Requiem to the lost Republican Party

When the Trump family of coven and warlocks descended that escalator, their downward trajectory was more prophetic than anyone could have predicted. "When the Donald Dump family stepped onto an escalator in the atrium of the tRumph Tower on Fifth Avenue, in New Yor City, they began their descending...."

Opinion echo letter published in the Savannah Morning News, in Georgia: SavannahNow.com

Republicans have lost their way!

In fact, the GOP have completely lost their way.

This opinion deserves to have Mozart's Requiem as background....

In the heat of trying to destroy a president (President Obama), which is wrong on so many level, they have mostly destroyed themselves.

The reactionary Tea Party has proven to be their undoing. Only the blind (cult!) Fox viewers cannot see this.

Republican National Committee (RNC) former head Rience Priebus commissioned a report following the 2012, election that he then touted as saying “we need a rebranding effort.”

But, lo-and-behold he has done nothing to that end. Nothing. In fact the Republican Party has mostly gone backward.

Somehow, I’m thinking, throwing a major GOP shindig, as commenced last week, and putting onstage Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson to do some ugly Bible thumping condemning everyone, including the GOP, which he refreshingly called “desperate,” but himself, lacks rebranding insight..

That nonsense was followed by lil’ Miss Annie Oakley herself, Sarah Palin, who just can’t seem to get over Obama.

And then King of the Birthers, Donald Dump (Trump)!

People, people, wake up! The Republican party is drowning and leadership thinks tossing a millstone is a life preserver.

Then ole Reince himself gets onstage and throws as baby-fit, “we’re the party of equality, they’re the ones with the bad history.” Oh, yeah, Rience darlin’ keep tellin’ yourself that as you make history a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Rience, repeat, oh never mind. That’s one baby that should be thrown out with the dirty bathwater.

From Bernie Evans in Black Creek, Georgia.

God in a shrinking church

Maine Writer- Although humans continue to discover how the universe is expanding, the Creator of the universe is experiencing a shrinking number of dedicated religious followers.  God does not abandon the creation, but humans are expressing alternative opinions about how to be spiritual, without going to church. I don't understand how humans can be spiritual without also experiencing a community where we can share our human condition. But, as Leonard Pitts reports in this echo opinion column, published in the Savannah Morning News:

So, it seems the church is shrinking.

The mosque and synagogue, too, for that matter. 

Not that this is breaking news. It has long been known that the numbers of Americans who belong to religious organizations are dwindling. But, last week, that decline hit a milestone. For the first time since Gallup began tracking religious membership back in 1937, it has dropped below half. Back then, 73% of us belonged to some house of worship. Today, just 48% do.

Experts cite multiple reasons for the slippage, including the Catholic Church's many sex scandals, growing distrust of institutions in general and a modern disinclination to be pigeonholed into any single theological tradition. While there is surely merit to all those observations, it seems likely that where Christianity -- more specifically, the white, evangelical church -- is concerned, there is also another explanation for the disappearance of the missing congregants:

They were driven away.

Consider it a byproduct of the rise, a little over 40 years ago, of the so-called religious right as a political force. Suddenly, Jesus of Nazareth, the itinerant rabbi whose life, death and life have inspired believers for two millennia, was adopted as a mascot of Republican conservatism.*

Granted, the 1980s was hardly the first time -- or the last -- people allowed their politics to be informed by their faith. As the lives and ministries of Jim Wallis, Jeremiah Wright, William Barber II and Martin Luther King Jr. amply attest, the progressive left has often done the same thing.

No, the difference 40 years ago wasn't the fact of faith in politics, but the substance of it. We went from "feed my sheep" to cutbacks in school lunch programs. From "love ye one another" to ignoring AIDS because it was "only" killing gays. From "woe unto you who are rich" to tax cuts for the wealthy and trickle-down leftovers for everyone else. From compassion for "the least of these" to condemnation of mythical welfare queens and other lazy and undeserving poor. (AKA religious hypocrisy!)

It was a faith less of joy than of perpetual outrage, less of hope than of abiding fear. Which means that ultimately, it was not faith at all, only the degradation thereof. It reached its sorry nadir when the religious right made common cause with the 45th president. He broke commandments like glass, but they didn't care. He was a biblical illiterate, but they didn't notice. Indeed, this year at CPAC, when his people rolled him out in the form of a literal golden idol, they lined up to take pictures.

"Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me", Exodus 20:2

And really, if you were a person seeking God, seeking the comfort of faith, the solace and sustenance of faith, would you be drawn to that? Fat chance.

Small wonder the church is shrinking. And yet, even when they feel let down by the church, seekers don't stop seeking. Note that Gallup also reports that, depending upon how you word the question, as many as 87% of us still profess belief in God.

