Trump Confederacy in Kissimmee.

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KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The most controversial moment of a Donald Trump rally here Thursday night may have come before the bombastic candidate took the stage. For a solid 20 minutes, a Confederate flag with the words “Trump 2016” hung from the railing in the Silver Spurs Arena.

It was easily visible even as public figures like Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Pastor Mark Burns gave warm-up speeches before the Republican presidential nominee took the stage. Then minutes before Trump began his speech, organizers asked the supporters who brought the flag into the venue to furl it.

The imagery harkens back to a heated debate throughout the South over the flag’s racist meaning after another mass shooting, in Charleston, S.C., which ended with the flag being removed from the capitol grounds. It also harkens back to a New York Times video that recently went viral that recorded unfiltered remarks by Trump supporters that were unabashedly racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic. Confederate symbolism makes an apperance there as well.

The media doesn’t often focus on the attitude of the Trump crowds. Even in this latest case, as tends to happen at Trump rallies, such symbolism got brushed aside as the crowd got whipped up over other matters.

[…]

Most importantly, Trump was speaking in a suburb of Orlando two months after the Pulse massacre and hours after meeting with pastors and evangelicals during an event critics have called an anti-LGBT gathering. Trump made mention of the Orlando attack, saying more people should have reported shooter Omar Mateen to the FBI: “People knew he was demented.” In fact, Mateen was interviewed multiple times by the FBI based on complaints placed by those who knew him.

Clearly building off the closed-door discussions with leaders at the American Renewal Project conference in Orlando earlier in the day, Trump appealed to social conservatives in the room. “The evangelicals took me to a point that I never even thought we could reach,” he said. “All around the country we did well.”

The Advocate has the full story. Speaking of the intense anti-LGBT gathering in Orlando, again, Marco Rubio just will not shut up about being a keynote speaker, and keeps on attempting to defend his stance, while at the same time, telling people not to be judgmental. Hypocrisy knows no limit where Rubio is concerned:

 

ORLANDO — In a speech laden with scripture, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday compelled church leaders at a conference here to “abandon the spirit of judgment” against LGBT neighbors. The remarks came on the two-month anniversary of a shooting at the Pulse night club located about 10 miles from the religious gathering.

[…]

Rubio was the headline speaker for The American Renewal Project’s two-day event in Orlando, and on Friday devoted much of a 30-minute speech to encouraging preachers to create an accepting environment free of discrimination. “In order to love people, we have to listen to them,” he said. “When it comes to our brothers and our sisters, our fellow Americans, our neighbors in the LGBT community, we should recognize that our nation, while the greatest nation in the history of  mankind, is one with a history that has been marred by the discrimination against and the rejection of gays and lesbians.”

He also emphasized his continued opposition to marriage equality, saying his faith called for the elevation of the “union of one man and one woman.” But he said Christian leaders should understand many gays and lesbians felt “angry and humiliated” that the law until recently did not recognize their own loving relationships. “Many have experienced sometimes severe condemnation and judgment from some Christians,” Rubio said. “They have heard some say that the reason God will bring condemnation on America is because of them. As if somehow God was willing to put up with adultery and gluttony and greed and pride, but now this is the last straw.”

[…]

Rubio’s anti-LGBT record is lengthy. The senator doesn’t support the Equality Act proposed in Congress, for example. It would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the 1967 Civil Rights Act, ensuring protection from discrimination in housing and employment. When he had a chance to vote in 2013, Rubio voted against passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which some moderate Republicans helped pass 64-32 in the Senate, though it would stall in the House. But his discriminatory policy stands don’t stop there. Rubio has in the past said letting LGBT people adopt children is a “social experiment” that he opposes. He also opposed reversing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that required LGBT people to stay closeted while serving in the U.S. military.

The Advocate has the full story.

You’ll know they are Christian by their love…

Dr. Paul Hard.

Dr. Paul Hard.

