Christian

Sarah Kendzior “The No World Order”

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Meir Kahane, Netanyahu, Trump, and the war beyond Iran.

 

 
By Sarah Kendzior | March 6, 2026
 

In 1989, terrorist rabbi Meir Kahane made a promise.

“A horrible world war is coming,” Kahane told journalist Robert I. Friedman. “Tens of millions will die. It will be the Apocalypse. God will punish us for forsaking him. But we must have faith. The Messiah will come. There will be a resurrection of the dead: all the things that Jews believed in before they got so damn sophisticated. The amount of suffering we endure will depend upon what we do between now and the end.”

Kahane did not live to see his vision realized. In 1990, the year Friedman published The False Prophet: Rabbi Meir Kahane, From FBI Informant to Knesset Member, the 58-year-old Kahane was shot to death while giving a speech imploring American Jews to move to Israel. The alleged assailant, Egyptian-American El Sayyid Nosair, was acquitted by a jury but sentenced by the judge. In death as in life, the circumstances surrounding Kahane are murky and violent.

Friedman had an eye for figures of the 20th century who would define the 21st. Ten years after The False Prophet, he published Red Mafiya: his investigation of a transnational crime syndicate whose members came from the USSR and spent the 1990s infiltrating governments and corporations worldwide. The head of that syndicate, Semyon Mogilevich, put a contract on Friedman’s life.

Death threats were nothing new for Friedman. He’d been getting them from Israelis ever since he wrote the Kahane biography. Friedman had also angered the FBI by claiming they could have prevented the 1993 World Trade Center attacks and correctly warning, years in advance, that the towers would be attacked again. Wary of institutional constraints, Friedman embraced the freedom of a freelancer. In 2002, Friedman died of cardiac arrest. He was 51.

He never saw the future he worked so hard to stop.

Red Mafiya gained a cult following during Trump’s first term. The book elucidates the structure of Trump’s life and presidency: a merger of organized crime, white-collar crime, and government by criminals who elude, then rewrite, borders and laws. Some blame Russia for the US downfall, some blame Israel, but it was always both — along with American collaborators and assorted global operatives.

Red Mafiya names key villains and locales, including Trump Tower, which functioned as a dormitory for organized crime. Mogilevich became an early investor in Trump Tower after fleeing the USSR by getting an Israeli passport in 1988 from Robert Maxwell, the father of Jeffrey Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine. To say Red Mafiya is timeless is to acknowledge we’ve been frozen in hell for forty years.

The False Prophet, on the other hand, is largely ignored. It is in demand but hard to find: used copies of the out-of-print book sell for over $100. I bought mine before the Kahanists — Kahane’s acolytes — returned to power in Israel.

I’ve been wanting to write about The False Prophet for years. I held back since it scares me more than any other book. If it were only history, I would not be so frightened. But The False Prophet describes current events: the extremism that Kahane espoused, and Friedman documented, now dominates Israel and in turn, the United States.

I was born during the Iranian Revolution. As a result, I’ve spent my entire life listening to US officials call for war with Iran. In Israel, the calls are even louder, drowning out reasonable voices who know such a war would be apocalyptic.

The architects of the Iran War know that too, but do not care. Elderly fanatics — from Netanyahu to Elliott Abrams, an Iran-Contra villain who served in nearly every administration of my life — understand that the time to see their goals reach fruition is running out. Trump is not the architect of the Iran war, only its vehicle.

“This coalition of forces allows us to do what I have yearned to do for 40 years,” Netanyahu said as the war began, thanking “the United States, my friend, US President Donald Trump, and the US military.”

Netanyahu now says openly what he said behind closed doors in 2001: “America is a thing you can move very easily.”

One cannot understand

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Most Trump Supporters Aren’t Stupid, and That’s the Most Terrifying Thing

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MAGA

Ignorance is not a compelling argument at this point.

by John Pavlovitz

We’ve all heard the theories for the past ten years: people still supporting Donald Trump are somehow victims of the partisan media and the Evangelical alternate reality that they’ve been raised in and are still captives of. They’re continually surrounded by fake news and carefully curated false stories, and so they aren’t bad people they just aren’t seeing what we are seeing, and we need to be more understanding.

This just isn’t acceptable anymore.

There simply isn’t a sufficient excuse for being an adult so sheltered from facts and so truth-deprived that you can’t see Trump’s complete sociopathy and you can’t discern the existential threat he and his party are to this nation.

These people aren’t being asked to dig beneath some complex, brilliantly crafted ruse perpetrated by Conservative media and religious conglomerates working in concert; they’re being asked to see what’s in front of them and respond with something resembling working humanity.

If you can simply read Trump’s own social media feed and not be fully disgusted to the point of vomiting, you either aren’t a reasonable human being or you are willingly choosing to engage in an hourly regimen of wild intellectual and theological gymnastics in order to avoid a reality that makes you uncomfortable, and to intentionally avoid some really vile stuff that no one is even attempting to conceal anymore.

