Thank you Heather, thank you President Abraham Lincoln and thank you Judge J. Michael Luttig.
“I wanted to do this for America and I understood I had an obligation to do it for America. It was my ‘moment’ in my life to stand up, step forward, and bear witness to what I believe and what I do not believe.”
Heather, I have a feeling this was an emotion-laden piece for you to write as a historian of the Republican Party. Judge Luttig's proclamation crystalized the destructively reactionary impact of the current Republican Party on our democracy, followed by the Texas Republican Party's rub-salt-in-the-wound unequivocal plan to keep power and privilege for the monied heterosexual white male statistical minority and their token adjacents. A real double whammy. A clarion call to raise hell through our democratic process:
Register voters!
Get Out The Vote!
Press to hold accountable the perpetrators of this criminal conspiracy against American democracy!
Right now, the greatest danger to democracy in America is no longer the defeated former president and those who aided his efforts to overthrow the 2020 election. Enforcing the rule of law to hold them accountable will take decades of litigation, time that we cannot afford to take. The danger is immediate and present and it is the Republican Party, whose true nature the Texas G.O.P. was not ashamed to to document in its platform. That party must be overwhelmed at the polls at all levels, from village dogcatchers on up to Congress and the White House. The Democratic Party must ask all voters if they agree with the Texas Republican platform or with Abraham Lincoln in the 1850's and Judge Luttig last week. (Why is it that so many who will claim to disagree with that platform will still vote Repubican? What secret prejudices do they hide? That's another problem.) But Go Ahead, Register voters! Get Out the Vote!
Addressing your parenthetical questions: In my upstate Hudson Valley Town of under 2000 active voters, the Democrats create a third party ballot line before each election so that those who abhor voting Democratic have a an alternative way to vote for the Democratic candidate. In a community where the Dem. vote will run maybe 400 vs. Rep. 700, the third party will show 20-30 votes. There seems to be an ingrained sense of "otherness" that they can't shake.
True Christians should know better. We are to love unconditionally as we have been loved and we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. Recall ... Christ was brought to trial, beaten and abused and murdered by arrogant religious leaders who were afraid of losing power.
They have twisted Christianity to being the total opposite of what it was meant to be. They wear it like a badge and permission to dictate hate and intolerance. I have clients I have difficulty being in the same room with due to the twisting of this faith and the constant self rigorousness and hatred in the name of Jesus. I’m not a Christian and I feel frightened and confused by this.
They twist and distort EVERYTHING to suit their purposes. Nazis in Germany in the '20s and '30s did the very same thing. Holy Scripture, the Constitution, all of it gets distorted. And their zealot followers will unquestioningly believe every single word of it.
Elaine, yes, “They have twisted Christianity to being the total opposite of what it was meant to be.” I’m not Christian, but these twisted actions and policies connected to religion, many religions, are historic worldwide from the beginning. We, some of us, thought we the people, we in America, had evolved.
These pseudo and very loud "Christians haven't the foggiest what the first three Gospels say. No love only hate for them. And after they have "found Jesus" and been "saved", they walk on water. So hubris as well.
I do not question your own faith or capability for love, but please recall as well that monotheistic religions in general and Christianity in particular have been arguably the most murderous force in human history. "Arrogant religious leaders" have manipulated believers into performing heinous act after heinous act in the name of Jesus Christ - the Crusades, the Inquisition, the genocide of indigenous peoples, and on and on. What is happening in Texas - and in our nation - is not at all new.
And it is so sad. I always thought the Christian religion was about love and not fighting and war. The first I realized that was when there was an uprising in Ireland some years ago. The Catholics fighting the Prostestants.
You fail to mention the primary and essential role of the local Roman authoriites in his trial and death. Which leads me to suspect that you are simply reciting tired tales of Jewish conspiracy. Governments will always find a few individuals to endorse authoritarian mischief and further their own interests. Shame on your "unconditional" Christian love.
Richard We do not know, from Gospels written decades later for diverse reasons, what precisely happened in the capture, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. Robin Fox has a chapter on the dialogue between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, ending with the quote “What is truth?”
As an historian I wonder who witnessed and reported this conversation. There is nothing in official Roman records and Jesus was otherwise occupied after this purported meeting. There were a number of ‘agitators’ who were arrested and dispatched during such holy days. I wonder whether Pontius Pilate would spend time with one such ‘agitator.’ As for the relationship between the traditional Jewish hierarchy in the Temple and the role of the Romans, I wonder how much of this is ex post facto hearsay.
Folks have spun numerous tales about this situation, while no one can speak definitely about what actually occurred—including Barrabas, about whom a movie (Anthony Quinn) was made, although biblical scholars doubt the entire Barrabas story.
Jesus was no friend to the Temple hierarchy and those are the ones who cooperated with the Romans. To understand their role is not to believe or to recite Jewish conspiracies.
What Jesus or the "Temple hierarchy" did or did not do is based on hear-say and fantasy, "made-up as they went along," not on historical record. Whatever records might are accessible now have been so manipulated to fit the purposes of the organized church as to be virtually valueless. To believe otherwise is to pretend, the equivalent of a belief in goblins and fairies, fit for children or the psychotic. Appreciating Jesus's attributed teachings in love for one's fellow man is another matter, and I'm all for that. Turning him into a god done wrong by evil Jewish priests is nonsense.
Texas Ministers, Priests,Rabbi’s, all spiritual leaders, churches, synagogues, Mosques etc should immediately speak out in unison across Texas denouncing the R’s plank of ‘christian nationalism’. This is so dangerous. It is aligned with Orban’s Hungry and Putin’s Russia. It is unconstitutional. It is antithetical to American principles and aspirations.
"Christian" Nationalism - a horrific oxymoron, making it easy to despair.
My Thoughts, and an Invitation to Action!
I would like to borrow and build on Robert Hubble's approach to all of this horror that we witness. (My only other daily newsletter). Yes, it is so important to recognize evil. At the same time, we must do what we can to counter the despair that evil can inspire with a stronger statement of what is possible when people of good hearts come together and take action.
I believe in the power of love. Not the mushy romantic love which mostly depends on the feelings of the moment (as fun as that can be!), but rather the love that is the energy of creation, spirit, the divine, Allah, Yahweh, God, Goddess, whatever one calls the Non-physical aspect of life. It is there for us to draw upon as we show up in whatever way we feel called. So I asked, what can I do? Whom can I join?
Inspired, I googled "Christians against christian nationalism" and guess what! There is an organization with that name! Christians Against Christian Nationalism! They include an impressive gathering of Christian leaders, with three of my favorites, Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Most Rev. Michael Curry (American episcopal bishop who spoke at Meghan and Harry's wedding) and Sister Simon Campbell, ED of Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. They offer ways to get involved, including signing their statement condemning Christian Nationalism and forwarding an invitation to others to sign. So I've signed, Tweeted, FB'd and now I'm inviting you! Please check it out and consider signing. https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org
Please do not paint all of us with the same brush. These people are not followers of what Jesus taught. But like the Republican Party, these extremists have taken their own biases and rewritten Biblical history and the Bible to reflect these biases. We must continue to fight against both of these takeovers.
Read Diana Butler Bass’s latest Sunday Musing about today’s appointed scripture as being not a miracle but a political commentary.
I wasn't doing the "painting" just stating what I understand is their version of an acceptable person - being male, white, heterosexual, monied and Christian.
BTW, I'm all of the above, excepting the last. As far as the New Testament is concerned, it is sparse on facts and laden with contradictions. It is an unsteady foundation for reaching for spiritual understanding. Little wonder it has been relied upon for the most un-Christlike of practices, as well as for what might be the truest.
Good to point out that being a monied white heterosexual “Christian “ male simply bestows privilege, but does not necessarily mean you join that quest for power. There’s a big difference between white-adjacent people of color, poor, and/or LGBTQ who do step on others’ necks, and allies who are privileged but work for equality and justice for all—all of us this time.
Not rewritten Biblical history so much as not knowing and not understanding and not wanting to know or wanting to understand Biblical history. The cost of believing in a literal interpretation of the Bible. After reading Diana Butler Bass, I am realizing how much of the Gospels is based on political commentary that Christians haven’t understood because we interpret the Bible according to our present culture and present understanding of language. It’s sad and it’s dangerous!
While the King James Version and the works of Shakespeare have stabilized English, there are about 300 everyday words in the KJV that have changed meaning in the last 400 years, words like offend, prevent, perfect. And of course the eye of a needle isn’t the eye of a needle. So, seek and ye shall find, whether it’s there or not. These evangelical proponents of a muscular Christianity think Jesus was a kick-ass guy. It is their justification for authoritarianism. If Jesus had been a kick-ass guy he would have joined the zealots and driven the romans out of Judaea. It’s interesting that in ancient and modern times there are four ways to respond when society is under pressure. You can go along to get along like the Pharisees and the United States senate; you can take up armed resistance like the zealots or the weathermen; you can drop out like the Essenes and the hippies; you can go the way of Jesus and MLK Jr, non-violent resistance. meanwhile, tho I have to agree with the words of judge Luttig, I’d rather read them than listen to him. What a puffed up blowhard, and with the nerve to call himself a hero. He reminded me of that Bob and Ray routine in which Bob is the president of a group called The Slow Talkers of America. Would I rather be nailed to a cross or forced to listen to Luttig for an hour. Let me think about it.
I do not paint all Christians with the same brush and I have had this argument with my spouse many times. Unfortunately, the ones we are talking about are loud, in your face types who want a theocracy. The most grounded person I know is a devout Christian.
I just read it. New to me but I am not a bible scholar in that sense. The organization I used to belong to discouraged that sort of thing. I will continue to read her posts
We are. Thank you, She is getting 37/40 on her English exams and is upset that it is not 40/40. I am just holding down the fort. We talk to the home front every day. All is well with our town, home and pets. The granddaughters and their mother are doing OK in Poland and their dad is busy with the Territorial Defense Force for out town
Mary Beth, I agree about not painting everyone with the same brush. To avoid this, religious leaders and members of faith communities must gather and speak louder than those who are threatening our Democracy and freedom. We often say “Silence is consent.” But here’s an essay that describes why many people do not speak out. “Silence Does Not Equal Consent.” https://link.medium.com/8d8Xj3CzZqb
I don't think it's accurate to call these Christo-fascists either fanatics or fringe elements of the religion. They are really right in the center of what Christianity is and has always been.
The Jesus stories place the foundation of the religious movement in roughly CE 30. By CE 65, emperor Nero was burning them on crosses at a garden party.
Think about this. Nero was Roman, concerned with Roman matters, and Judea was an outlying protectorate where Roman administrators were sent as a sign of imperial disfavor. In a mere 30 years, they had become such trouble in Rome that the Emperor of Rome was singling them out? Personally, I think this argues for a much earlier origin of the Christian sects, with close ties to the general "Judaean Problem" that Rome faced as soon as it intervened in Jewish matters in the BCE 60's. The subsequent history of the "Christians" within Rome was an unending cycle of pogroms and amnesty, and Constantine's eventual codification of Christianity in the early fourth century has always struck me as a capitulation. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. By the end of the fourth century, the Christians had taken over Rome, destroyed Pagan worship, and captured the rule of the Empire on both sides of the Bosporus.
Christianity continued to destroy all local worship, capture local governing powers, and abolish or "Christianize" all cultural traditions it encountered for the next seventeen centuries. It moved westward through Europe, North and East toward the Russ, South into Heathen Africa, across the ocean into the Americas. There are many theories as to why it never took root in India, and why it never significantly disrupted the Orient.
"True Christians" -- the ones who always called themselves that -- were opposed to every non-hierarchical government they encountered, calling it "savagery," and every hierarchical government they could not capture under their own power. They carried with them slavery, cultural disruption, impoverishment, and exploitation.
The American democracy was created by Deists, Theists, Gnostics, Quakers, Free-thinkers and other "heretics" to the True Christian Faith. These heretics explicitly barred religious tests from their government, and while they guaranteed the right to free exercise of religion, it seems pretty clear that the point was to prevent the True Christians from taking over through their time-tested method of persecuting "false" faiths until they gave in and joined with their persecutors.
This is a 2000 year history of conquest and oppression under the True Christian faith, that somehow "accidentally" came out of a religion of goodness and light and love.
Santa Claus is more plausible.
What we are seeing right now is EXACTLY what Christianity always was, and is.
Yes, I hear you and I understand the argument. I am a rational person. And yet, I can tell you that quite apart from the organisations of Christian religions there is something else going on. There is a mystical body of followers that is lead by something above and beyond the mundane politics of humanity. I have met that something and it is love. This planet and the human race is involved in a great transformation. And there has been help and comfort from a higher power for me, Completely apart from any church or organisation that claims they know whats right or what’s really going on. For that I am very grateful.
And I, too, have experienced that, but only occasionally within the context of my "milk religion," which was Christianity. When I shifted to neo-Pagan traditions, I got a very strong inner signal of that same universal love. It isn't something in the religion, and if it is real at all, there's no reason think it would or should be. It is like air. You want to be where the air is fresh and wholesome.
One of the things Christianity does is to declare unequivocally that there is no approaching that universal love outside the framework of Christ, meaning Christ as defined, guarded, and carefully dispensed by the Christian faith. That gives the church control over your experience. From there, it is a short step toward praying for your (legitimate) President, and voting for him.
Here is an experiment. I don't know your tradition, but let's say that your Christian tradition is to pray with your head lowered, eyes closed, and your hands together in a gesture of submission and supplication, and to pray silently. This is a common practice. The next time you pray, tilt your head back, eyes open, arms spread wide in a gesture of love and transformation. Sing your prayer aloud.
Now try this in church. Unless you are in an ecstatic tradition -- Black pentacostalism, for instance -- you are going to feel very, VERY out-of-place. And right there is where you meet the distinction between God and church.
God and church as a contradiction does not matter to me. God is not and has never been trapped in any human box. My own connection To love comes from a high catholic church/ pentecostal experience. Everything from the biggest shout to the smallest whisper. I’m sorry your experience in various churches has been unfortunate…. But as you well know that is not the only dwelling place to find grace and love and connection. i wish you well on your journey.
I am very okay that this is what you believe. I choose to stay a progressive Christian. I am not asking everyone to believe as I do. However and whatever you believe is okay with me unless you are injuring me. A case in point for me is climate change. I know well this country was not founded as a Christian nation. Eisenhower did us no favors by caving to the words “under God” being added to the Pledge of Allegiance. I was a young adult in the sixties. We wanted to make love not war. Guess I am still thinking that’s still a good idea
My mother never thought adding “under God” was a good idea. My parents were Holocaust victims who settled in little town USA in the state of NC. My sister and I were brought up in Bible belt country. Our synagogue was in another town, 18 miles away. For me, I see hypocrisy in all religions. I feel they purposely set up all kinds of barriers and I have never been comfortable with that. I marched against the Vietnam War. I wanted the ERA to succeed. Fought for abortions…look where we are now! Fighting for the same damned things!
Thus wrote Joseph Nemeth, a succinct and self-assured summary of Christianity. As a non-Christian without a great deal of knowledge about the religion, I am not in a position to comment on its scholarly merit. I do wonder whether Joseph went out on a limb when stating that Santa Claus was more plausible than Christianity as a religion of '...goodness and light and love.' So Joe, did that imply that you will not be targeting Santa for a round of critical thinking?
No, I won't be targeting Santa Claus. I don't need to. He's widely known as a fictional character, and the people who do believe in him are far too young for me to browbeat. :-)
Though I could say a few things about his history.
Santa Claus as WE know him dates only to a 1931 Coca Cola advertisement.
This jolly, bearded man in red was, in turn, based on the Saint Nick from the 1822 poem by Clement Clark Moore, titled "A Visit from Saint Nicolas," but more commonly known as, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," in which he is called "a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly," small enough to fit down a chimney.
Christmas, as a holiday, was outlawed in Puritan Boston from 1659 to 1681, and anyone displaying "Christmas spirit" was fined. It was banned in England through the entirety of Oliver Cromwell's reign. Christmas did not become a national holiday in the US until 1870. Many of our "Christmas Traditions" come from stories by Washington Irving and (of course) Charles Dickens in the early 1800's, mostly extolling peaceful relations between the classes in British society, which were (in reality) anything but.
Going back any further, "Santa Claus" effectively vanishes. There was the tall, thin "Saint Nicholas" who would leave gifts for the poor, and "The Krampus," who would snatch up disobedient children in a great bag and beat them with sticks. Every local community had its own traditions for celebrating the Longest Night.
Joseph, Thank you for your glimpses of Santas, Saint Nicolas and that tall, thin one. Might there be an adventure story or Santa sonata from you in the future? I'm smiling at the prospect of what you may bring to this 'merry', light, dark and magical endeavor.
Oh, here we go again: please remember the United States of America separates church and state. And for a very good reason: discussions about religion causes polarization. We all have a right to choose a religion that suits our spiritual needs and a responsibility to let others choose their own, so please keep it out of politics. None of the signers of the Declaration were Christians: they were all PHILOSOPHERS.
I agree. We also have the right to be free from religion. Those of us who are not believers are here as well and every time a policy is shaped based on religious beliefs, it affects the choices of non-believers as well.
Ellie, I thought that HCR's Letter today was more than a tribute to Judge J. Michael Luttig's statements on behalf of the principles, upon which American Democracy was founded, and in support of the Rule of Law, it also signaled that the Judge's words would influence Republican lawmakers.
'Luttig's words carry weight among Republican lawmakers.' (Letter)
I see no signs of that. Have Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Eastman, both of whom clerked for Judge Luttig, responded? Has Mitch McConnell responded? Have any Republican lawmakers responded?
'Amid Jan 6 Revelations, Election Lies Still Dominate the GOP'
'Like mint in the garden, the seeds that the Trump team planted between Election Day 2020 and Jan 6, 2021 are now growing out of control, aided by the former president's allies.' (NYTimes, 6/17). Sorry subscribers that I cannot provide a link to this article because of computer malfunction.
Fern, for McConnell, et al to respond, they would be bestowing credibility on Luttig's views, and they cannot risk that. If they mention any of his recently shared views, then they'll have to describe him as having fallen under the spell of the Democrats.
Nancy, I'm not calling the shots for McConnell et al., which way the wind will blow re the American public, and the views of some significant Donors and Big Business. The LIE is central to the party; has the dye been cast as you suggest? Any more and more influential people than Luttig going to come forward? Without rose-colored glasses, I thought HCR's Letter uncharacteristically hopeful. While you and I are thinking along the same lines, I am open to positive news ___ and even a miracle.
Fern, I agree. I've seen some indications of softening from those who don't appear to populate the trump base. I never believed that McConnell loved trump, but used him when he could profit from his behavior. He's a strategist at his core, and if he could benefit from the anger, he used it. Others feared trump's power to ruin them, so they went along. HCR is extremely well qualified to read the prevailing sentiments, and I continue to hope that perhaps the right wing has felt free to air their extreme views because they believe that the economy and other woes will finish off the Democrats in these fraught times, but hopefully they have taken enough rope to hang themselves. Like you, I prefer to be positive, and I've seen unexpected consequences come out of seemingly hopeless situations. With all of the problems, we still outnumber the opposition, and the discovery that a huge number of Democrats "crossed over" in the recent Georgia primaries to qualify less radical Republicans, but will vote for Democrats in November, is comforting. We had a huge turnout that surpassed even the 2020 election. When I realized that the Republican candidates got over 70,000 more votes than the Democrats, I was despondent, until the truth was revealed, so our guys took an old page from the Republicans and tweaked it to work in their favor. November could provide the "unexpected consequence."
Republican Party silence on the J6 hearings, including all the Republican witnesses, proves the adage that negative PR is better than no PR, and they are giving no PR. For us, it’s full court press now as well as a long haul ahead for the rule of law to unfold.
Sandy, I agree that exercising my memory will hopefully keep it strong, until it may fade bit by bit. Readers often want to read the article for themselves, including portions of it that were not included. Your contributions on the forum, Sandy, have filled in important historical facts and human stories, which enhance our knowledge and spur interest. Salud!
19 States have changed the process of voting certification, making it controlled by Republicans, if I remember Heather's recent chat correctly. With such move comes the power of corrupt, lawless and unscrupulous people to subvert election results. This is how Putin stays in power
Thank you for all who recognize the insanity percolating in the Republican Party!
“And, as if in confirmation, delegates to a convention of the Texas Republican Party today approved platform planks rejecting ‘the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and [holding] that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States’, requiring students ‘to learn about the dignity of the preborn human,’ including that life begins at fertilization; treating homosexuality as ‘an abnormal lifestyle choice’; locking the number of Supreme Court justices at 9; getting rid of the constitutional power to levy income taxes; abolishing the Federal Reserve; rejecting the Equal Rights Amendment; returning Christianity to schools and government; ending all gun safety measures; abolishing the Department of Education; arming teachers; requiring colleges to teach ‘free-market liberty principles’; defending capital punishment; dictating the ways in which the events at the Alamo are remembered; protecting Confederate monuments; ending gay marriage; withdrawing from the United Nations and the World Health Organization; and calling for a vote ‘for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.’”
Unf**kingbelievable. They didn’t leave out a thing that the slime of the country have wanted for 40+ years. Well yes, they did. Eject all immigrants and make white MAN rule the law of the land. However, these idiotic proposals would accomplish that in a nanosecond. Go ahead Texas, become the capitol of the confederacy. I’ll take my infirm husband and crawl to…anywhere else.
We got out of TX as soon as we could. I’ve grown to hate every square inch of my effing birthstate. Hey, Jeri, if you need transportation, I’ll hop in a U-haul, drive back and under cloak of darkness, collect you two!
I was born and raised in Indiana. While it's not Texas, I would not live there again for all the money in the world. I live in Oregon where fortunately there is enough population in the Willamette Valley and increasingly in places like Bend to keep us blue....maybe.
That AH Rick Scott laid it out for all to see. McTurtle was PO'd, not because he disagreed, but because Scott couldn't keep his yap shut and gave it up before the elections
What they have in mind is to allow the male to check on his spouse ballot before she turns it in. (Easier than changing suffrage.)
Think this can't happen, as late as 1980 they were still buying votes in my country in western NC. This how the system worked, you filled out your ballot, showed it to the man, if it was correct he gave you a shoe tack and then you went across the street to the shoe repair shop and turn in your tack and got your dollar.
That’s their assumption. Anything left out is a given. So they don’t have to keep on rewriting they can just be racist, homophobic, Antisemitic, misogynistic and every ism that reverses equality and Justice.
Hi Jeri. I have another view. What if this extremist position is a sign that the Texas Republican Party might be going the way of the California Republican Party: an endangered species. A party that no longer has anything to gain politically will just become more honest and transparent about its extremism that has been kept under wraps. Like the wicked witch of the West: “You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting … melting …”
In other words: what if this extremist platform is a sign that the Texas Republican Party is dying, and that it’s a good time to be a Texan. I don’t know, I’m just speculating. Texas is like a foreign country to me, no more familiar than Bolivia.
Wonderful stuff, Rowshan. Especially important that the 3 witches also told the "Thane of Glamis" that that he would be king but it is Banquo that would father kings. Somewhat worrying ......
Don't forget their first line in Act 1
"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won.
Dang it, Peter. I love when you use a word that I’m not sure of (which is your usual scholarly approach) and then I have to look it up. Right on ‘bout Putin. Too many infirmities and too out of date to be a Superman for the Russian people. And…just too damn mean with that dark void of a conscience in his pea brain.
(Last statement does not include any words that you have to look up.) I will try at some point to get you to reach for the dictionary.
Texass Repubs are clearly planning to drag their state--as well as the rest of the country, if they possibly can--back into the late 1700's. Reactionary fools. If it were not for the sanctity of the Union, I'd say let 'em. Let 'em declare independence and then the Fed can promptly withdraw all federal monies and every other Federal level piece of support that they receive and see how well the reactionary ingrates fare.
Wish list...??? Yes. But a list of items they really believe in or merely support. Whatever way, we've been at this crossroad before historically, and Judge Luttig implicitly acknowledged that before stepping forward.
Read the Plan for America by the Chairman of the Republican Senatorial Re-election Committee Sen. Rick Scott a plan eviscerate the Federal branch of government.
Scott’s plan is at rescueamericaDOTcom. If you prefer not to visit his website and give him your eyeballs, many news organizations have posted critiques. I don’t seem to be able to paste in their links right now.
Hugh Spencer, the fact that they felt comfortable expressing these goals, in writing, in 2022 is beyond frightening. There are way too many citizens in our country that sign on to this backward philosophy, something 2016 proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.
By the Grace of God, I was born in Texas, grew up in Texas, and had the pure, blind luck to leave Texas and move to Western Washington in 1997. While grieved, I’m not surprised that this is the current R platform in Texas. I first heard the co-option of “Christianity” in the South in the 1970s. From then to now, nobody felt the real danger of trying to merge religion and politics, even though we had the ongoing evidence of what would happen from watching the Middle East in turmoil for How long?
Christian America is our version of the Taliban. Isn’t that a lovely thought? Of course I am not including the readers here, these Christians are moral giants.
And I hope that Democrats will find a way to say how un-Christian the "ethics" of that Republican party are. Hard for me to imagine Jesus as a gun fetishist or upholder of the Confederacy.
My son and his family live just outside of Houston (which I admit is different from the rural areas) and his take is that there is a growing and strengthening movement against the crazy Republicans in the State- hopefully their insane platform gets media coverage in Texas. My question is why isn’t the main stream media covering it- this should be major headlines- sigh.
According to the US Census Bureau, nonHispanic white people comprise 41% of the population, and Latino voters comprise 40%. According to Texas political expert Lawrence Wright (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas), Texas Democrats believe that if the percentage of Latinos who cast votes in Texas were as high as it is in California, Democrats would win all the statewide elections (governor, lt gov, US Senate, Secretary of State, Railroad Commission, etc). Even now, the big population centers in Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and even Dallas) vote mostly Democratic. However, another expert, Ian Haney-López (a UC Berkeley professor of law, not a Texan), in his book on dog whistle politics, cautions that it is unwise for Democrats to count on the Latino vote. It's likely to drift in the Republican direction, Haney-López says, because Latino culture favors center-right politics and would probably go that direction if Republicans were not so blatantly racist.
Secession should be next. Isn’t this where they are headed? The Texas platform reverses all progress since the Civil War. States and politicians that want to return to pre-Civil War laws and racism and inequality are so radical yet becoming normalized in the repub party. The corrupt election and gerrymandering are their pathways to their version of USA. This is not covert. They are banking on the distraction and ignorance of voters in order to dismantle current laws and protections and the constitution. This is too crazy to believe but there it is in plain sight.
I too noted the weight and his great sadness as Judge Luttig stated that. I also felt a great loneliness in him as he spoke those words and in his entire testimony, actually. The loneliness born of fatality brought on by the quiet banding together of men whom he tutored and aided in their ascension as lawyers and legal and political careers around the power of words, lies, twists in logic and precedents being used so blatantly because they work in shaping what so many Americans will believe. I recall, with uncertainty, that Chair Thompson, when introducing his testimony, said that Judge Luttig was the only conservative appointed judge to share this opinion with the Committee.
This statement brought tears to my eyes. Rereading the Texas Republican platform just made me wonder who would want to live under such a rigid system? How do any of those proposals make life better for me or my neighbor? How dare they promote this kind of exclusive crap. It is horrible.
Heart failure again (but, like the Judge, let me assure you I've never felt fitter) - isn't he MARVELLOUS! That's superb. I'll have another try at turning the heart red.
Suggestion to restore the ability to use our red heart option: Go to the top of the page then look to the left of the search bar. You'll see an incomplete circle w/ an arrow at the end. Click on that. Your ability to use the red heart should return but it may not last long and you may have to repeat the process.
For those with diminished intelligence, comfortable with the incoherent blathering of the Fat Man from Maralago thought out and intelligent speech is incomprehensible. F**k the Rs
This link goes to a worthwhile read in Judge Luttig's own words of commentary on his testimony before the Jan. 6 committee. In addition to his affirmation of the "clear and present danger" of the Republican Party, he assures us that his measured speech was to make his words distinctly clear with deep understanding of the gravity of his message--and not because he had a stroke.
I thought what Judge Luttig wrote as his testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee could not be surpassed to make me admire him, but this tweet makes me think of him even more as an American hero:
Thank you Christine for this link. I read--and am guilty of passing along--some misinformation (about the non-existent stroke) written by a friend who has always been quite impeccable about verification.
I'm sorry to say I was in a hurry because I was intensely irritated by some comments made about how "ill-timed and snooze-worthy" the Judge's testimony was in the third hearing and I was anxious to refute. My fault for not double checking. I copied and passed along your link to my "impeccable" friend.
TL- I also passed that inaccurate info after a higher up on Nasty Women's Movement posted re a stroke. I also came across his post and shared it back to that group today.
Thank you, Christine, for this link. It certainly blows away all of the misinformation I have seen on social media. What a national treasure he is. I hope we will continue to hear from him.
Thank you for supplying this link. I listened to Judge Luttig's testimony and was struck by how profoundly his words came across. Nothing to do with his health in his delivery, just measured and appropriate to convey the gravity and seriousness of the situation. God bless that man.
Thank you, Ally for this link. Although I watched Judge Luttig’s testimony in its entirety, having this transcript more than confirms my feeling of the rightness of that testimony. I have tears of gratitude.
You know, out of the entire situation that is our world today, Dr. Richardson's bookends of Ted Cruz and Texas pushing against Dr. Luttig and the Law, one thing strikes me this morning. The party of Donald Trump and his cheerleaders, the party of that shrieking banshee, Lindsey Graham, always pulls out the accusation of some kind of feeble-mindedness against their opponents. Are you kidding me? Joe Biden doesn't sound like someone with dementia, for heaven's sake. He sounds like Joe Biden.
It's this kind of poisonous nonsense that seeps through the cracks and scares me to death. As a very wise friend often says, 'This isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from here."
Windmills and bleach! And Luttig speaks too slowly!!
One of our commenter group yesterday pointed out the DARVO structure of all gop response. Deflect, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. When gop comment this way we need to just start calling it out for what it is “DARVO!”
[The Texas Republican Party today approved a platform plank] "calling for a vote “for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.”
Good riddance. When and if Texas withdraws from the Union they will find some dazzling challenges ahead of them. Services provided or subsidized by the federal government would be withdrawn. Federal monies and subsidies would cease to flow to Texas. Frankly, I think "TEXIT" is just what the people of the United States need to see. I'm fairly certain any number of large and small business would pull up stakes and move elsewhere. TEXIT would leave Texas a pathetic cross between the societies described in The Handmaid's Tale and the Hunger Games. I hope clear thinking Texans have the gumption and financial wherewithal to pull up stakes and relocate as well.
How about a Mexican government of over 4 times the number of Texas residents deciding they would like their land back? Texas GQP is a joke of Dr. Seuss proportions.
Thank you Heather, thank you President Abraham Lincoln and thank you Judge J. Michael Luttig.
“I wanted to do this for America and I understood I had an obligation to do it for America. It was my ‘moment’ in my life to stand up, step forward, and bear witness to what I believe and what I do not believe.”
Heather, I have a feeling this was an emotion-laden piece for you to write as a historian of the Republican Party. Judge Luttig's proclamation crystalized the destructively reactionary impact of the current Republican Party on our democracy, followed by the Texas Republican Party's rub-salt-in-the-wound unequivocal plan to keep power and privilege for the monied heterosexual white male statistical minority and their token adjacents. A real double whammy. A clarion call to raise hell through our democratic process:
Register voters!
Get Out The Vote!
Press to hold accountable the perpetrators of this criminal conspiracy against American democracy!
Right now, the greatest danger to democracy in America is no longer the defeated former president and those who aided his efforts to overthrow the 2020 election. Enforcing the rule of law to hold them accountable will take decades of litigation, time that we cannot afford to take. The danger is immediate and present and it is the Republican Party, whose true nature the Texas G.O.P. was not ashamed to to document in its platform. That party must be overwhelmed at the polls at all levels, from village dogcatchers on up to Congress and the White House. The Democratic Party must ask all voters if they agree with the Texas Republican platform or with Abraham Lincoln in the 1850's and Judge Luttig last week. (Why is it that so many who will claim to disagree with that platform will still vote Repubican? What secret prejudices do they hide? That's another problem.) But Go Ahead, Register voters! Get Out the Vote!
Jack Lippman, no truer words... if you can keep it... Sandy
Addressing your parenthetical questions: In my upstate Hudson Valley Town of under 2000 active voters, the Democrats create a third party ballot line before each election so that those who abhor voting Democratic have a an alternative way to vote for the Democratic candidate. In a community where the Dem. vote will run maybe 400 vs. Rep. 700, the third party will show 20-30 votes. There seems to be an ingrained sense of "otherness" that they can't shake.
It's more than 'otherness.' I think it has something to do with fearing the redistribution of wealth based on need.
Yeah....theys got it and theys got the money to build the casstles and the mote...., a mote filled with lawyers....and those bastards will getcha!!
Whewww You nailed that one BLAMMMMMO BLAM MMO they are some sick puppies. SICK SICK SICK SICK......EEgaddddds!!
Not to mention all those who are trying to maintain their power have to be Christian as well.
True Christians should know better. We are to love unconditionally as we have been loved and we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. Recall ... Christ was brought to trial, beaten and abused and murdered by arrogant religious leaders who were afraid of losing power.
They have twisted Christianity to being the total opposite of what it was meant to be. They wear it like a badge and permission to dictate hate and intolerance. I have clients I have difficulty being in the same room with due to the twisting of this faith and the constant self rigorousness and hatred in the name of Jesus. I’m not a Christian and I feel frightened and confused by this.
Just like they have twisted “liberty”, “patriot”, and “freedom”.
They twist and distort EVERYTHING to suit their purposes. Nazis in Germany in the '20s and '30s did the very same thing. Holy Scripture, the Constitution, all of it gets distorted. And their zealot followers will unquestioningly believe every single word of it.
Nice comparison.
Elaine, yes, “They have twisted Christianity to being the total opposite of what it was meant to be.” I’m not Christian, but these twisted actions and policies connected to religion, many religions, are historic worldwide from the beginning. We, some of us, thought we the people, we in America, had evolved.
These pseudo and very loud "Christians haven't the foggiest what the first three Gospels say. No love only hate for them. And after they have "found Jesus" and been "saved", they walk on water. So hubris as well.
