Remembering Albert Vann We have come here this evening to say so long, not goodbye. Goodbyes are for our adversaries, but so long are for our loved ones and friends or as we say sometimes, “I'll see you again, somewhere sometime in the near future.” In the meanwhile, we know that their presence will never leave us. Goodbyes have a finality to the word. There is no finality, but so long for a while to the person, we’ve come to honor. To the husband, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, a faithful friend, a freedom fighter, a cultural crusader, an institution builder, a Pan-Africanist, a political guru, a superlative organizer, a consummate educator, a compassionate humanitarian who loved his people and the people who loved him back. Don’t be surprised if some well-meaning misinformed person tries to convince us that Al Vann is dead. But we shall answer, perish the thought. Have you not read or heard of General Douglas MacArthur’s speech at West Point Military Academy when he was relieved of his Pacific command by President Truman? In the speech, General MacArthur said, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” But I would go one up on the General. Old Freedom Fighters never die, they live on, and on, and on in the hearts and minds and memories of the people who loved them. No, Al Vann is not dead. He yet lives; I saw him in the African-American Teachers Association meeting and also in the community fighting for quality education in our community. And I saw him in Ocean Hill Brownsville, still fighting for quality education and community control of schools. I was with him at Medgar Evers College celebrating the work he had done in winning a college for our community. I saw him in Albany, NY at the City Council passing legislation to enhance our community. I saw him with the Redistricting Committee convincing them that the political line should be more fairly drawn so that Black and Puerto Ricans would have creative participation in the electoral process. As a result of his effort, the state of New York can boast one of the most pervasive Blacks in leadership or in powerful positions in America. I saw him sitting around the table of the New York Just Coalition meetings as Chairman. The Coalition convened the most powerful Black leaders in New York. By the way, a couple of the most powerful political districts that Al’s efforts created was one that paved the way for Shirley Chisholm to become the first Black woman to win a Congressional seat in New York and the first woman to run for President of the United States. I saw him around the breakfast table in our homes, Jitu Weusi, Sam Pinn, and my home. Analyzing, and interpreting our condition in Brooklyn, New York, US, and the world. It was there that we drew the plans that would have an impact locally and globally. I saw him in the meetings with Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA) Community Empowerment Coalition. He was expressing how to achieve political power and more programs. I saw him lead the New York Delegation in the historic Presidential run of Reverend Jesse Jackson and I saw him play a key role in the election of Mayor David Dinkins, the first Black Mayor in the city of New York. I saw him at the Restoration Corporation a couple of weeks ago. He was with Vice President Kamala Harris who spoke of him and told us all about the work he had done in helping the Restoration, which she said was the first Black community and governmental organization in America in which they had done massive rebuilding in Brooklyn. Tell me not that Al Vann is dead. Has anyone here seen my old friend Al? Can you tell me where he’s gone? I know he lives in our minds, in our memory, and in our hearts. Marcus Garvey knew what I was talking about, he said, “Look for me in the whirlwind”, and that’s one of the places we will look for Al. We will look for him in the whirlwind wherever social change is taking place. We will look for him in every march, rally, and civil disobedience for freedom. We will look for him at the House of the Lord Church, planning and strategizing. We will look for him in the East, in all of the creative, cultural, and economic planning. We will look for him in the offices of VIDA and the Community Empowerment Coalition. We will look for him every day and every night in every meeting strategy session to enhance the community and build a better world. And when God, the Sovereign King calls, and the time comes that he changes places, he will still be with us, always in Spirit, in our minds, in our hearts, and in our memory. Fancy I hear God saying to him, “You fought a good fight; you've finished your course and you've kept the faith. Now I am going to give you an eternal reward. Well done, thy good and faithful servant.” Go tell it in the streets of Brooklyn- Al Vann lives! Go tell it in Albany- Al Vann Lives! Go tell it at the City Council! Go tell it everywhere – Al Vann lives! To be continued...

President Trump makes History - Impeached Again It should be pointed out here that, As John Hope Franklin observed, the state constitutions draw up in 1867 and 1868 were the most progressive the South has ever known. Most of them abolished property qualifications for voting and holding office; some of them abolished imprisonment for debt. All of them abolished slavery, and several sought to eliminate race distinctions in the possession or inheritance of property. Between 1869 and 1880, Black people could boast sixteen members in the Congress of the United States, and of that number two were senators. Today, we have 18 representatives and no senators. The Freedman's Bureau, of which W.E.B. DuBois spoke so highly, was trying to assist the newly freed slaves. In 1866, Congress passed civil rights legislation over the veto of President Andrew Johnson, and in 1875 there was more civil rights legislation. But racism was not dead yet. Sadistic racists continued to employ the most vicious practices to intimidate Black people. John Hope Franklin said it well: “as surely as the struggle between 1861 and 1865 was the civil war, so was the conflict from 1865 to 1877, with as much bitterness of hatred, but less blood-shed.” I would only add, less white blood but more black blood. Secret societies grew and spread when it became apparent to Southerners that their control was to be broken by Radical Reconstruction. For ten years after 1867 there flourished the Knights of the White Camelia, the Constitutional Union Guards, the Pale Faces, the White Brotherhood, the Council of Safety, the ‘76 Association, and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Among the numerous local organizations were the White League of Louisiana, the White Line of Mississippi, and the Rifle Clubs of South Carolina. White Southerners expected to do by extralegal or blatantly illegal means what had not been allowed by law: to exercise absolute control over the Negro, drive him and his fellows from power, an established “white supremacy.” Radical Reconstruction was to be ended at all costs, and the tactics of terrorist groups were the first step of Southern leaders toward achieving the goal. Significantly, beginning in Tennessee in 1870, every Southern state adopted laws against intermarriage. Five years later, Tennessee adopted the first “Jim Crow” law and the rest of the South quickly fell in line. Then along came Rutherford B. Hayes. He wanted to become president and to achieve that objective he was prepared to do anything. He made a deal with former slaveholders; He would pull out the Federal troops, and give money for development and greater representation in Washington for their support. In essence, he would restore the former slave masters to power in the South, and Black people would thus be returned to subjugation. By the latter part of the 1870s, Congress had turned against Blacks. In 1878, the use of armed force to ensure fair elections was forbidden. In 1894, the appropriations for Special Federal Marshals and Supervisors of Election were terminated. In 1898, the last disabilities laid on rebellious Southerners were removed in a final amnesty. The Supreme Court, in spite of the Constitution, found a way to drive Blacks away from the temple of legal and human rights. In 1875, the Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and disregarded the legislation of 1870, which were enactments to stop KKK-type vigilantism. The court ruled in favor of defendants who were indicted for preventing Blacks from voting period in the United States versus Reese, the court ruled that the statue covered more of more offenses than were punishable under the 15th Amendment. In the United States vs. Cruikshank, the court ruled that the 15th Amendment guaranteed citizens not the right to vote, but only the right not to be discriminated against by states because of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude. In 1883, the court outlawed the Civil Rights Laws of 1875. 1890- Plessy v. Ferguson By 1898, with the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, where the court ruled that there could be such a thing as separate and equal, all the noble efforts of the shatterers of racism had come to naught. So much for the Supreme Court and the defense of our constitutional rights. Men who have special interest, whose profession it is to deal with words, are like iron smiths, they can shape them any way they want to and when they have the power to enforce their will, their laws- right or wrong- become the law of the land. What is clear to some people: Words on paper mean absolutely nothing. To whom, then, shall we entrust the defense of the Constitution? To the courts? The Congresses? The presidents? All of them at one time or another have proven to be our enemy, and the enemies of the Constitution. Sadistic racism coupled with sophisticated racism, with the support of simple racism, succeeded in beathing back the shatterers of racism, trampling upn the recently enacted ideals of the Constitution and destroying the great work of radical reconstruction. There are striking similarities between that time and our own, which requires more time than I can give it in this presentation. 1898-1954 When the new century began there was nothing new about the treatment of black people; 214 lynching’s occurred in the first two years. When the First World War broke out, Woodrow Wilson, like Thomas Jefferson before him, had lofty words of freedom, liberty, and democracy. He wanted to make the world safe for democracy – democracy for everyone but Black Americans. Throughout the twenties, thirties, forties, and on into the fifties-in spite of the Constitution- disenfranchisement, economic exclusion, and social ostracism were the common lot of Black people in most states. This state of affairs carried the sanction of Law. “Separate but equal” was how the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution, which came to mean separate but unequal. Everybody knew it, and most everybody accepted it. While Roosevelt was pulling America out of its depression in the thirties with a “New Deal” which for Blacks was a better deal but not a fair deal. During the forties, A. Phillip Randolph, then president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, had to threaten a march on Washington to force President Roosevelt to pass a Fair Employment Practice Act. We rode with Teddy Roosevelt and his rough riders at the turn of the century. We died fighting Germans in the First World War. We went off to faraway places to fight Germans again, and Japanese, and Italians during the Second World War in the forties. During the fifties we went to fight Koreans in Korea, and we went to Vietnam to fight the Vietnamese in the sixties. It seems that every nationality has fought against the U.S.A., but African...Black People. But after all this loyalty, valor, scars, and death, we were still outside the blessing of the Constitution, and today our predicament is as precarious as it has ever been. With the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. the Board of Education (1954), light began once more to penetrate the gloom of racism. Tragically, the court put in a few words which were really unnecessary: “with all deliberate speed.” These little words allowed the sadistic racism of the South and the sophisticated racism of the North to circumvent the apparent good intention of the Warren court. Almost three decades have gone by and desegregation is still unrealized. In 1955, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Led us into the era of the Civil Rights Movement. Hopes soared as the years went by, and we witnessed what appeared to be progress. The legal foundation of segregation was dismantled. In 1963, over 200,000 Black Americans and white Americans stood in the heat of an August sun and heard the Dreamer tell the world about his dream. As he articulated his dream in memorable cadence and rhythm and picturesque language, he seemed to speak for all Americans. Hope soared even higher when the Civil Rights Voter Rights legislation was passed in 1964-65, the first in almost a hundred years, and added to all of that was the antipoverty program. We were on our way! At last America would “make real the promise of democracy.” The huge man from Texas, who somewhere along the way had been converted from a sadistic racist to a shatterer of racism, had us dreaming of a Great Society. Everybody seemed to be dreaming wonderful dreams during those days. That is, almost everybody. Racism was not dead yet! Alas! Poor Lyndon Johnson, a giant of a man, was forced from office by a “nasty little war in Vietnam.” There was another voice in Washington in 1963 that warned that while King was having a dream, the masses of Black people were having nightmares. Malcolm X was in touch with the masses of Black people, particularly the young, and he knew that discontent was intensifying. We should have been wise enough to see that the political and social gains, as meager as they were, were way ahead of economic gains. Frustration deepened, expectations were not being realized, so in 1966, in a sultry Mississippi summer after a long hot march. The march was a march against fear. It was begun by James Meredith who integrated Mississippi University. To show his courage, Meredith wanted to walk across Mississippi. As he started his journey, he was shot but recovered. Stokely Carmichael, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Floyd McKissick, and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) decided to complete the march. Stokely Carmichael, then president of SNCC, hit a responsive chord with his cry, “Black Power.” Incontrovertibly, the frustration was valid. In 1966, the President’s commission reported: Hence, in 1966 despite eleven years of intense Civil Rights activity and the new anti-poverty programs, the median income of a Black family was only 58 percent of the income of an average White family, and Black unemployment still ran twice as high as White unemployment despite the war induced prosperity which the country was enjoying. In some categories, conditions were considerably worse. Unemployment among Black teenagers ran at 26 percent. In the Hough area of Cleveland, which experienced a rebellion in 1966 and again in 1968, Black unemployment in1965 ran at 14 percent, only two percentage points below what it was in 1960. Another important indicator, the Black sub-aged workers and low paid workers was 33 percent in 1966 in the “worst” areas of nine major cities. To be continued...

Continuing the Impeachment of Mr. Trump: At the conclusion of the trial, there were statements made by Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer D-NY, and Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell R-KY. To be consistent with historical accuracy and fairness I have included the statements of both Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell. Following is the statement by Senator Schumer: “The case of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial was open and shut. President Trump told a lie, a big lie, that the election was stolen and that he was the rightful winner. He laid the groundwork for this big lie in the months before the election, he told the big lie on election night, and he repeated the big lie more than 100 times in the weeks afterward. He summoned his supporters to Washington, assembled them on the ellipse, whipped them into a frenzy, and directed them at the Capitol. And then he watched as the violence unfolded and the capitol was breached, and his own vice-president fled for his life, and President Trump did nothing. None of these facts were up for debate. We saw it, we heard it, we lived it. This was the first presidential impeachment trial in history in which all senators were not only judges and jurors but witnesses to the constitutional crime that was committed. The former president inspired, directed, and propelled a mob to violently prevent the peaceful transfer of power, subvert the will of the people, and illegally keep that president in power. There is nothing, nothing more un-American than that. There is nothing, nothing more antithetical to our democracy. There is nothing, nothing more insulting to the generations of American patriots who gave their lives to defend our form of government. This was the most egregious violation of the presidential oath of office and a textbook example, a classic example of an impeachable offense worthy of the Constitution’s most severe remedy. In response to the incontrovertible fact of Donald Trump’s guilt, the Senate was subject to a feeble and sometimes incomprehensible defense of the former president. Unable to dispute the case on the merits, the former president’s counsel treated us to partisan vitriol, false equivalence, and outright falsehoods. We heard the roundly debunked jurisdictional argument that the Senate cannot try a former official, a position that would mean that any president could simply resign to avoid accountability for an impeachable offense, a position which in effect would render the Senate powerless to ever enforce the disqualification clause in the constitution. Essentially, the president’s counsel told the Senate that the constitution was unconstitutional. Thankfully, the Senate took a firm stance, and set a firm precedent with a bipartisan vote in favor of our power to try former officials for acts they committed while in office. We heard the preposterous claim that the former president’s incitement to violence was protected by the First Amendment. The First Amendment, the right to free speech protects Americans from jail, not presidents from impeachment. If the president had said during World War II, that “Germany should attack the United States on Long Island, we’ve left it undefended.” I suspect Congress would have considered that an impeachable offense. Finally, the Defense Counsel said that President Trump was not directly responsible for the violence at the Capitol. “His words were merely a metaphor. His directions were merely suggestions, and the violent mob was just a spontaneous demonstration.” But wind the clock back and ask yourself, if at any point Donald Trump did not do the things, he did with the attack on the Capitol has happened, there’s only one answer to this question. Of course not. If President Trump hadn’t told his supporters to march to the Capitol, if he hadn’t implored them to come to Washington on January 6th in the first place, if he hadn’t repeatedly lied to them, that the election was stolen, their country was being taken from them, the attack would not have happened, could not have happened. January 6th would not have happened, but for the actions of Donald Trump. Here’s what the Republican leader of the Senate said. “The mob that perpetrated the ‘failed insurrection’ was on January six, was ‘provoked’ by President Trump. Do you want another word for provoke? How about incite? Yet still, still, the vast majority of the Senate Republican caucus, including the Republican leader, voted to acquit former President Trump signing their names in the columns of history alongside his name forever. January 6th will live as a day of infamy in the history of the United States of America. The failure to convict Donald Trump will live as a vote of infamy in the history of the United States Senate. Five years ago, Republican senators lamented what might become of their party if Donald Trump became their presidential nominee and standard-bearer. Just look at what has happened. Look at what Republicans have been forced to defend. Look at what Republicans have chosen to forgive. The former president tried to overturn the results of a legitimate election and provoked an assault on our own government. And well over half the Senate Republican conference decided to condone it. The