Sam and Emma talk to David Dayen about the fact that the left / progressive members of democrats in congress and how Chuck Schumer is trying to quiet that side of the party. Dayen is a political analyst. He claims that the leadership of the Democratic Party is refusing to use this moment to use ICE actions as reason to use the only leverage they have, the budget battle. Schumer caved the first time, he caved the second time, and has no stomach for even starting this time. He wants to just fill out his time as majority leader knowing he likely won’t be elected again and get as many high end donors as possible to set himself up as wealthy in private life. We need different leadership. But right now we need the public to push the party if possible. We need the democrats in office publicly going on TV and pounding the table over this. Hugs.
Month: January 2026
This Sounded Better In The Original German
ICE going car to car checking skin color and accents. Paper please is now something happening in the US. Stephen Miller must be so proud to see his Nazi America dream come true so fast. Hugs
This Got Ugly
Anti-trans person gets Tim Pool twisted and the conversation verse off the tracks. Tim tries to educate her bigotry but she won’t have it and he knows his teenage boy audience wants to hear hate not explanations of truth. Hugs
Extra Josh Johnson
I caught this on TV the other day while I did a jog. It’s great, not very long.
Looking At This Week:
The Week Ahead
January 18, 2026
It’s the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s second administration this week. There’s not much to celebrate.
The oath Trump took on January 20, 2025: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” He added, “so help me God” at the end.
Tonight, about 1,500 active-duty soldiers, two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, are under prepare-to-deploy orders for possible action in Minnesota. This means Donald Trump is actively contemplating invoking the Insurrection Act. Absent that, deployment of active duty members of the military is prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act. It bears repeating that the American military isn’t meant to be used for domestic law enforcement against American citizens, barring extraordinary circumstances that simply aren’t present here.
The 11th Airborne, nicknamed the “Arctic Angels,” specializes in operating in arctic conditions. That’s convenient for Minnesota, or perhaps for Maine, where there are persistent rumors Trump plans to surge ICE this week, with an eye to the state’s Somali immigrant community. Governor Janet Mills has said Maine officials have been unable to confirm whether the rumors are true, but she’s said she’s working with the cities of Portland and Lewiston, which have sizable immigrant communities, along with local law enforcement, to be ready. “Maine will not be intimidated,” the Governor said.
Trump seems to be on course to become the first President to direct the use of U.S. military forces against American citizens during peacetime. And he’s doing it in a situation where the “unrest” is mostly peaceful protests resulting from Trump’s efforts to inflame the city. The situation is hardly the kind of insurrection, domestic violence, or conspiracy the Act contemplates, but this is a presidency where the facts don’t matter. This week could become an extraordinary moment in American history.
What exactly does the 11th Airborne Division do? When they were activated in 2022, the General running the show told the troops, “I expect every soldier of this Division to be masters of their craft, of Arctic Warfare.” Arctic warfare—headed for the streets of Minneapolis.

According to their website, “The 11th Airborne Division executes expeditionary operations worldwide, conducts Multi-Domain Operations in the Indo-Pacific theater and the Arctic, and on order decisively defeats any adversary in extreme cold weather, mountainous and high-latitude environments through large scale combat operations.” They are ready to “deploy, fight and win decisively against any adversary.” Presumably, that includes the protestor in a giraffe costume ICE agents forced to the ground last week or the one dressed like a pickle. If the stakes weren’t so high, the whole thing would be ridiculous.

And to triple down on what it’s doing in Minnesota, the administration announced it’s investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and plans to subpoena them. No word on specifics of potential charges or whether the subpoenas will be for documents or testimony. It’s hard to imagine what possible federal crimes the two have committed. Former Attorney General Eric Holder put it best—Holder quips, maybe “felony disagreement?”

DOJ is also investigating the partner of the Minneapolis woman an ICE agent shot and killed, apparently looking into whether Becca Good interfered with the agent. Videotape suggests he wasn’t impeded in any way by her comment that he should go out to lunch, moving without any obstruction to take three shots.
But DOJ is not investigating whether the ICE agent who killed her should be charged in connection with the shooting death of Renee Good. On Fox News Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “No, we are not investigating.” Blanche characterized what happened as the agent “defending himself” and said, “we investigate when it’s appropriate to investigate,” claiming that wasn’t the case here. “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell.
