Trump's Brown Shirts

There were gays, Hispanics, African-Americans, Jews, union members... even Muslims, who voted for Trump in 2016 and some of them plan to do so again next year. Are they all crazy? Ignorant? Stupid? Some thing like that. I always wanted to know-- but never found anything definitive-- how many Jews voted for Hitler in the 1932 presidential election and for Nazi Party in the Reichstag elections in 1932 and 1933. The elections in July and November of '32 and in March of 1933 led to the deaths of 6 million European Jews. Between 1932 and 1939 about 300,000 German Jews wisely fled the country. Subsequently, 180,000 German Jews were murdered. Wouldn't you like to know how many of them had voted for Hitler and his party?

In 2016, about 24% of Jews who voted, voted for Trump. Blacks were much smarter; only 8% voted for Trump. 29% of Hispanics-- many of them Cuban rightists-- voted for him. 29% of Asian-Americans did. And 14% of LGBTQ voters pulled the levers for Trump. 16.8% of Muslim voters, picked Trump. Are all these people suicidal? Maybe.

Yesterday Wall Street Journal reporters Georgia Wells and Ian Lovett wrote about The Toxic World Where Mass Shooters Thrive. This is part of Trump world-- no Antifa here, just Trumpists, wall to wall Trumpists. And they would like to kill all these gays and Jews and blacks and Hispanics and Asians, including the ones who voted for their man. Suspects in recent attacks posted to hate-filled forums in this dark, fringey corner of TrumpWorld, such as 8chan, which brim with racist content. They tout "kill scores." Wells and Lovett wrote that "Less than two weeks after a gunman killed more than 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand, law-enforcement officials found a disturbing piece of graffiti outside a San Diego County mosque that had been set on fire. 'For Brenton Tarrant -t./pol/,' it read. The cryptic message, which paid homage to the alleged New Zealand shooter and a dark corner of the internet where such shootings are celebrated, foreshadowed a string of violence."

I'm the least racist... by Nancy Ohanian

In April, one month after the graffiti appeared, John Earnest, the man who police say vandalized the mosque, allegedly attacked a nearby synagogue, leaving one person dead. Then, in August, a shooting in an El Paso Walmart killed 22. One week later, a Norwegian man allegedly opened fire at an Oslo mosque.

The trio of suspects don’t appear ever to have met, but they all idolized Mr. Tarrant and were part of a hate-filled online community that is emerging as an important front in law-enforcement efforts to ward off future attacks.

The online forums, known as /pol/ for “politically incorrect,” offer a platform for hate speech where posts are almost always anonymous, making it difficult for law enforcement to identify who is using the sites. Hateful ideologies, including white supremacy, are promoted across the sites and used to incite violence, forming a chain of influence that appears to have led from one mass shooting to the next. When one site is shut down, users swiftly migrate to another.

Mass shooters are revered on the forums, which brim with racist and antigay content. Posts encourage attacks against mosques, synagogues and immigrants. Large numbers of fatalities are celebrated as “high scores.”

When a gunman in West Texas opened fire on Saturday, the forums lit up, with users demanding to know his “kill count” and saying they hoped he was white and his victims Hispanic. The alleged shooter doesn’t appear to have ties to the forums.

The most popular site among extremists, 8chan, has been largely knocked offline in recent weeks after tech-support providers cut off service. But extremists and violent rhetoric are popping up elsewhere. The alleged attacker at the Oslo mosque posted on another site, Endchan. A letter New Zealand authorities said Mr. Tarrant sent from jail, which warns of bloodshed soon to come, was posted on another site, 4chan. The sites are unconnected.

Lawmakers and law-enforcement officials are trying to better understand how the sites function and what can be done to combat the calls to violence posted there. Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee subpoenaed Jim Watkins, 8chan’s owner, to testify Thursday about extremist content. The committee is weighing whether the government should take a more active role in trying to prevent the spread of such content, and how the sites can flag potential violence to law enforcement, according to a person familiar with the committee’s plans. Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) has vowed to hold hearings to discuss how to better fight what he calls domestic terrorism.

Counterterrorism experts and others who study the forums say they provide inspiration for some participants to act, catalyzing a succession of lone-wolf shooters who try to one-up one another. Shutting them down entirely will be all but impossible, said Robert Evans, who has investigated internet extremism for years with research collective Bellingcat. “I expect we will see shootings that are inspired by these manifestos but posted on places other than 8chan because the site is down,” he said.

Law-enforcement officials say Mr. Earnest, the 20-year-old accused in the San Diego attack, Patrick Crusius, the alleged shooter in El Paso, and Mr. Tarrant all posted racist pronouncements to 8chan’s /pol/ forum ahead of their attacks. In each case, other users responded while the shootings were going on.

“He at least did something, thats respectable,” one 8chan user posted about Mr. Earnest’s alleged synagogue shooting.

“So what’s his kill count?” said another.

Tore Bjørgo, director of the Center for Research on Extremism in Oslo, said: “You have this idea that they should outdo each other.” Sites such as 8chan, he said, are “where they find their inspiration….That’s where they expect to get fame and recognition.”

Messrs. Tarrant and Earnest have pleaded not guilty. Mr. Crusius hasn’t yet been arraigned. Mr. Earnest’s lawyer declined to comment. Lawyers for the other two suspects didn’t respond to requests for comment.

8chan didn’t respond to requests for comment. In postings on Twitter and YouTube after the subpoena, Mr. Watkins, who resides in the Philippines, said he isn’t an extremist, and he defended 8chan as a bastion of free speech.

Mr. Watkins said the site had a million users, and 4chan has said its site has more than 20 million. SimiliarWeb, an internet traffic research firm, estimates 8chan has 10 million to 20 million visits a month.

