So they are protecting children by … blowing them up with a bomb? See why the claim they are only saving children fails. This is not about children, but instead about their own bigotry and hates. They hate drag because they think it is the same as being transgender. They refused to accept that people can dress in any way they like to as long as the sexual organs are covered. But those people can’t allow people to live as they wish, instead they insist they must be allowed to dictate how everyone lives. They don’t like you wearing that, so you can not wear it. Think it will stop with just drag queens or trans people? Did they stop with abortion after their SCOTUS win? These people hated the idea of short skirts, short dresses, bikinis, or women outside the assigned gender roles these people have mandated. But in the case of the drag queen story hour, parents rights to raise children how you wish is limited only to maga / right wing parents. Tolerant and accepting parents don’t get a choice to raise their children this way because … well again the fundamentalist Christian moral police Taliban demand the right to control you and your children. Hugs
A planned “Drag Story Hour” at a Brooklyn library was forced to move on Saturday morning after bomb threat were called into 911. Police officers, the bomb squad, a K-9 unit and emergency medical services responded to the threat phoned in by a male caller against the Cortelyou branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
The library was evacuated, and a thorough search conducted, but no bomb was found, police said. The story hour, featuring a group of drag performers reading books to children, was moved to Connecticut Muffin, a nearby dessert and coffee shop.
NYPD later confirmed that an email threat was sent to the branch from an unknown source in Buffalo alleging an explosive device was supposed to go off inside the site at 11:30 a.m. A male caller also phoned 911 about the threat, authorities added.
“It’s a shame, and it’s something that’s extremely dangerous,” fumed a parent of a 2-year-old girl who sat in on the reading. “These are children, and children just want to hear stories … It’s a shame how somebody just ruined it and threatened violence.”
N.Y.C. Library Moves Drag Queen Story Hour Location Following Bomb Threat https://t.co/kp4W3koyqn
Republicans don’t care about truth, in fact it seems they hate it as it doesn’t say what they claim. Republicans are so desperate to force the narrative that Biden is as corrupt as trump, so it doesn’t matter as they are the same. This is wrong. While the evidence is clear that did the crimes he is accused of, the evidence is equally clear, Biden is innocent of what the republicans accuse him of. And when called out on it, they get angry at the reporters for showing their lies. Hugs
“I’m not an expert on the timeline,” Rep. Jason Smith said after he was asked about a text message sent before Joe Biden was a presidential candidate.
AJ McDougall
Breaking News Reporter
Alex Wong/Getty Images
The Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee got testy with a NBC reporter during a Wednesday press conference after the journalist challenged him on the timeline of supposed evidence of President Joe Biden’s misconduct.
The journalist pointed out that a WhatsApp message that Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) had presented as potential evidence of Biden’s use of his political influence to help Hunter Biden was dated to June 6, 2017—before Biden was a presidential candidate, let alone president.
“I’m not an expert on the timeline,” Smith replied. “I would love to have President Biden or his family tell us all about the timeline.”
When the reporter pressed him, Smith asked what outlet he worked for. Hearing the answer, the congressman snapped, “So apparently, you’ll never believe us.”
Smith then spluttered that he was “definitely not going to pinpoint one item” of evidence when the journalist again asked him how the message demonstrated misuse of political influence. Shortly after, without having provided an answer, Smith demanded the next question.
A heated exchange occurs between House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) and an NBC reporter during a news conference on the investigation into President Biden's family. The reporter presses Rep. Smith on the timeline of the evidence found against the Bidens. pic.twitter.com/2hfbQXEsPh
The exchange was just the latest example of Republican politicians and right-wing media figures asserting a less-than-stellar knowledge of the Biden-related misconduct allegations they want to indict him on.
Just this week, Fox News buried an interview with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that largely demolished a longtime conspiracy theory asserting that a Ukrainian prosecutor was fired at the behest of then-Vice President Joe Biden to protect his son, Hunter, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm at the time.
