Religious Nuts Want To Kill Us All With Coronavirus

Florida :"pastor" Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested earlier
this month for defying orders to not hold services that
attract crowds.  

Religious wing nuts, the so-called "pro-life" activists, want to kill us.

That's the only conclusion I can reach with these idiots who insisting on opening their churches this pasr Easter Sunday for crowded services, in defiance of local, state and national orders to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Plus, they continue to hold services and are suing to be able to keep doing it.

So much for being "pro-life."  

Oh, sure, they're against abortion, saying it "kills babies," but they are plainly all for making the coronavirus pandemic worse by holding these services despite these crowds being the perfect way to spread Covid-19 exponentially.

More people will die than otherwise would had it not been for these idiots. Many of them will be innocent people who unknowingly make contact with these murderers.  Thou shall not kill?

Even pandering GOP politicians have gotten into this deadly act.

"Most  people want to limit the spread of Covid-19 (but) don't tell is we can't practice our religious freedoms," huffed  Kansas Republican Senate President Susan Wagle according to the Wichita Eagle.  in an article earlier this month. The paper reports that already, at least three clusters of Kansas Covid-19 outbreaks stemmed from religious services.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, sued the state's GOP legislative council over that group's decision to overturn Kelly's order to limit the size of religious meetings and funerals to ten people, as HuffPost reports.

Hours before church services were to start on Easter, the Kansas State Supreme Court backed Kelly, saying she had the right to limit groups, including those in churches, to 10 people or less, reports the Kansas City Star.

This battle, of course continues, needlessly, of course.

There's all kinds of local dramas, mostly in the South, with these "religious" people. The guy who operates the Joe My God blog has brilliantly labeled these types as "Branch Covidians."

One of these idiots is Rodney Howard-Browne of The River At Tampa Bay, who was arrested for opening his church a week or two back.

According to The Daily Beast, Howard-Browne said he "would never back down," but did just that for the silliest attempt at a fig leaf.

He said he didn't want an outsider with coronavirus might go to the church to make the faithful sick, or something like that.

As you can tell, I'm completely fed up with these murderous evangelicals.  They whine constantly about how persecuted they are, and yet they are arguably afforded more rights and benefits than any other group in this nation. Their persecution complex has always been that they are all miffed beyond belief that not everybody thinks and acts the way they do.

Those smug asses think everybody should act in accordance with their "Christian nation" beliefs.

God forbid. No pun intended.

We all know exactly why the scamevangelists are cynically opening churches and risking their flock and fans.  It's all about the collection plate. This stay at home stuff just doesn't fit their business model.  Let's face it, most of these "pastors" are filthy rich and are some of the most common grifters out there.

The famous saying is true: There's a sucker born every minute. There's plenty of gullible people who fall for these religious scams. You can't shake their "faith" that attending church in groups is the only way to salvation. Whatever that is.

They tell us God is all powerful. If that's the case, God can hear our prayers whether we're in a church or alone at home.

Plenty of other religious denominations get it. They've closed their church doors and put their services on YouTube, or Facebook Live, or whatever else helps people get access to the church.  At last check, God has not struck these responsible churches down. No lightning strikes on the shuttered churches in my town, at least.

Besides, if you believe in God, you should know He gave us a brain.  Probably with the assumption we'd use it. Maybe God gave us the power to decide what is right and not right for us and especially for our neighbors. Passing this test is probably more of a mark of decency, religious righteousness and morals than anything else.

The scamevangelicals failed this test, and so did their fans.

I'm sure a lot of these gullible marks have gotten convinced this coronavirus pandemic is some sort of second coming. The End Times. They probably have been so brainwashed by these "pastors" that they'll believe anything. Just as long as the scamevangelicals rake in the dough, right?

In turn, these gullible cultists don't mind killing the rest of us. They know they Way, or so they think.

That persecution complex among these so called religious types is in full force when people try to enforce these big church gatherings.

In Kentucky, about 50 members of the Maryville Baptist Church attended Easter services, in violation of a state order to limit the size of gatherings during this pandemic. Policd took down license plate numbers of these church goers, threatening to quarantine them.

The church is planning a federal lawsuit claiming its constitutional rights were violated. After all, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, right?

However, one can practice their religion and not do it amid a crowd. In his order banning group gatherings, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear banned all large groups, not just religious ones. So no, the governor is not persecuting religious types, despite the whines of the Branch Covidians.

And despite the facts, the Liberty Counsel lawyers who are suing are claiming it was Beshear's intend to focus on churches. Um, yeah. Right.  I thought thou shall not lie was in the 10 Commandments, but what do i know?

As constitutional attornry Mitchell Denham told television stations WAVE, "You cannot place people in harm by exercising your religion."

A similar idiotic lawsuit, by the way, is pending in California.

It would be one thing if these religious nutbags were only putting themselves in harms way. But they're doing it to the rest of us, too.  Remember, as I said, they demand we be just like them.

But that is the worst role modeling anyone can follow.

The "religious" scammers I've just written about is just one of several groups of villians in this coronavirus outbreak. I'll feature more in coming posts.

That sounds negative, I realize, but now's the time to take down names.  When or if this is over, or even doing the evildoers in this pandemic need to be made accountable, just as the many heroes in this episode need to be celebrated forever.

A New Low In Obnoxious Advertising

One of those obnoxious ads in the waters off lower Manhattan

As anybody who knows me realizes, I have no patience for the desperate, loud, constant barrage of advertising.

It's possible to make advertising that is engaging, entertaining and makes you want to buy their products. That concept is rare, though, as most advertisers seem more intent on insulting us, rathern than engaging us.

Most advertisers seem to think the more you annoy us, the more likely we are to buy their wares. I have not gotten anyone to explain how that works, if it does.

A new low in advertising has come on the waters of the Hudson and East rivers surrounding the big lights of Manhattan.  Barges now ply those waters with obnoxious LED billboards. As the New York Daily News reports:

"The city filed a lawsuit Wednesday aimed at sinking the billboard-carrying barges that float on New York waterways.

City attorneys write that the company behind the LED advertisements, Ballyhoo Media, has brazenly disregarded requests to dock the barges because they are a public nuisance, distract drivers and violate zoning regulations."

I can see why New York City officials are exasperated with these barges. As New York City Councilman Justin Brannon said in the Daily News:  "At a time when every square inch of our world feels like it's covered in advertisements, visual pollution is a real thing, and our waterways should be off-limits. Drivers along the water don't need more distractions and when kids in Bay Ridge go to Shore Road Park, they don't need to be barraged by flashing lights advertising the latest video game."

True, a big city like New York has plenty of bright lights and advertising. It's turned Times Square into one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world.

But the advertising like that doesn't have to be everywhere. That's why Manhattan has both the dazzling advertising lights of Times Square, and the relative quiet and trees and lawns of Central Park.

However, plenty of advertisers and ad agencies think they must blind and deafen us constantly, because that way we'll buy, buy.  Ballyhoo Media, the company behind these obnoxious floating barge billboards is one of those.

The website for Ballyhoo Media was interestingly down for maintenance Wednesday and Thursday, which is interesting.

Infuriatingly, Ballyhoo Media might still get away this. The company pulled the same stunt in Miami Beach. The Florida city tried banning the advertising barges, but Ballyhoo successfully argued that Miami Beach doesn't have jurisdiction over the water, so their awful visual pollution remains.

Ballyhoo is likely to make the same argument in New York.

The Miami New Times said Adam Shapiro, owner of Ballyhoo, gave this spin on how supposedly great these floating advertising barges are. Shapiro said the barges are a quicker way to reach customers and make announcements. He pointed out there have always been advertisements at the beach.

Well, yeah. You can go up to the boardwalk and look at all the advertisements you want, or you could turn around and have an uncluttered view of the water. You have a choice. Ballyhoo Media wants to take away that choice.

Shapiro made the same argument, that his company is just wonderful, in response to the New York lawsuit. Talk about gall and gaslighting with this statement!

"We love the waterways and have developed this platform to be an asset to the community.....Ballyhoo has proven to provide unique, one-of-a-kind experiences that has been received with overwhelmingly positive community support. We are confident that New York City will see the value and excitement we bring to the waterfront."

I hate to break it to him, but the yelling and screaming Shapiro is hearing is not "positive community support," it's community rage.  But enjoy your delusions, sir.

Unfortunately, this will only get worse. We've probably been sentenced to dozens of these companies clogging beautiful waterways, along with lake and ocean front tourist spots with these outrageous LED ads.

Want to give up on the beaches because of this and stargaze instead? Looks like you're going to be out of luck there, too.

As Astronomy.com and other media outlets have reported, a Russian startup called StartRocket wants to put billboard advertising in space, because apparently, stars and planets are ugly but advertisements  in the sky for chicken wings and cola are majestic.

Astronomy.com describes this hellish idea: "Imagine this: you've just fled from the city to your nearest national park to gaze deeply into the infinite abysss of space and contemplate how your own existence fits into the curtain of the universe. Then out of the corner of your eye, you see brigh white letters spelling "KFC" spring across the horizon in a long arch."

Yeah, lovely.

It seems that advertising company executives are so full of themselves that they will believe any branding about themselves that they imagine. It can't even enter their mind that almost all of the rest of us think they're obnoxious. The guy with the ads in space idea, Valadilen Sitnikov says this: "It's human nature to advertise everything... Brands are a beautiful part of humankind."

Really?

I once read a short story where everybody in the nation was forced to view advertising every waking hour through some sort of hologram that everybody was required to operate.

It doesn't seem like we're that far from that horrible dystopian life.

Another Reason To Avoid Florida: Poison Toads

Another reason to "love" Florida: Hordes of poisonous toads are
invading some neighborhoods 

Generally speaking, I'm the kind of person who likes frogs and toads.

Where I live in New England, they never cause much trouble at all. They just eat annoying mosquitoes and other biting and damaging insects. What's not to love?  

Florida, of course, does everything differently, and often, worse. Which brings me to some toads in the Sunshine State that make me want to stay far, far away.

They're called cane toads, and lately, they've been taking over neighborhoods in much of southern Florida. Worse, they're poisonous. Dogs and cats love to catch toads. They put these toads in their mouths, the toad secretes a toxin, and the pet dies.

Humans can get ill from these things, too.

Since these toads are invasive, they have few natural predators and are overwhelming some areas.  As USA Today notes, local news stations in Florida have been broadcasting images of these toads clogging pool filters, hopping in large crowds across driveways and partly covering lawns.

Individually, the toads look cute, even though they are poisonous. The huge numbers of them look like a horror movie.

This outbreak of marauding toads was probably brought on by humid weather, a rainy spell and a surge in temperatures into the 80s and low 90s. The epicenter of this invasion seems to be Palm Beach Gardens neighborhood of Mirabella where people can't bring their pets outside and children can't play outdoors because there's so many poisonous toads.

One resident, Jennie Quasha, told television station WPTV, "I just see a massive amount of toads and frogs everywhere, covering every square inch....You can't even walk through the grass without stepping on one."  Quasha said hundreds of them were in her swimming pool. So much for a nice leisurely dip in the pool on a humid Florida afternoon.

Exterminators can get rid of some of the toads, but it looks like people will have to let nature take its course. The numbers of toads will go down, but they won't disappear entirely.

Which is another reason to not enjoy the Sunshine State.

Florida Again: Woman Has Gross Way Of Ruining Kid's Birthday Party

Heather Carpenter of Florida, naturally, is accused of spreading
crap all over tables and grills at a park because a school principal
she hates planned a birthday party for her daughter at the
park later that day. 

A now presumably former substitute teacher in, yes, Florida apparently really hates the principal at the school where she worked. 

This idiot, Heather Carpenter showed up at Urfer Park in Sarasota County, Florida at 6:30 a.m. on December 1 and spread feces all over the wooden tables and grills at the pavilion in the park, says Fox 13 News in Tampa. 

The alleged reason: The principal at the school where she worked planned a birthday party for her daughter at the park. All the kids in the class were invited, including Carpenter's kid. But Carpenter was having some sort of dispute with the principal, so she decided to act like the shitty person she is.

The party had to be canceled, and the county had to replace all the tables and grills. They were too far gone to be cleaned. In all this cost the county $2,310, including labor costs. And the principal's poor kid didn't have her birthday party.

Lots of people use parks in a busy place like Sarasota County, and there's people milling about, even at 6:30 in the morning. One of them was a guy named Mike Hutchinson, who caught Carpenter doing this, spreading the crap around while wearing a surgical mask and blue rubber gloves.

She fled, but police later figured out who she, in part because of Hutchinson's description of her, and they arrested her. She faces felony criminal mischief and properth damage charges, Fox 13 says.

On the bright side, of sorts, she upheld Florida's reputation as a place where people go to commit weird, weird, crimes.

