Speaking of Power-Hungry Hypocrites

Another bleated Christmas post, this one via Joe.My.God: T

he Christian Post reports:

The Satanic Temple of Illinois displayed a sculpture of an infant version of Baphomet in the state Capitol rotunda in Springfield Tuesday, which can be seen as “just another very sad attempt” by the devil to destroy Christmas, Graham told Fox News today.

As Joe points out in his post, the Satanic Temple is satire, generated by a group of atheists. Their website says specificially that Satan does not exist. According to Joe, Graham knows this -- but you can bet he's not going to let his followersin on the secret.

There Is No Bottom

Eevery tieme you think the right can sink no lower, they find a way. Here's Dennis Preger, via Jo.My.God.

Anywhere that you have people who are governed by fear of global warming – the idiotic, irrational, sick fear of extinction of the biosphere – I mean, you understand the nonsense that we live with?

If we survive this as a free country, historians will just ask, ‘How did this happen? How did people get governed by irrational fears’?

Whether it is of the non-vaccinated, who are the pariahs of America as I have not seen in my lifetime any pariah group like this. “During the AIDS crisis, can you imagine if gay men and intravenous drug users, if had they been pariahs the way the non-vaccinated are?

The nonsense about climate cange is bad enough -- it's hardly an irratinal fear; it's a legitimate concern, especally for those who live in coastal aras, which includes most of the world's major cities. The the comments about how gay men were treated during the AIDS crisis ar simply beyond belief. Prager's left reaity in a dumpster on this one.

All this, of coure, is directed toward making heroes out of a bunch of petulant itiots with their heads full of QAnon bullshit.

The Republicsans hasve lost their freaking minds.

About Face, Forward March

On gay rights, at least, under a Biden admionistration:

As vice president in 2012, Joe Biden endeared himself to many LGBTQ Americans by endorsing same-sex marriage even before his boss, President Barack Obama.

Now, as president-elect, Biden is making sweeping promises to LGBTQ activists, proposing to carry out virtually every major proposal on their wish lists. Among them: Lifting the Trump administration’s near-total ban on military service for transgender people, barring federal contractors from anti-LGBTQ job discrimination, and creating high-level LGBTQ-rights positions at the State Department, the National Security Council and other federal agencies.

Basically, he'll do everything possible to reverse Trump's policies, which of corse came straight from Pence/Jeffress/Perkins/Graham, etc. There's a lot he can do unilaterally, like reversing the ban on transgender military service, since those thingsd were done by executive order. The article goes into some detail on ways and means and is worth reading.

(Via Joe.My.God.)

Of course, good "Christians" like Franklin Graham are sounding the warning:

LGBTQ activists within the Democratic Party are pushing their godless, secular agenda with a potential Biden Administration. If you don’t conform to their ideology, agree with their sinful beliefs, teach what they say is right, they want to close you down.

They will pressure and bully politicians to get their way. It is extremely dangerous if they are permitted to proceed unchecked.

It's called "projection", ladies and gentlemen -- substitute "evangelical 'Christians'" for "LGBTQ activists" and you have the right's strategy of the past several decades.

It's No Secret

That Trump will do anything to retain power, and it's no secret that Roger Stone is nuts, but this is over the top even for him

Roger Stone is making baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and is urging Donald Trump to consider several draconian measures to stay in power, including having federal authorities seize ballots in Nevada, having FBI agents and Republican state officials “physically” block voting under the pretext of preventing voter fraud, using martial law or the Insurrection Act to carry out widespread arrests, and nationalizing state police forces.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. While I would expect Trump and his minions to be a little more subtle -- although subtlety is not one of Trump's defining characteristics -- I can actually envision something like this happening, although I would expect Trump and the Republicans to try to tie the election up in the courts, since stacking the courts is the only thing Moscow Mitch and his pet Senators have done in the past three-and-a-half years -- aside from giving the richest a free ride. (On second thought, Stone's "recommendations" are really just what Trump's been threatening without the pretty wrappings.)

Read the whole article, but do keep in mind that it's Roger Stone speaking to Alex Jones, another certifiable loon.

Via Balloon Juice.

Today in Trump's America: A Quick Survey (Update)

There's just so much.

First, from the top attorney for Trump's re-election campaign, the Gospel according to your favorite theocrat (pick one -- they'ar all over the place in this regime):

The notion that the United States observes a separation of church and state is a lie, according to President Donald Trump’s senior campaign legal adviser.

