Sunday Facepalm.

Bill O’Reilly went to Breitbart to opine about us awful lefties and promote his latest book, which I hope will end up remaindered. Bill seems to think that the whole business with confederate statues is tied up with the constitution.

On this morning’s edition of “Breitbart News Daily,” O’Reilly spoke about his new book about the American Revolution before pivoting to discussing progressive protesters who have recently called for cities and states to remove Confederate monuments in the wake of a violent white supremacist Alt-Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month.

Oh my. So O’Reilly fancies himself a historian now. That book has to be one gigantic near-fatal eyeroll. I’ll have to content myself with imagining the unholy mess it will be, because I’ll never read it.

“There’s no question in my mind that it’s the Constitution that they ultimately want to overturn,” O’Reilly said. “The statues are just a wayside to get to the Constitution.”

“They never say it, but that’s what it is,” O’Reilly continued. “The statues are just symbols, and I said very early on when I saw this controversy in Charlottesville , ‘Hey, it’s not going to stop with Robert E. Lee or the Confederate generals.’ This is going to go into the fabric of our country.”

Actually, Bill, they don’t have anything to do with one another. That said, other countries have never had a problem with updating their versions of constitutions, recognizing that times change and progress marches on in spite of people like yourself. That’s a mark of a healthy society. Instead, in this country, there’s an extreme sickness called constitution worship, which makes it damn near impossible to update the worn out, fucked up document at all. Any healthy society would look at it and say “yes, it’s time for changes, let’s get that re-write done.” I don’t have the least bit of trouble envisioning those who wrote it going back over the years, and deciding it was time for a change (Thomas Jefferson wanted it to be torn up every 19 years*). I doubt they thought anyone would be stupid enough to preserve it for hundreds of years. And yet, here we are, with a most outdated document, which politicians ignore and constantly sidestep, unless someone they don’t like is doing the same, then they scream about their constitution love. Right now, there’s an argument before the court which says that wedding cakes deserve first amendment rights, but queer people don’t. I think that’s a fair indicator that it’s time for the constitution to go, because it’s used the same way christians use the bible – it’s there to be twisted into supporting every evil viewpoint they can come up with, it’s there to support hate.

As for the “fabric” of our country, well, when fabric is old, worn, frayed thin, with a zillion holes in, it’s time to replace it. Any idiot ought to be able to grasp that one, including you, Mr. O’Reilly.

Via RWW.

ETA: Apparently, this is Constitution Day. A flag wavin’ holiday no less. Point fuckin’ proved. Christ.

Silly College Kids, Voting Is Not For You!

Ann Coulter, who is part of a trifecta of evil speakers, will be at Berkeley this month, but right now, Ms. Coulter thinks it’s fine to rant away about how college students should not be able to vote.

On yesterday’s episode of the “Howie Carr Show,” Coulter vented about The Washington Post’s debunk of claims that massive voter fraud is taking place in New Hampshire; the Post found that many of the alleged fraud cases were actually out-of-state college students from casting legal ballots in New Hampshire.

Coulter first explained to Carr that she didn’t think students should be voting in states where they attend college if they don’t establish permanent residency in that state, but then said that it would be  “outrageous” for a college student to change her residency to her college town.

Oh right, you can’t manage to refute the WP’s finding, and you can’t manage any reasonable response, so the answer is “college kids shouldn’t be able to vote! they are too stupid brainwashed!” So, Ms. Coulter, why do you think it’s worth your time speaking at colleges, if it’s not an attempt to radicalize young people into being mindless ragebigots? That is the point, right? After all, you and Bannon and Yiannopoulos aren’t going to Berkeley to whip up a nice froth of hate just to be followed by a “hey, kidding! you’re too young and dumb to matter, thanks for the money, bye.”

On the social level, where humans in general lag way behind in forward movement, things tend to get better with each new generation. Each new generation tends to be more thoughtful, more mindful, more accepting, and more involved in what’s happening in their various worlds. Me, I think that’s a good thing. Us older folks, we have to be careful our brains don’t rust shut while we weren’t listening. It’s important to keep our brains and our viewpoints exercised, and I would never once consider stripping young adults of their right to vote, ffs, that’s barbaric. And damn stupid. Not to say it can’t be a challenge, listening to young people, but y’know, you need to remember that enthusiasm you had long ago before life pounded you into the ground a thousand times.

Coulter then reached the conclusion that “college kids shouldn’t be voting” at all.

“It’s just to get the results of 13 years of Chinese-style brainwashing,” Coulter said. “I don’t think that people should be able to vote until they’re 30.”

Yeah. Could this be retroactive? After all, if you want to strip years of voting eligibility away from young people, then all the voting you did for that 12 years, well, those need to be taken away. Let’s have decades of recounts! Then we could just fuck all the rules, and put certain people in office, or back in office, for periods of time. Fun, right? Calling this nonsense stupid is an understatement. Of course, given that Ms. Coulter is over 30, that makes things very convenient for her, doesn’t it?

Via RWW.

Movimento Brasil Livre Shuts Down Queer Art Exhibit.

Danillo Villa, “Fuck” (2016).

Conservative assholes everywhere are getting their way anymore. In this case, a bunch of conservative asshole libertarians got an art show shut down a month early.

Santander Cultural, a gallery space sponsored by the eponymous Spanish bank, decided to close Queermuseum after receiving an onslaught of vitriolic criticism on social media and from gallery visitors last week. People have accused the artwork of being offensive as well as harmful to children, citing blasphemy, pedophilia, and bestiality. One of Santander’s buildings was recently tagged with the phrases “the Santander Bank supports pedophilia” and “they are antichrists.” Behind these protests is the libertarian group Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL), which has gained traction throughout the country ever since it drew mass support of former President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment. “Pedophilia, zoophilia, and the sexualization of children definitely do NOT represent the LGBT universe,” the group wrote earlier today on its Facebook page.

In an interview with Hyperallergic, Fidelis, the curator, said he hadn’t been consulted by Santander and was caught off-guard by its decision. According to Fidelis, during the 25 days that the exhibition had been up, there had been no complaints. It wasn’t until last Wednesday that members of MBL began infiltrating the exhibition, assaulting visitors, and taking videos of the exhibition and posting them to Facebook.

In one video, three men pan over the artworks, exclaiming, “See for yourself whether this is art!” Among the images they linger on are Adriana Varejão’s 1994 painting depicting gay and interracial sex and Antonio Obá’s “Et Verbum” (2011), where communion wafers are scrawled with words such as “vulva,” “tongue,” and “asshole.” “This guy should be in jail,” one of the men says, referring to Fidelis. “They are perverting the notions of family.” 

Amid intensifying online debate on Sunday, Santander announced on Facebook its decision to take down the exhibition. In the statement, it apologizes to those who felt disrespected and ultimately concludes that Queermuseum was “not in line with our view of the world.” Ironically, Santander critiques the exhibition, which celebrated marginalized artists, for not being “inclusive” and not “generating positive reflection.” The statement, which is worth reading in its entirety, is translated in full below: …

Fernando Baril, “Cruzando Jesus Cristo com Deusa Schiva” (1996) (photo by F.Zago Studio Z).

You can read all about this, and see more at Hyperallergic.

All Lives Splatter.

A Chelan County emergency services worker posted a disturbing joke to the county’s Facebook account, kidding about protesters being rammed three weeks after a Virginia protester was killed by a driver who did so.

The worker managing the county’s emergency services Facebook account posted a crude cartoon with an illustration captioned, “All lives splatter … nobody cares about your protest / Keep your ass out of the Road”

The as-yet unidentified poster included the note: “I don’t wish harm on anyone … but protesters don’t belong in the road!”

Mmm, you don’t wish harm on anyone, but you show a depiction of people being harmed because, “hey, it’s funny, and those libtards deserve it, lol!” I imagine if such was directed at you, emergency services worker, you wouldn’t find it so gosh darn amusing. I sure as fuck don’t. Handing J. Q. Public license to murder is not funny. It’s not funny that open murder is being written into law, because of course, dissent is evil, so you better do all your dissenting someplace legal, like your closet, where you can’t help to effect any change at all.

Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett apologized for the post on Monday, saying the non-commissioned employee intended to share it only on a personal account.

