Ray Person

GOP has long wanted to cut welfare, Social Security, and Medicare. They did not enact these, because they would hurt the GOP base. This strategy created bullies and now one is president with his goons. They now have a choice: turn against their party leaders or face the wrath of voters.

The number should be 6,660.

A great op-ed from two Harvard political scientists, including one of the world's leading scholars on authoritarianism, on why Harvard's response to Trump is dangerous.

I completely agree. I teach feminist and postcolonial approaches to the Bible and rarely have students who find what I'm teaching problematic. But what I'm teaching will soon be illegal in the public universities here in Ohio.

Many of us knew years ago that MAGA was nostalgia for a time when racial segregation was legal, women knew their place was in the kitchen, queers were in the closet, and disabled people were kept at home or in institutions. But most white folks voted based on this nostalgia. Not me.

"improper ideology" that includes race/ethnicity and gender:
"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28)

Trump's Attack on Lawyers and Law Firms Takes a Page Out of the Southern 1950s Playbook American Authoritarians Fear the Uniquely American Power of Litigation

If you want to know what this administration will do, no need to look to European authoritarians.

We had our own in the South in the 50s and 60s, and Trump is following their playbook.

open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

This happened in the town where I live. I am absolutely outraged.

Wow! Students can't wear masks to protect their identity, but law enforcement can.

ICE Says 'Sorry' After Detaining US Citizens for Speaking Spanish: Report A Puerto Rican family, all US citizens, was wrongfully detained by ICE in Milwaukee after speaking Spanish.

Shameful treatment of the United States' Spanish-speaking citizens

In the terrible flood of Trump offenses, this is likely to get lost, but cutting off drugs for AIDS patients will literally lead to deaths. There is no excuse for this cruelty.

This is exactly the kind of action I expect from Quakers, who I first got to know when attending the Oklahoma City Friends Meeting in the 1980s when I was in seminary. They provided leadership in Oklahomans for Justice in Central America.
neym.org/news/2025/01...

Statement of Archbishop Broglio on Executive Orders Signed by the President “Our prayer is one of hope that, as a Nation blessed with many gifts, our actions demonstrate a genuine care for our most vulnerable sisters and brothers, ...

Important statement by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Remember that this group often sides with the GOP on conservative policies concerning abortion and gay rights, so this is significant.
www.usccb.org/news/2025/st...

Every one who is the least bit concerned about the separation of church and state should be outraged that this has been introduced in Congress. These politicians want to tell the church what sound "biblical teaching" is.
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

We certainly agree that the Democrats cannot compromise with Trump. If anything, they need to speak up far more than in the past.

Christian Nationalists Don’t Want Us To Remember the Real MLK The same Christian ideology that inspired J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI to surveil MLK is alive and well in the Trump administration.

Christian Nationalists Don’t Want Us To Remember the Real MLK

This advice assumes Trump will have two good years of building more support. I would not assume that.

Research reveals new trends among Black Protestants When Jason E. Shelton brought his grandmother from Cleveland, Ohio, to his Texas church four years ago, he had to prepare her for the experience.“I had to warn my grandma, ‘This isn’t the service…

Research reveals new trends among Black Protestants

It may be a good time to recall that almost 100 yrs ago wealthy businessmen hatched a scheme to weaken progressive Christianity because the social gospel wasn’t conducive to corporate profits. They poured $$$ into Chr orgs that preached a different tune: the gospel of free market capitalism.

Some ponderings on how to maneuver on social media during these challenging times. ”How To Resist The Tech Oligarchy If You Can’t Leave One Or All Of Their Platforms”

Join me in #EveryDayAnActOfResistence

open.substack.com/pub/allenvha...

"Love Alone in Early Anabaptism" by Gerald Mast in honor of today being the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism.
www.goshen.edu/wp-content/u...

'Crazy to see': Parts of Gulf Coast get first-ever blizzard warning A winter storm was on a track to sweep through Texas and Louisiana, across the Gulf Coast and deep into Florida, significant snow and ice in tow.

I wonder if nature is giving us a message about renaming the Gulf.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour WATCH: Episcopal bishop asks Trump 'to have mercy' on LGBTQ+ communities and immigrants

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI4h...

I played D&D at least once a week throughout high school in the late 70s and the adventures could last 4-6 hours without much difficulty. At the time D&D was mostly unnoticed by most adults and was not in the popular eye as far as we could tell. And it was a really low cost game--two books and dice.

I plan to watch the PBS Create channel. [We don't have cable.]

Most certainly, if their theology would require them to be anti-US constitution.

How shall we render? Thankfully, the Christian tradition is filled with models of resistance to unjust...

www.christiancentury.org/features/how...

The Village People will perform during inauguration ! So deeply ironic and they know that, but Trump's supporters do not. YMCA is about how the Manhattan YMCA was a place for men to pick up men. Their singing YMCA is definitely a political statement, a form of resistance within Trump's celebration.