Remember, it has to be consistent with the Hillbilly Yale Educated Venture Capitalist Funding Family Farm Subjugation to Tech Overlord Plantation Owners Aligned With Anti-Immigrant Christian Nationalists Opposing Immigration While Married to a Hindu Daughter of Immigrants.
So many Hillbillies are really suburban golfers. We need to get some of the earthworms used to turn bullshit into fertilizer and set ‘em loose ON JD. Thanks to the Iranpocalypse, the farmers who sold their land to JD’s AcreTraitor investment and leased it back will face high diesel and fertilizer costs in planting season and may not be able to pay the rent, forfeiting family farms to wealthy Silicon Valley “Valleybillies.”
Hey now! I'll have you know that JD Vance grew up in the hollers of suburban Cincinnati. He had to walk uphill five miles both ways in blinding snow to reach the Moonshine aisle of Jungle Jim's International Market. Nobody told him that he could have just as easily driven his car on the interstate. ;)
St. Patricks in NYC qualifies. But that's where the elites go to worship. U of San Diego has a really nice one, but that's where the beautiful people go, so Mr. Fatty Turdcake has to pick a ugly generic one.
Yeah, I don't blame him. If the pope and DC cardinal were regularly calling me out for nonsense I saw about the gospel, I would shy away from mass too.
Thanks for this post. I figured this out about Track AIPAC when I saw someone claim that AIPAC had spent as much money as Elon Musk getting Trump elected. It sounded just completely wrong. It turned out they were counting the Adelsons as "AIPAC."
AIPAC ranks relatively low among national lobbying groups in terms of spending. I am not a defender of or apologizer for the Israeli government, but it starts to reek of "all powerful Jewish puppetmaster" trope
Yeah... absolutely this. The only problem is that the Israeli government seems to be trying to do everything it can these days to promote that trope with the assistance of the Trump Administration's own words and public statements. Rubio, Hegseth, Huckabee, and Graham have all done their part to promote Israel as an "all powerful Jewish puppetmaster" much to the joy of virulent right wing anti-Semites who can't wait to gleefully offer recent events and statements up as proof they were right about a global Jewish conspiracy all along. Its a real catch-22.
I believe that you are correct in suggesting that AIPAC’s power is exaggerated, because its money can only take it so far (it spends a lot more than you are acknowledging here; look at the 2026 IL-9 Democratic primary).
And also in writing that sometimes criticism of AIPAC veers into antisemitic tropes about the “all powerful Jewish puppet master.”
But at the same time, due to the sheer volume of money that AIPAC spends on federal campaigns, its Machiavellian tactics, and because it acts in what it thinks is in the interest of a foreign government I believe AIPAC to be a shanda for the goyim and fifth column of sorts in American politics.
Yes, fully agreed. I did not mean to imply AIPAC is not a problem. The outsized power of well funded interest groups is one of the most fundamental challenges to American democracy, including AIPAC.
And in regard to how Israel itself actively stokes the narrative that Israel=all Jews, the way its own behavior fulfills some of these ancient conspiracies… you said it exactly right. It is shameful and infuriating. I see so many people rightfully critical of Israel then becoming easily susceptible to believing dangerous lies about Jewish people. Especially young people who may be coming to these stories for the first time. My impression is that the amount of Holocaust denial online has exploded in the past year.
Uh oh, watch out. You'll incur the wrath of some Hasan Parker or Walter Matheson fan foaming at the mouth saying you're a Corporate Democrat or Israel shill just for writing about Track AIPAC
I hate AIPAC and Anti-AIPAC zealots about the same. I hate AIPAC because it is a PAC. I hate the Anti-AIPAC zealots because they are fundamentally hypocrites. Were they warring against PAC money in principle, that all PAC money is corrupting, I would applaud but they just don't like the political perspective of THIS PAC and the citizens it represents.
The childish presumption that any candidate is under the thumb of an organization because they get a couple of thousand dollars from that organization is ridiculous. None of these donations are secret and since they are transparent they really do touch on free speech.
Of more concern to me is the hidden money flowing from the dark side. The kind of money that invented and marketed JD Vance who has no organic and natural constituency in Ohio or anywhere else outside of Silicon Valley.
The cover selection is to underscore its Christian orientation without signaling his own choice to become Catholic as many of his supporters, to some degree or other, consider the Roman Catholic Church "The Whore of Babylon." Catholic imagery would have been risky.
The title "Communion" is head scratcher because that is how Protestants talk about "The Mass" or "Eucharist" in normative Catholic vernacular. I am interested in his theological perspective and how he has moved from whatever he was into one who believes that in Transubstantiation, Papal Infallibility and the moral obligation to defer to the Magisterium on issues of morality like the preferential option for the poor, upholding the human dignity of all people after they leave the womb, and telling the truth even if secular authorities threaten dire consequences.
Bottom line until he demonstrates his Christian and Catholic commitments are manifested in the corporal and spiritual "acts of mercy" I will simply assume he is just establishing his brand and is mostly a "Cafeteria Catholic" like most Catholic politicians left or right.
Griff - I lapsed many decades ago, a term I learned as a kid along with 'fallen away' - which always sounded worse to me - lapsed at least implies possible renewal, like re-upping a driver license to heaven. All to say, I claim no cred to evaluate the VP's Catholicity. I will say it's always been odd to me that he doesn't market aspects of his involvement with his faith as part of his political persona. Politicians do that routinely. I get your point that some christians don't think catholics really qualify, but middle of the road image-wise, wouldn't there be mileage in a photo of him & his smiling fam on the steps of St. Whomever in his Cinci area neighborhood (like many politicians do, regardless of regularity of attendance), or maybe at a Friday fish fry or spaghetti dinner, church car wash, something? Anything? Any sightings of him meeting his obligation to attend Mass weekly (+holy days)? In most ways he doesn't appear to be terribly shy about expressing opinions, but seems pretty close to the vest re: routine trappings of church. Not to mention showing the fruits as you mentioned (as did Matthew 7:16)
Much more elegant sound to that! I tried google translate to see if I could make 'lapsed' sound better in Latin... it's 'lapsus' so no. And 'fallen away' is 'defecerunt' which seems just gross
Vance has only one principle, his own self-advancement. His stated religion is on the down shift in popularity within the camp of his non-Catholic supporters and those he wishes to gain, so he will push it away and likely, ultimately, jettison it for what will curry him favour and accrete power. His beliefs, such as they are, are water that hasn't yet found its grounded level. And he will change his name and anything else, that in others is defining, as often as it takes, to keep ahead of whatever it is about himself he's trying to outrun, to get where his greed and ambition are trying to go.
