Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday accepted the resignation of Justice Minister Yasuhiro Hanashi, two days after Hanashi joked at a party meeting that his he only made the afternoon news when he stamped his approval on executing the condemned, the AP reports.
The wisecrack came at a rough time for the ruling “Liberal Democrat” Party which, despite its name, is pretty conservative, and is taking a lot of heat from both the opposition and the public over its links to the Unification Church, aka the Moonies, a South Korean pseudo-Christian cult in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination. Abe’s death came at the hands of a man whose mother had been brainwashed by the Moonies and who probably not incorrectly blamed Abe for legitimizing them in Japan. The Moonies also have deep ties to MAGAmerica, owning the Washington Times and former AP rival United Press International (UPI). A Pennsylvania-based sub-sect called the “Church of The Iron Rod” counts QAnon freaks like Mike Flynn and Doug Mastriano among its friends and sent at least 50 adherents to the Capitol on January 6th.