We use media for indoctrination, so you must be doing it too

Arcelia Martin, in an article for Inside Climate News posted on Daily Kos reported:

More than 451,000 people are projected to die across the globe in the next six months from the additional heat brought by a super El Niño, according to estimates from climate scientists released Wednesday. ... In the new estimates, scientists at the University of Chicago Climate Impact Lab project the hotter land conditions brought by El Niño will resemble the higher temperatures climate change is predicted to deliver in 20 years. The estimated heat death toll, the scientists warned, are on top of the impacts from droughts, wildfires and flooding, expected from hotter temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns in a world already superheated by greenhouse gases.

This El Niño could be the strongest on record and could permanently push average temperatures past the 1.5C, the rise determined by scientists and written in political agreements to be the point where climate impacts could be irreversible. Oliver Willis of Kos, as part of his series on Explaining the Right, looked at the conservative view of Rachel Accurso, known as Ms. Rachel who is popular on various children’s television.

On Thursday’s broadcast of “Fox & Friends,” co-host Lawrence Jones described Ms. Rachel as “sinister” while the network displayed a graphic of the host, detailing her donations to charities assisting Palestinian children and her interactions with Democrats, including Florida Senate candidate Angie Nixon. Among Ms. Rachel’s infractions: She discussed the joy of cartwheels with Nixon’s 5-year-old daughter Ashanti.

Other words used were “pure indoctrination.” Ms. Rachel is, of course, part of a long line of people where a conservative talking head has made similar accusations of children’s entertainment. There was Jerry Falwell condemning Teletubbies of turning kids gay. Sesame Street was attacked for advocating for vaccines. They also didn’t like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

The motivation for these attacks can be traced to the right’s weird view of the media. Unlike the rest of the population, the right has come to believe that programming (like Fox News) mostly exists to indoctrinate viewers into a right-wing lifestyle. Since the programming they enjoy is oriented this way, they then believe that lessons about compassion, grace, and even sharing are the left-wing mirror of their media world. In this twisted take on things, Ms. Rachel isn’t just a figure advocating for Palestinian and migrant children, but an insidious left-wing agent. ... Trump so thoroughly embodies cruelty, bigotry, and discrimination that when “Sesame Street” or Ms. Rachel tells children to be kind, it sounds like a direct rebuke of conservatism.

Well, kindness is a direct rebuke of conservatism. People on children’s TV are popular because they are authentic advocates for value most people support. Republicans are included in “most people.” This is the American Library Association Banned Books Week. I’ll get to a few of the books on their top ten list of challenged books (actually eleven this year because of a four-way tie for eighth place).

The 2025 data reported to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) shows that the majority of book censorship attempts continue to originate from organized movements. In 2025, 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers, up from 72% in 2024. Less than 3% of challenges originated from individual parents. The most common justifications for censorship provided by complainants were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors; inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes; and covering topics of race, racism, equity, and social justice.

The ALA says many book challenges are not reported to them or covered in the press, so this isn’t a full count of challenged books.

OIF documented 5,668 books banned from libraries (66% of the total challenged) in 2025. An additional 920 books were censored through access restrictions such as relocation or requiring parental permission. This is both the highest number of titles censored in one year and the highest rate of challenges resulting in censorship from 1990–2025.

The LGBTQ books in the top 11 list, which seems a lot fewer than in previous years. 2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 3. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe 5. (Tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. The club is a lesbian bar. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported:

The European Parliament unveiled “The Orange Plague,” a new gold leaf-covered statue depicting President Donald Trump naked while sitting on the shoulders of a smaller man. The 8-foot statue—which is in a parliament building in Strasbourg, France—shows Trump holding a golf club on top of a pedestal that reads, “I am sitting on the back of a man. He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except stepping down from his back.”

The nasty guy’s part of the statue is covered in gold leaf. In addition to the golf club he is also holding the scales of justice. Alix Breeden of Kos has been interviewing Democratic candidates for US Congressional races who have a better chance of winning than pundits thought just a few months ago. One of those is Lindsay James, running for Iowa’s 2nd district. She is also a Presbyterian pastor. Her answer that caught my attention is in response to the nasty guy administration’s claim that Christianity is under attack.

Part of the reason why I’m talking about my faith a lot on this campaign has to do specifically with how I’ve been shaped by the “Parable of the Good Samaritan.” What I love about that parable—I think that this parable really meets this moment—is how Dr. Martin Luther King talked about it. Because what King said about this parable is, it’s not just our moral obligation to pick up the person who’s hurting and harmed on the side of the road. It’s our moral obligation to fix the road, because what King knew about the road was that it was a place that was notorious for being dangerous, where people were regularly exploited and hurt and harmed. And too often, this feels like what’s exactly happening in Washington, D.C. Politicians who have the power and the ability to actually fix this person’s circumstances are turning a blind eye and walking the other way, and we need leaders who have the courage to help their neighbor but also to fix the challenges that have caused the harm in the first place.

The story of the Good Samaritan is in the Bible, Luke, Chapter 10. A man is beaten and left for dead at the side of the road. Important church officials pass by on the opposite side. A Samaritan, someone loathed by Jews at the time of Jesus, offers considerable help. Jesus asks: Which of them acted like a good neighbor? I’ve heard a similar take on our obligation from Soulforce, an organization working to dismantle spiritual violence against LGBTQ people (I donate to them). Their version went like this: You are watching a swift flowing river. You see a person in the river calling for help and you rescue them. Soon you see more people in the river and rescue them as well. As the number of people in the river increases, at what point do you go upstream to find out why people are being thrown into the river and get that to stop? In Monday’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Jerry Zremski writing for his own Substack:

In the most impassioned and eloquent sermon I’ve ever heard, Cardinal Robert McElroy, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, admonished all of us who have seen the suffering in front of us and then turned our heads. In his homily for the Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, McElroy likened us not to the Good Samaritan, but to the priest and the Levite who, in Luke 10:25-37, saw a wounded robbery victim and just walked away. “For the last year and a half, the people of the United States have witnessed the suffering of the undocumented in our midst, purposely and strategically magnified by our government, and for the most part, we have simply passed on by,” McElroy said. And that was just the start of a sermon that served as a call to action — one that seemed to make some parishioners squirm either out of guilt or, in some cases, disagreement.

An article in Politico said that this year Republicans have been trying to find a new boogeyman to rail against. The usual targets – Joe Biden, Zohran Mamdani. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders – aren’t working as targets so well this year.

Democrats’ foil, meanwhile, has never been more obvious, with Trump’s approval rating in the mid-thirties amid continued high prices and the Iran war.

In the comments indianobserver wrote:

Democrats seem to be in a David vs Goliath situation. Democrats are up against: 1. Billionaires and unlimited cash 2. Tech overlords and cutting edge tech 3. Wall Street 4. The oil and gas industry 5. Bought out national and local media 6. The DOJ (maybe) 7. The FBI (maybe) 8. The Trump administration 9. A majority of the Supreme Court 10. Elements of the Netanyahu govt/Israeli intelligence (maybe) 11. Elements of the Putin regime/Russian intelligence (maybe) What the Democratic Party has against this arsenal are 1. the rule of law 2. the judiciary 3. millions of votes. 4. stout hearts :)

Ben Urban tweeted a tweet by John Fugelsang:

My dad was a public school teacher; and he always said the toughest parts of the job were: 1. Having to play for your own classroom chalk, and 2. Performing gender-reassignment surgeries during class hours w/out parents finding out.

A cartoon by Jen Sorensen posted on Kos shows two women, one saying it feels like something is taking over everything and no one is capable of stopping it. The second says, yea, AI is scary. The first responds, “AI? I’m talking about our insane shareholder-first economy.”

Seduced by “power over”, when Christ taught us “service of”

Brian Beutler posted a thread with a link to an article in Off Message. The link’s title and subtitle:

How to Undo the Great Lie of 2024 Trump’s second election wasn’t a verdict for all time, but the coming midterms might be one.

I didn’t follow the link to the article. Beutler wrote in his thread:

MAGA got a huge return on gaslighting the elite into treating Trump's less than 2 percent popular vote plurality as a permanent repudiation of liberalism. The midterms represent an opportunity to propound an inverse but true narrative of American rejection of MAGA. But Dems have to frame it that way first. Republicans will send mixed messages if they lose, because Trump will deflect all responsibility for their poor performance. But they will be unified behind the idea that Democrats didn't win a mandate, because they always unify behind that idea. Meanwhile, in their affordability myopia, Democrats are likely to help Republicans along by attributing their own political success to Trump's narrow failure to reduce prices, giving him a pass on all the most repellent aspects of his presidency. If Democrats don't tell a grand story of Americans rising against fascism, the public will hear a different, false one. Republicans will say what the election was about, and what the results mean. And, once again, many people will believe them.

