“Stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive, ah, ah, ah, ah,”

“Staying Alive” is among the buckets of emergency food available from “The Jim Bakker Show” for a donation. Inside: 241 servings of buttermilk pancakes, potato flakes, vegetable stew blend, Morning Moo’s low fat milk alternative and more. Tim Funk, Charlotte Observer.


“Staying Alive” is among the buckets of emergency food available from “The Jim Bakker Show” for a donation. Inside: 241 servings of buttermilk pancakes, potato flakes, vegetable stew blend, Morning Moo’s low fat milk alternative and more. Tim Funk, Charlotte Observer.

Oh The Bakkers, always shilling. They’re just trying to stay alive! They have some seriously nice digs for people who are supposedly hangin’ by fingernails.

Televangelist Jim Bakker used Friday’s episode of his television program to warn that the volcano under Yellowstone National Park will soon erupt and urge his audience to buy his buckets of survival food to prepare. Bakker, whose business dealings around his prepper food are murky, told his audience that he was selling them the food at a very low margin. “I feel like we’re more of a co-op, you help me and I’m helping you, and we’re a co-op,” he said.

Mmm. Feeling like you’re a co-op doesn’t make it so. I suspect that Bakker doesn’t even know what an actual co-op is or how one works. I imagine he’d be horrified by the idea.

After offering his audience a soon-to-expire deal on food buckets, Bakker explained that his ministry takes “a piece” of the payment. “A little part of it goes to keep us on the air,” he said, “and it’s really a small part, it’s not even what a big store would have, a lot of stores would have a lot more profit in it than we do, but it’s what we do. It’s keeping us alive, but it’s going to keep you alive.”

Oh just a bit, a tiny bit! And everyone has to take him at his word, because the Bakkers have their con registered as a church, and they disclose nothing. This is their “church”:

Morningside Church, in Blue Eye, Mo. Tim Funk, Charlotte Observer.

Morningside Church, in Blue Eye, Mo. Tim Funk, Charlotte Observer.

Perhaps it’s just me, but that looks considerably higher than ‘stayin’ alive’ to me.

He went on to explain that he keeps buckets of food stored away in “hidden places” in his house so that he won’t get robbed in the End Times. “Just keep it a secret at your house,” he advised. “Because in the last days, perilous times comes, and see what kind of people are going to roaming around? Killers, without any love, without mercy. They’re just going to hate each other and judge each other.”

This is Bakker’s routine chorus, he’s been preaching end times for one hell of a long time now. I always find this interesting, because it always comes across like there’s no expectation of getting swept up by the rapture. I think if the whole planet is going to be 90% killers running about, perhaps having a stash of ick inna bucket might be a low priority. If Jim truly believes this line of crap, I’d think he’d be fervently in favour of gun control, but no.

“Remember that song you sang, ‘Staying Alive’?” he asked his wife, Lori. “Well, we’ve got to stay alive and we’ve got to pay the bills, that’s all. I feel like we’re more of a co-op, you help me and I’m helping you, and we’re a co-op.”

Everyone has to stay alive and pay the bills, Lori. It’s not a problem unique to you. Most people work honest though, rather than grifting and fleecing people, and doing it in the most gruesome of ways:

Yes, this is the compleat slaughter of My Girl. :shudder:

RWW has the story.

Angel Armies vs Deep State. Or Something.

Dutch Sheets speaks at his Turnaround: Appeal to Heaven event at the Trump International Hotel in February 2018. (Screenshot via livestream).

Dutch Sheets speaks at his Turnaround: Appeal to Heaven event at the Trump International Hotel in February 2018. (Screenshot via livestream).

Oh, all the self-styled prophets are “prophesying” and praying. RWW has the full coverage, which is quite lengthy, here are some highlights:

A new era in American and human history began at the end of last week, according to self-described apostles and prophets who gathered on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. … Sheets said he had never seen such intense spiritual warfare over the nation, saying the battle was not about Trump but about “whether the devastation caused by 50 years of anti-Christian activity will be reversed or, God forbid, continue.” He said then, “The antichrist forces are almost rabid in their anger over the potential loss of progress.”

[…]

Now, according to conference leaders, it’s time for the church to move from pleading with God to ruling with him—and with Trump, who one speaker described as “the father of this nation.” A speaker from Northern Ireland, Rose Sambrook of Rhema Restoration Ministries, proudly claimed Trump as one of her own. “Your president is a Celt,” she said. “That’s why he’s wild!”  She said Trump has the “seeds of revival” in his DNA because his great aunts prayed for five months for revival to come to the island of Lewis decades ago.

[…]

Jacobs told attendees God had spoken to her at a Miami gathering of thousands of pastors from 60 nations, giving her the word “basta!”—Spanish for “enough!” “We’re here to say ‘basta’” she shouted at the Trump hotel, adding, “Enough of God’s people being attacked! Enough of the photographers and the bakers having to close their shops! Enough of our loss of our religious freedoms! Basta!”