most despicable act that any president has ever committed, and the majority of Republicans cannot summon the courage or the morality to condemn it. This trial wasn’t about choosing country over party, even not that. This was about choosing country over Donald Trump, and 43 Republican members chose Trump. They chose Trump. It should be a weight on their conscience today, and it shall be a weight on their conscience in the future. As sad as that fact is, as condemnable as the decision was, it is still true that the final vote on Donald Trump’s conviction was the largest and most bipartisan vote of any presidential impeachment trial in American history. I salute those Republican patriots who did the right thing, it wasn’t easy, we know that. Let their votes be a message to the American people, because my fellow Americans, if this nation is going to long endure, we as a people cannot sanction the former president’s Congress, because if lying about the results of an election is acceptable, if instigating a mob against the government is considered permissible, if encouraging political violence becomes the norm, it will be open season, open season on our democracy. And everything will be up for grabs by not recognizing the heinous crime that Donald Trump committed against the constitution, Republican senators have not only risked but potentially invited the same danger that was just visited upon us. So let me say this, despite the results of the vote on Donald Trump’s conviction in the court of impeachment, he deserves to be convicted, and I believe he will be convicted in the court of public opinion. He deserves to be permanently discredited, and I believe he has been discredited in the eyes of the American people, and in the judgment of history. Even though Republican senators prevented the Senate from disqualifying Donald Trump for any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States, there is no question Donald Trump has disqualified himself. I hope, I pray, and I believe that the American people will make sure of that. And if Donald Trump ever stands for public office again, and after everything we have seen this week, I hope, I pray, and I believe that he will meet the unambiguous rejection by the American people. Six hours after the attack on January 6th, after the carnage and mayhem were shown on every television screen in America, President Trump told his supporters to, “Remember this day forever.” I ask the American people to heed his words, and remember that day forever, but not for the reasons the former president intended. Remember the panic in the voices over the radio dispatch, the rhythmic pounding of fists and flags at the chamber doors. Remember the crack of a solitary gunshot. Remember the hateful and racist Confederate flags flying through the halls of our union. Remember the screams of the bloody officer crushed between the onrushing mob and a doorway to the Capitol, his body trapped in the breach. Remember the three Capitol police officers who lost their lives. Remember that those rioters actually succeeded in delaying Congress from certifying the election. Remember how close our democracy came to ruin? My fellow Americans, remember that day, January 6th, forever. The final terrible legacy of the 45th president of the United States, and undoubtedly our worst. Let it live on in infamy, a stain on Donald John Trump that can never, never be washed away. Mr. President on Monday, we’ll recognize president’s day. Part of the commemoration in the Senate will be the annual reading of Washington’s Farewell Address. Aside from winning the revolutionary war, I consider it his greatest contribution to American civil life. And it had nothing to do with the words he spoke, but the example it set. Washington’s farewell address established for all time that no one had the right to the office of the presidency and that it belonged to the people. What an amazing legacy, what an amazing gift to future generations. The knowledge that this country will always be greater than any one person, even our most renowned. That’s why members of both parties take turns, reading Washington’s address once a year in full into the record, to pledge common attachment to the selflessness at the core of our democratic system. This trial was about the final acts of a president who represents the very antithesis of our first president and sought to place one man before the entire country, himself. Let the record show, let the record show, before God, history, and the solemn oath we swear to the constitution, that there was only one correct verdict in this trial, guilty. And I pray that while justice was not done in this trial, it will be carried forward by the American people who above any of us in this chamber determine the destiny of our great nation. I yield the floor.” To be continued...

Unless God Intervenes Leaving my television on while watching one of my old sitcoms, as they used to call them, I was awakened around 5:30 a.m. Sunday, November 1st, to the Jeffersons “Movin’ on up”, another sitcom. After watching the spiraling spread of the virus and the campaign practically all night, I thought I needed a little laughter before sleep. Around 6 a.m. when I had enough of the silliness I turned to CNN and the news, “hit me right between the eyes”. According to the polls, Mr. Trump was gaining on Mr. Biden in Florida and they were about even in Michigan, Mr. Biden was still ahead by a few percentage points, and Mr. Trump was ahead in Iowa. Then there was the report on Biden's campaign bus being encircled and slowed down on a Texas highway by Trump supporters in cars and pickup trucks. The bus supporters canceled the planned campaign stops. In North Carolina, police broke up a peaceful Biden support march organized by Black Lives Matter leaders. And then there was the intervention by the Supreme Court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court ruled that they would not extend Wisconsin’s deadline for receiving absentee ballots to six days after the election. There have been lawsuits challenging all across the country. Another court decision in Pennsylvania which gave the people a few days after Election Day but that the votes had to be held on the side until after the election for a final ruling. This decision, written by recent Supreme Court Justice Brett Cavanaugh seemed to lean towards Mr. Trump in case the question came up later. In Texas, the Republican party tried to nullify the votes of over 125,000 people who were told they could give their votes to proper authorities in various election places while they waited in the cars. As I pondered these developments, the continuing thought was pressed upon my mind, more forcibly than before. Unless God intervenes in some dramatic way, Mr. Trump will win this election. Decency, fairness, righteousness, truth, and respect will have been defeated by lies, corruption, violence, intimidation, misrepresentation, etc. Looking at the present scene, the visible forces of falsehood are far more powerful than truth. The awesome power of government is in the treacherous hands of those who have conspicuously demonstrated that they are prepared to do anything to win; lie, cheat and even retaliate against those with whom they disagree. They have invited the support of racist, white supremacist thugs, violent militia groups, and domestic terrorists. They have encouraged foreign governments to assist them. The Federal Government has been used to disrupt postal services, corrupt the Justice System, politicize the courts, discredit the electoral process, and abuse the media except for right-wing conservatives ie. Fox 5 News is a propaganda outlet for Trump. They have even threatened the social media moguls, ie. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, etc. because they would not run false and misleading statements. They have used the Republican Party along with the Justice Department to launch investigations and hearings to create suspicion on their political opponents or those who questioned their behavior. When we view all of the obstacles above and even more which time and space do not permit me to record, it ought to be clear why I am concerned and believe that God has to intercede. I have just completed identifying the Seven Behaviors of Mr. Trump that God Hates Parts One and Two which behaviors are very much in operation during this election. Listed below are the Seven Behaviors: Pride A Lying Tongue Hands that shed innocent blood A Heart that devises wickedness Feet that be swift in running to mischief Bearing false witness Source discord among the brothers See articles: https://tinyurl.com/y5jcr9lb and https://tinyurl.com/y33uwck4 All people who believe in truth, justice, compassion, and love in other words, who believe in the Golden Rule “do unto others as you would want others done unto you” surely will be hoping and praying for the candidates who embody the above principles will win - Overwhelmingly! And if for some reason lies and hatred win then there must be a reason that God would allow it to happen. I remember the lines of James Russell Lowell from the poem, The Present Crisis “Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.” But I still believe that truth, decency, and respect will win. There is one other aspect of the election that causes me concern. Mr. Biden and his surrogates including former President Obama are spending a lot of time in Black and Latino districts in various states including Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The report is that the Black and Latino districts are underperforming. I am having difficulty restraining my anger and confusion. Why does this extra energy and time need to be spent in the Black and Latino communities? It should be a foregone conclusion that these two groups would be voting to capacity or near capacity for Mr. Biden and Mrs. Harris. And the time, energy, and resources could be directed to other communities. So, to sum up, the awesome power of the President and his people and the lukewarm participation of Black and Latinos and their support for Mr. Trump again causes me deep concern. But I am still hopeful! This hope coupled with faith has brought us this far and ultimately will bring us to the Promise Land as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently said in the historic March on Washington in August 1963. To be continued...

Is Mr. Trump Ready to Acknowledge the Inevitable? On December 1st, 2020 there were three major developments that may suggest Mr. Trump sees the end. Maybe his world of illusion has been punctured. Mr. Barr Finds No Irregularities, Conspiracies, or Fraud William Barr, U.S. Attorney General issued a report that his research found no conspiracy or fraud that would overturn election results. It was his questionable investigation into the election that was one of the items that Mr. Trump and his supporters were counting on to find fraudulent activities in the election or finding none would find a way to concoct enough irregularities to raise questions about the election. But now Mr. Trump’s arch supporter who has engaged in questionable decisions and practices announces that there was nothing wrong with the election. It would seem that that statement would put to rest charges of conspiracies, fraud, and cheating regarding the election. In this writing, there has been no response from Mr. Trump. Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s lead attorney says that Mr. Barr didn’t conduct a thorough investigation. (It has been reported that two of Mr. Trump's lawyers have contracted coronavirus. For Mr. Giuliani, it is probably far more serious considering his age, his weight, and his prior health condition. Years ago, he had been operated on for prostate cancer. Giuliani is the lead attorney on Mr. Trump’s team attempting to find reasons to overturn the election results.) More than 50 people on Mr. Trump’s team have been affected by COVID-19. Pardon Time Secondly, it is said that there are serious discussions by Mr. Trump in the White House of pardons. It is reported that his children Donald Trump Jr., Eric, Ivanka, his son-in-law, and Mr. Giuliani suggested that they should be pardoned. His number one media mouthpiece Sean Hannity made the suggestion in an interview with Mr. Trump. It is believed by some media pundits that this interview was set up to start the conversation wherein Mr. Trump would say, “I didn’t want to do it but I was persuaded by supporters to issue the pardons.” In the same discussion, there was mention of pardoning Mr. Trump himself. The debate or idea was resisted by some lawyers who said how can you have a pardon when there is no guilt? There is no such thing as a preemptive pardon. The discussion coupled with Mr. Barr’s reports adds to the belief that Mr. Trump has finally been forced to face reality. Fanning the Flame of Resistance The third and final development was the statement made by one of Mr. Trump’s attorneys, Joseph DiGenova who made a wild and crazy suggestion in a public statement. He said, “Anybody who thinks the election went well,” he said, “like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity, that guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot” regarding Mr. Chris Krebs, who was the Chief of Cybersecurity and Architect of the election. He was fired by Mr. Trump. The outlandish statement by Mr. DiGenova clearly revealed the desperation that the supporters of Mr. Trump must feel and yet they continued the charade. There are reasons suggested why Mr. Trump continues putting forth the idea of fraud and thievery. Some say that he is raising astronomical amounts of money with only a small portion going towards his defense. The lion’s share can be used for various purposes. Another reason associated with the above is he is preparing to make another presidential run. The money being raised will help him in that regard and who knows for what other reasons. Mr. Trump, as everybody knows, has all kinds of dealing when it comes to handling money. The madness of Mr. Trump prevents him from realizing how much he has won. Because of his madness, he cannot entertain the idea of losing. After all, in his world of reality, he is perfect. He can never understand that there are some priceless lessons that we gain by losing or failing, that we can never learn otherwise. Now, if I were advising Mr. Trump I would suggest that he make this statement that would go something like this, “To my family, my competent staff, and all of my loyal, faithful friends and supporters I’ve been doing some deep thinking of late. I have decided to concede the election. I want to commend President-Elect Mr. Biden for waging a hard-fought campaign. I’ve given direction to my staff to provide all that is necessary to make a smooth transition. And I want to urge all of my supporters to recognize Mr. Biden as the next President of our country. It is my love of our great country and my love for all of you who have supported me in spite of all the obstacles and the enemies I’ve had to face, that I make this decision. But let me hasten to say I will not stop fighting for the things I believe will ‘Make America Great Again’. There are priceless lessons that only can be learned in losing and failing. Those lessons prepare us for greater victories or success in the future which more than make up for the impostors, defeat, and failure. There is no such thing as failure or defeat to the determined, patient, courageous, resourceful, resilient, tough pursuer of an objective. You know I have the above qualities in abundance. The second lesson, defeat teaches us how to define winning and losing. There are losses and defeats which can be more important for the future than what is happening in the present. Consider what we have won: We increased Black and Latino membership in the Republican party. We won over 74 million passionate and committed voters. We picked up 10 Republican House of Representative seats. We won eight governors. We held the greatest rallies ever. We, through warp speed, have produced the vaccine in record time. By July of next year, all Americans should have received a vaccine, who want to do so. We won 25 states and 232 electoral votes. At the date of this speech, we did not lose a Senate seat. I leave with the regret that I did not do more about COVID-19. Finally, I’m not going away with 74 million strong, loyal enthusiastic supporters; and my competent steadfast staff. I intend to make our presence felt. I intend to ‘Make America Great Again’. So, to all of my friends, family and supporters stay strong, stay ready we are all winners! ” To be continued…

The History and Spirit of the House of the Lord Churches Professor Intondi records one experience he witnessed. He writes “Indeed when one white stage manager threatened to squeeze out Third World members toward the end of the day, African American leaders had him removed and replaced by a black manager. Prominent African American participants included Dick Gregory, Chaka Khan, Toni Morrison, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Rita Marley, and Harry Belafonte.” Also participating in Central Park was the House of the Lord Church choir. This is why I believe that every person should write his/her history. I’ve never read a history in which I was involved that all the facts were accurate or mentioned. In all good intentions, historians and scholars being human cannot remember or cannot write all the details and facts about people and events and issues and get it all right. I’d like to make reference to several personal quotes from the book: Mrs. Corretta Scott King declared “ We have come to this great city from all across America and around the world to protest the nuclear arms race. All of our hopes for equality, justice, economic security, for a healthy environment, depend on nuclear disarmament. Yes, we have come to protest nuclear weapons. But we have also come to New York because we have a dream. An affirmative vision shared by the great masses of people of every race, religion, and the nation down through the ages; it is the timeless dream of a world free from fear, not only of war or its instruments but also of hunger or of not having a roof over one’s head. ” Jack Odell of Operation PUSH maintained that “There can be no survival for the human race if the arms race continues. This is the first time the peace movement has added, as a demand, the transference of resources from the military to social and job-creating programs…Dr. King and the Poor People’s Campaign were saying this during Vietnam, but the peace movement as a whole wasn’t. That’s why the movement didn’t go past the end of the Vietnam War. Today's connections are bringing whole constituencies into the movement.” Again because Dr. Intondi referenced me, “The Third World and Progressive People’s Coalition managed to express its concerns at the march as well. The Reverend Daughtry noted the $500 billion spent on arms annually and pointed to the impact such spending had on unemployment, hospitals, schools, transportation systems, and streets inside the United States. “This is a nation with the mightiest military machine in the world and yet it cannot feed, clothe, shelter, educate, heal and employ its people. And the same thing is happening in other countries with insatiable military machines,” he said. A member of the African National Congress charged South Africa with developing nuclear weapons to use against black Africans. Rubin Zemora of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of El Salvador blamed the delivery of arms instead of food to El Salvador for killing the country.” * Intondi, V. J. (2015). African Americans against the bomb: Nuclear weapons, colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement. Stanford University Press. I will conclude this section of June 12, 1982, with excerpts from an article and with my speech. The article is a speech that I did on May 3, 1981, in Washington, D.C. It was at the People’s Anti-war Mobilization rally, that over 100,000 people were present. My subject was Struggling Against Madness: The second consideration we must note derives from the Vietnam war days. During that time the Peace Movement poured its energy into stopping the war in Vietnam. Racism was left to run ramped with little or no response from the peace movement. When the Vietnam war was over, whites, many of you here today, went back home, back to school, back to the status quo, back to the system, back to business as usual! And we were left to carry the battle alone. Let us not make the same mistakes. It is true many of us have had differences, but we say today, “If your heart is as our hearts give us your hand”; to Gentiles and Jews, to Protestants and Catholics, to Blacks and Whites, to every religion, creed, nationality, we say, “If your heart is as our hearts give us your hand.” If you long as we do for a world wherein dwelt peace, justice, and equality in all things and among all people; and if you believe as we do that it is possible to shape that kind of world, we say, “Let us close ranks put our shoulders together and get on with the task.” Let us not end our solidarity here, but let us go back to the place from whence we came inspired by what we have seen and felt here today, and let us organize. Let us build a People’s Movement that will not end with a defeat of the Military Junta in El Salvador, but let’s build a People’s movement that will struggle until Namibia is free! Until South Africa is free! Until the USA's foreign policy reflects the wishes of the people and not of the few movers. Until support for reactionary, fascist, racist governments ceases. Let us struggle until the resources of the land are turned away from war-making and individual aggrandizement to service and programs for the people. Until slums and ghettos are eradicated, poverty and unemployment are removed from the land. Let us struggle until the social order has been transformed into democratic economic fairness and we will win. Because madness is of short duration; because it is predicated upon a distorted perception of reality. Because evil good, good evil; friend enemies, enemies, because light darkness, and darkness light, because backwardness progress, progress backwardness. We will win because the budding future is stronger than the withering past. We will win because the wretched down-trotted are on the move. Long live the People’s Anti-War Mobilization Long live the Democratic Revolutionary Front in El Salvador Long live the Sandinista Liberation Front in Nicaragua Long live the People’s Revolutionary Government in Grenada Long ling the African National Congress, Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania Long live the Southwest African People’s Organization in Namibia Long live the National Black United Front Long Live People’s Progressive and Liberation Movements and the governments of the people, by the people, and for the people. Forward Ever, Backward Never. As I read and re-read the speech I was so impressed. It is relevant and powerful. It could be said today except for the organizations some of which have won their independence and are governing their countries. My prediction came true! To be continued...

God Intervenes Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020 the day of the election had arrived. At 5 a.m. I headed to Brooklyn to cast my ballot. It was a towering challenge for me to return to Brooklyn to vote. I didn’t have to. New York State was a sure thing for Mr. Biden. Having arrived in Brooklyn I went by our home to pick up papers and to check on things. From there I drove to our church about seven blocks away. Because of the virus, I no longer worked from the office but from our home. I parked my car at the church and walked to the Barclays Center four blocks away. My wife, Dr. Karen Daughtry told me that is where I should vote this time. Arriving at the Barclays Center I was informed that my voting place was the Senior Citizens Center (my usual voting site). Now another walk of several long blocks to Carlton Street, the location of the Senior Center. First, I must confess I was a little piqued with my wife for giving me the wrong address. They were voting at the Barclays Center for the early voters. But I remember she told me that old people didn’t have to wait on line. This information would prove useful later. When I arrived at the Senior Citizens Center, the line was around the corner, about a half a block up Atlantic Avenue almost to Vanderbilt Avenue. Remembering what my wife told me about accommodations for the elders, I went past the line straight into the building, where the voting was occurring. I stopped at the reception desk and told the receptionist that I got ahead of the line because of my age. I wanted to head off anyone who would criticize me for having gone to the head of the line. The receptionist smiled and said, “It’s okay” and directed me to the desk where two men sat. I was handed my ballot and directed to the machine where I would vote. I went to the booth and marked my preferences. I was then directed to another machine across the room. I was shown where to place my ballot- on both sides, the back side for judges. I was surprised that Assemblyman Walter Mosley had lost the Democratic primary and was on the Working People’s Party line. When I returned to my car, I discovered that I had lost my phone. I retraced my steps and found the phone in the church office. So around 6:30 a.m. I returned home in New Jersey. I was very pleased with myself, as I stated, I didn’t really have to vote. New York State was Biden’s country. But because I didn’t have to and still put myself through the challenges of awakening at 4 a.m. and driving to Brooklyn, then walking from place to place. I really felt ecstatic and grateful. In a little more than two months, I will be 90 years old and to be able to awaken early in the morning, drive to and fro from Jersey to Brooklyn, and walk from place to place still feeling energetic at the conclusion, I felt overwhelmingly grateful. I must say however what inspired me was watching the long lines of voters in the city after city across America. Day after day people stood in the rain, they brought babies in carriages, and the old and the young showed extraordinary determination to vote. They inspired me to get up and get out to vote. Again deep in my spirit, I will always be pleased that I voted even when I didn’t have to. Then I thought of how I would feel after strenuously and vigorously urging everyone to vote and there I was a non-voter. After eating or drinking breakfast, breakfast for me consists of water, juices, and a smoothie of oatmeal, chia flax seeds, apple, walnuts, and ginger with almond milk. I settled in to watch television through the day into the night -in fact, the next several days and nights. All day long Wednesday, November 4th I watched television on CNN, and MSNBC, and gathering superhuman strength I watched Fox 5 News. At first, Mr. Trump was leading by substantial margins, but I felt the wind of change blowing in the election as the day progressed. Georgia was crucial at this point. It would block Mr. Trump’s path to victory in the electoral college voting. He could arrive at a tie and that would throw the election into the House of Representatives. I had cut short my weekly prayer conference call on Wednesday night. I do conference call prayer and open mic Monday-Friday. I wanted to be present via the television when Mr. Biden won Georgia— YES GEORGIA! The hours moved on and the wind blew harder 9p.m., 10p.m., and 11p.m. And the wind kept blowing across Georgia to Chatham County where sits Savannah. Savannah is special to me. It is where I was born and spent the first 11 years of my life. Around 2 a.m. I was conquered by SLEEP. I tried ever so hard to stay awake. I knew the vote that would put Mr. Biden ahead would come at some point. Usually, my biological clock awakens me at my command, but this time it failed me. I was disappointed I wanted to be awake for this historic moment. Then, early Thursday morning after 4:30 a.m. it was announced that Mr. Biden was the projected winner of Wisconsin and Michigan. Later it was announced that Biden was leading in Arizona and Nevada (and was projected winner at 11:21 a.m.) In Pennsylvania, the half-a-million vote lead of Mr. Trump was being wiped away. And then came Georgia and the wind of change was doing what many thoughts was impossible, blowing away pieces of the old South and blowing in a new day. Suddenly I was startled awake, it was 5 a.m. I slept for 3 hours. I heard the voices of CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon discussing how Mr. Biden had moved ahead in Georgia. I looked at the board where the votes were counted and there it was, Mr. Biden had taken the lead by 917 votes - 49.4% totaling 2,449,371 and Mr. Trump by 49.4% totaling 2,448,454. It was Clayton County that pushed Biden ahead. I had hoped it would be Chatham County. However, Clayton County is the home of Congressman John Lewis so it seemed right that Clayton County would be the count that pushed Biden ahead. Throughout the day Thursday, Mr. Biden’s lead was steadily increasing. Also, Mr. Biden’s lead in Arizona and Nevada was increasing. Friday, November 6th at 11:30 am Mr. Biden was the projected winner of Georgia. To be continued...

