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Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-2: Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. Edition
Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-2: Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. Edition
Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yo!!! What’s up New York City??? So how you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Man it has been way too long since we’ve been back here and it feels good! It’s been since what… 2019 was the last time we were on the east coast? So yeah it has been a while. At least it’s good to know that LaGuardia hasn’t changed! Well I don’t know if you saw last week but I do have some bad news to report – we lost our primary source for all of the wacky clips that we bring you during our Wheel Of Corruption editions. Yes, I bid RIP to the Right Wing Watch channel on Youtube. Don’t worry though, we are currently searching for alternative methods to bring you all of our patented Clips Without Context! Oh and before we begin too, I want to preface by saying we will *NOT* cover the violent and brutal murder of Tyre Nichols. At least not yet. Because the Top 10 policy has always been that we don’t make fun of stories that are too horrifying to make fun of. So we will refrain at least for the time being. Do we have time for the thing? Well this is something that we may need to further explore in “I Need A Drink” next week. But there’s apparently a new restaurant in Connecticut that is the cause of the latest conservative freak out called “Woke”. Yup, that’s the name, and considering that things being “woke”, whatever that is, is the latest conservative outrage du jour, is totally crazy. I personally blame Fox News for this because they are the ruiner of everything that is good in this world. But come on, Woke is the perfect name for a breakfast place! But even Fox News has completely ruined that word now. Oh come on, people! It’s going to be a long 2 years isn’t it? But this just proves my point that conservatives and Fox News literally ruin everything that they touch. They’re like locusts, or maybe some kind of reverse King Midas. For which I could substitute the Spanish word for shit, Mierdas, and it would be fitting. Rupert Murdoch is King Mierdas! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Nice one! OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to!But first Stephen Colbert is back with the return of a long favorite Colbert Report segment – The Word is back, kids! Yay!!!!!!
So far 2023 is barely a month old and there’s definitely no shortage of MAGA lunatics and conspiracy theorist nutjobs out there. It’s a melting pot of insanity! For that, the number 1 slot this week is going to go to Ron DeSantis (1) who seems hell bent on bringing you the full Fox News anti-“woke” hysteria fearmongering agenda and it’s going to tank the state and probably cost lives! Yeah we can totally thank Rupert Murdoch for this shit! In the second slot is our former vice president and guy who people wanted to publicly execute on January 6th, Mike Pence (2). So once again, Fox News, the source for most of our current misery, had this insane debate about classified documents being found at Biden’s house vs Trump’s Mar-A-Lago, and guess what? They found docs at Pence’s house too! The plot thickens! In the third slot this week is the GOP (3) and we’re going to to talk about the GOP and their increasingly hostile and grossly unconstitutional attacks on the drag community. And these are the same idiots who cry “freedom of speech”. Speaking of drag queens, in the fourth slot this week is our old buddy George Santos (4) who once again proves what a compulsive lying asshole he is and he can’t stop lying! But it’s totally on brand for MAGA! In the number 5 slot this week, we’re going to bring back our segment “Good Guys With Guns” (5) because a 6 year old in Virginia shot and almost murdered his teacher, and the more you dig into this story the weirder it gets, and just shows you how reckless and stupid America’s gun policies have become! In the number 6 slot this week is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, speaking of melting pots, our resident pastor is taking a look at the insanity coming from the ReAwaken America tour, which is a melting pot of far right conservative insanity with some insane religious fearmongering. What could go wrong? In the number 7 slot this week is our segment on relentless corporate greed, Late Stage Capitalism (7) and this week we’re taking a look at the battle between Congress and Ticketmaster over the Taylor Swift Eras tour, and Ticketmaster may have fucked with the wrong fan base here! in the number 8 slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week, did you know that Buffalo Bills linebacker Damar Hamlan died during that Monday Night game and was replaced with a body double? Neither did we, and the Q nuts are turning the crazy way past 11! In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week we have a new edition of “I Need A Drink” (9) and this week we’re taking a look at an incredibly bizarre lawsuit between the hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas and the makers of a toy unicorn that poops. Personally we’re rooting for the Black Eyed Peas in this one! Finally this week it’s stop #2 of 6 on our 2023 World Tour and we’re heading to the land of the 2022 World Cup Champions, Argentina! Plus to close things out, we have live music from one of the hottest bands in rock right now – Bad Omens! Really, buy their new album “The Death Of Peace Of Mind” or you’re no friend of this program. Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!
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[font size="8"]Ron DeSantis
[br] [/font] [br]
Fox News is like that spoiled toddler that you see in Target who cries at the top of his lungs for his parents to buy him a shiny new toy until they cave in and do. See, since 2020, that network is mad that they lost their plaything – in this case their direct, nightly Batphone to the Trump White House on Sean Hannity’s show, so now they’re just unleashing their inner asshole. They don’t have Trump? Fine, they’ll go to the next most senior man on the list – Ron DeSantis (Q – Florida Man). He speaks Republican and prays to whatever conservatives call “god” these days, so he can do some damage. Well he is doing just that. In fact, what’s happening in Florida is a preview of what Rupert Murdoch’s vision for the United States is – a country that’s just descended to absolute chaos. That’s why the MAGA party has no intention of leading the United States. Their goal is to destroy it from within. Well, here’s a preview of what’s to come, and it’s a mish mash of insane COVID vaccine conspiracy theories, and whatever Fox News calls “woke”.
Despite facing pushback from medical professionals and businesses, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced legislation Tuesday that would make permanent a law to penalize companies that require employees to wear masks or be vaccinated for COVID-19 and added a new ban on medical boards reprimanding doctors for spreading COVID misinformation.
“This is just nuts that we’re still doing this,’’ DeSantis said to cheering supporters in Panama City Beach. “We need to be leading on this by making all of these protections permanent in Florida statute as we need to do in the upcoming legislative session.” The proposal will attempt to make permanent a series of laws passed by legislators in November 2021 after DeSantis called a special session aimed at restricting Florida businesses that were following a federal law requiring mask mandates or requiring employees to be vaccinated.
If approved by Florida legislators, the measure would continue to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements in schools and government, and prohibit COVID-19 vaccine requirements for employment or travel.
This year, DeSantis wants to expand the sanctions on businesses by prohibiting employers from hiring or firing based on vaccine status or wearing a mask, and he wants to revive a failed proposal from last year’s legislative session that would make it more difficult for a medical licensing board to reprimand or sanction a doctor for views expressed by the medical professional — including on social media.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article271286472.html#storylink=cpy
“This is just nuts that we’re still doing this,’’ DeSantis said to cheering supporters in Panama City Beach. “We need to be leading on this by making all of these protections permanent in Florida statute as we need to do in the upcoming legislative session.” The proposal will attempt to make permanent a series of laws passed by legislators in November 2021 after DeSantis called a special session aimed at restricting Florida businesses that were following a federal law requiring mask mandates or requiring employees to be vaccinated.
If approved by Florida legislators, the measure would continue to prohibit COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements in schools and government, and prohibit COVID-19 vaccine requirements for employment or travel.
This year, DeSantis wants to expand the sanctions on businesses by prohibiting employers from hiring or firing based on vaccine status or wearing a mask, and he wants to revive a failed proposal from last year’s legislative session that would make it more difficult for a medical licensing board to reprimand or sanction a doctor for views expressed by the medical professional — including on social media.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article271286472.html#storylink=cpy
Yes that is a good question! What could possibly go wrong? Well a hell of a lot! And let’s face it, conservatives decided that COVID was over in July of 2020. Remember when Miami partied while the rest of the world watched in horror? And then Florida was the state with the highest case count in the entire country? That happened. So what else does Ron DeSantis have in store for the people of Florida who inexplicably voted to reelect him? Well for starters he’s going nuclear on Disney’s special district in the state of Florida.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that strips Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) of self-governing authority at its Orlando-area parks in retaliation for its opposition to a new law that limits the teaching of LGBTQ issues in schools.
The Republican-controlled legislature on Thursday approved the bill, which will eliminate the special governing jurisdiction that allows the company to operate Walt Disney World Resort as its own city. Within the 25,000-acre tract, it operates four theme parks, two water parks and 175 miles of roadway.
Disney's special status "was really an aberration," DeSantis said at a news conference where he signed the bill into law. "No individual or no company in Florida is treated this way."
Disney did not immediately comment on the bill's signing.
While the financial impact on the company and the state is uncertain, the change could alter how Disney operates its sprawling Central Florida empire and sour the close relationship it has enjoyed with the state for more than 50 years.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-governor-signs-bill-stripping-disney-self-governing-authority-2022-04-22/
The Republican-controlled legislature on Thursday approved the bill, which will eliminate the special governing jurisdiction that allows the company to operate Walt Disney World Resort as its own city. Within the 25,000-acre tract, it operates four theme parks, two water parks and 175 miles of roadway.
Disney's special status "was really an aberration," DeSantis said at a news conference where he signed the bill into law. "No individual or no company in Florida is treated this way."
Disney did not immediately comment on the bill's signing.
While the financial impact on the company and the state is uncertain, the change could alter how Disney operates its sprawling Central Florida empire and sour the close relationship it has enjoyed with the state for more than 50 years.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/florida-governor-signs-bill-stripping-disney-self-governing-authority-2022-04-22/
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! I love the South Park Mickey Mouse! But you know what? You don’t go there, Ron. I live 20 minutes from Disneyland. Disney fans are a whole different breed of animal. You don’t fuck with the mouse! It will definitely come back to haunt you! And I’m sure Fox News’ war on Disney has nothing to do with them buying the bulk of Fox Entertainment properties now does it? Yeah probably not. You know what else Ronnie is going nuclear on? Book bans. You know I never in a million years thought I’d be living in 1984, but here we are. This is some straight up Nazi shit and I fear it’s going to get worse.
An advocacy group that promotes free expression reports that Florida is among the states with the most book bans.
PEN America, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression in literature, released the report Monday, the start of Banned Books Week.
The findings are similar to those released last week by the American Library Association, which said efforts to censor books in the US are on track to surpass last year's count.
PEN America notes that Florida has book bans in 21 of the state's school districts involving 566 titles. The majority of banned books contain themes or characters involving the LGBTQ community and people of color.
The report also says most of the bans have been pushed by about 50 groups, including Moms for Liberty -- a parental rights group founded in Florida -- and the Florida Citizens Alliance. In St. Lucie County Schools, a complainant submitted official reconsideration challenges for 44 titles from the FLCA’s “Porn in Schools” report.
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/education/2022-09-20/florida-ranks-second-among-states-with-the-most-book-bans-report-finds
PEN America, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression in literature, released the report Monday, the start of Banned Books Week.
The findings are similar to those released last week by the American Library Association, which said efforts to censor books in the US are on track to surpass last year's count.
PEN America notes that Florida has book bans in 21 of the state's school districts involving 566 titles. The majority of banned books contain themes or characters involving the LGBTQ community and people of color.
The report also says most of the bans have been pushed by about 50 groups, including Moms for Liberty -- a parental rights group founded in Florida -- and the Florida Citizens Alliance. In St. Lucie County Schools, a complainant submitted official reconsideration challenges for 44 titles from the FLCA’s “Porn in Schools” report.
