Matthew 6: 5-6: “When you pray, do not do as the hypocrites do, for they love to pray standing in the synagogue and on the corners of streets, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. Instead, when you pray, enter into your room and shut the door, and pray to thy Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.”

A football coach wants to pray on the 50 yard line. He’s filed a lawsuit. Ask yourself: WHO is paying for the lawsuit? Supreme Court suits can cost multiple millions. Ask yourself: WHICH legal team is supporting this case? WHO finances them? Ask yourself: why is it “necessary” to pray on the 50 yard line? WHO stands to gain if the McConnell/Roberts “court” supports his concept of his “religious rights?”

Where does this end? Will we now see pre and post-game prayers at mid-ice, mid-court, mid-pitch, home plate? If YOU have meetings with various public and private officials, will YOU be forced to sit through a prayer session? Will transit drivers ask YOU to pray with them before your journey starts? Will YOU be required to pray with your dentist before he/she work on your mouth? Will pilots, after flight attendants give instructions, ask you to pray with them before YOUR flight? Will YOU be required to pray before the cashier rinks up your purchases?

What if YOU don’t want to be forced to pray? Will YOU be denied services? Ask yourself: what if this man hadn’t been “a Christian?” Would we be discussing this if the prayer had been a Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist prayer? Or – a satanic ceremony? A Native American prayer?

If the Mcconnell/Roberts “court” rules for this man – how many prayers could YOU be forced to say each day – at a store, at YOUR cafe, to get your car out of a parking lot, to get on “public” transit?????

Are YOU gullible enough to believe this is only about one man praying [at the 50 yard line]??? What forces in America [world-wide] want to inject THEIR. religious beliefs into YOUR. life??? Do research people!!! WHO has been saying for over 30 years “there is a religious war in America?” WHO has said publicly that other religions, not theirs, are lesser, invalid faiths? WHO has already tried to bend laws so they can deny YOU. services [legal prescriptions, adoptions of children, legal medical services, etc.]???

Read Charles Kimball’s “When Religion Becomes Evil.” Think on Kimball’s “The Five Warning Signs of Corruption in Religion” [absolute truth claims, the end justifies any means…] Why does Kimball suggest the Taliban and the American “religious right” are on a continuum? Is it perhaps that the Taliban has an extremely “conservative” interpretation of Islam, and the “Christian right” has an extremely “conservative” interpretation of what it says is “Christianity?”

Do. You. want modern day “Puritans” telling YOU. how to run. YOUR. life?????????????

1776 – 1800. U.S. Constitutional. Law:
– 1792 Delaware, Article I, Section l: “no man shall or ought to be compelled to attend any religious worship..against his own free will… Article 29: “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another…”
– 1798 Georgia, Article IV, Section 10: “No person within this State shall, upon any pretence be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping God in a manner agreeable to his own conscience..”
– 1792 Kentucky, Article XII, Section 3: “That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences…”
– 1776 Maryland, Article XXXIII: “..wherefore no person ought by any law be molested in his person..on account of his religious persuasion..nor ought any person be compelled to frequent or maintain..any particular ministry..”
-1780 Massachusetts, First Part, Article II: “And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained.. for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience.”
– 1784 New Hampshire, Part One, Article I, Section 5: “Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship GOD according to the dictates of his own conscience..and no subordination of any one sect..to another, shall ever be established..”
– 1776 New Jersey, Article XVIII: “That no person shall ever..be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; nor, under any pretence whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of worship…..no establishment of any one religion…”
– 1776 North Carolina, Article XXXIV: ” shall be no establishment of anyone religious church..neither shall any person, on any pretense whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith or judgment..”
– ***** 1791 U.S. “Bill of Rights,” Amendment I: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

The historically-challenged McConnell/Roberts “supreme court” wants to examine whether a high school football coach should be allowed to publicly pray on the 50 yard line, in the presence of others. Major issue: whether formally, or informally [peer pressure, pressure] members of either football team will feel COMPELLED – against “the dictates of his own conscience” – to attend, so as not to feel hostile, or not be a “member of the team.”

Previously, the 9th U.S, Circuit Court of Appeals said; “Context matters. At issue in this case is not, as Kennedy attempts to gloss it, a personal and private exercise of faith. At issue was – in every sense of the word – a demonstration, and because Kennedy demanded that it take place immediately after the final whistle, it was a demonstration necessarily directed at students and the attending public.”
Meaning, Kennedy is not “shutting the door and praying privately.”

Barry Goldwater: “Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless decent people connected to them realize that religion has no place in public policy.”
Robert E. Lee: “Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion have always proved themselves intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others?”
George Washington: “I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man..ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
[above 3 quotes courtesy of the Harper Book of American quotes]

“Freedom of religion” means both freedom of and freedom from. You cannot have one without the other.”i

Abraham Lincoln: “At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

The Founding fathers had four main fears: corruption, slavery, religion, mobs. Unfortunately, we have seen all four brought to life in recent years

CORRUPTION was the Founders’ number one fear. The word “CORRUPTION” appears in Madison’s incomplete notes 54 times in the 110 day Convention. The Founders desired a “virtuous” republic, where the natural impulses of men were limited by government structures; hoped to inspire “virtuous” men to run for office.

SLAVERY – in modern form, racism, has been a devastating “original sin” for America. Unscrupulous politicians have often used it as a “divide-and-conquer” strategy. Unfortunately, that has often worked.

That they would be forced to obey a RELIGION they didn’t support was a major concern. We have numerous quoters by Founders expressing this deep fear. For definitive documentation of these fears, please research 1776-1800 state constitutions. My favorite is the 1776 North Carolina , Articles XXXIV [“..on any pretense whatsoever..”]

MOBS. The Founders planned a democratic republic that operated on REASON. Thus, freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly – citizens would talk among themselves. Free public schools and libraries.

John Adams: “The declaration that our People are hostile to a government made by themselves, for themselves, and conducted by themselves, is an insult.”

From 2010 forward, America faces an increasing crisis of many things combining, not the least is confidence in itself. Historians Suzanne Mettler and Robert Lieberman’s “FOUR THREATS’ discusses the crisis in historical context. A significant problem is that never before has America faced all FOUR THREATS simultaneously – now we do.