Worse Eight Hour Flight Ever

Worst flight ever? This kid apparently screamed like a demon
during an entire eight hour flight this past summer from
Germany to New Jersey. He also climbed over
everything, including sometimes, passengers. 

Everybody's got stories of their Worst Flight Ever.

I think the people on an eight hour flight from Germany to New Jersey have one of the best stories.

A kid screamed like a demon during the entire flight. it really does sound like a horror movie. You can watch the video at the bottom of this post if you don't believe me.

This happened in August, but is getting more traction on line now.  The video tag line says the incident unfolded because the kid was addicted to technology and couldn't always have it, but I think more was going on.

This kid has problems. Screaming like that for a full eight hours? And climbing all over the seats and even people? Geesh!

Yes, we should be sympathetic to children who might have some sort of mental illness, but this still had to be The Worst for the rest of the people on the plane. I honestly don't know if the parents could have done their parenting job better, or that the kid might have autism or something else that made him uncontrollable.

This is only my opinion, but judging from the video, it didn't help that the mom seemed to try only half-heartedly to get the boy under control.  On some flights, I've had to deal with slightly unruly kids from time to time, but this is so out of control. My sympathies to the people who had to go through this.

Here's the video:

You Are Treasonous If You Don't Bow To His Lordship Trump, Apparently

Trump thinks anyone who criticizes him is treasonous
Time to teach this boy a lesson

Donald Trump, as always, was pissed today.

One of the many things that made him pissed was the fact that Democrats in Congress did not applaud him at all, or nearly as much or as enthusiastically as they should have.

During a speech near Cincinnati today, Trump said this: "Even on positive news - really positive news, like that - they were like death and un-American. Un-American......Somebody said treasonous. Yeah, I guess, why not? Can we call that treason? Why not? I mean they certainly didn't seem to love our country very much."

Yeah, yeah, I know, Trump says dumb, divisive things multiple times every day. And a huge amount of what Trump says is terribly damaging and divisive for the United States. We're right to react against it, but it's hard, because this stupidity is becoming old hat.

But Trump's comments today are a big step forward in his efforts to become some sort of autocratic dictator, and today's comments should really bring the outrage level to new heights. And notice Trump went to his usual trope, "somebody said." As if he thinks pawning his thoughts off on some anonymous loser gives him cover. What an idiot!

As NPR helpfully explains, the U.S. Constitution defines treason against the country  "only in levying  War against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

As is obvious, the Democrats who did not applaud Trump did no such thing. Again, as is obvious, the Democrats were exercising their First Amendment rights. They were publicly disagreeing with the President, which we all have the right to do. So technically, the Democrats were actually being patriotic in voicing their dissent. Even if you don't agree with them.

Of course, nobody has to agree with the Democrats for not applauding. Trump and everyone else is free to criticize them for not showing support for the President's policies.

How, exactly, is it un-American to speak up against someone or something to which we disagree. I always thought it was patriotic to stand up for what you think is right in this country, and to blast anything you think is wrong. Don't we all have a duty as Americans to influence the best ways to run this nation?

Republicans regularly failed to applaud former President Barack Obama during his speeches. If you didn't like Obama and his policies, you were free to say so. Then South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" to Obama during one of his speeches in 2009.

Yep, Wilson was rude, but he wasn't treasonous, and his remarks fell well within his First Amendment rights.  You didn't want to applaud Obama during his State of the Union addresses? Well, that was totally, 100% your right. So, how is it treasonous to criticize Trump?

It isn't. But Trump thinks of himself as the Grand Pooh-Ba, and that anyone who disagrees with him is somehow against America. Yes, he's that stupid, but what are you going to do

I'll tell you what we're going to do. If you don't like Trump, hate his policies, hate his attitude, we speak up louder than ever.

Again, being Captain Obvious here, we do not owe Trump or any other politician absolute loyalty. We either vote for them, or we don't. And that's where it needs to stand.

Trump's rhetoric is dangerous as well as spectacularly ignorant. If you think Trump's policies and opinions are awesome, then terrific! Support him all you want. But despite what you might think, you are totally un-American and unpatriotic if you consider any criticism of Trump or any other politician "treasonous."

If you do think such criticism is "treasonous." I suggest you move to North Korea. If you don't like dissent and think it should be crushed, North Korea is the nation for you!

Stunning Hypocrisy In Roy Moore Scandal: Molesters "Better" Than Democrats?

National embarrassment Roy Moore still has lots of
deluded defenders who think nothing is worse than a Democrat

It's time for you to vote for your U.S. Senate candidate. You have the choice between two guys. Here they are:

1. This one, a former prosecutor, in the past won the conviction of KKK members who bombed a church and killed four young girls.

2. The other one, in the past, molested a 14 year old girl.

You'd think the choice would be obvious, but that's not how the world works anymore, apparently. I had thought there was nothing the extreme right wing of the Republic Party could do that would shock me anymore.

Yet once again, I was proven wrong. In Alabama, it appears the molester has an excellent chance of winning the election, not the former prosecutor. That's because pedophilia can be ignored if the molesting candidate hates gays, liberals and wants to turn Christianity into a mandatory nationwide religion.

To backtrack: You might have heard about the Washington Post bombshell about ultra-conservative Roy Moore, who is seeking the Alabama U.S. Senate seat vacated when Jeff Sessions left the Senate to become U.S. Attorney General.

Apparently, decades ago, Moore sexually molested a 14 year old girl, who went on the record with the story for the Washington Post this week.

While many people, including quite a few GOPers, condemned Moore for this behavior, there are a number of his defenders who made the wildest excuses for Moore. These excuses are just scary.

Yeah, a little hypocrisy at work here, no?  And while we gawk and mock this Republican hypocricy, this whole Moore thing totally sets in place Alabama's reputation as a weird, scary place, at least in the political and "religious" side of things. People are suffering because of the likes of Moore.

Moore has famously said that being gay is such an abomination that gay people should be in jail. But apparently, sexual contact between consenting adults is a high crime if the people involved are of the same gender, but sexual contact between non-consenting people, even when one of them is not an adult is A-OK.

The contortions Moore's supporters are going through to boost Moore are beyond belief.

This being Alabama, the state's auditor, Jim Ziegler, justified Moore's behavior this way: "Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus."

Oh, really?  I thought it was the Virgin Mary, and Joseph didn't boink Mary, no matter what her age was. But logic doesn't matter when you want to elect a bigot.

The Cullman, Alabama Times reports that one state representative actually said Moore's accusers should be prosecuted. For what, I don't know.

And check out this tweet by some loser named Carroll Bryant: "I'd rather have a pedophile in office rather than a democrat any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Pedophiles only screw kids while democrats screw everyone."

Cute, huh?

Obviously not every Republican and not everyone conservative is on Moore's side.  However, the true believers are.

Mother Jones points out how Moore, again, does his biblical imagery to keep his evangelical base.

Because apparently, some true believers are so easy to snow over.

Check out Moore's successful fundraising email that went out right after the latest scandal came to light last week. His missive read in part:

"We are in the midst of a spiritual battle with those who want to silence our message. The forces of evil will lie, cheat, steal - even inflict physical harm - if they believe it will silence and shut up Christian conservatives like you and me....

That's why I ust be able to count on the help of God-fearing conservatives like you to stand with me at this critical moment."

Got that? Anyone who doesn't buy my holier than thou bullshit is the devil, is the clear message here.

It's not that others aren't  trying to shake so called Alabama "evangelicals" awake.

Here's part of an editorial from the Alabama Political Reporter:

"What's it going to take before you realize that your family values, my-sin-is-better-than-yours-sin,  conservative voting approach has produced a state government filled with lying cheating, sexually assaulting, money-grubbing criminals who have embarrassed us countless times, and on top of everything, mismanaged the hell out of this place?

"........Take a look around you. We're terrible as a state. We're near the bottom in public education, medical care, infrastructure, economy and upward mobility and at the top in infant mortality, poverty, obesity and political corruption. 

This is what the Roy Moore Republican Party has brought Alabama. A government built on greed and hatefulness, on shunning anything different and thumbing our nose at any hint of progress."

In the National Review, writer and attorney David French suggests that evangelicals are actually showing no faith in their own faith with this situation.

French writes:

"I keep hearing these words from evangelicals; We've got no choice. The Democrats are after our liberties. They're seeking to destroy our way of life Some even go as far as to say that even if the allegations against Moore are true, they'll still hold their nose and put him in office to keep (Democrat) Jones from serving three years in the Senate. 

I'm sorry, evangelicals, but your lack of faithy is far more dangerous to the Church than any senator, any president, or any justice of the Supreme Court. Do you really have so little trust in God that you believe it's justifiable - no, necessary - to ally with, defend, and even embrace corrupt men if you think it will save the Church?

Apparently the answer is yes. And it's proof that at least among some of the wacko right wing conservatives, their so called religious faith is completely hollow.

Which brings their "morality" down to the level of Moore and his ilk.

Worst Campaign Ad Ever? Here's A Contender

A scene from perhaps the worst campaign ad ever

The video at the bottom of this post could be the worst campaign ad ever. And a lot of people agree with me. 

Democrat Dan Helmer is running for a U.S. House seat in Virginia.

So he put up an ad that is a parody of the scene in the movie "Top Gun" in which Tom Cruise sings "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' to Kelly McGillis in a bar, and then everybody in the bar joins in.

Here, we have Helmer in the bar singing "You've Lost That Centrist Feelin." to an actor playing his opponent. Rep. Barbara Comstock.

Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds. Watch if you dare:

Say What You Want, Extreme Wacko Right Wing Is Imaginative

Liz Crokin has some, um, interesting theories about
the Democratic National Committee.

The people that brought us "Pizzagate" have an even wilder theory now, and boy is it entertaining.

And they're winning the competition to come up with the most far-fetched theories possible.

Pizzagate was the theory early this year that to the wackos, indicated by John Podesta e-mails, that the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton were running a child sex ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria.

Among the other nonsensical parts of this story, the pizzeria doesn't even have a basement.

But, whatever.

Now, they've gone further with their theory of the evils of the Democratic party.

Here's the scoop, as Right Wing Watch tells us:

"Right-wing columinst, commentator and conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin is fully committed to the conspiracy theory that there is a massive global satanic pedophile ring run by high-ranking government officials, powerful business executives and celebrities which regularly engages in the ritual sexual abuse and murder of children."

Right Wing Watch goes on:

"Crokin said that the average person simply cannot comprehend the fact that 'one third of the government' is part of a satanic Illuminati cult that sexually abuses, kills and eats children, but 'that's what these people do.'"

She said all this does seem unbelievable, but the John Podesta emails prove that it's happening. Crokin does not explain how those Podesta emails prove it, but whatever.

It's actually hard to follow how all this grew into Pizzagate and beyond, but this how Crokin's "logic" apparently works. 

The Democratic National Committee emails were hacked during the 2016 campaign, and this included emails to and from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta.

Many of the emails were innocuous and referred to dinner plans, sometimes involving pizza.

Somehow, Crokin and the other right wing wackos decided the word "pizza," particularly the phrase "cheese pizza" was code for "child pornography" since both phrases have the same first letters in their words.

Podesta also communicated with the owner of that Washington DC pizzeria, so the conspiracy was born.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

A lot of other people apparently "get" it, though, as YouTube videos of this theory and social media posts got lots of followers who apparently believe this shit. A guy even traveled up from South Carolilna and opened fire on the pizzeria to stop the child sex ring.

If that many people are that stupid and that gullible, God save us.

Flint Water Crisis: City Threatens To Evictions Of People Who Wouldn't Pay For Undrinkable Water

The water has been undrinkable in
Flint, Michigan for three years now,
but people there are being told to pay
their water bills, or else.

For years now, Flint, Michigan has been struggling with a water crisis, in which people unwittingly drank water highly contaminated with lead. 

The water crisis was caused by a series of boneheaded moves by state officials, who wanted to prove their "conservative" cost saving ways by switching water systems to something cheap and unsafe.

Who cares if a bunch of kids get sick if the move proves your conservative GOP credentials, right?

While Flint has been slowly working on a fix for this problem, the city also did something horrible, but again, state GOP officials have culpability here too:

The city is threatening to foreclose on and evict up to 8,000 residents because they refused to pay their water bills. Why pay for something you can't use and is unsafe, right?

According to NBC 25 in Flint:

"City leaders say they are in a bind and need the cash.

'We have to have revenue coming in, so we can't give people revenue, I mean excuse me, give people water at the tap and not get revenue coming in to pay those bills,' said Al Mooney, City of Flint Treasury Department."

If people do not pay up by May 19, their water bills go to the tax department, which starts the process of putting properties up for tax sales, and eventual foreclosures."

Got that? Pay for something dangerous and pay for a service that was not provided or lose your homes. Ain't America great?

The state of Michigan had been offering credits up until February, when the state decided the water was fine in Flint now, so everything's totally back to normal.

Except it isn't, of course.

Thousands of homes still have aging pipes that put people at risk for lead poisoning and those pipes have to be replaced. Expensive job for sure.

Few of the residents who received the tax liens expected them, and people have little time to save money to pay the bills or prepare for the notices. If people don't pay within nine months, they risk losing their homes.

Some politicians are still on Flint residents' side. "Flint families should not have to pay for water that they still cannot drink, and they certainly should not lose their homes over the ongoing water crisis that was caused by the callous decisions of state government," said Rep. Daniel Kildee in a written statement.

But, corrupt people who poison the citizenry have got to get their money from somewhere. Let's just soak people they've victimized even more, I guess.

This Video Shows Why Computer-Written News Copy Is Still Horribly Bad

I encountered a news video of a fatal house fire in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts recently.

An elderly man recently died in this Massachusetts house
fire, and an insulting computer generated "news" video
just made the situation even worse. 

The insulting, off the rails report of the fire showed that automation does not work when it comes to reporting on the news.

An outfit called World Today posted the video of the house fire, which was probably lifted from legitimate television news stations who were covering the fire.

The intro features some really bad dance club music, as if a tragic fire was an occasion to party.

The World Today video had an automated, computer generated voice that described the death in the house fire this way: "Police affirmed small time who lived in the house kicked the bucket thus of the fire."

Huh?

We also learned, "A working fire task was struck when firefighters touched bases as the house was immersed in blazes."

When the fire got too big for firefighters to work inside the house, the World Today video reported, "Firefighters were requested out of the building not long after arriving and are just battling the fire all things considered."

What do you mean "all things considered?" I don't even want to guess.

In reality, the fire was tragic. An 86-year old man's lawn mower caught fire, then caught his clothes on fire, and burned down his house. The elderly man died, and the house was destroyed, legitimate news station CBS Boston reported. 

Here's the horrible, cringe-inducing video, but you gotta see and hear it to believe it:

Just When You Thought Adveritising Couldn't Get More Annoying, There's This

This jerk in a Burger King ad will trigger your Google Home
and other devices, subjecting you to a cacaphony of
Burger King advertising. Ugh. 

UPDATE:

The Burger King Google device advertisement has backfired. As noted below in yesterday's post, the ad triggers voice activated to start reciting the Wikipedia entry for the fast food chain's Whopper sandwich.

So, people went into Wikipedia and altered the Whopper entry.

According to The Independent, the change in the Wikipedia definition of the Whopper describes it as containing cyanide, causes cancer and is the worst product sold by Burger King.

Take that!

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Burger King has a great new idea to piss people off through advertising.

According to CNBC:

"Burger King is launching a full-fledged marketing blitz based on triggering voice-activated Google devices, in what could become a grim precedent for TV and radio ads talking directly to voice-activated gadgets like smartphones and Amazon's Echo speakers. 

The fast food company's new TV ad features a person looking directly into the camera and saying, "OK Google, what is the Whopper burger"", which - if anything goes as planned - will trigger Google devices like the Google Home assistant and Android phones that have enabled voice search."

Great. you got yourself a handy dandy Google Home assistant or Amazon Echo - and they are kind of cool - and now you have to hide them away and shut them down every time you turn on the TV or radio.

Or, you will have to endure these devices yakking on about the stupid product some advertiser has that triggered the devices.  The ad makes the devices start reading the Wikipedia entry for Burger King's Whopper. You can see why CNBC called the Burger King ad a "grim precedent."

By the way, this is not what Google and Amazon intended with their devices. Neither company worked with Burger King or anyone else to do these ads, says CNBC. 

Burger King president Jose Cil is enthusiastic about the idea. "We saw it as technology to essentially punch through that fourth wall....a cool way to connect directly with our guests."

I don't want Burger King or any other advertiser punching through any of my walls.  

I keep hearing from the ad industry that annoying ads are effective because they make you remember the brand. 

It's true I remember the brand after seeing a bad ad, but not in a positive way that makes me want to buy the product.  You'd think this would be obvious. 

Now that I know about Burger King's device-triggering ad, I can picture myself driving by a Burger King, remembering the Google Home-triggering ad and going, "ugh" before driving on as fast as I can. 

I have not found any article or information that explains to me how annoying ads can make me or anybody else buy products.  I will confess that compelling ads, done well and unobtrusively, will make me take a second look at a product and make me consider buying it. 

Why don't most advertisers understand that concept?

Some advertisers recognize we don't like them and their products with annoying ads. Proctor and Gamble is backing a group called Coalition for Better Ads to curb the most intrusive and infuriating types of ads online and on mobile devices. 

We'll see if that has any effect. 

On the bright side of sorts, there's a bit of an arms race to stop the Burger King ad from being effective. Tech Crunch reports Google did something that stops the ad from working on their devices. 

For the first two hours after the ad appeared, Google devices were triggered by them. Then, it stopped working, Tech Crunch said. 

Score one for Google!

But, then again, there are reports this morning that Burger King altered their ad to make it trigger Google devices again.

Sigh. 

For the record, here's that odious Burger King ad:

Announcing The Worst Maid Of Honor At Wedding World Champion!

Amanda Willis is likely the world
record holder as worst wedding
maid of honor ever. 

Everybody wants their wedding to be memorable.

Mine was!        
 
Fortunately, my wedding four years ago was memorable in a great way, thanks to the wonderful people who helped us celebrate.

Sometimes, though, the people who are supposed to help most at a wedding fail at the job.

We now have the world record holder for the person who does the worst job at this.

The good news is the actual wedding ceremony for David and Jennifer Butler in Florida went off beautifully.

The bad news is maid of honor Amanda Willis turned things into a nightmare as soon as the reception started.

However, as NBC News 2 in Fort Myers, Florida explains it, bride Jennifer Butler said Willis hit the bottle hard as soon as the reception kicked off.

"She was drun within 20 minutes to a haf hour," Butler said.

"She was a mess. She drank almost a whole entire bottle of Fireball," said wedding guest Robert Templeton.

From there, Willis went up to the Best Man, Brian Butler (David's brother) and grabbed his car keys and jumped in his car.

Brian Butler chased after her, and Willis almost backed over him. He then grabbed onto the car and hung on. He was dragged a bit, but somehow reached into the car and cranked the emergency brake.

Phew!

But it wasn't over yet! Oh no. Bridesmaidzilla had MUCH more work to do.

