But it’s the other malady that in Elkins case also deserves a hard look. That’s the mental health crisis in America. Reports are that Elkins sought help. He spent ten days at a Veterans Affairs hospital for psychiatric evaluation. However, he was discharged. And this is where the horror for him and millions of Americans begins.

There are tens of millions of Americans that fall into the serious mental health challenge category. The numbers tell the tale of the magnitude of the mental health crisis in America. A 2024 poll by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that nearly sixty million Americans reported a mental health affliction. That was one in five adult Americans.

However, that tells only a small part of the tragedy. Blacks, Native Americans, and LGBTQ persons suffered vastly disproportionate incidents of mental illness. Overall, one in five Black adults, and Native Americans reported one or more mental illness disorders in 2024. They ranged from chronic depression to Reiner’s reported affliction– schizophrenia.

That’s one part of the sordid story of the mental health peril. The other is who receives treatment and who has access to treatment. That inevitably points the finger at racial bias in relation to cost and accessibility. A Department of Health and Human Services survey in 2024 found that only one in three Blacks and Hispanics received treatment. Similar treatment disparities were found for Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Meanwhile, nearly one out of two whites received treatment.

The multiple reasons for the wide gap in treatment have been oft cited. One is the absence of access to treatment centers in minority and lower income neighborhoods. Poverty, lack of health insurance, underinsurance, or part of the economic barrier to treatment for many.

Another is the prevalent stigma of seeking treatment for a mental health issue. For many this is still viewed as a sign of weakness or personal failure. Thankfully, that fear and notion is breaking down as the crisis within minorities communities deepens. Elkins again is an example. At least he had enough presence of mind to seek help.

Still, a 2023 Rand Corporation study found a widespread pattern of deliberate closing of the mental health treatment center door to aid even when Blacks and Hispanics seek help. The impediments included shorter hours, lack of available services, untrained staff, little time, or effort spent on outreach programs and information on services, and lack of Spanish speaking aid workers.

A major university research study in 2000 on the impact of racial bias on mental health diagnosis and treatment, Racism and Mental Health: the African American Experience, noted, “The stigma of racial inferiority may also adversely affect the treatment of black patients in the mental health system. Black clinicians have long argued that popular misconceptions, inaccuracies, and stereotypes of the psychology of African Americans could lead to the misdiagnosis of Black patients.”

The study went further and observed that African Americans are more likely to be misdiagnosed. It specifically cited schizophrenia. Blacks were more likely to be diagnosed with the malady of paranoid schizophrenia. And at the same underdiagnosed with other affective disorders. The researchers chalked this up to “conscious or unconscious acceptance of negative stereotypes of Blacks.” The inaccurate diagnosis clinicians seemingly routinely made over time of many Blacks with a mental health affliction had grave consequences in terms of tailoring the correct and most effective treatment to the patient.

The KFF Policy Research Foundation further underscored the crisis in mental health treatment disparities in a comprehensive report in 2024 Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Care: Findings from the KFF Survey of Racism, Discrimination and Health. It checked off the number of areas where the mental health care system failed Blacks, and people of color and the poor.

That includes the absence of treatment facilities in lower income, underserved neighborhoods, the types of treatment and care offered in the paltry number of centers in these neighborhoods. In almost every instance, the report noted widespread differences in how whites reported the level of and accessibility to the treatment they received versus the dismal to non-existent treatment Blacks received.

Whether Elkins would and definitely should have gotten prolonged treatment would have saved the lives of eight babies, we’ll never know. What we do know though is that Elkins is a monster, and a callous system did its part to help create that monster.

Written By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

One can find more info about Mr. Hutchinson over at the following site; TheHutchinson Report.

Also feel free to connect with him through twitter; http://twitter.com/earlhutchins

He is also an associate editor of New America Media. His forthcoming book is From King to Obama: Witness to a Turbulent History (Middle Passage Press).

In addition to both of them serving in the U.S. Senate, Rubio and Vance say they are guided by their Catholic faith. The common denominator running through them is political expediency. Political expediency, in this case, is the central force driving the behavior and actions of two leaders who at times compromise moral and political principles in exchange for immediate power, ambition and influence.

Both Rubio and Vance made the decision that it was in their political best interests and advantage to move away from being harsh critics of Donald Trump to becoming staunch allies in order to remain in Trump’s good graces.  In a 2016 interview while promoting his book “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance called himself “a Never Trump guy” and said of the soon-to-be-president, “I never liked him.” He told NPR the same year, “I can’t stomach Trump.” He wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled: “Mr. Trump Is Unfit for Our Nation’s Highest Office.” Today, JD Vance is Trump’s vice president.

On the other hand, during the 2016 campaign for the Republican nomination, Rubio called Trump a “con artist” and “the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.” Now, Rubio is the current Secretary of State in the Trump Administration.

While Evangelist Franklin Graham was never a U.S. Senator having the goal of becoming president, he shows how powerful religious leaders do not have to be politicians to be driven by ethical compromise and political expediency.  Graham serves as President and CEO of the organization, Samaritan’s Purse. According to its website, Samaritan’s Purse has met the needs of poor, sick and suffering people by providing food, medical care and other assistance in more than 170 countries. The expressed mission of Samaritan’s Purse is to follow the example of Christ by helping those in need and proclaiming the hope of the Gospel.

Franklin Graham, the son of the famed evangelist Billy Graham, has always been one of Trump’s most loyal religious allies and defenders. He frequently provides public support by mobilizing evangelical voters during both of Trump’s presidential campaigns. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last month, Graham urged MAGA world to end their infighting and rally around the president and the GOP at the next midterm elections. Therefore, should we be surprised when Graham took to social media to defend Trump’s controversial post depicting himself as a Christ-like figure?

“Franklin Graham of all people, who is frequently at the WH (White House) and with Trump should be leading Trump to be a Christian, NOT telling other Christians that Trump did nothing wrong when he committed blasphemy,” wrote former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene. The former congresswoman was right to expose Franklin Graham. He is not the president’s spiritual leader and advisor in the true sense, but rather a political “kingmaker”. When Christian leaders act as “kingmakers”, they leverage their spiritual authority to mobilize voting blocs, endorse candidates, fulfill cultural goals and shape national policy.

Donald Trump would not be occupying the White House a second time without the support from certain Christian leaders fulfilling their role as political kingmakers. The “kingmaker” will address political topics like abortion and religious liberty by framing them as spiritual battles that require voting for specific candidates. The political realty sees evangelicals getting everything they want despite having a president whose actions contradict Christian moral values.

Franklin Graham is in a unique situation when it comes to fighting poverty. Persistent poverty is a form of social oppression. When dealing with the poor, there is a two-track approach: charity and justice. Charity deals with the symptoms by providing direct services such as food, clothing, medicine and shelter. On the other hand, justice is directed at the root causes behind poverty. It deals with confronting the systemic barriers by promoting social changes in institutions and government laws and policies. Poverty persists because entrenched policies and systemic barriers lock people in, and only legislative action can dismantle those root causes.

Why do Christian leaders like Franklin Graham fight for religious liberty and not fight for economic justice and liberty for the poor through effective legislative engagement? Graham excels at charity, but abstains from the political work required to change the underlying systems of poverty despite having direct access and influence with those in high levels of government.

Graham’s organization addresses the immediate needs by providing food and medicine, yet it leaves the machinery of poverty intact. Continuing to treat the symptoms without confronting root causes such as the ever-widening pay gap between the rich and the poor only entrenches social oppression. A Christian leader cannot simultaneously be a “kingmaker” within a certain power structure and be a genuine advocate for justice that requires the dismantling of the very same power structure.

When Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks out against the one percent, it is a path that confronts the Donald Trumps and Elon Musks of the world. It is a path that Franklin Graham and others are unwilling to take. This selective compassion – addressing charity but ignoring justice – is disingenuous in the same manner of being pro-life on abortion and not on gun control.

Trump will eventually go away in time. Therefore, our focus should first be on the new wave of Trump wannabes who will do anything for political expediency, and secondly on the “kingmakers” who would gladly put them in power.

Written by David W. Marshall

Official website; https://davidwmarshallauthor.com/

One may purchase his book, which is titled; God Bless Our Divided America: Unity, Politics and History from a Biblical Perspective.

Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the “Home of Heroes,” Pueblo, Colorado. The city earned that title by having a record number, four, Medal of Honor recipients: William J. Crawford (Army, WW II), Carl L. Sitter (Marines, Korea), Raymond G. “Jerry” Murphy (Marines, Korea), and Drew D. Dix (Army, Vietnam). MOH recipient Major Drew Dix (USA, Ret) is a dear friend and invited me to speak at the Center for American Values in his hometown of Pueblo. It is a phenomenal facility that is the only location outside of the Pentagon where one can find a breathtaking portrait gallery of American Medal of Honor recipients. The three core values of the Center for American Values, which they promote to our future generations, are Honor, Integrity, and Patriotism.

As I think of Drew Dix’s center, I harkened back to the words of George Washington that he wrote to James Madison. We are in our 250th year of American independence, and the pertinent question has to be, what are American values?

I would ask each of you reading this missive to think back to our 200th celebration of independence, the Bicentennial of 1976. I was just a young fella of 15 years of age. It was the year that my Dad would challenge me to be the first military officer in our family. Yes, the ole Army World War II Corporal would seek to inspire his second son to carry on the legacy of honor and patriotism that he had begun. I look at our America fifty years later, in our 250th year of independence, and I see things that disturb me, and should disturb you, as they are not consistent with our American values.