Poroshenko instead dismissed the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, as a “completely crazy person” who didn’t utter a “single word of truth” about the Bidens and “played [a] very dirty game.”
Even Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner Devon Archer was forced to clear up Republican-spread rumors in July that an administrative request from the Department of Justice in a separate case was an attempt to intimidate him out of testifying in front of a Republican-led congressional committee.
Thanks to Ten Bears for the link. When will the US stop supporting this Apartheid nation? They clearly are not willing to give the Palestine any rights, the Palestine’s live in what is justly called an open air prison. They have no rights, they have no legal remedies but instead of being under the laws of Israel they are under military rule, their treatment is not questioned by the checks and balances of laws. But the US not only supports this corrupt government by billions of dollars, a country that has universal healthcare that the people in the US are told is too expensive for us to have. Does that make sense? This is no different from the US supporting the South African apartheid by white supremacist against black people. Just because this is religious based doesn’t make it right. We are watching the genocide of an entire group of people, and we seem to be OK with it. I AM NOT! Hugs. Scottie
Hundreds of Israeli settlers on Sunday forced their way into the flash point Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish New Year, reports Anadolu Agency.
Israeli settlers observe the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) holiday from September 15 to September 17 this year. They will also mark the Sukkot holiday at the end of September and the Simhat Torah holiday on October 6.
In a statement, the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department said Israeli forces had emptied the Al-Aqsa complex from Palestinian worshipers before allowing settlers in.
According to the statement, Palestinians under 50 years old were prevented from entering the site.
A number of Palestinians were arrested by Israeli forces from inside the complex, local sources said.
There was no comment from the Israeli authorities on the report.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third-holiest site. Jews, for their part, call the area the Temple Mount, saying it was the site of two ancient Jewish temples.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa complex is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
Please see the intro to my last three post. I am going to simply copy and paste it here as it is the same thing.
The Christian Taliban moral police strike again. When are people in the US going to get tired of the Christian nationalist trying to take over the country and force everyone to live under the doctrines of their churches. Think about it, this is not religious freedom, this is religious dictatorship. Religious freedom is everyone gets to practice and live their life according to their religion as long as it doesn’t harm others. By the Christians insisting everyone honor their idea of the holy day, they deny the religious freedom of others. What about religious sects and religions that have Saturday as the holy day? What about atheist that don’t have a holy day, and their ability to enjoy each day without the religious entanglements is also part of religious freedom. I know that some fundamental religious leaders like to claim there is no right to not be religious, but that is stupid. To be free to practice one’s personal beliefs, one must be free to have no set religious restrictions. People this is a fringe fundamentalist group of very vocal, very driven people willing to rule over every aspect of other peoples lives. They are the worst busybody nosey neighbors ever in existence. Their goal in life is to make you follow their ways, their ideas of right and wrong no matter what you believe, no matter what you think, in fact you are not important as a person for them. You need to comply so their god is happy, that is it. They don’t care if you’re happy or if things are good for you. They only care if their god is happy and they think they know the secret to making their god happy. Fight back. Hugs
The artists, many of whom were people of color and LGBTQ, left the premises to avoid violence
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Over the weekend, a retreat for Appalachian artists in Bledsoe, Kentucky had to be cut short after a conservative Christian mob invaded the rental space falsely claiming that the participants were desecrating a local chapel.
The event was run byWaymakers Collective, a non-profit group that provides grant money and learning opportunities for artists in the region. They say they’ve given away over $1 million to date and this past weekend was supposed to mark their second annual gathering.
The three-day event took place at Pine Mountain Settlement School (PMSS), an 800-acre campus with dozens of buildings. The school’s website says “We have hosted everything from church retreats to theater conferences to recording sessions.” Given that many of the Waymakers’ members had attended events there in the past and “always felt welcome, safe and had positive experiences,” it seemed like a perfect place for the occasion. The schedule included performances, meals, lectures, and free time for the artists to explore their creativity among like-minded peers.
Importantly, participants also had an option to visit the chapel on campus as a “Healing Space.” Waymakers explained it this way:
The healing space was something we instituted last year when our gathering occurred right after the flood in Eastern Kentucky and we knew many of our participants traveling from Eastern Kentucky were coming off of weeks of relief work and being impacted by the floods themselves. We chose to continue that offering this year… It was a spa-like environment to help facilitate restorativeness, rest, and reflection that we invited people to use how they wanted to: take a nap, sit in quiet meditation, or prayerful reflection within their own religious and spiritual traditions.
Organizers said the chapel was decorated with pillows, “soothing lights,” plants, and a painting that included an “Om” symbol—presumably to facilitate the meditation.
That’s what this controversy is all about.
While the “Om” wasn’t meant to be religious in nature, when some people in the community saw pictures of the painting, they flipped out over the idea that a non-Christian symbol made its way into a supposedly Christian space (even though PMSS isn’t a religious location).
Waymakers organizers said they were told they had use of the entire campus as part of their rental agreement, and the only restriction regarding the chapel involved the pews—they were told not to move them because the floors were recently resurfaced. In other words, there was no reason the painting should have been a concern for anyone.
On Saturday, however, an estimated 8-9 community members took matters into their own hands, barged into the space, and entered the chapel “to make sure the House of The Lord wasn’t being disrespected.”
Tate Napier, the mob member whose posted about the situation on Facebook, told reporter Jennifer McDaniels of the Tri-City News:
The people in the chapel said they were doing nothing wrong, and I asked if they were in there to worship Jesus, and a few started raising their voices at me, so I told them to just get their stuff – that we weren’t there to argue, and I even helped them gather their things and pack them to their cars. After that all happened, the state police and sheriff deputies showed up, and they agreed to stay out of the chapel, but then, ultimately, they decided to leave because they said they felt unsafe.
…
If they want to do that stuff, they can do it in their own homes or buildings or wherever else, but it’s not happening in Jesus’ house as long as I’m around to defend it…
Napier, aChristianwho wascharged with first-degree sexual abuseafter being caught in bed with a 15-year-old girl, had no business telling anyone to “get their stuff.” He makes it sound like he was merely escorting out people who shouldn’t have been there when, in fact, he’s the one who didn’t have access to the space. Neither did his colleagues. (Two deputies were indeed stationed outside the chapel afterwards, but unlike what his post said, they weren’t necessarily there to keep people from entering.)
One of the artists in attendance didn’t see the mob’s actions as helpful in any way. Referring to them as “yt supremacists,” Kabrea James said the invaders alleged the artists were “desecrating their space” and “demanded that we leave.” The artists left in order to avoid escalating the situation—which was understandable given that a lot of them come from marginalized communities.
Shortly after the conflict began, a PMSS staffer showed up and played mediator (which the Waymakers said they appreciated). Eventually, police were called in by both PMSS and some of the artists who felt like they were in danger. According to Waymakers, “We were also then told that the Executive Director and Board of the PMSS had ordered our group to not return to the chapel during our stay.” (How does that make any sense?!)
In a statement released by Waymakers on Monday, they expressed concern about why their safety wasn’t paramount in this situation and why their contract wasn’t honored:
What was, ultimately, at issue was the safety of our collective. We are a family-friendly community and we had parents at the event who had brought their children. PMSS is a place that has long welcomed children onto its campus, so we ask the PMSS Board and leadership: Why were children, families, and our guests put at risk in this way? Why were outside people who were not part of our gathering allowed to be present on the campus and interrupt our private, paid-for event? Why were there no safety procedures in place that the staff could follow to keep the people who rent PMSS safe?
These were some of the many reasons we made the call to end our event a day early and leave PMSS for the safety of everyone in attendance, including the staff of PMSS that we did not want to be witness to these intense interactions. To ensure the safety of all of those in attendance, we organized caravans out of the property and county so that no members left the property alone. Many of our participants are deeply traumatized by this experience, especially those of us with personal lived experiences of racial and gender-based violence. We are offering access to free therapy as part of our aftercare approach for the participants that were there.
McDaniels, the reporter, said it’s “unclear if the chapel was a part of the Waymakers Collective retreat facility lease agreement or not,” but the Waymakers certainly believed they had access to it. (Hell, their version of the story involves specific advance discussions about using the chapel.) PMSS has not yet issued any statement about the matter.
Meanwhile, Dan Mosley, the Harlan County Judge Executive, offered support for the mob shortly after the conflict occurred:
I have a lot on my mind this evening but I’m going to be brief. I’m proud of the people of Bledsoe and Big Laurel. Your perspective is my perspective, today, and in the days ahead. It’s always better to ask questions than throw stones and civil discourse is always the best pathway to resolution.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9
“Your perspective is my perspective,” he said of the intolerant Christians who magically claimed ownership of space that wasn’t theirs.
Mosley added separately that seeing the “Om” symbol in the chapel “made me sick at my stomach”:
He basically praised the mob for taking a stand without resorting to violence, as if they deserved a reward for merely threatening the artists rather than doing something even more insane. The comments on that first post overwhelmingly agreed with that position, as did manyothers in the community. (This is apparently what they do in small towns.)
None of the groups opposing Waymakers’ use of the space has issued any official response yet. They sure as hell haven’t denounced the invaders, who simply don’t believe a chapel should be used by anyone who doesn’t share their conservative Christian faith, even if the space is no longer used as a religious site and even if the artists were contractually allowed to temporarily decorate the chapel as they saw fit.
This is nothing more than an act of white Christian supremacy that thankfully didn’t end with victims who are LGBTQ people and artists of color (including ones who are practicing Christians themselves).
If county leaders and PMSS officials aren’t going to take this seriously, and the invaders face no consequences for barging, uninvited, onto private property, it’s hard to imagine anything will change.
This is horrendous. It is caused by people who think they know more than the trained medical professionals because their favorite right wing talk show host tells them medical professionals are wrong. Those hosts are in it for political reasons, and most of them got the vaccines so they know they are lying, but it doesn’t matter that people are dying because of their lies. The people like this man selling bleach to cure autism are the same idiots that claim conversion therapy cures being gay. Also I want to make as clear as possible, autism like being gay or trans is not something that needs a cure! They are not diseases. Now I don’t know much about the medical advice and special needs if any that autistic people need. I do know many autistic people live happy productive lives while I have seen videos of kids in schools that need extra help. The one to ask Is Barry. Barry is a follower who comments often. Barry is autistic. He has helped me understand some of the bigotry, stigma, and torture done as treatment to neurodivergent people in an attempt to change them to act like others. That type of conversion therapy is simply torture and won’t remove autism. Again I did not know it was happening until Barry told me. So if you have questions, hopefully Barry will see them and respond. Hugs
YOUTUBE/JOE SALANT
Joe Salant, an evangelical pastor and rapper, is the new spokesman for Safrax, which makes bleach tablets that are popular with those who belief ingesting the industrial cleaner can cure a range of ailments.
An evangelical pastor who briefly shot to fame in 2015 for recording a rap song in support of Sen. Ted Cruz is now selling industrial-strength bleach tablets to parents and has admitted that many of his customers are using the product to treat autism in their children.
Joe Salant, who grew up in an affluent New Jersey family, became a born-again Christian after coming out of drug rehab when he was in his early twenties, having spent six months in jail for drug possession. Recently, he has become part of the American Renewal Project, which aims to have a pastor from “every church in America” run for elected office by 2024. Salant preaches a Christian nationalist ideology that positions the church at the heart of all aspects of American society.
In his spare time he continues to release rap records with titles like “Human Sacrifices” and “Dies in Vain,” in which he raps about child trafficking.
In recent months he’s taken on a new role as the U.S representative for a company called Safrax, which markets chlorine dioxide tablets that are advertised on the company’s website as industrial products for odor removal, disinfection, and as cleaners for hot tubs and jacuzzis.
But over the phone, Salant said many people are using the treatments in an attempt to treat autism in children.
“Autism? Yeah, I mean it’s a common treatment,” Salant said, according to a recording of a phone call obtained by Ireland-based activist Fiona O’Leary and shared with VICE News. “We’re not allowed to recommend [our products] for it specifically but yeah, the protocols in the Andreas Kalcker book [which] we have on our website… it’s commonly used for that.”
“Autism? Yeah, I mean it’s a common treatment. We’re not allowed to recommend [our products] for it specifically but yeah.”
Andreas Kalcker is one of the most notorious promoters of the pseudoscientific conspiracy theory that a form of bleach, known within that community as a miracle mineral solution (MMS) can be used as a treatment for a wide range of ailments, including cancer, HIV, and autism. In 2021, Argentinian authorities charged Kalcker with selling fake medicines to cure COVID-19 after a 5-year-old boy died from suspected chlorine dioxide poisoning. The case has yet to go to trial.
Safrax is the latest company to profit off the belief that ingesting industrial grade bleach can have health benefits, a conspiracy spread for years by conspiracy influencers like Kalcker and Jim Humble, who died earlier this month aged 99. Despite repeated warnings from the FDA about the dangers of using these so-called miracle mineral solutions (MMS), companies continue to cash in on vulnerable people searching for a cure for their ailments.
If you have any information about people using Safrax or any other type of chlorine dioxide to ‘treat’ ailments and would like to share the details with. VICE News, you can email david.gilbert@vice.com.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other public health bodies have repeatedly warned against the use of chlorine dioxide, labeling it “a powerful bleaching agent that has caused serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.”
“These bleachers are health terrorists, preying on the most vulnerable in our communities and making big profit poisoning people—the police, authorities must do more,” O’Leary, who has autistic children and has been campaigning against peddlers of chlorine dioxide for a decade, told VICE News. “Autistic children are being abused. Cancer patients are being poisoned and often walk away from scientifically proven treatments to ingest this lethal bleach. I watch these people die. It is heartbreaking.”
“Autistic children are being abused. Cancer patients are being poisoned and often walk away from scientifically proven treatments to ingest this lethal bleach.”
But for the Delaware-registered Safrax, which is now being promoted on Facebook and Telegram channels dedicated to sharing information about chlorine dioxide, business is booming.
A message on the Safrax website informs customers that there is a 2-4 week delay in sending out orders specifically due to overwhelming demand for the product as a result of the tablets being featured on the radio show of pseudoscience conspiracist Mike Adams.
Adams, who calls himself the Health Ranger, founded the notorious fake health news website NaturalNews, and has links to far-right figure Alex Jones and the extremist groups the Oath Keepers.
Salant claimed on the customer phone call that Safrax has no official relationship with Adams, but added that “we’re fans” of his show. This is a claim backed up by Safrax owner Steve Dan, who told VICE News via email that he had never heard of Adams prior to his mentioning Safrax on his show.
However, it is easy to see the impact that Adams’ endorsement has had: Some Adams listeners reported on private Facebook groups dedicated to sharing information about using bleach as medication that they bought the product after hearing his show.
In a post reviewed by VICE News, one purchaser wrote that she had taken the Safrax tablets and was now feeling unwell. “I can’t find any information about the dosage of the tablets… and I am currently sick. I tried dissolving one in a gallon [of water] and it tastes like pure bleach. I just wanna get well.”
“I can’t find any information about the dosage of the tablets… and I am currently sick. I tried dissolving one in a gallon [of water] and it tastes like pure bleach. I just wanna get well.”
Another member of the group responded by linking to the Safrax website, where the company recommends adding 30 tablets to a gallon of water. However, the original poster pointed out this dosage was for industrial use, adding: “I just don’t want to kill myself by drinking too much.”
Safrax was founded in 2011 by Dan, a French national who is also known as Steve Jean-Paul Dan. In 2005 he was arrested on three counts of felony financial transaction card fraud the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia confirmed to VICE News, and that case remains open to this day. Dan told VICE News he wasn’t aware the case was still open, and claimed he was arrested “merely because I was in the company of my friend who got arrested.”
For the last decade, Safrax has sold its chlorine dioxide tablets, which are produced in China, wholesale, marketing them as industrial cleaning products. Despite the recent popularity of his products within the bleacher community, Dan claims the company is not suggesting people use their products to cure medical issues.
“We explicitly advise against using our chlorine dioxide tablets for the treatment of any diseases or medical conditions,” Dan said. “If any such claims were made by Mr. Salant, that would not represent the views or recommendations of Safrax. We will investigate this internally and make the proper corrections.”
However the presence of Kalcker’s book on the company’s website suggests otherwise. The book, “Forbidden Health,” is one of the most widely read publications in the bleacher community, and contains an exhaustive list of the ailments Kalcker claims can be cured with bleach.
Dan dismissed the book’s presence on the Safrax site, telling VICE News it was there as “an effective SEO tool to enhance our site’s visibility.” On the phone call with O’Leary, Salant said he had read Kalcker’s book and “appreciates his work.”
When questioned about the credibility of Safrax’s owners in the phone call with a customer, Salant defends his boss, calling him a “very reputable person.” However, as well as the arrest in Georgia in 2005, a court in Hong Kong last year found that Dan had acted fraudulently by misappropriating bitcoins belonging to someone else. Dan told VICE News that the ruling “occurred because I couldn’t afford to hire an attorney.”
Salant said the company was planning on expanding its reach to Europe this month, but currently only ships to the United States and Canada. But, he said, many European customers are already circumventing this restriction by getting people living in the U.S. to purchase the tablets and mail them to Europe.
The tablets are stored in a distribution center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, according to Salant. But due to their recent increase in popularity among individuals rather than companies, he told VICE News, Safrax has found a new distribution center in Texas, which is due to open soon.
In an apparent attempt to make the company appear legitimate, Safrax has also sold its products with the logo of certification company NSF on its packaging, denoting that the brand has been accredited by the organization and is guaranteed safe. Dan claims that the company in the past had accreditation from NSF but had stopped in 2021 due to the high cost of maintaining it.
When asked to provide evidence of this certification, Dan failed to produce it, though admitted the company should not still be selling products with the NSF logo on its website.
NSF didn’t respond to VICE News’ request for comment but a notice published on the NSF website last year warned Safrax to remove the logo from its packaging.
The FDA declined to comment when VICE News asked if the agency was investigating Safrax for selling chlorine dioxide to people using it to treat autism or other ailments.
Multiple phone numbers listed on the Safrax website went unanswered when VICE News attempted to contact Salant this week, playing a recorded message from Salant asking customers to leave a message or send an email.
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It’s a continuation of the long history of chemical and thermal burns being used to punish neuro-divergent children. Boy with development delays wets himself – – boiling water. Girl with ADHD touches herself – – apply lye. Kid’s been driven to the edge of catatonic schizophrenia by the abuse – – well, then they switch to nails and knives.
This isn’t funny; it’s child abuse. But because evangelical Christianity occupies such a privileged place in American society, no one will lay a finger on him.
Even worse, profiting from the abuse suffered by other people’s children through advocating the administration of sodium hypochlorite to treat (WTF?!?) an inherent characteristic as if it was, what, a symptom of something a little chlorox can clear up?
The arrogance of delusional Christ-o-freaks causes so much harm, yet seems quite lucrative to the predators with any influence over a malleable flock.
Updating a Sister Sledge classic, the current crop of cowards finally tell the truth about their heartless quest for power — at the expense of our democracy. Sing along at the top of your lungs, and don’t forget to vote ’em all out “as ASAP as possible!” Unlike these clowns, we ARE family, so please share this one with all of them… and your friends!
