Like Ships in the Night: Two Christian Leaders

Two men of different races, generations, and backgrounds, one departing, one just arriving, whose faith has informed their politics - not the other way around.  Hope is still alive.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson, 1941-2026; may he rest in peace after his long, weary struggles for civil rights and justice for all:

Texas state representative James Talarico, born 1989, in a censored interview with Stephen Colber:

For 50 years, the religious right, a political movement - that's the perfect description for it - they convinced a lot of our fellow Christians that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage:  two issues that aren't mentioned in the Bible, two issues that Jesus never talked about. Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I and every one of our fellow believers, how we're going to be judged and how we're going to be saved:  by feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It is all about how you treat other people.

Don't tell me what you believe; show me how you treat other people, and I'll tell you what you believe.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Bonus:  Talarico speaks at a town hall in Laredo last week:

This man speaks my language.  He's young enough to be my grandson, but he talks with mature wisdom and confidence.  Wow.  

-----

"White People, Y'all Should Be Embarrassed"

Wanda Sykes provides the comedy relief we've been needing this week.

-----

OPINIONS, 3/12/25

Presented as a public service by the Blue Truck. Your Head Trucker may not agree with every word these guys say, but I like the way they say it. 

 Liberal Redneck: 

 

Stephen Colbert with Ezra Klein:

 

Lawrence O'Donnell with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI):

 

Robert Reich: 

  

 

Tom Powell, Jr.: 

-----

Convicted Felon Picks "Never-Trump Guy" for Veep

I think that I’m going to vote third party because I can’t stomach Trump.  I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.

--J. D. Vance, 

NPR "Fresh Air"

August 17, 2016

The words quoted were spoken when Trump was making his first run for the Presidency. Vance is now the junior Republican senator from Ohio, who began his political career just 18 months ago in January 2023 and today was formally named the vice-presidential candidate at the Republican convention in Milwaukee.  

Vance's remarkable rise from childhood poverty to Yale Law School to author and journalist to the heights of national politics is very well documented in his Wikipedia article as well as today's report on his nomination by the Associated Press.  I recommend these sources to all my truckbuddies for reading and reflection.

In 2016, Vance repeatedly condemned Trump harshly.  But by 2021, Vance had become one of Trump's staunchest supporters.  Now what on earth could make a smart guy like that do a total 180?  I wonder.  I highly recommend watching the following reports by Rachel Maddow and by Nicolle Wallace on Vance's stunning transformation from outspoken never-Trumper to toady-in-chief:

And if there's still any question in your mind where Vance stands, check out this New York Times report from last December that begins, "When a historian wrote an essay the other day warning that the election of former President Donald J. Trump next year could lead to dictatorship, one of Mr. Trump’s allies quickly responded by calling for the historian to be sent to prison."  Yep, it was Senator Vance - himelf a published book author and writer for the likes of CNN and the NYT -  who wanted a fellow writer thrown in jail merely for daring to suggest that the divine DJT could ever possibly become a dictator.  Perish the thought.

Who's really on the side of democracy here, and who's all for dictatorship, hmm?

For another perspective on the crisis in American politics, listen to the remarks by former U.S. Representative (R-Ill.) Adam Kinzinger on the Stephen Colbert show earlier this evening:

Part 2 of 3 - remarks about Vance

While in Congress, Kinzinger was an outspoken critic of Trump - one of the very few Republicans who had the guts to call a spade a spade - and served as one of the two Republican members on the January 6 Committee that conducted an exhaustive inquiry into Trump's failed self-coup in 2021.

And just for laughs, though it is no laughing matter, you could read this dimwitted opinion piece (or plain old propaganda?) by a completely cluleless Guardian contributor in the UK:  

Blue MAGA:  We Need to Talk about the Cult-like Turn of the Democratic Party.

That's as Orwellian a wordfuck as I ever saw:  black is white, white is black, and 2 + 2 = 5.  Sad!

-----

Who Saved America?

Since Wednesday's attempted coup, it seems to me that the mood of the whole country has changed; at least the failed assault on democracy has clarified some formerly die-hard Trump enablers' minds.  You know the ship is going down when the rats start jumping overboard, and plenty are scrambling away from the S. S. Trump even as I write, it seems.  

I can't compete with the news media in reporting all that is happening in Washington and elsewhere today, but I will say this:  despite some woe-is-us editorials I've seen, your Head Trucker is confident that all shall be well in America.  Our democracy was jumped by some muggers the other day and took a few body blows, but did not go to the mat.  The Constitutional order held; the will of the People was honored by the vast majority of members of Congress, doing their duty according to law.  

Your Head Trucker will admit that he wept when Mike Pence announced that Biden and Harris had been duly elected the next President and Vice President of the United States.  The system worked - not because it is perfect or because we are perfect - but because fundamentally decent men and women would not let it fail, even in the face of armed attack.  In fact, with only a handful of exceptions, our Senators and Representatives on both sides of the aisle seemed to surmount their ordeal with renewed determination to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States.  I'm sure I am not the only ordinary citizen who feels we owe them a great debt of gratitude.

