Its Value Voter Time Again!

Yes, it's time once again for Smart-Alecky-Blogger- Christmas, aka the Values Voters Summit! And what's this year's theme? Well, it may surprise you to learn that it's "Christians are being Persecuted in America" again!

For instance, here is what nominee Donald Trump had to say about the horrible scourge of persecution going on in today's Christian Churches:

The Johnson Amendment has blocked our pastors and ministers and others from speaking their minds from their own pulpits. If they want to talk about Christianity, if they want to preach, if they want to talk about politics, they are unable to do so.

Yes, any church in America you go into you'll see ministers unable to preach. Or talk about religion at all. They're mostly just doing crowd work now.

 

So, anyone here from out of town?

And of course, because it's the Trump, he then added this:

 All religious leaders should be able to freely express their thoughts and feelings on religious matters. And I will repeal the Johnson Amendment if I am elected your president. I promise. So important. Thank you. So important.

Ah, the classic promise-to-do-something-a-president-can't-actually-do followed by the repeated sentence fragment. Classic!

Mmm. . .that's good gibberish!

This started in a building of mine in Manhattan. I had 50 pastors in a big conference room. And we actually had 50 pastors, two rabbis, a couple of priests

So, 50 pastors, a couple of priests and two rabbis walk into a buffoon's conference room. . .

we were all talking and we were there for two hours. And at the end, it was a love-fest. We all agreed. It was like a love-fest. …. And I said to them, I'd love your support. … And I know they wanted to give me their total support, 100 percent. Just like I had in the primaries

Yes, Donald. Eeeeveryone loves you!

And I said, “I really would like your support.” And they didn't really know what I was talking about.

No one ever really knows what you're talking about because you speak in gobbeldygook!
Oh, sorry. I mean "because you're so much smarter than everyone else!" heh heh heh!

And they didn't really know what I was talking about. And I said, “What's going on here?” They said, “Well, sir, we can't do that because we would be violating the laws.”

 

Okay, first of all, no they did not call you "sir." No one calls you "sir" who isn't on your payroll.
Or Roger Ailes's.

And also, since when do conservative clergymen worry about violating the law? How many conservative ministers speak every year at events like Value Voters Summit, CPAC, the Republican National Convention?

Cleveland Hts minister brings the house down at RNC; Not happy with Sen. Cruz

Posted: Jul 20, 2016 10:24 PM EST Updated: Jul 21, 2016 9:13 AM E

You Won’t Believe Pastor Mark Burns’ Stunning Benediction At the RNC Convention (VIDEO)

Posted at 9:23 am on July 19, 2016 by streiff

You were there! You were there when these ministers addressed the throng of deplorables at the RNC! You know this!

And I said, “What's the punishment?” “Well, we could lose our tax exempt status,” which of course is a massive penalty. I said, “Tell me about this.” And we sat down. They talked about it. … So we were looking down on to the sidewalk and there were people walking on the sidewalk. I said, “So, folks, what you're telling me is those people walking way, way down there on the sidewalk have really more power than you do because they're allowed to express their feelings and thoughts openly and without penalty?” ... They looked at me and they said, “That's actually right. They have more power than we do. We're not allowed to express.”

That is a completely ridiculous lie!
Those people on the sidewalk have exactly the same right to freedom of speech as the ministers and rabbis in your made-up make believe conference that didn't happen. 
They both have every right to express their political opinion everywhere except in the pulpit. And these clergymen would have known this if they were real clergymen who actually existed. 


But yeah, point taken. American Christians are totally persecuted every day, fed to the lions, burned at the stake, the whole bit. That's why the catacombs are full every Sunday.

Okay, I think I got the video now.

Weekend Lights

The still photos are from the Atlanta Botanical gardens"Chihuly in the Garden" exhibit.

The video is of Saturday's Atlanta Beltline Lantern Parade. 

 Okay, I can't seem to get the video to uopload

 Trying to post from the phone is tricky

For me it is, anyway.

The dumbest thing I've ever read.

This is the dumbest thing I have ever read. And I've read some dumb things in my day. I've read columns by Maureen Dowd, David Brooks and Thomas Friedman. I've read Christian Archie comics.

 

Yes, they're a real thing.

Hell, I once read the entirety of Atlas Shrugged. But this takes the cake. 

Via We hunted the Mammoth, this is something some white supremacist idiot apparently said on some Aryan radio show:

 The subject of masculinity comes up and the White man’s ability to grow a luxurious beard. According to early racial science the original Negro and Chinaman were unable to grow beards and the fact that the White man could, showed that our race was more mature and fully grown than the others. The fact that some Negroes now have beards shows that they are mulattoes. Matt encourages men to grow well-kept beards as a sign of being anti-feminist, as feminists hate them. 

Wow! Where to begin? There's so much wrong in these 4 short sentences.
Okay, first of all: racial science?  Are we going to pretend that's a thing? It's like when you see someone on TV called a "UFO expert" or "cryptozoologist."

Yeah, they usually look pretty much like this.

You know the correct title should be "guy who makes up shit about flying saucers" or "guy who pretends he's seen Bigfoot."  "Racial science" would belong in the same category as "ghostology" or "Loch Ness Studies."

Second, if one race is more able than others to grow thick luxurious facial hair, wouldn't that mean that that race was more closely related to big hairy apes? I would think the most evolved race would be the least hairy, if anything. 

Who looks most evolved in this picture? Okay, bad example.

Then there's this dubious claim:

"The fact that some Negroes now have beards shows that they are mulattoes."

No, you know what that shows? That shows that some idiot "racial scientist" made the ridiculous claim that black guys can't grow beards and then someone pointed out James Harden to him

And instead of saying "gee, looks like I was wrong, and maybe my entire field of study is cockamamie bullshit," He said "Uh, that's 'cuz he's half white!"

 

Pictured: Men who are probably also half white

Oh, and white supremacist dude? If you're going to take beardedness as a sign of racial advancement, you know who can really grow the hell out of a beard? Those swarthy Muslims!

 

So, if the beardiest race wins, us white guys are maybe in second place at best. Might want to re-think your criteria for judging racial excellence.

We're also way behind the Jews.

Then finally, there's this bizarre blanket statement:

Matt encourages men to grow well-kept beards as a sign of being anti-feminist, as feminists hate them.  

Do they, though?

That's such an odd claim to make. I mean, some women like beards, others don't. I don't think the liking of beards has anything to do with one's political stance. Also, doesn't it depend a lot on the type of beard and the beard wearer?

I mean, I gotta think that women probably like this:



A lot better than, say, this:
 

And I would think that would hold true for everyone from Gloria Steinem to Phyllis Schlafly.

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

The world is a slightly better place today.
Phyllis Schlafly died yesterday, succumbing to whatever it is that kills gorgons, which would have been even better news about 40 years ago, but you take what you can get.
A uniquely nasty piece of work, Schlafly was a woman who made a successful career out of telling other women they shouldn't be allowed to have careers. She rose to a position of no small prominence and influence by telling other women they should not be allowed to be prominent or influential.

She may have been best known for being one of the biggest reasons that the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified, campaigning tirelessly against the idea of women who were not her having equality. I guess that when you make your money from speaking fees and book sales, equal  pay is not a big issue for you.

Schlafly used to begin her speeches by gleefully thanking her husband for allowing her to be there. She would then add that she liked to open this way because it angered the feminists. Basically, she enjoyed giving a big middle finger to her fellow women who were struggling to not be treated as second-class citizens by reveling in her own pathetic subservience. Whether this subservience was real or a convenient fiction I don't know. I'm guessing that when you're the celebrity in the family and the one with the big speaking fees and publishing royalties, you're probably the one calling the shots. Did Schlafly believe her own venomous rhetoric? I have no idea. My guess is that she probably did not, that like most right-wing political figures, she was running a con, but maybe she did. I sure don't care enough to do any research. Either way she was a terrible human being.

When reached for comment, Satan said he welcomed his new bride and was looking forward to testing the limits of her commitment to serving her husband.