More TWATs for Week Ending 5/1/22

 

As I stated in the last episode of TWATs, there was more to come. These stories are a bit more involved than normal so they were relegated to if I have time department.

 

The Satanic Temple is at it again and I mean that in a good way. https://triad-city-beat.com/satanic-temple-after-schools/

The move to host the After School Satan Club at Joyner Elementary comes as a direct response to the Good News Club, an evangelical after-school organization which applied to use three Guilford County schools last month.

But according to source,

On Tuesday afternoon (26th), Nora Shoptaw with Guilford County Schools told TCB that the requests for renting GCS facilities by both the Good News Club and the After School Satan Club were under review. Neither is authorized to use GCS facilities at this time.

“GCS is currently reviewing with its legal counsel how fliers for non-school sponsored clubs and events are distributed, as well as the district’s obligation to grant organizations equitable access to our public facilities,” Shoptaw’s statement reads.

It seems the Guilford County school district did not take the case from 2001, Good News Club v. Milford Central School, seriously. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/533/98/ GNC v Milford held that when a government operates a "limited public forum," it may not discriminate against speech that takes place within that forum on the basis of the viewpoint it expressed. In this case, religious speech.

And yes, The Satanic Temple targets school districts that allow evangelical or conservative Christian clubs in their schools to offer an alternative after-school program. Knowing this it is important to note,

In response to the school district’s possible change in policy, Bobby E. Fowler, the state director of the Child Evangelism Fellowship of North Carolina, Inc., sent school board members and the superintendent a letter advocating to let the Satanic Temple to use school facilities.

“Although CEF strongly disagrees with what Satan Clubs teach, we do agree that the Supreme Court Ruling applies to them as well,” Fowler wrote.

A continuation of a story touched upon in the previous TWATs episode. https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2022/04/gop-lawmakers-spreading-false-furries-claim-school-kids-are-pretending-to-be-animals-and-demanding-litter-boxes-again/ It seems the furry debacle is or has become quite widespread. What started in Nebraska, has now hit Minnesota. Has gone from the pulpit to state legislatures (Steve Drazkowski, Eric Lucero, and Tim Miller all Republicans).

According PolitiFact, “School districts in Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska have debunked claims that they are providing litter boxes in bathrooms.” Also, other Furry claims have occurred in Wisconsin and Texas.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/apr/08/facebook-posts/claim-about-schools-providing-litter-boxes-student/

As NCRM notes, “These are grown adults, elected officials, standing in the Minnesota people’s house and spreading ridiculous falsehoods.”

 

I may have missed this little factoid concerning Roger Stone. Not only is he a wack-job but now a religious one at that. IOWs he saw the gift https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roger-stone-claims-there-is-a-satanic-portal-over-the-white-house/

Stone—who was convicted by a jury on seven counts of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction in relation to special counsel Robert Muller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election—claims to have become a dedicated Christian because God used Trump to pardon him for his crimes. In this capacity, Stone claims to have developed a new appreciation for the importance of waging “spiritual warfare” through prayer.

Gotta hand it to Roger. He knows how to play the grift and he plays it well. The merging of politics and spirituality, a dangerous mix.

 

Here is a perfect example of Trump's claimed voter fraud. https://www.rawstory.com/tracy-kay-mckee/ The issue, McKee is a Republican.

According to the New York Daily News, a 64-year-old woman now living in California was given probation instead of jail time as prosecutors wanted after she confessed she used her dead mother's ballot to vote twice in the 2020 presidential election in Arizona.

The report notes that a tearful Tracy Kay McKee admitted that she cast the fraudulent vote for her deceased mother in Maricopa County -- the same county that conducted the months-long and expensive investigation into election fraud at the behest of former president Donald Trump. that did not go his way.

The report states that McKee was handed two years of probation, hit with a fine and ordered to perform community service in lieu of the 30 days in jail prosecutors asked for.

Note:: An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump has found fewer than 475 — a number that would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election. https://apnews.com/article/voter-fraud-election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-7fcb6f134e528fee8237c7601db3328f

"I support military aid to Ukraine but I want to say that we would not even be in Ukraine if President Biden did not shut down the Keystone Pipeline on the first day [of his presidency]," Watkins replied.

"'Because now that that's shut down, we have to get our oil and we're getting it from Russia and we're getting all these problems through the Ukraine that would not have happened if Biden did not shut down the Keystone pipeline," he added.

An incorrect statement by Ron Watkins, https://www.rawstory.com/ron-watkins-corrected-video/ a GQP candidate running for Arizona's 2nd Congressional District. He was corrected, on stage, by Walt Blackman,

"That is not why [Russia] went into Ukraine. They went into Ukraine because Ukraine [wanted] to be a part of NATO. Listen, you're trying to work on a national stage and you don't even know why the war started in Ukraine, it had nothing to do with the Keystone pipeline."

It's about damn time Republicans put a stop to the idiocy coming from their party.

And FYI the US gets 3-6% of oil from Russia (now banned), less than 2% from Ukraine. It is important to note as well that the US would not benefit from the pipeline as TC Energy claimed. TC Energy is a Canadian company and even with its expected production, the effects on the market would be negligible.

Just when I think we have hit rock-bottom when it comes to stupidity, along comes another bright and shining star. Elijah Schaffer https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2925874847708794 from TheBlaze is a prime example. There is so much wrong with this statement, I don't know where to begin.

How Atheists (and Satanists) are Flipping Right-Wing Christian Bigotry on Its Head | Alternet

With a bit more strength in numbers, non-believers are more boldly challenging conservative Christianity’s encroachment on U.S. law. And organized religion has handed them a weapon: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, recently made infamous by Indiana and Arkansas. The acts are intended to protect Christians from serving gay couples and other potential nightmares, but conservative lawmakers may have overplayed their hand, passing laws that enshrine access to atheists, Satanists, Wiccans and others.
 
As one Wiccan leader recently said, “I think these bills are horrible, but if they are going to open up this can of worms, we are going to shove it right in their face.” Atheists (and Satanists and Wiccans) across the country are doing just that.

[,,,]

Newdow’s strategy depends on whether atheism is defined as a religion for the purposes of pluralism, or whether by opposing religion it sits beyond religion’s constitutionally enumerated protections. Whether atheism in fact counts as a religion is less than clear, and is being adjudicated on a case-by-case basis at the local level. Two recent conflicts—both, coincidentally, from the upper Midwest—have indicated a lean toward yes. 

[,,,]

The Satanic Temple’s theory that it could use Hobby Lobby decision to boot the government out of women’s healthcare decisions sounded half like trolling when it was first made last summer. But,,, 

Mary (a pseudonym) told her doctor upon her first visit that the waiting period violates her beliefs. “I regard a waiting period as a state sanctioned attempt to discourage abortion by instilling an unnecessary burden as part of the process to obtain this legal medical procedure,” Mary’s statement read, per an interview with the Riverfront Times. “The waiting period interferes with the inviolability of my body and thereby imposes an unwanted and substantial burden on my sincerely held religious beliefs.” When the doctor denied the procedure, the Satanic Temple filed suit against the state.

How Atheists (and Satanists) are Flipping Right-Wing Christian Bigotry on Its Head | Alternet

The Satanic Temple Declares May 15th, “Protect Children Day”

The other day the following press release, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE::The Satanic Temple Declares May 15th, “Protect Children Day”, came across my feed attached to this "commentary" (of sorts) from disinformation:

Could offerings to the devil in the classroom help close the test score gap between the United States and other developed nations? From the Satanic Temple’s press release,,,

What I find quite interesting, the contrast between disinformation's presentation of the news and RawStory's presentation:

According to the press release, the Project has set up a website where students can register that they “affirm that my deeply held beliefs acknowledge the inviolability of the human body and mind and being physically and psychologically harmed against my will violates these beliefs.” At that point, the Temple can then contact their school and school district to let them know that they are on notice.

“One of the fundamental tenets of The Satanic Temple is personal sovereignty and the inviolability of one’s body and mind. Hitting a child or placing them in solitary confinement goes entirely against our beliefs,” says Lucien Greaves, Temple spokesperson, in the press release.

“The documents we have made available not only provide students with a notice they can give to their principal that explains their beliefs, but also informs schools that if they refuse to acknowledge the deeply held beliefs of students, they would be violating their civil rights. School officials could potentially face criminal charges if they disregard a student’s convictions,” he continued.

“If students report to us that they have notified their principal of their religious views and they are physically or psychological abused despite that, it is our intention to intervene.”

The Temple is also providing parents with fact sheets about the dangers of both corporal punishment and solitary confinement, as well as a Satanic-themed activity book for students to help them understand their religious rights.

“We want children to know that they are permitted to pray to Satan in school and that they can even share their religious beliefs with others in accordance with certain guidelines,” Greaves said in the press release.

Fox refuses to comment after guest calls for Satanists to be gunned down | The Raw Story

This is just despicable, Faux News needs to do their homework. I have friends who are members of the Church of Satan and I now fear for them,,,

The Satanic Temple has issued a press release demanding that Fox Business News publicly apologize for the remarks made by one of its commentators.

On January 9, 2014, one of the participants in Fox Business New’s “Mensa Meeting,” Bernard McGuirk, said that members of the Satanic Temple who want to erect a monument in Oklahoma City should be executed.

“They should be able to put the statue up, and then they should be shot right next to it, and then we take it down,” McGuirk said.

Lawyers for the Satanic Temple say that “[s]uch incitement to violence is reckless and possibly criminal. Advocacy of the murder of American citizens based on their religious beliefs is intolerable and sickening. For [Fox Business] to disseminate such a position as part of a televised debate on a national network strikes at the heart of this country’s founding principles and potentially places the Temple’s members in imminent danger.”

Fox refuses to comment after guest calls for Satanists to be gunned down | The Raw Story

Religious News Verses: Satanists and Witches | God Discussion

Not quite sure what to think of this. I in no way support WBC but the actions of the the Satanic Temple IMHO border on sacrilegious and just down right stupid and in bad taste; legal or not. But another side of me is wondering, is this being blown out of proportion by ALL involved?? A publicity stunt??

Religious News Verses: Satanists and Witches | God Discussion