Targeting Women.

Joseph-Backholm-1024x592

I first read about this several days ago, when it wasn’t well known, and people weren’t terribly sure if this was a real deal or not. Unfortunately, it’s a real deal.

Conservatives in Washington are currently collecting signatures for a referendum to overturn the state’s transgender protections. It is a measure that rivals North Carolina’s HB2 in the way it targets transgender people for discrimination. And now its proponents are encouraging men to follow women into their bathrooms to get their signatures.

Joseph Backholm, director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW), is leading the signature collection process for what has been labeled “Initiative 1515.” In recordings anonymously delivered to the Gender Justice League of Seattle, Backholm can be heard encouraging male petitioners to camp out near women’s restrooms, ask women for their signatures, then follow them into the restroom if they don’t agree to sign.

At one meeting on April 27, Backholm can be heard giving various tips to petitioners, such as going to places like retirement communities, where the residents are all registered voters who are excited to have visitors. “For gentlemen,” he then suggested, “what I would encourage you to do, if you are so bold and you want to make the point, take your petitions and stand outside the women’s restroom at the mall, and if any of the women don’t want to sign it, just go ahead and follow ’em on in [laughter from crowd]. ‘Maybe this will be a better time to sign our little petition’, and we can make the point that way.”

[…]

At a May 10 event, Backholm made the suggestion one more time, claiming that he and another petitioner were going to enter a women’s spa together — naked — and, “We’re gonna tell the ladies, ‘If you don’t think we should be here, you need to sign our petition.’ And we think that would be wildly successful.”

Confronted with the recordings by KIRO 7, Backholm refused to comment. King County Sheriff John Urquhart, on the other hand, had no problem confirming that anybody who follows Backholm’s suggestion will be arrested.

And rightfully so. Backholm’s contention, as he makes constantly evident in his public remarks — including the above podcast — is that Washington state’s gender identity protections allow this kind of bathroom intrusion by anybody. That conclusion is based solely on rejecting that transgender women are women and that transgender men are men.

[…]

The notion that transgender protections allow men to enter women’s restrooms has — to this point — been an invented hypothetical that has never actually happened. Backholm and the I-1515 campaign are now trying to actually create that problem in real life for the sole purpose of scaring people into voting against transgender equality.

The campaign opposing I-1515, Washington Won’t Discriminate, is now calling for Backholm to lose his job for “inciting others to commit crimes and putting voters in danger.”

Now is the time for people to be very good citizens. If you see one of these asshats hanging around a public lav, call the cops. Report them every single time. Multiple reports would be even better. Anywhere you see these bigots, report them. Use the current law against them, and it will be an excellent demonstration that existing laws are more than sufficient, there’s no need for their added on hate against transgender people.

Via ThinkProgress.

The Art of Marketing Guns.

This Bushmaster ad ran in Maxim magazine, according to Mother Jones (Bushmaster)

This Bushmaster ad ran in Maxim magazine, according to Mother Jones (Bushmaster)

While large ad agencies these days shy away from working for gun manufacturers, it turns out that they have a little secret to boosting sales. Gun manufacturers obviously and openly pander to toxic masculinity, appealing to every lousy, dangerous trope out there, shamelessly amping up male insecurity and fostering the idea that one can be a manly man if you just get yourself unnecessarily armed to the teeth. And of course, women can be a womanly woman right alongside their manly men, guns for all!

To entice potential customers to purchase its high-powered assault rifle, Bushmaster, one of America’s largest gun manufacturers, uses the slogan “Justice for All.’’ Its print ads tell prospective buyers: “Consider your man card reissued.” Sig Sauer, another major gun manufacturer, advertises its MCX rifle in a dramatic video of a single shooter, calling the gun the “start of a new era.”

In the wake of the massacre at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, many politicians are demanding stricter gun laws. But a lot less attention is focused on the marketing tactics of American gun manufacturers, who can — unlike cigarette and alcohol companies — legally and freely market their products with little to no regulation.

“If you look at the gun industry’s advertising today, it’s militarized,” says Josh Sugarmann, the founder and executive director of the Violence Policy Center, an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control. “It’s focused on two things: assault weapons and high-capacity semi-automatic pistols.”

