Today the Washington Post tells the story of Joe Moss, a Republican and conservative Christian who engineered a takeover of the Ottowa County board of commissioners in Michigan. It all started in church:
They settled into the pews and listened as their pastor warned of the “many people” in the country who were “trying to destroy everything that is righteous and good and pure and holy.” They were the sort, he said, who were demanding free condoms at school, “gender fluidity books” in the public library and drag queen story hours.
By his own admission, Moss had not paid much attention to local politics. He ran a small technology business and was focused on raising his children. Then, in the fall of 2020, the Ottawa County health department learned of a coronavirus outbreak at his daughter’s Christian school and ordered the school’s leaders to comply with the governor’s mask mandate. When they refused, state and county officials chained shut the school’s doors for more than a week and warned parents that continued resistance could bring fines and imprisonment.
Suddenly, Moss realized that those dangerous people that his pastor had been talking about on Sundays were not just in Washington and Lansing, the state capital. They were in West Olive, where the county government was headquartered. “In 2020, I became a threatened parent,” Moss said on the campaign trail. “I was threatened specifically … by Ottawa County.”
"Hey grampa, did you really have a big pandemic back when you were a kid?"
"I wasn't a kid, but we sure did, Johnny."
"Were you scared?"
"Everyone was scared, Johnny. But some people were more scared than others."
"What were you scared of, grampa?"
"Well, most of us were scared of dying. But some of us were more afraid of masks."
"Masks don't seem very scary."
"Well, Johnny, fear is a funny thing. The masks were designed to protect other people in case you were sick, but some people refused to wear them because they were a little uncomfortable."
"It sounds like they were just assholes."
"Language, Johnny! But yes, they were assholes."
I don't suppose that our government - under any administration - will ever do anything to deter those religious leaders who use their influence in their places of worship to shamelessly promote a political agenda and still expect to head a tax-free organization.
Maybe it's time that they render into Caesar that which is Caesar's due.
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You hit this one right on target.
Questions of the inane motivations aside, how does one "engineer a takeover" of a county board of commissioners? Does one storm the county seat? Assassinate the sitting commissioners? Run them out of town?
They organized, ran for office, and were elected.
Judging from https://miottawavotes.gov/ElectionResults/Election/Summary/NOV0822 the Republican (I assume Ottawa Impact) candidates ran unopposed in 7 of the eleven districts. A Democrat ran in just 4 districts. Additional vote details starting at page 230 of https://www.miottawa.org/appImages/ElectionManagement/summaryReportFile-210.pdf
Given the lack of opposing candidates, I would say the people of Ottawa County, Michigan got the government they deserved. Doesn't seem to have taken anything in the way of "engineering."
Couldn't agree more.
Apparently it took organization and a considerable amount of money. Presumably the previous board members were not anti-science fanatics, whether they were Democrats or Republicans, and residents were not accustomed to paying much attention to the elections. Those who might have opposed the fanatic slate may not have had the money to mount a campaign. It looks like the takeover was engineered by taking the electorate by surprise. Who could have known that masks would have aroused this kind of thing? Actually those who paid attention to Trump might have known, but that was national politics.
By surprise?? How exactly could they do that without the electorate being (almost willfully) asleep? Not put-up the yard signs until the day before the election? Or post to Facebook? Or the billboards?
I would imagine they didn’t campaign by saying they thought the county slogan “where you belong” is Marxist indoctrination. That’s the by surprise part, a similar thing happened in Oregon City, a small suburb outside Portland, a bunch of MAGA loons ousted the existing government who were standard good government Republicans and when things started to collapse because they couldn’t do the basic things a government needs to do they got recalled.
On the Olympic Peninsula too, IIRC. In Sequim IIRC.
Exactly. Yellow dog Republicans.
They high jack the primary, make vague MAGA sounds in the general, and then take off the mask afterwards.
Look at those sophisticated NYer's who elected George Santos.
Flagged for willful stupidity and malicious obtusenes.
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it fast and hard.”
- H L Mencken
What an odd comment.
Clearly, as the article stated and you copy/pasted, the engineering involved organizing, raising money, running for office, etc.
Any time you engineer something, it takes multiple steps to work towards an outcome. You seem put off by the choice of words, but you then make the effort to show that it was a correct use of the term.
Engineering something doesnt imply nefarious intent or bad actions as you try to insinuate.
How did these worthless nutjobs get the republican ticket in this election. That would be where the engineering took place.
If people died from that outbreak, as it then spread throughout the community, then that was God's will. Wearing a mask to slow the spread and save lives--well, that's the Devil's work!
Yes, wearing masks helps. The review article people say shows they don't work only shows that telling people to wear masks doesn't do much. When people actually wear masks, they help. Not the only thing needed--good ventilation in buildings is needed too.
