves into the madness behind sponsored content in the media:

So where do we begin this week? First off – the answer is NO, we are not going to cover the Isreal – Palestine conflict part whatever. The reason being is that it’s one of those things that goes against Top 10 policy of being too horrific to be made fun of. This is a comedy show, not a horror movie. OK back to our regularly scheduled programming. In the number one slot this week is Florida Man himself, Matt Gaetz (1). It seems the accusations against him are getting weirder, scarier, and creepier as some of his cronies are being implicated in the scandal. Don’t expect this to go away anytime soon! Taking the second slot this week – is conservative evangelicals (2). So there’s a major case coming up that could determine the future of Roe V Wade – and Former Guy’s 6 -3 SCOTUS could get to decide its’ fate, it’s going to get ugly! In the number 3 slot this week, and what is becoming a regular feature, is our latest update on the fallout from the 1/6 Capitol Riot (3). The latest nonsense coming from the right? Oh it was just a harmless tourist visit. Yeah never mind the poop smeared on the walls or the makeshift gallows being erected outside. In the number 4 slot this week is the Arizona GOP (4). It turns out the audit of the 2020 election has gone completely off the rails but how is this going to end? The answer as we all expect – is not well! Taking the #5 slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5), and this week, did Trump’s EPA alter the rules regarding what pesticides can be legally used? Of course he did, would you expect anything less? If you do you're in the wrong theater, guys! Taking the #6 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, our resident pastor is going to take on anti-vaxxers! It seems evangelicals could make or break vaccine progress, so what’s egging them on? We will get to the bottom of this! In the number 7 slot this week is a new “Beating A Dead Horse” (7). OK look, conservatives, you don’t want to play by the CDC rules, fine. But when you get sick and have to be hospitalized, don’t say we didn’t warn you! Taking the #8 slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8). And this week, while our old buddy Ammon Bundy is running for governor of Idaho, a whole bunch of rural Oregon counties may join him! 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 Stupidest State 2021 (10)! This week it’s the grand finale! Texas. Georgia. One of these two states will be winning it all! We will have the game, the DeLay Trophy presentation, the closing ceremonies, and of course that song that we all know and love! Plus we’ve got a special treat to close out the season – a little band I like to call the Foo Fighters! YAY!!!!!!!!! Buy their new album Medicine At Midnight or you’re no friend of this program. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

Ed. Note: Unfortunately our planned Top 10 Investigates piece about Critical Race Theory was scrapped at the last minute. We feel it's best if we don't broach that subject, for now, at least. Now back to our regularly scheduled program!

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[font size="8"]Matt Gaetz
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Of course leave it to Florida to give us one of the dumbest Congress people in United States history, Matt Gaetz (Q – Batshit) who is currently involved in one of the stupidest scandals we’ve ever seen, and that’s counting four years of Former Guy! Look, I’m just saying if you have to, maybe don’t use an easily traceable phone app to pay for sex. I’m just saying. We have this thing called “cash”. And you use cash to make transactions. But we’re getting off topic here. And the thing is this thing is like an onion. The more you peel back the layers, the more it stinks, and the more likely you are to cry as a result. This thing is deep, too (Archer: HEY! PHRASING!). But what’s really bizarre about this scandal is that there’s a scandal within a scandal. It’s Scandal-ception!

You’ve heard about “Gaetzgate,” the prurient scandal engulfing the provocative Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). His reputed wingman, a county tax collector named Joel Greenberg, pled guilty to federal charges including the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old — and Greenberg reportedly claims Gaetz had sex with that 17-year-old. It’s a big story about a big MAGA-world star. A plane flew over the courthouse with a banner that read “Tick Tock Matt Gaetz.”

But you haven’t heard enough about the bomb that’s already exploded in this scandal, because it doesn’t fit the “Gaetzgate” story line of a prominent Trumper in trouble. That bomb is the spectacularly sleazy record of Greenberg, who’s now in the spotlight for apparently flipping on his famous congressional running buddy, but ought to be famous in his own right as one of the most vile creatures ever to slither out of Florida’s political swamp.

It’s not just that Greenberg had sex with the same 17-year-old he’s accusing Gaetz of having sex with, an accusation Gaetz denies. It’s not just that Greenberg was the pimp in the sex-for-cash operation in which he claims Gaetz was a john, another accusation Gaetz denies. It’s that Greenberg also converted the Seminole County tax office into an X-rated criminal enterprise, abusing his power and ripping off the public in a variety of almost comically egregious ways:

He looted taxpayer funds to buy himself not only illicit sex but also cryptocurrency and Kobe Bryant memorabilia.
He bribed a federal official to help him rip off a Covid relief program.
He committed identity fraud with driver’s licenses he stole from his office.
He hatched an elaborate plot to frame a political rival as a child molester, and posted racist rants from a fake social media account he opened in his rival’s name.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2021/05/18/the-scandal-inside-the-matt-gaetz-scandal-492896

Yeah probably! But of course, nothing bad ever happens to conservative republicans. I mean Trump can have scandal after scandal and when he finally gets caught he screams “WITCH HUNT!!! TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!! SAD!!!”. Well, it’s yet another sign that things are drastically fucked up in this country because the rich white men never get away with their crimes. Dude, you used fucking Venmo to pay for sex. Be a man, own up to it!

Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) “wingman” may have signed a plea agreement in the federal case that is broadly rumored to involve Gaetz, but the possibility of pending criminal prosecution didn’t seem to put a damper on the Florida Congressman’s mood Saturday, as he spoke to a crowd of Trumplican faithful in Strongsville, Ohio, even cracking jokes about the looming scandal.

NBC News national political reporter Henry Gomez was in Ohio to cover the event, and quoted a segment from Gaetz’s keynote speech where he jokingly described the sexual misconduct allegations involving him “as benign as legislative earmarks.”

“I’m being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors,” Gaetz said at the Ohio Political Summit, a gathering sponsored by the Strongsville GOP in suburban Cleveland. “Yet, Congress has reinstituted a process that legalizes the corrupt act of exchanging money for favors, through earmarks, and everybody knows that that’s the corruption.”

Former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg signed a much-anticipated plea agreement this week, pleading guilty to 6 out of the 33 charges against him, for a broad-ranging set of sordid schemes that included misappropriation and theft of taxpayer funds, illegally accessing Florida’s database of driver’s license data, stalking and harassing a political opponent, and sex trafficking, including with at least one underage girl.
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/matt-gaetz-jokingly-compares-sex-trafficking-scandal-to-earmarks-at-ohio-rally-im-being-falsely-accused-of-exchanging-money-for-naughty-favors/

For once? Really? But the thing is who knows how deep this goes? OK, phrasing! I get it! But why does he get off… again, phrasing. When he pays underage girls for sex? And how many people are involved in this shindig? What is truly mind boggling about this scandal is anyone else would get time behind bars in probably at least a minimum security prison. But not anyone connected to Matt Gaetz, they’re barely getting anything but a slap on the wrist. It’s certifiably insane.

Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty Monday morning to six criminal charges including child sex trafficking.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie R. Hoffman scheduled a change of plea hearing for 10 a.m. Monday at the federal courthouse in downtown Orlando.

Under the plea agreement, Greenberg, 37, must provide “substantial assistance” with other government investigations and prosecutions.

He’ll be sentenced in about 75 days, although no official court date has been set. Before then, a pre-sentencing investigation will be conducted that will examine Greenberg’s criminal history, childhood, hardships and successes.

He faces anywhere from 12 years to life in prison based on sentencing guidelines and minimum mandatory sentencing requirements, however, Greenberg’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, said his client could do less time than that.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/05/16/ex-tax-collector-joel-greenberg-to-enter-guilty-pleas-monday-morning/

Yeah phrasing I get it. So in this story we have a crooked Congress person and his equally unhinged attorney in a really stupid scandal. Think of it like a reboot of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, only less mind-altering substances and more hookers and meth. Let’s call it “Fear And Loathing In Orlando”. I’m not sure Hunter Thompson would approve though. But don’t think that this ridiculous scandal is going away anytime soon. We’re getting started! PHRASING!!!!

The man who investigators say was the target of an online smear campaign perpetrated by Joel Greenberg spoke to the media on Monday as the former Seminole County tax collector pleaded guilty in federal court to six charges, including child sex trafficking.

Brian Beute, a teacher at Trinity Preparatory School, ran against Greenberg during the 2020 Republican primary for the tax collector’s office. During that race, Greenberg created fake social media accounts and wrote an anonymous letter all in an effort to portray Beute as a racist and a child molester, according to investigators.

“I’m not a politician, and I never planned to be in politics. I’m a teacher at a small school and a small community who simply saw need to replace someone who is taking advantage of regular citizens like me,” Beute said prior to Greenberg’s guilty plea.

The investigation in the attack on Beute ultimately led to Greenberg’s arrest on federal stalking charges. Those stalking allegations then led to Greenberg facing charges ranging from child sex trafficking to fraud and federal authorities dug deeper into the tax collector’s dealings in and around the office.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/05/17/joel-greenbergs-stalking-victim-speaks-about-former-seminole-tax-collectors-guilty-plea/#//

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[font size="8"]The Battle For Roe V Wade
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Conservatives have been threatening to overturn Roe V Wade as long as I’ve been alive. Well this could actually within my lifetime. Hell, it might happen next week. That’s right. You heard me. I said it could happen next week. Now how could it happen you might ask? Well sir and/or madam, I will answer you that. There’s a case on the books that originated in Mississippi that could ban abortion at the 15 week period. And it will be decided by Trump’s packed, one-sided SCOTUS. That’s right, when we need Ruth Bader Ginsburg the most, she’s gone. Replaced with Catholic cult member Amy Comey Barrett. And she’s joined by Trump picks Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. How does the worst president in history get 3 SCOTUS picks? That’s a different topic altogether. But here’s what is happening.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it will review Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — serving as the first opportunity for the 6-3 conservative-majority court to challenge Roe v. Wade.

The 15-week ban, passed by state lawmakers in 2018 and immediately blocked by lower federal courts, will provide one of the first reproductive rights cases argued before the Supreme Court since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in 2020. The 6-3 conservative majority is widely expected to curtail access to abortion.

“As the only abortion clinic left in Mississippi, we see patients who have spent week saving up the money to travel here and pay for childcare, for a place to stay, and everything else involved. If this ban were to take effect, we would be forced to turn many of those patients away, and they would lose the right to abortion in the state,” Diane Derziz, owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s sole abortion clinic, said in a statement. “Mississippi politicians have created countless barriers for people trying to access abortion, intentionally pushing them later in the pregnancy. It’s all part of their strategy to eliminate abortion access entirely.”

The court met 13 different times to consider taking the case, a move many legal analysts have called unprecedented. The taking of this case marks the first time since the landmark 1973 abortion rights case Roe v. Wade that the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up a a pre-viability ban case — a law that prohibits access to abortion based on the amount of time pregnant before the fetus is viable, or around 24 weeks when it is able to live outside the womb.

Read more: https://mississippitoday.org/2021/05/17/supreme-court-roe-v-wade-mississippi-abortion/

I know, right? And it gets worse. So much worse. Only in America does crap like this happen and we have a hundred other issues to worry about. Now here’s how this got totally fucked up. Remember Former Guy? Yeah he was the reason for this trial getting pushed back and pushed back. Did they know something about Ginsburg’s death that we don’t? Well regardless, it will be interesting to see how they decide this and how it gets spinned.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider a major rollback of abortion rights, saying it will decide whether states can ban abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb. The court’s order sets up a showdown over abortion, probably in the fall, with a more conservative court seemingly ready to dramatically alter nearly 50 years of rulings on abortion rights.

The case involves a Mississippi law that would prohibit abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. The state’s ban had been blocked by lower courts as inconsistent with Supreme Court precedent that protects a woman’s right to obtain an abortion before the fetus can survive outside her womb.

The justices had put off action on the case for several months. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an abortion-rights proponent, died just before the court’s new term began in October. Her replacement, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is the most open opponent of abortion rights to join the court in decades.

The Mississippi law would allow exceptions to the 15-week ban in cases of medical emergency or severe fetal abnormality. Doctors found in violation of the ban would face mandatory suspension or revocation of their medical license.

Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2021/05/17/supreme-court-to-weigh-rollback-of-abortion-rights/

Exactly. Don’t abandon the ship just yet! But some good news though is that while the right wing may be losing their collective sanity over this issue, we do currently have much cooler heads in the highest levels of government. At least Biden is committed to keeping the rights that Roe V Wade afforded even if the court decides to side with the Christian right. Because this could be the cultivation of nearly 40 years of the insanity surrounding this issue.

President Biden will continue to advocate for the rights established under Roe v. Wade regardless of what the Supreme Court decides on a case challenging a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“The president is committed to codifying Roe, regardless of the ... outcome of this case,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday, referring to Roe v. Wade, the historic ruling that legalized abortion on a national scale.

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would consider the challenge to the Mississippi law. Last year, the court struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics with a 5-4 vote, but the balance has since changed with the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was replaced by the Trump-appointed Amy Coney Barrett.

Supporters of abortion rights fear that former President Donald Trump’s reshaping of the courts through appointments of conservative judges — including the confirmation of three new conservative Supreme Court justices — puts the future of Roe v. Wade in danger.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/the-president-is-committed-to-codifying-roe-white-house-backs-abortion-rights-as-supreme-court-takes-on-controversial-case-185725796.html

Don’t abandon ship just yet! This isn’t over, those scumbags haven’t won yet. While the cons may be congratulating themselves on finally knocking over the vending machine, there is a possibility that the machine could be propped back up. Biden has been weighing the option of expanding SCOTUS to 13 justices. And while proposals like this very rarely muster, if it gets enough support things like this might actually have a shot. So you’re telling me there’s a chance? Maybe.

Democratic senators say if the Supreme Court strikes a blow against Roe v. Wade by upholding a Mississippi abortion law, it will fuel an effort to add justices to the court or otherwise reform it.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority this week agreed to hear the Mississippi case, which could dramatically narrow abortion rights by allowing states to make it illegal to get an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“It will inevitably fuel and drive an effort to expand the Supreme Court if this activist majority betrays fundamental Constitutional principles,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“It’s already driving that movement,” he added.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/554843-democrats-roe-v-wade-blow-would-fuel-expanding-supreme-court

[font size="8"]Capitol Riot Deniers
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Let’s get down to facts. Fact #1: We will be hearing about the events of January 6th, also known as the Capitol Riot or Capitol Insurrection, for years. Decades, even. Fact #2: We’ve just barely begun to scratch the surface of who was there and what their real motives and intentions were. Now that we’ve got the facts out of the way, let’s talk about denial. Because while we have spent the last few editions talking about the people who were involved, we have yet to talk about the latest developments. And the latest developments are that conservatives are doing their best Marge Simpson impression and just sweeping the Capitol Riot under the rug. But yeah let’s just say that denial is a hell of a drug.

Days after the chaotic storming of the Capitol on January 6, some Republican members of Congress had an idea.

What the country needed, Reps. John Katko (R-NY), Rodney Davis (R-IL), and others decided, was a bipartisan commission, akin to the one established after 9/11, to sort through the facts and determine just how such a terrible breach of government security happened.

Now, though, the chances for such a commission are imperiled. A bill to establish it passed the House last Wednesday with support from every Democrat and 35 Republicans. But most others in the GOP, including party leaders, have come out strongly against the bill, with the party’s senators planning a filibuster.

Republicans have evidently calculated that such a commission’s findings would likely hurt their party’s electoral prospects. Some even admit this: “Anything that gets us rehashing the 2020 election, I think, is a day lost on being able to draw contrast between us and the Democrats’ very radical left-wing agenda,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune told reporters last week.

But even if a deal does somehow come together, there are real reasons to doubt whether such a commission would achieve anything substantial.
https://www.vox.com/2021/5/25/22445422/january-6-commission-senate-filibuster

Yeah that’s about right. You know the bad thing about having a January 6th commission? Well it’s going to be bad for them because we’re going to find out that it was an inside job. Yes, we’re going to find out that there were one or maybe multiple senators and Congress people who were in on the riots. Two suspects that immediately come to mind are Tuberville and Hawley, and Boebert and Greene. Well that’s more than two. But Tuberville may have just admitted that he’s guilty of collusion.

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville expressed skepticism Wednesday about a proposed commission to review the seizing of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The proposal is expected to pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday but one Alabama congressman, Republican Jerry Carl of Mobile, said in a statement he would not support it.

“What we have heard is it is very partisan and we will have nothing to do with that,” Tuberville said in a conference call with Alabama reporters. “I don’t want this to be a witch hunt. It’s over with. We pretty much know what happened.

“Most of us were here anyway. We saw what happened. We don’t need a commission to tell us. But we’ll see what happens in the near future. I don’t think you’re going to get many Republicans to vote for any commission unless it is 100 percent bipartisan.”
https://www.al.com/news/2021/05/sen-tuberville-skeptical-of-commission-to-review-storming-of-capitol.html

They came at us with pitchforks and torches! Torches!!! But for those of you keeping score at home, the GOP allowed 10 separate investigations into the Benghazi terror attacks in 2012. 10! You know how many they’re allowing into the attack on the Capitol? If you guessed 0, you are correct! Tell our contestants the fabulous prizes they’ve won! Well you’ve won your own investigation of the Capitol Riots, courtesy of Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson!

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Wednesday railed against a bill for a bipartisan commission intended to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, suggesting he was at work on his own investigation into the events which he claimed had involved peaceful protests and a few “agitators.”

“I’m doing my own investigation to really accurately recreate what happened on January 6th but Nancy Pelosi’s commission is not going to dig into this in any bipartisan fashion,” Johnson said during a Fox News interview. “She gets to pick all of the staff members. This is a joke and should be voted down.”

Johnson told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that in the aftermath of the riot he had “talked to people that were there,” who seemed to agree that the attack, which left five people dead, had been peaceful.

“By and large it was peaceful protests except for there were a number of people, basically agitators that whipped the crowd and breached the Capitol, and that’s really the truth of what’s happening here,” Johnson said. He added: “This is all about a narrative that the left wants to continue to push and Republicans should not cooperate with them at all.”

The comments come after 35 House Republicans on Wednesday voted to defy efforts by GOP leaders to cancel a commission intended to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ronjohn-claims-hes-doing-his-own-investigation-to-accurately-recreate-capitol-attack

Now now… no need to riot! But where have I heard that one? Oh yeah… OJ Simpson of course! Let’s all go find the real rioters! Although one person who may be guilty of colluding with the rioters is the head GOP conservative idiot himself – Mitch McConnell. He’s damned opposed to the investigation into the riots which can only mean one thing. Mitch himself is guilty as shit! If he goes, there’s going to be lots of people going down with him! Get the popcorn ready!

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he opposes a proposal to form an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, almost certainly eroding GOP support ahead of a vote.

McCarthy said he wanted the new panel to look beyond the violent uprising by supporters loyal to Donald Trump, who were trying to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election. He pushed to have the new commission also investigate other groups, namely the Black Lives Matter groups that protested police violence in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee who drafted the proposal rejected that approach.

McCarthy said that given the “shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation.”
https://apnews.com/article/mccarthy-republicans-insurrection-commission-e0ffe4990ad8f2634ca83b95a2c2c64c

[font size="8"]Arizona Election Audit
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As we predicted a couple of weeks ago, the insane recount of the already certified, verified, and certified again 2020 election in Arizona is going off the rails (see: Top 10 #10-12 ). Everything that is happening with this recount is batshit insane. We of course say this in the most polite way possible, because my actual words that I’ve said, as they have said on Animal House, would be so profound and disgusting that the decorum prohibits me from listing them here. But really, lost in the headlines is all of the madness in Arizona. And most of it is Maricopa County, which as we have pointed out is the district that had Sheriff Joe Arpaio – the face of corrupt sheriffs in the country – for three decades! So naturally you can see why things are going off the rails there. But here’s how shady this audit is – the auditors themselves are accused of pressing the “delete” button!

The unconventional, opaque and at times eyebrow-raising review of Maricopa County's 2020 general election started back up again on Monday.

The audit, commissioned by Arizona Senate Republican leaders, took a break for more than a week while graduations were held at the Arizona Veterans' Memorial Coliseum.

The Senate contractors, led by Florida-based cybersecurity firm Cyber Ninjas, plan to try to finish recounting all 2.1 million ballots cast in the county by the end of June, when their lease at the coliseum ends.

With nearly 500,000 ballots counted in the first month, the team will have to greatly increase the number of workers or hours, or both, to meet that goal. The original plan was to finish by May 14, when the break began.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/05/23/arizona-audit-what-know-ballot-recount-set-resume-monday/5233868001/

Except he’s not running. But there is good news – the sane, rational people in Arizona are unhappy with this current situation. And yes, there are sane, rational people in Maricopa County – I know, my aunt lives there and I’ve been there many times, and I’m actually going to visit in a couple of weeks. In case you’re wondering yes this thing is completely partisan and they are attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Good god that would be my worst nightmare, I know that!

Simmering tensions between Republicans over the ongoing audit of election results in Arizona’s largest county are bursting into the open.

With the audit nearing its one-month mark and the GOP-controlled state Senate driving the process in an increasingly partisan direction, some Republicans have begun more aggressively pushing back against the effort, arguing that it has only served to further undermine confidence in the county’s elections rather than restore it.

The debate over the audit reached a breaking point Monday when the GOP-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to Arizona's Republican state Senate President Karen Fann demanding an end to the audit, saying that the process had made Arizona a “laughingstock.”

“None of this is inspiring confidence. None of this will cause our citizens to trust elections. In fact, it is having the opposite result,” the board, which is made up of four Republicans and one Democrat, wrote.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/554199-arizona-recount-creates-backlash-in-state

Oh people stop your rabbling! Here’s the thing – you know where the biggest source of disinformation coming about the campaign is coming from? If you guessed Russia – you are 100% correct! That’s right – the real Red State is coming for your thoughts. And your vote. And by the way here’s where it gets weird – and you knew it was going to. Our old friends Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz (both Q – Batshit) are calling the audit a fraud! Wow, a fraud within a fraud! That’s what… 16 frauds?

U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, two of the Republican Party’s most controversial figures, told a crowd of Trump supporters in the Phoenix area that an ongoing audit of the 2020 election in Arizona should be replicated in all the battleground states where President Donald Trump lost.

Greene and Gaetz took their “America First Rally” tour to Arizona to cheer the audit, which is testing conspiracy theories about the election on behalf of Republicans in the state Senate.

“We are here in Arizona to stand in solidarity with the Arizona election audit,” Gaetz said to a cheering crowd of several hundred supporters Friday night in Mesa.
He expressed hope that the Arizona effort will be just the beginning of a larger movement.

“It’s my belief that Arizona will be the launch pad for elections audits and election integrity efforts all over this great country,” he added.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/marjorie-taylor-greene-and-matt-gaetz-champion-suspect-maricopa-county-recount-in-arizona-rally-01621859164

Oh and in case you’re wondering – we’re not done with this yet. More and more recounts are being demanded despite that they are complete and utter bullshit. But in case you’re keeping score at home, there was a delete of votes, then there wasn’t. And now the tech company behind the audit has said they have had it. Maybe next time, I don’t know, I am just throwing this out there – maybe don’t hire a company called Cyber Ninjas that has no experience? Just spit balling it here.

The Pennsylvania-based IT company that was in charge of running the hand recount of Maricopa County, Airzona, ballots is no longer involved in the audit.

The contract with Wake TSI ended May 14, the original completion date for the hand count, and the company chose not to renew its contract, according to Randy Pullen, an audit spokesperson and former state GOP chair.

"They were done," he said. "They didn't want to come back."

Wake TSI was the subcontractor that developed and oversaw the procedures for recounting the county's nearly 2.1 million ballots, working under Cyber Ninjas, the state Senate's main contractor performing the overall audit of the county's general election results.

The audit was on break from May 14 until Monday, as graduations took place in the coliseum.
https://news.yahoo.com/arizona-recount-tech-company-backs-181934607.html

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: The EPA and Pesticides
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

It’s pretty common knowledge that pesticides are bad. And not only are they bad, but they kill the plants they’re supposed to protect, and they also kill the insect population which helps the plants not only grow and thrive, but also multiply. So it should also be common knowledge that interfering with pesticides is bad, right? Well you would be wrong. In the eyes of the previous administration, who only did things because it “triggered the libs” is involved in the latest bombshell to drop. It seems that they think that whatever actually needed to happen, the opposite was true. If science shouldn’t be messed with, they would start messing with science. And that’s exactly what happened here. It’s never what is the right thing to do, it’s whatever will make the other side mad.

Senior leaders at the Environmental Protection Agency improperly meddled in the work of career scientists when reviewing the approval of certain pesticides in 2018, according to a new report and the agency’s own admission.

The top officials changed and omitted items from documents related to the decision to grant licenses to three dicamba pesticides, the EPA inspector general found, and created a culture in which career employees felt “constrained” and “muted” from speaking up. In addition to violating EPA’s scientific integrity policies, the tampering left the agency vulnerable to lawsuits. The IG report followed widespread allegations of political interference in the work of career scientists under the Trump administration and comes amid a governmentwide Biden administration review into instances of such meddling.

The licenses for the pesticides, aimed at protecting cotton and soybean plants, were granted without the typical peer review panels. EPA scientists told the IG such reviews would not have impacted the results, due to the unusual level of involvement by several officials at the deputy assistant administration level. Those leaders removed career employees' assessment of concerns raised by stakeholders, the IG found, and the career staffers ultimately did not sign their names to final documents due to management’s revisions.

“Scientists reported that changes from senior management did not make sense and seemed to convey a lack of understanding of the data or analyses,” the IG said. “Multiple scientists said they felt directed to change the science to support a certain decision and that the reasons for senior managers’ requested changes were not documented.”
https://www.govexec.com/management/2021/05/epa-admits-altering-science-under-trump-pledges-new-course/174295/

That’s right! The Trump administration deliberately altered the science on pesticides to make it seem like potentially dangerous pesticides were safe! If you want to get rid of the bees, there’s a way to do that. But the Trump administration is inherently evil in this regard. But here’s the weird part about this is that the people investigating the EPA are telling the EPA that they need to put up or shut up when it comes to these banned substances.

A federal appeals court on April 29 ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to quickly determine whether a pesticide linked to brain damage in children should be banned, saying the agency had delayed acting on the widely used bug-killer chlorpyrifos for nearly 14 years.

In a 2-1 decision, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the EPA to act on a possible ban within 60 days.

"The EPA has spent more than a decade assembling a record of chlorpyrifos's ill effects," U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff wrote. "Yet, rather than ban the pesticide or reduce the tolerances to levels that the EPA can find are reasonably certain to cause no harm, the EPA has sought to evade, through one delaying tactic after another, its plain statutory duties."

Rakoff and U.S. Circuit Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen ordered the EPA to decide within 60 days whether the pesticide is safe, including for infants and children, or ban it.

U.S. Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, in dissent, said 60 days was too short, "likely predetermining EPA's option'' and forcing a ban.
https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2021/04/30/appeals-court-epa-ban-pesticide-decide-its-safe/7410347002/

So how did the Trump administration get so reckless in terms of the environment? Well that was the job they were elected to do – is to neglect everything and make banned substances cool again. Seriously if the EPA were to ban poison, these guys would start buying poison in droves. But it’s good to see that the Biden administration is putting the kibosh on most of the nonsense coming directly from the people appointed by the former administration to wreak havoc.

Multiple scientists said and emails showed that after a senior management review, the assistant administrator’s office gave scientists an outline for rewriting an impact analysis document that removed several sections of the original, the watchdog said.

One scientist alleged that senior management in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention told them to use company data for reported dicamba damages instead of EPA data.

Another scientist told the inspector general that senior management and policymakers decided that plant height should be used to measure dicamba’s effects instead of visual signs of plant injury, a standard used in academic and company studies. The report said that this direction changed the scientific conclusions.

In an email to The Hill, Erik Baptist, who served as the deputy assistant administrator in the EPA's chemicals office at the time of the dicamba decision, said that top officials were involved because of the importance of the issue.

"Senior career and appointed leaders pay particular attention to every decision that may have a significant national impact. The 2018 dicamba decision was no different," he said. "For senior leaders not to be 'more involved in the dicamba decision than in other pesticide registration decisions' would have been a dereliction of responsibility."
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/555174-trump-epa-changed-scientific-analyses-pesticide-re-approval-watchdog

Yeah so be sure to comply with EPA standards or your town might get sealed in an unescapable dome that engulfs the whole landscape. But here’s why screwing with science and endangering the environment is dangerous and reckless. Because they are not only toxic to insects but they are toxic to humans as well. Of course when the other administration is in charge, anything bad is good and anything good is bad. Well, let’s let sane, rational people make these decisions, OK?

A new report shows that 4% of California produce sold in grocery stores contains illegal amounts of harmful pesticides. While regulators say this is well within safe limits, advocates say they find that statement "alarming."

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has found that 4% of fruits and vegetables tested in 2019 had illegal amounts of pesticide residue, in line with the past five years' test results. Advocates called for even greater gains, maintaining all fruits and vegetables should be safe to eat.

A spokeswoman for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation said they share that goal.

"We also want to see 100% of fruits and vegetables have no detectable pesticides on them. That's our goal," said California Department of Pesticide Regulation's Abbott Dutton. "That's why we do this report and monitoring. We want to see those low levels as well."
https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2021/05/25/california-finds-4-percent-fruits-vegetables-contaminated-pesticide/5199617001/

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

[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! I gather before you because this is the last time we will meet for this season like we are currently doing. But when we come back in July, we are coming back at full strength! That’s right – the live Holy Shit production that you all know and love is coming back. And you know what? We had this whole thing planned about conservatives vs vaccines, but I didn’t like where it was going. So we’re just going to wing it and free form for this entry. Because you know what? I’m going on vacation and anything that’s a problem at 3:30 on Friday is next Monday’s problem. But what I want to talk about this week is that conservatives just don’t seem to care. And there’s no low that they won’t stoop to, and it’s already a low bar to begin with!

Religious-right leaders, including the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, promoted former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and actively supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election. And religious-right activists have downplayed the seriousness of the Capitol insurrection and promoted gaslighting claims that insurrectionists were not really Trump supporters. So, it should come as no surprise that Perkins and other religious-right leaders are giving cover to Republican efforts to resist fact-finding and truth-telling about the Jan. 6 insurrection.

In Thursday’s edition of Perkins’ “Washington Update” email newsletter, Perkins claimed that “the far-Left” is trying to “turn the Capitol riots into a synonym for jihadist terrorism,” adding, “Republicans want to know: what’s the point?” Perkins continued:

Pursuing a 9/11-type probe would only politicize the tragedy even more. Besides, there’s already a nationwide investigation into the events of that horrible day. It’s called law enforcement. To add another layer of expensive, partisan, government-sponsored fault-finding sounds like just another DNC fundraising gimmick. And the American people know it.

Perkins’ article promoted Republican leaders’ talking points that Democrats were not interested in compromise and were just looking for a way to “weaponize what happened in January and take voters’ minds off of the White House’s dismal performance.” He called it “political theater” that is “about creating a narrative, aided by the media, that all Republicans are dangerous extremists.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/family-research-council-backs-gop-leaders-on-jan-6-commission-whats-the-point/

Seriously, you guys worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! A man so disgusting that his name shall not be mentioned in my church! What’s the point? To find out what the truth was behind that horrible attack on Congress! And then once again, the people who we mock as prophets are back and this time they’re doubling down on the crazy. For that’s not what our savior, the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now, is it? He would be mocking these false prophets!

Self-proclaimed “prophet” Robin Bullock used last Tuesday’s “The Eleventh Hour” church service to warn those who attack or criticize him and other “prophets” that they will be punished by God with insanity for daring to “mock the mouthpiece of God.”

Bullock is among the group of self-proclaimed “prophets” who guaranteed that former President Donald Trump would win the 2020 election and now adamantly refuse to accept that they were wrong even though Joe Biden has been president for four months. Bullock was upset that Biden did not confess that he is “not the legitimate president” and step down as Bullock had commanded last month, and that people dared to mock him for making such a demand.