The FOUR THREATS; POLITICAL POLARIZATION, WHO BELONGS?, ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, EXECUTIVE AGGRANDIZEMENT.

Independent watchdog “Freedom House” downgraded the United States from #31 to #51 for backsliding on democratic fitness qualities. “The Economist” said America had declined from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” by 2017.
WHY? For perspective, research the “14 characteristics of fascism.” Think very hard, how much and on how many of those 14 do you find evidence of American descent to a “flawed democracy” or, worse, already there?

Mettler and Lieberman: the four key attributes of democracy: free and fair elections, the rule of law, the legitimacy of the opposition, and the integrity of rights.

Recently, elections are becoming less free and fair [“dark money,” misinformation, foreign meddling]. For some, public office has become a chance for wealth. Basic rights have been challenged. Increasing “us-them” polarization.
Mettler and Lieberman are NOT alone in concern. Democracy is fragile. Laws, rules, norms only go so far. People, in and out of government, have to WANT to operate in “democratic” ways.

Recently, America has witnessed what can happen when one person, with the help of “enablers,” decides they don’t want to play by the rules/norms/expectations. Result? CORRUPTION.

For confirmation and perspective, consult truth-telling publications like “Mother Jones” and “The Atlantic”; listen to what our foreign friends say; read and THINK. Ask uncomfortable questions.
WHY do the “happiest people on earth” live in Scandinavia? WHY is America less fair to ordinary people, like it was 1947-1973? Political conduct in Congress changed after the 1994 election – WHY and WHO was responsible? Find unspun IRS-GAO-CBO statistics on American income distribution, pre-1980, versus, post-1980.

A number of books on CORRUPTION exist To understand 202X America, you MUST read at least one. 2022 America is NOT an accident – that is the first thing you need to dispel.
“American Kleptocracy” “Kleptopia”. “On Corruption in America”. “Corruption in America”. “Dark Money”
“Shadow Network” “The One Percent Solution” “Democracy in Chains” “How Democracies Die”

Key books on ECONOMIC INEQUALITY:
‘TheSpirit Level”. “Divided the Perils of Our Growing Inequality”. “The Price of Inequality” “Big Box Swindle”
“Capital in the Twenty-First Century” “Fulfillment Winning and Losing in One-Click America”

POLARIZATION Sorry, but all EVIDENCE points to one segment/party creating this for economic/political gain since the 1980s, if not 1960s.
“Evil Geniuses”. “Broken Government” “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks”. “Authoritarian Nightmare”
“Twilight of Democracy”. “American Nightmare” “The Fascism This Time” “American Fascists”
“It Was All A Lie”

SO – what are. YOU. going to do? Do. YOU. care about what happens to America? Is a country where “only” a high school grad a MORAL society??? How can “we” allow an economy where 2/3 of the people have an excellent chance to struggle or fail??? If the “most important person in the world,” the American president, makes $400,000 – why does ANYBODY make $l million, let alone $1 billion?

1947-1973, America reached close to a perfect “middle class” society. WHY did “we” allow that to be stolen from us??? WHO did the theft? Answers from these:
– Don Barlett & James Steele”s “The Betrayal of the American Dream” [double Pulitzer Prize winners]
– Hedrick Smith’s “Who Stole the American Dream?” [Pulitzer Prize winner]
– Charles Lewis, Bill Allison, Center for Public Integrity”s “The Cheating of America”

Teddy Roosevelt: “We, here in America, hold in our hands the hope of the world, the fate of the coming years; and shame and disgrace will be ours if in our eyes the light of high resolve is dimmed, if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.”

SO – will we “die by suicide”??? Will we insult ourselves by trashing OUR own government? Will we “trail in the dust the golden hopes of men”??? Will “we” continue to listen to media morons, internet idiots, greedy kleptocrats posing as “saviors”??? Have “we” learned. ANYTHING. from our parents, schools, churches???

“Freedom”. isn’t free. YOU have to WANT it. Not just for yourself, but all 331 million of “us.”

The reactionary right wing – which tries to call itself “conservative” – MUST have “enemies.” They MUST have somebody, ANYBODY – to hate. Then, they can manufacture “reasons” why you too, should hate.

Hate those untermenschen; hate those “traitors”; hate those “undeserving’ people; hate those “enemies of the people”; hate “socialists”; hate “fags”; hate liberals; hate public health workers; hate those elderly election volunteers; hate doctors and nurses; hate abortion providers; hate labor unionists; hate workers who want livable wages; hate “communists”; hate Jews; hate Muslims; hate “Mexican rapists”; hate immigrants; hate “fake news” mainstream media; hate teachers trying to “indoctrinate” your kids; hate airlines workers trying to force you to wear a mask; hate those “freeloaders” on welfare; hate women’s libbers; hate women who refuse you sex; hate those people attending the “wrong church”; hate Black people; hate Latinos; hate Asians; hate transgendered people; hate “fraudulent voters”; hate gun control advocates; hate anybody who supports “separation of church and state” [like theFounders!!!]; hate people who “aren’t real Americans”; hate people who say you’re racist or intolerant.

The right MUST have enemies because then they can “divide and conquer”; then they can manufacture “wedge issues”; then they can misdirect your anger away from the the people who are guilty to the “Other_ – fake bogeymen, fake “devils”. And the real perps walk free [usually to the bank].
Quite often, the real perps are those who are funding the “enemies” search. Front groups with innocuous and patriotic sounding titles to cover the “dark money” trail.

Immigration is a current “hot” issue. There are a reported 60-80 million displaced and refugee people on earth. Many want a better life, many have smartphones. Many want to get to the tolerant and advanced “Western” liberal democracies.
People in the “target” countries have their own fears: what will X number of “them” mean to our culture, our jobs, our way of life? Unscrupulous politicians, world-wide, use people’s apprehension about being “overwhelmed” by X numbers of foreigners. “Elect me, I”ll make sure those “XX” people don’t get in and ruin our country.”
If his/her promise to “solve” the immigration crisis is all you wanted, then the amoral politicians DOESN’T. have to explain what else he/she is going to do – no matter how evil and corrupt.
And – neither they nor anybody else tells you what the REAL cause of millions of people leaving their homes and businesses. They don’t have to – you bought the lies.

