#Black Pastors Trump

[jccheapalier]

Rooftop Revelations: People got rich off identity politics. Now, we’re m...

[jenks378]

Black Pastor CLAPS BACK At Joy Reid For Crying Over White People Being A...

[simply-ivanka]

Why the GOP Is Winning Over Minorities

The Democrats have nothing to offer but grievance, victimhood and welfare.

Josh Williams -- Wall Street Journal

On Election Day, Donald Trump revealed the new coalition underpinning the modern Republican Party. As a proud black elected Republican, I believe today’s GOP represents people like me better than the Democrats ever have.

My early life could be considered an “authentic” experience as a black man in America. I was once a homeless high-school dropout. As a young adult, I endured a devastating workplace accident that left me disabled. At 30, I pulled myself up and enrolled in college, determined to rewrite my story. Within the next seven years I became a practicing attorney and, in 2022, the first black Republican elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 50 years.

I understand the needs and concerns of my community, because for many years I lived them. All the Democratic Party ever offered me was grievance, victimhood and welfare. What any American—black or otherwise—wants is the opportunity to work hard and achieve his dreams. The Republican agenda champions economic prosperity, energy independence, border security and community safety. Opportunity lives within the modern GOP, and last Tuesday people of color agreed in record numbers.

To understand why the Democratic Party has failed, just look at how its agenda has affected my hometown of Toledo. Toledoans are very proud of our Jeep plant, the backbone of our local economy. Unfortunately, it has been crippled by big government. New regulations and mandates have led to assembly-line shutdowns and thousands of layoffs. Decades of unfair trade practices and an oppressive tax code leave Toledo and cities like it in decline.

For our gritty town, the Jeep plant has been a leg up for generations. This work has been passed down from fathers and mothers to sons and daughters for longer than I’ve been alive. Without it, many people who grew up like me are simply left with one less option to succeed.

When I walk into the barber shop, people are talking about Jeep jobs, inflation and crime, not identity politics. They ask questions about border security and the cost of living, not culture wars. The average American who looks like me simply isn’t concerned with the fake issues being peddled by the Democratic Party and the elites who set its agenda.

My message to Washington after the election is simple: Stop pandering to us. Treat us like adults. Treat us like Americans.

Whether you love Mr. Trump or loathe him, you can’t accuse him of inauthenticity. Minority communities not only can handle that approach—we appreciate it, and we will vote for it.

Mr. Trump’s Republican Party is where I belong. It’s where my friends, neighbors and pastors belong. The voters have spoken loud and clear that his GOP is the party of the people. All of us.

Mr. Williams represents the 44th Ohio House District, which includes much of the Toledo area.

[spacelazarwolf]

i looked up the current candidates for the 2024 presidential election in the usa and it is. really fucking bleak.

democrats:

joe biden - current president. doing...ok. he's pro trans rights and has been doing some good stuff to fight climate change, but he's like a hundred years old and

robert f kennedy jr - seems to have decent opinions on a lot of policy, but thinks that chemicals in the water are making kids transgender and has suggested that covid is a conspiracy by ashkenazi jews and chinese people

marianne williamson - anti vaxxer apparently, also i guess thinks love is the only thing that will defeat trump

republicans:

ryan binkley - conservative pastor that thinks marriage is "between one man and one woman", anti choice, wants to Build A Wall

doug burgum - republican governor that has actively passed anti trans legislation, anti regulation (unless what you're regulating is trans people ig????)

chris christie - is apparently opposed to bans on gender affirming care, but vetoed a bill allowing trans people to change their gender marker, anti choice

ron desantis - i feel like i don't need to explain

larry elder - denies systemic racism and wants police to be harder on crime, anti crt and dei, pretty solidly anti trans

nikki haley - anti choice, extremely anti trans, anti immigrant, supports israel while also having an evangelical pastor who has a history of antisemitism and racism and queerphobia open for one of her events

will hurd - doesn't seem too horrendous, not noticeably anti trans, but supports 15 week abortion ban

asa hutchinson - great value brand trump

perry johnson - was republican candidate for governor of michigan but was disqualified due to fraudulent ballot signatures

mike pence - yeah

vivek ramaswamy - "anti wokeism", would pass a law requiring teachers to disclose to parents if they found out their kid is trans, supports bans on gender affirming care, wants to end sanctuary cities and address mental health through "faith based approaches", hedge fund bro

tim scott - said that america is not a racist country and the biggest problem facing black people is "fatherlessness incentivized by welfare", opposes same sex marriage and gender affirming care and thinks democrats are using school to "indoctrinate children"

corey stapleton - montana secretary of state, couldn't find much abt him

donald trump - donald trump

independent

cornel west (green party) - seems really cool actually but two party system will fuck him over

i hate the two party system so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also congrats to the dems for yet another milquetoast kennedy, and congrats to the republicans for having the most racially diverse list of racist and transphobic candidates!!!

