War? Prison? Poverty? (Get Spiritual)

Nobody explains the risks of quitting: 

Leah Remini says life is a 'constant struggle' amid depression battle since leaving Church of Scientology: 'I get consumed by fear and find every reason not to go'. And did you know 'Prophet' pastor Gwen Shamblin was an ADULTERESS whose Tarzan actor lover Joe Lara threatened to shoot her son dead with sniper's rifle before both died in private jet smash? Well, did you? I'm telling you, getting away from cultism - even if you're not a joiner - is a harder than finding yourself in one.

Trust me.

‘Uncancellable’ — Kanye West album reaches number one, while Def Jam recordings founder Russell Simmons is sued for rape by a woman who claims he wrestled her then sexually assaulted her at a NYC apartment, a year after another woman accused him of a sex attack. Both are friends of Donald Trump. Trump even helped Simmons get Def Jam started. Nobody mentions that when they call him a racist. I'm just sayin'. Nobody talks about it. Did everybody forget Trump's been close friends with Mike Tyson for about 30 years? But he's a racist? 

I don't get it.

What I do 'get' is the New York Times saying Alternative Therapies Like Meditation and Acupuncture Are on the Rise, and ignoring that Meditation is just chilling yourself out, and yet another study confirms acupuncture to be a theatrical placebo. What good is a newspaper if it leaves that kind of stuff out? You know, the facts? What kind of newspaper does that?

The kind that will do and say anything.

 

Arianna Huffinton & AOL: Ride A Painted Pony

If anyone ever wanted proof NewAgers have no values, they need look no further than Arianna Huffington:

Although Arianna Huffington has achieved worldwide fame as an internet pioneer, her comfort with self-publicity turning her into the face of what may be the future of news websites, she also nurses a lifelong love for therapies that she calls "natural" and others call something else. Fire walking, homeopathy, infrared saunas – Huffington has tried them all over the years, never struggling to balance what some might see as two contrary schools of thought in her head: the hard cutting edge of new media and the fluffy airy-fairiness of New Age.

In her private office – which is almost as glossy as she is, filled with plush armchairs and an intricately carved desk – books by Andrew Weil (an advocate for vitamin supplements who has written numerous books on self healing through breathing, "energy food" and "vibrational sound") sit happily alongside David Remnick's tub thumper tome, The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama. On her desk, bottles of tinctures are placed in front of a photo of her with Queen Rania of Jordan and a handwritten note inviting her to brunch, signed Russell Simmons (whose book Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All is also on Huffington's bookcase, as though she needs any advice on that score.) Even though Christmas was two months ago, particular holiday cards linger on her window sill, including one from Joe Biden and another from a couple whose photo on the front is jarringly familiar: "Seasons greetings," it reads inside. "Tony, Cherie and family."

In short, it is all a testament to how much Huffington's eponymous website – on which features espousing holistic therapies run alongside political pieces about, say, John McCain or Egypt and columns by her celebrity friends, such as Nora Ephron – reflects the personality of its founder. But it's a personality that has puzzled some by its fluidity, "a mind as flexible as her body is unwieldy", as a 2008 profile of Huffington in the New Yorker magazine put it. Huffington has been, at various times, a self-help writer, a political pundit, an antagonist of feminists, a champion of women's causes, a follower of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, the champion of new media, a supporter of Newt Gingrich, a fan of President Obama, a Republican and a Democrat.

So let's get a look at this list of denialists:

Andrew Weil - the original acid head betrayer and NewAge quack doctor.

Barack Obama - brought to the public by Oprah Winfrey, the NewAge TV host.

Russell Simmons - Hip-Hop mogul turned self-help writing Buddhist.

Joe Biden - Joe Biden.

Cherie Blair - wife of Tony and NewAge loon.

Holistic therapies - AKA quackery.

Nora Ephron - a disgusting human being.

'Denialists' are those who reject the substantive technological benefits of modern science—medicines and vaccines to treat and prevent illnesses, or techniques to enhance the quality and quantity of agricultural yields. At the same time, they cling to an unsubstantiated faith in the advantages of 'natural' alternatives such as vitamins, supplements, and organic foods. The term encompasses a diverse array of quacks and crackpots, ranging from New Age celebrities like Andrew Weil to reactionary patricians like Charles, Prince of Wales. What unites them is a hostility to reason that, when amplified in society, threatens the ability of scientists to pursue real solutions to such problems as disease, hunger, and malnutrition."

And before anyone says, "Well, look, Arianna's so successful!" we'll remind you she's only successful because A) she divorced her husband and took his money, and B) the rest of you have so bought into the bogus concept of being "non-judgmental" that no one has seriously questioned what lies she's told and what harm she's committed.

To show you how pathetic it all is, the self-titled "Greek Goddess" is openly flaunting a belief system that was a laughing stock by the 80s and killed many people since - NewAge - but not one journalist has directly asked her "NewAge? Really? Astrology and homeopathy? Come on. Why should we take anything you say seriously?" Let a politician make a gaffe and he might lose his job, let Arianna Huffington make a series of them (while peddling NewAge quackery that's killed kids) and she gets a raise.

That's why she's successful. Mark our words:

Arianna Huffington's role in American life will eventually go down as a shame of the nation.

We Will Never Be Known (As "Mellow Yellow")

Those who read this blog often probably know what they're getting, and what we're getting at, but the rest might not have a clue - especially when it comes to the photography.

For instance, most people know what veganism is, and probably have nothing against it. But then, if they read this blog regularly, they also know we steer clear. A newcomer might ask "why?"

We will attempt to explain:

Here's an article we found called "The Rise of the Power Vegans", which features many of the names TMR readers have come to associate with NewAge nonsense (Buddha boy Russell Simmons, Ken Wilber cult devotee Bill Clinton, and UFO nut Dennis Kucinich) mixed in with some new names to the meatless high-and-mighty.

Close behind those usual suspects are the others, the NewAge women, mostly represented by the crazier crew of The Secret (Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres) before the author finally drops the quote that hits TMR's sweet spot:

Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial artist and vegan Luke Cummo says that he drinks his own urine.

Bingo, baby! Do you get it now? How do you go from casually discussing keeping meat out of your mouth to putting your own pee in it? Consider for a second, that that astounding remark goes completely unremarked upon in the article, and you might start to reach the frequency we're on.

Also consider it was Congressman Kucinich who claimed to have seen a UFO on Shirley MacLaine's balcony - and Shirley MacLaine, bless her heart, is also known to drink her own urine - so, if you're normal, you can begin to see something ain't right within this very-closed (and close-knit) circle of foolish famous folks.

Or did you always think America's leaders were a bunch of weirdos who have given up food for drinking their own pee (or hanging out with people who do)?

Well, if not, now you know. Because that's what we do.

And the photography?

What's wrong with our taste in photography?

The Democrats Are Crumbling Like We The Bitch Who Cut They Hair

"Folks in the White House and folks in the NEA,..."

-- Michael Skolnick, "political director for Obama-mad hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons", explaining who was responsible for bringing a select group of creative types together on a phone call - for the purpose of creating Obama's government propaganda - before Skolnick, Barack, the gathered "artists", Russell Simmons, and the "folks" at the National Endowment for the Arts, all gulped down the biggest fucking batch of Kool-Aid you have ever seen, in The City Journal.

Why does Russell Simmons have a political director? Isn't he a Buddhism-spouting, yoga-doing, divorced Self-Help writer (telling black kids to "Be you") these days? That shit won't seem so damn "nice" and NeweAge-y after this stunt. And this was a blindingly stupid thing for Skolnick to say:

"All of us who are on this phone call were selected for a reason, and you are the ones that lead by example in your communities. You are the thought leaders. You are the ones that, if you create a piece of art, or promote a piece of art or create a campaign for a company, you tell our country and our young people sort of what do and what to be into, and what’s cool and what’s not cool."

Whoa, fuck. All I can see is "All of us on this phone call tell our country what to be into". I'm serious. That's all I can see.

But that's enough.

With Friends Like These,...

"Van Jones, Obama’s special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told JET that celebrities including Russell Simmons and Prince have contacted him looking for ways to join Obama’s team."

-- Crushing Quiet, in an August 23rd posting - reminding us that, along with racist conspiracy theorists from Oakland, Obama's NewAge campaign has also inspired the music world's most exploitive, divorced, self-help book-writing Buddhist, and it's most hypocritical sex-promoting Jehovah’s Witness to get into government work (Prince, as a JW, doesn't even vote!) because, as we all know, these two most important voting-and-music-buying demographics must be covered, digitally, or it wouldn't be Twenty Four Bit News.

Watch Out: The Dummies Have A Smart Bomb

Folks, this "I told you so" stuff is getting embarrassing:

If ever there was any doubt about mass manipulation of the public by cults, this new Scientology video should finally put it to rest. These Nazis are working it, and it looks like they've got high-powered help from the likes of Oprah, and Russell Simmons's ex-wife, Kimora Lee, to get into the minds of fashion-forward black kids.

Is Russell Simmons involved? I know he's become a meditating, Self-Help selling, weirdo lately, and there's talk of Will and Jada Smith being Scientologists, too. The video was made in 2006, so who knows what's up? These fools have got two years on the rest of us:

Folks, this shit here is bad.