The war over our history

Did you know that one of Donald Trump's golf courses included a Civil War battlefield? Neither did I, but the Orange Toddler wants you to believe it did. 

 

He's not picking sides ... he's not yet saying he'd be all for the Confederate cause of preserving slavery. But we can guess. 

 

Much more from Kevin M. Kruse on the Trump/Hegseth zeal to rename military bases which lost their Confederate names during the necessary historical reassessment triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Stop the Real $teal!

The sidewalks outside San Francisco's Tesla dealership on Van Ness are busy these days.

Protesters who've have beefs with Elon Musk (and King Donnie) were out in force Monday. And that followed a visitation from a different set of demonstrators on Saturday. 

 

Fired federal workers and friends got supportive honks from passing cars.

There was a message for complicit Democrats too. They need to show they are doing the job we elected them for. After all, this is San Francisco.

Posters on nearby lamp posts advertise future gatherings outside Tesla. Take your choice -- Saturday midday or Monday. Let's keep it up!

Probably misused, but still righteous

I have to admit I was gobsmacked to encounter several iterations of this photo on Facebook. The picture is of the lighted facade of the church in Washington DC which my Episcopalian comrades presumptuously call the Washington National Cathedral. It's the Protestant denomination's big diocesan church in the capitol, only by custom called "national." Episcopalians aren't "the ruling class at prayer" any longer. 

As far as we can tell, though many Christian nationalists intend to be our ruling class, broad based Christian nationalist attention to humble petition to God for the poor and suffering is pretty muted these days.

Nonetheless, I guess I'm happy to see being passed around what is clearly an affirmation of support for the brave and desperate people of Ukraine under Russian attack. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the image derives from an ecumenical prayer service held alongside the Ukrainian ambassador in July 2023.

Anyway, I'm a Christian fully in the camp of supporting Ukrainians in their war for their country and their lives. It has not been simple for me to find myself supporting one side in a war. I've spent a lifetime opposing the wars of the United States empire; I've explored pacifism and find it the better way to live. But not in the case of this conflict. Ukrainians deserve their own country if they want it enough to fight for it and they've shown they do. The Russian invasion is brutal and criminal; it aims at the erasure of a particular history and people. Insofar as the US has been supportive of Ukraine, I think that has been a good use of a tiny fraction of my taxes. 

And I know Donald Trump's infatuation with and capitulation to Russia's strong man is a betrayal of all that is decent in our complex land.

Unity rally for transgender lives

 

Trans people and friends in the San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood yesterday asserted a straightforward message to the hostile Trump regime and to the world.

Trans people cannot be erased. And, as for so long, they know they must take care of their own. The rally of several hundred people was notable for making provision for disabled people and providing interpretation for the deaf.

 

One speaker reminded listeners of their indigenous roots here in Nuevo Mexico.

Professor of history Susan Stryker shared the story of the Turk Street site, where, in 1966, queer people fought police in what's remembered as the Compton Cafeteria Riot. 

Raise up their names! There are too many recent casualties of the war on Black Trans lives: Sam Norquist, Tahiry Broom, Amyri Dior, Ra’Lasia Wright. All were murdered in the month of February.

Despite the panic about gender variation which has seized our current rulers, trans and gender non-conforming people are not going to be erased. 

Foul Betrayal (2)

I bemoaned Donald Trump's betrayal of Ukraine and of this country last week. Our country is being disgraced by small empty men and the ignominy is just beginning.

Today I'll outsource commentary on the Trump/Vance boys bullying the brave Ukrainian President in the Oval Office to Phillips P. OBrien, an American historian and professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. 

Just Say Thank You and Shut Up

... The key theme throughout is that Trump is a great man who can work with Putin, while Ukraine needs to shut up, show gratitude, and take what is coming to it. Trump makes that clear when he criticizes the Ukrainians for basically wanting to fight for their freedom and not cave in to Putin, which he terms being “very disrespectful to this country” (this country being the USA—in other words, himself).

Then Trump and Vance go on what can only be called the great gratitude rant. Even though the USA under Trump has approved not a single new dollar in aid for Ukraine, Trump and Vance want Zelensky to constantly say thank you to them. Its, as always, an attempt to be humiliate a democratic state and for Trump to take credit for something other people have done. As Vance finally snaps. “Just say thank you.”

And then Trump lets the cat out of the bag. This was not a meeting or disagreement over the minerals deal. He was trying to pressure Zelensky into agreeing a cease fire along Putin’s lines and Zelensky refused. Trump comes out and says that explicitly at the end.

“You’re buried there. Your people are dying. You’re running low on soldiers. No, listen … And then you tell us, ‘I don’t want a ceasefire. I don’t want a ceasefire. I want to go and I want this… You’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest, that’s not a nice thing.

So there we have it. Ukraine should shut up and take Trump’s and Putin’s terms. It is not an independent, sovereign, democratic state, it is a dictator’s plaything which should be eternally grateful for the scraps from Trump’s and Putin’s table.

Thousands of Ukrainians didn't die for this -- and millions of Americans over three generations didn't fight fascism and for more complete democracy for this. As O'Brien goes on to say, it's now up to Europeans to step up and repudiate Trump's betrayal of all the European zone has stood for. Can they rise to their own defense?

The New York Times reports: 

European leaders quickly pledged their continued support for Ukraine on Friday after President Trump’s blistering criticism of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a meeting at the White House.

Leaders lined up behind Ukraine and praised its embattled president, the statements coming one after the other: from France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Belgium, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Ireland. Canadian, Australian and New Zealand leaders added their voices to the Europeans’.

For once the paper got a headline right: 

The Orange Toddler defends his only friend. What a gaping hole for a soul that monster in the White House reveals.