Founded in 2013, 8chan gained popularity the following year when 4chan, a similar site with less hate speech and more moderation, cracked down on users who were harassing women who developed and reviewed videogames. 8chan embraced those users.

The site calls itself “the darkest reaches of the internet.” Its home page carries a disclaimer saying that some topic sections, or “boards,” might “have content of an adult or offensive nature,” and only content violating U.S. laws is deleted.

Anonymity is protected. Users are given a random ID number for each discussion, and frequently use jargon alien to outsiders-- derisively referred to as “normies.” The stripped-down user interface seems straight out of the 1990s. It contains lists of links to discussion boards on such topics as anime, pornography and videogames.

Unpaid moderators on 8chan’s /pol/ forum promote certain ideologies, according to one researcher of radical online communities who has studied the site for years. One moderator deleted anti-Trump statements, the researcher said, while others argue about whether to support patriotism or white nationalism. Recruiters for the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist group, lurk on the site, he said.

Often users show up on 8chan airing vague frustrations. The tone often starts as mocking and sarcastic. Then other users encourage them to express anger at groups they identify as the enemy-- often Jews, feminists, black people and other minorities-- giving the newcomers a sense of purpose, according to the researcher.

Anti-Semitic cartoons, diatribes against race mixing and proclamations of a coming “race war” dominate 8chan’s /pol/ board. A popular meme depicts images of murdered white women, a message intended to persuade white women not to associate with nonwhite men and justify promoting race-based violence. Another popular meme asks users: “What have you done today for the white race?”

Anders Breivik, the Norwegian neo-Nazi who killed 77 people in 2011, is lionized, and his 1,500-page screed, which was frequently shared on 8chan, is a touchstone. Mr. Tarrant cited Mr. Breivik as his guiding light.

Mr. Evans, of Bellingcat, analyzed how 75 extremists on the internet said they had become radicalized. In about half of the cases, their paths started with a radical YouTube video, typically anti-Semitic or Holocaust-denying, which pushes conspiracy theories. YouTube has said it has taken steps to reduce extremist content.

“8chan’s /pol/ board is the end of a journey of radicalization,” he said. “It’s to radicalize you into taking the next step.”

8chan played a major role in Mr. Earnest’s transformation, according to his online message and people close to him. He wrote that he had a lot going for him-- a loving family, great friends, a church-- and that he was doing well in nursing school. He said his family never taught him the ideology behind his attack.

The people close to Mr. Earnest said he began diverging politically from his family in 2016, when he began supporting then-candidate Donald Trump for president. He then started watching YouTube videos from right-wing commentators.

By late 2017, Mr. Earnest wrote, he had found his way to 8chan. People close to him said he began talking about Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character appropriated by white supremacists as a sort of mascot, and started tossing around clichés of anti-Semitism: Holocaust denial and the supposed existence of a Jewish conspiracy controlling government, Hollywood, major organizations and trade unions.

“He made it clear that 4chan was like amateur league, and he had risen to 8chan,” one of the people close to him said.

He also started using the N-word, prompting objections from family members, who noted that the pastor’s wife at their Orthodox Presbyterian Church is black. Mr. Earnest would respond that it wasn’t a big deal.

His family grew concerned and warned him that he could be manipulated by the anonymous people he was talking to online, said the person close to him. “That was not enough to overcome the grab that these ideas had on him that he gained from these anonymous sources,” this person said. Mr. Earnest always had a “canned” response defending his ideology.

In the months before the attack, he seemed more sullen and slower to laugh, the people close to him said. Still, those around him didn’t think he was dangerous. They hadn’t visited the site themselves or seen what he may have been posting there.

“I believed this was going to resolve,” one of them said. “We obviously did not understand the trajectory of where this would land.”

In the statement Mr. Earnest allegedly posted to 8chan shortly before the shooting began, he offered gratitude to 8chan and said Mr. Tarrant had inspired him.

“I’ve only been lurking for a year and a half, yet, what I’ve learned here is priceless,” the statement said about 8chan. “Tarrant was a catalyst for me personally….I only wish to inspire others.”

Mr. Tarrant had worn a camera and live-streamed his New Zealand attack, a practice that experts say turns shootings into a twisted form of entertainment. Mr. Earnest allegedly planned to film his attack, too. During the shooting, a link to a Facebook Live stream was widely shared on the 8chan /pol/ board, although people on 8chan said they couldn’t load it. Users joked and offered critiques, some mocking him for failing to kill more people.

“What the f— shooting style is this,” said one. “Garbage.”

“Go over to the synagogue and finish this retard’s work,” said another.

“I don’t think you get the title of ‘mass shooter’ unless you score at least 2,” said a third.

Still another weighed in: “Contrary to popular belief, shooting them in the nose doesn’t kill a jew?”

For law enforcement, 8chan postings and discussions are potential evidence-- and a breeding ground for more violence. After the San Diego area attack, the Federal Bureau of Investigation served a warrant to 8chan, seeking IP addresses and information about all the people who responded to Mr. Earnest’s posting or commented about it. “Some of the individuals may be potential witnesses, co-conspirators and/or individuals who are inspired by the subject posting,” the warrant said.

Mr. Crusius, the El Paso shooting suspect, cited similar motivations to Mr. Earnest’s in the statement he allegedly posted on 8chan. He wrote: “I support the Christchurch shooter and his manifesto,” a reference to Mr. Tarrant. “This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Commenters on the site celebrated. “The new guy deserves some praise, he reached almost a third of the high score,” one wrote, a reference to the largest death toll in any mass shooting.

Under pressure following the El Paso massacre, internet-infrastructure provider Cloudflare Inc. stopped supporting 8chan, making it difficult to access. Cloudflare called the site “lawless by design.”

