The Most Prayingest Prez Ever.

Flauros is a strong Great Duke of Hell, having thirty-six legions of demons under his rule. He gives true answers of all things past, present and future, but he must be first commanded to enter a magic triangle for if not he will lie, deceive the conjurer, and beguile him in other business. But if he enters the triangle he will answer truly, and gladly speak about divinity, the creation of the world, himself, and other fallen angels. He can also destroy all the conjurer's enemies by burning them up. If the magician requests it, he will not suffer temptations from any spirit or in any form. Flauros is depicted as a terrible and strong leopard that under request of the conjurer changes into a man with fiery eyes and an awful expression. Flauros can also supposedly be called upon when a mortal wishes to take vengeance on other demons. This is likely included in his capability to destroy the conjurer's enemies.

Flauros is a strong Great Duke of Hell, having thirty-six legions of demons under his rule. He gives true answers of all things past, present and future, but he must be first commanded to enter a magic triangle for if not he will lie, deceive the conjurer, and beguile him in other business. But if he enters the triangle he will answer truly, and gladly speak about divinity, the creation of the world, himself, and other fallen angels. He can also destroy all the conjurer’s enemies by burning them up. If the magician requests it, he will not suffer temptations from any spirit or in any form. Flauros is depicted as a terrible and strong leopard that under request of the conjurer changes into a man with fiery eyes and an awful expression. Flauros can also supposedly be called upon when a mortal wishes to take vengeance on other demons. This is likely included in his capability to destroy the conjurer’s enemies.

Today, we have self-styled prophet Mark Taylor (again), and Carl Gallups. We’ll start with Mr. Taylor, as he provided the subject line for this post.

Taylor told host Perry Atkinson that Mary Colbert, with whom he authored his book “The Trump Prophecies,” is a part of Trump’s evangelical advisory board and that Trump recently told this group that “when he leaves office, he wants his legacy to be that he wants to be known as the most praying president in American history.”

Has anyone seen the Tiny Tyrant praying outside of a few photo ops? It’s very difficult for me to imagine Trump saying that, close to impossible, really. I doubt Trump wants a legacy of appearing to be submissive to a god.

Taylor went on to assert that Trump’s name-calling and personal attacks on his critics are no different than what Jesus did.

“I’ve seen evangelicals attack this man over how he attacks people or how he speaks to people or he’ll call people names,” Taylor said. “Well, read your Bible folks, the Lord Jesus himself called people names.”

Yes, Jesus had his moments, mostly with hypocritical, corrupt assholes. Wait…

Taylor said that America is in such “a huge mess” that God realized that it was going to take someone “with a very heavy hand” like Trump to turn things around, which means that those who are criticizing Trump are actually criticizing God.

“God himself is using Donald Trump,” Taylor said. “It’s God that is doing it, He’s just doing it through Donald Trump.”

No, I’m afraid ol’ Yahweh isn’t doing shit, Mr. Taylor. This is magical thinking in action. Until you folks can point to something which is obviously, unequivocally the work of a god,* I can’t be arsed to pay much attention. (Then you have to figure out which god, out of the thousands. Fun times!)

Moving on to Carl Gallups, who is sticking with old school: birtherism. I still can’t believe that’s a word.

Carl Gallups, a right-wing pastor and conspiracy theorist who spoke at Trump campaign rallies during the 2016 election and who served as a “special deputy” on disgraced sheriff Joe Arpaio’s “Cold Case Posse” investigation into President Obama’s birth certificate, said last night that President Trump is “getting his ducks in a row” to finally expose Obama’s phony birth certificate, despite efforts by the “deep state” to intimidate him into silence with the Russia investigation.

Appearing on “The Hagmann Report” last night, Gallups said that Arpaio’s contempt conviction earlier this year was nothing more than an effort to discredit his birther investigation but Trump is “now in the White House, he now holds the power, he now holds the reins” and so he pardoned Arpaio because he is getting ready to blow the lid off the “earth shattering” scandal.

Why don’t these people ever get tired of this shit? Apparently, they have no problem with being bored to death, or boring others to death. Trump pardoned fellow sociopath Arpaio because he thinks Arpaio is a good guy, a fine person, like all those nazis. It’s not because there’s an “earth shattering” revelation in the offing. Even if you posit this nonsense as trufax, what would be the point? You can’t rewind the last eight years, and the Idiot King has already wrought devastation on most of the good policies which were in place. So really, who would care?

“I’m convinced that Donald Trump is probably getting his ducks in a row to bring this to the forefront,” Gallups said.

Donald. Getting his ducks in a row. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Has anyone drawn Trump as Donald Duck yet? Oh, yes!

That was a nice distraction.

“All of these sham investigations that they have going on on him—there is no evidence that he did anything with Russia to sway to sway our election, but I’m telling you, it’s all a big smokescreen and shots across his bow to say, ‘Don’t you touch this birth certificate.’”

Oh FFS. There’s a mountain of evidence, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. One might say Yuuuuuuuge or Bigly! On top of the evidence, the fucking idiot keeps incriminating himself, with help from his idiotic spawn.

Via RWW: Taylor, Gallups.