“There’s prophets of great magnitude speaking everywhere right now, but yet they attack them,” Bullock griped. “The groups that represent abominations before the Lord, the LGBTQ—whatever they call themselves, plus whatever they add—attacking prophets. You’re ripping the mantles of prophets, and you’ve determined your time of falling.”

“However you treat the mouth of God, it determines your future,” he continued. “It’s a dangerous thing to tear the garment of a prophet. That’s a dangerous thing to mock the mouthpiece of God. It’s very dangerous to do such a thing as that. Very dangerous. Once that happens, it leads to one thing: It leads to insanity.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/self-proclaimed-prophet-robin-bullock-says-those-who-mock-him-will-be-driven-insane-by-god/

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I think it is you who are the crazy one, Mr. Bullock! Because of you we spent two weeks covering these insane people who think they’re prophets, and I feel like we’ll be spending many more at that! And speaking of these so-called prophets, why do they always gravitate towards the unholy Dark One? I mean is that we’re we are at in 2021? This is another one of those insane prophecies that should not be, but look Biden won the election, we all knew that! Because JAYSUS would hate the Dark One!

Self-proclaimed “prophetess” Kat Kerr appeared on the Elijah Streams YouTube channel last Wednesday, where she declared that Christians are under no obligation to pray for President Joe Biden because, despite all appearances, he is not actually “in authority.”

Kerr—who is among the group of self-proclaimed “prophets” who guaranteed that former President Donald Trump would win the 2020 election and now adamantly refuse to accept that their prophecies were wrong even though Biden has been in office for nearly four months—outright dismissed the Bible’s command that Christians pray for their political leaders.

Romans 13 declares that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment,” while 1 Timothy 2 instructs that “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

But Kerr insisted that these commands are not binding on Christians today because Biden supposedly stole the election and is therefore not legitimately “in authority.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/kat-kerr-says-christians-shouldnt-pray-for-biden-because-he-is-not-legitimately-in-authority/

And that devil is people who worship the unholy Dark One! But that said, did you know that we are locked in spiritual warfare of the highest caliber? And this battle for our very SOULS will consume the planet! But not really, it’s just people who are caught up in the Fox News culture wars. But it does sicken me, though it does not shock me, that there are people like this who are “spiritual warriors” for the unholy Dark One. I think I see a future sermon in which we divulge the cult-like mind of those who do worship that mad man!

Mario Murillo, an evangelist who has actively promoted false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from former President Donald Trump, told Charisma’s Stephen Strang that the church needs leaders like World War II Gen. George Patton with the “audacity” and “courage” to “take the offense” in the country’s political and cultural wars.

Strang interviewed Murillo in preparation for Strang’s upcoming book, “God and Cancel Culture,” and published the interview as a podcast. Murillo told Strang that revival is at hand because, he asserted, God is exposing what Murillo claimed were attributes of what he called “wokeness”: racism, hypocrisy, and what he described as the “radical nature of cancel culture.”

Murillo said that Christians need to reread the biblical book of Esther to understand how to counter what the right calls “cancel culture.” In the story, Esther intervened with the king to save her people from a planned genocide. Murillo said she was put in such a position by God “for the sake of resisting evil law,” something he said “the church has forgotten how to do.”

Murillo said he had told thousands of pastors in California to resist public health orders to close their churches, adding that “every pastor is in essence a freedom fighter now.” Patton didn’t want his men digging foxholes, Murillo told Strang, he wanted them “taking the offensive to the enemy.” Murillo called for a spirit of “anointed resistance” against socialism, wokeness, and cancel culture.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mario-murillo-god-is-destroying-wokeness-and-the-church-needs-gen-pattons-to-win-the-war/

And I’m sure there are a lot of them! All right folks, I am out of here for a couple of weeks! I will see you all in July! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Conservatives vs CDC
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So if you were born in the 80s like me, you’ll probably remember a little show called “Pee Wee’s Playhouse”. The show starred character actor Paul Reubens playing the host of a children’s show named Pee Wee Herman. And one of the most popular routines from that show was Pee Wee attempting to brush off childish insults by saying “I know you are, but what am I?”. That was pretty much my mantra in elementary school. And that flied in 1986. It does not fly in 2021. So 35 years later, that’s pretty much the mantra of the entire republican party. And it does not work while we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. And you know what? Listen to the CDC, people! They don’t fuck around when it comes to this kind of stuff. If they issue guidelines saying you shouldn’t kiss chickens, maybe, I don’t know, don’t kiss chickens!!

The CDC recently announced that 163 people in 43 states were reported to have caught Salmonella, and a common thread is contact with backyard chickens.

Lots of folks have chickens in South Dakota, the Administrator of Rapid City Hens, Cody Brown, has an idea as to why.

“I grew up around farms in Nebraska. I’ve always had this inkling or wanting to have chickens,” says Brown. “So, there’s nutritional value. Eggs are healthy. Also, being neighborly. Having the ability to share eggs with neighbors. It’s a hobby, it can be stress relieving.”

A third of those who contracted the disease were children, and those younger than five or older than 65 are at risk for a more severe case. Of the 163 cases, 34 caused hospitalization. The CDC would like for people to be aware of ways to protect themselves.

If you’re not too chicken to hold onto one of the little critters, there’s a few things to keep in mind to make sure that you’re doing it safely. For example, don’t kiss or snuggle the birds.
https://www.kotatv.com/2021/05/21/cdc-says-be-cautious-cuddling-chickens/

But this isn’t the first time conservatives have flaunted the rules or mocked CDC guidelines, in fact, they’re famous for it. Florida Man himself Ron DeSantis is attempting to reboot the cruise industry which has been docked since the start of the pandemic. Of course it seems that deadly diseases don’t mean jack shit to them, nor do the 550,000 dead from the pandemic. So yeah if you want a lesson in what not to do, look to Florida!

Gov. Ron DeSantis for weeks has trumpeted Florida’s lawsuit against the CDC in a bid to restart the state’s shuttered cruise industry.

Mediation ordered — Well, there’s no victory yet in sight for the Republican governor. Late Tuesday, a federal judge declined to grant the preliminary injunction sought by attorneys for the state. Instead, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday directed the two sides to try to settle the case, ordering that mediation occur between now and June 1.

Showdown — The ruling follows a lengthy hearing last week where attorneys for DeSantis and state Attorney General Ashley Moody asserted that federal officials had overstepped their authority by imposing rules on cruise liners. The federal government has questioned why Florida waited months to challenge the rules and contends the state lacks any standing to file its lawsuit. (Hmm, could it be that DeSantis didn't want to sue until it was no longer the Trump administration pushing these rules?)

Timing — It’s not unusual for judges to order mediation, but Merryday's order undercuts the push by DeSantis and Moody to get a federal judge to quickly block the CDC from enforcing its orders. There were signs that sailing could possibly resume by mid-July, meaning that the litigation may not do much to speed up that timeline. But the lawsuit — which has not been backed by any of the major cruise lines — has given DeSantis an opportunity to rail against the bureaucrats who imposed the orders.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/florida-playbook/2021/05/19/desantis-denied-victory-in-cdc-lawsuit-farmer-vs-book-stench-vs-bs-mast-joins-rebellion-over-mask-rules-gets-fined-492906

Oh come on, has anyone even seen a chicken? So deadly diseases don’t mean anything to them, how about food poisoning? That is the whole reason behind these guidelines. I mean come on, they elected a Congresswoman whose gun-themed restaurant sent people to the ER for cases of food poisoning and volatile diarrhea. So of course it’s no wonder that they’re going to skirt the rules when it comes to CDC guidelines regarding food poisoning.

Fox News Host Tucker Carlson did a segment on Friday night about a CDC news release entitled CDC Investigating New Outbreaks of Salmonella Infections Linked to Backyard Poultry. One thing missing from the 4:47 minute piece? Any mention of the Salmonella outbreak linked to backyard poultry flocks.

Instead of telling his viewers that ongoing Salmonella outbreaks had been linked to contact with backyard poultry and what they could do to protect themselves, Carlson framed the segment as though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just randomly decided to tell people who “snuggle” chickens how to live their lives.

“Like all obedient Americans, we’re pretty dialed in to what the CDC has to say about our lives. Every day we check for new guidance and we have new guidance. For once, it has nothing to do with the coronavirus. This guidance from the CDC is about chickens. The CDC is warning Americans about chickens and we’re quoting now don’t kiss or snuggle backyard poultry and don’t eat or drink around them,” Carlson began the segment. “That raises the question who are these chicken touchers that the CDC is concerned about? We’re not judging as we ask that. We’d just like to know. Are there people in this country who snuggle chickens? There are, we found one. Here she is,” Carlson said, before rolling a clip dated 2016 of a young woman identified in the chyron as “Tiara, 27, chicken enthusiast.”

When the clip was done, present-day Tiara Soleim appeared on-screen holding a rooster. (The 2016 footage was from her turn as a contestant on the 20th season of the ABC show The Bachelor.) “It feels like you’ve been singled out by the CDC for criticism. How does that feel?” Carlson asked. Soleim, who keeps a flock of 30 chickens, said she wasn’t a fan of the advice. Carlson said humans have a long history with poultry and, overlooking poultry farmers and family farms in rural America who have been keeping poultry for hundreds of years, added that Soleim is just living the way people used to live.
https://foodpoisoningbulletin.com/2021/tucker-carlsons-chicken-snuggling-bit-omits-salmonella-outbreak/

Seriously guys you should know what a chicken looks like! And of course Tucker would know that the foremost expert to turn to on chickens is a former Bachelor contestant. Conservatives, take heart and listen to what I’m about to tell you. I know you try to look more intelligent than people who actually are experts, but the next time you mock actual experts, you should know that is you who is the fool. Ah, see what I did there?

Tucker Carlson on Friday took a break from peddling white supremacist rhetoric and sowing doubt about COVID-19 vaccines on his show via a segment attacking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ― with a chicken.

The Fox News personality welcomed former “Bachelor” contestant and self-described “chicken enthusiast” Tiara Soleim to rail against the CDC’s new advice on limiting salmonella outbreaks in backyard poultry.

“Don’t kiss or snuggle backyard poultry, and don’t eat or drink around them,” the CDC warned on Thursday. “This can spread Salmonella germs to your mouth and make you sick.”

“Now that raises the question, who are these chicken touchers out there that the CDC is concerned about?” Carlson kicked off the segment. “We’re not judging as we ask that. Are there people in this country that snuggle chickens?”

Carlson then introduced Soleim, who was holding a chicken in her arms.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-chicken-enthusiast_n_60a8e6d2e4b0313547975a3a

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We are of course coming to you live from our underground Doomsday Bunker deep in the flats of the New Mexico badlands. Undisclosed location of course. But first let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read my thoughts. And don’t forget the creepy oldies music. Every doomsday shelter has creepy oldies’ music. Well this week a bunch of gun nuts are creating a conspiracy of their own. We’ve repeatedly talked about rural Oregon’s quest to leave for redder pastures in Ohio. But this week we found out one of their own might be running for governor – that’s right, our old buddy, king conspiracy theorist himself Ammon Bundy. So here’s how that could play out.

Anti-government provocateur Ammon Bundy filed papers to run for governor in Idaho next year, even though he's not currently registered to vote or legally allowed to set foot on Capitol grounds.

Secretary of State candidacy records show Bundy listing his address as a post-office box in Emmett, with a local contractor, Aaron Welling, acting as treasurer.

He would be seeking the 2022 GOP nomination for the state's top post, currently held by Republican Brad Little. The governor had been unsuccessfully targeted for recall by anti-government activists unhappy with shutdowns he ordered in response to the pandemic.

Bundy told NBC News on Monday he's not yet formally announced a gubernatorial run, but wants to begin building an organization for a potential candidacy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/noted-anti-government-activist-ammon-bundy-running-governor-idaho-n1268317

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Let’s get something straight her e – the guy who hates government so much that he raided a bird sanctuary is now running for the governor of Idaho? That would be like a guy who hates Elon Musk buying stock in Dogecoin! But if somehow this happens and the rooting tooting, freeway shooting cowboy does become governor of Idaho, he’ll have some more territory to occupy, and we wish we were making this up!

Political divisions in Oregon can to a great degree be measured by a river, the Deschutes, which winds its circuitous way through the state’s midsection. The river divides the high prairies of the eastern half — agricultural and politically conservative, largely — from the wetter, woodier western half, which has long been more populated and more liberal.

The statewide shutdown orders that accompanied the coronavirus pandemic last year deepened those divisions, crippling businesses at a time when some rural counties had few cases. The protests and riots over race and police conduct in Portland, the state’s largest city, widened the gap further still, and the defeat of former President Donald Trump, who won most counties but still lost the state by a big margin after President Joe Biden’s strong showing in the cities, capped off a litany of frustrations.

Last week, all of that led thousands of east bank residents to a single resonant but highly improbable word: secession. A majority of residents in five eastern counties said in nonbinding votes that they would like to leave Oregon and join with their more like-minded conservative neighbors further east in Idaho..
“Those of us in rural Oregon are written off,” said Mike McCarter, a retired agricultural nursery owner who has led the secession drive.
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/their-own-private-idaho-5-oregon-counties-back-a-plan-to-secede/

Yes, it’s all about the greater good. THE GREATER GOOD! So rural Oregon voters feel they are being left behind by big city Oregon voters and it’s understandable. I mean I’m sure Oregon has bigger fish to fry right now with the weekly Proud Boys – Antifa cage matches in the city of Portland. And we’re still puzzled at this one because Biden overwhelmingly defeated that other guy in Oregon by a huge landslide victory.

Voters in five rural Oregon counties approved measures on Tuesday to consider joining the state of Idaho, a part of a long-shot grassroots movement to break with a state dominated by liberal voters west of the Cascade Mountains.

Voters in Malheur, Sherman, Grant, Baker and Lake counties all approved measures that would require county officials to take steps to promote moving the Idaho border west to incorporate their populations.

Oregon voters favored President Biden over former President Trump by a 56 percent to 40 percent margin in 2020, but voters in those five rural counties gave between 69 percent and 79 percent of the vote to Trump.

They join two other rural counties — Jefferson and Union — whose voters approved measures promoting a move to Idaho last year.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/554332-oregon-counties-vote-to-secede-to-idaho

OK so disgruntled Oreganites are planning to ditch Blue Oregon for Red Idaho. What happens after the vote to secede? Well I mean first of all they have to spell “secede” before they can secede. Let’s not kid ourselves here! And here’s the thing they should know before they go through with this – they’re not getting any new representation here! New Idaho will have as much representation as the previous Idaho, it just got more rural. Think about that guys!

Idaho could be getting a lot bigger if some voters in Oregon get their way.

Thousands of people in eastern Oregon voted Tuesday for their elected officials to consider ditching their state and becoming part of Idaho.

Voters in Sherman, Lake, Grant, Baker and Malheur counties all voted for ballot measures that would lead to them becoming Idahoans. People in Union and Jefferson counties had already voted in favor during the November election.

Baker County’s election results weren’t yet available on the Oregon Secretary of State’s page, but the Baker City Herald reported that a majority — 3,064 to 2,307 — voted in favor of county commissioners “meet(ing) three times per year to discuss a proposal to include 18 counties, including Baker, as part of Idaho.”

The vote is only the first step of the “Greater Idaho” project, which would allow some Oregon counties to join a state that advocates say more closely aligns with their political preferences.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article251530708.html

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

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb. So I wanted to clarify – we have a pretty strict definition of what qualifies for a People Are Dumb story. We’re not going to discuss the story of the woman who left her $26 million winning lottery ticket in her pants pocket. I got a lot of requests for this one. That’s not dumb, that’s just carelessness. This week we’re going to do something a bit different for People Are Dumb. We’re going to talk about fails involving the Tesla Auto Pilot system. See here’s the thing that people just don’t seem to get about the Tesla Autopilot: It’s not an actual self-driving system. Even the California DMV is considering implementing rules against the self-driving system. But this is why I wanted to do this, this week, is because of this dolt out of UC Berkeley who’s been caught multiple times riding in the backseat while his Tesla was on autopilot.

The unwritten golden rule of partially automated vehicles is simple: don't be dumb. Apparently, this rule needs to be a little more profound (or mandated), because despite laws and standards being set in place to define vehicle automation, some people just don't seem to get it. Fortunately, the California Highway Patrol does.

On Tuesday, the CHP arrested 25-year-old Param Sharma, a Tesla driver whose presence was made viral after photos and videos of him riding in the back seat of his Model 3 circulated on social media.

The CHP says that on May 10, it received several complaints from motorists regarding a Tesla Model 3 traveling on the highway without a driver in the front seat. An officer spotted the vehicle near the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza and initiated a traffic stop where the rear passenger was seen moving into the driver's seat. The officer then arrested Sharma and charged him with two counts of reckless driving and disobeying a Peace Officer.

Apparently, Sharma is no stranger to backseat driving, as the CHP acknowledges that he was cited previously on April 27 for similar behavior. On May 8, the CHP publicly acknowledged that they were aware of a similar stunt that was captured and posted to YouTube just three days earlier, noting that they were actively investigating the incident.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/40575/california-police-arrest-serial-backseat-tesla-driver-for-abusing-autopilot

And here’s what makes this insane. Every time he gets out of jail, he goes and buys a new Tesla because – I’m quoting – he’s “very rich”. Gee, who does that remind me of? Well it certainly wouldn’t remind me of anyone who recently served in the White House, that’s for sure. Yeah, no, nobody comes to mind in that regard. But 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!

Just yesterday we told you about a serial Autopilot abuser—a man who has caused an uproar online after constantly posting videos of himself riding in the back seat of his Tesla Model 3 while Autopilot keeps the car on the road. Today, however, just two days after being arrested and having his Tesla confiscated, he's back at it again—in a new Tesla. As the saying goes: old habits die hard.

25-year-old Param Sharma is back to posting videos of himself doing the very thing he was apprehended for, though this time with a new Model 3 that he claims to have bought right after getting out of prison.

California police announced on Tuesday that they had arrested Sharma on May 10 for two counts of reckless driving and disobeying a Peace Officer after receiving complaints of a man riding in the back of a Tesla Model 3 while nobody was behind the steering wheel. Police impounded his Model 3 for evidence in his upcoming trial, which is scheduled for July.

Within 18 hours after being released, Sharma was once again posting videos on Instagram from the back seat of another Tesla.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/40591/jailed-autopilot-abuser-buys-another-tesla-immediately-starts-riding-in-back-seat

Oh and if you think this is an isolated incident, I’m here to tell you that you are wrong. Let’s check out this incident from Wisconsin where a man decided to test the limits of the Tesla Autopilot and literally slept behind the wheel of the car while it was going 80 miles an hour! It’s truly amazing no one was hurt or killed by this act of insanity. The Tesla Autopilot is not an actual autopilot! What about this are people still not getting?

Wisconsin authorities ticketed a man who was seen sleeping behind the wheel of his Tesla as the car drove itself in a mode known as Autopilot, according to a sheriff’s report.

The Kenosha County sheriff reported that shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday, a deputy drove alongside the 2019 Tesla and observed its driver dozing as the car hurtled along Interstate 94, according to NBC News reporting.

The deputy tried to perform a traffic stop but noted that “the driver was not pulling over as he followed behind it for approximately 2 miles at 82 mph through Kenosha County.”

Eventually, after the deputy again pulled alongside the Tesla, the driver woke up and stopped the vehicle. According to the report, the driver denied being asleep but admitted being tired, and he was issued a citation for “inattentive driving.”
https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2021/05/22/tesla-driver-slept-as-car-was-going-over-80-mph-on-autopilot-wisconsin-officials-say/

Again, not that kind of auto pilot. That’s Otto Pilot, and that’s a totally different kind of self-driving system and it’s not approve for cars yet. And by the way there’s incidents of these all over the country, and all in the last month. See? This is what qualifies for a People Are Dumb story – people who don’t read the instruction manuals before operating! And this is why I wanted to do this segment this week, because of idiots like this.

Federal vehicle safety regulators opened a new investigation into a second Tesla crash this month after a Model Y that was reportedly operating in Autopilot struck a stationary police car early Wednesday morning in Michigan, according to officials.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration was already investigating an unrelated Tesla collision in Detroit less than a week ago.

“Consistent with NHTSA’s vigilant oversight and robust authority over the safety of all motor vehicles and equipment, including automated technologies, we have launched a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the crash,” NHTSA said in a statement to CNBC.

Autopilot is Tesla’s driver assistance system that comes standard with all of its newer models.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/17/tesla-in-autopilot-hits-police-car-in-michigan-officials-say.html

That’s kind of how I feel driving a Tesla, anyways! But this poses an interesting question to insurance companies – when you crash, who pays? I’m sure this has been the center of debate of many insurance providers and I would love to hear some of those conversations. In the event of stupidity by driver using Autopilot… who does pay? Should Tesla be at fault or should it be the stupidity of the driver? We vote stupidity of the driver.

The advent of self-driving cars is raising questions in the insurance sector about who should pay when the vehicles crash and how insurers will set equitable rates.

When cars can operate themselves, the central question will be whether accidents are the manufacturer’s responsibility and therefore covered by product liability insurance or whether the fault would lie with the driver and be covered by personal auto insurance.

While even today’s most advanced cars aren’t fully autonomous, experts say such cars are coming and the insurance question will only become more urgent. When a Tesla crashed near Houston last month, killing the two occupants, the initial focus was on Tesla’s self-driving technology, prompting CEO Elon Musk to deny that the car in question had those capabilities.

Musk said data logs showed the car didn’t have a full self-driving computer installation and the automaker’s separate “Autopilot” feature wasn’t enabled. Tesla says Autopilot requires active driver supervision and that no Tesla cars are completely autonomous. Police said no one was in the driver’s seat when the car crashed into a tree.
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/05/25/insurers-ask-who-pays-when-self-driving-vehicles-crash/

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Stupidest State
[br] [/font] [br]

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

Folks, welcome to the finals! That’s right – we have survived the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, and of course the Final Four! Last week, Georgia stunned Michigan with a last second three pointer to win the Layover League and advance to their first championship in state history! Meanwhile, Texas once again towers over the Flyover League and could cement their title championship, once again making them the state with the most wins in NFFSA history! Enough of the pre-game commentary, let’s get to the final round of action! Who will win it all? Georgia or Texas? The winner will win the title and the loser will go home! So let’s go to the floor in Phoenix for more!

[font size="4"]Stupidest State 2021 Championship: Georgia Vs Texas [/font]

[font size="2"]Layover League Champion: Georgia [/font]

The Peach State has powered over all of their competition to win the Layover League. And why not – their credentials are strong! They may have turned blue, and while you can take the red out of Georgia, you can’t take Georgia out of the red. Last we checked with the Peach State they were involved in not one but two scandals over laws. The first was Georgia’s controversial voter suppression law, which many have compared to the Jim Crow days. But do people really know what Jim Crow is or what he really stood for? Or is it just misdirected outrage at the real problems in society? Well there’s more than a lot to unpack here.

Democrats and voting rights activists have branded Georgia’s new election law “Jim Crow 2.0,” the modern equivalent of voter suppression tactics that disenfranchised Black Americans for nearly a century after the Civil War.

They say new identification requirements, limits on ballot drop boxes and other provisions of the law are a deliberate attempt to suppress voters of color who helped deliver Georgia to President Joe Biden and the U.S. Senate to Democrats in recent elections.

“Republicans wrote Georgia’s voting laws, and those laws were just fine until Republicans started losing elections because of high turnout of Black voters and voters of color writ large,” said Seth Bringman of Fair Fight, a voting rights group. “This bill is a backlash to the expression of Black Americans’ power, just like Jim Crow 1.0.”

Republicans and other supporters of Senate Bill 202 say such comparisons are false and offensive. They say the bill’s provisions are in the mainstream of U.S. voting laws and that labeling them “Jim Crow” has led to consequences such as Major League Baseball’s decision to pull this year’s All-Star game out of Georgia.
https://www.ajc.com/politics/calls-of-jim-crow-spark-debate-about-georgia-election-law/ZCQ6LWZMEFDWXF6YYLHLDVLJE4/

Add this to yet another reason in the very long list of reasons why Georgia’s republicans suck so very much! But there is some good news is that there’s quite a few lawsuits on the books that could challenge and upset this most draconian of laws. But then again with a 6 -3 SCOTUS and half of them Trump appointees, it will be interesting to see how the MAGA court sides on this one. Also too, they have been full of surprises lately.

The fight over Georgia's sweeping 98-page voting law has moved from the legislature to the courts, as a number of civil rights and voting rights groups have filed lawsuits challenging various parts of the omnibus as unconstitutional and in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

SB 202, also known as the "Election Integrity Act of 2021," alters virtually every aspect of Georgia's election administration, from narrowing the absentee ballot request window to requiring ballots to be counted nonstop once the polls close and everything in between. After Democrats flipped the state's electoral votes in November and both U.S. Senate seats in January, Republican officials at every level of government have pushed false claims about the security and accuracy of Georgia's election system, including former President Trump's attempts to overturn his electoral defeat.

Supporters of SB 202 in the legislature say it was necessary to make changes to help restore confidence in elections, after many Republicans stayed home for the runoff.

Republican Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement that his office has observed a "significant amount of misinformation" about the new law and it is his duty to defend the laws of the state.
https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/05/19/here-are-all-the-lawsuits-challenging-georgias-new-voting-law

Oh you know it’s bad when the entire crowd joins in! But remember that other law that Brian Kemp recently signed? You know the one that promises that NCAA athletes can finally get paid for their work but they must redistribute the wealth? And yes, conservative s hate wealth redistribution because that’s inherently socialist. But the one interesting thing about this new law is that it highlights the differences between the haves and have nots:

With much help from NCAA officials, state legislatures and the inevitable becoming reality, college sports is going from walking to sprinting down that dark, slippery and narrow road of paying athletes.

It won’t end pretty.

Not unless we’re talking pretty ugly.

As this money to college players keeps expanding in different ways, particularly in regard to big-time recruits in football, you can forget the Power Five conferences. Soon, we’ll have the Power Five teams.

OK, we’ll likely have more teams than that, but not as many as you think. For verification of income-related horrors to come in college sports — including that day when the Supreme Court (or maybe just the NCAA) says all athletes should get paid, period — we needn’t go further than the state of Georgia.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/terencemoore/2021/05/10/brian-kemp-georgia-law-ncaa-and-others-letting-college-athletes-get-paid-is-selfish/

[font size="2"]Flyover League Champion: Texas [/font]

Last we checked the Lone Star State crushed all competitors in the Gun Nut Conference, towered over the competition to win the Flyover League. They say everything is bigger in Texas, everyone of course knows this for a fact! One thing we also know is bigger in Texas is their police departments. And American police have come under fire in the last year in the wake of the George Floyd murder, and rightfully so. Police militarization is a very tricky subject. But what makes this even worse is that Texas not only doesn’t care, they’ve made it worse! Which is what Texas tends to do!

Efforts to change policing in Texas in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer last year have mostly failed.

The Legislature had been considering the George Floyd Act – an omnibus bill announced last summer, and introduced by Rep. Senfronia Thompson and Sen. Royce West at the beginning of the session. But Rice University political science professor Mark Jones tells Texas Standard that the bill was “chopped up” into smaller bills, many of which have failed to progress.

“Once it started going through piecemeal … there were just lots of barriers,” he said.

The strongest resistance came from police unions. Jones says their biggest concern was protecting so-called qualified immunity – something the bill would have removed. Qualified immunity protects officers from state civil rights lawsuits.

Read more: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/george-floyd-act-mostly-fails-in-texas-legislature-after-being-chopped-up-into-smaller-bills/

Oh and that’s not the only thing they’re compensating either. But Texas is very fucked up thanks to 40 years of reckless conservative policies. Policing isn’t the only thing that is hampering Texas at the moment. You know what else Texas leads the country in? The number of citizens who got arrested for the January 6th insurrection of the United States Capitol. That’s right – there’s an alarming number of MAGAs in Texas and they??re getting louder and angrier.

Texans are leading the nation in the number of arrests for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as supporters of former President Donald Trump violently disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify President Joe Biden’s election.

Months later, the U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating and arresting accused rioters, including Adam Weibling, a Katy area man the FBI arrested on Tuesday. Congress may launch its own independent investigation into the insurrection through a 9/11-style, bipartisan commission, though the measure's prospects in the Senate appear dim.

Meanwhile, some on the right are playing down the violence of a riot that left five people dead, including a U.S. Capitol police officer, and about 140 police officers injured. U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Tyler Republican, recently gave an hour-long speech on the House floor in which he called the vast majority of those accused “peaceful Americans” whose only crime was supporting Trump. The outgoing president had urged supporters to march on the Capitol.

And in court documents released by the Department of Justice in the 44 cases involving Texans, vivid details have emerged about what they allegedly did that day. Some face charges for being caught on camera inside the Capitol and little else. Others are accused of wielding makeshift weapons against the police — tomahawks, chemical spray, a skateboard and a firecracker — as they fought their way into the building.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texans-storming-Capitol-Court-records-insurrection-16202141.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

And yes we kid here, but that really is how the rest of America sees Texas. I mean come on, even a throwaway joke on Thor: Ragnarok shows that even beings from other worlds have a stereotype of Texas, so it’s not just us! You know what Texas is doing? They’re allowing guns to be carried into bars now! Yeah give a bunch of drunk people guns and see where that goes! File this one under “things that won’t end well”!

The Firearm Carry Act allowing many Texans to carry a handgun without a permit is waiting for the governor's signature.

The bill was contentious enough but, now, Central Texas Gunworks owner Michael Cargill is concerned a change during the pandemic could lead to unintended consequences for bars that may still operate as restaurants.

"So that means the majority of bars that are on Sixth Street, starting Sept. 1, unlicensed people will be able to carry in there," he said.

Cargill is referring to the bars that have transformed into restaurants after COVID-19 hit. They did it to stay in business.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission approved rules last year that made it easier for bars to legally operate as restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. No word how long the rules will last.
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/texas/austin-gun-shop-owner-says-new-permitless-carry-law-will-allow-guns-into-bars-that-are-operating-as-restaurants/269-819a1c78-2371-4f90-bd7b-533e7d602cb0

[font size="2"]And The Winner Is: [/font]

Folks we have a winner!!!!!!!!!! Texas has utterly routed Georgia to win the 2021 Stupidest State contest! They are celebrating on the court, it is absolute madness! They started as a number 2 seed, they are number one! Texas has defeated Georgia by a final score of 101 – 85! Congratulations to Texas, they have won it all and are our new 2021 NFFSA Stupidest State Champions! This is their second title in NFFSA history and another storied franchise in the league!

[font size="4"]Trophy Presentation [/font]

[font size="4"]Locker Room Celebration [/font]

[font size="4"]Statement From The Commissioner [/font]

Congratulations to Texas for becoming our 2021 Stupidest State! They survived the odds and shocked the pundits to claw their way to the top of the NFFSA! I’d like to thank Texas coach Dan Patrick for being a shining example of conservative idiocy and Greg Abbott for being the predictable gun-toting lunatic we all thought he would be! Yes, we have been renewed through season 12 which means that the NFFSA will be back in 2022! I’d like to thank my staff, my crew, the beautiful people at Talking Stick Resort Arena and State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona for being the hosts of this tournament! But most importantly I’d like to thank you, the fans for making this possible year after year! We almost didn’t make it last year, but we survived this year to be stronger than ever. Now let’s all sing that song that we all know and love!

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

Folks, before we get out of here, we have our first live performance of 2021! I’m extremely honored to welcome one of my all time favorite bands, their new album is called “Medicine At Midnight”. Playing their song “No Son Of Mine”, give it up for the one, the only, Foo Fighters!