Some users circulated a document with instructions for finding 8chan on a hidden server on the dark web, a network of computers that use special software to conceal their true locations. Others migrated to other sites or to encrypted chat apps, where they are finding a thriving community similar to the one they left, according to Megan Squire, a professor of computer science at Elon University in North Carolina, who studies online extremism.

“They are following ISIS. They are under the same pressure to avoid detection,” she said.

Exactly one week after El Paso, Philip Manshaus, a 21-year-old Norwegian, allegedly posted a message on Endchan, another fringe site that has more moderation and less focus on violence than 8chan.

“It’s my time,” said a posting that carried his name. “I was elected by Saint Tarrant,” a reference to the New Zealand suspect. He also posted a meme celebrating Messrs. Earnest and Crusius as “disciples” of Mr. Tarrant.

Mr. Manshaus then allegedly went to the Oslo mosque and opened fire, injuring one person before being subdued by congregants.

The post attributed to him said he tried to set up a live stream of his attack on Facebook but wasn’t able to get it to work.

Endchan moderators quickly deleted the post and briefly took their site offline. They said a “large influx” of 8chan refugees had hit their site and many sites like theirs.

“This shooter is NOT representative of our regular user base,” Endchan said in a post on Twitter. “We have operated since 2015 without any incidents like this.”

Mr. Manshaus’s message was reposted on 4chan, where it spread quickly, generating scores of comments.

“God i hope he got a solid kill count on some actual shitting islamic invaders, not women and children,” one anonymous poster wrote.

When it became clear no one had died, many commenters mocked Mr. Manshaus in posts riddled with racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic slurs.

“what a f—ing disappointment tho. no deads. no livestream,” one commenter wrote. “how many times will this happen? f—ing train at least”

“Some people aren’t made to kill,” wrote another. “He probably freaked out. Anders Breivik was stone cold, he went out like a terminator.”

4chan didn’t respond to a request for comment.

A group on chat app Telegram called The Bowlcast-- a reference to the bowl-style haircut of Dylann Roof, who killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., in 2015-- posted a series of podcasts about which of these shooters they should canonize, according to Ms. Squire, who has viewed the posts and listened to the podcasts. Mr. Earnest, from San Diego, earned sainthood, they decided, but not Mr. Manshaus, because he was overtaken by worshipers at the mosque.

Shortly after the Oslo shooting, Mr. Tarrant surfaced again, this time via photographs posted on 4chan of a letter he allegedly wrote from his New Zealand prison. The letter, which received hundreds of comments on 4chan, concluded with talk of a “great conflict” on the horizon that would involve “a great amount of bloodshed.”

“Enjoy life,” he signed off, “but do not forget your duty to your people.”

Andrew Whitehead teaches sociology at Clemson University and is the Assistant Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives. Samuel Perry teaches sociology at the University of Oklahoma. They have a book coming out in February, Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States. They penned a piece yesterday for NBC.com with Landon Schnabel a sociology teachers at Stanford (whose book, Is Faith Feminine? What Americans Really Think about Gender and Religion, is also due out soon), about mass shootings and evangelical Christian who put their faith in guns instead of Jesus. They noted that "Trump, as he has after other shootings, offered thoughts and prayers but no promises on how he will respond. On Sunday, he said that the Odessa shooting 'really hasn't changed anything' about how lawmakers are approaching gun control legislation. Given Trump’s support and then opposition to gun control legislation in the weeks after the shooting in El Paso (but before Odessa), his most recent comments aren’t surprising."

74% of evangelicals-- about 40% more than normal Americans-- believe that "the absence of God from our public schools and places" contributes "a great deal" to gun violence. This is evangelical dogma, taught as fervently as the word of Jesus. About 44% of evangelicals see a connection between gun violence and the easy availability of guns. Most evangelicals are taught to blame gun violence on the mass media and pop culture "despite the rejection of this causal link by most criminologists who study violence in popular media."

No political appetite... by Nancy Ohanian

[T]he idea that evangelicals don’t want to “politicize” this issue, as the above quotes might suggest, rings untrue. Rather, it is certain political solutions that they oppose.

Evangelicals are far less interested in laws that limit the number of guns or restrict who can buy them. But evangelicals are more in favor of policies that increase the number of “good guys with guns” (security guards, teachers and school officials, all law-abiding citizens).

...In other words, the solution to mass shootings for evangelicals is less about eliminating the possibility of gun violence (which evangelical leaders are often quick to point out cannot be done), but to ensure that evil gun violence can be conquered with “righteous” gun violence.

So why are evangelicals so different from other Americans regarding guns? One explanation is because of how guns make them feel.

Significantly more gun-owning evangelicals than all other gun-owning Americans report that owning a gun makes them feel safe (77 percent), confident (59 percent), patriotic (48 percent), and more valuable to their family (44 percent) and their community (41 percent).

For gun-owning evangelicals, more so than other gun-owning Americans at least, gun ownership and rights go hand-in-hand with being an American and a good citizen.

The pervasiveness of Christian nationalist ideology and rhetoric within the evangelical subculture inclines them to view their Second Amendment rights as sacred, handed down by God for the benefit of the nation (which helps us understand why owning a gun would curiously make them feel more patriotic).

But in addition to their more “spiritual” concerns, social and psychological drivers matter for those in the evangelical subculture as well. Gun ownership is an expression of civic responsibility and helps them feel useful to those they care about. And it makes them feel secure and self-reliant.

When guns evoke such positive (even sacred) feelings of security and national belonging, is it any wonder that so many evangelicals refuse to consider gun control as a possible solution to America’s epidemic of mass shootings?

One of the newest Blue America-endorsed candidates, Jason Butler in northeastern North Carolina, has a very different view of morality. Jason is a very progressive pastor running for the 2nd district seat occupied by Trump rubber-stamp George Holding. Yesterday he wrote that he's running for Congress largely because the country is facing a moral crisis. Like I said, a very progressive pastor. He's worked as a community organizer, has founded two non-profits to help care for the vulnerable, has a history of fighting for racial justice, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and the economic flourishing for North Carolina's under-resourced communities. Please read what Jason has to say about the moral crisis informing his campaign and if it appeals to you, click on the thermometer and contribute what you can. Jason:

We are in the midst of a moral crisis in America and we cannot move forward without recognizing that we have allowed fear to drive us to do things to people we would never want to be done to us. Where is our “golden rule” or our collective moral integrity? We are separating families at the border; allowing record profits for corporations while millions go uninsured; and allowing the environment to die a slow death while we chant, “send her back…” No, these are not just policy issues-- they are issues of life and death and we must face them with a courageous conviction for the common good, or we will never be the same.

A few months ago I had an experience that pushed me to face this choice. I was at a prayer vigil with a group of over 100 Latinx men and women pleading to our legislators to veto a bill that would give ICE unfettered access to our communities. I was standing in the back near a group of their children who were playing nearby. They were playing like there were no problems in the world. They were playing as kids should.

As I watched them, I was struck by the sobering realization that many of these children would go home to their communities and live in the fear of their families being torn apart. That some may grow up with only one parent, because the other was taken.

While I watched them play follow-the-leader, a scripture came to mind and resonated in my heart. In Exodus, Moses has a conversation with God about the enslaved Israelites, and from the burning bush God says, “I have indeed heard the cry of their suffering…”

I believe that God hears the cries of those who suffer. I also believe that God sends us out to fight injustice and relieve suffering, as God did with Moses. Reflecting on that scripture while surrounded by that group of children-- each one of their lives subject to the powers that be, each with uncertain futures and tomorrows-- a conviction rose up in me to run for public office and to work to create a future where these kids, and so many like them, can have a future free of fear and full of liberty.

People sometimes ask, “What qualifies you to run for Congress?” Well, for the last 15 years I’ve worked not only as a pastor but also community organizer and and non-profit leader. In this work I spend my time listening to people, caring for them in their time of need, and organizing communities to develop innovate solutions and push the powerful to do all we can for the common good. Shouldn’t this sort of community service be at the heart of what it means to be a politician?

In this moment of political chaos, we need to see more elected officials consistently offering courageous leadership as a response to the suffering of our communities, and then taking strong action in order to ensure a flourishing future for every single person. Politics, at its best, is not about big money or corporate influence but rather, about the public negotiation of how a society cares for its citizens. I don’t know about you, but I feel like a lot of people are not being cared for right now. Even those who you may disagree with.

As Americans, we are a people who have the morality of liberty and justice for all etched into our collective imaginations. But when we are consumed with uncertainty and economic struggle, personal survival takes precedent. In this, we fight to hold on to what we have instead of fighting for liberty. Here, we find ourselves looking backwards instead of looking forward and allow the fear of what may be paralyze us from the hope filled future we can create. But it is precisely in these moments of uncertainty and struggle that seeking liberty and justice for all rallies us together, pushes against this paralyzing fear, gives us a collective purpose, and re-ignites hope in the future. Seeking the flourishing of my neighbor is the antidote to fear.

The issues we as a country are facing today are not just political issues but rather issues of morality that will define the nation we leave to the next generation. The separation of Latinx families and the detention of immigration children is immoral. The massive economic inequality that leaves many without healthcare while corporations record historical profits is immoral. The predatory behavior of pharmaceutical companies to push opioids on rural communities is immoral. The disregard for our environment’s health is immoral. The discrimination against our black, brown, and LGBTQ+ communities is immoral.

These are pressing issues, and while some politicians might give us complicated excuses to justify their inaction, I think the real problem is that many of our leaders lack the moral courage to do the right, and usually obvious, thing-- to stand up to big money, to ensure affordable healthcare, to refuse to legislate suffering, to inspire us to care for our most vulnerable, and to help us face our historical truths that we would like to pretend do not exist. Although we face challenges as a nation, we have within us the capacity to rise above our differences, push back the forces of fear, and reach towards the American dream of liberty and justice for all. But in order to realize this new future we must build it upon a foundation of equality. A foundation fortified by doing good for one another. We have to learn from our history and stop treating people different from us as less than us.

Fear is a poison that will slowly destroy our hopes and dreams and corrode our faith in each other-- and we must root it out. We don’t need to be afraid of the future-- we can enter it with courage and conviction, together. We need political leaders who can inspire us to these ideals, and who will boldly lead the way in creating a tomorrow that can be better than today.

I’m running for Congress because I know so many in our communities are suffering and need their voices to be heard. I’m running because I believe every child should be free to play without the threat of violence. I’m running because I believe we have the capacity to create a more perfect union if we all summon our deepest courage, work together, and embrace the strength of our diversity.

I’m running for Congress because I believe in equitable and flourishing future for us all and my conviction to fight for this future compels me to action-- even such an action as this. Yes, it may be unconventional, but we may just need some unconventional right now. Sure, I’m an outsider and a deep underdog. I don’t have big money or corporate influence. But maybe that’s exactly the way it should be: Everyday Americans running to create an America for everybody. Yes, it’ll be hard, but I’ve learned that most things that are worth doing are hard to do.

What I do have is a moral conviction for justice and a commitment to grassroots leadership…and well…I’ll take those over big money any day.

Is Trump Re-Sparking Anti-Semitism Among American Evangelicals?

On Thursday, John Pavlovitz had some responses to people who say "you've gotten too political?" Know anyone like that? Pav: There are phrases you hear so much, they start to become white noise:

• “You’re too political.”
• “You’re too angry.”
• “You’re too partisan.”

He's been a registered Independent for thirty years and growing up he was "taught to avoid talking about politics and religion in mixed company, and made it a point never to vilify groups en masse or to demonize individuals in leadership outright whenever speaking about the events of the day. Even in the most challenging times," he continued, "I always lived and spoke with the assumption that most people were good, that the majority of Americans would default to decency over party,  and that our systems of checks and balances would keep us from veering too far into violent extremism. I always believed that the center would hold." Waiting for the "but." Hang in there.

In my twenty-five as a local church pastor, I always did my best to keep matters of politics at arm’s length, for fear of alienating the people in my care. I was careful to stay safely in the center, never choosing sides, always playing devil’s advocate-- which turns out to be a really lousy position for a minister. That middle place can actually be the spot where you lose your soul. You can think you’re hearing all perspectives-- when you’re really sitting on the fence of cowardice. It’s a place privilege anesthetizes you into neutrality and silence.

As I began writing publicly, I kept things similarly vague. In the first four years of the blog (prior to the 2016 Presidential campaign), I never singled out a politician by name or mentioned a political party in my writing. “If you do that” a good friend cautioned me, “you’ll eliminate half your prospective audience.”

Since 2016, it’s become clear that these are different times.

• They necessitate specificity.
• They demand clarity.
• They call for authenticity.

I believe this President, emboldened by this version of the Republican Party and a fully politicized Evangelical Church-- is doing irreparable and continual harm to our rule of law, our standards of decency, our environment, our personal liberties, our elections, our people, and our standing in the world.

I see this Administration as an unprecedented betrayal of the freedoms and systems we all hold dear. I believe there has been a wholesale soul-selling of Republican politicians and Conservative Christian leaders; a historic power grab the likes of which we’ve never seen in this country.

That, along with the increasing silence of many of my white, moderate Christian friends, has left me feeling more burdened than ever to speak explicitly and repeatedly; to leverage my platform and my newsfeed and my voice on behalf of a nation and Church that have lost the plot.

That’s not going to change.

Because of the volume and the relentlessness of this President’s cruelty-- there must be a similarly passionate and compassionate response.

Because every day we are bombarded with a new real or manufactured urgency-- we need to step in again with facts and truth to combat it.

Because each morning a different attack comes: on migrants or meal vouchers or national parks or transgender soldiers or Jewish Americans or journalists or shooting victims-- then each morning there must be those of us who unequivocally oppose it all.

As long as this man and his cadre of sycophants continues to shun their responsibility and horde wealth and preach fear and prey upon the vulnerable and serve only half of their constituents and use religion as a weapon-- I’m going to continue to say everything.

You’re free to label it “too political,” but I know that’s simply a term people use when someone else’s boldness conflicts with their comfort, challenges their prejudices, calls out their malevolence, and rattles their privilege.

If this clarity and directness offends you or you feel I’ve grown too angry or too political, you’re free to mute or unfriend me, to stop reading me or stop inviting me to dinner or talking to me at the bus stop. Social media is optional and my page is not a Democracy-- though I’m working to make sure we continue to live in one.

I’m not going to apologize for saying what I believe needs to be said, because I think the people who are threatened by this Administration are worth it. It’s really that simple.

Silence in turbulent times is a luxury that privilege affords.

I believe the greatest responsibility people of morality, faith, and conscience have, is to leverage that privilege for the common good.

I want to look back at the end of my life and know that I did all I could to protect diversity, equality, and justice.

• You think I’ve gotten too loud.
I believe you’ve grown frighteningly quiet.

• You believe I’m too opinionated.
I think you’re still trying to straddle the fence.

• You say I’ve gotten too political.
I say I’ve become more human.

Jewish Americans? Why throw us in there? Don't Evangelical Christians and Republicans love Jews? Sorry but... not so much. Jews from Europe like my family looked for refuge in America, primarily from Germans, from Eastern European fascists and from Russians. If they made it to America, it may have taken a generation or two but they've largely been integrated and accepted. Mostly. Evangelicals have always been mistrustful and filled with animosity towards Jews; they just kept it under wraps in recent decades, at least more than they are now, as Julie Zauzmer reported for the Washington Post Friday: How Antisemitic Beliefs Have Taken Hold Among Some Evangelical Christians

Some evangelical true believers have come to believe that the Tsar Trump "is surrounded by a Zionist environment with completely different values from Christians. It’s kabbalist. It’s Talmudic values. Not the word of God. In other words: It’s the Jews’ fault. Why do we have pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ values, and we do not have more freedom to protect our faith? We are persecuted now... [Jews] say, 'We’ve got America. We control America.'" That’s what these Trump voters think they know.

It’s an anti-Semitic viewpoint shared by a number of evangelical Christians across the country. The relationship between Christians and Jews has been fraught for almost 2,000 years since the death of Jesus. Today, with a president who levels accusations about Jews and who encourages his fans to mistrust the mainstream media, a growing number of evangelicals are turning to the Internet for information and finding anti-Jewish beliefs there.

Christians take their cues for what to think about Jews from many sources. They include the long history of evangelicals’ support for the state of Israel and Trump, who this week declared that Jews who vote for Democrats-- meaning more than 70 percent of all Jews in the United States-- are “disloyal.”

In churches across America, evangelicals say they don’t believe they can get unbiased facts from any traditional news outlet that Trump has branded “fake news” (though many are fans of Fox News). They watch TV networks other than Fox and read major news websites but don’t trust them. Instead, they seek news from alternative websites and YouTube videos in which fiery pastors decry Jewish influence.

Pastors are aware of the conspiracy theories floating among their congregants, including a small number of virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic beliefs that some Christians interviewed by the Washington Post this summer professed.

