Latest news with #Episcopalians
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Religious leaders protest GOP tax, Medicaid bill: 'It hurts working people'
WASHINGTON, D.C. ‒ Carrying caskets covered with statistics of how many people would lose Medicaid and SNAP in each state if the budget bill currently under negotiation is signed into law, about 25 faith leaders and religious believers blocked the street outside the US Capitol to pray. A few minutes later, Capitol Police arrested all of them, ending what had been a 250-person protest. Inside the Capitol, the Senate prepared to vote on a sweeping bill that makes tax cuts, slashes Medicaid and SNAP benefits and scales up border security. The protesters chanted: "You will not kill us. And our people. Without a fight." They took turns crowding into patches of shade and passing out mini bottles of water and mandarin oranges in the nearly 90 degree heat. Most were religious leaders in full vestments, representing Catholics, Episcopalians, United Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Jews, Muslims and the United Church of Christ. Other protesters included small children, people in wheelchairs and people with signs explaining why they need Medicaid. Bishop William J. Barber, II, told USA TODAY in an interview before the protest that religious leaders have an obligation to raise a "serious moral dissent" to the cuts in the bill. "This is moral work, holy work. We would be doing less than our calling if we didn't demonstrate and stand up there," Barber said. "We are supposed to be in the public square speaking up for the poor and the least of these. We are supposed to say to the nation: 'how you treat the least of these is how you are going to be judged.'" The Rev. Cindy Kohlmann, 51, of Wilmington, Delaware, of the Presbyterian USA Church said she thinks Congress' spending bill is immoral. One in five people in her community relies on Medicaid, she said. "This is exactly the wrong way to be the country that leads the world. We need to lift from the bottom so everybody rises and this bill is meant to kill our neighbors," Kohlmann said. "If this bill passes, one in five of my neighbors is in danger of death, and that's not an overstatement. It's not an exaggeration." Cars honked as people took turns speaking next to a stack of caskets about what the proposed cuts to Medicaid and food stamp benefits will mean for them. Republicans have said the cuts are necessary because the programs have become too large, are used by people who don't need them and that they are full of waste, fraud and abuse. Nationwide, between 12 million and 20 million people could lose Medicaid under deep cuts to the health insurance program proposed by Senate Republicans, according to two estimates. Medicaid provides health insurance to more than 71 million low-income Americans, including 40% of children and 60% of nursing home residents. More: Medicaid cuts, no taxes on tips and overtime: What's in the Trump-backed Senate megabill? The bill also includes new requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, which provides food assistance to around 42 million Americans, and shifts more of the cost to states. Lisa Hayes, 67, of Fairfax, Virginia held up part of a sign that read Feed Our Kids! with others from her Unitarian Universalist church. "We believe in justice for all. We're here today to tell them this bill isn't right. It hurts working people," she said. Moral Monday protests began in 2013 in North Carolina by Barber and spread to other states as an effort by religious leaders of all faiths to push back on legislative efforts to cut the social safety net. "I just hope that we can be heard, that Americans know that we are standing here together and many, many of us are risking arrest to protect the majority of people in these country," said Rabbi David Shneyer of Rockville, Maryland. The group next meets in Washington for a protest outside the Supreme Court on August 4 and September 8. Barber said they are prepared for the long haul if the bill passes. "The very people they make mad today are going to be the voting power of tomorrow," he said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Faith leaders arrested while protesting GOP mega bill
USA Today
30-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Religious leaders protest GOP tax, Medicaid bill: 'It hurts working people'
Religious leaders demanding "moral" budget, arrested while praying outside Capitol, as Senate considers mega-bill WASHINGTON, D.C. ‒ Carrying caskets covered with statistics of how many people would lose Medicaid and SNAP in each state if the budget bill currently under negotiation is signed into law, about 25 faith leaders and religious believers blocked the street outside the US Capitol to pray. A few minutes later, Capitol Police arrested all of them, ending what had been a 250-person protest. Inside the Capitol, the Senate prepared to vote on sweeping bill that makes tax cuts, slashes Medicaid and SNAP benefits and scales up border security. The protesters chanted: "You will not kill us. And our people. Without a fight." They took turns crowding into patches of shade and passing out mini bottles of water and mandarin oranges in the nearly 90 degree heat. Most were religious leaders in full vestments, representing Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Jews, Muslims and the United Church of Christ. Other protesters included small children, people in wheelchairs and people with signs explaining why they need Medicaid. Bishop William J. Barber, II, told USA TODAY in an interview before the protest that religious leaders have an obligation to raise a "serious moral dissent" to the cuts in the bill. "This is moral work, holy work. We would be doing less than our calling if we didn't demonstrate and stand up there," Barber said. "We are supposed to be in the public square speaking up for the poor and the least of these. We are supposed to say to the nation: 'how you treat the least of these is how you are going to be judged.'" The Rev. Cindy Kohlmann, 51, of Wilmington, Delaware, of the Presbyterian USA Church said she thinks Congress' spending bill is immoral. One in five people in her community relies on Medicaid, she said. "This is exactly