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/education/2022-09-20/florida-ranks-second-among-states-with-the-most-book-bans-report-finds
?b64lines=IElUJ1MgQSBQT1JOT0dSQVBIWQogU1RPUkUuIEkgV0FTIEJVWUlORwogUE9STk9HUkFQSFku
Seriously? What’s their definition of porn? What kind of searches are these people putting into Porn Hub that that’s what they’ve come up with? But book bans and vaccine bans are one thing. It’s insane to me that the party that’s bent on banning things and killing you for disagreeing with them are the ones who are most likely to scream “FREEDOM” at the top of their lungs! Because while they’re crying for their freedoms, they secretly want the other thing – fascism and authoritarianism. But leave it to Ron and Fox News to give us their definition of freedom in the 2024 elections. 2024 is going to get very ugly very quickly.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rocketed to Republican stardom thanks to his high-profile battles with the Biden administration, the millions he raised from donors, and his policies in Florida.
Today, he's the only Republican who polls close to former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 nomination race for the White House.
After handily winning reelection in November, his work in Florida isn't finished. The next few months of proposing and implementing his agenda are widely viewed in political circles as representative of the issues DeSantis plans to run on if he seeks the GOP nomination.
"I think you have seen that over the last four years when we say we are going to get something done, we get it done," DeSantis said during a press conference on January 12.
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-desantis-second-term-agenda-2024-presidential-run-2023-1
Today, he's the only Republican who polls close to former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 nomination race for the White House.
After handily winning reelection in November, his work in Florida isn't finished. The next few months of proposing and implementing his agenda are widely viewed in political circles as representative of the issues DeSantis plans to run on if he seeks the GOP nomination.
"I think you have seen that over the last four years when we say we are going to get something done, we get it done," DeSantis said during a press conference on January 12.
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-desantis-second-term-agenda-2024-presidential-run-2023-1
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[font size="8"]Mike Pence
[br] [/font] [br]
Well the whole classified document debate is the gift that keeps on giving. Yes, I’m sure most people saw the endless debate between Fox and sane, rational people who don’t watch Fox about the classified documents found at Mar-A-Shithole vs the classified documents that were found at Joe Biden’s house in Delaware. Here’s the difference MAGAs – Joe Biden has been complying with the authorities and has actually returned pretty much everything that was found there. Trump on the other hand is like “But I’m the president! Aren’t I entitled to a few souvenirs?”. Sigh… a souvenir isn’t a document that contains highly classified documentation about where America’s nuclear arsenal is. And no, Biden didn’t show his documents to Saudi nationals, either. But now the tables have turned, my friends! Because even more documents were found at the home of former vice president and guy who people wanted to publicly execute on January 6th, Mike Pence. Let’s get the latest, shall we?
A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence’s house in Indiana.
The classified documents were discovered at the former vice president’s new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden’s private office and residence, the sources said. The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession.
It is not yet clear what the documents are related to or their level of sensitivity or classification.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/politics/pence-classified-documents-fbi/index.html
The FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence’s house in Indiana.
The classified documents were discovered at the former vice president’s new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden’s private office and residence, the sources said. The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession.
It is not yet clear what the documents are related to or their level of sensitivity or classification.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/politics/pence-classified-documents-fbi/index.html
OK, look MAGAs – if you’re going to go there, here’s the thing, just keep this in mind that Joe Biden didn’t hold a golf tournament at his estate with a bunch of foreign nationals representing a nation that’s hostile to the United States! I mean it’s totally insane and it proves once again that Fox News is the reason why we can’t have nice things. This whole debate is the stuff of insanity and the fact that they found documents at Mike Pence’s house just goes to show you that there’s some extremely dark forces out there keeping these psychopaths from getting the justice that they so greatly deserve. But it’s not over yet!
The roughly 12 classified documents found at the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence included materials described as background briefing memos that were prepared for Pence’s foreign trips, multiple sources told CNN.
One source said some of those classified documents were likely used to prepare Pence for foreign meetings while he was vice president and may have been overlooked during the packing process because they were tucked into old trip binders.
According to another source, the classified briefing materials would not have been visible unless the packers went through the binders page by page.
It is not unusual for presidents and vice presidents to be given travel briefing binders that include background memos on people they are meeting with in foreign countries. The sources who spoke to CNN said they sometimes include basic biographical information on foreign leaders, but sometimes also include more sensitive information.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/politics/pence-classified-documents-briefing-memos-foreign-trips/index.html
One source said some of those classified documents were likely used to prepare Pence for foreign meetings while he was vice president and may have been overlooked during the packing process because they were tucked into old trip binders.
According to another source, the classified briefing materials would not have been visible unless the packers went through the binders page by page.
It is not unusual for presidents and vice presidents to be given travel briefing binders that include background memos on people they are meeting with in foreign countries. The sources who spoke to CNN said they sometimes include basic biographical information on foreign leaders, but sometimes also include more sensitive information.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/politics/pence-classified-documents-briefing-memos-foreign-trips/index.html
Yeah so Pence may have had classified information about foreign nationals and Trump may have held secrets about America’s nuclear arsenal. That is truly insane. So of course this is going to change the narrative that you’re going to hear on Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson every night. But again this is the direct result of living in an echo chamber filled with talking heads all saying the same talking points 24 hours a day is that you get a group of people who think they’re entitled to power. And Fox News is basically just putting conspiracy theory idiots on a megaphone and letting them say the dumbest shit possible to half the country.
The discovery of classified documents at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home is complicating efforts by congressional Republicans to coordinate their lines of attack on President Biden’s handling of similar materials from his time as second-in-command.
Pence’s team disclosed Tuesday that his attorneys conducted a search of his Indiana home out of an abundance of caution following news that classified documents were found at Biden’s home and a former Washington, D.C., office he used after leaving the White House in 2017.
The revelation came just as Republicans in Congress were digging in on Biden, painting the president as careless and possibly jeopardizing sensitive information.
But similarities between how Pence and Biden each handled their respective cases, with lawyers quickly notifying the Justice Department and National Archives, could blunt some of those GOP attacks against the White House.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3829022-pence-documents-complicate-gop-attack-lines-on-biden/
Pence’s team disclosed Tuesday that his attorneys conducted a search of his Indiana home out of an abundance of caution following news that classified documents were found at Biden’s home and a former Washington, D.C., office he used after leaving the White House in 2017.
The revelation came just as Republicans in Congress were digging in on Biden, painting the president as careless and possibly jeopardizing sensitive information.
But similarities between how Pence and Biden each handled their respective cases, with lawyers quickly notifying the Justice Department and National Archives, could blunt some of those GOP attacks against the White House.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3829022-pence-documents-complicate-gop-attack-lines-on-biden/
Yes, shut up Fox talking heads. Because the first rule of debate is that when you’re in a hole, you really need to stop digging! The rest of the world that doesn’t live in Fox MAGA crazy land is onto your evil shenanigans. And here’s the thing, if Trump and the MAGAs are going to weaponize the FBI to fuel their wildest conspiracy theory fantasies, then you should know that two can play at that game! So if you’re trying to nail Joe Biden for something that Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson made up out of thin air with nothing to back it, well, you’re beating the wrong dead horse here.
The FBI conducted a "planned search" Wednesday of President Joe Biden's home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, according to Biden's personal lawyer amid an ongoing probe into the potential mishandling of classified documents.
Biden's attorney said no documents with classified markings were found, but "DOJ took for further review some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate to his time as Vice President."
The search took place for three and a half hours -- from 8:30 a.m. to noon ET.
"Today, with the President's full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware," wrote Bob Bauer, personal attorney for the president, in a statement after pool reporters spotted four vehicles there. "Under DOJ's standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate. The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate. We will have further information at the conclusion of today's search."
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-conducting-planned-search-bidens-rehoboth-beach-home/story?id=96817125
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[font size="8"]The GOP
[br] [/font] [br]
Well the GOP is at it again, taking away those freedoms we’ve been fighting for the last 50 years. Sigh, it was a nice country we once had. But it seems that they’re going full Nazi on the LGBT community and especially the T’s. If you think it’s ending at Florida, you are wrong. Because it’s happening all across the country and it’s getting especially scary if you happen to live in a red state, like Texas, Florida, Arkansas, or Ohio. But this is another example of how dangerous echo chamber politics can get. When you live in an echo chamber and you’re fed nothing but hate, lies and bullshit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for over 40 years, these are the kind of things that are going to happen. So let’s start with Arizona who is proposing a law based on an absolutely batshit internet conspiracy theory involving drag queens and children. Look if anything these laws aren’t going to protect kids from anything. If anything these laws are going to have the opposite effect and suppress kids from expressing their true identities and will force them to go into hiding, doing further psychological damage.
A pair of Arizona lawmakers have started the state’s 2023 legislative session with bills seeking to set drag shows in the same legal box as strip clubs and adult cabarets.
The bills are among the latest salvo in a nationwide glut of local Republican legislation targeting members of the LGBTQ community.
But one organizer of drag shows in Arizona believes that the bills haven’t a snowball’s chance in a Phoenix summer of becoming law, owing to the state’s recently-elected Democratic governor.
“The most important thing to realize, with Katie Hobbs as governor, it’s a very different situation with these bills” than if far-right GOP candidate Kari Lake had won, said David Boyles, the president and treasurer of Drag Story Hour Arizona. The organization has partnered with public libraries and businesses across Arizona doing drag story and craft events since 2019.
The two drag show bills by State Sen. Anthony Kern seeks to define drag shows as "adult cabaret" performances, and would criminalize holding one in a place where it could be viewed by a minor, and would limit when and where drag shows could occur. They would also grant supervisory boards to create drag show permits and drag performer permits.
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/01/14/arizona-legislature-anti-drag-show-bills-lgbtq-rights
The bills are among the latest salvo in a nationwide glut of local Republican legislation targeting members of the LGBTQ community.
But one organizer of drag shows in Arizona believes that the bills haven’t a snowball’s chance in a Phoenix summer of becoming law, owing to the state’s recently-elected Democratic governor.
“The most important thing to realize, with Katie Hobbs as governor, it’s a very different situation with these bills” than if far-right GOP candidate Kari Lake had won, said David Boyles, the president and treasurer of Drag Story Hour Arizona. The organization has partnered with public libraries and businesses across Arizona doing drag story and craft events since 2019.
The two drag show bills by State Sen. Anthony Kern seeks to define drag shows as "adult cabaret" performances, and would criminalize holding one in a place where it could be viewed by a minor, and would limit when and where drag shows could occur. They would also grant supervisory boards to create drag show permits and drag performer permits.
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/01/14/arizona-legislature-anti-drag-show-bills-lgbtq-rights
Yeah BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Oh if you think that law is bad, it gets worse! And this is why we say that Fox News is increasingly becoming a hostile danger to this country. Because that right wing propaganda shit is powerful stuff. Like most people I’ve lost friends and relatives to the right wing echo chamber. And now the social media conspiracy theory wormhole too. It’s doing some insanely crazy things to people. Well as I said it gets worse. Look at what they’re planning to propose in Oklahoma, and they have a mostly right wing government there too.
Oklahoma Republicans are trying to pass legislation aimed at banning drag performances with kids in attendance, according to a bill authored by Republican state Representative Kevin West and introduced to the state House on Thursday.
In the bill, West claims that "drag queens or similar entertainers" are among the categories of artists who take part in "adult cabaret performances," essentially comparing drag artists to topless dancers and strippers. He generally defines drag as "a male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic feminine persona with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup."
He goes on to suggest passing a law banning this kind of performance from taking place in a public property or location "where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is a minor."
Any person found violating this law, West writes, could be punished with imprisonment for a term no shorter than 30 days and no longer than two years, the payment of a fine of no less than $500 and no more than $20,000, or both.