Great reporting as always, Joe. Just out of curiosity, b/c I wasn't paying attention at the time and now don't want to try and research it, what building are you referring to when you say, "I was the first reporter in the building to check in at the press table"?
If only we could rewind to that day and choose an alternative future. I saw a sign for No Kings that said, "America had a choice of two paths; it chose the psychopath."
Once again, in reaction to an organization that has become increasingly braindead and clownish (AIPAC), a similarly clownish organization, Track AIPAC, springs up. Once again, we are presented with the most stupid of the 'sides' of the issue.
Joe is so right to be concerned about this group's amateurish lack of accuracy. Its upsetting. So you can imagine how pissed of I am that my local Congressman got his seat purchased for him with 22 million dollars of AIPAC and related PAC money.
People get upset about different things. I hope they used the right colors on this joker.
u get it. it’s not the methods but the sentiment that i appreciate. it was unthinkable years ago that we could arrive at a place culturally where advocacy for palestinian lives would matter to the average american at all.
I think they undermine their own sentiments and causes with these methods though.... AIPAC Tracker is such an unbelievably straightforward label that anyone can understand... and you're telling me that you're not actually doing that at all?!? Just sounds like someone that can't be trusted and should be ignored to me.
Definitely they're amateurs who undermine their own message. The official money figures that Joe cites are the thing, not the color coding foolishness of the Trackers. On the other hand, because of A-T, at least in part, a lot of Dem representatives are starting to realize that they are out of step with their constituents, and they are starting to get with the program. AIPAC would love for you to ignore both AIPAC Tracker and the underlying problem. Hey, there are lots of lobbies, right? I think they are finding out that things have changed, and its not working anymore. And that was before this war.
So JD goes off and loses his way making a fortune w/the nihilist live-forever we-are-gods tech bros, then finds his Catholic faith. Did he give up his secular fortune? No? That's kinda Jesus' message. Explicitly.
"Total Palestine score"? What the heck? I'm a Jew who believes (if pointlessly) in a two-state solution and can't stand Bibi and his cohort (and, for that matter, AIPAC) -- but also note that Hamas was awful and incompetent at governance and that October 7 was abhorrent.
"I'm a Jew who believes (if pointlessly) in a two-state solution and can't stand Bibi and his cohort (and, for that matter, AIPAC) -- but also note that Hamas was awful and incompetent at governance and that October 7 was abhorrent."
You sound like you're starting to wake up from what you've been taught - which is great - but you have a little way to go yet.
Let me put some ideas in your head, and see what you think:
1. The 'two state solution' was always a lie, a delaying tactic, to allow Israeli settlers to take the land that would be set aside for a future Palestinian state.
2. You are engaging in the "Bad Bibi" theory, which itself is a distraction from the core of the problem, which is Zionism itself:
3. You may not know that the "awful Hamas" was actually funded by Israel, over years, in order to keep Palestinians intentionally divided, and as such, preventing a unified demand for their own state, and
4. As bad as Oct 7 was - and it was bad - it pales into insignificance compared to a normal day of Israel's foreign policy. If you think Oct 7 was bad, and justifies what has happened to Gaza, then I have to ask: what should happen to Israel because of the Sabra and Shatilla massacres?
And finally - as a Jew - can you justify what Zionism has been since the 1890s based on the tenets of Judaism? I am not a Jew, but I have studied Judaism to see if I can find support for it. I cannot.
Good luck with your questions - keep challenging what you might want to believe.
Oh, I've been questioning for decades. But identity -- especially a religious identity that's intertwined with a cultural and historical identity -- will always be a challenge to sort out.
I have bones to pick with some of your statements, but I have bones to pick with lots of statements, including some of my own. (As the saying goes, Two Jews, three opinions.)
Feel free to “bone pick” anything I say - if I have something wrong, I really do want to hear it.
FWIW: I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian church where unconditional support Zionism was a central part. It took me literally years to wake up, to read, to listen, to come to the conclusion that I had been wrong for a long time.
I always, always, always try to extend grace to others, as others once extended grace to me.
There are three voices missing from this debate:
1. Palestinians voices primarily. Do you remember the last time you heard an actual Palestinian speak on their own humanity?
2. Anti-Zionist Jews. If you listen to the mainstream media, you’d think that ALL diaspora Jews are Zionist, if not supporters of Netanyahu.
3. Israeli Zionists. We never hear vox-pops from Israelis, hear what their views are in polls, nor what the Knesset does on their behalf. If we did - I suspect Americans would pull back in horror.
What we see of Israeli society is carefully curated.
There were other parties involved in those massacres as well. Also, it as not accurate to say that October 7, 2023 “pales into insignificance in comparison to a normal day of Israel’s foreign policy.”
And Hamas was propped up by other governments over the years besides Israel’s, including by the Qataris who gifted Trump that lavish airplane.
And how is Israel’s human rights record, as atrocious as it is, any worse than that of the other nations in the Middle East region and many other countries throughout the world?
And is the human rights record of the United States really all that much better at this time than that of most of those counties?
And while I would concur with you about Zionism being antithetical to Jewish values, there are Jews, including some Israeli Jews, who have tried hard very every day to bring compassion to it.
In fact, Israel PM Yitzhak Rabin, a good man and Zionist, was assassinated by a right-wing extremist Zionist in November of 1995 because he planned to dismantle Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank and was desperately trying to resolve the conflict by having two independent states.
So, I also don’t buy that the two-state solution “was always a lie.” And, FWIW, that Israel is 100% responsible for the conflict.
There's a lot there - but let's see if I can answer what I can.
"There were other parties involved in those massacres as well."
Yes, there were - the Phalanges. Are you implying that their involvement somehow reduces the culpability of the Israelis? After all, Oct 7 was not just Hamas, but also the PIJ and even some Gazan civilians. Do you discount Hamas's culpability because of those other parties?
You know the thing about the Sabra and Shatilla massacres is how brazenly cowardly they were. In comparison to the Oct 7 Hamas attack, which targeted mostly Israeli military AND paramilitary forces (as well as some civilians), the Sabra and Shatilla massacre was an attack on ONLY civilians.
How do we know that?
You see, there was a whole political process by which the PLO fighters literally sailed away, followed by the international peacekeepers, leaving only civilians in refugee tents. It was only then, when there was nobody who could fight back, that the Israelis and their allies attacked.
Anyway, you didn't answer my question: what should have happened to all of Israel because of that terrorist attack? Should we bomb Israel in the way Gaza has been bombed? If not, why not? Why do the "rules" and "justifications" only go one way?
'it as not accurate to say that October 7, 2023 “pales into insignificance in comparison to a normal day of Israel’s foreign policy.”
Why not? I guess it depends on how you count horrors and atrocities. Hamas killed a few hundred civilians on Oct 7 - but so does Israel every day. Hamas took a couple of hundred civilians hostage - but so does Israel. In fact, it is holding thousands in prisons without charge right now, and was doing so BEFORE Oct 7. It has also displaced 6 million people and counting in the last 3 years; 2 million in Gaza, 3 million in Iran, and 1 million in Lebanon.
Again, it is how you want to count atrocities.
"And Hamas was propped up by other governments over the years besides Israel’s"
Yes, but they WERE propped up by the Israelis. And that makes it very hard to argue that they are a terrorist organization ... right? Surely Israel wouldn't support designated terrorists ... would they?
(Fun fact: there is an American serving a 65 year prison sentence for sending $4 million worth of educational supplies to Palestine as material support for Hamas. He, and some others, was convicted on super-secret Israei intelligence. It's a wild case. If he got 65 years, how many years should Netanyahu get?)
"And how is Israel’s human rights record, as atrocious as it is, any worse than that of the other nations in the Middle East region and many other countries throughout the world?"
So this is a whataboutism argument. If you want to set your moral bar at "other nations in the Middle East" that is your concern, but please don't try to then tell me that Israel is "the only democracy in the Middle East" or "Israel has the most moral army".
But I am afraid Israel even fails to clear that oh-so-low moral bar.
Sure - other Middle Eastern countries are abhorrent, such as our 2nd-most-sacrosanct ally KSA, but nobody holds millions of people under subjugation, do they? Even the Iranians don't treat their thousands of Jews the same way Israel treats Palestinians ... do they? Yes - those countries have horrid prisons, filled with torture and rape, but nearly as many as Israel does ... surely?
Again, we're counting and comparing atrocities. Not something I like to do. If you said "Israel's human rights are as good as an OECD country" that might be something ... but you didn't. You had to compare Israel to literally the scum of the Earth to "win".
"And is the human rights record of the United States really all that much better at this time than that of most of those countries?
I would certainly hope so. Yes, the United States had slavery 160 years ago ... but no longer. We had a whole war over it. And yes, the United States DID commit a genocide against its indigenous peoples, but we stopped doing that too. You can't point to that and say "well, we get to do ethnic cleansing and genocide NOW because of what you did THEN". We evolved from that horrendous state because of "western values", LOL.
"Jews, including some Israeli Jews, who have tried hard very every day to bring compassion to it."
I don't think I claimed otherwise - did I? I just said that there is no way to justify Zionism from the tenets of Judaism. I am not a Jew, but I have studied, and cannot find such a justification. In fact, the tenets of Judaism seem to be antithetical to Zionism. If you can make that case that the tenets of Judaism DO justify Zionism - then please tell me. It would make a big difference.
I'm not sure how your mention of Yitzhhak Rabin counters my assertion that the two-state solution was always a lie? Whatever his attempts were, he WAS killed, and the two-state solution never eventuated. Doesn't that prove my point? If you had said "Rabin was killed, and his dream of two states was put into effect in his name," then you might have a point ... but the exact opposite happened.
Wouldn't it be correct to say "anyone who ACTUALLY tries to implement a two-state solution, rather than just mouthing words, is destroyed?"
Anyway, all this naval-gazing is kinda moot. The President of the United States is going to make a decision soon - to either declare success and sail away, or send American troops into Iran to fight and die for Israel.
Either way ... this may be the last ever war fought by the United States for Israel. What happens when Republicans in the Senate start voting against the many largesses granted to Israel?
I lied about waiting until tomorrow to respond to you;; please forgive me.
First and foremost, I am not defending Israel’s appalling human rights record in any way, shape, or form.
If it were up to me, there would be a complete international boycott of Israel, much like their was with apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, until Israel completely withdraws from the illegally occupied West Bank and is abiding by all international humanitarian law.
But, if one does not call out human rights atrocities wherever and whenever they have occurred regardless of who has committed them, and only does so selectively, it makes one a major hypocrite and causes him or her to cede the moral high ground.
And some of your reasoning is wrong. In one of your paragraphs, you seem to be saying that Iran and other countries in the Middle East and throughout the world have a better human rights record than Israel, when there is no discernible difference.
Next, the buck stops with Trump regarding the United States’s involvement in this illegal and idiotic Iran war, no one else. It was his decision and his decision alone to get the U.S. involved.
Also, MBS was beating the drums even louder than Netanyahu for the United States to bomb Iran. So, what’s to say that this war is not being fought by the United States on behalf of Saudi Arabia, even more so than for Israel? Did you not mention this because Israel, at least in name, is a Jewish state?
Finally, you seem either oblivious or impervious as to what is occurring in the contemporary United States under the Trump regime. And about the history of the United States following the American Civll War of the 1860s.
Are you aware of what Jim Crow was and/or what the Trump regime is now doing to immigrants and refugees of color with its ICE Gestapo?
I am not saying that the United States is even close to being as godawful on human rights as Israel, Iran, Russia, or China are, at least not yet. But, you seem naive as to what is going on here. Do you care?
I lied about waiting until tomorrow to respond to you;; please forgive me.
No problem.
First and foremost, I am not defending Israel’s appalling human rights record in any way, shape, or form.
Cool.
If it were up to me, there would be a complete international boycott of Israel, much like their was with apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, until Israel completely withdraws from the illegally occupied West Bank and is abiding by all international humanitarian law.
