In today's fast paced multimedia atmosphere with so much information potentially coming at us it takes a open and nimble mind to keep up and be smart & intelligent. I am no better than anybody else, but I think I understand the challenge from being a student of American history and theology for years, dealing with different scholarly and informed points of view. They key is reliable facts and informed researched and scholarly points of view.
Donald Trump’s role as the country’s first white president is obvious and omnipresent. He campaigned on white identity politics, racism and nativism. As compared to his racism and White identity politics, Trump’s “Christian” faith is likely more befuddling if not unbelievable to those who do not follow politics closely.
Trump’s version of Christianity is performative and strategic. Trump, in both his public and private life, has repeatedly demonstrated by his behavior and values, that he violates almost every tenet of Christianity (as well as human decency and morality more broadly). He embraces cruelty, violence, greed, avarice, selfishness, revenge, lying, lust and dissembling. In total, Trump appears to worship power and himself instead of God and Jesus Christ.
At their core, Trump’s “Christian” values are defined by his transactional relationship with the Christian right, and specifically White Christian nationalists, a group he has promised to elevate to supreme power in the country if they gave him what he wants: their votes, money and control over many tens of millions of people. The bargain was extremely fruitful for both sides: a majority of White Christians voted for Trump (again). With his return to the White House, Trump is poised to make White Christianity (better described as White Christian authoritarianism) the de facto official state religion of the country, with all of the power and privilege(s) that comes with it.
-Chauncey Devega in Salon.com
I am not opposed to marking in the books I am reading, I do it routinely and often, but I have never favored a yellow highlighter, which seems cheap and gaudy to me. I'd rather underline in ink and make notes in the margins. Personal preference like toothpaste brand & the way you unroll the TP. Would you yellow highlight your Bible? I didn't think so.
Birthright citizenship was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution in 1868 with the ratification of the 14th Amendment, which was intended to grant citizenship and civil liberties to formerly enslaved African Americans. Contrary to what Trump told Welker, more than 30 nations, largely in the western hemisphere, provide birthright citizenship.
-Salon.com
In an interview with TIME Magazine published Thursday, President-elect Donald Trump said that he would discuss ending child vaccination programs with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist he has nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Asked if he would approve of any decision by Kennedy to end vaccination programs — insofar as he has that power, which is largely delegated to the states — Trump cited autism as a reason why he might. "We're going to have a big discussion," he said. "The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it."
His administration would get rid of some vaccinations if "I think it's dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial," Trump added.
Trump and Kennedy have long invoked a connection between autism and vaccines, even though studies continue to show there is none; most experts believe there are statistically more autistic individuals now than before because of improved diagnostic practices. Many of the claims that vaccines cause autism can be traced back to a retracted 1998 study in The Lancet that has been widely discredited by subsequent research.
Their debunked views on a range of medical topics — and Trump's promises to listen to Kennedy's counsel — have alarmed the scientific community over the possible implications on people's health and safety. After Kennedy embarked on an anti-vaccine misinformation campaign in Samoa, vaccination rates dropped precipitously. A measles outbreak one year later infected 57,000 Samoans and killed 83 of them, mostly young children.
Now Kennedy will not only have an even larger platform, but all the levers of the federal government to enact his vision. Former Trump FDA commissioner and current Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb told CNBC in an interview that, if Kennedy follows through on his pan to end vaccine mandates, "it will cost lives in this country.”
"For every 1,000 cases of measles that occur in children, there will be one death. And we are not good in this country at diagnosing and treating measles,” Gottlieb said.
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