TWATs for Week Ending 5/8/22

There is so much shit going down concerning SCOTUS my head is spinning. I can only imagine what those I am familiar with working in the human rights field are feeling. I do know I have many depressed friends.

With that said, ATM I have no plans of adding my two cents, as doing so will only be excess noise on my part (subject to change). But do not take my silence as approval of the draft opinion concerning the termination of pregnancy. It is NOT!! I remember pre Roe v Wade. Granted I was very young but the stories I remember did not have a happy ending.

The elimination of Roe v Wade is just the beginning as many rights other than abortion will be under attack as well — from access to contraception (Griswold v. Connecticut), gay rights (Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 and Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015), as well as inter-racial marriage (Loving v. Virginia).

If the GQP gains control of the House and Senate, our Democracy is over. Theocracy will rule the day. All I can say is get the fuck out and vote like your life depends on it!!

 

Vaccination for CV-19 does not cause AIDS!! https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-senator-says-may-true-233002349.html While Ron Johnson didn't actually state it does, he didn’t really “push back” against Callender’s false and dangerous claim; he said it “may be true.”

What's worse Johnson is helping to spread an already debunked notion. If you remember, AVer Sherri Tenpenny https://interestinghmm.blogspot.com/2022/04/twats-for-week-ending-4322.html already has been refuted. Callender and Tenpenny run in the same circle.

And to be clear, there is no such beast a VAIDS. It is entirely fictional. The COVID-19 vaccines do not compromise the body's immune system, but rather stimulate it to recognize and more easily defend against the disease.

This is not foreign territory for Johnson as he has, in the recent past, touted AV talking points. For example: Anthony Fauci “overhyped” the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2021/12/03/world-aids-day-ron-johnson-said-1980-s-crisis-overhyped/8836267002/ Johnson has been an advocate for the unproven use of Ivermectin, https://wisconsinexaminer.com/brief/johnson-pushes-ivermectin-and-vaccine-conspiracies-while-local-officials-look-for-help-on-infrastructure/, and he also suggested in a town hall that gargling mouthwash could be an effective treatment. https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/why-does-sen-ron-johnson-traffic-in-misinformation/article_84e18951-7047-5130-9a82-03bc1aa8b1cb.html

It is bad enough fighting cranks like Callander but when it's elected officials it makes it even more difficult. RoJo should know better.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Flag#/media/File:Christian_flag.svg

What a quagmire this has become; although, I am missing the why. I don't see this being a “relgious liberty case” https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/40946-ffrf-supreme-court-ruling-on-boston-christian-flag-is-narrow-but-concerning IF the city is applying the standard equitably. Personally all flags should be banned but for National, State, and county type flags. Any flag displaying religious icon(s) need to be re-designed. But that is a “perfect” world.

From my understanding, the debate is whether the flag is considered “speech” by the government? Why, because the city program that allowed other private groups to raise and fly their own flags was not speech by the city, the court held, the city could not refuse permission to fly a particular flag because of the views that it expressed.

According to Nina Totenberg from NPR, https://www.npr.org/2022/05/02/1095943871/supreme-court-says-boston-unconstitutionally-barred-christian-flag-from-city-hal

"The key," wrote Breyer, was to what extent Boston actually controlled the messages on the flags. And the answer, he said, was not at all. The city's lack of meaningful involvement, he said, led the court to conclude that these flag raisings were not government speech—where the government can control its message—but private speech, in fact religious speech, that cannot be regulated by the government. 

 

Enter The Satanic Temple who “is requesting to fly a flag over Boston City Hall after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that the city violated the free speech rights of a conservative activist seeking to fly a Christian flag outside the downtown building.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/satanic-temple-asks-boston-fly-153541477.html

Lucien Greaves, the organization's co-founder, said in an email Wednesday that the group wants to show that religious liberty must mean respect for “all forms" of religious practice and religious opinion.

"When government officials are able to impose arbitrary restrictions on claims of conscience, or to abridge the civic capacities of some based on their religious identity, we fail to be a free, democratic republic,” he wrote in part.

https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20-1800.pdf - SHURTLEFF ET AL . v. CITY OF BOSTON ET AL.

 

I have heard of some stupid shit in my day, but this takes the cake. “Trump's infamous "covfefe" tweet was actually code for "the antidote to the 5G towers that were really designed to work with the (COVID) vaccines and essentially hack human beings."” https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=7954649241215624

In order for this to be “true,” it would have to be shown that CO (cobalt). V (vanadium), and Fe (iron) can form a stable molecule.

A woman who says she’s from a Nevada parent’s group unleashed an out-of-control rant on the Clark County School Board Thursday, attacking water rights, Planned Parenthood, school trips to Disneyland, claims about “sexually-confused teachers,” and even accusing one member of having a box of “pubic hair.”

The woman, who introduced herself as Stephanie Kinsley from My Children’s Advocate, began by attacking the school board for discussing a sex education curriculum. https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2022/04/watch-nevada-parents-group-rep-launches-off-the-rails-rant-at-school-board-meeting-gets-escorted-out/

My Children’s Advocate has a website that appears to be anti-LGBTQ rights, anti-mask, and anti-CRT. On its Facebook page it is promoting Republican Joey Gilbert for governor.

Its most recent post includes these hashtags: #groomers #perverts #genderconfusion #childabuse #woketeachers #saveyourkids #pedos #satanic #evil #agenda.

I have heard some vile, hateful shit but this palls in comparison. “Radical right-wing commentator Josh Bernstein is confident that Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor, or Elena Kagan are responsible for the SCOTUS/Roe leak and wants these "three evil bitches" investigated for treason.” https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=766682580986597

Beside the hate, bigotry, misogyny and racism wrapped up in a little over a minute, dude has no clue what treason is. The United States Code at 18 U.S.C. § 2381 states:

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

 

According to source, https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-baal-sacrifice/

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed this week that Democrats are "sacrificing babies on the altar of Baal" by supporting abortion rights for women.

During an interview with host Joe Pagliarulo, Greene explained why Democrats are upset by a leaked Supreme Court ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

She didn't even read the fucking book, https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2022/05/woman-demands-city-council-ban-award-winning-lgbtq-book-from-public-library-they-refused/

Tuesday night Washington state’s Liberty Lake City Council voted 4-2 to not force the local public library to remove a popular, award-winning LGBTQ book, “Gender Queer,” from its shelves. It was the second loss for Erin Zasada, a local realtor, KREM reports.

Zasada first tried to get the book banned by filing a complaint with the local library. The book, an award-winning graphic novel, a memoir about coming out as nonbinary has been popular with teens but is housed in the adult section of the library which anyone can access. It’s also one of the most challenged books in school libraries across the country.

When I started tracking the news for bizarre people and stories 20 odd years ago, most of what I found was well “hidden.” I was was told that was just conspiracy or fringe, now it is mainstream. And the more vile, the better.

While the Lt Governor did not speak these words, her presence at the rally provided explicit agreement with such sentiment. https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/radical-conspiracy-theorist-stew-peters-campaigned-for-idaho-lt-gov-janice-mcgeachin/

So that does it for this episode, and yes there is more. With that said, I present to you Professor Plink. https://www.youtube.com/c/ProfessorPlink A YTer that respond to various theological and ideological questions and claims from a rationalistic and naturalistic approach. But he does so from more of a layman's perspective. IOWs he doesnt drown you in deep philosophical droning and explains the opposite viewpoint balancing the conversation.