{"id":2814,"date":"2024-05-13T23:21:58","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T06:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queersatanic.com\/?p=2814"},"modified":"2024-05-13T23:21:58","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T06:21:58","slug":"the-new-heretics-stream-5-10-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qs.gehenna.ynh.fr\/?p=2814","title":{"rendered":"The New Heretics Stream (5\/10\/24)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Watch Twitch.TV\/QueerSatanic<\/a>
(Fridays @ 8 p.m. Pacific \/ 0300 GMT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good news for TST in Boston invocation appeal, updates on TST HQ arrests, and Spencer Sunshine’s book release<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Jump to<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. [INFORMED DISSENT] Satanic Temple, Inc. v. City of Boston<\/a><\/strong> (“Boston invocation appeal update”)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. [WE LIVE IN HELL] Michigan alleged bomber update<\/a><\/strong> (“Michigan man accused of making explosives to target Satanic Temple”)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. [WE LIVE IN HELL] Oklahoma alleged bomber update<\/a> <\/strong>(“Oklahoma Man Indicted by Federal Grand Jury”) <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. [WE LIVE IN HELL] 2022 alleged arsonist check-in<\/a><\/strong> <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. [WE LIVE IN HELL] Iowa vandalism trial update <\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. [PERMANENT SHITTENING] Antifascist academic looks at Satanic Temple leader’s neo-Nazi ties<\/a><\/strong> (“Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism” by Spencer Sunshine)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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    1. [INFORMED DISSENT] <\/strong>Satanic Temple, Inc. v. City of Boston<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The First Circuit Court of Appeals is addressing The Satanic Temple’s appeal<\/a> of TST’s failure at the federal district court level<\/a> that came down in the middle of last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What’s notable about the description of the oral arguments versus the actual federal district judge decision<\/a> (and the magistrate judge’s upholdings<\/a>) is that everyone involved seemed to be very sympathetic to The Satanic Temple’s arguments in principle<\/em> and when looked at from the ten-thousand-foot view. But examined up close, it was the way TST’s lawyers actually pursued the case including repeatedly targeting Michelle Wu specifically at the expense of engaging in more valuable discovery that got them in so much trouble. Local outlet UniversalHub<\/a> covered all of that process pretty extensively for people who don’t want to read the court docket for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Weirdly<\/em>, The Satanic Temple continues to go after Wu personally as well as the district judge Angel Kelley by name, such as in this video TST released<\/a> and Doug “Lucien Greaves” Misicko on his Substack newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Federal Judge Angel Kelley, who I would not be surprised to learn is a personal friend of Michelle Wu in the limited network of corrupt Boston politics, was openly contemptuous of The Satanic Temple from the beginning, denying us even the opportunity to depose Wu (she’s just too important of an official for that), <\/strong>passively allowing Boston to miss several deadlines, while rigorously interrogating our every move, and eventually issuing a thoughtlessly dismissal of the case. As usual, the polarized extremes of the political spectrum had the same response: relief and applause. The theocratic right tried to contextualize it as evidence that the courts should not, and will not, take us seriously as a religion. The nihilistic selfie stick social reformers on the other side tried to contextualize it as our own ignorance of the system while congratulating themselves for staying the course on their own tactics of posting over-generalized catch-phrase laden open letters to nobody in particular on Facebook.<\/p>\nLucien Greaves, “The Satanic Temple Poised For Victory in First Circuit Legislative Prayer Suit”<\/a> (May 8, 2024)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    For those who weren’t following along for the case, The Satanic Temple tried to depose then-city council member Michelle Wu as she was in the middle of running<\/em> for Boston mayor, and tried to do it by making her come half an hour away to TST’s HQ in Salem, on Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the time, Misicko claimed to the press they just hadn’t been paying attention to the calendar:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Lucien Greaves, the head of TST, said this is all a big misunderstanding, and that this is just a weird coincidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThat wasn\u2019t us trying to be smartasses,\u201d Greaves told the Herald, saying any other day should be fine. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really expecting this to be a thing.\u201d)<\/p>\nBostonHerald.com<\/a>, “Satanists bedevil Michelle Wu in Boston lawsuit” (Oct. 28, 2021)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    But TST’s lawyer admitted in writing<\/a> it was done to maximally inconvenience Wu because he sees litigation as “zero-sum” (for which he was subsequently sanctioned<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    By merely issuing the notice of deposition, I forced a cascading chain of events that has drawn public attention to this dispute, has reduced the City\u2019s ability to detriment my cause, and has increased the likelihood that my client would procure its sought-after invitation to participate in the prayer ceremony whether by judicial decree or by public pressure. …

