Eighteen. That is the percentage of the House of Representatives who have served their country in the military, amounting to 80 members, three quarters of them Republicans, one quarter Democrats. What did the sixty-two House Republican veterans do today for their country, to help the U.S.
I corrected the post in Georgia. It is Fort Moore, not Fort Liberty. Fort Moore is named after one of my father's classmates at West Point, General Hal Moore, the author of "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young," made into a movie.
" If they think their only duty as members of the House of Representatives is to appeal to their right-wing voters who oppose abortion and transgender people, and to hell with military readiness and defending the country, then they don’t belong in the Congress of the United States. They are not living up to the oath they took to the Constitution, and they are not living up to protecting those who took an oath to defend this country with their lives." Exactly. THEY DON'T BELONG IN CONGRESS. VOTE.
The Republican House members do jack shit for the betterment of the country, their constituents and our security. The Magaholes are are in the House only to build their riches. They are cowards. They are self serving. They are racists. They are homophobes. They are misogynists. They are fake christians. May they all burn in hell soon.
I was an activist for women's rights and abortion in the 70s. It is beyond sad that we need to fight this fight again. And our opponents are better funded, more vicious, inveterate liars and misogynists. Women will (have?) die due to red states' extremist laws. I live in TN, one of the worst examples of restrictive legislation whether it is voting rights, civil rights or women's rights. Also, political graft, illegality and cover-ups. When I moved here 35 tears ago there was a Dem governor and the state was sane - now it is a hotbed of tRump bs and there is no talking to these people. I am an election official in my county and 95% of votes cast in the last several elections have been for republicans. I am very concerned about the 2024 election outcome.
Luckily, my little rural neighborhood is about 50/50 - not indicative of the state as a whole. And those who are conspiracy theorists don't try to convince the rest of us of the veracity of their beliefs. Still, it is discouraging...
This goes a long way toward explaining how the situation can be tolerable if not optimal. MAGAt beliefs are so antisocial I think of everyone who embraces them as aggressive. But they're not all Proud Boys. Some are doubtless my mild-mannered cousins. I hope you'll keep reminding those of us who live in bluer places of the realities outside your door.
If Bidenomics succeeds in making many peoples lives better, in red states as well as blue states, much of the current polarization will dissipate - not as fast as we'd like, but eventually, if the MAGAs see that the conditions they rant about are changing and improving, all but the most committed MAGA political activists will drift away form the rsants, because it is hard to rant about something that went away.....
I love Tennessee just as I love my state of residence,Ohio, but these states suck in helping average Americans and I am both sad and mad.West Virginia was my birth state and Tennessee is my fun state.Both states make me hang my head in shame these days.
You are very brave. I wondered, the day after Former Guy’s inauguration when I marched with several 100,000s of others, why this was happening again. I don’t even think I saw it becoming this serious.
I am from southwestern CT originally and we all knew of TFGs proclivities long before he took up politics for further hubris and enrichment. I had a lump in the pit of my stomach when he was declared election winner in 2016. And my fears were under envisioned.
I’m from NYC and am its age! I have known for a very, very long time that he is disturbed as well as disturbing. I awoke the day after the 2016 election, and thought I was having a nightmare. I still do every time I hear his voice and realize that he has such control.
I am still in disbelief that he could get so many millions of people to fall for his bs. That he controls these followers so completely and unfailingly. What is so appealing about him? His lies, his bragging, his ineptitude, his incoherence just scream mental illness and selfishness....yet he is worshiped as a golden calf. It obviously points out the differences in those who are reality based and those who are not. A well researched book I read years ago examined actual differences in brain structures, with MRI scans, between liberals and conservatives leading to differences in perception and thinking. (note: I spent 20+ years as an MRI tech/safety officer). It's scary the percentage of our population that could be hoodwinked this easily - despite or because of innate anatomical/physiological differences. It's difficult to believe anyone could be taken in so thoroughly by Q cultism or tRump's deceptions and fabrications. One explanation for why trying to reason with MAGAts is so unsuccessful?
