And so, to gain it, they rationalized – insisting that the unfortunate Negro, being less than human, deserved and even enjoyed second class status … White men soon came to forget that the Southern social culture and all its institutions had been organized to perpetuate this rationalization. -Martin Luther King

When we discuss human lives and the toll of war, we don’t talk about it in terms of dollars. We look at these things in context of human obligation, not finance. But when we talk about the nature conservation and global warming, the conversation has somehow gotten mired in dollars, though what’s really going on is we’re arguing about human life. Consider increasing asthma death rates as reported by the American Lung Association, which have been increasing in the United States at a statistically significant rates. It’s a hard argument to make, but sometimes, as dark as it may seem, it’s important to bring that price tag. Why? Listen and find out.

Child labor violations are up, and the Republicans are systematically responding by deregulating. That’s the opposite of what we need, and it’s not even the most asinine thing happening on the right at the moment. Learn more about MAGA beliefs, and how MAGA are like the tulip-market participants in the 1630s.

Yeah.

Kind of like that.

Listen and be shocked.

Last week, Trump lost a case to E. Jean Carroll, to the tune of $83 million. As the lawsuits stack up, they’re starting to actually have consequences. Will it hurt him? Probably not, given his current assets. But he’s not using his money anyway. There are all sorts of Republicans who are interested in giving Trump money to cover his legal bills. One example is a law proposal in Florida to use tax dollars to help pay Trump’s legal bills. (Probably the only thing we agree with DeSantis about is that this proposal is ridiculous.) The fact is that Trump may never feel the full impact of the law, and not because of his prowess or any thing like that. He’s got a nearly endless supply of suckers to pull money from, so as long as the recourse from the law is financial, he’ll be covered by his base. It’ll be interesting to see how many of his “campaign donations” are actually going toward his legal bills. Until we see a criminal consequence, i.e. imprisonment, he’ll be able to do whatever he wants to spend the money to pay the fines for.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a kingdom created. That kingdom professed to believe in the equality of all human beings. Within this kingdom, there were Royalty, Wizards, Orcs, Elves. Royalty, in their declaration of the values of the kingdom, actually had considered only all royalty as being equal. They’d given not even a thought to Wizards, Orcs, or Elves.

One day, the Wizards told Royalty that they needed to be included. Because Wizards were useful, and thus strength, Royalty declared that their equality now extended to the Wizards. As soon as the Wizards had real power, they turned it agains the Orcs.

The Orcs asked for inclusion next, and for a while, were laughed at, scorned, and ridiculed by both the Wizards and Royalty. Eventually, though, the Orcs, after years of petitioning and fighting, were included in the concept of equality. This was predominantly because the Royalty needed both the Wizards and the Orcs to continue oppressing the Elves. The Orcs were only too happy to join in on oppressing the Elves.

When the Elves approached, Wizards and Orcs joined the Royalty in fighting against the Elves, and managed to keep them isolated and powerless. It wasn’t until many of the Orcs and Wizards convinced Royalty to include the Elves, that the Elves were included in the definition of equality. But as soon as that happened, many Orcs and Wizards and Royalty continued to mistreat the Elves. In fact, they were so offended by the Elves being included, that they tortured and murdered elves en masse.

This is the history of the United States: every time an advancement in human rights and inclusion is made, a boomerang effect follows. Leaf through your history, and when you’re done, take a listen to this episode to find out why it this sort of thing happens.

Name the owner of that quote. I’ll wait…did you figure it out yet? I’ll give you a hint: it’s the same guy who referred to Nikki Haley as “Nimbra,” which isn’t even close to her actual name. So what makes this rename racist? It’s obvious, if you think about who it comes from, and who it’s meant to entice. This is right up there with “Meatball Ron” and the other words that come out of his mouth. Consider the context: Donald Trump has already alleged that Nikki Haley might not be a United States citizen (she is). This is also the same Donald Trump who would love nothing more than to rescind birthright citizenship. And…the same Donald Trump who turned away black residents from his real estate properties.

The simple truth is: Donald Trump is racist. It’s obvious by his actions, and anyone who supports this obvious racist has to really think about a few things. I would. First, how much do I really care about equality and making America into the Meritocracy we’d like for it to be. Not much, if I’m willing to let this rampant bigot run things, and manifest his biases as government institutions.

We cover this and so much more in this podcast episode of Right and Freedom.

For the love of money is the root of all evil. This is a phrase that's commonly known to most Americans, yet so many of us have lost our way. For some of us, we've decided that money supplants goodness, that money supplants community, and that power power associated with having money is so worthy and so valuable that it supersedes all of our other desires.

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." Truer words were never spoken than those of Cardinal Ximinez in Monty Python's Life of Brian.

More of the quote: "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Our chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear...fear and surprise...surprise and fear..."

What does this have to do with politics in America? The fear is palpable already. What's next is the surprise when what shouldn't be possible in America, suddenly becomes reality. Listen to this podcast episode to understand that it's much later than you think it is in the battle for the soul of our nation. Surprised? Afraid? Exactly.