Trump has never read the Constitution. And if he did, he would argue nothing in it prevents him from doing whatever he wants. Just ask the Supreme Court. Mass shootings happen at the intersection of mental illness and gun purchases. It’s always tragic and puzzling that lawmakers have the ability to lessen the occurrence of these tragedies, but lack the courage. Sadly, we now have an Administration filled with exactly the wrong people to address this at precisely the time we need action most. The Parkland shooting happened during Trump’s first term and he had the opportunity then to make a positive impact. His Narcissistic Personality Disorder is detrimental to all of us.
>>"The Parkland shooting happened during Trump’s first term and he had the opportunity then to make a positive impact."
Trump did. He said before a gaggle of press, "take the guns first, go through due process second." Then moments later, he stepped into the Oval Office and picked up a call from the NRA. We never heard another word about "taking the guns" from Trump again.
It's come to this.....it makes me angry that the press does not challenge trump or maga or Congress when they say stupid things like that or hit them with the truth!
No fan of Trump, I believe that the "mental climate" of the nation with respect to gun violence was increasing at an alarming rate before he took office the first time. Nor do i think that this climate of gun worship is in any real sense due to him. Instead, it is part of the warp and woof of the America I have known since I was born, in 1937.
I'm not convinced that Trump can read or understand that obscure eighteenth century language. I am sure he does not agree with much of it. Of course, he loves the idea of the "unitary executive". Especially if he gets to play the role as unitary executive!
He wouldn't even know what that meant. His intellect and subsequent vocabulary are so incredibly sub-par, it's embarrassing. He'd have to look up the words in a dictionary but doubt very much he could even use one.
I've read that the guy is dyslexic. I don't know that at all, but agree with you, per his older sister's report before she passed away, that he paid someone to take his SATs prior to college. Sis always said he was a shitty student, and I would think she would know as not only was she his sis and helped him with his studies, per her report, she was also a Federal judge, probably the only one of the family who did anything of merit, except she, too, was forced into retirement due to some fraudulent behavior, I believe. The rest of sibs, including him, were non-starters, all of them. The only one worth spit, at least in my opinion, is his niece Mary, daughter of his older brother, who he and his father drove into an early grave. A high achieving family this was and is not. And you can observe that as well in his next generation: sons? Losers. Daughters? Not much. Grandkids? Don't know except they're kind of cute, due to the in-laws, not the Trumps.
Donffrey Trumpstein is a nepo-baby, and would be working a regular 9-5 job if not for his daddy's contacts, including Roy Cohn. Agreed about niece, Mary. She's a PhD level psychologist who made it on her own, without Donffrey or Grandaddy's help.
Absolutely. Don't think he'd be working any regular "job", as he couldn't hold one without being fired due to fraud, lying, stealing, etc. Roy Cohn, with daddy's help, created this monster, from their monster roots. None of them had or have any souls, conscience, really any reason to exist or have had to exist. Roy Cohn was the architect of much evil shit to hide his own vast insecurities, his religion, his homosexuality, etc etc etc. He was invested in ruining other people's lives before the truth could be discovered about him. And that's who taught Trump about the business world. What a mentor.
This Administration and its actions are quickly moving from scary to depraved! OK, since I’m both a shaman and a sorcerer, give me a hand in conjuring up the exact number of evil forces to get this Administration out of office👺❤️🔥🖤😂 All religions, ethinic groups, genders, transgenders and races welcome. I’m total inclusionary❣️
The GOP has been embracing these Christian fundamentalists since Reagan and full embrace with George H W Bush who understood he needed their votes to get re-elected. I remember because this was when I left the GOP. The hate and cruelty wrapped in gold embossed Bibles is flagrant hypocrisy. Thanks Adam for your summary as this is very dangerous movement in US politics that continues to grow.
And it can’t be stopped unless the worshippers turn their backs upon such nonsense. I doubt that will happen significantly- after all, they voted for this amoral psycho as it was/is devine intervention$$$$$$$$.
Billy Graham and Doug Coe got into the oval office under Nixon.
Coe himself in his so-called leadership speeches, acknowledged that invoking the name of Jesus Christ and God will get people to think the way you want them to think and do what you want them to do.
Then James Dobson found his way into Reagan‘s administration .
I know about Christian Nationalists, but not to the extent you have written here. This is truly frightening. I am Jewish, as is my family. I know there are zealots in every religion who go way too far. I did not pay close enough attention to the press secretary's remarks after the shooting. Transgender folks are such a tiny minority of the population and are no more violent than the rest of the population. I want everyone to stop equating mental illness with automatic violence! It is NOT the truth. It also continues the stigma of mental health issues and deters so many from getting needed treatment. It is hard enough to get treatment for mental health issues.
