You would think that raising an objection to the Genocide of innocent civilians would be a total no brainer, but apparently not. It really is not a challenging concept to understand – “Hamas” and “Palestinian” are not different words for exactly the same. Nor is it Anti-Semitic to criticise the extreme right-wing Netanyahu’s slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians. You can be opposed to Netanyahu’s policy of genocide, and also at the exact same time opposed to Hamas lunacy. This is not hard to grasp … and yet …
What should you do when faced with propaganda?
Here is an excellent example of how to handle it. It was the dialog between a UK Radio Broadcaster and a pro-Israel fanatic …
Tragically, we live in an age when fools, armed with ignorance rush into the public arena to vigorously promote raw stupidity. Here is a gem of an example – Right-wing evangelist Mario Murillo says acknowledging Israel’s genocide against Palestinians is a slippery slope to denying “the Bible being the word of God.”
- It truly is a rather impressive bit of mental gymnastics on his part to try to use the bible to push back against any criticism of Netanyahu’s genocide of tens of thousands.
- It also exposes the depths of Murillo’s moral bankruptcy.
Thankfully there are plenty of good people who do get it …
Some are also utterly oblivious to the moments of Irony that they manufacture …
Some not only happily embrace the wrong side, but also add to the stupidity of it all with their own ignorance …
Boebert is as always demonstrating that when it comes to stupidity, she is a subject matter expert …
Some such as Peter Baker below also suddenly see “conspiracy” when faced with common press-contact practise …
Thankfully some are willing to not play stupid games. Penn asked the cops to beat up their students and the cops said, “nahhhh we’re good“…
Moving on, below you will once again find yet another selection of some truly bizarre and extreme claims that have popped up during the last 7 days. Each is laced with my snarky commentary.
With my usual hat tip to my various sources, let’s once again dive into this very murky pool of absurdity and stupidity.
Christian Nationalism
David Lane gripes that “America was not settled by lily-livered Christians,” but “over the last 200 years, however, radical change has overtaken the nation, resulting in benumbing paganism now being America’s official religion.”
- This “Radical change over the last 200 years” includes the abolition of slavery, desegregation, and votes for women. Does he really yearn for the good-old-days when none of that prevailed? Apparently this cognitive dinosaur really does.
- It is also rather surprising to discover that a nation where a majority are some flavour of Christian is supposedly “officially” pagan, I must have missed that history lesson. So which specific pagan god is the official one, and when and how was this pagan religion made official, enquiring minds would like to know?
Christian nationalists Steve Cruz and Ben Zeisloft agree that any woman who gets an abortion “should be killed”: “She should be tried and convicted; dig a hole and put her down.”
- This really does bring a whole new dimension to their “Pro-Life” stance.
- Ben objects to the above being pointed out and posts what he deems to be “the full context” without actually appreciating that his “full context” makes him look even worse because he is calling for the slaughter of not just there mothers but also any others involved in the abortion. The comments section under his clarification is not going as he planned.
- Meanwhile, the other guy in that clip, Steve Cruz, is tattooed … which is fine …. but the bible he promotes very explicitly bans tattoos in Leviticus 19:28, so does he just pick the bits of the bible that align with his bigotry and discards the rest?
Georgia GOP district chair Kandiss Taylor declares that “we are the church and we run the state” and threatens “extreme accountability” for anyone who disagrees. “Extreme accountability,” in this context, means public execution.
- When the above was highlighted, she complained “Yall are delusional. Don’t put words in my mouth.“. The only problem for her there is that what was posted was a video clip of her saying those exact words.
- Nothing says “Christian love” like public executions for dissenters
- Reminder: In 2022 she ran for Gov of Georgia under the banner of “Jesus, Guns, and Babies”, and did not even make it through the Republican Primary, only 3.4% voted for her. The rest of the GA GOP took one look and said “Hell No”, so they made her Georgia District Republican chair instead.
Gene Bailey says that Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were “not just penned by man; they were written by the divine hand of God.” For good measure, Greg Stephens added in the false claim that George Washington made a covenant with God on behalf of the nation during his first inauguration.
- It takes it all to an entirely new level of cultishness. This moves it from a level where the US is not just falsely believed to have been established as a Christian Nation, but it is now believed that the US was specially established by God hence US citizens are the chosen ones.
- Meanwhile God’s “divine” constitution needed multiple amendments over the years. One can only wonder if they consider any or all of those amendments to have also been divinely inspired.
Finally, here is a daily reminder that no matter how many times Christian nationalists claim that the Bible was the source most cited by the Founding Fathers, it’s not true.
Christian “Love”
Jason Rapert fumes over the U.S. providing humanitarian aid to Gaza: “You are lying devils and you’re evil.”
- His opposition to feeding and providing medical treatment to desperate people being slaughtered means that he is being just like “Republican” Jesus
- He is clearly one of those guys who “thinks” that every member of a given ethnic group is evil and worthy of death because of a few extremists. Reality does not, and never has, operated that way.
William Wolfe declares that when it comes to the future of the Southern Baptist Convention, “what we need is … smash-mouth fundamentalism.”
- It would be a crusade led by ignorant thugs and embraced by gullible fools … what could possibly go wrong?
- “smashing mouths” … is very obviously a phrase lifted directly from the sermon on the mount.
- Since this guy is clearly a shit and also religious then the term “holy shit” is not an expletive, but instead is an accurate description of him.
Ben Zeisloft is upset that the Alabama House of Representatives’ National Day of Prayer event featured a Hindu prayer: “Prayers to demons should never be allowed in our governmental bodies. We should only acknowledge the Triune God.”
- It’s all relative. From the viewpoint of other beliefs, Ben’s “God” is a demon, so what is it, apart from geography, that convinces Ben that his preferred God is exactly the right one.
- Meanwhile, enquiring minds are curious. What is Ben’s Triune god? Is it anything like the Christian god, who very explicitly and clearly tells his followers to go home and pray in private rather than showing off in public? (Matthew 6:5)
Abortion Weirdness
Yep, more eye-roll fodder …
- Republican Rep. Chris Smith says that abortion is “a weapon of mass destruction.”
- Abby Johnson claims that abortion is driven by “the same demonic spirit that we read about in the Old Testament”: “It’s the same spirit of Molech and Baal.”
MTG was also being weird (as usual)
Murdering Puppies
Guilfoyle cooked up a weird theory …
… but, Noem herself did indeed not only claim it in her book, she also announced on Fox News that she is proud that she did so because she thinks it makes her look tough …
But with all the pushback, she later tries to play the “They took it out of context” card …
Noem: Well, you know, how the fake news works. They leave out some or most of the facts.. I hope people buy the book and they find out the truth of the story because the truth is that this was a working dog and it was not a puppy,
- The news media didn’t report it. It’s from the book that she wrote and is promoting. She volunteered that she shot her dog and she is now doing appearances to promote the book.
- I bet her family is very well behaved.
Deeply Weird
Tim Barton is “having a hard time wrapping [his] head around” allowing a “pharmacist to say that ‘I am not going to fill a prescription because I don’t like ivermectin.’”
- Presumably, Barton would not have a hard time wrapping his head around a pharmacist refusing to fill a prescription for things like birth control or Plan B.
- Fact Check (via here): “During the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation has been widely spread claiming that ivermectin is beneficial for treating and preventing COVID-19.[21][22] Such claims are not backed by credible scientific evidence.[23][24][25] Multiple major health organizations, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,[26] the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,[27] the European Medicines Agency,[28] and the World Health Organization have stated that ivermectin is not authorized or approved to treat COVID-19.[24][29]
- Life Tip: Don’t take medical advice from unqualified people who talk out of their arse; all you are getting from them is shit.
Mark Meckler calls for former President Donald Trump, if he’s reelected, to use a “weaponized DOJ” to raid the homes and offices of left-wing organizations: “We need to engage in full lawfare against the radical left.”
- Mr Meckler claims to be part of a grass-root movement, but those that have dug into the finances discovered that claim to be a sham and that there is a dark money trail leading right back to several billionaires who simply use this guy as a useful idiot.
Kandiss Taylor is not sure that she agrees that “liberals are the dumbest people on earth” because “there are [some] pretty dumb people who call themselves Republicans.”
- She is indeed correct and here is a classic example to illustrate her point: – “Kandiss Taylor is also a flat earther: “Everywhere there’s globes … and that’s what they do to brainwash.“
- Just to drive this home, this past week she also announced that she doesn’t believe the moon landing happened? “Since I was a little girl, it’s looked fake. Why haven’t we been back? It’s common sense.” … (Fact Check: Moon Landing Hoax claims have been very robustly debunked). Kandiss and Common Sense have very clearly never met each other.
Rudy Giuliani asserts that Jan. 6 was a set-up and that the subsequent imprisonment of those involved has “probably been the worst violation of human rights we’ve had in American history; maybe the Japanese internment in World War II would be similar to it.”
- Despite the entire nation watching it actually happen live on TV, Giuliani still tries to gaslight.
- As for his comparison … one group is guilty of an insurrection, the other was not. Unlike Giuliani, we can all work out which is which.
- As for his claim that the Japanese internment was the worst human rights violation in US history, I’ve also heard that slavery was a bit of an infringement on human rights, but I’m pretty woke, so…
- Reminder: Giuliani is the guy who told the mob on Jan 6 “Let’s have trial by combat!” … so did the “deep state” make him say that, was he part of the “deep state” plot that he claims orchestrated it all?
Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin has been proclaiming that antisemitism is “the duty of all Christians” because “these k*kes murdered God” and vowing to wipe out Jews in “rivers of blood.”
- “murdered god” … is not only a very old medieval trope, but is also a laughably stupid one. This is where the responsibility for the supposed actions of a few people thousands of years ago is inherited by an entire ethnic group. This belief is just totally nuts.
Fake Miracle Claim
MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau says a “verifiable” miracle occurred because a woman he knows just peed out her cancer.
- Amount of actual verification for this “verifiable” miracle is … (oh come now, you know how this stuff works) … exactly zero.
- It is apparently a friend of a friend of his, and as is usual with such claims, no name, no dates, absolutely nothing at all, and so we are supposed to just take his word on this … er … no.
The False Profit$
MAGA Pastor and Trump cult fanatic Shane Vaughn claims that Federalist 43 lays out “why Donald Trump is absolutely immune from prosecution.”
- Pastor Vaughn clearly never actually read that essay, since it says nothing of the sort.
- Perpetual Reminder: Paster John Shane Vaughn was found guilty committing financial fraud and spent a few years in jail, not before he found Jesus, but after. When it comes to being prosecuted for real crimes, this guy is a subject matter expert.
MAGA pastor/self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman used his Sunday sermon to declare that “God is far right” while ranting that Democrats are “dark black evil.”
- Remind me to send a “thank you” note to Hank for being so willing to encourage us all to be non-religious. He makes a truly excellent case for this.
Johnny Enlow proves that being a “prophet” is the easiest job in the world because when you repeatedly prophesy that Trump will be reelected and it doesn’t happen, you just accuse the media of being “a false prophet” for not reporting the truth that “he was the winner.”
- It is indeed weird to see a false prophet continue to promote a guy who is guilty of promoting a false financial profit and much more.