The AFA is a christian nationalist stochastic terrorism organization. We need a major change in the tax laws: any organization, churches included, which claims non-profit or not-for-profit status will show publicly where every single cent they receive came from and where they go to.
The best outcome of this is that Chambers succeeds in suing the AFA and gets a big ole settlement that mostly goes to his lawyers because it was really long and drawn out. While it is going on the AFA is sidetracked from their mission and lose out on influencing our government and getting donations. And once it’s all over, Chambers gets his money and never finds work in the influencing politics field again, maybe spends time behind a McDonald’s counter or whatever. While the AFA’s influence is diminished because now they’re seen as not conservative enough or proven to be the pervs they are.
But it will most likely be a few months of shit talk from both sides, an under the table settlement, and then the whole thing gets swept under the rug and back to business as usual. With Chambers working as a consultant at a right wing “news” site like ONN or OAN.
There is a great deal that disgusts me about the religious right, not the least of which is the way they have tried to co-opt the word family. Their implication being, only right-wing Christians can love their children. I've seen plenty of Christian families I was very happy not to be a part of. Another thing I find disgusting is the way they convince themselves their religiosity entitles them to a say in other people's personal choices. The longer these groups are around, the more they have to hide, and delegating one's thinking to one of those herds is never a good thing.
Terms and conditions *did* apply. Mainly "our house, our rules", so our privacy was entirely hypothetical and could be revoked at any time, for any reason. We had to be real careful reading fanfic, for instance, since mom would randomly read what we were reading to make sure we weren't exposing ourselves to sin and temptation.
One conversation (far away from my deadbeat father's ears) with DM when I was around 13 years old "If one day you want to be with a boy tell me and we will do what's necessary*".
* Condoms and birth control. She had her first sexual relationships around 16.
No one ever explicitly said it, but we all knew better. Now my sister is in a relationship with someone twice her age that my parents have to grudgingly tolerate, my brother enlisted and had relationships while he was overseas (despite mom sending him a list of bible verses about chastity, which she turned into a group project, and she was utterly giddy about it the whole time.)
And I'll be in therapy a while before I'll be ready for any kind of relationship, but if/when I do find someone my parents sure as shit aren't going to hear about it for a long time.
In my subculture girls are supposed to stay virgins until they find a partner, such restriction doesn't apply to boys. I dated a man before DM and me ditched my father for good, we never told him especially since he wasn't white. He would have exploded.
“That it's okay to beat and starve kids because look at all this family harmony and joy it will eventually produce!“
When will it produce the harmony and joy? Because the kids presented in the photos of harmony and joy are hungry and hiding bruises and will probably get more bruises and hungry immediately after the photos are taken. The abuse never ends, and the harmony is actually terror, and the joy is manufactured. Then, when the children are grown, they either double down on their own children until one of them dies or they have nothing whatsoever to do with their abusive parents as adults.
Basic human necessities like food, water and shelter are not privileges. I hope those people rot in prison. And the children get all the help they need and find loving places to live.
Well, hey, if mama's happy, the family's happy, right? /s
There's a very good reason I want nothing to do with so much of the Christian concepts of love. Christian family values just aren't what they're so often advertised as.
As always, the projection is off the charts. Right wing christians are fundamentally incapable of loving anyone, including their own kids. 🙄
The church isn't good at much, but one thing it *is* good at is systematically excising the capacity for love, empathy and basic humanity out of the pew warmers.
Hell, even most "liberal" and "progressive" christians only have a tenuous grasp of the concepts. That's what's bound to happen when you saturate yourself in a religion based on nothing but bigotry and sadism.
Trump, in contrast, got zero prison time and a slap on the wrist for doing E. Jean Carroll in a Bonwit Teller dressing room 30 years ago. Trump's campaign (defense fund) scored more the next day in contributions from the MAGA faithful than the entirety of his $5M restitution (and of course no legal fees because Trump doesn't pay his attorneys). Conclusion: Masterson's a loser.
Meanwhile, Trump is looking at four trials for his crimes. He's sweating that spray tan off because none of his ploys or his lawyers ploys are working. His own SCOTUS is slapping him down.
These dipshits are acting the exact same way the vast majority of christians have been acting since Constantine adopted it as the state religion of the roman empire most of two millennia ago.
Assholes like these guys, Brian Fischer, Ted Cruz, boebert and Greene are far more accurate to historical Christianity than MLK ever was.
Sorry, but that works out to No True Scotsman, a logical fallacy.
If they claim to be Christians, then they are Christians. Virulent ones. The folks who ran the Inquisitions, the Crusades and the Witch Hunts were Christians. And they would've have tortured and killed you if you dared tell them they weren't. So would the KKK and the Nazis.
I'm going to go out on a limb very slightly here, but I think there's a lot more to the story than we are seeing. The same story appeared at Joe my God yesterday, and my immediate reaction was there was something fishy, and not in a Christian way, or maybe precisely in a Christian way, about it. No matter how you look at the story, it stinks. Is it chambers the innocent victim for a conspiracy of silence at AFA? Or does it smell like the Schlappmeister story, where I was not so sure the"victim" was all that innocent.
I can't say what makes me think this, except that the dream and the baby part of it or what makes me think it's all garbage.
“a continual duty of loyalty” to the AFA. That's a good one. Aren't christian organizations supposed to promote loyalty to ol' Yahweh, not to themselves? And aren't they supposed to be loyal to the ten commandments, one of which orders them not to commit false witness? Good gracious me, it isn't possible all their pious language is nothing but smoke and mirrors so that they can, like the British comedy troupe, carry on regardless, is it?
And how did I know the phrase "disgruntled former employee" would crop up in this sordid mess? Guess I must be a prophet, and with a better record for accuracy than Jesus himself.
They're "Christians", upper-case "C". That's their own declaration. Sure, they're terrorists, but that doesn't negate their claims that Jesus' dad put them up to it.
Welcome to the Face Eating Leopards Party, Mr. Chambers. How do you plan on serving your face to leopards?
We've seen issues just like this over and over again. They aren't new. Sure, the nondisclosure clause doesn't come up much, but clearly the AFA has learned from others in Corporate America. Quite honestly, going to report things to HR never seems to go well, and there's no reason to think that just because the 'business' in question is Christian it'll be any different. Every job I've ever worked 'going to HR' meant 'asking to get fired' and there was really no point to doing so unless you really were sick of working or something. Doing the whole whistleblower thing? Yeah, don't expect to hang around much longer, and don't expect those Christianized euphemisms to protect you, either.
You knew what they were when you joined them, Mr. Chambers; worse, you were one of them and so far as I can tell, you still are. I may not be able to stop you from whining about it, but that doesn't mean you're any less to blame for the corporate culture you had to deal with.
Yeah, I did that. (Hemant has a good memory.) But there is more to the tax nonsense. AFA is among a growing number of Christian pressure groups that have conned a willing IRS to treat them as churches. As a church AFA is no longer required to submit an annual report (form 990) to the Service which is open to public inspection. I have been fighting with the IRS for years which produced the ProPublica response regarding Family Research Council.
Moreover, AFA is engaged in money laundering and the falsification of financial records. It provides a conduit for money provided to creepy Christian Nationalist and GOP operative David Lane.
Getting back to Mr. Chambers, AFA did file tax returns for 2019, 2020 and 2021. Chambers is not listed as an officer nor highly paid employee.
Extreme homophobes accused of unwanted homosexual advances? Reality deniers accusing based on a dream? Yeah, that tracks for far right Christian bigots.
Unfortunately this scandal won't bring down the AFA as it should. Hell, it will likely boost donations from the rubes.
Alternate headline:
Flaming Douchebag Sues Other Bunch Of Flaming Douchebags.
Wingnut-on-wingnut violence.
https://i.imgur.com/gt1vrgd.gif
It's the best type.
If we're lucky they'll turn on each other more often and thin their own numbers.
The AFA is a christian nationalist stochastic terrorism organization. We need a major change in the tax laws: any organization, churches included, which claims non-profit or not-for-profit status will show publicly where every single cent they receive came from and where they go to.
The best outcome of this is that Chambers succeeds in suing the AFA and gets a big ole settlement that mostly goes to his lawyers because it was really long and drawn out. While it is going on the AFA is sidetracked from their mission and lose out on influencing our government and getting donations. And once it’s all over, Chambers gets his money and never finds work in the influencing politics field again, maybe spends time behind a McDonald’s counter or whatever. While the AFA’s influence is diminished because now they’re seen as not conservative enough or proven to be the pervs they are.
But it will most likely be a few months of shit talk from both sides, an under the table settlement, and then the whole thing gets swept under the rug and back to business as usual. With Chambers working as a consultant at a right wing “news” site like ONN or OAN.
There is a great deal that disgusts me about the religious right, not the least of which is the way they have tried to co-opt the word family. Their implication being, only right-wing Christians can love their children. I've seen plenty of Christian families I was very happy not to be a part of. Another thing I find disgusting is the way they convince themselves their religiosity entitles them to a say in other people's personal choices. The longer these groups are around, the more they have to hide, and delegating one's thinking to one of those herds is never a good thing.
As this column by Amanda Marcotte about evilgelical family values, posted by bagen.onuts an hour ago, attests to.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/another-christian-influencer-arrested-child-100001276.html
As usual she didn't hold her punches.
"their repeated assertions that children do not deserve privacy."
This would anger DM. She started to teach my nephew that his body was his own, what privacy is and how much it's important when he was 4 years old.
By the way, her maternal grandparents were strict but never raised their hand on her.
Heh, my parents *allowed* us to have privacy.
Some privacy.
Sometimes.
Terms and conditions *did* apply. Mainly "our house, our rules", so our privacy was entirely hypothetical and could be revoked at any time, for any reason. We had to be real careful reading fanfic, for instance, since mom would randomly read what we were reading to make sure we weren't exposing ourselves to sin and temptation.
One conversation (far away from my deadbeat father's ears) with DM when I was around 13 years old "If one day you want to be with a boy tell me and we will do what's necessary*".
* Condoms and birth control. She had her first sexual relationships around 16.
We weren't even allowed to date.
No one ever explicitly said it, but we all knew better. Now my sister is in a relationship with someone twice her age that my parents have to grudgingly tolerate, my brother enlisted and had relationships while he was overseas (despite mom sending him a list of bible verses about chastity, which she turned into a group project, and she was utterly giddy about it the whole time.)
And I'll be in therapy a while before I'll be ready for any kind of relationship, but if/when I do find someone my parents sure as shit aren't going to hear about it for a long time.
In my subculture girls are supposed to stay virgins until they find a partner, such restriction doesn't apply to boys. I dated a man before DM and me ditched my father for good, we never told him especially since he wasn't white. He would have exploded.
Obviously DM came from a liberal family.
“That it's okay to beat and starve kids because look at all this family harmony and joy it will eventually produce!“
When will it produce the harmony and joy? Because the kids presented in the photos of harmony and joy are hungry and hiding bruises and will probably get more bruises and hungry immediately after the photos are taken. The abuse never ends, and the harmony is actually terror, and the joy is manufactured. Then, when the children are grown, they either double down on their own children until one of them dies or they have nothing whatsoever to do with their abusive parents as adults.
Basic human necessities like food, water and shelter are not privileges. I hope those people rot in prison. And the children get all the help they need and find loving places to live.
Well, hey, if mama's happy, the family's happy, right? /s
There's a very good reason I want nothing to do with so much of the Christian concepts of love. Christian family values just aren't what they're so often advertised as.
I left a comment on that article when I saw it.
So did I, pointing out a typo error that I want to see fixed in the article.
As always, the projection is off the charts. Right wing christians are fundamentally incapable of loving anyone, including their own kids. 🙄
The church isn't good at much, but one thing it *is* good at is systematically excising the capacity for love, empathy and basic humanity out of the pew warmers.
Hell, even most "liberal" and "progressive" christians only have a tenuous grasp of the concepts. That's what's bound to happen when you saturate yourself in a religion based on nothing but bigotry and sadism.
OT
It's 2 day old news but Danny Masterson, the actor who played Steven Hyde in "That 70's Show," got 30 years to life for 2 rapes.
He's a Scientologist and his religion tried to use its legal and financial power to cover up Masterson's crimes.
Trump, in contrast, got zero prison time and a slap on the wrist for doing E. Jean Carroll in a Bonwit Teller dressing room 30 years ago. Trump's campaign (defense fund) scored more the next day in contributions from the MAGA faithful than the entirety of his $5M restitution (and of course no legal fees because Trump doesn't pay his attorneys). Conclusion: Masterson's a loser.
Meanwhile, Trump is looking at four trials for his crimes. He's sweating that spray tan off because none of his ploys or his lawyers ploys are working. His own SCOTUS is slapping him down.
Wouldn't it be too, too bad if all his supporters spent themselves into poverty giving poor, broke Don their money?
"Fools and their money,'' as the saying goes.
Good MAGAts, like good politicians, are the ones who, once they're bought, STAY bought.
If Scientology gives him comfort, what's wrong with that?
His days are now free for the next 3 decades to devote himself to the teachings of that conman L. Ron Hubbard. It'll be the only comfort he gets.
Hope he's prepared for endless viewings of "Battlefield Earth."
That would be cruel and unusual punishment.
Wouldn't it, though?
*snickers*
Good gosh, no religion has ever done anything like that before!!!
It's unheard of! Unheard of, I tell you! Why, the very idea!
Guy who was in on the hate and the lies now cries foul when it's him on the receiving end and only when it's him.
He's a Christian, all right.
I think it's a stretch to refer to any of them as Christians. CINO is probably more appropriate.
No True Scotsman fallacy.
These dipshits are acting the exact same way the vast majority of christians have been acting since Constantine adopted it as the state religion of the roman empire most of two millennia ago.
Assholes like these guys, Brian Fischer, Ted Cruz, boebert and Greene are far more accurate to historical Christianity than MLK ever was.
Sorry, but that works out to No True Scotsman, a logical fallacy.
If they claim to be Christians, then they are Christians. Virulent ones. The folks who ran the Inquisitions, the Crusades and the Witch Hunts were Christians. And they would've have tortured and killed you if you dared tell them they weren't. So would the KKK and the Nazis.
"Due to current enquiry, we cannot comment further.”
How convenient, you would think they would be impatient to show the proofs of their innocence.
C'est pas faux.
Bien dit mon ami.
Nor has innocence.
I'm going to go out on a limb very slightly here, but I think there's a lot more to the story than we are seeing. The same story appeared at Joe my God yesterday, and my immediate reaction was there was something fishy, and not in a Christian way, or maybe precisely in a Christian way, about it. No matter how you look at the story, it stinks. Is it chambers the innocent victim for a conspiracy of silence at AFA? Or does it smell like the Schlappmeister story, where I was not so sure the"victim" was all that innocent.
I can't say what makes me think this, except that the dream and the baby part of it or what makes me think it's all garbage.
I am shocked - shocked, I tell you! - that there is graft and sexual misconduct in this rightist authoritarian group!
“ Lexie Wildmon (his administrative assistant, spouse of AFA Action CEO Walker Wildmon, and daughter-in-law of AFA President Tim Wildmon)”
This right here should have been a HUGE red flag. When family gets privileged in a non-family business, non-family members always come last.
“a continual duty of loyalty” to the AFA. That's a good one. Aren't christian organizations supposed to promote loyalty to ol' Yahweh, not to themselves? And aren't they supposed to be loyal to the ten commandments, one of which orders them not to commit false witness? Good gracious me, it isn't possible all their pious language is nothing but smoke and mirrors so that they can, like the British comedy troupe, carry on regardless, is it?
And how did I know the phrase "disgruntled former employee" would crop up in this sordid mess? Guess I must be a prophet, and with a better record for accuracy than Jesus himself.
Just curious. What's a gruntled employee? : )
Edit: Never mind. Gruntled is an actual word. Who new?
Employees led by grunts, perhaps? *smiles*
Any employee that works in shipping?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EacanMEeEM
It's like "unravel, " you can't unravel something unless it has been raveled in the first place.
Like Bolero?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APj6E4W6xBo
Isn't that how they make ravioli?
gruntled
/ˈɡrʌnt(ə)ld/
adjective HUMOROUS
pleased, satisfied, and contented.
These groups, these "christians" lowercase "c," are terrorists and should be treated as such.
As they claim they are Christians (uppercase C), then they are Christians.
And yes. They are terrorists who need to be treated as such.
They're "Christians", upper-case "C". That's their own declaration. Sure, they're terrorists, but that doesn't negate their claims that Jesus' dad put them up to it.
Welcome to the Face Eating Leopards Party, Mr. Chambers. How do you plan on serving your face to leopards?
We've seen issues just like this over and over again. They aren't new. Sure, the nondisclosure clause doesn't come up much, but clearly the AFA has learned from others in Corporate America. Quite honestly, going to report things to HR never seems to go well, and there's no reason to think that just because the 'business' in question is Christian it'll be any different. Every job I've ever worked 'going to HR' meant 'asking to get fired' and there was really no point to doing so unless you really were sick of working or something. Doing the whole whistleblower thing? Yeah, don't expect to hang around much longer, and don't expect those Christianized euphemisms to protect you, either.
You knew what they were when you joined them, Mr. Chambers; worse, you were one of them and so far as I can tell, you still are. I may not be able to stop you from whining about it, but that doesn't mean you're any less to blame for the corporate culture you had to deal with.
It's like watching the Cowboys play the Patriots. I hope they both lose.
Yeah, I did that. (Hemant has a good memory.) But there is more to the tax nonsense. AFA is among a growing number of Christian pressure groups that have conned a willing IRS to treat them as churches. As a church AFA is no longer required to submit an annual report (form 990) to the Service which is open to public inspection. I have been fighting with the IRS for years which produced the ProPublica response regarding Family Research Council.
Moreover, AFA is engaged in money laundering and the falsification of financial records. It provides a conduit for money provided to creepy Christian Nationalist and GOP operative David Lane.
Getting back to Mr. Chambers, AFA did file tax returns for 2019, 2020 and 2021. Chambers is not listed as an officer nor highly paid employee.
Hello David. I'm glad to see that you are feeling better. I certainly hope so.
Extreme homophobes accused of unwanted homosexual advances? Reality deniers accusing based on a dream? Yeah, that tracks for far right Christian bigots.
Unfortunately this scandal won't bring down the AFA as it should. Hell, it will likely boost donations from the rubes.
Reminds me of the old Ted Haggard days in Colorado Springs.