Ox, Camel, Dromedary, Ass, and Wild Ass.

This is where two leaves, after f.21v are missing which should have contained ox, camel, dromedary, ass, wild ass, part of horse. Filling in from other sources today, and partly tomorrow, with horse.

Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16, Folio 47r.

Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16, Folio 47r.

Oxen can predict the weather, and knowing when it is about to rain, refuse to leave their stalls. They do not like to be separated from their kind; an ox wants to be with its usual partner when pulling a plow, and they will roar if separated. There are several kinds of ox: in India lives a particularly cruel sort with one horn, that cannot be tamed. Ox horns are used to make drinking cups.

The dung of an ox cures the bite of a water snake called hydros (Isidore, Etymologies, 12, 4, 22). [This is a hydrus, click image for full size.]

Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 70): Indian oxen are said to be as tall as camels and to have horns up to four feet wide. Among the Garamantes oxen only graze while walking backwards. A tale is told of an ox that is worshipped as a god in Egypt.

British Library, Harley MS 4751, Folio 24r.

British Library, Harley MS 4751, Folio 24r.

There are two types of camels: Bactrian, which have two humps and are strong; and Arabian, which have one hump and are more numerous. They hate horses. Camels can endure thirst for three days and prefer to drink muddy water; if only clear water is available, they will stir it up with their feet to muddy it. When they drink, they fill up for both past thirst and for future needs. Some camels are good for carrying burdens, while others are better suited to traveling. Their hoofs do not wear down. They can live for one hundred years, unless they are taken to a foriegn country, where the change of air makes them ill. Female camels are used in war. Camels grow wild with the desire to mate; this desire can be destroyed by castration, which also makes the camel stronger.

Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 26): Camels are found in the East, and are of two kinds: Bactrian, with two humps, and Arabian, with one hump. Both kinds are like oxen in having no teeth in the upper jaw. They live fifty to one hundred years, but are vulnerable to rabies. They are used to carry burdens; they will refuse to carry more than the regulation load. They are also used in battles, but are slower than horses, for which they have an inate hatred. They can travel four days without water; when they find water they drink to quench their thirst and to provide for the future, first stirring up the water with their fore feet. Their strength is increased by denying them sexual intercourse; for this reason both males and females intended for war are gelded.

Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 1:35): The camel gets its name either from the Greek chamai meaning low and short, because camels lie down while they are being loaded, so they are shorter or lower; or from the Greek chamai (meaning hump) because they have a hump on their back. Most camels come from Arabia. Camels from other lands have one hump, but Arabian camels have two.

[Read more…]

J.K. Rowling: Defending Abusers.

When Johnny Depp was cast as Grindelwald, I thought he’d be wonderful in the role. However, around the time of filming his cameo in the first movie, stories had appeared in the press that deeply concerned me and everyone most closely involved in the franchise.

Harry Potter fans had legitimate questions and concerns about our choice to continue with Johnny Depp in the role. As David Yates, long-time Potter director, has already said, we naturally considered the possibility of recasting. I understand why some have been confused and angry about why that didn’t happen.

The huge, mutually supportive community that has grown up around Harry Potter is one of the greatest joys of my life. For me personally, the inability to speak openly to fans about this issue has been difficult, frustrating and at times painful. However, the agreements that have been put in place to protect the privacy of two people, both of whom have expressed a desire to get on with their lives, must be respected. Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies.

I’ve loved writing the first two screenplays and I can’t wait for fans to see ‘The Crimes of Grindelwald’. I accept that there will be those who are not satisfied with our choice of actor in the title role. However, conscience isn’t governable by committee. Within the fictional world and outside it, we all have to do what we believe to be the right thing.

Given Rowling’s love of colonialism and her staunch embrace of bigotry, this comes as no surprise to me. I walked away from her some time back, when she made it clear that her bigotry was more important to her than respecting indigenous peoples and portraying their traditions and stories correctly.

People everywhere are demanding that senators, congress critters and various public personalities to resign over harassment and abuse. But not Ms. Rowling, no. She makes it more than clear that she does not believe Ms. Heard, given her understanding of the circumstances. Uh huh. Rowling & Co: “Did you do that, Johnny?” Johnny Depp: “No! Bitches lie!”

Fantastic Beasts director David Yates previously defended casting Depp, calling Heard’s domestic abuse allegations “a dead issue.”

There’s a sweet sentiment for you. There has been, of course, quite a reaction, but I doubt it will be enough of one to put a dent in Ms. Rowling’s pockets.

There’s more at Raw Story.

The Voice of God at the Gates of Hell.

Oh, it’s Lance Wallnau again. Lance has decided to be the voice of god with presidential access, because um, someone has to do it?

Lance Wallnau posted a video on Periscope today in which he declared that if Americans rebel against the will of God and give Democrats control of Congress in the 2018 elections and allow them to impeach President Trump, it’ll mean that “the spirit of Antichrist” has triumphed over the church.

Streaming from inside the Center for National Renewal in Washington, D.C., with whom he apparently has an official connection, Wallnau declared that charismatic Pentecostal Christians such as himself have been called to “have access to presidents as the voice of God” so that they can “release this warrior angel for America.”

