Thu Aug 18, 2022, 05:05 PM
Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-4: Anyway You Nuke It, That's The Way You Nuke It Edition
Top 10 Conservative Idiots #13-4: Anyway You Nuke It, That’s The Way You Nuke It Edition Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yo what’s up Phoenix? How are you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! It’s great to be back in the PHX, and I’m glad to see things have cooled down a bit! It’s what? 110 degrees outside? Or as you might refer to it – “sweater weather”. I kid, I kid. But yeah it’s good to be back! Last week we took a break from our regularly scheduled program because we celebrated 5 years of our favorite religious themed segment – Holy Shit! But this week holy shit. I mean come on, Trump’s house got raided! And Liz Cheney lost to a hard right MAGA nutjob, but we’ll have plenty of that for next week. And we missed that. But don’t worry – we’ve got plenty of coverage on that. Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do. I don’t know if you saw this or not, but James Bond is back in the news! Look, say what you want about No Time To Die, but it was an interesting experiment in the James Bond franchise. But with the demise of the Daniel Craig Bond, there have been many rumors flying about who’s going to play Mr. Bond next – or it could even be a Ms. Bond. But the Broccoli family that owns Eon Productions has basically said that nobody you know will be playing the next Bond, and that includes Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, and Henry Cavill. Damn that means no Bane Bond. I am London’s reckoning! Does this mean that Chris Pratt could potentially play Bond? Oh come on, the guy is in literally every major blockbuster coming out in the next 12 months. You don’t know, you don’t know! 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 the clusterfuck of the Afghanistan exit (mainly the fault of the other guy) : So where do we begin this week? Well the number one slot is obviously going to the Slobfather, because, the FBI raided his Mar-A-Lago mansion because of the fact that he hid some classified and sensitive documents. But what are they about? Well they might have something to do with America’s nuclear arsenal and that would be a pretty egregious offense if true! In the second slot, the retaliation against the raid on Trump is intense, and of course it caused some lone MAGA nut with a gun to take action against the FBI, and it was an absolute shit show! But guess what? He was a member of Truth Social and had frequent interactions with Marjorie Greene, who is upping the hysteria! Speaking of hysteria, the number 3 slot goes to the reigning king of conservative hysteria – Alex Jones (3) and his trial and sentencing was an absolute shit show. But he got his sorry ass handed to him! The number four slot this week goes to Andrew Yang (4). Mr. Yang has touted that he’s going to start his own political party, but whose side is he on? Well after his recent tweet storm, it’s pretty apparent that he’s no longer on our side. And in the number 5 slot this week is a new “We’re All Gonna Die” (5)! And guess what? Thanks to anti-vaxxers, we have our first case of polio in nearly 60 years in New York City, but it’s a lot worse than you think! In the number 6 slot this week of course is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week, conservative Christians are getting increasingly hostile and touting dominionist conspiracies, so we will show you how to deal with these extremists should you encounter one in the wild! In the number 7 slot this week is a new Beating A Dead Horse (7) and guess who’s back? That’s right – Colin Kaepernick! And of course his return to the NFL means he’s going to be an instant target. How many games will he make it? Two? Three? Calling all takers! In the number 8 slot this week is a new Conspiracy Corner (8) – why are conservatives so scared of the IRS expanding their powers? Got some financial crimes that you’re hiding, MAGAs? I thought so! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have a new “I Need A Drink” (9) and this week, we have to talk about another casting anomaly this time – Fidel Castro played by… James Franco? Come on, Hollywood, WTF? This is insane. And it needs to stop! Finally this week it’s time for World Tour 2022! This week it’s Destination #3 (10) and we are touring the land of hockey, curling, poutine, and hosers – the Great White North – Canada! Plus we have some live music from the Dear Hunter! Buy their new album “Antimai” or you are no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key! [div style="padding: 20px; background-color: #ffffff; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0px 2px 4px 1px #aaa;"][div style="font-family: arial, helvetica; font-weight: bold; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999; padding-bottom: 8px;"] 
[font size="8"]That Former President    [br] [/font] I never in a million years ever want to hear another MAGA Q nut say that conservatives are the party of law and order. Not after what happened this week. Say what you want about Bill Maher, but he’s right about one thing – no matter what batshit crazy things we think a president is capable of, we need to get that shit in writing so that it never happens again. There’s tons of stuff that Trump got away with that normally would get another president impeached. And I mean come on, I didn’t have “Trump stole classified documents and hid them in Mar-A-Lago” on my Trump Crimes bingo card. Did anyone else? No? Well this is one of those stories that I always say is like peeling an onion. The more layers you peel back, the more it stinks and the more likely you are to cry as a result. And once again, the MAGAs tend to cherry pick which laws they want to abide by, which is absolutely hilarious coming from the party that claims to support the police and be the party of law and order. So here’s how everything initially went down. Think of it kind like how one of my favorite TV shows – Arrested Development – opens. The FBI seized multiple sets of documents marked top secret from former President Donald Trump’s Florida resort home, Mar-a-Lago, when agents raided it Monday, according to a search warrant unsealed Friday.
The warrant directed agents to seize “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed” in violation of three laws related to handling of government documents. The warrant indicates that statutes relating to espionage and obstruction of justice are the foundation for the search. Convictions under these statutes can bring fines or prison sentences. One of the statutes, which relates to removing or destroying government records, includes a punishment of being “disqualified from holding any office under the United States,” according to the text of the law. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/documents-taken-in-trump-raid-included-files-marked-top-secret-report-says.html Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha… leads? Laws? Yeah let me just check with my boys down at the crime lab. Oh and it gets worse, ladies and gentlemen! Because you know what may be on those documents? Information about America’s nuclear arsenal and covert agents around the world. Hell this information compromised more than a couple. Come on, I’ve seen like every spy movie, you can’t tell me you have classified information about covert ops and expect to get away with it! it’s truly insane what this man is able to get away with. You know what? We need some music for this one! Anyway you nuke it that’s the way you nuke it anyway you nuke it… OK that’s enough of that. But this is the problem when you live in a political echo chamber – you think you’re entitled to power and are above the law. The Washington Post reported Thursday that “classified documents relating to nuclear weapons” were among the things FBI agents were looking for when they searched Mar-a-Lago this week. And there were numerous examples of “secret,” “confidential,” and “top secret” documents listed on the official property receipt from the seizure that was released Friday.
A warrant released alongside the receipt suggested the FBI may be looking into violations of the Espionage Act and potential obstruction of justice as well. Former President Donald Trump has denied taking any nuclear-related documents, calling the Post’s reporting a “Hoax.” Trump has been known to issue false and misleading statements before, of course, which raises the question: If Trump had nuclear secrets lying around his house, what might they be? “It could be anything ranging from something that would endanger the lives of hundreds of millions of people to something that has no impact on anything whatsoever. That’s how vague the classified categorization is,” Alex Wellerstein, a historian of science and nuclear weapons, told me. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23303570/classified-documents-nuclear-secrets-weapons-trump-fbi Hooooooooooooooooooooooooly shit. Imagine what would have happened if Trump had launched nukes on DC to prevent the election from being certified? Oh and don’t think he wouldn’t! By the way in case you’re wondering – why yes people are taking to Trump’s Truth Social to threaten the FBI and Merrick Garland. Because is anyone honestly surprised anymore at the rate of death threats in this country committed by people against people who don’t agree with them? It’s truly disgusting that it’s come to this in 2022. But 7 years of this shit shouldn’t really surprise anyone. Thought the attempt by Trump to “bring down the temperature” is absolutely hilarious. Former President Donald Trump claims that he “will do whatever” he can to bring down “the temperature” following last week’s FBI’s raid of his Florida home and club, Mar-a-Lago. But even a glimpse of Truth Social — Trump’s social media company — shows that the MAGA website has been a haven for private, doxxed information not only about authorities involved in the federal raid, but also of their families.