I’m fully convinced that the lion’s share of people still supporting Donald Trump know he is a reprehensible human being, guilty of both high crimes against this nation and sexual violence against women and young girls, but they simply can’t admit to themselves or anyone else that they made a mistake, and so they are tripling down while the world burns.

They’re not stupid; they’re just willing to let America die on the altar of their pride, which may be far worse.

Being an adult means being responsible for ferreting out what is real and what isn’t, for making good decisions with the available information, and being willing to change an opinion in light of new data. This is what we demand from our children, isn’t it? We only let their ignorance be an excuse for so long, and then we remove that option because we expect them to be smarter than that at some point. And if we realize that they are smart enough to know better, then it becomes an indictment of their character.

If grown men and women aren’t willing or able to sift information and choose wisely because of their media choices, their circle of friends, or their mental effort, the result is the same: they are enabling and protecting reprehensible behavior that places people in great danger.

If Fox News creates your reality, you’re going to be hateful toward lots of people. You’re going to be afraid of Muslims, LGBTQ people, immigrants, people of color, refugees—and on and on and on. And if you’ve been on the planet for a few decades, you should have developed the critical thinking not to allow a network that brokers in fantasy and fiction to be your baseline for truth. That’s a you problem.

If the Evangelical Right defines for you what it means to be a Christian, your Christianity is going to look nothing like the actual teachings of Christ. It’s going to be an angry, violent thing devoid of compassion and gentleness. That isn’t your preacher’s fault and it isn’t Franklin Graham’s fault and it isn’t the Devil’s fault. As a thinking Christian who supposedly reads the words of Jesus and reflects on them regularly, you should see through this sham in a hot minute and soundly reject it.

If the brazen, unapologetic racism and xenophobia and misogyny on display right now is too subtle for your sensibilities, and if Nazis marching through town squares and supremacist politicians and election interference fall beneath your radar, you either intentionally have your head in the sand or it isn’t on straight to begin with—and either is a problem.

Many of my white Evangelical friends supporting Trump aren’t as much stupid or unaware as they are cowardly. They held their noses in 2016, voted in anger or haste or error, and then quickly got out of the politics business, choosing to escape the consequences of their decision on other people. So Fox News and the Conservative Christian Church have become convenient places of sanctuary for people with privilege wanting to hide from the results of their vote.

Again, they aren’t unaware of reality; they’re just opting out of it altogether. If it is stupidity, the affliction is highly selective, extremely localized, and very convenient, allowing them to retain their tribal affiliations despite the harm they are doing.

And worse than all of this, of course, is the possibility that the people who voted for him are neither ignorant, uninformed, or misled, but fully cognizant of the implications of their partnership.

It’s time we stopped giving adult human beings the benefit of the doubt, simply because we think they’re not smart enough not to be fooled by religious shysters, fake news peddlers, and political snake oil salesmen. If that is true, then they’re also not smart or mentally stable enough to be presented with objective data or compelling arguments and to filter them responsibly. They are, practically speaking, unreachable with rational measures.

I’m tired of having to treat people like children when they aren’t capable or willing to see what even a child can see, what my children can see. They know hatred and bullying and dehumanization without needing to read a think piece or do online research or unpack layers of religion and history.

I’m over justifying bigotry and racism and the horrible stuff happening in the country, and giving people who perpetuate it a pass because they supposedly don’t realize they’re supporting a monster when most of the watching world seems to get it.

In a time when information is available at our fingertips and when conversation, study, and exploration are limitless, I’m through excusing supposed adults for not being able to make a decision that is based in reality, simply because they’re in some hateful, self-righteous, nationalistic bubble. That’s their fault, not ours.

I don’t hate these people, but I’m also not going to coddle them and encourage their ignorance anymore because lots of people are injured when that happens.

Sooner or later, we adults all have to own our past sins and previous stupidity–and choose to be wiser.

The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Source: Most Trump Supporters Aren’t Stupid, and That’s the Most Terrifying Thing

Share this with your MAGA-Christian friends: Bishop Shelley Bryan Wee asks, “Who is speaking truth?”

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The Hobbledehoy is happy to share this piece written by Lutheran minister Shelley Bryan Wee. As our friend travel guru Rick Steves wrote on his blog, “Whether you consider yourself a person of faith or not, Shelley’s message will also bring a new dimension to your thinking as you prepare to vote.”

Dear Beloveds,

As the election season is here, I have been doing some reflecting on what it means to vote as a Lutheran Christian. Please know that I am not telling you who to vote for in this election. It is not for me to tell you who to vote for. I mean, after all, God is neither Republican or Democrat, or even American.

But in saying that, I am not abdicating the responsibility that we have as Lutheran Christians who live in a country where voting matters. As children of God, we are called to vote beyond our own self-interest or individuality. As people who follow Jesus, we are called towards God’s vision of a just and mercy-filled world. As people who have received grace upon grace, we are called to stand against injustice, and to remind everyone that, in God’s eyes, every single person is loved and beloved.

So, here are a few thoughts and questions:

1. Jesus is all about loving one’s neighbor. Even when it’s hard. When he’s asked, “Who is my neighbor,” Jesus expands his answer. In Jesus’ stories and actions he constantly goes to those who are on the outside, those marginalized, those without status, and shows how they are loved by God – how they are, in fact, his neighbor.

As you vote: Who is your neighbor?

2. Throughout scripture, hospitality to the stranger is embraced. In the Old Testament, the command to welcome strangers is repeated 37 times. In Matthew, Jesus says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

As you vote: Who is the stranger?

3. God’s will and God’s calling is towards equity and justice for those who have been silenced, oppressed, or harmed. As we hear in Isaiah, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.”

As you vote: Who are the silenced, the oppressed, the harmed?

4. The eighth commandment declares that we are called to not bear false witness against our neighbor. This, of course, means not lying about another but seeking the truth. This means no name-calling or false accusations. But it goes beyond this. As Martin Luther tells us in his Small Catechism, we are to defend our neighbor, speak well of our neighbor, and explain everything in the kindest way.

As you vote: Who is speaking truth?

5. God created this beautiful earth and declared that we are both part of the creation and are also called to be stewards of it. As we read in the ELCA social statement called “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice,” we affirm that it is God’s intention for us to join in the healing and wholeness of creation.

As you vote: Who is caring for creation?

Dear Beloveds of God, there is so much more that could be written about the state of our country and what voting means. We could make this all complicated and intricate and difficult. But truly, it comes down to this: God’s love is unconditional and unending. Jesus came to this earth to show, to embody, to be God’s love for us and for all people. And so, knowing this, trusting this, believing this, we are called. We are called, as children of God, to show this love to the world. We are called to vote against hate. We are called to vote for God’s love. As we hear in 1 John, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear … We love because God first loved us.”

Bishop Shelley Bryan Wee | https://www.facebook.com/Lutherans

HCR: Why is Critical Race Theory such a flashpoint in today’s political world?

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Heather Cox Richardson | Letters from an American

HCR
Heather Cox Richardson

June 12, 2021

Yesterday, David Ignatius had a piece in the Washington Post that uncovered the attempt of the Trump administration to reorder the Middle East along an axis anchored by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudia Arabia (more popularly known as MBS), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Jared Kushner of the U.S.

To make the deal, the leaders involved apparently wanted to muscle Jordan out of its role as the custodian of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, a role carved out in the 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan that was hammered out under President Bill Clinton. The new dealmakers apparently wanted to scuttle the U.S.-backed accords and replace them with economic deals that would reorder the region.

This story has huge implications for the Middle East, for American government, for religion, for culture, and so on, but something else jumps out to me here: this story is a great illustration of the principles behind Critical Race Theory, which is currently tearing up the Fox News Channel. Together, the attempt to bypass Jordan and the obsession with Critical Race Theory seem to make a larger statement about the current sea change in the U.S. as people increasingly reject the individualist ideology of the Reagan era.

When Kushner set out to construct a Middle East peace plan, he famously told Aaron David Miller, who had negotiated peace agreements with other administrations, that he didn’t want to know about how things had worked in the past. “He said flat out, don’t talk to me about history,” Miller told Chris McGreal of The Guardian, “He said, I told the Israelis and the Palestinians not to talk to me about history too.”

Kushner apparently thought he could create a brand new Middle East with a brand new set of alliances that would begin with changing long standing geopolitics in Jerusalem, the city three major world religions consider holy. It is eye-popping to imagine what would have happened if we had torn up decades of agreements and tried to graft onto a troubled area an entirely new way of interacting, based not on treaties but on the interests of this new axis. Apparently, the hope was that throwing enough money at the region would have made the change palatable. But most experts think that weakening Jordan, long a key U.S. ally in the region, and removing its oversight of the holy sites, would have ushered in violence.

The heart of the American contribution to the idea of reworking the Middle East along a new axis with contracts, rather than treaties, seems to have been that enough will and enough money can create new realities.

The idea that will and money could create success was at the heart of the Reagan Revolution. Its adherents championed the idea that any individual could prosper in America, so long as the government stayed out of his (it was almost always his) business.

Critical Race Theory challenges this individualist ideology. CRT emerged in the late 1970s in legal scholarship written by people who recognized that legal protections for individuals did not, in fact, level the playing field in America. They noted that racial biases are embedded in our legal system. From that, other scholars noted that racial, ethnic, gender, class, and other biases are embedded in the other systems that make up our society.

Historians began to cover this ground long ago. Oklahoma historian Angie Debo established such biases in the construction of American law in her book, And Still the Waters Run: The Betrayal of the Five Civilized Tribes back in 1940. Since then, historians have explored the biases in our housing policies, policing, medical care, and so on, and there are very few who would suggest that our systems are truly neutral.

So why is Critical Race Theory such a flashpoint in today’s political world? Perhaps in part because it rejects the Republican insistence that an individual can create a prosperous life by will alone. It says that, no matter how talented someone might be, or how eager and dedicated, they cannot always contend against the societal forces stacked against them. It argues for the important weight of systems, established through time, rather than the idea that anyone can create a new reality.

It acknowledges the importance of history.