The Scathing Atheist - 590: Falun Gong Show Edition

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

This week, we’ll swap some old headlines and outrun a boulder, we spend the week limbering up for ass coffee, and we’ll hope this bullshit we got you isn’t past its expiration date. --- To make ...a per episode donation at Patreon.com, click here: http://www.patreon.com/ScathingAtheist To buy our book, click here: https://www.amazon.com/Outbreak-Crisis-Religion-Ruined-Pandemic/dp/B08L2HSVS8/ If you see a news story you think we might be interested in, you can send it here: scathingnews@gmail.com To check out our sister show, The Skepticrat, click here: https://audioboom.com/channel/the-skepticrat To check out our sister show’s hot friend, God Awful Movies, click here: https://audioboom.com/channel/god-awful-movies To check out our half-sister show, Citation Needed, click here: http://citationpod.com/ To check out our sister show’s sister show, D and D minus, click here: https://danddminus.libsyn.com/

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Warning, the profanity in this episode contains adverbs and conjunctions and shit. This week's episode of The Skating Atheist is brought to you by Stamps.com, Babbel, and by Blood Pressure Meds. Blood Pressure Meds, because even before the heart attack, me getting to airport security without popping was pretty iffy. And now, The Skating Atheist. Now, the skating atheist. good porn but even they are no match for a bugger pegging corn so I'm glad that it's Thursday and I'll say it again we did in fact devour from filthy monkey leg It's Thursday.
Starting point is 00:01:21 It's June 6th. And it's Atheist Pride Day! Goddamn right it is. I'm no illusions. I'm Eli Bosnik. I'm Heath Henright. And from Cory, Bookers, New Jersey, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Weigh Cross, Georgia, what? This is the Skating Atheist.
Starting point is 00:01:36 On this week's episode, we'll swap some old headlines and outrun a boulder. I spend the week limbering up for ass coffee. And we'll hope this bullshit we got you isn't past its expiration date. But first, the diet trial. So I'm reading this book about 14th century France and holy shit, you want to talk about a strong contender for the worst time and place to live in recorded history? Here's one for you. I mean, you know, let's first acknowledge that I almost can't help but address that
Starting point is 00:02:18 question from a position of privilege. Because if you're gay or trans or black or a woman, your worst time and place to be spectrum is way broader than mine. But if you're looking for a time and place where it sucked for pretty much everybody, rich or poor, man or woman, minority or otherwise, 14th century France has a lot going for it. The obvious one is the black death, right? Literally a third of the population is going to die in agony before that's over. But you've also got a Catholic church that's corrupt,
Starting point is 00:02:45 even by the historical standards of the Catholic church. You got the 100 years war raging on and off. You've got a papal schism, which matters for political purposes, but also weighs heavily on the minds of people who took this Pope shit hell of serious in their day-to-day lives back then. Right, you've also got ever-increasing taxes,
Starting point is 00:03:02 peasant uprisings, food shortages, widespread brigandage, and of course with the benefit of retrospect and rationalism we can look back on that era and we can see the terrible confluence of events that swirled together to create that unique vortex of misery. The plague from flea-ridden rats, the peasant results from the unrecognized increase in the value of labor after so many people died, the unending war from organizing your culture around war-like traits and then running out of easy Muslim cities to steal, etc. etc. But back then they had neither retrospect nor rationalism.
Starting point is 00:03:35 So when you read the contemporary accounts, they have the whys and wherefores hilariously wrong. Granted, some people got shit right. There are plenty of warnings from back then that higher taxes to pay for the war were gonna lead to peasant uprisings even before they happened. There was very little illusion about the level of corruption in the church or the pivotal role that that was playing in the general shittiness of the century. Some people even put together the link between filth and disease, but for every one of those correct guesses,
Starting point is 00:04:04 and they were just guesses, there are a thousand other people blaming everything from declining morals to the position that the planets were in to bad air. And bizarrely, inexplicably, one of the chief culprits in accounts across the continent and throughout the century that you will hear listed right alongside of like selling indulgences and sexual promiscuity or whatever is the sinful debauchery of pointy shoes. No fucking clue. Apparently they were all the rage back then. The chic set back in the 1300s were all running around in these fucking ridiculous pointy shoes. And don't think like jester shoes that like turn up at the end these things just kept going they look like over sharpened pencils and they must are hurt like hell to wear and they had become this symbol
Starting point is 00:04:53 of decadence for the same reason that like you know high-heeled shoes might they don't serve a function other than fashion so they become an emblem of access and so religious and thought leaders all over Europe would take to the pulpit or the page or the fucking street corner to decry the moral depravity of pointy shoes. Why is God killing our families with festering boobos? Pointy shoes. Why won't he protect his faithful flock from robbers on their way home from church?
Starting point is 00:05:20 Pointy shoes. Why won't he bring peace to this war that's cost so many generations of young men pointy fucking shoes? Of course, pointy shoes weren't the only stupid reason that they gave for the miseries of their day. They also complained that society was over-sexed, the people had strayed too far from God, women were getting too uppity, immigrants were undermining their culture, too few people attended mass, and nobody wanted to work these days. And all of those reasons are exactly as accurate and intelligent as blaming the bubonic plague on pointy shoes.
Starting point is 00:05:54 The difference, of course, is that we still use all those other ones every time we feel like the world is going to shit. The point is that all these jackasses blaming the world's problem on gay marriage and bottom surgery are going to sound exactly as dumb as the pointy shoes guys to the history buffs of the future. When they go to read about the downfall of liberal democracy in the 21st century, the historian is going to take a break from talking about like, you know, decreased trust in institutions in light of mass surveillance, internal divisions driven by early adopters
Starting point is 00:06:26 of social media. Wait, whatever the 2020 hindsight of history blames our generational suckitude on ultimately. And they'll give their readers a quick laugh by quoting from the contemporary dumbasses who blamed everything on dudes sucking each other's dicks. And that's comforting in a small and vindictive way, right? Knowing that your nemesis's
Starting point is 00:06:45 place in history is slated to be comic relief, but it's also the kind of fact that you just might be able to weaponize. Look, the thing that shook me from my very deep-rooted prescriptivist tendencies, that is my belief that you weren't doing language right unless you were following the rules that I was taught in grade school, was reading quotes from supposedly intelligent historical figures, freaking the fuck out because people had started saying walked and looked instead of walk it and look it. They were right every bit as much as I was, getting bent out of shape over stuff like nuclear and library
Starting point is 00:07:18 and knowing how dumb they sounded to me and how dumb I would sound once society just accepted these more natural pronunciations, swayed me when nothing else did. You know, look, I get that some people are beyond reach, but some people who seem like they are aren't. And sometimes all it takes to see how much of an asshole you're being is a historical mirror.
