Was there a 1958 western in which a character named Trump promised to build a wall to save people from the end of the world? Yep.

Courtesy of Snopes:  

The television series Trackdown really did produce an episode featuring a "Trump" character who came to town claiming that only he could prevent the end of the world by building a wall (and also sold special force propelling umbrellas to deflect meteorites). The episode (S1, E30) aired on CBS in 1958 and was titled "The End of the World," featuring actor Lawrence Dobkin playing the role of "Walter Trump." A synopsis of the episode from the Classic TV Archive reads as follows: 

Walter Trump, a confidence man, puts on a long robe and holds a tent meeting in the town of Talpa. He tells the townspeople that a cosmic explosion will rain fire on the town and that he is the only one that can save them from death. Ranger Hoby Gilman attempts to prove Trump is a fraud.

Every time I think this whole thing cannot get any more surreal, well you know the rest.

I am beginning to think that Donald Trump is nothing but a fictional character himself cobbled together from bits and pieces of television series, comic strips, and science fiction novels.

(BTW did you notice that the TV character was sporting Trump's actual hairline?)

Remembering when the Republican party could celebrate Labor Day with pride.

Could you imagine the GOP posting something like this today?

It just seems to drive home the point that the Republican has abandoned virtually ALL of its former principles.

(H/T to Mike the Biologist.)

Just a reminder that America's ostentatious displays of religiosity are not about reaffirming the fact that many believe this is a Christian nation, and all about reminding the world that we are capitalists.

Courtesy of Religious Tolerance:

In 1956, the nation was suffering through the height of the cold war, and the McCarthy anti-communist witch hunt. Partly in reaction to these factors, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution to replace the existing motto with "In God we Trust." The president signed the resolution into law on 1956-JUL-30. The change was partly motivated by a desire to differentiate between communism, which promotes Atheism, and Western capitalistic democracies, which were at least nominally Christian. The phrase "Atheistic Communists" has been repeated so many times that the public has linked Atheism with communism; the two are often considered synonymous. Many consider Atheism as unpatriotic and un-American as is communism. The new motto was first used on paper money in 1957, when it was added to the one-dollar silver certificate. By 1966, "In God we Trust" was added to all paper money, from $1 to $100 denominations.

The same was true in the case of adding "One nation under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Courtesy of Historic Documents: 

In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today: 

It should be noted that in 2002, Michael A. Newdow, an Atheist from Sacramento, CA, was successful in having the phrase "under God" declared unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. However, an act by Congress limited the power of the Judiciary, thus preventing the removal of the phrase.

So not only were the "One Nation Under God" and "In God We Trust" phrases added to reinforce America's true religion, Capitalism, even after the addition to the pledge was deemed unconstitutional, the Congress simply circumvented the wishes of the Founding Fathers.

How patriotic of them.

Apparently nothing is quite as important as making sure that Socialism, Communism, and let's not forget Atheism, are not allowed to gain a toe hold in this country.

But hey, I'll try not to let it bother me.

Hey guess what conservatives? Al Gore did NOT invent global warming just to punish big business.

Gee, it appears that scientists have been discussing the dangers of global warming, and man's responsibility for it, since before I was even born.

Yet we have failed to take it seriously until today, when we have witnessed for ourselves the melting of the polar ice caps, the rise of the oceans, and some of the most dangerous weather ever witnessed by man.

And all the while that scientists were ringing the alarm, there were energy companies fighting them tooth and nail with scientists of their own bought and paid for to refute anything climatologists might say that would demand that they find alternative energy sources or reduce the chemical emissions from their manufacturing plants.

Some in the Evangelical community have even gone so far as to teach their children that climate change is false. From the movie Jesus Camp:  

The movie observes a lesson where the mother is teaching her child out right lies about evolution and global warming. There are also clips of movies and presentations presented while they are shown to children making ridiculously inaccurate statements about Abortion, Global Warming, and Evolution. Their fundamental argument seems to be, the people who disagree with them just have wrong, “Beliefs”. They fail to acknowledge or address that their own ideals are nothing more then Faith/Beliefs which are not verifiable in anyway. 

Worse, their logic behind denying global warming and a lot of other problems in the world is just that the Earth is temporary and so it doesn’t really matter. What a horrible legacy to leave to your children. Well we thought the world was going to end, so we really didn’t think destroying the climate and starting World War Three would really matter in the long term.

With that kind of aggressive blowback is it any wonder that it took so long for people to start taking climate change seriously?  And honestly, have we even started yet?