https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/so-exactly-what-speech-does-first.html

It is most definitely religious influence, specifically Christian influence, prompting state laws against teachers discussing gender identity, sexual orientation or critical race theory in classes or at school. Isn't it a violation of the establishment clause to pass laws which favor Christian perspective over other perspectives? That's a rhetorical question, and it shouldn't require a court action or decision to determine. Of course it is.

It is a myth, now perpetuated among many Christians, that their faith is being persecuted and threatened by the government because of "all of the restrictions placed on it." What restrictions? Name one. Christians are as free as they ever were in this country to practice their faith as they choose and they are as free from persecution as they have ever been. There are as many practicing Christians in Congress, the courts, the state legislatures, as there have ever been. But that kind of freedom doesn't motivate votes.

happening on the right.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/hillsong-church-s-scandals-imperil-future-megachurch-n1294640

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/investigations/abuse-of-faith/

https://www.vox.com/2020/8/25/21399954/jerry-falwell-jr-resigns-scandal-liberty

https://religionnews.com/2021/02/18/ravi-zacharias-carl-lentz-is-the-evangelical-view-of-sex-at-the-root-of-our-sex-scandals/

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-value-of-integrity.html

So all of this conspiracy theory trash about "grooming", for which there is no substantial evidence, is sheer hypocrisy. Take a look at everything that's happened on the political-religious right that's come to light just recently. And while it may not be completely accurate to simply assume that white Evangelical Christians are all Republicans, since the GOP has "embraced" their culture war strategy, they have to own this other stuff.

This is what a five minute search of the internet produced about all kinds of high profile sex abuse issues and scandal among conservative Christians, some of them very high profile Republican supporters and flag wavers. These are real events, as opposed to what the conspiracy theorists and extremist news media personalities are claiming when they level charges as "grooming," So apparently, being "conservative" does not create some kind of protection, or immunity from sexual abuse. These are crimes that actually were committed, not imagined possibilities of what might happen.

Look, no one is perfect. And these kinds of things seem pretty spectacular because they run so contrary to the moral values that are preached and taught by the Christian church, so they do tend to get a lot of media attention when they happen. But I don't see anyone proposing legislation which would remove the rights and freedoms of all Evangelical Christians or Catholics out of fear of sexual abuse as a result, even though the kind of "grooming" that is being used as a political weapon by the right is happening in their own backyard with relative frequency. Maybe that's where Republicans should focus their attention.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/president-bidens-seven-biggest.html

The Biden Administration isn't really getting the kind of credit it deserves for COVID relief or for the economic recovery and job growth. Those are major achievements, not things that just happen by letting them happen. Ignoring the extreme right wing media sources, the reporting on both of these achievements in the mainstream media has been underwhelming and medocre at best. In newspaper jargon, these are front page headlines, and there should have been a parade of cabinet members--from the most diverse executive branch in terms of minorities and women in history--on the Sunday morning news programs and through cable news. But with the exception of the three prime-time hours on MSNBC and their weekend programs, and two of CNN's regulars, the coverage was nothing close to what the achievements warranted.

Kudos to Newsweek for mentioning a couple of achievements that are, in my opinion, major, but which have received little attention, and for putting them in this top seven list. One is the suspension of the federal death penalty. Finally we have a President and administration who understand the language of the constitution when it addresses "cruel and unusual punishment." Along with that is the highest number of federal judges appointed since the Kennedy administration, with more diversity as far as the number of women and minorities appointed, than ever before. The Biden-Harris administration has kept its promises in this regard, especially to African American women.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/winning-2022-mid-term-elections-means.html

Last fall, in November, I determined that I wasn't going to listen to the "conventional wisdom," or accept excuses for doing nothing because "the party in power always loses the mid-term elections." What that usually means is that after making an effort to win a Presidential election, voters decide to handicap the President they elected by putting the other side in control of the legislative agenda. Both of the last two Democrats who have been in the White House were highly successful Presidents, but think about how much more they could have done if they'd have had a favorable Congress through at least three fourths of their two terms.

Democrats need to keep their House and Senate majorities, and expand them if possible, and it is possible. We need to break the filibuster and get things done during the next two years of President Biden's first term. The constitution will not be recognizeable if we don't succeed.

It's up to us, the "rank and file." We need to take the initiative, not wait around for someone else to do something or wring our hands because "the party in power always loses the midterms." We have the power and the ability to win this, and we need to step up and do everything we can to make it happen, especially committing to show up and vote.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/graham-duplicity-example-of-how-gop-has.html

Here's Lindsey Graham in 2015 quoted in the Huffington Post: (From Valerie Biden Owen's new book, Growing Up Biden

"The bottom line is if you don't admire Joe Biden as a person, you have a problem. You need to do some self-evaluation. He is as good a man as God ever created."

And in the same year, in an interview with CNN:

"He [Donald Trump] doesn't represent my party, he doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for."

But of course, Graham is capable of remarkable duplicity when he thinks he needs to score political points. Valerie Biden Owens points to these Graham quotes in her new book Growing Up Biden" and says, "This is inconcievable to me."

It is to me, too.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-airs-its-ultimate-revenge-plan-for-america/ar-AAW5HB1?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=2fd971be00ba47ae9b202ea0d4a38c20

Of course he is. There's no better proof of Trump's and the GOP's complicity with Vladimir Putin's interference in American elections than the Russian public admission that they need to do it again in order to get the US sanctions off.

So two observations--
1. The sanctions are obviously working.
2. Democrats need to make a massive, get-out-the-vote effort to defeat Republican Putinism starting now.

Republicans need to publicly denounce Trump AND be subject to campaigns against their Russian sympathies.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/republican-objections-to-critical-race.html

About Republican opposition to CRT, and gender equality, Dr. Shaw says, "They use scare tactics to enlist voters against the very kinds of education that would most benefit many of the poor and working class whites who are part of the Republican base."

"What they love is power. This was clear during the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. No principles of truth, democracy, law and order, morality or any other lofty ideal underlay the blatant attempted power grab. The love of power was more compelling than love of country, love of democracy, or love of truth. And that continues to be so," she stated.

Republican tactics, including voter suppresson, gerrymandering, politicizing the judicial system, the push of false, phony conspiracy theories, outright lying and blatant fear mongering is a clear indication that they know they can't win at the ballot box on a level playing field. They are playing to ignorance and prejudice. The idea they promote, that "the white male is an endangered species" in America is absolutely false and unprovable, and in fact, white males remain as dominant and as over-represented in regard to their actual proportion of the population, in business, government and social instutitions as they ever have been.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/democrats-picked-up-midterm-election.html

The conduct of the Republicans surrounding the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson may have been something that plays well to the relatively uninformed segment of their base, but it cost them a lot of potential support and it also brought a lot of fence-sitters closer to a commitment to vote Democratic in November. Well, if you believe some of that pesky polling data, anyway.

If the nomination and confirmation of Justice Jackson is a motivating factor for voters in November, the despiicable, deplorable behavior of the Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee and in the senate chamber itself following the confirmation vote will motivate even more voters to cast ballots for their opposition. And if you buy all of their claims about how badly Democrats treated Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, you weren't paying attention. Kavanaugh's behavior warranted the lines of questioning and the investigation into his past behavior. Barrett fielded some tough questions, but nothing was anywhere near as disrespectful as the manner in which Republicans handled themselves this time around.

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/04/time-to-celebrate.html

This moment deserves its own time to celebrate. Service in our representative democracy has expanded yet again to include another excluded segment of the population. Here's to President Joe Biden and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. May this President have multiple opportunities to appoint justices to the Supreme Court.