As is inevitable, when something happens, pick almost anything at all, up pop people claiming it to be part of some conspiracy.
Here are a few examples regarding the Titan sub…
- It happened because of … wokeness … says Charlie Kirk, and also MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson, and also Newsmax, cartoonishly MAGA host Greg Kelly, and others.
- No wait, that’s not it. Apparently the timing of the announcement of what happened was done to drown out the Hunter Biden news – that’s via a Laura Loomer tweet. She was not alone, Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist Miranda Devine also jumped on that bandwagon, as also did Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, and many others.
However, the whackiest weirdest conspiracy theory crown goes to Stew Peters. Here is what he claimed …
What if all of this is actually a ploy to keep people from visiting the Titanic wreckage? But if that’s the goal, why? Maybe because if people explore the Titanic too much, they would discover that it wasn’t an iceberg that sank the Titanic. There’s a lot of alternative theories about how that sinking occurred — that it was intentionally sunk as part of an elaborate insurance scam and even that it was sunk by a newly created Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, for those of us back in the real world, what we actually have is a story about a guy who ignored all the warnings from subject matter experts regarding his complete lack of appropriate safety measures and then ended up killing himself and all his rather rich passengers.
Of all the things that needed a conspiracy theory, this needed it the least.
Moving on, below you will once again find my usual 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 dive in.
Christian Nationalism
Fanatical Christian nationalist Mark Robinson has a message for naysayers who think he can’t be elected governor of North Carolina because he’s too right-wing and crazy: “I’m not crazy … I look crazy to you because you’re insane.”
- “I’m not crazy! You’re Crazy!” is not exactly a compelling argument.
Here are a few examples of his “not crazy” thoughts and claims I’ve mined from his Wikipedia page…
- “he wants to remove science and social studies from first through fifth grade curriculum, abolish the State Board of Education, and expand charter schools and school voucher programs, potentially supplanting the public school system.[26]
- He claimed that the Marvel movie Black Panther was “created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic Marxists” that was “only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets” (using a Yiddish word for Black).[28][23]
- In 2020, Robinson asserted that the coronavirus was a “globalist” conspiracy to defeat Donald Trump, and dismissed the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing, “The looming pandemic I’m most worried about is SOCIALISM.”[23]
But remember, he is not crazy, you are.
Meanwhile, in other Christian Nationalist news from this past week …
- Frederick Clarkson @ Salon: “Unfriending” America: The Christian right is coming for the enemies of God — like you and me.
The Cult of Trump
Via that Fox interview, those who used to work for him and know him best are not members of his fan club (see clip below) …
RFK Jnr’s Quackfest
Wow, holy cow manure, this is indeed a who’s-who of cranks and quacks.
If curious to understand just how quacky this quackfest actually is, then Dr David Gorski (that’s his tweet above) went on to write a long blog posting that articulates just how utterly insane RFK Jnr’s “health experts” actually are …
Satan’s minions
Far-right Catholic priest James Altman says that Catholics, Christians, and Latinos can never vote for any Democrat: “They are a damned party supporting Satan’s minions, Satan’s agenda.”
- “Satan’s minions” sounds like the name of a 90s boy band.
- This is not a new stance for him, he has been banging this drum for years. He is not just playing the abortion card, but is also opposed to COVID restrictions, and claims climate change is a hoax.
- Translation: Male virgin in a dress who represents an organisation that is guilty of enabling sexual abuse of a countless number of children on a global industrial scale for decades, accuses us of being “Satan’s minions”. His stance gives the word “hypocrisy” a whole new layer of meaning.
Racism
Nick Fuentes decided to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday by saying the “N-word” several times on his program.
- Self-certified Hitler loving racist does racist stuff this past week … well gosh, we are all truly shocked by this development.
Patrick Howley and Lauren Witzke declare that things like “1776: The Musical” and “The Little Mermaid” are being “blackwashed”: “What is happening to my country? This is horrible. This is a mockery. It’s just a humiliation ritual. … They make it Black and gay.”
- They really do strive ever so hard to make it easy for all of us to mock them and make their entire lives one long humiliation ritual.
