Cook: Megaphones, everywhere: how to find silence in loud times – Chattanooga Times Free Press

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We have reached the end of privatized prisons in Hamilton County.

The governor wants to take down the Capitol's Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.

Area leaders continue to call for the resignation of county Sheriff Jim Hammond.

And, in a mandate I never imagined in my lifetime, the county mayor declared citizens must wear a mask in public or risk jail time or a $50 fine.

All this in the last seven days.

There is so much to discuss, applaud, criticize.

Today, however, I want to talk about something else.

Nothing.

Today, I want to say nothing.

***

These feel like Tower of Babel times.

There are so many different voices saying so many different things.

We hear medical experts who say one thing.

We hear more medical experts who say another.

We hear conspiracy theorists, politicians, libertarians, activists, Trump supporters, Democratic Socialists, researchers, anti-maskers, mask-wearers, pundits, preachers and fools.

They all say different things.

Like this:

In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said every American should wear a mask.

Days later, the World Health Organization said masks aren't necessary for healthy people.

Who do we listen to? What do we believe?

Each day, we are buffeted by a dozen winds.

It is exhausting. Everywhere, megaphones. Everywhere, noise.

***

Recently, I have been thinking about this Gospel scene:

Jesus stands before Pilate, his executioner. He is hours away from crucifixion.

Pilate asks Christ: what is truth?

Jesus doesn't answer.

He just stands in silence.

Why?

Why not speak out? Why not answer?

Why say nothing?

***

Jesus could have criticized him. Converted him. Tried to change his heart. Cut him down to size. Even begged for his life.

Christ wasn't a church mouse. His voice his non-silence put him on death row. You don't challenge The Man like he did and get away with it.

He stood before Pilate the head of the region's systemic injustice.

Think of all he could have said. He could have gone viral.

Instead, he goes quiet.

What is truth?

Tell us.

Silence.

***

"Silence is violence," protesters chant.

This is true. The cold violence of silent complicity encourages hot violence to occur.

Picture the coward. He's afraid. He won't speak. His silence allows violence to remain unchallenged.

Yet also picture the monk.

Her silence is different. It's rooted not in fear, but contemplation and reflection.

By staying silent, does she also say something?

If silence can lead to violence, can it also lead to peace? Can silence become justice?

Or truth?

***

Years ago, my mind was so troubled, I began doing something strange: I sat in silence.

With my body.

My thoughts.

My emotions.

Not as they should be.

But as they are.

This is meditation.

My mind? I saw it is often like a housefly on acid: darting this way, that way, inventing, imagining, never resting.

My emotions? I want the world to be a certain way, but it was often another. The result? I feel anger, fear, rage, elation, excitement, deflation.

Oh, my opinions! My beliefs! I have so many, all of them connected to judgment, criticism, wanting the world to be like this. And not like that.

Sitting in silence, I began to see beyond opinions and beliefs.

"Go beyond right and wrong," my teacher says.

But how?

***

Think of a ping pong game. The ball goes back and forth, back and forth.

Now think of your opinions and beliefs.

And someone else's.

Your opinion.

Theirs.

Back.

And forth.

All opinions and beliefs create an opposite: you believe this, I believe that.

Right.

And wrong.

Beliefs and opinions can be beautiful things: they help us envision the world as it should be. Justice, fairness, love for neighbor and self all these come with a set of beliefs about how life should be.

If only Trump

If only my neighbor

If only my body

That's the allure. The trap.

We get lost in thinking, judging, wishing how the world should be.

We stop experiencing the world as it is.

Our lives become daydreams, fantasies, all giant desires: please, world, be like this and not like that.

What happens when we step away from the ping pong table?

What happens when we move beyond right and wrong?

***

I could tell you my opinions about privatized prisons, mask mandates or Confederate statues.

In doing so, I would pick up the ping pong ball.

Our game would begin all over again.

But the game isn't life.

It sure as hell isn't truth.

I'm so tired of megaphones. So tired of ping pong.

How do we speak about things that matter without adding to the noise?

How can silence lead to peace?

David Cook writes a Sunday column and can be reached at dcook@timesfreepress.com.

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Cook: Megaphones, everywhere: how to find silence in loud times - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Book Review: Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs by Antony Loewenstein – USAPP American Politics and Policy (blog)

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In Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, Antony Loewenstein offers an expansive medley of facts, figures and accounts of life in the midst of the drug war, based on travels to six countries on five continents: Honduras, Guinea-Bissau, the Philippines, the UK, the US and Australia. While the books ambitious breadth means it sometimes struggles to draw rigorous interconnections, this is a well-intentioned and wide-ranging study that gives a voice to those caught up in the global War on Drugs, writes Alessandro Ford.

Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs. Antony Loewenstein. Scribe. 2019.

The global War on Drugs is a many-headed beast. Like the parable of the elephant and the blind men, who in touching only one part of the creature think they know what an elephant is, so understanding the drug war requires grasping the beasts many dimensions: domestic politics, narco-history, drug capitalism, racial inequality, cultural trauma and the economic and psycho-spiritual roots of addiction. It also means genuinely seeing it as the lie it is.

US President Richard Nixon launched his War on Drugs in 1971, calling illegal substance use public enemy number one. This mendacious campaign to demonise substance users was born of twin ambitions: to deflect blame for the failure in Vietnam onto soldiers using evil drugs and away from Washingtons political and strategic short-sightedness, and to neuter Nixons domestic opposition (i.e. the anti-war left and black people). It implicitly meant tapping into subliminal western anxieties about modernity that have existed since the industrial revolution, anxieties that have historically found expression in spasmodic moral panics about the use of certain substances. Yet if there have been prior Wars on Drugs, none has matched the scale and brutality of the one (or ones: the drug war is not a monolith) we currently find ourselves in.

Like any war, the human and economic cost strains comprehension: the US alone devotes some 50 billion US dollars annually to trying to suppress a drug trade collectively worth at least 500 billion US dollars, while addiction rates skyrocket, millions of the poor and marginalised are incarcerated and hundreds of thousands of civilians are murdered worldwide. Like any war, those who suffer have not been those who started it: the US-led global prohibition regime has sacrificed countless nations (Colombia, Peru, Mexico) on the altar of drug control, has funded repressive states into detaining the migrants that a militarised US drug policy has created and has weaponised the issue in order to further coercive domestic and foreign policies. And, like many a war, it has neither been a victory nor a defeat, but has instead benefitted the few at the expense of the many.

These are but some of the ideas contained in Australian journalist Antony Loewensteins new book. Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs is an expansive medley of facts, figures and accounts of life in the midst of the drug war. Loewenstein travels to six countries on five continents: Honduras, Guinea-Bissau, the Philippines, the UK, the US and Australia.

As the author of Disaster Capitalism, he is refreshingly direct in his political and personal views, arguing that the entire drug trade should be legalised, regulated and preferably nationalised, with the state holding a monopoly on the production and sale of all drugs. Given the increasing corporatisation of the emerging cannabis industry (and of the nascent psychedelic industry), one can see why this last point is important.

Furthermore, he presents voices that challenge Manichean narratives of legal versus illegal markets, of state versus cartel. Two such voices are that of Mexican journalist-turned-academic Oswaldo Zavala and Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, the latter of whom has been under heavy police protection since 2006 after death threats from the Calabrian Ndrangheta. Through them, Loewenstein underlines the relationship between the global drug trade and capitalist financial institutions. It was the Head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, who famously admitted after the 2008 financial crisis that it was drug money, in the hundreds of billions, that saved many banks and kept the global financial system afloat for only the cartels possessed the necessary liquidity. As Saviano writes, its not the world of cocaine that must orbit around the markets, but the markets that must rotate around cocaine.

Zavala in turn challenges the idea that Mexican cartels have overwhelmed the Mexican state rather they mutually benefit from the drug war. There exists in that country a triangle between authorities, cartels and multinational corporations: the logic of the drug war allows Mexican administrations to grant multinationals access to natural resources, the cartels do the dirty work by forcibly displacing people from those areas and killing journalists and environmental activists, and authorities get payouts from certain cartels in exchange for targeting their rivals (all while receiving US funding to fight the cartels). To some, Los Zetas one of Mexicos most vicious crime syndicates are not a cartel but a paramilitary, performing the black ops missions the military cant do to further the interests of the mining, fruit and energy companies.

A different, though similar, triangle exists on the US side between politicians, certain state institutions and defence contractors: politicians get to be tough on crime (and thereby deflect from other issues), certain state institutions (i.e. the military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies) can justify increased budgets and accrue political capital and defence contractors exploit new markets hungry for weapons and military technology. This practice has exacerbated armed conflict, human rights abuses and structural oppression in many countries in Central and South America. In his chapter on Guinea-Bissau, Loewenstein highlights concerns that Americas greater focus in recent years on drug trafficking in West Africa is partly driven by the neoliberal capitalist desire to create a new market for military, surveillance and anti-terrorism hardware and software in the region.

Loewenstein is a good storyteller and is adept at showcasing ideas from the most famous figures writing about drugs today. He engages with a broad and eclectic range of topics: mass incarceration and racialised targeting for drug possession across western countries, debates about harm reduction and safe injection sites, scientific research into the value of psychedelic psychotherapy, the targeted killing of drug users in certain countries like the Philippines, the role of the dark web in transforming drug retailing and so on. He also shows his heart is clearly in the right place by casting off the false mantle of journalistic objectivity and accepting he may be labelled an advocate.

Yet the book has some serious faults. Loewensteins idiosyncratic choice of countries (Guinea-Bissau? Australia?) feels rather arbitrary as if hes writing more about what he happens to know than what the reader would find most illuminating. This impression isnt helped by regular updates from the Jerusalem-based journalist on Israeli weapons sales to this-or-that dictator, with only peripheral connections to the topic in question.

The War on Drugs is fundamentally a war on people, so Loewenstein is commendable in interviewing many lay people affected by the drug war, people who arent normally given a voice. Yet this tendency can sometimes mean sacrificing intellectual rigour and depth for a quote from a passing fisherman in Guinea-Bissau or a random Australian who uses drugs. The book can therefore come across as lacking the cohesion and interconnections necessary for a truly interdisciplinary global work, reading more as a mishmash of information and regional analysis. Finally, the book doesnt have an especially clear audience: its somewhat derivative for anyone who already knows much about the War on Drugs and somewhat niche for anyone that doesnt. The latter would be better off engaging with many of the authors Loewenstein cites.

That said, any author would find it a challenge to adequately cover the breadth that such a work attempts. In sum, if you dont know much about drugs in Guinea-Bissau or Australia, the quirky and well-intentioned Pills, Powder and Smoke may be the book for you.

Please read our comments policy before commenting.

Note: This article gives the views of theauthors, and not the position of USAPP American Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.

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Alessandro Ford Kings College LondonAlessandro Ford is an MSc student in War and Psychiatry at Kings College London. His research areas are collective trauma; sexual violence in conflict; drugs in conflict; and addiction and substance use in history.

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Book Review: Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs by Antony Loewenstein - USAPP American Politics and Policy (blog)

Blood on the Ground – Living and Dying in Nod – Leecountycourier

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To Ken Fairly, a father figure when I needed one. To Claude Stuckey, the truest friend I ever had. To all the agents who thought it would never end. To those who never let fear spoil the journey. To wanderers longing for home. Merle Temple

PREFACE

The grizzled old crime reporter leaned back in his chair and turned the page on his notepad. Given to old habits, he wetted the graphite in his pencil with his tongue to get a darker line and make it flow like ink.

The springs in his chair creaked as he rocked back and forth and studied an old black-and-white photo of a young Michael Parker. He looked from the image to the old man sitting in front of him and then back again. James shook his head and thought about the high price time and trials exact.

The first drug wars were a long time ago. Merle Temple has written all these books about your life. What do you think about them? he asked, tugging at the chin whiskers of his gray beard.

Michael Parker laughed. That guy is inside my head, he answered.

What was it like when the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics was brand new and still feeling those birthing pains? Yall didnt really think you could win the war on drugs, did you? the reporter asked as he handed the old photo to a silver-haired Parker.

Michael squinted as he tried to find himself in the image captured in the faded picture when youth was his armor and innocence his currency. Time was growing short, the clocks ticked loudly, and the hands spun faster and faster. Here he was when his life was little more than a minor footnote in history.

I cant speak for the others, but I wanted to save the world, rescue damsels in distress, and slay dragonserrant knights, tilting at windmills, and all that. We were young, nave, and thought we would outlive the stars. We didnt know we were drunk on our dreams until the world sobered us up. Maybe theyll wake us one day to say none of it was real, just a daydream or a nightmare. They say reality is overrated, but what do they know, Michael said, with a sardonic smile.

Some of your fellow agents died young, others ran afoul of the law, and some lost their families. Do you ever think of them? the reporter asked.

Their faces haunt my dreams. They gave all they had to giveso many temptations, living on the edge. We didnt think about consequences or the end of the road. Everyone wanted to go to heaven, but no one wanted to die. My professor gave me a note when I left Ole Miss. I didnt understand it, but Ive kept it in my wallet all these years, he said, as he read from a crumpled scrap of paper.

I am sending you out like sheep among wolvesbe as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on guard; youll be handed over to the local councils and floggedbut when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matthew 10:16.

