Middleboro Review and so on

  Five Questions With Christian Nationalism Expert Amanda Tyler JOYCE VANCE JUL 13 ∙ PREVIEW Earlier this week, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley  said , “Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian Nation. So I am. And some will say that I am advocating Christian Nationalism. And so I do." Taken at face value, those two words, when put together, could have positive connotations for many people, suggesting the convergence of Christian values and love of country. But that’s most definitely not what “Christian nationalism” means in America today. Tonight we’re joined by Amanda Tyler, a lawyer who is the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The organization defines its mission as upholding the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise of religion and protecting against its establishment by government. She is the lead organizer of BJC’s  Christians Against Christian Nationalism  campaign and co...

  Hang on, Republicans: Who are the real "elites," anyway? Kirk Swearingen Support journalism Ted Cruz; Josh Hawley Ted Cruz; Josh Hawley © Provided by Salon Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (R) and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., are seen outside the Senate chamber on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell recently posted some thoughts on the subject of high school sports, of all things. High schools do a good job at elevating elite athletes, he wrote, to the detriment of students of more average ability, or who lack parents who could afford to pay for soccer or baseball camps starting at age six. Gladwell, who is a lifelong, serious runner — and can run a mile at age 55 nearly as fast as I did when I was 15 and winning races on the track team — came up with a law he named after himself: In any sporting endeavor, elite achievement comes at the cost of mass participation. We can easily expand Gladwell's Law to the whole of soc...

    On Monday we wrote to tell you about the NRA’s baseless attacks on our campaign pushing credit card companies to flag suspicious purchases of guns and ammunition - patterns exhibited by the perpetrators of some of the worst mass shootings in our nation’s history.   Following our successful effort to create a merchant category code for stand-alone firearm and ammunition dealers, all three major credit card companies have pledged to integrate the code into their systems – a key step toward stopping mass shooters before they strike!   In response, the loudest right-wing voices in the Republican party have begun a coordinated effort to pressure the credit card companies to reverse course, sending Tweets and letters directly to the companies. Sen. Josh Hawley, his GOP colleagues, and the NRA are scrambling to protect a status quo in which mass shooters and gun traffickers continue to exploit the financial system and buy their deadly arsenals on credit. They’re placing...