Is there nothing the right won’t call a “false flag”?
As you may know, yesterday, someone got hold of the New York Post Twitter account and website and used them to post crude political “jokes” as well as violent threats directed at female Democratic politicians. “We must assassinate AOC for America,” read one Tweet. Another one pointed to a fake headline “reporting” the untrue story that New York governor Kathy Hochul’s political rival Lee Zeldin had said that he would “rape and batter Hochul’s sorry ass pussy.”
After first claiming to have been hacked, the Post said that a “rogue employee” was responsible for the tweets and fake headlines.
Meanwhile, Hochul’s office quickly released a statement denouncing the Tweets and demanding answers from the Post.
And that statement, a writer for the Louder With Crowder website known only as “Brodigan” suggested, was the suspicious thing here. He went on to insinuate that the real culprit in this mini-scandal was … Hochul herself.
It seems odd that a Governor — albeit one who is currently nowhere to be found after a disastrous debate performance — would blame the victim.
The “victim” in this case being the New York Post.
Brodigan then implied that it was Hochul, somehow, who hacked or infiltrated the Post to … threaten herself with rape.
A rogue employee, presumably who lives in New York City (Hochul’s main base of support) posts fowl [sic] things on the Post’s Twitter account and website. And right away, Kathy Hochul has a statement ready to go victim-blaming the New York Post in a way that would rally and fire up her far-left supporters.
How long does he think it takes to write a one-paragraph statement?
AND it all happens at a time when Hochul needs a distraction from her governor’s race being rated a TOSS UP.
So suspicious! Was Hochul or one of her minions the “rogue employee” all along? Did she literally have one of her campaign workers get a job at the Post, becoming a “sleeper agent,” so that they could possibly pull something like this at some unknown point in time? JUST ASKING QUESTIONS.
It makes you think…
It makes me think that Louder With Crowder will stoop to anything to make Democrats look bad, even the dumbest conspiracy theory in the world.
Meanwhile, the right-wing BigLeaguePolitics, while not stooping to the level of a fake conspiracy theory, suggested that the real lesson of the whole affair was that “Media And Elites Are Incapable Of Taking Jokes,” as the headline to a post on the site declared. BLP’s Bo Banks wrote:
As expected, the mainstream media is pouncing to label these [fake] articles as “vulgar” and “sexist” that are guilty of targeting politicians.
No, these people cannot simply take a joke.
Somehow I suspect that rape and murder would seem much less funny to Bo here if the target of the “jokes” were female Republicans.
I would ask “what the hell is wrong with these people” except that I already know: they’re bad-faith actors with double standards and no ethics to speak of. That’s the MAGA way.
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Not sure about that, but I doubt that Bo would find the rape and murder of male Republicans funny.
Hell, at this point I’m waiting for someone to explain how Paul Pelosi beat himself up with a hammer in the service of the Deep State.
Jazzlet
I don’t know about that. I’ve seen republican conservative woman be given rape threats and the Republican conservative man (and other women) normally have the same tune. That it’s the woman’s fault. They seem to believe only bad things happen to bad people so she must have done something to deserve it.
Republican politicians would sell their own mother’s into sex slavery for a little bit more of power. I don’t trust any male politician to be on womens side
@ jazzlet
*I don’t know about that too* sorry. I was trying to say I agree with you
@ Nequam
I have already read comments on Yahoo where people are claiming it is suspicious and implying it is a false flag.
I’m sure Bo finds all rape and murder funny. That’s the kind of guy they are. They just wouldn’t admit that about Republicans, and instead they would say how awful it is.
I personally cannot wait for The Rapture to occur to get all these self righteous people out of here (isn’t that what they want too), so us regular sinners can get on with living.
This is my shocked face. *yawning emoji*
Since every accusation is a projection and/or confession with them, I guess one of the MAGAts has hacked at least one of the news websites that isn’t already owned by them.
@Lakitha: It’s almost like they’re lying about that too, isn’t it? But what a relief it would be for the rest of us humans. We could be humane for a change.
@ lakitha
And there’ll be less traffic congestion too.
Well, once we’ve cleared up all the cars that crash as their drivers vanish.
Although presumably any that are still roadworthy would just be up for grabs now?
I’m with you; bring it on.
@Alan Robertshaw: There’s going to be a lot of carnage from those crashes, which won’t happen just on freeways. Also a lot of kids who are going to be very shortly joining their parents the hard way.
@ snowberry
Where did the idea of the Rapture actually come from? I’m a bit of a theology nerd; but it doesn’t seem to be doctrine, or even referenced, in any christian sect (in the non pejorative meaning) that I know of. There’s nothing as far as I’m aware in either the OT or the NT that even vaguely references such a concept.
I mean, I know sometimes you have to imply things to make the doctrine work; like the catholic concept of Limbo; which plugs a few theological holes; but the Rapture isn’t something I’m familiar with beyond the cultural references. Is it mainly a US church thing?
So do any pregnant unsaved experience spontaneous abortions as their Precious Innocent Unborn Baby Lambs are raptured heavenward out of their wombs? (Presuming an American Evangelical Protestant set of ground rules.)
What happens if one inoperably conjoined twin is saved and the other unsaved?
