Tucker Carlson Tonight

[Doc Sam Beckett 5784]

On 12/30/2021 at 3:41 PM, Brisketexan said:

I just don’t understand people who get their information from cable talking heads. 

F that. Get fact-centered reporting from sources like NPR or the BBC if you need electronic media. Or, try reading: the economist, the WSJ, even just wire services like Reuters and AP.
 

CNN 10, formerly CNN Student News is tailor made for the Surl. It's only ten minutes, so most of us should be able to follow at least half of it. Admittedly, Carl Azuz doesn't tell you what to think, which is hard for a lot of us, but it also doesn't make you think too hard, which is a huge plus for most of us. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

I do not view the cable news regularly, but i do occasionally and in a similar fashion as the journalist, Aaron Rupar. It's useful as an assessment of what is being talked about and most importantly: how it is being 'packaged' for consumption. Even the non op-ed type outlets such as Reuters are businesses and they choose what events to cover and then sell.

I suppose that is one of the few positives of the global social--after sorting through the  fake, the bot, the propaganda, and so on, there are issues that bubble up to the surface before any agency gets ahold of them. It's not journalism in the same sense, for that takes more investigation to secure facts, but it can, at least, shine some light on the overlooked.

I really miss the website, Muckety, with their ability to create relationship diagrams. I don't know if Sedition Hunters (the group that tackled all of the Jan 6th events) has software like that, but some soul that could wade through the raft of names and locations and such to create a Muckety like chart would be a hero to the Republic  in my eyes. While the business was critiqued as being 'catnip for conspiracy theorists,' and that is a fair assessment of any tool in the hands of a novice, it aided the brain with visual elements so that one could sort the facts from the fake. Had it stayed up during the former administration, for example, the links from people in the WH, CEOs, boards, companies, fake charities and such would have been fascinating and likely infuriating even though the public is somewhat aware of the tip of the iceberg.

What I also enjoy is reading people in 'the business' taking a look at techniques and even if the interview is crap like Tucker's, and even if the critic is less than trustworthy, I learn something on the side. I've spoilered an example below--Mark Lukasiewicz, currently at Hofstra but a former media guy, taking a look at Ari Melber's time spent with Peter "Coke Hands" Navarro.

Spoiler

 

 

[Tom 2959]

11 hours ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

But also...one could argue the only Republican that has a chance against Biden is Trump.  Like it or not, he is the “leader” of the movement and it will be challenging for the GOP not to nominate him. It’s almost like Trump doesn’t have that much choice. He will be the nominee, even if he’s dead or in prison.  I very much want to be wrong on this. 

 

Without Trump on the ballot, millions who held their nose and probably voted for a Democrat for president for the first time in many election cycles if not ever likely go right back to voting Republican.  I also believe there are plenty of rabid Trump supporters out there who may stay home and not feel excited enough to go out and vote for a different Republican, but I think the first group outnumbers the second.  Just my gut feeling.  80-year-old Joe Biden isn't exactly exciting to most people.  He's not going to be as hard to beat as Obama or Bill Clinton, regardless of his record number of votes in 2020.  Millions of those votes were anti-Trump votes, not pro-Biden votes.

[Guest Lobo]

 

That's a good point, Tom.  I know many on CR don't want to acknowledge that, but it's true.  Millions of us turned out with the express purpose of voting against Donald Trump.  Millions.  Not sure how it breaks down in critical battleground states, but it was in the millions nationwide, possibly ten million+.  As a 20+ year member of the Libertarian Party, I never even bothered finding out who was running on that ticket.  It was "Get Trump out of office by any means necessary."  That was my entire political ideology last year.  That and hoping he died in office.  I voted for several Republicans and Libertarians down ballot, and a few Democrats as well. 

I even managed to bundle ~$175k for Biden/Harris in Texas during the cycle.  People would ask some version of, 
"You're a political guy, why exactly should I donate to Biden/Harris?"

My only response was, "Policywise?  I dunno, I just know they're not Trump."  I think my honesty convinced a lot of friends to write a check.  Certainly wasn't my winning personality.  

[Biff Tannen 45506]

9 minutes ago, Tom said:

Without Trump on the ballot, millions who held their nose and probably voted for a Democrat for president for the first time in many election cycles if not ever likely go right back to voting Republican.

And this is why we are in big fucking trouble.

[Tom 2959]

  

10 minutes ago, Lobo said:

 

That's a good point, Tom.  I know many on CR don't want to acknowledge that, but it's true.  Millions of us turned out with the express purpose of voting against Donald Trump.  Millions.  Not sure how it breaks down in critical battleground states, but it was in the millions nationwide, possibly ten million+.  As a 20+ year member of the Libertarian Party, I never even bothered finding out who was running on that ticket.  It was "Get Trump out of office by any means necessary."  That was my entire political ideology last year.  That and hoping he died in office.  I voted for several Republicans and Libertarians down ballot, and a few Democrats as well. 

