June 26, 2022

Is it a coincidence that the SCOTUS decision on Roe was released the morning after

the January 6th committee laid out their mountain of evidence which proved Trump and his inner circle planned the January 6th coup?

And now, the news media's main cycle has shifted focus.

June 26, 2022

How right wing religion influences right wing GOP politics and the danger of this alliance

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/06/how-doctrine-and-theology-of-american.html

America's founding fathers, in separating all religious practice including Christianity, from its representative democracy, actually set the Christian church free to be exactly what Jesus intended it to be. Now false apostles and prophets are putting on a veneer of Christianity with the intention of using it for their own purposes and for their own benefit. The alliance between the Christian right and right wing Republican politics, which is the domain of the prosperous and exists to expand their prosperity, will eventually unravel and fall apart. But not before this aberration of the Christian faith is used to its fullest extent to attempt to destroy a democratic government that is the only major obstacle to complete domination by the richest of the rich.

Regardless of the social issues incorporated into that agenda and platform to lure Christian voters, the outcome of an election that puts that mixture of reconstructionist, "kingdom now" dominion theology and the wealthy oligarchy closer to control is far, far worse in the mind of this Christian voter than the outcome of an election in which a group of progressive politicians favor abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and minority rights that are still not equal with the white, Christian majority in this country. White Christians are still the most privileged, least persecuted Americans. The advance of the rights of ethnic and social minorities has not affected their rights or their status one bit.

But, we are already a long way down the road toward a reconstructed republic. Democrats have just a few months--do you get that??--a few months to get themselves together to stop this and reverse the trend.

June 24, 2022

This is the moment, Democrats.

You have just been handed the key to the motivation necessary to win an even bigger margin of control of congress than you have now.

There is no excuse for not voting for a Democrat in your district or state now.

It's a downhill coaster ride, as long as someone compenent is in charge. Here we go.

June 20, 2022

Who's rights count more?

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/attacks-pride-events-embody-spirit-jan-6-n1296442?cid=nt_npd_ms_as_ms_220127

I don't even know where to go with this. We live in America, where individual rights are constitutionally guaranteed, regardless of any distinguishing, identifying factor that includes race, ethnicity or national origin, gender, religious belief, social position, economic position, etc. etc, etc.

If anyone's rights are threatened, everyone's rights are threatened.

Are you still planning to stay home on the first tuesday in November?

June 19, 2022

It's time to get loud.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/06/its-time-to-get-loud-now.html

"We are standing on the precipice of losing our democracy."

That's what's at stake, according to Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose opinion I respect and whose evaluation of the situation I completely trust. I fully agree with that statement and it has prompted me to become involved in as many ways as I can, including here.

"Look, the most important thing is to win the next election. The alternative is so frightening that whatever does not help you win should not be a priority", she said, taken from a quote in an article in The Financial Times.

What are the priorities? There's a lot on which to put the focus but the party seems to be drifting here. There's January 6th, that's a big one, there's the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, also a big one, and there's the gun control issue where a trickle of progress should indicate the power behind this political issue. There's the war in Ukraine which, predictably, is fading out of the news cycle. It's time to get loud. That's the motivation. Democratic party leaders, get in the huddle and get the play sorted out to win the game. Sorry for the sports analogy but it works.

June 19, 2022

Evangelical Pastor says churches have become "more partisan than Christian"

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/06/evangelical-pastor-says-church-has.html

"The point is today that the church has lost its uniqueness. Rather than saving and representing the team in heaven, they have been mimicking the teams of the culture." Tony Evans to the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Tony Evans, in the message cited above, uses texts from Matthew and Peter to describe a church as the "ecclesia", a body made up of those who have faith in Christ in common, and who come together for the specific purpose of being empowered by the spirit for "kingdom" purposes. Noting that Jesus declared "My kingdom is not of this world," but is a spiritual domain, the intrusion of politics, any politics, removes the elements of the ecclesia. Church, apart from its mission and purpose, is pointless.

Maybe that's why so many people are leaving churches, especially Evangelical churches. Conservative Christians, including Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Charismatics, have been harshly critical of mainline Protestant denominations for years, claiming that theological and social liberalism removed the spiritual elements, and led to declining attendance and membership. But there is now research which shows that conservative churches are declining at a faster rate than mainline Protestants, to the point where the latter now actually outnumber the former for the first time in decades.

June 15, 2022

The Southern Baptist Convention turns back far right MAGA faction's takeover effort

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/06/southern-baptists-make-progress-on.html

A far right conservative faction in the Southern Baptist Convention, known as the "Conservative Baptist Network, CBN" has failed in its attempt to gain control of the denomination's officer positions and its executive committee leadership, and in its attempt to defund and dissolve its Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

All of the officer candidates endorsed by the far right CBN faction were defeated. The Sexual Abuse Task Force recommendations, which many CBN members opposed, were adopted by the convention overwhelmingly. All three officers nominated by CBN for the Executive Committee were defeated by non-aligned candidates, the attempt to dissolve the ERLC was defeated "overwhelmingly" according to the Nashville daily, The Tennessean, and a very harsh resolution they wanted to bring to the floor on abortion was voted down. The CBN candidate for president of the Pastor's Conference was also defeated.

This is not an indication that the Southern Baptist Convention is moving in a more progressive, moderate direction, either in its theology, or in its position on social issues. But what this may indicate is that the influence of Trumpism within the convention's churches may be waning. And, as the Salon piece indicates, may be an indication of the same thing occurring within constituencies of the GOP across the country. The SBC itself has succeeded in keeping the influences of Trumpism away from its entities and its operations, though many of its churches and members have been supportive of the far right agenda

June 12, 2022

What kind of mess will we have when Trump is indicted?

Depending on which poll you look at, up to a third of the people in this country still believe, in the face of all available evidence, that the election was stolen. Indicting the man who attempted to subvert the constitution and who resisted the peaceful transfer of power is the right thing to do, but that third of the country has almost all of the loons and nut jobs in it who think they don't have to obey laws that they don't like. I'm sure intelligence is keeping an eye on this. But after just one public hearing from the January 6th committee, it's pretty clear that they have a mountain of evidence against Trump and apparently, some members of Congress too.

Nothing that the extreme right claimed would happen if the Democrats got control has happened. But these people can't see anything right in front of their own eyes.

June 12, 2022

Can we resolve the political crisis we're in now? It won't be easy, but I believe it can be done.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/06/we-are-in-political-crisis-resolving-it.html

While the January 6th committee hearings are now underway, and that is a good thing, there are some observations that come with it that we must face realistically and plan for the future accordingly. The fact of the matter is that a relatively large minority of Americans, as many as a third by most credible evidence, can be considered "extremists" in that they believe something that has been proven to be false, and they believe it strongly enough to be willing to use force to defend it.

That is an extremely dangerous place to be. It's the kind of situation that existed in Europe prior to both 20th century world wars. It's existed in the United States in the past as well, in the decades that led up to the Civil War. Extremism has embedded itself in social and cultural institutions, where it is almost impossible to eliminate or change. It only needs a tipping point or, perhaps a better analogy, a carelessly tossed cigarette into the dry tinder to ignite the flames.

We need to recognize that the injection of far right political ideology has its limits, and is waning. It reached its high point in getting Trump in the White House for four years. That, in turn, motivated the largest turnout of Democratic party votes in American history, over 80 million, from virtually every Democratic party constituency, and most independents, to get him out. So the first step is to gather the strength of the ballot box again, in 2022, and put an exclamation point on 2020. Is that so unrealistic? It has to be done, and opinions about who is in the White House don't matter, though the President we have is politically the best suited to carry out what needs to be done and that's why 80 million of us elected him in the first place. Uniting the country has to be done under the rules and principles of its democratic constitutional government, and with the minority party playing the obstructionist card, holding the majority in Congress, getting the Senate past the filibuster obstacle and negotiating from a position of strength is the only language obstructionism understands.

June 10, 2022

We need to keep our majority through the midterms and that's a priority

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/06/all-good-ideas-are-on-table-this-is-how.html

Open minds, a variety of diverse ideas and perspectives, listening to people who sit in a different place and have a different perspective. How refreshing it is to write those words after decades of gridlock politics brought to us by the Republican Party. I'll preface this by saying no one is perfect, and no one is the ultimate authority on what is or is not going to work in an election. We've been surprised before, though we are at a point now where polling data and the predictions that go along with them are generally pretty accurate. But even so, just accepting this information without acting on it, or working to do something that will make a difference, is silly and defeatist. And considering what is at stake, which is the effective functioning of American constitutional democracy, everything it worth a try.

Of all political perspectives and party positions, Democrats should know that all ideas do not have to be mutually exclusive.