Monday Viewing . . .

Somehow we’ve made an idol of the American Flag and the National Anthem.  It’s just another 3 card monty game that the current President has offered to distract from the growing mountain of actual facts that he probably was aided by a foreign Nation in winning the election.  We to this day do not know whom he owes or how he has avoided paying taxes.  We know by his rhetoric that if you are not white you are a second class citizen and that is just fine with him.  We know that the white male cabinet of is American brand of oligarchs for whom shame has no effect and that applies to all of the Republican Congress who, in the name of power and winning, look the other way as the President destroys American exceptionalism, world leadership, and shouts loudest, like all bullies do, when they are clearly in the wrong.  It’s how bullies react.  Be fierce and frighten even more when you are caught and wrong.

Here is Dale Hansen.  He is a longtime sports reporter at WFAA in Dallas, TX, laying it on the line and I applaud him. Now, stop being distracted, distraught, and astonished by the bigot-in-chief’s racism.  It is a given.  Hold Congress responsible for looking the other way and the Mueller will do his job.

Morning Reading . . .

It was an early call on Monday morning, so reading was put off until late in the evening and this morning.  Stay informed.

The Pope, the Mafia, and the Rest of Us
Martin Marty, Sightings

Stanislav Petrov, who averted possible nuclear war, dies at 77
BBC News

A Palestinian boy, an Israeli soldier, and my American sons
Meredith Dodd, The Christian Century

When Life Asks for Everything
David Brooks, The New York Times

Meet Me in St. Louis, Bezos
Ross Douthat, The New York Times

How to fix Washington? Start by viewing politics as an industry
Laurent Belsie, The Christian Science Monitor