Evangelicals

Actually, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Congress' most knowledgeable Constitutional scholar is taking it very seriously.

Fascism Comes To America by Nancy OhanianWriting for Politico this week, Gabby Orr reported that only 1 in 4 Americans see Trump as a man of faith. Trump uses religion to manipulate his followers. Most Americans don't fall for it-- but 27% (of registered voters) do.

You don't need to watch this whole long video. I have it started at a spot that explains how China has been able to successfully reopen businesses. That's the part that's important to listen to. There is a difference between opening up willy-nilly (the Texas and Florida model) and opening up safely (the China model). I left in a short intro by Chris Martenson, but the stuff about the epidemic prevention measures by the guy in the red shirt with the British or Australian accent-- at around the 7 minute mark-- is what we need to hear.

by Noah Sunday Thoughts:Nope, no social distancing needed! Not to worry, the Lord will protect those who believe!And no mask either, but it's just as well since no mask can hide what these people are. Those pictured have repeatedly made it obvious that they joyously subscribe to a "Christian" message of death, hate and sadism. In a year, I want to see a count of how many of the people in this picture are dead, dead, DEAD from COVID-19.

Taking US national politics too seriously can make you hopelessly stupid, hopelessly cynical, or hopelessly suicidal. Let’s see. We had a former Black Panther, Congressman Bobby Rush, endorsing search-and-frisk Bloomberg; while Mike Will Get It Done was making AP headlines: “Bloomberg Once Blamed End of ‘Redlining’ for 2008 Collapse.” We have evangelicals adulterating my I-71 […]

Trump wants to prove he was right all along by banning travel into the U.S. from Mexico (to prevent coronavirus). As I was writing this the U.S.-- the world's example of how not to deal with a pandemic-- has 72 confirmed cases (probably closer to 72,000) while Mexico has 4 confirmed cases.

It’s a thriving nation; Taiwan gets a lot of visitors for whom English is often a first or second language.  As an aid to its travelers, translations are added to many public signs.  Several years ago, I came across this helpful notice: “APPROACH INTIMATELY FOR CLEANLINESS AND DISCRETION.”  It was in a Taipei subway station, posted above a row of restroom urinals.  The English instructions were pretty clear in context, but could also, I mused, be suitably displayed behind the bar of a singles bistro.  Translation happens.

Fascism Comes To America by Nancy OhanianI was born in Brooklyn. I lived in New York City and it's suburbs until I was around 20 and after that lived in Afghanistan and Holland, then San Francisco and Los Angeles. I had never met an evangelical pastor in my life-- until the last few years when I was already in my 60s.

That video above is Bob Dylan and Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, singing one of my favorite songs of his, “With God On Our Side” (which hadn’t been released yet). Down at the bottom is a cover by Wire Train, one of the bands on my old indie label, 415 Records. Great version— and this clip has all the lyrics shown plainly on the screen. Trump should have watched it before he went down to Miami on Friday to rally evangelical voters.

In 2009 James Lankford stepped down as as the student ministries and evangelism specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and as director of the youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center in Davis, Oklahoma to run for Congress. His voting record is pure Trumpist and even before Trump, his record was fanatically far right. He claims to believe deeply in Jesus Christ. And yet, for example, he’s an anti-LGBTQ warrior. And so on.