Ummm, I thought everyone was supposed to hate immigrants and speak nothin’ but Amerikkan.

Tim Sheets, Dutch’s brother and apparently an expert on angels, led a prayer on Friday night that God would break “the collusion of hell in our government”:

And Lord, I hear you say tonight, ‘Disregard the fake collusion, and come against the real collusion, and the real colluder.’ We bind the kingdom of darkness and we ask that the strategy of our king and his angel princes that assist us now, would come against the collusion of darkness into our government, that would come against the collusion of darkness into our media, and in the name of Jesus we declare, this Ekklesia declares tonight, that the collusion of hell in its diabolical schemes, to those that are bent in iniquity, will be bound in Jesus name.

[…]

Dutch Sheets also prayed that Trump “would accomplish everything Almighty God sent you into that house to do, regardless of who likes it or who doesn’t.” He also predicted that Trump will have “a visitation from heaven” that gives him “an intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ.” Sheets had a warning for those who resist Trump or who want to turn the nation away from its Judeo-Christian roots:

You will fail! … The Ekklesia will take you out. The outpouring of Holy Spirit will take you out. Angels will take you out. You are no match for any of the above. You are no match for father, son, Holy Ghost, or his family or his angel armies. You are no match for his word. You are no match for his prophetic decrees …. So we push you back. And we say your finest hour has come and gone, and the church now rises to the place that he has called us to walk in …. We now rise up and I call that new order into the earth.

Gad, I’m queasy all over. I really have no problem with people who want to roll the clock back a couple of eras, but you can’t be doing it in the middle of an established society. Please, do some real estate shopping and go set up your little kingdom, far from the rest of us. It’s what Jehovah wants. Really.

RWW has the full story and video, all of which require a rather strong stomach.

Christians: Just Like Menopausal Women.

Oh, the Bakkers. Always good for a constant stream of bullshit. This particular stream of bullshit is all about how secular and liberal people want to lock all the christians up in “mental illness centers.” Sigh. Y’know, I’d be overjoyed if all you christian asses would just shut the fuck up, and stop trying to build your theocracy.

“We love our president, we love our vice president, we love our first lady, we love our second lady,” she said, defending the administration after Joy Behar of “The View” mocked Vice President Pence’s faith on a recent program. “They stand up unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What’s scary for us? Jim has been preaching it for the last two days pretty strong; they’re saying it’s mental illness.”

Yeah, there are atheists who say religious belief is a mental illness; in my view, they’re assholes who could use a big old cup of shut the fuck up. Now, those people are in the minority. I don’t think religious belief is any sort of illness, I do think it’s simply habitual. Most people are religious because they grew up with it, it’s what they were taught. There’s seldom any thought involved. I do think in many cases it’s a sort of brainwashing, especially when young children are involved at the extreme ends of religious belief. Later, it becomes a matter of self-brainwashing; religions require a constant reaffirmation, else all these thoughts keep popping up about the actual value of such beliefs or the complete lack of consistency in them. Anyroad, some ass saying religious belief is an illness does not equate to locking people up.

“If the world is thinking that we’re all mentally ill, do you know what’s going to happen next?” Bakker asked. “They are going to put us all away in mental illness centers.”

That’s not going to happen, ever. It’s next to impossible to get anyone committed, especially if they actually need to be. And look into the homeless problem – all kinds of people with genuine mental illnesses are out on the street because they got kicked out of various institutions – no room, no money. I haven’t noted that the Tiny Tyrant (or anyone else) is busy building all manner of “mental illness centers”.

“You know what they used to do with women that went through menopause back years ago?” she continued. “They put them in insane asylums because their hormonal balance was completely off. I’m not kidding, that is what they did. And I’m not kidding, that is what is going to happen to us as Christians. They are going to lock us up and throw us out if we don’t stand up.”

Oh FFS. Yeah, the way women were treated in the past isn’t at all nice, to say the very least, but holy shit, that’s an exaggeration if I ever heard one. And no, that’s not going to happen to christians. This particular hysteria/testeria is not needed, but I suppose you have to come up with something.

“It’s in the Bible,” agreed Jim.

Oh really? Huh. I don’t remember reading about menopausal women, mental illness, mental illness centers or Amerikka in the bible.

Via RWW.

Trump’s CPAC…

Activists watch President Donald Trump address CPAC 2018. (Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch).

Activists watch President Donald Trump address CPAC 2018. (Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch).

If you’re curious about the latest happenings in the Lunatic Fringe, Right Wing Watch has all the details, and they aren’t pretty.

This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference was—to borrow a phrase—“low-energy.” Except, that is, when it came to praising President Trump. CPAC has historically been a measure of what people and ideas are allowed into the conservative movement’s big tent. This year, the ideology that seemed to matter most was love of Trump.

Trump’s influence on the larger conservative movement was apparent on stage at CPAC, but it played out also in the surrounding circus at the Gaylord convention center in National Harbor, Maryland, where white nationalists rubbed elbows with “New Right” internet celebrities and far-right European politicians, many of them echoing Trump’s talking points.