That's a minor miracle. You might even call it good news. And it speaks to the challenge -- and opportunity -- facing every preacher watching a congregation dwindle.

Faith can shape politics, yes. But when politics start shaping faith, maybe you've lost your way. When you find yourself preaching exclusion and rejection in the name of Him who said, "Come unto me," maybe it's time to recalibrate. Or even repent. Maybe that's what the people who used to fill those pews are waiting for. Because, yes, the church is shrinking.

But, they also know that God is not.

*Maine Writer postscript:  In Europe and Canada, the decline in Christian religious worshippers has been inversely collated with  religion in government. Canadian churches are largely empty. This does not seem to be the situation with Moslem governments like Saudi Arabia.  

Georgia Republicans fear a multiracial electorate

"Passing out food and drink to voters is also criminalized and partisan poll watchers will have to undergo training."- Savannah Morning News

Jim Crow laws - "Let us march on ballot boxes until brotherhood becomes more than a meaningless word in an opening prayer, but the order of the day on every legislative agenda,” Dr. Martin Luther King.

Echo opinion published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution news:

In response to a highly contested and highly scrutinized election, the majority of Georgia legislators rejected facts and embraced fear-mongering and conspiracy theories. 

Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp and the Republicans in the state legislature rejected the same electoral process in which they, themselves, won election. Senate Bill 202 is an anti-voter bill that attacks absentee voting, criminalizes giving Georgians a drink of water to their neighbors, allows state takeover of county elections, and retaliates against the elected Secretary of State by replacing him with a State Board of Elections Chair chosen by the legislature — not the voters.

The General Assembly voted to undermine our democracy by attempting to manipulate not only the electorate, but also the 159 independent boards of election in the counties. As always, the burden of these changes falls most heavily on voters of color.

In that speech in Montgomery, Dr. King provided a history lesson — that Jim Crow and segregation were created following Reconstruction, because “the Negro and white masses of the South threatened to unite and build a great society: a society of justice where none would prey upon the weakness of others; a society of plenty where greed and poverty would be done away; a society of brotherhood where every man would respect the dignity and worth of human personality.”

In 2020, Georgians united, again in a multiracial, multicultural coalition that elected a white man and a woman of Asian and African descent to the highest offices in the land and a Jewish man and a Black Baptist preacher to the U.S. Senate.

Georgia voters elected the most diverse General Assembly in our history, and chose Black Americans to lead county commissions, district attorney offices and sheriff’s offices in formerly “white flight” suburbs.

Again, we face a backlash against multiracial democracy.

The majority that controls the General Assembly rejected the multiracial vision that welcomed the world to Atlanta in 1996, built the world’s-busiest airport, and created one of the most popular hospitality and logistics centers in the United States.

We will follow Dr. King’s admonition, “Let us march on ballot boxes until brotherhood becomes more than a meaningless word in an opening prayer, but the order of the day on every legislative agenda.”

Andrea Young is executive director of the ACLU of Georgia.

22,000 member American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. 

She is a life-long advocate for civil and human rights. 

The ACLU of Georgia is a trusted, ethical, nonpartisan defender of our civil liberties: opposing threats to civil liberties; combatting voter suppression; supporting criminal justice reform; protecting freedom of speech, immigrant rights, and women’s rights, especially reproductive freedom. 

Donald Trump appears to have recovered from COVID because he had FREE exclusive access to a treatment cocktail

Donald Trump received his COVID cocktail provided by tax payers. No other Americans will have access to this treatment.

E.J. Montini ehco opinion:

When President Donald Trump tweets, “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” it’s like a general in a underground bunker telling troops patrolling above him on exposed ground, “Don’t be afraid of the falling bombs.”

COVID- the only thing Donald Trump ever acquired by earning it!

Most Americans – no Americans – have access to the kind of treatment Trump has been receiving since testing positive for COVID-19.

More than 210,000 of our brothers and sisters have died. Roughly seven and a half million have been sickened. Don’t be afraid? How about, don’t be stupid? Don’t follow Trump’s example. At the very least, wear a mask.

It’s clear, now, that the president’s reckless, maskless in-house policy has led to a coronavirus spread within the White House. Not only have a number of his personal staff and associates tested positive for COVID-19, but there is word as well that two housekeepers assigned to the White House residence also have tested positive. Reporters working there also have been infected.

The White House is a huge building. The official online site says it features 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms and six levels. A large kitchen staff. A large housecleaning staff. Groundskeepers. Maids. Butlers. Security. It goes on.

There are hundreds of people around the White House all day, every day.

Three-drug combo nobody else got

Donald Trump returned Monday from his stay at the presidential suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and stripped off his mask for a photo op.

Is there anything worse an infected person could do?

Two housekeepers in the presidential residence (who supposedly didn’t come into contact with the president or first lady) have contracted the coronavirus.

It’s a clear sign the virus is widespread inside the building.

The president says we shouldn’t be afraid, however.

Does that mean the housekeepers will get the same treatment as Trump is receiving?

Will they have had access to world-class medical staff right there in the residence and then been whisked off to a world-class medical facility in a helicopter?

Will they, like Trump, be given an experimental antibody therapy by the biotech company Regeneron, treatment not yet authorized for use by the Food and Drug Administration.

How about the drugs Remdesivir and dexamethasone, which the president also received?

According to Dr. Jonathan Reiner of George Washington University, “The president might be the only patient on the planet ever to receive this particular combination of medicines.”

Would the housekeepers then be flown back to the White House (where Trump is expected to continue a series of intravenous Remdesivir treatments)? 

Moreover, will they receive care in the place, like the White House, where Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, says the president is “surrounded by world-class medical care.” ??? 

Will the housekeepers get all that, like Trump?

And will they, like Trump, get all that for free?

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

Immigrant workers - DACA supported by a Savannah opinion writer

MaineWriter- In fact....immigrant (refugee) French Haitian plantation owners who fled from a slave uprising, were integral to Savannah's development as a Southern city. The immigrants sought asylum and when they fled from a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign nation of Haiti. It began on 22 August 1791. Now, Savannah has integrated immigrants into the economy and the culture.

Opinion letter to SavanahNow, news from Georgia:

Immigrant workers vital to Savannah

Savannah is a tourists’ dream destination. Being able to stroll through the Historic District (cocktail in hand) and sample the award-winning local cuisine makes this the perfect weekend escape. I should know. I’ve spent seven years in the hospitality industry, and visitors are constantly raving to me about our famed city and its charm.

But national immigration policies are threatening tourism in places like Savannah — which benefited from nearly $3 billion tourist dollars last year — because the White House is making cities like ours less welcoming to the people who serve these visitors on a daily basis: Dreamers like me who account for a significant portion of the hospitality workforce. From what I’ve seen, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of openings in these fields. We could fill these open jobs — if only Congress would act.

Sept. 5 was the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and so far Congress has failed us. Now, four lawsuits are arguing over the issue; last month, a federal judge in D.C. ruled that no new DACA applications had to be accepted. Soon enough, my fate and that of 800,000 Dreamers will likely be in the hands of the Supreme Court.

If the law doesn’t fall in our favor, that would be bad news for Savannah. According to New American Economy, three of the top 10 industries employing Dreamers are hospitality-related, including food services, accommodations and maintenance. That’s almost 185,000 tourism workers that cities like ours would lose should the Trump administration be allowed to strip DACA recipients of their right to work legally.

Without immigrants, there’d be fewer people to make the beds and set out those tiny bottles of shampoo. And Dreamers like myself provide more than physical labor. Over 80 percent of us have at least some college. Since I graduated from Armstrong State University, I’ve been promoted up the ladder to my current position as sales manager and now use my bilingual language skills to lead Spanish-language training programs.

I want award-winning publications to keep promoting our beautiful city as a must-visit destination. I want couples to continue hosting destination weddings at our venues. And I want Hollywood to film more movies like Baywatch here. Our status as a destination city could be at stake if we don’t protect the immigrant workers who help make it all possible.

Mariana Reyes, Savannah

March for our Lives ~ echo from Savannah Georgia

My echo of the day is posting another opinion letter to the editor, published in support for the children who were victims and the casualties of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting on February 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida.  

This letter was published in the Savannah Morning News, Georgia.

Touched by March For Our Lives event

The march in Washington grabbed my heart. 

My emotions ran raw as I witnessed these vibrant young people demanding gun control. They obviously realize how important it is to vote, when they reach 18.

I was one of the first in the country to vote at that age. Georgia passed a law that allowed, if young men could fight in World War II, then surely they were old enough to vote. I turned 18 in August of that year and proudly voted for Franklin Roosevelt as soon as the polls opened.

The youth that took the stage last Saturday afternoon are an amazing and brilliant young people who have convinced me that change will come. And voting will be the instrument -- not guns. I was moved to tears over and over at their raw emotion and self-confidence. Their commitment is engrossing.

I join with them, both with my sentiment, courage and financial aid. And I urge everyone who wants change to call your local elected officials, your county elected officials, your national elected officials and let them all know that they will be voted out if they don’t change gun laws.

Miriam Center, Savannah