Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA): “Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history being arrested today. Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus! Jesus was arrested and murdered.” pic.twitter.com/dSOeHvRnDE
It does feel like a bold move to compare ANY politician to Jesus during Holy Week. A comparison to even Mandela is a stretch in most instances https://t.co/nLa2G90Vxp
Nancy Pelosi: "Do you know some…wonderful, well-educated people…then BOOM, they're way on the other side of our democracy…Why, because they don't wanna pay more taxes?"
So, anyone who changes their ideological views does it because they want don't want to pay higher taxes?… pic.twitter.com/2UwZHpl5xv
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Tim 4:3
“On Monday, the recording artist Madonna made an announcement regarding her forthcoming 35-city world tour: She had added Nashville, Tenn., to the roster. The stop was occasioned by the murder of six people, including three children, at a Christian school in that city on March 27. Madonna’s concert is billed as a fundraiser, but not for the victims of this particular attack. The show is pitched as a protest against Tennessee’s allegedly “inhumane” anti-trans legislation, and the concert will donate a portion of the proceeds to unnamed “trans rights organizations.””
—
“It is important to recall, because it is being forgotten, that this event would not be held, nor any statement about the fear experienced by transgender individuals be written, had someone who may have identified as trans not killed six people.
It’s easy to compartmentalize the senseless bloodshed that occasioned the outpouring of support for the “trans community,” because that was the intended effect of tortured efforts in the press to link — however dubiously — the brutal slaying of three school employees and three nine-year-olds to a metaphysical debate in this country over transgenderism and young people’s exposure to it.
Whatever you think of that debate, there is no established link between it and the violence in Nashville. It’s being shoehorned into the national discussion, eclipsing any attention that would otherwise be devoted to the torment endured by the bereaved.
Madonna isn’t alone in capitalizing on the dreadful news out of Nashville. I’ve discussed this impulse in the press, as have Rich and Becket. But it’s still going on. Indeed, from a casual survey of the media landscape just over a week after that mass shooting, you could be forgiven for assuming the victims of this attack were trans rather than the perpetrator.
As Tennessee mourned, the CBC’s Nick Logan chronicled what one gender-studies professor called the “incredible escalation of the fear factor” allegedly experienced by trans-identifying Americans because “speculation about the killer’s gender identity was quickly weaponized in an ongoing battle against transgender and LGBTQ rights.” The Associated Press echoed concerns about “anti-transgender rhetoric and disinformation,” which have “heightened the fears of a community already on edge amid a historic push for more restrictions on trans people’s rights this year.” Citing some genuinely provocative commentary on the right, the Washington Post’s Fenit Nirappil warned that the “attacks against transgender people and gender-affirming care come at a precarious time for trans rights in America.” After all, “Studies show transgender people are disproportionately likely to be victims of violence.”
Okay, but not in this case. In this case — the case that prompted all this reporting — it was the other way around. What these reporters and countless trans-advocacy groups across North America are doing is little distinct from what Madonna is doing: Using this senseless act of bloodshed to advance their own narrow objectives.
Think for a moment about what the people who lost friends, family members, and even children in this attack are experiencing. They have witnessed the national press descend invasively on their town only to watch them pivot on a dime away from them and toward an abstraction. In the process, media appears committed to muting the pain of the bereaved in favor of the apprehension experienced by those who identify, to one degree or another, with the person who shattered the lives of the bereaved and took their loved ones away.
The victims of this crime have been cheated out of the grief and charity that is their due. And only to protect an ideological imperative against criticism. Indeed, it’s an imperative that has taken the form in this case of something resembling sympathy for the killer. Why else raise without evidence the notion that the trans community is uniquely imperiled by Tennessee’s laws if not to establish an at least understandable — if not legitimate — motive?
What exactly are they sad about? That their bitter enemy was finally arrested or is it really just that feeling of utter letdown that this actually doesn't make them feel any better about their empty lives?
Alvin Bragg was able to elevate the 34 counts to the level of a felony by saying they were to “conceal another crime” but didn’t include the crime he claims was being covered up in the indictment because “the law does not so require”
Been saying this for a week now. How can they felony enhance these charges with out a prior felony conviction, or charging him with the separate felony. And secondly anything to do with the federal election if federal jurisdiction, which Bragg has no authority to charge him with.
Barr said on Fox News there is nothing here. Jarrett says same thing. Where's the crime??? It's a copy and paste 34 times. This is a bad joke! And they want to start trial Jan 2024 in the middle of campaign season?! Bragg needs replaced.
BREAKING on @MSNBC: Donald Trump just pleaded not guilty to *34 counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy* for his alleged role in hush money payments to two women at the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Reiss summing up what the prosecutors said: "In describing the indictment, they said Mr. Trump tried to conceal a conspiracy" to influence the 2016 election… https://t.co/FLzyAJCWLE
Former President Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy for his alleged role in hush money payments made in the midst of the 2016 campaign. via @NBCNewshttps://t.co/rWYq0HQ04P
CONSPIRACY not charged. 34 charges of felony falsification of business records. Correcting MSNBC reporting. Deleting previous tweet. ⬇️ https://t.co/nQ0xf5ps3I
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) April 4, 2023
Think about how weak a case against Trump has to be for even Millhiser to view it with skepticism. What Bragg did here, just to get his 2 minutes in the sun, was indefensible. pic.twitter.com/s5DIMHUhAK
MSNBC legal expert (fmr deputy AG) admits D.A. Bragg’s claims were rejected by Merrick Garland bc they are “relatively trivial and insignificant.” Then scrambles to convince panel Trump is nonetheless terrible. pic.twitter.com/I4CiAT5n8h
Even John Bolton recognizes that this is a bogus case. Bolton just said he is "extraordinarily distressed" by the indictment and it is "even weaker than I feared it would be and I think it's easily subject to being dismissed or a quick acquittal for Trump." pic.twitter.com/zPEAaCjAhR
After reading DA Bragg’s indictment of Trump and accompanying statement of facts, I’m stunned any prosecutor would move forward with this. It’s even flimsier than we were led to believe. Thirty-four stacked counts, bootstrapped to an unstated crime, to manufacture felony charges.
Underwhelming is almost generous. Amateur hour from Bragg, who is only doing this to get a gold star from his base for at least trying. Amazing how many legal analysts — including those not fans of Trump — who say this case is beyond weak. https://t.co/sOvatdaPfW
“Former President Donald Trump’s Thursday indictment inaugurated America’s stage as a banana republic. Now, Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin both have something in common as authoritarian rulers: their chief political opponents are both under arrest.
On Tuesday, Trump arrived at a New York City criminal court to face charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who campaigned for the office two years ago on a platform to investigate the former president. Bragg’s success in capturing an indictment marks the first time a former president has seen charges brought against them. The Manhattan charges stem from 2016 hush money payments in a case so weak prosecutors previously declined to pursue.”
“The collapse of freedom in the Western world proceeds apace.
Misinformation boards. Government backdoors into social media companies. Bogus “fact checks” that promote outright falsehoods.
And now an arrest for being mean to Emmanuel Macron on Facebook. An actual arrest for calling him “filth.”
You are likely aware of the raging protests in France over pension reforms. As much as I hate to admit it, I am with Macron on this issue. Raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 is hardly draconian given the increase in lifespans and the fiscal crises all pension programs face.
The protests have been “fiery but mostly peaceful,” as they say. Not a single person has died by guillotine yet, although it is early in the process. That took a while to get going during the French Revolution. The French love their escalating violence in protests.
Yet the arrest of which I am writing has nothing to do with being fiery or mostly peaceful. Or even encouraging anybody else to be mostly peaceful.
Rather, a woman was arrested for insulting President Macron on Facebook:
The complaint focused on a post on her Facebook page made on March 21, the day before Macron gave a lunchtime interview to TF1 television to defend his controversial pension reforms that have sparked nationwide protests.
“This piece of filth is going to address you at 1:00 pm… it’s always on television that we see this filth,” she wrote.
The woman, in her 50s, had been a supporter of the 2018-2019 “Yellow Vest” protests that shook Macron during his first mandate.
She stands accused of “insulting the president of the republic” and will stand trial on June 20 in Saint Omer, the prosecutor said.”
“Most people know that it’s dangerous to poke a bear because once aroused, the beast can be fearsome. Democrats are only beginning to realize that the same principle is starting to hold true for elephants of the GOP variety. After decades of passively adhering to gentlemanly standards (“our sacred norms”) ignored in practice by the donkeys, a critical mass of Republicans is move toward eye-for-an-eye style retribution and even beyond.
Republican members of the Tennessee House on Monday the process of disciplining 3 Democrat state legislators for misbehavior during a storming of the State Capitol by trans and anti-gun activists last week in the wake of the slaughter of 3 children and 3 adults by a person identifying as trans. It was a violent mob action that, had Republicans been responsible for, would have been labeled an insurrection. But the corrupt national media establishment barely noted the incident and certainly made no comparison to Jan. 6.
The Nashville Tennessean described the Monday proceedings:
Yells rang out through the state Capitol as Tennessee House Republicans on Monday introduced resolutions to expel three Democrats for “disorderly behavior” after the trio led protest chants for gun reform on the floor of the chamber last week in the wake of the deadly Covenant School shooting.
On Thursday, the three House Democrats approached the podium between bills without being recognized to speak, a breach of chamber rules. With a bullhorn, Reps. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis led protestors in the galleries in several chants calling for gun reform.
House leadership later likened the trio’s behavior to an “insurrection,” a characterization House Democrats decried last week.
The expulsion resolutions claim the three “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”
So far, the three remain in the state legislature, but they have lost their committee assignments. Fox News reports:
Three Tennessee state lawmakers, all Democrats, were pulled from their committee assignments and could face expulsion from the legislature after they participated in storming the state Capitol during a protest against guns following last week’s school shooting.
Tennessee House Republicans voted Monday to strip committee assignments from state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson and Gloria Johnson, according to WPLN.
A potential expulsion for the three lawmakers could come later this week.”
God has a sense of humor in the names He chooses to play the games: Bragg and Trump
In other news, our new county superintendent of schools is from Illinois. We shall see if he can stay out of trouble like others have not. I pray he will be good and not bring Chicago style crime south to our hurting schools.
“Do we ever go back and think, all of this could have been avoided if … there had not been those acts that were unfaithful to a marriage? ”
No, DJ, I never think that. I don’t think that because it’s not true. It’s wishful thinking. We would still have had a coup attempt from 2016-2020 if Donald Trump were a life-long celibate monk. Why? Because the people in power don’t like his POLICIES. And the people who support them are mostly concerned with his titillating personal sins rather than those committed on a national level on a daily basis in their name.
Well, I do think that, Debra. The tangled web and all.
While no candidate is a celibate monk, it is important to look at candidates for faithful character traits. We pass over those and shrug them off or laugh at them to our own peril.
We tend to set these things up, as God allows us to go our way in seasons.
This particular legal case against him is weak — and there is undoubtedly political motives behind it — and I am sorry it was ever filed.
I’m just saying that aren’t we also complicit in setting the nation on a path with this particular man, for better or worse (as we do with all presidents, of course)?
Not everything should be seen only. through the lens of politics, but that’s what we are doing so often now. Only politics matter.
I just feel sad about all of it, to be honest. Few heroes to be seen right now in this chaos we find ourselves in as a nation. Human nature too often in full display all around, on all sides, and yeah, it’s discouraging to say the least.
Our pastor will talk sometimes about that exercise of doing an “infinite regress” to see how things came to be what they are. I find it helpful and important in situations like this, where we find ourselves saying, “how the heck did we come to this?”
From where I stand, there are bad actors on full display all around us right now, many acting it all out whether in court cases or otherwise.
And yeah, it’s discouraging. I’m sorry to see the nation in the state that it currently is in.
So many are obsessed with Trump and his affairs. Have mercy he is not the first and sadly won’t be the last.
Washington,Harding,Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Johnson, Kennedy, Clinton(gasp!), Bush, Biden (just read excerpts from his daughter’s diary!). So are these men of “good character”?!