Starting point is 00:07:39 Maybe showing some of these zealots how perfectly their complaints line up with the lists that culminated in point these shoes back in the day is going to show them how silly they will sound to the future. Or, you know what, maybe it'll just divert their attention to the scourge of point these shoes. Either way, I feel like it's a win for social justice. They're talking about you, Jesus. We need to wrap this broadcast up and bring you a special news bulletin. Joining me for headlines tonight are nobody, because I'm not here. But don't worry, we've been saving up extra headlines
Starting point is 00:08:07 for you over the last few weeks, so there's gonna be plenty to fill up the headline segment. But first, a word from this week's first sponsor, Stamps.com. Okay, but it looks really painful. You're not hearing the benefits. Hey fellas, what you doing? Oh, Heath, finally.
Starting point is 00:08:23 Noah installed a laptop into his chest. Not into, Eli, on top of. Right. Can I ask why? Why not? Now, all the time I waste not editing and working is a thing of the past. Yeah. Seems like you might need to work on your work-life balance.
Starting point is 00:08:39 Balance, schmallance. Now I can edit on the toilet while I eat, even in line at the post office. Well, Noah, if you want to save time you're spending at the post office, why don't you try Stamps.com? What's... Oh, wait, sorry. What's Stamps.com? Um, what was that? Oh, my heart stops when I get an email. Right. Anyway, you can take care of mailing and shipping wherever you are, even on the go, with the Stamps.com mobile app.
Starting point is 00:09:04 You can take care of mailing and shipping wherever you are, even on the go, with the Stamps.com mobile app. All you need is a computer and a printer, and they even send you a free scale, and you can easily schedule package pickups through your Stamps.com dashboard. Plus, you'll automatically see your cheapest and fastest shipping options from different carriers. Plus, you'll get rates you can't find anywhere else, like up to 89% off USPS and UPS shipping. Wow, that sounds great. Where do I sign up?
Starting point is 00:09:26 Put more life into your work-life balance with Stamps.com. Sign up with the promo code scathing for a special offer that includes a four-week trial, plus free postage, and a free digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts. Just go to Stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page, and enter the code scathing. All right, fellas, thanks.
Starting point is 00:09:44 So you're going to uninstall that? Yeah, I think I wait. Yeah, I think I will. Another email? Yeah, another email. And now back to headlines from the recent past already in progress. And in face eating Leopard Academy news, one of the hard things about atheist activism is explaining that often the supporters of religion are also its victims. Not always, obviously.
Starting point is 00:10:11 You know, religion is plenty happy to tell other people who they can marry, what they can do with their bodies, and what laws should be in the country they live in, but quite often we find ourselves fighting for the rights of people who, until religion came for them, were perfectly happy with who religion was coming for. And we got another case like that this week when a federal court ruled that yes, a Catholic school can legally fire their drama teacher just for being gay. So at some point a lawyer said, your honor, that's obviously illegal. Just make it black instead of gay. It's so clear. And the judge was like, no.
Starting point is 00:10:51 Or yes, and we still got this ruling. These are way fucking terrifying. Yeah, who would have guessed that carving out exemptions to discrimination laws based on a class confirmed through self-identification could be problematic. Shocking. Exactly. Yeah. So first things first, big thanks to Elaine for sending us this story based on a class confirmed through self-identification could be problematic. Shocking. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:07 So first things first, big thanks to Elaine for sending us this story to scathingnews.gmail.com. Elaine included a drawing of a dragon girl with her story. And I'm not saying that's why we picked it. I'm saying that if you do include a dragon girl with your story that you send to scathingnews.gmail.com, we'll have your story and a picture of a dragon girl. Do with that what you may. OK, the email said, I don't have any cat pics. Here's a cute dragon girl I drew instead.
Starting point is 00:11:34 At least one of you is into that. It's probably Heath. And I. You know what? No comments, I'm done. Exactly. Yeah, I can't help but notice neither. You included that in the notes, right? Yeah, I had to look that up for myself. Creepy looking pastors. I got two of them. I can't help but notice neither you included that in the notes, right? Yeah, I had to look that up for myself. Creepy looking pastors?
Starting point is 00:11:46 I got two of them. Hot dragon shit can't be bothered to copy and paste all of a sudden. It's a delightful dragon girl. I don't like to share. So, the teacher in question is Lonnie Billiard, who began working at Charlotte Catholic High School, or CCHS, in Charlotte, North Carolina, way back in 2001 as a substitute teacher. He sued joined the staff full-time, was beloved by students, and won multiple awards over the years, including the Catholic Teacher of the Year award.
Starting point is 00:12:13 But then in 2014, shortly after North Carolina legalized gay marriage, Billiard announced on Facebook that he'd be marrying his boyfriend, and CCHS fired him for that. Billiard sued the district for discrimination because that's the definition of what discrimination is, but the school appealed under the ministerial exception from 2012 that our current Supreme Court expanded to teachers in 2020 that says all ministers aka teachers and other representatives of religion from a religious Organization don't get all the rights because they're magic Okay, so now we fire every judge if they're Christian, right? That's just how they're saying that's good. Like if they're doing Stalin we should be doing Stalin, right?
Starting point is 00:13:01 But I don't exactly but I don't want to do Stalin. I'll do it I'm saying I'll do it out. He's out voted puzzle in a thunderstorm wants to do is not that's our official position I'm getting loose and we should call it something else, but I want to do that. It's just one specific thing Stalin we're out voting you I'm getting loose into I think she would want to do a voting you. I'm getting Lucinda. I think she would want to do a stop. Getting Anna. Anna would be on my side. Next up in headlines in Eli's neighbor news we have a story about Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. who continues to be a living Supreme Court justice because Eli has a family blah blah blah. But we got another reminder about the consequentialist math on that last week when Alito gave an absurd Commencement speech at a Catholic University
Starting point is 00:13:50 According to Sammy Gavels. It's really hard out there for Christian people in America right now Because the freedom of religion is in peril Well, I mean the freedom of religion is in peril right. If he had just said that, steepled his fingers, said, blah, ha ha, and called for phase two of the plan, I would get this. Yeah, exactly. He's part of it. All right.
Starting point is 00:14:15 And a big thanks to Nick for the link, scathingnews at gmail.com if you want to help out. So here's what we learned about the plight of the powerless American Christian from an American Christian who's one of the most powerful people in the country. And the author of the Dobbs ruling that overturned bodily autonomy in favor of the religious liberty to control everyone's body. Fun stuff. He started with obnoxious flowery language to signal his virtue of an obnoxitude, saying, quote, Troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles, end quote. And one of those hallowed principles presently beset by the deleterious aqueous erosion before
Starting point is 00:15:00 our very cranial orbs is the freedom of speech. He explained during a literal speech, he said, quote, support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously, especially where it should find deepest acceptance. A university should be a place for reasoned debate today. Very few colleges live up to that ideal. Okay. I just, I just, I feel like there's a lot of ways to make fun of Sam Alito that don't call me out directly, Heath. I just feel like there's some other way.
Starting point is 00:15:29 We love your verbosity Noah. Also, this makes complete sense because Sam Alito is definitely the guy in your philosophy 101 class who interrupts attendance taking on the very first day to ask to define white supremacy. So based on that starting point, you might be thinking a constitutional scholar at the highest level of the field might delve into a nuanced discussion of where to draw the line between protected speech that's offensive to some people and full on hate speech that can lead to stochastic terrorism. But why would you ever think that? You're stupid. The hypothetical guy I created for that little bit. We're talking about an old Catholic white guy from New Jersey.
Starting point is 00:16:18 Instead, he moved on to the destruction of the freedom of religion in the form of people think you're stupid sometimes and they tell you. Alita told his highly persecuted audience of almost entirely white Christian college graduates, quote, freedom of religion is also imperiled. When you venture out into the world, you may well find yourself in a job or a community or a social setting, and you'll be pressured to endorse ideas you don't believe or to abandon core beliefs. It'll be up to you to stand firm. Against me, weirdly enough. Right, yeah, exactly.
Starting point is 00:17:00 He literally used a part of his speech to say that if you go out in your day and everyone you meet is an asshole, they're the asshole. Yes! Just to be clear, he didn't specifically mention the religious freedom of persecuting same-sex couples by denying marriage rights. You know, the religious freedom of dibs on the word marriage were not sharing that word, but he has mentioned that right in the past
Starting point is 00:17:27 when making similar comments. Either way, the general point is the same. Bigots get called bigots, and that's a violation of religious freedom. And you know, I was thinking about it, that's gotta be tough. Can you imagine being part of a society that challenges your beliefs?
Starting point is 00:17:45 It sounds like there's way too much freedom of speech and his talk jumped up its own asshole. Right. You hate to see it. Yeah. And in less is Mormon news tonight. The New York Times ran an article last week detailing all the new changes that the Mormons are making to try to modernize the missionary system. It turns out that Mormon kids these days just don't want to spend two years biking around in overstretched white shirts and shitting with the door open
Starting point is 00:18:09 while entirely isolated from their loved ones for some reason. And the Mormon church is going to do something about it. To be clear, that's not going to be letting them close the door while they shit. But they're now allowed to also bike around in over-starched blue shirts. Ooh, blue shirts! Okay, I was hoping you were going to say, but they do not have to make hard eye contact anymore during that back-to-stair. But yeah, blue shirts, that's cool too.
Starting point is 00:18:35 Look, I don't want to get too scatological, but if we could somehow disguise me as a Mormon missionary and have me take a shit with the door open, I'll get that policy changed overnight, guys. One fell swoop. You can't avoid his eyes. It's impossible. See, I was like the Mona Lisa. So yeah, so they have made a few wardrobe changes.
Starting point is 00:18:56 Not many. Men in some areas are now allowed to wear blue shirts and forgo the tie. But the far bigger change is that women missionaries are now allowed to wear pants, provided they're wrinkle free and have a conservative color. It's a weird caveat at the end. Are there lots of Mormon women with wrinkly ass linen harem pants in neon green? I want to hang out with whomever that was for the cool ass, you know, sister chastity, whatever, with the hair. They're also, by the way, letting missionaries call home once a week instead of the old system,
Starting point is 00:19:34 which allowed for two calls home per year. One on Christmas, one on Mother's Day. And just thinking back to myself at 18, living away from home for the first time, I can only imagine what a huge difference that has made for missionary kids. Yeah. And that, my friends, is the difference between Goys and Jews. If Joseph Smith had suggested that in a room full of Jewish mothers, he wouldn't have had to wait to go to jail to get shot.
Starting point is 00:19:58 That's all I'm saying. Okay? Now, the biggest changes the church is making with missionaries is how they actually go about mormoning. This apparently grew out of the pandemic. During the lockdowns, missionaries couldn't go door to door and bother people in the street, so they took to the interwebs and started proselytizing on social media, which, it turns out, is way the fuck more effective than harassing people in person.
Starting point is 00:20:19 The church took notice, and now they encourage missionaries to carry smartphones and interact, you know, like the humans do which has led to among other things an Instagram video where a dude who is white for a Mormon wraps the lyrics quote I'm studying the Book of Mormon every day and night so when temptation comes a-knocking I know I'll be all right end quote that rhythm was way too good way too good. Way too good. Yeah, I was going to say. Yeah, well, again, this is being done, by the way, because the old version of proselytization
Starting point is 00:20:51 was out of touch. Yeah. Also because I reached out to the LDS about helping generate C segments for our podcast. Right. Yeah, right. Exactly. Yeah. Mormon, stop bothering people and try to make viral videos. That's what I call a win-win-win. Yeah, right. Yeah. Mormon stop bothering people and try to make viral videos.
Starting point is 00:21:05 That's what I call a win, win, win. Yeah, right. Okay. Sorry. Noah gave a link to the video of the thing he's talking about. Eli, did you watch it? I did not know. Okay.
Starting point is 00:21:17 No? It's amazing. It's this white guy doing a Mormon rap. He's rolling an oxygen tank behind him though though with the tube going up to his face. And I was like, this is, this is like a roasting honey pot from Noah. He's just trying to get me. No, you're going to make fun of the tank. I will.
Starting point is 00:21:35 You're just a bad person with a tank that I feel bad about. Now to be clear, they're still never allowed to be alone and they'd still have to shit with the door open to keep from masturbating. They still can't watch TV or play video games or read books that aren't about Jesus or Mormoning or swim or do gymnastics or ride horses or ride motorcycles or participate in winter sports or go rock climbing or practice an unapproved musical instrument or and this one can't be stressed enough, fuck. musical instrument or and this one can't be stressed enough fuck well yeah and this is not by the way an exhaustive list so look wrinkle-free pants are nice and all but I feel like they might have some modernizing left to do still a
Starting point is 00:22:18 little room here and there yeah and on that note we're gonna take a quick break for a word from this week's second sponsor, Babble. Ehh, get out of here. It's not eh, it's ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy status playing during pajama party week. Yeah, but this is a get-ahead? Right. It's May 29th. Got it. It's 1.47 p.m. Okay, all right. But Heath, if you want to learn a new language,
Starting point is 00:22:52 why don't you try Babbel? What's Babbel? Seriously, Carl, really? I'm not on the board yet this year. I want to be on the floor now. Babbel is the science-based language learning app that actually works. Don't pay hundreds of dollars for private tutors
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Starting point is 00:23:31 Where do I sign up? Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners. Right now you can get 55% off your Babbel subscription, but only for our listeners at babbel.com slash scathing. Get 55% off at babbel.com slash scathing, spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash scathing. Rules and restrictions may apply. All right, Carl.
