In 1994, a preacher named Harold Camping predicted the end of the world.

And so, Camping became a big deal, a self-proclaimed prophet, evangelist, and president of Family Radio with a nationwide audience in the millions.

A LOT of Christians took him seriously.

Camping was famous for his God math. He'd analyzed Christian scriptures and in 1970 had drawn up something called the "Biblical Calendar of History" which assigned dates to events in the Bible, like Creation and The Great Flood and so on.

Guy really liked calendars.

As you will see.

Camping studied the Bible, examining each passage for mystical clues no one else could see, which he added up and multiplied by the square root of Jesus and announced with absolute certainty the world would end FOR SURE on September 6th, 1994.

His followers rejoiced at the coming Rapture.

Camping's followers sold their belongings, gave Camping all their money, and roamed around the countryside announcing the Good News -- or mostly just irritating the hell out of everyone they could find.

By September 6th, they were ready for the Rapture.

But it seems Harold Camping had maybe dropped a decimal point or Jesus was busy shampooing his beard that morning and totally forgot.

September 6th came and went without even one believer getting sucked up into the sky.

So, Harold checked his figures and announced the Rapture had been rescheduled for September 29, 1994.

September 29 came and went, but the world didn't end.

It's now October 2, Harold said in a voice that was totally not at all like a guy running the Fyre Festival.

October 2nd came, no Rapture.

Seems Harold had been wrong, wrong, and wrong again.

Such a failure would have destroyed a less devout believer, but Harold consoled himself with all the money he'd made. Gobs and gobs of money.

You know, for Jesus.

In 2005, Harold Camping announced The Second Coming would now be on May 21, 2011.

He once again predicted all the Saved would be raptured followed by 5 months of horror on earth and then total destruction.

That gave Camping 5 years to collect more money.

Raptures are expensive, I guess.

And collect he did.

The donations rolled in. You'd think people would be cautious about Camping's math after the first go-around, but nope. They sold their houses and liquidated their savings and set about annoying everybody they could find. Again.

One guy spent his family's entire life savings, $140,000, on posters he put up in the New York subway. His wife left him and took the kids, but he didn't care because he was going to heaven even if they weren't. Their choice, oh well.

I had two of these nuts, looking like fresh lobotomy cases, show up on my doorstep in Alaska. Have you heard the good news! All glassy eyed and totally not like it was a cult or anything.

Come back on May 22nd, I said.

Spoiler: they didn't. Maybe they *were* raptured.

People panicked. 2012 was coming up and End of the World predictions were all the rage. Even non-believers were like, well, you know, the Mayans. Maybe this Happy Camper guy is on to something. Seems a little coincidental, you know?! I mean, how can you argue with a rock carved by Stone Age people 2000 years ago?

I was ready on May 21st. I figured when naked Christians started lifting off for heaven I'd toss a loop around one of their ankles and tie them off to something heavy. Rapture balloons! Collect the whole set.

Or skeet shooting.

What? You can't hurt 'em, right? They already saved.

But I digress.

Alas. Again no Rapture.

Undaunted, Camping announced the Rapture had occurred after all, but it was "spiritual." The PHYSICAL rapture would happen on October 21. Please donate.

I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read the Book, but the world is still here.

Camping died a few months later. Some, perhaps me, suggested he'd gone to demand answers from his God.

The believers drifted away, one by one. Sad, confused, lobotomy patients, who couldn't quite bring themselves to admit they'd been hoodwinked.

I saw an interview with the New York subway guy, he was devastated. You almost felt sorry for him. He'd destroyed his entire life, lost his wife and family, and instead of flying away happily naked into space to live with Jesus free of worldly cares, he had to stay and face the consequences.

Note: I said "almost."

It's been nearly a decade, but some of these people still believe. Nothing you can say will ever convince them Harold Camping was a con artist and his religion was a scam. They'll believe to the day they die.

Because to admit otherwise is to admit they were suckered.

That is the cult of Donald Trump.

That's the QAnon conspiracy. The one that convinced a bunch of chumps to storm the Capitol. The one which predicted Donald Trump's Second Coming, scheduled for yesterday, when he would return to arrest Hillary and take over the world.

Beliefs have consequences.

This one shut down government yesterday. This one cost us millions in security precautions because January 6th demonstrated that it's gone beyond internet posturing and become dangerously real.

This one nearly cost us our Republic.