the wrong way to be the country that leads the world. We need to lift from the bottom so everybody rises and this bill is meant to kill our neighbors," Kohlmann said. "If this bill passes, one in five of my neighbors is in danger of death, and that's not an overstatement. It's not an exaggeration." What they are protesting Cars honked as people took turns speaking next to a stack of caskets about what the proposed cuts to Medicaid and food stamp benefits will mean for them. Republicans have said the cuts are necessary because the programs have become too large, are used by people who don't need them and that they are full of waste, fraud and abuse. Nationwide, between 12 million and 20 million people could lose Medicaid under deep cuts to the health insurance program proposed by Senate Republicans, according to two estimates. Medicaid provides health insurance to more than 71 million low-income Americans, including 40% of children and 60% of nursing home residents. The bill also includes new requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, which provides food assistance to around 42 million Americans, and shifts more of the cost to states. Lisa Hayes, 67, of Fairfax, Virginia held up part of a sign that read Feed Our Kids! with others from her Unitarian Universalist church. "We believe in justice for all. We're here today to tell them this bill isn't right. It hurts working people," she said. Moral Monday Moral Monday protests began in 2013 in North Carolina by Barber and spread to other states as an effort by religious leaders of all faiths to push back on legislative efforts to cut the social safety net. "I just hope that we can be heard, that Americans know that we are standing here together and many, many of us are risking arrest to protect the majority of people in these country," said Rabbi David Shneyer of Rockville, Maryland. The group next meets in Washington for a protest outside the Supreme Court on August 4 and September 8. Barber said they are prepared for the long haul if the bill passes. "The very people they make mad today are going to be the voting power of tomorrow," he said.
TimesLIVE
15-05-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
US Episcopal Church's frostiness is a hint — the ‘refugees' are in for a shock
Even before the 49 Afrikaner 'refugees' landed at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on Monday, the Episcopal Church (we use the term Anglican) in that country made it clear that they would refuse to 'resettle' these white South Africans. The reasons were many, according to a story by the Associated Press. These were not 'refugees' by any stretch of the imagination. Said a conservative Christian friend in the US, never have fleeing refugees had so many earthly goods weighing down airport trolleys, and that after alighting from a private charter plane, nogal. In refusing, presiding Bishop Sean Rowe of Episcopal Migration Services was defying a federal government instruction to resettle white South Africans, citing his church's 'commitment to racial justice and reconciliation'. Yes, the church had a refugee resettlement grant with the federal government, but this distasteful act of racial provocation flew in the face of a long history of working with the Anglican Church of South Africa fighting the real racism of apartheid oppression. In other words, the Episcopalians saw right through this racist charade and took a stand that will surely exact a price from a vengeful Donald Trump. The white South Africans had jumped the queue. Real refugees wait for years to go through vetting processes and might still not get in. So what's the rush? Trump was doing what he does best: give a racist dog whistle to white supremacists around the globe. I am your man. These poor souls in South Africa, whose ears are well-attuned to shrill racist sounds, jumped to attention. The motley group that made their way to the US Embassy in South Africa are not wealthy farmers who lost their farms; these are ordinary whites, as brilliant historian Neil Roos called them, suddenly receiving attention from a white supremacist with a bully pulpit and enormous political clout. Like a used condom, Trump will discard them for he would have got out of the 'refugees' what he wanted — a political quickie to impress his MAGA base. Pushing white South Africans to the front of the refugee queue should not surprise us. Long before Trump even heard about South Africa (or Lesotho, the country he claimed nobody knows about), he called African nations 'shithole countries'. Channelling Hitler, Trump said of immigrants from Africa and Asia that they were 'poisoning the blood of our country'. On more than one occasion then candidate Trump expressed his preference for immigrants from 'nice countries' like Denmark or Switzerland. Whites, in other words. I hope these 'refugees', should they have any capacity for self-reflection, will see that their saviour is the same man who sent a legitimate American resident with a dark skin to a prison hellhole in El Salvador leaving his family in huge distress; that a brown-skinned mother had her little girl wrested from her arms and sent from Florida to Cuba; that a young Muslim student was thrown into the slammer for daring to co-write a pro-Palestinian editorial for her college newspaper. Or maybe they too don't give a damn; after all, those persecuted are not white people like themselves. The 'refugees' are in for a shock. There are millions of Americans disgusted with the racist bond between them and Trump that unfairly fast-tracked their clearance into a foreign country; it will not be long before they get an earful from the locals. From all over the US, I have received messages of shock and disgust that they came into their country on an openly racist ticket. The group will soon discover that Trump's Executive Order 14224 made English the official language (another political stunt) and that it will be hard to communicate in cultural isolation. Then they will find that having been part of this racist complot, it is going to be difficult to secure well-paying work in an economy reeling from Trump's tariffs, and this time you cannot blame 'the blacks'. Like a used condom, Trump will discard them for he would have got out of the 'refugees' what he wanted — a political quickie to impress his MAGA base. When that realisation hits them, I comfortably predict that some of the 'refugees' will begin to make their way home perhaps even before Trump leaves office in less than four years. Unlike the oppressive white state that spawned them, this government will not issue the 'refugees' one-way tickets into exile as was done to thousands of South Africans who had the decency to resist apartheid. Our government, with all its faults, has been remarkably restrained, even generous, in their handling of these people whom, make no mistake, spat in the faces of black South Africans with this dastardly act. They cheapened the hard work of reconciliation and showed no grace having been let off the hook for the crime of apartheid. As I searched the faces of the 'refugees' in photographs of them leaving Johannesburg and arriving in the Washington area, I felt for the young children with them. The little ones had no say in the matter, and I can only hope that they will one day wake up to the knowledge that they were pawns in a tryst with the devil.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Internal discussions' involved putting Biden in wheelchair if reelected, new book claims
A new book chronicling former President Joe Biden's fateful decision to seek reelection claims that White House aides considered the possibility he would need to use a wheelchair if elected to a second term. According to the book, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, Biden staffers were concerned about the president's physical health as he campaigned for reelection at age 81, but felt it would be 'politically untenable' for him to use a wheelchair during the campaign. They believed his physical condition would increasingly suffer if he served four more years in power. 'Biden's physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair,' the authors write, according to excerpts published Tuesday by Thompson in Axios. The book, set to be released on May 20, is based on interviews with more than 200 people, mostly influential members of the Democratic Party, who witnessed the final two years of the Biden presidency, according to Axios. Almost all the interviews took place after the 2024 election, looking back on Biden's decision to drop out of the race over the summer and endorse then-Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, only for her to lose to Trump in November. According to the book, Biden staffers increasingly feared the president would have a bad fall after he tripped over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy in June 2023. They took measures to prevent a repeat before the election, including 'insisting on handrails for steps up to the stage at his appearances.' 'Given Biden's age, [his physician Kevin O'Connor] also privately said that if he had another bad fall, a wheelchair might be necessary for what could be a difficult recovery,' the authors wrote. In a statement to Axios, Biden's camp pushed back on the reporting. Medical exams of the president 'made clear that he had a stiffened gait caused, in part, by wear and tear to his spine — but that no special treatment was necessary and that it had not worsened," a spokesperson told the news outlet. 'He was transparent about this, and it was far from 'severe,'' the person said. 'Yes, there were physical changes as he got older, but evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity.' 'And so far, we are still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline,' they continued. 'In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president." Donald Trump takes credit for a 'new word' — a word first used in the 16th century Trump administration cuts another $450 million from Harvard Episcopalians tell Trump 'nee' to resettling white South Africans State House spat: lawmaker blocked from testifying on his own bills Markey, Mass. pols call on Trump to reverse course on AmeriCorps cuts Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Donald Trump takes credit for a ‘new word' — a word first used in the 16th century
President Donald Trump took credit for creating a new word while talking about lowering drug prices — a word first used in the late 16th century. During a press conference on Monday, Trump raised the issue of drug prices and said that, through an executive order, drug prices in the United States will be reduced by '60, 70, 80, 90%.' Lowering drug prices will 'equalize' with drug prices across the globe. 'Basically, what we're doing is equalizing,' Trump said. 'There's a new word that I came up with, which is probably the best word. We're going to equalize where we're all going to pay the same. We're going to pay what Europe's going to pay.' However, the word has been around for much longer despite the president's claim. 'Equalize' was first used in 1599, according to Merriam-Webster. The president has a history of making similar claims of making up words or introducing new words to the American lexicon. In April, Trump addressed his sweeping tariffs in the aftermath of 'Liberation Day' and used the word 'panican.' 'The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,' he wrote on Truth Social on April 7. 'Don't be Weak! Don't be Stupid! Don't be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!' During his first term in May 2017, Trump tweeted a partial sentence that ended with the word 'covfefe' before he deleted the tweet and followed it hours later with, 'Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe' ??? Enjoy!' Almost a decade ago, in December 2015, Trump spoke in South Carolina on the campaign trail about his use of vocabulary while attacking the Obama administration. 'I'm very highly educated,' Trump told supporters. 'I know words, I know the best words. But there's no better word than stupid.' Episcopalians tell Trump 'nee' to resettling white South Africans Markey, Mass. pols call on Trump to reverse course on AmeriCorps cuts Harvard letter says university shares 'common ground' with Trump admin Key Trump policy more popular than his overall job performance - even among Democrats Mass. voters are increasingly pessimistic in new poll. Who they're not blaming Read the original article on MassLive.