- It is deeply bizarre to note that the hill they choose to die on is being upset about the casting of a completely fictional non-human character
- Fact Check: Hans Christian Andersen did not give the mermaid a name, or a skin colour, that was a Disney addition. Halle got the role because she could sing. She was better than anybody else who auditioned, race played no role in the decision. As for the movie, IMDB ranks it 7.6, and upon release it set new box office records. In other words, as far as both movie critics and the paying public are concerned, Patrick and Lauren can F**k off.
Stew Peters is racist and doesn’t understand how calendars work.
- Stew posted a cartoon that claims it is not a coincidence that Juneteenth is the day after Father’s Day … except this is not true. Juneteenth is always on 19th, and fathers day is 3rd Sunday of June, it really was just a coincidence for just this year.
- Some might quip that Stew has once again deployed a racist dog whistle. I disagree, it was not a dog whistle but a foghorn.
- Meanwhile, Juneteenth celebrations date back as far as 1866, while fathers day started long after that in 1910.
Homophobia on Steroids
Jason Rapert, the former State Senator from Arkansas, cited a Bible verse that calls for gay people to be put to death while demanding that the Obergefell decision be overturned: “No, it’s not settled law. God’s word is what is settled on this thing.”
- He basically wants to see other humans being put to death for simply being born with a specific sexual orientation.
- The one observation that throws a very bright spotlight upon how deeply bigoted this is, is that whenever people like this cite Leviticus as their definitive “God says” slam dunk, then you need to also remember that they completely ignore all the other rules in Leviticus – shellfish are an abomination, don’t eat pork, don’t wear a suit of mixed fibres, no divorce, etc… All they are doing is plucking one lone archaic verse out and using it to justify their own hatred and bigotry.
Further Reading …
- Adam Gabbat @ The Guardian: Well-funded Christian group behind US effort to roll back LGBTQ+ rights.
The Conspiracy Rabbit Hole
Liz Crokin has issued a warning: “To everyone who has messed with me these past seven years let this be a warning to you. I don’t forget, and it may take years, but I NEVER lose. So you can spend the rest of your pathetic lives wondering when and ‘if’ I’m going to come back to haunt you…I can promise you in one way or another, I will.“
- Background: She has a well established track record for vigorously promoting whacky conspiracy theories … Pizzagate, QAnon, Covid is a hoax, etc… and so anybody who disagrees with her is deemed “enemy”
- She generally goes way beyond normal crazy: For example, she tweeted to explain that everybody she interacts with is out to get her … “The majority of the people that come into my life are plants. This is my norm. I have had everyone from doctors to lawyers get paid off by the Deep State to destroy my life.“
- The issue is not that she has acute psychosis and needs help, but rather that lots of people embrace her delusional rants as “truth”.
Actor Jim Caviezel is now right at home among even the most fanatical QANON adherents: “I’m telling you it’s coming. And they know it’s coming. And the world is going to have a rude awakening, and this will be worse than anything that anybody has ever seen.”
- He is perhaps best known for playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ (2004), and has struggled to get any good movie roles since then
- He has rather sadly also fallen down the QAnon rabbit hole and now deploys spooky language to try and suck others in as well.
Blatant Frauds – One Inch taller
Truly Bizarre
Jarrin Jackson attacked the holiday of Juneteenth by absurdly declaring that the Civil War was not about slavery: “You have an a historical, propagandized view of the Civil War.”
- That is laughably false, as the declarations issued by the seceding states repeatedly and explicitly mentioned slavery multiple times.
Virulent antisemite Jon Miller says that “a religious war” must be carried out to remove the “Judeo part” of the term Judeo-Christian: “That needs to be a war that we need to fight.”
- He is going to be very shocked when he discovers that Jesus was in fact Jewish.
Anne Graham Lotz is pretty confident that “in the next five years, we may be seeing the return of Jesus”: “I have had that strong compulsion that I am in the last generation.”
- … says every fanatic for the past 2,000 years.
- If you are wondering who she is, this is Billy Graham’s daughter.
Rep. Lauren Boebert claims that she is forcing a House vote on impeaching President Joe Biden because she is “directed and led” by “the spirit of God” in everything she does: “We are doing what is right, what is righteous. History will prove that.”
- Both History and also God just called in to say “Nope”
Nick Adams tells religious-right activists at Road to Majority conference that men are the most oppressed demographic and that every single problem in America can be solved with a return to an “alpha male” mindset.
- Yes, it’s “that” Nick Adams, the guy who is generally recognised as a twitter troll for constantly posting tweets claiming that Trump is an Alpha male and far superior to others, for example his tweet last Sept that Trump is better at Tennis than the best Tennis pros.
- There is a theory that he is in fact not actually a far-right Republican, but is mocking them by posting very extreme and weird views on twitter. I quite honestly don’t know because I can no longer differentiate between the actual beliefs and satire of those beliefs.
“Little Bitch”
MTG this past week called Lauren Boebert a “little bitch” to her face … on the house floor.
- The jaw dropping bit here is that for the first time ever, I actually agree with MTG.
Did she really say this?
Yep …
Here is some further reading that that little spat …
- Zachary Petrizzo and Sam Brodey @ The Daily Beast: Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Boebert a ‘Little Bitch’ on the House Floor.
- Josephine Harvey @ HuffPost: Marjorie Taylor Greene Escalates War With ‘Nasty Little B***h’ Lauren Boebert.
The False Profit$
- Irony Alert: Murillo is a Trump cultist who steadfastly refuses to acknowledge that Joe Biden is president
- Quote: “they” make “us all look crazy.” … er sorry Mario, but it’s really not just them, it is also you. You do not seem to be bothered by the false prophecies issued by your frequent collaborator, Lance Wallnau, such as the declaration Wallnau made in April that there would be “sudden deaths coming in May”.
- Reminder: Murillo has in the past declared that refusing to accept Biden’s victory was a test of loyalty to God
Statistic of the week
Slavery
Nebraska Update
Arizona Update
Epic Clap back for DeSantis
Supreme Court
David Lane decries “three important Supreme Court decisions [that] represent Satan’s premeditated assault on liberty and freedom: “They include the removal of prayer to Jehovah from education in Engel v. Vitale in 1962, the expulsion of the Bible from public education in Abington School District v. Schempp in 1963 and the ban on displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools, courthouses and government buildings in Stone v. Grahamin 1980.”
- Basically it works like this: Any SCOTUS decision that opposes him imposing his whacky beliefs upon everybody is “Satanic”, and any that enable it are deemed “goodness incarnate”.
So this rather blatant bit of corruption was revealed this past week …
- Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski @ ProPublica: Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court.
- Colby Hall @ Mediaite: Justice Alito Writes Curious WSJ Rebuttal of ProPublica’s Deep Dive Into Alleged Ethics Violations.
Interesting Articles
- John E. Finn @ Talking Points Memo: Conservatives Are Now Trying To Create ‘Constitutional Counties,’ Which Happen To Be Unconstitutional.
- Beth Reinhard and Josh Dawsey @ The Washington Post: Gov. Ron DeSantis used secretive panel to flip state Supreme Court.
- Stephanie McCrummen @ The Atlantic: The Woman Who Bought A Mountain For God.
- Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: MAGA Melts Down Over Hunter’s Plea Deal: We’re ‘Controlled by COMMUNISTS!’
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: Inside Moms for Liberty’s Close Relationship With the Prou
- Jake Lahut @ The Daily Beast: Leaked Audio: Michigan GOP Chair Says Outrage Over Holocaust Tweet Was ‘Completely Hilarious.’
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Georgia election board finds no conspiracy, no fraud in 2020 results.
- Zachary Pleat, Chloe Simon, and Eric Kleefeld @ Media Matters: Right-wing media are wrong — Hunter Biden didn’t get a “sweetheart deal.”
- d Boys.
- David Corn @ Mother Jones: John Durham Just Made False Statements to Congress.
- Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Kari Lake ‘Practically Lives’ At Mar-a-Lago As She Vies to Be Trump’s Running Mate, Says Report: ‘Is There Every Night.’
- Jeff Bryant @ AlterNet: A ‘new breed’ of charter schools is spreading Christian nationalism — at taxpayers’ expense.
- Brad Reed @ Raw Story: Indiana Moms for Liberty chapter scrambles to explain why it quoted Hitler in very first newsletter.
- Madeline Peltz and Sophie Lawton @ Media Matters: Tucker Carlson’s racist former head writer resurfaces as Charlie Kirk’s radio producer.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Stew Peters’ Rothschilds conspiracy theory: OceanGate sub was sunk to hide truth “that it wasn’t an iceberg that sank the Titanic.”
Finally …
Hat tip to whoever did this …