I can see how that must seem prophetic to you now, the reporter said. But lets get back to the undercover dayswhen it was fresh and raw, and you were in the thick of the brambles and briars and unbowed. The war, the corruption, the temptations, the casualtieswhat did A Ghostly Shade of Pale leave out?

Michael clutched the yellowed Scripture and closed his eyes. Emotions and images from a prodigal life came rushing to shore, messages in bottles set adrift by the castaways of yesterday. The past washed over the present, the barricades of time were breached, and a police radio crackled in the fog of yesteryear: Come in, 822! Michael, are you there? He has a gun! Look out! Get Down!

He stumbled into the Last Chance Saloon where a hollow-eyed bartender told him hed already had his last chance, and there were no second acts. The undertaker leaned against the gates of hell and licked his chops while Delilah cut Michaels hair, but God came to where he was and fed him in the wilderness.

A man with a crown of thorns offered shelter from the storms as men cast lots for His garments. Weeds of sorrow were browned and frayed, flowers of youth wilted inside a ring of fire, and the lost begged for salvation and banged on the doors of heaven. Sparrows were falling, but Gods eye was on them all. And Michael forgave it all, as he was forgiven.

Michael whispered, Give us eyes to see Thee in our hour of need.

Few of us ever live in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone. Louis LAmour

PROLOGUE

Americas public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new all-out offensive. Ive asked the Congress to provide the legislative authority and the funds to fuel this kind of offensive. President Richard M. Nixon, June 14, 1971

We rebelled in the late sixties. With us, it wasnt an apple, it was heroin, but it was the fall all over again. The serpent didnt tempt us, or at least we didnt see him, but we figured Adam and Eve were the first hippies, just looking to throw off their shackles like us. We rejected the God of the Garden, evicted Him. If He created Adam and Eve, he must have created the serpentmaybe the Vietnam War, social injustice, and the CIA, too. It didnt all work out as planned. Mistakes were made. Some, who we thought were friends, betrayed us with bad trips and dirty needles, that Cain and Abel thing, too. People overdosed and died. The blooms of flower power withered and wilted. People got sick, homeless and penniless, but we loved Communism. All that recoil, but we flocked like lemmings to the tree of knowledge and shook hands with the devil who was homeless like us. We wanted to be our own gods, knowing both good and evil. We smoked grass, and we wanted the green, green grass of a new Garden to cover the gravesite of America. We uncorked the jug and let the genie out of the bottle, and all the kings horses and all the kings men...you know. We sowed the seeds of destruction and the red, white, and blue was twisted by the whirlwind. Milkwood Jones

They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seatThey, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way. John Milton, Paradise Lost

Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. C.S. Lewis

CHAPTER ONE

I stand amid the roar of a surf-tormented shore, and I hold within my hand grains of the golden sandHow few! Yet how they creep through my fingers to the deep while I weep!Edgar Allan Poe, Dream Within a Dream Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19

As the world turned in 1972, the cost of the average home in America was $27,550, the average annual salary $11,800, gasoline 55 cents per gallon, and a new Ford Pinto was $2,078.

Jesus Christ Superstar was playing in New York. The endless ground war in Vietnam appeared in living color on American TV sets every night, courtesy of NBCs peacock. Two-thirds of America's troops had returned home, but 20,000 North Vietnamese Army troops were massing near the DMZ to attack allied positions and force the South Vietnamese army into retreat and chaos.

The New York Times had published the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of the Vietnam War leaked by Daniel Ellsberg. The White House plumbers unit burglarized a psychiatrists office to find files on Ellsberg, and a group of shadowy figures plotted a break-in at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.

This is the 1st excerpt from Blood on the Ground by Lee County author Merle Temple. If you subscribe to The Lee County Courier, you'll naver miss another word from this manuscript.

Hope you enjoy. Jim Clark, publisher

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Blood on the Ground - Living and Dying in Nod - Leecountycourier

Congressional police-reform bill falls short of the moment – San Francisco Chronicle

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The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which recently passed the House, takes baby steps to protect Americans civil rights from police, while maintaining the systemic racism that has driven millions worldwide to protest. The bills modest bans on chokeholds, milquetoast requirements for police training, and long overdue criminalization of lynching are better than the Republicans toothless joke of a bill. But millions of Americans are demanding bolder action, and this bill falls vastly short.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, sponsored HR7120, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has eagerly championed it. But the bill has predictably languished in the Senate, where it faces a hopeless future. It is deeply inadequate a mere Band-Aid rather than the urgently needed amputation. At a time when murders of Black Americans by militarized police have become shockingly common, this proposal settles for half-measures. It sadly echoes Pelosis recent statement that she doesnt regret voting for the 1994 crime bill at all. San Francisco deserves better.

The most significant step that Pelosis bill fails to take which Minneapolis has already done, and which millions support across the country is to defund the police. Police departments receive tens of billions of federal dollars, padding local budgets that starve municipal services while militarizing our streets, turning them into war zones. The SFPDs proposed budget for 2021 is a whopping $700 million (recently rejected by the police commission). Police have taken over functions that would be far more effectively served by community groups, mental health organizations and social workers.

This mission creep has driven an authoritarian metastasis of policing. Police should be deployed only to address threats of potential violence, particularly emphasizing nonlethal measures and de-escalation tactics. But the House bill doesnt defund the police or do much to shift their responsibilities to civilian agencies.

Congressional reticence might reflect corporate corruption: many House members including Pelosis top ally, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. receive large campaign contributions from powerful police unions that are aggressively political associations with a history of defending police abuses, promoting institutional racism and offending civil rights. Just this week, top California Democrats demanded that the party stop taking money from police groups. I strongly support that demand, while Pelosi remains silent.

Pelosi has dodged questions about police mission creep by claiming it is a local issue but this is demonstrably false. Local and state police receive substantial federal funds, which I support curtailing and strictly limiting.

Also overlooked by Pelosis bill is the long overdue federal legalization of cannabis. Cannabis is legal in many states (including California), but in states from Alabama to Idaho, possession remains a pretext to search, abuse, detain, arrest and charge nonviolent people most of them Black and Latino.

Federal legalization offers massive benefits: tax revenue, a wave of green jobs across the country and carbon sequestration that can help undo the damage caused by our senseless addiction to fossil fuels.

Beyond the bills failures, Pelosi hypocritically claims to champion civil rights despite a disturbing record that includes the disastrous Clinton crime bill, which she doesnt regret supporting. It led to the mass incarceration of generations of Black and brown people for minor nonviolent offenses.

Most Democrats and even many Republicans support ending the racist war on drugs. Yet the Pelosi-backed Justice in Policing Act falls short of addressing that established consensus.

There are other steps we should take, like eliminating cash bail. District Attorney Chesa Boudin has already accomplished this locally. But as long as Pelosi remains in office, these common-sense reforms will remain stalled at the federal level: She voted yes on the Republicans draconian 2018 Protect and Serve bill, which classifies an intentional crime against law enforcement as a hate crime; yes on the 2018 Republican-backed proposal to expand policing in schools; and yes on a huge federal police spending increase back in 2007, as well as the infamous 1994 omnibus crime bill. Our communities have waited too long for justice.

We have seen too many paramilitary police violently escalate minor incidents, and even murder nonviolent people on camera. We are done waiting.

Our Constitution applies to all Americans but Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are stifling vital police reforms needed to make this promise a reality. San Franciscos communities deserve better, as does the rest of America.

Shahid Buttar is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Californias 12th congressional district, and the first Democrat to ever challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a general election. He is the former director of grassroots advocacy at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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Congressional police-reform bill falls short of the moment - San Francisco Chronicle

Essay: Reparations would help cities. Now is the time for urbanists to advocate for them. – WHYY

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Katrina Johnston-Zimmermans recent column on how white urbanists can best use their privilege resonated with me. I am truly grateful for her courage to step away from the fray and say some things to white people that Ive wanted to say for pretty much my entire professional career. I was particularly excited that she referenced the need for a heart-centered city, which sounds quite similar to the All-In Cities initiative I help to lead at PolicyLink, a national nonprofit research and action institute dedicated to advancing racial and economic equity headquartered in Oakland, California. I am proud that it is my job to work with community coalitions across the country, working inside and outside of government to as she described drive the design, management, policy, and priorities through values of co-creation, compassion, and care for our fellow humans starting with those who need it most. This goal epitomizes the PolicyLink definition of equity just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

While I fully agree with Johnston-Zimmermans goals, her approach falls as flat as a room- temperature soda on a hot summer day: better than nothing, but not quite satisfying. Johnston-Zimmerman and the white urbanists whose attention she may have piqued with her article should be bolder and more creative in their solutions, especially given the profound urgency that this moment demands. Across all fields, including urbanism, now is the time for a serious conversation about the need for reparations and how to advance a reparative framework that addresses the impacts of past harm.

The idea of reparations in this country is not new. It can be traced back to Special Field Order 15, which was issued by General William T. Sherman of the Union Army on January 16, 1865 in the final days of the Civil War. This edict was developed under the guidance of 20 Black community leaders in Savannah, Georgia where Sherman was stationed at the time. Special Field Order 15 included a provision where formerly enslaved Africans would receive portions of the 400,000 acres of land that had been seized from the treasonous white landowners in the South who had betrayed this country and seceded from the United States out of anger and frustration that they would no longer be able to own enslaved human beings as chattel.

General Sherman was able to understand the importance that the ownership of land, and the economic security that it provides, was critical if formerly enslaved Africans were ever truly going to be integrated into the American body politic. A shared understanding of the importance of redistributing land led Congress to pass An Act to Establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees on March 3, 1865, later known as the Freedmens Bureau. Regrettably, this agency was never appropriately resourced to accomplish the transformative goal with which it was tasked and, upon Abraham Lincolns assassination in April 1865, President Andrew Johnson opted to rescind Special Order 15 and return the seized land to the white Confederate traitors to the United States, rather than redistribute the land to the enslaved Africans that had risked their lives to fight to defend this country.

The failure to enact Special Order 15 and fully equip the Freedmens Bureau isnt the only example of how failed government policies have prevented wealth-building opportunities for Black people in this country. For example, University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor Amy Hillier has written extensively about redlining, and the effect it has had on Black people here in Philadelphia. Redlining refers to the practice where banks and governmental institutions such as the Federal Housing Administration refuse to issue mortgages in Black neighborhoods. To be clear, the denial of these loans was not based on creditworthiness. Rather, they were based on the demographic composition of the neighborhood. Sadly, while redlining was banned with the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the residual impacts of the practice can still be felt to this day. Recent analysis by the Center for Investigative Journalism confirmed that racialized disparities in mortgage lending persist in Philadelphia. Similarly, research by Dr. Andre Perry at the Brookings Institution has revealed that homes in Black neighborhoods continue to be assessed on average $48,000 less than comparable homes in majority white neighborhoods, causing a cumulative loss of $156 billion in assets. Equity scholars have already developed a reparations framework that will address the intergenerational harm caused by racism in the banking industry through strategies such as providing interest-free mortgages to Black homebuyers.

While the value of land and homeownership undergird many discussions around the merit of reparations, there are several jurisdictions that have embraced a much more holistic approach for addressing the harms caused by flawed government policies. For example, the growing number of states that have legalized marijuana has highlighted the hypocrisy of granting vendor licenses to sell the same drugs that contributed to the incarceration of so many people of color during the War on Drugs. The City of Oakland has attempted to address these disparities by prioritizing vendor applicants that have previously been arrested and convicted of a marijuana law violation. Oakland also established a $3 million revolving loan fund to provide no-interest loans to such applicants to start their business. Similarly, Evanston, Il is specifically using revenue from the sale of legalized marijuana to seed a fund for reparations for Black residents.

Other jurisdictions have developed a reparative framework to address the gentrification and displacement of low-income people of color that has occurred as a growing number of young, professional families seek out city living and shun the suburbs. For example, in Buffalo, New York, PolicyLink has been working with the coalition Open Buffalo since 2016 to support the launch and incorporation of their Fruit Belt Community Land Trust (FBCLT). Understanding the role that the City has played in facilitating the conditions that lead to housing insecurity for low-income people and people of color, the Buffalo Common Council voted to seed the FBCLT with 20 city-owned properties that will be rehabilitated into housing units with long-term affordability provisions. Similarly, Portland has established a preference policy, or Right to Return, that prioritizes housing resources such as down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers who were displaced, or are at risk of displacement, because of urban renewal.

In both instances, each city has taken a reparative approach to leverage the resources available to them in order to support those low-income households, disproportionately people of color, who have been disadvantaged far too often when historically low-income neighborhoods are revitalized.

Tragically, it took the eight minute forty-six second video of the last moments of George Floyds life to force a national reckoning 400 years in the making. I personally havent seen the video and will not be watching it. For me, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Michael Brown, Freddie Grey, Tamir Rice, Philando Castille, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner have taught me everything that I need to know over the years about whose lives matter in this country. So, while I am appreciative of the cosmetic achievements in social justice of late with regard to monuments and flags, Breonna Taylor reminds me that this country still has a long, long way to go.

Similarly, while it is refreshing to learn that Philly policymakers have proposed a Black Stimulus package to address the legacy of institutional racism faced by Black people in this city, the lack of a reparative approach makes the effort fall flat.

James Crowder Jr. is a senior associate at PolicyLink and an adjunct faculty member in the Planning and Community Development program at Temple University.