I even managed to bundle ~$175k for Biden/Harris in Texas during the cycle.  People would ask some version of, 
"You're a political guy, why exactly should I donate to Biden/Harris?"

My only response was, "Policywise?  I dunno, I just know they're not Trump."  I think my honesty convinced a lot of friends to write a check.  Certainly wasn't my winning personality.  

 

Exactly.  It easily explains away some of the stolen election conspiracy theorists' arguments as well.

"Well why did Biden win in states where Republicans won down ballot?"  Because tons of those people weren't voting for Democrats, but they were voting against Trump.

"Do you really believe someone like Joe Biden could have got more votes than Obama?"   Yes.  Nevermind that the voting population is always growing, but because millions of Romney and Bush voters also voted against Trump and for Biden.  Probably a bunch of people who don't regularly vote went out and voted against Trump and for Biden.

 

8 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

And this is why we are in big fucking trouble.

 

Yes, we likely are.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Tom

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

5 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

And this is why we are in big fucking trouble.

Fox has had Pompeo on a lot. I know not many here give him a chance, but if Fox keeps him around, there are going to be viewers that find him appealing, or at least more appealing than Cruz. With respect to DeSantis, Pompeo is going to have the edge in international experience while DeSantis has the charisma edge (and you don't know how much it pains me to say that). Neither have the Trump cult attraction going for them, but those voters that said 'no Trump' and who want more authoritarian style, nationalist flavor in their leaders will find them persuasive because those two will tell them want they want to hear.

[Guest Lobo]

DeSantis is currying more and more favor with the establishment GOP for two simple reasons...he's good at raising money (Pompeo is not) and he can lock up Florida in a 2024 general without expending resources there that the party can use in states like PA and GA.  Yes Cruz can carry Texas, but any GOP candidate can carry Texas in 2024.  I know it's turning blue folks, but not that soon . Florida is coin toss in 2020, it's one right now, and it'll be one in 2024.  DeSantis while mocked by a lot of Floridians easily gets in a POTUS general with little effort because Floridians have just as much state pride as Texans.  

Curious thing to see is if DeSantis would accept a VP slot in 2024.  He'd only be 46 at the time of 2024 general.  Plenty of time to serve 1-2 terms as VP and just coast into the Oval after that.  

I remember a year ago thinking, "If they can get Trump to go away or he dies of shitgut...I bet Abbott thinks long and hard about running in 2024."  Many TRP operators agreed.  Then this moist little bridge dweller comes outta nowhere and now Abbott can't think about the White House for a moment, lest the troll sneak up behind him and steal his current House. 

strange days indeed.  Most peculiar momma.  Roll...

[atomheartbevo 89465]

9 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Fox has had Pompeo on a lot. I know not many here give him a chance, but if Fox keeps him around, there are going to be viewers that find him appealing, or at least more appealing than Cruz. With respect to DeSantis, Pompeo is going to have the edge in international experience while DeSantis has the charisma edge (and you don't know how much it pains me to say that). 

9 hours ago, Lobo said:

DeSantis is currying more and more favor with the establishment GOP for two simple reasons...he's good at raising money (Pompeo is not) and he can lock up Florida in a 2024 general

DeSantis has to win reelection this year.  That's not a given at all, given who is on the ballot, how many have died or been fucked over by COVID, etc.

If DeSantis doesn't win reelection, he's toast with the GOP. They don't put somebody from Florida on the ballot in 2024 unless that person can actually deliver Florida.

 

[HenryJames 65893]

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

27 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

DeSantis has to win reelection this year.  That's not a given at all, given who is on the ballot, how many have died or been fucked over by COVID, etc.

If DeSantis doesn't win reelection, he's toast with the GOP. They don't put somebody from Florida on the ballot in 2024 unless that person can actually deliver Florida.

 

What I've been following in Florida has not been COVID, although that is obviously news there. it has been some reporting regarding their utilities. It has to do with rate increases and some accusations that the traditional utilities conspired against rooftop solar. I'm simplifying it, but here is an article from a Tampa outlet:

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/12/20/floridas-largest-electric-utility-conspired-against-solar-power-documents-show/

There is a group that is fighting against rate increases and that is going before the Florida Supreme Court. This is something, in addition to COVID, that hits people in the wallet. If DeSantis can convince people it is all the green energy socialist environmentalist cabal's fault, then he will do well, but it's going to take some doing because the electric company has thrown a lot of weight around and it's getting some publicity that maybe, just maybe, it was political cronyism and profits and the common man is footing the bill.

But it's Florida, so he'll probably win.

[tchookem 3900]

CNN 10, formerly CNN Student News is tailor made for the Surl. It's only ten minutes, so most of us should be able to follow at least half of it. Admittedly, Carl Azuz doesn't tell you what to think, which is hard for a lot of us, but it also doesn't make you think too hard, which is a huge plus for most of us. 

Wanna guess how many "concerned" parent phone calls I've gotten because I'm trying to indoctrinate kids by showing CNN10 in class?

(It's more than one)

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

2 minutes ago, tchookem said:

Wanna guess how many "concerned" parent phone calls I've gotten because I'm trying to indoctrinate kids by showing CNN10 in class?

(It's more than one)

An acquaintance rails about the local news channel because they have the temerity to post the COVID case counts and hospitalizations each evening at the close of the broadcast.

"It's fear porn!"

Oh? I hate to tell you this, but you might want to stay away from the weather, too, because it's reported as well.

[HornOnTheBayou 8881]

33 minutes ago, tchookem said:

Wanna guess how many "concerned" parent phone calls I've gotten because I'm trying to indoctrinate kids by showing CNN10 in class?

(It's more than one)

Yes, you should definitely feel like your children are being threatened by the bad puns that Carl Azuz always has at the end of the show. Fucking hell.

[Satchel 6908]

11 hours ago, Tom said:

 

Without Trump on the ballot, millions who held their nose and probably voted for a Democrat for president for the first time in many election cycles if not ever likely go right back to voting Republican.  I also believe there are plenty of rabid Trump supporters out there who may stay home and not feel excited enough to go out and vote for a different Republican, but I think the first group outnumbers the second.  Just my gut feeling.  80-year-old Joe Biden isn't exactly exciting to most people.  He's not going to be as hard to beat as Obama or Bill Clinton, regardless of his record number of votes in 2020.  Millions of those votes were anti-Trump votes, not pro-Biden votes.

True. The split ticket voting that allowed the GOP to gain seats in the midst of a record Democratic turnout is proof positive of that. fact.

[Sawbonz 27445]

13 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Fox has had Pompeo on a lot. I know not many here give him a chance, but if Fox keeps him around, there are going to be viewers that find him appealing, or at least more appealing than Cruz. With respect to DeSantis, Pompeo is going to have the edge in international experience while DeSantis has the charisma edge (and you don't know how much it pains me to say that). Neither have the Trump cult attraction going for them, but those voters that said 'no Trump' and who want more authoritarian style, nationalist flavor in their leaders will find them persuasive because those two will tell them want they want to hear.

Pompeo may not be around to run. I think he hit a Gypsy with his car or something

 

[hookemATL 11611]

22 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Pompeo may not be around to run. I think he hit a Gypsy with his car or something

 

“Philadelphia 2: AIDS Strikes Back” while intriguing, made some really unfortunate casting decisions. 

[elfenix 34189]

tucking a tshirt in, jesus

[Neonmoon 38127]

Is that Keto or Lapband?

[Cousin Strawberry 1261]

8 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Is that Keto or Lapband?

Lap

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

31 minutes ago, Cousin Strawberry said:

Lap

He hasn't confirmed it, but based on his disappearance for awhile after Jan. 2021, that's my speculation as well.

It's not talked about much, but he's been going around to the money groups, so I'm not going to be surprised when he announces.

[Paul Wesley 3277]

Interesting discussion. 
 

Has Biden publicly stated that he’s running?   He said he wouldn’t- and I don’t remember seeing where he’s changed course. 
 

Republicans have done a **much** better job of identifying the last few likely Democratic presidential nominees - especially Hillary - and spent half a decade putting out daily hit jobs, conspiracy theories, and subversive rumors.  I’m convinced that Hillary was simultaneously one of the most qualified candidates (though unlikeable) of the last 100 years, and also the only (D) who could have lost to the most profoundly unqualified major-party candidate of our time.  
 

They’re already shelling Harris (EXPENSIVE COOKWARE!   Communist!).   She’s seemingly got NO ONE in her corner right now.  I don’t think she could beat any of the Trumpkin loons.  
 

Last point:   I’ll bet Trump runs if he thinks he’s captured enough swing state legislators with his loyalists.  He  definitely doesn’t need the popular vote.  He may not need an electoral majority either.  
 

I think it looks bleak for the Dems.  

[Biff Tannen 45506]

8 minutes ago, Paul Wesley said:

Interesting discussion. 
 

Has Biden publicly stated that he’s running?   He said he wouldn’t- and I don’t remember seeing where he’s changed course. 
 

Republicans have done a **much** better job of identifying the last few likely Democratic presidential nominees - especially Hillary - and spent half a decade putting out daily hit jobs, conspiracy theories, and subversive rumors.  I’m convinced that Hillary was simultaneously one of the most qualified candidates (though unlikeable) of the last 100 years, and also the only (D) who could have lost to the most profoundly unqualified major-party candidate of our time.  
 

They’re already shelling Harris (EXPENSIVE COOKWARE!   Communist!).   She’s seemingly got NO ONE in her corner right now.  I don’t think she could beat any of the Trumpkin loons.  
 

Last point:   I’ll bet Trump runs if he thinks he’s captured enough swing state legislators with his loyalists.  He  definitely doesn’t need the popular vote.  He may not need an electoral majority either.  
 

I think it looks bleak for the Dems.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

Hah. Pompeo made one too many circuits on television and so here's his story (it is running in several outlets, so I just grabbed one). No way that was just salads and barbells.

 

Unrecognizable Mike Pompeo reveals secrets to 90lb weight loss – from swapping in turkey bacon to shunning pasta.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/4413947/mike-pompeo-weight-loss-secret-turkey-bacon/

 

AAAACK! Turkey Bacon!!!!!

Seriously, there were pics of him way earlier and he went from leaving the state department (here a couple of days before)

and then showed up in March of 2021 to speak:

 

But him claiming he started six months ago is weird because Fox News was commenting on it in September, and this is Aaron Rupar again in October noticing:

Just seems a little sketch to drop 90 pounds that quickly. I  mean, if someone admitted they had surgical help bothers me a hell of a lot less than someone lying about it because they want to be President.

[Bama Chick 28596]

Biden never said he was only in this for one term.

There was lots of wishcasting from Democrats that he COULD be a one and done but that never came out of Joe’s mouth.

And even if that is his intention, he would never say that out loud and I don’t think the DNC would have wanted him to run with a one term plan.

Incumbency is the greatest asset a president has. There’s a reason why Trump is only the third (?) incumbent to lose reelection. Unless you’re extraordinarily shitty, Americans tend to vote for incumbents.

Biden is 1,000% running for a second term.

[Biff Tannen 45506]

3 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

Biden never said he was only in this for one term.

There was lots of wishcasting from Democrats that he COULD be a one and done but that never came out of Joe’s mouth.

And even if that is his intention, he would never say that out loud and I don’t think the DNC would have wanted him to run with a one term plan.

Incumbency is the greatest asset a president has. There’s a reason why Trump is only the third (?) incumbent to lose reelection. Unless you’re extraordinarily shitty, Americans tend to vote for incumbents.

Biden is 1,000% running for a second term.

Yep.  You don't make yourself a lame duck.  Teddy said it was his biggest political mistake of his career when he announced he wouldn't seek re-election after he won in 1904.

[Guest Lobo]

6 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

Biden never said he was only in this for one term.

There was lots of wishcasting from Democrats that he COULD be a one and done but that never came out of Joe’s mouth.

And even if that is his intention, he would never say that out loud and I don’t think the DNC would have wanted him to run with a one term plan.

Incumbency is the greatest asset a president has. There’s a reason why Trump is only the third (?) incumbent to lose reelection. Unless you’re extraordinarily shitty, Americans tend to vote for incumbents.

Biden is 1,000% running for a second term.

We've had way more than 3.  It's about a dozen actually.  But your point stands.  Trump is the only candidate to ever lose two popular votes though, so he's got that going for him.....which is nice.  

Were Biden to not run again, he would place the party in an awkward historical position (though obviously the pub trivia item wouldn't really dictate the election)...but, if another Democrat plans to run in his stead and take office in Winter of 2025...that will make it 168 years since a Democrat took the Oath of Office for another Democrat leaving office alive.  41 presidential terms and counting since a Democrat left office either due to term limits or not running again and passed the baton to another Democrat.  Obviously if Trump is running alongside that historical fact in 2024...I'll be right there with y'all to defeat him.  2024 is gonna be quite a pickle for your party though if Trump is not there for all of us to rally around to beat and you've got internal pressure for Biden to step aside and open up the primary.

[Paul Wesley 3277]

Yeah, I misremembered.  The news articles in 2019 said Biden told staff he’d be a 1-term guy.  But he never said that publicly.  And has since said he’d run again. 

[tx 3 putt 76434]

On 1/7/2022 at 11:19 PM, Sawbonz said:

Pompeo may not be around to run. I think he hit a Gypsy with his car or something

 

traitor 

[Guest Lobo]

4 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

traitor 

The “Traitor Diet”???

I read about this in Men’s Health to lose weight fast.  
 

A Trump ball for breakfast 

A Trump ball for lunch 

And then, a sensible dinner 

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

It just seemed a little improbable to lose a pound a day (six month diet and 90 pounds) on diet and exercise alone, but I'm not a dietician or doctor so I'm going off the old recommendations that I recall from college--about one to two pounds or so a week, depending upon how overweight one is.

[Bozo_Casanova 26316]

48 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

It just seemed a little improbable to lose a pound a day (six month diet and 90 pounds) on diet and exercise alone, but I'm not a dietician or doctor so I'm going off the old recommendations that I recall from college--about one to two pounds or so a week, depending upon how overweight one is.

4 pounds/week works out to a daily caloric deficit of about 2kcal/day.
Assuming Pompeo has a normal metabolic rate for a man his size as he shrunk he needed an average of about 2100 calories a day to maintain weight just siting still.

so…if he got enough activity to add 1000 calories to that (doable especially with caffeine and supplements), and had the discipline to eat a nutritionally balanced diet of around 1100-1200 calls/day, added some intermittent fasting, and then drank a ton of water, got lots of sleep and did everything else right it’s possible to do this. 