Some announcements: Folks, we have reached the end of one of the more bizarre seasons of the Top 10 (mainly because the events of 1/6 totally derailed our plans to start to the season).And I've got a lot of requests for it, but the answer remains no: we will not be putting out our "Goodbye To The Trump Administration" special. I just do not feel like putting that asshole on a pedestal anymore than I already have, and the events of 1/6 are the reason why we won't be saying goodbye. I would like to thank my staff, my crew, and of course my fans! First the bad news: We’re going to take a bit of time off in the summer but don’t worry, we will be running a Best Of for season 11 on June 10th and a viewer mail bag Best Of on June 17th, and a hybrid mailbag Best Of with new material on June 24th. And the good news: We will return with the new season on July 8th! Also live Idiots will resume in July! Save the date! Live Idiots dates will be announced on the June 17th edition!

See you in July!

Credits

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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded At: Observatory OC, Santa Ana, CA
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May 20, 2021

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-15: The Gang Creates The Gas Crisis Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-15: The Gang Creates The Gas Crisis Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How is everybody doing tonight? I mean look at all you beautiful people! So happy to be back doing this shit in front of a live audience again! Look, we’ve been cooped up at home way too long. But I do have some great news – live Idiots are coming back! That’s right – after nearly a year of being locked down and doing this thing from home, then in what seemed like forever in front of that blank, blue void, live Idiots are finally coming back! We’ll be announcing the tour during our Season 11 best of on 6/16! Also – starting in season 11, we’re dusting off the famous Wheel Of Corruption! That’s right – the wheel you know and love is coming back! Unfortunately we were putting this thing together this week so we won’t have time for the Matt Gaetz scandal or the Mississippi abortion trial – but plenty of that next week! But this week is our penultimate Idiots of the season for the year 2021. And as I said on Twitter, we’re going to be taking a couple of weeks off in June but we’ve got some big plans for the Idiots when we come back on July 8th! Including the introduction of our new series – Red State Diaries! That’s right – we’ve toured the world, we’ve toured the US government, we’ve even toured the great state of Texas. Now we’re going to tour the Red States of America and find out what makes the m so red! And in 2022, we will have a new docuseries – our “What’s Up With Florida” series that we originally planned for 2020! So that said – time off in June, but big plans for the remainder of the year! OK enough of the intro – we have a lot of idiocy to get to, but first John Oliver is back and he examines the controversial “Stand Your Ground” rule:

Where do we begin for this one? In the number one slot this week is the conservative war against Liz Cheney (1) because they are determined to get rid of her after she dares to have an independent thought against the Trump cult! Taking the second slot this week is the Red State Gas Crisis (2) which they pretty much brought on themselves after the southern Colonial Pipeline hack. Panic buying in a fit of hysteria gets you nowhere, people! Taking the #3 slot this week is Rep. Andrew Clyde (3). You may not know the name but his remarks about the Capitol Riots place him firmly in Q-Batshit territory, and we’ve also got the latest from this group of crazed criminals! In the number 4 slot this week is our old friend, Marjorie Taylor Greene (4), who from here on out will be referred to by my new favorite nickname for her, Honey Cuckoo. Yes, we have to talk about her scuffle with AOC and how that is leading to a security probe with Congress. How has she not been fired yet? In the #5 slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week we’re going to take a look at Elon Musk’s claim that Bitcoin is bad for the environment so how bad is it? It looks pretty bad! 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 – we’re taking a look at undisputed claims from conservative clergymen calling themselves “prophets”
and if you think last week’s were isolated incidents, oh man are you wrong! Taking the number 7 slot this week, we have a new edition of People Who Somehow Got Elected, and this week, after flaunting federal gun control regulations, we’re adding Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts (7) to that ever-growing list! In the number 8 slot this week, we have a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week our investigative team on crack, Project Veritas, got caught in a bizarre twist involving intentionally setting up the FBI! See how they got caught with their pants down again! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have a new I Need A Drink, and this week after the end of the Ellen Show, and Chrissy Tiegen getting taken down a few pegs, is there any celebrity we can trust on social media anymore? Well there’s always us! Finally this week – it’s time for Stupidest State 2021! It’s the Final Four people – and this week we’ve got #1 Georgia battling #3 Nevada for the Layover League crown, while over in the Flyover League, #2 Texas is taking on #4 Arkansas! Anything goes in the Final Four! 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 War Against Liz Cheney
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Conservatives are a cult. And like all cults, they do not like anything that doesn’t fall lockstep 100% in with their group speak. So when one of them has an independent thought, as we have witnessed with their backlash against Mitt Romney for deciding how dangerous Former Guy was, this is when that kind of thing is frowned upon. But this week – another member has dared to speak out against the cult, and that member is Liz Cheney. But we here at the Top 10 do get what Liz Cheney is saying. I mean does the GOP want to set a good example for America or do they want to be the party that smears poop on the walls of Congress? Well it does not seem like they’re choosing to be the former. Oh no, my friends, they are choosing the latter. And it’s not going to end well.

Rep. Liz Cheney has lost her post in the House Republican leadership on Wednesday after publicly rejecting for months former President Donald Trump's lie that he won the 2020 presidential election.

House Republicans, who ousted Cheney by voice vote behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, are instead likely to replace her with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has a less conservative voting record than Cheney but has emerged as one of Trump's top defenders. Cheney did not back down in a speech on Tuesday evening, touting her conservative credentials amid criticism from Trump's allies.

"I am a conservative Republican, and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law," she said in a floor speech. "The election is over. That is the rule of law. That is our constitutional process. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution."

Despite her feud with Trump, House Republicans overwhelmingly voted in early February to keep Cheney as the No. 3 House Republican, who is in charge of executing the conference's message to the public.
https://www.kmov.com/news/house-republicans-oust-liz-cheney-out-of-leadership-post-over-feud-with-trump/article_a98c4461-fb46-5041-8fb5-f50544fec158.html

So yeah Liz Cheney had an independent thought and went against the MAGA cult that’s slowly taking over Congress, then the world. It’s like a pandemic – it starts with a few cases here and there and suddenly it erupts into a global problem! But fortunately the MAGA virus can be contained. The damage has been done though, the further the GOP tips toward the right, the worse it gets! At least Liz isn’t going down without a fight!

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who appears likely to be stripped of leadership duties by her fellow House Republicans, does not plan to stop blasting former President Donald Trump for repeating the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, according to people familiar with the matter.

Cheney, a staunch conservative, has been telling key donors and supporters behind the scenes that she is going to continue to hold Trump and the Republican Party accountable for what she has called the “Big Lie,” said these people.

Her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, has been involved in these talks as well, the people said.

These people declined to be named in this story in order to speak on a private matter.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/11/liz-cheney-vows-to-keep-fighting-trump-election-lies.html

Yeah so Liz Cheney has had an independent thought and it’s not going to end well for them. Of course it’s good to know where the conservatives’ top priorities lie. Never mind that we’re in a raging pandemic, there’s a major recession because of said pandemic, mass shootings are at an all time high, or there’s a self-inflicted gas crisis. Their priorities lie in – wait for it – cancel culture! Yay! And this is after they canceled Liz Cheney too!

A coalition of conservatives launched a grassroots advocacy organization on Monday to “oppose cancel culture and fight back against the woke mob and their enablers.”

The organization, dubbed Unsilenced Majority, said in a statement that it will serve as a platform to “fight back against the rising tide of left-wing intolerance.”

The group says its key focus areas include promoting free expression without fear of punishment, defending American workers from the “woke mob,” fighting “cancel culture” in education and objecting to “corporate wokeism.”

The organization said that “fundamentally, cancel culture is just another term for intolerance and suffocating dissent,” claiming that “the left’s modern political project” involves silencing its political enemies by means of intimidation, financial ruin and censorship.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/553986-conservatives-launch-anti-cancel-culture-advocacy-organization

Yeah so none of the important issues, just canceled and “woke” culture. If you ain’t woke you’re broke! I just made that up just now! But here’s the thing – as conservatives are getting weirder and nuttier, not to mention ruder and cruder, it’s good to know what they fear. They don’t fear anything but outside opinions. So yeah just call them what they really are – a cult! And like any cult, they do not take kindly to outsiders.

Rep. Liz Cheney, who was fired this week as chair of the House Republican Conference, is leading a fight in the GOP against former President Donald Trump. Many people on the left are cheering her on, while many on the right think she’s a sellout. But Cheney hasn’t changed a bit. Her case against Trump—articulated in a Washington Post op-ed last week, a House floor speech on Tuesday, and TV interviews on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday—is resolutely conservative.

Cheney sees Trump through the lens of foreign policy. He’s a character familiar in other countries: the ruthless demagogue and aspiring tyrant. In her op-ed and her speech, Cheney recalled her experiences with attacks on democracy in Kenya, Poland, and Russia. “I’ve worked in countries around the world that don’t have peaceful transitions of power, countries that have autocracies,” she told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie. “It can happen very, very quickly.”

There’s no magic force field around America that protects us from falling into anarchy or tyranny. What protects us—what makes us “exceptional,” in Cheney’s words—is a system of elections, laws, and courts, which in turn relies on enduring popular support for these institutions. Cheney understands how easily this consensus can be shaken. In the NBC interview, she recalled her awe in 2000 when Al Gore, who had won the popular vote but lost a razor-thin recount in Florida, conceded the presidential election. In that moment, the stability of the system rested on the honor of one man. This year, on Jan. 6, Cheney saw what a presidential loser with no honor could do. She told Guthrie that after the attack on the Capitol, she wondered whether her sons, like people in other countries, could no longer count on the peaceful transfer of power.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/05/liz-cheney-case-against-trump-resolutely-conservative.html

[font size="8"]The Gas Crisis
[br] [/font] [br]

You know sometimes I feel like we’re living in a really fucked up episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Can we get some music for this one? For the sake of this piece, let’s call this episode “The Gang Creates The Gas Crisis”.

Come on people, did we not learn a damn thing from last year? You know panic buying literally gets you nowhere. I mean we saw this when idiots were hoarding toilet paper and were unable to sell it on the black market and wound up taking losses on their investment. But here’s the one thing they don’t tell you about gas - gas is one commodity that has no resale value. You use it, it’s gone. And if you hoard it in unsafe conditions, it’s going to quite literally blow up in your face. But here’s the thing about the latest gas crisis, or Gas Crisis 2021, is that it’s all on the MAGA community’s fearmongering. In fact they really created it themselves.

Over half of the gas stations in Virginia are without gasoline. Things are even more grim in North Carolina, where almost three-quarters of stations are out of petrol, according to Gas Buddy, a company that helps consumers find real-time gas prices. Governors in both states have declared the crisis a State of Emergency.

This is a portrait of the southeastern U.S. following a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline—and a subsequent shutdown of the portion that supplies gasoline and jet fuel from Texas to New Jersey. While the pipeline is back online, drivers have already been panicking and racing to local gas stations for more than just a last top-off.

By Wednesday, demand for gas in the U.S. had already skyrocketed 14.5 percent, according to Patrick De Haan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. Hoarding behavior has become so extreme (and bizarre) that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has even warned the public it's not a good idea to fill plastic bags with gasoline. Yes, really.

The fear of a gas shortage has perpetuated the crisis. It's a cyclical problem: As drivers buy up gas in excess, stations run dry, more people see the empty pumps, buy more gas, and further increase the scarcity.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a36421021/colonial-pipeline-gas-shortage-explained/

Yeah come on people! Don’t panic buy! And especially don’t panic buy a finite, natural resource like oil that is highly volatile and also highly flammable! In fact the panic buying was so intense that it actually prompted the US Product Safety Commission to put out this tweet. Can we show that?

https://twitter.com/USCPSC/status/1392482092823502849

That happened! So if you’re keeping score at home, in 2021 so far, we’ve had a raging pandemic, an energy crisis, and now a gas crisis. Come on!!!

Widespread gasoline shortages along the U.S. East Coast began to ease slightly on Saturday as the operator of the nation’s biggest fuel pipeline said it was back to delivering “millions of gallons per hour” following last week’s cyberattack.

Ships and trucks were deployed to fill up storage tanks after the six-day Colonial Pipeline shutdown, the most disruptive cyberattack on record, triggered widespread panic buying that left filling stations across the U.S. Southeast dry.

"We have returned the system to normal operations, delivering millions of gallons per hour to the markets we serve," said the company, which had begun gradual restart of the pipeline on Wednesday.

More than 13,400 gas stations surveyed in the east and south by fuel tracking app GasBuddy were experiencing outages on Saturday, down from 16,200 early the previous day.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/massive-replenishment-begins-ease-us-fuel-shortages-2021-05-15/

Yeah so the gas crisis is over for now. But the damage has been done. Just like the raging pandemic, though, the gas crisis is going to come in waves! Coming this summer: just when you thought it was safe to go back to the pump… GAS CRISIS 2021 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO DIE HARDER! Get ready for $10 gas and $100 gas bills everybody! Electric vehicles never looked better, have they? Cue the fearmongering music because things are gonna get ugly!

Millions of people stuck at home for more than a year are expected to hit the road for much-needed post-pandemic vacations this summer. Good luck finding gas.

Not that there's a looming shortage of crude oil or gasoline. Rather, it's the tanker truck drivers needed to deliver the gas to stations who are in short supply.

According to the National Tank Truck Carriers, the industry's trade group, somewhere between 20% to 25% of tank trucks in the fleet are parked heading into this summer due to a paucity of qualified drivers. At this point in 2019, only 10% of trucks were sitting idle for that reason.

"We've been dealing with a driver shortage for a while, but the pandemic took that issue and metastasized it," said Ryan Streblow, the executive vice president of the NTTC. "It certainly has grown exponentially."

Indeed, drivers left the business a year ago when gasoline demand ground to a near halt during the early pandemic-related shutdowns.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/27/business/summer-gasoline-shortage/index.html

Yeah so cool, extreme panic buying, conservative fear mongering , and general stupidity, are going to create an even worse gas crisis this summer! You know I have been saying that the next large scake terror attack in the US is going to be a cyber one, because we had a president who didn’t give a shit about cyber security. This was but a mere sneak preview of what that could look like. But while the pipelines are back on and the fuel is flowing again, expect things to get much worse!

asoline shortages that have plagued the U.S. East Coast slowly eased on Sunday, with 1,000 more stations receiving supplies as the country's largest fuel pipeline network recovered from a crippling cyberattack.

The six-day closure of Colonial Pipeline's 5,500-mile (8,900-km) system was the most disruptive cyberattack on record, preventing millions of barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from reaching fuel tanks throughout the eastern United States.

Thousands of gas stations ran dry as supplies failed to arrive and drivers fearing a prolonged outage filled tanks and jerry cans. Refiners and fuel distributors are racing to recover before the Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of May, the traditional start of the peak-demand summer driving season.

"Colonial Pipeline is currently shipping at normal rates, based on shipper nominations," company spokesman Eric Abercrombie said in an email. "It will take some time for the supply chain to fully catch up."
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-gasoline-shortage-improves-some-regions-still-suffer-hefty-outages-2021-05-16/

[font size="8"]Riot Deniers
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We’ve said it before and we’ve said it again – we were all horrified by the events of January 6th, but for us, it’s been the gift that keeps on giving. We’re approaching our 5th anniversary of the Top 10 this December, but the Capitol Riots are going to be giving us material for probably the next 5 years because of everything that’s going on. But what’s really scary is that the new trend among conservatives is that they are downplaying the events of January 6th. And that the Capitol Riot was just a “harmless tourist visit”. Yeah never mind the poop smeared on the walls, the makeshift gallows, and the thousands of people screaming that they wanted to hang the vice president, it was a harmless tourist visit! Oh and the people arrested are being “abused”.

Far-right US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene has joined GOP opposition to a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection.

In a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, the congresswoman asked a series of “what about” questions to deflect from an investigation into the attack, fuelled by former President Donald Trump’s false “stolen” election narrative and amplified by his GOP allies like Ms Greene.

She said: “The question that comes to mind is this: What about all the riots that happened during the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd? What about the damage caused to federal buildings, churches, people’s businesses and innocent people that were killed? ... Is that not an insurrection?”

She also claimed that Capitol rioters have been “abused” in jail and “held for 23 hours a day in solitary confinement”.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-speech-capitol-b1849580.html

Oh boo fucking hoo! They tried to overthrow the government and used the Capitol building as a toilet and looted the place for selfies. They’re no better than ISIS or Al Qaeda, and they don’t deserve fair treatment. In the words of our former first lady – I really don’t care, do U? But now that most of the dust has been settled, conservatives are turning the spin cycle up way past 11. And let the whining commence!

Multiple Republican members of Congress on Wednesday offered a false retelling of the devastating events that occurred during the Capitol riot, with one calling the entire event a “bold faced lie” that more closely resembled a “normal tourist visit” than a deadly attack.

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on the Jan. 6 riot, Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said the House floor was not breached and that the supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed the Capitol behaved “in an orderly fashion.”

The comments by Clyde and others on Wednesday marked the latest attempt by some Republicans to revise the narrative of what occurred and came just hours after House GOP members voted to strip Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., of her leadership position after she repeatedly criticized Trump over his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

“As one of the members who stayed in the Capitol, and on the House floor, who with other Republican colleagues helped barricade the door until almost 3 p.m. from the mob who tried to enter, I can tell you the House floor was never breached and it was not an insurrection. This is the truth,” Clyde claimed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-loyal-trump-claims-capitol-riot-looked-more-normal-tourist-n1267163

I’m sorry… what part of a “normal tourist visit” involves attempted murder and smearing poop on the walls? I remember as a kid visiting Congress when my parents took me to DC, I don’t remember doing any of those things. Oh yeah that’s because even as a kid I was more civilized than those dolts! And by the way – the actual footage of the riot nearly contradicts everything being said here. All of the right wing in Congress should be forced to watch this and own up to their terrible behavior.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) attempted to falsely claim at a hearing Wednesday that the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol never happened ― as if there were no video proof.

The Georgia congressman made his comments during a House Oversight Committee hearing on what went wrong in police preparations before the Capitol riot.

“Let me be clear: There was no insurrection,” Clyde said. “And to call it an insurrection, in my opinion, is a bold-faced lie.”

Clyde also claimed that video taken during the insurrection looked like “a normal tourist visit,” even though five people died and more than 100 police officers were injured.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/andrew-clyde-video-capitol-riot-insurrection_n_609c5adce4b0909247fef7ea

But the bad thing is the MAGA wing of the party may be permanently infused with the GOP, and if you try to separate them, it will result in a big, oily mess that will be impossible to clean up. And of course one of our favorite drones, Lindsay Graham (R-obviously) is warning that if Trump fans break off and start their own party, that it won’t end well for the GOP. So the sad thing is even though the latter group is utterly despicable, we may be stuck with them for a while.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R- SC) has made it clear over the past week he wants the GOP to embrace Donald Trump as its leader and thinks the party can’t move forward without him.

Fox News’ Martha MacCallum spoke with Graham Tuesday and asked him about Senator Joni Ernst (R- IA) deeming the House GOP vote to oust Liz Cheney as “cancel culture.”

Graham took issue with that and said, “You’re not entitled to be a leader. You have to earn that right. And if people don’t think you’re leading them well, they can fire you.”

He said Cheney lost the confidence of House Republicans because “she’s trying to make the argument that the Republican party is better off without Donald Trump, that he’s disqualified from being a member of the Republican party, that he should never be allowed to pursue office again."
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/lindsey-graham-if-you-try-to-drive-trump-out-of-the-gop-half-the-people-will-leave/

[font size="8"]Marjorie Greene
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Marjorie Greene, or as she shall be referred to from here on out by my new favorite nickname for her, Honey Cuckoo, doesn’t know when to shut up. And really let’s think about this – in literally any other job, if Ms. Greene had exhibited the kind of behavior that she’s shown toward her Congressional colleagues, she would have been shitcanned before the first day is over. So why is she still allowed to be such a boorish, loathesome person who nobody wants to be around? Well not only is that standard operating procedure among the few people left who still support Trump, AKA Former Guy, it’s pretty unforgivable. But never mind, it’s just Margie putting on her tough guy persona. But in terms of TV characters, think of Marjorie Greene akin to Jimbo Jones or Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons. She’s a schoolyard bully who hasn’t really moved on from the playground.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tried to "aggressively confront" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday, shouting questions about why the New York Democrat supports "terrorists and antifa," according to a report.

Two reporters from the Washington Post said they witnessed the interaction outside the House chamber. The report said Greene yelled to Ocasio-Cortez, and the Democrat continued walking. Greene reportedly tried to catch up and continued to ask questions. Greene also brought up her desire to debate Ocasio-Cortez, the paper said. At one point, Greene reportedly shouted, "You don’t care about the American people."

Neither office responded to an after-hours email from Fox News seeking comment.

The Post reported that Ocasio-Cortez never stopped to talk, but at one point turned around to throw "her hands in the air in an exasperated motion."
https://news.yahoo.com/greene-tries-confront-aoc-asks-071030271.html

You know maybe it’s just me, and I am just throwing this out there, but if you listen to Infowars and believe that Antifa is actually a thing, then you probably shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the government. Just saying! Oh and if you think this is an isolated incident, you are wrong, this is actually a pattern of insane behavior represented by Ms. Greene. It seems she really has a thing for AOC and it’s most definitely not that kind of thing.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene confronted Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outside the House chamber on Wednesday afternoon. The incident, first reported by The Washington Post, was just the latest of several hostile confrontations the Georgia congresswoman has had with her Democratic colleagues, but her interactions with the New York Democrat predate Greene's election to Congress in 2020.

During a February 2019 visit to congressional offices at the US Capitol with associates who include a man who would later enter the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, Greene -- then a conservative activist -- can be seen taunting Ocasio-Cortez's staff outside the congresswoman's locked office by talking through a mailbox slot urging her to come out.

In the video, from a since-deleted Facebook Live of Greene's that was saved by CNN's KFile, Greene tells Ocasio-Cortez to "get rid of your diaper," referring to the congresswoman's office as a "day care." Greene repeatedly indicates throughout her stream that security has been called on them.

"We're going to go see, we're going to visit, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Crazy eyes. Crazy eyes. Nutty. Cortez," Greene says to the camera on the way to the congresswoman's office, mispronouncing "Ocasio."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/14/politics/kfile-marjorie-taylor-greene-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/index.html

Oh Margie, when are you going to learn that there’s no such thing as take backs on the internet? Once you say something, that thing can come back to haunt you! But we think Margie should definitely put down the pipe and back away from the Infowars hate sphere. Because that shit will rot your brain, though her brain may be rotted beyond repair. Again, that’s standard operating procedure for most of the MAGA crowd anyways, it’s the kind of mind that Trump attracts.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took a swipe at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday, likening her to the “kinds of people that I threw out of bars” after the Georgia Republican aggressively confronted her outside the House chamber the day before.

"I used to work as a bartender. These are the kinds of people that I threw out of bars all the time,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Capitol Hill.

“For me, this isn't even about how I feel. It's that I refuse to allow young women, people of color, people who are standing up for what they believe, to see this kind of intimidation attempts by a person who supports white supremacists in our nation’s Capitol,” she continued.

Greene is facing blowback from Democrats off the heels of a Washington Post report that she harassed Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday and shouted at her as the two left the floor.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/553459-ocasio-cortez-on-taylor-greene-these-are-the-kinds-of-people-that-i-threw-out

Now come on really, GOP, is this the kind of image you want to present from here on out – is the image of a drunk getting tossed from a bar? That kind of behavior? No, that’s not the image that anybody really wants. But Marjorie Greene is kind of steering the party that way, though that is also the behavior exhibited by Former Guy. Now we here at the Top 10 love to show you that actions have consequences, and this is a perfect example! Now where’s Nelson when you need him?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believes that a "verbal assault and real abuse" by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., toward Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., should "probably" be investigated by the House Ethics Committee.

"It's so beyond the pale of anything that is in keeping with bringing honor to the House or not bringing dishonor to the House. It's so beyond the pale that you wonder that is probably a matter for the Ethics Committee," Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing.

While leaving a congressional hearing Wednesday afternoon, Ocasio-Cortez was confronted by Greene, who repeatedly shouted, "Hey Alexandria" to get Ocasio-Cortez's attention, according to a Washington Post report.

"You don't care about the American people," Greene shouted at Ocasio-Cortez. "Why do you support terrorists and antifa?"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/05/13/pelosi-ethics-committee-should-investigate-greene-aoc-confrontation/5074184001/

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Bitcoin Enviornment
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines. This is Top 10 Investigates!

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stunned the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community when he announced that Tesla would no longer be accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment because it was bad for the environment. But just what does that mean? How can an entire industry based on an electronic currency use fossil fuels to pollute the environment? Well a recent environmental impact study determined that the use of PCs designed specifically for coin mining have a carbon footprint that’s equivalent to almost 2 million cars on the road every year. That’s a lot to impact the environment. But here’s exactly what Musk said about Bitcoin’s impact on the environment.

Bitcoin's (BTC-USD) environmental impact is in the spotlight after Tesla (TSLA) abandoned plans to accept it as payment due to environmental concerns.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on Thursday his electric vehicle company would no longer pursue plans to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies sunk on the news.

"We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions, especially after coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk tweeted.

The move came just months after he announced plans for Tesla to accept bitcoin. Musk and Tesla had been publicly criticised at the time for the climate implications of this decision.

Bitcoin's environmental impact stems from bitcoin mining. Bitcoin mining is a process whereby new bitcoins are created and awarded to computers that solves a complex series of algorithms. The system incentivises computers to do the work of running the bitcoin network, without having any centralised bureaucracy.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-environmental-impact-elon-musk-tesla-132015594.html

So what’s the solution? There’s many being floated about in the Bitcoin community. One such solution is something called “Greencoin” which as you can imagine, combines everything you don’t know about computers, with everything you don’t know about economics, and now adds the added layer of everything you don’t know about the environment. The idea of making bitcoins green depends on something called “proof of stake”.

All cryptocurrencies are built on a proof-of-consensus algorithm that validates the network.

Bitcoin’s proof-of-consensus method is a proof-of-work method, which is one of the more environmentally “unfriendly” proof-of-consensus methods since it results in all the energy and electricity used by the losing parties to solve the hashing function being wasted.

The solution here is what is known as a proof-of-stake method.

Proof-of-stake turns the competitive game of proof-of-work methods into a collaborative game, wherein a person can mine or validate block transactions based on their “stake,” or how many coins they hold. Each person does this, independently, so that there are no losing parties and no energy or electricity wasted in the validation process. Proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies are far more computationally efficient and environmentally friendly than proof-of-work cryptocurrencies.

So, if you’re looking to invest in altcoins that are more environmentally-conscious that Bitcoin — or “Green Coins,” as they’ve come to be known — you need to look for altcoins built on proof-of-stake blockchain platforms.
https://investorplace.com/hypergrowthinvesting/2021/05/is-bitcoin-bad-for-the-environment-maybe-why-you-should-buy-these-green-coins-instead/

Well as you can imagine this news has had a profoundly negative impact on the major forms of cryptocurrency. That’s right – with one statement, Elon Musk impacted billions of dollars in cryptocurrency – including his own Dogecoin – a currency that was mostly started based on joke internet memes. Hey wait, that’s what we do here! But this is sending the markets into a freefall as they try to stabilize.

The crypto bubble that inflated Bitcoin’s value past $1 trillion and added billions to nonsense digital tokens overnight is bursting.

Bitcoin plunged almost 22% to $35,000, wiping out more than $500 billion in value from the coin’s peak market value. It has erased all the gains it clocked up following Tesla Inc.’s Feb. 8 announcement that it would use corporate cash to buy the asset and accept it as a form of payment for its vehicles. Ethereum, the second-biggest coin, sank more than 40%, while joke token Dogecoin lost 45%.

Bitcoin is now down more than 50% from its record of almost $65,000 set in April. Fueling the volatility is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose social-media utterances have whipsawed the crypto community. A statement from the People’s Bank of China on Tuesday reiterating that digital tokens can’t be used as a form of payment added to the selloff.

The selloff dominated market chatter on a day when equities also were tumbling and the Federal Reserve was set to release minutes from its latest meeting. #Cryptotrading was trending on Twitter, where critics and fans alike were in a tither over the rout. Critics had warned for weeks that the moves in crypto assets were unsustainable and that any sign of a selloff would lead to a rout.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/19/crypto-wipe-out-bitcoin-ether-doge-all-plunge-lower

But the question is – is Bitcoin really as environmentally impactful as people have speculated? Well the answer is yes and no. it’s no secret that mining computers utilize a lot of energy to keep them on and keep them running 24 hours a day. Solutions like using hydrogen based power have been talked about in countries like Canada. The fact of the matter is that some estimates speculate that Bitcoin uses less than 1% of the world’s overall energy. Still a lot but not as much as feared.

The news outlet admits that the cryptocurrency is energy-intensive, as individuals, businesses and groups known as miners use specialized hardware to mine the cryptocurrency. They process vast volumes of transactions by grouping them into blocks and racing against each other to find a random variable that meets the pre-established protocol requirement.

Uncovering that variable enables the block to be added to the blockchain, but it also consumers quite a bit of energy in the process. Miners are rewarded for the computations carried out on their machines with the issue of new bitcoins. Mining becomes profitable when the value of the new bitcoins is more than the cost of the power used to mine them.

CoinDesk questions whether bitcoin mining needs to consume as much energy as it generally does. The publication notes that the cryptocurrency was created for transactions between two parties without a middleman, decentralizing the payment network. For both parties to trust each other, they must agree about who owns what and with strong enough security on the network.

According to CoinDesk, "Bitcoin's energy-intensive consensus protocol is how the network achieves that consensus and integrity. If consensus were easy to achieve, then the network could be easily attacked. Mining is energy-intensive so that it is prohibitively expensive to attack the Bitcoin network."
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/370212

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

My fair congregation! You know I don’t normally do this but I want to expand on a topic that we discussed last week. Because I feel like it needs expansion. It seems that our brothers and sisters on the right are once again taking the LAWRD’s name in vain! That’s something that we here at the Holy Church Of The Top 10 do not tolerate! But it’s becoming a problem and I expect it to get that much worse. I mean think of the crazy and think of the ego it must take to call oneself a prophet. And you’re not really a prophet. You’re just a crazy guy with a few followers and a megaphone. But see? According to them we are currently engaged in spiritual warfare of the highest variety. And this is only among people who think this way. So how far does it go? Well it goes all the way to the president! And I don’t mean by the current administration. I mean by the former guy. Yes, that guy.

Right-wing pastor Robin Bullock used his church service Tuesday to urge his fellow “prophets” to come together and call former President Donald Trump back to the White House, declaring that if they will do so, “God will supernaturally move things out of the way” to allow Trump to return.

Bullock is among the various self-proclaimed “prophets” who guaranteed that Trump would win the 2020 election. Like many of those other “prophets,” Bullock still refuses to accept that his prophecies were wrong even though President Joe Biden has been in the White House for over a month.

“Prophetical authority has to start being used by God’s prophets,” Bullock declared. “We’ve got to come up now to another level and start speaking with authority. Not just declaring, speaking with authority. And the Lord is going to give you words to warn people and speak to people in high-ranking positions. Whether you think they’re listening or not, they’re listening.”

“The stage is set,” he continued, “but you’re going to have to pray for the rightful president, whether he wants to walk back into this or not. You must pray that he wants to do it because God won’t make him do anything. Is it his will? Yes. Is he the president? Yes. That’s why he could just walk right back in, and God will supernaturally move things out of the way.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/robin-bullock-claims-prophets-have-the-power-to-call-trump-back-into-the-white-house/

Now that’s the religion of those who worship the Dark One! Yes, of course I am referring to him but not by name. I of course speak of a man who is so foul, so repulsive, so ungodly that his name shall not be spoken in my church that was once the leader of the Free World! But even the so called Prophets of the unholy Dark One are raging spiritual warfare among… themselves! Even they can’t agree on what is right and what is holy!

In the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, a variety of self-proclaimed “prophets” were nearly unanimous in their announcements that they had all heard from Heaven that Donald Trump would win the election and serve a second term as president.

Even though that did not happen, many of these “prophets” have vehemently refused to admit they were wrong and continue to insist that God will vindicate them by miraculously returning Trump to the White House.

Concerned about these false prophecies and the refusal of such “prophets” to acknowledge them, a collection of conservative Christian leaders recently signed on to a document laying out standards for the prophetic movement, declaring, among other things, that those who refuse to abide by such standards run the risk of being designated as “false prophets.”

It is no surprise that the “prophets” who have been most vocal in insisting that their false election prophecies will soon be proven true did not sign on to this “prophetic standards statement” and have, in fact, been quite vocal in criticizing it.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/spiritual-warfare-a-battle-is-raging-in-the-prophetic-community-over-the-2020-election/

Now here’s the thing – if you call yourself a prophet, you must trust the plan! But what is the plan? I mean what is their plan to worship the almighty and bring about mankind’s salvation? Well let’s put it this way – it’s the exact opposite of what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want! In fact they are telling their flocks that the ungodly Dark One is the one that rightfully won the election! That’s right – that’s their so-called “plan”.

Self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman hosted a “Prophetic Pulse Conference Call” Wednesday night, where he continued to insist that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, mainly because he cannot accept that “all of God’s messengers, prophets, intercessors, [and] Christians were somehow wrong” while “the enemy” and the “fake news” were right.

Kunneman is among the various self-proclaimed “prophets” who guaranteed that Trump would win the election and now refuse to accept that their prophecies were wrong even though President Joe Biden has been in the White House for over two months.

“President Trump won the election,” Kunneman asserted. “So, for people to say, ‘Well, people prophesied that he’d win,’ he did win, and so we had a stolen election.”

“President Trump is not going anywhere,” Kunneman added. “If you don’t like President Trump, that’s your problem because he’s not done talking, and God’s not done with him.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/hank-kunneman-says-christians-must-continue-to-trust-the-prophets-who-guaranteed-trumps-reelection/

Yes, look at the floor. Keep staring at GAWD’s floor! But here’s the thing – last week I said that the “prophets” do not like to be questioned! And that remains true. But what do you do if your prophecies don’t turn out the way you had planned? Just keep pushing back the plan! Yes it was January 20th, then it was February, then March, and now it might as well be next year! But don’t overlook the danger of those calling themselves “prophets”, they know not of what they speak of!

Since the moment he took office, President Donald Trump was hailed by his evangelical Christian supporters as a man personally chosen by God to save the United States.

Trump’s right-wing Christian base was so firmly convinced that he was “God’s man” that the movement provided fertile ground for various self-proclaimed “prophets” to rise up and create names for themselves by boldly declaring that they had heard directly from God that Trump was guaranteed a second term in office.

With President-elect Joe Biden set to be inaugurated today, we decided now would be a good time to take a look back as some of the false prophecies proclaimed by the likes of Pat Robertson, Curt Landry, Jeff Jansen, Sid Roth, Charlie Shamp, John Benefiel, Frank Amedia, Tracy Cooke, Rick Joyner, James Goll, Etienne Graves, Francine Fosdick, Jeremiah Johnson, Loren Sanford, and Robin Bullock.

In our review, we found that some “prophets” were so adamant in their prophecies regarding Trump’s reelection that they deserved their own video compilations chronicling the multiple instances in which they declared that it was guaranteed that Trump would win the election and serve a second term.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-trump-prophecies-a-look-back-at-some-of-the-self-proclaimed-prophets-who-guaranteed-trumps-second-term/

So yes they may speak of prophetic visions, but their prophecies are really just false, which makes them false prophets. And we know how the good LAWRD JAYSUS feels about that! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]People Who Somehow Got Elected: Pete Ricketts
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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 – Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts. In a time when mass shootings are at an all time high, and fear and paranoia among people who own guns is at an all time high, this is a toxic cocktail just waiting to erupt in a powder keg. The latest insanity is that gun nuts are urging their states to become a “sanctuary state for guns”. In other words – a land where national gun laws can’t overpower the local authorities, who might be much more relaxed on the subject. And this isn’t just a problem unique to the city of Nebraska. It’s becoming a national problem and officials should be very worried, at least competent ones should be. Nebraska is but merely a model of how this insane legislation from gun nuts is going to pan out.

Doubling down on his pro-gun rights credentials, Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a symbolic proclamation Wednesday designating Nebraska as a “Second Amendment Sanctuary State.”

The proclamation comes as President Joe Biden recently announced a plan to address gun violence.

A growing number of Nebraska counties have adopted similar “sanctuary” resolutions. A bill also is pending in the Nebraska Legislature to allow counties to opt out of the state requirement that gun owners register and take a gun safety course to carry concealed weapons.

“The White House and U.S. Congress have announced their intention to pursue measures that would infringe on the right to keep and bear arms,” Ricketts stated in the proclamation. “Nebraska will stand up against federal overreach and attempts to regulate gun ownership and use in the Good Life.”
https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/gov-ricketts-designates-nebraska-as-sanctuary-state-for-gun-rights/article_e8e64502-9d3b-11eb-a063-4fca6c88eaf8.html

Seriously? Is this where we are at in 2021? There’s equal paranoia among the people who think their guns are going to be taken away and the people who are afraid of being shot by them. But the scary thing is right now, it’s the latter that is winning and not the former. With things like this, expect mass shootings to get that much worse. And as we said, Nebraska isn’t an isolated incident here. In fact, his administration just proposed that a “2nd Amendment Preservation Act”. Do we really need this? NO!

Gov. Pete Ricketts on Wednesday signed a proclamation declaring Nebraska a ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary State.’

“The White House and U.S. Congress have announced their intention to pursue measures that would infringe on the right to keep and bear arms,” Ricketts said in a tweet. “Nebraska will stand up against federal overreach and attempts to regulate gun ownership and use in the Good Life.”

A growing number of Nebraska counties have declared themselves as sanctuaries, a way to combat perceived efforts by the federal government to enact and enforce certain gun control measures.

Seward County joined several others this week in making a similar declaration.

A legislative bill from Sen. Steve Halloran dubbed the Second Amendment Preservation Act was introduced earlier this year with the same aim.
https://www.klkntv.com/ricketts-declares-nebraska-a-second-amendment-sanctuary-state/

But this poses an interesting question and potential SCOTUS case down the road – can these radical ideas trump federal laws? Well it’s funny that the people who don’t believe in big government are the ones who want government to be as big as possible. Or they just flat out tell government to fuck off, as is the case here. And expect a lot more mass shootings in Nebraska once things start opening back up.

After being forced to abandon his attempt to allow permitless carry of concealed firearms in most Nebraska counties, Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon is planning a counteroffensive in 2022.

Brewer, a decorated military veteran and competitive shooter, said he will seek approval of “constitutional carry” of concealed guns statewide, not just in 90 of 93 counties as his recently revised bill would have done.

He’ll have a powerful ally, Gov. Pete Ricketts, as Brewer seeks for Nebraska to join 20 other states, including Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, in rescinding the current state law that requires state approval of a concealed carry permit, after a background check and completion of a gun safety course.

“There’s good momentum for it right now,” Brewer said. “And next year is an election year. We’ll get a really clear up-and-down vote on the Second Amendment.
https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/nebraska-state-senator-pledges-new-bill-to-allow-permitless-carry-of-concealed-firearms-statewide/article_f12a0e03-334a-570e-ac5a-ea8ff313db1d.html

Now here’s where gun nuts are getting creative. It’s not enough that they’re calling it “concealed carry”, they’ve changed the terminology to “constitutional carry”. But nonetheless, this is having a ripple effect in the Cornhusker State. Pete Ricketts it seems has made him some powerful allies and also some equally powerful enemies. Don’t question the gun lobby or they will come after you.

More Nebraska counties have approved resolutions declaring themselves “sanctuary” Second Amendment counties.

On Tuesday, the Adams, Harlan and Polk county boards all unanimously approved the resolution.

Kearney County Clerk Myra Johnson said the Board of Supervisors discussed the resolution at its Tuesday meeting but will not vote on it until its May 4 meeting.

York County Clerk Kelly Turner said the Board of Commissioners also discussed the Second Amendment sanctuary resolution and will consider it at its May 4 meeting.

The proclamation comes as President Joe Biden recently announced a plan to address gun violence. The “sanctuary” designation allows for counties not to enforce federal gun laws they consider too restrictive.
https://nebraska.tv/news/local/more-nebraska-counties-approved-second-amendment-sanctuary-resolutions

At least if the Biden administration has its’ way! But as more and more gun nuts are telling the Biden Administration where they can stick it, this is posing a very tricky legal challenge. What would happen if enough gun nuts simply rewrote the definition of gun rights? Well it’s something that could go all the way to the Supreme Court, and if it does, be afraid. Be very afraid. Because it’s starting in Nebraska and the idea is spreading to other states like wildfire.

Over the past several years, the U.S. has seen a new kind of a sanctuary movement rising — from the far right. Borrowing language from the sanctuary movement that began in the 1980s, in which U.S. cities declared themselves safe havens for undocumented immigrants, Republican-led states and localities throughout the nation are now declaring themselves "Second Amendment sanctuaries," adopting resolutions that express opposition to any form of firearms regulation.

The term "Second Amendment sanctuary" was apparently coined in 2013 by the Board of Commissioners in Carroll County, Maryland — a relatively conservative area northwest of Baltimore in an overwhelmingly Democratic state — in response to the Maryland State Firearms Act, which instituted a series of gun reforms. From those modest beginnings, the Second Amendment sanctuary movement has seen exponential growth in recent years. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, since 2018 nearly 270 counties across the country have passed resolutions declaring themselves part of the movement. Last year, The Trace found that 400 municipalities in 20 states had drafted resolutions — and the numbers have only risen since then.

More recently, the movement has seen support from entire state governments. Earlier this month, Texas Gov. Rick Abbott, a Republican, vowed to make the entire Lone Star State a Second Amendment sanctuary following President Biden's announcement of executive actions addressing "ghost guns," or unregistered firearms that can be assembled at home. Biden's announcement also provoked Nebraska's passage of a similar resolution last week, in which the state promised to "stand up against federal overreach." Last month, the Arizona legislature also passed its own resolution, declaring that the state will, as an Arizona Republic op-ed put it, "ignore any federal gun law it doesn't like."
https://www.salon.com/2021/04/20/do-pro-gun-second-amendment-sanctuaries-threaten-a-constitutional-crisis/

Giving gun rights more rights than people and possibly making our already dire gun situation in this country that much worse. That’s Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts – yet another politician to add to the back catalog of:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We of course are coming to you live from our underground bunker deep within 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 our thoughts after all – ah there we go! This week we might have an actual conspiracy brewing! And it involves our old friends in Project Veritas. Yes, that conservative sting operation owned and operated by professional tool James O’Keefe may have finally stepped in it big time! How you may ask? By setting FBI agents up on wired dates, and the women recording them to say anything bad about Trump. Which would prove… absolutely nothing. They’re allowed to have opinions too! Here’s how that went down.

Project Veritas, the shadowy yet wildly incompetent far-right group that stages sting operations to film and release hoax exposés on liberals, enlisted a British spy to help run an operation intended to discredit the FBI and suspected enemies within Donald Trump’s administration, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The Ouroboros of an operation, which involved efforts to smear Trump’s own advisers, reportedly involved a $10,000 a month base of operations in a Georgetown residence, female operatives recruited to date FBI staffers, and former British spy Richard Seddon—who Project Veritas affiliate and mercenary contractor Erik Prince previously enlisted to help the group infiltrate labor unions and political campaigns. The Times reported that Project Veritas operatives launched surveillance of FBI employees in the hopes of recording something that could be twisted into evidence of an FBI conspiracy to dethrone Trump. Some of its members also planned a sting operation to send a woman with a hidden camera to meet with then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster with an identical objective, though the Times noted it they couldn’t verify Project Veritas actually directed it.

The Times report also doesn’t assert that Trump or the White House was actually aware of the effort, though one of the amateur agents claimed they had access to inside information:
https://gizmodo.com/project-veritas-reportedly-turned-its-feckless-smear-ma-1846891091

OK… now that I got that off of my chest, here’s how ridiculously stupid of an organization Project Veritas is. Sure they may have got lucky attempting to expose anti-Trump bias in organizations like CNN, but that’s expected. Now they’re attempting to go after the big guys in the FBI. You can’t spy on the spies, they know all of your dirty tricks! You’re wearing a wire? They’ve probably got wires in places you haven’t even thought of! And come on, all of their sting operations haven’t really got anyone fired. They’ve just ended with “So what?”.

A conservative activist group, helped by a former British spy, secretly surveilled government employees during the Trump administration with the goal of discrediting perceived enemies of former President Trump, The New York Times reported, citing people and documents on the matter.
Project Veritas — with aid from a former British spy and Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater — was part of a campaign that involved surveillance operations against members of the FBI.

The overall effort, the Times wrote, also included a plan for a sting operation against Trump’s former national security adviser H.R. McMaster that involved some Veritas staffers, though Veritas itself has denied any involvement with that plot.

Both, the Times alleged, were intended to reveal anti-Trump sentiments.

A spokesperson for Project Veritas did not comment on the Times story but pointed to a video posted to YouTube featuring James O’Keefe, the head of Project Veritas.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/553489-project-veritas-ex-british-spy-surveilled-government-employees-to-expose-anti

So what if they had exposed anti-Trump bias? It’s no secret that Trump had one of the lowest approval ratings since the office of the American president has existed. Except among his own fans where he had a 150% approval rating. Did I do that math right? Eh doesn’t matter in this case. But the thing is that Project Veritas may have stepped in it big time. But think of it this way – imagine if the 3 Stooges ran an intelligence agency and you might have something vaguely resembling Project Veritas.

There’s never a good result when you concoct a screenplay in which Machiavelli’s The Prince will be acted out by the Three Stooges. But the evidence is piling up that something like that was what passed for a national government in this country for four years. The New York Times gives us a deeper look at what a snake pit Camp Runamuck was, albeit a snake pit that sheltered some of the dumbest, clumsiest snakes in all of snakedom, a writhing ball of Buffoon Vipers.

This, of course, was exactly the plan that Gordon Liddy presented to John Mitchell with regard to his plans to blackmail delegates at the 1972 Democratic National Convention, except that Liddy was going to rent a yacht. On one of the White House tapes, White House counsel John Dean told President Richard Nixon:

This was what Camp Runamuck handed over to…James O’Keefe. (Comparing O’Keefe to Liddy is like comparing Huckleberry Hound to the Hound of the Baskervilles.) And it was reportedly directed first at H.R. McMaster, then the national security advisor. Which does not mean there was no real muscle behind the effort.

O’Keefe is a burlesque figure, but Seddon and Prince are serious people, Prince being one of the least excusable human beings on the planet. And then there is some dynastic ratfcking going on in there, too.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a36423531/trump-allies-discredit-enemies-ex-spy/

But here’s the thing – what good does Project Veritas do as an organization? None. What are they trying to prove? Nothing. And who are they proving it to? Just the MAGA fanbase who use it as an excuse to get away with whatever they want. And that’s exactly what these douchebags do. They are attempting to use anti-Trump bias as a way of riling up the base and claim that the other side is against conservatives by stifling free speech. Here’s the real deal – nobody likes boorish jackasses, and that’s exactly what Trump is! Do you get that, Project Veritas? And of course the smear artists would claim that people are smearing them back. Guess it takes one to know one?

A new report indicates that Project Veritas and a former British spy used a $10,000-a-month home in Georgetown as their home base in a campaign to the FBI and people they believed were the enemies of former President Donald Trump.

According to the New York Times, the conservative activist group plotted against H.R. McMaster – Trump’s national security advisor – and tried to expose anti-Trump sentiments in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe described the Times' story as a smear piece.

O'Keefe is currently suing the paper over their portrayal of Project Veritas' reporting on alleged voter fraud in Minnesota's 5th Congressional district - which is represented by Ilhan Omar.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/project-veritas-ex-spy-tried-to-discredit-trumps-enemies-report

[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!

Of course you know that the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks, and while we are drinking we discuss literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics, and also COVID since we are still in a pandemic. This week we’re going to discuss celebrity trolling. Look, don’t do it. It won’t end well for you. So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about trolling? Troll juice? I mean really what’s in that? Blue curacao and green food coloring? Um yeah no I will just stick with my regular Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. Well this week, not one but two trolls were in the news this week for very different reasons. I mean if you can’t trust Chrissy Tiegan or Ellen DeGeneres, who can you trust in this wacky world in which we currently live? No one? I thought so.

Model Chrissy Teigen has apologized for her tweets insulting fellow model Courtney Stodden and messages telling Stodden to kill themselves. In her apology, Teigen said she was an "insecure, attention seeking troll" when she published the offending messages in 2011 and 2012.

The tweets were sent after Stodden's 2011 marriage to 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison. Stodden (who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns) was 16 years old at the time. Their mother gave them permission for the wedding. Stodden said numerous media members publicly shamed them as a slut after the wedding.

Around that time, Teigen tagged Stodden in public tweets saying that they looked "like an idiot" and were "so effing weird." Stodden said that Teigen also sent them private messages telling Stodden to kill themselves and wishing they were dead. Stodden was a teenager at the time.

"Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bullshit in front of the entire world," Teigen said in a series of tweets published Wednesday. "I'm mortified and sad at who I used to be."
https://www.newsweek.com/chrissy-teigen-says-she-was-insecure-attention-seeking-troll-courtney-stodden-apology-1591027

Holy shit!!! That is some seriously vicious trolling there. And that caused me to do my first spit take in all the times we’ve been doing this by the way. Apologies to the clean up crew. Anyway back to drinking, so yeah that happened. And of course we love to show you that actions have consequences, and of course Chrissy Teigan’s actions have some series consequences. Of course I do dabble in cooking, and I had no idea that Mrs. Teigan, wife of John Legend, has a cooking line! Or had one.

Chrissy Teigen’s cookware line has been taken down from Macy’s website just days after she apologized for being a troll who encouraged Courtney Stodden to take a “dirt nap.”

The former supermodel’s Cravings by Chrissy Teigen line — already dropped by Target — was marked “unavailable” on Macy’s website by early Sunday, according to The Sun.

By Monday, while the Cravings line still registers in the search box, it appeared to be now completely offline, with a message telling shoppers, “We couldn’t find a match for your search.”

It comes just days after Teigen — who has two kids with husband John Legend — issued a groveling apology for her attacks on Stodden, who accused her of encouraging suicide.
https://pagesix.com/2021/05/17/chrissy-teigens-cookware-pulled-from-macys-website-after-scandal/

Ah thank you, I needed that! So yeah actions do have consequences and that’s what we like to show you in this segment. But another celebrity who’s been accused of vicious trolling is Ellen DeGeneres. Now you know that her talk show is ending this year. Wait, people still watch that show? But how could a show that emphasizes its’ message of people being kind to each other devolve into such a toxic work environment? Well come on, have you been alive in 2021?

In her first on-air appearances since announcing the end of her eponymous daytime talk show, Ellen DeGeneres called the press cycle around allegations of toxicity at her workplace “orchestrated” and “misogynistic”, and elaborated on her reasons for stepping down after 19 years.

DeGeneres, 63, revealed to the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that the The Ellen DeGeneres Show’s upcoming 19th season, which will end in 2022, would be its last, saying the show was “just not a challenge any more”. The announcement came after months of negative press for the daytime host, following a July 2020 BuzzFeed report that detailed allegations of racial insensitivity, sexual harassment and bullying behind the scenes, based on interviews with 36 former staffers.

Asked by the Today host Savannah Guthrie on Thursday morning about the allegations, DeGeneres denied that they had factored into the decision to end the show. “If it was why I was quitting, I would have not come back this year,” she said. “I really did think about not coming back because … it was devastating,” she said of the report. “I am a kind person. I am a person who likes to make people happy.”

DeGeneres also revealed that she had learned about the allegations from the press. “I had no idea, never saw anything that would even point to that,” she told Guthrie.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/13/ellen-degeneres-toxic-workplace-allegations-talk-show-ending

So Ellen of course denied the allegations of a hostile work environment. Of course that can happen when you employ hundreds of people and you don’t know exactly what every single person you employ is doing. But how can a talk show whose motto and mantra is “Be Kind” be anything but kind? And like I keep saying if you can’t trust Ellen DeGeneres or Chrissy Teigan, is there anyone out there who you can really trust? How about me? I get paid to drink on camera and you know my show is going to be fun!

Despite the "Be Kind" facade, former and current employees are calling out The Ellen DeGeneres Show for promoting a "toxic work environment" full of racism, intimidation, and fear.

A new BuzzFeed News report features interviews with one current and 10 former employees of the daytime talk show hosted by Ellen DeGeneres who all spoke anonymously about what they experienced while working on set. From a Black employee highlighting racist microagressions that resulted in her walking off the job to others claiming they were fired after taking medical leave or bereavement days to attend family funerals, they paint a picture of a behind-the-scenes culture that clashes with the onscreen values touted by the show.

"That 'be kind' bulls--- only happens when the cameras are on. It’s all for show," one former employee said. "I know they give money to people and help them out, but it’s for show."

In the report, a Black female former employee detailed the racist comments and actions she experienced while working there for a year and a half, like when she was hired, a senior-level producer told her and another Black employee, "Oh wow, you both have box braids; I hope we don’t get you confused." She also said that at a work party, one of the main writers told her, "I’m sorry, I only know the names of the white people who work here," and other coworkers "awkwardly laughed it off" instead of coming to her defense.
https://ew.com/tv/ellen-degeneres-show-toxic-work-environment-report/

[font size="8"]Stupidest State
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16 states will enter and only one state will become the new Top 10 Conservative Idiots Stupidest State!

Welcome welcome welcome!!! We are in the home stretch of this tournament here! It’s time for the Stupidest State Final Four! We have all of the four corners of stupidity and insanity very well represented here! From the Batshit Conference, the only #1 seed in the entire tournament still left standing, they barely squeaked past a strong performance from Michigan, give it up for the #1 state, Georgia! Representing the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference, you know them as the home of the casino and gambling industry, their first Final Four in state history, give it up for #3 Nevada! Representing the Gun Nut Conference, they have utterly destroyed the competition so far, give it up for #2 Texas! Finally a Cinderella Story! Representing the Family Values Conference, give it up for #4 Arkansas! All four of these teams are rested and ready to tangle! Let’s go live to the floor in Phoenix for more!

[font size="4"]Flyover League Championship: Georgia Vs Nevada [/font]

[font size="2"]Georgia [/font]

The Peach State is a hot mess and they managed to squeak by Michigan last week for one reason – they are in a battle over NCAA athletes making endorsement deals and earning money. Oh the horror of an athlete actually getting paid for their work! So Brian Kemp, in his infinite wisdom – signed a bill allowing athletes to get paid for their work, but it has some huge caveats. A lot of which are very shockingly, but not surprisingly evil. And I thought conservatives hated wealth redistribution.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a bill Thursday that will allow student athletes at colleges across the state to make money off their images.

The new law will protect student athletes from NCAA punishment if they make a profit off of their image or brand, WSBTV reported. The bill will take effect July 1.

“I think it’s just a sign of things to come and gives us another tool in the toolbox. And sure this issue will develop over the years,” Kemp said. “Thanks to [the bill], student athletes from across the country will have Georgia on their mind when they’re looking for a campus and a university that can give them a world-class education but also the chance to compete at the highest levels of college athletics.”

But there is a caveat: The new law includes a provision giving universities wide discretion over funds, allowing a respective institution to take up to 75 percent of an athlete’s endorsement, according to Yahoo News. The money could then be placed on hold in an escrow account or pooled for athletes who can withdraw the year after they graduate or leave the school.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/552301-new-law-lets-georgia-college-athletes-get-paid-for

Yeah 75%! So yeah you can make money as an athlete but you just won’t get to keep any of it! Oh and by the way in case you’re wondering just what kind of criminal racket they’re running in Georgia – it really is a criminal racket! In fact a Regent of the University of Georgia got busted on running a racketeering charge along with running a ponzi scheme. Are these the people who you really want in charge of wealth distribution?

Former Board of Regents member Dean Alford was indicted Tuesday on several charges involving allegations he ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of several million dollars, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office announced Tuesday.

Alford was charged with five counts of forgery, one count of racketeering, one count of computer forgery and one count of criminal attempt. The racketeering charge has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Alford created fake invoices, contracts, and other documents to show that his company was owed money from state agencies and forged the signatures of state employees on those contracts and other documents. Alford wanted to obtain approximately $1.7 million by selling fake accounts receivable invoices valued at approximately $2.2 million, prosecutors say.

Efforts to contact Alford were unsuccessful Tuesday.

“Acts of fraud and corruption have no place in Georgia’s state government,” Deputy Attorney General for the Prosecution Division John Fowler said in a statement. “Those who are trusted to be public servants must discharge their duties ethically and honestly, and when they do not, this office and our law enforcement partners will hold them accountable.”

Read more: https://www.ajc.com/education/former-georgia-regent-indicted-on-racketeering-forgery-charges/2O6SBJGU3FHDBIO3GQXDVLTWWE/?outputType=amp

[font size="2"]Nevada [/font]

Last we checked in on the Silver State, they were still reeling from virus related shutdowns that affected most of the casino, gambling, and lodging industry, or about 95% of Nevada’s tourism industry. But there is some good news and some light at the end of what’s seeming like a very long tunnel – Burning Man is finally coming back! Yes that festival of debauchery in the desert has long been a staple of northern Nevada tourism and Reno really missed it last year. So much that it nearly broke the city. But now here’s what is happening.

Burning Man festival organizers have said that they are considering requiring attendees to prove they have been vaccinated for COVID-19 if the organizers move forward with plans to hold this year’s counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert.

The organizers backed off an earlier statement indicating that they had already decided to make the shots mandatory. They say they won’t decide for sure until the end of the month whether the event that was canceled last year because of the pandemic will take place this summer.

Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell said in a video message posted on the group’s web site on April 8 that “vaccines will be required to come to Burning Man.” She erroneously said at that time that the state of Nevada requires that people have proof of being vaccinated at large gatherings.

She acknowledged last weekend in an updated statement on the group's web site that she “misspoke.”

Read more: https://wacotrib.com/news/national/burning-man-mulling-mandatory-covd-19-vaccines-for-august/article_4c78b574-2055-5a1b-9d95-2265d6a06528.html

Yeah I wonder how exactly they are going to enforce this? Look we’re all vying to go back to our old lives and for good reason. But there is some good news too on the horizon! Remember that high speed rail line between LA and Vegas that’s been touted for years? Or as Fox News called it – “The Disneyland To Vegas” route? It’s a go! So we can all hop on the party train next year! Well, maybe, hopefully!

A top executive behind a high-speed rail project that would lay tracks between Las Vegas and Southern California contends construction is on schedule to start in the second quarter of this year.

However, Brightline West CEO Mike Reininger did not give the Reno Gazette Journal a definitive date on when shovels would strike dirt to commence the 170-mile Vegas-to-Victorville, California route.

“The world changed as a result of the pandemic, but we continued to work wherever we possibly could towards advancing the ball,” Reininger said. "The project remains a very high priority for us."

Brightline, the country’s only privately owned passenger railroad, sent a letter to the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority in January and revealed the pandemic year created significant hurdles to fund the train expected to reach top speeds of 200 mph.

Read more: https://www.rgj.com/story/news/2021/04/09/brightline-ceo-vegas-la-high-speed-rail-line-track-2021/7161675002/

[font size="2"]And The Winner Is: [/font]

Not a contest! Georgia utterly routes Nevada! They are up by 27 with less than a minute to go, they are just showboating for the crowd. Georgia has the ball, it’s in! They defeat Nevada by a score of 30 to win the Layover League! Final score: 91 – 61! That was a beatdown! Cut the net guys, you earned it!

[font size="4"]Layover League Championship: Texas Vs Arkansas [/font]

[font size="2"]Texas [/font]

The Lone Star State isn’t the king of the Gun Nut Conference for a reason! They may duke it out with their conference rivals in Florida, but this year Texas has literally every other state beat when it comes to guns. In the last one we mentioned that Texas has something like 10,000 pieces of pro-gun, NRA sponsored legislation in the works. But you know what else Texas has in droves? Neo Nazis! That’s right – rural Texas is a hotbed of racism and white supremacy, but their rallies always attract a crowd!

White nationalists and neo-Nazis in North Texas haven’t put on an impressive show of force lately. Last month in Fort Worth, the three or four people who came out to protest under the “White Lives Matter” banner were outnumbered by counter-protesters.

Unable to get bodies in the streets for their cause, consistently outnumbered by anti-racists and anti-fascists, and under the watchful eye of the feds, far-right groups in North Texas have gone back to simply putting up propaganda stickers and spray painting graffiti.

This week, white nationalist groups on the messaging app Telegram posted photos of far-right and racist stickers they’d put on lampposts, walls, crosswalk signs and other surfaces, including in Dallas, Fort Worth and Frisco.

The Telegram channels for the local far-right “White Lives Matter” group and the white nationalist Patriot Front are among those spreading the propaganda.

In Dallas and Fort Worth, Patriot Front spray-painted stencil graffiti that reads “Not Stolen, Conquered,” ostensibly disputing the notion that the genocide of Native Americans was, in fact, bad. Another stencil reads “Reject Poison,” with an X painted over images of a pot leaf, a syringe and pills. (They sound like they'd be a real hit at parties.)

Read more: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/unable-to-get-people-to-protest-north-texas-neo-nazis-resort-to-stickers-and-graffiti-12021144

Yeah where are those guys when you need them? And speaking of groups who you don’t tell anybody that you belong to, Q Anon! Yes, just like Neo Nazis, the Q cult has a very strong hold in Texas, and they are growing in numbers. To the point where they are having their own convention, which is really just a way to funnel money into Sidney Powell’s pockets! But still… you know how to give any group importance is to throw a convention! I’m a beer drinker, we have our own convention. Just saying!

Although we’re not exactly sure where, the QAnon-affiliated For God & Country Patriot Roundup is supposedly still on in Dallas over Memorial Day weekend.

The lineup of speakers includes retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the ex-national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, and Sidney Powell, formerly a lawyer for both Flynn and Trump.

With admission ranging between $500-$1,000, some of the proceeds are set to go to Powell’s nonprofit, Defending the Republic. Organizers say the high price, in part, will weed out potential infiltrators. Powell has called her nonprofit a legal defense fund to protect the integrity of U.S. elections.

She and several others were sued by Dominion Voting Systems, a Denver-based voting technology vendor, for spreading lies the company aided in stealing the election from former President Donald Trump. (There is no evidence the election was rigged.)

Read more: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/sidney-powells-questionable-nonprofit-to-receive-proceeds-from-dallas-q-convention-12022363

[font size="2"]Arkansas [/font]

The Arkansas Razorbacks aren’t in their second Layover League championship for nothing. Their Family Values credentials are strong. In fact they really don’t seem to give a shit that COVID is still ravaging the state, even one year into this thing. They’re fully open and they don’t care if you don’t wear a mask or not. But as much as Arkansas seems intent on wooing the Family Values crowd, they also seem intent on upping Texas in their quest to kill as many people as possible! They also really hate vaccine passports, too!

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday signed into law measures preventing state and local governments from requiring the coronavirus vaccine or proof of vaccination in order to access services.

The ban on requiring a vaccine would also prohibit it as a condition of unemployment. The measure includes some exceptions, such as state-owned medical facilities, if approved by Legislative Council.

The other measure prohibits “passport vaccines” in order to access goods or services. Federal officials have said there is no plan to require them broadly, but some Republican governors have issued orders preventing businesses or agencies from mandating them.

“These bills confirm my position that there should not be a COVID-19 vaccine requirement as a condition of employment in state government," Hutchinson said in a statement. “It does make certain exemptions and it specifically exempts private businesses so they can make their own decision.”

https://www.thv11.com/article/news/politics/arkansas-governor-signs-bills-banning-vaccine-requirements/91-cd7bc31f-1237-4931-87c8-ad1fa91c290d

No but I’m sure this is how the zombie apocalypse starts. Goodbye everybody! It was nice knowing society while it lasted! And you know what else? Arkansas has become the latest state to declare itself a safe space for gun rights. Come on, you know we think this is one of the dumbest things conservatives have ever come up with. So yeah while they elect people in the name of abortion, these guys exhibit anything but the family values they champion.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday that he'll sign a bill that would bar state and local law officers from helping enforce new and future federal gun restrictions — a move critics say would be unconstitutional and create confusion about which gun limits the state does recognize.

