Well said! There is NO cover for this nakedly racist, sexist, xenophobic, amoral, christofascist herd of haters. They will reap what they have sown. They might think they have the upper hand, but it will not last, and the retribution will not be theirs—it will be The People's. Thank you for a powerful piece, Armand.
Kate Morgan Reade: Says a dear friend and warrior for freedom, who shares with me the wonders of Wortherkunft and who is one of my favorites in the circle of my Wahlverwandtschaften.
While recently visiting SE Asia, I visited the killing fields in Cambodia. I learned that Pol Pot before his murderous campaign had spent years as a Buddhist Monk. I do not trust any true believers. He thought he was doing a spiritual cleansing but eliminating the educated.
I am passionate about core beliefs — a society of ordered liberty (Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo, 1937); that each person and all peoples are of equal worth and dignity (Declaration of Independence); of due process of law and civil liberties (Bill of Rights of 1688); of the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness (Declaration of Independence); equality before the law, equality of economic opportunity, the right to a living wage, safe working conditions, fringe benefits, adequate health care, sufficient and sustainable nutrition, a sufficient retirement (see John Rawls, Theory of Justice and John Locke, Second Treatise of Government); and not least, abolition of torture and the death penalty (Theravada Buddhism).
I am a true believer.
These values are core and I am unyielding on these.
As a true believer, I stand on the absolute value of human life, and the inherent worth of each of my fellow humans, each of whom, with no exception is my brother, sister or otherwise precious kin, NO EXCEPTIONS.
I am a true believer who condemns any murderer.
A person who murders in the name of religion is NOT RELIGIOUS OR A BELIEVER AT ALL: He is simply a murderer, pure and simple.
As a Catholic, my faith says, „Show me your faith, not by what you profess, but by how deeply you LOVE!
People who refuse the teachings of Christ are not living in a state of Grace, meaning they have not accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. They are, therefore, not Christians. Do you remember the murder of Jonathan Daniels, by any chance?
Liz Gauffreau: Naturally, my quote of Lester Maddox, "I came here . . . because I am a Christian," was accurate but also meant in a highly satirical manner! The contrast between, "I am a Christian," and his SIGNED Axe Handles and BRUTALITY towards Black Ministers of the Gospel speaks far better than his words, in exactly the spirit you reflect here.
Fr. Jonathan Daniels blocked an intended victim and took the full shot-gun blast to protect the man's life. The shooter, Deputy Tom Coleman, then tried to take the life of a Roman Catholic priest. The trial judge acted to disqualify the justice-seeking prosecutor; substituted him for another who brought reduced charges. The shooter was acquitted even on the reduced charges and NEVER, EVER faced justice for having killed Fr Jonathan Daniels nor on his attempt on the life of the Roman Catholic priest.
Coleman lived to complete his career, unscathed, and died at 83 years of age.
Coleman reminds me very much of the current Administration.
I thought you might have heard of Fr. Daniels. He was a friend of my father's, and I clearly remember how devastated he was by Jonathan's death. (I didn't put the pieces together, though, until just a few years ago.) I actually found the declassified FBI file investigating the case from 2008 on Internet Archive. The thought of all those people who lost their lives on behalf of civil rights for all Americans having given their lives in vain is unbearable.
Liz Gauffreau: No apology necessary. The review of Fr. Jonathan Daniels is very much a blessing.
You and I share so much, and we exchange on so many columns, for example with Kate Morgan Reade.
Please, keep feeding your Spirit.
Please, take time for yourself.
Take time with those you love.
Take time to feed your mind with the arts, humanities, literature, philosophy, history, great music, poetry, great paintings and sculpture -- in short, with the food of the human spirit.
We feed our mind and spirit so we build the muscle and backbone to act true in hard, hard times.
Jim Sanders: Questions are far more important, and certainly more interesting than answers.
One of the most influential works in my intellectual background is David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature (1739), which Immanuel Kant called the Copernican Revolution of Philosophy, which led to Kant‘s Three Critiques, and is THE fundamental foundation of modern epistemology.
In my freshman law class, University of Arizona Law, in November 1970, Civil Law class, Professor Luther McDougal said (which became my life‘s compass, „The search for certainty is the quest of a foolish mind.“
But my main criterion is: How much do you love your neighbor?
Well said! There is NO cover for this nakedly racist, sexist, xenophobic, amoral, christofascist herd of haters. They will reap what they have sown. They might think they have the upper hand, but it will not last, and the retribution will not be theirs—it will be The People's. Thank you for a powerful piece, Armand.
Kate Morgan Reade: Says a dear friend and warrior for freedom, who shares with me the wonders of Wortherkunft and who is one of my favorites in the circle of my Wahlverwandtschaften.
❤️🌷🐈⬛🤗 Amen!
While recently visiting SE Asia, I visited the killing fields in Cambodia. I learned that Pol Pot before his murderous campaign had spent years as a Buddhist Monk. I do not trust any true believers. He thought he was doing a spiritual cleansing but eliminating the educated.
Jim Sanders: Very interesting. I did not know that.
Someone who murders millions is a genocidal murderer.
Period.
It matters not his religion.
Nor does it matter if he has no religion (Chairman Mao . . .),
The man is a detestable, genocidal murderer.
His "religion" is irrelevant.
Communism was his true belief. Thus, he was a true believer.
PS, remember a book by a San Francisco long Shoresman called The True believers?
True beliefs devoid of investigation and reason is always sick and dangerous. MAGAs are true believers.
Jim Sanders: I am a true believer.
I am passionate about core beliefs — a society of ordered liberty (Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo, 1937); that each person and all peoples are of equal worth and dignity (Declaration of Independence); of due process of law and civil liberties (Bill of Rights of 1688); of the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness (Declaration of Independence); equality before the law, equality of economic opportunity, the right to a living wage, safe working conditions, fringe benefits, adequate health care, sufficient and sustainable nutrition, a sufficient retirement (see John Rawls, Theory of Justice and John Locke, Second Treatise of Government); and not least, abolition of torture and the death penalty (Theravada Buddhism).
I am a true believer.
These values are core and I am unyielding on these.
As a true believer, I stand on the absolute value of human life, and the inherent worth of each of my fellow humans, each of whom, with no exception is my brother, sister or otherwise precious kin, NO EXCEPTIONS.
I am a true believer who condemns any murderer.
A person who murders in the name of religion is NOT RELIGIOUS OR A BELIEVER AT ALL: He is simply a murderer, pure and simple.
As a Catholic, my faith says, „Show me your faith, not by what you profess, but by how deeply you LOVE!
That is my „true belief“.
People who refuse the teachings of Christ are not living in a state of Grace, meaning they have not accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. They are, therefore, not Christians. Do you remember the murder of Jonathan Daniels, by any chance?
Liz Gauffreau: Naturally, my quote of Lester Maddox, "I came here . . . because I am a Christian," was accurate but also meant in a highly satirical manner! The contrast between, "I am a Christian," and his SIGNED Axe Handles and BRUTALITY towards Black Ministers of the Gospel speaks far better than his words, in exactly the spirit you reflect here.
Fr. Jonathan Daniels blocked an intended victim and took the full shot-gun blast to protect the man's life. The shooter, Deputy Tom Coleman, then tried to take the life of a Roman Catholic priest. The trial judge acted to disqualify the justice-seeking prosecutor; substituted him for another who brought reduced charges. The shooter was acquitted even on the reduced charges and NEVER, EVER faced justice for having killed Fr Jonathan Daniels nor on his attempt on the life of the Roman Catholic priest.
Coleman lived to complete his career, unscathed, and died at 83 years of age.
Coleman reminds me very much of the current Administration.
Ahem!
I thought you might have heard of Fr. Daniels. He was a friend of my father's, and I clearly remember how devastated he was by Jonathan's death. (I didn't put the pieces together, though, until just a few years ago.) I actually found the declassified FBI file investigating the case from 2008 on Internet Archive. The thought of all those people who lost their lives on behalf of civil rights for all Americans having given their lives in vain is unbearable.
Liz Gauffteau: Come to think of it, you and I exchanged information about Fr. Jonathan Daniels a few months ago.
That is right, you mentioned the privilege of your dear Dad‘s friendship with Fr Daniels.
Liz: Fr Daniels did not die in vain, nor did the other beautiful persons, who were martyred.
Make no mistake! The Civil Rights Movement is the Great Moral Movement of our time.
The VILENESS of the Tramp Administration REEMPHASIZES more the aspirations of our spirits and hearts.
The very reason we communicate together is to rededicate our minds and hearts to the principles of the Civil Rights Movement.
In Budapest is April, 2024, a man told me that the 1956 uprising against the Soviets was IN VAIN.
I responded that I personally witnessed it live on TV in 1956, and the courage of the Hungarian people has inspired my entire life.
No person who dies in righteousness has died in vain!!
Not at all.
In LOVE of these persons, we will resist and stand up!
This has been so much on my mind in the last several months, I can't remember who I've discussed it with. I apologize for repeating myself.
Thank you for your ending thoughts. I have saved them to go back to (again and again and again).
Liz Gauffreau: No apology necessary. The review of Fr. Jonathan Daniels is very much a blessing.
You and I share so much, and we exchange on so many columns, for example with Kate Morgan Reade.
Please, keep feeding your Spirit.
Please, take time for yourself.
Take time with those you love.
Take time to feed your mind with the arts, humanities, literature, philosophy, history, great music, poetry, great paintings and sculpture -- in short, with the food of the human spirit.
We feed our mind and spirit so we build the muscle and backbone to act true in hard, hard times.
You and your thoughts are precious to me.
The thirty years war. Northern Ireland. The massacre of the Cathars in Southwestern France by the Pope’s army. So many examples.
On and on and on.
Jim Sanders -- So very true.
I was born shortly after the Shoah.
During my first five years, the Soviet Ruler was Joseph Stalin and his henchman was the equally sadistic Lavrenti Beria.
Then Chairman Mao killed millions.
As Kurt Vonnegut philosophized in "Slaughterhouse Five", "And so it goes."
(The "so it goes" phrase has great philosophical import in Slaughterhouse Five.)
I question everything.
Jim Sanders: Questions are far more important, and certainly more interesting than answers.
One of the most influential works in my intellectual background is David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature (1739), which Immanuel Kant called the Copernican Revolution of Philosophy, which led to Kant‘s Three Critiques, and is THE fundamental foundation of modern epistemology.
In my freshman law class, University of Arizona Law, in November 1970, Civil Law class, Professor Luther McDougal said (which became my life‘s compass, „The search for certainty is the quest of a foolish mind.“
But my main criterion is: How much do you love your neighbor?
“I come here because I’m a Christian. * * *”
Religion provides the words for all to rationalize their identities just as they see it.
Jim Sanders: Yes, Mr. Lester Maddox, who is reincarnated as President Tramp.
Thank you, Jim Sanders, always for your thoughtful exchange.