Brittmarie Janson Perez, What Was the Founding Fathers' True Legacy?

One of these two men is lying.

I wonder if it's the guy who served 3 presidents from 2 parties or the one who said Obama is from Kenya? pic.twitter.com/UBlJFw4zae

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) June 8, 2017

Brittie Perez has sent me another of her stellar statements about things happening in the world today, and I want to share it with all of you now. As you'll see, this is commentary about the implications of the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings, focusing on what happened on 7 June with Dan Coates and Mike Rogers. Here's Brittie's essay:

Loretta Lynch's Historic Speech Connects Dots Between LGBT and Black Struggles for Rights: "Not the First Time That We Have Seen Discriminatory Responses to Historic Moments of Progress for Our Nation"

Andrew Sullivan Breaks Silence: Democracy Is the Problem! Political Correctness Is the Problem! Liberal Smugness Is the Problem! — An Apologia for White Working-Class Support for Trump

Andrew Sullivan has broken his long silence (after he discontinued his blog) with an essay published yesterday in New York Magazine. His thesis: democracy is problematic.

bell hooks on Worship of Death As Central Component of Patriarchal Thinking: Reflections on the Legacy of Antonin Scalia

The Constitution is a dead document, Scalia said.

• You can know that a society or a church is dead or well on the way to death when it proclaims that its foundational documents (a Constitution, a Bible) are dead.

Reader Writes: "How Do We Know That the Bigotry and Bullying 'in God's Name' Isn't What 'God' Is All About and What 'God' Wants?"

In a comment this morning responding to my posting yesterday featuring Tom Ehrich's observation that we in the American public square need to have done with the bigotry and bullying done in God's name and giving a very bad name to Christians, ClevelandGirl writes,  

County Clerks in Florida Refuse to Permit Anyone to Marry if Gay Couples May Marry: Segregationist Roots of "Principled" Resistance to Marriage Equality

I remember it as if it happened yesterday. And as I read the announcements of several county clerks in Florida that, rather than marry same-sex couples, they'll shut down courthouse weddings for everyone, the memories come flooding back all over again:

Definitions Belong to the Definer, Not the Defined: What We're Talking About as We Talk About Ferguson

Clever, but schoolteacher whipped him anyway, to show him that definitions belonged to the definers—not the defined (Tony Morrison, Beloved [NY: New American Library, 1987], p. 190).

On This Independence Day: The Supreme Court's Doctrine of Corporate Personhood and the Betrayal of Revolutionary Ideals of United States

On this day celebrating American independence, I think of two of my direct ancestors who gave their lives for the revolutionary cause — Robert Leonard, who came to America as a British soldier during the French and Indian War, where he helped secure the western Maryland frontier for the British, and who then remained in the colonies following his discharge from the British Army. He was killed as an American soldier at the battle of Camden in South Carolina on 16 August 1780.

New Book by Sister Teresa Forcades, És a les nostres mans: Democracy Possible Only When Predatory Capitalism Is Overcome

At Iglesia Descalza, Rebel Girl offers a translation of an article at the website of the Spanish daily ABC announcing the publication of Sister Teresa Forcades's new book, És a les nostres mans (It's in Our Hands). The book was published by DAU of Barcelona, and is, I believe, available at present only in Catalan and Spanish editions. 

The Supremes' McCutcheon Decision: Surprise! White Men Who Own Things Count Most of All!

What was I saying just the other day about how money talks? Especially for the U.S. Supremes, a majority of whom are themselves (white) men who own things? 

Popular Science Shuts Down Comments Threads to Combat Internet Trolling

Alexander Reed Kelly's recent report at Truthdig about why Popular Science has shut down its comments threads catches my eye. We've discussed this issue here in the past (e.g., here, here, here, here, and here). 

Today in History: Martin Luther King, Jr., Has a Dream

Today in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream Speech" in Washington, D.C. Videos of the speech are available online, but the family of Dr. King owns the copyright to the speech, and I have not embedded one of these videos in this posting for that reason. The American Rhetoric website has an audio version and the full text.

"América": A Fourth-of-July Poem by Richard Blanco

For Independence Day, the Academy of American Poets has selected as its poem of the day, which is emailed to those on the poem-a-day mailing list of the organization, Richard Blanco's "América." Blanco is, readers will remember, the gay Cuban-American poet whom President Obama chose to declaim an inaugural poem at Obama's second inauguration (and here). Here's his poem "América":

American Independence Day: The Steep (and Ongoing) Price of Democracy

As the fourth of July approached, an idea occurred to me: it might be interesting to scout through your family tree and see how many direct ancestors you can spot who "gave Revolutionary service." The  phrase "gave Revolutionary service" is one lineage societies use, I understand (I don't belong to any of them, and am speaking from second-hand knowledge): they admit people whose ancestors were Revolutionary soldiers, but also those whose ancestors took the oath of loyalty to the new government during the war, or who provided provisions for Revolutionary troops.

John Nichols on What Made Michelle Tick: $$$$$$

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John Nichols at the Nation on what has sustained Michelle Bachmann on the national political scene, despite her clownish statements about, inter alia, light bulbs and evolution (see Gail Collins at the New York Times): it's the $$$$$$. Nichols writes,

Sanora Babb's Dust Bowl Classic, Whose Names Are Unknown: Endless Task of Making Democracy

Sanora Babb, Whose Names Are Unknown (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma, 2004):

A Personal Reflection on Neo-Confederate Clownery

A brief personal footnote about the neo-Confederate nonsense of the folks Frank Cocozzelli is studying (and I'm very glad Frank is keeping the spotlight on these folks): I was, of course, raised with much of that very same nonsense. With the exception of my one Irish great-grandmother, all of my great-grandparents were descendants of colonial Southern families that owned slaves at various points in their history, though some branches of these families also courageously pulled against slavery at some points in their history, due to religious reasons.

Frank Cocozzelli on Neo-Confederate Catholic Ideologues and the Fantasy of Nullification: Memorial Day Reflection

Early in May, I recommended an article by Frank Cocozzelli on the rising strand of neo-Confederate ideology in some sectors of the American Catholic right. Frank's article focuses on Catholic libertarian historian Thomas E. Woods.

Minnesota House Passes Marriage Equality Bill: Commentary from Various Sources

As expected, the Minnesota House did vote yesterday afternoon to advance the marriage equality legislation in that state. As David Badash notes at The New Civil Rights Movement today, the vote was 75 in favor to 59 against. 

Quote for the Day: Joan Walsh at Salon on Democracy as Extension of Basic Rights

Joan Walsh, "Obama's Great Society," at Salon: