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Top 10 Idiots

(592 posts)
Thu Mar 3, 2022, 06:00 PM Mar 2022

Top 10 Conservative Idiots #12-6: Nuclear War? Huh! What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing! Edition


Top 10 Conservative Idiots #12-6: Nuclear War? Huh! What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing! Edition

Welcome back to the Top 10 Conservative Idiots! Yo Orange County, what’s up? It’s good to be back home! How you guys doing? You doing fucking good? Great! We had a long 6 week road trip but it will be good to be at home for the next couple of weeks before heading back out there! This is my absolute favorite Top 10 of the year! Why? It’s only Stupidest State Selection Sunday! Yay!!!!! That’s right the NFFSA is back for our unprecedented 5th year in a row! And we’ve got some fun stuff planned from now through the end of May you guys! So do we have time for the thing? I don’t know about y’all but I was really excited to see that Futurama was coming back for 20 new episodes on Hulu. But have you been following the saga known as Bendergate? Well voice actor John DiMaggio, who voices the loveable alcoholic chain smoking, cleptomaniac robot, was the lone holdout in a salary negotiation SNAFU but guess what? He signed! That’s right, Futurama is coming back with the entire original cast and I couldn’t be more excited about it! Time to update my GIF stash! Shut up, baby! I know it! We’re back baby! Not sure if serious! See if John DiMaggio can sign on the Futurama reboot, there’s hope for the MLB yet! So don’t worry we will be covering that in full in the next edition! OK enough of the intro, we have a lot of idiocy to get to. But first John Oliver is back and he delves into the topic of sex work. Looking for a good time, sailor? OK that sounded wrong. Or did it?



Holy shit. The shit really hit the fan last week with Putin invading the Ukraine. So we have a lot to cover this week. That being said, the premier Russian prime minister turned war criminal Vladimir Putin (1, 2) takes up the top two slots. In the number one slot Putin (1) declared war on the Ukraine for entering NATO, and he’s not letting it go. Let it go… let it go… In the second slot is also Vladimir Putin (2). When the entire world is pissed at you, what do you do? Threaten to launch nukes on any country that dares question your motives! Meanwhile, back at home, the Texas GOP (3) takes up the third spot as governor Greg Abbott goes full Nazi on the transgender youth of Texas, and holy crap this is going to get really ugly really quickly! In the number 4 slot this week, we have a recap of the madness going on at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (3) and they seem to be fully embracing the Trump / Q Anon Cult lifestyle. Taking the number 5 slot this week, we have a new Top 10 Investigates! What is up with the Los Angeles Angels (5)? After the mysterious, drug related death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs in 2019, the home of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani has some serious ‘splainin to do! In the number 6 slot this week is of course our weekly visit to the Holy Church Of The Top 10 in “Holy Shit” (6) and this week America’s Christian nationalists have finally revealed which side they’re on – and – shocker – they are siding with Putin! Who could have guessed? In the number 7 slot this week we have a new Beating A Dead Horse (7) – once again we are asking – should racist tweets get you fired? We say it every damn time and now we feel like we’re beating our own damn horse! Taking the number 8 slot this week is a new edition of Conspiracy Corner (8) – why does Fox News love Russia and what’s Tucker Carlson doing on Russian state TV? Gee, I can’t quite put my finger on it! In the number 9 (NEIN!!!) slot this week, we have a new “I Need A Drink” (9) and this week when I first heard about the story of Hank The Tank out of Lake Tahoe, I had to drop what I was doing to be able to talk about this one, and it’s perfect for this segment! Finally this week it’s that time! Time for Stupidest State 2022! And this week before we kick off the games, we have Selection Sunday (10)! We will have all the states, stats, odds, and info you need to fill out those brackets! Plus, to cap things off, we have some live music from legendary prog rockers Dream Theater! Enjoy! And as always don’t forget the key!

Ed. Note: Unfortunately we won’t get to the SOTU highlights this week but we will bring you some in Idiots #12-7. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming!

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[font size="8"]Vladimir Putin
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We need some music for this one!



Well well well. What the hell happened? While we were literally going to air with last week’s edition, Pooty stepped in it and declared war on the Ukraine. So we here at the Top 10 Home Offices in Santa Ana, California, were busy trying to figure out how to best broach the subject. Because it’s complicated what is going on right now. Do we talk about Putin’s illegal and immoral occupation? Do we talk about how it’s united the world against him? Do we talk about how it’s exposed traitorous Americans who side with Pooty? Do we talk about how awesome the president and citizens of the Ukraine are? Or do we talk about the companies and countries who have banned travel and product sales because there’s a lot of those too! Well let’s do a combination of all of the above. Let’s start with the reason why Pooty declared war in the first place. And well he’s going to get his at some point, let’s make that perfectly clear, and I think the entire world is OK with him dying in a basement bunker.

Russia's multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine has thrust the country into a conflict that many on the European continent had thought was one for the history books. Now the country is in the throes of war, with a humanitarian disaster unfolding.

After months of military buildup and brinkmanship on Russia's side of the border, Ukraine's 44 million residents woke up to an all-out conflict on Thursday. Fighting has erupted in several cities across the country, including in the capital, Kyiv, and nearly a half a million people have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.

Russia had been tightening its military grip around Ukraine since last year, amassing tens of thousands of soldiers, as well as equipment and artillery, on the country's doorstep.

Frenzied diplomatic efforts early this year failed to avert the worst-case scenario. Now those troops are engaged in combat with Ukrainians for control of the country.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-conflict-explainer-2-cmd-intl/index.html




Oh yeah that’s what we wanted you to think! And surprisingly that scene is not that far off from what’s really happening. But while the world is waking up to the fact that Vladimir Putin is now public enemy number one and the next Adolf Hitler with aspirations of world domination, this has also actively exposed traitors in the United States who are actively siding with the enemy. And I for one, am not at all shocked that Florida Man Ron DeSantis is one of those people who is going full treason. And you never, ever go full treason!

Gov. Ron DeSantis used the Russian invasion of Ukraine to open a new line of attack on President Biden Monday, saying that “when Trump was president, they didn’t take anything.”

Giving his most expansive comments yet on the Ukraine crisis, following an event in Vero Beach, DeSantis said it was important for the U.S. to exert more pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin by crimping that nation’s energy markets, saying: “Hit him where it counts.”

But the Republican governor added, “The problem with that, with Biden, is that he has stepped on the neck of our domestic energy here in the United States.”

DeSantis ridiculed the Biden administration for acknowledging concerns from environmentalists and halting the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, and for opposing oil drilling on federal lands, even though the Biden White House approved more federal permits last year than were issued in President Trump’s first year.
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/02/28/florida-gov-ron-desantis-hints-invasion-ukraine-wouldnt-have-happened-under-donald-trump/9323389002/




Is it me or are Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott in competition with each other to see who can be the absolute worst governor of all time? Because those two seem to trade roles frequently! But one thing I am sad about is the world’s largest plane, the Antonov AN-225 was destroyed. That sucked. But who is awesome is the president of the Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy – I hope I am pronouncing that right – is, and he is pretty awesome. I mean come on, he was out on the front lines protecting his country and gave an address via smartphone!

The morning after Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the nation in his favourite style: the selfie video.

Unshaven, wearing a khaki jacket and flashing a smile, he told the nation that contrary to reports of him trying to flee, he was staying put in the capital.

"Good morning to all Ukrainians! Lately there has been a lot of fake information online that I am calling on our army to lay down their arms and to evacuate. Listen. I am here," he said, in a video that received 3 million views on Instagram in an hour.

The setting was suitably eerie, with Zelenskiy standing in the morning light in front of the "House with Chimeras", an Art Nouveau landmark covered in otherworldly animal figures across the road from his presidential office in Kyiv.

(snip)

It has been an unlikely transformation for the 44-year-old, who was a comedian and actor with no political experience before he was elected as president in 2019 - except when he played a fictional president in a satirical TV series.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/smartphone-hand-ukraines-president-takes-centre-stage-capital-under-attack-2022-02-26/




Holy shit! Can you imagine if Trump were in that scenario? He’d retreat to Mar-A-Shithole and eat Big Macs in bed while screaming at Sean Hannity before his tee time. And don’t think that wouldn’t happen, either! Ha ha, I’ve been doing this thing way too long. But this has caused quite the backlash and we won’t be able to get into everything because there is a lot of shit happening right now. And next week we will cover it as much as we can! But for now let’s tell you how poorly thought out Vladdy’s illegal and immoral invasion is.

A senior U.S. defense official said Russia's moves were "clearly designed to take key population centers" and topple Ukraine's democratically elected, pro-Western government.

Officials in the country believe Russia's plan is to overthrow the Ukrainian leadership and install a pro-Russian government.

In a video statement late Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said he believes "enemy sabotage groups" had entered Kyiv and that he was their No. 1 target. His family, he said, was the second target.

"They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state," he said, adding he was staying in the government quarter.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-invasion-thursday-intl/index.html





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[font size="8"]Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Putin! You just invaded the Ukraine for no reason other than using the “they look like dorks!” justification! What are you going to do now? Why you’re going to threaten nuclear war if anyone tries to retaliate against you! Tell our contestants what they have won, Johnny! OK enough of that nonsense. It just gets worse and it also gets weirder. It’s no mistake that he stepped in some serious shit big time, and it’s only going to get worse for him. While the rest of the world would love to see him dragged before an international war crimes tribunal at the Hague and spend the rest of his miserable life in prison (along with his asset Trump), but right now that’s wishful thinking. There’s plenty of other ways for Putin to meet his demise. But what happens when the rest of the world is against his illegal and immoral occupation of the Ukraine? Why you threaten nuclear war against your opponents!

"Top officials in leading NATO countries have allowed themselves to make aggressive comments about our country, therefore I hereby order the Minister of Defense and the chief of the General Staff to place the Russian Army Deterrence Force on combat alert," Putin said in a televised meeting with top Russian defense officials on Sunday.

Russia's nuclear weapons are a part of its "deterrence" strategy. Russia took control of arms from other former Soviet republics, including Ukraine and Belarus, in the 1990s.

Now Russia has invaded Ukraine -- and Belarus, which is allied with Moscow, plans to renounce its non-nuclear status and could theoretically allow Russia to bring nuclear weapons back into the country.
Should people be worried?

President Joe Biden had a simple answer on Monday when asked by reporters if Americans should be concerned about the prospect of nuclear war.
"No," he said.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/politics/russia-nuclear-threats-putin-what-matters/index.html




Sorry Joe, but I wouldn’t put anything past Pooty right now. I just thank fucking god that we have some cooler heads at the executive level right now. Because could you imagine if Trump were in charge right now what would happen? That scene from the Simpsons about the Soviet Union reuniting could come true! But here’s the thing while the rest of the world is uniting against warmongerer Putin, let’s not forget that he has nukes and right now? He’s not afraid to use them!

Vladimir Putin has been flaunting his nuclear arsenal since the invasion of Ukraine got underway. He has test-launched several cruise and ballistic missiles, ordered his underlings to up the alert level of Russia’s nuclear weapons, and even threatened to use them if the U.S. or NATO gets involved in the fighting. Is he serious? Might he really go nuclear in order to win this war?

Probably not, with one big caveat: If the U.S. or NATO were to intervene in the Ukraine war directly, sending boots on the ground or dropping bombs from the sky, then Putin might really push a button.

That’s why President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have said they wouldn’t go that far to defend Ukraine. Putin regards Ukraine as part of Russia. He is killing thousands of people, including many of his own soldiers, in an effort to keep it that way. If we fought back directly, we would be in a war with Russia. If Putin thought he couldn’t win that war with conventional arms alone (he’s having a hard enough time against just the Ukrainian army), he might very well escalate to nuclear war. That’s what nuclear weapons are for—not just to deter a nuclear attack by an adversary but also to deter (and, if necessary, tip the course of) a large-scale conventional war.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/here-are-the-scenarios-where-putin-might-actually-use-a-nuke.html




Unfortunately actual nuclear war isn’t going to be that fun. And I commend Joe for being the cooler head than Putin right now. I think if Trump were in charge, not only would he not do anything, his attempt to intervene would get nukes launched and probably towards the west coast, which is where I live. That would be bad. But that said, is Putin really threatening to launch nukes or is he just playing seven dimensional chess? Sorry, I don’t know what dimension they’re up to, I don’t speak stupid.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II — underway, many observers and analysts are concerned about the potential for further escalation. That worry intensified recently when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was ordering a higher state of nuclear readiness.

The comment immediately sparked fears over the prospect of nuclear conflict between Russia and NATO. These were the precise fears that loomed for decades during the Cold War, when regional conflict carried the threat of spiraling into a global war with the Soviet Union.

But how seriously should the U.S. take Putin’s nuclear threat? Yahoo News dug into that and other key unanswered questions about the current war in Ukraine — like what Putin hopes to achieve by launching the invasion, what a potential peace deal might look like, and how long-term misperceptions about Russia by U.S. policymakers may have inadvertently helped precipitate this conflict — with Stephen Walt, the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international affairs at Harvard University.

Walt, a preeminent analyst of U.S. foreign policy, is a proponent of the realist school of international relations, which emphasizes how countries’ core security fears drive their external policies. Walt argued that Putin shouldn’t be viewed as an unhinged, irrational actor, but rather as someone who is likely making rational choices on the world stage based on his own conception of his country’s self-interest.
https://news.yahoo.com/how-seriously-should-the-us-take-putins-nuclear-threat-100000344.html




No, don’t go riding the bomb just yet. But really, Vladdy, nuclear war? HUH! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Say it again, good god y’all! That’s exactly where I was going with that joke, thank you, sir! So what does it mean for Pooty to wave his nuclear penis shaped rockets at the entire world while the rest of the world is against him? Well it’s complicated to say the least. But that said the fact that he’s going there clearly shows how poorly thought out this illegal and immoral war is.

In a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces put on alert Sunday in response to what he called "aggressive statements" by leading NATO powers.

The move means Putin has ordered Russia's nuclear weapons prepared for increased readiness to launch, raising the threat that the tensions could boil over into a nuclear war. In giving it, the Russian leader also cited hard-hitting financial sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, including Putin himself.

Amid the worrying development, the office of Ukraine's president said a delegation would meet with Russian officials as Moscow's troops drew closer to Kyiv.

Putin, in giving the nuclear alert directive, cited not only the alleged statements by NATO members but the hard-hitting financial sanctions imposed by the West against Russia, including the Russian leader himself.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-nuclear-forces-ukraine-fighting/





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[font size="8"]Texas GOP
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It's long been the policy here at the Top 10 home offices in Santa Ana, California, that we support our LGBT brothers and sisters. You know who doesn’t? Greg Abbott. That’s right, the Texas governor went nuclear on trans youth last week to the point where it’s some real Nazi shit. But here’s the whole thing about the modern GOP – the cruelty is the point. And these people are proud to be the colossal dicks that they are. Just look at Marjorie Greene and Lauren Boebert (or as I like to call them, Dumb & Dumber, hey o!). But we’ll save that for next week. And here’s something that I have been saying for a while in regards to what the GOP is doing. That is that they really need to stop pretending that they care about children. They don’t! Policies like these don’t help kids. They only exist to support the increasingly bigoted views of the Q-Batshit wing of the GOP. And that’s also mainly thanks to their brains being scrambled by the likes of Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones. But really, policies like these don’t help things and will probably get innocent people killed.

Texas officials have begun investigating parents of transgender adolescents for possible child abuse, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, after Gov. Greg Abbott directed them last week to handle certain medical treatments as possible crimes.

The investigations by the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services, which have not been previously reported, were started in response to an order from Mr. Abbott to the agency, the lawsuit says. The order followed a nonbinding opinion by the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, that parents who provide their transgender teenagers with puberty-suppressing drugs or other medically accepted treatments — which doctors describe as gender-affirming care — could be investigated for child abuse.

Among the first to be investigated was an employee of the state protective services agency who has a 16-year-old transgender child. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Lambda Legal went to state court in Austin to try to stop the inquiry.

The employee, who was not named in the court filing, works on the review of reports of abuse and neglect. She was placed on administrative leave last week, according to the filing, and on Friday was visited by an investigator from the agency, which is also seeking medical records related to her child. The family of the child, identified in court documents only as Mary Doe, has refused to voluntarily turn over the records.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/us/texas-child-abuse-trans-youth.html




Hey Gov. Abbott, I say this with the utmost sincerity and all due respect: go fuck yourself. Also Fox News, especially Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, go fuck yourself. And anyone who supports Gov. Abbott or this brutal policy, also go fuck yourself. There, I just needed to get that off my chest. But this is shockingly evil and will create unnecessary harm. It’s probably going to result in unnecessary deaths and murders too. But at least this grossly inhumane policy is getting some very well deserved backlash.

Pilar Hernandez was hoping the nightmare for her family was over.

For months last year, transgender advocates in Texas fought a group of bills in the legislature seeking to ban transition care by arresting parents and delicensing doctors who provide transition care to children. Several of those bills died, but the ordeal scared Hernandez, the mother of a 17-year-old transgender boy in Houston.

Last week, those fears resurfaced: Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion that defined providing access to certain gender-affirming treatment as child abuse, leaving some parents worried about the safety of their families and some advocates concerned about the well-being of trans kids in Texas.

"I had this fantasy that this year we’ll be able to at least rest a little," Hernandez said while fighting back tears. "I think we all have post traumatic stress syndrome from last year, so this brings everything back."

The AG's definition is opposed by major medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pediatric Endocrine Society and the American Medical Association, which say these treatments are within the standards of care and often life saving.
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/in-depth/2022/02/28/420043/as-texas-moves-to-treat-gender-affirming-care-for-trans-kids-as-child-abuse-families-and-advocates-worry-about-the-future/




That’s exactly how Gov. Abbott and his Nazi followers should be treated. But what really pisses me off is that the GOP is claiming to enact these policies under the guise of it being “for the children”. It’s not, and they really need to stop pretending that it is! Just… ugh this really made me angry when I saw the news last week. But the good news is that even Texas DAs have seen through Gov. Abbott’s bigoted bullshit and are fighting back.

District attorneys representing five of Texas' largest counties on Wednesday said they will not treat gender-affirming procedures for transgender youth as "child abuse," defying a push by the state's attorney general and governor to target the medical treatments.

The news comes a day after an order from Gov. Greg Abbott mandated the state's child welfare agency treat gender-affirming procedures as "child abuse," a move with potential legal consequences for both parents of transgender youth and any teacher or other authority figure who interacts with a trans child.

The district attorneys said they believe Gov. Abbott's order — and the legal opinion by Attorney General Ken Paxton on which the order is based ?? constitute "an egregious invasion of privacy."

"We will enforce the Constitution and will not irrationally and unjustifiably interfere with medical decisions made between children, their parents, and their medical physicians," said district attorneys representing more than 5 million people, including those in the cities of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Sugar Land and Corpus Christi.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/02/24/texas-order-trans-youth/6926395001/




Yes, Gov. Abbott, and again I say this with the utmost sincerity and professionalism: Go fuck yourself, you Nazi asshole! There is some good news is that the bigots who enable these brutal policies do seem to be an ever-increasing minority. But that said, the damage has already been done and there are people already going after families with trans kids. This is extremely disturbing to watch and I truly hate Fox News and the Christian right for bringing on policies that are this barbaric. We’ll be watching this fight and reporting from the sidelines.

On Tuesday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary restraining order to prevent Texas from investigating families for providing gender-affirming care to trans children. The lawsuit came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton authored a legal opinion declaring that providing gender-affirming care to minors is “child abuse” according to existing state law. Governor Greg Abbott then directed the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), the state’s child welfare agency, to comply by investigating any reports of parents providing gender-affirming care to their children.

Because no laws were changed to make explicit that gender affirming care is child abuse—a bill that would have done so passed the Texas Senate last year but stalled in the House—advocates and lawyers have said that the new directive is not legally binding. And district and county attorneys from nearly all of Texas’s major counties have said there will be no prosecutions of parents under this new directive. “We want to be clear: We will enforce the Constitution and we will not irrationally and unjustifiably interfere with medical decisions made by children, their parents, and their medical physicians,” a Feb. 24 statement from the DAs of five large Texas counties, including Dallas and Travis (Austin), stated.

But as the ACLU lawsuit shows, investigations in Texas will take place whether or not the prosecutors will bring a case against a parent because DFPS is compelled to comply with Abbott’s directive. Already, at least three reports of abuse have been made against parents of trans children. According to the ACLU lawsuit, a DFPS employee with a trans child was placed on leave and an investigator was sent to her home when she asked her supervisor for clarification on the new directive.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/child-protective-services-is-already-investigating-families-over-texas-anti-trans-directive.html









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[font size="8"]CPAC Highlights: GOP Fully Embraces The Cult
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Is it safe to say that there are no more conservatives? They’ve been fully taken over and embraced by every aspect of the Former Guy / MAGA / Q-Batshit Party. There were actually two conventions in Florida and we will talk about both of them – first was the annual bastion of insanity known as the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. The second was the much more controversial America First Political Action Conference, or AFPAC. But literally every single speaker in both of these conferences was either a Trump family member, or a member of the MAGA cult. There is no drawing the line anymore. The GOP blended with the MAGAs and white nationalists like a really fucked up T-1000 bot. And they’re becoming much more self-aware about it. Remember when Trump served the NCAA champion Clemson Tigers a buffet of McDonalds (see: Idiots #6-2 ) ? So guess what? He did it again. Because, fuck you, that’s why!

Trump also served fast food to large groups of guests – including college athletes – when he was in the White House.

Roughly 250 guests met with the former president at the private event. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was among the guests, a source in the room who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to Insider.

Trump is set to deliver a speech on Saturday night before a friendly crowd at CPAC, which is being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort. CPAC guests — who were overwhelmingly pro-Trump and wearing MAGA outfits — told Insider that they hoped Trump would address Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

CPAC's annual conference tends to include a "Who's Who" of Republican politics. This year's event featured speeches from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-served-mcdonalds-and-diet-coke-at-vip-cpac-dinner-2022-2




Seriously…excuse me a minute. But that’s exactly what it’s like when you pay thousands of dollars to get a seat at the Trump VIP booth and you get served a buffet of Big Macs and chicken nuggets. I mean come on are there no real restaurants around? And you know the scary thing is that the MAGAs don’t seem to give a shit. You literally paid $6,000 for a Big Mac that’s been sitting under a sketchy, poorly kept up heat lamp that probably doesn’t meet FDA approval standards. Get over yourself. Even worse is that is that Creepy Pillow Man is attracted to this shit like flies to a bug zapper. But then of course once again another rousing rendition of “Trump Barfs His Brain” that I didn’t watch!

Former President Donald J. Trump repeated familiar boasts and grievances in a keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday.

Mr. Trump repeatedly invoked the lie that the 2020 election was “rigged” and mounted exaggerated attacks on President Biden. Even as he condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an “atrocity” and praised the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a “brave man,” he repeated his misleading claim that the Obama administration had merely provided Ukraine with “blankets.”

“The wall will be quickly completed. We’ll build the wall and complete the wall in three weeks. It took two and half years on the wall, two and half years just to win all the litigation, over 11 lawsuits that they threw at us. And we have it just about finished, and I said they can’t be serious. They don’t want to close up the little loops.”

Mr. Trump’s vow that he would have been able to complete the wall within three weeks also does not track with the initial construction pace. Construction of replacement barriers in Calexico, Calif., began in February 2018, the first border wall project under Mr. Trump. Construction of the first new section of wall in the Rio Grande Valley began in November 2019. That amounts to 12.9 miles of replacement wall and 3.3 miles of new wall per month.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/us/politics/trump-speech-cpac-fact-check.html




You know we got to give to fact checkers because in the era of misinformation, they got to be working overtime. And I can imagine many keyboards and monitors are destroyed because literally every single thing they say requires someone to fact check and see if it’s true or not. But you know who doesn’t require one? Joe Biden. Because he doesn’t say stupid shit on a nearly minute by minute basis. Speaking of stupid shit, let’s switch gears and talk about the AFPAC for a minute. It’s a melting pot of racists and conspiracy theorists.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia on Sunday downplayed her attendance and speaking slot at a fringe right-wing conference with ties to white nationalists earlier this weekend. She first told CBS News that she didn't know who the organizers of the event were and their views.

Greene, who was in Orlando, Florida, to attend and speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), was also a surprise guest miles away at the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC). That event was organized by Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist who started the event in 2020. Fuentes attended the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona spoke at the same event in 2021 and sent in a pre-record 30-second clip to AFPAC this year. Former Congressman Steve King of Iowa, who was taken off the U.S. House committees for racist remarks, also spoke at this year's conference. Idaho Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin also attended.

Video of the conference on Saturday showed Fuentes and attendees cheering for Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as approving of comparisons between Putin and Adolf Hitler. Fuentes also called the attack on the U.S. Captiol on January 6 "awesome."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marjorie-taylor-greene-cpac-nick-fuentes-afpac-white-nationalist/




You know we give Marjorie a hard time on this program and she deserves every single last bit of it, but let’s think about this here for a minute. Imagine the sheer BALLS that it takes to deny being with a notorious white nationalist extremist when there is a FUCKING PHOTO OF YOU STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!!!! And going on white nationalist Nazi Sebastian Gorka’s program is probably not the best venue to go on after you’re called a Nazi. So what’s the GOP to do? Do they deny this woman is a part of them or do they fully embrace it? Hard to decide.

For those keeping an eye on domestic politics, much of the focus over the weekend was on the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, where many of the Republican Party’s most prominent voices tried to curry favor with the party’s base. But just down the road, there was a separate event, catering to an even more radical audience.

The gathering was called the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), which was organized by a white nationalist named Nick Fuentes.

For much of the American mainstream, Fuentes’ name is probably unfamiliar, and as we’ve discussed, that’s a good thing. He is, after all, a radical who’s called for “a homeland” for white people, who’s engaged in Holocaust denialism, who rallied rioters outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and whose YouTube page was permanently suspended for promoting hate speech.

Indeed, at this year’s AFPAC gathering, Fuentes apparently thought it’d be amusing to complain about journalists equating Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler, adding, “They say that’s not a good thing.”
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/radical-event-gop-leaders-decision-make-rcna17904 [/div




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[font size="8"]Top 10 Investigates: Los Angeles Angels Drug Ring
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It's time to investigate beyond the headlines! This is Top 10 Investigates!



While the rest of the baseball world is awaiting negotiations as to whether or not they are going through with the regular season, one team in particular is battling some very unwanted press right now. That team is the Los Angeles Angels. While the Angels organization is no stranger to bad press, this one seems to be particularly disturbing, and it could go all the way to the top of the organization. Since the mysterious, drug related death, 2019 death of right handed pitcher Tyler Skaggs, there have been way more questions than there have been answers. The ones in particular that everyone wants to know is “how did this happen?” and “who is responsible”. The answers to these questions seem to be few and far between. As for who is responsible? That’s also a very tough question to answer. Many in the Angels organization point to communications director Eric Kay as being the source of the drug ring.

A federal jury found former Los Angeles Angels communications director Eric Kay guilty on two felony counts Thursday, agreeing with the government that he distributed the deadly drug fentanyl and caused the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Kay, who won't be sentenced until June 28, faces a minimum of 20 years in prison.

The jury took less than two hours to deliberate after the eight-day trial, which saw eight major league players take the witness stand, five of whom admitted to their own drug use.

Skaggs, 27, died July 1, 2019, while on a team trip to Texas after ingesting oxycodone, fentanyl and alcohol. Kay had admitted to providing oxycodone to Skaggs and the other players, but the defense said the two men were simply fellow addicts with an agreement that Skaggs would pay for their drugs and Kay would handle transactions. Kay did not testify in the trial.

Kay and his family sat in stunned silence after the verdict was read, while a few feet away Skaggs' widow, Carli, and his mother, Debbie Hetman, wept and embraced each other.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33313355/jury-finds-eric-kay-guilty-distributing-fentanyl-causing-death-former-pitcher-tyler-skaggs




But this points to a bigger picture – was Kay responsible or was he just a fall guy for a much larger ring in the organization? That’s what prosecutors now want to know. Kay is facing a minimum of 20 years in prison for his participation. One source in the mix was fellow pitcher Matt Harvey, but what’s his side of the story? Did he sell Skaggs the drugs that ultimately led to his demise or was it someone else that could have?

Matt Harvey was named as a possible drug source for former Angels teammate Tyler Skaggs on Tuesday by Eric Kay’s defense attorney on the first day of Kay's trial in connection to Skaggs's death, per ESPN's T.J. Quinn.

Kay, the former Angels communications director, is on trial after a Texas federal grand jury indicted him on two counts in the overdose death of Skaggs. The indictment charged Kay with distributing the fentanyl that caused Skaggs's death in 2019.

"On or about June 30, 2019 … Eric Prescott Kay, the defendant, did knowingly and intentionally distribute a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl, a Schedule II controlled substance, and the use of said substance resulted in the death and serious bodily injury of [Skaggs]," the indictment said.

Defense attorney Reagan Wynn said in an opening statement that Kay saw the former Los Angeles star ingest three lines of crushed pills—two blue and one pink—on the night of his death. Kay asked where the pink substance came from, to which Skaggs responded, per Wynn, “Those are Percocets I got from [former teammate Matt] Harvey.”
https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/02/09/tyler-skaggs-death-case-matt-harvey-accused-of-providing-pills




Now here is where the trial gets interesting and begins to take a turn. It appears that two other former Angels – Andrelton Simmons and Trevor Cahill were witnesses to the events the night of Skaggs’ death that evening. While it may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, it paints a much bigger picture as to the circumstances that led to Skaggs’ death. And another Angel – CJ Cron, admitted to having received pills from Mr. Kay prior to the death of Skaggs.

Many players have testified in the ongoing trial 'U.S. v Eric Kay,' which of course relates to the tragic and untimely death of former LA Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Two of the latest players to speak at the trial were former Angels pitcher Trevor Cahill and former Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons. The two of them told the judge something that is telling about the situation surrounding Skaggs:

This is important information because it tells more about the situation that surrounded his passing, and the more information the court can acquire will help find the most accurate ruling. Also, if Skaggs didn't go out, he more likely received the pills that night from a previous source, which raises the chances of him having received the pills from Kay ahead of the road trip.

Kay is trying to prove that there is no evidence suggesting the substances that Skaggs reacted to were given to him by Kay. This evidence could potentially not work in Kay's favor.
https://halohangout.com/posts/2-former-angels-deliver-vital-information-night-tyler-skaggs-tragic-passing-cahill-simmons




So the biggest question in the mix is what was Kay’s role in the Angels drug ring? Was he the main guy or was he a fall guy and there was someone else responsible? Many in the organization point to a former Angels communications director – Hector Vasquez. And that brings even further questions like what was the role of communications director? And did owner Arte Marino know about it? How much corruption is going on in this organization and other teams around MLB? We hope that as the resulting trials unfold that there will be more answers.

Prosecutors on Friday argued that another Angels employee connected Eric Kay with the person who supplied the drugs that led to Tyler Skaggs’ death in July 2019.

FBI special agent Mark Sedwick, a government witness, testified Friday that Kay, a former Angels communication director, called Hector Vazquez, then an Angels clubhouse attendant, two minutes before Kay sent a text message to a phone registered to a person who prosecutors say went by the pseudonym Ashley Smith for the first time on June 19, 2019.

The prosecution, using Sedwick’s testimony, painted Smith to the jury as a drug dealer who used burner phones and an alias to avoid detection, and sold pills to Kay in California hours before Skaggs was found dead in a suburban Dallas hotel room.

The defense, in turn, challenged the notion that the available phone data were enough to propose that Kay acquired drugs from Smith. Sedwick testified that he could only identify Kay and Smith’s phones being in the same area once during that period — on June 28, two days before prosecutors have argued the drug deal occurred and the Angels flew to Texas.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2022-02-11/another-angels-employee-connected-eric-kay-with-drug-dealer-in-tyler-skaggs-case-prosecutors-argue




That’s it for Top 10 Investigates. Good day.





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[font size="8"]Holy Shit: Christian Nationalism On Display
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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! Now how y’all doing on the eve of World War III? You doing good out there? I thought so. While the entire world is condemning the devil that is Vladimir Putin, I’ve been watching with a keen eye the attitudes coming from our brothers and sisters on the right. As many of you know, the far right claims to worship JAYSUS, but really – they don’t. Instead they worship the unholy, ungodly Dark One! I of course speak of an individual so foul, so depraved and disgusting that his name dare not be spoken in my church! He has clearly aligned himself with SAYTAN and all that is evil in the world! But this week, our topic is extremism. Because the very idea of extremism is what got us here in the first place. Well the GOP is going all in on their embrace of Christian extremism and the devil that is Vladimir Putin. So when you’re a member of the super far right club, how do you identify? Because they are trying to present themselves as “children of light” when they worship the exact opposite! And it's getting quite disturbing!

Lauren Witzke, the Republican Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate from Delaware in 2020, gushed with praise for Vladimir Putin this week after the Russian dictator unleashed a military invasion against Ukraine. While somewhat shocking given the timing, Witzke’s admiration of Putin’s “Christian nationalism” has a long precedent among U.S. Christian right leaders, who embraced Putin as a “savior of Christian civilization” during the Obama administration.

Shortly after Donald Trump became president, far-right activist Pat Buchanan praised Putin as “a God-and-country Russian patriot” and champion of Christianity “against the Western progressive vision of what mankind’s future ought to be.”

In 2018, prominent Trump-aligned dominionist Lance Wallnau brushed aside Putin’s tendency to kill journalists and run the country “like a mafia state,” and praised Putin’s anti-LGBTQ policies as having been “shaped by Christians,” adding, “I fear more liberals in America than I fear Putin in Russia.”

At an infamous 2018 press conference with Putin and Trump, the U.S. president said he was more inclined to believe Putin than U.S. intelligence agencies that had concluded the Russian government had interfered with the 2016 election. Far-right figures like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones were thrilled when Putin mentioned philanthropist George Soros, who many on the far-right portray as the embodiment of sinister globalism. InfoWars’ Jerome Corsi declared Trump and Putin were working together in a “fight to death with the deep state.”
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/u-s-far-right-adore%e2%80%8bs-vladimir-putins-christian-nationalism-more-than-freedom-and-democracy/




Yeah is that not disturbing or what? Even the unholy Dark One sides with Putin. Does that make Putin the Dark One or does that make him an even darker one? You know I must say we give the unholy Dark One a hard time, but at least he never invaded Mexico! So there is that. And that’s the nicest thing I can say about him too. So now of course fans of the Dark One are in conflict – do they support Putin and his evil invasion or do they side with America on this one?

His brutal invasion of Ukraine is just the latest move in his long-running strategy to rebuild the Russian empire by any means necessary. But while Putin hasn’t strayed from his obsessions of 30-plus years ago, the U.S. Republican Party has been comprehensively altered into something that would have been unrecognizable in 1989. Today, much of the American right is in thrall to Putin and other autocrats, and a segment of the extreme right now harbors a hatred for Western democracy. The new American right somehow sees Putin as a guardian of white nationalism who will stand up to the “woke” left in the West. They don’t seem to care that he is a murderous dictator who has launched a war in the middle of Europe.

“Russia is a Christian nationalist nation. … I actually support Putin’s right to protect his people and always put his people first but also protect their Christian values,” Lauren Witzke, the right-wing Republican nominee for Senate from Delaware in 2020, said this week in an interview that was picked up by Right Wing Watch. “I identify more with Putin’s Christian values than I do with Joe Biden.”

Now many on the right wing are parroting Moscow’s lies about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, claiming that Russia has legitimate national security interests there or that Ukraine’s government is so corrupt it doesn’t deserve U.S. support.
https://theintercept.com/2022/02/25/russia-ukraine-vladimir-putin-trump/




No it isn’t. We here at the Holy Church Of The Top 10 have been saying this for years! If you’re shocked that America’s Christian nationalists are siding with Russia’s Christian nationalists, then you’re in the wrong place and I encourage you to turn around right now and walk out that door! Remember last week’s sermon when I was talking about how there’s a candidate in Georgia who’s running on the idea of Guns, Jesus and Babies? It turns out that there’s a science behind that kind of stuff and if your friends suddenly flip, you’ll know why!

“Jesus, Guns, Babies” are the three words you need to know if you want to understand the ideology and rationalizations of the modern GOP, which is now a radicalized and weaponized movement seeking to create and impose a white Christian utopia in America and abroad.

“Jesus Guns Babies” is the campaign slogan of Kandiss Taylor, a Republican candidate for Governor in Georgia, who was also an educator for over two decades and doesn’t believe in commas. In fact, the ethos of “Jesus Guns Babies” was recently further expanded upon by Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who is running the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in his publicly derided 11-point plan to “save America.” His brilliant vision devotes separate bullet points for God, guns (the second amendment), and, of course, babies and the promotion of a nuclear, heterosexual family, which he believes is “crucial to civilization.” Apparently, he also believes in hurting those very same families with increased taxes and killing off Medicare and Social Security, which explains why his plan was greeted like a wet fart in the wind.

Taylor’s three-word campaign slogan went viral last week on Twitter and was the subject of much well-earned mockery. However, it’s unwise for the majority to simply ignore it and Scott’s plan as a silly punchline of the week and an example of the right-wing fringe. Instead, they efficiently and exquisitely capture the motivations of white Christian nationalism, which according to the contributors of a blistering and important new report released in February, was used to “bolster, justify and intensify the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol” and is a portent of future violence and political unrest.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-jesus-guns-babies-slogan-by-republicans-is-a-weaponized-movement?source=articles&via=rss




At least Ned Flanders isn’t a Christian nationalist, though he might be. But that said, is there a religious side to the illegal and immoral invasion of the Ukraine? Eh… I will say maybe. Of course the people who call themselves “Children of GAWD” obviously will tell you otherwise. But how can you trust a guy to talk about “denazification” when he himself is a nazi? That would be like wearing a Boston jersey underneath your New York one! And vice versa! Just… I need a drink and the holy water isn’t strong enough!

In her Substack shebeen, religious historian Diana Butler Bass takes a deep dive into how Christian ethno-nationalism has joined hands across the globe with reactionary Catholicism and, most importantly, with hyper-conservative Russian Orthodoxy to add a little old-time religious filigree to Vladimir Putin’s current depredations.

The dream gripping some quarters of the West is for a coalition to unify religious conservatives into a kind of supra-national neo-Christendom. The theory is to create a partnership between American evangelicals, traditionalist Catholics in western countries, and Orthodox peoples under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church in a common front against three enemies — decadent secularism, a rising China, and Islam — for a glorious rebirth of moral purity and Christian culture.

In the United States, Trumpist-religion is most often framed as “Christian nationalism.” It is, indeed, that. But it is also more — it is the American partner of this larger quest for Christian internationalism. No one has articulated this more clearly than Steve Bannon, who, despite his legal troubles, remains a significant force as a kind of philosophical apostle in right-wing Christian circles for a neo-Christendom.

The reaction in some quarters to Putin’s criminal war-making illustrates Butler Bass’s point. Rod Dreher, a “respected voice” among religious conservatives, who not long ago was luxuriating in the embrace of Hungarian strongman Victor Orban, would like you to know that this is a global conflict of…sexy time. From the American Conservative:
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a39212527/russia-ukraine-orthodox-christianity-crusade/




Sigh… this isn’t what the good LAWRD JAYSUS would want now is it? This is the sign of a people who worship an angry and vengeful GAWD. Well I can’t say how I feel about this because there are no words strong enough to express how I feel! Mass has ended, may you go in peace! That??s it this week for:




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[font size="8"]Beating A Dead Horse
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OK look I know we ask this every time this happens, and we may be close to literally beating our own dead horse here. But you all keep posting racist tweets and we keep having this same discussion over and over. It happened with Guardians Of The Galaxy and Suicide Squad director James Gunn (see: Idiots #6-2 ), former Arkansas governor turned social media troll Mike Huckabee (see: Idiots #10-10 ), and most recently former Raiders coach Jon Gruden (see: Idiots #11-13 ). So are we beating our own dead horse here? Probably. Am I still going to talk about this again? Oh you bet your ass I am! Because y’all keep tweeting racist stuff and getting in trouble for it, because you forget that Twitter and Facebook are public forums and anything you say on there can come back to bite you in the ass hard! So who’s the latest to shoot themselves in the foot over saying something racist on social media? Well our victim this time is none other than Jon Demsey, who is a senior executive at women’s beauty company Estee Lauder.

Estée Lauder has fired John Demsey, a senior executive at the makeup company, for an offensive Instagram post on his personal account that used a racial slur.

The company said Monday that Demsey's termination was the "result of his recent Instagram posts, which do not reflect the values of the Estée Lauder Companies," adding that the post caused "widespread offense."

Estée Lauder (EL) said Demsey, who has been with the brand for about 30 years, will be leaving his role "this week." A replacement wasn't named.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Demsey posted on his Instagram account last week a spoof book cover based on the TV show "Sesame Street" that used the N-word with some letters replaced with asterisks. The post was apparently mocking Covid-19. Demsey deleted the offensive post and apologized, writing that he was "terribly sorry and deeply ashamed," adding that he didn't read the "racist meme" before posting it.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/business/estee-lauder-john-demsey-fired/index.html




Here’s the thing, people – if you don’t want to get found out as a racist, don’t post racist memes! You may think it’s funny for a minute, but you got to ask yourself – “Will other people find this funny?”. If you answer “no” to that question, don’t post it! it’s that fucking simple! But you keep doing this time after time after time! And how much can one little tweet cost you? For the sake of this piece, we’ll call it “How To Lose $10 Million With One Tweet”. Thank you graphics department!

Estée Lauder senior executive John Demsey was forced to leave the company on Monday after he shared a meme on Instagram that featured a racial slur, and of course, social media is capitalizing on this to get some jokes off about Chingy.

The meme itself is not funny, especially coming from Demsey, a white man who claims he didn’t read his “My n***a Snuffy done got the ’rona at a Chingy concert” post that featured Sesame Street characters and referenced the “Holidae In” rap star.

The company has since released a statement about the sharing of the meme and how it doesn’t “reflect the values of The Estée Lauder Companies.”

“This decision is the result of his recent Instagram posts, which do not reflect the values of The Estée Lauder Companies, have caused widespread offense, are damaging to our efforts to drive inclusivity both inside and outside our walls, and do not reflect the judgment we expect of our leaders,” the statement said. “Our employees, and especially our senior leaders, are accountable to continue driving our progress and to respect the values of this company for the long term.”
https://www.complex.com/music/social-media-reacts-to-estee-lauder-senior-executive-forced-out-after-sharing-racist-chingy-related-meme/




I know, right? Well now you would think these would be isolated incidents. But nope, they’re becoming an increasingly common occurrence. And I cannot stress this enough – if you don’t want to be flagged as a racist, maybe I don’t know, don’t say racist stuff! It’s that fucking simple, people! And I don’t know how many times I have to keep saying this but I will every single time! Oh and you think this guy from Estee Lauder was one incident? Check out this guy from Columbia University.

Columbia University suspended Psychiatry Department Chair Jeffrey Lieberman on Wednesday, February 23, after the doctor called Black model Nyakim Gatwech a “freak of nature” on Twitter. On Monday, February 21, Lieberman retweeted a message about Gatwech and commented, “Whether a work of art or freak of nature she’s a beautiful sight to behold.” The tweet has since been deleted, as has his entire Twitter profile.

After Lieberman received pushback on Twitter, which included people tagging Columbia University for comment, he reportedly sent out an apology email to his colleagues on Tuesday. In the email, as reported by the New York Times, Lieberman said he was “deeply ashamed” by his “prejudices and stereotypical assumptions,” adding that his tweet was “racist and sexist.” Still, the school moved forward with the suspension, and the doctor, who reportedly specializes in schizophrenia, was also removed from his position as psychiatrist-in-chief at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

The original tweet featured a photo of Gatwech along with a caption that read in part, “It is not a work of art made of black stone or granite. She is Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech.” The tweet also claimed that Gatwech was “in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the darkest skin ever seen on Earth” — a claim Gatwech was then forced to deny on her Instagram page in a post on Tuesday.
https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/columbia-psychiatry-chair-suspended-for-racist-tweet.html




Well you think? Seriously if you’re going to post that racist meme, just think about it for a second. I’ve often said that Twitter should have an “are you sure?” button before you hit send. It would cut down on so much of this crap. But if you do get caught saying something racist on Twitter, just admit it. Own up to your mistake. Like this guy from the Boston Red Sox. If you get caught saying something racist, just be like “Yeah it was racist” and move on. None of this “I’m not racist, but…”crap, OK? Do you see how much better the latter is? Yeah I thought so! Just admit you were being an asshole and move on!

The Boston Red Sox released prospect Brett Netzer on Sunday after he sent out a a series offensive tweets. According to CBS Boston, the team split from Netzer following a string of tweets that were anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and transphobic. Multiple messages were aimed at Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, who is Jewish.

"chaim bloom is a bad actor. dude went to hebrew school and studied the torah growing up but sold his soul to the sodom and race groups. good thing he is good at whatever he does in baseball," Netzer wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted, according to CBS News.

As of Monday afternoon, Netzer's Twitter account, @BrettNetzer, no longer exists.

When called racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic by users on Twitter as a response to his tweets, Netzer, 25, wrote that he agreed he was racist and homophobic, but did not agree he was anti-Semitic.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/red-sox-release-prospect-brett-netzer-following-string-of-anti-semitic-racist-homophobic-tweets/





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[font size="8"]Conspiracy Corner: Fox Loves Russia
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Welcome back to our segment that attempts to explain the unexplainable, Conspiracy Corner! When conspiracy theories get too real, Conspiracy Corner tears them a new one! We are coming to you live from our underground doomsday shelter deep in 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 yours and my thoughts after all… and there we go! So the question that we have on the table for you this week – is Tucker Carlson a Russian asset? What does Vladimir Putin have on him? And why are his employers suddenly praising Mother Russia? We’re apparently at the Stockholm Syndrome phase of whatever this is. Because Fox News and apparently a lot of the GOP have fallen for their kidnappers, so what is Putin doing to them? They’re apparently the useful idiots of whatever this is. So why is Fox News suddenly pro-Russia? Have they always been that way? Well there’s a lot of theories on this and we’ll get into them. But if your MAGA neighbors suddenly start spewing crap about how they think Putin is the good guy here, you know where they got their info from.

Tucker Carlson is notorious for rewriting history, but he might have broken the record for the speed of this turnaround.

The Fox News host whined to his millions of viewers on Monday that people are accusing him of rooting for Russia, days after he defended its president, Vladimir Putin, and leaned into Kremlin talking points ahead of its brutal invasion of Ukraine.

He had argued Ukraine was “not a democracy” and delivered a lengthy rant last Tuesday questioning why he should be expected to hate the authoritarian leader.

A clip of that monologue later aired on Russian state-sponsored TV with subtitles.

But when Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) criticized Carlson’s rhetoric, noting that his comments served as televised material to rally Russians for Putin’s cause, Carlson was not happy.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-russia-flip-flop_n_621d8d8fe4b06e1cc594048d




First off, shut up, Tucker. You’re on national TV every night for 2 hours. We have video evidence, and on the internet, there are no take backs! So seriously, what the serious fuck is Tucker doing on Russian state TV? Does that make him a traitor? I realize that I am asking way too many questions here. But of course in the MAGA world, there is no personal responsibility here. Literally everything is someone else’s fault. Except for the people who don’t believe in the things you believe in, then it’s their fault, but it happens. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. They always blame someone else.

As Russian troops encircled Ukraine, politicians and media pundits in the US were largely united in their condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s imminent attack.

Tucker Carlson, however, took a different approach. Hours before Putin ordered his forces into Ukraine, Fox News’ biggest star was still praising the Russian president.

Putin’s bellicose threats towards Ukraine and assembling of up to 190,000 troops on the country’s border, was, Carlson said, a mere “border dispute”. Carlson, who played into Kremlin talking points by declaring that Ukraine was “not a democracy”, launched an apparent attempt to humanize Putin.

“Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia?” Carlson said as he then recited a rightwing tip sheet of pet causes.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/25/tucker-carlson-fox-news-russia-putin




Yeah probably! But here’s the thing – when everyone should be united behind our president we’re more divided than ever and that’s mainly thanks to Putin’s meddling on social media. And seriously, who would have thought that the one sane voice in the republican party would be Liz Cheney? Well she’s calling out her colleagues for their praise of the Russian mad man. Even though the damage has already been done, it’s still nice to see them taken down a few pegs, isn’t it?

Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, took aim at former President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—suggesting they are providing Moscow with propaganda in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump controversially described Putin as a "genius" as the invasion of Ukraine commenced this past week. Pompeo in recent interviews described the Russian president as "savvy" and "talented," he also said he had "enormous respect" for Putin.

In a Friday evening Twitter post, Cheney shared screenshots from Russian media promoting remarks from Trump, Pompeo and Fox News host Tucker Carlson that appeared to be favorable to Putin. The GOP congresswoman knocked the right-wing politicians and commentator for their positive assessments of the Russian adversary.

"As Russian forces invade Ukraine, Russian TV features Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo and Tucker Carlson praising Putin," Cheney tweeted. "Putin is evil. Every American watching what's happening in Ukraine should know that."
https://www.newsweek.com/cheney-rips-trump-pompeo-praising-russian-president-putin-evil-1682980




Oh come on democrats you should be mopping the floor with these idiots! If they’re on Russian state TV wouldn’t that make a great campaign ad? But come on, how many times does Fox News do this and get away with it? Literally every single damn time something happens, they never take full responsibility for their actions and they always blame someone else . Remember how often Alex Jones used to get called out every time he said that a major attack was a false flag operation? This feels like one of those times and something should be done about it. But really… fuck off, Tucker!

If you happened to tune into Fox News on Thursday night, you might have seen something extremely strange: Tucker Carlson condemning Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, and suggesting that what Russia is doing there—activities that have included shelling of a kindergarten—is actually big deal. “It’s a tragedy, because war always is a tragedy, and the closer you get to it, the more horrifying it seems,” he told viewers, adding, of the Russian president: “Vladimir Putin started this war, so whatever the context of the decision that he made, he did it. He fired the first shots. He is to blame for what we’re seeing tonight in Ukraine.” At this time, you might be asking yourself why it’s strange to denounce a country for waging an unprovoked war on its neighbor, or to place the blame squarely on the guy who made the decision to do so. And the answer is that it’s not strange, it’s what normal people who are not doing free P.R. for the Kremlin have been saying, but it is a tad odd given that, prior to Thursday, Carlson was this-close to inviting Putin on his show and asking him, “Any chance we can get you to run in 2024? I know it’s a long shot but…I’d love to see it.”

Yes, if you missed Carlson‘s most recent shows, a quick recap of commentary he’s offered on the situation:

It’s “not un-American” to support Putin;
Democrats will find you guilty of treason if you don’t hate Putin;
The whole thing is simply a “border dispute”;
“Ukraine is not a democracy”;
Ukraine is a “puppet” of the West
Our personal favorite, that unless Vladimir Putin has personally had you or one of your family members murdered, you really don’t have any right to criticize the guy:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/02/tucker-carlson-vladimir-putin-praise





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[font size="8"]I Need A Drink: Hank The Tank
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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 talk about literally anything in the news as long as it doesn’t relate to politics or COVID, or hell war. Yeah that’s right, we’ve got a war brewing right now and it’s not pretty. So this week we are going to talk about a bear that’s been taking America by storm. Let’s go to Northern California, to the city of Lake Tahoe for this story. And yes I could spend all day making jokes about Yogi stealing picnic baskets, but we’ll save that for another discussion. So tell me bartender, what goes well with a story about a bear attack? Bear Juice IPA? What’s in that? No thanks, though I do like my IPA s to be large and plentiful, preferably with a high alcohol content. So yeah large IPA please and the largest size ya got! So let’s talk about the bear known as Hank The Tank, who I am sure you’ve probably all heard this story by now.

You may know him as Hank the Tank, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife knows him as a threat to a Lake Tahoe neighborhood.

For months now, the 500-pound black bear has been roaming the streets in the Tahoe Keys area of South Lake Tahoe, about 100 miles east of Sacramento.

In the span of seven months, the animal caused extensive damage at 33 properties and forcefully entered at least 28 homes, according to a February 17 blog post by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department told CNN on Tuesday it believes Hank is responsible for two more break-ins over the weekend.

A Facebook post by the department says he broke through a small window and somehow squeezed inside a house Friday when no one was there. He did not break into the garage, however, which is where the trash was kept.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/us/hank-the-tank-bear-lake-tahoe-break-ins-trnd/index.html




No that’s Frank The Tank, but I like where you’re going with that! Yeah so Hank The Tank has been terrorizing Lake Tahoe homes for the better part of the last few weeks. But here’s the weird thing about this is that Lake Tahoe has some bizarre laws about bear attacks and the many scenarios that have been proposed for how to get Hank The Tank to stop, have not been good. In fact all the ways that this has been proposed will not end particularly well for our bear friend here.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) explained that Hank likely became a little too comfortable with the local amenities. Bears instinctively fatten up to hibernate. However, if food is plentiful, like in Hank’s case, they may avoid hibernation.

“They’re supposed to be hibernating,” Lt. Jeff Roberson of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department told NBC News. “[But if] they’re used to people and being fed year-round, they don’t really do the bear stuff.”

However, after gathering more evidence, it appears Hank took all of the heat when he wasn’t the only one guilty of the looting. Recent DNA tests by CDFW show that at least three different bears partook in the raidings.

“While recent incidents of bears invading homes were originally thought to be a single bear, DNA evidence collected from the most recent incident as well as prior incidents over the past several months prove that at least three bears were responsible for breaking into numerous residences,” CDFW said in a statement.

This could be good news for Hank since authorities were considering capturing and euthanizing the animal. Now, the agency is hoping to “trap, tag and relocate” the bears.
https://news.yahoo.com/500-pound-black-bear-hank-182120324.html






Yeah that’s great! Keep ‘em coming! But yeah… death for Hank The Tank? That’s something that escalated very quickly! And relocation isn’t going to help things either, those animals are large and very territorial. So the good news is that Hank The Tank has staved off death for now. But here’s where it gets weird – it wasn’t just one bear attacking those homes, it was more than one. Why am I reminded of that line in Hot Fuzz where Nick Frost says “It’s just the one killer, actually!”. Thank you sound effects guy!

Hank the Tank is actually a three-bear battalion.

DNA evidence now shows that the 500-pound black bear the public had nicknamed “Hank the Tank” is, in fact, at least three not-so-little bears who have damaged more than 30 properties around Lake Tahoe in recent months.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife on Thursday said it will soon begin trapping bears in the South Lake Tahoe area to tag the animals and collect evidence for genetic analysis. The bears will be released in a “suitable habitat” and the agency said no trapped animals will be euthanized as part of the project.

The bears are responsible for more than 150 incident reports in the region straddling Northern California and Nevada, including a break-in at a residence in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood last week.

One of the Hanks smashed a window Friday and squeezed into the house on Catalina Drive while the residents were at home, CBS Sacramento reported. Police responded and banged on the outside of the house until Hank exited out the back door and disappeared into the woods.
https://apnews.com/article/oddities-environment-and-nature-lakes-california-environment-88d0877a87956c563016476fc5e1c58f





I’m pretty sure that’s not how Hank The Tank’s fate will end though that is a pretty realistic simulation of what could happen. So the residents of Lake Tahoe are baffled as to what to do with this particular string of bears who are stealing their picnic baskets. And by picnic baskets, I mean they are just looking for something to eat. But that said they can’t keep Hank The Tank and his buddies from finding food, because they’ve ransacked the same home more than once. They are the smarter than the average bear here, but fool me once shame on you. And such. I’m drunk now!

An enormous and locally famous black bear, dubbed Hank the Tank, has reemerged in a South Lake Tahoe neighborhood last week.

According to photos and security footage, the 500 pound bear broke into a house on Catalina Drive in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe Friday morning.

“This bear did not break into a garage where trash was kept that he was sniffing out,” the South Lake Tahoe Police Department said in a social media post. “He broke into a secured home, through the small window in the photo, and somehow squeezed inside.”

Officers responded to the home and banged on an exterior door until the bear “popped” out a back door, the department said. Officers remained in the area to make sure the bear did damage any other homes.
https://www.modbee.com/news/california/article258645383.html





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[font size="8"]Stupidest State Selection Sunday
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16 states will enter and only state will be crowned the new Top 10 Conservative Idiots Stupidest State!



Welcome back to our annual contest where we attempt to find the stupidest of the stupid! The dumbest, most insane and depraved, the most idiotic state in America! It’s time for: STUPIDEST STATE 2022! The NFFSA is back and better than ever, everybody! We are no longer bound by the restrictions imposed on us by COVID-19. It is time to get back to the tournament that we all know and love and here is the commissioner with more! Let’s go to the floor live at the beautiful brand new Youtube Theater in Inglewood, California where our commissioner will commence with the ceremonies!

Statement From The Commissioner

Welcome, welcome, welcome! It is my distinct honor to introduce this year’s tournament which makes this now the 5th tournament in a row! That’s right – we didn’t even let 2020 slow us down. Let me preface by saying that I want to thank each of the fine organizations that took place in this year’s regular season and this was one of the best seasons we’ve had yet! I also want to congratulate last year’s winner, Texas, who put on one hell of a show. All of these states who will enter this tournament have put forth an incredible effort to help make the NFFSA what it is today. Now of course this is when I get to explain the rules of the tournament. For Round 1, each matchup will comprise of four states competing for slots in the Elite 8. Then when the Elite 8 comes, we will focus on 2 states vying for a slot in the Final Four. Then when the Final Four comes, it’s one round that week, then the tournament where we will crown our new Stupidest State! And because we encourage gambling here, we will give you the odds on favorites for each conference. You know the conferences – the Batshit Conference, the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference, the Gun Nut Conference, and the Family Values Conference. Now let’s do this thing!

[font size="6"]The Batshit Conference [/font]



The Batshit Conference is the oldest and most distinctive conference in the NFFSA. It’s also the largest conference, compromising of a whopping 22 states. These states are the craziest of the crazy. They are run by two parties – the right and the far right. These are states that elect politicians who represent their populace and that populace is batshit crazy. You want a politician who hawks My Pillow promo codes while telling his audience to repent or die? You’ll find that in this conference! Want a leader who believes in conspiracy theories and subscribes to Infowars while wearing his tin foil hat during press conferences? We’ve got that too! The Batshit Conference: Proudly Representing Crazy since 1859!

1. Georgia The Peach State is no stranger to the big dance. Their credentials are ridiculously strong this year as they are the state that elected Brian Kemp. And not only did the Braves become World Series champions but they have sure had their fair share of some good ol’ down home racism and sexism in the ATL! Atlanta may be home to the largest airport in America, but that doesn’t stop this vibrant Delta Hub from bringing in the crazy!
Smoking Gun: Georgia is advancing a bill that would allow parents to outguess their kids’ teachers on lessons. We are not making this up!
Odds: 2:1 – Georgia dominated the regular season this year and they are poised to go very far in the tournament!

2. Iowa The Buckeye State dominated their conference in the regular season and shot to the top of the Batshit Conference. However a blunder in their qualifying round squashed their dreams of taking the top spot. But that doesn’t really matter – the state that elected and inexplicably keeps reelecting Steve King for some reason continues to show their racist credentials and that rural farm land is crazier than our coasts are!
Smoking Gun: Iowa actually considered banning books that people find “vulgar” and holding teachers accountable, but was very quickly shot down!
Odds: 5-1: Iowa dominated the regular season, so expect them to go far!

3. Arizona Arizona switched conferences last year and showed a strong showing in the Batshit Conference. The state that voluntarily elected Joe Arpaio and Doug Ducey continues to show just how batshit crazy they really are. The Grand Canyon State has much more to offer when it comes to its’ MAGA credentials than it does its’ democratic party credentials. They are the home to batshit crazy governor Doug Ducey, and also the home of Kristen Sinema and Paul Gosar.
Smoking Gun: While teaching a class about fundraising at ASU, Kristen Sinema instead of talking to a group of activists, decided to hide in the bathroom instead!
Odds: 7:1 – Arizona had a strong showing in the regular season but injuries didn’t help things during the latter half. That said, expect them to go far.

4. South Dakota: The home of Mt. Rushmore and the annual Sturgis Biker Rally that has been associated with being a COVID super spreader is back for another go round in the tournament and they could go very far this year with an upgraded defense and offense! Led by governor Kristi Noem, the Mount Rushmore state has some very strong batshit credentials and could look to do some damage if they upset the big guys!
Smoking Gun: Kristi Noem’s plans to instate mandatory school prayer and build campgrounds in state parks was a huge bust.
Odds: 10-1, They are most definitely underdogs and most pundits said they couldn’t even make the tournament, but anything is possible!

[font size="6"]The Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference [/font]



Money is the root of all evil so they say, and excessive greed is the name of the game in the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference. It’s the conference where going for broke is a contact sport. Your paycheck only has two zeroes after it? Well guess what? Your boss has 8 zeroes on his paycheck! And your state is in a state of perpetual, never ending gridlock both politically and financially because your state is run by the billionaires and soon to be trillionaires of the world. It’s the state where your former malls are being converted into Amazon warehouses the size of Kansas, which means another few zeroes on Jeff Bezos’ estimated net worth. All of the states in this conference have senators, reps, and governors bought and paid for by Koch Industries and the Heritage Foundation. The Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference: Proudly going for broke since 1952!

1. Kansas: The home of Koch Industries is the odds-on favorite to win the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference once again! In fact the home of the mega billionaires is no stranger to playing for broke! And the fact that Kansas continues to be one of the poorest states in the union brings lots of things with it including terrible crime rates and some hardcore racism! Well, at least Kansas University has a good basketball team so there’s always that.
Smoking Gun: Kansas is blowing money at an alarming rate to the tune of $1 billion and nobody knows where it is going!
Odds: 2-1: One of the best teams in the regular season has a strong showing and could make the final four! We’ll see what happens!

2. Delaware Hey wait a minute, Delware is a blue state! Right? Wrong! The state that our current president Joseph R. Biden calls home is also in some deep financial doo doo. The First State may be home to one of the largest air force bases in the country, but they’re also home to some of the greediest corporations and predatory credit card companies out there. They’re also home to a faction of MAGAs that is quickly taking over school boards. Could Delware make a huge splash in the tournament? Only one way to find out!
Smoking Gun: A Wilmington based pharmaceutical company was busted on insider trading allegations to the tune of $12 million!
Odds: 5 – 1: They have been rated underdogs in the tournament. They could be a huge upset if they prove to go far!

3. Nevada: The Silver State always has a strong showing in the Fiscal Irresponsibility Conference! They upgraded their team since we saw them last year and are looking to go very far! The home of the MGM Grand and the Las Vegas Raiders always puts on a strong showing. Yes, they may have flipped since the 2016 election but that hasn’t slowed down their fair share of the crazy and the corrupt!
Smoking Gun: A Vegas bartender was robbed at gun point, and his bosses made him pay it back to him!
Odds: 7-1: With a strong showing in the regular season and upgraded defense, expect Nevada to go very far!

4. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers are back for another go round! Nebraska may be home to America’s corn fields but they’re also home to some batshit crazy and completely extreme “religious freedom” bills which are neither religious nor free. And outside of Omaha the counties of Nebraska are run by some absolutely bonkers people. But as far as their Fiscal Irresponsibility credentials go, they are strong!
Smoking Gun: What’s up with Nebraska’s $500 million dollar water plan? It’s poorly thought out and even experts in both Nebraska and Colorado are baffled!
Odds: 7-1: It could be a huge upset in this conference if Nebraska wins and experts are predicting they could!

[font size="6"]The Gun Nut Conference [/font]



If the phrase “armed to the teeth” means that you are quite literally arming your teeth, then we have the conference for you! It’s the conference where shooting first and asking questions later is the sign of a polite society. Who cares if you’re labeled an ammosexual? You can’t feel threatened if you bring your semi-automatic to Chipotle while you’re out getting a burrito run. And that gun is not the only thing that’s going to misfire after a burrito run, know what I am saying? Gun rights? These are states where the guns have more rights than people do! It’s not enough to exercise your 2nd amendment freedoms to carry a firearm, you want enough weapons and firepower to take out a small army! The Gun Nut Conference: Do You Feel Lucky, Punk? Since 1896.

1. Texas Our 2021 champions are poised to make a strong splash once again! Yes, the Lone Star State is back for another go round and they are here to shoot first and ask questions later. Hell, even beings from other worlds know that Texas is the place to buy your firearms as we have learned if you have ever seen Thor: Ragnarok. But that said the state that has as much violence as it does guns is looking to win and repeat their victory in 2022!
Smoking Gun: California is preparing a gun control bill that mimics the language of Texas’ anti-abortion ban!
Odds: 2 – 1: Texas were the hands down favorite to win last year and they are looking to win it all again this year! But strong competition from Florida could derail their plans!

2. Idaho: The Gem State is back for another round of the NFFSA tournament! Yes, their gun credentials are strong as once you get outside of Boise, there really isn’t much to do except for shooting them all and letting god sort ‘em out. In fact Idaho’s gun credentials are so strong that they’re actually boosting protections for gun manufacturers when most of the rest of the country wants to eliminate them completely!
Smoking Gun: There’s a bill being floated in Idaho that would actually eliminate the ban on carrying guns in crowds. What could go wrong?
Odds: 5 – 1: A very long shot to win the tournament, but they could surprise everyone and upset the big guns!

3. Florida Ah yes, Florida. America’s wang. The Sunshine State. The penis of America. They have been national champions before and they could be poised to pull off the impossible again! Florida has been the home to some absolutely extreme examples of gun violence in the last four years, but that hasn’t stopped them from going all out and supporting the shooters and gun manufacturers of America, victims? What victims? Were the guns harmed?
Smoking Gun: A Florida couple got married at a gun store, with AR-15s in hand. That is all.
Odds: 5 – 1: A major favorite to make the Final Four this year and they could do some serious damage!

4. Missouri Missouri was the center of the Black Lives Matter movement and one of the epicenters of the George Floyd protests in 2020. And yes they’re also the home of Bill Parsons and the McCloskey family who became MAGA celebrities because they like to waive their guns in front of large crowds. And let’s not forget that Missouri is the one state in America in which guns have more rights than people do!
Smoking Gun: Missouri has been sued multiple times for a controversial law that gives guns more rights than people! It’s true!
Odds: 10 – 1: The longest of shots considering who they are going up against, but once again anything can happen!

[font size="6"]The Family Values Conference [/font]



In the Family Values Conference, all things are about Jesus! It’s the conference where your faith is worn on your sleeve and all other parts of your body. It’s the states where the Lord watches over all of his creation and the people. It’s the states where the sheep are plentiful and your highest collegiate aspirations include Liberty University. It’s the states where the Red Hot Chili Peppers are replaced with MercyMe on the radio and people actually pay to see those God’s Not Dead movies. And who needs godless heathens KFC when you have Chik-Fil-A? If you’re trading vicious anti-COVID memes with your friends threatening Dr. Fauci while simultaneously posting memes saying that Jesus loves you, then this conference is for you! The Family Values Conference: We pray through the knees so you don’t have to since 1896!

1. Alabama Our 2019 champions are back for another round and they are rested and ready to do some damage in the Layover League! Last year, Alabama took their anti-abortion laws to unprecedented new heights and had a strong showing in the Family Values Conference! But for this year? They’re not just upping their abortion law insanity, they’re actively adding on one more abortion law to an already bloated pile!
Smoking Gun: Alabama’s literally done everything except flat out outlaw abortion – and they’re going all in on a controversial new law that would outlaw birth control pills!
Odds: 2 – 1: The Tide are poised to win the Family Values Conference again, but some incredibly strong competition could derail their plans!

2. North Carolina: They’ve long been underdogs in the Family Values Conference, but the election of some die-hard Christian nationalists like Mark Robinson have catapulted the Tar Heel State to unprecedented new heights! North Carolina may bill itself as a “save haven for Christians” but that doesn’t mean that they’re above fundamentalist white nationalism or some good old fashioned gun toting! Everything is on the table whether it’s firearms or gay marriage and they are not having any of it!
Smoking Gun: North Carolina LT governor Mark Robinson recently claimed that “guns are a gift from god”. So what could go wrong?
Odds: 5 - 1: They’re facing strong competition from the Tide, but they could pull off an upset and really do some damage!

3. Indiana: The Hoosiers are tanned, rested, and ready to go! The home of Trump’s last SCOTUS pick Amy Comey Barrett is also the home of a hardcore Catholic cult that is looking to outlaw abortion on an unprecedented scale! They are looking to do some damage and possibly end Roe V Wade, but they’re doing it under the guise of “protecting kids”, which we all know damn well that it will end up doing more harm than good!
Smoking Gun: Indiana also snuck a provision in their anti-abortion laws that would also challenge the use of medical marijuana, possibly setting up a SCOTUS case!
Odds: 7 – 1: Indiana had a great showing during the regular season and could do some damage if they pull off an upset, though anything is possible!

4. Tennessee: They may call Nashville “music city”, and America’s fundamentalist Christians are attempting to build the city into the right’s equivalent of Hollywood, but the music doesn’t just stop at the Grand Ol’ Opry. Oh no! The Tennessee governor, Bill Lee, is looking to turn the Volunteer State into a full blown Christian theocracy! That’s right – there’s no end to how low the Bible Belt won’t sink to when you’re hanging out with the Volunteers!
Smoking Gun: Tennessee is considering adopting the incredibly harsh Texas abortion vigilante law, and we all know how that is going to end!
Odds: 10 – 1: They are a very long shot to win the conference, but could prove to be entertaining if they pull off an upset!

[font size="6"]The Schedule: [/font]



[font size="6"]The Bracket: [/font]



[font size="6"]Next Week: [/font]

When we come back on March 17th it’s Round 1 Week 1 and we’re live from Las Vegas where it’s a battle of the Batshit Conference as #3 Arizona takes on #4 South Dakota, while over in the Family Values Conference, #1 Alabama takes on #2 North Carolina! Be sure to follow @10Idiots on Twitter for bracket updates and bracketology!


[font size="4"]And Now This: [/font]
[font size="4"]Dream Theater [/font]

Folks my next guest are a legendary progressive metal group from New York City. Their latest album is called “A View From The Top Of The World”. You can see them on tour through March 21st. Playing their song “The Alien”, give it up for Dream Theater!



We’re taking a short break next week, we’ll be back on St. Paddy’s Day, March 17th, with the start of Stupidest State 2022! See you in two weeks!

Credits

Host: Initech
Top 10 Conservative Idiots Recorded At: Constellation Room at Observatory OC, Santa Ana, CA
Dream Theater Appears Courtesy Of: InsideOut Music
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