Slowing the spread of the disease helps saves lives by reducing the stress on the system at any given time. People who complied, saved the lives of those who didn't--making ICU beds available.
That county: 300K population; 200 ICU beds
Total cases: 88+K
hospitalized: 2.7K
deaths: 0.9K
peak daily cases: 0.9K
You also need to do a bit of research. Some masks work better with certain head shapes and sizes. There are also add-on straps you can use to improve the seal around the edge of the mask without feeling like your ears are going to rip off after the first 15 minutes.
A dome built into the front of the mask to keep it off your nose can help too. I found a set of KN95 masks that were a good fit for me fairly early on. (After a lot of scrambling in early 2020.)
Actually, the study you refer to was mostly about the influenza virus. It looked at only about three studies that actually addressed the coronavirus and they indicated masks work, but were too small to be statistically significant.
See, this what I’ve always wondered: do pastors at these churches get an email or a phone call telling them what their sermon is going to be that Sunday? “Polling has shown we need more people angry about trans rights, so be sure and give them hell this Sunday. And, as always, don’t forget to blame Democrats.”
And do they get paid extra for this?
They don't need an email or a phone call, they already get the word from the media they consume.
I suspect that by and large, pastors at these churches are in very regular contact with their parishioners and are already well informed as to the parishioners' views. Admittedly, there is a very real self-selection going-on there, but they are likely more in touch with their "constituents" as it were than an elected official, even among that official's supporters.
They rely on their donations. The pastors could call on their flock to listen to their better angels, or reinforce their basest instincts.
A government that can make you wear a mask can make you pay taxes...
Wait, I'll come in again....
+10! (Extra points for the Monty Python reference)
In their pathological hatred of gays the bat shit crazy right wingers are merely reflecting the teachings of JC, who regularly railed against . . . . . Oh that’s right, he didn’t mention gay sex once in the written record. Guess it was wasn’t high on his list of priorities.
I believe there were precisely two items on his list of priorities. One was the idea that a person should not look at their neighbor and see an enemy. Instead, they should look at their enemy and see a neighbor. The other item is the idea that a person's relationship with God is not something to be imposed by another person. Instead, it is personal and direct. Ref: Matthew 22:34-40.
So, maybe those people you're referring to aren't crazy. Maybe they're just reading the Bible while holding it upside down and getting its message upside down.
Or reading it backwards ...
Such a person never existed so I think they are welcome to make up whatever shit they want. And they do!
He may or may not have been the son of god, but odds are an historical Jesus did exist, the story of whom much myth is based. Certainly many (most?) evangelicals believe whatever they want, modeling their religion on their behavior rather than vice versa, but I still find their hypocrisy breathtaking given that they worship a mortal man who is the dialectic opposite of everything JC preached.
There is pretty good historical evidence that Jesus did exist. See Bart Ehrman's book, "Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth." It's scrupulously historical and pretty interesting.
Have you been keeping track of Physics Girl, aka Dianna Cowern? She has had a very severe case of Long-COVID. Very scary.
As soon as I read about COVID-19 attacking the endothelial linings of arteries and veins (and lung alveoli) back in early 2020 I "got a bad feeling about that". The Seattle Times was tracking the disease and developments very closely.
Assholes are common in Michigan and especially in Ottawa county (not sure how they tolerate sagatuck so close by). The NY post is always good for an asshole article and today’s is hilarious. Angry woman meets angry man. 😂
https://nypost.com/2023/04/22/man-clobbers-woman-in-face-at-bronx-earth-day-event-near-mayor-adams/
NYC is a shithole just like Ottawa county.
Do you live here? Don’t bother moving here if you don’t. Enough dumbasses here already.
Whole texts have been written and edited for religions based on some similar thought patterns used in forming the irrationally around masks...
It's not a bug, it's a feature.
Shasta County, California is in the same boat. Maybe even worse. Guardian had an article about it the other day.
This board doesn't like hyperlinks, but look for theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/21/california-journalist-far-right-takover-shasta-county
They are pretty outlandish there. Beautiful country, though.
Josh Marshall on The Fall of Meatball Ron - Egghead Analysis Edition,
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-fall-of-meatball-ron-egghead-analysis-edition
Marshall: “Once you look stupid, weak and helpless — to other Republicans — you can never be their nominee.”
‘Stupid’ isn’t a disqualification in the GOP; witness tfg, Louis Gohmert, MTG, Boebert — the list goes on and on.
I'm not sure whether the people you list are stupid or simply trying to appeal to stupid people. But yes, Marshall makes clear elsewhere that Republican politics is about, “performative dominance and strongmanism.” Stupidity is only an issue for Republicans in cases like DeSantis' attempt to bully Disney, which have failed because Disney executives are outthinking him.
Someone should point out to the american evangelical church that god has a special hatred to people who bring disrepute to His church by falsely claiming to be Christian. Evangelicals are satan's leading disciples.
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