Republicans are one hundred percent responsible for the comparisoms between Trump and Naziism

People Magazine report  Al Gore Attacks Trump in a Fiery Speech, Says He Sees Parallels to Early Nazi Germany for This Reason by Meredith Kile.

Former Vice President Al Gore blasted Donald Trump during a speech in San Francisco, accusing Trump of dismantling efforts to combat climate change and threatening American democracy.

Politico echo by Debra Kahn:  Al Gore compares Trump administration to Nazi Germany

"Our constitution, written by our founders, is intended to protect us against a threat identical to Donald Trump,” the former vice president said in a pointed speech at San Francisco Climate Week.

SAN FRANCISCO — Former Vice President Al Gore on Monday compared Donald Trump’s administration to Nazi Germany and issued a dire warning about Trump’s use of power in a speech devoted to climate change.

Speaking at an event at the start of San Francisco’s Climate Week, Gore said the Trump administration was “trying to create their own preferred version of reality” to achieve their sweeping objectives similar to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party in the 1930s, and ‘40s.

“I understand very well why it is wrong to compare Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich to any other movement,” Gore said to an audience of roughly 150 climate advocates and policymakers gathered at a science museum on San Francisco’s waterfront. “It was uniquely evil, full stop. I get it. ❗ But there are important lessons from the history of that emergent evil.”

Gore’s remarks follow sharp attacks on the Trump administration by a throng of party luminaries and former leaders in recent weeks.

Former President Barack Obama in a recent speech said he was “deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” adding that the values of the U.S. under Trump have eroded. Former Vice President Kamala Harris accused the Trump administration of taking unconstitutional actions and said they are contributing to a “sense of fear.” And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a New York Times guest essay that Trump was “squandering America’s strength and threatening our national security” — contributing to the battery of free-wheeling attacks as current officeholders in the Democratic Party calibrate their day-to-day approaches to the White House.

Gore, for his part, cited German philosophers’ “moral autopsy on the Third Reich” in the aftermath of World War II.

“It was [Jürgen] Habermas’ mentor, Theodore Adorno, who wrote that the first step in that nation’s descent into hell was, and I quote, ‘the conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power,”’ Gore said. “He described how the Nazis, and I quote again, ‘attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false.’ End quote. The Trump administration is insisting on trying to create their own preferred version of reality.”

White House officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Gore’s remarks.

Gore, whose 2006, documentary about global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won an Academy Award, also reeled off a series of assertions by Trump about climate change and energy technologies as part of his broadside on the administration’s dismantling of previous Democratic administrations’ climate policies.

“They say the climate crisis is a hoax invented by the Chinese to destroy American manufacturing,” he said. “They say coal is clean. They say wind turbines cause cancer. They say sea-level rise just creates more beachfront property.”

Gore also invoked Martin Luther King, Jr., and the late Pope Francis in his 25-minute speech, which was largely devoted to exhorting the crowd to continue pursuing action on climate change.

“We’ve already seen, by the way, how populist authoritarian leaders have used migrants as scapegoats and have fanned the fires of xenophobia to fuel their own rise of power,” he said. “And power-seeking is what this is all about. Our constitution, written by our founders, is intended to protect us against a threat identical to Donald Trump,” he said, to applause.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie were in attendance and spoke after Gore. 

Pelosi highlighted climate policies like the Inflation Reduction Act and Pope Francis’ climate advocacy, while Lurie touted San Francisco’s recycling and renewable energy policies and investments in electric vehicle infrastructure.

Sophia Cai contributed to this report.

A "hill we will conquer" says poet Amanda Gorman

Echo opinion published in The New York Times, by Amanda Holpuch.

Amanda Gorman, who in 2021, became the youngest inaugural poet in United States history when she spoke at President Biden’s swearing-in, said she was “gutted” this week after a Florida school said the poem she recited that day was inappropriate for its youngest students.

The Miami-Dade County school district said that one of its schools, the Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, which educates children from prekindergarten through eighth grade, had determined that the poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was more appropriate for middle school students.

