"It’s never been about whether or not I’m going to lose my tax-exempt status. It’s whether I’m going to lose my prophetic status."

"Let’s not be wussy about this. When we see sin, then name it. But I think it limits me, if somebody believes that I am tied to a candidate or political party."

So said Bonnie A. Perry, an Episcopal Bishop, quoted in a NYT article that's mostly about a Lutheran pastor,  Jonathan Barker, who resigned from Grace Lutheran (in Kenosha, Wisconsin) rather than give up on his plan to deliver a sermon about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, endorsing her as a Democratic Party candidate for President in the 2028 election.

The article is "He Tried to Endorse From the Pulpit. He Wound Up Without a Church. The I.R.S. says churches can now support candidates during services, but many denominations still forbid it. A Wisconsin pastor learned the hard way."

So is this about religion or tax exemptions? Bishop Perry refers to "my tax-exempt status," but it's about the ability of all the donors to her church to claim a tax exemption.

It used to be clear that endorsing a political candidate would disqualify a church from its tax-exempt status, but there was a lawsuit challenging that and the Trump administration settled the lawsuit and said that churches could endorse candidates "to their own congregations, in connection with a worship service."

That doesn't mean they should. They may, like Perry, wisely refrain from losing their clout, their fervor, their credibility. Who would go to church to be harangued about voting for the latest Democrat? And then on top of that, you have to worry that you might lose their tax deduction if your church strays beyond the limited concession made in settling that lawsuit.

The churches have good reason to maintain a wall of separation between "the garden of the church" and "the wilderness of the world," even if there's a loophole in the tax law.

"It sounds like the police are just really angry at him for messing up their cars."

Said Ron Kuby, a lawyer for Jakhi McCray, quoted in "Brooklyn Activist Charged With Arson in Torching of 10 Police Vehicles/Jakhi McCray, 21, faces federal arson charges in connection with the burning of police vehicles in a parking lot last month" (NYT).

McCray is, according to the Times, a "pro-Palestinian activist" accused of burning 10 police cars. In the packed courtroom were "his mother and more than two dozen supporters in the courtroom, most of whom donned kaffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian resistance."

"After the court proceeding, an expletive directed at the police was found scrawled on a bench in Judge Kovner’s courtroom."

Speaking of vandalism... did you see this: "AOC's campaign office vandalized with red paint in NYC" (CBS)? Note the sign: "AOC funds genocide in Gaza."

Donald Trump, AOC, and Mamdani are all from Queens. Is there something about the culture/speech patterns of Queens that is political magic?

That's a question I asked Grok early this morning (and posted on X).

You might want to quarrel about how much each of these characters is really from Queens before comparing their style. 

I think the one who most deserves the "from Queens" designation is Mamdani, even though he was born in Uganda.

Feel free to read my chat with Grok — which includes details about the connections each of the 3 has to Queens, an effort to describe what distinguishes the people of Queens, and a search for other celebrities who might be quintessentially Queens —  here.

"How far Ms. Ocasio-Cortez can go is a hot topic for many Democrats right now."

"With her youth, charisma, social media skills and political savvy, she is being talked about nowadays as not only the obvious heir to Mr. Sanders as leader of the progressive movement, but as a possible presidential contender for 2028. This both recognizes her potential and feels premature at best.... Her mere existence spins up Republicans to a degree reminiscent of their reaction to Nancy Pelosi in her heyday.... The Fighting Oligarchy tour organized by Mr. Sanders and featuring her as a 'special guest' drew fired-up crowds in numbers worthy of a presidential campaign: about 15,000 in Tempe, Ariz.; 11,000 in Greeley, Colo.; 34,000 in Denver.... Democrats freaked out by Mr. Trump are clamoring for leaders who share their sense of urgency. Fighting Oligarchy, with its revolutionary fervor, is working to scratch that itch.... [A]lthough Mr. Sanders is the tour’s headliner... it is Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, serving as his fresh-faced, supportive warm-up act, who has many Trump-traumatized Democrats dreaming of a counterrevolution...."

Writes Michelle Cottle, in "What Ocasio-Cortez Wants for the Democrats" (NYT).

Her mere existence spins up Republicans!

Meanwhile, Democrats are itchy, and AOC is scratchy.

TikTok is working in the app now.

UPDATE: I'd been enjoying TikTok for the last hour, and then when I re-opened the app, I saw this message:

Direct and specific credit given to Trump, who's getting called "President Trump" a little early, but okay.

Here's the NYT article on the subject: "TikTok Flickers Back to Life After Trump Says He Will Stall a Ban/Some users saw the social media app come back online on Sunday, following a shutdown when a federal law went into effect requiring a sale or ban."

"This winter, I’ll try to prune more gently, and I’ll probably fail. Perhaps the trees will begin to move incrementally back toward pre-human growth patterns."

"Maybe, decades from now, the next human occupant of this land will give up on them entirely and 'prune them with a spade,' as my dad likes to say. Until then, I’ll stand expectantly under the Belle de Boskoop, which by this time of year should be dropping dozens of big, russeted apples on the ground. It has vigorous, almost uncontrollable branches, and we’ve pruned it hard every year in an attempt at sculpting its form. But it reaches ever upward, each lateral proudly unburdened by fruit. If it never crops, it’ll still be here: the Bartleby of my garden, quietly, stubbornly, declining participation in the grind."

Writes Manjula Martin, in "The Rebellion of a Fruitless Apple Tree/As the rest of our culture thrives on overexposure, why shouldn’t a garden have the right to retain an air of mystery?" (The New Yorker).

I'm blogging this article simply because we have apple trees that don't bear fruit. It's a topic that hits close to home, but I was also delighted to see Bartleby, one of my all-time favorite literary characters. Now, I can't help but feel that commenters will zero in on the word "unburdened," which has been said way too many times in the 2024 election cycle. This post was supposed to be a break from all the election blogging. It's about apple trees.

"Under traditional targeting principle... [the] pager attack... passes that basic test with flying colors.... It might be the most precise targeted strike [on] a military force embedded in a civilian population in the history of war.

Says David French, applying the United States's DOD Law of War Manual, in the new episode of the Advisory Opinions podcast, "The Legality of Israel’s Beeper Attack" (audio at transcript at Podscribe)(I've slightly edited the transcript to match the audio).

Under traditional targeting principles, which require necessity, distinction, and proportionality, necessity means: Is there a military need for this? Distinction means: Are you attacking only military targets? And proportional is: Are you using no more force than is necessary to accomplish your legitimate military aim?

This pager attack under that construct passes that basic test with flying colors.

Glorying in the humiliation of others — it's not an endearing trait.

LAWFARE: AOC admits the Democrat’s Lawfare against Trump is like an electronic ankle monitor limiting his ability to campaign. Shhh AOC you’re not supposed to admit that part. pic.twitter.com/gvtfulOrCQ

— @amuse (@amuse) May 22, 2024

"The left has always attracted certain people who relish the struggle against oppression primarily for the way it licenses their own cruelty..."

"... they are one reason movements on the left so reliably produce embittered apostates. Plenty of leftists have long fetishized revolutionary violence in poor countries, perhaps as a way of coping with their own ineffectuality. Che Guevara didn’t become a dorm room icon only for his motorcycle and rakish beret."

 
Writes Michelle Goldberg, in "The Massacre in Israel and the Need for a Decent Left" (NYT).

We also shouldn’t underestimate the role of antisemitism in warping people’s moral sentiments.

"Why haven’t you used your considerable clout as a Latina leader to visit the border and highlight the ongoing issues there now, like you did during the Trump administration?"

Lulu Garcia-Navarro of the NYT asks Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in "The Evolution of A.O.C./The congresswoman from New York says she’s different from when she first took office. But she’s not ready to call herself an insider."

Ocasio-Cortez answers weakly and evasively:

Well, this is something that we’re actively planning on. What I have done is tours of our New York-area facilities. Right now, this crisis is in our own backyard, and we have toured the Roosevelt Hotel, and I think it’s been very important for us to — especially to my constituents, who are demanding accountability on this — to look at that front line that is right here in New York City.

Garcia-Navarro interrupts: "I want to get to New York, but we’re two and a half years into this administration, the crisis has been burgeoning, and you have been a self-declared and widely viewed leader on this issue."

Ocasio-Cortez tries again but has little to improve her answer:

"Plant medicines like psilocybin and ayahuasca... they are beautiful because they give you exactly what you need, even if you don’t know what it is you need."

Said Veronica Duron, chief of staff for Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), quoted in "AOC, Dan Crenshaw and the mellow struggle for psychedelic drug access/What do a democratic socialist, a Republican war veteran and a long-haired lobbyist from Montana have in common? They want the government to relax about certain mild-altering substances" (WaPo).

Duron, a user of plant medicines, added that she didn’t know whether her boss would ever personally partake but knows the senator often “hears from his wealthy friends and supporters who micro-dose every day and have these experiences. And he is like, ‘These healing experiences shouldn’t be just for rich White people.’” Booker has co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) similar to Ocasio-Cortez’s amendment to study the medical benefits of certain psychedelics....

It's a racial justice issue — that's good political packaging for Booker (and others). Don't say it so it might be heard as: Let's get more drugs to black people. It has to be: If some people feel completely free and don't worry at all about criminal law enforcement, then let's make it equal. Or: It's a matter that inherently belongs to the individual, who gets to decide which of the possibly beneficial drugs to take. I wouldn't recommend calling psilocybin and ayahuasca "these healing experiences." Leave it to the (supposed) experts in the FDA to determine which which drugs are effective cures for diseases and disorders. You sound anti-science when you say "these healing experiences." You might as well start recommending religions if you're going to talk like that.

What's the difference between encouraging someone and egging him on?

I'm trying to read "Scoop: How Trump's team egged him on during CNN town hall" by Mike Allen (Axios).

The "scoop" is this:

Backstage during the first commercial break, Axios has learned, Trump adviser Jason Miller — as if psyching up a boxer in his corner or egging on a bully — showed Trump moments-old tweets from Democrats blasting CNN and saying Trump was winning.

"This honestly feels like a new low: not being able to clearly condemn a public murder because the victim was of a social status some would deem ‘too low’ to care about."

Tweeted Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, quoted in "Mayor Adams rips AOC for rush to conclude that Jordan Neely was 'murdered'" (NY Post).

The city medical examiner ruled Wednesday that Neely’s death was a homicide due to “compression of neck (chokehold).” Witnesses say that Neely was having a mental episode when another straphanger, identified as a 24-year-old Marine from Queens, took him down from behind and placed him in a chokehold for about 15 minutes. Still, Adams stressed that there are “so many unknowns at this time.”

"You’re actually super transphobic and I never want to share a space with you."

Said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to "Libs of TikTok" creator Chaya Raichik, quoted "AOC storms away from ‘Libs of TikTok’ creator on Capitol Hill" (NY Post).

AOC goes after Libs of TikTok.

.@AOC is absolutely TRIGGERED by @libsoftiktok pic.twitter.com/v0Ahedlm9r

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 8, 2023

ADDED: For a wider view of what's happening there, read Jonathan Turley, "Congress is set to expose what may be the largest censorship system in U.S. history" (The Hill).

"You don’t get to 'thoughts and prayers' your way out of this" — says AOC to Lauren Boebert.

.@laurenboebert you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws.

You don’t get to “thoughts and prayers” your way out of this. Look inward and change. https://t.co/mxt6wFMVEv

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 20, 2022

"It’s no secret that an enormous amount of party leadership in New York State is based on big money and old-school, calcified machine-style politics that creates a very anemic voting base that is disengaged and disenfranchised."

Said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling for the resignation of Jay Jacobs, the Democratic Party chairman in NY state.

Quoted in"If Democrats Lose the House, They May Have New York to Blame/Republicans flipped four congressional seats in New York, the most of any state in the country. How did this happen in one of the nation’s most liberal states?" by Nicholas Fandos (NYT).

[M]any progressives... lamented that numerous candidates had failed to stake out a bolder agenda that would inspire the state’s 6.5 million Democrats and to invest in more durable on-the-ground organizing, rather than trying to motivate voters out of fear of [GOP candidate for governor Lee] Zeldin.

"GOP lawmaker calls witness ‘boo’ at hearing, prompts Ocasio-Cortez apology."

WaPo reports. 

Here, watch for yourself, in case you, like me, found it hard to believe:

Glenn Greenwald asks why Marjorie Taylor Greene is saying this and AOC, Bernie, and their ilk are not.

Leave aside whatever views you have of MTG. Just put them in a corner for a second. OK, have we done that?

Now: think about the indisputable fact that not AOC, Bernie or a single Squad member could or would say most of what is in this thread, let alone in this tone, and ask why: https://t.co/ZuekWvA3Fw

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 18, 2022

"Voters in California delivered a stark warning to the Democratic Party on Tuesday about the potency of law and order as a political message in 2022..."

"... as a Republican-turned-Democrat campaigning as a crime-fighter vaulted into a runoff in the mayoral primary in Los Angeles and a progressive prosecutor in San Francisco was recalled in a landslide. The two results made vivid the depths of voter frustration over rising crime and rampant homelessness in even the most progressive corners of the country — and are the latest signs of a restless Democratic electorate that was promised a return to normalcy under President Biden and yet remains unsatisfied with the nation’s state of affairs. 'People are not in a good mood, and they have reason not to be in a good mood,' said Garry South, a Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist. 'It’s not just the crime issue. It’s the homelessness. It’s the high price of gasoline.'"

From "California Sends Democrats and the Nation a Message on Crime/The recall of a progressive prosecutor in San Francisco and the strong showing by a former Republican in the mayor’s race in Los Angeles showed the shifting winds on criminal justice" (NYT).

"For Democrats, the issue of crime and disorder threatens to drive a wedge between some of the party’s core constituencies, as some voters demand action on racial and systemic disparities while others are focused on their own sense of safety in their homes and neighborhoods. 'People walking the streets, in many cases, feel themselves in danger, and that’s got to be dealt with,' said Willie Brown, a Democrat who is the former mayor of San Francisco. But Mr. Brown said too many Democrats do not want to talk about 'what cops do' for fear of crossing the party’s activist class and offending 'A.O.S. or A.O.C. or whatever that woman’s name is,' he said dismissively of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the influential progressive."

Or whatever that woman’s name is.... Are Democrats going to overdo their sloughing off of their own extreme left?