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Alternet ★For over a decade now, the political movement of President Donald Trump has relied heavily on the support of American Christians. 

This is especially true of Evangelicals, roughly 80 percent of whom backed Trump in all three of his elections. But on Friday, one Christian writer asserted that the faithful who voted for Trump should take a closer look at their Bibles.

This is according to Martin Thomas Johnson, who wrote in the popular spiritual publication Patheos that the Bible has much to say about recent political news, and that Trump is a “Master” who no one should rush to serve. To Johnson, there is an important connection between the president’s ego, the Reflecting Pool debacle, and a wave of recent cyberattacks.

As Johnson explains:

This week there’s been a lot of news about U.S. Attorney Janine Pirro over the alleged vandalism of the reflecting pool. At first she was adamant that it was vandalism that damaged the pool after Trump’s nearly $16 million beautification project.

But then:

she did a 180 and dismissed four of the cases of vandalism … Once she realized there was no legal standing for the cases, she quickly disagreed with the president . . . 

Continue @ Alternet.

Christian Writer Lays Out Biblical Justification For Rejecting Trump

Barry Gilheany ✍ When the news hit the TV networks and social media outlets on Friday night . . . 

. . . of the death of Jason Arday, whose resignation from his academic post at Cambridge University had dominated the national conversation for the last week, I was struck by a blancmange of competing emotion not least because I had contributed to the conversation with my most recent article for TPQ.

I guess many others were as well. There was the instant shock and horror at firstly the premature death of someone who had occupied such a prominent place in the public eye and at the likely cause of it as suicide. Secondly there was a feeling of guilt, no matter how fleeting and transient, for having been critical of a black public figure who had been the recipient of such a vicious pile on from the right-wing media and activists due to the background to Jason Arday’s professorial appointment in Sociology of Education. 

The reactions of the prominent black academic Kehinde Andrews and Labour MP Bell-Ribeiro Addy who were personal friends on BBC2’s Newsnight accusing his detractors of hounding him to his death acted as further guilt triggers before the usual leftoid suspects inevitably got into the act with their robotic and performative outrage. But there was also the feeling of needing to reinforce the rational thinking side of our cerebral organs by at least holding our thoughts until the moment of reflection as called for by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham had passed.

So now that a full weekend has passed amid the acres of newsprint and social media clicks devoted to feasting upon the metaphorical carcass of this appalling affair, so cooler heads and wiser counsels can prevail. And among the lessons to be learned and reinforced is that multiple things can be right at the same time. The euphemistically termed ‘race realist’ background of Jason’s prime accuser; the nakedly “anti-woke”, read false meritocratic and colour blind agenda of the coverage of the controversy by the Daily Mail and Telegraph and the much cited plagiarism misdeeds of prominent white academics by Jason’s supporters does not negate the case for judicious inquiry into the circumstances of his appointment by Cambridge including his academic bona fides and the truth of his voluntary and charitable works. Indeed such a reckoning is of particular import for the tackling of structural racism within academe and to protect the scholarly integrity of BMAE academics who have felt the impact on their employment and personal security by the fall out of the Jason Arday tragedy. Indeed, the toxic consequences of DEI corporate woke and BLM lite culture which led to an appointment of a feel-good figurehead and poster boy for diversity who may well have been promoted beyond his capabilities has been laid bare by many commentators. Such US administrative culture imports merely blackwash the institutions that deploy them and are a tool for the maintenance for continuing race and class inequalities in the corporate world.

Yet another layer to the Jason Arday tragedy is his neurodiversity; he was diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum. His friend and erstwhile Cambridge colleague Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge Autism Research Centre fame has questioned whether the appropriate support mechanisms were put in place by his employer. If Cambridge University knew of his autistic spectrum condition at the time of his appointment, then surely under the Autism Act 2009 and the Equalities Act 2010 (which subsumed all previous disability discrimination legislation) they were under a legal duty to provide the reasonable adjustments at work to accommodate his neurodiverse (or neurodivergent) traits such as Access to Work, assistive technology or appropriate environmental or ergonomic facilities. If they did not, they are, in my opinion, guilty of criminal negligence or at least callously setting him up to fail. From personal experience, I know what being appointed to supervisory and resource management roles without the relevant experience can lead to – fear of exposure and failure leading to depression and then to possible suicidal ideation. It is for the promised inquiry by the Cambridge authorities to determine what type of mental health and workplace support was in place for Jason Arday; if his relatives and the wider court of public opinion find shortcomings in this regard then there is a case for a public inquiry with the power to make the appropriate statutory recommendations.

