Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalI teach religious studies. Vance's book on his conversion is one of the worst things I've read.
Vice President JD Vance’s new book, “Communion,” is not only his story of his conversion to Catholicism in 2019, it’s also his pitch to Republicans, especially religious ones, about why he has the mettle to be the party’s 2028 presidential candidate. Writing a book has become a prerequisite for a presidential run, but as a professor who has read some awful writing, I find that Vance’s new book ranks among the worst things I’ve read. As has been reported, there’s a United Methodist Church on the cover of this book about converting to Catholicism, and that choice of illustration serves as a metaphor for the ignorance and inauthenticity found within.
Vance’s account of his conversion from evangelism to atheism and then to Catholicism is familiar to those of us who study religious switching in America. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, 35% of American adults were raised in a different religious tradition than the one they practice.
But on his promotional book tour, Vance is proving himself to be woefully inept about his faith. For example, on his Tuesday appearance on ABC’s “The View,” he couldn’t answer questions about how he squares his recently found faith with the Trump administration’s policies. He seems confused about what Catholicism is and doesn’t seem to understand that Christian beliefs aren’t the same as a list of conservative talking points.
Thus, in “Communion” we get his disjointed story about how he was attracted to the Catholic Church despite his divergent views from its teachings. If nothing else, “Communion” confirms what was already obvious: Vance is not the theologian he thinks he is, and indeed, he knows very little about the Catholic faith. Despite his lack of knowledge, in his short time as vice president, he has had the temerity to question Pope Francis’ motivations for criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration policies and to lecture Pope Leo XIV on when war is morally justified.
https://www.ms.now/opinion/jd-vance-book-communion-2028-presidential-race
If it's half as awful and inauthentic as "hillbilly Elegy", I won't even bother with it because I'd just get disgusted halfway through and hurl it across the room into the trash
Why aren't we talking about this?
The fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy by police who were responding to a shoplifting call this week has ignited simmering tensions between police and Black residents in the small town of Senatobia, Mississippi.
The death of Kohen Wiley is the latest in a series of troubling encounters with police that have outraged community members in recent years. It has led to protests and calls for greater police accountability in the town of 8,000, with some civil rights activists pointing to Kohen’s death as another example of a Black life lost over something of nominal value — in this case, allegedly stolen diapers.
“We are treating items on a shelf as more valuable than a child,” Bernice King, the daughter of civil right icon Martin Luther King, Jr., said in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “That is not just bad policing; it is a moral collapse.”
There are still many unanswered questions about the shooting and what led up to it.
Senatobia police responded to the shoplifting call at a local Walmart on Sunday, where they found two women and a child leaving the store, getting into a car and driving away. According to a statement released by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation: “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.”
Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said her son and her friend, who was driving, were hit by gunfire. In a video posted on social media Wednesday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Wiley said her friend was not driving toward the officers because they were “all on the right side and she was driving towards the left.”
She also disputes the shoplifting claim, saying in the video that she believes her friend paid for the diapers she was carrying.
https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-child-killed-police-6765009a76070ab7e3578396dff0f6b7
There is no state in which shoplifting is a capital offense, besides which this baby did nothing.
Who else is watching World Cup?
I've been laid out with a horrible cold, so I'm using that as an excuse. I'll usually watch soccer, or as I prefer to call it, futbol, if I can get a chance, so this is fun for me, especially before it boils down to the "favorites". I like seeing the teams that haveessentially NO chance, especially if they can put up a good fight ar even score against a stronger team, the way Curaçao did while getting clobbered by Germany yesterday. I found the most exciting match to be Scotland and Haiti, which Scotland won 1-0 in a great defensive battle by both teams; I probably appreciate those sorts of games because my daughter was a defender for most of her 12 years as a player so I know how the game works. (PS: Scotland plays a bit dirty, but don't tell me mam, OK?)
James Talarico Claps Back At Ted Cruz And Ken Paxton's Relentless Attacks On His Masculinity
Texas Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico fired back at his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday after the two Republicans echoed MAGA insults about his masculinity.
“I’ve said before, and I will keep saying that real men serve others; weak men serve themselves,” Talarico told MS NOW’s “The Briefing” host Jen Psaki. “And so I welcome this debate about what it means to be a man, and I don’t think Ken Paxton or Ted Cruz are in a position to tell anybody what a real man is.”
(snip)
“Here’s what real men don’t do,” Talarico said Friday in response to the attacks. “They don’t lie and cheat their way through life, they don’t sell their soul to the highest bidder, they don’t steal from other people in order to enrich themselves.”
The Democrat hailed his adoptive father, Mark Talarico, as a true masculine figure, recalling how he would not only mow their lawn but his elderly neighbor’s as well, without being asked and without even talking about it.
“He just did it because that’s what a man does,” Talarico said. “A man takes responsibility, a man upholds his commitments to his family and his neighbors. A man does what’s right, even when no one is watching.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/james-talarico-texas-ken-paxton-ted-cruz-masculinity-manhood-attack_n_6a2c168ee4b0942fb777ab89?origin=home-latest-news-unit
BAM! I like this guy better all the time.
Shut the Door on Your Way Out, Nancy Mace
It’s dim, it’s distant, and it’s not really going to happen until 2027—but I can see the light… by which I mean a future without Nancy Mace in any kind of political office. Y’all! The future is bright.
The so-called “Trump in high heels” suffered a humiliating defeat in South Carolina’s gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, placing fifth in the race, with just 12.1% of the vote. Come January, she’ll be leaving her House seat behind—as well as the prospect of a four-year term as governor. Even better, the state’s District 1 could also be taken by another Nancy—that is, if the state bucks its 2020 and 2024 trends of voting red. And, well, I’m feeling pretty positive, so let’s keep the good vibes up.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has been one of the more absurd characters to waltz through the lower chamber in recent years, launching herself into political moments and scandals that have ranged from bizarre to terrifying.
To recap the last 12 months alone: in July Mace said one of her “favorite things” to watch was people and their families being detained by ICE; in September she tried to punish Rep. Ilhan Omar (R-Minn.) for some nonexistent hate speech; shortly thereafter she suggested to pregnant women a drug with documented dangers for pregnant people; in October she reportedly screamed at TSA agents when they didn’t meet her with an immediate security detail at the airport; and last month, she proposed to update the Constitution and kick naturalized citizens out of Congress. During this 12-month period, at least two think pieces were published attempting to decipher her curious motivations (read: whatever the fuck was going on with her), revealing also that she would regularly get her staffers to upvote Reddit posts about her “attractiveness.”
And, no, this window doesn’t cover the times she’s spent bullying her trans colleague, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Delaware), or how she distributed to her colleagues a nude image of herself to substantiate claims against her ex of rape (who’s since denied the claims); or how she called her constituents “ugly” and “evil” because she kept refusing them a town hall.
https://www.jezebel.com/shut-the-door-on-your-way-out-nancy-mace
And don't let it hit ya where the good lord split ya!
A Trump order asked national park visitors to flag 'negative' historical info. They had other ideas
The Trump administration last year issued a plea to visitors at U.S. national parks: Report any displays or exhibits saying “negative” things about Americans living in the past or present.
But most people who responded instead weighed in to criticize the effort itself, according to an Associated Press analysis of 35,000 public comments submitted in the second half 2025 and recently made public through a lawsuit.
One visitor to a park in North Carolina called the administration’s efforts “un-American.” Another derided the idea of “having Americans call in and snitch on each other.”
“Hey Donald Trump!” wrote a person in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park, “Trying to erase history doesn’t mean it didn’t still happen!”
A large chunk — more than half, not even accounting for duplicative submissions — was a backlash to the effort itself, according to an Associated Press analysis.
https://apnews.com/article/national-park-service-doug-burgum-donald-trump-c58eb3278c9ce787afacf37f6845ff4c
'They are isolated ... they are alone': Zelenskyy on Russia, Putin's lies - and fighting back
itting down with the Guardian in London, Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems cheerful. More than four years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, he believes Europe’s biggest war since 1945 appears to be slowly turning in Ukraine’s favour. The military situation is the most promising it has been for Kyiv for two and a half years, Zelenskyy says. “We can’t say Russia is losing this war. But we can say they are losing the initiative each day, day by day,” he insists.
Over the past week the Kremlin has suffered a series of setbacks. Long-range Ukrainian drones have hit Putin’s home city of St Petersburg, setting fire to oil terminals and sending smoke billowing above the skyline. Similar attacks have crippled occupied Crimea. A key supply road is littered with burning lorries and tankers and the peninsula seized by Russia in 2014 is experiencing severe fuel shortages.
Meanwhile, on the eastern battlefield, Russia’s grinding advance has come to a near halt. According to Zelenskyy, who since 2022 has consistently said he believes that with sufficient support Ukraine can defend against its invader, the Kremlin is losing more than 30,000 soldiers a month, with 23,000-24,000 killed and the rest “heavily” wounded. The true figure, he suggests, could be even higher. “Totally, this is a very big number. It means that they are not winning the war,” he points out. Ukraine has lost service personnel too on a lesser scale.
Moscow’s war may look stuck, but its destruction continues and it has in recent months intensified its aerial attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities with the apparent goal to terrorise those not involved in fighting. One attack last Tuesday featured 73 missiles and 656 drones. Eighteen people were killed in Kyiv and Dnipro, including a three-year-old boy. He was entombed under the rubble of an apartment block. According to the city’s mayor, the Russians are deliberately using cluster munitions in built-up areas.
Last week, Zelenskyy wrote an open letter to Russia’s president, suggesting a face-to-face meeting to wind down this terrible conflict. Speaking on Friday at the St Petersburg economic forum, Putin rejected the offer. He characterised the letter as “rude” and said Russia’s territorial demands – the Donbas region and two southern Ukrainian provinces – were unchanged. He also insisted Russian forces were going forward across all parts of the frontline, telling them: “Keep working, brothers.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/jun/09/volodymyr-zelenskyy-interview-russia-putin-drone-warfare-ukraine
Russia keeps throwing people (many of whom are, prisoners, or citizens of other countries, some lured under false pretense), at the war, but it seems Ukraine has more drones and the ability to hit strategic targets
Last night, my husband described Texas politics
as a "rotting corpse nobody has the nerve to bury".: I'm Pretty sure he was speaking of the politics that currently control the state (RepubliKKKan) as the Dems seem to be all right. But this was after I had commented on Paxdumb's former lawyer endorsing Talarico.
Hunter Biden's social media second act is already raising red flags
“I’m Hunter Biden. You’ve never actually heard from me,” posted the son of former President Joe Biden to X and Substack on May 19.
It was an unexpected proclamation from a long-controversial figure in Democratic politics, whose personal scandals, nepo baby tendencies and criminal conduct have long been the stuff of political culture wars and tabloid coverage — and even a factor in electoral outcomes. But Hunter Biden’s note marked the opening salvo of a deliberate bid to reinvent himself using the miraculous powers of the social Internet.
And at the moment, it’s strangely kind of working.
Biden has been posting and replying to other people’s posts frequently, and getting a ton of engagement, thousands of reposts and vaguely positive media coverage for his commentary. He’s published posts on a variety of topics — sobriety (Biden has battled drug and alcohol addiction), his family, gratitude, his paintings, fundraisers for homeless people. Mostly it’s in writing, but sometimes he puts up videos with snippets of life philosophy in the style of Instagram influencers.
Part of the reason Biden is breaking through is he’s making blunt, self-deprecating humor a significant part of his online persona. For example, he once complained that a photoshopped image of him smoking a pipe featured what looked more like a meth pipe than a crack pipe, asking to be mocked more accurately. (Biden has openly discussed an addiction to crack cocaine.) He ended that post with the phrase, “Thank you for your attention to this matter” — a nod to Trump’s signature sign-off on many of his own social media posts. The joke seemed to be well-received by people across the political spectrum.
A lot of Biden’s posting is unobjectionable and sometimes even wholesome — at least by the standards of online attention-seeking behavior. But there’s an aspect of his new identity that I find more troubling: his attempts at cross-partisan political populism. Regardless of what his intentions are, he’s exhibiting a naivete about noxious right-wing ideas.
https://www.ms.now/opinion/hunter-biden-twitter-social-media-paintings-trump-politics
Apparently the reason he's raising "red flags" to this writer is that he's doing some of the same things Buttegieg does...except he's "just a Biden" and not a politician
MAHA has inspired a wave of medical professionals to run for office
President Donald Trump’s first term sent a wave of national security professionals into politics. His second term is doing the same for public health experts.
Across the country, doctors, scientists and public health officials are running for state and federal office, citing their frustrations with cuts to public health funding, diminished support for vaccination and disease prevention, and the sidelining of experts in public health.
Among the most prominent is Dr. Nirav Shah, who was head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the coronavirus pandemic. He is considered the front-runner in a competitive Democratic primary for Maine governor on Tuesday.
Other candidates include Dr. Amy Acton, a pediatric physician and researcher who is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Ohio, and Jasmine Clark, who is poised to become the first Black woman Ph.D. scientist in Congress after securing the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s 13th District. In Michigan, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, is currently ahead in the polls for the Democratic Senate primary in August.
They are part of a broader wave of scientists getting involved in politics. The 314 Action Fund, a political action committee dedicated to recruiting and electing Democratic STEM professionals, has committed more money than ever before to the 2026 primary cycle.
https://www.ms.now/news/news-analysis/doctor-candidates-maha-project-47
Good on them!
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Gender: Do not displayHome country: USA currently
Current location: Virginia
Member since: Wed Jun 1, 2011, 07:34 PM
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