“Staff at Chelan County Emergency Management feel terrible that this inappropriate and hurtful post made it onto the Facebook page,” Burnett wrote in the news release. “Changes have already been made in procedure to assure nothing like this will ever occur in the future.”

Oh, and that makes it okay, does it, to change things so this sort of evil shit can’t make it to the official page? Naturally, having employees posting this vile poison on their personal accounts, that’s just dandy! Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think I’d want Chelan County emergency services anywhere near me. Your asshole employees would be just as prone to killing me as helping me, right, Sheriff Burnett?

In recent months, law enforcement workers around the country have been called out for posting the meme and similar statements.

A Slate examination of the trend in August – “Run Them Down”: Driving into crowds of protesters was a right-wing fantasy long before the violence in Charlottesville – highlighted three police officers and one firefighter who were caught urging vehicle attacks on protesters. One Oregon cop was fired for suggesting that drivers “push the right” pedal when facing Black Lives Matter protesters.

Pigs will be pigs, won’t they? This is what happens when cops shops refuse to hire intelligent people. This is what happens when cops shops happily hire white supremacists and assorted dumbshit bigots. Then gives them a license to be homicidal prickshits.

Via Seattle PI.

Sunday Facepalm.

Oh Kevin Swanson, the religious extremist’s extremist. He’s at it again, pouring down Jehovah’s wrath in the form of hurricanes, natch. Mr. Swanson has a solution to Hurricane Irma eating Florida, though!

Kevin Swanson declared on his radio program today that the Supreme Court should immediately reverse its Roe v. Wade and Obergefell decisions before God unleashes his judgment on America in the form of Hurricane Irma.

Swanson, who just last week said that Hurricane Harvey was the judgment of God on Houston, said that these “God-ordained disasters” are a warning to this nation to repent for its myriad of sins.

Now, Swanson said this on the 7th this month, and I have to say, it would be a fun experiment, if you could get the Supreme Court to say, okay, the law is suspended until such and such a date, and see if it would magically wither Irma. We all know it wouldn’t have the slightest effect, and the religious reich would claim that Jehovah got all sniffy ’cause it wasn’t a permanent reversal. Of course, it doesn’t take much to make Jehovah all sniffy and pissy.

“God is in control of what is going on,” he said, “and whether or not Irma is going to do $200 billion worth of damage in Miami … is all in the hands of God. Those winds are going to blow where they are going to blow, but they’re going to blow in the direction that God ordains them to go. Friends, God is in complete control and utter control of what is going on with these hurricanes.”

Well, the wind is gonna go where it goes, but Jehovah is in control, you betcha! So, that’s why Mar-a-Lago and other overblown McMansions of conservative assholes are right in the path, and that’s why we’re all getting taxed for the federal coverage of Pres. Pinchpork’s palace. So, one could go with the assumption that Jehovah isn’t upset about gay people, but conservative assholes. Unfortunately, Jehovah’s aim has always been notoriously bad, so a lot of good people are gonna get screwed over here, but Jehovah has never been one to care about ‘collateral damage’.

“The wrath of God against this nation is intense,” Swanson continued. “I wish that American leaders would sit up and pay attention … The Supreme Court of the United States needs to reverse Roe v. Wade and Obergefell now, this afternoon, before Irma does her damage. It would be a good thing if the Supreme Court of the United States understood that God is in control of these things and God is a personality and God is offended by the sins of this nation.”

Oooh, Jehovah is a personality. A psychopathic one. Yeah, I’m not shaking in my boots over your non-existent psychopath, Mr. Swanson. Climate change, on the other hand, there’s reason to be scared shitless.

Via RWW.

Fetuses for Ba’al!

The stele of Baal with Thunderbolt found in the ruins of Ugarit.

Mark “can’t be too lurid” Taylor, self-styled prophet, is at it again. How does this man manage to do anything like eat? He never shuts up. This time, it’s Baal (Ba’al). Well, Ba’al and people who believe in bodily autonomy and reproductive choice. On to the lurid idiocy!

After repeating his prophecy that God is going to supernaturally remove five Supreme Court justices so that President Trump can replace them and overturn Roe v. Wade, Taylor warned viewers not to be fooled by those who claim they support a woman’s right to choose.

“People have to realize the strongman over America is Baal,” he said. “Baal is a very violent entity, he is the second in Satan’s triune, he is the second in command, he is the counterfeit Christ. It feeds off the blood of the innocent, which is the aborted babies. This is why Baal is the strongman, because the aborted babies are the food source that is empowering Baal.”

Sigh. What a fucktonne of nonsense. In the first place, Ba’al is a placeholder, much like god, in this case, meaning Lord. The actual god was Hadad, a storm and weather god. Things changed over the years, and Ba’al became the name rather than the epithet. Ba’al is mentioned in the bible, more than once, as a rival god to young Yahweh/Jehovah. Ba’al’s worshipers got right up Jehovah’s nose, and he called for them all to be slaughtered, more than once. Ba’al never had anything to do with Lucifer, or his triune, whatever that might comprise. Lucifer wasn’t the convenient fall guy of Ba’al. Different gods, Mr. Taylor. Try reading something, like, oh, the bible. Now, Ba’al is a fertility god, with a particular enmity toward snakes, so I think if he was going to feast on blood, it would most likely be snakes or the local river god. Ba’al was also the patron of sailors and sea going merchants. Not such a bad god. He certainly didn’t hate his worshipers and everyone else like Jehovah. Oh yes, Ba’al’s conflict with Yammu is now generally regarded as the prototype of the vision recorded in the 7th chapter of the Biblical Book of Daniel. Yet another god the bible writers happily thieved.

I’m pretty sure that medical waste incinerators are not made in the form of Ba’al, with all medical personnel and people who are pro-choice suddenly Ba’al worshipers.

Taylor said that “if you’re listening to these politicians and they’re telling you, ‘Oh, we’re pro-choice, it’s all about a woman’s right to choose, it’s all about women’s health,’ you’re being duped, you’re being lied to.”

“They don’t care anything about you,” he said. “All they want from you, as a woman, is to be a breeder for that food source, for you to abort that baby to feed their god called Baal. They don’t care anything about your right to choose, they don’t care anything about your health, all they want is that baby aborted as a sacrifice because every time you abort a baby, it’s a sacrifice to their god called Baal.”

Oh. Apparently, Mr. Taylor does think we’re all worshipers of Ba’al. Well, there are worse gods, to be sure. Topping the list would be that psychopathic monster Mr. Taylor worships, who has a most serious problem with women, along with his followers. Terminating a pregnancy is about not breeding, Mr. Taylor. You want women to be forced to breed and birth, with nary a thought for any woman’s health or welfare, and we all know you couldn’t give a shit about the children, either.

Via RWW.

Freezing The Tiny Tyrant’s Words.

John Roach, Aaron Moore, Brian Chase, Victoria Keddie, Alexander Rosenberg, Ben Wright, “Frozen Words Hot Air” (2017) (courtesy the artists).

Many of us probably feel the urge, at least once each day, to smash the hateful things President Trump has said (or tweeted). On Friday, September 8, the artists John Roach, Aaron Moore, Brian Chase, Victoria Keddie, Alexander Rosenberg, and Ben Wright will use those overblown and grammatically incoherent groups of words as the basis for a multidisciplinary, poetic, satiric performance at UrbanGlass titled “Frozen Words Hot Air.” Handpainted glass objects emblazoned with words from Trump’s speeches will be blown live by Wright and Liesl Schubel, then played by Chase and Moore, while audio snippets of those same speeches are remixed and manipulated by Keddie.

John Roach, Aaron Moore, Brian Chase, Victoria Keddie, Alexander Rosenberg, Ben Wright, Frozen Words newspaper (2017) (courtesy the artists).

Inspired by the 16th-century French satirist François Rabelais’s The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel (ca 1532–64), the performance references a particular scene from that tome. In it, the heroic giant Pantagruel crosses a sea of thawing ice that, as it melts, releases the ghostly sounds of a gruesome battle that took place there during the winter. On Friday, all the hot air blown by President Trump will be symbolically frozen, manipulated, and smashed. An accompanying artists’ newspaper to be distributed at the performance, Frozen Words, will gather the jumbled and rearranged speeches for posterity.

When: Friday, September 8, 7–8pm
Where:UrbanGlass (647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn)

This sounds like a fabulous show, it’s certainly a well-inspired one, and I’d love to see this in person. If you have the opportunity, take it! Via Hyperallergic.

A Satanic Frequency Changes Your DNA!

Self-styled ‘prophet’ Mark Taylor is at again, resurrecting all the old shit, Illuminati, Freemasons, and so on. He seems to favour the ultra-lurid flavour of bullshit, while his colleagues in christianity are busy placing the finger of “god” blame for Hurricane Harvey mostly on Houston’s Mayor. That would be a serious case of overkill, but that would be Jehovah’s style. [one, two.]

“I believe what happened on November 8 is the enemy has literally sent out a frequency,” Taylor said, “and it agitated and took control, basically, of those who have their DNA turned over to the enemy. That’s what’s happening. The Illuminati, the Freemasons, all these people, their main goal is to change the DNA of man and they’re doing it through these frequencies.”

So boring. I recently read The Ritual by Adam Nevill, which early on mentioned the Goat of Mendes. I hadn’t heard that particular appellation before, so I looked it up, only to be so disappointed it was only Baphomet, a creation of bloodthirsty christians in their hatred of Muslims back in the good ol’ days, y’know, crusades. (Still a good book, guaranteed to give seasoned hikers one fit after another). This current crap being pitched by Mr. Taylor, it’s so old, and still moronic nonsense. Even the satanic frequency silliness isn’t new. I didn’t listen to the show, but I am curious as to how this particular frequency is being beamed out. Maybe it’s Facebook! Twitter! The evil internet itself! Cell phones! Music! Fox News! It’s Fox News! Uh oh, those electricity poles look suspicious… lock yourself in your closet, now.

Taylor claimed that he is getting “bombarded with emails” from Christians who are being isolated by their friends and families because of their support for Trump and that is “because their DNA is being controlled by the enemy.”

Someone needs to be kind enough to send an extremely basic biology primer to Mr. Taylor. He doesn’t seem to understand how all that biology stuff works. Does the mere mention of DNA still scare christians? I thought that went the way of old nonsense quite a long time ago. Christians who adore Trump aren’t being isolated because “friends and families DNA is being controlled by some nebulous and nefarious enemy” – you said it yourself, Mr. Taylor, it’s their support for Trump that’s doing the trick. You’re the bad guys. That’s why people are turning away. That, and listening to idiots drool adoration of the Tiny Tyrant is nauseating. Easier to wander off and not pay much attention to Uncle Chuck anymore.

Taylor said that the media is broadcasting its audio at 440 Hz, which has been found to “damage your body organs” and “also changes your DNA, which is the goal of the Freemasons, the Illuminati; they want you part of that Illuminati bloodline.”

:falls over laughing: This idiocy is near as old as the hills, I expect Mr. Taylor will soon try to get in on that luscious tinfoil hat money. Although I expect the usual “solution” to Luciferian switched DNA is the usual: prayer. Maybe exorcisms, there’s money to be had there by the ever unscrupulous. I would like to know just how DNA is being changed. What changes are being wrought? Will people start poofing into archangel form, perhaps? Or will they become Overlords, a la Childhood’s End? I imagine Mr. Taylor doesn’t know about those who deeply desire transhumanism and the singularity. I’m sure if he finds out, he’ll manage to work it into his current shtick.

Via RWW, where you can listen, if you so desire. You might want to put a tinfoil cap on first.

Dear Fashion Magazine Editors…

“I guess Melania is used to wearing heels around a disaster area.”

Like everyone else the other day, I rolled my eyes over Ms. Trump heading into Texas on 4 inch spikes. The sheer inappropriateness of these vulgarians is always and never surprising. What would be truly fabulous, though, is if one (or all ) the powerhouse fashion mags published serious articles on how to be stylish and practical when touring disaster areas – avoid those embarrassing fashion faux pas with our guide! If only the editors had the spine to do so, that would be one happy and grand statement.

 

Trump White Hood & Rubber Sheets.

I maybe ruined this, but for a brief moment there were KKK hoods & piss proof sheets in the trump tower gift shop.

Hee. Some artists had fun in the Trump Tower gift shop.

Shoppers looking for MAGA hats at Trump Tower this week may have encountered a Ku Klux Klan hood or a photo of President Putin, and asked themselves whether what they were seeing was real merchandise.

On Monday afternoon, two NYC-based artists secretly slipped some items inside the merchandising outpost of the Trump Tower’s lower lobby. Among them: A Trump-emblazoned KKK hood “for fine people,” sealed packages of pee-proof rubber sheets, and a Russian flag. In the front of the store, a postcard display featured the 45th President of the United States, Vladimir Putin, along with cards paying tribute to First Lady Ivanka Trump, and the flap of flesh near the president’s throat area, known as a Wattle.

Artists are the best! And a massive Well Done! in this case.

“We thought the tourists coming in to buy some stuff, especially people from other countries, should get the whole story of who the president is, because the items in the Trump store don’t accurately reflect the person,” one of the two artists, who asked that we not reveal his name, told Gothamist.

Those actual items in the restroom-adjacent newsstand include an oddly-muscular bobblehead of the president ($40), a “Melania Trump First Lady License” ($4), and a mousepad featuring all 45 presidents.

Next door, a kiosk sells Official merchandise, including the Trump Signature Collection cufflinks ($45), a painted gold coin bank ($20), and Trump golf towels and putter covers ($30).

[…]

Asked if he was concerned that the current administration might be too absurd to satirize, our underground source admitted that was a possibility. “My partner was in the back putting in some of the items and he said to someone, ‘Oh did you see this?’ and they didn’t even bat an eye.”

Neither did the people who work in the store, at least for a little while. As of Tuesday morning, the Putin/Ivanka/Wattle postcards were still on display—though the shopkeeper did notice when we attempted to buy one of the cards, and quickly ordered us out of the store while calling security. Upon returning an hour later, all of the items appeared to be gone.

“Every time you think you’re going to get Trump on something, he outdoes the parody,” explained the tipster. “He hasn’t started selling white hoods yet, but after that batshit speech he gave two floors up—well if there’s enough money to be made, he’d probably start.”

The Gothamist has the full story.

Fox News Britain Dies.

Fox News host Steve Doocy (screen grab).

Fox News Britain has died, the plug pulled by Murdoch. Now, if only it would die here.

RIP Fox News Britain. The end has come to the conservative network in Great Britain after failing to garner viewers.

CNN reported Tuesday that Rupert Murdoch and his sons have decided to pull the network rather than to trying to continue to attract an audience. The network also caused a major problem as the Murdoch family tried to conduct a $15 billion takeover of Sky News.

“Fox News is focused on the U.S. market and designed for a U.S. audience and, accordingly, it averages only a few thousand viewers across the day in the U.K.,” 21st Century Fox said in a statement.

“We have concluded that it is not in our commercial interest to continue providing Fox News in the U.K.,” it added.

Designed for a U.S. audience. That it is, and it’s a right pity it’s designed for dumbfucks.

Via Raw Story.

Peering Down Trump’s Lie Hole.

Kate Kretz, “Lie Hole IV” (2017), colored pencil on black Rives BFK paper, 10 x 8 inches, from the “Lie Hole” series.

This mouth has bullied and cheated its way through the world.

This mouth has claimed self-invention, but was born gnawing a silver spoon.

This mouth blusters and brags.

This mouth promises to pay the builders of its empire; then refuses, counter-sues, and laughs.

This mouth can’t suppress its instinctive, arrogant sneer.

This mouth incites hatred and violence, spreading intolerant aggression like a cancer.

This mouth expresses glee at its own retaliatory cruelty.

This mouth will say and do anything to win.

This mouth is oblivious to its own stupefying ignorance.

This mouth, wet with slime, has forced open countless unwilling lips.

This mouth degrades the women he can’t manage to get  his tiny, swollen hands on.

This mouth has a predatory predilection for young girls (daughter included).

This mouth…

Head on over to Hyperallergic to read the rest of Kate Kretz’s piece. Blunt, and brilliantly done.

In other Trump-based artwork, check out ‘As a satirist, I can barely keep up’: the stories behind the Trump magazine covers.