Alternatively was Jason Arday’s working life made so difficult in the full knowledge of his neurodivergence (ND) that he was forced out with the sweetener of a compromise agreement offering him a lump sum of money in return for no words or action by him regarding his employer? It is an experience that I went through; the most adverse effect was the provision of a bland reference which proved to be a major obstacle in getting even volunteer posts in the counselling/charity sector and which, in the long term, has scuppered my counselling career ambitions. My guess is probably not but we shall wait for the inquiry to give an answer. 

At what stage of his life, did Jason receive his ND diagnosis (es)? What provisions were in place during his transition periods in life (primary to secondary education, teenage to adulthood and from higher education to the world of work? Were aspects of his personality such as fondness of jokes and playing the classroom fool as noted by his contemporaries which are often camouflages or coping strategies used by NDs to avoid being “found out” not factored into any diagnostic outcomes? Could he therefore have been saved from himself and not set up for last Friday’s dreadful denouement?

For now, let Jason Arday rest in peace. He undoubtedly brought pleasure and happiness to his students and colleagues on the sports field and in the various charitable ventures he was involved in as well as to his parents, siblings, and wider family circle. He had his faults and foibles as all humans. Whether through predisposition or happenstance, he became trapped in a vector of a false and malevolent DEI corporate window dressing culture; targeted hostility from equally malevolent hue and cry media and woke hunters; the pressure of being a beacon of heroic black achievement destined to crash to earth and the absence of proper signposting to negotiate an unforgiving neurotypical world.

⏩Barry Gilheany is a freelance writer, qualified counsellor and aspirant artist resident in Colchester where he took his PhD at the University of Essex. He is also a lifelong Leeds United supporter.

Reflections On The Death Of Jason Arday

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Sixty Five

 

A Morning Thought @ 3237

Gary Donnelly 🎤 In May this year I posted the comments below about the rise in sectarianism, young people and British policing.


I predicted that the lack of willingness to address the sickening rise in sectarianism and the dangers posed to our youth regarding this.

Events over the last few weeks have borne out predictions of increased sectarianism and the dangers of young people being sucked into such actions. You did not have to be a detective to see it. Unfortunately there is no appetite to try and deal meaningfully with this scourge. The recent removal of wood being stored in the Bogside for an annual bonfire by British colonial police has exacerbated the situation on the ground. This has not only infuriated young people in the area but a significant number of residents. Some of these residents were not supporters of the bonfire. The same happened a number of years ago when British police did a similar operation which again inflamed the situation. No lessons have been learned. This recent raid was designed to get a reaction from young people so that they can be vilified and demonised. It is important that they don’t fall into the sectarian trap set for them. In the words of one Fountain resident who I spoke to in the Bogside on Wednesday night after I was speaking to residents and young people about the PSNI operation and potential attacks on the Fountain,“ Gary the Prods didn’t take their wood.”

What needs to be called out is the lame excuse from the establishment and those politicians who swallowed it with blind acceptance and passivity.

Stormont minister Michelle O’Neil and local SDLP councillor John Boyle took to the airwaves parroting the establishment lines and demonising the youth. If this situation was so dangerous why were community leaders not engaged to deal with the specific issue beforehand. This has happened consistently in the past. 

The reality is that British policing has British agendas. Those who refuse call this out and continue to cheerlead for a discredited force are only adding to the problem. I am not a fan of bonfires but I wont be hypocritical as like many others did have involvement as a young person. Prohibition doesn’t work and selective prohibition reinforces the sectarian nature of the British establishment in the six counties. If this continues it is only a matter of time before some young person is killed. There needs to be meaningful dialogue to try and prevent this happening. It has to happen immediately and can't wait till July or August.

⏩Gary Donnelly is an Independent Republican Councillor on Derry & Strabane Council.

British Policing Has British Agendas

Richard Wolff ★ The whole world watches as China, Russia, and their allies square off against the US and whatever allies it retains.

Deeply divided by nationalism and deprived of its vast colonies by the last century’s catastrophic two world wars, Western Europe has been in decline ever since. 

Recently, that decline has become drastic and desperate as Western Europe falls ever further behind — economically, militarily, and politically — today’s two superpowers: the US and China. Mediocre and unpopular leaders reflect Western European decline. They bet and built their careers on accepting junior partner positions vis-à-vis the United States. 

But Europe’s decline now threatens to split Europe apart. Inside each nation, rich and powerful minorities use their social positions to sustain their wealth and power while the masses bear most of the burdens of decline offloaded onto them by the rich and powerful. 

The problems flowing from these cumulative developments are approaching points of social explosion. Despite the lessons taught by the two world wars, many Western European leaders once again provoke and prepare for a war, this time against Russia, notwithstanding the awful risks of nuclear weapons. One key question to ask: why is this happening?

Continue @ Richard Wolff. 

Why Europe’s Leaders Are Provoking War With Russia

Dr John Coulter ✍ I recently came across a post on social media lamenting now Sunday worship has become so diluted over the years.

This took me back to my Presbyterian upbringing in the north east Ulstger Bible Belt in the Sixties and Seventies and some of the supposedly unbreakable traditions and interpretations relating to the Biblical Fourth Commandment - remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

Being a minister’s son, it was usually a ‘full-on’ day in terms of activities. The itinerary could be intensive - 10 am: opening devotions prior to the morning Sunday school or Bible class; Noon: morning service which lasted until about 1.20 pm; 3 pm, after lunch, there was an independent Sunday school, usually run by either the Brethren denomination or the Faith Mission movement in a hall; 7 pm: after the tea time meal, there was an evening church service of about an hour; 8.15 pm, while the adults would go to a late evening service hosted either by the Faith Mission, or the Christian Workers’ Union, us young folk would attend a Youth Fellowship event in a church hall, which lasted until around 10 pm.

There was to be no television watched on the Sabbath, apart from the BBC evening television news bulletin, so the World Cup soccer final was a real challenge as it was usually played on Sundays.

I recall the 1974 final between West Germany and Holland. It was billed to be an exciting showdown and it seemed I was bound to miss it. I needed a cunning plan.

By sheer good fortune, a Loyal Order annual divine service was taking place that afternoon in dad’s church and the speaker was the Rev Martin Smyth, then Grand Master of the Orange Order. My mum was rather bemused when I offered to help her with the post service refreshments in the Presbyterian Manse, but it meant I was able to skip the service.

Dad had a small black and white portable TV which I sneaked into the so-called ‘good living room’ where the refreshments would be served. A sitting room blanket was delicately placed over it and the TV set tuned into the match coverage with the sound muted.

I offered to bring in the cutlery and china plates and cups to the ‘good living room’ while mum prepared the sandwiches and tray bakes. She was so busy with these preparations that she didn’t notice I brought the cutlery and china in one knife or plate at a time! And it took me around five minutes to put each fork in its place!

By the time dad and Rev Smyth came to the room for their refreshments, I’d managed to see both halves of the final, but not the presentation ceremony.

But there is a saying - be sure your sins will catch you out. I told mum I couldn’t go to church for evening worship as I had a history test on the Monday and there was a documentary on World War Two on TV that would help me with my revision.

It was actually the 1949 war movie ‘Twelve O’Clock High’ starring Gregory Peck, about the American air force raids on Nazi Germany. It’s a great film which I still watch today even in my late sixties!

Unfortunately, mum arrived back in the Manse just as the closing credits were running and before I could get the TV switched off! When she checked the television schedule, she realised it was not a ‘documentary’ as I had told her.

The Bible was the only book to be read on the Sabbath; there was to be no revision of school books, unless there was an important exam to be sat on the Monday morning. Traditional Sixties and Seventies comics, such as the Victor or the Topper were banned on Sundays.

I recall getting a severe dressing down when visiting one of my chums’ home on a Sunday, seeing some comics sitting on a chair - and picking one up! Judging by the reaction from the mother, you would have thought I had tried to petrol bomb the house!

And there was to be no buying of sweets or chocolate on the Sabbath. During the summer months, instead of the youth fellowship, we would decamp to the coastal town of Portstewart for the annual convention tent mission.

This would be followed by a walk along the promenade. We once met some attractive girls from another church, but the dirty looks I got from fellow Christians were severe when I asked the girls if they would like me to treat them to an ice cream! Apparently you could be theologically Hell-bound for buying a 99 cone ice cream on a Sunday!

I’ve always been a horror movie fan and for a period of time, there used to be a Hammer Horror double bill on TV starting late on a Saturday evening and running into the early hours of the Sabbath.

Obviously I was not allowed to watch it mainly because it ran into Sunday morning, but also because my parents had received complaints that the minister’s son’s interest in horror films was a “bad example” to set to the other young people in the community!

As Sunday was an exceptionally busy day for my parents, it was always off to bed as soon as the BBC’s Match of the Day had finished. There would be no half hour watching of Hammer Horror until midnight!

So I devised a mind map of the creaky staircases in our Victorian Manse, waiting until my parents went to bed, and then silently made my way downstairs to the sitting room which contained our black and white TV.

I’d open the back door and bring in my pet miniature Shetland sheep dog called Pluto, and with both of us snuggled under a blanket and with the TV audio well turned down, we’d watch Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein, monsters, aliens and zombies into the wee small hours of the Sabbath.

Mum and dad never suspected a thing, even when an elder mentioned to them about me constantly dosing off during the afternoon Sunday school! My late parents would be well into their eighties before I would finally confess about the Hammer Horror movie sessions in the Manse!

Given the increasingly secular society developing in Northern Ireland, I wonder if the Province’s Bible Belt will ever witness a return of the ‘gud auld dayes’ of traditional Lord’s Day observance we enjoyed in the Sixties and Seventies?

Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Dr Coulter has been a journalist since 1978 and is currently a political commentator with GB News.

Surviving Sober Sabbaths In The Sixties And Seventies!

Ten links to a diverse range of opinion that might be of interest to TPQ readers. They are selected not to invite agreement but curiosity. Readers can submit links to pieces they find thought provoking.


Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Sixty Four

 

A Morning Thought @ 3236

Kate Yo 🔖 Prison doctors . . .  screws in white coats - A McIntyre.


"Sweet light of Jesus what am I going to do? " ..Everything carried on, the world kept moving as if nothing had changed. But I knew..I knew a choice was coming. One I did not want to face." - Martina Anderson Choosing The Struggle.

Who could blame a woman in distress, especially in the eighties (1985) and especially an unmarried woman living in Buncrana on the run and pregnant. for choosing an abortion? Martina had been arrested along with another woman in Derry and charged with possession of a firearm and causing explosions.

She got, and jumped, bail, fled to Donegal along with her co-accused.

However Martina was no shrinking violet, she was a revolutionary. She grew up in the Bogside, one of seven sisters in a family of ten plus two parents. Her mother Betty is said to have been a stalwart for republicanism and her father Billy, nicknamed Dinky, was a Presbyterian. She writes of the economic hardship endured by such a big family who had little work. This situation was very common for those times. She drew a picture that could be replicated all over the North for those times, indeed even throughout the whole island.

This book however, has more than one aim. Not just to tell her story but of the sacrifices made by her and others to get the North of Ireland to this point. There's more to it though. More important than an outline of her life, she wants to push feminism forward, and to tell the story of the hardships imposed on women through incarceration for the cause of a united Ireland. But also she acknowledges that there is a dearth of accounts from women activists who went to jail. She does this very well.

After being charged with possession of a firearm and plotting to cause explosions she went on the run with her co-accused to Buncrana in Donegal just across the border from Derry. This was 1981. She was still there in 1985 when she found out she was pregnant. She had been seeing Paul Kavanagh but he was arrested in 1981 in England and given a natural life sentence. Due to this he wrote to her telling her to move on with her life, and she agreed and moved on. At that time she was living in a flat in Buncrana and working in a bar. During her spell there she was asked to go on an IRA operation. She then found herself pregnant in 1985 and being on the run was unable to go to England for an abortion so she flew to the continent and had it there.

That was quite something in those days, to fly to a country where the language and system was totally unknown and be able to access abortion services. The book doesn't say but I'd hazard a guess it was Germany, as that country was facing its own difficulties with the Bader-Meinhof. Perhaps there were underground links there to help her in this situation.

It was also a rather reckless thing to do as people were turned for less. It's doubtful the intelligence services on both sides of the border were aware of her trip abroad and its purpose as it could have scuppered the whole IRA operation she was involved in. However, it is written elsewhere that Peter Sherry was tracked from his home to the flat in Scotland where all five were arrested. Pat Magee too may have been under surveillance as this was shortly after the Brighton bombing. Her account of the arrest mirrors Magee's in his book, even the jest - well if you're looking for any more (info) you won't find it here.

After this arrest and charge she was taken first to Brixton, a men's prison which she describes as a hell hole and then on to Durham prison. Her account of the effect of prison on women is as good as any of the male writers such as Jaz McCann or Laurence McKeown.

For these women there were no other republicans in the jails with which to associate. To their credit they set about organising the women there in to small acts of taking control away from the prison authorities. Small, perhaps insignificant, acts of rebelliousness. There are no regular visits from families far away with little money. No regular parcels or Christmas skits that some have wrote about, just the impoverished environment of prison and its effects on the women's bodies and psychological health.

