The Problem of Spam (plus Tweets)

by | May 11, 2018 | Religion, Tweets | 12 comments

I get a lot of weird stuff in the spam section of the comments for Heather’s Homilies. It seems to go through cycles that generally match what I’m writing about, or even what’s in the tweets. One thing’s for sure, you and I would go nuts if it wasn’t for the spam filter! There are dozens per day. I usually don’t even look at them – just scroll to the bottom and click “Empty Spam.”

You can probably imagine what a lot of it is like. Endless ads for Viagra and “natural” products that do the same thing. A commenter with a sexually graphic nom de plume, had her comments sent straight to spam. I rescued them, and immediately began receiving all sorts of spam of a sexually graphic nature.

If I write about the All Blacks, I begin receiving links to buy Chinese knock-offs of US Football jerseys. Many of the links pretend to be about one thing, but lead to places that you really don’t want your computer to be.

I got one a couple of days ago that was slightly different from anything I’d had before. It had a gmail address and wanted to go into the comments section of one of my posts about religion.

hello my name is nakisha i want you all to join me to thank this man for restoring my home with my ex husband who dump me for another woman for 5 years,. At first i never believed DR OGUDUGU will be able to help me win back my EX HUSBAND from this other woman but because i still love him and need him in my life..

i work and follow DR OGUDUGU instruction and it surprise me that after 3 Days of casting the spell and working with DR OGUDUGU, my EX HUSBAND called me asking me to forgive and forget the everything he has done to me that he still love me… now myself and my husband are fulling back together and we are very happy with our new life …

all thanks to DR OGUDUGU for the great work he has done for me.. i promise to always share his good work to the whole wide world and if any body is out there passing through any relationship difficulties should kindly contact him via email: [email protected]

HE ALSO SPECIALIZE ON THE FOLLOWING PROBLEMS
(1) If you want your ex back.
(2) if you always have bad dreams.
(3) You want to be promoted in your office.
(4) You want women/men to run after you.
(5) If you want a child
(6) You want to be rich.
(7) You want to tie your husband/wife to be
yours forever.
(8) If you need financial assistance.
(9) Herbal care.
contact DR OGUDUGU via his email for a total solution [email protected]

Obviously, I didn’t go to Dr Ogudugu to ask for help with any of my many problems. If I ever start believing in that stuff you’ll know I’ve got a brain tumour or something! But I decided to look him up to see if he is real.

Apparently this email scam has been around since 2015. I found this warning on a blog post ‘Email Scams‘:

These are emails I have received to my email address. I decided to put them on the internet. I hope they educate you. Links are usually deactivated. These lowlifes will claim to be ANYONE. Educate yourselves about what they are willing to say. THESE POSTS ARE SCAMS. DON’T believe them!

At the link there’s a huge list of people, including Dr Ogudugu, who will sort out all kinds of issues. Some specialize, like Dr Lucky who makes you win the lottery, or Dr Ekpiku, who cures herpes, HIV/AIDS, and cancer. Others, like Dr Saloba, “CAN SOLVE ANY PROBLEM!!!”

Dr Abor provides a courier service for curing herpes simplex virus (cold sores)! Perhaps he just charges you through the nose for a tube of Zovirax®.

Others are a bit more worrying. Dr Oba Good provides the following services:

Get your ex back, control your husband or wife, control your office boss, control your mother in law, control anyone, have babies or twins, use black magic

You’ve got to wonder why he has “Good” in his name, unlike all the other doctors in the lengthy list. Perhaps it’s okay to use black magic from someone called “Good.”

I suppose I should say, “Good on you for letting people know.”

But it really worries me that people have to be warned. No matter how desperate you are to get love in your life, surely you can’t believe that a spell will change things? (Besides, some of us are just unlovable. ????)

And even if you believe a spell could help you find love, how could you stretch your credibility to believe that Dr Oluku can get you “millions in the lottery.”

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the documentary series about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas again. It was made twenty years after the siege/raid in which 76 people, including 23 children, died. There were interviews of Branch Davidians who got out of the compound. They still believed that Koresh was Jesus.