“The left is going to tell you there’s this separation of church and state, and that’s just nowhere in the Constitution, nowhere in American law,” Jenna Ellis declared Monday evening during a Zoom event hosted by Asian Pacific Americans for Trump. “That’s nothing that our founding principles ever, uh, derived whatsoever.”

There's more at the link. Via Joe.My.God., who also has some of Ellis' past statements about gay people, just in case you were wondering.

Next up, Trump's Pentagon, which claims that American citizens are the "adversaries":

A new mandatory Pentagon training course aimed at preventing leaks refers to protesters and journalists as "adversaries" in a fictional scenario designed toteach Defense Department personnel how to better protect sensitive information.

The new course was recently launched as part of Defense Secretary Mark Esper's effort to improve "operational security," or OPSEC, and clamp down on leaks. The training materials are public and include a video message from Esper, as well as a July 20 memo outlining his concerns about operational security and directing all DoD personnel — military, civilian and on-site contractors — to take the course within the next 60 days.

The DoD spokesman gives a nice rationale for use of the term, but it still reveals a mindset that's pretty dismal.

Again, vie Joe.My.God.

And from Glorious Leader himself, a little racism to wash it down:

...Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down. I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2020

There's more. I may update this one.

Update: Trump doesn't think he has to abide by Supreme Court decisions:

President Donald Trump though acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf (photo) will sidestep a Supreme Court ruling and move to drastically limit access to and limit the protections of the Obama-era program known as DACA.

The administration believes DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is still illegal, NBC News reports. Acting Secretary Wolf on Tuesday announced he will not accept any new applicants to the program that protects undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children.

Nice elections you have there -- be a shame if anything happened to them:

The Trump administration is planning to keep federal agents in Portland, Oregon, through at least mid-October, according to an internal email obtained by CNN.

Portland has been the site of ongoing protests for more than 50 days that have turned violent, sparking outrage among local officials who have faulted the federal presence for aggravating the situation on the ground.
But as protests persist, Customs and Border Protection -- part of the Department of Homeland Security -- is laying the groundwork for continued presence in the city on a rotational basis to relieve those agents who have been in Portland and who may be deployed in the near future.

At least mid-October? Like, into early November? And if it looks like it's working in Portland ("working" being a matter of viewpoint), why not try it in other cities?

Today in Blatant Hypocrisy

And who but Tony Perkins, who is still bent out of shape by the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. Here's the whole diatribe, via Joe.My.God.:

The Fourth of July is a time of national celebration and commemoration. We rejoice in our liberty and remember those who won our freedoms and have preserved them at great cost. Yet underlying these things is a foundation that must remain strong for “liberty and justice for all” to mean anything.

It’s the rule of law. Law that is fair and impartial, consistent and understandable. Without allegiance to the rule of law, we become a nation where those in power can do what they want without accountability. And in this 244th year of our independence, I fear we are on the brink of that happening.

Last month, the court ruled in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia that the 1964 Civil Rights Act opposing discrimination based on the biological sex of an individual now must mean that “discrimination based on homosexuality or transgender status necessarily entails discrimination based on sex.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote these words, even acknowledges in his decision that the meaning of “sex” in 1964 was not even vaguely connected to homosexuality or transgenderism. In his words, the court “proceeds on the assumption that ‘sex’,” in 1964, referred “only to biological distinctions between male and female.”

America has never been a perfect nation and never will be. But with all our problems, we have made tremendous progress in securing the God-given rights we too often take for granted.

But the exercise of those rights will be increasingly diminished and put in jeopardy if Congress refuses to safeguard them and, instead, allows the Supreme Court to rule however its justices prefer, regardless of the text of the Constitution and the law itself.

I don't know if I have the fortitude this morning to dissect this drivel. Let me just note, as a foundation, that, as usual, Perkins is speaking in code. In this case,"liberty and justice for all": given Perkins' record, we can safely assume that "all" is code for "white, heterosexual Christian men".

And of course, the rest of it bears that out, since it's Perkins' usual attack on gay and trans people, this tine hinging on the meaning of "sex". Perkins, of course, would like us to believe that we live in a world in which nothing changes, or should: attitudes remain carved in stone, and language always means what he thinks it should mean.

And of course, the real world isn't like that. Take, for example, attitudes toward same-sex marriage, one of Perkink's favorite bêtes noires. Pew Research has an instructive article about the change in attitudes on this subject over the past twenty years or so:

One caveat on this: this only notes changes over the past twenty years or so, during the time same-sex marriage was becoming a hot-button issue. It's worth noting that in the period covered by this chart, marriage was already being legalized in various jurisdictions, including the Netherlands (2001), Belgium and several Canadian provinces (2003), and by 2005 was legal in Canada nationally, as well as Spain -- and Massachusetts. If we went back another twenty years, the shift would be much more dramatic.

Perkin's major beef (this time) is with the Court's interpretation of the word "sex" as denoting a protected class in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He maintains that Congress intended it to mean biological sex and nothing more. (And have you noticed the reverence with which the evangelicals regard biological sex?) The Obama administration, which first included gay and trans people in the definition of sex discrimination, quite rightly interpreted "sex" to include characteristics normally associated with one sex or the other. Thus, if you can't fire a woman for marrying a man, you can't fire a man for doing the same. This is the reasoning that Justice Gorsuch included in his opinion. Does anyone think that the meaning hasn't changed in 56 years, with the progress made in gay rights and now being made in trans rights? Only Perkins and his ilk, apparently.

At any rate, that's the story on the latest bullshit from Perkins, one of the most mendacious people in the public sphere. I guess he needs money.

Wow. Just, Wow. . . .

This story broke yesterday (actually, probably Friday, but I saw it late yesterday):

American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter. . . .

The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said. Officials developed a menu of potential options — starting with making a diplomatic complaint to Moscow and a demand that it stop, along with an escalating series of sanctions and other possible responses, but the White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said.

(Via Towleroad, where you can year Rachel Maddow's commentary.)

The reaction has not been positive. A small sample:

NOTE TO AMERICA'S TROOPS:

Donald only protects troops who are made of metal or stone -- and fought for the other side. #TraitorTrump https://t.co/Z58SrAbtcC

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) June 27, 2020

A white supremacist, a sex offender, and a traitor walk into a bar. The bartender says "What'll it be, President Trump?"#TraitorTrump

— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) June 27, 2020

There's lots more at the link.

It's indicative of the way Trump's mind works that he accused Obama of treason for "spying" on the Trump campaign. (L'Etat, c' est moi) There is some speculation that this was a combination of projection and deflection, since he reportedly knew about the Russian bounties at the time.

I think with any other president, this would be unbelievable. But it is believable. Here's an interesting take on that issue:

Whether Trump has actually committed treason is arguable. Treason is defined as:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 3.

Although there's been no format declaration of war against Russia, Putin's certainly not a friend of the U.S. And the Taliban is an enemy.

The White House, of course, is denying that Trump knew anything about it:

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Saturday that the President and Vice President Mike Pence were not briefed “on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence.” McEnany said her statement “does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story,” which said Trump had been briefed.

We're back at the believeability thing. Who are you going to believe, a serial liar or the New York Times?

At this point, it's almost a toss-up, but NYT still has more credibility than Trump.

Wonder Where All That Money Went?

Too bad -- the Trump regime ain't telling:

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the Trump administration never promised to release the names of businesses that received forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans as a part of the CARES Act.

Have you noticed a certain resistance to accountability in the Trump regime? I wonder why that is. And Kudlow's comment is so much horsepucky:

The PPP loan application also warns borrowers that their company names, loan amounts, and other information are public records “that will be automatically released," according to TIME. And in April, the SBA told news organizations that it intended to post "individual loan data" after the loan process had been completed.

Could it bee that they don't want us to know how much of that money -- our money, let me remind you -- went to a)Trump's businesses and b) major Republican donors?

I suggest you check out the full article. It basically describes the Trump-generated swamp that used to be our government.

And get this video of Kudlow wallowing all over the place trying to justify Mnuchin not releasing any information on who got how much:

Via Joe.My.God.

Smarmy Hypocrite du Jour

None other than Tony Perkins:

They were the biggest gatherings, by far, but in Washington, D.C., where one reporter said it “felt as if the entire city had emptied into downtown,” the atmosphere felt different. Calmer.

For once, it was pastors and faith leaders holding the bullhorns, as riots turned into rallies for reflection and repentance. Hundreds of evangelicals in the D.C. area led a long march across the Anacostia River, stopping, periodically, to pray.

