Wednesday, October 14, 2020

 Oct, 11, 2020

So Trump is back on the campaign trail, having showed his supporters that it is so easy to overcome the corona virus, spend a few days in the hospital, a bit of medication, and all is now well. See. It is so easy.

 Ha. Who has access to a whole team of specialist doctors and access to Dexamethasone and Remdisivir, experimental medicines which, it is my guess, are not cheap and are not casually administered. The average citizen will never be able to get such specialized treatment, you can be sure. So I am not convinced by the ease with which he sends the message that this corona is just like another flu, don’t let it worry you.

I guess that some of those 214,000 who died didn’t  take it too seriously. Well, now that they are dead. I guess it doesn’t make much difference. But for those who are still alive, it might be a good thing, to take it a a bit more seriously.

 

Millionaire Statistics (Editor’s Choice):

·         The United States added 675,000 new millionaires from 2018 to 2019 alone.

·         The total number of millionaires in US equals to 18.6 million.

·         There are 705 billionaires in the United States. 

·         There are 293,992 millionaire households in New Jersey.

·         76% of US millionaires are white or Caucasian.

·         The city with the biggest concentration of ultra-rich millionaires is New York with 8,865 UHNW.

·         The United States’ millennial millionaires own an average of three properties with a real estate portfolio worth $1.4 million.

·         About 44% of the millennial millionaires of the US are concentrated in California.

·         47% of the world’s wealth is controlled by the top 1% UHNW individuals.

 

According to the Federal Reserve report, the top 1% of the US owned 44% of the country’s wealth in 2019. A report by Boston Consulting Group further stated that by 2021, 70% of US’s wealth will be controlled by

millionaires and billionaires.

 

Oct. 13. 2020

 

This was the comment from the medical profession regarding Trump’s flagrant disregard for the reality of the coronavirus with the crowd he was addressing many of whom were not wearing masks and were not keeping any distance from one another, as it were, inviting the virus to come and do its thing.

 

"I promise you, the virus is there, whether it is an indoor event or an outdoor event in these large gatherings," said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of health policy and preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University on CNN's Erin Burnett "OutFront," who added that the images of Trump's rally made him "weep."

"Some of those people will become sick, they will spread it to others when they get home and they will become sick. These are accelerator events that promote the distribution of the virus," Schaffner said.

Trump's mockery of his own government's recommendations -- his rallies are almost the only mass participation events taking place in the world right now -- came amid fast darkening warnings about the months ahead.

The government's top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that rallies like the one Trump held on Monday night are "asking for trouble."

Oct. 14, 2020 

 

Trump hasn’t 'saved Christianity' and Christians shouldn’t save his presidency

Michael Wear, Opinion contributor

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President Donald Trump’s campaign is making a closing argument that he has “saved Christianity,” a blasphemous claim that in reality is aimed at getting people of faith to save him.

The truth is, Donald Trump can’t win without the overwhelming support of Christians —support he does not deserve.

Trump’s desperation is showing. Just days ago, Trump tweeted “Biden is against Oil, Guns and Religion.”

This is a ridiculous statement and it says everything about his approach to religion. His primary argument to Christians has never been that he’ll do anything positive for them, but that they must support him out of fear of the other side. Like much of his presidency, his approach to Christians weakens rather than strengthens them. And he shows exactly how much he values faith when he lumps it alongside petroleum and firearms.

No, Trump did not save Christianity 

In addition to Trump’s latest tweet, his son, Eric Trump, went so far as to make the insulting claim that his father has “literally saved Christianity.” For Christians, of course, the position of Savior is already filled, and Jesus is one person Trump can’t fire or bully.

Yet, Trump supporters arguing that Christians must support him often want us to believe Joe Biden is responsible for every statement ever uttered by anyone on the political left, while they fail to hold Trump accountable for his own actions.

Trump has evaded accountability for long enough.

 

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Oct. 12, 2020, in New Castle, Delaware.

The effects of Donald Trump’s vulgarity, incivility, and cruelty have not stayed confined to politics, but have affected our culture, our families and our churches. While the toxicity of our politics won’t be completely excised once Trump has left the White House, we can’t even hope for healthier politics while he’s still president.

It is Biden who has run a campaign that has promised to decrease the antagonism in our politics, not Trump. It is Biden who has committed to pursuing racial justice from the basis of our shared humanity, as opposed to Trump’s consistent use of race as a tool to tear the American people apart. It is Biden who insists political opponents can be good people, and that those who have a different perspective must still be valued members of the American family.

Christians and the election: Christian conservatives like me should not let abortion and socialism scare us off Biden

This isn’t just rhetoric; we’ve all seen Joe Biden live it. And we’ve seen the life and leadership of Trump. We’ve seen enough.

This election transcends partisan divides. I say this, yes, as someone who worked for President Barack Obama. I also say it as someone who has real disagreements with many Democrats on issues that are important to me.

It's OK for Christians to vote for Biden

In 2016, I wrote that it was both a political error and substantively wrong for the Democratic nominee to support repealing the Hyde Amendment, and my position on that issue has not changed.

On the issue of religious freedom, I find myself isolated from both political parties in that I believe religious freedom can’t be dismissed even when it’s inconvenient to other political goals, and I also believe it’s for people of all faiths and none at all.

If Biden wins this election, and I believe he should, there will be real disagreements that will need to be worked out through the political process. Those of us who support Biden in this election must stand ready to advocate on those issues where we disagree with him. This is the work of politics.

The optimistic view: what could happen if Biden wins big

I do not believe, as a theological matter that, it is inherently a sin to vote for Donald Trump. I do not believe voting for Joe Biden is a sin either. There is too much of that kind of religious manipulation in our politics. There are faithful Christians who will support Donald Trump, and faithful Christians who will support Joe Biden. I disagree with the former, as a prudential matter, but I can understand why they might do so. Should he win, Biden has promised to be their president, too.

But when Donald Trump asks Christians to save him at the polls once again, I know I will join millions of other Christians with a different answer: not this time, Mr. President. Not our vote. Not our faith.

You can’t have it.

Michael Wear is an adviser to Not Our Faith. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelRWear

 

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