The Extremists Behind The Phony 'Religious Freedom' Bill

 

"Many people in this country consider America to be a "Christian" nation. If only it were. A truly Christian nation would put the words of Jesus into their policies and actions. I see very little of that from this administration and, if one were honest, the history of the U.S. is filled with policies anathema to Christianity. Slavery, ethnic cleansing of the Indian nations, lynchings after Reconstruction, Jim Crowe, to name just a few."- NY Times comment

Unmentioned thus far in the mainstream media is the chilling aspect of Trump's Project 2025 to take over our secular government and transform it into a theocracy.  The vehicle to achieve this nefarious, anti-constitutional end is none other than Trump's 'Religious Liberty Commission' (RLC)  launched last spring.

The aim of the extremists behind it - some of whom are shown above- is basically to redefine religious freedom as unchecked privilege for one narrow Christian cult based on Christian Nationalism. An even more dangerous ambition is to attempt to equate Christian Nationalism with patriotism.

 The RLC members shown in the graphic above are a who's who of career zealots kept afloat Shadow Network occupying its 18-member board. Each has a long record of expanding, advancing and implementing the Xtian Nationalist agenda including imposing their brand of Christianity on public schools and government institutions and rolling back women's rights.  

Among the worst offenders and reprobates are:

- Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, a vocal supporter of coercive religion in public schools and faith-based legislation

- Paula White-Cain, head of the White House Faith office who once compared Trump to Jesus and is a long time Xtian Nationalist power broker.

-Ben Carson, former HUD Secretary, who believes Islam is "incompatible with the Constitution"  

Apart from a single Rabbi, the RLC's core leadership has no representation from any other religious groups- including Christians and Jews who don't support the Xtian Nationalist agenda.

Indeed, if these extremists could read as well as they bellow about their origin fables, they'd see that Declaration itself repudiates the claim of a nation founded on Judeo-Christian values.  To be specific, the Declaration of Independence cites 4 references that supposedly support the Judeo-Christian myth. However, not a single one mentions: Jesus Christ, Yahweh, or a specific Christian version of God. At most they reflect the Founders who wrote it as adherents of Deism.  This is the belief that a supernatural being or entity created the universe but then departed and plays no role in future events. Somewhat like a 'watchmaker' who makes is universal watch, sets it in motion then walks away.

Finally, the ratification of the Treaty of Tripoli, e.g. 

Treaty of Tripoli - Wikipedia

  Put the final stamp of secularism on the national entity which was the United States.  As noted above in the Wikipedia entry, the key words of the Treaty are:

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries"  

While Jefferson, Madison, Franklin et al could have well chosen to root their appeals, entitlements, endowments etc. in Jesus Christ, or Yahweh or a similar recognizable Judeo-Christian being, they did not. They were Deists, so no wonder. This ought to telegraph emphatic differences to the Trump religious extremists, but they are so fixed on seeing what they want they miss the 'forest for the trees'.

See Also:

Brane Space: More On The White Christian Nationalist Threat - And The Most Dangerous Renegades To Know

And:

Christian Nationalist Warmongers Schooled By Pope Leo That Their Prayers for Holy War Are "Rejected By God"

And:

Brane Space: Sunday's Trumper "Prayer Rally" Exposed As An Exercise In Theocratic (& Political) Desperation

And:

Brane Space: How The Radical Right Goes Off The Rails In Its Anti-Abortion Crusade

And:

• White Christian Nationalists: Who Are They? What Do They Want? Why Should You Care?

The Advantage Of Changing The Lorentz Transformation To One With Imaginary Values

 In previous posts (on special relativity) we saw the format of the basic Lorentz transformation, e.g.:

x' = (x - vt)/ Ö[1 - v²/c²] 

t' = (t - vx/c² )/ Ö[1 - v²/c²] 

For x' and t' to be real numbers we required:  v <  c   

Further, we expect all the laws of physics to be invariant under these transformations. Recall  in plane Euclidean geometry rotations of a coordinate system are represented by matrices, i.e. in two dimensions x, t: 

A = A  (Θ) =

(a11.......a12)
(a21......a22)  

where Θ is the angle by which the system rotates.  A matrix defined by the special Lorentz transformation *  can then be written:

(1/Ö [1 - v²/c²]                 - v / Ö[1 - v²/c²])

( - v / c² Ö] [1 - v²/c²]        1/ Ö[1 - v²/c²])  

But consider if instead of the initial 2D coordinates (x and t and x' and t'),  we take: x and ict, and x' and ict' - where we have introduced the imaginary number: i = Ö- 1

The earlier transformations then assume the form:

x' = 1/ Ö[1 - v²/c²]   (x +   iv/c  ict)

ict'  =  1/ Ö[1 - v²/c²]   (- ivx/c  +  ict)

Yielding the new matrix:

(1/Ö [1 - v²/c²]                (iv/c)   1 / Ö[1 - v²/c²])

( - iv / c)   1 /Ö] [1 - v²/c²]          1/ Ö[1 - v²/c²])

The above can then be transformed into simpler matrices in terms of:

cos iΘ  =   cosh Θ   =   1/ Ö[1 - v²/c²

sin iΘ  =   -i sin h Θ   =   ( iv / c)  (1/ Ö[1 - v²/c² ) 

Leading to the more compressed trig matrix:

.  

(cos iΘ..... sin iΘ)

(-sin iΘ)...cos iΘ)

Which can be thought of as rotation through an imaginary angle of the (x, ict) coordinate system. This is often a  more helpful form in formulating physical laws. 

Specifically, this is incredibly useful in theoretical physics for two main reasons: turning oscillating integrals into convergent ones and unifying quantum mechanics with statistical mechanics.

Digging deeper: In real i.e. (Lorentzian) time, the action factor (exp  iS/h) generates rapidly oscillating waves that are notoriously difficult to integrate, making rigorous calculations almost impossible.

By substituting time (t) with imaginary time (ict)), the Lorentz metric:

ds² =  -  dt²  +    dx²  

becomes a purely Euclidean metric :

ds² =  -  dt ²  +    dx²

Thereby the oscillating factor (exp  iS/h) transforms into the exponentially decaying factor (exp  -iS/h)

 Which makes the mathematical functions well-behaved and convergent, allowing physicists to rigorously solve associated path integrals.

-----

* Connecting systems with a common x-axis with velocity v directed along the same axis, for simplicity

Latest Kiplinger Report Details MoreProblems Associated With Medicare Advantage

The October, 2022  Kiplinger Retirement Newsletter was clear on what's been happening to new Medicare Advantage beneficiaries: being denied access in record numbers.  Indeed, according to Kiplinger, at a rate nearly twice that before the pandemic struck in 2020.  Why?  Because the number of new Advantage beneficiaries had itself nearly doubled, meaning the extension of the same benefits meant decrease in profits for the private insurers. (Recall Medicare Advantage is the privatized version of Medicare.)

Now, the latest (June, 2026)  Kiplinger Retirement Report exposes continued problems with Medicare Advantage. Before we get to those, please recall (WSJ Exchange, (April 18-19, p.B12) - that:

"For two decades, making money in Medicare Advantage followed a simple formula: Sign up seniors and document as many diagnoses as possible. The more codes for patient sickness on paper, the more the government paid."

There in blunt, no-nonsense words is the template for Medicare Advantage wasting money in colossal fashion:  by deliberately running up the diagnoses for seniors which the government must then cover to fill up the insurers' coffers. Recall also, that the Biden administration had begun to put a check on this money grab  i.e. (ibid.)

"Starting in 2024 the Biden administration phased in a new payment model, V28, which reduced or eliminated the  impact of certain diagnostic codes."

So the imposition of a check on running up diagnoses has led to a curbing of profits and in turn continued denials. As the Kipler Report puts it:

"Hospitalized Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries who need follow up care in a rehab facility are frequently denied approval by insurance providers, according to data from the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association."

The logic of the providers here appears to be that since denial of front-line access (in 2022) came under scrutiny, denial of rehab services has become the go to strategy.  But according to the Report denial of coverage for rehab services is possible: 

"Because of the onerous requirements for prior approvals, which are usually not required for traditional Medicare."

Indeed not. So when Janice needed extended rehab after her first hip replacement ten years ago, it was done (via traditional Medicare) no questions ut asked.

But for MA beneficiaries denied rehab approval:

"while appeals are often successful, the time lost by the pre-approval and appeal process can affect patient health and recovery prospects suffered in the meantime."

In Janice's case, for both her hip replacements, the consequences of any rehab delays would have been severe. Another reason we both agreed that traditional Medicare was the only option for our ongoing medical needs - including my prostate cancer treatments.

See Also:

Corporate America | Healthcare Policy

Biden Just Took the First Step to Overhaul Medicare Advantage. Many More Must Be Taken.

by Diane Archer | April 8, 2023 - 6:05am | permalink

Excerpt:

The corporations that run Medicare Advantage plans are engaged in widespread waste, fraud and abuse, resulting in tens of billions of dollars of overpayments to them every year. The advocates and government agencies overseeing Medicare Advantage have spent nearly two decades reporting on this fraud and waste and urging Congress to overhaul the program. Few in Congress or the administration were listening. Now, the Biden administration is finally taking action, but it’s only a first step.

Healthcare Policy | Insurance

Here is the Truth: Medicare Advantage Is Neither Medicare Nor an Advantage

by Wendell Potter | January 15, 2023 - 7:23am | permalink

Excerpt:

Right now, well-funded lobbyists from big health insurance companies are leading a campaign on Capitol Hill to get Members of Congress and Senators of both parties to sign on to a letter designed to put them on the record “expressing strong support” for the scam that is Medicare Advantage.

But here is the truth: Medicare Advantage is neither Medicare nor an advantage.

And I should know. I am a former health-care executive who helped develop PR and marketing schemes to sell these private insurance plans.

And:

Stop the Medicare “Advantage” Scam Before Medicare is Dead

Thom Hartmann

Article Tools
E-mail | Print
Comments (2)

FB comments (2)

Corporate America | Healthcare Policy

by Thom Hartmann | August 6, 2022 - 6:08am

---

— from The Hartmann Report

Excerpt:

Congress must pass a law to stop the deceptive advertising of Medicare Advantage plans. Only Medicare should be able to call itself Medicare.

Unless you’ve been out of the country for the past few years, you’ve seen the ads on TV featuring Joe Namath, Jimmy Walker, or William Shatner hawking so-called “Medicare Advantage” plans.

Medicare Advantage is not Medicare.

It’s private health insurance being offered to people over 65, with the bill paid for by Medicare. Once you get on an Advantage plan it’s very difficult to get off, and if you’ve been on for more than a year you may not be able to go back to regular Medicare with a Medigap plan at all.

And:

How Medicare Advantage Scammers Get Away With It

Thom Hartmann

Article Tools
E-mail | Print
Comments (0)

FB comments (2)

Healthcare Policy | Insurance

by Thom Hartmann | June 15, 2022 - 6:13am

---

Excerpt:

In my multiple writings on the Medicare Advantage scam, the most common two responses I get (besides, “Thanks, you may have saved my life!”) are, “I’ve never had a problem with my Advantage plan,” and “If it’s so bad, how come so few people are saying so?”

Both are honest, good-faith questions and highlight how easy it is for insurance companies to get away with their Medicare Advantage scams. The answer to both boils down to the unique nature of insurance being the only “product” we buy where we have no idea if it’s any good until something bad happens — which can take years.

Every state in the union has an insurance commissioner. But why?

Why would any state go to the trouble and expense of creating a new layer of bureaucracy?

We don’t have “auto dealership commissioners” or “big-box retailer commissioners”: only insurance has an elected or appointed overseer.

Why would a state want to elect or appoint a very well-paid person to a new position in state government? Why would they appropriate money for a staff, for offices, in some cases even for buildings for a state insurance commissioner?

It turns out the answer is quite simple. One of the easiest scams in the history of scams, going all the way back centuries before Alfred Ponzi set up shop in Pie Alley, is done with insurance.

Here’s how it works.

If you have insurance, you send them a check every month. You think you’re covered and they’ll be there for you when you need them.

But you have no way of knowing if they’ll really be there for you when you need them because you’ve never used the service in a real health crisis.

Kudos To Federal Judge For Ordering Removal Of Trump's Name From Kennedy Center

 

                                  The Kennedy Center desecration soon to be corrected

Take heart Orange Caligula. Once they remove your name they can place it in a more appropriate spot. Atop the largest area dump or sewage depot would be absolutely perfect.- WaPo comment

It’s so pitiful that Trump is so insecure and needy that he needs his name and pictures plastered on buildings and currency. He is an infantile, petty, uninformed, impulsive , impatient, narcissistic wannabe dictator who fortunately is being reprimanded by the courts.- WaPo comment

Federal Judge Chris Cooper on Friday, at last put an end to the disgusting defiling of the Kennedy Center with Trump's name on it. He ordered the Jan. 6th insurrection leader's name be stripped within 2 weeks. He wrote in support of his decision:

“Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name and only Congress can change it.”

As Joyce Beatty, an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center Board also noted:

“The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity.”

Indeed.  Like a mad chimp in a zoo's ape house, Trump has been on a 16-month ego binge, hurling his orange face and feces at everything in D.C. Tearing down the East Wing of the People's House (not his), fouling every wall, every nook with his gold bling, plastering the front of the Justice Dept. bldg with his snarling mug and now also proclaiming he wants a Nazi-style 'Arc de Trump', as well as re-doing the WW II Memorial, after planning to re-paint the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Someone had to stop this insanity at some point and bring the orange fungus back to earth (if even partly).

The reasons for not mingling this traitor and convicted felon's name with JFK's are almost too obvious to recite.  The most obvious: JFK at every turn supported and sustained democracy, he didn't try to destroy it. He even faced down Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev in October, 1962 forcing him to back down from delivering further nuclear missiles to Cuba. That in contrast to Trump at every turn doing Putin's bidding, including now withdrawing U.S. troops from NATO countries and even letting Putin bomb them, e.g.

Donald Trump | Russia

Trump Asleep at the Wheel After Russia Bombs NATO Allies: Analysis

by Sarah K. Burris | June 2, 2026 - 5:17am | permalink

— from Alternet

Russia is now bombing NATO countries, and it appears that President Donald Trump is asleep at the wheel.

Writing on Monday, MS NOW producer Steve Benen sounded the alarm about an incoming disaster visible on the horizon.

A Wall Street Journal report last week quoted several world leaders in Europe as saying that they fear Russian President Vladimir Putin is about to go beyond Ukraine and look at the countries he can go to war with next in an effort to grow the former Soviet Union back to its original borders.

"Russian drones have repeatedly crashed without causing casualties along the Danube River border between Romania and Ukraine since 2023. But the drone crash on Friday, on the roof of a residential compound in the port city, Galati, sharply escalated tensions between NATO and Moscow," The New York Times reported.

» article continues...

Adding insult to injury Trump attempted to start a slush fund to pay Jan. 6 traitors - for 'suffering' during their infernal attack on the Capitol- and after. When most received deserved prison sentences for their perfidy.  That included smashing windows to gain entry, clobbering DC police with clubs and Trump flags, hurling feces at the walls once in, and threatening to hang then VP Mike Pence.

In fact, while Trump has sought to wreck every viable function of government, from the EPA and its regulation of climate risk, to firing tens of thousands of federal workers, to hollowing out the CDC and Dept. of Education, JFK did the opposite.

 It was under JFK's administration that the Peace Corps (in which I served), e.g.

Sharing Some Photos of My Peace Corps Service For Peace Corp's 65th Anniversary- And 'Peace Corps Week'

was founded, as well as USAID which Trump and his henchmen (like Elon Musk) took to the "woodchipper" last year. A move we may all come to regret as its resources to have checked the new Ebola spread exist no longer, e.g.

Inside the Ebola Epicenter, the Virus Rages With Little to Stop It - The New York Times

JFK, like my dad, served in the Pacific Theater in WW II and actually helped save a number of his men. Trump, by contrast, had his daddy get him excused from military service five times using "bone spurs".   Further, he has mocked those service men who lost their lives in wars as "losers".  See e.g.

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are 'Losers ... - The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/

According to the piece:

"When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” .....In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed."

Unlike Trump, JFK read profusely, up to twenty complete newspapers a day. In addition, he read books - whole books - not comics like Trump, or National Enquirer gossip pieces.  JFK could do this because he read at a rate exceeding 1200 words per minute. This compares to Trump's 50 words per minute, which is why he must stick to tweets.

JFK held full news conferences for any major policy announcements, more than any other president where he took on the press, media openly and ably. To get a hint of the extent of his verbal command see the following highlights from his press conferences:

"THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT" (1983)

He would never have posted on a social media cartoon board- even if one would have existed then. His  vocabulary and wit never failed to astound the gathered press corps. Trump, when he does have the press in the Oval Office, brooks no serious questions or criticisms, so all one beholds is a retinue of docile pawns who simply validate and coddle the senile fool, and see who can kiss his ass the most. Much like his deplorable cabinet who often try to outdo each other in their sickening sycophancy.

JFK, unlike Trump, was the epitome of class and intellectual refinement. He appreciated intellectual and artistic endeavors and often used the White House as a venue to present special musical or other events (poetry reading) . Check out, for reference, Jackie's 1962 tour of the White House, including its previous architectural changes.

From the archives: Jacqueline Kennedy's televised tour of the White House in 1962

Compare the setting and decor with the gold-defiled monstrosity Trump has created including tearing down the East Wing and paving over the outside WH garden.  Trump, by contrast to JFK, is  the embodiment of the Vulgarian and anti-intellectual Philistine He is only interested in using his Trump-branded crap to try to make more money, defying the Emoluments clause of the Constitution at every turn

Lastly, JFK exhibited a core of decency and would never brag about "pussy grabbing", frolick with a pedophile pal, nor brand Mexicans as "rapists" , mock a disabled NYT reporter, or belittle an American soldier (John McCain) for being captured by the enemy.

JFK's impulse control was tested most severely during the October, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the Joint Chiefs, especially Gen. Curtis Lemay, implored him to invade and bomb Cuba.  A move that would have triggered a release of at least 93 IRBMs and initiated a nuclear exchange.

Would Trump have been able to exert such control and opt for a peaceful alternative? I doubt it. Trump barely has the impulse control of a rabid ape, e.g.

Trump LOOKS LIKE DEATH As White House SPIRALS & He LOSES TOTAL CONTROL!! | The Kyle Kulinski Show

Had Trump been in power for such a situation as in Oct. 1962, likely none of us would be around to relate the story.

Thank whatever power there is or was that JFK was at the helm then and not "The Donald".

See Also:  

Donald Trump | Pop Culture

MAGA Fails To Conquer Arts and Music

by Amanda Marcotte | June 4, 2026 - 5:03am | permalink

— from Salon

Even by Donald Trump‘s erratic standards, his latest meltdown is bad — and deeply concerning.

It all began with two major insults to his fragile ego. On May 27, Freedom 250, the president’s initiative for celebrating the American semi-quincentennial, announced the musical lineup for the Great American State Fair. But just hours later, most of the marquee artists — including country star Martina McBride and soul legends the Commodores — had dropped out, seemingly unaware of the event’s connection to Trump when their representatives booked the gig. Then two days later, on May 29, a federal judge ruled that the president cannot rename the Kennedy Center after himself or shut it down for renovations, a move that was announced — suspiciously — after a slew of artists canceled shows at the Washington, D.C., institution to avoid the taint of the Trump name.

» article continues...