On the conference’s schedule, more traditional conservative fare about the joys of capitalism and national security threats was mixed in with sessions dedicated to aggrandizing Trump.

There’s a long article about all the comings and goings, who’s there and what they’re up to, along with all the nonsense being spewed at RWW.

Electromagnetic Witchcraft & Techno Demons, Oh My!

Full Court Batshit.

Today, we have full on bugfuck for you, courtesy of one Pat Holliday, of the Miracle Internet Church, chatting with conspiracy fantasist Sheila Zilinsky.

“The government had a plan called Blue Beam back in the ’80s where they were going to fake a rapture of the church through blue beams and being able to shoot holographs up into the sky,” Holliday said, insisting that this was evidence of the “electronic magnetic witchcraft” that controls the world through everything from satanism and astrology to holistic medicine and sports.

Sigh. Y’know, it’s quite easy to spot a hologram and expose it, so just what would the fucking point be? I’m sure you’d be surprised just how much a whole lot of people wish you would get whisked off somewhere. Anywhere but here. Best be careful about including sports in all that nonsense, that’s damn near a religion in itself here in Amerikka.

“Did you know that the witchcraft powers in America had total control under the NFL over Obama?” Holliday asserted. “What Trump is doing and has done is he has disconnected the NFL from the powers of the former government.”

Oh, that’s why you included sports. Just had to get a snipe in at people of colour being damn tired and deciding to not fucking take it anymore. Sweet of you. Unfortunately for you, the NFL is not disconnected from great swathes of the population, including most in government. Amerikkans love their sportsball.

“Trump is doing a lot of things,” she said, including saving the world from certain calamity. Claiming that there is an “educated and refined witch or a wizard that is pulling the strings” over America, Holliday asserted that a Hillary Clinton presidency would have resulted in a world war that would have killed nearly the entire human population.

Oh FFS, now we’re living in a simplistic Harry Potter plot? Can’t you come up with something better than that? Think. Try to be original, and that’s a tough call, given all the speculative fiction floating about. Ever so nice that educated and refined are now code words for evil. You obscurantist idiots might love your lack of education, but I embrace mine and keep on learning every day. That you fear learning so much is all the more reason to love it.

“If Hillary Clinton had won the presidency of the United States of America, we may not even be here talking to you,” Holliday said, “because they did have a World War III planned where they were going to destroy 90 percent of the people. What they wanted to do was take control over the world by going down into their underground cities, we would all be dead and then, when it was time, they could come out of their underground cities and rule the world with Satan. That was their plan and they were almost there, but God has intervened.”

Pardon me asking, but where’s the thrill in dominating a decimated population? Sounds like a bad plan to me, more like the idiotic plan you would come up with, Ms. Holliday. You all really need to shut up, you’re doing a great deal of damage by breathing such profound stupidity into the air. We have enough climate problems.

The whole thing is at RWW, with a Soundcloud.

Sunday Facepalm: All Ya Need Is Nice.

thirddrawerdown.com.

Star Parker, yet another conservative idiot, has decided on her defense of guns in the wake of the last school shooting. Those darn students weren’t nice enough to the shooter! We don’t need gun control or any sort of reform, no. What we need is niceness! We are all responsible for every dude walking around with a growing grudge, a tantrum, and a gun. You betcha. As to blaming the students:

“Well, not necessarily one individual student, but we can call for gun control if we want to as a nation, we can call for more federal laws if we want to as a nation, but usually when you’re faced with tragedy, you first check yourself,” Parker said. “We have forgotten how to just look inwardly. We’ve become such a nation of victims that we’ve forgotten to say, ‘Wait a minute, what could I have done?’”

[…]

“Well, perhaps said ‘hello,’ perhaps said ‘I’m sorry to hear your dad died,’” Parker said. “This is a very small community of people we’re talking about. This is not the responsibility of Washington, D.C., or the NRA. This is the responsibility of people that are closest to someone to be able to look them in the eye as an individual. So the challenge of this whole nation of victims is that now it’s not about us anymore, it’s about somebody else, our problems are somebody else’s fault. Well, no, actually, this is a very small community, someone must have saw his sadness, someone must have known his dad died.”

Ms. Parker didn’t listen to the students talking. Ms. Parker certainly didn’t listen to Ms. Emma Gonzalez, who pointed out, strongly, that they knew that kid. They knew what he was like. They knew his desire for violence, his propensity for cruelty. They did speak out, they tried to tell people, they tried to warn people, but no one listened well enough to what they had to say, and now a lot of kids are dead. Sometimes, reaching out to a person can make all the difference in the world, but simply being ‘nice’ isn’t enough to reach anyone. If you’re going to extend ‘nice’, it needs to go further than that; and there are people you can’t reach in any way. The shooter in this case was primed to go off for years, but it was ignored by everyone except the students. The students wanted to know why people like his neighbours ignored him wandering around with a fucking gun. How about you answer that one, Ms. Parker? I would have loved to see you walk up to a kid wandering about with a gun and be ‘nice’ to him.