Slopping out for these women had the added degradation of the remains of menstrual periods, with no proper sanitation, toilets that didn't flush properly and sewage regurgitating into toilet bowls. Cockroaches and Victorian buildings with very little light, one window so high up on the wall only the sky was visible and very little natural light. Sometimes only one sanitary towel a day was given, period pain with no pain relief, locked away at night with severe pain and heavy flow. 

Martina was diagnosed with dysmenorrhea (severe pain and cramps). This led to a prison doctor who was ex-military performing an operation. He wanted to perform a hysterectomy but Martina thought that was too drastic and knew that all she needed was pain relief and polyps removed. They offered a D&C performed at an outside hospital by this ex Colonel Francis who was named within the prison as Dr Death. He had been known to have performed hysterectomies on many women, claiming he was an expert in that field. She was taken to hospital under armed guard and returned to the prison and simply left. Martina claims this botched surgery left her incapable of having children.

Martina's health suffered in later years due to the poor diet served while incarcerated. Her bones became a problem.

Martina married Paul Kavanagh and later the two were able to provide a good steady home for any needy child but were prevented from adopting as they were both ex-prisoners. This must have been a severe blow as many ex-prisoners after release went on to have their own families and settled down to parenthood well.

Martina emerges from this book a very likeable person, a principled and dedicated revolutionary. The reason for her abortion however is very controversial. On the one hand she has achieved a good account of imprisonment on women but on the other hand she has pushed back the abortion debate. Her book ends around the time of the repeal of the eighth and her party's fight for women's choice. The reason she chose abortion kills the argument. Choice for . . .  abnormalities, for mental health, reasons that are understandable, but to go on a bombing campaign? She speaks to those women who have had abortions. Speak up don't be silent, for you are not alone. However Martina's choice, or rather the reason for it is unique to her. In that she is alone.

Martina Anderson, 2026. Choosing the Struggle: an autobiography. Publisher: Beyond the Pale Books. ISBN-13: 978-1914318337

⏩Kate Yo is a Belfast book lover.

Choosing The Struggle

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza ★ Recommended by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh.

Earlier this afternoon, my oldest boyhood friend, a distinguished international lawyer who received his doctorate at Cambridge, called me to share the tragic news that Jason Arday, the Black British academic, had been found dead. 

I have been following this story ever since it broke out in July. We commiserated about his tragic death, and concluded that Arday was killed by many people and institutions.

Jason Arday’s death was the result of a convergence of forces that reveal the fragility of the racial settlement in post-imperial and postcolonial Britain and the contradictions of its elite institutions. He was eagerly elevated as a symbol, ruthlessly scrutinized as an anomaly, and callously discarded as a liability. His rise and fall expose the moral bankruptcy of a system that wants the appearance of racial progress without the work of structural change.

Arday was killed by white liberal proponents of performative inclusion who propelled him, shrouding him with the aura of heroic exceptionalism. Cambridge presented him as its youngest Black professor and celebrated his life story as proof of institutional transformation. His appointment was marketed through a narrative of adversity and triumph that emphasized his autism, late speech, poverty, and extraordinary athletic feats. 

Continue @ PT Zeleza’s Newsletter.

Who Killed Jason Arday?

Daily Telegraph 📰 Written by Michael Murphy and Tom Cotterill, Recommended by Christy Walsh.

There is ‘no doubt’ that Britain must protect troops, says Irish republican criticising Labour’s Troubles bill

Prosecuting veterans undermines the United Kingdom’s security, a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) member has said.

Danny Morrison, a former Sinn Féin publicity director, made the remarks in a documentary regarding the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill before Parliament.

The legislation, which was drawn up by Labour, would repeal parts of the Conservatives’ 2023 Legacy Act, which shielded soldiers from prosecution.

Campaigners fear the new act will expose hundreds of elderly Northern Ireland veterans, some of whom are in their 70s and 80s, to vexatious legal cases.

A battle has ensued between former defence chiefs who are campaigning for changes to the bill – which they have described as a “national security threat” – and the Government, which said the previous immunity protections offered under the Tories’ legislation were “illegal”.

‘Endless spiral of lawfare’

Retired special forces commanders said Labour’s bill, without radical changes, could lead to an “endless spiral of lawfare cases against veterans, who will be hounded by money-hungry law firms for decades to come”.

Continue @ Daily Telegraph.

Prosecuting Veterans Undermines UK Security, Says Former IRA Member

Geordie Morrow 🖌 with a painting from his collection of art work. 





⏩Geordie Morrow is a Belfast artist.

Colour, Texture, And Memory

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