March 4, 2024

Garland moved too slowly. Those here who said this were right.

The odds of seeing a trial of Trump before the election are winding down to just about zero.

March 3, 2024

Is Biden too old for a second term?

Why don't we just ask the question straight up and see what this constituency thinks?

March 1, 2024

This is what the conservative agenda looks like. So where are the priorities of Democrats?

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/this-is-what-conservative-agenda-looks.html

We have to get past all of the trash that is being thrown around now to try and fragment the Democratic, moderate independent and moderate Republican vote that will be large enough to defeat the orange headed menace. The author suggests putting the reminder on your fridge.

What's the biggest issue Democrats need to get past in order to unify the party and win the election?

March 1, 2024

This is what a "Conservative Agenda" looks like. Are you willing to live under this?

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/this-is-what-conservative-agenda-looks.html

In the third paragraph of the linked article, author Rick Pidcock, who was raised in fundamentalist Christianity, says this:

"In my two decades growing up in fundamentalist Christian institutions, the schools dictated to our families where we could go to church, how we were to dress, what music we were allowed to listen to or movies we could watch, even what coffee shops we could patronize. In short, they had complete authority over our family.

So imagine those people expanding their territory to include entire cities, states and countries."

Imagine, indeed.

Get a clear picture of what that would be like, because that is exactly what the part of the MAGA political movement that has emerged from within the Evangelical Christian segment of the American church is aiming to do.

When people like this tell you they are going to do something, when they get the power to do it, believe them. And then do everything you can to keep them from getting the power to do it.

February 29, 2024

Boebert family drama should be off-limits politically.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/conflicting-parental-messages-in-highly.html

Controversial Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's son Tyler was recently arrested for allegations related to multiple crimes in the area around where he and his family lives, near the town of Rifle, Colorado. He's eighteen, and has been charged with both felonies and misdemeanors. His arrest has gathered a lot of media attention, not only because his mother is a member of Congress, but because she is a right wing extremist who campaigns while also touting her Evangelical Christian faith, at least, in the way she understands it, in its white, Christian nationalist form.

As much as I despise her political perspective, and her hero worship of the MAGA cult leader instead of being a patriotic American, I think leaving her son and his troubles out of the scope of politics is the best course of action to pursue. Her ignorance and inability to function as a productive Congresswoman is one thing, open to criticism and the target of a movement to get her ousted through the ballot box. But dragging her son, and her family problems into the mix is a different matter. For his sake, this needs to be left alone for them to handle as they see fit, and as they are capable of doing.

According to the article in Westword, the Congresswoman appears to be holding her son accountable for his actions while supporting him because he is her son. Asserting that he "should be held accountable for poor decisions as should any other citizen," she stated, sounds like she's not expecting that he would get any special treatment because he is her son.

It would be tempting to ask her if this same attitude applies to Trump, in her mind, given the crimes for which he has been indicted. But, at least publicly, she's not asking for special favors for her son. Whether law enforcement in their hometown takes that same attitude may warrant keeping an eye on this situation. But using this as a campaign wedge is as far out of bounds as it is for Republicans to try to get to the President through making allegations about his son. At the very least, I hope she gets this, and backs down from her position regarding the President's son. At least, this may make her think twice, or we can always hope that it does.

February 28, 2024

A different spin on Michigan.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/27/opinions/biden-uncommitted-michigan-primary-election-zelizer/index.html

Don't you just love the spin in the headline? Then read the article. It doesn't really match the sensation. Here's my spin, for what its worth.

Biden picked up 81% of a relatively large Democratic turnout, given the fact that he's really the only candidate. The other two in the race are tokens, not really representing anything.

Uncommitted got a lot of publicity and a lot of media attention, and it "exceeded expectations." Given the total number of votes, and the size of the potential vote for uncommitted, it was a flop.

Nikki Haley took away more votes than Trump can afford to lose in Michigan, especially if what the exit polls say is true, and most of those voters won't vote for Trump in November. But the Democratic side isn't as divided, or as fragmented, as the media wants you to believe. Based on those primary numbers, if pollsters are doing their job, the adjustments will show Biden leads Trump in Michigan, by more than a margin of error.

But that's what the primaries have been showing all over. The voters aren't casting ballots the way the pollsters want them to.

February 27, 2024

Christian churches and leaders lose their prophetic voice when they lust after political power.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/randall-balmer-and-jemar-tisby-lusting.html

Randall Balmer, an Episcopal priest and professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and Jemar Tisby, professor at Simmons College in Kentucky, recently teamed up for a webinar pointing out the corruption of Christianity which has occurred as conservative, fundamentalist and Charismatic/Pentecostal Christians, churches and denominations have merged their claimed belief in Biblical authority and inerrancy with far right wing political extremists who make up the MAGA cult. They're not the only kind of American Christian that has allowed politics to infiltrate their ranks, but because of their doctrinal flaws, it has infiltrated and corrupted their churches the most.

Tisby says that gaining control through politics is more or less an admission by conservative Christians of the failure of their faith. Unable to bring about the kind of social change and control that they think is their mission and purpose by spiritual means, they are now resorting to political power to get their way. According to Tisby, this takes away the Christian identity of the church, making it more political.

"It's not Christian in the sense that it doesn't resemble Jesus," he says, "but it is Christian in the sense that it does use Christian symbols like crosses, and the Bible, and it does use prayer," he added. "White Christian Nationalism strips away any semblance of gospel witness because its purpose is to seize absolute control of government and society by ending democracy and pluralism," said Balmer. "Once you begin to lust after political power, and political influence, you lose your prophetic voice," he said.

February 26, 2024

Is this a strategy of the "liberally biased" media?

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/is-this-strategy-of-liberally-biased.html

As a former President, Trump gets more coverage in the news cycle than the current President does, by far. He's developed a strategy which gets him in the news for free campaign advertising as often as they will cover, and he has a knack for making them jump and run whenever he issues a call. It's frustrating to me, to hear the name "Trump," over and over and over again, and to watch these journalists, who tend to be educational elites looking down their noses at most of their audience, incapable of resisting the temptation to cover something he's done that no other former President would ever have covered.

So much for being fair and balanced, for journalistic principles, and for being a free press that holds government accountable to the people.

But...maybe I'm missing something.

So I wonder if there's some sort of strategy behind the media's coverage, without much commentary, of the stupid, idiotic things he says and does. Clearly, there's no one around him who is either brave enough or honest enough to tell him that much of what he says and does, while it makes his MAGA cult happy, is turning off a much larger percentage of voters who, either subtracted from casting a vote for him, or actually turning out for Biden, which will lead to his certain defeat in November. And the news medis is spending a lot of time covering everything he says and does.

February 20, 2024

This would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/christian-family-moves-to-russia-to.html

There are times when the ignorance that comes to the surface in the mix of pseudo-Christianity that often passes for the real thing in North American culture, particularly in the more conservative sects of Christianity, is just absolutely unbelievable. It really has become virtually impossible to practice the kind of Christian faith that is actually described by the apostles and other authors of the New Testament, and gives a theological and doctrinal foundation to the practice of the Christian gospel without being accused of being weak, or liberal, or of misinterpreting some already misinterpreted passage of Christ's recorded teaching. Most Christians rest on their own definition of God, their own theology and doctrine and their own personal preferences, twisting what they call their faith into shapes that fit their ideology, with no resemblance at all to the life that Christ called his followers to live.

Apparently, Arend Feenstra and his wife found the atmosphere in Canada, favorable to lifestyles that they do not agree with, too oppressive for raising their nine children. I see nothing in this story to indicate that they were being persecuted by persons of LGBTQ lifestyles, or that they were being forced by the government to expose their children to any of this.

"There's a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ, trans, just a lot of things that we don't agree with that they teach there now, and we wanted to get away from that for our children." And so, to get away from it, instead of just taking charge of their family, being intentional parents and dealing with adversarial ideology in the same way everyone else deals with it, they decided to find a place in the world where they wouldn't be exposed to these kind of ideas, and move there. So they sold their farm and they moved.

To Russia.

That's the first sign that not all of the brain synapses are connecting, in either parent. Thinking that Russia would be a more ideal place to raise your children than Canada, where no one is forcing anyone to accept lifestyles or ideologies or immorality that they choose not to accept, is inexcusable ignorance. These parents have now moved eight of their nine children into an oppressive trap from which they might not ever be able to escape, because they have believed the lies that have been circulating around because of political stupidity, probably originating in the gool ole US of A. Did they not pay any attention in school? Clearly, what they thought they knew about Russia was pure poppycock.

February 20, 2024

From a Grass Roots Democrat: Let's Get Our Priorities Straight

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/02/from-grass-roots-democrat-lets-get-our.html

To my fellow Democrats, it's time to get our act together. This cannot be overstated. The Constitution and the government of, by and for the people that was established after ratification in 1788 is in danger of being destroyed by a political faction that has kidnapped and subverted the larger part of one of our major political parties. George Washington warned us of the danger of partisan politics in his farewell address, something which most Americans have since ignored.

But the danger has already presented itself. It has built a following based on ignorance, selfishness, fear and bigotry, and it has succeeded in finding the weaknesses in a system built on a foundation of guaranteed individual rights and purely democratic values. In fact, some of the safeguards put in place by the founders, originally for the protection of the constitutional democracy from becoming an imperialistic monarchy have played a role in their own weakening, and we can only hope that the creeping fascism now aimed at destroying our constitution and the liberties it guarantees has been caught in time, put in check and will be stopped before it can do further damage.

I'm just a grass roots Democrat. I volunteer to help out, I contribute as much as is possible for me to do on my income, and I spend some time writing pieces for The Signal Press, with the hope of contributing to party unity and party victories in elections, encouraging the 2,500 or so readers who visit here each month and offer back their encouragement. So what I'm offering here is heartfelt conviction. I am well educated, deeply involved in politics, know what is going on and desire to see our political party come to its largest majorities in the House and Senate, because I know that when we are in charge, the people benefit from it, and it's what's best for our country in terms of preserving and protecting the rights which the constitution guarantee to every individual, as well as keeping the country strong in the face of its enemies.

The goal is to win across the board in November. It's to win as many elections as we possibly can, from the Presidency on down.