    I feel no remorse for the action I took. As an attorney, it is my sworn duty to do anything short of breaking the law to see to it that my client\u2019s goals are recognized. This business of litigation is zero-sum. Everything I do which can benefit my client will cause an equal and opposite effect on the other side. I serve my purpose with all the zealous advocacy which my oath commands. And I expect nothing less from my adversaries.<\/p>\nMatthew Kezhaya,     The Satanic Temple, Inc. v. City of Boston<\/a>, Letter\/request (non-motion) \u2014 Document #38<\/a> (Oct. 29, 2021)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    By the way, if anyone has any idea what Doug Misicko and\/or Cevin Soling have against Wu and Kelley other than not getting their way, please share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To be clear, this Courthouse News write up of oral arguments is<\/em> unambiguously good news for The Satanic Temple. The trouble for them is the actual district court case they’re bringing as opposed to the principles they are gesturing at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One more thing to note since it might be relevant later: First Liberty Institute submitted an amicus curiae brief on the side of the city of Boston<\/a>, and they make what is, under the present Supreme Court regime, a genuinely clever argument about why TST doesn’t deserve any religious freedom protections in situations like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    There is no question that the prayer the Satanic Temple has proposed to give before the Boston City Council would be intolerable to the tradition of solemn, respectful prayer approved in Marsh. According to the Satanic Temple, had it received an opportunity to give an invocation, it would have uttered the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Let us stand now unavowed (sic) and unfettered by arcane doctrines borne of fearful minds in darkened times<\/strong>. Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the tree of knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old<\/strong>. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and elusory categorizations<\/strong>. Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or of all<\/strong>. That which will not bend must break and that which can be destroyed by the truth should never be spared its demise. It is done. Hail Satan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    See Appellant App. at 101\u201303 (emphases added). Given the derisive and disparaging tenor of this prayer, the Boston City Council would have been \u201cwell within its rights under Marsh to deny permission for [the Satanic Temple] to recite [its] proposed prayer.\u201d See Snyder, 159 F.3d at 1235. Thus, the Boston City Council\u2019s failure to invite the Satanic Temple to give an invocation cannot constitute wrongful discrimination.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    One of the motivations for the decision in the Bladensburg peace cross case<\/a> was that government cannot be “aggressively hostile towards religion.” For that reason, the destroying of the American Legion’s peace cross or modifying it to make it secular would be construed as hostile, the right-wing dominated U.S. Supreme Court determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here, the argument goes, Boston allowing an invocation that denigrates others for their beliefs would have a similar effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It’s an argument not likely to be relevant or persuasive to the First Circuit, but if the case goes any higher, look out for it to be a justification for the U.S. Supreme Court to say Satanists have no religious rights as far as governments go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lastly, in an answer to the question, “What has The Satanic Temple done in the community of Boston?”, TST’s lawyer Matt Kezhaya, replied:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    “We’ve participated in uh Boston’s Pride Parade we’ve participated in uh it’s called Menstruatin’ with Satan. It’s a donating of tampons and whatnot for Women in Need for Hygiene purposes.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    This is the same TST Boston chapter\/congregation<\/a> that was somewhat suddenly and mysteriously ejected<\/a> \/ opted-out<\/a>(?) over a dispute with Salem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TST will use you up, market themselves off you, let you launder their reputation, and even use you for their legal arguments, and what you get in return is “shit” and “all”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n