I fear we will all be rounded up in "cattle" cars, as we disagree with the Christian Nationalists. My relatives were murdered for these similar beliefs.
Transfolk are so small in number, with trans-athletes in college and high school (what they really love to froth and drool about) can’t number more than 150 or so, if that.
A population so insignificant and irrelevant to the real challenges we face today that the whole thing is just laughable.
Then we pause to remember that Hitler managed to create an entire national emergency out of 0.88% of the German population that was Jewish. No measures too drastic, no de-citizenship and demonization too absurd, no halfway steps — only complete annihilation would do.
>>"trans-athletes in college and high school (what they really love to froth and drool about) can’t number more than 150 or so, if that."
During a congressional hearing the number given in testimony was: there are fewer than 10 collegiate trans-athletes out of over 500,000 student athletes in the NCAA.
i wish with all my heart you were wrong, vicki, but i am with you 100%. and my relatives are being murdered in ukraine while trump kisses the godless putin's ring. where does this end?
I am so sorry your relatives are being killed in Ukraine . The orange mussolini could have ended it all if he had continued to help them with weapons. That would have been a small amount for the US to do and the spirit of the Ukrainians is seemingly boundless as when they have the weapons they are doing so much damage to Russia that they would have won by now.
My husband’s best friend taught that poem to his 8th grade classes and then had them watch an expansion of the poem called “The Hangman” en mass in the library. Because I had library duty, I got to watch it. I hope it impacted those kids as much as it did me. Ever since this administration took over, I can’t get it out of my head.
In my school, the 6th grade teachers would read Number the Stars with the students. To collaborate with them, in my Reading class I would show the 2004 movie, Paper Clips, as a listening comprehension and writing unit. "The movie is a documentary about the Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee and their Paper Clips Project, which aimed to collect 6 million paper clips to represent the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The project eventually amassed millions of paper clips, which were used to create a memorial including a German railcar filled with the clips."
Vicki, Well said. I especially liked what you wrote about "stop equating mental illness with automatic violence" I would imagine that this type of thinking could deter many from seeking help. I agree this is all very scary and dangerous because these fanatics truly believe they have the God given duty and right to judge people that don't believe as they do.
Then you are probably aware of the "German Christians" and of course the Spanish Inquisition which promoted the same kind of "othering" as MAGA. Ramp up people's hatred and they will do anything.
But let's not forget that in Germany there were also those Christians who rejected Nazi ideology and bravely stood up to Hitler, often at the cost of their lives, such as the Protestant "Confessing Church" movement (of which Dietrich Bonhoeffer was perhaps its most famous member), as well as numerous Catholic and Protestant individual clergy and laypeople. Not enough of them did, of course, but, still, they were a witness to true Christian faith and they exposed the doctrinal perversions of the "German Christians." We have such people speaking out against the false Christianity of the Trump regime today, and we must heed their voices and, if possible, add our own, with the hope that, eventually, an increasing number of Christian nationalists will realize that they've been deceived. Admittedly, that's a tall order and it's hard to maintain that hope in the face of all the terrible cruelties taking place in our country, but we must keep trying.
If you're familiar with James Talarico from Texas (lots of videos of him & an excellent podcast episode of him on Joe Rogan). He's a Texas State Representative who is also currently in seminary school right now to become a pastor like his grandfather. He uses Christian beliefs (real ones) & the passages of the Bible from Jesus' teachings against the Christian Nationalists & he just leaves them speechless.
He embarrassed a Fox News host so badly on his own show about a month ago that the host went back on his own show the next day & proceeded to rebuttal all the points Talarico made but without him present to respond. When Talarico was there, the host was so stunned that he immediately cut the interview off saying the control room said time was up 😅.
This man can restore Christianity to the way it's meant to be. Sadly, he says once he's done with seminary, he's leaving politics to go be a pastor. I hope he changes his mind. I hope he sees that he can do so much more for the Christian faith at the national level.
Wouldn't it be ironic that the Christian right believed they needed a Godless man to fight the Left & then if the Left got a man who is truly a Christian man to fight the Right? He's amazing & he debates the Republicans in Texas using scripture & he knows it inside & out & can challenge their sinful behavior with Bible scripture & beat them every time. It's incredible. If you haven't seen or heard him yet, I encourage you to do so 🙂.
Austen, I'm very aware of him even though I'm not from Texas. Yes, he is remarkable; his very existence is a rebuke to all Christofascists. Adam, Pete Buttigieg, and James Talarico are only three examples of the kind of people we need in government today.
Agreed on all points. It is my admiration of Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church that led me in my PhD program to study the German Christians. What we must remember is that the German Christians were the much larger and before and during the war the more powerful group. It is only because they lost that we know about the Confessing Church at all. Had Germany won, and it really was a close run thing. Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church would have been pushed to a footnote.
