WASHINGTON — Clergy members declared in horror that there was no heads up and no permission asked to use St. John’s Church as the backdrop for a defining presidential photo op Monday, as President Trump defiantly held a Bible in front of the historic parish.
"We cannot have been driven off of that patio with tear gas and horses and concussion grenades, so that that man can have a photo op, in front of a church, holding a Bible," Rev. Gini Gerbasi said. “I am so [expletive] offended that he would have the nerve to do that, no one knew about this stunt.”
Gerbasi and several other Episcopal clergy members spent the day at the historic parish, keeping watch after protesters set a fire to the building’s basement Sunday night.
Gerbasi was handing medical supplies to Black Lives Matter protesters after 6 p.m., when federal law enforcement used flash grenades to clear the area.
"I was coughing with tear gas in my clergy collar, and my gray hair, and my old lady reading glasses, so that that man could stand there and hold a Bible in his hand and look Christian,” Gerbasi said. "And it would be far more Christian if he would behave according to the words in that book instead of just carrying it around with him as a prop."
Gerbasi served as assistant rector of St. John’s Lafayette Square during the Obama administration and has since transferred to a sister church in Georgetown.
She anticipated the president would hear reports of the clergy’s dismay, and offered this message for Mr. Trump:
“I would say you need to start behaving like a Christian instead of selling yourself as one,” Gerbasi said. “Your behavior should speak for you.”
Trump church photo opp with bible offends reverend | wusa9.com
Sorry this forum wasn’t enjoyable. I hope you are still able to enjoy the other forums on CAF. Wishing you well.So I decided to leave this forum.
this reminded me of a priest I knew as a kid that just died AND his behavior over decades in an impoverished parish my parents would bring me to for mass every so often should be an example for everyone (not just catholics)Gerbasi served as assistant rector of St. John’s Lafayette Square during the Obama administration and has since transferred to a sister church in Georgetown.
She anticipated the president would hear reports of the clergy’s dismay, and offered this message for Mr. Trump:
“I would say you need to start behaving like a Christian instead of selling yourself as one,” Gerbasi said. “Your behavior should speak for you.”
https://wusa9.com/embeds/video/65-3150bb1d-c46b-450c-8b96-ea8f6f30e247/iframe
You’ll find that there are plenty of threads here with stories with spin by Breitbart. Would be nice if they were confined to a single thread (or not here at all). But I don’t think that will happen.figure there should be a thread on CAF dedicated to discussing FAKE NEWS
given plenty of threads here with stories with spin let’s hope CAF users learn,… YOU (i.e. “we”) CAN’T HAVE IT TWO WAYSthere are plenty of threads here with stories with spin
the difficult task for the USA is to somehow expose the idiocracy of FAKE NEWS while keeping FREEDOM OF SPEECHVietnam’s Coronavirus Success Is Built on Repression
…between Jan. 23, when Vietnam detected its first case of infection, and mid-March, police censored around 300,000 posts on news sites and blogs and 600,000 posts on social media about COVID-19. During those two months, police took action against 654 cases of so-called fake news and sanctioned 146 people. The overlap between the techniques useful for fighting misinformation and those for squashing political criticism is obvious. Vietnam sits at 175th on the Reporters Without Borders 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
Vietnam's Coronavirus Success Is Built on Repression
seems I missed some CAF drama that is kinda related to an executive order TRUMP said was aimed at reining in social media platformsWe do well not to make politics our religion and our religion our politics
…The First Amendment allows private companies like Twitter to speak as they see fit and to fact-check leaders. But the executive order’s threats of changes to Section 230 and FTC investigations render the Constitution powerless to stop Trump from using the weight of the federal government to attack companies that criticize him.
…the incident that sparked Trump’s ire, the fact-checking of his vote-by-mail tweet, did not involve any suppression or censorship at all: Trump’s tweet remained up on the platform, with an additional note from Twitter. It is Trump, not Twitter, who is calling for suppression of speech.
Will Trump’s Executive Order Harm Online Speech? It Already Did. - Lawfare
www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/trump-needs-factcheck-how-twitter-first-amendment-section-230-operate…Trump’s mandate might not hold up in court, but just by issuing it, Trump sends a not-so-subtle threat to Twitter, Facebook, and other internet companies. Remember, the apparent impetus for this order was Twitter posting a fact check after one of Trump’s tweets.
Should social media companies be getting into the fact-checking game? It’s a bad idea, if you ask me. But it’s a perfectly legal thing for them to do.
The standard Republican talking point on this right now is that affixing fact-checking links to some tweets makes Twitter a “publisher” instead of a “platform” or “forum.” It might make for an interesting semantic distinction, but the legally significant issue is whether Twitter is the speaker or creator of Donald Trump’s tweets. If not, it is not legally liable for them. (The same goes for every other user of Twitter, too.)
If you’re thinking, “But, but, what about when Twitter creates a fact-check link and presents it after a user’s posts?” Courts have routinely ruled that a digital company’s decisions about how to present content (or what content to present at all) do not transform it into the speaker of user content.
…Bottom line: Unless government officials are going to completely take over Twitter and Facebook content moderation, invoking public forums here is just bluster.
Ultimately, the order’s lack of standard review very much shows.
Trump's Executive Order on Twitter Is a Total Mess
The post office could be key to people voting during the pandemic but perverse financial rules and Trump’s hostility put that at risk
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the United States post office had been atrophying from financial turmoil. Over the past decade, post offices have been closed across the country, rural mail delivery is stretched thin, and thousands of post office workers’ positions have been eliminated.
…Trump has secured almost total control of USPS leadership. Last month he appointed a Republican fundraiser, Louis DeJoy, to replace the outgoing postmaster general, Megan Brennan, and the following weeks saw resignations by the last two senior members of the USPS governing board, one of whom had overseen the management of mail-in voting, which Trump falsely attributes to the risk of voter fraud.
…another reason why Trump might not want to bail out the Postal Service: voting by mail, which he has repeatedly a criticized. About 30 million voters used such ballots in the 2016 election, and four states now conduct their elections entirely by mail. Millions more may do so amid fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The USPS deems absentee ballots “essential mail” and prioritizes delivering them over other items
'Disastrous at a time like this': the US Postal Service is on the brink of crisis | US Postal Service | The Guardian
basically pondering the big picture, TRUMPs management of the USPS is related to an existential threat to the USAwe frame an issue based upon our own experiences AND FWIW as a kid was an alter boy, a boy scout, went to catholic schools, and @ university took lots of math and science courses
so as an adult when I read a news item like
Trump's Coronavirus Postcards Cost Struggling Post Office $28 Million
what comes to mind is TRUMPs interest in accumulating money and his long history of excuses
Aw don’t associate America First with Trump. The original movement has been so demonized over the years. Read Bill Kauffman’s account of it, with a forward by Gore Vidal of all people.in the case of TRUMPs photo op, trying to “spin the story” that he is in control of the situation AND that it is AMERICA FIRST!
although TRUMP was not the first politician to invoke AMERICA FIRST, he did in fact start off his presidential term using the phrase in his inauguration speech (so I’d bet most americans associate TRUMP w/ AMERICA FIRST)Aw don’t associate America First with Trump.
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)A Tactical Retreat?: Sweden’s Epidemiologist Questions No-Lockdown Strategy As Deaths Exceed Neighbors
Sweden’s light touch, once hailed as a way to try to create herd immunity while protecting the economy, is coming under review as deaths have been 19 times higher than in Norway and 8 times higher than Denmark.“There is potential for improvement in what we have done in Sweden, quite clearly,” epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said.
A Tactical Retreat?: Sweden’s Epidemiologist Questions No-Lockdown Strategy As Deaths Exceed Neighbors | Kaiser Health News
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)Trump declares churches ‘essential,’ calls on them to reopen
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday labeled churches and other houses of worship as “essential” and called on governors nationwide to let them reopen this weekend even though some areas remain under coronavirus lockdown.
The president threatened to “override” governors who defy him, but it was unclear what authority he has to do so.
…Trump has been pushing for the country to reopen as he tries to reverse an economic free fall playing out months before he faces reelection.
Trump declares churches 'essential,' calls on them to reopen
Oh very true. I was being a bit silly. Like poor ole America First. All good.although TRUMP was not the first politician to invoke AMERICA FIRST, he did in fact start off his presidential term using the phrase in his inauguration speech (so I’d bet most americans associate TRUMP w/ AMERICA FIRST)
IMHO TRUMP does not understand what the constitution represents and his main motivation is accumulating money (no matter the cost to others),… as for my immense posts please note they are mostly made up of supporting reference material (for context)Ummm let’s see. You hate Trump. I think we get it now after these immense posts.
Military Oaths to “Support and Defend the Constitution”
Presidents come and go, as do commanders and officers. The mission, style and location of war changes as does the enemy. But for every member of the Armed Forces, whether wearing a uniform of blue or green, one thing remains constant: They raise their right hands and pledge to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive...oaths-to-support-and-defend-the-constitution/
Support and Defend: Understanding the Oath of Office
At the start of each new Congress, all Members beginning a new term of office (the entire House of Representative and one-third of the Senate) take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. In doing so, the Members of Congress perform an act that harkens back to the country’s founding and its first principles.
https://www.heritage.org/the-constitution/report/support-and-defend-understanding-the-oath-office
WRT TRUMP and his main motivation accumulating moneyGeorge Conway, a lawyer and the husband of White House adviser ‘alternative facts’ Kellyanne Conway,…
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
George Conway Says Foreign Leaders See Donald Trump as a 'Deranged Idiot'
Kellyanne Conway: Press Secretary Sean Spicer Gave 'Alternative Facts' | Meet The Press | NBC News - YouTube
nuf said?!President Donald Trump is paying up after conceding that he used his charitable foundation at times as a personal piggy bank.
Trump pays up: $2M to charities as fine for foundation abuse
The Trump campaign tried to get a satirical cartoon of the president removed from the shopping site Redbubble
…The Daily Cartoonist reported that less than 24 hours after Anderson posted the image — and before he’d sold a single product — he received an email from Redbubble telling him it had been taken down.
“We’re sorry, but we had to remove some of your artwork from the Redbubble marketplace because it may contain material that violates someone’s rights,” the message read. “We identified this material in your artwork based on guidance provided to us by the owner of those rights.”
According to the email, the rights holder was “Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.”
On the Daily Kos, Anderson said he thought Trump’s team was trying to claim the MAGA hats in his cartoon were trademark infringement, a claim he described as “absurd” because satire and caricature are protected by the First Amendment.
“We live in a strange time when the #POTUS can falsely accuse someone of murder with impunity (violating @Twitter’s terms of service),” Anderson tweeted, “while at the same time bully a private business into removing content it doesn’t like.”
Anderson, who won the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning in 2007, then connected with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit that assists cartoonists involved in legal disputes.
The CBLDF wrote a letter to Redbubble explaining the legal precedent for Anderson’s artwork and his First Amendment rights.
On May 27, the company reversed course and reinstated his drawing, saying it tries “to respect IP rights and freedom of speech, but we sometimes make mistakes, as we did here,” the Guardian reported.
In a statement to the CBLDF, Anderson said he was glad “Redbubble did the right thing,”
“But it must be pointed out; the President of the United States is a hypocrite who complains about the ‘violation’ of his free speech on Twitter, then tries to actively suppress the free speech of others,”
Trump Campaign Tries to Get Satirical Cartoon Taken Off Shopping Site
simply put because of Section 230 AND the first amendment individuals have the constitutional right to create snarky comments/images based on TRUMPisms (BUT the platform has the right to edit things they deem too far out of line)
Trump signs executive order on religious freedom, as DC archbishop slams Trump visit to Catholic shrine
President Trump signed an executive order on religious freedom Tuesday as Washington, D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory slammed the president and first lady’s visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine amid the protests taking place across the country.
The executive order has not been publicly released but a senior administration official told Fox News it was meant to protect “people of faith around the world.” White House aide Kellyanne Conway confirmed to reporters that Trump signed the order Tuesday afternoon
www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-executive-order-on-religious-freedom-as-dc-archbishop-slams-trump-visit-to-catholic-shrine