For Week Ending 7/24/22

Plan B,,,

Kinda sort a quiet week, or at least it seemed to be. Then again, the NIFBY nit-wits are in the mix, all bets are off. 

Bear in mind Shelley is not the first NIFBY idiot to travel this route as Steven Anderson broached such in 2014. https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/steven-anderson-wacko-tempe-pastor-now-in-anti-semitism-business-6651793 Anderson has given sermons covering such subjects as “The Jews and Their Lies,” “Hebrew Roots Movement Exposed,” “The Jews Are Antichrists,” “Jews Worship a Different God Than Christians,” “The Jews Are the Racists,” and “The Jews Killed Jesus.”

Anderson also co-produced with Paul Wittenberger, the anti-Semitic film Marching to Zion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hWmx0niWuU

But what is so very, very funny - and I do mean in a haha way – Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, has gotten under another NIFBY hate preacher's skin, one Aaron Thompson. https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/a-christian-hate-preacher-condemned-me-for-quoting-him-accurately/

As Hemant notes, ignoring the dribbled coming from Thompson,

New IFB churches are relatively tiny. They rent out space in strip malls and preach to tens of people at a time. However, years ago, they learned the power of live-streaming their sermons on YouTube, allowing casual viewers from all over the country to listen to their preaching. In any given week, the number of people watching their sermons is comparable to a fairly decent-sized church, which is why the pastors always make sure their video cameras and microphones are working. They preach multiple sermons a week and put everything online.

Here’s the problem, though. Unlike most of those other churches, the New IFB people are antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ. They believe that, in a perfect Christian world, the government would prosecute gay people, convict them on sodomy charges, and execute them. Not only do they openly call for the government-sanctioned murder of gay people, they are downright giddy when a mass shooting takes the life of LGBTQ people,,,

So when Aaron Thompson whines about being “persecuted,” he’s saying that when people like me share clips of him saying indefensible, violent things, it often leads to strikes or bans on his YouTube channels, which prevents his bigotry from reaching larger groups of people than he ever could on his own.

And here Hemant hits the nail,

For what it’s worth, I don’t share those Christian hate-preacher clips because I hate Christianity. If they didn’t say outlandish, cruel things all the time, I wouldn’t post about them. Most preachers aren’t in the business of creating content for atheist YouTubers and podcasters; these guys absolutely are. I don’t have to take them out of context because their in-context remarks are awful enough on their own.

I’m holding up a mirror to them, and guys like Thompson don’t like what they see.

If you track the NIFBY idiots as I have done for almost 10 years, it is good to keep what Hemant has to say close to mind. While this faction of hate preaching has been kept in check - sorta, what is gaining traction in the pipes may bust out at any time. (Greg Locke comes to mind; see Telltale Unfiltered for some interesting content. https://www.youtube.com/c/TelltaleUnfiltered/playlists)

I have never liked Josh Feuerstein especially since his 2015 camera scam. https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2015/04/27/wheres-the-camera-you-promised-to-buy/ He has only gotten worse, CV vaccine denial and a role in January 5, 2021 events. https://www.newsweek.com/pastor-joshua-feuerstein-says-you-dont-need-vaccine-you-got-jesus-delta-surges-1617659 His next scandal should not surprise anyone.

From the FFRF, 

https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/41288-penalize-a-shamelessly-politicking-ariz-church-ffrf-insists-to-the-irs

The IRS must immediately take action against a politicking Arizona church that is openly challenging the tax agency, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding.

The Redeemer Apostolic Church in Mesa, Ariz., has recently been involved in blatant electioneering. The church hosted Pastor Joshua Feuerstein to perform a prayer revival event on Feb. 4. At this event, Feuerstein openly endorsed Jerone Davison’s candidacy for the U.S. Congress. Feuerstein even acknowledged that his endorsement of Davison was illegal and dared the IRS to take action against him,,,

Feuerstein clip - https://twitter.com/hemantmehta/status/1549133246755127300

If anything transpires I will be surprised. Since 2008 only one of more than 2,000 Christian clergy deliberately challenging the Johnson Amendment has been audited, and none has been punished. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-wrong-pulpit-freedom-already-exists/2016/08/05/77706c10-5815-11e6-9aee-8075993d73a2_story.html

And FYI, the 1954 Johnson Amendment, basically states that churches and other nonprofit organizations that are exempt from taxation "are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office." https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/the-restriction-of-political-campaign-intervention-by-section-501c3-tax-exempt-organizations

Here's a name I haven't uttered since 2014-ish - Michael Peroutka!! https://twitter.com/hemantmehta/status/1549798005527773189 For those that remember, in 2014, Answers in Genesis had an Allosaurus fragilis donated to the Creation Museum by Peroutka. https://www.capitalgazette.com/cg2-arc-25cef04f-9950-5947-91ea-6da3ca34af9e-20140714-story.html

Vice sums up the current version of him well,,, https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjkbdb/michael-peroutka-gop-maryland-attorney-general

Michael Peroutka thinks American leaders must “take a biblical worldview and apply it to civil law and government.”

He’s a former board member of the neo-Confederate League of the South, has said he’s “still angry” that Maryland was blocked from seceding during the Civil War.

He thinks public education is a communist plot, says laws protecting abortion and gay marriage are illegal and unenforceable because they violate God’s law, and called the concept of the separation of church and state a “great lie.”

Peroutka won the GQP primary to become Maryland's next attorney general. Vice notes, 

His views are extreme even for the modern Republican Party, and once would be considered disqualifying for any major party nominee for statewide office. But his emergence as a serious candidate shows just how far the door has been thrown open to extremism in the Republican Party. The GOP base’s embrace of election falsehoods and anti-science COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and flirtation with white supremacist rhetoric has given once- fringe figures like Peroutka an opening to push into the political mainstream.

To be clear, Peroutka has not changed. But the party base that’s embracing him has.

Very troublesome times are ahead if these nutters gain ground.

For those interested, Hemant's podcast which discusses Thompson and Peroutka - Podcast Ep. 436: Who's the Real Hate-Preacher? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGun0oqEZUM&t=1311s

Time for a wee bit of comic relief as I am so reminded of the scene in Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier where Kirk ask god why he needs a starship. Sadly, Katt Kerr in her bit of fantasy is not jesting. https://twitter.com/hemantmehta/status/1549140007377567745

Is it sad that how I broach Kerr's religiosity is in a jesting manner? I seriously can not take this woman seriously!!

So that will do it for this installment as I am approaching the time limit. In an update to the Guidestones debacle. They still have no leads as to the bomber and there are talks underway to maybe rebuild. https://www.yahoo.com/news/georgia-guidestones-bomber-eludes-investigators-170229994.html Obviously not everyone had the impression that a satanic cabal was responsible for its construction and what was written on the Stones.

Time for the Pitchforks and Torches on Marriage Issue - BarbWire.com

Now Lively is beginning to sound like faux preacherman Josh Feuerstein in a video where according to his own words he is either very blissful or very ignorant. How exactly are we to take Livelyseriously with a screed such as the following:

The battle today is for marriage, the core of the natural family. Every human being on this planet will be harmed if the elites are allowed to destroy it by mutation. It is no different than Monsanto destroying natural foods or seeds by mutating their DNA, or Big Pharma destroying bodies by flooding the health industry with artificial, often poisonous “remedies.” Our common paradigm in the grassroots for guiding society should be natural vs artificial across the board, including natural marriage and family: rejecting the counterfeit alternatives to the self-evident design of our ecology — and our physiology.

The natural family is the ecosystem of humanity! It must be preserved at all costs.

How? By a populist uprising! The elites need to see the angry mob — liberals and conservatives together — surging through the streets, pitchforks and torches held aloft, ready to tear down Frankenstein’s castle with their bare hands if need be. For Christians it’s Jesus and the money-changers time! Making a whip of cords like He did with His own hands, and letting these arrogant puppet masters know we mean to use it (metaphorically speaking).

[,,,]
The only way to deter the elites is with the threat of the mob. They need to see the pitchforks and torches to know they’ve gone too far and need to back down.

That’s where we are today in America. The elites want to eliminate the natural family to create a better class of serfs: state-bred children for the factories and the battlefield — easier to control, dulled by drugs and sexual promiscuity … and bread and circuses.

Time for the Pitchforks and Torches on Marriage Issue - BarbWire.com

CFPB: Private Student Loan Companies Provide Few Options For Borrower, Driving Them To Default – Consumerist

I found this article of interest as recentlly a well known internet preacherman has been "advertising" this

With the following comment:

Which raised a few red-flags as I have been dealing with the student loan fiasco for 20+ years.  Although the advertisement is not clear (nor is the attached website) as to what loans they are able to work with, it is disconcerting to see how many where so willing to turn over they identities to this company without a whimper.  The comments run into the thousands, and this is the first of two postings I am aware of by Feuerstein.

As I said in my comments, privately held student loans are handled much different than federally backed studdent loans.  A point this article makes quite clear.

By now we all know that for many consumers taking out private student loans is the only option when it comes to financing their higher education. We also know that many of those same borrowers will ultimately end up defaulting on their debt. A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests that it’s not borrowers’ lack of willingness to repay that lands them further in debt, but a lack of resources provided by lenders that drives consumers to default.

The new report [PDF], which analyzed 5,300 private student loan complaints over the past year, reiterated previous assumptions that private student lenders are not doing enough to help struggling consumers repay their loan obligations and avoid default.

The report highlights borrowers’ helpless in the face of evasive practices perpetrated by many private student loan lenders.

[,,,]
Although private student loans do not come with the same repayment plans afforded to federal student loans, many lenders may offer borrowers’ temporary forbearance.

The short-term fix, which provides a brief period of time when no payment is due, often does little to actually provide relief to borrowers. In fact, many consumers reported encountering burdensome enrollment fees and processing delays that sometimes led to surprise defaults.

[,,,]
Officials with the CFPB say these shortcomings reflect an industry that has done little to make good on commitments by lenders to expand alternative repayment options.

“The response by the private student loan industry to distressed borrowers is failing to help them avoid default,” Rohit Chopra, CFPB student loan ombudsman says in the report. “Too many borrowers are barely treading water, losing hope that these companies will throw them a lifeline.”

Because there are few alternatives for private borrowers, many reported that the lack of assistance from lenders resulted in the consumer being driven to default.

CFPB: Private Student Loan Companies Provide Few Options For Borrower, Driving Them To Default – Consumerist