He will likely gain it all back and he doesn’t look healthy (for obvious reasons), but it’s doable.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Bozo_Casanova

[Pato del Muerto 52354]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

It just seemed a little improbable to lose a pound a day (six month diet and 90 pounds) on diet and exercise alone, but I'm not a dietician or doctor so I'm going off the old recommendations that I recall from college--about one to two pounds or so a week, depending upon how overweight one is.

Seems like a good time to mention that 6 months is 180 days. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

5 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Seems like a good time to mention that 6 months is 180 days. 

Haha! Math in the morning and me running my mouth, not a good combo. You are correct!

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

27 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

4 pounds/week works out to a daily caloric deficit of about 2kcal/day.
Assuming Pompeo has a normal metabolic rate for a man his size as he shrunk he needed an average of about 2100 calories a day to maintain weight just siting still.

so…if he got enough activity to add 1000 calories to that (doable especially with caffeine and supplements), and had the discipline to eat a nutritionally balanced diet of around 1100-1200 calls/day, added some intermittent fasting, and then drank a ton of water, got lots of sleep and did everything else right it’s possible to do this. 

He will likely gain it all back and he doesn’t look healthy (for obvious reasons), but it’s doable.

I guess I was surprised as he was quoted as saying he started in June of this year and then in the photos I posted above from September and October, he was already very very thin--which is much less than 6 months and that was after being on the lecture circuit in the spring (2021) and then going somewhat off the radar.

If he did do it w/o assistance then more power to him as that is a harder to sustain way to keep it off, IMO.

[TheStoicPaisano 9904]

Weren’t he and Mrs. P responsible for those clout-chasing Madison Dinners? Maybe he’s just cheap when he doesn’t have access to the $tate faucet. Good.

[4th&Five 41461]

I changed my diet a few years ago and lost 70lbs in just over 4 months and have pretty much kept it all off, so it’s possible. I was a lot younger than him though. 

[Guest Lobo]

^

Uh, how in the world did you do that?  I'm hoping it's strippers and blow...but I'll take any other tips in 2022.  Thanks.

[atomheartbevo 89465]

4 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

I changed my diet a few years ago and lost 70lbs in just over 4 months and have pretty much kept it all off, so it’s possible. I was a lot younger than him though. 

3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

^

Uh, how in the world did you do that?  I'm hoping it's strippers and blow...but I'll take any other tips in 2022.  Thanks.

Yeah, ummm, asking for a friend who...doesn't need to lose 70lbs, but more like 20-30.

 

[4th&Five 41461]

That would have been more fun. DASH diet. Very low sodium, no processed foods. 

[aggie08 21439]

I assume that this means that Pompeo is preparing a run at President in 2024, and knows that the party of personal responsibility would never elect a lard ass? Okay, not another lard ass.

[Shady Ray 1633]

4 hours ago, aggie08 said:

I assume that this means that Pompeo is preparing a run at President in 2024, and knows that the party of personal responsibility would never elect a lard ass? Okay, not another lard ass.

Oh yeah, he is running. Already trying to out-Evangelical even the most batshit crazy of the Evangelicals:

 

 

I mean, regardless of one's position on Israel, I think we can all agree that there are, in fact, "more important tasks of the Sec of State than standing for Israel."

 

His entire speech at the Zionist Organization of America last month was completely insane.

 

He literally says that Americans must “renew our commitment to putting America and Israel and our values first,” and says that American support for Israel “a perfect expression of American patriotism because it demonstrates our ability to recognize and defend our own democratic interests and our values with absolute moral clarity.” He also basically calls Biden an anti-semite:
 

Quote

Claiming “Israel is not an occupier and the hundreds of thousands of Jews and Christians who call Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem ‘home,’ have a perfectly legitimate right to live there in safety under Israeli sovereignty,” Pompeo lamented “international leader[s]” who, when talking about Jerusalem and the West Bank, “accuse our ally Israel of occupation and of illegal settlement.” 

“[Former] President Obama [and former Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton, did this repeatedly, and so has the new Biden administration,” he said.

“Even though these legal terms are just a casual way of calling the Jewish state of Israel a ‘thief’ in essence, they use it,” he added.

He accused “United Nations institutions” as well as the media and “political circles” of using such misinformation “to launch all manner of hostile misrepresentations and condemnations.”

“They do this to encourage antisemitic boycotts against the Jewish state, to suppress religious freedom for Jews and Christians and ancestral heritage site, and they do it to justify acts of terrorism and mass murder,” he said.

He blasted the notion of Israelis in “land that is rightfully theirs” being labeled an “occupying” force by “many nations and even past US administrations,” an act he said was done to “[justify] the murder of Jews, the rejection of our Judeo-Christian heritage, or even the denial of the right of the nation of Israel to exist.”

“Is there really any legal truth to the accusation that Israel is occupying Palestinian land? You all know the answer is absolutely not,” he said.

 

No one says this kind of wild-ass shit unless they are going to try and win a Republican nomination.
 

For more Pompeo hits:
 

https://zoa.org/2021/12/10444659-at-zoa-gala-secy-pompeo-gave-the-greatest-most-pro-israel-speech-ever-delivered-by-a-public-official/

 

 

[Neonmoon 38127]

5 minutes ago, Shady Ray said:

Is there really any legal truth to the accusation that Israel is occupying Palestinian land?

Every single country in the world other than Israel agrees the settlements are illegal under international law. 

[Shady Ray 1633]

1 minute ago, Neonmoon said:

Every single country in the world other than Israel agrees the settlements are illegal under international law. 

Whoah whoah whoah...take it easy, man. That sounds just like something a holocaust denier/Friends of Auschwitz contributor would say.

 

I got my eye on you, pal.

[atomheartbevo 89465]

4 hours ago, Shady Ray said:

Oh yeah, he is running. Already trying to out-Evangelical even the most batshit crazy of the Evangelicals:

I mean, regardless of one's position on Israel, I think we can all agree that there are, in fact, "more important tasks of the Sec of State than standing for Israel."

His entire speech at the Zionist Organization of America last month was completely insane.

He literally says that Americans must “renew our commitment to putting America and Israel and our values first,” and says that American support for Israel “a perfect expression of American patriotism because it demonstrates our ability to recognize and defend our own democratic interests and our values with absolute moral clarity.” He also basically calls Biden an anti-semite:

No one says this kind of wild-ass shit unless they are going to try and win a Republican nomination.

Counterpoint: How is he going to pull the nuttier parts of MAGA in by saying that stuff?  They aren't too keen on the Jews these days.

That's a good way to get them to vote for the Catholics - you know, the ones who led the Inquisition.

[Mrs Whiggins 13049]

4 hours ago, Shady Ray said:

Oh yeah, he is running. Already trying to out-Evangelical even the most batshit crazy of the Evangelicals:

 

As an end-of-times believer, he's not going to have to try very hard.

[Satchel 6908]

Here’s a portion of an opinion piece that appeared in the Sunday DMN. It chronicles what Christian nationalists like Pompeo get wrong:

Christian nationalists seize on these themes to create a narrative of America as a chosen nation, created by God to serve his purposes.

Here’s where that goes wrong:

First, despite its proponents proof-texting, the Bible does not declare America to be a modern Israel. That’s entirely fabricated.

Second, it confuses the descriptive with the prescriptive. The language the founders used when setting out the nation’s political parameters was explicitly pluralist: “Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion.”

Seeing America’s identity through a Christian nationalist lens contributes to dysfunctional public discourse. To a Christian nationalist, those who disagree cannot be well-intentioned compatriots who support a different policy; they can only be devils who oppose God. They cannot be convinced by argument; they must be destroyed by force.

A seat at the table

The Christian nationalist narrative is aggressive because conservative Christians perceive a loss of cultural standing.

According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of American adults who identify as Christian dropped 12 points over the past decade. And those who identify with no organized religion, a category called “the Nones,” is the fastest growing religious segment in the nation. Non-Christian faiths are also growing, rising 1.2 percentage points between 2007 and 2014.

Further, America’s laws and customs seem to be drifting away from traditional evangelical values. On issues like abortion, gay marriage, gender, sex education and prayer in schools, conservative Christians see a long, disheartening descent from the halcyon days when you couldn’t get abortion on demand, pornography on your phone, a car on Sunday or a bottle of wine at the grocery store.

This Christmas, at the premiere of his film American Underdog, Christian filmmaker Andy Erwin voiced this sense of cultural loss in his industry: “People of [Christian] values used to be represented in Hollywood quite well,” Erwin told The Daily Wire. “We lost our seat at the table.”

A significantly large segment of American Christians feels that the culture in our country has left them behind. They refer to themselves as exiles or, recalling Moses, “strangers in a strange land.”

Befogged and offended by these shifts, Christian nationalists are rising up in a misguided effort to reclaim cultural hegemony. This is the impetus behind calls to “take back America.” This is why the unvarying message of Christian nationalism is to “wake up,” “step up” or “stand against the culture.”

A few weeks after the attack on Jan. 6, I called Glenn Kreider, one of my favorite professors at Dallas Theological Seminary, to see how he was interpreting these trends. He connected the rise of Christian nationalism to this decline of evangelical hegemony. Christianity is losing its entitlement, he told me, and it’s convulsing in response. He called it “the dying gasp of our privilege.”

In 2018, Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, wrote in The New York Times, “What Christian nationalists know — and many of us have yet to learn — is that you don’t need a majority to hijack a modern democracy. You just need a sizable minority, marinating in its grievances, willing to act as a bloc and impervious to correction by fact or argument.”

The end of days

One factor that makes this movement especially impervious to correction is its seeding in eschatology, the study of End Times.

Evangelicals are endlessly fascinated by predictions about the end of history set forth in the biblical Book of Revelation. At the seminary I attended, students prided themselves on complicated charts that slotted in such events as the Great Tribulation, the collapse of world markets, the rapture of the faithful and the second coming of Christ.

The most popular Christian fiction books in history, the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, are about End Times. They sold more than 65 million copies and spun off four feature films.

In the 1990s, I knew a conservative Christian who interpreted every negative headline as evidence of the coming judgment after America’s rejection of its holy heritage. She said we were living in “Clinton Days,” using that as a stand-in for the End Times. Why was crime a problem? Clinton Days. Why was there war in the Middle East? Clinton Days.

Though she might have taken it further than most, this is a common line of thinking among conservative evangelicals. Every headline is to be interpreted through the lens of eschatology. Every G20 meeting has to find its place on an End Times chart.

Jesus himself warned followers to keep careful watch for his return. Evangelicals are among those who have taken this commandment most literally and most seriously. But it’s a difficult one to follow, and evangelical suspicion that every world event carries some cosmic implication often leads us far afield.

Iron Man

So Christian nationalism mixes America’s religious heritage, conservative politics, a foreboding sense of cultural loss and an eschatological lens. That much has been well-documented in dozens of books, films and articles. But I think there’s one more factor that contributes significantly: Hero worship.

We evangelicals love our heroes. There are entire book series about heroes of the Bible. Church history is largely understood as a succession of great men who had the courage to stand up to emperors, heretics or popes.

In 2020, the evangelical world was set ablaze by Kristin Kobes du Mez’s Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, which traces a thread of toxic masculinity throughout American evangelical history. I think du Mez overstated her case at times, but there is no denying she’s onto something. The evangelical mind is formed by stories of singular, heroic men who refuse to back down. Sometimes these heroes carry a message, like Billy Graham. Sometimes they carry a gun, like John Wayne.

Many of the churches where Christian nationalism thrives are built around a single leader whose interpretations of ancient texts and current events go unchallenged.

And the hero motif is reinforced by the cultural tropes evangelicals accept. One of the last cultural refuges where conservative evangelicals aren’t confronted with their loss of influence is at the movies, particularly PG-13 movies. In this way, Marvel Studios may mold the evangelical imagination just as profoundly as the New Testament.

Even films labeled explicitly Christian, like American Underdog, now follow the same narrative arc: a hero is imbued with some germ of promise, faces adversity, has a crisis of faith and then wins some Earthly prize: a Super Bowl, a recording contract or the love of a crush. This may be the reason I Can Only Imagine found a following among evangelicals, but Silence did not.

Evangelical consumers who praise such films for their family-friendly content seem to forget that none of the heroes of the Bible were chosen because of their moral potential. And almost none received any kind of material reward. The famous people of the Bible like Moses, David, Peter and Paul were violent, lustful, manipulative, judgmental and cowardly. And most died poor, outcast and misunderstood.

The heroic arc also matters because heroes require villains, and so does Christian nationalism. To keep adherents frenzied, there must always be some existential crisis: a threat, a sneaky tempter with designs on spoiling God’s geopolitical purpose. Throughout evangelical history, this villain has worn the masks of communists, Catholics, women’s rights advocates, abortion doctors, Disney, gun control activists, Hollywood, the media, gay people, Democrats, coastal elites and Caitlyn Jenner.

The sheer number of villains might be a clue that this ideology can’t stand without them.

Mobs and marches

Here, then, are the ingredients of Jan. 6: a heritage of Christian centrality in American history, a perception of its loss, an ever-growing list of grievances against the “secular agenda,” a propensity toward hero worship and a fascination with End Times.

When these ideas get mashed up with social media echo chambers and conspiracy theories advanced by unscrupulous politicians, the result is a perversion of orthodox Christianity and a subversion of democratic ideals that threatens both the church and state.

It’s important to note that Christian nationalism is not synonymous with evangelicalism. Many mainline Christians support this ideology and many evangelicals condemn it.

Nor is Christian nationalism the same as the belief that righteous behavior is good for a nation. It doesn’t make one a Christian nationalist to believe that when people live in obedience to biblical commands like loving their neighbors, honoring parents, avoiding addiction, remaining faithful in marriage and submitting themselves in prayer, those behaviors yield better outcomes in individual and collective lives.

I should also note that some commentators have seen troubling connections between Christian nationalism and other power systems like patriarchy and white supremacy. I don’t deny that those connections exist, but I’m limiting this examination to just these four pillars of the ideology.

On its own, none of those four themes is strong enough to have created Jan. 6. There’s nothing wrong with loving superhero movies or with taking pride in America’s religious heritage. But mixed together, these elements form a cocktail that threatens to stupefy both democracy and faith. In fact, the biggest problem with Christian nationalism is not politics, it’s ecclesiology: how churches are governed and how they interact with the world around them.

And here’s the ecclesiastical secret Christian nationalists miss: Christianity functions best when it has the least power. In fact, that is one of Christianity’s unique contributions to history. All other ancient religions identified gods with powerful people. Emperors and pharaohs were worshiped as gods. Kings were given direct access to God. But Jesus identified with “the least of these” and turned the religious power dynamic on its head.

Throughout history, the church has too easily forgotten that lesson. Most famously, this happened in the fourth century. When Christianity ceased to be a breakaway Jewish sect and became the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, the mission got co-opted. Church leaders who pursue political power are abandoning their calling. They can’t serve two masters.

Kreider, my seminary professor, warned about this danger.

“The church has never been in charge of the world in which she lives,” Kreider said. “She functions as a minority voice. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] was right. She is to be the prophetic voice to the culture. When she becomes the one in power, she becomes like every other power broker. Then power becomes more important than the gospel, than character.”

A pithy version of Kreider’s warning has been circulating on Christian Twitter: “When you mix religion and politics, you get politics.”

There is good news, however. According to the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), significantly fewer Americans today believe that God has granted America a special role in human history than did just eight years ago. And an ecumenical statement condemning Christian nationalism has been signed by more than 18,000 pastors and Christian leaders.

But the desire for Christian cultural hegemony still exists, especially among white evangelicals. Also according to PRRI, only 13% of that group prefers religious diversity. And it’s the only religious cohort in America from which a majority (57%) agree with the statement, “I would prefer the U.S. to be a nation primarily made up of people who follow the Christian faith.”

Despite the banners carried to the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year, Christian nationalists don’t take justification for their movement from the words of Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible admonished followers to love their enemies and care for the poor and immigrant. He consistently rejected invitations to seize political power. The political playbook of the New Testament may be most clearly articulated by the Apostle Peter, who admonished followers to “live such good lives among the pagans that … they may see your good deeds and glorify God.”

In contrast, Christian nationalists take their cues from the Old Testament. The Jan. 6 rally included a “Jericho march.” That was a reference to an episode in the Book of Joshua in which the people of Israel marched around the city of Jericho, after which the city walls collapsed and the Israelite army rushed in to massacre men, women, children and livestock. It was clearly a call for violence.

American Christianity cannot embrace both the God of peace and the god of politics. We cannot have both Jericho and the New Jerusalem.

Two masters

Predictably, the two masters of Christian nationalism are already diverging. On Dec. 19, Donald Trump Jr. declared Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount a failed policy. At an event sponsored by Turning Point USA, Trump Jr. said, “We’ve turned the other cheek, and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference — I understand the mentality — but it’s gotten us nothing. OK? It’s gotten us nothing while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution in our country.”

Grievance over cultural loss? Check. Presence of an existential threat? Check. Need for a warrior hero? Check. Opposition to the teachings of Jesus? Check.

Trump Jr.’s comments are illuminating because he seems to articulate that the shift away from Christian teaching is intentional: “We’ve been playing tee ball for half a century, while they’re playing hardball and cheating.” Trump Jr. and those who support his line of thinking are ready to play the world’s political game; ready to give up the countercultural humility that Jesus announced and join the race to the political bottom.

Here, then, is the final bankruptcy of Christian nationalism. It makes a bad bargain. It trades virtue for power, mystery for mendacity, the keys of heaven for broken windows on Capitol Hill.

Perhaps singer-songwriter Derek Webb knows this tribe best when he confesses:

I am so easily satisfied

By the call of a lover so less wild

That I would take a little cash

Over your very flesh and blood.

Christian nationalism weaponizes America’s religious heritage, but faithful Christians must beat those weapons into plowshares. Christian nationalism shouts that God’s side is losing, but faithful Christians must remember that “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.” Christian nationalism makes enemies out of neighbors, but faithful Christians love their enemies as well as their neighbors. Christian nationalism seeks to elevate political strongmen to “save America,” but faithful Christians promote only one savior.

America needs the Christian gospel. Throughout our nation’s history, Christianity has promoted harmony, morality, stability and good will. And America needs patriots willing to protect against incursions like the one we saw a year ago. What America doesn’t need is Christian nationalists.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2022/01/09/heres-where-christian-nationalism-comes-from-and-what-it-gets-wrong/

[Bullneck 19023]

The whole Jewish thing is a tough one for the MAGAts.  

In they're hearts I doubt they like Jews.  But you can't let the Holy Land go Muslim.  

 

[Brisketexan 104705]

Satchel, my wife is a minister mostly to “nones” - people who can no longer abide American “Christianity.” She reads that editorial and says “no shit.”

Seriously, Christian leaders long ago realized that the greatest enemy of American Christianity is….American Christians.

[hobbes2702 12850]

 

11 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Yeah, ummm, asking for a friend who...doesn't need to lose 70lbs, but more like 20-30.

 

 

11 hours ago, Lobo said:

^

Uh, how in the world did you do that?  I'm hoping it's strippers and blow...but I'll take any other tips in 2022.  Thanks.

it’s just math. Run a caloric deficit