Officer-involved shootings are virtually always investigated, most of them by state agencies, which is where the majority of these incidents occur. But this case isn’t just a “shooting”; it’s a death, and possibly a homicide—a possibility that can’t be ruled out without investigation. There is also video evidence that a doctor who tried to treat Good, who was still alive when paramedics arrived 15 or more minutes later, was refused, which could lead to additional charges. This is the kind of case that demands a thorough, objective investigation.
Beyond that, Blanche’s claim that there are too many shootings every year to investigate—he says over 1,000—is as ludicrous as it is wrong. His argument is essentially that cops are shooting too many people to be bothered to investigate. If anything, high numbers would make investigation even more essential. While exact numbers aren’t available, a 2023 assessment by NBC suggested that between 2018 and 2022, 223 people were shot by officers working for or with the four primary federal law enforcement agencies, and that 151, or an average of 30 per year, were killed. Surely, Blanche can muster the resources to investigate 30 deaths in federal officer involved shootings a year—even if it means pulling a few FBI agents off of their work arresting school children and field workers who are in the country without legal immigration status, but hurting no one. In a moment where it would have shown good faith to conduct an investigation, the administration acted like it had something to hide, instead.
It should come as no surprise that recent polls show Trump slumping as he comes to the end of his first year. 58% of Americans call his first term a failure. A mere 37% say that Trump puts the good of the country above his personal gain. Only 32% believe he’s in touch with the problems ordinary Americans face in their daily lives. Perhaps most damning, “Fewer than half say that Trump has the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively, and just 35% call him someone they’re proud to have as president.”
Keep talking with the people around you! The truth still has a way of breaking through when we share it.
Other developments to expect this week:
- On Tuesday, the plaintiffs’ response is due in the temporary protected status case we discussed in this post back on January 10. In Svitlana Doe v. Noem, Judge Talwani restricted the government’s efforts to end parole status for Colombians, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Haitians, Hondurans, and Salvadorans with family reunification status. Once briefing is complete, she will decide whether to permanently enjoin the government from ending parole status for these individuals before the time set for it to expire.
- On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who Trump tried to remove. The Court has seemed less willing to let Trump run roughshod over federal appointees when it comes to the Fed than other agencies. It permitted Cook to remain in place during the litigation, in sharp contrast to how it has treated others, including FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who Trump also ousted. Previously, Trump threatened to prosecute Cook for mortgage fraud, using the same flawed arguments that permeated the case brought in Virginia against New York AG Tish James and the investigations involving Senator Adam Schiff and Congressman Eric Swalwell. More recently, he has threatened Fed chair Jerome Powell with a meritless perjury prosecution. Whether the Court will weigh in on that pattern remains to be seen.
- On Thursday, Jack Smith will testify on Capitol Hill, publicly this time, at 10 am. He will remain under restriction from a Florida Judge’s order that prevents him from discussing the details of his report on the Mar-a-Lago indictment.
Also this week, we’ll be on the lookout for developments in the arson at Beth Israel Jewish Synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, that destroyed a significant portion of the temple, including its Torahs. Stephen Spencer Pittman has been charged by both state and federal prosecutors with hate crimes.
The local DA noted the historic nature of the temple:
“Beth Israel Congregation has endured violence in its history, including a 1967 Ku Klux Klan bombing during the civil-rights era, and this case arises amid a documented increase in attacks on houses of worship across the United States, including arson, vandalism, and other acts of target violence,” he said. “Such crimes are intended to intimidate entire religious communities. Violence directed at any place of worship, regardless of faith, will not be tolerated in Jackson, Mississippi.”
Pittman confessed to the attack after his arrest. He referred to the temple as “the synagogue of Satan,” language white nationalists frequently use to denigrate Jews. Jews make up just 2% of the population in the U.S. but are the targets of 69% of the hate crimes in this country, according to FBI statistics. It’s not clear whether the confession means he’ll be pleading guilty.
Finally, this week, just like last week, and the one before it, and the one before that, Trump’s Justice Department is still refusing to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
Hate-Filled, Brainless White Guys
Another Thing We Can Do

and we know they’ll be doing it for us when it’s our turn! This is a partial copy of their page.
https://www.standwithminnesota.com/

Minnesota is under occupation by federal agents from ICE and CBP, and they need your help.
Not just Minneapolis, and not just people protesting. Across Minnesota, ICE continues to stop, harass, and detain people regardless of their citizenship status. Normal life in Minnesota has been interrupted, as schools have been forced to close or go virtual, as people live in fear of leaving their homes or going to work.
Minnesotans are organized and activated to respond to this violence. But they need our help.
This directory of places to donate to all comes from activists on the ground, plugged into the situation. Everything is vetted, with the exception of individual GoFundMes (not everyone is in our networks, and we don’t want to pick and choose who is worthy of help.)
If you don’t have resources to give, please amplify what you are hearing and seeing about Minnesota, across social media, but also to your networks, friends, and family offline.
Read our testimonies and know what life is like in Minnesota right now.
Overwhelmed by the amount of listings here? Donate to the Immigrant Law Center of MN, who is providing assistance to hundreds of people with families detained by ICE, or the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund, a fund assembled by a coalition of Twin Cities Foundations committed to getting assistance out the door as quickly as possible.
Mutual Aid & Materials Purchasing
These funds are administered by neighbors helping their neighbors, not large organizations. This is one of the most direct ways to help and to get cash and resources into people’s hands quickly.
Rent Relief Funds
Mutual Aid Funds
Provide Food Support
Crowdfunding Campaigns
We are only including campaigns which have not met their goals. To get a campaign added please email contact@standupforminnesota.com
For Individuals
Funds for Schools & Students
Funds for Communities
And there is so much more on the page. Please thoughtfully consider what you can do, including simply telling people about this when it comes up (or when you bring it up, maybe?) And thank you!
Sorry, GOP. There’s no Christian revival
Just like maga a small very vocal group of people are demanding the entire country roll back all progress made since the 1950s by minorities. Any new discovery by science no matter the field because it clashes with their holy book which they misread to form their warped view of reality. They do not care to let other others live their lives as they get to live theirs in peace and freedom. No they demand that everyone follow and live by their church doctrines because that way their god will favor them, come back sooner to give them rewards while killing the rest of us. Think of it, these people are OK with creating a situation where the majority die horribly to please his god as long as they get rewarded. Seems selfish to me not Christian. Also another important point is the constant repeating of the Christian surge of republican voters despite it being a lie is to shore up the idea that there was voter fraud that stole the midterms from the republicans. Think of it tRump people used a normal occurrence of vote totals shift as mail in votes are counted as evidence of fraud leading to the Jan 6th insurrection. Below I will post a quote from the article that will be used by republicans to show the democrats stole the midterms. Hugs.
Even as GOP leaders who can read a poll know that the upcoming elections are not looking good for their party, this fantasy of a Christianizing America is leading the everyday MAGA faithful to believe otherwise. A September poll from September shows that 89% of Republicans think their party will win the midterm elections, which is up seven points from April. In fact, the party is forecast to lose seats as its support continues to erode under Trump’s chaotic mismanagement.
https://www.salon.com/2026/01/07/sorry-gop-theres-no-christian-revival/
Republicans are betting the midterms on mass conversions that aren’t happening
Senior WriterA United States and Christian flag are sandwiched together (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Turning Point USA ended 2025 with AmericaFest, a blowout conference for the MAGA powerhouse organization started in 2012 by the now-deceased Charlie Kirk. As described by Teresa Wiltz at POLITICO, “the vibe felt less like a political panel than an evangelical revival.” Watching the speeches from this fireworks-laden shindig, Wiltz’s observation felt like an understatement. Many speeches from the event’s main stage were simply sermons extolling a fundamentalist, evangelical Christianity as the one true faith.“We’re here for one name, and that’s Jesus,” declared Bryce Crawford, a 22-year-old who makes videos of himself accosting strangers, including mentally ill homeless people, under the guise of “winning souls” for Christ. He went on declare that “we’re in the last days” and that every person who doesn’t believe in his version of the gospels will soon “be cast into hell.”
“We’re all on our knees, shoulder to shoulder, under the blood of Christ,” proclaimed the British comedian Russell Brand, who is facing seven charges of sexual assault, including three rape charges, in the United Kingdom. He included Ben Shapiro, by name, in his list of believers, even though Shapiro is Jewish. He then proceeded to insist that Christianity is the key to resolving the conflict between Israel and Gaza, which have primarily Jewish and Muslim populations.
Even rapper Nicki Minaj, newly out as MAGA, understood the primary assignment was talking up Christianity, claiming that she has had “the kind of faith that you think a person is crazy” since she was a little girl.
AmericaFest, as its name implies, is supposed to be a political event, not a church service. By including speakers like Shapiro and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is Hindu, TPUSA’s organizers were even nodding to the idea that the GOP is supposed to believe in religious freedom and diversity. Or, as Vice President JD Vance put it, “We’re all part of the same American family.” Yet he quickly undercut that message by proclaiming that “By the grace of God, we will always be a Christian nation.” While Vance may claim that you don’t have to be a Christian to be an American, implicit in his words is the idea that only Christians are truly Americans, and everyone else is, at best, second class.
The blunt reality is that AmericaFest wasn’t just overtly religious — it was steeped in Christian nationalism. They equated being an American with being a Christian. But being a Republican, as Crawford suggested in his speech, is synonymous with being an evangelical Christian whose main duty is to convert non-believers. The political message of the event was inseparable from a religious one: that the purpose of the GOP and the MAGA movement is to usher in a religious revival and turn a decadent, secular country into one devoted to a narrow, right-wing version of Christianity.
For decades now, the Christian right has been the most powerful and influential force in the GOP, and yet even by their standards, this marked a dramatic shift toward the theocratic impulse. From a purely rational perspective, this is bad politics. Only 23% of Americans identify as evangelicals. Trump was able to win in 2024 only by convincing large numbers of people outside of evangelical Christianity that he has a secular worldview. This was aided by the fact that he quite clearly doesn’t believe all the Christian language, both coded and overt, his aides coax him to say.
The hype at AmericaFest suggests they are pinning their hopes on this imaginary religious awakening to deliver big wins to the Republicans in November’s elections.
But none of that seems to register with MAGA leadership right now. They’ve convinced themselves — or at least are trying to persuade their donors and followers — that the U.S. is undergoing a massive religious revival. Right-wing media has been pushing the view that huge numbers of Americans, especially young Americans, are converting to fundamentalist Christianity. The hype at AmericaFest suggests they are pinning their hopes on this imaginary religious awakening to deliver big wins to the Republicans in November’s elections.
As my colleague Russell Payne and I reported on in November for Salon’s “Standing Room Only,” Fox News in particular has been running a number of stories claiming a “Charlie Kirk effect” — that the MAGA influencer’s killing in September led to a tidal wave of Americans, especially young Americans, discovering or returning to Christianity.
Since then, there’s been a constant drumbeat of similar claims from right-wing media. “Gen Z embracing faith as more young people return to religion,” Fox News declared again on Dec. 21. NewsNation ran a new year segment that reported a “religious revival” was taking place among the young. This follows many similar segments from both channels dating back months, all swearing to their largely elderly audience that the Zoomers are flooding church services, despite what they may be seeing at their own local congregation. Conservative ministers keep insisting on social media that waves of young people are converting, even as no such numbers show up in surveys with more rigorous research methods.
Much of AmericaFest was also devoted to propping up the narrative that young adults are giving up sex and secularism for Christian nationalism in record numbers. Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, 25, spoke about how Christianity calls on women to “Get married, have babies, have as many as you can and as early in your married life as you can.” Pastor Keenan Clark, 30, preached, “If you have not submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ, though you were a conservative, you will find yourself in the bowels of a devil’s hell.” Angela Halili, 29, and Arielle Reitsma, 36, hosts of the “Girls Gone Bible” podcast, preached about saving sex for marriage because “sexual immorality is the only sin that you commit against your own body.”
The presence of Halili and Reitsma is a big clue that this Christian hype may be rooted in something other than an outpouring of faith. As I reported last year, there’s overwhelming evidence that the two podcast hosts were working as poker girls — women who make money at underground poker games by offering flirting and often much more to male players — while launching a Christian channel devoted to preaching the virtues of chastity to young women. Whatever they personally believe, their entire endeavor is rooted in dishonesty, a sin the Bible tends to have more to say about than sexual “immorality.”
There is no evidence-based reason to believe there’s a religious revival among the young that is about to create massive election windfalls for Republicans. On the contrary, a December report from Pew Research found that, “On average, young adults remain much less religious than older Americans. Today’s young adults also are less religious than young people were a decade ago.”