A review of Truth Social postings by Rolling Stone shows Trump supporters have spent the past week doxxing both Judge Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge who approved the Mar-a-Lago warrant, and an FBI agent involved in preparing the request, as well as their families. The information includes their purported home addresses, phone numbers, places of worship, private offices, and similar information about the men’s families and junior employees. Rolling Stone has declined to name the FBI agent targeted out of safety concerns. Spokespeople for Truth Social and Trump did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment for this story. Former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler posted the name of an FBI agent involved in the preparation of the warrant on Truth Social, as well as the names of his wife and child, their social media accounts, and the school the child attends. Truth Social removed the post by Ziegeler but the verbatim text of the post, complete with contact information for the agent and his family, have spread across Trump’s social media in a series of posts with no apparent attempts at moderation by the company. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-truth-social-fbi-mar-a-lago-violence-1397317/ 
Trump is literally that guy right now. Come on, Trump has his own personal echo chamber where he can scream and be as loud and as racist and insane as he wants to be. And the people who are signed up on Truth Social all think the same as he does. Why is he surprised by this? Of course abusers don’t know that they are being abusive until they are actually abusive. Although I found this part of the raid absolutely hilarious. Don’t worry – we’ll get to the MAGA raid on the FBI in a minute. But I love this part of the story. If you stage a protest in front of the FBI’s DC headquarters and nobody shows up, did it really happen? A pro-Trump protest that was scheduled to be held outside the FBI headquarters in Washington DC over the weekend was cancelled after it was promoted on far-right blogs as a suspected “trap”, The Daily Beast reported.
Following the FBI raid at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, supporters of the former president began reupping a call to arms across social media platforms and alt-right blogs to coordinate protests outside the offices of the federal agency responsible for domestic intelligence and security service. A Sunday demonstration outside the headquarters in the nation’s capital was first promoted by the far-right Falun Gong-backed Epoch Times, who reported shortly after the 8 August raid at Trump’s Florida residence that a veteran named Adam Hardage had called for a demonstration on the following Sunday “to protest the out of control FBI and its actions against President Trump”. The outlet later reported on Thursday, just a few days before the event was scheduled to happen, that it had been cancelled after conspiracies began speculating throughout pro-Trump media forums that the event was a “trap” and could perhaps be co-opted by the same agency the supporters were protesting. https://news.yahoo.com/pro-trump-fbi-protest-cancelled-125815922.html 
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[font size="8"]The MAGA FBI Raid In Cincinnati    [br] [/font] [br]
Here’s the problem when you live in an echo chamber. Your theories get crazier and crazier and you eventually start to hear voices in your head. We’ve said since the beginning that one of the biggest problems with the MAGA movement is that Trump tends to attract minds that are seriously warped, depraved and twisted and may not exactly be the best educated. So when all you listen to is those kinds of people, it will inevitably lead to disaster. And you know how much we love pointing out cause and effect on this program. So last week’s raid on Trump’s Mar-A-Shithole mansion in Florida caused this guy to react and he took his frustrations out on the FBI’s Cincinnati headquarters. And you can already guess what happened – it led to disaster. You can say he fucked around and found out. Or you can also say that he played a stupid game and won a stupid prize. Either way it works. Republican privilege is a hell of a drug. When the F.B.I. conducted the raid at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in South Florida on Monday night, some conservatives claimed it was one of the darkest days in American history. (I can think of a few days off the top of my head that were worse.) It’s as if they couldn’t fathom that the law applies to everybody and not as a tool they use to silence and interrogate those they deem inferior.
It all comes back to that concept of privilege. Privilege emboldens a former President to allegedly brought back sensitive nuclear documents back to his vacation home. It also pushes a crowd of people to go to the Capitol with violence on their minds or gives a man the audacity to attack an F.B.I. building in Ohio. Throughout this country’s history, there have always been two views of law enforcement and which community should be under its thumb – no situation better demonstrates that disparity than the reactions to this raid. Republicans do nothing wrong (according to them) and will give every excuse in the book to display that the system is “allegedly” working against them. When Black and people of color engage in protest to ask for police accountability and to have scenarios happen where they don’t lose mothers, sisters, and fathers, they are met with teargas, riot police, and unwarranted advice to “stop putting themselves” in “those” situations. It’s not right that there are two different responses to actual oppression and fantasy. Black people have been asking for solutions for decades about police brutality and the unjust gaze of law enforcement in their communities. Attorney General Merrick Garland had to unseal parts of the search warrant because of death threats and repeated lies that the Justice Department was conspiring against the Republican party. Black families around the country are still waiting years later for their calls for justice to be answered. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/trumps-f-b-raid-shows-183000574.html 
Here’s the thing MAGAs and it’s something that you obviously failed to learn in school and you were probably asleep for that class – NO ONE is above the law! And this goes for your favorite leader too, he’s not above the law either! Just like the Bible and the constitution the republicans tend to pick and choose which parts of the law they want to abide by and which they don’t. Which is absolutely hilarious coming from the party that claimed they were the “party of law” in 2020! Oh don’t think we’ve forgotten about that here, because we haven’t! Republican privilege is a hell of a drug. When the F.B.I. conducted the raid at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in South Florida on Monday night, some conservatives claimed it was one of the darkest days in American history. (I can think of a few days off the top of my head that were worse.) It’s as if they couldn’t fathom that the law applies to everybody and not as a tool they use to silence and interrogate those they deem inferior.
It all comes back to that concept of privilege. Privilege emboldens a former President to allegedly brought back sensitive nuclear documents back to his vacation home. It also pushes a crowd of people to go to the Capitol with violence on their minds or gives a man the audacity to attack an F.B.I. building in Ohio. Throughout this country’s history, there have always been two views of law enforcement and which community should be under its thumb – no situation better demonstrates that disparity than the reactions to this raid. Republicans do nothing wrong (according to them) and will give every excuse in the book to display that the system is “allegedly” working against them. When Black and people of color engage in protest to ask for police accountability and to have scenarios happen where they don’t lose mothers, sisters, and fathers, they are met with teargas, riot police, and unwarranted advice to “stop putting themselves” in “those” situations. It’s not right that there are two different responses to actual oppression and fantasy. Black people have been asking for solutions for decades about police brutality and the unjust gaze of law enforcement in their communities. Attorney General Merrick Garland had to unseal parts of the search warrant because of death threats and repeated lies that the Justice Department was conspiring against the Republican party. Black families around the country are still waiting years later for their calls for justice to be answered. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/trumps-f-b-raid-shows-183000574.html 
Yeah that’s pretty much what it’s like. And by the way in case you’re wondering – no the MAGAs are not done with the FBI yet. It’s absolutely fucking hilarious to me to see the MAGA morons squealing about defunding the FBI on social media when in 2020 they destroyed the liberal messaging of “defund the police”. Which I am not even going to get into. But the truth is it’s getting scary out there, and we’re beginning to see just how much damage living in an echo chamber can do – both as damage to one’s mental psyche and to real life people and property. Law enforcement agencies around the country are actively monitoring online threats and rhetoric that has emerged in the wake of the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate Monday, sources tell ABC News.
