Trust...

Are there any politicians you implicitly trust?

• If you can do it, give a list of 10 currently elected congresspeople you trust.

• Now give a list of 10 currently elected congresspeople you DON'T trust.

(by PrimalSoup)

News bit 'n chunk: Christian nationalism on family sex; The final reality of the TTKP

The Christian Post reports:

Megachurch pastor warns Christian wives not to withhold 

sex from husbands as it’s unbiblical

With the approval of her co-pastor husband, Reginald Steele of Kingdom Church in Phoenix, Arizona, Kelley Steele warned Christian women in her congregation to avoid withholding sex from their husbands because it’s unbiblical and they could push their husbands in the arms of “some trick, some ho, some homewrecker that will give him exactly what he needs with no rules.”

“I fear the Lord first, so it makes submission easy. If you don’t like what he’s doing, you still have to submit. If you don’t feel like submitting, you have to do it to honor Jesus,” Kelley Steel told her congregation.  

“What if he’s not acting right. What if he’s not following God? This is your husband now, what if he’s not living for Jesus. Let me tell you what the Bible says. In 1 Peter 3:1 it says, ‘wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,’” she explained.

Woof!! Maybe this Christian nationalism thing is better than I thought. I thought it was just a creepy cult. But it is more, much more! (sarc) 

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________

MSNBC reports that DJT has formally taken control of the TTKP (Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party) and is poised to turn it into his personal piggybank:

On Friday, the Republican National Committee officially voted to install Donald Trump’s hand-picked nominees to oversee the RNC’s operations — and, perhaps more importantly, its finances — in the run-up to this year’s elections.

After Trump and his supporters pushed out (now freshly resigned chair) Ronna McDaniel, the MAGA movement installed in her place a pair of even more ardent loyalists — exemplified by the former president’s own daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who has vowed to spend “every penny” of the RNC’s money to elect Trump. Elected as her co-chair is Michael Whatley, an election denier who previously led the North Carolina GOP. And serving as the RNC’s chief of staff alongside those two is Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita, a Swift Boat campaigner who’s functioned as the former president’s personal attack dog.

With that, Donald Trump has essentially turned the Republican Party into another of his family businesses. It’s certainly insular and (if you take Lara Trump’s word for it) singularly focused on her father-in-law’s success. For Republicans’ sake, they ought to pray the RNC doesn’t go the way of other ventures that had "Trump" on the label, like Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump University, Trump Airlines, etc., etc.  

What makes the timing of this takeover more noteworthy is that it comes on the same day Trump meets with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a bigoted authoritarian who has sat atop his Fidesz Party for most of the last 30 years and used anti-democratic means — like gerrymandering and attacks on press freedoms — to harden its political power in ways some fear could keep Orban in power indefinitely. (He’s already the longest-serving leader in the European Union at 14 years.)

Trump’s RNC takeover, paired with his Orban meeting, signals the conservative [wrong, it is authoritarian] movement's race toward a truly illiberal agenda. Like Orban, Trump has assumed full control of his party. Now, I suspect, comes the self-serving spending and another Republican platform that's only designed to put Trump in the White House and to ensure he can stay there as long as he wants.

The moral rot that DJT spreads to everything he touches has now completely engulfed and destroyed what used to be the pro-democracy Republican Party. The floodgates of kleptocracy are open. If donors pay in enough to the TTKP, they can expect the services they want from DJT if he gets back in power. What services? The usual, more wealth and power, with less taxes, regulations and consumer and worker protections.  

Lest we forget, this 5 minute interview explains why the TTKP holds Viktor Orban in such high esteem. He knows how to efficiently kill democracy. The TTKP has learned from him. An earlier post about him is here.

• Orban gained power in 2010 based on nationalist and racist demagoguery and dog whistle culture war. People open to this kind of message flocked to him and put him in power. His demagoguery created a false narrative of White victimization and dire threat of Whites by non-White people and globalization. 

 

• Once in power Orban changed election rules to destroy free and fair elections. Elections after he came to power were heavily rigged. He has now been elected in three consecutive, heavily-rigged elections after gaining power in 2010. Those faux elections are the basis for his claim to legitimacy.

• At the same time he destroyed elections, Orban neutered other aspects of Hungarian democracy. He got rid of professional public servants loyal to the rule of law and the people of Hungary. He replaced them with people loyal to him. 

• Republicans see what Orban has done as a proof of concept in how to overthrow a democracy. The Orban democracy kill model is shockingly simple: 

(1) start with culture wars to whip up a loyal base of public support, 

(2) once in power, manipulate the rules of democracy and government functions to cement minority rule, and 

(3) “win” rigged elections to stay in power.

News bits: A tale of two brains: How about that SOTU by JB?; Etc.

Salon reports commentary about two old brains by psychologist John Gartner, who contributed to the book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President: 

I had to speak out now because the 2024 election might turn on this issue of who is cognitively capable: Biden or Trump? It's a major issue that will affect some people's votes. Not enough people are sounding the alarm, that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented. In fact, we are seeing the opposite among too many in the news media, the political leaders and among the public. There is also this focus on Biden's gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia. This is a tale of two brains. Biden's brain is aging. Trump's brain is dementing.

Old brain, demented brain, Abby Normal brain.

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Reporting by MSM sources generally say that Biden gave a pretty good State of the Union speech last night. It was better than I expected, despite some criticism that the speech was “too political”, whatever that means. The NYT reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson hated the speech and made it crystal clear in real time. He openly let his facial expressions show how repulsed and disgusted he was. I take Johnson’s insulting, childish insolence as a sign that Biden did well in the speech.

One can only wonder what is wrong with Johnson’s brain. Joe’s seemed to be more than adequate by the standards of the day. My professional diagnosis is that Johnson is a self-righteous, theocratic Christian nationalist, and a morally rotted, corrupt one at that.

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

The HuffPo reports about what North Carolina TTKP (Trump Tyranny & Kleptocracy Party, formerly the Republican Party) voters picked as their nominee for governor:

Mark Robinson’s Bizarre Ramble: ‘I Absolutely Want To Go Back To The America Where Women Couldn’t Vote’ -- In a newly unearthed video from 4 years ago, North Carolina’s GOP nominee for governor says America was better then because Republicans “fought for real social change.”

In what is now the usual TTKP KYMS (Keep Your Mouth Shut) tactic in the face of inconvenient questions, Robinson’s campaign and his government office did not respond to requests for comment. 

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Bring in the “alternates”…

Thinking about alt-facts and alt-truths today.  What exactly are they?

• Subjective facts, seeking objective status
• The “other side of the story”
• Inconvenient facts/truths, dressed up in sheep’s (or wolf's) clothing
• Merely valid counterpoints
• The slings and arrows of deflection (aka, Carville’s “look over there at the little birdie”)
• Other

Q1: How do you see “alt-facts/truths”?

Q2: Do alt-facts/truths have a place in argument?  If yes, how so?  I.e., when should they be “pulled out” (as a useful weapon)?

Discuss.

(by PrimalSoup)

Top official from China's Xinjiang says 'Sinicisation' of Islam 'inevitable'

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/top-official-chinas-xinjiang-says-sinicisation-islam-inevitable-2024-03-07/

BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) - Xinjiang's top Communist Party official said on Thursday that the "Sinicisation" of Islam in the Muslim-majority region in northwestern China, where Beijing is accused of human rights abuses, is "inevitable".

"Everyone knows that Islam in Xinjiang needs to be Sinicised, this is an inevitable trend," regional party chief Ma Xingrui told reporters at a largely scripted briefing on the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary sessions in Beijing.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in Xinjiang, including denying Uyghurs full religious freedoms. Beijing vigorously denies any abuses.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly called for the "Sinicisation" of religions including Islam, Buddhism and Christianity, urging followers to pledge loyalty to the Communist Party above all else. About two-thirds of mosques in Xinjiang have been damaged or destroyed since 2017, according to an Australian think-tank report.

The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/04/us-anti-semitism-jewish-american-safety/677469/

stacey zolt hara was in her office in downtown San Francisco when a text from her 16-year-old daughter arrived: “I’m scared,” she wrote. Her classmates at Berkeley High School were preparing to leave their desks and file into the halls, part of a planned “walkout” to protest Israel. Like many Jewish students, she didn’t want to participate. It was October 18, 11 days after the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.

Zolt Hara told her daughter to wait in her classroom. She was trying to project calm. A public-relations executive, Zolt Hara had moved her family from Chicago to Berkeley six years earlier, hoping to find a community that shared her progressive values. Her family had developed a deep sense of belonging there.

But a moral fervor was sweeping over Berkeley High that morning. Around 10:30, the walkout began. Jewish parents traded panicked reports from their children. Zolt Hara heard that kids were chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that suggests the elimination of Israel. Rumors spread about other, less coy phrases shouted in the hallways, carrying intimations of violence. Jewish students were said to be in tears. Parents were texting one another ideas about where in the school their children could hide. Zolt Hara placed a call to the dean of students. By her own admission, she was hysterical. She says the dean hung up on her.

By the early afternoon the walkout was over, but Zolt Hara and other Jewish parents worried that it was a prelude to something worse. They joined Google Groups and WhatsApp chains so they could share information. Zolt Hara organized a petition, pleading with the school district to take anti-Semitism more seriously. It quickly received more than 1,300 signatures.

Questions for Discussion:

1. How can schools effectively address instances of anti-Semitic behavior among students?

2. What steps can communities take to promote understanding and tolerance among different ethnic and religious groups?

3. How should parents and educators navigate discussions about sensitive geopolitical issues in schools to prevent the spread of hate speech?