When the new NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani asserts that “we will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” there is no greater betrayal of American values. America was founded on the principle of individual sovereignty, because our unalienable rights are endowed to us by the sovereign Judeo-Christian faith heritage God, Creator. It is an affirmation of John Locke’s Natural Rights Theory, which Jefferson invokes in our Declaration of Independence, ”the laws of Nature and Nature’s God.” Here in America, we do not elevate the collective, nor do we welcome the overarching and oftentimes tyrannical government. As a matter of fact, it was Thomas Paine who wrote, “the duty of a true Patriot is to protect his Country from its government.”

Now, of course, today’s Marxist leftists, who embrace the power of government over the individual, would call such words extremist. It was just last fall that Virginia Senator Tim Kaine stated, in a Senate hearing, that our rights do not come from God, but rather from government. He went so far as to compare such a belief as on par with the totalitarian theocracy of Iran.

Marxist leftists do not see us as individuals and reject our ability to work, attain, and have our property, the last unalienable right of natural rights theory. They prefer to embrace the Marxist ideology of eliminating private property ownership, one of the planks in Marx’s Communist Manifesto. I mean, seriously, when did owning your own home become a tool of white supremacy? Who would have ever thought that in these United States we would have such an absurd thing as “property taxes,” meaning that in America, does one truly ever own their home? Or how about estate taxes, which are levied against that which we seek to pass on to future generations as our legacy.

And all this ranting about “tax the rich.” Well, when did it become a sin to work hard and acquire wealth? Oh yeah, Karl Marx said it was, and another of his planks in the Communist Manifesto is a progressive income tax, first introduced in the first progressive American presidency, that of Woodrow Wilson.

The first tenet of a socialist economic system is wealth redistribution, which is what French economist Frederic Bastiat, in his essay The Law, referred to as government legal plunder. Let us never forget the infamous words of one Marxist-Islamist, Barack Obama, when he quipped in Roanoke, Virginia, in 2012, that “if you own a business, you didn’t build that.” What could be more disingenuous and disrespectful to that foundational American value of individual entrepreneurship? Then again, Marx advanced the idea of government control of the means of production, which is also a tenet of a socialist economic model.

See, last week, as I stood there before the gathered audience, I told them about this kid who was born in a Black-only hospital in 1961. I had a Dad who served in combat in a segregated Army. Somehow, I grew up in this exceptional Nation to also serve in combat, and as a Lieutenant Colonel, commanding an Artillery battalion. I represented a congressional district in Congress that included areas that I could not have gone to when I was born. That is all because the greatest American value that we have is the equality of opportunity. Instead, the Marxist left wants us to surrender to “equity,” which is the equality of outcomes, their collective determination of where and what we can become. In essence, a return to the divine rights theory, which John Locke refuted.

Let’s endeavor in 2026, the 250th anniversary of American independence, and the 190th anniversary of Texas independence, to reconnect our Constitutional Republic to its fundamental principles and values. It is not just about fireworks, hot dogs, and parades. It is truly about honoring what we have been endowed with, and to protect it, just the same as all those distinguished Medal of Honor recipients have done.

And let us remember these words, a quote that is 250 years old this year.

“These are the times which try Men’s souls: the summer Soldier and the sunshine Patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his Country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

Marxism and Islamism are indeed tyranny, and it is like hell but, united as Americans, armed with our Faith and our values, it can be conquered, and the triumph will be glorious!

Written by Allen West

Official website; https://x.com/AllenWest

Donald Trump is doing everything possible to prevent people from voting by mail and in any way.  Donald Trump started an unnecessary war, and can’t seem to decide what he wants out of the war and when it will end.

Donald Trump wants to ignore the Epstein issue and the women injured by Epstein and others when it’s obvious he knows a lot about it. Donald Trump has sent his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to run around the world trying to extract money for his personal use from everybody who will give it to him–like the Saudis who gave him two billion dollars that did not go into the U.S. Treasury, but into his pocket.

Donald Trump has assigned Jared Kushner, with no known skills in negotiating anything for the American people, but we are told he is now asking for five billion dollars from the Iranians. Don’t you even wonder where it’s going if he gets it?  Donald Trump has caused an increase in all prices like gasoline, food, utilities and all the essentials we need just to make ends meet daily.

Donald Trump has alienated so many of our friends around the world that they no longer trust America. Donald Trump has disgraced himself before many religious leaders, and most Catholics, with his efforts to vilify Pope Leo. Donald Trump has caused thousands of highly educated, productive and capable Black women to lose their jobs.

Donald Trump has gone overboard to find something wrong (as in illegal) with the brilliant New York Attorney General Tish James without cause. Donald Trump acts like he barely knew the late Jeffrey Epstein when the evidence shows the contrary. Donald Trump has hired to high places the most incompetent people of any President of record.

Donald Trump has released from prison so many January 6th criminals who wrecked our Capitol Building and caused the death of several people who were trying to protect it. Donald Trump has told criminals he loves them immediately after they tried to destroy our Capitol. Donald Trump has shown he cares nothing for people like you and me.

Donald Trump is a convicted felon, and has shown no remorse for his behavior. Donald Trump is still trying to take Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from people who need it. Donald Trump has thrown the Ukrainian people to the dogs, and allowed so many to die unnecessarily. Donald Trump just wasted your tax dollars to send Vice-President J.D. Vance to Hungary to try without success to bring his dictator friend, Orban, across the victory line against the strong will of the Hungarian people.

Donald Trump has supported Vladimir Putin while he was killing so many of his own people. He supported Benjamin Netanyahu in every way he could–even while his own people disagreed with what he was doing when he was killing nearly 100,000 Palestinians–many of whom were innocent little babies. I used Trump’s name at the beginning of every statement so you would not miss who is to blame for all of the above.

Now that you know all of this, and this is not a complete list of Trump’s wrongdoing, are you aware that your vote during the midterm elections puts you in charge of what you can do when you vote? Trump has so many people in the House and the Senate who are actually defending him daily, so knowing these things about him–and there are far more I could include, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? Why not vote to change things? Why not do that to honor people who died to give us the right to vote!

Written By Dr. E. Faye Williams

Official website; https://x.com/DrEFayeWilliams

Chief Justice Roberts pushed back sharply when Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that a new era of global mobility justified departing from 125 years of settled constitutional interpretation. “It’s a new world,” Sauer contended. Roberts’ reply was brief and pointed: “It’s a new world. It’s the same Constitution.” Justice Neil Gorsuch noted the executive order targets parents while the Fourteenth Amendment’s text is trained on the child. Justice Elena Kagan told Sauer his reading was “revisionist” with respect to a substantial portion of American legal history. Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned the practical mechanics—how hospitals would verify parental immigration status at birth and what adjudicatory process would follow. Justices Alito and Thomas appeared more open to the administration’s theory. Legal analysts who had anticipated a 7-2 ruling against the order came away less certain. A ruling is expected before the Court’s term ends in late June or early July.

The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, establishes citizenship for all persons born in the United States “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Senator Jacob Howard, who introduced the clause, stated plainly in floor debate that the jurisdiction language excludes “persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens.” I have argued as a designated expert witness in federal and state courts for over a decade. United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) presents a high bar for the administration—Justice Horace Gray’s majority opinion held that a child born in San Francisco to Chinese parents domiciled in the United States acquired citizenship at birth, and that holding has anchored the doctrine for 128 years. The administration’s theory is that “subject to the jurisdiction” requires a substantive allegiance condition, not merely physical presence within the nation’s borders—and that Wong Kim Ark’s reasoning, applied to a population that entered illegally or on temporary visas, stretches the original holding beyond its logic. The constitutionally sound path runs through a formal Article V amendment. But the policy question Trump has forced onto the national stage—whether a doctrine originating in Reconstruction-era politics was ever designed to extend to children born to people who violated immigration law or paid a cartel for crossing services—deserves a direct answer, irrespective of how this case resolves.

During the Biden administration, an estimated 14 million illegal aliens entered or remained in the United States, including 10.8 million border encounters and at least 2 million known gotaways. ICE’s fiscal year 2022 enforcement data documents 46,396 noncitizens arrested with criminal histories—carrying 198,498 collective convictions, including 3,445 homicides, 9,185 sex offenses, and 3,737 kidnappings. The 2024 murder of Laken Riley in Athens, Georgia, by a Venezuelan national who had entered illegally and been released without detention gave that data a name and a face. Her death was preventable at every point in the processing chain; it was not prevented because the policy priority was release, not detention. The DEA’s 2023 National Drug Threat Assessment confirms that the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels control the majority of cross-border drug trafficking. CBP seized over 11,200 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal year 2022. The CDC reported over 107,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2023, with synthetic opioids—primarily fentanyl—accounting for the majority. In 2022, Border Patrol encountered over 22,000 unaccompanied minors, thousands placed with sponsors who were never properly vetted, per DHS Inspector General findings.

California is projected to spend over $8.4 billion in fiscal year 2024–2025 on healthcare for unauthorized immigrants. New York City is housing over 65,000 asylum seekers in emergency shelters at a projected annual cost exceeding $4 billion. World Bank data shows remittances from the U.S. to Mexico alone totaled $61.7 billion in 2022, capital that exits the domestic economy without tax contribution. The National Academy of Sciences’ 2017 analysis found that first-generation immigrants use welfare at higher rates than native-born Americans, with costs loading onto state and local governments while long-range fiscal benefits accrue primarily to federal coffers decades later. The SAVE Act (H.R. 22), which requires proof of citizenship for voter registration, passed the House in April 2025 and sits stalled in the Senate. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated in 2020 that states with large, unauthorized populations gain roughly 26 additional House seats through census-based apportionment compared to citizen-only counts—a structural reward for tolerating unauthorized populations that is not accidental and is not without political beneficiaries. The political incentive to maintain the status quo is baked into the constitutional architecture of congressional representation itself.