Agencies are also preparing for possible acts of violence they fear could occur at or near pro-Trump demonstrations that some supporters are calling for, law enforcement sources said. Authorities on Monday morning searched Trump's Florida estate in what sources told ABC News was part of a probe into documents that Trump allegedly improperly took to Mar-a-Lago when he departed the White House, some of which the National Archives has said were marked classified. Over the last several months, law enforcement officials across the nation have become increasingly concerned about calls for violence against law enforcement and other government officials by violent extremists," said John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security official who is now an ABC News contributor. "The search warrant at Mar-a-Lago has only served to increase those calls, adding to law enforcement concerns." https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/authorities-monitoring-online-threats-following-fbi-s-mar-a-lago-raid/ar-AA10xYbs Yeah so after the MAGA raid on the FBI headquarters, it was quite the clusterfuck that we all imagined that it would be. But the gun nut in question lived in an echo chamber and it totally fucked with his mind, and we saw it in action. Honestly I’m not at all surprised that he was a member and frequent poster on Truth Social. And it’s exactly the kind of mind that Trump attracts. Look, we’re not in any position to make fun of mental illness here and we’re not doing that. But I know someone in the comments or on social media is going to scream at us for something. I’m just pointing that out. But this is like a window into the exact kind of mind that Trump attracts. It’s some truly scary, sick, twisted and frightening stuff here. Days before he was killed by police after allegedly firing a nail gun into an FBI field office in Cincinnati, the man whom officials have identified as Ricky Walter Shiffer appears to have posted online about wanting to kill FBI agents after the search at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Screenshots taken from Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, show that an account using Shiffer’s name, which appears to have been removed, posted a “call to arms” on Tuesday morning, hours after Trump confirmed the raid had taken place at his Florida residence a day earlier. “We must not tolerate this one,” read one of the posts, which urged others to “be ready for combat” and to “respond with force. “Kill the F.B.I. on sight,” the post said. https://www.yahoo.com/news/extremism-experts-warn-of-jan-6-similarities-in-fbi-mar-a-lago-raid-rhetoric-165819702.html 
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[font size="8"]Alex Jones  [br] [/font] [br]
Unfortunately last week while we were celebrating 5 years of Holy Shit, we missed out on covering the Alex Jones trial but we have to talk about it this week. The thing is people who watch this program know what a colossal scumbag Alex Jones is, and that he’s basically just a huckster who sells Z grade vitamin supplements and water filters. And he’s always talking about how Infowars is basically a hair away from going bankrupt. Despite that he owns a ton of different Rolexes and lives in a giant mansion and drives around in an armored tank. But the truth of the matter is – Infowars is far from Bankrupt and in 2016 after Trump won, they posted their highest profit ever. But that hasn’t stopped the asshole from attempting to save his own ass to the braindead few that are still willing to listen to him. And come on if you still listen to that blithering maniac after all of this, you probably belong in a mental institution. New York (CNN Business)A Texas jury has decided to penalize Alex Jones with $45.2 million in punitive damages in a lawsuit filed by the parents of Sandy Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis. The award, which the judge could reduce, came one day after the jury settled on $4.1 million in compensatory damages.
The jurors began deliberating around 12:30 pm CT on Friday, after Judge Maya Guerra Gamble reminded them that in a default judgment against him Jones was already found liable for defamation and "intentional infliction of emotional distress" against Lewis' parents, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin. In an emotional closing argument Friday, Lewis and Heslin's attorney Wesley Todd Ball said to the jury, "We ask that you send a very very simple message, and that is, stop Alex Jones. Stop the monetization of misinformation and lies. Please." Ball urged the jurors to "deter Alex Jones from ever doing this awfulness again" and "to deter others who may want to step into his shoes." Jones' attorney, Federico Andino Reynal, argued for a far lower sum, suggesting that the jurors should multiply Jones' purported earnings per hour of $14,000 and the 18 hours that he said Jones talked about Sandy Hook on Infowars, for a sum of around a quarter million dollars. On Thursday, in the first phase of the trial, the jury awarded the parents $4.1 million in compensatory damages, a far smaller amount than the $150 million the parents' attorneys had sought. In his closing argument, Ball thanked the jury for their decision to award the $4.1 million, saying it had already made a huge difference in the parents' lives, and asked them to award enough in punitive damages to bring the total to $150 million. Punitive damages are a form of punishment for a defendant's behavior. Jones, the head of the conspiratorial media outlet Infowars, repeatedly lied about the Sandy Hook massacre. He stoked conspiracy theories about the victims and their families, prompting multiple defamation lawsuits. He has since acknowledged that the mass shooting occurred. Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/05/media/alex-jones-punitive-damages-sandy-hook Yeah so what a fucking scumbag. Of course the more you dig into his finances the more you realize he’s an even bigger lying scumbag than you might realize. I mean seriously how do the MAGAs fall for scammers and hucksters every single time? It’s truly mind boggling. But then again if you follow this program you know that Trump and the republican party have a habit of targeting gullible and underinformed people. You know, like PT Barnum said – there’s one born every minute! But there’s no mistake that Alex Jones is one of the absolute lowest scumbags on the planet earth. And I loved this part of the trial – he actually turned over incriminating text messages that could possibly indicate where he was on January 6th – to the prosecuting attorneys! You can’t make this stuff up! Approximately two years' worth of text messages sent and received by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have been turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.
The messages were handed over to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented two Sandy Hook parents who successfully sued Jones in Texas and won nearly $50 million in a civil trial that concluded last week. Bankston would only tell CNN that he is "cooperating with the committee." The select committee declined to comment. During the trial, Bankston revealed that one of Jones' lawyers had "messed up" and inadvertently sent him the two years of text messages. Bankston also said during the trial that the January 6 committee had expressed interest in the material. Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/alex-jones-january-6/index.html?utm_content=2022-08-08T17%3A37%3A07&utm_term=link&utm_source=twcnnbrk&utm_medium=social 
Oh and in case you’re wondering if Mr. Jones is just as much of an abusive piece of shit in real life as he is on Infowars? Well your answer is 100% correct because he really is that much of an abusive scumbag in real life. When he’s not railing on Infowars about how democrats want to come take your guns away, he’s probably in the middle of a divorce suit. Look, there’s nothing funny we can make of this because it would seriously suck to be in an abusive relationship. But we can point out what kind of character Alex Jones really is. Normally, nothing's ever funny about domestic abuse, but inasmuch as this involved Alex Jones, it prompted amusement.
Alex's second wife, Erika, a yoga instructor, and he have been married since 2017. On Dec. 24, 2021, she was arrested for abusing a family member and resisting arrest. She spent Christmas day in jail. "It later came out that the domestic violence charges came about after Erika hit Alex more than 20 times, according to police documents obtained by The Daily Beast. Afterward, she reportedly threatened to hit him again with a stone object. The publication reported that according to the Travis County arrest affidavit, Alex called the police and said his wife was going to hit him with 'a polished club in her hand.' In addition, the affidavit said that Erika had hit Alex with closed fists and open palms. All of this reportedly started because she accused him of cheating on her." (And following the recent trial, she's learned Alex sent a nude photo of her to Roger Stone that was among the phone data inadvertently sent to the Sandy Hook parents' lawyer.) In addition, Jones's first wife now has her attorney seeking that same phone data to use in a lengthy ongoing child custody case. http://www.distractify.com/p/alex-jones-wife 
Hmmmmmmmm… so let’s extrapolate this for a minute. Domestic abuser piece of shit rails to party full of domestic terrorists. Is it any wonder why we can’t have nice things? Look, the propaganda is a huge part of the problem here. But if you think the massive sum of money that Mr. Jones is making isn’t going away oh no, we’re just getting started. It’s going to take a hell of a lot to take a major propagandist like Jones down. But we’ve done it before like with Bill O’Reilly. Of course Bill O’Reilly seems relatively tame to Mr. Testicle Tanning White Supremacist Tucker Carlson. So who knows if we get rid of Jones what his replacement will be like? Well it can’t be any worse than this. Texas-based conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was fresh from the courtroom, where a jury ruled that he must pay millions of dollars to parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting for spreading lies about them, when he jumped at the chance to circulate similar conspiracy theories.
On a livestream at his InfoWars website Thursday, Jones warned of a supposedly Democrat-led plot to stage mass shooting hoaxes and even assassinate former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden. “I believe the deep state, they’d kill Biden, which we’re totally against happening, as a pretext to really try to trigger a civil war, and/or Trump,” Jones said on a livestream on his show. “They might actually kill both of them.” The comments were in response to the FBI's execution of a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida, residence on Monday. On Thursday's broadcast, Jones echoed claims he and former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon had made on Bannon’s War Room: Pandemic podcast on Monday. Read more: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/fresh-from-defamation-defeat-alex-jones-is-already-promoting-similar-conspiracy-theories-14588286 
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[font size="8"]Andrew Yang     [br] [/font] [br]
You know any time someone attempts to start a third party in the US, it kind of plays out like a Wiley Coyote vs the Road Runner situation. No matter how hard the third party tries, no matter how many technological advancements they have at their disposal, it always ends poorly for them because the Road Runner is just too powerful. And your Acme brand products suck. That portable hole may have fooled me once, but fool me twice? Come on. There was Ross Perot’s Reform Party, or there was Ralph Nader’s Green Party, and then there was Ron Paul’s Freedom Party. Now the latest attempt to further the divide between liberal and conservative is the Forward Party from Andrew Yang, who was once on our side. But come on, everyone who’s seen this before knows how it ends, and it usually ends very badly for liberals. So how could Mr. Yang think this was possibly a good idea? Well let’s consider all the possibilities and where he’s really coming from. After the 2020 election, Americans were clear: they wanted a viable third political party.
In modern US history the country has been dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties almost to the exclusion of all others, effectively creating a near two-party monopoly on power in the White House, Congress and the state level. Other parties, like the Reform party, the Greens or the Libertarians have never really broken through. In 2021, as the fallout from the 2020 election continued, polling showed widespread support among Americans for a fresh third party that would offer something different from the status quo. Even a majority of self-identified Republicans said they wanted a new party in the mix. This should be prime ground, then, for the Forward party, founded in July by a group of self-defined centrists including the former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and former Republican New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/07/forward-third-party-andrew-yang 
Look, Mr. Yang, third parties are almost *ALWAYS* doomed to fail. It’s been tried before and it always fails. The Forward Party really is no different from the 10,000 other third parties that have been started in the last 30 years. The whole point of these is to siphon votes off from the liberals and give them to conservatives, like some kind of fucked up reverse Robin Hood. But in case you’re wondering, Mr. Yang, the answer is no – Americans are not ready to vote third party. Instead both sides are busy fighting each other among who’s the most pure or not. Are Americans finally ready for a third-party? Andrew Yang, a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, certainly think so. They have just founded the Forward Party with the avowed aspiration of promoting more moderate politics and candidates.
They have some evidence to back their hopes. In a just-released survey, the Pew Research Center found that the share of voters with an unfavorable view of both political parties has risen from 6% in 1994 to 27% today. When asked to respond to the statement that “I usually feel that there is at least one candidate who shares most of my views,” 43% disagree, up from 36% in 2018. Thirty-eight percent strongly agree that “I wish there were more political parties to choose from in this country,” a figure that includes 48% of Independents and 38% of Democrats but just 21% of Republicans. This final finding is one of several replicated across all the surveys in this article. Democrats and Independents are much more dissatisfied with the current party system than are Republicans, and young adults are far less satisfied than are older Americans. (In fact, discontent decreases steadily with age.) In addition, some surveys suggest that there is more openness to a new party among college-educated than non-college voters—and that Hispanics may be less tethered to the current party system than are either whites or African Americans. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2022/08/12/are-americans-finally-ready-for-a-third-party/ Now you might be wondering – whose side is Mr. Yang on? Well, as you can imagine his political beliefs are literally the stereotype of anyone who’s attempted to found a third party in the last 40 years. He’s slick and I will give him that. But like any slick politician, he’s a snake oil salesman. He says he’s not affiliated with either party. But if you still defend Trump after his attempted takeover of January 6th, we know which side you’re really on. There’s no need to hide it anymore, and you can’t say that both sides do it. There’s just one side that attempted to take over the government and that’s the side that was controlled by that guy. Former presidential candidate and recent founder of the third Forward Party, Andrew Yang, has gone on a social media tirade about the FBI search on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago beachside estate.
Trump confirmed Monday night that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) were at his Mar-a-Lago residence carrying out a search warrant. Trump described the raid as “dark times for our Nation” and said that his home was “under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.” Tuesday, Yang turned to Twitter, suggesting that the entire search would be fodder for a 2024 campaigning Trump and could cause MAGA Americans to believe more of the bullshit Trump (and now Yang) have been peddling about the “unjust” American institutions. “The FBI raid of Trump’s home has fired up his base of support in the GOP - and has seemingly increased the odds of his running in ‘24,” Yang tweeted. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/9/2115468/-Forward-Party-s-Andrew-Yang-says-FBI-search-seems-like-excellent-campaign-material-for-Trump 
Oh come on! Although my favorite thing about this was that Andrew Yang attempted to justify his laughably failed 2020 presidential run in one word “math”. To which he got utterly destroyed in social media circles. Oh and even crazier – his campaign was flat broke and actually posting a cash flow that was redder than Wyoming’s voting registry. So the answer to the question of whether or not Americans are really ready for another failed third party? The answer is no. And anyone who joins this failed experiment better be prepared to exit stage left. Andrew Yang's 2020 presidential committee often summed its campaign up in a single word: "MATH."
But the Federal Election Commission, which regulates and enforces the nation's campaign finance laws, is questioning Yang's addition skills. "Your report discloses a negative ending cash balance of $190,861.62," a June 30 letter to the Yang campaign states. "This suggests that you have overdrawn your account, made a mathematical error, or incurred a debt." The Yang campaign, which did not return Insider's request for comment, has until August 4 to respond to the agency. https://news.yahoo.com/federal-officials-andrew-yang-math-152420378.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr 
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[font size="8"]We’re All Gonna Die: The Return Of Polio [br] [/font] [br]
Hey everyone guess what? We’re all gonna die! Wooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! Woooooooooooo!!!! Woooooo. Woo. So how are we all going to die this week? is it climate change? Is it the terrible floods that are coming? Is it war? Famine? Inflation? Well, if you guessed another terrible disease – you are correct! You might be thinking “COME ON!!! We’ve already been through COVID and Monkeypox, what else does Mother Nature have in store for us?”. Well, would you guess that Polio – a disease that we once eradicated, is rearing its’ ugly head again? That’s right – I didn’t have the “return of polio” on my 2022 Apocalypse Bingo card either. But it’s back and it’s all thanks to science denying anti-vaccine nutjobs. You know the same ones you see every day on your Facebook feed telling you that COVID is a hoax and that the vaccine doesn’t work. Those people. In the 1950s, the United States experienced a large outbreak of poliomyelitis (polio) — a viral infection causing paralysis, breathing issues, and possibly death. At the peak of the outbreak in 1952, there were about 20,000 casesTrusted Source of polio in the country.
In 1955, the first polio vaccineTrusted Source — known as the trivalent inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) — became available. Widespread vaccination helped lower the number of polio casesTrusted Source each year in the U.S. to less than 100 in the 1960s and less than 10 in the 1970s. All U.S. states currently require children to receive polio vaccinations to attend elementary school and child care. Since 1979Trusted Source, no cases of polio have reportedly originated in the U.S., although some cases have occasionally occurred due to the virus spreading through international travel. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-polio-has-reemerged-and-how-to-stay-safe-experts-advise#First-polio-case-in-the-U.S.-in-almost-a-decade 
Oh calm down dude, we’re not gonna die. At least not yet. And in case you’re wondering – it’s worse than you think. It’s not just one case. There might be hundreds out there. Because scientists are working to use wastewater treatment to detect potential disease spread. That’s right the same methods they used to find COVID 19, our old friend that has been wreaking havoc the last two years, to find new cases of polio. And there might be way more than just a case or two now. But thanks to anti-vaxxers, a whole number of diseases that were once eradicated or thought to be extinguished are rearing their ugly heads again and it’s gonna get ugly. U.K. health authorities have said they are urgently investigating a rare polio virus discovery in sewage samples in London, potentially putting Britain’s polio-free status at risk for the first time in almost two decades.
A number of waste samples from the Beckton sewage treatment works in Newham, east London tested positive for vaccine-derived polio virus between February and May, the U.K. Health Security Agency said Wednesday. The virus has since continued to evolve and is now classified as a “vaccine-derived” polio virus type 2, the UKHSA said, adding that it is looking to establish if any community transmission is occurring. The agency has declared a national incident and informed the World Health Organization of the situation. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/22/ukhsa-detects-polio-virus-in-london-sewage-declares-national-incident.html Clean that up. Yeah so here we go again. We’re out of the frying pan and into the fire. Again. After COVID and Monkeypox. Now we have the resurgence of polio to deal with. At least be glad we have people like Bill Gates to help guide us through what we should do if this were to ever happen again. Oh wait that’s right – the MAGAs wont listen to him and have threatened to murder him. Which is once again the reason why we can’t have nice things. So what’s to stop polio from causing a pandemic the way that COVID has and Monkeypox could? Well there’s a number of factors. Polio just came back to the U.S. after disappearing for a decade this summer. It looks like it’s still on the move.
