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Monday Reads: US foreign policy puts religious nuts first

Posted: May 14, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Foreign Affairs, Israel, Palestine | Tags: , |38 Comments

Dearest Sky Dancers!

It’s Monday and we continue to see the enabling of the worst of America.  Today, two Democracies with Presidents under criminal investigation are using religious fanaticism to destroy peace and life.  Israel is an apartheid state. It uses its military to gun down protesters. We continually enable them to commit mass genocide on the indigenous peoples of what used to be Palestine.  I’m ashamed that my country has this administration which takes deliberately provocative foreign policy actions and endangers world peace.

The Israeli military has killed 44 Palestinians protesting along the border fence that keeps them in a massive walled up Ghetto which should strike some historical irony considering this is what Hitler’s Germany did to Jewish areas in Europe. They considered young men throwing stones to be of danger. Despite considerable protests from diplomatic circles around the world and in this country, KKKremlin Caligula kept billionaire Republican donor Sheldon Addison happy along with a bunch of whack-a-do Xtian End-Timers and moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

Israeli soldiers on Monday killed 41 Palestinians demonstrating along the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip and wounded more than 1,600 in the bloodiest day in the enclave since the 2014 war with Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered on the edges of Gaza as the U.S. Embassy opened in Jerusalem, fanning out along the fence in what appeared to be some of the largest demonstrations yet.

At a gathering point east of Gaza City, organizers urged demonstrators to burst through the fence, telling them Israeli soldiers were fleeing their positions, even as they were reinforcing them.

At the barrier, young men threw stones and tried to launch kites carrying flames in hopes of burning crops on the other side. Most of the demonstrators, though, were peaceful, protesting the loss of their homes and villages and the embassy move.

Occasional sporadic gunfire could be heard over the noise of the crowd, and a constant stream of ambulances roared back and forth from the fence, ferrying away the wounded.

Theocratic Fascism is on the march. ‘Trump Make Israel Great’ banners hung through Jerusalem. Well, that adds them to the list of Trump making Russia, China, and North Korea great again.  And, as I’m sure Boston Boomer will write tomorrow, you feed the coffers of the Trump family crime syndicate, US policy will enable you to do whatever you want.

Israelis see the ancient city as their capital — sentiments Trump echoed in December with his decision to relocate the U.S. Embassy there — while Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The international community, however, has traditionally viewed Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital.

The new embassy has also been celebrated by Jerusalem’s soccer club, which has sought to change its name to “Beitar Trump Jerusalem.”

Oh, just to reference how bribing the President works: 

South Korean defense company that paid Trump lawyer Cohen $150,000 is poised to win part of a $16 billion Pentagon deal

  • A South Korean defense company paid $150,000 to Essential Consultants, a firm set up by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen.
  • The Korean defense company partnered with Lockheed Martin to build the T-50A trainer jet in hopes of securing a U.S. Air Force contract worth roughly $16 billion.
  • The T-X trainer program award is the Air Force’s largest ongoing aircraft competition.

If you haven’t heard about the Qatar deal yet, just wait.

But back to the crazy whack-a-do Xtian pastors celebrating the End Times over there in Jeruseleum.  These guys are certifiable and they belong to the same bowl of nuts that contains Mike Pence and Mike Pompaio, and Besty DeVos.  This is from Haartez because I’m not anti-Israel.I’m anti-Holocausts in the name of religious extremism. Trump smells easy marks and knows how to make them zombies in the cause of enriching Trump like, say, Joel Orsteen or Franklin Graham.

One of the speakers at Monday’s ceremony marking the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will be a Christian leader with a history of hateful comments against Muslims, Mormons, gay people and Jews.

Dallas-based Robert Jeffress, a Baptist pastor with a large following in Texas, told Fox News that he would be leading a prayer during the ceremony. Jeffress serves as an informal advisor to Trump on faith-based issues of U.S. President Donald Trump, and is also known for his support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

As Mother Jones reported, during a 2010 lecture, Jeffress claimed, “God sends good people to Hell. Not only do religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism–not only do they lead people away from from God, they lead people to an eternity of separation from God in Hell.”

Jeffress once said that “the dark dirty secret of Islam” is that “it is a religion that promotes pedophilia,” and that Islam is “a heresy from the pit of hell.”

Mitt Romney, a former Republican presidential candidate, called on Monday to remove Jeffress from his participation in the embassy opening ceremony. Romney, one of the most prominent Mormon politicians in the United States, said Jeffress was a “religious fanatic” and accused him of incitement against religious minorities. “Such a person should not lead the service at the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem,” added Romney, who is currently running for an open Senate seat from Utah despite his clear identification with the Republican Party. He is considered one of President Trump’s critics in the party.

The other one is frankly worse. 

Monday’s ceremony marking the relocation of the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem will break with tradition in more ways than one.

Besides the political concerns over the move itself, a pair of Christian evangelical leaders will be on hand whose words have caused their own share of controversy.

Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, will deliver the benediction at the ceremony, a spokesman for his organization confirmed to CNN. A major proponent of the embassy move, Hagee said in a recent interview with conservative news site Breitbart that he told President Donald Trump he would win “political immortality” for moving the embassy from Tel Aviv.

“I told him that the moment that you do that, I believe that you will step into political immortality,” the news site quoted Hagee as saying. “Because you are having the courage to do what other presidents did not have the courage to do.

So, let’s look again at which big Republican donor has been after this forever and what exactly he just did with Paul Ryan. It’s true.Religious Fanatics come in all flavors but they are especially dangerous when they have the capability to do this.

‘Sheldon Adelson kicks in $30M to stop Democratic House takeover. The donation to the Congressional Leadership Fund is a big boost to Republicans facing a tough midterm environment.’  I keep wondering if he knows these evangelicals want all these blessings for Israel right now so they’ll rebuild the Temple only to exterminate every one for miles around. I guess the key is to keep promising and never delivering on that Temple thing.

Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has cut a $30 million check to the House GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund, a massive cash infusion that top Republicans hope will alter the party’s electoral outlook six months before Election Day.

The long-sought donation was sealed last week when, according to two senior Republicans, House Speaker Paul Ryan flew to Las Vegas to meet with the billionaire at his Venetian Hotel. Also at the meeting with Adelson was his wife, Miriam; Norm Coleman, the former Minnesota senator who chairs the Republican Jewish Coalition; Corry Bliss, who oversees the super PAC; and Jake Kastan, Ryan’s No. 2 political aide. They laid out a case to Adelson about how crucial it is to protect the House.

As a federally elected official, Ryan is not permitted to solicit seven-figure political donations. When Ryan (R-Wis.) left the room, Coleman made the ask and secured the $30 million contribution.

CLF did not respond to requests for comment. The contribution will become public later this month in the organization’s campaign finance filing.

Coleman said he would not discuss his dealings with Adelson.

Adelson’s donation comes at a perilous moment for House Republicans, who are facing growing headwinds as they try to save their majority. With dozens of incumbents being outraised by emboldened Democratic challengers, desperate party officials have been hoping that Adelson — the party’s most prominent benefactor — would give more than he traditionally does, and earlier in the election cycle.

I just wonder what Trump’s NAZI buddies think of all of this.  We do know what Tehren thinks via The Times of Israel.

Iran denounced President Donald Trump as “feeble-minded” over Monday’s controversial move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, and called for resistance from the Palestinians and the international community.

“America has entered a crisis of strategic decision-making that looks at the international arena immaturely and adventurously,” said parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a key establishment figure, at a conference on the Palestinian situation in Tehran.

“I believe the current US president is not capable of identifying and judging the long-term consequences of his actions,” he added.

The United States was due to open its new embassy in Jerusalem later on Monday amid widespread praise from Israelis and Palestinian anger

“Spur-of-the-moment and uncalculated actions cannot continue in today’s world. Feeblemindness is costly for statesmen and they will eventually have to pay the price,” Larijani said.

I support Jewish Voice for Peace.

Jewish Voice for Peace opposes anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab bigotry and oppression.  JVP seeks an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem; security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians; a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on principles established in international law; an end to violence against civilians; and peace and justice for all peoples of the Middle East.

It’s just really difficult to fully understand the impact this will have on people here and around the world. I guess if you’re rich and powerful and open to taking bribes or doing anything, you really don’t have to care.  The Buddha once told stories to get people to understand the results of their actions.  It was later picked up on by the Jesus that most of these yehaws profess to understand. It’s meaningful at all levels of life.  Be care of of what you sow because you will reap it.  Karma baby!

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

38 Comments on “Monday Reads: US foreign policy puts religious nuts first”

  1. dakinikat says:
    May 14, 2018 at 10:57 am

    Do we really need to ‘understand’ Trump supporters?

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-pitts-trump-supporters-understanding-0508-20180506-story.html

    Thinking people will always try to see past their own ideological blind spots, to put themselves into the shoes of those they disagree with. That’s an admirable trait. In normal times it’s a trait I would applaud with enthusiasm.

    But these are not normal times. Indeed, sometimes, I wonder if we appreciate just how abnormal — how fraught with danger — they really are. Under Trump, American laws, news media and mores are under assault, to say nothing of American democracy itself.

    And I’m sorry, but I don’t think “understanding” Trump followers will ameliorate — or even address — any of that. Besides which, is there really so much left to “understand”?

    Not from where I sit. Long before Trump even existed as a political force, many of us noted with alarm the rise of a backlash among right-wingers deeply angry and profoundly terrified by the writing on the demographic wall. Said writing foretold — and for that matter, still foretells — the declining pre-eminence of white, Christian America. As several studies now show, a sense of alarmed displacement among white, Christian America is the soil from which the weed of Trumpism grew.

    The idea that we must “understand” those folks carries with it an implicit suggestion that in so doing, we might find some ground for compromise. It would be a great idea in normal times. But again, these times are not normal.

    No compromise is possible here for a simple reason Trump followers seem to understand better than the rest of us: You can’t compromise with demography, can’t order numbers to stop being what they are and saying what they say about the coming tide of change. But what you can do is seize the levers of power and change the rules of the game in hopes of blunting the force of that tide. That — again, look at the studies — is what Trump supporters elected him to do.

    • NW Luna says:
      May 14, 2018 at 12:41 pm

      I’ll never understand Trump voters and I won’t waste time trying. They voted for a racist, misogynist, grifting bully.

  2. dakinikat says:
    May 14, 2018 at 11:30 am

  3. bostonboomer says:
    May 14, 2018 at 11:34 am

    Natasha Bertrand: Mueller’s Probe Is Even More Expansive Than It Seems

    FBI agents working for special counsel Robert Mueller allegedly detained a lawyer with ties to Russia who is closely associated with Joseph Mifsud, the shadowy professor who claimed during the election that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.

    The revelation was made in a book co-written by that lawyer, Stephan Roh, and set to be published next month. “The Faking of RUSSIA-GATE: The Papadopoulos Case” is the latest in a stream of books aiming to capitalize on the chaos of this political moment. But it sheds new light on the expansive nature of Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign team and Moscow. It also highlights Mueller’s interest in answering one of the probe’s biggest outstanding questions: whether the campaign knew in advance that Russia planned to interfere in the election.

  4. bostonboomer says:
    May 14, 2018 at 11:50 am

  5. dakinikat says:
    May 14, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    How the religious right is shrinking itself: Overzealous Christianity is driving people away
    New study suggests that as the religious right grows ever more radical, it drives ever more people out of church

    https://www.salon.com/2018/05/14/how-the-religious-right-is-shrinking-itself-overzealous-christianity-is-driving-people-away/

    The story of the religious right and political power seems a straightforward one: White evangelicals, by using religious guilt and white identity politics, have organized in a way that allows them to punch above their weight. Only about one in four Americans identify with this group, and yet they control the Republican Party and played a huge role in electing Donald Trump president. In effect, they have gotten their hands on the levers of power.

    But does the religious right’s apparent success have unintended consequences? For years now, some political scientists have argued that there’s a backlash effect to all this conservative Christian organizing: It’s causing many people, especially young people, to get fed up with religion and quit altogether. Last year, for instance, Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute told Salon that it’s “young, white people leaving Christian churches that is driving up the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans.”

  6. bostonboomer says:
    May 14, 2018 at 12:06 pm

  7. bostonboomer says:
    May 14, 2018 at 12:06 pm

  8. bostonboomer says:
    May 14, 2018 at 12:07 pm

  9. bostonboomer says:
    May 14, 2018 at 12:08 pm

    • NW Luna says:
      May 14, 2018 at 1:09 pm

      Same way all the foreign government interests spending big bucks at Drumpf’s hotel aren’t emoluments. It’s so damn blatant!

  10. dakinikat says:
    May 14, 2018 at 12:45 pm

  11. dakinikat says:
    May 14, 2018 at 1:12 pm

    Turkey says US shares blame for Gaza ‘massacre’ as thousands protest

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/turkey-says-us-shares-blame-gaza-massacre-thousands-174057185.html

    Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey on Monday accused the United States of sharing responsibility with Israel for a “vile massacre” along the Gaza border in which 52 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

    Thousands marched through central Istanbul in an angry protest to denounce the bloodshed as the US moved its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in defiance of outrage in the Islamic world.

    “The United States, unfortunately, took its place without complaint alongside the Israeli government in this massacre of civilians and became a party to this crime against humanity,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara.

    “This is a vile massacre and we condemn it strongly,” he added.

    Yildirim said the events were “incompatible” with the US acting as a mediator or protector of world peace.

    Protesters in Istanbul marched down Istiklal street shouting slogans including “Israel’s capital is the White House”, responding to a call to protest from pro-government aid group IHH.

    Others yelled “Down with America, down with Israel” and some urged Turkey to close Israeli missions in the country, yelling: “Shut down the Zionist embassy.”

    Another NATO ally … are we great yet?

  12. dakinikat says:
    May 14, 2018 at 1:15 pm

    More than 20 people in Gaza were dead on Monday before anyone in Washington had had their breakfast. This was pitched to the awakening nation as a series of “deadly clashes,” even though the deadly part only applied to one side. It was a great start to a day in which the president*, who doesn’t know anything about anything, prepared to toss a lighted match into a lagoon of gasoline in the Middle East.

    The decision to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is more unnecessary than it is stupid and dangerous, and it’s pretty stupid and dangerous. There was no overwhelming political support—and certainly no overwhelming political pressure—in this country for such a provocative development. It was solely the desire of that odd mixture of highly conservative Judaism and American splinter Protestantism, of the prolonged slow-dance between the apocalyptic factions of two major monotheisms that very likely will incite the apocalyptic faction of the third. It is religious extremism disguised as international diplomacy.

    How do I know this? Well, Jared and Ivanka Trump already have met with a conservative rabbi who thinks black people are monkeys. The United States of America will be represented at the ceremony by Robert Jeffress and John Hagee, two completely batshit-insane TV preachers with long histories of supporting Israel because it allegedly will be largely set-decoration for the end times. Jesus needs some place to disembowel the forces of the Antichrist, after all

    • NW Luna says:
      May 14, 2018 at 1:23 pm

      Half of evangelicals support Israel because they believe it is important for fulfilling end-times prophecy

      A great deal of attention has understandably been paid to the fact that evangelical support for President Trump has been robust despite Trump apparently [sic] not always meeting the personal moral standards one might expect from someone with strong religious support. The LifeWays poll makes clear that part of it is simply that evangelicals skew so heavily conservative.

      (In September 2016, Pew found that more than a third of evangelicals said their support for Trump in the 2016 election was based mostly on his not being Hillary Clinton.)

      • dakinikat says:
        May 15, 2018 at 10:06 am

        You have to be insane to believe that crap. Seriously. What explains any of that without ascribing total bug fuck crazy to some one’s synapses?

  13. bostonboomer says:
    May 14, 2018 at 1:33 pm

  14. NW Luna says:
    May 14, 2018 at 2:09 pm

  15. dakinikat says:
    May 14, 2018 at 4:05 pm

  16. NW Luna says:
    May 15, 2018 at 3:56 am

    • dakinikat says:
      May 15, 2018 at 10:17 am

      She’s never going to have normal friends again. I’ll be surprised if either of them can ever live in NYC again and that’s given that they eventually make bail and get out of jail. No civilized group of people will want to be seen with the Kushners.

  17. dakinikat says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:16 am

  18. dakinikat says:
    May 15, 2018 at 10:18 am

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