Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Top 10 Idiots

(597 posts)
Thu Feb 16, 2023, 06:00 PM Feb 2023

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-4: We Don't Talk About Ronnie Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #14-4: We Don’t Talk About Ronnie Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! What’s up Buffalo? It is really great to be back in Upstate New York! It’s been a while. What, 4 years maybe? And again it’s because we’re West Coast based, we operate out of Southern California, so traveling across the country is expensive. Plus we’ve also had that COVID thing to deal with the last 3 years that might finally be going away forever. We hope. By the way, we did have the Wheel Of Corruption planned for this week, but we’re still trying to find a source for clips so we’re getting that moved to next week in Boston. But yeah we’re all sad by Right Wing Watch departing Youtube. I want to start by saying congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs for winning that Super Bowl. Holy crap it was a hell of a game. Great job Eagles too. So do we have time for the thing? Of course we do! It’s my show, damn it! Well, have y’all been watching The Last Of Us? Holy shit this show is some next level crazy. Yeah I know it’s a zombie show, and The Walking Dead has been done to death with a million spinoffs now. But one thing I was unaware of, we did have some viewers tip us off to this, but did you know that the Zombie Research Society is a real thing? I mean seriously think about it – people get paid to sit around and think about what life might be like in a zombie apocalypse and how to survive it if it actually were to happen. We may have to do an in depth analysis on this in a future “I Need A Drink” because I mean come on, how cool would that be to say that is your job? Well we’re kind of doing the same thing except we make podcast money, not Walking Dead money. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first Stephen Colbert is back with his take on Marjorie 3 Names’ SOTU heckling:



So where do we begin this week? In the first slot this week, since we don’t want you to think this show is all about negativity, we’re going to show you highlights from President Joseph R. Biden’s second State Of The Union (1) address and he had some really good stuff this year. In the second slot this week is well, the lowlights of the State Of The Union (2) address which includes the usual group of MAGA nutcases attempting to heckle Biden and it backfiring on them spectacularly, and Kevin McCarthy just sits there telling them to be quiet in the way that a parent browsing in Target doesn’t want their kid screaming at the top of their lungs. Meanwhile, in the number 3 slot this week is our old buddy Ron DeSantis (3) and he’s escalating the Fox News culture wars by simply taking over the board of directors at Disney’s Reedy Creek district in Orlando that controls Disney World and Epcot Center, simply because Tucker Carlson told him to. At the number 4 seed this week is the GOP (4). And the MAGA conspiracy theorists once again attempted to disrupt public discourse by holding more unnecessary hearings and investigations into social media companies, and this one backfired on them spectacularly. Speaking of things backfiring, in the number 5 slot this week is our buddy Jim Jordan (5) who launched the “Weaponization Of Government” Committee, and so far it’s already to be proving to be a colossal failure, which Is why I wouldn’t trust the MAGAs to run a 7-11. In the number 6 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week our resident pastor is going to take a look at the inevitable corporate merger (or hostile takeover?) of church and state, and it’s going to be terrible when that happens! In the number 7 slot this week is a new People Who Somehow Got Elected (7) and this week we’re adding hardcore Texas ultra MAGA representative Ronny Jackson (Q – Batshit) to that ever growing list! Taking the number 8 slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week we’re going to take a look at Marjorie Three Names’ ridiculous claims about the Chinese Spy Balloon Incident, because it gets weird really fast! In the number 9 (NEIN!!) slot this week is a new “I Need A Drink” (9) and this week it’s the 50th anniversary of arguably one of the finest albums ever recorded, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, and well, if you thought that Roger Waters and David Gilmour were going to reunite, well, not only are you wrong, but their feud has very quickly and publicly escalated, and well, they ain’t getting back together! Finally this week it’s stop #4 of 6 on our 2023 World Tour and we’re heading to the southern most part of Africa, South Africa (10)! We need some Toto for this one! Plus we have some live reggae rock music from the legendary Stick Figure to close things out! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

Ed. Note: Before we begin this week, we will unfortunately be unable to address the terrible shooting that happened at Michigan State this week. We will have plenty of it next week though, including the standard NRA issued “thoughts and prayers”. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming!

[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"]State Of The Union 2023: The Highlights
[br] [/font]
[br]

Here's the thing my loyal viewers – we don’t want you to think that this show is entirely about negativity, oh no. While we still control the Senate and the White House, we do have to show some positive things. Especially while Joseph R. Biden is our PRESIDENT. Yes, I shout the word President because it really gets under the skin of the MAGA election deniers. So what were the biggest promises made at this year’s State Of The Union? Well probably the best thing was that it overall was just a great address. So what is Joe Biden’s “quiet revolution”? Well it’s basically a glorified sales pitch and in my opinion, I think the “quiet revolution” pitch is certainly a better message than his 2020 “build back better” mantra was. Because as we know, republicans tend to fuck up everything they touch and as some of the things we’ve been witnessing in the news lately, we can’t just side step and rebuild from their fuck ups. We have to revolt against the right wing media establishment, and I think that’s the sentiment he was going for.

Arguing over raising the debt limit is dumb. Arguing over how to make the economy grow for everyone is smart. President Biden hopes to use his State of the Union message on Tuesday to move the debate to the right question and make the case for the quiet revolution he has championed in our nation’s approach to future prosperity.

Yes, Biden, the middle-of-the-road lover of compromise, consensus-building and comity, is a revolutionary — Ronald Reagan in reverse, if you will. He’s turning the nation away from the economic assumptions that took hold in the 1980s.

The words we’ll hear on Tuesday about a move from “trickle-down” to “middle out” and “bottom up” economics are the sales pitch — but they are also a reasonably accurate description of policies that see robust government investments, worker rights and a green tech economy as the path to a new American century.

There’s a lot Republicans might argue with here, but they are largely ducking the core disputes. That’s not only because they are divided in numerous ways, but also because they don’t want to be straightforward even about the issue they claim to care so much about: the deficit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/05/biden-sotu-preview-economic-argument/




Yeah that rabbling you’re hearing is coming from Marjorie Greene and Lauren Boebert. And look, no we don’t want to hear about whether or not he’ll be running again in 2024. At least not for the current time being. We want to hear about the country and where it’s going. The republicans are attempting to hijack this country and drive it off a cliff. And we can’t let that happen. But the one thing that what we did get out of this SOTU was someone who looks like he’s enjoying what he’s doing. And that’s a far cry from what we got with the Orange Douchebag.

When President Joe Biden took to the House Chamber on Tuesday for his annual State of the Union address, his message was one of unadulterated optimism – even in the face of open hostility.

The spectacle of Biden smiling and offering a pointed riposte through multiple rounds of heckling from some House Republicans was, in many ways, an apt illustration of his presidency and a useful preview of his likely 2024 candidacy.

A majority of Americans say he hasn’t accomplished much, many Democrats aren’t thrilled at the prospect of him running for reelection and he faces clear disdain from most Republicans.

But Biden powered through. Delivering what was widely viewed as a test run for his reelection announcement, Biden claimed credit for progress made during his first two years in office while stressing the job isn’t finished.

He faced sometimes-unruly Republicans, with whom he spiritedly sparred from the podium on spending cuts. The feisty display drew cheers inside the White House and offered the best preview to date of the energy Biden hopes to bring to the campaign trail soon.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/07/politics/takeaways-biden-state-of-the-union-address/index.html




No that was the last guy who did that. And republicans are “sometimes unruly”? Oh come on, you’re being too nice. They’re *ALWAYS* unruly. And they’re never happy either. This new brand of weaponized propaganda is going to destroy the country. But unlike the previous administration, whose State Of The Union could be summed up as “Old Man Yells At Cloud”…. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!... it’s nice that having a pleasant old man in charge is much better than having an angry and creepy one in charge!

U.S. President Joe Biden called for unity in a sharply divided Congress as he made a spirited appeal to Republicans to raise the $34.1 trillion debt ceiling in the annual State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

Biden touted U.S. job growth, his infrastructure program, drug price cuts for seniors and the rise in domestic manufacturing as he sparred with Republicans over higher taxes on billionaires and immigration reform. He also touched on the war in Ukraine, oil dependency and America’s strategic competition with China in the annual address to Congress.

Biden was met with boos and jeers when he pointed out that 25% of the outstanding U.S. national debt was added under former President Donald Trump’s tenure.

“They’re the facts, check it out. Check it out,” Biden said. “How did Congress respond to that debt, they did the right thing, they lifted the debt ceiling three times without pre-conditions or crisis. They paid American bills to prevent an economic disaster.”

