As this article makes clear, William Barr is s religious extremist too. He’s a Catholic and it is interesting to note that a good number of right wing extremists in position of power are Catholics, not least on the Supreme Court. It was in the Catholic Church that my early religious training and mis-education began and ended. In my late teens I said to myself, “Who needs all this guilt inducing moralizing?” I answered, “Not me.” And promptly left the church and religion behind. No regrets on that decision.

John Conyers was a great son of the African American people and a leader of the progressive movement for more than a half century. He was one of those extraordinary African American leaders that grew up in and came out of Detroit decades ago. Much of what animates today’s movement and frames the current conversation in the Democratic presidential primary were John’s talking points a half century ago. He wasn’t perfect, but, oh my, what courage he possessed and when it came to fighting for equality, justice, and peace, he was fearless. And the guy was cool! I’m saddened.

Here is his obituary in the NYT:

The father of John Conyers Jr. — John Conyers Sr. — was an auto worker and part of a whole cohort of young Black auto workers, including  Coleman Young and Dave Moore, who were at the heart of the organization of Ford and its giant River Rouge plant as well as in the middle of the political transformation of Detroit back in the day. No doubt their readiness to battle titans and their superior political intelligence left their mark on a young John Conyers Jr. Long may they run!

What’s the energizer bunny of Trump’s base? In Trump’s mind and by his words, the answer is clear. It’s racism. Whenever he’s in trouble, and he’s in big trouble now, racist tropes come out of his mouth, fast and furious, to rally his die hard supporters around him. Yesterday he did it again when he said he was the victim of a “lynching” by Congressional Democrats who are doing no more than exercising their constitutional duty as a check and balance on presidential misbehavior and lawlessness.

Here we have the appropriation of a word and act that has a particular meaning and long and shameful history and its redeployment in the service of — of all things — an out of control white supremacist president. This isn’t so much an irony of history as a butchering, emptying, and refashionig of history by a political descendant of racist hangmen and redeemers of the 19th and 20th centuries in the South and elsewhere. Impeach now, and if necessary, defeat next fall.

Bluster is never a good substitute for a politics that is grounded in reality.