[…]

“Well, they expelled him probably because he was acting out,” she said, “and he was acting out probably because he didn’t have any friends—you know, whoever sat next to him in class, they’d better not be the ones who are protesting out there today.”

They expelled him because he was a danger to others, you fucking idiot. Sitting next to someone in class does not make you friends, and friendship is not a one way street. Christ, I loathe conservatives.

The whole mess and video is at RWW. In other, depressing news, the Dominionists of the Theocalypse have descended on CPAC, all of them staying at the Trump Hotel to sing their praises to the Tiny Tyrant. You can read the whole sorry thing here.

All American Boy For America.

Northern Tissue All American Boy Print Frances Hook 1960s.

Northern Tissue All American Boy Print Frances Hook 1960s.

Yet another self-styled “prophet”, one Kat Kerr (with pink hair) has stated that Jehovah took her up to heaven, and told her about the next five presidential elections.

“Even before Trump ran,” Kerr said, “God had been telling me that, ‘I’m going to make America greater than ever, it’s about to step into its destiny, but I can’t start this until I shift the government and there will be a president in the White House one day that will extend their hand to the believers.’”

“He caught me up to heaven, literally, months and months and months before,” Kerr continued, “and He said, ‘I’ve chosen Trump and people won’t like it and they won’t understand it but that doesn’t matter right now because I’m going to change America and I need him. He’s an all-American boy that is all for America, and he is smart, he can’t be bought, he can’t be moved, and he cannot be controlled.’ And He said, ‘He will know me and he will hear my voice.’”

Can’t be bought? The Tiny Tyrant? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Right, the dumbfuck asshole with 30 million filthy NRA bucks sticking out of his pocket, among many others, can’t be bought. As for smart, well, I think we all know well enough that the only person who thinks the Tiny Tyrant is smart is himself and his toady sycophants. Can’t be moved or controlled? Oh please. It’s so damn easy to manipulate his dumb arse, it’s ridiculous. Seems that Jehovah is just as stupid as his ‘all American boy’.

“You better step back, because this is God’s time,” Kerr warned those who oppose Trump, adding that God told her that not only will Trump win reelection in 2020, but that Vice President Mike Pence will then be elected to two terms as president, as will whomever Pence chooses as his vice president.

“The Father is saying this,” she said. “For 24 years, we will have God in that White House.”

There’s a dystopian vision if I ever saw one. I’m pretty sure this one won’t happen. I certainly hope it won’t happen. It’s hard to remember sometimes, but all us sensible types who aren’t afraid to think do outnumber the christian assholes and Trumpholes. That means always voting though, even if you don’t well feel like it, and remaining active in all social justice issues.

The whole thing and video is at RWW.

Speaking of easily bought, there’s Ajit Pai and the NRA, who decided to hail him a hero:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai was scheduled to give a speech at the Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC) today, but instead he was surprised on stage by top brass of the American Conservative Union and the National Rifle Association with an award for his “courage under fire” in repealing net neutrality rules. Carolyn Meadows, a board member of the ACU and the NRA who presented Pai with the award, said that she couldn’t bring the physical award, a handmade rifle, onto the stage—likely because the event banned firearms.

Meadows presented Pai with the NRA’s “Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award,” an honor that Meadows explained is only occasionally bestowed at CPAC to people like Vice President Mike Pence, far-right sheriff David Clarke and the late anti-feminist crusader Phyllis Schlafly.

Introducing Pai, the ACU’s Dan Schneider said that Pai had “saved the internet.”

Sigh. And so does the NRA worm its way into every pocket. You can read that whole mess here.

Cancer Chronicles 13: Breakdown Days & Fuck That Noise.

I’ll start with FUCK. THAT. NOISE. ^ because it’s easier than the intimate stuff. This…thing is on the wall of the exit hall leading out of all the oncology exam rooms. I hate to say, but this is far from the worst. The whole place is soaked in crap like this, and worse, deep catholic sentiments (quotes from motherfucking “saint” Theresa* and the like), and the rest is all “brave! hope! courage! faith! positivepositivepositive!. It’s enough to make a person puke and not stop. So, “Be Brave” with a cutesy arrow. Obviously, no one thought that one over very much. Implicit bigotry is always there, and obviously the, er, person who did this didn’t think at all. I could never in my life call the person who did this utter piece of shite an artist. Ugly, tacky, racist. It should be burnt, along with all the rest of such crap.

