Thank you for rationally telling the story of tonight’s absolutely disgusting rally. I had to stop listening to the speeches but wanted to see the words. I appreciate the Calmness this brings to my brain, even while absolutely terrified. Please know how much we appreciate you. And thanks to Buddy too for loaning you to us.
Thank you for rationally telling the story of tonight’s absolutely disgusting rally. I had to stop listening to the speeches but wanted to see the words. I appreciate the Calmness this brings to my brain, even while absolutely terrified. Please know how much we appreciate you. And thanks to Buddy too for loaning you to us.
Thanks for sharing, Lin. At first, I thought it might be grainy footage from the Trump rally. Then I realized it wasn't, however, there really isn't much difference in the end, is there?
Yeah, not much difference in the rallies. But hopefully 'in the end' we will prevail.
As Robert Hubbell wrote this morning:
"Let’s all say it together: The race is within the margin of error—and the margin of effort! It feels like we are caught in a time warp in which the election season will drag on forever. But we can see the end in sight—and we have reasons to be hopeful. Kamala Harris has stayed on message (for which she has been criticized by the media), while Trump uses each rally to insult or demean a new bloc of voters in the US. On Sunday, those two arcs intersected—to Kamala Harris’s advantage."
If it wasn’t for Heather’s Letter, and her intelligent responders, I’d feel isolated in an ocean of anxiety. Taking action in any way possible has helped me find a way to sleep without serial nightmares echoing Nazis storm troopers and much more in WW11.
Yes we are indeed ‘woke’ those of us who know history, and might have friends whose parents were survivors of the camps and on and on.
Thank G at least the NYTimes is outing him. Better late than never!
Sorry to admit it but history was not my favorite subject. HCR has enlightened me as do many of her followers. This is why I read many of the comments. More education.
I requested tickets for the facist rally just so I could not go and leave two seats empty. My intention was to go and protest outside but my bronchitis prevented me. However, I wouldn’t miss Steve Bannon’s release tomorrow from Danbury Federal prison in a million years. Come join us. I’ll be ringing my bell. 7AM to be sure.
Contempt of court sentences aren't very long. Typically 3 to 6 months. Bannon got 4 months. As noted above or below he was pardoned for his federal crimes just before Trump left office in 2020 so no trial for those things is possible. Presidential pardons are pretty much "golden" parachutes. Still hoping New York will put him in prison for a long time. President can't pardon you for a state crime.
Maybe this is the October 2024 Not-So-Surprising-Surprise... DJT completely Melting Down as he is Staring RUIN IN THE FACE IF HE LOSES THE ELECTION... DJT could also be prepping his INSANITY DEFENSE... Imagine what the History Books will say in 50+ Years...
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been predicting that all Trump can do is escalate. It gets him the press he wants and inflames his followers. Will it inflame swing voters? I don't understand being undecided because I am in general a very decisive person. If I don't know enough about something I read, read, read, watch, watch, watch, ask, ask, ask, discuss, discuss, discuss.
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a very smart Person... I find the Key in this Missive was that DJT, who is a World-Class Cheater & a Mediocre Person, hasn't tried finding New Voters, instead like everything he does, DJT always tries to Cheat His Way To Success.... Political Power, Business, his Wives, and Golf... DJT even had someone take his SATs for him.... DJT is a Paragon of Corruption...
Here is Ben-Ghiat talking with Journalist Kara Swisher last Friday. They reaffirm my concern since JD Vance was announced that he is the one to worry about, as he vies to take over power and then be a proxy president for Peter Thiel, a brilliant, twisted, Bad Boy Billionaire Tech Bro.
Listen to what they are saying as they discuss Bezos, Musk, JD Vance and Peter Thiel. It is scary stuff.
If DJT does not need to find new voters, because enough Americans think like he does, then America is not the country I thought it was, because that would be too many awful or uninformed people making up our country. I would like to believe that is not the case.
I don't think that (perhaps due to our obsession with commercialism) most of us are trained to think in whole systems. Irrational ideologies are built to fend off any discordant information. They isolate in a endless loops of circular arguments. The punish doubt, sometimes violently. I thing that the spin can be broken, at least for some, but it isn't easy. Germany largely recovered from such a state, but it took defeat of their aggression.
Massive defeat, and remember the Allies' campaign of deNazification ultimately failed, there were just too many German nazi members around, so they were co-opted, mostly to rebuild a saner Germany, and the few Nazi comeback hopefuls failed in their efforts. As you know many wanted Germany more or less left flattened, and thanks to a godless Communists in this case the USSR with its takeover of eastern Europe, Germany did super well, now a heartland nation for the EU.
The “awful” people are real, and all around. They think they will rule. The America I thought it was has more enemies within than chump thinks he has. Always accuse of what you do.
I fear your fears are well founded. There's enough of them, and whoever, to take the tolls to "dead heat" though I'm hopeful that's partly a red poll flood distorting things, just the same, this election is won at the margins, in the latest case, how many Puerto Ricans in terms of vote changing, actually turning out. Yes, "turnout" is a critical margin. 66% a record turned out in 2020. I have no idea what the poll models are using, but it things like "garbaging" Puerto Rico, and more esp women's reproductive rights, turn the dial, that may well be decisive. MSG may well have just turned that dial up a notch, hopefully more.
Thanks, Linda, for the link to Ben-Ghiat-Swisher conversation. They laid out the Thiel uber-game plan brilliantly. It has grieved me that Rene Girard's revelatory theories about human mimetic desire and scapegoating have been used by Thiel as weapons in his arsenal for his insane vainglory of conquering the world with his male brilliance.
Linda, I think the comment meant to say that Trump knows he is in a minority. He is focused on creating havoc and legal finagling to steal the presidency.
Well believe it after we get election results. This is truly a time to fasten your seatbelt and ride to a Harris-Walz win. Whew! Truly unbelievable. Given that he is not doing or saying anything to get new voters, he and his sycophants surely are planning to repeat 2020 chaos.
Hello Linda.... I agree, DJT will be replaced if he wins thru the Electoral College, or other Nefarious Means... JD is much Smarter, and more Dangerous... He has no 'Center'... Changed his Name three times... Hmm?... I tend to agree that JD will just be a Puppet for the 'Dark Siths'.... DJT's Minions? You do not know U.S. History like the First-Nations do...
I agree. I have a German mom, and had a Black dad who was part Native American, so when I was an undergrad I studied these histories because they interested me but would have anyway because they are interesting, when I was an undergrad. I am always learning. One of the guys in my Democrats Abroad book club group is from a reservation in Oklahoma, now he works in tech and does biodynamic farming in Germany.
America is Americans and there are plenty of Courageous ones, like the people who are standing up to Trump in the Republican party and endorsing Harris. She is the bravest of all, standing up to a bully with all his bully boys, and his bully Party.
Let us hope in his escalation he peels off likely voters. But then, there are those who secretly agree with him and that will show at the ballot box too.
Let us say, respond to it. We should be thinking ahead though. We could be having DT, but according to many, it will be JDV. He or his Bad Boy Tech Billionaire Bro overlords will try to place him in as their proxy in the Presidency. I see a battle between the 3 factions, but they may align. That is Heritage Foundation who has been advising conservative presidents since Reagan, The America First Foundation who is advising Trump in this election under the rug so to speak, with the same agenda as in Project 2025, but not made public, and then there is the JD Vance faction, even though JD V is presenting like a Christian Nationalist, but he is a shapeshifter and we don't know which shape he will take in the end, but it presumes to be bad for all of us. A less known or unknown bad. So, we need to be thinking about Trump, Project 2025, America First Policy Institute https://americafirstpolicy.com/, and JD V and the Billionaire Tech Bros who want to run our country too and think their monetary success entitles them to as superior people. So, I am not sure, but it will certainly influence the rest of the world too.
Thiel has a political and economic partnership via Epstein’s UK friend, the Labour Party peer, Peter Mandelson. They have successfully teamed up to privatise the data system of England’s National Health system via Palantir.
The Heritage Foundation folk also fund many at 55 Tufton Street, a London based research unit which informed and aided UK politicians to successfully expidite an extreme severance with the postwar Peace Project EU via Brexit. The Boys involved seem to be moving toward a full corporate takeover of democratic governance in the UK and US. It could be argued that they have already succeeded in delivering this global oligarch’s dream in the Murdoch controlled UK. See: https://europeanpowell.substack.com/p/zone-fever-means-the-uk-is-no-longer
Monnina, thanks for sharing the link. It is frightening stuff, that reminds me of times in history that were really bad. I do see Putin as a key player because his war on Ukraine triggered off a lot of things in Europe that has disrupted the status quo.
I am not saying Trump would do this. I am saying JD Vance will remove Trump using Article 25, which I read had been planned since Peter Thiel bought his place as VP. Listen to a discussion of Thiel by Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Journalist Kara Swisher as they discuss Bezos's capitulation to fascism first. https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=cbkcvJuof89JKQZD
Yet Trump operatives Stephen Miller and Jill Stein (who are Jewish) are working to elect Trump and institute a ChristoFascist state - proponents of which promote Jews and other others being allowed residency but not civil rights.
Go figure. Serving Trump is never a safe berth.
"During the Nazis' ascent to power, some Jewish organizations, such as the Association of German National Jews and The German Vanguard supported nazism *until being outlawed in late 1935.*"
"Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.” "
Stein splitting off American leftish voters from the Democratic party to elect Trump, is using the same tactic Stalin did to elect Hitler by splitting off German Communists from the German center left.
Again, it won't be better under JD Vance, but I think we should be prepared for him to take over as president, using Article 25, which I have heard he was going to use, as planned by Peter Thiel since he was first announced.
MAGA’s don’t read the NYTimes or any other source and only watch or listen to vitriol on Fox or other right wing podcasts, X, or whatever. Never-the-less, the NYTimes, the WaPo and other former “trusted” sources have normalized trump’s behavior for way too long. Anything they write now (after voting has started) is way too little, way too late. The damage done to those former reliable resources could be the final nail in the coffin for their business model and incentive for the reputable journalists to carve out new ventures.
Newspapers have come and gone for hundreds of years but the more recent decades of steady decline is more of an industry demise. For a few years In my “former” life, I successfully managed the pension investment account of a well known newspaper and heard a lot of the difficulties the industry was facing. Survivorship in a digital world was an open challenge and that was before competition from podcasts and independent sources was on the radar.
Not so ironic, the industry consolidation has made a valuable market for very old newspapers! Ironically, the investment management business where I spent my career also no longer exists! Algorithms rule and AI and crypto currency are other relatively new players changing that landscape.
I have a story to tell. I was raised by two victims of the Holocaust in rural NC in the 50’s & 60’s. The town was made up of mostly Southern Baptists and the races were black and white. In 1964, we integrated schools for the first time in history. It was decreed by LBJ that the South comply with those orders. In my English class, all of the students were required to read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “A Tale of Two Cities”. We were also to see enrichment films at our town’s theater that went along with the books we were reading.
For years, my mother turned the tv off if she knew the Anne Frank movie was playing on a channel. She never wanted my sister and I to know the horrors of Nazi Germany. When it came time for the film to be shown at the theater, I lied to her and said it was another movie. I went with friends and then I saw what my mom and dad had tried to shield us from. After the show, my friends wanted to go out to our hangout but I asked them to drive me home. I walked into my house and collapsed in my mother’s arms, sobbing. She too, cried. We were up until 2am talking. I am tearful just remembering the pain she and my dad felt having to leave their country, their family and friends.
When the Wall came down, that’s when my mother found out how her parents died…gassed in 1942 at the camp called Chelmno.
How hard that must have been for your mother! Do you think she was relieved to know, or would not knowing have been better? My daughter's father is Jewish, and I took her to Ann Frank's house just over a decade ago. We also visited the Museum of the Dutch Resistance (or that's what I recall of the name). I thought it was important for her to know that some people did push back.
I went to the Holocaust Museum in DC with two of my first cousins as I had never been there. I think we were there for 4 hours. When we got to the area where they have the camps area and where candles are lit, that’s where I lost it. My poor mama…
Not everyone is like that. Some just don’t engage with politics or are too busy working three jobs to pay attention to it. Or don’t think and inquire until the last few days.
That being too busy is the reason so many of my friends in the US do not pay attention, and several have had their therapists tell them to not pay attention to the news since it is so depressing. That is what he fascists are counting on.
Professor Ben Ghiat’s prediction that Trump’s only tool is escalation. Last night’s rally showed us what escalated rhetoric sounds like. Should he. E re-elected, the escalation won’t be just talk! Let’s hope Trump’s hateful rally escalated him to defeat!
In Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, there is always an end to a fascist, be it being overthrown, the people uprising, or death, or defeat. Perhaps it could be a McDonald's burger and fries. It would be poetic justice.
A recent article in The New Yorker posited that the people who actually came to the capital on January 6th were activated by racism. Would not racist rhetoric then be the most effective way to repeat the attempted coup?
It was decided at least amongst the White Power Movement, that as they chose to enter the government instead of always trying to blow it up, see Oklahoma City Bombing, that immigration would be the code word for race going forward. We see how it has spread so widely that even those who are being referred to by the term are anti immigrants, and thus anti themselves. So, this racism in code "immigrants" is being repeated.
I think we must face the fact that a significant proportion of our U.S. population would quite happily, given permission by Trump and chance, deport or eliminate or execute or imprison every citizen and legal or illegal resident belonging to minority groups including, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Jews, Muslims ….. of course these folks screaming for mass deportations, executions, etc., are the same people claiming they are prolife, anti-abortion.
Shirley Jackson’s famous short story The Lottery suggests that people enjoy killing, especially in the name of preserving a way of life they have been convinced is necessary to maintaining their supposed tradition, even if that tradition is completely false.
Linda, that's because you are a sentient being. capable of deductive reasoning.
"George Washington ... flanked by Swastikas"? No one can "sane'splain" that MSG Nazi Rally. You need the a forensic psychiatrist to decode his wistful desire to tan " ... my beautiful, white, white body."
That's his closing argument: " ... my beautiful, white, white body".
I think he still wants to believe he can get away with anything. His money and his ability to lie no matter what let him pretty much do that all his life, though he seems now to pushing his luck.
Well, if you will see my link above in the chat to Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kara Swisher, you might think that JD Vance is the one to watch and worry about as a more unknown fascist with his authoritarian billionaire backers.
This was not a rally to gain more votes. It was a way to keep his base angry enough to rebel when he loses. The "secret" he shares with Mike Johnson is the warning shot.
Harris will win. Trump will claim the election was stolen. Johnson and team will assist.
Bill, I hope we are both wrong, that this MSG rally is not a harbinger of evils to come. But the T**** signs are still up at a couple houses even here. We'll have a lot of work to do getting them back to normalcy.
I assume there are plans for that. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
I imagine that Trump is being treated like an enemy agent in some circles, and no leakage of these plans is a good thing. Our media is not to be trusted with our national security. Look at Bezos and Musk. So, assume that it is not going to be gotcha, on their parts, but on the part of our government.
Unhinged is a bit different from uncontrollable (though said before needs said again).
It’s Vance ‘they’re after ‘, the divisive techniques set the tone , successful again. Echos of Bernie from however long ago ….”oligarchs , we are a nation of oligarchs” …and at their mercy , whether it’s corporate America hiking prices, insurance companies/Big Pharma they led the slow demise , we missed the slight of hand …far too late likely ..as the subtle ‘slight’ success swallowed us up …the rest of the story…?
Harris is (as Emily so very well wrote) , the first woman President -best qualified -having served in all three houses of our Government and a woman of color to take us forward into our future …bring on the BLUE TSUNAMI 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙, UNITE …let’s clean up (NOT back up) and clear out the MAGA Mob, and shine sisters SHINE! 🇺🇸🫶💙💙
Apache. I wonder if we will have history books in 50+ years, mostly because we will have probably destroyed the livability of the planet by then. I see continuing chaos created by climate change as people scramble and struggle to survive. Once again, even though I am visited by problems caused by age, I am glad to be in my early 80s.
I am not far behind you Michelle but I have young grand daughters and I so want them to have a habitable and benign world. So much is wrong but we must keep trying…… we must !
I have no direct descendants, but i do want a livable world for young people. I do not mean to imply that we don't do anything. We do have solar panels and a Prius Prime. We recycle where we can. We try to buy local and do not go to chains unless necessary. I got in trouble with someone here because I loathe Amazon, but that does not include Amazon workers because they need a job. However, I am not interested in enriching the awful Bezos in any way.
When I was growing up, climate and most all other problems were out of view. For example, I never saw a black person in school until high school. Gas was 25 cents a gallon. My town, Elkhart, Indiana, had many factories, not all of them polluting, but some were very industrial. The rich people living along the river dumped their sewage into as pipes were revealed when the river level was down for some reason. I have no idea where the rest of ours went, probably somehow into the river as well. You could see sewage floating in it. We were "progressing" because our lives had more and more conveniences and we pay a high price now for convenience. Recycling was unheard of. I did have teacher couple friends who kept their large lot wild and basically had no lawn. They are dead now and last time I was in Elkhart, someone had cleared the lot although the trees were still there. I don't see things getting much better because most of us are not willing really to sacrifice for the change to happen. And we have all the violence around the world blowing up things. Here in Oregon we now have terrible forest fires. But every time the legislature tried to do something, Rs walked out. Once we were inundated with loud tractors and trucks to protest as well. I live in Salem, the capital.
What is also disgusting is the Republicans’ reaction. This proves to me that they are absolutely spineless weasels, who, when the chance was given them to stop fascism in its tracks, did NOTHING. Or even worse, most of them even fully embraced authoritarianism….
My niece attended a wedding in a Catholic Church in Omaha on Saturday as many of us have over the years.
Inside the church were several Trump signs prominently displayed. The following regarding the Johnson amendment -
"The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code, since 1954, that prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Section 501(c)(3) organizations are the most common type of nonprofit organization in the United States, ranging from charitable foundations to universities and churches. The amendment is named for then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, who introduced it in a preliminary draft of the law in July 1954.
In the early 21st century, some politicians, including former President Donald Trump, have sought to repeal the provision, arguing that it restricts the free speech rights of churches and other religious groups. These efforts have been criticized because churches have fewer reporting requirements than other non-profit organizations, and because it would effectively make political contributions tax-deductible.[1] On May 4, 2017, Trump signed an executive order "to defend the freedom of religion and speech" for the purpose of easing the Johnson Amendment's restrictions."
I have made it clear on multiple occasions that I loathe the Catholic Church for many reasons. It is clearly a cult that extends the teachings of the Bible through it's world-wide patriarchy.
Does the Catholic Church perform acts of charity? Sure they do. But they are greedy, hateful and spiteful. They refused to endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz another cowardly move to keep their patriarchy happy. They refuse to ordain women as priests and likely always will. They look the other way when hundreds of priests have sodomized children.
While Trump and his MAGAs have their NAZI rallies, the Catholic Church supports his words and actions.
I know these words are offensive to many life long Catholics, but the Catholic Church does way more harm than good in my opinion.
Yes, Gary, your words are offensive to many Catholics, but we defend your right to say them, even if we think them wrong. We also recognize that many of our clergy members, as well as certain Church institutions, have wrought much harm, even in our own time, for which we need to atone. But the single most shocking thing I read in your post was your second sentence. I cannot imagine that any Roman Catholic church would permit the presence of any political sign in a consecrated structure. I have no reason to doubt your words, I just find the situation appalling. The bishop of our own Diocese of Honolulu last week issued a letter calling upon us to search our consciences before we vote, but did not suggest for whom or for which party, only that we should exercise our rights and perform our duties as citizens to vote. All I can say for now is that if those Omaha signs encouraged any members of that congregation to vote for that candidate, my Catholic wife and I have cancelled two of their votes.
Our local archbishop does not allow political candidate signs and candidate endorsements in the parishes or in homilies. The pastors at my parish only got political about Issue 1 in 2023, and I ignored them. I am a Catholic who is not a single issue voter and has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Many lay Catholics feel this way and don’t like the way some bishops, priests or former priests like Frank Pavone act as ward heelers for Trump. We don’t feel inclined to butt into the personal lives of others or to presume the right to make decisions for them. We too are heartbroken at the sexual abuse of children and young people, and we hate that the bishops don’t seem to care enough about it. To me, the bishops’ behavior in protecting the bad apples has forfeited their credibility to presume to speak to lay Catholics about pelvic issues. I get something out of the worship, as opposed to issues that are not part of worship at all.
You acknowledge being 'heartbroken' about the sexual abuse of children and young people by priests whose bishops didn't seem to care about it. You also say said bishops have lost credibility. So tell me, what is it you get out of 'the worship' in the places these guys control that you couldn't get in a place less tarnished by the actions of protected predators? So please, I's be interested to know what's so good about 'the worship' that it's worth compromising your own beliefs? This is the same question I'd ask of republicans who think Trump is awful, but rationalize supporting him and his predations.
Interesting because generally Omaha is thought to be a blue dot in Nebraska…nevertheless, I too am shocked to think of Trump signs inside a Catholic church. Even our former bishop, who declared himself to me an R more than once, wouldn’t have go e that far.
James, I was taken back by that too. However, for some nothing is sacred. As I reported here some friends of ours saw a clip about Jesus being love and the MAGA answered, "Jesus is wrong." So these people often are shoving their religion into others' lives, but are total hypocrites because the son of God they purport to believe in, is wrong. It's called hubris.
It seems to me that extreme hubris, malignant narcissism to the point of exclusionary self-supremacy and cruel behavior is identical with evil, and and even more disturbing than evil individuals are the throngs of passionate people who worship them and call their folly "religious". How does one square that with "The Sermon on the Mount" or tenets of other religions that prescribe humility and compassion. There are inspiring and also heinous people and episodes said to motivated by religion, yet historically the contrast between the two could not be more stark. And there are both inspiring and heinous persons and actions that are not religious in any conventional sense. We weirdly seem to lump a lot of that together, at least in speaking, though they be opposites in terms of character and outcomes. We all, of necessity pursue self-interest; but when self-interest and self-congratulation push conscience, social responsibility, and compassion out of the nest, isn't that a malignant sociopath? MLK illustrates an inspiring and liberating religious figure. Trump claims to be religious and have God on his side. What's that?
Thank you for your customarily thoughtful post, J.L. You note how people conflate the philosophy or faith with the institutions and individuals who represent that faith or philosophy. From the perspective of a believer, we need to keep the two separate. Human beings are fallible creatures. The institutions they establish, being established by fallible creatures, are themselves dependent on the character of the people who run them. Catholics believe that their faith and their Church were instituted by Jesus himself. However, as you correctly note, many self-styled (or ordained, alas) practitioners of that faith have been malignant narcissists, and acted in accordance with that narcissism rather than with the tenets of the faith . Even worse, there are those who have twisted those tenets to serve their own narcissistic ends. A couple of years ago I was able to travel to The Mount, and hear that sermon preached there, a truly moving experience. Those words, that viewpoint, lie at the heart of Christianity. Your contrast between MLK and Agent Orange could not be more pertinent. Mr. Trump's religion is Trumpism, not Christianity. His religiosity is a means to keep up the grift (Trump Bible, anyone?). I can't speak for God, but I'm pretty sure he's not on Trump's side.
I remind myself that Justice Sotomayor, President Biden and former Speaker Pelosi are Catholic, too. It did not rob them of compassion, as it seems to have affected others. Not even Ethel Kennedy, who died recently, was able to prevent one of her eleven children from wandering far from the fold. In America, we value free will, and I think our emphasis on individuality and excessive competitiveness in a hyped up capitalist economy has robbed many of their moral development. The Southern Baptist tradition in which I was raised and the Mormon tradition with which I have more recently become familiar have difficulties with the wanton ways of Trumpism as well.
I think you’re right about the influence of our “hyped-up” capitalism. Human groups and individuals are naturally competitive or protective of their own resources. Capitalism provides us with opportunities to increase those resources, but unregulated capitalism feeds those competitive aspects of our wired-in natures, making our lives worse than they need be.
"We" people of faith should be defusing and de-fanging 45's plans to finish the January 6 insurrection. He brought the anti-government militia movement into the GOP tent and kicked out "real" Republicans. They are all MAGA-cult now. It should be renamed "The Limbo Party" - there is no bottom to "how low can you go?" As of Saturday, they might as well admit, they are the NAZI party, like Mark Robinson of North Carolina dubbed himself, a Black Nazi.
I agree -- the harm done behind the cloak of religion is endless. If a church wants to endorse a political candidate, let it renounce its 501c3 status and pay taxes. My grandmother left the Catholic church when they wanted her to let a toxic pregnancy situation continue - which would have killed her and meant my mother never would have been born. I know there are kind and good Catholics too -- and I mean no offense to them - but this is my view.
My Eastern European great-grandma left the Catholic Church when the local priest was too drunk to show up and give my great-grandfather his last rites. Boy was she mad! And when Grandma Haluska got angry, look out! She walked away and never looked back. My grandma left the church also and became a Presbyterian which made my mother and her brother the only grandkids in the family who were Protestant. To be fair great-grandma celebrated as many religious holidays she could, including Jewish ones. Mom remembers she and her brother carrying loaves of bread to the Greek Orthodox priest for Easter blessing. Grandma Haluska said, “May as well, just to be sure.”
Gary, I am astounded to read your comment about the sign in the church! As James below comments, I believe you, but I have never witnessed anything like that, ever. Admittedly, I haven't been to mass in a year or two, so I can't say for sure.
I am a lifelong Catholic, who NEVER would have imagined not attending weekly mass--up until COVID stopped me. When restrictions were lifted, and I tried to attend, my husband and me were among the perhaps 5 people out out 100 in attendance wearing mass. And there were attitudes there I didn't like.
I never attended Catholic schools due to my parents finances more than any other reason. What I grew up with--so it didn't seem odd--was my Dad took us to church, while Mom stayed home. My mother was Lutheran and attempted to convert twice, but never went through with baptism. The story is that her Pastor would come and scare her by telling her she'd go to hell. And yet, the Catholic church did not embrace her. My parents were forced to marry in the rectory, and they had to sign a document (or so I was told this by my mother) that if in my mother's 5 labors, if it was a choice between mother and child, the child would be saved and raised Catholic. This knowledge always gave me a sort of....edge. They'd been married 17 years by the time I arrived, and I never asked them how religion impacted their marriage. When I married, we chose a church close to our college campus whose congregants were diverse, as I knew my friend who I asked to sing at the ceremony would cause a stir in my parish: she is black. And several of my guests were, as well. And one of the groomsmen is Jewish.
The Chicago Archdiocese changes the assignment of the pastor every 8 years, or so. We had a dearly loved pastor who truly understood people and sometimes took to the pulpit to say he would refuse to condemn the attire in church, as he was happy we attended. He told us any anonymous letters sent to him would be immediately tossed. Twice I had serious concerns that drove me to the rectory door and each time he dropped whatever to console and advise me. Then he was transferred to another church.
He made news, I think even national news perhaps? when early in Trump's presidency he spoke out AGAINST him from the pulpit. Apparently, some people even walked out of mass, which any Catholic knows is unheard of! I wrote him a letter thanking him.
What I find odd, and perhaps the smart readers can explain to me is why/how Evangelicals are embracing Catholics? I was fully into my 60s before I experienced prejudice against Catholics! I have two good friends who treat me like one of the "good ones" (alluding to the many racists who will claim otherwise, having ONE black/Muslim/whatever friend who "isn't like THEM"). One told me that in her church, Catholics are right next to Satanists! Perhaps Catholics should consider that they are being USED by the GOP?
Your post did not offend me. I have struggled with guilt over leaving the church. I miss it, really I do. I rarely heard politics and never heard candidates in mass, but maybe I was just fortunate. I miss the rituals of mass and the feeling of re-enacting rites that have been handed down, generation to generation, from Jesus and the disciples to me. I miss the feeling of peace that I found sitting in the church. Yes, there are awful priests in the church--there have been awful people using religion throughout history.! The Catholic Church in in upheaval itself, as there are many old time parishioners who consider the Pope too liberal.
These ARE the times that try our souls. I say that I can't wait for this election to be over, but WHEN will this mess all be over? In my lifetime?
When I read news these days, two phrases often pop in my mind: "Jesus weeps" and "WWJD". Sigh. Sorry for the long answer. You obviously hit a nerve in me.
Ruth, the kindred souls on this forum sustain me. (And my wonderful husband as well. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He is going to be a first time election judge on election day.)
That is unreal. Churches need to be taxed. Karl Rove made many churches arms of the Repub party in 2006. They have spouted political lies since. Agree about Catholics. More harm than good.
I think you're right. I think the Catholic Church is more an institution than a religion. It's more concerned with power, politics and money than with (true) religion and spirituality.
As one who exhaustively studied organized religions as a sophomore in high school, I came to the conclusion that all organized religions have a fatal flaw: they all have the concept of 'the other' as part of their foundation. And that leads to division and inhumanity. All of them.
That there was a Trump sign inside a Catholic Church doesn't surprise me in the least. Let's be clear: The Catholic hierarchy in the U.S. is deeply entwined with right wing republicans, and they are master predators who protect their own at any cost.
Vance has become a darling of theirs and their own quest to make their church great again. It no longer has anything to do with Jesus, if it ever did.
I've speculated and read about the connections between Opus Dei (shudder) and a whole bunch of monsters in the right wing Catholic cabal, especially SCOTUS. See:
We also have the Pope's “pick the lesser of two evils” statement regarding Trump and Harris….and you know where that misogynistic hypocrite comes down on what constitutes the greater 'evil.'
So let's not be shocked by little things like Trump signs in a Catholic Church. It's just an indication that the hierarchy of that organization is no longer afraid of losing members, because the members who remain have already been politically converted.
Gary, I would like to join you by adding more offensive words.
I grew up in the U.S. Evangelical culture. In my youth, I detected something wrong with this belief system, although, without the necessary experience outside the culture, I couldn't identify the problem.
As a young adult, I avoided church and tried to recover from the psycho-emotional damage done by evangelicalism. Years later, a close friend persuaded me to attend a mainstream Protestant church. I got very involved and took some comfort there, but was still troubled by the "gaps" in logic that must be embraced to make religion work. I found it problematic that an entire denomination would would divide itself into white churches and Black churches; a denomination that preached "love of God and neighbor," while officially treating LGBTQ members as less than human. The denomination split over this issue.
I have abandoned religion of any kind. Here is why: I finally realized that ALL deities, whether Judaic, Muslim, or of any other ancient culture, were/are figments of the imaginations of illiterate MEN who sought to explain the inexplicable to their families and neighbors. As literacy developed, writers recorded oral myths and legends that had been created to reinforce the cultures that had been built around these imaginary deities.
As these cultures became systems, they were used to control the thoughts and actions of their followers. Ideas became beliefs; fiction became fact. People were killed because they didn't adhere to the right beliefs. Wars were fought over the differences in beliefs.
Indeed the Roman Catholic Church is responsible for more harm than good – as is every religion ever concocted by patriarchs over millennia.
Agree. Deprogrammed Catholic here who joined UU church for a while, thinking I owed my daughter something in the way of religious experience. Fortunately, she made up her own mind about all religion .. even took religion classes in college to help sort it out. She concluded, after attending Catholic and UU services as a comparative exercise for a class project, that Catholics seemed to like rituals and rules while UUs liked social gatherings. She isn't interested in either, having decided she was not a rituals and rules kind of person and UU social gatherings never seemed to have any good food. I thought her 20 year old conclusion was just as sophisticated an assessment as I'd heard about the matter.
Dale, I suggest that the myths and legends were created to reinforce the cultures, not the deities. More likely the deities were developed to support the cultures.
Jesus was likely also a creation representing the people pushing back against empire, but empire won, and Jesus became the Christ which was all about correct belief instead of correct action that Jesus taught.
The RCC is the most visible remnant of the empire that overwhelmed the Jesus movement. The evangelical movement is a U.S. invention that was born out of racism and has overwhelmed even the RCC in the U.S..
There remain a few members of the Jesus Movement, but we don't get much press.
Mary Ellen, your suggestion is actually what I wrote. I surmise that you may be putting a fine point on it. I think it's likely a chicken-and-egg situation. The stories couldn't be told without an all-powerful deity or deities, so supreme beings were invented to make the stories work. As cultures developed around the stories and their deities, more stories were created to reinforce the culture.
As for Jesus, I don't doubt that there was a prominent Jewish renegade whose name has been lost in the mists of time. But I am certain that the biblical red-letter quotations are neither accurate nor complete. Also, accounts of his "miracles" are fictitious or exaggerated.
I think a person who follows the few of Jesus' teachings presented in the "Gospels" is going to be a good friend and neighbor, but assuming that his teachings are comprehensive is misguided, and would lead a follower to be unprepared to live in the real world.
My abandonment of the Episcopal Church came early, when I heard that Cain and Abel married. My child's literal interpretation said, "But Adam and Eve were the first two people, and they had two sons. Where did the wives come from?" When I asked my mother, she brushed it off with "Oh, it's metaphorical" (not that I knew what that meant at the time). But that was it. The Bible had lied to me. And by the time I understood metaphor, it was too late.
When my age was in the single digits, I asked my Sunday school teacher hard questions. Her standard response, uttered as a multi-syllable single word was: "It's-a-fire-from-hell-don't-ask-so-many-questions!"
I was born and raised Catholic. I went Catholic schools for 11 1/4 years. I raised our sons Catholic and encouraged my husband to convert. Needless to say, I contributed a lot of money to the Catholic Church too.
That all changed as I entered my 40s. I had always questioned some of the doctrine. But I loved the services and the communities I belonged to. When the sexual abuses became public, my first thought it was a few bad apples. I never excused or condoned the Bishops response to the abuses. I was working full-time and raising a family. I didn't have much time for in depth study of any of what was reported at the time.
The final straw happened suddenly. A teenage girl was killed by a gunshot to her head. She and her, female classmates were taken hostage by a single gunman, at a Colorado high school. Sadly even though law enforcement responded quickly, she was the only casualty. About a week later another gunman took 13 Amish school girls hostage in a copycat move. Because the crime took place in an Amish community, the police response was much slower. He molested and shot all the girls, seven died. The Sunday after those horrific crimes were committed, we went to church as usual. A side alter was set up with a beautiful array of candles, one for each child victim of gunshots in those two weeks. 14 girls and two boys. For a week or so, all I could think of were those burning candles. My church, forbids birth control and abortion. My church is quite vocal about "The Right To Life." But they were and remain silent on the subject of gun ownership among Catholics. If it is wrong to take a pill or to use something to prevent a pregnancy, why isn't just as wrong to own a handgun and ammunition???
When the alarm went off on a Sunday morning a week or two later, my husband got up and started getting ready for church. I rolled over and went back to sleep. That was 19 years ago.
The Republicans have used the Catholic Church, with its code of silence, second-class status of women unless idolizing their birth- giving function, and mandated Sunday meetings, for organizing- for years. All in the service of the GOO under cloak of Right to Life. All untaxed. Meanwhile Dems have to pay rent for halls, beg people to come instead of being able to threaten eternal damnation if people refuse, and deal with social issues here on earth as if all people were sacred. I’ve warned my friends about this superior organizing infrastructure for years. Tax the churches’ real estate- equitably. All of them. Including Scientology and the One-Man-Show idolatry mega- churches. Freedom of religion but not free to undermine the government at taxpayers’ cost!!!!
I'm not Catholic, but have several in my extended family. I am a Methodist, so some of your concerns come my way.
I defend your right to express yourself. I would counsel that it might be more accurate to say some Catholics and some congregations.
I will point out that seven of the current nine of SCOTUS are either practicing or raised in the Catholic church. The Federalist Society was looking for conservatives to promote and found an excellent source.
Do all the good you can. BY all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can. John Wesley
I recall that the Vatican was all in with fascism during WW2. Being complicit and even active in mass murder does not seem to go against their principles.
Ryan, I think it is a touch of weasel and thinking they can continue playing their role and all will be fine - for them. The Republicans in Congress have been enabling DJT since before he reached the White House. Moreover, when you read Heather Cox-Richardson and take in the history of the party it is clear they have been enabling a lot of anti-democracy pro deregulation capitalism for some time.
>>“I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said. <<
"It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote."
This insanity won't over until President Harris is inaugurated in January so buckle up.
It won't be over for far longer than that! Electing a President Harris is only the beginning. We need a Democratic Congress and an Attorney General who will investigate and prosecute the insurrectionists within and outside Congress, and finally prosecute Trump for his crimes.
We need to cleanse the corrupt judges from our courts as well via impeachment and/or prosecution for such crimes as bribery.
I cried, no wept, when I read this Letter. I hear and accept the wide range of descriptions detailing the feelings of people going into the last weeks preceding the election. Just as Mary describes as “calmness yet terrified”. This opposition of feeling in so many reflects the diametrical opposing stances of the two candidates and their support.
For me? I read Prof Richardson’s letter and wept. In this moment, it matters not to me how such a perverse rally can be held in Madison Square Garden that mirrors the showing of Nazi support so many decades ago in another rally held there. How we got here has been made clear to anyone ready to accept the reasons.
But the sadness of it, that so many spit on our freedom in favor of tyranny by a few, just takes me to a place and a stance, of sorts, that I will always defend with all that I know. The phrase, “my fellow Americans” has redefined itself. Just like at so many points in history when freedom does not come freely. When we have to fight for our rights. When We the People must “take it to the woodshed” and give such a whuppin’ to those that threaten to rule us instead of govern us.
I wipe the salty tears off my face but keep my focus on whatever symbol stands true to me as representing the freedom I will fiercely fight for.
I am pretty sure Buddy or anybody does not loan the professor to anyone. One of the reasons I admire HCR is she walks to her own beat wherever she travels.
I endorse your sentiment 100%, but I think it is Heather who loans Buddy to us when times get super-stressful. Not to quibble though. Together they make a wonderful team, and the country is the better for it!
What? Mary do you see what a proprietary and sexist comment that is? Buddy isn't loaning her to us - she's doing what she loves. Buddy supports her. That's how healthy relationships work.
Oh I’m glad you said that. I reacted to that first comment about Buddy “lending” Heather to us as if his beneficence makes that possible. She is a professional woman, period. How reductive.
Kind of a bizarre rebuke for “a long time lefty”. Suggesting that her husband controls her schedule and we should be grateful he allows her to write these letters is a prime example of implicit bias rooted in sexism. Pointing that out in no way strengthens anyone but the person being made aware of their bias.
It was revealed that Elon Musk has been having Conversations with Putin... Is Putin our Friend? Is Elon? Elon has a Security Clearance... I wonder who signed for that.... I wonder what they talk about? Elon has definitely turned to the 'Dark Side'...
Donald Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden was a spectacle that may go down in history as the self-inflicted end of his political career. What was touted as a return to his “king of New York” days instead showcased an unfiltered display of racism, xenophobia, and authoritarianism that many Americans will likely find chilling. This event served as a stark reminder of Trump’s intent for vengeance and retribution rather than uniting the country.
The rally was marred by vitriolic speeches that bordered on neo-fascism, with a lineup of speakers who slung slurs and promoted conspiracy theories. Tony Hinchcliffe, one of Trump’s warm-up acts, tossed out vile, baseless slurs, calling Puerto Rico “an island of floating garbage”—an egregious comment in a city home to nearly 600,000 Puerto Ricans. He went on with “jokes” about Black and Latino communities that were both appalling and strategically alienating to millions of American voters. It was as if Trump and his surrogates were intent on making the rally as offensive and exclusionary as possible.
One speaker described Vice President Kamala Harris as managed by “pimp handlers” and called for “slaughtering” Democrats, while Stephen Miller offered comments that echoed the darkest eras in American history: “America is for Americans and Americans only.” Trump, for his part, spoke in a long, winding monologue filled with conspiracy theories and insults, particularly targeting journalists and Democrats. He called his opponents “enemies of the people” and promised to use the military to exact retribution, chilling echoes of authoritarianism that leave no doubt about his agenda.
The rally's atmosphere was dominated by a sense of racial hostility and a fervent call for a return to an “America” that only Trump’s base seems to envision. Trump called the U.S. an “occupied country” and attacked Harris as a “low IQ individual,” adding layers to his ongoing personal vendetta against her and others. His message is clear: his campaign is driven by resentment, exclusion, and punishment.
Trump’s attack on the media also highlighted his disdain for accountability. Journalists in the crowd faced boos, with Trump egging his followers on to mistrust the press. It was a deliberate move to create an environment where truth is disregarded, and anyone opposed to his rhetoric is treated as a traitor. By repeatedly labeling his opponents as “the most sinister and corrupt forces on earth,” Trump showed his intention to govern not as a leader of all Americans but as a ruler over his most fervent supporters.
Notably, Elon Musk made an appearance, adding another layer of irony by condemning illegal immigration despite his own questionable immigration history. Musk’s alignment with Trump is a stark reminder of the billionaire class’s interest in Trump’s promise to “slash the size of government”—especially the parts that scrutinize corporate giants.
While Trump’s supporters cheered on calls for punishment and retribution, the rally might be the final blow to his dwindling electoral chances. In a country where the majority of voters oppose the hateful, divisive rhetoric on display, Trump’s rally may have only served to solidify his opposition. Political analysts might see this as Trump’s swan song, a performance that drove voters away rather than inspired new support.
The extremism on display at Madison Square Garden won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Trump’s attempt to revive his political career by stirring anger and fear may have instead shown Americans exactly why he should not return to the White House. As November 5 approaches, the rally serves as a potent reminder of what’s at stake: the choice between democracy and a leader who sees dissent as an enemy to crush. Trump may have intended to galvanize his base, but the result is likely to be a historic mobilization of voters against him.
Totally with you until that last sentence which implies that HCR needs Buddy's permission to pursue her profession. I have to believe that theirs is an equal partnership.
I agree very much with the content of your comment.
However, I am uncomfortable with Buddy ‘loaning’ her to us. She is not his shovel to loan out. HRC is a person (an amazing brilliant person) and as such her husband does not, or should not ‘loan’ her out.
Thank you for rationally telling the story of tonight’s absolutely disgusting rally. I had to stop listening to the speeches but wanted to see the words. I appreciate the Calmness this brings to my brain, even while absolutely terrified. Please know how much we appreciate you. And thanks to Buddy too for loaning you to us.
Nice reminder to thank Buddy who I believe is a major supporter of our Letters from An American!
And a reminder of why - with HCR and Buddy - we are all working so hard to elect Harris.
Lincoln Project rally ad: Quotes.
https://youtu.be/fMjhl9jxrug?si=u-RztWDHuk5YAtdj
What a chilling ad. Thank you, Lincoln Project, and thank you, Lincoln, for sharing this.
My postcards to swing states are ready—and I’m headed to the Post Office this morning!
Thanks for sharing, Lin. At first, I thought it might be grainy footage from the Trump rally. Then I realized it wasn't, however, there really isn't much difference in the end, is there?
Ha.
Yeah, not much difference in the rallies. But hopefully 'in the end' we will prevail.
As Robert Hubbell wrote this morning:
"Let’s all say it together: The race is within the margin of error—and the margin of effort! It feels like we are caught in a time warp in which the election season will drag on forever. But we can see the end in sight—and we have reasons to be hopeful. Kamala Harris has stayed on message (for which she has been criticized by the media), while Trump uses each rally to insult or demean a new bloc of voters in the US. On Sunday, those two arcs intersected—to Kamala Harris’s advantage."
No difference. He did read and learn his playbook🤬
Wow lin, sounds way too familiar. Totally left me in disgust!
Totally agree Jeanne, and company.
If it wasn’t for Heather’s Letter, and her intelligent responders, I’d feel isolated in an ocean of anxiety. Taking action in any way possible has helped me find a way to sleep without serial nightmares echoing Nazis storm troopers and much more in WW11.
Yes we are indeed ‘woke’ those of us who know history, and might have friends whose parents were survivors of the camps and on and on.
Thank G at least the NYTimes is outing him. Better late than never!
Samani. I feel the same way.
Sorry to admit it but history was not my favorite subject. HCR has enlightened me as do many of her followers. This is why I read many of the comments. More education.
Yes Samani, I too take some small comfort from the readers of HCR's letters. Thank you (almost) all.
They sure know how to hit where it hurts. Learn Dems.
Lin. Thank you.
Good ad... terrifying but effective
This is a must see! Thank you for sharing!
WOW!!! GO, LP!!!