Starting point is 00:23:50 I guess I'll see you at the pajama party. I'm actually going to Vegas with Morgan. Oh man, he said he was busy. Yeah, busy going to Vegas with me. Man. And we're back next up in headlines in Scott Free News tonight. I've actually got some good news for you, thanks to Heather, who sent this one to us at scathingnews.gmail.com.
Starting point is 00:24:10 And while you may lure Heath into your story suggestions with dog pictures and Eli with drawings of sexy dragon girls, Heather knows the key to my heart is demographics. And Scotland's census data, delayed by more than a year because of COVID, is finally coming out, which means we're finally learning that as of the latest census more than half of Scotland's population has no religion. Okay, so here's the thing, COVID obviously bad. However, I'm trying to find a little silver lining here. I'm trying to be positive. I'm guessing COVID helped with that number in South Korea.
Starting point is 00:24:43 I was going to say, yeah. Pretty much. I mean to be fair, if you lived in Scotland's weather I was going to say that. Pretty much. I mean, to be fair, if you lived in Scotland's weather, you'd stop believing in God too. I can't believe it took them this long. Yeah, right. So yeah, so this isn't a huge surprise given the demographic trends in the not quite country, not quite not country, but it's welcome nonetheless. It's also a huge increase over the previous census.
Starting point is 00:25:01 In a stunning and heartening reminder of just how radically a decade can shift in your favor when you've got young people and your opponents have the old ones, the numbers jump from 36.7% claiming no religion in 2011 to 51.1% by 2022. You're welcome Scotland. Yeah, no, we did. Yep. So, and if you're wondering how far behind Scotland the rest of the UK is, well, possibly 11 years, because in England and Wales, their number's almost exactly the 36.7% that Scotland reported on the previous census. And as for Northern Ireland, they'll fucking get there when they get there, I guess.
Starting point is 00:25:37 They are busy chasing Michael Flatley around their town square for his tax money. They have the one town square, weird. Now, of course, the major driving factor here is age. For decades, fewer and fewer young people have grown up in the church, and as they get older, their more religious forebears die. But that actually doesn't explain all the growth. In every single age group in the census, respondents were less religious
Starting point is 00:26:00 than the cohort they represented in the previous census. In other words, this decade's 41 to 50 year olds are less religious than last decade's 31 to 40 year olds. At every age, people are leaving religion faster than they're joining it. So this is great news broadly, and it's even greater personally, because the three of us know people in Scotland that would hide us when the Inquisition comes. Yeah, exactly. We're counting on you, Brian. Next up in headlines in more than meets the eye Meats, we have a story about halal certified meat,
Starting point is 00:26:30 New Jersey senator for a little bit longer, Bob Menendez, and a major scandal involving bribery, corruption, and fraud. My boy! By which I mean halal meat is bribery, corruption, and fraud. Just like kosher meat or any other magical food prep, it's nothing or worse. But religion makes people stupid and they end up paying for magical nothing or worse. So of course, Bob Menendez wanted a piece of that action and he did a bunch of his own bribery, corruption, and fraud. According to the prosecution in his ongoing trial, he received bribes from
Starting point is 00:27:05 a New Jersey businessman in exchange for helping that guy secure a monopoly on halal certified meat being sent from the U.S. and imported into Egypt. A high stakes industry indeed. Steaks meat. Okay. Honestly, I'm surprised council hasn't moved for Bob Menendez to be tried for all the corruption he hasn't done to save time. It's the fucking best. It rules.
Starting point is 00:27:33 Does it? Okay, well, big thanks to Assad for sending the link to scathingnews at gmail.com. So I'll start with a quick background on Bob Menendez. He's my hero. already. And I love him. Okay. So his career in politics started in 1986 when he became Mayor of Union City, New Jersey. From there, he bribes so many bribes. And we're pretty much all caught up. Those bribes include being indicted on federal corruption charges in 2015
Starting point is 00:28:01 for failing to disclose wealthy donor gifts. That went to trial and the jury was somehow undecided so the charges got dropped. But he got officially admonished in 2018 by the Senate Ethics Committee and they released a statement that basically said, yeah, you definitely did that. Juries are dumb. We know you fucking did that. Then a few months later, he got reelected by New Jersey. Hell yeah! Because, you know, at least he's not a Republican, fair enough. Yeah! But then he got indicted again in October of last year on, you guessed it, more federal corruption charges.
Starting point is 00:28:34 Huh! He did have more federal charges. So he's currently on trial for allegedly acting as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government, not great, including a five-year conspiracy during which he received extensive bribes in exchange for big political favors, one of which was the magical meat thing. And his wife Nadine was handling a bunch of the bribes, so she's also being prosecuted. We also learned that she killed a pedestrian during a car accident in 2018, and Bob interfered with a separate prosecution of some rich guy in
Starting point is 00:29:06 Jersey in exchange for a Mercedes to replace Nadine's car that she fucked up by, again, smashing into the body of a pedestrian. Jesus Christ. But I... She should see it in a new car. Well, I feel like he'd evidence on audio of you and I condemning people who run down pedestrians and crosswalks could come back to bite us professionally. So maybe we don't.
Starting point is 00:29:26 Exactly. What's next? You're going to say that you were surprised by the gold bars I've sewn into the coats in my closet? I mean, you know. Man with standards, Heath. Yeah. But Eli just buys another bad car.
Starting point is 00:29:36 So it's cool. It's cool. So according to the indictment, Bob and Nadine were taking bribes from a guy named Wael Hanna, the owner of the New Jersey based firm called ISEG Halal Certified, and also two other business associates of Hanna, Jose Uribe and Fred Davies. In 2019, that company got awarded a monopoly
Starting point is 00:29:56 by the government of Egypt on overseeing Islamic meat magic for everything that's imported from the US. And all of a sudden, the cost of magicking a shipping container with 23 tons of meat had increased drastically from its normal price of about $300 per magic per container to something way bigger. So when that happened,
Starting point is 00:30:18 United States Department of Agriculture, the USDA, filed a complaint with Egypt explaining how the monopoly was a bad idea. They also explained that Hana's company didn't seem to have enough staff to handle all that meat magic, nor did Hana or the company have the requisite experience and expertise for that sort of thing. Whatever the fuck that means. Also, perhaps unrelated, we'll find out at the end of the trial. That same year, Bob Menendez called a high-level official at the USDA and told the guy to stop narking on Hana's company.
Starting point is 00:30:53 I'm sorry, wait, but seriously, how could you be unqualified for this? You didn't have a low magic meter? Right? Not enough potions in your inventory? Right. Out of spell slots? What does that mean? Add a spell slots. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:07 Okay. I just love the idea of them calling up Egyptian government and being like, let our meat pole go. Meat pole? Meat pole. Moses, the Ten Commandments. Charlton Heston? Yep.
Starting point is 00:31:18 We're all putting it together. Charlton Heston, cool. It's a great joke. And we all love to write. And I did a great job. Why pole though? Meat. Okay. Doesn't matter. So, because people. Yeah. It's a great joke and we all love to read it and I did a great job. Why poll though? Meat.
Starting point is 00:31:26 Okay, doesn't matter. So, because people... Yeah. Okay. So I read the indictment. I actually read the whole indictment. It's a truly wonderful piece of comedy writing by accident. It's awesome.
Starting point is 00:31:37 We know about all the bribing because following the USDA getting mad about the weird monopoly, the matter was handed over to law enforcement and it was super obvious who to investigate. So prosecutors have thousands of text messages between Bob, Nadine, and Mr. Hanna. In one example, Nadine sent a text to Bob saying, almost exact words, I'm mad that our latest bribery check never showed up.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Should I email or text the bribery guys about the bribery? And Bob writes back, no, do not email or text. There's also a text from Nadine to Mr. Davies that said, hey, I never got that bribe, you owe me. And Davies replied, this is an exact quote, Nadine, I personally gave Bob a check for September. Oh my god. I am currently committing the crime of my own free volition. Jesus Christ. Nadine about Bob. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:34 But did I write bribe as the subject line? Of course I wrote bribe in the subject line, Nadine. And my favorite part is the description of what the federal agents found when they inspected Bob and Nadine's house in Jersey. First, they found over $480,000 in cash. It was pretty easy to find because the main hiding place was the pockets of clothing that was just hanging in the closet. Even better, this included multiple jackets that literally have Robert Menendez embroidered on the front of the jacket. Piles of bribery cash in the pockets. How'd that get there?
Starting point is 00:33:15 The feds put photos of that in the official indictment because that's super fun. The feds also found literal bars of gold just like weeping with laughter as they take away all the bribes labeled bribes for Bob in a box or a jacket or whatever. Because it's great because it's a combination of being a stupid criminal and being a stupid boomer who thinks that like gold is the new raw material. And in 9Conf News, if there's an upside to the constant onslaught of religious bigots demanding monuments of the Ten Commandments be on every piece of public property and in
Starting point is 00:33:55 every school since the very second this podcast began, it's that they're idiots and thus their every attempt to create theocracy is almost always accompanied by banana peel level antics of their own stupidity. And this week was no exception to that, as a former member of the school board in Park Rapids, Minnesota, showed up to a city meeting to demand they erect his monument on school grounds of the Nine Commandments. Come on, man. Please tell me he left out the neighbor's wife one for being too salacious.
Starting point is 00:34:28 Okay, I feel like the school board has a great teachable moment here, right? Like if I'm in charge of the school board, I'm sending that thing back red lined. Right? Like add the missing ones, then the whole thing's crossed out, and then like the first amendment is spray painted
Starting point is 00:34:43 over the top. That's so much fun. Right, yeah. A little sad face at the top of it. Exactly. Says see me. So first off big thanks to Hemet Mehta over at the Friendly Atheist blog for bringing this story to our attention. If you haven't checked him out over at FriendlyAtheist.com, you should. Good news, good times, good energy and sexually arousing jeopardy skills. Yeah, and crossword skills. Exactly, yeah. Cruciverbalism.
Starting point is 00:35:07 He is a sexually arousing cruciverbalist. Exactly. So that poor fucking guy, because now a bunch of people are going to say, hey, did you guys know that Heath and Eli want to fuck you? And he's going to go, what happened? I'm sorry, what? I was just trying to be a good.
Starting point is 00:35:19 There's no way he hasn't existed on the planet with us enough to not just go, yeah, that's probably Heath. That's all they said this time. That's dope. Probably Heath because of the crossword in jeopardy. That's nice. This is a mild week for me in my little life trying to do a good thing quietly. Don't be a good person in our circles.
Starting point is 00:35:39 All right. The resident in question is Dennis Doge to the moon, who sat on the school board in Park Rapids for 32 years until 2022. According to the Park Rapids enterprise quote, in his presentation, Doge argued that current society is in a war between good and evil and quote, Satan seems to be winning because we are allowing him to and by allowing God to be pushed out of government churches and homes and schools. Okay. allowing him to and by allowing God to be pushed out of government churches and homes and schools.
Starting point is 00:36:06 Okay. So first of all, pretty sure his man's name is Dodge. But secondly, is God being pushed out of churches? Yeah, churches. I just, I don't feel like he is. They bring him up a lot. Last they checked. Also, if he's gone, maybe he just left because you're all the worst.
Starting point is 00:36:22 Yeah. Consider that. They don't want to be associated with you. Maybe he just left because you're all the worst. Yeah. Consider that. Didn't want to be associated with you. He continued, quote, Our society has lost its values and its respect for each other. If we can save even one child from Satan's grapes, it is worth every cent we can spend on this donation because God's children are priceless. I did go down the rabbit hole on why he said Satan's grapes.
Starting point is 00:36:44 It's believed that he actually said grasp and they mistranslate or they miswrote it in the newspaper. But I love the Satan's grapes way better. Yup, exactly. I also choose to just be like, nope, he said grapes. Yeah, right, yeah, exactly. So, okay, but I love that what he's saying here is, we've lost respect for one another.