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Essay: Reparations would help cities. Now is the time for urbanists to advocate for them. - WHYY

Venice Gondolier Letters to the Editor: | Venice Gondolier Sun – yoursun.com

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Kudos to Venice Police Department, but not mayor

To the Editor:

Thank you for reporting in the Saturday, June 27, edition of the Venice Gondolier, the front page story, Mayor: Sorry about action, written by Greg Giles.

Thank you, Mayor Feinsod, for your irresponsible behavior and thank you for your explanation of that behavior as optics.

As a scientific term, the word optics refers to visual perception how and why the stimuli that we normally receive through our eyes reflect objects and events in the world with some degree of accuracy, or how incorrect or imprecise visual perceptions might be improved.

Here is what the optics revealed.

That the Venice Police Department was engaged in its mission.

The Venice Police Departments mission statement says: The ultimate mission of the Venice Police Department is to provide public safety and preserve order for our citizens, visitors, schools and businesses. We accomplish this while guarding, without prejudice, the liberties of all those we encounter.

Thank you, Venice Police Department, for doing your job with integrity and excellence.

Thank you, Mayor Feinsod, for your ridiculous and reckless behavior. It serves as an optical reminder to all of us that each day these officers of the law provide safety and preserve order for all of us, without prejudice, allowing us to live in liberty and freedom.

Thanks to Chief Tom Mattmuller and thank you to each officer who serves this community well.

Great job, Venice Police Department.

Allen T. Speer

Venice

Feinsod putting partisan politics over city needs

To the Editor:

I want our local elected officials to succeed regardless of party affiliation: when they succeed, we all benefit.

My mother is in politics in Tennessee and it is often a tireless and thankless job. However, thanks to the solid coverage from the Venice Gondolier, it is quite clear that Mr. Feinsod does not have the ability to put our city above his partisan political agenda.

He had the litigious Freedom From Religion Foundation come in to try and remove prayer from Council Meetings a practice which the Supreme Court upheld in Town of Greece v. Galloway in 2014. Fortunately, he failed.

At least that exploit did not endanger anyone physically. His latest stunt in approaching an active traffic stop was ignorant, arrogant and life-threatening to both himself, the individual who was stopped, and the officers themselves.

His untrained engagement in an active situation should send a message to our community that his interest and passion is activism, not governance, and assuredly not safety. We deserve better as a community.

His actions reeked of brazen anti-cop partisanship and was geared at sowing division in our community. Mr. Feinsod stated, I apologize to the public and the Venice Police Department for any misunderstanding about my intentions. Mr. Feinsod your intentions were crystal clear it is your actions we find so troubling: dangerous, reckless and irresponsible.

Mr. Feinsod has shown that when he has to choose between political ideology and his town and constituents, the former trumps the latter.

Atticus Frank

Venice

Mayors job is to check workings of city departments

To the Editor:

Recent reaction to our mayors interest in local policing issues highlighted the deep polarization inherent in our politics today.

My brief answer to the ensuing criticism of Mayor Feinsods actions is: The workings of all municipal departments in the city of Venice is Exactly where the mayors nose belongs. Thats what he was elected for.

Ed Machado

Venice

Mayor, police, show dichotomy of public service

To the Editor:

How sad.

On full display for the world to see was a dichotomy of our public servants as displayed by the recent Venice Police Department dash camera footage of the week of June 26.

On one end of this dichotomy, the true police professionalism and exemplary public service was exhibited on full display for the world to see of a perfect textbook police encounter with a citizen. Respectful, dignified, and compassionate (the officers provided the citizen an alternative instead of a costly car tow due to a suspended license and car registration).

Hats off to one of the best police departments in Florida for keeping our fine city one of the safest cities in the United States.

On the other end of this spectrum for the world to see, was a mayor who exhibited a total lack of self-awareness as to what his job is (policy making and not policing enforcement), an absence of common-sense judgement by putting himself, the two Venice policemen, the automobile driver, and any innocent Venice bystanders in a possible compromising situation, and a sheer public manifestation of political buffoonery.

Venice is affectionately characterized by many visitors as Mayberry by the Sea because of the peace and prosperity afforded to us by our law enforcement personnel both on the street as well as the citizen customer service provided by VPD administrative staff.

It is sad that a mayor acts more like Deputy Barnie Fife than the honorable Mayor Ron Feinsod.

Robert Mc Elrath

Venice

Disabled have been discriminated against, again

To the Editor:

The disabled have also been through injustices. We have been discriminated against. Treated unfairly.

Difference is, we have the tenacity to overcome and ask no one to make exceptions for us.

If need be, we choose to address our own injustices on a individual basis as it only makes us stronger.

A polio survivor from the 1955 polio epidemic.

Sandra Donnellan

Venice

Why wont Venice, county, enact face mask rules?

To the Editor:

I have been visiting the Sarasota and Venice since the early 90s and I was enchanted. I also understood the politics of this part of Florida.

Fast forward to 2017 when my husband and I moved here permanently. So here is my conundrum, how can the city of Venice with a mayor I proudly elected voted not mandate wearing masks.

This is also the same council that passed the ERA Amendment.

Here we are at Sarasotas board who enforced a mandate for the city of Sarasota.

COVID-19 is a public health concern which to me for the good of our citizens if we protect not only ourselves the public at large.

Now is not the time to debate states right because we are in the middle of a large crisis which frankly could have been some what avoided. Behavior matters and that is why I will travel an extra 20 minutes to shop in Sarasota.

Rona Elias

North Venice

David Graham is needed on the School Board

To the Editor:

On June 18, I had the pleasure of listening to the Zoom debate between two competing Sarasota County School Board candidates, David Graham and Karen Rose, sponsored by the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club.

When the harder questions were asked, here is what set them apart:

Given all of Ms. Roses experience and tenure within the school system, it was surprising to hear the hollowness of her responses. Several times she stated that it was up to the stakeholders or that it is not Karen Roses decision, but the community who should decide. I was left wondering why she is using the term stakeholders.

There was no comfort in her answers, and they came across as dull and passing the buck.

David Graham, on the other hand, was electrifying with new ideas. He had studied the budget thoroughly and has looked at ways of reducing capital or ancillary services if needed.

Regarding the current School Board, he said the bickering and hostility has got to stop, period, and he proposed parent and student involvement on the School Board, so that they can see the mechanics of the board and participate in ideas, which he assured would turn into action.

At the end of the debate, I felt confident that David would not be afraid to lead, would work well with others and would get things done.

Karen, on the other hand, seemed to lack the characteristics of a leader and would have difficulty making decisions on her own.

Monica Balicki

North Port

West Villages is not a cash cow for North Port

To the Editor:

As a West Villages resident, I was recently asked to fill out a Budget questionnaire for North Port. The first question of the questionnaire was to ask for my definition of Fiscal Responsibility.

Fiscal Responsibility is not: spending $12 million on a waterpark, not to mention the insurance premiums. The daily fee for residents to the Aquatic center is $6 $8, not cheap for the common folk as referenced in a previous Letter to the Editor who seems to think West Villages is a bottomless pit of obligatory tax revenues.

The design and engineering services currently underway for Warm Mineral Springs Improvement Project is $1,374,125.

According to the June 10, 2020 story in the Venice Gondolier, the projects at completion would total more than $30 million.

Hiring a full-time archaeologist (salary $51,000) on the premise that the current Sarasota archaeologist North Port uses might someday retire although there are no current plans to do so.

What about using a college professor or a retired archaeologist on a per diem basis?

West Villagers for Responsible Government has exposed Mayor Debbie McDowells secret eavesdropping on its March 23 Cisco Webex meeting hosted by the West Villagers for Responsible Government. North Port Vice Mayor Jill Luke stated any discussion of de-annexation is selfish as if it is West Villages duty to finance whatever North Port imagines.

West Villages is perceived to be a cash cow that North Port appears bent on milking until dry or de-annexation. Richard Ferry, West Villages

A cautionary truth about U.S. health care

To the Editor:

A few years ago, my 55-year-old son, living in New England, needed medical attention.

As a self-employed contractor, he had carried private insurance for himself and his family for years until the cost became prohibitive.

He applied for Obamacare. A month before this plan took effect, he experienced shortness of breath and went to the ER at his nearby community hospital.

He was diagnosed with pneumonia, given some pills, and sent home with a $2,000 bill. The hospital explained monthly ER costs were divided by the number of monthly patients.

A month later he returned to the ER with more severe breathing problems. The attending physician immediately ordered him transported by ambulance to a major urban hospital. Strobes and sirens all the way.

He remained in the hospital for five days before they could do open-heart surgery to correct a previously unknown congenital defect and three days after that before he was released.

He has recovered fully and functions as a healthy, taxpaying, small business employer in his community.

The bill for this care was $529,000.

With his Obamacare policy now in effect, his out-of-pocket cost was $3,000 . Without it, he would have lost his home, his business, and possibly, his life.

Dont tell him Obamacare is no good. Tell Donald Trump to keep his hands off it. Edward White, North Port

No right to riot

To the Editor:

Almost everyone agrees that the killing of George Floyd was tragic and unlawful. The officers involved are under arrest and deserve punishment.

Most also agree the vast majority of police officers are law abiding citizens personally and professionally. Using this incident to indict all law enforcement is also an injustice.

The solution of liberals and the radical left is to defund or disband police, rendering law enforcement powerless. That is not the answer.

In cities such as New York, Minneapolis and Seattle, where police now have their hands tied, crime is at least double the national average or higher. Groups like Black Lives Matter ignore the circumstances of police involved shootings when quoting their statistics.

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Venice Gondolier Letters to the Editor: | Venice Gondolier Sun - yoursun.com

Advocates hopeful CERB will pave way for universal basic income – CBC.ca

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Advocates for a universal basic income say they're hopeful the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) program, introduced to help unemployed and underemployed Canadians through the pandemic, will pave the way towarda more equitable system for all.

Turning the CERB into a universal basic income is the logicalprogression for the program, according toElaine Power,a Queen's University researcher and member of the Basic Income Canada Network in Kingston, Ont.

"There's more and more pressure on the government, I would say, to extend the CERB. I think the basic income would be a logical extension of CERB, and it's a more rational plan," Power toldOttawa Morningon Thursday.

The Parliamentary Budget Office has started to study the potential cost of providinga basic income for Canadians for six months, a move Power called"very exciting news."

The idea already has the support ofsome members of the Senate, including B.C. Sen. Yuen Pau Woo.

With the CERB set to expire in October, Power said now would be the right time to consider making the transition to a universal basic income, which is like CERBbut would beuniversally available, not tied to employment.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau presented his fiscal snapshot in the House of Commons, and said the government is committed to delivering emergency aid to struggling Canadians.

"Our collective decisions as Canadians to put each other's health above all else has meant we've flattened the curve faster than many other countries. But Canadians also made great sacrifices to get here. Millions of Canadians have lost their jobs, lost hours, or lost wages. Businesses of all sizes are still facing uncertainty," Morneau said.

Power said that while nothing in Morneau's speech signalled the government is ready to adopt a basic income, she hopes the government will consider the economic benefitsof such a program nonetheless. She said it would save money over time withinthe health-care, education and justice systems.

"There are other benefits that I think we can't calculate the benefit to people who live in poverty, who feel trapped there. The kind of freedom that it would give them to make better choices about their lives, their futures."

Power said there are still"stereotypes" around basic income, such as the fear that it will leave recipients dependent on government handouts instead of contributing to the workforce, and that it will add to the deficit already creaking under the weight of Canada's COVID-19 response.

"We know that, in fact, most people who live in poverty in Canada are employed. They do already have jobs, but they don't make enough to bring them up to the poverty line," Power said.

See the article here:

Advocates hopeful CERB will pave way for universal basic income - CBC.ca

Mboweni warns of sovereign debt crisis if govt debt not reined in – Eyewitness News

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A sovereign debt crisis is when a country cannot afford to pay any of the interest or the capital on amounts that it has borrowed, with dire consequences for the economy.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. Picture: GCIS

CAPE TOWN - Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has sounded a fresh warning that South Africa could land up in a sovereign debt crisis within three years if government debt is not reined in.

A sovereign debt crisis is when a country cannot afford to pay any of the interest or the capital on amounts that it has borrowed, with dire consequences for the economy.

Mboweni was replying to debate on the revised fiscal framework he tabled last month when he unveiled his emergency budget to address the COVID-19 crisis.

Both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday approved the fiscal framework, in spite of opposition objections, paving the way for the supplementary budget to be considered at the end of the month.

Minister Mbowenis emergency budget was savaged by the opposition during the debate, with the EFF labeling it neoliberal drivel and the DA and Freedom Front Plus also voting against it.

Curbing his exasperation, Mboweni reminded MPs that his supplementary budget was necessary because of the impact on an already limping economy of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fall-out.

"At the same time we have had to ensure that we struggle with the containment of the debt mountain that we see.

"And as I have indicated before, if we dont do anything, the danger of South Africa facing a sovereign debt crisis is real - by 2023/24."

Mboweni said that the government had no choice but to take "very serious measures".

"I heard one honourable member saying government must intervene. This is intervention! This is precisely the intervention you need at the moment to deal with a difficult situation. That is called intervention.

"If you do nothing, youre not intervening."

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Mboweni warns of sovereign debt crisis if govt debt not reined in - Eyewitness News

All about the First Five-Year Plan that was presented by Nehru nearly 70 years ago today – ThePrint

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New Delhi: Sixty-nine years ago, on 9 July 1951, Indias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru presented the First Five-Year Plan to the Parliament.

Five-Year Plans were a formal model of planning adopted by the Indian government after Independence, for an effective and balanced utilisation of resources.

They were formulated by the Planning Commission of India, which was established on 15 March 1950. Since it was not a constitutional body, the Commission reported directly to the Prime Minister and its first Chairman was Nehru himself.

The Commission was tasked with theresponsibilityof raising the standard of living in the country through proper allocation of resources, increasing production and enabling employment opportunities for everybody.

The Five-Year Plans were centralised and integrated national economic programs. The first such plan was implemented in the Soviet Union in 1928 by Joseph Stalin. Since then, countries such as China, Bhutan, Vietnam, South Korea, Argentina, Romania and Ethiopia have also implemented Five-Year Plans.

According to Rajeev Gowda, Chairman of the Research Department of the Congress party, it was freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose who first set up a National Planning Committee in 1938 and the primary responsibility of this Commission was to utilise the then-limited resources in the country to best possible use.

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After independence, the state had an active role in channelling resources as it could not be done by markets alone, explained Gowda.

Also read: Xi has thrown the gauntlet at Modi. He can pick it up like Nehru, or try something new

With the Partition as backdrop, the country reeling with the influx of refugees, severe food shortage and mounting inflation, the First Five-Year Plan was introduced in 1951. It focused primarily on the development of the primary sector, specifically agriculture and irrigation.

Drafted by economist K.N. Raj, the plan was based on the HarrodDomar model, which suggested that growth was dependent on two things. First, high level of savings since higher savings enabled greater investment and second, a low capital-output ratio that ensured efficient investment and a higher growth rate.

The plan had a target of 2.1 per cent GDP growth for the fiscal year, however, it ended up recordinga growth rate of 3.6 per cent that year.

Gowda explained that the Five-Year Plans were focused on making India self-sufficient, enabled industrial growth and ensured that development went beyond the urban areas and reached the interior parts of the country.

Also read: P.C. Mahalanobis: The father of Indian statistics who introduced concept of planned economy

If the First Five-Year Plan focused on agriculture and energy, the Second Five-Year Plan focused on the development of the public sector and rapid industrialisation. Drafted by statistician P.C. Mahalanobis, the Second Plan was also called the Mahalanobis Plan.

Under the plan, hydroelectric power projects and steel plants were set up at Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur. Coal production was increased and more railways lines were added in the Northeastern part of the country.

The Third Five-Year Plan focused on making the economy independent and self-reliant. However, it was interrupted by the war with Pakistan in 1965, which was followed by a severe drought the same year. The Third Five-Year Plan had a targetedgrowth rate of 5.6 per cent, but the actual growth rate was 2.4 per cent that fiscal.

After this, there were three annual plans between 1966 and 1969. This period was also called plan holiday. The Fourth Five-Year Plan was introduced only in 1969.

In 1990, 21 years later, there was a gap between the plans once again due to the constantly changing government at the Centre. Annual plans were launched for the years 1990-91 and 1991-92, and the Eighth Five-Year Plan was kicked off in 1992.

India had a total of 12 Five-Year Plans, the last one being from 2012-2017.

In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dissolved the Planning Commission and replaced it with the Niti Aayog. The Five-Year Plans were also discontinued.

Also read: 60 years ago, a Right liberal Swatantra Party had challenged Nehrus socialist Raj

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All about the First Five-Year Plan that was presented by Nehru nearly 70 years ago today - ThePrint

Chakra Affirmations: Feeling Gratitude to the Core of Your Being – Patheos

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If you have done much spiritual study, you probably already know that gratitude is an essential spiritual attitude. Without gratitude, our minds naturally focus on the negative until negativity becomes an ingrained habit, and the gift of life and the possibility for growth is lost to us. Typically, gratitude practice focuses on the external features of our lives being grateful for the abundance we have, seeing struggle as an opportunity for growth, and so forth. But what if we were able to transmit gratitude right into your own energy system?

Chakra affirmations are a way to make sure all aspects of your life are soaked in an attitude of gratitude. The chakras, as you may know, are the centers within your physical body that regulate the flow of different types of energy in and out of your life. By focusing on each chakra as you transmit gratitude, you ensure that every area of your life is receiving your blessing and your positivity. And, this practice can help you heal your chakras, which often carry unresolved pain and trauma from the past.

If you are unfamiliar with the concept of chakras, I recommend reading an article or two about them so that you understand the nature of each of the seven chakras. Although you could do these at any time, you might also want to do some relaxation, meditation, or focusing exercises before you begin. You may also wish to place your hands upon each chakra as you repeat these affirmations. I recommend that you start with the simple affirmations offered below, and then later adapt and revise them to be more specific to your individual situation and level of understanding:

First Chakra (Root)Thank you for my life. Thanks to you, I am living the adventure of growth of the soul. Thank you to my birth parents and to all who nurtured my mind and body in infancy and childhood. Thank you for giving me my foundation and my confidence.

Second Chakra (Sacral)Thank you for my creative power. Thank you for my fertility of both mind and body. Thank you for the fire in the belly that gives motion and energy to everything that I do. Thank you for my physical strength and for my increasing health and wellbeing.

Third Chakra (Solar Plexus)Thank you for my willpower. Thank you for the hope that you give to my life and to the world, and for the potential for growth and change that you provide. Thank you for the inner power that I draw from you and for the goals that you allow me to achieve.

Fourth Chakra (Heart)Thank you for my ability to love and to connect to others. Thank you for all the emotions, both positive and negative, that give richness to my life. Thank you for my capacity for forgiveness and acceptance. Thank you for my compassion and my empathy. Thank you for my sincere desire to connect to my soul.

Fifth Chakra (Throat)Thank you for my voice. Thank you for my ability to sing and to laugh and to express joy. Thank you also for my ability to cry and to express my sorrow. Thank you for my ability to speak my truth with confidence and honesty.

Sixth Chakra (Third Eye)Thank you for my intuition. Thank you for my ever-expanding awareness and for the wisdom that you bring. Thank you for the many insights that you give to help me on my way through life, and thank you for the ability to perceive something grander than this temporary life.

Seventh Chakra (Crown)Thank you for my true self. Thank you for this precious opportunity for completion and for the capacity for true enlightenment. Thank you for the soul that raises me above the limitations of a life lived only for the physical body. Thank you for the bliss I feel in my meetings with the divinity within.

Chakra affirmations are not simply for narcissistic purposes. Yes, they can help you heal individually, but, ultimately, your chakras are not just about you; they connect you to the vast energetic system that permeates the universe. By healing your chakras and feeling deep gratitude for them, you are also improving your connection to the flow of universal energy in general. Through your root chakra, you are rooted in the earth, not unlike a towering oak tree. Through your crown chakra, you are connected to the unseen spiritual realm. And, all the other chakras connect you to other souls and to the journey you are experiencing on this plane. Your energy system is an important part of the miracle that is your life, and it is worthy of genuine expressions of gratitude.

If you would like to understand and connect to your chakras more deeply through principles and energy practice, I invite you to look at my book, Healing Chakras: Awaken Your Bodys Energy System for Complete Health, Happiness, and Peace.

Read more:

Chakra Affirmations: Feeling Gratitude to the Core of Your Being - Patheos

Dara Shikoh: The Prince who would never be King – The Sunday Guardian

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He is best remembered for his intricate studies of Sufistic and Vedantic cultures and tradition, and for providing an introspect into the discernment of their praxis.

The breathtaking Humayuns Tomb, one of the progenitors of the legendary Pietra Dura, is a twenty minute jaunt from the hubbub of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi. Its voguish popularity comes from housing the mausoleum of the celebrated Emperor Humayun, who passed away in 1556, after a sudden fall from the staircase of his library at the octagonal Sher Mandal, one of the finest architectural specimens of the Sur Empire at Purana Qila.

Mughals have been known for their architectural marvels, their staunch Sunni policies propagated under Aurangzeb, the fabulous wealth they possessed and the lush compartments of their castles!

After Humayuns demise, Akbar took over the throne of Hindustan. He was one of the earliest Mughals who preached the message of Secularistic policies, having entered into matrimonial alliances with Mariam uz Zamani, whos also referred to as Harka Bai, and often misinterpreted as Jodha! Akbar was illiterate. However, his craving to understand the scriptures of the land he ruled, led him to set up a separate department for transliterations of the Indian Epics and the Vedas called the Maktab Khana, in 1574. He curbed the absolute autocracy of the Ulemas, propagandising the Mazhar or the Infallibility Decree, which enabled him to advance on his vision of a multicultural Hindustan!

Jahangir, the fourth Great Mughal went on Akbars policies, though at times, he entered into certain conflicts with the Sikhs whose Guru, Arjan Dev, had blessed his son Khusrau Khan, to rebel against him. Regardless of the rise of conflicts with the Northwestern Province that was dominated by the Sikhs,Jahangir was someone whod been recognised as the epitome of justice and equality!

With his death, after a tussle, Shah Jahan ascended the imperial throne. It is after Shah Jahans illness that his sons, the Shahzadas of the Empire, marched against each other and duelled in what was, the most bitter of war of successions in Mughal history!

Aurangzeb, the devout Sunni marched from the Deccan. He was one of the ablest commanders of the Mughal infantry. Shah Shuja, the wasted flippant advanced from Bengal while Murad joined Aurangzeb at Gujarat.

Shah Jahan favoured his eldest son, Dara Shikoh. To reason with the cause, Dara was born during turbulent times. He had been interred in the Lahore Fort for several years, under the suspicious eyes of Nur Jahan. With Jahangirs death and vacillation of the throne, Dara was set free. Thus, he spent initial days of his life, imprisoned.

He is best remembered for his intricate studies of Sufistic and Vedantic cultures and tradition, and for providing an introspect into the discernment of their praxis. With a Sufistic approach in his writings, we have seen how Dara Shikoh approaches his own conclusions after a strict analysis of the subject. He was never, in his writings, found to be biased towards any particular dogma or religious faith. His conclusion, that the highest truth exists in all religions was widely resented by the ulemas. Dara never faltered. He carried on wide discussions with various Sufi and Vedantic Mystics and conglomerated all his studies of the religious atmosphere of the age, into the book, Majma Ul Bahrain or Mingling of Two Oceans. He had a Sufistic background, ever since childhood. His first book was called, Safinat ul Auliya which highlights the life and biographies of leading Sufi saints of his age. Dara addresses them as Pir i Kamil and believes that the Almighty has sent them to guide his people. He writes, No one is more compassionate and magnanimous, erudite and practical, humble and polite, heroic and charitable than the members of this hierarchy of the saints. Dara himself was of a Qadri Sufistic order and his second biography, Sakinat ul Auliya deals with the life and teachings of some of the greatest saints of this order. Dara authored this book, after he came in contact with Miyan Mir, a Qadriyya. He has penned down Nothing attracts me more than this Qadri order, which has fulfilled my spiritual aspirations, which confirms that he, himself was of the Qadri order. Qadriyyas trace their descendants to the Prophet Muhammed, their first preacher being Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani of Baghdad. It must however be noted that Miyan Mir and Mulla Shah Badakshani exercised a powerful opinion over Dara Shikoh. However, Dara continued his religious discussions as earlier, with various theologians from different religious backgrounds.

With a similar interest in Hindu scriptures, like that of his great grandfather, Akbar, Dara carried mass religious discussions with leading Hindu scholars like Baba Lal Das Bairagi and Jagannath Mishra, along the banks of the Ganges in Benaras. These discussions led to his enlightenment which brought forth translations of the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas.

In his book, Risala i Haq Nama, Dara states four steps to become a perfect Sufi.

The most appealing fact in it is, the stages mentioned are quite similar to those of the Hindu Tantriks. Popular historian, Yoginder Sikand says, Further, he(Dara) suggests that the four planes through which the Sufi seekers journey takes him- Nasut , Jabrut, Malakut and Lahut- correspond to the Hindu concept of the Avasthanam or the four states of Jagrat, Swapna, Shushpati and Turiya.. This brings about the truth, how Dara contemplates an analysis of comparison between two particular religions, studying customs of each intricately, and bringing about the theory.

In his compilation of verses, named Diwan i Dara Shikoh or the Iksir-i Azam, these thoughts of the prince are highlighted through his poetic talent.

Look where you can, All is He,

Gods face is ever face to face.

Whatever you behold except Him is the object of your fancy,

Things other than He have an existence like a mirage.

The existence of God is like a boundless ocean,

People are like forms and waves in its water.

Though I do not consider myself separate from Him,

Yet I do not consider myself God.

Whatever relation the drop bears with the ocean,

That I hold true in my belief, and nothing beyond.

We have not seen an atom separate from the Sun,

Every drop of water is the sea in itself.

With what name should one call the Truth?

Every name that exists is one of Gods names.

This verse of Dara is taken from his perspectives on Monotheism or tauhid. Dara exemplifies his thought with a substantial point, where he defines a drop of water or even the molecules to be a part of the endless stretch of the ocean.

Things changed for Dara after Shah Jahan fell ill in 1657 AD and the commence of the war of succession between the princes. A rampage led by his younger brothers, Aurangzeb and Murad, dethroned his authority. The wandering prince set out to flee, leaving all his treasure-houses of knowledge and manuscripts, behind. Dara would contest another less documented rivalry with Alamgir, only to be captured in 1659 AD. He would be executed on charges of sedition and apostasy by the victorious Aurangzeb, under the instigation of the Mullahs.

