Donld Trump ionly interested in serving himself. He told voters "I don't care about you". Philadelphia Inquirer calls for "Dump Trump"

Trump only interested in providing for himself - he said "I do not care about you"- Philadelphia Inquirer says "Dump Trump"

June 30, 2024
Evil 👿Trump is an unserious carnival barker running for the most serious job in the world. During his last term, Trump served himself and not the American people.

Thank you Philadelphia Inquirer

Donald Trump is a carnival barker and a danger to democracy

Although President Joe Biden’s debate performance was a disaster. ( Many of his responses were disjointed with a dazed look sparked calls for him to drop out of the presidential race 😒😟)....
But lost in the hand wringing was Donald Trump’s usual bombastic litany of lies, hyperbole, bigotry, ignorance, and fear mongering. His performance demonstrated once again that he is a danger to democracy and unfit for office.

In fact, the debate about the debate is misplaced. The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump. To build himself up, Trump constantly tears the country down. There is no shining city on the hill. It’s just mourning in America.

After scheming to overturn the 2020, election, Trump refused to say if he would accept the results of the 2024 election. Unless, of course, he wins.

The debate served as a reminder of what another four years of Trump would look like. More lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate. Supporters say they like Trump because he says whatever he thinks. But he mainly spews raw sewage.

Trump attacks the military. He denigrates the Justice Department and judges. He belittles the FBI and the CIA. He picks fights with allies and cozies up to dictators.

Trump is an unserious carnival barker running for the most serious job in the world. During his last term, Trump served himself and not the American people.

Throughout the debate, Trump repeatedly said we are a “failing” country. He called the United States a “third world nation.” He said, “we’re living in hell” and “very close to World War III.”

“People are dying all over the place,” Trump said, later adding “we’re literally an uncivilized country now.”

Trump told more than 30 lies during the debate to go with the more than 30,000 mistruths told during his four years as president. He dodged the (robotic ❗) CNN moderators’ questions, took no responsibility for his actions, and blamed others, mainly Biden, for everything that is wrong in the world.

Trump’s response to the January 6, 2021, insurrection he fueled was farcical. He said a “relatively small number of people” went to the Capitol and many were “ushered in by the police.”

Trump told more than 30 lies during the debate to go with the more than 30,000 mistruths (aka- misinformation) told during his four years as president. He dodged the (robotic❗) CNN moderators’ questions, took no responsibility for his actions, and blamed others, mainly Biden, for everything that is wrong in the world.

Trump’s response to the January 6, 2021, insurrection he fueled was farcical. He said a “relatively small number of people” went to the Capitol and many were “ushered in by the police.”

After scheming to overturn the 2020, election, Trump refused to say if he would accept the results of the 2024 election. Unless, of course, he wins.

The debate served as a reminder of what another four years of Trump would look like. More lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate. Supporters say they like Trump because he says whatever he thinks. But he mainly spews raw sewage.

Trump attacks the military. He denigrates the Justice Department and judges. He belittles the FBI and the CIA. He picks fights with allies and cozies up to dictators.

Trump is an unserious carnival barker running for the most serious job in the world. During his last term, Trump served himself and not the American people.
Trump spent chunks of time watching TV, tweeting, and hanging out at his country clubs. Over his four-year term, Trump played roughly 261 rounds of golf.

As president, Trump didn’t read the daily intelligence briefs. He continued to use his personal cell phone, allowing Chinese spies to listen to his calls. During one Oval Office meeting, Trump shared highly classified intelligence with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.

Trump’s term did plenty of damage and had few accomplishments. The much-hyped wall didn’t get built. Infrastructure week was a recurring joke. Giant tax cuts made the rich richer, while fueling massive deficits for others to pay for years. His support for coal, oil drilling and withdrawal from the Paris Agreement worsened the growing impact of climate change.

Trump stacked the judiciary with extreme judges consisting mainly of white males, including a number who the American Bar Association rated as not qualified. A record number of cabinet officials were fired or left the office. The West Wing was in constant chaos and infighting.

Many Trump appointees exited under a cloud of corruption, grifting and ethical scandals. Trump’s children made millions off the White House. His dilettante son-in-law got $2 billion from the Saudi government for his fledgling investment firm even though he never managed money before.

Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic resulted in tens of thousands of needless deaths. He boasts about stacking the Supreme Court with extreme right-wingers who are stripping away individual rights, upending legal precedents, and making the country less safe. If elected, Trump may add to the court’s conservative majority.

Of course, there were the unprecedented two impeachments. Now, Trump is a convicted felon who is staring at three more criminal indictments. He is running for president to stay out of prison.

If anything, Trump doesn’t deserve to be on the presidential debate stage. Why even give him a platform?

Trump allegedly stole classified information and tried to overturn an election. His plans for a second term are worse than the last one. We cannot be serious about letting such a crooked clown back in the White House.

Yes, Biden had a horrible night. He’s 81 and not as sharp as he used to be. But Biden on his worst day remains lightyears better than Trump on his best.

