Remnants of America's Free Press: Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Late Night Comedy and the Pacifica Network

Freedom of the press, along with an educated and informed electorate, is the cornerstone of the American Republic.  With newspapers, radio, television and internet outlets being the domain of corporations whose financial insterests make them enemies of the people's interests, rather than keeping government honest, those who tell the truth based on the facts have become rare.  It's kind of ironic, with Trump having turned the government into a circus of chaos, that the most honest and up front people in media, the remnants of a true "free press," are largely comedians who deliver what has become a daily budget of disaster with a nice comedic edge.  That may be the only way we can even stand to hear it.  

Getting Through the Day Because of the Stephanie Miller Show

I listen to Stephanie Miller every morning on the way to work, because I know that what I hear there will be factual.  I don't know anyone who has been able to develop a vocabulary that mocks Trump's grandiose bragging and over use of the same extreme terms like she does/   Every time I hear the word, "eleventy-billion", it cracks me up and that has a way of calming me down.  I think one of the best strategies Trump opposition and Democrats could have would be to make this program go viral and keep the same tone, format and approach.  

Everyone who comes to the mic on that show brings facts and reason and sanity to the discussion.  I trust their political judgment, and the laughs are natural, not forced.  The level of frustration, incedulity, shock and amazement at the absolute disaster we are seeing unfold every single day resonates with me, and has a way of giving me a sense of vindication and justification for the anger and frustration.  They make me feel like we are all watching an incredible disasater unfold together, experiencing and expressing common feelings, and getting a sense of hope that together, we can beat this thing.  

I finish listening to her on my way home after work, followed up by Thom Hartmann, who does an outstanding job of just letting people vent their frustrations and point out corruption.  I think it is important to hear what Americans are saying and be encouraged that as this moment has come when we are going to get a chance to make a difference, people will turn out and do what they've had bottled up inside for a while now.  And I think a lot of Thom's callers are helping leaders who are genuinely committed to resisting Trumpism be encouraged that they are not standing alone, not for a minute.  

For Me, and Millions of Others, Late Night Comedy is our Late Night News

I'm sure Trump and his cronies regret their decisions to attempt to use their power and influence totry t get Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert off of late night television.  The ham-fisted way they do these things backfired big time, giving Kimmel an audience four times the size of his normal audience, and he used the attention to fire off a directed, devastating and honest look at just what is going on that still resonates across late night television.  

We trust these guys because they are still telling the truth, and the humor that is woven into the whole narrative makes the message resonate.  It's honest and straightforward and that is what we need.  I really sleep much better at night because I'm not going to bed angry and frustrated over the way our local and network television reporters are handling the news, failing to report things that are important and letting the senastionalism of falsehood dominate the ten minutes they spend on headline news.  

I guess they don't teach real journalism in colleges and universities any more.  I can't believe some of these people who are calling themselves journalists are willing to simply be mouthpieces of manupulation, reading off what someone has told them to say and that they don't have an opinion of their own, or any integrity.  How can someone know what is going on, and yet sit at a news desk and completely ignore it?  

No wonder no one is watching.  

A True Free Press Isn't Controlled by Corporate Dollars

I'm sure it is difficult in media these days to avoid the pitfalls of profit.  But that's the only way we will ever have a free press again.  People have to make a living, but if they must sacrifice integrity to do so, what's been achieved?  

One of the last radio networks left that can still be considered independent and free is the Pacifica network.  There are five anchor stations, and I got introduced to this format about twenty years ago through one of those affiliates, KPFT-FM in Houston, Texas.  Broadcasting independent news, locally-originating shows mainly operated by volunteers, the drive time program in the morning through which I was introduced to the network was Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.  They carried independent news, which is nothing more than old fashioned American free press journalism.  Report the fact and let the listeners make up their mind.  

I wish there was a way to help all of these news sources, whether it's Stephanie Miller's comedy, Thom Hartmann's discussion and talk, or the Pacifica Network's journalism and news, go viral and become the primary source of information to inform Americans.  I also wish we had a strong public broadcasting system, because I would take absolute neutrality over the corporate network bias any day. 

