Category Archives: Praying

Joe Kent: A Well Needed Breath Of Fresh Air

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I, like the majority of Americans, believe we shouldn’t be attacking Iran. We don’t feel Iran posed an immediate threat to our safety or the safety of our allies. We we believe this conflict will be long and costly and will hurt us in the long run. Today we found that Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center resigned his position out of conscience. In a statement he said that he believed President Trump bowed to pressure from Israel.

As we expected, Trump said he barely knew Joe but thought he was weak on security. Of course that doesn’t explain why Trump nominated him. Joe is hardly a lightweight. He served 20 years in the army and was a Green Beret. Until today he was a Trump loyalist.

I’m most impressed that he resigned because he could no longer serve in good conscience. The existence of a moral compass has been noticeably absent in an administration that values loyalty over competence. Too often I’ve observed previously good and patriotic Americans trade their moral compasses for job security. Legions of MAGA voters cast their ballots on Trump’s promise to keep us out of “forever wars” only to now claim support for Trump. It’s hard to watch.

Trump values revenge almost as much as he values loyalty. Let’s see if he tries to interfere with Joe Kent the way he’s trying to punish Arizona Senator Mark Kelley.

It’s Official: ICE Has No Shame

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Many of us are troubled by the actions of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). I don’t think I need to list them, but I recently learned of one tactic that particularly bothers me.

You can read the article here on the web page of National Public Radio.

Turns out when they detain a pregnant unaccompanied minor she is automatically sent to a shelter in Texas (including those who are pregnant from a rape). At first glance this may make some sense: this population has special needs and keeping them together provides them a better opportunity for the care they need. But the reporters spoke to several members of the administration’s own health and child welfare officials who say this facility lacks the ability to give that care.

OK, so why send them to a place that doesn’t provide what they need? These officials (who aren’t identified over a well founded fear of retaliation) are convinced these girls and young women are in Texas because they can’t have abortions.

The Trump administration denies this but gives no justification over why this facility in Texas. Because of Texas’ near total ban on abortions many doctors who care for pregnant woman have left the state out of fear that treating a woman for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages will leave them vulnerable to criminal prosecution. Simply put, this means that these detainees may be at higher risk for complications to tragic results.

And in case you haven’t had enough, the shelter is run by a for profit company called Urban Strategies. While they claim that the health of their residents is their first priority, the first priority of any for profit company is profit.

Let me be clear: I’m pro life and see the death of any child, of any age, as a tragedy. But I’m also pro honesty and pro integrity. This is neither

By the way, it’s a good article and worth a read.

Attack in Iran: We’ve Seen This Before (Again And Again And Again)

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A few days ago forces from the United States and Israel attack targets in Iran. Leaders of both nations defend their decision by claiming self defense: they say Iran is working on a nuclear weapons program that endangers other nations. The US and Israel also claim that this operation will likely take 4 to 5 weeks but we have the capacity for a longer war. There are several problems, so let me start here:

Wars are always supposed to be quick. At the beginning of Civil War (1861-1865) the South believed that Northern States wouldn’t fight to keep the nation together. They felt that as the states voluntarily joined the Union they could voluntarily leave. Meanwhile the Northern States believed the South didn’t have the infrastructure (railroad connections, guns, bullets, etc.) and would run out of stuff in a few months. They were both wrong. Perhaps a better example is the 2003 invasion of Iraq. When President Bush announced the invasion members of his administration claimed it would be a cakewalk and it would be financed by Iraqi oil. Vice President Dick Cheney claimed the Iraqi people would see us as liberators. By the time our troops left in 2011 (with over 4000 US casualties) Iraq was still a mess.

Trump promised not to do this. He famously ran on a platform of not entering “forever wars”. This will end up costing him among his base.

Iran isn’t an immediate threat. Last June Trump ordered an air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and claimed that we “obliterated them.” He famously never admits a mistake and therefore can’t now claim it didn’t work. There’s no possibility that Iran has been able to rebuild its program fast enough to make it a threat now.

I’ll certainly be writing more about this later but when gas prices start to rise and the stock market declines it’s going to be hard for Trump to continue to claim victory.