Tuesday was the first time since 2019 the president and congressional leaders were permitted to bring guests to the event, which is generally attended by every member of the House and Senate. Five of the Supreme Court’s nine justices were in attendance, along with most of the president’s cabinet and the diplomatic corps.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/07/state-of-the-union-live-updates-biden-faces-stubbornly-high-inflation-and-divided-congress-in-annual-address.html




Come on, MAGAs. This is the State Of The Union. It’s not open mic night at the Chuckle Hut. We didn’t heckle Bush for 8 years when he was in office and we didn’t heckle Trump when he was in there, even though the latter absolutely deserved it. The former too. But this State Of The Union really highlighted the difference between the two parties. And it really shows how the other one (conservatives) have just completely devolved into this cess pool of chaos and corruption, and have become an absolute laughing stock because they get all their talking points from TV and radio.

The Chinese surveillance balloon was a huge story in America over the weekend, but it received barely a mention from the president, in the bottom third of his speech.

"As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country," he said. "And we did."

And that was it for the balloon talk.

The other big foreign policy story of the past year, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, also received scant attention. The president welcomed Ukraine's ambassador to the US, seated in the gallery, and heralded allied support for the nation. But he did not use the opportunity to call for new aid to the war-torn nation.

The president made no mention whatsoever of the recent earthquake in Syria and Turkey - and the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding. Instead, the president's focus was dominated by domestic concerns.

There's a saying that Americans only care about foreign policy when US soldiers are dying overseas. Joe Biden, in this speech at least, seems to have taken that to heart.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64519394





[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"]State Of The Union 2023: The Lowlights
[br] [/font]
[br]

Ok we just finished talking about the good that came out of PRESIDENT Joseph R. Biden’s second State Of The Union speech. Now, we got to talk about the bad. Because you know, there’s two sides to every coin. And I love highlighting that Biden is the PRESIDENT because it really pisses off the MAGA election deniers. Speaking of election deniers, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who I refer to as “Marjorie Three Names”, seen here looking like a certain fur-wearing villain of a certain Disney movie… HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! But yes, Marjorie Three Names definitely stepped in it, and is really showing just how classless, lawless and clueless the far right MAGA party has become. Of course that’s what happens when your party is ruled by talk show hosts and shuns any actual education for ultra-political group thinking. But yeah here’s what happened.

The State of the Union brought together a Democratic president and Senate along with a divided and far-right House of Representatives.

According to MSNBC's Garrett Haake, Rep. George Santos (R-NY) got to the House chamber earlier than anyone else, even reporters and set himself up on the aisle so he could shake hands with those who came in. Santos appeared to be trying to talk to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) but it appeared that Romney had no interest in speaking to him, turning his back.

There were concerns about whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) or Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) would "make a scene" as they had in the past, yelling back at President Joe Biden during the speech.

But it was Greene who was seated in the back row screaming and interrupting at every opportunity.

At one point she screamed "LIAR" when Biden said that some Republicans want to sunset Social Security and Medicare. It was part of a proposal presented by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) during the last election cycle. It was roundly denounced by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
https://www.rawstory.com/state-of-the-union-2659385976/




And then she was joined by the usual group of MAGA losers including Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, and Lauren Boebert. And then there was newly installed representative for Wyoming, Harriet Hageman, seen here looking like the evil librarian in a kids’ middle school movie from the 1980s… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!, but like the MAGAs wonder why we don’t take them seriously? It’s because they elect a bunch of poorly educated dolts whose job it is to cause chaos and that’s about it. I have no doubt that Marjorie’s permanent record from high school probably indicates that she beat kids up for their lunch money and shoved them into lockers. Let’s just say that I know the type.

In the hours preceding Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, it was clear that Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene hoped to draw as much attention as possible to herself.

Yet few could have anticipated her elaborate white fur outfit, which drew mockery and numerous comparisons to the Disney villain Cruella de Vil on social media.

"I think when the State of the Union is over, @RepMTG will be looking for some dalmatians to kill," joked the comedy writer Travon Free on Twitter, posting a photo of Ms Greene's voluminous fur coat and towering collar.

"Marjorie Taylor Greene's coat is made from the dogs George Santos said he was rescuing," quipped PR consultant and former Department of Defence aide Adam Blickstein, referring to claims that embattled New York Republican George Santos lied about running a pet rescue charity.

Elie Mystal, a reporter for The Nation, described it the ensemble as “some kind of Cruella de Vil outfit”, while left-wing radio host Emma Vigeland compared it to the costume worn by Tilda Swinton as the nefarious White Witch in 2005’s film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-coat-sotu-b2278087.html




Yes, Marjorie definitely deserves all the shit being thrown at her. Which is probably why she went to Idaho because who knows or really cares? But I love when I come across articles and news reports like these because we all know the answer to this. It’s just unnecessary clickbait. And the answer to this report is yes. The GOP is a bloodthirsty cult that’s out for absolute power and domination and they don’t care what insane buffoons they run in order to be able to achieve that. So yeah, the answer to this question is that the GOP knows that idiots like Marjorie Greene are a danger to their reputation and can damage their brand. But the truth of the matter is – they don’t care.

Ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he did not want Republicans to misbehave during the speech, telling members “cameras are on” and “the mics are hot.”

Mr McCarthy had tried to pre-empt the president by delivering an address on Monday laying out his terms for debt ceiling negotiations. Save for saying that Social Security and Medicare are “off the table,” after years of conservatives saying they needed to be reformed and made solvent, it was mostly typical Republican fare about fiscal responsibility.

Mr McCarthy’s hopes of GOP civility went up in smoke as soon as Mr Biden mentioned how some Republicans wanted to let Social Security and Medicare sunset, which led to Republicans booing and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to call the president “a liar.” Later in the evening when the president talked about people dying of fentanynl overdoses, Ms Greene shouted that “it’s coming from China” and Representative Andy Ogles went a step further saying “it’s your fault.” That led Mr McCarthy to deliver a stern shush and a murderous glare.

But regardless of how disappointed Mr McCarthy might be in the fact that his conference couldn’t sit stoically for an hour, he really can’t mete out consequences the way his predecessors once did. That’s because he has made the decision to align himself with the far-right flank of the party.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/voices-is-the-republican-party-going-to-regret-letting-marjorie-taylor-greene-act-like-that/ar-AA17ibfX




Yes, Marjorie Three Names is proving that the MAGA conspiracy theory wing of the GOP is clinically insane and they will stomp over anyone they damn well please. But I love the phrase “cacophony of kookery”. It sounds like something that an evil villain from the 1880s would use. The good news out of all of this though is that Marjorie’s heckling is only showing swing voters just how dangerous and insane the MAGA wing of the GOP is, and they can’t afford to lose those voters. Especially when we have a major presidential election coming up and we can’t wait to show Murdoch and his brand of fascism the door.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday afternoon, former GOP campaign consultant and current political analyst Tara Setmayer claimed the Republican Party has been taken over by "trolls" and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is right at the top of the list.

Reflecting on Taylor Greene's yelling as President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address, Setmayer told host Alex Witt that the controversial Georgia Republican's antics are hurting the GOP.

"I mean it is clear that the Republican Party has decided that they want to be a party of trolling -- they are not really a serious governing party," she told the MSNBC host. "Their behavior or misbehavior is evidence of that, and it's pretty on-brand. No one complained in the Republican leadership about the way Donald Trump behaved -- they would wave it off and then what do they expect? Of course, the discourse is going to become coarse because they've been rewarded for it"

"Marjorie Taylor Greene is now presiding over the House of Representatives during House proceedings," she continued. "She is going into classified intel briefings. She is palling around with the speaker of the House; she is the most powerful member of Congress right now. She is one of the worst of the worst."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-s-cacophony-of-kookery-is-scaring-swing-voters-away-analyst/ar-AA17naiA





[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"]Ron DeSantis
[br] [/font]
[br]

Look, the 2024 election is a mere 21 months away. And we’ve got to put aside our differences and get ready for it. Because people like Bill Maher have said for a long time that our democracy is hanging on by a thread. Well, 2022 was just a test bed, and the MAGA fundamentalist wing of the GOP barely won Congress by a thread. Barely. 2024 is going to be absolutely insane. Because while Trump is threatening to split the GOP down the middle (ed. note: GOOD!), the real danger is Florida Man and aspiring presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (Q – Nazi). Last week, we showed you just how dangerous that man is in his quest to bring you the full Fox News anti-woke agenda to a municipality near you with his hostile takeover of Sarasota’s New College. Well, now he has his sights set on getting revenge on Disney by initiating a hostile takeover of the governing body of Disney World resort in Orlando, the Florida special district known as Reedy Creek. That’s right – Disney has its’ own special governing body that has received special benefits from the state of Florida for nearly 60 years. As of last week, those benefits are no more. Hold your boos.

Florida lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to a proposal to give Gov. Ron DeSantis more control over the future of Disney’s Orlando-area theme parks, the latest escalation in the Republican leader’s feud with the entertainment giant.

The GOP-led state Senate voted 26-9 Friday on a bill to let the state take over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the government body that has given Disney unique powers in Central Florida for more than half a century. Under the bill, the district’s existing board will be replaced by a five-member board hand-picked by DeSantis.

The measure passed the Republican-controlled House on an 82-31 vote Thursday. It now heads to the desk of DeSantis, who is expected to sign it.

The latest move against Disney comes a year after the company spoke out against a bill to restrict certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation drew a forceful rebuke from Democrats and LGBTQ advocates, who feared the bill would marginalize LGBTQ students and teachers and make them feel less safe in schools. In March of last year, as outrage against the legislation spread nationwide, Disney released a statement vowing to help get the law repealed or struck down by the courts and saying the company was “dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/politics/disney-ron-desantis-reedy-creek-florida/index.html




Yes BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! So Disney’s special governing board that oversees Disney World, Epcot Center, and Disney resorts is getting replaced with Desantis ass kissers, boot lickers, and Fox News bots. You know, one of Disney’s biggest movies in the last couple of years was the movie Encanto, which featured the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”. Why don’t we call this piece “We Don’t Talk About Ronnie”? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Graphics department scores another one again! But this hostile takeover is showing just how dangerous Desantis is, and why he should never be president.

DeSantis' spokesperson Bryan Griffin said the prior system, under which the Florida legislature in 1967 gave Disney sole control over the district, lacked accountability.

"Florida is ... beginning a new era of accountability and transparency," he said.

Disney World is the largest employer in central Florida with close to 75,000 employees and drew 36.2 million visitors in 2021, according to the Themed Entertainment Association.

The legislature voted last year to dissolve the special district, which for more than a half-century gave Disney the autonomy to govern itself, providing such government services as fire protection, water, sewer and waste removal services and infrastructure.

The action, seen as retaliation for Disney's then-Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek speaking out against the state law limiting classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues, came with unintended consequences.

Tax experts and legislators warned that eliminating the district in June 2023 would leave county taxpayers liable for nearly $1.2 billion in bond debt.
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/florida-governor-assumes-control-over-disney-district-board-2023-02-10/




Ha ha ha ha ha…. Fuck you, Ronnie! And I’ll tell you where you can shove your victory too. You really think MAGA conservatives are suddenly just now caring about accountability? This is all just a get revenge quick scheme because Disney didn’t support your draconian “Don’t Say Gay” bill. So yeah, fuck off with that accountability bullshit. We see right through you like a piece of paper that was sprayed with invisible ink. Ha ha, I love Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, great movie. So why is this important? Because if he were president and had a willing Congress and SCOTUS, he could take over entire corporations and universities and do some real damage.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will soon take control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district after Senate Republicans approved a bill Friday punishing the company over its opposition to the law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”

The legislation, which now awaits the governor’s signature, would require DeSantis to appoint a five-member board to oversee the government services the district provides in the company’s sprawling properties in Florida.

The vote on the Disney bill ended a special legislative session focused on the conservative agenda of a governor who has leveraged national political tensions to become a national GOP star and potential White House contender.

The session itself, which was hastily called and completed, also signaled DeSantis’ willingness to leverage the Republican supermajority in the statehouse to accomplish his political goals, a strategy he will continue in the coming months as he builds toward his expected presidential candidacy.

The Disney district takeover was initiated last year when Disney publicly opposed “Don’t Say Gay,” which bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and lessons deemed not age-appropriate.
https://www.wsaz.com/2023/02/10/florida-gop-gives-desantis-control-disney-district/




Ha ha ha ha… I love the South Park Mickey Mouse. But yeah this is clinically insane. Fox News and Ron Desantis have really stepped in it. And we’re almost certain that this is all because Rupert Murdoch was mad that he lost his nightly Batphone to the Trump White House every night on the Sean Hannity show (see: Idiots #9-4 and Idiots #12-14 ). But make no mistake that these morons wouldn’t exist without Fox pulling their strings. Now you might be wondering why Bob Iger isn’t suing the shit out of Fox for their lies and slander. Well, maybe that’s because Bob might have an ace up his sleeve in this whole mess. We hope.

Florida lawmakers approved a bill Friday revoking Disney's special status over its theme parks in the state, granting more power to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

The big picture: Disney said it will not fight the bill and that it's "ready to work within this new framework," Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World, said in a statement.

"We appreciate all that the District has done to help our destination grow and become one of the largest economic contributors and employers in the state," Vahle added.
"We will continue to innovate, inspire and bring joy to the millions of guests who come to Florida to visit Walt Disney World each year," the statement continued.

Driving the news: The bill creates a special tax district to oversee the 25,000 acres of land surrounding the Walt Disney World resort.

The new entity, dubbed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, will be operated by a five-member board appointed by DeSantis and confirmed by the state Senate, per Variety.
https://www.axios.com/2023/02/11/disney-ron-desantis-reedy-creek-takeover





[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"]Republicans Vs Twitter
[br] [/font]
[br]

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about today’s MAGA conservative republicans, is that they base their entire identities around being social media trolls. And what we’re going to say here, we have said time and time and time again. Look, MAGAs, you’re not being banned because you’re a conservative posting a message on a social media board. You’re banned because you’re a hateful piece of shit and nobody wants to see you shitposting the same racist and sexist memes we’ve seen thousands of times, OK? Yes, thank you Buffalo! Just because your creepy uncle thought it was funny, doesn’t mean that the rest of the world will think it’s funny, OK? But before I go any further, I want to stress that the reason why we haven’t been talking about Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files” is because it’s a steaming load of grade A bullshit, OK? We may discuss it in a future Conspiracy Corner though. But moving on, the GOP and their theories are getting weirder and nuttier by the day and it’s really getting harder to try to keep up with all of the insanity going on.

Republicans are living in a reality distortion field.

That is the only conclusion that can be drawn from Wednesday’s hearing on Capitol Hill where GOP lawmakers continued to push a factually unsupported narrative about the federal government secretly colluding with Twitter to censor the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.

Despite no real evidence to support this weighty and consequential claim, Republicans were unrelenting in peddling it to the American public. At Wednesday’s hearing they showed no regard for misinforming those who turn to them for accurate information or the fact that they were smearing a private business and its former executives in the process.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who seems to want to be taken seriously by the Washington elite while tossing asinine red meat to the Republican base, claimed Twitter happily followed supposed FBI instructions to censor the Hunter Biden story because they were “terrified of Joe Biden not winning the election.”

The unsupported claim is nothing new for him. Comer has long pushed the notion that Elon Musk’s release of the so-called “Twitter Files” showed “evidence that the Biden campaign colluded with Big Tech to suppress a story that we now know is 100 percent true.” That, of course, is not what the selectively released company documents show.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/media/republicans-hearing-twitter-bias-reliable-sources/index.html




Sigh… this is going to be a long two years isn’t it? But there’s got to be more to it than just Hunter Biden’s laptop. Which has been debunked about a thousand times. And come on, there’s no story you can debunk in this day and age that the GOP won’t find too ridiculous. Seriously, there’s still idiots out there attacking fucking Comet Ping Pong, and it’s been 5 years since Pizzagate. Like how many times are they going to keep bringing this shit up? We’re worried about rising religious fascism and white supremacy taking over this country, they’re worried that they can’t be trolls on Twitter and Facebook.

The House Republicans' hearing on Twitter's “role in suppressing the Biden laptop story” took some unexpected twists Wednesday — including one witness testifying that the White House had requested the platform remove a Chrissy Teigen tweet insulting then-President Donald Trump.

In questioning during the House Oversight Committee hearing focused on Hunter Biden, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., asked Anika Collier Navaroli, a former employee of Twitter’s content moderation team, about a September 2019 exchange between Trump and Teigen. The president had tweeted about "boring" musician John Legend and his "filthy-mouthed" wife.

Teigen responded with a crude tweet insulting Trump, which included a word he notoriously used in the "Access Hollywood" tape.

"The White House almost immediately thereafter contacted Twitter to demand the tweet be taken down. Is that accurate?" Connolly asked.

"I do remember hearing we'd received a request from the White House to make sure we evaluated this tweet, and they wanted it to come down because it was a derogatory statement directed at the president," Navaroli said. The tweet, however, was not taken down.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/former-twitter-executives-testify-house-oversight-hunter-biden-laptop-rcna69669




Good question, sir! What kind of shit is this that we are dealing with? Well I’ll tell you. The Elon Musk “Twitter Files” are a colossal fucking joke. Elon’s turned Twitter into a cess pool of right wing insanity bordering on some light Nazism. And the big reveal of all of this? It was Chrissy Teigan taking a very cheap and easy shot at Trump, and Orange Man has a sad. Oh boo hoo. What are you going to cry about it, snowflakes? Yeah you’re the ones the last six years who kept telling us to “fuck our feelings”, how does it feel now that the shoe is on the other foot?

The House hearing Wednesday into Twitter’s brief suppression of a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop outlined the queasiness of former executives to block it and provided a bare-knuckle arena for partisan lawmakers to debate allegations against President Joe Biden.

Former Twitter executives told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee the company blocked links to the New York Post story in October 2020 because of similarities to the posting of leaks from hacked Democratic computers before the 2016 election. The executives called the 24-hour suppression a mistake and said it was difficult to judge between contentious and dangerous speech during a campaign.

Against that backdrop, Republican lawmakers argued Twitter’s decision could have thrown the election to Biden rather than former President Donald Trump. Some lawmakers called for legislation to prevent Twitter from blocking posts or government agencies from recommending against publication.

But Democrats called the hearing “silly” and a "bizarre political stunt" because Twitter is a private company free to make its own decisions about what to publish. Democrats also questioned the basic allegations against Biden stemming from the laptop as “categorically false.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/08/hunter-biden-twitter-hearing/11210728002/




Yeah seriously what the actual fuck? It’s seriously a broken fucking record with these clowns. Hunter Biden’s laptop is the Benghazi of Monica Lewinskys. Like no matter how many times you debunk this bullshit they’ll keep bringing it up because they literally have nothing else to talk about. That’s what happens when your mind is rotted 24 hours a day by echo chamber politics. Look, I’ve been a moderator on forums before. Nearly every single forum I’ve ever been a member of has some kind of “don’t be a racist or sexist asshole troll”. So why is Twitter any different? I would think “don’t be a Nazi” would be a commonality we would all share. But apparently with these clowns, even that’s up for debate.

When the White House called up Twitter in the early morning hours of September 9, 2019, officials had what they believed was a serious issue to report: Famous model Chrissy Teigen had just called President Donald Trump “a pussy ass bitch” on Twitter — and the White House wanted the tweet to come down.

That exchange — revealed during Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on Twitter by Rep. Gerry Connolly — and others like it are nowhere to be found in Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files” releases, which have focused almost exclusively on requests from Democrats and the feds to the social media company. The newly empowered Republican majority in the House of Representatives is now devoting significant resources and time to investigating this supposed “collusion” between liberal politicians and Twitter. Some Republicans even believe the release of the “Twitter Files” is the “tip of the spear” of their crusade against the alleged liberal bias of Big Tech.

But former Trump administration officials and Twitter employees tell Rolling Stone that the White House’s Teigen tweet demand was hardly an isolated incident: The Trump administration and its allied Republicans in Congress routinely asked Twitter to take down posts they objected to — the exact behavior that they’re claiming makes President Biden, the Democrats, and Twitter complicit in an anti-free speech conspiracy to muzzle conservatives online.

“It was strange to me when all of these investigations were announced because it was all about the exact same stuff that we had done [when Donald Trump was in office],” one former top aide to a senior Trump administration official tells Rolling Stone. “It was normal.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/elon-trump-twitter-files-collusion-biden-censorship-1234675969/





[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"]Jim Jordan
[br] [/font]
[br]

This is going to be a long two years isn’t it? If anything since the MAGA heavy Congress has taken over, they’ve shown us there’s no conspiracy they won’t touch. No insane theory, no matter how bizarre, off the rails, or having anything to do with what’s really going on, is too taboo for them. The latest bit of MAGA insanity comes courtesy of Ohio representative Jim Jordan’s (Q – Batshit) Weaponization Of Government hearings. Because you know, things like laws and regulations are for those godless heathens who don’t believe in the power of MAGA. Ew. But when you lead the committee, how do you decide who’s a target and who isn’t? The one thing we do know about this shit show is that it’s basically an elaborate scheme by the MAGA conservatives who seem to be multiplying at an alarming rate that it’s a get revenge quick scheme for the January 6th committee. I mean come on, they tried to murder half of Congress and their own sitting vice president. What did they expect was going to happen?

The GOP’s government weaponization subcommittee launched its first hearing Thursday, offering a dizzying flood of claims that highlight the partisan divisions over the role of the federal government and the legitimacy of the newly created panel.

Republicans formed the committee as a way to counter alleged abuse of a government they say is abusing its power to target conservatives. Democrats see the committee as the weapon itself, a vehicle for the GOP to forward conspiracy theories that will mobilize the Republican base ahead of 2024.

Helmed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of both the subcommittee and the overall Judiciary Committee where it is housed, Thursday’s hearing included a quartet of current and former lawmakers, with the GOP inviting former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party, to testify.

“Over the course of our work in this committee, we expect to hear from government officials and experts like we have here today. We expect to hear from Americans who’ve been targeted by the government. We expect to hear from people in need. And we expect to hear from the FBI agents who have come forward as whistleblowers,” Jordan said Thursday.
https://thehill.com/homenews/3851910-house-weaponization-panel-opens-first-hearing-with-a-partisan-bang/




Oh come on, Jim! This is totally insane. And I’m not even going to point out the fact that Fox News are the ones calling for unity here. They’re the ones single handedly responsible for most of the hate and division in this country. So why even have this committee to begin with? Well as we previously said that it’s basically a get revenge quick scheme for January 6th and that’s about it. But this is the absolute pinnacle of conservative insanity here folks. It’s all downhill from here. Or is it? I would have thought January 6th might have been the peak, but nope, maybe that was the beginning of the summit. I mean you’ve seen what it takes to climb Mt. Everest, right?

A new House panel investigating the "weaponization of the federal government" held its first hearing on Thursday, as part of the Republican majority's push to ramp up scrutiny of the Biden administration.

Republicans and Democrats traded attacks during the hours-long meeting for the House Judiciary Committee's select subpanel. Chairman Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who leads both the full committee and the new subcommittee, laid out his party's plans.

"We expect to hear from Americans who have been targeted by their government," Jordan said as part of a longer list of GOP grievances.

The panel's ranking Democrat, Del. Stacey Plaskett, said the panel's Republicans are fueling dangerous rhetoric for law enforcement through its efforts. Plaskett represents the U.S. Virgin Islands and served as a House manager during former President Trump's second impeachment trial.

"I'm deeply concerned about the use of the select subcommittee as a place to settle scores, showcase conspiracy theories and advance an extreme agenda that risks undermining Americans' faith in our democracy," she said.

Republicans have repeatedly promised to investigate President Biden and his administration, Democrats, the Biden family and GOP claims of partisan efforts if they won control of Congress in last year's midterm elections.
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/09/1155459408/house-panel-on-weaponization-of-the-federal-government-will-hold-its-first-heari




Ha ha ha ha, right? If there’s one thing we’ve learned on this program is that there’s seemingly no end to conservative insanity. The democrats have what? Two media channels and maybe a couple of hours of late night programming a week. Conservatives have what? 15 24 hour a day right wing news channels to choose from and an endless array of internet streams? Conservatives get 100 gun and doomsday prepper magazines on supermarket shelves, we get one issue of Vanity Fair? Like we said last week, conservative propaganda is so highly specialized that you can get it custom tailored to your level of racism and sexism. But really this “Weaponization Of Government” committee is basically just the airing of grievances from the Festivus episode of Seinfeld.

The House’s new subcommittee dedicated to probing the so-called weaponization of the federal government held its first hearing Thursday.

The hearing featured a litany of Republican criticisms of Democrats, government and Big Tech that have featured prominently in conservative media over the last several years, from alleged censorship of the right to cancel culture, and from a Department of Justice memo on threats against school boards to re-litigating which party fell prey to Russian disinformation in 2016.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in his opening statement that the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will hold more public hearings in the future and take transcribed interviews from experts, government officials, members of the media, FBI whistleblowers and “Americans who’ve been targeted by their government” in its investigation. The panel is required to submit a final report to the House on its findings by Jan. 2, 2025, and, according to Jordan, it will also propose legislation “that will help protect the American people.”

The partisan hearing largely consisted of Democrats and Republicans asking friendly witnesses favorable questions that reinforced their views. Republicans suggested the government has been unfairly weaponized against conservatives, while Democrats argued that the committee itself was an example of improper weaponization of government, continuing a pattern begun under former President Donald Trump and his administration of using the levers of power to target political opponents.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/new-house-committee-weaponization-government-hold-first-hearing-rcna69789




Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh man where’s Frank Costanza when you need him? Needless to say the next two years of Congress are going to be an inevitable clusterfuck of conservative insanity and MAGA conspiracy theories. It’s a melting pot. But it’s one of those things. Like how conservatives scream they want freedom, but in the next breath they’re banning books and calling for public executions of people who they don’t agree with. And like I have been saying since this Congress took over, strap in because it’s going to be a long two years and they’re just getting started.

