FAMILY VALUES

Evangelical Leaders Don’t Want Trump To Win: The ‘Integrity Of Our Faith Hangs In The Balance’ & A Declaration by American Evangelicals Concerning Donald Trump Evangelical Leaders United States 7OKT16

A few weeks ago evangelicals debated whether Christians should vote for donald drumpf. Now there is an actual movement by evangelical Christian leaders to challenge the drumpf/trump-pence campaign. This may be too little too late, but at least they are pointing out drumpf doesn't represent the Church they preach, the faith they teach, the basic teachings of Christianity. They certainly are showing more courage than the leadership of the republican party in condemning the drumpf/trump-pence campaign platform and message. From +The Huffington Post followed by the actual letter from +Change.org. You can click here to sign the letter to donald drumpf/trump......

Evangelical Leaders Don’t Want Trump To Win: The ‘Integrity Of Our Faith Hangs In The Balance’

This is bigger than partisan politics.

 10/07/2016 11:33 am ET

Elise Foley Immigration & Politics Reporter, The Huffington Post

ROBYN BECK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is likely to win among evangelical voters overall.

Nearly 100 evangelical leaders have signed onto a letter urging their fellow Christians to vote against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who, they write, “has fueled white American nationalism with xenophobic appeals and religious intolerance at the expense of gospel values, democratic principles, and important international relationships.”

The letter was posted to Change.org on Thursday, and had nearly 5,000 signatures by midday Friday.

The evangelicals behind the letter do not necessarily endorse Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, they write ― but they are united in their opposition to Trump, who is working to maintain the Republican stronghold on the evangelical community.

“Imperfect elections and flawed candidates often make for complicated and difficult choices for Christians,” the letter reads. “But sometimes historic moments arise when more is at stake than partisan politics ― when the meaning and integrity of our faith hangs in the balance. This is one of those moments.”

Evangelical voters tend to support Republicans ― former President George W. Bush won 78 percent of evangelicals in 2004, Sen. John McCain of Arizona won 74 percent of them in 2008, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won 78 percent in 2012, according to exit polling. 

Trump is likely to win with evangelicals this year, polling suggests. That support will “probably have much less to do with him personally than with his rhetoric on abortion and his promises to protect Christianity in America,” political science professors Paul Goren of the University of Minnesota and Christopher Chapp of St. Olaf College wrote in The Washington Post this week.

Racism is America’s original sin. Its brazen use to win elections threatens to reverse real progress on racial equity and set America back.Letter from evangelicals

The evangelical leaders who signed the Change.org letter wrote that they object to the media’s representation of evangelicals as “mostly white, politically conservative, older men,” and that they come from a number of races, ethnicities, denominations and ages. Trump has performed worse among black, Latino and Asian voters than he has with white voters.

Trump’s efforts to fuel the birther movement ― which claims President Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, was not born in the U.S. ― along with his statements on Mexicans, immigrants and Muslims inspired their opposition, the leaders wrote.

Most evangelicals support immigration reform that would allow some undocumented immigrants to stay in the country, and faith groups have been active in advocating for welcoming refugees, including non-Christians. In the letter, evangelical leaders wrote that immigrants and refugees are “those whom Jesus calls ‘the stranger’ in Matthew 25, where he says that how we treat them is how we treat him.”

“Because we believe that racial bigotry has been a cornerstone of this campaign, it is a foundational matter of the gospel for us in this election, and not just another issue,” they wrote. “This is not just a social problem, but a fundamental wrong. Racism is America’s original sin. Its brazen use to win elections threatens to reverse real progress on racial equity and set America back.”

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar,rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.

A Declaration by American Evangelicals Concerning Donald Trump

Evangelical Leaders United States

Imperfect elections and flawed candidates often make for complicated and difficult choices for Christians. But sometimes historic moments arise when more is at stake than partisan politics--when the meaning and integrity of our faith hangs in the balance. This is one of those moments.

A significant mistake in American politics is the media’s continued identification of “evangelical” with mostly white, politically conservative, older men. We are not those evangelicals. The media’s narrow labels of our community perpetuate stereotypes, ignore our diversity, and fail to accurately represent views expressed by the full body of evangelical Christians.

We are Americans of African and European descent, Latino/a, Asian American, and Native American. We are women and men, as well as younger and older evangelical Christians. We come from a wide range of denominations, churches, and political orientations.

We believe in the unity of the body of Christ, but we acknowledge the diverse nature of a community whose faith is biblical and evangelical. And we are growing. Given the rich diversity within our unity, we call upon the political world to hear all our voices, and for the media to acknowledge that the evangelical community is quite diverse.

As evangelical Christians, we believe our hope and allegiance rests in the person of Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, and Lord of our lives. That is why no politician, party, movement, or nation can ever command our ultimate loyalty. As citizens both of the Kingdom of God and this world, we vote with humility, knowing that our favored candidates always fall short of biblical values. We recognize that despite our unity in Christ, we will inevitably disagree about which political stances come closest to the heart of God for our nation.

We believe that the centrality of Christ, the importance of both conversion and discipleship, the authority of the Scriptures, and the “good news” of the gospel, especially for the poor and vulnerable, should prevail over ideological politics, and that we must respond when evangelicalism becomes dangerously identified with one particular candidate whose statements, practice, personal morality, and ideology risk damaging our witness to the gospel before the watching world.

We believe that racism strikes at the heart of the gospel; we believe that racial justice and reconciliation is at the core of the message of Jesus.

We believe the candidacy of Donald J. Trump has given voice to a movement that affirms racist elements in white culture—both explicit and implicit. Regardless of his recent retraction, Mr. Trump has spread racist “birther” falsehoods for five years trying to delegitimize and humiliate our first African-American president, characterizing him as “the other” and not a real American citizen. He uses fear to demonize and degrade immigrants, foreigners, and people from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. He launched his presidential campaign by demonizing Mexicans, immigrants, and Muslims, and has repeatedly spoken against migrants and refugees coming to this country—those whom Jesus calls “the stranger” in Matthew 25, where he says that how we treat them is how we treat him. Trump has steadily refused to clearly and aggressively confront extremist voices and movements of white supremacy, some of whom now call him their “champion,” and has therefore helped to take the dangerous fringes of white nationalism in America to the mainstream of politics.

Mr. Trump has fueled white American nationalism with xenophobic appeals and religious intolerance at the expense of gospel values, democratic principles, and important international relationships. He mocks women and the sanctity of marriage vows, disregards facts and the accountability to truth, and worships wealth and shameful materialism, while taking our weakening culture of civility to nearly unprecedented levels with continuing personal attacks on others, including attacking a federal judge based purely on his Mexican heritage, mocking a disabled reporter, and humiliating a beauty pageant winner for her weight and Latina ethnicity—to give just a few examples.

Because we believe that racial bigotry has been a cornerstone of this campaign, it is a foundational matter of the gospel for us in this election, and not just another issue. This is not just a social problem, but a fundamental wrong. Racism is America's original sin. Its brazen use to win elections threatens to reverse real progress on racial equity and set America back.

Donald Trump's campaign is the most recent and extreme version of a history of racialized politics that has been pursued and about which white evangelicals, in particular, have been silent. The silence in previous times has set the environment for what we now see.

For this reason, we cannot ignore this bigotry, set it aside, just focus on other issues, or forget the things Mr. Trump has consistently said and done. No matter what other issues we also care about, we have to make it publicly clear that Mr. Trump’s racial and religious bigotry and treatment of women is morally unacceptable to us as evangelical Christians, as we attempt to model Jesus’ command to “love your neighbors as yourself.”

Whether we support Mr. Trump’s political opponent is not the question here. Hillary Clinton is both supported and distrusted by a variety of Christian voters. We, undersigned evangelicals, simply will not tolerate the racial, religious, and gender bigotry that Donald Trump has consistently and deliberately fueled, no matter how else we choose to vote or not to vote.

We see this election as a significant teachable moment for our churches and our nation to bring about long-needed repentance from our racial sin. Out of this belief we have written this declaration, inviting you to be part of what we have learned from one another and long to see in the churches and the world—a commitment to justice and the dignity of all human lives.

We invite you to stand with us, join in this declaration, and pass it along to your friends, congregants, pastors, students, and the diverse evangelical church.

