Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-6: Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. Edition

[Top 10 Idiots]

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #9-6: Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! How’s everybody doing? Are you guys doing fucking good? I know, right? Now you might be asking “Where is the Wheel Of Corruption”? Well, that’s one of those things that is meant for a live audience and we’ll bring it back when we can have live audiences again. But since we’re stuck at home it would be impossible to put the wheel and all its’ various controls and setup is not meant for a home audience, it is currently lying dormant in a large warehouse next to the Arc Of The Covenant. But it will be back, that is one thing we can assure you! And we might feature some clips of religious conservatives saying and doing stupid things from time to time. Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! Man we are so bored right now that the news is literally repeating itself, and how do I know this? Because way back in Idiots #3-8, I reported on the creepy clown motel in Tonopah, Nevada. Well, this hotel is back in the news because since COVID has made people afraid to fly on planes right now, people are talking about bringing back a long lost American tradition - the road trip. And what better road trip than to relieve something that looks like it could be stolen out of a horror movie? Well come on it’s a creepy clown hotel that’s located right next to a cemetery! What’s creepier than that? Hey kids, you want to see a dead body? Well, COVID might take care of that one but I’m not touching that one with a 10 foot pole. OK that’s enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first, John Oliver is back and he delves into some actual human trafficking in China, and well, it’s more horrifying than you could ever possibly imagine:

Where do we begin this week? Another crappy week under COVID, of course. But in the #1 slot this week is the DOJ (1)! Yes, Trump’s DOJ has employed a secret police to Portland and is actively rounding up citizens. This is the government that your creepy, conspiracy theory loving uncle has been warning you about this whole time! Taking the second slot this week is of course the guy who we inexplicably still call president, Donald J. Trump (2), and he went on Fox News and took a cognitive test, and subsequently proved that he is a literal conservative idiot! At slot #3, is Kanye West (3), and he has lost his shit big time in his “run” for president, even though we know it’s secretly a plot to plug his new album which drops next week! Taking the 4th slot this week, is the Maskholes (4), and what is happening in the beach community of Newport Beach? I think the Sheriff Of Malibu might want to have a word with these idiots! Taking the 5th slot this week is of course our weekly investigative piece, Top 10 Investigates (5) and this week we’re going to update you on the latest on COVID vaccines and treatments – and answer the question “when can we get back to normality?” Hopefully sooner than later! Taking the sixth slot this week, is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and this week, speaking of COVID, our resident pastor is going to present to you some churches attempting to make their own miracle cures for this dreaded virus! Don’t drink the Kool-Aid! At slot #7, is a new edition of “People Who Somehow Got Elected” and this week, after making some absolutely hideous comments about schools reopening, we’re going to add Missouri governor Mike Parson (7) to our ever-growing list! Taking the 8th slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8), and this week, after Q Anon fans targeted home furniture manufacturer Wayfair in their sex trafficking scheme, Twitter has finally announced that they’ve had enough! Break out the tin foil hats! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week is a new “I Need A Drink” (9), and we welcome the return of baseball (sort of) but one team is noticeably absent from the season – the Toronto Blue Jays! Our friends to the north are nowhere to be found and we will get drunk and get to the bottom of this mystery! Finally this week, is our Road To The White House (10) coverage, and this week former president Obama sits down with future president Joe Biden, and we will bring you the highlights! Man, I miss presidents who could speak in complete sentences! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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So in case you’re wondering what some good old fashioned iron-fist style autocracy will look like when it comes to the United States Of America, well guess what? It’s already here! Because we got a glimpse of what it would look like in Portland last week. See, the protest zone in downtown Portland is only two blocks long and two blocks wide. But if you saw Fox News last week you’d think the whole damn city was burning down and that the Taliban was taking over! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! We’re all gonna die by protestors!!! Well maybe not really, but while the rest of us are staring in horror, here’s the real shit that went down that Fox won’t tell you.

Attorney General William P. Barr forcefully defended the federal response to long-running protests in Portland on Tuesday, telling the House Judiciary Committee that the protests had become violent. The federal intervention has been condemned by state and city officials, but Mr. Barr argued it was necessary to prevent violence from spreading to other American cities.

The nightly protests in Portland, which began in late May as a response to the police killing of George Floyd, have become the backdrop for a conflict between federal officials and local leaders. Mr. Barr and other federal officials have drawn attention to vandalism and other reckless behavior on the part of the protesters, while city officials have said that federal agents dispatched to the district court in downtown Portland have exceeded their authority and harmed peaceful protesters.

There are currently 114 federal law enforcement officers in Portland, according to a legal filing from the U.S. attorney’s office, drawn from various agencies including Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protective Service. Their presence has reinvigorated tensions that had been subsiding, local officials said. Several peaceful protesters have been seriously injured, including a Navy veteran whose hand was smashed by officers and a man who was shot with a projectile that fractured his skull.

“As I’ve said from the beginning, these peaceful protests are being hijacked by a very hard core of instigators, violent instigators,” Mr. Barr said. “Police casualties far exceed anything on the civilian side.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/portland-protests-violence-tactics-barr-fact-check.html

Yeah so picture it like the USSR returning and that’s what you get. But the truth is even more frightening about what Trump and his cabal are doing. Unfortunately we won’t get to cover the Barr hearings until next week but definitely stay tuned for that! But that was just a preview, think of it like the sneak trailer because we don’t have movie theaters right now, so no trailers. That was just a taste. The real festivities will be going nationwide!

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he's willing to send as many as 75,000 federal agents into American cities to quell violent crime, a recent campaign theme for the President.
Speaking in a telephone interview on Fox News, Trump began by saying he was ready to dispatch "50,000, 60,000 people" into American cities.

But eventually he upped the figure to 75,000 -- but said it would require local authorities asking for help.
"We have to be invited in. At some point we'll have to do something much stronger than being invited in," Trump said.

"We'll go into all of the cities, any of the cities. We're ready," he added.
Deploying 75,000 officers would mark a significant portion of all federal officers in the country. According to a 2019 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were approximately 100,000 federal law enforcement officers in the entire United States in 2016, the last year for which data was available.

Trump's comments come as he has tried to make federal policing a campaign issue, portraying cities as violent and out of control in an appeal to suburban residents. The President said Wednesday that he will "surge" federal law enforcement officers to Chicago and other American cities, despite resistance from local leaders, as he adopts a hardline "law and order" mantle ahead of November's election.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/23/politics/trump-federal-agents-us-cities/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Politics%29

Hey clean that up! But the shit is definitely about to hit the fan, my friends! Oh yes. We haven’t seen anything yet. Right now it’s contained to a two by two block radius in downtown Portland. But it will be coming to a city near you. Imagine this being deployed in Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Miami, Washington DC, New York City… Trump could do some serious damage here. And he’s not done yet!

About 1,000 demonstrators returned to downtown streets Monday for the 61st consecutive day after a weekend featuring the largest protest crowds in weeks and numerous clashes with federal police.

Monday again brought waves of tear gas from federal officials who labeled the gathering “unlawful” in response to repeated fireworks and a volley of trash thrown over a fence surrounding the federal courthouse.

Portland protesters have shown up every night for two straight months after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Crowds have rallied against police brutality, anti-Black racism and, in recent weeks, the federal government’s response to the city’s protests.

Federal officials have repeatedly said officers who use tear gas and shoot riot munitions on protesters are embedded in the downtown courthouse to protect it. On Monday, officials placed concrete barriers on both sides of the fence surrounding the building to stabilize the structure.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/portland-protests-return-for-61st-day-after-weekend-of-large-crowds-clashes-with-officers.html

Yeah the real Doomsday Device is currently sitting at the Resolute Desk inside the Oval Office at the White House. That’s another joke that would kill in front of a live audience! So our president is currently sitting on the batshit level somewhere between spy movie supervillain and supreme overlord of the entire universe. He wants to be there. But he’s barely an Ernest Stavo Blofeld. Hell, he’s barely even Dr. Evil yet, but you know that he wants to be!

A predominantly white city tucked away in the northwest corner of the USA hardly seems the logical spot to emerge as the new flashpoint of the protests against racism and police brutality that have raged across the country for nearly two months.

Then again, both Portland and its home state of Oregon have a troubled past that animates the demonstrations, in their eighth week.

Add to that a president sinking in the polls and eager to rally his base behind a vow to “dominate the streets” in an election year, and suddenly, Portland has been thrust into the national spotlight for something other than quirkiness.

Experts said the unrequested and unwelcome arrival of federal law enforcement agents in recent weeks and their violent confrontations with protesters in the city’s downtown rekindled a movement that had been simmering down.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/21/portland-protests-fueled-oregons-very-dark-history-racism/5483884002/

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[font size="8"]Donald Trump
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Oh my fucking god. This man is the current leader of the free world. I’m too embarrassed to even begin to comprehend this segment. You know what? Let’s roll the damn tape.

That guy is our current president. That guy. The guy who thought drinking a glass of water was a test of coherence now thinks that being able to name five things is a test of cognitive ability. Well guess what, jack? We can name five things too! How about jackass, idiot, asshole, douchebag, jerkoff? See that’s the kind of joke that would kill in front of a live audience right now! Man, I miss live audiences. But really I think Trump might be losing it. If this is what he thinks is a good thing, I would really hate to picture what he thinks is a bad thing.

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has insisted that a cognitive test he took recently was “difficult”, using the example of a question in which the patient is asked to remember and repeat five words.

“Person, woman, man, camera, TV,” Trump explained, saying that listing the words in order was worth “extra points”, and that he found the task easy.

“They said nobody gets it in order, it’s actually not that easy. But for me it was easy. And that’s not an easy question,” he told Fox News medical analyst and New York University professor of medicine Marc K Siegel.

Trump said that a year ago he asked former White House physician Ronny Jackson whether there was “some kind of cognitive test” he could take, he said, “Because I’ve been hearing about it. Because I want to shut these people up. They’re fake news. They’re making up stories.’”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/23/person-woman-man-camera-tv-trump-insists-cognition-test-was-difficult

Seriously, MI-6 had better cognitive tests than that! I mean this whole thing is certifiably insane. So one minute, President Stable Genius goes on one of the most unhinged rants you’ve ever heard in your entire life. And the next minute? Well he’s claiming that nobody likes him and that Dr. Fauci has a higher popularity rating than he does! Hey, that’s why you were given the test, dipshit!

"It’s interesting. He’s got a very good approval rating, and I like that. It’s good," Trump said during a press briefing at the White House. "Because, remember, he’s working for this administration. He’s working with us. We could’ve gotten other people. We could’ve gotten somebody else. It didn't have to be Dr. Fauci. He's working with our administration, and for the most part, we've done pretty much what he and others ... recommended."

"He’s got this high approval rating, so why don’t I have a high approval rating ... with respect to the virus?" Trump wondered aloud.

The president cited the administration's increased production of masks, gowns, ventilators and other equipment after hospitals and state leaders warned in the early weeks of the pandemic that they were lacking those critical supplies. Trump also highlighted the sheer volume of testing the U.S. has performed, another area where the administration was slow to ramp up.

"It sort of is curious," Trump said. "A man works for us, with us, very closely, Dr. Fauci and Dr. [Deborah] Birx, also highly thought of, and yet they're highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That’s all."
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/509464-trump-questions-how-fauci-has-a-high-approval-rating-but-nobody-likes#.XyClMeNDRpA.twitter

Well, President Simple Jack does have one point – if you want to see the test of one’s cognitive ability don’t look at popularity ratings, look at how well it can form a password. Because the strength of one’s password can count as an IQ test. So could he have been trying to remember his password or was it something else? I mean come on, even President Skroob in Spaceballs could remember a 5 digit suitcase combination!

When President Trump used ‘Person Woman Man Camera TV’ during a recent Fox News interview with Mark Siegel, it didn't take long for the phrase to become an internet sensation.

Twitter joked that President Trump was probably trying to remember his new password by repeating 'Person Woman Man Camera TV' but the math reveals why that would be a terrible idea.

Sarah Cooper recorded a lip-sync video spoof that has had millions of views, The Late Show and The Daily Show hosts also saw the comedy routine potential of what had quickly become an internet meme.

Twitter users were equally quick to humorously suggest that maybe Trump had made it the new nuclear code or the presidential email password. Others tweeted they had changed their passwords from 'Correct Horse Battery Staple' to 'Person Woman Man Camera TV.'

The cybersecurity geek in me feels compelled to explain why doing so would be a very bad idea, and not just because the phrase is so well-known now. In fact, I got a couple of well-respected password math geeks to help with that explanation, so strap in as here we go.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/07/26/how-math-reveals-person-woman-man-camera-tv-doesnt-ace-the-password-test-trump-meme/#55432a01378c

Yeah really! By the way if you want a real test of one’s cognitive ability, why don’t you just take a good look at the people who they call “experts”. Because you know that Trump is going all in on his bullshit hydroxychloroquine “cure” for COVID-19, despite the fact that it’s been dangerously unproven by the FDA and AMA. But if these are the “experts” then who are the idiots? And don’t think I won’t tear into this in full next week!

A Houston doctor who praises hydroxychloroquine and says that face masks aren’t necessary to stop transmission of the highly contagious coronavirus has become a star on the right-wing internet, garnering tens of millions of views on Facebook on Monday alone. Donald Trump Jr. declared the video of Stella Immanuel a “must watch,” while Donald Trump himself retweeted the video.

Before Trump and his supporters embrace Immanuel’s medical expertise, though, they should consider other medical claims Immanuel has made—including those about alien DNA and the physical effects of having sex with witches and demons in your dreams.

She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by “reptilians” and other aliens.

Immanuel gave her viral speech on the steps of the Supreme Court at the “White Coat Summit,” a gathering of a handful of doctors who call themselves America’s Frontline Doctors and dispute the medical consensus on the novel coronavirus. The event was organized by the right-wing group Tea Party Patriots, which is backed by wealthy Republican donors.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/stella-immanuel-trumps-new-covid-doctor-believes-in-alien-dna-demon-sperm-and-hydroxychloroquine?

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[font size="8"]Kanye West
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Speaking of absolutely batshit crazy, mentally unwell people, I don’t know about this one, do we continue shaming Kanye for his bizarre run for president when we’re less than 100 days out from the real, actual election or do we get him the help that he so desperately needs? I think we still need to shame him. So he failed to get on the ballot in South Carolina, one of the last states that still needs to have their presidential primary, which was pushed back because of the current COVID crisis. But it appears that batshit crazy billionaires are a special breed, since they seem to only interact with each other and not the general public. But should Kanye just postpone until 2024? Yeah probably!

Elon Musk has some advice regarding Kanye West's 2020 presidential bid: Wait four more years.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published Saturday (July 25), the Tesla and SpaceX founder gave his thoughts on West's plans to run for president and touched on the rapper and fashion mogul's recent Twitter rants.

After West tweeted on July 4 that he was running for president, Musk quickly responded, "You have my full support!" Musk believes, however, that 2024 might be a better time for the rapper's ambitious political run.

“I’ve done my best to convince him that 2024 would be better than 2020,” Musk told The Times, explaining that he wouldn't want West to be accused of splitting the Black vote for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

During the interview, Musk, who said he's known West for "at least 10 years," also noted that he checked up on the rapper following his recent "tweet rampage," during which Ye accused his wife, Kim Kardashian, of sending a doctor to Wyoming to "lock me up" and claimed that the 2017 horror movie Get Out was about him, among other seemingly unconnected topics.
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9424676/elon-musk-kanye-west-president-2024

Uh… you sure about that Kanye? This hasn’t exactly been what one would call a “great year” by any stretch of the imagination! Hell, it hasn’t even been a mediocre year! But do we really need an unstable narcissist like Kanye becoming commander in chief? Would he be any better than the one we have in office currently? No. Fuck I need a boring leader to come back! Please, Kanye please!

Yeezy wants to do Jersey.

Kanye West filed petitions Tuesday to be on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate in New Jersey.

The superstar rapper, who announced that he was making a bid for the White House on July 4, needs to file 800 valid signatures to be included on the Garden State’s general election ballot alongside President Trump, Democrat Joe Biden and others in the deep blue state.

Currently, he’s on the ballot in Oklahoma, filed in Missouri, and has until Thursday to file paperwork for New York’s election.

West denies that his presidential run is a publicity stunt for his new album.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-kanye-west-president-new-jersey-20200728-xdy54ans3fdzdj4juwitcsmvle-story.html

Well there’s two things from 2020 that I want to go away permanently – Coronavirus and Kanye’s presidential campaign. So you might be asking, why the hell is he doing this? And as long as this is going to be a thing we are going to keep covering it! In fact Kanye is so serious that he’s already on the ballot in five states. I wish I were making this up. Fuck why can’t I time travel out of this year?

On July 4, Kanye West tweeted that he was running for president. It was treated as one of his typical grandiloquent pronouncements. The tweet sparked a lot of opinion pieces, cable news segments, and even a question in an Oval Office interview with Donald Trump. But most people brushed it off. In a follow-up interview with Forbes, West pledged, if elected, to run the White House like the nation of Wakanda from Black Panther. That remark seemed to reinforce the notion that this was just a lark. After all, West had previously compared himself to figures varying from God to Willy Wonka without attempting to establish the Kingdom of Heaven or manufacture an Everlasting Gobstopper.

But this time may — at least for a moment — be different. According to multiple campaign professionals who spoke with Intelligencer, West took early steps last week toward getting his name on the ballot in Florida and other states as a third-party candidate running against Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, July 8, around the time West tweeted and deleted an image of a fetus at the six-month mark of gestation with the caption “these souls deserve to live,” I was connected with a source who had been approached to work for the rapper’s presidential campaign. The source, who asked not to be named, was a political operative who had experience in this kind of work. I was extremely skeptical — but after talking with this person and others, I was convinced that West (or someone close to him) was at least toying with a real-life plan to build a campaign operation.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/kanyes-short-lived-attempt-to-get-on-the-2020-ballot.html

Not sure about that one there, slick. Because here’s the one underlying issue why you shouldn’t vote for a fringe candidate like Kanye. Not only would it make Kim Kardashian our first lady, he is batshit fucking insane. And he’s got some serious issues. That’s not the kind of guy who we want leading the free world right now. Especially in a time of crisis like we’re currently dealing with.

Take Kanye West's illness more seriously than his presidential ambitions
Readers — and prospective voters — need context and subjects need dignity when they are vulnerable.
Sally Satel
Opinion contributor

On the Fourth of July, Kanye West, the billionaire hip hop star, tweeted that he was running for president. He quickly paid $35,000 to qualify for the ballot in Oklahoma and then filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

The media rushed in. West, is an uber-celebrity married to uber-celebrity Kim Kardashian and a man given to wild, often amusing pronouncements. And so, his early riffs were treated as a humorous curiosity, a relief from the COVID-19 epidemic.

But what was happening here was not the least bit funny. You don't have to be a psychiatrist (as I am) to know that West is not in a rational frame of mind. The proper reaction is neither to take him seriously nor to laugh at him.
Kanye is not being rational

Consider the following bizarre things West said during a meandering four-hour phone interview that Forbes distilled into a July 8 article and that has so far garnered more than 3.1 million hits.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/07/22/kanye-west-running-president-serious-bipolar-illness-column/5479679002/

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[font size="8"]The Maskhole Files
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Holy shit, people! How hard is it to wear a god damn mask in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century? These people have lost their fucking minds. Look, we all want some kind of normal in this weird pandemic world that has been unleashed upon us. No one likes this socially distant hell that we’ve been forced to endure since the Coronavirus outbreak. But people just don’t seem to fucking get what dire straights that we are in. Take for instance a beach town that is not too far from my own – Huntington Beach. God damn motherfucking Huntington Beach. Why have you become the symbol of mask tyranny during the Great Pandemic?

As Brad Colburn whisked his metal detector over the tan sands of Huntington Beach, a rejection of Orange County’s spiking coronavirus infection rates surfaced.

“I don’t believe it. I don’t believe the rates are rising,” Colburn said. “They’re inflated. It’s another way of shutting everything down … of the Democrats trying to get what they want.”

The 58-year-old Huntington Beach resident said he has yet to wear a mask outside of shopping. Standing by a beach path as cyclists and in-line skaters zoomed by, he offered his own alternative policy to restrictive coronavirus health orders.

“If you don’t want to go outside, don’t go outside,” Colburn said.

More than any other place in California, Huntington Beach has come to symbolize resistance to many of the coronavirus safety rules government officials have imposed in recent months. It’s not as though no one in the city is wearing masks and social distancing.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-22/doubts-about-dangers-of-covid-19-linger-in-huntington-beach

Seriously where is the Sheriff of Malibu when you need him? Maybe that’s not in his jurisdiction? But anyway here’s what is coming next. There’s a lot of Maskholes out there and remember in a pandemic, one with an extremely contagious disease at that, everything – even the most banal, mundane tasks that would otherwise not be a problem - becomes a life or death situation. And by the way who is more likely to refuse to wear masks? Well it’s pretty obvious.

Two recent studies looked at the relationship between personality traits and reactions to restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. Researchers found that people possessing so-called "Dark Triad" traits—narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism—were less likely to comply with restrictions or engage in preventative measures against the pandemic. However, researchers also emphasized the small role personality traits have in the overall response to pandemic restrictions, like face-mask mandates and social-distancing requirements.

Both studies, which, combined, surveyed more than a thousand people in Poland, were published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Personality and Individual Differences.

In "Adaptive and maladaptive behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of Dark Triad traits, collective narcissism, and health beliefs," researchers Bartłomiej Nowaka and Paweł Brzóska of the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Poland, along with co-authors at other universities, surveyed 755 people between the ages of 18 and 78 in the second half of March—in the third and fourth weeks of government pandemic restrictions.

The study used a combination of existing diagnostic tools for evaluating Dark Triad traits and a "Health Belief scale" modified to evaluate people's perceptions regarding the severity of, and their susceptibility to, COVID-19. Finally, the researchers asked questions to determine how likely participants were (on a one-to-four scale, from "definitely not" to "definitely yes&quot to engage in both preventive measures like decontamination and hoarding measures like stockpiling food.
https://www.newsweek.com/narcissists-psychopaths-face-mask-requirement-mandate-social-distancing-covid-19-coronavirus-1519732

Of course that’s pretty obvious. In fact we might do a feature where we ask for your personal stories of Maskholes out in the wild. But in a pandemic with a highly contagious disease, you’re not just putting yourself in danger when you venture out in public, you’re putting everyone they come across in danger, and you’re putting everyone those people come across in danger. It’s exponential math. But even Wal-Mart is taking precautions now. Wal-Mart! Well… sort of.

Walmart and other major retailers made headlines last week with a new requirement for customers to wear masks in its US stores. But the new rules only go so far.

Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Walgreens, CVS and others say they still won't prohibit customers who refuse to wear a mask from shopping in stores. The issue, they say, is they want to avoid confrontations between angry customers and employees.

Retailers and their employees are finding themselves playing the uncomfortable role of mask police. The increase in coronavirus cases is prompting concern over how to protect both customers and workers in crowded stores from infecting each other.

There is no federal mandate to wear a mask, and many state and local governments have not required wearing one. This has forced retailers to navigate a patchwork system and left them in the position of having to create their own policies.
https://wrex.com/2020/07/25/walmart-and-others-will-still-serve-customers-who-refuse-to-wear-masks-despite-new-rules/

Really, I had no idea that Homer was a Wal-Mart greeter. Next he might be a buyer for Amazon because you know that’s how they roll. But if you do encounter people who refuse to wear masks in public don’t be an asshole. That’s not a good look. Because if it backfires on you, then you’re the asshole. And I’ve said time and time again that shaming and doxing is never a good idea, no matter what the situation – it’s a two way street!

Costco Karen; Walmart Karen; Starbucks Karen; Target Karen. Name a US retail establishment and there’s probably a viral video of a “Karen” (internet slang for an angry white woman) fuming about face masks in it or getting chased out of the store for refusing to wear one. “Mask meltdown” videos have become a feature of the pandemic, part of a larger trend of mask-shaming. Sneering at people who refuse to wear face coverings has become a particularly viral form of virtue signalling.

Britain is a few months behind parts of the US in terms of masks. In New York, where I live, they’ve been compulsory in most public places since April. But with face coverings becoming mandatory for English shoppers this week (and already compulsory in Scotland) I’m sure it won’t be long before mask-shaming is as rampant in the UK as it is over here.

Yes, people who refuse to wear face masks are selfish. Yes, they’re putting lives in danger. But do they deserve to be vilified and publicly shamed? I don’t think so. Not just because public shaming is often ineffective but because they’re not the biggest villains here: the people who truly deserve our anger are the public figures and authorities – everyone from the US’s surgeon general to representatives of the World Health Organization – who, until fairly recently, told us that masks were useless if not dangerous, before doing a U-turn and insisting we all wear one.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/22/shaming-people-who-refuse-to-wear-face-masks-isnt-a-good-look

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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Vaccine Latest
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It's time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!

As the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic rages on and ravages North America and the rest of the world, people are wondering when we will be able to have treatments and cures available that will combat this virus and we can get on with our lives? Well, there’s several scenarios that can happen and we will even discuss what happens if there’s no vaccine found that can cure this thing. One of the biggest vaccine trials is happening at the University Of Oxford. That’s of course in England. There, they have developed what is probably the most advanced vaccine for COVID that is known around the world right now and it is entering the proverbial phase 3 of its’ human trials. So how does that work? And what has to happen for the vaccine to be approved ? There are many possibilities.

Andréa Barbosa was thrilled to be jabbed in the arm. The 46-year-old ophthalmologist is one of the 5,000 volunteers in the clinical trial in Brazil of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ChAdOx1. The vaccine is being developed by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in collaboration with the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

In May, Soumya Swaminathan, the head scientist of the World Health Organization, called ChAdOx1 the most advanced COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Phases one and two of the clinical trial took place simultaneously in April in southern England, when safety and immune responses were checked in more than a thousand healthy volunteers ages 18 to 55. The vaccine is now in the third and final development phase: testing volunteers in Brazil at the Federal University of São Paulo’s Reference Center for Special Immunobiologicals, as well as at two locations run by the D'Or Institute for Research and Education.

That makes Brazil an important proving ground as this vaccine candidate continues its rapid march toward approval by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Eventually, the ChAdOx1 clinical study will also take place in the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa, aiming to recruit up to 50,000 volunteers. Preliminary results from all these trials will be collected through November, and if they confirm that the vaccine is effective, the Oxford team will submit it for an initial registration with MHRA by the end of the year.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/07/oxford-vaccine-enters-final-phase-of-covid-19-trials-in-brazil-cvd/

Wherever these wonderful drugs are, we need them! Because everyone wants to get back to the lives we had before this nightmare pandemic started and the bizarre world that we live in right now has become to disappear. So even if a vaccine is created and it’s proven to be successful in combating COVID, then who gets it first? Where are the priorities? Well, again that is also something that could play out in a number of different ways.

MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Across the world, scientists are racing to craft an effective coronavirus vaccine, with more than 160 candidates in various stages of development. Researchers in the U.K. and the U.S. recently published promising results, and government officials have projected that a vaccine will be available by the end of the year.

But with demand for vaccine doses spanning the entire world, the distribution will mean more time will pass before many Americans actually get their shot. So, when the first limited doses arrive, who gets dibs?

The short answer: No one really knows yet. It’s a debate that is currently getting underway in Wisconsin and just about everywhere else, bringing in public health officials, bioethicists, epidemiologists, and more to weigh in.

“It's important because of what's at stake,” says Paul Kelleher, a professor of bioethics and philosophy at UW-Madison. “And it's also important because no individual should have the sole say in how this unfolds.”
https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/madison/news/2020/07/24/who-will-get-a-coronavirus-vaccine-first---and-who-decides-

Yes, it could be contraband. Getting doses of a vaccine could be the kind of thing that starts wars if we’re not careful about distribution. So while the UK is working on the vaccine that could possibly save the world from the dreaded COVID-19 virus, what about efforts on North American soil? The promising vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna are not to be forgotten though.

The first large study of the safety and effectiveness of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States began on Monday morning, according to the National Institutes of Health and the biotech company Moderna, which collaborated to develop the vaccine.

A volunteer in Savannah, Ga., received the first shot at 6:45 a.m., Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at a news briefing.

The study, a Phase 3 clinical trial, will enroll 30,000 healthy people at about 89 sites around the country this summer. Half will receive two shots of the vaccine, 28 days apart, and half will receive two shots of a saltwater placebo. Neither the volunteers nor the medical staff giving the injections will know who will get the real vaccine.

Researchers will then monitor the subjects, looking for side effects. And their main goal will be to see if significantly fewer vaccinated people contract Covid-19, to determine whether the vaccine can prevent the illness. The study will also try to find out if the vaccine can avert severe cases of Covid and death; if it can block the infection entirely, based on lab tests; and if just one shot can prevent the illness.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/health/moderna-vaccine-covid.html

Yes, there is a Simpsons GIF for everything. But every government on earth is scrambling to find answers as it has literally affected every government on earth, and 2020 is considered to be a year lost to a major pandemic – one we haven’t seen in an entire century. So how do you get involved? What’s there out there for you? The answer might lie in Houston, where they are looking for 5,000 volunteers for a new COVID vaccine.

The cure to COVID-19 may be here in Houston.

Researchers with the Texas Center for Drug Development are still looking for participants for several trials happening here but with volunteers starting the study this week, health leaders believe we are on track for an early 2021 vaccine.

In America: Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and Moderna are getting a lot of attention for having vaccine candidates almost ready to go.

“It appears safe. In the phase 1 studies, it appears safe and the most important thing I think people need to know is that the vaccine is actually not the coronavirus,” Frederic Santiago, MD, with the Texas Center for Drug Development, explained when speaking about Moderna’s vaccine.

He said the Moderna vaccine is re-programming the virus' genetic code, meaning the immune system can naturally develop antibodies.
https://www.click2houston.com/health/2020/07/28/houston-trials-need-your-help-to-have-coronavirus-vaccine-ready-for-2021/

That’s it for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.

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[font size="8"]Holy Shit
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Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the virtual pew make an online donation in the LAWRD’s virtual 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 virtual congregation! You know this pandemic has meant that we cannot bring you the full and proper Holy Shit that you deserve, but we will as soon as we can! Until then, don’t fall for bullshit! And yes, we are allowed to swear in my church! Everyone wants answers and cures for the dreaded virus that is plaguing the landscape. And I do too! No one wants it more than me! But there are some that are determined to make a dollar off the pandemic, and that’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now, is it? Of course not! Can I get an amen? Like for instance, don’t take bleach! That’s not exactly what it says on the bottle! And it’s not intended for that purpose! But some on the other hand don’t see it that way, and they are certifiably EVIL!

In April, when President Trump mused whether injecting patients with disinfectant could kill the novel coronavirus, perhaps no one was more thrilled about the suggestion than Mark Grenon.

Grenon runs a fake church with his sons in Florida that sells people a life-threatening toxic bleach product he calls the Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), federal officials say, which he fraudulently claims cures everything from covid-19 to cancer.

“Trump has got the MMS and all the info!!! Things are happening folks!” Grenon, 62, wrote on Facebook on April 24, linking to Trump’s comments. “Lord help others to see the Truth!”

Grenon had made $500,000 in 2019 alone selling his solutions to thousands of vulnerable, sick people across the country, according to the Justice Department, even though the Food and Drug Administration had warned for years that people could die if they drank MMS products, which are essentially bleach..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/09/fake-coronavirus-cure-bleach/

Of course he does! But really in the form of those ultra-far right preachers who are preying off the less fortunate! Because that’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want. And bleach isn’t the only cure being peddled by these purveyors of bullshit. There was one leader in the state of Florida (obviously) that took the idea of selling a miracle bleach-based cure to the next level! And really, don’t try this at home kids! Or don’t try it anywhere!

A Florida father and sons have continued to sell a potentially deadly bleach product billed as a miracle cure for COVID-19 through a fake church, despite a federal judge ordering them to stop, federal officials said in filing criminal charges against them.

Mark Grenon and three sons — Jonathan, Jordon and Joseph — are charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and distribute mislabeled drugs, according to the suit filed in the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday.

According to the criminal complaint, the four allegedly pitched "Miracle Mineral Solution," or MMS, a toxic bleach, as a cure for COVID-19.

"They sold this dangerous product under the guise of Genesis II Church of Health and Healing ("Genesis&quot , an entity they allegedly created in an attempt to avoid government regulation of MMS," according to a statement detailing the allegations.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration "has received reports of people requiring hospitalizations, developing life-threatening conditions, and dying after drinking MMS," noted the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of Florida, which did not elaborate further.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-charge-phony-church-with-selling-toxic-bleach-mms-as-covid-19-cure/

Was there a Los Pollos Hermanos involved in this one? Yes, I get that reference! But you know what people? If your church is hawking a cure that you might think is bullshit? Guess what? It most likely is bullshit. The only cures that we should be allowing are ones based on actual science. And we support science in my church! But really, don’t take anything unless you read about it first. I mean come on we have access to this thing called Google.

If your church remains shuttered for fear of contracting or spreading the COVID-19 virus, I just might have the answer to your problems: Ionization.

Or bleach.

Or Silver Solution.

Or none of the above.

Maybe it’s just because all of us have been cooped up way too long for our own good, but due diligence and rational caution are giving way to delusion and just plain goofiness. Worse yet, a lot of it is coming from institutions that dare to call themselves churches.

Ionization is the latest crackpot preventative for coronavirus, promulgated by the folks at Dream City Church in Phoenix. Which is in Arizona. Which is in a desert where, if you do not drink enough water or spend too much time in the oppressive heat, you start seeing things and saying things that make no sense.
https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2020/06/29/churches-wacky-solutions-coronavirus/3263599001/

You shouldn’t do that with bleach either! But you know who above all else you should never, under any circumstances listen to? The unholy, ungodly Dark One whose name shall not be mentioned in my church! For he is not a smart man, and he is definitely not a wise man! His ideas are not sound, and you should never try any of the things that he suggests at home, or anywhere. They are bad ideas and not something that the good LAWRD JAYSUS would approve of!

A Florida “church leader” and three of his sons were charged in Miami federal court on Wednesday for selling toxic bleach as a fake miracle cure for coronavirus.

The man had taken credit last April for President Trump making the public suggestion at a press conference that injecting disinfectants into the body may cure COVID-19.

According to officials, 62-year-old Mark Grenon and his sons, 34-year-old Jonathan Grenon, 26-year-old Jordan Grenon, and 32-year-old Joseph Grenon, all from Bradenton, Fla., are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States as well as conspiracy to violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

In addition, they are faced with criminal contempt of court related to a civil case that was filed by the federal government earlier this year.

Federal prosecutors charged the four family members for the sale of a product called Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS), which they sold through Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, a “religious organization” being operated out of a Bradenton home.
https://www.850wftl.com/fl-church-leader-took-credit-for-trumps-bleach-idea-charged-for-selling-covid-cure/

So fake huckster preachers selling fake cures, what else do you need to know? If it’s bullshit, it’s most likely 99% a big steaming pile of it! Virtual mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]People Who Somehow Got Elected: Mike Parson
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Politicians at the state and local levels who are so toxic, you wonder how they’re able to get away with the things they get away with. This is:



This week, Missouri Governor Mike Parson. Here’s the thing, we are all looking for some resemblance of normal life to resume during the deadliest pandemic in over a century. But that line of thinking has switched to schools. How do you safely open schools up back to where kids, high school, and college students can learn and interact with each other safely? School districts across the country are scrambling to find answers to these questions. And then there’s Missouri’s republican (obviously) governor who’s come up with an absolutely draconian response to the burning questions that are on everybody’s mind.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, downplayed the risk for children who may contract the coronavirus from classrooms during school reopenings, insisting “they’re going to get over it.”

“These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson said in an interview Friday with radio host Marc Cox on KFTK. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.”

“We gotta move on,” he continued. “We can’t just let this thing stop us in our tracks.”

Some experts have expressed concerns about returning to classrooms because of the risk students could carry the virus home to older relatives. Education professionals have also expressed worry they may be in harm's way.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway, the state's Democratic candidate for governor, said Parson's comments on coronvirus and children displayed “stunning ignorance.”

She also stated the virus "doesn’t stop with our children. The teachers, bus drivers, janitors, food service workers, parents, grandparents and neighbors who our children see every day are susceptible to this virus, too. We need a plan that keeps all Missouri families safe.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/20/missouri-gov-mike-parson-says-kids-get-over-covid-19/5474557002/

Yes, in a time when teachers and students alike are preparing their wills and preparing their worst case scenarios during this virus catastrophe, Gov. Parson has literally the wrong answer to the question that is on everyone’s mind. But just how bad can things possibly get in the Show Me State? Well, let’s never mind that St. Louis just posted a record high number of cases. Seriously, Mr. Parson might want to see what’s going on in his state before he makes an assumption like that.

As Missouri again broke the record for new cases of the coronavirus, officials warned that disparities based on age, race and health status continue to influence who is infected and who dies of COVID-19.

On Friday, the state reported that there have been 39,352 confirmed cases here throughout the pandemic — an increase of 1,652 for the day, breaking the previous record for the fourth day in a row.

Before this week, the state had never reported more than 958 new cases in a day. Then it identified 1,138 cases on Tuesday, 1,301 on Wednesday and 1,637 on Thursday.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force released data Friday showing that in the St. Louis metro area, Black individuals are more than four times as likely to test positive, nearly 2.5 times as likely to be hospitalized, and nearly 1.5 times as likely to be admitted to the ICU than the rest of the population.

“The burden on the Black community is larger,” said Dr. Alex Garza, chief medical officer with SSM Health and head of the task force.
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/coronavirus/missouri-sees-record-high-number-of-new-covid-19-cases-again/article_d6b4b57a-d478-54eb-924d-c8a4a593446b.html

So the state has a record number of cases and Mike Parson wants to open schools anyway. How could that possibly go wrong you might ask? Well, the masks and temperature taking are providing a lot of security theater for the virus, but if you let your guard down for one second, the slightest slip up could make things go really south really fast. But Coronavirus isn’t the only problem plaguing Missouri at the moment. Remember the husband and wife team who were brandishing guns at protestors? They haven’t been forgotten.

JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri’s top lawyer acknowledged Tuesday his intervention in a high-profile unlawful use of a weapon case involving a St. Louis couple is unusual.

“It doesn’t happen every day,” Attorney General Eric Schmitt told the Post-Dispatch in an interview in the Capitol.

But, he said his controversial decision to seek to have gun charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey dismissed is rooted in the state’s long-held interest in the right to bear arms.

“There is a common law interest if the attorney general feels that the broader interest of Missourians are affected, like the chilling effect that this might have with people exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Schmitt said.

“I felt it was appropriate that I weigh in,” Schmitt added. “We felt it was important to get it in and make the state’s position known early.”
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-attorney-general-defends-intervention-in-mccloskey-prosecution/article_b8bcf1c2-8e49-5f78-a9b5-a2d1190d4989.html

So there’s Coronavirus and the McCloskeys. Both extremely terrible problems for a state to have. But as unhinged as Mike Parson is, is he really the guy who needs to be leading the Show Me State at this trying time? Well, no. Especially when they have to clarify the comments and they’re even worse than what the original statement is. Just remember, when it’s time to elect your next governor, do your research!

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is clarifying comments he made in a radio interview in which he said children returning to school will come down with the coronavirus but will “get over it,” remarks that drew criticism from several Democrats as well as the head of a state teachers union.

The Republican governor made the comments Friday during an interview on “The Marc Cox Morning Show” on 97.1 FM in St. Louis. Democratic State Auditor Nicole Galloway, Parson's likely opponent in the November general election, said on Twitter that the governor showed “stunning ignorance” about how COVID-19 affects children.

Parson's comment came as new reported coronavirus cases have multiplied since the Fourth of July weekend. On Wednesday, the state again broke its record for highest single-day increase in confirmed illnesses, with 1,301 new cases reported by the state health department. The previous record was set Tuesday.

Missouri National Education Association President Phil Murray said Parson's comments showed “a callous disregard for the suffering of children and the safety of the parents, grandparents, educators, and students that will be put at risk if schools are reopened with improper plans and protections.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/missouri-governor-clarifies-comments-school-kids-virus-71921102

So Coronavirus and gun toting maniacs are both plagues in your state, that’s Missouri governor Mike Parson, yet another one to add to the ever growing list of:




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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to the segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable! It’s Conspiracy Corner! Oh hello, I am broadcasting the inner most thoughts from deep inside my brain from an underground bunker in the vast cornfields of the rural Iowa farmlands! Of course it’s an undisclosed location! Just let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government blockage. They are trying to read my thoughts and your thoughts after all. So this week, an extra dose of crazy happened as Trump’s favorite cult Q Anon attempted to dig up some dirt on furniture purveyor Wayfair, and not only did it backfire on them spectacularly, they have lost one of their biggest social media hangouts where they can wreak their brand of conspiracy theory havoc!

The claim: Expensive products on Wayfair are coded listings for missing children being sold in a human-trafficking scheme

The internet has been gripped with a conspiracy theory this month as thousands of viral posts allege that online furniture firm Wayfair is involved in a child sex-trafficking operation.

“So wayfair has third party vendors that are HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING on their website,” various social media posts have alleged. “There are items like throw pillows, cabinets etc. priced at 10-20,000 dollars and named after missing girls. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!”

Posts point to the high prices of items like pillows and dressers as evidence that the products are secretly fronts for child trafficking. Theorists further note the names of some of the dressers, which are allegedly the same children who have gone missing over the past few years.

Some users also allege similar activities occur on other e-commerce sites like Amazon, Etsy and Walmart. Others claim the scandal can only be tracked by using the Russian search engine Yandex.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/22/fact-check-wayfair-not-involved-child-sex-trafficking/5460739002/

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Put a warning label on that one! But seriously, Q Anon has gone full batshit, and in a world where we currently don’t have anything to do, can we at least get something to do for the Q Anon nuts? Because they clearly need a hobby, and this one ain’t it. So who started this insane conspiracy theory? And why are they so convinced? Yeah right now we’re trying to survive a horrible pandemic and retailers might be going a little overboard with price gouging, but not this.

Last weekend, an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that online furnishings retailer Wayfair is trafficking children through listings of products with inflated prices and human names erupted on social media.

An Arizona couple helped fuel the rumor by posting on Instagram that they had purchased a $17,000 desk from Wayfair and would share their experience with their followers.

The theory that pillows and cabinets being sold at wayfair.com for thousands of dollars is somehow evidence of a child trafficking scheme has been debunked by independent fact-checking publication Snopes. It gained traction through a July 9 Reddit post on a forum dedicated to discussing conspiracy theories, Snopes notes.

Maddie and Justin Thompson, of Gilbert, are not convinced.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/16/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-arizona-couple-spread-instagram-rumors/5449777002/

Well I guess that’s one way to go furniture shopping right now! But yeah sure, buy a $17,000 desk and it contains a… child? How did that one get past the loading docks? Really, these people are fucking batshit crazy, and they really need to find a hobby. But you know what is not to be done? Don’t overload the national child sex trafficking hotline with bullshit conspiracy theories, OK? This is a fake crisis, don’t make it a real one!

A national organization fighting to end human trafficking says the believers in the unfounded Wayfair human trafficking conspiracy theory are overwhelming the organization with reports and making it harder to do its work.

Polaris, a non-profit that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, said in a press release on Tuesday that "the extreme volume of these contacts has made it more difficult for the Trafficking Hotline to provide support and attention to others who are in need of help."

Polaris said that the reports included no information "beyond what has been widely shared online. Nor have any of these reports been made by someone who has a specific connection to any alleged missing children."

Believers in the conspiracy theory think that the furniture company is selling human children who have gone missing by disguising them as pillows and other goods. The theory went viral in the last few weeks after being spread by QAnon believers on Twitter and Facebook, though both platforms told Insider they had removed certain posts containing this misinformation.
https://www.insider.com/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-theory-national-hotline-call-2020-7

Yes, we get it, this is one of the worst crimes imaginable. But why the fuck are you so obsessed with it right now? I get that we don’t have anything to do. Really, don’t waste Wayfair’s time, and don’t waste the time of actual officials who are trying to find real sex traffickers. And by the way this can have some real world consequences for you if you get caught trying to do this. So really, shut the fuck up and keep the batshit insanity to yourself.

Twitter (TWTR) has removed thousands of accounts linked to QAnon, a group known for spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation online.
"We've been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm," Twitter's safety team said late Tuesday in a tweet. "In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called 'QAnon' activity across the service."

More than 7,000 accounts have been removed in the last several weeks, according to Twitter. It also expects that additional actions it is taking to limit the reach of QAnon activity on its platform could affect 150,000 accounts worldwide.
QAnon began as a single conspiracy theory. But its followers now act more like a virtual cult, largely adoring and believing whatever disinformation the conspiracy community spins up.

Its main conspiracy theories claim dozens of politicians and A-list celebrities work in tandem with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse. Followers also believe there is a "deep state" effort to annihilate President Donald Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/tech/twitter-qanon-crackdown/index.html

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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Hey everyone I could really use a drink right now!



So of course you know by now that the idea of this segment is that we cocktail and while we cocktail we talk about anything in the world that does not relate to politics. Of course in a world right now where there’s nothing to do thanks to Coronavirus, there’s really not much to talk about other than these two things. But last I checked we still had a baseball season right? But one mystery still dumbfounds me about this season. So tell me oh virtual bartender, what goes well with a story about the Toronto Blue Jays? A bottle of Crown Royale? OK fine that’s what I got for this bit. So of course the Blue Jays are the only team that doesn’t have a home for the 2020 season because, coronavirus. And Canada. Well it’s turned into quite the shit show as you can imagine.

The Toronto Blue Jays are a team without a home. Actually they are more like a team without a country, based on the fact that Canada ruled over the weekend they would not be able to play in the country in 2020.

The team does have some options, with the latest report being that the team is going to play at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, home of the Pirates.

The rumors have also put the team in Buffalo, or possibly Dunedin, Florida which is where the Jays hold spring training.

Check out the video above for the latest on where the Jays may wind up playing as their "home" field in 2020.
https://www.si.com/mlb/indians/news/where-will-the-toronto-blue-jays-call-home-in-2020

So the Blue Jays have no home or no country right now and they are currently what one might call in limbo, and it’s not a good situation. But really, are we still sure that there might be a baseball season this year? Hell there may not be one after the end of this segment. I just need a few more bottles of this so I can time travel out of this year and into next. So if Toronto isn’t a possibility, and Pittsburgh is a definite no, where else could they go?

The Major League Baseball season is set to begin July 23, but the Toronto Blue Jays still aren't sure what city they'll be calling home.

The Blue Jays are seeking an exemption from travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian government to allow the team to play home games at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
A team spokesperson provided CNN with details of the situation.

Previously, the Blue Jays were able to get an exemption allowing the team to hold summer workouts in Toronto by agreeing to have all players remain in a "modified cohort quarantine" within a footprint that included the Rogers Centre and an adjoining hotel. This essentially eliminated the team's exposure to the general public.

That exemption only applied to summer workouts, however. The team is working with Canadian authorities on a new exemption under a similar quarantine system that would apply to the MLB regular season. The Blue Jays expect a government decision on the team's fate by the weekend.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/14/us/canada-mlb-blue-jays-spt/index.html

I don’t think that I am drinking fast enough because the 2020 baseball season still exists. But it looks like as of right now they’re playing in Buffalo, New York for the time being. Although… does the 2020 season still exist? I’m being told yes. And the Blue Jays aren’t the only ones who are wading through the coronavirus disaster of 2020. The rest of the other teams might have to call it a day too. And we’re only one week into the season.

The Toronto Blue Jays 2020 season may be in jeopardy following a COVID-19 outbreak in Philadelphia affecting the Miami Marlins.

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Miami Marlins have 11 players and two coaches that have tested positive for COVID-19. The Marlins just wrapped up a series in Philadelphia and were scheduled to play in Baltimore tonight.

MLB has canceled the contest between the Marlins and Orioles as well as the Phillies and Yankees games tonight. The Phillies cancellation is presumably precautionary as all their players will need to undergo tests in light of this latest outbreak.

Hopefully. this is an isolated incident, however, with the pandemic not being contained in the United States, there is a very good chance the pandemic continues to spread across the league

The Blue Jays are currently tabbed to begin a series with the Phillies in Philadelphia this coming Friday while the Marlins were to be in Buffalo for a three-game set on August 11th.
https://jaysjournal.com/2020/07/27/blue-jays-baseball-season-circling-drain-amidst-covid-19-outbreak/

Now if we’re comparing this season to 1918, the last time we had a pandemic of this magnitude that fucked up life as we knew it, the 1918 baseball season only lasted until September before they had to call it a year, but they did inexplicably have a World Series. Will this season make it that long? Maybe as long as it will take me to finish this bottle of Crowne. But for now the season is on very thin ice.

One series into their coronavirus pandemic-shortened season and the Toronto Blue Jays are already dealing with a serious dose of adversity.

After winning their season-opening game in Tampa Bay on Friday night, the Blue Jays lost on Saturday and Sunday, the latter of which included more than just a drop in the standings.

Closer Ken Giles was forced to leave Sunday’s series finale with right elbow soreness while he tried to close the door on a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, while outfielder Randal Grichuk left in the sixth inning with what the team called a “right SI joint irritation” — a.k.a., a sore back.

Despite losing the final two games of the series, the Jays played the Rays really tough and they can take a couple of positives away from their visit to Tropicana Field.

New ace Hyun Jin Riu, who arrived in Toronto as a free agent after spending his first six big league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was good in his Blue Jays debut on Friday — giving up three runs over 4 2/3 innings in a 6-4 win over T-Bay.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7219049/coronavirus-rick-zamperin-blue-jays-disaster/

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[font size="8"]Road To The White House
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Welcome back to our coverage of the mother of all elections! Yes, we are counting down the days until the 2020 election. And in case you’re lost in all the craziness of the news right now, where it’s just a constant, never-ending stream of dark shit, we have less than 100 days and we need to get this going, people! We are on the home stretch. And it’s time to unseat Trump once and for all and make him a one term president. And how do we do that you might ask? Well for one thing uniting the party and setting aside all the bullshit is what will do it. I really want to talk about some good news this week because for the most part, the news is all bad. But this week, Joe Biden sat down with former president Barack Obama for a one on one interview and it was great.

Former President Barack Obama touted presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden's readiness for the presidency and ability to "reassemble the kind of government that cares about people and brings people together" in a video clip of a recent conversation provided first to CNN.

In the clip from their socially-distanced conversation, Biden slams President Donald Trump, saying that there are "two ways in which presidents motivate people" -- through important actions or by doing "something really bad."

"This guy has generated a sense out there that people are waking up to that he ran by deliberately dividing people from the moment he came down that escalator. And I think people are now going, 'I don't want my kid growing up that way,'" Biden says in the video.

Obama doesn't directly address Trump in the clip. Instead, he touts Biden's experience in policy-making and on the world stage and the former vice president's character.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/22/politics/barack-obama-joe-biden-social-distance-meeting/index.html

I don’t know about you, but I miss having a president who speaks in complete sentences, pronounces words correctly, and oh yeah, isn’t a raging asshole! And I don’t know about you all, but in a world where the news is literally all bad all the time, this is something good that is happening! Like I said, I am tired of all the bad news and wanted to talk about good things. They even slammed Trump’s mishandling of COVID.

Showcasing the online campaigning tactics that are likely to dominate the final months of the 2020 presidential race, former Vice President Joe Biden and his old boss, former President Barack Obama teamed up for a socially distant conversation to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the steps they believe need to be taken to right the American economy and the nationwide push for racial justice in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

The in-person discussion, filmed last week at the Obama Foundation’s office in Washington, D.C. features both Obama and Biden clad in black face masks as they arrive for the conversation, as the two discuss their incredulity at President Donald Trump's handling of coronavirus.

"Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying, ‘It's not my responsibility. I take no responsibility.' Literally. Literally," Biden said.

"Those words didn't come out of our mouths when we were in office," Obama said as the shot of him exiting his car is seen.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/biden-obama-reunite-socially-distanced-conversation-slam-trumps/story?id=71914983

Maybe calling people “Beardo” isn’t the way to get votes. But even they get it – it’s almost like Trump tries to come up with the absolute worst response to everything. My personal favorite thing about the entire Trump administration is the underlying irony that Trump can relate to the common man. But guess what? The guy literally lives in a gold and ivory tower! He does not relate to you or me!

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden teams up with his old boss, former President Barack Obama in a new video that draws a sharp contrast between President Donald Trump’s approach to voters and Biden’s style.

Biden and Obama met at Obama’s Washington office. After sitting down across the room from one another, Biden asks Obama whether he could imagine standing up as president and saying, “It’s not my responsibility, I take no responsibility,” as Trump has previously done.

“Those words didn’t come out of our mouths when we were in office,” Obama says in the video clip from the Biden campaign. The full-length video will be released Thursday.

Biden criticizes Trump for “his inability to get a sense of what people are going through.”

“He just can’t relate in any way,” says Biden.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/obama-and-biden-criticize-trump-coronavirus-response.html

Maybe that’s why so many Americans can’t vote – they can’t fit in the damn booths! But what lies ahead for America after enduring the worst pandemic in an entire century? Well, for one thing the rebuilding process is going to be long and difficult. At least with competent leadership at the helm, we will be able to remake America. Or we can have four more years of this. I know which one I would choose! And keep in mind that someone terrible could win (Trump)!

Former President Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden recently took part in a socially distanced conversation to discuss Biden's presidential bid and the future of the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Video of the conversation, which will be released in its entirety on Thursday, shows the former president and vice president arriving in masks for a sit-down conversation and talking about how the Trump administration has handled the COVID-19 outbreak.

"Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying, 'It's not my responsibility. I take no responsibility.' Literally. Literally," Biden said in a preview of the conversation released by his campaign, taking an apparent dig at President Trump.

"Those words didn't come out of our mouths when we were in office," Obama responded.

"No. I don't understand his inability to get a sense of what people are going through," Biden said. "He can't relate in any way."
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/508455-obama-biden-discuss-countrys-future-in-socially-distanced-conversation

See you next week!

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