"A Cheap Soulless Bully"

by Nomad

During the Kavanaugh hearing when Christine Blasey Ford reluctantly testified about her alleged sexual assault, Trump did not hesitate to mock Ford.
Charles Pierce shared his feeling in a poignant article in Esquire magazine. Here's an excerpt:

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over.
I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City.
I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing "Amazing Grace" in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Could We Soon Be Witnessing the Fall of ISIL?

by Nomad

Last Friday, while most of the US media was myopically focused on the collapse of Donald "Genitalia-Grabbing" Trump's campaign, there was, in fact, other news happening. With all the current talk about fights for survival and battleground states, it's easy to forget that a very genuine war is being fought.

And what happens in the battle for the capital of the Islamic State may have a profound effect on what happens next month in the US elections.

ISIS' Armageddon in Dabiq

At the end of last week, the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters scored a major and perhaps a decisive victory against the terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, otherwise known as ISIL or Daesh: the liberation of the strongholds of Dabiq and Soran. 

Since 24 August of this year, the Turkish military and Syrian rebel groups have joined together against ISIL forces in northern Syria in a cross-border operation called Euphrates Shield. 

Friday marked the Day 53 of that offensive with the Turkish military hitting at least 80 ISIL targets and reportedly killing 80 terrorists. Turkish news sources add:

Turkish warplanes also destroyed two military quarters and three buildings. The army added that since the beginning of the operation in late August, 28 mines and 1,156 handmade explosives of Daish terrorists have been safely destroyed.

After driving out the jihadist fighters, the FSA took control of the northern Syrian towns of Dabiq and Soran. Over the weekend, FSA fighters were still trying to neutralize the bombs set up by ISIL militants in the area, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Why is Dabiq so important? Well, Dabiq isn't just your average town in northern Syria.

"According to Islamic tradition, Dabiq will be the site of a final battle between Muslims and infidels heralding Doomsday."

To some devout Muslims, it's where Armageddon is to take place. For ISIL fighters, the loss of this symbolic town must have had extremely demoralizing implications, as they find themselves on the losing side in the battle of good and evil. 

How Evangelicals are Convincing Followers to Vote for Trump and Betray their Faith

by Nomad

For Right Wing evangelicals, the GOP nominee Donald Trump presents a lot of problems. By any measure, he is not an ideal choice. Despite his shortcomings, some members of the Christian Right seemed determined to say or do anything to persuade their followers to vote for Trump, even if that means betraying Christianity's core principles.

God's Guy

You might remember the name David Barton. Due to his tireless campaign to misinform Christians, this evangelical political activist, and author- I can't call him a historian- has been the subject of a post in the past.

In years gone by, Barton has made a lot of barmy pronouncements. He once stated his belief that United States borders were drawn by God, thereby condemning illegal immigration as a sin against God. He has said that intolerance of gays is a sign a nation is undergoing a spiritual revival and that 

Jesus opposed the minimum wage. 

At one time he was considered one of the 25 most influential Evangelicals and a hero to millions.

Barton's books have pushed the idea that the founding fathers intended the United States to be a Christian nation. Barton's dubious scholarship stirred up so much controversy that the publisher was forced to pull one of them from the bookstore shelves.
It wasn't so much that his ideas were too hot to handle; Barton was, to put it bluntly, accused of making things up. His Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, found that "basic truths just were not there." 

That's a polite way of saying Barton's books were a pack of lies.

Before his death in 2012, former Republican Senator Arlen Specter wrote in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy that Barton’s “pseudoscholarship would hardly be worth discussing, let alone disproving, were it not for the fact that it is taken so very seriously by so many people.” 

That's always been the problem with evangelicals like Barton. For certain weak-minded citizens, his powers of persuasion can be compelling.  

That rough profile brings us to his present mission. 

A week back, Barton told his radio program audience that in this election, good Christians should simply accept that Donald J. Trump is "God's guy."