Author Archives: Jacob Fortin

Drinking Bleach is killing dumb Christians

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Do you remember a few years ago, during the height of the pandemic, when then President and resident idiot-in-chief Donald Trump hinted that drinking bleach was a possible cure for this disease? For those of us not steeped in conspiracy theory, it seemed like it was plucked right out of his limited imagination. This is not the case. It turns out that it’s a health “fad” that’s been marketed for years in Christian circles, and it’s killing them.

It began over a decade ago when an ex-scientologist named Jim Humble wrote a book claiming that what he had unlocked the secret of a magical solution he called “Miracle Mineral Solutions:, or MMS for short. The formula is simple, consisting primarily of Chlorine Dioxide, which is a commercially available bleach used to clean pools and hot tubs. Some municipalities use it to treat their water, but to ensure that it is safe, it cannot exceed 10 PPM (parts per million). That’s the equivalent of roughly one drop for every 50 liters of water. This “miracle cure” proports to treat illnesses such as cancer, leukemia, diabetes, AIDS, and a variety of other disorders. Instead of being sold as medicine, which would have put them immediately into the crosshairs of the Food and Drug Administration, they decided instead to market it as a religious sacrament, to be taken as part of a “healing ritual”. Humble registered the “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing” church, which anyone could be ordained in for the right price.

He has since recanted his claims:

“There are certainly times I have said some things that I probably should have said differently. For lack of a better way to express things at the time — or because others put words in my mouth, in the past I have stated that MMS cures most of all diseases. Today, I say that MMS cures nothing!”

The damage has already been done, however. This “miracle cure” took on a life of it’s own, and since then, a number of people have been arrested for poisoning their “flock”. Recently, a family was found guilty in the state of Florida for selling their poison to desperate Americans. Mark Grenon, along with his three sons Jonathan, Jordan and Joseph, were sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling MMS as a cure for Covid-19. The severity of the sentenced was largely because of the desperation of their clientele, many of whom had refused the vaccine and were desperate for alternatives. With the cost of healthcare being out of the range of most of the poor, this inexpensive solution was sold, not as medicine, but as “donations”, which also has the added benefit of avoiding pesky taxes. In total, these criminals sold more than 1 million dollars worth of poison.

The Grenon’s family’s Linkedin profile doesn’t even try to hide the fact that they were selling an industrial bleach, although they preferred the more appetizing word “salt”:

Genesis II Church of Health and Healing was founded by Bishop Jim Humble in 2010 to bring simple and largely overlooked healing methodologies and a self-responsible approach to wellness to the world… The major breakthrough that lead to the necessity to create the Church was the discovery that a commonly used mineral salt, sodium chlorite, when properly activated, made the simple molecule chlorine dioxide (ClO2) available within the body when taken internally or applied topically. Chlorine dioxide is an unique, weak oxidizer that eliminates many pathogens, including viruses, fungi, and anaerobic bacteria, and will break up toxins in the blood and deep in tissues so they can be flushed out of the body.

If you thought that this horror was confined only to Florida, you would be mistaken. A few months ago, a Calgary man named Pedro Acuna Saavedra was given a fine of $12,000 (a prison sentence would have been preferable, given that one person was in critical condition as a result of ingesting it) for operating as a branch of Genesis II Church selling this poison. In Argentina, a man by the name of Andreas Kalcker was arrested in connection with the poisoning of a young child. His naïve parents were convinced Chlorine would somehow ward of Covid-19. He has since died. Now Kalcker faces 25 years in jail.

The fact that people are going to jail has only fueled the idea that all of this is a giant conspiracy against Humble’s “teachings”, courtesy of the pharmaceutical industry; the favorite bugbear of QAnon believers. As with any belief that is challenged, the faithful are doubling down on rather than accept the idea of being wrong, even at the cost of their own lives.