I requested tickets for the facist rally just so I could not go and leave two seats empty. My intention was to go and protest outside but my bronchitis prevented me. However, I wouldn’t miss Steve Bannon’s release tomorrow from Danbury Federal prison in a million years. Come join us. I’ll be ringing my bell. 7AM to be sure.
Bannon is already getting out of prison?!
Contempt of court sentences aren't very long. Typically 3 to 6 months. Bannon got 4 months. As noted above or below he was pardoned for his federal crimes just before Trump left office in 2020 so no trial for those things is possible. Presidential pardons are pretty much "golden" parachutes. Still hoping New York will put him in prison for a long time. President can't pardon you for a state crime.
Trump gave him a pardon on some charges. Short sentence on contempt. But - still state charges for fraud.
"Bannon border-wall fraud trial to begin in December after contempt term ends
Trump ally, in prison for defying congressional subpoena, accused of conning donors who gave money for border wall"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/23/bannon-border-fraud-trial
Yes, only a 3 or 4 months sentence.
And I will have my Hiel Hitler sign.
Activism at its best!
Maybe this is the October 2024 Not-So-Surprising-Surprise... DJT completely Melting Down as he is Staring RUIN IN THE FACE IF HE LOSES THE ELECTION... DJT could also be prepping his INSANITY DEFENSE... Imagine what the History Books will say in 50+ Years...
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been predicting that all Trump can do is escalate. It gets him the press he wants and inflames his followers. Will it inflame swing voters? I don't understand being undecided because I am in general a very decisive person. If I don't know enough about something I read, read, read, watch, watch, watch, ask, ask, ask, discuss, discuss, discuss.
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a very smart Person... I find the Key in this Missive was that DJT, who is a World-Class Cheater & a Mediocre Person, hasn't tried finding New Voters, instead like everything he does, DJT always tries to Cheat His Way To Success.... Political Power, Business, his Wives, and Golf... DJT even had someone take his SATs for him.... DJT is a Paragon of Corruption...
Here is Ben-Ghiat talking with Journalist Kara Swisher last Friday. They reaffirm my concern since JD Vance was announced that he is the one to worry about, as he vies to take over power and then be a proxy president for Peter Thiel, a brilliant, twisted, Bad Boy Billionaire Tech Bro.
https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=Z3D8zeDaU3Wohgx3
Listen to what they are saying as they discuss Bezos, Musk, JD Vance and Peter Thiel. It is scary stuff.
If DJT does not need to find new voters, because enough Americans think like he does, then America is not the country I thought it was, because that would be too many awful or uninformed people making up our country. I would like to believe that is not the case.
I don't think that (perhaps due to our obsession with commercialism) most of us are trained to think in whole systems. Irrational ideologies are built to fend off any discordant information. They isolate in a endless loops of circular arguments. The punish doubt, sometimes violently. I thing that the spin can be broken, at least for some, but it isn't easy. Germany largely recovered from such a state, but it took defeat of their aggression.
Who is there to defeat the US, except its own citizens?
Massive defeat, and remember the Allies' campaign of deNazification ultimately failed, there were just too many German nazi members around, so they were co-opted, mostly to rebuild a saner Germany, and the few Nazi comeback hopefuls failed in their efforts. As you know many wanted Germany more or less left flattened, and thanks to a godless Communists in this case the USSR with its takeover of eastern Europe, Germany did super well, now a heartland nation for the EU.
The “awful” people are real, and all around. They think they will rule. The America I thought it was has more enemies within than chump thinks he has. Always accuse of what you do.
Thank you so much for posting this. I hadn't seen it. Two brilliant women.
Yes they are!
Same. Lately I listen to Kara Swisher and who she talks to a lot.
I fear your fears are well founded. There's enough of them, and whoever, to take the tolls to "dead heat" though I'm hopeful that's partly a red poll flood distorting things, just the same, this election is won at the margins, in the latest case, how many Puerto Ricans in terms of vote changing, actually turning out. Yes, "turnout" is a critical margin. 66% a record turned out in 2020. I have no idea what the poll models are using, but it things like "garbaging" Puerto Rico, and more esp women's reproductive rights, turn the dial, that may well be decisive. MSG may well have just turned that dial up a notch, hopefully more.
Reading HCR today I wondered how many defamed people are even aware of this last rally and the comedian's comments.
Thanks, Linda, for the link to Ben-Ghiat-Swisher conversation. They laid out the Thiel uber-game plan brilliantly. It has grieved me that Rene Girard's revelatory theories about human mimetic desire and scapegoating have been used by Thiel as weapons in his arsenal for his insane vainglory of conquering the world with his male brilliance.
Linda, I think the comment meant to say that Trump knows he is in a minority. He is focused on creating havoc and legal finagling to steal the presidency.
Well believe it after we get election results. This is truly a time to fasten your seatbelt and ride to a Harris-Walz win. Whew! Truly unbelievable. Given that he is not doing or saying anything to get new voters, he and his sycophants surely are planning to repeat 2020 chaos.
You better believe it.
What we are witnessing is collective suicide.
Hello Linda.... I agree, DJT will be replaced if he wins thru the Electoral College, or other Nefarious Means... JD is much Smarter, and more Dangerous... He has no 'Center'... Changed his Name three times... Hmm?... I tend to agree that JD will just be a Puppet for the 'Dark Siths'.... DJT's Minions? You do not know U.S. History like the First-Nations do...
I agree. I have a German mom, and had a Black dad who was part Native American, so when I was an undergrad I studied these histories because they interested me but would have anyway because they are interesting, when I was an undergrad. I am always learning. One of the guys in my Democrats Abroad book club group is from a reservation in Oklahoma, now he works in tech and does biodynamic farming in Germany.
Very interesting discussion. I learned a lot.
Undecided is cowardly at this point. Choosing between a monster and a competent woman. Oh, I see the problem.
Make America Courageous Again.
America is Americans and there are plenty of Courageous ones, like the people who are standing up to Trump in the Republican party and endorsing Harris. She is the bravest of all, standing up to a bully with all his bully boys, and his bully Party.
Where’s my hat.
'All he can do is escalate.' Perfect summary of the situation and what HCR has been telling us about the MAGA desperation.
Let us hope in his escalation he peels off likely voters. But then, there are those who secretly agree with him and that will show at the ballot box too.
And I assume you THINK, THINK, THINK!!! Let’s all THINK about what SURPRISE tfffg is planning and be prepared to stop it. 🎃💩🤡
Let us say, respond to it. We should be thinking ahead though. We could be having DT, but according to many, it will be JDV. He or his Bad Boy Tech Billionaire Bro overlords will try to place him in as their proxy in the Presidency. I see a battle between the 3 factions, but they may align. That is Heritage Foundation who has been advising conservative presidents since Reagan, The America First Foundation who is advising Trump in this election under the rug so to speak, with the same agenda as in Project 2025, but not made public, and then there is the JD Vance faction, even though JD V is presenting like a Christian Nationalist, but he is a shapeshifter and we don't know which shape he will take in the end, but it presumes to be bad for all of us. A less known or unknown bad. So, we need to be thinking about Trump, Project 2025, America First Policy Institute https://americafirstpolicy.com/, and JD V and the Billionaire Tech Bros who want to run our country too and think their monetary success entitles them to as superior people. So, I am not sure, but it will certainly influence the rest of the world too.
Thiel has a political and economic partnership via Epstein’s UK friend, the Labour Party peer, Peter Mandelson. They have successfully teamed up to privatise the data system of England’s National Health system via Palantir.
The Heritage Foundation folk also fund many at 55 Tufton Street, a London based research unit which informed and aided UK politicians to successfully expidite an extreme severance with the postwar Peace Project EU via Brexit. The Boys involved seem to be moving toward a full corporate takeover of democratic governance in the UK and US. It could be argued that they have already succeeded in delivering this global oligarch’s dream in the Murdoch controlled UK. See: https://europeanpowell.substack.com/p/zone-fever-means-the-uk-is-no-longer
Monnina, thanks for sharing the link. It is frightening stuff, that reminds me of times in history that were really bad. I do see Putin as a key player because his war on Ukraine triggered off a lot of things in Europe that has disrupted the status quo.
I thought Rupert was kicked out of the UK?
Linda, I can well imagine Trump posing for the cameras at the resolute desk, proudly signing legislation arranged by J. D. Vance (or Miller, etc.).
I am not saying Trump would do this. I am saying JD Vance will remove Trump using Article 25, which I read had been planned since Peter Thiel bought his place as VP. Listen to a discussion of Thiel by Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Journalist Kara Swisher as they discuss Bezos's capitulation to fascism first. https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=cbkcvJuof89JKQZD
Forewarned is forearmed.
"Forewarned is forearmed."
You would think.
Yet Trump operatives Stephen Miller and Jill Stein (who are Jewish) are working to elect Trump and institute a ChristoFascist state - proponents of which promote Jews and other others being allowed residency but not civil rights.
Go figure. Serving Trump is never a safe berth.
"During the Nazis' ascent to power, some Jewish organizations, such as the Association of German National Jews and The German Vanguard supported nazism *until being outlawed in late 1935.*"
"Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.” "
Stein splitting off American leftish voters from the Democratic party to elect Trump, is using the same tactic Stalin did to elect Hitler by splitting off German Communists from the German center left.
Does anybody really believe Stein is anything but a Putin pup
Again, it won't be better under JD Vance, but I think we should be prepared for him to take over as president, using Article 25, which I have heard he was going to use, as planned by Peter Thiel since he was first announced.
MAGA’s don’t read the NYTimes or any other source and only watch or listen to vitriol on Fox or other right wing podcasts, X, or whatever. Never-the-less, the NYTimes, the WaPo and other former “trusted” sources have normalized trump’s behavior for way too long. Anything they write now (after voting has started) is way too little, way too late. The damage done to those former reliable resources could be the final nail in the coffin for their business model and incentive for the reputable journalists to carve out new ventures.
Newspapers have come and gone for hundreds of years but the more recent decades of steady decline is more of an industry demise. For a few years In my “former” life, I successfully managed the pension investment account of a well known newspaper and heard a lot of the difficulties the industry was facing. Survivorship in a digital world was an open challenge and that was before competition from podcasts and independent sources was on the radar.
Not so ironic, the industry consolidation has made a valuable market for very old newspapers! Ironically, the investment management business where I spent my career also no longer exists! Algorithms rule and AI and crypto currency are other relatively new players changing that landscape.
I have a story to tell. I was raised by two victims of the Holocaust in rural NC in the 50’s & 60’s. The town was made up of mostly Southern Baptists and the races were black and white. In 1964, we integrated schools for the first time in history. It was decreed by LBJ that the South comply with those orders. In my English class, all of the students were required to read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “A Tale of Two Cities”. We were also to see enrichment films at our town’s theater that went along with the books we were reading.
For years, my mother turned the tv off if she knew the Anne Frank movie was playing on a channel. She never wanted my sister and I to know the horrors of Nazi Germany. When it came time for the film to be shown at the theater, I lied to her and said it was another movie. I went with friends and then I saw what my mom and dad had tried to shield us from. After the show, my friends wanted to go out to our hangout but I asked them to drive me home. I walked into my house and collapsed in my mother’s arms, sobbing. She too, cried. We were up until 2am talking. I am tearful just remembering the pain she and my dad felt having to leave their country, their family and friends.
When the Wall came down, that’s when my mother found out how her parents died…gassed in 1942 at the camp called Chelmno.
Marlene I am so sorry.
It hurt me to press the heart/like "button" because your story hurt my heart.
How hard that must have been for your mother! Do you think she was relieved to know, or would not knowing have been better? My daughter's father is Jewish, and I took her to Ann Frank's house just over a decade ago. We also visited the Museum of the Dutch Resistance (or that's what I recall of the name). I thought it was important for her to know that some people did push back.
I went to the Holocaust Museum in DC with two of my first cousins as I had never been there. I think we were there for 4 hours. When we got to the area where they have the camps area and where candles are lit, that’s where I lost it. My poor mama…
Marlene, your parent's story is gut-wrenching. I am so very sorry☮️💟
Not everyone is like that. Some just don’t engage with politics or are too busy working three jobs to pay attention to it. Or don’t think and inquire until the last few days.
That being too busy is the reason so many of my friends in the US do not pay attention, and several have had their therapists tell them to not pay attention to the news since it is so depressing. That is what he fascists are counting on.
I know many who choose to just tune out all politics. But self-government is DIY by definition.
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you," -- Pericles
That's proactive. Top-down media tends to make us passive.
Professor Ben Ghiat’s prediction that Trump’s only tool is escalation. Last night’s rally showed us what escalated rhetoric sounds like. Should he. E re-elected, the escalation won’t be just talk! Let’s hope Trump’s hateful rally escalated him to defeat!
In Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, there is always an end to a fascist, be it being overthrown, the people uprising, or death, or defeat. Perhaps it could be a McDonald's burger and fries. It would be poetic justice.
Nothing like poetic justice!
A recent article in The New Yorker posited that the people who actually came to the capital on January 6th were activated by racism. Would not racist rhetoric then be the most effective way to repeat the attempted coup?
It was decided at least amongst the White Power Movement, that as they chose to enter the government instead of always trying to blow it up, see Oklahoma City Bombing, that immigration would be the code word for race going forward. We see how it has spread so widely that even those who are being referred to by the term are anti immigrants, and thus anti themselves. So, this racism in code "immigrants" is being repeated.
I think we must face the fact that a significant proportion of our U.S. population would quite happily, given permission by Trump and chance, deport or eliminate or execute or imprison every citizen and legal or illegal resident belonging to minority groups including, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Jews, Muslims ….. of course these folks screaming for mass deportations, executions, etc., are the same people claiming they are prolife, anti-abortion.
Shirley Jackson’s famous short story The Lottery suggests that people enjoy killing, especially in the name of preserving a way of life they have been convinced is necessary to maintaining their supposed tradition, even if that tradition is completely false.
Re: "read watch ask discuss" but you are not a Trump followers. They don't do any of those things.
Linda, that's because you are a sentient being. capable of deductive reasoning.
"George Washington ... flanked by Swastikas"? No one can "sane'splain" that MSG Nazi Rally. You need the a forensic psychiatrist to decode his wistful desire to tan " ... my beautiful, white, white body."
That's his closing argument: " ... my beautiful, white, white body".
Must be educated… critical thinking in action!
I think he still wants to believe he can get away with anything. His money and his ability to lie no matter what let him pretty much do that all his life, though he seems now to pushing his luck.
Well, if you will see my link above in the chat to Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kara Swisher, you might think that JD Vance is the one to watch and worry about as a more unknown fascist with his authoritarian billionaire backers.
Here is the link again.
https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=Z3D8zeDaU3Wohgx3
They see JD V as being more dangerous than Trump. So, some insights we should be paying attention to.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kara Swisher are correct to be concerned about Vance.
But there would be no Vance without Trump.
Absolutely!
This was not a rally to gain more votes. It was a way to keep his base angry enough to rebel when he loses. The "secret" he shares with Mike Johnson is the warning shot.
Harris will win. Trump will claim the election was stolen. Johnson and team will assist.
It is going to be a bloody mess.
Bill, I hope we are both wrong, that this MSG rally is not a harbinger of evils to come. But the T**** signs are still up at a couple houses even here. We'll have a lot of work to do getting them back to normalcy.
That "bloody mess" is what worries me. Are we going to have a repeat of January 6th?
I assume there are plans for that. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
I imagine that Trump is being treated like an enemy agent in some circles, and no leakage of these plans is a good thing. Our media is not to be trusted with our national security. Look at Bezos and Musk. So, assume that it is not going to be gotcha, on their parts, but on the part of our government.
This is certainly my hope.
He HAS gotten away with everything.
Unhinged is a bit different from uncontrollable (though said before needs said again).
It’s Vance ‘they’re after ‘, the divisive techniques set the tone , successful again. Echos of Bernie from however long ago ….”oligarchs , we are a nation of oligarchs” …and at their mercy , whether it’s corporate America hiking prices, insurance companies/Big Pharma they led the slow demise , we missed the slight of hand …far too late likely ..as the subtle ‘slight’ success swallowed us up …the rest of the story…?
Harris is (as Emily so very well wrote) , the first woman President -best qualified -having served in all three houses of our Government and a woman of color to take us forward into our future …bring on the BLUE TSUNAMI 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙, UNITE …let’s clean up (NOT back up) and clear out the MAGA Mob, and shine sisters SHINE! 🇺🇸🫶💙💙
It has always worked for him in the past, goes his tiny, racist brain…It worked in 2016, it assures him.
It did not work in 2020. We have gotten over the covid scare, and now it is the Fascism scare, which was always there.
Apache. I wonder if we will have history books in 50+ years, mostly because we will have probably destroyed the livability of the planet by then. I see continuing chaos created by climate change as people scramble and struggle to survive. Once again, even though I am visited by problems caused by age, I am glad to be in my early 80s.
I am not far behind you Michelle but I have young grand daughters and I so want them to have a habitable and benign world. So much is wrong but we must keep trying…… we must !
I have no direct descendants, but i do want a livable world for young people. I do not mean to imply that we don't do anything. We do have solar panels and a Prius Prime. We recycle where we can. We try to buy local and do not go to chains unless necessary. I got in trouble with someone here because I loathe Amazon, but that does not include Amazon workers because they need a job. However, I am not interested in enriching the awful Bezos in any way.
Join you with this… and some regret not to have worked harder, longer… on climate…
When I was growing up, climate and most all other problems were out of view. For example, I never saw a black person in school until high school. Gas was 25 cents a gallon. My town, Elkhart, Indiana, had many factories, not all of them polluting, but some were very industrial. The rich people living along the river dumped their sewage into as pipes were revealed when the river level was down for some reason. I have no idea where the rest of ours went, probably somehow into the river as well. You could see sewage floating in it. We were "progressing" because our lives had more and more conveniences and we pay a high price now for convenience. Recycling was unheard of. I did have teacher couple friends who kept their large lot wild and basically had no lawn. They are dead now and last time I was in Elkhart, someone had cleared the lot although the trees were still there. I don't see things getting much better because most of us are not willing really to sacrifice for the change to happen. And we have all the violence around the world blowing up things. Here in Oregon we now have terrible forest fires. But every time the legislature tried to do something, Rs walked out. Once we were inundated with loud tractors and trucks to protest as well. I live in Salem, the capital.
What is also disgusting is the Republicans’ reaction. This proves to me that they are absolutely spineless weasels, who, when the chance was given them to stop fascism in its tracks, did NOTHING. Or even worse, most of them even fully embraced authoritarianism….
My niece attended a wedding in a Catholic Church in Omaha on Saturday as many of us have over the years.
Inside the church were several Trump signs prominently displayed. The following regarding the Johnson amendment -
"The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code, since 1954, that prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Section 501(c)(3) organizations are the most common type of nonprofit organization in the United States, ranging from charitable foundations to universities and churches. The amendment is named for then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, who introduced it in a preliminary draft of the law in July 1954.
In the early 21st century, some politicians, including former President Donald Trump, have sought to repeal the provision, arguing that it restricts the free speech rights of churches and other religious groups. These efforts have been criticized because churches have fewer reporting requirements than other non-profit organizations, and because it would effectively make political contributions tax-deductible.[1] On May 4, 2017, Trump signed an executive order "to defend the freedom of religion and speech" for the purpose of easing the Johnson Amendment's restrictions."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Amendment
I have made it clear on multiple occasions that I loathe the Catholic Church for many reasons. It is clearly a cult that extends the teachings of the Bible through it's world-wide patriarchy.
Does the Catholic Church perform acts of charity? Sure they do. But they are greedy, hateful and spiteful. They refused to endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz another cowardly move to keep their patriarchy happy. They refuse to ordain women as priests and likely always will. They look the other way when hundreds of priests have sodomized children.
While Trump and his MAGAs have their NAZI rallies, the Catholic Church supports his words and actions.
I know these words are offensive to many life long Catholics, but the Catholic Church does way more harm than good in my opinion.
Yes, Gary, your words are offensive to many Catholics, but we defend your right to say them, even if we think them wrong. We also recognize that many of our clergy members, as well as certain Church institutions, have wrought much harm, even in our own time, for which we need to atone. But the single most shocking thing I read in your post was your second sentence. I cannot imagine that any Roman Catholic church would permit the presence of any political sign in a consecrated structure. I have no reason to doubt your words, I just find the situation appalling. The bishop of our own Diocese of Honolulu last week issued a letter calling upon us to search our consciences before we vote, but did not suggest for whom or for which party, only that we should exercise our rights and perform our duties as citizens to vote. All I can say for now is that if those Omaha signs encouraged any members of that congregation to vote for that candidate, my Catholic wife and I have cancelled two of their votes.
Our local archbishop does not allow political candidate signs and candidate endorsements in the parishes or in homilies. The pastors at my parish only got political about Issue 1 in 2023, and I ignored them. I am a Catholic who is not a single issue voter and has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Many lay Catholics feel this way and don’t like the way some bishops, priests or former priests like Frank Pavone act as ward heelers for Trump. We don’t feel inclined to butt into the personal lives of others or to presume the right to make decisions for them. We too are heartbroken at the sexual abuse of children and young people, and we hate that the bishops don’t seem to care enough about it. To me, the bishops’ behavior in protecting the bad apples has forfeited their credibility to presume to speak to lay Catholics about pelvic issues. I get something out of the worship, as opposed to issues that are not part of worship at all.
You acknowledge being 'heartbroken' about the sexual abuse of children and young people by priests whose bishops didn't seem to care about it. You also say said bishops have lost credibility. So tell me, what is it you get out of 'the worship' in the places these guys control that you couldn't get in a place less tarnished by the actions of protected predators? So please, I's be interested to know what's so good about 'the worship' that it's worth compromising your own beliefs? This is the same question I'd ask of republicans who think Trump is awful, but rationalize supporting him and his predations.
Facts and reality should never be offensive. If uncomfortable, they should serve as a spur to right the wrongs they illuminate.
Interesting because generally Omaha is thought to be a blue dot in Nebraska…nevertheless, I too am shocked to think of Trump signs inside a Catholic church. Even our former bishop, who declared himself to me an R more than once, wouldn’t have go e that far.
James, I was taken back by that too. However, for some nothing is sacred. As I reported here some friends of ours saw a clip about Jesus being love and the MAGA answered, "Jesus is wrong." So these people often are shoving their religion into others' lives, but are total hypocrites because the son of God they purport to believe in, is wrong. It's called hubris.
