Culture

Gossip mongers and wannabe Internet e-celebrities are claiming I’m “anti-Christian.” This is a silly claim but it’s catching on, so why not use some jiu jitsu on their drama and get more people reading me here?

Anyhow, Hoaxed Movie was co-directed by Christians. They are the kind of Christians who pray at meals. They also have better uses of their time than to cry about a Cerno Tweet.

They thanked their prayer group and also Jesus Christ in the ending credits to Hoaxed.

The director of cinematography is also a Christian.

Netflix is threatening to shut down operations in Georgia unless the state allows open access to abortions:

Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos suggested that the streaming service is considering boycotting Georgia in light of the state’s “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban, the NYT reports.

Although I don’t have strong opinions about abortions, I do have strong opinions about community organizing.

You can’t get a bunch of Christians to boycott Netflix?

Over 20,000 people unfollowed me over a Tweet about Christianity and Islam.

What if those 20,000 anger mongers picked up their phones and called Netflix customer support to cancel their subscriptions.

But that would require righteous action rather than demonic rage.

When UK schools wanted to mandate sex education for children, Muslims banded together and pulled their children from school:

An estimated 600 Muslim children have been withdrawn from a school in protest against lessons about homosexuality and gender equality. The pupils, aged between 4 and 11, are being kept home from Parkfield Community School in Birmingham to protest the school’s ‘No Outsiders’ programme, which teaches children about LGBT lifestyles.

(I also don’t have strong opinions on sex-ed. My point is about activism and impact. Muslims show up. Christians don’t.)

I can hear the excuses now…If Christians did that, the media would attack them.

And so what? Have you not read the Bible?

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. (Matthew 5:11.)

Also, the fear Christians have is overblown. If Christians showed up to protest, one or two parents would be singled out. But as long as Christians held the line and had the backs of everyone targeted, then Christians would win.

The minority rule will show us how it all it takes is a small number of intolerant virtuous people with skin in the game, in the form of courage, for society to function properly.

I know a lot of people want to use my name for clicks, and that’s part of the game. But those of you who “like” me and are confused, get your priorities in order.

Stand up for yourselves.

Organize a boycott.

Stop crying about how Christians are being bullied. There are over 70 million of you in the country. Get on the phone with Netflix and demand they apologize for promoting aborting and funding anti-Christian products. Or cancel your Netflix subscriptions.

P.S. Remember that gossiping is a sin.

For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. (2 Corinthians 12:20)

P.P.S. And be sure to leave a review for Hoaxed Movie here.

“Slavenas is dead, Mike, Brian is dead.”

I was in the law school career services center when I got the call from a friend of mine from OCS. Brian Slavenas, this friend who called, and I were buddies during OCS. We didn’t really fit in as we found the military disciple and f*ck-f*ck games stupid. Every month we’d meet up and deal with the stupidity. (We were in the National Guard at the time, and OCS was divided over 18 months rather than the all-at-once 12 week program at Ft. Benning.)

In military units you have squares, criminals, and non-conformists. The squares act as little drill instructors and yell at their fellow soldiers for not following The Book. Criminals are the scum bags in the military you’re not allowed to ever talk about, because it would be unpatriotic to stop pretending that everyone who enlists is a regular GI Joe. Non-conformists, which Brian and I were, are people who break the rules but not in an overtly morally wrong way.

My friend would listen to self-hypnosis CDs using a smuggled player and I got into it with the TAC officers after telling them I wanted to be a criminal defense lawyer. (Most of them were law enforcement.)

Brian would pack his Captains of Crush grippers. The three of us were all into strength training and strong man style training, so we’d bond over reps and sets.

To become a Captain of Crush, you had to send in a picture of yourself closing the #3 gripper, which required nearly inhuman levels of strength.

Brian could close the #2 10 times, and was so close to closing the #3.

Whenever I think about Brian, I wonder if he ever managed to close the #3.

Brian was an unusual person in every positive sense of the word. Some reports of his death listed him at 6’5″, but he seemed taller, as he’d walk up every other step in a normal stride as I picked up the pace to keep up. Muscular like a bodybuilder, he was an Engineering major and bright. And also incredibly insecure.

Imposter Syndrome hadn’t caught on in the TED talk set yet, but Brian was no better example of someone who had it all but felt inadequate for no rational reason.

His shyness, especially when it came to girls, led to my friend and I teasing him often. “Brian, if I looked like you, imagine what I’d do!”

(Brian Slavenas, pictured at far left.)

After OCS, I left for law school in California.

Brian was shot down flying troops home on a rest and relaxation leave.

• Soldier Profile: Brian Slavenas

Brian’s mother took the loss hard, as one would expect, and she didn’t want any of his friends from the military to attend his funeral.

• Brian’s father had taken it for granted that there would be a formal military funeral, but Brian’s designated next of kin—and thus the person entitled to make such a decision—was his mother. Rosemarie Slavenas said that it was her responsibility to give her son the funeral that was appropriate for his life. The service she arranged, at the Faith United Methodist Church, in Genoa, was a civilian service, with flowers rather than an American flag on the casket, and no weapons in sight. Afterward, addressing some reporters and cameramen gathered outside the church grounds, Rosemarie Slavenas said, “George Bush killed my son. I believe my son Brian died not for his country but because of our country’s lack of a coherent and civilized foreign policy.”
• Eric Slavenas, a strong supporter of the war, had said that not having “Taps” and a flag-draped casket at Brian’s service amounted to “spikes in my dad’s and my heart.”

The Slavenas family fracture captures the sentiment of many of those who served or lost those who served.

“When they needed blood, they called it Patriotism. However, let those same yokels and suckers try to express those feelings in ways that didn’t involve killing strangers….then The Powers That Be had The Talking Heads resurrect the specter of the long-dead Third Reich and trot out cliched shaming language with words like Nationalism.” – Samuel Finlay, Breakfast with the Dirt Cult.

The reporters who lied about WMDs in Iraq kept their jobs. The chickenhawks who cried for war received promotions and became leaders of the conservative and neoliberal establishments.

On Memorial Day you’re supposed to Honor the Fallen. And on Veteran’s Day you’re supposed to Thank You for Your Service. What day do we get to tell the war mongers to fuck off?

When will we have a national holiday where we line up Bill Kristol, the editorial staff of the New York Times, Bill O’Reilly, Dick Cheney, and the the rest of these war criminals and chickenhawks and make them hold their heads in shame?

.@BillKristol—often wrong, never in doubt—wants to debate @BernieSanders about the IRAQ WAR. Sanders shouldn't waste his time, but Kristol might reflect on this, from 3/28/2003: "The American people…understand that it could take a month or two months, not a week or two weeks." pic.twitter.com/UejUWBrAUf

— Roy Eidelson (@royeidelson) May 26, 2019

Parallel worlds.

In cognitive psychology there’s a concept known as survivorship bias. When one person survives (usually this means they succeeded or had a major investment gain), we reason backwards to explain why they lived.

Brian died and I lived. There’s no good reason for this. I moved onto law school as planned, with no knowledge that 9/11 would happen. Brian continued his studies and served as an aviator.

There’s no reason one man lives and other dies.

And by any objective measure, Brian deserved to live more than I did, and certainly more than most others. He was one of the men who are legitimately good people.

Adding to the sense of tragedy is that Brian and I pulled off what seems an unlikely feat. Both of were profiled in the New Yorker.

Me for living, and him for dying.

Like Brian’s mom I share a special contempt for the war mongers, as I told a reporter:

“Some people say they hate Beltway insiders and establishment media types, but it’s actually sour grapes,” Cernovich said. “Deep down, they want the cool kids to love them. I actually fucking detest those people.” He grew up in Kewanee, a farming town in Illinois. Not long ago, he said, “I started looking into who these neocon policy wonks are. Every backstory was the same—East Coast, Harvard, trust fund, nepotism. Look, if the experts decide tomorrow that we’re going to war with Russia, who’s gonna fight that war? Jonah Goldberg and Ross Douthat? Fuck no. It’ll be guys I know from Kewanee.”

On Memorial Day I don’t want to hear a thing about service or freedom from those who stayed home while sending others off to die.

For those who have lost, may God bless you and let their memories be a blessing.

CNN has blown stories big and small. Some were outright hoaxed, some required them to write a settlement check, and all of these hoaxes involved CNN’s “top reporters” such as Jake Tapper. Here is a list of 7 of their hoaxes, although there are many more you can find.

1. Tapper got his BLOCKBUSTER James Comey story completely wrong.

CNN has blown stories big and small. Some were outright hoaxed, some required them to write a settlement check, and all of these hoaxed involved Jake Tapper.

1. Tapper got a BLOCKBUSTER story completely wrong.https://t.co/lIPsuennhw

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

2. CNN White House Reporter Jeremy Diamond claimed Trump was first President since George H.W. Bush to not take questions at a press conference held in China. Jake Tapper RT’ed Diamond. This claim was false.

2. CNN White House Reporter Jeremy Diamond claimed Trump was first President since George H.W. Bush to not take questions at a press conference held in China. Jake Tapper RT’ed Diamond. This claim was false.https://t.co/ZoAbPWyXtt

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

3. CNN reporter Manu Raju claimed @DonaldJTrumpJr had advance knowledge of the Wikileaks release of the Podesta emails. This story was confirmed by two sources, and it was fake news. To this day, Raju refuses to burn the sources who fed him a fake story.

3. CNN reporter Manu Raju claimed @DonaldJTrumpJr had advance knowledge of the Wikileaks release of the Podesta emails. This story was confirmed by two sources, and it was fake news. To this day, Raju refuses to burn the sources who fed him a fake story.https://t.co/nxJjAa71nu

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

4. Jim Acosta falsely claimed @realDonaldTrump did not visit Steve Scalise after the tragic mass shooting committed by a far left wing terrorist. Acosta falsely claimed he had a “source,” then later blamed a WH press pooler for the hoax.

4. Jim Acosta falsely claimed @realDonaldTrump did not visit Steve Scalise after the tragic mass shooting committed by a far left wing terrorist.

Acosta falsely claimed he had a "source," then later blamed a WH press pooler for the hoax.https://t.co/jE8zTl0X4d

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

5. CNN falsely accused Anthony Scaramucci (who now hates Trump so this would NEVE happen again) of being under investigation for a crime. The story was retracted as a hoax.

5. CNN falsely accused Anthony Scaramucci (who now hates Trump so this would NEVE happen again) of being under investigation for a crime.

The story was retracted as a hoax.https://t.co/ZoKDARxkso

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

6. CNN used deceptively edited video to falsely accuse @realDonaldTrump of a faux pas during a fish feeding ceremony held in Japan. Even far left wing Snopes was forced called CNN out for this fake news.

6. CNN used deceptively edited video to falsely accuse @realDonaldTrump of a faux pas during a fish feeding ceremony held in Japan.

Even far left wing Snopes was forced called CNN out for this fake news.https://t.co/MYJttK06F5

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

7. CNN targeted a minor for harassment, and they were forced to settle a lawsuit with the underage boy.

7. CNN targeted a minor for harassment, and they were forced to settle a lawsuit with the underage boy.https://t.co/retIL9xws0

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

8. CNN contributor Joe Lockhart fabricated a conservative with two Republican Senators. His disinformation spread widely, and was RT’ed by WaPo columnist Jennifer Rubin.

8. CNN contributor Joe Lockhart fabricated a conservative with two Republican Senators. His disinformation spread widely, and was RT'ed by WaPo columnist Jennifer Rubin.https://t.co/a7XDXh0px0

— Cernovich (@Cernovich) May 17, 2020

Ian Bremmer, in an effort to show how quickly mainstream “reporters” and other left wing operatives will spread fake news, Tweeted a clearly satirical quote:

President Trump in Tokyo “Kim Jong Un is smarter and would make a better President than Sleepy Joe Biden.”

The fake news machine went into overdrive, amplifying this hoax.

Former CIA agent Emily Brandwin shared this hoax.

CNN’s Anna Navarro shared the hoax.

Media Matters shared the hoax.

• Bonus: Media Matters is a gross site that shares fake news and also traffics in conspiracy theories and bigotry.

As media expert Yossi Gestetner observed, “This proves the INSANE echo chamber that anti-Trump twitter has become that Journos; lawmakers and NeverTrumpers pounce on anything Trump without waiting for proof. This is why there is so many FakeLeaks from the WH: Journos make stuff up knowing it will get play no Qs asked!”

https://twitter.com/YossiGestetner/status/1132725929690714112

Want the truth? Sign up for free updates here.

Tony Robbins finds himself accused of vague sexual misconduct allegations, and it’s helpful to sort through the three main categories of alleged misbehavior.

Before we do, what is truly bad behavior is the aggressive litigation posturing Robbins’ used. He used bottom-feeding lawyers to silence his critics. Based on what I’ve seen in the article, Robbins was being too sensitive. The allegations against him aren’t approaching the worst or “#MeToo.”

Category 1. Tony Robbins would have his security find him female fans and he would use his status to meet women. 

This is well-known, and was discussed in the Tony Robbins Playboy interview.

PLAYBOY: Why didn’t you think one woman could?

ROBBINS: After my divorce, before dating Sage, I was at a stage where I thought that would be totally impossible. I was a single, successful man. I’d taken my company public, and I was pretty intelligent—and humble, as you can clearly tell. [laughs] When I started dating again, I’d tell women, “I don’t want to be married. I’ve been there.” But I was crazy enough to bring women to my resort in Fiji for five straight days instead of going out and having lunch. I was so stupid. What most guys think would be their ultimate fantasy was the worst experience of my life. I was miserable because these women wanted to marry me after a week—my idea of hell on earth.

PLAYBOY: And did your women fans express interest in you?

ROBBINS: [Laughs] More than that. They’d send me their panties and show up at events in limousines to get through security, or turn up at my house to convince me they had an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Of course Robbins was having orgies and hooking up with women regularly. As long as these activities were consensual (and even the Buzzfeed article doesn’t suggest they weren’t), who cares?

Category 2. Tony Robbins would sexually harass his employees.

The workplace sexual harassment allegations seem vague.

Two former followers who went on to work for Robbins provided BuzzFeed News with signed statements swearing under oath that they felt he had sexually harassed them by repeatedly pursuing them after they made clear they weren’t interested. Two more women who worked as his assistants said Robbins expected them to work alone with him when he was naked in his hotel room or in the shower. And another former employee said she was fired after having a consensual sexual relationship with Robbins. The events described by all five women took place in the 1990s and early 2000s, when Robbins’ fame was skyrocketing and before he married his second wife.

If you work closely with people, there will be various times when someone is taking a shower. There’s nothing to indicate Robbins flashed his employees or sexualized the experience.

Was he weird? Probably. Most people in the self-help world have their eccentricities and non-conformist lifestyles.

Outside of the prudish United States, men and women are often naked together in non-sexual situations.

Category 3. Tony Robbins would bully abuse victims.

Buzzfeed’s article shows a misunderstanding of mindset work and Robbins’ work, citing this as an example of emotional abuse:

One woman had told him through tears that she had been raped. Robbins recounted how he had “cut her off” in a “warm” and “elegant” way and informed her that she was “fucking using all this stuff to try and control men.” “I don’t support anybody fucking raping her or taking advantage of her,” he said, according to the transcript, “but I don’t support her fucking manipulating herself, men, and other people by trying to use that tool when it’s really not the primary experience of her life now.”

The following truths can exist simultaneously:

You were victimized.

You are not a victim.

A person who is victimized can let this low point in life define himself or herself.

We see this every day. Something bad happens to a person, and their life freezes.

Robbins’ work is focused on helping people overcome what has happened to them by refusing to define themselves as victims.

Ironically, one person who Buzzfeed calls a victim has posted a response video to tell them to stop using her in the story about Robbins.

https://youtu.be/xJ3kWMBJE5Y

Realizing the Buzzfeed article (which wasn’t even that bad) was going to hit, Robbins’ team uploaded a video to YouTube.

Comments are disabled.

https://youtu.be/FADJBqM7qqI

Robbins’ showed that “the fear of the thing is greater than the thing.”

The Buzzfeed article wasn’t even that bad.

No one who likes Robbins will read the article and think, “That’s it. He’s cancelled.”

And the people who read the article and hate Robbins are not mindset material, anyway.

Robbins like most celebrities has been coddled by the media for decades, and any criticism leads to an overreaction.

Take a deep breath, Tony, and unleash the power within.