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Wonderfully refreshing
Lusk speaking about "the danger of Christians claiming privilege within the state and the persecution of Christians which that led to...
If you have a political system which gives privilege to Christians then that system have to define what a Christian is"


Paynter: "If Christians are pursuing political power, what ... they are essentially saying is that might makes right."

Lusk: 1/ "The basic problem w/a religious right is that it says that the state has been established by God to enforce law & all law has a religious basis."

Lusk: 2/ "And therefore whatever the state does must reflect a religious position. And therefore if there are diverse religious positions at work, then the inevitable result is that one will oppress the other."

Lusk: "To say we are post-Christian does not mean we are ex-Christian ... Although Christain belief is a small minority, certainly our culture, our values, our system- these are very much part of a Christian heritage and sensibility which is inherited."
Yep, and the parallels to Nazi Germany, where the same kinds of people supported the Nazi party, are hard to miss. Equating people who didn't finish college with the "working class" is missing the picture. By that defintion, Sean Hannity is working class.


In my last conversation with a Trump fan I know, what came across strongly was the petty bourgeois resentment and even hatred of the government employee, who is invariably portrayed as a leech who doesn't work for a living (though they do and have low salaries for their resumes.)

This dovetails with white supremacist urges. For petty bourgeois that want to trap people of color into low-paid service work, seeing Black and Latino people at government desk jobs makes them irate. Nothing will get them raving about "wasting" taxpayer money faster.

That's what a lot of Cletus safari pieces are missing that those of us who actually know Trump voters aren't: The anger that is stirred every time they see a Black firefighter or a Latino county clerk, that rage that these folks have secure middle class jobs on "their" dime.

When Trump talked about the "deep state" out to get him, that's the bone he was tickling. That, and anger at the D.C. high level bureaucrat class that is well-educated and stirs the constant jealousy over people that are more cosmopolitan and sophisticated.
1. It is worth starting a @MattHancock thread. If he wasn't such a psychopath, liar and fraudster he would be funny

2. This interview with @piersmorgan on @gmb tells you all you need to know. Watch him squirm. You can actually feel him wish the ground would open and swallow


3. This beautifully sums up the creepiness of the guy and perhaps the lack of knowledge of any real human interaction in a social


4. Who sits down like


5. Yes it is a piss take by @russellhoward but just think, this was taken from a Hancock self promotion video. Comedy gold
🧵 These measures are absolutely unnecessary. Georgia already has some of the most strict voting laws in the country. Besides, the laws we have in place WORKED brilliantly. There was absolutely no fraud outside of the minuscule norms. #gapol


Republicans adding onerous laws just to make themselves feel better and disenfranchise voters by making it more difficult to vote is unacceptable. It’s also massively hypocritical. Just like we always hear in the #gunrights arguments. 2/ #gapol

Why should I as a law abiding citizen be burdened by adding unnecessary restrictions to a process that is my Constitutionally protected right? Especially when the data do not back up the need for any new laws. A fact to which our state election officials would attest. 3/ #gapol

#JimCrow Why anyone would choose to make it more difficult to vote is beyond me. I should point out that the current restrictive voting laws were put in place by the @GaRepublicans, including no excuse #absenteeballots. 4/

State election officials crowed about how 1.3 million Georgians who voted from home during the coronavirus pandemic, and they should. They did a fine job. But now, simply because the party took losses due to a lack of their voters turning out (their own fault) ... 5/ #gapol
Thanks Stewart! Election day at CDU's conference is just beginning. Speeches by candidates Laschet, Merz, Röttgen start at 9:45 (Berlin time, so in 10 mins), then the 1,001 delegates begin voting at 11:10.


First up is Armin Laschet, the continuity candidate. Key messages: US example of dangers of polarisation; CDU can't take "Merkel voters" for granted; change requires experience, trust and teamwork rather than just big ideas; namecheck for his more-popular running mate Jens Spahn.


Verdict: not a bad speech tbh, nicely organised around theme of trust and teamwork that marked his father's work as a miner; the warning about the dangers of polarisation captured Laschet's own strengths and the risk of electing Merz

Next up is Friedrich Merz, the right-wing veteran. Climate change, digitisation, ideas blah-blah [aka I'm not a blast from the past]; don't fear the future; "consensus and compromise" require more contest; CDU must return to the "real centre"; no left-wing majority in Germany.


Verdict: weak, weak, weak. No organising theme, no coherence, just buzzwords over substance. And coming from Merz, the (genuinely valid) case for more robust political debate in Germany just comes across as cynical and reactionary.