This one gave me that stomach hit. You can honor a holiday without turning the state into a pulpit, and once government starts talking like it has a Savior, the First Amendment is getting stress-tested. Freedom of conscience is the keystone here because if one faith becomes “official,” everybody else’s rights get conditional. If you’re a believer, defend your faith by defending your neighbor’s right not to share it. That’s the only way this stays America. www.xplisset.com
One more freedom undermined by the Trump administration.
Welcome to our Christian Nationalist America.
Is there even a crime one can charge these people with when they start imposing groupthink on us?
I was raised as a Catholic. I still hold to the tenets of that faith, but not the institutional practice. The institution failed me, but not the faith. I still wear a cross.
But other faith traditions are equally about conscience, and how one lives one's life, and how one respects others. And people who do not believe in a God at all can choose to lead ethical and moral lives.
But I am offended to my soul when these in-name-only Christians revel in their acts of cruelty, when they claim to be pro-life but take lives with impunity, when they steal to enrich themselves.
UPDATE: There is a law! This violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The ACLU used the same legal argument to take down Ten Commandments displays in schools. Seems like the ACLU needs to step up again.
The courts have ordered that the action be reversed to restore constitutionality, but apparently haven't punished those who acted unconstitutionally. And therein lies the rub. Without consequence to the perpetrator, there is no deterrence.
I am sure that pushback from the far right will be that this is a small thing and that they are just exercising free speech. But this is no small thing. It is a cornerstone of a wider Christian Nationalist movement that is also embedding itself in Europe. It is part of the establishment of us vs. them othering that is crucial to authoritarianism.
But it’s NOT a Christian Nationalist America. That’s the horseshit they would like you to believe, and keep claiming is true. It never has been, no matter how many times that self-deluded sliver of the country or its hypocritical spokescharlatans insist otherwise.
It’s important we not throw up our hands and substitute outrage for clear-headedness and accuracy. Laura Loomer is a powerful jackass, that’s all. The last time I checked jackasses tend to bray a lot. The rest are idiots and bleating wormtongues. They’re not the vanguard of anything except a barnyard full of manure. Let’s not even rhetorically give them what they want.
Hello ICTT... From HCR Today: "Saletan noted that “as president, [Trump] reduces every question to money.” What he can make from a deal determines both his domestic policy and foreign policy."... ... Thank You John Roberts for giving DJT near Unlimited Immunity to Commit Extortion..
Nearly All Faiths Seeing Declines in Regular Attendance
Two decades ago, an average of 42% of U.S. adults attended religious services every week or nearly every week. A decade ago, the figure fell to 38%, and it is currently at 30%. This decline is largely driven by the increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation -- 9% in 2000-2003 versus 21% in 2021-2023 -- almost all of whom do not attend services regularly.
Still, most religious groups have also seen a decline in regular attendance at religious services over the past two decades.
That's entirely what has their knickers in a knot. The country has become more secular and even the Prosperity Gospel doesn't have the pull it once had. They see their power (and money) dwindling. Why else push for state tax money to be spent on 'vouchers' for religious schools as part of the 'private school' choice?
Ah yes, the rich are loved more by god so that’s why we love they bankrupt Doomsday Donny!? Religion is too often irrational, emotional, fear…not love and kindness.
A lot of the people who have been streaming away from churches have been driven away by the hypocrisy of the message being pressed on them. It is always important for people who claim to be Christians to think sincerely about “What would Jesus do?”
I would argue the decline is for many reasons: the words of religious authorities do not match their actions; politicking in church; the young realizing their elders do not live by the rules they lecture them about, for just a few. In my case, like Georgia, I was raised Catholic and still am a person of faith (still consider myself a Catholic, actually) but the institution itself is irredeemable, particularly with respect to women.
For how many decades (since time began?) did the Catholic church deny its sexual abuse of children? I would have thought the length, width and breath of that scandal would be the clincher for the Catholic church. You have the Epstein Class of abuser and the Church Class of abuser. One preys on little girls and the other preys on little boys.
Interestingly, GJ, my 16 year old grandkid - baptized as a Catholic, but never attended a single mass - has now joined a Congregational church that is “open and affirming.” The church is located in a very politically Conservative area and is thriving . My wife and I have attended several services there and have also watched a couple of Sunday services that have been broadcast over the Internet. There is Hope in religion - when the correct Bible is used. Just like there is Hope for good government if the correct Constitution is used.
‘Tis the Season of Hope and Love and Peace and Good Will to All.
Glad your grandchild has found a place of loving support. I have been a member of an "open and affirming" Congregational UCC for many years now. It is very different from any other church I ever attended. Jesus never told people to worship him. He preached an egalitarian, inclusive message of love and community for all.
We all worship something or someone, do we not? I choose the living God and not idols who eventually fail their constituents. Worship, prayer, scripture study, fellowship, sacraments, confession and repentance, and serving others in Christ's Name are essential disciplines. I choose to worship in our sanctuary each Sunday to praise and glorify God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier [the Holy Spirit who works within to help us conform to Jesus Christ].
No Eleanor, as well intentioned as you are, not all of us worship something or someone. I don't as well as none of my family and many people I personally know. No offense taken. 😉
Eleanor, you probably think you're a humble person, but your comment reeks of pride and arrogance. You used many words to say, "I am better than others because I do all the right things, while others do all the wrong things."
I suggest you reread Matthew.
And no, all of us do not worship something or someone. That's a false premise purported by christian types to argue that anyone who doesn't worship their god worships something or someone else, and is therefore bound for hell. It's a thinly veiled power flex.
Well, I hear you. Yes, many people do. The fact is that ALL Religions teach the same basic laws. ALL religions have the same message! The only difference is to whom they send their prayers to. And in the end, it should not matter which name they use as they pray, as all of these representatives of "God" arrived in different areas of the world at different times, to spread the same message about God. Now it seems the threat to organized religion is that people have discovered that they can have a spiritual connection directly with God and the prophets Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, ect. They have discovered they don't need the church to have a relationship with the divine. And this is what is killing the church. However, Church is about community. Gathering with other likeminded people who share a common belief. So it would behove the church to reach out with that message and offer lots of outreach ideas, that will encourage people to want to be there. because the old " you will go to hell if you don't go to church" no longer holds water as each of us realizes, we don't need priests and ministers to explain God to us. We now know we have a direct connection. That's why they are on a mission to make " spiritual " practices communing with the devil not God. These same " christians" like to spread the lie that we cannot have a direct relationship with God. That only the ordained can.
Interesting info! Thanks. I’ve belonged to the same UCC church for forty years, still have doubts, attend frequently but not regularly, have made some of my best friends there, and feel very comfortable being with them in church. But, everybody should be free to decide whether they need a religious affiliation or not and, if they do, how to express it. Since Trump/MAGA came on the scene, I and many other people have renewed an interest in American history and, as a result, feel grateful to our Founders for their unbelievable wisdom in creating a government with freedom of religion along with our other freedoms. Gratitude is surely part of the reason why so many millions of Americans defend our democracy. It’s too precious to allow Trump/MAGA to destroy it.
Incredibly, I once taught Sunday school and was on the Board of Christian Ed. Now not so much. I saw a posting of the main tenets of major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christian, Muslim, every one of them taught peace and love. Politics get involved you have what we have here, Taliban, ISIS, etc. One can be kind with being of any one faith.
James Mitchner wrote a book called the Source which I read many years ago. The lasting impression I got from that book was that people created a god to explain things they didn't understand. That thought has stuck with me.
Very interesting and sounds accurate. The various gods invented by cultures around the world sure have made for really great mythology that endures for millennia.
Decline in attendance for organized religions, yes, but perhaps not a decline in religious belief. Some houses of worship are going beyond their purview to seek more money and tout more religiosity. I'm a Christian, but I don't believe that all claims of acting in the name of Christ are genuine.
“But more Americans must understand something about Christian Nationalists:
They believe that SUFFERING brings people to (their) WCN God.
If Americans suddenly don’t have things like food, access to healthcare, a job, or a home, they will know profound SUFFERING.
And in that profound SUFFERING, many may finally be desperate enough to turn to a Christian Nationalist food bank, crisis pregnancy center, Catholic hospital, shelter for the unhoused, addiction clinic, and similar.
Desperate, starving, sick, destitute people who are SUFFERING will do ANYTHING like:
Sign a Christian Nationalist Contract of Conduct promising to follow all directives to the letter in exchange for help and report as required.
Agree to attend church services, chapels, Bible studies, and more in exchange for food/healthcare/housing/childcare/addiction support.
Vow to attend mandatory “counseling” sessions with non-licensed, untrained Christian Nationalists who comb through their lives and choices and force them to live by their interpretations of Biblical principals in exchange for continued support.
Swallow questions and tamp down any pushback that might endanger their eligibility for aid.
Refuse to report sexual assaults, inappropriate sexual advances, and other unacceptable behavior for fear of losing benefits.
Tithe ten percent of their income to WCN religious programs and give sacrificially above that. Some will even work in these programs and donate their pay as part of “laying up treasure in heaven.”
Welcome to the Christian Nationalist version of “welfare assistance” Project 2025 outlined, Americans.”
Simply stated, right on the mark! Religion is the invention of men, as are (all) the gods. No one needs a/any religion to act in a so called "Christian" way.
Did “The Framers of the Constitution established the United States of America on the rule of law?”
Did the developers establish the Empire State Building on a constructed foundation? Yes, but the building is where it is because the constructed foundation sits on a natural “bedrock” foundation. If you look at the Manhattan skyline, you can tell where bedrock is and is not close to the surface by seeing where skyscrapers are and are not constructed.
Likewise, the Framers of the Constitution established the United States of America on the natural principle that “I” am the most important person on the planet bar none, and “I” am currently tied for first place with roughly eight billion other people.
The “rule of law” is merely an expression of the principle that we are all equal, or it is merely an expression of the principle that some people are more equal than others. If you look at the health of nations, you can see which ones have a healthy egalitarian “bedrock” foundation and which ones have an unhealthy authoritarian “sand” foundation.
In other words, although it’s incredibly important to know how you’re going to get to your destination, it’s much more important to know your destination.
P.S.
Dear Marco Rubio, Jesus was an egalitarian, but he wouldn’t have called you an authoritarian. Instead, he would have told you some version of Matthew 23:27-28.
Q: What causes terrorism? A: Authoritarianism.
Q: How do we end terrorism? A: End authoritarianism.
So "Big Religion" begs for $$$$s and then we waive almost all taxes on their properties and income. Since church attendance is down to about 1 out of 4 individuals attending at least once a month according to Gallup we need to tax them like any other individual or business.
tRump has unlimited immunity until he doesn't have unlimited immunity. Ditto for tRump's enablers. I see all of what's unfolding as an opportunity to build anew, to strengthen the Constitution and the Principles of Decency globally - Health, Happiness, Economic Prosperity and Opportunity, De-militarization. Nothing to it but to go through it, meaning we have to get these asswipes out of power before we can start rebuilding. Our focus in rebuilding begins with addressing Earth's call for reforming our energy and natural resources issues. We can begin to rebuild the economic damage by immersing our policies and resources in Green innovation and job creation.
If these “asswipes” would lead us in that direction like they are supposed to we would already be on our way. We pay hard coin to these”asswipes.” I want some consideration for funding their “ affluence.” We should offer dorm rooms, food service, weekly testing, and no more pass fail or grading on a curve for Congress critters. Even gang showers. With internet and all they don’t have to be globe trotters on the public dole anymore. With AI they don’t even need to be smart. We could install game cams and see who comes and goes. Boy I’m liking this rant. Can you imagine the current crop of Godlier than thou sharing a chapel for all faiths in the dorm? Hoo boy. Bet they’de cut the crap fast. Banking and insurance could be a one stop shop downstairs. Talk about transparency. I’m thinking identical dress code like Catholic school. I can visualize Maybelline in a plaid skirt. We could make the daily habit miniskirts as in asexual non-division. No divisional political stripes. Let’s just call them the American Society Serving Without Political Espionage, or ASSWIPE for short.
Those accumulating performative d’s and f’s could be put on notice of suspension and dismissal if they don’t come around by summer quarter. No more messy drawn out impeachments. And rewards! Retirement of one month for each month of service at 1/4 pay. Medical but not dental or vision as they seem to be generally elective for the gen. pop, might as well be the same for these part time ASSWIPE jobber congress critters. Oh yes tips forbidden by billionaire besties. For Americas best and brightest this full ride scholarship award seems almost too good to be true. No big loans to worry about for these “affluent ones.” Did I spell that right? Should it be effluent?
They could earn BS degrees followed by MS and finally Doctoral Proctology of Congressional professionalism, giving them time to be of service before gerontological symptoms invade their thinking.
Wish we could impeach Roberts and undo all the damage that he has done to this nation. If not for him and his right wing zealots. we could have had a trial for our felonious “president “ and have peace and normalcy in this country.
My guess is that the House will impeach Trump in early 2027, that that is already in the works, and then Roberts will preside over the Senate trial. We can't blame Roberts for the outcome of that trial.
You might be right. But I'd note that there's not one brand of Christianity, but many denominations. And Trump has (or had) many followers who were not particularly religious. (If fewer Americans are religious than before, how did Trump get so many votes if it's only the Christian right that's supporting him.)
It’s becoming more bizarre than “1984”! I was curious to compare now with the book and found this:
‘Power is only what you allow it to be’.
Written as a Sci-fi, George Orwell wrote “1984” based on events he witnessed as a Colonial Policeman in Burma. He explains that ‘double speak’ is talk that reframes negative terms as positive and this language is used to subvert and confuse the masses.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Orwell knew the exploitation of power as he saw it first hand, as an inflicter, not a victim. He had used a female slave as a house companion, enforced cruelty and led men to their deaths.
“To hold the population down by force, I was in the police, which is to say. I was part of the machinery.”
“1984” was to purge the pain of his conscience and to warn the innocent. Although Orwell engaged in an evil authority, he could not digest it, it disturbed him and led him to undermine his future life in acts of penance. 1984 was written to warn the innocent and to have hope that a future he saw could be prevented.
Today young children play killing games, in their rooms on their computers. Some of the video games are rich in realism which makes the malice more personal; some are playing on Defence websites that observe their results for recruiting purposes.“
Yes, but Kristin, as these games go on, please note the true demagogues.
Those like Putin (and increasingly his acolyte Donald) rot in gnawing, seething, murderously festering group think. (See Georgia Fisanick's, above.) They have a programmed, packaged form of nationalism and racial superiority which rather requires murder, demands rounding up and inflicting cruelty on those not in the in-group.
Our schools have already taught tens of millions to be intolerant of the diversity most of Heather's readers treasure.
But the demagogues have their playbooks, so the games get deadlier and deadlier, with as collateral damage the thousand or so girls Donald's pals trafficked.
I'm am six years older than my sister. When I went to school, my evangelical parents had no money, so I went to public school. I made friends with students of all ethnic and economic backgrounds. I was encouraged to question everything and explore. Public school reading assignments included works by Shakespeare, "Fahrenheit 451" and "Catcher in the Rye." Throughout my life, I have valued inclusion and diversity.
When my sister came along, my parents had a little more money, so they sent her to Christian schools. During her entire matriculation, she never attended class with any student who wasn't white or Christian. A significant portion of her valuable classroom time was spent learning about the Bible. Her teachers prohibited her from reading any books that contained profanity or other "unwholesome" content. Today, she is a Trumper, afraid of everything and everyone who is not just like her.
Educators in public schools have been among my friends throughout my adult life. They have been forced to follow practices and procedures that they found confining, inefficient and frustrating, but none of them have EVER taught intolerance. Not in public schools.
You don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about. Schools DO teach diversity and most students live in it, far better than we ever did when we were kids. You obviously haven’t set foot in a school in years. I was teaching high school myself about 15 years ago. And not a speck of that has anything to do with “the girls of Donald’s pals.” One kitchen sink after another…
THIS^^^ History tells us we’ve been here before, in the 1930’s when Nazism, Christian Nationalism and fascism were embraced by big business (Ford) and popular idiots (Lindbergh). I can only hope that it won’t take another cataclysm to change our path, remembering that those opposed are still the majority. May the sleeping giant awaken.
Same here raised Catholic but don't attend unless I want to or go to a funeral at any church out of respect for a loved one. Also, since many religious organizations are politicking at the pulpit, make them pay taxes. Last I heard, separation of church and state is still in affect.
There's certainly liberal politicking at the pulpit, I've heard that. But most churches in my opinion are focused on worship and doing good works. As for organizations that don't pay taxes who maybe should, we could look at politically-oriented think tanks that skirt the law ever so closely. Tricky business when they all but endorse a candidate.
You're right on the money. People have to quit accepting that we are white christian nationalists. This is part of "flood the zone" political stategy beig used by this regime which was attributed to bannon. I agree, "...horseshit...".
I agree. Trump is hemorrhaging some of his most vocal supporters who actually had some power to impact lawmakers like MTG and Elise Stefanik. Laura Loomer has the orange menace's ear but is an opportunistic jackass who thinks she's queen of MAGA world just because she brays the loudest on social media.
It's Come to This! That was very well-communicated! Our media and other information sources do give this mob, Trump's ignoramuses, far too much coverage and whatever they bray and call things as truths; they're not and we do have to acknowledge that and call them out on it all the time. Trump wants to pretend he is a "big man" when he is a bratty toddler who likes the power he can wield because no one around him will stop him or stop him sufficiently. We do need to impeach Hegseth though because he is helping Baby Donnie to do harm outside and inside this nation. Noem should go into the impeachment pool too. Shame on the Republican Senate for approving the goons that now run most of our agencies and departments. They should have known better, but alas, ignorance is hard to overcome or cure, and I believe most of those Republicans were put into office because of their ignorance and inability to care for or stand up for their people.
Georgia, I am of no-faith….never have been, neither is any of my extended family, nor is how we/I were raised….the tenets of being a good, caring, helpful, contributing, hardworking and empathetic person, however, were modeled and taught down thru the generations…and still are our “guidance” going forward.
One awful aspect of this monstrous behavior in the name of Jesus is the putrification of his original message - tainting those who actually practice the good stuff.
This administration is CINO. These murdering Fascists are not people of faith. They are power hungry thieves. They aren't pro life. They are pro themselves.
I was born as a Christian. I am now ashamed of the term.
I refer to myself as a Christ follower, not a Christian, since Christian carries so much hate filled baggage. I am offended by this criminal administration using Christianity as a prop for their lawlessness.
I was raised as a "church goer". Old white building with a tall steeple. Sunday school, given a Bible. The stories about how Jesus lived life seemed sensible and kind. Nice.
At 13, I became disgusted with the behavior of the Sunday school teachers and church attendees Monday through Saturday. And a science education was sinking in. I left.
Most faiths have, at their core, tenets that are similar. Good ones.
With some notable exceptions, it seems that the people who crow about their faith the loudest are the biggest betrayers of the founding principles.
Anyone who follows the ACTUAL message of Jesus (whether he was real or not is irrelevant) has my respect and admiration.
Someone like Jimmy Carter. The proof is in the behavior. He built houses. He helped beat diseases. He fed people. He was a man of peace. That's "bible thumping" at its best.
"47" gilds his palace. Kills people in boats. Randomly bombs. Supports brutal dictators. Preaches hate. Defies the law. Spits on our Constitution. If this is the new "Christianity" - burn it to the ground.
I still respect the late President Carter for living out his faith through concrete action like Habitat for Humanity, and his work to eradicate neglected tropical diseases.
Bill A, I am confident that you know that what we in Minnesota interfaith social justice circles refer to as Christo-Fascist White Nationalism (to deny them the word Christian) is not at all what Jesus or Jimmy Carter or MLKJr or Nuns on the Bus or many others are about.
Long ago someone said to me: Don't blame Jesus for what Christians do.
Totally agree about Jimmy & Rosalyn Carter…they both “walked the talk” before, during and after their time in public office. I admired them greatly. Voted for Jimmy twice (POTUS).
Bill, many years ago during a conversation, the subject of religion came up and one fellow said “Jesus, a good man”. That comment stayed with me as a simple truth…leaving aside all the trappings heaped on his “being” down thru the centuries.
Thank you for your story, which I view as a good antedote for children playing killing games. If people do go to church, I hope the sermons they hear and the community they experience inspire willingness to stand up to government-sanctioned manipulation and aggression we're seeing perpetrated locally and globally.
Your comment, Albert, made me recall my dogger, Scout, who was zooming around the yard with her dogger buddy and knocked me down as she was zipping by (we were both moving, so spatial misjudgment). I lay on the ground trying to figure out if I was injured (minor bone fracture in my ankle as it turned out). She immediately came over to me and put her face to mine while I’m flat out on the ground, then sped away…..only to return moments later with one of her toys she’d retrieved from the house to give to me. She was a great dog & miss her still.🐾❤️
I’ve been lucky, Albert, in my life to have dogger companions that I dearly loved & had great adventures with (I live in a rural area & lots of great options exist…a couple w/in walking distance of home). My current dogger, Piper, is my most challenging—she’s wicked smart & has a very independent attitude (as many “working” breeds do), also very reactive, loving too…and, at my age, likely may be my last dogger, so is putting me through my paces!!!! I have my “garden of dogs”, buried over the years, as their time came to leave, beneath the willow tree….each with a dogger statue marking where they rest. Sometimes I sit on the chair I placed there and have a cuppa tea and reminisce. Wish their lives were much much longer…💔🐾
And they fail to see the hypocrisy in how their personal acts are in stark contrast to the Ten Commandments (which are the tenets of most religions and not limited to the Christian faith). They lie, they steal, they kill, they commit adultery, they bear false witness ......
Notice it’s interesting they never suggest posting the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount, instead preferring a list of rules they themselves ignore. I also think that it’s appropriate for religious schools, but not for public schools due to First Amendment issues.
“Yes, I have thought a lot about blowing up the White House. “
Madonna, January 22, 2017 - The Woman’s March on Washington- which I was there in the middle of a half million women and felt very happy. (From Donald’s Vanity Tantrums)
I was there, too. It was a damp, overcast day packed to the gills with resistors to this nauseating fascist regime. Those of us who saw the writing on the wall way back then. I saw the MAGA loser dweebs who were there for the inauguration take off their red hats in fear as we marched past. And I’ll never forget that feeling that day, that feeling of: WE OUTNUMBER YOU. We still do…
We had wanted to go to the Women's March (from California), but couldn't find a Hotel room available. Apparently many more than we thought had booked them thinking Hillary would be elected, but kept the reservations to be there for the march (later estimated to be 500,000). We went to one in Riverside California instead and were so pleased that the Hotels weren't filled with anywhere near as many intending to see Trump inaugurated in 2017.
There were not 5 million there, women or otherwise. There were about 500,000 present — men, women, children, some dogs. I was there too. Turning accuracy into a one-dimensional caricature serves nobody.
Maybe. In DC, 500,000 protestors is still a huge number. This time around, No Kings organizers are far more focused on getting the numbers out in places like Idaho, Texas, Alabama — not just here, in New York, San Francisco, Boston. A great idea that’s beginning to pay off, too.
"...Though different publications are providing different figures, The Independent reports that between 3.3 and 4.6 million people walked and carried signs, 750,000 in Los Angeles, 575,000 in Washington D.C., 450,000 in New York, 250,000 in Chicago and many smaller figures in other cities, making this the largest protest in American history. In contrast to the protests on the day of the inauguration, not one marcher was reported arrested in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, New York, Chicago or Seattle..."
Not to mention that the color really popped in all the photo coverage and made it clear for all time how to differentiate that special day! - I was thrilled to see that powerful visual representation. 🩷♀️
If someone had said that at a rally following the inauguration of a Democratic President, they would have been vilified by the press and maybe taken to jail.
I disagree. I thought the pussy hat was a perfect metaphor and rejoinder to the gross sexual violator the Electoral College just put into office. Sadly, that irony was lost on nearly half the country that couldn’t have cared less about his sexual sadism.
It appears throughout history that “men” bastardize the messages of the Gospels and The Word to exact vengeance on those “others” that threaten them. The Ultimate Parable of Christ’s death at the hands of the Pharisee led mob is lost on them
“We are doing the ‘work of Christ’ by literally ignoring the Words of Christ”
Then again, the ultimate parable is that a vengeful god needed his only son, a demi-god born of a virgin, to be a human sacrifice, dying in a most cruel and brutal fashion, and by shifting responsibility to an innocent, it satisfied an old grudge.
whether or not one “believes”, you’ve misinterpreted the actual message of sacrifice, faith and salvation
The Gospels (as a message) provide insight into living a life of empathy that even nonbelievers can find value in. Having Faith that this message can endure is really the point
Funny, Georgia: "when they start imposing groupthink on us."
Of course this started before the current crop of elite savages. The far right foundations pursuant to the 1971 Powell memo spent the rest of the '70s eradicating humanities from schools -- K-12 and "higher."
That job done, enter the neutering devices of testing (along with the equally deliberate group-think intentions of corporate textbook packagers).
When the New Deal rescued our economy from the Great Depression, it started with attacks on socialism. The Powell memo is just another link in the chain of events that brought us to the military empire we live in today.
Yes, Alec. This is the same old monster that raised its head in the 1930’s and was defeated. It couldn’t be blamed on the lack of humanities or our schools because a vast number of Americans had no schooling at all. Once again the root cause is the struggle for power and whether the people, vs. the wealthy, benefit.
Lewis Powell and his corporate peers hated the fervor of the 1960s, MLM..
They hated the anti-war protestors. They hated the civil rights activists. Hated the feminists. Hated the environmentalists. And they united around Powell because 1) he could lie with aristocratic decorum to defend the lies of the big tobacco industry and 2) he could more than anyone understand the origins of all the passions of the '60s.
Environmentalists, feminists, civil rights activists, and anti-war protestors all drew their energy and focus from the books, films, and music of the era. Powell understand those humanities might continue to emanate from the American people, but they needn't get the reinforcement that they were getting from American schools if the schools could be made to kill the humanities in them.
This, he did. His memo did this. It prompted the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and many other far-right groups to be well-funded and coordinated in a campaign first to strip humanities from schools. Schools must have neutered voices. No public actions outside of specialist silos.
They did this.
Then, from about 1980 on, enter the testers and the corporate textbook packagers.
Not just the ACLU. Americans United for Separation of Church & State has been working on these issues for many years. See au.org . I support both organizations.
Georgia, you are right about this. We also need our "Christian" communities to stand up to these childish bullies who are using Christianity as their weapon against anyone who does not agree with their attempted authoritarian takeover. Those in charge and who wrote those appalling christian messages are committing or rather, inciting crimes against Americans and people of other nations. That is a kind of treason and I think we need to start looking at it in that light, as an attack from within our society to take down our constitution and perhaps our nation altogether. That is not so different from being attacked from an enemy from without.
"I was raised as a Catholic. I still hold to the tenets of that faith, but not the institutional practice. The institution failed me, but not the faith. I still wear a cross."
The underlying message of Jesus, or Rabbi Hillel, or the form of Buddhism that dominates in the US seem all to be much in harmony and at odds with the GOP's glorification of violence. There is no hard evidence that Gandhi actually said that he admired "our Christ but not our Christianity" or words to that effect, though Snopes says "Gizmodo traces the quote to a similar statement made by Indian philosopher Bara Dada in the mid-1920s that says, 'Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians, you are not like him.' " In any case, history sees organized religion displaying political behavior that seems to be at odds with the inclusivity and kindnesses demonstrated by some of the salient religious philosophers.
How is it that the category we call "religious" presents both acts extreme generosity and kindness and those of truly sociopathic cruelty? It seems to me that the former is motivated by humility and compassion and the other is vain and domineering. They are not even close to the same thing. I also notice that without checks and balances, and some kind of commitment to good faith, power tends to corrupt, and the "clout" of the organization and one's place in it can displace "good intentions" that may have motivated it's formation. That seems to be true whether the organization is nominally religious or secular.
It strikes me that if one's faith is truly faith, it can bear any questioning, especially by one's own self. It can bear challenge. It may be taught and shared, but it comes from within, not from coercion from the outside, for anyone. It is not induced by way of any form of physical and/of psychological violence.
Jesus Christ was a liberal Jew. I was also raised Catholic and left the church because of the wicked pedophile priests that ran rampant for decades with a cover up by the bishops, cardinals and pope. To all of these faux Christians in this government, who are cruel, abusive and enriching themselves illegally, my overarching question is: What would Jesus do? When you ask that question, the answer always comes.
You're free now you're not shackled by the lies and distortions you can choose which way to go. You can back your president in America or you can stay hateful and be miserable choice is yours.
Mark you poor lost soul I could give a shit about Trump or his sneakers, but you have not fact checked her article today and if you did, you would come back and say thank you to me, but you won't do that because you fear the truth so much easier to believe whatever the hell she pours down your gullet. I dare you to fact, check it go look what the Washington Post says that Trump is actually doing and is supporting his effort in the process.
Don't believe me check it yourself. But I don't think you have the Colonis because the blood to your brain has been shut off by Heather's distortions. As she is not telling you the whole story.
Here comes the fool troll who can’t help himself. You don’t belong here and you’re not going to convince anyone here to turn into a Fox brained cultist with your silly, ignorant comments.
This isn’t a Christian nation. It’s being run by fake Christian scum trying to turn this country into the American version of the Taliban. All for power and greed. Only a fool can’t see or understand that. It’s so ridiculously obvious.
Would you like some links as well?&Support for Trump's efforts in Nigeria includes the Nigerian government, which praised U.S. military strikes and provided intelligence for the operations. Additionally, some U.S. lawmakers and conservative groups advocate for intervention to protect Christians facing violence in Nigeria.
PBS London School of Economics and Political Science
Support for Trump's Efforts in Nigeria
U.S. Government Officials
President Donald Trump: He has been vocal about military intervention in Nigeria, citing the need to protect Christians from violence.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: He expressed gratitude to Nigeria for cooperation during the military strikes, indicating support from the Defense Department.
Nigerian Government
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar: He praised the U.S. strikes, stating that Nigeria provided intelligence for the operations. He emphasized that the strikes were a joint effort and not aimed at any specific religion.
Advocacy Groups
Christian Organizations: Various Christian advocacy groups have supported Trump's narrative, arguing that the Nigerian government has not adequately protected Christian communities from violence.
Public Sentiment
Nigerian Public: Some segments of the Nigerian population, particularly those affected by violence, may view U.S. intervention as a necessary step to address security issues.
Adam kinziger supports Trump on this. Ooooops some more
PS I assure you this is not a hobby. This is not something I take lightly.
All I’m suggesting to you and nothing more is to open your eyes and fact check what you’re reading. Not my words other words that will tell you exactly what I’m referring to which is blatant in the story here about Christian nationalism, which has nothing to do with what Trump is doing in Nigeria. Go read up about it then come back to me and tell me what you’re fine if you’d like if not continue to be misled at your own peril.
Did you get my message there Jessie not about me at all nothing about me. It’s about the world around you that you’re shut out from. Dare yourself to go find out the truth, not about me at all. You’re not fooling anyone but yourself.
I’m not asking to change anyone’s mind. All I’m asking is that you question what you’re reading? You should validate it you should verify it before you start riding and then find out that the truth you supposedly have been told is not the truth at all. The Washington Post, which hates Donald Trump as much as the New York Times has put out a story that.States that what Donald Trump is doing a righteous and noble, and they support it. Well imagine that Heather didn’t tell us that. And now you’re beginning to catch so don’t let me convince you I don’t wanna do that. I want you to convince yourself by double checking whatever you read to make sure it is factual ..Alas it is NOT.
And by the way, this is exactly where I need to be. You all are supposed to be highly educated professors and Dr but none of you want to check anything. Heather says he just swallow it like little chickadees in the nest when mama comes to drop shit in your mouth GO READ WAPO And just about every other journal that speaking the truth other than what you hearing here. Donald Trump is killing Isis, who are slaughtering both Christians and Muslims alike read and weep. Don’t believe me that’s fine just double check and unfortunately, you’re gonna be sorry when you do
The only people who are saying this is a Christian nation is the people who are involved in the Christian nation, which doesn’t exist except in your warped minds. If my ignorant comments are what you don’t like try every other middle of the road or right wing leaning comments, but the Washington Post isn’t right leaning. It’s his left as you get and it is supporting his efforts and makes no mention of Christian nationalism, the only people who are saying that are you fool, who actually believe it.
Wendy, he likes to see his name in print (Sound like anyone else we know?) and thinks he is the only fact-checker in the country. He sounds as deluded as the Oval Office Occupant is.
I can always expect nothing less than nothing more than an Erudite from you so meaningful and so impactful in fact, you are the essence of the left leaning association. Hate and insults with no back up no facts just worthless pity Pat.
Good to hear from you Rick. Have you been on vacation? We missed your trolling. I hope you have been practicing those deep breaths to counteract that ranting. It is so bad for your health.
Rick, You are so freaking dumb I not only convinced you to purchase my original book’ “, Donald’s Vanity Tantrums.” But I almost just now convinced you to grab my new edition with a bunch of new stories inside. I lied to you and told you they were good stories about the scum bag but they weren’t. But I figured you were so gullible and stupid I almost convinced you, you rotten little man.
Did you get my check yet Bill I’m sure I sent it. Talk about gullible Now if you’ll only change the title of your book and I see a title like that on Amazon Donald Trump is really the best president I’ve ever had and I’ve been wrong this whole time that might that might inch me closer to purchasing it. Lmao.
Aw, Little Ricky’s back! Little Kool-Aid drinkin’’ Ricky, fascist-lovin’ Ricky, mixed-up in the head Ricky. You just can’t leave us for good, can you Ricky? Gotta come here every so often and stir up the baby-eating, evil Satanic Marxist Libs, right Little Ricky? Buckle up, Little Ricky, I have a feeling 2026 won’t be too kind to you and your ilk.
The issue with Trump is that he can do something strategic but then he talks shit. They are murdering Christians in Nigeria and other African nations. That is a fact. I am not a Trumper and do not agree with what is happening in the US. I also think that he is motivated by gold and money. But this doesn’t mean that everything he says is terrible. And then we get our panties in a twist over the least important thing he says…
OK, but the idea that Christians are a primary target is not factual. Are Christians being killed? Yes. Are Muslims being killed? Yes. Nigeria is almost evenly split between the two populations.
Sure, attack terrorists, but to frameit as a religious war is misguided.
These people are sociopaths and psychopaths. Some are both. I see Ronald Reagan who made neoliberalism popular as a turning point in how "Christians" behave and think of themselves. Under Reagan it became "Me!Me!ME!" and selfishness as the mode of the day. That selfishness turned into hatred for others, and thus a hateful Christianity grew. It is very medieval.
Julie Roginsky discussed how there is now a MAGA 2.0 which considers people like Trump weak tea. They are angrier and meaner and openly Nazi! Consider what she is telling us here.
The good thing is that this new, more horrible and mostly younger faction is splitting the party. In fact, the same might be true in the Democratic party as well, where the younger people are more social democrats than center democrats. Thus, the youth are even further apart.
An article I read yesterday said that one cannot so clearly tease apart who are Christian Nationalists who support racist, and anti poor and mean spirited ideas; and who are the Christians that believe in Jesus Christ's teachings. It said that many people are on a continuum of embracing Christian Nationalist ideas. One faction in the Pentecostal "Christians" are embracing the Prosperity gospel; the idea that they are getting material rewards from God if they worship in the right way, which is whatever the pastor tells them. I am sorry that so many people are desperate sheep, and turning to this evil religion which is not about tolerance and acceptance, but quite the opposite. Yes, they are not critical thinkers and do not understand how what they are practicing is not a justified interpretation of Christ or the Bible.
I can’t help but believe “those people”, Tucker, the Tates, Candice et al are the Fr. Charles Coughlins of the modern era. It’s not faith, it’s money and power.
I am a Christian. But there is NOTHING of Christ in these “Christian” Nationalists. They claim to love Jesus but ignore his most precious mandate to love all others-not just the easy ones who love us back-but our enemies as well. He never glorified attacking, hurting, harming, or insulting others and he freely invited those with differing opinions into his circle. None of this is about faith. It’s a hijacking of a concept of faith in order to bully and destroy others, all the while duping others into thinking this is a just cause. I’m sickened, outraged, and appalled. I know atrocities have been committed in the name of Christianity over the centuries, but this is taking it to an entirely new level with the firepower these Nazis possess. Respecting the inherent right to live and thrive of every human, respecting the beliefs of all others, respecting the rights of those seeking Justice and opportunity is basic Constitutional grounding. Who will stop these people? How do we, the people finally end this madness??
As Trump is failing big time, he is directing Government agencies to pretend they have a belief in Christ by posting official messages alluding to America being a “Christian Nation” in order to cement support from White Christian Nationalists
Nothing says Anti-Christ louder than MAGA cheering the bombing and killing of Nigerian Gang camps on Christmas Day
Or this guy; what person, holding to any rational value system could vote for this?
“On Christmas Day, Republican Indiana state senator Chris Garten posted AI images of himself punching, kicking, and body-slamming Santa Claus in front of the state capitol. His explanation for the images was that he was reacting to the “fact” that “the North Pole is trying to bring more bureaucratic overreach & unfunded mandates down the chimney disguised as ‘Christmas cheer.’” “We The People run Indiana, not the bureaucrats,” he wrote. “Take it back to the North Pole big guy.”
Garten called outrage over the posts “fake” and “a stark reminder of how overly sensitive society has become.” He later blasted the “intolerance, swearing, and outrage” over the images and said: “Some of you clowns are just insufferable…. Merry Christmas, snowflakes!”
Silent Night, Holy America: How Christmas Became a Soft Launch for Theocracy, Airstrikes, and Santa With Handcuffs
‘‘This Christmas, the government did not merely celebrate a holiday. It tested how easily faith can be weaponized, the Constitution sidelined, and cruelty wrapped in carols and patriotic lighting.’’
Every December, America dusts off its most cherished traditions. Tree lighting. Eggnog. Awkward family conversations. And now, apparently, a full dress rehearsal for Christian nationalist authoritarianism, sponsored by the federal government and rolled out with the subtlety of a megachurch laser show.
This year’s yuletide message from Washington was clear and comforting. Christ is born, the Constitution is optional, and nothing says peace on Earth like a precision strike announced with festive punctuation.
The Framers imagined a nation grounded in law, conscience, and pluralism. The modern executive branch imagined a government Instagram account run by a youth pastor who just discovered Canva. The First Amendment promised no religious establishment. Christmas 2025 delivered wall-to-wall nativity-themed state messaging, complete with patriotic hymn soundtracks and a reminder that America apparently has both a flag and a Savior, bundled together like a holiday value pack.
The Department of Homeland Security, an agency historically associated with visas and metal detectors, leaned fully into its new role as America’s most heavily armed church bulletin. Christ is born. Rejoice America. Merry Christmas after mass deportations. Nothing warms the soul like seasonal joy paired with population control.
ICE followed up with an AI Santa wearing tactical gear, handcuffing immigrants before boarding an ICE plane. The message was unmistakable. Santa still knows if you have been naughty or nice, but now he also has federal authority and a budget line item.
Meanwhile, the Commander in Chief celebrated Christmas night by announcing a deadly military strike, framed as divine retribution with air support. Merry Christmas to all, including the dead terrorists. It was the first time in history that the phrase “peace on Earth” was followed so closely by “numerous perfect strikes.”
The justification was the protection of Christians abroad, which is noble, selective, and extremely convenient. The administration suddenly discovered Nigerian Christians while displaying a curious lack of interest in Christians elsewhere, like in Ukraine, who lack the same political utility. It turns out religious compassion works best when it polls well and fits neatly into a campaign email.
Supporters responded with the enthusiasm of people who believe Christmas is best celebrated with vengeance. Nothing says goodwill toward men like mass killing, especially when described as a stocking stuffer. The Nativity scene now includes shepherds, wise men, and a missile silo.
Back home, the spirit of the season spread to statehouses. One lawmaker commemorated Christmas by posting AI images of himself body slamming Santa Claus. The explanation was that Santa represents bureaucratic overreach. This was meant to be funny, or symbolic, or both. Mostly, it was unsettling. Santa, once a harmless ambassador of consumerism, is now an enemy of the state.
Critics were told to stop pearl-clutching. Society is too sensitive, they were informed, by men using government power to threaten mass deportations, religious conformity, and political violence while insisting everyone calm down and enjoy the holiday.
Throughout it all, the underlying transaction remained clear. The administration gets loyalty, immunity, and cash flow. Its base gets a promise. Not healthcare, wages, or stability, but dominance. A country reshaped to reflect a very specific vision of who belongs, who rules, and who kneels.
Christmas used to be about incarnation, humility, and moral restraint. This year, it was about branding, punishment, and power. The baby in the manger has been replaced by a logo. The star over Bethlehem now doubles as a targeting system.
The Constitution still exists, of course. It just spent the holidays in the attic, wrapped in tissue paper, waiting to see if anyone plans to bring it back out next year.
Merry Christmas, America Project 2025 style! The Earth has received her King, and the Republic has received a receipt.
Apparently they haven't realized the "christians" they're "defending" in Nigeria aren't white. Or that under the latest rules, they aren't offered asylum in the US or allowed to emigrate here. I'd guess most of the people kidnapped and deported without process are "christian" too.
Nigeria has officially confirmed crude oil and condensate reserves of about 37.28 billion barrels as of January 1, 2025, making it the country with the second‑largest crude reserves in Africa, after Libya. In addition to oil, Nigeria also holds around 210.54 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which places it among the top gas-rich nations globally.
Where the oil is
Most of Nigeria’s oil is found in:
The Niger Delta region (onshore and in the mangrove/swamp areas).
Offshore fields in the Gulf of Guinea, including shallow and deepwater blocks.
Newer frontier basins in northern Nigeria that are being explored and appraised..."
The phenomenon described has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks. They called it Amathia, i.e., Intelligent Stupidity or Willful Ignorance. I've been told, "There's no fix for stupid." Some people are going to believe what they want to believe, though the verifiable facts supporting the belief don't exist. But there is another twist to what's going on here. That there are no verifiable facts proving the claim of any religion is beside the point with MAGA folks - their racism is so strong that they are blind to the fact that they, too, will be nothing but fodder in a Fascist state. Theocracies are Fascist regimes, just as Trump's regime will be if he and the white Christian Nationalists aren't stopped.
Well, if there is a God, the Christian Nationalists are not fooling her. She sees them. Christian American is an oxymoron. Let the scales fall from our eyes.
This really resonated. I believe deeply that the only way any of us stay free is by protecting our neighbor’s right to believe differently or not at all. That’s the kind of care for one another this country needs more of.
Xplisett:" ... defending your neighbor's right not to be a believer". I think it is time before the New Year to re-watch Luis Bunels' 1969 film: 'The Milky Way', La Voie Lactee.
The movie's narrative is driven by two characters that are not on a pilgrimage but, on a surreal, historical, hysterical trail of'Christian' fantasies.
Modern 'believers' are treated as fanatics that the are in the real world.
Oh Xplisset we should all agree ..it continues to be disgraceful and impossible to fathom how many self serving people Trump has found to support his sick agendas
Our choice or calling to worship and our freedom not to be forced to worship is as it should be.
"X" I personally think that those in Washington who want to have a "state religion" must not understand "faith" at all. I would say, "sounds more like another avenue for CONTROL or BRAINWASHING!
I am a Christian...grew up in the church and in a home in which faith was lived out and church attended every week, but I did not choose Christianity as my own, personal faith until in my 20's following my own share of misadventures. I know some will not understand this, but it was the love of Christ that pursued me rather than my pursuit of Christ.
God also blessed me with two close friends with whom I grew up, but as myself had been on their own misadventures. Circumstances brought us together to share our "stories". Their faith has grown and they deal with good and bad which are a part of each of our lives.
I have friends of various beliefs and friends of no set religious beliefs. I believe freedom to worship in an honest sincere manner or not is a decision for each person.....NOT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MASS CONTROL!
These guys have obviously lost touch with ”What would Jesus do?” What can we do about this? I can’t really admire the governor of Indiana’s trolling, if that’s what it is. These guys are so caught up in hatred that they really need the Christian message, even while they just trash it.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Nigeria too is a top oil nation, with tens of billions of barrels. Greenland holds huge untapped rare earth minerals and significant offshore oil potential in the Arctic.
This could not be more transparent if it were made by Waterford. The big question--Who is running the show? It is not DT. All he wants is adulation, grift, and to avoid prison for his many crimes. He has the mouth, but who is putting the words in?
In slavery and the Civil War, in the era of US "Robber Barons", in the rise of Trump and his billionaire patrons. This video from Robert Reich is creepy but well worth watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_VwyhErd88
Hmmmmm. If Iraq's biggest export was cabbages, would we have bothered? How about Venezuela? The 1953 CIA coup in Iran? How much did that have to do with the mess that became? Traditionally, excesses of money and other means of power tend to figure big in the devils bargain.
And let us not forget the names of the eight political puppets – seven fake Democrats and one pseudo-independent (each senator in bitter truth a willing tool of our ecogenocidal Masters) -- whose traitorous votes ended what was probably the last (effective) progressive defiance we shall ever see. They are Tim Kaine (Virginia); Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (Nevada); John Fetterman (Pennsylvania); Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire); Dick Durbin (Illinois); and Angus King (Maine), the pseudo-Independent.
Think about the meaning of their votes. They not only killed the Affordable Care Act and so murdered untold numbers of children, women and men by permanent denial of health insurance. They also tacitly approved the Regime itself, including its hatefully broadened resurrection of the Original Nazis' Holocaust to include extermination or deportation of anyone it chooses to target. They are therefore comprehensible only as a breathtakingly craven collaboration in unconditional surrender; they reverse our victories in World War II, the Civil War and the War for Independence; they nullify everything we thought we were or ever hoped to be as a nation and thus declare war on every humanitarian gain our species ever achieved. In the unlikely chance there is enough of a human future to ever again produce honest historians, those eight votes will in all probability be noted as the final official enabling act of the former United States in its embrace of Failed Nationhood.
Loren, they didn't "kill" the ACA. The ACA is still in effect, Covid subsidies expired.
We can agree that we should have continued the subsidies of the pandemic era, that some form of universal health care is long overdue, but to say that these Democrats killed the ACA is inaccurate.
To compare them to Nazi sympathizers, or that their vote when so many were suffering from the government shutdown nullified every humanitarian gain our species ever achieved is misguided. Really?
We're all frustrated, but hyperbole from either side isn't helpful.
As always, Gary, I welcome how your posts exemplify the carefully scripted campaign to perpetuate neoliberal capitalism by minimizing the death and suffering it invariably inflicts – its deadly wretchedness now infinitely intensified by the atrocities perpetrated by Trump and his MAGATs in obedience to the techno-Übermenschen/Christonazi imperium. As hatefully demanded by the white male supremacist majority vote on 5 November 2024, they have reduced us to a Failed State and now tyrannize us at will. Thus I welcome your criticism for two reasons: firstly, it spares me the need to seek examples of why it is (and always will be) impossible for us to build effective resistance to Christonazification; and secondly, the unavoidable result of our inability to build effective resistance -- zero-tolerance theocracy rendered eternal* by techno-military omnipotence -- demonstrates why the nation that was once literally the hope of all humanity can never recover from its voters' vindictive embrace of Failed-State status and has therefore become our species' ecogenocidal nemesis.
__________________
*"Eternal" as in, "until our species renders itself extinct," whether by war, misogynistic murder of our Mother Earth or more likely both.
Yes, semantics the study of meaning, why would that be important? Who cares what words mean?
Neoliberal capitalism? Please cite my posts supporting Neoliberal capitalism.
That's just nonsense.
No one is minimizing the suffering of those experiencing onerous health care costs, but to liken the votes of those Democrats who were concerned with the suffering during the shutdown with the resurrection of Nazism is absurd. It's that kind of hyperbole that cause the majority of reasonable and rational Americans to dismiss the rantings of "progressives".
Alas, Gary, almost all capitalism today is neoliberal capitalism. Quoth George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison in "Invisible Doctrine; the Secret History of Neoliberalism" (Crown: 2024): "So pervasive has neoliberalism become that we no longer even recognize it as an ideology.We see it as a kind of 'natural law,' like Darwinian selection, thermodynamics, or even gravity -- an immutable fact, a nonnegotiable reality. What greater power can there be than to operate namelessly?" In other words, when you praise or defend capitalism, which you do often, what you are actually doing -- unless of course you specify otherwise -- is praising or defending neoliberalism.
Ah, the purity tests. Your blame is misplaced. It isn’t the Senate members who voted to end the shutdown that must be fought, but the regime that passed the Big Ugly Bill. Keep your eye on our common goal by not playing the blame game. The regime was not going to capitulate.
Apparently Loren is convinced that voting to end a government shutdown that was negatively affecting whole swaths of innocents, is the same as the Holocaust.
Which is a denigration of the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust.
With all due respect, Ms. Adams, those eight senators are part of the Regime. So are most other Democrats. Look it up: how many Democrats voted to approve the Christonazi judges on the Supreme Court?
If you like the shutdown as method no doubt there's going to be another one im January because the hypocrites of the GOP will not get needed appropriations to support the government proceeding that must be decided in January.
It is most assuredly (not) my favorite method, Ms. Fletez, but being 85 years old and knowing the national attitude as I do from studies facilitated by a near-lifelong career in journalism and social-documentary photography, I recognize it is probably the closest we will ever come to a general strike, just as I know it will invariably produce a chorus of furious complaints from the huge majority that cannot abide the notion of suffering even minimal inconvenience to advance the common good, and I know too it will end in betrayal by a gaggle of fake Democrats -- most likely pretend Democrats chosen by careful clandestine caucusing after thorough evaluation of local constituencies to find the requisite percentages of MAGATs who would vote for such betrayers. (Note the MAGAT-tainted constituencies of the ACA atrocity's Eight Enablers.) Thus the charade of representative governance continues, to no avail save perpetuating the impossibility of genuinely progressive change.
Annabel, you certainly nailed the most important question of our times:
“The big question--Who is running the show? It is not DT. All he wants is adulation, grift, and to avoid prison for his many crimes. He has the mouth, but who is putting the words in?”
Indeed, who is behind this ?
Who are Trumps’s puppeteers?
I think we can say with evidential certainty, the cabal of oligarchs who planned Project 2025 and are implementing the Project 2025, are behind this takeover.
Their goal seems to be to remake the US a Christin nation.
And the only reason they want us to be a Christian nation is to control the people and keep the majority poor sick and enslaved. Do you think any of these oligarchs are religious? I think not. I for one have never and will never follow any religion. It’s all bullshit.
Doesn't matter, anyone thinking we can take out Trump and the rest of the Republikkkans will slither back under the rocks they came out if is delusional. This can be a bloodless revolution, if they let it be.
Trump is in charge, witness the adulation at cabinet meetings, the fear amongst Republican representatives and Senators at being primaried by Trump surrogates or losing his blessing, the kowtowing of his sycophants. Think about his rise to power, the initial writing-off of his first candidacy by the GOP, then their absolute acquiescence.
Agreed there are those who influence him, but they too are at each other throats. I'm going with Occam's Razor here, it is as it appears, a madman with a court of fools fighting for position.
Respectfully disagree, Gary, Trump is just the face of the farce. He has no ideas aside from how to grift. Maybe in Trump 1 but in Trump 2 the writers of “2025” are in charge. He is an enabler of their vision but has none of his own.
I think the difference is between causation and correlation. The proponents of Project 2025 are indeed riding Trump's success to further their agenda, however Trump, as ignorant as he is, answers to no one.
I believe he has a vision, one in which he is adored, loved, followed, and admired, to be forever remembered in monuments, titles, and buildings.
And yet there are still those amongst us who refuse to acknowledge we live in a deliberately Failed State -- that our task is (not) reclamation, which is obviously impossible, but is instead the infinitely more difficult chore of digging ourselves out of the rubble and building anew.
$$$$$$$$$ = DJT and associates. The actions against any nation that has ‘assets’ is not about saving the people, but is about how DJT & company can grab it all. None have any inkling of what it means to be honest and compassionate. Miller, Vought, and associates are the puppeteers who control the Dump.
i endorse your concept, but imho it is not another single individual "putting the words in," but a coalition of the ultrarich (some would use the term ruling class), utilizing white supremacists and right-wing "religious" fundamentalists to broaden their grip and distract from the real mechanics of power and greed. Never have I felt so justifiably paranoid.
"As foreign policy journalist Anne Applebaum noted, rhetorically, 'Not sure I understand why the Trump administration cares about Christians in Nigeria and not Christians in Ukraine.' ”
Obviously, this regime doesn't care about foreign Christians, no matter where they live. We are offering asylum to white South Africans. Are we offering asylum to Christian Nigerians? The hypocrisy of the regime is stunning. Their plans for the majority of us may still not be specific, but whatever they are, they are terrifying.
Well, Betsy, the Washington Post disagrees with you and as the left-wing zealot of news media, they are actually backing and supporting Trump in this endeavor oooooops
We bomb Nigerians on Christmas to show how much we love Baby Jesus (I guess). The only other person who bombs people on Christmas is Vladimir Putin. Enough said.
Netanyahu is still happily pursuing genocide on the Palestinians, despite the "ceasefire" farce, but I suppose the Palestinians have already all but completely left the US memory, and will only be vaguely remembered again when Gaza is reborn as a gaudy, US-white-trailer-trash-taste monstrosity.
Sorry, JL you pulled up on the 20% versus the 80% all over again not only is America in favor of Trump stopping Isis wherever they may roam from killing Christians as well as Muslims but even the Washington Post your Bible of record has supported Trump in that mission but you don't care because all you have is blind hate how's that working for you so far?
I was thinking that exact thing while I was reading the article! It’s just nuts. But we can’t forget, Trump is not an ideologue, he is a profiteer (and a racist). If he and his family can profit from it, he’s in. If it keeps him in power, he’s in. He just wants money and mass adoration. And a lot of white people. That about covers it.
On an unrelated (yet consistent) note, Richard Grenell, Trump’s ass-kissing, hand-picked Director of the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, announced he intends to SUE! SUE! SUE! Chuck Redd for $1 million for refusing to perform his yearly Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Center this year to protest yet another illegal Dump act violating Congressional authority by renaming the JFK Center for himself.
