In which the pond heads to Salt Lake City with the bromancer for a late Sunday arvo special ...

 

Probably only the pond and other mad people noticed or cared that the bromancer has been relatively quiet of late - how the impending war with China by Xmas has missed his efforts - but the mystery was explained by this epic yarn, telling of his overseas adventure ...

This was such a special treat and so interminably long that the pond had to save it for a special Sunday late arvo post where only the cognoscente, connoisseurs, and perhaps the Illuminati, will see it ... and after binging on cartoons this morning, the pond has a hangover and has sworn off them for the while ...

Some might wonder how the bromancer, a barking mad fundamentalist Catholic, got on to the Mormon cult wagon ... and one simple explanation is that cultists recognise each other, and even though their cults might vary or disagree, even so, being in a cult is better than not being in one ...

Alternatively, it could just be an irresistible junket and all that's needed is to be kind and reasonably polite in your copy and pretend that you too have found a few gold tablets buried in the earth ...

The reptiles emphasised both the junket and the shared cult aspect with a plethora of snaps and click bait videos, and the pond jammed them altogether and got them out of the way ...

By golly there's a heap of distractions in that lot ... which possibly reflects the lack of substance and insight in the bromancer offering ...

Oh heck, the pond couldn't waste all of the visual distractions ... some were mighty weird, almost worthy of the Vatican, and the pond says that having seen the weirdness of St. Peter's Baldachin up close...

By golly this bromancer image is almost up there, if slightly less lush and gold littered ... (guess they had to save the gold for the plates) ...

Cosmic, and a reminder of just how bad most LDS art is ...

Why is the LDS growing? One explanation?

You find simple-minded hacks who will write it up for the cost of a junket and then slip it into the lizard Oz?

Or because when you can't cultivate at home, colonise abroad?

Whatever, the pond was talking about the weirdness of LDS art, and the ones celebrating Christ visiting the United States are guaranteed fun ...

Deeply weird but the bromancer is a sucker for the deeply weird.

If you want more, you only have to google or Jeeves or Duck quack quack or Bing or whatever, but for some reason it sticks in the pond's craw to provide a link to the mother lode ... a scruple not felt by the pandering bromancer ...

The pond wasn't going to fact check the bromancer or the LDS - what's the point? - cultists and cults are gunna do what they do ...

But that last line shows how much the bro was determined to pander. 

If he'd just checked in with Faux Noise ... and not so lnog ago at that, with this featuring on the Utah channel back in May last year ...Is Salt Lake City really one of the most dangerous cities in the country?

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City has fallen to #58 on this year's U.S. News and World Report's list determining which city is the best place to live.

This comes after landing in the 23rd spot on the list in both 2021 and 2022. The list contains the 150 most populous metro areas across the country.

The rankings on based on five categories: job market, quality of life, value, net migration and desirability.

Overall, Salt Lake City scored 6.3 out of 10 in those categories...

...researchers found that Salt Lake had not only a lower education score, but also a higher crime rate than similarly sized metro areas.

The list placed Salt Lake as 11th when it comes to most dangerous places, above cities like Denver, Houston and St. Louis on the list.

Memphis and Albuquerque topped the list for most dangerous places at 1st and 2nd respectively.

The list looked at violent and property crime rates in 2020, per 100,000 people.

It showed that 238 violent crimes were committed per 100,000 people in Salt Lake City, which is below the national average, according to the report.

However, Salt Lake exceeded the national average when it comes to property crimes, at more than 2,400 per 100,000 people...

That set the cat amongst the LDS pigeons, but relax, the bromancer was on board ...

See above, and see this ecstatic vision that accompanied the blather ...

The reptiles went all in on the pandering, and the pond was tempted to celebrate the wives of Brigham Young...

Whoa, that's a lot of hitching and sealing going down ...

Meanwhile, on another planet, if the bromancer had his way, he'd just erase so many parts of the LDS's weird history ...

During the first century of its existence, the church discouraged social interaction or marriage with Black people and encouraged racial segregation in its congregations, facilities, and university, in medical blood supplies, and in public schools. Joseph Smith supported segregation, saying: "I would confine them [Black people] by strict law to their own species". Until 1963, many church leaders supported legalized racial segregation; David O. McKay, J. Reuben Clark, Henry D. Moyle, Ezra Taft Benson, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and Mark E. Petersen were leading proponents.

Black families were told by church leadership not to attend church, or chose not to attend after white members complained.The church advocated for segregation laws and enforced segregation at its facilities, such as the Hotel Utah and Tabernacle performances.Church leaders advised members to buy homes so Black people would not move next to LDS chapels. In 1954, apostle Mark E. Petersen taught that segregation was inspired by God. Leaders advocated for the segregation of donated blood, concerned that giving white members blood from Black people might disqualify them from the priesthood.] Church leaders opposed desegregation in public schools and at BYU. (wiki)

That began to change when the church realised it was missing out on major demographics... 

Now back to the weird storytelling, and perhaps a fundamentalist Catholic wouldn't have any problems with stories other cults tell their devotees , with the bromancer swallowing those tales of Christ in North America with equanimity (that's what you do if you're a professional junketeer)...

Oh indeed, indeed, it's not the purpose of the bromancer to make any judgements. He's on a junket from god and She demands respect ...

With the greatest respect, the pond prefers to open its door to other messages ...

The pond could only keep up the jokes for so long, while the bromancer rabbited on endlessly, showing as a hack he knew how to hack out the sponsor's message ..

The pond will concede one point. Watching The Book of Mormon on Broadway was entertaining, though they had a bromancer way of approaching the religion, such that some liberal Mormons (there are a few) also enjoyed the fun ...

Eugene O'Neill is probably still rolling in his grave ... while the bromancer keeps rolling along, because he can recognise the business model, which is much the same as the Catholic church's Ponzi scheme..

Get 'em poor, then hook 'em on charity ... it's the Catholic business model in every way, and if you can't get government cash in the paw, tithe the mugs ...

Sorry, that one just slipped in, because this is incredibly tedious fawning and pandering, though it does reveal the lack of spine in the bromancer, who hasn't met a cult he hasn't immediately liked... 

At that point, he did feel the need to slip in a little of the other, so he can't be accused of being a fawning panderer ... if only to mark the scandals down and dismiss them ...

Famously?

Infamously more like it ... and infamously it still goes on in the remoter areas of Utah ...but that's the blithe way a devotee of a scandal-laden church can easily forgive the scandals of others ... nothing to see here ...

And so at long last to the final gobbet ... and the big reveal of the hack bought and sold for not much at all...

Such a cheap hack ...

... and just declaring you're a cheap hack that's been bought, or made "a guest" doesn't make it any better. 

It might get you off the hook with Media Watch for declaring the interest, but the rest of the fawning and the pandering remains unforgivable.

The pond always had a fair degree of contempt for the bromancer ... but now at least the pond has worked out the cost of a piece of undiluted hackery... a junket to Salt Lake city ... 

As for the rest, just substitute the lizard Oz for Congress in the image below ... and replace the tag with "while the editor sleeps ..."