Author: A.T.

The Speaker of the House is no fan of — in his words — “the so-called separation of church and state.”

Indeed, reports Rolling Stone, he “has ties to the far-right New Apostolic Reformation — which is hell-bent on turning America into a religious state.”

Is he the right man to be second in line to the presidency?

The Key to Mike Johnson’s Christian Extremism Hangs Outside His Office will help you decide.

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On December 29, 2020 — eight days before the insurrection — Sheets and his team of prophets were in Washington, D.C., staying at the Willard Hotel, the site of the various war rooms overseen by Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon. On that day, Sheets, along with 14 other apostles and prophets, had a multi-hour meeting inside the White House with Trump administration officials. Who exactly among White House Staff attended this meeting is unclear (and the Trump administration has made the White House Visitor Logs secret and invulnerable to FOIA requests until 2026). But members of Sheets’ team posted photos of themselves (with White House visitor passes) both outside and inside the building.

The Appeal to Heaven flag was the banner of this mobilization, which brings us back to Mike Johnson and the flag outside his office. What does it signal that the speaker of the House of Representatives is purposely flying this symbol of Christian warfare?

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And then there’s his wife and podcast partner Kelly, whose Onward Christian Counseling Services, the Huffington Post reports  . . .

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. . . is grounded in the belief that sex is offensive to God if it is not between a man and a woman married to each other. It puts being gay, bisexual or transgender in the same category as someone who has sex with animals.

“We believe and the Bible teaches that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography or any attempt to change one’s sex, or disagreement with one’s biological sex, is sinful and offensive to God,” says the eight-page business document. . . .

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TAX-SELLING BARGAINS?

Sometimes this works.  You look for stocks so beaten down as the end of the year approaches that folks may be selling to lock in their loss “no matter the price.”  That can lead to irrationally low prices — an opportunity for us.

Or not.  Sometimes, those stocks just keep falling until all that’s left is a bad memory.  Over the years, I’ve enjoyed, and suffered, both.  (I had one that eventually jumped 40 fold, which made up for a lot of losers.)

Two I bought more of Friday are HYMC, at 18 cents, down from its $16 July, 2020 high; and OPRT, at $2.50, down from $27.  The first has cash and gold that might (might!) prove to be worth a lot more than its debt; the second has been the victim of bad management that might (might!) get replaced with good management.

Only, needless to say, with money you can truly afford to lose.

Psychology meets kitchen table economics.

A sobering read.

We on team Biden need to show better that we feel voters’ pain.  We put a lot of emphasis on our great jobs record — lowest unemployment in 50 years — but only 3.9% of the country feels the pain of unemployment.  Nearly 100% feel the pain of higher prices.  We stress that inflation is coming down, which it is and that’s great — but prices aren’t coming down, and voters need to feel we get how rough that is.

So yes, we’re right on climate and guns and women’s rights and democracy and Ukraine and the price of insulin (remember: Republicans blocked lowering it for diabetics under 65) — and on the need to fund the IRS and raise taxes on billionheirs and raise the $7.25 minimum wage.  And yes, we’re beginning to revitalize our crumbling infrastructure and get highspeed broadband to millions of rural voters.  All that and more.

(And yes, their party accepts a twice-impeached, four-times-indicted, $25-million-fined, adjudicated rapist who bankrupted multiple companies as their standard bearer.  A “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” in the words of Lindsey Graham.  A dangerous sociopath, in the words of both his ghost writer and his clinical psychologist niece.)

Yet — clearly — we all need to do  more than just watch events unfold if we’re going to save democracy.

Volunteer opportunities to consider:

Field Team Six

Vote Forward

Swing Left

Indivisible

Rock The Vote

The League of Women Voters

And a link to click if you can afford to chip in.

(I know: I’m incorrigible.  Unlike Joe Biden, who in the words of Lindsey Graham again, is “as good a man as God ever created.”)

Have a great weekend.

But first —

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“I’m calling from Israeli intelligence. We have the order to bomb. You have two hours.”
An extraordinary warning call to a Palestinian dentist starts the panicked evacuation of a Gazan neighbourhood.

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As gripping a story as they come.

And now —

Shai Davidai:

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I am an assistant professor at Columbia Business School.  I am a father, a husband, an uncle, and a son.  I am a forty-year-old man, and last week I found myself crying in front of a group of complete strangers.

. . . I stood on Columbia University’s main campus and pleaded with my employer to protect me and help me protect the thousands of Jewish students whose lives and safety have been entrusted to us by worried parents all across the United States.

I pleaded with my employer to help me protect the lives of thousands of Jewish students from pro-terror student organizations who openly laud Hamas—an internationally recognized terrorist organization.

I pleaded with the presidents of colleges and universities all around the country to take a clear moral stance against rape and torture and the kidnapping of helpless civilians.

I pleaded with colleges and universities to live up to their stated mission of humanism and enlightenment.  I pleaded—and still plead—because the silence of college presidents all across the country is deafening.

I am not tenured.  I could be fired for this.

But if my research into behavioral psychology has taught me anything, it’s that looking back on my life, I am more likely to regret not taking a stance.

I can’t afford not to take a stance.

Not when students’ lives are on the line.

Not when my children’s lives are on the line.

My children may be American citizens, but, through their mother and me, they are Israelis, too.

And because they are Israelis, because they are Jews, I fear for them.

I fear for my two-year-old daughter, who’s funny and brave and thinks everyone in the world is her friend.

I fear for my seven-year-old son, who still asks me to sit next to his bed for a few minutes every night when I tuck him into bed.

I fear, because there are student organizations on my own campus who see my beautiful children as legitimate targets.

I fear, because the president of my university—my very own employer—refuses to speak up against such senseless violence and hatred.

Let’s call this what it is.

This is cowardice.

I see my son’s and daughter’s faces in the faces of the hundreds of innocent children and teenagers who were murdered, tortured, raped, brutalized, and kidnapped on October 7th.

For Hamas and its supporters, those children are acceptable targets.

And right now, in colleges and universities all across the country, there are hundreds of pro-terror student organizations that are celebrating these vile crimes against humanity.

This is what the President of Columbia is refusing to condemn.  This is what the President of Harvard is refusing to condemn.  This is what the Presidents of Yale and NYU and UC Berkeley and many other “enlightened” institutions throughout the country are refusing to condemn.

They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the senseless loss of life in the horrific attacks of 9/11.

They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the horrific murder of George Floyd.

They would never allow student organizations to celebrate the mass shooting of more than 100 LGBTQ+ people in an Orlando nightclub on June 12, 2016.

And yet, when it comes to Jewish lives—when it comes to my own children’s lives—they could care less.

Let me be as clear as I can:

This is not about being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine.

This is about making a clear distinction between legitimate resistance and unspeakable crimes against humanity.

This is about human decency.

You can support the rights of millions of innocent Palestinians and still take a moral stance against heinous violence and brutality.

I know, because I do.

You can spend your adult life advocating for the establishment of a prosperous Palestinian state next to a prosperous Israeli state and still be willing to draw the line at rape.

I know, because I do.

You can be a lefty and a softy who can’t fathom why we can’t just end this senseless cycle of violence yet still shout at the top of your lungs that shooting babies in their cribs and burning their corpses is just plain evil.

Plain plain evil.

I know, because I am and I do.

You can be pro-Israel and pro-Palestine and anti-terror.

I know, because I am.

Parents from all across the country have reached out to me in the past week asking if their kids are safe.

Thousands of worried parents who have been losing sleep as they see their children’s campuses rampaged by extremist organizations that openly celebrate and encourage terrorism.

Thousands of moms and dads who only want to make sure that their children are protected from harm.

To all those parents, I reply:

No.  Your children are not safe.

Because, as a professor, I can tell you that universities across the country would rather appease pro-terror campus coalitions than care for their Jewish students.

Because, as a professor, I can tell you that the presidents of universities all across the U.S. are more concerned with getting bad press than with getting your children home safely.

What sort of education is your child getting at a place that refuses to condemn terror-sympathizing organizations and allows them to roam freely on campus?

What sort of education is your child getting at a place that gives a platform and a mix to organizations that celebrate the execution of infants in their cribs?

The raping of teenagers?

The kidnapping of toddlers?

The moral and intellectual bankruptcy of universities throughout the country is now undeniable.

But I know that if we all work together we can make a real difference.

This is not about me.  I’m not some leader.  I’m just a dad.

I’m just a dad who is scared and who is willing to put EVERYTHING on the line to protect his children.

Many of you have reached out in the past days, and your messages have brought me immense light into a very dark time.

I am so extremely inspired by the stories people have been sending me.

People are telling me about the committees they’ve formed and the PTAs they’ve joined and the politicians they’ve called and TV and radio shows to which they have called-in, demanding that their voice be heard. . . .

If you want to get in touch and let me know about all that you have, are, and will be doing at your job, school, alma mater, neighborhood, and so forth, please email me.

[And] please help me spread this message. . . .

I know it’s weird, but can I please ask you to email this to all your friends and post it on all your social media profiles?

I really just want the message to get through.

Thank you!☺️

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As I suggested last week, Israeli and Palestinian civilians share a common enemy: Hamas.

May every possible civilian life be spared, and all possible humanitarian aid be provided, as that enemy is defeated.

Yet another good election for the Blue team.

Grateful as some voters are to Trump for overturning Roe v Wade via his Supreme Court picks . . .

. . . excited as they are for him to reveal his still secret plan for “incredible health care at a tiny fraction of the cost ‘ . . .

. . . certain as they are that he is the victim of the greatest witch hunt in history . . .

. . . and eager as they are for him to be their “retribution” . . .

. . . they have not been numerous enough to produce the kind of election results in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 — and, now, 2023 — that they would have liked.

If we all lean in, 2024 will continue that trend.

Otherwise — here is a 6-minute preview of what we’ll get.

It’s based on this article in the Washington Post:

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Trump And Allies Plot Revenge, Justice Department Control In A Second Term

Advisers have also discussed deploying the military to quell potential unrest on Inauguration Day.

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Trump fans should consider whether this is really what they want.

Or could they live with an administration not totally in sync with their sensibilities, perhaps, but bent on getting everyone — among other things — higher wages, lower drug prices, equal rights, high-speed broadband, modernized infrastructure, affordable health care, sensible gun safety, the right to control their own bodies, and a habitable planet for them and their grandkids?

We have 11 months to build the case for democracy, empathy, inclusion, and compromise over autocracy, anger, division, and revenge.

Note #1: Taxes would not go up a penny on anyone making less than $400,000 a year.

Note #2: Over the last century, the economy and stock market have done significantly better under Democratic Administrations than Republican.  It’s just a fact.

Note #3: The biggest drivers of the National Debt since the end of World War II have been Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump — all Republicans bent on slashing taxes on the very richest among us.

Please help if you can.

It is by no means sure Trump will be the nominee.

If he is, you might want to read his niece’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man . . . although the title pretty much tells it all.

You could read his own book, the Art of the Deal, but quicker and more interesting might be Tony Schwartz, who actually wrote that book for Trump, speaking at the Oxford Union 10 days before the 2016 election about why he represented “such a dangerous threat.”

Except that most of you already agree, so you could save even that hour.

Instead, let’s turn to the question of our nominee.

Unless he decides not to run, it will be Joe.

Most Democrats and I’d guess a majority of Independents agree on two things: that they wish he were younger (I’m sure he does, too);  and that he and the team of 4,000 appointees he has assembled is doing somewhere between a good and a great job, especially given what he’s been up against.

But there’s a lot, I think, most of us don’t know about him — I knew about the plagiarism thing, for example, but not the rest of the story — and so I have another book to recommend that I finished listening to last night:  Growing Up Biden by the President’s sister.

Unlike Trump’s niece (above), or Trump’s sister (who wrote no book but once told a friend of mine, when asked why she lived in their building and not one of Trump’s, “have you met my brother?”), Valerie Biden Owens makes a deeply personal and powerful case for her brother that helped me get to know him a lot better.

I think he will be our nominee and win reelection.

Whoever our nominee is — or theirs — we have to build the resources to turn out a huge blue wave.  To hold the White House, for sure, but also the Senate, and take back the House and make gains in every state legislature.

I think you’ll enjoy Growing Up Biden.

ParkerVision made its appeal yesterday.  You can read about it here and, in more detail, here.  Lord knows I’m gun-shy by now; but if you own PRKR (with money, in this case, you basically have already lost) — currently valued at barely $7 million — I would hold on to see what happens.  Who knows?  The good guys might finally win.

Bill Maher on Western Civilization.  (Spoiler alert: he’s for it.)

John Adams: “There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

He wrote that in 1814.  I found it in the introduction to John Avlon’s Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations.  Here we are two centuries later — with a former president who plotted a coup and a MAGA Republican Party that seems willing, if not eager, to perpetuate it.

Globally, Tom Friedman gives us the big picture:

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Step back far enough, and you can see exactly what is driving so much geopolitics today: Ukraine is trying to join the West. Israel is trying to join a new Middle East. And Russia and Iran have teamed up to try to block both.

Unfortunately, the new G.O.P. House speaker, Mike Johnson, is either too inexperienced or too ideological (or both) to see this (or to care). . . .

If it sounds like an utterly incoherent worldview that would undermine the American global leadership that has shaped a world we’ve thrived in for the past century, it’s because it is. And if it feels as if House G.O.P. leaders are small thinkers in a big time, it’s because they are. They are shameless, shameful and dangerous. Please do our country a favor and audition for Fox News on some other issue.

Because this IS a big moment — comparable to 1945 or 1989.

If Ukraine is able to escape Russia’s grasp and eventually join NATO and the European Union — with its formidable army, agricultural exports and technology prowess — it would be a giant boost for a Europe whole and free. And if Israel can be maneuvered back to the bargaining table for a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority — to pave the way for normalization between the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia — it would be a huge boost for a new, more pluralistic Middle East built around Palestinians, other Arabs and Israelis focused on strengthening their people’s resilience for the future and not their resistance to each other and to the West.

If these tectonic shifts can happen, the post-post-Cold War world has a far greater chance to handle other global challenges, like climate change, than if these shifts are stymied.

But you don’t need to speak Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Russian or Ukrainian to understand that Iran-backed Hamas launched its war to stymie the Saudi-Israel normalization and prevent Tehran from being isolated and that Vladimir Putin launched his war to stop Ukraine from expanding a Europe whole and free and prevent Moscow from being isolated. . . .

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Worth reading in full.

Have a great week.

Of the new House Speaker — second in line to the presidency and January 6th coup architect Mike Johnson — American Values Coalition executive director Napp Nazworth writes: “I’m a conservative Christian who supports the norms of democracy, Johnson does not.”

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Given what we know about Johnson, what if Republicans retain control of the House and Biden wins the next election? Would the majority decline to certify the results and would Johnson use his power as speaker to seek to overturn the results? Signs point to yes.

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Worth reading in full.

To help win back the House as we hold the Senate and the White House with a big blue wave, you know what to do.

Have a good week-end.

Anyone who thinks our democracy is not at grave risk should read Robert Reich’s latest.

This — I would remind you — is the democracy so many of our forefathers fought and died for and that, at least until recently, for all its flaws, all the world looked to as a beacon of hope.

Once lost, democracy is notoriously hard to regain.

If you can help fund the big blue wave that will save it, click here.

A life well lived.  A man neither you nor I had ever heard of.  Bertie Bowman.  In case you’re up for a little inspiration at this troubled time.

Three lives badly lived: The closer you look, the more Netanyahu resembles Trump (and Putin).

(Luttig is a Republican.)

If I were writing the movie, a huge fleet of U.S. cargo planes would be flying over Gaza 24/7 air-dropping pallets of food — ideally avoiding Hamas strongholds — with leaflets in Arabic saying:

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We Israelis and you Palestinians are victims of the same scourge — Hamas — who slaughtered our innocent civilians in a long-planned surprise attack and now sit eating and drinking in their tunnels while you starve.

This food comes from us Israelis — with the assistance of the United States Air Force — with the same good will that has long led us to treat wounded Palestinians in our hospitals; to train Palestinian doctors in our universities; and to welcome more than a million Palestinians as Israeli citizens, with full voting rights and the right to serve in our Knesset.

All we have ever wanted is to be left alone.  When we left Gaza in 2006, we hoped you would build a prosperous nation.  Instead, some of you attacked us even as we were leaving . . . devoting enormous resources to building tunnels and weapons to kill Jews, Hamas’s stated goal.

We have never wanted to kill you any more than most of you have wanted to kill us.  Our goal is to free you — and us — of Hamas once and for all.  It is the only road we see to peace.  May God be with you.  Shalom.

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Obviously, it would be written much better.  But that’s the gist.

Make any sense?

Any chance?