Starting point is 00:37:01 And I blame the other religions. Yeah, that's the problem. Now you might be thinking to yourself, wait a second, Eli, isn't 10 Commandments monument on school grounds illegal? And yes, the Supreme Court has ruled on that twice. But Doge has an answer. You see, according to an article he found on Voices of America, and that's the radio station Gerald Ford started, damn it. The US Supreme Court permits the Ten Commandments to be on public property so long as the goal of displaying them is not to gain support for religion. Okay, I feel like that's wrong, but like even if that is the rule, you can display it, but
Starting point is 00:37:40 you have to do it with like one audible scoff at me The great ruling guys But of course I saved my favorite part of this story for last because As I teased at the beginning of this story Doge included a proposed design for the monument with his proposal and that design Has only nine commandments and their number. It's amazing. Well, okay. So in his defense, the 10 commandments aren't 10 commandments, right? Nine, 11 and 12,
Starting point is 00:38:12 all acceptable answers to how many of the 10 commandments are there, but there is no logically consistent way to get 10 out of them. That's fair. Yeah. So not sure why Daj is pro bearing false witness or building idols. Those are the two he left out. We'll have to follow up with him on that.
Starting point is 00:38:28 Until then, I don't love the chances that this thing is going to get through, but this is the scathing atheist and I've been unpleasantly surprised before. Okay, so I have a theory as to why he left out the one about graven images and lying. It's because at that time he was lying to get a graven image erected. Yeah, that'll do it. I get it. And on that pre-recorded note, we're going to wrap up the headlines, pre-recorded Heath, pre-recorded Eli. Thanks as always. Jumanji.
Starting point is 00:38:53 And when we come back, we'll find out what happens when cults fall on bad times. That's where you'll get it in a second. You'll get it. Sometimes the lines in our line of work get a little fuzzy. Is this religion? Or is it woo? Is this a cult? Or is it an MLM? But whenever the terminology gets tricky, the master category of bullshit will suffice, which we're going to be reminded of once again in this installment of How Bullshit Is It?
Starting point is 00:39:26 So tell us Heath, what brand of bullshit will you be telling us about today? Today we're gonna be talking about the Falun Gong Cult. Oh, awesome, fun fact, when we were doing our live show in Toronto they had this little parade that cut the city in half and I walked right through it because I had places to be and fuck them. As well, you should, nice.
Starting point is 00:39:44 I mean, honestly, I think you should be able to walk through all parades except the Pride Parade and you should be able to walk through the Pride Parade if you're giving out smooches. OK, so what is the Falun Gong cult? All right. Well, let me just start off by saying that's a harder question to answer than it should be. Of all the subjects we've covered on this segment, I feel like this was the hardest to research because the Falun Gong cult is freakishly good at scrubbing the internet of pretty much any honest discussion of exactly how bullshit they in fact are. It'd be really easy to read through their entire Wikipedia article and just think they were a persecuted
Starting point is 00:40:21 Chinese religious sect that just wants to teach people proper breathing techniques. And that's it. And that's not what they are. No, it's not. They are a right-wing, racist, homophobic, apocalyptic cult that reveres their leader as a living god. Okay, I know that's different. Very different, yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:43 Okay, so how does the Falun Gong cult start? It starts Innocently enough actually it starts with breathing. I think you might be going back too far Heath. That's not just regular breathing Magical breathing Falun Gong starts with the spiritual practice of Qi Gong and they claim they're able to use it for healing sick people Through meditation and controlled breathing. Oh and and can they're able to use it for healing sick people through meditation and controlled breathing. Oh, and can they? No.
Starting point is 00:41:09 Yeah, that's what I thought. All right, so Qigong was already bad and then Falun Gong made it worse? Exactly. And for that, we have Li Hongzhi to thank. Okay, so who is this Li Hongzhi? Until 1992, he was an entirely unremarkable government clerk in China. Unless you believe the Falun Gong propaganda, in which case he was a living god just, you know, biding his time as a low-level clerk until his early 40s.
Starting point is 00:41:39 Weird place to bide your time. Can I say that? Can I give God that note? Yeah. Either way, at the age of 41, he looked at Q gong and thought to himself. I could add more bullshit to that So he did in addition to claiming he could use controlled breathing to heal people He also said it would prepare them to enter heaven in the next life and just in case Eternal paradise wasn't enough. He also said that mastering his breathing techniques
Starting point is 00:42:05 would allow practitioners to fly and see through walls. Oh! Yeah. So presumably, Li Hongjie can fly and see through walls? He sure can, but just not when you're looking. Ah! Yeah, dancing frog style. Getcha, every time.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Okay, as much as I hate to say this, just saying you can cure disease and give people superpowers with proper breathing techniques is not generally enough to make it onto this segment. Not generally, no. And can I say? Says a lot about the state of bullshit. It does it though.
Starting point is 00:42:37 That we have to have higher standards. Okay, so what else does Li Hongjie teach? That he's a living god. There it is. We found it, everyone. Well. There it is, we found it everyone. Well there it starts actually. Because once a leader guy declares himself a living god, yeah, already firmly in cult territory,
Starting point is 00:42:54 but it remains to be seen what the guy is gonna do with his god status once he claims it. Ooh, ooh, I'm gonna take a wild guess that it's have sex with whatever member they want to. Well yeah, that's one of the things, definitely. As fucked up as it is, that's basically like the free space on the cult bingo card. But psychological rape is just the tip of the iceberg with the Falun Gong cult. Okay, so where should we start?
Starting point is 00:43:18 Let's start where they start. Proper breathing. So one of the most successful recruitment strategies the cult has or had before they got a multimillion dollar advertising budget was to meet up in parks and do guided meditations. And if you see a big group doing breathing techniques and they're not charging any money, you might be thinking, okay, what possible harm could come from breathing better? So people start showing up to join in the entirely harmless meditations in the park. And that presumably is when they get you?
Starting point is 00:43:51 Well, not right away. They like to ease you into it, but ultimately what they'll teach you is that their spiritual practice can put an energy source in your abdomen called a phallan. And if you breathe correctly, you can use the phallan and if you breathe correctly you can use the phallan to collect and transmit energy and improve your health. What's the spin situation with that you're probably wondering? Great question. That's thank
Starting point is 00:44:14 you. The phallan is always spinning it's always rotating and when it rotates clockwise you're probably wondering about like clockwise and counterclockwise. So when it goes clockwise it gathers energy So when it goes clockwise, it gathers energy. And when it goes counterclockwise, it transmits energy. And for reasons that I didn't have time to wrangle from the rabbit hole, maybe you could figure it out. Whenever they represent this process, they do it with a like a spinning swastika emoji thing. Ah, that's two swastika cults in a row, guys. I'm starting to think that symbol might not have the noblest of intentions. Right?
Starting point is 00:44:51 Might not. Right. OK, so what is Fallon? So glad you asked. According to their website, quote, Fallon is the miniature of the universe with all the abilities of the universe. It can automatically move in rotation. It will forever rotate in your lower abdomen area.
Starting point is 00:45:10 Once installed in your body, it will no longer stop and will forever rotate like this, year in and year out. Burning the time when it rotates clockwise, it can automatically absorb energy from the universe, and it can also transform energy from itself to supply the required energy for every part of your body transformation." End quote. Okay, follow-up question. What? Yeah, there's a lot of energies in there.
Starting point is 00:45:40 I feel like this clerk just ate a fidget spinner and was like, fuck, fuck, fuck, I gotta figure out how to explain this. All right, but again, not to downplay how genuinely dangerous this kind of shit is, but so far all we have is fucking Gwyneth Paltrow ad copy. I feel like they get way worse though. Well, it would be awesome if I could differentiate them from
Starting point is 00:46:02 other religious bullshit by pointing to their homophobia here, but sadly, that's pretty much every type of religion. if I could differentiate them from other religious bullshit by pointing to their homophobia here. But sadly, that's pretty much every type of religion. At Falun Gong, they teach that gayness is a sin and that LGBTQ people can't go to heaven. But yeah, again, that's actually pretty mild compared to a lot of religion, definitely including most of American Christianity. Well, look, Keith, if you put a dick up your ass, you're gonna block the Eternally Spinning fan. That's obvious. Well, right, obviously, yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:28 Podcast listener, I wrote that as a joke, and then I Googled it, and that's actually kind of why they're homophobic, like. Yeah, uh-huh. Wait, what? Yeah, it interferes with the Fallon. Yeah. Wow. You have the Fallos and the Fallon get into a fight there at some point, yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:43 Seems like that would improve, it doesn't matter. Because you know they're picturing like a... Yeah. I was too, but I was like, that would improve. It doesn't matter. Yeah, exactly. Up your game. Exactly. All right. So do they have any other bigotries you could share?
Starting point is 00:46:57 So many. So many, Noah. The whole root of their religious dogma is deeply xenophobic. Everything is about keeping things pure. And when Li Hongzhi says pure, he means Chinese. All the ills of the world, according to his doctrine, are the result of races mixing together. His organization is diametrically opposed to the Chinese Communist Party, but not because of the party's atrocious human rights record
Starting point is 00:47:24 or their fascist levels of social control. to the Chinese Communist Party, but not because of the party's atrocious human rights record or their fascist levels of social control. He hates them because communism is a European idea and therefore tainted. I can't imagine the Chinese Communist Party cares much why he opposes them though. They do not care, which is why they banned the Falun Gong cult in 1999, forcing Hong Ji to flee to America. But he knew that was coming, so he'd already headquartered the organization in upstate New York.
Starting point is 00:47:53 And over the last 25 years, their headquarters has expanded out into a massive facility they call Dragon Springs. Okay, so wait, so the Chinese group whose core teaching is that culture shouldn't mixed moved its headquarters to New York. Sure did. Yep. All right. Fun fact, the bus I used to take home from college was exclusively for drug dealers carrying too many drugs to take a plane and people in that cult going to their super cool retreat space. Yeah. Interesting. All right. So, so did the leader have a change of heart on that on that racism that clearly he's in violation, like a latter revelation of some sort?
Starting point is 00:48:31 Not even remotely. According to Hong Ji, there are separate but equal heavens for all the different races. What? Yep. So that means, according to him, among other things, there's no heaven for mixed race people. During a lecture he gave in Sydney, he called them, quote, physically and intellectually incomplete, end quote. He says that race mixing is part of an alien plot to drive humanity further away from the gods.
Starting point is 00:49:01 Marklar, how goes our plan to corrupt the humans? Yep, working on it in loving Virginia. Just really taking some time there. There's aliens now? This particular brand of xenophobia also leads them to largely reject all of science and modern medicine because those are, quote, Western. They literally brag on the website about how at the Dragon Springs compound quote, there's barely a screw, nail or metal joint to be found. End quote.
Starting point is 00:49:34 And can I say buildings without nails and screws sounds like a great idea as long as the Chinese government never get their hands on a big bad wolf. I think that's the only weakness right now. Any angry birds of any kind, yeah. Yeah, right, yeah. Of course, officially, Falun Gong is not anti-medicine because that would get them sued. Right, yeah. So they have all kinds of teachings that say,
Starting point is 00:49:56 approximately, if you're sick, you should go to the hospital, of course, Wink. But they also teach you that you can cure all disease and disability through proper breathing. And that needing medicine is a sign that you lack sufficient faith in dear leader. Okay, so this shit gets people killed. All the time. Practitioners and their kids, of course.
Starting point is 00:50:20 It also prolongs illness and makes minor problems into major ones. Alright, any other insane teachings that we should know about? Okay. How about the claim that the Chinese government is trying to harvest their organs? Yeah, no, that feels like it qualifies at the very least. Right. Yeah. This one's fucking nuts. One of their teachings, which Hong-Chi lifted directly from ancient Chinese mythology, is that there are five essential organs in your torso the liver lungs heart kidneys and spleen Fuck the intestines, I guess right
Starting point is 00:50:54 Useless and they think that using their breathing techniques Strengthens those organs which means that Falun Gong practitioners have the very best those organs, which means that Falun Gong practitioners have the very best livers and lungs, etc. The best livers, the strongest livers, man, woman, cow, horse, liver. Pin in that voice. Wait, okay, wait. So that's why the government is trying to steal their livers and... Exactly. That is why, because they're amazing livers.
Starting point is 00:51:22 Yeah, because of the breathing now Let's not be unclear on how evil the Chinese government is they do Harvest organs from executed prisoners, which I mean executing prisoners is barbaric But not harvesting their organs at that point afterwards is just wasteful What did we say about organ harvesting? just wasteful. Keith, what did we say about organ harvesting apologetics on the podcast? That's not the point. I'm getting off track. I'm getting off track.
Starting point is 00:51:47 The point is, the claim about getting their organs harvested isn't quite as delusional as it sounds when you first hear it. Especially when you consider how liberally China dishes out death penalties. But the idea that the government is after specifically Falun Gong livers, or that Falun Gong organs fetch a higher price on the black market, both of which are actual claims Hong Chi makes, those claims are every bit as delusional as they sound. Yeah, but imagine how bad your government has to be
Starting point is 00:52:17 that we have to be like, yes, they're organ thieves, but they're not targeted organ thieves. Yeah, right, right. Okay, so is that at least the craziest thing they believe? Nope. Nyaaah. They also have a very David Ikean belief about alien demons from another dimension disguising themselves as humans and secretly ruling the world. God damn it. Hongjie claims that Xi Jinping and his inner circle are literal alien demons sent to destroy
Starting point is 00:52:48 Chinese culture. The cult also believes Hongjie can read people's minds and that he has angels disguised as humans wandering around reading minds for him too. So you never know when he's listening in on your thoughts. Yeah, the secret is to look away so he starts flying and passing through walls as a reflex. Right, right. There you go. But of all the terrible things that Falun Gong is, perhaps the worst is that they're pro-Trump. Hangzhi declared a few years back that Trump was a divine figure
Starting point is 00:53:21 sent to rid the world of the Chinese Communist government. Huh. So how's that working out for you? Well, in terms of getting rid of the Chinese Communist Party, not great. But in terms of roping in new adherents, it's been a goldmine. The anti-communist, anti-Chinese, pro-racist rhetoric of Falun Gong was music to the MAGA ears, of course, and Falun Gong leaned in hard. They started or supported a whole bunch of far-right conspiracy nut YouTube channels and
Starting point is 00:53:51 websites. They pushed their pet conspiracies through the typical QAnon channels and they even partnered with Steve fucking Bannon to produce an anti-China documentary. Really? Okay, here's my question. Do these people like do lunches? Right? Because I'm just picturing Steve Bannon and Kanye West at a medium nice steak restaurant, trying to make small talk with a guy who won't stop saying he's God. And I have to admit, it tickles me.
Starting point is 00:54:18 It tickles me, I enjoy it. Is the guy Kanye or is the guy from... Yeah, right, right. I think they're all saying it except for Steve, who's just like, I can't believe we only had one vegetarian option. We all agree on Defcon though, right? So this of course leads us to perhaps their most visible outreach the epoch times epoch times has at least the veneer of a legitimate news source and Falun Gong has at least the veneer of a legitimate news source and Falun Gong
Starting point is 00:54:46 vehemently denies owning it. Huh. It's just that everyone who works for them, other than two token Christians, is in fact a Falun Gong practitioner and everything they write at that source supports Lee Hong-ji's delusional view of the world. So that's their biggest outreach program? Well, it tries to be. They spent millions in advertising it on Facebook and YouTube until both platforms kicked them off for dishonest advertising practices. And I want everybody to take a second here and reflect on just how misleading your ads have to be before Facebook and YouTube refuse to take your money.
Starting point is 00:55:22 Yes! Keep in mind, Facebook just announced that you are allowed to lie about who won the election in your political ads, and they're like, nah, those Fallon guys, they're too far. A little too far, a little crazy. Now I should say that if we're most familiar with Fallon Gong through the Epoch Times, that could be the case because that's the outreach they target specifically to middle-aged men and yeah Admittedly that that is me They also have a variety of YouTube and tik-tok channels though to reach younger people and a dance troupe called Shen Yun
Starting point is 00:55:55 Fuck yeah, they do Middle-aged women and me in Ann Arbor, Michigan on every billboard I'm sorry They have a dance troupe? Like they present their bat shit philosophies in interpretive dance? Not at all. The whole point of their outreach
Starting point is 00:56:12 is the veneer of respectability. So the last thing they want you to learn about is all the crazy shit underpinning their entire worldview. And I mean that literally, they want you to learn a whole bunch of things, but in a very specific order, the last of which is all the crazy shit. Okay, so what do they want you to learn first? That they're an oppressed religious group withering under the thumb of communist repression.
Starting point is 00:56:37 Right now, Shen Yun is touring the country with a show called China Before Communism. All the advertising is claiming it's just a tour through Chinese history via the art of dance. And that's largely what it is, but they make subtle reinforcements of the Falun Gong narrative throughout, and the whole thing culminates in a, won't you please help the repressed people of China pitch
Starting point is 00:57:01 that aims you at their fundraising, and of course, their indoctrination system. It's like the second half of the show and people bring their kids. Right, yeah. Fucking rule. We should go and just film our fellow audience members. Yeah, no, right, that has to be allowed, right? All right, well, there are really a million questions I'd love to ask, but we're out of time, so I guess I'm going to have to settle for just one more. How bullshit is it?
Starting point is 00:57:27 Okay, I'm gonna say electrostatic tummy dynamo with a swastika. Sometimes you just have to name the thing they do. Nazi Care Bears levels of bullshit. That's all right. And with that incredibly disturbing and disturbingly incredible image in your mind, we're going to wrap up this segment. but don't worry, there's always more bullshit to come. Before we push this episode out of the nest, I want to remind all our patrons that the Pajama Party livestream is coming up this Saturday, starting at 8pm Eastern time, so stay tuned for a link.
Starting point is 00:58:03 You're going to get that in your email or you'll be able to find it on the Patreon page. See you there. Anyway, that's all the blessing we've got for you tonight. But we'll be back in 10,022 minutes with more. If you can't wait that long, be able to look out for a brand new episode of our Sister's Soul's Hot Friend God of a Movies Day being at seven p.m. Eastern on Tuesday
Starting point is 00:58:16 and even a new episode of our Half Sister Soul Citation needed debut at noon Eastern on Wednesday. Obviously, I couldn't hold my head up high if I neglected to thank Keith Enright for teaching me to hope, Eli Bostic for teaching me to believe in myself and Lucinda Lujans for teaching me that the real treasure was the friends we made along the way. I want to thank Marsh, Nicola Thomas, and Lydia in advance for helping us with the pajama
Starting point is 00:58:32 party this year. I also need to thank Matt for providing this week's epic Farnsworth rap, but most of all of course I want to thank this week's best people whose names I don't know because I'm recording this like last week, but I will thank you by name next week. Suffice to say though, the Matri on was a huge success this year with a grand total of 979 new and upgrading patrons and by name or no, I will never thank you enough together these 979 people helped perpetuate our profane problem this week by giving us money Not everybody has the money it takes to give some of that shit to us
Starting point is 00:59:03 But if you do you can do that shit in June too. Just make a per episode donation at Patreon.com slash scathing atheist, whereby you'll only access us to an extended ad free version of every episode. Or you make a one time donation by clicking on the donate button on the right side of the homepage at scathing atheist dot com. And if you'd like to help, but not in a money way, you can also help a ton by leaving us a five star review, telling a friend about the show and following us on social media and speaking of social media, Tim Robertson
Starting point is 00:59:22 handles that for us and our audio engineer is Morgan Clark. We also roll the music of his use in this episode, which was us and our audio engineer is Martin Kirk who also wrote the music that was used in this episode which was used with permission except for the Farnsworth quote which was written by Matt. If you have questions comments or death threats you'll find all the content info on the contact page at skathegatheist.com In his presentation, Doge argued that that current society- I think it's just Dodge. Oh, Dodge. Yeah, that's the word Dodge.
Starting point is 00:59:54 The preceding podcast was a production of Puzzle and the Thunderstorm LLC, copyright 2024, all rights reserved.

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