Lula's win in Brazil, reported on here by Tom Phillips and Constance Malleret, seems to me a good thing for the whole global community — though what Bolsonaro, who said he would not concede defeat if he lost the election, intends to do now, we have to wait and see.

Rise of the Bully Messiah and the Bully's Fear of Resistance

Vulnerable people shouldn't have to suffer because of privileged people's unwillingness to learn & have compassion.

— Marcus Halley (@word_made_FRESH) February 23, 2017

John Pavlovitz on the rise of the bully Messiah: 

You Get Rights, I Lose Rights: Commentary on the Zero-Sum Human Rights Game of White "Pro-Life" Christians Supporting Trump

This WH hasn't learned the deepest lesson of the Civil War: human rights -- equal dignity and freedom for all -- is a NATIONAL imperative. https://t.co/LMCWQfj8sL

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) February 22, 2017

In the tweet above, Laurence Tribe is responding to White House media man Sean Spicer:

The Strongman Does What Bullies Do — Picks on the Least Among Us; People of Faith Speak Back

ICE detains, removes a Salvadoran woman with a brain tumor from a Texas hospital https://t.co/BkhG6LudFU h/t @PGourevitch cc: @ACLU pic.twitter.com/Y4bBEq66Mv

— David Beard (@dabeard) February 23, 2017

The Big Man, the Strongman elected by "pro-life" white Christians to reChristianize our nation and promote an ethic of life, targets vulnerable transgender children, immigrants frightened for their safety and the security of their families, and Muslims. People of faith speak out in response:

Paul Harvey on Recent Southern Baptist Convention Meeting: Media Get It Wrong, Ignore Continuing SBC Commitment to Culture War re: Gender and Sexuality Issues

Paul Harvey reports at Religion Dispatches about how the media have spun the recent Southern Baptist Convention meeting to suggest that Southern Baptists turned some major corner in their wars with contemporary culture, when they passed a resolution condemning display of the Confederate flag. As he notes, the culture wars remain alive and well among Southern Baptists (and conservative white evangelicals in general, hence the continuing strong support of conservative white evangelicals for one Donald Trump).

Commentary on the Bathroom Wars (and the Role of Religious Folks in Them): "Fighting Over Bathrooms Is the Oldest Move in the Prejudice Playbook"

More commentary for you from the last several days, as a new work week begins: these pieces focus, for the most part, on the current "bathroom wars" in the U.S., and the role being played by church people in those wars — a considerable role, in fact,  since, as Bill Berkowitz has just noted, the Christian right's distress over transgender youth hit fever pitch last week when President Obama reminded public schools that they have an obligation to adhere to already established non-discrimination guidelines as they deal with transgender students.

Quote for Day: The Current Trans-Panic and "A Process Which, If Followed to the End, Will Make Us Into Devils"

Fred Clark at Slacktivist, commenting on a lurid fantasy being peddled by conservative Christian commentator Rod Dreher, about gangs of "transgendered" thugs who are, we're told, terrorizing upstanding theater-going Texas suburbanites:

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"

Protesters Vs. North Carolina Anti-Trans Hate Bill: "You Will Not Pit Black People and Gay People and Poor People Against Each Other"

"You will not pit Black People and Gay People and Poor People against each other" - Reverend Barber #RepealHB2 pic.twitter.com/2gwhYi5gL6

— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) April 26, 2016

In the excellent photo report posted this week by the LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund about its April 25 rally and sit-in against North Carolina's hate bill targeting trans people, working people, and people of color, two tweets stand out for me. Both feature Reverend William Barber, one of the founders and leaders of North Carolina's Moral Mondays movement. One tweet's above, the other follows.

Keeping the Conversation about Amoris Laetitia Real: Pope Repeats Injunction Against Anti-Gay Discrimination, While NC Bishops Praise Anti-LGBTQ Law and NC's Catholic College Belmont Abbey Discriminates Against Trans People

Yesterday, I wrote,

Reading the Signs of the Times: Five Interconnected Stories from Today's News (Mummers, Maine Governor, Arizona Bishop, Wheaton, Mr. Trump and Mr. Clinton's Penis)

These seemingly disconnected stories have several things in common. What do you think? What common thread(s) do you spot here?

Duggar Saga: From Curioser and Curioser to Sleazier and Sleazier — Police Reports Ordered Destroyed by Huckabee-Allied Judge, Female Police Chief Under Fire, SNAP Weighs In

News about the model Christian family in my home state of Arkansas, the Duggars, continues to pop so fast and furious that it's hard to keep up with. I appreciate links a number of you good readers have provided to previous threads about the Duggars, who are attracting much attention now that the story of Josh Duggar has become public, because of the way in which they have represented themselves for years now as the model Christian family, and the way in which they have viciously attacked the LGBT community as a threat to children — when Josh Duggar and his parents knew of his molestation of minor girls who appear to have included his own sisters.