What does such an admonition do for someone who is almost catatonic with fear? How in the fuckety fuck does such a thing help that person? It doesn’t. It’s yet another scalding burden to place on the shoulders of that person, that something is terribly wrong with them; that they should not feel fear, no. They should square those shoulders, jut that stiff upper lip, be brave. Fear and anxiety are perfectly fucking normal when you get to hear It’s CANCER. Each person is different, and even those who manage to take the news with equanimity do not need to see such shit. We do not need to be told we should be “brave! hope! courage! faith! positivepositivepositive!. We should not have to confront such crap at every turn. Sure, there are people who might love seeing fucking Theresa quotes, but you know what? You can get such shit at home and your place of worship, if that’s your thing. And once again, those of us who are godless are not even considered when all this littering of religious crap is being done. People of other religious beliefs are not considered either, no, it’s all christian crap. The people responsible for picking this absolute shit out need to be taken out behind the woodshed and given one hell of a good smack.

ETA: To all the offended Christians: this notion that christian sentiment is somehow universal shows a breathtaking arrogance and an appalling lack of thought when it comes to other people. My cancer is not about your god, and no, I don’t give one tiny shit what you think about it. Anything me is not about your god. Please, keep that nasty god to yourself. You can drape yourself in instruments of execution, rosaries, prayer books, all that, but try to get it through your heads that it’s personal, and it does not apply to all people.

There is so little thought when it comes to cancer decor, and yeah, that’s a fucking thing. There’s zero honesty in any of it, it’s just “open your mouth and swallow the bullshit, honey, and if you aren’t brave and hopeful and full of faith, well that’s on you. YOUR FAULT.” There is no recognition of all the actual emotions threatening to boil over. No anguished “why”. No fear. No anxiety. No head full of thoughts and questions about how you will manage anything. No anger. No FUCK. No spectre of death. The other side of cancer decor is all obsequious gratitude, generally in the form of survivor art. There’s one of those pieces hanging in the oncology waiting room. No, there’s nothing wrong with being thankful and happy you made it out the other side with your life, but this kind of crafty art is terribly grating, because it evokes people on their knees (in this case women, a group of breast cancer survivors) giving worship. Fuck that noise too. Medical are doing their jobs, it’s what they do, and I’m pretty sure they’re thankful for every patient who survives, but you don’t find them doing worshipful art pieces. There’s a terrible imbalance in Cancerland. People end up feeling like it was the bad old days, where doctors were gods, and you didn’t dare make a sound, but meekly went toward any treatment you were pointed at, and no matter what happened, you should be on your knees in gratitude. Cancer has a way of smacking you the fuck down, and until the anger shows up, you don’t feel terribly strong. Or fucking brave. For some people, the fear will dominate, which tends to keep them quiet, even when they shouldn’t be. You can recognise them, like sheep being led to slaughter, meekly plodding along. All the “brave! hope! courage! faith! positivepositivepositive! crap doesn’t do anything for them.

So here’s a thought. Take all the “brave! hope! courage! faith! positivepositivepositive! crap, pile it up, and burn it. Instead, get warm, colourful posters and photographs. Flowers, water, dance, play, beautiful things which provide slender threads to good memories, to future hopes, threads which keep a person linked to thoughts of life. Things which represent to ALL people. No false cheer. No fucking admonitions. No hint of anything being your patients’ fault. Warmth, colour, life. Let people make their own associations, the ones which are most important to them. Cancer decor, as it now stands, needs to die, stat. It’s probably helping to kill a certain percentage of patients. Trite bullshit doesn’t help anyone. Stupid clichés that you’ve heard a million times don’t help. If you’re setting up an office somewhere, be original and actually think about your patients, think about how much this twee garbage does not help. Think about what might make you feel better if you were in the cancer seat. From now on, I might have to make sure I don’t have a lighter on me when I have to go to oncology. The temptation to set all that shit on fire is near overwhelming.

Okay, on to breakdown days. They will happen. Might not happen often, might not happen more than once, but one of them has your name on it, and will hit with the force of a sledgehammer. Mine was a couple of weeks ago, when treatment had been pushed back for the third time. I found myself crying. In public. For me, that’s unthinkable and it was mortifying. I couldn’t stop, and I wanted to start screaming all of my fury, too. The whole mess didn’t last long, even though it felt that way. I was back to my normal cynical humour, but that breakdown left a deep and lasting mark. It’s one which won’t go away. It took too long for the penny to drop, but I finally realised that if anything pushes me off the mental cliff, it will be Go sit in the corner and waitwaitwaitwait. I don’t have any way of coping with that one. I just want this DONE. It’s the one thing you think about, being done. Over. Out. I found myself in the position of getting in the door, but I couldn’t even see down the fucking hall, let alone the exit door. I’m not one who sees any virtue whatsoever in patience. I can be remarkably patient when there’s a clear end goal in sight, and there’s a specific time limit. But vague, hand-waved waiting? No. What will get me through is having treatments on time, on schedule. And yes, I am all too aware that people are looking out for me, making sure I don’t get even sicker and have yet more to deal with. Yes, I am all too aware that chronic liver inflammation is a precursor to cancer. I also know that chemo increases the chance of another cancer down the road. I know all that shit. Doesn’t help. There’s already a small well of despair in my head, trying to prepare me for another four fucking weeks of waiting instead of the next cycle. One thing is sure, if that happens, I’ll be sure to be ensconced in the car if another breakdown day comes my way, so as to at least preserve a bit of dignity. A sense of dignity can be hard to come by in Cancerland. Whew, I did not want to share any of that, but honesty seriously counts in Cancerland, and it has to take priority. That’s all I have for this chronicle.