Remembering Jesse Jackson and Arthur Eve Campaigns My mind raced back to the Reverend Jesse Jackson campaign in 1983 and 1984. In September 1983 Rev. Jackson asked Assemblyman Al Vann and me to organize Black leaders to help him decide whether he should run for the presidency. The meeting was held at our church, the House of the Lord in Brooklyn, New York. The church was packed. It seemed that everyone who called himself a leader was present when Jesse spoke, he said, “I don’t ‘want the run Jesse run’ to ‘see Jesse run’ I need three things: money, machinery, and the masses. If you will help me with those things, I’m ready to go.” One of our campaign stops was New Hampshire. In addition to campaigning in the state, Jesse also wanted to confess that he had made the statement that we were going to “Jew-town” meaning New York. For a long time, he had denied that he had made the statement. But now in New Hampshire, he wanted to acknowledge and do it in a synagogue in Concord. After a long day's campaigning, we met at the synagogue in the evening where Jesse made the confession statement. We thought that it was all over and we were ready to move ahead. But it did not stop the severe criticism. Another reason we wanted to campaign in New Hampshire, an almost completely white state, is because of Super Tuesday when a number of Black states held their primaries, and we thought that if we did well there it would impress Black folks in the Southern states. After New Hampshire, the next morning we flew to Atlanta, Georgia. Jesse, knowing my Savannah roots asked me to campaign in Savannah. I remember getting up early on the day of the election. Long lines of people were coming, it seemed, from every direction - walking, in cars, wagons pulled by horses. We lost the election, but we won the hearts of the people. The campaign was phenomenally successful; many people became involved in political education and ran for office. It was strikingly similar to the Black Lives Matter Movement today. Our daughters, Leah and Sharon, were Jackson’s Campaign Coordinators while students at Dartmouth College. Upon graduation, Leah became an intern for Congressman Ed Towns of Brooklyn, New York. Years later she became the Chief of Staff for Mr. Terry McAullife, Chairman of the Democratic Party. And still, later she made history by being the CEO of the National Democratic Convention in 2008 and 2016. It was Saturday, November 7, 2020, a few minutes after 11:20 a.m., it came on CNN with the usual flashing “Breaking News” in large red and white letters, then Wolf Blitzer anchorman for CNN made the announcement, “CNN is projecting former Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. will be the next President of the United States.” My mind went back to Election day Tuesday, November 3, 2020. After the polls closed, I stayed up agonizing through the night as Trump took an early lead. He continued increasing the lead until he won Florida. This was a disturbing development. We thought that Biden would win the Sunshine state. However, I knew and had written and taught that Mr. Trump would get out of the gate with a bang or a quick start because he had urged his people to vote in person and disregard the virus. But, eventually, Mr. Biden’s supporters who have been told to use the mail or drop-off points would catch up and pass Mr. Trump. I also wrote that there would be a rejection and sustained resistance to the election results by Mr. Trump and his lawyers. I had even written of his options after defeat. See my articles: If Trump loses the election Trump getting out of the gate However, I didn’t expect that Mr. Trump would win Florida. After all, there is a Black and Latino majority, so it means that some serious organizing, especially education, needs to take place among the Black and Latino coalition. Likewise in Texas, the Biden organizers thought they had a chance to win Texas, but again the Latino vote went for Mr. Trump. At the point of Mr. Trump's biggest lead when it appeared that he was going to win overwhelmingly. Mr. Biden held a brief press conference. He assured his supporters that things were going the way he knew would go. Not to worry and they were going to win the race. It reminded me of another campaign in which I was involved when a similar thing happened. It was 1977 when Assemblyman Arthur Eve was running to become the first Black Mayor of Buffalo, NY. I organized bus loads on two occasions for the campaign for Arthur. In fact, I spent the weekend living in his home. On the night of the election as we watched the election returns, Eve’s opponent had built a substantial lead, and that Arthur was going down in defeat. Hastily, we left the campaign headquarters and headed to the ballroom where all of the supporters were awaiting the returns. Once we had arrived, Art assured the people that they were going to win. He told them that the districts where our supporters lived had not been counted and were always counted last. Sure enough, Mr. Eve was right. When the night was over, Black voters had overtaken the opponent and went on to victory. This too was a striking similarity to the Biden campaign with a major exception. Assemblyman Arthur Eve won the Democratic primary but lost the general election. For the first time in anyone's memory, a Democrat did not win the general election. Racism in Buffalo reared its ugly head and denied Mr. Eve victory and a place in history as the first Black Mayor in Buffalo. It was a painful defeat. I am not sure if Art ever got over it. Of course, the difference between the two races was Mr. Biden won it all. To be continued...

“Amid the worst of the pandemic, our mad king rages only about himself ” Mr. Eugene Robinson Some time ago I used the term “God first makes mad those that they are about to destroy.” It became clear to me that the words and actions of Mr. Trump were a manifestation of some kind of insanity. Here was a man who related only to his own reality. I called his behavior madness. Our guest writer Mr. Eugene Robinson, a columnist for the Washington Post provides a brilliant, concise description of Mr. Trump. He calls Mr. Trump the “mad king”. The article is so important I want to share it with my readers. Following is Mr. Robinson’s entire article, after which I will write comments. “This is becoming like a Greek tragedy. The nation is on fire with covid-19, cases and hospitalizations are soaring to unthinkable new highs, and our leader does nothing but rage and moans about his own punishment at the hands of cruel fate. If it is true that “those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad,” then President Trump is finishing his shambolic term in office as Mad King Donald. Cumulative U.S. covid infections leaped from 10 million to 11 million in just six days, signifying uncontrolled spread. Hospitals are crowded with nearly 70,000 covid-19 patients — more than ever before — and medical systems, especially in the Great Plains and the Mountain West, are wavering under unbearable strain. The morgue in El Paso is so overwhelmed with bodies that inmates at the county jail there are being pressed into service as helpers, pending the arrival of the National Guard. Yet Trump spent Monday morning on Twitter, pitifully howling “I won the Election!” about a contest he clearly and decisively lost. We have reached the point in the pandemic that epidemiologists warned about months ago. They begged Trump to do everything he could to push infection rates as low as possible before autumn arrived and cooler temperatures forced people indoors, where the virus is transmitted much more easily. Rather than heed the scientists, Trump listened only to the sirens of his own vanity and ambition. He marginalized the experts of his coronavirus task force, declining even to meet with them for the past several months. Instead, he found faux experts whose advice was more to his liking, chief among them Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist — not trained or experienced in fighting epidemics — who on Sunday called on the people of Michigan to “rise up” against a three-week curb on social gatherings announced by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). Trump wanted the economy up and running, with everything back to the way it was, in time for the election. His insistent pushing toward this unrealistic goal disastrously turned the adoption of sensible public health measures into a political wedge issue. Republican governors who wanted to remain in Trump’s favor had to accept his framing of the issue: Restrictions were bad, and “freedom” was good. Those governors’ constituents are now paying a terrible price. A responsible president would have used his megaphone to urge all Americans to wear masks and practice social distancing; would have understood and explained how full cooperation with burdensome shutdowns earlier in the year could allow some institutions, including schools, to return to more normal functioning in the fall; and would have valued patience and resolve over instant gratification. And a president who was compos mentis never would have made the nonsensical claim that the United States had more covid-19 cases than other countries only because we did more testing. Rather, a president grounded in reality would have insisted on a vastly expanded, nationwide testing program as a way to hasten our safe return to offices, stores, and restaurants. The Trump administration did one thing right by pushing hard for the rapid development of vaccines. Two drug companies — Pfizer and Moderna — have announced highly encouraging results from formal trials, and the federal government’s commitment to purchase millions of doses means these vaccines, assuming they are proved to be safe, will be available in record time. But Moncef Slaoui, co-chair of Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine effort, said Monday that, under a best-case scenario, roughly 20 million doses of the two vaccines will be available per month, beginning in December. And initially, they will go only to high-risk groups. There are 330 million Americans, meaning that most of us may remain vulnerable to covid-19 for some time. The United States is once again averaging more than 1,000 deaths a day. A smaller percentage of covid-19 sufferers perish now than did back in the spring — doctors and nurses know much more about how to treat severely ill patients — but this remains a deadly disease. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone who works at your local hospital. They’ll tell you. President-elect Joe Biden has no magic wand to make covid-19 go away. But he does understand that no attempt to return to normal life can succeed unless we first get the virus under control and that controlling covid requires following the advice of public health professionals. At the moment, however, there is nothing Biden can do. The Mad King, clinging to the fiction that he has not been deposed, will not even allow federal officials to begin sharing data with Biden’s incoming coronavirus team. The theme of his failed reelection campaign should have been “Make America Sick Again.” To be continued...