When pondering this dilemma, the pop go-to book during and after WWII was Erich Fromm's "Escape from Freedom" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_Freedom Then came Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer Books on cults followed; one theory was that most cultists grew up in restrictive religions—strict Catholic, Orthodox Jewish, evangelical Protestant. (Add equivalent Muslim sects now.) After that came authoritarian-vs-free-thought examinations. …
All right already! I believe them all. The conundrum an army of experts urgently need to address right now is How can those people be persuaded to *want* to get out and join civilization? As long as they are unreconstructed, some wannabe tyrant will recruit them. RW media feed them steady disinformation and the internet, which I expected to set the world free, has proven to be tyrants' most pernicious tool. They're working feverishly to cancel the only hope I see, the independence many of their children are showing. … ?
I also believe the internet has played a huge role in influencing susceptible people - social media, especially. Algorithms that feed users angry, hateful, untrue pages to visit send them down a rathole from which they are unable to escape. The deeper they are drawn in, the easier it becomes to ignore factual information in lieu of that which reinforces what they want to consume. Faux Nooze is complicit, as are other fringe, extremist channels and r/w radio, as well. I, too, place my hope for the future of our democracy in the younger generations. They are opposed to so many recent SCOTUS decisions, I hope they vote in mass for the foreseeable future.
you're leaving out the granddaddy of them all: "The Authoritarian Personality" by Horkheimer and Adorno. but all this fact does is completely support your point; it's just that attempts to account for this "conundrum" go back a LONG way. and oops...I just remembered Wilhelm Reich ("The Mass Psychology of Fascism," "Little Man, What Now" etc.).
what makes things very (if not completely) different is that all the stuff we're talking about exists in PRINT, which presupposes a whole other kind of "consumer." namely, people with the patience and inclination to READ. if I consider this stuff for more than a few consecutive minutes, I get what an old friend used to refer to as a "brain ache."
I would add two more words to describe these ancient white males and the painted women who vote with them: misogynist s and bigots. Clearly they want control of this country to reside only in their hands. I think the abortion thing is just the mechanism by which they can garner votes from the true believers and the billionaire donors who have bought them.
In addition to all of that, Representative Mike Turner introduced an amendment in committee that was never read with 40 other amendments. This one specifically targeted the Military Religious Freedom Foundation which has helped over 80,000 military personnel address complaints about superiors forcing their religion on them, coercing them, or limiting their religious freedom. Most of the persecutors are militant Christians, including senior officers. Representative Turner’s amendment makes it illegal for military personnel to communicate with the MRFF, an act that is unconstitutional, but which if introduced into the final NDAA will do great harm to those being persecuted by such leaders. Here is a link to MRFFs website which has an article from the Military Times and the text of the legislation.
Why is this important? I will provide a personal example of how people tried to destroy m career and life.
In 2018 while serving as the Command Chaplain at Joint Base Little Creek - Fort Story, VA, I preached a sermon in my chapel that addressed my belief and that of my Church that the policy of separating families from their children and imprisoning those children in cages inside warehouses at the US Mexico border. I only talked about policy and how it was against the Christian tradition and the scriptures. I never mentioned then President Trump, only the policy.
However, a MAGA Trump supporter retiree Chapel member wrote a letter to my commander. In it he Article 88 Contempt for an Official in this case the President of the United States, and of Article 133, Conduct Unbecoming an Officer for the content of my sermon. He accused me of “comparing the President to Adolf Hitler” and “the actions of those enforcing the laws of the nation as Nazis or Nazi Sympathizers.” He accused me of “engaging in political activism on the job.”
The fact is I did none of that a what a Chaplain preaches about in a Chapel service is protected free speech and an expression of his or her religious freedom. Instead of asking me to explain what happen, my commander ordered an investigation which could have resulted in me being tried by Court Martial. I never believed that in over 38 years of service that I would be put in such a position. I called Mikey Weinstein, the head of MRFF for help. He got me a high profile military lawyer who helped succeeded in getting the attempt to destroy my career stopped. Thankfully, I was helped by the people in the congregation and my staff present for the sermon, well over half of the people present who were interviewed by the Investigating Officer. All, whether they agreed with the sermon or not, denied the accusations. However, most turned their backs on me. I was persona non-grata in my own Chapel. I never preached there again and put in my retirement papers. My Commanding Officer, who should have known better told me that he “had no choice.” But he did, if the Turner Amendment makes it into the final NDAA, no member of the military will be able to contact the most effective organization protecting the rights of all military personnel, families, and veterans using the VA healthcare system. It would be like saying victims of civil rights violations could not contact the ACLU, or other civil rights protection organizations.