Biden must show that he is up to the job. This much is clear: He has a substantive record of real accomplishments, fighting the pandemic, combating climate change, investing in infrastructure, and supporting working families and the most vulnerable.

Biden has surrounded himself with experienced people who take public service seriously. He has passed major bipartisan legislation despite a dysfunctional Republican House majority.

Biden believes in the best of America. He has rebuilt relationships with allies around the world and stood up to foes like Russia and China.

There was only one person at the debate who does not deserve to be running for president. The sooner Trump exits the stage, the better off the country will be.



The Inquirer Editorial Board

Donald Trump must be accountable for deliberately deceiving voters

Echo opinion reported in the Manchester New Hampshire InkLink:

Trump’s conviction in New York should remind us all that no one—including a former president—is above the law. It should also remind us of the danger that Trump still poses to our democracy.

In the final weeks of the 2016, election, Trump covered up his affair with Stormy Daniels to dupe voters and improve his chances of winning the election. As it turns out, this would only be his first foray into undermining our elections. The New York trial may be over, but Donald Trump still faces three additional indictments and 54 criminal charges for a litany of crimes, including federal charges for his efforts to incite violence and overturn the will of voters after he knew he’d lost the 2020, election. 

Trump Wall of Lies exhibit in Soho New York

This is a pattern. The jury has done their job to hold Trump accountable. Now, it’s time for the American people to do our part and hold him accountable at the ballot box.

From Alan Brown in  Manchester, New Hampshire

Do Louisiana citizens actually know what the Ten Commandments say?

Echo opinion letter published in the Boston Globe:

Tell me again what the Ten Commandments say❓

I have a question for the Louisiana Legislature; the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry; and the First Liberty Institute: If you truly believe that the Ten Commandments are the “basis and foundation for the system that America was built upon” (”La. law mandates religious display,” Nation, June 20), then how do you in good conscience justify supporting a man for president who has broken the majority of the Commandments? And how can you condemn a legal system you claim is based on the Commandments for finding him guilty of breaking them? Anxious to see how you justify your stance.

From Donna Qualters in Peabody Massachusetts

Republicans telling truth about the deranged and dangerous Donald Trump

Former Republican Representatives sat on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection-  Rep. Liz Cheney- Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger- Illinois

Echo report published in the Chicago Sun-Times by Lynn Sweet: 

WASHINGTON, DC — Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and a member of the January 6th House investigation committee, endorsed President Joe Biden on Wednesday, the day before the first presidential debate, warning that ex-President Donald Trump “poses a direct threat to every fundamental American value.”

Kinzinger broke with his party after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, eventually serving as one of two Republicans on the select panel investigating the insurrection. He now identifies as a “homeless Republican.”- Marc H. Morial

Kinzinger is one of the few Republicans who, through the years, has been willing to criticize Trump for lying, election denialism, conspiracy theories, trying to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

In his video message posted on the website of the organization he founded, Country First, Kinzinger referred to himself as a conservative, rather than a Republican.

“I’m a proud conservative. I always have been,” Kinzinger said. “As a proud conservative, I’ve always put democracy and our Constitution above all else. And it’s because of my unwavering support for democracy, that today, as a proud conservative, I am endorsing Joe Biden for reelection. My entire life has been guided by the conviction that America is a beacon of freedom, liberty, and democracy.

“So while I certainly don’t agree with President Biden on everything — and I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for president — I know that he will always protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy. Donald Trump poses a direct threat to every fundamental American value. He doesn’t care about our country. He doesn’t care about you. He only cares about himself, and he will hurt anyone or anything in pursuit of power.”

Calling Trump “dangerous,” Kinzinger added, “to every American of every political party and those of none, I say: Now is not the time to watch quietly as Donald Trump threatens the future of America. Now is the time to unite behind Joe Biden, and show Donald Trump off the stage once and for all.”

Kinzinger has been saying, as recently as last Friday, when he was a guest on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” that he would be voting for Biden.

Far from a surprise, the full, formal endorsement released Wednesday is aimed at convincing anti-Trump Republicans to vote for Biden and not sit out the election or vote for a third party candidate.

Kinzinger’s announcement comes as the Biden campaign steps up efforts to secure votes from anti-Trump Republicans. On June 8, the campaign launched an outreach effort to land independent and moderate Republicans, especially supporters of Nikki Haley, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador and ex-South Carolina governor who dropped her 2024 presidential bid when it was clear Trump would be the nominee.

The number of Haley voters is large enough to make a difference in some key battleground states. As part of its bid for Haley voters, the Biden campaign produced a video spot stringing together the numerous insults Trump hurled at Haley before she ended her White House bid.

“Kinzinger represents the countless Americans that Donald Trump’s Republican Party have left behind,” said Biden-Harris 2024, Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez. “Those Americans have a home in President Biden’s coalition, and our campaign knows that we need to show up and earn their support.

“President Biden will always fight for American democracy, for the rule of law, treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, and working to find common ground — even when we don’t agree with each other on everything,” Rodriguez continued. “Congressman Kinzinger’s endorsement doesn’t just make our campaign stronger — it will better equip us to win the hearts and minds of the voters committed to fighting for the future of our democracy and stopping Donald Trump.”

Project 2025, is Trump's dangerous blueprint to get rid of democracy and the rule of law. In a potential (unhinged❗) second Donald Trump presidency, the conservative Heritage Foundation plans to remake government in the mold of dictator Viktor Orbán of Hungary.

Media alert! Donald Trump must be accountable for crazy statements calling veterans "suckers" and "losers"

Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist led a group of psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who questioned Trump’s mental fitness for office in a book that she edited called The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.

Echo opinion by Eugene Robinson published in the Washington Post:

It is irresponsible to wrongmindedly obsess over President Biden’s tendency to mangle a couple of words in a speech while Donald Trump is out there sounding detached from reality. Biden, who is old, at least makes sense. Trump, also old - 78 years old, rants like someone you’d cross the street to avoid.

We in the media failed by becoming inured to Trump’s verbal incontinence — not just the rapid-fire lies and revenge-seeking threats, but also the frightening glimpses into a mind that is, evidently, unwell. In 2016, Trump said outrageous things at his campaign rallies to be entertaining. 

In 2024, his tangents raise serious questions about his mental fitness.

His rally on Sunday in Las Vegas offered a grim smorgasbord of examples, but the obvious standout (and not in a good way) is the story he told about being aboard a hypothetical electric-powered boat. He posits that the battery would be so heavy that it would cause the craft to sink, and he relates his purported conversation with a knowledgeable mariner about this scenario. Bear with me, but it’s worth reading the passage in full:

Trumpzism rant:  “I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight, and you’re in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery’s now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?’ “By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately, do you notice that? Lot of sharks. I watched some guys justifying it today: ‘Well they weren’t really that angry, they bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were not hungry but they misunderstood who she was.’ These people are crazy. He said, ‘There’s no problem with sharks, they just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming.’ No, really got decimated, and other people, too, a lot of shark attacks.
“So I said, ‘There’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards, or here. Do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking? Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted, or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?’ Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer.
“He said, ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.’ I said, ‘I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water.’ But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark. So we’re going to end that, we’re going to end it for boats, we’re going to end it for trucks.”

Trucks? He’s actually talking about the transition to electric vehicles, which he has vowed to halt. That entire hallucination is part of Trump’s rationale for one of his major policy positions.

Trump told the electrocution-or-shark story at least once before, at a rally in Iowa last October. Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who received $130,000 in hush money to keep quiet about her sexual encounter with Trump — a payment that led to the former president’s conviction on 34 felony charges — has said that Trump is “obsessed with sharks, terrified of sharks.” Way back in 2013, he declared on Twitter: “Sharks are last on my list — other than perhaps the losers and haters of the World!”

The White House press corps would be in wolf pack mode if Biden were in the middle of a speech and suddenly veered into gibberish about boats and sharks. 

There would be front-page stories questioning whether the president, at 81, was suffering from dementia; and the op-ed pages would be filled with thumb-suckers about whether Vice President Harris and the Cabinet should invoke the 25th Amendment. 

House Republicans would already have scheduled hearings on Biden’s mental condition and demanded he take a cognitive test.

(IMO the Biden campaign team should demand for former guy Trump to havea venereal disease blood test!)

The tendency with Trump, at 78, is to say he’s “just being Trump.” But he’s like this all the time.

Also during the Las Vegas speech, Trump tried to deny the allegation by one of his White House chiefs of staff, retired Marine General John F. Kelly, that he refused in 2018, to visit an American military cemetery in France, saying it was filled with “suckers” and “losers.” Trump told the crowd on Sunday that “only a psycho or a crazy person or a very stupid person” would say such a thing while “I’m standing there with generals and military people in a cemetery.”

But he wasn’t “standing there” with anybody❗ He never went to the cemetery.😓

Add to the Trump lie library

Except in his delusional mind, perhaps, which is a much bigger problem than Biden fumbling a name or garbling a sentence.

Trump gives crazy speeches about mythical sharks and other bizarre statements

Echo opinion published in the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison

Trump is the candidate making crazy statements -- from Roger Brooks

Why, oh why,❓ I have repeatedly wondered, is so much being made in the mainstream media about President Joe Biden’s age and indications of minor lapses while, at the same time, little is said about former guy Donald Trump’s repeated crazy statements?

One recent example is when he mused about whether he would prefer being attacked by sharks* or being electrocuted in a sinking boat. Another is when he claimed that the feds are out to assassinate him.

Shark attack in Nevada? 🦈 Who knew?😩😧

When will we be given at least an equal indication of whether the presidential contenders are mentally, emotionally and temperamentally fit for the office?

Roger Brooks, Madison

Washington Post  Eugene Robinson Opinion: For thin-skinned Trump, every week is shark week: After saying something that made no earthly sense, and getting ridiculed for it, the former president couldn’t drop it.

* https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/24/trump-rally-sharks-media-electrocution/

Trump speaking in Nevada, "We can’t get the boat to float. The battery is so heavy. So then I start talking about asking questions. You know, I have an, I had an uncle who was a great professor at MIT for many years, long, I think the longest tenure ever. Very smart, had three different degrees and, you know, so I have an aptitude for things. You know, there is such a thing as an aptitude.
I said, ‘Well, what would happen if this boat is so heavy and started to sink and you're on the top of the boat. Do you get electrocuted or not?’ In other words, the boat is going down and you're on the top, will the electric currents flow through the water and wipe you out?'"

Trump promises "bloodbath" if not reelected- violates an oath he took to protect and defend the Constitution

 Echo opinion letter: Trump has no values at all.

Donald Trump convicted of 34 felonies by a New York City jury

At a recent political rally in Ohio, Donald Trump fully displayed the toxic serum he has been injecting into the American "body politic" for the last nine years.

Trump said, "If I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the country. And that's the least of it." The Trump campaign made the excuse that he was speaking of an "economic bloodbath," but the use of the word bloodbath to describe an economic issue is very uncommon. And what did he mean by "that's the least of it?"

Trump's use of violent imagery and rhetoric is little different from Adolph Hitler's speeches of the early 1930s. For those who say "Trump won't do that — those are just words," I would say, how did that turn out for Germany? Trump's dystopian words are no different today than the words he used to incite the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to incoming President Joe Biden.

Trump knows what he is saying. The lesson of 1930s Germany is to heed what politicians say they are going to do.

In the rambling, profanity-filled speech, Trump referred to the convicted felons who attacked the U.S. Capitol building as "hostages." The mob that attacked the Capitol are not, as Trump claimed, "patriots." They are deluded fools serving justified prison sentences.

At the rally in Ohio, Trump snapped to attention, saluting a recording of the January 6th Convict Choir singing the national anthem. This is a former commander-in-chief saluting criminals who attacked the Capitol Police, seriously injuring many and causing the death of three. This is your MAGA Party that supposedly stands for "law and order" attempting, at Trump's behest, to overthrow a U.S. presidential election. Trump has a demonstrable taste for political violence.

The aftermath of riots at the Jan 6h US Capitol Building.

Recently, Trump posted a bond to cover his penalties in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case. The amount of debt Trump faces makes him a very ripe candidate for corruption by a foreign government. Far less debt than Trump's excludes candidates for government employment. The bond was put up by the Chubb Insurance Co. 

It is not known what assets Trump used to secure the bond.

More importantly, it is not known if another entity or government co-signed for the bond. We do know Trump received millions of dollars from foreign governments while president in direct violation of the "emoluments clause" that prohibits government officials from taking money or gifts from a foreign government.

For example, the government of Qatar rented an entire floor of California's most expensive office space from Trump at 555 California St. in San Francisco. The Qatar offices were always vacant. Never used. Simply a gratuity. Trump's violation of the emoluments clause was widespread and brazen.

Lewis County (Washington state) likes to take pride in wholesome values as compared to Seattle. With all due respect, I do not see how that can possibly be squared with support for someone like Trump who has no values at all.

Marty Ansley in Cinebar, Washington state

Evangelicals and the Bible supports welcome for refugees and immigrants

"I'm a Christian who works with refugees."  Echo opinion published in the Houston Chronicle:

HOUSON, Texas "....people start arriving at the church parking lot in Southwest Houston. Volunteers are already pulling bikes out of the garage. A dozen Afghan women — many of whom were evacuated after the Taliban took control in August 2021 — strap on their helmets and ride off, practicing their newfound skill. The 12 women number among the thousands of refugees from all over the world who call Houston their home.

(This essay reminds me about the wonderful book "The Secret Gate- A True Story of Courage", by Mitchell Zuckoff.  Describes the frenzied final hours of the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan--and how a brave Afghan mother and a compassionate American officer engineered a daring escape.)

For years, Houston has been a top destination for displaced Afghans. Since the fall of Kabul and subsequent arrival of Afghans in the city, our community has risen to the challenge of welcoming them.

I know this firsthand. As a mobilizer and organizer, I have connected volunteers to refugee welcome for over a decade. In 2022, I founded Ride with Refugees, a community bike ride and refugee women’s empowerment program, through which I partner with community organizations, non-profits, churches, bike shops, public servants, the Houston Police and advocacy groups. All of them enthusiastically support our efforts to raise awareness about resettlement and promote mobility for refugees and others who have resettled, such as the Afghan Women’s Bike Team.

However, while our communities respond with welcome, our state and federal authorities have not. In the case of our Afghan friends, Congress has not done its part to pass legislation such as the Afghan Adjustment Act. The bill would provide legal certainty to the more than 76,000 Afghans in the country by allowing them to apply for permanent resident status after additional vetting.

In recent years, some evangelicals made a reputation for themselves by supporting an anti-refugee president and, in Texas, a governor who went so far as to remove the state from the federal refugee resettlement program. But that’s not all of us.

As coordinator of a Houston-based refugee ministry network and as a leader on the North American team of a global network of refugee ministry practitioners, I witness the support for refugees that evangelical organizations and churches are offering.

A recent survey of American evangelical Christians indicated that 71% believe our country has a moral responsibility to receive refugees, and 77% say it is important for Congress to pass significant immigration reforms this year. And 75% of those surveyed support the passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act.

What does the Bible say about "immigration"?

1. Matthew 25:31-40  Jesus says, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me". Scholars say that in the New Testament, "stranger" and "neighbor" are synonymous.
2. Leviticus 19:34 "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt".
3. Hebrews 13:2 "Be sure to welcome strangers into your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests, without even knowing it".

Wu recently had the privilege of preaching on immigration in her local congregation. 

"Although we have been involved with refugee ministry for two years now, someone said to me afterward, 'Immigration had been on my heart, but I have always approached it politically. Today I realized I need to think about immigration from a biblical perspective. I now have a better way to speak on immigration'”

A biblical perspective on immigration and refugee welcome recognizes the commands to love and seek justice for vulnerable foreigners. Refugees are some of the world’s most persecuted people, and besides their net positive economic contribution to our nation, they deserve compassion and care.

Our nation has prided itself on being a “city on a hill,” a beacon-of-light nation built by the immigrants we welcomed. That narrative has soured as the sheer number of people seeking refuge here has increased. But a great nation can respond humanely.

With 117 million forcibly displaced persons globally and the U.S. continuing to be a leader in resettling refugees, our welcoming attitude locally is not enough. Our state and federal governments need to offer solutions rooted not in political calculations but in true, lasting security, order, and compassion.

Congress, especially, needs to act now to provide immigration reforms that restore the United States’ leadership and moral high ground as a nation of hope and refuge — a legacy currently at risk.


Cindy M. Wu is an ordained clergywoman and native Houstonian. She co-directs Mosaic Formation and is the author of “A Better Country: Embracing the Refugees in Our Midst.”

Separation of church and state is rooted in colonial America before the U.S. Constitution was ratified

Echo opinion published in the Manchester New Hampshire Ink Link blog: Christian Nationalism is a right wing movement that is not consistent with the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution. In fact, the intention of Freedom of Religion includes the absolute right for Americans to either (a) practice their choice of religious faith, or (b) to not practice any religion at all.  Chrisian Nationalists create a false interpretation about the intention of the writers who created our First Amendment. 

1. 

Early Colonial Influences

The idea of separating church and state emerged well before the founding of the United States, influenced by the religious experiences of early colonists. Many settlers came to America seeking freedom from religious persecution experienced in Europe, where state-endorsed churches often oppressed dissenting religious groups. For example, the Puritans in Massachusetts sought to create a community based on their religious beliefs, yet they did not tolerate other religious practices, leading to conflicts and eventual calls for religious freedom.

Roger Williams ( c. 1603 – March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and later the State of Rhode Island.

One notable advocate for religious freedom was Roger Williams, who founded the Rhode Island colony in 1636. Williams, a Puritan minister, was banished from Massachusetts for his beliefs in religious tolerance and the Separation of Church and State. In Rhode Island, he established a haven for religious dissenters, emphasizing that civil authorities should not enforce religious doctrine. Williams’ ideas laid early groundwork for the concept of religious freedom in America.

The Enlightenment and Revolutionary Thought

The Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries profoundly influenced American revolutionary thought, emphasizing reason, individual rights, and the separation of religious and governmental powers. Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke argued for religious tolerance and the idea that government should be a secular institution, serving the interests of all citizens regardless of their religious beliefs.

Keeping the wall between church and state

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were particularly instrumental in incorporating these ideas into American political philosophy. Jefferson’s “Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom,” drafted in 1777, and enacted in 1786, declared that individuals should be free to choose their faith without coercion. Madison, a key architect of the The Constitution, championed the principle that the government should neither establish a religion nor prohibit its free exercise, ensuring a secular state that respects diverse religious practices.

The U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1787, reflects the intent to create a government free from religious entanglement. 

While the original text of the Constitution does not explicitly mention religion, the prohibition of religious tests for public office in Article VI, (Clause 3), underscores the commitment to religious neutrality. This provision was a significant step toward ensuring that government positions were accessible to individuals of all faiths or none, promoting a pluralistic society.

The First Amendment, ratified in 1791, as part of the Bill of Rights, explicitly addressed the issue of religion. It states: “prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This clause known as the Establishment Clause, alongside the Free Exercise Clause, forms the constitutional basis for the separation of church and state. The framers intended to prevent the government from favoring any religion and to protect individuals’ rights to practice their faith freely.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prnt Clause, alongside the Free Exercise Clause, forms the constitutional basis for the separation of church and state. The framers intended to prevent the government from favoring any religion and to protect individuals’ rights to practice their faith freely.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a "MAGA Mike" yes man

Can the kowtowing to Trump get any worse?

Echo opinion by Jackie Calmes published the LATimes and Yahoo.com

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (MAGA Mike) is shamelessly doing Trump's — not the country's — business. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

It was so predictable. Speaker “MAGA Mike” Johnson belatedly did the right thing in April, by allowing the House to vote to approve aid to Ukraine, over most wrongminded Republicans’ opposition. 

Even former Speaker Nancy Pelosi called him “courageous.” 

Yet ever since, he’s been truckling to his fellow House right-wingers, and to Donald Trump, to make up for his perceived heresy.

Two of Johnson’s recent actions show just how low he’ll go to kowtow to the disgraced former president and his MAGA disciples in the House, and how hypocritical they all are.

But Republican whip-lash! Hypocrite

 Johnson announced that the House would go to federal court to press charges against Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress. Two days earlier, the House had voted along party lines to seek the Justice Department’s prosecution of its boss. The department declined and within hours Johnson said the House would proceed on its own.

MAGA kowtow to TrumptiDumpti

At issue is Garland’s refusal to give Republicans an audio recording they subpoenaed of President Biden’s interview last fall in the investigation of his past handling of classified documents, which didn't result in criminal charges. Garland did provide other materials the House sought, including a transcript of the interview, but Biden asserted executive privilege over the audio.

For all the Republicans’ highfalutin posturing about respect for Congress, you know their real reason for demanding the recording: They figure the audio must include parts they can exploit to embarrass Biden. They’ve coveted it ever since the Republican special counsel who interviewed the president unnecessarily alluded in his report to Biden’s advanced age, poor memory and “diminished faculties.”

Johnson, on message, condemned the refusal to prosecute Garland as “another example of the two-tiered system of justice brought to us by the Biden Administration.”

Only a shameless Trump toady would keep spouting that “two tiers” nonsense after the Justice Department’s successful prosecution of Biden’s son, with a second federal trial ahead in September. And House Republicans layered on another preposterous lie: Hunter Biden’s conviction was a feint to distract us from the real crimes of the father, the ones that House Republicans haven’t been able to identify despite more than a year of investigations.

The actual double standard is Republicans’: They want Garland prosecuted for only partially complying with a congressional subpoena, yet their ranks include members who utterly scorned subpoenas from the House January 6 committee to testify about their efforts to help Trump overturn the 2020, election. 

They even turned their defiance into fundraising pitches: “I’VE BEEN SUBPOENAED” was the Trumpian headline atop one email.

That boast came from Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, now chair of the Judiciary Committee that recommended Garland be held in contempt. Prominent among the others who flouted subpoenas was Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who begged Trump post-election to name an acting attorney general who would declare the election fraudulent. Perry's phone, seized by FBI agents, was rich with incriminating calls and messages (“11 days to 1/6 . . . We gotta get going!” he texted the White House at one point). And no less than the highest-ranking official within the building that was attacked, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield (“My Kevin” to Trump), also ignored his subpoena to tell what he knew.

The January 6 committee, in its report, justified its extraordinary subpoenas of House members by describing “the centrality of their efforts” to help Trump illegally stay in power. For example, in December 2020, Trump named Jordan and Perry when he urged resistant Justice Department officials to “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”

The contempt for Congress is all theirs, not Garland’s.

Perry also figures in Johnson’s other recent Trump-toadying gambit. At the former president’s urging, the speaker quietly named Perry and Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas (Texas District 13) to the House Intelligence Committee, one of Congress’ most sensitive and least partisan panels, privy to classified information that most other lawmakers don’t see. It’s a posting that neither Perry nor Jackson deserve, which is why their appointments reportedly incensed the committee chair, Michael R. Turner of Ohio, among other more moderate House Republicans. Turner told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the speaker promised to intervene in the event of “improper” behavior by the two.

Why the concern? As former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney’s fellow Republican profile in courage on the January 6 committee, put it in a recent podcast, Perry had been the House member the committee most wanted to force to testify, because he was considered “basically the driving force behind January 6” among those in Congress.

As for Jackson, he so flattered Trump when he was the White House doctor that Trump picked him to be Veterans Affairs secretary, a nomination that imploded amid allegations that Jackson drank, abused staff and improperly dispensed drugs (nickname: “Candy Man”). Demoted to captain after a Pentagon investigation, he still called himself a rear admiral on his congressional website until the Washington Post revealed his deceit in March.

A former counsel to the Intelligence Committee — a Republican — said that Perry and Jackson “couldn’t get a security clearance if they’d come through any other door.” But Johnson has put them in position to know the nation’s deepest secrets just to please Trump, who is charged himself with taking and sharing classified documents.

That makes sense only if your motivation isn’t the country’s interests but instead those of the once and perhaps future president. Which pretty much describes the House speaker.  😡😥😨

Some opinion editorials never grow old. Advice to Senator Ted Cruz encore.

Houston Chronicle Editorial Board - file under "some opinions just keep on keepin' on!")  This encore opinion is relevant and available on the Houston Chronicle's website menu. 

Message to "Cruz to Lose"> Resign!

Texans have their fair share of politicians who peddle wild conspiracy theories and reckless rhetoric aiming to inflame.

Think U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert’s “terror baby” diatribes or his nonsensical vow not to wear a face mask until after he got COVID, which he promptly did.

This Houston Chronicle editorial board tries to hold such shameful specimens to account.

But special condemnation is reserved for the perpetrators among them who are of sound mind and considerable intellect — those who should damn well know better.

None more than U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

A brilliant and frequent advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court and a former Texas solicitor general, Cruz knew exactly what he was doing, what he was risking and who he was inciting as he stood on the Senate floor Wednesday and passionately fed the farce of election fraud, even as a seething crowd of believers was being whipped up by former President Donald Trump, a short distance away.

Cruz, it should be noted, knew exactly whose presidency he was defending. That of a man he called in 2016, a “narcissist,” a “pathological liar” and “utterly amoral.”  (Fast forward and add more lables, including "convicted felon" to the list.) 

Cruz told senators that since nearly 40 percent of Americans believed the November election “was rigged” that the only remedy was to form an emergency task force to review the results — and if warranted, allow states to overturn Joe Biden’s victory and put their electoral votes in Trump’s column. 

Cruz deemed people’s distrust in the election “a profound threat to the country and to the legitimacy of any administrations that will come in the future.”

What he didn’t acknowledge was how that distrust, which he overstated anyway, was fueled by Trump’s torrent of fantastical claims of voter fraud that were shown again and again not to exist.

Cruz had helped spin that web of deception and now he was feigning concern that millions of Americans had gotten caught up in it.

Even as he peddled his phony concern for the integrity of our elections, he argued that senators who voted to certify Biden’s victory would be telling tens of millions of Americans to “jump in a lake” and that their concerns don’t matter.

Actually, senators who voted to certify the facts delivered the truth — something Americans haven’t been getting from a political climber whose own insatiable hunger for power led him to ride Trump’s bus to Crazy Town through 59 losing court challenges, past state counts and recounts and audits, and finally taking the wheel to drive it to the point of no return: trying to bully the U.S. Congress into rejecting tens of millions of lawfully cast votes in an election that even Trump’s Department of Homeland Security called the most secure in American history.

The consequences of Cruz’s cynical gamble soon became clear and so did his true motivations. In the moments when enraged hordes of Trump supporters began storming the Capitol to stop a steal that never happened, desecrating the building, causing the evacuation of Congress and injuring dozens of police officers, including one who died, a fundraising message went out to Cruz supporters:

“Ted Cruz here,” it read. “I’m leading the fight to reject electors from key states unless there is an emergency audit of the election results. Will you stand with me?”

Cruz claims the message was automated. Even if that’s true, it’s revolting.

This is a man who lied, unflinchingly, on national television, claiming on Hannity’s show days after the election that Philadelphia votes were being counted under a “shroud of darkness” in an attempted Democratic coup. As he spoke, the process was being livestreamed on YouTube.

For two months, Cruz joined Trump in beating the drum of election fraud until Trump loyalists were deaf to anyone — Republican, Democrat or nonpartisan journalists, not to mention state and federal courts — telling them otherwise.

And yet, Cruz insists he bears no responsibility for the deadly terror attack❓😕😳

“Not remotely,” he told KHOU Thursday. “What I was doing and what the other members were doing is what we were elected to do, which is debating matters of great import in the chamber of the United States Senate.”  (Hello⩼❓ Senators have a moral and sworn responsibility to uphold the U.S. Constitution❗)

Since the Capitol siege, Cruz (aka "Cruz to lose")  has condemned the violence, tweeting after the death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick that “Heidi and I are lifting up in prayer” the officer’s family and demanding the terrorists be prosecuted. (Oh paaaleeeze-😞 htoughts and prayers. Who knew❓😒😧)

Well, senator, those terrorists wouldn’t have been at the Capitol if you hadn’t staged this absurd challenge to the 2020, results in the first place. You are unlikely to be prosecuted for inciting the riots, as Trump may yet be, and there is no election to hold you accountable until 2024. So, we call for another consequence, one with growing support across Texas: Resign.

This Houston Chronicle editorial board did not endorse you in 2018. There’s no love lost — and not much lost for Texans needing a voice in Washington, either.

Public office isn’t a college debate performance. It requires representing the interests of Texans. In your first term, you once told reporters that you weren’t concerned about delivering legislation for your constituents. The more you throw gears in the workings of Washington, you said, the more people back home love you. Tell that to the constituents who complain that your office rarely even picks up the phone.

Serving as a U.S. senator requires working constructively with colleagues to get things done. Not angering them by voting against Hurricane Sandy relief, which jeopardized congressional support for Texas’ relief after Harvey. Not staging a costly government shutdown to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2013, that cost the economy billions. Not collecting more enemies than friends in your own party, including the affable former House Speaker John Boehner who famously remarked: “I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”

We’re done with the drama. Done with the opportunism. Done with the cynical scheming that has now cost American lives.

Resign, Mr. Cruz, and deliver Texas from the shame of calling you our senator.

Resign encore!

VoteTexasBlue
Vote U.S. Rep. Colin Allred 2024

Donald Trump is an old man and also a convicted felon. Trump lies about everything!

Echo opinion published in the Boston Globe by Renée Graham:  

Republicans are trying to ‘cheap fake’ their way back to the White House. The GOP fixation with President Biden’s age seems a way for the 78-year-old Donald Trump to deflect concerns about his own advanced years and failing mental acuity.

Donald Trump doesn’t have campaign rallies. Instead, he hosts liar-paloozas where he spends hours yelling the same falsehoods about the legitimacy of the 2020, presidential election and what he calls the “weaponization” of this nation’s justice system only because he’s finally being held accountable for some of his actions.

But in the way that a dog banging on a piano can accidentally hit a pure chord, Trump occasionally stumbles onto the truth. At a rally in Las Vegas before Trump’s 78th birthday on June 14, his followers sang “Happy Birthday” to the former president, but Trump wasn’t fully appreciative of the gesture. (In my opinion, it was a "nursing home" 🎂😯moment.)

“There’s a certain point at which you don’t want to hear ‘Happy Birthday,’ ” Trump told the crowd. “You just want to pretend the day doesn’t exist.”

Dump Trump💩❗

Trump avoids talking about his age. But he and his Republican cronies can’t stop talking about President Biden’s age, especially when manipulating false images of the president.

Given Biden and Trump’s birth years — 1942 and 1946, respectively — age was always going to be a factor in the upcoming presidential election. But Republicans, as usual, aren’t letting facts block efforts to prove that only Biden’s age is a political liability. In recent days, conservative media has been churning out what are called “cheap fakes,” doctored videos from public events that attempt to show Biden as doddering, confused, or, in one video, “frozen.”

Every lie, including those amplified by Trump’s handpicked Republican National Committee, was debunked by reporters who covered these events and by the Biden campaign. On X, Andrew Bates, the president’s senior deputy press secretary, wrote, “Fresh off being fact-checked by at least six mainstream outlets for lying about POTUS with cheap fakes, Rupert Murdoch’s sad little super PAC, the New York Post, is back to disrespecting its readers and itself once again. Their ethical standards could deal with a little unfreezing.”

Of course, once this nonsense is spewed out by the GOP’s right-wing hate machine, getting all the viral lies exposed and rounded up is like herding cats. And being revealed as mendacious lemmings has never stopped Republicans from continuing to spread mistruths.

Trump is a convicted felon❗ He allegedly conspired to overturn a fair election simply because he lost. He makes fascistic threats of revenge against his perceived enemies. No wonder he wants voters to instead focus on Biden’s age. That’s why House Republicans recently held US Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress after he refused to turn over Justice Department audio from special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with Biden that was part of an investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents.

In his report released in February, Hur concluded that Biden should not face criminal charges. That’s not what Trump, who had already been indicted for mishandling classified documents, wanted to hear. But Hur, a Trump appointee, still gave his former boss something nearly as damaging to Biden — his gratuitous opinion on the president’s mental acuity. He branded Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Except for the parts about being sympathetic and well-meaning, one could make the same argument about Trump, who has experienced his own share of memory lapses, which are probably normal at this point in his life. And that’s why his relentless attacks on Biden’s age smack of desperation.

It’s always worth remembering how much Trump’s insults against his political opponents reveal his own self-projection. As a Republican candidate and his party’s nominee in 2016, Trump often talked about how a potential Hillary Clinton presidency would be riddled with criminal investigations. He encouraged “lock her up” chants at rallies to bolster false perceptions of her alleged criminality, and used that phrase himself, though he now claims he did no such thing. (Trump lies about everything😠💥❗)

Instead, there’s been an array of former Trump administration officials and allies who’ve spent time behind bars for various crimes — including Steve Bannon who’s been ordered to turn himself in on July 1 to start his prison sentence for contempt of Congress. 

Oh, and Trump is still facing dozens of felony charges in three jurisdictions.

Trump also recently mocked the physical appearances of Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and onetime stalwart Trump supporter, even though, like those men, Trump could also be described as full-figured.

At 81, is Biden moving slower these days? Does he misspeak? Absolutely. But do Republicans portray his lifelong stutter as a sign of mental incompetence? Also, yes. As he did during his generally well-received State of the Union address in March, Biden must continue to prove that he remains sharp and capable of serving another term as this nation’s chief executive.

But at some point, and soon, there needs to be a serious discussion about age limits for presidential candidates. If there’s a minimum age to be president — 35 — there should also be a maximum age. 

Until then, Republicans doing Trump’s bidding can pretend there’s only one senior citizen presidential candidate jousting with the ravages of time as they ignore the lapses of their favored candidate, a man who no longer finds anything happy about yet another birthday.