More on the Mad King Before I make my comments another important piece of information regarding Mr. Trump’s madness was published in a Washington Post article where the statement President ‘scrambled for an escape hatch from reality. Before I proceed let me explain who King George III was. From October 25, 1760, he was king of Britain and Ireland. He died on January 29, 1820 blind and mad. It was said that his sickness was due to bipolar depression or hereditary blood disease or porphyria. In any event, he was mentally deranged. My opinion, regarding Mr. Trump’s madness, was influenced by his obvious narcissism and my Biblical/Theological teaching which I n interpreted as narcissism. It is an attempt to usurp the attributes and prerogative of the Almighty God, creator and sovereign ruler of the universe; completely self-sustaining and independent, but who chooses to give freely to all and expect his creation to do the same. Thus, selfishness, narcissism, or the coronation of the ego is an act of independence and therefore an attempt to be like God leading to a challenge to God’s authority. Significantly, first on the list of seven things God hates is Pride (See the following link for my article Seven behaviors of Trump that God Hates Parts One and Two https://tinyurl.com/y65n33e2; https://tinyurl.com/yxdrh93j). According to the Scripture, it was pride that drove Lucifer to want to be like God to set his throne above the throne of God and attempt to usurp. And thus became a usurper. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14 KJV Hence comes the quote “whom the gods would destroy they first make mad". Therefore, God takes revenge in two ways: Make the proud usurper a clown, a fool an object of laughter. In the Bible, the old king of Babylon became puffed up with pride as he surveyed his kingdom. God reduced him to an animal's life living in the forest. But probably because of King Nebuchadnezzar’s confession and recognition of the Sovereignty of God, God restored him to his kingship. Secondly, then comes the destruction of the usurper. Therefore, selfishness is a kind of madness. People who live only for themselves however rich and powerful can never enjoy what they possess. They will always have the insatiable drive to get more, and like a vicious cycle, the more they get the more they want, the more they want the more they get. Mr. Trump is the epitome of selfishness. Increasingly his madness has been recognized by others. His niece, Dr. Mary Trump, who is a psychologist says that he is sociopathic and as a child wanted to always have his own way about everything. He could not stand to lose. She likened him to a brat when he loses and cannot get his way, he breaks all the toys. His behavior regarding his loss to Mr. Biden exhibits this selfish childish behavior. He has been defeated everyone knows it but refuses to admit defeat so he tries to break up everything. At this writing, he denies Mr. Biden access or the traditional transition requirements in spite of the urgency and desperation regarding COVID-19. For Mr. Biden to implement an immediate and effective plan to deal with the virus it is imperative that the transition takes place which would give Mr. Biden resources and information. In the process Mr. Trump makes himself and others look foolish. His team of lawyers, headed by the former Mayor of New York City Rudolph Guliani, have been denounced and ridiculed. Thirty-six lawsuits have gone before the courts and were thrown out. Even the legal team is squabbling among themselves. One of the lawyers, Ms. Sidney Powell, the prime spinner of the conspiracy theories claimed that election fraud began in Venezuela and involved other countries. Subsequently, she has been dismissed from the team. Even as I write, Mr. Trump is trying to overturn or delay the election count in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Johnathan Swain, writer for AXIOS said, “Mr. Trump sees everything through the prism of himself”. While Mr. Trump plays golf all day, he still finds time to send a plethora of tweets all saying essentially, that the election was a fraud, the Democrats cheated and there was a grand conspiracy against him. But in spite of it all he still says, he still won the election- WHAT IS IT BUT MADNESS? Let us keep in mind that 75% of the Republicans think that Mr. Trump is right - the election was stolen. Obviously, that has serious consequences for the future. The stakes are high. The future of the country, maybe of the world, depends upon his behavior. Remember he has the nuclear secrets in his possession. He still has until January 20th dated from this writing about 50 days left. Who knows what he is prepared to do? Perhaps in his madness, he doesn’t even know what he’s doing. I would like to suggest that there be a Nonpartisan Commission of the leading, most trusted, credible psychiatrists, psychologists, and sociologists in the country to do an evaluation of Mr. Trump’s mental/emotional state with the understanding that they will make their findings public. Granted that they would not have any authority to do anything but issue a report. But the report could give us accurate information and insight into Mr. Trump’s behavior which would influence public thinking about Mr. Trump. To be continued…

I Told You So Let me lay claim to another first. It occurred to me a long time ago that who Mr. Trump is and what he does is primarily because of his supporters. It follows, that it is not Mr. Trump who is the only one on trial or maybe even not the primary guilty party. We or his supporters are on trial. What Mr. Trump does is because his supporters let him. It is the story of his life. Encouragement from Supporters There have always been people who let him and even encourage him in the most bizarre, destructive, and self-delusory behavior. Remember what he said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?” (CNN, January 24, 2016) Also, remember his niece's description of his childhood. What his supporters have done: They have stuffed him with copious amounts of food for his arrogance. They have fanned the flame of his crazy passions. They have caressed and nurtured his pride. They have made allowance for his absence of compassion. They have excused his abusive behavior, especially as it relates to women. They have justified his racism. They have turned their heads to his xenophobia, especially in his cruel immigration policies and practices. They have remained silent as he gave encouragement to white supremacist, racist, and domestic terrorist groups. They have allowed him to destroy or discredit historic cherished institutions ie: the justice department, media, courts, postal service, science community, etc. They have winked at his lies and misrepresentation of over 20,000 times as stated by The Washington Post. They dismissed or treated lightly his cozy relationship with President Kim Jon Un and President Vladimir Putin: Consider Helsinki, where he chose Mr. Putin’s words over his own intelligence community. He has criticized American traditional allies while praising Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim Jon Un. He has remained silent while Russians paid to have American soldiers killed in Afghanistan. They said not a word while irrefutable evidence was presented which showed Mr. Trump withheld important support for Ukraine until or unless they provided damaging information about Mr. Biden. (All Mr. Trump wanted was an accusation that Mr. Biden had engaged in an unethical relationship with Ukraine. It would give Mr. Trump enough bullets for his misrepresentation and lies about Mr. Biden.) Perhaps his most grievous behavior was in the 2020 Presidential Election which Mr. Biden won by a landslide. The same electoral votes that Mr. Trump won in the 2016 Election 304 to Mrs. Clinton 227. Mr. Trump boasted that his election was a landslide, but refuses to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s victory. However, Mr. Biden at this point has a popular leader with over 80 million. The results before and after the election were Mr. Trump’s attempt to use different measures to discredit and or destroy the credibility of the election. His chief supporters including the masses knew all that is written above and more, and yet still supported him with 74 million votes. It is as though values that we used to appreciate and pay respect to even if we did not live up to their standards, i.e., truth, fairness, integrity, compassion, honesty, etc. don't mean anything anymore. Therein, maybe, it is the greatest destructive behavior of Mr. Trump. He has demonstrated that nothing of value means anything to him. It may be comparable to what the Bible refers to as the unpardonable sin. In the Scripture, Jesus was accused of being the devil after he had cast out the devil from a man who was possessed. Jesus responded, “those who believe such a thing shall never be forgiven of their sin.” Really, how can they be forgiven when the difference between truth and falsehood, good and evil cannot be recognized? This raises the question, has America reached a point of non-forgiveness? This much can be said for Mr. Trump, he knows his people. According to Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former attorney, and fix-it-man, who offered evidence against Mr. Trump to the prosecutors. He said, “they, he and Mr. Trump, would make fun of some of the world's most powerful, prestigious people who would humiliate themselves before Mr. Trump.” After their departure, Mr. Cohen said, “they would laugh at the groveling sycophancy of these ‘powerful men and women.” At the risk of being repetitious is there any more compelling evidence that Mr. Trump is a madman than what we are seeing regarding the election? Everyone knows Mr. Biden won but the mad king living in his own reality insists that he won the election. That it was stolen from him. Now as I write on November 29, 2020, at 1:05 pm we are waiting for two key states on the brink of certifying the election results, and would you believe it, in Michigan, one key Republican of the four certifiers is expected to vote against certification knowing that Mr. Biden has won the election. Now keep in mind, that Mr. Biden won Michigan with 154,887 votes to Mr. Trump’s 10,704 votes. Over 140,000 Mr. Biden won and this elector plans to deny or reject all of these votes -Madness! Madness! Madness! The only question left is what punishment will Mr. Trump receive? For the Bible teaches “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day” Psalm 7:11 KJV. However, the sad reality is that the innocent suffers with the guilty. The mad king destroys himself and others. As I have stated in other places, we are all members of the human family. And what is done that provides good we share whether we had anything to do with it or not. Therefore we must be prepared to receive the bad. I reckoned that one of the reasons God has arranged it this way is to encourage us to be concerned about each other and to work to build a better world for all. And finally, during the impeachment of Mr. Trump surely there was enough evidence to prove his guilt of the charges presented but again Mr. Trump supporters, Republican supporters, and the masses first fought against impeachment. And once he was impeached in spite of irrefutable evidence, they fought against the charges being leveled against him. Only God knows how much death, sickness, pain, and stress would have been eliminated if Mr. Trump had been found guilty and removed from office. To be continued…

The History and Spirit of the House of the Lord Churches The War in Ukraine; and the suffering peoples of the world There still rests heavily on my mind President Biden’s press conference on June 26, 2022, on his return from meeting with the G7 leaders and the suffering people of Ukraine and the rest of the world. It is hard for us to know the truth of what’s going on in Ukraine. The first casualty of war is truth. No nation has a monopoly on stupidity or sagacity. The American press, for the most part, seems to be on a mission to make sure that we see the worst of war waged by Putin (not President Putin or the Russians but just plain Putin. It’s Putin's war.) All day long, for those of us who studied the media, we hear or see bombed hospitals, residents, supermarkets, playgrounds, old folk homes; old women crying in the streets wondering about homeless babies crying for their mommies, families held up in bomb shelters and the rumination of villages and cities. All of this could end if the U.S and NATO would give President Zelensky and the Ukrainians all the money and military weapons they need. Blame this idea on the media. They have helped to feed this idea that Ukrainians can defeat Russia or wear Russia down to the impotence in a long protracted military and boycott operations. Some people believe it explains why the peace supposedly was rejected. America has already given 15 billion and 40 billion more have been allocated, and sophisticated weapons. But still, they want more sophisticated weapons. President Biden has been reluctant to provide more highly sophisticated weapons less Russia decides to do the same and there is an intensification of the escalation. President Zelensky has demanded 5 billion per month. All the while the leaders are talking tough while they are tucked away in safe places, some of them enjoying luxurious amenities. It brings to mind one of the most memorable experiences I had in the UN Security Council. In 1977 President Joshua Nkomo came to New York to speak at the UN Security Council. Joshua Nkomo was called The Godfather of the Southern African Liberation Movement. He was president of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Unity (ZAPU) along with President Robert Mugabe, who was president of Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). The two organizations made up the patriotic front. They fought for the freedom of Southern Rodessa. Once they had gained their freedom, they named the country Zimbabwe. We had raised funds for ZAPU. I had become very friendly with ZAPU’s representative at the United Nations, Christus Ndove. So, when Mr. Nkomo was on his way to speak at the UN Security Council. He sent information to me to join him. I was very proud to be in his delegation as he addressed the security council. After his presentation, other member nations proceeded to ask him questions. When it was over they stood around shaking hands, patting each other on the back, in a rather friendly setting. I could not help but reflect while some of the men were very cordial to each other on the battlefield. Men and women were locked into military conflict, lives and properties were being destroyed and here the leaders were acting as though nothing was happening at all. At the news conference already alluded to. President Biden was asked “How long will America support Ukraine?” his response, “As long as it will take, Ukraine will not lose the war.” President Putin is equally defiant. Russia is not going to be defeated. President Zelensky said, “we will never give up one inch of land for peace”. But according to Michal von der Schulenberg, there was a proposal that Zelensky did not have to give up one inch of his land. “The key elements for a peaceful solution have already been worked out by courageous Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the first two months of the war. According to these, Ukraine would renounce NATO membership and not allow any foreign military bases on Ukrainian soil, while Russia would commit to recognizing Ukraine’s territorial integrity, withdraw all Russian troops from Ukraine and accept international security guarantees for Ukraine. It had also already been tentatively agreed to give a special status to the Donbas within Ukrainian territory (as already foreseen in Minsk II) and to resolve the future status of Crimea at a later stage through purely diplomatic means. Certainly, this is not a complete peace treaty – not yet; many difficult details remain unresolved. But the outcome of these peace negotiations, even if only provisional, represents an astonishing achievement at a time of war. There is and will be no other peaceful solution than to agree to some form of Ukrainian neutrality in return for preserving Ukraine's territorial integrity. It would be completely illusory to assume, as some Western governments like to claim, that such a peace treaty is a purely Ukrainian responsibility and that they should stay out. To use this to justify the West's silence on Russian-Ukrainian peace efforts is highly disingenuous.” We still do not know the reason for the rejection of the above proposal and who rejected it. As stated above some people believe there are those who want the war to continue. So I guess we ought to prepare our children’s children for war until the present leaders or future leaders with the same mindset put an end to life on the planet. In the meanwhile, death and destruction are the daily lots of the people in Ukraine, and hunger, disease, and poverty engulf the world. Back home, in the USA, inflation is still high, food shortages are increasing, fuel prices continue to rise, the war in the streets of America, the violence of every description, women's and others' rights are being eroded; the January 6th hearing continues to show how close America came to losing it all, at the insurrection orchestrated by the former President. Covid-19 is on the rise with competition from monkeypox, and heat waves spreading across the USA making living conditions unbearable for millions of Americans. 38 million Americans are food insecure with 12 million children. 42 million Americans are below the poverty level and 600,000 are homeless. Such is the state of America at this time. Our traveling President is off again to heal the wounds of the world. He will first stop in Israel to reassure Israel that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. It is rather hard to believe that nations with nuclear weapons are now going to dictate whether a sovereign state can have or not have nuclear weapons. In addition, the ancient tension and conflict between Israel and the Arab nation, in particular, the Palestinians will surely be under discussion. And so the world continues to spin apparently toward no good end. Before or during or after World War II Winston Churchill is reported to have said, to the best of my recollection, “We seem to be drifting toward some catastrophic end. Everybody wants to do something to stop it. But is unable to do so. So we continue to drift toward a catastrophic end.” I don’t know if the words are accurate but the sentiment expressed seems most appropriate for our time. Except that the leaders, some of them, seem not to be working hard or doing all they can to avert the catastrophe toward which we’re headed. God help us!