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Half-baked Republican Presidential Fruitcakes (and fellow confections)

robindch

For anybody lucky enough not to have heard of her, Michele Bachmann is the new Sarah Palin. Recently, she seemed to say that god wanted her to run for US President next year:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/michele-bachmann-a-sense-god-calling-me-to-presidency/2011/06/27/AG3FvmnH_blog.html

Meanwhile, according to politifact.com, she's been caught lying more than any other candidate to date:

http://www.thejournal.ie/us-presidential-hopeful-accused-of-pants-on-fire-esque-falsehoods-164742-Jun2011/
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/michele-bachmann/statements/byruling/pants-fire/

Anybody looking forward to President Bachmann?

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Odhinn

Her cough might well get softened with this
https://www.thejournal.ie/grimes-suing-odoherty-4700195-Jun2019/?utm_source=shortlink

Hotblack Desiato

Three cheers for Grimy!

latest?cb=20150523130350

Walter Bishop

Steve King, the IOWA GOP Rep., noted for his colourful, some would say fascist, tendencies, has a nice patriotic re-tweet for July 4th...

robindch

Can Steve King handle the truth?

smacl

I see that Tommy Robinson / Stephen Yaxley-Lennon got jailed today for nine months; https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/11/tommy-robinson-given-nine-month-jail-term-for-contempt-of-court

smacl

Do like the t-shirt though

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robindch

smacl wrote: »

I see that Tommy Robinson / Stephen Yaxley-Lennon got jailed today for nine months

Not only that, but poor little Tommeh/Stephen has had enough of English law and now wants to become a refugee himself:

https://twitter.com/JimMFelton/status/1148498029533630464

Hotblack Desiato

I'm sure there's a nice camp near the Rio Grande that could find a spot for him.

smacl

robindch wrote: »

Not only that, but poor little Tommeh/Stephen has had enough of English law and now wants to become a refugee himself

Don't know why he's panicking, no doubt there will be a place for him in Boris's new government.

Odhinn

smacl wrote: »

Don't know why he's panicking, no doubt there will be a place for him in Boris's new government.

...in the Foreign office, no doubt.

Meanwhile, Gemma is stating that the whole Tuam babies incident is a hoax.
https://twitter.com/gemmaod1/status/1150695458509086721

mikhail

Odhinn wrote: »

Meanwhile, Gemma is stating that the whole Tuam babies incident is a hoax.

What a vile position to adopt. Sad that there are people who'll swallow it in desperation to excuse that sordid facet of their religious institutions.

Odhinn

Her accounts on youtube have been closed, by reason of "hate speech". She's at the door of google whinging

https://twitter.com/newsworthy_ie/status/1151166667776561154

Odhinn

"Tommy Robinson's former camerawoman Lucy Brown accuses Robinson and his associates of spending thousands they've received in donations on cocaine."
https://mobile.twitter.com/libcomorg/status/1153632537627058178?fbclid=IwAR3yVGQGBYji1P6pL91yAs-7ICDdbynSnosHs7PpeRURjqqyZ8ycQpFAQyE

robindch

Speaking for God, Pat Robertson announces that #45 "is in great danger of losing the mandate of Heaven" if he abandons the Kurds to any upcoming Turkish invasion of Syria. God was likewise silent regarding all of of #45's previous activities too.

https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1181258801455996934

volchitsa

As an aside. "Mandate of Heaven": Isn't it a wonderful way to make your opinion on stuff seem far more important - suddenly it's not just your own thoughts, you get to decide who "Heaven" is rooting for too.

How did we not see long ago what a scam this whole religion carry-on was?

smacl

volchitsa wrote: »

As an aside. "Mandate of Heaven": Isn't it a wonderful way to make your opinion on stuff seem far more important - suddenly it's not just your own thoughts, you get to decide who "Heaven" is rooting for too.

How did we not see long ago what a scam this whole religion carry-on was?

Seems like Pat Robertson is confusing the wanna be American emperor with a Chinese one.

Odhinn

How do you get informed you have the "mandate of heaven" in the first place? Phonecall? E-mail? Skype? burning bush?

Peregrinus

Odhinn wrote: »

How do you get informed you have the "mandate of heaven" in the first place? Phonecall? E-mail? Skype? burning bush?

Pat Robertson tells you.

Hotblack Desiato

LOL

Peregrinus

Nowadays we call this the electoral cycle. It rotates rather more quickly than the dynastic cycle, but it's basically the same thing.

Hotblack Desiato

Seems the campaign to re-elect the president (which in the Nixon era went by the wonderful acronym of CREEP) has a neo-Nazi running its social media.

The incumbent President of the United States of America ran now-banned Facebook ads loaded with Nazi references

Facebook has removed online ads and posts by President Trump's reelection campaign for violating its rules prohibiting "organized hate," a step the ad biz has been reluctant to take.

The ads, which are said to have been circulating on Facebook since June 3, 2020, claimed that dangerous mobs of left-wing groups are running riot, and urged ad viewers to add their names to a marketing list and donate money to the Trump campaign.

According to Media Matters, the ads were revised on June 17, 2020, to include a red triangle symbol that was used by the Nazis to identify political prisoners in concentration camps. The watchdog group says the Trump campaign ran 88 of these ads yesterday.

The Anti-Defamation League identifies 88 as a hate symbol. It's used to refer to the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet, "H," which repeated twice can stand for "Heil Hitler." What's more, the first sentence in these ads is 14 words, also a white supremacist dogwhistle. Quite a coincidence it seems.

If Facebook is removing it, it must be bad...

robindch

Yesterday, the US Treasury Department released the names + addresses of the businesses to whom they have lent cash under the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the US's attempt to keep the economy afloat during covid. There are 661,000 companies which received more than $150,000 and heaven only knows how many which received less than $150k.

CNBC looked at the list which threw up some interesting titbits:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/06/coronavirus-stimulus-list-of-ppp-small-business-loan-recipients-released.html

In the $150+ bracket, there are over 500 organizations listed which contain 'god' in their name, 1100 containing 'jew', 1400 baptist, 2200 catholic and over nine thousand 'church'(es). Even the Ayn Rand Institute was not exempt from government generosity - choosing to accept a loan somewhere in the range $350,000 to $1,000,000.

The full data is available as a zipfile and probably contains enough information to keep data scientists busy for years to come:

https://sba.app.box.com/s/tvb0v5i57oa8gc6b5dcm9cyw7y2ms6pp

Hotblack Desiato

Interesting that religious organisations can be classified as businesses when it comes to handouts, but charities when it comes to paying taxes

Bannasidhe

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Interesting that religious organisations can be classified as businesses when it comes to handouts, but charities when it comes to paying taxes

Or that Libertarians aren't adverse to big government giving them a hand out.

Peregrinus

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Interesting that religious organisations can be classified as businesses when it comes to handouts, but charities when it comes to paying taxes

Not that interesting, unless you assume that "charity" and "business" are mutually exclusive categories. A brief acquaintance with reality will disabuse you of that notion.

Religiously-motivated undertakings that employ people qualify for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program on exactly the same conditions and criteria as apply to undertakings not so motivated. The principles of secularity require this, surely? Similarly, not-for-profit employers qualify on the same terms as for-profit employers. It would be much more interesting if that were not the case.

Pherekydes

Peregrinus wrote: »

The principles of secularity require this, surely?

And why doesn't the principle of secularity apply when it comes to taxes?

Then they hide behind religion.

Peregrinus

Pherekydes wrote: »

And why doesn't the principle of secularity apply when it comes to taxes?

Then they hide behind religion.

It does. Churches get the same tax treatment, by and large, as other non-profits.

smacl

Peregrinus wrote: »

It does. Churches get the same tax treatment, by and large, as other non-profits.

Though not other non-prophets...

Hotblack Desiato

Peregrinus wrote: »

It does. Churches get the same tax treatment, by and large, as other non-profits.

Which doesn't address the issue of why promotion of religion is seen as a charitable purpose in itself.

Peregrinus

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Which doesn't address the issue of why promotion of religion is seen as a charitable purpose in itself.

True. But it's a bit of a red herring; if abandon the idea of the state decreeing what is and is not charitable and switch instead to a US-type system of taxing undertakings according to the religion-neutral criterion of whether they are for-profit or not-for-profit, you get a very similar outcome.

The only way to tax churches but not other not-for-profit enterprises is to impose a special tax on churches, as churches. Which of course those who advocate a secular state could not countenance for an instant.