About time — a brutal, factual takedown of the phony Duggar family

The Duggars, stars of TLC’s 19 Kids & Counting, were superficially presented as an eccentric real-life version of the characters from Cheaper by the Dozen. Yet beneath that façade, they were always religious zealots who adhered to an extreme brand of patriarchal Christianity that opposed abortion, disapproved of LGBTQ+ rights, and manipulated women through scripture that encouraged them to be incessantly pregnant. Prime Video’s four-part Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is a brutal takedown of the Arkansas clan, led by testimony from two of its own.

It’s also, however, an exposé about the Duggars’ role as chief promoters of a sexist evangelical crusade designed to denigrate, dominate, and disempower its female members, as well as to spread its message all the way to the corridors of U.S. political power. As such, it’s additionally a damning indictment of TLC and its parent company, Warner Discovery, which helped spotlight a regressive and deeply misogynistic movement.

What a shame: British Open golf tournament blacklists Trump’s Turnberry golf course

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-turnberry-golf-course-banned-by-british-open-report?ref=home

Trump’s Turnberry Golf Course Banned by British Open: Report
BLACKLISTED
Erik Uebelacker
Breaking News Intern
Published May. 31, 2023 11:42AM ET

Donald Trump said this month that “everybody wants to see the Open Championship” played at his Turnberry gold resort in Scotland—everybody but the Open organizers themselves, apparently. According to The Telegraph, Trump was told after the 2021 Capitol riot that he was unlikely to get another Open held at one of his courses for the foreseeable future. A source at R&A, the golf body that organizes the Open Championship, also known as the British Open, told the publication that they haven’t budged on that decision. “We have no plans to stage any of our championships there in the foreseeable future and will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself.” Another source said Trump would “have to sell” the course “before anything changes.”

The GOP plan all along was to crash the economy and blame it on Biden

The so-called “Freedom caucus” — that group of supposedly ideologically committed, failed seditionists who command a sizable portion of the House Republican majority — are throwing a hissy fit right now in reaction to the deal struck by their elected Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and President Biden, in which McCarthy managed to extort some concessions from the White House in exchange for magnanimously allowing the nation to meet its obligations and pay the bills that Congress has incurred on behalf of the American public for the last few years.

Those bills, which would have been considerably easier to pay without the massive tax giveaway Republicans passed in 2017 as a reward to their billionaire corporate donors, have come due, and like all deadbeats, these same House Republicans want to skip out on them. The only problem is that by doing so they would tank the entire U.S. economy, along with the rest of the world that depends on the Full Faith and Credit of the United States government.

But contrary to its pretentious title, the “Freedom Caucus” has nothing to do with “freedom,” unless it refers to the freedom to destroy everyone else’s lives so they can retain power. That was made perfectly clear in a statement made on Tuesday by Caucus member, Republican Dan Bishop of North Carolina. Bishop specifically complained about the provision of the Biden-McCarthy deal that extends the ability of this country to pay its bills for two years, effectively preventing the issue from being re-animated by House Republicans in the months prior to the 2024 elections. This is the part of the deal that most infuriates the “Freedom Caucus.” Because they intended to tank the economy in 2024 to help the prospects of their presumed nominee, Donald Trump, who, it is assumed, would rise at that time from his golden toilet bowl to howl about the how President Biden destroyed the economy.

It’s really impossible to explain this statement any other way. As reported by Prem Thakker for The New Republic:

One Republican congressman outright admitted his frustration that, if the debt ceiling gets resolved, the Republican presidential nominee won’t be able to run in 2024 on the chaos that would come if the country defaults.

“And what does the device of two years do?” North Carolina Representative Dan Bishop posed incredulously on Tuesday, flanked by far-right colleagues like Lauren Boebert and Byron Donalds. “It removes the issue from the national conversation during the presidential election to come. How could you more successfully kneecap any Republican president than to take that issue out of his or her hands?”

The reason this statement is so revealing is that Donald Trump, as the assumed Republican presidential nominee, would have absolutely no input or say on whether the debt ceiling was to be lifted in 2024. He would still be a candidate, restricted to spewing his venom at rallies. The debt ceiling issue in 2024 would still be resolved by the Republican House majority and President Biden. What Rep. Bishop is saying here is that he and his caucus members intended to tank the economy on purpose, in order to bolster Trump’s chances at winning in 2024. And they’re furious now because under the Biden-McCarthy deal they will be unable to do that.

As Thakker writes:

Their intransigence apparently was not just about cutting as much as they could, but also about carrying water for the eventual nominee— which for most far-right members like Bishop means Donald Trump.

That’s what they care about: getting Trump back into office. Not the “deficit,” not the “debt,” not the economy, and certainly not the millions of job losses and complete stock market collapse that would ensue with a default. They don’t give a damn about what a ravaged economy would mean for tens of millions of Americans (including, notably, the ones who voted them into office).

Note Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s head nodding in agreement as Bishop speaks:

That’s what all this sideshow is about.  Bishop was just stupid enough to say it out loud.

Ashli Babbit’s trashy mother arrested after hitting another woman outside DC jail

Micki Witthoeft, 58, was spotted by The Daily Beast being taken into custody just after 6:45 p.m.

Zachary Petrizzo
Politics Reporter
Updated May. 30, 2023 10:26PM ET / Published May. 30, 2023 7:27PM ET

The mother of Ashli Babbitt, Micki Witthoeft, was arrested Tuesday evening after striking a counter-protester at a right-wing event outside of the Washington, D.C. jail where many of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants are being held.

Witthoeft, 58, was spotted by The Daily Beast being taken into custody just after 6:45 p.m. She was surrounded by officers and handcuffed before being walked into a waiting police van.

The arrest comes just one day after Witthoeft’s alleged violent outburst was caught on film and later reported to police. A senior law enforcement official confirmed to The Daily Beast that the arrest was related to the earlier assault.

“58-year-old Michelle Witthoeft, of Spring Valley, CA, was arrested and charged with Simple Assault and Destruction of Property,” Hugh Carew, a D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Public Information Office, told The Daily Beast after publication.

Lock her up, throw away the key.

Republicans have digressed to the toddler stage

It’s interesting that American “conservative” ideology — including the Republican Party — has pretty much decayed into the behavior of toddlers — 2- or 3-year-olds.

  • Angry at Michelle Obama for recommending they eat vegetables.
  • Mad that vaccinations are ouchy.
  • Furious about being told to share.
  • Angry at being told to be polite to others.
  • Absolutely obsessed with genitalia.
  • When they don’t get their way, they pitch a fit — throw themselves in the floor, kick, pound the floor with their fists, scream, cry.

 

 

Ron DeSantis has lost his goddam mind

The race to the bottom in the 2024 Republican presidential primary continues apace now that Ron DeSantis is officially a candidate. Never mind that his announcement on Twitter was glitch-filled farce. And set aside that he is trialing Donald Trump by anywhere between 20 and 60 points.

Despite Trump’s lead among the MAGA cult that dominates the Republican Party, he is feverishly obsessed with the threat that DeSantis poses to his quest for the nomination. Trump posts more comments on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, about DeSantis than any other single subject. Yet he cheerfully welcomes all other GOP contenders into the fray. There’s a reason for that…

Meanwhile, DeSantis is parading around on right-wing media, hoping to prove that he is more Trumpy than Trump. On virtually every issue DeSantis is running to Trump’s right.

  • He’ll deport more immigrants than Trump.
  • He’ll ban more books than Trump.
  • He hates LGBTQ+ people more than Trump.
  • He’ll suppress more votes than Trump.

Most of all, DeSantis pledges to wage a more hostile, censorious, and totalitarian war against “woke” (whatever that means) than Trump. Even if that means the political genocide of his ideological foes. On Monday morning DeSantis was on Fox News responding why he thinks this is the right time for his campaign.

“Everyone knows that if I’m the nominee that I will beat Biden. I will serve two terms. And I will be able to destroy leftism in this country, and leave ‘woke’ ideology on the dustbin of history.”

The race to the bottom in the 2024 Republican presidential primary continues apace now that Ron DeSantis is officially a candidate. Never mind that his announcement on Twitter was glitch-filled farce. And set aside that he is trialing Donald Trump by anywhere between 20 and 60 points.

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Despite Trump’s lead among the MAGA cult that dominates the Republican Party, he is feverishly obsessed with the threat that DeSantis poses to his quest for the nomination. Trump posts more comments on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, about DeSantis than any other single subject. Yet he cheerfully welcomes all other GOP contenders into the fray. There’s a reason for that…

SEE THIS: GOP Presidential Poll Reveals Why Ron DeSantis is the Only 2024 Opponent that Trump is Attacking

Meanwhile, DeSantis is parading around on right-wing media, hoping to prove that he is more Trumpy than Trump. On virtually every issue DeSantis is running to Trump’s right. He’ll deport more immigrants than Trump. He’ll ban more books than Trump. He hates LGBTQ+ people more than Trump. He’ll suppress more votes than Trump.

Most of all, DeSantis pledges to wage a more hostile, censorious, and totalitarian war against “woke” (whatever that means) than Trump. Even if that means the political genocide of his ideological foes. On Monday morning DeSantis was on Fox News responding why he thinks this is the right time for his campaign…

“Everyone knows that if I’m the nominee that I will beat Biden. I will serve two terms. And I will be able to destroy leftism in this country, and leave ‘woke’ ideology on the dustbin of history.

First of all, if virtually every recent poll is any indication, DeSantis has little hope of beating President Biden, much less serving two terms. But more disturbing is his promise to “destroy leftism.” Bearing in mind that what Republicans mean when they say anything about the “left” in American politics is every member of, and voter for, the Democratic Party. Republicans thinks that Joe Manchin is a leftist. Having a “D” after your name is a scarlet letter denoting a devotion to Marxism, according to the tunnel-blind cretins of the GOP.

Consequently, DeSantis is advocating the elimination of at least half of the American people. And he thinks that that will be an effective campaign strategy. While it might have some appeal to the glassy-eyed cultists who vote in GOP primaries, it would be disastrous in the general election.

DeSantis is just trying to prove his bona fides as an aspiring autocrat in the mold of Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Donald Trump. He believes that diverse opinions and free thought must be stamped out in favor of a philosophy of single minded thought control, and punishment – even destruction – for any offenders. His election to any office is a threat to freedom. And it is a course of action he has already implemented in Florida. He must not be permitted to spread it nationwide.

 

June 2023: Republicans will have a very, very bad Gay Pride Month

Our culture has passed conservatism by. Stuck in their old, bigoted, uncompromising ways, conservatives are ill-equipped to handle our society’s accelerated progress toward tolerance and acceptance. For example, it was just 20 years ago that the idea of “civil unions” for same-sex couples was considered so radical that it doomed the presidential campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. Today, full marriage equality is accepted by all except for the fringe. 

t’s not just marriage equality. On the issue of trans rights, the American people are firmly in favor of acceptance. A Pew poll last summer found that 64% of Americans “saying they would strongly favor or favor laws or policies that would protect transgender people from discrimination in jobs, housing and public spaces.” 

You know how many opposed or strongly opposed such laws? 10%.

Ten. Percent.

Talk about a fringe!

It is this key culture-war battleground loss that has MAGA conservatives pining for Vladimir Putin’s reactionary repression of LGBTQ+ rights in Russia, and has led to their hysterical reactions over minor matters like Bud Light featuring a trans influencer in an Instagram post, or Target featuring Pride merchandise. MAGA conservatives are a cultural fringe clinging to their last vestiges of control and influence. They are a dying breed.

Their hilariously ineffective “go woke, go broke” campaign is their latest effort to turn back the clock by pressuring businesses to reject messages of acceptance and inclusion. Yet they have a serious problem, highlighted above: Opponents of LGTBQ+ inclusion may be loud and obnoxious, but they are a small minority.
Image
Come on in, buy your groceries . . . beer, too!

Conservatives literally went to the Supreme Court in the Hobby Lobby decision to allow corporations to practice bigotry, and in Citizens United gave them the same free speech rights as individuals. Yet they are demanding that companies stop exercising that free speech now that the message no longer suits them. The whole “pro-business” facade is crumbling everywhere, and certainly spotlighted in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has made his culture-war feud with Disney a key plank in his presidential bid.

Conservatives are out of step with the mainstream, and this coming Pride Month will certainly shove it in their face. Given how much these snowflakes are already struggling to cope, this coming month will prove particularly brutal for them.