Thanks such much for all you do. If you can please draw attention to this too.
Sincerely,
Steve Dundas, CDR, Chaplain Corps, US Navy (Retired)
Steve makes a good point regarding how Christian Nationalists, like the anti-abortion Repugnants in the House, would very much like to convert the country into a Christian-only nation. No doubt they will try to remove "Freedom of Religion" from the Constitution and replace it with some theological dogma requiring everyone to practice their particular brand of Christianity (whatever THAT is). What a waste of time & $$$ the Repugnants in Congress have become.
My deepest sympathy for what you had to experience due to intolerant white bigotry lying. Thank you for posting the information about the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
What frightens me the most is the bottomless pit of rage, hatred, loathing and fear of women and female sexuality that underlies the pitiless, fanatical GOP opposition to all abortions under all circumstances. They clearly WANT women to die from illegal abortions, or from fatal complications of pregnancy. Do they think the women in their own lives-- wives, daughters sisters, grandchildren-- will never have a problem pregnancy? But if they DO acknowledge that abortion is OK under certain circumstances, the foot is in the door-- they've admitted that fetal life is not sacred, that "sometimes" the woman is more important than the fetus, and that their opposition to abortion is therefore purely punitive.
It’s just a red herring, designed to get an emotional rise out of their Neo nazi, Christian nationalists. MAGAts don’t care about women--in ANY sense. Nor do they care about children, their daycare, their education, their nutrition--none of it. Weaponizing propaganda and stirring up a reactionary, self-righteous mob is how they recruit blind followers.
Reading your (remarkably restrained, given the subject) piece made my stomach turn. House Trumpublicans do not represent congressional districts in the United States of America. They represent a local chunk of an imagined country, Trumplandia, which is as forbidding, foreboding, and gruesome a place as Dante's hell. You point out that "they are not living up to the oath they took to the Constitution." The real oath they took was to a document remarkably similar to the "Law on The Allegiance of Civil Servants and Soldiers of the Armed Forces, put into effect on August 20, 1934, superseding all previous German oaths. It decreed that government workers and the military had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler personally. To whom do the House Trumpublicans owe their fealty? Trump? Steve Bannon? The memory of Phyllis Schlafly?
I hope it wasn't around dinnertime. [Insert smiling emoji here.] Schlafly quote that leads off the irony menu: "Our runaway judiciary is badly in need of restraint by Congress." How about printing, framing, and sending that quote to the Gang of Six SCOTUS squatters?
These amendments are designed to harm military personnel and families, and to make a segment of one religion’s theology the law of the land. The Christian Nationalist Politicians ramming these amendments through the House are theocrats no better than the Iranian Mullahs, the Taliban, the Islamic State, or the House of Saud. By doing so they put our nation at risk by making their political-religious agenda over national security. The fact that every one of the GOP military veterans voted for this is telling. They are the kinds of people who while in service tried to force their religion on anyone who do not subscribe to their version of Christianity, including other Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, Atheists, Agnostics, and Free Thinkers. They need to be called out by name.
Instead of trying to work with their constituents, they try to stop them from voting. And, the don't give a flying fūk about our national defense or our military. True facts 😡‼️
Kamikaze pilots, cluster-bombers firing at our military and thus the whole country from their cushy employment in U.S. Congress for which each is paid approx. $190,000/yr with fabulous benefits. Wonder if any of them or their insurance-covered spouses, or daughters has ever received ob/gyn care entailing D&C or other possible pregnancy altering care. Could ProPublica put their impressive sniffer dogs on it?
Jul 14, 2023·edited Jul 14, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
House Republicans "sent a message to women and to transgender people serving in the military that they don’t matter to this country." I would take issue. I believe the message is that those members of the military don't matter to *Republican representatives*, who have lost their minds and souls. Service people are smarter than the voters who sent those congress persons to D.C.—probably the same morons drug companies have to warn not to take drugs they know they're allergic to.
yeah, I'm still confused about THAT whole aspect of drug advertising (which is scandalous on its face). how the fuck can you know if you're allergic to a NEW medicine? and how are people watching commercials supposed to know the COMPONENTS of a drug that might prove problematic?
I've never been prescribed a medicine advertised on TV that wasn't expensive enough to make it obvious I was paying for that generic ad of the happy family enjoying life with its beautiful herding dog keeping things together (yes, I'm partial to herding dogs, but so are the commercials).
I corrected the post in Georgia. It is Fort Moore, not Fort Liberty. Fort Moore is named after one of my father's classmates at West Point, General Hal Moore, the author of "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young," made into a movie.
Just a nitpicking comment: Fort Moore is named for both Hal Moore and his wife, Julia Compton Moore.
And, I should have added, a fact that underscores and reinforces virtually every point you have made in this essay.
" If they think their only duty as members of the House of Representatives is to appeal to their right-wing voters who oppose abortion and transgender people, and to hell with military readiness and defending the country, then they don’t belong in the Congress of the United States. They are not living up to the oath they took to the Constitution, and they are not living up to protecting those who took an oath to defend this country with their lives." Exactly. THEY DON'T BELONG IN CONGRESS. VOTE.
The Republican House members do jack shit for the betterment of the country, their constituents and our security. The Magaholes are are in the House only to build their riches. They are cowards. They are self serving. They are racists. They are homophobes. They are misogynists. They are fake christians. May they all burn in hell soon.
Semper Fi
in a lot of senses, most of them are already there.
I was an activist for women's rights and abortion in the 70s. It is beyond sad that we need to fight this fight again. And our opponents are better funded, more vicious, inveterate liars and misogynists. Women will (have?) die due to red states' extremist laws. I live in TN, one of the worst examples of restrictive legislation whether it is voting rights, civil rights or women's rights. Also, political graft, illegality and cover-ups. When I moved here 35 tears ago there was a Dem governor and the state was sane - now it is a hotbed of tRump bs and there is no talking to these people. I am an election official in my county and 95% of votes cast in the last several elections have been for republicans. I am very concerned about the 2024 election outcome.
That's distressing just to read. Having to live it? I can only sympathise.
Luckily, my little rural neighborhood is about 50/50 - not indicative of the state as a whole. And those who are conspiracy theorists don't try to convince the rest of us of the veracity of their beliefs. Still, it is discouraging...
This goes a long way toward explaining how the situation can be tolerable if not optimal. MAGAt beliefs are so antisocial I think of everyone who embraces them as aggressive. But they're not all Proud Boys. Some are doubtless my mild-mannered cousins. I hope you'll keep reminding those of us who live in bluer places of the realities outside your door.
yes, we Coastal Elites really don't grasp how real a lot of this shit actually is...
If Bidenomics succeeds in making many peoples lives better, in red states as well as blue states, much of the current polarization will dissipate - not as fast as we'd like, but eventually, if the MAGAs see that the conditions they rant about are changing and improving, all but the most committed MAGA political activists will drift away form the rsants, because it is hard to rant about something that went away.....
I so hope you are right, but I fear Faux News will somehow twist our new BBiden born prosperity back to tRump.
I love Tennessee just as I love my state of residence,Ohio, but these states suck in helping average Americans and I am both sad and mad.West Virginia was my birth state and Tennessee is my fun state.Both states make me hang my head in shame these days.
Do as I do, Victoria: Be proud you got the hell out.
You are very brave. I wondered, the day after Former Guy’s inauguration when I marched with several 100,000s of others, why this was happening again. I don’t even think I saw it becoming this serious.
I am from southwestern CT originally and we all knew of TFGs proclivities long before he took up politics for further hubris and enrichment. I had a lump in the pit of my stomach when he was declared election winner in 2016. And my fears were under envisioned.