A disease that once sparked widespread panic before being eradicated by vaccines, authorities discovered polio in the wastewater in two New York state counties in July and August. “For every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a statement last week. “Coupled with the latest wastewater findings, the Department is treating the single case of polio as just the tip of the iceberg of much greater potential spread.” The discovery of the virus on U.S. soil prompted a warning from billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates that the disease should still be considered a danger—to everyone. https://fortune.com/2022/08/10/polio-found-london-wastewater-vaccines-children-new-york-bill-gates/ 
So how did this happen? I wish I could say that it was anti-vaxxers that caused this but you know it’s a lot more complex than that. But even the best vaccines only have immunity for so long. There’s nothing definite about anything. Of course, once again the MAGAs don’t understand that. And they also don’t understand the concept of “public health” either. Instead they only hear what they want to hear and they only think that there’s one guy dictating public policy for thousands of organizations and groups, but they’re wrong. Don’t worry, when the shit hits the fan, we’ll be there! A case of polio has been detected in New York, the first instance of the virus in almost a decade.
The case was confirmed in a resident of Rockland County, about 36 miles north of New York City, the first case since 2013, according to the state and county health departments. The patient is no longer considered contagious, the AP reports, but has developed paralysis. The patient was unvaccinated, the CDC reports. Tests run by the state health department's lab, and confirmed by the CDC, showed that the patient had contracted a strain of polio likely derived from an oral polio vaccine, which are no longer administered in the U.S. https://www.npr.org/2022/07/21/1112802233/polio-case-new-york-live-vaccine 
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[font size="8"]Holy Shit [br] [/font] [br]
Gather around my fair brothers and sisters! It’s time to take a seat in the pew and pass the 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 congregation! You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about how far gone the republican party is and how much their march towards super far right authoritarian ideology is going. Any time one side leans that far on the scale, it can’t be good. As evidenced by Georgia’s crazy Q Anon congresswoman Marjorie Greene (Q – Batshit). Like it’s truly insane where the Christian evangelical party is going if they nominate people like Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano to extremely high positions. So what do they support? Let’s extrapolate on this for a minute. A lot of the candidates whose names you’ll be seeing as we get closer to election time support something called “Dominionist theory”. So what is Dominionist theory? Well let’s take a closer look at it. it’s definitely not to be confused with some of the other nuttier theories floating out there, like the Great Replacement or White Replacement Theory, but both of those are tied into this one! Texts written after the 2020 presidential election between Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Mark Meadows, then the Chief of Staff for President Trump, confirm the danger that dominion theology represents to American democracy.
Dominion theology (also known as dominionism) is a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation governed by Christians based on their understandings of biblical law. The texts involved Ginni Thomas pleading with Mark Meadows to help overthrow a legitimate election. Here’s Thomas: “Help this great president stand firm, Mark. You are the leader, with him, who is standing for American governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the left is attempting the greatest heist of our history.” Mark Meadows texted back, “This is a fight of good versus evil. Evil looks like the victor until the King of Kings triumphs. Do not grow weary in well doing. The fight continues. I have staked my career or at least my time in DC on it.” https://www.pressherald.com/2022/04/08/david-treadwell-the-danger-of-dominion-theology/ 
Yes, they really think that this is a fight between good and evil and that a magical “king of kings” will descend down upon us! But they worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a man so foul, so depraved and so disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! They do not worship the good LAWRD JAYSUS! Well, they claim to worship JAYSUS but they do not honor his teachings, like “Do Unto Others”. They don’t love and worship their fellow man. Instead, their minds are rooted in hateful propaganda! It’s insane! Last week, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia responded to those who had called her a “Christian nationalist.” Rather than disavow the term, however, she took it as a badge of honor. “I am being attacked by the godless left because I said I’m a proud Christian Nationalist,” she wrote on Twitter. “These evil people are even calling me a Nazi because I proudly love my country and my God.”
Greene’s characterization of her critics as “the godless left,” of course, ignores the broad swath of Christians who condemn Christian nationalism. The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, to pick one group, has run the Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign since 2019, with endorsers from several large denominations. Conservatives have long shown their skill at turning hot-button words to their advantage — just look at how they’ve made “woke” a negative tag. It’s concerning but not surprising that Christian nationalist has been reconfigured to assign themselves in-group status. Conservative politicians and media personalities have effectively appropriated and redefined the use of words before — look at how Donald Trump’s supporters happily “owned the libs” by adopting “deplorables,” or how their use of “woke” and “cancel culture” has sapped the potency from those terms, turning them into symbols of in-group status. Greene has even begun selling “Proud Christian Nationalist” T-shirts. https://religionnews.com/2022/08/04/how-to-answer-when-christian-nationalists-embrace-the-label-as-a-badge-of-honor/ 
Dominionism and nationalism are nothing to screw around with. When you get that extreme, it’s basically akin to Nazism only without the SS uniforms. And you know what? These people should just put on the SS uniforms and get it over with. And if you want to see Dominionism in action, look no further than the extremist Kari Lake! Kari does not worship JAYSUS, she instead worships the unholy, ungodly Dark One! And once again, those who worship the Dark One are getting dangerous, scary, and way more hostile in their rhetoric. We’re truly going to see the proverbial shit hitting the fan in the next couple of years should more of these cretins get elected! NBC 12 News took a deep dive over the weekend into the implications of Lake’s support for the curriculum, which is founded on Trump’s 1776 Commission.
The 1776 Commission was a Trump-led response to try and combat what the right claimed was left-wing indoctrination in schools tied to critical race theory. “Kari looked through the Hillsdale 1776 curriculum and discussed it with educators before selecting it as an alternative to the biased, CRT-based indoctrination permeating current textbooks and lesson plans,” a Lake campaign spokesperson told 12News. The Hillsdale 1776 curriculum is a history and civics curriculum created at Hillsdale College, which the article’s authors describe as a “private Christian school in Michigan that’s influential in right-wing circles.” The article notes that “Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn was the chairman of former President Trump’s short-lived 1776 Commission, created to support what Trump called ‘patriotic education.’” The creation of the curriculum was a response to the New York Times’s 1619 Project, which critics claim warped American history to demonize the country’s founding and place blame on contemporary groups in society for historic wrongs. https://www.mediaite.com/news/kari-lake-wants-a-trump-inspired-curriculum-crafted-at-a-private-christian-college-taught-in-arizonas-public-schools/ No! No! No! 1,000 times absolutely 100% not! We do not need our children and students indoctrinated in the eyes of the Dark One in our public institutions! Keep that shit private! But we cannot ignore that they are getting more extreme with each election cycle. Something truly insane is happening and forces are working to tip the scales for the Dark One, and things are really going to get ugly if these people are not stopped! We can, no we must stop them at every level! It doesn’t matter if it’s a city council, school board, public representative, or anything else ! We have to stop Christian extremism or it’s going to get really bad. Doug Mastriano, a Christian nationalism-promoting election conspiracy theorist who won the Republican Party’s gubernatorial primary in May, has come under fire for his ties to Andrew Torba, the antisemitic Christian nationalist founder of the far-right social media platform Gab.
While Mastriano has remained silent about his connection to Torba, Torba has been very vocal in his defense of Mastriano and his own radical Christian nationalist views, releasing several videos in which he explicitly stated that non-Christians should not be playing leading roles within the conservative movement. On Monday, Torba released another such video in which he declared that “degenerate pagans” have ruined this nation and therefore “biblical Christian men” must “take dominion” over everything for the good of society. “You degenerate pagans and atheists and non-believers went way too far with the COVID nonsense, with shutting down our churches and forcing our kids to be masked, and forcing us to get vaccinated with some mystery goop in order to keep our jobs and provide for our families,” Torba said. “You pushed us too far, and now we’re going to take dominion of this country, of our culture, of news, of entertainment, of technology, of education, of everything for the glory of Jesus Christ, our king. It’s just that simple.” https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/andrew-torba-says-biblical-christian-men-must-take-dominion-over-every-aspect-of-society/ 
Yes it is getting scary out there, my fair Congregation! Satan’s forces are strong at work tipping the country towards the Dark One! It’s going to get ugly and don’t say that I didn’t warn you! Mass has ended, may you all go in peace! That’s it this week for:
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[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse: Colin Kaepernick’s Return [br] [/font] [br]
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaack! That’s right – the subject of the original “Beating A Dead Horse” segment – Colin Kaepernick is back in the NFL! OK I’ll accept your applause, audience! Well, OK that applause might be premature. But the rumors of his return and / or current demise in the NFL vary depending on who you talk to. Some people were ecstatic about his return to the 50 yard line. Others? Particularly the Fox News crowd? Eh… not so much. Though if there’s one guy who we don’t need commenting on the embattled quarterback’s return, it’s this guy – Michael Vick. Yeah wait, save your boos! But the thing is we cannot let the Fox News crowd continue to dictate to us what’s patriotic or not. I mean come on, they attempted to overthrow the government to install Orange Man Baby as dictator life. There’s nothing less patriotic than that. And it’s only because of this bullshit that Kaepernick isn’t playing in the NFL. There’s been a lot of talk about free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick returning to the NFL for the 2022 season. The Super Bowl signal caller has not suited up in a game since New Year’s Day of 2017 when he was a member of the San Francisco 49ers.
Kaepernick, 34, just recently worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders and is said to have multiple teams interested in his services. In talking about Kaepernick recently, fellow former NFL quarterback Michael Vick predicted that the former will return the NFL this coming season. “I think it will happen in due time, Vick told Outkick. A former No. 1 overall pick of the Atlanta Falcons, Vick knows full well about being out of the league and returning after a long absence. He didn’t play in 2007 and 2008 after a conviction in a dog fighting scandal led to a prison sentence. Vick then returned as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2009 and ended up playing parts of seven more seasons in the NFL. https://sportsnaut.com/colin-kaepernick-nfl-return-michael-vick/ 
But here’s the question – could he return to the NFL this season? Or is this just another example of “all talk, no walk”? Because many owners have been asking questions about his availability, but so far no one has really acted. Think of it like a middle school dance where the boys don’t want to mingle with the girls and everyone stays on their side and is afraid to cross over into the middle. The pro Kaepernick side says one thing, but the anti-Kaepernick side says another. And the anti-side seems to be currently winning at the moment. Colin Kaepernick worked out in front of NFL scouts and onlookers during halftime of the University of Michigan's spring game on Saturday at Michigan Stadium.
The free-agent quarterback threw for around 15 minutes in a workout that was conducted by Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and broadcast live on Big Ten Network. Kaepernick ran the full gamut of throwing drills, from out routes to medium crossers to play-action deep balls. The workout concluded with Kaepernick connecting on a deep shot and embracing Harbaugh. After the workout, Kaepernick made his case to quarterback-needy NFL teams to give him a shot. "I can help make you a better team, I can help you win games," Kaepernick told Jeanna Trotman on WXYZ Detroit when asked what his message was to prospective clubs. "I know right now the situation likely won't allow me to come in, step into a starting role. I know I'll be able to work my way to that though and show that very quickly. https://www.nfl.com/news/colin-kaepernick-throws-michigan-spring-game-door-to-open-nfl-return
Come on, seriously! Either you’re going to sign him, or you’re not. Keep in mind that any team who signs Kaepernick will instantly become the target of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, and not sure that any coach or GM wants that on their backs. The thing is all franchises are missing out on one of the best quarterbacks in the last 8 years all because of petty political bullshit. So could he or would he play in the NFL again? Well keep in mind what I said earlier about him automatically carrying a target on his back and that absolutely would happen if he played a team like the Colts or the Falcons. They would make mince meat out of him. Colin Kaepernick is seeking receivers to catch his passes and a team to sign him.
Kaepernick, who led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance following the 2012 season, last played in the NFL in 2016, the same year he started kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. On Sunday, he wrote on Twitter: “For The past 5 years I’ve been working out and staying ready in case an opportunity to play presented itself. I’m really grateful to my trainer, who I’ve been throwing to all this time. But man, do I miss throwing to professional route runners. Who’s working?? I will pull up.” Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett quickly volunteered and Kaepernick responded, saying he’ll be there Monday and coordinate with him. It wasn’t immediately known where they will get together. Kaepernick met with Seattle a few years ago, but Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he should be a starter in the league and the team only wanted a backup for Russell Wilson. Now, Wilson has been traded to Denver. https://wgntv.com/sports/colin-kaepernick-still-wants-to-play-in-nfl-seeks-help-with-return/ Kaepernick, you have good hustle. But you’re cut. And so are you, you, and you. The funny thing is that we’ve pointed out time and time again that conservatives just don’t get what Kaepernick’s protest was originally about. They only care about the message that Hannity and Carlson force feed them on a nightly basis. Fox News once again is the reason why we can’t have nice things. And in case if you’re wondering if this is the season where he could possibly return? Well, if I was a betting man, I would say “outlook not so good.” "It’s over for Colin Kaepernick. There’s no way that any team will sign him at this point, not after he has gone half of a decade without playing football of any kind," he wrote.
He's probably right. "I just want to see if Kaepernick can make a team. I wish the Seahawks would sign him just to see," one fan tweeted. "Nothing is impossible. Sign him and if he can't play we'll know soon enough. We have backups in the league who've never taken a snap. I'll take a guy with experience who taken a team to the SB. Over bums like John Wolford, Bryce Perkins, Ian Book. Sounds like you and FB are," another fan added. "Would have been a great option for the Commanders. Just take a chance. Let him play in preseason to see if he still has it. He can work in the offense. Oh well," another fan added. https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/colin-kaepernick-return-is-impossible-nfl-world-reacts 
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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: 87,000 IRS Agents [br] [/font] [br]
Welcome back to the segment where we attempt to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! You know when times are dark, people turn to conspiracy theories to explain the news because they don’t want to take the time to read beyond the headlines! We are of course coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter from deep in the New Mexico badlands. Let me just adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all… ah there we go! Well this week, you may have heard your Fox loving friends and relatives spouting off about the Inflation Reduction Act being used as an excuse to expand the IRS and hire an insane amount of new agents. And that they are going to be capable of “using force”. Yes, that’s right. And if they’re worried at all about this, it’s probably because they’ve got some extreme financial crimes that they are hiding. You really can’t make this stuff up. While Donald Trump spins out ever more brazen lies and nonsense to sow confusion over the seizure of stolen classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Republicans have seized on a particularly gross conspiracy theory to justify their ridiculous claim that all of this somehow impacts the personal freedoms of every day Trump voters: "87,000 new IRS agents."
A reference to new federal funding in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, this latest talking point appears to have been crafted originally as some anti-tax propaganda to get the base to defend the ability of the wealthy to cheat on their taxes. But it almost immediately morphed into something far more threatening. It is now an unhinged conspiracy theory that's spreading rapidly through social media, as armed right-wing nuts are riling each other up to commit more acts of political violence. The entire situation shows that Trump's tactic of winking at right-wing extremists, in hopes they will commit violence on his behalf, has spread throughout the Republican Party. With this new lie about the IRS, both Republican leaders and Fox News have made it clear that they will not hesitate to stir up the most violent elements in their base, inflaming serious tensions for no other reason than the belief it helps them score political points during a midterm election. https://www.salon.com/2022/08/15/87000-irs-agents-new-conspiracy-theory-proves-encouragement-of-violence-is-standard/ 
Yeah so the mere fact that they’re worried about this means that Trump’s definitely hiding some serious financial crimes! And your republican friends probably are too! But here’s the thing – none of this nonsense that Fox News is spouting is true. Shocker, I know. And if you’re worried about being audited, well, I got some news for ya. If you’re making some money on the side, you’re probably not going to get audited. If you have a giant crypto mining account, you probably will get audited. You commit some egregious errors on your 1040? You probably will get audited. But most of us most likely won’t have to worry about it. One of the most gut-tightening phrases for taxpayers is "IRS audit," but years of underfunding and a decline in staffing at the tax agency have pushed the audit rate to a decade-long low. That could soon change under the Inflation Reduction Act, the bill that proposes to give $80 billion to the IRS to beef up enforcement and hiring.
The prospect of a revitalized IRS is causing some consternation among some Republican lawmakers and taxpayers, who express fears that the proposed funding could be used to target workers and middle-class families. Indeed, Republicans on Tuesday warned taxpayers that the agency wants to hire "87,000 new IRS agents to audit Walmart shoppers." That has raised fears the new agents would target middle-class workers with invasive audits, although the Treasury Department on Wednesday pushed back against those concerns. Households earning less than $400,000 "will likely see the chance of an audit decline," Treasury said in a statement. "Instead, new funding will crack down on tax evaders among the wealthy and large corporations, invest in technology upgrades that help taxpayers, and hire more customer support staff to prevent backlogs." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/irs-audit-rates-taxes-inflation-reduction-act/ 
Sorry, ultra-wealthy people, but the free ride is over! You want to steal money from your businesses and treat government stipends like your personal piggy bank? Guess what? You pay! That’s why Fox News is turning up the alarm on this – they’re probably guilty too! And also guess what? The idea that they are going to “use force” to audit people? Also bullshit! And it gets weirder! So much weirder! The fact that Tik Tok had to employ massive counter measures to endure the onslaught of fake news relating to this to bullshit is stunning. First rule of the internet – if it sounds like bullshit, it probably is! A story about weapons seized before they could reach the IRS comes from Real Raw News, a website that has previously fabricated stories, many involving the military.
Much of the reaction shared on social media about a Democratic bill that would provide billions of dollars in new funding for the IRS has focused on fears that more Americans will face tax audits as a result. But one outlandish claim suggested those new IRS agents might soon be coming to your door armed to the teeth to collect your taxes, if not for a dramatic early morning intervention by "Delta Force" soldiers. An Aug. 8 TikTok video’s headline read, "Delta Force seizes IRS weapons shipment." The video shows screenshots of an article with that same headline. But the article is from Real Raw News, a website that has a long track record of creating fake news stories. TikTok identified this video as part of its efforts to counter inauthentic, misleading or false content. (Read more about PolitiFact's partnership with TikTok.) The article describes 16 soldiers and four SUVs stopping a tractor-trailer from entering the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in Maryland soon after Vice President "Kabula Harris" cast the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act on Aug. 7. That bill, the article said, allows the IRS "to hire and arm 87,000 new agents." https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/tiktok-posts/no-weapons-headed-irs-werent-seized-military/ 
Yeah probably! So should we fear our new heavily armed tax auditors or not? Yes, there’s some accounting professions where you’re required to carry a gun, but those actual positions are very few and far between. But why are Americans afraid of the IRS? Well it’s pretty simple – if you’ve got nothing to hide financially you won’t be a target. But the fact that republicans put pressure on the IRS to drop the “heavily armed” requirement for new IRS hires means that they’re definitely scared of the feds coming after their pocketbooks. If you see your conservative friends and neighbors hiring shredding trucks or burning their papers out in the yard, you know trouble is coming! The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) removed the requirement that special-agent applicants carry firearms and "be willing to use deadly force" from a job listing.
Documentarian Ford Fischer tweeted a screenshot of the IRS careers website, which included mentions of "irregular hours" and being on-call 24 hours in addition to holidays and weekends. It also cited the IRS' Criminal Investigation team—described as "the law enforcement branch of the IRS"—which requires special agents to "combine accounting skills with law enforcement skills to investigate financial crimes." At the time of Fischer's tweet, the IRS website's job description for special agents included the requirement that they be able to carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force if necessary. However, as of Friday morning, the listing had been edited to omit those two requirements. Newsweek Newsletter sign-up > Josh Cole, communications director for the IRS, told Newsweek via email that the change was "minor" and on only one page of the IRS website regarding the 1811 special agent job posting. https://www.newsweek.com/irs-deletes-requirement-that-new-agents-willing-use-deadly-force-1733352 
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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink  [ br] [/font] [br] B
Hey everyone! I don’t know about you, but I could really use a drink! 
So of course you know by now the idea of this segment is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking we talk about literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Because there’s a lot of really dark shit out there, so sometimes it’s best to just have a drink and forget about all your troubles. This week the subject on the table is Hollywood casting. Come on, Hollywood, have you not learned anything? Well anyway I need to get good and liquored up to properly discuss this insane story. Tell me bartender, what goes well with a casting SNAFU? A fuzzy navel? Really? That’s it? A Seabreeze? Eh, whatever. I’ll just have my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Gentlemen Jack. I call it the “All Jacked Up”. Anyway, Hollywood casting continues to get weirder and nuttier. It’s not like they have a bunch of white supremacists running the show or anything. But it’s truly insane and the more you dig into this the weirder it gets! John Leguizamo thinks the casting of James Franco as Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro is no bueno.
That’s “no good,” for those of you who aren’t Latino. Like Franco. Deadline exclusively broke the news earlier this week that Franco, 44, will be playing Castro in the indie film Alina of Cuba. That spawned an Instagram eruption today from Leguizamo, who ranted against having a non-Latino actor in the role. “How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F’d up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would be wrong!” John Leguizamo thinks the casting of James Franco as Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro is no bueno. That’s “no good,” for those of you who aren’t Latino. Like Franco. Deadline exclusively broke the news earlier this week that Franco, 44, will be playing Castro in the indie film Alina of Cuba. That spawned an Instagram eruption today from Leguizamo, who ranted against having a non-Latino actor in the role. “How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F’d up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would b wrong!” He added, “I don’t got a prob with Franco but he ain’t Latino!” His comments struck a nerve, drawing 10,000 likes, including new The View cohost Ana Navarro, who said she would join a boycott of the film. https://deadline.com/2022/08/john-leguizamo-outraged-james-franco-cast-fidel-casto-alma-in-cuba-he-aint-latino-1235086299/ 
Ah that hit the spot! But here’s the thing – James Franco? Really??? You’re making a movie about one of the most ruthless Latino war lords that’s ever lived and you cast the whitest white guy who’s ever whited? I can’t even. But the insane thing is that no matter how many times you tell Hollywood that they’re wrong about this, they always manage to find a way to screw up. It’s truly uncanny. But John Leguizamo is definitely not wrong here. In fact the more that you dig into this story, the weirder that it gets. Yeah casting someone who looks and acts like Fidel Castro isn’t going to be an easy feet, but come on, this is just plain fucking lazy. The casting of James Franco as Fidel Castro in the upcoming film, “Alina of Cuba,” is drawing fire from Latino actors, writers and activists.
Driving the news: Variety got confirmation last week that Franco, who is not Hispanic, will star opposite Ana Villafañe, who portrays the title character Alina Fernández Revuelta, Castro’s daughter. The movie is scheduled to begin production in Colombia on Aug. 15, Variety reported. What they're saying: Colombian-born actor John Leguizamo took to Instagram to denounce the casting. “How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers!” Leguizamo posted. “I don’t got a prob with Franco but he ain’t Latino!” Leguizamo added. https://www.axios.com/2022/08/09/james-franco-fidel-castro-alina-cuba-film 
Oh yeah! That’s the stuff! Now here’s where it gets weird and you knew it was going to. This movie has a Latin American director, writer, and producer. So why not go all the way and hire someone who is you know – Latin American – to play Fidel Castro? Well they used something called “casting software” to determine how the role of Castro was cast. That’s right – they used AI! So yeah when the rise of the machines happens, don’t be surprised when they start doing weird things like casting Chris Pratt to play Super Mario. Oh wait, that happened too! Private equity is keeping its investment in all aspects of Hollywood going even amid a broader market downturn.
On Tuesday, RedBird Capital Group, led by founder Gerry Cardinale, and StepStone Group unveiled a deal to acquire Talent Systems, a company that specializes in software and technology tied to the casting and auditioning process for Hollywood productions. The company, led by co-CEOs Rafi Gordon and Alex Amin, managed over 50,000 projects and 2 million auditions in 2021, spanning films, TV series, commercials, theater and digital productions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though the company’s leadership team and another of its investors, Caltius Equity Partners, will remain minority shareholders. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/redbid-capital-talent-systems-acquisition-1235182461/ 
Yeah somehow even that’s not enough! But even in the digital age, there’s nothing that isn’t out of the hands of our automated software. It controls everything. Hell even someday these lists every week might be computer generated! You don’t know, man! You don’t know! But that being said, never mind the fact that James Franco has been under investigation for multiple sexual harassment allegations – it’s the idea that “race science” was used to determine his role as Castro. Yes, you heard that correctly – race science. It’s a thing. And they got it wrong. I need another drink. The first week of August is proving to be one of the most chaotic weeks in entertainment in weeks, if not months. Around the time the disturbing Warner Bros. Discovery Q2 investor call finished up on August 4, Deadline broke the news that James Franco would be playing historical figure Fidel Castro in upcoming indie film Alina of Cuba. There lots of issues people take with his casting.
His sexual abuse allegations from at least nine women (one underage, and a handful of students while he was teaching) and his admission about some of them have made him a Hollywood pariah since about 2017. Even his longtime creative partner Seth Rogan distanced himself after mutual frequent collaborator Charlyne Yi called out how people continue to gaslight them and protect predators. With Franco working behind the scenes on many projects (because he certainly was “canceled”) and pandemic delays, it was only a matter of time until he returned for a major role. What should have been a discussion focused on the other leads of Alina of Cuba (because it doesn’t appear that he is even a lead) turned into weird excuses as to why those involved in the production cast him to begin with, especially considering Fidel Castro is one of the most recognizable and influential people in recent Latin American history. In addition to casting a known predator, this comes at a time when Hollywood is sluggish to cast Latinx performers unless the roles are tropes. https://www.themarysue.com/alina-of-cuba-using-race-science-to-excuse-casting-james-franco-as-fidel-castro-is-a-bad-choice/ 
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[font size="8"]World Tour 2022 Destination # [br] [/font] [br]
Part of our mission statement here at the Top 10 Conservative Idiots is that we view conservative idiocy not just as a uniquely American problem. No, it’s a global problem and conservatives are ruining everything they touch all around the world. Which is why we present to you: 
Welcome back to the World Tour 2022 everybody! In the last two weeks, we showed two VERY different sides of the United States – ultra liberal California and ultra conservative Texas. This week, I’m wearing my Royal Canadian Mounted Police costume because that’s where we’re heading – the Great White North. The land of poutine, hosers, and hockey – Canada! Canada is the home to such industrial cities as Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Regina. Yes, as Deadpool pointed out, “Regina” rhymes with “va”. But Canada is also home to things like Canadian Rules Football and Curling, and one of the greatest bands of all time – a little band called “Rush” . And while everyone associates Canada with being the liberal capital of the world, it’s home to some extreme conservatism too. Remember that Freedom Convoy that tore across Ottawa? Well guess what? The pandemic might be winding down but the Freedom Convoy isn’t done with the Canadian government yet. Newly disclosed documents show federal intelligence officials warned decision-makers that the police dispersal of "Freedom Convoy" protesters in Ottawa last winter could prompt an "opportunistic attack" against a politician or symbol of government.
The Feb. 24 "threat highlight," marked Secret/Canadian Eyes Only, also advised that extremist "influencers" would leverage the outcome of the protests for continued recruitment and propaganda, regardless of whether COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were relaxed. Ideologically motivated extremists would likely use police enforcement "to encourage violent revenge or as further evidence of government 'tyranny,'" the four-page assessment said. The partially redacted memo, obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act, was among several Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre analyses produced before, during and after the protests that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for three weeks beginning in late January. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/08/17/news/ottawa-intel-violent-revenge-ottawa-freedom-convoy-shutdown 
Well he’s not wrong there! But that said Canada’s got an election coming up and even they are not immune from crazy right wingers and social media conspiracy theories. As we say, it’s a cancer that is affecting the entire world and not just America. But just like America, our neighbors to the north are also going through an extreme climate change crisis. Yes, it’s getting hot even up north. Really people can make up any scenario they want for how the future is going to play out. But I think the movie Mad Max: Fury Road best describes what the future is going to be like. The sun continues to beam down across Calgary for the Stampede, and with high temperatures in the forecast, weather experts are urging residents to take some additional precautions before hitting the midway.
Environment Canada issued a heat warning early Tuesday morning, with temperatures expected to reach into the 30s through the rest of the week. Meteorologists anticipate Wednesday will feel a tad cooler, with potential thunderstorms forecasted, but temperatures should head back toward the 30s by the weekend. With overnight lows around a balmy 15 C, there’s little opportunity for things to cool down once the sun sets. “If you’re on the Stampede fairgrounds, there’s probably not a lot of shade to be found,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Sara Hoffman. “You’re probably finding yourself in direct sunlight in those hot temperatures. So in conditions like that, it’s going to be important for people to take extra good care of themselves.” At the Stampede, massive crowds — bigger than those seen in the last pre-pandemic Stampede in 2019 — are anticipated to make the sweltering heat feel even hotter and further increase the competition for reprieve in the shade. https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/heat-warning-issued-for-calgary-as-forecast-calls-for-temperatures-up-to-30-c 
Well… I got news for ya. Canada has their own version of Donald Trump. That man is Pierre Poilievre. I also have further news for you – this man is literally a walking, talking internet meme. He literally says all the crazy things that your creepy uncle says on his Facebook page. And of course he’s been brainwashed by Canada’s equivalent of Fox News. Yes, they do have a Murdoch affiliate there. But if this guy got into any sort of power, he could really do some damage. And that would be bad for everybody because Canada’s conservative patriots are just as insane and stupid as ours are. People keep trying to get a read on where Pierre Poilievre would take the Conservative Party. Would he, as some fear and others hope, position it on the far right – fiscally severe, socially intolerant and so on?
Or is he, as others argue, more of a mainstream conservative than his hard-line rhetoric would suggest – witness his refusal to legislate on abortion, or his proposals to make it easier for new immigrants to have their credentials recognized in Canada. Is he a populist, or a more traditional economic conservative? Will he pivot toward the centre, in the usual fashion, once the leadership race is out of the way? Or is he, as still others speculate, putting together a new coalition, drawing from both the far right and the far left – people who do not usually vote? I think this whole discussion is a mistake. Mr. Poilievre is not properly understood as an ideological phenomenon. There is no such thing as Poilievrism. Nothing in his long career in politics, or in this campaign, suggests anything in the way of a coherent philosophy of government. Neither is that the basis of his appeal. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-where-would-poilievre-take-the-conservatives-not-to-the-far-right-but/ 
Oh Canada, Canada, Canada. You don’t know where Poilievre would take the conservative party after he’s elected? Trust us, as survivors of the abusive Trump administration, and who have been following his insane antics since he first rode down that escalator every week since December of 2015, we know more than you could possibly know. And none of it is good. If you elect a guy who’s been brainwashed by Rupert Murdoch, he’s going to do some damage to your reputation. But the fact is that COVID broke the entire world and we’re just now figuring out how to live as a society after that. You cannot let a guy like Poilievre take power! Please I’m begging you! Please! I’ll stop making fun too! No more Canada jokes ever! As public anger intensified, politicians rushed to tap it for political gain. “These gas prices are absolutely eye-popping,” argued Pierre Poilievre, the front-runner for the leadership of the federal Conservative party. “Meanwhile, Liberals like [Justin] Trudeau and [Jean] Charest have done nothing but make them even more expensive with their ever-rising carbon tax. Axe the tax. Make more Canadian energy, now.”
A cavalcade of right-wing pundits and think tanks echoed this attack on federal climate policy. But the idea that carbon prices were the primary driver behind record-high gas prices is incorrect, according to experts like University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe, who told CBC that “it’s really about global oil prices, and that’s really driven by things far beyond the Government of Canada’s control.” Poilievre, who didn’t respond to a media request from The Tyee, neglected to make that corrective to his hundreds of thousands of social media followers. Nor did he inform them that Canadian oil companies and their investors were earning “sky-high” profits from the gas prices he attacked. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/08/16/Poilievre-Blamed-Climate-Taxes-Big-Oil-Guzzled-Profits/ 
[font size="4"]Scorecard: [/font] Tourism: A Culture: A- Political Spectrum: C Liberal Appeal: A+ Overall: A- Change from 2017: The conservative electorate is getting angrier and more vocal. We’ll see what happens after the election. [font size="4"]Next Week: [/font] Next week we’re heading across the pond to the land of the Royal Family, fish & chips, and M:I-6, the United Kingdom! [font size="4"]And Now This: [/font] [font size="4"]The Dear Hunter[/font] Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest is a great prog metal band from Rhode Island, their latest album is called “Antimai” and you can see them on tour through the end of September. Playing their song “Ring 5 – Middle Class” give it up for the Dear Hunter! Thank you Phoenix! We’re off to Austin next week with the famous Wheel Of Corruption and live music from Dance Gavin Dance! It’s going to be a fun one! See you next week!  
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