Tag: STATE

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Is MAGA Trumpism A Form Of Political Religion?

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An interesting segment on MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight (01/1624) show delved into the strange daliance between Evangelical Christians(predominantly White), and the politics of former President Donald Trump, often referred to as Trumpism, or MAGA Trumpism. The alliance between these two strange bedfellows has led many to question whether MAGA Trumpism has become some sort of political/civil religion.

The MSNBC segment came against the backdrop of Trump’s massive win in the Iowa Republican presidential primary, and specifically, his command of the White Evangelical vote, which polls placed at 53%. Back in 2016, when Trump first ran for president, he only received 21% of the White Evangelical vote in Iowa, a clear sign that he has now consolidated the White Evangelical vote in Iowa, and arguably nationwide.

Host Alex Wagner posed this question to her guest, Author Tim Alberta, who’s also a staff writer at The Atlantic (2:07): “I wonder in your estimation, what it means to be an Evangelical in this country, at this moment?”
Tim Alberta responded in relevant part: “We are beginning to flirt with this territory where definitionally speaking, Evangelicalism has far more to do, at least in the perception of the greater public, with political engagement, partisan political identification, than it does with any particular theology or any real religious conviction, and if you take it a step further, if you look at the exit polling, if you look at some of the social science around this, if you look at the fact that during Donald Trump’s presidency, more and more of Donald Trump’s supporters were self-identifying as Evangelicals even though they were simultaneously attending Church less and less often, I think one might reach the uncomfortable conclusion that perhaps the best definition now for what it means to be an Evangelical, is to be a conservative White Republican Trump supporter, and that is a tragedy on any number of different levels, but I think most profoundly, it’s a tragedy for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Host Alex Wagner then interjected with this profound question (3:50): “If the Gospel is no longer part of the equation, what is it replaced by…do you think MAGA-ism has become a placeholder for a certain kind of religion?”

Tim Alberta: “Yes…I don’t want to paint with too broad a brush, the Evangelical community is large, it’s huge, and it’s complicated…but…we are reaching a place where we are being confronted with some uncomfortable realities about what it means to be a part of the Evangelical movement and frankly, where the line blurs between sort of religious identity and political identity, and is there a merging of the two, and frankly I think that there’s always a danger in politics…of sort of turning political conviction into religious conviction, or worshipping at a certain altar that is not an altar to God, but is an altar to political idolatry or to political identity. That is a danger that has always been there, but it is I think uniquely dangerous in this moment, and to be clear…we have examples from the not so distant past, of a sort of political religion, or at least a civil religion, supplanting, competing with actual religion, and I don’t think that we’re all that far removed from that in this country now, looking at just what happened…in Iowa.”

To conclude the segment, Tim Alberta floated this interesting scenario, which gets right to the fallacy of the Evangelical-MAGA Trumpism alliance. He said (8:19): “If during Barack Obama’s presidency, or while he was running for president, if you had heard him talking with, or promoting a video saying that he was a shepherd to all of mankind, the Evangelical movement would have been up in arms [and rightly so], I mean this is heretical, this is blasphemous and yet, Donald Trump seems to get a pass time and time again for doing these things that no other politician, Republican or Democrat frankly, would get a pass for doing, and we should ask ourselves why. If the answer does not at least start to flirt with this terrain of civil religion, or political religion, then I think that we’re not being honest with ourselves, and if we are being honest with ourselves, if we are willing to engage with the very uncomfortable topic around what happens when Trumpism becomes civil religion in this country for millions of millions of people, and what that might imply moving forward, then we are doing a disservice to our prularistic democracy.”

Bottom line folks, we’ve always operated on the separation of church and state doctrine, and have for decades, shunned foreign theocracies like the ones in Afghanistan and Iran. Author Tim Alberta is absolutely correct when he says, we need to be honest with ourselves, and admit that there is no difference between the Evangelical-MAGA dalliance in the American political scene, and the theocracies in Iran and Afghanistan. Simply put, we need to make a decision as to whether we want to continue with the separation of church and state doctrine, or whether, that time-honored tradition has also been sacrificed at the altar of MAGA Trumpism.

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Senator Chris Murphy Wants U.S. Led Probe Into Shireen Abu Akleh’s Death

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Senator Chris Murphy(D-CT) appeared on MSNBC Prime(07/13/22) to discuss President Biden’s trip to the Middle East, and especially his trip to Saudi Arabia which has drawn condemnation, given Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s implication in Washington Post Columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder. During his interview , Senator Murphy also delved into another controversial topic, and that is, the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli troops.

An investigation conducted by the Israel government into Akleh’s killing concluded that IDF troops shot her by accident. Naturally, this conclusion has generated a lot of criticism from around the globe, and especially from press freedom advocates. Senator Murphy is calling for an independent U.S. led investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh’s death.

Asked by host Ali Velshi why it was important for the U.S. to conduct an independent investigation, Senator Murphy responded(video at 4:57):“Senator Murphy told host Ali Velshi(video at ):”First and foremost, any time an American dies overseas, we should apply the highest degree of scrutiny to make sure we get to the bottom of the story as to how an American citizen was killed, and in this case, given that it might have come at the hands of foreign security forces, that inquiry is even more important. We are simply asking that we do a thorough review that we are not confident the Israeli authorities have done themselves. So I think it’s important to get to the bottom of this even if the bottom involves some unsavory truths about what an important ally of the United States may have done, or elements of their security forces may have done to contribute to this American’s death.”

Bottom line folks, Israel has been, and remains America’s closest and dearest foreign ally. Ordinarily, Yours Truly would be inclined to accept Israel’s explanation of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death at face value but where, as here, the death in question is of a U.S. citizen, Yours Truly has no choice but to agree with Senator Murphy, that the United States needs to conduct its independent investigation. however unpleasant the results may be. Israel and the United States will forever remain close friends, so there’s no harm in finding out the truth behind Shireen Abu Akleh’s death. The Biden administration owes her family the truth regarding the circumstances of her death overseas.

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Excellent UTSW Webinar On Havana Syndrome

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On 02/10/2022 the Department of Psychiatry and the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW-Dallas), hosted an excellent webinar on Havana Syndrome featuring some of the leading minds in Neurology and importantly, offering suggestions on the path forward for both government investigators, and affected families (victims).

The webinar titled â€śHavana Syndrome: Medical, Scientific, and Policy Perspectives”, featured this esteemed panel of subject matter experts.

Among the visiting speakers(not from UTSW) were Cipher CEO Suzanne Kelly, Fox News National Security Analyst Daniel Hoffman, Former CIA Officer and Havana Syndrome victim Marc Polymeropoulos, NPR National Security Correspondent Greg Myre, and of course, the star of the show, the undisputed MVP, Dr. James Giordano(Georgetown), who they saved for last. Dr. Giordano’s entire presentation is below.

The key takeaway from Dr Giordano’s presentation was this(video at 17:00): â€śWhat this thing allowed us to do is to examine in greater detail, the technological readiness level(TRL),of forms of energy that could be directed in ways that would be scalable, fieldable, and therefore operationalizable. Now again, please understand that there is information that simply cannot be discussed in an open forum such as this, some of it exists as confidential and classified…but suffice it to say that information both at the time(2016, 2017, and part of 2018), and subsequently 2018 and 2019…reveal that there are two primary domains of directable energy that represented not only state of the science and technology, but were at a point of technological readiness that would allow or enable possible deployability and operational use. The idea of utilizing accoustic rangeable devices in the high sonic and/or ultrasonic range, very possible, very probable. The possibility of also utilizing some form of microwave energy particularly low to moderate gigawatt microwave energy that could be generated using very very rapid pulsing, perhaps utilizing a light source or laser source to be able to develop nanosecond or perhaps even quicker pulsing, would allow the scalability, the fieldability, and the containability of microwaves, and also get by some of the power source requirements that might be necessary. Why would such devices be in operation?…These types of devices can be used for surveillance, and/or they can be used either kinetically or non-kinetically, for disruptive effects. What do we mean by that[disruptive effects]? What we mean, is that there are a number of nations worldwide that have dedicated effort to employing these devices for testing organic and inorganic substances primarily in the occupational and commercial range…They[nations]include United States and many of its allies, China, Russia, among others. So the technology exists. We know the technology is being employed at least in part for the evaluation of vulnerability and volatility for organic and inorganic substances.”

A layman’s understanding of Dr. Giordano’s scientific analysis boils down to this(feel free to offer corrections/more insight): That microwaves and sound (accoustics) are the two forms of energy that scientists agree, could be harnessed, scaled and deployed to effect the kind of attacks experienced by U.S. Embassy staff in Havana, Cuba. Scientists also agree that this kind of technology(sound and microwave directed energy) is readily available in the U.S.(and its Western allies), China, and Russia, and is currently used for surveillance and other industrial applications(testing the vulnerability of organic and inorganic substances). This scientific analysis by Dr. Giordano is very important because to this day, mainstream media reports have characterized Havana Syndrome as being caused by some hostile foreign power(prime suspect Russia), using some mysterious technology that nobody in the U.S. knows about. Clearly, per Dr. Giordano’s analysis, this technology is already being used in the United States for surveillance and other industrial applications, meaning part of the inquiry into the causes of Havana Syndrome going forward, has to look inward, as opposed to only pointing the finger at Russia and China.

The webinar also featured a joint discussion by Cipher CEO Suzanne Kelly and Fox News National Security Analyst Daniel Hoffman, which focused squarely on the national security implications of Havana Syndrome, as opposed to the other panelists who delved into the clinical aspects. Even though this was an interesting discussion, it totally sidestepped the million dollar question which many attendees, including Yours Truly tuned in for, and that is, Havana Syndrome among regular civilians(not government employees).

Interestingly, the million dollar question found it’s way into the webinar at the very end(after Dr. Giordano’s presentation), as the panelists were entertaining written questions from attendees. One of the questions directed at Dr. Giordano asked what regular civilians(ding ding ding–magic word) who suspect they are victims of similar directed energy attacks, should do?(see video below @ 1:50) Dr. Giordano’s answer was very interesting. He said regular civilians should first consult their attending physicians with their concerns, and upon a traumatic brain injury(TBI) diagnosis, have their attending physician refer them to Walter Reed for further analysis. It has to be a physician’s referral–none of that self-diagnosis stuff. A question as to whether there’s any evidence of regular civilians being victims of directed energy attacks came up at the 18:45 mark, and Dr. Giordano answered in the affirmative, saying yes, there is evidence both in Europe and domestically. WHOA!!

Hopefully Dr. Giordano’s suggestion for regular civilians suffering from directed energy attacks will encourage them to seek the much needed medical attention, and crucially, provide enough leads for scientists and government investigators, to get to the bottom of the Havana Syndrome mystery. Hopefully , it also opens up debate about the plight of regular civilians vis a vis directed energy weapons in the mainstream media, and in the halls of Congress where strangely, this remains a taboo topic, as exhibited by the tweet below.

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Senator Shaheen Says Havana Syndrome Most Likely Caused By “Microwave Directed Energy Attacks”

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Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) appeared on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports (12/15/21), where she gave an update on the investigation into the causes/origins of Havana Syndrome. Senator Shaheen said Russia remains the chief suspect, adding that she agrees with the assessment of the National Academy of Sciences, that these are most likely â€śmicrowave directed energy attacks.”

Sen Shaheen said part of the defense authorization bill currently being debated in Congress, seeks to provide a coordinator who will look into Havana Syndrome cases across all federal agencies, and keep Congress apprised on any new findings.

Sen Shaheen told host Andrea Mitchell:“What we want is a coordinator, not just within the various agencies where they’ve had personnel attacked, but also someone who can coordinate the entire effort, and that’s part of the amendment that’s in the defense bill, as well as a regular reporting to Congress. We want to know exactly what’s going on so that we can respond. It’s very troubling that this happened years ago, five years ago, and we still don’t know who’s responsible, we don’t know exactly the cause of the attacks, and we’re not sure who’s doing it.”

Neither Senator Shaheen nor MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchel addressed the growing elephant-in-the-room question regarding directed energy attacks, and that is, growing complaints by regular civilians in the U.S.(not diplomats), who claim to be victims of directed energy attacks, leaving them with symptoms of Havana Syndrome–complaints similar to the one below. Will the designated Havana Syndrome coordinator also hear from such regular civilians and report back to Congress? Hmm

Bottom line folks, the U.S. constitution intended for members of Congress to function as representatives of their constituents. Where, as here, we have Congress totally ignoring cries from regular civilians(their constituents) of directed energy attacks, while at the same time enacting a scheme to compensate and treat similarly afflicted government employees, one can only conclude that the era of representative government is long gone–a sad state of affairs indeed. At some point, hopefully soon, Congress will have to entertain Havana Syndrome complaints from regular civilians. Then, and only then, will the public have confidence in the government’s investigation into Havana Syndrome.

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Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo:”Texas Is Being Run From Maralago”

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Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo appeared on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show (09/24/2021), where she blasted elected Republicans in Texas for giving in to former President Trump’s baseless demands for an audit into the state’s 2020 election results. The decision by the Texas Secretary of State’s office to conduct an audit into the election results of Collin, Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties, came literally a few hours after Trump’s demand, which led a visibly upset Judge Hidalgo to tell host Maddow that Texas was â€śbeing run from Maralago.”

Judge Hidalgo told Maddow:“We have to remember we had incredibly successful elections here in Harris County in 2020. We had innovations that led to record turnouts from both parties, the highest in 30 years, I mean it was beautiful, and since then, no evidence has come out that would in any way cause the need for this kind of audit. All we’ve seen is [former]President Trump exhorting the state, or [Governor]Abbott, to have this audit…The reality of it is Texas is being run from Maralago, and that is dangerous, and it’s not appropriate…it’s extremely concerning.”

Judge Hidalgo added that time had come for politicians in Washington to get off the sidelines, and actively join the fight against voter suppression in the states, telling host Maddow, â€śWe need the federal government to act, I mean, this has gone too far… This should be another call to action. We’ve got the writing on the wall. We’ve got to get off our chairs and get moving on all this.”

Bottom line folks, as Judge Hidalgo correctly pointed out, time has come for some decisive action to be taken against these naked efforts by Republicans at the state level, to restrict the voting rights of minorities. Democrats in Washington cannot just sit on the sidelines, and watch their counterparts in Republican-led states like Texas, go to war against GOP’s efforts to restrict minority voting rights. Simply put, time has come for Democrats in Washington to finally do away with the filibuster, and institute a national voting standard geared towards making it easier for people to vote, as opposed to GOP’s scheme of limiting access to the ballot box. As Judge Hidalgo correctly put it, congressional Democrats need to â€śget off their chairs and get moving” on a comprehensive federal voting rights law.

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