Robert Kuttner is editor of The American Prospect. He writes a blog called Kuttner on Tap.
If You Can Stand It, a Little More Optimism.
Now we find out what America is made of. And what we see, a week after George Floyd’s police lynching, is this:
Protests are continuing and they are increasingly peaceful, except for police violence. Protest leaders are working with local governments to contain both police rampages on the one hand and provocations and opportunistic looting on the other.
More than at any time since the civil rights era of the 1960s, white America has some compassion for pent-up black frustrations. A majority of Americans approve of the demonstrations and reject police violence. And 55 percent of white Americans tell pollsters that black anger is fully justified.
Meanwhile, Trump keeps revealing what he is made of, and his own support keeps dropping. And Joe Biden has found his inner Bobby Kennedy and made his best speech ever. I don’t care who wrote it; Biden gave it.
The focus of the election, increasingly, will be Trump’s callous and opportunistic use of a crisis that required healing. He is setting himself up for a landslide repudiation, well beyond the Republican margin of theft.
Also encouraging is the united response of governors and mayors. Trump may have the power on paper to call in the Army and the National Guard. But that is no match for the combined power of an aroused citizenry and resistant local officials. His troops can’t occupy the whole country by force.
We will see more mass demonstrations. They will be peaceful except for the efforts of rogue cops and Trump’s storm troopers to inject violence. And by fall, the consequence will be a mass revulsion against Trump.
As Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, one of America’s finest, wrote in concluding an eloquent New York Times op-ed piece:
“Let us vote against state-sanctioned violence, vitriolic discourse and the violation of human rights. In memory of George Floyd and all the other innocent black lives that have been taken in the recent and distant past, let us commit to registering black people, especially black men, to vote.”
America is stronger, better, wiser than Trump. And America will survive Trump. Then the real work can begin.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes, America can survive Trump if he loses the November election, but if Moscow Mitch McConnel stays in power and continues to rule over the US Senate like he is a king, will America survive him?
“Trump critics, both Democrats and Republicans, believe that he is laying the groundwork to challenge the election results should he lose and that he could try to remain in office by invoking emergency powers.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-fascist-reelection-authoritarianism_n_5ed816e5c5b6c0b2f10e5775
I agree and it has been haunting me for the past three years. How will we respond? Will those of us who are will to put our lives on the line be characterized as “rioters”? If yes, then the Idiot and his cult will have won.
willing
What did the British Empire’s King George call the colonists that rebelled in what would become the United States? If the Founding Fathers and their supports had lost, they would have been hunted as traitors and executed.
It doesn’t matter what they call us if we win and save our Constitutional Republica from Trump and Moscow Mitche’s power-hungry, corrupt Republican Party.
Moral leadership:
https://crooksandliars.com/2020/06/21-seconds-silence
The statistics the author cites are valid, but he conveniently omits that 70% of the public favors calling in the National Guard to end the rioting and looting.
How many of the peaceful, committed protesters are “rioting and looting” according to your perverted, skewed, uninformed opinion?
John, you…, your silence about Gen. Mattis’s statement is deafening. Where’s your backbone?
My Trump supporter friend said, “He lied.’ When I sent her the statement by Gen. Mattis.
I was hoping that a ray of truth would penetrate. There is always a a reason that whatever I send isn’t to be believed.
1.] The prime minister of Norway rejected Trump’s claim that the World Health Organization is controlled by China, and criticized his May 29 decisionto leave the organization, Ryan Heath writes. Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg is the first world leader to publicly criticize Trump on the move. Speaking during a POLITICO virtual interview, Solberg said Trump’s decision was “the wrong answer” to concerns about WHO, adding, “I hope we can get the U.S. back.”
Solberg agreed with Trump that China likely withheld information from WHO in the initial stages of coronavirus spread, but said “I don’t think China controls the World Health Organization.” She called on other countries to help fill the funding gap that would be created if the U.S. ends up leaving — after a one-year notice period — in 2021. “Norway alone cannot fill that gap,” Solberg said, though the country is the world’s biggest per capita aid donor.
Her response to this article was: “So???? Many disagree with Norway.”
2.] I sent an article telling about how Finland was #1 in the happiness and that Norway was in the top 10. The United States came in 19th place, dropping one spot since last year and a total of five spots since 2017.
Except for its 10th place ranking for income, the US doesn’t rank in the top 10 on measures that make up a happy country in the UN report. They include 12th place for generosity, 37th place for social support, 61st place for freedom and 42nd place for corruption.
Addiction is partly to blame, says report co-author Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, who wrote a chapter focused on the US epidemic of addictions and unhappiness in America, a rich country where happiness has been declining.
Her response: Hey, I’m over half Norwegian so I don’t mind them being happy. Maybe they just don’t have the complainers that our society does. A lot of it is just how we view things.
Right. I won’t bother putting in my response.
I had (past tense) a friend like that. We are no longer friends. I ended the friendship after 60 years. We became friends in grade school. I’d spend sometimes hours researching and writing about issues in attempts to reason with him. It was all a waste of time.
He’d send me a comment from an opinionated anonymous blogger with no links or evidence to back up what the blogger ranted about. That blogger called him/herself Rabbit, and I’d send my friend a reply with facts from primary sources. He ignored everything I did.
The straw that broke the friendship was him preaching to me endlessly trying to brainwash me like he had been programmed by his favorite anonymous bloggers and lying conservative talk show hosts. His favorite was Dennis Prager, a soft-spoken liar with a voice that hypnotizes if you listen to him long enough. I gave Prager a try and fact checked his claims. One lie after another. I stopped listening.
I warned my former friend if he kept up preaching to me, I would have nothing to do with him, but he wouldn’t stop.
I stopped. He didn’t. He voted for Trump.
That was it. I blocked his e-mails, and stopped answering his phone calls. He tried a handwritten letter through snail mail. I tore it up without opening it.
Finally, I think he gave up. Haven’t heard from him in a couple of years now. He said he didn’t like Trump but Hillary was worse.
It is sad that there are SO many avenues of ‘facts’ that are nothing but pure unadulterated nonsense.
I sent this friend the below article. She never commented back. So, Germany now has a 5.8% unemployment and the U.S. is reaching towards 20%.
She once said that all people who aren’t sick should get back to work. University of Indiana did an independent study and concluded that 186,000 people in this state were infected and that 44.8% of them were asymptomatic. Her reply was; “hmm.”
…………………………
Germany agrees $146B stimulus package as Europe jobless rise
Unemployment rose to 6.3% from 5.8% over the past month, a figure that would have been significantly higher had it not been for a government program that allowed companies to cut back the hours and wages of more than 7 million employees in return for keeping them on.
…Europe’s rise in unemployment has been moderate by international standards because employers are making extensive use of government-backed short-time work programs, which allow them to keep employees on the payroll while they await better times.
In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, the federal labor agency pays at least 60% of the salary of employees who are on reduced or zero hours.
In the United States, which has fewer automatic furlough programs than Europe, the jobless rate has rocketed to almost 15% from 4% before the crisis, and new figures due Friday are expected to show a further increase to nearly 20% in May.
https://www.local10.com/business/2020/06/03/german-jobless-rate-up-modestly-government-mulls-stimulus/
I wish many world leaders would use the defunding of WHO during the pandemic as justification to temporarily recall their ambassadors. Somewhat related to this, I think the most moving musical performance I have ever seen is the extended silence of the finale of Mahler’s 9th Symphony. Silence can, at the right time, be powerful in music and in politics as well. I was reminded of the power of silence in Justin Trudeau’s response yesterday:
Obama ended his address with a very different message to protesters and activists: “I’m proud of you guys.”
“I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act,” Esper said at a news conference at the Pentagon.
“We need a government as good as its people,” Jimmy Carter.
John, what is your view of LBJ’s pleas to MLK to continue the marches to give him political capital to fight the segregationists who opposed civil rights for all Americans? Are you too much of a coward to answer? Have your anti-public education masters told you to shut up? Afraid of losing your cushy, unaccountable paycheck?
Any chance you could gird that statistic by citing a credible source?
Whoever claimed 70%, cherry-picked that number and left out a lot of details revealing that the claim of 70% was due to confirmation bias. That number was what she/he wanted to think because that was probably what he/she was thinking. Ignoring everything else, they rounded one number they saw up, a lot, and ran with that.
According to FORBES on June 2nd, “58% Of Voters Support Using Military To Help Police Control Protests, Poll Finds”
“The proposition was more popular among older voters, whites and conservatives, with 75% of self-identified conservatives, 68% of voters over the age of 65 and 60% of white voters saying they’d either strongly support or somewhat support sending in the military.
“But the poll showed a large chunk of voters usually associated with the Democratic Party also are open to deploying troops, with 43% of voters under 34, 40% of self-identified “liberals” and 37% of African-Americans saying they’d support sending in the military to help police.
“The poll was conducted Sunday-Monday, as protests were marred by violence in many cities across the U.S.
“President Donald Trump said in an address Monday evening that he would send in the U.S. military to cities that weren’t able to control violence and looting on their own, threatening to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/06/02/58-of-voters-support-using-military-to-help-police-control-protests-poll-finds/#619710172417
However, one poll is not enough. It would be better to focus on an aggregate of many polls.
The same day, Reuters reported: “Most Americans sympathize with protests, disapprove of Trump’s response – Reuters/Ipsos”
The survey conducted on Monday and Tuesday found 64% of American adults were “sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now,” while 27% said they were not and 9% were unsure.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-poll-exclusive/exclusive-most-americans-sympathize-with-protests-disapprove-of-trumps-response-reuters-ipsos-idUSKBN239347
Newsweek said, “Majority of Americans Support Calling in Military to Assist Police During Nationwide Unrest, Polling Shows”
When you read the details, the headline was misleading.
“Morning Consult conducted the survey from May 31 to June 1 and found that 58 percent of voters support using the military to deal with protests and demonstrations across the country, alongside the police. Just 30 percent of respondents said they’d oppose such a measure.
‘Furthermore, 33 percent (one-third) of respondents said they “strongly” support sending in the military, while an additional 25 percent (one-quarter) said they “somewhat” support the move. Only 19 percent of voters “strongly” opposed deploying the military, while 11 percent “somewhat” opposed it. The survey’s margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.’
https://www.newsweek.com/majority-americans-support-calling-military-assist-police-during-nationwide-unrest-polling-shows-1508210
Then there is this one from US News: “Polls: Nearly Half of Americans Disapprove of Trump’s Handling of Protests”
“A CBS News poll released on Tuesday found that 49% of respondents disapprove of the president’s response to the events and protests in Minneapolis, while just 32% approve. (Another 19% said they hadn’t heard enough.) Only 33% of those polled approve of the response by former Vice President Joe Biden – Trump’s likely Democratic opponent in the 2020 presidential election – but about 42% said they haven’t heard enough from Biden. Some 25% said they disapprove of Biden’s response.
“A separate poll from Morning Consult released late Monday night found that 45% of registered voters think Trump is doing a poor job of addressing the situation, while 32% feel he is doing an excellent, very good or good job. About 11% say he is doing an “only fair” job of responding to the protests.”
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-06-02/polls-nearly-half-of-americans-disapprove-of-trumps-handling-of-george-floyd-protests
Amazing, Lloyd. Thank you.
You are welcome. Opinions also change. In the heat of the moment when the news made it look like the protestors were also the looters, opinions would support military intervention out of fear. Later, when people start learning that the looters were not most of the peaceful protestors, opinions will shift in favor of the protestors.
The media is also guilty of not balancing the news to explain the differences and that causes opinions to be wrong based on influenced bias.
When 9/11 happened G.W. Bush’s approval ratings soared, but that approval started to fall soon after 9/11. Click the next link and scroll down to see how Trump compares with G. W. Bush and you will see what I mean. Just focus on the line that represents Bush’s approval rating. Bush finished his eight years where Trump has always been.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/adults/
The same thing happened in Vietnam. The majority of Americans supported the war when they thought one of our Navy destroyers had been attacked by the North Vietnamese. Later, evidence revealed that the attack never happened. Like G. W. Bush’s lie about WMDs, LBJ lied about the Tonkin Gulf incident, too, and the Americans rallied to the flag, the majority opinion supporting the president. Several years later, the majority opinion in the U.S. turned against the war. At the end of his presidency, LBJ was as unpopular as Trump has always been.
I’ve tended to take for granted your thoroughgoing analyses in these fora, Lloyd, but no more. In fact, may I ask you, have you considered starting a think tank? I mean, you must admit, “The Lloyd Lofthouse Institute” has a certain snap but also conveys gravitas.
Please consider this.
Thank you, but I have never had any goals or desires to be any kind of leader, even a thought leader/guru. Decades ago, the parents of an old friend of mine (the oldest of 12 siblings) asked if I would lead them in Bible study. Whenever I was at their house visiting my friend, (we met in middle school), I ended up talking to his mother and father about the Bible and I always questioned everything. I never accepted what anyone else said the passages meant. Instead, my focus was on the whole and that included the history behind the Bible existance, not a passage or two.
My answer was: Sorry, but I don’t want to by anyone’s leader in anything.
Lord Acton said it better: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupt absolutely.”
I know who I am and I know that any kind of power would tempt me. It would be a never-ending struggle (the stress would probably eat me), and I might lose. In fact, I’d probably lose and I don’t want to go down that street, ever.
Power twists people, even people that started out with good intentions. Look what it has done to Trump and everyone that does whatever he tells them. Trump lets his loyalist minions taste the power Trump craves and worships, and they hang on hoping Trump will let them have more than just a taste. Trump has never struggled. He gave in to the corruption power offers back when he was a kid and like a miser, he wants more, always wants more.
Man, I understand.
I am starting to see the light. I feel more confident that the Idiot will lose if there is an election, but still wary that there will be an election at all or there will be an attempted coup if it goes against him. But I’ll take a little hope right now. Just like the COVID pandemic, what happened two weeks ago might seem like ancient history. But the peaceful protesters have strengthened my backbone quite a bit.
Read it. Over and over again. Share it. Act on it.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/
And since I’ve been on a Zola high for the past few years, the J’Accuse reference warmed my heart.
One thing I do is teach French so it’s always nice to see great French literature used in the mainstream. French has been the first thing to go in budget and curriculum cuts in NY and probably elsewhere I would bet. I still try to teach some French literature (and other literature) in my classes and attempt to help students relate it to their own lives and current events.
I’ve had many regrets in my life, but perhaps the greatest is not having learned more languages. I gave up on French and Chinese in college. If I could do it over again, I would like to have learned at least five more languages if only to read my favorite authors in their own languages.
Mamie,thank you for what you do. I am a visiting world-lang teacher to presch/PreK/K level for 20 yrs. A rare niche; created my own program w/help of UK [primary French] & CA [bilingual Span] blogs. Had to go all-Span in mid-2000’s as parents abandoned French in favor of Span, triggered by Fr backlash against Bush Iraq war(?!) Blessed w/one PreK Fr student who prevailed upon mom to hire me as tutor when his schsys deleted primary WL in wake of 2007-8 recession. He stuck w/it thro hisch, even passed Rutgers “bilingual” admissions test! We finished out his sryr w/Le Petit Prince & L’Étranger. I miss teaching FrLit so (did it in’70’s). I keep a hand in w/ mysteries [Simenon, & lately, Michel Bussi]; greatly enjoyed Houllebecq’s cranky philosophical sci-fi “Soumission,” reread & discussed “La Cousine Bette” w/a bookclub friend via covid-zoom mtgs, now reading Emmanuel Carrère’s “D’Autres Vies Que la Mienne.” A world-class body of lit whose surface I’ve barely scratched.
Optimism is a luxury good right now.
FLERP!, you need a laugh. Hope this induces one. If it offends you, please know it was not my intent, I think this is hilarious:
I think there is hope. People are “waking up” to psychotic Don, the con, who plays dress-up and is so jealous of Obama.
https://truthout.org/articles/as-trump-threatens-to-send-military-into-cities-some-gis-refuse-to-comply/
“Let us vote against state-sanctioned violence, vitriolic discourse and the violation of human rights. In memory of George Floyd and all the other innocent black lives that have been taken in the recent and distant past, let us commit to registering black people, especially black men, to vote.”
Throughout the United States, in Republican-controlled states, polling places in poor districts with majority non-white voters have been severely restricted, while polling places in rich, white districts have multiplied. This is common in Georgia, Florida, and Indiana, for example. Southern states have closed 1,700 polling places, mostly in poor, minority districts, since 2013.
In Tuesday’s election in Indiana, wealthy, white Hamilton County had 120 polling places. Poorer, majority black Marion County had 22. For example.
That’s another inequity that mail-in voting can overcome. Nobody waits in a long line that conservatives hope will make them give up. With mail-in voting you have to be sure everything is done correctly. If you have to sign the back, remember to do it. If it requires postage, even sometimes two stamps, be sure you do it. Some states even have a way to track your vote. Republicans dislike mail-in voting because it is more equitable.
Retired Teacher- Your point is very well taken. In addition to the process you describe, the mail-in ballot prominently threatens all of the legal penalties that could befall a person rather there was intent to deceive or not. Many of those ballots are going to end up in the trash.
The GOP has the record of voter fraud and the money to buy ballots (easier to buy mail-in ballots than pay people to stand in line at polling places). My opinion- in person voting, when there are an adequate number of polling places, is less threatening and less cumbersome, ignoring pandemics.
I fear we are experiencing another ruse like when there was so much emphasis placed on Mueller’s report which backfired.
There are some groups backing mail-in ballots that don’t warrant suspicion, like the NAACP. But, there are others like the Center for American Progress that do. We shouldn’t forget the Trump attack on the US Postal Service at a time when a shift to mail is being promoted.
Popular vote doesn’t elect a President – remember Hillary?
My optimism rests on turning to Democrat, the white Catholic voting segments of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan (nationally, Catholic votes made up 23% of those cast in the 2016 presidential election). Secondarily, my optimism rests on getting voter turnout from college students and people of color. in the states that matter. Whether the latter two segments have a political operation that is well-funded and organized , e.g. Catholic geofencing strategies in the 3 identified states, would require info. that may not be available. We know the GOP has a sophisticated system to thwart college students and people of color from voting.
There are Catholic bishops who condemn Biden for his position that allows women and their doctors to decide about abortion. The head bishop of the USCCB praised Trump’s leadership and Knights of Columbus facilitated a recent Trump photo op.