The new legislation, which is a scaled back version of a bill Hutchinson vetoed, declares invalid in the state any federal gun restrictions enacted on or after Jan. 1, 2021, that violate the constitutional right to bear arms. Lawmakers voted largely along party lines early Wednesday to send the measure to the Republican governor for his consideration.

"It is tough and sends a message that we will protect the 2nd Amendment in Arkansas, but it supports law enforcement and will not jeopardize our critical partnerships in public safety," Hutchinson said in a statement.

Republicans in Arkansas and elsewhere have sought to preempt any federal gun control measures that President Joe Biden's administration might pursue, despite questions about the constitutionality of such legal maneuvering.

Read more: https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2021/apr/29/arkansas-governor-sign-bill-nullifying-gun-restrictions/869138/

[font size="2"]And The Winner Is: [/font]

Oh man this was a close one! Way closer than I thought! Arkansas was up with 3 minutes left, but then Texas came back with 9 unanswered points and 2 free throws. Arkansas has the ball with one minute left… they shoot, they miss! Texas has taken the Flyover League by 9 points! Final score: 88 – 79! Texas moves onto the championship to face Georgia! Wow, what a game!

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

It’s the Stupidest State Championships! We will be live from our Phoenix bubble with the game, the closing ceremonies, the presentation of the trophy, the locker room celebration, and most importantly that song that we all know and love! It’s getting exciting, folks!!

See you next week for our season finale!

Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

May 13, 2021

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-14: The Trouble With Truthers Edition

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-14: The Trouble With Truthers Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Oh man it’s great to finally have an audience again! Once we get live music back everything will be set! I know we promised that the Wheel Of Corruption is coming back but unfortunately it’s not going to happen this week, but I think we’ll bring it back during season 11. So do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! Look can we talk about celebrities for a minute? Sure? OK! Well hey it’s my show and you’re just her e in the audience. So please explain to me why we suddenly need to care about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez again? Yeah yeah I know that South Park episode. But really, I thought we’d be past this sort of thing by 2021 but I guess there’s no stopping tabloid journalism. I mean just ask Harry and Meagan. Oh come on, too soon? And I know that I might seem like I’m “not cool” because I don’t care about the sex lives of the stars of movies and TV I watch, but still… fuck this. But you know one thing I know we definitely don’t need to relieve again? The movie Gigli. Because that is still one of the worst movies ever made and it’s one of the reasons why the Razzie Awards exist. Well I’m happy that Ben was able to make time for Ms. Lopez given both of their busy schedules. And that they could make time for each other. That said… there’s always room for J. Lo!!! YAY!!!! Oh man that felt good! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he discusses racial discrimination in the form of your hairstyle. This is why I love Last Week Tonight!

&t=14s

Where do we begin this week? Well the top slot this week is going to Fox News (1). After a Capitol Rioter claims that Fox News had addictive qualities to it, we are going to take a deep look into this subject and he’s probably right! Taking the second slot this week is the GOP (2) and the same people who are railing about “cancel culture” are actively trying to cancel anyone’s notions that slavery was bad, and we all knew that’s where they were heading! Taking the number 3 slot this week is the Former Guy (3). Yes, the Former Guy attempted to get back on Facebook but was denied by Facebook’s oversight committee, and his attempt to get back on Twitter backfired on him big time! In the #4 slot this week is Caitlyn Jenner (4). Now that the CA governor’s recall is heating up, Jenner has been making the talk show rounds and her first interview on Hannity was the stuff of insanity! Hey, that rhymes! In the #5 slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week we have to take a look at an insane story out of England – why was Boris Johnson’s private phone number made public for 15 years before someone caught it? It’s a clusterfuck of epic proportions and there’s way more to this story than you might think! 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 is becoming increasingly alarmed at the far right’s claims about genocide and is going to debunk some of the crazier myths out there! Taking the number 7 slot this week we’ve got a new “How Is This Still A Thing” and this week after Tom Cruise turned in his HFPA awards due to their discrimination policies, we’re going to ask – “The Golden Globes: How Is This Still A Thing?”! In the number 8 slot this week we have a new edition of our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week the winner of the Kentucky Derby was caught cheating – and what does the owner of the horse blame it on? Cancel culture! No, dude, it’s you. It’s all you. 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 Stupidest State 2021! This week it’s Round 2 Week 4 which means it’s time for the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference Championships! #2 Wyoming is set to take on #3 Nevada in a winner take all quest to go for broke! 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"]Fox News
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For this entry we decided to do something a bit different. The thing is we’ll probably never hear the end of the Capitol Riots because of how many people were there. But a claim made by a guy who got arrested for participating in the insurrection this week really made us begin thinking about this subject and it’s really not that far off! The claim made by this rioter said that Fox News had addictive qualities and we’re going to explore this subject in detail. But here’s what happened. A man who was arrested at the Capitol Riot claims that he had a serious case of “Fox-itis” and that he watched so much Fox News that he believed everything they said. So how true is it?

Anthony Antonio, who is accused of being part of the 6 January Capitol riot, apologised and claimed part of what inspired him was a steady stream of misinformation coming from conservative TV news and former President Donalf Trump.

His lawyers have previously said he had a case of “Fox-itis” from watching too much Fox News and believed the election was stolen.

"I shouldn’t have been there that day. I shouldn’t have been involved on those Capitol steps," Mr Antonio, 27, told CNN on Monday, telling anchor Chris Cuomo he "got wrapped up in what was being told to me, and what was on TV”.

The network’s hosts and guests made frequent, baseless allegations that the 2020 presidential election wasn’t legitimate throughout election season.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/anthony-antonio-cnn-capitol-riot-b1845847.html

Whoa, that one couldn’t be more perfect for this entry! So yeah it’s a serious problem. I’m sure that everyone in the audience here and those of you who are viewing at home know someone who has Fox News on in every TV in their house and even listens to the Fox News channel on XM while they’re driving around in their car. Now that’s an addiction! Can it be serious? Oh yes! Can it be fatal? Well let’s ask the people involved in the Capitol Insurrection. Or the victims of the Unite The Right rally in 2017 (see: Top 10 #3-10. Or any of the hundreds of other rallies in the last 4 years. But this claim may not be that far off!

A US Capitol riot defendant whose lawyer says he was hooked on Fox News and developed "Foxitis" said Monday evening that he had "believed that America was being robbed of a President" when he participated in the insurrection.

Anthony Antonio, who is charged with five federal crimes related to the riot, told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "Prime Time" that he "got wrapped up in what was being told to me, and what was on TV" and as a result "truly believed that (former President Donald Trump) won the election."

"As of right now, I acknowledge, I know that Joe Biden is our President. That's not a mystery; that's a fact. But, I felt like, maybe I believed that America was being robbed of a president," Antonio said. "And I now know that that was a lie."

The charges against Antonio include violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and destruction of government property. He has not yet entered a plea.

His court proceedings drew considerable attention last week when his lawyer, Joseph Hurley, said Antonio had lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic and for the next six months watched Fox News constantly. Antonio developed what his lawyer called "Foxitis" and "Foxmania," and believed the lies about the 2020 election from Fox News and then Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/politics/foxitis-us-capitol-riot-cnntv/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2021-05-11T13%3A00%3A07&utm_source=fbCNN

Seriously, we could use the Simpsons making fun of Fox for the duration of this clip, and they rightfully deserve every bit of shit that they get. Especially when the misinformation they peddle 24 hours a day on programs like Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Jeannie Pirro is dangerous and can have long lasting implications. But it’s unlikely that Mr. Antonio will be able to claim the insanity defense and use Foxitis as his defense. But this is shedding light on something very interesting.

For decades a debilitating disease has been spreading across America. Risk factors include being over 65, Republican and white. Symptoms include unhinged muttering, delusional thinking and an irresistible urge to storm the Capitol. The disease is called “Foxitis” and a lawyer called Joseph Hurley, who is representing alleged US Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio, wants us to believe his client is suffering from it.

Antonio lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic and spent the next six months sitting at home watching Fox, Hurley told a DC court on Thursday. “He became hooked with what I call ‘Foxitis’ or ‘Foxmania’ and … started believing what was being fed to him.” According to Hurley, Fox brainwashed Antonio into believing Trump wanted him to march on Washington as part of a patriotic movement.” Now Antonio is facing five charges over his role in the January riot.

It seems unlikely that Hurley’s inspired defense will get Antonio off the hook. Particularly as a number of alleged Capitol rioters have, in a similar move, already unsuccessfully tried to blame the former president for their actions: a tactic that has become known as the “Trump defense”. (Gotta love rightwingers! While they love to talk about individual responsibility, they seem incapable of taking any themselves.) That said, while it may not end up getting a judge’s seal of approval, “Foxitis” is no joke. Unlike affluenza, another disease-defense dreamed up by a lawyer, Foxitis is something we should all take very seriously indeed.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/08/fox-news-deadly-disease-foxitis-arwa-mahdawi

OMG this is too damn good! And I mean I was worried we wouldn’t have enough material for this entry but it’s definitely proving me wrong! But here’s the thing – the Foxitis defense may not work in real life but it’s almost like you can instantly tell which of your friends and neighbors watches Fox. If you’re at a function and someone starts going off about male athletes posing as female to win competitions, or starts bashing education, it’s a pretty clear what they have on the boob tube!

(CNN)Some criminal defendants will say just about anything to try to evade responsibility for their actions, blaming anyone or anything but themselves for the situation they find themselves in.

A defendant in the January 6 insurrection, Anthony Antonio, made headlines recently when his lawyer claimed that Antonio's significant consumption of the Fox News Channel was responsible for his participation in the siege on the Capitol, resulting in five federal criminal charges against him.

The lawyer called it "Foxitis" and "Foxmania," suggesting that Antonio's steady diet of Fox misinformation in the weeks after the 2020 election convinced him that the election was stolen.

When Antonio recently spoke to CNN's Chris Cuomo about his case, he confirmed that as a result of what he was watching on TV at the time, he believed falsely that the election had been stolen from President Donald Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/11/opinions/capitol-riot-foxitis-defense-rodgers/index.html

[font size="8"]Matt Gaetz & Marjorie Taylor Greene
[br] [/font] [br]

Hey kids! Remember Nazism? Remember those good old fashioned values of extreme hate and racism and corporate greed that fueled the Nazi party’s wildest desires? Well, guess what? They’re making a comeback under the name “Make America Great Again”! And I mean come on, does this base really need to be riled up? They’ve already got 1500 radio stations, 3 24 hour TV networks, and one former president who won’t shut up! You know we’ve all been cooped up at home too long and we’re eager to get back out on the road, but is this a road show we needed? But there is some good news in all of this is that it’s showing the GOP for what it really is, and the future they want is definitely not the future that the rest of us want!

There's a sort of time warp going on at The Villages, the enormous retirement community in Florida.

On streets made up to look like small-town Main Streets, it's maybe an idealized, slickly varnished version of the 1950s — albeit with legions of golf carts.

At a hotel ballroom on Friday night, it was something like 2017.

"I just got to check something; I just want to make sure I'm in the right place. Tell me, who is your president?" Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene yelled to a packed ballroom of mostly maskless supporters.

"Donald Trump!" they yelled in response.

"That's my president, too," she said, to cheers.

Greene, the freshman congresswoman from Georgia, was there with Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz to kick off what they say will be a series of America First rallies.
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/10/995285714/a-look-at-the-gop-from-inside-a-matt-gaetz-marjorie-taylor-greene-rally

You know maybe comparing them to Hitler is going too far. Or is it? you know this is the Trouble With Truthers – they can’t take reality seriously! But what this really is, is not just the ramblings of two batshit crazy people. It’s a raging racist gymnasium owner and an about to be convicted of some really heinous crimes sex offender. But why did they pick The Villages as the place to start this campaign? That seems like a very odd choice but whatever.

Marjorie Taylor Greene will join Matt Gaetz to kick off their “America First Tour” at the retirement community known as The Villages, a major Republican base.

The two controversial Republicans say they are coming together on 7 May to push back against Democrats and call out fellow Republicans who they think did not support former president Donald Trump, such as the 10 House members who voted to impeach him after the Capitol riots.

Mr Gaetz said they will also work against Joe Biden’s border policy with Mexico, “taking on the threat of the Chinese Communist Party” and “ensuring real election integrity”, reported the Washington Examiner.

Florida representative Mr Gaetz is facing federal investigations for an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and accusations that he violated federal sex trafficking by paying for prostitutes. He has consistently denied the charges.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-greene-matt-america-first-b1840029.html

OK… enough with the Hitler comparisons already! But really where are the Basterds when you need them? But seriously this has got to be the worst tour ever. I mean would you want to wear a shirt with the tour dates on the back in public? I know I wouldn’t! And while this may seem like an unlikely duo, I would go as far as to say that Gaetz and Greene are the Tenacious D of Q Anon. Of course that’s an insult to Tenacious D.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, both controversial GOP members of Congress, are joining forces to head out on a national "America First Tour" together.

Their first stop will be on May 7 at The Villages, a conservative stronghold located in a Florida retirement community.

An hour north of Orlando, the community advertises itself as a "collection of quaint retirement neighborhoods located in the heart of Florida nestled between two beautiful coastlines." Its 115,000 residents are also 98% white and overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2016.

According to a report by Politico, Gaetz announced the tour in a radio ad, asking for conservatives to join him and Greene at the May 7 event.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/matt-gaetz-marjorie-taylor-greene-032140841.html

Let’s see – I think I know where they’re going with this. 98% white, mostly voted for Former Guy, and they have serious rage issues, but don’t necessarily know why they’re angry, or who they are even angry at. Sounds like the kind of minds that Former Guy attracts! And by the way if you want to see the type of mind they’re attracting, just take a look at who’s speaking at their next engagement. If they come to a city near you, run away!

An "America First" rally with a lineup of conspiracy theorists and election deniers, to be headlined by controversial U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, is now scheduled for the fairgrounds as a public event Saturday morning.

This is an upgrade and change from initial plans announced last week to host Greene as a speaker during a private breakfast at a local restaurant.

Wilke's 14 Bones BBQ was first scheduled to host Greene and the Indian River County Republican Party, but the Vero Beach restaurant announced over the weekend that it was backing out after “threats and concerns with the safety of our employees,” according to a Facebook post by the establishment.

Owner Scot Wilke last week told TCPalm he was open to hosting anyone, regardless of political association, as long as it was not a hate group.
https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/20/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-headlining-america-first-rally-indian-river-county/7292260002/

[font size="8"]Former Guy
[br] [/font] [br]

So for this story, we’ve taken the liberty of replacing all the instances of his name with “Former Guy” because he’s still a loser. Enjoy! Now that we’ve got that off our chest – the guy who inexplicably was president between #44 and #46 recently got his ass handed to him again. And I’m not talking about the ridiculously shady Arizona recount that’s going on. Instead I’m talking about the fact that he’s still banned from social media. And that’s actually a good thing that Facebook did. Because right now he’s still stroking the fires and he’s not even president. It is nice not to pay attention to him isn’t it? But seriously, Facebook, keep him banned! There is literally nothing good that will come of letting him back on social media. Do people not realize he was banned for being a boorish jackass and inciting violelnce? I mean come on!

Facebook was justified in its decision to suspend then-President Former Guy after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the company's Oversight Board said on Wednesday.

That means the company does not have to reinstate Former Guy's access to Facebook and Instagram immediately. But the panel said the company was wrong to impose an indefinite ban and said Facebook has six months to either restore Former Guy's account, make his suspension permanent, or suspend him for a specific period of time.

Facebook indefinitely suspended Former Guy's accounts in January after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, saying he used his account to "incite violent insurrection." Other social networks also kicked off the then-president, with Twitter going as far as banning Former Guy for good.

"At the time of Mr. Former Guy's posts, there was a clear, immediate risk of harm and his words of support for those involved in the riots legitimized their violent actions," the Oversight Board wrote in the announcement of its decision. "Given the seriousness of the violations and the ongoing risk of violence, Facebook was justified in suspending Mr. Former Guy's accounts."
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/05/987679590/facebook-justified-in-banning-donald-trump-social-medias-oversight-board-rules

That’s right – he’s still banned! Cue the “ha ha” again! Oh man that felt good! Oh here’s where it gets better – Former Guy attempted to get back on social media with a new account that didn’t post anything except posting things that come from his blog where he barfs his brain. And he was found out and banned immediately. To put it in perspective using a meme from his term, his new account lasted 1/10th of a Scaramucci!

Twitter has suspended an account sharing posts from former US president Former Guy's new communications platform.

The account claimed to be tweeting "on behalf" of Mr Former Guy.

A spokesperson for the company said the account, @DJTDesk, violated the ban evasion policy by sharing content "affiliated with a suspended account."

But the BBC found similar accounts still active on the social media platform.

Mr Former Guy was permanently banned from Twitter in January after he voiced support for rioters who stormed the US Capitol.

He launched his own communications platform - titled "From the Desk of Former Guy" - on Tuesday.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57018148

Banned, canceled it’s the same thing. But, my friends, he’s got a website! Oh yes, he has a website now where he can say anything he wants! Can someone e-mail back in 2008 when I might have cared about such a thing? But think of all the damage he can do with a website! And if his BFF Mike Lindell has anything to do with it, his social media comeback will be an absolute disaster. I can’t wait to talk about that one next week!

Former Guy is back online.

The former president and first lady, Former First Lady, have launched a website to serve their personal offices. The website, 45office.com, comes after Former Guy's ban from social media sites in the aftermath of the January Capitol insurrection.

The site features a lengthy biography for the former president that starts, "Former Guy launched the most extraordinary political movement in history, dethroning political dynasties, defeating the Washington Establishment, and becoming the first true outsider elected as President of the United States."

It also includes more than a dozen pictures of himself, in which he is depicted boarding Air Force One, greeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and, yes, kissing a baby. Other photos are of the president and Former First Lady dancing at the inaugural ball and at black tie dinners in the White House. The website makes no mention of his two impeachment trials. It does reference how "the coronavirus plague arrived from China," and says that Former Guy "acted early and decisively to ban travel from China and Europe, which saved countless lives."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/30/media/donald-trump-website-launch/index.html

Oh yeah? Well I’ll start my own social media site with blackjack and hookers! On second thought, forget about the social media site! But hey if you’ve got Stephen Miller as your PR advisor and Mike Lindell as your financier, what could go wrong? But the good news is that now that he’s had his megaphone taken away – Twitter and Facebook – he’s not as powerful anymore. Think of it like Spinal Tap when they went from headlining stadiums to being second billing to puppet shows. And come on, if he disables comments you know he’s up to something shady!

Four months after former President Former Guy was banished from most mainstream social media platforms, he returned to the web last Tuesday with “From the Desk of Former Guy,” essentially a blog for his musings.

A week since the unveiling, social media data suggests things are not going well.

The ex-president’s blog has drawn a considerably smaller audience than his once-powerful social media accounts, according to engagement data compiled with BuzzSumo, a social media analytics company. The data offers a hint that while Former Guy remains a political force, his online footprint is still dependent on returning to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The Desk of Former Guy is limited — users can’t comment or engage with the actual posts beyond sharing them to other platforms, an action few people do, according to the data.

Former Guy’s new blog has attracted a little over 212,000 engagements, defined as backlinks and social interactions — including likes, shares and comments — received across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Reddit. Before the ban, a single Former Guy tweet was typically liked and retweeted hundreds of thousands of times.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trumps-blog-isnt-lighting-internet-rcna890

[font size="8"]Caitlyn Jenner
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For those of you who don’t live in California, allow me to school you on what happens when a California recall election happens. It brings out some crazy fucking people. And not only that, it brings out clueless people two. And I divide these people into two camps. Crazy people are people like Randy Quaid, who have announced that he’s exploring running for governor – despite that he’s a convicted felon who bailed to Canada after being accused of fraud, got blacklisted from Hollywood, and can’t reenter the state. And then there’s Caitlyn Jenner. Who has positioned herself as an “outsider” looking for “solutions”. Oh dear god. Where have we heard that one before? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! This can’t be happening! Well yes it can! And her campaign is going swimmingly, especially with former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale at the helm. Oh this is going to be a disaster, my friends. Oh yes, just sit back and grab some popcorn and your favorite beverage of choice!

Republican candidate for California Governor Caitlyn Jenner talked up her private airplane hangar on Wednesday as she took issue with the number of homeless on local streets and set out her vision for the state.

As she criticized the Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom from her hangar near Malibu, Jenner told Fox News host Sean Hannity that a friend of hers with a hangar across the tarmac planned to leave California over its homeless problem.

The Olympic gold medalist also mentioned her private plane when the interview ended, saying that she was going to take it for a flight.

Speaking on the Hannity show last night, Jenner said: "My friends are leaving California. Actually my hangar, the guy right across, he was packing up his hangar and I said, where are you going? And he says 'I'm moving to Sedona, Arizona, I can't take it anymore. I can't walk down the streets and see the homeless.' I don't want to leave. Either I stay and fight, or I get out of here."
https://www.newsweek.com/caitlyn-jenner-airport-hangar-hannity-interview-1589095

OK… OK… OK. There’s a lot to unpack here! Here’s the thing – if you have your own private jet and you’re complaining about stepping over homeless people in your designer heels to get to your private airplane hangar, it’s about the same as if you eat a whole ton of fast food combo meals and then you complain about seeing your fat stomach hang out over your pants! The solution is painfully obvious and you’re enabling the problem. But what I love is the ensuing feud between Sean Hannity and Jimmy Kimmel. You don’t question the cult, or incur their wrath!

Sean Hannity appears to be, once again, looking to renew his feud with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The war of words between them began in early 2018, when Hannity took offense to a joke Kimmel made about former first lady Melania Trump. Kimmel eventually called for an end to that feud claiming the amount of vitriol from all sides was “harmful to the country.” Then in December 2019, seemingly unprovoked, Hannity dared Kimmel to renew the feud. Kimmel never publicly responded.

On Monday’s Hannity, the Fox News host took exception to Kimmel slamming Caitlyn Jenner last week for comments she made about homelessness in an interview with Hannity. Sitting in her Malibu airplane hangar last Wednesday, Jenner told Hannity about a conversation she had with a fellow private plane owner who was leaving California because of the homeless problem. The comments were widely criticized, including on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“Is it transphobic to call a trans person an ignorant a-hole?” Kimmel asked on Thursday night’s show. “Or does calling that trans person an ignorant a-hole, even though she happens to be a trans person, show that we don't discriminate against ignorant a-holes no matter their gender orientation?”

“Jimmy, what is with all the anger and all the cheap shots?” Hannity fired back. “Yeah, in case you haven’t noticed, homeless people are all over your state. And by the way, don’t you have anything better to do? Maybe actually trying to be funny or boost your dismal ratings?”
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sean-hannity-jimmy-kimmel-ignorant-ahole-criticizing-caitlyn-jenner-062647723.html

Yeah and by the way in case you’re wondering what Ms. Jenner’s positions on the issues are, what does she think of her own former profession? Let’s say that she took the Fox News bait and is now adding to the madness about trans athletes in sports. This is a problem that affects like nobody anywhere ever, like 0.00000001% of athletes, yet somehow affects 99.99999999% of Fox News viewers! And yes this is something that is going to get way worse before it gets better, mainly because the GOP doesn’t have anything else to run on.

Caitlyn Jenner has come out against trans girls competing against biological girls in school sports.

Caught in an impromptu street interview with Disclose.TV, which describes itself as “a non-partisan online community of like-minded users who observe together how world events unfold in the great theater of our time,” Jenner addressed the issue when asked for her point of view.

Jenner, a former athlete and reality TV star who announced her own transition from Bruce Jenner in an April 2015 interview, is running in California’s gubernatorial recall election. She will sit down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity for an interview that will be telecast on May 5. It is her first with a national outlet since announcing her candidacy.

In the Disclose.tv interview, posted today to Twitter, Jenner was asked about legislation in other states that would ban biological boys who have transitioned from participating in girls sports. “This is a question of fairness,” she said. “That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls spots in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls sports in our schools.”
https://deadline.com/2021/05/caitlyn-jenner-supports-banning-trans-girls-from-girls-sports-1234748372/

Oh and it gets better my friends! Yes while this campaign has gone south as I predicted it would, and we haven’t even got to the recall ratings yet, which are going in Newsom’s favor. But this could completely derail Ms. Jenner’s campaign before it even gets off the ground. While you don’t question the cult, at least don’t say you didn’t vote. Because that not only looks bad for you it looks bad for them. Even a vote for President Turd Burglar at least says you voted!

Republican gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner told CNN this week that she never voted for president in the November 2020 election and opted to golf instead because she "couldn't get excited" about the dozen measures on the California ballot. For someone seeking support in the upcoming recall, it was a head-turning statement.

Then came the head-scratcher: Los Angeles County records show she actually did cast a ballot last fall.

POLITICO reported last month that Jenner did not vote in nearly two-thirds of the elections in which she was eligible since 2000. After Jenner's latest comments to CNN aired Tuesday morning, a representative of the registrar’s office reconfirmed to POLITICO that Jenner voted — with documentation.

The issue arose when CNN’s Dana Bash asked Jenner this week if she had voted for former President Donald Trump in last year's election. Jenner is relying on former Trump aides for campaign strategy, but she had broken with the Republican president in 2018 over his positions on transgender issues.
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/05/11/jenner-says-she-didnt-vote-in-2020-but-records-show-she-did-1381459

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Boris Johnson’s Phone Number
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

One thing we make very clear on this program is that conservative idiocy isn’t just limited to the United States. It’s a growing problem that affects the entire world. If you’re a politician, one thing you should never do is allow your personal phone number to become public domain. Especially if you’re at the top of the food chain like British prime minister Boris Johnson is. And PM Johnson is one of those guys who has had the same mobile number forever. But how did it get out in the open as long as it has? And why has nobody done anything about it? And here’s the really crazy thing – it’s not like this was a one time incident. This has been going on for 15 years before somebody noticed that this was a problem. And in fact you actually could Google this.

Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Boris Johnson has come under considerable criticism of late regarding access to him via his mobile phone number. With figures of business able to access him directly, including using the WhatsApp messaging app, there has been considerable criticism and demands that Boris Johnson changes his mobile number. He has kept the number the same since he was a journalist, an MP, and Mayor of London. As a result, he is accessible by many he has had contact with personally and professionally. He has reportedly refused to change the number.

But something may have made him change his mind. Gossip mailout, and strong influence on Bleeding Cool, Popbitch, ran a story regarding said phone number, saying;

It's not as though the Prime Minister's personal phone number could just be floating out there on the internet, is it? It would be absolutely insane if it was tacked on to the bottom of an old press release that he dished out freely while MP for Henley, and Shadow Minister for Higher Education.

It took me seconds to Google it. Direct access to the pocket of the most powerful person in the United Kingdom. Now, obviously, I am not going to use it, not even to send him a delivery notification from John Lewis, but the fact that I could find it just by googling would suggest that anyone could find it. Even Budgie.
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/google-boris-johnson-mobile-phone-number/

Yes, there it is in all its’ glory – Boris Johnson’s personal phone number sitting at the very bottom of a 15 year old press release. But here’s where this could be a risk having this number out in the open. It presents a security risk to the entire country because then it’s quite possible that spies and scammers have got a hold of his number and it could pose a risk to members of the British House and Parliament, as well as Johnson himself.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's personal phone number was publicly available on the internet for 15 years, raising concerns that his phone could have been vulnerable to hacking by foreign agents.

The prime minister's number was attached to the bottom of a 2006 press release that was published when he was the shadow education minister.

The press release, which was promoting a pamphlet written by Johnson, invited readers to contact Johnson "directly" on his House of Commons landline or on his personal number.

The presence of the number was first reported by Popbitch, a UK gossip newsletter. The press release was subsequently deleted.

"If his mobile phone number has been that widely available, you can't rule out that others who you really don't want to have his number like hostile states with sophisticated cyber capabilities or criminal gangs may have it as well," Peter Ricketts, the former UK national security advisor, told BBC Radio 4's "Today" program.
https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-mobile-number-was-publicly-available-for-15-years-2021-4

So why take steps to protect your mobile number? Well for one thing hackers. And when you’re someone as important as Boris Johnson, the last thing you want to do is invite hackers and scammers into your realm. So what can hackers do with your phone number when it’s out in the open? Well they can do lots of things with it, and none of them are good. In fact, hackers can do a lot of damage with just your mobile phone number with very little effort.

Boris Johnson's personal phone number has been publicly available on the internet for 15 years. Listed at the bottom of a 2006 press release, the number has reportedly been accessible online from the time the prime minister was shadow higher education minister through to his rise to Number 10.

That such a high-value mobile number has been publicly available for so long has raised cybersecurity concerns. If hostile states had access to the number, it's possible they could have used it to spy on the prime minister. That would pose a serious security risk.

Hackers and cybercriminals place a high premium on our mobile phone numbers – with which they can do a lot of damage with very little effort. While there is currently no evidence that Boris Johnson's data and communications have been compromised, having your mobile phone number being freely available significantly increases your vulnerability to cyber-attacks.

One such cyber-attack is the "SIM swap" – a very common technique that's difficult to stop. It's usually used by hackers to exploit a high-value individual's exposed phone number.
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/0511/1220878-mobile-phone-number-cyber-attacks-impersonation-access-surveillance/

Now you might be asking – “what happens *IF* you actually call Johnson’s phone number? Well two bloggers from the UK’s Channel 4 actually called it. What they didn’t know is that soon members of M:I-5, which is the British equivalent of the FBI, would come knocking at their door. So yes, even if you see the number, just don’t call it. Because the simple act of doing so could land you in the interrogation hot seat.

Gogglebox siblings Sophie and Pete Sandiford got the shock of their lives when they called Boris Johnson’s mobile number on this week’s episode of the Channel 4 show.

Last week it was revealed that the PM’s personal number could be found on the bottom of an old press release dating back to when he was MP for Henley and a shadow minister in 2006.

After watching a news report that revealed callers would now get an automated message saying that the phone was switched off, Sophie tried it out for herself.

But she wasn’t prepared when someone actually answered the call.

Cue Sophie hilariously lobbing the phone at her equally panicked brother.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/gogglebox-sophie-pete-sandiford-boris-johnson-phone-call_uk_60966bbee4b0f73e530de337

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

[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! You know that I’ve recently been troubled by my brothers and sisters on the right for two reasons and we’re going to explore both of these this week. The first thing that has been troubling me is the way they’re attempting to accuse the left of something as heinous as genocide, which has never, not once, ever been discussed by anyone. And the second thing is how certain members of this party are elevating themselves to prophet status! That’s right – people are claiming that they have been chosen by GAWD! It takes a special kind of crazy to elevate yourself to prophet status, then claim that your political opponents are up to something when they’re really not. I mean really these guys need to turn off the TV and put the crack pipe down. Or whatever their drug of choice that they’re smoking is. I mean really this shit is bad for you, kids!

Radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles used Friday’s edition of his “TruNews” broadcast to declare that COVID-19 vaccines are really part of a plot to carry out “global genocide.”

Relying entirely on an article from an obscure conspiracy theory website in India that claimed the next wave of COVID-19 will kill up to 70 percent of those who have been vaccinated, Wiles bellowed that he intends to survive this “genocide” by refusing to get vaccinated while noting that the upside of this “mass death campaign” will be that “a lot of stupid people will be killed off.”

“I am not going to be vaccinated,” Wiles said. “I’m going to be one of the survivors. I’m going to survive the genocide.”