Cool.
But, if one does not call out human rights atrocities wherever and whenever they have occurred regardless of who has committed them, and only does so selectively, it makes one a major hypocrite and causes him or her to cede the moral high ground.
This is the hypocrisy argument, which I find kind of weak. We aren't funding any other atrocities around the world (AFAIK). We aren't participating in any other atrocities around the world (AFAIK). The commission of other atrocities is not splitting the party, possibly allowing Trump to win, nor causing legislatures to take away the civil rights of those protesting other atrocities.
And some of your reasoning is wrong. In one of your paragraphs, you seem to be saying that Iran and other countries in the Middle East and throughout the world have a better human rights record than Israel, when there is no discernible difference.
No - I am explicitly saying that Iran has MUCH higher human rights records that Israel, and it isn't close. By any metric.
Next, the buck stops with Trump regarding the United States’s involvement in this illegal and idiotic Iran war, no one else. It was his decision and his decision alone to get the U.S. involved.
Did I say otherwise? Sure - Trump is the ultimate decider, but that doesn't excuse the malignancy of Israel, of Netanyahu, of Zionists in and around Trump (like Rubio), and in the media / intelligence agencies pushing for this war.
Also, MBS was beating the drums even louder than Netanyahu for the United States to bomb Iran.
You claim this - but I've seen no evidence for it. If you DO have evidence for this claim - please let me know.
So, what’s to say that this war is not being fought by the United States on behalf of Saudi Arabia, even more so than for Israel?
Because, AFAIK, MBS nor Saudi Arabia had repeated meetings with Trump like Israel did, MBS nor Saudi Arabia didn't publicly declare success like Israel did when the United States entered, Marco Rubio, Trump and the House Leader didn't say MBS nor Saudi Arabia dragged us into the war, like they did about Israel.
I'm just going from the evidence, man. If you have other evidence, please let me know.
Did you not mention this because Israel, at least in name, is a Jewish state?
Israel CALLS itself a Jewish state, but I see no evidence to support that claim. They certainly do not abide by the tenets of Judiasm as I understand it.
Finally, you seem either oblivious or impervious as to what is occurring in the contemporary United States under the Trump regime. And about the history of the United States following the American Civll War of the 1860s.
What makes you say that?
Are you aware of what Jim Crow was and/or what the Trump regime is now doing to immigrants and refugees of color with its ICE Gestapo?
Yes - but how is that relevant? It seems you wish to change the subject for some reason?
I am not saying that the United States is even close to being as godawful on human rights as Israel, Iran, Russia, or China are, at least not yet. But, you seem naive as to what is going on here. Do you care?
Yes - but it isn't Iran, Russia, or China that is taking away my civil rights to protest, nor is it Iran, Russia, or China that is dragging us into a conflagration in the Middle East ... but they are the ones who will ultimately benefit, not us. There are a lot of bad actors in the world - but we are being lead around by the nose by only one, AFAIK.
Most of what you wrote here is accurate, but part of it is not. You can’t criticize Israel’s appalling record on human rights and gloss over the atrocious human right records of other countries and be expected to be taken seriously on human rights issues. To be an effective human rights advocate, one must be consistent.
Even though you may be correct in stating that the United States is funding only Israel’s human rights atrocities, as opposed to those being committed by other countries.
And, no, Iran does not have a “MUCH higher human rights record than Israel.” There is no discernible difference, as evidenced by the fact that Iran just slaughtered around 40,000 of its own citizens for protesting peacefully against its ultra-repressive regime. And the same is true for the UAE, as evidenced by its financing of the Sudan genocide.
Regarding MBS’s involvement in the Iran war, Rachel Maddow of MSNOW reported it on her show last Monday night. You’re taking the word of pathological liars like Trump and Rubio, while I am believing a highly regarded political commentator like Rachel Maddow.
Finally, once again, no one is responsible for what Americans do and the horrors occurring here besides us, not Israel nor anyone else.
Suggesting that Israel is leading us “around by the nose” and responsible for the dysfunction and depravity inside the United States is factually incorrect and plays into antisemitic tropes and stereotypes. I should not have to tell you that.
Some of your points are completely valid, while others are not. You seem defensive and accusatory in some of your sentences. It’s too late now, so I’ll respond tomorrow.
Vance is bringing up the religious angle with his upcoming book so it's fair for Joe to mention the dueling scriptures in recent news... I'm not well read enough to get into those trenches without googling. The two passages to which Joe alluded sure present very different (not to say contradictory) views of what god's all about.
Hegseth said he got his payer info from a chaplain; the words appear to be in Psalm 18:37-41. Pope Leo's remark was Isaiah 1:15. Those passages were written about very different topics, but reading those 2 full chapters side by side is illuminating. The Psalm celebrates a kick-ass god who beats on enemies. The Isaiah chapter seems more like god scolding people for going astray, telling them to get their hearts right so justice will be restored: "Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow" (Isaiah 1:17) - man, that god is WOKE! Hegseth would need Him to do more push ups
If using a stock image of a Methodist church for the cover of his Catholic biography isn't peak JD Vance...I don't know what is.
In Vance’s defense, it’s not like there many super photogenic Catholic Churches he could use, right?
Remember, it has to be consistent with the Hillbilly Yale Educated Venture Capitalist Funding Family Farm Subjugation to Tech Overlord Plantation Owners Aligned With Anti-Immigrant Christian Nationalists Opposing Immigration While Married to a Hindu Daughter of Immigrants.
Which is a long way of sayin’ it’s gotta be a pretty church someplace JD never lived that looks like the Appalachia, the place Vance didn’t live in as a child. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jd-vance-middle-class/
So many Hillbillies are really suburban golfers. We need to get some of the earthworms used to turn bullshit into fertilizer and set ‘em loose ON JD. Thanks to the Iranpocalypse, the farmers who sold their land to JD’s AcreTraitor investment and leased it back will face high diesel and fertilizer costs in planting season and may not be able to pay the rent, forfeiting family farms to wealthy Silicon Valley “Valleybillies.”
https://civileats.com/2024/09/18/jd-vance-invested-in-acretrader-heres-why-that-matters/
https://www.kwch.com/2026/03/06/kansas-farmers-face-rising-fertilizer-diesel-costs-war-iran-drives-up-prices/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/jd-vance-s-2028-strategy-be-even-worse-than-trump/ar-AA1STw9A
Hey now! I'll have you know that JD Vance grew up in the hollers of suburban Cincinnati. He had to walk uphill five miles both ways in blinding snow to reach the Moonshine aisle of Jungle Jim's International Market. Nobody told him that he could have just as easily driven his car on the interstate. ;)
Excellent description of Vance and his modus operandi in one sentence.
But they are in blue cities, Latin America, or Europe.
St. Patricks in NYC qualifies. But that's where the elites go to worship. U of San Diego has a really nice one, but that's where the beautiful people go, so Mr. Fatty Turdcake has to pick a ugly generic one.
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is like five minutes from the VP residence in DC. No need to travel far.
And yet.. “Vance has also not publicly attended Mass as frequently as he said he used to before becoming vice president.”
Yeah, I don't blame him. If the pope and DC cardinal were regularly calling me out for nonsense I saw about the gospel, I would shy away from mass too.
Vance is a hypocrite.
Nope, can’t think of a one.
😂
Thanks for this post. I figured this out about Track AIPAC when I saw someone claim that AIPAC had spent as much money as Elon Musk getting Trump elected. It sounded just completely wrong. It turned out they were counting the Adelsons as "AIPAC."
AIPAC ranks relatively low among national lobbying groups in terms of spending. I am not a defender of or apologizer for the Israeli government, but it starts to reek of "all powerful Jewish puppetmaster" trope
Yeah... absolutely this. The only problem is that the Israeli government seems to be trying to do everything it can these days to promote that trope with the assistance of the Trump Administration's own words and public statements. Rubio, Hegseth, Huckabee, and Graham have all done their part to promote Israel as an "all powerful Jewish puppetmaster" much to the joy of virulent right wing anti-Semites who can't wait to gleefully offer recent events and statements up as proof they were right about a global Jewish conspiracy all along. Its a real catch-22.
Heather,
I believe that you are correct in suggesting that AIPAC’s power is exaggerated, because its money can only take it so far (it spends a lot more than you are acknowledging here; look at the 2026 IL-9 Democratic primary).
And also in writing that sometimes criticism of AIPAC veers into antisemitic tropes about the “all powerful Jewish puppet master.”
But at the same time, due to the sheer volume of money that AIPAC spends on federal campaigns, its Machiavellian tactics, and because it acts in what it thinks is in the interest of a foreign government I believe AIPAC to be a shanda for the goyim and fifth column of sorts in American politics.
Yes, fully agreed. I did not mean to imply AIPAC is not a problem. The outsized power of well funded interest groups is one of the most fundamental challenges to American democracy, including AIPAC.
And in regard to how Israel itself actively stokes the narrative that Israel=all Jews, the way its own behavior fulfills some of these ancient conspiracies… you said it exactly right. It is shameful and infuriating. I see so many people rightfully critical of Israel then becoming easily susceptible to believing dangerous lies about Jewish people. Especially young people who may be coming to these stories for the first time. My impression is that the amount of Holocaust denial online has exploded in the past year.
Tragically, Heather, I agree 100% and fear it is about to get a lot worse.
Uh oh, watch out. You'll incur the wrath of some Hasan Parker or Walter Matheson fan foaming at the mouth saying you're a Corporate Democrat or Israel shill just for writing about Track AIPAC
I hate AIPAC and Anti-AIPAC zealots about the same. I hate AIPAC because it is a PAC. I hate the Anti-AIPAC zealots because they are fundamentally hypocrites. Were they warring against PAC money in principle, that all PAC money is corrupting, I would applaud but they just don't like the political perspective of THIS PAC and the citizens it represents.
The childish presumption that any candidate is under the thumb of an organization because they get a couple of thousand dollars from that organization is ridiculous. None of these donations are secret and since they are transparent they really do touch on free speech.
Of more concern to me is the hidden money flowing from the dark side. The kind of money that invented and marketed JD Vance who has no organic and natural constituency in Ohio or anywhere else outside of Silicon Valley.
The cover selection is to underscore its Christian orientation without signaling his own choice to become Catholic as many of his supporters, to some degree or other, consider the Roman Catholic Church "The Whore of Babylon." Catholic imagery would have been risky.
The title "Communion" is head scratcher because that is how Protestants talk about "The Mass" or "Eucharist" in normative Catholic vernacular. I am interested in his theological perspective and how he has moved from whatever he was into one who believes that in Transubstantiation, Papal Infallibility and the moral obligation to defer to the Magisterium on issues of morality like the preferential option for the poor, upholding the human dignity of all people after they leave the womb, and telling the truth even if secular authorities threaten dire consequences.
Bottom line until he demonstrates his Christian and Catholic commitments are manifested in the corporal and spiritual "acts of mercy" I will simply assume he is just establishing his brand and is mostly a "Cafeteria Catholic" like most Catholic politicians left or right.
Griff - I lapsed many decades ago, a term I learned as a kid along with 'fallen away' - which always sounded worse to me - lapsed at least implies possible renewal, like re-upping a driver license to heaven. All to say, I claim no cred to evaluate the VP's Catholicity. I will say it's always been odd to me that he doesn't market aspects of his involvement with his faith as part of his political persona. Politicians do that routinely. I get your point that some christians don't think catholics really qualify, but middle of the road image-wise, wouldn't there be mileage in a photo of him & his smiling fam on the steps of St. Whomever in his Cinci area neighborhood (like many politicians do, regardless of regularity of attendance), or maybe at a Friday fish fry or spaghetti dinner, church car wash, something? Anything? Any sightings of him meeting his obligation to attend Mass weekly (+holy days)? In most ways he doesn't appear to be terribly shy about expressing opinions, but seems pretty close to the vest re: routine trappings of church. Not to mention showing the fruits as you mentioned (as did Matthew 7:16)
In the Anglican tradition we speak of people leaving the Church as "abandoning the communion."