Guests wrestled Willis out of the car, and she went back into the reception, grabbed a big bottle of Captain Morgan and started guzzling.

She then threw a punch at Templeton, the wedding guest.

That's when someone called the police.

On the way to jail, Willis pretended to have asthma and a seizure, she exposed herself to deputies, assauted two medics and kicked over her bed pan..

Geez.

NBC News 2 said Butler and Willis had been best friends before this incident, but Butler no longer considers Willis a friend.

Ya think?

Although it might not have hurt if Butler had done a background check on Willis. This was Willis' ninth arrest in Charlotte County, Florida.

Donald Trump Junior Is Choking On His Skittles.

The infamous Trump Junior Skittles Tweet. 

You have to admire Donald Trump Jr, the son of the Republican presidential candidate.

I don't know if admire is the right word exactly, but it certainly is an accomplishment to make so many mistakes in one little Tweet.

As you might have heard, the Tweet from Trump Junior heard around the world this week showed a bowl of Skittles with a caption that said: "If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful? That's our Syrian refugee problem."

OK, let's list all that went wrong here:

1. The Skittles metaphor Junior used seems to have originated a guy named Julius Streicher back in the late 1930s. He was a dedicated Nazi who was hanged for crimes against humanity at Nuremberg back in 1946, says The Intercept.

Streicher wrote a children's book that compared poisonous mushrooms to Jews. In his awful book, a mother tells her son, "Just a single poisonous mushroom can kill a whole family, so a solitary Jew can destroy a whole village, a whole city, even an entire (nation.)"

Yeah, lovely.

2. The guy who took the photo of the bowl of Skittles in Junior's Tweet is David Kittos of Guilford, Britain. Kittos was himself a refugee, having been forced to flee Cyprus in 1974, says the BBC.

Kittos uploaded the Skittles bowl photo to Flickr in 2010, and that's where the Trumpsters apparently found it. Kittos made it abundantly clear he did not give the Trumps or anyone else permission to use the Skittles photo, and he vehemently opposes using the photo the way it was used.

"In 1974, when I was six years old, I was a refugee from the Turkish occupation of Cyprus so I would never approve the use of this image against refugees," Kittos told the BBC. 

Kittos is highly pessimistic that Trumps will take the photo down, or that he will be paid for his troubles. Kitto's pessimistic is certainly realistic, let me tell ya.

3. The timing of the Skittles Tweet suggests Junior was reacting to that idiot who set off the bomb in Chelsea, Manhattan last weekend, injuring 29 people.

The moron bomber was not a Syrian refugee but a naturalized American citizen born in Afghanistan. So this particular incident had noting to do with Syrian refugees.

4. Candy companies tend to be pretty friendly outfits. So if you get candy manufacturer mad at you, you're doing pretty badly.

Mars, the parent company of Skittles, felt the need to spell out the obvious to Junior in this terse statement on Twitter: "Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. It's an inappropriate analogy. We respectfully refrain from further comment as that could be misinterpreted as marketing." 

A classy corporate response to a decidedly unclassy Trump Junior remark.

5. Junior doesn't understand how the First Amendment works. On the top of his Twitter feed Wednesday morning, he has this pinned Tweet from March: "Liberals love the first amendment until you say something they don't agree with."

No, nobody is saying that Junior can't discuss Skittles. But just as he has the First Amendment right to be stupid with Skittles and refugees, we have the First Amendment right to say Junior is stupid with his Skittles and refugees.

6. As is often the case, Stephen Colbert had the last word last night. He noted Junior brought up Skittles, not M&M's.

Colbert said: "Of course the Trump family prefers Skittles because there are no brown ones."

Ouch!

Worst Texting Driver Ever In Pennsylvania

Hard to see in this still from the video. but a woman
steers through traffic near Philadelphia with her
feet while constantly texting. 

A couple driving along the highways and streets around Philadelphia spotted a woman texting with both hands and driving with her feet on the steering wheel.

I guess the texting enthusiasts' war on the rest of us is escalating. I swear they want to kill us by being as ridiculous as possible on the highways.

According to ABC 6 Action News in Philadelphia, the couple spotted the women on the busy Schuylkill Expressway and in thick urban traffic in Center City.

They followed the woman for about 20 minutes as she steered through traffic with her feet, her fingers skittering across the phone screen and eyes on the phone instead of traffic, swerving all the way.

While Shawn Delong drove and kept his eyes on the road, Sarah filmed the terrible texting woman.

"Someone is going to get killed, that's why I was so mad. You see people on their phones all the time, but that took the cake," Sarah Delong told Action News.

The Delongs tried beeping at Horrible Texting Woman and signaling her to get off the phone, but Horrible Texting Woman just took her eyes off the phone very briefly, smirked at the Delongs, then went back to texting.

Amazingly, Horrible Texting Woman did not hurt anyone, that we know of.

The cops apparently can't do anything about this situation, because they have to catch Horrible Texting Woman in the act.

Now that the video of Horrible Texting Woman has gone viral, maybe somebody can identify her and publicly shame her into never driving with her phone again.

A guy can dream, right?

Here's news video about Horrible Texting Woman

  

Clueless Dude Explains Why He Thinks Cat Calling Makes Him A Studmuffin

Patrick Jones, left, can't seem to believe his ears
as he interviews this weird guy who
thinks catcalling and harassing
women like he does is something the
ladies appreciate, or should.
Surprise! Most people beg to differ.  

Patrick Jones at Buzz60 was out interviewing people about some "No Catcalling Zone" signs that went up in New York and other cities.  

The signs look like run of the mill "No Parking" signs, but if you look closely, they're weirder and much funnier and more pointed.

Some of the signs show an image of a cat shooting laser beams out of its eyes -- at the offending catcallers.

So, Jones dutifully went out to one of those signs and interviewed passersby, who all agreed that catcalling is rude or worse, much worse.

Until this other dude shows up, and the interview quickly enters another dimension.

Here's how part of the interview went

Creepy Guy: "Sometimes you gotta call a girl (then whistles and clicks his tongue). Like that."
Jones: "How would you call a dog?"
Creepy Guy: "Same way."

Then Creepy Guy gets distracted by a woman walking by and does more whistling and clicking.  The woman, off camera, is clearly unimpressed, judging by the befuddled look on Jones' face and the oblivious self-satisfaction on Creepy Guy's face.

There was only the slightest glimmer of self-awareness in Creepy Guy's interview. He noted that it's better to catcall and harass at a distance from the targeted woman. That way, the women "aren't that scared," he said.

You'd think that women might be "that scared" of Creepy Guy's catcalling that he'd think twice before doing it. Unless he's actually trying mightily to repel women.

If he is, Creepy Guy is certainly succeeding.

Here's the insane video of this guy:

Woman Fired From Crappy Low Paying Job By Crappy Boss For Saying The Pay Was Low

A minimum wage employee at this Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Days Inn says she was fired after telling a reporter
her minimum wage salary doesn't cover her expenses.  

My latest nominee for the worst boss in America is Herry Patel, who manages a Days Inn in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

This all started when Washington Post reporter Chico Harlan stopped at the Days Inn to talk to people about an upcoming 25 cent increase in the Arkansas minimum wage.  He was working on an article about the subject. 

Harlan interviewed Patel, who then suggested the reporter speak with Shanna Tippen, a minimum wage employee, about the paltry pay increase coming her way.

Tippen told Harlan that the increase would help a bit, but wouldn't lift her above the poverty line. Harlan dutifully reported all these facts.

In a column in Monday's Washington Post, Harlan reports he's learned that Patel fired Tippen for talking to him. Remember, Patel was the one who suggested Harlan and Tippen have a conversation.

From Harlan's column Monday:

"'He said I was stupid and dumb for talking to (the Post),' Tippen said. 'He cussed me and asked me why you wrote the article. I said, 'Because he's a reporter; that's what he does.' He said it was wrong for me to talk to you."

At that point, she was summarily fired.

There might be more to the story, of course. Maybe Tippen wasn't totally innocent, but this whole thing looks bad.

On the day in which Harlan talked to Tippen about being fired, Patel called the Post because he objected to having been (accurately) quoted that he objected to that 25 cent minimum wage hike.

To be specific, Patel said the tiny 25 cent minimum wage increase was "bad for Arkansas. Everybody wants free money in Pine Bluff."

Yeah, there's nothing worse than somebody who works 40 hours a week and actually expects to make enough money during those 40 hours to put food on the table and pay the rent. How selfish!

Harlan said he tried calling Patel for comment about his firing Tippen, but Patel sounds like a belligerent scardy cat.

Writes Harlan:

"A man who sounded like Patel, reached recently at the Days Inn, declined to comment in several separate phone calls. On one call, the man said he'd never met Herry Patel and did not know who he was. On another call, he threatened to call the police if 'you keep bothering us.'"

Hours after Harlan's story on Tippen's firing was published, there must have been blowback down in Pine Bluff because Patel called Harlan back, finally.

In an update to his Monday Washington Post piece, Harlan wrote that Patel disputed Tippen's version of events. He said she walked out on the job after a disagreement. Patel said he'd approached Tippen to ask about her past criminal record, which was outlined in the previous Washington Post story.

Tippen stood by her story, and said Patel didn't bring up her criminal history during the hiring, and only spoke heatedly to him after she'd been fired.

The parent company of the Days Inn in Pine Bluff, Wyndham Worldwide, seemed to wash its hands of the situation.

The company said in a statement, "While we do not control or oversee staffing decisions at our franchised locations, we do require that each independently owned and operated hotel comply with all local, state and federal laws, especially as it relates to employment practices."

Way to sidestep things, Wyndham. Labor laws are weak in Arkansas, so Patel probably was complying with Arkansas law. Federal law is pretty hands off in this area, too.

Ever think to look into whether or not this firing was ethically OK, even if it was legal?  

Look, I get it. Raising the minimum wage probably affects prices for all of us. But NOT raising the minimum wage does, too.

I'm not happy with the idea of paying taxes for government assistance so that people who are working 40 or more hours a week can survive.

I'd much rather pay an extra nickel or whatever for a Big Mac or a cheap toy at Walmart so that people can make a livable wage.

I also get it that the CEOs of these big corporations ought to be making much more money than the chambermaids, the hamburger flippers and the gal behind the register at the mini-mart.

Still, I don't think making it a little easier for people to make ends meet without government assistance will ruin the frickin' economy.

With the income gap in this nation putting us into another 1890s Guilded Age, maybe it's time to put a little dignity back into working for a living. That means paying people fairly when they do work, and not kicking them aside if they object to NOT being paid fairly.

I know my little screed here won't make any difference on this topic. But the more we all say it, and the more often, the better off everybody will be.

Including the ultra-rich CEOs. After all, employees who are treated fairly tend to do a better job. And maybe make more money their employer, too. 

Let's Take Happy Selfies At The Site Of A Tragedy, Say Idiots

Awful people having fun with a selfie stick
at the site of the East Village blast and fire
in New York City.   

There they were, seven beaming women crowded together in the middle of  New York Street, sparkling smiles aimed at a camera on a "selfie stick."

You can see they're having a grand old time. Girls night out! What fun!

Behind them, you see lots of emergency vehicle, and a little more in the background, bright lights aimed at smoking rubble as firefighters search for bodies.

Oh, that's grim. Must be make believe, a movie set, right? Why else would these women be smiling?

It turns out, I guess it's fun to have a joyous time at the site of a tragedy.

The seven-women selfie was taken right near the site of that huge explosion and fire in New York City's East Village. You saw it on the news. The one that caused a spectacular fire. The one that leveled three buildings, killed at least two people and injured many more. The one that left dozens of people without a home and/or without a job.

Neighbors who live in the disaster zone say they don't like all the gawkers checking the scene out. I get that, but I also get how people want to see for themselves what happened. But how is this fun?

The selfie popped up the Twitter feed for EventPhotosNYC Friday evening.  I guess EventPhotosNYC on Twitter is meant to capture all the fun and frolic the Big Apple has to offer.

Obviously there was an immediate backlash on EventPhotosNYC to the seven women tragedy/happy selfie, and that spread super fast afterward through New York and beyond.

On the Twitter feed we had reactions like "Everything wrong in NYC summed up in one photo." and "Disaster porn selfies: The new hobby of the soulless."

The New York-focused news and entertainment website Gothamist got ahold of it, and rightly talked about how awful these people are.

Then these seven stupid women hit the big time. The front page of the tabloid New York Post.  The headline: "Village Idiots."

I'll say.

The seven women weren't the only ones taking happy selfies at the disaster site. Apparently a number of people have done it. I have no idea what they're thinking. Or not thinking.

As Gothamist noted, the behavior of these women, and the other people who took happy selfies at the explosion/fire site,  has to be pretty bad if none other than the New York Post is calling the selfies at the blast site "tasteless" and "heartless."