The last election which I deeply believe was won by fraud was a choice of Trump who truly displays his love for this country and Biden, a senile old man who was not and is not fit to be President and is being handled by those who have an agenda against our country and our Constitution. Lawlessness reigns under this current “administration”….it would not be if the rightful candidate had been declared President.
Greene just demonstrated the leadership principle of neo-fascism. The leader is sacred – Il Duce, Generalissimo, Fuhrer, etc The title varies but the idea is the same. The memes and tweets from this will amuse people all day. AJ posted something about people upset Greene was on 60 minutes but there were far more people posting memes and reels about her appearance keeping themselves amused for days. In history the first occurence is a tragedy but the second time is a farce.
Pelosi really should retire to a nice summer home. The clip is too short and cuts her off at the point of ridicule. Even from the short clip, she does have a point – people use the infrastructure and stability provided by the state but as soon as they become wealthy, they don’t want to pay taxes.
The Nasvhille shooting is a victim of the culture wars. Culture and social behaviour should not be politicized. Shootings themselves have become politicized – anytime a mass shooting occurs, people rush to see which “side” the shooter is on so one side can throw mud. Police should probably not comment on anything related to motive. In Nashville, its clear some want to use it to tarnish the trans movement while others are jumping ahead of any backlash that might occur.
The Tennessee legislature had a bit of a Taiwan feel to it. A clip I saw was a Democrat recording a protest in the balcony and when he turned around to see who was behind him he was knocked down by a Republican legislator. Not sure if tit for tat behaviour solves anything. In any case the Democrats may see this as an escalation – after all, Josh Hawley is still an active member of the House after pumping his fist and riling up the Jan 6 crowd. The naming of the protest is different – some called it a pro gun control protest but others called it pro-trans/anti-gun.
Madonna has always been a LGBQT icon; not surprised by her actions and she’s not really benefiting from it.
Trump Indictment Accelerates America’s Race to the Bottom
From the IRS scandal to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, partisans on both sides tear down national norms.
By Mark Penn and Andrew Stein
April 5, 2023 12:57 pm ET
~ The demonization of political opponents is entering its next depressing but predictable phase—the use of the most partisan parts of the criminal-justice system to arrest and prosecute political opponents on flimsy charges. Too much of the public, increasingly divorced from bedrock national values, is cheering it on.
It’s the logical extension of Donald Trump’s claiming he won the election he lost; of Joe Biden’s branding “MAGA Republicans” a “clear and present danger” to “our democracy”; of right-wing groups planning and executing an assault on the Capitol; of the Russia-collusion hoax; of partisan impeachments; of tech companies censoring political and scientific information to promote ideological and partisan agendas; of retired intelligence officials interfering with the 2020 election by making false claims about the Hunter Biden laptop; of law students shouting down federal judges with the encouragement of university administrators.
The routine violation of political norms worsened under the Trump and Biden administrations but began under President Obama. He personally upbraided the Supreme Court in his 2010 State of the Union address, falsely characterizing its holdings in the Citizens United case. His administration weaponized the Internal Revenue Service against grass-roots conservative groups and initiated the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s interference in the 2016 election. …
… We are here because of an assault on American values, a heightening of partisanship, and an erosion of the two core constitutional principles—free speech and equal justice under the law—without which our democracy is truly in peril.
The assault on free speech is unprecedented and goes against the popular will. In one recent CAPS/Harris poll, 70% of respondents said they’d support new laws protecting free expression on social media. Yet college campuses and tech companies have put such rights at the mercy of bureaucrats, online mobs and even physical mobs.
Equal protection under the law is also under assault, as big-city prosecutors decline to pursue charges against serious criminals. The District of Columbia’s attorney general, for one, is freeing without prosecution a record 67% of those arrested. The largest criminal investigation in history isn’t to find those responsible for 100,000 deaths a year from fentanyl but to track down every single person who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, regardless of whether they committed any violence. The message: If you are on the political side of those in power, you get released; if you are a dissident, you get prosecuted.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has taken the next step with the indictment of Mr. Trump over a private transaction that had no real effect on anything. Who or what is exactly the victim? The business-record keeper of America? If the campaign had paid for it, Mr. Trump might have been subject to fines for using campaign funds for personal expenditures.
Time and time again, the abandonment of norms has come back to bite those who did it. …
… The damage from Mr. Bragg’s pursuit of Mr. Trump is done. The fundamental question is how we bring America back from the brink and restore the country to its values. One thing is unfortunately clear: Neither of the leading candidates for president, Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump, can be counted on to do that. They are too caught up in the ends-justify-the-means battle that has led us to this point. Only leadership that is committed to reaching across the aisle can restore national unity. ~
___________________
I think some of the commentators are “sad” because the presidency has been smeared by Trumps acts. In any case its hard to tell when the video clips are so short and quit as soon as the word “sad” is said.
The case is weak. Could it be the original crime (conspiracy, election fraud or whatever) is federal whereas this is a state court? Conspiracy laws are an abuse of rights and freedom. RICO or conspriacy laws are despite its popularity for breaking up organized crime extremely broad and open to abuse. As someone said a few days ago, the US has too many laws, jurisdictions, etc. On the other hand, a grand jury of his peers did confirm the indictment. And yes New York hates him as they do any other greedy slumlord.
Biden authoratarian? I thought he was asleep and weak. Now he’s equated with Putin and other authoritarians. I think he’s quite mentally aware but I wouldn’t give that much credit.
I love the French working class -always fighting the power. Many European countries have laws on the books about insulting the head of the state – it’s a leftover from the days of royalty but it’s seldom used. Usually in cases like this its used because of an act the person may have committd or is suspected of committing and the police don’t have enough to go on; so charge them with what you have.
But I agree the rise of authoratarianism is worrisome. Not only in Russia, China and the usual suspects but its creeping elsewhere – Poland, Hungary, Israel, etc. Hungary and Turkey have been reluctant NATO allies in Ukraine for a reason – support for authoratarianism and illiberal democracy
NJ (from yesterday) Want to end fossil fuel dependency, install solar panels and wear a sweater. Carter was right and way ahead of his time. And both Canada and the US need to stop subsidizing suburban sprawl; more compact cities with more urban transit are needed.