What I find annoying is just how powerless and impotent the FDA, and other government agencies around the world are when it comes to the sale of kinds of dangerous products under the guise of medicine. You can thank the cloak of religion for providing a workaround that has largely tied the hands of most regulatory bodies who shy away at the possibility of offending the faithful. Just read this impotent sounding letter the FDA sent Genesis II informing them that they needed to take down their product. Here’s a sample:

If you cannot complete corrective action within 48 hours, state the reason for the delay and the time within which you will complete the corrections.  If you believe that your products are not in violation of the FD&C Act, include your reasoning and any supporting information for our consideration.

Keep in mind that this “Church” had been exposed by the media over 6 years ago, but it took the government years to do anything about it. How many people died or became sick as a result? Considering how polite this letter was, the family probably thought that they would only get a slap on the wrist. They were wrong.

If you want to lose all faith in humanity, check out some of the comments in one of the videos exposing this dangerous product:

“After giving this to my brother having hepatitis c . The doctor at the VA after testing his blood for ammonia levels asked me what I was doing to him. His blood test had come back as normal for the ammonia levels . They had been treating that with a drug called lactulose which helped but didn’t bring it to normal . I gave 2 drops twice a day for only two days this cleared it out and his thinking returned to normal. Thanks Jim and all.”

MMS saved my life. I didn’t understand what it was. I was desperate after being diagnosed with covid19 and my medical doctor refused to prescribed medications. After being unable to move, severe pain, and having shallow breathing I drank one bottle of mms and I was able to breathe and sit up. The following day I was able to talk and walk. That is my testimony.

The comments in any video that features MMS is typically overrun by these types of testimonials. Anecdotally, this can all sound pretty impressive to someone that’s not familiar with the scientific method. In low dosages, it can be passed by the body fairly easily, and act as a powerful placebo. I’m even willing to concede that for people in Africa that have limited access to clean drinking water, the addition of this product might actually have some benefits. However, I can’t help but stress that all of the criticisms levied against the government for prosecuting vendors ignores the fact that people are attempting to pass off medicine as a religious offering. Anything can be a poison, including water, if the dosages are too high. Add the fact that Chlorine Dioxide is extremely potent, this is a recipe for disaster.

If MMS does have some form of health benefit, there is nothing stopping their proponents from commissioning a scientific study to show its effectiveness. There are plenty of highly trained professionals that would love to get paid to research things. Science is not something that is controlled by powerful elite. Hell, it can even be done at home by amateurs, so long as they are using the principles outlined by the methodology of science. Findings must then challenged by others, and stand up to scrutiny if it is to be given any credence. To pretend that science is the domain of the rich and powerful only demonstrates how little these people understand it.

Even with people being jailed of fined, it hasn’t stopped the product from being marketed. Recently, Vice did a news segment on a pastor by the name of Joe Salant. He’s selling this poison promising that it can cure autism. Surely a genetic disease needs only the introduction of pool cleaner to magically disappear. Give the man a Nobel prize already!

Churches forgiven for 8 Billion dollars in PPP Loans

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We’d all collectively like to forget the pandemic that ruined our lives for those murky years. Many businesses were shut down as a result, though it would have been undoubtedly worse had it not been for the Paycheck Protection Program Loans, or PPP for short. This 800 billion dollar injection into the economy allowed businesses to continue to have money for payroll, which kept many of them afloat. However, a total lack of oversight, and the need for expediency meant that a huge amount of fraud occurred. The true scope is unknown, though there are estimates:

The SBA’s inspector general has identified $78.1 billion in potentially fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loans, another Covid relief program for businesses. The Secret Service has its own estimate: $100 billion.

This basically implies over 12% of all the money loaned was done so fraudulently. Some have referred to the program as the biggest fraud in a generation (this would be true were it not for the Panama Papers, which dwarfs this little scheme). Billions of dollars worth of loans have since been forgiven, so long as businesses were able to prove that the money had been used for legitimate business expenses.

Do you know who didn’t have to prove any of this? Churches. Among the organizations that received loans were both urban and rural churches, large and small. While it’s true that some did pay them back, it’s estimated that over 8 billion dollars worth of loans have been forgiven so far.

Let me remind you that not one of these organizations has ever paid the taxes that funded these loans in the first place. Ignoring the fact that their free ride actually ends up costing us money; now Americans are literally paying for religions institutions that would have otherwise thankfully closed.