Conservative snowflakes who have pretended to boycott the NFL over Colin Kaepernick taking a knee and other such supposed transgressions will now have a new reason to rail against the nation’s most popular sports league.

Image

To be fair, I’m not seeing any conservative reaction to this yet. It’s doubtful they haven’t noticed. The Bud Light thing was a fleeting Instagram post, not an entire public campaign. Maybe Fox News will get right on it, or maybe conservatives have grown tired of pretending to boycott a game they know damn well they’re going to watch.

Maybe it’s easier to target a less popular retailer as—uh oh—LGBTQ+ pride has spread beyond Target!

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LGBT merchandise at Kohl’s

Get ready for nonstop wailing and hysteria over the next month. It’ll be one for the ages.

Conservative couple expose abuse at “christian” children’s camp only to have rightwingers concoct a lie about them

One of the biggest lies spread around by the far-right Republican Party is that Democrats are secretly trying to kidnap children to drink their blood, or make every child gay. But conservatives lashed out when one reporter and his wife uncovered abuse accounts at a Christian camp.

David and Nancy French wrote for The Dispatch this week that one of America’s most prominent Christian camps, Kanakuk, tried to cover up the abuse of children.

Pete Newman was a camp director at Kanakuk Kamps, which claims to have served more than 450,000 campers, The Dispatch reported. They’re located outside of Branson, Missouri, and welcome the “Evangelical elite.” Newman was promoted as one of the most popular with girls who wanted to date him and guys who wanted to be him.

Kanakuk chief executive officer Joe White once claimed he wasn’t sure which would be more popular at the “kamp” Jesus or Newman. He ultimately became a camp director and was sent on the road to recruit campers and raise money for the church camp. Parents were desperate to host him.

“He was also a superpredator. He groomed and abused boys in their own homes. He groomed and abused boys at camp. In fact, he abused boys across the world,” The Dispatch reported. “On June 9, 2010, he pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexually abusing boys. He received a sentence of two life terms, plus 30 years. His guilty plea was but the tip of a terrible iceberg. A civil complaint alleges that there were at least 57 victims, but the prosecutor in his case estimates that the real number could be in the ‘hundreds.'”

The story continues, walking through the survivors left in his wake and the trial that unfolded.

Since then, those involved in trying to protect children think that White and the camp still have a lot they’re hiding about what they knew and when they knew it.

“Kanakuk Kamp and Joe White have much to answer for,” the report cited Dawn Hawkins, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

David French also wrote a column about Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who is on his own personal crusade to make men more “manly.” Hawley has written a book about the topic, lectured on the topic, and focused intensely on “masculinity.”

Meanwhile, Hawley accepted political donations from Joe White, despite allegations that he covered up hundreds of children being molested by someone in the leadership of his church camp, Heartland Signal reported.

Hawley responded to the column by French and his report with his spouse.

“David French takes a break from promoting drag queens to talk about masculinity,” Hawley posted with a laughing and crying emoji.

French’s wife responded to the tweet from Hawley, saying, “Josh Hawley takes a break from counting his money from @Kanakuk CEO Joe White to complain about @DavidAFrench,” she then linked to the Heartland Signal reporting.

Enter Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “The News and Why It Matters,” who also says she’s the executive director of Defend Our Kids Texas. It’s one of the fringe groups that claims drag queens are perverting children by reading children’s books at public libraries.

In response to allegations that Hawley was taking money from someone who covered up for a man convicted of abusing children, Gonzales alleged that Nancy French was having an affair.

“What does your boyfriend think about your husband’s column?” Gonzales said.

“Sara portrays herself as a defender of children against sexual deviance,” Nancy French responded. “Though my @Kanakuk investigation exposed a cover up of what a prosecutor called ‘hundreds’ of child rapes, she shrugs it off. Instead, she tweets a gross lie about me and my marriage.”

“This is actually evil,” David French responded to Gonzales. “A right-wing personality is mad at me over a column. And what’s her response? To publicly level false accusations of adultery against my wife. And people wonder why I sound the alarm over the moral rot on the right. I ignore 99.99 percent of the personal attacks on this hellish website, but when you lie about Nancy, I’m going to show people who you are.”