Does Speaker Johnson Really Believe He Can Lecture Pope Leo XIV On Christian Teaching?

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Pope Leo XIV, and Pope Francis before him, have clearly emphasized the Catholic Church’s teaching on how we are to treat immigrants. Scripture brims with examples, but let me just give one, Leviticus 19:34: “You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.”

Unfortunately, many among us, including political leaders who identify as Christian, attempt to use Scripture to defend their xenophobia. Current House Speaker Mike Johnson recently said this (and I’m getting this from an article in The Christian Post):

“Borders and walls are biblical,” Johnson, a Southern Baptist, responded. “From the Old Testament to the New, God has allowed us to set up our civil societies and have separate nations.”

“Immigration is not something that’s frowned upon in Scripture,” he added. “We’re to welcome the sojourner and love our neighbor as ourself.”

The speaker continued: “What’s also important in the Bible is that assimilation is expected and anticipated and proper.”

“When someone comes into your country, comes into your nation, they do not have the right to change its laws or to change its society,” Johnson said. “They are expected to assimilate.”

“We haven’t had a lot of that going on,” he insisted.

He further states that when the Bible calls us to care for “the sojourner and the neighbor” it is “an admonition to individuals, not the civil authorities.”

Wow, it’s hard to know where to start, but let me give it a try:

  • Borders and walls are not biblical, they were (and are) reality. Borders and walls have been around as long as humanity and the fact that they are found in the Bible doesn’t mean we invented them. Likewise with separate nations. God did not make a map for us to follow.
  • There is nothing (NOTHING) in the Bible that demands assimilation. Much of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospels describes the difficulty in maintaining Jewish identity during Roman occupation and at no time does Jesus command us to become Romans.
  • Here in the United States we live in a democracy. Civil authorities govern only with the consent of individuals and there is no “us vs. them.” We are all “us.” Because of that any admonition that binds individuals must also bind civil authorities. How dare he lecture the Pope on the Bible when he misunderstands even the basics of democracy.

Finally, Speaker Johnson uses something called proof texting. Rather than explore a Biblical passage to understand its meaning, a proof texter will begin with his own opinion and scour the Bible to find a passage that appears to back him up with no regard for original meaning or context.

Speaker Johnson, if you’re going to claim authority on either the Bible or democracy, get better at it.

I’m Back (Hopefully For Good)

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Nearly two years ago, in April of 2024, I finally threw in the towel on updating this blog. To be honest, at that time President Joe Biden was limping toward re-election and Donald Trump was running for a nonconsecutive 2nd term. It was getting harder and harder to watch this process and I just ran out of gas.

But since then Trump has once again become President and many of my worst fears have come true. Again and again I’ve asked myself what I can do as a member of the resistance and I’ve decided to start writing again. I tried to write at least one article per month and that just isn’t enough. I fell into the trap known as “the perfect is the enemy of the good.” I pressured myself into thinking each entry had to be stunning and they ended up just being time consuming.

My hope now is to write shorter, less ambitious articles. I’ll be frank that I think Trump is an existential threat to our democracy and if he succeeds in becoming a stand alone dictator it will only partially be the result of his supporters. To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” I have limited belief in my ability to convert true Trump supporters but I do hope to awaken those who oppose Trump but haven’t spoken up.

Stay Tuned.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

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On this day 82 years ago 2532 people woke up on the last day of their lives. In addition to 2,403 Americans, 129 Japanese also died at Pearl Harbor. With every passing year there are fewer and fewer survivors and it won’t be long until the last survivor dies.

It’s a reminder of many things, including the frailty of life and how life can change in an instant. I’ve been blessed to have met 2 survivors in my career in hospice; I’ve also listened to hours of people telling me where they were and what they were doing when they got the news over the radio or from a neighbor. Most had never heard of Pearl Harbor and had only a vague idea that Hawaii was somewhere in the ocean.

The next four years brought out the best and the worst of us as Americans. We kept President Roosevelt’s promise to defeat the fascist empires of Japan and Germany. After the war we rebuilt both of those nations and paid for the education of nearly 8 million of those who fought. On the other hand we allowed our prejudices to imprison over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry because of how they looked.

To quote Civil War General William T. Sherman, “war is hell.” On Pearl Harbor Day 2023 we see war in so many places (not just Ukraine and Gaza) and it’s a good time to recognize that decisions made today will reverberate for generations to come.

In meantime let us continue to pray for the dead and wounded and may we always strive to be a nation worthy of those who put on their uniform each morning with no guarantee that they will wake up tomorrow.

Thoughts on War, Noncombatants, and Hostages

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Hamas’ invasion of Israel last month has called us to look at several ethical issues around war. Let’s look at the involvement of noncombatants and then the taking of hostages.

It may seem odd to think of there even being “rules of war” but there is agreement on some things. When we think of war we divide people into combatants and noncombatants. Combatants are those who are armed, have some method of identification (e.g. a uniform) and participate in battle. But others may be in the vicinity of battle but are not involved in the battle. They may be medics, chaplains, journalists, or bystanders.

Hamas’ invasion of Israel on October 7th has led to a dizzying number of violations. Hamas didn’t target Israeli soldiers or bases. Of the initial 1200 Israelis killed the New York Times reports 70% were civilians. No war is completely clean and civilians always suffer from wars because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But this was blatant. And inexcusable.

Now that we’re into the 2nd month of this war we’re also dealing with wounded Palestinians. Problem is they have also used hospital patients as “human shields” hoping that Israel will not attack. In other words they are counting the Israeli’s having a stronger moral compass than they do.

And now about hostages. Every war has prisoners of war (POW’s); problem is that true POW’s are all combatants who were captured in battle. There is also the expectation that they will be able to receive aid from humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross.

However we may feel about the treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza there is simply no justification for what Hamas has done. I pray they hear this.

More later.

We Have A House Speaker. Now What?

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After three weeks it appears Congress has finally chosen a House Speaker: Mike Johnson of Louisiana. If you’ve never heard of him, don’t despair. Almost nobody has. He’s only 51 years old and first arrived in Congress in the 2016 election.

So why him? Well, a couple of reasons. First, Trump likes him; that’s pretty important. The last few weeks have shown that Trump can’t anoint a speaker (Jim Jordan) but he can shoot one down (Tom Emmer). Also, and equally important, he hasn’t done anything to piss off his fellow Republicans. The last few weeks have shown House Republicans sometimes act like rivals at a 3rd grade lunch table with all the petty grudges and silly hurt feelings.

I have to confess I’m a little troubled by this selection. It’s true that Congress can now get back to work on support for Ukraine, Israel and keeping the government running. But Mike, like Kevin McCarthy before him, sits under a sword of Damocles because any one member of the House can call for a “motion to vacate,” essentially call for a vote of no confidence. Again he can afford to lose only four votes before we do this all again.

Essentially, other than a new person in the speaker’s seat, nothing has changed. Several Republicans have voiced opposition to ongoing support for Ukraine and the Republicans who opposed McCarthy were (among other things) unhappy that he worked with Democrats to vote on September 30th to keep the government running until November 17th.

So what does Mike bring to the table? Good question.

The role of Speaker of the House requires a great deal of knowledge. There are countless rules and customs around how legislation passes, how committee assignments are made, et. There is a steep learning curve and it’s not a job for legislative novices.

Frankly I fear Speaker Johnson will enjoy a short honeymoon and once the far right Republicans who drove out McCarthy start resharpening their claws, well…

Stay tuned.

Gaza: 9/11 Or Prison Break?

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Everyone knows this now but on October 7th members of Hamas in the Gaza Strip invaded and bombed Israel. Since then both residents of both Israel and Gaza have suffered tremendously. Most conflicts these days are complex and confusing and this is no different.

I’ve been thinking a great deal these days how best to encapsulate what is going on and I recently heard a good metaphor: is this Israel’s 9/11 or is it Gaza’s prison break?

First a little history: before 1948 the area we now call Israel was Palestine and while it had a Jewish population it was ruled by Palestinians who were Arab Muslims. After World War II Zionists (Jews who believed they needed a homeland) waged war and conquered Palestine. Most Palestinians fled to the area North and West of Jerusalem (called the West Bank and ruled by Jordan) or an area on the Mediterranean Sea (called the Gaza Strip and ruled by Egypt). In 1967 after the Six Day War both areas were taken by Israel. In 2005 and 2006 governance of Gaza was given to Hamas. Problem is, Hamas is founded on the desire to destroy Israel and return Palestine. Please note: this is an incredibly simplistic explanation.

So if you’re Israel this is your 9/11: Foreign terrorists attacked without warning and want your destruction. They need to be crushed without mercy and taught never to do this again.

But if you live on in Gaza you’ve been imprisoned there since 1948, oppressed and trapped without mercy. The attack was simply self defense in the need to end your imprisonment.

But what now? The lines have been drawn in ways that surprise nobody. Arab nations are lining up behind Gaza and while there is no proof of this Iran may be or get involved. The Iranian government has allied with Hamas. The United States, long an ally with Israel, is backing Israel. Of course since the US has no House Speaker there’s not much we can do but that’s the subject for another entry.

Hamas, for all its weaponry, is small and nobody really believes they can conquer Israel. If Iran and some of the Arab nations band together this could turn into a regional war but there’s been no sign of it and President Biden is working hard to make certain this doesn’t turn into a bigger conflict.

Israel has told people in the northern part of Gaza to evacuate and prepare for a ground invasion. It’s a given Israeli troops will invade Gaza but, well, here we go again. I suspect Israel will find that getting into Gaza will be easier than getting out. While they are there they will be an occupying force surrounded by people who don’t want them gone, they want them dead. It will look like the British army’s occupation of Northern Ireland last century.

In the meantime innocent people on both sides will die. Keep the prayers coming.

More Thoughts On The House Speaker

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It’s been eight days since my last post and it hasn’t gotten any better. Last week I wrote that House Republicans ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy because eight ulta conservative members didn’t like the job he was doing. They didn’t feel his promises could be trusted and they didn’t like the fact that he worked with President Biden and House Democrats to keep the government open.

Since then two things have happened: Hamas (the governing authority in Gaza) opened fire and stormed into Israel. There they killed and kidnapped Israeli citizens; the number keeps changing. The United States has always seen Israel as a longtime ally and ordinarily we’d help them. But without a functioning House of Representatives we can’t send them any aid.

Also the Republicans don’t appear any closer to find a Speaker candidate they can all support. As I said last week they removed Kevin McCarthy without having a clear successor. Within a few days two Representatives announced their candidacy: Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio. They both hoped they would garner the support of enough members to win a floor vote of all 433 members; there are normally 435 members but 2 seats are vacant. Since all 212 Democrats will almost certainly vote for the House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries of New York, any Republican candidate must get 213 votes out of the 221 members, leaving only a 4 vote margin. When Republicans voted on a secret ballot 113 members voted for Scalise and 99 for Jordan. Scalise hoped that after this he could convince 100 members to then coalesce behind him. When it didn’t happen he pulled his name from contention.

Still with me? Good. When Steve Scalise pulled out, Representative Austin Scott of Georgia announced he would run. Again on a secret ballot 124 members voted for Jordan and 81 for Scott; Jordan asked for another secret ballot and he gained a few votes but not nearly enough. This vote was 152 to 55.

Now let’s make this more complicated. These votes among Republicans were secret ballots but when they actually cast votes for Speaker they vote in public. Former President Trump backs Jim Jordan and has always made it clear that he has zero tolerance for disloyalty. It’s generally assumed that several members will vote for Jordan just to avoid angering Trump. But again, if more than 4 of them don’t vote for a candidate he won’t win.

Democrats are, as you would expect, taking a back seat and are seeing this as a Republican problem. But a “do nothing” Congress has real consequences. As I said earlier the government is set to run out of money on November 17th. With no Speaker the House cannot pass any legislation. That means no laws can be passed and no money can be directed to Ukraine or Israel.

For me the largest problem is this: there does not appear any Republican who can gain enough support. It was McCarthy, then Scalise, now Jordan and Scott. A small group of conservative Republicans don’t appear to be aware of the chaos they are causing and the damage they are doing. They appear to enjoy the limelight and crave job security above all else. They claim to demand that government do fewer things and do them better but their actions belie a different agenda. I pray that good sense begin to take over and they get back to their jobs.