Much more elegant sound to that! I tried google translate to see if I could make 'lapsed' sound better in Latin... it's 'lapsus' so no. And 'fallen away' is 'defecerunt' which seems just gross
Vance has only one principle, his own self-advancement. His stated religion is on the down shift in popularity within the camp of his non-Catholic supporters and those he wishes to gain, so he will push it away and likely, ultimately, jettison it for what will curry him favour and accrete power. His beliefs, such as they are, are water that hasn't yet found its grounded level. And he will change his name and anything else, that in others is defining, as often as it takes, to keep ahead of whatever it is about himself he's trying to outrun, to get where his greed and ambition are trying to go.
Change his wife to Erika Kirk.
Great reporting as always, Joe. Just out of curiosity, b/c I wasn't paying attention at the time and now don't want to try and research it, what building are you referring to when you say, "I was the first reporter in the building to check in at the press table"?
If only we could rewind to that day and choose an alternative future. I saw a sign for No Kings that said, "America had a choice of two paths; it chose the psychopath."
One of the many joys of participating in No Kings is seeing the creativity of so many neighbors!
Once again, in reaction to an organization that has become increasingly braindead and clownish (AIPAC), a similarly clownish organization, Track AIPAC, springs up. Once again, we are presented with the most stupid of the 'sides' of the issue.
Joe is so right to be concerned about this group's amateurish lack of accuracy. Its upsetting. So you can imagine how pissed of I am that my local Congressman got his seat purchased for him with 22 million dollars of AIPAC and related PAC money.
People get upset about different things. I hope they used the right colors on this joker.
u get it. it’s not the methods but the sentiment that i appreciate. it was unthinkable years ago that we could arrive at a place culturally where advocacy for palestinian lives would matter to the average american at all.
I think they undermine their own sentiments and causes with these methods though.... AIPAC Tracker is such an unbelievably straightforward label that anyone can understand... and you're telling me that you're not actually doing that at all?!? Just sounds like someone that can't be trusted and should be ignored to me.
Definitely they're amateurs who undermine their own message. The official money figures that Joe cites are the thing, not the color coding foolishness of the Trackers. On the other hand, because of A-T, at least in part, a lot of Dem representatives are starting to realize that they are out of step with their constituents, and they are starting to get with the program. AIPAC would love for you to ignore both AIPAC Tracker and the underlying problem. Hey, there are lots of lobbies, right? I think they are finding out that things have changed, and its not working anymore. And that was before this war.
Wonder if JD realizes how much magavangelicals tend to loathe the "whore of Rome". What a dummy.
So JD goes off and loses his way making a fortune w/the nihilist live-forever we-are-gods tech bros, then finds his Catholic faith. Did he give up his secular fortune? No? That's kinda Jesus' message. Explicitly.
From our side of the pond, the AIPAC piece is incomprehensible. Anyway, keep up the good work!
Utterly baffled in the Netherlands
As a GWU grad, just tell me what I need to do to protect America from our ilk and I’ll do it. 🫡
"Total Palestine score"? What the heck? I'm a Jew who believes (if pointlessly) in a two-state solution and can't stand Bibi and his cohort (and, for that matter, AIPAC) -- but also note that Hamas was awful and incompetent at governance and that October 7 was abhorrent.
Where do I fit in, Track AIPAC?
"Total Palestine score"? What the heck?
The Sarah Longwell project, called "Republican Accountability Project," has a very similar scoring system for Republicans.
https://accountability.gop/report-card/
"I'm a Jew who believes (if pointlessly) in a two-state solution and can't stand Bibi and his cohort (and, for that matter, AIPAC) -- but also note that Hamas was awful and incompetent at governance and that October 7 was abhorrent."
You sound like you're starting to wake up from what you've been taught - which is great - but you have a little way to go yet.
Let me put some ideas in your head, and see what you think:
1. The 'two state solution' was always a lie, a delaying tactic, to allow Israeli settlers to take the land that would be set aside for a future Palestinian state.
2. You are engaging in the "Bad Bibi" theory, which itself is a distraction from the core of the problem, which is Zionism itself:
https://parrhizzia1.substack.com/p/why-i-dont-hate-netanyahu?r=3hh94p
3. You may not know that the "awful Hamas" was actually funded by Israel, over years, in order to keep Palestinians intentionally divided, and as such, preventing a unified demand for their own state, and
4. As bad as Oct 7 was - and it was bad - it pales into insignificance compared to a normal day of Israel's foreign policy. If you think Oct 7 was bad, and justifies what has happened to Gaza, then I have to ask: what should happen to Israel because of the Sabra and Shatilla massacres?
And finally - as a Jew - can you justify what Zionism has been since the 1890s based on the tenets of Judaism? I am not a Jew, but I have studied Judaism to see if I can find support for it. I cannot.
Good luck with your questions - keep challenging what you might want to believe.
Oh, I've been questioning for decades. But identity -- especially a religious identity that's intertwined with a cultural and historical identity -- will always be a challenge to sort out.
I have bones to pick with some of your statements, but I have bones to pick with lots of statements, including some of my own. (As the saying goes, Two Jews, three opinions.)
TBC -
Feel free to “bone pick” anything I say - if I have something wrong, I really do want to hear it.
FWIW: I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian church where unconditional support Zionism was a central part. It took me literally years to wake up, to read, to listen, to come to the conclusion that I had been wrong for a long time.
I always, always, always try to extend grace to others, as others once extended grace to me.
There are three voices missing from this debate:
1. Palestinians voices primarily. Do you remember the last time you heard an actual Palestinian speak on their own humanity?
2. Anti-Zionist Jews. If you listen to the mainstream media, you’d think that ALL diaspora Jews are Zionist, if not supporters of Netanyahu.
3. Israeli Zionists. We never hear vox-pops from Israelis, hear what their views are in polls, nor what the Knesset does on their behalf. If we did - I suspect Americans would pull back in horror.
What we see of Israeli society is carefully curated.
There were other parties involved in those massacres as well. Also, it as not accurate to say that October 7, 2023 “pales into insignificance in comparison to a normal day of Israel’s foreign policy.”
And Hamas was propped up by other governments over the years besides Israel’s, including by the Qataris who gifted Trump that lavish airplane.
And how is Israel’s human rights record, as atrocious as it is, any worse than that of the other nations in the Middle East region and many other countries throughout the world?
And is the human rights record of the United States really all that much better at this time than that of most of those counties?
And while I would concur with you about Zionism being antithetical to Jewish values, there are Jews, including some Israeli Jews, who have tried hard very every day to bring compassion to it.
In fact, Israel PM Yitzhak Rabin, a good man and Zionist, was assassinated by a right-wing extremist Zionist in November of 1995 because he planned to dismantle Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank and was desperately trying to resolve the conflict by having two independent states.
So, I also don’t buy that the two-state solution “was always a lie.” And, FWIW, that Israel is 100% responsible for the conflict.
There's a lot there - but let's see if I can answer what I can.
"There were other parties involved in those massacres as well."
Yes, there were - the Phalanges. Are you implying that their involvement somehow reduces the culpability of the Israelis? After all, Oct 7 was not just Hamas, but also the PIJ and even some Gazan civilians. Do you discount Hamas's culpability because of those other parties?
You know the thing about the Sabra and Shatilla massacres is how brazenly cowardly they were. In comparison to the Oct 7 Hamas attack, which targeted mostly Israeli military AND paramilitary forces (as well as some civilians), the Sabra and Shatilla massacre was an attack on ONLY civilians.
How do we know that?
You see, there was a whole political process by which the PLO fighters literally sailed away, followed by the international peacekeepers, leaving only civilians in refugee tents. It was only then, when there was nobody who could fight back, that the Israelis and their allies attacked.
Anyway, you didn't answer my question: what should have happened to all of Israel because of that terrorist attack? Should we bomb Israel in the way Gaza has been bombed? If not, why not? Why do the "rules" and "justifications" only go one way?
'it as not accurate to say that October 7, 2023 “pales into insignificance in comparison to a normal day of Israel’s foreign policy.”
Why not? I guess it depends on how you count horrors and atrocities. Hamas killed a few hundred civilians on Oct 7 - but so does Israel every day. Hamas took a couple of hundred civilians hostage - but so does Israel. In fact, it is holding thousands in prisons without charge right now, and was doing so BEFORE Oct 7. It has also displaced 6 million people and counting in the last 3 years; 2 million in Gaza, 3 million in Iran, and 1 million in Lebanon.
Again, it is how you want to count atrocities.
"And Hamas was propped up by other governments over the years besides Israel’s"
Yes, but they WERE propped up by the Israelis. And that makes it very hard to argue that they are a terrorist organization ... right? Surely Israel wouldn't support designated terrorists ... would they?
(Fun fact: there is an American serving a 65 year prison sentence for sending $4 million worth of educational supplies to Palestine as material support for Hamas. He, and some others, was convicted on super-secret Israei intelligence. It's a wild case. If he got 65 years, how many years should Netanyahu get?)
"And how is Israel’s human rights record, as atrocious as it is, any worse than that of the other nations in the Middle East region and many other countries throughout the world?"
So this is a whataboutism argument. If you want to set your moral bar at "other nations in the Middle East" that is your concern, but please don't try to then tell me that Israel is "the only democracy in the Middle East" or "Israel has the most moral army".
But I am afraid Israel even fails to clear that oh-so-low moral bar.
Sure - other Middle Eastern countries are abhorrent, such as our 2nd-most-sacrosanct ally KSA, but nobody holds millions of people under subjugation, do they? Even the Iranians don't treat their thousands of Jews the same way Israel treats Palestinians ... do they? Yes - those countries have horrid prisons, filled with torture and rape, but nearly as many as Israel does ... surely?
Again, we're counting and comparing atrocities. Not something I like to do. If you said "Israel's human rights are as good as an OECD country" that might be something ... but you didn't. You had to compare Israel to literally the scum of the Earth to "win".
"And is the human rights record of the United States really all that much better at this time than that of most of those countries?
I would certainly hope so. Yes, the United States had slavery 160 years ago ... but no longer. We had a whole war over it. And yes, the United States DID commit a genocide against its indigenous peoples, but we stopped doing that too. You can't point to that and say "well, we get to do ethnic cleansing and genocide NOW because of what you did THEN". We evolved from that horrendous state because of "western values", LOL.
"Jews, including some Israeli Jews, who have tried hard very every day to bring compassion to it."
I don't think I claimed otherwise - did I? I just said that there is no way to justify Zionism from the tenets of Judaism. I am not a Jew, but I have studied, and cannot find such a justification. In fact, the tenets of Judaism seem to be antithetical to Zionism. If you can make that case that the tenets of Judaism DO justify Zionism - then please tell me. It would make a big difference.
I'm not sure how your mention of Yitzhhak Rabin counters my assertion that the two-state solution was always a lie? Whatever his attempts were, he WAS killed, and the two-state solution never eventuated. Doesn't that prove my point? If you had said "Rabin was killed, and his dream of two states was put into effect in his name," then you might have a point ... but the exact opposite happened.
Wouldn't it be correct to say "anyone who ACTUALLY tries to implement a two-state solution, rather than just mouthing words, is destroyed?"
Anyway, all this naval-gazing is kinda moot. The President of the United States is going to make a decision soon - to either declare success and sail away, or send American troops into Iran to fight and die for Israel.
Either way ... this may be the last ever war fought by the United States for Israel. What happens when Republicans in the Senate start voting against the many largesses granted to Israel?
I lied about waiting until tomorrow to respond to you;; please forgive me.
First and foremost, I am not defending Israel’s appalling human rights record in any way, shape, or form.
If it were up to me, there would be a complete international boycott of Israel, much like their was with apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, until Israel completely withdraws from the illegally occupied West Bank and is abiding by all international humanitarian law.
But, if one does not call out human rights atrocities wherever and whenever they have occurred regardless of who has committed them, and only does so selectively, it makes one a major hypocrite and causes him or her to cede the moral high ground.
And some of your reasoning is wrong. In one of your paragraphs, you seem to be saying that Iran and other countries in the Middle East and throughout the world have a better human rights record than Israel, when there is no discernible difference.
Next, the buck stops with Trump regarding the United States’s involvement in this illegal and idiotic Iran war, no one else. It was his decision and his decision alone to get the U.S. involved.
Also, MBS was beating the drums even louder than Netanyahu for the United States to bomb Iran. So, what’s to say that this war is not being fought by the United States on behalf of Saudi Arabia, even more so than for Israel? Did you not mention this because Israel, at least in name, is a Jewish state?
Finally, you seem either oblivious or impervious as to what is occurring in the contemporary United States under the Trump regime. And about the history of the United States following the American Civll War of the 1860s.
Are you aware of what Jim Crow was and/or what the Trump regime is now doing to immigrants and refugees of color with its ICE Gestapo?
I am not saying that the United States is even close to being as godawful on human rights as Israel, Iran, Russia, or China are, at least not yet. But, you seem naive as to what is going on here. Do you care?
I lied about waiting until tomorrow to respond to you;; please forgive me.
No problem.
First and foremost, I am not defending Israel’s appalling human rights record in any way, shape, or form.
Cool.
If it were up to me, there would be a complete international boycott of Israel, much like their was with apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, until Israel completely withdraws from the illegally occupied West Bank and is abiding by all international humanitarian law.
Cool.
But, if one does not call out human rights atrocities wherever and whenever they have occurred regardless of who has committed them, and only does so selectively, it makes one a major hypocrite and causes him or her to cede the moral high ground.
This is the hypocrisy argument, which I find kind of weak. We aren't funding any other atrocities around the world (AFAIK). We aren't participating in any other atrocities around the world (AFAIK). The commission of other atrocities is not splitting the party, possibly allowing Trump to win, nor causing legislatures to take away the civil rights of those protesting other atrocities.
And some of your reasoning is wrong. In one of your paragraphs, you seem to be saying that Iran and other countries in the Middle East and throughout the world have a better human rights record than Israel, when there is no discernible difference.
No - I am explicitly saying that Iran has MUCH higher human rights records that Israel, and it isn't close. By any metric.
Next, the buck stops with Trump regarding the United States’s involvement in this illegal and idiotic Iran war, no one else. It was his decision and his decision alone to get the U.S. involved.
Did I say otherwise? Sure - Trump is the ultimate decider, but that doesn't excuse the malignancy of Israel, of Netanyahu, of Zionists in and around Trump (like Rubio), and in the media / intelligence agencies pushing for this war.
Also, MBS was beating the drums even louder than Netanyahu for the United States to bomb Iran.
You claim this - but I've seen no evidence for it. If you DO have evidence for this claim - please let me know.
So, what’s to say that this war is not being fought by the United States on behalf of Saudi Arabia, even more so than for Israel?
Because, AFAIK, MBS nor Saudi Arabia had repeated meetings with Trump like Israel did, MBS nor Saudi Arabia didn't publicly declare success like Israel did when the United States entered, Marco Rubio, Trump and the House Leader didn't say MBS nor Saudi Arabia dragged us into the war, like they did about Israel.
I'm just going from the evidence, man. If you have other evidence, please let me know.
Did you not mention this because Israel, at least in name, is a Jewish state?
Israel CALLS itself a Jewish state, but I see no evidence to support that claim. They certainly do not abide by the tenets of Judiasm as I understand it.
Finally, you seem either oblivious or impervious as to what is occurring in the contemporary United States under the Trump regime. And about the history of the United States following the American Civll War of the 1860s.
What makes you say that?
Are you aware of what Jim Crow was and/or what the Trump regime is now doing to immigrants and refugees of color with its ICE Gestapo?
Yes - but how is that relevant? It seems you wish to change the subject for some reason?
I am not saying that the United States is even close to being as godawful on human rights as Israel, Iran, Russia, or China are, at least not yet. But, you seem naive as to what is going on here. Do you care?
Yes - but it isn't Iran, Russia, or China that is taking away my civil rights to protest, nor is it Iran, Russia, or China that is dragging us into a conflagration in the Middle East ... but they are the ones who will ultimately benefit, not us. There are a lot of bad actors in the world - but we are being lead around by the nose by only one, AFAIK.
Most of what you wrote here is accurate, but part of it is not. You can’t criticize Israel’s appalling record on human rights and gloss over the atrocious human right records of other countries and be expected to be taken seriously on human rights issues. To be an effective human rights advocate, one must be consistent.
Even though you may be correct in stating that the United States is funding only Israel’s human rights atrocities, as opposed to those being committed by other countries.
And, no, Iran does not have a “MUCH higher human rights record than Israel.” There is no discernible difference, as evidenced by the fact that Iran just slaughtered around 40,000 of its own citizens for protesting peacefully against its ultra-repressive regime. And the same is true for the UAE, as evidenced by its financing of the Sudan genocide.
Regarding MBS’s involvement in the Iran war, Rachel Maddow of MSNOW reported it on her show last Monday night. You’re taking the word of pathological liars like Trump and Rubio, while I am believing a highly regarded political commentator like Rachel Maddow.
Finally, once again, no one is responsible for what Americans do and the horrors occurring here besides us, not Israel nor anyone else.
Suggesting that Israel is leading us “around by the nose” and responsible for the dysfunction and depravity inside the United States is factually incorrect and plays into antisemitic tropes and stereotypes. I should not have to tell you that.
Some of your points are completely valid, while others are not. You seem defensive and accusatory in some of your sentences. It’s too late now, so I’ll respond tomorrow.
Vance is bringing up the religious angle with his upcoming book so it's fair for Joe to mention the dueling scriptures in recent news... I'm not well read enough to get into those trenches without googling. The two passages to which Joe alluded sure present very different (not to say contradictory) views of what god's all about.
Hegseth said he got his payer info from a chaplain; the words appear to be in Psalm 18:37-41. Pope Leo's remark was Isaiah 1:15. Those passages were written about very different topics, but reading those 2 full chapters side by side is illuminating. The Psalm celebrates a kick-ass god who beats on enemies. The Isaiah chapter seems more like god scolding people for going astray, telling them to get their hearts right so justice will be restored: "Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow" (Isaiah 1:17) - man, that god is WOKE! Hegseth would need Him to do more push ups
Regarding those 6 bills to regulate prediction markets and their potential for passage... anyone care to lay odds? 🎲
<ouch!> ...ok yeah, I asked for it
Actually, you’ve come up with a terrific idea to run on the prediction markets, e.g.
Kalshi will be shutdown by <DATE>
But not a word about Congressional insider trading or executive market manipulation.