the attitude with arnie arnesen the Tues. edition April 14

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Arnie Arnesen

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Apr 13, 2026, 8:41:52 PM (9 days ago) Apr 13
to AttitudeArnieArnesen
The attitude with arnie arnesen
opening thoughts: Hegseth...abuse of faith
producers: Dave Scott and Stephanie Collins
Chloé LaCasse (the best of the attitude)
streaming live at wnhnfm.org noon EST on the dial-94.7FM Concord NH
great week for humanity
DEI and science/Artemus II/ won!
overwhelming voter turnout in support of democracy/Hungary/ won!
The defense secretary thinks he’s commanding God’s army by Frank  Bruni https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/opinion/pete-hegseths-religious-war.html
I guess a zealot, by nature, can’t hide — too extreme are his convictions, too grand his designs, too consuming his arrogance. And so, over recent weeks, Pete Hegseth has fully revealed himself.
He has made clear that every missile the United States fires, every bomb it drops, every Iranian it kills, is for Jesus. Praise be the Lord, who has given America the power to wipe out an entire civilization. That’s what President Trump threatened to do — in an intermittently jaunty social media post, no less — and Hegseth gave no indication of unwillingness to execute that order.
He brandishes assertions about God’s will with the exaggerated brio of an electronics merchant pressing fliers on pedestrians passing by his new megastore: Have I got a holy war for you. Embrace the death. Exult over the destruction. What only looks like hell is a ticket to heaven.
Not everyone agrees. In this era of the extraordinary, Pope Leo XIV has taken the unusual step of publicly and specifically rebuking the Trump administration’s assertion of divine approval for the war against Iran.
In a social media post on Friday, he wrote: “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”...The pope’s preoccupation obviously reflects all the talk of God, God, God from Hegseth and from Trump, whose piety is profound when that’s convenient. Hegseth at one point used a Pentagon news conference in which he celebrated Iranians’ experience of “death and destruction from above” to beseech Americans to pray for our troops daily, on bended knee, “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
As my Times colleagues Greg Jaffe and Elizabeth Dias wrote: “More than any top American military leader in recent history, Mr. Hegseth has framed U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America as bigger than politics or foreign policy. Often he has imbued these actions with a Christian moral underpinning that suggests they are divinely sanctioned.”
“Suggests” is gentle. And that article was published before Hegseth volubly likened the rescue of an American airman shot down over Iran to the Resurrection of Jesus. “A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing,” Hegseth said at a news conference. “God is good.” Hegseth has a tattoo on his right biceps that says “Deus vult,” Latin for “God wills it.” He has described that phrase as a battle cry during the Crusades, which, of course, pitted Christians against Muslims. He titled his 2020 book “American Crusade” — notice any fixation? — and wrote in it that Americans must fight “like our fellow Christians 1,000 years ago.”He belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which exalts patriarchy and descends from a movement that argues that the Bible’s edicts should prevail over secular law.
He tugs church into state. As Michelle Boorstein wrote recently in The Washington Post: “Every month at the Pentagon, Hegseth hosts evangelical worship services that legal experts say are unprecedented. His social media profile and public comments routinely espouse his understanding of Christianity, which is one that would dominate American life and cast those who disagree with him as God’s enemies. He has brought clergy from his small Christian denomination to preach at the Pentagon, including a prominent pastor who says women shouldn’t have the right to vote.”
How exactly did he become secretary of defense, to use the traditional title for the job? (Ever the overcompensating showboat, he prefers “secretary of war.”) It’s astonishing to look back at the period in early 2025 before his Senate confirmation hearing and recall all the worry about the allegations of his public drunkenness in the past, of his gross mismanagement of the groups Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America, of his sexually abusive behavior. (He disputed all of this.) Those were, indeed, blaring alarms. But they were no more concerning than his theocratic bent, which was minimized in the shuffle.,,,Hegseth’s is a gospel of carnage, and I have so many questions about it. How does he square his Christianity with references to “no quarter, no mercy” for enemies of the United States? That’s not how Jesus talked.,,,Hegseth exemplifies vanity, and I’m not referring to the shirtless photos and shellacked hair. I mean the insistence that his way is His way and the only way. That God has bestowed a unique blessing on America, whose might proves its right and whose killing is a kind of grace.What a strange religion. But then there’s so much about Hegseth — and America right now — that I find bizarre. 
part one: Lincoln Mitchell teaches political science and public policy at Columbia University. He is the author of nine books and his writings have appeared at CNN, Reuters, the New York Times, NBC, the San Francisco Examiner and numerous other media platforms. For more of Lincoln’s work you can subscribe to his Substack “Kibitzing with Lincoln” 

Magyar says his government will work for a ‘free, European’ Hungary in break with Orbán era – Europe live https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/13/hungary-peter-magyar-viktor-orban-trump-russia-ukraine-iran-eu-europe-latest-news-updates

Defeat of Orban Removes Ukraine’s Biggest Nemesis in Europe The Hungarian leader’s pro-Moscow tilt cemented his reputation in Kyiv as a spoiler. Now, Ukraine hopes a 90 billion euro loan he blocked will be disbursed.   https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/world/europe/hungary-orban-ukraine-zelensky.html

Eric Swalwell quits California governor race after sexual assault allegations. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/12/eric-swalwell-quits-california-governor

part two:
“The Alarm Bell”: Arizona’s Drop in SNAP Participation Signals Potential Nationwide Impact of Trump Legislation Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act imposes stricter food stamp work requirements and shifts a larger share of the costs to states. Arizona’s swift implementation has made it more difficult to apply and caused nearly half of recipients to lose benefits.  https://www.propublica.org/article/arizona-snap-benefits-trump-legislation
 Nicole Santa Cruz writes about inequality in the Southwest.
I’m interested in hearing how policy changes are impacting people who are homeless and those who rely on safety-net programs in the Southwest.

I write about how policies and laws impact vulnerable people. I’m interested in highlighting problems and issues faced by those who are often ignored or overlooked.



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KEEPING THE POT STIRRED SO SCUM DOESN'T RISE TO THE TOP -  Anonymous 

D. ARNIE ARNESEN
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