tanyev
tanyev's JournalHave you read Armageddon by Bart Ehrman?
It puts the Book of Revelation in its proper historical context and analyzes how religious and political leaders have used it to create fear for their own benefit, for centuries. Here are a couple reviews from Amazon:
Just as Dr. Ehrman has challenged conventional Christian beliefs in his previous books through his extensive biblical scholarship, in Armageddon he reveals the actual message of Revelation. Ehrman explains that the author of Revelation was writing in apocalyptic style about the destruction of the Roman empire and his belief in its replacement by a Christian empire of domination, revenge and destruction. Maybe most importantly, Ehrman shows how the message of Revelations author contradicts Jesuss message as described in the four Gospels. Once again, through his extensive scholarship and expertise, Dr. Ehrman illustrates the very human nature of the Bible, a collection of writings often by anonymous authors and some even forgeries that often contradict each other.
Here's a link to the transcript of an interview with Ehrman for Fresh Air on NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167715957/armageddon-shows-how-literal-readings-of-the-bibles-end-times-affect-modern-time
Considering how often Russian images "accidentally" end up in GOP ads,
one wonders how much GOP money is being paid to those companies? The first few hits on a Google search:
Yahoo
https://www.yahoo.com now gop-unveils-commitme...
Sep 23, 2022 We celebrate the rich heritage of the American story, a narrator says, over footage of a drilling rig in Russia's Volgograd region.
GOP unveils 'Commitment to America' platform, passing off ...
Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com Politics News
Sep 23, 2022 After a year of workshopping, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled the new GOP platform, featuring Russian stock images and a fake Abe ...
GOP Releases 'Commitment to America' Promo Using ...
The Daily Beast
https://www.thedailybeast.com republicans-release-c...
At least, that must've been the thinking of some Republican congressmen who released a video Friday that features a Russian oil rig and Ukrainian field workers ...
Republican's 'commitment' video is filled stock images and ...
Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk news article-11246503
Sep 24, 2022 GOP House members released its a video on Friday. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, 57, released the video, claiming that the 'Democrats ...
GOP Can't Seem to Stop Using Russian Stock Vid for Their ...
Medium
https://medium.com bouncin-and-behavin-blogs g...
Sep 24, 2022 The GOP released their Commitment to America (cough, Committing Crimes in America is a better title these days, cough) (committed to ...
GOP Senate candidate touts military support with image of ...
Roll Call
https://rollcall.com 2022/04/22 gop-senate-candida...
Apr 22, 2022 Jets in Colorado GOP Senate candidate Joe O'Dea's campaign ad touting his support for the military were Russian, experts said.
I can't believe even Trump's biggest fans in the House would want to sit there and listen to him
air grievances every day for several hours a day. Because that is the only thing Donny would do if he were Speaker of the House. He'd demand that all the Republican House members be in their seats to fervently cheer him on whenever he went on one of his rants. He'd demand several of them give up their offices so he could have a luxury office suite (remodel paid for by taxpayers, natch). And he'd hand over all the actual presiding work to someone else so he could retire to his luxury office for TV and fast food.
This has got to be mostly an exercise in trying to prove who loves Donny the mostest.
I wondered about this when he was campaigning back in 2016.
Id never paid much attention to any of them before Donnys ride down the escalator, although I knew Donny was obnoxious and full of himself. I guess I figured the kids were more aware of societal norms, could function without making fools of themselves.
So Donny was out there saying really weird things in his campaign speeches and Melania and kids with their spouses were often there with him. Before it became obvious how corrupt and dysfunctional all of them are, I did think Wow, they must be cringing through that entire speech. Surely theyll get Donny to a doctor for a thorough evaluation.
Nope. They either didnt see any problems, or didnt care as long as their inheritance was locked in.
Let's set the wayback machine to July 2016, shall we?
When a candidate compromised by Russia required only ONE change to the RNC platform. The rot and corruption ran downhill from there.
Throughout the campaign, Trump has been dismissive of calls for supporting the Ukraine government as it fights an ongoing Russian-led intervention. Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, worked as a lobbyist for the Russian-backed former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych for more than a decade.
Still, Republican delegates at last weeks national security committee platform meeting in Cleveland were surprised when the Trump campaign orchestrated a set of events to make sure that the GOP would not pledge to give Ukraine the weapons it has been asking for from the United States.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-campaign-guts-gops-anti-russia-stance-on-ukraine/2016/07/18/98adb3b0-4cf3-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html
It's all just a little bit of history repeating...
At Yale University, Jay Hallen majored in political science, rarely watched financial news channels and didn't follow the stockmarket.
All of which made the 24-year-old an unlikely pick for the difficult task of rebuilding Iraq's shattered stock exchange. But Hallen, a private-sector development officer for the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority, was given the job immediately after arriving in Baghdad last September.
Hallen admits that he wound up in Iraq rather by accident. In 2002, he began pursuing a White House job and, though none materialised, he stayed in close contact with the man who interviewed him, Reuben Jeffrey. When Jeffrey went to Iraq last summer as a senior economic development adviser, Hallen emailed to ask whether there were any job openings. "Be careful what you wish for," Jeffrey, who is now an aide to Iraqi administrator Paul Bremer, told him in reply.
A few weeks later, Hallen got a phone call from a Pentagon personnel officer, who told him he had been given a job in the Coalition Provisional Authority starting in Baghdad in less than a month. "Needless to say, I was in a mild state of shock," he says.
https://www.afr.com/companies/manufacturing/this-little-novice-went-to-market-in-baghdad-20040131-k294j
By Ariana Eunjung ChaMay 23, 2004
When the U.S. government went looking for people to help rebuild Iraq, they had responded to the call. They supported the war effort and President Bush. Many had strong Republican credentials. They were in their twenties or early thirties and had no foreign service experience. On that first day, Oct. 1, they knew so little about how things worked that they waited hours at the airport for a ride that was never coming. They finally discovered the shuttle bus out of the airport but got off at the wrong stop.
They had been hired to perform a low-level task: collecting and organizing statistics, surveys and wish lists from the Iraqi ministries for a report that would be presented to potential donors at the end of the month. But as suicide bombs and rocket attacks became almost daily occurrences, more and more senior staffers defected. In short order, six of the new young hires found themselves managing the country's $13 billion budget, making decisions affecting millions of Iraqis.
Others from across the District responded affirmatively to the same e-mail, for different reasons. Andrew Burns, 23, a Red Cross volunteer who had taught English in rural China, felt going to Iraq would help him pursue a career in humanitarian aid. Todd Baldwin, 28, a legislative aide for Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), thought the opportunity was too good to pass up. John Hanley, 24, a Web site editor, wanted to break into the world of international relations. Anita Greco, 25, a former teacher, and Casey Wasson, 23, a recent college graduate in government, just needed jobs.
For months they wondered what they had in common, how their names had come to the attention of the Pentagon, until one day they figured it out: They had all posted their resumes at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/05/23/in-iraq-the-job-opportunity-of-a-lifetime/56eed6e7-f407-4d97-a29e-f6b8cbc88301/
Marking to find later.
It's tricksy!
Or as Sarah K. Burris disingenuously wrote for Raw Story:
At least one columnist has warned that no one should ever expect DeSantis to denounce neo-Nazis or white supremacists.
Ironically, one neo-Nazi told a reporter that groups use "woke grievances" to recruit angry white men to their cause.
https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis-delets-video/
Usually "troubles" refer to disagreements, not enthusiastic support.
Yeah, I've come to really respect her, but I'm still lukewarm on her music.
I do like Calm Down.
Her collaboration with The National is quite nice.
And I got a big kick out of this bit when she was on SNL.
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Member since: Wed Nov 26, 2003, 04:24 PMNumber of posts: 42,550