Merriam Webster defines a Potemkin Village as:
an impressive facade or show designed to hide an undesirable fact or condition
Mike Pence visited a Potemkin Village in Donna, Texas:
Pence also visited a tent-like temporary detention facility in Donna, Texas, that holds unaccompanied children and immigrant families. The new and mostly clean facility stood in stark contrast to the McAllen station Pence later visited.
While the Buzzfeed story focused on the McAllen station, which depicted horrific conditions, I’m sure Trump’s favorite “news” outlets will highlight the facility in Donna, Texas. In other words, part of Pence’s visit to the border was designed to con the American people that immigrants are being treated well. Leon Panetta is right:
Trump treats Americans like we’re chumps
Since Pence is a Christian, we have to wonder how he can still support Trump’s racist immigration policies after seeing how God’s children are being horribly abused. Here’s a little challenge for Mr. Pence – how many of the Ten Commandments are you violating? Certainly the first two with your idol worship of Donald Trump:
1. You shall have no other gods before Me. 2.You shall make no idols.
This abuse of God’s has led to many deaths, which of course violates the Commandment not to murder. OK – Mike Pence has not committed adultery even if his idol has many times. But cheating on one’s wife is sort of routine for powerful politicians. The serial abuse of innocent people solely based on their race and mainly for partisan purchases is not only unAmerican but also against everything Pence’s religion stands for.
pgl,
I observe you expect Christians, such as Pence, to be disciples……..
You should probably read the Gospel where the Centurian asks Jesus to cure his slave.
Otherwise, find a Franciscan priest.
ProGrowthLiberal,
Did you have an economic point you wanted to make? I can get rants about religion and politics just about anywhere. Your bigotry is both disappointing and amusing given that you don’t appear to know the difference in theological viewpoints between Judaism and Christianity regarding the 10 commandments, or the difference between an unaffiliated former southern baptist, which you seem to believe Pence must be, and a grace and lordship dominionist, which Pence likely is.
In any case, Pence is not the president . . . yet. Understand that, and you might understand why he sticks around.
BC,
Your last sentence is correct. He wants to be President. And the only way to be president from the rep party is to show your racist bona fides by defending such things as the indefensible migrant camps.
Pence is not a Christian. Even Jesus said “false prophets will come in my name.” Pence worships money and hate.
re Buttercup… i certainly do not know the details of doctrinal division between the many sects of people who think they believe in “God.” Nor do I believe that “Truth” can be found by making much of those divisions.
PGL may not be a “religious scholar” but I think he gets the gist of the distinction between good and evil, which seems to me to be what Jesus suggested we need to work out for ourselves. I believe, but don’t know, that other peoples have come up with the same idea. I have no reason to suspect that “God” did not have a hand in that.
As for “economic point,” I don’t think you can have any economic point worth making that is not grounded in some decision about good and evil.
What the hell do you think Trump (and Pence) is all about?
Pence and his ilk pump illegals from all over the world into the US. This is why illegals are surging under Trump.
I am amazed nobody has brought this up. Travel bans with US nationals would. be appropriate.
The Trump organization is a global trafficker of human beings. This is why they disappear and why the camps are the way they are.
Someone goes by the name of Buttercup? Cue The Foundations!
Dale,
Trump is all about Trump. He is the embodiment of ego. That which feeds his ego, he loves. That which deflates it, he hates.
Pence is a more complicated case, and that is why it is important to understand his theology so that you can get some idea of how he sees the world. He doesn’t love Trump or idealize him. To a lordship dominionist, Trump asked him to be VP because God wants him to be one heartbeat away from the presidency, and if that’s what God wants, you do it regardless of how you feel about Trump.
Evangelical circles do not sing Trump’s praises. They call him God’s chosen instrument. Know where the reference comes from (a king who did not worship the God of Israel, but was selected by that God to wreak divine vengeance until God saw fit to dispose of him), and you will understand what they believe Pence’s role will be when God discards this instrument after it serves it’s purpose. In that manner, Trump becomes a curse and punishment that prepares the way for salvation to be effected once he is gone.
As for good vs evil, consider: if you believed as Pence does that abortion is murder, how would the scales compare in terms of lives lost and saved? Millions of unborn children versus less than a hundred immigrant children. The greater good would be to save the unborn, which would mean sticking by a man far from your own beliefs in order to perfect a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. RBG won’t last forever, and six, or even seven justices would mean Roe v. Wade would be overturned and much of the jurisprudence of the last 50 years would fall. And for those who ask how can he sleep knowing these policies kill people? It’s very simple for someone who believes in absolute grace: by grace alone is he saved, and all sins are forgiven if forgiveness is asked for. Thus Trump is not Pence’s idol, nor does Pence have any need to care what the 10 commandments say. He views himself as a man on a mission from God who must endure the embarrassment of Trump while Trump meets out God’s divine retribution upon the United States. When God no longer has a use for Trump, Pence sees himself as being positioned by God to stand in the gap and lead the US to salvation.
Isn’t that so much more interesting and illuminating than calling Trump Pence’s an idol, declaring that Pence worships money and hate, and claiming that he can’t distinguish between good and evil? And all it took was a little bit study of studying a religion instead of thrashing about like an amateur atheist.
Hey Buttercup:
Is this going to one of those drive-by “drop a few intelligent lines” and then disappear type of meetings? Hang around, ok?
I see nothing in there that is interesting, let alone illuminating.
And anyone that thinks making abortion illegal is going to stop abortions has no basis in reality.
EM,
A group of people who would like to turn the US into some version Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, and you don’t find that remotely interesting or the fact that they believe they doing so would be the highest good illuminating? Okay then, keep on keeping on.
Buttercup
actually I did find your last post more interesting than mine.
You remind me that while what I say makes sense to me, it is not likely to make sense to others. But give me a chance here.
Your comment re PGL makes the same sort of mistake I make. You don’t try to meet PGL on the terms of his own understanding but express disfavor because he does not share your understanding.
It happens that I find a little knowledge (which you here provide) about how people think interesting, so I was happy to be educated by you on something I know very little about.
And I have to admit that my talking about good and evil is likely to fall into an even worse trap than your complaining about someone’s lack of esoteric knowledge. Wish I knew the answer to that.
From my perspective your essay about Pence’s beliefs was far more interesting than your complaints about PGL failing to know what you know.
It’s a little hard for me to separate what you are saying about Pence’s beliefs and what are your own beliefs.
I don’t believe that “the greatest good for the greatest number” is God’s standard for good v evil, but this may not be the place to open that can of worms.
Here is what I find interesting and illuminating.
And more than a little sad.
” There are three Republicans running for governor in the dark-red Deep South state of Mississippi. This week, we learned that two of those candidates to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Phil Bryant refuse to be alone in a room with a woman when former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. went on the record which his adherence to the so-called Billy Graham rule. The late pop preacher’s personal rule, made fashionable again by Vice President Mike Pence, was simple: As a married man, he would never be alone in a room with a woman who wasn’t his wife. Why? I mean, you get it, men + women = temptation = sex + the devil + duh = hell. It all adds up really. Check the figures. It’s a simple equation for good Bible-thumping husbands who can’t keep their hands to themselves.
Waller, of course, wasn’t the first gubernatorial candidate in the state to commit to partying like it’s 1959, swearing off even solo professional relationships with women. State Rep. Robert Foster got there first when he refused to allow a female reporter at Mississippi Today go for a daylong campaign ride-along without bringing along a male colleague. The paper called the arrangement sexist; the Foster campaign used the criticism to raise money while bolstering its conservative bona fides because that’s the 2019 GOP for you. Not to be left out of the time travel, Waller Jr. told Mississippi Today that he too refused to be alone with a woman. “I just think it’s common sense,” Waller said. “I just think in this day and time, appearances are important and transparency’s important, and people need to have the comfort of what’s going on in government between employees and people.” Those comments were made after a Republican Women’s Candidate Forum—in 2019. ”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/mississippi-billy-graham-rule-governor-republican-candidate-sexist-alone-woman-wife.html
These people are deranged members of a cult. And should not be anywhere close to political power.
EMichael,
I agree that these people are being ridiculous, though it is just possible they are only protecting themselves from charges of sexual harassment in a country where the other side of ridiculous says that “if a woman says it you have to believe it.”
On the other hand much of the rest of the world seems to believe what they say they believe: “a man. a woman…” So maybe something went terribly wrong in America in 1959.
Now, that was my idea of a joke, but you have to understand something about political power, especially in a democracy: it’s what people believe or can be made to believe that counts, or is counted. What you, or you and your friends, or even you and I, believe, does’t count. Or doesn’t count for much unless we can convince the majority to at least let us alone in our mistaken beliefs. That might mean agreeing to let them alone in their beliefs.
Separation of Church and State does not mean that people with “religious” views are not allowed to vote, or to urge others to vote according to their beliefs.
dale:
“Beliefs” is a broad topic incorporating well beyond Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christianity, etc. religions. If I did not mention one, it was not intentional. I never took it to mean urging people to follow their beliefs as much as forcing them to follow my beliefs. I see Pence in the latter.
On another note, I have something which will be posted later which I believe will have an impact on SS going forward. It will be the excuse used t alter it.
Run
looking forward to it.
i did not have you in mind when i referred to people who say (and believe) religion should be kept out of politics, and don’t believe the best way to keep others from forcing their beliefs on you is to avoid forcing your beliefs on them/
that can be very difficult to manage, but it’s a good place to start.
Buttercup
i have watched Pence speak. He is a liar. I don’t see what saving babies has to do with his economic policies, anti-environment policies, and border policies. if it’s only a way to win power so he can impose anti-abortion policies he is … well, doing something I think Jesus warned us against, which makes him in my view not a Christian but an anti-Christian.
Seeing yourself as an agent of God is at least insane, if not a “sin.” I don’t see how this even comes close to making me sound like an amateur atheist.
oh, and i did not say Pence can’t tell good from evil. I believe he damn well knows he is doing evil. I also know a lot of evil is done in the name of doing good. That is not quite the same as our needing to figure out for ourselves the difference between good and evil, whether we think “god” has anything to do with it or not.
While women are gaining some traction in regards to sexual harassment charges being pursued, it is nowhere near a threat to men.
“In a country ruled almost exclusively by men, there’s power simply in being male. That’s patriarchy. Men, particularly white men, hold the reins. They get the benefit of the doubt. Women, particularly girls, and especially those who are poor or of color, do not. They’re playthings and sexual objects starting from a heartbreakingly young age.
When they’re abused, they’re often blamed or ignored.
The facts are damning. In 49 out of 50 rape cases, the rapist goes free, according to a report this week in The Atlantic. Typically, these men — rape is a male-dominated occupation — do it again. Most rapes and sexual assault never get reported.
Women know what they’re up against at the police precinct. We’ve read the reports about the rape kits sitting untested in warehouses. We’ve all watched as it’s taken many, many women or girls to simply make the case against one single abuser (see: Nassar, Cosby, Weinstein).
To get to any kind of justice, it’s almost always he said, they said.
“We don’t like admitting how deeply misogynistic our culture is,” said Soraya Chemaly, director of the Women’s Media Center speech project. “It’s very clear. You and I can say everybody gets away with [rape and sexual assault abuse] and it sounds like we’re exaggerating. But in fact, it’s just a description of the fact.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeffrey-epstein-sexual-abuse_n_5d2f7ca8e4b020cd993e124f
EMichael
So, you are saying that because in the past all men were rapists, now men will have to avoid being alone with a woman as a matter of simple prudence to avoid charges of sexual harassment against which there can be no defense.
Funny, I missed that era in history when men held the reins. Never held the reins in my life, except when i was a child and rode a lovely horse named Pistaccio. I really didn’t need the reins, and they wouldn’t have done me any good if I had. She was much stronger than I was, but she took good care of me. She was very kind to me, except sometimes when she would steal my hat and laugh at me.