Ted Cruz Polishes His Anti-Semite Credentials With Glenn Beck’s Help

In the battle for political endorsements Donald Trump won the Teabagger gold by snagging Sarah Palin. But Ted Cruz, no slouch in the wingnut arena, managed to score a silver medal by winning the “conspiritual” (conspiracy+spiritual) heart of Glenn Beck.

Ted Cruz

Fortunately for Cruz, Beck’s endorsement came with a truckload of goodies that only a practiced purveyor of snake oil could provide. Among those goodies are his relationships with the most fringy preachers America’s evangelical community has to offer. For example, Cruz has aligned himself with radical Christianist pastor Mike Bickle, a Beck pal, whose sermons have warned that God will “raise up the hunters” to go after any Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity. And Bickle was not afraid to name names. Adolf Hitler, according to Cruz’s new BFF, is “the most famous hunter in recent history.”

Bickle is not the only proponent of the crackpot theory that God sent Hitler to punish Jews. John Hagee of Cruz’s home state, Texas, has been preaching this nonsense for years. He is also a confederate of Glenn Beck. Hagee went to the extreme of literally thanking God for Hitler whom he believes was doing the Lord’s work by driving Jews out of unfriendly nations and into Israel, hastening the Apocalypse.

In his 2008 campaign for president, John McCain admirably rejected the endorsement of Hagee for saying the very same things that Bickle is saying. Cruz, on the other hand, has embraced Bickle and even attended a gala honoring Hagee where he vilified President Obama as “one of the most anti-Semitic presidents in the history of the United States of America.” At the time, the Anti-Defamation League and other major Jewish organizations called on Cruz to repudiate Hagee’s remarks, which Cruz obstinately refused to do.

None of this should surprise anyone familiar with Glenn Beck. He has a well established pattern of disparaging Jews and others he regards as different. He recently made a list of the nine people whom he said most contributed to the 20th century being the Era of the Big Lie. Eight of them were Jewish. Beck also maligned the majority of American Jews as being like terrorists, saying that “Reformed rabbis are generally political in nature. It’s almost like Islam – radicalized Islam – in a way to where radicalized Islam is less about religion than it is about politics.” And then there was the time that Beck likened 85 kids murdered in Norway by a right-wing extremist to the “Hitler Youth.”

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

This is pretty good evidence that Cruz is working hard to secure the Nazi vote. Of course, he’ll have to fight tooth and nail with Donald Trump for that sector of the electorate. Trump may already have an insurmountable lead by articulating an unequivocally fascist agenda. He even told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that he is not bothered by comparisons to Hitler. Clearly Cruz has his work cut out for him. But Beck will surely be of some help rallying the Stormtroops. Consequently, the battle for the right’s Nazis and fascists and anti-Semites is going to roil the Republican Party for some time to come.

With The Antichrist Coming To America, Glenn Beck Is Fleeing To Israel

Now that most of the leaders of the Bundy Klan who were occupying the wildlife refuge in Oregon are in jail, more sober analyses of the crackpot adventure can be made. And while it’s clear that the inspiration for these perverse patriots was firmly rooted in sovereign citizen lunacy, signs of another source of inspiration are now revealing themselves.

Glenn Beck Messiah

Buried deep in an article in the Washington Post was a quote from a Bundy supporter whose devoted loyalty perfectly encapsulates the thinking that drives their movement. She said…

“I live my life by God and creed, and the federal government has taken that away from us. If you want to know what’s going on, talk to [conservative talk show host] Glenn Beck.”

Glenn Beck is literally the last person you want to talk to if you want to know what’s going on. His fantastical delusions are in no way connected to reality. Among his paranoid notions is his announcement yesterday that he’s plotting an escape route to Jerusalem “where they won’t shut this down and we can be able to broadcast into the United States.”

Beck’s worries, though, may not all be in his head. Lloyd Grove at the Daily Beast has discovered that all is not well in Beckland. Several of his senior executives are bailing on him amid dissension in the ranks. Grove leads off by revealing that Kraig Kitchin, the CEO of Beck’s web site TheBlaze, has quit. He had only been on the job about six months and was the third CEO to leave in the past year. Following him out the door are the website’s director of sales, director of marketing, and two senior producers. Grove also cites sources who “predicted a ‘mass exodus’ from the New York studios,” and attributed the departures to “frustration after continual friction with top Beck executive Jonathan Schreiber,” the president of Beck’s production company, Mercury Radio Arts.

An interesting side note here is that Schreiber was previously a techy entrepreneur from Israel. Now that he is being blamed for other executive departures, he is replacing them with his own hand-picked lieutenants. And I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that Beck is suddenly drawing up plans to flee to Jerusalem to avoid getting crushed in the fall of America.

Also playing a part in this melodrama is the fact that Beck’s empire is suffering a collapse of its own. His website traffic for TheBlaze has reportedly dropped from 29 million unique visitors per month to about 16.4 million. And his eponymous web page has also shrunk from around 4.4 million unique visitors per month to only 1.4 million.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

No wonder Beck wants to get out of town. He’ll probably stick around through the 2016 election since he’s gone to the trouble of endorsing Evanga-publican Ted Cruz. The prospects for a Cruz victory, however, are remote. So Beck will surely use that as further evidence that God has cursed America. Then he’ll hasten his migration to the Holy Land where they have universal health care and they lost the War on Christmas (it is not a state holiday). Plus he’ll be surrounded by the Muslims he loves so much. I’m sure he’ll be very happy. Those of us left behind will be all too happy to see him go.

Dueling Endorsements Of Death: Glenn Beck vs. Sarah Palin

One way of recognizing that the Republican Party has devolved into irrelevance is to consider the field of potential endorsers valued by the leading candidates. On that score, the most talked about people coming forward so far have been Sarah Palin (for Donald Trump) and Glenn Beck (for Ted Cruz). If that doesn’t certify the demise of the GOP, what does?

Glenn Beck Sarah Palin

Palin’s endorsement came yesterday in Iowa and was universally received with ridicule and some surprise that anyone still actually cares what she thinks. In addition to giving one of her patented displays of vomiting incoherence, she veered off on a revolting personal tangent to blame President Obama for the breaking news that her son was just arrested for beating up his girlfriend and drunkenly brandishing an AK-47.

Shortly after Palin’s endorsement, the Cruz camp announced that Glenn Beck was signing on with him. That’s right, the man who is convinced that God has turned his back on America, and that the End Times are upon us, is hooking up with the Cruz Evangelical Extravaganza just in time for the Apocalypse.

The list of endorsements for both of these candidates is downright hysterical. In addition to Palin, Trump has sewn up Jerry Falwell Jr., Phyllis Schlafly, and Michael Savage. Cruz has nailed Beck, Phil Robertson (Duck Dynasty), and homophobic Christianist James Dobson. Neither candidate has attracted the support of anyone with knowledge of, or experience in, government – a distinction of incompetence in which they take pride. It’s a complete transition to celebrity politics and reality TV campaigning.

The Palin/Beck match-up, however, may be the big draw based on entertainment value. Beck recently announced his split with Palin, whom he called a “clown” that he was “embarrassed” to have ever supported. He has also been hammering Trump with accusations that he voted for Obama. Beck even produced an infographic outlining the mostly speculative reasons for making that accusation (most of which he pinched from Buzzfeed). All of this spurred Trump to fire back in a tweet that “Wacko @glennbeck is a sad answer to the @SarahPalinUSA endorsement that Cruz so desperately wanted. Glenn is a failing, crying, lost soul!”

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

So it is definitely on. The radio talkers and the unreality clowns are gonna have at it big-time. Very little of substance will be involved, and the issues that really matter to voters will be ignored. But there will be pile-drivers and hammer-locks and endless ranting about the gay Kenyan Muslim that has ruined America. If this were pay-per-view it would make a bloody fortune. As it is, it will drive more people away from the rotting corpse of the GOP. So Democrats can be heard from the rafters chanting “Bring it on.”

Celebrity Has-Been Break-Up Of The Year: Glenn Beck And Sarah Palin

This year the celebrity obsessed media adopted one of their own to lead the Republican Party to a humiliating defeat next November. Donald Trump’s rapid rise on the basis of his fear mongering and bigotry drove much of the press for most of the year. However, we would be remiss to forget the previous press darlings and their ultimately doleful fate.

Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin

That’s right. In September of 2015 Glenn Beck called it quits with Sarah Palin after some undisclosed messiness. He revealed the break-up on his radio show (video below) the day after he appeared at a rally with her in Washington, D.C. This is what he told his shocked listeners:

“I don’t care what Sarah Palin says any more. Sarah Palin has become a clown. I’m embarrassed that I was once for Sarah Palin. Honestly, I’m embarrassed.”

Well, now he knows how most of the rest of the country feels about having Palin presume to speak for us. But it’s still ironic that the man who describes himself as a “rodeo clown” is suddenly seeing Palin in similarly derogatory terms. At least he still has his conspiracy theories and Messiah complex.

This has been a bad year for Palin. She lost her job at Fox News for the second time. She started up a sham Internet video channel that was so unpopular that it shut down just six months later. Her abstinence-advocate daughter had her second out-of-wedlock child. She just put her Arizona vacation home up for sale. And on top of all of that she lost her best bud, Glenn. So sad.

Today both Palin and Beck have faded into ghostly presences that haunt the shadows of the fringe world. Although maybe zombies would be a better metaphor since they are both desperately in need of brains. Their disappearance is unarguably a good thing for America, but a serious blow to comedy.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Fox Nation Commenter Arrested For Making Terrorist Threats

Anyone who has watched Fox News long enough is aware that the alleged “news” network engages in a relentless stream of hate speech and incendiary rhetoric that has the potential to incite actual violence. Indeed, there have been violent incidents already that are directly attributable to Fox News.

Fox Nation Is Murder

For instance, Bill O’Reilly’s repeated references to Dr. George Tiller as “Tiller the baby killer” preceded the doctor’s murder in his church by an enraged anti-abortion activist. A mosque arsonist explains his crime by saying “I only know what I hear on Fox News.” An ordained minister in the Christian National Church pleaded guilty to plotting a massacre of the citizens of an upstate New York community of Muslims after hearing a Fox News analyst say they were training to launch domestic attacks. And when Glenn Beck was on Fox he was responsible for inspiring at least three violent criminals.

Now there has been an arrest in Washington state of a man, Scott Anthony Orton, who has been posting terrorist threats aimed at an organization formerly associated with Planned Parenthood. Orton, who used the name “Joseywhales” (after a pro-confederate Civil War outlaw), posted his comments on the Fox News community website, Fox Nation. The content of his posts were transparently hostile indicating both his own intent to commit murder, as well as an appeal to induce others to do so. Here are a few examples of Orton’s comments (more below):

“Kill StemExpress employees. I’ll pay you for it.”

“Stop the death of innocents. Kill the killers.”

“I’ll take care of [Victim 1] myself.”

As grotesque as these comments are, they only scratch the surface of the routine hate speech that is tolerated (encouraged) on Fox Nation. News Corpse has been compiling examples of such speech for a few years and has them on display at The Collected Hate Speech Of The Fox News Community. It is a revealing look at the mindset of the Fox News audience that openly expresses the most vile thoughts. It is also significant that the other commenters rarely object to these posts and the Fox moderators leave them in place to inspire other hate mongers.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

The dangerous dialog that occurs daily on Fox Nation is part of the reason I wrote two books about the website (Fox Nation vs. Reality: Volume I and Volume II). It is the meeting place of the most deranged faction of the Fox News audience. And it serves as a de facto congregation of like-minded malcontents who support each others malevolent fantasies, molding them into realities. The result is entirely predictable, and is perfectly illustrated by this most recent incident of Fox News inspired terrorism.

[Update:] Raw Story has found some additional comments by “Joseywhales” that also threaten violence against President Obama, Baltimore state attorney Marilyn Mosby, former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Fox Nation Comments

WTF? CNN Guest Advocates Bombing Syrian Schools And Hospitals

Today on CNN, Michael Smerconish hosted former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer, who is more often seen pitching his doomsday fetishes on Fox News. The discussion (video below) centered around how best to respond to the threat posed by ISIS and other terrorist entities. Suffice to say that Scheuer’s methods took inhumanity to new lows.

Michael Scheuer CNN

While professing to be a non-interventionist, Scheuer complained that Americans don’t have the stomach to do what he thinks is necessary to defeat ISIS. His prescription for victory requires going “all in,” which means tolerating vast numbers of civilian casualties. He laments that American politicians are not comfortable with that saying “There’s not one person out there who’s willing to kill a civilian.” Of course, he’s wrong about that because several Republicans have publicly supported massive military campaigns that would decimate much of Syria. But that may not be enough for Scheuer who, when asked what he meant by “all in” said…

“All in to me would be to take out every piece of infrastructure: hospitals, universities, irrigation systems, that make it impossible for the Islamic State to raise money, to provide electricity, sanitation, potable water. Do exactly what we did to the Germans.”

In effect, Scheuer is advocating that the United States commit war crimes. He thinks that hospitals and universities, which are places notable for the absence of combatants, should be explicitly targeted for destruction. He’s not merely suggesting that civilian casualties should be tolerated, but that they should be deliberate and aimed at the most vulnerable people. And the other targets he proposed are also notable for having expressly civilian purposes. Irrigation systems serve farmers, not soldiers. Electricity, sanitation, and potable water are likewise services that are used mostly by peaceful families.

Scheuer could have proposed targets like command centers, training facilities, munitions storage, transportation assets, or black market oil operations, but all of his suggestions were predominantly civilian in nature. What’s more, his reference to “what we did to the Germans” ignores major differences between World War II and today. We were actually at war with Germany. We are not at war with Syria, and their civilian population is not responsible for terrorism. In fact, they are the victims of it, which accounts for the biggest refugee crisis since WWII. His plan would be more analogous to one that sought to bomb all the Jews in Germany and hope some Nazis were among the dead. And his callous disregard for human life was expressed further in this exchange:

Smerconish: Do you think that the Western world, Americans in particular, would stand by for the film footage that would be shown, on CNN and elsewhere, of the so-called innocent civilian death count?
Scheuer: I don’t know if they would. They should. What’s the difference? They’re not Americans.

Well, that makes everything OK then, doesn’t it? The only deaths that matter are those of Americans. Maybe Scheuer would have approved of bombing the Bataclan concert Hall in Paris when the terrorists had taken control of it. We would have killed a few terrorists and a few hundred Parisians, but why would that matter? They’re not Americans.

Something obvious missing from Scheuer’s analysis is that what he is suggesting is not only barbarous and against international law, it is the best recruiting tool for terrorists imaginable. The more innocent civilians who die at the hands of Western infidels, the more survivors that will become radicalized and hunger for vengeance. Smerconish actually pointed out to Scheuer (with video evidence) that terrorists were already using him in their propaganda. Scheuer responded saying that they were just using his message of American military incompetence because it was “the reality.” How patriotic.

This is not the first time that Scheuer has articulated his repulsive philosophy. A few years ago he was on Glenn Beck’s Fox News program and outlined his concern that the American people were not sufficiently afraid of future terrorist attacks. He regarded that absence of fear as dangerous complacency. But he had a solution (video): “The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.” That’s right – Scheuer came out in favor of Al Qaeda nuking America.

Just last year Scheuer wrote an article endorsing the assassination of President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron. After alluding to them as tyrannical, he quoted an historical figure who said that “every man might kill a tyrant; and no names are recorded in history with more honor, than of those who did it.” Wink, wink.

That is the magnitude of derangement that we’re dealing with here. Scheuer is a madman bordering on treason. And it is unconscionable that CNN would provide him a platform for his noxious views. It’s bad enough that Fox News does, but at least it’s consistent with the rest of their toxic propaganda.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

GOP Debate On FBN To Be Moderated By The Glenn Beck Of Business News

The Republican candidates for president are preparing for their next televised debate tomorrow on the Fox Business Network. It is rather peculiar that FBN was selected as a debate host considering that their program ratings are so low that Nielsen doesn’t even publish them. This debate was a gift from the Republican National Committee to their benefactor and overlord, Rupert Murdoch, who is desperate for anything that might goose the numbers.

Neil Cavuto

In the wake of the last GOP debate on CNBC, FBN is facing certain challenges to their production. The candidates were so outraged at what they regarded as unfair treatment that they banded together in a show of unity to force all the subsequent debate hosts to bend to their will. Embarrassingly, they couldn’t even manage that protest and eventually dropped their demands.

Still, there will be competing pressures on FBN and their moderators, Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo. Candidates will watching to see if they are hammered with “gotcha” questions (which to Republicans are any questions they can’t answer). But if the moderators go soft they will be pilloried as stooges for the GOP who didn’t have the cojones to address serious issues or differences between the candidates. It will be interesting to see how they walk that tightrope.

There may be some surprises, but for the most part this debate will shun controversy. What can be assumed with some confidence is that the moderators will avoid anything that might reflect badly on the candidates. They will skew closely to the Fox News bias in favor of electing Republicans. Questions will framed as how the GOP will differ from the commies in the other party. And leading that parade will be Neil Cavuto, the Glenn Beck of business news.

Cavuto’s presence on Fox News and Fox Business (where he is the Senior VP and Managing Editor) is a relentless barrage of hyper-partisanship and crackpot conservatism. His commentaries are boorish assaults on Democrats and liberals. He is a serial interrupter of anyone who holds a different opinion than his. And his analysis always manages to put progressive policies and achievements in a negative light. For instance, he was fond of calling the historic market gains that occurred in Obama’s first term as a “bear market rally.” And that was when he wasn’t calling it the “Bush recovery.”

For your entertainment pleasure, the list below demonstrates some of his more outlandish pronouncements:

  • On the Iran nuclear deal Cavuto said that “We are helping the very folks that may have had a hand in 9/11.” But there is no evidence that Iran had any role in the Al Qaeda attack.
  • Cavuto opined that if Benghazi had happened on George W. Bush’s watch he would have been impeached. However, there were thirteen deadly attacks on diplomatic facilities during Bush’s presidency, but no impeachment, no hearings, not even any notable criticism.
  • Cavuto demeaned people who received government aid as lazy moochers who believe that “as long as Uncle Sam’s got my back I can lay back.”
  • Cavuto slammed efforts to raise the minumum wage because when he worked at a fast food restaurant in his youth he considered it a great learning and growth opportunity. But when adjusted for inflation, he was earning $2.22 more than the current minimum wage.
  • In one of his tirades against Climate Change he railed that “it is freezing across the entire globe.” Of course, only an idiot would say such a thing, particularly when almost every year for the past decade ranks as among the hottest ever.
  • His report on ObamaCare featured high grade fear mongering and a title warning about “National Healthcare: Breeding Ground For Terror?” That’s right. In Cavuto’s world health care equals terror.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

This is the sort of fringe crackpottery that is right at home on Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze or Alex Jones’ InfoWars. But Cavuto practices it on both his Fox News and Fox Business shows. He invites guests to appear with equally outlandish conspiracy theories with which he generally agrees. He engages in non-stop, brazenly partisan, propagandizing on behalf of the conservative agenda of his network bosses, Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch. Cavuto is a Tea Party boosting, climate science denying, harbinger of economic Armageddon. And tomorrow night he will moderating a Republican primary debate. Should be fun.

Glenn Beck Is Embarrassed That He Supported Sarah Palin

Who knew? One of this country’s most divisive, dishonest, and unrepentant purveyors of hostility seems to still have some capacity for shame (if you can believe him). Glenn Beck appeared at rally in Washington, D.C. (where he never wants to go back to again) to oppose the Obama administration’s deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Also on the podium were arch right-wingers like Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Sarah Palin. Sometime between that event and the next morning, Beck had some sort of revelation with regard to his relationship with Palin.

Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin

On his radio program this morning (video below) Beck took aim at Palin for reasons he didn’t make clear. He mentions that he “doesn’t know who she is anymore,” and “doesn’t know what she stands for.” Apparently he’s upset (jealous?) that he saw her talking to Donald Trump, who Beck is not fond of, and asks “What the hell was that?” He also admits that they had a “falling out” because “”she was listening to people who were lying to her about me.” However, he doesn’t go into who those people were or what they were saying. But the most striking comment he had about his former BFF was that…

“I don’t care what Sarah Palin says any more. Sarah Palin has become a clown. I’m embarrassed that I was once for Sarah Palin. Honestly, I’m embarrassed.”

Well, now he knows how most of the rest of the country feels about having Palin presume to speak for us. But it’s still ironic that the man who describes himself as a “rodeo clown” is suddenly seeing Palin in similarly derogatory terms. It’s kind of like the overgrown troll Donald Trump calling Carly Fiorina ugly. But what changed that altered Beck’s opinion of Palin? Certainly Palin hasn’t changed. She is tossing the same word-salad incoherence that has defined her since John McCain unleashed her, making all of us suffer for his foolishness and desperation.

You have to wonder whether this epiphany by Beck will lead to similar insights. Already Bobby Jindal seems to have seen the light about Trump. At a speech at the National Press Club Jindal said that Trump is “a carnival act.” He also called him a shallow narcissistic egomaniac.

Of course, this isn’t news to anyone with a functioning brain. The problem is that there seem to be so many intellectual zombies on the right to whom cartoon characters like Palin and Trump make sense. So when someone like Beck confesses that his prior support for Palin embarrasses him, it is a promising development, even though it is probably inspired by some selfish motive. It offers hope that supporters of Trump will soon feel some shame themselves. We know that many people who voted for George W. Bush are denying it today, and the current crop of Republicans are ashamed to even say his name.

It is too much to expect that any of those who come to realize that it was a grievous mistake to support nut jobs like Palin and Trump (and Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain, and pundits like Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc.), will ever come to accept a progressive agenda supported by history and facts. But for now perhaps we should be grateful that they can at least experience the cleansing quality of shame and let go of their delusions. It’s a small step forward, but it is a step. At least until they take two giant leaps backwards, which for them is always a possibility.

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Reporters Shot On Live TV: Glenn Beck Says God Did It To Warn Him

Today another tragedy occurred when a gunman took the lives of two innocent people in the course of doing their jobs. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were shot by a former colleague, Vester Lee Flanagan (aka Bryce Williams), as they were conducting an interview. And predictably the media has sprung into action with blanket coverage that is mostly comprised of repetition, speculation, and sensationalism.

The other predictable response comes from self-interested parties who seek to gain attention and support by exploiting the pain and grief of the victims. Already Breitbart News has published an article with a belligerent headline that baselessly declared the crime to be a Race Murder In Virginia.” Rush Limbaugh used the story to advocate for arming all reporters as if there is a raging war on journalists. Never mind that all the evidence currently shows that this was a workplace dispute where the workers just happened to be in local television reporting. And Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, in the early hours of confusion following the murders, complained that they haven’t been designated a hate crime.

Glenn Beck Messiah

However, what appears to be the most perverse and far-fetched take on the matter so far came from Glenn Beck (video below). I know, try to contain your shock. Beck sees something far more consequential than the sad reality of lost lives due to a disturbed individual with access to a deadly weapon. For Beck this was a message direct from God to him:

“I think God is giving me one final warning. He’s telling us, ‘You got one more chance, this is it.’ I’m telling you this is it … This is God saying, ‘Last chance.'”

Beck went on to remind his radio disciples that fifteen years ago he said that if…

“…you ever start to hear me reading right from the Scriptures, you know we’re at the end. I’m reading today right from the Scriptures … I’m telling you, as we watch things like a shooting on television and a shooting in the street, this is the beginning of sorrows. This is the beginning!”

Setting aside that Beck can’t seem to make up his mind as to whether this is the beginning or the end, he is plainly convinced that the shooting in Virginia was the work of God who did it to warn Beck of impending doom from the Heavens. The fact that a disgruntled ex-employee killed his former colleagues, something that unfortunately happens with a fair degree of frequency, is proof to Beck that the Lord is losing patience with the human race and is about to condemn us to eternal damnation. Of course, Beck has made predictions of The Perfect Storm that would herald the End Times in the past so often it is more like a running joke than a prophecy.

The depressing inevitability of opportunists taking advantage of tragedy is a sorry statement on the nature of our society. But it is a constant that can be predicted with near total accuracy. What is sometimes less predictable is just how low these callous vulgarians can sink.

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Cities To Avoid Like The Plague: Glenn Beck’s Guide To Godless America

If you’re looking for someplace new to live, or to pack up the kids for a family vacation, you won’t find a better list of potential destinations than the one that Glenn Beck is promoting. On his radio program this morning (video below) he ranked what he called “cities to avoid like the plague,” saying that “These are the cities that you do not want to live anywhere around as things get worse and worse.”

Glenn Beck Messiah

It is a perpetual oddity that people who profess to be patriots with a worshipful regard for America’s exceptionalism (aka American Supremacy) are so ready to condemn large swaths of the nation they pretend to love. The lucky locales that made this list are…

  1. St. Louis
  2. Washington, DC
  3. Minneapolis-St. Paul
  4. Las Vegas
  5. Milwaukee
  6. Los Angeles
  7. Boston
  8. Detroit
  9. Columbus, Ohio
  10. St. Petersburg, Florida
  11. Phoenix
  12. Denver
  13. Seattle
  14. San Francisco
  15. Portland, Oregon

The criteria Beck used came from a study by the Public Religion Research Institute that ranked the top three “religious traditions” (which includes religiously unaffiliated) in major metropolitan areas. Naturally, Beck’s ranking consists of the cities with the highest percentage of unaffiliated residents. It is Beck’s opinion that these dens of iniquity will suffer disproportionately when God unleashes his wrath upon the sinners of the world, which is due any day now.

The lunacy of this outburst (setting aside the imminent terrorism of an angry God) is that many of those same cities are also bastions of devout religiosity. In most of them the believers far outnumber the alleged heathens. And Beck doesn’t take into account that the unaffiliated group is not comprised exclusively of atheists. It also includes believers who simply do not associate themselves with a particular flavor of faith.

What’s more, Beck limited his list to fifteen cities, ending with St. Louis whose percentage of unaffiliated is twenty-two. That also happens to be the percentage for the nation as a whole. So if St. Louis is doomed, so are the rest of us. And Beck conveniently left out that his own home in Dallas is 18% unaffiliated, only a few points lower than St. Louis. In fact, if Beck had not arbitrarily stopped with fifteen cities, Dallas would have shown up at #24, easily within the range of doom.

Also not on the list is the imaginary holy city Beck proposed to build, Independence, USA. From his description it sounds more like Jonestown than Valhalla. Nevertheless, he promised it would be a haven for the righteous devotees of God. Well, that is, his version of God. And we know that, in addition to warning people off of certain sinful cities, he has also warned people to steer clear of churches that don’t meet his standards of divinity. Specifically he told his listeners to run as fast as you can from any church that uses the words “social or economic justice.”

The good news is that if Beck’s deranged travel guide serves any purpose it is that the cities in it will be blessedly free of apocalyptic evangelists frightening away visitors and residents. The fewer followers of Glenn Beck that are in any city, the better off that city will be. So hopefully his disciples will take heed of his warning and stay from the listed cities. And that will certainly be cause for those cities to celebrate. Here’s hoping your city is on the list.

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.