@Alan
Check some of the old Left Behind rereads by Fred “Slacktivist” Clark, he gets into the details of where Rapture theology originated, and fairly thoroughly dissected the first two books (and the films) before giving up in disgust and frustration halfway through the third book, because he kept having to retread the same ground repeatedly, because *Jenkins and LaHaye* kept retreading the exact same ground every friggin book.
@ full metal ox
According to this really bad horror movie about the rapture my husband has me watch, the mother just give birth to a still born baby because it’s the soul that goes up. The flesh gets left there. We stopped watching after that cause I was crying. Don’t do well with miscarriage or still born babies and surprising amount of horror movies written by men do that.
@Alan:
I think the best ‘capsule’ explanation for the whole Rapture thingy is here–
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Rapture
Enjoy and boggle.
@Alan Robertshaw: Short version – the idea of the Rapture originated during the 1820s in England (the actual word was coined in 1827, but the general idea predated that) but never caught on there. The concept was revived in the US in 1843 by Baptist preacher John Miller, and went on to become doctrine in some Baptist sects but was largely unknown to the general public until the 1970s, when it caught on with some non-Baptists. It remains mostly a US phenomena.
The source of the idea comes not from Revelations, but from an extremely questionable interpretation of a handful of lines from 1 Thessalonians and the Gospel of Matthew.
@FMOx: Presumably, in the conjoined twins case, they’re ripped apart at the join and the unsaved one experiences excruciating pain and then bleeds out while the saved one yeets to Republican Jesus heaven.
Horrific. And this is literally what they’re praying for.
@Nequam
It was on CBS radio that in the opinion of some Republican asshole, it was definitely a left-wing extremist because all the terrorism in San Francisco these days is left-wing terrorists.
I don’t know why they gave him airtime when she’s nearly the ultimate target of the right wing mainstream (I’d say fringe, but it’s just mainstream now). I didn’t even have to hear any more than who had been attacked to know who was responsible, just like you don’t have to hear more than “sorority killings” to know it was an incel.
I have never been fond of the Rapture fans because so much of their rhetoric seems focused on how miserable those awful sinners will be once the Rapture fans are raptured away to their special Rapture Winners’ Circle to watch the rest of us with rapt attention.
OTOH, the Rapture concept has led to some fun pop culture, like the novel Larry’s Post-Rapture Pet-Sitting Service by Ellen Rice King. The titular Larry actually spends most of his time rescuing animals who’ve been left behind, though an interesting story point is that just about every dog has been taken up to Heaven, too.
@ mediocrites, robert, snowberry, & vicky p
Wow, indeed. That’s really interesting, if a bit bewildering. So, like sports, it’s a British invention that the rest of the world is better at. Some of that C18/19th religious cult stuff is pretty fascinating. Mother Shipton, Mr Rowe’s Virgins et al. Amazing how some of it just expands into the wider world. But I guess all major religions sort of started like that.
@Alan Robertshaw:
Here’s a link to the Slacktivist Left Behind index, if you’re interested.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/category/left-behind/
Some of the more recent posts in that list are reprints from much earlier columns, but still worth a look to see how the comments have changed over the years.
I also recommend those columns for anyone seeking to write their own version of the Apocalypse. Clark gives our a lot of advice on how people would likely actually react if something like the Rapture really happened, and how Jenkins and Lahaye didn’t come anywhere close to that in their series.
Then again, one of the worst things about the LB series was summoned up by one of the Slacktivist commentators thusly (and paraphrased from memory): you’ve got seven-headed dragons, women dressed in rich clothes, Wormwoos knocking a ton of stars from the sky with their tail running around, etc., and THIS was the best the LB writers could do with that?!? D:
Though when it comes to things like the Tribulation (which is supposed to follow the Rapture, so be careful about wanting that to happen and take all the Fundies away), I’ll take the version some Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in. Instead of years of hell on earth before everyone left behind gets tossed into the eternal fire, the Tribulation is a years-long study session overseen by angelic tutors, with everyone passing the final test on Judgement Day and getting into Heaven. Sounds like a better deal than the lake of fire at least.
OMG. This gives me the purrfect idea:
I’m gonna start a pet-care insurance business. People pay me every month for insurance, and if they’re raptured while their account is current, I take care of their beloved pets. Food, of course. Roof for most, as appropriate. No vaccinations — I wouldn’t do that to the precious creatures. Even vet care. Every need your furry friend has will be met, so now you can be raptured without the worry.
I’ll put it in an investment fund, siphon off 10%/year as “overhead” and live the good life.
@ Elaine the witch
Well rape is always a womans fault/s
@ Dave
Sadly probably true.
@ Crip Dyke
I’d check the market, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that kind of insurance did already exist. Although mabe not, I mean would the potential rapturee trust a non-potential rapturee to look after their pets?
That doesn’t even make sense. Why would anyone hack a Twitter account to threaten themselves.
That’s what the Jew card is for.
I mean, I’m a BAD Jew. I haven’t been to services in a while. And as much as I find the ritual and the community comforting, I don’t actually believe in a super-powered universe-builder with kung fu grip. But I have been an official member of a synagogue as an adult, not just as a kid with someone else paying the bills.
So as long as no one asks too many questions, I could qualify as a Jew for certain purposes. Ooh! Even better is that I have actual rabbi friends. Make one of my more pious/less transsexual friends the face of the business and I think their own theology would work against them.