It seems to me that extreme hubris, malignant narcissism to the point of exclusionary self-supremacy and cruel behavior is identical with evil, and and even more disturbing than evil individuals are the throngs of passionate people who worship them and call their folly "religious". How does one square that with "The Sermon on the Mount" or tenets of other religions that prescribe humility and compassion. There are inspiring and also heinous people and episodes said to motivated by religion, yet historically the contrast between the two could not be more stark. And there are both inspiring and heinous persons and actions that are not religious in any conventional sense. We weirdly seem to lump a lot of that together, at least in speaking, though they be opposites in terms of character and outcomes. We all, of necessity pursue self-interest; but when self-interest and self-congratulation push conscience, social responsibility, and compassion out of the nest, isn't that a malignant sociopath? MLK illustrates an inspiring and liberating religious figure. Trump claims to be religious and have God on his side. What's that?
Thank you for your customarily thoughtful post, J.L. You note how people conflate the philosophy or faith with the institutions and individuals who represent that faith or philosophy. From the perspective of a believer, we need to keep the two separate. Human beings are fallible creatures. The institutions they establish, being established by fallible creatures, are themselves dependent on the character of the people who run them. Catholics believe that their faith and their Church were instituted by Jesus himself. However, as you correctly note, many self-styled (or ordained, alas) practitioners of that faith have been malignant narcissists, and acted in accordance with that narcissism rather than with the tenets of the faith . Even worse, there are those who have twisted those tenets to serve their own narcissistic ends. A couple of years ago I was able to travel to The Mount, and hear that sermon preached there, a truly moving experience. Those words, that viewpoint, lie at the heart of Christianity. Your contrast between MLK and Agent Orange could not be more pertinent. Mr. Trump's religion is Trumpism, not Christianity. His religiosity is a means to keep up the grift (Trump Bible, anyone?). I can't speak for God, but I'm pretty sure he's not on Trump's side.
I remind myself that Justice Sotomayor, President Biden and former Speaker Pelosi are Catholic, too. It did not rob them of compassion, as it seems to have affected others. Not even Ethel Kennedy, who died recently, was able to prevent one of her eleven children from wandering far from the fold. In America, we value free will, and I think our emphasis on individuality and excessive competitiveness in a hyped up capitalist economy has robbed many of their moral development. The Southern Baptist tradition in which I was raised and the Mormon tradition with which I have more recently become familiar have difficulties with the wanton ways of Trumpism as well.
I think you’re right about the influence of our “hyped-up” capitalism. Human groups and individuals are naturally competitive or protective of their own resources. Capitalism provides us with opportunities to increase those resources, but unregulated capitalism feeds those competitive aspects of our wired-in natures, making our lives worse than they need be.
that church is disgusting
"We" people of faith should be defusing and de-fanging 45's plans to finish the January 6 insurrection. He brought the anti-government militia movement into the GOP tent and kicked out "real" Republicans. They are all MAGA-cult now. It should be renamed "The Limbo Party" - there is no bottom to "how low can you go?" As of Saturday, they might as well admit, they are the NAZI party, like Mark Robinson of North Carolina dubbed himself, a Black Nazi.
Great ideas, especially the Limbo Party
They ARE the Nazi Party.
I call them Trumpublicans.
I agree -- the harm done behind the cloak of religion is endless. If a church wants to endorse a political candidate, let it renounce its 501c3 status and pay taxes. My grandmother left the Catholic church when they wanted her to let a toxic pregnancy situation continue - which would have killed her and meant my mother never would have been born. I know there are kind and good Catholics too -- and I mean no offense to them - but this is my view.
My Eastern European great-grandma left the Catholic Church when the local priest was too drunk to show up and give my great-grandfather his last rites. Boy was she mad! And when Grandma Haluska got angry, look out! She walked away and never looked back. My grandma left the church also and became a Presbyterian which made my mother and her brother the only grandkids in the family who were Protestant. To be fair great-grandma celebrated as many religious holidays she could, including Jewish ones. Mom remembers she and her brother carrying loaves of bread to the Greek Orthodox priest for Easter blessing. Grandma Haluska said, “May as well, just to be sure.”
Grandma’s last sentence made me chuckle!
I wish I could have met your Grandma Haluska!
Gary, I am astounded to read your comment about the sign in the church! As James below comments, I believe you, but I have never witnessed anything like that, ever. Admittedly, I haven't been to mass in a year or two, so I can't say for sure.
I am a lifelong Catholic, who NEVER would have imagined not attending weekly mass--up until COVID stopped me. When restrictions were lifted, and I tried to attend, my husband and me were among the perhaps 5 people out out 100 in attendance wearing mass. And there were attitudes there I didn't like.
I never attended Catholic schools due to my parents finances more than any other reason. What I grew up with--so it didn't seem odd--was my Dad took us to church, while Mom stayed home. My mother was Lutheran and attempted to convert twice, but never went through with baptism. The story is that her Pastor would come and scare her by telling her she'd go to hell. And yet, the Catholic church did not embrace her. My parents were forced to marry in the rectory, and they had to sign a document (or so I was told this by my mother) that if in my mother's 5 labors, if it was a choice between mother and child, the child would be saved and raised Catholic. This knowledge always gave me a sort of....edge. They'd been married 17 years by the time I arrived, and I never asked them how religion impacted their marriage. When I married, we chose a church close to our college campus whose congregants were diverse, as I knew my friend who I asked to sing at the ceremony would cause a stir in my parish: she is black. And several of my guests were, as well. And one of the groomsmen is Jewish.
The Chicago Archdiocese changes the assignment of the pastor every 8 years, or so. We had a dearly loved pastor who truly understood people and sometimes took to the pulpit to say he would refuse to condemn the attire in church, as he was happy we attended. He told us any anonymous letters sent to him would be immediately tossed. Twice I had serious concerns that drove me to the rectory door and each time he dropped whatever to console and advise me. Then he was transferred to another church.
He made news, I think even national news perhaps? when early in Trump's presidency he spoke out AGAINST him from the pulpit. Apparently, some people even walked out of mass, which any Catholic knows is unheard of! I wrote him a letter thanking him.
What I find odd, and perhaps the smart readers can explain to me is why/how Evangelicals are embracing Catholics? I was fully into my 60s before I experienced prejudice against Catholics! I have two good friends who treat me like one of the "good ones" (alluding to the many racists who will claim otherwise, having ONE black/Muslim/whatever friend who "isn't like THEM"). One told me that in her church, Catholics are right next to Satanists! Perhaps Catholics should consider that they are being USED by the GOP?
Your post did not offend me. I have struggled with guilt over leaving the church. I miss it, really I do. I rarely heard politics and never heard candidates in mass, but maybe I was just fortunate. I miss the rituals of mass and the feeling of re-enacting rites that have been handed down, generation to generation, from Jesus and the disciples to me. I miss the feeling of peace that I found sitting in the church. Yes, there are awful priests in the church--there have been awful people using religion throughout history.! The Catholic Church in in upheaval itself, as there are many old time parishioners who consider the Pope too liberal.
These ARE the times that try our souls. I say that I can't wait for this election to be over, but WHEN will this mess all be over? In my lifetime?
When I read news these days, two phrases often pop in my mind: "Jesus weeps" and "WWJD". Sigh. Sorry for the long answer. You obviously hit a nerve in me.
Miselle, I was moved by your post. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Ruth, the kindred souls on this forum sustain me. (And my wonderful husband as well. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He is going to be a first time election judge on election day.)
That is unreal. Churches need to be taxed. Karl Rove made many churches arms of the Repub party in 2006. They have spouted political lies since. Agree about Catholics. More harm than good.
I think you're right. I think the Catholic Church is more an institution than a religion. It's more concerned with power, politics and money than with (true) religion and spirituality.
As one who exhaustively studied organized religions as a sophomore in high school, I came to the conclusion that all organized religions have a fatal flaw: they all have the concept of 'the other' as part of their foundation. And that leads to division and inhumanity. All of them.
Rationality and logic have always been “the other.”
And that there may be the root for our western dualistic (and reductionist) thinking...
James, what did your research indicate that suggests Christ’s concept of “the other”?
All?
That there was a Trump sign inside a Catholic Church doesn't surprise me in the least. Let's be clear: The Catholic hierarchy in the U.S. is deeply entwined with right wing republicans, and they are master predators who protect their own at any cost.
Vance has become a darling of theirs and their own quest to make their church great again. It no longer has anything to do with Jesus, if it ever did.
I've speculated and read about the connections between Opus Dei (shudder) and a whole bunch of monsters in the right wing Catholic cabal, especially SCOTUS. See:
https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/right-wing-catholics-control-us-supreme-court
And
https://indietheology.substack.com/p/is-jd-vance-opus-dei
We also have the Pope's “pick the lesser of two evils” statement regarding Trump and Harris….and you know where that misogynistic hypocrite comes down on what constitutes the greater 'evil.'
So let's not be shocked by little things like Trump signs in a Catholic Church. It's just an indication that the hierarchy of that organization is no longer afraid of losing members, because the members who remain have already been politically converted.
Gary, I would like to join you by adding more offensive words.
I grew up in the U.S. Evangelical culture. In my youth, I detected something wrong with this belief system, although, without the necessary experience outside the culture, I couldn't identify the problem.
As a young adult, I avoided church and tried to recover from the psycho-emotional damage done by evangelicalism. Years later, a close friend persuaded me to attend a mainstream Protestant church. I got very involved and took some comfort there, but was still troubled by the "gaps" in logic that must be embraced to make religion work. I found it problematic that an entire denomination would would divide itself into white churches and Black churches; a denomination that preached "love of God and neighbor," while officially treating LGBTQ members as less than human. The denomination split over this issue.
I have abandoned religion of any kind. Here is why: I finally realized that ALL deities, whether Judaic, Muslim, or of any other ancient culture, were/are figments of the imaginations of illiterate MEN who sought to explain the inexplicable to their families and neighbors. As literacy developed, writers recorded oral myths and legends that had been created to reinforce the cultures that had been built around these imaginary deities.
As these cultures became systems, they were used to control the thoughts and actions of their followers. Ideas became beliefs; fiction became fact. People were killed because they didn't adhere to the right beliefs. Wars were fought over the differences in beliefs.
Indeed the Roman Catholic Church is responsible for more harm than good – as is every religion ever concocted by patriarchs over millennia.
Agree. Deprogrammed Catholic here who joined UU church for a while, thinking I owed my daughter something in the way of religious experience. Fortunately, she made up her own mind about all religion .. even took religion classes in college to help sort it out. She concluded, after attending Catholic and UU services as a comparative exercise for a class project, that Catholics seemed to like rituals and rules while UUs liked social gatherings. She isn't interested in either, having decided she was not a rituals and rules kind of person and UU social gatherings never seemed to have any good food. I thought her 20 year old conclusion was just as sophisticated an assessment as I'd heard about the matter.
"... UU social gatherings never seemed to have any good food." 😂
Dale, I suggest that the myths and legends were created to reinforce the cultures, not the deities. More likely the deities were developed to support the cultures.
Jesus was likely also a creation representing the people pushing back against empire, but empire won, and Jesus became the Christ which was all about correct belief instead of correct action that Jesus taught.
The RCC is the most visible remnant of the empire that overwhelmed the Jesus movement. The evangelical movement is a U.S. invention that was born out of racism and has overwhelmed even the RCC in the U.S..
There remain a few members of the Jesus Movement, but we don't get much press.
Mary Ellen, your suggestion is actually what I wrote. I surmise that you may be putting a fine point on it. I think it's likely a chicken-and-egg situation. The stories couldn't be told without an all-powerful deity or deities, so supreme beings were invented to make the stories work. As cultures developed around the stories and their deities, more stories were created to reinforce the culture.
As for Jesus, I don't doubt that there was a prominent Jewish renegade whose name has been lost in the mists of time. But I am certain that the biblical red-letter quotations are neither accurate nor complete. Also, accounts of his "miracles" are fictitious or exaggerated.
I think a person who follows the few of Jesus' teachings presented in the "Gospels" is going to be a good friend and neighbor, but assuming that his teachings are comprehensive is misguided, and would lead a follower to be unprepared to live in the real world.
My abandonment of the Episcopal Church came early, when I heard that Cain and Abel married. My child's literal interpretation said, "But Adam and Eve were the first two people, and they had two sons. Where did the wives come from?" When I asked my mother, she brushed it off with "Oh, it's metaphorical" (not that I knew what that meant at the time). But that was it. The Bible had lied to me. And by the time I understood metaphor, it was too late.
When my age was in the single digits, I asked my Sunday school teacher hard questions. Her standard response, uttered as a multi-syllable single word was: "It's-a-fire-from-hell-don't-ask-so-many-questions!"
As a former Catholic who left that religion more than 50 years ago, I agree with you.
I was born and raised Catholic. I went Catholic schools for 11 1/4 years. I raised our sons Catholic and encouraged my husband to convert. Needless to say, I contributed a lot of money to the Catholic Church too.
That all changed as I entered my 40s. I had always questioned some of the doctrine. But I loved the services and the communities I belonged to. When the sexual abuses became public, my first thought it was a few bad apples. I never excused or condoned the Bishops response to the abuses. I was working full-time and raising a family. I didn't have much time for in depth study of any of what was reported at the time.
The final straw happened suddenly. A teenage girl was killed by a gunshot to her head. She and her, female classmates were taken hostage by a single gunman, at a Colorado high school. Sadly even though law enforcement responded quickly, she was the only casualty. About a week later another gunman took 13 Amish school girls hostage in a copycat move. Because the crime took place in an Amish community, the police response was much slower. He molested and shot all the girls, seven died. The Sunday after those horrific crimes were committed, we went to church as usual. A side alter was set up with a beautiful array of candles, one for each child victim of gunshots in those two weeks. 14 girls and two boys. For a week or so, all I could think of were those burning candles. My church, forbids birth control and abortion. My church is quite vocal about "The Right To Life." But they were and remain silent on the subject of gun ownership among Catholics. If it is wrong to take a pill or to use something to prevent a pregnancy, why isn't just as wrong to own a handgun and ammunition???
When the alarm went off on a Sunday morning a week or two later, my husband got up and started getting ready for church. I rolled over and went back to sleep. That was 19 years ago.
The Republicans have used the Catholic Church, with its code of silence, second-class status of women unless idolizing their birth- giving function, and mandated Sunday meetings, for organizing- for years. All in the service of the GOO under cloak of Right to Life. All untaxed. Meanwhile Dems have to pay rent for halls, beg people to come instead of being able to threaten eternal damnation if people refuse, and deal with social issues here on earth as if all people were sacred. I’ve warned my friends about this superior organizing infrastructure for years. Tax the churches’ real estate- equitably. All of them. Including Scientology and the One-Man-Show idolatry mega- churches. Freedom of religion but not free to undermine the government at taxpayers’ cost!!!!
I'm not Catholic, but have several in my extended family. I am a Methodist, so some of your concerns come my way.
I defend your right to express yourself. I would counsel that it might be more accurate to say some Catholics and some congregations.
I will point out that seven of the current nine of SCOTUS are either practicing or raised in the Catholic church. The Federalist Society was looking for conservatives to promote and found an excellent source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States#The_shift_to_a_Catholic_majority,_and_non-Protestant_court
Do all the good you can. BY all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can. John Wesley
I recall that the Vatican was all in with fascism during WW2. Being complicit and even active in mass murder does not seem to go against their principles.
Dictators like dictators. Cults will be cults.
Ryan, I think it is a touch of weasel and thinking they can continue playing their role and all will be fine - for them. The Republicans in Congress have been enabling DJT since before he reached the White House. Moreover, when you read Heather Cox-Richardson and take in the history of the party it is clear they have been enabling a lot of anti-democracy pro deregulation capitalism for some time.
>>“I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said. <<
"It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote."
This insanity won't over until President Harris is inaugurated in January so buckle up.
It won't be over for far longer than that! Electing a President Harris is only the beginning. We need a Democratic Congress and an Attorney General who will investigate and prosecute the insurrectionists within and outside Congress, and finally prosecute Trump for his crimes.
We need to cleanse the corrupt judges from our courts as well via impeachment and/or prosecution for such crimes as bribery.
👍🏼👍🏼
I cried, no wept, when I read this Letter. I hear and accept the wide range of descriptions detailing the feelings of people going into the last weeks preceding the election. Just as Mary describes as “calmness yet terrified”. This opposition of feeling in so many reflects the diametrical opposing stances of the two candidates and their support.
For me? I read Prof Richardson’s letter and wept. In this moment, it matters not to me how such a perverse rally can be held in Madison Square Garden that mirrors the showing of Nazi support so many decades ago in another rally held there. How we got here has been made clear to anyone ready to accept the reasons.
But the sadness of it, that so many spit on our freedom in favor of tyranny by a few, just takes me to a place and a stance, of sorts, that I will always defend with all that I know. The phrase, “my fellow Americans” has redefined itself. Just like at so many points in history when freedom does not come freely. When we have to fight for our rights. When We the People must “take it to the woodshed” and give such a whuppin’ to those that threaten to rule us instead of govern us.
I wipe the salty tears off my face but keep my focus on whatever symbol stands true to me as representing the freedom I will fiercely fight for.
Salud, my sisters and brothers.
🗽💜
I am pretty sure Buddy or anybody does not loan the professor to anyone. One of the reasons I admire HCR is she walks to her own beat wherever she travels.
I endorse your sentiment 100%, but I think it is Heather who loans Buddy to us when times get super-stressful. Not to quibble though. Together they make a wonderful team, and the country is the better for it!
What? Mary do you see what a proprietary and sexist comment that is? Buddy isn't loaning her to us - she's doing what she loves. Buddy supports her. That's how healthy relationships work.
Oh I’m glad you said that. I reacted to that first comment about Buddy “lending” Heather to us as if his beneficence makes that possible. She is a professional woman, period. How reductive.
Oh, lay off Mary! This kind of stupid infighting among overly-PC liberals only makes the other side stronger.
Kind of a bizarre rebuke for “a long time lefty”. Suggesting that her husband controls her schedule and we should be grateful he allows her to write these letters is a prime example of implicit bias rooted in sexism. Pointing that out in no way strengthens anyone but the person being made aware of their bias.
Heather & Buddy 🇺🇸.
And, thank you Professor for the list of black & gold seditious co-conspirators.
It was revealed that Elon Musk has been having Conversations with Putin... Is Putin our Friend? Is Elon? Elon has a Security Clearance... I wonder who signed for that.... I wonder what they talk about? Elon has definitely turned to the 'Dark Side'...
" A Political Death in Garden Square"
Donald Trump’s Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden was a spectacle that may go down in history as the self-inflicted end of his political career. What was touted as a return to his “king of New York” days instead showcased an unfiltered display of racism, xenophobia, and authoritarianism that many Americans will likely find chilling. This event served as a stark reminder of Trump’s intent for vengeance and retribution rather than uniting the country.
The rally was marred by vitriolic speeches that bordered on neo-fascism, with a lineup of speakers who slung slurs and promoted conspiracy theories. Tony Hinchcliffe, one of Trump’s warm-up acts, tossed out vile, baseless slurs, calling Puerto Rico “an island of floating garbage”—an egregious comment in a city home to nearly 600,000 Puerto Ricans. He went on with “jokes” about Black and Latino communities that were both appalling and strategically alienating to millions of American voters. It was as if Trump and his surrogates were intent on making the rally as offensive and exclusionary as possible.
One speaker described Vice President Kamala Harris as managed by “pimp handlers” and called for “slaughtering” Democrats, while Stephen Miller offered comments that echoed the darkest eras in American history: “America is for Americans and Americans only.” Trump, for his part, spoke in a long, winding monologue filled with conspiracy theories and insults, particularly targeting journalists and Democrats. He called his opponents “enemies of the people” and promised to use the military to exact retribution, chilling echoes of authoritarianism that leave no doubt about his agenda.
The rally's atmosphere was dominated by a sense of racial hostility and a fervent call for a return to an “America” that only Trump’s base seems to envision. Trump called the U.S. an “occupied country” and attacked Harris as a “low IQ individual,” adding layers to his ongoing personal vendetta against her and others. His message is clear: his campaign is driven by resentment, exclusion, and punishment.
Trump’s attack on the media also highlighted his disdain for accountability. Journalists in the crowd faced boos, with Trump egging his followers on to mistrust the press. It was a deliberate move to create an environment where truth is disregarded, and anyone opposed to his rhetoric is treated as a traitor. By repeatedly labeling his opponents as “the most sinister and corrupt forces on earth,” Trump showed his intention to govern not as a leader of all Americans but as a ruler over his most fervent supporters.
Notably, Elon Musk made an appearance, adding another layer of irony by condemning illegal immigration despite his own questionable immigration history. Musk’s alignment with Trump is a stark reminder of the billionaire class’s interest in Trump’s promise to “slash the size of government”—especially the parts that scrutinize corporate giants.
While Trump’s supporters cheered on calls for punishment and retribution, the rally might be the final blow to his dwindling electoral chances. In a country where the majority of voters oppose the hateful, divisive rhetoric on display, Trump’s rally may have only served to solidify his opposition. Political analysts might see this as Trump’s swan song, a performance that drove voters away rather than inspired new support.
The extremism on display at Madison Square Garden won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Trump’s attempt to revive his political career by stirring anger and fear may have instead shown Americans exactly why he should not return to the White House. As November 5 approaches, the rally serves as a potent reminder of what’s at stake: the choice between democracy and a leader who sees dissent as an enemy to crush. Trump may have intended to galvanize his base, but the result is likely to be a historic mobilization of voters against him.
Form your lips to God’s ears. Harris must win!!
Totally with you until that last sentence which implies that HCR needs Buddy's permission to pursue her profession. I have to believe that theirs is an equal partnership.
Well said for many of us. Thank you Mary💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Thanks to Buddy for “loaning” HCR to us? Please rethink that statement. I trust that you meant well, but women are not “owned” or “loaned” by men.
It’s worked since he was a toddler…
I agree very much with the content of your comment.
However, I am uncomfortable with Buddy ‘loaning’ her to us. She is not his shovel to loan out. HRC is a person (an amazing brilliant person) and as such her husband does not, or should not ‘loan’ her out.