All these showbiz nominees: Never occurred to me that they were chosen, in part, for their facility in reading scripts and *acting* … and of course, unquestioning loyalty. One weeps.
This Pete fellow is an avowed Christian Nationalist, just look at those tats. The cross is a throwback to the Crusades, his arm tat again is a Crusades battle cry. As he said yesterday in committee, even though he made mistakes such as having a girlfriend during his first and second wives.. 7 kids by 3 women.. But since he believes Jesus is his lord and savior, he is forgiven for all of his transgressions… OY…
Always amazed at the lack of historical knowledge of the Crusades. Not just that Saladin defeated the Crusaders, but also by the reality that the Fourth and Fifth Crusades were a disaster.
During the Crusades when these warriors arrived in the middle they slaughtered everyone who was not Christian… that means Muslims and of course…. Jews…
They don’t teach that history whatsoever… And Pete? He’s a drunk and a cheater.. perfect prerequisite to serve the First Felon.
Thank you, Ruth! As valuable as your work has been in teaching America about authoritarianism we need your mind and your skills more than ever as democracy nears sunset.
Saladin (A Kurd, by the way) sucked the heavily armored Crusaders out into the desert and let the climate weaken them. The Saracen army ambushed and slaughtered them.(Payback for Jerusalem)
No matter the outcome, religious wars are maybe the worst kind. Excepting of course WWI and the US Civil War, which resulted in mass death in order to uphold the rule of autocrats who cared nothing for anyone else, and were happy to enforce legal and wage slavery, among other outrages.
I lay my head on my pillow at night and the image of a 500 foot wave bearing down on America is the image that appears almost every night. Combine this moment of reckless and corrupt abandonment along with the climate emergency - another 500 foot wave. I weep as well.
Better. perhaps to put this another way: Hegseth and white men like him are fighting a battle to keep their unearned position at the top of our cultural heap. I think this puts their efforts into a perspective that includes the fact that if you combine the number of women, jews (and other non-christians) and people of color, the white male group appears shrunken by comparison. So they have to be loud and 'proud' (of what, running a centuries old selfish grift for centuries?) in order to puff themselves up. Sort of pathetic, no? Not that this makes them less dangerous, but it does give me hope that if we can only unite across our varying majority perspectives, they will fail.
They can do anything as long as forgiven by “their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Obscene distortion of Christianity. PS who forgets the name of their kid?!
Their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose actual sayings and instructions they ignore. When they get to the Pearly Gates they are in for a rude surprise.
All of the potential threats, Hegseth et alia, to the US way of life and positive if beleaguered history will be active threats this month if the confirmation playbook is successful. While they loom over our shared future we have to condition ourselves to the impossible and unacceptable, and acquit ourselves to mitigate and exhaust the offenders.
For me and I hope others, keeping J621 front and center, if not a rally cry, in public is a step in keeping me honorable and bracing me for the impossible and unacceptable. Display the the monogram proudly in public. J621.
But Pete can do hundreds of pushups, and he has a blond wife and 7 kids. He is obviously qualified for leading the largest and one of the most complicated organizations in the world.
We have 5 days left before the true s***storm begins.
Still, after 9 years of trump, why is it that he is the only one everyone can hear? His rhetoric is only lies and yet that is still all that hits the waves. Constant fear mongering everywhere. Older folks still watch cable that they're use to (i.e., my neighbor). Substacks are great but they don't get out and allow communal communication like when JFK, MLK, or 911 occurred. I believe that is still the biggest problem. Maybe Tim Snyder's idea of the "shadow democracy" would be the solution needed for truth to rise.
Yes, J621 is very important to me. But unity of this horrific event wavered. It was a total shift from the deep response of prior disasters. Just my feelings/beliefs.
Addendum to my IRA strategy. I then sold all that mutual fund and invested in bonds. My risk tolerance is beyond Street's low (LOL). 70 percent are in bonds. I just want to preserve my capital and show the funds I don't like who they give my modest contribution to. Sorry for rambling.
