Let’s start with a piece of really good news. Fox News, NewsMax, and OAN are is serious legal jeopardy. They promoted the big lie, then when asked in real time to stop, simply doubled down and kept going. Net impact they are all now being sued by multiple billion dollar corporations.
The Guardian reported on July 4th …
…In June, Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting machines to 28 states, was given the go-ahead to sue Fox Corp …
…media and legal experts think Fox could be in real trouble. “Dominion has a very strong case against Fox News – and against OAN for that matter,” said Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a professor who teaches constitutional law at Stetson University …
…“What’s particularly bad for Fox is [that] Dominion asked them to stop and correct the record in real time, and Fox persisted in spreading misrepresentations about the voting machine company.”…
…Smartmatic, an election software company which provided voting software to precisely one county in the 2020 election but found itself subjected to claims that it was founded “for the specific purpose of fixing elections” by associates of Hugo Chavez, the former president of Venezuela who died in 2013, is suing Fox Corp, Fox News and associates for $2.7bn…
…“I think OAN is going to be wiped out from the litigation costs. Forget about any judgment,” said Angelo Carusone, president and chief executive of Media Matters for America…
… William Barr, Trump’s attorney general, put it in rather less sophisticated terms. The claims of election interference, Barr told the January 6 committee, were “bullshit”.
If you bad mouth Mr Nigel Nobody, then the most you might anticipate is a response that consists of a few well-known Anglo-Saxon phrases within a tweet or two. Do the same to multiple billion dollar corporations that have very very deep pockets and the smartest most expensive lawyers available via speed dial, and you can kiss your net wealth goodbye.
It will probably take years to play out, but there is no stopping this train now, it has left the station and is on its way.
Sometimes bold public lies really do have consequences. Knowing that helps in seeing that the world is not all bad.
Moving on, below you will find my usual selection of some truly bizarre claims that have popped up during the last 7 days. Each is laced with my snarky commentary. With my usual hat tip to my main source, Right Wing Watch, let’s dive in.
Enjoy.
Guns (again!)
Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene tweets: What drugs and/or psychiatric drugs was he on for his mind to be ruined in alternate reality games that caused him to commit a mass shooting? His parents know. The police know. School, arrest, hospital records? The public DESERVES to know.
- Do you think so realises that she is actually making a rather strong case for extensive federal background checks and waiting period for potential gun owners?
- Fact Check via Shannon Watts: Iceland is the world’s biggest consumer of SSRIs. They’ve had 5 gun homicides since 2020; in the US, there have been over 30,000 in that time. Japan is one of the largest video game markets in the world. They have only 10 shooting deaths a year; the US has 40,000.
- Hot Tip: It’s the Guns Marge … just the easy access to guns.
- Watching Republicans glorify Kyle Rittenhouse’s actions also really did not help.
Ted and Heidi are praying again.
- For every shooting he simply cut and pastes the same tweet. You would have thought that he could have worked out by now that “praying” does not work, but apparently not.
- His refusal to take any meaningful action on guns is of course not in any way influenced by the $$$ that the NRA pours into his campaign.
- Side Note: Not “Thoughts and Prayers”, just “Prayers” is all Ted does, because thinking is an unfamiliar concept for him.
In response to the mass shooting close to where he is at, IL State Sen and Trump-endorsed candidate for Gov Dan Bailey releases a CAMPAIGN VIDEO: “Now let’s move on and celebrate the independence of this nation .. We have got to get corruption and evil out of our govt.”
- “Move On”!! … on the day it happened … What the actual F … Empathy and compassion are truly alien concepts for this guy. Hopefully he managed to “move on” and “celebrate” by not tripping over any bodies and slipping in puddles of blood.
- The current Gov, JB Pritzker, the one they really need to keep, published a far more appropriate heartfelt response.
Christian Nationalism
Some Christian Nationalists are now broadcasting the fact that secular laws no longer apply if their version of God disagrees.
- (Sigh!) … Republic of Gilead here we come.
Homophobia on Steroids
Christian hate-preacher Cameron Hall says gay people should be “shot in the back of the head. Or the front of the head. I don’t really care. Multiple times in the head.” He calls it an “evolution of stoning” since a bullet is just “a really fast lead rock.”
- OK, so who will be brave enough to go tell him that none of the Ten Commandments say “Thou shalt not be Gay”, but one clearly says “Thou shalt not kill”
- “So when they continued asking Him, He lifted Himself up and said unto them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first shoot fifty high-caliber rounds at her.” – Republican Jesus, John 8:7
- Can I also welcome you to reason 11,876,324,456 why I don’t follow any organised religion
- I’d also place good money on a bet that this guy has a “secret” room in his basement.
Truly Bizarre
Alex Jones July 4 message: “I declare a Declaration of Independence against the alien force .. that is attempting to exterminate the majority of us, and force the minority to merge with AI computers and become cyborg slaves of Satan.”
- “Cyborg slaves of Satan” sounds like a B movie that I need to watch at some point.
- Alex, lake many these days, does not have both oars in the water.
OAN host Alison Steinberg says that “liberals are sick demons who thrive on the thought of death” because they “outright love killing babies” with abortion, covid vaccines, and baby formula shortages.
- How to successfully weaponise low IQ
- If you think that nobody could possibly be stupid enough to believe this, you might wish to revisit that thought.
- The really big challenge here is that SNL have no possible way to satirise this.
Trump during his Alaska rally: … “But we did so much in terms of therapeutics and a word that I’m not allowed to mention. But I’m still proud of that word… We did that in nine months, and it was supposed to take five years to 12 years. But I’m not mentioning it in front of my people,“
- The hilariously funny bit is this – He is way too scared to say the word ‘vaccine’ in front of his people but still wants to brag about it.
- He appears to be mocking his supporters for being anti-vax
- You can’t make this stuff up.
The False Profit$
Christian hate-preacher Greg Locke claimed Kenneth Copeland is a “sex trafficking rapist,” Joel Osteen abuses boys, and Tom Hanks and Oprah are pedophiles.
- You would think that if he had any actual evidence that this was true then he would drop that out for all to see.
- He claims that he has evidence that Copeland is a “sex trafficking rapist”. What he is also doing is telling all that he is holding on to the evidence and is not giving it to the police, hence we can conclude that he is quite happy for Copeland to carry on being a “sex trafficking rapist”.
- What is perhaps hilarious is that you would think all these grifters who prey upon the gullible would back each other up. Apparently not. Each views the others as satanic heretics.
- Meanwhile, let’s not forget that it was Greg Locke himself who hired a Youth Paster a few years back that had been guilty of abusing kids in his previous job. If you are concerned about kids and abuse, then you would be wise to avoid Locke’s church.
Christian conspiracy theorist Johnny Enlow says we know how God feels about abortion because the Supreme Court overturned Roe on June 24, 2022. Therefore 666.
- Least you fail to grasp at what he is claiming, it is basically this – June is the 6th Month. If you then add the 2 to the 4 in 24 you get 6, and if you add the 2’s up in 2022 you get 6 … therefore June 24, 2022 = 666, the date of the Roe V. Wade decision. … [About here would be the correct place for you to face palm]
- Interestingly enough, we can use the exact same “logic” to claim that the Roe V. Wade decision was Satanic.
- Just when you think that nobody could be “this” stupid, up pops Johnny to prove that you are ever so wrong about that.
In a “prophetic release” today, Pastor Kent Christmas claimed a natural disaster would hit Disney World due to its “spirit of rebellion.”
- This is a great example of how the “prophetic” scam works. Toss out a very vague claim, nothing specific, no dates, no timeline at all. Then later when something happens, almost anything at all, any incident, then claim that you successfully prophesied it. Now when there is an accident in a Disney Park, or when the next hurricane rolls through Florida, he will assert it was the “wrath of god”.
- Honestly, I just wish this guy was a Catholic Priest. We could all then call him Father Christmas.
- Meanwhile, if Goofy and Micky are your sworn enemies, then you are very clearly playing on the wrong team.
Obituary of the week
There are obituaries, and then there is this, and yes, not Satire, it is quite real. It is an obituary that made me think of a phrase that rhymes with “clucking-bell” … (Bold emphases below is mine) …
Lawrence H Pfaff Sr. was born in Belmont, NY, on April 16, 1941. He passed away on June 27, 2022, living a long life, much longer than he deserved. He is survived by his three children, no four. Oops, five children. Well as of 2022 we believe there is one more that we know about, but there could be more. His love was abundant when it came to himself, but for his children it was limited. From a young age, he was a ladies’ man and an abusive alcoholic, solidifying his commitment to both with the path of destruction he left behind, damaging his adult children, and leaving them broken.
Lawrence, Sr’s hobbies included abusing his first wife and children. He loved to start projects but never followed through on any of them. He enjoyed the life of a bar fly for many years and had a quaint little living space, studio, above his favorite hole in the wall, the club Nashville.
Lawrence, Sr. did spend over 20 years in the NYPD, but even his time in service was negligent at best. Because of his alcohol addiction, his Commanding Officer took away his gun and badge, replacing them with a broom until he could get his act together.
Lawrence, Sr. did claim to be clean and sober for over thirty years, but never worked any of the twelve steps, including the eighth and ninth steps with his children, making amends. He possesses no redeeming qualities for his children, including the ones he knew, and the “ones he knew about.”
It will be challenging to miss Lawrence, Sr. because he was narcissistic. He was incapable of love. Lawrence, Sr.’s passing proves that evil does eventually die, and it marks a time of healing, which will allow his children to get the closure they deserve. Lawrence, Sr. can be remembered for being a father to many, and a dad to none.
Wow.
Life Tip: Live a full life such that your obituary is not like that.
Statistic of the week
Ryan looked at the statistics between May 2021 and May 2022 (after the Roe V Wade leak) and this is what he found …