“I am not going to allow the COVID maniacs to convince me to be vaccinated or [to] vaccinate me against my will,” he continued. “I know what I’m reading. I know what I’m seeing. There is a mass death campaign underway right now—and I don’t care what people [say], they can they write any article they want to write about me, they can do everything they can to deplatform me—I’m going to survive a global genocide.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-says-covid-19-vaccines-are-a-plot-to-carry-out-global-genocide/

And that devil is anti-vaccination crusaders! Because actually *NOT* taking the vaccine means that you’re far more likely to die from a deadly disease. Just think of the stupidity that it takes for someone to stand up and say ridiculously dumb stuff like that despite that nothing happens like that anywhere on earth! But this is becoming a pattern with the right and this isn’t an isolated incident either. No, getting vaccinated does not mean that it’s like the Holocaust or Jim Crow days.

QAnon conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine appeared on “The Stew Peters Show” last Thursday, where she railed against proposals to offer separate seating sections for vaccinated and non-vaccinated spectators at sporting events and other large gatherings, predictably likening it to Nazi Germany.

Lorraine, who has been an ardent COVID-19 denier and tireless anti-vaxxer from the very start of the pandemic, complained that offering separate seating sections for those who have been vaccinated is no different than Jim Crow.

“They’re gonna start dividing up their sections of sporting events, churches, and other areas of public interest and it’s gonna say vaccinated people or non-vaccinated people,” Lorraine griped. “And we know that—because there’s so many mindless sheeple out there—that the vaccinated section is going to be a hell of a lot bigger than the non-vaccinated section, but that’s how it’s going to be. So, sporting events, if you go to a baseball game, a football game, etcetera, you can expect to be put in a different section, whether you’ve been vaccinated or not.”

“I’m actually okay with it,” host Stew Peters responded, “because I don’t really want to be hanging around these vaccinated people. All this talk about transmission and shedding and all of this other stuff, I mean, this is a contagious vaccination, it’s a self-spreading vaccination.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/deanna-lorraine-complains-that-offering-different-seating-sections-to-vaccinated-spectators-is-just-like-the-holocaust-and-jim-crow/

And yes they probably do feel bad about themselves! But here’s where it gets really disturbing is when they refer to themselves as prophets. See, you can’t say ridiculously dumb stuff like vaccines are the sign of the devil without calling yourself at least a prophet, because nobody would listen to you. And I’m sure even the good LAWRD JAYSUS is rolling his eyes about as far into the back of his head as they can go! So what’s driving this insanity? Where is this coming from?

Earlier this year, Jeff Jansen, a self-proclaimed “prophet” who leads Global Fire Ministries International in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, declared that Donald Trump is still recognized in Heaven as the legitimate president of the United States and prophesied that the military would remove President Joe Biden from office and reinstate Trump by the end of April.

“We’re gonna be dancing in the streets,” Jansen boldly proclaimed.

April has come and gone, and Biden remains in the White House, but that doesn’t mean that Jansen is prepared to admit that he was wrong. Quite the contrary, in fact, as he posted a video on his Facebook page Tuesday insisting that his prophecy was correct and is unfolding exactly as he predicted it would.

“Today is the May the fourth,” Jansen said. “I just want to be able to come on and say, ‘Look, it’s May and what’s coming can’t be stopped.’ There’s all kinds of amazing things that are happening, and I’m talking about President Trump, I’m talking about him coming back into power, and I’m talking about the church, I’m talking about everything that God promised—back-to-back terms—everything that God has promised with this election and overturning corruption.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-may-but-prophet-jeff-jansen-still-insists-his-prophecy-that-the-military-would-remove-biden-from-office-by-april-is-coming-true/

Yeah you guys have been promising this for the last four months now. But here’s the truth – he isn’t coming back! And when I refer to him, you know who I am talking about – the unholy, ungodly Dark One, a man who is so disgusting that his name shall not be mentioned in my church! You know we must never question the prophets though – their work is DIVINE and all holy! Seriously though, even we don’t make this claim! And we’re followers of the almighty GAWD!

Last week, we noted that there is a battle brewing between the various self-proclaimed “prophets” who guaranteed that Donald Trump would win reelection in 2020 and a group of conservative Christian leaders who are concerned that the refusal by these “prophets” to acknowledge they were wrong is harming the church.

Right-wing pastor Hank Kunneman has been one of the most obstinate of these supposed “prophets,” refusing to apologize for his mistaken prophesy, instead promising that God will reward those who stand with him, and attacking those who have dared to criticize him.

Last Thursday, Kunneman appeared on the “His Glory” program, where he lashed out at the Christian leaders behind the recently released “prophetic standards” declaration—a document signed by such luminaries as Steven Strang and Doug Stringer—saying that none of them are qualified to criticize him because they are not prophets like him.

“It’s amazing,” Kunneman said. “Nobody wrote a letter and thanked me for all the years that I prophesied the other presidents and even President Trump. No, but as soon as something didn’t look like it happened, boy, they jump on the bandwagon to attack you. And my question is: How many of those people that are attacking; A) Are you a prophet? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14 that the prophets are to judge the prophets. ‘If a prophet is to prophesy, let the others judge’; the other prophets, that’s what he was speaking about.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/self-proclaimed-prophet-hank-kunneman-says-only-other-prophets-have-the-authority-to-question-him/

So there you have it – the prophets are all knowing and all powerful, and they can say ridiculously dumb things just as long as you don’t question them. Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]The Golden Globes: How Is This Still A Thing?
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It’s time once again to ask:

This week: The Golden Globes. How are they still a thing? The Golden Globes are entertainment awards given out to the best in movies and TV. But the organization that puts on the ceremonies – the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – has recently come under fire for discriminatory hiring practices and lack of diversity. Which begs the question – does anyone actually watch the Golden Globes anymore and are they a victim of “cancel culture”? Well who does watch awards shows anymore when right now they’re just glorified Zoom calls? The organization that was one high and mighty atop the Hollywood food chain has now slipped through the cracks. Everyone from A listers to even D listers are expressing their outrage at the organization.

Growing Hollywood pushback against the scandal-plagued Hollywood Foreign Press Association became an avalanche Monday, as NBC announced it won't broadcast the HFPA's Golden Globe Awards ceremony in 2022.

The network's decision comes after an array of top-flight film and TV companies, including Netflix, Amazon and WarnerMedia, distanced themselves from the HFPA and the Globes in recent days. The HFPA has not said whether it will try to hold a Globes ceremony next year.

The 87-member group, made up of critics for overseas media outlets, has been engulfed by issues ranging from preferential treatment sought by its members to lack of racial representation in its ranks, which included no Black members, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation this year.

Some of the HFPA's problems have been an open secret for years among Hollywood insiders, even as entertainment companies elevated the stature of the Globes as a major awards event and a harbinger of the Oscars, which follow weeks later.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/05/10/golden-globes-2022-ceremony-dropped-nbc-after-hfpa-scandal/5026394001/

That’s about what people are doing with their Golden Globe awards too after realizing that they’re pretty meaningless anymore. So what is the HFPA controversy? Well there’s more to the headlines than what we’ve seen lately. It’s time for the networks to take a stand against the corrupt governing body of the HFPA and NBC is doing exactly that. With no plans to currently overhaul the organization, one of their key events of the year is getting the axe.

Aiming to beat a self-imposed reform deadline and a Tinseltown firestorm, the board of the besieged Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Monday released a new plan to overhaul the 86-member nonprofit group behind the Golden Globes.

While no one has been hired yet and nothing really happens until a majority of the full membership ratifies the plan this summer, with help from Boston-based law firm Ropes & Gray, the HFPA is now promising again to bring “Black and other racially diverse journalists into our organization,” which currently lacks a single Black member.

They are also pledging a lot more, including adding 20 new members over the next year and increasing their total membership by 50% in the next two years. The HFPA is also looking for a Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and self-described oversight board to help with “critical organizational reform.” Additionally, the suddenly ambitious 78-year-old outfit says it will change the way money changes hands internally, hold members accountable, limit board terms, and bring in “a professional management staff, including, but not limited to, a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Chief Financial Officer.”

“We know that the past few months have presented many challenges for our members, and we appreciate all of the time and effort you have invested in this process thus far,” said an unsigned letter from the HFPA board to the group’s members, outlining the changes they propose. “We want to be clear – these outlined changes are just the first steps in the long journey ahead. We also know that in this existential moment for our association, change is difficult and sometimes scary.”
https://deadline.com/2021/05/hfpa-accusations-plan-diversity-conduct-golden-globes-nbc-1234749141/

Hey don’t throw your junk down here! And look it’s been a year, you can’t exactly use that as an excuse anymore. It’s pretty common knowledge at this point. But shady hiring and business practices aside, how do you begin to send a message to the HFPA? Well leave it to Tom Cruise. Yes, that Tom Cruise, the same one who has been a champion for evil religious organization Scientology, has been actively campaigning against the HFPA.

The organization that sponsors the Golden Globe Awards is under fire for an alleged lack of diversity and its for this reason that some actors are distancing themselves from the Golden Globes.

According to CNN, one of the most familiar faces in the industry has actually returned his Golden Globe to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).

Tom Cruise, who won Globes for his roles in "Jerry Maguire," "Born on the Fourth of July," and "Magnolia," has reportedly returned all of the awards.

His move comes after actress Scarlett Johansson issued a lengthy statement, encouraging her colleagues to step back from participating in events sponsored by the HFPA.

Johansson said, "As an actor promoting a film, one is expected to participate in awards season by attending press conferences as well as awards shows."
https://www.wbrz.com/news/tom-cruise-returns-golden-globe-awards-amid-controversy-surrounding-hfpa/

So both Tom Cruise and Scarlett Johannson are distancing themselves from the HFPA after this controversy, and with two huge stars taking a stand, what’s left for the organization? As you can imagine, losing their key event has really hurt the HFPA so much that they’ve fired their president, and you can imagine the standard PR response that “sweeping changes” are going to be made for this organization. Until then it’s a the same old story of “same shit, different day”.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association said Tuesday that it has expelled its former president Phil Berk from its membership rolls.

“Effective immediately, Phil Berk is no longer a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” the HFPA board said in a statement that has just gone out.

NBC and the parent company of the Golden Globes producers both weighed in already today on the latest embarrassing incident involving the HFPA. This concerns the bizarre email from Berk, a longtime member and former president, to membership on Sunday referring to Black Lives Matters as a “racist hate movement.” The email was leaked to the Los Angeles Times.

The HFPA, already mired in controversy amid revelations during its most recent Golden Globes cycle that it hasn’t had a Black member in 20 years, on Monday night distanced itself from the email Berk sent.
https://deadline.com/2021/04/hollywood-foreign-press-expels-phil-berk-email-1234740447/

So add up discriminatory hiring practices, angry Hollywood stars, and a lack of an audience, and you’ve got a nightmare of a toxic cocktail. That’s enough to make you ask – The Golden Globes:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We are of course coming to you live from our underground bunker in the New Mexico badlands – undisclosed location. Let me just adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference. Ah, there we go, everything is ready! So now that events are coming back one of the big ones every year is the annual horse racing extravaganza known as the Kentucky Derby. Along with this, the Belmont Stakes, and the Preakness, determine if a horse is worthy of the coveted Triple Crown or not. But we might not have a Triple Crown winner this year because… of cheating! That’s right – you can apparently cheat in horse racing and this year it’s come under lots of public scrutiny!

If Medina Spirit is stripped of the 2021 Kentucky Derby victory, second-place Mandaloun would be deemed the winner … but bettors on Mandaloun would still be out of luck.

Medina Spirit’s win is now under investigation after blood tests determined an elevated presence of betamethasone, a regulated anti-inflammatory used to manage pain. Churchill Downs has suspended trainer Bob Baffert pending the final results of the investigation, which will include a second round of testing.

Baffert, a Hall of Fame trainer and (currently) winner of a record seven Kentucky Derbys, maintains innocence, saying Medina Spirit had never even been treated with betamethasone.

If the second test comes back positive, Medina Spirit would lose the victory and Mandaloun will be named the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. All prize money would then be taken from Medina Spirit’s team and awarded to Mandaloun’s.
https://sports.yahoo.com/kentucky-derby-what-happens-to-bets-if-medina-spirits-win-is-overturned-151729294.html

So this is an interesting conundrum – what happens if the horse indeed is caught cheating? Could the race results be overturned? At least we know that the betting won’t be affected. Because the last time that a horse got disqualified for using illegal performance enhancers was 1968. To put things in perspective, that is a long fucking time between cheating attempts. Which means if you’re stupid enough to get caught, son, just don’t.

Medina Spirit’s Kentucky Derby win is at risk after a positive test for betamethasone, but what about the bets cashed in on the victory?

Even if Medina Spirit is ultimately disqualified – something that can only happen after a second positive test – pari-mutuel wagering is unlikely to be affected.

The last time a Kentucky Derby winner was disqualified for a positive drug test (Dancer’s Image, 1968), the Kentucky Horse Racing commission ordered Forward Pass, the horse that crossed the finish line second in the race, be considered the winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby, except for pari-mutuel payoffs.

When Bob Baffert-trained filly Gamine was disqualified from her third-place finish in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, pari-mutuel wagering was not affected by the ruling.

While Churchill Downs confirmed Mandaloun, the horse that finished second in the 2021 Derby, will be declared the winner of the race if the findings of Medina Spirit's positive test are upheld by the split sample test, anyone who bet on Mandaloun to win is unlikely to be able to cash it the ticket if Medina Spirit is disqualified.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/kentucky/2021/05/09/what-happens-to-bets-kentucky-derby-winner-medina-spirit-after-drug-test/5013697001/

Yeah that’s about what happens when you get caught cheating. Now here’s where it gets weird and becomes a conspiracy because you knew it was going to. That guy had to weigh in on the controversy – you know, Former Guy. The guy who won’t be included the next a presidential reunion of the still living presidents happens. The guy who calls everyone a stupid loser. Yes, you know who I am talking about so I will shut up now.

The big news in the sporting world over the weekend was that Medina Spirit, the surprise winner of the Kentucky Derby, had tested positive for an anti-inflammatory drug that is often used to mask injury or ease joint pain in thoroughbred racehorses.

That Medina Spirit is trained by Bob Baffert, perhaps the most recognizable person in horse racing, and that this is the fifth time a horse he has trained has failed a drug test in the last year, made it not just national but international news. Baffert insists the horse was not given the anti-inflammatory drug and everyone is awaiting a second test until a hard and fast conclusion is drawn. He told Fox News on Monday that the horse is a victim of "cancel culture." Yes, really.

Lots and lots of people had takes on Medina Spirit, Baffert and the horse racing game more broadly. But none of them was as weird -- and out of left field -- as that of former President Donald Trump.

Here it is:

"So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, is a junky. This is emblematic of what is happening to our Country. The whole world is laughing at us as we go to hell on our Borders, our fake Presidential Election, and everywhere else!"

(Before you ask, yes this is a real statement by the former President -- appearing on his revolutionary new communications site ... kidding ... "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.&quot

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/10/politics/donald-trump-medina-spirit/index.html

Yeah seriously can we just not pay attention to anything he thinks anymore? All he does is spew bile and garbage and it’s not good for anybody. Even though I’m in my end times bunker, I still have a connection to the outside world though! But here’s what makes this a conspiracy – even the owner, now that he’s been banned from the upcoming Preakness, has a theory! And that theory is… drum roll! See if you can guess what he’s blaming it on? That’s right – cancel culture, kids! He’s blaming this whole affair on cancel culture! It is all clear now! Guess we can close the book on this one!

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit is already at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore for the next leg in this year's Triple Crown. But the horse's future, as well as that of trainer Bob Baffert, remains in limbo.

The celebration of Baffert's record-setting seventh Derby win lasted one week. Racing officials notified him that Medina Spirit tested positive for Betamethasone, a steroid used to treat inflammation but banned on race day.

The horse racing world is anxiously awaiting the second round of test results, which will be performed at a different lab. If a second test is positive, Medina Spirit could be stripped of his Derby crown and the $1.8 million purse that came with it. The horse would then become just the second Derby winner to be disqualified over medication.

Baffert denies that the horse has ever been treated with the particular drug. "He's never been treated, and that's the scary part," he said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/medina-spirit-bob-baffert-kentucky-derby-cancel-culture/

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

Of course you know by now that people are people, and people are dumb! And as we have shown in the amount of time we’ve been doing this – nobody is immune from the People Are Dumb segment. That’s right – there’s no vaccine for stupidity! And don’t worry my faithful viewers – we have plenty of the Sunshine State to get to. But first I want to share this story out of Kentucky and my father’s alma matter – the University Of Kentucky! Look, I know we’re still in the middle of a raging pandemic and everyone is not up to speed with everything that they’re doing because we’re just starting to come out of lockdown from the stay at home orders. But that said… how do you overlook *THIS* error? Crap I could apply to UK and get accepted with just an internet form! I’m sure my dad and his UK alumni friends would approve of this. Or not.

The University of Kentucky mistakenly sent acceptance emails to 500,000 high school seniors for a program that usually accepts about three dozen students a year.

The school followed up with another email less than 24 hours later and apologized for its mistake, citing a “technical issue,” WLEX-TV reported.

“Only a handful of those on the prospect list had been admitted to UK,” UK spokesman Jay Blanton said. “The vast majority had not, nor had the vast majority of these students expressed an interest in the program. Nevertheless, we regret the communication error and have sent correspondence to all those who were contacted, offering our apologies.”

The acceptance was for this fall in the clinical leadership and management program in the College of Health Sciences.
https://apnews.com/article/science-kentucky-5953f92673185b7f7baed3937d876d16

Yeah… ooopsie! I bet there’s a lot of disappointed applicants out there, as well as parents! Next up we go to one of my favorite places to visit – the state of Colorado! And here’s the thing – this sort of crime is one of the worst that anyone could commit. But when you see why the name was changed well this is what makes it dumb, and why it would be included in our segment. Because this is magical. If you’re going to commit something evil, maybe don’t change your name to that of a James Bond villain!

A former Colorado lawyer who legally changed his name to that of a James Bond villain is accused of plotting with his mother to kill his father after learning he'd been cut out of his will.

Jean-Joseph Danger Le Chiffre, formerly known as 55-year-old Patrick Joseph Sandoval, and his mother Marcella Sandoval, now 78, were arrested last August in connection to the July murder of Gilbert Sandoval, according to the Colorado Springs police.

Le Chiffre is accused of beating his 83-year-old dad to death with a baseball bat inside a Colorado Springs home owned by both of the parents. He was charged with first-degree murder while his mother was charged with being an accessory.

Le Chiffre pleaded not guilty in court on Friday, during a hearing which unveiled strange details about the case. During the half-day long hearing, detectives outlined their case against Le Chiffre and his mother.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/man-legally-changes-name-james-145600990.html

Ah that’s what a grenade is supposed to do! Next up – OK look we’re all getting tired of Zoom and working from home. I get that, we’re all Zoom fatigued. I think I remember reporting on this last year but driving while Zooming is a thing that has started because of the pandemic. And if you’re caught doing this, this is an entire new level of stupid! Oh and you think you might get away with it by using a virtual background, but we’re onto you!

An Ohio state senator used a virtual background of his home office in an apparent attempt to conceal the fact that he was, in fact, driving while attending a Zoom meeting. The reason Republican Senator Andrew Brenner drew criticism from various quarters was the fact that the Ohio State Assembly had introduced a bill to ban distracted driving the very same day. Despite Brenner's attempt to show his car as a part of his house using a computer-generated background, a seatbelt across his chest, continuous movement of his hands and his attention to the left and right were enough for people to call his bluff.

Later, the senator defended his actions, saying he wasn't distracted, adding he was paying attention to driving and listening to the people at the meeting.

“I had two meetings that were back to back that were in separate locations. And I've actually been on other calls, numerous calls, while driving. Phone calls for the most part but on video calls, I'm not paying attention to the video. To me, it's like a phone call," he said.

As reported by The Guardian, at the beginning of the call, the senator was seen sitting inside a parked car. Minutes later, he left the call and reappeared with wooden cabinets, paintings hanging on the wall, and a house plant in the background.
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/social-networking/news/zoom-work-from-home-us-senator-driving-pretending-virtual-background-seatbelt-car-andrew-brenner-2437630

Yeah we can’t have too many people driving while Zooming, though I’m sure that does happen! Next up – I told you we would not be neglecting the Sunshine State! Of course America’s most penis-shaped state, the state of Florida – never ceases on delivering the crazy. So this story, we go to the town of St. Petersburg. So this guy decided to quite literally take the law into his own hands when dealing with a neighbor’s loud music. Why does this remind me of that movie Dirty Work?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. [WFLA] – A St. Petersburg man is accused of impersonating of a police officer and handcuffing his neighbor, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

John Switzer, 67, reportedly pretended to arrest his neighbor over a dispute about loud music on Monday, PCSO reported. According to deputies, Switzer was armed with a with a gun, displayed a badge and claimed to be an officer.

The neighbor who was handcuffed told WFLA that she was held hostage for 15 minutes and is now badly bruised.

When deputies arrived on scene, Switzer quickly admitted he was not an officer, but rather, a former officer, according to the report. ...............(more)

https://nbc-2.com/news/2021/05/06/deputies-florida-man-impersonating-officer-handcuffed-neighbor-over-loud-music/

Yeah hi… real cops? We’ve got a complaint! Next up – fast food rage! You know me, I love a good fast food rage story. I collect them, share them, trade them with my friends. No seriously, give me a story about a woman who destroys the local McDonalds because they ran out of chicken nuggets and I’m there! Well this story comes from the area of Florida known as the Villages. And it’s all fun and games until… yeah… there it is! The N word has been let out!

A 77-year-old Villager was arrested in an alleged racial tirade after throwing her Whopper sandwich at a Burger King employee.

Judith Ann Black of the Village of Pine Ridge was apparently enraged over the thickness of the tomato served in her Whopper sandwich Friday evening at the Burger King restaurant at Trailwinds Village on County Road 466A in Wildwood. She confronted a Burger King employee at the counter and was “yelling” at her, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department.

The Burger King worker tried to convince the Texas native to calm down and said she could not help her if she did not stop yelling. The worker turned her back on Black who threw the Whopper at the employee, hitting her in the back, the report said.

“Shut up you black bitch,” the Villager told the employee.

Black proceeded to use the “N” word before storming out of the restaurant, the report said.

The Burger King manager, a worker at Burger King and an independent customer all verified the employee’s account of what happened. Video surveillance footage also corroborated what the employee told law enforcement.
https://www.villages-news.com/2021/05/03/villager-arrested-in-alleged-whopper-throwing-racial-tirade/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Finally this week – I’ve got a bonus People Are Dumb for you! And this one, we go to the state of Michigan. Look I get it, I think people have had an ass full of Zoom. We’re tired of virtual events and we want to get back to having real ones. We’ve all been cooped up too long and are itching to get back out into regular society. But until that happens, one person you don’t screw with is a judge. Especially if it’s for your own virtual court appearance. But this guy came up with what might be the strangest user name yet on Zoom:

No, this isn't a deleted scene from the 2006 dark comedy Idiocracy. This is just another day in the life of judge Jeffrey Middleton, who serves Michigan's St. Joseph County.

Middleton, who is pretty well known for his transparency and calling it like it is on the r/ZoomCourt subreddit, where people post videos of viral goofs and mishaps that occur during Zoom-based court hearings (remember cat lawyer?), was confronted with a not so hole-some situation.

During a Monday Zoom court hearing for drug paraphernalia charges a man, Nathan Saxaon, logged on with the very public screenname of Buttfucker 3000. While there is nothing inherently wrong with being an actual buttfucker, Middelton was not having any of Saxaon's buttfucking bullshit, Vice reported.

“We’ll bring this fool in,” Middleton said to the Zoom meeting, which consisted of eight people waiting for their hearing.
https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2021/05/12/michigan-judge-boots-man-with-buttfucker-3000-as-screenname-from-zoom-hearing

That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]Stupidest State
[br] [/font] [br]

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

Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the NFFSA and the 2021 Stupidest State tournament! We are just two short rounds away from the championship game! Last week Georgia handed red hot Michigan a defeat with a last second buzzer beater to win the Batshit Conference and advance to their first Final Four in team history! This week it’s a battle of Fiscal Irresponsibility heavyweights as the playground for the super-rich, #2 Wyoming, is set to take on the casino and gambling industry in #3 Nevada!

[font size="4"]Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference Championship: Wyoming Vs Nevada [/font]

[font size="2"]Wyoming [/font]

Wyoming is referred to as the “Equality State”. But when your rich billionaire friends are leaving Hollywood and San Jose for Jackson Hole, buying up all the land and creating obscene wealth gaps not seen since the Great Depression, something is inherently fucked up in that state. So that said, why are so many millionaires and billionaires ditching the city for the mountains? Well, besides fresh air, low population, and an anything goes approach to how the government is run, it’s a haven for the uber-wealthy. So what is life like there?

Wealthy people across the globe have been fleeing major cities like New York and London to wait out the coronavirus pandemic in more secluded communities such as the Hamptons and the English countryside.

In the US, one of these communities is Jackson Hole, a picturesque Wyoming valley where billionaires go to ski. Affluent families and individuals are flying into Jackson Hole on their private jets to shelter in their vacation homes, Justin Farrell reported for The New York Times. Some are even bringing their own ventilators and other medical equipment along with them, a local doctor told the Times.

The valley's central resort town, Jackson, is also the most economically unequal place in America, according to a 2018 report published by the Economic Policy Institute.

In the Jackson metro area, which encompasses Teton County in Wyoming and Teton County in Idaho, the wealthiest residents make, on average, 132 times as much as everyone else: The average income of the 1% is more than $16.1 million, and the average income of the bottom 99% is $122,447.
https://www.businessinsider.com/most-unequal-place-america-jackson-wyoming-photos-2019-8

So in case you’re wondering why your favorite old west paraphernalia stores are turning into high end goods stores, blame your billionaire friend. I didn’t know Armani made cowboy boots! A western wagon made by Bentley? Sure, why not? But the bottom line is that billionaires have a weird obsession with recreating the Wild West. I’m sure because they watch too many cowboy movies.

The mountains loom overhead, mere blocks from a main drag filled with souvenir T-shirt shops, luxury stores and high-end art galleries. Things like the wooden plank boardwalk that’s ubiquitous through the main shopping section of town and the stage coach rides are meant to harken back to Jackson Hole’s Wild West past.

It’s more complicated than that though — and Jackson as the locals call it (Jackson Hole is technically the whole valley, which includes Teton Village) tends to evoke strong emotions yeah or nay from Wyoming locals.

Maybe it’s due to too much time spent watching Kevin Costner’s melodrama Yellowstone, but I assumed that tension would be more noticeable in the town.

Instead, it’s largely a bunch of friendly enough folks trying to make money off tourists and more regular summer visitors.
https://www.papercitymag.com/culture/jackson-hole-billionaires-wyoming-guide-hotel-finds-best-restaurants-yellowstone/

But billionaires aren’t just the only group moving to Wyoming. It’s celebrities too. That’s right – in fact including Wyoming this year was brought to our attention because of Kanye West and many others leaving Hollywood for Grand Teton. But the one thing that COVID has taught us is that if you can work remotely, you might as well go all the way! And there’s nothing more remote than living in a rural mountain town hundreds of miles from any major city!

A segment on MTV News this week highlighted the influx of celebrities moving to Wyoming, specifically Jackson Hole.

The 7-minute segment known as “The Pop Factor” discussed the implications of wealthy celebrities moving to Wyoming. According to the video, “Wyoming has the highest number of billionaires per capita…despite being off the beaten path.” The video cited Wyoming’s income tax breaks as the culprit behind this mass exodus of the ultra-wealthy to the state.

A long-standing and contentious issue in the valley, the COVID pandemic has seen a rising trend of more wealthy citizens moving to the northwest corner of Wyoming which has put pressure on locally-based professionals to find affordable housing options.

“For a studio, you’re looking at $1,800 plus, and those are on the lower end of the spectrum,” ShelterJH coordinator Clare Stumpf said in an interview on the segment.
https://buckrail.com/mtv-news-highlights-influx-of-celebrities-moving-to-wyoming-inequality-in-jh/

[font size="2"]Nevada [/font]

The last time we checked in with the Silver State, they were still reeling as the casino and gambling industry lost record revenues because of the pandemic. Which that fuels about 95% of the state’s tourism industry. To make things even worse, Nevada gets most of their revenue from gambling and doesn’t charge state taxes. So that created a crash the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades. Now they’re looking for alternate solutions to keep those sweet tourism dollars rolling in! Do your best Zach Galaifinakis impression here!

Gov. Steve Sisolak said Monday he will scale back his proposal to let technology companies establish zones where they could exercise powers similar to those of local government. Instead of asking lawmakers to pass a resolution to approve the proposal this session, he plans on introducing a measure to create a committee to further study the so-called “Innovation Zones.”

The decision, first reported by the Reno Gazette Journal, deals a blow to Blockchains LLC — the northern Nevada-based technology company that said an Innovation Zone would enable it to build a blockchain-powered city in the rolling hills of the state’s desert.

“I know that legislators, stakeholders and Nevadans still have questions, and I want those questions to be discussed and answered. I want people to be enthusiastic about this opportunity, not skeptical about a fast-tracked bill,” Sisolak said in a statement.

To lure new industries to Nevada, the governor proposed letting technology companies establish “Innovation Zones” with powers similar to those of local government, if they commit to invest $1.25 billion and possess at least 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) of land.
https://apnews.com/article/local-governments-technology-business-government-and-politics-nevada-e3bd9ef669145af228adcfaadcf7cdb1

Well see, Steve, that’s what happens when you put all of your eggs in one basket, and that basket gets taken down by a raging pandemic! But yeah let’s give entire industries state powers and the ability to generate their own currency, what could go wrong there? And in fact when you put all your eggs in one basket, it has what one might call a “ripple effect” that could take out many other industries besides tourism and casinos! In fact it even has the US Senate talking!

A U.S. Senate subcommittee focused on travel and tourism has met for the first time to discuss ways to help the industry recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade and Export Promotion met on Tuesday.

"Travel and tourism-related industries drive job creation and economic growth in states across America, especially in Nevada," said Democratic U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, the committee’s chair. "These industries and the workers they employ are absolutely essential to our state’s prosperity."

Rosen said the committee will develop bipartisan solutions to bring the industry back to pre-pandemic levels. The committee is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

In Nevada, the pandemic closed casinos for more than two months last year and they have yet to fully recover. The state’s unemployment rate reached a high of about 30%, and the loss of gaming and other tax revenue left the state in a $1.2 billion budget deficit.
https://news3lv.com/news/local/us-senate-panel-meets-to-tackle-nevada-tourism-recovery-amid-pandemic

So no tourism = no money = Nevada is seriously in the red. This is a shining example of what reckless Koch Industries inspired laws can bring. But no fear, recovery is on the way! But like everything else, the recovery for Nevada’s tourism industry is going to be long, slow, and incredibly painful as Nevada and the rest of the world recovers from COVID. But don’t expect to break out the craps and roulette tables just yet, folks!

Fears over the pandemic and government impose lockdowns have hurt tourist travel and related revenue, although the economy is now slowly recovering due to increased vaccination.

Some industries were hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing orders. Restaurants, movie theaters, live theaters and music venues were all greatly harmed. But one other industry that got hit especially hard was tourism.

If no one can travel, after all, those businesses cannot function the way they normally do. However, there is help on the way, both from the receding of the pandemic and from funds from the American Rescue Plan stimulus package.

A recent MarketWatch piece looked at how things are playing out in Napa, California, a place that often draws tourists. The site quotes the city’s finance director as stating that tourism revenues are not likely to reach back to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/coronavirus/tourism-coming-back-it-might-take-until-2024-get-back-2019-numbers-184557

[font size="2"]And The Winner Is: [/font]

No contest ladies and gentlemen! Nevada has 15 unanswered points against Wyoming going into the last 50 seconds of the game. Nevada has the ball… yes!! Nevada now up by 17 against Wyoming, and that’s game! Nevada advances to their first Final Four in their team’s history! Final score – 88 – 71! They are celebrating on the court as they have finally prevailed! Nevada moves on, Wyoming goes home!

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

It’s the Stupidest State Final Four! Representing the Layover League - #1 Georgia is set to take on #3 Nevada while over in the Flyover League, #2 Texas is set to challenge the Cinderella Story in #4 Arkansas! Two of these teams will advance to the Stupidest State Championship!

See you next week!

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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded At: Observatory OC, Santa Ana, CA
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May 6, 2021

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-13: 19 Years To Life... And Counting Edition

Due to a scheduling conflict, the Top 10 is early this week! Enjoy!

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #10-13: 19 Years To Life… And Counting Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! So how do you like our new set everybody? Yes, the blank, blue void is gone and it’s been replaced by this beauty! And can I make an announcement? Next week… the return of… the WHEEL OF CORRUPTION! YAY!!!! Oh the kids love this don’t they? And yes things are getting back to normal, almost like it’s 2019 again. Wait, we don’t want to relive 2020 again do we? I don’t! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! So you know that baseball is back. I don’t want to report on this because I’m an Angels fan and we don’t like the Dodgers but as an LA kid this feels so weird. The thing that’s most commonly associated with the Dodgers besides the great former announcer Vin Scully – is the foot long mystery meat concoction known as the Dodger Dog. So Farmer John’s – the company that manufactures the Dodger Dog – has ended their contract with Dodger Stadium! Now the weird thing is that they sell Dodger Dogs but they’re not the same. And what’s even weirder is that Dodger Stadium began shopping for a new hot dog vendor and even went so far as to hire taste testers to ensure that the Dodger Dogs they were going to sell to ensure taste accuracy and that Dodger fans wouldn’t be fooled. During this time Farmer John’s went and signed a contract with nearby LAFC. So no Dodger Dogs at Dodger Stadium, but Dodger Dogs at Banc Of California Stadium. I mean come on, going to a Dodger game without trying a Dodger Dog is like going to a museum and not looking at the paintings. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to but first John Oliver is back and he looks into the world of vaccines and vaccine misinformation:

So where do we begin this week? In the number one slot this week, Joe Biden gave a speech commemorating his first 100 days in office, but not everyone was happy with it, so we’re going to show you some of the more insane reactions to Biden’s speech (1). In the second slot this week is the former mayor of New York City, our old buddy Rudy Giuliani . It seems that he really stepped in it regarding his conspiracy theory BS, and he might join Roger Stone and Trump in prison! They can make Supermax great again! Taking the 3rd slot this week is Tucker Carlson. So the pandemic is at a tipping point and Tucker could make things that much worse, and if you are not outraged at the things he’s been saying lately, you’re not paying attention! Taking the fourth slot this week is Josh Duggar (4) – yes of the 1,000,000 Kids and Counting Duggar family, and he stepped in it after getting arrested by the FBI for – wait for it – possessing child porn! Yay! In the number 5 slot this week is our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week there’s talk of a silicon shortage that could affect everything from computers to cars to appliances, so how’s that going to affect you? Prepare to be outraged! And speaking of outrage, in the #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 increasingly alarmed that his fellow Christians are using crowd funding sites to fund acts of terrorism. Yeah that’s happening! In the number 7 slot this week we have a new This Fucking Guy (7) and this week we’re taking a look at the upper echelon of UFC and profiling Joe Rogan and Dana White, and whew, these guys are crazy. In the number 8 slot this week we have a new Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week the conspiracy is on flags! Yes, flags! Specifically those obscene anti-Biden flags that you might see floating around MAGA neighborhoods. And this is going to be fun. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week we have a new “I Need A Drink” – and this week we’re going to get drunk and discuss Larry Kudlow’s insane remark on Biden forcing people to drink “plant based beer”. Finally this week it’s time for Stupidest State 2021! This week it’s a battle of the Batshit Conference as favorite #1 Georgia looks to unseat red hot #4 Michigan! One of these teams wins, the other goes home! 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"]Conservative Reactions To Biden’s 100 Days Speech
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You know what conservatives? Your schtick of hating everything that we do is getting really old now, and I mean really old. You’ve spent the last 40 years pushing this crap and everyone is getting really tired of it. So Biden is kicking your ass and reversing literally all of Trump’s worst policies and then some more. But not everyone is happy with Biden’s performance. It’s one of those things where the performance was so good that it’s making the rest of the room uncomfortable because they could never live up to those standards. Think of it like being a lounge singer in the same room as Placido Domingo – you’ll never live up to Domingo no matter how hard you try! Yeah it’s not the same, I know, but let’s take a look at who’s not happy with Biden’s first 100 days, shall we?

As President Joe Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress, at least one lawmaker in attendance didn't seem to find the speech as engaging as others.

More than an hour after taking the podium, Biden was discussing his administration's plans for immigration reform when cameras cut to Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz who appeared to be fighting sleep.

"If you actually want to solve a problem, I've sent a bill. Take a close look at it," Biden is saying as the camera focused on Cruz whose eyes were shut for a brief moment before snapping open.

Twitter users quickly pointed out the sleepy-eyed Cruz.

"When you're dreaming about Cancun," tweeted Aaron Rupar, a Vox reporter, referencing Cruz's trip to Mexico during February when Texas was slammed by a winter storm and faced widespread power outages.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/28/ted-cruz-looks-like-hes-falling-asleep-during-joe-bidens-speech/4883934001/

Yeah so Ted Cruz was asleep during Biden’s joint address to Congress… or was he? Maybe he was just dreaming about Southern Mexican paradises! And by the way, speaking of Teddy not approving of what Biden does, does he not know what a brutal dictator is? Yes these four countries absolutely suck but compared to scumbags like Duterte and Modi? None of the leaders of these countries have anything on them, except maybe Putin. Putin probably reigns supreme.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) denounced U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield for attempting to "kiss up to the brutal tyrants" on the U.N. Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

Cruz tweeted his disapproval in reaction to a video clip of Thomas-Greenfield addressing the virtual 30th Annual Summit of the National Action Network, a civil rights group founded by Al Sharpton. Thomas-Greenfield maintained that "the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy" into the "founding documents and principles" of the U.S. while vowing that the country would regain a seat on the Human Rights Council.

"Perhaps our ambassadors should defend America," Cruz tweeted in response. "And not kiss up to the brutal tyrants (including Cuba, Venezuela, Russia & China) on the UN Human Rights Council."

The U.S. last held on a seat on the council in 2018, when the administration of former President Donald Trump withdrew from the council while claiming that it was "biased" and alleging issues like the mistreatment of Israel. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the council was "a protector of human rights abusers."
https://www.newsweek.com/ted-cruz-slams-bidens-un-ambassador-tells-her-defend-america-stop-appeasing-brutal-tyrants-1583724

And by the way can we show what Lauren Boebert (Q – Batshit) was up to? I mean she wasn’t sleeping but she was definitely not focused on the speech. Come on, why should you when you’re part of the party that tried to overthrow the government and stop Trump’s insurrection. So in addition to not caring, Lauren Boebert was apparently wearing some kind of tin foil hat blanket thing designed to purposefully make some noise, and was live tweeting the speech. Yeah you can’t make this stuff up.

Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado took a unique approach to maximizing comfort during President Joe Biden's hour-long address to Congress Wednesday night.

She unpacked what appeared to be a space blanket about halfway through the address and laid the mylar sheet over her lap. Photos from the evening show Boebert using her phone while covered by the blanket and her Twitter account shows she tweeted more than 25 times during Biden's address.

Matt Fuller, a politics reporter at The Daily Beast who was inside the chamber, tweeted that Boebert "sort of loudly opened" the blanket, then "shook it free so that everyone could hear it in the chamber," before draping it across her lap.

The freshman lawmaker's behavior during the speech raised eyebrows on a number of occasions — from live-tweeting vitriol at Biden from inside the House chamber to refusing to rise during a standing ovation for first lady Jill Biden.
https://www.businessinsider.com/lauren-boebert-space-blanket-biden-speech-congress-2021-4

By the way, what was Lauren googling during the speech? Let us know in the comments! So yeah that happened! And did we really need a rebuttal from Josh Hawley (Q - Batshit)? Yeah I know every time the president gives a major address, the other party gets a rebuttal. But is Josh Hawley really the guy you want to go to? I mean it could be worse, it could be Madison Cowthorn. But the GQP party is full of people who you don’t want making a speech or even attending events.

Biden plans to use the address to unveil his push for a $1.8 trillion investment in children, families and education that would fundamentally transform the roles the government plays in American life. He is also expected to address his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, as well as call on Congress to pass gun control legislation and reforms to the nation’s immigration system.

The proposal drew a sharp rebuke from Missouri U.S. Senator, Republican Josh Hawley.

“What I’d like to see from the President is a plan to bring jobs back to the country from overseas, to get manufacturing restarted and strong again in this country, to make sure that places like Missouri and rural areas in our state are able to benefit and take advantage of this economy and are not left behind, but instead what you see is literally trillions of dollars, trillions of dollars in new federal social welfare spending that has no requirements to work, that is not related at all to getting a job,” Hawley said.

Hawley this week proposed a working parent tax credit that would give families up to $12,000 as long as one parent in the household was working. He did cite the potential for agreement on some form of an infrastructure package, although Republicans have criticized how Democrats have defined infrastructure more widely than road and bridge construction and repair.

“We’ve gone down this path before, it was not successful I think it’s a big mistake and this is now 6 trillion dollars in spending, taxpayer money, that the president has proposed, just in his first hundred days, I think it’s kind of crazy,” Hawley said.
https://fox2now.com/news/i-think-its-kind-of-crazy-senator-josh-hawley-blasts-president-bidens-plans-ahead-of-speech-to-congress/

[font size="8"]Rudy Giuliani
[br] [/font] [br]

Answer me this my fair audience - why does every current video clip of Rudy Giuliani always look like he’s going to take a massive dump? Does he have a digestive problem or something? But I’m sure everyone knows where they were when they heard that the Feds were in the process of raiding Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment. But for what reason? Was it that he finally had the information on Hunter Biden’s laptop? No? So you might be asking – what’s Giuliani in such deep trouble for? And I answer you this good sir or madam – we don’t know. But we will be keeping an eye on this story as it develops because I can assure you that it will be white hot! One thing we do know is that Rudy stepped in it, and he’s got a steaming pile of whatever it is on his shoes!

Federal agents executed search warrants Wednesday at the Manhattan apartment and office of Rudy Giuliani, his attorney said, advancing a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors that has been underway for more than two years.

Giuliani, who served as former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, has been the focus of an investigation concerning his activities in Ukraine, including whether he conducted illegal lobbying for Ukrainian officials while he pursued an investigation linked to Trump's primary political rival, President Joe Biden, CNN has reported. Giuliani hasn't been charged and has denied wrongdoing.

It is unusual for prosecutors to execute a search warrant on a lawyer, although Manhattan federal prosecutors have done so before, most notably in recent years against another former lawyer for Trump, Michael Cohen.

On Wednesday afternoon, an attorney for Giuliani, Robert Costello, said the warrant described an investigation into possible violation of foreign lobbying laws and that it sought communications between Giuliani and people including a former columnist for The Hill, John Solomon.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/politics/rudy-giuliani-federal-prosecutors/index.html

I can’t imagine Rudy and Trump are fans of the performing arts. But one thing’s for certain by repeatedly circulating lies about the election and about Hunter Biden they have stepped in it. And of course the former mob boss, doing his best Valley Girl impression, is standing by his fixer. Where is this going you might ask? Well again I can assure you – we don’t know. But the good news is that we might actually have a case that goes somewhere, thanks to having a competent AG who has yet to be fired!

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday denounced the raids by federal investigators on the Manhattan home and office of his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, defending the former New York mayor as the victim of a politically biased Justice Department.

“Rudy Giuliani is a great patriot. He does these things — he just loves this country, and they raid his apartment,” Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in an interview. “It’s, like, so unfair and such a double — it’s like a double standard like I don’t think anybody’s ever seen before.”

FBI agents executed search warrants at the properties on Wednesday in relation to a long-running probe into Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine during Trump’s presidency. An attorney for Giuliani said the raids focused on a single incident in which his client allegedly failed to register as a foreign agent.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for, what they’re doing. They say it had to do with filings of various papers, lobbying filings,” Trump said, going on to allege — without offering evidence — illegal foreign lobbying by President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/29/trump-defends-giuliani-fbi-raid-484991

Oh he doesn’t miss, that’s for sure! And while the former mob boss is standing by his guy – presumably because he has something on him, we can assure you that the Feds are not done! So how were they able to nail Giuliani you might ask? Well Giuliani has been under scrutiny for his ties to some shady Ukranian business dealers. Does that sound familiar? Well it’s only the narrative they’ve been trying to dump on Hunter Biden over the last two years. You know that old saying – judge not lest ye be judged!

Giuliani, the 76-year-old former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership after 9/11, has been under federal scrutiny for several years over his ties to Ukraine. The dual searches sent the strongest signal yet that he could eventually face federal charges.

Agents searched Giuliani’s Madison Avenue apartment and Park Avenue office, people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press. The warrants, which required approval from the top levels of the Justice Department, signify that prosecutors believe they have probable cause that Giuliani committed a federal crime — though they do not guarantee that charges will materialize.

A third search warrant was served on a phone belonging to Washington lawyer Victoria Toensing, a former federal prosecutor and close ally of Giuliani and Trump. Her law firm issued a statement saying she was informed that she is not a target of the investigation.

The full scope of the investigation is unclear, but it at least partly involves Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, law enforcement officials have told the AP.

The people discussing the searches and Wednesday’s developments could not do so publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. News of the search was first reported by The New York Times.
https://apnews.com/article/rudy-giuliani-trump-investigation-warrant-7a413e1bbb819cb52cd402d64a982185

How about the actual Mafia? And you don’t double cross them or you’ll end up in the East River, just like my mamma mia’s pasta al forno! Yeah I’ve seen way too many mafia movies! But in case you’re wondering – yes Rudy’s fuck up could have colossal consequences! Especially for a certain former president who is attempting to run again in 2024! That is assuming this raid and subsequent probe isn’t going to fuck things up for the worse for them! Pass the butter, it’s going to be fun watching them squirm!

Sophia Ankel
Sun, May 2, 2021, 3:30 AM·3 min read

rudy giuliani oan oann
President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani wipes sweat away after an interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion outside the White House West Wing in Washington, DC, on July 1, 2020. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Rudy Giuliani raid has Trump allies feeling uneasy about what could come next, CNN reported.

A former Trump advisor said the raid is proof that officials are willing to pursue his inner circle.

Several Trump allies also said it "wouldn't shock" them if Giuliani turned on the former president.

Sign up for our daily newsletter 10 Things in Politics You Need to Know Today.

Related: Rudy Giuliani mocked after warning of misinformation

Trump allies are growing increasingly concerned about the future after former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's office and apartment were raided by federal agents this week, according to CNN.

On Wednesday, Giuliani, who acted as Trump's former attorney, was the target of two raids in which investigators seized several of his electronic devices as well as a computer belonging to his personal assistant. The searches were in connection to a criminal probe into Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine, The New York Times reported.

Trump's allies and former members of his inner circle are now reportedly becoming increasingly worried about further raids and upcoming FBI investigations.

"This was a show of force that sent a strong message to a lot of people in Trump's world that other things may be coming down the pipeline," an advisor to the former president, who wished to stay anonymous, told CNN.
https://news.yahoo.com/former-members-trumps-inner-circle-103040838.html

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[font size="8"]Tucker Carlson
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I want to start this entry by telling my producer that no, we don’t need a Tucker reaction camera for this one. Really? You’re going to go there? OK fine. Guess I brought this one on myself. And while we’re all enjoying the benefits of the COVID vaccine, Tucker Carlson is having the opposite view. He’s instead going full anti-vax and full mask hole. Now I can already hear you getting ready to boo, so please save your boos for a minute. Fox News has seriously lost its’ damn mind, although they didn’t really have much of a mind to begin with. And it’s insane the content that they are letting on their networks, and I guess having conservatives threaten them with going to other networks really has them scrambling to produce content, so they’ve resorted to threats.

Apparently, Tucker Carlson thinks parents should be arrested for child abuse if they make their kids wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

That uh, observation came during Tucker’s latest monologue at the top of Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Monday. It began with him railing against politicians requiring their constituents to wear masks — which, Tucker argued, “99% of us would have survived anyway.” (Cold comfort for the 570,000 people who didn’t, of course.)

Tucker then zeroed in on kids by ranting against parents who make their children wear masks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all children age 2 and over wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID and recently said that kids still should wear masks in public spaces, especially if they attend summer camps this year.

“As for forcing children to wear masks outside, that should be illegal,” Tucker said. “Your response when you see children wearing masks while they play should be no different to seeing someone beat a kid in Walmart. Call the police. Contact Child Protective Services. Keep calling until someone arrives.”
https://www.thewrap.com/tucker-carlson-rants-that-covid-masks-are-child-abuse-call-the-policevideo/

Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Oh man it’s so great to finally hear your boos in person again! Just so we’re perfectly clear – if you’re anti-mask and anti-vax, you won’t be allowed at future Top 10 events. This is a stunning level of evil. I mean if anyone should have CPS called on them, it’s the anti-mask and anti-vax people. The sad thing right now is that the bad guys are winning in this field but hopefully not for long! Even the State Department is feeling the heat from this one.

A day after Tucker Carlson urged his viewers to call child protective services if they see kids wearing masks outside, the New Jersey, Nevada and Utah child welfare departments discouraged people from making frivolous calls and clarified that wearing face coverings was unlikely to constitute a form of child abuse.

In a wide-ranging rant about masks during a monologue on his show Monday, Carlson claimed it was “unacceptable,” “dangerous” and should even be “illegal” for children to wear masks outside while they play.

Citing debunked claims about masks decreasing oxygen levels, Carlson urged his viewers to contact the police or child welfare agencies if they see a kid wearing a mask outside.

In response to an inquiry from Forbes on Tuesday, the New Jersey Department of Children and Families said that calls to the child abuse hotline “must meet certain criteria for an investigative response” and that a “parent or guardian placing a mask on a child or youth, whether inside or outside, is not, by itself, considered abusive.”

In a warning to Americans who might heed Carlson’s advice, the department said that “frivolous calls” to the agency “prevent staff from helping the children and families that truly need assistance.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/04/28/states-to-tucker-carlson-dont-call-us-about-children-wearing-masks/?sh=5ef95de71256

Look we’re all sick of the pandemic precautions that have taken over our lives in the last year but the last thing we want to do is make things worse, or we all go back to ground zero! And pro-maskers aren’t the only thing that Tucker has a problem with. He also has a problem with vaccines. So masks and vaccines are both apparently part of the new thing that Fox News is going to declare war on in the next year and coming years.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday evening called former President Barack Obama a "creepy old man" for urging Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine in a public service announcement.

In a segment on Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host played Obama's recent remarks about the vaccine on NBC News, before criticizing the ex-president over the announcement.

"NBC is now running, and you may have seen these, PSAs (public service announcements) with its on-air talent demanding that everyone in the country get the shot. Barack Obama just released this creepy little video telling small children to get the shot," he said.

The host then aired the ex-president's message, which aired last week.

"Hi everybody it's Barack. Now that every American over the age of 16 is eligible to get the vaccine I want to talk about you getting yours," Obama said. "The vaccine is safe, it's effective, it's free. I got one, Michelle got one, people you know got one. And now you can get one too. It's the only way we're going to get back to all the things we love, from spending time with grandparents, to going to concerts, to watching live sports. So get the vaccine as soon as you can."
https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-calls-barack-obama-creepy-old-guy-telling-your-little-kids-get-vaccine-1588381

Yes, booooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! I mean come on, Obama is only trying to help. Seriously what’s wrong with these guys? I wish I knew the answers. But you could probably write an entire doctoral thesis about what’s wrong with these guys and still not come up with a correct answer! But this is why I thank god that shows like Jimmy Kimmel and John Oliver exist – to combat the bullshit. Because if we let Fox News go unchecked, the bad guys win. That’s right, Tucker.

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday answered one of Tucker Carlson’s skewed questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, briefly inoculating viewers against the Fox News host’s anti-vaccine fearmongering. (Watch the clip below.)

As part of his right-wing channel’s apparent campaign to sow doubt about vaccine safety and effectiveness, Carlson has been raising what he presents as deal-breaking questions that actually have verifiable answers. Which, of course, he fails to acknowledge.

But on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” the nation’s top infectious disease expert entertained one of Carlson’s leading queries.

After people on the street asked Fauci questions, Kimmel noted one more guy had one. He cut to a clip of Carlson asking why college students should get the vaccine because “young people are not at risk of dying from COVID” and many have been infected already.

“No one has explained that,” Carlson said.

Kimmel let Fauci take it away.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-fauci-tucker-carlson-vaccine_n_60925c89e4b09cce6c24a3a4

[font size="8"]Josh Duggar
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So remember when Q Anon activists promised to take down a global ring of elite pedophiles which included everything from musicians to politicians to billionaires to TV stars and everything and anything in between? Well who knew that the only people they’d take down so far are… oh wait, they haven’t taken anybody down yet. But I loved seeing this story last week. Remember that family that had those 1,000,000 kids and they were still in the process of producing more babies? That family? Well one of the offspring is Josh Duggar. And guess what? He’s already had past problems with pedophilia and child pornography. Guess you could say that you saw this coming but then again it’s probably just another notch in a long list of problems for this insane family.

Former reality TV star Joshua Duggar has been arrested on federal charges related to the possession of child pornography, according to the US Attorney's Office in the Western District of Arkansas.

Duggar allegedly downloaded material that depicted the sexual abuse of children under the age of 12, the US attorney's office said in a statement. Duggar allegedly possessed the material in May 2019.

Duggar, the oldest son of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, whose family was the subject of the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting," faces two charges, the indictment shows -- one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 if convicted, the statement said.

Duggar was arrested in Arkansas Thursday, according to the statement. He appeared in federal court Friday via video conference and pleaded not guilty to both charges.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/30/us/joshua-duggar-arrest-child-pornography/index.html

That guy kind of looks like he shouldn't be allowed near schools. I'm just saying. You know what? Why don't we call this "19 Federal Indictments And Counting". Or maybe "19 Years To Life And Counting". I smell a new reality show! Now here’s the question I have – is how the hell do you break *THAT* news to your 5,000,000 kids that one of your own is not only a creepy pervert but he’s a repeat offender creepy pervert? I just wish the cameras were rolling because I would have loved to have heard that conversation.

Earlier this week, some major news broke about a member of the Duggar family. Josh Duggar was arrested in Arkansas on Thursday and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography. In light of this news, The Sun reported that Josh's father, Jim Bob Duggar, issued a message to his children on Thursday about his son's arrest (Josh is currently still in jail and has a bond hearing scheduled for May 5, about two months before he will go to trial.)

A source told The Sun that Jim Bob shared a message with his many children on Thursday morning shortly before Josh was arrested. He reportedly told his kids and their spouses that Josh would be "arrested imminently." The insider continued about Jim Bob's reported comments, "He asked them all to pray for Josh and Anna, and trust that God would bring them closer together through the tough time. He also asked them to not speak publicly about the arrest or any issues with Josh."

While Jim Bob reportedly cautioned his children against speaking with the press, he, his wife Michelle Duggar, and several of their kids have indeed spoken out on Josh's arrest. On Friday, Jim Bob and Michelle issued a statement to PEOPLE in which they expressed that they're focusing on their faith amid this situation. They told the outlet, "We appreciate your continued prayers for our family at this time. The accusations brought against Joshua today are very serious. It is our prayer that the truth, no matter what it is, will come to light, and that this will all be resolved in a timely manner. We love Josh and Anna and continue to pray for their family."

Jim Bob and Michelle's children, including Jinger Duggar Vuolo and Jessa Duggar Seewald, also released statements about their brother's arrest and the charges brought against him. Both Jinger and Jessa, along with their respective spouses, took to Instagram to share their statements. On Jessa's Instagram Story, she and her husband shared that their prayers are with their family but stressed that they stand against any form of sexual abuse. Jessa and her husband, Ben Seewald, wrote, "We are saddened to hear of the charges against Josh. As Christians, we stand against any form of pornography or abuse and we desire for the truth to be exposed, whatever that may be. Our prayers are with their family as they walk through this difficult time."
https://popculture.com/reality-tv/news/what-jim-bob-duggar-reportedly-told-his-family-ahead-of-joshs-arrest/

Hey Christians! Stop supporting these people! Garbage behavior coming from someone like this isn’t just an isolated incident – it’s part of a long stemming pattern of terrible behavior! Yup, guy’s a pervert and the GOP is going to have a huge problem like this on their hands in the coming months and maybe even years and decades. And I mean come on, they had one of their own as president, so you know that old saying about birds of a feather flocking together, and such.

Josh Duggar's lawyers are contesting a judge's ruling that the reality star not be able to go home to his wife and kids should he be released on bail.

Duggar appeared virtually in court Friday and pleaded not guilty to two counts of child pornography charges. Judge Erin Wiedermann stipulated the "19 Kids and Counting" star cannot reside in a home with minor children and must have a third-party custodian should he be released on bond, according Deadline and KNWA, a local news outlet.

On Monday, Duggar's attorneys said in a joint statement that they "intend to defend this case aggressively and thoroughly."

"In this country, no one can stop prosecutors from charging a crime. But when you’re accused, you can fight back in the courtroom – and that is exactly what Josh intends to do," read the statement from attorneys Justin Gelfand, Travis Story and Greg Payne.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/05/03/josh-duggar-child-pornography-charges-what-we-know/4923762001/

Yeah but at least he’s a family pervert, Dude. Between this and Rudy getting arrested, this has been a pretty good week for us! Hey come on it’s our job to report on conservative idiocy, even if it includes them getting caught up in extremely terrible and possibly illegal behavior. Though when does this family not get pregnant? He’s just looking for excuses at this point. But at least TLC, or as I like to call them The Freak Show Network, is acknowledging that this family’s got issues.

Following Josh Duggar‘s recent arrest, TLC addressed its history with the Duggar family in a statement to Us Weekly on Friday, April 30.
Josh Duggar’s Lawsuits, Scandals and Controversies Over the Years

“TLC is saddened to learn about the continued troubles involving Josh Duggar,” the network noted. “19 Kids and Counting has not aired since 2015. TLC canceled the show on the heels of prior allegations against Josh Duggar and he has not appeared on air since then.”

The former 19 Kids and Counting star, 33, was arrested in Arkansas on Thursday, April 29. He was placed on a federal hold at the Washington County jail and detained without bond. One day later, he appeared at a court hearing via Zoom and smiled as his lawyer entered his not guilty plea.
https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/josh-duggar-arrested-tlc-addresses-duggar-familys-recent-scandal/

[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: The Silicon Shortage
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It’s time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shut down supply chains and created global shortages of everything we buy, and changed consumer spending habits for better or worse. One shortage that you’re probably noticing now that’s going to get a whole lot worse is computer chips. But while you might be tempted to blame the Bitcoin shortage as to why you’re unable to buy critical computer components like graphics cards, the one market that this chip shortage is really affecting is something that nobody has expected – the new car market. In fact there’s such a shortage that it’s affecting both dealerships and production lines alike. But what you might not think is that your new car’s navigation system is loaded with computer chips that control everything from the GPS signal to monitoring safety hazards. But the scary thing is that it could be going from bad to worse in the coming weeks and it could affect a lot more than just new cars.

In the market for a new car, smartphone or washing machine this year? A global shortage of computer chips could mean you have to wait a while and pay more.

A growing number of manufacturers around the world are having trouble securing supplies of semiconductors, delaying the production and delivery of goods and threatening to push up the prices paid by consumers.

Several factors are driving the crunch, which was initially concentrated in the auto industry. The first is the coronavirus pandemic, which plunged the global economy into recession last year, upending supply chains and changing consumer shopping patterns. Carmakers cut back orders for chips while tech companies, whose products were boosted by lockdown living, snapped up as many as they could.

Other shocks, such as US government sanctions on Chinese technology companies and extreme weather, have also contributed to the shortage of supply.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/business/chip-shortages-smartphones-consumer-goods/index.html

So how did it get this bad? And what can be expected in the wait times between when this is at its’ peak and when it gets back to normal? Well a lot of this has to do with when the chip is ordered and produced. Because factories have been working at half or no capacity due to social distancing orders, and factory output has been lagging. And this could prove to be a huge problem because the semiconductors used to make chips are used in just about everything these days.

A six-decade-old invention, the lowly chip, has gone from little-understood workhorse in powerful computers to the most crucial and expensive component under the hood of modern-day gadgets.

That explosion in demand—unexpectedly goosed during the Covid-19 pandemic for certain industries like smartphones and PCs—has caused a near-term supply shock triggering an unprecedented global shortage.

In February, lead times—the duration between when an order for a chip is placed and when it actually gets filled—stretched to 15 weeks on average for the first time since data collection started in 2017, according to industry distributor data from Susquehanna Financial Group. Lead times for Broadcom Inc.—a barometer for the industry because of its involvement across the supply chain—extended to 22.2 weeks, up from 12.2 weeks in February 2020.

The crunch has sideswiped the General Motors and Volkswagens of the world and swung politicians from Washington to Beijing into crisis control. It’s also catapulted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. to the top of investor and government agendas. Asia’s two largest chipmakers are responsible for making the vast majority of the world’s most advanced silicon, yet don’t have the capacity to sate all demand. It’s a bottleneck that could last several quarters—or into next year.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-semiconductors-chips-shortage/

And while everyone is looking to rebound and rebuild from the ashes of the pandemic, this could have the potential to slow down that economic recovery. A lot of this shortage actually stems from last year when the pandemic first stranded people at home and everyone had to buy new computers and Wifi equipment to be able to keep up with streaming services and video conferencing service demands, but that demand is slowing. But expect this to go on for far longer than you might think.

"Out of stock": the frustrating warning has made its way to an increasing number of phones and laptop manufacturers' websites over the past year, often leading to long waiting lists for consumers wishing to get their hands on shiny new electronics.

At the heart of the problem is a global shortage of semiconductors, which is not showing signs of coming to an end anytime soon. Worse still, it is likely to trickle down to the production of everyday products that have little in common, at first glance, with high-end technologies. Think children's toys or microwaves.

In January, global semiconductor industry sales reached $40 billion, an increase of 13.2% compared to the same time in 2020. But although chip manufacturers assiduously continue to produce components, the demand for electronic devices that use semiconductors is reaching new heights and has already far outpaced the global supply of chips.

The COVID-19 pandemic has played a large part in bringing about this imbalance. As companies sent their staff back home to work remotely, PC and smartphone sales surged. At the same time, users turned to new, chip-filled forms of entertainment to pass the time during months of lockdown, ranging from gaming to cryptocurrency mining.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-global-chip-shortage-is-a-bigger-problem-than-everyone-realised-and-it-will-go-on-for-longer-too/

Yes that’s kind of about what it is like for the time being. So what do industry insiders think of this shortage and how long it could actually last? Let’s ask the CEO of Cisco, and unfortunately you’re probably not going to like the answer. He says that this could go on for most of the year, and that will start affecting a lot of jobs. Yes, everything has been screwed up because of the pandemic, but as the supply chains start to correct themselves, expect this kind of thing to happen.

The boss of networking giant Cisco has said the shortage of computer chips is set to last for most of this year.

Many firms have seen production delayed because of a lack of semiconductors, triggered by the Covid pandemic and exacerbated by other factors.

Cisco chief Chuck Robbins told the BBC: "We think we've got another six months to get through the short term.

"The providers are building out more capacity. And that'll get better and better over the next 12 to 18 months."

That expansion of capacity will be crucial as advances in technology - including 5G, cloud computing, the internet of things and artificial intelligence - drive a big increase in demand.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56847518

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

My fair congregation! It is great to finally have a real congregation again and we’re no longer video conferencing! You know as I said last week it’s not all fun and games here at the Holy Church Of The Top 10. We don’t always get to report on the extremely wacky things that our right wing brothers and sisters are up to. Because as we all saw on that very horrifying day of January 6th what they were capable of, they were capable of some dark and disturbing shit! Yes, it’s OK to swear in my church! I know we haven’t done this in a while. Now you might be wondering where they are getting their money from that they can use it and go commit egregious acts of terror. Well I have an answer for you. There’s a Christian crowdfunding site called “GiveSendGo” that the right has been using to fund their activities, and a lot of those activities aren’t exactly what one would call kosher.