I do not question your own faith or capability for love, but please recall as well that monotheistic religions in general and Christianity in particular have been arguably the most murderous force in human history. "Arrogant religious leaders" have manipulated believers into performing heinous act after heinous act in the name of Jesus Christ - the Crusades, the Inquisition, the genocide of indigenous peoples, and on and on. What is happening in Texas - and in our nation - is not at all new.
And it is so sad. I always thought the Christian religion was about love and not fighting and war. The first I realized that was when there was an uprising in Ireland some years ago. The Catholics fighting the Prostestants.
Totally true!
Amen!
You fail to mention the primary and essential role of the local Roman authoriites in his trial and death. Which leads me to suspect that you are simply reciting tired tales of Jewish conspiracy. Governments will always find a few individuals to endorse authoritarian mischief and further their own interests. Shame on your "unconditional" Christian love.
Richard We do not know, from Gospels written decades later for diverse reasons, what precisely happened in the capture, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. Robin Fox has a chapter on the dialogue between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, ending with the quote “What is truth?”
As an historian I wonder who witnessed and reported this conversation. There is nothing in official Roman records and Jesus was otherwise occupied after this purported meeting. There were a number of ‘agitators’ who were arrested and dispatched during such holy days. I wonder whether Pontius Pilate would spend time with one such ‘agitator.’ As for the relationship between the traditional Jewish hierarchy in the Temple and the role of the Romans, I wonder how much of this is ex post facto hearsay.
Folks have spun numerous tales about this situation, while no one can speak definitely about what actually occurred—including Barrabas, about whom a movie (Anthony Quinn) was made, although biblical scholars doubt the entire Barrabas story.
Jesus was no friend to the Temple hierarchy and those are the ones who cooperated with the Romans. To understand their role is not to believe or to recite Jewish conspiracies.
What Jesus or the "Temple hierarchy" did or did not do is based on hear-say and fantasy, "made-up as they went along," not on historical record. Whatever records might are accessible now have been so manipulated to fit the purposes of the organized church as to be virtually valueless. To believe otherwise is to pretend, the equivalent of a belief in goblins and fairies, fit for children or the psychotic. Appreciating Jesus's attributed teachings in love for one's fellow man is another matter, and I'm all for that. Turning him into a god done wrong by evil Jewish priests is nonsense.
Texas Ministers, Priests,Rabbi’s, all spiritual leaders, churches, synagogues, Mosques etc should immediately speak out in unison across Texas denouncing the R’s plank of ‘christian nationalism’. This is so dangerous. It is aligned with Orban’s Hungry and Putin’s Russia. It is unconstitutional. It is antithetical to American principles and aspirations.
"Christian" Nationalism - a horrific oxymoron, making it easy to despair.
My Thoughts, and an Invitation to Action!
I would like to borrow and build on Robert Hubble's approach to all of this horror that we witness. (My only other daily newsletter). Yes, it is so important to recognize evil. At the same time, we must do what we can to counter the despair that evil can inspire with a stronger statement of what is possible when people of good hearts come together and take action.
I believe in the power of love. Not the mushy romantic love which mostly depends on the feelings of the moment (as fun as that can be!), but rather the love that is the energy of creation, spirit, the divine, Allah, Yahweh, God, Goddess, whatever one calls the Non-physical aspect of life. It is there for us to draw upon as we show up in whatever way we feel called. So I asked, what can I do? Whom can I join?
Inspired, I googled "Christians against christian nationalism" and guess what! There is an organization with that name! Christians Against Christian Nationalism! They include an impressive gathering of Christian leaders, with three of my favorites, Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Most Rev. Michael Curry (American episcopal bishop who spoke at Meghan and Harry's wedding) and Sister Simon Campbell, ED of Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. They offer ways to get involved, including signing their statement condemning Christian Nationalism and forwarding an invitation to others to sign. So I've signed, Tweeted, FB'd and now I'm inviting you! Please check it out and consider signing. https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org
Live Agape!
Amen, Alleluia!!!
CINO = Christian In Name Only
Wow!
Nicely written. "(L)ove that is the energy of creation, spirit, the divine..."I also have deep respect for the Christian leaders you mention.
Thank you Hope! I love your name....and it touches my heart that you know the leaders I admire.
And yet they will not.
Hopefully, some will, but certainly not all. Not enough.
As usual, it’s all about the money.
Please do not paint all of us with the same brush. These people are not followers of what Jesus taught. But like the Republican Party, these extremists have taken their own biases and rewritten Biblical history and the Bible to reflect these biases. We must continue to fight against both of these takeovers.
Read Diana Butler Bass’s latest Sunday Musing about today’s appointed scripture as being not a miracle but a political commentary.
I wasn't doing the "painting" just stating what I understand is their version of an acceptable person - being male, white, heterosexual, monied and Christian.
BTW, I'm all of the above, excepting the last. As far as the New Testament is concerned, it is sparse on facts and laden with contradictions. It is an unsteady foundation for reaching for spiritual understanding. Little wonder it has been relied upon for the most un-Christlike of practices, as well as for what might be the truest.
Good to point out that being a monied white heterosexual “Christian “ male simply bestows privilege, but does not necessarily mean you join that quest for power. There’s a big difference between white-adjacent people of color, poor, and/or LGBTQ who do step on others’ necks, and allies who are privileged but work for equality and justice for all—all of us this time.
Not rewritten Biblical history so much as not knowing and not understanding and not wanting to know or wanting to understand Biblical history. The cost of believing in a literal interpretation of the Bible. After reading Diana Butler Bass, I am realizing how much of the Gospels is based on political commentary that Christians haven’t understood because we interpret the Bible according to our present culture and present understanding of language. It’s sad and it’s dangerous!
While the King James Version and the works of Shakespeare have stabilized English, there are about 300 everyday words in the KJV that have changed meaning in the last 400 years, words like offend, prevent, perfect. And of course the eye of a needle isn’t the eye of a needle. So, seek and ye shall find, whether it’s there or not. These evangelical proponents of a muscular Christianity think Jesus was a kick-ass guy. It is their justification for authoritarianism. If Jesus had been a kick-ass guy he would have joined the zealots and driven the romans out of Judaea. It’s interesting that in ancient and modern times there are four ways to respond when society is under pressure. You can go along to get along like the Pharisees and the United States senate; you can take up armed resistance like the zealots or the weathermen; you can drop out like the Essenes and the hippies; you can go the way of Jesus and MLK Jr, non-violent resistance. meanwhile, tho I have to agree with the words of judge Luttig, I’d rather read them than listen to him. What a puffed up blowhard, and with the nerve to call himself a hero. He reminded me of that Bob and Ray routine in which Bob is the president of a group called The Slow Talkers of America. Would I rather be nailed to a cross or forced to listen to Luttig for an hour. Let me think about it.
I do not paint all Christians with the same brush and I have had this argument with my spouse many times. Unfortunately, the ones we are talking about are loud, in your face types who want a theocracy. The most grounded person I know is a devout Christian.
If people have to tell you they are Christians, I write them off immediately. By their deeds shall ye know them. Learned that the hard way.
Yes. I always note what people do not what they say. Since I am an introvert and do not feel compelled to talk, I just often observe.
I just read it. New to me but I am not a bible scholar in that sense. The organization I used to belong to discouraged that sort of thing. I will continue to read her posts
Allen!! Hope you and your wife are doing well!
We are. Thank you, She is getting 37/40 on her English exams and is upset that it is not 40/40. I am just holding down the fort. We talk to the home front every day. All is well with our town, home and pets. The granddaughters and their mother are doing OK in Poland and their dad is busy with the Territorial Defense Force for out town
Mary Beth, I agree about not painting everyone with the same brush. To avoid this, religious leaders and members of faith communities must gather and speak louder than those who are threatening our Democracy and freedom. We often say “Silence is consent.” But here’s an essay that describes why many people do not speak out. “Silence Does Not Equal Consent.” https://link.medium.com/8d8Xj3CzZqb
Absolutely scary for those of us who are not christian...
You don't have to be "not Christian" to be deeply frightened.
It should frighten everyone, AnnaKuz, as Mary Beth has stated so well, below.
I don't think it's accurate to call these Christo-fascists either fanatics or fringe elements of the religion. They are really right in the center of what Christianity is and has always been.
The Jesus stories place the foundation of the religious movement in roughly CE 30. By CE 65, emperor Nero was burning them on crosses at a garden party.
Think about this. Nero was Roman, concerned with Roman matters, and Judea was an outlying protectorate where Roman administrators were sent as a sign of imperial disfavor. In a mere 30 years, they had become such trouble in Rome that the Emperor of Rome was singling them out? Personally, I think this argues for a much earlier origin of the Christian sects, with close ties to the general "Judaean Problem" that Rome faced as soon as it intervened in Jewish matters in the BCE 60's. The subsequent history of the "Christians" within Rome was an unending cycle of pogroms and amnesty, and Constantine's eventual codification of Christianity in the early fourth century has always struck me as a capitulation. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. By the end of the fourth century, the Christians had taken over Rome, destroyed Pagan worship, and captured the rule of the Empire on both sides of the Bosporus.
Christianity continued to destroy all local worship, capture local governing powers, and abolish or "Christianize" all cultural traditions it encountered for the next seventeen centuries. It moved westward through Europe, North and East toward the Russ, South into Heathen Africa, across the ocean into the Americas. There are many theories as to why it never took root in India, and why it never significantly disrupted the Orient.
"True Christians" -- the ones who always called themselves that -- were opposed to every non-hierarchical government they encountered, calling it "savagery," and every hierarchical government they could not capture under their own power. They carried with them slavery, cultural disruption, impoverishment, and exploitation.
The American democracy was created by Deists, Theists, Gnostics, Quakers, Free-thinkers and other "heretics" to the True Christian Faith. These heretics explicitly barred religious tests from their government, and while they guaranteed the right to free exercise of religion, it seems pretty clear that the point was to prevent the True Christians from taking over through their time-tested method of persecuting "false" faiths until they gave in and joined with their persecutors.
This is a 2000 year history of conquest and oppression under the True Christian faith, that somehow "accidentally" came out of a religion of goodness and light and love.
Santa Claus is more plausible.
What we are seeing right now is EXACTLY what Christianity always was, and is.
Yes, I hear you and I understand the argument. I am a rational person. And yet, I can tell you that quite apart from the organisations of Christian religions there is something else going on. There is a mystical body of followers that is lead by something above and beyond the mundane politics of humanity. I have met that something and it is love. This planet and the human race is involved in a great transformation. And there has been help and comfort from a higher power for me, Completely apart from any church or organisation that claims they know whats right or what’s really going on. For that I am very grateful.
Robin, Your generosity of spirit was felt as, perhaps, the signally of love.
Signally!! A new word for me.
And I, too, have experienced that, but only occasionally within the context of my "milk religion," which was Christianity. When I shifted to neo-Pagan traditions, I got a very strong inner signal of that same universal love. It isn't something in the religion, and if it is real at all, there's no reason think it would or should be. It is like air. You want to be where the air is fresh and wholesome.
One of the things Christianity does is to declare unequivocally that there is no approaching that universal love outside the framework of Christ, meaning Christ as defined, guarded, and carefully dispensed by the Christian faith. That gives the church control over your experience. From there, it is a short step toward praying for your (legitimate) President, and voting for him.
Here is an experiment. I don't know your tradition, but let's say that your Christian tradition is to pray with your head lowered, eyes closed, and your hands together in a gesture of submission and supplication, and to pray silently. This is a common practice. The next time you pray, tilt your head back, eyes open, arms spread wide in a gesture of love and transformation. Sing your prayer aloud.
Now try this in church. Unless you are in an ecstatic tradition -- Black pentacostalism, for instance -- you are going to feel very, VERY out-of-place. And right there is where you meet the distinction between God and church.
God and church as a contradiction does not matter to me. God is not and has never been trapped in any human box. My own connection To love comes from a high catholic church/ pentecostal experience. Everything from the biggest shout to the smallest whisper. I’m sorry your experience in various churches has been unfortunate…. But as you well know that is not the only dwelling place to find grace and love and connection. i wish you well on your journey.
" I have met that something and it is love." Same thing happened to me, apart from any faith. (Do I see a Welsh flag?)
Heart
I am very okay that this is what you believe. I choose to stay a progressive Christian. I am not asking everyone to believe as I do. However and whatever you believe is okay with me unless you are injuring me. A case in point for me is climate change. I know well this country was not founded as a Christian nation. Eisenhower did us no favors by caving to the words “under God” being added to the Pledge of Allegiance. I was a young adult in the sixties. We wanted to make love not war. Guess I am still thinking that’s still a good idea
My mother never thought adding “under God” was a good idea. My parents were Holocaust victims who settled in little town USA in the state of NC. My sister and I were brought up in Bible belt country. Our synagogue was in another town, 18 miles away. For me, I see hypocrisy in all religions. I feel they purposely set up all kinds of barriers and I have never been comfortable with that. I marched against the Vietnam War. I wanted the ERA to succeed. Fought for abortions…look where we are now! Fighting for the same damned things!
Thus wrote Joseph Nemeth, a succinct and self-assured summary of Christianity. As a non-Christian without a great deal of knowledge about the religion, I am not in a position to comment on its scholarly merit. I do wonder whether Joseph went out on a limb when stating that Santa Claus was more plausible than Christianity as a religion of '...goodness and light and love.' So Joe, did that imply that you will not be targeting Santa for a round of critical thinking?
No, I won't be targeting Santa Claus. I don't need to. He's widely known as a fictional character, and the people who do believe in him are far too young for me to browbeat. :-)
Though I could say a few things about his history.
Santa Claus as WE know him dates only to a 1931 Coca Cola advertisement.
This jolly, bearded man in red was, in turn, based on the Saint Nick from the 1822 poem by Clement Clark Moore, titled "A Visit from Saint Nicolas," but more commonly known as, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," in which he is called "a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly," small enough to fit down a chimney.
Christmas, as a holiday, was outlawed in Puritan Boston from 1659 to 1681, and anyone displaying "Christmas spirit" was fined. It was banned in England through the entirety of Oliver Cromwell's reign. Christmas did not become a national holiday in the US until 1870. Many of our "Christmas Traditions" come from stories by Washington Irving and (of course) Charles Dickens in the early 1800's, mostly extolling peaceful relations between the classes in British society, which were (in reality) anything but.
Going back any further, "Santa Claus" effectively vanishes. There was the tall, thin "Saint Nicholas" who would leave gifts for the poor, and "The Krampus," who would snatch up disobedient children in a great bag and beat them with sticks. Every local community had its own traditions for celebrating the Longest Night.
😉
Joseph, Thank you for your glimpses of Santas, Saint Nicolas and that tall, thin one. Might there be an adventure story or Santa sonata from you in the future? I'm smiling at the prospect of what you may bring to this 'merry', light, dark and magical endeavor.
It isn't pretty!
Oh, here we go again: please remember the United States of America separates church and state. And for a very good reason: discussions about religion causes polarization. We all have a right to choose a religion that suits our spiritual needs and a responsibility to let others choose their own, so please keep it out of politics. None of the signers of the Declaration were Christians: they were all PHILOSOPHERS.
I agree. We also have the right to be free from religion. Those of us who are not believers are here as well and every time a policy is shaped based on religious beliefs, it affects the choices of non-believers as well.
These are the fake Christians!
hahahahaaaa..."onwarrrrdd chrizzz-chen warrryy orrrs.., marching off to .... huh. WTF???
Ellie, I thought that HCR's Letter today was more than a tribute to Judge J. Michael Luttig's statements on behalf of the principles, upon which American Democracy was founded, and in support of the Rule of Law, it also signaled that the Judge's words would influence Republican lawmakers.
'Luttig's words carry weight among Republican lawmakers.' (Letter)
I see no signs of that. Have Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Eastman, both of whom clerked for Judge Luttig, responded? Has Mitch McConnell responded? Have any Republican lawmakers responded?
'Amid Jan 6 Revelations, Election Lies Still Dominate the GOP'
'Like mint in the garden, the seeds that the Trump team planted between Election Day 2020 and Jan 6, 2021 are now growing out of control, aided by the former president's allies.' (NYTimes, 6/17). Sorry subscribers that I cannot provide a link to this article because of computer malfunction.
Fern, for McConnell, et al to respond, they would be bestowing credibility on Luttig's views, and they cannot risk that. If they mention any of his recently shared views, then they'll have to describe him as having fallen under the spell of the Democrats.
Nancy, I'm not calling the shots for McConnell et al., which way the wind will blow re the American public, and the views of some significant Donors and Big Business. The LIE is central to the party; has the dye been cast as you suggest? Any more and more influential people than Luttig going to come forward? Without rose-colored glasses, I thought HCR's Letter uncharacteristically hopeful. While you and I are thinking along the same lines, I am open to positive news ___ and even a miracle.
Fern, I agree. I've seen some indications of softening from those who don't appear to populate the trump base. I never believed that McConnell loved trump, but used him when he could profit from his behavior. He's a strategist at his core, and if he could benefit from the anger, he used it. Others feared trump's power to ruin them, so they went along. HCR is extremely well qualified to read the prevailing sentiments, and I continue to hope that perhaps the right wing has felt free to air their extreme views because they believe that the economy and other woes will finish off the Democrats in these fraught times, but hopefully they have taken enough rope to hang themselves. Like you, I prefer to be positive, and I've seen unexpected consequences come out of seemingly hopeless situations. With all of the problems, we still outnumber the opposition, and the discovery that a huge number of Democrats "crossed over" in the recent Georgia primaries to qualify less radical Republicans, but will vote for Democrats in November, is comforting. We had a huge turnout that surpassed even the 2020 election. When I realized that the Republican candidates got over 70,000 more votes than the Democrats, I was despondent, until the truth was revealed, so our guys took an old page from the Republicans and tweaked it to work in their favor. November could provide the "unexpected consequence."
Here you go: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/us/politics/election-trump-republicans-jan-6.html?searchResultPosition=1
Republican Party silence on the J6 hearings, including all the Republican witnesses, proves the adage that negative PR is better than no PR, and they are giving no PR. For us, it’s full court press now as well as a long haul ahead for the rule of law to unfold.
Thank you,, partner.
Link not required. Memory matters.
Sandy, I agree that exercising my memory will hopefully keep it strong, until it may fade bit by bit. Readers often want to read the article for themselves, including portions of it that were not included. Your contributions on the forum, Sandy, have filled in important historical facts and human stories, which enhance our knowledge and spur interest. Salud!
I have my 200 Get Out the Vote postcards to Arizona Voters. Better get some Texas cards ready. These are to registered Dem voters. Hoping.
👍🏼
Let's hope it helps to vote!
19 States have changed the process of voting certification, making it controlled by Republicans, if I remember Heather's recent chat correctly. With such move comes the power of corrupt, lawless and unscrupulous people to subvert election results. This is how Putin stays in power
Positively the most frightening aspect of this entire sect of the R party.
Esp in Tx
Exactly!
Thank you for all who recognize the insanity percolating in the Republican Party!
“And, as if in confirmation, delegates to a convention of the Texas Republican Party today approved platform planks rejecting ‘the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and [holding] that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States’, requiring students ‘to learn about the dignity of the preborn human,’ including that life begins at fertilization; treating homosexuality as ‘an abnormal lifestyle choice’; locking the number of Supreme Court justices at 9; getting rid of the constitutional power to levy income taxes; abolishing the Federal Reserve; rejecting the Equal Rights Amendment; returning Christianity to schools and government; ending all gun safety measures; abolishing the Department of Education; arming teachers; requiring colleges to teach ‘free-market liberty principles’; defending capital punishment; dictating the ways in which the events at the Alamo are remembered; protecting Confederate monuments; ending gay marriage; withdrawing from the United Nations and the World Health Organization; and calling for a vote ‘for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.’”
Unf**kingbelievable. They didn’t leave out a thing that the slime of the country have wanted for 40+ years. Well yes, they did. Eject all immigrants and make white MAN rule the law of the land. However, these idiotic proposals would accomplish that in a nanosecond. Go ahead Texas, become the capitol of the confederacy. I’ll take my infirm husband and crawl to…anywhere else.
We got out of TX as soon as we could. I’ve grown to hate every square inch of my effing birthstate. Hey, Jeri, if you need transportation, I’ll hop in a U-haul, drive back and under cloak of darkness, collect you two!
I was born in OK but even Bezos and Musk combined couldn't pay me enough to live in my birthstate or the unspeakable state to it's immediate south.
I was born and raised in Indiana. While it's not Texas, I would not live there again for all the money in the world. I live in Oregon where fortunately there is enough population in the Willamette Valley and increasingly in places like Bend to keep us blue....maybe.
I'll help with that, Joan.
👍🏻
We complained that Republicans didn't have a platform. We were wrong.
Precisely. They have a platform. They’ve just been too cowardly to show it. Until now.
That AH Rick Scott laid it out for all to see. McTurtle was PO'd, not because he disagreed, but because Scott couldn't keep his yap shut and gave it up before the elections
We left out the adjective “secret”. Now they are emboldened!
Actually, rejection of ERA is exactly that: rejection of anything but white cis heterosexual males as lords and overseers.
Also left out interracial marriage.
Gotta protect Thomas
They don’t want to be called out as racist. 😂😂😉
I’m sure outlawing interracial marriage was in an earlier draft, and then edited out.
Too late. It’s obvious to any person who isn’t racist.
That and women’s sufferage, will be in round two.
What they have in mind is to allow the male to check on his spouse ballot before she turns it in. (Easier than changing suffrage.)
Think this can't happen, as late as 1980 they were still buying votes in my country in western NC. This how the system worked, you filled out your ballot, showed it to the man, if it was correct he gave you a shoe tack and then you went across the street to the shoe repair shop and turn in your tack and got your dollar.
Didn't want to loose a SC vote.
That’s their assumption. Anything left out is a given. So they don’t have to keep on rewriting they can just be racist, homophobic, Antisemitic, misogynistic and every ism that reverses equality and Justice.
I have this fantasy to take Colorado (leave Lauren B behind, of course) and move it next to California and hope we could all fend off the repubs
In every state, right now it’s a vicious cat fight. Racism and sexism are like a cornered rat, fighting for its life.
Hi Jeri. I have another view. What if this extremist position is a sign that the Texas Republican Party might be going the way of the California Republican Party: an endangered species. A party that no longer has anything to gain politically will just become more honest and transparent about its extremism that has been kept under wraps. Like the wicked witch of the West: “You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting … melting …”
In other words: what if this extremist platform is a sign that the Texas Republican Party is dying, and that it’s a good time to be a Texan. I don’t know, I’m just speculating. Texas is like a foreign country to me, no more familiar than Bolivia.
Optimism! ! !
Ha, ha ha, ha, ha!
Their message is that they're their own country. Time to secede and be banned for incorporating "America" in their name....
Percolating is apt. I’ll counter that some of us are sizzlin’, Rowshan, sizzlin’.
Salud, Sister!
Salud, my sister! I was thinking more in terms of the witches’ brew in Macbeth:
“Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble….
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”
😉
Complete with eye of Newt.
“… and Bannon’s blog,
Wool of Trump and tongue of dog.
Abbott’s fork and Marjorie’s sting,
Cawthorn’s leg, and Hawley’s wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
O well done! I commend thy pains.
And whatever else is left of him!
Wonderful stuff, Rowshan. Especially important that the 3 witches also told the "Thane of Glamis" that that he would be king but it is Banquo that would father kings. Somewhat worrying ......
Don't forget their first line in Act 1
"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won.
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair
Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
A great deal of that about these days...a real epidemic.
“Hell-broth”. That’s some soup to those Texas dimwit delegates. 😵💫
If Drumpf's bossman in the Kremlin drank from the cauldron, he bathed in it...
Big cauldron!
So he takes himself for Superman... despite the superannuation...
Dang it, Peter. I love when you use a word that I’m not sure of (which is your usual scholarly approach) and then I have to look it up. Right on ‘bout Putin. Too many infirmities and too out of date to be a Superman for the Russian people. And…just too damn mean with that dark void of a conscience in his pea brain.
(Last statement does not include any words that you have to look up.) I will try at some point to get you to reach for the dictionary.
Unidad! 🗽
🧙♀️
Texass Repubs are clearly planning to drag their state--as well as the rest of the country, if they possibly can--back into the late 1700's. Reactionary fools. If it were not for the sanctity of the Union, I'd say let 'em. Let 'em declare independence and then the Fed can promptly withdraw all federal monies and every other Federal level piece of support that they receive and see how well the reactionary ingrates fare.
Someone please tell me why it is a bad idea for Texas to secede. I'd pay for a way around that state.
See The Civil War.
🤔
Do remember that this appears to be a "wish list" by the hard line Repugs, not a proposed legislative slate.
Do remember? Platform planks are just that. What they will be proposing. It’s not wishing or washy.
Wishes turn into rules.
Sadly, you maybe correct.
And what do we hear from regular gop? Crickets!
There is no regular GOP to speak of anymore. The good conservatives stay silent knowing they are looking at their own demise.
👍🏼
Wish list...??? Yes. But a list of items they really believe in or merely support. Whatever way, we've been at this crossroad before historically, and Judge Luttig implicitly acknowledged that before stepping forward.
Read the Plan for America by the Chairman of the Republican Senatorial Re-election Committee Sen. Rick Scott a plan eviscerate the Federal branch of government.
Rick Scott - crime pays...
Scott’s plan is at rescueamericaDOTcom. If you prefer not to visit his website and give him your eyeballs, many news organizations have posted critiques. I don’t seem to be able to paste in their links right now.
Hugh Spencer, the fact that they felt comfortable expressing these goals, in writing, in 2022 is beyond frightening. There are way too many citizens in our country that sign on to this backward philosophy, something 2016 proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.
More like a fever dream.
By the Grace of God, I was born in Texas, grew up in Texas, and had the pure, blind luck to leave Texas and move to Western Washington in 1997. While grieved, I’m not surprised that this is the current R platform in Texas. I first heard the co-option of “Christianity” in the South in the 1970s. From then to now, nobody felt the real danger of trying to merge religion and politics, even though we had the ongoing evidence of what would happen from watching the Middle East in turmoil for How long?
Christian America is our version of the Taliban. Isn’t that a lovely thought? Of course I am not including the readers here, these Christians are moral giants.
Disturbing, BUT, but, but in its clarity, that insane rant gives Beto and the Democrats a whole lot to run against.
And I hope that Democrats will find a way to say how un-Christian the "ethics" of that Republican party are. Hard for me to imagine Jesus as a gun fetishist or upholder of the Confederacy.
Not to mention blonde and blue eyed!
Apparently it wasn't hard for Bobert to visualize Jesus w/an AR-15 but bemoaned the fact he didn't have enough AR-15's
Good bye Texas! Good luck on your own, without blue state tax support and all the federal facilities, both civilian and military! It was real!
How long do you think it would take for the cartels to take over in Texas?
Let’s take comfort in the fact that most people in Texas are not Republicans.
But do the Texans who are not Republicans vote?
My son and his family live just outside of Houston (which I admit is different from the rural areas) and his take is that there is a growing and strengthening movement against the crazy Republicans in the State- hopefully their insane platform gets media coverage in Texas. My question is why isn’t the main stream media covering it- this should be major headlines- sigh.
Is that true? Certainly Texas is not known for being Democrat or progressive. Maybe Austin.
Most Texas voters are Democrats or independents. As Casey Stengel said, You could look it up.
According to the US Census Bureau, nonHispanic white people comprise 41% of the population, and Latino voters comprise 40%. According to Texas political expert Lawrence Wright (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas), Texas Democrats believe that if the percentage of Latinos who cast votes in Texas were as high as it is in California, Democrats would win all the statewide elections (governor, lt gov, US Senate, Secretary of State, Railroad Commission, etc). Even now, the big population centers in Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and even Dallas) vote mostly Democratic. However, another expert, Ian Haney-López (a UC Berkeley professor of law, not a Texan), in his book on dog whistle politics, cautions that it is unwise for Democrats to count on the Latino vote. It's likely to drift in the Republican direction, Haney-López says, because Latino culture favors center-right politics and would probably go that direction if Republicans were not so blatantly racist.
Insanity, indeed.
Secession should be next. Isn’t this where they are headed? The Texas platform reverses all progress since the Civil War. States and politicians that want to return to pre-Civil War laws and racism and inequality are so radical yet becoming normalized in the repub party. The corrupt election and gerrymandering are their pathways to their version of USA. This is not covert. They are banking on the distraction and ignorance of voters in order to dismantle current laws and protections and the constitution. This is too crazy to believe but there it is in plain sight.
I too noted the weight and his great sadness as Judge Luttig stated that. I also felt a great loneliness in him as he spoke those words and in his entire testimony, actually. The loneliness born of fatality brought on by the quiet banding together of men whom he tutored and aided in their ascension as lawyers and legal and political careers around the power of words, lies, twists in logic and precedents being used so blatantly because they work in shaping what so many Americans will believe. I recall, with uncertainty, that Chair Thompson, when introducing his testimony, said that Judge Luttig was the only conservative appointed judge to share this opinion with the Committee.
Thanks, Fred, for sharing that.
This statement brought tears to my eyes. Rereading the Texas Republican platform just made me wonder who would want to live under such a rigid system? How do any of those proposals make life better for me or my neighbor? How dare they promote this kind of exclusive crap. It is horrible.
YouTube has already sprouted remarks about his mental impairment.
And he has sprouted right back as to why his speech was measured and deliberate.
His response was brilliant.
Heart failure again (but, like the Judge, let me assure you I've never felt fitter) - isn't he MARVELLOUS! That's superb. I'll have another try at turning the heart red.
💕💕💕
Nothing sluggish about your heart thing, Gailee!
He is indeed MARVELLOUS! Yeah, the heart thing is sluggish this morning.
Suggestion to restore the ability to use our red heart option: Go to the top of the page then look to the left of the search bar. You'll see an incomplete circle w/ an arrow at the end. Click on that. Your ability to use the red heart should return but it may not last long and you may have to repeat the process.
Thanks, Barbara. I find that refreshing doesn't usually work for me! but I have other ways of making it blush. Eventually...
He is brilliant!
For those with diminished intelligence, comfortable with the incoherent blathering of the Fat Man from Maralago thought out and intelligent speech is incomprehensible. F**k the Rs
What did he say? Do you have a link to his retort?
This was posted by a commenter in LFAA in letter after 3rd hearing. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1538266496371245057.html
This link goes to a worthwhile read in Judge Luttig's own words of commentary on his testimony before the Jan. 6 committee. In addition to his affirmation of the "clear and present danger" of the Republican Party, he assures us that his measured speech was to make his words distinctly clear with deep understanding of the gravity of his message--and not because he had a stroke.
A great jurist.
And 1000% human, as every true man of law must be...
(Alas, we've been seeing less than 100% in far too many high places... where the professional has swallowed the human...)
Even if he did, does not appear to have impaired his “judgment” in any dang way.
Shows how much his naysayers know about strokes and the amazing recovery and healing technologies of today.
What dimwits.
Unitad, fab Ellie. 🗽
Thank you for supplying that link. I
His Honor's response was perfect.
I thought what Judge Luttig wrote as his testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee could not be surpassed to make me admire him, but this tweet makes me think of him even more as an American hero:
Thank you Christine for this link. I read--and am guilty of passing along--some misinformation (about the non-existent stroke) written by a friend who has always been quite impeccable about verification.
I'm sorry to say I was in a hurry because I was intensely irritated by some comments made about how "ill-timed and snooze-worthy" the Judge's testimony was in the third hearing and I was anxious to refute. My fault for not double checking. I copied and passed along your link to my "impeccable" friend.
TL- I also passed that inaccurate info after a higher up on Nasty Women's Movement posted re a stroke. I also came across his post and shared it back to that group today.
Thank you, Christine, for this link. It certainly blows away all of the misinformation I have seen on social media. What a national treasure he is. I hope we will continue to hear from him.
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing the link!
Thank you for supplying this link. I listened to Judge Luttig's testimony and was struck by how profoundly his words came across. Nothing to do with his health in his delivery, just measured and appropriate to convey the gravity and seriousness of the situation. God bless that man.
And a pox on those who though Judge Luttig's testimony was "ill-timed and snooze-worthy".
Thank you Christine. I loved reading the judge’s response: not only brilliant but light-hearted.
Thank you, Christine!
Thank You Christine! Just as I thought!
This has both transcript and recording. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/16/j-michael-luttig-opening-statement-jan-6-hearing-00040255
Thank you, Ally for this link. Although I watched Judge Luttig’s testimony in its entirety, having this transcript more than confirms my feeling of the rightness of that testimony. I have tears of gratitude.
Thanks!
If you have the link to Luttig’s reply, would you share it please?
Here is his reply… https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1538266496371245057.html
Thanks Christine!
There’s an NPR link at the end of HCR’s post today.
You know, out of the entire situation that is our world today, Dr. Richardson's bookends of Ted Cruz and Texas pushing against Dr. Luttig and the Law, one thing strikes me this morning. The party of Donald Trump and his cheerleaders, the party of that shrieking banshee, Lindsey Graham, always pulls out the accusation of some kind of feeble-mindedness against their opponents. Are you kidding me? Joe Biden doesn't sound like someone with dementia, for heaven's sake. He sounds like Joe Biden.
It's this kind of poisonous nonsense that seeps through the cracks and scares me to death. As a very wise friend often says, 'This isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from here."
Windmills and bleach! And Luttig speaks too slowly!!
Not like the former guy had any issues with speech, diction, and usage.
Seriously.
One of our commenter group yesterday pointed out the DARVO structure of all gop response. Deflect, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. When gop comment this way we need to just start calling it out for what it is “DARVO!”
Darvo! I'm practicing. Thanks Michele.
Unbelievable.
Our heroes come from strange places these days…
Judges ought to be worthy of the high honor bestowed when we select them to interpret the law. Judge Luttig clearly is worthy.
Attempted like
Probably one of the most significant quotes that I have heard from a Republican though these many days🌿
[The Texas Republican Party today approved a platform plank] "calling for a vote “for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.”
Good riddance. When and if Texas withdraws from the Union they will find some dazzling challenges ahead of them. Services provided or subsidized by the federal government would be withdrawn. Federal monies and subsidies would cease to flow to Texas. Frankly, I think "TEXIT" is just what the people of the United States need to see. I'm fairly certain any number of large and small business would pull up stakes and move elsewhere. TEXIT would leave Texas a pathetic cross between the societies described in The Handmaid's Tale and the Hunger Games. I hope clear thinking Texans have the gumption and financial wherewithal to pull up stakes and relocate as well.
How about a Mexican government of over 4 times the number of Texas residents deciding they would like their land back? Texas GQP is a joke of Dr. Seuss proportions.