Together with different generations and races, they called for the church to rise up and help heal our nation. “Our protest needs to be different,” Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile urged the crowd — not rooted in hatred or bitterness, but in Jesus.

Across the city — from the Reflecting Pool to hot asphalt sidewalks — people knelt to pray. It was the same serene picture in other parts of the country, where Christians met up in parking lots and city centers to offer an alternative to the violence and anger.

A few random thoughts on this:

I'm old enough that I remember when "faith leaders" would have been leading these demonstrations from the beginning -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., anyone? Or the Berrigans, both priests and leaders of anti-war demonstrations in the '60s and '70s. What's changed? Maybe it's just that the voices of the real followers of Christ have been drowned out by the power-hungry hypocrites.

There's evidence that the violence was initiated by right-wing, white supremacist agitators:

As demonstrations spread from Minneapolis to the White House, New York City and overseas, federal law enforcement officials insisted far-left groups were stoking violence. Meanwhile, experts who track extremist groups also reported seeing evidence of the far-right at work.

I'm sure they're all good "Christians". And at this point, I'll believe anyone but the feds -- the party line is "It's Antifa"; my guess is it's the Boogaloo Bois.

And where has Perkins been during all this? Hiding in a bunker? Why wasn't he out marching against racism in law enforcement? Oh, right.

Oh, in case you were wondering, from Merriam-Webster:

Definition of smarmy

1: revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness

a tone of smarmy self-satisfaction
— New Yorker

Today in Disgusting People

Actually, it's not just a person, it's a whole organization. The "American" "Family" Association is in full pearl-clutching mode over a new PBS series:

PBS is going all out in the month of June to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month by launching a six-episode series of short videos on a dedicated YouTube Channel created by its Digital Studios.

Each Tuesday, beginning May 26, PBS will release a Prideland vignette focusing on an LGBTQ+ person and how that person deals with the ever-changing attitudes of Southern communities toward homosexual lifestyles.

On June 12, PBS will offer its member television stations the opportunity to air a one-hour companion special featuring series host and homosexual activist Dyllón Burnside. PBS’s decision to partner with Burnside to push the homosexual agenda is an unjust attack on Christianity and a mockery of the Bible and God’s design for human sexuality.

Sadly, PBS is proudly promoting a lifestyle that is unhealthy to both the individual who participates in the unnatural sexual behavior and to society as a whole.

In 2020, PBS received $445 million in taxpayer funding. This means you and I are directly paying for PBS to insult our faith and scoff at our God. I hope you will take a moment to let PBS know you oppose its support and promotion of this series.

Once again, we get a full dose of the arrogance and self-importance that seem to be a basic component of certain brands of "Christianity". As an example, here's the key comment:

PBS’s decision to partner with Burnside to push the homosexual agenda is an unjust attack on Christianity and a mockery of the Bible and God’s design for human sexuality.

So, doing a series on a historically persecuted group -- persecuted by the likes of the AFA -- is an "attack on Christianity". In fact, anyone who disagrees with them or dares to express a different viewpoint is attacking their religion. This, of course, is just a repeat of their "poor persecuted Christians" mantra -- from a group that has no claim to be actual followers of Christ and that is part of the evangelical movement that's managing to infiltrate all levels of government.

Oh, that the taxpayers whose dollars are being used to fund this endeavor include LGBT+ individuals and allies. The AFA, by the way, is not one of those taxpayers -- it's incorporated as a 501(c)3 charitable organization, which means it's tax-exempt. And it's a hate group, listed by the SPLC.

In other words, AFA was founded and is run by power-hungry hypocrites who use distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies to push their agenda, which itself is simply to take over control of what you read, watch, and think.

It occurs to me that Hitler had the support of the churches in German, and Mussolini had a treaty with the Vatican. Take that as you will.

Today in Alternate Realities

Seriously:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday defended Democratic efforts to change the chamber’s rules to allow remote voting during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that the move is “not in opposition to the traditions of the House.”

The House will vote Friday on the proposed rule changes, which were drafted after bipartisan negotiations. The proposal would allow lawmakers to cast their votes from afar if they cannot be present in the Capitol for “reasons beyond our control” related to the virus. Those lawmakers would designate their proxy to another lawmaker who is present.

