Top 10 Conservative Idiots #12-5: We've Got A Great Big Convoy Across The USA Edition

[Top 10 Idiots]

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #12-5: We’ve Got A Great Big Convoy Across The USA Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yo!! What’s up Seattle? How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! I hope that everyone is ready of course! Next week is March 3rd which means my favorite Top 10 of the entire year. That’s right – it’s the return of Stupidest State! You guys ready for some bracketology? All right! Spoiler alert! Florida is dumb! But y’all already knew that! It’s good to be back in the Emerald City! This guy up front knows what I am talking about! Do we have time for the thing? Of course we do, it’s my show after all! So Kanye is off his fucking rocker, can we all agree with that? Like I kind of get his point that artists don’t get paid enough, but come on. Releasing your new album via this crappy 8GB MP3 with lights on it that costs people $200? That is some next level crazy there, and also some serious fleecing. You can’t make the claim that one minute you don’t get paid enough, and then the next you charge people $200 to listen to your new album? And come on people, stop giving him money already! Seriously, it was bad enough when he was charging $120 for a plain white t-shirt. Or $180 for a sweatshirt at Coachella. But now this? Come on, people. Stop it already, just stop it! And I say this as a music fan by the way. With love, because I care. OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is finally back!!! And this week he delves into the bizarre war on critical race theory, courtesy of your local school board representative who watches way too much Fox News for their own good:

Where do we begin this week? Well the number one slot this week goes to Vladimir Putin (1). Yes, Pooty is in some deep doo doo and has continued to amass troops at the Ukranian border despite the fact that most of the world is against this. And Fox News is actively cheering him on. In the second slot this week is the GOP (2). The GOP is continuing the downplaying of the events of January 6th and making it seem like it didn’t happen, and is in full on “Move along, nothing to see here, please disperse!” mode. Taking the number 3 seed this week is the Freedom Convoy (3). Yes, Ottawa is finally turning the tables on these dipshits but this protest isn’t going away any time soon, in fact it might be coming to a city near you (cue the horror music) ! At slot #4 this week is your favorite president, me, Donald Trump (4) because Trump launched his much delayed new social media network “Truth Social” which already was a bust, though the MAGA world won’t let you forget it and will somehow claim that it’s a massive success, even though it wasn’t. In the number 5 slot this week is a new edition of “We’re All Gonna Die” (5) and this week – is the Omicron BA.2 variant of COVID-19 something to really be concerned about even though case numbers are dropping like a ton of bricks? We will attempt to sort through the misinformation here, but yeah… we’re all gonna die! Ahhhhhh!!! Taking the number 6 seed is our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” and this week we’ve got a fun one for you as our resident pastor is going to introduce you to some seriously off the wall batshit MAGA candidates in the 2022 midterm elections, where you have crazy and crazier to choose from! In the number 7 slot this week – speaking of MAGA candidates, we profile Nevada’s controversial Congressional representative candidate Noah Malgeri (Q-Batshit) in a new edition of This Fucking Guy (7), and whew, some next level crazy there! In the number 8 slot this week, we have a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) and this week, my home state of California is cracking down on online misinformation. Will they succeed? And the answer is probably not. In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have a new “I Need A Drink” – and this week we’re going to talk about the Coachella Music Festival – is having a “no rules, anything goes” policy a good idea right now? I’m going to say probably not. Finally this week in our last Red State Diaries – we have our predictions on the 2022 midterms. Will they go out with a bang or a whimper? A little from column A, a little from column B. Plus we have some live music for you from Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators! Buy their new album 4 or you are no friend of this program! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

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[font size="8"]Vladimir Putin
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OK everyone I must stress that the following segment was written on Monday and taped yesterday before the news of Russia invading the Ukraine and Putin threatening nuclear war started. Don't worry - we will get to that in full next week! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming!





So we’re on week 3… has Vladimir Putin invaded the Ukraine yet? No? Come on, I had the over / under on the Ukraine invasion like 2 weeks ago! Of course I am currently underestimating our current president, Joseph R. Biden. Seriously, Trump would have let Pooty take over the Ukraine by now and he’d have his sights set on Belarus. Did I say Belarus? That’s a future invasion waiting to happen. And I wouldn’t put anything past Pooty either on the subject. By the way, you might be wondering why I keep referring to him as Pooty – and it’s because premier warlords like Putin are taken down a few pegs when you call them baby names. Just like Xi Xi. And I’m probably banned from China again, LOL. So what does Pooty stand to gain from this? Yeah I remember that we asked this question last week but we also didn’t get a clear answer either. The real answer is… it’s complicated.

Shortly afterward, Putin laid out three conditions to end the crisis that has threatened to plunge Europe back into war, raising the specter of massive casualties, energy shortages across the continent and global economic chaos.

Putin said the crisis could be resolved if Kyiv recognizes Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, renounces its bid to join NATO and partially demilitarizes. The West has decried the annexation of Crimea as a violation of international law and has previously flatly rejected permanently barring Ukraine from NATO.

Asked whether he has sent any Russian troops into Ukraine and how far they could go, Putin responded: “I haven’t said that the troops will go there right now.” He added that “it’s impossible to forecast a specific pattern of action –- it will depend on a concrete situation as it takes shape on the ground.”

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-russia-vladimir-putin-46cef648807d0e3c2bac9793ad9022a6

Yes, Pooty used the “they look like dorks” defense of his invasion in Ukraine. But this invasion probably isn’t going away anytime soon. You know we’re coming up on March 11th, which is when we usually take a break. Last time we took a break that week the pandemic was declared and the world went to shit. I hope when this break happens that World War III isn’t declared! But then again I wouldn’t put anything past Pooty!

He asserted without evidence that Ukraine was “torturing” people, including women and children, and he repeated the genocide claim.
.. .

His move to see the territories as sovereign statelets also breaches the 2015 Minsk peace agreement, which was supposed to restore the two separatist regions to Ukraine’s control.

Putin excoriated Ukraine’s leaders In his television address, questioned their legitimacy and called the country “a colony with puppets at its helm” where Russian speakers were oppressed.

“Ukraine has never had its own authentic statehood. There has never been a sustainable statehood in Ukraine,” he said. He warned that Ukraine could develop its own nuclear weapons, calling this a “real threat,” claiming that the West was using Ukraine as “theater of potential warfare” against Russia and might help Kyiv to develop them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putin-calls-ukraine-a-us-colony-with-a-e2-80-98puppet-regime-e2-80-99/ar-AAU8u1d?ocid=BingNewsSearch

Yeah it pretty much boils down to that. But the fact that Pooty is refusing to recognize Ukraine’s statehood is shockingly evil. Russia is about to do something really bad if we don’t let them. But this has much bigger implications than just invading the Ukraine. Instead, Russia is sending a message to the entire world. And that message is – “don’t fuck with us”. Never mind that Putin has amassed the power of internet propaganda to turn whole countries against each other. But what do you do when the leader of your country is a furry cat and an island fortress away from being a full blown James Bond villain?

'NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Russian pressure and threats against Ukraine are the “new normal” for Europe, as Russia has amassed more than 150,000 troops and is prepared to attack.

This is a new escalation, but Ukrainians have been under constant hybrid attack from Russia since 2014. The United States itself has been under growing hybrid attacks for several years, including election interference and cyberattacks. If this is indeed the new normal, and even if Russia doesn’t attack, the United States must adapt our policies – economic, diplomatic and military – to face this new reality.

The Russian military buildup has brought President Vladimir Putin clear diplomatic gains as Western leaders line up to speak with him in Moscow. Russian diplomats proclaim a willingness to negotiate, but Russian demands on NATO and Ukraine violate the precepts of international law and fundamental NATO commitments. Western offers to negotiate matters of strategic interest, like missile deployments and military exercises, have been dismissed, while Russia fishes for cracks in allied unity.

How to pressure Russia

Our positions have been made clear: There is allied unity and resolve that NATO will not give Russia a veto over its policies, including the right to consider new nations for membership, nor will it roll back its invitation to Ukraine or its military deployments in Eastern Europe.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/2022/02/21/ukraine-wesley-clark-nato-russia-invasion/6872627001/

Yeah Vladimir Putin is basically a real life Dr. Evil, except that there’s no Austin Powers or James Bond out to thwart his evil deeds. Unless the world stands up to this madman. Which is a possibility but then again we’re too busy fighting each other on social media in order to actually band together to stop him from taking over the world. So what’s to stop Pooty from a full blown Ukraine invasion? Well it’s going to take a lot of factors and a lot of decisions being made in the next few weeks. I tell you guys the start of WWIII is going to be very interesting.

The Russian expression “tanks don’t fear mud” is common enough that it’s been the title of a short-lived Russian television series and can be found stenciled on car windows.

And it’s yet another reason why any Russian decision to invade Ukraine is likely to depend very little upon fears that a spring thaw will hinder tanks from crossing boggy ground. Russia’s military has, in addition to tanks and other armored vehicles that are well equipped for mud, a range of fighter jets and missiles that are the hallmarks of any modern military.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said that Russia is essentially in position for an invasion of Ukraine “assuming that the ground is frozen above Kyiv,” the Ukrainian capital that is only 75 kilometers (47 miles) from the border of Belarus, a key Russian ally. It’s not the first time an American official has invoked Russia’s need for frozen ground to stage an invasion.

But analysts trying to figure out how Russia could invade say any assault would start with air and missile strikes, likely targeting Ukrainian military sites.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/02/14/russias-ukraine-plans-how-much-does-mud-matter.html

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[font size="8"]The GOP
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So the clusterfuck that was the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol is something that will probably never be fully resolved. And the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about the cult momentum in the GOP has been building to something ridiculously evil. And they’re censoring the few people who have dared to speak out about what this party is really up to. Well there’s been some crazy developments in the last week and we won’t have time to get to them all unfortunately. But first I want to talk about Josh Hawley – seen here looking like he’s about to lead the Spartans from 300 into battle against the barbarians. And I’m also not going to get into what’s going on with Hawley and the people of Missouri – we’ll save that for next week! But Hawley is selling some commemorative merchandise for the January 6th insurrection that some might call “poor taste”. And that’s putting it lightly. Merchandise – that’s where the real money from the attempted coup is made!

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is selling what he declares is a “great way for proud, fearless conservatives to support” his campaign: a mug with an image of himself cheering on the mob preparing to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Liberals are so easily triggered, and this new mug is really whipping the left into a frenzy!” read a Monday campaign email advertising the $20 item. “Josh isn’t scared — he’s show-me strong! This Made in America mug is the perfect way to enjoy Coffee, Tea, or Liberal Tears!”

It’s unclear if Hawley licensed the viral image for use. The Associated Press told Rolling Stone in an email that they are “not seeing anything in our billing system with that usage,” and that they will be contacting their attorney regarding Hawley’s potentially unlicensed use of the image. Hawley’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hawley not only raised his fist as a sign of solidarity with the mob — hundreds of which have been arrested, some on charges of seditious conspiracy — before it stormed the Capitol, he also objected to the certification of the election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. The vote to overturn the election came after rioters attacked police officers and stormed through the Capitol in what the GOP has officially dubbed “legitimate political discourse.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/josh-hawley-cheering-jan-6-rioter-mug-1300054/

Oh fuck off Hawley! By the way, anyone who gets their jollies from making other people cry should probably be put on a terrorist watch list. I’m just saying some of these people probably either have or are in the process of committing terrorism. And speaking of terrorists, a guy who’s terrorized Ohio’s 4th district for years – Jim Jordan is increasingly coming under fire for his alleged involvement in the January 6th insurrection. That’s right – this is one investigation that could have the potential to get very interesting in the coming weeks! Pass the popcorn!

Protestors in Ohio rallied outside of GOP Representative Jim Jordan's local office, urging the secretary of state to remove him from the ballot and prevent him from seeking another term in Congress.

Jordan, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, has received substantial backlash from Democrats, and some Republicans, over his support for Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The Ohio Republican spoke with the former president on the phone multiple times on January 6, 2021—when pro-Trump rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol.

Although Jordan previously suggested that he only spoke to Trump after the riot began, phone records first reported by CNN in early February showed that the congressman talked to Trump for about 10 minutes on the morning of January 6 before the assault against the federal legislative building. He also forwarded a controversial text message before that day, which laid out a strategy to overturn President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.
https://www.newsweek.com/jim-jordan-should-disqualified-ballot-over-jan-6-protestors-1680969

Oh yes! We know that the MAGA rioters had help from the inside but who? It’s no mistake that the GOP is in full blown “move along, nothing to see here” mode! Well, one person that we know of that is actively aiding and abetting the MAGA terrorists is Arizona’s Kelli Ward. And Ward is running to be a representative of Arizona! Come on, people! Where is Congress and the FBI on this one? Is Don on the phone? Let’s get Don on the phone, damn it!!

The Jan. 6 select committee has subpoenaed the phone records of Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, who both signed documents falsely claiming to be among their state’s presidential electors in 2020.

The Wards filed suit Tuesday against the House panel in federal court in Arizona seeking to block the couple’s phone provider, T-Mobile, from sharing their records with the committee. The lawsuit was initially assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Susan Brnovich — the wife of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is running for Senate and is an ally of former President Donald Trump — but she quickly recused herself from the matter.

The select committee subpoenaed the phone records of the Wards — as well as their company Mole Medical Services P.C. — last month from their provider, T-Mobile, according to court records. T-Mobile indicated it would turn over the records by Feb. 4 unless the Wards filed suit.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/02/jan-6-committee-subpoenas-arizona-gop-chair-00004903

Yeah that’s pretty much what it is like right now! But there is good news. How deep does the January 6th insurrection go? Well to sound like a conspiracy theorist, it goes all the way to the president! Well, the guy who used to be president at the time. So you might be asking who can sue who in this case? It turns out, ladies and gentlemen, that guy can be sued! Yes, the Former Guy himself can be sued by the victims of this atrocity. Let’s just hope they don’t get Lionel Hutz as their defending attorney.

On Friday, approximately five seconds after we posted about "Trump's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Week In Court," the old goat got yet more bad news on the legal front. US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected Donald Trump's motion to dismiss, ruling that three cases arising out of his conduct on January 6, 2021, can proceed. And if the ruling holds — a big if with those six goons squatting at SCOTUS — it's a virtual certainty Trump will be going under oath for discovery.

The three cases are: Swalwell v. Trump, in which Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell sued Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Don Jr. and GOP Rep. Mo Brooks; Thompson v. Trump, in which 11 Democratic representatives sued the former president, his lawyer, and both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers; and Blassingame v. Trump, in which two Capitol Police officers seek to hold Trump to account for their injuries on January 6. In addition to various tort claims, all the plaintiffs sued under a theory that Trump and the other defendants conspired to violate the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, a Reconstruction Era statute that makes it illegal to impede a government official carrying out his or her official duty, in this case the certification ofJoe Biden's Electoral College win and the peaceful transfer of power.

Conspiracy: What Is That Again?

There are a lot of moving parts here, so it probably makes sense to orient this discussion around the definition of a conspiracy. A civil conspiracy consists of (1) an agreement that is (2) between two or more parties to (3) commit an unlawful or wrongful act that (4) injures a third party.
https://www.wonkette.com/court-rules-trump-can-be-sued-for-inciting-mob-on-january-6

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[font size="8"]Freedom Convoy
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We got a great big convoy, across the USA! Convoy! Except this convoy isn’t taking place in the good ol’ USA. Nope, it’s affecting our neighbors to the north in Ottawa. That’s right, the nation’s capital is going through week 3 of these ridiculous lockdown protests. Look guys, we don’t like this anymore than you do. Me personally? Lockdowns fucking suck. And I’m not a fan of wearing masks either. But being directly related to a public health official, I can see why they are necessary. And the sooner we all do what we are supposed to do – get the vaccine and wear your damn mask, the sooner we can go back to having the lives we knew before 2020 happened. Although the science is saying that there is no going back at this point. Last week we talked about how the Freedom Convoy is enjoying some unprecedented funding from some extremely dark money sources. Yes, the kind of people who you wouldn’t trust with 10 cents, let alone a million dollars. So did they win or lose anything? Probably not.

Last weekend, my 16-year-old son went driving for maybe the third time in his life since he got his learner’s permit. I was white-knuckling it on the passenger side, as one does, jamming my right foot down on the floor. At one point, he briefly lurched at the sidewalk, terrifying a guy who was walking his dog.

My son, crestfallen, wondered aloud why the only instrument on his dashboard was a horn. “I wish there were a sorry button. Why is there a horn but not a sorry button?” he asked.

I was thinking about the nonexistent sorry button when I traveled to Ottawa last week, the city of my birth, and the place my family has lived for three generations, to try to understand what the “Freedom Convoy”—a protest-slash-occupation that lasted for more than three weeks—was really all about.

By the time I arrived, several thousand trucks had blocked major city streets and managed to close down the entire center of Canada’s capital city, shuttering businesses already hobbled by the pandemic and frightening residents in Ottawa’s downtown core.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/02/ottawa-freedom-convoy-truckers-protest.html

Yeah seriously? Where’s that guy when you need him? But that said, how did Canada’s Justin Trudeau handle this clusterfuck? Well the protests as you can imagine went ridiculously out of control, and of course Trudeau had to enact what are called “emergency powers”. Look, in all seriousness – fuck these people. You know what? The only language these morons understand is violence, so I say fight fire with fire, you know? But we can’t let them get away with this. When you destroy property and fling poop and compare vaccine mandates to the holocaust, you lose any sympathy I had left.

Canada is lifting the emergency powers it enacted more than a week ago to get street protests under control, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying the unprecedented authority is no longer needed.

His government invoked the never-before-used Emergencies Act after hundreds of semis and other heavy vehicles blockaded the downtown of Canada’s capital city for three weeks. The demonstration in Ottawa sparked offshoots that shut down key U.S. border crossings, including the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit.

“Today, after careful consideration, we’re ready to confirm that the situation is no longer an emergency,” Trudeau said alongside his attorney general and other top ministers in Ottawa on Wednesday. “We are confident that existing laws and bylaws are now sufficient to keep people safe.”

The legislation gave authorities financial tools to cut off funding to the protesters and compel towing firms to clear out the vehicles, among other measures. Canadian banks froze about C$7.8 million ($6.1 million) in just over 200 accounts under the emergency powers, government officials told lawmakers Tuesday.
https://fortune.com/2022/02/23/justin-trudeau-emergency-powers-trucker-protest-freedom-convoy/

Yeah no you don’t want this convoy coming to your city, Homer. These are the people who are not to be trusted with anything. But all that said, let’s turn our attention to the states. Where these assholes are planning to head to the State Of The Union with the intent of disrupting. That’s right – their next target is Biden’s first State Of The Union address. You know, it will be so nice to have a president who can say the word “union” correctly again (see: Top 10 #4-4 ). However, his fans are planning on pulling the same shit in DC that they did in Ottawa.

A series of truck convoys is headed to the DC area in the coming days -- the first expected Wednesday, Feb. 23 during evening rush hour. The goal: to create gridlock on the Beltway.

Bob Bolus, a Scranton, Pa. truck driver, told 7News he's leading a 'convoy' to protest federal COVID-19 mandates, inflation, and illegal immigration.

“We're not going to camp there. Let me put it that way,” Bolus replied. “We're not camping on the Beltway. We're gonna have our voices heard and let them understand this is only the tip of the iceberg."

He told 7News that a captain within the Metropolitan Police Department recently contacted him to ask about his protest plans. Yet Bolus, who owns a tow truck company, said he is keeping his convoy out of the District as he believes Maryland and Virginia follow due process more than the nation’s capital.
https://wjla.com/news/local/truck-convoy-protest-dc-maryland-virginia-beltway-i495-traffic-gridlock-highway-what-we-know-covid-19-mandates-freedom-bob-bolus-scranton-harrisburg-pennsylvania-baltimore

Hey enough with the Convoy song already! But see, Geico? This is how you bundle. Not only do you get a mask mandate protest, you also get an economic protest, and an illegal immigration protest! Order now and save! Oh and by the way in case you’re wondering who’s funding this madness, well, guess what? The police are in on it! That’s right – cops were among the donors who were doxed. You know what? Let me have some Rage Against The Machine! Some of those who work forces, are the same that burn crosses! UH!!!!

By combing through the nearly 100,000 people who donated to the protest via the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo, Torstar reporters identified 15 police officers who as of 2020 were on the payroll of the province’s three largest police forces: Ontario Provincial Police, Toronto Police Service and Ottawa Police Service.

All three services had officers on the ground in Ottawa to police the “Freedom Convoy.”

The police donations were small, ranging from $20 to $200, and all were made on or after Feb. 5 — by which time the prime minister and Ottawa’s police chief had declared the protests “illegal” or “unlawful.”

The OPP has launched an internal investigation into the officers named on the leaked donor list.

“The OPP holds its members accountable for their actions while on duty and off. They have a responsibility to demonstrate neutrality and remain non-partisan. Any demonstration or expression of views and opinions that may be interpreted as condoning illegal activity is in direct opposition to the OPP’s values and mandate,” said spokesperson Bill Dickson.
https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2022/02/22/ontario-police-officers-are-named-in-leaked-list-of-donors-to-the-freedom-convoy.html

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[font size="8"]That Former Guy
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You know how everyone has that one person at work who constantly brags about every single excruciating detail of every minor achievement their children have, no matter how insignificant it really is? “My son jumped in the deep end of the pool today! He’ll be an Olympic swimmer in no time!!”. Shut up, Karen. And it’s always a Karen isn’t it? Apologies to any Karens we might have in the audience tonight. Well our Karen in question happens to be former president turned social media influencer Donald J. Trump. Well, he finally launched his much hyped social media platform “Truth Social”. Well, Donny’s baby has definitely had its’ share of problems getting off the ground. But here’s the thing – right wing social media is quickly becoming what one might call a perfectly competitive field. Yeah it’s like the people selling oranges on the side of the freeway. But while it may be the top downloaded app on the Apple App Store (for now), it’s going to have some problems and will probably never be able to top Facebook and Twitter. Also, thank god I am an Android user.

Truth Social, a new social media app that claims to be “free from political discrimination” from former President Donald Trump, made its public debut on Apple’s App Store on Monday in honor of President’s Day. Like many things in Trumpland, including the Trump himself, the app was messy and full of errors.

Former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, announced that Truth Social would be rolling out in the App Store this week on Fox News on Sunday, with a goal of being fully operational in the U.S. by the end of March. The app went live shortly before midnight on Sunday and was automatically downloaded for users who had pre-ordered it in the App Store, Reuters reported.

The app quickly climbed the charts on the App Store, taking the number one spot in the social networking category on Monday. However, being first doesn’t necessarily equate with being the best in this case. Reports soon surfaced about users not being able to register and being placed on waitlists. In fact, as one Twitter user pointed out, users couldn’t even read about what they were signing up for because the terms of service page was down.

Gizmodo reached out to Trump Media & Technology Group on Monday for comment on Truth Social’s launch but did not receive an immediate response.
https://gizmodo.com/trump-truth-social-problems-launch-presidents-day-app-s-1848574162

Gee, who would have thought that something that Trump would put his name on would turn to complete shit? I mean come on, there’s Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Airlines, Trump Bottled Water, Trump University, Trump Resorts… now Trump social media! And their user base is currently far less than the expected 74 million. They got literally 500,000 users. Or as Trump would put it – “Huge numbers, we got the biggest ever!”. Yeah right. Give me a break.

Despite a shaky start, Donald Trump's Truth Social app has attracted more than 500,000 users in its first 48 hours.

The app, created by the Trump Media and Technology Group, went live in the early hours of Monday on Apple's App Store. The launch meant that those who did not pre-order Truth Social could set up the accounts on the self-styled "free speech" platform.

By Tuesday evening, Truth Social had become the number one free app on the Apple marketplace after more than half a million people signed up, according to Twitter users who shared their number on the growing wait list.

However, the launch was not without its teething problems. Soon after it went live, many people complained the sign-up system was not working and they could not set up an account. Others also reported being held in lengthy waiting lines before they could complete their profile on Truth Social, with the queue reportedly said to be nearly 400,000-users long at one stage.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-truth-social-app-apple-app-store-users-1681790

Thank you Nelson! Now let’s all list all the ways that the launch of Truth Social went wrong, and there’s plenty to choose from! I mean come on, who wants to hear Trump and a bunch of other far right wing nuts barf their brains for $4.99 a week? Worst streaming service ever, BTW. And come on dude, you were banned from Twitter for essentially threatening to murder half the government and stage a violent coup to overturn the election. But hey, create your own social media platform that you can’t be banned from. So here’s just one of the problems you will encounter if you use this app.

However, people attempting to check out the new platform may have to wait a while.

As of Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET, the app had a waitlist nearly 475,000 users long.

“Due to our massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist,” a message from the platform reads. “We love you, and you’re not just another number to us. But your waitlist number is below.”

“Truthsayers,” as the app’s users are called, who seem to have made it in before the waitlist also experienced glitches trying to explore the platform.

“Love the app but it doesn’t work,” wrote one user who gave the app three stars in their review. “I am 100% down to fight against this corruption and take these elites … down.”
https://www.heraldsun.com/news/nation-world/national/article258657503.html

Yes they do have the internet on computers now! And by the way how ironic is it that they are attempting to stick it to “big tech” while at the same time launching an app on the Apple App Store? I mean come on, that is about as “big tech” as it gets. And come on, with security expert Devin Nunes at the helm, what’s the over / under on how long before this site gets hacked? Knowing how conservatives treat cyber security, I’m surprised it hasn’t been hacked already.

Donald Trump has published his very first post on his new social media platform. How do we know this? Because his son shared a screenshot of it on Twitter.

On Tuesday night, the former president's son, Donald Trump Jr., share a screenshot of his father's very first post on Truth Social on his Twitter. The platform has not launched publicly.

"Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!" read the post on Truth Social.

"Time for some Truth!!!" tweeted Trump Jr., sharing the screenshot on the website that banned his dad after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021 in an attempt to overturn the official election results.

A few others in the Trump orbit have also shared screenshots of their own debut Truth Social posts. The video service Rumble, which has pivoted into a "free speech" conservative media platform following those events at the Capitol, tweeted out a screenshot promoting how its company will power video on Truth Social.
https://mashable.com/article/trump-truth-social-launch-date

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[font size="8"]We’re All Gonna Die
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Hey everyone guess what? We’re all gonna die! Woooooooooooooooooooo!!! Woooooooooo!!! Wooooo. Wooo. Woo. So what’s gonna kill us all this week? Well in the last two years we’ve had a plague and locusts, and killer storms and extreme climate change. Of course they’re all hoaxes depending on which news source you watch or your creepy uncle’s Facebook page. Yeah we all know he watches way too much Alex Jones for his own good. But this can’t be denied that the COVID-19 pandemic is still very much a thing. And most governments around the world have acknowledged that the pandemic is here to stay whether we want it to or not. While most are preparing to transition to living with an endemic virus, rather than it being a full blown emergency that shut down life as we know it in 2020, there’s a new variant on the horizon that looks to do some damage before it disappears. Or it could not. That variant is called “BA.2” and it looks like it’s a much more severe variant than the Omicron variant that has ravaged everything in the last few weeks. So what’s the latest on the BA.2 variant? Could it kill us or not? Here’s more.

As the omicron surge continues to decline in the U.S., infectious disease experts are keeping a close eye on an even more contagious version of the variant that could once again foil the nation's hopes of getting back to normal.

The virus, known as BA.2, is a strain of the highly contagious omicron variant that appears to spread even more easily — about 30% more easily.

Because BA.2 quickly overtook the original omicron in South Africa and other countries and has even caused a second omicron surge in Denmark, researchers have been bracing for the same thing to happen in the U.S.

"A lot of us were assuming that it was going to quickly take off in the United States just like it was doing in Europe and become the new dominant variant," says Nathan Grubaugh, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.

So far that hasn't happened. Instead, BA.2 has slowly, but steadily spread even as the omicron surge continued to dissipate. The fear is that spread may be on track to rapidly accelerate in the near future.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/21/1081810074/omicron-ba2-variant-spread

Oh come on, kid, haven’t you ever seen a killer virus before? Well here’s the thing – the first wave we all did think we’re going to die. But now we’re in the 6th wave of this thing and most of the world, including the governments and health regulators are basically saying “eh, whatever”. Like you know. But this one is different as mask mandates are receding around the country and the world. But what would happen if this BA 2 variant causes one last surge?

Some laboratories in North Carolina have detected the presence of the latest COVID-19 variant, a subvariant of omicron called BA.2.

The BA.2 subvariant is also called "stealth omicron" because researchers say it can be harder to detect on a PCR test. It also shows resistance to some treatments and may cause more serious illness than the initial omicron variant.

Dr. David Wohl, who specializes in infectious diseases for UNC Health, says the entire UNC system has only seen three cases of the new variant so far.

Wohl said the biggest concern is that any new variant may not respond the same to existing treatments.

"It does look like it’s a little bit more infectious, but the good news is the vaccines work really well against it, just as well as they worked against omicron itself," he said.
https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/omicron-subvariant-ba-2-has-arrived-in-nc/20153432/

Calm down! We’re not going to die! Except for maybe the remaining anti-vaxxers that the virus hasn’t yet killed off. And you know what? At least COVID has a sense of humor because it is killing off the unvaccinated at an alarming rate. And most of the unvaccinated happen to be Trump / MAGA supporters. Hey, you can’t vote if you’re dead, at least that’s what your creepy uncle’s Facebook page told me. So if there’s nothing to be concerned about for the vaccinated, why are we still in full blown panic mode over this variant?

Another variant of coronavirus has become a matter of concern for several medical scientists and experts across the globe. The Omicron subvariant BA.2, is the new Covid-19 strain, which the experts have warned that it is capable of causing serious illness just like the 'Delta' variant. A Japanese study led by researchers from the University of Tokyo has concluded that the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant is not only faster at spreading, but may also cause more severe disease.

As a result, American public health scientist, Dr Eric Feigl-Ding has suggested to the World Health Organization (WHO) that the new Omicron sub-variant must be declared as a 'Variant of concern'.

Eric on Twitter wrote, "Worrisome—New lab experiments from Japan show that #BA2 may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older variants–including Delta! And yet as evasive as old #Omicron cousin BA1. BA.2 surging—needs to upgrade to VOC asap WHO".
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/omicron-subvariant-ba-2-experts-ask-to-declare-new-strain-variant-of-concern-11645410826840.html

Calm down! We’re not gonna die, at least not yet! Because there is some good news is that while Omicron is rapidly receding, it looks like it’s taking BA2 with it. Could BA2 become deadlier? It’s entirely possible. Or it could not be. The thing is that this is such an unpredictable virus that there’s no telling which way it could go. We do know that each receding wave is getting way less deadly than the previous one. So we’ll keep an eye on this one. But for now… consider that we’re probably not going to die from this one.

While COVID-19 rates have declined in areas like the Northeast, where BA.1 hit hard late last year, cases of BA.2 are on the rise worldwide. About 8% of cases in the U.S. are now likely to be BA.2, while in Denmark, which went through a BA.1 wave in December, 82% of infections are BA.2, according to Trevor Bedford, an expert in viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

It's not clear whether BA.2 is pushing out the original omicron variant, referred to as BA.1, he said.

In Denmark, BA.2 is rising as BA.1 falls, but case are split about 50-50, so "it's not clear which of these variants is driving the outbreak," Lemieux said.

In South Africa, where cases had fallen dramatically after a huge surge around Thanksgiving, BA.2 is more prevalent than BA.1.

"What we don't know and still have almost no information on is what impact this will have on case counts, on hospitalizations, on deaths," he said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/01/25/omicron-new-variant-ba-2-covid/9214980002/

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[font size="8"]Holy Shit: MAGA 2022 Candidates
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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! By the way it is so great to have our gospel choir back isn’t it, and give it up for them! You know we live in a strange time right now. And you know what? I am not afraid to get docked by the IRS this week because we need to get blunt and straight to the point because the future of our country is at stake here. And it’s at stake because those who believe in the unholy, ungodly Dark One are running their people for office. And the Dark One is of course a man so foul, so depraved and disgusting, that his name dare not be spoken in my church! But what truly scares me about some of these people is that they seek to undo nearly 200 years of the very principals that this great nation was founded on. One of which is separation of church and state. Which brings me to my first candidate – Kandiss Taylor of Georgia, who’s not even trying to hide her positions. Nope, they’re on display on her tour bus and they’re very much out in the open!

