Image: Sunflowers in Como Park, Saint Paul, Minnesota with a bronze statue of German physician, playwright, poet, and philosopher Johann von Schiller in the background. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly)
“No elected U.S. official has ever been accused of anything remotely on the scale of what Donald Trump has been charged with,” says author, lawyer, and political commentator Robert Reich.
In just over four months, Trump has been indicted four times by a grand jury.
• In March, Trump became the first former U.S. president to ever be charged with a crime and was arraigned in New York on 34 felonies related to paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
• In June, Trump became the first president to face federal criminal charges when a grand jury in Florida indicted him over the mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.
• Earlier this month, Trump was indicted on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, tampering with a witness and conspiracy against the civil rights of citizens (the right of their vote to be counted).All four counts in this indictment center on Trump’s efforts to stay in office after Joe Biden defeated him in the November 2020 election.
• And now just this week, a Georgia grand jury has voted to indict Trump and eighteen of his allies. This latest indictment stems from the investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into Trump and his allies’ attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
In introducing on his YouTube channel his most recent video (below), Robert Reich reminds us that Trump’s prosecution isn’t a “witch hunt,” as Trump and his supporters like to call it, but rather a “defense of our democracy.”
These latest charges are especially potent and could kill Trump’s political career. They are among the most serious and rely on the strongest of the evidence. . . . They will be the only ones televised. Trump, in a dock, will seem an inevitably diminished figure, with all his swagger stripped away – equal before the law. Swing voters (the ones that matter, not the fanatical “base”) will be forced to ask themselves if they want this man in the White House for the next four years.
The focus for the Georgian proceedings isn’t January 6, but January 2 – and the conference telephone call the White House placed with the secretary of state for Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, with Trump and Meadows plus miscellaneous lawyers.
It’s quite famous, and probably the most portentous presidential phone call in history. . . . Indeed, this fateful Trump call has a Nixonian, Watergate aspect to it, because it was taped. It establishes without any room for doubt what passed between the principals concerned. It is not “he said/she said”, where a smart defence lawyer can create the reasonable doubt needed to secure an acquittal.
No. Trump is banged to rights – condemned by his own big mouth. There is no wriggle room. He’s straightforwardly grubbing for bogus votes (the 11,779 he lost by, to be precise) and making up stuff about Georgia officials shredding ballot papers, dodgy election machines and mysterious scenes in the counting halls. All proved baseless.
“It’s time for America to turn the page. It’s time for America to begin again,” said Marianne at the Fair’s Political Soapbox.
She said that as president she would declare a climate emergency, repair the damage done by corporations, implement universal healthcare and cancel student loans.
“Problem solvers” will help make these goals real, she said. “We have everything we need in this country. We have the people and the best practices. We have people who know how to reclaim the earth, who know how to reclaim our food, who know how to reclaim our land.”
Although one of Marianne’s Democratic opponents, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, also attended the Iowa State Fair, the other, President Joe Biden, did not. Also a no-show was Green Party candidate Cornel West. Numerous Republican presidential candidates, however, did make an appearance, including former president Donald Trump, former vice president Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
To see and listen to Marianne Williamson at the Iowa State Fair, click here.
After speaking at the Fair’s Political Soapbox, Marianne answered questions from reporters representing a number of media outlets, including Forbes which posted the following video.
Earlier today, Marianne shared the following via e-mail to her supporters (myself included). It’s a powerful piece; one that in exploring how the “repair of our hearts is essential if we’re to find a way to repair our country,” exemplifies Marianne Williamson’s deep wisdom and compassion. She’ll definitely make a great president!
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One of America’s First Principles is E Pluribus Unum, which means “Out of many, one.” We are different cultures, ethnicities, religions, races, sexual and gender orientations and more – yet we are united by our fealty to certain common principles. And when we adhere to those principles, they unite us.
Today too many Americans have retreated into silos – my race, my religion, my sex or sexuality, my political party or views, and so forth. That is the source of our disunity; it’s a perspective that focuses a lot on my or our rights, but too little on my or our responsibilities.
Stuck in our individual silos, we do not see the whole picture in America. We forget that our country belongs to all of us, both people who agree with you as well as people who do not. We forget that no one has a monopoly on the truth, and that there are high minded conservative as well as high minded liberal principles. We become fractured in our vision, and from there we cannot truly see one another or even the country itself.
One of my favorite poems is by Rumi: “Out beyond all ideas of good and bad, right and wrong, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
One of the worst problems in America is the almost unbelievable amount of judgment, even mean-spiritedness, that dominates our public discourse today. And it’s evident in little ways as well as big. At worst, we assume the worst about someone’s morals or values for no other reason than that they do not agree with us about a political issue. We must evolve beyond all that, to find Rumi’s “field” where people can actually meet. Only there will we be able to problem-solve in a more enlightened way.
I experience a lot running for President; I see the best in people and I see the worst. I see a lack of respect and honor in our national debate that is a poison in our body politic. It keeps the best and the brightest among us wanting nothing to do with politics, and for good reason. People who our Founders would have referred to as “scoundrels” now wield power to obstruct a most essential ingredient of democracy: our capacity to hear one another.
Running for President puts you right in the middle of all that, and it makes for an emotional roller coaster on a personal level. The experience is as mean and as corrupt as they say it is. But it leaves me with ever greater motivation to pierce the wall of obfuscation, to speak with my fellow citizens from the field that lies beyond. I know I’m not the only one who yearns for this. I see it in people who are liberal and conservative and progressive and politically agnostic, who long for a day when we are all just Americans again – when not every aspect of our identity as Americans has to be preceded by a separate subgroup, political or otherwise.
We can join in that place, where policy is debated but people are honored. Where systems are criticized but people are respected. And it is the only place where we can join. This repair of our hearts is essential if we’re to find a way to repair our country.
All of us are keepers of a flame, stewards of our democracy and responsible for its well-being and furtherance. Let’s think not only of ourselves, but of the state of our country. We are needed at this time, challenged by history to show up at this time as nothing less than our better selves.
In the last two presidential elections, many young voters embraced Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Democratic primary campaigns [of 2016 and 2020] as an attempt to break through the limits of corporate politics. Despite his popularity, however, the machinations of the party machine proved highly resistant to Sanders and his social democratic politics. In 2024, with the exception of progressive Marianne Williamson, Sanders-style democratic socialist politics will apparently not even be a primary option for Democratic voters.
Tellingly, earlier this year the House of Representatives passed a resolution sponsored by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), a supporter of the far-right “Freedom Force” caucus, denouncing “the horrors of socialism.” The resolution passed only thanks to the support of 109 Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and other party leaders. House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) took the nuanced position of voting for the anti-socialism resolution while also denouncing it as “phony, fake, and fraudulent.”
What a pathetic state of affairs! Unfortunately for the red-baiter types, socialism as the proverbial swamp creature of U.S. politics is a tired, and increasingly irrelevant, theme in the public imagination. But there is a more serious discussion of socialist perspectives that should be taking place, starting with a question posed by [socialist scholar] Nancy Fraser and other socialist thinkers. Why can’t major industries be run according to a rational, democratically determined plan, instead of left to the inherent chaos of “free market” capitalism?
“This whole question of what to produce, how much, and what to do with surplus that is profit, these should be fundamental political questions,” concludes Fraser. “Socialism is the democratization of the decision making about all those questions. Socialism is essentially egalitarian in vision.”
We could use more egalitarian vision in politics. Instead, it’s as if political power in the United States exists now not for democratic representation or to improve society, but as just another elite mechanism for the extraction of wealth from working Americans. This is neoliberalism stripped to its essence, a system that asks working people to demand nothing, and expect even less. It’s a broken system.
Love is learning how to dance
inside the light again.
. . . Remember that love’s
the only dance.
– Olivia Newton-John,
Amy Sky & Steven Mackinnon
From “Love Is Letting Go of Fear”
Today is the first anniversary of the death of singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, and to commemorate her inspiring life and legacy I share one of my favorite tracks from her 2006 album Grace and Gratitude. According to the album’s liner notes, this particular track, entitled “Love Is Letting Go of Fear,” honors the sacred truth that “Love is Divine Power.”
I appreciate how this song uses imagery of dance and dancing to convey its message. Accordingly, I’ve used images of dancer Thiago Pereira of the English National Ballet to accompany the lyrics of this beautiful song.
The pain is something
that you can’t ignore
You’re always wondering
what the hurt is for
Your heart feels something
that it can’t explain
You yearn for love
but you’re afraid to change
Remember . . . the wounded bird still sings
Remember . . . that faith has tiny wings
Love is letting go of fear
Love is letting go of doubt
Love is letting go of the chains
that tie your spirit down
And love is letting go of pain
Love is learning how to dance
inside the light again
You’re always haunted
by the love you’ve lost
You’re scared that
you’ll forever pay the cost
You believe this is the bitter end
Better lonely than be hurt again
Remember . . . there’s always one more chance
Remember . . . that love’s the only dance
Love is letting go of fear
Love is letting go of doubt
Love is letting go of the chains
that tie your spirit down
And love is letting go of pain
Love is learning how to dance
inside the light again
Love is letting go of pain
Love is learning how to dance
inside the light again
In the liner notes of Grace and Gratitude Renewed, Olivia wrote the following.
Grace and Gratitude was written at a time in my life when I needed some personal healing. I have always turned to music, meditation and prayer to guide me. I believe that healing starts with an attitude of gratitude, and even in my darkest hours I tried to remember all that I have to be grateful for.
In these past four years [2005-2008] the universe heard me and has restored joy, health and love into my life. I awoke to the love of my life, my husband John Easterling, and my seven year journey to launch the ONJ Cancer and Wellness Center in Melbourne, Australia has finally come to fruition.
I have been very touched by the response to the words and music of Grace and Gratitude and have had the privilege of sharing it in concert with many of you since its first release. I am so excited that my new friends at Green Hill and EMI are going to make this music available everywhere. With Grace and Gratitude Renewed, I want to bring some of the happy energy I have been blessed with these past few years, to this revisited collection. I have resung many of the songs, and invited a few dear friends [Mark Masri, Amy Sky and Marc Jordan] to sing with me. My producer, co-writer and dear friend Amy Sky and I were inspired to write a new song, “Help Me to Heal” – I love it and hope you do too. . . . Yours in love and light, Olivia.
As I noted at the beginning of this post, Olivia died from breast cancer a year ago today. She had lived with cancer since 1992, and throughout her journey with the disease she was a tireless advocate for breast cancer research and an inspiring role model for facing adversity in a loving spirit of trust, tenacity, and hope.
Olivia’s albums Grace and Gratitude and Grace and Gratitude Renewed bear witness to this spirit, one that ultimately is all about love, “the only dance” that really matters. The songs on these albums have a beauty and flow that both grounds and inspires. . . . Much like the the moves of a dancer.
It’s the 78th anniversary today of the dropping of an atomic bomb by the U.S. on the Japanese city of Hiroshima (above). A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. The two bombings, which took place in the final days of World War II, killed between 110,000 and 210,000 people, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
In commemorating those who perished in these terrible bombings, Norman Solomon shared his thoughts today on current nuclear weapons policies of both Russia and the U.S. in an article published on the progressive media platform, Common Dreams. Following is an excerpt.
Today, in some elite circles of Russia and the United States, normalized talk of using “tactical” nuclear weapons has upped the madness ante. It can be shocking to read wildly irresponsible comments coming from top Russian officials about perhaps using nuclear weaponry in the Ukraine war. We might forget that they are giving voice to Russia’s strategic doctrine that is basically the same as ongoing U.S. strategic doctrine – avowedly retaining the option of first use of nuclear weapons if losing too much ground in a military conflict.
Daniel Ellsberg wrote near the close of his vital book The Doomsday Machine: “What is missing – what is foregone – in the typical discussion and analysis of historical or current nuclear policies is the recognition that what is being discussed is dizzyingly insane and immoral: in its almost-incalculable and inconceivable destructiveness and deliberate murderousness, its disproportionality of risked and planned destructiveness to either declared or unacknowledged objectives, the infeasibility of its secretly pursued aims (damage limitation to the United States and allies, ‘victory’ in two-sided nuclear war), its criminality (to a degree that explodes ordinary visions of law, justice, crime), its lack of wisdom or compassion, its sinfulness and evil.”
Dan dedicated the book “to those who struggle for a human future.”
A similar message came from Albert Einstein in 1947 when he wrote about “the release of atomic energy,” warning against “the outmoded concept of narrow nationalisms” and declaring: “For there is no secret and there is no defense; there is no possibility of control except through the aroused understanding and insistence of the peoples of the world.”
To read Norman Solomon’s piece, “The U.S. Government Once Called Hiroshima and Nagasaki ‘Nuclear Tests’”, in its entirety, click here.
Image: In 1945, an Allied war correspondent stands in the ruins of Hiroshima, weeks after an atomic bomb leveled the Japanese city. (Photo: Associated Press)
The indictment of former President Trump on charges that he sought to overturn the results of a presidential election is a huge thing, and we should treat it as such. But we should view this first and foremost as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans. The charges against the former President are very serious, and we should not allow our personal view of him to lessen our dedication to the rule of law or to the pursuit of justice. The former President should be shown no preferential treatment, and at the same time he should have the rights of any defendant in a criminal case. A core principle of American justice is that all are innocent until proven guilty.