And in conversations I still have with friends who have trouble seeing the light, it is a distinct advantage when I challenge them to prove something Miller or Hartmann or Goodman or Pacifica said wrong.  I rarely get responses back directly, if they bother to check it out.  Silence from my MAGA supporting friends has been comforting affirmation that they know I am right.  

I encourage everyone who reads this to find ways to give support to these independent media voices that are telling the truth.  Help them broaden and expand their reach.  

Learning From the Past, What is Being Done to Prevent Fraud in the 2026 Midterm Elections?

It's pretty easy to tell, from the narrative of Trump tweets and posts on Truth Social, if not a mountain of other evidence, that there will be multiple attempts to alter the results of the upcoming midterm elections, especially if the news for Republican chances continues to be as bad as it now has become.  The pollsters and political analysts who are always very cautious about making big shifts or show big movements in their numbers are still being cautious, but even some of the more conservative ones are hinting that the House will be a lost cause for Republicans.  It's also looking like the Democrats may also win back the majority in the Senate, by enough seats to negate the VP's tie breaker.  

The possibility of some kind of fraud being initiated by Trump and his cronies is more than just speculation.  It's a certainty.  

So what is being done about it? 

Learning From History Avoids Repeating It 

Ever since Trump became the GOP front-runner for the 2016 election, Democrats have been claiming that he is the biggest threat to American democracy we have faced since the Civil War.  They haven't done as much to prevent that as I think has been necessary to prove their belief in that claim, and that's a personal evaluation based on observation.  So I am concerned, as an American who sees this exactly that way, and would like those I help elect to take effective action in ending the threat, and not make subsequent actions to do so necessary.  

When Democrats had control of Congress and the White House, for two years between 2021 and 2023, there were those who had the vision and the boldness and were willing to take the risk to pack the Supreme Court, seeing that this particular court was much more partisan and much less constitutional in its rulings.  In fact, it would have been possible to prevent a second Trump term, and in fact, to bring him to justice for his crimes, if the advice of the progressive Democrats had been followed, and the Senate had disposed of the filibuster to amend the judiciary act and give President Biden the ability to appoint six justices to the court.  

Had that happened, we would have lost the filibuster, but we could figure out how to compensate for that.  What would have been gained was the overturning of Citizens United and the Presidential Immunity rulings that prevented Trump from being tried and convicted for his crimes while in office.  All of those obfuscations and delays in getting the insurrection and documents indictments to court would have disappeared when the Supreme Court made them go away and brought it to a quick and speedy end long before the election campaign season started. 

But the old school prevailed.  We're in a political age when those who have the power must use it to preserve American democracy in any way they can.  The days of celebrating bi-partisan deals ended when the Republicans abandoned that strategy, back during the Dubya Bush administration.  We had the power and we didn't use it.  

Lesson learned.  Maybe. 

But no.  Democrats tolerated the foot dragging and obfuscation and delaying tactics which let Trump off the hook for his crimes.  They knew there was an election approaching which would change the circumstances by which the criminals crimes could be considered. There was a lot of talk, but almost nothing in the way of legislation to correct some of the abuses of power we are now seeing, but there was no effort at all to use the power of the Presidency to move those trials along, cut through the red tape and make it happen.  Were they afraid of Trump or afraid of losing because of the damned Supreme Court?  So, we have Garland going down in history as one of the weakest, most ineffective Attorney Generals in American History.  

Then, in the wake of the 2024 election, with evidence of enough vote counting irregularities, delays, messing with mail-in ballots and other kinds of fraud, no one did anything at all.  There was talk, talk, talk, about the tactics, what they were going to do and how it would effect the outcome of the election for months prior to the ballots being counted.  But, standing on protocol, after being so critical of the Republicans for screaming about voter fraud, Democrats did nothing at all, and lost because of it.  

More lessons learned.  Perhaps.  

We have seen actual examples of ways to suppress voters right out in the open now.  There are two years between the election cycles, which seems to be plenty of time to do something about potential voter fraud.  The other side is not just admitting to it but they are taking steps to do it.  And it seems like through all of the talking that is happening, Democrats do not appear to be doing anything about the anticipated voter fraud.  