The reactionary right MUST have enemies because they can’t tell you the truth – and still get elected. Numerous right-wing politicians have already confessed that. One former “conservative” political operative of some 20 plus years wrote a book about this. Because of all the lies, the only way to reform that party was to “burn it to the ground.”

ARE. YOU. THINKING/ The liberal 1933-1976 period produced Social Security, the G.I. Bill, union rights, Medicare, civil rights laws. Americans were the happiest people on earth, envied world-wide. The “conservative” 1980-202X era produced tax cuts for the rich and corporations, outsourcing American jobs, declining lower 90% incomes, the 2008 Crash which hurt the lower 90%, increasing polarization [due to lies]. The happiest people on earth live in Scandinavian social democracies. All fact-based analysis is based upon pre and post-1980 statistics.
Right-wing Republican presidencies since 1968 are known for criminality, corruption, impeachment and resignation, major scandals and constitutional crises. Nixon was forced to resign because principled Republicans told him he had to go. Trump wasn’t forced to resign because there are now few principled Republican politicians.
Besides all this, Republican administrations are known for LIES, and, lists of enemies.

The right MUST have enemies because they operate in a climate of fear and chaos, the twin smoke screens obscuring what they”re planning and doing. If they get you angry, they know your fears will overcome your rational thinking.

Follow the bouncing “enemies of the people” in recent years. Previously it was public health workers, doctors and nurses, trying to give you “fake news” on COVID. Previously it was elderly elections volunteers and those dastardly “fraudulent voters” stealing elections. Recently it was “un-American” teachers “indoctrinating” your kids. Now it appears the new “enemy” is Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, and the more evil Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse. [does it bother you, scare you, that the right wing is using government power to punish Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and Minnie for exercising their free speech rights?}

Hang on – it is only April. There are 6 more months before the 2022 elections. Would you care to bet on what new “enemies of the people” the right wing will find hiding under your bed? Maybe you should set up an office pool on who/what new “enemies of the people” will be “discovered” to be?

We’ve already had one right-wing, Republican, reign of terror looking for “enemies of the people.” It was known as “the McCarthyism era.” Reactionary, fear-mongering, Republicans instituted a witch hunt for all the “communists” under your bed, or in the government. Some were angry that a Republican president wasn’t reactionary enough.

Given the right wing’s track record, odds are just about ANY. American could wind up on the “enemies of the people” list. Give them enough time – and – YOU’ LL be on it too..

“It is the old practice of despots to use part of the people to keep the rest in order.” {Thomas Jefferson]

Galileo’s house arrest. Rachel Carson” “silent Spring” attacked. Spanish Inquisition
300 whites lynched i South, 1830-1860. Colin Kaepernick unsigned
Joan of Arc burned, 143l. corporate advertisers restrict content. McCarthyism
American women can’t vote, 1789-1920. “Jim Crow,” 1865-1965
Nazis burn “subversive un-German books in 90 cities, May 10, 1933
1873-1957, American postal authorities censor mail under the “Comstock Law”

***** Heinrich Heine: “..where they burn books, thy will ultimately burn people also.”

Jew burnings, 12th – 16th centuries. HUAC “Un-American” purge, 1940s
1852 – “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” banned in Russia. Jesse Owens banned, 1936 –
American labor union activists persecuted, murdered, 1870s – l930s; harassed and fired, 1930s –
Servetus burned [heretical medical theories], 1553. Supreme Court “packing”
1939 – “The Grapes of Wrath” burned on East St. Louis courtyard steps

Censorship has been exercised by many groups: churches, government, corporations, activists.
Censorship has existed in many forms: murder, banning, sabotaging, story suppression, disinformation, threats, limiting what is discussed, criminalization, self-censorship.

THE object: CONTROL. Control of money, power, facts, narrative, people’s lives, inconvenient information, women, dissident groups, unpopular books, “heretics,” the law……..

***** George Orwell: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

1692 Salem witch scare. the “tobacco defense”. “gerrymandering” and “election fraud”
Jan Hus burned, 1415. Muhammed Ali loses boxing title. “don’t be the first to stop clapping”
Senator McCarthy gets all books world-wide in government libraries offensive to him burned, 1953

***** Lenin: “Truth is the most precious thing. That is why we should ration it.”

1829, Georgia, Virginia, Missouri anti-literacy laws deemed necessary “because an un-educated Black population made white citizens feel more secure against both abolitionists and slave uprisings.” [Missouri state website]
“Mother Jones,” September-October, 2021: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ bill signing text forbidding teaching racism was embedded in American society to uphold white supremacy “echoes an op-ed article published in the Richmond Enquirer in 1856”

Justice Potter Stewart: “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” [“Ginzberg,” 1966]

Orchestrated. Campaign
– American corporations have waged a fierce, never-ending war against labor unions. The issue: control of workers and greed.
– the American “religious right” has waged a 50-year war on America. the issue: control of people’s lives by religious dogma and political power.
– the combined reactionary right forces have waged a 150-year war against the American legal system. The issues: CONTROL of ideas, people’s lives, power, GREED.
– the combined reactionary right have waged a 150-year war against the truth – which they MUST do in order to impose their will. The issues: control the narrative, TRUTH, power, GREED.
– the NUMBER ONE CENSORSHIP: voter suppression. Continuing the “stolen election” fraud, Republicans across America have passed numerous bills, in their words “to ensure election integrity.” The goal/result: to eliminate the “wrong voters” – people likely to vote against Republicans. Along with gerrymandering, pushed since 2010, allows Republicans to pick their own voters.

Attack Dogs
– I: the “conservative” media morons and internet idiots routinely savage ANY criticism of “conservative” [reactionary]words, actions, laws. These campaigns are designed to kill at birth any attempts to bring forth the truth.
– II: “conservative” media morons and internet idiots, other mouthpieces also routinely claim “anti-conservative” [reactionary] “BIAS.” As explained by Rich Bond, Republican Party chair [1992]: “There is some strategy to it [bashing the ‘liberal” media]…if you watch a great coach, what they do is ‘work the refs.'” Also by William Kristol. Republican neoconservative: “I admit it, the liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures.”
– III: self-censorship – the result of fear induced by attack dogs I and II; publishers, editors, writers avoided irritating corporate advertisers; didn’t tell stories, no matter how critical and truthful.
– IV: results of I, II, and III: hundreds/thousands of critical stories that DIDN’T GET TOLD: topics sensitive to the top 1%, corporations, “out of bounds,’ not raised, not discussed [tax evasion, monopoly power, job loss,etc….]
-V: legal wars. “Mother Jones,” January-February, 2022: “The Legal War Against Mother Jones”: a billionaires lawsuit because of an unfavorable report, “..lawsuits aren’t necessarily about winning [they won]. Some are just about inflicting as much pain as possible.” See also Soley’s “Censorship INC” pages 88 forward about SLAPP lawsuits [silencing].
– VI: still being played out is another form, the use of government power to silence/punish criticism, most recently in April, 2022. Florida’s governor [running for 2024 president] and the Republican-controlled legislature removed a provision giving Walt Disney World’s private government autonomy around Orlando. Reason: Disney World criticized a Republican law on teaching about sex in public schools.

School Censorship – the cost of not knowing???

– 1920s: United Daughters of the Confederacy demanded any book saying the South fought to keep slavery or said the slaveholders were cruel to be banned.
– 1996: Alabama school board members and Governor Robert James required an insert in biology textbooks: “Since no one was present when life first appeared on Earth..any statement about life’s origins should be considered as theory, not fact.”
– 2000s: Texas public school text: there were both cruel and kind slaveowners; many [slaves] may not have been terribly unhappy…for they knew no others [conditions]”
– 1/30/2019 Palm Beach Post: “The Florida Legislature is considering a bill that would give public school students alternative facts to so-called “controversial theories” of science such as evolution and climate change..pushed by the Florida Citizens Alliance, which thinks Florida’s kids..”indoctrinated in a public school system that undermines their individual rights and destroys our founding principles and family values.” [Frank Cerebino]
– 2020s: private Christian academies texts: God is the singular causation of history; America founded as a Christian nation; unequivocal praise for capitalism coupled with demonization of social charity [Jan., 2022 “Church & State”]
– 11/21/21 Washington Post Weekly: “Republicans have concluded..a manufactured moral panic over critical race theory and diversity can help them win elections..Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, is worried about the long-term impact of this orchestrated national onslaught against books and libraries..”We get three to five reports every day..no one parent should be telling the community what everybody else should be reading.”

***** General/President D.D. Eisenhower: “Don’t join the book burners..don’t be afraid to go to your library and read every book.”

Corporate censorship – beyond the “tobacco defense”
– Soley: “..when government capitulates to private groups and commits speech-stifling acts, the acts described as “censorship.” When private entities commit the same acts, they are described as exercises in ‘property rights,’ ‘editorial control,’ or..’business policies.’..speech-stifling acts by private parties occur more frequently..are enforced daily, are deeply rooted, and go unnoticed..”
– for in-depth discussion: Lawrence Soley: “Censorship INC The Corporate Threat to Free Speech in the United States”; Alex Carey: “Taking the Risk Out of Democracy Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty”; Herbert Schiller: “Culture Inc. The Corporate Takeover of Public Expression”; Andy Roth, Mickey Huff, Project Censored”s series.

The Internet – more disinformation than “information” ???
– is the internet more destructive than constructive? [think very carefully]
– Maya MacGuineas: “Capitalism’s Addiction Problem” [The Atlantic; April, 2020]: “..the new powers in the digital age have built their business models on strategies – enabled and turbocharged by self-improving algorithems – that actively undermine the. principles that make capitalism a good deal for most people.”
– Jack Davies: “Can Democracy survive the Internet?” [Mpls Trib; 9/27/20]: “..one human weakness makes the internet…perhaps the greatest threat democracy has ever faced: our universal desire to see ratified our own opinions and biases..”confirmation bias”…we ignore sites that might give us reasons to question our assumptions..”
– and then there is this: the increase in mental health issues, especially in young people. People tempted to, and committing, suicide – because of social media. Some professionals have already labeled this a ‘crisis.”

“Free Speech”? – there used to be standards, rules, laws, customs, norms – and now?????
– is everything now “the Wild West”? Can I say anything, in the name of “free speech,” especially on the internet???
– is the 1791 idea of “free speech” and “free press”. now so out of date that what was once thought “positive” and “good’, now so destructive and negative it threatens a polite, respectful decency toward our fellow citizens?
– if I label myself not a “journalist” but an “entertainer’, can I throwout “red meat” and get away with it [ and perhaps “earn” a multi-multi million dollar yearly salary]?
– if seven people are beaten to death after a false viral message [May, 2018] – do we just blow this off [as an accidental cost] of our “right” to suggest/say/imply just about anything about anybody – without proof?
– can I now yell “fire” in a crowded theater and get away with it [it was just a prank, officer]?

It may, chronologically, be 2022 – but how far have we come from 12th century Jew burnings, the Spanish Inquisition, 19 innocents murdered in 1692 Salem, Galileo’s house arrest?

In the end, have “we’ just devised more sophisticated ways of Burning Books and Burning People?

But, then, some of us are afraid of our own children – that they may be “weaker” then we thought; they they may be more curious than we’d like; and worse of all – that they may reject us and our ideas.
SO – we demand that. NO. children will read a book we don’t like; that. NO. children will learn something we don’t want them to; that. NO. children will think for themselves; that we will deliberately try to teach. ALL. children demonstrable falsehoods.
AND – we firmly believe this will make our country “great again.”

***** Soren Kirkegaard: “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to
believe what is true.”

It is time for a second American revolution – against the same oppressive forces – to re-achieve the intent, goals, and express language of the first.
The first American Revolution was against a corporation [Boston Tea Party], a king, an official [“established”] church.

The word “corporation” is not in the Constitution. TheFounders didn’t trust corporations. ALL “corporate rights” have been GIVEN. them by the Supreme Court, beginning with 1880s corruption of what the 14th Amendment meant.

Under Article I, Section Nine: “No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States..” Having revolted against English nobility, the Founders didn’t want nobility re-established. But it has been.

Under Article VI, Section 3: “but no religious test shall EVER. be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
Under Amendment I”. “Congress shall make. NO. law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..”
Under 1776-1800 state constitutions, such as 1776 Delaware, Article 29: “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another..” 1776 New Jersey, Article XVIII: “That no person shall. EVER, within this Colony, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience..”
1776 North Carolina, Articles XXXIV: “..there shall be no establishment of anyone religious church or denomination in this State, in preference to any other; neither shall any person, ON ANY. PRETENSE. WHATSOEVER, be compelled..to pay, for..any house of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes right”

America is now ruled by corporations. They control “our” economy. They own “our” government – through legalized money laundering by Supreme Court fiat.
America has a new, legalized nobility. The titles of duke, countess, earl, duchess, have been replaced by CEO, top 1%, masters of the universe. Nobility of birth has been replaced by nobility of wealth. Palaces replaced by gated mansions.

The Founders number one fear was “corruption.” Then it was corruption of “placemen” around the king. No it is the corruption of “campaign contributions – legalized by Supreme Court fiat. Everything in America is for sale – if one has enough wealth, power, connections – pretty much the definition of nobility!!!!!

With historical memories of European Wars of Religion, 1517-1648, and the English Civil War [around religion], the Founders sought to prevent that in America.
Article One’s prohibition of an “established church” has been attacked by fundamentalist churches since the 19th century. In the last 50 years, fundamentalist churches have waged religious war on America.
In violation of Article VI, “no religious test,” religious zealots have instituted a new religious test for office” electing “pro-life” judges and politicians. In these last 50 years, those “pro-life” judges and officials have enacted a number of laws based on. THEIR. interpretation of holy scripture [of THEIR churches] – a clear violation of Amendment One.
“Religious liberties”/”freedom” has now become a “get-out-of-jail-free” card, to be played whenever [a trans-Atlantic flight], where ever a zealot chooses; to oppose any rules/laws – a clear violation of the Constitutional rights of others to be free from a zealot’s religious beliefs.

America, 2022, is NOT a happy land. Much of the division and discontent can be traced back to violations of basic American principles by corporations, the rich aristocracy and religious zealots. A basic premise of America is “..the Pursuit of Happiness..” – on your reasonable and considerate terms – above all, when you don’t hurt others.
The “Pursuit of Happiness” by the lower 99% of Americans has – FACTUALLY – been damaged by the greed, selfishness, and zealotry our Founders rebelled against: corporations, nobility, official church.
In their eagerness to achieve a plutocratic theocracy, they have perverted much of what was sacred and good about America. Nothing has been “out of bounds” in their quest to re-write the rules of America.
Lies and twisting of “original intent” have been central to this evil and monstrous mission to create a “utopian” vision of America. And – like virtually all utopian dreams, there have been millions of innocent victims – the rest of the American population.
In in doubt about what has been said here, please check the “14 characteristics of fascism.” With very little effort you will see many of those have been accomplished in America.

It is time for a Second American Revolution – to reclaim what the First American Revolution achieved.

On April 5, 2022, Oklahoma legislators “approved a near-total ban on abortion.” The Republican governor “..has vowed to sign ‘every piece of pro-life legislation’ that comes to his desk.”

The Founding Fathers had four main fears: corruption, slavery, religion, and mobs. This kind of legislation is EXACTLY what they wanted to prevent by Amendment One’s “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..” Short and concise – and vulnerable to demagoguery.

What isn’t short or concise are the 1776-1800 state constitutions on religion. Edwin Gaustad’s “Faith of the Founders” lists them on pages 134-145, or look them up. Four prohibit a “religious test for office” [Article VI]; 8 prohibit an active minister from serving in their government; 10 had explicit language explaining in detail their opposition to people being forced to live by another’s religious beliefs; 11 HAD “established” churches – all gone by 1830.

My favorite is the 1776 North Carolina Constitution, Articles XXXIV:
“That there shall be no establishment of anyone religious church or denomination in this State, in preference to any other; neither shall any person, on any pretense whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith or judgment, nor be obliged to pay, for the purchase of any glebe, or the building of any house of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes right, or has voluntarily and personally engaged to perform; but all persons shall be at liberty t exercise their own mode of worship…”

NOT “ON ANY PRETENSE WHATSOEVER..” shall any American be forced to live their lives by the tenets and dogma of “pro-life” legislation – an attempt to impose “an established church” beliefs on people “at liberty to exercise their own mode of worship” – or none at all.

Equally troubling, Oklahoma, like many other Republican-run theocracies are enacting these “pro-life” religious beliefs into law “in anticipation of a pending Supreme Court decision in the Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.”
“From Florida to Idaho, GOP-led state legislatures have been operating as ifRoe had already been struck down.”
****** Think on that. The McConnell “assembly line” of “justice” is cranking up “in anticipation” of what the 6 Republican “Justices” – or are they the 6 “partisan hacks”???? about to do. For perspective, please check on “justice” as handed down in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union/Russian Federation. “In anticipation” of the expected ruling.

Please – tell me how any of the current Republican religious-based laws, on a variety of things, honor what the 1776 North Carolina Constitution prohibits – which is what “..no law respecting an establishment of religion..” means.
Along with that – how does one practice “..the free exercise thereof [of YOUR religious beliefs] – if a state or the McConnell/Roberts Court imposes the beliefs of religious zealots on YOU????????????

If Americans don’t control their own bodies, don’t control their own reproductive lives – YOU have NO rights. YOU belong to “the state.” The state – as in Soviet Union/Russian Federation, as in Nazi Germany, as in numerous “established churches” in 18th century Europe.
As in theocracy – like 1692 Salem witchcraft trials, 19 people executed. As in 1641 Massachusetts state law based on three books of the Christian Bible: Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. The first capital offense was idolatry, the second witchcraft, the third was blasphemy.

Oklahoma has just put itself on a continuum with 1641 Massachusetts. How soon before people are stoned, burned at the stake, hung, pressed to death for idolatry, witchcraft, blasphemy??? How soon before mobs of self-righteous “pro-life” vigilantes hunt down “criminal” women??? How soon before the fictional “Handmaid’s Tale” becomes reality in “pro-life” Gilead/Amerika????? o

Churchill is back in Ukraine, rallying his people and the world against tyranny
An evil man is back, trying to rebuild lost glory; promising to make his nation great again; daring the world to stop him.
America has witnessed the return of Huey Long. Father Coughlin is on the air again.
Criminal empires built on drugs, not alcohol; gangsters terrorize innocents on American streets with gun battles.
The “forgotten man” is forgotten again – by those who have the money.
Soup kitchens replaced by food shelves; the hungry/starving with us srtill.
Fascism is alive with modern “Silver shirts” and neo-Nazis; now they have guns.
American Firsters are back; likely ignorant it didn’t end well the first time.
Suffering from the Great Depression [16 years], replaced by suffering from COVID [2 years].
Income inequality back since 1980; half of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Bing Crosby and melodic big band music replaced by music with an edge.
The “Dust Bowl is replaced by by a significant western drought.
Tom Joad is now part of the “Great Resignation.”
1936’s Rhineland remilitarization replaced by the 2014 Crimean invasion.
For now [April, 2022] “Austrian Anschluss” has been prevented in Ukraine.
The 1936 banning of Jesse Owens from amateur track replicated by “suspension” of Colin Kaepernick.
The 1932 WW I vets “Bonus March” on Washington forcibly stopped by the U.S. Army; the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol was not.
Assaults and lynching of Blacks replaced by assaults on Asian-Americans; Blacks still discriminated against.
“Politicals” sent to Dachau replaced by Ukrainians forcibly deported to Russian interior.
Threat of war hangs over Europe again; the new dictator threatening nuclear weapons use; Western nations once again debate wider war protecting democracy.
Unemployed millions now replaced by underemployed/underpaid millions.
Movies in theaters replaced by movies electronically on demand at home.
The agony of the Spanish Civil War replaced by the agony of Ukraine.
Falling birth rates of the Great Depression replicated by COVID.
The rich largely prospered in the 1930s; the rich have exploded into millions of millionaires, and thousands of billionaires [which they earned “all by themselves”]
The Republican Party did everything possible to sabotage FDR’s recovery from the Great Depression; the current Republican Party does everything to sabotage recovery from greed.
l930s homeless were that because they had no jobs; 2lst century homeless often homeless with jobs. Hoovervilles replaced by homeless camps and people living in their cars.
The 1930s witnessed too many people under-nourished and skinny; recent times feature too many people over-fed and over weight.
Baseball has been replaced by pro football as the dominant American spectator sport.
There was talk of “revolution,” but FDR’s “New Deal” prevented that; today there is talk of armed “revolution” by “patriots” wanting to install the anti-FDR.
Then the family farm was threatened by nature; now by corporations.
Clubbing/killing of union activists replaced by sophisticated “consultant” anti-union industry; then millionaire owners, now billionaire owners, refuse to share the wealth [which they “earned all by themselves”]
1930s wives forced to retire to give jobs to men; now women stay home because of child care issues.
1930s Supreme Court controlled by “conservatives” thwarting Depression relief; McConnell/Roberts Court “conservatives” thwart democracy.
Few 1930s people had “health care”; now many have “health care”, still go bankrupt from “health care” bills.
Proof money doesn’t buy happiness: Americans are NOT the “happiest people on earth”; that honor annually goes to “Scandinavia.”
Then Americans frightened by a fictional radio broadcast of Martians invading New Jersey; now Americans frightened by fictional Fox “News” propaganda.
Then religion was primarily a personal thing one did in their home and community; now religion has been politicized by zealots demanding to run YOUR. life – by THEIR. dogma.
Then Congress sought to limit A & P to 10% of retail; now WalMart and Amazon allowed to dominate retail.
Then we had simple cars anyone could fix; now we have “advanced” computerized vehicles that can only be fixed in dealer garages.
Then it was possible for one adult to support a family; now two adults might be able to support a family.
Then few people had much money or many things, life was insecure; now the upper half has more money and things, life still insecure for too many.
Then graduating from college could lead to a prosperous life; now graduating from college means lots of debt.
World population was 2 plus billion, most were poor; now world population is 9 billion plus, most are poor.

So – the question is: how much have we “advanced” ?????

Perhaps, it is time to reconsider:
– “that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
– “We, here in America, hold in our hands the hope of the world…shame and disgrace will be ours…if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.”
– “If you have a chance to help people and you don’t do it, you are wasting your time on this earth.”
– “..the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasonable, unjustified terror..”

WHO are we??? WHY are we here??? Do we HEAR the music???

Russia sent 150,000 troops, thousands of tanks, hundreds of rocket and missile launchers, hundreds of warplanes in an unprovoked attack – BUT – we should feel sorry for the Russians!

Russian soldiers have attacked thousands of houses, apartment buildings, hospitals, churches, museums, shopping malls, businesses – BUT – we must feel sorry for Russian feelings!!!

Russians have murdered children, raped women, short civilians, tortured civilians – BUT – we must have empathy for the poor Russians doing these brutalities!!!!!

Russians have looted businesses and homes, stolen relief aid, stolen everything not nailed down – BUT – we should have compassion for the poor Russians!

WHY? Because poor, innocent Russia was attacked!!! Somebody attacked an installation INSIDE. Russia – NOT fair! Russia is whining, crying in its vodka: “peace talks” are impossible in an “unprovoked” situation like this! Pity the poor Russians!!!!!!!

This “provocation” must be solved. Who on earth would do something this dastardly to an innocent country like peace loving Russia?

The lis of suspects has to include somebody from:
-Poland, for the April-May, 1940 Katyn massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and intelligentsia
– South Korea, for the Russians shooting down Flight KAL007 on 9/1/83; 269 innocents were killed when a Soviet SU-15
interceptor blew them up
– an unknown world citizen, for when Russia claimed ownership of the North Pole, in 2007
– Hungary, for The Russian 1956 invasion
– Germany, for the 1957 thallium poisoning of a Russian in Frankfurt, by Russian agents
– a world citizen, for Russian cyber warfare against the world
– Finland, for the Russian 1939 invasion and subsequent occupation; theft of Karelia [12% of population, 10% of land] –
– Ukraine and southeast Europe, for the January, 2009, cut off of gas [13 days]
– Czechoslovakia, for the 1968 Russian invasion
– Britain, for the 1978 Ricin poisoning of a Bulgarian dissident in London; further poisonings
– Chechnya, for the 1994-2000 wars, flattening Grozny, causing tens of thousands of civilian deaths
– Estonia, for the illegal 1940 occupation; sending 10% of its people to Siberia as punishment for political beliefs
– Malaysia, for the July, 2014 shooting down of Flight MH17 and murder of 298 innocents
– Georgia, for the 2008 “peace enforcement” by Russian troops
– Syrians, for Russian bombings of civilian targets, September, 2015 forward
– Latvia, for the illegal June, 1940 occupation; for subsequent Russian murders and deportations
– Afghanistan, for the 1979 invasion and brutalities which followed
– Lithuania, for the illegal June, 1940 occupation; Russia sending 350,00 to Siberian labor camps
– humans, for Russian poisonings of 2004 [dioxin], 20006 [polonium], 2018 [novichok]
– Mexico, for the 1940 Trotsky assassination in Mexico city by a Russian agent
– Olympic athletes, cheated out of medals by Russian doping, 1956 forward
– Eastern Europeans – Albanians, Bulgarians, Czechs, East Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians, Yugoslavs
– long suffering Russian people, millions in Gulags, millions murdered
– taxpayers everywhere, for wasted billions to prevent Russian attacks

Russia, having declared war – in numerous ways – against humanity and civilization – just WHO could have conceivably launched that dastardly secret sneak attack on innocent, peaceful Russia – in the midst of its war on Ukraine??? Unfair, whine the Russians!!! Undeserved, cry the innocent Russians!!! Why is the world against us, sob the Russians in their vodka. Pity the poor, misunderstood, victimized, Russians!!!!!!!!!!!!!o

Some have blond hair, some brown. Some have blue eyes, some brown. Some are tall, some short. Some are “smart”, some are not. Some are right-handed, some left-handed. Some are “fat”, some are “slim.” Some are athletic, many are not. Some have white skin; others brow, black, red, yellow. Some are healthy, some are not. Some are “straight,” some are “gay.” Most are kind, some are cruel. Some are greedy, most are not.

The same biological processes created all these humans. If one is “religious,” the same God created all of them.

Mark Twain: “The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creatures that cannot.”

Due to “advanced” technology, it is now possible for a person to live entirely inside their own home. If they do, are they still “human”?

Mary Evelyn Tucker: “To be human means to take off the headphones and unplug virtual reality. We need to listen again and to relearn the multiple voices of the universe. From these voices will come the songs of healing and renewal which we will sing with our children and with their children. If we are to survive as humans, it is crucial that we learn once again to sing.”

Children don”t hate. They’re taught to.

R.W. Emerson: “That which I fear and hate is really myself.”

By what measures is a human “successful”?

Oscar Wilde: “The true perfection in man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is.”

WHO are YOU? WHY are YOU here? Do YOU hear the music?

Roberto Clemente: “Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on this earth.”

Hitler, Mao, and Stalin, by biology were “human.” But5 – were they? If they were “human,” what does that say about us?

C.S. Lewis: “The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint…but is conceived and ordered [moved, seconded, carried, and minuted] in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.”

Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. were very special humans. What does that say about us?

T.Carlyle: “Great men are the Fire-pillars in this dark pilgrimage of mankind; they stand as heavenly Signs, ever-living witnesses of what has been, prophetic tokens of what may still be, the revealed, embodied Possibilities of human nature.”

In Ecuador, an old Amazonian Shuar man: “The world is as you dream it. Your people dreamed of huge factories, tall buildings, as many cars as there are raindrops in this river. Now you begin to see that your dream is a nightmare.” [“The Secret History of the American Empire”; John Perkins]

WHO are you? WHY are you here? Do YOU hear the music?

Corporations are. NOT. human people. The word “corporation” is. NOT. in the Constitution. The first overt act of the American Revolution was against a corporation – the Boston Tea Party.
ALL “rights” corporations have were. GIVEN. to them by the Supreme Court, beginning with 1880s corruption of the l4th Amendment.
Thomas Jefferson: “I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare to challenge our government to a trial by strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” Jefferson was, VERY definitely, not alone in these feelings. Corporate charters were limited.
That corporate aristocracy now runs America, greatly aided by “business-friendly” Supreme Courts. The [current] climax of the corporate control of America is “Citizens United.” “Our” elections now totally corrupted by American, and foreign, “Dark Money.”
Biological human tyrants die. Paper tyrants live forever.

George Orwell: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Control…..Repubs/Right-Wingers[RWs]…need, MUST be in control…..because their “role” as canaries in the mine, of sentries on the wall requires it. They must be free to “sniff out danger, protect American virginity. RWs must control women and “colored persons.” There are others, “enemies of the people,” for whom RWs must always be on guard so “we” don’t become “victims” like Repubs.
“Enemies of the people” include “communists,” Darwin, EPA, taxes, Planned Parenthood, labor unions, Mexican rapists, “socialism,” mainstream news, regulations, separation of church & state, immigrants, gays, “activist judges,” bureaucrats, people not like you.

Follow the breadcrumbs down the RW rabbit hole…into Repub fantasyland…searching for “transparency”…necessary because the 2022 “enemies of the people,” teachers, replace 2021’s “enemies of the people”: volunteer elections workers and those who couldn’t find “missing’ votes; and 2020’s “enemies of the people”: public health workers and nurses.
There is another “enemy of the people’: the wrong kind of voter – an ongoing RW fear.

Michael Ende: “When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies..human live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.”

The famous 8/23/1971 “Powell Memorandum” spoke of threats to capitalism, warned of “disquieting voices..from college campus, the pulpit, the media.” Powell advocated “constant surveillance” of textbook and tV content, a purge of left-wing elements. Corporations needed to get their message out, fund neoliberal scholars, publish books, influence popular opinions. This has been done, with a vengeance.

The teacher plot against YOUR kids has been sniffed out by ever vigilant Repub/RW canaries, deep in the educational mineshaft. First it was “CRT.,” now a dastardly “lack of transparency,” sneaking in “unAmerican,” “divisive concepts,” brainwashing YOUR vulnerable kids! Using YOUR tax dollars! Shades of Benedict Arnold. Where is Senator Joe McCarthy when “we” need him?

Repub/RW sentries on America’s walls solution: “parent power,” as co-equal educational partners regulating “commie” teachers, safeguarding America’s sacred curriculum.
As Repubs/RWs have taught you, helped by media morons and internet idiots, so-called “experts’ know nothing – but YOU do.It’s called “common sense.” The national press secretary for the Republican State Leadership Committee said Repub/RW proposals are “common sense.”

*****WARNING!!! *****FLASHING LIGHTS! Innocent civilians advised: seek cover whenever ANY Repub/RW operative says “common sense” to describe ANYTHING – because it won’t be. “Common sense” is a major RW “code word” – like “religious liberty,” “free market solution,” “originalism,” “election integrity,” “personal responsibility,” “good man with a gun.”

Perspective: RW operative Chris Rufo [January]: this would be 2022’s wedge issue to “bait the left” into appearing to oppose transparency, implying Dems are hiding something. “The strategy here is to use a non-threatening, liberal value – ‘transparency’ – to force ideological actors to undergo public scrutiny.” Repub/RW proposals will “give parents a powerful check on bureaucratic power.” [unsaid here: give Repubs 2022 votes as rewards for having sniffed out this diabolical “threat” to American democracy]
TIME OUT!!! – read the Repub/RW thinking above again – note HOW they are thinking, note the kind of thing they try to do in a political campaign. Why not something positive? Something improving USA education?

So – we have “constant surveillance” of “commie” teachers, “commie” books, “commie” school boards. “Poll watchers” unleashed in Florida ensuring “election integrity”; vigilantes unleashed in Texas ensuring no rebel females refuse carrying out their God-given roles as baby carriers; “parent power” unleashed across America saving OUR kids from dastardly “unAmerican” ideas and discomfort.
At least one “parent power” sentry wants teachers wearing body cameras. Indiana “parent power” legislation allowing parents filing complaints and lawsuits if they “believe'[!!!] teachers have violated a ban on certain “divisive concepts.” No word yet whether future laws will require “commie” teachers burned at the stake.

Thomas Paine: “He who dares not to offend cannot be honest.”

QUESTION is: “..all Men are created equal..” a “divisive concept”. – and thus banned?
– evolution [modern science & medicine basis], illustrated by COVID variations, a “divisive concept”?
– discussion of women not voting until 1920, “glass ceiling” since, a “divisive concept’?
– “separation of church & state” [1776 No. Carolina Constitution, Articles XXXIV: “..no persons..on any pretense whatso-
ever be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith..”}, a “divisive concept”?
– discussing the three worst [until 2000] Supreme Court decisions in American history, “Dred Scott,’ “Plessy”, “
“Korematsu” [all racist], a “divisive concept”?
– telling students “Second Amendment Rights” don’t exist – as per Articles of Confederation, Madison”s first draft,
1792 Militia Acts explicit wording, a “divisive concept”?
– discussing the 1930s Great Depression as a failure of capitalism, a “divisive concept”?
– any mention Europeans conducting genocide against Native Americans in South and North America, a “divisive
concept”?
– a “divisive concept’ to mention African Americans did NOT “enjoy” slavery?

QUESTION: exactly what parts of “American” history are not a “divisive concept,” permissible to discuss? Are advocates of “Parent power” suggesting teaching America as “The Good Ship Lollypop” – when kids can look this up and know it wrong?

QUESTION: will regimented, “safe” classrooms help solve global warming, supply chain mess, economic inequality, national debt, affordable housing, hunger, outsourcing quality ‘American’ jobs, alternative energy? Would ‘safe” classrooms have put Americans on the moon?

QUESTION: when does the “fire department” become the “Fahrenheit 451 department”; “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “1984,” “The Rights of Man,” “The Grapes of Wraith” banned; are “we’ going to demand “loyalty test and oaths” for teachers?

QUESTION: does the demand for increased “transparency” apply to Republican legislators? Are ‘we” going to have “parent power” legislation demanding names of legislators giving donors tax breaks; for contracts given ‘politically connected” businessmen; for “reforms’ that don’t; for RW ideology become law?

Mark Twain: “Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government when it deserves it.”

A circa 2/12/22 Michael Ramirez “Las Vegas Review-Journal” cartoon has an updated definition of “CRT”: “Critical Riot Theory” – as the Repub Nat’l Committee votes to “rewrite the history of the Jan. 6th riots and condemn those who speak the truth.”

Only logical because for decades RWs attempt rewriting truth on many things: reverse Robin Hood tax cuts for rich really “benefit’ America; Founders didn’t explicitly intend “separation of church & state; “2nd Amendment rights’ means carrying any weapon anywhere anytime; “real victims” in American history are white men; “the market’ pre-determined 1975-202X American economic inequality; Founders intended Constitution forever in stone [“originalism”]; revisiting America’s greatest sins and blunders is a “divisive concept’ without merit.

QUESTION: in all this denial, do those pushing “parent power” have so little faith in their own children; these internet kids will be “crushed” and “demoralized” if school tells them what the internet can, maybe already has?

The real “transparency”: Republicans MUST rewrite history – because if they don’t, it will reveal what a huge fraud the post-1980 Republican party is. Long ago, it stopped being the party of Lincoln, Tewddy R, Ike. They can’t win elections on what they stand for – they MUST create “wedge” issues, MUST smear opponents, MUST get people’s emotions aroused against “unAmerican’ villains, “commies'” aliens “out to get them.”

RWs have politicized a disease and vilified doctors and nurses. Now, politicize education and vilify teachers. Before, vilify elections workers; attacked police 1/6/21; deny global warming and vilify scientists. They need, must have “enemies of the people.”

As usual in Repubs/RW melodramas, there’s delicious irony, hypocrisy, and double standards. The Obama and Biden Administrations made White House visitor logs public. The Trump Administration has/is fighting ANY “transparency” on ANY records-documents-emails-memos-visitor logs-etc. You can’t make this stuff up!!!!!

So, you, gentle reader, are left again – to ponder why the Republicans/RWs continue to come up with these “crises,” continue to be upset about something new every day, continue to find enemies. In this case, you have to wonder why “transparency”. – when the post-1945 Republican public record is full of one scandal after another, one case of trying to hide what they’ve done from YOU. They must think you’ve forgotten the last 75 years. i