All posts by Dr. ESP

It’s the Sleeves

Religion

On Saturday, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) doubled down on remarks she made at Friday’s town hall meeting in Parkersburg when questioned about cuts to Medicaid in the House-passed reconciliation bill. In response to an attendee interrupting her defense of the legislation, shouting “People will die,” Ernst told the audience, “We are all going to die.”  The following day, an Instagram post, which the Des Moines Register described as a “sarcastic apology,” included the following.

Hello everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my town hall.  I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth.  So I apologize. And I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well.

But Ernst went one step further, closing her tone-deaf declaration of contrition by adding:

But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

Which is why an article by New York Times reporter Lauren Jackson seemed to be a counterpoint to Ernst’s diatribe.  What may be the best lede in the history of religious journalism, Jackson wrote:

Some Mormon women are obsessed with something illicit. They’re phoning friends, calling in favors and paying for international shipping to get it: a sacred tank top.

If you were not drawn to this story by the headline, “The Secret Garment That Has Mormon Women Buzzing,” Jackson’s opening had to solidify your curiosity.  To accommodate members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) who happen to live in warmer climates, the Church approved modifications to the Temple Garments, sometimes referred to as “magic underwear” which followers wear to remind themselves of their obligation to follow the teachings of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.

As a self-described devout agnostic, I believe that everyone has the right to worship however they desire, even when the foundations and practices of their faith seem less than rational.  So you can imagine one of my favorite Broadway musicals is “The Book of Mormon.”  However, the above news reports made me reevaluate my perspective.

Let’s start with Senator Ernst.  She is only the latest example of the flaming hypocrisy exhibited by the MAGA-dominated evangelical Christian movement.  Despite her oath to “defend and protect” the U.S. Constitution and her membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), she violates the essential tenets of both.  Despite claiming “religious freedom is a pillar of our nation, a value worth fighting for, and a right our constitution guarantees (March 28, 2023 press release),” she has no problem using her bully-pulpit as a U.S. Senator to promote Christianity as the only path to salvation.  Not to mention, her support of the Trump agenda is a direct infringement of ELCA’s stated “commitment to social justice issues, such as advocating for human rights, promoting peace, and caring for the poor and marginalized (my emphasis).”

Ernst is not alone when it comes to MAGA hypocrites wearing their religion on their sleeves or in the case of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, around her neck.  Somehow, Leavitt failed to appreciate the irony of violating the commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” when she told the American people the non-existent medical studies cited in the Make America Healthy Again report were “formatting errors.”  Of course, as she always does, Leavitt’s accessorizing included a gold cross necklace to remind us what a devout Christian she pretends to be.

But my favorite symbol of recent MAGA hypocrisy was final passage of Senate Bill 10 by the Texas Senate on May 24, 2025.  This legislation amends the state education code, requiring that “…a public elementary or secondary school shall display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.”  Clearly, the 21 Republican senators who carried the day did not bother to read the text of the commandments, especially the fifth commandment as quoted in Senate Bill 10, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  Otherwise, they might have chosen another day to come to work and vote on the legislation since May 24, 2025 was a SUNDAY!

Which brings me back to the LDS Church and the Times story about the availability of sleeveless tank tops for women.  Jackson used the occasion to educate her readers about the spiritual importance of Temple garments.

The garments are an integral part of the faith. They are worn by most faithful adult members as a reminder of covenants they make with God in the church’s temples. Many members also believe they provide spiritual protection.

But it was the first sentence in the next paragraph that really caught my attention.  “The garments aren’t supposed to be seen in public.”  In other words, their sole purpose is to remind the wearer of his/her fealty to the teachings and traditions of the church.  There is no public message.  No “See what a devout Mormon I am.”  No “don’t you realize you will end up in ‘spirit prison’ (the Mormon alternative to hell for the disobedient) if you do not jump on the LDS bandwagon.”

How refreshing.  Instead of wearing one’s faith on their sleeves, Mormons have decided they do not even need a sleeve.  Of course, Mormon’s have other methods of populating their ranks.  Pairs of young missionaries on bicycles and the truly surreal practice of “proxy baptism,” a ritual by which a member of the church is baptized on behalf of a deceased non-Mormon.  This explains why the Mormon Church maintains the largest collection of family records in the world.

The level of bizarreness associated with proxy baptism increases with the caveat, according to Wikipedia, “The Church teaches that those who have died may choose to accept or reject the baptisms done on their behalf.”  Exactly how does that happen?  Is there an “OPT OUT” button at the gates of heaven?

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

Florida Men

Politics

A change of venue can be illuminating.  For the last four weeks, I have been living in Boca Raton, Florida to support my mother’s recovery from a serious, but not life-threatening medical condition.  I need not tell you South Florida might as well be halfway around the globe from its Northeast counterpart.  This morning, however, I found a unexpected strand of connective tissue.  It was triggered by an article on CNBC.COM titled, “Musk’s role leading DOGE qualifies as ‘continuing and permanent,’ federal judge says.”

D.C. District judge Tanya Chutkan refused to dismiss a suit filed by 14 state attorneys general challenging Elon Musk’s role in the dismantling of various federal agencies and programs.  The plaintiffs claim Musk “lacked the legal authority to make sweeping cuts and other changes to the federal government because he is not a Senate-confirmed officer of the government, and DOGE was never authorized by Congress.”

My first instinct?  I wondered what my representative Aaron Bean, co-chair of the congressional DOGE caucus, might have to say about this latest development, especially since he and two other Florida men (Cory Mills and Byron Daniels) had introduced House Resolution H.R. 2006, codifying the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency and enumerating its authorities.  One would think Bean might use Chutkan’s finding to bolster passage of the bill.  Of course, one would be wrong.  Crickets from the distinguished congressman from Amelia Island.

However, as I researched Bean’s view of the pending case, I stumbled on an unexpected factoid.  For the last month, I was temporarily residing in the congressional district represented by Jared Moskowitz, the first Democrat to join the DOGE caucus.  On December 3, 2024, Moskowitz released the following statement.

Today. I will join the Congressional DOGE Caucus, because I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue. I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people.

At the time, he and the other Democrat who joined the caucus (Val Doyle/4th district of Oregon) were roundly criticized for legitimizing the effort though both felt it was essential for someone not beholden to Trump to represent “working Americans.”  However, on February 5, 2025 Doyle resigned from the caucus, stating:

It is impossible for us to do that important work when unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his lackeys are set on burning down the government—and the law—to line his own pockets and rip off Americans across the country who depend on government services to live with dignity.

Moskowitz continues to be listed as a member of the caucus.  However, during a May 14 interview with Politico, he declared:

The DOGE caucus is dead. It’s defunct. We haven’t met in months. We only had two total meetings in five months. And we weren’t involved at all in anything [happening at DOGE], which Elon was in charge of. Zero. Zilch. Nada. [Musk] did it all on his own.

Quite a contrast to what Aaron Beans tells his constituents through a never ending string of photo ops and interviews on right-wing media.  And what happened to Bean’s effort to pass H.R. 2006 which would have given DOGE the legal authority to address the issues it claims are its mission.  The bill was introduced on March 10, 2025.  Then, as Jared Moskowitz would say, “Zero, Zilch. Nada.”

Surely, there is a Jared Moskowitz or Val Doyle in NE Florida who could better represent us.  For the record, Doyle has held more town hall meetings around the country in the last month than Aaron Bean has held in his own district in two and half years.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

Monkey Say; Monkey Don’t

Culture, Politics

Oratory is a power tool.  Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address assured a war-torn nation America was an ideal that could survive a civil war.  When Americans could have easily abandoned democracy and capitalism in the face of a global economic depression, Franklin Roosevelt urged them not to let their fears undermine the principles on which our country was founded.  John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan both used the backdrop of the Brandenburg Gate to promote the future freedom of all those isolated by an “iron curtain,” so appropriately named by Winston Churchill during a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

However, oratory only rings true if those who speak the words also live them.  Under Lincoln’s leadership, America did survive the Civil War.  Roosevelt charted the path back from economic devastation.  Kennedy and Reagan made sure the “iron curtain” was only a temporary prop on the international stage.  It is the actions that follow the words that define the speaker’s character as much as well as the issues of the day.

Case in point, Donald Trump’s commencement address Saturday at West Point.  From his opening acknowledgements to his closing message, Trump revealed his true nature.  Consider the following.

  • He first thanked Academy Superintendent Stephen Glenn.  “I got to know him backstage with his beautiful family,”  Everything in Trump’s world is a transaction.  A quick, off-stage introduction supersedes the effort needed to forge a real relationship.  I hope the Glenns do not hold their breath waiting for an invitation to a weekend at Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster.
  • How does he view the 250 year legacy of those responsible for our present-day military might?  “I know because I rebuilt that army and I rebuilt the military. And we rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term.” When will Florida and Texas school books include the sentence, “Historians are dumbstruck the U.S. military could defeat the British, vanquish the Confederate forces, and turn the tide of World War II on D-Day without Donald Trump’s leadership.”
  • How does he applaud the 26 cadets who won the “Star Wreath,” the Academy’s highest academic honor?  “I wanna bring them right to the Oval Office. I don’t wanna have them go too far away from me.” Shouldn’t the best an brightest be in the field as role models for the troops?  No.   Trump offers them a higher purpose, being extras for a photo op as he signs an executive order authorizing some unconstitutional use of the military to carry out his domestic agenda.
  • He denounces the use of the military by his predecessors through endless wars and nation building.  “Why are we wasting our time, money, and souls,” says the man who authorized a $45 million parade including 6,600 active military personnel on his birthday.  Or using the military to take Greenland by force.  Or to help relocate Palestinians so Gaza can become the next Riviera on the Mediterranean.
  • He congratulates two female cadets for successfully completing diver’s school and minutes later congratulates himself for “…liberating our troops from divisive and demeaning political trainings.”  Would these cadets have earned that honor without DEI policies which gave them the chance to pursue that achievement?

But of course, he saved the best for less, once again proving that everything he thinks and says is either projection or confession.

  • He shared a story how real estate developer Bill Levitt lost his business momentum when he focused on other things. “A lot of trophy wives doesn’t (sic) work out, but it made him happy for a little while at least. But he found a new wife. He sold his little boat and he got a big yacht.”  So says the man you filed for bankruptcy six times while collecting not one, but two trophy wives.  And puts his name or image on everything within his reach.
  • But this is my favorite. “We need Patriots with guts, and vision, and backbone who take personal risks to ensure that America wins every single time.” So says the man who considers anyone who disagrees with him to be an enemy, fires them and signs executive orders directing the Justice Department to investigate them.

During their October 2016 presidential debate, Hillary Clinton called Trump “Putin’s puppet.”  But that metaphor seems inadequate just four months into Trump’s second term.  Instead, he reminds me more of the monkey who collects coins (or crypto tokens) while the hurdy gurdy man entertains a street crowd.  And I am not sure Putin is the puppet master.  If only we knew exactly who was cranking the hurdy gurdy machine and holding the monkey’s leash.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

Vulpes Populi

Politics

Your family and mine and all other animals have agreed to forget their differences and live in peace and friendship from now on forever. Just think of it! I simply cannot wait to embrace you! Do come down, dear friend, and let us celebrate the joyful event.

~”The Fox and the Cock”/Aesop

This fable is often cited as the origin of the metaphor “a fox in the henhouse.”  Under Donald Trump, the United States government can best be described as a nation of vulpine officials who now inhabit the chicken coops we call federal agencies, thus the title of today’s post.  Consider the two most recent examples.

Example #1: As widely reported, Trump announced the Qatar government would gift a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 jet to the United States to replace the current plane that serves as Air Force One.  At the end of Trump’s second term, the plane would be decommissioned and turned over to the Trump Presidential Library Museum Foundation.  Keep in mind, “decommissioned” does not mean scrapped, and donating it to a museum or library does not automatically make it a permanent, non-functional exhibit.

To push back against bipartisan concerns about the transaction, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo explaining why the gift did not constitute a violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.  According to the New York Times:

Ms. Bondi had personally signed a Justice Department memo blessing the plan as lawful, although it had been drafted and cleared by lawyers in the department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

However, as pointed out prior to Bondi’s confirmation hearing last January, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, raised questions about potential conflicts of interests associated with the nominee’s previous employment as a registered lobbyist with Ballard Associates, including:

  • Lobbying Congress on behalf of Qatar: As a FARA-registered lobbyist, Bondi lobbied Congress on behalf of Qatar, earning $115,000 per month.

Example #2:   On Friday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a press release announcing it had reached a settlement allowing Rare Breed Triggers, a company that makes what they call a “forced-reset trigger,” more commonly referred to as a bump stock that makes a semi-automatic weapon fire at speeds closer to those of a machine gun, to resume selling this product.  “Settlement” is a misnomer since there appear to be no conditions under which DOJ dropped the law suit.  In support of the action, Attorney General Bondi added to the volume of Trump administration NewSpeak:

This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right. And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety.

I anxiously await the AG’s explanation of how Rare Breed Trigger contributed to “public safety” when the weapon of chose for a future mass shooting includes one of their “forced-release triggers.”

The press release did not include the following information.  Trump White House counsel David Warrington, represented Rare Breed Triggers when it sued the federal government following a federal ban on this category of aftermarket modifiers that enhanced the lethal potential of semi-automatic weapons.

Which raises an interesting possibility.  Were Qatari sheiks and the owners of Rare Breed Triggers that smart?  In anticipation of a second Trump presidency, did they pull individuals into their sphere whom they believed would be part of the new administration?  Did the Qataris see that far enough into the future when Pam Bondi refused to prosecute Trump University during her tenure as Florida to hire her as lobbyist?  Did Rare Breed Triggers correctly bet that the man who represented Trump in the January 6 federal case might be the next White House legal counsel?  If so, what can we learn from them?

“The Fox and the Cox” need not be an irreversible omen of things to come? We too often forget that the fox in Aesop’s fable does not carry the day.  From his perch in a tree, the cock warns the fox there are two dogs approaching him.   Thinking he has become the prey, the fox suggests that perhaps the hounds have not heard the news how all species will henceforth cohabitate in peace, and he quickly flees.  The cock, having fabricated the presence of the dogs, smiles, thus the moral, “The trickster is easily tricked.”

The resistance to this unfortunate march toward American authoritarianism and oligarchy could also come out on top by emulating the cock, using the Trump administration’s own messaging to turn the predator into the prey.  One example is the Newsweek report that, since neither of his parents were citizens when he was born, Secretary of State Marco Rubio would not be a U.S. citizen if Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship had been in place on May 28, 1971.  Surely, Rubio is not the only such case.  Where is the database of prominent Americans–scientists, orators and authors, artists, business leaders, educators, philanthropists–who, had Trump and Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem been in power at the time of their births, would be plying their trades in places other than the U.S., or worse, rotting in a foreign prison?

Aesop might phrase the challenge differently.  Will this chapter of American history end with Trump as the scorpion who stings the frog because he is unable to overcome his true nature or the fox who is easily finessed because he lacks the foresight to see how his words and deeds can be used against him?

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

A Fool and His Intelligence…

Politics
  1. the capacity, especially of a particular person or animal, for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; relative aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, meanings, etc.
  2. the gathering or distribution of information, especially secret information

~Definitions of Intelligence/DICTIONARY.COM

The most recent example of Donald Trump’s level of intelligence, or lack thereof, is his excitement concerning Qatar’s “gift” of a $400 million flying palace to temporarily replace Air Force One.  To make my point, let’s take one definition at a time.

When it comes to Trump’s ability to “grasp truths, relationships, meanings, etc.,” it is clear he never made the 25.6 mile drive from the White House to the National Cryptological Museum at Fort Meade, Maryland, also the home of the National Security Agency.  If he had, he might have seen an exhibit of what became know as “The Thing.”  It was also a “gift,” a wooden sculpture of the Great Seal of the United States presented by the children of the Soviet Union to U.S. Ambassador Averell Harriman to celebrate the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in August 1945.  According to an article on the museum’s website titled, “Cold War: Great Seal,” there was just one problem with this symbol of U.S./Soviet friendship.

It hung in the ambassador’s Moscow residential office until 1952 when the State Department discovered that it was ‘bugged.’ The microphone hidden inside was passive and only activated when the Soviets wanted it to be.

Why is this history lesson so important?  While much of the pundit chatter about the inappropriateness of Qatar’s generosity is focused on the now common concern of a foreign government buying Trump’s favor, the greater danger is access to diplomatic and military intelligence.  If mid-20th century Soviets had the know-how to embed an undetectable microphone in a piece of wood for seven years, imagine the opportunities to bug a 735,000 pound plane made of innumerable materials and electronics.

When compared to “The Thing,” the threat to national security is multiplied 100-fold.  The microphone in Harriman’s office could only capture discussions in which a U.S. ambassador might be included.  In contrast, when the president of the United States is aboard, Air Force One is his command and communications center for everything that is happening anywhere in the world.

We could forgive Trump’s ignorance of “The Thing.”  After all he was not born when gifted to the United States and just five years old when the microphone was discovered.  Nor would one expect him to remember that on 9/11, President Bush spent hours aloft until the military was sure Air Force One and its passengers could be securely flown to the Strategic Air Command in Nebraska.  After all, Trump was too busy bragging (incorrectly) that he now had the tallest building in lower Manhattan after the Twin Towers collapsed or spreading a false story about Muslim-Americans dancing on the roofs of New Jersey buildings, celebrating the death and destruction from the terrorist attack.

But surely, he remembers the breaches in national security during the first 100 days of his new administration, even though his answer to every question about the release of classified information about bombing raids in Yemen over unsecured phone apps is, “I know nothing about that.”  Unfortunately, the Qataris have no similar lapses in memory.  Plus, they are too impatient to wait for one of Trump’s useful idiots to create the opportunity to listen in on privileged conversations via unsecured iPhone apps.  The solution?  Turn the primary means of a president’s transportation into a private SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) for which the target beneficiary is a single entity, Qatari State Security (QSS).  And do it in such a way, a clueless president of the United States believes this counter-intelligence coup is a magnanimous symbol of mutual respect and friendship.

Do not be surprised if the fuselage of the gifted plane includes a facsimile of the following banner hoisted above Bush 43 during his Iraqi victory speech aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.  There is one catch.  It only appears when the QSS is gathering classified information.


For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP