Politics The Tulsi/Kristi Show

Pretty astounding, if all true..

Why does it take British media sources to trot this stuff out, though?


https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-independent/

• Overall we rate The Independent Left-Center Biased due to story selection that moderately favors the left. We also rate them Mixed in factual reporting due to several failed fact checks.

 

I've been looking into it, though. This from a number of years ago.

https://www.civilbeat.org/2015/03/krishna-cult-rumors-still-dog-tulsi-gabbard/

Civil Beat found no evidence that Tulsi Gabbard is — or ever was — a Butler devotee. And we could find no record of her ever speaking publicly about it.

Gabbard has veered away from her earlier, conservative positions on social issues and voiced support for same-sex marriage — in stark contrast to her father, who still maintains his anti-gay stance, in line with Butler’s teachings.

In 2012, Gabbard told Civil Beat that the changes were part of her “gradual metamorphosis” on social issues brought on by her experience of seeing oppression in the Middle East during her military deployments. As for her father’s views, she said: “While my parents and I have a very close relationship, and we love each other and respect each other very much, we don’t agree on everything.”

When it comes to religious choice, Gabbard has openly described herself as a Hindu since her 2012 campaign. At her swearing-in ceremony in January 2013, she took the oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture, and became the first Hindu in Congress.

“I chose to take the oath of office with my personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita because its teachings have inspired me to strive to be a servant-leader, dedicating my life in the service of others and to my country,” Gabbard said that day.

In a statement to Civil Beat sent Sunday, Gabbard touted the character of Hawaii voters for choosing “a Vaishnava Hindu” to represent them in Congress. “I make the most of every opportunity I get to tell the world that Hawaii is a place where people live the dream of Martin Luther King — where a person is judged not by the color of their skin, ethnicity, or religion,” she wrote.

Gabbard added: “Many Hindus have not felt they would be truly accepted for who they are, that they would have to change their religion. … My example and my words are very liberating to them, as I share with them and their children: ‘Every American has the right to run for political office or serve our community in any capacity he or she may choose.’”

Still, Gabbard’s conspicuous silence on her family’s ties to Butler — especially after the many times it’s come up in public discussions — has only made her detractors more suspicious.

But, even if Gabbard were a Butler devotee, does it matter? As Honolulu Weekly, in its 1992 profile of then-U.S. Senate candidate Rick Reed, put it: “Hey, candidates with a covert religious right-wing social agenda are a dime a dozen these days, even if most of them are doing it in the name of Christ, not Krishna.”

By and large, this question is met with a collective head-scratching. Beyond the vague notion of transparency, none of the people Civil Beat has interviewed, or even the Gabbard skeptics on the Cult Education forum, can point to any nefarious plot being concocted by Butler or offer an articulate explanation as to why Gabbard’s constituents should be alarmed by Butler’s potential influence on the congresswoman.

But that hasn’t stopped them from looking for evidence of a secret agenda. And there’s been no shortage of material for them to examine in recent months, given that Gabbard’s profile on the national stage has been rising to a new level — on the back of her unconventional, and often controversial, policy positions. She has made multiple appearances on cable and network TV news programs and conducts frequent interviews with the national and international press.

To some, all this attention to Gabbard’s faith is troubling. In fact, they have been arguing that the whole idea of examining Butler’s influence reeks of religious bigotry.

Historically speaking, they may have that argument on their side. After all, the minority faiths of politicians — be it Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, Joe Lieberman’s Judaism or John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism — have at times been singled out and met with bigoted backlash.

Gabbard experienced this firsthand in the run-up to the 2012 campaign when her GOP opponent, Kawika Crowley, told CNN that Gabbard’s Hinduism “doesn’t align with the constitutional foundation of the U.S. government.”

But others argue that discussing the religious identities of public officials and political candidates, particularly those on the national stage, has long been considered fair game.

And the questions, fair or not, are piling up. University of Hawaii political science professor Colin Moore says it might not make sense for Gabbard to keep her silence much longer.

“There comes a point where it begins to look more and more suspicious than perhaps it already is,” Moore said. “With this issue, it probably has reached a point where it is to her benefit to start opening up and talking more frankly about this, because this isn’t likely going away.”

John Hart, a longtime political pundit who chairs the communications department at Hawaii Pacific University, also points out that Gabbard’s recent criticism of Obama’s refusal to label the Islamic State as “Islamic extremists” bolsters the argument for those demanding transparency.

“Representative Gabbard has argued publicly on the ISIS issue that we need to consider religious affiliations to understand what we’re dealing with,” Hart said. “If that’s the case, then we shouldn’t be surprised to see that some people are going to apply that same standard” to her own faith.

 

Speak softly? Trump spoke loudly and carried a small stick. DeSantis speaks loudly and only uses a stick against the poor and persecuted.
Back to the point, how is Gabbard working for peace?

 

Great yoga, baby. Great yoga.