Drew Sheneman posted a cartoon on Daily Kos showing a crocodile labeled “Corporations” with a small bird in its mouth labeled “Dems.” The bird says,

Democratic Socialists will never understand our deeply symbiotic relationship. Now say ‘Ahh’ so I can pick the scraps from your teeth.

And that quite succinctly summarizes the problem I have with Democrats. Jon Paul Sydnor of the Street Prophets community group on Kos wrote a month ago:

If your church’s leaders are trying to control you, then leave. Many churches are systems of control that cause great pain. Today, some therapists are specializing in Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS), trying to heal the psychic scars produced by churches that castigate questioning members and hold the threat of hell over all. The leaders of these churches have abandoned their call, having been seduced by the lure of power over, when Christ taught us service of.

The purpose of the church is to share the love of God with the world. The church is where love is enacted as consistently as possible. Yes, it fails to love perfectly. Sometimes it harms instead of heals. But very few (perhaps no other) organizations discuss love at all. Love risks betrayal, but the alternative is self-seclusion, which denies life. The church may not (can’t) love a person completely back to health, but it can make a start. Unless the church is broken and won’t admit it. And many don’t. Sydnor told a few stories about his father, a pastor. At one church he wanted to stop a “girlie” show that was part of the county fair. The show wasn’t risque, it was degrading. But it brought in a lot of money and a leading elder in the church supported it. The pastor was told not to rock the boat. He became disillusioned and left the ministry. After a dozen years working to prevent juvenile delinquency he returned to the ministry. A family left a nearby church to try his church. The daughter had Down’s syndrome and the other church wouldn’t let her be in the Christmas pageant. This pastor named her to be Mary, the central role, in their pageant to the great joy of the congregation.

That was one of the best Christmas Eve services ever. It was an imperfect church with an imperfect congregation and imperfect pastor, but they worked hard to love like God. And sometimes they hit the mark perfectly, creating the little miracles that sustain us.

In the comments of today’s pundit roundup for Kos is a tweet from Team Talarico, the campaign to elect Democrat James Talarico to the US Senate from Texas. In it Talarico is shown saying:

Scripture tells us that you can’t love God and hate other people. You can’t love God and abuse the immigrant. You can’t love God and oppress the poor. Matthew 25 tells us Christians exactly how we’re going to be judged — by feeding the hungry, by healing the sick...

The rest is cut off from the text of the tweet, though includes clothing the naked, offering hospitality to the stranger, and visiting those in prison. I see Matthew 25 as a core of the message Jesus is trying to teach us. In response to Talarico’s message Aaron Baer tweeted:

This is genuinely one of the most evil interpretations of Scripture I've ever seen. Lord protect your Church and our nation from this wolf.

And to that Kos user Rambler797 added:

Wut? (these people don’t know their own book)

Commenter The Idiot went looking for who Aaron Baer is: the president of the “Center for Christian Virtue.” It has turned the Bible upside down. That organization has completely inverted the Christian message and has accumulated the power and platform to override the love of God, then use the threat of God to spread hate. Vile. I went to Baer’s tweet, and of course it is on X. I was able to see a couple of the comments, all X would allow me to see before demanding I sign in. From Braden Bellack:

When someone posts something like this and then doesn’t respond to any of the comments or try to defend what they’ve said, it’s called rage bait. That’s all this is.

Think Prague posted a cartoon showing St. Peter at the gate of Heaven facing a man in a MAGA hat.

St. Peter: So, tell me... did you welcome the foreigner? Help the poor? Feed the hungry? Care for the sick?... you know, all the things Jesus commanded? Man: Listen here LibTard.

Refusing to hate confuses and disorients the hateful

I didn’t watch the Superbowl. I heard a lot of good things about Bad Bunny’s halftime show. So when I saw a link to it on YouTube I watched it. My general impression: Those other people are going to hate. We’re going to party. Please party with us. An Associated Press article posted on Daily Kos before the game was a discussion about what the show might contain and what the elements might mean. Afterward, Alix Breeden of Kos explained the symbolism of many of the things in the show. This includes: The sugar cane fields surrounding the house where many Puerto Ricans worked as slaves (this is one thing I recognized). The taco stand. The child sleeping across several chair. The dancers hanging from utility poles representing the huge blackout after Hurricane Maria. The video briefly showed a wedding, which was an actual wedding. A couple who are superfans invited Bad Bunny to their wedding. He turned it around – would they like to get married as part of his Super Bowl show? Kos of Kos discussed a thread by Ross Douthat, conservative and columnist for the New York Times. Douthat listed things the nasty guy and his administration could do over the next eight months that would improve his political position.

It’s actually a great question. Under normal circumstances, it could spark a real debate. With Donald Trump as president, however, there is only one answer: His administration can’t improve its political position. Because the problem isn’t the tactics. It’s the man.

Kos then supplies a rebuttal to each of Douthat’s suggestions, explaining why the nasty guy would never do it. A couple of the suggestions: “Don't issue any more gross pardons.” And, “Pressure allies by all means, but don't threaten to use the U.S. military to seize their territory.” Kos wrote:

Sure, he’s not wrong. But what Douthat is really offering is a fantasy in which Trump stops being Trump long enough for Republicans to survive him. That’s like asking a tiger to pretend it isn’t a predator until dinner is over.

In Saturday’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included tweets by Logan Phillips responding to Interactive Polls. First, what Interactive tweeted:

For the first time, GOP strategists are telling Axios that losing the Senate — where Republicans have a 53-47 majority — is a distinct possibility. According to GOP internal polling, even deep-red states like Alaska, Iowa, and Ohio are now in play

Phillip’s response:

Republicans shouldn’t be so surprised. They won the 2024 election by convincing Americans they’d make life more affordable - then used their hard-earned power to cut Medicaid, reduce food stamps, and raise everyone’s prices with tariffs. The worst thing a party can do is break the central promise of its campaign. The GOP has spent the last year pushing policies that made life even less affordable. Voters noticed.

Simon Van Zuylen-Wood of New York Magazine:

QAnon is premised on the idea that a global cabal is engaged in the rampant sex-trafficking of minors, and one takeaway from the never-ending Epstein blowback is that we really are governed by an overclass of degenerate elites.

In the comments The Geogre posted a 19 minute video of Jon Stweart discussing the release of the Epstein files.

Today is Groundhog Day. If Trump sees his shadow we’ll have six more weeks of not knowing who the co-conspirators are.

Jon Stewart is in the files. It’s not because he was a friend of Epstein, but because someone suggested a video could be narrated by someone like him. The sanctuary cities of concern aren’t Minneapolis and places like it. The big one is Washington. Stewart doubts those who appeared in the Epstein files will be held accountable. This video is Stewart is at his outraged comedic best. Roxane Gay tweeted a response to the nasty guy’s racist post about the Obamas.

1. It was not an accident. 2. It was not a staffer. 3. While the president may have dementia his racism is not due to dementia. 4. He isn’t sorry. He means every racist thought he shares. 5. His base agrees with him. 6. He will do it again. 7. No one in power will hold him accountable.

Bill Bramhall posted a cartoon of a news anchor saying, “We can now confirm that 100% of the 1% are in the Epstein files.” In Wednesday’s roundup Dworkin quoted Cliff Schecter of Blue Amp Media:

For years, we’ve been sold a comforting fairy tale: America’s worst predators come in different species. There are those predators; sex traffickers, monsters, villains in Netflix documentaries and then there are these predators; the respectable ones in fleece vests who “optimize” companies, “disrupt” democracy, and somehow always end up with your pension money in their carry-on. ... This week blew the lie straight to hell that those with bloodlust for bankrupting their neighbors and our country are different than those who prey on young girls. The only difference is we’ve allowed the first to become respectable since the Reagan days (remember when they were called “corporate raiders?” Private equity sounds more thoughtful. Kinder.). It turns, out destroying people’s lives and livelihoods with no allegiance to anything but your own wealth and power is always evil. So, it turns out, it’s the same guys. Same billionaires. Same vibes. Same moral black hole—just different crimes on different days.

In the comments The Wolfpack posted a cartoon of Charlie Brown speaking to Linus.

If you believe that teaching about God in public schools will improve people’s morality, you first need to explain why it doesn’t work in churches.

The New Republic posted the text of a sermon by Rev. Michael Delk of St. Thomas à Becket Episcopal Church in Morgantown, West Virginia. This is a time of those in power mocking, beating, and killing those they don’t like or who get in their way. Are we being desensitized to worse that is to come? Those in power also mocked, beat, and killed Jesus. How do we be faithful to Jesus in such a time?

Those who oppose the truth of love, who rely on lies and cruelty and brutality, strive to induce us to abandon our principles, and they do it slyly by contriving to make us hate instead of love. We all know the temptation. We watch the videos and read the stories. Our outrage rises rightly at the injustice, and before we know it, the consuming fire of hatred surges in our hearts. We despise the people responsible, and maybe even fantasize about vengeance, which is precisely what the hateful in our world want most from us and for us. The hateful want us to hate so that we can be miserable and puny just like them. It’s also the only game they know how to play. Refusing to hate confuses and disorients the hateful. We must stay disciplined in Christ’s unconditional love, disciplined in prayer for those who persecute us and others, disciplined in our desire for the repentance and redemption of the hateful and cruel and brutal, disciplined in our witness that there is a different way, a way of forgiveness and reconciliation given to us by Jesus.

Lauren Hodges of NPR went to the retirement ceremony of several transgender military members who were forced out by Secretary Pete Hegseth’s anti-DEI efforts. The ceremony wasn’t put on by the Pentagon, but by the Human Rights Campaign. Officiating was General Stanley McChrystal, known for his leadership during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Of those forced into retirement one was a Colonel, the highest-ranking trans member of the US armed forces. In the nasty guy’s first term he said that transgender people already serving can keep their job by getting a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. So many did. In his second term that same diagnosis was designated as disqualifying for service. The nasty guy and Hegseth say pushing out trans people is necessary for mission readiness, cost issues and unit cohesion. Army Major Kara Corcoran, one of those who did what she was told and got that diagnosis, disagrees that being transgender harms mission readiness – she served well and in combat for 17 years. As for the cost – transgender surgeries take less recovery time than things like shoulder or knee surgery. They’re back in service faster. It seems unit cohesion suffers more from having to protect service members from being outed than for dealing with an out member. Hodges:

General McChrystal says the separations are a mistake and that they're affecting mission readiness, one of the listed values that Secretary Hegseth claims as a priority for his Department of War amidst several simmering global conflicts.

McChrystal:

God forbid, if we had a major war and we need to start calling everybody up, I would hope that we would not suddenly say we are only going to draft people of a certain type. Because we wouldn't have enough.

In today’s pundit roundup Dworkin quoted Greg Sargent of The New Republic. I’ll get to his quote in a moment. The Michigan NPR news said a lot about the nasty guy’s threat to block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. This bridge has been in the news for a couple decades. It’s the second one across the river, the other being the Ambassador Bridge (there’s also a tunnel). The Ambassador Bridge is frequently backed up and dumps traffic onto Windsor streets for a couple miles. The new bridge connects freeway to freeway and is to open later this year. One of the nasty guy’s demands is to require more US steel, rather than Canadian steel, be used. That prompted the mayor of Windsor to say, hey, the bridge is built, it doesn’t need any more steel. Also much in the news over the decades I’ve live here, is that the Ambassador Bridge is privately owned. It is not owned and run by the local, state, and national governments on either side. The owner is Maddy Maroun, who has demonstrated he can be a real pain when he wants to. He also owns a lot of property in Detroit – which had included Michigan Central Station in Detroit that was a poster child for ruin porn until Bill Ford bought it and renovated for a beautiful result and wide acclaim. Maddy and his son Matthew opposed the Gordie Howe bridge because they saw it eating into the profits of their own bridge. Thankfully, the Marouns have been quiet during much of the time the bridge was built. But Matthew is the billionaire in Sargent’s quote:

It turns out a billionaire Trump ally who owns another bridge linking those locations—which will face competition from the new project—privately met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick this week, according to The New York Times. Lutnick spoke with Trump after the meeting and just before Trump’s threat. Maybe, just maybe, Lutnick whispered to Trump that it would totally own Canada and supercilious Prime Minister Mark Carney if Trump blocked that bridge.

Why was the bridge named for Gordie Howe? He was a Canadian who played hockey for the Detroit Red Wings for 25 years. Julie Brown, in her own Substack, discussed AG Pam Bondi’s appearance before a Senate Committee yesterday. Other sources have mentioned her pleasing and flattering demeanor when answering questions posed by Republicans and quite nasty when answering Democrats. When accused of exposing Epstein victims Bondi blustered back that no one has been more helpful to victims than she has. Brown wrote:

Fact Check. Bondi dropped the ball on investigating Epstein and his abuse of children in Florida a long time ago. She was Florida’s attorney general — the state’s top prosecutor — as more and more Epstein victims came forward in the years after Epstein received federal immunity in 2008. She was in office from 2011 to 2019. During that time, there was an ongoing federal lawsuit on the case, brought by Epstein victims. There were also some 22 other civil lawsuits filed, by victims, all of whom were abused as teenagers by Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, in Palm Beach. There was coverage in the media about how Epstein’s victims were fighting to undo that plea deal, and how Epstein flaunted his freedom by leaving his private jail every day via chauffer to work in an office he set up in West Palm Beach. The irony is as Florida attorney general, Bondi tried to position herself as an advocate for victims of sex trafficking, and created a statewide panel on human trafficking. But she remained silent on the most famous sex trafficking case in Florida’s history.

Bondi’s claim of being the best for victims is like the nasty guy proclaiming he’s the least racist occupant of the Oval Office ever. In the comments the Naked Pastor posted a cartoon about the Parable of the Sower. That parable talks about a farmer who sows seed, some on rocky soil where it doesn’t grow, some on the path where birds eat it, and some on good soil where it produces a bountiful harvest. This cartoon shows Jesus with a satchel of hearts sowing them widely. The Naked Pastor wrote:

I think the original point of the parable of the sower was that the seed was thrown indiscriminately everywhere. It illustrates how love is everywhere for everyone. Like the sun and rain falls on everyone indiscriminately, so does love. Sow love, so love.

A couple memes by Liberal Jane. The first shows a woman with a variety of pride buttons plus a BLM pin. She holds a sign saying, “I’d rather be hated for who I include than loved for who I exclude.” The second shows a man in ratty clothes sitting on a sidewalk. His sign says, “You are always closer to being unhoused than you are to being a billionaire.”

Live your life without fear of death

My Sunday movie was My Sunshine, a Japanese movie that seems appropriate leading up to the Olympics next month. It’s appropriate to me because about all I watch of the Olympics are the opening and closing ceremonies and the figure skating. The setting is on Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. The exact city might have been mentioned on a sign or building but was not translated. Takuya is in his young teens and occasionally stutters. He is the goalie of his hockey team and not good at it. The figure skating class takes over the rink when the hockey team is done and Takuya becomes enamored with Sakura, one of the better ones and quite good. Movie descriptions say she is from Tokyo but no reason is given for why she is here and not there. Takuya tries mimicking the spins he sees Sakura do, but doesn’t do well in hockey skates. Her coach watches him and offers his old figure skates (amazingly they fit!) and offers to given him lessons for free – there are a lot of girl figure skaters and not enough boys. As Takuya improves the coach suggests he and Sakura become an ice dancing team. Her mother thinks she’s better than that. I enjoyed it. It’s a good film but I would not say it’s a great film. Now for some spoilers. There are a couple reasons for mentioning them. One is the description of the movie isn’t right. It implies that Takuya and Sakura grow close and experience young love. They become a decent dancing pair, but I didn’t see them become more than friends. The other reason is about the coach. The movie says that he is from Tokyo. The implied question is why is he here in northern Japan and not Tokyo or other big city – he is good enough to coach the impressive Sakura. We eventually see the reason – he’s gay. And attitudes in northern Japan are still quite conservative. So there is no final triumphant showing at the ice dancing competition. That the coach is gay is not in the description and I didn’t know that when choosing this film. Back to the description. It has the phrase, “unspoken feelings begin to surface,” implying a growing love between Takuya and Sakura. But the “unspoken feelings” are between the coach and his lover, as far as I can tell, and they don’t “begin to surface.” With all that I’m not sure how I would have succinctly described this movie. Tovia Smith of NPR reported that Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire told a community of faith leaders about the “cruelty, the injustice and the horror … unleashed in Minneapolis.” Then he warned of “a new era of martyrdom.” When talking to a reporter he said:

I've asked them to get their affairs in order to make sure they have their wills written, because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.

Yeah, that went viral. Some faith leaders responded by essentially saying glad he said that. They’ve been thinking something similar and feel relief that someone spoke out. Others wondered if they would be that brave, but know they need to move beyond taking no risk. Others said this didn’t diffuse tension, it seemed more of a war cry. The church should be about peacemaking and to build bridges. I add that ICE isn’t about to diffuse tension or make peace, though building bridges to conservatives is a big help, but outside of ICE protests. Another opinion is that they didn’t sign up to be a martyr, they have a family and congregation who rely on them. I add the family is definitely a concern, but the congregation will survive, get another pastor, and might appreciate the example. Hirschfeld replied to criticism:

What I said to the clergy (was) “I'm just asking you to live your life without fear of death. Be prepared. I'm not asking you to go look for that bullet.” I'm simply saying be ready, have your affairs in order, have your soul ready, in case you find yourself in trouble.

That trouble may not come from ICE agents. New Hampshire is an open carry state and rallies and vigils prompt MAGA people to counterprotest, which could turn violent. Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said that if Hirschfeld wanted to stand with the vulnerable he should stand with the ICE agents. Yeah, that sort of inverse logic is expected.

Don't fight with violence, but with love and humor

The nasty guy has said he needs to send National Guard troops into Portland because it is “war ravaged.” The local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office is under siege and needs protection from “coordinated assault by violent groups.” So a team from ProPublica reviewed the situation and wrote about what they found in an article posted on Daily Kos. They reviewed arrest records, reports by the Portland Police Bureau, sworn testimony from local and federal official, and 700 video clips posted by protesters and counter protesters. What they found: There was no coordinated assault. There were clashes between police and protesters. But after their peak in June they became more infrequent. Federal officers used force inappropriately, even aggressively, and were described as instigating chaos. They were sometimes violent without any violent provocations. Their conclusion comes down to this: If the nasty guy is using particular incidents to justify his invasion and claiming they are so violent he has to bring in the National Guard why were there so few arrests? The nasty guy’s order to send in the troops is tied up in court. Of course, the article has a lot more detail. Yeah, this is old news by now, so I’ll just briefly mention it. Former vice president Dick Cheney has died. He was 84. Oliver Willis of Kos gives some of the highlights, the big one was being the front man for pushing the weapons of mass destruction claim (ultimately shown false) that got America into the Iraq war.

The American invasion of Iraq in 2003 ultimately killed at least 200,000 Iraqi civilians and 4,492 American soldiers, with an additional 32,292 service members wounded. The war cost the American people at least $728 billion and further destabilized the Middle East in ways that still reverberate today.

Glad he’s gone. Seems appropriate to balance that with this: Alisa Chang of NPR spoke to Sean Ono Lennon about his documentary about his parents One to One: John and Yoko. I hope by now you’ve been able to thread all the names together, even though John was murdered 45 years ago. While the whole discussion is interesting there is one bit worth mentioning. A lot of what John and Yoko did was to promote peace. And one thing John said, his guiding principle, was that you can’t fight the man with violence because violence is his language, it’s what he understands. But what the man can’t deal with is love and humor. An Associated Press article on Kos reported the last penny has been struck at the US Mint in Philadelphia. They are still legal but no more will be made. The reason why no more will be made is that pennies cost nearly 4 cents to make. Besides, most of them are cast aside or collected. The nickel costs nearly 14 cents to make, so maybe it is next? The dime costs less than 6 cents to make and the quarter nearly 15 cents. The penny was first minted in 1793, when it could be used to buy a biscuit, a candle, or a piece of candy. It can’t do any of that now. In Thursday’s pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Paul Krugman discussing he nasty guy’s lies.

Voters do sometimes believe lies, but not the kind of lies Trump is telling. Voters can sometimes be convinced, falsely, that bad things are happening to other people, even when they themselves are doing OK. Many Americans who don’t live in Chicago probably believe administration claims that the city, which just had its safest summer since the 1960s, is a war zone. But telling people that things are great when their personal experience says otherwise is different. Are violent mobs overrunning Portland? If you watch Fox News, you might believe that. Are groceries “way down,” as Trump keeps insisting? Anyone who does their own food shopping — even Republicans — knows that this isn’t true.

Victor Mather of the New York Times wrote an ode to the penny.

The final pennies were minted on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Top Treasury officials were on hand for its final journey. No last words were recorded. In its heyday, the penny had immense cultural impact. It was the going rate for thoughts. It was a symbol of frugality, saved and/or earned. It could sometimes be pretty and other times arrive from heaven. And how many ideas would never have come to light without a penny dropping? [...] The American penny was born in 1793 in Philadelphia. Its parent was Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the Treasury, who was the chief author of the Coinage Act, which birthed the penny and its siblings. [...] As the penny entered its long decline, it more and more frequently found itself casually tossed into a jar in someone’s home or ignominiously dropped in a “Take a Penny” tray at retailers. Calls grew for it to be euthanized, citing its obsolescence. In the end, President Trump signed its death warrant in February.

Bill Berkowitz of the Kos community wrote about Reverend Dr. Caleb J. Lines, the pastor at University Christian Church in San Diego, California, who is creating a series of videos called “MAGA vs. Jesus” which use Bible verses to rebuke MAGA talking points. The most popular video has over 5.5 million views. It discusses abortion, cancel culture, the need for manly men, and “fake news.” Berkowitz wrote:

Over the years, conservative Christian preachers and political activists have weaponized The Bible to enrage their followers, engage them in political campaigns and supporting candidates, while at the same time, building personal financial empires. They frequently use the Bible as a political tool, selectively highlighting verses that reinforce their cultural grievances or policy goals while ignoring the broader context of scripture. Immigration, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, and public education are recast not as policy debates but as spiritual warfare, with dissenters portrayed as enemies of God. As The Daily Dot’s Rachel Kiley noted “The Bible contains so much, with various translations and interpretations, that cherry-picking verses can bring people to just about any conclusion.”

An example of Lines’ arguments:

In one video, refuting the notion that “real Christians support Trump,” Rev. Lines cites 1 John 4:20: “Those who say they love God but hate their neighbor are lying.” “You cannot follow Jesus Christ while actively supporting politicians or policies that hurt your neighbor. You know, like cutting their food aid or their healthcare,” he says.

I followed a link to look at a couple of those videos, including the one with 5.5 million views. On manly men Lines quotes the verse that says in Jesus there is neither male nor female. On the MAGA claim of protecting Christian power the Bible says God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Christianity isn’t about power. Besides these claims of protecting power are about protecting the power of those already powerful. The Bible isn’t about winning or losing, it is about standing with those society is taking advantage of.

Budapest Pride was banned and 180,000 came

The June 3 episode of Gaslit Nation hosted by Andrea Chalupa is titled Putin is Dead Man Walking and came shortly after Ukraine pulled off that amazing drone attack that damaged key airplanes in Russia’s fleet and did it in bases far from Ukraine. The guest in this episode is Lionel De Lange of South Africa. He is a conservationist, saving animals from neglect from private zoos. He believes nature is a healing force in the world. He now visits the front lines of Russia’s position in Ukraine to save humans. They discuss the claim of white genocide in South Africa, something the nasty guy made a big deal when the South African president visited the White House. Yeah, white people have been murdered, but far more black people have been murdered. Also, there are about 60 million people in South Africa and 1.5 of them are white. If the blacks wanted to wipe out the whites that would have been done already and done very quickly. That drone attack in Russia happened in part because Ukraine is afraid of falling support from the US and the West. Yes, the planning of the attack happened while Biden was still in office, but even he wasn’t giving Ukraine all the help they wanted, as generous as he was. So Ukraine said we’ll do it ourselves. Ukraine paid for the successful attack through ongoing nights of Russian missiles firing on Ukraine cities. In the 11 years that De Lange has been in Ukraine he has noticed a lot of difference. The people now respect each other, no longer shoving each other in supermarkets. Now they’re more polite, greeting others on the street and ready to help when needed. But one must still be careful of propaganda. In addition to rescuing animals, and he has stories about that, De Lange also rescued humans. That meant he was exposed to Russian drone attacks. After accident at Chernobyl the humans evacuated. The animals and plants thrived, not affected (perhaps made stronger) by the radiation. De Lange wanted to turn the region into a nature park. Alas, with the war it didn’t happen. When Russia invaded many of its soldiers dug trenches in the Chernobyl region. Most of them have now been hospitalized and a few died of radiation poisoning. Russia attempted to cause an explosion at the Chernobyl plant in hopes of breaching the radioactive container. They wanted to send the radiation across Ukraine and Europe (and some across Russia too). They did not succeed. And Ukrainians were quick to repair the damage. Ukraine is protecting us as well as themselves. They’re holding back Russia that would invade Europe after it took Ukraine. We need to pay closer attention and provide more help to Ukraine. Poland narrowly elected a deeply corrupt figure similar to the nasty guy, one who is staunchly against LGBTQ rights. He capitalized on all the Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Other minorities, including Jews, feel they have a target on their heads. This will not be helpful to Ukraine. De Lange said Putin has been meddling around the world. He’ll soon try to meddle in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Putin’s downfall will be like Hitler’s, fighting on too many fronts. That will be the only way he gets wiped out. Alas, millions of people will die before he is stopped. De Lange said Putin can’t walk away even if everyone promised there would be no charges against him. Between the Ukraine war (and that successful attack by Ukraine), his international meddling, and the horrible Russian economy Putin is dead man walking. In Russia changing the guy at the top is frequently violent. I don’t know how accurate De Lange is in his predictions. Two week’s later the June 17 episode was titled Putin’s Sledgehammer. That’s part of the title of a book by Candace Rondeaux. She’s a reporter and an expert on global security and the future of warfare. The full title of the book is Putin’s Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia’s Collapse into Mercenary Chaos. June 23, a couple days after this episode was posted, marked the two year anniversary of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group getting within 125 miles (200 km) of Moscow. The book is about Wagner and that crack in Putin’s power. Exactly two months later Prigozhin’s plane exploded. The Wagner group was created because Russia’s conventional warfare capacity has always been challenging. The Wagner group could be more agile in situations like Syria while giving the Russian state plausible deniability. The Wagner group had a brand identity of violence and aggression. The Wagner group, and other groups dealing in mayhem, would record their excessive violence and post it on social media. In a sense it was displaying their trophies. These groups got such a reputation of terror that their targets would empty out to avoid the violence and sadism. The title of the book comes from the group beating a guy with a sledgehammer while others filmed it. Guys beating the devil with a sledgehammer became the group’s logo. I’m so not interested in the brutal details of the Wagner group that I stopped reading less than halfway through. My Sunday movie was the documentary Casting By. I watched it through Kanopy. It is about the role of the casting director in making movies. More accurately, most of the film is about the first great casting director Marion Dougherty. In the Hollywood Studio system the person in charge of casting essentially looked over the list of contract actors and assign them to parts based mostly on looks and assumed character type. When TV came along the early directors were more interested in acting ability and personality than looks. Dougherty got a casting job because a friend invited her to be the assistant. Soon she was the person in charge. She would attend New York theater productions, Broadway and not, looking for great actors. She had quite an eye for talent. Her earliest big successes were Naked City and Route 66 that needed new actors for every episode. Some of the talent she discovered and promoted were James Dean, Gene Hackman, Glenn Close, Al Pacino, Diane Lane, Dustin Hoffman, Bette Midler, and Robert Redford. Many of those actors and their directors are in this documentary to describe what their relationship with Daugherty did for their careers. There were times when Dougherty had a particular actor in mind for a particular role and she did a lot of convincing to win over the director. Some of her wins are now iconic performances rewarded with Oscar nominations and wins. Daugherty’s roster of known talent was so vast that when she was asked to cast The Sting, which came out in 1973, she went down the list of characters and assigned the actors. She actually auditioned for only one character. The movie spends some time with the casting of Lethal Weapon, released in 1987. In one of the two major roles Daugherty recommended Danny Glover. The director said, hold on, he’s black. Her response was, so? The director later admitted she had opened his eyes to his internal racism. There were some regrets in her long career. In the 1990s many studios were bought by conglomerates, some of them foreign. Again, casting decisions were made according to the actor’s looks and whether the studio wanted to promote an actor from this TV series for that movie. That pretty much ended Daugherty’s career, though several of her protégés are still going strong. Another regret was while Oscars are given out for scenery, costumes, and editing, there isn’t one for casting. And casting can make a big difference in how a movie comes out. The Oscar snub is more annoying because there is an Emmy for casting. Lisa Needham of Daily Kos wrote a good summary of all five cases for which the Supreme Court issued decisions last Friday, the last day of their term. Only one of the five is good for democracy. I’m glad Needham wrote the summary because most other news outlets reported on only one or two. The nasty guy’s executive order banning birthright citizenship went before the Court, but not to get a decision on that question. The case, Trump v. CASA asked the Court to rule instead on whether lower courts can issue injunctions against the government that apply nationwide. The Court ruled they can’t. That means when a person, group, or state wins a case in a federal court the ruling affects only the people who brought the suit. This means overturning an executive order that contradicts the Constitution is much harder. Every state has to pursue a case (and some stated won’t) or an organization has to go through the extra effort to certify they represent a class of affected people. That could mean until the Supremes rule on birthright citizenship some states will follow it and some won’t. And that raises a big legal mess, such as whether a baby born in Minnesota is a citizen if the family moves to Texas. This means the nasty guy can issue an executive order undoing part of the Constitution and the legal system has a much harder time stopping him. In the meantime he gets to continue doing his unconstitutional thing until the case gets to the Supremes and they get around to acting on it. I heard today that the ACLU is assembling a class action suit over the birthright citizenship issue. In Mahmoud v. Taylor the Court decided schools need to allow students to opt out of a classroom lesson if their parents object. The case went all the way to the Supremes because a school district tried it and found it unworkable. The particular case involved books with LGBTQ content, but could be expanded to cover evolution or science in general. Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that the decision “threatens the very essence of public education.” The conservative justices probably think that’s a good thing. The case Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton is a case brought against the Attorney General of Texas. The decision means internet porn sites are required to see a government issued ID to verify the person is an adult. All this is about “sexual material harmful to minors.” Yes, the Court added an exception to the First Amendment. And conservatives could expand the definition of “harmful” to include discussions of transgender issues and many other things. The case is Kennedy v. Braidwood is nominally about conservative Christian business owners objecting to pay for health insurance that covers such preventive care things as PrEP, the medication that prevents the transmission of HIV. Behind that is an attack on the US Preventive Services Task Force, which recommends what things should be covered by insurance. The good part is the PSTF care recommendations remain. The bad part is its members were declared to not need Senate confirmation, which means Heath Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. can replace them with people who agree with his conspiracies. The last case is FCC v. Consumers’ Research. The Federal Communications Commission requires internet and phone carriers pay into a fund to subsidize access in rural and poor area. Consumers’ Research argued a technicality to say the fund is illegal. Six justices – the liberals plus Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett – kept the agency’s authority to institute the fund. Since the justices have gutted other federal agency authorities, this seems like a vulnerable win. Kos of Kos reported last Thursday evening that the Department of Justice is coming after Daily Kos. The DoJ went after ActBlue and Media Matters, so attacking Kos to silence the nasty guy’s enemies isn’t a surprise. The details of the case can’t be disclosed (yet?). Even so Kos asked readers to donate to the site’s legal defense fund. By Friday at 1:00 Kos reported readers had donated over $50,000. He is humbled by the support of the Kos community.

Because this has never just been about me. Or even Daily Kos. It’s about what we’ve built together over the past 23 years: a space to fight for democracy, for decency, for a government that serves people—not authoritarians. And just as importantly, it’s become a community—a place where people who care about those things can find each other, lift each other up, and know they’re not alone in this fight. What you gave on Thursday wasn’t just financial support—it was a reminder of how deeply connected we are. That when one of us is under threat, the rest of us show up. That we have each other’s backs. I’m getting emotional just typing that. (Who am I kidding? I’ve been an emotional wreck writing this entire piece.) [Deep breaths, composing myself …] It’s proof that this community is strong. That it’s kind. And that it’s ready to stand together, no matter what.

Now for some beautiful stories. TheCriticalMind of the Kos community reported that in April Hungarian dictator Victor Orban’s Fidesz party passed an amendment to the Constitution requiring recognition of only two genders and restricting LGBTQ events, citing “child protection.” Yeah, we know that’s a fake reason. However, it means Pride parades are banned in Hungary. And the one in Budapest was one of the best. Pride organizers in Budapest renamed it “Budapest Pride Freedom” in honor of Hungary’s return to freedom when Soviet troops left in June 1991. Not that anyone was fooled. Organizers anticipated 35,000 to 40,000. TheCriticalMind quoted a report from The Guardian:

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Budapest in defiance of the Hungarian government's ban on Pride, heeding a call by the city's mayor to "come calmly and boldly to stand together for freedom, dignity and equal rights", writes Lili Rutai in Budapest and Ashifa Kassam. Jubilant crowds packed into the city's streets on Saturday, waving Pride flags and signs that mocked the country's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, as their peaceful procession inched forward at a snail's pace. Organisers estimated that a record number of people turned up, far outstripping the expected turnout of 35,000-40,000 people. "We believe there are 180,000 to 200,000 people attending," the president of Pride, Viktória Radványi told AFP. "It is hard to estimate because there have never been so many people at Budapest Pride."

See the photo at the top of the post. Also see the photos in a Bluesky tweet by valentine. He says the attendance topped a half million. From the photos I believe a half million is possible (not that I know what a half million people looks like). Budapest Pride is still one of the best. I scrolled down the replies to that tweet and saw an image of the Sydney Opera House lit up in Pride colors. Bridgette Redman for Between the Lines reported the Presbyterian Church of Okemos, Michigan held a baptism rededication service for 16-year old Zach Nawyn-Hellinga, transgender, so that he would be baptized with his new name, leaving his deadname behind. Before the service there were discussions with Rebecca Mattern, who led youth ministry, pastor Rev. Lisa Schrott, and the church’s governing body. “Everyone expressed enthusiasm.”

On Jan. 12, Nawyn-Hellinga was joined by his family at the front of the congregation where Mattern, Schrott and the Clerk of Session asked him the questions of his reaffirmation and led the congregation in a responsive liturgy. “The congregation just resoundingly said, ‘We see you,’” Mattern noted. “They said it loud and with confidence, and several of the members of the congregation had tears in their eyes. If I hadn’t processed it and cried before I got there, I would have been crying, because we are in a time where there is a concerted effort to erase trans people. They’re being told that they don’t exist, that they’re predators. Their parents are being told they’re grooming. It is the job of the church, and the calling of the church, to say to those who are in the margins, 'We see you and we love you.' No matter what the world says, you are a beloved child of God.” Schrott said they added their Clerk of Session because they wanted it to be clear that it was an action of the church, not a rogue pastoral choice.

And one just for fun. Sarah Bricker Hunt of Between the Lines reported the Motor City Bears did their 17th annual car wash. They raised almost $1,700 for Affirmations and Ruth Ellis Center. In gay jargon a “bear” is a large hairy gay man. And many do the car wash wearing only a speedo (and I hope a great deal of sunscreen). They liked to joke, “your car is so dirty, so dirty.”

No way to talk about Stonewall without trans people

My Sunday movie was Veselka. It’s a documentary about a Ukrainian restaurant in the Little Ukraine neighborhood of Manhattan. The name means “Rainbow.” The movie describes it as “The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World.” The restaurant was started by Wolodymyr many decades ago, then turned over to his son-in-law Tom. As the story opens Tom is giving control to his son Jason. Jason’s nephew Justin is the fourth generation involved in running the place. Also on staff are Vitali, a manager, and Dima, a grill master, both from Ukraine. We hear their stories. There are also several cooks from Ukraine who seem to be constantly making pierogi. The first complication was the pandemic. When sidewalk dining becomes available their clientele supported them. The second, bigger, complication was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vitali’s mother tells him no you’re not coming back to Ukraine to fight in the war, as my only child I want you safe in New York. Jason begins a push to make sure his employees have green cards and to begins rescuing their families. He’s delighted that a refugee process that used to take years can suddenly produce results in a month. The restaurant declares for every serving of borscht they will donate to help Ukraine. They have shirts made that say “My Heart Beets for Ukraine.” They also receive donations of supplies of all kinds which they turn over to the area’s Ukrainian church. This is a marvelous example of a small group doing all they can to build up and take care of their community. I recommend it. I’ve known about the movie for quite a while, perhaps shortly after it was released about a year ago. Finding a streaming service took a while – I watched it on Fandango at Home. Alas, I didn’t think about it when I went to New York last summer. Now I want to pay a visit. The movie shows the effects of the war on people – the worry on Vitali’s face when he can’t reach his mother, the stories refugees tell when they come to the restaurant, their bafflement trying to figure out why Putin invaded. It also shows the support Americans showed during the first year of the war. So it is outrageous to now see the nasty guy appears to be siding with Putin. Juliana Kim of NPR reported:

The National Park Service website exploring the history and significance of the Stonewall Uprising has been stripped of any mention of transgender people. The page was also updated to remove the "T" from the previously used acronym "LGBTQ+" — now, referring to the community as either "LGB" or "LGBQ." References to the word "queer" have also been removed.

Those who know LGBTQ history in America know the importance of the Stonewall Inn and the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 which ignited the LGBTQ rights movement. Those people also know how central transgender people were to battling police over those few days. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento of NPR reported on the scores of people who gathered outside the Stonewall National Monument to protest the removal of transgender people from the website. Included in the story is historian Nikita Shepard:

There's absolutely no way that you can tell the story of Stonewall and the Stonewall uprising or of the broader history of gender and sexuality without talking about trans people. ... Whatever the Trump administration says, whatever the websites of the, you know, Parks Department says, we have always been here. We are here, and we will continue to be here.

And from Angelica Christina, board director of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, said:

It is deeply offensive and such a slap in the face for what the National Park Service did in attempting to erase trans people and queer people from their website.

In what is now a regular column on Daily Kos Emily Singer reported on the lame excuses (or approval) various Republicans are giving for the nasty guy’s illegal and unconstitutional actions. This week’s edition is about the claim that the nasty guy can do whatever he wants. Wrote Singer:

Republicans agreed with the false statement that the courts are not allowed to check the president’s power—when that’s exactly what the Constitution dictates.

So, no, Republicans are not going to demand we as a country must uphold the Constitution. Irontortoise of the Kos community quoted a report in Raw Story about Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX):

"There’s an immigrant taking people’s jobs… his name is Elon Musk," the lawmaker wrote. "He’s snatching farms, government jobs (even those in which they manage our national security), and definitely those whose jobs are to root out fraud (inspector generals), & those that are keeping us safe (FAA), meals on wheels workers, head start, and the list goes on, so I’ll be the bigger person and admit to MAGA that I was wrong when I said immigrants wouldn’t take our jobs. You were 1000 percent correct."

Lisa Needham of Kos reported that religious groups are taking the nasty guy’s deportation policy to court, in particular the part that gives ICE agents permission to enter churches to carry out raids. The religious groups are basing their case on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

It prohibits the government from substantially burdening someone’s exercise of their religious beliefs, even if it stems from a generally applicable rule, unless the government shows that the burden is the least restrictive means of pursuing a compelling government interest.

The right has used the RFRA for a lot of mischief, such as the ruling “holding that the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate violated the religious freedom of the evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby.” The religious groups are saying caring for immigrants is core to their faith, as is such things as running food pantries and preschools. They also say their faith requires them to worship together in person – the same argument used by conservative churches against COVID stay at home orders. All that means is if ICE can arrest people in a house of worship that burdens their ability to exercise their religious beliefs. Their beliefs are already being harmed because so many are scared to come to services. This should be an obvious win for religious groups because the original policy already has lots of exceptions that cover any situation the nasty guy’s lawyers could come up with, such as imminent risk of death or harm, a threat to national security, or of evidence was about to be destroyed. Yeah, courts have sided with RFRA claims, but hard telling what these courts will do. Denise Oliver Velez of Kos posts a column on Caribbean matters each week. In this episode she discussed yellow journalism. In the 1890s the Linotype printers led to a massive surge in newspaper production. And they all wanted as many readers as possible. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst had rival New York papers. Both wanted the Yellow Kid cartoon. Both used outrageous headlines and sensational articles, which became known as yellow journalism. The USS Maine exploded and sunk in Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, killing 266. Within days newspapers blamed Spain. Evidence was suspicious or fabricated. Once that idea took hold both Pulitzer and Hearst demanded action and goaded President William McKinley into a military response. Both papers profited from the American hysteria. Velez quoted M. Mallon, writing for the Urban Fictionary

Yellow journalism was so successful because it did not create an unfamiliar narrative, but rather buttressed its audience’s existing perceptions. The ongoing conflict between Cuba and Spain had already captured the American attention, so the public was poised to receive proof to support their ill will [towards Spain]. Because of this, Hearst and Pulitzer managed to deeply influence public opinion, despite the fact that they had fabricated information surrounding the culprit.

Does any of that sound similar to what’s going on today? At the end of the Spanish-American war the US had possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. America declared itself to be Puerto Rico’s liberator, and is still in Puerto Rico and Guam. That war also played havoc with Cuban independence. The peace treaty was between Spain and the US and Cuba wasn’t at the negotiating table. The US Navy established a base at Guantanamo Bay even though it was very unpopular with Cubans. So “Remember the Maine” and what it was really about. At the bottom of this post is an 8 minute video that explains the Spanish-American War. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted John Harwood of Zeteo:

Democratic strategists and commentators have spent weeks diagnosing the party’s ills, for good reason: They just lost an election they expected to win. But for the American body politic, that represents the equivalent of examining a sprained ankle while ignoring a gaping chest wound. The gaping chest wound is the moral and intellectual collapse of the Republican Party. The GOP’s descent into nihilism has become so familiar as to almost escape notice. Indeed, the reason Democratic shortcomings attract more scrutiny is that serious-minded people now take for granted that only Democrats remain capable of running our government consistent with the rule of law.

Nice imagery. But if people say only Democrats can run the government consistent with the rule of law, why didn’t they win last November? Was it something about “serious-minded people?” The Economist reported Musk and DOGE won’t get far in cutting the federal budget. “No matter how aggressive DOGE is, its actions are focused on barely more than a tenth of the overall federal budget.” I reply that though the DOGE boys won’t get anywhere near their goal of $2 trillion, they can wreak a great deal of havoc on the lives of Americans to achieve their small gains. Well wait – this article says that DOGE won’t go after Social Security and health care, which make up two-thirds of federal spending, and Musk and his minions have been talking about just that. Seth Masket of Tusk says one reason why Musk is so successful in targeting USAID, the Treasury payment system, and the indirect costs cut at NIH is because Americans are unaware of them and what little they know they don’t like. In the case of USAID Americans have a vastly inflated estimate of how much foreign aid American provides. In the comments exlrrp posted a meme showing:

“He who save his country violates no law.” -- Napoleon Bonaparte

That was retweeted by the nasty guy. Harry Sisson added:

Donald Trump just posted this. He’s doubling down on his quote. He wants to be a dictator. He’s not hiding hit.

Back to that quote. First, yeah, it was said by a dictator. Second, I see that and think saved from who and for who? Those are particularly important questions for the nasty guy. Way down in the comments is a tweet from Pete Buttigieg:

If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general. If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.

Don’t judge based on how grand a stage

Aston Pittman tweeted a thread in response to someone tweeting there is no meaningful religious left and there won’t be one in the USA. Pittman first lists a couple of the accomplishments of the religious left: the Civil Rights Movement and LGBT religious leaders. The Pittman gets into crucial differences between the religious left and right.

The right is a top-down organization. It dominates from the top. It seeks to wield its influence in the government. It is driven by a few loud voices (mostly white men). They tell congregations their identity is under attack. They ask their people to vote for those who respect them and frame elections as referendums on “Christianity” (theirs) v. the world.

The left is a bottom-up movement, building influence with those of common cause. Their “Christian” part is not trumpeted, but implied by values and the work they do. Their leaders don’t demand recognition and control as end goals. They aren’t concerned whether the religious part is credited. They don’t frame opposition as “an attack on Christianity!” and don’t see elections as referendums on their religion. They don’t try to supplant government with religion. They do want government to further religious goals: civil rights, helping the sick, poor, immigrants, prisoners, etc.

That doesn't mean the Christian left isn't significant or effective. Its effects just aren't as obviously tied to it, & it doesn't tend to make capturing the White House with one of its own acolytes a goal (electing ppl w/similar values matters more than shared religion).

If you don't think the Christian left is real, go to a US immigrants rights group's meeting. You'll often find priests & other Xian devotees in their ranks. You'll also find people who are driven to stand up for immigrants by deep religious convictions they rarely speak of.

Once you stop judging the significance and size of religious social movements by how powerful an office and grand a stage their leaders have obtained, and by how loudly their adherents proclaim that faith instead of the work they do, you'll discover you've missed *a lot.*

D. Carlisle replied:

I've mentioned to people on the left that we lefty Christians do exist. Almost every time I get comments back that amount to "Why aren't you organizing to compete for power like the Christian right?!" …angry with me, even. What the Christian right is doing is antithetical to my faith. I don't want to mimic it to "compete."

My summary: The Christian right is about supremacy. The Christian left, like Jesus, isn’t.

Anything we say about justice and righteousness

The evangelical magazine Christianity Today has called for the removal of the nasty guy. Excerpts:

But the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.
...
Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?

I object to abortion being called a great evil, though I like his argument. Another bit:

To use an old cliché, it’s time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence. And just when we think it’s time to push all our chips to the center of the table, that’s when the whole game will come crashing down. It will crash down on the reputation of evangelical religion and on the world’s understanding of the gospel. And it will come crashing down on a nation of men and women whose welfare is also our concern.

Of course, this brought on a flurry of rage-tweeting from the nasty guy.

This is an important evangelical voice and I’m glad they said it. But, alas, this is only one evangelical voice. Most evangelicals remain firmly in support of the nasty guy. They want supremacy and he is offering it.

Interfaith religious left

The damage the nasty guy is causing and the support for that damage he is getting from the religious right has prompted the growth of the religious left as a political force. NPR reporter Tom Gjelton brought us the story a few days ago. Their primary issues are immigrant rights, universal health care, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice. One might wonder what took them so long since the religious right has been politically active for 40 years.

The right organized as a political force because they felt their deepest values were being taken from them. Those on the left are now feeling the same thing.

An early leader in the religious left is Rev. William Barber, who started the Moral Monday movement in North Carolina. Barber has since expanded that into the Poor People’s Campaign. A new leader is Rev. Jennifer Butler, who founded the group Faith in Public Life, which includes the Poor People’s Campaign.

The religious left has a much smaller base than their counterparts on the right. A big part of that is because a large number of progressives are secular. However, an advantage is that the group has an interfaith emphasis. Yeah, there are mainline Protestants, progressive Catholics, and some evangelicals. There are also Muslims, Jews, and every sort of faith group. An interfaith approach makes sense in a diverse country.

This also means a commitment to bridge building. Alliances can be formed between pro-life and pro-choice because both sides want to reduce the number of abortions (though the proposed solutions can be quite different).

Butler says, “There are over a hundred verses of Scripture that say we are to welcome immigrants and welcome strangers.” Her work is driven by moral values and not by politics.

I’m delighted the religious left is getting organized and I’m also delighted to see they have chosen an interfaith path.

A lesbian in ministry

The Baltimore Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church has recommended a married lesbian for ministry in violation of the denomination's rules. The full story is at my brother blog.

Cupcakes as well

Some of the things that have accumulated in my browser tabs...

A student prompted the Albion College Student Senate to begin discussions about becoming Reconciling. Read the whole story at my brother blog.



As part of the uproar in Indiana a pizzeria announced they would refuse to cater to a same-sex wedding reception. Please skip right over the idea that wedding receptions in Indiana are sometimes catered by pizzerias. You might reveal your class biases. Instead, let's focus on the response to that announcement. Conservatives held a fundraiser and gave the pizzeria more than $800,000. Melissa McEwan of Shakesville notes:

* There are people willing to make sure bigotry pays. Which means if there is a boycott of the whole state, the bigots won't suffer.

* Of those progressives calling for a boycott, did any of them work to raise $800,000 to compensate affected businesses or donate to a pro-gay organization? Nope. In a boycott, the progressives will suffer.



Though $800K wasn't raised, at least $148K was. That's how much has been raised by the #Pizza4Equality campaign, which will be used towards ending LGBT youth homelessness.



Isn't nice that the argument about LGBT rights is on the level of pizzas and cakes? I'm well aware the battle is not over. And about those cakes... A year ago a customer asked Marjorie Silva of Azucar Bakery in Denver to create a cake with a discriminatory message. She refused. The Civil Rights Division of Colorado's Dept. of Regulatory Agencies has now ruled in Silva's favor.



Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin pulls a bit of Scripture into these cake battles:

Matthew 5:38-42:
You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Kincaid's translation:

If anyone wants to sue you and force you to bake a wedding cake, bake them cupcakes as well.

Another item from McEwen of Shakesville: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a law that restricts how those receiving government assistance may spend the money. It's all about teaching them to spend responsibly, says the new law's advocates. It's about prosperity and having a great life. But when restricted items include taking your child to an arcade or having a party in a bar, the intent is to dehumanize the poor. This is class warfare.



Rob Tisinai of Box Turtle Bulletin makes an interesting comparison. Take a look at the Southern Manifesto that protested the 1956 Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the Supremes that forced school integration. Replace all references to "education" with "marriage" and – surprise! (not really) – you have a document quite similar to the brief that conservatives filed in the same-sex marriage case to be argued before the Supremes at the end of the month. Power mad (activist) judges, states rights, tradition, Constitution is silent on the issue, heck, even the 14th Amendment is silent – are all mentioned. There's also a mention of (uppity/militant) outside forces threatening revolutionary changes. Sheesh, those arguments are stale.



Dunno about this one. Erik Ransom took a look at gay hookup apps Manhunt and Grindr (not that I've had personal experience with either) and read some of the user profiles. He felt they were "bleak and desperate" – in other words, operatic. So Ransom teamed up with Rachel Klein and Charles Czarnecki to create a rock-opera based on the apps. Let me know when I can listen to the gay love duets.

Go to hell!

The pastor at my church gave a fascinating sermon this morning. He had spent the week studying what Jesus had to say about hell. He built his sermon around what he had learned.

The guy in charge of the visuals on the screen tried to help out. He created an image with the words: "Want to find out what hell is like? Come hear our pastor."

Jesus mentioned heaven 11 times more frequently than he mentioned hell. Therefore, it is more important for this pastor to preach about the love of Jesus rather than damnation in hell.

Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven being with you now. So, let's talk about how we can bring heaven to this life and alleviate hell in this life rather than worrying about what comes after this life.

When Jesus talked about hell he was addressing the religious leaders of his day, the equivalent of the modern church council. He accused them of putting people in hell. Jesus did not talk about hell when addressing the common man, the outsiders, those in need of his message of love.

When Jesus spoke of hell he was referring to a real place, a valley outside Jerusalem named Gehenna. Two things about Gehenna – it was where children had been sacrificed to the god Molech, and it was outside the protection of the city walls. That means, said our pastor, it referred to a nasty place outside the community, a place without love and support.

So what should we as a church and community be doing? Go to hell! … and bring those who are in hell back into the community.

Racism in the church

Rev. Russell Moore, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, is proclaiming the best way to deal with racism in America is to deal with racism in Christian congregations. We need to know those of another race as brothers and sisters. Then we'll speak up for one another. Moore speaks of it as a basic biblical principle.

Yes, he knows his own denomination doesn't have a good record on race. It was formed in 1845 so its members could continue to keep slaves. And in the 1960s pastors in the denomination were either vocally against civil rights or were silent. But the leadership recognizes the need for change.

Alas, Southern Baptist congregations haven't gotten the memo yet. Then again, neither have most congregations in the country, no matter the denomination.

Positive actions at my local church

My local church commissioned another pastor today. The important and wonderful story is told on my brother blog.

180 gallons of celebration

Back in January I wrote that I had become dissatisfied with they church where I had attended for more than 30 years. I started attending another church just a bit farther away. It didn't take me long to be asked to join the new church's Compass team, which looks at big-picture, long-term ideas. I'll also be involved in another project, which will happen next week. I've very much enjoyed this church's emphasis on community, outreach, and inclusion. I appreciate the pastor's style of preaching and emphasis of message. I gave a lesson to the leader of the bell choir, though so far her schedule is too tight to try a bell duet or trio over the summer.

The church recently had a Miracle Sunday in which they asked for an extra offering. Their goal was $25K and they almost doubled it. Leading up to that they held a prayer vigil. As part of that a team prayed over every person who attends. As they did so they wrote names on strips of paper and created paper chains. The next Sunday those chains were displayed in the sanctuary. Great things are happening.

I continued serving as the bell leader at the previous church. I went back twice to perform with them, though the membership had dropped to just three of us. The second time was two weeks ago. The performance went well. Afterward a few people asked, “So when are you coming back?” The next evening we polished the bells (as we always do at the start of summer) and I turned in my various keys. The other two ringers were sad at that. Me, not so much.

Today I became a member of the new church. I think there were seven new members. Afterward, one lady said, “I thought you were always a member.”

The pastor's sermon was based on Jesus at the wedding at Cana. The setting was early in his ministry. The party was in danger of ending too soon because the wine was running out. Jesus' mother told the wine steward to do whatever Jesus suggests. So Jesus told the steward to fill six jars (about 30 gallons each) with water. By the time the steward took a sample to the host the water had become wine – and pretty good wine at that.

The pastor picked up on a little detail. Those jars normally held water for Jewish ritual purification. According to the law a person must be cleansed before approaching God. But there was always doubt that one was worthy. Jesus turned that idea upside down. He offered grace and forgiveness. Then he said, let's keep the party going. We can't let the party end too soon. Some of us might feel old, but the party isn't over and we are all a part of it. The pastor went to and held up one of six plastic 30-gallon trash cans placed across the front. Ah, yes, that's what 30 gallons looks like. He said we had received 180 gallons of grace. He then popped the lid and dumped out inflated balloons, which were soon being batted around the congregation. His assistants dumped balloons out of the other five cans. The pastor said with 180 gallons of grace it is time to celebrate! The sound man put on some music and soon we were dancing, singing, and batting balloons. Party indeed! The place was rocking! Memorable messages like that are why I became a member.



A friend had recommended a computer store many miles from my house. After other business in the area I stopped in. Though busy, when salesman got to me he answered lingering questions (more thoroughly than the local Best Buy). I bought, though the process took longer than I expected (I missed part of an evening supper meeting). The store had run out of my chosen monitor, so I'll have to go back for that.

Migration from the old to the new will now move into high gear. There will likely be a time soon when I won't post for a few days (something like a normal week for me).

For those who are interested in such things, this salesman suggested I would probably be a lot happier with Windows 7 than Windows 8. I don't think they sold computers with 8 already installed. They offered computers with 7 with a license for 8 (actual installation up to the purchaser), or for $100 less leave off the license for 8. That's what I did. It will still be a big step up from my XP.

Fueling talk of a split

Two articles from the United Methodist News Service about recent talk of a denominational split are discussed on my brother blog.

Ask us

I had written last week about a coalition of progressive pastors and church people who declared their support for marriage equality in Michigan in contrast to a group the week before who had trumpeted how anti-gay they said the church should be. Between the Lines has more on the pro-gay event.

It was very much a press conference, a presentation for the media. And some of it was aimed at the media. As in a demand to stop portraying the hateful voices as mainstream Christian voices. You want stories on what the church thinks of marriage equality? Ask us. That other stuff you hear is not our voice. We believe in a God of love, compassion, and inclusion. We oppose a portrayal in the medial of Christians who talk about hate of the gay community. The rest of what was said is what we expect to hear from progressive denominations.



Every year many of the state politicians head to Mackinac Island for the Policy Conference put on by the Detroit Regional Chamber. I think it used to be mostly a GOP thing, but I hear lots of Dems now go too. Today, at this year's event, Gov. Rick Snyder declared his support for adding sexual minorities to the state's civil rights act. Good news indeed! This is, of course, after a slew of Michigan corporations demanded our inclusion in the law. House Speaker Jase Bolger is still trying to balance our rights with religious liberty -- which is a mental exercise able to tie a politician's brain into enough knots that he can't do anything.



GOP Representative Charlie Dent from Pennsylvania has stated his support for marriage equality! Life is too short for government to stand in the way of love. He is one of only three GOP members in the House in favor of equality. There are another three in the Senate. Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin notes Dent's pronouncement doesn't cost him a whole lot. It was a week ago that GOP Gov. Corbett announced there would be no appeal of the marriage equality ruling. Also, Dent's district is moderate. He has no GOP primary opponent and no Dem opponent in the fall. Even so, we appreciate any GOP voice for equality.



The Human Rights Campaign sent a letter to Pope Francis asking him to meet with nine teachers who lost jobs at Catholic schools for either being LGBT or being an LGBT ally. The activist group Queer Nation is not impressed and is calling HRC hypocritical. The big reason is HRC is supporting a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that has an expansive religious exemption allowing, for example, the firings these Catholic schools just did. Some folks are calling for dropping ENDA. It is time to include sexual minorities in existing civil rights legislation. That avoids the messy religious exemptions.



My spirea bloomed this year, one of the few plants in my yard that did. I planted it many years ago in honor of my grandmother who had several bushes of spirea around her house.

Endorse with love or reject and condemn?

An interview with Pope Francis appeared in the Jesuit magazine America and is getting a lot of notice in gay news sources. The post by Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin appears to be the most comprehensive, so it is his main points I'll highlight. I haven't read the full interview.

Francis explains some of his background, saying that he was thrust into leadership (within the Jesuits) before he was ready and without enough support. He found that an authoritarian style of leadership didn't work.

Burroway notes that lots of Catholic pew-sitters don't agree with the hierarchy. That leads to comments of Francis who says, "And all the faithful, considered as a whole, are infallible in matters of belief." Francis doesn't say or refute that he as pope is infallible, can't ever be wrong. But he is saying that the faithful, even when they appear to be straying from doctrine, are also not wrong. Perhaps God is leading the church in a new direction.

That important point leads to the next. Francis said,

The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials. The bishops, particularly, must be able to support the movements of God among their people with patience, so that no one is left behind. But they must also be able to accompany the flock that has a flair for finding new paths.

A couple paragraphs later came the part that got the attention of gays:

A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing.

And then:

The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.

What a wonderful breath of fresh air!

Burroway cautions us: No doctrine has changed. It still calls us "objectively disordered." American bishops and cardinals will likely still say nasty things about us. It make take quite a while for these ideas of Francis to filter down into the rest of the hierarchy. And it may not do that in the few years Francis is around. Even so, this could be the start of a momentous shift.

Alas, there are also groups such as the National Organization for Marriage, which has taken a great deal of Catholic money. Maggie Gallagher, a leader in that group, is quick to jump on what the Pope said -- in her usual logically twisted way. Perhaps gay leaders will be a bit more tolerant, a bit more considerate of the human, and not be so quick to judge us as hateful bigots. Sure, Maggie.