Mumdani in New York. He is a breath of fresh air and is being courageous in showing people there is a better way, yes, we can afford it if we tax the rich (cue shudders of horror from the wealthy people and corporations), standing up for people’s rights to the basic necessities of life all while being non-white and non-Christian.
I don't know when Democrats are going to learn (yes, I do...NEVER) that progressive messages resonate with voters. He ran on a very simple platform of taxing the rich to provide basic human necessities for all New Yorkers. It galls me that socialism isn't terrible for red hatters when it's a road built with taxpayer funds that everyone gets to use, regardless of whether or not they contributed. Socialism isn't terrible when it's emergency disaster funding contributed by other states who generate more money and help disaster-prone red states dig out of every calamity. Socialism isn't vile when bridges don't fall down and tunnels don't collapse. Socialism isn't bad when its Medicare and Medicaid funds keeping people alive.
To red hatters, socialism is only terrible when it helps people of color have places to live, food to eat, and other life necessities like transportation and healthcare. Because their cries of "we hate socialism" are really "we are racists who hate everyone who is not white." And I wish more people on the left would start framing it that way.
I agree, Andra. I do think folk confuse socialism with communism and the dreaded “nanny state”. But, as you say, no one protests that the roads, bridges and tunnels are all working. It’s the same over here. Some people are angry that their taxes are being used to fund free school meals but they are the first to complain if they can’t get a GP appointment. My sister told me that one day while she was working - she is a nurse in the NHS - a relative of a patient yelled at her saying “I pay your wages!” She calmly replied “In that case, can I have a pay rise?”
One thing that gives me hope as I listened to a podcast with Andra, is the message of the Book of Esther. Esther has been co-opted to support a political agenda. Project Esther is supposed to combat anti-Semitism, but it's really supporting a twisted agenda.
There are many applications for the Book of Esther. It could just mean overcoming the past, stepping up and stepping into your calling, courage, faith, fighting evil. I've heard many in the Christian world preach on it in recent years. It wasn't political, it was just about faith in general, or the church stepping up to be the church. Haman is a type of Satan or evil. It could just mean fighting evil in our world.
I grew up Jewish and celebrated Purim as a child. I remember how much fun it was. I didn't know the deeper meaning of the story.
After nearly 7 months of "transitional" housing and living, we finally moved into a longer-term situation. It's not the geography we wanted, but it's a slight improvement from what we left.
We began a mini-food bank for people in our area who are afraid to go to work or to go grocery shopping. We call it LPPL (Little Pantry Powered by Love). The outpouring of support in our first week has been breathtaking! Already, we are strategizing how to manage overflow!
Part 2 of our project will begin shortly. Giving people trapped at home something meaningful to do. It is humble, but years of experience demonstrate that writing postcards can be therapeutic. We plan to provide scripts, cards, postage, and markers so they can advocate for themselves from the safety of their homes.
Marsha, thanks for doing this and for sharing it here.
When I talk about building community, this is the kind of thing I mean. People are literally hiding in their homes now a la The Diary of Anne Frank, and for them to survive, we must take care of them. I hope communities will build networks for financial support and healthcare support, too. As well as tactics to thwart kidnappers.
Yes, we are in Los Angeles County, the outskirts, but very much impacted by ICE raids at Home Depot, gardeners on their routes being hijacked and so much more. My impression is that this action is also therapeutic for the donors who often times are feeling helpless themselves. As they came to my door, they were thrilled to be able to DO something concrete. And, yes, just yesterday, at our weekly street protest, some of us were discussing the all-to-relevant comparison to the Anne Frank experience. It still feels surreal even though I know it isn’t.
You should have been on Ruth Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting this week, because the guest Prof. of Religion and race interection, Jemal Tisby. He is explaining Dispensation ideas of End-of-times. I think you would have had so much to contribute to this conversation, but they are talking about the role of Israel in their beliefs. He is also talking about how the church has been about not talking about politics, and he is going to be talking about politics in church, and that is the front lines. And that there are plenty of Christians who are starting to speak out in church who are angry about a right wing agenda. I am hopeful that more people are making the connection between the right wing CNs, and their relationship to Trump and how he is using them.
I was hopeful that it seems like NATO member countries are learning how to handle Trump. The other countries tailored NATO to Trump to be short, so he could not blow it up, and Trump was distracted by the discussion of the Iranian bombings so he did not focus on blowing that up. He was too focused on responding to the US media.
Also, that there was push back on Bezos and his wedding plans were altered. So, it shows that people are seeing that there can be push back against these Oligarchs.
I am glad that the New Pope is showing up for immigrants. There is going to be a big fight between the pope and the Opus Dei religious right side of politics. Ben-Ghiat is saying that the Catholic Church inside Chile because a center of sustenance for people, and she thought it was wise that he championed a ball team because it was a way to get in through non political institutions. Yay for an activist good Pope.
I'm glad she found an expert to elevate on that topic. It needs more coverage. I'm sure he did an expert job of talking about it, and I'm glad you got a lot from the conversation.
I wish NATO didn't have to expend so much energy managing this crowd. I wish more people understood that electing assholes means we all collectively spend so much more time managing/resisting/worrying about/and generally having our time and lives sucked up by them instead of actually living our lives.
I haven't written a thing about that event, read one article, or looked at one picture (other than what I am force-fed on various news sites. I don't click on the articles.) I loathe that man with the strength of a thousand suns. I'm glad Venetians are giving them a big fuck you. We should extend that fuck you to everyone who attends this vomitous spectacle of greed and excess. (I felt the same way when the Clooneys did it. It is obscene that rich people who don't pay taxes think it is perfectly fine to blow this much money on a party while millions of people live in hostile conditions, are having their safety nets cut, and are dying through government violence. There should've been so much pushback that they had to cancel.)
Leo dealt with the Opus Dei faction firsthand when he was in Peru. They have quite a presence there, which contributes to the state of the government there right now. He's witnessed many of their tactics firsthand by fighting them on the ground and figuring out how to neuter them and work around them. On the immigration front, I hope that will save lives and keep many from being kidnapped and trafficked.
Also coming back to say that it isn't easy to stand up to this in individual churches. For example in the church I grew up in, anyone who disagreed with the pastor showed themselves the door or he showed them the door. There is no pushback from the congregation in a Christian Nationalist church.
In other churches (Stephen Michael Kellat has mentioned this), it is possible to stand up to the extremists. They either moderate their views or they leave for a congregation that agrees with them.
So over time, we've ended up with WCN congregations and non-WCN congregations with very little mixing and overlap.
I am pretty sure that Tisby is not planning on visiting WCN churches. He sounded like he felt some special people might be able to do that, but not most of us. He really wants to loosen the feeling of churches that they cannot talk politics, since the right is comfortable doing this, the center and left need to be as well.
Changing a culture will take time, and I guess he is planning on giving them the issues. These will be social justice issues, but also interpreting the bible differently politically than is going on in WCN churches. That is to say what is the bible saying and how should that cause us to vote.
I predict the WCNs will go after these churches tax-exempt status for preaching politics from the pulpit or endorsing candidates publicly, even if the latter doesn’t happen.
Yes, I realize WCNs have been doing both for 50 years.
Which should be a lesson to all of us. WCN churches violated their tax-exempt status repeatedly in an effort to radicalize their congregations. Our government did nothing. Should we ever wrest our country from these fascists, we can never allow that to happen again.
I agree that Mumdani's win in NYC was very exciting and welcome news!
Sadly, articles I've read indicate that many of the establishment and moneyed Democrats in New York appear to believe they should endorse and donate to Mayor Adams, rather than be open to Mumdani's innovative ideas and a new and more inclusive leadership. The fact that Adams was indicted by the SDNY for felony crimes is somehow now, irrelevant?
The hatefilled and racist attacks from Republicans against Mumdani are not only horrible, they are extremely dangerous.
Some of the ugliest cruel words are from the president and members of Congress.
Mumdani in New York. He is a breath of fresh air and is being courageous in showing people there is a better way, yes, we can afford it if we tax the rich (cue shudders of horror from the wealthy people and corporations), standing up for people’s rights to the basic necessities of life all while being non-white and non-Christian.
I don't know when Democrats are going to learn (yes, I do...NEVER) that progressive messages resonate with voters. He ran on a very simple platform of taxing the rich to provide basic human necessities for all New Yorkers. It galls me that socialism isn't terrible for red hatters when it's a road built with taxpayer funds that everyone gets to use, regardless of whether or not they contributed. Socialism isn't terrible when it's emergency disaster funding contributed by other states who generate more money and help disaster-prone red states dig out of every calamity. Socialism isn't vile when bridges don't fall down and tunnels don't collapse. Socialism isn't bad when its Medicare and Medicaid funds keeping people alive.
To red hatters, socialism is only terrible when it helps people of color have places to live, food to eat, and other life necessities like transportation and healthcare. Because their cries of "we hate socialism" are really "we are racists who hate everyone who is not white." And I wish more people on the left would start framing it that way.
I agree, Andra. I do think folk confuse socialism with communism and the dreaded “nanny state”. But, as you say, no one protests that the roads, bridges and tunnels are all working. It’s the same over here. Some people are angry that their taxes are being used to fund free school meals but they are the first to complain if they can’t get a GP appointment. My sister told me that one day while she was working - she is a nurse in the NHS - a relative of a patient yelled at her saying “I pay your wages!” She calmly replied “In that case, can I have a pay rise?”
Good for her!
She is sassy as are her three daughters 😉
One thing that gives me hope as I listened to a podcast with Andra, is the message of the Book of Esther. Esther has been co-opted to support a political agenda. Project Esther is supposed to combat anti-Semitism, but it's really supporting a twisted agenda.
There are many applications for the Book of Esther. It could just mean overcoming the past, stepping up and stepping into your calling, courage, faith, fighting evil. I've heard many in the Christian world preach on it in recent years. It wasn't political, it was just about faith in general, or the church stepping up to be the church. Haman is a type of Satan or evil. It could just mean fighting evil in our world.
I grew up Jewish and celebrated Purim as a child. I remember how much fun it was. I didn't know the deeper meaning of the story.
This made me tear up in the best way. Thank you for this comment. It made my week.
This has been a really tough week. I look forward to reading what has given hope to others
Sending a massive hug your way, Carol.
After nearly 7 months of "transitional" housing and living, we finally moved into a longer-term situation. It's not the geography we wanted, but it's a slight improvement from what we left.
Very glad to hear it. I know how disruptive not having a permanent home is.
We began a mini-food bank for people in our area who are afraid to go to work or to go grocery shopping. We call it LPPL (Little Pantry Powered by Love). The outpouring of support in our first week has been breathtaking! Already, we are strategizing how to manage overflow!
Part 2 of our project will begin shortly. Giving people trapped at home something meaningful to do. It is humble, but years of experience demonstrate that writing postcards can be therapeutic. We plan to provide scripts, cards, postage, and markers so they can advocate for themselves from the safety of their homes.
Marsha, thanks for doing this and for sharing it here.
When I talk about building community, this is the kind of thing I mean. People are literally hiding in their homes now a la The Diary of Anne Frank, and for them to survive, we must take care of them. I hope communities will build networks for financial support and healthcare support, too. As well as tactics to thwart kidnappers.
Yes, we are in Los Angeles County, the outskirts, but very much impacted by ICE raids at Home Depot, gardeners on their routes being hijacked and so much more. My impression is that this action is also therapeutic for the donors who often times are feeling helpless themselves. As they came to my door, they were thrilled to be able to DO something concrete. And, yes, just yesterday, at our weekly street protest, some of us were discussing the all-to-relevant comparison to the Anne Frank experience. It still feels surreal even though I know it isn’t.
Much solidarity to you. I hope LA’s resistance builds a playbook for other places.
You should have been on Ruth Ben-Ghiat's weekly Zoom meeting this week, because the guest Prof. of Religion and race interection, Jemal Tisby. He is explaining Dispensation ideas of End-of-times. I think you would have had so much to contribute to this conversation, but they are talking about the role of Israel in their beliefs. He is also talking about how the church has been about not talking about politics, and he is going to be talking about politics in church, and that is the front lines. And that there are plenty of Christians who are starting to speak out in church who are angry about a right wing agenda. I am hopeful that more people are making the connection between the right wing CNs, and their relationship to Trump and how he is using them.
I was hopeful that it seems like NATO member countries are learning how to handle Trump. The other countries tailored NATO to Trump to be short, so he could not blow it up, and Trump was distracted by the discussion of the Iranian bombings so he did not focus on blowing that up. He was too focused on responding to the US media.
Also, that there was push back on Bezos and his wedding plans were altered. So, it shows that people are seeing that there can be push back against these Oligarchs.
I am glad that the New Pope is showing up for immigrants. There is going to be a big fight between the pope and the Opus Dei religious right side of politics. Ben-Ghiat is saying that the Catholic Church inside Chile because a center of sustenance for people, and she thought it was wise that he championed a ball team because it was a way to get in through non political institutions. Yay for an activist good Pope.
I'm glad she found an expert to elevate on that topic. It needs more coverage. I'm sure he did an expert job of talking about it, and I'm glad you got a lot from the conversation.
I wish NATO didn't have to expend so much energy managing this crowd. I wish more people understood that electing assholes means we all collectively spend so much more time managing/resisting/worrying about/and generally having our time and lives sucked up by them instead of actually living our lives.
I haven't written a thing about that event, read one article, or looked at one picture (other than what I am force-fed on various news sites. I don't click on the articles.) I loathe that man with the strength of a thousand suns. I'm glad Venetians are giving them a big fuck you. We should extend that fuck you to everyone who attends this vomitous spectacle of greed and excess. (I felt the same way when the Clooneys did it. It is obscene that rich people who don't pay taxes think it is perfectly fine to blow this much money on a party while millions of people live in hostile conditions, are having their safety nets cut, and are dying through government violence. There should've been so much pushback that they had to cancel.)
Leo dealt with the Opus Dei faction firsthand when he was in Peru. They have quite a presence there, which contributes to the state of the government there right now. He's witnessed many of their tactics firsthand by fighting them on the ground and figuring out how to neuter them and work around them. On the immigration front, I hope that will save lives and keep many from being kidnapped and trafficked.
Also coming back to say that it isn't easy to stand up to this in individual churches. For example in the church I grew up in, anyone who disagreed with the pastor showed themselves the door or he showed them the door. There is no pushback from the congregation in a Christian Nationalist church.
In other churches (Stephen Michael Kellat has mentioned this), it is possible to stand up to the extremists. They either moderate their views or they leave for a congregation that agrees with them.
So over time, we've ended up with WCN congregations and non-WCN congregations with very little mixing and overlap.
I am pretty sure that Tisby is not planning on visiting WCN churches. He sounded like he felt some special people might be able to do that, but not most of us. He really wants to loosen the feeling of churches that they cannot talk politics, since the right is comfortable doing this, the center and left need to be as well.
Changing a culture will take time, and I guess he is planning on giving them the issues. These will be social justice issues, but also interpreting the bible differently politically than is going on in WCN churches. That is to say what is the bible saying and how should that cause us to vote.
I predict the WCNs will go after these churches tax-exempt status for preaching politics from the pulpit or endorsing candidates publicly, even if the latter doesn’t happen.
Yes, I realize WCNs have been doing both for 50 years.
Which should be a lesson to all of us. WCN churches violated their tax-exempt status repeatedly in an effort to radicalize their congregations. Our government did nothing. Should we ever wrest our country from these fascists, we can never allow that to happen again.
They hypocrisy is boundless.
I agree that Mumdani's win in NYC was very exciting and welcome news!
Sadly, articles I've read indicate that many of the establishment and moneyed Democrats in New York appear to believe they should endorse and donate to Mayor Adams, rather than be open to Mumdani's innovative ideas and a new and more inclusive leadership. The fact that Adams was indicted by the SDNY for felony crimes is somehow now, irrelevant?
The hatefilled and racist attacks from Republicans against Mumdani are not only horrible, they are extremely dangerous.
Some of the ugliest cruel words are from the president and members of Congress.
If the Democratic Party can self-sabotage, it will. Sigh.
Mamdani. By far.
Friendship. Connection.
https://open.substack.com/pub/albellenchia/p/oh-the-humanity?r=7wk5d&utm_medium=ios
I'm in a place where I'm missing a lot of my friends at the moment. So yes. 100% this.
My bestie told me his mom no longer liked "The Orange Guy". Another one has turned away!
Zohran Mamdani.