Sanders and His Followers

What Sanders and his followers want are real politics, a programme for measurable change- a living wage, debt-free college, an end to private prisons. What Hillary’s people want is a Democrat in charge. Any Democrat. But the mood of the American people is populist, and the Democrats have decided that populism is not to be tolerated. There’s a chasm between the party and the people they claim to stand for, and it’s the kind of chasm that monsters emerge from. Bad Moon Rising ☀

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Knowing and Beleving

There is a difference between knowing and believing. We may know that the earth turns, but we believe, as we say, that the sun rises. We know by evidence, or by trust in people who have examined the evidence in a way that we trust is trustworthy. We may sometimes be persuaded to believe by reason, but within the welter of our experience reason is limited and weak. We believe always by coming, in some sense, to see. We believe in what is apparent, in what we can imagine or “picture” in our minds, in what we feel to be true, in what our hearts tell us, in experience, in stories— above all, perhaps, in stories. We can, to be sure, see parts and so believe in them. But there has always been a higher seeing that informs us that parts, in themselves, are of no worth. Genesis is right: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” The phrase “be alone” is a contradiction in terms. A brain alone is a dead brain. A man alone is a dead man. We are thus as likely to be wrong in what we know as in what we believe. Wendell Berry ☀

Nixonland

The syllogism is simple: first in 1966 with Ronald Reagan, then in 1968 and 1972 with Richard Nixon, Republicans ascended to higher office by pinning on the Democrats responsibility for riots and disruptive protests carried out on the left, successfully framing themselves (as I detailed in my 2008 book Nixonland) as the preservers of order and decorum in a society that seemed to be falling into chaos. The Chaotic Trump Campaign ☀

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White Ideology and Nazism

“They [Nazis] attacked liberalism because it seemed to them the principal premise of modern society; everything they dreaded seemed to spring from it: the bourgeois life, Manchesterism [laissez-faire capitalism], materialism, parliament and the parties, the lack of political leadership. Even more, they sensed in liberalism the source of all their inner sufferings. Theirs was a resentment of loneliness; their one desire was for a new faith, a new community of believers, a world with fixed standards and no doubts, a new national religion that would bind all Germans together. All this, liberalism denied. Hence, they hated liberalism, blamed it for making outcasts of them, for uprooting them from their imaginary past, and from their faith." Fritz Stern

Trump vs President Obama and Pope Francis on Religion

Right Wing Hypocrisy

"These right wing people are such hypocrites. they talk about freedom, but oppress gay people. i don't get it.
" PFC via Facebook


*Grammar edited

Guns Are Like Pee in a Pool

 guns in the U.S. are like pee in the pool. They’re not going away.  And the more people lose their jobs to automation, and the more the rich and smart and lucky get the best educations, and the best jobs, and the best opportunities, the wider the difference will be between “most” people, and those at the top. Meanwhile, the media will be showing everyone how the top 20% live. The nice houses, the nice cars, the pretty wives, etc. That’s what they’re selling to everyone, but 80% will never get it. So, expect more public shootings." Government and Mental Health

Guns In America

“Friends, the conversation is indeed about guns. It’s about guns and America’s gun lust culture. It’s about guns because automatic and semi automatic guns/rifles offer individuals the opportunity to kill large groups of people at the same time. If it’s not about guns, then why aren’t we allowed to own bombs, tanks, and other mass killing devices? Because bombs offer individuals the opportunity to kill lots of people. You don’t hear anybody barking, “Bombs don’t kill people…” Why? Because it’s idiotic. And like bombs, guns/rifles with semi automatic to automatic capabilities that feature 30+ round magazines offer individuals the same chance, to kill lots of people. Yes, murder is something that people have always done, but your “Cain killed Abel” examples are irrelevant to this debate. Most scholars believe that Cain likely used a rock, stick, or bone to kill Abel. Had Dylann Roof walked into that South Carolina church with a rock or a stick or a bone or a knife or even a double barrel shotgun, the outcome would have been very different. Sure, some people will always want to kill other people, but our culture’s gun lust has aided in giving that individual the power to easily kill people, lots of people if he wants to. So, the conversation is indeed about guns, people’s access to guns, the places where people can carry guns, the kinds of guns that can be legally purchased and legally manufactured, the size and round capacity of magazines, and the culture of violence and gun-love here in America that is mostly unfounded in the rest of the world. And honestly, go ahead; call us progressive idiots or liberal minded morons or whatever you want, but the more you try to distract from what the conversation is really about–guns!–the more impassioned we become" Matthew Paul Turner ☀

Guns and God

“Guns lack efficacy and are nothing more than idols set up to the bloodthirsty gods of the past. And because we believe Jesus is in control of his world, Christians can be the first—individually and collectively—to destroy all weapons designed to kill other human beings. Such weapons have no place in God’s future (There will be no AK-47 in the New Creation), and as such they have no value in the lives of Christians now." Race, Guns and the Church (by Jeff Cook) ☀

God Given Rights, Race Wars and Dylan Roof's Bigotry

“The belief in God-given possession flows like a vampire virus through the veins of this country. We eagerly draw lifeblood from as much of the world as possible, in land, natural resources, and cheap labor. What does it mean to be born in a place that measures your value, your worth, your very life by the calculus of possession? That calculus extends through time to us from those founding greed-filled moments invading our waking consciousness and driving us forward in a strange confession. We believe in competition born of the desire to possess. We believe in striving against others for the sake of survival and growth. We believe that excellence emerges from struggle, from the isometric pressure of opposing forces pushing against each other with all their strength until weakness of mind, body, idea, institution, and company are rubbed away through the heat generated by life forces exposed in conflict." Dylann Roof Was Wrong: The Race War Isn’t Coming, It’s Here ☀

President Obama on the passing of Beau Biden

A Statement From The White House About The Biden Family...

 "Michelle and I are grieving tonight. Beau Biden was a friend of ours. His beloved family – Hallie, Natalie, and Hunter – are friends of ours. And Joe and Jill Biden are as good as friends get.


 Beau took after Joe. He studied the law, like his dad, even choosing the same law school. He chased a life of public service, like his dad, serving in Iraq and as Delaware’s Attorney General. Like his dad, Beau was a good, big-hearted, devoutly Catholic and deeply faithful man, who made a difference in the lives of all he touched – and he lives on in their hearts.
 But for all that Beau Biden achieved in his life, nothing made him prouder; nothing made him happier; nothing claimed a fuller focus of his love and devotion than his family.
 Just like his dad.


 Joe is one of the strongest men we’ve ever known. He’s as strong as they come, and nothing matters to him more than family. It’s one of the things we love about him. And it is a testament to Joe and Jill – to who they are – that Beau lived a life that was full; a life that mattered; a life that reflected their reverence for family.


 The Bidens have more family than they know. In the Delaware they love. In the Senate Joe reveres. Across this country that he has served for more than forty years. And they have a family right here in the White House, where hundreds of hearts ache tonight – for Hallie, Natalie, and Hunter; for Joe and for Jill; for Beau’s brother, Hunter; his sister, Ashley, and for the entire Biden clan.


“I have believed the best of every man,” wrote the poet William Butler Yeats, “And find that to believe it is enough to make a bad man show him at his best or even a good man swing his lantern higher.”


Beau Biden believed the best of us all. For him, and for his family, we swing our lanterns higher.


 Michelle and I humbly pray for the good Lord to watch over Beau Biden, and to protect and comfort his family here on Earth." —President Obama on the passing of Beau Biden

Christian Republicans and forced altruism

“Not only is taking care of the poor one of the principle roles of the local church, I believe that a Christian doesn’t have a biblical leg to stand on if they want to argue against public government assistance." Christian Republicans and forced altruism

The Insanity That Is Texas

Let me be blunt, or blunter than I’ve already been: anybody, anybody, who believes President Obama is about to send the United Nations to invade Texas, declare martial law, and herd Texans into FEMA Death Camps Of Death cleverly hidden in a secret network of continent spanning tunnels linking Wal-Marts across the nation, anybody who believes this ridiculous howling bullshit in any way whatsoever should be darted with powerful tranquilizers, netted from black helicopters, pumped full of happy juice before they start eating their own feces, and installed in a dark padded cell where the most dangerous thing they encounter each day is a small plastic cup of institutional butterscotch pudding pushed through a small opening in the bottom of the door with a stick. Jade Helm: The Insanity that Ate Texas ☀

President Obama on Selma

"Selma is not just about commemorating the past. Selma is now." President Obama ☀

War

“If you support war, you should be the first person to go to war. If you don’t you just want someone else to die for your views, and you are a moral coward." Zwinglius Redivivus ☀

Reagen Staff Members that support Obama

"Among the Obamacons were Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff; Charles Fried, Reagan’s solicitor general; Ken Adelman, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for Reagan; Jeffrey Hart, longtime senior editor of National Review; Colin Powell, Reagan’s national security adviser and secretary of state for George W. Bush; and Scott McClellan, Bush’s press secretary. There were many others as well."


via President Obama is a Republican via The American Conservative and azspot.net

When Christians get defensive...

"When Christians get defensive and indignant about being reminded of the sins of our ancestors like slavery and the crusades, it indicates that we don’t really believe that Jesus died for those sins. There is nothing morally superior about Christians. We simply have a powerful resource in Jesus’ cross for being humble and truthful about our past and present shortcomings. The response of many Christians to President Obama’s prayer breakfast remarks suggests that they haven’t yet put their faith in Jesus’ cross." Morgan Guyton via azspot.net

Ben Franklin on Smallpox

"In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen." Ben Franklin via azspot.net

Gun Logic

"Someone on FB posted that their house was invaded yesterday while they were home. The animals alerted that something was wrong. The occupant found the invader coming in through the recently jimmied sliding glass door. The occupant pretended to take a photo of the invader (though the camera had not yet loaded. GOOD THINKING!).


The invader said something threatening. The occupant retreated to the bedroom, locked the door, and called the police. The invader fled.


Now, the occupant insists that the only smart thing to do is buy a gun for home protection.
 Does anyone besides me see a flaw in this logic?" Via friend William H.
on Facebook

Donald Trump is a Pompous Jackass

“Donald Trump got a standing ovation today at the Iowa Freedom Summit when he promised that if he won the presidency he would defeat the Islamic State, build a fence along the nation’s southern border to stop illegal immigration, repeal Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and stand up to Democrats. He said Republican politicians had let Obama “get away with absolute murder,” that Mitt Romney “choked” in the 2012 campaign and shouldn’t be nominated again, and Jeb Bush is unsuitable because he’s “very, very weak” on immigration and supports Common Core educational standards. The news here isn’t that Trump is a pompous ignorant right-wing megalomaniac.


That’s well established. The news is that the Republican Party hasn’t learned a thing since the last presidential election when a Star Wars barroom of neo-isolationists, fundamentalists, and racists split the GOP into warring factions that, financed by a handful of wealthy reactionaries, flamed on for a year or more and fueled the fanaticism that’s become the lifeblood of the party. (Sarah Palin is signaling this weekend she may be in the running, too.) That one of the two major parties of America is incapable of seriously governing poses a clear and present danger to the Republic." Robert Reich ☀