I am old enough to remember Watergate, and I can honestly say that it didn’t seem to be a partisan issue at the time. Both Republican and Democratic Senators were involved in the search for truth, seemingly equally so. And the country was much stronger because of it. What matters most here is not anyone’s opinion of the former President, but rather the integrity of our elections and the strength of our legal system.
Being indicted on felony charges is no small thing, and – as much as I seriously disagree with Donald Trump, and wish to see him held accountable for any wrongdoing he did while in office or afterwards – on a human level I feel compassion for what he and his family must be going through. In order to navigate the times in which we live, we must reach into our heart for answers – not the answer to this question or that, but rather the ultimate answer: a wiser, deeper, more loving and mature view of all things including politics and society.
Starting now let each of us drop any personal animus toward either Trump or toward the team that has brought charges against him. This is too serious an issue to either celebrate his misfortune, or to simplistically assume his indictment is politically motivated. As Americans, a responsibility of citizenship is to bring the best of who we are to who we are as citizens.
My hope is that this case proceeds correctly on every count, and above all that justice be done. This is America – and that’s the way it should be.
Well, it's the sweeping indictment that we were anticipating of alleging a broad scheme to subvert the election and to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.
The allegations are shocking, even though they were expected. This really was an attempted coup, and so it is a somber day in our country, to be reading this narrative account of what the former president attempted to do.
I established The Wild Reed in 2006 as a sign of solidarity with all who are dedicated to living lives of integrity – though, in particular, with gay people seeking to be true to both the gift of their sexuality and their Catholic faith. The Wild Reed's original by-line read, “Thoughts and reflections from a progressive, gay, Catholic perspective.” As you can see, it reads differently now. This is because my journey has, in many ways, taken me beyond, or perhaps better still, deeper into the realities that the words “progressive,” “gay,” and “Catholic” seek to describe.
Even though reeds can symbolize frailty, they may also represent the strength found in flexibility. Popular wisdom says that the green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm. Tall green reeds are associated with water, fertility, abundance, wealth, and rebirth. The sound of a reed pipe is often considered the voice of a soul pining for God or a lost love.
On September 24, 2012,Michael BaylyofCatholics for Marriage Equality MNwas interviewed by Suzanne Linton of Our World Today about same-sex relationships and why Catholics can vote 'no' on the proposed Minnesota anti-marriage equality amendment.
"I believe your blog to be of utmost importance for all people regardless of their orientation. . . . Thank you for your blog and the care and dedication that you give in bringing the TRUTH to everyone."– William
"Michael, if there is ever a moment in your day or in your life when you feel low and despondent and wonder whether what you are doing is anything worthwhile, think of this: thanks to your writing on the internet, a young man miles away is now willing to embrace life completely and use his talents and passions unashamedly to celebrate God and his creation. Any success I face in the future and any lives I touch would have been made possible thanks to you and your honesty and wisdom."– AB
"Since I discovered your blog I have felt so much more encouraged and inspired knowing that I'm not the only gay guy in the Catholic Church trying to balance my Faith and my sexuality. Continue being a beacon of hope and a guide to the future within our Church!"– Phillip
"Your posts about Catholic issues are always informative and well researched, and I especially appreciate your photography and the personal posts about your own experience. I'm very glad I found your blog and that I've had the chance to get to know you."– Crystal
"Thank you for taking the time to create this fantastic blog. It is so inspiring!"– George
"I cannot claim to be an expert on Catholic blogs, but from what I've seen, The Wild Reed ranks among the very best."– Kevin
"Reading your blog leaves me with the consolation of knowing that the words Catholic, gay and progressive are not mutually exclusive.."– Patrick
"I grieve for the Roman institution’s betrayal of God’s invitation to change. I fear that somewhere in the midst of this denial is a great sin that rests on the shoulders of those who lead and those who passively follow. But knowing that there are voices, voices of the prophets out there gives me hope. Please keep up the good work."– Peter
"I ran across your blog the other day looking for something else. I stopped to look at it and then bookmarked it because you have written some excellent articles that I want to read. I find your writing to be insightful and interesting and I'm looking forward to reading more of it. Keep up the good work. We really, really need sane people with a voice these days."– Jane Gael
"Michael, your site is like water in the desert."– Jayden