I’m from NYC and am its age! I have known for a very, very long time that he is disturbed as well as disturbing. I awoke the day after the 2016 election, and thought I was having a nightmare. I still do every time I hear his voice and realize that he has such control.
I am still in disbelief that he could get so many millions of people to fall for his bs. That he controls these followers so completely and unfailingly. What is so appealing about him? His lies, his bragging, his ineptitude, his incoherence just scream mental illness and selfishness....yet he is worshiped as a golden calf. It obviously points out the differences in those who are reality based and those who are not. A well researched book I read years ago examined actual differences in brain structures, with MRI scans, between liberals and conservatives leading to differences in perception and thinking. (note: I spent 20+ years as an MRI tech/safety officer). It's scary the percentage of our population that could be hoodwinked this easily - despite or because of innate anatomical/physiological differences. It's difficult to believe anyone could be taken in so thoroughly by Q cultism or tRump's deceptions and fabrications. One explanation for why trying to reason with MAGAts is so unsuccessful?
When pondering this dilemma, the pop go-to book during and after WWII was Erich Fromm's "Escape from Freedom" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_Freedom Then came Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer Books on cults followed; one theory was that most cultists grew up in restrictive religions—strict Catholic, Orthodox Jewish, evangelical Protestant. (Add equivalent Muslim sects now.) After that came authoritarian-vs-free-thought examinations. …
All right already! I believe them all. The conundrum an army of experts urgently need to address right now is How can those people be persuaded to *want* to get out and join civilization? As long as they are unreconstructed, some wannabe tyrant will recruit them. RW media feed them steady disinformation and the internet, which I expected to set the world free, has proven to be tyrants' most pernicious tool. They're working feverishly to cancel the only hope I see, the independence many of their children are showing. … ?
I also believe the internet has played a huge role in influencing susceptible people - social media, especially. Algorithms that feed users angry, hateful, untrue pages to visit send them down a rathole from which they are unable to escape. The deeper they are drawn in, the easier it becomes to ignore factual information in lieu of that which reinforces what they want to consume. Faux Nooze is complicit, as are other fringe, extremist channels and r/w radio, as well. I, too, place my hope for the future of our democracy in the younger generations. They are opposed to so many recent SCOTUS decisions, I hope they vote in mass for the foreseeable future.
you're leaving out the granddaddy of them all: "The Authoritarian Personality" by Horkheimer and Adorno. but all this fact does is completely support your point; it's just that attempts to account for this "conundrum" go back a LONG way. and oops...I just remembered Wilhelm Reich ("The Mass Psychology of Fascism," "Little Man, What Now" etc.).
what makes things very (if not completely) different is that all the stuff we're talking about exists in PRINT, which presupposes a whole other kind of "consumer." namely, people with the patience and inclination to READ. if I consider this stuff for more than a few consecutive minutes, I get what an old friend used to refer to as a "brain ache."
Extraordinary. Maybe it isn’t a mystery, but physiological? If that’s the case, can we find a “cure?”
Here's a link to an NIH research study on brain structure and fear vs rational thought in individuals. The amygdala plays a role in perceptions.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/
I would add two more words to describe these ancient white males and the painted women who vote with them: misogynist s and bigots. Clearly they want control of this country to reside only in their hands. I think the abortion thing is just the mechanism by which they can garner votes from the true believers and the billionaire donors who have bought them.
Sir,
In addition to all of that, Representative Mike Turner introduced an amendment in committee that was never read with 40 other amendments. This one specifically targeted the Military Religious Freedom Foundation which has helped over 80,000 military personnel address complaints about superiors forcing their religion on them, coercing them, or limiting their religious freedom. Most of the persecutors are militant Christians, including senior officers. Representative Turner’s amendment makes it illegal for military personnel to communicate with the MRFF, an act that is unconstitutional, but which if introduced into the final NDAA will do great harm to those being persecuted by such leaders. Here is a link to MRFFs website which has an article from the Military Times and the text of the legislation.
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Military-Times-Covers-NDAA-Amendment-Making-Contact-with-MRFF-Illegal-for-Military--MRFF-Supporters-Mobilize.html?soid=1101766362531&aid=Zd4ke5FAUfc
The Link to the amendment text alone is here:
https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/turner-ndaa-amendment.pdf
Why is this important? I will provide a personal example of how people tried to destroy m career and life.
In 2018 while serving as the Command Chaplain at Joint Base Little Creek - Fort Story, VA, I preached a sermon in my chapel that addressed my belief and that of my Church that the policy of separating families from their children and imprisoning those children in cages inside warehouses at the US Mexico border. I only talked about policy and how it was against the Christian tradition and the scriptures. I never mentioned then President Trump, only the policy.
However, a MAGA Trump supporter retiree Chapel member wrote a letter to my commander. In it he Article 88 Contempt for an Official in this case the President of the United States, and of Article 133, Conduct Unbecoming an Officer for the content of my sermon. He accused me of “comparing the President to Adolf Hitler” and “the actions of those enforcing the laws of the nation as Nazis or Nazi Sympathizers.” He accused me of “engaging in political activism on the job.”
The fact is I did none of that a what a Chaplain preaches about in a Chapel service is protected free speech and an expression of his or her religious freedom. Instead of asking me to explain what happen, my commander ordered an investigation which could have resulted in me being tried by Court Martial. I never believed that in over 38 years of service that I would be put in such a position. I called Mikey Weinstein, the head of MRFF for help. He got me a high profile military lawyer who helped succeeded in getting the attempt to destroy my career stopped. Thankfully, I was helped by the people in the congregation and my staff present for the sermon, well over half of the people present who were interviewed by the Investigating Officer. All, whether they agreed with the sermon or not, denied the accusations. However, most turned their backs on me. I was persona non-grata in my own Chapel. I never preached there again and put in my retirement papers. My Commanding Officer, who should have known better told me that he “had no choice.” But he did, if the Turner Amendment makes it into the final NDAA, no member of the military will be able to contact the most effective organization protecting the rights of all military personnel, families, and veterans using the VA healthcare system. It would be like saying victims of civil rights violations could not contact the ACLU, or other civil rights protection organizations.
Thanks such much for all you do. If you can please draw attention to this too.
Sincerely,
Steve Dundas, CDR, Chaplain Corps, US Navy (Retired)
Respect.
(And outrage for how you were treated inc by your CO)
Steve makes a good point regarding how Christian Nationalists, like the anti-abortion Repugnants in the House, would very much like to convert the country into a Christian-only nation. No doubt they will try to remove "Freedom of Religion" from the Constitution and replace it with some theological dogma requiring everyone to practice their particular brand of Christianity (whatever THAT is). What a waste of time & $$$ the Repugnants in Congress have become.
Wow!!!
My deepest sympathy for what you had to experience due to intolerant white bigotry lying. Thank you for posting the information about the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
Here's a link for signing a petition to your Senators and Representatives: https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/2023/07/urgent-help-save-mrff-please-submit-petition-letter-the-gops-christian-nationalist-amendment-would-kill-mrff-by-making-it-illegal-for-u-s-military-members-to-communicate-with-mrff/
I became aware of MRFF when I came across this story: https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/2023/04/special-ops-unit-wanted-to-rename-itself-crusaders-use-jewish-looking-decapitated-head-on-unit-patch-mrff-stopped-them/
I immediately went to their website and made a contribution. I urge everyone who reads this to do so as well.
Thankfully, the outcome of the above-linked story demonstrates how essential MRFF is in fighting back against the intensive proselytizing that is occurring in all of the branches of our military services: https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/2023/04/mrff-gets-commander-to-immediately-put-the-kibosh-on-units-plan-to-change-name-to-crusaders-and-use-gruesome-decapitated-head-artwork/
What frightens me the most is the bottomless pit of rage, hatred, loathing and fear of women and female sexuality that underlies the pitiless, fanatical GOP opposition to all abortions under all circumstances. They clearly WANT women to die from illegal abortions, or from fatal complications of pregnancy. Do they think the women in their own lives-- wives, daughters sisters, grandchildren-- will never have a problem pregnancy? But if they DO acknowledge that abortion is OK under certain circumstances, the foot is in the door-- they've admitted that fetal life is not sacred, that "sometimes" the woman is more important than the fetus, and that their opposition to abortion is therefore purely punitive.
Yes, THEIR women can get abortions. Of course they can because Jesus.loves them and them alone.
Of course, it’s a punishment. The Great Orange Oz even suggested it.
It’s just a red herring, designed to get an emotional rise out of their Neo nazi, Christian nationalists. MAGAts don’t care about women--in ANY sense. Nor do they care about children, their daycare, their education, their nutrition--none of it. Weaponizing propaganda and stirring up a reactionary, self-righteous mob is how they recruit blind followers.
Thank you for saying all of that ,Lucian. You make a female military member feel seen.
Reading your (remarkably restrained, given the subject) piece made my stomach turn. House Trumpublicans do not represent congressional districts in the United States of America. They represent a local chunk of an imagined country, Trumplandia, which is as forbidding, foreboding, and gruesome a place as Dante's hell. You point out that "they are not living up to the oath they took to the Constitution." The real oath they took was to a document remarkably similar to the "Law on The Allegiance of Civil Servants and Soldiers of the Armed Forces, put into effect on August 20, 1934, superseding all previous German oaths. It decreed that government workers and the military had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler personally. To whom do the House Trumpublicans owe their fealty? Trump? Steve Bannon? The memory of Phyllis Schlafly?
Whoa! Phyllis Schlafly....my stomach turned!
I hope it wasn't around dinnertime. [Insert smiling emoji here.] Schlafly quote that leads off the irony menu: "Our runaway judiciary is badly in need of restraint by Congress." How about printing, framing, and sending that quote to the Gang of Six SCOTUS squatters?
Read "Jesus and John Wayne."
I assume this means that medical and travel expenses for the wives of male service members would not be covered either.
I'm sure you are right.
Lucian,
These amendments are designed to harm military personnel and families, and to make a segment of one religion’s theology the law of the land. The Christian Nationalist Politicians ramming these amendments through the House are theocrats no better than the Iranian Mullahs, the Taliban, the Islamic State, or the House of Saud. By doing so they put our nation at risk by making their political-religious agenda over national security. The fact that every one of the GOP military veterans voted for this is telling. They are the kinds of people who while in service tried to force their religion on anyone who do not subscribe to their version of Christianity, including other Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, Atheists, Agnostics, and Free Thinkers. They need to be called out by name.
Thank you for all that you do.
Sincerely,
Steve
Instead of trying to work with their constituents, they try to stop them from voting. And, the don't give a flying fūk about our national defense or our military. True facts 😡‼️
The US Military spends $84M a year on boner pills. Srsly, WTF?
Yes, but, the House has no power to do any of that in a divided government.
Right but...Tommy Turdville is doing his number on our defense by not allowing promotions. The Marines are leaderless as a result.
Kamikaze pilots, cluster-bombers firing at our military and thus the whole country from their cushy employment in U.S. Congress for which each is paid approx. $190,000/yr with fabulous benefits. Wonder if any of them or their insurance-covered spouses, or daughters has ever received ob/gyn care entailing D&C or other possible pregnancy altering care. Could ProPublica put their impressive sniffer dogs on it?
House Republicans "sent a message to women and to transgender people serving in the military that they don’t matter to this country." I would take issue. I believe the message is that those members of the military don't matter to *Republican representatives*, who have lost their minds and souls. Service people are smarter than the voters who sent those congress persons to D.C.—probably the same morons drug companies have to warn not to take drugs they know they're allergic to.
It really does prove how much of a platitude “thank you for your service” really is!
yeah, I'm still confused about THAT whole aspect of drug advertising (which is scandalous on its face). how the fuck can you know if you're allergic to a NEW medicine? and how are people watching commercials supposed to know the COMPONENTS of a drug that might prove problematic?
I've never been prescribed a medicine advertised on TV that wasn't expensive enough to make it obvious I was paying for that generic ad of the happy family enjoying life with its beautiful herding dog keeping things together (yes, I'm partial to herding dogs, but so are the commercials).
Thank you for this.