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An investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency failed in its core mission to help Georgians with disabilities to find work.
IndieDems comment: Republicans dominate the Georgia Government. They hold the governorship and the majority in the General Assembly. The miserable performance of the GVRA is symptomatic of the general rule that Republicans perform well in winning elections and giving rich people tax breaks but are incapable of governing and meeting the needs of the people. Citizens then turn to the federal government for solutions--and Republicans scream bloody murder about the expansion of Big Government.
Prime example of the Republican gross incompetence in governing: the Trump Administration. And Republicans are working overtime to bring Trump back. Meaning, more tax cuts for the rich--and continued indifference to employment for the desperate to work disabled in Georgia
The AJC reports that Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris will bring her campaign to Georgia on Tuesday, July 30. Details about time and location are not available as of 7:30am on Friday, July 26.
Georgia state School Superintendent Richard Woods announced decision this week not to fund an Advanced Placement African American Studies course, it set off criticism and confusion on all fronts, from students and school districts to the governor and legislators.
The reaction to the decision was swift. Rashad Brown, a teacher who taught the pilot courses at Atlanta’s Maynard Jackson High School, was unaware of the superintendent’s action until contacted by an AJC reporter.
He commented: “Georgia Superintendent Richard Woods made an irresponsible decision without discussion or consideration for thousands of Georgians who have a right to learn their history.”
State Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn said, “The fact that AP African American studies was removed from our schools is alarming and an injustice to our students who eagerly anticipated taking this course. Erasure of Black history from our schools is not and never will be OK.”
A Gwinnett County school board member and Georgia’s 2020 and 2021 Teacher of the Year also criticized the decision.
On July 12 three Republican members of the State Election Board convened an impromptu meeting without giving adequate notification to other members or to the public. They approved new election rules, provoking, a widespread backlash. Critics question whether the hastily called meeting violates the Georgia Open Meetings Act.
On July 15, Fulton County Election Board Chair Cathy Woolard asked Kemp to remove the three state board members and the board’s executive director, who also participated in the meeting.
Here is IndieDems’ understanding of how the brand of Christianity practiced by Senior Pastor Clay Smith of the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church views the words and deeds of Donald Trump:
Pastor Smith sees no threat to Christian principles posed by Trump’s calling his political opponents “vermin”—a term frequently used by Adolf Hitler.
Pastor Smith sees no threat to Christian principles posed by Trump’s saying that migrants are “animals” who are “poisoning” the country.
Pastor Smith sees no undermining of Chrisian principles when an adult human being stands up in public and mocks a handicapped person.
Pastor Smith sees no threat to Christian principles when Trump calls the persons who served time for their criminal acts during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol “hostages” and “unbelievable patriots” and says he would consider blanket pardons for some of those charged.
Pastor Smith apparently sees no connection between Jesus’ teachings and the rule of law, a basic American value that upholds the values that Jesus espoused.
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principles in Trump’s extensive track record that establish his racism. Specifically:
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principles in Trump’s leadership of the racist birther movement against former President Barack Obama
Pastor Smith does not believe that these words and deeds establish Trump as a racist who lives a life contrary to the teachings of Jesus, and who is unfit to hold public office in the United States.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Jesus’ teachings, or of the Commandment against bearing false witness, when Trump, in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, made up a Big Lie that two Black election workers in Georgia had attempted to illegally manipulate the counting of ballots in the 2020 election.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles when Trump and his lawyer, Rudolf Giuliani, gave media interviews to publicize the lie about the election workers.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles when Trump—in a telephone conversation with the GA Secretary of State, trying to get him to prevent Georgia's electoral vote going to Biden—made the totally false allegation that one of the women was a “professional vote-scammer and hustler.”
Pastor Smith’s Christian empathy was not aroused when Trump’s false accusations subjected the poll workers to vicious threats and harassment, including people banging on their doors, forcing them to flee their homes, and turning their lives into a living hell. Pastor Smith slept soundly every night.
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principles in the fact that Trump kept the vile lie about Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Shaye Moss going for three years, until a trial exonerated the two, and the jury ordered Giuliani to pay almost $150 million in damages.
Pastor Smith unreservedly rejects any idea that Trump’s gross mistreatment and flagrant character assassination of two innocent Christians are so alien to the teachings of Jesus Christ, and to the Ten Commandments, that Trump showed himself not only unfit to be president, he showed he is unfit to be called a Christian.
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principles in the fact that in the mid-1990s, Trump sexually assaulted a woman named E. Jean Carroll, a crime two separate juries of ordinary Americans subsequently decided had happened.
(IndieDems note: For the details about the Carroll case see the original letter. Summary: Carroll at one point filed a lawsuit seeking damages for the alleged assault itself and for acts of defamation by Trump. On May 9, 2023, a federal jury in New York found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse and awarded Carroll a total of $5 million in damages. Trump immediately proceeded to show what a warped, twisted, and depraved soul he really is by resuming his public insults and defamation. Carroll launched a new lawsuit. On Jan. 26, 2024, the second jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to Carroll).
Pastor Smith saw no violations of the teachings of Jesus Christ in any of Trump’s serial acts of assault, libel and slander of an innocent human being.
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principles in Trump over and over again expressing his fulsome praise for democracy-hating, murderous thugs Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jung Un, Chinese President Xi, and Hungarian strongman Orban, all of whom who have repudiated America’s basic moral and democratic values.
Pastor Smith remained silent when Trump called the Iranian proxy Hezbollah, one of the world’s worst terrorist organizations, "very smart."
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principle in Trump’s suggestion that General Mark Milley, the highly respected former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserved execution.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles, or of the Commandment against lying, when Trump in 2022 took to social media to call for the termination of the Constitution in order to overturn the 2020 election and “reinstate” him to power. He based his deranged demands on his own false allegations that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles, or the Commandment against lying, when Trump, in an interview published on March 18, 2024, said “Jews who support Democrats hate Israel and their religion.” Pastor Smith maintained his silence after Trump’s campaign repeated his incendiary charge, declaring that “Trump is right,” and that the Democratic Party “has turned into a full-blown anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-terrorist cabal.”
(IndieDems comment: Remarkably, very few people who call themselves Christians have criticized these beyond-outrageous remarks by the man they want to make President of the United States. Their tolerance for warped, twisted, and depraved filth from Trump is bottomless. We ask again: where is there one iota of the teachings of Jesus Christ in these words?)
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principles in Trump’s repeated remarks about U.S. service members and veterans, including calling soldiers “losers” and “suckers,” and refusing to visit their graves on a visit to Europe. (For details, see IndieDems’ original letter).
Pastor Smith sees no violation of Christian principles in Trump’s demeaning of the military service of John McCain, delivered in force during his 2016 presidential campaign. Pastor Smith remained silent about Trump’s actions following McCain’s death: after the U.S. flag flying over the White House was lowered, Trump ordered it to be restored to full height even while McCain’s memorial services were still underway.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles when Trump publicly called a woman fat.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles when Trump publicly called a woman ugly.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles when Trump publicly called a woman Miss Piggy.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles when Trump publicly called a woman bimbo.
Pastor Smith saw no violation of Christian principles when Trump publicly labeled a woman a dog.
IndieDems: Final Words
Polls show an astonishing number of Americans who call themselves Christians who believe Donald Trump is God’s chosen man to save America. A prominent political observer has, in our view, summed it up concisely and eloquently:
“The result is a religious movement steeped in fanaticism but stripped of virtue. The Christian virtues touted in the New Testament — ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ — have been replaced in MAGA Christianity by the very vileness the same passage warned against, including ‘hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions’ and ‘factions.’ ”
My question to you, Pastor Smith: Based on your Christian principles, do you agree or disagree with that conclusion?
In recent days, IndieDems used social media to send an open letter to some pastors in Metro Atlanta, asking their response to comments by Trump that, to us, seem to be wanton disregard for the Christian ethos. Here is the one sent to Pastor Jeremy Morton of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock. Only the name was changed in the copy sent to other clerics.
Open Letter to Lead Pastor Jeremy Morton
First Baptist Church of Woodstock
Woodstock, GA
Dear Pastor Morton,
Over the weekend of June 15-16, former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin stated that President Trump had called for the execution of disloyal staffers. Trump was furious about leakers in his administration and insisted they should be put to death. Former Attorney General Bill Barr confirmed that during his tenure at the White House, Trump often mentioned executing his political adversaries.
And, of course, Trump in a social media post last September said that General Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserved to be executed for “disloyalty” to Trump. Trump while president regularly dressed down military officials, calling Milley a “dumbass” in 2021 and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis “the world’s most overrated general.”
My question to you, Pastor Morton: Do you believe calling for the execution of innocent people and insulting them is a gross violation of the teachings of Jesus Christ, that deserves condemnation by all true Christians?
Look forward to your answer.
Sincerely,
Tom Barksdale
Tom Barksdale
1025 Rose Creek Dr. – Suite 620
Woodstock, GA 30189
Governor Brian Kemp
206 Washington St.
Suite 203, State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Dear Governor Kemp:
I’m one of your constituents who considers himself well within the range of a normal American. I am an 80-year-old native Georgian and a Vietnam combat veteran who spent his 30-year career in Washington, D.C working with a national security agency. I give you these credentials to weigh when I state that I am a life-long Democrat. I believe I base my political decisions on the same use of facts and rational analysis that informed my career as an analyst.
My problem, Governor, is that I am unable to discern any facts or rational analysis that would lead you to support Donald Trump for president for the third time in a row. You and I seem to live in two totally separate dimensions of reality. The facts I look at describe Trump as an immoral, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, narcissistic, dumb-as-a-brick congenital liar and miscreant who is waging a war against America’s basic moral and democratic values, and who has taken God’s Ten Commandments and Jesus’ Golden Rule, spat on them, ripped them to shreds, tossed them on the ground, and trampled them into the mud.
And yet, after nine years of this person wantonly displaying all the above characteristics, you gleefully line up to kiss his behind and support his re-election.
(See: Kemp hitching his wagon to the lunatic fringe)
Rather than engage in abstract partisan bickering, I thought the best approach would be to start with Trump’s own words as the basis for discussion. Here are the words spoken by Trump recently which have received Brian Kemp’s stamp of approval:
”If we don’t win this election, I don’t think you’ll ever have another election in this country.” He also said, “If I am not re-elected, there will be a bloodbath for the country,” although he attempted to link the latter statement to what would happen to the automobile industry. Gov. Kemp, how can you approve those words?
Gov. Kemp, how can you approve of Trump saying about migrants “…these are not people. These are animals” and claim that foreign leaders are offloading their prison populations at the southern border, sending gang members and other undesirables to the United States.
The “country is being poisoned” by migrants. “We can be nice about it…But we have people coming in from prisons and jails, long-term murderers, people with sentences that the rest of their lives they’re going to spend in some jail in some country that many people have never even heard of.”
Gov. Kemp, how can you approve of Trump saying that the persons who either plead guilty or were convicted by a jury and were jailed over their violent acts during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol are “hostages” and “unbelievable patriots.” (Not criminals). He has said he would consider blanket pardons for some of those charged. These words prove that Donald Trump and Brian Kemp have utter contempt for the rule of law, don’t they, Governor?
Gov. Kemp, how can you approve of Trump letting it be known that he intends to enlist his 2016 campaign manager and convicted criminal Paul Manafort as a campaign adviser later this year? After resigning his position in the 2016 campaign, Manafort was convicted on bank and tax fraud felonies. He also was accused of hiding millions he made consulting for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians. He served time in prison before Trump pardoned him in the final days of his presidency.
I don’t recall the position you took, Gov. Kemp, on Trump’s pardon of many of the officials convicted of crimes in his Administration. No other President has so abused the pardoning power like this. Another example of tramping on the rule of law. Perhaps you can enlighten us, Gov. Kemp, on your assessment of Trump’s use of the president’s pardoning power, now that your hero has stated he will misuse it again to free the Jan 6 mobsters.
Now that Trump intends to reappoint this reprobate to a high position, Gov. Kemp, what is your position on the findings of the bipartisan Senate committee that investigated Russian interference in the 2016 elections and concluded that Manafort’s receptivity to Russian outreach was a “grave counterintelligence threat” that had made the 2016 campaign susceptible to “malign Russian influence?” The committee’s alarming findings obviously never caused you to waver in supporting Trump, despite Trump’s ties to Manafort. As of March 21, 2024, Kemp has shown no problem with Trump renewing his ties to this criminal who has strong ties to Russia.
(To understand what Gov. Kemp finds tolerable, see “A review of all the warnings about Paul Manafort from a 2020 bipartisan Senate report”)
The Trump-engineered incident, Gov. Kemp, that causes me to question whether you have any semblance of a moral conscience was Trump’s Big Lie alleging that two Georgia election workers engaged in criminal activity to manipulate the ballot count in the 2020 election. Trump joined his lawyer, Rudolf Giuliani, in a publicity campaign to spread the lie, unleashing a torrent of threats and intimidation of the two that turned their lives into a living hell. Trump kept the vile lie about Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Shaye Moss going for three years until a trial exonerated the two, and the jury orders Giuliani to pay almost $150 million in damages.
Brian Kemp never uttered one word of criticism of Trump’s gross mistreatment and flagrant character assassination of two innocent Georgians. Where is one iota of Brian Kemp being guided by Jesus’ teachings in this affair? (My conclusion is based on three Internet searches. If they somehow missed Kemp’s words and deeds, please let me know).
Gov. Kemp, how can you possibly claim loyalty to America’s basic democratic values while supporting for President of the United States someone who over and over again expresses his fulsome praise for democracy-hating thugs Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jung Un, Chinese President Xi, and Hungarian strongman Orban. Even Trump’s calling the terrorist organization Hezbollah "very smart," Gov. Kemp, did not alter your commitment to putting this dictator-loving authoritarian back in the White House. Not a problem, says Gov. Kemp.
(Last year, Trump suggested that General Mark Milley, the highly respected Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserved execution. Not a whisper of dissent by you, Gov. Kemp. In 2022, Trump took to social media to call for the termination of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election and “reinstate” him to power. He based his deranged demand on his own false allegations that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. You have expressed your views on this insanity, Gov. Kemp, by working to re-elect Trump as President, so he can use the power of the presidency to pursue his treasonous agenda).
In an interview published on March 18, Trump said “Jews who support Democrats hate Israel and their religion.” A few hours later, facing mounting criticism from Jewish groups, Mr. Trump’s campaign repeated his incendiary charge, declaring that “Trump is right,” and that the Democratic Party “has turned into a full-blown anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-terrorist cabal.”
Gee, Governor Kemp. As a Democrat, am I supposed to demean myself by even bothering to refute these beyond-outrageous remarks by the man you want to make President of the United States? Your tolerance, Governor, for warped, twisted, and depraved filth from Donald Trump is bottomless. I ask again: where is there one iota of the teachings of Jesus Christ in these words?
This despicable remark about Jews, Governor, is, in my opinion, about equal to the personal insult you and Trump have hurled in my face. Former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly last year confirmed that Trump had repeatedly made disparaging remarks about U.S. service members and veterans. On a trip to France in 2018, media reports said Trump had called the soldiers “losers” and “suckers” and refused to visit their graves.
And Trump during his 2016 election campaign and while serving as president repeatedly demeaned the military service of John McCain. After the White House flag was lowered following McCain’s death, Trump ordered it to be restored to full height even while McCain’s memorial services were still underway.
I am bereft of any understanding, Gov. Kemp, of how you and Trump can call me a loser and a sucker for serving in the armed forces of the United States. I accept the reality that my service means nothing to you, Trump, or most other Trumpist Republicans. Your accepting as normal nine years of Trump’s insults, libel, and character assassination of American service members offers a revealing insight into Brian Kemp’s heart and soul—and what an ugly picture it is.
I can only fall back once more on the famous words lawyer John Welch hurled into the face of Joseph McCarthy, the 1950s GOP equivalent of Trump’s lying demagogue, which drove a dagger into McCarthy’s sinister career: “Little did I dream that you could be so reckless and so cruel. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you (Brian Kemp) left no sense of decency?”
Trump’s words, Governor Kemp, are dangerous, demagogic, despicable, and full of outright lies. They far exceed whatever has been considered as within the mainstream of acceptable political speech in the past, however heated it may have been. Do I really have to explain to Brian Kemp the extremist nature of Trump’s words? Do I have to convince Governor Kemp that Trump is waging a war against America’s basic democratic values, against the Judeo-Christian ethos, against common human decency?
What makes your sycophantic support of a corrupt miscreant like Trump even more astounding, Gov. Kemp, is the fact that so many prominent Republicans have broken with Trump and are refusing to support his re-election—including former senior officials in his Administration. The leader of the pack: former Vice President Mike Pence announced in March that he would not support Trump’s presidential bid. Other formers senior officials who oppose returning Trump to the White House are: former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Attorney General William Barr, and former chief of staff John Kelly. And, of course, there’s Liz Cheney. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said that Trump’s calling the convicted Jan 6 hostages was “unacceptable.”
Their outspoken opposition speaks to Trump’s manifest flaws and how they are visible to those who know him best. “These former advisers have shared hair-raising observations of Trump’s outbursts, mind-set and personal depravity.” See "Ex-Trump advisers alert voters to his unfitness" for the explicit damning words of Esper, Barr, and Kelly. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said on CNN: “He doesn’t understand the job, particularly” in regard to national security.
One last plea, Gov. Kemp. Please explain to your constituents how you came to be so much smarter than Mike Pence, Mark Esper, William Barr, John Bolton, John Kelly, Bill Cassidy, and Liz Cheney—combined.
Look forward to receiving your response.
Sincerely,
Tom Barksdale
Carlton Fletcher in the Albany (GA) Herald
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