Reagan popularized the neo con libertarian economic ideology that came out of right wing think tanks in the 70s. Think tanks funded by very rich people who disliked the Kenysian economies of the 50 and 60s that rewarded the middle class and not the elites. Bush Sr was right to call it voodoo economics but he did nothing to reverse it. Clinton endorsed it and changed the Democratic party’s economic ideology. Obama and Biden attempted to mitigate with some Kenysian spending and Trump deviated from orthodoxy by adding some protectionism but “Reaganomics” still permeates the discourse.
Infrastructure deficits take time to notice and have an effect. Some band-aids were handed out by Obama but not enough. And thus America is in the position it is now. A severe infrastructure defecit and not enough of a tax base to fix it.
Political leaders are rarely moral saints – Jimmy Carter comes closest. However, until evangelicals started to get involved in politics that was rarely a consideration. Only into the 80s did presidential behaviour seem to matter – JFK could sleep with Marilyn Monroe, FDR and his wife could have separate mistresses, etc and no one blinked. However, by the time Clinton denied his affair, morals became important. And then suddenly morality tests were quickly forgotten.
DJ – although the WSJ opinion piece is correct, I’d argue the race to the bottom began in the Clinton presidency, Bush vs Gore made it worse but then 9/11 gave pause only to accelerate again with the Iraq war. Once Obama was elected the gloves were off on both sides. Obama was actually correct to criticize Citizens United (it corrupted US politics probably beyond repair) and then there was Trump whose parting shot of election denial hit the bottom.
Tychicus — the polls were accurate and the election was accurate. Internally FOX knew it but let their hosts lie for the ratings. They lied. And the US political culture reached its nadir.
No, it matters to a minority, a minority who should be the first to forgive, having been forgiven themselves.
That whole Theology 101 thing you mentioned. Col. 3:13, Eph. 4:32
And you have no idea about his repentance or how he and his wife moved on from his misdeeds. And he owes people like you nothing.
You’re assuming, despite nothing in the years since that shows he still lives that way. She’s obviously forgiven him, but it’s Christians like you, who won’t. You assume, because it fits your pre-conceived notions of who you want him to be.
I do hope he repents, but he is still denying any relationship occurred at all, which appears to be a stretch of some rather publicly known evidence. But you may be right, I hope you are. Of course, there were other issues that were recorded and known when he was running initially.
Haven’t seen Melania with him in some time.
So, “a flying” what? You missed filling that in. But we did, in our heads, so no worries.
I don’t know if Trump is a believer. Evidence typically will follow. Time will ultimately tell, though we may be left in the dark with that point, not knowing him personally. I do hope he’s in a church and is being discipled by someone. That would start to show.
Eph. 4:32 — another good one. Perhaps we can start the thread with it every day? We could all use it, always.
For those in public life who convert, I think of Charles Colson — and also think it’s best to take some time in the private sector when something like that is genuinely occurring.
In Colson’s case, he did spend time being discipled and taught and when he re-emerged he pretty much was a very different man from the way he was in the Nixon Administration (the ‘hatchet’ man, I believe they dubbed him). I suppose being in jail gave him much of that privacy that he used to good ends, but afterward, too, I believe he connected with RC Sproul at the time and spent some time under his teaching.
I apologize for my “Theology 101” crack from a few days ago, it was snarky and uncalled for, a reminder to me not to post in hast or in agitation.
DJ, so where does morality and character fit into our endless wars, in your opinion. What about leaders of honor and integrity, like Pence or Pompao, who support our endless wars? Is that all forgiven because it’s far away? Exactly how much–how many years –is enough. And for what? So our military industry can make more money?
At least these questions should be a significant part of the equation shouldn’t they?
Besides claiming to be a Christian, has Trump publicly expressed regret or remorse for things like his well-known infidelities or that much-publicized crack about grabbing women by a certain area? Of course, he doesn’t owe any apologies to the public, but as a candidate and public figure, if he is indeed a Christian, he should have expressed something like that by now. We all know that he is not shy about using his words and tweeting and posting on other matters.
Politically supporting wars is another issue and dependent on the circumstances. There typically are disagreements among people of good conscience. In retrospect, minds and beliefs about those positions may, indeed, be changed.
I’m not sure I see how that is part of a character discussion, per se.
There is the “just war” theory that churches have used in the past. This is tough, and judgements and circumstances can be fluid and hard to gauge.
Was WWII a just war? Most of us would say yes. Vietnam? Maybe not or maybe? But seriously mishandled? Or not just at all? There’s room for disagreement among well-meaning people, I think.
I have leaned pacifist in the past and still do — but I acknowledge there are times, in defending others and for the cause of justice, war may be warranted — there are worse things that war which is why war is regrettably necessary at times. But it should never be undertaken wantonly or carelessly or as a pure show of power.
We currently have a President, with the support of most of our Senate and Representatives, sending hundreds of millions of dollars to support a war that we wantonly provoked over a period of decades. In the last 10 years at least we’ve had various government officials and politicians with boots on the ground in Ukraine actively encouraging rebellion. If this was an isolated incident it would be one thing, but it’s merely the latest in a long, expensive, bloody series of wars brought on by the hubris and greed of our national leaders. Resisting the pressure of the Congress, the Pentagon and its myriad lobbyists, and wealthy donors who view war as a moneymaking and power consolidating proposition, would be the ultimate test of character in my opinion. Trump has been tested in this area and has for the most part managed to resist the worst impulses of our government. For all of his failures (many), he’s still headed in the right direction.
The ability to remain faithful to one wife might make one a good deacon or elder, and it makes for much less drama in public life, but it doesn’t come close to the sheer strength of character required on the national stage. I don’t see many people with that kind of brass face that can just take the punishment—-maybe DeSantis. Maybe.
Wandering Views 
Uhhhhh…..
No. Not at all.
This is unhelpful.
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But this is funny. 🙂
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Let’s keep rolling with the stupid quotes…..
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And one more, the stupidest of all.
Finally a quote that makes sense.
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Which leads us to this question for that “pastor” and her ilk.
“Can We Spare a Moment for the Murdered Children?”
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/can-we-spare-a-moment-for-the-murdered-children/
“On Monday, the recording artist Madonna made an announcement regarding her forthcoming 35-city world tour: She had added Nashville, Tenn., to the roster. The stop was occasioned by the murder of six people, including three children, at a Christian school in that city on March 27. Madonna’s concert is billed as a fundraiser, but not for the victims of this particular attack. The show is pitched as a protest against Tennessee’s allegedly “inhumane” anti-trans legislation, and the concert will donate a portion of the proceeds to unnamed “trans rights organizations.””
—
“It is important to recall, because it is being forgotten, that this event would not be held, nor any statement about the fear experienced by transgender individuals be written, had someone who may have identified as trans not killed six people.
It’s easy to compartmentalize the senseless bloodshed that occasioned the outpouring of support for the “trans community,” because that was the intended effect of tortured efforts in the press to link — however dubiously — the brutal slaying of three school employees and three nine-year-olds to a metaphysical debate in this country over transgenderism and young people’s exposure to it.
Whatever you think of that debate, there is no established link between it and the violence in Nashville. It’s being shoehorned into the national discussion, eclipsing any attention that would otherwise be devoted to the torment endured by the bereaved.
Madonna isn’t alone in capitalizing on the dreadful news out of Nashville. I’ve discussed this impulse in the press, as have Rich and Becket. But it’s still going on. Indeed, from a casual survey of the media landscape just over a week after that mass shooting, you could be forgiven for assuming the victims of this attack were trans rather than the perpetrator.
As Tennessee mourned, the CBC’s Nick Logan chronicled what one gender-studies professor called the “incredible escalation of the fear factor” allegedly experienced by trans-identifying Americans because “speculation about the killer’s gender identity was quickly weaponized in an ongoing battle against transgender and LGBTQ rights.” The Associated Press echoed concerns about “anti-transgender rhetoric and disinformation,” which have “heightened the fears of a community already on edge amid a historic push for more restrictions on trans people’s rights this year.” Citing some genuinely provocative commentary on the right, the Washington Post’s Fenit Nirappil warned that the “attacks against transgender people and gender-affirming care come at a precarious time for trans rights in America.” After all, “Studies show transgender people are disproportionately likely to be victims of violence.”
Okay, but not in this case. In this case — the case that prompted all this reporting — it was the other way around. What these reporters and countless trans-advocacy groups across North America are doing is little distinct from what Madonna is doing: Using this senseless act of bloodshed to advance their own narrow objectives.
Think for a moment about what the people who lost friends, family members, and even children in this attack are experiencing. They have witnessed the national press descend invasively on their town only to watch them pivot on a dime away from them and toward an abstraction. In the process, media appears committed to muting the pain of the bereaved in favor of the apprehension experienced by those who identify, to one degree or another, with the person who shattered the lives of the bereaved and took their loved ones away.
The victims of this crime have been cheated out of the grief and charity that is their due. And only to protect an ideological imperative against criticism. Indeed, it’s an imperative that has taken the form in this case of something resembling sympathy for the killer. Why else raise without evidence the notion that the trans community is uniquely imperiled by Tennessee’s laws if not to establish an at least understandable — if not legitimate — motive?
It’s positively demonic.”
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Frauds. You’ve been cheering this on for over 6 years.
B. It’s B.
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Weak.
Weird, right. It’s almost like they got nothing. Because that’s exactly what the got.
It’s the CliffsNotes version of an indictment.
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More fake news from the usual clowns.
Oh no, a conspiracy charge!
Except….
There’s not.
Sad trombones. 🙂
Polly wants a cracker….. 🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜
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“Underwhelming….”
Even the never-Trumpers agree. lol.
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Authoritarian fascists do what they gotta do….
“Putin’s And Biden’s Chief Political Opponents Are Now Both Under Arrest”
https://thefederalist.com/2023/04/04/putins-and-bidens-chief-political-opponents-are-now-both-under-arrest/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=putins-and-bidens-chief-political-opponents-are-now-both-under-arrest
“Former President Donald Trump’s Thursday indictment inaugurated America’s stage as a banana republic. Now, Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin both have something in common as authoritarian rulers: their chief political opponents are both under arrest.
On Tuesday, Trump arrived at a New York City criminal court to face charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who campaigned for the office two years ago on a platform to investigate the former president. Bragg’s success in capturing an indictment marks the first time a former president has seen charges brought against them. The Manhattan charges stem from 2016 hush money payments in a case so weak prosecutors previously declined to pursue.”
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Not to be outdone, the weasel who runs France gets in on the authoritarian game.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/04/04/dont-insult-us-or-else-n541572
“The collapse of freedom in the Western world proceeds apace.
Misinformation boards. Government backdoors into social media companies. Bogus “fact checks” that promote outright falsehoods.
And now an arrest for being mean to Emmanuel Macron on Facebook. An actual arrest for calling him “filth.”
You are likely aware of the raging protests in France over pension reforms. As much as I hate to admit it, I am with Macron on this issue. Raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 is hardly draconian given the increase in lifespans and the fiscal crises all pension programs face.
The protests have been “fiery but mostly peaceful,” as they say. Not a single person has died by guillotine yet, although it is early in the process. That took a while to get going during the French Revolution. The French love their escalating violence in protests.
Yet the arrest of which I am writing has nothing to do with being fiery or mostly peaceful. Or even encouraging anybody else to be mostly peaceful.
Rather, a woman was arrested for insulting President Macron on Facebook:
The complaint focused on a post on her Facebook page made on March 21, the day before Macron gave a lunchtime interview to TF1 television to defend his controversial pension reforms that have sparked nationwide protests.
“This piece of filth is going to address you at 1:00 pm… it’s always on television that we see this filth,” she wrote.
The woman, in her 50s, had been a supporter of the 2018-2019 “Yellow Vest” protests that shook Macron during his first mandate.
She stands accused of “insulting the president of the republic” and will stand trial on June 20 in Saint Omer, the prosecutor said.”
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Finally.
Play their game, give them a taste. It’s the only way they’ll stop this un-American garbage. Turnabout and all….
“TN GOP legislators play hardball, strip committee assignments and may expel ‘insurrection’ Dems from state legislature”
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/04/tn_gop_legislators_play_hardball_strip_committee_assignments_and_may_expel_insurrection_dems_from_state_legislature.html
“Most people know that it’s dangerous to poke a bear because once aroused, the beast can be fearsome. Democrats are only beginning to realize that the same principle is starting to hold true for elephants of the GOP variety. After decades of passively adhering to gentlemanly standards (“our sacred norms”) ignored in practice by the donkeys, a critical mass of Republicans is move toward eye-for-an-eye style retribution and even beyond.
Republican members of the Tennessee House on Monday the process of disciplining 3 Democrat state legislators for misbehavior during a storming of the State Capitol by trans and anti-gun activists last week in the wake of the slaughter of 3 children and 3 adults by a person identifying as trans. It was a violent mob action that, had Republicans been responsible for, would have been labeled an insurrection. But the corrupt national media establishment barely noted the incident and certainly made no comparison to Jan. 6.
The Nashville Tennessean described the Monday proceedings:
Yells rang out through the state Capitol as Tennessee House Republicans on Monday introduced resolutions to expel three Democrats for “disorderly behavior” after the trio led protest chants for gun reform on the floor of the chamber last week in the wake of the deadly Covenant School shooting.
On Thursday, the three House Democrats approached the podium between bills without being recognized to speak, a breach of chamber rules. With a bullhorn, Reps. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis led protestors in the galleries in several chants calling for gun reform.
House leadership later likened the trio’s behavior to an “insurrection,” a characterization House Democrats decried last week.
The expulsion resolutions claim the three “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives through their individual and collective actions.”
So far, the three remain in the state legislature, but they have lost their committee assignments. Fox News reports:
Three Tennessee state lawmakers, all Democrats, were pulled from their committee assignments and could face expulsion from the legislature after they participated in storming the state Capitol during a protest against guns following last week’s school shooting.
Tennessee House Republicans voted Monday to strip committee assignments from state Reps. Justin Jones, Justin J. Pearson and Gloria Johnson, according to WPLN.
A potential expulsion for the three lawmakers could come later this week.”
——
Play the Chicago way.
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God has a sense of humor in the names He chooses to play the games: Bragg and Trump
In other news, our new county superintendent of schools is from Illinois. We shall see if he can stay out of trouble like others have not. I pray he will be good and not bring Chicago style crime south to our hurting schools.
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“He will lose to Biden by the same margin as before.”
As before? I can’t believe that any sane person still believes that Joe Biden received anything close to 81 million votes.
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An election coup took Pres. Trump out of office, and another coup is attempting to keep him out. Tyranny at its finest…
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Big picture stuff:
Do we ever go back and think, all of this could have been avoided if … there had not been those acts that were unfaithful to a marriage?
… had character mattered?
But God, and but Providence. … and here we find ourselves. Lord, have mercy.
Praying God will preserve us as a nation and lead us out of this wilderness we find ourselves in now.
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“Do we ever go back and think, all of this could have been avoided if … there had not been those acts that were unfaithful to a marriage? ”
No, DJ, I never think that. I don’t think that because it’s not true. It’s wishful thinking. We would still have had a coup attempt from 2016-2020 if Donald Trump were a life-long celibate monk. Why? Because the people in power don’t like his POLICIES. And the people who support them are mostly concerned with his titillating personal sins rather than those committed on a national level on a daily basis in their name.
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Well, I do think that, Debra. The tangled web and all.
While no candidate is a celibate monk, it is important to look at candidates for faithful character traits. We pass over those and shrug them off or laugh at them to our own peril.
We tend to set these things up, as God allows us to go our way in seasons.
This particular legal case against him is weak — and there is undoubtedly political motives behind it — and I am sorry it was ever filed.
I’m just saying that aren’t we also complicit in setting the nation on a path with this particular man, for better or worse (as we do with all presidents, of course)?
Not everything should be seen only. through the lens of politics, but that’s what we are doing so often now. Only politics matter.
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I just feel sad about all of it, to be honest. Few heroes to be seen right now in this chaos we find ourselves in as a nation. Human nature too often in full display all around, on all sides, and yeah, it’s discouraging to say the least.
God have mercy.
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Our pastor will talk sometimes about that exercise of doing an “infinite regress” to see how things came to be what they are. I find it helpful and important in situations like this, where we find ourselves saying, “how the heck did we come to this?”
From where I stand, there are bad actors on full display all around us right now, many acting it all out whether in court cases or otherwise.
And yeah, it’s discouraging. I’m sorry to see the nation in the state that it currently is in.
But God …
He knows. He also judges the nations.
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So many are obsessed with Trump and his affairs. Have mercy he is not the first and sadly won’t be the last.
Washington,Harding,Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Johnson, Kennedy, Clinton(gasp!), Bush, Biden (just read excerpts from his daughter’s diary!). So are these men of “good character”?!
The last election which I deeply believe was won by fraud was a choice of Trump who truly displays his love for this country and Biden, a senile old man who was not and is not fit to be President and is being handled by those who have an agenda against our country and our Constitution. Lawlessness reigns under this current “administration”….it would not be if the rightful candidate had been declared President.
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Greene just demonstrated the leadership principle of neo-fascism. The leader is sacred – Il Duce, Generalissimo, Fuhrer, etc The title varies but the idea is the same. The memes and tweets from this will amuse people all day. AJ posted something about people upset Greene was on 60 minutes but there were far more people posting memes and reels about her appearance keeping themselves amused for days. In history the first occurence is a tragedy but the second time is a farce.
Pelosi really should retire to a nice summer home. The clip is too short and cuts her off at the point of ridicule. Even from the short clip, she does have a point – people use the infrastructure and stability provided by the state but as soon as they become wealthy, they don’t want to pay taxes.
The Nasvhille shooting is a victim of the culture wars. Culture and social behaviour should not be politicized. Shootings themselves have become politicized – anytime a mass shooting occurs, people rush to see which “side” the shooter is on so one side can throw mud. Police should probably not comment on anything related to motive. In Nashville, its clear some want to use it to tarnish the trans movement while others are jumping ahead of any backlash that might occur.
The Tennessee legislature had a bit of a Taiwan feel to it. A clip I saw was a Democrat recording a protest in the balcony and when he turned around to see who was behind him he was knocked down by a Republican legislator. Not sure if tit for tat behaviour solves anything. In any case the Democrats may see this as an escalation – after all, Josh Hawley is still an active member of the House after pumping his fist and riling up the Jan 6 crowd. The naming of the protest is different – some called it a pro gun control protest but others called it pro-trans/anti-gun.
Madonna has always been a LGBQT icon; not surprised by her actions and she’s not really benefiting from it.
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Tim Keller on sharing the Gospel as cultural Christianity continues to decline…
https://quarterly.gospelinlife.com/gospel-in-a-post-christendom-society/
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Opinion piece from WSJ today:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-indictment-accelerates-americas-race-to-the-bottom-alvin-bragg-new-york-polarization-clinton-edc1d2b2?st=7oxn60m6dz77qd4&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
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Opinion/Commentary
Trump Indictment Accelerates America’s Race to the Bottom
From the IRS scandal to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, partisans on both sides tear down national norms.
By Mark Penn and Andrew Stein
April 5, 2023 12:57 pm ET
~ The demonization of political opponents is entering its next depressing but predictable phase—the use of the most partisan parts of the criminal-justice system to arrest and prosecute political opponents on flimsy charges. Too much of the public, increasingly divorced from bedrock national values, is cheering it on.
It’s the logical extension of Donald Trump’s claiming he won the election he lost; of Joe Biden’s branding “MAGA Republicans” a “clear and present danger” to “our democracy”; of right-wing groups planning and executing an assault on the Capitol; of the Russia-collusion hoax; of partisan impeachments; of tech companies censoring political and scientific information to promote ideological and partisan agendas; of retired intelligence officials interfering with the 2020 election by making false claims about the Hunter Biden laptop; of law students shouting down federal judges with the encouragement of university administrators.
The routine violation of political norms worsened under the Trump and Biden administrations but began under President Obama. He personally upbraided the Supreme Court in his 2010 State of the Union address, falsely characterizing its holdings in the Citizens United case. His administration weaponized the Internal Revenue Service against grass-roots conservative groups and initiated the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s interference in the 2016 election. …
… We are here because of an assault on American values, a heightening of partisanship, and an erosion of the two core constitutional principles—free speech and equal justice under the law—without which our democracy is truly in peril.
The assault on free speech is unprecedented and goes against the popular will. In one recent CAPS/Harris poll, 70% of respondents said they’d support new laws protecting free expression on social media. Yet college campuses and tech companies have put such rights at the mercy of bureaucrats, online mobs and even physical mobs.
Equal protection under the law is also under assault, as big-city prosecutors decline to pursue charges against serious criminals. The District of Columbia’s attorney general, for one, is freeing without prosecution a record 67% of those arrested. The largest criminal investigation in history isn’t to find those responsible for 100,000 deaths a year from fentanyl but to track down every single person who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, regardless of whether they committed any violence. The message: If you are on the political side of those in power, you get released; if you are a dissident, you get prosecuted.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has taken the next step with the indictment of Mr. Trump over a private transaction that had no real effect on anything. Who or what is exactly the victim? The business-record keeper of America? If the campaign had paid for it, Mr. Trump might have been subject to fines for using campaign funds for personal expenditures.
Time and time again, the abandonment of norms has come back to bite those who did it. …
… The damage from Mr. Bragg’s pursuit of Mr. Trump is done. The fundamental question is how we bring America back from the brink and restore the country to its values. One thing is unfortunately clear: Neither of the leading candidates for president, Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump, can be counted on to do that. They are too caught up in the ends-justify-the-means battle that has led us to this point. Only leadership that is committed to reaching across the aisle can restore national unity. ~
___________________
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I think some of the commentators are “sad” because the presidency has been smeared by Trumps acts. In any case its hard to tell when the video clips are so short and quit as soon as the word “sad” is said.
The case is weak. Could it be the original crime (conspiracy, election fraud or whatever) is federal whereas this is a state court? Conspiracy laws are an abuse of rights and freedom. RICO or conspriacy laws are despite its popularity for breaking up organized crime extremely broad and open to abuse. As someone said a few days ago, the US has too many laws, jurisdictions, etc. On the other hand, a grand jury of his peers did confirm the indictment. And yes New York hates him as they do any other greedy slumlord.
Biden authoratarian? I thought he was asleep and weak. Now he’s equated with Putin and other authoritarians. I think he’s quite mentally aware but I wouldn’t give that much credit.
I love the French working class -always fighting the power. Many European countries have laws on the books about insulting the head of the state – it’s a leftover from the days of royalty but it’s seldom used. Usually in cases like this its used because of an act the person may have committd or is suspected of committing and the police don’t have enough to go on; so charge them with what you have.
But I agree the rise of authoratarianism is worrisome. Not only in Russia, China and the usual suspects but its creeping elsewhere – Poland, Hungary, Israel, etc. Hungary and Turkey have been reluctant NATO allies in Ukraine for a reason – support for authoratarianism and illiberal democracy
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NJ (from yesterday) Want to end fossil fuel dependency, install solar panels and wear a sweater. Carter was right and way ahead of his time. And both Canada and the US need to stop subsidizing suburban sprawl; more compact cities with more urban transit are needed.
Reagan popularized the neo con libertarian economic ideology that came out of right wing think tanks in the 70s. Think tanks funded by very rich people who disliked the Kenysian economies of the 50 and 60s that rewarded the middle class and not the elites. Bush Sr was right to call it voodoo economics but he did nothing to reverse it. Clinton endorsed it and changed the Democratic party’s economic ideology. Obama and Biden attempted to mitigate with some Kenysian spending and Trump deviated from orthodoxy by adding some protectionism but “Reaganomics” still permeates the discourse.
Infrastructure deficits take time to notice and have an effect. Some band-aids were handed out by Obama but not enough. And thus America is in the position it is now. A severe infrastructure defecit and not enough of a tax base to fix it.
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DJ – “Or Hosea 8:7 comes to mind: “For they (we) have sown the wind, and shall reap the whirlwind…”
And that reminded me of Johnny Cash – not quite what the verse means but have to share
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Debra and DJ
Political leaders are rarely moral saints – Jimmy Carter comes closest. However, until evangelicals started to get involved in politics that was rarely a consideration. Only into the 80s did presidential behaviour seem to matter – JFK could sleep with Marilyn Monroe, FDR and his wife could have separate mistresses, etc and no one blinked. However, by the time Clinton denied his affair, morals became important. And then suddenly morality tests were quickly forgotten.
DJ – although the WSJ opinion piece is correct, I’d argue the race to the bottom began in the Clinton presidency, Bush vs Gore made it worse but then 9/11 gave pause only to accelerate again with the Iraq war. Once Obama was elected the gloves were off on both sides. Obama was actually correct to criticize Citizens United (it corrupted US politics probably beyond repair) and then there was Trump whose parting shot of election denial hit the bottom.
Tychicus — the polls were accurate and the election was accurate. Internally FOX knew it but let their hosts lie for the ratings. They lied. And the US political culture reached its nadir.
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Ty @1:50, excellent Keller article, thanks for posting
HRW @3:40: Not a “saint” (in the secular meaning) among us, in that sense.
Character — understanding there is a plumb line, repenting and correcting course when divergences in our lives are seen.
And yes, it till matters in our political leaders.
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*still
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No, it matters to a minority, a minority who should be the first to forgive, having been forgiven themselves.
That whole Theology 101 thing you mentioned. Col. 3:13, Eph. 4:32
And you have no idea about his repentance or how he and his wife moved on from his misdeeds. And he owes people like you nothing.
You’re assuming, despite nothing in the years since that shows he still lives that way. She’s obviously forgiven him, but it’s Christians like you, who won’t. You assume, because it fits your pre-conceived notions of who you want him to be.
Do you think Dems give 2 flying @#$%$?
Newsflash: They don’t. At all.
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I do hope he repents, but he is still denying any relationship occurred at all, which appears to be a stretch of some rather publicly known evidence. But you may be right, I hope you are. Of course, there were other issues that were recorded and known when he was running initially.
Haven’t seen Melania with him in some time.
So, “a flying” what? You missed filling that in. But we did, in our heads, so no worries.
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Col. 3:13, wonderful verse.
I don’t know if Trump is a believer. Evidence typically will follow. Time will ultimately tell, though we may be left in the dark with that point, not knowing him personally. I do hope he’s in a church and is being discipled by someone. That would start to show.
Eph. 4:32 — another good one. Perhaps we can start the thread with it every day? We could all use it, always.
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For those in public life who convert, I think of Charles Colson — and also think it’s best to take some time in the private sector when something like that is genuinely occurring.
In Colson’s case, he did spend time being discipled and taught and when he re-emerged he pretty much was a very different man from the way he was in the Nixon Administration (the ‘hatchet’ man, I believe they dubbed him). I suppose being in jail gave him much of that privacy that he used to good ends, but afterward, too, I believe he connected with RC Sproul at the time and spent some time under his teaching.
I apologize for my “Theology 101” crack from a few days ago, it was snarky and uncalled for, a reminder to me not to post in hast or in agitation.
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*haste
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DJ, so where does morality and character fit into our endless wars, in your opinion. What about leaders of honor and integrity, like Pence or Pompao, who support our endless wars? Is that all forgiven because it’s far away? Exactly how much–how many years –is enough. And for what? So our military industry can make more money?
At least these questions should be a significant part of the equation shouldn’t they?
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Besides claiming to be a Christian, has Trump publicly expressed regret or remorse for things like his well-known infidelities or that much-publicized crack about grabbing women by a certain area? Of course, he doesn’t owe any apologies to the public, but as a candidate and public figure, if he is indeed a Christian, he should have expressed something like that by now. We all know that he is not shy about using his words and tweeting and posting on other matters.
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Politically supporting wars is another issue and dependent on the circumstances. There typically are disagreements among people of good conscience. In retrospect, minds and beliefs about those positions may, indeed, be changed.
I’m not sure I see how that is part of a character discussion, per se.
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There is the “just war” theory that churches have used in the past. This is tough, and judgements and circumstances can be fluid and hard to gauge.
Was WWII a just war? Most of us would say yes. Vietnam? Maybe not or maybe? But seriously mishandled? Or not just at all? There’s room for disagreement among well-meaning people, I think.
I have leaned pacifist in the past and still do — but I acknowledge there are times, in defending others and for the cause of justice, war may be warranted — there are worse things that war which is why war is regrettably necessary at times. But it should never be undertaken wantonly or carelessly or as a pure show of power.
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Should we elect someone bent on military entanglements, warranted or not, just “because”? Unduly sending young people off into harm’s way? No.
Is that what you were asking or did I miss the point? (Not the first time I’ve done that, admittedly!)
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(You’re talking to a former Quaker here, war’s definitely not one of my favorite issues to support.)
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We currently have a President, with the support of most of our Senate and Representatives, sending hundreds of millions of dollars to support a war that we wantonly provoked over a period of decades. In the last 10 years at least we’ve had various government officials and politicians with boots on the ground in Ukraine actively encouraging rebellion. If this was an isolated incident it would be one thing, but it’s merely the latest in a long, expensive, bloody series of wars brought on by the hubris and greed of our national leaders. Resisting the pressure of the Congress, the Pentagon and its myriad lobbyists, and wealthy donors who view war as a moneymaking and power consolidating proposition, would be the ultimate test of character in my opinion. Trump has been tested in this area and has for the most part managed to resist the worst impulses of our government. For all of his failures (many), he’s still headed in the right direction.
The ability to remain faithful to one wife might make one a good deacon or elder, and it makes for much less drama in public life, but it doesn’t come close to the sheer strength of character required on the national stage. I don’t see many people with that kind of brass face that can just take the punishment—-maybe DeSantis. Maybe.
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Not to mention that we basically installed the current government in Ukraine to serve our own nefarious purposes.
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Debra, thanks for the longer explanation of your specific concerns.
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