It shouldn't be spelled out like this, but there are apparently an incredible number of stupid people out there. But here goes:

Don't have fun and frolic at a disaster site. If you must go, try to help. And be respectful.

Geez!

Duck Dynasty's Phil "Rape Fantasy" Robertson Now Officially Creepiest Person Alive

Phil Robertson, of Duck Dynasty fame, has some
unusual thoughts on atheists and what they deserve. 

Phil Robertson, the bearded patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan, has always been known to say weird things in his ultra conservative, fundamentalist Christian way.

But what he had to say this week is beyond creepy.

While speaking at the Vero Beach (Florida, of course) Prayer Breakfast, Robertson was trying to make the point, I think, that he thinks atheists don't believe in right or wrong and that alleged mindset will come back to bite them.

To illustrate this, he gave a detailed fantasy of his in which two men break into an atheist's home, rape his two young daughters then kill them. Then he rapes the atheist's wife and then beheads her in front of him.

Then the intruders say "Isn't it great that I don't have to be judged. Isn't it great that there's nothing worng with this. There's no right or wrong now, is there dude?"

Then the intruders cut off the atheist's private parts and Robertson narrarates:

 "(They) take his manhood and hold it in front of hm and say, Wouldn't it be something if (there) was something wrong with this.... "You're the one who says there is no God, there's no right, there's no wrong, so we're just having fun. We're sick in the head have a nice day.

If it happened to them, they probably would say, 'Something about this just ain't right.'"

Something about this is INDEED not right and that is Robertson. `

Look, I'm totally OK with people having dark fantasies. That's where some of the best horror movies and books come from. That's where some of the most interesting music originates.

But I'm sorry, this is just too weird.  What gets me is the details Robertson intertwined in his little story. (I left some of it out.) He spent a lot of time thinking about this, coming up with this story.

I wonder if he's so angry with atheists and people who don't go along with his brand of so-called Christianity that he wants to kill them.

As the Washington Post notes, Robertson really has a history of offering up some pretty dark imagery. I wonder where that darkness comes from.

At that Vero Beach Prayer Breakfast, he also reportedly said that American liberals follow Satan and are worse than Stalin or the Nazis.

Yeah, like Nancy Pelosi goes around murdering thousands of people just because.

Geez, if I was at that Vero Beach Prayer Breakfast, I would have been praying alright. Praying that Robertson Would. Just. Go. Away.

Getting back to Robertson's atheist family rape fantasy, I suppose we could distract ourselves and sidestep his grossness by looking at Robertson's "logic."

Robertson seems to think that only Christian, and his brand of Christianity has a sense of right or wrong. If that's true, why is he fantasizing about creeps raping families?

I can't imagine anyone, atheist or not, who doesn't have some sense of right or wrong.

Contrary to Robertson's assertion, if you rounded up all the atheists in the world and asked them if whether they thought rape, torture and murder were right or wrong, 99.99999999 percent of them would say "wrong."

I know I'm being Captain Obvious by saying that, but people like Robertson are impervious to Captain Obvious, so what are you gonna do?

Phil Robertson's opinions aren't important, I know. But still, one of the few things I can think of that are scarier than Robertson's rape fantasies are that some people totally agree with his weird screeds.

Revenge Porn: "Most Hated Man On The Internet" Is Going To Jail

Victims are hoping jail time will wipe
the smug smile off of Hunter Moore,
who basically invented the odious "revenge porn." 

Hunter Moore is going to jail.

The name probably doesn't ring a bell with you, but it sure does among the many women he victimized.

Moore pretty much invented "revenge porn," in which people sent in their ex-girlfriends' compromising photos and Moore put them up for the world to see.

That's invasion of privacy enough, but it gets worse: He posted nude photos he and his cohorts stole  from women's Gmail accounts.

Moore once said he wouldn't care if, as he put it, "somebody killed themselves"  because of his hideous website.  He was pretty proud of his work. And he seemed to think he was some sort of entrepreneur rock star.

Now it looks like he won't be being the Worst Possible Troll on the Internet anymore.

ArtsTechnica.com reports that Moore, 28, pleaded guilty this week to unauthorized access to a computer, identity theft and other charges.

From Arts Technica:

"Moore's IsAnybodyUp became hugely popular for posting nude and sexually explicit photos of people without their permission, and it spawned copycat revenge porn sites like Craign Brittain's IsAnybodyDown.com and Kevin Bollaert's ugotposted.com. (Brittain was banned from posting any more nude photos without their explicit permission in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in January, while Bollaert was found guilty earlier this month of identity theft and extortion."

Awesome. I know getting rid of these kinds of troll web site developers and scumbags is something of a game of whack-a-mole, but at least they're being prosecuted. It might discourage a few of the assholes, anyway.

Lawmakers are also trying to craft laws specifically going after horrible people like Moore. ArtsTechnica said England and Wales recently passed a law making it a criminal act to distribute nude and explicit photos without a person's permission. California passed such a law last year.

It's too bad Moore isn't banned from having Internet access for the rest of his life. I know nowadays it's very hard to live without such access.

But he deserves to suffer that way. The havoc he wreaked on the Internet begs us to keep him off it.

My more base instincts also hopes Moore, that most hated man on the Internet, also becomes the most hated man in prison. I'm sure his bro attitude will get an adjustment there.

Yay!

  

-------------------------------------------------------------
From Gawker

Hunter Moore, the inveterate troll whose website Is Anyone Up introduced the world to "revenge porn" in the early part of this decade, has pleaded guilty to hacking and ID theft, admitting he posted nude photos stolen from women's Gmail accounts, according to court documents obtained by Ars Technica.

Moore, once known as The Most Hated Man on the Internet, faces a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 7 years in prison, plus fines of up to $500,000 and probation for up to 3 years once he gets out.

The deal will let Moore, who once said he wouldn't care if "somebody killed themselves" over his website, back on the Internet—he's been banned since he was first charged last year— but requires him to notify his probation officer of any new accounts he registers and any new hardware or software he gets, and let the cops access and copy all his files at any time.

Creator of Sleazy Revenge Porn Site Wouldn't Care If Someone Killed Themselves Because of It

The Village Voice has an excellent cover story about 26-year-old Hunter Moore, creator of the gross …Read more gawker.​com

He's also forbidden from contact with any of the seven revenge porn victims in the indictment, who are identified only by their initials. 

Charles Evens, the co-defendant Moore admitted he paid to break into those Gmail accounts and steal nudes that later ended up on Is Anyone Up, will go to trial next month unless he also cuts a plea deal.