It’s like when Father Thomas Merton used to travel in the south, where giant billboards (and sometimes blinking neon signs) used to festoon every small byway and county road with “JESUS SAVES” splashed on them, and for all I know still do.
‘Funny,’ Merton wrote, ‘when I see those signs, they never made me think about Jesus, but about the people who put those signs up.’
When a vicious, steel-jawed piece of crap like Karoline Spokesbarbie spouts hatred for transfolk out that ever-pumping facial sphincter of hers, it doesn’t make me think about transfolk, much less the murder of children — it makes me think about her and the clutch of Pharisees that spawned her.
“Whited sepulchers of stench and corruption” Jesus called them.
They are counting on people to NOT SEE that their rhetoric is a cover for the current administration and billionaires to continue to stuff gold coins in their pockets.
if the shooter at annunciation catholic church had not been transgender, i think the far right would have evaluated the tragedy differently. there are many fundamentalists who do not think catholics are truly christians, and they may still express concern that the vatican dictates catholics' beliefs and behavior, rather than the current regime. regardless, i am outraged by the current regime's demonization of transgender people, as well as the entire LGBTQ+ community as a whole. for me this is naxism reincarnated. the naxis chose their scapegoats, and this regime has chosen theirs. who's next? and lest i forget, immigrants are now scapegoats, as well, even children who were nearly secreted out of the country in the middle of the night. i believe i know who the demons are.
You are spot on- your final line is so true. I just read your other post and want to thank you for your courage in sharing your chronic pain and need to leave the line for a while. This is precisely I think the Substack to share as you did. It so fits too w Adam’s frequent encouragement to all of us to back away as we must in order to be able to return refreshed. Will 🙏 that this will happen soon in spite of how exhausting chronic pain is, and may you find some words of Hope and Life in the Psalms, where I go when I need an infusion. ♥️
thank you so much for your understanding and inspiration. i long for a day when empathy like yours will find its way into government. thanks a million, Lourine C.
Interesting that Christian Nationlists claim the men who wrote the Constitution were "Christians". Many of the drafters of the Constitution were *deists*. Deists were closer to modern agnostics than to very devout Christians. I also find it impossible to read the Constitution as anything other than a secular document. The First Amendment makes it very clear: No religion or religious denomination has precedence in the United States.
Hi Charles, they didn’t read that part. Nor, have they read the free speech, or the right to peacefully assemble and petition the government.
My cousin lives in Texas and has three grandchildren in public schools, where the Ten Commandments are posted in every classroom, so much for separation of church and state. Now, if only the people in this administration followed some of them, how about the ones about adultery, lying, and of course stealing. I’m not going to mention killing, but I’m certain that will come next. I’m not sure it hasn’t happened already.
Phyllis, Trump. RFK, Jr. and Musk have already killed an estimated 500 thousand in Africa due to lack medical assistance under USAID and various famine relief by several agencies. Remember, it's now "America First! Screw the rest of the world". The United States used to be known for its exercise of soft power around the world. We are now best known for our *withdrawal* from the world. Sorry!
Yes Charles, forgive me, how could I forget the funds approved by Congress that never made it to USAID. RFK jr, is an idiot, I wonder were the money went? They were court ordered to release the funds. How many children in this country died of the measles, a totally preventable disease. My children were vaccinated, and although grown, they were fine. My grandchildren were vaccinated they are all fine.
There is absolutely no reason anyone should have an assault weapon, unless you are military in combat! Why can't congress see that! Screw the gun lobbying.
this isn't the place to say this, but i will anyway. i recently began a substack, but have only made one post. i'm disabled with chronic illnesses and must take a break from posting on substacks or on my own. the stress is affecting my health. this evil masquerading as religion that is running through the administration is the final blow. i'll be back when i regain my balance.
I hope you receive whatever help you need. Meanwhile, please NEVER think that you're alone! Many others are searching for balance these days and finding it difficult to achieve. Best wishes to you.
I so understand this, as I have long standing, very complex RA along w complications..I also have to make sure i do not get overloaded, emotionally.. Take your time and know you are understood and cared about.. We have to manage our own mental health , to handle the physical illnesses we deal with..
JulieRobbins - many thanks for your understanding. i have severe RA, recurrent meningitis, and a few other illnesses, so i know you understand. i'm so sorry you are in the RA club .. a club neither of us wished to join. your last sentence sums it up perfectly. thanks.
What a very rough road..I am glad you have survived all of those challenges and are here today ,still fighting the good fight. We have faced alot of losses of varying kinds . My career as a BSN prepared RN was halted in my mid 30s, after a 8 yr fight of trying to remain able to work . I think it makes it all that much harder to know others and our own access to adequate health care, incl vaccines ,is causing such additional suffering to healthy and health challenged people alike. All the injustices and policies of this administration cause so much terrible hardships here and abroad. Gaza, Ukraine,Africa ,etc etc, and here, in the US.
i was 40 when i had to accept i couldn't work anymore and i went on disability. i have known many who have had it worse than me, and the anti-DEI passions of this regime, inspired me to start my own substack focuses on the disabled community. it's being told we know longer matter that fired me up. i'm taking a break now so i can come back strong. and i agree how much death is occurring and will occur from this cruel, evil, administration.
"The most prominent are budget czar Russell Vought, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Paula White-Cain of the Office of Faith and Opportunity Initiative, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth."
You forgot two: VP Vance and his boss, Peter Thiel.
As www.thenerdreich.com has shown, Thiel will soon give a series of lectures about the "antichrist". This is just the next level in their national propaganda machine. The lectures are private, but his rhetoric is not. Dehumanizing those with whom they disagree has been part of the agenda for a long time already.
Thiel is notoriously anti-democracy and pro-fascism. He's also the tech billionaire who created PayPal together with Musk, and who today has Palantir, the government surveillance system that his men are installing in the executive branch of the government, and that is worthy of China's surveillance system.
If people don't wake up fast, America's democracy will be gone.
Ty for this reference. Agree w your every word. And while I didn’t know the MAGA preacher Adam referenced with Hegseth, there is another to watch closely associated with him also - Doug Wilson out of Moscow ID - on his way to starting a church in DC. Of course.
I saw something about Thiel’s lectures on the “antichrist” which he will base on science and technology. He says he has a religious background. However, he believes in “transhumance”. It’s definitely NOT WHAT JESUS TAUGHT. So, maybe these people like Thiel are the false prophets that will lead up to the times of Tribulation. But they aren’t themselves going to bring it on. Their leader is dying and none of the others are strong enough to hold their cult together. They curse trans people and threaten homosexual marriage while both Bessent and Thiel are homosexual. They have attempted to overthrow the most heavily personally armed country in the world and they stupidly attack the health and welfare of the majority of it’s citizens including it’s children.
We the People have no reason to continue to allow them to govern.
This country was based on Consent of the Governed.
We put In God We Trust on our currency and this Administration has not only been stealing the taxpayers money but they are also trying to replace the official currency with God’s name on it with their false crypto.
There are several all important books, writings and declarations trump has never read...among them are the Bible, DOI and the Constitution of the United States of America. This maniac knows nothing about governing, the law, or religion...not in the slightest way. He really has no clue about anything and depends upon others to get it all right. What a loser he is.
He has learned from experience since born that nothing applies to him, a super spoiled mega brat. The world revolves around him. A true monster in human form.
That's exactly why Russell Voight, Stephen Miller, and the other authors of Project 25, backed Trump. They needed an ignorant front man to put before the people. Trump fit the bill perfectly. He could rally and pump up his crowd to do the real demons' work. They and the rest of the world dangle baubles in front of him to keep him in line.
They think the Proud Boys & Oath Keepers meet that definition of a militia. It’s like the 22nd amendment- which word in there is causing your confusion about this?
More than fearing demons and transsexuals, these Christian nationalists should fear the wrath of God for their sick warping of the message of Jesus. God will deal with them in the end. I have trouble asking him to be merciful.
I wonder if any MAGATS, the P2025 people in particular, realize or would admit the vast majority of Latinos (immigrants) are Christians? Just another uncomfortable fact for them to dismiss...
Trump has never read the Constitution. And if he did, he would argue nothing in it prevents him from doing whatever he wants. Just ask the Supreme Court. Mass shootings happen at the intersection of mental illness and gun purchases. It’s always tragic and puzzling that lawmakers have the ability to lessen the occurrence of these tragedies, but lack the courage. Sadly, we now have an Administration filled with exactly the wrong people to address this at precisely the time we need action most. The Parkland shooting happened during Trump’s first term and he had the opportunity then to make a positive impact. His Narcissistic Personality Disorder is detrimental to all of us.
>>"The Parkland shooting happened during Trump’s first term and he had the opportunity then to make a positive impact."
Trump did. He said before a gaggle of press, "take the guns first, go through due process second." Then moments later, he stepped into the Oval Office and picked up a call from the NRA. We never heard another word about "taking the guns" from Trump again.
Beholden to the NRA always & forever
Of course he hasn't read it. The Declaration of Independence hangs on the wall of his office, and he hasn't read that either.
The shootings, in my opinion, are increasing because of the mental climate in the nation, due to Trump and his MAGA propagandist.
When a reporter asked him what the Declaration meant to him, he dribbled “well it’s a special thing, a vey very special thing…”
Putin’s calls his wanton murder of Ukrainian children a “special” operation, too.
Why didn’t this reporter say “you don’t really know what it’s about, do you?”
It's come to this.....it makes me angry that the press does not challenge trump or maga or Congress when they say stupid things like that or hit them with the truth!
totally agree with your opinion
Spot on
No fan of Trump, I believe that the "mental climate" of the nation with respect to gun violence was increasing at an alarming rate before he took office the first time. Nor do i think that this climate of gun worship is in any real sense due to him. Instead, it is part of the warp and woof of the America I have known since I was born, in 1937.
Read the Constitution??? Don't think he is even able to.
I'm not convinced that Trump can read or understand that obscure eighteenth century language. I am sure he does not agree with much of it. Of course, he loves the idea of the "unitary executive". Especially if he gets to play the role as unitary executive!
He wouldn't even know what that meant. His intellect and subsequent vocabulary are so incredibly sub-par, it's embarrassing. He'd have to look up the words in a dictionary but doubt very much he could even use one.
A phrase which, of course, appears nowhere in the Declaration.
Had other people take his exams so definitely isn’t able to read.
I've read that the guy is dyslexic. I don't know that at all, but agree with you, per his older sister's report before she passed away, that he paid someone to take his SATs prior to college. Sis always said he was a shitty student, and I would think she would know as not only was she his sis and helped him with his studies, per her report, she was also a Federal judge, probably the only one of the family who did anything of merit, except she, too, was forced into retirement due to some fraudulent behavior, I believe. The rest of sibs, including him, were non-starters, all of them. The only one worth spit, at least in my opinion, is his niece Mary, daughter of his older brother, who he and his father drove into an early grave. A high achieving family this was and is not. And you can observe that as well in his next generation: sons? Losers. Daughters? Not much. Grandkids? Don't know except they're kind of cute, due to the in-laws, not the Trumps.
Donffrey Trumpstein is a nepo-baby, and would be working a regular 9-5 job if not for his daddy's contacts, including Roy Cohn. Agreed about niece, Mary. She's a PhD level psychologist who made it on her own, without Donffrey or Grandaddy's help.
Absolutely. Don't think he'd be working any regular "job", as he couldn't hold one without being fired due to fraud, lying, stealing, etc. Roy Cohn, with daddy's help, created this monster, from their monster roots. None of them had or have any souls, conscience, really any reason to exist or have had to exist. Roy Cohn was the architect of much evil shit to hide his own vast insecurities, his religion, his homosexuality, etc etc etc. He was invested in ruining other people's lives before the truth could be discovered about him. And that's who taught Trump about the business world. What a mentor.
Angels in America has a scary depiction of Cohn.
Not presidential material!
Not in any way, shape or form. A total loser, all around.
This Administration and its actions are quickly moving from scary to depraved! OK, since I’m both a shaman and a sorcerer, give me a hand in conjuring up the exact number of evil forces to get this Administration out of office👺❤️🔥🖤😂 All religions, ethinic groups, genders, transgenders and races welcome. I’m total inclusionary❣️
Trump Never read the Constitution because Trump can't read.
Nor has he ever read a Bible
Excellent!
The GOP has been embracing these Christian fundamentalists since Reagan and full embrace with George H W Bush who understood he needed their votes to get re-elected. I remember because this was when I left the GOP. The hate and cruelty wrapped in gold embossed Bibles is flagrant hypocrisy. Thanks Adam for your summary as this is very dangerous movement in US politics that continues to grow.
And it can’t be stopped unless the worshippers turn their backs upon such nonsense. I doubt that will happen significantly- after all, they voted for this amoral psycho as it was/is devine intervention$$$$$$$$.
Exactly
Billy Graham and Doug Coe got into the oval office under Nixon.
Coe himself in his so-called leadership speeches, acknowledged that invoking the name of Jesus Christ and God will get people to think the way you want them to think and do what you want them to do.
Then James Dobson found his way into Reagan‘s administration .
Adam,
I know about Christian Nationalists, but not to the extent you have written here. This is truly frightening. I am Jewish, as is my family. I know there are zealots in every religion who go way too far. I did not pay close enough attention to the press secretary's remarks after the shooting. Transgender folks are such a tiny minority of the population and are no more violent than the rest of the population. I want everyone to stop equating mental illness with automatic violence! It is NOT the truth. It also continues the stigma of mental health issues and deters so many from getting needed treatment. It is hard enough to get treatment for mental health issues.
I fear we will all be rounded up in "cattle" cars, as we disagree with the Christian Nationalists. My relatives were murdered for these similar beliefs.
This must stop now.
Transfolk are so small in number, with trans-athletes in college and high school (what they really love to froth and drool about) can’t number more than 150 or so, if that.