Aside from the gratuitous idiocy of it all, mightn’t Redd’s attorney seek to have the suit dismissed because his contract was with the JFK Center, not some make-believe, non-existent “Donald J. Trump….for the Performing (F)arts”?
This is a technical question for an attorney, not for those of us doubled up with guffawing.
ps. The Center is playing “Spamalot” this New Years Eve. How appropriate. I wouldn't attend even if they gave me free bread and a circus to go with it.
A lawyer friend posited the same thought yesterday. Certainly there was a cancellation clause, addressing both sides, plus a definition of the parties signing the contract.
There is no reality in which Drumpf is religious. He found what for him is an easy audience. On that basis he feigns interest in religion. Though truthfully, he likely does have an earnest interest in the collection box.
As for the seeming anomaly of deporting anyone who is not ‘white’ speaks for itself. Drumpf’s supporters are a cocktail of white-christian nationalists with a sidecar of plutocracy, politically the spitting image of KKK and Naziis. Clearly there is nothing Christian about any of these people other than the frequency with which they bruit about the word … and flaunt those gold-plated iron crosses.
It’s a pity this season we no longer have the sharp wit and comfort that Tom Lehrer provided us for so many years.
I will be thinking of him and listening to those well worn vinyl recordings as this year comes to a close. He passed in July. He was 97.
It’s a pity too many phonies sporting ginormous, glittery crucifixes choose to forget how Jesus described phakes, phonies and Pharisees who primp and preen so they can be seen in the “best seats” at the synagogue. He called them “hypocrites” “vipers” and “whited sepulchers of stink and corruption.”
As has been pointed out many times by *real* theologians (rather than Kegsbreath-Loomer butt-kissing performance artists) the only time Jesus ever displayed true anger was in describing people like that. He didn’t even use language like that with Pilate.
Just as you have found your easy audience for your ridiculousness why don't you read the Washington Post editorial page where they 100% support what Trump is doing in Nigeria. And every other major network understands and Heather is turning you against right and taunting you in the wrong direction and like most gullible here, you just swallow everything she says, without fact, checking to your utter detriment
I cannot get over the degree of cruelty nor the degree of relative indifference, my own included related to the deliberate separation of immigrant children from their families and deliberately losing track of them, last I read, hundreds yet to be found and reunited. According to the Atlantic, that was a draconian punishment invented by Steven Miller. Recall Administration attorneys arguing to a very skeptical judge that imprisoned children should be denied soap and blankets. What would Jesus say to that? What level of aggregated protest arose from this nation's nominal Christians? Not just the few, but the many? Why was that not a deal breaker with a man and a party that crows over it's cruelty?
I too have wondered why the religious institutions have not risen up and denounced this cruelty. Only the Pope so far as I can tell, though I'm sure there must be individual instances too.
Pope Leo and many American bishops forcefully spoke out against this maladministration’s treatment of ICE detainees, some of who are legally present. It has also illegally arrested at least 170 American citizens.
The Catholic Church struck a self-serving deal with the Nazis in WW II. Individual priests fought back, but not the hierarchy. No surprise the so-called “Christian” Right is doing the same thing.
JL you've got it all wrong liberals live at the intersection right at the corner of hypocrisy and double standard. Whereas Biden sent $200 billion to Ukraine to extend a war and kill an additional 200,000 people that you give a shit about Trump is trying to create a peace deal.
But they are not white-Christian-nationalist Christians. They are, in large part, Catholics, who may believe in values that the current and the previous Pope espouse, things that are very different from the "values" of the regime.
That’s correct. But look at the personal section for Rubio. He and his wife are both Hispanic Catholics and he spoke Spanish before he spoke English. A true hypocrite … political animal.
When the history of this malignant travesty gets written, there will be a long chapter entitled “The Unbearable Pathos of Marco Rubio.” One sad little wretch who sold his tiny soul to Satan for…what, I’m not even sure.
Of all in the Trump crew, Rubio strikes me as the one who sold his soul for power. The others were already believers in Trump World. His eyes are empty of emotion. His speech is cold and script-like. I think of him as a hollow-shallow man who left whatever was good in him behind.
Rubio’s family belonged to the LDS church for part of that time, and they returned to Catholicism. Rubio identifies as Catholic, and Catholic Trump supporters embarrass me as a Catholic. Trump has always repelled me for being contrary to humanity.
There are Catholic Christian nationalists and there are Protestant Christian nationalists. In their respective quests for ideological power and authority I expect there will be internecine war between the two. Kind of like a topsy turvey Reformation/ Counter Reformation of old. I thought we were beyond that now, but, perhaps not.
I too believe the Protestants would declare war first. The Catholic arm of the Christian Nationalists consists mostly of Opus Dei. The DaVinci Code was bad fiction based upon a hoax, but the real Opus Dei influence is through money. Pope Leo should suppress it, because this cult which worships wealth and power is a real threat to our government. It was said liberation theology was to provide a preferential option for the poor. OD exists to provide a preferential option for the wealthy and to acquire power in doing so.
Or illegal Asians or illegal Dominicans or illegal Africans or illegal anything
You needn't bring out the issue of skin color because 95% of those is crossing the border illegally happen not to be white and they don't distinguish themselves by wearing signs that say please arrest me. I'm illegal. Awwww
Maybe you should tell them to start wearing signs and then they'll be more careful and who they arrest
With Laura Loomer in one ear, Stephen Miller the other and a demented brain in the middle (possibly only a spirochete connected by two neurons), there’s got to be some way to end this insanity. We should have zero tolerance for this madness.
Nuremberg didnt end the Nazi Threat, and the Reconstruction didnt end the Confederacy. We need to stop fighting fascists with our arms tied behind our back.
An interesting thought, but they fall under that same SCOTUS immunity protection. The assumption is that the President can pull the levers but someone has to do the actual work, therefore they are also immune.
And the Washington Post saying good job Trump way to go you're doing exactly what you should be oooops uh oh you guys are on the wrong side of an argument once again
Destroying all soft power like USAID and condemning tens of thousands to die was an illegal act no serious *military* leader supported. It reflected the only ideology this administration practices: be cruel, be stupid, and demonstrate ruthless incompetence by fucking it all up as you go.
Demand accountability. Tell Congress we’re paying attention.
There’s a calendar on my spreadsheet so we can target our calls/letters/emails/faxes to flood offices in an organized manner.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Add a comment to help keep this bumped ✊ New eyes seeing this means new ripples for change! 🤞
Thank you, Megan. I hope your holidays this year are joyful and kind. Your brilliant spreadsheets are our Archimedes lever. They make us stronger than we would be otherwise.
Thank you, you as well! I had a wonderful Christmas with my family, and now we’re doing a deep clean of each room before the new year and school starts back up. I’m feeling recharged!
I had not realized that another part of the calculation for a pardon is the fact that it vaporizes any requirement for restitution to the victim(s), which in some cases is quite a large amount. Follow the money.
(WaPo article is behind a paywall, but the title says it.)
I was stunned to hear that about pardons voiding restitution requirement…wtf?! I hope there are some brilliant legal minds working on someway/somehow eliciting any measure of restitution. Makes me so 🤬!!!
Thank you for this, Heather. I would like to leave a note to say that there is hope and that we will find a way back to one another and we will put down the shackles they have handed us and live as our true selves in reciprocity with one another and this precious natural world which contains everything we need to thrive if we can learn to share it.
I can’t really find any of this in myself this evening, but I would like to …
"live as our true selves in reciprocity with one another and this precious natural world which contains everything we need to thrive if we can learn to share it."
I don't know if it's our true nature but it's for sure the part worth working to defend.
When you're prepared to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the young, injured, infirm & aged, befriend the stranger, destitute, dispossessed, exiled, persecuted— when you're prepared to do that we can talk about a Christian nation.
On the other hand--40 Republican members of congress quitting, Josh Rogan turning on him, FOX has even begun to push back in the face of a failing economic plan, Kennedys taking action on the renaming, polling in the 30's, many legal victories, massive Democratic Party wins all throughout the Country (even in red states). We are winning some/losing some. Each day will most certainly bring some grim news from the White House. Do not discount even the smallest victories. Keep showing up. Keep fighting.
This is a long fight (it took 8 years to win the Revolutionary War). There are more of us than them. And we will win.
It will be a long fight. Trump will take us to the abyss. Our country has a history of freedom loving people doing what is necessary to protect our liberties. When the time is right, we will unite and act in unison to restore our Constitution. A present day agenda, much like FDR's New Deal, will truly Make America Great Again!
I was going through the MSN news feed and came across a documentary called Cover Up that got a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating....since that is highly unusual my wife and I watched it on Netflix and it's not only powerfully done but is so germane about what we are going through now
The film covers the story of Pulitzer prize winning investigative journalist Seymour “Sy” Hersh and his uncovering military(MyLai massacre), government(Watergate), and corporate corruption(Paramount fraud) secrets that power doesn’t want in public discourse WE the People need “truth tellers” these days that will be willing to expose Cheeto regime’s corruption Although this happens to be more out in the open with its brazenness, there is more to be told For example, who is responsible for fhe murders of 100+ people in boats? How much money is being paid for pardons? How much money is Big Oil paying the Nazi Republicans to force Venezuela to surrender?
And here's a followup discussion on YouTube(bit.ly/4aA2ikl) that is an appropriate discussion about the past America and the current state that the country is in
This is absolutely infuriating! I had heard about but not been exposed to the verbiage the regime had spouted. The US is NOT a “Christian” nation! It is a secular state. This must end!!
I love the Alabama Reflector quote about Tuberville and his "many stupid, provocative statements with no follow-through.” He is stupid, and so are a lot of them. Let's call it like it is.
It’s always a tough call, but Tommy Tuberville is, without a doubt, the dumbest, most useless piece of carbon taking up space in the Senate. To paraphrase the jingle from “Flipper” — “no one you see…is dumber than he.” 🎹
The people who are insufferable are these Fundamentalist scum. Fundamentalism is its own religion and the Fundamentalists masquerading as "christians" have far more in common with the Fundamentalists masquerading as "jews", "muslims'. and "hindus" than they do with the actual practitioners of any of these religions. Fundamentalism is patriarchal, misogynistic, violent, bigoted, racist, authoritarian, and openly fascist. Fundamentalists are The Enemy, and if the MAGAts ever get close to imposing Christian Nationalism, that will be the time for Blue America to secede from the (dis)United States and take all the money, intelligence, talent and ability with us, leaving Red America to drown in its swamp (and obviously we have to evacuate the good people from Red America to go with us).
This one gave me that stomach hit. You can honor a holiday without turning the state into a pulpit, and once government starts talking like it has a Savior, the First Amendment is getting stress-tested. Freedom of conscience is the keystone here because if one faith becomes “official,” everybody else’s rights get conditional. If you’re a believer, defend your faith by defending your neighbor’s right not to share it. That’s the only way this stays America. www.xplisset.com
One more freedom undermined by the Trump administration.
Welcome to our Christian Nationalist America.
Is there even a crime one can charge these people with when they start imposing groupthink on us?
I was raised as a Catholic. I still hold to the tenets of that faith, but not the institutional practice. The institution failed me, but not the faith. I still wear a cross.
But other faith traditions are equally about conscience, and how one lives one's life, and how one respects others. And people who do not believe in a God at all can choose to lead ethical and moral lives.
But I am offended to my soul when these in-name-only Christians revel in their acts of cruelty, when they claim to be pro-life but take lives with impunity, when they steal to enrich themselves.
UPDATE: There is a law! This violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The ACLU used the same legal argument to take down Ten Commandments displays in schools. Seems like the ACLU needs to step up again.
The courts have ordered that the action be reversed to restore constitutionality, but apparently haven't punished those who acted unconstitutionally. And therein lies the rub. Without consequence to the perpetrator, there is no deterrence.
I am sure that pushback from the far right will be that this is a small thing and that they are just exercising free speech. But this is no small thing. It is a cornerstone of a wider Christian Nationalist movement that is also embedding itself in Europe. It is part of the establishment of us vs. them othering that is crucial to authoritarianism.
But it’s NOT a Christian Nationalist America. That’s the horseshit they would like you to believe, and keep claiming is true. It never has been, no matter how many times that self-deluded sliver of the country or its hypocritical spokescharlatans insist otherwise.
It’s important we not throw up our hands and substitute outrage for clear-headedness and accuracy. Laura Loomer is a powerful jackass, that’s all. The last time I checked jackasses tend to bray a lot. The rest are idiots and bleating wormtongues. They’re not the vanguard of anything except a barnyard full of manure. Let’s not even rhetorically give them what they want.
Hello ICTT... From HCR Today: "Saletan noted that “as president, [Trump] reduces every question to money.” What he can make from a deal determines both his domestic policy and foreign policy."... ... Thank You John Roberts for giving DJT near Unlimited Immunity to Commit Extortion..
https://news.gallup.com/poll/642548/church-attendance-declined-religious-groups.aspx
Nearly All Faiths Seeing Declines in Regular Attendance
Two decades ago, an average of 42% of U.S. adults attended religious services every week or nearly every week. A decade ago, the figure fell to 38%, and it is currently at 30%. This decline is largely driven by the increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation -- 9% in 2000-2003 versus 21% in 2021-2023 -- almost all of whom do not attend services regularly.
Still, most religious groups have also seen a decline in regular attendance at religious services over the past two decades.
That's entirely what has their knickers in a knot. The country has become more secular and even the Prosperity Gospel doesn't have the pull it once had. They see their power (and money) dwindling. Why else push for state tax money to be spent on 'vouchers' for religious schools as part of the 'private school' choice?
Ah yes, the rich are loved more by god so that’s why we love they bankrupt Doomsday Donny!? Religion is too often irrational, emotional, fear…not love and kindness.
A lot of the people who have been streaming away from churches have been driven away by the hypocrisy of the message being pressed on them. It is always important for people who claim to be Christians to think sincerely about “What would Jesus do?”
Would He have advocated for open-carry gun laws?
Exactly!!!
I would argue the decline is for many reasons: the words of religious authorities do not match their actions; politicking in church; the young realizing their elders do not live by the rules they lecture them about, for just a few. In my case, like Georgia, I was raised Catholic and still am a person of faith (still consider myself a Catholic, actually) but the institution itself is irredeemable, particularly with respect to women.
For how many decades (since time began?) did the Catholic church deny its sexual abuse of children? I would have thought the length, width and breath of that scandal would be the clincher for the Catholic church. You have the Epstein Class of abuser and the Church Class of abuser. One preys on little girls and the other preys on little boys.
Yes, the younger members have figured out the hypocrisy that is in the churches and synagogues. Good for them, quite frankly!
Interestingly, GJ, my 16 year old grandkid - baptized as a Catholic, but never attended a single mass - has now joined a Congregational church that is “open and affirming.” The church is located in a very politically Conservative area and is thriving . My wife and I have attended several services there and have also watched a couple of Sunday services that have been broadcast over the Internet. There is Hope in religion - when the correct Bible is used. Just like there is Hope for good government if the correct Constitution is used.
‘Tis the Season of Hope and Love and Peace and Good Will to All.
Glad your grandchild has found a place of loving support. I have been a member of an "open and affirming" Congregational UCC for many years now. It is very different from any other church I ever attended. Jesus never told people to worship him. He preached an egalitarian, inclusive message of love and community for all.
We all worship something or someone, do we not? I choose the living God and not idols who eventually fail their constituents. Worship, prayer, scripture study, fellowship, sacraments, confession and repentance, and serving others in Christ's Name are essential disciplines. I choose to worship in our sanctuary each Sunday to praise and glorify God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier [the Holy Spirit who works within to help us conform to Jesus Christ].
That's fine for you, but to your question, no, not everyone worships something or someone.
Worship, sacraments, superstitions, prayer are the enemies of reason.
Worship has given us Donald Trump as president.
No Eleanor, as well intentioned as you are, not all of us worship something or someone. I don't as well as none of my family and many people I personally know. No offense taken. 😉
No. Not "all".
Eleanor, I disagree with you.
Eleanor, you probably think you're a humble person, but your comment reeks of pride and arrogance. You used many words to say, "I am better than others because I do all the right things, while others do all the wrong things."
I suggest you reread Matthew.
And no, all of us do not worship something or someone. That's a false premise purported by christian types to argue that anyone who doesn't worship their god worships something or someone else, and is therefore bound for hell. It's a thinly veiled power flex.
Well, I hear you. Yes, many people do. The fact is that ALL Religions teach the same basic laws. ALL religions have the same message! The only difference is to whom they send their prayers to. And in the end, it should not matter which name they use as they pray, as all of these representatives of "God" arrived in different areas of the world at different times, to spread the same message about God. Now it seems the threat to organized religion is that people have discovered that they can have a spiritual connection directly with God and the prophets Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, ect. They have discovered they don't need the church to have a relationship with the divine. And this is what is killing the church. However, Church is about community. Gathering with other likeminded people who share a common belief. So it would behove the church to reach out with that message and offer lots of outreach ideas, that will encourage people to want to be there. because the old " you will go to hell if you don't go to church" no longer holds water as each of us realizes, we don't need priests and ministers to explain God to us. We now know we have a direct connection. That's why they are on a mission to make " spiritual " practices communing with the devil not God. These same " christians" like to spread the lie that we cannot have a direct relationship with God. That only the ordained can.
We do not.
Interesting info! Thanks. I’ve belonged to the same UCC church for forty years, still have doubts, attend frequently but not regularly, have made some of my best friends there, and feel very comfortable being with them in church. But, everybody should be free to decide whether they need a religious affiliation or not and, if they do, how to express it. Since Trump/MAGA came on the scene, I and many other people have renewed an interest in American history and, as a result, feel grateful to our Founders for their unbelievable wisdom in creating a government with freedom of religion along with our other freedoms. Gratitude is surely part of the reason why so many millions of Americans defend our democracy. It’s too precious to allow Trump/MAGA to destroy it.
Incredibly, I once taught Sunday school and was on the Board of Christian Ed. Now not so much. I saw a posting of the main tenets of major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christian, Muslim, every one of them taught peace and love. Politics get involved you have what we have here, Taliban, ISIS, etc. One can be kind with being of any one faith.
James Mitchner wrote a book called the Source which I read many years ago. The lasting impression I got from that book was that people created a god to explain things they didn't understand. That thought has stuck with me.
Very interesting and sounds accurate. The various gods invented by cultures around the world sure have made for really great mythology that endures for millennia.
Decline in attendance for organized religions, yes, but perhaps not a decline in religious belief. Some houses of worship are going beyond their purview to seek more money and tout more religiosity. I'm a Christian, but I don't believe that all claims of acting in the name of Christ are genuine.
“But more Americans must understand something about Christian Nationalists:
They believe that SUFFERING brings people to (their) WCN God.
If Americans suddenly don’t have things like food, access to healthcare, a job, or a home, they will know profound SUFFERING.
And in that profound SUFFERING, many may finally be desperate enough to turn to a Christian Nationalist food bank, crisis pregnancy center, Catholic hospital, shelter for the unhoused, addiction clinic, and similar.
Desperate, starving, sick, destitute people who are SUFFERING will do ANYTHING like:
Sign a Christian Nationalist Contract of Conduct promising to follow all directives to the letter in exchange for help and report as required.
Agree to attend church services, chapels, Bible studies, and more in exchange for food/healthcare/housing/childcare/addiction support.
Vow to attend mandatory “counseling” sessions with non-licensed, untrained Christian Nationalists who comb through their lives and choices and force them to live by their interpretations of Biblical principals in exchange for continued support.
Swallow questions and tamp down any pushback that might endanger their eligibility for aid.
Refuse to report sexual assaults, inappropriate sexual advances, and other unacceptable behavior for fear of losing benefits.
Tithe ten percent of their income to WCN religious programs and give sacrificially above that. Some will even work in these programs and donate their pay as part of “laying up treasure in heaven.”
Welcome to the Christian Nationalist version of “welfare assistance” Project 2025 outlined, Americans.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/andrawatkins/p/how-snap-will-become-forced-religious?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Simply stated, right on the mark! Religion is the invention of men, as are (all) the gods. No one needs a/any religion to act in a so called "Christian" way.
Did “The Framers of the Constitution established the United States of America on the rule of law?”
Did the developers establish the Empire State Building on a constructed foundation? Yes, but the building is where it is because the constructed foundation sits on a natural “bedrock” foundation. If you look at the Manhattan skyline, you can tell where bedrock is and is not close to the surface by seeing where skyscrapers are and are not constructed.
Likewise, the Framers of the Constitution established the United States of America on the natural principle that “I” am the most important person on the planet bar none, and “I” am currently tied for first place with roughly eight billion other people.
The “rule of law” is merely an expression of the principle that we are all equal, or it is merely an expression of the principle that some people are more equal than others. If you look at the health of nations, you can see which ones have a healthy egalitarian “bedrock” foundation and which ones have an unhealthy authoritarian “sand” foundation.
In other words, although it’s incredibly important to know how you’re going to get to your destination, it’s much more important to know your destination.
P.S.
Dear Marco Rubio, Jesus was an egalitarian, but he wouldn’t have called you an authoritarian. Instead, he would have told you some version of Matthew 23:27-28.
Q: What causes terrorism? A: Authoritarianism.
Q: How do we end terrorism? A: End authoritarianism.
So "Big Religion" begs for $$$$s and then we waive almost all taxes on their properties and income. Since church attendance is down to about 1 out of 4 individuals attending at least once a month according to Gallup we need to tax them like any other individual or business.
tRump has unlimited immunity until he doesn't have unlimited immunity. Ditto for tRump's enablers. I see all of what's unfolding as an opportunity to build anew, to strengthen the Constitution and the Principles of Decency globally - Health, Happiness, Economic Prosperity and Opportunity, De-militarization. Nothing to it but to go through it, meaning we have to get these asswipes out of power before we can start rebuilding. Our focus in rebuilding begins with addressing Earth's call for reforming our energy and natural resources issues. We can begin to rebuild the economic damage by immersing our policies and resources in Green innovation and job creation.
If these “asswipes” would lead us in that direction like they are supposed to we would already be on our way. We pay hard coin to these”asswipes.” I want some consideration for funding their “ affluence.” We should offer dorm rooms, food service, weekly testing, and no more pass fail or grading on a curve for Congress critters. Even gang showers. With internet and all they don’t have to be globe trotters on the public dole anymore. With AI they don’t even need to be smart. We could install game cams and see who comes and goes. Boy I’m liking this rant. Can you imagine the current crop of Godlier than thou sharing a chapel for all faiths in the dorm? Hoo boy. Bet they’de cut the crap fast. Banking and insurance could be a one stop shop downstairs. Talk about transparency. I’m thinking identical dress code like Catholic school. I can visualize Maybelline in a plaid skirt. We could make the daily habit miniskirts as in asexual non-division. No divisional political stripes. Let’s just call them the American Society Serving Without Political Espionage, or ASSWIPE for short.
Those accumulating performative d’s and f’s could be put on notice of suspension and dismissal if they don’t come around by summer quarter. No more messy drawn out impeachments. And rewards! Retirement of one month for each month of service at 1/4 pay. Medical but not dental or vision as they seem to be generally elective for the gen. pop, might as well be the same for these part time ASSWIPE jobber congress critters. Oh yes tips forbidden by billionaire besties. For Americas best and brightest this full ride scholarship award seems almost too good to be true. No big loans to worry about for these “affluent ones.” Did I spell that right? Should it be effluent?
They could earn BS degrees followed by MS and finally Doctoral Proctology of Congressional professionalism, giving them time to be of service before gerontological symptoms invade their thinking.
Wish we could impeach Roberts and undo all the damage that he has done to this nation. If not for him and his right wing zealots. we could have had a trial for our felonious “president “ and have peace and normalcy in this country.
My guess is that the House will impeach Trump in early 2027, that that is already in the works, and then Roberts will preside over the Senate trial. We can't blame Roberts for the outcome of that trial.
Do you REALLY think they’ll try to impeach him? And even if they succeed, jd Vance is a disaster— in some ways Worse than Trump.
I find it interesting that trump and his family have all become billionaires during his second term in office.
Does anyone else see the irony in forcing one brand of Christianity on all of us, while screaming about the incursion of Sharia Law into America?????
I do. They get horribly insulted when I point that out to them.
Yes indeed. But many of 47’s devoted religious followers do not.
You might be right. But I'd note that there's not one brand of Christianity, but many denominations. And Trump has (or had) many followers who were not particularly religious. (If fewer Americans are religious than before, how did Trump get so many votes if it's only the Christian right that's supporting him.)
It’s becoming more bizarre than “1984”! I was curious to compare now with the book and found this:
‘Power is only what you allow it to be’.
Written as a Sci-fi, George Orwell wrote “1984” based on events he witnessed as a Colonial Policeman in Burma. He explains that ‘double speak’ is talk that reframes negative terms as positive and this language is used to subvert and confuse the masses.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Orwell knew the exploitation of power as he saw it first hand, as an inflicter, not a victim. He had used a female slave as a house companion, enforced cruelty and led men to their deaths.
“To hold the population down by force, I was in the police, which is to say. I was part of the machinery.”
“1984” was to purge the pain of his conscience and to warn the innocent. Although Orwell engaged in an evil authority, he could not digest it, it disturbed him and led him to undermine his future life in acts of penance. 1984 was written to warn the innocent and to have hope that a future he saw could be prevented.
Today young children play killing games, in their rooms on their computers. Some of the video games are rich in realism which makes the malice more personal; some are playing on Defence websites that observe their results for recruiting purposes.“
https://melbournepress.com/2023/07/18/georgia-orwells-warning/
Yes, but Kristin, as these games go on, please note the true demagogues.
Those like Putin (and increasingly his acolyte Donald) rot in gnawing, seething, murderously festering group think. (See Georgia Fisanick's, above.) They have a programmed, packaged form of nationalism and racial superiority which rather requires murder, demands rounding up and inflicting cruelty on those not in the in-group.
Our schools have already taught tens of millions to be intolerant of the diversity most of Heather's readers treasure.
But the demagogues have their playbooks, so the games get deadlier and deadlier, with as collateral damage the thousand or so girls Donald's pals trafficked.
Phil, there are schools and there are schools.
I'm am six years older than my sister. When I went to school, my evangelical parents had no money, so I went to public school. I made friends with students of all ethnic and economic backgrounds. I was encouraged to question everything and explore. Public school reading assignments included works by Shakespeare, "Fahrenheit 451" and "Catcher in the Rye." Throughout my life, I have valued inclusion and diversity.
When my sister came along, my parents had a little more money, so they sent her to Christian schools. During her entire matriculation, she never attended class with any student who wasn't white or Christian. A significant portion of her valuable classroom time was spent learning about the Bible. Her teachers prohibited her from reading any books that contained profanity or other "unwholesome" content. Today, she is a Trumper, afraid of everything and everyone who is not just like her.
Educators in public schools have been among my friends throughout my adult life. They have been forced to follow practices and procedures that they found confining, inefficient and frustrating, but none of them have EVER taught intolerance. Not in public schools.
Phil, I generally agree with most of what you write; but do you think our schools today teach intolerance and don't value diversity?
Isn't this the complaint of the far-right? That schools are the source of DEI think and the increase in homeschooling?
No, Gary -- none teaches intolerance. All value diversity.
But they're crushed by those who push the moneyed interests: the standardized testing billionaires and corporate textbook packagers.
You don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about. Schools DO teach diversity and most students live in it, far better than we ever did when we were kids. You obviously haven’t set foot in a school in years. I was teaching high school myself about 15 years ago. And not a speck of that has anything to do with “the girls of Donald’s pals.” One kitchen sink after another…
I was asking a question, not making a statement. It's called an open question, a question that allows for an answer varying opinions or reasons.
I assume you've heard of Socrates?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open%20question
THIS^^^ History tells us we’ve been here before, in the 1930’s when Nazism, Christian Nationalism and fascism were embraced by big business (Ford) and popular idiots (Lindbergh). I can only hope that it won’t take another cataclysm to change our path, remembering that those opposed are still the majority. May the sleeping giant awaken.
The cataclysm is happening.
You may be right. It's not overwhelming...yet.
Don't forget, too, Gail, the Ivy League and their WASP investments then.
Don't forget how the biggest banks, the most influential corporations were near all heavily invested in the industries of Hitler's Waffen SS.
A sorry, sorry history then, Gail.
Um, I think that’s what I said.
13% max are Evangelical.
How many are Zionist?
Same here raised Catholic but don't attend unless I want to or go to a funeral at any church out of respect for a loved one. Also, since many religious organizations are politicking at the pulpit, make them pay taxes. Last I heard, separation of church and state is still in affect.
There's certainly liberal politicking at the pulpit, I've heard that. But most churches in my opinion are focused on worship and doing good works. As for organizations that don't pay taxes who maybe should, we could look at politically-oriented think tanks that skirt the law ever so closely. Tricky business when they all but endorse a candidate.
Well said. Accepting their soi dissant Christianity just gives them a cover they don't deserve.
You're right on the money. People have to quit accepting that we are white christian nationalists. This is part of "flood the zone" political stategy beig used by this regime which was attributed to bannon. I agree, "...horseshit...".
ICTT:
What line would have to be crossed for you to beleive we are in a Christian Nationalist America?
I agree. Trump is hemorrhaging some of his most vocal supporters who actually had some power to impact lawmakers like MTG and Elise Stefanik. Laura Loomer has the orange menace's ear but is an opportunistic jackass who thinks she's queen of MAGA world just because she brays the loudest on social media.
Loomer isn't even a Christian. She's Jewish according to her info.
It's Come to This! That was very well-communicated! Our media and other information sources do give this mob, Trump's ignoramuses, far too much coverage and whatever they bray and call things as truths; they're not and we do have to acknowledge that and call them out on it all the time. Trump wants to pretend he is a "big man" when he is a bratty toddler who likes the power he can wield because no one around him will stop him or stop him sufficiently. We do need to impeach Hegseth though because he is helping Baby Donnie to do harm outside and inside this nation. Noem should go into the impeachment pool too. Shame on the Republican Senate for approving the goons that now run most of our agencies and departments. They should have known better, but alas, ignorance is hard to overcome or cure, and I believe most of those Republicans were put into office because of their ignorance and inability to care for or stand up for their people.
Thank you! You are so right....a barnyard full of manure
❣️🙏.
The other thing is that jackasses stink too.
Gee, I wonder how Laura and Donald got so close...
Georgia, I am of no-faith….never have been, neither is any of my extended family, nor is how we/I were raised….the tenets of being a good, caring, helpful, contributing, hardworking and empathetic person, however, were modeled and taught down thru the generations…and still are our “guidance” going forward.
Barbara,
You and yours sound like us.
One awful aspect of this monstrous behavior in the name of Jesus is the putrification of his original message - tainting those who actually practice the good stuff.
This administration is CINO. These murdering Fascists are not people of faith. They are power hungry thieves. They aren't pro life. They are pro themselves.
I was born as a Christian. I am now ashamed of the term.
I refer to myself as a Christ follower, not a Christian, since Christian carries so much hate filled baggage. I am offended by this criminal administration using Christianity as a prop for their lawlessness.
I was raised as a "church goer". Old white building with a tall steeple. Sunday school, given a Bible. The stories about how Jesus lived life seemed sensible and kind. Nice.
At 13, I became disgusted with the behavior of the Sunday school teachers and church attendees Monday through Saturday. And a science education was sinking in. I left.
Most faiths have, at their core, tenets that are similar. Good ones.
With some notable exceptions, it seems that the people who crow about their faith the loudest are the biggest betrayers of the founding principles.
Anyone who follows the ACTUAL message of Jesus (whether he was real or not is irrelevant) has my respect and admiration.
Someone like Jimmy Carter. The proof is in the behavior. He built houses. He helped beat diseases. He fed people. He was a man of peace. That's "bible thumping" at its best.
"47" gilds his palace. Kills people in boats. Randomly bombs. Supports brutal dictators. Preaches hate. Defies the law. Spits on our Constitution. If this is the new "Christianity" - burn it to the ground.
I still respect the late President Carter for living out his faith through concrete action like Habitat for Humanity, and his work to eradicate neglected tropical diseases.
Bill A, I am confident that you know that what we in Minnesota interfaith social justice circles refer to as Christo-Fascist White Nationalism (to deny them the word Christian) is not at all what Jesus or Jimmy Carter or MLKJr or Nuns on the Bus or many others are about.
Long ago someone said to me: Don't blame Jesus for what Christians do.
Totally agree about Jimmy & Rosalyn Carter…they both “walked the talk” before, during and after their time in public office. I admired them greatly. Voted for Jimmy twice (POTUS).
AMEN, burn it to the ground!
"Christ follower, not a Christian" is a helpful distinction.
Believe Gandi said " I like your Christ, but do not like your Christians"?
Bill, many years ago during a conversation, the subject of religion came up and one fellow said “Jesus, a good man”. That comment stayed with me as a simple truth…leaving aside all the trappings heaped on his “being” down thru the centuries.
Barbara, you are describing me and many othe people I personally know, respect and share my time with. Thanks.
I absolutely agree with you. Thank you for that clear and honest statement.
Thank you for your story, which I view as a good antedote for children playing killing games. If people do go to church, I hope the sermons they hear and the community they experience inspire willingness to stand up to government-sanctioned manipulation and aggression we're seeing perpetrated locally and globally.
Your comment, Albert, made me recall my dogger, Scout, who was zooming around the yard with her dogger buddy and knocked me down as she was zipping by (we were both moving, so spatial misjudgment). I lay on the ground trying to figure out if I was injured (minor bone fracture in my ankle as it turned out). She immediately came over to me and put her face to mine while I’m flat out on the ground, then sped away…..only to return moments later with one of her toys she’d retrieved from the house to give to me. She was a great dog & miss her still.🐾❤️
I’ve been lucky, Albert, in my life to have dogger companions that I dearly loved & had great adventures with (I live in a rural area & lots of great options exist…a couple w/in walking distance of home). My current dogger, Piper, is my most challenging—she’s wicked smart & has a very independent attitude (as many “working” breeds do), also very reactive, loving too…and, at my age, likely may be my last dogger, so is putting me through my paces!!!! I have my “garden of dogs”, buried over the years, as their time came to leave, beneath the willow tree….each with a dogger statue marking where they rest. Sometimes I sit on the chair I placed there and have a cuppa tea and reminisce. Wish their lives were much much longer…💔🐾
My mother used to say “old age is not for sissies,” so now perhaps I know where it came from. Thank you.
My wife's mother used to say that.
Thanks for the link, Albert….very interesting!!!!
Schmuppy! Puppy!
And they fail to see the hypocrisy in how their personal acts are in stark contrast to the Ten Commandments (which are the tenets of most religions and not limited to the Christian faith). They lie, they steal, they kill, they commit adultery, they bear false witness ......
Notice it’s interesting they never suggest posting the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount, instead preferring a list of rules they themselves ignore. I also think that it’s appropriate for religious schools, but not for public schools due to First Amendment issues.
Do unto others as you would have done unto you.
This ^^^^ is my bible.
“Yes, I have thought a lot about blowing up the White House. “
Madonna, January 22, 2017 - The Woman’s March on Washington- which I was there in the middle of a half million women and felt very happy. (From Donald’s Vanity Tantrums)
I was there, too. It was a damp, overcast day packed to the gills with resistors to this nauseating fascist regime. Those of us who saw the writing on the wall way back then. I saw the MAGA loser dweebs who were there for the inauguration take off their red hats in fear as we marched past. And I’ll never forget that feeling that day, that feeling of: WE OUTNUMBER YOU. We still do…
We had wanted to go to the Women's March (from California), but couldn't find a Hotel room available. Apparently many more than we thought had booked them thinking Hillary would be elected, but kept the reservations to be there for the march (later estimated to be 500,000). We went to one in Riverside California instead and were so pleased that the Hotels weren't filled with anywhere near as many intending to see Trump inaugurated in 2017.
There were not 5 million there, women or otherwise. There were about 500,000 present — men, women, children, some dogs. I was there too. Turning accuracy into a one-dimensional caricature serves nobody.
Half million
After you thought the better of lying….
You are boring go find someone else to bother.
There were only 500k attending all the protests that day? I thought there were tens of thousands of protesters where I was in Boston MA.
Maybe. In DC, 500,000 protestors is still a huge number. This time around, No Kings organizers are far more focused on getting the numbers out in places like Idaho, Texas, Alabama — not just here, in New York, San Francisco, Boston. A great idea that’s beginning to pay off, too.
2017 Boston March was about 175,000 per https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/18/metro/womens-march-peoples-march-boston/
NYC had 400,000 according to WIkipedia.
For higher end estimates see https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_becomes_largest_protest_in_U.S._history
"...Though different publications are providing different figures, The Independent reports that between 3.3 and 4.6 million people walked and carried signs, 750,000 in Los Angeles, 575,000 in Washington D.C., 450,000 in New York, 250,000 in Chicago and many smaller figures in other cities, making this the largest protest in American history. In contrast to the protests on the day of the inauguration, not one marcher was reported arrested in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, New York, Chicago or Seattle..."
Then there are the OCT 18 No Kings Day Protest crowd size estimates at https://www.newsweek.com/no-kings-map-estimates-highest-lowest-turnout-state-10905425
Total estimated at 7,000,000
Not to mention that the color really popped in all the photo coverage and made it clear for all time how to differentiate that special day! - I was thrilled to see that powerful visual representation. 🩷♀️
If someone had said that at a rally following the inauguration of a Democratic President, they would have been vilified by the press and maybe taken to jail.
I disagree. I thought the pussy hat was a perfect metaphor and rejoinder to the gross sexual violator the Electoral College just put into office. Sadly, that irony was lost on nearly half the country that couldn’t have cared less about his sexual sadism.
The worst is that we ( enough of us) forgot the disaster of the previous 4 years mixed with the failure of Biden who was never my pick.
As a practicing Lutheran, I share your disgust at the appropriation of Christianity by the false prophets of ChristoFascists
As a practicing and imperfect Catholic, I agree with you!
It appears throughout history that “men” bastardize the messages of the Gospels and The Word to exact vengeance on those “others” that threaten them. The Ultimate Parable of Christ’s death at the hands of the Pharisee led mob is lost on them
“We are doing the ‘work of Christ’ by literally ignoring the Words of Christ”
Then again, the ultimate parable is that a vengeful god needed his only son, a demi-god born of a virgin, to be a human sacrifice, dying in a most cruel and brutal fashion, and by shifting responsibility to an innocent, it satisfied an old grudge.
No thanks, I'm with Hitchens on this one.
whether or not one “believes”, you’ve misinterpreted the actual message of sacrifice, faith and salvation
The Gospels (as a message) provide insight into living a life of empathy that even nonbelievers can find value in. Having Faith that this message can endure is really the point
This is sadly true.
Funny, Georgia: "when they start imposing groupthink on us."
Of course this started before the current crop of elite savages. The far right foundations pursuant to the 1971 Powell memo spent the rest of the '70s eradicating humanities from schools -- K-12 and "higher."
That job done, enter the neutering devices of testing (along with the equally deliberate group-think intentions of corporate textbook packagers).
When the New Deal rescued our economy from the Great Depression, it started with attacks on socialism. The Powell memo is just another link in the chain of events that brought us to the military empire we live in today.
That would be ‘in’ not ‘ion.’
You can go to the three dots at upper right of your text here, Alec.
Click on those three dots, then click "edit" as that option appears. Change "ion" to "in" and then click "save."
When you do that, I'll enter same process to delete my mine quoting you with the brackets indicating your original.
Thank you.
Yes, Alec. This is the same old monster that raised its head in the 1930’s and was defeated. It couldn’t be blamed on the lack of humanities or our schools because a vast number of Americans had no schooling at all. Once again the root cause is the struggle for power and whether the people, vs. the wealthy, benefit.
Phil, what was the origin of the Powell memo? What caused it to be written? Thanks.
Lewis Powell and his corporate peers hated the fervor of the 1960s, MLM..
They hated the anti-war protestors. They hated the civil rights activists. Hated the feminists. Hated the environmentalists. And they united around Powell because 1) he could lie with aristocratic decorum to defend the lies of the big tobacco industry and 2) he could more than anyone understand the origins of all the passions of the '60s.
Environmentalists, feminists, civil rights activists, and anti-war protestors all drew their energy and focus from the books, films, and music of the era. Powell understand those humanities might continue to emanate from the American people, but they needn't get the reinforcement that they were getting from American schools if the schools could be made to kill the humanities in them.
This, he did. His memo did this. It prompted the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and many other far-right groups to be well-funded and coordinated in a campaign first to strip humanities from schools. Schools must have neutered voices. No public actions outside of specialist silos.
They did this.
Then, from about 1980 on, enter the testers and the corporate textbook packagers.
https://action.aclu.org/give/pm-donate-to-aclu?utm_medium=pm&utm_source=gs&utm_campaign=nat-dig-pm-dd-int&utm_content=gs-search_brand_exact-aclu%20donation-m-774667212925&initms_aff=nat&initms_chan=pm&initms=nat-dig-pm-dd-int-gs-search_brand_exact-aclu%20donation-m-774667212925&ms_aff=nat&ms_chan=pm&ms=nat-dig-pm-dd-int-gs-search_brand_exact-aclu%20donation-m-774667212925&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19716358023&gclid=Cj0KCQiAx8PKBhD1ARIsAKsmGbcXgc-6cq3VahMxAMT3_yGa8YEugCO0ew8G36c-iTTmotSu4PRE03saAiESEALw_wcB
Thanks for that!
Preach it, Brother (as they say in the South!)
I think the overwhelming majority of the people they are targeting for detention and deportation are Catholics. So the hypocracy is astounding
Not just the ACLU. Americans United for Separation of Church & State has been working on these issues for many years. See au.org . I support both organizations.
Thanks for that info
Georgia, you are right about this. We also need our "Christian" communities to stand up to these childish bullies who are using Christianity as their weapon against anyone who does not agree with their attempted authoritarian takeover. Those in charge and who wrote those appalling christian messages are committing or rather, inciting crimes against Americans and people of other nations. That is a kind of treason and I think we need to start looking at it in that light, as an attack from within our society to take down our constitution and perhaps our nation altogether. That is not so different from being attacked from an enemy from without.
"I was raised as a Catholic. I still hold to the tenets of that faith, but not the institutional practice. The institution failed me, but not the faith. I still wear a cross."
The underlying message of Jesus, or Rabbi Hillel, or the form of Buddhism that dominates in the US seem all to be much in harmony and at odds with the GOP's glorification of violence. There is no hard evidence that Gandhi actually said that he admired "our Christ but not our Christianity" or words to that effect, though Snopes says "Gizmodo traces the quote to a similar statement made by Indian philosopher Bara Dada in the mid-1920s that says, 'Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians, you are not like him.' " In any case, history sees organized religion displaying political behavior that seems to be at odds with the inclusivity and kindnesses demonstrated by some of the salient religious philosophers.
How is it that the category we call "religious" presents both acts extreme generosity and kindness and those of truly sociopathic cruelty? It seems to me that the former is motivated by humility and compassion and the other is vain and domineering. They are not even close to the same thing. I also notice that without checks and balances, and some kind of commitment to good faith, power tends to corrupt, and the "clout" of the organization and one's place in it can displace "good intentions" that may have motivated it's formation. That seems to be true whether the organization is nominally religious or secular.
It strikes me that if one's faith is truly faith, it can bear any questioning, especially by one's own self. It can bear challenge. It may be taught and shared, but it comes from within, not from coercion from the outside, for anyone. It is not induced by way of any form of physical and/of psychological violence.
Jesus Christ was a liberal Jew. I was also raised Catholic and left the church because of the wicked pedophile priests that ran rampant for decades with a cover up by the bishops, cardinals and pope. To all of these faux Christians in this government, who are cruel, abusive and enriching themselves illegally, my overarching question is: What would Jesus do? When you ask that question, the answer always comes.
The far right can exercise their free speech to their heart’s content. But changing the Constitution for a minority group should be off the table.
Your story is my story in Faith.
Faith is are very own to keep and t
live by as we walk this earth with our fellow believers.
Stomach hit. That’s the same feeling I had.
Thanks, Xplisset.
It's an amazingly simple concept. We're either all free together, or none of us is free.
You're free now you're not shackled by the lies and distortions you can choose which way to go. You can back your president in America or you can stay hateful and be miserable choice is yours.
Unworthy of comment, Rick.
Did you buy some of those "golden" trump sneakers? Do they fit well or do they cut of the bloodstream to your brain?
Mark you poor lost soul I could give a shit about Trump or his sneakers, but you have not fact checked her article today and if you did, you would come back and say thank you to me, but you won't do that because you fear the truth so much easier to believe whatever the hell she pours down your gullet. I dare you to fact, check it go look what the Washington Post says that Trump is actually doing and is supporting his effort in the process.
Don't believe me check it yourself. But I don't think you have the Colonis because the blood to your brain has been shut off by Heather's distortions. As she is not telling you the whole story.
Here comes the fool troll who can’t help himself. You don’t belong here and you’re not going to convince anyone here to turn into a Fox brained cultist with your silly, ignorant comments.
This isn’t a Christian nation. It’s being run by fake Christian scum trying to turn this country into the American version of the Taliban. All for power and greed. Only a fool can’t see or understand that. It’s so ridiculously obvious.
Find a new hobby.
But I once convinced Rick what ever his name is, to buy my book. And he did which makes him an extremely stupid guy.
Would you like some links as well?&Support for Trump's efforts in Nigeria includes the Nigerian government, which praised U.S. military strikes and provided intelligence for the operations. Additionally, some U.S. lawmakers and conservative groups advocate for intervention to protect Christians facing violence in Nigeria.
PBS London School of Economics and Political Science
Support for Trump's Efforts in Nigeria
U.S. Government Officials
President Donald Trump: He has been vocal about military intervention in Nigeria, citing the need to protect Christians from violence.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: He expressed gratitude to Nigeria for cooperation during the military strikes, indicating support from the Defense Department.
Nigerian Government
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar: He praised the U.S. strikes, stating that Nigeria provided intelligence for the operations. He emphasized that the strikes were a joint effort and not aimed at any specific religion.
Advocacy Groups
Christian Organizations: Various Christian advocacy groups have supported Trump's narrative, arguing that the Nigerian government has not adequately protected Christian communities from violence.
Public Sentiment
Nigerian Public: Some segments of the Nigerian population, particularly those affected by violence, may view U.S. intervention as a necessary step to address security issues.
Adam kinziger supports Trump on this. Ooooops some more
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/australia-backs-donald-trumps-strikes-targeting-isis-terrorist-scum-in-nigeria/ECOUZP2W7BALPN5NUBLZSQWZLQ/
Trump actually worked in conjunction with the Nigerian government
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/nigeria-reacts-to-us-isis-attack-as-new-video-shows-airstrike/ar-AA1T3NZr
PS I assure you this is not a hobby. This is not something I take lightly.
All I’m suggesting to you and nothing more is to open your eyes and fact check what you’re reading. Not my words other words that will tell you exactly what I’m referring to which is blatant in the story here about Christian nationalism, which has nothing to do with what Trump is doing in Nigeria. Go read up about it then come back to me and tell me what you’re fine if you’d like if not continue to be misled at your own peril.
Did you get my message there Jessie not about me at all nothing about me. It’s about the world around you that you’re shut out from. Dare yourself to go find out the truth, not about me at all. You’re not fooling anyone but yourself.
I’m not asking to change anyone’s mind. All I’m asking is that you question what you’re reading? You should validate it you should verify it before you start riding and then find out that the truth you supposedly have been told is not the truth at all. The Washington Post, which hates Donald Trump as much as the New York Times has put out a story that.States that what Donald Trump is doing a righteous and noble, and they support it. Well imagine that Heather didn’t tell us that. And now you’re beginning to catch so don’t let me convince you I don’t wanna do that. I want you to convince yourself by double checking whatever you read to make sure it is factual ..Alas it is NOT.
And by the way, this is exactly where I need to be. You all are supposed to be highly educated professors and Dr but none of you want to check anything. Heather says he just swallow it like little chickadees in the nest when mama comes to drop shit in your mouth GO READ WAPO And just about every other journal that speaking the truth other than what you hearing here. Donald Trump is killing Isis, who are slaughtering both Christians and Muslims alike read and weep. Don’t believe me that’s fine just double check and unfortunately, you’re gonna be sorry when you do
Hobby? 100 million happy voters…not a hobby.
The only people who are saying this is a Christian nation is the people who are involved in the Christian nation, which doesn’t exist except in your warped minds. If my ignorant comments are what you don’t like try every other middle of the road or right wing leaning comments, but the Washington Post isn’t right leaning. It’s his left as you get and it is supporting his efforts and makes no mention of Christian nationalism, the only people who are saying that are you fool, who actually believe it.
BS Troll.
Wendy, he likes to see his name in print (Sound like anyone else we know?) and thinks he is the only fact-checker in the country. He sounds as deluded as the Oval Office Occupant is.
I can always expect nothing less than nothing more than an Erudite from you so meaningful and so impactful in fact, you are the essence of the left leaning association. Hate and insults with no back up no facts just worthless pity Pat.
Good to hear from you Rick. Have you been on vacation? We missed your trolling. I hope you have been practicing those deep breaths to counteract that ranting. It is so bad for your health.
Woke up yet? You will
Could you be more specific, Rick, because I can't see anything positive in the Washington Post's coverage of Trump today.
😂😂😂 Rick is a Troll
Rick, You are so freaking dumb I not only convinced you to purchase my original book’ “, Donald’s Vanity Tantrums.” But I almost just now convinced you to grab my new edition with a bunch of new stories inside. I lied to you and told you they were good stories about the scum bag but they weren’t. But I figured you were so gullible and stupid I almost convinced you, you rotten little man.
Did you get my check yet Bill I’m sure I sent it. Talk about gullible Now if you’ll only change the title of your book and I see a title like that on Amazon Donald Trump is really the best president I’ve ever had and I’ve been wrong this whole time that might that might inch me closer to purchasing it. Lmao.
'Hateful'? Really, Rick? Your president shitposted 150 times over the Christmas holiday.
Aw, Little Ricky’s back! Little Kool-Aid drinkin’’ Ricky, fascist-lovin’ Ricky, mixed-up in the head Ricky. You just can’t leave us for good, can you Ricky? Gotta come here every so often and stir up the baby-eating, evil Satanic Marxist Libs, right Little Ricky? Buckle up, Little Ricky, I have a feeling 2026 won’t be too kind to you and your ilk.
😂 this administration is the most hateful, evil, un godly admin we’ve ever had!
I'm inclined to say sadistic
The issue with Trump is that he can do something strategic but then he talks shit. They are murdering Christians in Nigeria and other African nations. That is a fact. I am not a Trumper and do not agree with what is happening in the US. I also think that he is motivated by gold and money. But this doesn’t mean that everything he says is terrible. And then we get our panties in a twist over the least important thing he says…
OK, but the idea that Christians are a primary target is not factual. Are Christians being killed? Yes. Are Muslims being killed? Yes. Nigeria is almost evenly split between the two populations.
Sure, attack terrorists, but to frameit as a religious war is misguided.
https://newrepublic.com/post/204748/nigeria-trump-us-airstrikes
Oh my goodness, that Rick can blather on and on and on ...
If you have to "explain" by so very much, maybe step back, give it a rest and ruminating in private. 🙄
I back the Constitution and any President of any party who deems the founding documents sacrosanct.
These people are sociopaths and psychopaths. Some are both. I see Ronald Reagan who made neoliberalism popular as a turning point in how "Christians" behave and think of themselves. Under Reagan it became "Me!Me!ME!" and selfishness as the mode of the day. That selfishness turned into hatred for others, and thus a hateful Christianity grew. It is very medieval.
Julie Roginsky discussed how there is now a MAGA 2.0 which considers people like Trump weak tea. They are angrier and meaner and openly Nazi! Consider what she is telling us here.
https://open.substack.com/pub/saltypolitics/p/there-is-something-scarier-afoot?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
The good thing is that this new, more horrible and mostly younger faction is splitting the party. In fact, the same might be true in the Democratic party as well, where the younger people are more social democrats than center democrats. Thus, the youth are even further apart.
An article I read yesterday said that one cannot so clearly tease apart who are Christian Nationalists who support racist, and anti poor and mean spirited ideas; and who are the Christians that believe in Jesus Christ's teachings. It said that many people are on a continuum of embracing Christian Nationalist ideas. One faction in the Pentecostal "Christians" are embracing the Prosperity gospel; the idea that they are getting material rewards from God if they worship in the right way, which is whatever the pastor tells them. I am sorry that so many people are desperate sheep, and turning to this evil religion which is not about tolerance and acceptance, but quite the opposite. Yes, they are not critical thinkers and do not understand how what they are practicing is not a justified interpretation of Christ or the Bible.
I can’t help but believe “those people”, Tucker, the Tates, Candice et al are the Fr. Charles Coughlins of the modern era. It’s not faith, it’s money and power.
Gail, Julie Roginsky is saying it is less about money and more about ideology.
But "who gets the gold" is part of the ideology. Certainly not anyone other than Caucasian men. Not women nor POC.
Candice Owens is neither White, nor male but she is making money from her radical opinions.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/09/politics/ted-lieu-candace-owens-exchange-hitler-house-hearing
Nick Fuentes comes to mind here.
Candice Owens too.
https://open.substack.com/pub/saltypolitics/p/there-is-something-scarier-afoot?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
How about the Young Republicans who were caught Nazi texting?
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/private-chat-among-young-gop-club-members-00592146
These guys.
https://forward.com/fast-forward/405237/these-9-republicans-have-ties-to-white-nationalists-or-nazis/
These guys.
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/14/nx-s1-5387299/trump-white-house-antisemitism
Of this tattoo guy.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxrqpl9elno
Or this.
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/10/from-swastikas-to-silence-when-even-the-vice-president-fails-to-condemn-extremism.html
Or this tech bro.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/21/the-gesture-speaks-for-itself-germans-divided-over-musks-apparent-nazi-salute
The young Republicans and other bottom fevers don’t have any clue they should have shame over these remarks.
Candace Owens is truly vile, she’s become far worse in the last several years, and I couldn’t stand her before.
Cab
"Medieval" is precisely the word for it, Linda.
Well said, Xplisset!
I am a Christian. But there is NOTHING of Christ in these “Christian” Nationalists. They claim to love Jesus but ignore his most precious mandate to love all others-not just the easy ones who love us back-but our enemies as well. He never glorified attacking, hurting, harming, or insulting others and he freely invited those with differing opinions into his circle. None of this is about faith. It’s a hijacking of a concept of faith in order to bully and destroy others, all the while duping others into thinking this is a just cause. I’m sickened, outraged, and appalled. I know atrocities have been committed in the name of Christianity over the centuries, but this is taking it to an entirely new level with the firepower these Nazis possess. Respecting the inherent right to live and thrive of every human, respecting the beliefs of all others, respecting the rights of those seeking Justice and opportunity is basic Constitutional grounding. Who will stop these people? How do we, the people finally end this madness??
As Trump is failing big time, he is directing Government agencies to pretend they have a belief in Christ by posting official messages alluding to America being a “Christian Nation” in order to cement support from White Christian Nationalists
Nothing says Anti-Christ louder than MAGA cheering the bombing and killing of Nigerian Gang camps on Christmas Day
Or this guy; what person, holding to any rational value system could vote for this?
“On Christmas Day, Republican Indiana state senator Chris Garten posted AI images of himself punching, kicking, and body-slamming Santa Claus in front of the state capitol. His explanation for the images was that he was reacting to the “fact” that “the North Pole is trying to bring more bureaucratic overreach & unfunded mandates down the chimney disguised as ‘Christmas cheer.’” “We The People run Indiana, not the bureaucrats,” he wrote. “Take it back to the North Pole big guy.”
Garten called outrage over the posts “fake” and “a stark reminder of how overly sensitive society has become.” He later blasted the “intolerance, swearing, and outrage” over the images and said: “Some of you clowns are just insufferable…. Merry Christmas, snowflakes!”
He’s shouting “Look at me! Look at me!”.
Especially: President Trump: “Look at me! Approve of me!”
With his nose pressed tightly to the Glass Wall of respectable people who cannot abide his stench
"Performative Christianity"
Silent Night, Holy America: How Christmas Became a Soft Launch for Theocracy, Airstrikes, and Santa With Handcuffs
‘‘This Christmas, the government did not merely celebrate a holiday. It tested how easily faith can be weaponized, the Constitution sidelined, and cruelty wrapped in carols and patriotic lighting.’’
Every December, America dusts off its most cherished traditions. Tree lighting. Eggnog. Awkward family conversations. And now, apparently, a full dress rehearsal for Christian nationalist authoritarianism, sponsored by the federal government and rolled out with the subtlety of a megachurch laser show.
This year’s yuletide message from Washington was clear and comforting. Christ is born, the Constitution is optional, and nothing says peace on Earth like a precision strike announced with festive punctuation.
The Framers imagined a nation grounded in law, conscience, and pluralism. The modern executive branch imagined a government Instagram account run by a youth pastor who just discovered Canva. The First Amendment promised no religious establishment. Christmas 2025 delivered wall-to-wall nativity-themed state messaging, complete with patriotic hymn soundtracks and a reminder that America apparently has both a flag and a Savior, bundled together like a holiday value pack.
The Department of Homeland Security, an agency historically associated with visas and metal detectors, leaned fully into its new role as America’s most heavily armed church bulletin. Christ is born. Rejoice America. Merry Christmas after mass deportations. Nothing warms the soul like seasonal joy paired with population control.
ICE followed up with an AI Santa wearing tactical gear, handcuffing immigrants before boarding an ICE plane. The message was unmistakable. Santa still knows if you have been naughty or nice, but now he also has federal authority and a budget line item.
Meanwhile, the Commander in Chief celebrated Christmas night by announcing a deadly military strike, framed as divine retribution with air support. Merry Christmas to all, including the dead terrorists. It was the first time in history that the phrase “peace on Earth” was followed so closely by “numerous perfect strikes.”
The justification was the protection of Christians abroad, which is noble, selective, and extremely convenient. The administration suddenly discovered Nigerian Christians while displaying a curious lack of interest in Christians elsewhere, like in Ukraine, who lack the same political utility. It turns out religious compassion works best when it polls well and fits neatly into a campaign email.
Supporters responded with the enthusiasm of people who believe Christmas is best celebrated with vengeance. Nothing says goodwill toward men like mass killing, especially when described as a stocking stuffer. The Nativity scene now includes shepherds, wise men, and a missile silo.
Back home, the spirit of the season spread to statehouses. One lawmaker commemorated Christmas by posting AI images of himself body slamming Santa Claus. The explanation was that Santa represents bureaucratic overreach. This was meant to be funny, or symbolic, or both. Mostly, it was unsettling. Santa, once a harmless ambassador of consumerism, is now an enemy of the state.
Critics were told to stop pearl-clutching. Society is too sensitive, they were informed, by men using government power to threaten mass deportations, religious conformity, and political violence while insisting everyone calm down and enjoy the holiday.
Throughout it all, the underlying transaction remained clear. The administration gets loyalty, immunity, and cash flow. Its base gets a promise. Not healthcare, wages, or stability, but dominance. A country reshaped to reflect a very specific vision of who belongs, who rules, and who kneels.
Christmas used to be about incarnation, humility, and moral restraint. This year, it was about branding, punishment, and power. The baby in the manger has been replaced by a logo. The star over Bethlehem now doubles as a targeting system.
The Constitution still exists, of course. It just spent the holidays in the attic, wrapped in tissue paper, waiting to see if anyone plans to bring it back out next year.
Merry Christmas, America Project 2025 style! The Earth has received her King, and the Republic has received a receipt.
https://essayx.substack.com/p/silent-night-holy-america
Apparently they haven't realized the "christians" they're "defending" in Nigeria aren't white. Or that under the latest rules, they aren't offered asylum in the US or allowed to emigrate here. I'd guess most of the people kidnapped and deported without process are "christian" too.
Maybe it is simply OIL. See https://trendsmask.com/is-there-oil-in-nigeria-351081
"...Quick Scoop
Nigeria has officially confirmed crude oil and condensate reserves of about 37.28 billion barrels as of January 1, 2025, making it the country with the second‑largest crude reserves in Africa, after Libya. In addition to oil, Nigeria also holds around 210.54 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which places it among the top gas-rich nations globally.
Where the oil is
Most of Nigeria’s oil is found in:
The Niger Delta region (onshore and in the mangrove/swamp areas).
Offshore fields in the Gulf of Guinea, including shallow and deepwater blocks.
Newer frontier basins in northern Nigeria that are being explored and appraised..."
The phenomenon described has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks. They called it Amathia, i.e., Intelligent Stupidity or Willful Ignorance. I've been told, "There's no fix for stupid." Some people are going to believe what they want to believe, though the verifiable facts supporting the belief don't exist. But there is another twist to what's going on here. That there are no verifiable facts proving the claim of any religion is beside the point with MAGA folks - their racism is so strong that they are blind to the fact that they, too, will be nothing but fodder in a Fascist state. Theocracies are Fascist regimes, just as Trump's regime will be if he and the white Christian Nationalists aren't stopped.
History may change, but human folly is constant.
Well, if there is a God, the Christian Nationalists are not fooling her. She sees them. Christian American is an oxymoron. Let the scales fall from our eyes.
This really resonated. I believe deeply that the only way any of us stay free is by protecting our neighbor’s right to believe differently or not at all. That’s the kind of care for one another this country needs more of.
I’m with you Xpilisset. A gut punch indeed.
Xplisett:" ... defending your neighbor's right not to be a believer". I think it is time before the New Year to re-watch Luis Bunels' 1969 film: 'The Milky Way', La Voie Lactee.
The movie's narrative is driven by two characters that are not on a pilgrimage but, on a surreal, historical, hysterical trail of'Christian' fantasies.
Modern 'believers' are treated as fanatics that the are in the real world.
Oh Xplisset we should all agree ..it continues to be disgraceful and impossible to fathom how many self serving people Trump has found to support his sick agendas
Xplisset,
You and Heather hit a "homer"!
Our choice or calling to worship and our freedom not to be forced to worship is as it should be.
"X" I personally think that those in Washington who want to have a "state religion" must not understand "faith" at all. I would say, "sounds more like another avenue for CONTROL or BRAINWASHING!
I am a Christian...grew up in the church and in a home in which faith was lived out and church attended every week, but I did not choose Christianity as my own, personal faith until in my 20's following my own share of misadventures. I know some will not understand this, but it was the love of Christ that pursued me rather than my pursuit of Christ.
God also blessed me with two close friends with whom I grew up, but as myself had been on their own misadventures. Circumstances brought us together to share our "stories". Their faith has grown and they deal with good and bad which are a part of each of our lives.
I have friends of various beliefs and friends of no set religious beliefs. I believe freedom to worship in an honest sincere manner or not is a decision for each person.....NOT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR MASS CONTROL!
These guys have obviously lost touch with ”What would Jesus do?” What can we do about this? I can’t really admire the governor of Indiana’s trolling, if that’s what it is. These guys are so caught up in hatred that they really need the Christian message, even while they just trash it.
He’s not the 47-loving governor. He’s a 47-loving state legislator.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Nigeria too is a top oil nation, with tens of billions of barrels. Greenland holds huge untapped rare earth minerals and significant offshore oil potential in the Arctic.
This could not be more transparent if it were made by Waterford. The big question--Who is running the show? It is not DT. All he wants is adulation, grift, and to avoid prison for his many crimes. He has the mouth, but who is putting the words in?
Vought, Miller and the tech bros.
Follow BIG money.
The answer to most questions today is "follow the money, always follow the money."
In slavery and the Civil War, in the era of US "Robber Barons", in the rise of Trump and his billionaire patrons. This video from Robert Reich is creepy but well worth watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_VwyhErd88
What’s always behind the war machine?
Hmmmmm. If Iraq's biggest export was cabbages, would we have bothered? How about Venezuela? The 1953 CIA coup in Iran? How much did that have to do with the mess that became? Traditionally, excesses of money and other means of power tend to figure big in the devils bargain.
And let us not forget the names of the eight political puppets – seven fake Democrats and one pseudo-independent (each senator in bitter truth a willing tool of our ecogenocidal Masters) -- whose traitorous votes ended what was probably the last (effective) progressive defiance we shall ever see. They are Tim Kaine (Virginia); Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (Nevada); John Fetterman (Pennsylvania); Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire); Dick Durbin (Illinois); and Angus King (Maine), the pseudo-Independent.
Think about the meaning of their votes. They not only killed the Affordable Care Act and so murdered untold numbers of children, women and men by permanent denial of health insurance. They also tacitly approved the Regime itself, including its hatefully broadened resurrection of the Original Nazis' Holocaust to include extermination or deportation of anyone it chooses to target. They are therefore comprehensible only as a breathtakingly craven collaboration in unconditional surrender; they reverse our victories in World War II, the Civil War and the War for Independence; they nullify everything we thought we were or ever hoped to be as a nation and thus declare war on every humanitarian gain our species ever achieved. In the unlikely chance there is enough of a human future to ever again produce honest historians, those eight votes will in all probability be noted as the final official enabling act of the former United States in its embrace of Failed Nationhood.
Loren, they didn't "kill" the ACA. The ACA is still in effect, Covid subsidies expired.
We can agree that we should have continued the subsidies of the pandemic era, that some form of universal health care is long overdue, but to say that these Democrats killed the ACA is inaccurate.
To compare them to Nazi sympathizers, or that their vote when so many were suffering from the government shutdown nullified every humanitarian gain our species ever achieved is misguided. Really?
We're all frustrated, but hyperbole from either side isn't helpful.
Ah yes, the semantics game: hence a challenge, Gary: can you look into the eyes of any one of the millions maliciously denied insurance by skyrocketing Affordable Care Act premiums and tell them the program is (not) dead? Do you suppose we are all so benighted, we remain unaware of Trump’s incessant demands to “kill” it and his innumerable attacks that are doing just that? (See https://www.protectourcare.org/fact-sheet-trumps-crusade-against-the-aca-continues-with-renewed-attacks-on-the-law-in-his-second-term/ and https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/disparities-health-care-predicted-worsen-220023573.html and
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/house-votes-to-end-obamacare-subsidies/ )
As always, Gary, I welcome how your posts exemplify the carefully scripted campaign to perpetuate neoliberal capitalism by minimizing the death and suffering it invariably inflicts – its deadly wretchedness now infinitely intensified by the atrocities perpetrated by Trump and his MAGATs in obedience to the techno-Übermenschen/Christonazi imperium. As hatefully demanded by the white male supremacist majority vote on 5 November 2024, they have reduced us to a Failed State and now tyrannize us at will. Thus I welcome your criticism for two reasons: firstly, it spares me the need to seek examples of why it is (and always will be) impossible for us to build effective resistance to Christonazification; and secondly, the unavoidable result of our inability to build effective resistance -- zero-tolerance theocracy rendered eternal* by techno-military omnipotence -- demonstrates why the nation that was once literally the hope of all humanity can never recover from its voters' vindictive embrace of Failed-State status and has therefore become our species' ecogenocidal nemesis.
__________________
*"Eternal" as in, "until our species renders itself extinct," whether by war, misogynistic murder of our Mother Earth or more likely both.
Yes, semantics the study of meaning, why would that be important? Who cares what words mean?
Neoliberal capitalism? Please cite my posts supporting Neoliberal capitalism.
That's just nonsense.
No one is minimizing the suffering of those experiencing onerous health care costs, but to liken the votes of those Democrats who were concerned with the suffering during the shutdown with the resurrection of Nazism is absurd. It's that kind of hyperbole that cause the majority of reasonable and rational Americans to dismiss the rantings of "progressives".
Alas, Gary, almost all capitalism today is neoliberal capitalism. Quoth George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison in "Invisible Doctrine; the Secret History of Neoliberalism" (Crown: 2024): "So pervasive has neoliberalism become that we no longer even recognize it as an ideology.We see it as a kind of 'natural law,' like Darwinian selection, thermodynamics, or even gravity -- an immutable fact, a nonnegotiable reality. What greater power can there be than to operate namelessly?" In other words, when you praise or defend capitalism, which you do often, what you are actually doing -- unless of course you specify otherwise -- is praising or defending neoliberalism.
Ah, the purity tests. Your blame is misplaced. It isn’t the Senate members who voted to end the shutdown that must be fought, but the regime that passed the Big Ugly Bill. Keep your eye on our common goal by not playing the blame game. The regime was not going to capitulate.
Apparently Loren is convinced that voting to end a government shutdown that was negatively affecting whole swaths of innocents, is the same as the Holocaust.
Which is a denigration of the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust.
That's just hateful nonsense.
With all due respect, Ms. Adams, those eight senators are part of the Regime. So are most other Democrats. Look it up: how many Democrats voted to approve the Christonazi judges on the Supreme Court?
Nonsense
Here, you're free to call me Gail. And I suggest you send monetary contributions to those who support your beliefs.
If you like the shutdown as method no doubt there's going to be another one im January because the hypocrites of the GOP will not get needed appropriations to support the government proceeding that must be decided in January.
It is most assuredly (not) my favorite method, Ms. Fletez, but being 85 years old and knowing the national attitude as I do from studies facilitated by a near-lifelong career in journalism and social-documentary photography, I recognize it is probably the closest we will ever come to a general strike, just as I know it will invariably produce a chorus of furious complaints from the huge majority that cannot abide the notion of suffering even minimal inconvenience to advance the common good, and I know too it will end in betrayal by a gaggle of fake Democrats -- most likely pretend Democrats chosen by careful clandestine caucusing after thorough evaluation of local constituencies to find the requisite percentages of MAGATs who would vote for such betrayers. (Note the MAGAT-tainted constituencies of the ACA atrocity's Eight Enablers.) Thus the charade of representative governance continues, to no avail save perpetuating the impossibility of genuinely progressive change.
And they DO NOT have unlimited immunity.
Let's not forget the petroleum people. They will NOT go away.
answer: always follow the money
Annabel, you certainly nailed the most important question of our times:
“The big question--Who is running the show? It is not DT. All he wants is adulation, grift, and to avoid prison for his many crimes. He has the mouth, but who is putting the words in?”
Indeed, who is behind this ?
Who are Trumps’s puppeteers?
I think we can say with evidential certainty, the cabal of oligarchs who planned Project 2025 and are implementing the Project 2025, are behind this takeover.
Their goal seems to be to remake the US a Christin nation.
And a corporate one, where they are the CEOs and Chairs of The Project 2026 & 2027 & 2028 & 2029...
And the only reason they want us to be a Christian nation is to control the people and keep the majority poor sick and enslaved. Do you think any of these oligarchs are religious? I think not. I for one have never and will never follow any religion. It’s all bullshit.
Doesn't matter, anyone thinking we can take out Trump and the rest of the Republikkkans will slither back under the rocks they came out if is delusional. This can be a bloodless revolution, if they let it be.
"The same old serpent" never goes away, but from time to time we get a better grip on it. Maybe we could get even smarter about it.
Hmmm, JL, perhaps “vice grips”….has a very authentic ring to it, doncha think?!!!!! hahahaha
I’d rather shed my own blood than give in to Trump et al! Just sayin
Ah, I see what you did there, Wandyrer!
The architects of Project 2025.
Respectfully disagree on who is running the show.
Trump is in charge, witness the adulation at cabinet meetings, the fear amongst Republican representatives and Senators at being primaried by Trump surrogates or losing his blessing, the kowtowing of his sycophants. Think about his rise to power, the initial writing-off of his first candidacy by the GOP, then their absolute acquiescence.
Agreed there are those who influence him, but they too are at each other throats. I'm going with Occam's Razor here, it is as it appears, a madman with a court of fools fighting for position.
Respectfully disagree, Gary, Trump is just the face of the farce. He has no ideas aside from how to grift. Maybe in Trump 1 but in Trump 2 the writers of “2025” are in charge. He is an enabler of their vision but has none of his own.
I think the difference is between causation and correlation. The proponents of Project 2025 are indeed riding Trump's success to further their agenda, however Trump, as ignorant as he is, answers to no one.
I believe he has a vision, one in which he is adored, loved, followed, and admired, to be forever remembered in monuments, titles, and buildings.
He is unfamiliar with Ecclesiastes.
Miller/Loomer
Miller and Vought, with a special guest appearance by Thiel.
???? Hmmmm.
And yet there are still those amongst us who refuse to acknowledge we live in a deliberately Failed State -- that our task is (not) reclamation, which is obviously impossible, but is instead the infinitely more difficult chore of digging ourselves out of the rubble and building anew.
Triage.
Indeed. Absolutely essential to save the Bill of Rights and the foundational -- perpetually revolutionary -- principle of Human Equality.
Well said, Loren!
Start with the Bill of Rights?
$$$$$$$$$ = DJT and associates. The actions against any nation that has ‘assets’ is not about saving the people, but is about how DJT & company can grab it all. None have any inkling of what it means to be honest and compassionate. Miller, Vought, and associates are the puppeteers who control the Dump.
corporate oil and mining companies
Never any question in my mind that this is over oil.
Never any question in my mind that white evangelicals worship Mammon in whatever form it is currently taking.
Exactly! Completely transparent.
I loved the Waterford reference!
i endorse your concept, but imho it is not another single individual "putting the words in," but a coalition of the ultrarich (some would use the term ruling class), utilizing white supremacists and right-wing "religious" fundamentalists to broaden their grip and distract from the real mechanics of power and greed. Never have I felt so justifiably paranoid.
"As foreign policy journalist Anne Applebaum noted, rhetorically, 'Not sure I understand why the Trump administration cares about Christians in Nigeria and not Christians in Ukraine.' ”
Obviously, this regime doesn't care about foreign Christians, no matter where they live. We are offering asylum to white South Africans. Are we offering asylum to Christian Nigerians? The hypocrisy of the regime is stunning. Their plans for the majority of us may still not be specific, but whatever they are, they are terrifying.
It values sycophants; not the individuals, their votes. Trump even said so.
Excellent terrifying point Betsy. 👏
Well, Betsy, the Washington Post disagrees with you and as the left-wing zealot of news media, they are actually backing and supporting Trump in this endeavor oooooops
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Guess Rick didn't read what the Nigerians are saying... https://newrepublic.com/post/204748/nigeria-trump-us-airstrikes
The Washington Post was bought by, guess who? Editors resigned. Now it is no longer a professional, journalistic endeavor based on facts.
Don’t hold your breath at that one.
We bomb Nigerians on Christmas to show how much we love Baby Jesus (I guess). The only other person who bombs people on Christmas is Vladimir Putin. Enough said.
https://sylvestercat.substack.com/p/ukraine-still-lives
Netanyahu is still happily pursuing genocide on the Palestinians, despite the "ceasefire" farce, but I suppose the Palestinians have already all but completely left the US memory, and will only be vaguely remembered again when Gaza is reborn as a gaudy, US-white-trailer-trash-taste monstrosity.
Brilliant writing: perfect irony made the more powerful by its understatement.
Yikes
🙄
Sorry, JL you pulled up on the 20% versus the 80% all over again not only is America in favor of Trump stopping Isis wherever they may roam from killing Christians as well as Muslims but even the Washington Post your Bible of record has supported Trump in that mission but you don't care because all you have is blind hate how's that working for you so far?
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I see old Rick crawled out from under his rock again. 🙄
I guess Rick didn't read the WP editorial. It's a tad more nuanced than the monkey would like.
Ah the irony. Deporting Hispanics who are mostly devout christians.
I was thinking that exact thing while I was reading the article! It’s just nuts. But we can’t forget, Trump is not an ideologue, he is a profiteer (and a racist). If he and his family can profit from it, he’s in. If it keeps him in power, he’s in. He just wants money and mass adoration. And a lot of white people. That about covers it.
On an unrelated (yet consistent) note, Richard Grenell, Trump’s ass-kissing, hand-picked Director of the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, announced he intends to SUE! SUE! SUE! Chuck Redd for $1 million for refusing to perform his yearly Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Center this year to protest yet another illegal Dump act violating Congressional authority by renaming the JFK Center for himself.
Aside from the gratuitous idiocy of it all, mightn’t Redd’s attorney seek to have the suit dismissed because his contract was with the JFK Center, not some make-believe, non-existent “Donald J. Trump….for the Performing (F)arts”?
This is a technical question for an attorney, not for those of us doubled up with guffawing.
ps. The Center is playing “Spamalot” this New Years Eve. How appropriate. I wouldn't attend even if they gave me free bread and a circus to go with it.
A lawyer friend posited the same thought yesterday. Certainly there was a cancellation clause, addressing both sides, plus a definition of the parties signing the contract.
Being sued for descent will be replaced by arrest and seizure of property if this regime prevails.
Trump has the moral scruples of a Corona virus.
JL Graham, can I quote you on that?
It’s brilliant.
And, Thank you.
Please continue so that men can know you mad
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Yeah, that's why he's bombing Isis to save black African-. You fucking moron.
Jeez, time somebody bombed you for the sake of human intelligence.
🙄
There is no reality in which Drumpf is religious. He found what for him is an easy audience. On that basis he feigns interest in religion. Though truthfully, he likely does have an earnest interest in the collection box.
As for the seeming anomaly of deporting anyone who is not ‘white’ speaks for itself. Drumpf’s supporters are a cocktail of white-christian nationalists with a sidecar of plutocracy, politically the spitting image of KKK and Naziis. Clearly there is nothing Christian about any of these people other than the frequency with which they bruit about the word … and flaunt those gold-plated iron crosses.
It’s a pity this season we no longer have the sharp wit and comfort that Tom Lehrer provided us for so many years.
I will be thinking of him and listening to those well worn vinyl recordings as this year comes to a close. He passed in July. He was 97.
It’s a pity too many phonies sporting ginormous, glittery crucifixes choose to forget how Jesus described phakes, phonies and Pharisees who primp and preen so they can be seen in the “best seats” at the synagogue. He called them “hypocrites” “vipers” and “whited sepulchers of stink and corruption.”
As has been pointed out many times by *real* theologians (rather than Kegsbreath-Loomer butt-kissing performance artists) the only time Jesus ever displayed true anger was in describing people like that. He didn’t even use language like that with Pilate.
ICTT: Jesus also let us see his anger when he overthrew the money-changers in the Temple who were scamming the poor.
True that.
Yup. Jesus had a tongue on him. Or whoever jotted those things down.
Trump does worship money religiously.
Just as you have found your easy audience for your ridiculousness why don't you read the Washington Post editorial page where they 100% support what Trump is doing in Nigeria. And every other major network understands and Heather is turning you against right and taunting you in the wrong direction and like most gullible here, you just swallow everything she says, without fact, checking to your utter detriment
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Now I'm sure Rick didn't read the editorial.
I cannot get over the degree of cruelty nor the degree of relative indifference, my own included related to the deliberate separation of immigrant children from their families and deliberately losing track of them, last I read, hundreds yet to be found and reunited. According to the Atlantic, that was a draconian punishment invented by Steven Miller. Recall Administration attorneys arguing to a very skeptical judge that imprisoned children should be denied soap and blankets. What would Jesus say to that? What level of aggregated protest arose from this nation's nominal Christians? Not just the few, but the many? Why was that not a deal breaker with a man and a party that crows over it's cruelty?
I too have wondered why the religious institutions have not risen up and denounced this cruelty. Only the Pope so far as I can tell, though I'm sure there must be individual instances too.
Pope Leo and many American bishops forcefully spoke out against this maladministration’s treatment of ICE detainees, some of who are legally present. It has also illegally arrested at least 170 American citizens.
The Catholic Church struck a self-serving deal with the Nazis in WW II. Individual priests fought back, but not the hierarchy. No surprise the so-called “Christian” Right is doing the same thing.
The Protestant Churches in Germany were no better.
They’ve been dehumanized, by those comfortable with racist slurs and “otherism”. Same old playbook. The detention centers are described as inhumane.
Irony and hypocrisy.
JL you've got it all wrong liberals live at the intersection right at the corner of hypocrisy and double standard. Whereas Biden sent $200 billion to Ukraine to extend a war and kill an additional 200,000 people that you give a shit about Trump is trying to create a peace deal.
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Yes, Derek he is back!!
But they are not white-Christian-nationalist Christians. They are, in large part, Catholics, who may believe in values that the current and the previous Pope espouse, things that are very different from the "values" of the regime.
That’s correct. But look at the personal section for Rubio. He and his wife are both Hispanic Catholics and he spoke Spanish before he spoke English. A true hypocrite … political animal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Rubio
When the history of this malignant travesty gets written, there will be a long chapter entitled “The Unbearable Pathos of Marco Rubio.” One sad little wretch who sold his tiny soul to Satan for…what, I’m not even sure.
Of all in the Trump crew, Rubio strikes me as the one who sold his soul for power. The others were already believers in Trump World. His eyes are empty of emotion. His speech is cold and script-like. I think of him as a hollow-shallow man who left whatever was good in him behind.
Rubio’s family belonged to the LDS church for part of that time, and they returned to Catholicism. Rubio identifies as Catholic, and Catholic Trump supporters embarrass me as a Catholic. Trump has always repelled me for being contrary to humanity.
There are Catholic Christian nationalists and there are Protestant Christian nationalists. In their respective quests for ideological power and authority I expect there will be internecine war between the two. Kind of like a topsy turvey Reformation/ Counter Reformation of old. I thought we were beyond that now, but, perhaps not.
I too believe the Protestants would declare war first. The Catholic arm of the Christian Nationalists consists mostly of Opus Dei. The DaVinci Code was bad fiction based upon a hoax, but the real Opus Dei influence is through money. Pope Leo should suppress it, because this cult which worships wealth and power is a real threat to our government. It was said liberation theology was to provide a preferential option for the poor. OD exists to provide a preferential option for the wealthy and to acquire power in doing so.
They’re not even most Catholics, who can largely tell the difference between shit and shinola.
Yeah. Oh my God not Catholics. Holy shit. We better run for cover LMAO.
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Are you talking about illegal Hispanics?
Or illegal Asians or illegal Dominicans or illegal Africans or illegal anything
You needn't bring out the issue of skin color because 95% of those is crossing the border illegally happen not to be white and they don't distinguish themselves by wearing signs that say please arrest me. I'm illegal. Awwww
Maybe you should tell them to start wearing signs and then they'll be more careful and who they arrest
🙄
HaHaHa, love your rolling eye emoji at "it"
With Laura Loomer in one ear, Stephen Miller the other and a demented brain in the middle (possibly only a spirochete connected by two neurons), there’s got to be some way to end this insanity. We should have zero tolerance for this madness.
Nuremberg didnt end the Nazi Threat, and the Reconstruction didnt end the Confederacy. We need to stop fighting fascists with our arms tied behind our back.
thought-provoking
Only the orange felon has immunity for official acts. The rest can be indicted and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Except that Trump can pardon them.
I fact after the precedent of Nixon, they can be pardoned before they are even charged.
To me, it’s exactly this which led us to this maladministration.
Exactly
An interesting thought, but they fall under that same SCOTUS immunity protection. The assumption is that the President can pull the levers but someone has to do the actual work, therefore they are also immune.
And the Washington Post saying good job Trump way to go you're doing exactly what you should be oooops uh oh you guys are on the wrong side of an argument once again
🙄
Cutting foreign aid to institutions like the Nigerian military and then going in with direct US involvement is paradoxical.
As Nicholas Kristof writes, eliminating USAID is costing a lot more lives than Islamic extremists.
Christlike behavior is showing mercy, good will, and toleration. Trump and his allies are anything but Christlike.
Destroying all soft power like USAID and condemning tens of thousands to die was an illegal act no serious *military* leader supported. It reflected the only ideology this administration practices: be cruel, be stupid, and demonstrate ruthless incompetence by fucking it all up as you go.
Tempertantrump’s words contradict his actions. Believe what you see; not what you hear.
They might not be Christlike, but they are models of Christian behavior.
Trump and his ilk worship money and power period.
Or Hindu, or Moslem, or Buddhist, or you name it. It’s a lengthy list and it’s as well worn as the history of humans. But you already know that.
Intolerance and hatred don’t spring from faiths. It springs from people.
Demand accountability. Tell Congress we’re paying attention.
There’s a calendar on my spreadsheet so we can target our calls/letters/emails/faxes to flood offices in an organized manner.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Add a comment to help keep this bumped ✊ New eyes seeing this means new ripples for change! 🤞
Thank you, Megan. I hope your holidays this year are joyful and kind. Your brilliant spreadsheets are our Archimedes lever. They make us stronger than we would be otherwise.
Thank you, you as well! I had a wonderful Christmas with my family, and now we’re doing a deep clean of each room before the new year and school starts back up. I’m feeling recharged!
I envy and admire your well placed energy!!!
All Congress and SCOTUS members have the power to protect citizens - vote for those who WILL protect citizens.
Thank you, Megan, and happy new year 🤞
Happy New Year!!
Thank you, Megan! I appreciate all you do.
Thank You, Megan!!
I appreciate these, Megan!
Thank you!
I had not realized that another part of the calculation for a pardon is the fact that it vaporizes any requirement for restitution to the victim(s), which in some cases is quite a large amount. Follow the money.
(WaPo article is behind a paywall, but the title says it.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/19/donald-trump-pardons-trevor-milton-nikola/
I was stunned to hear that about pardons voiding restitution requirement…wtf?! I hope there are some brilliant legal minds working on someway/somehow eliciting any measure of restitution. Makes me so 🤬!!!
So the crime never happened. The victims just had a run of bad luck.
There is money to be made in selling Pardon Insurance.
Indulgences, I think is a better name.
That of all things is the most infuriating part of this. These guys buy pardons and leave their victims high and dry.
I was not aware of that; thanks for the info!
That pissed. me off too.
Thank you for this, Heather. I would like to leave a note to say that there is hope and that we will find a way back to one another and we will put down the shackles they have handed us and live as our true selves in reciprocity with one another and this precious natural world which contains everything we need to thrive if we can learn to share it.
I can’t really find any of this in myself this evening, but I would like to …
Be well and warm all.
"live as our true selves in reciprocity with one another and this precious natural world which contains everything we need to thrive if we can learn to share it."
I don't know if it's our true nature but it's for sure the part worth working to defend.
There is always hope. Thank you for reminding us that it still exists.
When you're prepared to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the young, injured, infirm & aged, befriend the stranger, destitute, dispossessed, exiled, persecuted— when you're prepared to do that we can talk about a Christian nation.
About authentic Christians who are an asset to the nation anyway, but the founders wisely chose empiricism a the basis for law.
Tempertantrump is Satanic.
On the other hand--40 Republican members of congress quitting, Josh Rogan turning on him, FOX has even begun to push back in the face of a failing economic plan, Kennedys taking action on the renaming, polling in the 30's, many legal victories, massive Democratic Party wins all throughout the Country (even in red states). We are winning some/losing some. Each day will most certainly bring some grim news from the White House. Do not discount even the smallest victories. Keep showing up. Keep fighting.
This is a long fight (it took 8 years to win the Revolutionary War). There are more of us than them. And we will win.
Thank you Barbara for the words of encouragement.
It will be a long fight. Trump will take us to the abyss. Our country has a history of freedom loving people doing what is necessary to protect our liberties. When the time is right, we will unite and act in unison to restore our Constitution. A present day agenda, much like FDR's New Deal, will truly Make America Great Again!
Keep calm and carry on, as the Brits would say.
Not calling them Christian Nationalists anymore. They are Nationalist Christians, or Nat-Cs for short.
The only good not-c is a dead not-c?
“I could mention the names of many that it would please me if I could read their obituaries in the paper in the morning.”
Clarence Darrow
Its like they could not see this coming.
DO NOT MISS THIS DOCUMENTARY
Hi all
I was going through the MSN news feed and came across a documentary called Cover Up that got a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating....since that is highly unusual my wife and I watched it on Netflix and it's not only powerfully done but is so germane about what we are going through now
The film covers the story of Pulitzer prize winning investigative journalist Seymour “Sy” Hersh and his uncovering military(MyLai massacre), government(Watergate), and corporate corruption(Paramount fraud) secrets that power doesn’t want in public discourse WE the People need “truth tellers” these days that will be willing to expose Cheeto regime’s corruption Although this happens to be more out in the open with its brazenness, there is more to be told For example, who is responsible for fhe murders of 100+ people in boats? How much money is being paid for pardons? How much money is Big Oil paying the Nazi Republicans to force Venezuela to surrender?
And here's a followup discussion on YouTube(bit.ly/4aA2ikl) that is an appropriate discussion about the past America and the current state that the country is in
Worth the watch.
Thank you for the tip about Cover Up...will certainly watch.
This is absolutely infuriating! I had heard about but not been exposed to the verbiage the regime had spouted. The US is NOT a “Christian” nation! It is a secular state. This must end!!
Yes, must end. Zero tolerance. Next?
I love the Alabama Reflector quote about Tuberville and his "many stupid, provocative statements with no follow-through.” He is stupid, and so are a lot of them. Let's call it like it is.
It’s always a tough call, but Tommy Tuberville is, without a doubt, the dumbest, most useless piece of carbon taking up space in the Senate. To paraphrase the jingle from “Flipper” — “no one you see…is dumber than he.” 🎹
Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma comes close to Tuberville in the stupidity sweepstakes.
He definitely puts me into “ 🎶a world full of wonder…🎶”. Wondering how stupid he must be.
…as a doughnut. 🍩
🤣
The people who are insufferable are these Fundamentalist scum. Fundamentalism is its own religion and the Fundamentalists masquerading as "christians" have far more in common with the Fundamentalists masquerading as "jews", "muslims'. and "hindus" than they do with the actual practitioners of any of these religions. Fundamentalism is patriarchal, misogynistic, violent, bigoted, racist, authoritarian, and openly fascist. Fundamentalists are The Enemy, and if the MAGAts ever get close to imposing Christian Nationalism, that will be the time for Blue America to secede from the (dis)United States and take all the money, intelligence, talent and ability with us, leaving Red America to drown in its swamp (and obviously we have to evacuate the good people from Red America to go with us).
Karen Armstrong, a former nun who writes about religion, notes fundamentalism comes about from fear of change.
Most of these charlatans follow the Seven Mountain Mandate, including ‘Speaker’ Johnson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mountain_Mandate
They intend nothing less than a fundamentalist "Christian" Iran.
Good info today in Virginia. Givers vs Takers. Blue supports Red. https://cardinalnews.org/2025/12/22/northern-virginia-and-the-richmond-exurbs-subsidize-the-rest-of-the-state-heres-the-math/