Sometimes it is done with Patti Smith. She (along with Zen masters, along with other musicians like Kurt Cobain) is in the lineage of the Beat Poets, who faced with a crazy world, talked crazy. Or so it seems. Songbird inmates of the asylum. Don’t try to get out; you were never in.
This from Space Monkey on Patti Smith’s Easter:
Space monkey, sign of the time, time Space monkey, so outta line, line Space monkey, sort of divine And he’s mine, mine, oh he’s mine
A stranger comes up to him Hands him an old, rusty Polaroid It starts crumbling in his hands He says, “Oh man, I don’t get the picture This is no picture, this is just, this just a, this just a”
“This is my jack-knife, this is my jack-knife This is my jack-knife, this is my jack”
Thirteen years ago, a North Carolina minister, Bishop William Barber II, began the Moral Mondays movement. I posted about here.
Join us for Moral Mondays: A Southern Call to Conscience as we engage in a season of nonviolent moral resistance against extremism in government. Founded in 2013 in North Carolina by Bishop William J. Barber, II, Moral Mondays is a protest movement that centers impacted people, people of faith, and moral leaders who hold elected leaders and government accountable to enact a moral agenda that responds to the urgent needs of the poor.
We are calling on people of moral conscience to join us for Moral Mondays throughout the summer and fall as we work to enact a moral budget and moral public policies for the nation.
Though this was 2013, a few years before the Trump era, there has never been a time when regressive movements in America tried to take us back to a less humane, democratic and moral time. Fortunately, there has never been a time when progressive, humane and moral movements have not pushed back and forward. Moral Mondays was one of those.
Why do I emphasize that progressive Christians can save America now and restore humane and moral democracy? There are of course millions of non-Christians and non-religious citizens who have gotten behind that work in the past and millions are doing that today. Our efforts are worthy and necessary.
Progressive Christians are in a unique position. There have been and are a large number of Christians who believe as a matter of faith that America is a Christian nation and that their faith demands that much of our 21st century progress, like much of the 19th and 20th century progress, is not what God or Jesus wants. It is fine for Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and those of other faiths or no faith to argue otherwise. But other Christians who believe differently are not so easily dismissed, although dismissed they have been and will be. We can look to the most prominent Christian in the world, Pope Leo (who happens to be American), as an example of what can be said and done.
This is a call that progressive Christians stand up and stand out together for an alternative vision of America—a humane, democratic and above all moral America. Moral Mondays was and is such a movement.
It wasn’t and isn’t easy. Christian churches supported slavery, using the Bible as proof text. Opposing Christians tried to explain that as a matter of Christian principle and as a matter of humane morality, they were wrong and it was wrong.
It is Monday. Moral Monday. We would like to think of every day of the week—including the sacred days for our various faiths—as Moral days. But if one day a week is all we can handle, it’s a start.
This song was written in New York City Of rich man, preacher, and slave If Jesus was to preach what He preached in Galilee, They would lay poor Jesus in His grave. –Woody Guthrie, Jesus Christ
It is Sunday, a day of worship for many Christians. It is Flag Day, established in 1912 by President Woodrow Wilson to honor the American flag. It is the birthday of President Trump, which he is honoring by holding a UFC event on the lawn of the White House.
Among these four—Jesus, the American flag, President Trump and the UFC—I’ve selected Jesus. I would hope that faithful Christians would agree with that selection, but who knows?
Woody Guthrie is one of the most significant musicians in America. He was not the first or last to use song to protest and feature many national infirmities, but he may be the best.
Many think that his song This Land is Your Land should be chosen as our new national anthem. His family has resisted this, saying that in the wrong hands, it could be used for malevolent purposes. They may have a point. Look at how the American flag and American patriotism has been misused.
Today’s song is Woody Guthrie’s Jesus Christ. When it comes to misuse and misunderstanding, some versions of that faith may be at or near the top of the list.
Jesus Christ was a man who traveled through the land A hard-working man and brave He said to the rich, “Give your money to the poor,” But they laid Jesus Christ in His grave
Jesus was a man, a carpenter by hand His followers true and brave One dirty little coward called Judas Iscariot Has laid Jesus Christ in His Grave
He went to the preacher, He went to the sheriff He told them all the same “Sell all of your jewelry and give it to the poor,” And they laid Jesus Christ in His grave.
When Jesus come to town, all the working folks around Believed what he did say But the bankers and the preachers, they nailed Him on the cross, And they laid Jesus Christ in his grave.
And the people held their breath when they heard about his death Everybody wondered why It was the big landlord and the soldiers that they hired To nail Jesus Christ in the sky
This song was written in New York City Of rich man, preacher, and slave If Jesus was to preach what He preached in Galilee, They would lay poor Jesus in His grave.
If you are a Democrat, you are receiving maybe dozens of texts and emails each day from various Democrats running for various offices or from organizations promoting various good causes. The messages vary in content and tone from “You’re a good person who has helped before and can help again” to today’s annoyed text:
“We begged you to help overturn [Citizens United]. We pleaded with you. And still…nothing.”
The text includes pictures of Amy Klobuchar and Adam Schiff.
All this, at a time when Democrats justifiably have little confidence that the Democratic Party, with its current establishment, has a hope or a clue to restoring democracy in America. (Ironic, given the name of the party.) The reasons for that lack of confidence are too many to list.
Are there glimmers of hope and effective action? Yes. Glimmers, and thanks to those who provide them. But overall, the reaction of the Democratic Party to a dire America and to the disaffection of their own members is: Stay the course, because this American travesty will collapse under its own unpopularity and damage. Trust us, people. And give us money.
There are dozens of people—maybe hundreds—who could engineer and lead a Democratic insurgency. The party’s response to that is—again—stay the course. We know what we’re doing. Look at how successful we’ve been. Maybe there are a few minor repairs needed, but why fix it if it’s essentially not broken?
The point of all religions and spiritual traditions is to have us see and hear openly and clearly.
At times, some have seen and heard openly and clearly. When they have, they may have taken it upon themselves to help others do the same, realizing that this would be of general benefit and would reduce general malificence.
How they did that is how we have ended up with an overwhelming set of different traditions. Stories, texts, practices, philosophies, on and on. So much so that experts ancient and modern sometimes miss or avoid the point, some out of selfish expediency, many out of good intent but occasional incomplete understanding. Some have gotten the point and try to refocus our attention on it. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.
When people see and hear openly and clearly, they see and hear themselves and everyone and everything in the best possible way. Things will not immediately or ever be perfect. They can’t. But things will be better.
Every word in the Bible, whichever version old or new, was meant and is meant to reach this point. The connection isn’t always obvious. Some direct and didactic guidance and teaching is not exactly beside the point, since it is apparently aimed at making us better people who are better together. Still that is not quite there. Then there are the stories that defy interpretation as making things and us better, though interpreters try. Again, the point remains, even if more obscure.
Whatever your tradition or philosophy, you can trace it back to someone who saw and heard openly and clearly, and whose followers tried as best they could to perpetuate it effectively, sometimes keeping the point, sometimes losing the point.
The good news is that each of us can dedicate ourselves, within and without those traditions, to the point. Once there, as the progenitors knew, better is on the way.
“If you lay the skyscrapers on the ground our Reflecting Pool is taller.”
“Jawdropping” is usually a figure of speech. Except as I watched this presidential moment, my jaw did literally drop. I’ve noted above it is weird, wacky and concerning. Weird and wacky can be fun and funny. Concerning is when the presentation tells you something—everything—about the very powerful man proudly making the presentation.
Putin thinks or would like to that Russia is still one of the top superpowers in the world. It isn’t, but he has a plan to get there.
All he has to do is knock one of the two superpowers from the top spots. Russia is never going to dethrone China. But he believes America is vulnerable. Putin is an expert and experienced intelligence officer–and dictator–so he knows vulnerabilities and can read people. He read Trump from first encounter. A man who thinks he’s smart but isn’t. A man who could be compromised and manipulated. Most of all, a man who, in the right position, could create chaos.
There are some particular American policies that Putin would like to see Trump adopt; weak support for Ukraine, for example. Mostly though, Putin wants to incite dissension and chaos in America because Putin, as a student of history and geopolitics, knows that internal dissension and chaos lead directly to national weakness.
Putin may not yet be able to declare mission accomplished. But every day he is getting closer to success.
In 1948, as much of the world was recovering from World War II, the world also felt guilty and ashamed at not having intervened sooner to save 6 million Jews from Hitler.
A Jewish haven was established in Israel. There was widespread, though not universal, support for this. Whether this “worked” is a matter of perspective. It was bound from the inception to be a source of conflict, which continues to this moment.
What might have been more broadly acceptable and peace-inducing would have been an Abrahamic state, rather than just a Jewish one. It could have been a democracy where human rights were guaranteed for all people—Jews, Christians, Muslims, other believers, non-believers. It could have been an official home for all three traditions that honor Israel/Palestine as a foundational sacred space. Differences in beliefs, some not insubstantial, could be subsumed to common principles. The Abrahamic religions are literally siblings. Like all siblings there are conflicts, but like children of the same father, they are also family.
Write that speculative history. You will find it is not perfect—what history is?—but you will also find less enmity and more comity. What could be wrong with that?
Bill Pulte surrounded by homes that are actually spies!
Trump has nominated Bill Pulte to be Director of National Intelligence:
Bill Pulte is the grandson of William J. Pulte, founder of PulteGroup, a residential home construction company. He studied broadcast journalism at Northwestern University. Pulte founded Pulte Capital in 2011, a private equity firm, and founded The Blight Authority, a nonprofit that clears empty homes, in 2015. Amid a leadership dispute, Pulte was named to PulteGroup’s board in 2016, serving for a four-year term.
It isn’t worth discussing whether Bill Pulte is qualified to be DNI. He is not.
What is worth discussing is why Trump wants so many manifestly unqualified people to help him run the country. There are too many unqualified—and sometimes vengeful and wacky—officials to list here.
A few reasons:
Many of the unqualified are rich, which means they can give Trump money and loyalty in exchange for prestigious positions.
Many of the unqualified are even less smart and knowledgeable than Trump, so he is not threatened by them.
Some number of Trump hardcore supporters are the sort of regular people who think that if they only had the opportunity, they could do a better and more patriotic job than some of the so-called expert communist enemies of America who once held these positions. They may not ever get nominated, but they can at least see that other unqualified people are getting the chance.
You are floating down a running river. The changing scenes along the banks are so interesting. You are lost in the views. But the river still demands attention and focus. As distracting as the scenery may be, there is the possibility of danger in the water.
The mass of new scenery in American life is staggering. It is possible that as this is written, a million Americans are generating videos, and eventually there will be a million media channels to show them. The government of America once proceeded with a limited number of news items, occasionally outrageous, often important, but mostly plain. Now we seem to be at one outrage a day, or even an hour. The river is running, dangerous rapids ahead, but the passing scenery, beautiful or horrifying, is so alluring.
Focus Americans. Be attracted or disgusted if you must by the constantly changing news and content. The flow. But keep diligent and vigilant focus on what matters. Some who do not mean you or most of us well are depending on distraction, hoping that like a child or pet, you will be fascinated by whatever shiny object is dangled in front of you. Please focus.
Bob Schwartz 