Cartoon: Science is cancelled because your parents prefer to believe in magicIn my opinion, it’s a major problem with the way many people bring up and educate their children. It leaves them vulnerable to being preyed upon by people such as these scam artists and religious fraudsters when things go wrong in their lives.

Studies have shown that children brought up to believe religious stories as fact are less able to distinguish between truth and fantasy.

Our children aren’t born knowing truth from lies. They rely on their parents to tell them what’s true to start with, and they’re the basis of how they learn to reason. If they’re taught that an invisible man in the sky is watching their every move, and will punish them with eternity in hell when they die if they are naughty, they will believe that. It will scare them, and it’s cruel.

They’ll also believe that such things as invisible men in the sky, angels, demons, and magic are possible and real. They don’t differentiate between what the religion taught by their parents and other magic.

Christopher Hitchens said:

If religious instruction were not allowed until the child had attained the age of reason, we would be living is a quite different world.

How right he was.

Trigger Warning: There’s evidence of animal predation in the first Cat Tweet below.

And apologies in advance – there aren’t many animal tweets today, and there are too many political ones – though not as many as I wanted to put in. I’m feeling pretty angry about what’s going on in the world right now.

TRUMP IS STILL A FU€kI₦G MORON

WTF is wrong with this man? Per head of population, New Zealand is usually at or near the top of the medal table at the Summer Paralympics (I don’t know the data for the Winter Paralympics.) Good on the US’s Mallory Weggemann for speaking out!

 

My negative feelings towards Trump are higher than they’ve ever been. Even the good news of releasing the North Korean prisoners had to be spoiled by his complete a$$holesness!

 

Someone at the White House said of John McCain that it didn’t matter what he said because he’s dying anyway, and they’re lying about him at Fox News.

 

This is what they’re referring to:

 

Torture is WRONG. It doesn’t work, and even if it did, it would STILL BE WRONG! What happened to the moral high ground? So much for the “shiny city on the hill.”

 

WTF IS WRONG WITH THE USA!!!!!

I can’t believe this is even real. It’s fu€ki₦g DISGUSTING!!!

 

A Tweet Commentary on Life in the USA

(Via Ann German.)

 

 

 

Political Tweets

Charles Pierce tweeted this link to a story he wrote. Please click through to the link so he gets the kudos. The story is headed ‘Dispatches from an alternate reality’. It will take you less than a minute. As he says, it cannot go unnoticed.
(Via Ann German.)

 

I don’t know if the pic is real of photoshopped, but I love it all the same.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Pre-Mueller Time Tweets

There’s a lot more to come out about this one.

 

I’ve got about two dozen tweets on the Stormy Daniels situation in my collection so far. This is now one of them. I think it’ the best so far!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Heading-for-Prison Time Tweets

(All tweets via Ann German.)

So Michael Cohen clearly advertised himself as a lobbyist, but didn’t register as such. There are also those federal requirements that tripped Michael Flynn up around the registering of foreign contacts.

 

Here’s the full Novartis statement.

 

More info on the Novartis revelations …

 

AT & T also confirm their huge payments to Cohen as a lobbyist.

 

The ?alleged money trail visualized. There’s also a Washington Post article at the link in the first tweet.

 

Laura Ingraham says Avenatti is wrong and lying. There’s a fun response to one of Avenatti’s tweets about that.

 

Here’s another response to the same Avenatti tweet.

Hypocrisy Tweets

I suppose these are really Political Tweets, but I want to highlight them especially. I look at people like Henry Kissinger and Oliver North still living great lives, getting lots of respect, and making loads of dosh. Then I look at the way many Republicans look at someone who’s been to jail for something non-violent and minor like possessing a small amount of cannabis. Or voting (see above). Prison-time can destroy a life.
(Via Ann German.)

 

 

I checked. Rudy Giuliani really did say this on 15 Aug 2016 in a speech in Youngstown, Ohio. It’s not Fake News. It was at a Trump rally, and Trump was due to make a major speech on terrorism. Here’s the evidence.

