19 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. I have been considering the recent move by the Oklahoma legislature to order the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all classrooms.

   It seems to me if they are serious about grooming children as Christians and forcing our society to become a religious monoculture (like Iran, say..), they can’t stop there. Shouldn’t we be taking every opportunity to indoctrinate the people? 

   With that in mind, I recommend to our American Taliban leaders they push to have their commandments and other scripture displayed in all public restrooms, cooling shelters, and post offices. All public transportation vehicles, buildings, and platforms should be extensively posted with the words of their God and their saints. 

   It shouldn’t take long to change the culture of the nation.

   You’re welcome.

   Log in to Reply

   1. It’s always The Big 10  and never The Beatitudes.  If it were the latter they’d be exposed for the frauds they are. (Not that their obsessions with The Ten aren’t already doing that)
       

       

      Log in to Reply

      1. Once again, that Old Testament POV versus the teachings of Jesus.  They call themselves "Christians", but they follow the laws of Moses.

         Does not compute.

         Log in to Reply

         1. Indeed. 
             

            

            Log in to Reply

         2. "They" don't follow the laws of Moses.  "They" demand that "we" follow the laws of Moses.

            Log in to Reply

            1. 👍

               Log in to Reply

   2. For maximum effectiveness, there were attention-gathering features before the reveal: 

      the Israelites gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, where the LORD descended amidst thunder, lightning, billowing smoke, fire, and the voluminous blast of the shofar. Moses then ascended, but the LORD told him to go back down and warn the people – including the priests – not to set foot on the mountain lest they be consumed by the wrath of God.

      I’m not certain what the folks in Oklahoma would use for a mountain … but surely the legislature could insist on thunder, lightning, billowing smoke, fire, and blasts of horns. 

      Most educational approach I can think of — The Ten Commandments in Hebrew Print — allowing an introduction to a second language, and the concepts of transliteration and translation.

      Log in to Reply

      1. The state has four primary mountain ranges: the Arbuckle Mountains, the Wichita Mountains, the Ozark Mountains and the Ouachita Mountains. There'll be a mountain top seat for every God-fearin' Sooner when those Armageddon trumps sound and their Orange Jesus saves their souls  implements the next trillion-dollar tax package for hillbillies ​​​​​​ billionaires. 

         Log in to Reply

   3. Good idea.  But remember, they need space to post pictures of "Dear Leader", like most other Authoritarian governments.

      Log in to Reply

      1. If you want to curl your toes and have access to Amazon Prime pull up “Bad Faith”, a documentary on Christian nationalism with the history all of the major players who constructed  Project 2025. 
          

         

         Log in to Reply

         1. Good documentary.

            Log in to Reply

   4. This is what many of the schools that took Native American children did.  And buried those that did not support the indoctrination.

      Log in to Reply

      1. "Anne with an E" is an excellent series that touches on what the church did to Native American children (as well as a host of other social issues of the time).

         Log in to Reply

2. The Republicans have published their guide to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN – the 2024 GOP PLATFORM

   Heather Cox Richardson has a historical reaction:

   The 2024 Republican Party platform, released today, calls for using the Fourteenth Amendment not to protect equal rights for Americans from discriminatory laws, as those who wrote, passed, and ratified the amendment intended. Instead it calls for using the Fourteenth Amendment to protect the rights of fetuses from the time of fertilization. It says that states should start passing laws protecting those rights: so-called fetal personhood laws that have their roots in the 1960s and were considered a fringe idea until about fifteen years ago. Those laws prohibit all abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and several forms of contraception.  

   Log in to Reply

   1. HC-R as always provides a lot of great historical context. I wish our actual journalists would spend as much time; if they only had expertise in one or two areas!

      Log in to Reply

3. Of course he is…

   Trump plans to block hearings in January 6 case before 2024 election

   Donald Trump is expected to launch a new legal battle to suppress any damaging evidence from his 2020 election-subversion case from becoming public before the 2024 election, preparing to shut down the potency of any “mini-trials” where high-profile officials could testify against him

   Log in to Reply

   1. Deleting duplicate.

      Log in to Reply

   2. GLWT, Yammie-pie. They meant to keep Project 2025 under wraps, too and we see how that worked out. 

      Log in to Reply

4. The Dunning-Kruger SCOTUS. Ian Milhiser at Vox.

   Good round-up of just how bad this year's SCOTUS session has been. Kind of essential reading.

   I used to believe that Trump and his followers and the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group that played an enormous role in choosing his judges, were two distinct authoritarian movements that shared power during Trump’s four years in office. The MAGA movement is a cult of personality that seeks to elevate a singularly chaotic man. The Federalist Society and its allies prefer a distinctly lawful tyranny that still follows predictable rules.

   But then the Federalist Society’s picks took over the Supreme Court. And they have behaved so haphazardly, with such eagerness to smash institutions built over decades or even centuries, that it’s hard to see them as anything other than Donald Trump with a law degree. Unlike Trump, the Court’s Republican majority speaks in polished legal prose when they decide to hurl decades worth of settled expectations into the sun. But their behavior on the bench is no less chaotic than that of the insurrectionist president who appointed half of them.

   Worse, the United States has what might be called a Dunning-Kruger Supreme Court — after the psychological phenomenon where incompetent people fail to recognize their own incompetence.

   The justices aren’t just very bad at their jobs; they appear to be blissfully unaware of just how terrible they are at those jobs. How else can one explain, say, their decision to replace all of American Second Amendment law with a novel and impossible-to-apply legal test — one that led to astonishingly depraved results — and then to offer no new guidance to lower court judges, after all but one of the justices realized just how badly they’d screwed up?

   Log in to Reply