But leaders can be unwilling to address these beliefs head-on. After a churchgoing evangelical Christian was charged with killing a Jewish woman at a synagogue in Poway, Calif., this year-- an act officials say he prefaced with a declaration including both anti-Semitic tropes from the Internet and Christian theology from church-- some pastors called for a national conversation about how evangelical pastors can make clear that such beliefs aren’t acceptable in their pews.

That doesn’t sit well with many evangelical pastors’ insistence that their job is to preach the Bible, not stray into current events.

...Historically, evangelicals have thought of themselves as very good friends of the Jews, not as anti-Semites. The two faiths share the Old Testament and basic watchwords of tolerance such as loving your neighbor as yourself. Evangelicals often think fondly of Jews as their religious forebears-- after all, Christ’s early followers were Jews of 2,000 years ago-- even if they think Jews are missing the crucial Jesus part of the story. Major evangelical publications regularly denounce anti-Semitism as evil, in the strongest terms.

And evangelicals tend to fiercely defend and embrace the state of Israel, a Jewish nation, because of its central role in their own faith. The nation is the site of Christian holy spots, including the places where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Certain interpretations of Revelation say that Jewish presence in Israel is important for Christians, because it will take the homecoming of Jews to the land of Israel to bring about the return of the Messiah.

But Christian theology has also gone hand in hand with anti-Semitism for centuries, dating back long before Martin Luther. To this day, some Christians believe that the Jews killed Jesus and that modern Jews should bear the guilt.

“There are plenty of evangelicals who have views about Jewish power, who assume Jews are controlling things. Jerry Falwell [Sr.] joked about how Jews could make more money,” said Daniel Hummel, a historian at a Christian study center at the University of Wisconsin who recently published a book about evangelicals and Jews.

Hummel described the deep-rooted anti-Semitic beliefs among some evangelicals as both cultural and theological, with the cultural beliefs coming from their conservative neighbors and the theological beliefs dating to early Christianity, when Christians first started casting themselves as the new chosen people replacing the Jews.



“Some associations in certain conservative areas, with Jews being liberal, cosmopolitan, international and that being a threat to American Christian identity: You’re going to find those views, weirdly, right alongside expressing support for Israel,” Hummel said. “Someone like that would be vaguely or even strongly anti-Semitic but also pro-Israel.”

And politically, evangelicals find themselves sharing common cause with right-wing anti-Semites. They might have little else in common, but both groups are enthusiastic supporters of Trump. And Trump, who strives to court that evangelical fandom, has flirted with anti-Semitism before this week. During his campaign, he retweeted and defended an image from a white supremacist website, showing Hillary Clinton’s face over a pile of money and a six-pointed Jewish star. He famously said that the demonstrators who chanted “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville included “very fine people.”

Deborah Lipstadt, a historian who is one of the foremost researchers on anti-Semitism, said she has noticed that politically conservative talking points echo the language common to anti-Semites much more often. She pointed to Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) speech at the National Conservatism Conference, in which he used the word “cosmopolitan” 12 times.

“This class lives in the United States, but they identify as ‘citizens of the world.’ They run businesses or oversee universities here, but their primary loyalty is to the global community,” Hawley said, referring not to Jews but to liberal elites.

“I’m sure most of the people who appeared there would say, ‘I’m a good friend of Jews,’ and they probably are,” Lipstadt said. “But if you took out the word ‘cosmopolitan’ and put in the word ‘Jew’-- it sounds like a traditional anti-Semitic trope… It’s the kind of thing that will attract the anti-Semites.

At its root, this trope relies on a mistrust of major institutions, and a suspicion that Jews are manipulating them. Some of this attitude, including skepticism of big government, has always been part of the American conservative mind-set, Lipstadt noted. But some of it is new, including increased hostility toward big business on the part of some conservative populists, in contrast to the old Republican Party embrace of commerce.

“There’s a theory that’s out and about, about the manipulation of news, fake news. And how you can’t trust judges. And you can’t trust big pharma, that’s why we shouldn’t be vaccinated… These kind of conspiracy theories [about manipulating institutions], for centuries, are just so connected to anti-Semitism that it’s hard to just ignore,” Lipstadt said. “It’s hard to say this is just by chance.”




Evangelicals are not inherently anti-Semitic, she noted. But they tend to share these conservative suspicions of the news media and of elites, and to view themselves as the victims of the elites-- a worldview that predisposes some to align themselves with anti-Semites.

Some online video-makers who espouse anti-Semitism do so with an openly Christian imprimatur.

Aryeh Tuchman, the associate director of the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, points to several YouTube channels where pastors promote a mix of Christian theology and anti-Jewish animus.

TruNews, a nightly newscast with more than 18 million views on YouTube, bills its purpose “to offer Christians a positive alternative to the anti-Christian bigotry of the mainstream media.” Jews and Israel are a constant target for Rick Wiles, the Florida pastor who runs the show.

In the past month alone, Wiles has posited that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein might not have died but instead been spirited away to a safe house in Israel; listed the names of “Hollywood Jews” who produced the pulled-from-theaters satirical movie “The Hunt” and suggested that they actually want to hunt and kill white Christians; called the non-Jewish billionaire “Rabbi Warren Buffett"; said the government could take away guns from anyone who criticizes Israel; referred to Ivanka Trump, who is Jewish, as “Yael Kushner"; and more.

Steven Anderson, the pastor of a Baptist church in Arizona who caused outrage during the Obama administration by saying he was praying for the president’s death, runs a YouTube channel with more than 62 million views. In sermons online, he claims, “The Jews believe that it’s okay for them to steal from Gentiles"; says that Jews and gay people run Hollywood; and emphasizes that Jews killed Jesus and are not God’s chosen people.

Tuchman said he worries that YouTube makes these beliefs unusually potent. First, the site’s never-ending recommendations feature might steer someone who was just looking for videos about the Bible to watch sermons that promote conspiracy theories. “To what extent can anti-Semitism jump from one stream of Christianity to another, especially when the anti-Semitic content may be queued up for a viewer by YouTube?” he asked.

And second, he fears that YouTube will treat with kid gloves a video creator who is also a pastor. “These channels may present themselves as mainstream, as religious Christian channels,” he said. “There may be reluctance to take them on, and they give them the benefit of the doubt that this is their religious belief, even if they may potentially violate the terms of service on YouTube or anywhere else.”

Farshad Shadloo, a spokesman for YouTube, did not comment specifically on Wiles, Anderson or other pastors, but said, “We enforce our policies consistently, and regardless of viewpoint, including religious beliefs.” That includes a new policy instated in June that bans statements that a race or religious group is superior to justify discrimination, even if the video does not explicitly call for violence.

For Wanda and Doug Meyer, like many other evangelical Christians across the country, these YouTube channels are their primary source of news. They turn to YouTube to understand events that seem vitally important to them, like policy in Washington that will impact their religious freedom at home in Brandon, Fla.

Wanda, who taught in a public elementary school for 33 years, and Doug, a semiretired insurance specialist, have given up on newspapers and TV channels, the outlets that Trump-- whom they adore-- calls “fake news.” On YouTube, they find the pastors who pray with Trump at the White House, the pastors they really trust.

“It’s right there on YouTube. You don’t hear it on mainstream media. We know Kenneth Copeland. We know Paula White. We know David Barton,” Wanda said. “Different ministers, that’s where we get our news. People who know what’s really going on.”

As they ate lunch after the service at their large evangelical church, the Meyers said they would like to someday visit Israel, which is religiously important to them. But they also watch a lot of videos online when they’re watching those pastors’ sermons. They believe, with total certainty, in what they hear, even when the information is false: That humans have nothing to do with climate change. That Muslims are trying to implement laws in U.S. states that would allow them to kill Christians with impunity. That a shadowy group, including wealthy Jews as leaders, meant to use Hillary Clinton to bring about “one world government.”

Wanda says they try to “stay up to date” on the “spiritual battle … financed by the Illuminati and the Rothschilds.”

After all, she trusts the source has a higher authority: “These are ministers we know, we respect.”

Frank Schaeffer was on Joy Reid's MSNBC show this morning. He explained that the real audience-- a very, very dangerous audience-- for Trump's fit last week is the evangelical white nationalist voters. "They," Schaeffer explained, "are very suspicious of Jews, very anti-Semitic to their core when it comes to them saying that 'Jews are all lost and going to burn in Hell.' They love Israel because it is strong; it goes to war; it looks like them; there are guns around; they fight... Trump has painted a target on the backs of liberal Jews. He has said, 'If I lose in 2020, you know who to blame.' And who is it? It's the Jews again for being 'disloyal.' ... This is real stuff. He's a fool. So perhaps he doesn't understand what he's unleashing. But when you paint a target on the back of Jews and say 'Your disloyalty will cost me the election"... That's what he's saying... it has nothing to do with the Jewish vote. He is now back in the camp of white nationalism and genocide that came about in Europe when Hitler blamed the Jews for their economic problems in the Weimar Republic. Make no mistake-- this is horror and this is coming from the American president. He is a disgusting individual and he has to be stopped."

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Yep. Ms. Betty Bowers nails it as usual: In the Republican Mind, you shouldn't be forced to bake a cake for a gay couple's wedding but an Alabama woman can be forced to deliver a baby sired by a rapist or her own father or brother. The new Alabama abortion law is a very good example of Republican sharia law. Alabama repugs want no abortions unless, maybe, the woman's life is in danger. No abortions, even for rape or incest, but we all know that Republicans don't consider rape and incest to be so bad now, do they. They've showed us that side of their "morality" so many times, whether it's their "legitimate rape" comments or, more recently, the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Kavanaugh, was, of course, confirmed by the Republican majority in the Senate, and now Kavanaugh has a vote on the Supreme Court.

When It Comes To Political Melodrama, Virginia Doesn’t Disappoint

Five States have Legislative elections in 2019: Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana. All are important; however, only Virginia stands a reasonable shot to flip their Legislature’s majority from R to D, giving the Dems the right to the  redraw the state's congressional and state legislative boundaries and prevent another GOP gerrymander. Just remember the attendant, associated institutional power, for possibly the next 20 years.

Big Deal-- Big Drama.

Republicans have an acute recognition of this fact. They very nearly shattered the Democratic base coalition with their dirty tricks op-- on the first day of Black History Month-- the "February Flim-Flam," which included: accusations of a "racist past," against Governor Ralph Northam, evidenced by racially inflammatory Medical School yearbook photos; followed by: allegations of sexual assault and rape against Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax around 36 hours later; followed by: Attorney General Mark Herring’s necessary disclosure of college-age racial insensitivity, again after an additional approximately 36 hours.

The first week of February was filled with a toxic stew of racial angst and sexual strife. Start the op on Feb. 1st, deny the Virginia Black population even one day of celebrating their heroic Virginia history and heritage; peel off women of all races with hideous accusations of sexual impropriety-- by the only Black Statewide Elected Official-- deny the Dems their 3 top statewide fundraisers; start an internecine squabble amongst a historically loosely bonded cohort of Dem base voters... BINGO!!!

If you’re the GOP, sit back and get some popcorn. Nice job; well done.

BUT, nobody resigned, despite heavy pressure. The coalition is still squabbling, but it’s holding together. Apparently, the law firm tasked with investigating the Northam Medical School "photo," has identified the two subjects, and determined that neither is Ralph Northam... a fly in the ointment, oh my!

Where does that leave all of the breathless "concern trollers" and "virtue signalers" who have been baying for "accountability and resignation?" Don’t know, don’t care.

In the face of this sturm und drang, some Virginia. Dems have remained focused and on task, and need only recruit 14 more House candidates and 4 more state Senate candidates in order to go, "Full Boat"-- 140 for 140-- contesting every race, (100 House and 40 in the Senate ), leaving the Virginia Republican Party zero (0) "freebies" for 2019-- no "walkovers," no "nolo contenderes." If Virginia Dems accomplish this "full ballot mission" by the candidate filing deadline, June 11th, the band should start warming up, Turn Off the Lights.



Democrats only need to flip one state Senate seat, and two seats in the House of Delegates to effectively take over the majority; any more than that is pure gravy. That is if they can hold onto all their gains from 2017.

Democrats don’t have a monopoly on drama in Virginia. In fact, the Virginia Republicans are the reigning rulers of reprobates; it’s not even close. The most recent drama involves Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his wife, and their... very interesting exploits, "ministering" to the needs of young folk... in the, um... hospitality industry-- which subsequently required some "legal consultation" from then-Trump lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen-- very alarming, very salacious and sordid stuff. There may be a lot of campaign contributions being returned or contributed to charity.



Falwell, Jr. has supported politicians throughout Virginia over the years; some are even graduates or patrons of his college, Liberty University. One such candidate is D.J. Jordan, running in Prince William County’s HD 31. Jordan is the GOP’s choice to unseat freshman Delegate Elizabeth Guzmán, who defeated a long-term Republican incumbent in 2017 to become the first Latina to serve in the history of the Virginia Legislature-- and we’re talking about 1600s "House of Burgesses" history. That’s historic. So far, Blue America has endorsed four Virginia legislative candidates, one being Elizabeth Guzmán. That thermometer on the right is for candidates running for state legislatures and we'd appreciate it if you tapped on it and considered contributing to Elizabeth and any of the other candidates on the list.

That win by a Latina over one of their own stalwarts would seem to be too much for the Virginia GOP to abide; so they recruited a Black male, Liberty University grad; dressed him in Blue, placed him against a Blue background, built him a nice website that conveniently neglects to identify his political party, filled his campaign account with large dollar offerings, and sent him out to preach about "infanticide and family values."

Good stuff! Except for Jerry Falwell’s "Pool Boy" buffoonery. D.J. Jordan is going to have some explaining to do; not only a stealth Republican, but, a Liberty University grad to boot; INCONVENIENT!!! We’ll see how it shakes out for him.

Washington Post reported that Falwell Jr. was blaming a "conspiracy" of Republican Party establishment leaders for the leak of Trump's now infamous 2005 "grab-'em-by-the-pussy" video. "We're all sinners," he said in defense of Trump, who had helped him get rid of the pictures that supposedly show him with a male penis-- presumably the pool boy's-- in his mouth. There is also a felching shot that Michael Cohen hasn't discarded and has hidden away. Falwell's fellow charlatan-cum-grifter, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and now host of the show Family Talk also stood by his Trumpanzee endorsement.

Don't forget, back in 2016, a few weeks before election day, the

Falwell, who is president of the nation's largest Christian university, provided one of Trump's first key endorsements from an evangelical leader. Trump's candidacy, however, has divided evangelicals, who have no formal leadership. Some evangelical leaders continued to back Trump after the video leak, while a prominent theologian pulled back his support Sunday and other leaders continued to condemn the nominee.

...In comments made to WABC Radio in New York City, Falwell said he thinks the leak was part of a conspiracy by GOP establishment leaders.

"I think this whole videotape thing was planned, I think it was timed, I think it might have even been a conspiracy among the establishment Republicans who've known about it for weeks and who tried to time it to do the maximum damage to Donald Trump," Falwell told reporter Rita Cosby on her podcast after Sunday night's debate.

Prince William County is rapidly becoming a Democratic stronghold, much like it’s neighbor to the North; Fairfax County. In 2014, the district went for Gillespie (R) over Warner (D), narrowly, in the U.S. Senate race. But it's been all blue since then. In 2016, Hillary beat Trump in the district, 51-44%. The following year Democrats swept-- Herring (D) beat Adams for AG, 56-44%; Fairfax beat Vogel for Lt. Governor, 56-44% and Northam beat Gillespie 56-43% for Governor. Last year, voters in HD-31 gave Kaine (D) a fat 59-39% win over Trumpist reactionary Corey Stewart. And of course-- sweetest of all-- was that Elizabeth Guzmán ousted GOP incumbent Scott Lingamfelter 15,466 (54.1%) to 12,658 (44.2%).

And, by the way, other sleazy, corrupted politicians will have to answer for their Falwell associations as this story evolves... and they won’t all be Virginians, will they?

Pericles, from Act I, Scene I-- Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare:

Great king,
Few love to hear the sins they love to act;
'Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He's more secure to keep it shut than shown:
For vice repeated is like the wandering wind.
Blows dust in other's eyes, to spread itself;
And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear:
To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts
Copp'd hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is throng'd
By man's oppression; and the poor worm doth die for't.
Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law's
their will;
And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill?
It is enough you know; and it is fit,
What being more known grows worse, to smother it.
All love the womb that their first being bred,
Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.

One more little tiny thing. Is the biggest political scandal of the year being hushed up because the media doesn't like asserting that a white conservative man of stature-- Falwell, Jr.-- is a sex maniac who bought the services for a 21 year old pool boy? Almost $5 million dollars of Church money-- spent on buying a gay "hotel" (whore house). This is an amazing story! You've got to watch this whole video: