As I pointed out last week, the idea of being able to spend $8 and instantly become Twitter verified as anybody was a blindingly obvious path for complete and utter chaos.
Inevitably, this happened …
… and also this happened …
… oh and let’s not forget this as well …
Meanwhile Twitter micro services are starting to fail because the guys who would normally keep it all going got fired. As somebody pointed out, it is akin to that scene in 2001 where a very pissed off Dave is pulling the logic boards out of Hal one by one. Also the advertisers are fleeing.
At some point some core service might pop and Twitter will then be down.
Something else big happened this past Tuesday. I did point out in last week’s posting that the polls were wrong, there was no red wave. Do you believe me now?
If I was unscrupulous enough I could set myself up as a “prophet” and grift away.
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.
Enjoy.
Christian Nationalism
So yes … this happened … as a rather stark lesson in “Votes really do matter because electing nutters has consequences” …
Imagine how much the evangelicals would freak out if a Muslim, Hindu or Jewish Gov pulling that shit.
Is it worth pointing out that about half of those sq inches are officially native American land.
For those struggling with what the problem is, here is a small helpful graphic to give you a hint…
Antisemitism
Far-right America First streamer Matt Evans (aka Beardson Beardly) would “like to apologize to all the Jewish people out there. You’re a lot more evil than I gave you credit for.”
- For a guy who is rather fond of labelling everybody he does not like as Nazis it is deeply ironic to find him doing something lifted directly from Nazi policy in the 1930s without any self-awareness at all.
Political Shenanigans
Eric Metaxas says that “we have never seen anyone lie the way Joe Biden has lied. There is a brazenness to it that I find utterly unprecedented.”
- His claim is not just projection … it is full big-screen 3D movie professional projection on an epic scale. Eric’s beef is that Biden points out that 2020 was a robust election, and for professional liar Eric, on the basis of no credible evidence, it was supposedly stolen.
Election Hype & Stolen Election Claims
Pastor Mario Murillo tells Democrats not to even think about trying to “steal” this election: “Americans rightly blame you for crime, inflation and destroying the economy. This time, if you attempt to seize power by manipulating votes in battleground states, you will be totally discredited. There will be a massive backlash and a massive investigation.”
- Actual credible evidence of election manipulation in 2020 … well yes, some guy who used to live at 1600 pennsylvania avenue was caught attempting to do exactly that … numerous times.
- Guess who was actually discredited? … the Trump backed candidates.
George Pearsons kicked off the Victory Channel’s 2022 election night coverage by boldly declaring that “this election will not be stolen” and victory was assured because he claimed that God told him yesterday afternoon, “I got this.”
- He appears to be right, God really did have it … he parted the red sea and let the Democrats walk on dry land right through it.
When election results showed that the expected “red wave” wasn’t materializing, the Victory Channel then brought Mike Lindell on to explain what was happening. Lindell’s explanation was predictable: “They’re stealing everything.”
- Lindell has only that one card to play. Do his pillows also now come with a free tin-foil hat?
- It’s very revealing that a “Christian” channel is so very willing to promote lies.
Michele Bachmann says the 2022 election results are “crashingly disappointing” because right-wing Christians spent the last two year praying, repenting, preaching, and mobilizing: “This really should have been a wave election, and now it doesn’t even look like we’re dog paddling.”
- Well gosh, the voters, when faced with lies, deceit, and removal of basic human rights decided “nope” … what a shock that is.
- She prayed and nothing happened … Option 1) No God exists … Option 2) God said “No way”.
Mario Murillo claims that God did not give right-wing Christians the red wave they wanted because “we needed to have our eyes opened. We needed to see how big the monster is so we truly reform America.”
- He does not appear to grasp how it actually works. Gods do not decide elections, voters do.
Far-right streamer and Jan. 6 insurrectionist Tim Gionet (aka Baked Alaska) reacted petulantly to the failed red wave: “Fuck all this shit. I don’t care. Just give me my fucking Twitter back. I’m moving to Russia. Fuck elections.”
- I’ll happily help him pack, give him a lift to the airport, and wave him off.
Terri Copeland Pearsons used her Wednesday night church service to “pray in the spirit” over the undecided elections and called on God to send angels tasked with “removing every fraudulent ballot, removing every wicked ballot.”
- It is rather nice of her to pray for an even bigger loss for the GOP.
Truly Bizarre
The “Transformed Wife” tweets: God’s ways are ALWAYS proven to be perfect! Studies prove: 1) The workforce harms women physically/mentally; 2) Children need mothers at home to be emotionally stable/secure; 3) Immodesty turns women into objects; 4) Fornication is dangerous; 5) Christian women have the best sex!
- So yes, I have questions, specifically about … “studies Prove” …Item 5) …”Christian women have the best sex!”. So where is this study, who did it, and far more interesting, exactly how did they measure and test this?
- Oh go on … yes, you do want to know if they also did a double blind test for that. (Would that then be deemed to be “Christian” BDSM?)
- As for items 1-4 … “studies prove” … ?
Christian hate-preacher Jonathan Shelley says doctors and pregnant women should be executed for having an abortion.
- This is just a punt, but I’m guessing he did not vote democrat.
- Loophole: You can’t execute a “pregnant women” if she has had an abortion.
- Oh, and let’s not forget that calling for an execution for abortion is called being “Pro-Life”
Stella Immanuel declares that “the worst RINO” is better than any Democratic candidate because even “the best Democrat running for office is evil.”
- The right-wing has very rapidly morphed into becoming the wrong-wing.
- Speaking of evil, this is the Dr who ended up killing somebody due to her utter incompetence and had to flee Louisiana to avoid arrest. She setup shop in a Texas strip mall instead.
- Notable highlights from her Wikipedia page: Her claim that … “endometriosis, infertility, miscarriage, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are caused by spirit spouses, and has also endorsed a number of conspiracy theories that include the involvement of space aliens and the Illuminati in manipulating society and government”. I really have no idea what went on in the medical school she attended.
Andrew Torba is not a fan of democracy: “Democracy is when unmarried childless whores of Babylon select your leaders so they can continue to slaughter their children.”
- I have questions: How exactly do you slaughter the children of the childless?
The False Profit$
Trump-loving “prophet” Julie Green wept as she called upon God to “let our rightful president take his place back where it rightfully belongs to him.”
- Yea, I’ll support that prayer because the place that “rightfully belongs to him” is in a prison cell.
- Apparently prayers by right-wing “prophets” are only supposed to work if you record them and then broadcast them to as many people as you can via social media while also begging for money.
- Spoiler Alert 1: Jesus actually said that his kingdom was not of this world, so basically in that context, WTAF is this?
- Spoiler Alert 2: Number of Julie Green “prophecies” that have actually come true – Zero.
Self-Appointed Christian “prophet” Robin Bullock wanted God to send “techno-angels” to “reach [their] hands inside those [voting] machines… and fix what’s wrong.“
- So basically … he wanted to use supernatural entities to rig the election?
- And yes … “techno-angels” … that’s a new one.
- There is no avoiding the observation that these guys have come a long way since the days when they used to go from town to town selling snake oil.
Shane Vaughn explains what is responsible for stopping the expected red wave in the midterm elections: demons.
- I really did not know that demons were registered voters.
- The real reason for no Red Wave is that Gen-Z has been looking around and seeing that they can’t afford, oh I don’t know, food, housing, school, or a fucking life, so they turned up to vote.
Interesting Articles
- Christopher Mathias @ HuffPost: Doug Mastriano’s Prophets In Pennsylvania.
- Jessica Pishko @ Slate: Angry Right-Wing Moms Are Trying to Have Librarians Arrested by “Constitutional Sheriffs”.
- Bob Ortega, Isabelle Chapman and Curt Devine @ CNN: Law enforcement ratchets up presence in voting process as some sheriffs push election conspiracy theories.
- Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Isaac Stanley-Becker @ The Washington Post: How a pro-Trump youth group remade the Arizona GOP, testing democracy.
- Yonat Shimron @ Religion News Service: The American Renewal Project wants to mobilize pastors for the Republican Party.
- Michelle Boorstein @ The Washington Post: In existential midterm races, Christian prophets become GOP surrogates.
- Brad Reed @ Raw Story: ‘We claim that in Jesus’ name’: Mastriano ad says rainbow at campaign rally shows God is about to make him governor
- John Fea @ Current: For MAGA Christians, it doesn’t matter if the founding fathers’ quote they use is true, as long as it rallies the base.
- Anna Merlan @ Vice News: Quack COVID Group America’s Frontline Doctors Is Suing Its ‘Rogue Founder’ Simone Gold.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Nikki Haley Calls for US to ‘Deport’ Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock.
- Jonathan Nicholson @ HuffPost: Man Who Wants To Run Oklahoma’s Schools Buys Into Bogus ‘Cat Litter’ Conspiracy Theory.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: Wayne County Judge Blasts Michigan’s Republican SOS Nominee For Trying To “Egregiously Harm” Detroit Voters.
- Will Doran @ The News & Observer: Leaked video injects Christianity, heaven and hell into high-profile North Carolina state Senate election.
Statistic of the week
Tweet of the week
You have to love these guys for risking their twitter account like this …
This tweet was also fun …