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tanyev

tanyev's Journal
tanyev's Journal
December 19, 2023

It is worth a lot to wealthy Americans and the GOP

to have the Constitution “properly” interpreted.

Fixed.

October 14, 2023

It's true that mankind's ability to destroy has far outpaced the ability

to restrain those destructive urges, and that’s legit scary. But if things get really, really bad it won’t be because some zealous adherent of an emerging sect wrote 22 obscure chapters that accurately predicted events that would happen 1900 years later.

October 14, 2023

Have you read Armageddon by Bart Ehrman?

It puts the Book of Revelation in its proper historical context and analyzes how religious and political leaders have used it to create fear for their own benefit, for centuries. Here are a couple reviews from Amazon:

Ehrman does it again. He has taken the most incomprehensible work to have found its way into the New Testament and, putting into the context of its day, opened it up for us. Behold the materialistic believer’s guide to the end of times, a seemingly unfathomable fantasy in which Jesus is recast as the ”avenger”, a true super antihero hellbent on destroying all who fail to believe in him, but offering gold, jewels, comfort and luxury to his ”slaves”…for eternity on Earth. No longer a believer, Ehrman takes great pains to show us why the early Church Fathers were right to reject John of Patmos’ materialistic, vengeful, sickeningly cruel and violent fantasy. By comparing the Jesus of the gospels to that of Revelation, he makes an irrefutable case for rejecting the latter. Despite being a non-believer, Ehrman’s deep respect for the true message of Christianity makes this book not only acceptable but also a ”must read” for Christians and atheists alike.


Just as Dr. Ehrman has challenged conventional Christian beliefs in his previous books through his extensive biblical scholarship, in Armageddon he reveals the actual message of Revelation. Ehrman explains that the author of Revelation was writing in apocalyptic style about the destruction of the Roman empire and his belief in its replacement by a Christian empire of domination, revenge and destruction. Maybe most importantly, Ehrman shows how the message of Revelation’s author contradicts Jesus’s message as described in the four Gospels. Once again, through his extensive scholarship and expertise, Dr. Ehrman illustrates the very human nature of the Bible, a collection of writings often by anonymous authors and some even forgeries that often contradict each other.


Here's a link to the transcript of an interview with Ehrman for Fresh Air on NPR:

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/03/1167715957/armageddon-shows-how-literal-readings-of-the-bibles-end-times-affect-modern-time
October 7, 2023

Considering how often Russian images "accidentally" end up in GOP ads,

one wonders how much GOP money is being paid to those companies? The first few hits on a Google search:


Yahoo
https://www.yahoo.com › now › gop-unveils-commitme...
Sep 23, 2022 — We celebrate the rich heritage of the American story,” a narrator says, over footage of a drilling rig in Russia's Volgograd region.

GOP unveils 'Commitment to America' platform, passing off ...

Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com › Politics › News
Sep 23, 2022 — After a year of workshopping, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled the new GOP platform, featuring Russian stock images and a fake Abe ...

GOP Releases 'Commitment to America' Promo Using ...

The Daily Beast
https://www.thedailybeast.com › republicans-release-c...
At least, that must've been the thinking of some Republican congressmen who released a video Friday that features a Russian oil rig and Ukrainian field workers ...

Republican's 'commitment' video is filled stock images and ...

Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk › news › article-11246503
Sep 24, 2022 — GOP House members released its a video on Friday. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, 57, released the video, claiming that the 'Democrats ...

GOP Can't Seem to Stop Using Russian Stock Vid for Their ...

Medium
https://medium.com › bouncin-and-behavin-blogs › g...
Sep 24, 2022 — The GOP released their “Commitment to America” (cough, Committing Crimes in America is a better title these days, cough) (committed to ...

GOP Senate candidate touts military support with image of ...

Roll Call
https://rollcall.com › 2022/04/22 › gop-senate-candida...
Apr 22, 2022 — Jets in Colorado GOP Senate candidate Joe O'Dea's campaign ad touting his support for the military were Russian, experts said.
October 6, 2023

I can't believe even Trump's biggest fans in the House would want to sit there and listen to him

air grievances every day for several hours a day. Because that is the only thing Donny would do if he were Speaker of the House. He'd demand that all the Republican House members be in their seats to fervently cheer him on whenever he went on one of his rants. He'd demand several of them give up their offices so he could have a luxury office suite (remodel paid for by taxpayers, natch). And he'd hand over all the actual presiding work to someone else so he could retire to his luxury office for TV and fast food.

This has got to be mostly an exercise in trying to prove who loves Donny the mostest.

September 28, 2023

I wondered about this when he was campaigning back in 2016.

I’d never paid much attention to any of them before Donny’s ride down the escalator, although I knew Donny was obnoxious and full of himself. I guess I figured the kids were more aware of societal norms, could function without making fools of themselves.

So Donny was out there saying really weird things in his campaign speeches and Melania and kids with their spouses were often there with him. Before it became obvious how corrupt and dysfunctional all of them are, I did think “Wow, they must be cringing through that entire speech. Surely they’ll get Donny to a doctor for a thorough evaluation.”

Nope. They either didn’t see any problems, or didn’t care as long as their inheritance was locked in.

September 27, 2023

Let's set the wayback machine to July 2016, shall we?

When a candidate compromised by Russia required only ONE change to the RNC platform. The rot and corruption ran downhill from there.


The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington.

Throughout the campaign, Trump has been dismissive of calls for supporting the Ukraine government as it fights an ongoing Russian-led intervention. Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, worked as a lobbyist for the Russian-backed former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych for more than a decade.

Still, Republican delegates at last week’s national security committee platform meeting in Cleveland were surprised when the Trump campaign orchestrated a set of events to make sure that the GOP would not pledge to give Ukraine the weapons it has been asking for from the United States.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-campaign-guts-gops-anti-russia-stance-on-ukraine/2016/07/18/98adb3b0-4cf3-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html

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