You're fine, it's a lingo I'm not real versed with though I try reading lit on it. Ramsey says not to invest with bonds. Others say yeh bonds are fine. Lots of opinions. Well thanks for your input, appreciate!
tRump created a post-truth revolution in this nation with all of his lies. This is one of the fascist aspects that we need to counter better. His followers live in an alternate reality/truth. I have been very active with "letters to the editor" to my local newspaper, trying to show with facts, what reality is. Hard to say how much effect it has but I do not stop.
Letters to the Editor are great. The small city I live in has a paper produced out of town. It use to be a big enterprise. Having been fairly new here I gave it a go but it was quite disappointing. To get locally run newspapers again would be beneficial, especially now.
Give the minority in Congress a spear to puncture a nominee's bellowing. Something that will stop his or her loquacity just for a moment. J621 can be such a weapon but I am not sure how one of the minority in Congress can deliver it in the right way to stun the nominee.
I wonder if the Christian Nationalists families let their children see and hear about people like Hegseth. Do they not tell them about all of his indiscretions? Do they not let the children see anything about this goon? What happens if a child finds out somehow? How does the parent explain this away to them? Seems to me this would cause a child to question things that they learn from their "Christian" education.
Do not lose sight of the fact that for white evangelical Christians aka Christian Nationalists, women are chattel, placed on the Earth to serve, and provide pleasure to, white men. White men who do not commit sexual abuse, they simply take what their god has presented to them.
What we absolutely DO NOT NEED atop the DoD is a "yes man" who will do the bidding of a dictator. My hope lies in the people below him unwilling to bring harm to their fellow Americans and follow illegal and unconscionable orders. We'll see where this goes, quite quickly I'm sure.
thanks, Joanna. i feel the same; it's as though i'm not cohering. this a travesty of our government, our lives, reality - but it is reality - what a beautiful world we could have were it not for these death and greed warmongers who talk of lethality, of warriors, of killing strangers and then have the audacity to attach religion and righteousness to it -
Hegseth has three (maybe four) jobs, all of which he is supremely qualified for. 1) Purge the officer corps of anyone not fully committed to his Christo-fascist MAGA worldview (which means most of the corps who did not graduate from the Air Force Academy, a hotbed of christo-fascism). 2) Follow Trump's inevitable orders to use live ammunition to break up domestic anti-Trump demonstrations. 3) Give cover to US troops who shoot civilians or commit other war crimes and 4) To mount extravagant military parades down Pennsylvania Avenue to honor Trump. These parades to include missiles, tanks, multiple goose stepping military units, etc.
In other words, to debase and degrade the military with reckless disregard for national security. And with the complicity of cowardly Republican Senators who fear a mean tweet from an old man with dementia in orange face paint and a primary funded by an illegal immigrant from South Africa. Faust asks if selling your soul for a senate seat is worth it.
“… engineered incompetence.” Again, in a nutshell. Engineered and preferred.
All these showbiz nominees: Never occurred to me that they were chosen, in part, for their facility in reading scripts and *acting* … and of course, unquestioning loyalty. One weeps.
What worries me personally, is that Trump is larding his administration with antisemites … along with misogynists and racists.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, David. It's very frightening.
Even more frightening, a real fear not a potential one.
This Pete fellow is an avowed Christian Nationalist, just look at those tats. The cross is a throwback to the Crusades, his arm tat again is a Crusades battle cry. As he said yesterday in committee, even though he made mistakes such as having a girlfriend during his first and second wives.. 7 kids by 3 women.. But since he believes Jesus is his lord and savior, he is forgiven for all of his transgressions… OY…
Always amazed at the lack of historical knowledge of the Crusades. Not just that Saladin defeated the Crusaders, but also by the reality that the Fourth and Fifth Crusades were a disaster.
During the Crusades when these warriors arrived in the middle they slaughtered everyone who was not Christian… that means Muslims and of course…. Jews…
They don’t teach that history whatsoever… And Pete? He’s a drunk and a cheater.. perfect prerequisite to serve the First Felon.
Thank you, Ruth! As valuable as your work has been in teaching America about authoritarianism we need your mind and your skills more than ever as democracy nears sunset.
Saladin (A Kurd, by the way) sucked the heavily armored Crusaders out into the desert and let the climate weaken them. The Saracen army ambushed and slaughtered them.(Payback for Jerusalem)
No matter the outcome, religious wars are maybe the worst kind. Excepting of course WWI and the US Civil War, which resulted in mass death in order to uphold the rule of autocrats who cared nothing for anyone else, and were happy to enforce legal and wage slavery, among other outrages.
Oy indeed. I always was jealous of having one’s sins absolved; we Jews carry ours, and everybody else’s, on our shoulders.
Forgiveness without attonment. That's not how it works.
I lay my head on my pillow at night and the image of a 500 foot wave bearing down on America is the image that appears almost every night. Combine this moment of reckless and corrupt abandonment along with the climate emergency - another 500 foot wave. I weep as well.
Better. perhaps to put this another way: Hegseth and white men like him are fighting a battle to keep their unearned position at the top of our cultural heap. I think this puts their efforts into a perspective that includes the fact that if you combine the number of women, jews (and other non-christians) and people of color, the white male group appears shrunken by comparison. So they have to be loud and 'proud' (of what, running a centuries old selfish grift for centuries?) in order to puff themselves up. Sort of pathetic, no? Not that this makes them less dangerous, but it does give me hope that if we can only unite across our varying majority perspectives, they will fail.
Yes! And this is why they revere the Fifties so much (most too young to have lived it)—WASP control of most everything.
I joined Contrarian today, looking forward to your participation.
My question about Hegseth’s nomination is, how will other countries react when they have to do negotiations with him?
They can do anything as long as forgiven by “their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Obscene distortion of Christianity. PS who forgets the name of their kid?!
Their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose actual sayings and instructions they ignore. When they get to the Pearly Gates they are in for a rude surprise.
A drunk.
All of the potential threats, Hegseth et alia, to the US way of life and positive if beleaguered history will be active threats this month if the confirmation playbook is successful. While they loom over our shared future we have to condition ourselves to the impossible and unacceptable, and acquit ourselves to mitigate and exhaust the offenders.
For me and I hope others, keeping J621 front and center, if not a rally cry, in public is a step in keeping me honorable and bracing me for the impossible and unacceptable. Display the the monogram proudly in public. J621.
Very good, I will join you in that.
I ironed on the monogram to a ball cap and I wear it everyday. Thank you Donald!
You’re on.
Thanks for this informative piece, Ruth. It's very enlightening.
But Pete can do hundreds of pushups, and he has a blond wife and 7 kids. He is obviously qualified for leading the largest and one of the most complicated organizations in the world.
We have 5 days left before the true s***storm begins.
Still, after 9 years of trump, why is it that he is the only one everyone can hear? His rhetoric is only lies and yet that is still all that hits the waves. Constant fear mongering everywhere. Older folks still watch cable that they're use to (i.e., my neighbor). Substacks are great but they don't get out and allow communal communication like when JFK, MLK, or 911 occurred. I believe that is still the biggest problem. Maybe Tim Snyder's idea of the "shadow democracy" would be the solution needed for truth to rise.
IMHO I concur. You brought up 911...how can we keep J621 front and center of the public?
Sorry, what is IMHO?
Yes, J621 is very important to me. But unity of this horrific event wavered. It was a total shift from the deep response of prior disasters. Just my feelings/beliefs.
We all must keep talking about J621, especially in commentaries like this and news stations. (Oh, IMHO, got it!)
Read one of your comments to not support bezos & musk in IRA's. Guess you must search for their corporations, yes?
Yes. The only ones I know of are Tesla, Amazon and Meta. I had to go into each investment until I found it. I know there are more, but it is a start.
Ok, thanks!
Addendum to my IRA strategy. I then sold all that mutual fund and invested in bonds. My risk tolerance is beyond Street's low (LOL). 70 percent are in bonds. I just want to preserve my capital and show the funds I don't like who they give my modest contribution to. Sorry for rambling.
You're fine, it's a lingo I'm not real versed with though I try reading lit on it. Ramsey says not to invest with bonds. Others say yeh bonds are fine. Lots of opinions. Well thanks for your input, appreciate!
tRump created a post-truth revolution in this nation with all of his lies. This is one of the fascist aspects that we need to counter better. His followers live in an alternate reality/truth. I have been very active with "letters to the editor" to my local newspaper, trying to show with facts, what reality is. Hard to say how much effect it has but I do not stop.
Letters to the Editor are great. The small city I live in has a paper produced out of town. It use to be a big enterprise. Having been fairly new here I gave it a go but it was quite disappointing. To get locally run newspapers again would be beneficial, especially now.
So what is to do now -- Frankly I'm astonished that he is moving forward!
I, too, am astonished.
Why? Republicans hold the majorities and they have shown their stripes repeatedly. Moderate Republicans are few and far between at the national level.
Give the minority in Congress a spear to puncture a nominee's bellowing. Something that will stop his or her loquacity just for a moment. J621 can be such a weapon but I am not sure how one of the minority in Congress can deliver it in the right way to stun the nominee.
I wonder if the Christian Nationalists families let their children see and hear about people like Hegseth. Do they not tell them about all of his indiscretions? Do they not let the children see anything about this goon? What happens if a child finds out somehow? How does the parent explain this away to them? Seems to me this would cause a child to question things that they learn from their "Christian" education.
Do not lose sight of the fact that for white evangelical Christians aka Christian Nationalists, women are chattel, placed on the Earth to serve, and provide pleasure to, white men. White men who do not commit sexual abuse, they simply take what their god has presented to them.
I thank God every day that my husband is a decent man, a real human being, who has emotions and empathy and is not afraid of a strong woman.
Why are MAGA Senators joining on their support of this dreadful nominee?
1) Would they hire Hegseth?
2) Would they want to work for Hegseth?
3) Would they want their daughter to invite Hegseth to come home for the weekend?
Says it ALL?
The easy answer is, they will get primaried if they don't follow Trump's wishes.
Is a senate seat worth the sale of your soul to the devil?
Fascism is characterized by a lack of conscience of those in leadership. There's plenty of this in the MAGA movement.
What we absolutely DO NOT NEED atop the DoD is a "yes man" who will do the bidding of a dictator. My hope lies in the people below him unwilling to bring harm to their fellow Americans and follow illegal and unconscionable orders. We'll see where this goes, quite quickly I'm sure.
There is no help coming. Republicans are ALL in.
J621 memory displayed in public might help.
Republicans are all in for fascism and have abandoned democracy. It's a sickness.
I am at a loss for words. This is stunning and will put our country in grave, grave, danger.
thanks, Joanna. i feel the same; it's as though i'm not cohering. this a travesty of our government, our lives, reality - but it is reality - what a beautiful world we could have were it not for these death and greed warmongers who talk of lethality, of warriors, of killing strangers and then have the audacity to attach religion and righteousness to it -
Hegseth has three (maybe four) jobs, all of which he is supremely qualified for. 1) Purge the officer corps of anyone not fully committed to his Christo-fascist MAGA worldview (which means most of the corps who did not graduate from the Air Force Academy, a hotbed of christo-fascism). 2) Follow Trump's inevitable orders to use live ammunition to break up domestic anti-Trump demonstrations. 3) Give cover to US troops who shoot civilians or commit other war crimes and 4) To mount extravagant military parades down Pennsylvania Avenue to honor Trump. These parades to include missiles, tanks, multiple goose stepping military units, etc.
In other words, to debase and degrade the military with reckless disregard for national security. And with the complicity of cowardly Republican Senators who fear a mean tweet from an old man with dementia in orange face paint and a primary funded by an illegal immigrant from South Africa. Faust asks if selling your soul for a senate seat is worth it.
His lack of experience and willingness to bow to Trump is absolutely horrifying to me.