Author: Raymond

 
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

I grew up in a system of religious faith that taught me a negative view of women. Every Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor and professor who instructed me in the True Christian Faith® taught me the following:

• Women were created by God to be their husbands’ helpmeets.
• Women are commanded by God to be keepers of their homes. Their primary tasks are housekeeping, cooking meals, caring for children, and spreading their legs whenever their husbands want sex.
• Women, when compared to men, are weaker vessels and need the protection of males.
• Men are the head of their homes and their wives are to submit to their rule and authority.
• Women are temptresses, leading men (and teen boys) into sexual immorality.
• Women have the duty to dress in ways to keep men from lusting after them. Women, then, are sexual gatekeepers.
• Women cannot be pastors or serve in any church capacity that puts them in authority over men. Some of pastors and professors taught me that women were to be silent in church and were not permitted to participate in church governance.

These beliefs were modeled — albeit imperfectly and hypocritically — to me throughout my primary, secondary, and post-secondary years. It should come as no surprise, then, that once I began preaching and pastoring churches, I taught these beliefs to congregants.

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From driftglass:

That agonizingly long list of bottom feeders, freaks, demagogues, looters, liars, malcontents and grifters who, for no explicable reason, always find a chair waiting for them in the national media.

Well here’s the shocking secret.

They do not, in fact, just randomly wander onto the sets to teevee programs, plop into a chair and begin spouting nonsense. Someone with the authority to decide who gets a seat and who does not actually invites them to be there. Works out the details with their representative. Sends a car for them if needed. Sometimes even puts them up at a nearby hotel. Preps them on the topic and the part they are expected to play in the puppet show they are about to stage. Makes sure they are camera-ready. Has them sign a release if they don’t have one already on permanent file. Makes them comfortable while they wait. Provides them with food and drink. Puts a microphone on them and runs sound checks with them.

Then and only then do the little lights on the cameras indicating “live broadcast” flick to life. Then and only then do they begin spouting nonsense.

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From our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit:

You know by now, of course, that The National Enquirer, which tried to extort/blackmail the richest guy in the Solar System, is owned by American Media Inc., who is under the gun for illegal campaign contributions to Trump.

What you don’t likely know is that AMI is owned by Chatham Asset Management, which holds 80% of AMI’s stock. AMI is also in some financial trouble, through the usual horseshit scheme of a venture capitalist firm both owning the stock and owning the corporate debt.

“Venture capitalist” is a modern term that really means “plunderer of businesses”. Forty or so years ago, they funded start-ups and new ideas. Now, it seems, they specialize in taking over going concerns and running them into the ground by taking out lots of cash through “creative financing”, selling off the assets and laying off tens of thousands of people.

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From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

It shows how 24 countries surveyed view the threat from the two biggest powers — the United States and Russia. Which one do they view to be the greater threat?

Note that 17 of the 24 countries view the power and influence of the U.S. to be a greater threat to them than the power and influence of Russia.

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From Tommy Christopher:

Amid a recent measles outbreak, Fox News has been highlighting the story of 18 year-old Ethan Lindenberger,who got himself vaccinated over the objections of his mother, who ” believes vaccines cause side effects like autism and brain damage.”

Where could Ethan’s mother have gotten an idea like that? Unfortunately, the list of suspects is long, and includes Trump.

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From Jonathan Bernstein:

Reports that the senator has mistreated staff should be taken seriously. But also with a grain of salt.

Senator Amy Klobuchar will apparently be declaring her presidential candidacy this weekend. She’s already run into trouble, in the form of a HuffPost article reporting that she’s mistreated her staff over the years — so much so that she’s had a hard time finding anyone to run her campaign.

What are we to make of such stories?

It’s certainly a legitimate factor to consider when choosing a candidate. Inability to manage a staff would be a real problem for any president. It can yield heavy turnover, excessive leaks that make the president look bad, and lower-quality personnel in the White House and perhaps across the executive branch. Whether someone will actually be good at presidenting is probably the most important question to ask when choosing a candidate, and the ability get the most out of a staff is an essential skill.

On the other hand, we should always be careful about this kind of story.

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From nojo:

Dom DeLuise is directing a big production number, top hats and tails. It’s not going well, the number has to be reset — when suddenly the movie breaks through its own wall. The fight on the Western set breaks into the musical. The characters in the fight are still fighting. They’re still the characters in the fight.

That’s the moment we keep thinking about these days, the moment the movie spins out of control, the moment America spins out of control, the moment when the sheer absurdity of it all overpowers everything else. Only there’s no stopping America from spinning, there’s too much fuel on the fire, and the only sunset we’re driving into is the planet burning to a crisp.

And people say Blazing Saddles isn’t relevant any more.

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From News Corpse:

On Sunday morning he tweeted that:

Gallup Poll: “Open Borders will potentially attract 42 million Latin Americans.” This would be a disaster for the U.S. We need the Wall now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2019

It goes without saying that Trump’s assessment of the situation is entirely devoid of facts. What he describes as a looming disaster is actually just a set of hypotheticals that he has taken completely out of context. The Gallup poll he’s citing is much more nuanced than in his simplistic retelling. And, as usual, he didn’t provide a link to it for fear that people would be able to see the truth for themselves.

The poll asked a broadly hypothetical question of residents in Latin American countries about whether they would like to immigrate and, if so, what country would be their preferred destination. The survey results said that twenty-seven percent would like to immigrate, and that thirty-five percent of those would choose to go to the United States.

The only thing this tells us is that there is significant dissatisfaction with life in many of the Latin American countries. Who didn’t already know that? Much of the region is burdened with poverty, violence, and corrupt governments. Also, who is surprised that the U.S. would be a popular destination? Would Trump prefer it if our country was regarded as slime hole that no one wanted to move to? Although it does seem like that’s what he’s trying to turn it into.

Trump’s ignorance is further demonstrated by his omission of other relevant data on international migration. In another recent Gallup poll it was found that an even larger percentage of Europeans (41%) also say they would like to move to another country.

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From Professor PZ Myers:

How stunningly ignorant are Fox News hosts? Let’s see Pete Hegseth’s disgusting confession:

Following a commercial break, Fox & Friends co-host Jedediah Bila revealed that Hegseth had been munching on day-old pizza that was left on the set.

Pizza Hut lasts for a long time, Hegseth replied, defending himself. My 2019 resolution is to say things on air that I say off air. I don’t think I’ve washed my hands for 10 years. Really, I don’t really wash my hands ever.

I inoculate myself, he continued. Germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them. Therefore, they’re not real.

Hegseth argued that his unsanitary habit leaves him immune to sickness.

Uh…say what?

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From Iron Knee at Political Irony:

…while 48% of whites say that Northam should resign, among blacks, only 37% want him to resign. Does this mean that whites are more upset than blacks about Northam having a photo showing someone in blackface in his medical school yearbook page.

Maybe, but probably not. The same survey shows that 56% of Republicans think he should resign. It is difficult to believe that Republicans are saying this because they are upset about any alleged racism.

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