Dozens of extremist groups and individuals, including some involved in the Capitol attack, have used social media platforms, cryptocurrencies, tax-exempt status and other fundraising tools to rake in about $1.5m in the last year, according to experts.

Two recent studies by groups that track extremist financing, the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), underscore the growing threat posed by far-right extremists, including those who attacked Congress to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.

The recent studies and testimony delivered to a House committee by representatives from the SPLC and GDI in late February showed that the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and others with white supremacist and anti-immigrant bias, reaped windfalls via the streaming platform DLive, cryptocurrencies and other fundraising methods.

Megan Squire, a computer science professor at Elon University and a senior fellow at the SPLC, found that from 15 April to early February, 55 extremist individuals and groups used the video streaming platform DLive, which allows cryptocurrency-based donations for content, to pull in just under $866,700.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/us-far-right-extremists-millions-social-cryptocurrency

And yes they are certainly the devil. But did toxic religion play a role in the rise of the Dark One? You know who I am talking about of course – THE Dark One. A man who is so abhorrent, dishonorable, disgusting, and piggish that his name shall dare not be spoken in my church whether it is real or even virtual! But yes there’s theories that there’s a toxic Christian underground out there, and it mainly panders to white supremacist males!

On Jan. 6, insurrectionists invaded the U.S. Capitol, roaming its halls, rifling through desks, and threatening to capture and kill both Republican and Democratic-elected leaders. The storming of the U.S. Capitol by domestic terrorists incited by Trump, resulted in the deaths of five people, including a Capitol Police officer.

One phase of the invasion ended when Jake Angeli, known as the QAnon “shaman,” who wore a fur hat with bison horns, gathered a group of white men around the Senate dais to say a prayer before exiting. The men all bowed their heads meekly as Angeli prayed in the name of Jesus Christ.

That scene and others, like a giant Jesus 2020 flag flying from a Capitol balcony, and signs held by the rioters that said, “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president,” did not surprise the Rev. Nathan Empsall, an Episcopal priest and campaigns director of Faithful America, a group which organizes online to reclaim Jesus from the religious right and white supremacists. In a conversation with Between The Lines Melinda Tuhus he spoke about his organization’s response to the attempted coup at the Capitol and the role of Christians in combating what he calls “toxic Christianity.”
https://btlonline.org/countering-toxic-christianitys-role-in-the-trump-insurrection-at-the-u-s-capitol/

And he’s also got lots of guns and ammunition, and a scorching case of anger directed at the wrong people! So in case you’re wondering where your money goes, or where these terrorists get their money from, well, just follow it! That’s what we are doing here is playing armchair auditor. Seriously if they can audit the election after it’s already been certified and accounted for, we can audit where their finances come from, and they’re not going to like it! But that is what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want!

A data breach from Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo has revealed that millions of dollars have been raised on the site for far-right causes and groups, many of whom are banned from raising funds on other platforms.

It also identifies previously anonymous high-dollar donors to far-right actors, some of whom enjoy positions of wealth, power or public responsibility.

Some of the biggest beneficiaries have been members of groups such as the Proud Boys, designated as a terrorist group in Canada, many of whose fundraising efforts were directly related to the 6 January attack on the United States Capitol.

The breach, shared with journalists by transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets, shows the site was used for a wide range of legitimate charitable purposes, such as crowdfunding medical bills, aid projects and religious missions.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/10/proud-boys-far-right-givesendgo-christian-fundraising-site

That will happen at a Proud Boys rally! And by the way if you think you’re safe using a site like GiveSendGo, I can assure you that you are not! If you’re using this site to fund acts of terror and right wing militia groups, you will be found out! On the internet everything you do is tracked and quantified, which is why we only use approved sites that the LAWRD would want! So use GiveSendGo, it will only come back to haunt you, because it’s not what the good LAWD JAYSUS would want!

Since Jan. 6, hundreds of people have been charged with crimes associated with their alleged participation in the Capitol riots. The insurrection resulted in several deaths, millions of dollars of damage, and saw people hunting lawmakers intent on murdering them, possibly by hanging from scaffolding they’d erected outside.

To pay for their defense, many accused insurrectionists are turning to what’s fast become the crowdfunding platform of choice for the far-right: GiveSendGo. They’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars—and counting. Cumulatively, campaigns for members of the Oath Keepers, an extremist militia whose members fantasize about civil war, have raised a half-million dollars.

GiveSendGo calls itself the “#1 free Christian crowdfunding site,” created so “crowds of Christians could come together and support other Christians in their endeavors.”

The platform hosts fundraisers for plenty of faith-oriented fundraisers like mission trips, funerals, and church repairs. It also hosts fundraisers for members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Some even used the platform to raise money to travel to the Capitol riots.
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/capitol-rioters-givesendgo-legal-fees/

Yes and that path is don’t seek out approval from those who support the unholy Dark One, because it will come back to bite you! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:

[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Dana White & Joe Rogan
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This week we’re profiling not one but two guys for the This Fucking Guy title crown this week. And those happen to be UFC head honcho Dana White and UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan. So while COVID seems to be waning and America is opening back up after being closed down for a year, this fucking guy Dana White has what one might call “the wrong idea” about how to do things. Yes we’re all desperate to get back to the way things were, but it’s not like we can turn a switch back on the same way we turned it off. But before we get to Joe Rogan, we have to talk about what UFC President Dana White is up to. And he’s certifiably batshit crazy. And I think it’s hilarious that the people who denounce politics in sports go on the most polarizing political talk shows to state their case.

Dana White—the Ultimate Fighting Championship president who spent the last four years campaigning for former President Donald Trump on a wide range of platforms—claims to dislike political messaging in sports.

Speaking to conservative talk show host and right-wing operative Candace Owens, White bemoaned the supposed politicization of sports leagues such as the NBA and the NFL while suggesting that the UFC would never participate in anything he deems “negative.”

“When you watch sports, you’re tuning in to get away from all the crap that’s going on in your life,” White told Owens in an interview for her show, “Candace,” on The Daily Wire’s video roster. “Whether it’s personal, professional, political, whatever’s going on in the world, that’s your time where you tune in. Never once did we talk about COVID, we didn’t talk politics, we didn’t talk about anything negative that was going on. When you come in and you watch two or three hours of our fights, you’re tuning in for fights. You’re coming in to watch a sport. You want to hear all that crap, watch any other channel.”

While White claims that his mixed martial arts league is an apolitical entity, his actions tell a vastly different story. The UFC president spoke at the 2016 and 2020 Republican National Convention, campaigned for Trump in his native Las Vegas, defended Trump’s controversial policies on UFC programming, produced a propaganda documentary titled “Combatant-in-Chief,” and hosted the former president at UFC events in the past. Despite White’s and the UFC’s overt relationship with Trump and his administration, White insisted that the UFC would not be pressured by the current political dynamics in the United States. Instead, he blamed so-called woke culture and cancel culture for the issues facing sports leagues.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pro-trump-ufc-president-appears-on-candace-owens-show-to-bemoan-politics-in-sports/

And you know what? Here’s the thing Dana – you’re so intent on keeping politics out of sports, yet you keep going on political talk shows to demean politics in sports! How about this? Maybe, I don’t know, don’t go on fucking Sean Hannity to promote your beliefs of politics in sports! That I believe is the textbook definition of insanity, am I right? Yeah no really this fucking guy… like really most of us don’t care, and then there’s Dana White who we think protests just a little too much.

UFC president Dana White told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he tries to keep his sport separated from politics.

Appearing on Hannity’s show Monday night, the UFC chief chalked up his sport’s recent success, in part, to his effort to keep mixed martial arts from getting political.

“One of the things that I really tried to do through this whole thing is stay out of politics,” White said. “When people tune in to watch sports, they don’t want to hear that crap. They don’t want to hear what your opinions are, or who you’re voting for, or what you’re doing. They want to get away from everything in their life, and they want to focus on [for] two, three, four hours, however long the sport is … throughout this pandemic, when you turned on the UFC, we never talked about Covid. We never talked about politics.”

White went on to note that he was not referring to individual fighters — as the UFC chief said it was not his aim to “muzzle” the athletes. Similarly, White, in his personal capacity, has not been shy about expressing his own opinions. In August, he spoke in support of then-President Donald Trump during the Republican National Convention.
https://www.mediaite.com/sports/ufc-president-dana-white-tells-fox-news-sean-hannity-i-try-to-keep-my-sport-out-of-politics/

But then Dana White wouldn’t be anything without this fucking guy – Joe Rogan. If you think Dana White going on political talk shows to denounce politics in sports is bad, wait until you see what his buddy Joe Rogan is peddling! Joe Rogan, this fucking guy. How does this fucking guy have millions of fans? And especially when he’s peddling such dangerous information about vaccines such as this. Is the UFC a sports competition league or is it a far right indoctrination center disguised as a sports league? Well if you’re Dana White and Joe Rogan, it’s a combination of both.

Joe Rogan, the host of one of the most popular podcasts in the world, is facing criticism after claiming that healthy young people shouldn't "worry about" getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Joe Rogan Experience host made his comments encouraging young listeners not to get a COVID-19 vaccine if they're "healthy" during a recent episode of his show, as Media Matters for America reported.

"If you're like 21 years old and you say to me, 'Should I get vaccinated,' I go, 'No,'" Rogan said. "Are you healthy? Are you a healthy person? ... If you're a healthy person and you're exercising all the time and you're young and you're eating well, I don't think you need to worry about this."

Health experts, in fact, have been urging adults of all ages to get vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of whether they're in a high-risk group so that the United States can achieve herd immunity and end the pandemic. The CDC has noted that data suggests fully vaccinated people largely "do not carry the virus," meaning those at lower risk would be helping protect others from COVID-19 by getting a vaccine.
https://news.yahoo.com/joe-rogan-tells-massive-audience-202457655.html

Yeah really, don’t listen to this guy, especially when he’s creating new headaches for his employers at Spotify. In fact it’s sent lots of people into some serious damage control – even Dr. Fauci has said that Rogan’s comments are incorrect and we’ve pointed out how dangerous and stupid this kind of anti-vaccine misinformation can be (see: Top 10 #10-10 ). We cannot emphasize this enough people – take the damn vaccine! Even Joe Rogan himself was forced to walk back his own dangerous advice after being called out for it on social media and John Oliver’s show. I mean whew, this fucking guy!

"I am not a respected source of information," the Spotify podcast host said Thursday.

Joe Rogan on Thursday addressed comments he previously made on his popular Spotify podcast in which he said young, healthy people should skip the COVID-19 vaccination. The remarks came under fire, even being addressed by Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease doctor.

During the latest installment of The Joe Rogan Experience, the comic-actor said he was not a doctor and that he believes younger people should be vaccinated because even if they are not severely impacted by the virus themselves, they could still spread it to others who are not as fortunate.

"I am not an anti-vax person," Rogan said. "In fact, I said I believe they are safe and I encourage many people to take them. I just said if you're a young healthy person, you don't need it. Their argument was you need it for other people. But that's a different conversation. And yes, that makes sense."
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/joe-rogan-walks-back-covid-19-comments-i-am-not-an-anti-vaxx-person

Yeah so going on political shows to denounce politics in sports and peddling dangerous anti-vaccine information, and possibly hosting super-spreader events. That’s Joe Rogan and Dana White – this week’s:

[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable – Conspiracy Corner! We are coming to you live from our underground bunker deep within the New Mexico badlands , undisclosed location of course! Let me just adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference – you know they are trying to read your thoughts! Let me assure Donald Trump fans out there that you can fly whatever flag you want. And let me also assure you something that you’re not going to like – free speech has consequences. In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, you may have seen Trump merchandise booths pop up in your town. So what happen when they come for your flags? Well you know how it goes – first the come for your flags and I said nothing!

A battle is brewing outside a tiny home adjacent to Riverside Park pitting the city's concern for public decency against an individual's right to free expression.

On Monday, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. vowed to send Hammond code enforcement officers to cite the homeowner for flying a flag in his front yard featuring "F--- Biden" in large type, and in smaller type: "And f--- you for voting for him!"

The Democratic chief executive said city ordinances prohibit the display of obscene materials that are easily visible to the public, and McDermott said there's no question the flag can be viewed by anyone, including children and youth baseball teams, using the park.

"This is complaint-driven. The neighbors and the parents across the street complained to us and we have a job to do," McDermott said. "It's very clear that you can't have vulgar messages on flags or signs, and this is clearly a violation of city ordinance."

McDermott said even though he supports Democratic President Joe Biden, and voted for him in the last election, the enforcement action has nothing to do with politics.
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/hammond/obscene-anti-biden-flag-attracts-attention-of-hammond-code-enforcement/article_bd9eda2c-fdb3-5c69-b3dd-c2fa2faf2937.html

Oh people stop your rabbling! That’s just a guy exercising his free speech rights by saying “fuck the current administration and you the people for voting for him!”. But this tiny little protest in a small Indiana town isn’t going unnoticed. And not just by Trump supporters either because they are standing by their man and they’re planning to protest. And it looks like this could get really ugly really quickly so we’ll be watching!

A Medford neighborhood woke Friday morning to see a profanity-laced anti-President Joe Biden flag in a yard next to a Medford school bus stop and a Steele County Sheriff’s Office squad car parked in the driveway underneath the flag.

The flag stating, “(Expletive) Biden and (expletive) you for voting for him,” has resulted in an internal investigation at the department and sparked a conversation in the neighborhood about when free speech goes too far.

By noon Friday, the flag at the deputy’s home had been removed. Sheriff Lon Thiele said the incident is currently under investigation but it was disappointing that the flag was seen near a squad car.

“That’s not the view I want children to see from their Sheriff’s Office,” Thiele said. “Freedom of speech is what our forefathers wanted and put in the Constitution, but we want [the department] to be seen in a lot better light than this negative message.”
https://www.mdjonline.com/neighbor_newspapers/extra/news/deputy-flies-profanity-laced-anti-biden-flag-in-medford/article_92d6d7e7-e20d-510f-ae9b-bb4ec4ca024f.html

And if you think that the Hammond incident is an isolated one, oh man you haven’t seen anything yet, my friends! There’s incidents in Minnesota and Pennsylvania over these stupid things. And another one in Florida! Oh don’t think for a minute that Florida Man isn’t involved in this! He’s probably got hundreds of them flying from his boat, which probably caused it to sink. Oh and even funnier is that his boat isn’t a sailboat.

Expletive-laden anti-Joe Biden flags have appeared in a Florida neighborhood, prompting concern among parents who say the message is inappropriate on a public sign.

One flag that appeared in the front yard of a home in Cape Coral read: "F*** Biden and f*** you for voting for him!"

Resident John Strasburger, who put up the banner, said he was undeterred by complaints from neighbors. "I feel the election was stolen, I think the evidence was there to prove it," he told local TV station Fox4Now.

Claims of voter fraud in last year's presidential election have been emphatically rejected by the courts. Donald Trump and his allies lost more than 60 lawsuits challenging the results in various states, and no evidence of widespread irregularities has been found.
https://www.newsweek.com/anti-biden-flags-florida-cape-coral-1579009

Whew! Now that’s the flag you fly and proudly! Don’t fly any other flags, especially the flag of President Loser Shit For Brains on it! So is this a conspiracy? Yeah probably. Is it offensive to fly that flag? Oh yeah absolutely. Especially if you fly it anywhere on the same level as the American flag. But what makes this a conspiracy is that some are calling this “protected speech” and if it goes anywhere near SCOTUS, it could get very ugly very quickly! Don’t think they won’t go down without a fight, either!

An attorney for the city of Fargo says a homeowner has the right to fly a flag that uses obscenity against President Joe Biden.

Displaying the flag is protected by the First Amendment, according to Assistant City Attorney Alissa Farol. The display also is not in violation of the city sign code, as its message is non-commercial and it doesn’t exceed the maximum allowable size.

The homeowner is flying an upside-down American flag on the same flagpole, and Farol says that is protected speech, too.

The U.S. Flag Code states that the American flag is not to be flown upside down “except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property.”

Farol weighed in after Fargo police received complaints about the flags flying over a home in south Fargo, KVRR-TV reported.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/02/04/vulgar-anti-biden-flag-is-protected-speech-city-of-fargo-says/

[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 is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking, we discuss anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. But this week I may have to bend the rules a bit because I heard one of the dumbest, stupidest things ever said about my drink of choice – beer. Beer is the best! So Trump’s economic advisor Larry Kudlow had this to say about beer:

Yeah that happened! Never mind that beer is already made with plants – barley, hops, yeast, and water, but that’s one of those things that’s so stupid that both sides of your brain shut down and go “LET”S FIGURE IT OUT!!!”. Well, in order to do that, I need a drink! Tell me, my vaccinated bartender, what goes well with this story? Brain beer? What’s in it? No thanks, how about an extra-large mug of Denogginizer IPA? Yeah I’m splitting with Jack this week! So here’s the full story behind this insane clip.

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has joined a flood of social media users gleefully trolling Larry Kudlow after the former economic adviser to Donald Trump complained that Joe Biden wanted Americans to drink “plant-based beer”.

Kudlow made the indignant claim on his Fox Business show on Friday, saying Biden’s climate policies and attempt to slash emissions would force Americans to “stop eating meat, stop eating poultry and fish, seafood, eggs, dairy and animal-based fats”.

“OK, got that? No burgers on 4 July. No steaks on the barbecue … So get ready. You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts and wave your American flag.”

Beer is typically made from grains, hops and yeast – not steak, sausages or chops.

Amid a blizzard of lacerating social media send-ups, the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman offered a sober analysis of what Kudlow was up to.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/26/trump-larry-kudlow-biden-plant-based-beer

Man if only! But this latest rant from Kudlow is only part of a campaign aimed at taking down and discrediting the controversial Green New Deal. Look there’s a lot to digest in those 14 pages but I don’t remember a single thing about beer in there! Yes they said we’ll possibly need to curb our meat consumption but that’s an entirely different topic. Here, our focus is on the beer. But Kudlow really stepped in it with that comment!

Fox News is once again upset with Joe Biden over something that Joe Biden has not actually said or done. This time, it surrounds Biden’s new climate plan, which critics say will “ban” the consumption of meat in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the people at Fox News couldn’t even manage to perpetuate a falsehood that they themselves invented without fumbling all over it.

Larry Kudlow, a former economic adviser to Donald Trump who has a daily show on Fox Business, said on air last Friday that Biden’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb climate change would force Americans to “stop eating meat, stop eating poultry and fish, seafood, eggs, dairy and animal-based fats.”

“OK, got that? No burgers on July 4. No steaks on the barbecue,” said Kudlow. “So get ready. You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts and wave your American flag.”

First off, as Paul Krugman pointed out in the New York Times, Biden’s plan doesn’t involve the elimination of meat from the American diet. In fact, that claim was thoroughly debunked by multiple media sources, including Fox News. On Monday, three days after Kudlow made these claims, Fox anchor John Roberts said that the station had “incorrectly implied” that a 2020 academic study about meat consumption and greenhouse gas emissions was connected to Biden’s plan for dealing with climate change.
https://thetakeout.com/fox-news-larry-kudlow-lies-biden-meat-beer-1846780588

Ah I get it now! First they’re coming for your fridge and I said nothing. Then they come for your Kitchen Aid stand mixer and personal meat grinders, and I said nothing. Then they come for your grills… next thing you know it’s an all out assault on the American kitchen as we know it! Dun dun dun!!!! But this latest gaffe is but another in the long line of misinformation and stupid comments coming from conservatives!

On Friday night, Fox News host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow took President Joe Biden to task for a climate policy that will, according to Kudlow, eventually make it more difficult for Americans to eat a burger or steak, even on July 4 (the meatiest of American holidays, as everyone knows). “Get this, America has to stop eating meat, stop eating poultry and fish, seafood, eggs, dairy, and animal-based fats. Ok, got that? No burger on July 4,” Kudlow said. Traditionally, Independence Day is a day to participate in the art of grilling, an ancient pastime that celebrates our country’s origins. Instead, Kudlow warns, Americans will soon have to “throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts.”

Chuck Schumer already dunked on this comment (sort of), but this particular culture war apparently remains — sorry — red meat for Fox’s audience, which is deeply concerned about the potential loss of our freedoms, including the eating of meat. As Kudlow said, “I’m sure middle America is just going to love that. Can you grill those Brussels sprouts?” But beer, of course, is not made from fermented animal parts. In fact, it’s brewed from grains, including corn, rice, and wheat — all plants that are widely consumed by Americans in other forms, such as tacos (corn), sushi (rice), or Lucky Charms (wheat).

In fact, most food is already “plant-based.” As it turns out, even meats like steak and pork come from animals that eat plants. French fries are mostly plant-based. Ditto Budweiser, Chips Ahoy!, Doritos, and doughnuts. You may have already eaten several “plant-based” foods, or had a “plant-based” drink, today. Don’t worry: The world hasn’t secretly changed. This is just how food works. It’s fine.
https://www.grubstreet.com/2021/04/fox-warns-of-scourge-of-plant-based-beer.html

Can I get another one? Keep ‘em coming! Man I have missed you guys! Drinking in front of a blue screen with a virtual bartender just isn’t the same! So here’s the thing – plot twist! There’s no such thing as “plant based beer”. All beer is plant based and if Larry had done a little research he might have seen that! And here’s the thing – conservatives may be outraged about the Green New Deal, and it has some things that not everyone is going to like. But we must act now to save the planet before it’s too late. But one thing it does not do? It doesn’t say to limit your meat consumption. So go nuts! Eat those In N Out 100 x 100s with a side of meat fries and fried chicken, and chug a nice glass of meat-based beer, and if you survive to next July 4th, then it’s all a hoax and what Big Environmental doesn’t want you to know!

Last week some politicians and media commentators have claimed President Joe Biden is planning to limit meat consumption as part of a climate change plan. That's false. Neither Biden nor the White House have indicated curbing meat-eating, or altering Americans' diets in any way, is part of that plan.

But that hasn't stopped some Biden critics from fueling flames about the perceived threat.

On Friday, Larry Kudlow, former economic adviser to Donald Trump, said the climate plan would go so far as to make Americans drink "plant-based beer" (aka...beer). Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, called Biden "The Hamburglar" in a Sunday tweet, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shared false information from Fox News claiming the plan will "cut 90% of red meat" from Americans' diets and limit everyone to "one burger per month."

These unfounded declarations sparked heated comments over the past week about meat consumption, plant-based alternatives and climate change. Here's everything to know about the uproar and the debate over plant-based meat substitutes.
https://www.cnet.com/news/no-joe-bidens-new-climate-plan-wont-limit-meat-consumption/

[font size="8"]Stupidest State
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16 states will enter and only one state will become the new Top 10 Conservative Idiots Stupidest State!

Welcome back to Stupidest State 2021! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are just two short rounds away from the Final Four! Last week, we saw something unprecedented as a #4 seed upset a #1 favorite when Arkansas knocked off Indiana to take the Family Values Conference! This week it’s a battle for Batshit Conference superiority! The #1 Georgia Bulldogs are sitting atop the conference, but the #4 Michigan Wolverines are coming for them! Only one of these teams will advance to the Final Four, the other team goes home! Let’s go to the floor in Phoenix for more action action action!

[font size="4"]Batshit Conference Championship: #1 Georgia vs #4 Michigan [/font]

[font size="2"]Georgia [/font]

Last we saw Georgia, they were in the midst of a fiery battle with MLB and the state of Georgia, led by of course governor Brian Kemp. Now the Peach State is feeling some major hot water with some of the major corporations that are based in Georgia, like Coca Cola and Delta Airlines. Now they’re coming after one of America’s largest employers – Home Depot. And never mind that Home Depot’s founder is a hardcore billionaire MAGA supporter. Let’s not overlook that simple fact! But Brian Kemp is still feeling the heat from this one!

A major coalition of Black faith leaders in Georgia, representing more than 1,000 churches in the state, will call on Tuesday for a boycott of Home Depot, arguing that the company has abdicated its responsibility as a good corporate citizen by not pushing back on the state’s new voting law.

The call for a boycott, led by Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, who oversees all 534 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia, represents one of the first major steps to put significant economic pressure on businesses to be more vocal in opposing Republican efforts in Georgia and around the country to enact new restrictions on voting.

“We don’t believe this is simply a political matter,” Bishop Jackson said in an interview. “This is a matter that deals with securing the future of this democracy, and the greatest right in this democracy is the right to vote.”

Home Depot, Mr. Jackson said, “demonstrated an indifference, a lack of response to the call, not only from clergy, but a call from other groups to speak out in opposition to this legislation.”

While boycotts can be challenging to carry out in ways that put meaningful financial pressure on large corporations, the call nonetheless represents a new phase in the battle over voting rights in Georgia, where many Democrats and civil rights groups have been reluctant to support boycotts, viewing them as risking unfair collateral damage for the companies’ workers.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/politics/georgia-home-depot-boycott.html

Except when it does! And not only that but Georgia’s insanity is inspiring copycat bills! Yes states like Ohio are adopting the controversial Georgia model, and never mind that there’s bills like this in the works in like 37 states. But how much is this law going to hurt Georgia businesses? Well Brian Kemp’s actions are going to cost the state in the hundreds of millions! Yes, you heard that right! And that’s not all it’s going to hurt!

Georgia’s Republican governor on Saturday stepped up his attack on Major League Baseball’s decision to pull this summer’s All-Star Game from the state in response to a sweeping new voting law, saying the move politicized the sport and would hurt minority-owned businesses.

“It’s minority-owned businesses that have been hit harder than most because of an invisible virus by no fault of their own,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “And these are the same minority businesses that are now being impacted by another decision that is by no fault of their own.”

Kemp spoke along with Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, also a Republican, at a seafood and po’boy restaurant miles from the stadium in a suburb north of Atlanta where the game would have been held, though he said he didn’t think the restaurant was minority-owned.

He has previously criticized MLB’s decision. The game will now be played in Denver. Kemp noted at Saturday’s news conference that Denver has a much smaller percentage of African Americans than Atlanta. And he said MLB’s move has injected politics into the “great American pastime.”
https://sentinelcolorado.com/news/metro/georgia-governor-moving-all-star-game-to-denver-will-hurt-georgia-minorities/

Yeah probably! So just remember this the next time you vote for someone – actions do have their consequences! And it doesn’t take much to figure that one out! Although I do love that the repeated boycotts and even threatening boycotts are driving Brian Kemp nuts! Oh yes my friends, nothing and I mean nothing is sweeter than watching conservative heads explode!

Georgia's governor sounded off Tuesday against calls from religious leaders for a boycott of Home Depot in response to the company's lack of opposition to the state's controversial new voting laws.

At a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) addressed a coalition of faith leaders who announced the boycott earlier in the day, accusing them of not caring about Georgia workers.

“First, the left came for baseball, and now they are coming for Georgia jobs,” Kemp said, referring to MLB's decision to move this year's All-Star Game from Atlanta over the new laws. “This boycott of Home Depot — one of Georgia’s largest employers — puts partisan politics ahead of people’s paychecks.”

"The Georgians hardest hit by this destructive decision are the hourly workers just trying to make ends meet during a global pandemic. I stand with Home Depot, and I stand with nearly 30,000 Georgians who work at the 90 Home Depot stores and 15 distribution centers across the Peach State. I will not apologize for supporting both Georgia jobs and election integrity," he added.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/549291-georgia-governor-rips-home-depot-boycott-this-insanity-needs-to-stop

[font size="2"]Michigan [/font]

Last we left Michigan we were witnessing the fallout from the attempt to kidnap Governor Whitmer. I know it was scary at the time but I love this story so much and I can’t wait for the movie! And I could keep talking about this story all damn day, but I don’t have that kind of time. Michigan is led by some sane people but there are multiple levels of crazy once you start peeling back the layers. And don’t think we haven’t seen the last of these wannabe terrorists yet.

Three men accused in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The new charges against Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Daniel Joseph Harris center on an alleged plan to blow up a bridge near Whitmer's vacation home in order to hinder police, according to a superseding indictment.

Fox and Croft allegedly inspected the underside of the bridge for a place to put explosives in September while they were on their way to conduct "nighttime surveillance" of that home, the indictment alleges.

Croft and Harris also allegedly blew up or tried to blow up improvised explosive devices, including a test of how well shrapnel would work against people. Fox is accused of ordering $4,000 worth of explosives from an undercover FBI agent.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/weapons-mass-destruction-charge-added-3-accused-michigan-governor-kidnap-n1265762

Yeah really if you’re going to kidnap someone maybe don’t use a PT Cruiser as a getaway vehicle, though the explosives most likely increased the value of the car. So how did this plot happen? How did these guys get so radicalized that they went and stormed the state capitol in an effort to overturn restrictions and kidnap the governor? This is some serious Al Qaeda or ISIS levels of insanity right here.

A Wisconsin Dells area man accused of plotting terrorism against the governor of Michigan has dropped an appeal against extradition.

On Friday, documents were filed in court behalf of Brian Higgins, 52, notifying the court that he will drop his challenge to a request to extradite him from Wisconsin to Michigan to face a charge of providing material support to a terrorist act. The FBI alleges several men were involved in a right-wing militia plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and try her for treason of their own accord in light of the governor’s restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Higgins was specifically accused of providing use of night-vision goggles and using a dash cam to surveil the governor’s vacation home, and Wisconsin and Michigan officials requested that he be transferred to Michigan last October.

New court documents indicate that Higgins voluntarily decided to dismiss his appeal with advice of his legal counsel, which will allow the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office to give Michgan agents custody of Higgins to transport him to Michigan once accepted by the court. He has been in the Columbia County Jail since November as court proceedings continued, and remained in Columbia County custody as of Friday afternoon, according to online records. Court proceedings began moving forward in Michigan Monday.
https://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/wisconsin-dells-man-drops-extradition-appeal-in-michigan-governor-kidnapping-plot-case/article_474b1e08-9eab-586e-b3a8-df918954e12a.html

Yeah really this plot sounds like it was being run by Dwight Schrute and Michael Scott. So these guys are full blown domestic terrorists and they’re about to get the book thrown at them. And don’t think this is an isolated incident either – rural Michigan is full of domestic terrorists and militia types and the more out from civilization you go the worse they get. Don’t think that we haven’t seen the last of incidents like this. Expect that things will get worse before they get better!

The men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were engaged in domestic terrorism, federal prosecutors now claim, signaling a potential shift in how the Justice Department is handling one of its highest-profile cases involving anti-government activities.

Last October, the Justice Department made headlines around the world when officials announced they had foiled a plot to break into the governor’s vacation home, snatch her, and spirit her away — possibly by boat — then put her on trial for being “a tyrant.” Six men were indicted on federal kidnapping charges while eight more were charged in Michigan state court with providing support to the plot.

Now, in a new indictment, filed in the Western District of Michigan early on Wednesday, a grand jury has added three additional charges to the federal case: conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, possession of an unregistered destructive device, and possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle. Previously, the sole federal count had been kidnapping conspiracy.

According to prosecutors, the defendants’ elaborate plan to kidnap a sitting governor, which also included blowing up a bridge near her home, meets the definition of domestic terrorism. Its goal, the new indictment alleges, was “to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/michigan-kidnapping-plot-domestic-terrorism

[font size="2"]And The Winner Is: [/font]

Wow this is a close game here! Score tied at 91 each! We are down to 10 seconds left, Georgia has the ball… for 3… YES!!!! It’s in!!!! Georgia hangs on, they will move onto the Final Four! The fans are celebrating in the stands and they are celebrating on the court, wow, what a game! Great showing by Michigan, but Georgia pulls it out and moves forward!

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

We are one week away from the Final Four! And the last but certainly not the least is the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference championships! The playground for the rich, #2 Wyoming is set to take on the gambling mecca of #3 Nevada! One will win, one will go home!

See you next week!

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