Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@qoto.org

Isn't it interesting that every killing by every cop is just a single bad apple that should never be thought to spoil the bunch, while every protest by and on behalf of marginalized people must be flawlessly perfect, or all participants deserve the brutality the police exist to deliver to them?

Bad Faith,
a new documentary on the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States,
opens with an obvious, ominous scene
– the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021
– though trained on details drowned out by the deluge of horror and easily recognizable images of chaos.

That Paula White, Donald Trump’s faith adviser, led the Save America rally in
a prayer to overturn the results for “a free and fair election”.

That mixed among Trump flags, American flags and militia symbols were numerous banners with Christian crosses;
on the steps of the Capitol, a “JESUS SAVES” sign blares mere feet from “Lock Them UP!”

The movement to overturn the 2020 election for Donald Trump was, as the documentary underscores,
inextricable from a certain strain of belief in America as a fundamentally Christian nation,
separation of church and state be damned.

In fact, as Bad Faith argues, Christian nationalism
– a political movement to shape the United States according a certain interpretation of evangelical Christianity, by vote or, more recently, by coercion
– was the “galvanizing force” behind the attempted hijacking of the democratic process three years ago.

Bad Faith traces the origins of the movement as a savvy, disproportionately powerful political force,
from churches to Republican political operatives to donors,
either from conviction or convenience.

“I think a lot of Americans have a very difficult time accepting and understanding the fact that such treason, such anti-democratic activity,
could be carried out by people who basically look like Sunday school teachers,” Stephen Ujlaki, the film’s director, told the Guardian.

By looking back on the half-century of Christian nationalist belief, organizing and action, the events of January 6 no longer seemed shocking,
but the logical endpoint of anti-democratic ideals.
“It was unmistakable, once you looked in the right place and you listened to what people were saying,
and you understood how to decode what they were saying,” said Ujlaki.

“Little would you know that when they talk about recreating the kingdom of God on earth, they weren’t talking about something spiritual.
They were talking about demolishing democracy so that God, ie themselves, could rule.
And for that reason, I call it a conspiracy carried out in broad daylight.”
#BadFaith
How much danger does #ChristianNationalism pose?
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/27/bad-faith-documentary-christian-nationalism?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

@mekkaokereke
"Adolescent mothers face higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis and systemic infections than women aged 20–24 years, and babies of adolescent mothers face higher risks of low birth weight, preterm birth and severe neonatal condition."
Plus, a smaller pelvic opening has obvious risks.

There is losing your mind and then there is this. I don't even know what to call it.

https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

"To sustain this level of blind support for #Israel, the U.S. must erode its own #democracy. And that is what we see happening on U.S. campuses now." https://www.commondreams.org/news/emory-protests-arrests?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=460a87f4f5-Week+in+Review%3A+Sat.+4%2F27%2F24+w%2F+fundraiser&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-32ccf17a11-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

President #Biden's American #Climate Corps is up and running. Here's how it will work: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27042024/biden-american-climate-corps-jobs/

Any journalist incapable of distinguishing between Judaism and Zionism commits a category error that should bar them from the profession.

For example, uncritically allowing Jonathan Greenblatt to call the Columbia protest antisemitic, eliding the fact Jewish Voice for Peace is one of the organizers, should be grounds for firing.

@zachvat @DemocracyMattersALot
Their public calls for Civil War in the USA are meant to activate their terrorist cells in the West to help stoke division as we've seen over and over.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/how-russia-secretly-orchestrated-dozens-of-us-protests

"The most pressing threats to our safety as Jewish students do not come from tents on campus. Instead, they come from the Columbia administration inviting police onto campus, certain faculty members, and third-party organizations that dox undergraduates." #Democracy https://zeteo.com/p/i-am-a-jewish-student-at-columbia?triggerShare=true?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

"So two things are being asserted:

1. Famine in Gaza is now unavoidable and will kill many civilian noncombatants even if more food aid starts getting in now.

2. The responsibility for this starvation of children, women and noncombatant males lies squarely with Israel, which is obstructing food aid deliveries"

Conclusions of a memo to Anthony Blinken from US State Dept officials seen by foreign policy journalist Colum Lynch.

#Israel #Gaza #Famine

https://www.juancole.com/2024/04/unavoidable-exponential-outpacing.html

Are some #insects evolving in response to light pollution?

"We find a stark decline in blacklight trap efficacy over 25 years of monitoring in Delaware, USA, mirrored over 10 years of monitoring in New Jersey, USA. While the precise causes of this decline remain a subject for discussion, the practical consequences are clear: insect conservationists cannot fully rely on long-term trends from entomological light traps."

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10841-024-00588-x

#ALAN #Entomology #Conservation

"More people across the United States, nearly 40%, are living in places with unhealthy levels of polluted air, according to a new report from the American Lung Association"

Sources of pollution include: extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and increased oil & gas extraction

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/23/health/unhealthy-air-report/index.html

A transcript of #NaomiKlein's speech at the Seder in the Streets in front of Senator Schumer's house in New York City. 👇

This thread is the whole speech because, well, it's that important -- Klein went out in public and claimed a path for US Jewish futures that is in coalition with those harmed by Zionism, but that is also deeply nested within Judaism as a multi-millennial tradition. We're lucky to live and breathe at the same time as Naomi Klein...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/24/zionism-seder-protest-new-york-gaza-israel

The fact that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife was one of the organizers of Donald Trump’s armed insurrection should be mentioned every time SCOTUS is in the news, IMHO.

USC went from cancelling their valedictorian’s commencement speech on a made up claim of safety, to canceling all commencement speakers, to canceling commencement altogether—all to prevent the student USC educated on genocide studies from applying her USC education at USC.😑

What a complete failure in leadership.

The Supreme Court is currently deciding whether Republicans can block doctors from helping pregnant women in medical emergencies. I am not exaggerating.

The Biden administration is fighting to save those women's lives. Every time someone says "I won't vote for Biden," they're saying "I don't care about those women. Let them lose their uteruses, or die, or whatever. I have other priorities."

That's a goddamned fact.

This video is a good explanation of Moyle v. US.

#USPol #abortion

Black landowners are disproportionately vulnerable to laws and discriminatory practices that allow speculators and developers to acquire their property.

Read all our previous coverage here:

https://www.propublica.org/series/dispossessed