Are there Catholic bishops who condemn Bill Barr’s secret police? (Huffpo, May 4)
According to a recent poll of American Catholics, conducted by Eternal World Television Network and RealClear Opinion Research, among this group, Biden beats Trump 51 percent to 40 percent in a head-on match. In other words, Biden has an 11-point lead among American Catholics. The poll was released on May 5th of 2020.
We can both hope the change is in the states that matter to the electoral college.
The statistic provokes the same question to the USCCB that is posed to GOP’s top echelon, “Why are you distancing yourselves from majority opinion (and, morality)?” The answer may be money.
The 2020 exit polling would be more enlightening if it breaks down religious vote by region of country.
The federal court stacking is a bell that can’t be unrung.
Don’t forget that Biden is Catholic.
Biden is a Catholic. Maybe that helps.
Biden is Catholic and May win Catholic vote. Social justice Catholics know Trump is a fraud.
There are many priests and bishops who would deny Biden communion. What influence will they have? (Rhetorical question)
True but many Catholics will vote for him
The money of the right wing Koch, Sinquefield, Tim Busch,
Papa John, Foster Freiss,… buys religion’s fan club for Trump. Deplorables and religious sheep tag along and vote against their own interests.
GregB “There are many priests and bishops who would deny Biden communion.” Many? Please don’t paint the RC church as a monolith. That was a minority position bandied about in the American church in the early 2000’s, that didn’t get much traction. “Some” would be more accurate. In this as with other issues – similar to finding a psych therapist who’s “the right fit”– it’s not hard to find the right congregation/ pastor that works for you. Even in their tiny conservative rural upstate-NY town, my gay sis & her partner found the main RC church right down the block had no problem welcoming them into the congregation– communion included.
Beth, I am not painting the Church or any group of people as monolithic, I never have and never will. I’m really getting tired of people twisting my words about this. As has been pointed out over and over and over again, a small majority of people who profess to be Catholic vote for Democrats over Republicans. I didn’t write all priest and bishops would deny Biden communion. I wrote many. Many might be imprecise, but in lieu of a dissertation, I stand by it. And those same ones do not welcome LGBT believers into their church. They ostracize them. Not all, but a significant minority. And that significant minority was a key element to having the Idiot win the electoral college. Google “denied communion” to get a sense that this is not a trivial issue.
GregB: “…a small majority of people who profess to be Catholic vote for Democrats over Republicans.”
A very good friend of mine is a strong practicing Catholic. She never missed mass and prayed before eating each meal, even when we would go out to restaurants.
She is as liberal as I am. She absolutely detests Trump and Republicans. She wanted Bernie to win. She carefully follows politics.
One priest was telling the congregation who to vote for. She left that church.
Her nephew is gay and she welcomes him and his boyfriend into her home on every social occasion. They come over regularly. She totally accepts that gays should not be discriminated against.
This is only one person but one, to me, indicates that there are very possibly others who feel the same way.
You may find this interesting from Pew Research.
“Like Americans overall, U.S. Catholics are sharply divided by party”
… “Roughly equal shares of Catholic registered voters have identified with or leaned toward the Democratic and Republican parties in recent years (47% vs. 46%, respectively). And according to exit polls, nearly identical shares of Catholics voted for Democrats (50%) and Republicans (49%) in 2018 elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. White Catholics are more likely to vote Republican, while Hispanic Catholics overwhelmingly back Democrats.” …
“Catholic Democrats are more likely to favor legal abortion than to oppose it.” ;;;
There’s more:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/24/like-americans-overall-u-s-catholics-are-sharply-divided-by-party/
Lloyd Lofthouse; Thanks for the Pew research article. I sent it to some people, including my Trump supporter.
It never seems to enter her mind that reading “Christian news’ is reading a news source that is promoting a particular bias. [Let’s all pray for Trump.]
There must be other sources of Christian news just like there is The Washington Post vs Fox (fake) News.
Lloyd Lofthouse: I wish I knew what was a source of reliable Christian news. I get emails from the Indiana Catholic Franciscans but find them to be biased, or let us say, I don’t always agree with what they state.
What about the Christian Science Monitor? https://www.csmonitor.com/
Media Bias/Fact Check rates the CSM high for factual reporting and the least biased.
Lloyd –
The numbers of Hispanic voters as contrasted with white voters in the states important to the electoral college?
Why are you changing the subject?
That is what trolls do like Hannity, Limbaugh, Trump.
I was not talking about the Electoral College. I was talking about Catholics. If you want to talk about the Electoral College, do it in a new threat, BUT DO NOT ask me a question that apparently was meant to distract/mislead from the original topic.
Here’s my question to counter your question: Do you want people to think you are like Hannity, Limbaugh, and Trump?
My interpretation of the topic was derived from Bob’s comment above at 10:48 (June 4). Granted, Hillary may have won if she had received 51% of the Catholic popular vote but, we wouldn’t know that without knowing the electoral college breakout.
My overarching point was made at 10:17 above.
In defense of my deduction that comment readers would infer my question applied to Catholic voting and wouldn’t require reiterated identification, I ask you to consider that posted comments between 6-4, 10:17 am and 6-5, 10:19 am included 17 comments in a row, each including reference to “Catholic” or religion (made by multiple responders).
I would be surprised if there were larger groups of evangelical, Jewish, Mormon etc. Hispanics than there are Catholic Hispanics. Does Pew report data on the full compliment?
I understand you may have surmised that my reading didn’t include the approximate 17 preceding comments.
Not trying to twist your words, GregB. I don’t do that. More likely I am touchy about stereotyping “my” church, which is pretty hilarious: my attendance since moving to the NYC metro area 40 yrs ago has been spotty-to-zero except during my kids’ childhood yrs. There’s been nothing to replace the intellectual vibrancy of the crazy-quilt Catholicism of my collegetown roots [it’s still like that there; you can easily find something that suits you]. So I follow the issues with interest. Googled “denied communion” & variations. Found a lot of discussion among clergy sparked by 2 public instances, mostly condemning it as pastors’ hubris making themselves judges of the state of a parishioner’s soul, & failure to minister. No question the church has a century to go in welcoming LGBTQ. What is data suggesting non-inclusive parishes were key in Trump’s electoral college win?
Bethree-
I understand the question wasn’t directed at me but, thanks for
asking it.
Relative to the states of the electoral college and, Catholic voting- the intense political activity of churches is recent so, much is unknown and counter tactics are untried. LGBTQ inclusion churches may be the most significant correlation to GOP voting but, I’d guess region of the country has greater correlation, specifically, the mid section.
It’s known that Catholic Church geofencing, conducted by Republican operatives, is occurring in the electoral college-significant states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. It’s known that priests and state Catholic Conferences are steering Catholics to Republican voting.
Resignation to a Trump victory doesn’t make for optimism.
There are organic situations occurring- educated Catholic young adults who tend to be Democratic are shaming their parents away from Republican voting. Individuals, who are opinion leaders in their communities, decide to work to get conversions.
Then, the non-organic include (1) coordination with Democratic leaning Catholic groups (2) journalists writing about the Catholic embrace of Trump (the John Paul II shrine photo op controversy) which can create dissonance for the GOP religious voter (3) bloggers and commenters write about church leadership bias hoping that Catholic conscience will supersede priest and bishop politics; left wing Catholics are spurred to introduce doubt about the priests’ political agenda in their churches.
.
I do not know if our elections will be held on time and in a manner that prevents the thugs surrounding and supporting Trump from trying to install him for another term or for life. If that sound outrageous, consider the analysis in the link below.
If Trump decides to claim that the election was rigged and that he is going to stay in office, it will be a great pleasure to watch him forcibly removed from the White House in handcuffs.
This remains my greatest concern. The threat is real. As for the possibility of removing the Idiot from the White House in handcuffs, my question is, by whom and under what authority? Could we reach the point where armed persons will have to deal with an embedded Praetorian Guard?
I love Stacy Abrams. Her op ed in the NYT today about voting is so spot on. I recently heard her in a setting where she had time to answer questions (unlike the quick soundbites that so often our public discourse is limited to).
I am optimistic that Biden might choose her for VP and her message in the op ed — voting is the beginning of the process, but an absolutely necessary beginning — will resonate not just with mainstream democrats, but with young people and progressives.
^^^Stacey Abrams (sorry for typo)
I have to admit to a niggling sense of optimism as well. For decades now, I’ve periodically wondered, “Where are the protests? Where are the young people ?, smacking my head over the narrow, PC, bordering-on-denying-1st-Amendment issues college kids sporadically protested. My own kids have swallowed whole their onetime quasi-hippie parents’ progressive philosophy yet seemed to turn out passive cynics. Mostly by virtue of the economic opportunities denied them despite “following the rules.” Don’t get me wrong, they vote in every election, & if it’s a pres election they’re using social media to get friends registered & voting right up to the deadline. But on the whole, expecting nothing but more doubletalk & downturn… Until now.
I think it takes life-or-death injustice. In my day it was easier: there was a draft, friends were dying, as others were being called up, as we were in college learning SE Asian political history & realizing the war made no sense – all punctuated w/assassinations of political lights. Today, kids are galvanized by seeing someone unquestionably, in full detail, murdered by a rep of the govt, while colleagues stood by w/o intervening.
This is off topic.
GOOD! Who’d think I’d support smugglers? How much money is being wasted on Trump’s ego wall? Surely there are better uses for this money. Maybe when Trump finds the ideal wall he’ll have that built around the WH. Hiding in a bunker with armed guards around isn’t enough protection for a president who is loved. [HA!]
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People are sawing through and climbing over Trump’s border wall. Now contractors are being asked for ideas to make it less vulnerable.
June 4, 2020 at 3:23 p.m. CDT
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has asked contractors for help making President Trump’s border wall more difficult to climb over and cut through, an acknowledgment that the design currently being installed across hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico boundary remains vulnerable.
The new request for information notice that CBP posted gives federal contractors until June 12 to suggest new anti-breaching and anti-climbing technology and tools, while also inviting proposals for “private party construction” that would allow investors and activists to acquire land, build a barrier on it and sell the whole thing to the government.
Trump continues to campaign for reelection on a promise to complete nearly 500 miles of new barrier along the border with Mexico by the end of 2020, but administration officials have scaled back that goal in recent weeks. The president has ceased promoting the $15 billion barrier as “impenetrable” in the months since The Washington Post reported smuggling crews have been sawing through new sections of the structure using inexpensive power tools…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-border-wall-vulnerable/2020/06/04/ccd40e5e-a66e-11ea-8681-7d471bf20207_story.html
I confess I have found the debates about Catholicism and American Catholics in these for of no small interest. I have my own prejudices about religion in general and Christianity in particular (I wrote my first master’s thesis on Nietzsche).
It seems to be that one simple fact is salient here: Catholicism is a very diverse communion, particularly in this country. That’s worth keeping in mind.
The diversity at the management level of Catholic organizations will be made clearer if Bishop Gregory finds publicly stated support among his fellow bishops, not just support for racial equality which is PC but, for Gregory’s condemnation of the Knights of Columbus-funded Shrine as backdrop for a Trump photo op.
Will the same (mostly women) signees of a recent letter that criticized Bishop Dolan for cheerleading for Trump, decide to fire off another letter to Dolan (the first was cavalierly dismissed) about the photo op at the Shrine? If so, those women are going to be very busy writing letters in the months before November’s election.
Mark-
Just curious, if an organization say like a country club franchise was really politically powerful at state and national levels and it continued a centuries-old tradition of prohibiting men from leadership positions, denying them access to the most hallowed fairways, and allowed an exclusively female group to decide how much and in what ways the men could participate, would you be as Zen? If the country club worked to secure political votes to stop your access to condoms and, to surgery to prevent your loss of life if your sperm’s fertilization endangered you, would you raise your sons and daughters in the environment of that country cub?
And, your position would be, “c’est la vie”, about the country club and its members?
First of all, please let me reiterate that I hold my own prejudices against organized religion, and I am not, let me say again, not, a religious man. And again, I wrote my master’s thesis on Nietzsche, whose hostility to Christianity is a salient feature of his philosophy, such as it is.
Moreover, I have watched my share of documentaries on pedophile priests and their protectors in the church hierarchy to understand fully that as an institution, the Catholic church is rotten to the core.
So I myself would hesitate to characterize my attitude toward the Catholic Church as “Zen.” In fact, “contemptuous” would probably be a better characterization of my attitude toward the Catholic Church as an institution.
Which is different than my posture toward individual Catholics. There are too many people like Dorothy Day, Gustavo Gutierrez, Ernesto Cardenal and Daniel and Phillip Berrigan in the communion to dismiss individual Catholics. To put this another way, there are people of good faith and conscience in the Catholic Church, though far too few of them.
And despite my hostility to religion–which should tell you that my attitude toward the Catholic Church is anything but “c’est la vie”–doesn’t mean that I endorse religious bigotry. Bigotry is bigotry–period. Self-righteously traipsing down the path of religious bigotry is a dangerous route, and one which I choose to avoid despite the historical botches and retrograde ethics of institutional religion.
Would I raise my sons and daughters in “the environment of that country club” to use your metaphor? No, I would not. In fact, I never had kids of my own because I didn’t want to raise kids in the United States, another exclusive, ethically dubious, morally retrograde, power-drunk “country club.”
Anyway, I hope this screed serves to clarify my remark.
Yes- the analysis provided clarification.
If the churches’ lawyers are successful in their campaigns to get funding for religious schools, in exempting religious organizations from non-discrimination laws, in replacing Planned Parenthood with a clinic that exclusively promotes the calendar method (25% failure rate), in enacting the planks of the Manhattan Declaration, etc., all of which the American majority opposes, then…. are mobs in the street the recommended remedy?
Mark-
It’s not bigotry to call out oppressors. Oppressors who want to keep tribe members loyal, spin it that way. Tribe members can be expected to go on the offense against the enemies of the oppressors.
Theocracy is not “live and let live” so, the response can’t be respectful silence about religion.
GREAT NEWS!
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Black Lives Matter Is Suing Trump And The Federal Government Over Force Used Against Protesters Outside The White House
WASHINGTON — The DC chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing federal law enforcement officers of violating the constitutional rights of peaceful demonstrators who were forcibly cleared from a park north of the White House so President Donald Trump could walk through for a photo op earlier this week.
The lawsuit accuses officers of attacking the demonstrators without warning and using excessive force — including deploying incendiary devices such as flashbangs, tear gas, smoke canisters, pepper balls, and rubber bullets…
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/black-lives-matter-lawsuit-police-tear-gas-white-house
I sent my Trump loving friend this article. Her reply was, “Absolutely ridiculous!”
She says there was no tear gas used. I don’t remember what she said about rubber bullets. [There most likely weren’t any of those either./s]
Does this ignorant person deserve your friendship?
Lloyd Lofthouse; I find it intriguing to see what nonsense can come from a Trump supporter. [She plays clarinet in the local band with me.] She is not a friend who I see outside of band rehearsals. Band rehearsals got cancelled because of COVID-19.
Does that mean she is an acquaintance and not a friend?
“Friend vs Acquaintance. … A friend is a person you have a strong connection with. An acquaintance is just someone you know by name and with whom you have a contextual connection with (from school, from work, from your friend’s party, etc.). A friend is someone you know.”
This site offers a comparison through a summary table.
https://difference.guru/difference-between-friend-and-acquaintance/
I figured this would happen.
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A third of Americans surveyed engaged in risky cleaning behaviors during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some have even gargled with bleach.
June 5, 2020
Why Trump’s coronavirus advice is so dangerous 06:40(CNN)
Americans are putting their health at risk while trying to protect it.
About a third of Americans surveyed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have used some kind of risky cleaning practice to stop the spread of Covid-19, the CDC said on Friday.
People have put bleach their food. Others have gargled or inhaled it. And some have washed their bodies with household cleaning and disinfectant products.
None of this cleaning behavior is recommended by the CDC. But this gap in understanding how to safely clean and handle cleaning products during the Covid-19 pandemic may explain why there’s been a sharp increase in the number of calls to poison centers during the pandemic…
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/health/bleach-americans-cleaning-covid-trnd/index.html
This is way off topic, but is something that I find to be absolutely SICKENING. It’s perfectly alright to bomb, destroy, maim and kill Afghans in our wars that NEVER end. We’ve spent trillions and accomplished nothing of value.
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America’s Longest War Takes a Deadly New Turn
Under the Trump administration, the U.S. military has ramped up a reckless air war that is killing Afghan civilians in record numbers
JUNE 6, 2020
…The March 9th, 2019, attack was carried out by U.S. air support, the American-led NATO mission would later confirm, and had been called in by Afghan forces in an operation against the Taliban. But more than a year later, Khan has not received answers from the U.S. military as to why the home of his brother, the only doctor in the village, was targeted. He says the U.S.-led mission, Resolute Support, has made no recognition of his loss. “We Afghans are very kind and compassionate people. Our hearts are full of mercy,” he says. “But no one has come.”
We heard the same story from several families in Afghanistan while making an Al Jazeera English documentary in March, in partnership with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent news organization based in London that has been tracking civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes since 2015. Civilians are being wiped out by U.S. bombs, with zero acknowledgment made, much less an apology or compensation. It is a stark departure from the first half of the decade, when civilian deaths were declining and allegations of harm were more thoroughly examined on the ground. “Survivors are often left completely in the dark over the results of U.S. investigations into their case,” says Jessica Purkiss, a reporter with the BIJ. “This is about owning your mistakes and saying sorry. And this is about accountability, in a largely unaccountable war.”.
Last year, the U.S. dropped more bombs on Afghanistan than in any year in the past decade. There were more than 1,000 civilian casualties, 700 dead and 345 wounded, from U.S. and Afghan airstrikes, the fifth year in a row airstrike casualties have risen, according to the U.N. But by the Pentagon’s tally, U.S. military operations killed only 108 civilians, a vast disparity that watchdogs who conduct on-the-ground investigations contend is part of a consistent pattern of grossly undercounting casualties. Confronted by journalists and human rights monitors with witness testimonies, visual and material evidence, and timelines of attacks that confirm U.S. military involvement, the U.S. frequently provides no response or denies responsibility. (Resolute Support officials declined our requests for an interview.)…
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/afghanistan-us-military-killing-civilians-record-numbers-trump-1010664/ – America’s Longest War Takes a Deadly New Turn