Ms. Gorman, now 25, said in a statement on Instagram on Tuesday that she wrote the poem “so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment.”

Amanda Gorman "The Hill We Climb"

“Ever since, I’ve received countless letters and videos from children inspired by The Hill We Climb to write their own poems,” she said. “Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.”

The Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the nation’s fourth-largest school district by enrollment, said in an emailed statement that while the poem had been moved to a different section of the library at the Bob Graham Education Center, “no literature (books or poem) has been banned or removed.”

“It was determined at the school that ‘The Hill We Climb’ is better suited for middle school students and it was shelved in the middle school section of the media center,” the school district said. “The book remains available in the media center.”

The challenge to Ms. Gorman’s poem, which was reported by The Miami Herald, came from Daily Salinas, a parent of two students at the school, who complained in March about it and four other titles, according to records provided to The New York Times by The Florida Freedom to Read Project, an advocacy group that opposes efforts to ban and restrict access to books in the state.

The complaint against “The Hill We Climb” lists its author as Oprah Winfrey, not Ms. Gorman, and says that the function of the work is to “cause confusion and indoctrinate students.” Ms. Winfrey wrote the foreword to a hardcover edition of Ms. Gorman’s poem. Ms. Salinas could not immediately be reached on Wednesday.

The other works that were challenged were “The ABCs of Black History” by Rio Cortez, “Cuban Kids” by George Ancona, “Love to Langston” by Tony Medina and “Countries in the News: Cuba,” by Kieran Walsh. The reasons cited for opposing the other works include “indoctrination” and critical race theory, a graduate-level academic framework for understanding racism in the United States that focuses mainly on institutions and systems.

A committee of school representatives, including teachers, administrators, a guidance counselor and a library media specialist, decided that “Countries in the News: Cuba” could remain on the shelves. The other titles, like Ms. Gorman’s poem, were moved to shelves for middle schools students.

On Wednesday morning, Daniella Levine Cava, the Miami-Dade County mayor, invited Ms. Gorman to do a reading of the poem in the county.

And this opinion letter in response:  One parent in Florida objects to Amanda Gorman’s marvelous poem “The Hill We Climb,” and the school board folds like a coward by limiting the access to it. A freedom restricted is a freedom denied.  Ted Loewenberg in San Francisco

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman published in the Harvard Gazette

‘The Hill We Climb’

When day comes we ask ourselves,
‘where can we find light in this never-ending shade,’
the loss we carry,
a sea we must wade?
We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn’t always just-ice.

And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it,
somehow we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes, we are far from polished,
far from pristine,
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge a union with purpose,
to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and
conditions of man.

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew;
that even as we hurt, we hoped;
that even as we tired, we tried;
that we’ll forever be tied together, victorious,
not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
and no one shall make them afraid.
If we’re to live up to our own time
then victory won’t lie in the blade
but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade,
the hill we climb
if only we dare it,
because being American is more than a pride we inherit —
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth,
in this faith we trust,
for while we have our eyes on the future,
history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption
we feared at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter,
to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked,
‘how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe,’
now we assert,
‘how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?’
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be:
a country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce, and free.
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with.
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution,
we will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south.
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover
in every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.

For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it,
if only we’re brave enough to be it.

Many thousands said the former guy is "unfit to serve"- And now this....

Echo opinion letter published in The New York Times:

Former guy President Donald Trump’s call to overturn the 2020 election through “the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution” underscores (yet again) his unfitness for any position of public trust.

The solemn-dignified (❗)presidential oath, which Trump took in 2017, and would take again, if he were to prevail in the 2024, election, (OMG!)...

consists of a vow to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Mr. Trump has now disavowed this obligation in word, after repeatedly doing so throughout his presidency in deed. Case closed.

No less unfit are those politicians who, placing personal ambition above defending the Constitution, are too shamelessly craven to condemn him.

From Stephen A. Silver in San Francisco, CA

Donald Trump’s strategy is clear. It is to manipulate the media into continuing to cover him by making each statement more outrageous than the previous one.  From Leonard R. Stamm in Silver Spring, Md.

Eucharist- All are welcome

Echo: A social media message from Rev. Suzie Robertson:

Earliest written account of Eucharist: "...'eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord' in the celebration of a 'Supper of the Lord', to the Last Supper of Jesus"

As an Episcopal Priest actively serving a church as Interim Rector, I must speak to the announcement that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be denied the opportunity to receive communion in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco. 

As a servant at this holy table for decades, I have never denied anyone the Eucharist.

So many are caught up in politics and church dogma that they have lost sight of Jesus and what he said. Speaker Pelosi was instructed by Jesus, himself, to do this. 

People forget that a group of saints and sinners were at the dinner table with Jesus, who would die for them, the next day. They were at a family meal. They were friends and colleagues who didn't agree on everything. They didn't have everything figured out. They were existing in chaos. They were afraid. Some of them turned their backs on their own.

The Eucharist, Holy Communion, The Lord's Supper is a holy meal. All were encouraged by Christ to partake of it. So, how does denying someone echo the words of Jesus? The very word, Eucharist comes from a 1st Century word from which charity, grace, compassion, thank you, gracias, grazzi, comfort, etc., also get their meanings. Practically, when a person comes to a family meal to eat, it is rude not to welcome them.

When someone who is spiritually or otherwise hungry comes to us, it is cruel not to feed them. At this table, altar, or whatever you want to call it, we say thanksgivings, we ask for forgiveness. Before that, we offer the peace to our neighbors and bring an offering to that table, the fruits of our own labors and our contributions to God and God's people.

Speaker Pelosi, or even any derelict who walks this planet, you will always be welcomed at my table, and I will feed you. Bring them on! Send the Archbishop back to Sunday School or Bible Study.
Come worship with me at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Seattle. Regardless of your circumstances, where you have been or where you are going, eat and drink with me, the holiest meal ever served. All are welcomed.

Maine Writer:  As a Roman Catholic woman, I want to thank Rev. Suzie Robertson for writing this social media commentary.

Salvatore Cordileone is the Archbishop of San Francisco- He can be fired!  #PopeFrancisAlert 

Opinions - the stupid Trump statement about taking foreign opposition research

Echo opinion letters
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/opinion/letters/trump-foreign-opposition-research.html

New York Times opinion letters - Foreign Research on a Rival is a stupid illegal act but Trump says he would take it!  

"...When in his long business experience did he receive a no-strings-attach benefit or gift with no expectation by the donor of reciprocity? ," Mitchell Zuckerman opinion letter published in the New York Times.

Readers are appalled at Donald Trump's willingness to accept dirt on an opponent from foreign governments.

Letters to the editor:

(Responding to the New York Times article of June 13)

Donald Trump thinks there's nothing wrong with listening to opposition research from a foreign government; he says all politicians would do it?  Second, political researchers are paid for their clandestine research work.

If trump is willing to receive information about his 2020 opponent from a foreign government, what would that government expect in return?  Trump claims that he knows how life and the real world work. When in his long business experience did he receive a no-strings-attach benefit or gift with no expectation by the donor of reciprocity?  

From Mitchell Zuckerman in New Hope Pennsylvania

To the Editor:

So, Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office and announced on national television that he would accept dirt on an opponent from Russia.  Can you imagine a more direct and open invitation for a hostile power to interfere in our US elections?

"Russia, if you're listening...."

From Gloria Cheatham, in Atlanta Georgia

To the Editor:

While Donald Trump may welcome dirt from our nation's adversaries about his opponents, one wonders if he would be singing the same tune if the tables were turned and they were supplying the Democrats with dirt on him.  I, for one, would welcome any information we could get on Donald Trump's tax returns or transcripts, detailing his secretive one-on-one meetings with President Vladimir Putin.

From Michael Scott in San Francisco