Blue Wave?

The “blue wave” is a surge of Democrats taking back Congress in the 2018 midterm elections.

However, some Democratic senators still face challenges preserving their seats in five states Trump carried in 2016.

Five Democrats face that scenario this fall. Many of the seats were previously considered too tough for Democrats to keep a hold on.

Senator Jon Tester, of Montana, is the most vulnerable with a 42 percent to 55 percent projected loss to any Republican candidate.

Moderate West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin could suffer a nine-point loss.

Senator Claire McCaskill, of Missouri, could be knocked out by eight-points.

Single-term Senator Joe Donnelly, of Indiana…

…and North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp could also find themselves out of a job.

Trump’s approval rating was somewhat higher than the incumbent Democratic senator in these five states, suggesting a note of caution for Democrats who plan to storm to victory in November.

Trump has lost support across the country but, in some of the contested Senate seats, residual support remains.

Although Trump had a positive net approval rating in 38 states the day he entered office, that total has slipped to just 26. And those 26 are rural where fewer house seats are in play and where good numbers do not overcome Trump's record low approval rating when ALL voters are considered.

Trump has somehow maintained a positive net approval in Montana, North and South Dakota, Indiana and West Virginia. Those five Senate seats would keep the chamber in the GOP’s favor.

The areas that face significant unemployment during Trump's trade wars may not stay the course with their lord-god emperor king Trump (see map above).

And rampant instability in white house staffing is not an asset.

Wait, and see.

Talk of a major Democratic tidal wave has spread since encouraging victories in Alabama and Virginia late last year.

the donald's political view

Trump is not a fascist in the exact sense Mussolini was; he is not a control freak micromanaging the expense accounts of his cabinet. Trump is a sloppy fascist.

He was going to build a wall against the Mexican hordes. Now, he says, the wall will come “later.”

Now the coward is sending troops to the border with Mexico (Is little donnie starting a war on the southern front?). Just because his golf course went belly up, he might be blaming Latinos!

Trump is not a fascist in the sense of Geert Wilders of the Netherlands a politician who tries to convince the practical Dutch that it’s common sense to hate Muslims. Or is he?

Yes, Trump likes to appear angry at something or someone, but he is becoming a thread-bare master at manipulating instability.

So, Trump is a very nasty individual but, in a directed way, a fascistic personality type in charge of what is becoming a fascistic white house apparatus.

In Fascist structures historically, the Leader demands absolute, slavish loyalty from those below, bureaucrats obeying orders precisely and IN THIS, Trump is persistent.

But, it's a one way street. Trump fires underlings faster than a dog sheds his winter coat in springtime.

But he won! (as if that's even the point) [Besides, in English, the pronoun refers to the last noun - e.g. the dog]

Remember, even a dog has an assh*le, the voters of the US might as well have one too!

Trump... the FFJ of Presidents?

Trump denies continuing news reports that "chaos" envelopes his “White House,” saying staff turnover and infighting are “part of the normal course of business.”

"People will always come & go," Trump said in a tweet, later adding: "There is no Chaos, only great Energy!"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2018

Amid real staff departures, Trump also said that "I still have some people that I want to change (always seeking perfection)," but he did not specify who he might be referring to.

During a joint news conference with the prime minister of Sweden, Trump said he won't have any trouble filling all the jobs that have opened up.

Republicans in Washington have seriously questioned whether they would EVER like to work in the Trump White House.

Trump said, "maybe people don’t want to work for Trump," but "everybody [fallacy] wants to work in the White House." Not only does it look good on a resume, Trump said, but the White House is "just a great place to work; it’s got tremendous energy."

Staff turbulence has been a regular feature of the Trump administration since he took office on Jan. 20, 2017.

Within a month Michael Flynn resigned. Within seven months, his chief staff, press secretary, and two communications directors left.

Long-time aide Hope Hicks resigned.

Trump is looking for his fifth communications director.

Spicer left when Trump brought in Anthony Scaramucci. Scaramucci lasted 11 days.

During a press dinner, Trump joked about the upheaval: "It’s been really another calm week at the White House. We finally have it running like a fine-tuned machine."

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, also speaking the dinner, joked that Trump could attend a Mardi Gras-style parade dressed as "King Chaos." Trump laughed.

Trump claims he will have his pick of "ten top people" for various openings at the White House. However there are few – very few – willing to work for Trump.

"Everybody wants to be there," Trump said [knowing it is not the truth]. "And they love this White House because we have energy like rarely before. OK?"

NOT O.K.

If history is kind to the donald, he will be remembered as the FFJ of Presidents.

Was Jesus a Drag Queen?

Somebody has been "talking out of school." (That's all)

Some material that was taught in Graduate School 50 years ago is being pushed down into upper-division undergrad work (e.g. 300 and 400 series courses).

Some upper-division material from 50 years ago has migrated into lower-division undergrad work (e.g. 200 series).

ONE such example of graduate material is this: "The translations of the Western Bible are, by no means, certain."

So, to the case in point...

Dr. Tat-siong Benny Liew is chair of New Testament studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Ioudaioi is an Archaic Greek word that is commonly [or conveniently] translated to “Jew” or “Judean.”

What the current cognitive equivalent to Ioudaioi may be is, by no means, certain. It is in a class of perhaps 1500 words that are obscure.

The discussion is about Ioudaioi in context and not about Jesus at all!

Citing the multiple usages of Ioudaioi gospel of John, Liew said that Jesus was a “drag king” who had “queer desires,” that the last supper was a “literary striptease,” and Jesus was gender fluid. (That is "a wake up call" about uncertain words and their multiple definitions (most NOT shared in press). Ioudaioi meant different things in different context - and in many cases the context is obscure. The Levant did not have a rich vocabulary of 250,000 words - like the average college grad of today.

Immature minds "don't get it" and run out and 'tattle on the teacher.' They miss the lesson altogether!

“…What we [hypothetically] have in John’s Jesus is not only a “king of Israel” or “king of the Ioudaioi”, but also a drag king,” he claims in his footnoted and referenced writing. “[Christ] ends up appearing as a drag-kingly bride in his passion.”

Repeat: Ioudaioi is an Archaic Greek word that is commonly translated to “Jew” or “Judean.” A “Jew” may or may not be observant while a Judean might even be an Egyptian in residence in the dry steppes south of the Jezreel Valley. Thus there is no ONE definition that scholars can agree on – especially when one considers context.

From the time I was 7 or 8 years old, I recognized "the Bible" as being a collection of folklore. Later I saw it as "a constrained collection of regional folklore, borrowed without interest."

The writers of the Bible borrowed stories from everywhere that they could! Scholars have been aware of this for 100+ years!

“In addition, we find Jesus disrobing and rerobing in the episode that marks Jesus’ focus on the disciples with the coming of his ‘hour’. This disrobing… does not disclose anything about Jesus’ anatomy,” Liew writes. “Instead, it describes Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. As more than one commentator has pointed out, foot-washing was generally only done by Jewish women or non-Jewish slaves.”



ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Cinderella appears at least TWICE in the Bible (Ruth and Esther).

Buddha is a Saint in the Catholic Church!

So, back to the Drag Queen...

“John is clear that Jesus is an Ioudaios [translation uncertain]; what John is less clear about is whether Jesus is a biological male. Like a literary striptease, this episode is suggestive, even seductive; it reveals and veils at the same time.”

An article in the school’s independent student journal called Liew’s interpretations “unconventional.” (And THAT is all!)

But this isn’t the first time scholars and theologians have suggested that Christ was a little (or more than a little) queer.

The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” also known as “the beloved disciple,” also appears in the gospel of John. His/her identity and relationship with Jesus have long been the subject of debate.

Referenced six times in the gospel – yet unnamed – the disciple is often thought to be John the apostle, one of the twelve disciples and the author of the gospel itself. At other times, he’s identified as Lazarus, whom Jesus dramatically raised from the dead.

Whoever he was, some people think the disciple described as reclining on Jesus’ chest at the last supper was his gay lover.

Anglican priest Paul Oestreicher preached that Jesus intimacy with John suggested he was gay. Oestreicher wrote in the Guardian that John “clearly had a unique place in the affection of Jesus,” and that at the end of the gospel “John becomes unmistakably part of Jesus’s family.”

Ostreicher argues that Jesus wouldn’t have been truly human if he’d been devoid of sexuality. And today his relationship with the beloved disciple would be interpreted as gay - by some. The other option - that Mary Magdalene was THE disciple is so outrageous in a misogynistic culture it is reduced to blasphemy! (Simple minds demand simple answers)

There’s something of a literary tradition here. A lost gospel discovered in 1958, known as the Secret Gospel of Mark also goes into homoerotic detail, describing Jesus relations with a “naked youth” who is often identified as Lazarus.

In her Jesus in Love novels, Kittredge Cherry portrays both the beloved disciple and Lazarus as gay, with the former as Jesus’ lover and the latter as his young gay friend.

Reverend Dr. Bob Shore-Goss, openly gay senior pastor and author of Queering Christ and Jesus ACTED UP: A Gay and Lesbian Manifesto, says that not only was Jesus gay, but he was most likely versatile: both a top and a bottom. (The more you give, the more you shall receive.)

“He broke the rules of his culture, of heteronormativity,” Shore-Goss said in an interview with Vice. “He subverted masculinities and gender codes in his culture.”

And so the debate (of unknowns) drags on (pun intended).

How Pruitt Blew It

“Not my President” Trump and his chief of staff (John Kelly) phoned EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt following a series of damaging reports.

Before long, Pruitt could be fired - for shedding light on the wholesale kleptocracy of the Trump fiasco.

Sarah Huckabee confirmed that "Trump spoke with Pruitt."

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has broken months of silence about his frequent premium-class flights at taxpayer expense, saying he needs to fly first class because of unpleasant interactions with other travelers.

Reports said the message to Pruitt was that "we've got your back.” (e.g. Trump and Putin)

Trump's support – of sorts - for the corrupt agency chief came up during a meeting with foreign leaders on Tuesday. "I hope he's going to be great." (For a comment on "hope" see Poor Richard's Almanac from 1736 listed as #3 HERE)

Trump’s White House messages of support have never carried much weight and can be followed by an ouster. H.R. McMaster is just one of many recent examples. [Trump would not recognize the truth if it spanked his bare ass with a wet mop!]

Trump’s White House has the following rules:
1. Underlings must be absolutely loyal to the trumpster in the dumpster.
2. The Donald will be (and can be) loyal ONLY to himself (and Putin).

Pruitt’s future in the administration is uncertain.

Mounting questions about his travel expenses, high security costs and the $50-a-night lodging he secured in a lobbyist’s Capitol Hill condo are just the tip of the iceberg.

Apparently, Pruitt also went around the White House to secure raises for two of his staffers. That, the potentate of penny-pinching pikerism [Trump] can not tolerate!

addendum:

A Fascist, observes Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.”

Wait, and see...

Some think that I need to be more charitable to the trumpster in the dumpster. In a world of give and take we need to give Trump more, so he can take it.

Pulling US troops out of Syria will save money - AND please Putin.





Trump NEEDS - even CRAVES a military parade!

It's ALL ABOUT trump. Almost always has been, almost always will be...