No matter how many times this lunacy is proven wrong, no matter how many adherents of this religion are left ruined and exposed for the utter fools they are, the True Believers persist with their faith unshaken, convinced next time the predictions will surely come true.

No matter how many times the predictions are wrong, nothing you can say will ever convince the chumps Donald Trump is a con artist and the conspiracy theories are a scam.

They'll believe to the day they die.

Because to admit otherwise is to admit they were suckered.

They don't have the moral courage to face it, to admit they were fools, hustled into ruining their lives and nearly destroying democracy like some mark on the street convinced next time for sure he'll pick the money card in a game of Three Card Monte.

You cannot reason with unreasonable people.

You cannot MAKE a drunk stop drinking or an addict stop using or a religious fanatic stop believing. They have to do it themselves.

They have to WANT to get clean and sober. They have to want to rejoin civilization.

But that does not mean society has no recourse.

They can't be allowed to fly away, to some rapture free of responsibility. These people must be made to face the consequences of their actions and beliefs.

They must be held accountable for the damage they have done.

nativemc wrote:

Jerry, I hate to be off subject again but I am curiou; why are you so concerned with Canadian oil that will not benefit our energy needs? You do realize that we became oil independent under Obama, don't you?

Hanson wrote:

This Qanon crap is the hallmark of stupidity. Obviously, there are some Qanon believers and participants whose brains are likely rotting inside in their skulls.

And a cursory glance at some posts on this site reveals the degree to which stupidity and gullibility are now routine. I am not talking about ignorance or a lack of education. Many uneducated people are incredibly smart while countless ignorant people have had a particularly decent education. I am using the term stupid to identify those among us who consistently display their capacity to ignore reason, who habitually disregard the obvious, and who doggedly believe they are right. This is borne out by some stupidly claiming an election win by Trump when he lost by close to eight million votes and lost more than sixty frivolous law suits claiming election fraud. Some of his losses were court orders by judges he appointed and include at least one summary turn down by the United States Supreme Court.

It is amazing that millions of Americans are still in thrall to autocrats and the monied who blatantly and in full view flaunt accrued or inherited wealth at the expense of those who pay allegiance to them, hence, the adulation of Trump. I’ve actually had a Trumper tell me that he only started out with a million dollar loan from his father when he actually inherited closer to five hundred million. The mystery, pomp and ceremony surrounding the monied individuals are simply incomprehensible when set against the fact that each day millions of moneyless Americans have insufficient access to food and adequate housing.

Jerry e wrote:

I bet you believe n the Lincoln project.

Jerry e wrote:

Still just a conspiracy . It would be great to hear what Joe has been doing lately . That's if you can get him to speak a full sentence. Seriously I don't like what the democrats are doing to him. You can see he is starting to suffer from memory loss.

Hanson wrote:

I know that some of you are ‘oil and gas’ and XL Pipeline supporters. The problem is ‘oil and gas’ has a terminal illness called electricity. I enjoy cars, especially fast cars, but there is an end game here. Porsche now has an electric car that does 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds and will do almost 200 mph.

Remember, pipeline employment is temporary. Further, after being told repeatedly that this pipeline is about jobs, it passed with a Republican amendment against a requirement that supplies, including steel, used on the proposed pipeline, be made here and not elsewhere, like China or Korea. After claiming that the oil is for use here and not for export, the final bill allows crude oil from the pipeline to be exported upon arrival at a port. So much for the continual harping about U. S. oil independence. Another Republican amendment to the bill allows the seizure of private property through eminent domain by foreign-owned companies.

Probably the worst aspect of the bill authorizing the pipeline is the absolute disregard for safety and the preservation of our rivers and major aquifers. The bill exempts the XL pipeline from paying into our Oil Spill Trust Fund established to pay for cleaning up oil spill disasters like the Yellowstone River near Laurel in 2011 and Glendive in 2014. Canada and China just intend to use us and our country.

Gunnar Emilsson wrote:

Agreed. Nothing upsets the Trump brand without the Trump brand getting their share of the take.

I also love how Jerry spouts out RETARDED nonsense without every providing a single link to back up his bullsh!t posts, while everyone else provides them for their posts. And yes, I emphasized "retarded" to raise the angry wrath of the Jerrinator after he did not respond to previous questions over his use of the word "libtard". He is so two faced.

tom regan wrote:

Jerry e wrote:

Still just a conspiracy . It would be great to hear what Joe has been doing lately . That's if you can get him to speak a full sentence. Seriously I don't like what the democrats are doing to him. You can see he is starting to suffer from memory loss.

Not too hard to see what Joe has been doing if you've been paying attention even a little bit. Here are a few highlights.

January 20th: Rejoins the Paris Climate Agreement, rejoins the WHO, halts funding for the stupid border wall, repeals Trump's travel ban from majority Muslim countries, revokes Keystone Pipeline permit, Directs the Department of Education to temporarily halt student loan payments.

All good, except for the Keystone pipeline permit.

January 21st: Biden signs 10 executive orders related to the COVID-19 response, fixing Trump's incompetent rollout of vaccines, and ramping up production of vaccines. President Biden fires National Labor Relations Board general counselor Peter B. Robb. President Biden proposes to extend the New START nuclear treaty with Russia by 5 years. The treaty would have expired in February 2021. President Biden announces a suspension on the distribution of new oil and gas drilling permits, effective for 60 days. There is a huge glut of unused permits anyway.

All good things.

January 22nd: President Biden signs an executive order to ask agencies to boost food aid and improve the delivery of stimulus checks. President Biden signs an executive order to restore collective bargaining power for federal workers. President Biden signs an executive order to increase the minimum wage for federal employees to $15 per hour.

All good things.

January 25th: President Biden signs an executive order to repeal Department of Defense Instruction 1300.28, which effectively banned transgender individuals from joining the U.S. military under the Trump administration. President Biden imposes travel restrictions on South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Brazil to mitigate the spread of newly-identified COVID-19 strains. President Biden signs an executive order to increase government buying from U.S. manufacturers.

Good.

January 26th: President Biden speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lets him know that the President of the United States is no longer his bitch. President Biden signs executive orders relating to racism (xenophobia against Asian Americans due to the COVID-19 pandemic; ending Department of Justice contracts with private prisons due to the growing number of incarcerated African Americans; discriminatory housing rules) and for the relationships of Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Nations. President Biden orders 200 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed by the end of August. President Biden speaks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, reconfirming our commitment to our NATO allies.

January 27th: The White House focuses on climate change, with President Biden signing an executive action to suspend new leases for natural gas and oil development on federal lands and waters. There is a huge glut of unused leases anyway. And they can still be used on federal lands.

January 28th: President Biden signs executive orders expanding the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, revoking an abortion policy by the Trump administration, and revoking the Mexico City policy.

February 2nd: President Biden signs three immigration-related executive orders: creating a task force to reunite children separated from their families as a result of the Trump administration family separation policy; an order to review legal immigration programs, including Remain in Mexico and the Central American Minors Program; and a review of immigration policies for "integration and inclusion" including the naturalization process.

February 4th: President Biden signs an executive order to increase refugee admissions and allow a safe haven for about 125,000 refugees. President Biden signs three memoranda; one on LGBTQ rights, one on renewing the National Security Council (NSC), and one on revitalizing America's foreign worker policy.

February 16th:President Biden extends the foreclosure ban and mortgage forbearance through the end of June in an effort to address the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

February 18th: President Biden's immigration reform bill is introduced in the House of Representatives. If passed, the bill would create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, increase funding for immigration courts and enhance border security, among smaller changes.

February 19th: President Biden delivers remarks to the Munich Security Conference in which he affirmed the United States's commitment to the Transatlantic partnership and stated the "United States is determined to re-engage with Europe." President Biden pledges $2 billion for the COVAX program under WHO. The U.S. formally rejoins the Paris Climate Accord under President Biden's leadership after 107 days of leaving under former President Donald Trump.

February 20th: President Biden declares a major disaster in Texas arising from the severe frost conditions, clearing the way for more federal funds to be spent on relief efforts.

February 22nd: President Biden ends the use of a more difficult version of the English language and civics test required to acquire American citizenship which was introduced by the Trump administration in December 2020, reverting the test back to the 2008 version.

February 24th: President Biden reverses a ban on the issue of permanent residency green cards to immigrants implemented by former President Donald Trump.

February 28th:President Biden speaks in favor of workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, as they conduct a vote considering unionization, saying that employers should use "no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda.

March 2nd: President Biden says that the United States government expects to take delivery of enough COVID-19 vaccine for all adult Americans by the end of May 2021

Biden will soon be signing the $1.9 Trillion COVID stimulus bill into law, prioritizing getting stimulus to people, opening schools, and supporting state and local government response to the pandemic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/..._(2021_Q1)