*All the people Theresa “ministered” to were put on filthy cots on dirt floors, and denied pain medication, although it was available. Terminal people in immense pain were told “suffering brings you closer to god.” Yet, when Theresa was ill, she was put on a jet, flown to the U.S., put in a private room with all the amenities, which would be way out of reach for most people, and you can bet she was given more than adequate pain meds. She deserves zero respect, she was an immoral hypocrite.

The Proud Party of Homer Simpson.

Ted Cruz pronounced that when it comes to protecting gun rights (and making sure rethuglican pockets are full of filthy NRA dollars), the republican party is proudly the party of Homer Simpson. This is an accidental honesty so full of irony, there won’t be a good irony meter left anywhere in Amerikka. Of all the characters you might wish to never identify with, it would be Homer. The perfect characterisation of a dumbfuck who manages to stumble by, somehow.

Conservative commentator Ben Domenech said that the current debate over gun rights was aptly summed up by an episode of “The Simpsons” in which Lisa asserted that the Second Amendment is “just a remnant from revolutionary days [and] has no meaning today,” while Homer insisted that the Constitution guarantees him a right to own a gun because otherwise “the king of England could just walk in here any time he wants and start shoving you around.”

There hasn’t been a king in England for quite a long time now, just in case that’s news to you fucking idiots, and I’m pretty sure the queen has no interest in shoving all you fucking idiots around. To continue taking this all too seriously, is whipping out a gun a reasonable response to a verbal ‘shoving around’? No, it isn’t. Guns are not a solution, they are the problem, writ large.

“I think the Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson,” Cruz responded, “and Republicans are happily the party of Homer and Bart and Maggie and Marge.”

Uh huh. Did you actually watch the episode, Mr. Cruz? Because Marge and the kids moved out because Homer wouldn’t give up the gun. They were vehemently opposed. Leave it to a rethuglican to get an episode of The Simpsons wrong.

There’s video at RWW.

Another NO: Religious Tax Exemption.

Focus on the Family has posted a tax return on its website that declares that it is a church, but has not filed the return with the government.

Focus on the Family has posted a tax return on its website that declares that it is a church, but has not filed the return with the government.

I’m just about to head out for chemo, but this caught my eye, and this should be a huge, furious NO NO NO – no more tax exemption for religious anything. Most ‘churches’ have more money than 10 gods combined, this is not something they need, especially when they constantly violate the rules of the exemption. The latest to join in the tax free haven religion provides is Focus on the Family, James Dobson’s little hate group.

…The IRS’s master database of tax-exempt organizations, last updated on February 13, also indicates that Focus is listed as a church that is not required to file a 990.

Focus on the Family declaring itself to be a church is puzzling. While the Colorado Springs-based organization has somewhat softened its image since it was led by the firebrand Dobson, it remains active in political debates and advocacy (even in a nominally nonpartisan way). A “social issues” section on the group’s website currently features information on a supposed threat to bathroom safety posed by transgender people thanks to LGBTQ activists fighting in politics, churches and popular culture, and contains an update on “cultural issues in the courts.” In June, Focus invited Vice President Mike Pence to speak at an event celebrating its 40th anniversary, where he promised the group it had an “unwavering ally” in President Trump.

Gail Harmon, an attorney who has advised nonprofits on tax law for more than 30 years, said that she had never before seen a nonprofit organization declare itself a church. “I just found it shocking,” she said.

“There’s nothing about them that meets the traditional definition of what a church is,” she said. “They don’t have a congregation, they don’t have the rites of various parts of a person’s life. There’s a whole system for what a church is.”…

You can read the whole thing at RWW.

A Merry Christmas Thank You…

Ralph Reed went all gushy on Prez’s Day (I had no idea until Rick took off to the bank in Glen Ullin, came back with a “duh, president’s day”.) Our work schedules don’t make us aware of that particular long weekend. Anyroad, Mr. Reed just couldn’t shut up about all the wondrous christian values the Tiny Tyrant supports:

Reed’s email gushed that Trump “has proven, time and time again, that he’s a fearless champion for conservative values,” praising Trump’s support for the Republican tax bill and his administration’s zeal in rolling back regulations.

Reed praised Trump as “a tireless advocate for Christian values,” writing, “From the onset, President Trump promised to make America say ‘Merry Christmas’ again—and fight back against anti-Christian bigotry.” Reed also celebrated Trump for addressing the anti-abortion-rights March for Life and supporting legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks.

Just how much fucking hash is going to be made about this merry mishmush business? FFS, no one stopped anyone from saying it in the first place. Your choice of greeting is personal, so it’s a good thing there’s all manner of them. Can all you fucking christians shut the fuck up about it now? There’s nothing remotely amusing about the rest of the massive mess the Tiny Tyrant is making. Mr. Reed did provide one bright spot in the amusement area…

In what seems like an effort to make sure that Trump notices Reed’s adoration, Reed’s email repeatedly linked to a pre-written message that readers could post on Twitter:

.@POTUS, thank for your standing up for Christian and conservative values. #presidentsday #ffc

Trump supporters who tweeted as Reed asked them to on Monday afternoon shared the #ffc hashtag with fans of the Fulham Football Club, who were still celebrating the London soccer team’s Saturday victory over Aston Villa.

Hahahahahaha, oh my. If I thought Mr. Reed had any capacity for thought, that might teach him to check hashtags first.

The full story is at RWW.

Raising A Government For A Nonexistent God.

Capitol Ministries' February 13, 2018 fundraising dinner at the World Ag Expo.

Capitol Ministries’ February 13, 2018 fundraising dinner at the World Ag Expo.

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has joined Ralph Drollinger in his quest to raise the Jehovah government, not just here, but globally. Granted, this effort will go much further here in Amerikka than elsewhere, which is bad enough. It seems the department of agriculture has now turned into a giant “hey, cough up money for gawd! We have to get this religious reich going!”

All the conservative christian lunatics are in on this, stumping away god and guns and every other evil.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and former Rep. Michele Bachmann were the featured speakers at a Tuesday evening fundraising dinner for Capitol Ministries, the group that sponsors weekly Bible studies for members of the House and Senate and President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Also offering testimony on behalf of this “special type of ministry” was Rep. Jeff Denham, whose relationship with the group goes back to his days in the California legislature. The show was emceed by Frank Sontag, a Los Angeles-based Christian radio host who voices the audio versions of the written Bible studies that Capitol Ministries publishes every week.

Hundreds of people packed an event tent at the massive World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, the heart of the state’s agriculture industry, to hear Perdue, Bachmann and Capitol Ministries’ founder and leader Ralph Drollinger. Tulare is a reliably Republican area of the state, now represented in the U.S. Congress by Rep. Devin Nunes, a local boy from a farm family. At the event, tables were sponsored by wealthy farming families and an array of agriculture-related businesses, along with Bank of America and local branches of Wells Fargo.

[…]

Some sponsors may be supporters of Capitol Ministries’ mission of encouraging public officials to embrace conservative Christianity. Some may have bought tables based on personal and professional connections to Capitol Ministries board member and event host Rob Hilarides, who heads a dairy operation in the area. Some may appreciate Drollinger’s teachings that “God is a capitalist” and that because of excessive environmental regulations in the U.S., “the economic benefits God intends from private property ownership have been greatly diminished.” And some may have given to express support for the Trump administration’s rollbacks of regulations governing their industry.

Perdue told Capitol Ministries’ sponsors that he is “the beneficiary” of their “investment,” saying he hoped the Capitol Ministries fundraiser would become an annual event. Perdue talked about how God had guided his life and career moves, from the time God told him to give up his veterinary practice and go into agribusiness to his election as Georgia’s first Republican governor. Like Bachmann, Perdue gave an altar-call-like pitch for people to give their lives to God.

[…]

Drollinger is on a mission to recruit public officials at all levels of government to his conservative version of Christianity and his particular fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. Part of Drollinger’s pitch for his ministry is that Religious Right groups have spent too much time lobbying public officials to change laws. Capitol Ministries focuses instead on “the most influential component in the legislative process: the people who make the decisions and create the statutes.”

Drollinger says he doesn’t lobby, but he does instruct public officials that the Bible mandates adherence to right-wing policy positions on a wide range of issues, including environmental regulation, the death penalty, abortion, LGBTQ equality and more. He says it is the government’s job to quell evil and punish sin. He teaches that care for the poor is meant to be a job for the family and church, not the government, and that entitlement programs have no “biblical authority.” And he says that once “righteous” people hold positions of power in government, they should hire only other “righteous” people.

Drollinger’s efforts should wake everyone up, they are terrifying, and unfortunately, effective. He has a great deal of influence on capitol hill, and like most christian lunatics, his views are that the way things were in Medieval age are splendid, and we should go right back there. He has no use whatsoever for christians who go all Jesus, or think things like compassion and care have a place in life:

Drollinger is not particularly open to other interpretations of scripture. He has called Roman Catholicism “one of the primary false religions in the world.” He has written that liberal Christians are “simpletons.” In a September 2017 Bible study, he wrote that the Social Gospel, a major strain of American Christianity in the 20th century, is a “perversion” or “corruption” of biblical teaching, and “not Christianity whatsoever.” As for Christians in Congress who do not share his conservative theology and right-wing politics, Drollinger wrote, “I believe the biggest deception on the Hill today is this: the religion of the Social Gospel proffers itself as being ‘Christian’ when it isn’t even close to being biblical.”

Last July, Drollinger warned public officials, “Do not be deceived by syncretistic ‘prayer breakfasts’: God only hears the prayers of leaders and citizens who are upright, who live righteously through faith in Jesus Christ.”

This is a man who is fully in favour of an inquisitorial government, in spite of his hate for the catholic church. He’s very much an inquisition and crusades kind of guy. The article at RWW is in-depth and link heavy, lots of important reading there. If liberal/moderate christians find such efforts to be repulsive, you have to stop being milquetoasts on the sideline, shaking your heads. You need to stand the fuck up, and put this effort down. Time to roar. Naturally, all us godless/religionless folk need to roar our faces off, too. This all starts with awareness, so go read, become aware, and start yelling.

The full article is at RWW.

Sunday Facepalm.

Image credit: STILLFX.

Today, a host of different flavours in the category of evil conservative christians, who will deny reality and be incredibly offensive to their dying breath. Guns are a major problem in Ustates, and that’s an understatement. It’s beyond time we grew the fuck up and put the lethal toys away. Oh, but what are some dead children (or adults) to conservative christians? Nothing, that’s what. The main focus here will be that smarmy asshole, Wayne Allyn Root, who is indeed incensed, but it’s not about guns, oh no.

“Here is my other complaint, and it is a big one,” Root said. “What’s the biggest news story of the day? See, the media thinks it’s this shooting and they will blanket it. Of the 30 minutes on the news tonight, I’ll bet you 20-plus will be the shooting, maybe 25 of them will be the shooting and then maybe they’ll put five minutes at the end in other news today. And none of them will even mention the story I am about to give you, which I think is the biggest news story in America by far.”

“This shooting is horrible, horrific, and if you’re the parents, I’m crying for you,” he said, “but it’s a one-time event and tomorrow we’re on to something else, but this is representative of what is going on in America.”

A one time event? No, these shootings are not one time events, that would be the fucking problem, Mr. Root. These mass shootings are increasing, and in many cases, there are warnings blaring all over the damn place, but no one can do anything because guns everywhere.

Fuming that a jury had awarded graffiti artists more than $6 million after murals they had painted were destroyed by a real estate developer, Root ranted that “this is what is wrong with America.”

This, according to Mr. Root, is the BIGGEST story in America. Yep. Don’t get bigger than that, oh no. Why an obscenely rich asshole destroyed a lot of art, and was fined for it. Dead kids? Yes, but did you see this? Much, much worse!

“Liberals see a school shooting one time—how many kids are there in America? There is 330 million people, so maybe there is like 40 million kids in school, 25 million kids in school,” he said. “Let’s say there are 25 to 40 million kids in school right now; God forbid anyone’s child is ever killed, any child that is killed is a nightmare and a tragedy beyond belief—I’m not trying to make light of it—but 5 kids killed, 10 kids killed, 20 kids killed, horrific, but that doesn’t affect society forever more. But when you’ve got judges awarding $6.7 million to punk thug graffiti lowlifes because a good man, a developer, covered up their art, that affects the entire country forever.”

Are there even adequate words for such a callous dismissal? Oh, those dead kids, they’ll be forgotten, who cares? Unfortunately for Mr. Root, a whole lot of us care. We care that people died for no fucking reason at all, just another person having a temper tantrum with the opportunity to make it lethal. We care that the families and friends of those slain are forever altered, and they are a part of society, Mr. Root, and you do not get to pretend they are no longer part of American society. These lethal incidents have a longstanding effect on the psyche of our society. Other countries recognize the terrible cost of such lethality, and not being mired in stupidity, take measures to see such things cannot happen. All we get from assholes like yourself are the ever ubiquitous thoughts and prayers.

As for your big story, I feel awful for the artists, I know how I’d feel if my work was wiped out by an arrogant asshole, but I can’t imagine who would be at all sorry said arrogant asshole had to pay for his behaviour. All that said, none of that, in any way, measures up to the horror, shock and grief of dead children and adults. A favourite argument of conservative christians when it comes to abortion is “but what if it’s your pregnancy which would result in someone who cures cancer?” and so on. “You could be carrying the hope of humanity!” Why doesn’t that argument work when it comes to people with guns mowing down children in schools? What if those kids were holding a future hope of humanity? Ah, but that’s conservative christians for you, they love fetuses and hate children.

You can read the whole thing at RWW.

Also in the evil conservative christian category:

Carl Gallups has gone with the latest shooting being a demonic attempt to undermine America via gun control. Because antichrist. Oh, and demons.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld has the solution: drill and train children in hand to hand combat, because that will work so well against guns.

Dave Daubenmire wants to know why not one 17 year old male in the latest shooting was not man enough to tackle the shooter. Erm, maybe they didn’t want to fucking die, Dave.

Liz Crokin “thinks” the shooter was innocent and framed by “Deep State”.