Earlier Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sharply criticized the move, arguing that Democrats “have checked out of this crisis and left governing up to the Senate.”

That's Mitch "The Senate's job is to pack the courts" McConnell, who, according to reports, has over 400 bills passed by the House sitting on his desk waiting for action from the Senate.

The contrast between McConnell and Pelosi in this crisis is breathtaking -- she is, in fact, working to keep the House running while not killing off the members, while he is -- well, what is he doing, exactly? Anything?

As of this wriring, the WaPo link in Joe's post goes to the national news headlines, not the story quoted.

Another WTF? Moment

The right, and especially the members of the Trump regime, are expert at turning reality on its head:

The largely white protesters who oppose social distancing measures to protect the public from COVID-19 are like Rosa Parks, who waged a historic battle for racial equality, right-wing economic commentator and White House adviser Stephen Moore repeatedly insisted Friday.

“I call these people modern-day Rosa Parks. They are protesting against injustice and a loss of liberties,” Moore told The Washington Post, in one of at least three instances of this astonishing comparison.

He also told CBS News: “It’s interesting to me that the right has become more the Rosa Parks of the world than the left is.” He said in a YouTube video quoted by The New York Times: “We need to be the Rosa Parks here, and protest against these government injustices.”

So, let me see if I've got this right: the government doing its job and trying to save people's lives is "government injustice". I would have thought it came under the heading of providing for the common welfare.

And lawless vigilantes (who, incidentally, showed up at the Michigan state capitol armed to the teeth with their AR-15 penis substitutes) are freedom fighters.

As for Moore -- well, this seems to be representative of his take on things:

He once quipped that Trump’s first act as president would be to kick a Black family (the Obamas) out of public housing (the White House), according to The Atlantic.

Only the best and the brightest.

Via Joe.My.God.

Words Fail Me

The plague is spreading, and this is what Trump thinks is important. From Digby:

Here’s an example of what President Trump thought was important to share with his millions of Twitter followers this past weekend as we watched the nation’s coronavirus numbers climb into the tens of thousands:

“President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2020

It goes on . . . and on. This has-been reality show star is puffing up his flabby ego by tweeting about his ratings while we're in a national crisis.

And the irony is that most people don't believe anything he says about the pandemic.

Read Digby's whole post, if you have the stomach for it.

Today in Disgusting People (Updated)

You may have heard that the Boys Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy. Perennial hate-monger Tony Perkins, of course, is ready to fix blame. Via Joe.My.God.:

It’s one of the saddest, most predictable “I-told-you-so” moments of our generation. The Boy Scouts, where future moon walkers and presidents learned the virtues and value of leadership, has finally collapsed. Turns out, the decade of compromise hasn’t been kind to the Scouts, who turned in their moral compass seven years ago to chase the approval of critics it could never win. Now, deep into the BSA’s self-imposed identity crisis, the group is filing for bankruptcy — an unhappy ending we all warned was coming.

For those who knew the Scouts through their proud and honorable days, the demise has been slow and painful. But this is what comes of throwing up your hands on a century of conviction: irrelevance and, ultimately, insolvency. For 103 of its 110 years, the Boy Scouts were a pillar of principle — not that it was easy.

As most of us know, the fight to live out your beliefs in this world can be an exhausting one. The Scouts spent years in court just for the freedom to stick to their moral code. They won — but to the organization’s dismay — the battle didn’t end. Waves of LGBT activists kept coming. The pressure built and built until finally, in 2013, under the leadership of Rex Tillerson, headquarters gave into the lie that compromise would be their salvation. Seven years later, the irony is: there’s nothing left to save.

As Joe points out:

. . . today’s bankruptcy filing comes in response to thousands of lawsuits filed over alleged sexual abuse that happened long before openly LGBT persons were allowed to participate. In almost all of the cases, the alleged abuse took place decades ago in Boy Scout chapters operated by Christian churches.

There's a lot more information on that in the comments, which are worth reading.

Update: Here's a report on what's actually happening, without the moral posturing.

Turn Off Your Irony Meter (Update)

Apparently Christianity Today, which has long been a mouthpiece for conservative "Christians", has done the unforgivable:

Just in from hate group leader Tony Perkins:

Yesterday, Mark Galli, the outgoing editor-in-chief of Christianity Today published a scathing editorial calling for President Trump to be removed from office. Within hours, the article went viral as the mainstream media rushed to capitalize on what they believed was an opportunity to exploit a divide in President Trump’s evangelical supporters.

But anyone following Christianity Today shouldn’t be surprised by the magazine’s public backing of impeachment. In 2016, CT’s executive editor denigrated Christians who supported then-candidate Trump weeks before the general election, writing: “Enthusiasm for a candidate like Trump gives our neighbors ample reason to doubt that we believe Jesus is Lord.”

What's happening to the evangelical movement? First it was Chick-fil-A tapering off their donations to anti-gay hate groups, then the Hallmark Channel restoring a commercial with a lesbian kiss (in spite of the outrage expressed by another hate group), and now this!

This is the part that got my irony meter whirling out of control:

Dismissing the genuine concerns of millions of evangelicals and publicly questioning their commitment to Christ signaled an out-of-touch, ivory-tower elitism completely out of step with Jesus’ own command to love one another (John 13:34).

(Emphasis added.)

(Perkins always likes the sprinkle his press releases with references to Bible verses. I guess we're supposed to be impressed by that. To me, at least, it doesn't mask the fact that he has built his career on the exact antithesis of Christ's teachings.)

There's a lot of speculation that the evangelical movement is starting to unravel, and, at least in part, that might be the case: the wing that is sincere in their beliefs may very well be alarmed at the polls showing the majority's low opinion of Christianity, largely due to the efforts of Perkins and his ilk. The political wing is obviously alarmed at the openness of dissent, and feels they have to quash it to maintain their own credibility.

Oh, well -- pass the popcorn.

Update: There's more information on this whole flap at Crooks and Liars, including Franklin Graham's reaction (his father founded the magazine) and the oop-ed writer's reaction to Trump's rage tweets.

Snowflake du Jour

None other than former governor and current trumpanzee Mike Huckabee, whose knickers are twisted because someone said mean things about him:

When a persistent critic, a lawyer on the public side of the beach access battle, tweeted back with sarcasm and humor, Huckabee tried to silence him by filing a formal complaint with the Florida Bar. The complaint should be tossed out as a sham and an abuse of the system of disciplining lawyers.

In his Bar complaint, Huckabee accuses lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder of “vile and unprofessional attacks” and “repeatedly posting disparaging information about me,” which Huckabee claims violate Bar rules on integrity of the legal profession. Huckabee argues that the Bar is the right forum because the lawyer’s Twitter profile mentions his law practice.

The one that really got Huckabee's goat:

In his bar complaint, Huckabee accuses Uhlfelder, who has a mere 422 Twitter followers, of disparagement. The complaint points to a tweet in which Uhlfelder joked that Huckabee’s Secret Service code name should be “beach thief.” “He accused me of theft, a crime of moral turpitude,” Huckabee’s complaint reads.

Well, if anyone should know "moral turpitude," it's Mike Huckabee, whose son tortures animals for fun and whose daughter is a professional liar.

This is just another variation on a relatively new tactic of "convervatives": use the courts (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) to harass people you disagree with. And interestingly enough, although the "offensive" tweets happened months ago, Huckabee filed his complaint shortly after Uhlfelder retweeted photographs showing him in the company of two of Rudy Giuliani's pals, currently under indictment, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Of course, I'm sure that has nothing to do with the timing of the complaint. Yeah, right.

And here's the capper (turn off your irony meter):

As for Huckabee, he’s on Twitter promoting a new documentary entitled No Safe Spaces, which features two conservative radio talk show personalities in an examination of restrictions on free speech on college campuses. Without a hint of irony, Huckabee tweeted: “The 1st Amendment right of Free Speech is precious, but it hangs by a thread.”

Via Joe.My.God., who has these articles and more, including some very pointed editorial cartoons and a link to a delightfully snarky opinion piece. I do recommend reading the whole thing and following the links. If nothing else, it will give you a good take on just how petty and vindictive "conservatives" are these days.

Remember When This Happened?

I don't either. But Jim Bakker does:

I’m afraid if things keep going the other direction, even Christmas will be outlawed. They tried to outlaw it already. You know that. In fact the stores, a couple of years ago, weren’t allowed to say ‘Merry Christmas.” Did you know that? I’m serious.

One of the greeters at a big store here in Branson, she said, ‘Can’t say Merry Christmas anymore. It’s against the law.’ But we complained! And the people that watch our show called and contacted their stores.

Either he's an idiot, taking something said by some clueless teenager as gospel, or he's a liar. Or both.

Remember when it was illegal to say "Merry Christmas" just a few years ago? Jim Bakker does. pic.twitter.com/XxaMZtYf6X

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 22, 2019

Here We Go Again

I normally don't bother to comment on Monica Cole and her "One Million Moms". If you're not familiar with them, it's another one of those hate groups -- an arm of American Family Association -- that calls for boycotts of anything and disturbs their delicate "Christian" values. This time, they've come out in favor of bullying:

Kellogg’s has supported the homosexual community for a long time, and now it is obvious they are going after our children. As part of an effort to say “we’re all in this together,” Kellogg’s has combined several of its popular cereals into one package to support an LGBTQ “anti-bullying” campaign called Spirit Day.

Kellogg’s calls it All Together Cereal, an exclusive, limited-time offer in which the cereal brand’s famous mascots are promoting their individual cereals packaged together in a purple box with rainbow colors. Purple is the designated color for Spirit Day, which is described by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) as “the most visible anti-LGBTQ bullying campaign and united show of support for LGBTQ youth.”

[. . . ]

TAKE ACTION: Kellogg’s needs to hear from you. Supporting the homosexual agenda verses [sic] remaining neutral in the cultural war is just bad business. If Christians cannot find corporate neutrality with Kellogg’s, then they will vote with their pocketbook and support companies that are neutral. Sign our petition now!

If course, "remaining neutral" in "Christian"-speak means taking their side in favor of the status quo.

And do note, as I indicated in the beginning, they're coming out against an anti-bullying effort.

Such lovely people.

He's Kidding, Right?

This entire regime is made up of bald-faced liars. Secretary of State (and he's not even "acting") Mike Pompeo is one of the most accomplished:

Pompeo rejected a question about whether the president’s treatment of the Kurds had undercut U.S. credibility.

“The whole predicate of your question is insane,” Pompeo said. “The word of the United States is much more respected today than it was just two and a half years ago.”

There's two underlying themes here -- number one, always a major consideration: "It's all Obama's fault."

The second stems from Trump's continual whining about how other countries are being unfair:

“We make clear the things that we will do,” Pompeo continued. “We also make clear the things that we’re not prepared to do. I think it’s important for people to understand that other countries have to step up too. Other countries must share the burden for not just the security of the world, but security for their own countries.”

He sounds there as historically illiterate as his boss. I guess next we'll be demanding that the UN start paying rent for its building in New York.

Via Joe.My.God. It's worth noting that a large portion of the JMG audience is overseas, and they're not very much in agreement with Pompeo's fantasy. In fact, commenter Clive Johnson did some research. Here's just one of his findings:

One country. Mexico's not alone -- he thoughtfully provided a link to Pew Research's article.

Let's face it -- when you start suddenly pulling out of major international agreements, threatening your allies, and sucking up to dictators, not to mention cutting loose the group that has been instrumental in neutralizing a major terrorist threat, who's going to believe anything you say?

Sycophant du Jour

Franklin Graham has really jumped on the Trump bandwagon -- maybe he's trying to displace Robert Jeffress as the apple of Trump's eye. This is just a sample of the BS he's come out with recently:

Evangelist Franklin Graham issued a dire warning about the fate of the United States, should the presidential impeachment inquiry started by the U.S. House lead to President Donald Trump’s ouster. “Our country could begin to unravel if an elected president is thrown out of office because of lies and the media,” said Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, in an interview.

“It could be a devastating thing. We’re in very dangerous territory. I would encourage all the politicians to look very carefully at where we are and first of all make sure that truth is told.” Graham, a staunch Trump supporter, said the impeachment inquiry about Trump’s interactions with the leader of Ukraine was a political move by a party that refuses to accept Trump’s victory three years ago.

This sort of kicks Newspeak up an order of magnitude -- "We have always been at war with Eastasia."

What he's afraid is going to unravel is the goal he and his fellow-travelers have been working toward for decades -- since Ronald Reagan and the "Moral Majority", at least: a theocracy with evangelical "Christians" pulling the strings of whatever puppet they manage to install. All that is, to their way of thinking, nearly accomplished, thanks to Trump, who really is a figurehead at this point, Moscow Mitch, Vladimir Putin, and who knows who else working very quietly to transform this country into something out of the Old Testament.