The Center for National Renewal expends quite a bit of time and energy to come across as mild and humanitarian, and I suppose for christians, they might slant a bit to that side, but their main drive is the ‘centrality of christ’, which they feel should be front and center in every facet of life, including government. They seem to think they’ll be successful in bringing together all the 30,000something factions of christianity. They are firm believers in National Christianity, which should worry the hell out of everyone.

Of course Lance decides that his particular flavour of christianity will be the voice of god with access to presidents. The plural is interesting. I guess Lance wants a lock on more than just the Tiny Tyrant. Oooh, a warrior angel. That would be something to see. Too bad we never will.

“If America goes down,” he warned, “if we screw up these midterms coming up, if we let the devil put a false impeachment on this president, if the will of man rebels against the will of the majority of the people that put him in through the Electoral College, then the spirit of Antichrist beat the spirit that was in the church of Christ.”

Boring. So boring. The talk about the antichrist has been going on for fucking decades, people have been so sure that this or that president is the antichrist, yadda, yadda, yadda. So now it’s just the spirit of the antichrist, is it? I guess you can’t blame an antichrist of getting tired of waiting and wandering off. Seems to me that people have been rebelling and fighting against the crime called the electoral college ever since the election, which the Tiny Tyrant lost. The electoral college is an unnecessary appendage, which was first dreamed up as yet another protection for slave owners. It has no business in a modern constitution which disavows slavery altogether. Unsurprising you find christians in favour of the spirit of slavery. As for impeachment? I live in hope, and it would not be false. The idiot king has no right to be in office.

“So that is why I am at the gates of influence,” Wallnau added. “Because Washington is where the gates of hell want to take over and it’s not gonna happen.”

Mm hmm. Which is it, gates of influence or gates of hell? I think you’re going to have to pick, Lance. Some would say there’s little difference between the two, given lobbyists and the wealth of corruption bubbling away. Personally, I think you just want to get in on some of that oh so sweet corruption, stuffing those pockets with more cash.

Via RWW, there’s video.

The Heartland Institute.

The Heartland Institute is still busy, somewhat behind the scenes, in their quest to mold the constitution to their desires, none of which are good.

The Heartland Institute, a right-wing think tank that promotes free-market ideology and denounces climate-change “alarmism,” published an interview this week with Neal Schuerer, an advocate for a “convention of states” to propose a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. The BBA effort is one of several active right-wing campaigns to convene a convention under Article V of the Constitution in order to limit the powers of the federal government. Under Article V, if 34 states submit calls for a convention to propose constitutional amendments on a given topic, Congress must call a convention of states.

[…]

Proponents of a convention to promote a balanced budget amendment have been sparring in recent years with an even more aggressive effort that aims to dramatically limit the jurisdiction and power of the federal government, replacing our current constitutional order with one focused on states’ rights. That effort is backed by Religious Right leaders, including Alliance Defending Freedom’s Mike Farris, Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver, Christian-nation “historian” David Barton and anti-marriage-equality activist Robert George.

Just like our evangelical government, this too is serious business, and needs to be known about and taken seriously. Now that all the christians slavering over end times have gotten their Idiot King to make the Jerusalem move, they are feeling powerful and unstoppable. And they just might be, given that the Tiny Tyrant cannot say no to them, and most people being blissfully unaware of what they are doing.

Schuerer himself calls the BBA a “first step”:

A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution is the first step in reining in an all-powerful, all-consuming central bureaucratic government that our founding document attempted to guard against.

We as citizens of the United States have the right and duty to bring about responsible reform to our founding document, reflecting the values of the people and the nature of free and independent states. We know what needs to be done. All we need is the courage to just do it.

It’s important to realize that this is not about constitution reform and dragging that moldy document into the current century; this is about making it even more regressive. These are people who want the power and right to oppress and prosecute all those people they have problems with, which amounts to most people.

Schuerer says his group Campaign Constitution is working with the Heartland Institute’s Center for Constitutional Reform to “bring all the competing interests together.” And he talks about how close his group’s effort is to reaching the threshold of 34 states:

The Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force entered the 2017 state legislative year with great expectations, following the Trump election and the number of Republican governors and legislature majorities growing.

Twenty-eight states had active applications, with the goal of adding four to the number—Arizona, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Wyoming—bringing the number of active applications to 32.

Arizona and Wyoming approved the BBA application resolution. Maryland, New Mexico, and Nevada rescinded applications, making a net loss of one and bringing the number of active applications to 27. Recently, Wisconsin approved the BBA application, returning the total to 28.

Moving into 2018, there is very little margin. Idaho, Kentucky, and South Carolina are a must, bringing us to 31 active applications.

Montana will likely join in when it gets that close, to 32.  Minnesota and Virginia are tough calls because of internal political disagreements on the issue of an Article V amendment convention. Washington state and Maine are anyone’s guess.

That brings the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force and the national Article V movement to 32 states by the end of 2018.

Now would be the time to get very worried, and to try and find ways to counter these evil assholes who are intent on making things much, much worse. Every day, we get closer to the Theocalypse.

Via RWW.