A Republican candidate running for governor in Georgia gained attention after a tweet of her standing in front of a tour bus displaying the words "Jesus, Guns, Babies" went viral Thursday.

Kandiss Taylor's bus slogan is reminiscent of the song "Lawyers, Guns and Money" by Warren Zevon, which tells the story of a man on the run after losing money gambling in Havana, Cuba.

The bus was the focal point of a tweet that also contained a short rhyme about her supporters.

"WHO'S THAT COMIN' DOWN THE TRACK? A BIG MACHINE THATS RED AND BLACK… AINT NOTHIN' FINER IN THE LAND, THAN A CONSERVATIVE KANDISS TAYLOR FAN!!!!" Taylor tweeted.

Also plastered on the bus's side: "I'm The ONE You've Been Waiting For!"
https://gazette.com/news/georgia-gubernatorial-candidate-tours-with-jesus-guns-babies-bus/article_4c888f64-5b6c-5490-92c6-d915aa6f3ab5.html

I will say this and listen very clearly: NO!!!! You are not the one we have been waiting for! In fact you are the exact opposite of what we have been waiting for! We do not want anyone who supports the unholy Dark One! That is no t what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want! Now what kind of fucked up shithole party supports this nonsense? Well the same party that supports the candidate behind door #2 – Wendy Rogers of Arizona! Yes, her credentials with the Dark One are strong, and she is the exact kind of candidate you would expect them to run!

Arizona state Rep. Wendy Rogers released a new campaign ad Tuesday in which she declared that her embrace of right-wing conspiracy theories such as the “Big Lie,” which baselessly claims that rampant voter fraud stole the 2020 presidential election from former President Donal Trump, is part of an ongoing effort to change the narrative and move “the Overton Window.”

The Overton Window is a theoretical framework for conveying which opinions or policy positions on a given subject are politically acceptable at any given time. An effort to move the Overton Window generally involves introducing seemingly radical ideas into the mainstream political or cultural narrative repeatedly in order to desensitize the population, thus making once radical ideas more mainstream and thereby broadening or shifting the range of acceptable opinions or policy options.

In just one term in office, Rogers, a 67-year-old grandmother, has catapulted onto the national stage and raked in record donations thanks not only to her embrace of Trump, who has endorsed her bid for reelection, but also the far-right extremes of the white nationalist America First movement.

Rogers’ new ad is predictably heavy on Big Lie rhetoric and demands to see “arrests” and “perp walks” of those allegedly responsible for supposedly stealing the election.

“If you told me two years ago that, ‘Wendy Rogers, you’re going to be in the limelight on election integrity issues, election corruption for the nation,’ I never would have imagined it,” Rogers said. “We’ve collected all this data to arguably show widespread corruption in our voting system. … I want to see arrests. I want to see perp walks. I want to see everything out in the open. Elections have consequences. Stolen elections have far worse consequences.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/az-state-rep-wendy-rogers-is-pushing-right-wing-conspiracy-theories-to-move-the-overton-window/

Yes so there’s Kandiss Taylor and Wendy Rogers – both of which are certified batshit crazy and the opposite of what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want! Oh and you think we might be done, my fair congregation, that I most assure you we are not! Next up I give you Bianca Garcia – a Texas woman who claims that she was sent here by GAWD and that all who do not vote for in 2022 will pay dearly! Imagine the sheer balls that it takes to say something like this. Like I do not, nor ever will command an army of volunteers the way these people do. And the “do as I say” thing never works. Nobody likes a tyrant!

Bianca Gracia, a right-wing conspiracy theorist who served as president of Latinos For Trump, is currently running for a seat in the Texas state Senate because, she claims, God has called her to take her “rightful place” in the state capitol and “make the devil run.”

So positive is Gracia that God wants her to inhabit this seat that she is already claiming victory in the Republican primary, which doesn’t occur until next month. On Wednesday, Gracia appeared on fellow conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald’s “The McFiles” program, where she warned that any Christian who doesn’t vote for her will be held accountable by God.

“I just finished an interview with some pastors,” Gracia reported. “And I told them, I said straight up, ‘I’m only going to win if the church shows up. That’s it. If you do not show up, then you will be held accountable because I have been appointed and assigned for this position and God is testing you all. I don’t have anything else to say to you other than that. So, you’re going to either have to show up and show out, or you’re going to have to deal with it with the Lord.'”

“That’s where we’re at,” she continued. “We’ve drawn the line. We’re past the party lines. We are now fighting a very evil, evil, demonic [hierarchy].”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/bianca-garcia-says-christians-who-dont-vote-for-her-will-be-held-accountable-by-god/

I know right? Even SAYTAN is having a hard time with this one! And by the way you might be wondering where MAGA finds candidates like this. Well they all fall under the “America First” banner that the unholy Dark One himself has been peddling for the last few years. And of course if they gather, do not question them! For you see, racists don’t like to be called racist. And if they’re attending a racist conference, don’t question them. They do not like to be questioned!

The list of those participating in the upcoming America First Political Action Conference continues to grow.

Organized by white nationalist Stop the Steal activist Nick Fuentes, who regularly uses his online platorm to spew antisemitic, misogynistic, racist rhetoric, AFPAC had already announced the participation of a cavalcade of white nationalists, alt-right MAGA activists, and right-wing conspiracy theorists like Stew Peters, Lauren Witzke, Patrick Howley, Michelle Malkin, Jared Taylor, Peter Brimelow, Andrew Torba, Jesse Lee Peterson, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, and former Rep. Steve King.

On Thursday, Fuentes announced the addition of radical birther conspiracy theorist and former sheriff Joe Arpiao and Arizona state Rep. Wendy Rogers, a 67-year-old grandmother who has catapulted onto the national stage after just one term in office thanks to her tireless promotion of the “Big Lie,” her embrace of former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed her bid for reelection, and her outreach to the far-right extremes of the white nationalist America First movement.

Another Trump-endorsed candidate, Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, is featured among the “special guests” who are scheduled to appear in a promotional image for the conference, but Lake is disputing that claim, insisting on Twitter that it is a “false photo” and that it is “slanderous” to report that she intends to participate in AFPAC.
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/kari-lake-says-its-slanderous-to-report-shes-attending-the-white-nationalist-afpac-conference/

So yeah gather a group of Christian nationalist extremists in a room together and there’s not enough crazy in the world to cover it! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That’s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]This Fucking Guy: Noah Malgeri
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This week’s This Fucking Guy is a guy who is running to be a Congressional candidate in the state of Nevada, Noah Malgeri. And you know what? The MAGA crowd sure can pick ‘em, can’t they? Whether it’s people who blatantly flaunt egregious separation of church and state violations or people who tout batshit crazy conspiracy theories, there’s something for everybody in the MAGA crowd. But in this case they may have found a guy who’s literally a combination of all flavors of MAGA and batshit crazy. That’s Noah Malgeri. A guy who is running to be the representative for NV-3. And before we get into why he’s this week’s This Fucking Guy, we should warn you that there is going to be a lot of crazy in this one. But that’s really the kind of mind that Trump attracts. He attracts the ridiculous, the insane and the seriously batshit crazy. What are Mr. Malgeri’s MAGA qualifications you might ask? Well for starters, he has stated publicly about wanting to hang Trump’s political opponents. Because if you’re going to execute someone, why not go for the old fashioned ways?

A congressional candidate says during a recorded interview that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should be executed on live TV.

No, this wasn’t someone running in Texas or Georgia. It was Noah Malgeri, a U.S. Army veteran who is seeking the 3rd District congressional seat right here in Southern Nevada. Nevada voters should remember his name, because he has revealed himself as being a face of dangerous Republican extremism.

Appearing the day after Christmas in an interview with the Las Vegas right-wing group Veterans in Politics International, Malgeri called for Gen. Mark Milley to be court-martialed and, if found guilty, put to death. The comment related to GOP accusations that Milley committed treason for allegedly reassuring his counterpart in China that the U.S. would not attack China in the months after Donald Trump was defeated in the 2020 election.

“We need to get back to our patriotic, liberty-loving roots,” Malgeri said. “What did they used to do to traitors if they were convicted by a court? They would execute them. That’s still the law in the United States of America. I think, you know, if he’s guilty of it by a court-martial, they should hang him on CNN. I mean, they’re not going to do it on CNN. But on C-SPAN or something.”

This is the depth the GOP has hit: A comment that once would have been shocking even coming from a candidate from the radical fringe is now being made by a man who — on paper, anyway — wouldn’t necessarily raise any red flags.
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2022/jan/07/violent-extremism-has-crept-into-every-crevice-of/

And to even further his MAGA credentials, Mr. Malgeri said that COVID was “intentional to destroy America”, which is also a MAGA dog whistle. That’s right – the MAGA crowd believes that COVID was intentionally deployed to overturn the 2020 election. Which as everyone who lives in the real world knows that is 100% grade A bullshit. But no, the MAGA world chooses to believe in fake news and alternate realities, and when you’re so far gone from the real world, this is the kind of thing that people like this fucking guy choose to believe in.

Noah Malgeri, a Nevada Republican running for Congress, said he believes the coronavirus pandemic was an "intentional" act.

Malgeri made the remarks earlier this month during a roughly hourlong interview with Veterans in Politics.

"People need to understand that everything that's happened—the destruction of the currency, the destruction of the economy, the destruction of the middle class, the immigration crisis, the global pandemic situation and associated response measures—it's all intentional, done by forces aligned to destroy America and impose a totalitarian, authoritarian regime globally," he said.

Malgeri added, "This is the last hope. This is the final hill. The 2022 election is the most important election of my lifetime without question."
https://www.newsweek.com/covid-was-intentional-destroy-america-says-gop-candidate-noah-malgeri-1664048

Gee you think? I love when the MAGA crowd goes overboard with hyperbole. “This is my most important election ever!!!!”. Oh get the fuck over yourself. If you don’t win, there will be another election. It’s no mistake that the MAGA movement is dying faster than disco. At least in some states that is, in others where they elect crazy people like Madison Cawthorn and Marjorie Greene, oh no, this is just the beginning!

Republican congressional candidate Noah Malgeri called for General Mark Milley to be executed on live television for treason during an interview earlier in December.

Republicans previously accused Milley—who serves as the chair of the Joints Chiefs of Staff—of treason after The Washington Post reported on a phone call he allegedly made to General Li Zuocheng of China in October 2020 and January 2021 to reassure Li that the United States would not attack China.

Malgeri echoed those criticisms during a December 7 interview with the group Veterans in Politics, adding that he believes execution could be a potential punishment for Milley's alleged crimes.

He dismissed calls for a congressional commission to investigate the alleged crimes because "all the evidence is out there."
https://www.newsweek.com/mark-milley-should-executed-live-tv-says-gop-congressional-candidate-noah-malgeri-1663352

Seriously, this fucking guy has about as much credibility of locking up Mark Milley as Lionel Hutz does. I mean seriously, what fucking evidence? What do you have? And what does “out there” mean? See, I can play armchair attorney too! God, how dumb do they think we are? But then again this is the kind of mind that Trump attracts – someone who’s stupid and crazy enough to pull facts and evidence straight out of their ass and make baseless claims without no repercussions! And just like any MAGA, Mr. Malgeri uses the old “if you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em” tactic that is so popular with the likes of the MAGA crowd these days!

A Republican candidate for Congress is accusing a political consulting firm of withholding his campaign materials despite his termination of a contract with the company.

Noah Malgeri, who is running for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, is suing McShane LLC to regain access to campaign information such as his budgets, emails, campaign plans, polling data and login information for websites and social media accounts. Malgeri said he has already paid for the material, but the company said he has not paid his bill in full.

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 3 in Clark County District Court, accuses McShane, a prominent political consulting firm, of illegally withholding assets and enriching itself by charging more than $4,700 for a fundraising plan it failed to execute.

Malgeri said the company is trying to use his active political campaign as leverage to force him to pay for the return of his property.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/nevada-congressional-candidate-sues-consulting-firm-for-campaign-assets-2500977/

That’s how the MAGA mindset works these days! And to think this guy could be a Congressional representative! That’s Noah Malgeri – this week’s:




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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner
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Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! We of course are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep within the heart of the New Mexico badlands, undisclosed location of course. Let me adjust my tin foil hat for maximum government interference – they are trying to read both yours and my thoughts, after all. You know folks, this week we are in two pandemics. The first pandemic of course is COVID-19 which doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon. The second pandemic is misinformation. But what makes this even crazier is that the second pandemic directly affects the first one. You know it’s a cause and effect thing. Because there’s a lot of bullshit out there and it’s especially rampant on your crazy uncle’s Facebook account. But now local governments are starting to crack down on this kind of thing. Folks, we can’t squash COVID-19 if we don’t wake up to the egregious misinformation and insane meme wars that are being passed around on social media. I personally thank the good lord that states like California are leading the way!

California legislators introduced a pair of bills Tuesday designed to crack down on social media platforms and rogue doctors who spread false information about COVID-19 vaccines.

The measures are part of a broader package of bills that aim to fight vaccine hesitancy — unfounded fears about immunizations that public health officials say have prolonged the pandemic and increased hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus.

SB1018 by state Sen. Richard Pan, D- Sacramento, would require social platforms to publicly disclose how their algorithms work and to share the data for research purposes. Supporters of the bill said it's apparent that sites like Facebook use technology that amplifies salacious content like conspiracy theories about the virus.

"We shouldn't have to wait for whistle-blowers ... for us to understand how online platforms and social media have been negatively influencing our lives," Pan said during a virtual news conference. "It should not be left to a handful of potentially very rich tech executives to decide what happens to our society and how we respond to a pandemic."
https://www.govtech.com/policy/california-aims-to-stop-misinformation-with-new-bills

But that said, the online misinformation sphere isn’t the only thing being cracked down on. California governor and recent recall stomper Gavin Newsom has been on a tear lately, going after the right wing trifecta of Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax. Because they are not just reporting the news, they’re one of the primary sources of misinformation. And not only that, he offers a perfect example of how misinformation gets out into the open. Look the bottom line is if you want this pandemic to end as much as I do, listen to the experts. Don’t listen to Fox News or Newsmax!

California Governor Gavin Newsom lashed out today at what he called “Perhaps one of the great disinformation networks in America…One America News” for spreading “a lot of misinformation” about Covid. He did not stop there.

“I’m not just referring to Newsmax or the primetime propaganda lineup at Fox News and all of their pundits that safely have been boosted, fully vaxxed that continue to promote a lot of misinformation. Forgive me for being so pointed and candid. People are quite literally losing their lives.”

The governor went on to offer an example.

“There was a tragic example of that….A state trooper in Washington state quit, and quit because he just couldn’t take it anymore and lost his life because of those propaganda networks, because of what was being stated and spread.”

Newsom was referring to Former State Trooper Robert LaMay, who quit after decades of service rather than being vaccinated and in his final radio signoff told WA Gov. Jay Inslee to “kiss my a**.” LaMay’s video signoff got millions of views online. He was later told by Fox News host Laura Ingraham that he had awakened “a sleeping giant” of vaccine resistance in the U.S. The unvaxxed LaMay died last month of Covid.
https://deadline.com/2022/02/newsom-rips-into-fox-news-oan-propaganda-1234956435/

You know that the family that tin foil hats together stays together. That we can all be sure of! That said the misinformation sphere isn’t just limited to the great state of California. No it’s a nationwide problem and it doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon. California isn’t the only state to address the gross misinformation online. New Hampshire had a similar bill on the books but that one got very quickly defeated. And there’s also other bills in the works in other states – this stuff is serious business and it’s getting people killed.

Misinformation and misunderstanding have loomed large in every legislative debate over COVID-19 vaccine mandates. It’s been the same with bills that would repeal or scale back the state’s new 24-week abortion ban.

