Text only version: The Higher Power: Would Pence appeal to his higher angels and betray Trump?

By Hal Brown

Click here to see images used on blog:

View blog with pictures.

Read this: Pence testimony will hold key to proving Trump conspiracy charges: legal expert

Of all the people who were Trump sycophants none have the ability to reveal information which could lead to Trump being indicted, tried, and convicted of felonies which could result in him being incarcerated than his former vice president. 

The worst crime Trump committed was his treason involving the January 6th insurrection. It may be the most difficult to convict him of this, but it is far more serious than the Mar-a-Lago documents case or New York and Georgia state crimes.

Of all of the people who can testify under oath, swearing to God, to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, Mike Pence is probably the least likely to lie to protect Trump for religious reasons.

His religious beliefs may be mocked by cynics who say he put aside Christian values as he turned a blind eye to both Trump's history and his inhumane policies. We all seen photos like these (link) showing Pence gazing at Trump with a worshipful expression.

What mental gymnastics he engaged in to ponder what Christ would think about Trump may never be known. 

We know from survey data that a significant minority of Trump supporters believe he was anointed by God.

As a psychodynamically oriented therapist I can see how he would have related to Trump as a father figure because of some inner need. I know it seems impossible, unfathomable if you will, that anybody saw Trump this way but many people did and still do.

In retrospect he may have had a revelation, even a visitation from an angel who absolved him. It could have been Archangel Michael holding the Scales of Justice. He is known as the angel who will weigh souls on Judgment Day.

Pence may be saying the Prayer to Saint Michael § In the Leonine Prayers

Blessed Michael, archangel,
defend us in the hour of conflict.
Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil
(may God restrain him, we humbly pray):
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell
and with him those other wicked spirits
who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
Amen

Pence may now believe he was under the influence of Satan. This would be consistent with believing that Trump himself was an agent of Satan who literally bedeviled him. 

All of this would accrue to the advantage of justice being served. 

As an atheist I respect people who live their religious beliefs and values and don't bend, twist, and distort the religious teachings, for example in the Bible and Koran, to justify intolerance and cruelty. No-one needs to believe in God to live by the simple saying "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" otherwise known as The Golden Rule. (Perhaps ironically the GOP's favorite amendment to the Constitution is the second and The "Golden Rule" was proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth during his Sermon on the Mount and described by him as the second great commandment. Wikipedia)

I think there are signs that Mike Pence already has, or is in the process, of redeeming himself. That I don't believe in God doesn't mean I won't honor him for returning to his personal God.

I may even say God bless Mike Pence....

The Higher Power: Would Pence appeal to his higher angels and betray Trump?

By Hal Brown

Background, Angel of Light (1960) Salvadore Dali

Text only version here.

Read: 

Pence testimony will hold key to proving Trump conspiracy charges: legal expert

Of all the people who were Trump sycophants none have the ability to reveal information which could lead to Trump being indicted, tried, and convicted of felonies which could result in him being incarcerated than his former vice president. 

The worst crime Trump committed was his treason involving the January 6th insurrection. It may be the most difficult to convict him of this, but it is far more serious than the Mar-a-Lago documents case or New York and Georgia state crimes.

Of all of the people who can testify under oath, swearing to God, to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, Mike Pence is probably the least likely to lie to protect Trump for religious reasons.

His religious beliefs may be mocked by cynics who say he put aside Christian values as he turned a blind eye to both Trump's history and his inhumane policies. We all seen photos like these (link) showing Pence gazing at Trump with a worshipful expression.

What mental gymnastics he engaged in to ponder what Christ would think about Trump may never be known. 

We know from survey data that a significant minority of Trump supporters believe he was anointed by God.

As a psychodynamically oriented therapist I can see how he would have related to Trump as a father figure because of some inner need. I know it seems impossible, unfathomable if you will, that anybody saw Trump this way but many people did and still do.

In retrospect he may have had a revelation, even a visitation from an angel who absolved him. It could have been Archangel Michael holding the Scales of Justice. He is known as the angel who will weigh souls on Judgment Day.

Painting by Rogier van der Weyden

Pence may be saying the Prayer to Saint Michael § In the Leonine Prayers

Blessed Michael, archangel,
defend us in the hour of conflict.
Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil
(may God restrain him, we humbly pray):
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell
and with him those other wicked spirits
who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
Amen

Pence may now believe he was under the influence of Satan. This would be consistent with believing that Trump himself was an agent of Satan who literally bedeviled him. 

All of this would accrue to the advantage of justice being served. 

As an atheist I respect people who live their religious beliefs and values and don't bend, twist, and distort the religious teachings, for example in the Bible and Koran, to justify intolerance and cruelty. No-one needs to believe in God to live by the simple saying "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" otherwise known as The Golden Rule. (Perhaps ironically the GOP's favorite amendment to the Constitution is the second and The "Golden Rule" was proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth during his Sermon on the Mount and described by him as the second great commandment. Wikipedia)

I think there are signs that Mike Pence already has, or is in the process, of redeeming himself. That I don't believe in God doesn't mean I won't honor him for returning to his personal God.

I may even say God bless Mike Pence....

Sarah Huckabee Sanders' grim vision of a "woke mob" enforcing Satanic rituals

 

Click image to enlarge

This was the subtitle of this Salon story:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders' grim vision of a "woke mob" enforcing Satanic rituals

This is the real way the article appears.

Regular readers of my blog know that I often can't resist making my own version of images used to illustrate various articles.

Images I used to make my illustration

Excerpt:

I looked for any mention of Satanism or specifically of satanic rituals in the article but there weren't any. She may not have uttered his name because she believes, as some people do, that you must never say the name of a demon out loud.

The word "rituals" does appear three times:

"We are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn't start and never wanted to fight," she proclaimed, although the antecedent of "we" was not altogether clear. "Every day, we are told that we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags, and worship their false idols," she said. 

That certainly sounds alarming, but specifics were again absent: What false idols and what flags, and where are these alleged rituals mandatory?

"Every day," Sanders said, "we are told that we must partake in their rituals, salute their flags, and worship their false idols." 

She also may have wanted to invoke this QAnon conspiracy belief...

... that liberal politicians and Hollywood "elites" are harvesting the blood of children to extract adrenochrome for its psychedelic and life-extending benefits. (Reference)

Sanders has company among the super-Maga high priests. None other than a blood relative of His Highness Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., believes that Hollywood satanic rituals will soon be exposed. Hollywood, Democrats, you say tomato they say tomatoh.

One could suggest that Satan is one of the Democrat's false idols, although it could be said that if you are a Christian who believes in Heaven and Hell to suggest that Satan is not real, i.e., false, would also be to say that God and Christ aren't real either. 

Let's assume for the sake of argument that Sanders is a sincerely true-believing Christian. This would mean that she believes in Satan, aka the Devil, Lucifer, Beezlebub, the antichrist and 25 or so other names from the Bible. As the righteous believer she is, she would believe both God and Satan are keeping an active eye on her and her activities. 

It would seem that in the State of the Union response she has mightily pissed Satan off. Why does he even need demons. He has a "woke mob" working for him. Not only are they woke, but they all are well educated and have significantly above average IQs.

I sure hope for her sake that God will protect her from this mob... not really... I am rooting for Satan. 

Seriously, though, unless you are a delusional MAGA nutcase there is one word in the Salon article title that rings as true as a church bell. 

_______________________________

Footnotes:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not known to have ever claimed to be a witch or having had ever attended a Witches Sabbath. This is a midnight meeting of witches to practice witchcraft and sorcery; in the Middle Ages it was supposed to be a demonic orgy.

Above: Sixteenth-century Swiss representation of Sabbath gathering from the chronicles of Johann Jakob Wick. Note Devil seated on serpent-enlaced throne, witch performing the osculum infame upon a demon and another being aided by a demon to summon a storm from her cauldron, while others carouse and prepare magic potions

Unlike failed Delaware GOP senate candidate Christine O'Donnell she has never had to state that she wasn't a witch.

Insert: Francisco Goya (1746–1828), Witches’ Sabbath (1797-98), oil on canvas, 43 x 30 cm, Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid, Spain. 

Addendum: No insult is intended as far as those who practice Wicca or Paganism. Differences  between them and Satan worship are explained here. The likes of Sanders and QAnon cultists don't know anything about Wicca and Paganism and I am sure think they all worship Satan. Of course this is not true (LINK).

Click above to enlarge

Reference to above here 

The Arkansas  federal funding as a share of total state revenue is 30.3%. Reference.

Satanic ritual abuse has been the subject of serious scholarship. Here's one such example from the Christian Research Institute website. ( See Wikipedia). Note that it was originally published in 2009 but updated in 2022.

The Hard Facts about Satanic Ritual Abuse

Here's the Wikipedia entry about satanic panic which is about allegations of ritual abuse.

This was in VOX in 2021:

Why Satanic Panic never really ended

The collective fears that consumed the US in the 1980s and ’90s are still alive and well — all the way through QAnon and beyond.

Mocking Scream'n Greene: Like shooting fish in a barrel

Mocking Scream'n Greene: Like shooting fish in a barrel

By Hal Brown

I couldn't resist adding her shoes to my illustration:

Link to above article, click here

I was not the first to make the comparison between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Cruella de Vil', not by a long shot. The jabs had to do with what she wore to the State of the Union address where she also screamed, not to her vocal outburst at the spy balloon briefing.

Here's an excerpt from the Raw Story article:

“When she got to ask questions, she was yelling out saying ‘bulls---’ and, you know, ‘I don’t believe you,’” said that lawmaker. “Just screaming and yelling, irrational in my estimation.”

I haven't read anything about what she wore to this. Since this was a confidential meeting and the media wouldn't be covering it she might not have bothered to wear her version of an attention grabbing clown suit or brought her I-spy-with-my-egotistical-eye balloon.

I use DuckDuckGo but of course you can use your preferred search engine.

Rather than provide links you can just do a web search and pick any stories you want to read. 

As far as I'm concerned this was the best article:

Excerpt:

The Walt Disney Company is suing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for copyright infringement. The multi-media and theme park giant charges that the conservative politician knowingly infringed on their intellectual property, Cruella de Vil, and is suing for $150 million in damages.

That Disney might sue isn't as far-fetched as it may seem since the company is well known for taking trademark infringement very seriously. I haven't heard whether they are going after all those who used the Cruella DeVil images. Perhaps I will get nailed for using her in my blog illustration.

OnlySky Media's political pundit Andrew Canard posited an interesting speculation:

“I’m just waiting for the conspiracy theory that Greene is a plant funded by George Soros to destroy the GOP,” he said.

The State of the Union ranting led to people tweeting side by side images of her with this baboon.

There are numerous images of this particular not too distant relative of Marjorie Taylor Greene one could use for such comparisons:

   Here's another comparison. 

The person on the left is going to jail. Majorie Taylor Greene, as far as I know, has not requested conjugal visits. 

Below is Greene's idea of funny. What won't she do to get attention?

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene carried a white balloon ahead of the State of the Union (article)

You can watch the video she posted on Twitter here. Note that she was having someone make the video so she knew damn well it would be picked up by the media.

Her balloon stunt triggered Lauren Boebert, her rival for the lunatic spotlight, into a reaction (reported on MSNBC)

I wonder how many Republicans are expressing of feeling the same sentiment as the one reported in this article:

According to one disgruntled GOP staffer, "I don’t think someone who looks and acts like a cartoon supervillain heckling the president on national television is the best representative of the Republican Party."

Trump's "real" State of the Union speech is a version of Where's Truth Waldo when there's no Waldo in the picture.

 Trump's "real" State of the Union speech is a version of Where's Truth Waldo when there's no Waldo in the picture.

By Hal Brown

CLICK above to enlarge. Hint: You can try but if you want to find Truth-telling Waldo, aka Trump and/or Sarah Sanders (do I need to mention Santos), because this is a beach with honest people lots   of luck...

If you are reading this I very much doubt you watched Trump version of the response to President Biden's State of the Union address on NewsMax or looked at Truth Social. Of course, like me you may have held you nose when you saw this article on HUFFPOST and watched it from the link below:

Trump Gives 'Real State Of The Union' And Declares He's 'A Victim'

The former president turned his supposed rebuttal of Biden's speech into an acrid campaign rant.

Feb 8, 2023,

Trump, reading off a teleprompter, went on in a near monotone with his grating voice.

The first words out of Donald Trump's mouth were "here's the real state of the union" which if you think about it is an attack against Sarah Huckabee Sanders for presumably giving a speech about the unreal state of the union.

Occasionally he made an attempt to modulate his voice to the "this is horrible" level, for example when he said that "savage criminals and violent criminals are being released from jail to continue their crime wave" which of course the blames on President Biden.

The man seems incapable of transitioning from his rabblerousing mostly extemporaneous speaking style used at his rallies to reading off a teleprompter. Without the energy he seems to suck out of his cheering cultists he seems benumbed.

Trump went on the say that the murder rate, thanks of course to Joe Biden, was the highest it has ever been, a claim that got a big FALSE on Snopes.

The reference to the weaponization Justice Department included what seemed to be a "poor me" plea for sympathy was "and I’m a victim of it — is persecuting his political opponents.”

According to Trump, Joe Biden's Justice Department is not only trying to indoctrinate our children but trying to mutilate them. It is unclear whether this is a reference to transexual surgery or the QAnon conspiracy that children are being killed to harvest adrenochrome, i.e. that  "liberal politicians and Hollywood "elites" are harvesting the blood of children to extract adrenochrome for its psychedelic and life-extending benefits. Reference.

If that's not bad enough he goes onto say Biden is trying to lead us to the brink of World War Three." Trump, lest we forget, has a secret plan for stopping this which is a no-brainer: stop helping Ukraine and make sure Russia wins the war. 

Wait for this bit of projection. This may be the best part. 

Trump accuses Biden of being the most corrupt president in history. He must have his own definition of the meaning of that word. It certainly doesn't fit what the dictionary says:    "having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain."

Of course Trump has good news. 

He says that "we're" going to reverse every crisis, calamity, and disaster caused by Joe Biden, using the royal "we" before saying, with a rare use of the first person singular, that "I'm running for president to end the destruction of our country to complete the unfinished business of making America great again."

Postscript:

Its far as lies, I could say the same thing about what Sarah "I can't believe she's a state governor" Sanders said in her official GOP rebuttal as far as a truth-check.

This is what I wrote about it yesterday:

She was all over the place with her emphasis on how horrible the Democrats are in promoting so-called "woke" policies and using the word freedom numerous times. Of course she's trying to gaslight everyone as if by describing the destruction of freedom as freedom it will make people question their own sanity. 

Just about every part of the anti-woke culture war is an attempt to take away freedom, from a woman's right to choose to the right to read what you want to read, to learning the truth about racism in America, to a person's gender identity choice. It's as if she thinks that the more she uses the word freedom she will distract from the fact that these anti-wokers want to subjugate those they disagree with.

Salon had a good article about it:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders roasted by hometown paper for SOTU response

Sanders' speech was called a "word salad of talking points and name calling

Sander's most mocked line was “The choice is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal and crazy.” For example the tweets shown in this article. 

BONUS:

CLICK above to enlarge