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Posted
  On 6/18/2024 at 12:45 AM, Irwin F Fletcher said:
This clip has probably been posted before, but it's spot on. Gold Jerry!


I really don’t know how many people I’ve shown that clip. I saw his special when it came out, and when he did that bit, I thought I was gonna piss myself.
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Posted

Fun article from Texas Monthly: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-stand-your-ground-true-texas-project/

True Texas Project hosting seminars for Texans to let them know when it's legally OK to shoot (and kill) people in this state.

  Quote

The middle-aged man, seated near the front of the room for a training on when he could use deadly force, expressed displeasure upon being told that doing so often was not legally advisable. He had driven to a suburban Fort Worth church to attend a seminar hosted by the True Texas Project, a prominent right-wing group. He asked what he could do if he returned to his home to find a squatter there—a “common problem” around the state, as he put it. Former police officer John Arenz, who volunteered to help lead the seminar, advised him there could very well be legal consequences for shooting someone who did not pose an immediate threat. “It doesn’t matter how indigent the person is, and it doesn’t matter how justified you are,” Arenz said, “you’re going to be sued.” He also mentioned the threat of criminal prosecution. 

The man lamented the “system” that would allow such litigation. “With all due respect, I don’t care about the law,” he said. “If someone’s broken into my house, they’re a threat to my life, and they need to either leave immediately or get the consequence.” 

Others in the audience pressed Arenz with follow-up nightmare scenarios, seeking clarity on when deadly force was acceptable: a man is running at me with a knife across my lawn, an elderly woman posed; a man is running at me in my house, but it’s dark, so I can’t tell if he has a weapon, hypothesized another elderly woman. (The crowd was largely gray-haired.) Arenz, who is not a lawyer, painted a grim (and questionable) picture of the civil suit that would inevitably follow a self-defense shooting. The court will immediately seize your assets and freeze your bank account, he said. Another older woman piped up. “Even if you shoot him in the kneecap?” Arenz replied matter-of-factly, “Even if you shoot him in the kneecap.”

The crowd’s concerns were understandable. The question of when one may shoot another person and escape legal consequences is newly top of mind. Daniel Perry, the openly racist Uber driver convicted of murder after killing another legally armed Texan at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, was pardoned by Governor Greg Abbott in May—but his conviction in 2023 remains a source of outrage for many on the far right. The few dozen folks who gathered in a meeting room of the House of Grace church, in North Richland Hills, had come seeking clarity about the law that had been central to the Perry case. They were supposed to get guidance from an instructor from the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, but he had failed to show up. So two audience members—Arenz and Dallas-area firearms instructor Jerah Hutchins—stepped in. Arenz, dressed head to toe in gray, apart from a “thin blue line” patch on his shirt, wore a handgun on his hip. Hutchins proudly informed the audience that she was concealing a gun somewhere under her breezy, summer-ready, off-the-shoulder dress.

Julie McCarty, founder of the True Texas Project, has publicly sympathized with the white supremacist gunman who, motivated by the racist conspiracy theory that Democrats are importing undocumented migrants to replace white Americans, killed 23 El Pasoans, most of them Hispanic, at a Walmart in 2019. (“I don’t condone the actions, but I certainly understand where they came from,” she said.) Just days after the stand-your-ground event, the True Texas Project became embroiled in a related controversy when the Texas Tribune reported on its upcoming fifteenth-anniversary conference, which will feature speakers promoting Christian nationalism, the “great replacement” theory, and “The War on White America.” McCarty blamed the ensuing outrage, and the subsequent cancellations of a few guest panelists, on “woke attacks.” She then cheerily announced that Kyle Rittenhouse, the baby-faced gun enthusiast who killed two men at a Wisconsin Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, would fill an opening and speak at the conference. 

