Evangelical Christians must hear what Stormy Daniels has to say about Donald Trump

Hypocritical Evangelicals and Trump are still confounding.

Echo opinion published in the Charleston Gazette-Maine in West Virginia by Hoppy Kercheval:

In fact, the testimony by former porn actress Stormy Daniels in the Donald Trump hush money trial (in Manhattan) got me thinking for the umpteenth time 😠about Evangelical Christians and Trump, given Trump’s perverse behavior.

Hypocritical Republicans preach about their Christian values but ignore Donald Trump's philandering behavior.  Speaker Mike Johnson alert!

Daniels testified in detail about her alleged one-night stand (Trump denies the affair) with Trump in a hotel room in 2006, just months after Trump’s wife, Melania, gave birth to their son. It’s just one of Trump’s reported infidelities. In a separate case last year, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing a woman.

Trump infamously claimed in the Access Hollywood video that “when you’re a star, you can do anything” [to women]. Grab them by the p----.”

Earlier this year, he started hocking Bibles to raise money. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, wrote in his book that Trump, after meeting with prominent evangelicals in 2016, said, “Can you believe that bulls---? Can you believe people believe that bulls---?”

Yet, even after those instances and more, most Evangelicals stand with the former president.

A Pew Research Poll released in March found that 67% of white Evangelical Protestants have a favorable view of Trump. That must hold true in West Virginia, where at least 40% of residents say they are Evangelicals and Trump won by 40 (wrongminded❗) points in the past two elections.

How is it that deeply religious people can support someone whose actions are so antithetical to their beliefs? 

Tim Alberta, a journalist, author of the book “The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory,” son of an Evangelical preacher and a practicing Christian himself, says many Evangelicals who support Trump see him as a mercenary. (❓- say more❗😧)

“[Christians believe] they are under siege, that Christianity is under attack in this country, in the culture [from] the Godless left,” he said, in an interview with CNN. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. If you believe the barbarians are at the gate, you might just be willing to turn to a barbarian to do your fighting for you.”

Brad Sherman, an Evangelical Republican state legislator in Iowa, said of Trump in an NPR (National Public Radio) interview back before the Iowa Caucus, “He’s brash; he’s a fighter. That’s who we need right now in the political arena, in the environment that exists. You gotta be tough.” (Maine Writer- Ahhhh❓ 😦Whatever happened to... "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:9)

Another Evangelical, Shelley Buhrow, told NPR, “Have you read the Bible? Many people in the Bible were married multiple times and they didn’t always do the perfect thing.”

This attitude is a dramatic shift from a few short years ago. Republicans, conservatives and Evangelicals were critical of Bill Clinton because he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky and lied about it. Back then, character mattered.

James Dobson, one of the leaders of the Christian right, said at the time, that he was “alarmed [at] the willingness of my fellow citizens to rationalize the President’s behavior even after they suspect, and later knew, that he was lying. You can’t run a family, let alone a country, without character.”

Evangelist Franklin Graham, in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal following the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, wrote, “If he [Clinton] will lie to or mislead his wife and daughter, those to whom he is most intimate, what will prevent him from doing the same to the American people?”

But that feels like such a long time ago now.

James Dobson, one of the leaders of the Christian right, said at the time that he was “alarmed [at] the willingness of my fellow citizens to rationalize the President’s perverse behaviors, even after they suspect, and later knew, that he was lying. You can’t run a family, let alone a country, without character.”

Evangelist Franklin Graham, in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal following the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, wrote, “If he [Clinton] will lie to or mislead his wife and daughter, those to whom he is most intimate, what will prevent him from doing the same to the American people?” But that feels like such a long time ago now.

Perhaps, Evangelicals see Trump as the modern-day version of King David, who united the tribes of Israel. He had many wives and concubines. He sent Uriah, one of his generals, to die in battle so he could have his way with Bathsheba.

Nevertheless, David did eventually confess, repent and was humbled. Maybe that is what Evangelicals are waiting for from Trump. 😳😢If Trump's past irrevent behavior is any indication, I wouldn’t count on it💢💥❗

If H.G.Wells were writing today......Coronavirus in the world history of germs

An echo opinion by Rick Wilson published in the West Virginia newspaper the Charleston Gazette-Mail: 

The coronavirus pandemic is defined in the documented "Mourning in America", as per the Lincoln Project PAC video. This video will go into history as being as damaging an anti Donald Trump media campaign as was the 1960s, ad that survives to this day, (the Daisy ad), to define Senator Barry Goldwater as "dangerous".

In H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, the octopus-like Martians almost wiped out humanity — until they died from infection from earth’s micro-bugs.

(I would also add to this analogy The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton.)

One might think if Martians could develop space travel, they’d have thought about germs too, but that’s not important now. The point is that things too small to see can have a huge impact.

I’ve been thinking lately about how outbreaks have often changed the course of history.

Let’s start with the Bible. Aside from the plagues of Egypt in Exodus, an example is related in 2nd Kings and elsewhere about the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem.

The Assyrians were probably the most brutal empire in the ancient Middle East, with detailed artwork depicting torture and mass executions. They ended the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C., deporting and resettling many of the survivors aside from the Samaritans, giving rise to speculation about “lost tribes of Israel.”

The same almost happened to the kingdom of Judah around 701 B.C. When things seemed hopeless, the invaders were hit by a mouse-borne epidemic, a story backed by ancient Greek historian Herodotus centuries later.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/09/07/daisy-girl-political-ad-still-haunting-50-years-later/15246667/

No Judah would have meant no rabbinical Judaism or Christianity.

An outbreak in Athens around 430 B.C., helped end the glory days of ancient Greece. After the Greeks defeated the Persians, Athens went to war with Sparta and its allies. The Athenians were a sea power while the Spartans were strongest on land.

Athenians brought in citizens from outlying areas, staying supplied by sea while Spartans burned their farms and fields. Overcrowding made sanitation worse, leading to an outbreak described in detail by Thucydides, an Athenian general and historian who barely survived it.

There’s debate about the disease, but we can just say it was bad. According to Thucydides, “Words indeed fail one when one tries to give a general picture of the disease; and as for the sufferings of individuals, they seemed almost beyond the capacity of human nature to endure.” Demoralized people “became indifferent to every rule of religion or law.”

Tens of thousands died, including the great political leader Pericles. While the war would drag on for 27 years, Athens never recovered and was ultimately defeated. War exhausted the winners as well. It wasn’t long before Greece was dominated by the Macedonians under Philip and his better-known son, Alexander the Great.

Rome had its outbreaks, the worst coming in 541 A.D., after it converted to Christianity. The emperor Justinian wasn’t exactly good, but he was the last to be called “the Great.” The empire had two capitals, the western in Rome and the east in Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey. The west fell under “barbarian” domination, but Justinian came close to reuniting it, also engaging in diplomacy and war with the Persian superpower to his east.

Then came bubonic plague, carried by fleas on rats in grain shipments from Egypt. It raged off and on for around 200 years, killing 25-50 million people.

Any hope of reuniting the empire was gone, paving the way for the rise of Europe as distinct countries rather than imperial provinces. One place largely untouched was Arabia. Islam was soon to spread through plague-weakened regions as far as the Iberian Peninsula in the west and Persia and beyond in the east.

Plague would return to Europe around 1350, recurring in waves, by some estimates wiping out more than half the population. Some historians believe it killed feudalism and helped prepare the way for the rise of capitalism and Protestantism.

When Europeans encountered indigenous people in the Americas, Old World diseases such as smallpox, chicken pox, cholera, tuberculosis, mumps and measles wiped out huge portions of the population, far more than the considerable violence of the “discoverers.” The late Yale historian David Brion Davis called it “the greatest genocide in the history of man.”

Cortez’s small band of gold-hungry murderers wouldn’t have been able to conquer the huge Aztec city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) in 1520, without the help of a smallpox epidemic that reduced the population by an estimated 40%.

Yet another epidemic made possible the expansion of the young United States and saved the world’s first victorious slave uprising. In the early 1800s, Napoleon sought to reimpose slavery in Haiti after a victorious uprising. Haitians fought back fiercely, aided by yellow fever, a mosquito-bourne virus brought from Africa during the slave trade. The French had never before been exposed to the disease. Their expeditionary force was wiped out. To raise money to recover, Napoleon sold the U.S. territory claimed by France for $15 million in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase. This nearly doubled the size of U.S. territory.

Epidemics weren’t done with Napoleon. In 1812, he invaded Russia with his Grand Armee of around 500,000 soldiers. Invading Russia is about as good an idea as invading Afghanistan. In addition to resistance by Russian soldiers, civilians and “General Winter,” the French were struck by lice-bourne typhus. As many as 400,000 invaders died, with typhus killing the majority. Who knows what a different outcome would have meant for Russia. Perhaps there would have never been a Stalin.

These are just a few examples of how microbes have shaped history. While we’re lucky that COVID-19 might not be quite as lethal as previous epidemics, it’s a safe bet that it will leave huge and lasting changes in its wake.

It’s up to us to decide what kinds of changes those will be.

"Apparently, some rabid Republican people want their medical decisions made by Donald Trump," echo from West Virginia.

Stay at home orders are necessary to protect life over greed!

An echo opinion published in the West Virginia Charleston  Gazette-Maine

Donald Trump wants people back to work ASAP and is now urging the governors to feel pressure about ending stay-at-home restrictions.

The scientists say we cannot possibly do that safely without more testing. Much more testing.

Trump congratulates himself that over 4,000,000 Americans have been tested. That is just over 1% of the U.S. population.

Trump says it’s up to the states to do testing.

Governors are doing all they can in dealing with the virus, and scientists say testing is severely hampered by shortages of swabs and chemical reagents. 

Trump has stated he takes no responsibility for anything, and he’s been doing a great job. If former president Harry Truman were still alive, that might astonish him. The sign on Truman’s desk read: “The Buck Stops Here.”

I am listening to the scientists. Day after day, Trump’s pronouncements on the virus consist of misinformation, disinformation, nonsense and outright lies. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s medical hero, is forced to contradict him. Some people don’t like it when Dr. Fauci contradicts Trump. Apparently, some people want their medical decisions made by Trump.

I, for one, do not want my life or that of my very vulnerable grandson with cystic fibrosis endangered so the economy can flourish while people die.

Merri Morgan  Greenville

Protect women's health care - opinion published in West Virginia news

Opinion letter echo: Government must stay out of women's health care (Charleston Gazette-Mail Opinion)

Editor: A rule that would prohibit doctors, nurses, hospitals and health care centers around the country from discussing every method of birth control with their patients is under review by the Office of Budget and Management in Washington, D.C. 

This “gag rule” would keep health care professionals from sharing all available information with their patients.

This concerns me, and it should concern everyone. Government has no right to step in to regulate what health care professionals should and should not be telling their patients. That is between the patients and their doctors and nurses.

Why is government doing this? Well, it’s a direct attempt to tie the hands of organizations that provide reproductive health care to individuals through the Title X program. This includes the health care provided by Planned Parenthood.

Title X was created to ensure that everyone has access to basic, preventative reproductive health care, such as birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and well-woman exams. 

In fact, the majority of people who receive reproductive health care through Title X are below the federal poverty level and do not have insurance.

This newly proposed rule is not about providing better health care to low-income people, which is something that directly affects the people of West Virginia. It is about politics, and it is an attack on these organizations at the determent of public health. As a former longtime member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, I fully understand what should be governed and what should not.

And, I believe the attempt to prohibit certain health care providers from discussing every birth control option with their patients is a prime example of an overreach by government.

I hope Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will see through the facade around this rule change. And I encourage him to do everything in his power to see that this rule change will not be implemented.

Virginia Mahan
Charleston, West Virginia

Olympics raised the international bar for Korean diplomacy

Political leaders should learn from the powerful symbolism of the Olympian gestures.

An "echo" opinion letter published in the Charleston Gazette-Mail newspaper in West Virginia ~

Senators should ensure Trump can't attack North Korea

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games offered an important lesson in diplomacy. Even while political tensions between South Korea and North Korea remain high, athletes from the two countries walked together during the Opening Ceremony’s Parade of Nations. Athletes from both nations were be represented by one Korean Unification Flag.

Political leaders should learn from the powerful symbolism of these gestures.

In recent months, as Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have lobbed insults at one another about the strength of their nuclear arsenals, the threat of conflict between our two countries has become increasingly real. This drum beat toward war undermines decades of diplomacy and dialogue that have prevented conflict and slowed nuclear weapon development in North Korea.

To go to war now would be catastrophic. (MaineWriter ~ Now that Donald Trump doesn't have a Secretary of State, he's capable of anything.)

Military experts estimate that, even if such a war did not involve nuclear weapons, it would be lengthy, expensive, would require significant U.S. ground forces and would result in tens of thousands of deaths in just the first few days of fighting on the Korean Peninsula. If the war did involve nuclear weapons, the costs would be all the more substantial.

Members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, have been too silent on this issue. However, Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., has introduced a bill (S. 2047) that would bar the president from launching a military attack on North Korea without explicit congressional approval or an imminent threat. 

Signing this bill is an opportunity for senators to support diplomatic efforts over military action and would ensure that the president does not have the unilateral ability to begin a costly and dangerous conflict.

We should urge Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin to co-sponsor bill S. 2047. The stakes are too high for any other option.

Jamie Shinn ~  Morgantown  West Virginia