A population so insignificant and irrelevant to the real challenges we face today that the whole thing is just laughable.
Then we pause to remember that Hitler managed to create an entire national emergency out of 0.88% of the German population that was Jewish. No measures too drastic, no de-citizenship and demonization too absurd, no halfway steps — only complete annihilation would do.
>>"trans-athletes in college and high school (what they really love to froth and drool about) can’t number more than 150 or so, if that."
During a congressional hearing the number given in testimony was: there are fewer than 10 collegiate trans-athletes out of over 500,000 student athletes in the NCAA.
he included disabled and mentally ill people as well who did not fit into his perfect race of people.
i wish with all my heart you were wrong, vicki, but i am with you 100%. and my relatives are being murdered in ukraine while trump kisses the godless putin's ring. where does this end?
I am so sorry your relatives are being killed in Ukraine . The orange mussolini could have ended it all if he had continued to help them with weapons. That would have been a small amount for the US to do and the spirit of the Ukrainians is seemingly boundless as when they have the weapons they are doing so much damage to Russia that they would have won by now.
The most Trumpy person in our whole business of about 50 employees is Jewish. I am in a constant state of “ya gotta be kiddin’ me” daily with him.
I know I am surprised about that as well. I think that has to do with for some the most important thing is the state of Israel even over America.
Not sure he’s that deep.
First they came for the immigrants.....
My latest protest sign reads "First they came for the immigrants, and I spoke out because I know the rest of the G.. D... poem!"
My husband’s best friend taught that poem to his 8th grade classes and then had them watch an expansion of the poem called “The Hangman” en mass in the library. Because I had library duty, I got to watch it. I hope it impacted those kids as much as it did me. Ever since this administration took over, I can’t get it out of my head.
sadly that kind of lesson may not be acceptable under this trump admin.
Sadly true.
In my school, the 6th grade teachers would read Number the Stars with the students. To collaborate with them, in my Reading class I would show the 2004 movie, Paper Clips, as a listening comprehension and writing unit. "The movie is a documentary about the Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee and their Paper Clips Project, which aimed to collect 6 million paper clips to represent the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The project eventually amassed millions of paper clips, which were used to create a memorial including a German railcar filled with the clips."
Vicki, Well said. I especially liked what you wrote about "stop equating mental illness with automatic violence" I would imagine that this type of thinking could deter many from seeking help. I agree this is all very scary and dangerous because these fanatics truly believe they have the God given duty and right to judge people that don't believe as they do.
Then you are probably aware of the "German Christians" and of course the Spanish Inquisition which promoted the same kind of "othering" as MAGA. Ramp up people's hatred and they will do anything.
But let's not forget that in Germany there were also those Christians who rejected Nazi ideology and bravely stood up to Hitler, often at the cost of their lives, such as the Protestant "Confessing Church" movement (of which Dietrich Bonhoeffer was perhaps its most famous member), as well as numerous Catholic and Protestant individual clergy and laypeople. Not enough of them did, of course, but, still, they were a witness to true Christian faith and they exposed the doctrinal perversions of the "German Christians." We have such people speaking out against the false Christianity of the Trump regime today, and we must heed their voices and, if possible, add our own, with the hope that, eventually, an increasing number of Christian nationalists will realize that they've been deceived. Admittedly, that's a tall order and it's hard to maintain that hope in the face of all the terrible cruelties taking place in our country, but we must keep trying.
If you're familiar with James Talarico from Texas (lots of videos of him & an excellent podcast episode of him on Joe Rogan). He's a Texas State Representative who is also currently in seminary school right now to become a pastor like his grandfather. He uses Christian beliefs (real ones) & the passages of the Bible from Jesus' teachings against the Christian Nationalists & he just leaves them speechless.
He embarrassed a Fox News host so badly on his own show about a month ago that the host went back on his own show the next day & proceeded to rebuttal all the points Talarico made but without him present to respond. When Talarico was there, the host was so stunned that he immediately cut the interview off saying the control room said time was up 😅.
This man can restore Christianity to the way it's meant to be. Sadly, he says once he's done with seminary, he's leaving politics to go be a pastor. I hope he changes his mind. I hope he sees that he can do so much more for the Christian faith at the national level.
Wouldn't it be ironic that the Christian right believed they needed a Godless man to fight the Left & then if the Left got a man who is truly a Christian man to fight the Right? He's amazing & he debates the Republicans in Texas using scripture & he knows it inside & out & can challenge their sinful behavior with Bible scripture & beat them every time. It's incredible. If you haven't seen or heard him yet, I encourage you to do so 🙂.
Austen, I'm very aware of him even though I'm not from Texas. Yes, he is remarkable; his very existence is a rebuke to all Christofascists. Adam, Pete Buttigieg, and James Talarico are only three examples of the kind of people we need in government today.
Agreed on all points. It is my admiration of Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church that led me in my PhD program to study the German Christians. What we must remember is that the German Christians were the much larger and before and during the war the more powerful group. It is only because they lost that we know about the Confessing Church at all. Had Germany won, and it really was a close run thing. Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church would have been pushed to a footnote.
Yes, please!
It’s like when Father Thomas Merton used to travel in the south, where giant billboards (and sometimes blinking neon signs) used to festoon every small byway and county road with “JESUS SAVES” splashed on them, and for all I know still do.
‘Funny,’ Merton wrote, ‘when I see those signs, they never made me think about Jesus, but about the people who put those signs up.’
When a vicious, steel-jawed piece of crap like Karoline Spokesbarbie spouts hatred for transfolk out that ever-pumping facial sphincter of hers, it doesn’t make me think about transfolk, much less the murder of children — it makes me think about her and the clutch of Pharisees that spawned her.
“Whited sepulchers of stench and corruption” Jesus called them.
I agree with your analysis of the stepford wife.
You have your scripture down👌🙏🏻
For the last week it’s been all about woe to the scribes and Pharisees. Good luck to this bunch.
Thank you Adam for addressing this...
Thank you Adam, you are definitely the “light” in this darkening country. Please continue the good fight for us!
They are counting on people to NOT SEE that their rhetoric is a cover for the current administration and billionaires to continue to stuff gold coins in their pockets.
if the shooter at annunciation catholic church had not been transgender, i think the far right would have evaluated the tragedy differently. there are many fundamentalists who do not think catholics are truly christians, and they may still express concern that the vatican dictates catholics' beliefs and behavior, rather than the current regime. regardless, i am outraged by the current regime's demonization of transgender people, as well as the entire LGBTQ+ community as a whole. for me this is naxism reincarnated. the naxis chose their scapegoats, and this regime has chosen theirs. who's next? and lest i forget, immigrants are now scapegoats, as well, even children who were nearly secreted out of the country in the middle of the night. i believe i know who the demons are.
You are spot on- your final line is so true. I just read your other post and want to thank you for your courage in sharing your chronic pain and need to leave the line for a while. This is precisely I think the Substack to share as you did. It so fits too w Adam’s frequent encouragement to all of us to back away as we must in order to be able to return refreshed. Will 🙏 that this will happen soon in spite of how exhausting chronic pain is, and may you find some words of Hope and Life in the Psalms, where I go when I need an infusion. ♥️
thank you so much for your understanding and inspiration. i long for a day when empathy like yours will find its way into government. thanks a million, Lourine C.
Interesting that Christian Nationlists claim the men who wrote the Constitution were "Christians". Many of the drafters of the Constitution were *deists*. Deists were closer to modern agnostics than to very devout Christians. I also find it impossible to read the Constitution as anything other than a secular document. The First Amendment makes it very clear: No religion or religious denomination has precedence in the United States.
Hi Charles, they didn’t read that part. Nor, have they read the free speech, or the right to peacefully assemble and petition the government.
My cousin lives in Texas and has three grandchildren in public schools, where the Ten Commandments are posted in every classroom, so much for separation of church and state. Now, if only the people in this administration followed some of them, how about the ones about adultery, lying, and of course stealing. I’m not going to mention killing, but I’m certain that will come next. I’m not sure it hasn’t happened already.
Phyllis, Trump. RFK, Jr. and Musk have already killed an estimated 500 thousand in Africa due to lack medical assistance under USAID and various famine relief by several agencies. Remember, it's now "America First! Screw the rest of the world". The United States used to be known for its exercise of soft power around the world. We are now best known for our *withdrawal* from the world. Sorry!
Yes Charles, forgive me, how could I forget the funds approved by Congress that never made it to USAID. RFK jr, is an idiot, I wonder were the money went? They were court ordered to release the funds. How many children in this country died of the measles, a totally preventable disease. My children were vaccinated, and although grown, they were fine. My grandchildren were vaccinated they are all fine.
There is absolutely no reason anyone should have an assault weapon, unless you are military in combat! Why can't congress see that! Screw the gun lobbying.
this isn't the place to say this, but i will anyway. i recently began a substack, but have only made one post. i'm disabled with chronic illnesses and must take a break from posting on substacks or on my own. the stress is affecting my health. this evil masquerading as religion that is running through the administration is the final blow. i'll be back when i regain my balance.
Take care of yourself, and may you find your balance.
thank you so much. i will take care.
I hope you receive whatever help you need. Meanwhile, please NEVER think that you're alone! Many others are searching for balance these days and finding it difficult to achieve. Best wishes to you.
thank you for your kind words. i appreciate it so much.
Self care is important. We all need to take a break for our own self preservation. You ‘ll know when you feel you can come back.
you are correct, bonnie. thanks so much for your wisdom.
I so understand this, as I have long standing, very complex RA along w complications..I also have to make sure i do not get overloaded, emotionally.. Take your time and know you are understood and cared about.. We have to manage our own mental health , to handle the physical illnesses we deal with..
JulieRobbins - many thanks for your understanding. i have severe RA, recurrent meningitis, and a few other illnesses, so i know you understand. i'm so sorry you are in the RA club .. a club neither of us wished to join. your last sentence sums it up perfectly. thanks.
What a very rough road..I am glad you have survived all of those challenges and are here today ,still fighting the good fight. We have faced alot of losses of varying kinds . My career as a BSN prepared RN was halted in my mid 30s, after a 8 yr fight of trying to remain able to work . I think it makes it all that much harder to know others and our own access to adequate health care, incl vaccines ,is causing such additional suffering to healthy and health challenged people alike. All the injustices and policies of this administration cause so much terrible hardships here and abroad. Gaza, Ukraine,Africa ,etc etc, and here, in the US.
i was 40 when i had to accept i couldn't work anymore and i went on disability. i have known many who have had it worse than me, and the anti-DEI passions of this regime, inspired me to start my own substack focuses on the disabled community. it's being told we know longer matter that fired me up. i'm taking a break now so i can come back strong. and i agree how much death is occurring and will occur from this cruel, evil, administration.
Hooboy! Nothing says “Christian” like public executions.
"The most prominent are budget czar Russell Vought, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Paula White-Cain of the Office of Faith and Opportunity Initiative, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth."
You forgot two: VP Vance and his boss, Peter Thiel.
As www.thenerdreich.com has shown, Thiel will soon give a series of lectures about the "antichrist". This is just the next level in their national propaganda machine. The lectures are private, but his rhetoric is not. Dehumanizing those with whom they disagree has been part of the agenda for a long time already.
Thiel is notoriously anti-democracy and pro-fascism. He's also the tech billionaire who created PayPal together with Musk, and who today has Palantir, the government surveillance system that his men are installing in the executive branch of the government, and that is worthy of China's surveillance system.
If people don't wake up fast, America's democracy will be gone.
So thanks for focusing on this, Adam!
Ty for this reference. Agree w your every word. And while I didn’t know the MAGA preacher Adam referenced with Hegseth, there is another to watch closely associated with him also - Doug Wilson out of Moscow ID - on his way to starting a church in DC. Of course.
I saw something about Thiel’s lectures on the “antichrist” which he will base on science and technology. He says he has a religious background. However, he believes in “transhumance”. It’s definitely NOT WHAT JESUS TAUGHT. So, maybe these people like Thiel are the false prophets that will lead up to the times of Tribulation. But they aren’t themselves going to bring it on. Their leader is dying and none of the others are strong enough to hold their cult together. They curse trans people and threaten homosexual marriage while both Bessent and Thiel are homosexual. They have attempted to overthrow the most heavily personally armed country in the world and they stupidly attack the health and welfare of the majority of it’s citizens including it’s children.
We the People have no reason to continue to allow them to govern.
This country was based on Consent of the Governed.
We put In God We Trust on our currency and this Administration has not only been stealing the taxpayers money but they are also trying to replace the official currency with God’s name on it with their false crypto.
They don’t even read the TEN COMMANDMENTS
Jesus “doesn’t know these people”
There are several all important books, writings and declarations trump has never read...among them are the Bible, DOI and the Constitution of the United States of America. This maniac knows nothing about governing, the law, or religion...not in the slightest way. He really has no clue about anything and depends upon others to get it all right. What a loser he is.
He has learned from experience since born that nothing applies to him, a super spoiled mega brat. The world revolves around him. A true monster in human form.
That's exactly why Russell Voight, Stephen Miller, and the other authors of Project 25, backed Trump. They needed an ignorant front man to put before the people. Trump fit the bill perfectly. He could rally and pump up his crowd to do the real demons' work. They and the rest of the world dangle baubles in front of him to keep him in line.
But they know every word of the Second Amendment, by God!
Actually, not completely as they ignore the first half of the amendment "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State"
They think the Proud Boys & Oath Keepers meet that definition of a militia. It’s like the 22nd amendment- which word in there is causing your confusion about this?
More than fearing demons and transsexuals, these Christian nationalists should fear the wrath of God for their sick warping of the message of Jesus. God will deal with them in the end. I have trouble asking him to be merciful.
I wonder if any MAGATS, the P2025 people in particular, realize or would admit the vast majority of Latinos (immigrants) are Christians? Just another uncomfortable fact for them to dismiss...
P2025 - excellent!