Already, a new wind arises in this nation, dispelling the fog and miasma that oppressed us.  The sun is rising, the land is bright, a new day has begun.  Let us walk forward together in trust and hope, and fear not.  The road ahead may be steep, but take heart:  it leads us onward and upward again.

But let us not forget what just happened - and what might have happened.  For the record, here are some scenes and voices worth remembering, for one reason or another. History will judge who the true patriots were.

Thank God they didn’t get to him in the Capitol building. Perhaps there are consequences when the President of the United States lies to millions of his supporters telling them the Vice President has the unilateral ability to overturn the result and ensure a second term of Trump. https://t.co/lAWqN1RDgS

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) January 8, 2021

Some of the Trump fanatics constructed a gallows near the Capitol reflecting pool and another group of them fashioned a crude noose from stolen AP camera cables and hung it from a tree. https://t.co/kz1tK8TfXA pic.twitter.com/9ovr1q7rEY

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 8, 2021

 

 And finally, on his Wednesday night show, satirist Stephen Colbert provided a scathing summation of the day's events:

-----

A Question of Taste

Colbert went there.

Newsbites, 6/15/16

 A few more-or-less positive things I gleaned from today's news, all of which are well worth your time to watch or read.

1. Prince William appears on the cover of British gay magazine Attitude, the first member of the Royal Family ever to do so:

Following a meeting on May 12 at Kensington Palace with young LGBT people, HRH issued this statement:

No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason and no one should have to put up with the kind of hate that these young people have endured in their lives. The young gay, lesbian and transgender individuals I met through Attitude are truly brave to speak out and to give hope to people who are going through terrible bullying right now. Their sense of strength and optimism should give us all encouragement to stand up to bullying wherever we see it. What I would say to any young person reading this who’s being bullied for their sexuality: don’t put up with it – speak to a trusted adult, a friend, a teacher, Childline, Diana Award or some other service and get the help you need. You should be proud of the person you are and you have nothing to be ashamed of.

2. Utah's Republican Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox speaks at vigil, apologizes for past behavior to gays, calls for change of hearts:




3. Liberal Redneck Trae Crowder breaks it down in plain English: Which fucking side are you on, bubba?

I can't embed the video, but do go watch it at the New York Daily News website.


4. In case anyone is in doubt, Stephen Colbert kindly diagrams the meaning of Trumpery:

I'm With Stupid!

No comment.

Update, 4:15 p.m.: Stephen Colbert celebrates the return of "the original material girl." Too funny:




Oh and Palin, addressing an Oklahoma rally in biker-girl chic says Obama is the reason her drunken son punched his girlfriend in the face, kicked her, and threatened to blow his own head off with an AR-15. Because that "weak-kneed Capitulator-in-Chief" "treats illegal immigrants better than returning veterans." Seriously, she said this:



Palin was the "official Brigade Mom" for Track's unit in Iraq when he served there in 2008, under George Bush.

Today's Chuckle

Stephen Colbert brilliantly skewers the demeaning dissenters of the Supreme Court:

Shocking Expose: Gay Marriage Healthcare Scam

"There is no way that this is about equality. To me, it’s all about a free ride."
--Sue Everhart, Georgia Republican Party Chairwoman

Well boys, the cat's out of the bag.  Now a flower of Southern womanhood has spoken out and exposed gay marriage for the massive straight-boy fraud that it really is.  Stephen Colbert reports:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,Video Archive

As to her other clear-sighted revelation, that gays can't even have sex together: I confess, fellas. All those times I was doing you . . . I faked it with a little salted tapioca. Forgive me.


Bonus: Studly fuck stupid fuck Jeremy Irons says gay marriage means you can marry your dad - or your dog. Either way, he wishes you "the best of luck."

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,Video Archive

The Advocate reports that Irons has responded to an inundation of criticism on his website by stating he is totally not anti-gay, but was merely raising "a mischievous argument, but nonetheless valid."

Your Head Trucker has known and dated several actors in his time, and brilliant as they may be when playng a role, they are not usually so well spoken off-script.

Are Women People?

Given Republican men's new-found and gleeful obsession with slandering and subjugating women - who, it seems, should once again be kept barefoot and pregnant, and perhaps shackled to the kitchen stove - that will probably be in Santorum's next speech - a strange thought just occurred to me: 

Is it possible - is it really possible that this election won't be centered around the awesome, abominable wickedness of teh gayz?  For the first time since I don't know when?

Is it true that female is the new gay?

Is a pair of X chromosomes really just a birth defect?

Read these articles and draw your own conclusions, pardners:

Time magazine:  Subject for Debate:  Are Women People?

Also:  Men Have Sex Too

New York Times:  Who Decided That This Election Should Be About Sex?


Photo: Honk to Wounded Bird.

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

Highlights from yesterday's gathering on the National Mall in Washington, hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Signs seen at the rally:



BTW, Your Head Trucker's favorite, which I saw on some site yesterday but can't find again, looked something like this:

G O D

H A T E S

N A G S

Some interviews among the crowd:



Jon Stewart's closing speech: