"I hope that a message calling for dignity, respecting dignity, honesty, humility and kindness is resonating with people. I'm grateful for that. I'm saddened by the level of vitriol that it has evoked in others, and the intensity of it has been disheartening. I've heard from many people who are grateful that someone was willing to speak on their behalf, and also others feeling emboldened to do the same, and I'm grateful for that." – Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
It will surprise no one who's been paying attention that the religious leader who dared ask Trump to show some mercy has herself come under merciless attack from his vicious cultists, not to mention Dear Leader himself. Her initial plea to the regime's leaders was a compelling demonstration of simply bravery, and she has maintained a steady presence since then, as her interview with Time magazine shows.
One of Ttrump world's most notable features has been the way right-wing religious zealots have embraced its extremism, and are part of it. They want to erase the constitutional line between church and state, to force their version of Christianity on everyone else as the national religion. You could easily conclude, based on their words and deeds, that they read the Old Testament of the Bible, skipped the New Testament part about Jesus, and finished up with Revelations. They definitely haven't learned much, if anything, from what Jesus stood for and taught.
Months after Kennedy’s visit, the question of what would happen to Samoa’s unvaccinated babies was answered. A measles outbreak swept the country, sickening thousands and killing 83, mostly small children. As measles raged, Kennedy stayed connected to the island, writing to the prime minister to raise concerns about the vaccine and providing medical guidance to a local anti-vaccine activist who posted false claims about the vaccination campaign and promoted unproven alternative cures.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s awfulness is clear in countless ways, but as this deep dive by NBC News reminds us, his anti-vaccine jihad led to unnecessary sickness and death in Samoa. Read it all, and you will understand why it is a crime against humanity for Trump to be pushing this guy as the head of all U.S. government health agencies. Kennedy and the people who helped him do this disgusting science experiment on human beings deserve eternal disrespect, and worse.
In the midst of the Soviet show trials in 1936, Workers Age, an American communist newspaper, gently rebuked Stalin for his heavy-handedness. Sure, the defendants were guilty of sabotage at the behest of Trotsky, but execution was an excessive punishment. “Furthermore,” the editorial declared, “we do not hesitate to say that the bureaucratic regime of Stalin in the CPSU makes it extremely difficult for healthy, constructive critical opposition forces developing in the Party ranks”—as if inhibiting criticism of Stalin was some kind of unintended consequence of executing his rivals. The conservatives distressed over Trump’s mass pardons have a similar lack of curiosity about his motives. Why Trump would take such unfortunate actions, they do not ask. Could it be because he believes fundamentally that opposition to him is per se criminal, action on his behalf is per se legal, and any outcome in which he loses is illegitimate?
The Republican Party is wholly owned subsidiary today, as this Atlantic commentary reminds us. Its owners are Donald Trump, his apparatchiks, his oligarch allies, and his cult.
The "GOP" It has been right wing since mid-1970s, but steadily grew more and more radical. Now the "party of Lincoln" is America's fascist party. You won't see much about this in Big Journalism, of course. Our traditional, "mainstream" media have thoroughly normalized this shift.
Here’s a simple but inarguable point: Trump’s decision to pardon (and/or commute release of) all the January 6th insurrectionists is deeply unpopular. Your best evidence for that is the responses of Republicans who are asked to react to or justify it. They’re doing the most practical thing: dodge the questions and wait for those questions to subside. Wait for it to become old news, something that happened in the past. Democrats’ job is to prolong the period of questions for as long as possible.
The point that Talking Points Memo's founder and editor is making here – that Trump's pardon of the January 6 thug brigade was an evil move – is utterly obvious. Except it doesn't seem to be for many in the Democratic leadership and office holders.
They've done some public eyebrow-raising, sure. But far too few of them have screamed from the rooftops what an outrage it is for the president to mock justice, piss on law enforcement, and supply personnel for his own brownshirts. The Democrats should be bringing this up day after day, in the halls of Congress and in their districts.
On issue after issue, with this one right at the top, the feckless "opposition" party is cowering, not opposing. Sometimes, being helpless is a choice.
It’s difficult for some people to envision the Southern, Baptist preacher as a fighter for the working class, because his legacy in the American imagination has largely been confined to his organizing against Jim Crow racism. But King wasn’t committed to integration solely to win equal treatment for Black Americans. He recognized the power of multiracial, working-class solidarity to combat the elite, wealthy interests that dominate American society.
This Nation magazine commentary is a brief but useful history lesson, reminding us that Martin Luther King's legacy is also about economic justice, which he saw accurately as intertwined with racial justice. The quotes from his 1965 speech on the steps of Alabama's capital building explain, but I strongly recommend that you read the entire speech transcript, for its stunning clarity and purpose.
Class warfare in America is what the oligarchs wage on the rest of us, and encourage the rest of us to wage on each other. King wanted us to understand this, and fight our real enemies. Will we ever learn?
This newsletter is a compendium of the reporting and commentary that best explains the America's political, economic, and social conditions – and, most important, how we can find a way back from the dark days ahead. You will rarely find anything here from the New York Times or Washington Post or any of the other Big Journalism companies that failed us so completely during the 2024 elections and are now sucking up – even more than usual – to Donald Trump, his cult, and corporate oligarchs. My focus will be on smaller, more honorable outlets (and individuals). I hope you'll support them with your attention and your money. For more details, please read my About page.
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