It happened in Alabama, and as the Chief Justice Roy Moore was speaking after being suspended for defying the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling.

He will go on trial in September.

A few hundred feet away from Moore’s speech to crowds with many holding signs like ‘homosexuality destroy families’ and ‘sodomy ruins nations’, there was an alternative press conference organized by the Human Rights Campaign.

Among the people speaking there were people like Dr Paul Hard, who has been involved in a legal fight for his husband who died five years ago to be recognized as his husband.

And when he began to speak about his partner’s death, a man in the crowd laughed.

‘You can’t have a husband,’ he said.

John Archibald, a columnist who was there at the conference, asked: ‘How can any man, no matter his position on Roy Moore or any issue, stand before another and mock his pain?

‘How can one stand under the banner of God and laugh at another man’s death?

‘How — in the name of God — can one deride genuine grief?’

He added: ‘Christians cannot let these people define their religion. All they have is volume. As a substitute for moral authority.’

https://vine.co/v/5bihOImElmJ

Lovely, isn’t it, how Christians behave? If they don’t like something, they can be as ugly and immoral as they like, smug in their sense of self-righteousness. They should be busy cultivating a sense of shame. If you aren’t one of those very ugly Christians, where are your voices? Get busy, and drown these assholes out, put them down, tell them in no uncertain terms that they are not Christians, regardless of them sharing the same beliefs.

Via Gay Star News.

Where the Confederacy Is Rising Again.

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John Savage at Politico has an in-depth article about the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who not only continue their constant fight to keep confederate statues, symbols, and flags in place and protected, but are now planning a massive confederate monument, at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Orange’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, in the town of Orange, East Texas. Nothing subtle about that.

…Throughout this tempest, the Texas chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an aging army of deeply religious, federal government distrusting, neo-Confederate true believers, has emerged as a steadfast defender of Confederate iconography. The Texas SCV only claims about 5,000 members, but their ideology carries significant weight in the state. SCV members sued the University of Texas in an effort to stop the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue. They distributed more than 1,000 Confederate flags in Fort Worth after the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo banned the Confederate battle flag. Wherever someone wants to rename a school or remove a statue that honors the Confederacy, the SCV’s members soon follow.

But the Texas SCV is not only fighting against the disappearance of Confederate symbolism, they are behind the construction of what is likely the largest Confederate memorial built in a century — a multi-ton shrine nearing completion in an east Texas town near the Louisiana border. For the SCV, this battle is not just about protecting a Confederate heritage, it’s about resurrecting it, restoring that heritage so that they will continue to have something to protect.

[…]

Jim Toungate is the adjutant of the Williamson County chapter of the Texas SCV, and Savage had a long interview with him at his residence.

[Read more…]

Send in the Drones.

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“Packed out church tonight as I got to reveal our brand new mission project,” the pastor’s caption on Instagram said.

“@livetsord will start using military drones, three meters wide, to drop thousands of electronic Bibles over closed areas in the Middle East. Let’s pray the message of God’s love in Christ will conquer that of darkness and hate!”

The apparent logic of the Swedish church Livets Ord, or “Word of Life,” is that by using a tactic that simulates the airstrikes that have traumatized a region, they will bring light and love and maybe convert some Muslims to Christianity.

“We start our project in a few weeks and hope to drop thousands of Bibles,” the church’s website says. The Bibles are “pillbox”-size and will supposedly be dropped from high altitude by a contractor hired by the church.

Faced with scorn from the media, Christian Akerhielm, the church’s missions director, has emphasized that the drone campaign adds to their good work in the region, which involves distributing aid at refugee camps.

[…]

The evangelical church was founded in 1983, and its founders have since left it and converted to Catholicism. It is a massive entity in the city of Uppsala, an hour’s drive north of the Swedish capital, Stockholm. It is run by the charismatic preacher Joakim Lundqvist, who introduced the drone mission to church attendees.

[…]

The Bibles are electronic but don’t need to be plugged in to work. One assumes they have been translated into Arabic, but that isn’t indicated in any of the publicity around the mission.

Leave it to Christians to be such utterly oblivious, insensitive assholes. Once again, they demonstrate that shining on light on their supposed good works is the most important consideration, much like Stuart with his constant refrain of Look what I can do!

Via Washington Post.

Homosexual totalitarianism is out of the closet!

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will meet with a group of around 700 evangelical pastors this week, hoping to win over hardline, anti-gay Religious Right leaders who have thus far been hesitant to embrace his struggling candidacy.

Trump is scheduled to speak on Thursday at a closed-door meeting in Orlando, Florida hosted by the American Renewal Project (ARP), a group of evangelical Christian pastors. The event has been widely criticized as anti-LGBT, with another selected speaker — former Florida senator and former GOP presidential candidate Mark Rubio — fending off accusations of insensitivity for appearing at the event so soon after the tragic murder of nearly 50 people in Orlando at a gay nightclub in June.

Rubio has also defended his doing so, won’t shut up about it, actually. These are people who have no empathy whatsoever, don’t know what compassion means, and are utterly bereft of lowly sympathy.

Accusations of anti-gay sentiment are rooted in inflammatory statements made by the ARP’s founder, David Lane. Lane’s group is sponsored by the American Family Association, which is listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In addition, he has personally called for “war” against the “pagan onslaught imposing homosexual marriage” in the past, and repeated similarly bombastic sentiments to Bloomberg this week.

“Homosexual totalitarianism is out of the closet, the militants are trying herd Christians there,” Lane said.

Indeed, Lane appeared hopeful that Trump would be swayed to his right-wing ideology. He said he appreciated the businessman’s support for repealing the Johnson Amendment — the law that makes it illegal for churches to retain tax-exempt status if they explicitly endorse candidates — but remained focused on pushing him to embrace policies many believe discriminate against LGBT people in the name of religion.

“[Repealing the Johnson Amendment is] a good first step,” Lane told Bloomberg. “But what about the religious liberty of Christian photographers, Christian bakers, Christian retreat centers, and pastors who believe same-sex intercourse and marriage is sin? These Christians were simply living out their deeply held convictions of their Christian faith when they politely refused to provide services for a same-sex wedding. Doesn’t the First Amendment give us all a right to our beliefs?”

As usual, these bigoted hate-mongers manage to completey lose the “all” in all a right to our beliefs. Yes, we certainly do have the privilege to believe whatever we like, no matter how daft, reasonable, or hateful. The key word being all. That means you don’t get to make the rules, Mr. Lane. Your right to believe what you like does not extend to harming people, and yes, discrimination is harm.

Trump could, hypothetically, push on without such endorsements, but there is a tactical value at stake: Evangelical turnout operations are often heavily reliant on leadership — especially faith leaders who attend Pastors and Pews meetings, many of whom played a key role in evangelical get-out-the-vote efforts during the 2012 election cycle.

This means Lane’s wish for a more vocally-anti-LGBT Trump could very come true, if only out political necessity. Nearly three-quarters of white evangelical Christians remain opposed to marriage equality — even though most other major religious groups in America support it. Since the group still makes up a sizable part of the Republican electorate, Trump may be hoping to revive his rapidly decreasing poll numbers by winning back the core of his Republican base.

This might be more than a probability, given Trump’s latest attempt to wrest money from people, the “Trump Gold Card“:

According to Trump, the card will signify to the world that you “are tired of a government that bows down to foreigners, refuses to even say the words ‘Radical Islam,’ and leaves our borders wide open!”

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Trump Woos Radical Christians at Think Progress. The ‘Trumpet your Trumpness’ is at Raw Story.

A Christian Calls…

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Police are investigating a threat made to a local mosque in Watauga, Texas, where an unidentified man threatened to decapitate Muslims who attended it.

Local news station Fox4News reports that the Watauga Mosque received a particularly disturbing threat via a telephone message this week, when a caller made explicitly violent threats that went well beyond the kind of verbal abuse callers normally level against the mosque.

“F*ck you, f*ck Muhammad, f*ck Islam,” said the caller, who identified as a “Christian” during their message. “This is America. If you don’t like the way we do sh*t, get the f*ck out.”

“We’ll start just cutting off the heads of all of you motherf*ckers,” the caller continued. “Huh? How would you like that? Maybe we need another Christian crusade, which I think we do.”

“I’m a Christian, I’m gonna tell you, I’m your f***ing enemy. I hate you, and I will never be your f**kin’ friend.

“When he started talking about chopping off people’s heads and launching a crusade against Muslims, that’s when it started to get scary because that’s an actionable threat,” said Alia Salem, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“I want to be very clear that the Muslim community has no animosity towards the Christian community, but we do ask the Christian community stand up against this kind of hatred. This does not speak for the vast majority of Christians,” said Salem.

I think that would be excellent, if Christians spoke up, and spoke out, with clear condemnation of the Christian caller. You have a great opportunity here to demonstrate that you are not bigoted, nor do you support such bigotry on the part of anyone.

Via Fox4.

#Men In Hijab.

#MenInHijabs has gone viral, following a call for men to support women's rights by Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. Photo: Facebook.

#MenInHijabs has gone viral, following a call for men to support women’s rights by Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. Photo: Facebook.

Men in Iran are wearing hijabs in a display of solidarity with women across the country who are forced to cover their heads in public.

Wearing a headscarf is strictly enforced by so-called ‘morality police’ in Iran and has been since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Women who do not wear a hijab or are deemed to be wearing ‘bad hijab’ by having some of their hair showing face punishments ranging from fines to imprisonment.

State-funded adverts appearing on billboards in Iran present those who do not cover their hair as spoiled and dishonourable. Women are also told that by not complying, they are putting themselves at risk of unwanted sexual advances from men.

But women are leading protests against enforced hijab across the country and some have resorted to shaving their hair in order to appear in public without wearing a veil.

Over the last week, a number of men have appeared in photos wearing a hijab with their wife or female relative next to them who have their hair uncovered.

The images come in response to a call by Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist and journalist living in New York, who is urging men to support her campaign against enforced hijab.

Ms Alinejad runs the My Stealthy Freedom campaign and often shares pictures of women living in Iran who have enjoyed a moment of ‘stealthy freedom’ by taking their hijab off outside of a domestic setting. She has asked men to support her campaign with the #meninhijab hashtag and by sharing pictures with their heads covered while women pose without hijabs.

Ms Alinejad has received 30 images of men wearing a hijab since issuing her call on 22 July. She told the Independent some men are also posting their images on their Instagram accounts.

This is a great example of being a good ally, and how to do solidarity in an effective manner. #MenInHijab  Full story here.

Sunday Facepalm.

Pat Boone Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic/Getty Images Oh, he just won’t shut up. Last week, in a column for world nut daily, Pat Boone opined on how God has done turned his back on his most favourite place, Amerikka.

Pat Boone declared that “God has lifted His hand of protection from the United States of America,” claiming that the use of food stamps, the national debt and ISIS terrorism are all signs that “we’re pretty much on our own now.”

Instead of “Morning in America,” we have 20 trillion in unpayable debt, dollar bills worth about 0 cents in purchasing power, CIA reports of festering ISIS cells in all 50 states and 47 million citizens on food stamps.

Following a president and attorney general who refuse to enforce existing immigration laws, we have a candidate who intends to admit 80,000 Syrian refugees into this country, while both the FBI and CIA guarantee there will be many trained terrorists in that number.

How can our beloved country have deteriorated so drastically? I’ll tell you how.
God has lifted His hand of protection from the United States of America.

In effect, He’s saying, “You as a people have increasingly let me know you don’t need me, you don’t even want me, to guide and determine your affairs. So … have it your way. Try it on your own for a while, and see how it goes.”

We’re pretty much on our own now.

Yes, just like we have always been. Our current state of affairs? Well, that would be humans being human, and humans are prone to fucking things up. Interesting that in the middle of all these horrible things, people on food stamps still come in for their share of blame. I guess it isn’t a proper opine if you can’t work in some way to blame poor people.

…If God can use an ass for His purpose … He can use a Donald Trump, for example. Or, of course, a Hillary Clinton. The question: Which one, if either, will actually look to Him, seek His will and not “political correctness” in the crucial decisions that will determine our future?

How will we choose? How to decide? I quote from Mae West, “If I have to choose between two evils, I’ll go with the one I haven’t tried.”

Pat Boone has never been funny, but he seems to have become an unintentional comedian. I doubt he has the slightest idea of just how much he pinged the irony meters here.

One we’ve tried, and know perhaps too well. The other is unknown, but will he seek to do the will of God if elected?

This is what we do now: Ask God to make plain to us His choice. Is there yet another David to confront our Goliath?

You better shout at that god of yours to hurry the fuck up, Pat, you’re running out of time here. Also, I have to point out that no, we have not “tried one” and we don’t know too well, because Hillary Clinton has never been president. I know it’s a difficult concept for Christians like yourself, but really, women are capable of using their brains, and having their own ideas and opinions. It might be nice if you could think through this one little problem: that David of yours seems to be quite interested in using nuclear weapons. While that might give Christians a thrill, it’s not so good for the rest of us, who are not anxious to give extinction a helping hand.

Via Right Wing Watch.

Francis Denounces Gender Choice.

pope-francis-x750_copyIn the ‘water is wet’ category, Francis has railed against the concept of people being transgender. Here we go again with the whole “oh, it’s just a lifestyle choice” nonsense.

Pope Francis is getting criticism for speaking out against the idea that gender can be chosen.

“Today, in schools they are teaching this to children — to children! — that everyone can choose their gender,” the pope said in a meeting with Catholic bishops in Poland last week, the Associated Press reports. The Vatican released a transcript of his remarks today.

He quoted his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who retired in 2013 but still lives at the Vatican: “Speaking with Pope Benedict, who is well and has a clear mind, he was telling me: ‘Holiness, this is the epoch of sin against God the Creator, he’s intelligent! God created man and woman, God created the world this way, this way, this way, and we are doing the opposite.’”

Pope Francis has previously denounced the idea of gender mutability, saying that “gender theory … does not recognize the order of creation” and calling for “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity,” as “it is not a healthy attitude which would seek to cancel out sexual difference.”

[…]

Criticism of the pope came from Kelsey Louie, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, who said he was “saddened and disturbed” by the remarks. In an emailed statement, Louie continued, “Our children deserve to know that of course they have the right to choose, and GMHC applauds all schools that teach students not to oppress who they are, but instead live the life as the gender they most identify with.” He noted that in light of the mass shooting at the Pulse LGBT nightclub in Orlando, “what we need now is for our world leaders to spread messages of tolerance and acceptance.”

The Advocate has the full story.

Natural Roles and Abilities.

jedwards_112007_180x238White nationalist James Edwards, who is credentialed by the Trump campaign, decided to speak out about Hillary Clinton, and what his god thinks about that uppity woman.

James Edwards, host of The Political Cesspool, reflected on Chelsea Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention and opined that Hillary Clinton could “not be the mother God wants you to be” because she was an “extremist radical, feminist.”

“So I’m sure that there is love between Hillary Clinton and her daughter, but I did not see the family and familial bonds out of the Clinton family that I saw from the Trump family,” he explained. “Does anyone really believe that Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton sleep in the same room? Does anyone really believe that Hillary Clinton even sleeps with men?”

Weren’t you just whining about Chelsea Clinton’s speech? Do you think she came from a cabbage patch or something? Personally, I don’t think about who people might be sleeping with. None of my business. I find it more than telling that far right assholes can’t seem to think about anything else.

“Should Hillary Clinton be president of the United States?” Edwards asked his listeners, adding that “under God’s law, a woman should not even have dominion over her household.”

“There are natural roles and abilities that men and women have that are God-ordained and together, they are complementary of one another, and together, a man and a woman can raise a family,” the radio host insisted. “The husband is the ruler of the house under God’s law, and that’s the law that I abide by,”

Edwards went on to assert that the country would be “better” if women did not have the right to vote.

“I mean, ask yourself that because we see women are so — even more than men, and even though men now — need this status, they need to be accepted, they need food, water, shelter, and status in order to survive, but women especially need that,” Edwards said. “You know, I think the model before suffrage was a husband and a wife come together as a unit and the man casts the vote for that family.”

What an idiot.

Via Raw Story.

Facebook, Oh Facebook, Part IV.

636052187367160635-Amy-Pollpeter

A longtime Iowa Department of Public Safety criminalist who publicly posted her personal fears about black people on social media earlier this month is no longer employed by the state, the agency confirmed Wednesday. […] Pollpeter was a criminalist assigned to DPS’ Division of Criminal Investigation.

Rant

What no one from the “blacklivesmatter” seems to remember is that the cold-blooded killer of 5 cops was ONE OF THEM! The movement has not come out and denounced what he did (some have even condoned/supported it). If you are supporting “Black Lives Matter” – You are supporting, even applauding a cop-killer. These men put their lives on the line for your safety EVERY SINGLE DAY! They are rarely respected and even more rarely thanked. The cops in Dallas had never shot a black man, they had nothing to do with the other incidents – we don’t even know what their feelings about blacks were. But yet, the black lives matter movement seems to think it is OK to remain silent about what one of their people did – he shot cops in cold blood. It’s interesting – until a few years ago, I never really saw the color of a person’s skin. They were all just people to me. But BECAUSE OF BLACKS – I do now notice the color of skin – and frankly, I no longer feel safe around them. Yes, not every black person is going to shoot me because I look at them wrong, or because I happen to be attending a training so I’m wearing a DCI shirt that day – but I know that there is a stronger chance that they will today than they would have 5 years ago. BLACKS have effectively created a MORE RACIST environment rather than working to be equal (and let’s face it, I’ve never seen a political statement from blacks that actually wants equality – they want special treatment, special rights, and to be above the law – they want superiority). So yes, if I’m on a sidewalk and you are black, I will now move to the other side of the street and will be watching for whether you have a gun. No, I won’t shoot you, but I won’t trust you either. This is not from some long held belief or teaching that whites are better than blacks, it is purely because there aren’t a bunch of white people running around (instead of working) rioting, looting stores, and shooting cops. The hatred that blacks are experiencing – they have brought on themselves by their actions. I’m sorry that some blacks will suffer for the actions of others – but then again, I’ve seen no apologies from blacks for the suffering that the cops families are going through because of the action of someone else who happened to be in the same profession. #COPSLIVESMATTER.

And this woman was a criminologist, someone who handled evidence. I hope to fuck you remain unemployable for your whole life, Ms. Pollpeter. “I am not a bigot! I’m not! Oh, those people made me one!” Fuck, that was pure bigot bingo. You can tell she was wanting to write nigger rather than black, as she just couldn’t bring herself to attach ‘people’ or ‘person’ to Black. Darn those uppity Black people, if they’d just stay in their proper place and work some shit job, everything would be okely dokely, you bet.

“The Iowa Department of Public Safety has a strong commitment to integrity, impartiality and professionalism in every aspect of our work,” said Commissioner Roxann Ryan. “We have adopted these policies in order to ensure that the public has trust in all that we do, and our policies reflect the high standards that we maintain,”

Gary Licht, a DPS supervisor who oversaw some of Pollpeter’s work, denounced the posts during a Register interview Wednesday.

“What we’re talking about was made public on Facebook. They’re offensive and they do not reflect my thoughts or actions,” Licht said.

Licht said one employee’s comments on social media are not reflective of the department.

“It doesn’t tarnish the rest of us,” Licht said about Pollpeter’s posts. “It’s one person speaking.”

Pollpeter had worked as a DPS criminalist for about 10 years.

Full story is here.

Jesus Christ to Run for Burnley MP.

Mr. Christ plans to run to become Burnley's MP at the next election.

Mr. Christ plans to run to become Burnley’s MP at the next election.

Jesus Christ is alive and well at 77 years old, and living in Burnley.

Jesus Christ is a retired bus driver from Burnley. Well, sort of.

John Edward Birtwhistle, 77, changed his name by deed poll to that of the Messiah after realising he had ‘healing powers’ and that he was the son of God in a past life.

Despite claiming to have the extraordinary ability to heal people, Mr Christ is still struggling with shingles.

Mr Christ started believing he was heaven-sent in 1986 when people unexpectedly started calling him Jesus.

[…]

He now realises he was Jesus Christ in a past life, with memories coming back to him ‘in dreams’.

‘When I was here 2,000 years ago I was teaching these people how to live in harmony with the spirit and it was all to do with nature; grow your own food, eat fruit and veg and only drink water,’ he recounted.

[…]

‘People say Jesus changed water into wine. I didn’t do that, I changed wine into water. Alcohol is bad for you.’

Mr Christ has been suffering from some health problems in recent years but says he will not let them stand in his way.

He has been suffering from shingles since 2013 and also had a stroke two years ago.

‘I got shingles because of the stress,’ Mr Christ said.

‘I was frightened of losing my eye because it was so bad but they operated and saved it. But I’m still taking the tablets.

‘I’m trying to get off these pills but it’s up to the force. It’s the force of nature,’ he added.

[Read more…]

Sunday Facepalm: Stop Clicking Around.

hiltonad

I guess the petition and outrage over Target’s inclusive pee policy has died down, so the American Family Association has found something new to be all outraged over, and have been hawking a new petition in an attempt to shame the Hilton Hotel chain over being terribly inclusive too. I think the advert is kinda cute. Er, I mean it’s obviously evil, those men are in bed!

In the June, 2016, issue of Travel and Leisure magazine, Hilton Worldwide shocked readers by placing a full-page ad that featured two men in bed together. Click here to see the ad.

Travel and Leisure isn’t a gay-specific magazine sent directly to homosexual’s homes. It’s a widely distributed mainstream publication that can be found in many public places such as doctors’ or auto repair waiting rooms.

If Hilton had advertised two men playing tennis, cards, or having lunch, that would have been reasonable. However, Hilton chose to make a cultural and social statement by purposely marketing the promotion of homosexuality to a large segment of the population who finds the idea of two men sleeping together unnatural and offensive.

I guess it didn’t occur to these arbiters of morality that Hilton was aiming at the queer market, letting all the queer folk know that Hilton is inclusive. Not everything is about you, AFA. As for two men playing tennis, cards, or having lunch, well that wouldn’t work with the cute tagline Stop Clicking Around, now would it. Perhaps you didn’t get the double entendre there.

So far, Hilton is defending its decision to promote homosexuality in the magazine and will likely take it further with other forms of mainstream media. Hilton said, “Hilton Worldwide is a global company of diverse cultures serving diverse guests…We are proud to depict and reflect our guest diversity in our advertising…”

Good for Hilton! I think this is great news, and the more mainstream, the better. It’s past time that queer folk are normalized.

Sign our petition to Hilton Worldwide, urging them to market responsibly by advertising in a more family friendly manner when marketing through mainstream media.

Nope, not going to do that. Fuck you and your “family friendly manner” in any marketing whatsoever. If you are going to be that damn upset over an advert, perhaps you shouldn’t be reading things like Travel and Leisure magazine. I understand that bible of yours is advert free. Stick to that.

Via Christian Post and AFA.