 

This is one of the responses:

 

And more of Giuliani in drag, as well as hypocrisy …
(Via Ann German.)

 

And again. He’s just like Trump – there’s always an old quote somewhere where he said exactly the opposite of what he’s saying now.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Sheep Tweets

What is wrong with these people? Are they ever going to work it out? (I am slightly offended that the sheep are portrayed as young women. Young women are very unlikely to vote for Trump and it’s a stereotype to portray them as stupid. Trump’s sheep are far more likely to be older men.)
(Via Ann German.)

 

An appropriate response was sent …

 

This blows me away. In case you don’t know, Blankenship went to prison because a mine explosion that was his fault killed 29 people. He was still on parole when he ran for the Republican primary in West Virginia. Although he didn’t win, he did get around 20% of the vote. He is also openly racist, making anti-Chinese campaign ads directed at Mitch McConnell (whose wife is Chinese-American). One of his campaign slogans was that he was “Trumpier than Trump.”
(Via Ann German.)

 

Human Rights Tweets

(Via Ann German.)

This tweet:

 

Got these appropriate and excellent responses (amongst others):

 

 

 

 

 

Religion Tweets

Absolutely outrageous!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Funny Tweets

Genius strategy! ???? ???? ????
(Via Ann German.)

 

Art Tweets

Isn’t he cool?!
(Via Ann German.)

 

This is cool too.

 

Cool but creepy.

 

Scenic Tweets

We haven’t had any Scenic Tweets for a while. Italy is always a reliable location for amazing stuff to look at.

 

Part of the reason is for all the stuff to see here, so I’ll put this in the Scenic Tweets section. There’s an interview at the link, and you can hear the other reasons he loves New Zealand there.

 

Creepy Crawlies Tweets

This is very cool!

 

 

Other Animals Tweets

The latest episode of WildWatch from Slimbridge Wetland Centre.

 

Rescue of a trapped hedgehog. Obviously, there’s nothing else for it but to break the house! What else could you do?

 

Meerkats have strong family ties.

 

Dog Tweets

This is my new word: Zwodder! I cannot tell you how often it describes me! (But it’s quite a lot!)

 

The love of a dog.

 

Cat Tweets

This leopard cub plays with his food! He’s so cute!

 

What’s it doing? Cat stuff. It’s not up to the likes of us to question why.

 

Another cat that will not be questioned!

 

Cute kitty.

 

 

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12 Comments

  1. Diane G.
    Diane G. on 11th May 2018 at 8:34 pm

    I want one of those $1.2 million appointments with Novartis. I can be “unable to provide…services” every bit as well as Cohen. Even better!

    Reply
    • Diane G.
      Diane G. on 11th May 2018 at 8:35 pm

      & sub. Sigh.

      Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 12th May 2018 at 8:00 am

      If that’s the way they dish out money, no wonder their products are so expensive. They should have refused to pay and told Cohen to take them to court. Or maybe Cohen threatened them with bad-mouthing them to the president if they didn’t pay?

      Reply
  2. Grand Pa Ken Smet
    Grand Pa Ken Smet on 12th May 2018 at 1:27 am

    Haven’t been inspired to make a comment in a long time…

    This posting qualifies for me having to say, “Well Done!”

    Thank you.

    Reply
  3. Mark R.
    Mark R. on 12th May 2018 at 6:14 am

    I liked the Art tweets today especially. I’ve never seen the Italian stone giant…too cool. I was in Tuscany once, I wish I knew about that then! I’ve stood on the Fremont Troll sculpture. It really is cool. Someone on WEIT (darwinwins? I forget) uses the troll as their avatar/icon. I always figured he/she lived in Seattle.

    New Zealand would be lucky to get Dr. Dawkins…that was a nice piece.

    FYI: the creepy-crawlies tweet said “unavailable”.

    I read an article in the LA Times that the people in Iran are already feeling the squeeze as US sanctions take hold; there are also fierce protests. Nothing like stirring the proverbial pot and creating more world hate, right don? There was also a Daily Kos article highlighting the fact that Putin has much to gain with the oil price hike that’s brought on by limiting Iran oil export. The worldwide trend of dropping oil prices (a trend which the Iran deal assisted) was a powerful check against Putin’s economy and nefarious goals. Now he’s back in the money. Thanks Trump for your monumental help to Putin and his fellow Oligarchs. Of course, anyone invested in the stock market also gets a boost from rising oil prices. The poor, working poor and middle-class who by and large don’t invest in the stock market always get hit the hardest by rising fuel and food prices…both of which are guaranteed to inflate under the trump admin. Will the financially challenged trump voters get a clue? All evidence points to the contrary.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 12th May 2018 at 2:11 pm

      Amy Carparelli reports that the Beetlemania video has been removed from the Natural History Museum channel. It’s a shame because it showed 4,000 year old wood, and insects (dead of course) from that time. They may have discovered it was a hoax or something – the find was brought in by a farmer.

      Ann German said she and her friends used to hang out on the troll as teenagers.

      Iran is protesting about the sanctions, but they can’t be feeling them already because they haven’t been put on yet, so they may be exaggerating on behalf of the Dems. This issue has become a Dem v GOP issue, though it shouldn’t be.

      The oil prices going up is a really important issue. It was the main reason the US stayed in bed with the Saudis – they are able to control the international flow of oil and therefore keep the prices down, which squeezes Russia. SA has the lowest, or one of the lowest, extraction prices, so they can handle a big price drop. Russia can’t. It’s a real worry for Putin to have money again because bow that he’s been through a bad patch he’s using the new money to improve his military as he is even more paranoid than before. If only he would spend his oil.

      I wrote about this a long time ago: https://www.heatherhastie.com/putins-russia/

      Reply
    • nicky
      nicky on 12th May 2018 at 5:34 pm

      I found these art tweets stunning too.
      Carnielo’s ‘Tenax Vitae’, how is it even possible to sculpt that skeleton skeleton arm and hand (if it is actually sculpted in stone?), what a fantastic display of skills! One wrong little hit…..

      Reply
  4. Yakaru
    Yakaru on 12th May 2018 at 9:06 am

    The North Koreans know exactly how to play Trump. It’s painful to watch.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 12th May 2018 at 2:12 pm

      I’m quite worried about what Trump will do and say and give away at their meeting. Kim runs rings around him diplomatically.

      Reply
  5. nicky
    nicky on 12th May 2018 at 5:45 pm

    That is definitive proof: Mr Giuliani is suffering from full-blown senile dementia. He was the NY mayor during 9/11 -it made him famous- and he can’t even remember that most successful of radical Islamic terrorist attacks! He should be confined to an old age retirement home.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 13th May 2018 at 8:11 am

      That one didn’t count because most of the bombers came from ally Saudi Arabia, whose people have funded most of the Islamist terrorism for over fifty years. There are no cases of Iranian terrorists killing anyone in the US since 9/11 (haven’t checked before) but still they’re worse than Saudi Arabia. Their inhumane laws are almost exactly the same, but if you had to choose one worse than the other, it’s SA. In Iran, for example, the government funds gender reassignment surgery, though homosexuality is illegal still. There’s a huge limit to their level of understanding!

      Reply
      • nicky
        nicky on 13th May 2018 at 4:29 pm

        Yyou forgot the ‘/s’.
        Apart from the ‘9/11’ attacks killing nearly 3000 and injuring more than 6000, there was the 1993 shootings at the CIA Headquarters in Langley killing 2 and wounding 3 and the 1993 bombing of the WTC, killing 6 and injuring 1042. And after ‘9/11’, but before Obama there was the 2002 Los Angeles Aiport shooting, killing 3 and injuring 4.
        [this is not counting attacks on US Embassies (eg. 1998 in Tanzania and Kenya) or ships, which technically could be considered US territory too, but let Us give him that]

        Reply

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