From there, West takes the bill one step further, proposing the approval of legislation banning drag queen story hour events—which he describes as "an event hosted by a drag queen who reads children's books and engages in other learning activities with minor children present"—from being organized or viewed in public, where a child could see them.
https://www.newsweek.com/oklahoma-anti-drag-bill-outlaw-feminine-persona-1775277
In the bill, West claims that "drag queens or similar entertainers" are among the categories of artists who take part in "adult cabaret performances," essentially comparing drag artists to topless dancers and strippers. He generally defines drag as "a male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic feminine persona with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup."
He goes on to suggest passing a law banning this kind of performance from taking place in a public property or location "where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is a minor."
Any person found violating this law, West writes, could be punished with imprisonment for a term no shorter than 30 days and no longer than two years, the payment of a fine of no less than $500 and no more than $20,000, or both.
From there, West takes the bill one step further, proposing the approval of legislation banning drag queen story hour events—which he describes as "an event hosted by a drag queen who reads children's books and engages in other learning activities with minor children present"—from being organized or viewed in public, where a child could see them.
https://www.newsweek.com/oklahoma-anti-drag-bill-outlaw-feminine-persona-1775277
Hey MAGA republicans let me spell something out for you: The Handmaid’s Tale is a fucking fictional novel, OK? It is not a blueprint for how to run a free country! Holy shit, they might as well bring back burqas at this point. Then there’s Missouri, which is even worse than Oklahoma. It’s criminally insane how backwards the right wing is taking us, and the attacks on our freedoms seem to be increasing more at a very alarming rate. I really wonder when do we start arresting the MAGA lawmakers for crimes against humanity? Because you know that’s coming. Again, it’s the dangers of living in a country controlled by an increasingly hostile echo chamber.
JEFFERSON CITY — Missourians descended Tuesday on the Capitol to speak out against a wave of Republican-backed bills aimed at transgender children and drag shows, what one advocacy group characterized as a “direct hate attack” on the state’s LGBTQ community.
GOP lawmakers placed eight LGBTQ-related bills on the agenda for a Tuesday hearing of the House General Laws Committee. In the Senate, lawmakers considered legislation to keep transgender girls out of girls sports.
The timing of the hearings so early in the Legislature’s annual session reflected the priority Missouri Republicans have placed on addressing controversial culture war topics ahead of the next election.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican weighing a bid for governor in 2024, testified in favor of House legislation to ban transgender girls from girls sports, suggesting it was a matter of fairness.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/missouri-gop-bills-targeting-transgender-people-and-drag-shows-draw-fire/article_7d0d8304-5afb-5cfe-a1ed-e8c99096de9b.html
GOP lawmakers placed eight LGBTQ-related bills on the agenda for a Tuesday hearing of the House General Laws Committee. In the Senate, lawmakers considered legislation to keep transgender girls out of girls sports.
The timing of the hearings so early in the Legislature’s annual session reflected the priority Missouri Republicans have placed on addressing controversial culture war topics ahead of the next election.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a Republican weighing a bid for governor in 2024, testified in favor of House legislation to ban transgender girls from girls sports, suggesting it was a matter of fairness.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/missouri-gop-bills-targeting-transgender-people-and-drag-shows-draw-fire/article_7d0d8304-5afb-5cfe-a1ed-e8c99096de9b.html
Holy crap this is some next level evil here! The attacks on free speech are increasing, which is completely fucking ironic coming from the party that keeps trying to claim that their free speech rights are being attacked! It’s totally OK if you’re a stochastic terrorist threatening to blow up a hospital or murder doctors based on bullshit internet conspiracy theories, but it’s apparently not OK if you’re a drag performer putting on a show! Thank you audience! The good news though is that these horrifying bills being proposed seem to be backfiring on the MAGA Taliban. Just look at what happened when Arkansas proposed an anti-drag bill. But god the right wing is getting more embarrassing and horrifying by the day.
Republicans in Arkansas have been trying to pass a law that would classify any event featuring drag performances as an adult event, but one legal expert thinks their proposal as currently written might not even achieve its intended purpose.
In an interview with Business Insider, UCLA School of Law professor Eugene Volokh argued that the GOP's bill might not even apply to drag shows given how confusingly written it is.
At issue, said Volokh, is a clause in the bill that tries to lump drag shows in with events that are of "prurient interest," which he says has a very specific definition that may not apply to all drag events.
"It's one of the prongs essentially of the three-prong obscenity test," Volokh told the publication. "And it means a shameful or morbid interest in sex or excretion and sex in the sense of sexual activity... It has to be, essentially in some respect, erotic."
https://nordot.app/993523580465414144?c=644607769890374753
In an interview with Business Insider, UCLA School of Law professor Eugene Volokh argued that the GOP's bill might not even apply to drag shows given how confusingly written it is.
At issue, said Volokh, is a clause in the bill that tries to lump drag shows in with events that are of "prurient interest," which he says has a very specific definition that may not apply to all drag events.
"It's one of the prongs essentially of the three-prong obscenity test," Volokh told the publication. "And it means a shameful or morbid interest in sex or excretion and sex in the sense of sexual activity... It has to be, essentially in some respect, erotic."
https://nordot.app/993523580465414144?c=644607769890374753
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[font size="8"]George Santos
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Sigh… this George Santos thing is the absolute peak of conservative idiocy. It’s all downhill from here, my friends! It’s also a lesson in why you need to vet your candidates. Because this guy lies so much that it’s like playing a game of Lie-Ception – it’s a lie within a lie within a lie. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! That’s a good one! In fact when trying to come up with a title for this week’s edition, the only thing I could think of was the Phish song “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.”, because it would take all of the drugs being consumed at your average Phish concert and then some in order to properly figure out exactly what the fuck is going on here! In fact this is one of those stories that we’ve often said is like peeling an onion – the more layers you peel back, the more it stinks, and the more likely you are to cry as a result of it! So what’s the latest? Well apparently Mr. Santos may have forged a signature on a federal document:
With a disclosure filing deadline approaching as questions swirl around his use of campaign funds, embattled Rep. George Santos' campaign appears to be left without a treasurer.
On Wednesday, several fundraising committees associated with the freshman congressman from New York filed amendments to their statements of organizations, notifying the Federal Election Commission of a new treasurer.
But the newly listed treasurer, Thomas Datwyler, a veteran campaign finance treasurer who has served on multiple other political organizations, says he does not work for the Santos campaign and that the filings were signed under his name without his consent.
"On Monday, we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer," Datwyler's attorney Derek Ross told ABC News. "It appears that there's been a disconnect between that conversation and the filings today, which we did not authorize."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/santos-lists-new-treasurer-claims-doesnt-work-congressman/story?id=96675494
On Wednesday, several fundraising committees associated with the freshman congressman from New York filed amendments to their statements of organizations, notifying the Federal Election Commission of a new treasurer.
But the newly listed treasurer, Thomas Datwyler, a veteran campaign finance treasurer who has served on multiple other political organizations, says he does not work for the Santos campaign and that the filings were signed under his name without his consent.
"On Monday, we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer," Datwyler's attorney Derek Ross told ABC News. "It appears that there's been a disconnect between that conversation and the filings today, which we did not authorize."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/santos-lists-new-treasurer-claims-doesnt-work-congressman/story?id=96675494
Man it seems like there’s no end to the amount of lies coming out of this man. Even worse is that he lied about being a Nazi on social media. You know we’re deeply disturbed here by the rising tide of Nazism and white supremacy in this country and it does seem like it’s going to get worse before it gets better, sadly. But if there’s one thing we don’t need, it’s that a newly elected republican representative is spouting these hateful things on social media. This is fucking scary and an indication of where the GOP is heading if we don’t do something about it now.
Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) reportedly made “deeply offensive” comments about Adolf Hitler, Blacks and Jews in decade-old posts on social media.
The lying lawmaker appears to mock critics of the Nazi leader in a comment on a friend’s 2011 Facebook post of a photo of a military leader with a caption reading “something like Hitler,” the Patch news outlet reported Thursday.
“hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhiiiiiiiiiiiitlerrrrrrrrrrr (hight hitler)lolololololololololololol sombody kill her!! the jews and black mostly lolllolol!!! Dum,” Santos wrote in a barely intelligible post.
The Anti-Defamation League called the post “deeply offensive,” especially because Santos also falsely claimed Jewish heritage and lied about his grandparents fleeing the Holocaust.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-santos-financial-firm-address-florida-mailbox-store-20230126-7blu7mfulzhqfhaj5qyavkebee-story.html
Yes, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! You don’t joke about that kind of thing. Fuck Nazis and white supremacists. But this is the kind of mind that the GOP and especially Trump and the MAGAs attract. He’s a lying asshole with a massive superiority complex and a host of other mental health issues that should probably be diagnosed by now. Because this is truly the stuff of insanity and these MAGA nutcases are like vending machines. You can’t knock them over on the first try. You have to rock it back and forth a few times, then it goes over.
The former boyfriend of New York Rep. George Santos says the Long Island Republican facing growing calls to resign for extensively lying about his past will never do so, even as he faces multiple investigations, including into his finances.
“His ego is too big. He’s not gonna resign. If they don’t find out something to get him (to leave) he’s not gonna do it. That’s for sure, knowing the person that he is,” Pedro Vilarva told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday on “OutFront.”
Vilarva said he met Santos in 2014, when he was 18 years old. Santos was 26 at the time and married to a woman. They moved in together shortly after Vilarva graduated high school. The relationship broke down, Vilarva said, as he became increasingly suspicious of Santos, who repeatedly said he was going to take Vilarva to Hawaii and propose, but never did. Vilarva believes that Santos eventually stole his phone and hawked it for cash.
CNN has reached out to Santos’ lawyer for comment on the allegation.
Asked if he was surprised that Santos is now a member of Congress, Vilarva said he was not.
“What he always looked for was fame and power,” Vilarva said. “That’s all he cared about and he got it.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/george-santos-former-boyfriend/index.html
“His ego is too big. He’s not gonna resign. If they don’t find out something to get him (to leave) he’s not gonna do it. That’s for sure, knowing the person that he is,” Pedro Vilarva told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday on “OutFront.”
Vilarva said he met Santos in 2014, when he was 18 years old. Santos was 26 at the time and married to a woman. They moved in together shortly after Vilarva graduated high school. The relationship broke down, Vilarva said, as he became increasingly suspicious of Santos, who repeatedly said he was going to take Vilarva to Hawaii and propose, but never did. Vilarva believes that Santos eventually stole his phone and hawked it for cash.
CNN has reached out to Santos’ lawyer for comment on the allegation.
Asked if he was surprised that Santos is now a member of Congress, Vilarva said he was not.
“What he always looked for was fame and power,” Vilarva said. “That’s all he cared about and he got it.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/george-santos-former-boyfriend/index.html
And by the way in case you were wondering what a lying shitbag George Santos is – and at this point you’ve probably Googled what a lying shitbag he is, well, the lies just don’t stop. He might be in a competition with Trump and DeSantis over who lies the most in this country. And it’s a lesson in why the people who actively seek out power and fame are the ones that shouldn’t have it, because it will end very badly for them. If the conservative party ever had any balls to stand up to the echo chamber and get rid of this lying shitbag, then well people might actually respect them for that. But no, we’re going to have to find another way to fire this loser.
As Rep. George Santos continues to face mounting scrutiny over fabricating large swaths of his biography, multiple men have described to ABC News past relationships with the New York congressman -- some allegedly occurring when they were still teenagers -- that they said turned toxic due to a flood of lies that Santos told to try to manipulate and trap them.
The new allegations come as Santos on Tuesday informed his Republican colleagues at a closed-door conference meeting that he would be recusing himself from committee assignments.
Several of the men ABC News spoke with said that they met Santos as young men, when Santos, who later ran for Congress as an openly gay Republican, was several years older than they were.
Leandro Bis said he was 19 years old when he met Santos at a bar in Manhattan in 2013, when Bis was in town from Brazil. Bis told ABC News in an interview that he knew the now-embattled congressman as Anthony Zabrovski, one of a handful of aliases that Santos has reportedly used over the years.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/promised-green-cards-catfishing-threats-santos-boyfriends-left/story?id=96797395
The new allegations come as Santos on Tuesday informed his Republican colleagues at a closed-door conference meeting that he would be recusing himself from committee assignments.
Several of the men ABC News spoke with said that they met Santos as young men, when Santos, who later ran for Congress as an openly gay Republican, was several years older than they were.
Leandro Bis said he was 19 years old when he met Santos at a bar in Manhattan in 2013, when Bis was in town from Brazil. Bis told ABC News in an interview that he knew the now-embattled congressman as Anthony Zabrovski, one of a handful of aliases that Santos has reportedly used over the years.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/promised-green-cards-catfishing-threats-santos-boyfriends-left/story?id=96797395
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[font size="8"]Good Guys With Guns
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“No matter what the situation, a guy with a gun is a guy with a gun.” – Michael Weston in Burn Notice
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Presents:
You know, Wayne La Pierre, the president of that most American of institutions known as the National Rifle Association has famously said that “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”. But what happens when said bad guy is 6 years old? Yes, that is the conundrum that we’re dealing with. This incident just only goes to show you how completely reckless and stupid America’s “no frills” policy towards guns is. Like 20 years ago this would have been front page news. Hell, we had a gunman shoot up an elementary school and there were extremist fuckheads out there that not only acted like it didn’t happen, they heckled and abused the poor parents out of existence. Now people are just like “eh”, whatever. We’ve become so numb to gun violence that literally you could picture any scenario happening that you could think of and it would barely be a blip on page 4. Which brings us to this bizarre story out of Virginia. You may have heard about the 6 year old who obtained his parents’ gun and nearly murdered his teacher. Well, the more you dig into this story the weirder it gets.
A 6-year-old student shot and wounded a Virginia teacher Friday during an altercation inside a first-grade classroom, police and school officials in the city of Newport News said.
No students were injured in the shooting at Richneck Elementary School, police said. The teacher — a woman in her 30s — suffered life-threatening injuries. Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters that her condition had improved somewhat by late afternoon.
“We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting,” Drew told reporters. “We have a situation in one particular location where a gunshot was fired.”
He added that the shooting was not an accident.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/newport-news-virginia-88dfe91f65173cbbd198a8816a21b5be
No students were injured in the shooting at Richneck Elementary School, police said. The teacher — a woman in her 30s — suffered life-threatening injuries. Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters that her condition had improved somewhat by late afternoon.
“We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting,” Drew told reporters. “We have a situation in one particular location where a gunshot was fired.”
He added that the shooting was not an accident.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/newport-news-virginia-88dfe91f65173cbbd198a8816a21b5be
Well you might be asking yourself – how the hell did a 6 year old get a gun? And the answer is easy – ‘Murica! What? Come on, I know what country I live in! But like I said, the more you dig into this story, the weirder it gets. And it’s also a perfect example of how the right wing echo chamber affects everyone around it. Like if the parents listen to Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson for 6 hours a day, don’t be surprised when the kids grow up to be gun toting neo Nazi incels. And of course take it out on the administrators. But you should never, ever question how easy it is to get a gun in this country, because you’d be a fool and a communist if you did.
A school board voted Wednesday evening to oust its superintendent, weeks after a 6-year-old allegedly shot a teacher in one of the district’s schools and on the same day that the teacher’s lawyer said school administrators were warned that the child had a gun the day of the shooting.
The Newport News Public Schools school board voted 5-1 in favor of a separation agreement and severance with Superintendent Dr. George Parker III.
The teacher’s lawyer alleged earlier Wednesday that school administrators had multiple warnings about the boy the day of the incident.
“Over the course of a few hours, three different times – three times – school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people,” Diane Toscano, an attorney for the teacher, Abby Zwerner, told reporters in a news conference Wednesday. “But the administration could not be bothered.”
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/us/newport-news-virginia-school-board-superintendent-vote/index.html
The Newport News Public Schools school board voted 5-1 in favor of a separation agreement and severance with Superintendent Dr. George Parker III.
The teacher’s lawyer alleged earlier Wednesday that school administrators had multiple warnings about the boy the day of the incident.
“Over the course of a few hours, three different times – three times – school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people,” Diane Toscano, an attorney for the teacher, Abby Zwerner, told reporters in a news conference Wednesday. “But the administration could not be bothered.”
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/us/newport-news-virginia-school-board-superintendent-vote/index.html
Yes, how can that happen? The superintendent’s not the one who brought the gun to school! Of course this will bring about the usual debate of guns vs gun safety, nothing will get done, and our Congressional representatives under the NRA’s payroll will do anything to avoid the actual problem and make things worse, while simultaneously passing laws to make it easier to get guns and enough ammo to take out a small army. So now thanks to ‘Murica’s reckless gun laws, a 6 year old is looking at a life sentence behind bars for attempted murder. Insanity.
'Virginia teacher who was shot by six-year-old tried to confiscate gun – report,' The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2023. - Abby Zwerner, 25, had life-threatening injuries but is now continuing to improve in hospital -
The Virginia school teacher shot by her six-year-old student was injured after she sought to confiscate the weapon from the child who had revealed the gun in class, a parent of another child in the class has said. Brittaney Gregory, whose son is in the same class as the shooter at Richneck elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, detailed her son’s reaction to the shocking scene to the Washington Post newspaper. Gregory said her son told her he that he felt like he couldn’t breathe when the gun was fired.
Gregory said the class was reading and about to go to art class when the child pulled a handgun from their backpack and pointed it at his teacher, Abby Zwerner. “She was going to confiscate it, and that’s when he shot,” Gregory told the Post. Gregory described Zwerner as a “sweet lady” and “very attentive”. She said Zwerner was her son’s favorite teacher. Zwerner, 25, had injuries described as life-threatening but she is now continuing to improve in the hospital. She was shot in the abdomen through her hand. After she was shot, the teacher told the other students to run. The students stayed in lockdown in another teacher’s classroom.
It is not known how the child came to be in possession of the handgun he used to shoot his teacher. The six-year old remains in custody and Newport News city officials have said it is not likely a child so young can be prosecuted, but his guardian or other adult could face misdemeanor charges if the gun came from the child’s home.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/09/virginia-teacher-shot-newport-news-richneck-elementary-abby-zwerner
The Virginia school teacher shot by her six-year-old student was injured after she sought to confiscate the weapon from the child who had revealed the gun in class, a parent of another child in the class has said. Brittaney Gregory, whose son is in the same class as the shooter at Richneck elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, detailed her son’s reaction to the shocking scene to the Washington Post newspaper. Gregory said her son told her he that he felt like he couldn’t breathe when the gun was fired.
Gregory said the class was reading and about to go to art class when the child pulled a handgun from their backpack and pointed it at his teacher, Abby Zwerner. “She was going to confiscate it, and that’s when he shot,” Gregory told the Post. Gregory described Zwerner as a “sweet lady” and “very attentive”. She said Zwerner was her son’s favorite teacher. Zwerner, 25, had injuries described as life-threatening but she is now continuing to improve in the hospital. She was shot in the abdomen through her hand. After she was shot, the teacher told the other students to run. The students stayed in lockdown in another teacher’s classroom.
It is not known how the child came to be in possession of the handgun he used to shoot his teacher. The six-year old remains in custody and Newport News city officials have said it is not likely a child so young can be prosecuted, but his guardian or other adult could face misdemeanor charges if the gun came from the child’s home.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/09/virginia-teacher-shot-newport-news-richneck-elementary-abby-zwerner
Yeah sure, blame the cigarettes! But ignore the actual problem: it’s the fucking guns!!! Now here’s where it gets weird. Remember what I said earlier about what the parents watching having an effect on the kids? Well guess what? It does! Because how could a 6 year old already be a violent psychopath with abusive behavior red flags? Fox News that’s what. If the GOP is so concerned about the health and well being of kids, they should stop caring less about drag shows and more caring about the violent content that’s appearing on Fox News every night. Because when you are fed hate, lies, and bullshit 24 hours a day, this is what you get. We’re really surprised this doesn’t happen more often in this country.
Concerned staff warned administrators at a Virginia elementary school three times that a 6-year-old boy had a gun and was threatening other students in the hours before he shot and wounded a teacher, but the administration “was paralyzed by apathy” and didn’t call police, remove the boy from class or lock down the school, the wounded teacher's lawyer said Wednesday.
Diane Toscano, an attorney for Abigail Zwerner, said during a news conference that she has notified the school board in Newport News that the 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School plans to sue the school district over the Jan. 6 shooting, which left Ms. Zwerner with serious injuries.
“On that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times — three times — school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people. But the administration could not be bothered,” Ms. Toscano said.
She said that Ms. Zwerner first went to an administrator at around 11:15 a.m. on the day of the shooting and said the boy had threatened to beat up another child, but no action was taken.
Read more: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/25/newport-news-virginia-abigail-zwerner-us-shooting-richneck-elementary/stories/202301250086
Diane Toscano, an attorney for Abigail Zwerner, said during a news conference that she has notified the school board in Newport News that the 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School plans to sue the school district over the Jan. 6 shooting, which left Ms. Zwerner with serious injuries.
“On that day, over the course of a few hours, three different times — three times — school administration was warned by concerned teachers and employees that the boy had a gun on him at the school and was threatening people. But the administration could not be bothered,” Ms. Toscano said.
She said that Ms. Zwerner first went to an administrator at around 11:15 a.m. on the day of the shooting and said the boy had threatened to beat up another child, but no action was taken.
Read more: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/01/25/newport-news-virginia-abigail-zwerner-us-shooting-richneck-elementary/stories/202301250086
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[font size="8"]Holy Shit: ReAwaken America 2023 Tour
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the collection plate, for the Holy Church Of The Top 10 has convened and it’s time to remind you that the holiest among us are the most full of:
My fair congregation! Please be seated! You know we’ve talked a lot on this program the last few months about the rise of religious fascist authoritarianism in the United States. And I don’t need to tell you that if you’re not frightened by the return of Neo Nazis and white supremacists in this country, then you aren’t paying attention! These people claim to worship GAWD and JAYSUS, but they do not! Instead they worship the Unholy, Ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man who is so disgusting and appalling that his name dare NOT be spoken in my church! Well there’s a tour going around, you may have heard of it, it’s called the ReAwaken America tour. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s sort of a tent revival sermon that was started as a lockdown protest. Now they protest, well, just about anything and everything. Well, the 2023 edition of the ReAwaken America tour is a melting pot of far right insanity and religious anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and of course those insane idiots who call themselves “prophets”. I mean imagine the balls that it takes to call yourself a “prophet”. Well, it doesn’t take much because there’s apparently a lot of these idiots.
A far-right project that has helped spread Donald Trump’s false claims about voting fraud in 2020, and misinformation about Covid vaccines, is trying to expand its mission, while facing new criticism from scholars and religious leaders about its incendiary political and Christian nationalist messages.
ReAwaken America, a project of the Oklahoma-based entrepreneur Clay Clark, has hosted numerous revival-style political events across the US after receiving tens of thousands of dollars in initial funds in 2021 from millionaire Patrick Byrne, and become a key vehicle for pushing election denialism and falsehoods about Covid vaccines.
ReAwaken America also boasts close ties to retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn, who in December 2020 met with Trump, Byrne and others at the White House to plot ways to reverse Trump’s election loss. The meeting happened shortly after Trump pardoned Flynn, who was convicted for lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador before serving briefly as Trump’s national security adviser.
Clark’s project also has links to Dr Simone Gold, who served a 60-day jail sentence for illegally entering the Capitol on 6 January and founded America’s Frontline Doctors, an anti-vaccine group that has also touted bogus cures.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/30/far-right-project-disinformation-trump-2024-campaign
ReAwaken America, a project of the Oklahoma-based entrepreneur Clay Clark, has hosted numerous revival-style political events across the US after receiving tens of thousands of dollars in initial funds in 2021 from millionaire Patrick Byrne, and become a key vehicle for pushing election denialism and falsehoods about Covid vaccines.
ReAwaken America also boasts close ties to retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn, who in December 2020 met with Trump, Byrne and others at the White House to plot ways to reverse Trump’s election loss. The meeting happened shortly after Trump pardoned Flynn, who was convicted for lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador before serving briefly as Trump’s national security adviser.
Clark’s project also has links to Dr Simone Gold, who served a 60-day jail sentence for illegally entering the Capitol on 6 January and founded America’s Frontline Doctors, an anti-vaccine group that has also touted bogus cures.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/30/far-right-project-disinformation-trump-2024-campaign
These people should feel bad about themselves because they are spreading lies and hate and false information about conspiracy theory nonsense! That’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would have in mind now would it? And now of course we have no doubts that the fiery pit of hell in Miami that is the property of the Dark One would host such an event would they? Well they are, because of course that maniac would! You know if you’re not horrified by the systematic teardown of one of the basic principles that this country was founded on – separation of church and state – as much as we are, then you’re not paying attention!
A resort owned by former President Donald Trump is set to host a spring conference led by former national security adviser Michael Flynn and radio personality Clay Clark whose past speakers have echoed false claims about the 2020 election and COVID-19 as Trump launches a third bid for the White House.
The conference, known as the ReAwaken America Tour, had no official lineup of speakers for the May event at Trump's Doral hotel in Miami, but past events have featured speakers who have echoed conspiracy theories that Trump has supported, including Eric Trump, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne, Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, and former chief of staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense Kash Patel.
Also included previously in the lineups are Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), attendees of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, QAnon influencers, and some of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the country.
The former president is central to QAnon and its ideology. The conspiracy theory includes the unfounded belief that a cabal of famous Democratic politicians and liberal elites run a child sex trafficking ring, and that Trump will arrange for mass arrests and military tribunals of corrupt politicians, among other outlandish ideas. The FBI has warned that conspiracy theories like QAnon pose a growing domestic terrorism threat.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-resort-in-miami-set-to-host-qanon-conference/
The conference, known as the ReAwaken America Tour, had no official lineup of speakers for the May event at Trump's Doral hotel in Miami, but past events have featured speakers who have echoed conspiracy theories that Trump has supported, including Eric Trump, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne, Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, and former chief of staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense Kash Patel.
Also included previously in the lineups are Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), attendees of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, QAnon influencers, and some of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the country.
The former president is central to QAnon and its ideology. The conspiracy theory includes the unfounded belief that a cabal of famous Democratic politicians and liberal elites run a child sex trafficking ring, and that Trump will arrange for mass arrests and military tribunals of corrupt politicians, among other outlandish ideas. The FBI has warned that conspiracy theories like QAnon pose a growing domestic terrorism threat.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-resort-in-miami-set-to-host-qanon-conference/
I will repeat this just to reiterate how serious I am about this subject – the merger of church and state is extremely dangerous and Q Anon is playing with fire here. These people are turning into a scary cult and none of this will end well for anyone involved! Phew, now that I got that off my chest, we must move on because that’s what we do. But we can’t deny that this tour is a melting pot of crazies, whackos, and conspiracy theorists. Since the Dark One was elected with the help of a certain politically oriented news network that I shall not name, the church has been hijacked by lunatics and is being driven off a cliff, and it’s truly disheartening to watch.
About two hours into the ReAwaken America Tour’s stop in Batavia Friday morning, the crowd of a couple thousand under a large, white revival tent got loud.
They chanted, “now,” as in they want Donald Trump back as president — not in 2024 — but right now.
They did so at the urging of Mark Burns, once called “Trump’s top pastor” by Time Magazine. Burns, speaking from the stage, then got the crowd to chant for something else to happen right now.
“We need to hold Joe Biden for treason right now,” Burns exclaimed, causing the crowd to chant back “now.”
More than 3,500 people from Western New York and across the U.S. heard a mix of pastors, former Trump officials, Jan. 6 participants and vaccine skeptics make false claims about everything from the 2020 election to the COVID-19 pandemic during the far-right roadshow’s two-day stop at Batavia’s Cornerstone Church this past weekend.
https://www.wbfo.org/politics/2022-08-14/reawaken-america-tours-batavia-stop-calls-for-overturning-2020-election-new-york-ag-to-repent
They chanted, “now,” as in they want Donald Trump back as president — not in 2024 — but right now.
They did so at the urging of Mark Burns, once called “Trump’s top pastor” by Time Magazine. Burns, speaking from the stage, then got the crowd to chant for something else to happen right now.
“We need to hold Joe Biden for treason right now,” Burns exclaimed, causing the crowd to chant back “now.”
More than 3,500 people from Western New York and across the U.S. heard a mix of pastors, former Trump officials, Jan. 6 participants and vaccine skeptics make false claims about everything from the 2020 election to the COVID-19 pandemic during the far-right roadshow’s two-day stop at Batavia’s Cornerstone Church this past weekend.
https://www.wbfo.org/politics/2022-08-14/reawaken-america-tours-batavia-stop-calls-for-overturning-2020-election-new-york-ag-to-repent
Yeah it’s very dirty and sinful, all right! These people are the opposite of everything that is good and decent in this world. Why is that? Well for one thing they support the Unholy Dark One! He is the ruiner of all things that are good and decent in this world! It’s totally scary what the Christian right has become since the Dark One took over. It’s like the church has just unleashed its’ inner asshole and is not coming back to reality any time soon! And by the way for those of you wondering what kind of hateful rhetoric you can expect if you attend this event, well, let’s just say that today’s Christian conservatives are letting their conspiracy theory freak flag fly proudly!
Maybe you remember Jim Breuer from his stint on Saturday Night Live.
The “Goat Boy” character had a run.
Since then?
Well, Breuer never really evolved past “Goat Boy” so he has faded from film and television. He’s still touring doing comedy, though, and there was a time there when he had a few funny jokes.
Breuer had a recent standup set for the ReAwaken America Tour.
And it’s that set that has gotten the 55-year-old more headlines than he has had in quite a while. How did he manage that? Well, Breuer thought it would be fun to, apparently, mock Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field while making jokes about vaccine shots and boosters.
As he was running through his lines, Breuer said, “Here in the NFL,” before face-flopping onto the stage.
There is no evidence that a vaccination played any role in Hamlin’s near-death experience.
Considering the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety is still struggling to recover and reportedly has a “long-road” ahead of him, it would seem like an odd thing for a crowd at an event that markets itself as being for conservative Christians to laugh at.
https://www.pennlive.com/sports/2023/01/reprehensible-jim-breuer-makes-fun-of-damar-hamlins-cardiac-arrest-at-christian-event.html
The “Goat Boy” character had a run.
Since then?
Well, Breuer never really evolved past “Goat Boy” so he has faded from film and television. He’s still touring doing comedy, though, and there was a time there when he had a few funny jokes.
Breuer had a recent standup set for the ReAwaken America Tour.
And it’s that set that has gotten the 55-year-old more headlines than he has had in quite a while. How did he manage that? Well, Breuer thought it would be fun to, apparently, mock Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field while making jokes about vaccine shots and boosters.
As he was running through his lines, Breuer said, “Here in the NFL,” before face-flopping onto the stage.
There is no evidence that a vaccination played any role in Hamlin’s near-death experience.
Considering the 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety is still struggling to recover and reportedly has a “long-road” ahead of him, it would seem like an odd thing for a crowd at an event that markets itself as being for conservative Christians to laugh at.
https://www.pennlive.com/sports/2023/01/reprehensible-jim-breuer-makes-fun-of-damar-hamlins-cardiac-arrest-at-christian-event.html
Sigh… it’s these people that are the reason why we can’t have nice things. You know with friends like these, who needs enemies? This is definitely going to get worse before it gets better, folks! Just sit back and watch the destruction! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:
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[font size="8"]Late Stage Capitalism: Congress Vs Ticketmaster Vs Taylor Swift Fans
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When mega corporations have nowhere to go but excessive profits and are trying to squeeze out your every last dollar, there’s extreme greed, and then there’s:
Welcome back to our segment that explores the lifestyles of predatory mega conglomerates, Late Stage Capitalism! It’s not enough to make a $50 billion dollar quarterly profit, you have to make a $75 billion quarterly profit! Sure, layoff a few employees and charge customers more for a subpar product! Well this week, we got flooded with requests to do this one – we have to talk about the Congressional hearings on Ticketmaster for what they did during the Taylor Swift Eras tour fiasco. But before we do let’s wind back to when Pearl Jam sued Ticketmaster back in the 90s for predatory practices and got their asses handed to them. It was a good idea at the time. But now in the post-COVID 2020s, when ticket scalping and reselling is at an all time high, Ticketmaster may have just fucked with the wrong fan base, because let’s face it – hell hath no fury like a Swifty scorn!
In mid-November, Swifties looking to secure tickets to the singer’s upcoming Eras Tour were foiled en masse by monopolistic incompetence of Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, which melted down amid the surge in demand. It was a poignant demonstration of monopolism run amok — and of what a mistake it had been for the Obama administration to have greenlighted the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger that effectively ended competition in the ticketing industry.
Politicians dutifully denounced the decrepit company, and Big Tech spied an opening to deflect and distract.
The next day, the lobbying firm NetChoice, which represents the Big Tech conglomerates in Washington, urged Congress and antitrust policymakers to focus their attention on Ticketmaster.
“Congress and progressives like Amy Klobuchar are spending all this time going after tech leaders including Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple, which are far from monopolies,” NetChoice policy counsel Jennifer Huddleston said in an email November 16 to press and Washington power brokers. “Instead, the government should use existing laws and resources to protect consumers and investigate Ticketmaster’s anti-competitive practices in the concert marketplace.”
https://theintercept.com/2023/01/25/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-big-tech-lobby/
Politicians dutifully denounced the decrepit company, and Big Tech spied an opening to deflect and distract.
The next day, the lobbying firm NetChoice, which represents the Big Tech conglomerates in Washington, urged Congress and antitrust policymakers to focus their attention on Ticketmaster.
“Congress and progressives like Amy Klobuchar are spending all this time going after tech leaders including Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple, which are far from monopolies,” NetChoice policy counsel Jennifer Huddleston said in an email November 16 to press and Washington power brokers. “Instead, the government should use existing laws and resources to protect consumers and investigate Ticketmaster’s anti-competitive practices in the concert marketplace.”
https://theintercept.com/2023/01/25/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-big-tech-lobby/
Come on, Swifties. Take it from PC gamers who know far too much pain since 2018 when it comes to buying a graphics card or high end gaming console – nothing sucks worse than when you have an item in your cart and then it’s gone before you click the “buy” button!. Bot selling is nothing new. It’s been around the last 10 years and it’s been a colossal pain in the ass. But here’s the thing – if Ticketmaster is getting shit for automated bot selling, then why not go after Best Buy, Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, you name it? Everything is highly suspect these days.
