Donald Trump and maga Republicans must allow Pastoral clergy to give Roman Catholic Sacraments to migrants in ICE prisons

BREAKING: In response to ICE's refusal to allow detained migrants to receive the Eucharist, Pope Leo XIV calls on Donald Trump and JD Vance to respect the dignity and religious liberty of migrants in the United States. “The authorities must allow pastoral workers to assist with the needs of these people. Many times they have been separated from their families and no one knows what happens,” said Pope Leo.

Echo essay published in the Daily Beast by Michael Daley

How This 91-Year-Old Nun’s Battle With ICE Shamed ‘Catholic’ JD Vance

An Eucharistic procession to the Broadview ICE center in Illinois, advocating for religious access for detained migrants.

As he presses his wife, Usha Vance, to convert from her native Hinduism, Vice President JD Vance might try better adhering to his newly adopted faith.

One timely and lively example for him to follow would be Sister JoAnn Persch, a 91-year-old nun who has been regularly visiting the Broadview ICE facility in suburban Chicago for two decades. 

She was among 2,000 of the faithful who gathered for Mass at a makeshift altar across from the facility on November 1.

“All Saints Day on November 1 is a sacred feast day in the Catholic tradition and we wish to include them in a religious service by offering them holy communion on this day,” her group had noted in a written request that ICE said it required at least a week beforehand. “We will be gathering that day for an outdoor Catholic Mass 🕇🕈and our request is for a small delegation of eight religious ministers to provide Holy Communion during the Mass while our gathering remains outside of the ICE facility in peaceful prayer.”

When time at the Mass for communion, Persch and Chicago Auxiliary Bishop José María Garcia-Maldonado and six others carried the Host the 100 yards from the altar to a checkpoint the Illinois State Police established outside the ICE building. An officer relayed by telephone the group’s request to come in. ICE denied them entrance for safety reasons.

“Now, I want to know whose safety?” Persch later told the Daily Beast. “Are we going to attack the immigrants? Are they going to attack me? I don’t think so.”

She noted that she had been visiting ICE prisoners in local jails for years and nobody had tried to harm her. That left only the ICE agents.

“Do they think coming with the Blessed Sacrament of the Catholic Church that we were going to attack them” she asked.

Persch walked back to the gathering and asked them to remain silent after she announced ICE’s decision, no matter how they felt.

She stood before the faithful and made the anticipatory request for silence. She then reported what might have been expected to trigger boos and angry shouts.

”The answer was ‘no’.”

The response surprised her. It was a testament to the power of moral authority possessed by someone who actively lives the gospel every day, as taught by the Roman Catholic Church that Vance says he embraces.

“I was amazed, 2,000 people, it was dead silent.” Persch told The Daily Beast. “There were tears, but for several minutes, they were so respectful of that moment, which was a very sacred moment.”

Should Persch ever be a candidate for sainthood, the total hush could go down as a possible miracle.

After that remarkable moment of silence among those gathered for an outdoor Mass in Broadview came a challenge to the faithful everywhere to speak out. Pope Leo XIV reacted by citing a principle by which Persch and other true Catholics guide their lives.

“Jesus says very clearly at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked, ‘How did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?’” the pontiff told the press. “Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now… Many times they have been separated from their families and no one knows what happens…I would certainly invite the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people.”

As reported by the Substack “Letters From Leo” by Christopher Hale, a White House spokesman responded to a request for comment by saying, “The pope doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Vance reached out to Hale on X, asking, “Hey Chris, which WH spokesperson gave you this comment❓”

But, Vance maintained a less-than-holy silence about ICE preventing detainees from receiving Holy communion. 

Donald Trump heard Pope Francis from the grave speaking through the voice of eulogist Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re

Trump Gets Called Out by Cardinal Re, in Front of Millions at Pope’Francis' Funeral Mass. Echo report by Tom Sykes published in the Daily Beast: 

Pope Francis funeral procession and the Vatican and in Rome

 on April 27, 2025.

Trump Gets Called Out in Front of Millions at Pope’s Funeral

Pope’s Last Act Was to Give JD Vance a Lesson About Migrants

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re used the Pope's eulogy to criticize Donald Trump, who was seated in the front row to hear it.

Donald Trump may have bullied his front row seat at Pope Francis’ funeral, but the Pope rebuked him from beyond the grave anyway.

The posthumous criticism came after Trump was mobbed by a group of world leaders, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral.

The pressure from European leaders appeared to pay off after Trump sat down briefly with Zelensky before the funeral, and then the White House announced that he would meet with him again afterwards.

However, it was Trump’s signature first-term policy of building a border wall that appeared to draw papal ire in the funeral eulogy. 

In fact, the policy was much criticized by Francis during his lifetime, and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who delivered the homily, ensured that the late Pope’s hostility to the policy was not forgotten.

Re said: “Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice, imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions ... ‘Build bridges, not walls,’ was an emphatic exhortation he repeated many times.”

Trump and Pope Francis clashed repeatedly over the years, beginning in early 2016, when Pope Francis criticized Trump’s plan to build a border wall, saying that anyone who thought only of building walls and not bridges “is not Christian.”

Trump responded angrily, calling it “disgraceful” for a religious leader to question his faith and accusing Mexico of manipulating the Pope. The bitter and very public exchange saw Trump label Francis as “a very political person.”

The homily may only have been an implicit rebuke, but after such a public clash over building walls, there can be no mistake that it was a deliberate and pointed one from the Vatican in front of millions watching around the world. (Pope Francis, God Love Him 💖....got in the last word, from the grave.....Amen❗)

Trump and Pope Francis had a cordial meeting in 2017, despite the public barbs that had been thrown, but tensions simmered beneath the surface. Pope Francis continued to speak out against Trump’s policies, condemning his withdrawal from climate agreements and his rhetoric on immigration. 

Trump and his supporters, in turn, painted Pope Francis as a political operator meddling beyond his spiritual role.

On Trump’s return to office, their feud exploded back into public view after Francis denounced Trump’s plans for mass deportations as “a disgrace,” accusing him of punishing the vulnerable.

Trump’s allies hit back, mocking the Pope’s criticisms by pointing to the high, secure walls around Vatican City.

Trump’s decision to travel to Europe, thrusting himself into the heart of the continent’s biggest diplomatic jamboree, exposed him to intense lobbying from European leaders who violently disagree with what they see as his appeasement of Russia.

Nonetheless, his meeting with Zelensky raised hopes that a breakthrough in a peace deal on the Russia-Ukraine war could be imminent a day after Trump said Russia and Ukraine were “very close to a deal” on ending the war. 

Zelensky’s office posted photographs of the two men sitting on a pair of chairs in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered,” Zelensky tweeted. “Protecting the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”

Hope surged further after the White House said the two men are due to meet again before Trump departs Italy. (Not sure if this additional meeting actually happened....Trump lies 🤥 so much, it is just impossible to know.

Donald Trump begins his campaign of lies on New Year's Day. Continues his campaign to create fear of immigrants

Echo report published in the Daily Beast by Sean Craig

Trump Wrongly Tying New Orleans Attack to Immigration

Donald Trump's Dangerous Immigration obsession

In a Truly Lie-Social post, the president-elect wrongly tried to tie the truck attack on Bourbon Street—which was carried out by a Texas native and U.S. Army veteran, according to authorities—to migrants, who he has long targeted with hate-filled political rhetoric.

🤥🤥👖🔥 (pants on fire❗)

When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump wrote.

“The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”

Trump’s statement followed an erroneous Fox (Fake❗)News report—which the network has since retracted—that claimed the rental truck used by the suspect in the New Year’s Day attack crossed into Texas from Mexico two days earlier.

In fact, the vehicle entered the U.S. from Mexico on Nov.ember 16, driven by a man with no connection to Wednesday’s horrific events.

The FBI identified US-born Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, as the suspect who allegedly drove the truck into a crowd with deliberate intent, killing 15 and injuring dozens more. Authorities say Jabbar was killed after exchanging fire with police.

Officials said Wednesday afternoon there was no evidence tying the attack to the border, though Trump’s inflammatory posts trying to make a link between the two remain up.

He added to his screed at around 9 a.m. Thursday by specifically attacking President Joe Biden. “With the Biden ‘Open Border’s Policy’ I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe,” Trump wrote.

“That time has come, only worse than ever imagined. Joe Biden is the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA, A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER. What he and his group of Election Interfering ‘thugs’ have done to our Country will not soon be forgotten! MAGA.”

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the FBI is investigating the incident as “an act of terrorism.”

The FBI said an ISIS flag was located on the vehicle and that the agency is “working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.”

Trump is an old man who cannot even give a teleprompter speech

Echo report published the Daily Beast by John Mulholland

Until the last part of the last day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the event could not have gone much better for Republicans. Then 🥱came Donald Trump’s boring speech.

Donald Trump’s Speech Wasn’t Just Bad and Mad. It Was Boring

“If Fidel Castro were alive today, he would have told Trump that it’s dragging on a bit long.” That was the view from a trenchantly anti-Biden, conservative publication, National Review.

After four days of an expertly choreographed and at times brilliant production—the presence of the Gold Star families on Wednesday was a devastating political hit on Biden—the wheels, as they do with Trump, came off.

He was the worst part of his own convention.

It wasn’t just the length of the speech. Yes, it was long (at a record-breaking 93 minutes), but it was also rambling, chaotic and, after some perfunctory remarks about uniting the nation, he went on to sow the usual seeds of division and grievance.

Worst of all, he committed the cardinal sin of being boring.

(Also, can we all now put aside the absolute nonsense that was peddled about a new, transformed Trump in the hours after Saturday's shooting? It always looked like disingenuous, political bullshit. Turns out it was 💩.)

Yawn! The Trump rapture fest in Milwaukee pointed out a tale of two speeches—the opening, scripted remarks, and then frequent forays where he veered wildly from the teleprompter into a stream of consciousness.

One’s heart went out to the teleprompter. On center stage, it had prepared all week for its big moment in the spotlight—and then was casually cast aside, ignored and eclipsed by the wayward ego that is Donald Trump.

Maybe expectations were set too high. Trump was touted all week as the headline act that would close the event on a high. He was paraded like a heavyweight boxer about to enter the ring. The knockout would come Thursday.

Only it didn’t. Trump ended up getting in his own way.

The ground had been prepared by his team: Expect New Trump. A changed man. A call to unity. On Monday, the man himself told The Washington Examiner that instead of a planned “humdinger” of a speech, he would rewrite his convention remarks to focus on unity and togetherness.

“He understands there’s a moment,” Chris LaCivita, Trump’s campaign manager, told an audience in Milwaukee this week, “If there’s one person I know who’s capable of meeting the moment… it’s him.”

Only it wasn’t.

Even Moscow called out Tucker-Schmucker-Sucker Carlson about creating fake news

"When Tucker Carlson announced his interview with Vladimir Putin claiming that “no Western journalist had bothered” to interview the Russian president, he was immediately corrected by not only other journalists but the Kremlin itself." Moscow Times! ❗ 😂

Putin Says He Was Not Impressed by Tucker Carlson

Echo report published in the Daily Beast by Julia Davis

Tucker Carlson (i.e. "Tucker-Schmucker-Sucker) did all that he could to impress the Russian authoritarian (evil) Vladimir Putin: he asserted that Russia is not an expansionist power, claimed that Moscow is better than any American city, posed in a Buryat costume, and lobbied against continued U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Putin was not impressed. 😖😞😑😜 He told interviewer Pavel Zarubin this week, “Sincerely speaking, I didn’t fully enjoy this interview.”

“Frankly, I thought he would behave aggressively and ask tough questions. I wasn’t just prepared for this, I wanted it!” Putin insisted.

Russia's dictator president complained that Carlson’s failure to ask pointed questions “didn’t give him an opportunity to do what he was prepared to do” and therefore, this interview didn’t turn out to be as engaging or substantive as it could have been.

When Zarubin queried the Russian president as to what he thought about negative reactions of Western leaders, Putin evasively replied that it’s a good thing they’re watching and listening. He added, “If today, due to their own reasons, we are unable to conduct direct dialogue, then we should be grateful to Mr. Carlson for the fact that we can do this through him as an intermediary.”

For years leading up to Tucker-Schmucker-Sucker Carlson’s interview with Putin, he was a darling of the Russian state media. Top Russian propagandists gushed about him, featured translated clips of his Fox Fake News segments and even described Carlson as “the only American they wouldn’t want to kill.”

Head of Russia Today (rt) Margarita Simonyan recounted that Carlson repeatedly contacted her since 2021, pleading for an interview with Putin—and his attempts intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine. 

Simonyan said that she went “from office to office, begging for what we [RT] believe is important for the country.” State media’s talking heads predicted that the interview would blow up the U.S. elections and stun gullible Americans.

Instead, the sit-down was more of a (boring🥱) monologue than a conversation, with Putin droning on about ancient and modern history, deliberately twisted to justify Russia’s revanchist aspirations with respect to (falsely) recovering Ukraine. The outcome was clearly underwhelming. Carlson’s softball endeavor was not only ridiculed in the West, but also rejected by Russian audiences.
Russian propagandists anticipated questions about Satanism, LGBT issues and American biolabs. The closest they got was when Carlson asked Putin, “So do you see the supernatural at work as you look out across what's happening in the world now? 

Do you see God at work? Do you ever think to yourself, these are forces that are not human?” Putin failed to take advantage of the leading question and delivered a very Soviet-minded response: “No, to be honest. I don’t think so.”  

(Maine Writer must expreess an opinion here......Tucker-Schmucker-Sucker Carlson's wasted question about supernatural forces is over the top stupidity.  Vladimir Putin is a tyrannical dictator, but much too smart to lower himself to respond to this idiotic and ludicrous leading question.)

Despite her initial frustration about wasted propaganda opportunities, Simonyan quickly bounced back and was soon praising the interview on Vladimir Solovyov’s show, Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov. With fervor rivaling the infamous North Korean “woman in pink,” Simonyan declared, “This was the most successful, the most significant and a truly historic media event in journalism in the history of humanity!”

To spice things up, Simonyan claimed that herself and her husband Tigran Keosayan were so moved that they wept while watching the interview.

Now that Putin has revealed his disappointment with the outcome of her pet endeavor, Simonyan may be crying for other reasons—or quickly changing her rhetoric to match that of “the Soviet Boss.”

Tucker-Schmucker Carlson interview with evil Putin

Echo report by Emil Fittenborg published in the Daily Beast
 

Three days into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, I was bleeding out on a muddy lawn in front of a small salmon-colored house in Akhtyrka, northeastern Ukraine. I had been shot four times, two in the legs, one in the back, and one in the left butt cheek. My colleague Stefan Weichert, who had been shot in the shoulder, was trying quite desperately to save my life.

I’m telling you about this now because I was transported back to that moment when Tucker Carlson–the fired Fox News host—claimed he was a journalist swooping in to finally deliver “the truth” about what was happening in Ukraine via his (daunting😞😒) interview with (the rambling❗) evil 👿President Vladimir Putin.

“Here’s why we’re doing it,” Carlson explained in a video posted on X. “First, because it’s our job. We’re in journalism. 

(Maine Writer- Dear Tucker-Schmucker Carlson, creating #FakeNews📰 is not journalism.)

Our duty is to inform people (with truthful information!). Two years into a war that’s reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed.”

I’m sorry to tell you, Mr. Carlson, but Stefan and I were on the ground in Ukraine before this war even began, informing Daily Beast readers exactly what was going on. Thousands of other foreign correspondents have been doing exactly the same thing, informing Americans and the rest of the world all about Putin’s iniquitous invasion.

On that day in February 2022, the howls of Russian mortar fire and roaring fighter jets dominated the soundscape around us. It was the beginning of the invasion. Stefan and I were trying to document the first use of cluster munitions on civilians—a kindergarten had been hit. As I lay there thinking I was dying, I didn’t mind too much. After all, documenting war crimes is the most important job a war correspondent can do.

After I was released from the hospital, it took me half a year to learn how to walk without crutches and another six months to walk well enough to start working in Ukraine again. When I did get back, I moved straight to the city of Bucha, where Russian soldiers had meticulously killed over 400 civilians.

I wonder if Tucker Carlson knows about the massacre in Bucha.

Has he ever heard the story of Yahidne? Where Russian troops forced 300 civilians into a basement, where they lived for a month. Seven people, the Russians executed themselves. Ten others died from the horrendous conditions in the basement, where there was no air to breathe and no space to lie down.

Did he hear about the maternity hospital that was bombed by Russia in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol or the torture basements in Kherson?
Free Speech My Bullet-Riddled Ass

Tucker Carlson says he is posting the video interview of Putin on the social media site X, owned by fellow Ukraine-skeptic Elon Musk, because it is the only place that still has free speech.

If free speech is something Carlson cares about, I hope that he will exercise his right to free speech and ask Putin why the civilians in Yahidne had to be trapped in a basement with no food, air, or medicine for a month.

Ask him why the civilians in Bucha had to die. Why did you bomb the maternity hospital in Mariupol? What’s with the gang rapes of Ukrainian women? The targeting of civilians?

Ask Putin if the “Nazi" regime of Kyiv is in the room with him now.

Putin was the Nazi in the interview with Tucker-Schmucker Carlson

But Carlson will not ask him any of those questions. Like Musk, he is in the business of selling outrage, fear, and lies to the gullible under the guise of free speech. Carlson is not stupid, he is just an opportunist profiting from the horrors unleashed by Putin.

In his ludicrous video justifying the stunt, Carlson claimed that no other Western journalist “has bothered” to interview Putin. It was such an obvious lie that Putin’s own spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, stepped in to contradict him.

I survived primarily because of Stefan, as well as a soldier who took the time to drive me to the hospital, and a neurologist, who miraculously carried out life-saving surgery despite not being a regular surgeon. I believe she was called Oksana.

Real journalists do not get access to grill Putin outside of his stage-managed annual TV Q&A.

The Russian reporters who pressure him with exposés or investigations that put the Kremlin under pressure are liable to get jailed. Or assassinated.

Tucker Carlson is about as far from being a journalist as they come. The primary proof—if it were needed—is the fact that he has been allowed to interview Vladimir Putin in the first place.

He has been consistently regurgitating Russian propaganda since before the invasion and he claimed that Volodymyr Zelensky, the democratically elected Jewish president of Ukraine, is a “rat-like” dictator.

Tucker Schmucker Carlson is allowed access to Putin because he is a pro-Russian propagandist. Because he dances to Putin’s tune, because he has been justifying the Russian war against an imagined Nazi threat in Ukraine.

I will still be watching the interview, of course. It is Tucker Carlson’s last shot at redemption, but just as he has fumbled all of his previous jobs, he will miss this chance at doing a real interview with Putin.

Vote President Joe Biden to save American democracy in 2024

Echo report published in the Daily Beast by Matt Young:

President Joe Biden Lists Why a Second Trump Presidency Would Be a ‘Nightmare’

President Joe Biden took aim squarely at Donald Trump Sunday as he ramped up his campaign efforts and took his pitch to the voters of Nevada just days before the Democratic primary, describing the upcoming 2024, election as a “battle for the soul of our nation.”

The president attended two campaign events in the battleground state, beginning with a fundraiser in which the Associated Press described the president focusing “on Trump’s ample history of provocative statements.” Trump’s comparison to January 6th rioters as “hostages” and his infamous promise that he would be “dictator” on Day One of his presidency were among those to feature.

Dump Trump!

Then, speaking to a crowd at the Pearson Community Center in a predominantly Black community in Las Vegas—the historic Westside neighborhood—Biden started swinging at Trump almost immediately, vowing to “make Donald Trump a loser again.”

Describing the “mess” he was left after Trump left the White House–including a raging COVID-19 pandemic and a floundering economy– Biden warned, “imagine the nightmare if Donald Trump is re-elected,” to a chorus of chants of “No!” from the crowd.

“Look how far we’ve come because of you,” Biden said, thanking followers for staying with him despite concerns of a flagging popularity base.

“I know, we know, we have a lot more to do,” Biden said. “Not everyone is feeling the benefits of our investments and progress yet.”

But, he urged, “we have to win. I give you my word, we have to. There’s not much of a choice here.”

Vote Blue 2024

Referring to Trump back-and-forth within his 30-minute speech, Biden criticized him on gun control, abortion and the economy, among other talking points. At one point, Biden referred to a 2020, report on the then-President Trump reportedly calling fallen Americans who died in World War II “losers” and “suckers.”

“That’s how this guy thinks. Who the hell does he think he is?”

Responding to Biden’s speech to the Associated Press, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said Biden “has been a nightmare for this country in just three short years in the White House, and no amount of gaslighting will make Americans forget about all the misery and destruction he has brought.” 

Steven Cheung

Nevada will hold its Democratic primary on Tuesday, following Biden’s win in South Carolina last week, though the competition isn’t exactly fierce.

One of his most vocal opponents, Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota, missed the filing deadline and won’t even appear on the ballot. His other challenger–self-help author Marianne Williamson—is not expected to make a dent against the president.

Donald Trump received a majority of Iowa caucus GOP in a shrinking pool of right wing supporters

An echo opinion by Matt Lewis published in the Daily Beast:  After Iowa’s 57,000 GOP caucus voter result support for Donald Trump, it’s increasingly difficult to imagine anyone wresting control of the nomination away from him—even if Nikki Haley rebounds next week with a New Hampshire win.

Rather than inflating Trump’s support, it’s possible that Iowa underrepresented Trump’s nationwide dominance by bestowing him with a mere 51 percent of their caucus vote. According to a recent CBS News poll, 69 percent of Republicans nationwide are supporting Trump.

If you’re still not convinced that the GOP electorate is thoroughly Trumpified, then consider some of the exit polls coming out of Iowa.

According to The Washington Post, about two-thirds of Iowa caucusgoers said Joe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 election. And about 70 percent of the voters who said that caucused for Trump.

This is to say that a majority of Republicans are a) willing to at least pretend to believe something that is patently absurd, and b) focused on relitigating the past.

In the waning days before the Iowa caucuses, Ron DeSantis attempted to obliquely address Trump’s backward-looking obsession (without actually mentioning that Biden won the 2020, election). DeSantis cast himself as the candidate of the future, saying that Trump is running on “his issues,” while DeSantis is focused on “your issues” and “this country’s future.”

It didn’t work—partly because DeSantis cannot deliver a pithy (short and meaningful) message, but mostly because Republican voters don’t want to reject The Big Lie or focus on the future. These voters seem hellbent on renominating Trump. 

Indeed, about two-thirds of caucusgoers said Trump would still be fit for the presidency, even if he was convicted of a crime (Trump won about 70 percent of these people). 😡😞⍰

On one hand, not caring whether your party’s nominee is a convicted criminal is crazy and scary. On the other hand, if the remaining one-third of Iowa caucusgoers conclude that a conviction means Trump is unfit for the presidency, that could spell trouble for Trump, come November.

But will they? 😞❓

I am reminded that back in 2016, 62 percent of Americans said Trump was “unqualified” to be president. Somehow, he still won the election. Faced with a binary choice, most Republicans will find a way to rationalize supporting a convicted felon.

Still, Trump barely won the general election in 2016—and he lost in 2020. If even a small percentage of Republican base voters (the kinds of people willing to show up in sub-zero temps), nationwide, stay home, it could defeat Trump in 2024. #NeverTrump❗

Speaking of the types of people who came out in Iowa on Monday night, it’s possible that the representation was self-selective in another way.

Turnout in the Iowa caucuses was low, (only a measly GOP 108,000 caucus voters in Iowa where the populationis 3.2 million people❗) likely because of the frigid conditions. 

But, as former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) also noted on Monday night, “Trumpism is the politics of subtraction: 56k fewer Republican caucus voters tonight in Iowa vs 2016. Trump wins by depressing and shrinking the electorate…”

While the consequences of this trend may already be impacting the 2024 election, there is also a multiplier effect. As more and more Americans see Trump as the avatar of the Republican Party, fewer college-educated suburbanites (for example) are likely to join the party in the future.

It is perhaps ironic that a shrinking Republican Party is also a purer, more Trumpy, Republican Party. Interestingly, though, just 46 percent of Iowa caucusgoers said they considered themselves MAGA (78 percent of them supported Trump). While supporters of candidates like Haley might be happy to hear that less than half of Iowans consider themselves MAGA, the results suggest this isn’t really much of a “win.” In fact, it’s cold (no pun intended) comfort.

If you add Vivek Ramaswamy’s votes to Trump’s 51 percent, you get nearly 60 percent of Iowa caucusgoers who are effectively “MAGA” (this is not an entirely hypothetical scenario, since Vivek dropped out after finishing fourth in the caucuses).

Throw in Ron DeSantis’ Iowa votes, and you’re close to 80 percent who are MAGA-ish. That leaves 20 percent for the “Nikki” vote.

Now, you might retort that caucuses are unique, so Iowa’s results cannot be extrapolated to say much of anything about upcoming primary results (see victories by Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, et al.). What is more, only a fraction of registered Republicans participate (even when turnout is up). If you are looking for a reason to believe that someone other than Trump still has a shot, you might cling to the “Iowa is weird” theory, while turning your lonely eyes toward Nikki and New Hampshire.

The problem is that New Hampshire’s primary is arguably even less representative of the national GOP electorate, because independents can vote in the first-in-the-nation primary.

I can't believe "snake oil" ivermectin is still in the news!

#SIASD- One Twitter response asked if the seven "doctors" reported in this article were impersonators. 

How could these people possibly be real "doctors"?

Seven doctors contract COVID infection, after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit: Doctors tested positive or developed symptoms ‘within days’ of conference at which alternative treatments were discussed.

Echo report published in the Guardian

Seven anti-vaccine doctors fell sick after gathering earlier this month for a Florida “summit” at which alternative treatments for COVID-19 were discussed.

“I have been on ivermectin for 16 months, my wife and I,” Dr Bruce Boros told the audience at the event held at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, adding: “I have never felt healthier in my life.”

The 71-year-old cardiologist and staunch antivaxxer advocate contracted COVID-19 two days later, according to the head event organizer, Dr. John Littell.

Littell, an Ocala family physician, also told the Daily Beast six other doctors among 800 to 900 participants at the event also tested positive or developed COVID-19 symptoms “within days of the conference”.

Littell raised the suggestion the conference was therefore a super-spreader event but rejected it, vehemently saying: “No.

“I think they had gotten it from New York, or Michigan or wherever they were from,” he told the Beast. “It was really the people who flew in from other places.”

He also said: “Everybody so far has responded to treatment with ivermectin … Bruce is doing well.”

The Beast said sources close to Boros said he was gravely ill at his Key West home.

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic which has uses in humans but is predominantly used in livestock, such as cows and horses. Authorities say it has no proven use against COVID-19 and can be dangerous if taken in large quantities. The US Food and Drug Administration has not authorized or approved ivermectin as a COVID treatment and has said clinical trials are continuing.

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic 

Boros has claimed ivermectin is “working where it’s being used around the world” as a COVID treatment.

In the same Facebook post, he (wrong-mindedly) condemned Dr. Anthony Fauci (infectious disease expert!) , Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, as “a fraud” and said “big pharma is playing us for suckers”.

In a July interview with Florida Keys Weekly, Boros responded to criticisms of his post, saying: “It breaks my heart that a town like this has made something so political and hateful. What’s wrong with people? I just want to help patients and keep them from dying.”

He also claimed that he gave a seriously ill COVID-19 patient ivermectin and “within six hours he was talking without coughing”.

At the summit in Ocala, Boros criticized his 97-year-old father for getting a COVID vaccine, saying: “He had been brainwashed … He got it. He didn’t tell me. I was very upset. I wanted to give him a spanking. He got both jabs.”

Earlier this year, a significant study supporting ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment was withdrawn, after data was found to have been falsified and patients nonexistent. (Maybe these people who called themselves "doctors" were professionally non-existent as well.)

The FDA says people should “never use medications intended for animals on yourself or other people. Animal ivermectin products are very different from those approved for humans." 

Moreover, "Use of animal ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 in humans is dangerous.”

Gun violence - evil copy cat slayings: Not one More!

Pete Buttigieg: ‘America Is Under Attack by White Nationalist Terrorism’ and Trump Is ‘Not Helping’- echoes published in the Daily Beast Cheat Sheet. All evil gun violence is preventable!

In the wake of a deadly shooting in El Paso, Texas on Saturday, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg warned that “America is under attack by lethal, violent, white nationalist terrorism.” Speaking at the AFSCME Public Service forum in Las Vegas, Buttigieg went a step further than his 2020 rivals in condemning Saturday’s attack, not just calling for gun control but saying President Trump is “not helping” to stop white nationalism. “The President of the United States is condoning white nationalism. White nationalism is one of the evils that is motivating and inspiring at least some to go kill Americans,” he said, adding that Trump has a “responsibility to nip that in the bud.” While police have not yet determined a motive in the El Paso shooting that left 20 dead and 26 injured, Buttigieg said there was “evidence” to suggest white nationalism played a role. He also acknowledged that “facts on the ground can change,” however. Police have said they are still working to verify claims that an anti-immigrant manifesto published online before the attack was authored by the suspected gunman.

-- Sam Stein contributed reporting

Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Beto O'Rourke Holds Back Tears Addressing El Paso Shooting

Beto O'Rourke

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke choked up while addressing reporters following the shooting of multiple people in El Paso, Texas on Saturday. Speaking to reporters at a union forum in Las Vegas, Nevada, the former Texas congressman and El Paso city council member said he would be heading to his hometown, where his presidential campaign is based, in the wake of the shooting. “I’m incredibly saddened, and it is very hard to think about this,” he said, appearing to hold back tears. 

During his speech earlier in the afternoon as initial information about the shooting trickled in, O’Rourke offered a strong condemnation of gun violence, admonishing military-style guns used in many mass shootings. “Keep that shit on the battlefields,” he said. “Do not bring it into our communities.”

Sarah Huckabee Sanders lies about lying - violates the Ten Commandments

Just getting started to reveal the truth!Rep. Jerry Nadler Vows ‘Major Hearings’ With Barr, Mueller, Other 

Like a rug- shame on you "Ms. Christian"

Daily Beast report about Sara Huckabee Sanders and her "lies about telling lies". By Reuters- Jonathan Ernst

Of all the biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone are said to have been "written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18)

Sarah Huckabee Sanders claims she is a Christian but nearly everyday she violates "thou shalt not bear false witness" (Exodus 20-16)

In a heated interview with Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos on Friday morning, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders danced around her own truth about what she was quoted as saying in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’ report.

Sanders told Mueller that her comments about how the “rank and file of the FBI” supported President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey were a “slip of the tongue.”

Stephanopoulos confronted Sanders with an accusation. “That’s not a slip of the tongue, Sarah, that’s a deliberate false statement,” he charged. “Actually, if you look at what I said, I said the slip of the tongue was in using the word countless, but there were a number of FBI, both former and current, that agreed with the president’s decision and they’ve continued to speak out,” she replied, while Stephanopoulos tried to interrupt her before she got in one last jab: “James Comey was a disgraced leaker and used authorization to spy on the Trump campaign.”

Stephanopoulos then said, “Sarah, I’ve got to stop you there. Why can’t you acknowledge that what you said then was not true?” Then, stumbling and visibly red-faced, she doubled down and said, it was in the heat of the moment, meaning it wasn’t a scripted talking point. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t a robot like the Democrat Party.” ---MaineWriter - OMG! Yet another Sanders serial lie because only the Republicans have been caught up in lies and cover ups about the Trump campaign and the unethical obstruction of justice, now adding even more cover ups, on top of what is already documented.

Senator John McCain Believed In America

The true spirit of Senator John McCain was seen in those moments away from the camera. 

Rain suddenly falls as Senator John McCain's casket enters the Capitol

Senator John McCain will be buried next to his 'wingman'
Sen. John McCain will be laid to rest next to his Naval Academy classmate Charles Larson, a naval officer who became a four-star admiral. Larson's family told CNN how the pair decided they would be buried next to one another.

Senator John McCain's casket with his widow Mrs. Cindy McCain

Published in the Daily Beast written by Mike Barnicle 

There won’t be another like him. His casket, his family, and several of his friends flew back to Washington, a city under siege, crossing the land he loved and carried in his heart forever. In his death, some hoped America would find a slow path toward healing itself. Perhaps it would be in the words and tears of Joe Biden as he addressed the crowd of mourners gathered in Phoenix.

“I love John McCain,” Biden had said.

As the nation says farewell to John McCain, it is not illogical to fear that one more critical piece of our American story and the unique character and history of our country might disappear with him—lost in the fog of a culture so damaged by impatience and a politics dominated by lies and fear.

John McCain woke every day ready, eager even, to hurl himself toward adventure. For over five and half years his daily adventure was to try to make sure he lived to breathe for one more day. For all the rest of his time on earth he took to the morning with the same items: character, honesty, integrity and, yes, anger toward those he felt dishonored the country by deceit, cheating, or damaging those who could least afford to be damaged.

He had the one true experience that allows any of us, especially people in politics, to truly understand life and the world around us. He understood and knew what it was like to suffer damage, to live with loss.

So we go back to the second week of January 2000.

McCain is in Dublin, New Hampshire, running against George W. Bush in that state’s presidential primary. He is standing on a stage in the gym of the Dublin School speaking to roughly 200 people about a range of topics in the day's news: Kosovo, abortion, campaign finance laws. As he speaks, many of the older people in the crowd nod and the younger people lean forward with every answer. Two people stand quietly by the wall at the back of the gym. Their names are Gordon and Elizabeth Billipp and they have come that morning from their home in nearby Jaffrey, New Hampshire, specifically to see McCain.

McCain finishes answering questions from the crowd and makes his way toward the bus outside and one more stop ahead in the marathon that is a presidential campaign. He stops to be introduced to the Billipps who stand by a coat closet next to the exit. As he smiles and shakes hands with the couple, Gordon Billipp says, “I have always wanted to meet you Senator.” Tears well in his eyes.

“Well, thank you,” McCain replies and then with that impish twinkle he often had, says, “But I hope you’ve had higher aspirations than meeting me.”

Mr. Billipp holds McCain’s hand firmly as he says, “Our son Norman flew A-4’s just like you. Both our boys flew A-4’s and I’m so proud to meet another A-4 pilot.”

Gordon Billipp, his wife Elizabeth by his side, dabs tears in her eyes with a tissue, then tells this story to John McCain: that his son Norman was a 25-year-old Captain in the Marine Corps when he was shot down over Laos on May 6, 1969; that his remains were finally identified and returned to the United States for burial on March 29, 1996.

On the day that Norman Billipp fell out of the sky, John McCain had already spent 20 months at the Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi, North Vietnam, where he told me he once went without seeing the sun for about four months and was deprived of seeing the moon for three years. On the day that Captain Billipp’s remains were repatriated, McCain and John Kerry were in the process of helping to normalize relations between the United States and Vietnam.

McCain then does something extraordinary for a presidential candidate, let alone any politician of that stature. He takes the Billipps into the coat room and shuts the door. The three spend about fifteen minutes together. When the door opens, it is clear all three had been crying.

A young campaign press aide approaches McCain after hearing the reason the three were together and quietly suggests that a photo op would be a good boost for his underfunded New Hampshire primary effort. McCain looks at the aide, shakes his head, and says quietly: “Absolutely not.”

So now the nation mourns and public men like Joe Biden cry, for what we had and what we fear has been lost. 

Yet, as so much of John McCain’s life and legacy was spent learning how to deal with loss, he also symbolized hope, strength and the beauty of the second chance. He stood determined that this splendid country called America will forever stand in the sunlight. And the lesson of his well-lived life remains, still strong, still there, still ready to roll even in the rubble and noise of the daily disgrace around us.

North Korea meeting with Donald Trump is an evident failure

"Daily Beast" ~Watchdog: North Korea kept upgrading nuclear reactor since Trump-Kim Jong Un  Summit ~ report by Spencer Ackerman

Non-verbals ~ Experts noted that Trump (inappropriately) touched Kim on numerous occasions, while Kim was much more restrained. Obviously, the photo op meeting between Kim Jung Un and Donald Trump held in Singapore was clearly a failed effort to stop the North Korean nuclear armament.

North Korean leader Kim Jung Un is already ignoring the agreement he is said to have signed in Singapore

North Korea continued to upgrade its only known nuclear reactor, satellite imagery has shown, calling into question the value of the summit agreement between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. 

In fact, the infrastructure improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant, which is used to fuel the country’s weapons program, are “continuing at a rapid pace,” according to analysis by monitoring group 38 North. Moreover, the upgrades include the modification of a cooling system for the plutonium production reactor, at least two new non-industrial buildings, and a new engineering office building. Kim Jong Un committed to “complete denuclearization” in a meeting with Trump in Singapore this month, but the details of how and when that will happen were not explicitly set out. “Infrastructure improvements continue at Yongbyon,” Jenny Town, managing editor of 38 North, wrote on Twitter. “Underscores reason why an actual deal is necessary, not just a statement of lofty goals.”

Alabama Republican women as Roy Moore jurors

“I think Roy Moore is an impostor. I am a Christian and I don’t want to be counted in his camp. He’s a divisive person.”

Leigh Corfman, left, in a 1979 photo, when she was about 14, has gone public about a sexual encounter where Roy Moore tried to engage her in lewd behavior, when she was a minor

In my opinion, women Republican voters in Alabama will be the jurors in the decision about child sexual predator Roy Moore, when the the state's US Senate seat will be determined on December 12, in a special election. Let's hope the Republican women voters truly do the right thing and expose Roy Moore for hypocrisy and telling lies about his sexual misconduct with underage women. Hopefully, the law abiding and qualified Democratic candidate Doug Jones will win the election.

Less of Moore ~ by Patricia Murphy

Republican Women in Alabama Begin to Turn on Roy Moore

The GOP Senate candidate was always divisive. Now he’s grown toxic.

ANNISTON, Alabama—B.L. Shirley is a Republican woman from a Republican county who always—always—votes Republican. And yet, on a windy, grey morning last weekend, the Talladega, Alabama, retiree found herself in, of all places, a Democrat’s campaign office, wondering just what she could do to defeat the GOP candidate running for a seat in the U.S. Senate from her state.

“Roy Moore,” she said, when asked why she would go canvassing for Democrat Doug Jones before the special election on Dec. 12. “I think Roy Moore is an impostor. I am a Christian and I don’t want to be counted in his camp. He’s a divisive person.”

If Jones is to pull off a victory, it will be because women like Shirley knocked on doors, called neighbors, and worked to convince otherwise skeptical voters that his opponent is fundamentally unfit for the office he’s seeking. 

A few weeks ago, that seemed like a tall order. As the election nears, it no longer appears quite so improbable.

Allegations that Moore routinely pursued teenage girls and in some cases assaulted them when he was a single man in his thirties have caused Republican voters in Alabama to reassess their options. Some have decided to rally around the nominee. But others have recoiled, leaving Moore in real risk of losing his attempt to take over the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

More than any other group, it is the women of Alabama, specifically Republican women, who will be the divisive voting bloc.

Women like Walton Foster.

A Republican and a Christian, Foster voted for Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) in the special election primary and said she plans to cast her ballot for Jones in the general. She considers Roy Moore “an abomination.”

“Our historically Republican-leaning suburb is covered with Doug Jones signs. I have seen one for Roy Moore,” said Foster, a mother of two teenage boys who lives in a suburb of Birmingham. “He is more about his personal agenda and less about what is good for the state of Alabama. He does not seem interested in working with anyone. He has refused to debate and defend his positions publicly. When you add the nine accusations—nine!—it is clear he is unfit for office.”

Moore himself seems acutely aware that his standing among the women of Alabama is precarious at best. Over the past few days, his campaign has held press events with women testifying to his character while his wife has become his most public-facing surrogate.

The message has been that he is a victim of the liberal media, not a predator who targeted underage girls. Democrats in the state say it isn’t working.

Sheila Gilbert, the chair of the Calhoun County Democratic Party, said she’s heard from a number of unhappy Republican women since the allegations against Moore came to light in The Washington Post several weeks ago. She believes that those woman, and that story, have fundamentally changed the course of the Senate race.

“I worked on a phone bank the other night with women calling women and a lot of women just wanted to talk,” Gilbert said. “They were saying they were Republicans and they’re going to vote for Doug Jones. They are appalled. I’ve heard a lot of that

A Fox News poll released last Friday showed that Gilbert’s phone bank conversations may reflect a larger trend taking place across the state. In the poll, Jones had an eight point lead over Moore—50 percent to 42 percent—much of it owed to his lopsided support from women, especially young women voters. 

While Jones was up 58-32 percent among all women, he had a monster 49-point advantage among women under age 45. Jones also received about one-fifth, 19 percent, of the votes of Republican women.

Strategists on both sides believe the race will come down to whether Jones can convince suburban Republican women from the state’s larger cities, like Birmingham, that Moore is, simply, unacceptable. And after strategically holding back on making an issue of the sexual assault allegations, the Jones campaign on Tuesday unveiled a television ad highlighting the prominent conservatives who had condemned his opponent.

The spot prominently featured President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka. But there were plenty of other national Republican women Jones’ ad team could have chosen for cameos. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has called on Moore to drop out of the race. And Peggy Noonan’s column in The Wall Street Journal Saturday called on the “Women of Alabama” to “Say No to Roy Moore.”

But for all the national hand-wringing and the increased activity at local Democratic campaign headquarters, many Alabama Republican women seem ready to stick by Moore. That includes the state’s governor, Kay Ivey, who has said she’ll vote for Moore despite believing the accounts of his accusers. And it includes others who testified that they simply didn’t find the allegations credible.

“Why are we just now hearing about these women?” said Angel Martin as she stood in a line at the Starbuck’s outside of Oxford, Alabama. “Why is this just now coming out right before an election?”

Two other women agreed—the timing was too convenient for Democrats- but neither wanted to be quoted supporting Moore. 

(MaineWriter- "timing?" ~ The stories about Roy Moore's predatory sexual behavior were already widely circulated, but the Washington Post documented them.)

“I just don’t want to talk about all that,” one said.

And then there is “B.L.” from Talladega. She asked that she only be quoted by her initials because her sister, who also lives in Alabama, is voting for Roy Moore.

B.L.’s act of protest against her Republican Party for nominating a man she called “an imposter” would, in essence, be canceled out.

(MaineWriter~ I simply can't imagine how women, Republican or otherwise, can vote for Roy Moore. I'd be deeply ashamed to admit voting for a serial child sexual predator.)