Comprehensive reform has failed every time it has been attempted—most recently with the 2013 Senate Gang of Eight bill—for one reason: Democrats demand legalization first; Republicans demand enforcement first. The American public wants both, and in consistent polling has never viewed those goals as contradictions, because they are not. Enforcement without a legal pathway creates a permanent shadow population that cannot be taxed, regulated, or integrated. A pathway without enforcement is an open invitation with no expiration date, a signal to every prospective migrant worldwide that the statutory process is optional and the consequence is eventual amnesty. The deal has always been structurally available. The resolve to execute it, on both sides, has not. Complete the border barriers. Mandate E-Verify universally. End sanctuary policies. Restrict asylum to statutory qualifying cases. Restore interior enforcement. Trump v. Barbara will produce a ruling this summer. Whatever it says, the broader crisis requires elected officials, not lawyers, to provide the answer.

Written by Jay Rogers 

Thus wrote Kyle Smith in a Wall Street Journal column titled “EVs Can’t Compete Without Subsidies.” Smith deserves the Pulitzer for Clueless Commentary, a competitive category. About six weeks earlier, Trump launched a war on Iran paid for — subsidized! — by the American taxpayers. Some of it was to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program, a worthy goal. But it was also about oil, hence, the ongoing struggle to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for tankers.

Let’s talk about carmakers and subsidies. In 1908, when Henry Ford’s Model T first rolled off the assembly line, 93% of America’s rural public roads lacked any kind of surfacing. Until decent roads could permit town-to-town car travel, the market for Ford’s new product would be largely limited to well-to-do city folk seeking a new plaything.

The fledgling car industry clearly needed good roads to prosper. Several industry leaders proposed pooling their resources to privately build some kind of national highway system. Not Henry Ford. Government should pay for it, he said. And Ford became a major force in the Good Roads Movement, which pushed for greater government involvement. It achieved ultimate victory with the Federal Highway Act of 1921.

This was classic “rent-seeking,” to use Smith’s dismissive term, that is, getting the government rather than the marketplace to advance an industry’s interests. In 2023 alone, U.S. taxpayers spent about $285 billion building, maintaining and policing roads. But rent-seeking can also lead to good results for the nation at large. The modern road system helped America prosper into the 20th century and beyond.

And what do electric vehicle makers need from government? Not roads. The existing roads do just fine. They need something that costs considerably less than a network of interstates.

Many would-be customers for EVs worry that they’d be on a long trip with nowhere to charge their vehicles. The Biden administration tried to address that concern by budgeting a mere $8 billion to build a coast-to-coast system of charging stations along said interstates.

Trump tried to kill it. He froze the charger-station plan, miring much of it in litigation. He launched a smear campaign against EVs. Many MAGA devotees followed him in mocking them. Candidates campaigned against EVs as a “hoax.”

Governmental sabotage and a drop in gasoline prices devastated U.S. efforts to adopt the technology the rest of the world was running toward. Ford stopped making its all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning last year.

Consider this: The owner of an electric Tesla Model Y can drive 100 miles for less than $5. With pump prices of $4 a gallon (they’re $6 in California), a comparable compact SUV, the 2025 Toyota RAV4, costs more than twice as much, $10.40, to go that distance. And it’s a hybrid.

Meanwhile, at today’s gas prices, the driver of Ford’s gas-powered F-150 may have to shell out $20 to travel the same 100 miles.

Where’s China in all this? Mostly watching as high gas prices strain the U.S. economy — and not minding it one bit. For over a decade, China has devoted massive resources to reducing its need for imported oil, while becoming the world’s biggest maker of EVs. (China now has charging stations that can “refill” a car in five minutes.)

With gas prices spiking, Americans are again looking at EVs — just as discouraged American carmakers had largely given up on them. We’re losing.

What were EV subsidies subsidizing? They were subsidizing our economy, our national security and our future.

Written by Froma Harrop

Official website; https://twitter.com/FromaHarrop

I say this as a devout Catholic. Yet one who is often critical of the church’s doctrine on abortion, gays, and the role of women. But Trump managed to do something that no other politician has ever done. He rallied just about every Catholic believer, Catholic critic, non-believer, many Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, and even atheists in praise of the Pope and rip of Trump.

This is no mean fete. I come back to church critics. There are legions of them without and within the church. One example is Vice President JD Vance, a purported catholic, who quickly did his requisite Trump lap dog bark at the Pope screeching that he should stick to church matters.

Another example is the myriad of conservative Catholic notables, groups, and even U.S. Cardinals. They lambasted Trump’s self-serving, standard megalomaniacal, idiotic anti-Papal rants.

But it’s the other example of those who rallied round the Papal throne that is most intriguing. These are the reform minded Catholics who have relentlessly challenged church doctrine of abortion, the role of gays and women, and its oft times look the other way at pedophile priests. They loudly proclaimed that they had the Pope’s back.

That cast light again on the question that many have asked for years. That is which Catholic Church would emerge in the years after Pope Francis’ death in April 2025. Would it be a Catholic Church that Leo in another of his first pronouncements following his ascension to the papacy did what he called for, “We have to be a church that works together to build bridges and to keep our arms open, like this very piazza, welcoming.”

Church reformers would interpret that to mean the church takes seriously the call for a total overhaul of its teaching and doctrines frozen in time that excluded wholesale groups, lifestyles, and relationships that the church for centuries considered taboo. Church conservatives by contrast would interpret his admonition as little more than generic words that any leader would be obliged to make. But that carried no force behind them when it came to fundamental change.

The church almost certainly would continue to vigorously defend immigrant rights. That was an easy choice since many Catholics globally were in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They were the individuals who would make up the bulk of immigrants to the U.S, Canada, and Western Europe. They were the ones who would likely suffer discrimination.

Likewise, it was just as easy for the church to continue to speak out on and fight against poverty and wealth inequality. That was also in the church’s direct interest since much of the poverty and inequality in the world were in the countries with large numbers of Catholics.

However, the betting odds were that it would be a far different story when the debate on church change swung back to the long-standing church views on gays, the family, marriage, abortion, and women’s roles. There were mixed signals on how much change there would be during Leo’s papacy.

Far right Catholic bloggers, groups, magazines, websites, and some church hierarchy poured over then Bishop Prevost’s sermons, quips, and homilies on these issues to find clues which direction he’d try and take the church. They found some that marked him as a traditionalist and others that marked him as a Francis’ type reformer.

When all the mounds of initial speculation on this were finished, the consensus was a wary wait and see. That was best summed up by no less than Vance, a so-called born again Catholic. In an interview, he noted, “I’m sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love. I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the Church despite it all and through it all.”

There were two views there were universal consensus on when it came to whether there would be any foundational church reversal of its age-old positions on these issues. One was that these issues would continue to be raised. The other was that the battle lines on them would continue to be fiercely drawn with little give from either side.

There would be no dramatic epiphany and then a recitation of the ancient Catholic repentance call punctuated by three strikes of the breast mea culpa mea maxima culpa. Translated: through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.” That best sums up Trump. Pope Leo’s blast simply underscored that.

Written By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

One can find more info about Mr. Hutchinson over at the following site; TheHutchinson Report.

Also feel free to connect with him through twitter; http://twitter.com/earlhutchins

He is also an associate editor of New America Media. His forthcoming book is From King to Obama: Witness to a Turbulent History (Middle Passage Press).

Central to our relating rightly, acting justly and walking gently in the world is seeing and sensing the world and all in it as sacred. This does not mean we don’t or can’t also have special sacred places, but it means that we should recognize and respect the fact that the special sacred space is located in and part of a larger sacred space, the world. In our earliest sacred texts, the world was seen and sensed as sacred for several reasons and all of them were interrelated and central to the transcendent respect they had for the spiritual, natural and social worlds of humans. In the Kawaida Maatian ethical tradition rooted in ancient Egyptian sacred teachings, humans are part of an interrelated reality of concentric circles of relatedness. In their identity as images of God, they are spiritual beings; in their embeddedness in nature, they are natural beings; and in their lives, work and struggles in society, they are social beings. And each of these must be seen, approached and engaged as interrelated, interdependent and inseparable.

What I want to do here is share some of the essential teachings of our ancestors on how we can relate rightly, act justly and walk gently in the world. Starting with some of our most ancient texts and ending with some of our modern texts on the sacredness of nature, I want to share how they sensed and engaged the world as sacred and worthy of transcendent respect. In the classical spiritual and ethical texts of ancient Egypt, the Husia, the Great Praise Poem to the Divine by Pharaoh Akhenaten stands out as an excellent example reaffirming the sense of the sacredness of the world. He says in this great work: “You are beautiful, great, radiant exalted above every land…sustaining all you have made…people, cattle, animals and all there is. You make a Nile (for Kemet) deep in the earth and you bring it because of your love that cause the people to live…all other lands, you make a way of life for them also. You place a Nile in the sky and it comes to them”. In this praise poem the Pharaoh Akhenaten speaks of the beauty and sacredness of the world suggesting it is goodness of itself, a creation of the Divine, and a means of sustainment and beauty for human beings everywhere. He also stresses the equal access to and right to the necessities of life which the earth provides as a Divine endowment, “and everyone can see this so that they may live rightly”.

Also beautiful in the spiritual, ethical and aesthetic sense is the definition of holiness by a Bakwena (Setswana) person given to a colonial missionary who saw holiness in a less inclusive and therefore incomplete way. Approaching holiness as a wholistic and inclusive reality, he stressed in his definition that not only is spirit sacred, but also the earth and all in it. Thus, he says, “When abundant rains fall during the night and wash all the world, trees and cattle clean and the air breathes clean; and the rising sun shows a drop of dew on every blade of grass, that to us is holiness”. In a word, the forms, contents and processes of the world are both sacred and beautiful.

Another important sacred text which teaches us to recognize and respect the sacredness of the earth and all in it and our moral responsibility to care for it and do good for it is the Odu Ifa. It tells us, that “those whose turn it is to take responsibility for the world, they should do good for the world”. Clearly, it is our time and our responsibility, we, the living, conscious and capable, to take care of the world and do good for the world in the ways we each and all can.

Our ancestors also taught that “the world should stop making sacrifices for wealth, and instead make sacrifices that would protect the earth from its enemies. In this way, we will live”. And again, this calls for us to sense the sacredness of the earth and all in it and relate, act and walk in dignity-affirming, life-enhancing and world-preserving ways.

In more recent times, Nana Dr. George Washington Carver gives us a beautiful model of sensing and appreciating the sacredness of the world. A highly accomplished and respected scientist, he also was a very spiritual person, combining it all in the way he conceived and lived his life and did his work. Sensing and seeing the world as sacred, he spoke of how he did “love the things God has created, both animate and inanimate”. Advancing love of creation as a sacred space of living, learning and working, he taught that if you approach nature with genuine love and a will to learn, it will give up its secrets just as other loved ones do. Nature, he taught, has wonderful stories to share and awesome goodness to give, if we love it and learn its languages and lessons. Indeed, he said, “the singing birds, the buzzing bees, the opening flower and the budding trees, along with other forms of animate and inanimate matter, all have their marvelous creation story to tell”. And “more and more as we come closer and closer in touch with nature and its teachings are we able to see the Divine and are therefore fitted to interpret correctly the various languages spoken by all forms of nature (around) us”.

Nana Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement whose model offers a framework for environmental work in the world, also stressed “love for the environment,” as an indispensable value which teaches us to see and sense the earth as sacred. She taught an active caring for the world which “motivates one to take positive action for the earth, such as planting trees and ensuring that they survive; nurtur(ing) those trees that are standing; protect(ing) animals and their habitat; conserve(ing) soil”; and other related life-affirming and world-preserving activities. And she urged us to have and demonstrate “gratitude and respect for the Earth’s resources” and “valuing all that the earth gives us and because of that valuation, not wanting to waste any of it”.

Again, then, in our deep sense of the sacredness of the earth and all in it , let us dare to relate rightly, act justly and walk gently on earth. Let us relate rightly, embracing an expansive understanding of ourselves that reaffirms our ancestral teachings of the unity of being, the oneness of life, and the interrelatedness and interdependence of the whole world. Let us act justly in and for the world and for ourselves, giving everyone and everything in the world their rightful due. It means respecting the earth as our honored ancestors taught, i.e., for:

1) its intrinsic value as a goodness in itself;

2) its status as a divine creation and sacred space,

and

3) its being a central and indispensable source of our shared well-being, sustainment, our sense of the sacred and beautiful, and our expansive concept of ourselves and our responsibility.

And let us walk gently in the world asserting ourselves in the world as good relatives to all in it, without species arrogance, abuse, and insensitivity to other living and inanimate beings and without conscious or unconscious complicity in the plunder, pollution and depletion of the world by our own practices. In a word we must see and conduct ourselves not only as human beings (watu), but also as (walimwengu) with joyful responsibility for the well-being and shared good of the world and all in it.

Written by Dr. Maulana Karenga

Official website; https://www.maulanakarenga.org/

Back in the day, male politicians cavorted with their female staffers and got away with it. But that was way back and many days ago.

An official cheating on his wife with a woman picked up at a rally doesn’t seem to bother voters the way it once did. Donald Trump has numbed the electorate to that level of moral outrage. I don’t approve of adultery, but it’s generally not a deal killer in my voting for someone. Many men regarded as great national leaders had sexual relationships outside their marriages. Some were Founding Fathers.

An affair with a staffer who may fear losing a job or a chance at promotion if they refuse is another matter. Although I’ve generally referred to the offenders as men, women can engage in similar misconduct, and some have. They famously include former California Rep. Katie Hill. She was involved in at least one improper relationship, with a congressional staffer. Hill resigned in 2019 under considerable pressure.

The undeniable shift in the rules of conduct makes it incomprehensible that an ambitious congressman would ignore them. That goes doubly so for Swalwell, a Democratic star who briefly ran for president in 2019. Until recently a serious contender to become governor of California, he’s now out of the race.

He’s been charged with grave offenses that include drugging and raping a woman in a hotel in 2018. I’m reluctant to accept as fact any accusation thrown at a powerful male figure. The #MeToo business may have emerged out of reasonable outrage, but it has often spiraled into a racket peddling half-truths — pushed by women with other agendas or a few screws loose.

Swalwell says the stories about him are “false.” He denies the rape charge and insists that the allegations were politically motivated. He might have a point or two. Given the heated gubernatorial race in California, the timing may be questioned. Swalwell’s lawyer has publicly threatened legal action against at least one accuser.

But his admission of having made “mistakes” alongside the copy-and-paste announcement, “My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children” leads one to believe he was sexually involved with an underling. That alone is serious.

Power radiating over good looks and smart TV appearances made Swalwell a glamorous figure. He had fans in Hollywood. One can easily believe an unnamed accuser’s description of his aura. “When he talked to you, it was like the sun was shining on you,” she said. “You felt like the coolest person in the room.”

As for Gonzales, the staffer with whom he admitted having an affair later took her life. The congressman insists that the suicide was not tied to their relationship.

Gonzales strayed from his marriage vows while representing a culturally conservative district along the South Texas border. Swalwell’s constituents in the East Bay, right across the water from San Francisco, are affluent and socially liberal.

The two couldn’t be culturally more different, but both seemed to think they were entitled to disregard the mores of the day. Being sexually involved with an employee is barred by House rules. And for good reasons.

Again, if they were caught having a fling with a woman outside their professional orbit, they might be criticized but could wrangle their way out of it. Their fatal flaw was treating their female workforce as a harem. What could they have been possibly thinking?

Written by Froma Harrop

Official website; https://twitter.com/FromaHarrop

The erosion of trust comes from the lack of diplomatic consultation resulting from our nation’s “America First” policy, which consistently ignores input from our allies. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has severely disrupted global energy supplies and is economically impacting European and Asian allies with higher energy prices. It shows that Americans here at home are not alone in suffering from the results of the Trump administration’s recklessness and arrogance. Our allies, who express concerns about the stability of U.S. leadership, would not be wrong to question how a presidential candidate with a long list of documented moral, ethical, and legal failings managed to maintain political support from millions of voters.

It didn’t matter to voters that each of the failings was a red flag representing clear evidence that he is unfit to become the most powerful person in the world. When it comes to shielding the nation and world from Donald Trump’s domestic and foreign policy volatility, the Republican-led Congress, the Republican-led Supreme Court, and the MAGA movement have let the nation and world down. On the world stage, our allies can no longer trust the actions and motives coming from this White House. At one time, the Republican Party was the party of foreign affairs and fiscal responsibility.

Steve Schmidt is best known as a co-founder of the Lincoln Project. It was founded in 2019 in opposition to Donald Trump and his leadership of the Republican Party and has earned him the wrath of MAGA. He was an establishment Republican who worked on political campaigns for President George Bush and Sen. John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign. He is now a Never Trump Republican who has broken with the Republican Party. Thanks to Republicans, Schmidt said the nation no longer has the system of checks and balances envisioned by the country’s founders.

“A system with checks and balances and a separation of powers and a separation between church and state in the country…is foundational to who we are, to what we are,” said Schmidt. There are not enough Republicans like Schmidt who understand the times we are living in, both domestically and globally. I do not agree with Schmidt politically on many things, but I do appreciate his willingness to speak out to confront fascism and the billionaire class. This is important because every Senate and Congressional election directly and indirectly impacts the nation and world. Every Republican lawmaker knows the threat that Trump poses.

What Schmidt has been able to do is highlight the contrast between Republicans who are true Americans, with courage, and Republicans who have placed the goals of their party over the needs of the nation by refusing to restrain President Trump’s aggressive power grabs, even when they are done without Congressional approval. “It’s an age of epic cowardice of selfishness of greed,” Schmidt told Left Hook podcaster Wajahat Ali in reference to members of his former party. “These are despicable, villainous people, and I think the High Court of History is going to judge them very, very harshly.

The world is watching, and the High Court of History will judge Democrats as well, because there are many forms of checks and balances.

There is a critical U.S. Senate race in Texas, and the Black vote can ultimately determine the outcome. A May runoff between U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton will determine the Republican candidate. The winner is favored to win in November. The Democratic nominee is James Talarico, the Texas state representative who defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. While a coalition of white, college-educated Democrats and Latino voters helped propel Talarico over Crockett, Talarico will need the support of Black voters if there is any chance of winning in November.

That may not be easy. Some of Crockett’s supporters took offense to the notion that a white state representative was more electable than a Black congresswoman, as rooted in racism and sexism. Dallas Jones, a Texas Democratic strategist, believes Talarico doesn’t need an “overwhelming surge” of support from Black voters, but he does need to make sure they don’t stay home. There is a balance to be maintained to keep the powerful Black vote energized, because voting and politics are based on relationships. On one side, the Black vote in Texas must be earned, regardless of the candidate. It should never be taken for granted; therefore, Talarico should sincerely work to earn the trust and support of the Black community.

On the other hand, the Black vote must be consistent, grounded in justice and compassion. Black voters in Texas are in a position to serve as the moral checks and balances the nation and the world need. When Steve Schmidt refers to cowardice, despicable, villainous people, those people have names. Their names are John Cornyn and Ken Paxton.

Written by David W. Marshall

Official website; https://davidwmarshallauthor.com/

One may purchase his book, which is titled; God Bless Our Divided America: Unity, Politics and History from a Biblical Perspective.