In November, millions of Taylor Swift fans logged on to Ticketmaster hoping to scoop up tickets to arguably the most-anticipated tour of 2023. When the time came, the site crashed, rendering verified users unable to purchase admission to the singer's first slate of shows in five years. In the immediate aftermath, Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation explained that while 1.5 million people had signed up as legit customers, over 14 million hit the site when tickets went on sale — many of which were bots.
Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold told the Senate Judiciary Comittee on Tuesday that the company "learned valuable lessons" from the Swift debacle. "In hindsight there are several things we could have done better – including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets," he said.
Berchtold told Senators that Ticketmaster experienced three times more bot traffic that day than it ever had before, and that a cyberattack on the company's verified fan password servers exacerbated the problem. He explained that despite investing over $1 billion in ticketing systems since the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, mostly to combat fraud and scalping, the company has a massive bot problem that it can't get a handle on.
"We also need to recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience," Berchtold said. What he called "industrialized scalping" led to the Taylor Swift fiasco, he explained, but the executive wants Congress to act to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
https://www.engadget.com/ticketmaster-live-nation-senate-judiciary-hearing-195504179.html
Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold told the Senate Judiciary Comittee on Tuesday that the company "learned valuable lessons" from the Swift debacle. "In hindsight there are several things we could have done better – including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets," he said.
Berchtold told Senators that Ticketmaster experienced three times more bot traffic that day than it ever had before, and that a cyberattack on the company's verified fan password servers exacerbated the problem. He explained that despite investing over $1 billion in ticketing systems since the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, mostly to combat fraud and scalping, the company has a massive bot problem that it can't get a handle on.
"We also need to recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience," Berchtold said. What he called "industrialized scalping" led to the Taylor Swift fiasco, he explained, but the executive wants Congress to act to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
https://www.engadget.com/ticketmaster-live-nation-senate-judiciary-hearing-195504179.html
You know what, Congress? Here’s the thing – you can’t just go after the bot / minion seller industry, you’re going to have to go to all of them! The scalping industry has evolved far beyond the reach of just concert tickets. Bot and minion sellers are everywhere, and they’re coming for your hard earned dollars, and it’s getting to be ridiculous. Yes, the hearing did focus on the Taylor Swift Eras Tour fiasco, but that wasn’t the only tour being scrutinized in this hearing. The underlying problem is the bot sellers. It’s going to get worse as more big ticket tours are announced.
Though today's hearing wasn't solely focused on Taylor Swift, few speakers missed the chance to slip in references to the pop star whose ticket sale disaster offered the catalyst for a congressional inquiry.
Klobuchar opened her remarks with a sly reference to "All Too Well," a fan favorite, at the start of the hearing. But Mike Lee quickly caught up, referencing "You Belong With Me" in his own opening.
Lee might have even outnumbered his colleagues, later referring to the idea of limits on ticket transfers as a "nightmare dressed like a daydream." He also ended his closing remarks with a reference to some of Swift's newest work.
"I have to throw out, in deference to my daughter Eliza, one more Taylor Swift quote," Lee said. "Karma is a relaxing thought. Aren't you envious for you it's not?"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-senate-committee-hearing-live-updates-rcna66687
Klobuchar opened her remarks with a sly reference to "All Too Well," a fan favorite, at the start of the hearing. But Mike Lee quickly caught up, referencing "You Belong With Me" in his own opening.
Lee might have even outnumbered his colleagues, later referring to the idea of limits on ticket transfers as a "nightmare dressed like a daydream." He also ended his closing remarks with a reference to some of Swift's newest work.
"I have to throw out, in deference to my daughter Eliza, one more Taylor Swift quote," Lee said. "Karma is a relaxing thought. Aren't you envious for you it's not?"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-senate-committee-hearing-live-updates-rcna66687
Probably the most ridiculous part of this whole hearing was hearing our representatives attempt to quote Taylor Swift lyrics. But Ticketmaster is a perfect example of monopolistic capitalism at its’ finest here. When you see one company holding way too much power over the populace, then it’s definitely time for a change. But the bots may be one of the bigger problems facing the ticket industry, it has a long way to go before things are cleaned up. Bot sellers are everywhere. If Ticketmaster is going to get rid of them, then so do Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, Target, Wal-Mart, the list goes on. But it’s also a reason why unregulated capitalism isn’t working and needs some serious reform. It’s a small part of a much bigger picture.
The pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour imploded in November, when tens of thousands of fans waited unsuccessfully in hours-long Ticketmaster and still failed to secure tickets. Empty-handed super fans were then devastated a second time when, later that week, Ticketmaster cancelled its scheduled public sale for remaining tickets, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”
Fans blamed Ticketmaster. Taylor Swift blamed Ticketmaster. Congress blamed Ticketmaster. But Ticketmaster argued the pre-sale blunder was largely due to an unprecedented number of people seeking concert tickets, paired with a never-before-seen onslaught of bots that were attempting to buy up the tickets in order to scalp them.
Joe Berchtold, chief financial officer of Ticketmaster parent Live Nation, doubled down on that theory during a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy. Though he expressed remorse for the negative experience fans had and promised Ticketmaster would do better, Berchtold also called on Congress to “recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-monopoly-senate-hearing/
Fans blamed Ticketmaster. Taylor Swift blamed Ticketmaster. Congress blamed Ticketmaster. But Ticketmaster argued the pre-sale blunder was largely due to an unprecedented number of people seeking concert tickets, paired with a never-before-seen onslaught of bots that were attempting to buy up the tickets in order to scalp them.
Joe Berchtold, chief financial officer of Ticketmaster parent Live Nation, doubled down on that theory during a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy. Though he expressed remorse for the negative experience fans had and promised Ticketmaster would do better, Berchtold also called on Congress to “recognize how industrial scalpers breaking the law using bots and cyberattacks to try to unfairly gain tickets contributes to an awful consumer experience.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-monopoly-senate-hearing/
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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! In these trying times, we take a good hard look at the people who are simply too lazy to read the news articles past the sensationalist headlines. We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter in the New Mexico badlands! Undisclosed location, of course! Let me just adjust my trust tin foil hat for maximum government interference… they are trying to read yours and my thoughts, after all! Ah, there we go! So this week, the NFL season has come to a close with the Super Bowl being set between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. And I’m sure that everyone watched that Monday Night game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinatti Bengals, right? If you didn’t see it, Damar Hamlin took a blow to the chest and collapsed on the field, and needed to be carried off in a stretcher. Well, the incident brought out the best and worst of humanity. We’re going to talk about the worst for this segment! That’s right, the MAGA conspiracy theorists wasted no time formulating bizarre, off the rails theories about Mr. Hamlin!
Anti-vaccine activists who believe without evidence that a Covid vaccine caused Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest this month have pivoted to a new conspiracy theory to explain his swift recovery: that the Buffalo Bills safety has been replaced by a body double.
Though outlandish, the theory has gained enough attention to draw a response from Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who responded on a podcast this week.
“That’s stupid,” he said.
This most recent conspiracy theory about Hamlin underscores the lengths to which anti-vaccine activists will go to further the false narrative that Covid vaccines cause widespread injury and death, and highlights a widening audience susceptible to even the most absurd misinformation that powers the anti-vaccine movement.
Hamlin’s cardiac arrest Jan. 2 following a collision during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals immediately sparked unfounded speculation that the Covid vaccine was to blame, adding to a growing narrative among anti-vaccine voices that many vaccinated people were dying unexpectedly.
https://news.yahoo.com/damar-hamlin-recovery-fuels-anti-220524891.html
Though outlandish, the theory has gained enough attention to draw a response from Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who responded on a podcast this week.
“That’s stupid,” he said.
This most recent conspiracy theory about Hamlin underscores the lengths to which anti-vaccine activists will go to further the false narrative that Covid vaccines cause widespread injury and death, and highlights a widening audience susceptible to even the most absurd misinformation that powers the anti-vaccine movement.
Hamlin’s cardiac arrest Jan. 2 following a collision during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals immediately sparked unfounded speculation that the Covid vaccine was to blame, adding to a growing narrative among anti-vaccine voices that many vaccinated people were dying unexpectedly.
https://news.yahoo.com/damar-hamlin-recovery-fuels-anti-220524891.html
You know this is a perfect example of why we need better education in this country. We all know on this program that anti-vaxxers are criminally insane. And just to clarify, we’re not saying that all insane people are anti-vaxxers… oh who am I kidding? That’s exactly what we’re saying. Oh and as you would expect, it gets weirder! Apparently there’s another theory that Mr. Hamlin was replaced with a clone which would suggest that cloning technology exists somewhere, and that’s something *THEY* don’t want you to know about!
Among those spreading the rumours was Stew Peters, one of the people behind a documentary called Died Suddenly, an online hit in anti-vaccination circles that includes a number of dubious and false claims.
An account linked to the documentary was among the first to start trying to link Mr Hamlin's injury to vaccines, despite the fact that he had taken a hit to the chest just seconds before collapsing.
Mr Hamlin's injury, which resulted in the unprecedented cancellation of a primetime American football matchup between two top teams, was quickly seized upon by anti-vaccination activists to further their cause.
Other influential accounts spreading the most recent rumours include a former reporter for fringe right-wing news outlets and Juanita Broaddrick, a woman who once accused Bill Clinton of rape and later became a supporter of Donald Trump.
In a tweet viewed more than 2.7m times, she declared: "Everyone thinks Damar Hamlin is dead... the whole thing smells." She did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Mr Peters.
Conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild, author of a book on the QAnon phenomenon, said some of those spreading the rumours had financial motives - promoting their websites, books, podcasts and unproven cures.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64404824
An account linked to the documentary was among the first to start trying to link Mr Hamlin's injury to vaccines, despite the fact that he had taken a hit to the chest just seconds before collapsing.
Mr Hamlin's injury, which resulted in the unprecedented cancellation of a primetime American football matchup between two top teams, was quickly seized upon by anti-vaccination activists to further their cause.
Other influential accounts spreading the most recent rumours include a former reporter for fringe right-wing news outlets and Juanita Broaddrick, a woman who once accused Bill Clinton of rape and later became a supporter of Donald Trump.
In a tweet viewed more than 2.7m times, she declared: "Everyone thinks Damar Hamlin is dead... the whole thing smells." She did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Mr Peters.
Conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild, author of a book on the QAnon phenomenon, said some of those spreading the rumours had financial motives - promoting their websites, books, podcasts and unproven cures.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64404824
Somehow I don’t think that tin foil hat is big enough! But really, right wing conspiracy theorists are the reason why we can’t have nice things. You know this, you all know this! Though it does give us enough cannon fodder to keep this segment going! But it’s insane in this day and age that these conspiracy theories just keep getting weirder and weirder. But the thing about this story just proves what I’ve been saying from the beginning is that anti-vaxxers and internet conspiracy theorists ruin everything. The Damar Hamlin situation could have been much worse, but you got to credit the doctors who saved his life. Not everything is a conspiracy, OK?
Did you do a double take when you saw Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin trending again on social media on Tuesday? After all, Hamlin, who had suffered a cardiac arrest during a January 2 Monday Night Football game, has seemed to be on the road to recovery. He’s already left the hospital and was even seen attending the Bills playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday, right? Well, there are now claims that the person who appeared at that game wasn’t even Hamlin. Instead, it was, drum roll please, a body double. Yes, a body double.
Talk about doubling down on conspiracy theories. Soon after Hamlin had collapsed on the football field, anti-vaccination accounts on social media had started asserting that the Covid-19 vaccine had somehow led to his cardiac arrest. That’s despite the fact that such accounts offered no real evidence to support such a theory, as I explained for Forbes back then. And now, the latest anti-vaccination conspiracy theory around Hamlin is that “they”—whoever “they” may be— have found a body double for Hamlin to conceal the so-called true nature of what had happened to him.
As you can see, she first noted, “Oh, Damar Hamlin is trending. Maybe there’s some health update.” Then she indicated, “Oh…it’s paidchecks tweeting ab how he’s actually dead, there’s a ‘body double’ & his fam is ‘in on it.’” By “paidchecks” she was referring to the Twitter accounts that had managed to find $8 to pay Elon Musk and Twitter in order to get those no longer so-coveted blue verified check marks.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/01/25/new-conspiracy-theory-damar-hamlin-has-a-body-double-hiding-vaccine-injury/?sh=3d79386b6937
Talk about doubling down on conspiracy theories. Soon after Hamlin had collapsed on the football field, anti-vaccination accounts on social media had started asserting that the Covid-19 vaccine had somehow led to his cardiac arrest. That’s despite the fact that such accounts offered no real evidence to support such a theory, as I explained for Forbes back then. And now, the latest anti-vaccination conspiracy theory around Hamlin is that “they”—whoever “they” may be— have found a body double for Hamlin to conceal the so-called true nature of what had happened to him.
As you can see, she first noted, “Oh, Damar Hamlin is trending. Maybe there’s some health update.” Then she indicated, “Oh…it’s paidchecks tweeting ab how he’s actually dead, there’s a ‘body double’ & his fam is ‘in on it.’” By “paidchecks” she was referring to the Twitter accounts that had managed to find $8 to pay Elon Musk and Twitter in order to get those no longer so-coveted blue verified check marks.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/01/25/new-conspiracy-theory-damar-hamlin-has-a-body-double-hiding-vaccine-injury/?sh=3d79386b6937
Of course Elon has to ruin everything too! I mean come on, Twitter used to verify users through a huge vetting process. We here at the Top 10 know that because we had been trying for years to get a blue check mark, but we never did! Yeah suck it, Twitter! But yeah the one thing we can definitely count on in modern society is that we’ll never get rid of disinformation. The truth is…. not out there! Yes, that’s because real information is hidden behind a paywall. Bullshit is free, readily available, and there’s many forms of it available for your consumption. The Damar Hamlin controversy is just another reason why we can’t have nice things.
Last week more than 23 million people tuned in to watch the Buffalo Bills play the Cincinnati Bengals and instead became witness to a terrifying, life-or-death emergency as safety Damar Hamlin collapsed suddenly on the field. His teammates knelt in prayer while medical staff fought for his life. (According to doctors, Hamlin is "doing well" and was released from a hospital in Cincinnati and returned to Buffalo on Monday, where he is now in stable condition.)
But on the internet, anti-vaccine activists filled in the silence with unfounded theories that Hamlin's collapse was brought on by COVID vaccines.
"The term is a data void," said Kolina Koltai, a misinformation and social media researcher who until very recently, worked for Twitter. She too was watching the game and immediately braced herself for incoming anti-vaccine narratives.
"We've seen this trope applied over and over again, not just to athletes, but any sort of celebrity malady," said Koltai.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/10/1147969504/how-damar-hamlins-collapse-fueled-anti-vaccine-conspiracy-theories
But on the internet, anti-vaccine activists filled in the silence with unfounded theories that Hamlin's collapse was brought on by COVID vaccines.
"The term is a data void," said Kolina Koltai, a misinformation and social media researcher who until very recently, worked for Twitter. She too was watching the game and immediately braced herself for incoming anti-vaccine narratives.
"We've seen this trope applied over and over again, not just to athletes, but any sort of celebrity malady," said Koltai.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/10/1147969504/how-damar-hamlins-collapse-fueled-anti-vaccine-conspiracy-theories
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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Hey everyone, I don’t know about you, but I could really use a drink!
So of course you know the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking, we talk about anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics! Because there’s a lot of dark shit in the news and we want to escape reality by cracking open a cold one or two. This week we’re going to be talking about lawsuits. Specifically, lawsuits involving pooping unicorns. Yes, that is a sentence I never thought I would have to write or say! So tell me, bartender, what goes well with a story about pooping unicorns? A unicorn daiquiri? What’s in that? No thanks. I’ll just stick to my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the Double Jack. But anyway this story concerning the hip hop collective Black Eyed Peas and the makers of a toy unicorn that poops, is quite possibly one of the more insane things to happen this decade. And like most stories that we feature here, the more you dig into it, the weirder it gets.
In what’s an early frontrunner for the silliest lawsuit of 2023, music giant BMG has sued a toymaker alleging that a parody song based on the Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps” — titled “My Poops,” and used in the marketing for a line of slime-shitting unicorns — infringes on the copyright of the 2006 hit.
BMG Rights Management filed the lawsuit at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claiming that MGA Entertainment, the makers of the Poopsie Slime Surprise toys, displayed “willful copyright infringement” and “exploited, without authorization” when the toy company turned “My Humps” into “My Poops” to advertise their product line over two years ago.
“My Humps,” as the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone notes, “won Best Hip Hop Video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Award,” and coupling that with its 700 million views on YouTube and hit single status, the defendants “clearly had access” to the song. Following the release of “My Humps,” BMG alleges that the toymaker “created a product line called Poopsie Slime Surprise,” which featured “a unicorn doll that excretes sparkling slime.”
To promote that product, “Defendant created a song called My Poops that clearly copies from, and is substantially similar to, My Humps,” the lawsuit states while asserting comparisons between the two songs’ lyrics, bass line, and the Fergie-like inflection in which “My Poops” is delivered.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bmg-lawsuit-toymaker-black-eyed-peas-my-humps-my-poops-1234664931/
BMG Rights Management filed the lawsuit at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claiming that MGA Entertainment, the makers of the Poopsie Slime Surprise toys, displayed “willful copyright infringement” and “exploited, without authorization” when the toy company turned “My Humps” into “My Poops” to advertise their product line over two years ago.
“My Humps,” as the lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone notes, “won Best Hip Hop Video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Award,” and coupling that with its 700 million views on YouTube and hit single status, the defendants “clearly had access” to the song. Following the release of “My Humps,” BMG alleges that the toymaker “created a product line called Poopsie Slime Surprise,” which featured “a unicorn doll that excretes sparkling slime.”
To promote that product, “Defendant created a song called My Poops that clearly copies from, and is substantially similar to, My Humps,” the lawsuit states while asserting comparisons between the two songs’ lyrics, bass line, and the Fergie-like inflection in which “My Poops” is delivered.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bmg-lawsuit-toymaker-black-eyed-peas-my-humps-my-poops-1234664931/
OK… OK… OK… OK. Somehow, I don’t think that bottle is going to be big enough. Come on, bartender, keep ‘em coming! I have many questions here. First of all, who the hell thinks playing with poop is even slightly funny? There’s only one place poop belongs and that’s in the toilet. It does not belong anywhere else, and the fact that this is marketed to kids to me is far more disturbing than drag queen story hour any day of the week. Just… no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Hell no. No. And come on, we’re siding with the Black Eyed Peas on this one.
Singer-songwriter Anjulie claims she was never paid for singing some of Fergie's parts for the Black Eyed Peas.
Anjulie dropped the allegations in a TikTok, claiming she sang all the background vocals on 2010 track "The Time," as well as lead vocals on "XOXOXO."
She claims will.i.am told her the vocals she recorded would be used as guide vocals for Fergie to "recreate," but that they used Anjulie's vocals instead on the final track, with no credit or payment.
The singer alleges she was never paid or credited for any of her work with the band.
In a follow-up video, Anjulie claimed she attempted to take legal action, but that it was ultimately too pricey.
"I tried. I got in touch with will.i.am's lawyer. I had a bunch of e-mail exchanges with him, and then he told me it was out of his hands," Ajulie said.
Read More: Singer Claims She Was Never Paid for Singing for Black Eyed Peas | https://popcrush.com/anjulie-claims-black-eyed-peas-never-paid-fergie-singing-parts/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
Anjulie dropped the allegations in a TikTok, claiming she sang all the background vocals on 2010 track "The Time," as well as lead vocals on "XOXOXO."
She claims will.i.am told her the vocals she recorded would be used as guide vocals for Fergie to "recreate," but that they used Anjulie's vocals instead on the final track, with no credit or payment.
The singer alleges she was never paid or credited for any of her work with the band.
In a follow-up video, Anjulie claimed she attempted to take legal action, but that it was ultimately too pricey.
"I tried. I got in touch with will.i.am's lawyer. I had a bunch of e-mail exchanges with him, and then he told me it was out of his hands," Ajulie said.
Read More: Singer Claims She Was Never Paid for Singing for Black Eyed Peas | https://popcrush.com/anjulie-claims-black-eyed-peas-never-paid-fergie-singing-parts/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
So… really? That’s the reason why this lawsuit has taken so long? Are you going to go through with it or are you going to cave in? Personally I’m not just mortified that a toy called “Poopsie Slime Surprise” exists, I’d also be terrified that they were using my property without my permission. Oh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… very funny, smart guy! But this is the kind of thing that is completely insane and we’re absolutely here for it! And by the way this isn’t the first time that MGA Entertainment, the makers of Poopsie Slime Surprise have been involved in a ridiculous lawsuit. They also attempted to sue Louis Vitton over a handbag design that backfired on them spectacularly.
MGA Entertainment — the company behind holiday toy sensation the Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn — has filed a preemptive lawsuit against luxury designer Louis Vuitton.
Poopsie, a wide-eyed unicorn who slides out a pile of glittery slime at the press of a button, has a number of accessories, sold separately. Among them is a $60 poop-shaped purse, filled with additional slime-making tools, with the cheeky name “Pooey Puitton.”
The Pooey Puitton handbag is white with small pastel-colored designs that resemble a recognizable colorway of Louis Vuitton’s famous Tuileries monogram pattern. Vuitton has been trying to block production of MGA’s tongue-in-cheek product since early last month, according to a post on the respected blog the Fashion Law.
MGA Entertainment’s suit is an attempt to block any official claims of trademark infringement. In it, the California toymaker defends its purse as parody and says that “no reasonable customer would mistake the Pooey product for a Louis Vuitton handbag” (as Julie Zerbo of Fashion Law explains, the potential to confuse one product for another is critical in any trademark case).
https://nypost.com/2019/01/02/poopsie-unicorn-is-taking-louis-vuitton-to-court/
Poopsie, a wide-eyed unicorn who slides out a pile of glittery slime at the press of a button, has a number of accessories, sold separately. Among them is a $60 poop-shaped purse, filled with additional slime-making tools, with the cheeky name “Pooey Puitton.”
The Pooey Puitton handbag is white with small pastel-colored designs that resemble a recognizable colorway of Louis Vuitton’s famous Tuileries monogram pattern. Vuitton has been trying to block production of MGA’s tongue-in-cheek product since early last month, according to a post on the respected blog the Fashion Law.
MGA Entertainment’s suit is an attempt to block any official claims of trademark infringement. In it, the California toymaker defends its purse as parody and says that “no reasonable customer would mistake the Pooey product for a Louis Vuitton handbag” (as Julie Zerbo of Fashion Law explains, the potential to confuse one product for another is critical in any trademark case).
https://nypost.com/2019/01/02/poopsie-unicorn-is-taking-louis-vuitton-to-court/
So MGA Entertainment is an already shady company to begin with. I mean come on, you manufacture a pooping unicorn doll. Not reinventing the wheel. But the fact that this company has a history of doing some shady shit is definitely someone who you don’t want showing up on your radar. Especially when they don’t respond for comment. Maybe because this is way too ridiculous? I mean come on, 2023 is barely a month old and already you’ve won the dumbest lawsuit of the year. But a company that’s been accused of ripping off songs against a band that’s been accused of ripping off songs? That’s a fight where there’s not enough popcorn and beer in the world to justify watching! But one thing’s for certain - dis gonna be good!
The company could argue that “My Poops” is a parody of “My Humps,” and is thus protected as “fair use.” In Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music in 1994, the Supreme Court held that parody can be a form of “comment” or “criticism” on the original work, which is protected by the Copyright Act of 1976.
But that does not mean that the toymaker is automatically in the clear.
Judges look at “fair use” claims on a case-by-case basis, applying a four-factor analysis. At its heart is the question of whether the new work is transformative of the original, or whether it simply copies the original and substitutes for it in the marketplace.
Berman is no stranger to such analyses. A few years ago, he represented the estate of the Notorious B.I.G. in a copyright lawsuit. A poet, Abiodun Oyewole, alleged that Biggie stole a three-word phrase, “Party and Bullshit,” from a 1968 poem entitled “When the Revolution Comes.” Berman argued that it was fair use, and prevailed.
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/black-eyed-peas-my-humps-poopsie-slime-surprise-1235496721/
But that does not mean that the toymaker is automatically in the clear.
Judges look at “fair use” claims on a case-by-case basis, applying a four-factor analysis. At its heart is the question of whether the new work is transformative of the original, or whether it simply copies the original and substitutes for it in the marketplace.
Berman is no stranger to such analyses. A few years ago, he represented the estate of the Notorious B.I.G. in a copyright lawsuit. A poet, Abiodun Oyewole, alleged that Biggie stole a three-word phrase, “Party and Bullshit,” from a 1968 poem entitled “When the Revolution Comes.” Berman argued that it was fair use, and prevailed.
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/black-eyed-peas-my-humps-poopsie-slime-surprise-1235496721/
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[font size="8"]World Tour 2023 Destination #2 of 6 - Argentina
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Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you:
[font size="4"]Destination #2: Argentina [/font]
Folks we’re back in Argentina! It’s capitol is Buenos Aires. It’s president is Alberto Fernandes. The country is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the entire world including the Andes Mountains and some real live glaciers. It’s favorite food is a caramel sauce known as dulce du leche, which they put on everything. OK maybe not everything. It’s also the home of the infamous chain of islands known as Tierra Del Fuego. We last visited Argentina back on our first World Tour in 2017 in Edition #3.14. So what’s changed since then? Well Argentina knocked France out of the World Cup in what might be one of the best games ever. Argentina is also the home of the Falkland Islands which has been at the dispute of a border war with Brazil the last 30 years and not a whole lot has really changed.
Falkland Islands leaders have accused Argentina of “unprovoked and open hostility” towards the people of the remote archipelago after Buenos Aires blocked plans to resume direct weekly flights from Brazil. The Falkland Islands Government has been trying to reestablish the airlink, suspended since March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials had been hoping to repeat the success they had with similar weekly flights from Chile, which resumed in July 2022.
Any discussions relating to connectivity between the Falkland Islands and South America require discussions with the Falkland Islands Government, the UK Government and the Government of Argentina, led by President Alberto Fernandez.
Talks in relation to the Brazil flights have been ongoing since the start of last year, but despite multiple meetings being agreed upon between the various parties, all were either cancelled or postponed by Argentina.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1728660/falkland-islands-argentina-flights-from-brazil-blocked-chile
Officials had been hoping to repeat the success they had with similar weekly flights from Chile, which resumed in July 2022.
Any discussions relating to connectivity between the Falkland Islands and South America require discussions with the Falkland Islands Government, the UK Government and the Government of Argentina, led by President Alberto Fernandez.
Talks in relation to the Brazil flights have been ongoing since the start of last year, but despite multiple meetings being agreed upon between the various parties, all were either cancelled or postponed by Argentina.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1728660/falkland-islands-argentina-flights-from-brazil-blocked-chile
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! There really is a Simpsons clip for everything! But you know what we say about when nations like each other, they’ll help each other out, right? Well now that Brazil has given fascist Jair Bolsonaro the heave ho that he so rightfully deserves, Lulu DeSilva and Alberto Fernandez have begun work on what they say is a “universal currency”. Well, they tried that with crypto and we’re finding out now just what a colossal failure that bitcoins, especially Ehterum, has been the colossal scam that we all knew it was. If they can make it work more power to them!
Argentina and Brazil, the two largest economies in South America, are in early talks to create a common currency, as part of a coordinated bid to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar.
But some analysts are highly skeptical, dismissing the proposal as “pie in the sky” because of the discrepancies between the two economies and the rapid shift of political winds in the region.
“Our finance ministers, each with his own economic team, can make us a proposal for foreign trade and transactions between the two countries that is done in a common currency,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday at a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to Reuters.
Speaking on his first international visit since taking office, Lula said that the currency would initially be designed for trade and transactions between Brazil and Argentina. It could later be adopted by fellow members of Mercosur — South America??s major trade bloc.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/24/argentina-and-brazil-are-discussing-plans-for-a-common-currency.html
But some analysts are highly skeptical, dismissing the proposal as “pie in the sky” because of the discrepancies between the two economies and the rapid shift of political winds in the region.
“Our finance ministers, each with his own economic team, can make us a proposal for foreign trade and transactions between the two countries that is done in a common currency,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday at a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to Reuters.
Speaking on his first international visit since taking office, Lula said that the currency would initially be designed for trade and transactions between Brazil and Argentina. It could later be adopted by fellow members of Mercosur — South America??s major trade bloc.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/24/argentina-and-brazil-are-discussing-plans-for-a-common-currency.html
So that begs the question – if Argentina’s currency is tanking so much that they need to partner with a much wealthier nation, then what do they do with the currency that’s piling up? Well that’s a good question because there’s a solution. You turn them into works of art! That’s right – one Argentinian artist has a brilliant solution to turn Argentina’s bills that are piling up into actual works of art. So yeah that’s a pretty cool idea coming from something that’s a potential crisis. But why can’t this be real money? It should be!
An Argentinian artist is combating his country’s ongoing inflation crisis by selling miniature paintings on depreciated banknotes.
Sergio Guillermo Diaz, a painter and museum worker from the northern province of Salta, has been raising the value of increasingly valueless currency to support his family. From two-peso bills to 1,000-peso notes — which are now worth about $5 — Diaz renders pop culture icons and historic artworks directly on their facades, often combining bills to develop larger compositions.
One of Diaz’s larger pieces stacks two 200-peso notes atop a single United States dollar to recreate the poster from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, alluding to Argentina’s dependence on the dollar. Others show popular sports scenes, such as soccer star Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup and Muhammad Ali standing over a defeated Sonny Liston, referencing competition between Global South countries.
An ongoing project since 2017, Diaz’s banknote paintings cleverly intersect income inequality at home with free-market capitalism. He previously worked in black and white but says the birth of his daughter, as well as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, gave him the time and inspiration to raise more awareness in color.
https://hyperallergic.com/792675/argentine-artist-sergio-guillermo-diaz-making-paintings-on-devalued-currency/
Sergio Guillermo Diaz, a painter and museum worker from the northern province of Salta, has been raising the value of increasingly valueless currency to support his family. From two-peso bills to 1,000-peso notes — which are now worth about $5 — Diaz renders pop culture icons and historic artworks directly on their facades, often combining bills to develop larger compositions.
One of Diaz’s larger pieces stacks two 200-peso notes atop a single United States dollar to recreate the poster from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, alluding to Argentina’s dependence on the dollar. Others show popular sports scenes, such as soccer star Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup and Muhammad Ali standing over a defeated Sonny Liston, referencing competition between Global South countries.
An ongoing project since 2017, Diaz’s banknote paintings cleverly intersect income inequality at home with free-market capitalism. He previously worked in black and white but says the birth of his daughter, as well as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, gave him the time and inspiration to raise more awareness in color.
https://hyperallergic.com/792675/argentine-artist-sergio-guillermo-diaz-making-paintings-on-devalued-currency/
Oh and speaking of gross financial fuck ups, one thing we learned about the World Cup this year is that Argentina loves them some soccer, or as they call it there, futbol. And the stories that were coming out of Buenos Aires were wild. And come on, leave it to FIFA to literally rain on one’s parade. Because the guys at the top can ruin it for everyone else. Well, if you plan to celebrate your World Cup victory, maybe do so on a much smaller scale. But really, FIFA, here’s the thing you need to know – and it’s the same saying in dorm rooms and frat houses everywhere – is that you can retake a test, but you can’t relive a party!
FIFA opened a disciplinary case against the Argentine Football Association on Friday for alleged offensive player misconduct and violations of fair play at the World Cup final.
FIFA cited its media and marketing regulations for prosecuting the case, which appears to relate to a boisterous celebration by players running through the interview zone after the game on Dec. 18.
Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout after a thrilling 3-3 draw at Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
About three hours later, players led by captain Lionel Messi ran and sang through the official interview area and damaged flimsy partition walls without stopping to speak to international broadcast and print media.
The disciplinary charges that include “offensive behavior and violations of the principles of fair play” did not specify Emiliano Martinez, who crudely brandished the trophy he received on the field as the best goalkeeper at the World Cup.
FIFA gave no timetable for the Argentina disciplinary case.
https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-sports-argentina-national-soccer-team-lionel-messi-e883d73df7cec8f102f60fe95dde5e92
FIFA cited its media and marketing regulations for prosecuting the case, which appears to relate to a boisterous celebration by players running through the interview zone after the game on Dec. 18.
Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout after a thrilling 3-3 draw at Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
About three hours later, players led by captain Lionel Messi ran and sang through the official interview area and damaged flimsy partition walls without stopping to speak to international broadcast and print media.
The disciplinary charges that include “offensive behavior and violations of the principles of fair play” did not specify Emiliano Martinez, who crudely brandished the trophy he received on the field as the best goalkeeper at the World Cup.
FIFA gave no timetable for the Argentina disciplinary case.
https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-sports-argentina-national-soccer-team-lionel-messi-e883d73df7cec8f102f60fe95dde5e92
[font size="4"]Scorecard: [/font]
Tourism: B+
Culture: B+
Political Spectrum: C
Liberal Appeal: B-
Overall: B
Change from 2017: No change
[font size="4"]Next Week: [/font]
Next week on stop #3 of 6 on our World Tour we’re heading to Germany’s next door neighbors, Poland!
[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Bad Omens[/font]
Folks my next guest are one of the hottest bands in rock music! Their new album is called “The Death Of Peace Of Mind”. You can see them at the Sonic Temple festival in Columbus, Ohio on May 19th. Playing their song “Concrete Jungle”, give it up for Bad Omens!
Thank you New York! This was a lot of fun! It’s great to be back on the east coast! We’re off to Philadelphia, the PHL next! See you next week!
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