Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social

Professional Amateur, Pronouns he/him. 🇺🇦 Keep in mind: "Nobody wins unless everybody wins"; "Facts are stubborn things"; The "𝕏" app is not real life.

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

Took a photo this morning on the lawn of the Municipal Building in my little town of Maplewood, NJ, showing the Ukrainian flag (displayed for the past three years in support). As I left, I passed a woman who told me, “I’m here to take the same picture.”
I live in a great town.

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

Damn, it was worse than I thought.
https://t.co/CVIIKZXTj9

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

Cornel West allowing himself to be used in efforts to elect Trump and roll back voting rights.

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

Well, if he hasn't sufficiently shamed his father before now, he's really doing it this time.

[Bulwark Clips @BulwarkClips]

RFK: "There's five hundred million Arabs in the world. And yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Novel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don't produce literature."

[Jack Jenkins @jackmjenkins]

NEW via me and @AlejaCorazonHM: *Multiple* bishops now suggesting/outright claiming they were "manipulated" by White House staffers into the recent viral Oval Office prayer video.

Another says they were "assured that no photographs would be made public." https://t.co/a245w5Mros

[evan loves worf @esjesjesj]

Stephen King hit a nerve. I’ve never seen Elon so angry at him

[Josh Marshall @joshtpm]

Amazing that this guy who’s basically a freak show twitter troll is the wealthiest man in the world

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

Another Trump chump lying to his audience.
Obama wasn't making fun of the Cheesecake Factory, he was making fun of Trump decorating the White House the way Saddam Hussein would decorate a Cheesecake Factory (anyone who's eaten there knows how over-the-top that would be).

[Clay Travis @ClayTravis]

Obama mocking Cheesecake Factory tells you everything about how out of touch political elites are. Growing up, eating there was a special occasion for my family, just as it is for millions of Americans today. Obama is telling on himself here.

[Wu Tang is for the Children @WUTangKids]

Lmao they sent Bessent, a billionaire, to Cheesecake Factory to say how good it is….btw Obama wasn’t talking about the food

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

@CharlesPPierce Obama must have landed a great punch with his comment that Trump's decorating looks like a Cheesecake Factory opened by Saddam Hussein. It wasn't a swipe at the Cheesecake Factory, so Republicans have to *insist* that it is to try to blunt the sting.

[Mike Lewis @mfjlewis]

A 4th bishop...

+Naumann: “The bishops were assured that no photographs would be made public. They came to have a discussion on important policy matters. As Catholic bishops, they pray with everyone, but do not endorse candidates or political parties.”

https://t.co/kxxx5ZCE6W

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

The Heritage Foundation adviser who recruited 12 bishops to pray over Trump in the Oval Office claimed a Ph.D. from an Italian university that doesn’t grant doctorates. His listed bachelor’s school is a high school.

A Vatican official called the meeting an insult to Pope Leo XIV. https://t.co/YBQKWNI9Ai

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

@msrasberi I'm not saying that Biden didn't say that they were holding up money, to force Shokin out. But, you and racist "Lord Bebo" are wrong that Shokin was investigating Burisma. He wasn't. https://t.co/r6qksjLmDl

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
- Upton Sinclair

[Post-Left Watch (postleftwatch.bsky.social) @PostLeftWatch]

Tucker Carlson: "No one has explained why Russia is so bad, why Putin is so bad."

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

@Dishwater_Crane Nobody said they shouldn't pray *with* them or *for* them. And if Trump wants to go to a Church, he can do that to get a prelate to pray over him, instead of setting them up for a photo op to exploit.

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

There's a difference between "praying with" and "praying over", with Paula White from Trump's staff right in the midst of them.
"CatholicVote" would be screaming invectives against these bishops if this scene was taking place with Biden.

[CatholicVote @CatholicVote]

"The internet is on fire with criticism of the 12 bishops who prayed over President Trump in the Oval Office.

Let me remind everyone that bishops are priests and pastors and should not have to apologize for praying over presidents. This assault on public prayer is based on a secular vision of life—not the essential evangelization required by the Gospel.

Not only should we give them the space to be evaluated outside the secular political lens, they should give that grace to themselves in the face of this unwarranted criticism.

“As I prayed about, I thought that this is what Catholics do. We pray for people,” said Archbishop James Golka. “No matter whether we agree or disagree on anything, we always pray for our country and leaders.”

Imagine the church restricting who it could dialogue with or preach to: it would be a a history without Ambrose preaching to Theodosius; without John Paul II converting General Wojciech Jaruzelski on his death bed; without Fr. Hugh O’Flaherty befriending Nazi Herbert Kappler in prison.

The right and duty to witness to figures in authority dates back to the time of Caesar.

Those men all did many things worse by orders of magnitude than this leader, who has also done some things exceptionally well, whatever the honest criticism of some of his policies are.

I also question the selective outrage potentially at work here. Do honest Catholics believe this outrage would exist for praying over Obama, Biden, or even George W.?

These men were there as priests and they prayed as priests do. That is a win for the faith, no matter the man in the presidential chair.

Archbishop Golka was right. This IS what Catholics do."

– CatholicVote President & CEO Kelsey Reinhardt

@catholickelsey

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

@msrasberi Yes, but that's not the point. Shokin was fired for *not* prosecuting them, not for prosecuting them.
Please move on to someone else, I've seen all of the pro-Russian invasion propaganda already.

[Joe Ferullo @ironworker1]

NCR EDITORIAL: Bishops' prayer for Trump may have been sincere, but for POTUS, it was pure politics. This is not a time for political naivete. More…
#Trump #Catholic #prayer #WhiteHouse
https://t.co/T9z5gvs5wn via @NCRonline

[David Gibson @GibsonWrites]

The Frog and the Scorpion Part MMLDXXVI:

This is the way diehard rightwingers operate -- remember Pope Francis getting ambushed with the Kim Davis meeting at the end of his 2015 visit by his own ambassador, Archbishop Viganò: 1/3

https://t.co/a7OtnmJVnV

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

@msrasberi I'm only responding to this one because "Biden fired the prosecutor for investigating his son's company" was disproven by the testimony that the fired prosecutor was *preventing* the investigation of Burisma, among other companies.
https://t.co/IGE1kP0ge7

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

@msrasberi As I said, reading warmongering Russian propaganda is just consuming lies. Russia invaded a free, independent Ukraine. Please keep me off your list of people to whom you're replying with tweets from hateful racists.

[Random Thoughts from mlmucci.bsky.social @MLMucci]

I must be getting old, since I can't remember the time that Trump is talking about, when stores wouldn't put up Christmas trees.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Trump: If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will create a nightmare of terror until you cannot even have a Christmas—remember when I started the war on preserving Christmas? We’re saying Christmas again. Remember when the stores were afraid to put up Christmas trees. Now, they are all saying Merry Christmas again.

[David Corn @DavidCornDC]

So the First Lady’s rep is spreading Russian disinformation. Once upon a time, this would’ve been a major scandal.