Monday Morning Tabs
- Via ABC News: DOJ dropping criminal probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell amid pressure from senators.
- Via NBC News: Sen. Thom Tillis drops blockade of Trump’s Fed chair nominee, clearing path for Warsh’s confirmation.
- Via Axios: DeSantis plots end run of Florida law to create more GOP House seats.
- From Wired: The Internet’s Favorite Lawyer Says We’re Living Through ‘Multiple Watergates per Week’
- Via the NYT: Stung by Voters, Republican Legislators Move to Curb Citizen Initiatives. Hey, if the voters are going to get all uppity, what else are you going to do except make majority rule even more difficult?
- Via Politico: Sánchez dismisses US notion of suspending Spain from NATO.
- Via Politico: Former NATO envoy warns of ‘very big mistakes’ in criticizing Trump on Iran.
- Via the Democracy Docket: Many Americans believe Trump’s lies about voter fraud, poll shows.
- Apropos of recent discussions here on the site comes this piece by Holly Berkley Fletcher at Liberal Currents: The Untapped Potential of Organized Mainline American Protestantism.
This isn’t a new phenomenon; progressive organizing amongst more theologically liberal white Christians dates back to the Social Gospel movement at the turn of the 20th century. The Civil Rights Movement—led by Black churches of various types that continue to be a mainstay of progressive politics—included many white mainline clergy (less so their congregants). More recently, faith-based activism and outreach to white mainline Christians has had a significant impact, helping to propel Barack Obama to victory and pass his signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act, according to author Jack Jenkins.
These efforts have waxed and waned rather than coalesce into anything approximating white evangelicals’ political influence, in part due to inherent features of white liberal Christianity itself. But while the white “Christian Left” alone is unlikely to rescue American democracy, its leadership, organizational networks, physical spaces, and congregants are all valuable, established resources for those efforts, and its members’ more diverse, fluid politics give Democrats room to grow their support.
No one wants to talk about the costs of war and peace but here is a minor sign of the times:
Italy forgoes $14 billion deficit spending on defense amid wobbling economy
Sound familiar?
The amount we are spending on defending (or is it offending) our place in the world will be debilitating in the near and far term.
I keep wondering about historical analogies but all I can come up with the decline of the British Empire after WWI.
Here’s a cousin to this article.
Meet the mayor of a tiny Texas town who wants to limit how cities can govern
A long article that I tried to excerpt and failed but well reading.
@Scott: Dr. T notes my governor DeUseless’ efforts to push gerrymandering. Here in the “Free State of Florida” the guv is also big on preempting local rule. It started with overruling city beach closings and mask rules during COVID, progressed through not allowing Miami to require employers provide breaks and water for outdoor workers, and has now moved on to overruling land use restrictions that developers find inconvenient.
The guv is term limited and has his eyes on the White House. He’s trying to out-MAGA Trump. Hopefully in time for MAGA to crumble. He’s also trying, and so far failing, to get his wife nominated for guv.
I am going to be that guy that I usually do not like, the one that comments under a video or blog post w/o having actually read the post in its entirety, in this case I have not clicked on the Nato dude warns folks there are major risks in criticizing President Trump on Iran link Steven provided.
Without having read the article yet I agree that there are major risks and we should curb our desires to pound on President Trump regarding his Iran strategy or lack thereof.
We have countless examples of President Trump showing the U.S. and the world that he has a very thin skin and he lashes out at folks who criticize him, so maybe we can throttle back on the glee we all take when he seems to be failing at what he wants to accomplish. This is a guy who sics the FBI on folks that get under his skin, maybe we should remind ourselves of this fact and act accordingly.
Of course, the linked article probably has nothing to do with talking about President Trump’s temperament but that is what I get for not reading the article first.
What on earth could those leaders be thinking? It’s as if they could believe the wishes of their own people might actually be more important than the wishes of the Great and Powerful Trump. Perhaps a few years from now Volker will look back on statements like this and wonder what on earth he was thinking.
@inhumans99:
@dazedandconfused:
Volker represent a diminished, but still real, tendency in German foreign policy circles to always defer to Washington.
The problem is that deference to Trump buys nothing except the likelihood of future bullying. Trump generally has no concept of rewarding good faith; he simply banks it, writes off the excahnge, and moves on to his next demand or delusion or whim or grievance.
This why even such pro-US leaders as Stramer, Merz, and Meloni, are sick to death of the man.