I was a around for the major societal shift and restrictions on tobacco and alcohol advertising. Those were considered to be good and necessary restrictions, but once again, it seems guns are exempt.

Ever since the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, put assault weapons back in the spotlight, the amount of money spent on gun advertising has increased dramatically. From 2012 to 2013, the amount spent by five of the largest assault weapons manufacturers on advertising their own brands leapt more than 33 percent, according to Kantar Media data.

Remington’s ad spending nearly doubled, from $740,000 to more than $1.4 million in those years; Sig Sauer’s soared from just $30,000 to $230,000, according to Kantar.

Source: Kantar Media Get the data.

Source: Kantar Media Get the data.

Regardless of who’s writing the copy or executing the campaigns, these manufacturers are hardly reliant on ad strategy to drive sales; Smith & Wesson pulled in more than $551 million in revenue last year, thanks mostly to a dedicated, enthusiastic population of loyal gun buyers.

“If you focus on manufacturer advertising, you are missing the larger picture,” Terrence Witkowski, a professor at California State University, Long Beach, who has studied the visual language of gun culture. “American gun culture is a form of consumer culture where much influence flows from the grassroots, bottom up, not top down.”

The sad truth is tragedies like the ones in Orlando or Newtown are actually their own best advertising. While most gun manufacturers will never admit it, the demonization that is rained down on their products is good for business, as sales boom in the aftermath.

In 1993, reports that the weapon used in a mass shooting in San Francisco was a Tec-9 set off waves of people condemning the gun. To Intratec, the gun’s manufacturer, those howls of anger were music to its ears.

“I’m kind of flattered,” Mike Solo, Intratec’s marketing and sales director, told the New York Times. “It just has that advertising tingle to it. Hey, it’s talked about, it’s read about, the media write about it. That generates more sales for me. It might sound cold and cruel, but I’m sales oriented.”

“I’m sales oriented”. Yeah, who cares about all those dead people, there are sales to be made.

Via Raw Story.

What do you mean, “Go Away”?

A very young Fox squirrel, willing to scold and fight me over what he felt was his right to the sunseeds on the deck. I was half way out the window taking these, so perhaps not as good as they could be. He was bouncing on the branch, flicking his tail, and going into a repeated “I’ll fight!” stance. Little asshole. 1500 x 996, click for full size.

WYM1

WYM2

WYM3

© C. Ford. All rights reserved.

The Robertson Theory.

pat-robertson-accuses-gays-of-using-organized-thrustx750Naturally, Pat Robertson has weighed in on the Orlando Massacre, after possibly 5 minutes of figuring out how to blame everyone he hates.

“The left is having a dilemma of major proportions and I think for those of us who disagree with some of their policies, the best thing to do is to sit on the sidelines and let them kill themselves,” he said.

Earlier in the program, Robertson explained “the dilemma of the liberals”

“We’re looking at a favored group by the left, the homosexuals, and that in Islam is punishable by death or imprisonment or some sanction, so what are the left going to do? How are they going to describe it? And they don’t know quite what to do now. The fact that this Islamic gentleman opens fire in a gay nightclub and kills almost 50 homosexuals, that says something and tells the fact that Islam is against homosexuality, so the liberals are going to be scrambling to find some rationale. I think they’re going to have a hard time doing it.”

I don’t think there’s so much as an iota of surprise in any of that rhetoric, it’s yet another iteration of the same bigot hash that has been served up for years now. At this point, I was continuing to read the article, when the ol’ brain came to a screeching halt upon reading this:

Claims this offensive and grandiose might immediately seem laughable and dismissable to America’s informed and educated populations, but the fact is that there are a lot of poor, uneducated, and gullible people in this country — Donald Trump, after all, was voted as the Republican candidate.

Emphasis mine. This has got to stop. Stop, stop, stop. The majority of people who support Trump are not poor (a great many of them are filthy rich), they are not uneducated or undereducated, and while there might be a fair amount of gullible minds there, those are all over the fucking place, and a propensity for gullibility is probably more likely to strike those who have a great deal of money to burn. At any rate, poor does not equate to stupid and gullible. A lot of poor people manage to do a damn good job educating themselves in spite of the broken system called public education in uStates. If you want to talk about the people who support Trump, looking at all those Christians who follow people like Robertson and other preachers of hate is a good place to start. Another one is those who suffer from an excess of jingoism and a bad case of gun fetishism. More of them are simply bigots, always glad to add yet another group to their ever expanding capacity to hate. A lack of education can be corrected. A case of ignorance can be corrected, and easily so. When it comes to those following and supporting people like Robertson and Trump, we are not talking about those things. We are talking about calculated hate, a laser-focused bigotry that these believers want to lie over the land like a bloody lash. Don’t blame the poor. It’s past time they stop being a handy target whenever someone is searching for a scathing line to express their upset and disgust with those who wallow in hate.

Full story here.

Doubling Down on that Christian Love…

Pastor Roger Jimenez (Photo: Screen capture)

Pastor Roger Jimenez (Photo: Screen capture)

The Sacramento, California pastor of Verity Baptist Church went viral yesterday, after news of his sermon after the Orlando shooting spread.

“As a Christian, we shouldn’t be mourning the death of 50 sodomites. Let me go ahead and start right there. As a Christian, we shouldn’t be sad or upset,” Roger Jimenez said in his sermon.

YouTube has since removed the video of the sermon deeming it “hate speech,” but Pastor Jimenez is doubling down on his message, according to an interview with ABC10 News.

[…]

He wants people to understand, however, that his comments are not encouraging people to kill LGBT people.

“I’m not calling people to arms. And I’m not telling people they should go do this… What I’m saying is that if the government followed the laws of God, that’s what they would be doing. And if the government did that, I’d be fine with that,” Jimenez said.

“I would be fine,” he said if the government was the one who sentenced LGBT people to die. “I would be totally okay with that, if the government did that. That’s what they would do, if we lived in a righteous nation.”

The full story is here. Raw Story also has a summary of 7 Christian leaders also expressing the depth of their Christian love.

Once again, I have to ask, where are all you progressive Christians? What are doing, to police your own? You don’t get to say “oh, those people aren’t mine!” Yes, they are. They believe in the same god you do, the same holy book you do, the same tenets you do. When are there going to be legions of Christians denouncing these evil clowns?

For all those steeped in this smug, judgmental hatred, one of your favourite things is this, yes?: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13, out of your very own book of stories. You know one person who did that? Edward Sotomayor, Jr. A 34 year old man, out for a night of fun with his boyfriend. Edward put his boyfriend in front of him, and pushed him out the door, saving his life, as he was cut down by bullets. There’s love. No greater love, according to you christian lot.

Here is the face of love, no greater love than his:

Edward Sotomayor, Jr.

Edward Sotomayor, Jr.

Look well, all you Christians, at a person you condemn, a person you’re happy is dead, a person who was more of ‘Christian’ than any of you could be in 3 lifetimes. Edward wasn’t alone, either. The other people there were also most concerned with their loved ones, and all you have hate. Is it now okay for all of us who are utterly disgusted by your revelry in death to start talking about how good and righteous it would be to round up all Christians, and have the government sanction them being shot in the head? No? Have you asked yourselves why not?

A bunch of, just, disgusting homosexuals at a gay bar, okay?

threestooges-800x430“The good news is that there’s 50 less pedophiles in this world, because, you know, these homosexuals are a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles. That’s who was a victim here, are a bunch of, just, disgusting homosexuals at a gay bar, okay? And then I’m sure it’s also gonna be used to push an agenda against so-called “hate speech.” So Bible-believing Christian preachers who preach what the Bible actually says about homosexuality — that it’s vile, that it’s disgusting, that they’re reprobates — you know, we’re gonna be blamed. Like, “It’s all extremism! It’s not just the Muslims, it’s the Christians!” I’m sure that that’s coming. I’m sure that people are gonna start attacking, you know, Bible-believing Christians now, because of what this guy did.I’m not sad about it, I’m not gonna cry about it. Because these 50 people in a gay bar that got shot up, they were gonna die of AIDS, and syphilis, and whatever else. They were all gonna die early, anyway, because homosexuals have a 20-year shorter life-span than normal people, anyway.”
— Steven Anderson, preacher at Faithful Word Baptist Church, Tempe, AZ in response to the slaughter in Orlando.

I felt like I had been dipped in sewage just reading that, and dipped again posting it. If Steven Anderson wants to talk disgusting, I suggest he get in front of a mirror. It was just a short while ago that I brought up in a thread here that a lot of people (Americans in particular) still believe in the gay man equals pedophile canard. And there it is, in neon arrogance, the self-righteous judgment smug only Christians can work up into such a fine froth. There were women who died in Orlando. There were hetero people who died in Orlando. There were queer people who died in Orlando. Some of them were parents. All of them were loved. But here’s the same old Christian crap of old, disease riddled predators. Naturally, the only thing Anderson is truly concerned about is whether or not people might start looking at him sideways, possibly accusing him of hate speech. Oh, and of course, us lefty pinko commie rainbow warriors might take his bible away. Disgust, thy name is Steven Anderson, and all those like you.

Radical right-wing Christians must recognize the part their anti-gay rhetoric, legislation, hate speech and repeated attacks on the LGBT community played in the slaughter at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Yes, the terrorist homophobe who reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIL before he repeatedly pulled the trigger deserves all our anger and outrage. We will hear plenty about his radicalized religious beliefs in the coming days, but that is likely all the religious analysis we will hear in the media. But, we cannot let religious ideologues in the far-right Christian camp off the hook. Steven Anderson is not an anomaly. America has been painstakingly codifying beliefs he expressed into law. Polished politicians blunt the edges of Anderson’s words though the language of legislation but the hate and fear remains.

They will claim the assertion they have any role in the massacre as an attack on their religion – much like the consistent and well-orchestrated “war on Christmas” we heathens rage every year. They will tell you that their prayers are enough to overcome this act of terror. They will tell you Jesus wants you to arm yourself. “Get your guns before Obama takes them.” They will tell you this is about radicalized Islamist terrorists. They will whistle away the notion that guns or gays had anything to do with this tragedy.

And here is a major problem. Along with people busily straight-splaining, the rest are focusing on that terrible Muslim problem, because that’s the only terrorism that counts, and this was oh-so-definitely Islam based (even though it wasn’t), but you have a lot of Christians bristling over the idea that they might have had anything to do with this. Abrahamaic based religions all have the same root, and they have the same deep-rooted bigotry. How that bigotry is expressed isn’t the important bit – it’s why this expression is being allowed in the first place, why so many people who don’t have a personal stake in the current Christian war on all things queer, sit idly by, maybe let a small tsk escape their lip, shake their head, and decide to do nothing at all. Here in the U.S. open bigotry is being turned into law. People act like politicians spilling the most awful, bigoted bile is simply entertainment, yet another bad reality show.

The multitude of ways right-wing Christians discriminate against and kill – directly or indirectly – LGBT people can be incredibly nuanced.

[…]

Around the country LGBT couples are fighting for the right to adopt children. HIV is criminalized around the country putting a big red X on gay men and others. Gay men – by law – cannot donate blood. Most people didn’t even know that until Orlando. Federally funded abstinence-only programs populate our public schools masquerading as sexual education. What the actually do is preach sexual purity until heterosexual marriage, and they stigmatize girls and LGBT kids. How about the Great Bathroom Panic of 2016? It isn’t secular humanists behind these laws and programs; it is right-wing Christians serving in state and national office.

What message is all of this sending to our LGBT citizens? That you are less than, you are poison, your blood is tainted even if it’s not, you are after our children, you cannot love who you love. The message coming from the far right is “We Hate You”. Donald Trump gloat-tweets, Paul Ryan doesn’t mention guns or gays in his statement – just Islamic terrorists. The GOP’s (political party of choice for the far right Christian camp) presumptive presidential nominee and the US Speaker of the House deny any connection between the slaughter at Pulse and anti-gay hate crime.

The rest of Andy Kopsa’s excellent article is here.

Republican Erasure of LGBTQ People.

Marco Rubio wants to share his prayers, but not his civil rights, with LGBTQ people. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Marco Rubio wants to share his prayers, but not his civil rights, with LGBTQ people.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Republicans have quick enough off the mark to offer up assorted prayers in the wake of the Orlando massacre, but they are being very careful not to acknowledge that these were and are LGBTQ people. The fact that a majority of them were people of colour is notably absent as well.

Marco Rubio tweeted: “Our prayers are with those injured and killed early this morning in horrifying act of terror in Orlando.”

Rubio is a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage and would like to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling affirming gay people’s constitutional right to wed. Worse, when Rubio served as Florida’s House majority leader, the state’s foster care system was in a crisis: Due to a severe lack of foster parents, children were essentially being imprisoned in inhumane conditions. One possible solution would be to lift Florida’s ban on allowing gay people to foster children. Rubio rejected the idea. “Some of these kids are the most disadvantaged in the state,” he explained. “They shouldn’t be forced to be part of a social experiment.”

Then there’s Mike Huckabee, who tweeted: “Please join Janet and me in praying for the victims of the Orlando attack and their families.”

But if it were up to Huckabee, gay people would not be legally permitted to start their own families. Huckabee staunchly opposes same-sex marriage, civil unions, and gay adoption. […] At various points in his career, Huckabee has also said that AIDS patients should be quarantined; that homosexuality is a “lifestyle” similar to drinking alcohol; and that legalizing same-sex marriage is analogous to legalizing incest and drug use. When the Supreme Court invalidated a federal same-sex marriage ban, Huckabee tweeted: “Jesus wept.”

There are many more examples of aggressively anti-gay politicians  tweeting about the Pulse shooting, but one common thread ties them together: None of them mention that the shooting targeted, or even involved, the LGBTQ community. Indeed, not a single congressional Republican who tweeted about the shooting mentioned LGBTQ people. That stands in stark contrast to President Barack Obama’s clear assertion that “shooter targeted a nightclub” where “lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people … came together to be with friends, to dance, sing, and live,” and “to raise awareness and speak their minds and advocate for their civil rights.”

Republicans’ silence is actually quite apt. As a party, after all, the GOP has spent decades attempting to degrade sexual minorities and even drive them out of public life. It is altogether fitting, then, that conservative politicians are erasing LGBTQ people from their own tragedy. The gesture of support, I suppose, is basically benevolent. But let’s be clear about this: The 50 victims of Orlando’s LGBTQ nightclub massacre died as full and equal citizens under the law in spite of the Republican party’s best efforts to relegate them to second-class citizenship.

Full Article at Slate.

And the hate flows on…

Vigil in Santiago, Chile.

Vigil in Santiago, Chile.

In the midst of an outpouring of solidarity, love, and shared grief around the world over the loss of so many lives in Orlando, Florida, there runs a river of poisonous hate through the United States. Images and hate-filled tweets will be behind the fold, because no one should have to see those unless they choose to do so. First up, and I know this will surprise no one at all, the Westboro clan had to jump right in, with an attempt to be as crass and disgusting as possible. I’d say they succeeded, but what makes me sick is the sense of glee they give off. Second is the story of a Florida Imam who offered condolences and praise for emergency workers was met with a great deal of bigotry and hate.

Trigger Warning: extreme hate, bigotry, and sheer ugliness behind the fold.

[Read more…]

LGBT Movement Is Like Taliban, ‘Jeopardizes Freedom’

North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop.

North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop.

The Charlotte Business Journal received 152 emails of Rep. Dan Bishop, the architect of North Carolina’s HB 2.

The architect of the state’s controversial law to stop cities from extending non-discrimination protection to gay and transgender people insists no amount of protests and pressure could convince him to back down or soften his stance. And, when that architect — Rep. Dan Bishop — isn’t debating the merits of the law known as House Bill 2 with constituents and critics, he is championing and celebrating those who support the measure.

“I don’t fear man. I fear God. So I won’t be backing down,” Bishop (R-Mecklenburg) stated in a message he sent to a Charlotte man who implored the lawmaker not to allow persistent opposition to the law to lead to concessions.

[…]

In the same email, Bishop described the pressure from critics as “brutal” and added, “I stepped in front of the train quite deliberately, but the beating is every bit as bad as I expected, and then some. I need the Lord’s help and your prayers.”

