Donald Trump Jr's New Grift

 

Donald Trump Jr's new grift is he is selling what he calls a "We The People" Bible. He says: "The We The People Bible was designed with the patriot in mind and features a vertical reversed American flag design that represents a country in distress.......Our Bibles include copies of the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and the Pledge of Allegiance. "

     Oh, and if you order the Bible bundle (for only $150) you also get: A Bible
Hat, A T-Shirt, A Challenge Coin, A Bookmark. and an American Flag Lapel Pin.
(Wow! A bookmark!!!...let me get my bank card out😜  )

​(How could you really be an American Christian with out it?? ...Everything you would need to show you are really an American Christian😜)
#ChristianNationalismRising

GOP: Forever chasing Fairy Tales

 

There are simple ways to find out if an elected official has gone off the deep end (or becoming QAnonesque). One way has become clear ever since Trump uttered his first election lie in 2020 (even before the election even started):

Q: Do you believe the 2020 election was stolen?
A: Yes (Which automatically confirms and certifies the responder as a right wing nutjob)
     There are others (way too many) but the most recent has to do with Elon Musk's alleged "Twitter Files" which he posted to Twitter. "Twitter Files" was suppose to expose something important. It didn't.  Just another stack added to the stupid things right wingers look for. 
    New question:
Q) Do you believe there's anything to the Hunter Biden laptop story that exposes President Biden?
A: Yes. (Which, automatically certifies you as a right wing nutjob and a right winger that can't read very well.)
Unfortunately, Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker thinks "Twitter Files" was some great big old revelation of corruption. (Which  it wasn't anywhere near). Wicker told an interviewer this last week that “What we’ve learned is Twitter was in cahoots with the top officials of the Biden campaign trying to get Vice President Biden elected president and they seemed to have succeeded."
    Wicker also said "I asked Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter, if he had information that the laptop was Russian disinformation." Dorsey said no and that he "had no such information." Of course if you ask a question that flies in the face of the narrative you are pushing there is no satisfactory answer available unless the answer supports your pet false narrative of the week. Wicker will continue, as usual, seeking out the truth of the lie he believes and will be frustrated when he never finds it....but even that wont stop him from believing it.  Like Hillary's emails and Benghazi. #DOH

Republicans Offer No Answer to Gun Violence (and may not ever).

​After the 2018, Santa Fe High School shooting, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that he would consult across Texas in an attempt to prevent gun violence in schools. He had a series of round-table discussions followed at the state capitol. In a speech to a NRA convention in Dallas almost two weeks later, Abbott said, "The problem is not guns, it’s hearts without God".

So, if that is the problem..what is the answer? It would be making efforts to turn hearts toward God, would it not? Or is it blaming the Christian church for not reaching those hearts? And how does an elected official deal with that when separation of church and state is a paramount issue throughout America's history?

A few days later Abbott published a Youtube video saying the shooter broke "two gun laws the day he committed the multiple murders"..... It is a felony to possess a gun on school property" and "what he did on campus is capital murder. That's a crime that would have subjected him to the death penalty in Texas." So, if that is the answer..what is the problem? Are shooters concerned about committing a crime? Obviously not. The State of Texas has executed 578 people since 1982. Seems to me that if you combine both responses from Governor Abbott that the shootings resulted because they had a godless heart and ignorance of capital penalties. 

     Before God reaches hearts, men are subject only to or restrained by secular rules and laws of society. Don't kill people with guns. Governments can only really control the penalty phase of any legal breach of justice...though lawyers can often breach that and do quite often.

Reaching hearts is actually the most sure way. But you can't make reaching hearts a law with consequences no matter how hard you try to legislate it.  And since the second amendment is applied in the way it is today which gives any gun enthusiast an orgasm there aren't much options...or maybe none at all in the Republican mind.

Christian Nationalist Teaching Church Controls Redding, California City Council

  

Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht is an activist and worship leader for Bethel Church in Redding California. The members of the single evangelical megachurch now control a majority of seats on the City Council, Of which at least two of the newly elected council members also work with a GOP state senator. Bethel teaches "Seven Mountains Dominionism," an extreme form of Christian nationalism that seeks to take control of politics and culture. The Los Angeles Times reported in 2020 that Bethel’s leaders explicitly endorsed Donald Trump for president and have engaged in other political activities. There is also concern that Bethel members are fanning secessionist movements and supporting militia groups in Shasta County.”

I, personally, will be watching what happens there.

CBN passes itself off as a reputable Christian web site...but, clearly, they have an agenda that is not Christian at all

 An article posted on the CBN web site is titled "Concerns Over 87,000 New IRS Agents Mounting After Senator Demanded the IRS Target Conservatives " and summarizes the actions this way: 

"Religious institutions like churches, Christian colleges, faith-based nonprofit organizations, and Christian small businesses will undoubtedly face unending lawsuits and government harassment like IRS investigations for adhering to a biblical worldview. Perhaps this is why the Biden administration is amassing a small army of 87,000 new IRS agents." 

However, the 176 page report isn't saying what they are claiming even though they have it linked to the article. It's a copy of letters and responses to and from the IRS over tax exempt statuses over organizations that are not allowed...due to their tax exemptions, to engage in political issues. And the responses essentially say "thanks for the report" but we cannot divulge any information about any investigations. And they do not.

CBN passes itself off as a reputable Christian web site...but, clearly, they have an agenda that is not Christian at all when it comes to politics and lying. In fact, it looks like they are beginning to push Ron DeSantis for President....not for anything Biblical at this point but I presume its the continuance of their Christian nationalist theme. ​

Rightwing Paranoia Is Strong

 
   

 If you have ever wondered, as I have,  what the Rightwingers mean when they talk about "The Establishment" Andrew Wallace (from Kentucky) has written an explanation over at News With Views in an article that would be any Christian Nationaists envy.
     He writes: "The Establishment, consisting of the Most Wealthy Family’s controlling Corporations, Banks, Media, Judges, Elected and Appointed Officials, Law Enforcement, Medical Care and all Educational Institutions are an Unconstitutional Cabal. This Establishment and the people associated with it are guilty of Treason against the Republic and its Citizens; they are guilty of the Deaths, and unspeakable crimes suffered by Tens of Thousands of Americans. The Establishment, contrary to law is also bringing millions of Muslims and illegal’s into the country as future voters and criminals while we are paying for it.Facts specified in our Constitution, by the Rule of Law and by God, will guide us in terminating the power and control that the Establishment and its minions in government may try to use to defeat us." 
     Is it any wonder that rightwingers are so paranoid? So to defeat this paranoia they create this idea that God and the Rule of Law  (on an equal status) exist only to protect them. Whoops, almost left out "The Constitution" is going to protect them also. Reality just isnt their friend.

Democrat Katie Hobbs has been elected governor of Arizona

    

In the REAL world:

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has been elected governor, becoming the latest Democrat to prevail in a state that has gone from solid red to battleground in recent years. Hobbs defeated Republican Kari Lake.
​
     In Maga World:
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs stole the election away from Republican Kari Lake. The Democrats have stolen another election. The many ways they stole this election will be posted in random videos on Youtube and Ultra Maga Memes throughout social media. Now is the time to send Kari Lake your money..all the money you can because she needs to fight the deep state attacks against her while, at the same time, avoiding space lasers.....

Faith is not illogical or void of reason.

 

T​he first man who rejected Christianity, and then called himself a "free thinker," built an ideology better than he knew. If a man who rejects Christianity is a free thinker, the implication is that the man who accepts Christianity is a bound thinker--or one whose reason is in chains. It, of course, is not true. But....the "free thinker" is able to  freely think what he will even if it is nonrational. He than can label it rational and call it good. "Free thinkers" as a philosophical viewpoint holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or any other dogma. It is, however, a dogma eat dogma world and if one presses the ideological notions of a "freethinker" one will find that their foundation is based more in "anti-religionism" as opposed to anything really reasonably "free." And the "anti-religion" sentiment is generally mis-focused. They tend to target anything religious and ask, at the same time, how can all the religions be so divided on issues. It would seem to me that the sensible thing would be to attack the point of contention that bothers their ability to think if they are anywhere near or abouts something that might be remotely religious of nature.

 I cannot say that I have not heard any preacher say "do not think," but they have used it in context of a miss-applied definition of faith. Faith is not  illogical or void of reason. It's based on the foundation of it's creator.  However, if I was to deliver that message and say to a congregation "do not think," then unless I had a gun pointed to your head at the moment, you would still have your ability to think.

Pro-Life and Pro-abortion advocates impacted 2022 midterm elections

 

​ ​Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, a national pro-life grassroots advocacy organization criticized Republican strategists for failing to make the party's position on abortion clear during the 2022 midterm elections, citing it as a potential reason for some of the party’s losses this election cycle. I have to disagree with the point. The position was pushed by most Republicans and it was a motivating factor for large Democrat turnout. In June 2022, the Supreme Court overruled Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on the grounds that the substantive right to abortion was not "deeply rooted in this Nation's history or tradition", nor considered a right when the Due Process Clause was ratified in 1868, and was unknown in U.S. law until Roe. 

Actions by prolife leaders like Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed off on legislation which would allow a person to turn in anyone who even contemplated an abortion brought the issues of safety to the attention of pro-abortion advocates.. and the women who supported a woman's right to choose made the issue important to them so they campaigned against any and all Republicans.

Moral relativism leads to indifference.

   ​Moral relativism can be dangerous since it leads to moral paralysis and indifference. We presently live in a world mired by a multitude of notions of moral relativism.

In a Post-Truth Era, as we are in, politics is defined by a political culture in which debate is framed by appealing to emotions rather than details of policy. Factual rebuttals are ignored, truth is of secondary (or even less) importance. Post-truth politics is dangerous as truth is not a priority anymore. Welcome to 2020.
👉Moral relativism is the view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint (for instance, that of a culture or a historical period) and that no standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others. (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)