They are laughing about the control they think they have

In a Ukraine update Mark Sumner of Daily Kos discussed the situation in Bakhmut. The Russian position seems fragile. Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group is still attempting to take the last few blocks of the town so he can plant his flag and declare it captured. If he succeeds he’ll wave a Wagner (not Russian) flag. Sumner then discussed the huge loss of life from the Wagner soldiers. Prigozhin has also been calling for more support from the Russian troops surrounding the town. He’s not calling them to advance, but to hold on for a few more days until his bloody flag waving is done. And once that’s done he doesn’t do defense (and isn’t all that great at offense – he’s been at Bakhmut for nine months). Wrote Sumner:

For weeks, we’ve been staring in a mixture of amazement, amusement, and horror as Prigozhin rants against the Russian military while showing off hundreds of Wagner fighters lost to make minimal advances. What should really scare Vladimir Putin is that Prigozhin, after weeks of stunts like this, is still there, still in command of Wagner, and still making demands. Not only that, Russian TV hosts are not condemning Prigozhin. The balance of power between Putin and his former caterer seems more than a little questionable.

Kos of Kos reported that Ukraine is doing a good job pushing back those Russian forces to the north and south of Bakhmut. Perhaps they could encircle the Wagner troops in the city. Then Kos told the story of the Azov Battalion, now the 3rd Assault Brigade pulled off a small attack – an armored personnel carrier and eight men. They attacked what is supposed to be Russia’s elite VDV paratroopers and have an amazingly easy time of clearing trenches and hauling away trophy ammunition.

Russia’s best troops can’t halt even the most half-assed Ukrainian advance. Its VDV paratroopers buckled against a single squad, easily advancing 350 meters. ... Eight Ukrainians plus the two driving and manning the cannon on the armored personnel carrier picked up what had likely cost Wagner around 300 dead. It’s no surprise that in one of his furious rants this week, Prigozhin claimed Ukraine had regained territory that had cost his crew 500 dead. Meanwhile, the Azov squad suffered zero losses.

All that implies that when the full counteroffensive actually arrives those networks of trenches protecting the Russian position may not be much of a barrier. And Ukraine may have to worry about outrunning its supply lines. Kos wrote about cases where one group of Republicans seem to be battling another. One group is far right and accuses the other of not being sufficiently far right. And that second group, while trying to get actual governing done (when the town is three-quarter Republican a Republican has to make sure the trash gets picked up), is annoyed that the first group only wants to complain about culture war issues that don’t play out in their town. That seems to follow my understanding of those who most work to uphold the social hierarchy. They have to demonstrate they’re better than somebody (preferably lots of somebodies). If the lower levels of the hierarchy are cleared away those who claim they’re supposed to be near the top will attack and oppress those they consider just below them. The news this evening said the talks on a bill to raise the debt limit are on hold. Biden is in Asia for a G7 summit and will return Sunday. His negotiator report progress but Democrats are worried he’ll negotiate a bill they can’t support. I think it was McCarthy who called a halt for now. As negotiations were proceeding, last Wednesday Joan McCarter of Kos reported that a group of Democratic senators have shifted from saying they believe Biden has the constitutional authority to pay bills and ignore the debt limit, to directly asking Biden to do that. Do it, they say. Don’t negotiate this round and damage the economy and challenge the constitutionality later. Do it now. Take the ability to hold the economy hostage out of Republican hands. Go to court afterward if Republicans demand it. Do it because...

This is a game to Republicans, a game they think they are winning. They are laughing about the control they think they have in this situation. And here’s another reason. This is not about the debt or the deficit. It is not about putting the nation’s fiscal house in order or any other damned excuse from Republicans.

The proof of that is Republicans refuse higher taxes on the wealthy. Crissy Stroop, writing for Open Democracy, discussed the Christian right. America isn’t officially a Christian nation, but because of Christian history, prevalence, and privilege Christianity has had a strong influence on national policy and culture. And starting in the 1980 election the Christian right has been slowly working to impose their beliefs on the rest of the country (something I’ve written about many times). But the impeachment of Bill Clinton prompted “moderate Americans to associate Christianity with meanness, hypocrisy, and reactionary politics.” That led to a trend of Americans disaffiliating from Christian denominations. Then came the nasty guy with the full support of the Christian right along with his efforts to stack the Supreme Court with strong Christian conservatives. And that led to overturning abortion rights.

That marriage between conservative, mostly white Christianity and a Republican Party gleefully trampling the rights of queer people and women seems unlikely to end any time soon. And so long as that continues, we will probably continue to see empathetic Americans who grew up Christian deciding they no longer care to be religious in increasing numbers.

Summary: Christian nationalism is discrediting religion.