Dara was a man of compassion. Hatred never dared to enter his region. However, he wasnt aware of how minacious hatred could be.

Unfortunately, this great heir of the Imperial Mughals, lies unknown and forgotten, buried in a

non-descript tomb in the mausoleum complexes of the regal Emperor Humayun, having not achieved, the place he had deserved to, in the pages of history!

Read more from the original source:

Dara Shikoh: The Prince who would never be King - The Sunday Guardian

Aru and Its Enchanting Cosmic Energy – MENAFN.COM

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(MENAFN - Kashmir Observer) Village of Aru

Four years after my first visit, there is little that has changed about the hamlet. Nestled among the hills, it looks straight from those story books, read years ago at school

IT WAS around two in the afternoon when Hussain, our sturdy little stole weaver friend from Pahalgam, dropped us in his rickety Maruti Zen at Aru - a pretty village set amidst tall Himalayan mountains, boundaring Lidderwatt valley on one side and Aram Pathri on the other. It had been four years since I was last here; not that much had changed, except, perhaps for odd tourists - one's riding the cross-bed, malnourished horses (or mules should I say). The horsemen in their own innocence treated callow and credulous tourists with their self made tales to attract awe. I overheard one horseman pointing to the Tourism caf - proudly declaring it the Mansion that Amrita Singh owned in Betaab movie. Betaab was shot some 20 kms away from Aru.

There is a strange mystic energy in Aru. It is said Katarnag - a lake that overlooks Aru, is one of the few places in world where there is extreme confluence of cosmic energy within a matrix of time. I'm not sure who did this research, but I'm hardly surprised. When you trek towards Aram Pathri or Katarnag, there is an abandoned hermit's cave on the way. Right above it are remains of a fort unknown to which period it belongs to, giving an indication that Aru in ancient times did hold an important position.

Katarnag perched in between two mountains cliffs

We yearned for a cup of tea to plan our trip on. Last time when I was here, I had befriended a virtuous man named Ashraf. Ashraf had a modest motel back then but his cooking skills were boastful. I looked around for him. Unfortunately, the motel was rented to some other guy it seemed this year. Just as when we finished our tea, Ashraf walked in to my surprise. He looked pale and had lost weight. I greeted him, to which he responded. He recalled how we had parked our car in this motel's backyard and how we relished his late night candle-lit dinner in rain drenched clothes. Four years back the high alpine torrential rains had followed us all over from Aru to Kolohai Glacier. For this year, Ashraf had taken a provision store near the other alley of the village. He told me he was not well and had some neurotic disorder, for which he was treated in Shehar (Srinagar).

Ashraf was actually from Sallar- a beautiful village on the road between Bijbehara and Pahalgam. Meanwhile we were introduced to Ali Bab - a 50 something year old man, who owned two horses and ferried tourists around Aru on them. He was tall, strong and had a slight bent back. He resembled Clint Eastwood. Ali Bab agreed to help us and offered himself to be our guide for our next day's trek to Aram Pathri, as we laid our map on the dark brown table, sipping tea. Shawl, Ali Bab, Javed (the motel owner), Ashraf and I drawing our essential items required for the trip. As we came to know later, Ali Bab's true love lied in mountains. People respected him a lot, fondly calling him the 'Akash' of these mountains. He invited us to stay with him at his house for the night and leave tomorrow early morning for Aram Pathri. We buoyantly agreed. We preferred to stay close to village life for a day. Eat in their utensils, share their joy and assemble some memories.

As we passed through the narrow alleys of Aru Village, life seemed sullen and dull - a quiet oasis. No one seemed to be in any haste. An old couple was sitting on the porch puffing hukka by turns; colorful dorking roosters with flowing earlobes were crowing almost from every house- houses that had thatched rooftops and brown sludge barns; aspen like Poplar trees were swirling with the wind carried from the surrounding mountains; pretty village girls lined up near the narrow stream, which flowed right through this hamlet, washing clothes: smiling and giggling as we passed, whispering jokes. Perhaps, they were amused to see two city dwellers walking into a village; a village which visibly had had not hosted a visitor from a longtime.

Ali Bab's house was a typical village log-hut warm with lots of wood work and clay quoting. In the hallway lied a stack of rice bags and whole gram, an indication that the family was doing well. After all, Ali Bab had been tending backpackers over the years. As he said later that afternoon while sipping noon chai in his koshur pyale, that his life was different before '90 and he visibly missed it.

We took to the guest room, on the first floor, through a wooden stair-way that amplified the noise of footsteps. The wooden stair-way reminded me of my childhood days at my ancestral house in Khanyar. The sound produced by the footsteps were distinct, for our each family member. Father's were delicate but brisk. Grandfather's were the first I used to hear early in the morning. His resembled as if someone was playing drum beats with great musical taste.

The room was large with beige clay coating on walls and tiny shapeless mirrors engraved at some places. Windows from two opposite far ends ventilated the room perfectly. Calendars from yesteryears officiated as decorative hangings.

By now it was evening: calm and melancholic. Smokey chimneys left grey incense clouds in the air, which in the evening hue looked like fairies dancing, as I gaped through the window. The village looked straight from those story books, read years ago at school. Ali Bab came back from the day's work and tied his two horses in the barn.

Dinner was ready and we were called out to join. Kitchen was neat and shiny. Copper appliances adorned the shelves right across the entire lengths of its walls. The radio played Kashmiri songs in the voice of Waheed Jeelani. Ali Bab's wife Hasina was puffing hooka and daughter Zahida was busy giving final touches to the chicken which Ali Bab had brought from the nearby shop. Soon a mid aged man entered and introduced himself.

Ali Bab's log hut with a barn in foreground

- I'm Mushtaq Ahmed Shah', stressing on Shah. As he later told me, Shah is a revered and elite cast in villages. Mushtaq worked in the forest dept. and was posted at Aru. He was Hasina's distant relative, who meanwhile still was concentrating on her hukka. Hasina on her part had grown old. Wrinkles on her face spoke a nonchalant tale about her hard life. She had deep green graceful eyes, the ones which generate warmth and acceptance easily. Years of carrying firewood from the forest could be seen written all over her. And she was visibly irritated at her husband's penchant for mountains. I think the idea of being left all alone, all by themselves, was the reason for such churlishness. The couple had three daughters- two were married. Walls in the living room adorned pictures of two son-in-laws. Zahida was youngest and unmarried. She had a distinct village girl look. Fair, young and exceedingly orange. In fact she was orange right from her crochet woolen cardigan to her plump cheeks.

While waiting for the dinner I couldn't help but picture the scene where wedding of Ali Bab's daughters must have been ceremonised. Guests must have poured from near and far. The open patch of land near the barn must have been decorated with red and yellow draperies for grooms welcome. Women must have danced rouf and sung folk songs. Biding adieu to his daughters must have been painful for Ali Bab and Hasina. The doughty man must have wiped tears flowing over his stubble beard.

The music from the radio was slow. In a moment my vague imagination got me thinking about when Ali Bab's father or mother must have died. It must have been a harsh winter day. Everything must have been covered in thick white snow. The local cleric must have offered funeral prayers in the courtyard. Winters are tough for old to survive. Thinking about the years that must have gone by in this household connected me to this family. We ate our dinner together and retired to sleep. Next day we had to start early.

We were heading for the mountains of Aram Pathri, a trek that would take us into a wilderness of peaks, inhabited by nomads who wound their way through untrammeled landscape. Aram Pathri is a valley that lies straight above the cliff when looked from the Aru village verge. We started off early in the morning, walking through the village first, where people greeted Ali Bab all along; then through the passage above the stream which carries waters from Katarnag and various other glaciers. The noise formed by the gushing waters hitting rocks early in the morning with pleasant air and absolute pristine clear blue skies gave enough of what was more to be expected. The aroma of cedar and pine was growing and Aru village seemed distance away, unseen now amidst tall pine trees. Our first brush with human habitation was at Gagan Gir- a tiny shepherd hamlet, which acted as the first halt for these yearly visitors. We decided to have tea in a shepherd hut.

The hut was constructed of four sturdy trunks around which stone walls had been built, using mud as mortar. Someone had pushed little strands of wild plants into the cracks, allowing them to cascade down the walls. The family inside it sat mute, smiling.

We entered and made ourselves comfortable on the hay. Soon the hut was engulfed by children, who came to see the uninvited visitors. We clicked their pictures and received smiles in return. Not bad for a bargain. The elder shepherd men sported Babylon beards and could be easily mistaken as old testament prophets. Turbans were usually green and colored. Shalwars and loose duffel shirts were topped by brocade jackets which seemed to have endless pockets. Women wore robes of beautiful color with beaded hair and shawls draped over. Jewellery was minimum but enough to grab an eye. Copper earnings and nose beads on those charming shy faces looked absolute pristine.

We pushed along a herder's path through whistling pines till we criss-crossed ancient boulders, formed by thousands of years of sedimentation. Green pastures awaited us after few difficult jumps on the boulders were safely negotiated. The smell of lilac filled the air. The skies were clear, meadow bereaved even of grazing sheep- we were clearly a few weeks too early into these pastures. The wildflowers were only just coming out on the hillsides, springing up with extra vigor because of the snowmelt. Little streams wound between pollarded willows, their crystal-clear water flowing between banks of vivid green moss. We took small breathers, in between, inhaling the fresh spring air of high Himalayan alpine pastures.

We camped at a place called as lower Aram Pathri the snow ahead us preventing to pitch our tent anywhere else. We had an empty shepherd's hut close-by, where Ali Bab tied his ponies and prepared hot sipping tea on the earthen fire pot, which would be used by its owners in a few weeks time. A small stream flowed along the ridges, where we had spotted a brown bear. A few annoying whistles by Ali Bab seemed to scare him him.

With enough time on hand, we spent the remaining late afternoon lazing around, reading books, giving rest to our tired legs, laying feet in ice-cold water of the stream firm in our belief that these pastures and meadows must have hosted many a Sufis and yogis in olden times. The landscape evokes spirituality, Shawl and I contemplated, as darkness deepened, with sun going down above the cragged peaks.

We spoke about many things seated near our campsite- Sufism, spirituality, meditation, Kashmir. We go back a long way, me and Shawl. A friendship that fostered on mutual admiration and liking- we have too many things in common: which made us to call each other soul-mates. It's a wonderful feeling to have deep inside our heart, that there is a friend whom you can call anytime, for anything.

Our conversation kept on drifting, invoking deep and profound reverie on the spiritual up-liftment of the soul. Of how the wiseness lies in letting go off things at times. Everything that we desire, may not necessarily belong to us,' quipped Shawl, while nibbling on the lamb steak. I had recently laid my hands on a Zen book, that dwelled on the purpose of life. We argued over desire- which suffocates our soul inside. Desire has no end, we both seemed to agree. The meteorite streaked skies above us, and Ali Bab's uninterrupted lipton chai, kept our conversation going. Suddenly, the absolute wilderness around us insinuated our expressiveness - the lack of which we all suffer from. We have to embrace the wisdom of humanity, the meaning of life is to serve the force that sent us into this world. Then life becomes a joy,' Shawl quoted Tolstoy. Let doubts dilate in us about our own existence, I quietly whispered to myself while Ali Bab refilled our cups. Small doubts, small enlightenment. Great doubt, great enlightenment, I remembered a Zen saying from the book that I'd been reading.

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Trump, Kanye, and the Pernicious Politics of Celebrity – National Review

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Kanye West shows President Donald Trump a picture on his mobile phone during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, October 11, 2018. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)What can be done to reduce the influence of fame on our civic life?

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLEOn July 4, Kanye West announced on Twitter his intention to seek the highest office in the land. Its not clear what we should make of this. Internet commentators unleashed a biblical deluge of late registration puns, pointing out that Mr. West has missed the deadline to make it onto the presidential ballot in at least six states, with the deadline for seven other states coming up in July. It also appears that he has yet to file the requisite paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission. Consequently, most people (though not Elon Musk, apparently) seem to be taking the announcement with a large grain of salt. Some have even put it down to shameless self-promotion, with Kanyes next album and his new Gap fashion line set for upcoming release. Whatever the case may be and who can really say, this is Kanye were talking about, after all there is a broader point to be made about the encroachment of celebrity culture into the electoral landscape.

President Trump is the most obvious example. For years, he was beamed into our living-rooms, presiding over the rat-race of American capitalism as the King of the Hill, the incarnation of the success that every sharp-elbowed would-be entrepreneur aspired to. The Apprentice sold Trump to the viewing public as an all-American amalgam of Gordon Gecko and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it was perhaps nave for so many to imagine in 2016 that the image created in those years of reality-TV stardom would have no bearing on his electoral chances once he threw his hat into the ring.

We all know by now that the line between politics and entertainment has become increasingly blurred. Fictional shows and news networks measure themselves by the same standard: ratings. After the 2016 election, CNN CEO Jeff Zucker even entertained the notion that his network was partially responsible for the result because of its monomaniacal coverage of the Trump campaign. Whether or not thats true, any analysis of the last presidential election certainly has to take into account the fact that Trump is always appointment viewing.

It could be argued that being good on television has been a sine qua non for presidential candidates since the KennedyNixon debates of 1960. But even so, entertainment value has risen exponentially on the list of desirable attributes for politicians since then. The way Americans talk about candidates for high office in 2020 resembles nothing so much as amateur film criticism: I dont feel like I can identify with him, her story is very compelling, hes just not connecting with the audience. Of course, theater has always played an important role in politics, but why does it increasingly feel as if this role is the starring one?

Those inclined to reduce social and political events to material factors will probably be content to note the stunning multiplication of screens in American households in recent years and leave it at that. We are all watching more television, more YouTube, more Twitter clips than we were before, and so it is natural that the long-standing desire for entertainment in politics has become magnified. The television is, according to this reading of the facts, like the gun left on the mantlepiece in Act I of Nabokovs play; by Act III of the digital revolution, we were bound to use it for something important, like choosing a president.

Theres a lot of truth in this, but not enough. As Fustel de Coulanges wrote, historys true object of study is the human mind: It should aspire to know what this mind believed, thought, and felt in different ages in the life of the human race. In that spirit, we should reflect upon our repeated attempts to tear down the wall of separation between power and pleasure if we want to knock entertainment from the pedestal it occupies in our politics. Ask yourself: When was the last time the more boring of the two major-party nominees won a general election?

Alexis de Tocqueville made some observations about the nature of life in American society almost 200 years ago that are relevant here. He noted that the attitudes of people toward their neighbors in a democratic society are strikingly different from those in the aristocratic societies of the old world. The driver of this difference is the spirit of comparison that exists in nations tmarked by the formal equality of their citizens:

In certain areas of the Old World . . . the inhabitants are for the most part extremely ignorant and poor; they take no part in the business of the country and are frequently oppressed by the government, yet their countenances are generally placid and their spirits light. In America I saw the freest and most enlightened men placed in the happiest circumstances that the world affords; it seemed to me that a cloud habitually hung upon their brows, and I thought them serious and almost sad, even in their pleasures. The chief reason for this contrast is that the former do not think of the ills they endure, while the latter are forever brooding over the advantages they do not possess.

Larry Siedentop has noted, Whereas identities in an aristocratic society seem natural or fated, in a democratic society they are constructed or artificial. . . . Individuals can distinguish between persons and roles, compare roles and aspire (at least in principle) to almost any role. This spirit of comparison, fostered by the formal legal equality of all citizens, leads to an astounding release of energy in democratic societies as individuals are no longer bound by inherited roles or identities and can aspire to status, wealth, and power:

When people no longer feel tied to a particular situation, they compare what they have with what they might have, and the consequence is the multiplication of wants. Instead of the static wants of an aristocratic society, where people feel that their lot is fixed, members of a democratic society are obsessed with acquiring what they do not yet have.

This phenomenon was examined at length in economic terms by Adam Smith and other philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment, but what really fascinated Tocqueville was the impact it has on the human soul. Civic equality is a double-edged sword, for while it succeeds in multiplying the desires of the masses, it also multiplies their disappointment and frustration as they find that status, wealth, and power are still concentrated in the hands of a small number of people. Here is Tocqueville again:

The same equality that allows every citizen to conceive these lofty hopes renders all the citizens less able to realize them. . . . They have swept away the privileges of some of their fellow creatures that stood in their way, but they have opened the door to universal competition. . . . To these causes must be attributed that strange melancholy that often haunts the inhabitants of democratic countries in the midst of their abundance.

The most important difference between democratic and aristocratic societies is the mechanism by which benefits such as status and wealth are allocated. In an aristocratic society, they are distributed according to the sheer accident of birth. This is an unjust and depraved arrangement from which millions have suffered, but it also leads to a social situation where people never really consider the possibility that their lot in life might be otherwise than it is. When the possibility of constructing your own life and identity is ruled out of the question from the start, the frustration, discouragement, and resentment that accompany the failure to do so are as well. Majorities in aristocratic regimes may have suffered needlessly for centuries, and we should celebrate their downfall as a result, but according to Tocqueville, there is reason to believe that for large swaths of history these people were, on a spiritual level, more content in their sufferings than we are in our excesses.

Things are much different in democratic societies and almost always for the better, but democracy still brings its own challenges the systemic propensity for comparison is one. Once the notion that we are all created equal has penetrated deeply enough into the collective unconscious of a people, comparison is irresistible. There is no theoretical reason why a person cannot or should not aspire to the lot of another person in terms of power, wealth, or status if that other person is equal to him. In light of this fact, the market supplants birthright as the allocator of human goods, both physical and metaphysical. Since everyone is equal by birth, these things must be awarded to the man who can persuade his fellow equals to bestow them on him voluntarily. As a result, everyone in the community, faced with the possibility of success or failure where there was once only fate, is constantly assessing his progress in the endless competition, insecure in an identity that depends in no small part on the mercurial perceptions of the masses.

Imagine how this social dynamic plays out in, say, a New England port town at the turn of the 17th century, where two merchants are setting up rival operations somewhere on the Atlantic coast. Let us say that one of the merchants proves to be much more talented than the other, who is promptly run out of business. In purely economic terms, our sorry settler might still be in much better shape than a Russian serf living on the other side of the world, despite his failed venture. But he sees himself as a failure while the serf, never having gotten a chance to be anything else, is relatively content. The only thing separating the settlers lot in life from that of the wealthy merchant is, in his eyes, his own inadequacy. The serf, by contrast, sees the distance between himself and his lord as a matter of immutable fate, so it does not threaten his identity or torture his soul.

If the power of this spirit of competition in the context of civic equality can be demonstrated simply by appealing to an intuitive just-so story about fictional colonists, what are we to make of its role in a globalized, technologically interconnected world? By now, economic and cultural globalism in combination with the Internet have eviscerated the ability of local communities to effectively generate wealth and status, while the centralizing Leviathan of government has done the same to their ability to generate power. The field of comparison on which each person plays is not a small township, or even a local community, as it might have been for our parents; its the whole world.

The imprint that social comparison on this scale has on the average American is not to be underestimated. On social media and on reality television, all of us are welcomed into the highly curated lives of the wealthiest, most successful, most beautiful people on the planet. It is a sad irony of the modern world that while each generations quality of life improves, the bar for success is also set higher and higher. When everyone is competing in every way with those humans who have been touched in some exceptional way by the finger of God, then there will inevitably be those among us who feel so weightless and anonymous that they give in to despair and turn to chemical consolation prizes, robbing themselves of life and livelihood alike.

This kind of social dynamic also spells trouble for those who do reach the very top, though they might not know it. In the old, aristocratic model, it was still possible for elites to recognize the role that providence played in their good fortune. The acknowledgement that they were not the authors of their own prosperity left room for the notion that they had some duty to exercise their privileges for the common good. We wouldnt want to romanticize this too much. Noblesse oblige was likely far less common than high-handed arrogance and entitlement among the aristocrats of yesteryear. But at least it existed whereas among todays meritocrats, it doesnt. Given that the meritocratic ladder is a market mechanism, with credentials, jobs, and elections being decided (at least ostensibly) on the basis of merit, there is no logical reason for those at the top to believe that they owe anything to those at the bottom. Our culture reinforces the idea that they are the unilateral authors of their own success, just as it reinforces a similar notion about the failures of the down-and-outs.

Thus, Americans are left with two options: Either be a celebrity, or find one to champion you and make you feel visible. If youre successful in the socioeconomic marketplace, then you can have the satisfaction of comparing yourself with those in power and concluding that theyre not so different from you. You might not actually be in charge, but youre the kind of person who could be. If youre less successful, or if you identify with those who are, then your best bet is to find someone higher up the totem pole who is willing to act vicariously as your voice at the top. (This is the mutual appeal that populists and the disenfranchised have to one another when they are effective, which Trump exploited skillfully in 2016.)

Fine, but the question still remains: What should be done about this state of affairs? What is the remedy for celebrity politics? For one thing, dispersing as much political power as locally as possible would help to imbue communities, neighborhoods, and towns with a level of status, a tangible meaning to life. For another, reversing the decline in religious association across the country could help, as the dense social networks and communities that religious bodies provide render their members less vulnerable to the overtures of celebrity charlatans who promise to be their champion in the political arena. There are undoubtedly policies that should be pursued to rehabilitate other, nonreligious institutions that act as local reserves of human capital in communities across the country, as well. But in the end, the radical treatment required to rid us of the enervating influence of celebrity will not come from the state but from a religious faith that can stand contra mundum against the forces of fame and infamy and demonstrate that those chasing status, wealth, power, and privilege were running in the wrong direction all along.

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Trump, Kanye, and the Pernicious Politics of Celebrity - National Review

Trump slowly accepting that convention wont be four-night infomercial he wants – Tampa Bay Times

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WASHINGTON After months of insisting that the Republican National Convention go off as scheduled despite the pandemic, President Donald Trump is slowly coming to accept that the late August event will not be the four-night infomercial for his reelection that he had anticipated.

After a venue change, spiking coronavirus cases and a sharp recession, Trump aides and allies are increasingly questioning whether it's worth the trouble, and some are advocating that the convention be scrapped altogether. Conventions are meant to lay out a candidate's vision for the coming four years, not spark months of intrigue over the health and safety of attendees, they have argued.

Ultimately, the decision on whether to move forward will be Trump's alone.

Already the 2020 event has seen a venue change to more Trump-friendly territory in Jacksonville, Florida, from Charlotte, North Carolina and it has been drastically reduced in scope. For technical reasons, the convention will be unable to formally adopt a new party platform. And what is normally a highlight of the convention the roll call of the states to renominate the president is set to be conducted through proxy votes in the original host city.

Still, Trump and his aides had pinned their hopes on creating the pageantry of a formal acceptance speech in Jacksonville, envisioning an arena of packed with supporters, without face masks. Outwardly, the White House and the RNC have said they're full-steam ahead with the revised plan.

"We're still moving forward with Jacksonville," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said last week. "It'll be a safe event. It will be a good event."

But privately, concerns are mounting, and plans are being drawn up to further scale back the event or even shift it to entirely virtual. Officials who weeks ago had looked for the convention to be a celebration of the nation's vanquishing of the virus now see it as a potent symbol of the pandemic's persistence.

"I think it's going to be, obviously, a little different than what would be typical of other conventions, given the circumstance," Donald Trump Jr. told reporters last week. "And I think that's totally reasonable and understandable."

Jacksonville, whose mayor is a former Florida Republican Party chairman, issued a public mask order two weeks ago as virus cases in the area surged. That mandate is unlikely to be lifted before the convention. Also, Florida has limited facilities statewide to operating at 50% of capacity.

Organizers now plan to provide COVID-19 testing to all attendees daily, conduct frequent temperature checks and offer face coverings. Even so, Trump aides and allies fear that the entire spectacle will be overshadowed by attendee concerns and already heightened media scrutiny on the potential for the convention to be a "super-spreading" event.

Key decisions about the event, including precisely where or if Trump will appear, need to be made in the coming days to allow sufficient time for the build-out of the space.

Increasingly, aides are pushing Trump to move his acceptance speech outdoors to minimize the risk of virus transmission. But Trump has expressed reservations about an outdoor venue, believing it would lack the same atmosphere as a charged arena.

Despite the economic downturn, GOP officials insist they will have the financial resources needed to hold the convention. Vice President Mike Pence flew to Florida on Saturday to hold a fundraiser for the event.

"The convention is still a month and a half away, so there is time to adjust and make the most appropriate decisions regarding venue options and an array of health precautions that will allow us to have a safe and exciting event for all," RNC spokesman Mike Reed said. "We will continue to coordinate with local leadership in Jacksonville and in Florida in the weeks ahead."

The Trump team's worries were compounded after the president's embarrassing return to campaign rallies after a three-month hiatus caused by the virus. The empty seats at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, brought about a shakeup to Trump's campaign and renewed fears that the president would not be able to return to his signature campaign events in their traditional form before Election Day in November.

A Saturday rally in New Hampshire that was meant to be the president's second attempt at a return to campaign travel was called off on Friday, ostensibly because of weather concerns from then-Tropical Storm Fay. But aides acknowledged they also were worried about attracting enough of a crowd to fill the Portsmouth aircraft hangar.

The challenge in Jacksonville may be more daunting. The administration's top health officials have demurred when pressed on whether the convention could be held safely. Many among the party's leadership and the donors who attend conventions are older, putting them in a higher-risk category for the coronavirus.

Already a half-dozen Republican senators have indicated they won't attend the convention. Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has expressed reservations.

"I'm not going to go, and I'm not going to go because of the virus situation," 86-year-old Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said on a conference call with Iowa reporters last week.

Asked whether he'd want to limit the gathering if the state's coronavirus cases continue to rise, Trump replied that the decision "really depends on the timing."

"We're always looking at different things," Trump said during an interview on Gray Television's "Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren."

"When we signed a few weeks ago, it looked good," the president continued. "And now, all of a sudden, it's spiking up a little bit. And that's going to go down. It really depends on the timing. Look, we're very flexible."

- Zeke Miller and Scott Bauer

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Trump slowly accepting that convention wont be four-night infomercial he wants - Tampa Bay Times

Bubba Wallace on Donald Trump: ‘He did get one thing right’ – 247Sports

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Nearly a week has passed since President Donald Trump demanded an apology from NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace following last month's FBI investigation into a possible hate crime inside a garage at Talladega Superspeedway. Trump called the situation a "hoax" after the FBI concluded a rope-pull that was tied like a noose inside Wallace's garage was coincidental and had been there since last year.

"Has Bubba Wallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER," Trump tweeted.

Wallace appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" this week and told guest-host Anthony Anderson he was initially shocked that the Commander in Chief would be worrying about auto-racing matters. Wallace previously posted a note on his social media pages saying some people "are taught to hate" in response to Trump.

When I first read it, I was like, Man, theres so much more things that are going on in the world that I feel like he should be worried about. But its hard to get people to understand, especially when the facts are delivered on the table and theyve been there for two weeks now," Wallace said. "So to be late to the party is one thing and to be wrong on the factual information is another. But all in all, he did get one thing right in his tweet, though.

"The great officials that continue to stand behind me, NASCAR drivers and officials have continued to stand behind me through it all. He got that part right. Its a great sport that Im proud to be a part of.

Wallace said last month he's thankful the FBI determined he wasn't the target of a hate crime prior to a Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, but wants answers as to why a garage pull was tied like a noose at the racetrack. Wallace said he doesn't understand the reasoning behind the styled-pull, which had been at the garage stall for at least a year, as determined by the FBI's investigation.

It was a noose, Wallace said. Whoever had the time to create that and tie it up like that ... the (FBI) was skeptical about it. When the FBI says those types of things and I told them that I told my team members, Are we sure this isnt something were taking out of context?

And the FBI backed my team up and reiterated that if you were to see this at this time, youd stand with your team on why they were so alert. It is what it is.

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Bubba Wallace on Donald Trump: 'He did get one thing right' - 247Sports

Donald Trump fakes history in order to divide us – Brookings Institution

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Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children, Donald Trump said in his pre-Independence Day rally in front of Mount Rushmore. He reprised the same themes on the White House lawn the following day. In the midst of a national catharsis on race and social justice, in front of a monument to great American leaders, and then on the lawn of the iconic symbol of American leadership, Trump chose a dog whistle message to stoke the us vs. them that has become his stock in trade.

It wasnt a new message, just new venues. At his last rally in Tulsa, Trump used similar rhetoricThey want to demolish our heritageto describe the ongoing debate over removing statues to Confederate figures. This time he doubled down. In the first quote above, he made four specific assertions that he attributed to a left-wing cultural revolution. Lets look at each of those claims, especially as they relate to the matter that continues to haunt the nation: the symbolism of Confederate statues and the naming of military bases for Confederate figures.

Wipe out our history. The statues of Confederate soldiers may be part of our history, but not in the way Donald Trump sees that history. These men were traitors, and their celebration is a reminder to Black Americans that the oppression for which they fought is still alive.

A few years ago, I was making a presentation in a former slaveholding state based on my book Leadership Lessons of the Civil War. When I referred to those who fought for the Confederacy as traitors, you could feel the air being sucked from the room. Afterward, some who had been in the audience confronted me over the statement.

But the judgment is unassailable. To take up arms against your country is a traitorous act. Erecting statues is just a way to obfuscate that reality while celebrating what caused it. In a similar manner, naming American military bases for generals who fought against America helps keep that traitorous tradition alive.

Defame our heroes. Donald Trumps least favorite word, it would seem, is loser. He frequently weaponizes it against those with whom he disagrees. It is particularly strange, therefore, that the heroes he seeks to aggrandize are the losers of the Civil War.

The veneration of those who led the insurrection we call the Civil War is the exception to the old rule that history is written by the winners. And that was exactly why the statues were erected: to rewrite that history and send a message that the cause that drove the treason continued.

You do not find statues of Erwin Rommel in Germany. On the battlefield, he was a strategic genius on par with Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas Stonewall Jackson (whom he studied). Recognizing the rotten core of Nazism, Rommel participated in the attempted assassination of Hitler (which cost him his life). But statues are not erected to celebrate national shames. Even if the individual may have been a genius, using that genius for the wrong purpose is nothing to memorialize.

Erase our values. The values celebrated by the memorials whose loss Trump mourns are not those of bravery or strategic brilliance, but of continuing oppression. According to the American Historical Association, the Confederate monuments erected in the Jim Crow era of the late 19th and early 20th century were part and parcel of the initiation of legally mandated segregation and widespread disenfranchisement across the South. The monuments were symbols of white supremacy whose purpose was intimidation, a reminder that the so-called Lost Cause was not over and a reiteration of the racial oppression that it was all about.

The Civil War wasnt about slavery, the refrain of Lost Cause supporters goes, it was about states rights. That state right was the perpetuation of human bondage.

Indoctrinate our children. I have written two books about the Civil War. One was about the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, the other about the battlefield leaders on both sides. Without a doubt, until President Lincoln finally found the general he deserved in Ulysses S. Grant, the South had the best battlefield leaders. Their battlefield behavior was often brilliant. The cause for which they fought, however, was despicable.

So, how do we rationalize that contradiction? It is the nuance of this conversation that our children need to understand. The purpose of history is to tell the story of previous decisionsincluding their imperfectionsin order to inform our lives today. The tactical skills of the generals on the battlefield is worthy of study. The decision that put them on that battlefield, however, forever stains their memory.

It is historys relevance to today that must be understood. History is the story of how humans, when confronted with challenge, acted imperfectly. It is precisely this multifaceted and imperfect history that our children should learn. We owe the next generation an appreciation of what it means for ordinary citizens to rise to hero statusas well as how to define hero status.

It was particularly telling that on his way to Mount Rushmore, Donald Trump helicoptered over Native American demonstrators. The Original Americans were protesting what was happening on their sacred land.

Had Trump truly cared about history as something more than a campaign stunt, there was another message he could have delivered. It could have been an inclusive message. It could have been a message to challenge us, rather than divide us. It could have been the story of Robert E. Lees surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

Accompanying General Grant was his aide, Lt. Col. Ely S. Parker, who was a Seneca Indian. When Lee entered the McLean house for the surrender, he saw Parker and commented, I am glad to see one real American here. Lt. Col. Parker responded, We are all Americans. It is a message that is as valid today as it was then, but it is lost on a man who wants to use history to divide us.

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Donald Trump fakes history in order to divide us - Brookings Institution

A Theme Park of Donald Trumps Dreams – The New Yorker

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On Friday, Donald Trump signed an executive order, On Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes. It is a snapshot of his view of the world and his place in it, but unlike some of his other executive orders, it isnt explicitly cruel and vengeful, or empty and threatening; it is, rather, the creation of a theme park. At the moment, he feels that he is losing his grasp on Trumps America, so he wants to build it in stone and fence it off, perhaps so that he can live there when all is lost.

Americans, in the largest protest movement in this countrys history, have been toppling monuments. When nations topple monuments, they often place them in parksor, more often, in unmarked and unlandscaped spaces that are gradually reconfigured as parks after they are suddenly decorated with statuary. New Delhi didnt start toppling its colonial monuments until a decade after independence; in the nineteen-sixties, a number of British nobles likenesses were transported to a vast, empty space that became known as the graveyard of statues. There they lay for another thirty years, decaying, as birds defecated on them and visitors marked them up. In the nineteen-nineties, local authorities decided to transform the space into a park designed to celebrate Indias triumph over its fallen rulers. The plan never came to fruition, though, and the park is now unfinished and overgrown, a ruin.

In Moscow, when a hard-line coup failed in August, 1991, bringing down the Soviet state, monuments to a variety of Soviet leaders, from the founder of the secret police to the first education minister to Stalin himself, were toppledor, in the case of Stalin, dug up, for this particular monument had been buried in a sculptors yard for three decadesand hauled to what was then an empty lot opposite Gorky Park. Bolsheviks in bronze, granite, and plaster lay on the grass for a number of years. People jumped and climbed and drew all over them. As Russia began to grow nostalgic for its Soviet past, the lot transformed: the formerly fallen leaders were set upright, then cleaned of graffiti, then restored to their pedestals, and finally fenced off, viewable only from a distance, which made them seem grand again. By the time Vladimir Putin officially assumed the office of the Presidency for the third time, in 2012, the formerly empty space, which by then was called the Sculpture Park and charged admission, had become a theme park of Soviet glory.

Trump seems to want to leap over a process that took Russia twenty years and proceed directly to creating a theme park of American grandeur. On June 26th, he signed an executive order that painted demonstrators protesting Confederate and other monuments as a violent mob of Marxists intent on destroying American history itself. It directed the federal government to step in and prosecute people who damage monuments and to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that permit the desecration of monuments, memorials, or statues. A week later came the executive order on building and rebuilding, which puts the story told in the first order in loftier words: My Administration will not abide an assault on our collective national memory. To preserve this memory, the order creates a task force charged with establishing a statuary park named the National Garden of American Heroes (National Garden).

The garden, which has a planned opening for before July 4, 2026, is intended to house statues of American heroes, some of whom are listed in the order: John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley Madison, James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie Murphy, George S. Patton, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Antonin Scalia, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, and Orville and Wilbur Wright. The list suggests a Trumpian view of what constitutes American greatness. The Presidency is represented by Washington, Adams, Madison, Jefferson, Lincolnand Reagan. The First Lady singled out for inclusion in the park is Dolley Madison. No F.D.R., no J.F.K., no Eleanor Roosevelt. The twentieth century is represented by two generals, a soldier, a pilot, an astronaut, the inventors of the airplane, a baseball player, a conservative Supreme Court Justice, two members of the clergy (Graham and King), and Reagan. There are no artists or scientists on this list. The only writer is Stowe, the author of Uncle Toms Cabin. This is America as Trump sees it: a skeletal, heroic history, with a lot of shooting, a lot of flying, and very little government. Excluded from this history entirely are Native Americans; this is made explicit in Section 7, which defines the term historically significant American as an American citizen or someone who lived prior to or during the American Revolution and were not American citizens, but who made substantive historical contributions to the discovery, development, or independence of the future United States. The proposed park, in other words, is one of settler-colonialist history.

The executive order also dictates aesthetics: All statues in the National Garden should be lifelike or realistic representations of the persons they depict, not abstract or modernist representations. This passage appears twice. It is as though Trump is stomping his foot in the order, to make it clear, once and for all, that he wants his past comfortable and easy to read. The author of the document really seems to hate the few existing American monuments that are modernist or abstract, such as the Wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In the history that the National Garden will tell, there is no modern or contemporary art, and there are no social movements that such art may represent.

Earlier this year, the White House considered issuing an executive order that would have instituted a unified style for federal architecture, dictating that the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style. The American Institute of Architects, among others, objected, and the order appears to have been shelved. But, as Trump often does, he has returned with the same desire expressed in a different package. The aesthetic represents Trump well: classical architecture in the twenty-first century is always an imitation, an act of plagiarism performed artlessly, as when Melania Trump borrowed the words of a Michelle Obama speech, or when Inauguration bakers copied the design of Obamas cakeas though the Trumps just thought that this was what power looks like. Even the name of the executive order betrays this aspiration-free view of human achievement: building and rebuilding stand in parallel, as though they are in effect the same thing. The original and its hollow, mass-produced copy do look the same from a distance. The gold curtains that Trump hung in the Oval Office and the gilded cherubs that litter his apartment belong in the same category; we might call it kitsch, if we thought Trump capable of play or irony.

For all its hand-wringing and foot stomping, the executive order is also a gesture of retreat, or at least retrenchment. In the face of a changing history and a country in uprising, Trump wants to create a landa gardenin which he can walk among the statues of men whom he imagines to have been great. There would probably be a fence. This is a territorial cordoning off of history, which is what the entire Trumpian project has been.

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A Theme Park of Donald Trumps Dreams - The New Yorker

Donald Trump Jr. touts the shrinking of Utah’s Bears Ears as opening land to public – Salt Lake Tribune

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Washington While presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden vows to restore the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and curtail oil and gas leasing on public lands, President Donald Trumps son says his dads efforts to open up access to federal tracts and fix up national parks is a better selling point for reelection.

The Democrats have been able to spin the Bears Ears notion as, Oh, my God, theyre getting rid of a national monument, Donald Trump Jr. said on a conference call Friday with regional news outlets.

It just couldnt be further from the truth, he continued. The Trump administration is getting rid of belt-and-suspenders-type regulations to allow people access to be able to enjoy these monuments and to be able to do it for everyone to enjoy their public lands.

So this administration has gone above and beyond opening up more access to public lands, I believe [more than] anyone since [President Teddy] Roosevelt, you know, when they started the whole public parks program.

The president's eldest son was answering a question by The Salt Lake Tribune about Biden's stance on Bears Ears but didn't mention Biden in doing so.

The presumptive Democratic nominee has previously announced that if elected his administration would protect Americas natural treasures by permanently protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other areas impacted by President Trumps attack on federal lands and waters, and establishing national parks and monuments that reflect Americas natural heritage, including reversing President Trumps proclamation on Bears Ears.

Biden said he'll reverse the changes to Bears Ears and also ban new oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters and increase royalties for existing mineral development.

The president's son said tossing out the Obama monument declaration allowed more access by the public to public lands.

This is a big issue for people in Utah as well as all of those out in the West, he said. The Trump administration has opened, as of Sept. 1, its going to be like 4.8 million new acres of public access that was previously inaccessible for sportsmen/women, for those who are, you know, recreational outdoorsman and women. So this administration has created access for Americans to their public lands.

Separately, Trump Jr. declined to weigh in on whether Utah Gov. Gary Herbert should mandate mask wearing amid a spike of coronavirus cases in the state.

Despite the cries of, you know, Donald Trump is a dictator, hes a dictator,' you know, hes let the states make these sort of decisions, the presidents son said. And so he trusts that those governors will make the right decision with the information on the ground. So if there is a spike in Utah, then maybe you know thats up to the governor to decide.

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Donald Trump Jr. touts the shrinking of Utah's Bears Ears as opening land to public - Salt Lake Tribune

She Sounded The Alarm On Donald Trump A Decade Ago. Now, Shes A Cofounder Of The Lincoln Project. – Forbes

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Jennifer Horn, former chair of the New Hampshire Republican party, helped co-found The Lincoln ... [+] Project.

In an op-ed published in the New Hampshire Union Leader, Republican mainstay Jennifer Horn painted a damning picture of Donald Trump.

She repeatedly slammed him as unpresidential, warning he was unable to stop himself from spouting outrageous comments and concluding that, as a country, We are looking for a commander in chief, someone who can be the leader of the free world, not a reality show character with an attitude.

Her words might seem especially damaging coming from someone inside the Republican Party, but perhaps more surprising than who wrote it, is when: 2011, almost a decade ago and more than 5 years before President Trump was elected.

I go back and re-read that op-ed sometimes and every single line, every single concern, has come to fruition, Horn said.

I essentially said, If the Republican Party takes this guy seriously, they deserve what they get.

Today, Horns words seem almost prescient. They certainly echo those of countless Democrats and some moderate members of the GOP, as President Trump gears up for an uphill reelection effort that shows him trailing presumptive Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden by double digits in multiple polls.

Now Horn, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and Republican Congressional candidate, has cofounded The Lincoln Project, a PAC deadset on publicly condemning Trump's actions. Created in December 2019, the group consists of current and former Republicans working to prevent Trump from being re-elected - something Horn never thought she'd have to do when she entered politics 12 years ago.

It became clear there was no effort, or candidate campaign out there, that was getting any traction or would be at all effective in protecting America from a second term of Donald Trump, Horn said.

The day after the election, Republicans and Democrats will have plenty of philosophical and policy issues to continue to debate. But until that time comes, we have to put it aside. We have to come together. Its imperative. We must do this for the preservation of the republic.

Jennifer Horn and her family.

At 44, Horn, who was a stay-at-home mom, had a laundry list of accomplishments. She had a thriving newspaper column, a radio talk show, and she was involved in several nonprofit efforts.

But there was one thing the wife, mother of five and grandmother wasn't involved in: politics.

Then came 2008. Horn decided to run for congress in New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District, becoming the first woman nominated by the Republican Party in the states 232-year history.

"I won the nomination. Barack Obama won the White House, and I won nothing," Horn said, laughing.

But running for office in New Hampshire, where Horn spent 18 years of her life and raised her family, opened the door to politics. She never looked back.

"Everything I have ever done in politics has been motivated, I would say, by the same thing that has motivated me in almost everything I have done, and that's being a mom," Horn said. "I know for some people that sounds hoaky, but that's it."

In 2013, Horn was elected as the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, where she served for two terms, until January 2017. She also served as co-chair of the New Hampshire Log Cabin Republicans for two years and on the Log Cabin Republican National Board of Directors. She advocated for removing anti-LGBTQ language from the New Hampshire and National GOP platforms. Her goal was always to bring leadership and a clear, principled voice to the party and to preserve and protect American ideals for her children and grandchildren's future. She says, working in politics to her, is an "extension of parenting."

But in the year leading up to the election of Donald Trump, everything changed.

At the time, Horn was still chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, a position that requires neutrality through by-laws, during a primary election.

Jennifer Horn and Senator Marco Rubio.

"Repeatedly throughout that cycle, I was forced into this position of having to choose between defending Donald Trump or defending what I thought were the Republican principles of our party," Horn explained.

"Every time I defended the principles of our party. I defended John McCain; I defended the women. That didn't get me a lot of friends."

Horn recounted a moment during the 2016 election when one of "the top guys" in Trump's New Hampshire campaign approached her. He also happened to be a long-time friend of Horn's, someone she admired and who helped her during her campaigns. She said he wanted to talk about the incident involving Billy Bush, who was heard on an "Access Hollywood" tape laughing with the future President, as he bragged about groping women. He called her to ensure she wouldnt say anything publicly about the situation.

"I said, 'Of course I am going to say something. I've already said something.' He said, 'Why? Why do you have to do that? Our teams are working together so well now, and the election is almost over. Can't you just let it go?'

I think my exact words to him were, 'I promised myself a long time ago that I would never say or do anything I can't defend to my children. I can't be silent now.'"

Jennifer Horn and fellow Lincoln Project co-founders.

In 2019, as politicians and political leaders began planning for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a group of current and former Republican leaders were making plans, too.

But they weren't focusing on how to help re-elect President Trump - they were working to create an initiative to take him down from the right side of the aisle.

Reed Galen, John Weaver, Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt, all lifelong republicans and political strategists, began talking about what they could do to ensure Trump's defeat in 2020. Their experience within the party varied - some had worked for President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They were all on similar paths since the 2016 presidential election, committed to speaking out against Trump.

They decided to team up and recruit other Republican leaders to assist. Horn was one of the first people they reached out to, because of her party politics and understanding of what moves Republican voters from a state that consistently has a rough and tumble primary at the presidential level.

"Jennifer has a depth and breadth of experience, and she has taken on the president publicly as a party chair in a very important state like New Hampshire," Galen said.

"From our perspective, she is someone who has the courage to take on the president directly, when so many in the party, at this moment, have refused to do so."

When approached, Horn immediately jumped on board and became a cofounder of The Lincoln Project; she is also the only woman in the pack.

In only a few months, The Lincoln Project has gone from new-to-the-game PAC to social media juggernaut. Since it publicly launched and joined Twitter in December, it has garnered more than 1.2 million followers, an average of 170,000 a month. The founders cite President Trump as a clear and present danger to the American Constitution and Republic, describing him as a racist and narcissist who is destructive and dangerous to the country and world. They also denounce him as a Republican and say he doesn't understand or respect actual GOP ideals and principles.

The groups mission statement, plastered front and center on its website, is just as unambiguous and unapologetic.

Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain, it reads in part. However, the priority for all patriotic Americans must be a shared fidelity to the Constitution and a commitment to defeat those candidates who have abandoned their constitutional oaths, regardless of party.

It concludes, Electing Democrats who support the Constitution over Republicans who do not is a worthy effort.

On the night of June 20, President Trump boarded Air Force One and left Tulsa, Oklahoma, after fronting a rally largely considered to be a disappointment. Prior to the event, Trump boasted on social media that close to a million people registered to attend. The Tulsa Fire Department later put official attendance at around 6,200, less than a third of the arenas capacity of 19,000.

An ad from The Lincoln Project circulated less than 24 hours later mocking the president for the rallys turnout and equating it to his dwindling popularity. Entitled Shrinking, the 45-second video opens with a shot of a lone Trump supporter sitting in a sea of more than 120 empty seats in the BOK Center in Tulsa. As it ends, the ads female narrator addresses Trump directly while intercutting shots of yawning rallygoers and Trump appearing dejected as he steps off Air Force One. You talk a big game...and cant deliver, she says. Sad, weak, low energy. Just like your presidency. Just like you.

Two weeks later, the ad has close to 6 million views on Twitter alone.

The Lincoln Project is blanketing broadcast stations and social media with critical, oftentimes devastating ads like these, and doing so with remarkable turnaround speeds. Their digital efforts increased after COVID-19 derailed many of their plans to travel and be on the ground in states leading up to Election Day.

The close to 50 videos they've released undermine Trump and describe what they call his presidential failures. Horn says its all in an effort to convince Republicans and Independents who lean Republican to vote against President Trump in November. They measure their effectiveness in a variety of ways.

"We know we're effective when they [the President and his team] respond to us, she said.

The President is tweeting at us at one in the morning."

One such tweet from President Trump falsely accuses Horn of being thrown out of the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Horn says they know they've struck a chord when Trump is talking about the Lincoln Project's videos instead of campaigning.

One example she cites was an advertisement they did showing Trump making his commencement speech at West Point and accusing him of being unwell. The footage showed the President appearing to have trouble walking down a ramp and picking up a glass.

"What does the President do the next week when he is in Tulsa? He spends 25 minutes explaining his walk down the ramp," Horn said. And proving to the crowd he could lift a glass and drink out of it."

"So the President spent 25 minutes at his first campaign rally since the coronavirus restrictions were implemented, not talking about anything that would move voters to vote for him. I think we were effective, and I checked it off as a success."

The Trump Campaign did not respond to multiple requests for a comment.

The Lincoln Project also measures success by merely looking at Trump's approval numbers and loss of support from some of his base, from white working-class women to Evangelicals. The latest Pew Research Center national poll shows a disheartened American public and Trump trailing Biden on "most personal traits and major issues."

The poll also shows those who are satisfied with how things are going in America has plummeted from 31% in April to just 12% at the end of June.

It also states if the election were held today, 54% of registered voters say they would support Biden vs. 44% for Trump.

The Lincoln Project isnt just targeting President Trump.

Several ads have gone after GOP senators seen as too close to Trump, in battleground states like Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina - efforts that could prove fruitful for Democrats trying to take back senate control for the first time in years. Democratic candidates are either tied or leading in polls for several competitive senate races against Republican incumbents. (If Biden wins in November, Democrats need to flip three seats; if Trump wins, theyll need to flip four.)

"If you don't defeat the people who empowered him the last four years, then Trumpism continues," Horn said.

One such ad, bluntly called Martha McSally is a Trump Hack, accuses the Arizona senator of going full Trump and concludes by proclaiming, Youll be remembered as just another Trump hack, if youre remembered at all.

The group is also using their platform to show support for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, even going so far as to create a sub-project called "Republicans and Independents for Biden." Horn says she and her team are going to be hyper-focused in coordinating efforts to organize and persuade Republicans and right-leaning independents to vote on Election Day for the former vice president. She acknowledges it won't be easy for some to do.

"Part of what we do at The Lincoln Project is make it OK. We want to make sure the message is clear: you are not alone. There are millions of other Republicans and Independents just like you who are not going to vote for this guy in November," Horn said.

While Horn and her Lincoln Project counterparts encourage Biden voters, they want to make sure the public knows that clear policy and philosophical differences with Democrats remain.

"You want to make sure that there is a clear path in 2024 for a Republican presidential candidate who can run against Trump," Horn said.

"Because you know there will be plenty coming forward saying, 'I'm the continuation of Trump in America' and we want to make sure there is a voice there that says, We defeated him in 2020, let's make sure Trumpism is buried and gone."

Since The Lincoln Project began, the founders have heard from both Democratic and GOP politicians.

At first, Horn says, many Democrats didnt understand or trust The Lincoln Projects intentions, but that has quickly changed. She says she hears often how unhappy some Republican politicians are with their decision to seemingly turn against the party. Horn says they often tell her its her responsibility to protect the party. Horn disagrees.

"I need to protect the country. I need to protect the constitution. I need to make sure that when I am dead and gone and when my children are talking about me to my grandchildren, that they stand up and say mom did the right thing."

Some are going so far as to call Horn and The Lincoln Project Trump's toughest opponents, because of the influence they have as Republicans going against a Republican incumbent.

"I am a woman trying to take down Donald Trump. Yes!" said Horn.

"I never imagined I'd ever be a part of such an effort," Horn said. "But I never, for a moment imagined, that all of these people in my party who I had so much respect and affection for, would elect Donald Trump to the White House."

Horn is just as much of a Republican as she was when she first ran for office 12 years ago. After Barack Obama was elected in 2008, Horn spent eight years campaigning against him. She disagreed with his policies, and regardless of his intentions, she says, he missed the boat repeatedly.

But there is one moment from his presidency that stands out to her: when he spontaneously sang Amazing Grace at the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of nine African Americans killed in the Charleston Church shooting of 2015.

"That was an extraordinary moment where the President of the United States felt the pain of the American people and reacted in a decent, compassionate, comforting way that touched me as a leader of the opposition party."

"We must have presidents who can do that, whether they are from your party or not. If my party doesn't understand that anymore and can't produce that, this moment in time, then I have to support the other guy."

That's why she's voting for Biden this November, and even went so far as to resign from her GOP group, the Log Cabin Republicans, who endorsed Trump last summer.

"I'm voting for decency and constitutional leadership and for a return to checks and balances and separate but co-equal branches of government. I'm voting for a return to the constitutional institutions that have made America unique amongst all the countries in the world," Horn said.

"If you vote for Donald Trump, regardless of your reasons why, you are also voting for a man who is a racist, a narcissist who is destructive and dangerous to the country, and to the world, that future generations will live in. That's yours to make peace with."

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She Sounded The Alarm On Donald Trump A Decade Ago. Now, Shes A Cofounder Of The Lincoln Project. - Forbes

Global Vitamin E Market 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updated Analysis By Product (Under 50% Vitamin E, 50%~90% Vitamin E, Above 90% Vitamin E); By…

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Global Vitamin E Market Report Industry Analysis, Market Size, Historical-Current-Future Trends, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts to 2026

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Global Vitamin E Market 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updated Analysis By Product (Under 50% Vitamin E, 50%~90% Vitamin E, Above 90% Vitamin E); By...