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Black MEN tell Barack Obama to go home to Martha's Vineyard & kick rocks!!

"No more simping! It's Trump 2024"

Anton's follow up commentary: https://youtu.be/72b5EywbWqg?si=jtjO9cTFB4eIN7AS

Nina Turner calls out Obama's DISRESPECTFUL tone towards BLACK Men

"...finger wagging & shaming..." from Obama to BLACK Men

Obama's "plantation speech" is rejected

Eloquent Pastor reminds BLACK men it's none of Obama's business which box you check in the PRIVATE voting booth.

"Barry leave us alone!"

Polling Black men in Chicago

Ace Smart

Under Trump: No new wars, better economy & low crime.

Under Kamala Harris:

[thestrangestthing89]

There are thankfully only a handful of people who swear this is a conservative, Christian show but it's interesting to me considering how negatively the show depicts religion.

S1 - There aren't any direct references to religion but subtle hints. It's implied Hawkins is a typical middle class suburban neighborhood. It's 1983, Reagan was president, and there are hints of the towns Christianity through the bullies. When Will goes missing there are several comments that make it clear that the people in this town aren't surprised. The middle school bully makes a comment that he got "killed by some other queer" and says his father was talking about it. Parents in the town talk about Will being gay. We see Steve's friends - the high school bullies - also making homophobic comments about Jonathan and his brother. The bad guys are homophobic. They also all lose fights this season. The show takes an anti-bullying stance and you are supposed to feel for Will and his friends here. He's a child that's gone missing and the people in the town don't seem to care much or act surprised by it.

There are a few exceptions to this - Joyce mentions to Hopper that Lonnie called Will gay slurs because she is also worried he got killed because he's gay. Hopper takes this seriously during a time when absolutely no one would have criticized him for ignoring this situation. Plenty of people were ignoring gay people dying during this time. No one would have batted an eye at a cop acting like this didn't matter. But Hopper pays attention and puts together a search team. So there are a few people in town who do care - Scott Clarke being one of them. And obviously the rest of our main cast doesn't care what people say about Will because they help to look for him all season. The good guys aren't homophobic. The good guys care about Will. And this includes all of our main characters - the people the audience are supposed to root for go against homophobia and bullying.

(Edit: I forgot to include a conversation between Joyce and Lonnie. When Will's fake body is found Lonnie wants Joyce to see a pastor and Joyce says no. Lonnie is trying to convince her she is crazy. He's the bad guy, and the first thing he wants to do to "fix" the situation is to get Joyce to talk to a pastor. It's another negative association with religion. Joyce is right here. She isn't crazy. And Lonnie isn't being comforting when he says this. He's being controlling and dismissing her feelings. It's clear from what we see of Lonnie that he's an asshole. He abused Will and Jonathan (and likely Joyce as well), he tried to turn Jonathan against his mother when Will went missing, he exploited an opportunity for money. He's not a person we are supposed to be rooting for.)

S2 - This season has a more direct reference to Christianity and it's the Reagan signs on some of the front lawns in Hawkins. This isn't surprising considering again, it's a middle class suburb. Reagan was a popular president at the time and got elected by popular vote twice despite his mishandling of the AIDS crisis and a number of other issues. His name is synonymous with the Christian right. During his time in office, the pro-life movement started to take hold, and he cut back on welfare reform and disability rights to name a few of the problematic things he did. Basically, anyone who wasn't an able-bodied, straight, white, middle class Christian male was struggling and yet he won twice. These days, his name is often compared to Trumps - they openly hated the same groups of people.

This sets the stage in a subtle way for what's going on with the main characters. Because our characters are all outcasts - gay, black, disabled, poor, etc - they are struggling to fit in to mainstream society (which makes it so ironic this show is mainstream). Even Hopper who is your typical straight, white, leading man struggles to fit in - his daughter died and he is coping with depression and substance abuse issues. Things no one discussed openly at the time and were viewed as shameful.

So we have the Reagan sign on the Wheelers front lawn. This tells me that at least Ted is a Reagan supporter which makes sense given this is an upper middle class white family. I am skeptical of Karen (or anyone else in this family) being conservative but I will get to that in S3. Dustins house has a Mondale sign so they are democrats which makes sense - Dustin has a disability and his mother is a single parent. Reagans policies would have hurt them. We don't see the politics of the other boys families but I think it's a safe bet to assume they are democrats. Will's family is poor and his mother is also a single mother. Not to mention that there are hints both Joyce and Jonathan suspect he is gay and they love Will so much, there is no way they would have ever voted for someone like Reagan. And even though the Sinclair's are also an upper middle class family they are black and while no group of people votes in the exact same way, Reagans policies were incredibly racist. Lucas mentions struggles to fit into Hawkins because he's black in the book Lucas on the Line. His family wouldn't have fit into this town even though they are financially well off. It's a mostly white town and that would have absolutely resulted in them being on the receiving end of racism on a regular basis. So even though their family technically conforms, people would not have accepted them.

So we know that our main characters don't fit in and we know Reagan represents all things Christianity and conformity. One of the main themes of the show is "forced conformity is killing the kids" a line directly stated by Eddie in S3 so more on this in a bit.

Something else happens this season that isn't a direct reference to religion but an adjacent theme and it's the conversation Nancy and Jonathan have with Murray. They are trying to figure out how to take down Hawkins lab and get people to believe them. Nancy doesn't understand at first why presenting the evidence they have won't work. And Murray says - people don't want to see whats behind the curtain. It's comforting. They like the curtain. - So they water down the story so the town will understand it in a way that they won't resist. This, I believe, is essentially what the writers are doing with this show. They are watering down that this has been a show that is anti-conformity from the beginning and there are signs of it in S1. But they know if they come right out and say that a main storyline is a queer coming-of-age story, a lot of their mainstream audience isn't going to watch. So up until now anyway, they have been subtle about it. But the audience is starting to notice something is off, especially with Mike in S4 because things aren't adding up.

S3 - It is now the summer of '85 and while there aren't direct references to Christianity, we still get some hints of conservatism. The only reference to religion is a passing comment that Dustin's new girlfriend Suzie is a Mormon. There is also a passing comment made by Max in S2 that there were Mormons at the door when Billy questions her. It was Lucas and she is trying to hide him from her racist brother, so she lies and says she was talking to Mormons. These comments are pretty neutral even though Dustin mentions Suzie's father wouldn't approve of him because he isn't Mormon himself. At the time we are seeing this moment, it's hard to tell if Dustin is telling the truth (everyone thinks he's making up his girlfriend this season.) But we see more of this in S4.

And then there is the comment by Karen Wheeler about Margaret Thatcher. She's on the phone with someone and says "I don't know Cath, maybe if I was Margaret Thatcher that'd be an another story." (this is in episode 5 by the way). A lot of people take this comment to mean Karen is conservative but I feel like it's so vague. We have absolutely no idea what the context of this conversation is or even who she is talking to (presumably one of the mothers from the pool). It's unclear if she was saying something positive or negative. We don't know what she is talking about, all we hear is her say Thatcher's name. So I feel like it's a leap to assume it was a conservative statement she was making.

I have a hard time believing that Karen is conservative (or at least not ultra conservative like a lot of Reagan supporters) for a few reasons. One of which is the contempt she has for Ted. She is frequently rolling her eyes at him or annoyed in some way and we know in canon he is the guy who represents conformity. However, Karen doesn't. This season especially she is shown to not be happy with her life. She is supposed to be a conservative housewife, but she almost has an affair and makes a few interesting comments. One of which was during her conversation with Nancy about her job. Nancy is discussing her misogynistic bosses and Karen gives her helpful and supportive advice about not fitting in. It seems personal, and from what we know about her, this sticks out. Because she seems like she is a typical housewife. I always felt like there was more to her backstory, but she seems to relate personally to Nancy's story of being an outcast at her job.

There is also her relationship with Mike. In S1, we see her trying to connect with him emotionally and get him to talk about his feelings about Will going missing. Karen is clearly someone who her kids can talk to, even if they resist sometimes. And her kids don't exactly fit in or represent conformity. She has been shown to be worried about her their safety repeatedly, Mike in particular, and we never see her trying to force them to conform in any way. And this is a thing that someone in her position would have absolutely been teaching her kids - conservative, Christian values. But we don't see anything like this or any hint of this. So I don't buy the 'she's conservative' theory. I don't think we've seen enough evidence of that. And while the Wheelers are probably a family that goes to church on Sundays, I don't get the impression this is a major influence in their lives. There is no religious paraphernalia around the house and this would have been a very common thing for a family that was pro-Reagan to do. I feel like they are passively conservative. It's the popular, normal choice and Karen and Ted are the epitome of doing things because they think they are supposed to. But this hardly makes them die hard believers.

S4 - This is where religion becomes more direct. Eddie is reading a Newsweek article about the dangers of D&D. During this time Satanic Panic was spreading. People feared for the moral values of the US during a time of extreme conservatism. Eddie clearly thinks this article is a joke. He's mocking anyone who conforms and it's clear Dustin and Mike agree. They are outcasts and they know D&D isn't dangerous. Eddie makes them feel like being different is ok.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Jason. He's your typical straight, white, christian male and fits in perfectly. He's the star of the basketball team and has the perfect cheerleader girlfriend (at least on the surface). He's the opposite of Eddie. And he is the villain in this story. THE GUY WHO CONFORMS PERFECTLY IS THE VILLAIN. He gets progressively more insane as the season progresses. He's charismatic and he quotes the Bible to rile the town up to hunt Eddie and Hellfire club down. They are all in a panic about the murders that are happening and the cops aren't doing a great job containing things (they also don't have all the information to be fair). But by the end of the season, Jason is completely unhinged and holds Lucas up at gunpoint. He's also part of the reason why Max ended up dying. It's Satanic Panic that drives this attitude forward. People are panicking over the loss of morals and blaming that for the reason why bad things are happening. Which I think will make for an interesting lead-in next season with regard to a more openly gay storyline.

On top of this display of religious fundamentalism, we see Suzie and her family. They are Mormons and we know her father is strict with regard to religion. However the family we see is chaotic. Suzie's sister Eden mocks Suzie for basically being a goody two shoes. Eden also has no hesitation about getting high and clearly is not abiding by Mormon values. Suzie doesn't always either. If there is a cause she believes in - like helping Dustin - she only has a little bit of guilt about going against her father and her religion. Her father is pretty much a joke. He's a fumbling idiot the kids need to outsmart in order to get the information they need. It's not exactly a positive representation of religion. Suzie shows that even though her religion is important to her, she is capable of thinking for herself. She hacks Dustins school computer and a government computer (although she doesn't know all the info about what she is doing here) with little hesitation. Her religious morals aren't exactly stopping her from doing something illegal or unethical. She's a hacker above all else.

At the end of the season we see Ted - the dude who represents all things common - reacting negatively to the news about what's going on in Hawkins. The guy who represents conformity is questioning the "propaganda" the news is coming out with to describe the situation in Hawkins. He is questioning the status quo. This is meant to show how even Ted is noticing something isn't adding up about the "normal" explanation of things. Something, at this point, that the audience should be questioning especially with regard to Mike. Because if even Ted can see something is going on here, then surely the audience can too.

The series has gotten progressively more direct about its anti-conformity theme which is why it makes no sense for them to suddenly forget this in S5. This show has always been about and for outcasts. The Wheeler family is a cautionary tale that Nancy said in season 1 was so depressing. She wants the opposite of this, which is why her and Steve and their 6 kids is never going to work (there are a lot of reasons why this is never going to work). And it's also why Mike and El aren't going to be endgame. Those relationships are there to represent conformity and none of the characters in those relationships are happy. They are the expected, normal relationships. If they wanted the audience to like these relationships they would have been written more positively.

So it's funny to me when people say the show is never going to go against the status quo because they have literally been doing this from the start. It's what the entire show is about. All of the characters are outcasts. All of them. So if people are claiming to like and support them, then they need to get behind the anti-conformity theme. And if they can't do that - this show is simply not for those people and it never was.

[darkeagleruins]

Pastor Lorenzo Sewell blasts Harris for bribing Charlemagne to speak to black men in Detroit.

By the way, when Donald Trump spoke to black men in Detroit, he just brought himself …

[odinsblog]

David Remnick: I think it's possible to imagine that if a presidential candidate 15 years ago had gotten these felony convictions, that person would be out. How do you, as a Democrat, respond to that?

Raphael Warnock: Well, I think that the country has long been in a kind of a spiritual crisis, certainly exacerbated by the reality of Trumpism in the world, and it's something I think about, first of all, just as a pastor and as a citizen. But I still have a great deal of confidence in the American people, because the reality is he only wins by subtraction. That is his only shot, which is why I'm focused on making sure that every eligible American has a chance to exercise their franchise and to know that their vote will count.

This election is not about who he is, it's about who we are as an American people.

Senator, one of the factors that figures into what may or may not happen in November is for Black voters under 50, and this is according to research by Pew, 29%, 29% is leaning to Trump. That's a heck of a lot. It's a huge jump from voters 50 and over. Why do you think this is happening?

Warnock: I pay attention to polls. I'm not obsessed by them. I think there's a long time between now and November. I will hazard this hunch: 29% of voters, Black voters, are not gonna vote for Donald Trump.

So you're just saying the polls are the polls. You're just saying the polls are out of their collective minds.

Warnock: It's not gonna happen. […] And I stand by my assertion, and not as a pundit, but as somebody who knows a little bit about the Black community. 29% of Black folk are not going to vote for Donald Trump.

29% under 50. Okay, yeah.

Warnock: Under 50, or under any age.

Right now, there's a big movement of people in this country who say they want to live in a Christian nation with laws instituting Christian principles. By the way, the vast majority of especially people who describe themselves as evangelicals are pro-Trump. What do you make of that?

The enormous number of people of earnest faith who look at someone who lies the way he does, who's now been convicted of multiple felonies, how do you analyze that?

Warnock: Well, there were a number of Christians, a whole lot of Christians, who were pro-slavery. And there were a whole lot of Christians who were pro-segregation. There's a recurring line by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his letter from the Birmingham jail. He says it a few times in his speeches. He says, “I am so disappointed in the American church.” I'm paraphrasing here.

I can't channel the eloquence of Dr. King. But he said, “As I travel through the south and I see its massive churches with its massive religious education buildings and its spires pointing heavenward, I ask myself, what kind of people worship there? Who really is their God?”

That's the question for this moment. Who really is their God? Particularly when we've been told by a lot of folks on the far right for years that their focus is family values.

When we’ve raised issues that people like me think are also central to the gospel, like how you treat the poor, they have narrowed the religious discussion to matters of ‘private morality,’ one's conduct around issues of human sexuality, marriage and the like. And those same people now are lined up behind Donald Trump, a man who has had several marriages, who found himself caught up in the crosshairs of his decision to have an affair with a porn star. And these same folks who have raised these issues around family values and private morality are the ones who are speaking as if he is the Messiah of God.

I think the question that Dr. King asked all those years ago is especially relevant in this moment. Who really is their God?

—Senator Raphael Warnock

[kinialohaguy]

President Trump Has a History of Delivering on Promises.  Pastor Bernadette Smith joins Special Report and lists many of the promises that President Trump has delivered on for Black Americans.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chloe Atkins at NBC News:

CINCINNATI — The group of anti-abortion crusaders showed up outside Hughes STEM High School just before 3 p.m. As students streamed out of the building, the men and women walked after them carrying large cards emblazoned with a picture of a fetus. “Pre-born children are blessings to be received, not burdens to be destroyed,” read the other side of the literature.

One man took the lead in tracking down the predominantly Black students and handing out the cards. At one point, he spent three minutes talking to a small group of girls. “I feel inspired,” a 15-year-old said afterward. But the scene took a turn when the principal, Jennifer Williams, walked out and demanded they move off the main path to the school. “The pathway to the crosswalk is being blocked and that’s not okay,” Williams said. The group moved down the sidewalk but was confronted by Williams again. “Planned Parenthood is feeding propaganda to these kids,” the head activist, Jason Storms, told her. “We are trying to counter that message.” Storms, 45, is the leader of Operation Save America, a fundamentalist Christian group that operates on the extreme edge of the anti-abortion movement. They travel around the country — to churches, schools, statehouses and abortion clinics — calling for abortions to be banned and women to be locked up for terminating pregnancies.

Storms and his fellow activists are part of a growing network of lawyers, lawmakers and pastors who have labeled themselves “abortion abolitionists.” They oppose all abortions without exceptions and promote legislation that would pave the way for women to be investigated and prosecuted for ending pregnancies. The move to criminalize the choice to have an abortion has historically been rejected by the mainstream “pro-life” movement, but Storms sees it as a necessary deterrent.  “You are intentionally killing a human being,” he said in an interview. “That’s the definition of murder.” Operation Save America is certainly not the first group to push an extreme position on abortion and use in-your-face tactics. It’s a rebranded version of Operation Rescue, an organization that gained notoriety in the 1980s for blocking women and doctors from entering abortion clinics and holding sit-in protests.

[...] GOP state lawmakers around the country have introduced at least 26 so-called “abortion abolition” bills from 2022 to 2024, according to If/When/How, a national legal advocacy nonprofit group. The bills often repeal provisions that prevent women from being investigated and prosecuted over abortions or don’t include explicit language that exempts them from being charged. [...]

Storms’ group occupies a unique position in U.S. politics. Loathed by Democrats, it also represents a thorn in the side of former President Donald Trump, who has said the issue should be taken up at the state level. “They are a loud minority, but Donald Trump especially listens to the loudest voice in the room,” said Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist and NBC News political analyst. “And that is an issue for Donald Trump running in 2024 — that they will have a voice.” Storms was a vocal Trump supporter. He attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally and took a selfie video outside the U.S. Capitol as the mob laid siege. But he’s not planning to vote for Trump this November unless the former president takes a “strong stand in defense of preborn children.” “My hope is that we’re able to pull Donald Trump in our direction,” Storms said. “And maybe I still will pull the lever for him if he comes our direction, but he’s not going to come our direction, clearly, unless we twist his arm a little bit.”

[...] Storms held various roles at Operation Save America before he took charge of the group in June 2021. The group is not just opposed to abortions. It preaches against homosexuality, vaccines, IVF and Islam. It also represents the extreme anti-abortion movement’s reverence for high-powered weaponry and its suspicion toward the federal government.

NBC News reports on the abortion abolition movement, a very militant and extreme subset of the anti-abortion movement. This movement-- led by the likes of Operation Save America-- seeks to criminalize those who obtain abortions and pressure lawmakers opposed to abortion access to move towards the abolitionist viewpoint.

[severeprincesheep]

I watched this FAFO video where a youtuber pointed out that, once again, it was relevant to bring this back, a famous poem by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), written during the Holocaust, denouncing the fact that when good people stay silent bad guys win:

First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me

Ironically Mr. priest over here was put in a concentration camp not for risking his life to save any innocents or anything, but because he was disappointed that Hitler kept church and state separate and his government secular... the Third Reich just wasn't quite patriarchal or fascistic enough to his liking. Just saying.

Well, I learned this lesson early on and I would stand up for my friends when they were under attack - and was rewarded with almost alarm as if they feared being in my debt. I guess they wanted to let me know they wouldn't be there for me if I ever needed them, and they weren't. I met people who thought it was odd of me, as a female, to ever expect anything like gratitude or loyalty. Women don't get to have that, hadn't anyone ever told me?

Outside of personal relationships I was vocally protective of the rights of demographies that didn't include me, namely the LGBT community. I was one of those people who cried real tears of emotion when gay marriage became legal. I wanted equality and inclusion for everyone even when it was clear that this didn't benefit me personally in any way. It didn't have to, it was just the right thing to do.

But then when gender ideology became a threat to women's sex-based rights the same gay people who benefitted from the support of women like me called me a bigot and a phobe and told me to stay silent and suck it up. My rights didn't matter, only men's feelings. Loyalty was not reciprocated as in their vision of the world women are supposed to be servants of men and to revolve around them, so this is simply what men expect and require, no gratitude is in order. I cried real tears over this as well.

Now I can relate to how African-American women feel, as they have been for many years the group that is the most invested in fighting for human rights in America and who show up for everybody; by a large margin they were also the ones who most showed up to vote for Kamala and against Trump's tyranny... only to be defeated by white men and their sycophants, men and their handmaidens who dream of bringing back the South, with chattel for women and slavery for blacks.

People like me and African-American women, we lived our lives by that golden rule that if you don't help out your fellow human beings, regardless of what groups they're in, one day you're gonna need someone to help you and no one will be there.

We were hoodwinked by the patriarchy that conveniently left out that this is a lesson that only men need to learn.

Caring about all other groups and showing up for everybody who needs it does nothing for you... when you are nothing in the eyes of those groups. You can even save their very lives and they'll still see it as you having done nothing more than your duty. When it's their turn to come to the rescue they'll just watch you drown.

[realjaysumlin]

🔥 Christian Pastor DEMOLISHES Evangelicals' Support for Trump

Christianity under the same god but different from the Christian Doctrine of choice of what is good and what is evil? This is how the symbolic fallacy of whiteness and Christianity means to the world. Black Indigenous Christians are nothing but slaves no matter what they accomplish or how they behave, these people will always choose white Christians and you who believe in the same exact faith as them, are absolutely nothing.

[ellianasdeadpointeshoes]

I knew this country was doomed when I was 7 years old and Obama was elected for his 1st time and at school the next day, people were crying while I was happy that a person who was black like was able to be elected president. When I asked everyone what is wrong, they said " Obama is gonna get us all killed"

I knew the country was doomed when I was 11 and Obama was elected again and my bully called me the n-word with the hard er and told me that black people are the worst thing to happen to tbis country

I knew the country was doomed when one of my so-called friends in the 6th grade told the whole class, including the teacher, that my hair was fake and I bullied to the point of suicidal ideation and the teacher did nothing.

I knew the country was doomed when the religious/homophonic kid made a whole youtube channel to spread homophobia,raciam as well has.dangerous misinformation and his reasoning for preferring trump over Hilary was that Hilary was a liar but Trump claimed to be at least Christian. Both the kids' pastor and Trump were both sexual predators.

There is so much privilege in being to say I knew the country was doomed when Trump was elected the 1st time.so much privilege in being able to not claim trump as a part of your countries history. You all suck.

[pastorellis]

Reverend William Lanier Ellis Endorses Donald J Trump and Speaks to the ...

@EllissoundMusicCo3 hours agoWe have seen and us Georgians are tired of the Poverty state! Shes a Prosecuter that worked with Celebs and You and Her are Tied to the Diddler. Let a Pastor enlighten you, we know how deep the"sisterhood" is Howver her Oath and yours is to be a Diplomat. Ive spent 35 years in this healthbroken State, that thrives on Poverty, 2.2 trillion in debt we paid to have our coutry safe,  have schools, education, wher did it go? to DC, Hollywood, 1% we have the elementray school-to  prison pipeline we have had this speech and its the same Crew from Obama, seems you dont know the lord, i pray for us all.  im 54 a Chaplin and First Responder i worked 15 years Public service free. We are one Nation Under GOD to the Republic for which it stands! you dont care, ive never seen you or Harris or Biden or Obama or Diddy or Eminem in a soup line , or checking on those who are homless, Great we have kids thats gods Commandment, not womans or mans. evryone over 18 knows noone can forece or take a mothers once she has cxoncieved, how are we going to feed and pay for them?   We cant hospitals, are FARA "Foreigen Administative Reserved Area", that is a peace zone ran by the US Military.  Why not be honest and tell America all the money your puling ion on fan cards and meet and greets the State Deprtment is not aware of. its not a race or sexist issue but thats her only driving point. the only sale to the sisterhood. We the People didnt want it 4 years Ago, yall have a blessed Sunday after Party.  I dont recall seeing you or Harris at Emory when 4 Black Officers Drug and beat a member of The cloth, me.  We pay your Salary as a Diplomat of peace not mistruths.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jason L. Riley

Published: Jun 26, 2019

A political scientist found that fewer than 1 in 3 of 346 such allegations was genuine.

When I asked Wilfred Reilly about last week’s appointment of a special prosecutor in Chicago to take up the Jussie Smollett case, he was cautiously optimistic. Mr. Reilly is author of a new book, “Hate Crime Hoax,” in which he details how the initial publicity for supposed hate crimes tends all but to disappear if the allegations are exposed as fake.

So does the sustained press coverage of Mr. Smollett—the television actor who was accused of staging an attack on himself back in January, only to have all 16 felony counts against him abruptly dropped for reasons that prosecutors have never made clear—represent progress of sorts?

“It’s the archetype of a hate crime hoax. It’s one of the most flamboyant examples of the genre,” said Mr. Reilly, himself a Second City native. An openly gay black man residing in one of the country’s most liberal and diverse metropolises is set upon by two white Donald Trump supporters who brandish bleach and a noose while shouting racial and antigay slurs? “It was a situation so extreme and bizarre that I think we would have had to look at how much racial progress the U.S. had actually made had it really occurred.” The appointment of a special prosecutor, and the possibility of bringing new charges against Mr. Smollett, is a good sign, Mr. Reilly added, “but will we see the same amount of coverage when the hoax involves a less famous person?”

Mr. Reilly is a professor of political science at Kentucky State University, and his interest in hate crimes dates to his graduate-school days, when he became aware of several widely reported incidents in the vicinity of his hometown that turned out to be fake. In 2012 a popular gay bar in suburban Chicago was destroyed by fire, and the owner cited homophobia as the reason. The same year, black students at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside reported death threats from hate groups and found a noose hanging from a dorm room door. Ultimately, the owner of the bar pleaded guilty to arson and insurance fraud. And a black student at the university fessed up to sending racist threats and planting a noose.

More incidents followed, and Mr. Reilly’s skepticism grew. “This phenomenon of fake hate crimes did not appear to be small-scale or regionally based,” he writes. A gay pastor in Texas accused a Whole Foods store of selling him a cake with a slur written in icing. The store produced video evidence that the pastor was lying. A white woman in Oregon disfigured her own face with acid and claimed a black man had attacked her. Later, she admitted fabricating the entire story. After signs that read “blacks only” and “whites only” were found at bathroom entrances on the University at Buffalo campus in upstate New York, a black graduate student confessed to posting them.

Mr. Reilly eventually compiled a database of 346 hate-crime allegations and determined that less than a third were genuine. Turning his attention to the hoaxes, he put together a data set of more than 400 confirmed cases of fake allegations that were reported to authorities between 2010 and 2017. He allows that the exact number of false reports is probably unknowable, but what can be said “with absolute confidence is that the actual number of hate crime hoaxes is indisputably large,” he writes. “We are not speaking here of just a few bad apples.”

The author’s bigger concern, and rightly so, is the growing politicization of hate crimes, especially when they are directed at underrepresented groups and regardless of whether they in fact happened. The sad reality is that there is no shortage of individuals and entities with a vested interest in exaggerating racial tensions in the U.S.—from civil-rights organizations to corporate diversity officers to professors of race and gender studies.

These alleged incidents are invariably seized upon by politicians and activists looking to feed a sacrosanct belief among liberals that discrimination and oppression are the main drivers of inequality. “In the mainstream media we hear almost constant talk about scary new forms of racism: ‘white privilege,’ ‘cultural appropriation,’ and ‘subtle bigotry,’ ” Mr. Reilly writes, yet “a huge percentage of the horrific hate crimes cited as evidence of contemporary bigotry are fakes.”

If “Hate Crime Hoax” merely offered examples to illustrate the extent of this phenomenon—and the book offers nearly 100—it would be providing a much-needed public service. But Mr. Reilly has a larger point to make. The Smollett case isn’t an outlier. Increasingly, it’s the norm. And the media’s relative lack of interest in exposing hoaxes that don’t involve famous figures is a big part of the problem.

--

Here's another database cataloguing - as of this post - 508 fake hate crimes.

==

If you don't already assume that any such incident is a hoax until proven otherwise, I don't know what else will convince you.

It's notable that a hate crime hoax only works in a society that is already deeply intolerant of victimization and discrimination based on these types of characteristics.

The existence of hate crime hoaxes is therefore indicative of how successful we've been at eliminating this type of victimization and discrimination, because the perpetrators seek to exploit the society's desire that it not happen, while tacitly admitting that there are too few legitimate examples for them to leverage.

That is, the demand exceeds the supply.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The New Yorker

* * * * *

“Trying to steal history.”

January 9, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

On Monday, President Biden delivered a stirring and spirited speech at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In June 2015, members of the congregation at the church invited a stranger to join them for services. The stranger killed nine members of the church in the worst church-related shooting (to that point)—a mass killing that was racially motivated. President Obama delivered a eulogy for Pastor Clementa Pinckney of Mother Emmanuel AME Church that included his rendition of Amazing Grace a cappella.

[The video is here, Joe Biden speaks at Charleston church (start at the 26:00 minute mark), and the full text of the speech is here: Remarks by President Biden at a Political Event | Charleston, SC.]

Against the backdrop of the 2015 racially motivated mass shooting, President Biden addressed Trump's use of the “lost cause” of white supremacy to bolster his hate-fueled campaign. Biden said, in part,

On June 17th, 2015, the [nine] beautiful souls and five survivors invited a stranger into this church to pray with them. The word of God was pierced by bullets in hate and rage, propelled by not just gunpowder but by a poison — a poison that’s for too long haunted this nation. What is that poison? White supremacy. Oh, it is; it’s a poison. Throughout our history, it’s ripped this nation apart. This has no place in America. Not today, tomorrow, or ever. Now — now we’re living in an era of a second lost cause. Once again, there are some in this country trying — trying to turn a loss into a lie — a lie, which if allowed to live, will once again bring terrible damage to this country. This time, the lie is about the 2020 election, the election which you made your voices heard and your power known.

Biden tied the lost cause of white supremacy to Trump's 2020 loss, identifying both of as existential threats to the nation. He then pivoted to Trump's insurrection on January 6 and Trump's threat to continue that assault on democracy if he is elected to a second term in 2024.

Biden said, Just two days ago, we marked the third anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history: January the 6th. The day in which insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol, trying for the first time in American history to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the country. We all saw with our own eyes the truth of what happened. That violent mob was whipped up by lies from a defeated former President . . . . We saw something on January 6th we’d never seen before, even during the Civil War. Insurrectionists waving Confederate flags inside the halls of Congress built by enslaved Americans. A mob attacked and called Black officers, Black veterans defending the nation those vile of racist names. And yet, an extreme movement of America, the MAGA Republicans, led by a defeated President, is trying to steal history now. They tried to steal an election. Now they’re trying to steal history, telling us that violent mob was, and I quote, “a peaceful protest.” The lies that led to January 6th are part of a broader attack on the truth America today that we all have seen before. The same movement that, throughout the mob at the United States Capitol, isn’t just trying to rewrite history of January 6th, they’re trying to determine to erase history and your future: banning books; denying your right to vote and have it counted; destroying diversity, equality, inclusion all across America; harboring hate and replacing hope with anger and resentment and a dangerous view of America.

Powerful words delivered with passion and dignity befitting the hallowed ground and the proximity to January 6. As Trump's speeches are becoming more unhinged and hateful, Biden’s are becoming more forceful and direct in challenging Trump. If you can spare twenty minutes, watch the video linked above, beginning at the 26:00-minute mark. Your confidence will be renewed.

But I can’t leave this story without commenting on the media coverage. Biden delivered a truly inspirational and important speech on race and democracy. For sixty seconds during Biden’s speech, a protestor stood up and demanded that Biden call for a cease-fire in Israel. Biden handled the protestor with skill and grace. As the protestor was escorted from the church, Biden said,

It's alright. I understand their passion. I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza.

That sixty-second incident of an otherwise historic speech dominated virtually every headline describing the speech. See, e.g., NYTimes, Protesters Calling for Gaza Cease-Fire Interrupt Biden Speech; The Hill, Biden address in Charleston church interrupted by protesters; and NPR, Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza interrupted Biden's campaign speech.

The bias against Biden is just unbelievable. I wonder if the headline writers or journalists who wrote the articles even bothered to read or listen to the substance of Biden’s speech. I doubt it. Shame on them!

Meanwhile, Trump hopes the economy crashes before he is re-elected.

As Biden continued to call for the preservation of democracy and mourned the tragedies of January 6 and the AME shootings, Trump was telling an interviewer he hoped the economy would crash during Biden’s remaining time in office. See The Hill, Trump says he hopes economy crashes in next 12 months: ‘I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover’.

Trump said,

We have an economy that’s so fragile, and the only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did. It’s just running off the fumes. And when there’s a crash — I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president I just don’t want to be, Herbert Hoover.

Ha! Trump remembered as Herbert Hoover? He should be so lucky! He will be remembered as Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis, and Aldrich Ames—combined!

And, in case you think I am resorting to hyperbole, Trump refused to sign a traditional pledge in Illinois in which presidential candidates pledge not to overthrow the US government. See The Guardian, Donald Trump did not sign Illinois pledge not to overthrow government. Trump signed the pledge in 2016 and 2020, but not in 2024. Hmm . . . it’s almost like he’s planning ahead to overthrow the US government!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]