Rittenhouse, notably, was acquitted after claiming his right to self-defense under Wisconsin’s laws—but not before being subjected to a criminal trial many on the right saw as a form of persecution. During the training at the House of Grace church, instructors carefully reviewed exactly what constitutes self-defense in Texas. Every state’s penal code contains protections for those who kill or injure others in self-defense, but only in the past two decades did states begin systematizing the right to go on the attack immediately upon perceiving a threat, rather than requiring that those who are threatened first retreat, if that is an option. In 2007 Texas adopted a stand-your-ground law, which, Hutchins explained, outlines that deadly force may be used if you believe you or another person to be in immediate danger, you are allowed to be wherever the attack is taking place, and you are not committing a crime at the time of the attack. Thirty-four other states have embraced similar rules.

The law was at the heart of the defense of Perry, a white former U.S. Army sergeant. He and his lawyers argued that he shot Black Lives Matter protester Garrett Foster, a white U.S. Air Force veteran, in self-defense, arguing that Foster had raised the rifle he was legally carrying. Witnesses contradicted that claim, as did Perry’s initial statement to the police the night of the murder. A jury of Perry’s peers was not swayed by his defense. But Abbott, always sensitive to issues that animate the right wing of his party, issued a full pardon to Perry, at the recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, all of whose members he appointed. “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense,” Abbott said, “that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney.”

Most in the True Texas Project crowd seemed certain that their interpretations of Texas law were correct, but they expressed worry about those progressive district attorneys and juries—perhaps even more than about the threat of civil litigation. The speakers pointed to the Perry case as evidence that liberals are trying to trample on Texans’ liberties. “I don’t care how justified the use of force is going to be, down in Austin—the Travis County district attorney, he’s going to indict you no matter what, I guarantee that,” said Arenz, apparently unaware that indictments are issued not by DAs but by grand juries populated by registered voters. “A lot of Texas counties—Travis, Harris, Dallas—have very liberal district attorneys. They don’t believe people should have guns. They don’t believe people should use guns to defend themselves.”

After the event, I chatted with Arenz as we walked to the parking lot. He spoke about the need for women of my “stature” to carry a handgun—as if by simply not having a firearm, I was a potential victim anywhere I went. If a large man attacked me, he noted, it wouldn’t be like in Charlie’s Angels, a campy fantasy in which a small woman could beat a hulking opponent in hand-to-hand combat. He recommended I buy a Sig Sauer P226, .40 caliber. He walked me to my car and offered to open my door.

The next night, in nearby Rockwall, the True Texas Project hosted a second gun seminar. This time, Stacey Elfarr, an instructor with the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, explained to a crowd of some thirty gun enthusiasts that her group would help audience members if they faced legal troubles or needed bail money after shooting someone. USCCA offers “self-defense liability insurance” for this purpose. (One man at the event in North Richland Hills said he’d purchased such insurance to fend off lawsuits.)

Elfarr—tan and muscular, with long, honey-colored hair extensions—told audience members that they might be prosecuted for the use of deadly force even if it did not result in death. She stopped midsentence to note that she was about to broach a topic she was particularly passionate about, then warned the crowd: “You are only as safe as the DA prosecutor that is looking at your case.” She too referenced the Perry conviction. “What about the Uber driver? Are y’all familiar with that case? He was pardoned by Abbott, but he spent almost four years in prison first.” (Perry spent one year in state prison following his conviction.) “He was a veteran—that really made me angry. He didn’t do anything wrong, in my opinion.” 

Though warm and receptive when I approached to ask her about Perry, Elfarr had only a cursory familiarity with his trial. “I don’t know a lot about the case,” she admitted. “But I do know he had a gun pointed at his head”—an assertion unsupported by any evidence presented at Perry’s trial. She offered repeated clarifications that Perry had not been a USCCA member and emphasized that the association did not get involved in politics. 

The specifics of Perry’s case, for Elfarr and others, were largely beside the point. Perry—a right-wing Army veteran who shot a Black Lives Matter protester in liberal Austin—represented the most harrowing possible version of the misfortune most feared by the folks who’d gathered. He was not only arrested and prosecuted, but indicted and then convicted. If it happened to him, it could happen to you, speakers warned. Abbott’s pardon, though welcome, didn’t eliminate the risk. 

Dennis London, a former Republican primary candidate for a Rockwall-based Texas House district who attended Elfarr’s lecture, said he wasn’t surprised Perry was pardoned but that gun rights were “constantly under attack.” He insisted he wasn’t a far-right extremist, but rather a constitutional conservative who believed in the exchange of ideas, in adults engaging in civilized dialogue—politely. Then he parroted a common saying in Texas: “An armed society is a polite society.”

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Posted
  On 7/1/2024 at 7:34 PM, C-Man said:

He asked what he could do if he returned to his home to find a squatter there—a “common problem” around the state, as he put it.

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Third sentence in and it's already devolved into right wing fever dreams.

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Posted
  On 7/3/2024 at 12:58 AM, Biff Tannen said:

Third sentence in and it's already devolved into right wing fever dreams.

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Not so fast my friend, I’ve been killed by illegal immigrants twice this week and a homeless man tried to pick up my house and move it to a public creek. Thankfully he didn’t have any massive hydraulic jacks or a crane or a couple of 18 wheelers, but we have to be careful these days!

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Posted

I don't go to bars anymore and we kinda know each other, but I gotta better chance of being drowned by Nicole on Rainey Street than I do being harmed by an undocumented immigrant.  There's a dozen of 'em on my street every single day doing the renovation on my neighbor's house and other chorin'.  Never got a weird vibe from any of 'em.  They driver more politely than my neighbors two doors over who think they're in fucking Formula 1

Meanwhile, on Sunday...ran into an old friend at the SEC kickoff deal.  He's a right-wing guy, but usually very pragmatic...not MAGA/Qanon type.  Shows me a phone pic of his "new arsenal" in case they replace Biden and Trump loses a rigged election.  I tried to slink away, but he asks, "Hey where's your family at, I wanna say hello."  And I just smiled and said, "Oh, they're probably getting cookies or something.  I'm gonna go check on 'em and probably never talk to you again."  

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Posted (edited)

Sending death threats and shooting horses, Make America Deranged Again (taken from the gofundme for Stormy)

Screenshot_20240703_072134_Threads.jpg

Edited by pacman
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Posted
  On 7/1/2024 at 7:34 PM, C-Man said:
Fun article from Texas Monthly: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-stand-your-ground-true-texas-project/
True Texas Project hosting seminars for Texans to let them know when it's legally OK to shoot (and kill) people in this state.
  Quote
The middle-aged man, seated near the front of the room for a training on when he could use deadly force, expressed displeasure upon being told that doing so often was not legally advisable. He had driven to a suburban Fort Worth church to attend a seminar hosted by the True Texas Project, a prominent right-wing group. He asked what he could do if he returned to his home to find a squatter there—a “common problem” around the state, as he put it. Former police officer John Arenz, who volunteered to help lead the seminar, advised him there could very well be legal consequences for shooting someone who did not pose an immediate threat. “It doesn’t matter how indigent the person is, and it doesn’t matter how justified you are,” Arenz said, “you’re going to be sued.” He also mentioned the threat of criminal prosecution. 
The man lamented the “system” that would allow such litigation. “With all due respect, I don’t care about the law,” he said. “If someone’s broken into my house, they’re a threat to my life, and they need to either leave immediately or get the consequence.” 
Others in the audience pressed Arenz with follow-up nightmare scenarios, seeking clarity on when deadly force was acceptable: a man is running at me with a knife across my lawn, an elderly woman posed; a man is running at me in my house, but it’s dark, so I can’t tell if he has a weapon, hypothesized another elderly woman. (The crowd was largely gray-haired.) Arenz, who is not a lawyer, painted a grim (and questionable) picture of the civil suit that would inevitably follow a self-defense shooting. The court will immediately seize your assets and freeze your bank account, he said. Another older woman piped up. “Even if you shoot him in the kneecap?” Arenz replied matter-of-factly, “Even if you shoot him in the kneecap.”
The crowd’s concerns were understandable. The question of when one may shoot another person and escape legal consequences is newly top of mind. Daniel Perry, the openly racist Uber driver convicted of murder after killing another legally armed Texan at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, was pardoned by Governor Greg Abbott in May—but his conviction in 2023 remains a source of outrage for many on the far right. The few dozen folks who gathered in a meeting room of the House of Grace church, in North Richland Hills, had come seeking clarity about the law that had been central to the Perry case. They were supposed to get guidance from an instructor from the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, but he had failed to show up. So two audience members—Arenz and Dallas-area firearms instructor Jerah Hutchins—stepped in. Arenz, dressed head to toe in gray, apart from a “thin blue line” patch on his shirt, wore a handgun on his hip. Hutchins proudly informed the audience that she was concealing a gun somewhere under her breezy, summer-ready, off-the-shoulder dress.
Julie McCarty, founder of the True Texas Project, has publicly sympathized with the white supremacist gunman who, motivated by the racist conspiracy theory that Democrats are importing undocumented migrants to replace white Americans, killed 23 El Pasoans, most of them Hispanic, at a Walmart in 2019. (“I don’t condone the actions, but I certainly understand where they came from,” she said.) Just days after the stand-your-ground event, the True Texas Project became embroiled in a related controversy when the Texas Tribune reported on its upcoming fifteenth-anniversary conference, which will feature speakers promoting Christian nationalism, the “great replacement” theory, and “The War on White America.” McCarty blamed the ensuing outrage, and the subsequent cancellations of a few guest panelists, on “woke attacks.” She then cheerily announced that Kyle Rittenhouse, the baby-faced gun enthusiast who killed two men at a Wisconsin Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, would fill an opening and speak at the conference. 
Rittenhouse, notably, was acquitted after claiming his right to self-defense under Wisconsin’s laws—but not before being subjected to a criminal trial many on the right saw as a form of persecution. During the training at the House of Grace church, instructors carefully reviewed exactly what constitutes self-defense in Texas. Every state’s penal code contains protections for those who kill or injure others in self-defense, but only in the past two decades did states begin systematizing the right to go on the attack immediately upon perceiving a threat, rather than requiring that those who are threatened first retreat, if that is an option. In 2007 Texas adopted a stand-your-ground law, which, Hutchins explained, outlines that deadly force may be used if you believe you or another person to be in immediate danger, you are allowed to be wherever the attack is taking place, and you are not committing a crime at the time of the attack. Thirty-four other states have embraced similar rules.
The law was at the heart of the defense of Perry, a white former U.S. Army sergeant. He and his lawyers argued that he shot Black Lives Matter protester Garrett Foster, a white U.S. Air Force veteran, in self-defense, arguing that Foster had raised the rifle he was legally carrying. Witnesses contradicted that claim, as did Perry’s initial statement to the police the night of the murder. A jury of Perry’s peers was not swayed by his defense. But Abbott, always sensitive to issues that animate the right wing of his party, issued a full pardon to Perry, at the recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, all of whose members he appointed. “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense,” Abbott said, “that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney.”
Most in the True Texas Project crowd seemed certain that their interpretations of Texas law were correct, but they expressed worry about those progressive district attorneys and juries—perhaps even more than about the threat of civil litigation. The speakers pointed to the Perry case as evidence that liberals are trying to trample on Texans’ liberties. “I don’t care how justified the use of force is going to be, down in Austin—the Travis County district attorney, he’s going to indict you no matter what, I guarantee that,” said Arenz, apparently unaware that indictments are issued not by DAs but by grand juries populated by registered voters. “A lot of Texas counties—Travis, Harris, Dallas—have very liberal district attorneys. They don’t believe people should have guns. They don’t believe people should use guns to defend themselves.”
After the event, I chatted with Arenz as we walked to the parking lot. He spoke about the need for women of my “stature” to carry a handgun—as if by simply not having a firearm, I was a potential victim anywhere I went. If a large man attacked me, he noted, it wouldn’t be like in Charlie’s Angels, a campy fantasy in which a small woman could beat a hulking opponent in hand-to-hand combat. He recommended I buy a Sig Sauer P226, .40 caliber. He walked me to my car and offered to open my door.
The next night, in nearby Rockwall, the True Texas Project hosted a second gun seminar. This time, Stacey Elfarr, an instructor with the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, explained to a crowd of some thirty gun enthusiasts that her group would help audience members if they faced legal troubles or needed bail money after shooting someone. USCCA offers “self-defense liability insurance” for this purpose. (One man at the event in North Richland Hills said he’d purchased such insurance to fend off lawsuits.)
Elfarr—tan and muscular, with long, honey-colored hair extensions—told audience members that they might be prosecuted for the use of deadly force even if it did not result in death. She stopped midsentence to note that she was about to broach a topic she was particularly passionate about, then warned the crowd: “You are only as safe as the DA prosecutor that is looking at your case.” She too referenced the Perry conviction. “What about the Uber driver? Are y’all familiar with that case? He was pardoned by Abbott, but he spent almost four years in prison first.” (Perry spent one year in state prison following his conviction.) “He was a veteran—that really made me angry. He didn’t do anything wrong, in my opinion.” 
Though warm and receptive when I approached to ask her about Perry, Elfarr had only a cursory familiarity with his trial. “I don’t know a lot about the case,” she admitted. “But I do know he had a gun pointed at his head”—an assertion unsupported by any evidence presented at Perry’s trial. She offered repeated clarifications that Perry had not been a USCCA member and emphasized that the association did not get involved in politics. 
The specifics of Perry’s case, for Elfarr and others, were largely beside the point. Perry—a right-wing Army veteran who shot a Black Lives Matter protester in liberal Austin—represented the most harrowing possible version of the misfortune most feared by the folks who’d gathered. He was not only arrested and prosecuted, but indicted and then convicted. If it happened to him, it could happen to you, speakers warned. Abbott’s pardon, though welcome, didn’t eliminate the risk. 
Dennis London, a former Republican primary candidate for a Rockwall-based Texas House district who attended Elfarr’s lecture, said he wasn’t surprised Perry was pardoned but that gun rights were “constantly under attack.” He insisted he wasn’t a far-right extremist, but rather a constitutional conservative who believed in the exchange of ideas, in adults engaging in civilized dialogue—politely. Then he parroted a common saying in Texas: “An armed society is a polite society.”
 

So glad these churches are not being used for political means and get to remain tax free.
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Posted
  On 7/3/2024 at 1:49 AM, atomheartbevo said:

Not so fast my friend, I’ve been killed by illegal immigrants twice this week and a homeless man tried to pick up my house and move it to a public creek. Thankfully he didn’t have any massive hydraulic jacks or a crane or a couple of 18 wheelers, but we have to be careful these days!

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Thank goodness we made abortion illegal or he might have forced you into having one! 

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Posted

I think of that Family Guy episode where Peter tells Lois that he's pregnant and doesn't know what to do.  and Lois says, "Peter, you can't be pregnant!"  And Peter replies, "Well, I'm Catholic Lois.  I don't have any other options!"  That's about the intelligence level of Texas men.  Don't want one and think their immoral, then just don't have one.  Have the baby and love it.  What that other couple over there decides with their doctor is their business.  How is this so fucking difficult?  

Do I want my 9yo making life-altering changes to her body?  No.  So I guess we just won't do it then.  Does the 18yo down the street considering gender affirming care affect us at all?  Not in the least.  I mean, I know Jesus spoke at length about gender medical care and D&C procedures.  He spoke to the Disciples about it all for many years between fishing trips, cabinet DIY projects, and magic tricks.  But we could just let people live in peace as he intended.  

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Posted

Maniac Murder Cult? Yeah, that name checks out.

Alleged neo-Nazi ‘murder cult’ leader accused of plot to poison children
The Georgian national was charged with scheming to have an associate dress up as Santa to hand out poisoned candy to Jewish and minority children in Brooklyn.

Federal authorities have charged the suspected leader of an Eastern European-based neo-Nazi group with harboring plans to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out candy laced with poison to Jewish and minority children in New York City.

Michail Chkhikvishvili, a Georgian national in his early 20s who goes by the alias “Commander Butcher,” was indicted on four charges, the Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday, including the transmission of threatening communications and conspiracy to solicit hate crimes and acts of mass violence.

He is alleged to be the leader of a group known as the Maniac Murder Cult, a violent international extremist outfit that prosecutors say “adheres to a neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems ‘undesirables.’”

The group is believed to be based in Russia and Ukraine, with members around the world, including the United States.

It was not immediately clear whether Chkhikvishvili had an attorney.

According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, he was arrested in Moldova on July 6 under an Interpol order after trying to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join the group and commit acts of violence, including arson and bombings.

Prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili began plotting in late 2023 to carry out an attack that year in New York City on New Year’s Eve. According to the Justice Department statement, “The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools.”

Chkhikvishvili sought to persuade the undercover law enforcement employee posing as a potential recruit to carry out the plan, providing step-by-step instructions and details on how to mix lethal poisons.

In electronic correspondence with the employee, who was not identified in court documents, Chkhikvishvili later suggested carrying out the plan at another time, on “some Jewish holiday” at “Jewish schools full of kids.”

When the undercover employee warned that the attack would “bring alot of heat” on the group, Chkhikvishvili responded, “That’s what we exactly want.” The Georgian national also discussed publishing a video of the planned attack, hoping that it could make the cult “bigger than Al Qaeda.”

According to court documents, Chkhikvishvili since 2021 has distributed a manifesto titled the “Hater’s Handbook,” in which he encourages others to commit acts meant to sow terror — specifically within the United States — and admits to committing such acts himself.

“Beginning at least as early as July 2022, Chkhikvishvili repeatedly encouraged others, primarily via encrypted mobile messaging platforms, to commit violent hate crimes and other acts of violence” on behalf of the Maniac Murder Cult, the Justice Department statement read.

Prosecutors said Chkhikvishvili traveled to New York City at least twice in 2022, first around April and again in June, providing his grandmother’s address in Brooklyn to border authorities.

If convicted, Chkhikvishvili faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence for solicitation of violent felonies, five years for conspiring to solicit violent felonies, 20 years for distributing information pertaining to the making and use of explosive devices, and five years in prison for transmitting threatening communications.

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Posted

But remember.....it's Democrats who have "created hostile discourse" in this country by doing crazy shit like.....calling out nutbattery like this guy.  See, telling right wingers that they are psychopathic murderous nutjobs who want to violently overthrow the government....is what MAKES them sychopathic murderous nutjobs who want to violently overthrow the government!

WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME HIT YOU????

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Posted

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-secret-ap3-militia-american-patriots-three-percent

 

  Quote

Last February, some 20 men and their wives gathered for dinner at an upscale restaurant in Spokane, Washington, for their annual Valentine’s Day celebration. The men weren’t just friends; they did community service work together. They had been featured on local television, in khakis and baseball caps, delivering 1,200 pounds of food to an area veterans’ center; they were gearing up for their next food drive, which they called Operation Hunger Smash. A few days after the holiday, the men went camping in the snow-speckled mountains outside Spokane, where they grilled rib-eyes and bacon-wrapped asparagus over a bonfire.

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They also engaged in more menacing activities. They assembled regularly — sometimes wearing night-vision goggles in the dark — to practice storming buildings together with semiautomatic rifles. Their drills included using sniper rifles to shoot targets from distances of half a mile. And they belonged to a shadowy organization whose members were debating, with ever more intensity, whether they should engage in mass-scale political violence.

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They were among the thousands of members of American Patriots Three Percent, a militia that has long been one of the largest in the United States and has mostly managed to avoid scrutiny. Its ranks included cops and convicted criminals, active-duty U.S. soldiers and small-business owners, truck drivers and health care professionals. Like other militias, AP3 has a vague but militant right-wing ideology, a pronounced sense of grievance and a commitment to armed action. It has already sought to shape American life through vigilante operations: AP3 members have “rounded up” immigrants at the Texas border, assaulted Black Lives Matter protesters and attempted to crack down on people casting absentee ballots.

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Now with the presidential election less than 100 days away, AP3 members see the fate of their country turning on a turbulent, charged campaign. They’re certain that Democrats will try to steal — not for the first time, in their view — the White House from Donald Trump. “The next election won’t be decided at a Ballot Box,” an AP3 leader wrote several months ago in a private Telegram chat. “It’ll be decided at the ammo box.” He has said he is ready to force his way into voting centers if need be, or “whatever it takes.”

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Posted
  On 7/3/2024 at 2:36 PM, Nivek said:

 

So glad these churches are not being used for political means and get to remain tax free.

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Unfortunately, and I don't like it, I believe churches are permitted to do "political" things apart from any attempt to "influence legislation" or support or oppose a political candidate. https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-501c3-organizations

I am for tax exemption for legitimate religious and charitable organizations, but believe the rules should be strictly enforced, and maybe even strengthened.

Posted
  On 8/19/2024 at 2:03 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Unfortunately, and I don't like it, I believe churches are permitted to do "political" things apart from any attempt to "influence legislation" or support or oppose a political candidate. https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/exemption-requirements-501c3-organizations

I am for tax exemption for legitimate religious and charitable organizations, but believe the rules should be strictly enforced, and maybe even strengthened.

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I'm not sure how you deal with this but's it's a big problem when it comes to the "non-profits" out there.  The vast majority of these aren't really charities, as often times only an extremely small percentage of the proceeds actually go the causes the claim to support.  Basically, they are highly profitable for the board, who gets huge salaries.   I remember a few years ago reading an article on Wounded Warrior, in theory a very noble cause, but in reality the actual charity was only seeing somewhere under 20% of the proceeds.  That's not a non-profit, nor is it a charity, that's a for profit business venture.  

That's just one example, and unfortunately, if held under the same scrutiny, my bet is you'd find nearly 80% of the "non-profits" are just like this.  

As for churches, sure some of them are just ordinary small town places trying to do their level best, but the mega church needs be under intense scrutiny and treated like for profit business, because that's what they are.  

Again, I don't know the exact way to deal with all this, but some level of threshold when it comes to salaries, holding, and actual charitable acts needs to be considered.  

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Posted
  On 8/19/2024 at 4:55 PM, BamaATL said:

I'm not sure how you deal with this but's it's a big problem when it comes to the "non-profits" out there.  The vast majority of these aren't really charities, as often times only an extremely small percentage of the proceeds actually go the causes the claim to support.  Basically, they are highly profitable for the board, who gets huge salaries.   I remember a few years ago reading an article on Wounded Warrior, in theory a very noble cause, but in reality the actual charity was only seeing somewhere under 20% of the proceeds.  That's not a non-profit, nor is it a charity, that's a for profit business venture.  

That's just one example, and unfortunately, if held under the same scrutiny, my bet is you'd find nearly 80% of the "non-profits" are just like this.  

As for churches, sure some of them are just ordinary small town places trying to do their level best, but the mega church needs be under intense scrutiny and treated like for profit business, because that's what they are.  

Again, I don't know the exact way to deal with all this, but some level of threshold when it comes to salaries, holding, and actual charitable acts needs to be considered.  

Expand  

Oh, I know how to deal with it.  Tax them like every other entity. 

Or require all non-tax a provision that includes that 85%+ money must go to the charity and <15% can be used for salaries, utilities, and infrastructure of it office.  If the charity is a shelter, then the rent/utilities/food/etc. can be used and it must be signed off by an independent accounting firm with the same accountability as the SOX (C-levels get jail for fucking around).  

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Posted
  On 8/28/2024 at 6:19 PM, Homesickhorn said:

From the comments:

“His accomplices Blast Hardcheese, Punch Rockgroin, and Big McLargeHuge could not be reached for comment.”

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I'm interested in changing my screen name to Blast Hardcheese, and perhaps my legal name.  

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