Category: News & Comment

Don’t Be Fooled: Evangelicals Don’t Support Israel – They’re Rooting for Its Destruction

Jon Ponder

Over at Buzzflash, Mark Karlin has an article up that sheds light on the real motivations behind Trump’s embrace of Evangelicals, and vice versa.

Evangelicals’ motives stem from “Revelation,” the last chapter in the New Testament, a bizarre acid trip that prophesies the various stages of the End Times. One element of the prophesy has come true: the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in 1948. During the next phases, however, multi-headed beasts, the four riders of the Apocalypse appear and Israel is destroyed. All nonbelievers on earth must be converted or else face eternal damnation.

So be aware that when Evangelicals root for Israel, they’re really cheering on its destruction and the forced conversion of the Jews to Christianity. In the real world, fortunately, it’s all bunch of hooey. But because Trump, the conman, is determined to appease his Evangelical marks, this dark mythology is shaping our internal politics and our foreign policy toward the Middle East.

For more, read “Christian Zionists Want to Hasten Armageddon. That’s Why Trump Attacked US Jews,” at Buzzflash.

We’re Drowning in Guns and Trump Throws Us…Video Games?

Trish Ponder
This email subject line is the mother of all non-sequiturs
No amount of banned video games or advances in access to mental health treatment could make up for the sheer numbers of guns in America

Reading isn’t Trump’s greatest strength but in his speech addressing the two-for-one mass shootings inspired by his recent campaign trail red meat, he recited the words like a man with a gun to his head. Which is appropriate since, statistically speaking, as an American, he is likelier than citizens from any other country to be near a gun.

But no amount of banned video games or advances in access to mental health treatment (both initiatives which have been blocked repeatedly by conservatives, including Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia) could make up for the sheer numbers of guns in America. Residents of the old Wild West would be afraid to live with what you and I are facing. […]

The King of Debt, as Trump Called Himself, is Earning His Crown

Trish Ponder

As tempting as it is to tune out news about the debt ceiling and budget deals, it’s time to pay attention. The excellent Daily 202 from James Hohman and the Washington Post breaks down how bad red ink has gotten under Trump.

Estimated deficit for 2019: $1 trillion +
Deficit for 2018: $779 billion
Deficit for 2016: (Obama) $587 billion

National debt as of July, 2019: $22 trillion
National debt at Trump inauguration: $19 trillion

As we remember, Pres. Obama used debt to successfully stimulate an economy that was collapsing as he took office.

Trump used debt to finance a huge tax break for corporations and rich folk, which he and the Republicans said would make things better for us average Joes.

Here’s the full quote: […]

Watch the Mueller Report: ‘The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts’

Jon Ponder

Via Deadline.com: The cast for last night’s live-streamed all-star reading (from New York City’s historic Riverside Church) of The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts – playwright Robert Schenkkan’s adaptation of the Mueller Report – included Annette Bening, Kevin Kline, John Lithgow, Frederick Weller, Ben Mckenzie, Michael Shannon, Noah Emmerich, Justin Long, Jason Alexander, Gina Gershon, Wilson Cruz, Joel Grey, Alyssa Milano, Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Piper Perabo, Zachary Quinto, and Aidan Quinn.

But performers who were unable to appear in person – including Sigourney Weaver, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mark Hamill – joined in this taped segment, outlining 10 possible acts of obstruction of justice committed by Donald Trump. Annette Bening kicks things off, with Hamill, Mark Ruffalo, Louis-Dreyfus and others each tackling a possible obstruction. Bening brings it home at the end.

Trump’s Latest Foreign Policy Play Hurts Cubans AND Americans

Buck Banks

Credit: The Nation
Tuesday, June 4, as Donald Trump was wrapping up his only moderately disastrous state visit to the United Kingdom, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a press release announcing that the Trump administration was reversing the Obama administration’s 2014 loosening of restrictions on Americans’ travel to Cuba.

Of course, to maximize confusion, the policy was set to go into effect THE NEXT DAY — Wednesday, June 6.

The nugget of the press release was this quote attributed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin:

“Cuba continues to play a destabilizing role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a communist foothold in the region and propping up U.S. adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “This Administration has made a strategic decision to reverse the loosening of sanctions and other restrictions on the Cuban regime. These actions will help to keep U.S. dollars out of the hands of Cuban military, intelligence, and security services.”

Although it wasn’t spelled out in the press release, supporting documents made it abundantly clear that Trump was returning to those halcyon days of yore when only Americans with direct family ties in Cuba could legally travel there.

[…]

Sorry, Rich People – Obama Was Better for the S&P Than Trump

Jon Ponder

From Fortune:

When it comes to talking himself up, Trump in particular has compared himself to Barack Obama. So, how do the two presidents measure up in terms of growth in major indexes, measured between their inauguration and May 31 of their third year in office?

The short answer is that Trump has quite a way to go. Under Obama, the S&P 500 grew by 56.4%. The Dow Jones Industrials Average was up 50.6% and the Nasdaq, 92.9%.

The numbers under Trump were 21.4% for the S&P 500, 25.2% for the Dow, and 34.2% for Nasdaq.