[…]

Bishop and fellow Republican lawmaker Rucho took umbrage when Charlotte real estate broker Rob Cochran criticized them as well as McCrory, Senate President Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore for passing HB 2.

[…]

Bishop and Rucho, in separate emails, rejected Cochran’s concerns.

“It is time for the business community to stand up and grow a back bone for what is a common sense bill,” Rucho responded.

“Stop being intimidated and extorted by the political correct police because there is no telling where this ends and the damage to our state and country. The large corporations are more concerned about offending the left wing extremists, their reputation and profits then (sic) they are about the rights of millions of woman (sic) and children. I have spent my entire elected career being a strong business advocate but after hearing the weak kneed moaning of business community, I think Bernie Sanders’s anti business philosophy has merit and your greed is despicable.”

Added Bishop: “Business skittishness is entirely the result of false media reports and activist grip on big corporations.”

[…]

A thank-you from a constituent instructed Bishop and his allies not to “cave in to the Politically Correct Taliban! Y’all should have all of the sane states to coordinate and pass these bills on the same day so one state does not have to stand up to these pompous asses alone.”

In reply, Bishop wrote, “I LOVE that idea. Taliban. Love that too. Not giving up. Ever.” A separate exchange with another supporter included a declaration by the lawmaker that “the LGBT movement jeopardizes freedom.”

Charlotte Business Journal has the full story.

Securing A Position With Bigotry: The Notpology.

Ali Jimenez-Hopper said of her Democratic opponent, "She brings up that she is half black and she uses that as a strength. She brings up that she is in support of LGBT and that lifestyle and puts out pictures on Twitter of her and her wife."

Ali Jimenez-Hopper said of her Democratic opponent, “She brings up that she is half black and she uses that as a strength. She brings up that she is in support of LGBT and that lifestyle and puts out pictures on Twitter of her and her wife.” Credit: screenshot.

Remember Ms. Jimenez-Hopper, who secured a position with open bigotry against her opponent? She’s back, with a sparkly notpology, blaming the democrats because they always twist the words of good republicans to look like bigotry. It just couldn’t have been anything she said, no.

Jimenez-Hopper claimed her comments were somehow misconstrued. For that she blamed Democrats.

“Unlike my opponent, I am new to the political process and sometimes say things in a way that can be twisted around and out of context by the Democrats,” Jimenez-Hopper said. “I apologize to anyone I offended by my comments. As a Hispanic American, it is my hope that voters in Apple Valley judge both of us by where we stand on the issues, and not simply by the color of our skin or who we are married to.”

Oh my. Ms. Jimenez-Hopper jumped all over her opponent Erin Maye Quade for bringing up that she’s half black, saying she used it as a strength, and somehow that was very wrong. Apparently it’s perfectly okay for her to bring up being a Hispanic American. Oh, the mealy-mouthed hypocrisy. You can always count on republicans for some things, and that’s one of them.

The allegation Maye Quade is somehow guilty of the sin of identity politics for not concealing her identity was echoed by other Republicans in her district.

AJH1

So people should not take Ms. Maye Quade’s being biracial or lesbian into account when voting? Well, SD57 Republicans, I have terrible news for you all. I do take such things into account when considering candidates. Being mixed race myself, I’m much more likely to vote for someone who is an Indigenous person, as well as democrat. As someone who is also under the queer nation umbrella, that matters to me too. A candidate who is also under that umbrella is more likely to be active in issues which I’m concerned with. That’s how this whole voting thing works. That’s why bigots vote for assholes who say things like “identity politics”. So surprising you haven’t figured this out, being in politics. :eyeroll:

ThinkProgress has the full story.

Sunday Facepalm: God’s not dead, he’s being sued.

Pure Flix

Maybe God’s Not Dead, but he’ll probably wish he were when he learns about this lawsuit against the producers of the hokey franchise. According to The Wrap, Pure Flix Entertainment and co-founder David A.R. White are being sued for violating the eighth commandment, which The Simpsons or maybe Sunday school (and the New King James Bible) should have taught them is “Thou shalt not steal.” Screenwriters Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Michael Landon Jr. filed their suit on Monday, in which they claim that Pure Flix and White stole the premise for God’s Not Dead ’s from their screenplay for the unreleased film, Rise.

They are suing for 100 million dollars. 100 million. This pedestrian, boring meme of a story is barely worth one.

According to the complaint, “Rise” tells the story “of a freshman at Harvard facing an environment hostile to her Christian faith.” [T]he student then debates her professor three times on whether God exists.

The complaint notes numerous alleged similarities, stating, “The theme, set-up, opportunity, turning point, change of plans, complications, set back, final push, climax and aftermath of the ‘Rise’ screenplay and the ‘God’s Not Dead’ motion picture are the same.” [TheWrap]

I suppose Kullberg feels like she has a case on account of actually being a prominent Christian who went to Harvard, but that doesn’t change the fact that God’s Not Dead was essentially torn from the Marine Todd meme, which any shrewd idiot with a tolerance for tedium and an email account could’ve turned into a movie. I still want to see the Luke O’Neil version.

Interestingly, Kullberg and Landon are suing for $100 million, “a portion of God’s Not Dead‘s $140 million worldwide.”

Meanwhile, God’s Not Dead‘s lifetime international revenue is $62.63 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo. The only source for that $140 million number I can find is a Fox News interview with Kevin Sorbo. True, he says that includes DVD sales, but $80 million worth is a lot of DVDs.

Oh man, am I ever impressed with anyone who actually sat through this movie. I couldn’t even manage the whole trailer, I only made it to 1:48. I was afraid I might actually die of a fatal eyeroll. Worth 100 million? No way on earth. Or heaven. Or hell.

Via Uproxx and AV Club.

Campaign for USA.

CREDIT: YouTube/Screenshot

CREDIT: YouTube/Screenshot

It just never stops. There are always more willfully ignorant, evil-minded bigots out there, just salivating at the opportunity to cause harm.

The Conservative Republicans of Texas, which has already been named a hate group for its rhetoric, has launched what it’s calling “Campaign for USA” — modeled after their “Campaign for Houston.” It uses the same ad from the Houston campaign, which shows a little girl being stalked by a man in a bathroom, but the spot now targets Target for the retail giant’s inclusive bathroom policy.

[…]

The Campaign for USA website claims that by allowing guests to use restrooms and changing facilities that match their gender identity, “This means that any man can say he feels like a woman and use the women’s bathroom or dressing room at Target. Just because a man feels like and thinks he is a women [sic], does not make him a woman, any more than thinking he is a dog, would make him a dog, even if he walked on all fours and barked.” The site then links to an article about pup play, a kink found in the gay community that has nothing to do with gender identity.

“The whole concept of ‘transgender’ of course is absurd and irrational,” the site insists. “Those who practice this behavior or enable it have adopted perverted thinking.”

In case the Campaign’s perspective is not clear, the site continues to drive home the point:

The term transgender is a euphemism, a weaker alternative, for the term pervert, in order to make the behavior seem more acceptable. Men who dress up like women and want to use women’s bathrooms, showers and locker rooms are sexual deviants and perverts. The LGBT homosexual political movement wants to force society, under the penalty of law, to accept, affirm as normal, and celebrate the perverted homosexual lifestyle and the deviant behavior of men who claim to be women. The goal of the LGBT is to destroy all Biblical moral absolutes and create sexual anarchy in society. The LGBT political movement wants it mandated that this wicked lifestyle be taught to children in school, starting in Kindergarten, and that children be encouraged to experiment with homosexual and transvestite behavior. The goal is to break down the children’s consciences, so that they can more easily be recruited into the homosexual lifestyle.

It proceeds to start citing Bible verses, promising that rather than “affirm and celebrate homosexual behavior and other forms of sexual perversion,” they will “proclaim the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” to the LGBT community “so that they may be saved from the penalty of their sin and walk in the light of God’s word.”

[…]

The anti-Target ad will nevertheless run across Texas for three months, costing the Campaign $2 million. Jared Woodfill, president of the campaign, promised, “We’re not going to let this go. We’re going to continue to fight this battle until Target changes their policy or goes out of business.” That could be a very long time.

Full story at ThinkProgress.