But there’s little doubt that the kind of people who write massive checks to organizations like TPUSA — wealthy, older Republicans — are very interested in hearing that there’s a religious revival in the U.S. It’s worth remembering that TPUSA began as a secular organization, but in 2020, Kirk started to shift to the Christian nationalist cause, arguing there should be no separation between church and state. With this newly religious agenda, money started to pour into TPUSA. Better yet, Kirk nabbed the support of extremely rich Republicans, with half of TPUSA’s $55 million haul in 2020 coming from 10 anonymous donors. In contrast, the organization raised only $8 million in 2016.
TPUSA and right-wing media aren’t the only groups that have a strong interest in creating the illusion of a mass revival swelling among America’s young. Conservative Christian audiences are notoriously gullible, so there’s a big market out there for attention-seekers and outright grifters to cash in using social media. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are awash in young people claiming they have access to Biblical prophecy or know how to perform exorcisms, or who, like the hosts of “Girls Gone Bible,” pair glamorous packaging with claims that young people are embracing an especially sex-free and fundamentalist Christian faith.
There are various degrees of sincerity in these influencers, yet one thing is undeniable: They are exploiting huge audiences of conservative Christians who want desperately to believe in a religious revival and would rather give their time and money to people who are telling them it’s real than to look at the statistics that show that it’s not.
Between groups like TPUSA, right-wing media outlets and social media influencers, there’s now an entire machinery propping up this false narrative that young people are stampeding into the pews. Even as GOP leaders who can read a poll know that the upcoming elections are not looking good for their party, this fantasy of a Christianizing America is leading the everyday MAGA faithful to believe otherwise. A September poll from September shows that 89% of Republicans think their party will win the midterm elections, which is up seven points from April. In fact, the party is forecast to lose seats as its support continues to erode under Trump’s chaotic mismanagement. But none of that matters: TPUSA is here to take Republicans’ money and sell them a story about how all the kids are coming to Jesus — and to the GOP.
——————————————————————————————————————-By Amanda Marcotte
Amanda Marcotte is a senior politics writer at Salon and the author of “Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself.” Follow her on Bluesky @AmandaMarcotte and sign up for her biweekly politics newsletter, Standing Room Only.
New video analysis sheds light on Minneapolis ICE shooting
I just posted a video from Hasan Piker on the same topic. However some people prefer verified news sources instead of podcasters, so here is another discussion of the NYT frame by frame breakdown of the videos by the reporter and Anderson Cooper. Again showing that Ross’s torso is several feet from the car and he was in no danger until he murdered Renee Good. Hugs
Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Born in Atlanta, Georgia
on January 15th of 1929. The US, or most of it, observes a day of service and quiet celebration on the 3d Monday of January; this year that’s tomorrow. Because of the good he did while he was alive, I like to mark one or another day over the long weekend with a post about one or another (or more than one!) of the things he did.
Martin Luther King Jr. was the son of a Baptist pastor, and followed in his father’s footsteps. He also became a leader in the U.S. civil rights movement, and also was vocal and visible in the movement to halt the war in Vietnam. About five years after his Letter From A Birmingham Jail, about a year after his address to the Moblization To End The War in Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
I’m guessing we’re all very familiar with Rev. King’s “Dream” Speech. The Letter From A Birmingham Jail found here, The address mentioned above is found here, with snippets below.
I come to participate in this significant demonstration today because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this mobilization because I cannot be a silent onlooker while evil rages. I am here because I agree with Dante, that: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.“ In these days of emotional tension, when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail, there is no greater need than for sober thinking, mature judgment, and creative dissent.
In all our history there has never been such a monumental dissent during a war by the American people. Polls reveal more than ten million explicitly oppose the war. Additional millions cannot bring themselves to support it, and millions who do assent to it are half-hearted, confused and doubt-ridden.
Tens of thousands of our deepest thinkers in the academic and intellectual community are adamantly opposed to the war; distinguished church and theological leaders of every race and religion are morally outraged by it; and many young people in all walks of life believe it a corruption of every American value they have been taught to respect. Let no one claim there is a consensus for this war — no flag waving, no smug satisfaction with territorial conquest, no denunciation of the enemy can obscure the truth that many millions of patriotic Americans repudiate this war and refuse to take moral responsibility for it.
Nor can the fact be obscured that our nation is increasingly becoming an object of scorn around the globe. The respect we won when our course was right is rapidly being lost as even our closest allies leave our side embarrassed with our pretense that we are bearers of a moral crusade. (snip)
All of this reveals that we are in an untenable position morally and politically. We are left standing before the world glutted with wealth and power but morally constricted and impoverished. We are engaged in a war that seeks to turn the clock of history back and perpetuate white colonialism. The greatest irony and tragedy of it all is that our nation which initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of this modern world, is now cast in the mold of being an arch anti-revolutionary.
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society.
This confused war has played havoc with our domestic destinies. Despite feeble protests to the contrary, the promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam. The pursuit of this widened war has narrowed the promised dimensions of the domestic welfare programs, making the poor, white and Negro, bear the heaviest burdens both at the front and at home.
While the anti-poverty program is cautiously initiated, zealously supervised and required to be an instant success, billions are liberally expended for this ill-considered war. The security we profess to seek in foreign adventures we will lose in our decaying cities. The bombs in Vietnam explode at home, they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America.
It is estimated that we spend $322,000 for each enemy we kill, while we spend in the so-called War on Poverty in America only about $53 for each person classified as “poor.” And much of that $53 goes for salaries of people who are not poor. We have escalated the war in Vietnam and de-escalated the skirmish against poverty. It challenges the imagination to contemplate what lives we could transform if we were to cease killing. (snip)
Let us save our national honor — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us save American lives and Vietnamese lives — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us take a single instantaneous step to the peace table — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us put an honorable peace on the agenda before another day passes — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let us be able to face the world with a concrete deed of genuine peace — STOP THE BOMBING.
Let our voices ring out across the land to say the American people are not vainglorious conquerors — STOP THE BOMBING.
During these days of human travail, we must not permit ourselves to lapse into pessimism. We must organize for peace. We all owe a debt to those student body presidents, Peace Corps volunteers and others who have raised their voices to question the war. I would like to urge students from colleges all over the nation to use this summer and coming summers educating and organizing communities across the nation against the war. I have already talked with students who are organizing in this vein from such schools as Harvard University on the banks of the Charles River in Massachusetts and my own Morehouse College in the red hills of Georgia. We must all speak out in a multitude of voices against this most cruel and senseless war. The thunder of our voices will be the only sound stronger than the blast of bombs and the clamor of war hysteria.
I have tried to be honest today. To be honest is to confront the truth. To be honest is to realize that the ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and moments of comfort, but where he stands in moments of challenge and moments of controversy. However unpleasant and inconvenient the truth may be, I believe we must expose and face it if we are to achieve a better quality of American life.
A few weeks ago, the distinguished American historian, Henry Steele Commager, told a Senate committee: “Justice Holmes used to say that the first lesson a judge had to learn was that he was not God … we do tend, perhaps more than other nations, to transform. our wars into crusades … our current involvement in Vietnam is cast, increasingly, into a moral mold … it is my feeling that we do not have the resources, material, intellectual or moral, to be at once an American power, a European power and an Asian power.”
I agree with Dr. Commanger, and I would suggest that there is, however, another kind of power that America can and should be. It is a moral power; a power harnessed to the service of peace and human beings.
All the world knows that America is a great military power. We need not be diligent in seeking to prove it. We must now show the world our moral power. It is still not too late for our beloved nation to make the proper choice. If we decide to become a moral power, we will lead mankind in transforming the jangling discords of this world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. If we make the right decision, we will be able to transfer our pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of peace. This will be a glorious day. In reaching it we can fulfill the noblest of American dreams.
Copyright © Martin Luther King, 1967.
=====
Whew. Well, now here is a timeline of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, from the Peace & Justice History newsletter:
Since 1986, the third Monday in January has been designated a federal holiday honoring the greatness and sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
A chronology:
April 4, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated. Shortly thereafter, U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) introduced legislation to create a federal holiday to commemorate Dr. King’s life and work.
January, 1973 Illinois became the first state to adopt MLK Day as a state holiday.
January, 1983 Rep. Conyers’s law was passed after 15 years
January, 1986 The United States first officially observed the federal King Day holiday.
January, 1987 Arizona Governor Evan Mecham rescinded state recognition of MLK Day as his first act in office, setting off a national boycott of the state.
January, 1993 Martin Luther King Day holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.