Those inaccuracies were repeated on the House floor and by Republican leadership Thursday as lawmakers took up and passed House Bill 1609, which would add exceptions to the state’s law for rape, incest, a mother’s health, and fatal fetal anomalies. The law currently makes an exception only for the mother’s life and serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function to the mother.

It also has an unclear ultrasound requirement and criminal and civil penalties for providers.

With more abortion bills coming, as well as a second House vote on HB 1609, we fact-checked opponents’ arguments.

On Thursday, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, an Auburn Republican, urged his party to defeat HB 1609, saying New Hampshire’s law is similar to those in “liberal bastion states” like Massachusetts and California. The governor, who supports the added exceptions, has likened our bill to New York’s.
https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2022-02-21/abortion-debate-nh-fact-check

Yeah probably! But here’s the thing you got to know – misinformation is everywhere! And it is literally killing people! And not only is it impacting your hospitals and doctor’s offices, it is impacting everything from politics to the classroom! The only way to combat misinformation is to shut it down and read actual sources. Don’t go to Infowars or your uncle’s Facebook page which is most likely riddled with conspiracy theories from questionable news sources. As the late great Bill Hicks once said – read, think evolve! It is the only way to get off this planet! Maybe they really are trying to read your thoughts!

Misinformation is everywhere online, and it impacts everything from politics to the classroom.

You might have seen a viral TikTok claiming former astronaut Buzz Aldrin said the moon landing was fake: that's not true. Or, more locally, a claim about Carroll schools putting out litter boxes for students who identify as animals: that is also not true.

Stories like these are everywhere online. Dr. Michael Bugeja with the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University explains why.

"Now the problem is, we had anticipated a global village with social media, and we got a global mall instead. So everything is about selling."

Those "global malls" are big business.

Facebook's parent company Meta is worth $565 billion and has nearly three billion users. With so many people posting and sharing, how do sites like Facebook deal with false posts?
https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/local/how-to-fight-misinformation-online-verify-tiktok-videos-false-information-social-media/524-7ed6fecd-582b-4b77-a041-4e572a4d160d

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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink
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Hey everyone I don’t know about you but I could really use a drink!



Of course you know by now that the idea of this segment is that we have some drinks and while we’re drinking we discuss literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics. We’ve also recently adopted a no COVID rule as well, but we’re going to rescind that rule this week. Because this week the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival this week announced that their approach to COVID and the festival is “fuck it”. Tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about a super spreader? Virus beer? No thanks, I will just stick to my usual Jack Daniels mixed with Jack Daniels. I call it the “Double Jack”. So yeah the organizers of Coachella – whose parent company is run by mega billionaire Philip Anschutz, are announcing that anything goes this year. That’s right – you can live, party, drink, and do drugs like its’ 2019 again! Woohoo!!! Never mind that there’s a new super variant of COVID on the horizon, though even that doesn’t look like it’s going to do a lot of damage. But that’s a different topic for this segment. Here’s the latest:

After revealing last fall that vaccinations would not be required for entry, the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals have further revealed that there will no longer be any Covid-related barriers to entry at all, not even negative tests. Nor will a requirement to wear masks figure into the picture when millions of selfies go out from the desert this April.

A tweet from the Stagecoach account told the story. “Festival Admission Update: As we prepare to spend an incredible weekend in the desert together we are announcing that there will be no vaccination, testing or masking requirements at Stagecoach 2022, in accordance with local guidelines,” it read.

No similar tweet has come from the Coachella account, but the policy is the same for both Goldenvoice-promoted festivals. Coachella was revealed to have also relaxed its policies in the fine print of its “Health & Safety” rules page.

Publicizing the lack of restrictions may be more important in pacifying the audience for Stagecoach, a festival targeted at the country audience, which demographically leans more conservative and has been a hotbed of anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiment among a number of artists as well as much of the base.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/coachella-stagecoach-festivals-drop-covid-related-restrictions-rcna16393

Somehow, I don’t think that’s big enough! In fact I can’t wait for the inevitable t-shirts: “I went to Coachella 2022 and all I got was put on a ventilator”. Thank you for that, graphics department! That said, this year’s Coachella, after not having it for 2 straight years, looks to be both a clusterfuck and a colossal disaster. And really what can you expect with Kanye at the helm? But one thing you can also be certain of is that the idea of it being a “super spreader” is a very likely possibility!

For North America’s most lucrative and influential music festival, COVID-19 ended with an update to the fine print. On February 15, news surfaced that this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival had changed the health and safety guidelines on its website: Attendees would no longer be required to wear masks, show proof of vaccination, or provide negative COVID-19 test results. The same day, the country-music festival Stagecoach announced its own policy change more conventionally, via social media. Both festivals are staged by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of live entertainment behemoth AEG.

Coachella’s traditional status as a bellwether for the U.S. music festival season means its decision could resonate far beyond the fields of Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Ethicists and health experts contacted by Pitchfork raised concerns that although the Omicron wave does appear to be ebbing, Coachella’s elimination of all COVID-19 precautions seems to pose unnecessary health risks.

Goldenvoice hasn’t responded to multiple requests from Pitchfork for further information.

Not imposing any coronavirus safety requirements is “in denial of everything we’ve been through the last two years,” says Richard Carpiano, a public health expert and public policy professor at the University of California, Riverside. “It’s almost acting like the pandemic never happened and the virus will magically go away come April.” (Coachella is scheduled for the weekends of April 15 to April 17 and April 22 to April 24.)
https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/coachellas-plan-to-lift-covid-19-rules-worries-health-experts/

Me either! And enough about whether or not Coachella might be a super spreader. But what can you expect now that Coachella is back after a very long absence? Well for one thing their fleecing of fans is being taken to ridiculous new heights, and you have be a gajillionaire to be able to afford to go anymore, because that is where we are at. Well they got to make up some of that money that they lost in the two years that they were gone. But for $250K, you can get yourself a lifetime pass to go to Coachella every year for the rest of your life!

At least two sets of lifetime passes to the Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival sold for more than a quarter of a million dollars in the festival’s NFT auction, which closed Friday, Feb. 11.

The long-running music festival, which happens at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, first announced a venture into the NFT market via its social media accounts on Feb. 1. NFTs stand for a non-fungible token, a digital one-of-a-kind token that can be bought and sold. It can take shape in the forms of images, songs or GIFs. Coachella’s NFT collections included items such as photos that could be redeemed for physical prints and a collectible poster series.

However, the most notable of the festival’s initial NFT offerings was the Coachella Keys Collection. The 10 individual and unique NFTs include lifetime passes to Coachella for one weekend in April every year as well as varying amenities such as luxury camping, gourmet meals and more. Bidding for the lifetime passes began Friday, Feb. 4, and closed Friday, Feb. 11, at 5 p.m. For every bid after 5 p.m. the auction was extended by 10 minutes. The Key to the Dinner in the Garden was the last one sold at 6:05 p.m. according to the FTX.US website. Collectively, the collection sold for $1,474,000.

The Infinity Key, which features lifetime Coachella guest passes, all-inclusive culinary experiences and private transportation, sold for $270,000. The Key to the Safari sold for $256,000 and comes with a luxury, air-conditioned tent for accommodations.
https://www.pe.com/2022/02/11/this-is-how-much-people-paid-for-lifetime-coachella-nft-festival-passes/

Yeah keep ‘em coming! So you might be able to buy a lifetime pass at the expense of your bank account, but how do the fans feel about this? Well as you can imagine they’re not happy. And who can blame them either? I don’t want to be standing next to some crazy anti-vaxxers while I’m waiting for Kanye to be 2 hours late. So yeah you can go to Coachella if your plans are to go for broke and to get sick and die in the hospital on a ventilator. But hey, you know what they say – you can retake a test, you can’t relive a party!

After months of anticipation, Coachella is returning to Indio, California. This well-known music festival postponed and later canceled its 2020 event due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Recently, the Coachella Valley Music and Artists Festival announced that, per local guidelines, there will be no vaccination, testing, or masking requirements. (Previously, this festival required attendees to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result.)

As a result, some future attendees reacted to this policy change. Not every response has been positive, as some social media users shared serious safety concerns.

“It’s especially messed up given that people bought tickets under the assumption that people would have to be tested or vaccinated,” one Reddit user pointed out. “I’d be fine attending a concert where people are masked/tested beforehand, but I’m not ready to go to one that’s completely unrestricted yet.”
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/coachella-fans-feel-lifting-covid-precautions.html/

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[font size="8"]Red State Diaries
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Welcome back to our ongoing survey of what the MAGA world is up to post election in… cue reverb… Red State Diaries! Ooh, that was some good reverb there! This is it, folks! This is our last edition of Red State Diaries. Now now, don’t be sad. It’s been a good run. We’ve had some laughs. Saw how crazy things were. Whether it’s a MAGA tour of crazy conspiracy theorists, or racist surgeon generals, or batshit crazy cures for disease, or audit after audit, there’s not a magnification unit invented to accurately measure how low the MAGA world will stoop to. Well, for our last segment, I figured that I would offer you a thought about what the 2022 midterm elections are going to look like. Will it be the proverbial red wave that many are anticipating? Or will the blue tidal wave that we’ve seen the last few years continue to wash out the red poison? Well, what we have to watch out for is not necessarily the national level, but also the local one.

The Democratic Party is on the right track to have the 2022 they were dreading; Joe Biden won the presidency and Republicans are favored to make gains in the grand electoral tradition known as the midterm curse. With most states having already completed the redistricting process for their 2022 state legislative elections, Republicans are forecasted to have a triple-digit net gain in next year’s state legislative elections, with a 144-seat net gain between both lower and upper chambers with single-member districts. As we’ve said before, we do not forecast multi-member districts given the difficulty of developing a methodology to cast a sound prediction for each individual district’s outcomes, so the projected total net gain is likely to be higher than what our homepage counter has.

Republicans are slight favorites to flip two chambers thus far: the Alaska House and the Minnesota House. The Alaska House has a proper forecast while we are still waiting on redistricting to finish in Minnesota, though the maps will still likely result in our official forecast launch showing Republicans favored to flip the chamber given Democrats’ thin majority and large stretch of territory they have to defend in Northern Minnesota (which is trending against them) as well as the Minneapolis suburbs, which will likely have a temporary reversion to the Republicans as the Virginia suburbs did in 2021.

Republicans have many more opportunities to flip state legislative chambers as well: Oregon, Maine, Connecticut, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington, and Illinois have at least one chamber that is competitive, some more than others. Republicans still face uphill climbs in all but one of these states: Maine, where the State House is rated as a Toss-Up in our forecast.
https://cnalysis.com/articles/republicans-on-track-for-gains-in-state-legislatures-in-2022-midterms/

Ha! If only elections were that easy! But the thing is – and I have stated this many times in the past – VOTE AT EVERY SINGLE LEVEL. Any unchecked ballot box is a vote that could potentially be swayed in a direction you don’t like. And that’s how some incredibly bad people like Marjorie Greene or Josh Hawley get elected. You don’t want that. You especially don’t want reverse Robin Hoods like Rick Scott getting elected either. Robin Hood robbed the rich and gave to the poor. Rick Scott robs the poor and gives to himself.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott's plan for GOP control would also undermine aid for children, halt the nation's climate change response, sunset civil rights laws, and eliminate more than 2 million jobs.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R) released a plan on Tuesday outlining what his party would do if it wins congressional majorities in the midterm elections.

Under those proposals, millions of poor and retired families would see their taxes go up.

As chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Scott is in charge of winning back a GOP majority in the upcoming 2022 midterms. Predicting that he would be successful, the Florida Republican wrote that he had authored an 11-point "Rescue America" plan to answer the question, "But then, what?"

https://americanindependent.com/florida-millionaire-senator-rick-scott-gop-majority-midterms-plan-taxes-government-far-right/

Yeah at least you tried! So much for the GOP helping children. Anyone else alarmed when their policies that are aimed at helping kids actually hurt them in the long run? Of course I’m not surprised at anything that these scumbags try to pull. And of course there’s no secret that the GOP is going all in on full blown racism. You see Tucker out there and all of his cohorts bashing things like critical race theory, despite that the average Fox News fan couldn’t tell you what it is. But in the past, racism has been proven to be a particularly bad campaign strategy and it could come back to bite them.

Nothing speaks more to how the modern GOP is centered around tickling the racist lizard brains of white conservative Boomers than the sudden reemergence of the term "crack pipe." The actual crack epidemic wound down literally decades ago, back when Donald Trump was still divorcing his first wife. But the audience for Republican propaganda is still stuck in the 1980s, the last time many of them had a full head of hair, and so here we are, with the term "crack pipe" suddenly exploding all over social media, search algorithms, and, because this really is the worst timeline, a grossly named federal bill.

The situation, which I regret even having to write about, is as idiotic as it is disturbing. As Jon Skolnik reported for Salon, Health and Human Services was planning on passing out a paltry "$30 million to nonprofit groups nationwide as part of a plan to reduce drug-related harm," mainly by preventing opioid overdoses. The opioid epidemic is affecting rural white communities as much as anyone else, making it impossible to turn into a racist moral panic. So instead, Republicans seized on a minor provision allowing clinics to provide "safe smoking kits," which can be used for many different drugs, including opioids. But, because of racism, the right-wing press ran with the outdated term "crack pipe," and, in case you are too dense to hear the dog whistle, most even insisted that the provision was there to "advance racial equity," which is a flat out lie.

Their audience loves any excuse for racist jokes, so Republicans ran with it, with odious Fox News segments falsely claiming President Joe Biden wants to close the "crack gap." And it wasn't just the usual suspects in right-wing media, either. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., usually pretends at being more moderate and open-minded — remember when he used to pretend he liked hip-hop? But in a fit of racist exploitation, he rushed forward with the Cutting off Rampant Access to Crack Kits (CRACK) Act. It should be noted that Rubio's leading Democratic opponent is Rep. Val Demmings, a Black woman and the first female head of the Orlando Police Department.
https://www.salon.com/2022/02/11/from-crack-pipes-to-critical-race-theory-gops-2022-midterm-strategy-is-overt/

Well that’s it, that’s their playbook in a nutshell! Some good old fashioned American racism! But oh, we can’t talk about race in this country! Or gender, or anything that might constitute those icky independent thoughts like freedom of expression – a right guaranteed in that constitution that you guys so hold dear and attempt to explain to us every time. But these are the kinds of people who we need to watch out for in the forthcoming election. That said, we don’t need this guy interfering. But the 2022 elections will be ones for the books for sure! That’s it, that’s all she wrote, we’ll be catching y’all close to the election!

According to a report from NBC, Republican campaign consultants and candidates are expressing real concern that GOP turnout in the 2022 midterms will be down because of Donald Trump's insistence that the 2020 presidential election was rigged which is leading some conservatives to believe it makes no difference if they vote.

As candidates at the state level hold town halls looking to improve their chances on the primaries, they are hearing from attendees that they think Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him and are asking why they should bother to come out on election day.

According to NBC's Alan Smith, candidates are being asked if they believe the 2020 election results were bogus and, if they state they see no evidence of fraud, are facing furious pushback from the voters they hope to claim.

"One year out of office, and with the midterm elections fast approaching, Trump has accelerated efforts to encourage resistance to the reality of his loss. He told his supporters to "never give up" in a statement on the first anniversary of his supporters' rioting at the U.S. Capitol in a deadly attempt to block the formalization of Biden's win," Smith wrote. "In return, there are signs that his voters' anger over the 2020 election and their belief in the falsehood that his victory was stolen from him has only grown, even as some in the GOP have said they'd prefer to move on and focus on issues that may resonate with a wider swath of the electorate, like inflation."
https://www.rawstory.com/republicans-2656566292/

[font size="4"]And Now This:
[font size="4"]Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators



Folks my next musical guest has a great new album out called “4”, you can see them on the River Is Rising Tour through March 26th. Playing their song “The River Is Rising”, give it up for Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators!

Thank you Seattle! We’re back home next week at the Constellation Room with Stupidest State Selection Sunday! See you next week!

Credits

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Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded At: Comedy Underground , Seattle, WA
Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators Appear Courtesy Of: Gibson Records
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