Tucker Carlson essentially created a congressional panel, but he was nice enough to let Republican lawmakers run it. The newly formed House select subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government—which will hold its first hearing Thursday—was established, according to The Washington Post, “in response to demands by hard-line conservatives.” Yet it seems more likely the brainchild of Carlson, the real brain of the Republican Party. Last month, the Fox News host urged Kevin McCarthy, who was then trying to win over far-right members of his caucus, to create a new Church Committee to investigate what the FBI and intelligence agencies “have been doing to control domestic politics.” Carlson gave his instructions to the would-be speaker alongside the chyron, “How Badly Does Kevin McCarthy Want This Job?”

It hasn’t been a particularly auspicious start. The same congressional Republicans who finally got their speaker elected on his 15th try accidentally gave Democrats a supermajority on their new subcommittee. Was it a comedy of errors or perhaps it was perfectly on brand for this Veep-style caucus that the first thing this group polymaths did was accidentally give away their advantage? As Politico’s Kyle Cheney noticed, “The House, in an attempt to expand the ‘weaponization’ subcommittee to 21 members, appears to have inadvertently shrunk it to 12 and given Dems a supermajority.” The mistake was fixed, but it was a fitting start for a panel seemingly crafted to “Benghazi” President Joe Biden for the pleasure of Fox News viewers and the benefit of the Republican Party in 2024.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/jim-jordan-gop-weaponization-of-the-federal-government





[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"]Holy Shit: Merger Of Church And State

[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! Please be seated! You know in the last few weeks and months we’ve been talking a lot about the United States’ slide into becoming a religious fascist totalitarian entity. It started innocently enough with the Christian right’s takeover of school boards and city councils. But what we’ve been finding lately is that it’s not really a “slide”. It’s more like a hostile corporate takeover. Yeah think of it like that scene in Avengers: Age Of Ultron when Jarvis gets taken over by Ultron and becomes this living, breathing entity. But again, these people do not worship GAWD or JAYSUS. No, they worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of a being so foul, so inhumane, and so profoundly disgusting that his name DARE NOT be spoken in my church! But imagine for a minute that your hate is so strong that you actively pray against your enemies. I mean come on, what the hell kind of bullshit is that? Yes, we’re allowed to swear in my church, as long as it’s not at someone! But seriously, the MAGAs seem bent on taking this country to a new dark age!

Dozens of members of Congress joined an audience of religious-right activists and Christian nationalists at the Museum of the Bible this morning for a “National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance.”

Sponsored by various anti-LGBTQ religious-right groups such as the American Family Association, Liberty Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Pacific Justice Institute, the prayer gathering was emceed by right-wing activists Jim Garlow of Well Versed, who is associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation, and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. Both Garlow and Perkins were active promoters of former President Donald Trump’s stolen election lies, with Perkins and FRC actively working to overturn the election results via pressure on state legislators, members of Congress, and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The two-and-a-half-hour event consisted of a steady stream of penitents offering prayers on behalf of this nation covering everything from reproductive choice and marriage equality to foreign policy and the media.

The tenor of the prayer service was well encapsulated by Pastor Andrew Brunson, who became a right-wing celebrity after he was freed from detention in Turkey during the Trump administration. Brunson used his prayer to warn that the United States will soon face the judgment of God for having become “the primary corrupter of the world” by supporting LGBTQ rights.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/we-are-babylon-dozens-of-members-of-congress-join-religious-right-prayer-service-to-repent-for-the-united-states/




And you know what? They should feel bad about themselves. This is some stunningly EVIL stuff that the religious right is up to here. Look, we don’t need the barely educated worshippers of the Unholy Dark One dictating to us what to do. It’s beyond the pale that they are praying for their enemies’ demise. I mean whatever happened to “love thy neighbor”? These Dark One worshippers really need to reexamine their life choices if this is what they really want. I can honestly guarantee that it’s not what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now, is it?

Lauren Boebert has come under fire after expressing the hope that President Joe Biden's "days be few" during a church event in Texas.

The House Republican was speaking at the Spiritual and Leadership Training (SALT) conference at Storehouse Church in Dallas, over the weekend.

In a clip loaded to social media by Patriot Takes, a Twitter account dedicated to "exposing right-wing extremism," Boebert imagined a conversation between Jesus and one of his followers, referencing topical events.

Quoting the follower, the Colorado congresswoman said: "Jesus, don't you know we're out of money? COVID's hit, they shut everything down, Joe Biden's president, we don't know what to do Lord."

This remark sparked cheering and laughter from the congregation.

Boebert continued: "That's alright we pray for our presidents—let his days be few and another take his office. That's why I filed articles of impeachment for Joe Biden. Unfortunately, he does have a really great insurance policy named Kamala Harris."
https://www.newsweek.com/lauren-boebert-prays-joe-biden-days-few-backlash-1779467




Uh no we haven’t, sir! I mean this is truly insane. The religious right has really gone beyond the pale and I have no doubt that if they were to get into power again they would do some serious damage to this country and its’ reputation. You know, churches have become basically just front organizations for right wing political groups. Which is why I say that it’s a hostile takeover. But have no fear! The “prophets” who claim to support the Unholy Dark One are here! That’s right, my fair brothers and sisters! We’ve got a spiritual warfare brewing!

A spiritual battle is breaking out among former President Donald Trump’s closest evangelical allies as self-declared “prophets” have begun pointing the finger at each other, declaring the other a “false prophet.”

The drama began unfolding on the televangelist political program “FlashPoint.”

“FlashPoint” was launched heading into the 2020 election for the purpose of mobilizing right-wing Christians to support Trump and Republican candidates running for office. Airing on Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel network, the program from the beginning regularly featured host Gene Bailey with Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau, pastor Hank Kunneman, and evangelist Mario Murillo serving as commentators. Wallnau, Kunneman, and Murillo are all active within the modern-day Charismatic prophetic movement and used their positions as spiritual leaders to support Trump.

In the wake of Trump’s loss, “FlashPoint” relentlessly pushed the big lie that the election had been stolen from Trump and Kunneman and Murillo regularly used their appearances on the program to insist that Christians would never accept the result, declaring that accepting Joe Biden as president was a sign of disloyalty to God.

Once Trump left office, “FlashPoint” became a regular part of the Victory Channel’s lineup, airing twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, frequently with Kunneman and Murillo as guests. But earlier this year, Murillo announced that he would no longer appear on the program with Kunneman because of Kunneman’s ties to “false prophets” Kat Kerr and Robin Bullock.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/spiritual-warfare-breaks-out-among-the-trump-loving-prophetic-community/




But here’s the thing – make no mistake that the language that the right wing is using right now is the very sort of thing that leads to hate crimes, mass murder and even worse. And you know what? It’s by design that they are doing this. This is what happens when your talking points are manufactured by a megalomaniacal billionaire who wants to take over the world. I don’t want you to think that I’m being too paranoid either! They are currently banning books in the name of the Dark One, and I have no doubt that if they got back into power that they would do something EVIL!

In 2021, Rick Scarborough, a self-described “Christocrat,” strident anti-LGBTQ activist, and longtime critic of public education, set his sites on taking over school boards in three Houston-area school districts. Scarborough was optimistic about his chances of having conservative Christians take over the school board because, he said, “most people don’t vote.”

“We’re gonna win this Houston school board if the church shows up,” Scarborough bragged, and indeed candidates he backed were ultimately able to defeat two board members.

Inspired by this showing, Scarborough announced in late 2022 that he had begun preparing to target school boards all across the state in 2023.

“We are already preparing for our next big project: the school board elections that take place in May,” Scarborough declared. “We’re laying the ground [work] now for that election. We need to move the church so that our children can be saved from the indoctrination and oversexualization that is taking place.”

On Wednesday, Scarborough’s Recover America Action organization released a video promoting his campaign to defeat the “godless educrats” and rescue the children of Texas who are “being groomed by homosexuals and the trans perverts to be recruited into their evil lifestyles.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/christocrat-rick-scarborough-aims-to-take-over-texas-school-boards-from-the-godless-educrats/




No, Rick! You’re the one living the dirty, sinful lifestyle! It’s this kind of Christianity that is totally losing its’ mind. We cannot let them regain power under any circumstances, my fair congregation! And I will fight it to the very end! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




[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"]Beating A Dead Horse: The Gas Stove Controversy

[br] [/font]
[br]



The latest edition of the culture wars is quite literally adding fuel to the fire. If you’re shopping for new kitchen appliances, you may have heard the recent controversy surrounding gas stoves and their impact on the environment. See, this is why we can’t have nice things. It’s the same cycle of bullshit all over again. Fox News keeps us fighting with each other over bullshit culture war issues, while the right wing consolidates all of the wealth and power in this country. The gas stove controversy really is the stuff of insanity. Because right wingers don’t take “no” for an answer. Like I’m seriously convinced at this point that if the government told the MAGAs not to jump off of the Grand Canyon, they would be pushing and shoving each other to be first in line. The controversy surrounding gas stoves is yet another round of insanity for the “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” crowd. Sigh… and this crap definitely isn’t going away any time soon.

An ordinary household appliance — the gas stove — is now at the center of a controversy tied to health, the environment and politics.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is raising concerns about gas stoves because of harmful pollutants. One recent study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health suggests more than 12% of childhood asthma cases can be traced to their use of gas.

"The most important thing is not what somebody is saying about it on Twitter, you know. It's 'How are we going to protect our health and our children's health?'" said Ben Hellerstein of Environment Massachusetts.

Not everyone is convinced.

"Is it really pinning down the exact contribution? It's unclear," said Dr. Margee Louisias, an allergist with Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America.
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/gas-stoves-spark-health-and-safety-debate/2952896/




Yeah that’s exactly the kind of angry mob mentality that Fox News attracts. Because with right wingers, they somehow interpret “no” as “yes”. Like tell them “no, don’t you dare eat Tide Pods!”. They’ll happily eat Tide Pods while giving you the finger and taking a selfie to post on Instagram. Because that’s the kind of caring assholes that they are. Which of course, telling them posting hundreds of pictures on social media of them turning up all of the igniters on their gas stove to the highest setting and just watching it burn. Imagine giving yourself sulfur poisoning or suffering from asphyxiation or burning your house down to “own the libs”. Again, this is why we can’t have nice things.

Of all the political issues I assumed would come to the fore in 2023, gas stoves were not on my bingo card. And yet Americans’ right to cook on an open gas flame has turned into a red-hot culture war issue. Conservatives are gearing up for a War of the Cooktops – and unfortunately, some Democrats aren’t helping.

Some five decades’ worth of studies have found that gas stoves are hazardous to human health, with a recent one suggesting that gas stoves in US homes may be to blame for nearly 13% of childhood asthma cases. Gas stoves are bad for the environment, too, powered as they are by fossil fuels.

This has led to some liberal cities – Berkeley, California, and New York City – to mandate that some new buildings use electric over gas. But the blistering gas stove dispute really ignited when a commissioner at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Richard Trumka Jr, told Bloomberg that gas was a “hidden hazard” and that when it came to banning gas stoves, “any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”

Cue rightwing firestorm.

Multiple prominent conservatives and rightwing politicians tweeted some version of “You will have to pry my gas stove from my cold dead hands.” Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, tweeted the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag with a gas stove in the place of the snake. Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas worried himself about the day “the maniacs in the White House come for my stove”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/18/how-did-gas-stoves-ignite-a-culture-war-in-the-us




Come on, conservatives, there was literally a scene about a guy getting murdered by his own oven in Hot Fuzz. Go ahead give us the finger while you get asphyxiation. But the right wing “I won’t do what you tell me” movement is totally insane. Remember when right wingers were for the vaccine back in the early days of COVID only to very quickly turn against them? Yeah these people are clinically insane. And come on, why are they using pro-gun diatribes in their effort to keep their gas stoves? Well once again it all boils down to eight simple words, and apologies to Rage Against The Machine for this one – “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me”.

Republicans and allies of fossil fuels are rallying behind the humble gas stove, a staple in millions of U.S. kitchens that has emerged as a flash point in the nation’s ongoing culture wars and a source of conservative resistance to President Biden’s environmental agenda.

The controversy was ignited when a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an agency charged with protecting the public from dangerous household products, said in mid-December that the commission will consider regulating indoor air pollution from gas stoves. On Monday, Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr., a Democrat, said in an interview that he had not ruled out a ban on the appliances, prompting the agency to pivot Wednesday and clarify it was not planning a ban.

But the flame was already lit. Trumka’s comment prompted loud complaints from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who claimed that the commission was trying to snatch the stoves from the 40 million homes that rely on gas, even though any regulations would only affect new appliances and not existing ones.

“I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove,” Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.) tweeted Tuesday. “If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/11/gas-stoves-fossil-fuels-climate/




Yeah come and take it. Shut up. Seriously, right wingers. Yeah, shut up. And really just shut up for about a week. And come on, you always claim that you’re doing this “for the children”, so do you really want your kids to get asthma from inhaling toxic fumes? If you answered “yes” to that question, then you’re an idiot beyond comprehension. Look the answer to all this hysteria is quite simple – just vent! Vent your damn house. The fresh air might be good for you. Seriously, turn off Fox News every once in a while and think for yourself. All that toxic air you’re breathing from your gas stoves is going straight to your damn heads.

Even less-than-perfect ventilation makes a big difference. A 2018 study from researchers in North America found that peak emissions of nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves were just 15 parts per billion (ppb) when using the least-effective ventilation fan. That’s considerably lower than the 100 ppb National Ambient Air Quality Standard for short-term exposure, which itself assumes an average exposure, not just a peak event.

Moreover, research shows that what you cook accounts for the vast majority of emissions. Cooking with olive oil generates 17 times more emissions of fine particulate matter than what comes from the gas stove alone. Cooking meats and vegetables also results in emissions levels several times higher than what could be traced to the blue flame.

In other words, even if you mandated an expensive shift from gas to electric, you wouldn’t be addressing the most significant sources of emissions in the kitchen: food. Perhaps the CPSC will consider banning home cooking entirely.

So, what is this “growing body of research” that supposedly links gas stoves to negative health impacts? Several studies in recent years have attracted headlines, but their methods were suspect at best and far from representative of a real kitchen. They also all have links to environmental groups trying to ban fossil fuels in favor of a full electrification policy.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/01/debunking-the-research-behind-the-gas-stove-hysteria/







[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"]Conspiracy Corner: Insane Balloon Theories
[br] [/font]
[br]



Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! Of course conspiracies exist when people simply don’t want to read the article past the headlines and just flat out make shit up. We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter from deep within the New Mexico badlands. Undisclosed location, of course! Let me just adjust my trusty tin foil hat for maximum government interference. They are trying to read yours and my thoughts after all! So folks last week I’m sure you know where you were when you heard about the Chinese spy balloon that was spotted on radar! Well, naturally this is the moment that conspiracy theorists have been salivating about for the last 6 years. Because they are letting their conspiracy theory freak flag fly. There have been literally thousands of social media posts with some absolutely insane theories that are so off the wall they can be custom tailored to your preferred level of batshit lunacy. So here’s just a brief summarization of some of the crazier theories out there.

The Pentagon announced on Thursday that it is tracking what it believes to be a Chinese surveillance balloon soaring over the western United States. President Biden took the military’s advice to refrain from taking “kinetic action” on the balloon, as officials believe it doesn’t pose any physical or intelligence risks and debris from a strike could harm people on the ground. China has claimed the balloon is a weather research “airship” that blew off course, but the Pentagon isn’t buying the PRC’s explanation, announcing on Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is now postponing a scheduled trip to China.

The story has been conspiracy catnip for conservatives who have been trying to cast the president as a compromised agent of China. “How many insane decisions… or lack of intelligent decisions (a la watching a spy balloon & not shooting it down) have been made because Joe Biden and his family are compromised by our enemies?” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted on Friday. “Incredible that no one even asks given the prolific amount of evidence out there!!!”

“SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!” the elder Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Biden should shoot down the Chinese spy balloon immediately,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted. “President Trump would have never tolerated this. President Trump would have never tolerated many things happening to America.” Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) seemed to suggest that his constituents might shoot the balloon down themselves. “Shoot. It. Down,” he wrote. “The Chinese spy balloon is clear provocation. In Montana we do not bow. We shoot it down. Take the shot.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/chinese-spy-balloon-conspiracies-don-jr-1234673319/




Yes, allow me to explain it to those of you who don’t follow batshit conservative nuttery. They wanted President Joe Biden to shoot it down. He shot it down. What more do you want? Well that hasn’t stopped the craziest of the crazy to continue being the craziest of the crazy. But the question that’s on everyone’s mind – was it aliens or was it “aliens”? Well the general consensus is that… no it wasn’t aliens. But the more that you dig down the internet conspiracy theory wormhole, the more you realize that yeah… it was probably aliens.

U.S. fighter jets have shot down four high-altitude objects this month — including the first instance in which U.S. Northern Command "has taken kinetic action against an airborne object" in U.S. airspace over its nearly 65-year existence, according to the unit's commanding officer, Gen. Glen VanHerck.

The shootdowns came in steady succession over the weekend, after alarms were raised in early February over an object that the U.S. said was a surveillance balloon deployed by China.

China has accused the U.S. of flying its own spy balloons over China — a claim rejected by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"We do not send spy balloons over China, period," Blinken told NPR's Morning Edition.

With the other recently downed objects yet to be publicly identified, speculation has included questions of whether they might be alien UFOs.
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1156498101/ufos-unidentified-objects-what-we-know-4-shootdowns




Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen! It wasn’t the aliens… but it was probably the aliens! But it might not have been the UFOs. Instead, let’s ask our old friend Marjorie Greene (Q – Batshit) what she thinks that the UFOs might have been. Well, apparently Rep. Greene went absolutely ballistic during a recent meeting of generals at the Pentagon who gathered to talk about the now frequent occurrence of spy balloons appearing in US airspace. Apparently they’re more than just spy balloons according to Marjorie Three Names. They could be so much more – they could be carrying missiles or even bioweapons like deadly viruses! Yeah, if you were looking to invest in stock, the time to invest in tin foil futures is now, because the right wing is going to be needing a lot of it!

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-R) has revealed her furious response to a briefing about the Chinese spy balloon.

In a video shared by commentator and critic of MAGA Republicans Ron Filipkowski on Saturday, February 11, Greene could be seen addressing a room with several people supportive of her comments.

Greene referred to a briefing in which she had heard about the Chinese spy balloon and shared her criticism of explanations given about why the Pentagon didn't order it to be shot down earlier.

She said: "You sat by and allowed this Chinese spy balloon that could have contained a bioweapon, like COVID, it could have contained a nuclear bomb an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack, or hypersonic missiles, like the Chinese government - the CCP - has shown their own people of these weather balloons dropping hypersonic missiles.

"They show those on video. Absolutely, this is a common thing. I said, 'you allowed this to go across the country and then you want to stand up here and give us our excuses, your excuses about you're gathering 'intelligence,' or you didn't want to risk endangering anyone's lives.
https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-reveals-her-angry-response-spy-balloon-briefing-1780640




Yeah probably! But that’s why we have Fox News asking the big questions! Like were the Chinese spy balloons the product of UFOs or does China have something more sinister in mind, like starting World War III? Well, we wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Fox News is attempting to start World War III, but they might just be heading to the crazy house. Really, if you thought you heard the last of this story, well, it’s not going away any time soon. The Fox News addicts and internet conspiracy theorists are going to keep this going because it’s good for ratings! And it may or may not have something to do with Hunter Biden’s laptop. It’s all connected, people! We’re just asking questions!

In a Sunday Morning Futures interview so eerily reminiscent of a (subpar) SNL sketch, Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo brought on Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to discuss the recent influx of potential surveillance craft in U.S. airspace and, of course, went down a bonkers conspiracy rabbit hole.

After a five-minute conversation recapping Hunter Biden’s business dealings to build up her case, Bartiromo suggested to the senator that President Joe Biden may have intentionally allowed the spy balloon to fly over the U.S. because the Chinese Community Party (CCP) has compromising information on him and his family.

“I’m wondering if, in fact, this is one of the reasons that the CCP feels empowered to be able to send spy flights across America to take pictures of our military installations and why this president allowed that spy flight to get all the way in the middle of the country, all the way up to South Carolina,” she said. “Your thoughts on where this is going and whether or not Joe Biden—they have so much on Joe Biden that they don’t care, they’re not expecting any repercussions.”

Johnson has made the Sunday morning circuit in recent weeks discussing his desire to investigate the president’s son, most notably sparring with NBC’s Chuck Todd last month over his own inability to name an actual crime Hunter Biden allegedly committed. After Johnson whined about Todd’s bias, the NBC host told the senator he could retreat to his “partisan media cocoon”—which Johnson did a day later by appearing on Fox News.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-hpmaria-bartiromo-floats-bizarre-biden-china-spy-balloon-conspiracy





[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"]I Need A Drink: The Pink Floyd Feud
[br] [/font]
[br]

Hey everyone, I don’t know about you, but I could really use a drink!



So of course you know that the idea behind this segment is that we have some drinks and while we are drinking, we discuss anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. Though we might actually have to break protocol tonight, even though we know that mixing booze and politics never ends well. Because there is a metric fuck ton of bad news out there right now, so you really want to have an escape from reality and what better way to do that than by getting loaded? Oh and don’t worry, my sober brothers and sisters, we got your backs too! One day at a time! Just grab a glass of whatever you got – booze? Coffee? A nice joint or two? Whatever your vice is, we don’t care! Our story this week concerns one of the greatest rock bands in the history of mankind – I’m talking about the legendary Pink Floyd! So tell me, bartender, what goes well with a story about Pink Floyd? A Dark Side cocktail? What’s in that? Eh… I’ll pass. I’ll just take my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the “Double Jack”. So for our story this week, it’s about the 50th anniversary of arguably one of the finest albums ever recorded in human history, Dark Side Of The Moon! Which of course naturally sparked rumors that the founding members of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and David Gilmour might be getting back together after a decades long feud. Well, I got some bad news for ya… it ain’t happening.

Despite their huge success, selling millions of albums, completing world-beating tours and confirming themselves as one of the biggest bands the music industry has ever known, Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and David Gilmour have always shared a somewhat dysfunctional relationship. It’s a relationship that seems to be getting more acrimonious with time.

Blessed with a searing artistic vision, Waters has always been slightly hesitant towards the idea of collaboration and would much rather be the captain of his own ship. Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1968 with huge success, arriving shortly after lead singer Syd Barrett became an untenable leader. But as the years progressed, the two men were locked in a power struggle as their creative visions collided and, ultimately, Waters quit the band in 1985.

When Waters initially withdrew from the group, he immediately locked horns with Gilmour in a bitter legal battle that would rumble on for years. To announce his departure, Waters issued a statement to EMI and CBS invoking the ‘Leaving Member’ clause in his contract, and as the main creative force in the band, he didn’t believe Pink Floyd could continue in his absence. Therefore, in October 1986, Waters started High Court proceedings to formally dissolve Pink Floyd, labelling the group a “spent force creatively”.

However, David Gilmour and Nick Mason opposed the claims, stating that Pink Floyd would not fold and that Waters couldn’t declare it dead while the group were still trying to make new music. Waters eventually came to an agreement with his former bandmates, one which saw him resign after careful legal considerations in 1987. However, he did note that the resignation was entirely forced by commercial restraints: “If I hadn’t, the financial repercussions would have wiped me out completely”.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/pink-floyd-roger-waters-david-gilmour-feud/




I feel like that bottle isn’t big enough! So that’s basically the gist of it. But here’s where it gets weird and you knew that it was going to. The thing is, Pink Floyd fans, is that you have to accept the fact that mommy and daddy are never getting back together again. And the sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be. So the feud going on between Waters and Gilmour has lasted at least since 1985, when Waters left the band. So why, nearly 40 years later, is the feud back in the news? Well here’s where we have to break the protocol of this segment.

It’s pretty safe to say the living members of Pink Floyd will never reunite.

The decades-long feud between Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the iconic rock band’s dueling leaders, took a deeply personal turn on Monday morning when the latter’s wife, acclaimed novelist Polly Samson, took a very public swing at Waters.

“Sadly @rogerwaters you are antisemitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac,” tweeted Samson, who became one of the band’s primary lyricists following Waters’ departure from the band in 1985. “Enough of your nonsense.”

Gilmour liked the tweet, as users on the platform quickly noted. He later made his support more overt, tweeting: “Every word demonstrably true.”

Hours later, Waters’ camp posted to Instagram: “Roger Waters is aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter by Polly Samson which he refutes entirely. He is currently taking advice as to his position.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-pink-floyd-feud-between-roger-waters-and-david-gilmour-just-got-deeply-personal




Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shot shot shot shot shots!!! Yeah so that happened. And it’s one thing you can definitely be sure of is that Gilmour and Waters are never, ever, ever, never, ever, ever getting back together again! Apologies to Taylor Swift there, I hope this one doesn’t get pulled for copyright infringement! But Gilmour’s wife, Samson, certainly isn’t wrong here. apparently Mr. Waters, while he may be on the side of anti-Trump, really is just for show. In fact there’re a lot of evidence mounting against Roger Waters.

The Pink Floyd feud looks like it will be never-ending. While current band members David Gilmour and Nick Mason have expressed their support for Ukraine by releasing their first original song in over three decades, one former member has done almost the opposite. Roger Waters, who last year condemned Putin in an open letter, recently stated that he “may have changed [his] mind a little bit” about the Russian president in an interview with a German newspaper and called the Pink Floyd protest song “really, really sad.” However, his political comments are not going unnoticed by his former collaborators.

Pink Floyd lyricist Polly Samson called Waters a “Putin apologist” and antisemitic for his controversial comments on his support of Russia. “Sadly Roger Waters you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” she tweeted on Monday. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.” Her husband and Pink Floyd bandmate retweeted her, supporting her statement. Waters seemingly replied to Samson with a statement of his own on Twitter that he is “aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him.” Russia has reportedly asked him to speak to the United Nations on its behalf to discuss the delivery of weapons to Ukraine on Wednesday, but no confirmation yet — only a bit of mocking from U.N. members.
https://www.vulture.com/2023/02/pink-floyd-twitter-roger-waters-united-nations.html




Look… look… we know everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the right one. And this is exactly why we say mixing booze and politics is perhaps one of the most dangerous cocktails known to man. Because this type of argument never ends well. But yes Mr. Rogers did address the U.N. regarding Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Ukraine. Of which the official stance at this bar is that we’re on the side of “fuck Vladimir Putin”. Now we know this can be a touchy subject. Even the Ukraine government was naturally pissed at Waters, and of course made a Pink Floyd joke that we can only describe as “saw it coming”.

Pink Floyd star Roger Waters has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for a ceasefire – but also said he believes the war was provoked – during a speech to the UN Security Council at Moscow’s invitation.

The veteran musician was denounced by Ukraine‘s UN ambassador as “another brick in the wall” of Russian “disinformation and propaganda”, referring to his former band’s most famous song, after his speech.

It comes amid an ongoing row between Pink Floyd co-founder and the band’s guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour, over comments he’s made about Israel and the war in Ukraine, among other things.

Russia called the meeting on Wednesday to discuss the supply of weapons to Ukraine and asked Waterswho opposed the Western supply of weapons to Kiev in a letter posted on his website in September.

The rocker, 79, also recently gave an interview to a German newspaper, translated into English on his own website, in which he said about Vladimir Putin: “According to independent voices, I listen to him who rules carefully and makes decisions based on consensus in the government of the Russian Federation.”
https://knownews.in/entertainment/pink-floyd-star-roger-waters-addresses-un-at-russias-request-after-denial-of-incendiary-claims-in-feud-with-ex-bandmate-ents-arts-news/







[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"]World Tour 2022 Destination #4 of 6: South Africa
[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:



[font size="4"]Destination #4 Of 6: South Africa[/font]



Folks, we have just two more destinations to go before we wrap up this little tour. This week we’re in Africa, next week, we’re back in the Middle East, and we’re finally ending in the good ol’ USA. It was a hell of a tour everybody. South Africa is of course the southern most country on the African continent, and it’s the only country in the entire world with three capitals! South Africa is also a country known for its’ beautiful scenery and natural wild life. It’s also one of the world’s largest producers of wine. That’s right – wine is a huge product coming from South Africa. But like we had our State Of The Union last week, South Africa also had theirs. And their current president sent out a dire warning about the times that we’re currently living in. Yeah nothing is really getting better anywhere and we could blame rampant conservativism for most of the bad things happening in the world right now, but we don’t have that kind of time!

60 million South Africans without power for months and up to 12 hours a day are waiting for President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the country's energy crisis during his annual state of the nation address on Thursday.

The ceremony is usually conducted with great pomp and circumstance at Parliament: red carpet, fancy suits and designer dresses, and photographers. Then the presidential guard is paraded and 21 cannons are fired to greet the arrival of the head of state.

However, the historic building in Cape Town having been partly ravaged by an arson attack last year, the president will speak in the evening from the Town Hall.

And in an economic and social context at half-mast, calls for sobriety for the reception billed at more than 424,000 euros (8 million rand) have spread on social networks, "as a sign of solidarity with the real state of the nation.
https://www.africanews.com/2023/02/08/south-africa-president-ramaphosa-expected-to-address-electricity-crisis/




Oh come on people! Stop your rabbling! So what else is South Africa the home of? Well South Africa is home to one of the world’s largest battery suppliers. In fact a huge percentage of the world’s batteries come from South Africa. And that number could only increase as the entire world goes electric and mobile. Everything requires a battery these days. Everything from phones to remote controls and even car batteries. But now with the increase of electric vehicles, South Africa’s stock in the battery game could go even higher!

South Africa could play a big role in the global battery value chain with the potential for 10-15GWh of domestic demand for battery energy storage by 2030, according to a report from the World Bank.

The report – titled South Africa & Southern Africa: Battery Market & Value Chain Assessment Report and written by consultancy Customized Energy Solutions (CES) – mostly focused on the upstream battery value chain for both EVs and the energy storage system (ESS) markets, but covered downstream demand and applications too.

It said the country’s battery storage market could reach 9,700MWh of demand by 2030 and 10,400MWh including the wider Southern Africa region, in a base case scenario. In the best-case scenario, that demand could reach 15,000MWh for South Africa and 17,000MWh for the wider region. This is a big increase from just a few hundred MWh in 2020.

Southern Africa generally refers to the dozen countries that form the southern portion of the continent, with Angola the northernmost.
https://www.energy-storage.news/world-bank-south-africa-could-play-significant-role-in-global-battery-value-chain-by-2030/




However, South Africa can’t be a global leader in world energy until they fix their own energy crisis, which again was most likely caused by conservatives. We’ve told you – they’re everywhere in this world of ours. It’s not just a uniquely American problem. But their energy crisis is totally dwarfing the one that’s being experienced in places like Texas and California. Ours are the product of overusing the grids which haven’t been brought up to capacity. But South Africa’s is affecting large parts of the country and has had a significant impact on its’ overall infrastructure.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says the county's electricity crisis has severely damaged its mining industry, a key pillar of the economy. Ramaphosa made the comment while addressing Investing in African Mining Indaba, the world's largest mining investment conference.

The Minerals Council South Africa, which represents mining companies, estimates that total mining volumes were down by 6%, or $1.8 billion last year.

In his address, Ramaphosa admitted that the ongoing power cuts implemented on 200 days in 2022 contributed to the slump.

“The electricity crisis on its own has had a huge impact on the mining industry as it has had on other industries,” he said. “Six months ago, we announced the national Energy Action Plan to improve the performance of our existing power stations and to add new generation capacity to the grid as quickly as possible.”

Ramaphosa said the fact that government is now allowing mining companies to generate their own electricity without any restrictions is going to make a huge difference.
https://www.voanews.com/a/south-africa-ramaposa-admits-power-crisis-is-hurting-mining/6951769.html




But alas, remember how we say that conservative idiocy is a global phenomenon with conservatives ruining everything they touch around the globe? South Africa’s no different. South Africa is currently in a dispute with its’ northern neighbors in Equitorial Guinea, a tiny Central African country with a small population and a leader so corrupt he makes Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow look like Boris Johnson, and that’s a pretty fair comparison. Anyway this is the guy who your favorite Soundcloud rapper thinks he is, but really is not.

South African officials have seized a superyacht and two palatial homes owned by Equatorial Guinea's Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang.

A court ordered the seizures after local businessman Daniel Janse van Rensburg won a law suit against Obiang for unlawful arrest and torture.

He has demanded compensation of about $2.2m (£1.8m).

He says he was unlawfully detained in Equatorial Guinea for about 500 days after a business deal went wrong.

The vice-president, the son of the world's longest-serving ruler, has not yet commented on the case.

He and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo have long been accused of seeing oil-rich Equatorial Guinea as their personal fiefdom, and of abusing its wealth and resources.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64627695




[font size="4"]Scorecard: [/font]

Tourism: B
Culture: B+
Political Spectrum: C-
Liberal Appeal: B-

Overall: C-

Change from 2017: No change

[font size="4"]Next Week: [/font]

It’s the next to last stop of our 2022 / 2023 World Tour as we head to the Middle East and the land of excessive oil wealth and hardcore religious fundamentalism, the United Arab Emirates!



[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Stick Figure[/font]

Folks, my next guest has a great new album out called “Wisdom”, you can see them at the Cali Vibes Festival this Saturday with last week’s guests the Dirty Heads! Playing their song “Paradise”, give it up for Stick Figure!



Thank you Buffalo! This was fun, you were a great audience! We’ll be back again soon! We’re off to Boston next with live music from Turnstile! See you next week!

Credits

Host: Initech
Stick Figure Appears Courtesy Of: Ruffwood Records
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded In Front Of A Live Audience At: Helium Comedy Club, Buffalo, NY
Images: All images copyright belongs to respective copyright holders.
Videos: All videos copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Articles: All article content copyright belongs to respective copyright holders
Writing: Top 10 Writing Department
Graphics: Top 10 Graphics Department
Research: Top 10 Research Department
Lighting & Stage Props: Top 10 Lighting Department
Legal: Top 10 Legal Department
Advertising: Top 10 Advertising Department
HR: Top 10 Human Resources Department
Initech’s Wardrobe Provided By: JAB Inc.
Wheel Of Corruption By: Studio 1 Stage Props, Burbank, CA
Management: Initech Productions, CCC Management
Follow The Top 10 On Twitter at: @10Idiots
Follow The Holy Church Of The Top 10 On Twitter: @churchoftop10
Questions? Comments? Complaints? Hate mail? E-mail The Top 10 at: [email protected]


Initech Productions: Yes, We Got The Memo

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Top 10 Conservative Idiot...