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summer_in_TX

summer_in_TX's Journal
summer_in_TX's Journal
October 20, 2024

Statement of Christian Faith & Democracy

Nothing makes me fume more than the absolute defamation and disrepute Christian Nationalists and the theocratic wannabes proclaim as if it was what Jesus stood for. Seems to me that it's very important for Christians who actually believe the Bible and work to love and serve all Creation to speak up.

I was so glad to run across an effort of Christians from across a number of denominations to speak up and out for democracy, for the Gospel of Jesus, and to take a strong stand against the efforts by Christian Nationalists and others to use fear to manipulate and tear down our nation.

Some of those who have signed it include Dr. Diana Butler Bass, Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, Walter Brueggemann, Shane Claiborne, and The Most Rev. Michael Curry. All Christians are invited to sign on in agreement with the statement, so I did. I hope you will read it and consider doing so too.

Some of the names of signers you may recognize include Diana Butler Bass, Tony Campolo, Walter Brueggemann, Shane Claiborne, and Michael Curry.

https://toucan-goose-tybk.squarespace.com

From the About page:

We face a crisis of democracy in this election and a test of faith in this country. Mere political responses to the unprecedented moment are not enough. There must also be a theological response.

In late 2023, a diverse group of scholars and religious leaders began to draft a short statement called Christian Faith and Democracy to address these dual crises.

The statement identifies the challenges facing our democracy and professes a Christian response. Rooted in practical concern, the statement is designed to offer a framework for pastors and lay leaders as they face these challenges in their own congregations and communities.

This is a time when Christian leaders are called to step up. And all of us– from various constituencies, with many pressures– will now be making the decision to speak up and out with this statement. It is a risk that each of us must decide whether to take.

For this statement to make a significant contribution to our country’s future, we need you to join us.
October 6, 2024

The science behind Donald Trump's love of the "poorly educated."

Matthew Sheffield is a former Mormon and conservative activist. He writes and publishes Flux (available on Substack) and also hosts the podcast Theory of Change, recently had on sociologist Darren Sherkat. The discussion centered on how right-wing social viewpoints seem to inhibit cognitive development.

Here are some excerpts from an autogenerated transcript of this week's podcast.

https://plus.flux.community/p/the-science-behind-why-donald-trump

“I love the poorly educated,” Donald Trump famously boasted in early 2016 as he started racking up victories in the Republican primary election. It was an unintentionally hilarious thing to say, but it pointed to a truth that’s since became undeniable: People with less education are more likely to vote for Republicans.

… snip

MATTHEW SHEFFIELD: So, these are some very sensitive topics to people that we're going to be discussing here today. It's no fun for people to discuss cognitive ability and political ideology if you are the group assessed to have lower cognition at least outputs. But before we get into that, though, I did want to ask you—and to clarify that because the brain is a highly plastic organ and cognition is a form of exercise, these are not necessarily judgments that are set in stone, if you will. And this research is still just beginning in a lot of ways, right?

… snip

SHERKAT: Absolutely. I mean, we're seeing this mostly in our gerontological research about, kind of use it or lose it. That if you don't think about things in systematic ways, then your brain will not operate as it should in an ideal way.

SHEFFIELD: Yeah. And also, I have to also say that, myself as a former fundamentalist Mormon and former Republican activist, this is me talking about my former self. And I can say, when I reflect back on my earlier life, when I had these belief systems, they did inhibit my ability to think clearly and to fully perceive the world accurately. That actually was something that, that did inhibit me.


As a former special ed teacher and always fascinated by brain and thinking differences, I had suspected this very thing: that the "use it, or lose it" effect of being in a media echo chamber reduces the ability to reason in the wide-ranging way that is so important to solve problems with complex causes.
August 18, 2024

They're TRAINED to do that. Bannon pushed them to believe they were at war and in war intimidation is fine.

The goal is political power. But people recognize the truth when they hear it, especially when people share their personal stories. They cannot win a good-faith argument. They can't support their argument with facts. If the truth is heard it is believed, especially when your personal story about why this is so important to you is shared.

That makes us powerful, and therefore they work hard to demoralize us.

Maybe it's sucking us into what we think is a conversation with the hope of having the other person become at least somewhat open to our point of view. Instead, the other just moves to another argument once you effectively counter one of theirs. That's to waste your time and wear you down.

They create chaos and also flood the zone with sh*t, like you've probably seen in videos of school board meetings, to intimidate and try to get you to give up.

Trouble Nation | Red Wine & Blue has a great training video on how to deal with harassment. Just watched it today and took lots of notes.

July 19, 2024

We've been wondering WTF is going on behind the scenes.

A couple of fascinating posts by Dr. Tracy A Peterson may point to some of it. Here's a bit about here from her Twitter bio:
She's a Los Angeles based Legal, Political & Cultural Analyst on TV and radio and has appeared on a number of shows and networks.
"After practicing law as a Trial & Appellate lawyer and investigator for 20 years, I earned a second doctorate and focus my research on implicit bias & corruption."

An earlier thread of hers I found enlightening was on how the media earn money, books, promotions based on such "scoops" and reporting – which incentivizes the behavior we're seeing with all the media, including some we're seeing on MSNBC.

https://x.com/TracyExplains/status/1813866352199057485

If this were the real world we'd be investigating several individuals for creating a hostile work environment
.
@HouseDemocrats
@SenateDems
.
If there are money problems it is because of your own behavior and that of your colleagues.

Rather than directing your attention at .
@POTUS
, you need to fix yourself fast. I strongly recommend you read this with care. It's based purely on documentary and physical evidence.

Biden has a great record to run on - he's accomplished more than any President in my lifetime.

You could be out there and campaigning with him and running on his record. Instead you're shitting all over him. It's bothering me. It's bothering a lot of people. I started digging (Investigator for 20 years, Expert).

Welch (D-VT) is elected and sworn into the Senate 1/3/23. He's currently 77 years old. 4 years makes him 81.

Schiff (D-CA), a long-time Member of the House, filed an FEC candidacy statement for Senate 1/26/23.

Biden filed a statement of candidacy for President 4/25/23.

Schiff and Welch filed paperwork forming Welch-Schiff Victory Fund 8/24/23. This fund is created using two separate Senate Funds, allowing it to dissolve cleanly.

This Victory Fund doesn't appear on Schiff's initial Candidacy statement.

They collected donations. Most are from California. The largest donations come from "Hollywood" employed people. They collect $20,625.00.


https://x.com/TracyExplains/status/1813866355118248232

Biden amends his candidacy form on 9/5/23, changing the address. Biden is officially running. He has been building a war chest.

Schiff amends his statement of candidacy for Senate. The Welch-Schiff Victory Fund appears the first time 9/7/23. That money funds his Senate campaign because it was made of two separate funds (Schiff for Senate, Welch for Senate).

They terminate the fund 12/31/23. It is closed within less than 4 months of opening (8/23).

The D primaries were 1/23/24-6/8/24.
Biden wins.

Biden has a cold, etc.; he has a bad debate on 6/27/24.

On 7/7/24, Schiff goes on Meet the Press and starts to sow doubt in Biden's candidacy.

On 7/10, 3 days later in a WAPO OP-Ed, Welch is the first Senator to demand Biden drop out of the race. That Op-Ed would have been submitted earlier to be printed that day.

Allegedly Schiff continues to publicly push and begins to create a toxic environment in both houses. Allegedly Welch helps. This includes allegedly badmouthing Biden at a recent fundraiser causing problems with donors.

In my opinion, the only people who need to go are Schiff and Welch.

Politics is dirty. This appears to be in bad faith.

I can't believe these people are putting democracy at risk when the Republicans have the most beatable ticket. I can't believe they are putting the party through this.

I can't believe that pressure is being placed on Biden to drop out. Absolutely not. No way.

Fix yourselves. This is disgraceful. Are there no grown ups over there? I can't imagine anyone wanting to run for either the House or Senate if this is the way you behave. Public service is supposed to be a calling not an opportunity to advance your own interests to the detriment of everyone else.

MSM Journalism would have found this information if they looked.

#BidenHarris2024
#WeAreWithBidenHarris



I'm wondering it if is possible that those wanting to clear the field for their own candidacy in 2028 figure they can knock off Biden and then set Kamala up for failure by a last mention switch and leveraging her into facing the racist misogyny of Trump and his MAGAs. Sure hope that is not the case and that it's purely the contagion of fear the media feeding frenzy has caused.
July 16, 2024

Red Wine & Blue

This evening I attended the most energizing, exciting virtual meeting. I just learned about the group today because I saw that Heather Cox Richardson was speaking about Project 2025 so signed up.

35K people attended the Zoom! And another 35K (so 70,000❗️in all) had signed up - apparently many like me just today. They’d added to their webinar package but didn’t have it big enough to accommodate anywhere near all those who wanted to attend.

They’re tremendous organizers, I was impressed. An effective hour, then they invited anyone interested and able to stay for small(er) group breakout sessions. They had breakout rooms, about five for swing states, so I attended the one for the other states. 9,200 stayed for that one, in fact people lingered after it was over for almost the full second hour.

Check them out: Red Wine & Blue (redwine.blue on the web or redwineblueUSA on social media including YouTube). They have several events a week of different types.

Their website got overloaded too, but after waiting a few hours it's available again.

Their philosophy is that it’s more fun getting stuff done together. 😊

Because 70 percent of Americans don’t know about Project 2025, they focus on relationships and personal connections with conversations on flipping that number so 70 percent (at least) do know. I especially liked it because I wouldn’t be wearing a partisan hat when talking to people regardless of their party.

That works best for me in a small red-violet town where I have lots of friends and acquaintances who are either of a different party or not particularly political. I suspect a number of them will be appalled when they know more about Project 2025, but if I was wearing my Democratic hat some might not be willing to listen.

July 15, 2024

Project 2025 for those looking for more of it's horrors in one place

I ran across a long but excellent thread on X by Emily Galvin-Almanza (a lawyer active in the public defender space) that is one of the better explanations of much of the ramifications of various Project 2025 proposals. Not exhaustive, but I learned new things of interest. It's not published anywhere else but I thought it merited wider circulation, so I put it in a single document. I wanted to share it here, but not without permission. I now have that. "sure go for it!" she said.

You may have heard the term “Project 2025” floating around, and you may even have cracked open the 900+ page document yourself, only to see a lot of kind of bland, policy-wonk text. So let me crack through the policy-speak and tell you WTF is in this document.

This is, um, a long thread. But if you want a lot of info about Project 2025, all in one place, you've come to the right place.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24088042-project-2025s-mandate-for-leadership-the-conservative-promise

This document is what Trump and his team will do if elected. It’s their document, their plan, their platform. So like…it’s not *me* saying what they’ll do, this is *them* saying so.
https://www.heritage.org/impact/trump-administration-embraces-heritage-foundation-policy-recommendations

Shall we dig in? I’ll organize and give you page numbers. I’m going to start with criminal justice stuff (of course) and then we’ll wander through other topics like repro rights (none), discrimination (fine, unless it’s against nuclear power), environmental protection (gone), etc

Predictably, this is a document full of states-rights claims, but (true to form) there is very little left to the states when it comes to a Trump criminal legal system.

Generally, the Constitution reserves criminal law to the states, allowing localities to create criminal accountability as they see fit. But under a Trump regime, “small government” just means “no EPA or medicare and HUGE expansions of DOJ’s criminal division power.”

A primary target? The discretion and decision-making of local prosecutors.

Prosecutorial discretion is part of the foundation of our legal system—the idea that the people elect their prosecutor, and can elect (or not elect) a person whose judgment they agree with when it comes to what to focus on when it comes to criminal prosecution.

The Trump DOJ will basically override local voters and prosecutors, bringing federal charges where they deem states not punitive enough. (553)

I should note that this is a ridiculous, massively difficult thing to do—our criminal court system is spread across 3,143 counties.

So what it really means is that the Trump DOJ will troll for cases they find politically meaningful, and use the full weight of the federal government to prosecute specific individuals who stand for stuff they don’t like.

They’re not just going to take on targeted prosecutions, they’re also going to legally come after prosecutors who they feel aren’t prosecuting enough. (553) It’s like this, but EVERYWHERE

And somehow they’re also going to do everything they can to make sentences harsher, and increase utilization of the death penalty (553-554).


There's more, that's just a taste. It's way too long to publish the whole thing here, so it's in my dropbox for anyone who wants to read/download it all.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/urpntk00yekl0tqdvv5yw/Project-2025-Emily-Galvin-Almanza.pdf?rlkey=5ey4m8xq2hgs1tji45m2wxote&st=9zvcjbjk&dl=0

Plus here are the links to the original stuff. So long that it's in three parts.
https://x.com/GalvinAlmanza/status/1807195762192724403
https://x.com/GalvinAlmanza/status/1807196875671605683
https://x.com/GalvinAlmanza/status/1807199838292902102
July 18, 2023

"It is considered sophisticated and educated to know only the bad

stuff about religion. Of course, that’s ironic because to only know the bad stuff is to not actually be educated."

"Half the time when I’m giving a public presentation, the first question about religion is a negative question. What do you think about Islam and violence? What do you think about the Catholic Church and the pedophilia crisis? Why do so many people of faith hate gay people? Particularly in the areas of America where people have higher levels of education, those are their first questions."

[…]

“Our society relies on religious communities to take care of people, to do addiction counseling, to do job training, to do hunger and homelessness work, to do refugee resettlement. We just don’t often tell the story of them doing that work. And I think that that’s a big problem.”

[…]

"In America, people build institutions — hospitals, social service agencies, colleges, whatever — out of the inspiration of their own faith identity, but the institution serves people of all identities. That is not a common ethos in human history.

But that’s the story of America. That is American pluralism at its best. That is civic cooperation."


Eboo Patel is an American Muslim who is the founder and president of Interfaith America. He was interviewed by Tish Harrison Warren, an Anglican priest who has a religion column in the NYT as well as Christianity Today.


Behind a paywall unfortunately: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/opinion/patel-eboo-organized-religion.html

I once mainly knew the negative things about religion, especially Christianity. At least, if I knew some of the many contributions made by religious people and groups, the negative far outweighed the good in my mind. I was anti- both religion in general and Christianity in particular. This interview does a great job of reminding me of the positive role many faith communities have and still provide us.

April 12, 2023

After Sandy Hook, gun control looked inevitable. What happened?

Public opinion for gun control was very strong after the slaughter of children and teachers.

But the NRA was focus testing messages, I'd guess. The word that turned it around? Freedom. Once they started to talk about the personal freedom issue, things quickly swung away from controlling guns in spite of the horrific killings. Americans across the political spectrum are primed to value freedom. Polling shows freedom ranks 22 points above the value of justice.


Guess which party knows that and which one doesn't? (I knew you could.)

"Freedom" is used as a cover-all issue for Republicans. As they impose on the "freedoms" of the rest of America." (thanks, Kentuck).

They certainly used the message of freedom effectively with masks and the COVID vaccine.

Knowing that, what freedoms can gun control advocates claim? How about the freedom to be safe in our schools, banks, movies, concerts, churches, streets? Freedom to live in a society that is not the Wild Wild West or that is without the rule of law.

Freedom for your children to not be taken away from their families over transgender treatment. Freedom to make medical decisions for your children in the area of transgender care following medical advice. Freedom for transgender children from bullying. Freedom for teachers to refrain from "outing" children who may be LBGTQiA to parents or others.

Better than the justice argument on abortion, how about keeping the freedom to decide what our own lives are going to be like, freedom to decide whether and when to be a parent, freedom not to be forced to carry our rapist's baby, freedom to create the life we dream of?

February 6, 2023

Look, I once shared the prejudice.

Last thing I ever expected to be is a Christian. I despised what I thought was narrow-minded, cold-hearted judgementalism and couldn't conceive that that was the dark distortion only, from the abusers of power, who sought to control and profit.

There's a lot of money and power to gather by those who want to do that. But they can do that from all kinds of platforms, not just religion. Fame, beauty, politics, celebrity, music, propaganda, movie, entertainment, and sports, oratory – all can be turned into platforms for power, control, and profit.

While religion is extremely vulnerable to misuse and abuse and it is constantly being distorted and corrupted by many even now, that's not the sole story.

So many have been motivated by love, a desire for justice, the conviction that we are all brothers and sisters – no fear, no desire to exploit others or grift, nothing self-serving. And that's a trait of religion that is not being misused or abused, any of the great world religions. Like oratory can be used to inspire and uplift of demonize and tear down, the creative arts can do the same, or they can be perverted into a tool for spreading distrust, anger, fear, self-loathing, and self-destructive behaviors. We all know what political abuses occur, but politics can also be used to protect our peoples and our public lands, educate, rebuild, extend liberties, ensure opportunities, and much more. We've seen people who've used their beauty and fame for good as well.

Martin Luther King Jr. was one who risked and ultimately lost his life to work for justice, civil rights, and economic opportunities. He was empowered by his faith in God who the scriptures taught him had a passion for justice and for the poor. Not by fear, but by love.

So many more people of faith would not recognize the idea that fear or ignorance were behind why we believe and why we are then empowered to go out and do for others from love and the courage to believe in the positive power to effect change.

I myself started the journey as many of us do, from failure. But I was very antagonistic to religion. But I met warmth, acceptance, and love in visiting a church my husband was singing in one Sunday, and found no trace of the spiritual arrogance I expected or any attempt to convert me. But I was very resistant, until watching the PBS discussions between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyer on the Power of Myth. Campbell said that all myths have in common that they are tackling mystery that is beyond human ability to put into words. Yet all of them have elements of truth that are a real reflection of that cosmic mystery. I wrestled with that idea for awhile and began to figure out what were the true parts. Love, doing for others, mercy, forgiveness, acceptance, humility, tenderheartedness, joy, authenticity, getting oneself out of the way.

It's fine to believe differently. I don't believe my beliefs are superior, but for me they've brought great meaning and joy as I'm sure other religious beliefs have brought for others. Our beliefs are positive, good for others, inclusive, seeing the divine in all Creation, not manipulating others, not seeking power for ourselves, seeking to do justice, love mercy, and resist evil. We recognize and wrestle with the temptations to get sidetracked by pride, anger, and other attitudes and behaviors, then are motivated to use tools to restore relationships when we have harmed them. We repent when we hurt others, ourselves, our Higher Power. We're imperfectly human, doing our best, and continuing to work toward doing better. Our faith should not be denigrated, it should be elevated in contrast to the distorted, misbegotten, manipulative, controlling use of fear and ignorance to grift.

Telling the counterfeit from the true is a skill that can only be learned by studying the true. Bank tellers don't study counterfeit bills, they study the genuine ones. Likewise, those being misled by the power-hungry would do very well to find those whose faith is genuine, selfless, loving, and accepting.

November 29, 2020

Trump FCC To Waive Ownership Rules For Murdochs

Chairman Pai has just announced a plan to waive media-ownership rules for Fox and allow the Murdoch family to control even more TV stations and newspapers in the New York City market.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is hellbent on doing as much damage as possible before the Biden administration takes office. And that includes doling out one last favor for Rupert Murdoch.

Fox asked the Trump FCC to permanently waive a restriction that limits Fox’s TV station and newspaper ownership in the New York City market — where the company already owns two local-television stations and one local newspaper. This move would make Fox’s ownership of WWOR, WNYW and the New York Post permanent — despite the agency’s own rules that prohibit one company from controlling this many broadcast stations and newspaper outlets in a given market.

Chairman Pai is trying to quickly push this Fox request through the FCC, allowing for public comment only until Dec. 4.


https://blogforiowa.com/2020/11/24/trump-fcc-to-waive-ownership-rules-for-murdochs/


So while Trump is posturing about how bad FOX News is, in reality he's doing them a BIG favor. What do you think he's going to expect in return? What a platform he will have for that 2024 run of his, as a frequent guest or just for their endless amplification of his every tweet.

FreePress.net put out an alert and petition this last week.

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Hometown: Austin, Texas
Member since: Sun May 14, 2017, 11:06 PM
Number of posts: 3,131

About summer_in_TX

@WimberleySusan Project 2025 is a national emergency, an existential threat against democracy. StoptheCoup2025.org is working rapidly to translate the PR-type, insider language of Project 2025 proposals into plain English. I'm updating my bio to spread the word. Sig line too.
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