Pence the bigot

It has been obvious since the start that Pence is a Christian Dominionist. But he has outdone himself now, making his outreach to grieving Jews by standing on stage with an anti-Jewish 'rabbi.'

A Pence aide told The Washington Post that Jacobs had been invited by Lena Epstein, a Republican congressional candidate to represent Michigan’s 11th Congressional District, and said Pence did not know who the religious leader was when he brought him on stage “to deliver a message of unity.”

 Epstein, in a statement posted on Twitter, said her Jewish faith was “beyond question” and accused “any media or political competitor who is attacking me or the Vice President” of “religious intolerance.” She said she was a member of Temple Beth El, a Reform synagogue in Bloomfield Hills, yet didn’t explain why she had invited the leader of the Messianic synagogue to the campaign event.

Yeah right.

Recruiting tools

So, the Army has been having difficulty reaching its  recruitment quotas. Just tell the boys and girls that they'll have a chance to use all that weaponry against barely literate women and their children.

But Homeland Security fuehrer Kirstjen Nielsen is wasting the opportunity by announcing that the Army has no plans 'right now' to shoot at migrants approaching the border. (This is, of course, a change from past Border Patrol policy.)

But don't worry, Young Americans. Secretary Nielsen indicated to Fox News that there's some hope for sport even so, and the militia have said they're locked and loaded and on the way.

A loooong way down

The Republican Party has come a loooong way from 'Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead.'

The government doesn't lie just to you

We sometimes hear that Americans learned a hard lesson in Vietnam. Don't believe it.

The government lied to us, to the world and -- most consequentially -- to itself all through Vietnam.

So we got our sorry asses whipped.

Same method, different losing war in Afghanistan.

They described the Afghan president as furious at the breach of trust between allies, just months before a presidential vote in which he will seek a second term. In a meeting in Kabul the day after Mr. Khalilzad met the Taliban, according to the officials, Mr. Ghani specifically asked the American delegation about their talks with the Taliban but was not given any details — and the American envoy then changed the subject.

President Ghani should watch his back because Asian leaders of fake governments who displease American presidents tend to end up dead in thestreet: Remember Diem.

Our fascist First Lady

CNN reports that Melania Trump thinks women alleging sexual crimes need to provide "really hard evidence."

Setting aside the double entendre, a woman of discernment would have avoided that topic. Because we remember that Melania Trump charged that Barack Obama was born in Kenya without hard evidence or any other kind.

Amerikanische gleichschaltung

Several times in Trump's first year as fuehrer RtO warned that his initial move to turn America fascist would be the same as Hitler's first move: gleichschaltung, sometimes translated as "coordination."

Or, as some prosecutors say it,"Harmonization."

The Post has the story. Nut graf:

In a July 2017 Justice Department bulletin to 94 U.S. attorney offices nationwide, Oregon federal prosecutor Gregory R. Nyhus said that federal criminal statutes and civil immigration laws “are reconcilable” and that “courts should be encouraged to harmonize these statutes rather than focusing on [one] to the complete exclusion of the other.”

If you read the story, you'll see that he is arguing for a legal pipeline into konzentrationslager (concentration camps).

Condemned out of his own mouth

RtO has often had harsh things to say about Christians (and about other religionists but more about Christians because I know them better) but never anything as bad as this:

Falwell Jr said the Democratic party and its supporters were “no longer liberals – they’ve become fascists, they’re Brownshirts. You believe like them or you’re out.

“Poor Kanye West,” he said, referring to criticism of the star for wearing a Make America Great Again baseball cap. “He dared to have his own opinions and look what they did to him.”

He added: “The most intolerant people in the country are those that preach tolerance.”

As someone who grew up surrounded by evangelicals -- but not an evangelical myself --  this is hilariously obtuse.

I was not at all surprised that Falwell, the evangelical demigod, would describe Trump a a moral man. Trump really does embody almost all of the moral values that evangelicals actually live by: lying, fornicating, stealing, cheating, self-praising.

Roman Catholicism preaches that the greatest, almost unforgivable sin, is pride. That is about the only doctrine of Catholicism I still consider valid. No identifiable group is more prideful than evangelicals.

Grassley thinks you are stupid

And if you are a rightwinger, he's right.

Grassley and Kavanaugh kept saying that the FBI 'does not draw conclusions.' That is true only in a jesuitical sense.

But also irrelevant, because United States attorneys do draw conclusons, based on FBI report. That is why Kavanaugh was so panicked every time anyone mentioned 'FBI investigation.'

Hard choice for him: lie to the FBI or give up in his appointment.

As a judge, he of course knows this, which confirms that he was lying.