I hear a lot of talk about what to do about potential voter fraud in this election.  I don't see much being done.  I see a lot of fund raising and nest-feathering, but not a lot of action to find out what kind of fraud is going to be perpetrated and how that will work.  The FBI just raided election offices in Georgia, which is a clear tactic aimed at committing voter fraud, and we have reported it and given our tsk-tsk-tsk but I am not aware of anything being done to stop it.  

Bold Risks Are Being Taken by the American People 

In record numbers everywhere, Americans are turning out to show their disgust with Trump's failed presidency, and with the way he and his administration are handling their responsibility.  They ignore the Constitution, they violate the law with impunity and they keep on getting away with it because the standard excuse of "we're not the party in power" keeps being brought up.  Don't tell me that!  We've seen all of the tactics the Republicans use when Democrats are in power, to keep progress from being made.  So far, our record of using the filibuster in the Senate that was saved when Democrats backed away from packing the court is less than 50-50.  

It's time for the nest-feathering and campaign fundraising to stop, and for this party to stand on the strength the people in the streets are providing for them, and be as bold in taking risks to stop Trump as the people are telling them they want them to be.  Earn the mantle of the party of opposition.  

And step up, call out and do something about the attempts to cheat in the election that are a matter of course for the GOP.  

Silence from Southern Baptists and Other Conservative Evangelicals Condemns Them

As Christian Leaders Decry Pretti's Murder, the Southern Baptist Convention President is Silent 

In 1845, the Northern Baptist Missionary Society of the Triennial Baptist Convention refused to ordain James Reeve, of Georgia, as a missionary because he owned slaves.  As a result, Baptists from churches in the southern states where slavery was legal gathered in Augusta, Georgia that same year to withdraw from the Triennial Convention, which, in spite of attempts to remain neutral on the issue of slavery, took action that increasingly favored its abolition.  

So it was that the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, was founded as a result of theological error and doctrine formed from a grave, serious misinterpretation of the Christian gospel that rested on racist bigotry.  That's not unusual in American Christianity, where the combination of a lack of seminary trained ministers with the emotionalism of frontier revivals led to the formation of many denominations, including cults that departed completely from the teaching of the Christian gospel.  But there's more to this story that characterizes Southern Baptists as a denomination and explains their insensitivity to human equality and social justice that is at the core foundation of the Christian gospel. 

The rest of this story is that the Southern Baptist denomination, as a whole, did not apologize for their promoting and supporting of slavery in the south until 1995, one hundred and fifty years after their founding, based on the approval of the practice of slavery.  One hundred fifty years of history, during which most of its affiliated congregations practiced segregation and discrimination in their membership requirements, and during which most of their churches opposed the Civil Rights movement and took an active role in attempts to stop it.  

That says a lot about why, in the face of racial bigotry, injustice and the struggle for equality, Southern Baptists are either silent, or they come out on the side that is contrary to the principles and teachings of the Christian gospel.  They are blind to the fact that MAGA Trumpism and the faithful and truthful practice of the Christian gospel are mutually exclusive.  

God's Last and Only Hope

Dr. Bill Leonard, current dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, and a long time Baptist history professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, says that Southern Baptists have a "scandalous past and an uncertain future," which is the subtitle of his book, The Challenge of Being Baptist.  Leonard is one of a relatively large group of seminary and university professors at Southern Baptist affiliated schools who, after years of attempting to bring reform based on the principles of the Christian gospel into the denomination, were forced out when fundamentalists used political manipulation to take over the denomination for the purpose of using it to advance right wing Republican politics.  

Dr. Leonard writes with impeccable honesty about the denomination's history, including the use of power and influence in the provincial manner in which the denomination is structured to keep reform from occurring.  This not only included the continued influence of white supremacy and active resistance of the denomination and its prominent leaders to the civil rights movement and integration of public schools in the south, but also the altering of the Baptist Faith and Message, the denomination's doctrinal statement, to include stronger wording that restricts women from ordination or vocational ministry in the church.  Controversy has been specifically sharp in recent years over calling women to serve in positions considered to be a "pastor," or in pastoral type leadership.  The denomination had no qualms and gave little consideration before removing its largest and most evangelistic congregation, Saddleback Valley Community Church in Mission Viejo, California, because it listed three women among its pastoral staff.  

I grew up in a small, Southern Baptist church where I was taught, among other things, that Southern Baptists were "closer" to the truth of the gospel than other denominations because we were the only ones who really believed and took the Bible seriously.  That included the other Baptist congregation in town, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches in the USA, labelled as "liberal."  No one ever said anything about being founded to support the owning of slaves, or why our church had no black people or latinos as members.  

Dr. Leonard traces the history of the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, which also includes hijacking its loyalty to the Christian gospel by far right wing politics, in a book he titled, God's Last and Only Hope.  It's ironic that a group which thinks of itself this way is silent in the face of some of the greatest injustice we've seen in this country since the Civil War and post-Reconstruction while those they have branded "Liberals," the Episcopalians, Presbyterian Church USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the United Church of Christ, the Quakers and the Unitarians have become the loudest voices for loving one's neighbor and bringing about social justice.  

To be fair, there are churches that were once affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention that have rejected past history in favor of welcoming everyone, without exclusion, into their churches and are working to support justice and freedom for those who are now being oppressed.  Leaders of a couple of these Baptist groups--The Alliance of Baptists and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship--have complained to the justice department about ICE raids during their worship service to sieze people they are attempting to arrest.  Two Southern Baptist seminary professors made hypocrites out of themselves last week when they hollered about Cities Church in St. Paul being the subject of an anti-ICE protest, because one of their pastors works for ICE, but they were silent on ICE disturbing church services to arrest people.  

Silence is a Loud Statement

Conservative Evangelicals, Southern Baptists among them, are separating themselves from the mainline Protestant clergy and churches who are showing their love for their neighbors by standing against the injustice being done to them.  The American people can see who the real Christians are by their love and their actions.  Silence is condemning those who are complicit.  

Silence Adds to Hypocrisy and a Past History of Racism in Conservative Actions Regarding Cities Church Protests

Three Arrested in Cities Church Protest 

Cities Church Considers Legal Action Against Protesters

The real question that needs to be asked, and answered, regarding the protest which took place inside Cities Church in St. Paul during a recent worship service is just exactly how far outside of the gospel of Jesus this congretation is willing to go.  There's a lot of hypocrisy here, including the silence of the congregation regarding the suffering being inflicted on their neighbors by ICE and having one of their own pastors involved in it.  And even more in the complaining and whining about protesters disrupting their church service, while ICE agents are barging into church worship services in multiple locations in order to drag worshippers out.  

Pam Bondi's shrieking and lip flapping about not tolerating the disruption of church services is an empty, hypocritical lie.  She is well aware, from complaints filed by multiple church denominations and congregations, that ICE agents are disrupting worship services to enter churches, and drag worshippers out of their pews to arrest them without specific warrants or authority to do so, in violation of the first amendment.  This particular protest, calling out a church with a pastor who is a supervisor for ICE for its hypocritical silence and failure to act in a manner consistent with the Christian gospel, was caught on camera to counter the lies of conservative Evangelicals, and Pam Bondi.  It was not comparable to the sometimes violent removal of worshippers by ICE agents from other churches,   

Let's Be Hypocrites

I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, and went through a period of deconstruction and rethinking my faith perspective while a student at a denominationally-affiliated university that was considered to be "on the left" of the theological spectrum of Baptists.  During graduate school, the church I joined was a mid-sized congregation that had made some historic marks among Southern Baptists, like having welcomed blacks as members since it was first formed, and being one of the first to ordain women to serve as deacons and pastors.  

It was not uncommon for protesters to be gathered with ugly signs and ugly words on the sidewalk and street between the parking lot and the church to protest the fact that we welcomed gays and lesbians to worship.  Fact is, we welcomed everyone to worship.  And there were occasions when people would protest from inside the auditorium, chanting slogans, raising signs or being otherwise disruptive.  Many congregations that were affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, but which either didn't support, or actively resisted, the intrusion of the fundamentalist takeover known as the "Conservative Resurgence" experienced this.  

Most of those churches have long since severed their ties with the Southern Baptists, and have formed a couple of groups, more of the nature of fellowships with common beliefs and goals, rather than denominations, but they are among those whose churches have had services interrupted by ICE for the purpose of dragging members of the congregation out of the service and off to arrest.  The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the largest group made up of former Southern Baptist churches, has formally protested to the Department of Homeland Security.  

Cities Church in St. Paul is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, so it's not surprising that the church would not have any conscience when it comes to social justice or that it would value right wing MAGA Trumpism over the Christian gospel.  The kind of political perspective and loyalty that would be required of someone to be in a supervisory capacity at ICE is something I consider equivalent to being a member of the Ku Klux Klan.  Both of those things require doing things which run contrary to the values and practices of the Christian gospel.  Whether or not that justifies a protest inside the church worship service is a matter of conscience, not law. 

This is the same Southern Baptist Convention that was formed in 1845 because the Triennial Baptist Convention, the main body of Baptists in the United States, refused to appoint a slave owner as a missionary.  It was not until 1995, 150 years later, that the denomination officially apologized for its role in promoting the enslavement of human beings.  The racism which drove the Confederacy and was written into its Constitution, that black persons are inferior to white persons, also drove the Southern Baptist Convention and it was a theological and doctrinal error that they allowed to stand for 150 years before correcting it.  

That is a clear indication that it can make theological, doctrinal and Christian practice errors in other areas, too.  And they are making them in the realm of social justice, especially when it comes to immigration.  They are silent in the face of injustice and in the violation of individual human rights.  

This is the same Southern Baptist Convention that has failed to find any kind of sympathy or resolution for the victims of hundreds of incidents of sexual abuse perpetrated by pastors, vocational ministers, missionaries and seminary professors, exposed by the Houston Chronicle and The San Antonio Express News in 2019.  What has transpired is the perpetuation of a cover-up, and the "largest Protestant denomination in America" being stymied as to how to handle allegations of sexual abuse by church pastors and denominational employees like missionaries or seminary professors.  And, the impression that has been left is one of blaming the victims for trying to ruin the ministry of these supposedly "godly" men. 

Was This A Christian Worship Service or the Gathering of a Pseudo-Christian Political Cult?

We have to look at this for what it is.  I haven't seen any complaint or outrage about the disruption of church services by ICE agents from the Southern Baptists like Al Mohler and Danny Akin, the two seminary Presidents who arrogantly defended the pastor employed by ICE and shrieked and lip flapped about the protest inside the church which was recorded on camera and does not in any way show any confusion, frightened children, or chaos that they described.  I have to wonder if they were watching the same video that I did. 

Frankly, I am still opposed to protests disrupting church worship services.  However, given the attitudes in this case, and the manner in which this is being handled by both the church, and by the Justice Department, I believe this protest was perfectly acceptable.  This wasn't a Christian church service that was interrupted, it was a gathering of a pseudo-Christian cult and considering the issue at the heart of the protest, it was simply a constitutionally protected act of free speech and conscience.

None of the protesters should have been arrested, since they did not break any laws, and I hope the judge in this case realized that no crime was committed.  

With Polling Data Heavily in Favor of Democrats Winning the Midterms, the Party Must Make a Clear Decision on Where it Stands

Is the Democratic party going to be fully committed to opposing Trump, claiming that he is the greatest threat to American Democracy in history, or is it going to focus most of its attention on helping the party prominents feather their nests, hold on to their seats and stay out of the more risky line of fire as the elections approach?  

In light of how some elected members of the party have been responding to everything that's happening, I think this is a legitimate question that deserves and answer.  

Primaries Are Just Around the Corner So Watch What Democrats in Congress Do, Carefully

I'm a lifelong Democrat, the son of a labor union member who grew up in a working class household.  I've always been registered to vote, and I've always voted, including in local elections at the city and county level.  In all of the time I've been eligible to vote, I've never missed an election if I could help it, including voting absentee and by mail when circumstances dictated it.  I've also always been a contributor.  I'm not wealthy, by any means, but I can give candidates a little bit of a boost with  a small contribution to their campaign, and a regular gift to the DNC  

I've dropped the DNC gift, as a practical matter, and because I no longer see the value of doing so.  I'm open to revisiting the possibility but I need to see something a whole lot different than what I see now.  And a lot more bold and aggressive when it comes to opposing Trump.  That contribution now goes to Leaders We Deserve  which is where I think it will do the most good for the Democratic party in electing the best candidates who aren't afraid to stand up and be Trump opposition.  

Keep a close eye on the Democrats in Congress, because at a time like this, when a tiny GOP majority is on its back heels trying to keep up its agenda and Democrats have more power than they want you to know that they do, their votes will tell you how sincere their lips are being when it comes to Trump opposition.  They're not getting my vote unless they're 100% anti-MAGA.  

Raja Krishnamoorthi lost this Illinois Democrat's vote this week, when he voted along with the Republicans, to censure the Clintons for their refusal to testify before Congress.  I was already not impressed by some of the money he has taken for his campaign, and he demonstrated the fact  that he's a nest-featherer, not a bold, risk taking opposition member, in several ways.  I'm still not sure who I will vote for in the primary, but it won't be Krishnamoorthi.  Democrats elsewhere need to look at the candidates in their states, and pick the more progressive, liberal, aggressive and bold candidates who will use the power to crush Trump when they have it in their hands.  

I'm now naturally gravitating toward high level resistance participants, candidates who, while some may seem like longshots now, because in the sea of big money politics they are not taking any PAC money, or corporate dollars with eventual strings attached, but are running on their own.  Many of them are exactly the kind of leaders we need, with the kind of convictions candidates who take PAC money can't stand up to defend at the point where it interferes with their PAC's interest, and I think some of them are going to find their way through the flood of cash to a seat in the House.  Then they will represent my interests without compromise or a sudden back down, which we have seen too often. 

Though I live a little bit further north than Illinois district 7, I've been at a couple of gatherings where the level of satisfaction with the members who represent several Chicago districts is lukewarm, mainly because those who are gathering and marching and protesting are way ahead of where their congressional representatives are operating.  I'm happy with what my representative, Delia Ramirez, has done, and she's earned my support and contribution.  But I'm willing to give to a neighbor, Reid Showalter, who is a longshot candidate in neighboring district 7.  Go to his site and see why he is the kind of Democrat we need to be on ballots everywhere. It would be great having them both represent a large chunk of Chicago in the House.  

With the loss of a couple of their seats recently, one due to the resignation of one of the worst MAGA cultists in the House, there's a lot of pressure on the GOP leadership to hold the fort.  And there's a lot of money destined for the mid-terms that might buy some weakness on the part of Democrats, because they think they can hide it or get away with it.  I hope the voters are smart enough to detect that kind of nest-feathering until we can get big money out of politics completely.  Until then, unfortunately, we will have to keep a close eye out and keep careful watch over who is writing campaign contribution checks, and to whom they are writing them.  

Recovery From The Trump Disaster Won't Be Quick or Easy

Frankly, as a former civics and history instructor, I am not sure that we can ever actually recover from the damage that Trump has done to American Democracy.   The residue of the fascist ideology and the racism and bigotry he tapped into in order to divide the nation so he could win elections isn't going away just because he does.  One of the biggest political mistakes ever made by a sitting President of the United States was Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon.  Had Nixon been prosecuted and sentenced to the full extent of the law, I doubt Trump would have even dared run for election.  He bases his lawless, anti-patriotic, anti-American practice on the fact that Nixon got away with it and he's said as much.  

That's going to take Democrats with the boldness to take risks when they're back in power, and this time, use it to enforce the law, not to drag feet, slow processes down and "garlandize" criminal indictments in order to nullify their effect.  We need a party full of Jack Smiths, and David Hoggs.  They're out there.  We just need to filter through the muck of the money flood to find them and elect them.  

This time, when we control Congress and the White House at the same time, we need leaders who see the necessity of packing the Supreme Court with liberal progressives who will neutralize the corrupt conservatives and make their votes irrelevant, even if we have to keep paying them their undeserved salaries.  We could have done that any time between 2021 and 2023, but for the complaints and whining from those who thought that might look political.  They knew what was coming if they didn't, so that tells me there wasn't a whole lot of genuine conviction about Trump's threat to democray, and too much nest-feathering going on.  

The Challenge is This

Any Democratic candidate for office must earn my support by their boldness, their willingness to take risks, and their desire to see Trump and MAGA gone, by the actions they take now to ratchet the pressure up on Republicans as much as they can, and given what Republicans have done to Democrats when they weren't in power, the fact of the matter is that this can be done, and not ignore what's happening to get to their next fundraising luncheon at the club.  

Real resistance, a real fight and the willingness to use the power of office in every possible way against Trump earns my vote and my donation.  Anything less than that, and I will find someone who is willing to be bolder and more of a risk taker for whom to vote.  

Whining About the Disruption of Worship Services at St. Paul's Cities Church Needs to be Put in Perspective

 Rick Pidcock: Let's Talk About How Cities Church Treats Women

Let's take a look at the perspectives here.  

Southern Baptist Seminary President Al Mohler was, in 2016, opposed to Trump's nomination.  He, along with Russell Moore, who was President of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission at the time, were the only two Southern Baptist leaders who showed any Christian conviction, or backbone at all in refusing to support an agenda and candidate who was so openly antichrist, and diametrically opposed to any Christian practice or values.  That, in a conservative Evangelical denomination that has completely lost its way because it cannot discern that right wing politics is antichristian, was highly unusual.  

But if the Southern Baptist Convention ever had any characteristics of the Christian gospel, and having been raised in a Southern Baptist church, I would say that it never really did, it has lost every vestige of it with its turn toward support for right wing politics.  Mohler wanted to be President of the Southern Baptist convention, and realized that being a Trumper was the key, not only to winning elected office in the denomination that is more of a political power structure than a Christian ministry organization, but to hanging on to his well feathered and financed nest as President of the denomination's flagship theological school.  

So he flipped.  But the fact that he wasn't committed enough to the Trump cult at any point cost him the Presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, though it may have saved him from being forced to retire as President at SBTS.  But this makes his comments on the disruption of worship at Cities Church by protesters worthless.  So, then, are the comments made by another Southern Baptist seminary President, Danny Akin, of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.  

But, this is to be expected.  Cities Church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.  So they don't see the complete inconsistency in a pastor who works for ICE, and who participates in the immoral injustice that they are perpetrating.   Nor do they see that Biblical Christianity and being a supporter of MAGA Trumpism are mutually exclusive.  It is not possible to be faithful to the principles of the Christian gospel, and a supporter of MAGA, and Trump.  

And that's not a judgment.  It's simply an observation.  

But, what is to be expected in a denomination that was founded for the purpose of defending slavery, rebelling against the biblically founded restrictions on sending slaveowners out on their behalf as missionaries, adopted by the Triennial Baptist Convention of Philadelphia.  And, one that did not repudiate or apologize for its role in promoting the evil, ungodly practice until 1995, 150 years after it was founded because of its support for slavery.  

I didn't hear either one of these seminary presidents speak out against the murder of Renee Good.  Nor have they spoken up against the brutal treatment we have all seen that has been a trademark of ICE raids and alleged "enforcement" of immigration law everywhere they've been.  To be fair, I've never heard Akin preach, nor have I read anything he's written.  I have heard Mohler, his podcast, and his pompous pontifications on everything he thinks his audience needs informing from his perspective.  And I can't find any reference to their complaining about ICE agents interrupting church services to abduct worshippers.  

If this protest, calling out the hypocrisy of this church, is a problem, then so is ICE entering a church to drag off and arrest people in the congregation.  Why not speak up about disrupting worship in general, instead of whining about this calling out of hypocrites?  The leader of the protest was arrested, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, stated, "We will not tolerate attacks on places of worship."  

Really, Pam?  So you are a two faced liar, and hypocrite too, as if we didn't already know this, given your bottomless corruption.  Does this mean you will not tolerate ICE agents entering churches to drag out congregants and send them to detention camps?  Will we hear, from your office, orders prohibiting ICE agents from attacking houses of worship?  

I'm not really in favor of a church becoming a place of protest, or at least, not in favor of disrpting a worship service.  If it's outside, I don't have a problem with it.  The hypocrisy we are seeing from so many of these conservative Evangelicals needs to be called out, for the sake of those inside who don't want their church over-run by right wing, anti-patriotic, unAmerican, anti-Christian ideology.  Calling out a pastor who is in error is the responsibility of those who are members of the church.  But there's nothing wrong about an outdoor display that doesn't disrupt worship, but makes the point clear, especially to the congregation.  

But as long as ICE agents are invading churches and dragging off people just because of suspicion, and without proof, then a church that has a direct connection to ICE, via its pastor, is at risk for being called out.  

One Year Into a Second Trump Term and This is Where We Are

No, I did not listen to the rambling, disjointed, incoherent, fumbling, bumbling, and frankly, boring to comatose press conference given by Trump to mark his first full year in office of his second term.  I can't stand to watch or listen to him, knowing that every word that comes out of his mouth has no connection to the real world, is not true, and is nothing more than another symptom of his narcissism and dysfunctional ego, mixed with a good measure of dementia.  

Donald Trump was, in his first term, one of the worst presidents in American history.  His term in office was predictably bad, the fact that he had trouble demonstrating competence working the drive in window at a McDonalds a precursor for the manner in which he handled the job as President.  This is a man who, honestly, could not pass an eighth grade constitution or history test.  And as far as his personal morality and character go, well, not everyone who has occupied the White House has had character that matches its exterior color, and Trump's womanizing, affairs, including the tryst he tried to cover up with a porn star, cheating in business, added to the recent rape convictions, seditious attack on the Capitol and what he may have done with Jeffrey Epstein are pretty bad compared to just about anyone else who has served as President.  

We knew we were getting this when the Republicans nominated him.  And Democrats, the ones who, when we had control of Congress would not break the senate filibuster to amend the judiciary act and pack the Supreme Court, which would have eliminated the possibility of a second Trump term, sort of botched the possibility to run someone who could have easily beaten him if they'd had two years and a full campaign to do it.  They knew what a second Trump term would bring. The way that was handled wasn't my mistake.  

All that has happened this past year has simply confirmed what was known prior to the election.  Trump is an incompetent boob, an imbecil, an incapable, inept con artist and grifter who is the single worst President in American history.  That is an undisputable fact.  It is also a problem that we must deal with before we lose the ability to recover what has been lost or destroyed.  The founding fathers apparently never envisioned partisan animosity and hatred so bad that overturning the principles of the nation, and its Constitution, would be worth it for one side to get its way and "win."  

There's a lot of rumbling among the protesters who have shown up in record numbers to send the message of just how unpopular this President is, about using the 25th Amendment. He's hitting poll numbers showing disapproval not seen before, but not necessarily so distressing to a party that no longer values the integrity or accuracy of the American ballot box.  They are willing to bring that down too, to keep this orange headed thug in office, rendering the Constitutional means of removing him from office moot. Well, good luck getting this cabinet, most of whom are crazier, more corrupt and immoral than he is, to give that a shot. 

The partisan divide in the United States has rendered impeachment and removal from office virtually impossible. I don't believe there is a politician in the United States in either party who would vote against their own party's interest, though  Democrats generally seem to be more aligned with Constitutional Democracy than the GOP has ever been.  It does not look like this constitutional means of removing a sitting President will work, either.  

I'm not opposed to giving either one a try, though I have serious doubts whether any Democratic party politician is willing to lead the public pressure charge that would be required.  I'm not going to apologize for thinking that the Democrats, as a party, are just not up to being the kind of opposition that those of us who are participating in peacful demonstrations or marches are looking for.  Point to an example of someone who would be willing to lead the charge, and take the force of massive protests right inside the Capitol, making enough Republicans feel the pressure to either get out of the way and resign, or participate in the President's removal from office.  

We can even get someone who is willing to keep putting this up in front of the media, and helping to fan the flames of resistance in order to use the energy of massive discontent to bring enough pressure to bear to make Republicans experience the political consequences of their abandonment of American idealism and patriotism.  

This cannot continue with any hope of America emerging from this nightmare with the ability to recover. It's the worst year of any Presidential term we've had in the history of this country.