House TTKP members shield Kushner; Christian criminality

Mediaite reports that House TTKP (Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party) members blithely rejected a motion to investigate Jared Kushner business dealings with a murdering Saudi Prince:

Six months after exiting the White House, Kushner’s private equity firm Affinity Partners received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund over the objections of the fund’s advisers. They were overruled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who had developed a close relationship with Kushner.

The Oversight Committee convened on Wednesday for another hearing on Hunter Biden and his business dealings that Republicans say illicitly benefitted his father President Joe Biden. Despite investigating the matter for more than a year, the committee has turned up no proof.

During the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said Kushner had done “good work” as White House adviser when he helped forge the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the states of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

“Of course, the Democrats don’t wanna admit that,” Jordan said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) followed by making a motion to subpoena Kushner.

“Mr. Chairman, I have a motion,” he told Chair James Comer (R-KY). “I have a motion. I would move… that the committee issue a subpoena to Jared Kushner to compel testimony related to the $2 billion collected from Saudi Arabia after his service within the White House.”

After the motion was seconded, Jordan moved to table – or kill – the motion.

“Move to table the motion,” he said.

Once again, we see TTKP hypocrisy in defense of indefensible corruption. The moral rot is deep and out in the open.

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Citing research that is behind a paywall, the Friendly Atheist reports about worldwide Christian criminality that recent research turned up:

Researchers say Christian leaders will 

embezzle an estimated $86 billion in 2024

In 2024, Christian leaders around the world will embezzle an estimated $86 billion from their followers.

That “ecclesiastical crime” will jump to approximately $390 billion by 2050, according to researchers Dr. Gina Zurlo, Dr. Todd Johnson, and Peter Crossing at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, part of the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

The numbers are tucked away in a larger report about global Christianity published in the January issue of the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

The Christian ministry watchdog group Trinity Foundation summarized the problem this way:

Ecclesiastical crimes take on many forms such as skimming from an offering plate, restricted donation fraud (diverting mission donations to a personal expense account), and international cash smuggling.

Televangelists have transferred funds across international borders on private jets and failed to report these transactions resulting in “bulk cash smuggling.”

We know these sorts of shenanigans occur because, frequently, Christian leaders are arrested for financial crimes. It’s incredibly hard, however, to pinpoint exactly how much crime occurs under the veil of Christianity. That can be blamed on everything from the fact that churches don’t have to file financial reports with the IRS, to the fact that they often blame crime on everything but religion, to the fact that they may not want to go public about [fleecing the flock]. In many ways, it’s like tracking sales in a black market; the very nature of how they operate—out of public sight—makes it hard to quantify.  

[In an earlier 2015 paper, the researchers] calculated, if Christians around the world gave $850.9 billion to charity and $773.5 billion to Christian causes specifically, that would suggest about $50 billion and $46 billion, respectively, “lost to fraud and embezzlement.”  

In the newer 2024 paper, with updated numbers, the researchers say that Christians all over the world will give about $1.3 trillion to Christian causes… which would result in about $86 billion lost to ecclesiastical crime.

By 2050, they estimate, the $5.2 trillion given to Christian causes could lead to $390 billion lost to fraud.

I have pointed out repeatedly that core goals of the corrupt American Christian nationalism wealth and power movement includes (ii) get taxpayers to pay for all religious operations, and (ii) replace all (100%) secular public schools with religious schools, also paid for by taxpayers. This research on theft by Christians is in synch with the larger Christian nationalist goal of raiding the US treasury to pay for Christian operations and social indoctrination via schools.