 

“Soldiers of Christ” arrested in alleged murder and torture scheme

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Trust is something that must be earned with time. It must be awarded to people based on merit, and nothing else. Unfortunately, religious people are often easily fooled, for when when people cloak their intention under the guise of spiritual enlightenment, they can easily override our instinct to reluctantly grant it. The result can often be tragic.

In Gwinnet County, Georgia, the community is reeling from the harrowing details of the torture and death of a South Korean woman at the hands of a cult called the “Soldiers of Christ”. Following a tipoff from one of the cult members (now in custody), the body of Se Hee Cho was found in the trunk of her car. She was emaciated and starved to a paltry 70lbs, and her body had been burned in an effort to conceal her identity.

Details are still murky, but it appears that the matriarch of the family, Mihee Lee, had convinced the victim to immigrate to the United States. Se Hee thought she was joining a religious group on a mission, but their only goal was to extort her for money, beating and starving her in the process. After coercing her into wiring them thousands of dollars, the cult ultimately killed her, and tried to conceal their crime.

As the trial begins, I’m sure more horrifying details will emerge (and I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open for more information). One thing is for sure, though: so long as religion is granted their underserved status, and automatic trust, more tragedies of this kind will continue to occur.

 

Poles becoming less religious

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It’s not always doom and gloom on this site. Sometime, there is a little good news that trickles my way, just in time to prevent me from believing that there is only evil in the world. It would appear that Catholicism is steadily eroding in Poland.

A recent survey showed that roughly 70% of the population identified themselves as Catholic in the country. Now to us, this may still seem unusually high, but that number is down from the 87% that identified as such only a decade earlier. The main demographic to leave the church is, unsurprisingly, young people.

A 2021 study by leading Polish pollster CBOS suggests the number of regularly practicing Catholics aged 18-25 fell by more than half in the previous six years.

This is probably due to the fact that the church is heavily involved in politics, including being extremely close to the leading “Law and Justice” party (just the kind of fascist rhetoric that a favorite of those professing the Nicene Creed). While they may have dominated for the last few years, young people are unresponsive to their outdated, sexist, and barbaric ideals. With an aging populous, they have been able to maintain their grip on power, though this is surely not to last.

The next few decades will be interesting for Poland. As they begin to take a bigger role in European politics, their exposure to new ideas are bound to continue to force their repressive religious taskmasters to the wayside. Here’s hoping that they eventually cast off these sectarian shackles and dictate the future of the country free of the grip of Rome and its cronies.

Youth Pastor gets 20 years for child abuse

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How many times are we going to do this? I’ve run out of ways to write “Another Youth Pastor sentenced to jail for child abuse”, so I’m just going to give you the facts in this case and hopefully keep my lunch down.

Jordan Huffman, 52, has been convicted of child abuse and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He drugged his 12 year old victim with alcohol and pot, with the court acknowledging that there were undoubtedly more victims that had not yet come forward. The District Attorney said:

“This defendant groomed, manipulated, and sexual assaulted a child who came to him for support and guidance in his capacity of a youth pastor. He continued this course of abuse over years. The damage this defendant has inflicted over the years cannot be overstated and his conduct has earned him every day of the sentence imposed today.

“The sentencing court acknowledged the likelihood of other victims of this defendant.”

The court is so worried that he might re-offend that when he gets out as a 72 year old man, he’ll continue to be supervised until he is dead and in the ground. This is assuming he’ll survive his prison sentence, which is doubtful.

Honestly, if you’re a Christian and you have children, you’ve got to wake up to the fact that youth camps are just disgusting orgies of sex for depraved human beings. Pray all you want, but it’s not going to protect them from these child rapists.

Mosque Bombing in Pakistan kills 50

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Religion is a poison. It is a cancer that eats away a person’s empathy and love. Instead of trying to learn to live with your fellow man, religions like Islam demands that those who believe differently be destroyed. Devoid of mercy or compassion, these murderous fools are willing to destroy their lives, and the lives of others, in the mistaken belief that a bronze age god cares about the mundane details of existence. The so-called “religion of peace” should rather be given the moniker of “religion of pieces”, for it seems some of their members have a hard time holding themselves together.

If you want a bunch of examples from one country just this month, look no further than Pakistan. The country has been rocked by multiple incidents over the past few days. It began in the early days of October, when 11 people were killed in a mosque in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A few days later, another 5 lives were taken in a separate attack. Now, more recently in the city of Mastung, 50 people have been slain during a celebration in a mosque, victims of an unidentified group that no doubt had some petty theocratic dispute.

It’s a confusing act for those of us outside the faith. We forget that there are far more internal conflicts within Islam than with the secular world. Religion is not monotheistic, and the various interpretations are not confined to mere intellectual disagreements. To these deluded fools, the stakes could not be higher in their deadly game of pretend. I promise you that until humans have the foresight to reject these violent and dangerously insecure faiths, these tragedies will continue to happen with frightening regularity.

Faith Healing Fails Compilation

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“In my mind, I was healed so my whole body was healed”

This coming from a man who was tricked into believing that his arthritic leg was healed, and he overexerted it to the point where it had to be amputated. Rather than understand the tragedy that had befallen him, this man doubled down on his belief. He thinks that his “spiritual” leg will be waiting for him in heaven. It this kind of stupidity and gullibility that can only occur with religion.

Lets not also forget about the boy with type 1 diabetes that was rushed to the emergency room. He had been “faith healed” in a similar way, and almost fell into a diabetic coma.

Isn’t faith healing fun?

Church Roof Collapses on Mexican parishioners, killing 10

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When a cancer patient going through medical treatment has a relapse, if they happen to be religious, they are sure to use the word “miracle” to describe what happened. In the view of the faithful, God takes an active interest in individuals, and anything positive is credited to the big daddy in the sky. However, it must be stated that the same instinct to credit their deity with good outcomes does not extend to bad ones.

Take for instance a recent incident that occurred in the city of Ciudad Madero. Located north of Mexico City, this coastal town is known for it’s beautiful beaches and lighthouse, which attract plenty of tourists. It is now notorious for a church roof collapsing and killing at least 10 people, and injuring 60 others.

This tragedy occurred in the middle of a baptism, which meant that there were many children among the victims. As of the writing of this article, rescue workers were still trying to get to potential survivors, and I hope there will be more saved.

As bodies were being pulled out of the rubble, the familiar impotent solution of the religious was again credited with the rescue of people still trapped.

“From underneath the rubble, thanks to divine providence and the work of the rescue teams, people have been pulled out alive!” Alvarez’s diocese wrote in a statement posted on it social media accounts. “Let’s keep praying!”

Were people not praying hard enough during the ceremony to prevent this tragedy from occurring in the first place? The ones who are alive should be reluctant to thank the same deity that so poorly protected them. If I was a superstitious person (which I thankfully am not), I would start to wonder if I was praying to the right god after something like this. If anything, offering thanks to your lord for people NOT killed in his place of worship just seems weird, especially when a bunch of the victims were kids.

 

 

Oklahoma Superintendent thinks Establishment Clause is a myth

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Religion makes you dumb and blind to reality. Take for example Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters. He’s been in the news several times for his attempts to shove religion down everyone’s throat. He wanted teachers to take a patriotic oath, which is a crypto-fascist tool used by dictators to have complete control over their populous. His speaks in the familiar tone of fundamentalists of any faith:

“We will bring God and prayer back in schools in Oklahoma, and fight back against the radical myth of separation of church and state.”

This is the dream and vision of Ryan Walters, who believes that the idea that Congress disallowing the establishment of a particular religion is a myth. Never mind the fact that it’s spelled fairly clearly in America’s founding document, or in Jefferson’s letters, further clarification of the concept. No, so long as Ryan believes in the superiority of his beliefs, such inconvenient truths will be ignored.

It’s typical that these types of clowns fail to realize that the entire reason for the clause was to allow the proliferation of all religious ideas. Christianity has over 30,000 denominations (thanks largely to that establishment clause we talked about), and many are extremely different from one another. I very much doubt that a Baptist would be happy with the dogma of 7 Day Adventist, and vise versa. The only way people can ensure that their religious rights are respected is if everyone has a level playing field.

Study finds Muslim women have Vitamin-D deficiency

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As I’ve spoken many times before, criticizing Islam is a tricky business. Accusations of racism abound, despite the fact that an idea, and not an ethnic group, is being attacked. There are few things as contentious as the Hijab, that restrictive piece of clothing forced upon women that suggests that the desire that men feel for them is their fault, and more importantly, their responsibility.

It should come as no surprise that constantly wearing a piece of fabric on your head, or all over your body, is not natural, and that there are consequences for doing so. A study in 2012  found that women who wear concealing clothing were likely to have serious vitamin deficiency, which would lead to a number of health problems later in life, including bone density issues, as well as muscle weakness. So, not only is the restrictive dress code of Islam bad for women psychologically, it turns out that it’s also causing a lack of vitamin-D, but it can also lead to serious hair loss, bad odors, and infections galore.

I’m sure there are still soft-headed idiots that will claim that restricting the choices of women is an important part of Islamic culture. This sort of excuse is ridiculous. The health and wellbeing of people is far more important than outdated, sexists traditions that seek to put limitations and control on the opposite sex. So, the next time someone wants to celebrate women wearing the Hijab (like making statutes celebrating it)*, you at least have something to show them.

*On a side note, the statue looks like someone trapped in an iron mask. Fitting, wouldn’t you say?

 

 

South Korean pastor charged with molestation of defectors

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Did you know that there are now more Christians in South Korea than there are Buddhists? Since it’s late arrival in the 18th century*, Christianity has been growing steadily in the country. Many converts see it as a defacto way of adopting a more “western” lifestyle. Hell, in my neighborhood, there are TWO Korean churches within only a few hundred meters of one another, and they’re the only ones that seem to regularly attend services, as opposed to the empty catholic cathedrals in desperate need of maintenance.

Well, since they are busy taking on our religious tradition, it seems as though their priests are also engaged in one of the oldest traditions of the church: molesting kids.

The victims of the alleged abuse were 13 to 19 years old and were all enrolled at his school between 2016 and 2023, prosecutors said. One of the allegations pertains to the alleged abuse of a 16-year-old student while they were sleeping in the school’s dormitory in Dec. 2022.

Pastor “Chun”, as he’s been identified, is believes to have assaulted more children under his care. Keep in mind that these students had escaped the hell of North Korea, only to face their own nightmare from someone claiming to want to help them. Isn’t it just like a religious organization to hurt the ones they claim to want to help?

* It was introduced earlier, but had been banned for over 200 years

Danes ban burning of Koran

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I’m getting pretty sick and tired of the way Europe and North America kowtow to Islam. Due to both misplaced fear of prejudice and genuine fear of reprisal from the “religion of peace”, the Danish people have decided that criminalizing the defacing of religious symbols is a good idea. Well, I should be more specific: spineless social democrats and Liberals made this decision, not the general public.

This is actually a move backwards. The country had eliminated blasphemy laws back in 2017, but has since re-introduced a version that explicitly calls out the defacing of the Koran as having “major consequences”:

The bill prohibits “the improper treatment of objects of significant religious significance to a religious community.” There is no doubt, however, that it is the public burning of the Quran that the government wants to prevent. Indeed, the bill refers to such acts, mentioning their “major consequences” for Denmark and “its interests,” as well as its “security.”

I’m hoping that the hundreds of artists and writers who signed a petition demanding the withdrawal of the bill has some traction, but I’m guessing otherwise. What really needs to happen is that someone with some balls needs to challenge this ridiculous law. I would love to see them squirm to punish someone who dares to defy this unjust law. If any Dutch Muslim has a problem with free expression, they can always move to a country that does not value this sort of thing.

“Sound of Freedom” producer sexually assaults child

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A couple days ago I reported on the stupidity of one Jim Caviezel, and lambasted his ridiculous movie “Sound of Freedom” as a QAnon wet dream. The film, for those of you luckily ignorant of this cinematic turd, revolves around the supposed life story of an ex-Homeland Security operative who was sick of the bureaucratic red tape and decided to rescue victims of child trafficking. Keep in mind that the man who inspired the film, Tim Ballard, admitted that the events in the movie had never happened. He also alleges to have broken up Satan worshiping cults, which just sounds like the rehashed moral panics of the 1980’s (in QAnon, the old is new again).

If you thought that wasn’t bad enough, now there is credible evidence that Paul Hutchinson, an executive producer for “Sound of Freedom”, was one of the people captured on film fondling a young girl in Mexico during a 2016 undercover operation.

Footage of the incident and its aftermath was captured by videographers working with Operation Underground Railroad, or OUR, the private anti-trafficking group Ballard founded. An investigator with the Davis County Attorney’s Office obtained the footage and wrote detailed descriptions of it as part of a criminal investigation into Ballard and OUR carried out with the FBI. That investigation was closed this year without any charges being brought.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me just how the people who cloak themselves in good deeds in an effort to divert attention away from their bad ones. A man spreading false information about child trafficking (which is a real problem that needs solutions) is implicated in the very crime he pretends to care about.

Pastor sells bleach as a cure for Autism

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When you professionally believe in nonsense for a living, it can be nearly impossible to distinguish reality from fantasy. Most of the time, this kind of confusion is innocent, almost childlike. When you believe intently that putting your hands together and wishing things to make them come true, there’s very little harm you can do to yourself and others. However, when a person in a position of authority lacks the intelligence and the understanding to foresee danger, they can easily lead their flock astray.

Take as a prime example pastor Joe Salant. When he isn’t busy rapping to support political candidates, he’s selling industrial bleach tablets to his flock under the guise that this can cure autism. It works in pretty much the same way a gun would does: point it at the person you want to no longer have the disease, pull the trigger, and once they are dead, their symptoms will disappear.

You would think that people would be reluctant to ingest a poison. You would be wrong:

A message on the Safrax website informs customers that there is a 2-4 week delay in sending out orders specifically due to overwhelming demand for the product as a result of the tablets being featured on the radio show of pseudoscience conspiracist Mike Adams.

What I find surprising here is that no one is in jail. There are bound to be tons of people who get seriously ill from consuming this garbage. Where are the authorities in all of this? Is someone immune from prosecution when they poison people simply because it’s a matter of their faith?

As one customer review on their site indicates, these pills are crazy dangerous:

“I can’t find any information about the dosage of the tablets… and I am currently sick. I tried dissolving one in a gallon [of water] and it tastes like pure bleach. I just wanna get well.”

Who knew that ingesting the stuff you use to kill germs would have such an adverse affect on people? Oh yeah, I know who knew: fucking everyone with their head screwed on right!

p.s. The recommended use of this product is 1 PPM 9parts per million), which means that the guy who put it in a gallon consumed hundreds of times the recommended dosage.

Dentist called pastor instead of 911 during botched procedure

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Going to the dentist is never pleasant. The needles they put in your mouth, or the high pitch drill they use to remove parts of your teeth, ranks pretty high up there in terms of nightmare fuel. However, for a 4 year old little girl, it was far worse than simply having a bit of pain. It basically ruined her life forever.

During a routine procedure back in 2016, Nevaeh Hall began to have seizures as soon as she was administered a sedative. Rather than call emergency services, Bathaniel Jefferson telephoned both her pastor and a pharmacist instead, and for several hours, the lack of oxygen to Nevaeh wrecked havoc on her brain and nervous system. She is confined to a wheelchair, is now blind and deaf, and will never fully recover from this dentist’s negligence.

A jury has found her guilty of one count of recklessly causing body injury to a child. The prosecution wanted 20 years. The sentence itself is only worth probation, so anyone hoping for more was greatly disappointed.

A civil trial soon followed, with the family being awarded a 95.5 million dollar lawsuit. Unfortunately, it is unlikely the family will ever see this money, as Jefferson’s insurance is unable to cover such a large amount.

Why the hell would anyone call a pastor in a time like that? Was she hoping for some magic prayers to fix he fuckup or something? Bizarre.