@jsonitsac

Clarence Thomas #transphobia #quack #homophobia #biphobia #fundie #wingnut washingtonpost.com

In written dissents, Alito and Thomas said the case presents important questions of free speech that have divided lower courts.
“There is fierce debate over how best to help minors with gender dysphoria,” Thomas wrote…

In Thomas’s five-page dissent on Monday, he said Washington’s ban [on conversion therapy for minors] had “silenced one side of this debate” by restricting the First Amendment rights of medical professionals. “Licensed counselors cannot voice anything other than the state-approved opinion on minors with gender dysphoria without facing punishment. The Ninth Circuit set a troubling precedent by condoning this regime,” Thomas wrote.

Mike Lee #conspiracy #wingnut #dunning-kruger rollingstone.com

Lee quoted a post from former Jan. 6 committee member Liz Cheney that contained footage of the Capitol attack, writing, “Liz, we’ve seen footage like that a million times. You made sure we saw that—and nothing else. It’s the other stuff—what you deliberately hid from us—that we find so upsetting. Nice try.”

He then added, “P.S. How many of these guys are feds? (As if you’d ever tell us).”

Then on Saturday, Lee quoted a post from a Republican former West Virginia legislator Derrick Evans who asked if an image from a Jan. 6 video inside the Capitol shows a rioter “flashing a badge?”

“If so, this would prove there were undercover federal agents disguised as MAGA,” Evans wrote.


Lee quoted Evans’ post and wrote, “I can’t wait to ask FBI Director Christopher Wray about this at our next oversight hearing. I predict that, as always, his answers will be 97% information-free.”

You might pause and wonder, is the person behind the account with the handle @BasedMikeLee really a U.S. senator? But it is. Lee confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune in 2022 that the account is his.

The man pictured with the alleged badge is Trump supporter Kevin Lyons, who is shown in a separate photo carrying a vape in his hand. Twitter appended two fact checks to the tweets, writing that Lyons “is not a police officer and is not holding a badge. He is carrying a vape and a photograph and wallet stolen from Pelosi’s office.”

Even if Lyons were a federal agent, he would certainly be going to great lengths to disguise his affiliation. Lyons is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for his actions in the Capitol, which include stealing a wallet and taking a framed photo of the late Rep. John Lewis from then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

I Resemble That Remark Award

Steven Cheung #wingnut #dunning-kruger religiondispatches.org

And when the Washington Post reached out to the Trump campaign to respond to criticisms that these comments echoed the rhetoric of Nazi and fascist leaders, Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, replied defiantly, “Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.” [Note [[in original]]: In a puzzling move, the Trump campaign later tried to amend the statement to replace the phrase “entire existence” with “sad, miserable existence.”]

The North Carolina Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations #wingnut #god-complex #psycho popular.info

North Carolina’s new $30 billion state budget contains a provision that gives extraordinary investigative powers to a partisan oversight committee co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).

The Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations — or Gov Ops for short — is empowered to seize “any document or system of record” from anyone who works in or with state and local government during its investigations. The rule applies to contractors, subcontractors, and any other non-state entity “receiving, directly and indirectly, public funds,” including charities and state universities.

Moreover, Gov Ops staff will be authorized to enter “any building or facility” owned or leased by a state or non-state entity without a judicial warrant. This includes the private residences of subcontractors and contractors who run businesses out of their homes, lawmakers say.

Alarmingly, public employees under investigation will be required to keep all communication and requests “confidential.” They cannot alert their supervisor of the investigation nor consult with legal counsel. Violating this rule “shall be grounds for disciplinary action, including dismissal,” the law reads. Those who refuse to cooperate face jail time and fines of up to $1,000. In the event that Gov Ops searches a person’s home, these rules mean that the person 1) must keep the entry a secret, 2) cannot seek outside help (unless necessary for fulfilling the request, the law says), and 3) could face criminal charges if Gov Ops deems them uncooperative.

Moore and Berger claim these new rules are benign and necessary to exercise oversight of state funds. But Democrats and other critics say the changes turn Gov Ops into a “secret police force,” warning that the new policies have far-reaching implications.

Elon Musk #racist #conspiracy #dunning-kruger #god-complex rollingstone.com

While much of America enjoyed a relaxing Labor Day weekend of cookouts and beach trips, X (formerly known as Twitter) owner Elon Musk was doubling down on his absurd claims that the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish nonprofit, had somehow tanked the website he personally ran into the ground.

The accusations began last week, after ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt had a meeting with X CEO Linda Yaccarino to discuss the prevalence of hate speech on the platform. This kicked off a trending hashtag campaign, #BanTheADL, predicated on the groundless idea that the organization has stifled free speech on X (and should therefore have their account removed). But the tag, promoted by known antisemites and white supremacists, generated a slew of hateful content. When Musk proved receptive to the movement and chimed in to allege that “ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter,” he did so in reply to Keith Woods, an antisemitic YouTuber affiliated with notorious racists Richard Spencer and Nick Fuentes.

By Saturday, Musk was mulling a poll on whether to suspend the ADL and tweeting that it had been “hijacked by the woke mind virus.” He returned to the topic on Monday, once again interacting with Woods and escalating his rhetoric against the group, blaming them for the preponderance of antisemitism on X and insisting that they were out to destroy the website. “Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic,” he complained.

From there, Musk began spinning out even more outrageous claims of sabotage, tweeting that a 60 percent plummet in U.S. advertising revenue for the site was “primarily due to pressure” from the ADL. (In fact, brands have tended to blame Musk himself for their departure.) Multiple times, he threatened a defamation suit against the organization, at one point calculating that they had cut his company’s value in half, making them liable for a loss of some $22 billion. This back-of-the-envelope math, dubious on its face, also seems to derive from the $44 billion price tag of Musk’s Twitter acquisition, and even he has said he was “obviously overpaying” at that price.

Vivek Ramaswamy #wingnut #ableist vox.com

In one of the most striking tangents of the night, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy even advocated for reopening “mental health institutions” that have closed over the decades as the country sought to cut costs (starting in the Reagan administration) and tried — but has largely failed — to invest in more humane home- and community-based services. He framed putting more people with mental health problems into those institutions as one of the most important ways to address crime.

“Just over the same period that we have closed mental health institutions, we have seen a spike in violent crime. Do we have the spine to bring them back?” he said. “I think we should. As president, I will.”

I have interviewed people who were subjected to the cruel treatment that was often commonplace in the mental health asylums of old. The new mental health paradigm is focused much more on treating people where they are. While the US has struggled to erect a sufficient mental health system given the scale of the country’s needs, few people who work in the field would argue that a return to the institutions of that era is the recipe for fixing our mental health crisis.

But Ramaswamy, the biggest non-Trump sensation of the GOP primary so far, does. He even implicitly allowed that “drugging up people in those psychiatric institutions with Zoloft and Seroquel” would be part of the program (but not the only part; he also wants a return to the patriotism, faith, and family that he believes constitutes the American character).

Vivek Ramaswamy #conspiracy #wingnut washingtonpost.com

At a dinner, Ramaswamy told the audience that the public could handle the “truth” about the Capitol riot. Hendrickson later asked him what that “truth” was, obviously understanding that Ramaswamy was generally winking at conspiracy theories like those elevated by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Ramaswamy shrugged, offering a just-asking-questions response about the unsupported idea that government agents were involved.

“Then, suddenly,” Hendrickson wrote, “he was talking about 9/11.”


“I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero,” Ramaswamy said. “But if we’re doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9/11, we have a 9/11 Commission, absolutely that should be an answer the public knows the answer to.”
Hendrickson pressed him on this, asking the candidate if he was actually uncertain about culpability for the attacks.
“I mean, I would take the truth about 9/11,”

Ramaswamy replied. “I am not questioning what we — this is not something I’m staking anything out on. But I want the truth about 9/11.” He was going to say he wasn’t just asking questions, but, of course, he was.

Ted Cruz #pratt #wingnut independent.co.uk

“I’m pissed at these over and over and over again, if they’re indictments, it’ll be the fourth indictment of Donald Trump” Mr Cruz, who lost the Republican nomination for president to Mr Trump in 2016, said. “This is disgraceful. Our country’s over 200 years old. We’ve never once indicted a former president, or a candidate or a leading candidate for president and this is Joe Biden and this is the Democrats weaponizing the justice system because they're afraid of the voters.”

Vivek Ramaswamy #conspiracy #dunning-kruger mediaite.com

Fielding a series of conspiratorial rapid-fire questions from from Stein, Ramaswamy declared of the 1969 Apollo moon landing “I have no evidence to suggest it was fake, so I’m gonna say it was real.”

He was less sure, however, when Stein asked if 9/11 was an “inside job, or exactly what the government tells us.”

Ramaswamy’s reply delighted Stein:

I don’t believe the government has told us the truth. Again, I’m driven by evidence and data. What I’ve seen in the last several years is we have to be skeptical of what the government does tell us. I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary, but do I believe everything the government told us about it? Absolutely not. Do I believe the 9/11 Commission? Absolutely not.

“Yeah, 9/11 Commission lied,” agreed Stein.

Ramaswamy, who professed to form his opinions on the basis of evidence before expressing an opinion he said he had no evidence for, explained his answer later to Semafor’s Shelby Talcott.

“I think there have long been unanswered questions about who knew about it in the Saudi government. That’s what I was getting at,” said Ramaswamy who told Talcott that he doesn’t believe the attacks were an “inside job.”

To explain the discrepancy in his answers, Ramaswamy cited the fact that “Some guy who is a comedian was spouting off questions about the moon landing not being real before that.”

Ramaswamy is presently in third place in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls of the GOP primary.

Marsha Blackburn #conspiracy #wingnut huffpost.com

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has appeared to suggest that an announcement about the fate of the missing Titan submersible was somehow planned to distract from accusations against the president’s son Hunter Biden.
“If the U.S. Navy suspected that the Titan Submersible imploded just hours after it began its voyage, why did the Coast Guard wait until Thursday—the same day the IRS whistleblowers testified before Congress—to make their announcement to the public?” asked the senator in a Friday night tweet.

Authorities searching for the Titan said Thursday afternoon that the vessel seemed to suffer a “catastrophic” failure not long after launching into the North Atlantic on Sunday, killing all aboard. It took several days to mobilize high-tech equipment and locate any sign of the sub. After a debris field on the ocean floor turned out to be remnants of the Titan, the U.S. Navy revealed that it had detected what was likely the sound of the vessel imploding Sunday, although the Navy said it could not be sure at the time.

Also on Thursday, the GOP-led House Ways and Means Committee convened behind closed doors and voted to release IRS whistleblower testimony criticizing a federal investigation into Joe Biden’s son.

The interviews with the two whistleblowers had taken place weeks ago, not the same day as the Titan announcement, as Blackburn suggested.

Clay Higgins #fundie vox.com

US Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana recently advocated for libraries to be replaced with “church-owned” alternatives. “Over time, American communities will build beautiful, church owned public-access libraries. I’m going to help these churches get funding,” he tweeted. “We will change the whole public library paradigm. The libraries regular Americans recall are gone. They’ve become liberal grooming centers.”

Lu Shaye #wingnut #moonbat #crackpot #pratt news.yahoo.com

In an interview with Swiss journalist Darius Rochebin, Chinese ambassador to France Lu Shaye said that former Soviet countries "have no effective status in international law."

“In international law, even these ex-Soviet Union countries do not have the effective status because there is no international agreement to materialize their status of a sovereign country,” he said.

“He denies the very existence of countries like Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, etc.,” Antoine Bondaz, a China expert at the Paris-based think-tank Foundation for Strategic Research, wrote on Twitter.

Also, when asked whether he thinks Crimea belongs to Ukraine, the ambassador said, "it depends on how you perceive the problem," adding that "it's not that simple." He also said Crimea was "Russian at the beginning," without specifying what he meant by beginning.

Ukraine has not yet commented on the issue.

Mike Lee #wingnut #elitist #mammon sltrib.com

On the other hand, Sen. Mike Lee has loudly defended Thomas from criticism, calling the Justice a “hero” and saying he has done nothing wrong.

Lee is now attempting to fundraise off the Thomas scandal. Last week, Lee sent a fundraising email titled “Stand with Clarence Thomas.”

“The hypocritical woke Left is at it once again with their latest smear attacks against Justice Clarence Thomas,” the email reads.

The email accuses Thomas’ critics of targeting him because he stands in the way of “advancing their radical agenda” before making his fundraising pitch about protecting the Supreme Court.

“The need to retake the Senate majority and protect the Court from being manipulated, warped, and taken over by radical leftists is greater than ever,” the message says. The email then directs recipients to a landing page where they can show their support for Thomas by providing their cellphone number and email to the Lee campaign. After signing up, users are asked to donate to Lee’s campaign.

Both Lee and [Mitt] Romney have taken campaign donations from Crow. The Texan gave Lee $16,800 for his 2016 and 2022 reelection bids. He kicked in $5,400 to Romney’s 2018 Senate campaign. For his 2012 presidential run, Crow donated $5,000 directly to Romney’s campaign and gave $2.3 million to super PACs that supported his White House bid.

Cameron Sexton #fundie #wingnut #elitist tennesseelookout.com

The top Republican in Tennessee’s House called Thursday’s protests over gun violence at the Tennessee Capitol an “insurrection,” drawing comparisons to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, made the comments during an appearance on the Hal Show on 98.7 FM.

“Two of the members, Reps. (Justin) Jones and (Gloria) Johnson, have been very vocal about Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., about what that was,” Sexton said. “What they did today was at least equivalent, maybe worse, depending on how you look at it, of doing an insurrection in the capitol.”

House Democratic leaders on Friday said Sexton is trying to “change the narrative” and demanded Republicans issue an apology for referring to parents and children who went to the Capitol as “insurrectionists.”

More than a thousand people, including many teenagers, showed up to the Tennessee Capitol calling for lawmakers to address gun violence after six people were killed — including three children — in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville.

Protesters started their rally in front of the State Capitol at War Memorial Plaza at 8 a.m. They then proceeded to the statehouse shortly afterward, entering in an orderly manner and passing through a security point operated by Tennessee State Troopers.

The demonstrations in Nashville on Thursday were not violent, and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security said no arrests were made, no use of force incidents were reported and no property was damaged.

Xinjiang Narcotics Control Commission #racist rfa.org

A public service video featuring a Uyghur actor who portrays a “black-hearted drug dealer” preying on Chinese women recently went viral in China.

But researchers and activists have criticized the choice of a Uyghur for the role, saying it plays on old racist tropes about Uyghur men, who have historically been victims of drug trafficking rather than perpetrators.

“I’m a black-hearted drug dealer, but I’d never tell you this,” the actor, Turghunjan Mehmet, says to the camera from a dimly-lit room.

“I’d never tell you that I’d package methaqualone as candy and give it to you,” he says. “Its street name is ‘Buddha’s Virtue.’ It can trigger severe coma and lethal respiratory failure.”

The camera shows him giving the candy to an apparently Han Chinese woman in a coffee shop.

Nathan Magsig #racist fresnobee.com

[Squaw Valley, California was renamed Yokuts Valley]

Nathan Magsig, Fresno County Supervisor for District 5, was none too happy about it. By 1 p.m. he issued a “clarification” to readers of the Facebook group “Squaw Valley: The Original 93675” that, in actuality, muddied the waters. After reporting that the [United States Board of Geographic Names]’s decision about Yokuts Valley, Magsig stoked white grievance and anger with falsehoods:
▪ Magsig claimed that the USBGN “decided to ignore the comments and resolutions by my office and the residents of Sq— Valley.” Not true! The USBGN carefully considered everything that Magsig had submitted (at the board’s request) — and weighed them with considerations from all interested parties. Carefully considering is not “ignoring.”
▪ Magsig claimed the USBGN “does not have the authority to name recognized locations” that are not on federal land. Not true! In September of this year the USBGN renamed over 650 places, not just federally owned lands, that previously had had “squaw” in their names. Furthermore, the USBGN worked closely with the California Advisory Council on Geographical Names, which had plenty of local input. The implication that the USBGN’s decision was arbitrary and without local input is manifestly false.
▪ Magsig claimed that he expected the California Legislature also to “ignore” his office’s comments and resolutions. Not true! While the Legislature does have the authority to change place names, in the case of Sq— Valley, this is not a future decision. AB 2022 already became law (past tense) in November. And the CACGN has already selected “Yokuts Valley” as the replacement name. It is ironic that Magsig complained about being “ignored,” while for two years he blocked requests from the local Indigenous community (and others) to get a hearing on this issue; he has dismissed the statements of Indigenous leaders that the word “squaw” is a derogatory and racist slur; and he has refused to acknowledge the fact that genocide cleared the way for white settlement of this region.

Chris Tang #moonbat #psycho rfa.org

Security chief Chris Tang told lawmakers that 517 people under the age of 18 had been prosecuted in connection with the 2019 protests by that date, adding that youths judged to hold "extreme ideological views" had been sent for "re-education."

"At present, all young persons in custody are required to receive Chinese-style marching training," Tang told the Legislative Council on Oct. 26.

"The Correctional Services Department emphasizes strict discipline training for young persons in custody, hoping to make them understand the importance of discipline and abiding by the law," he said.

"Juvenile inmates trained under the Rehabilitation Centres Ordinance are ... subjected to strict disciplinary training and hard physical training, to enable them to understand the cost of crime, and to reflect on their own misdeeds," he said.

Inmates are also required to undergo patriotic education and activities to "enhance their national identity, to instill the correct values ... and to help them rediscover meaning in life," Tang said.

They also take classes in "moral and civic education" and "national security law education," programs that have been imposed on children and university students across Hong Kong since the National Security Law sparked a citywide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition from July 2020.

"The Correctional Services Department will assign a dedicated case manager to assess these persons in custody to identify the special rehabilitation needs of each person in custody, and match each person in custody according to the three principles of the above-mentioned rehabilitation program," Tang said.

Rogerdale Place Homeowners #elitist #crackpot loudountimes.com

Some 160 property owners have signed a petition opposing this Rogerdale Place stop, claiming it would destroy their quality of life. They assert that a bus stop would draw strangers into their close-knit community who would then park illegally, litter their roads, create hazardous conditions for their children and pets, and lower their property values. What is making them really angry and frustrated, they've said, is that the the county transit and commuter services division is moving forward with their plan to keep this stop without considering the feelings or the input of the affected neighborhood. They say a county survey carried out in 2019 was flawed and should be redone. That survey elicited 56 responses for a bus stop of which two explicitly called for a bus stop outside the community, that got positive responses for a bus stop asked whether a bus stop should be located within or without a community.

That message was delivered forcefully and vociferously at an Oct. 26 community meeting that Supervisor Matthew Letourneau, R-Dulles, called to assuage their concerns. His explanations were largely drowned, and met with disdain and jeers, especially when he said "We are at this point where we can't undo [the service]."

Letourneau's explanation that the bus service would get more cars off the road and alleviate congestion also were ignored. His assertion that some residents told him that they were pressured to sign out of fear of angering their neighbors was greeted with booing.

The Dulles district supervisor, who also sits of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro), was joined by Scott Gross, manager of Loudoun County government's commuter and transit services division, whose explanations and rationale for why this bus stop would not pose safety concerns to the community also were shouted down.

Shouts of "skip the stop" and "we don't want a bus stop in our community" peppered the hour-long meeting that at times seemed more like a market brawl. Calls for holding another survey of the residents were turned down by Letourneau who said "we can't redo every survey for every community. That's not how it is done."

Ron Johnson #fundie #transphobia #kinkshaming lgbtqnation.com

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is the latest Republican politician to insist that kids are using litter boxes in schools as part of a rant attacking transgender youth.

During a recent tele-town hall event, Johnson was questioned by a caller who claimed that his niece told him that her school had provided litter boxes for students who believe they are cats. The caller, who identified himself as a former Democrat, wanted to know whether the senator had heard about things like that happening and whether Johnson would support a federal law similar to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

One of the things that COVID did was that parents were looking over their kids’ shoulders and they became aware of the indoctrination of our children by radical leftists within our education system,” he said.

He went on to claim that he’d heard “on a radio talk show” that England’s National Health Service (NHS) has declared that “transgenderism” is “just a phase for children” and that we shouldn’t “accommodate the phase.” Johnson continued his misinformed rant saying that children should not be given “gender-blocking drugs” or receive “sex change operations.” In reality, gender-affirming genital surgeries are not performed on minors.

Johnson concluded by claiming that teachers are “pushing this stuff on our kids.”

Samuel Alito #wingnut #elitist #god-complex politico.com

Speaking at a Heritage Foundation event, Alito said the release of his draft opinion made the justices presumed to be in the majority “targets for assassination because it gave people a rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one of us.”

The draft from Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was published by POLITICO on May 2.

“It was a grave betrayal of trust by somebody,” Alito, who authored both the draft and the final majority opinion, told the Heritage Foundation’s John G. Malcolm.

The draft proved substantially similar to the final majority opinion that was issued in June. That ruling overturned the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which had established a right to abortion throughout the country.

“It certainly changed the atmosphere at the court,” Alito said of the unauthorized disclosure of the draft.

Tommy Tuberville #racist thedailybeast.com

Saturday’s Donald Trump rally in Nevada naturally featured some extremist comments, chief among them a false—and racist—tirade from Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who claimed that Democrats are in favor of “reparations” because they are “pro-crime.” Tuberville’s speech also called for an end to food stamps, education reform, and closing the border. “No, they’re not soft on crime, they’re pro-crime. They want crime!” Tuberville said to the fringe crowd. “They want reparations because they think the people who do the crime are owed that. Bullshit!” The remarks at an event intended to promote Stop the Steal loons like Adam Laxalt, a Senate candidate, drew the ire of an army of critics on social media. Among them was MSNBC’s Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough, who likened the Alabama senator’s comments to the rhetoric of segregationist figures like George Wallace and Lester Maddox.

Samuel Alito #wingnut #elitist #dunning-kruger #god-complex #quack cnn.com

“It goes without saying that everyone is free to express disagreement with our decisions and to criticize our reasoning as they see fit,” Alito, who penned the decision reversing Roe v. Wade last term, told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. “But saying or implying that the court is becoming an illegitimate institution or questioning our integrity crosses an important line,” he said.

Donald Trump #conspiracy #dunning-kruger #mammon nbcnews.com

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday defended hosting a Saudi-funded tournament at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, by casting doubt on any connection between Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Asked to respond to harsh criticism from families of Sept. 11 victims who are urging Americans to protest the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament, Trump suggested there was still uncertainty surrounding the attacks.

“Well, nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately, and they should have,” Trump said.

Ted Cruz #wingnut #elitist commondreams.org

"If you are that slacker barista who wasted seven years in college studying completely useless things, now has loans, and can't get a job, Joe Biden just gave you 20 grand," Cruz said on his Verdict podcast.

"Maybe you weren't gonna vote in November," he added, "and suddenly you just got 20 grand, and if you can get off the bong for a minute and head down to the voting station, or just send in your mail-in ballot that the Democrats have helpfully sent you, it could drive up turnout, particularly among young people."

Alexander Lukashenko #wingnut #dunning-kruger euroweeklynews.com

[Belarus is allowing Russia transit its territory to attack Urkaine]

The official message to Ukraine was posted on the President of Belarus’ official website, stating:

“Congratulations to the people of Ukraine on Independence Day.”

“President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has congratulated the people of Ukraine on Independence Day.”

“I am convinced that today’s contradictions will not be able to destroy the centuries-old foundation of sincere good-neighborly relations between the peoples of the two countries,” the message reads.

“Belarus will continue to stand up for the preservation of accord, development of friendly and mutually respectful contacts at all levels.”

“The Belarusian head of state wished Ukrainians peaceful skies, tolerance, courage, strength and success in restoring decent life.”

Jim Justice #fundie #elitist cbsnews.com

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice scoffed Monday at a suggestion by Democratic lawmakers to let voters decide whether abortion should continue to be allowed in the state.

The Republican governor said the state's abortion law falls under the scrutiny of the Legislature and the attorney general.

During a legislative special session initiated by Justice last month, majority Republicans failed to pass legislation criminalizing abortion.

On Friday, top Democrats asked Justice and leading GOP lawmakers to bring the Legislature back to consider a resolution to allow voters to consider a constitutional amendment for "reproductive freedom."

Justice wanted no part of that.

"Unfortunately, this place is surrounded with constant grandstanding," the governor said at a news conference. "I think that's what the Democrats are doing."

Abortion had been banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy in West Virginia until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. After that ruling, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said abortion was banned completely in the state because of an 1800s-era law that had been unenforceable while abortion was federally protected.

But a Charleston judge barred the state from enforcing the ban, ruling it had been superseded by a slew of conflicting modern laws, including the 20-week ban. Morrisey has appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, which is expected to take up the case this fall.

"Coming down from the U.S. Supreme Court, this is the responsibility of our Legislature and our attorney general," Justice said. "And absolutely I've said over and over and over, I don't want to impose anything, any ideas or anything."

"Now, if they bring me something that I cannot sign, I won't sign it. But actually, I don't think that'll happen. I think our Legislature is abound with good people and they should get through this and bring me something that I will absolutely welcome and sign. And I think that's exactly what will happen."

Jamestown Township, Michigan Voters #fundie #wingnut bridgemi.com

JAMESTOWN TOWNSHIP—What started as a fight over an LGBTQ-themed graphic novel may end with the closure of a west Michigan public library.

Voters in Jamestown Township, a politically conservative community in Ottawa County, rejected renewal Tuesday of a millage that would support the Patmos Library. That vote guts the library’s operating budget in 2023 — 84 percent of the library’s $245,000 budget comes from property taxes collected through a millage.

“I wasn’t expecting anything like this,” Walton told Bridge Michigan Tuesday. “The library is the center of the community. For individuals to be short sighted to close that down over opposing LGBTQ is very disappointing.”

There have been protests at other Michigan public libraries and at school board meetings about books with LGBTQ themes. But Tuesday may be the first time a community voted, in effect, to close its library rather than have it remain open with books some consider to be “indoctrinating” children.

Voters on Tuesday rejected the millage renewal by a 25-point margin — 62 percent to 37 percent — on the same day voters approved millages for road improvements and the fire department.

Ten years earlier, a library millage at a slightly lower rate was approved by 37 percentage points.

For the average home with a market value of $250,000, the new millage, if approved, would have increased taxes about $24.

Andy Boreham #moonbat #conspiracy newsroom.co.nz

In an interview with Newsroom (conducted via email at Boreham’s request to avoid “any semantic traps”), the former Wellingtonian says he views the label as “a badge of honour”.

“I’m extremely proud to be a voice for China, because I wholeheartedly believe China is being given an extremely unfair rap by the west. Literally every single article I read about China is riddled with lies and conjecture and boosts the view the average westerner already has about this huge, complicated country”…

…Boreham argues that view is based on the “western idea” of press freedom, with the media acting as a check on government and bringing abuses of power to light, rather than the Chinese model, which he categorises as “promoting important news, stability and unity”.

“Yes, China’s media is in theory controlled by the government, yes there are certain areas of censorship – certain taboo subjects that should just be left alone – but apart from that it is really quite free. The only difference is the rules are made by the government, and not by editors and commercial interests.”

Ann McLean #racist #pratt heraldcourier.com

Now comes Richmond-area historian Ann McLean, [Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin’s] appointee to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and an apparent magna cum laude graduate of the Jubal Early School of Lost Cause Revisionism.

Our moment of racial reckoning, teetering on the brink, does not need a Confederate apologist. But here comes McLean, who likened Abraham Lincoln’s attempt to preserve the Union to “Russia invading Ukraine” during a July 18 interview on John Reid’s talk show on WRVA radio. She also claimed that "slavery would have been outlawed in the South within five or 10 years, but they wanted to do it on their own time."

I can only assume that “they” were not considering the desired timetable of the enslaved.

Seven months earlier, on the same show, McLean defended Confederate monuments with a heaping helping of Lost Cause pablum.

“Fake news or false narratives are not new,” she said. “And this whole tragedy is that these statues were built to tell the true story of the American South to people 500 years from now.”

“But we have forces right here 150 years later that want to destroy the evidence of that story,” she said, framing the Civil War as a “fight for sovereignty of each state and constitutional law.”

James Lankford #fundie #wingnut #sexist #dunning-kruger #pratt thehill.com

GOP Sen. James Lankford (Okla.) on Thursday blocked a Democratic request to unanimously pass a bill seeking to protect interstate travel for abortion.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), joined by a string of Democratic senators, had sought consent to pass a bill that would prevent states from punishing women who travel to other states where abortion is legal to get the procedure.

Does that child in the womb have the right to travel in their future?” Lankford said in objecting. “Do they get to live?”

“There’s a child in this conversation as well,” he added.

Tucker Carlson #sexist #wingnut #elitist #dunning-kruger newsweek.com

"Look at Robert 'Bobby' Crimo, would you sell a gun to that guy, does he seem like a nut case? Of course, he does," Carlson said. "So why didn't anyone raise an alarm? Maybe it is because he didn't stand out. Maybe it is because there are a lot of young men in America who suddenly look and act like this guy. That is not an attack, it is just true."

He added: "Like Crimo, they inhabit that solitary fantasy world of social media, porn and video games."

Carlson then went on to claim these same men may be high on drugs and angry because they believe their lives will be worse than their parents'.

"They are high on government-endorsed weed, 'smoke some more, it is good for you.' They are numbed by the endless psychotropic drugs that are handed out in every school in the country by crackpots posing as counselors. Of course, they are angry, they know that their lives will not be better than their parents', they will be worse. That is all but guaranteed, they know that. They are not that stupid." he said.

"And yet the authorities in their lives, mostly women, never stop lecturing them about their so-called privilege. 'You are male, you are privileged.' Imagine that, try and imagine an unhealthier, unhappier life than that. So a lot of young men in America are going nuts," Carlson continued.

"Are you surprised? By the way, a shockingly large number of them have been prescribed psychotropic drugs by their doctors, SSRIs or anti-depressants. That would include quite a few mass shooters."

Greg Norman #elitist espn.com

THE LIV GOLF Invitational Series has attempted to clarify CEO Greg Norman's comments that referred to the Saudi Arabian monarchy's alleged involvement in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a "mistake," a remark that drew widespread criticism, including from Khashoggi's fiancée.

On Wednesday, during a news conference in London to promote LIV Golf's first event at Centurion Club, June 9-11, Norman was asked about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's alleged complicity in the 2018 killing of Khashoggi, an American citizen. LIV Golf is being financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which is controlled by bin Salman.

"From what I heard and what you guys reported, just take ownership of what it is," Norman told reporters. "Take ownership no matter what it is. Look, we've all made mistakes, and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward."

Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The Saudi crown prince has denied involvement in the killing.

Ted Cruz #fundie #sexist #wingnut salon.com

On January 6 of 2021, you had tens of thousands of people peacefully protesting, and yet the corporate media and Democrats slander them with the made-up term 'insurrectionist,'" he told host Sean Hannity. "And yet in this instance, they are not willing to call off their goons [abortion protestors] even now as this has the potential to escalate and escalate further."

Marco Rubio #fundie #sexist #wingnut salon.com

[Pro Choice activists intend to protest at Catholic Churches]

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida also entered the fray, tweeting, "Deranged leftists are urging followers to disrupt church services across America this Sunday … I hope President Biden & democratic leaders will condemn this attempt to incite domestic terror."

Mitt Romney #elitist #mammon #wingnut businessinsider.com


Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah ripped into the White House on Wednesday for considering widespread student loan forgiveness. He argued it could amount to a slippery slope for other types of debt forgiveness.

"Desperate polls call for desperate measures: Dems consider forgiving trillions in student loans" the Utah Republican wrote on Twitter. "Other bribe suggestions: Forgive auto loans? Forgive credit card debt? Forgive mortgages? And put a wealth tax on the super-rich to pay for it all. What could possibly go wrong?"

Ron DeSantis #racist #wingnut thehill.com

“If Stacey Abrams is elected governor of Georgia, I just want to be honest, that will be a cold war between Florida and Georgia,” he said. “I can’t have [former Cuban communist leader Raul] Castro to my south and Abrams to my north, that would be a disaster. So I hope you guys take care of that and we’ll end up in good shape.”

Patriarch Kiril #wingnut #fundie #racist religiondispatches.org

[Full sermon on Russian here: http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5914188.html?fbclid=IwAR37VW4l-JKWsxj16MhepsDlU2K0kIRX__18KQNoA9IJRoJ78Ja8PjlkFP8]

But then, about halfway through, the sermon took a turn for the shocking and dangerous. It was at about the point that he acknowledged where he stood: in a cathedral built not so much for the glory of God as for the glory of Russian military might. Here the Patriarch said he had come to address the leaders of their Russian forces, and through them, their troops. He reminded the assembled congregation of Vladimir Putin’s favorite propaganda point in this war: that Russia was fighting fascism in Ukraine just as it had in the Second World War.

And then the Patriarch, whose office was just a few centuries ago (a blink of the eye in the memory of the Christian East) located not in Moscow, but Kyiv, offered up a version of history that simply erases Ukraine from the map. Kirill blames “various forces” (i.e. outsiders, including—one would imagine—the West) that emerged in the Middle Ages for what he regards as a false division between Russia and Ukraine. In fact, he doesn’t even acknowledge there are such people as Ukrainians, referring to all involved parties (including, perhaps, one could speculate, Belarusians) as “Holy Russians.”

Disregarding for a moment how simply, factually wrong Patriarch Kirill’s history is, this sermon does mark a dangerous escalation in the rhetoric coming from the Moscow Patriarchate—and, we can assume, by extension the Russian state. This rhetorical advance is made all the more dangerous by the fact that most in the West won’t even know the sermon happened, let alone be aware of its pernicious implications.

Bruce Bostelman #kinkshaming #transphobia #wingnut 3newsnow.com

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) — Officials with the Seward and Adams Central school districts on Monday labeled as “ridiculous” and “an ugly rumor” talk that students have dressed up as cats and dogs and have requested litter boxes to handle their bathroom needs.

A spokeswoman with the Millard Public Schools also said she was unaware of anything of that nature happening in that Omaha area district.

The districts were contacted by the Nebraska Examiner after State Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard spoke on the floor of the State Legislature on Monday, saying he was “shocked” that schoolchildren have been allowed by school officials to dress up as “furries,” interacting with teachers using meows and barks, and requesting litter boxes.

“How is that sanitary?” Bostelman asked. “How can schools allow this to happen?”

Later, on Monday afternoon, the senator said he and Fremont Sen. Lynn Walz, the head of the Legislature’s Education Committee, had contacted several schools and found the talk to be untrue.

“We wanted to put an end to it,” Bostelman said, after his earlier speech was widely shared.

Earlier Monday, Bostelman had said he had even heard from some Millard-area parents that a student, dressed as a cat, had asked for a litter box, and when that request was denied, had defecated on a floor.

When asked what schools he was referencing, Bostelman said Omaha and Seward, adding that he had talked to some parents from Millard at a meeting over the weekend who related the story about the furry cat. Hastings Sen. Steve Halloran said he has also heard it was a problem at Adams Central schools in his district.

Mike Braun #racist #fundie salon.com

Braun then disapprovingly pointed to the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion nationwide. Pressed by a reporter on if he similarly disapproved of the decision to federally legalize interracial marriage, Braun said he did.

"If you're not wanting the Supreme Court to weigh in on issues like that, you're not going to be able to have your cake and eat it too," Braun said. "I think that's hypocritical."

"You can list a whole host of issues," Braun said. "When it comes down to whatever they are, I'm going to say they're not going to all make you happy within a given state. But we're better off having states manifest their points of view, rather than homogenizing it across the country as Roe v. Wade did."

John Kennedy #sexist #racist #wingnut politico.com

BUT SOME REPUBLICANS AREN’T HAVING IT: Sen. JOHN KENNEDY (R-La.), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, didn’t exactly tamp down his rhetoric. “No. 1, I want a nominee who knows a law book from a J. Crew catalog,” he said upon exiting the lunch. “No. 2, I want a nominee who’s not going to try to rewrite the Constitution every other Thursday to try to advance a ‘woke agenda.’”

Roger Wicker #racist cnn.com

The first Black woman nominated to the US Supreme Court by President Joe Biden will be a "beneficiary" of affirmative action, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said Friday.

"The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very same time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota," he said Friday in an interview with local radio network SuperTalk Mississippi, referring to the high court's recent decision to reconsider challenges to race-based affirmative action in college admissions.

"The majority of the court may be saying writ large it's unconstitutional. We'll see how that irony works out," he added.

Micki Witthoeft #conspiracy #pratt nypost.com

The mother of Ashli Babbitt, the woman fatally shot during the Jan. 6 riot, stood on the Capitol steps Thursday and claimed her daughter was exercising a legitimate right to protest when she was killed by a US Capitol police officer one year ago.

“My daughter was an amazing, energetic, independent, powerful woman. I miss her every day,” Micki Witthoeft said through tears as members of Congress gathered inside to remember the first anniversary of the attacks.

“I’m here because Americans do have the right to protest, it’s your right as an American citizen to protest,” she continued.

Babbitt, a 36-year-old Air Force veteran, was shot by US Capitol Police officer Lt. Michael Byrd as she tried to crawl through a broken window to enter the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021 as a mob of Trump supporters were storming the Capitol in an effort to disrupt the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“My daughter was a proud American patriot,” Witthoeft said. “She served this country her whole adult life. She loved God, America and loved her family.”

Witthoeft then claimed her daughter was “murdered by a careless, reckless” Capitol Police officer.

“She came to DC to hear Donald Trump speak about a stolen election, and little did we know that would be the last time she heard anybody speak,” the grieving mom said.