Bishop Claude Alexander, Senior Pastor, The Park Church *
Onleilove Alston, Executive Director, Faith in NY*
Dr. Leroy Barber, Executive Director, The Voices Project*
Rev. William Barber, President, Repairers of the Breach*
Katelyn Beaty, Print Managing Editor, Christianity Today*
Dr. Timothy Tee Boddie, General Secretary, Progressive National Baptist Convention*
Rev. Dr. Peter Borgdorff, Executive Director Emeritus, Christian Reformed Church in North America*
Rev. Jonathan E.L. Brooks, Senior Pastor, Canaan Community Church, Chicago*

Austin Channing Brown, Writer and Speaker*
Deborah Brunt, Blogger and Author*
Rev. Dr. Tony Campolo, Author and Activist*
Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Author*

Vanessa Carter, Founding member, Jesus for Revolutionaries (Los Angeles)*
Dr. Shawn Casselberry, Executive Director, Mission Year*

Noel Castellanos, Chief Executive Officer, CCDA*
Rev. Eugene Cho, Pastor, Author, Activist*
Rev. Dr. Rich Cizik, President and Founder, New Evangelical Partnership*
Shane Claiborne, Author, Activist, and Co-Founder of Red Letter Christians*
Shani Dowell, Mother, Wife, Educator*

Keith Drury*
Rev. Joshua DuBois, Founder and CEO, Values Partnerships, Washington, DC; President Obama's "Pastor in Chief"*
Rev. Dr. Gerald L. Durley, Pastor Emeritus, Providence Baptist Church*
Rev. Dr. Bob Ekblad, General Director, Tierra Nueva*
Michael O. Emerson, Author*

Erina Eubanks-Kim, Activist*
Jason Fileta, Executive Director, Micah Challenge USA*

Barbara Fiske, Community Advocate*
Dr. Robert M. Franklin, Director of the Religion Department, Chautauqua Institution*

Marlena Graves, Author, Speaker, Activist*
Rev. Dominique Gilliard, New Hope Covenant Church*
Rev. Wes Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary Emeritus, Reformed Church in America*
Dr. Mimi Haddad, President of Christians for Biblical Equality, CBEInternational*
Rev. Cynthia Hale, Senior Pastor, Ray of Hope Christian Church*
Lisa Sharon Harper, Chief Church Engagement Officer, Sojourners*
Rev. Fred Harrell, Senior Pastor, City Church, San Francisco*
Rev. Dr. Bethany Harris, Church & Community Consultant, ReQuip Community*
Rachel Held Evans*
Rev. Dr. Peter Heltzel, Associate Professor of Theology, New York Theological Seminary*
Christopher L. Heuertz, Founding Partner of Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism*
Dr. Mike Higgins, Covenant Theological Seminary*
Michelle Higgins, Director of Faith for Justice, Director of Worship and Outreach, South City Church in Saint Louis, MO*
Rev. Daniel Hill, River City Community Church*
Dr. Al Hsu, Editor and Author*
David Husby, Director, Covenant World Relief*
Hyepin Im, President and CEO, Korean Churches for Community Development*

Carolyn Custiss James, Author*
Dr. Russell Jeung, Author and Professor, New Hope Covenant Church*
David W. Kersten, Dean, North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago*
Kathy Khang, Writer, Speaker, Activist*
Larry Kim, Cambridge Community Fellowship Church*
Ambassador Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent Emerita, The Wesleyan Church*
Rev. Carlos Malave, Executive Director, Christian Churches Together in the USA*

Amelia Markham, Southeast organizer, The Reformation Project*
Rev. Michael A. Mata, Associate Pastor, Los Angeles First Church of the Nazarene*
Rev. Dr. Walter Arthur McCray, President, National Black Evangelical Association*
Rev. Brian D. McLaren, Author, former Pastor, Board Chair, Convergenceus.org*
David Neff, retired Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today, former Vice Chair, National Association of Evangelicals*
Rev. Dr. James C. Perkins, President, Progressive National Baptist Convention*
Suzii Paynter, Executive Coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship*

Rev. Adam Phillips, Pastor, Christ Church, Portland*

Dr. Soong-Chan Rah, North Park Theological Seminary*
Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil*

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Faith-Rooted Organizing UnNetwork*

Scot Sherman, Executive Director, Newbigin House*
SueAnn Shiah, Musician, Writer, Filmmaker*
Rev. Dr. Ron Sider, President Emeritus, Evangelicals for Social Action*    

Dr. Barbara Williams Skinner, President, Skinner Leadership Institute; Co-chair, National African American Clergy Network*
Andrea Smith, NAIITS*
Dr. T. Dewitt Smith, Jr., Co-Chair of the National African American Clergy Network, Former President of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.; Senior Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church of Metro Atlanta*
Maria-Jose Soerens, Executive Director, Puentes*
Rev. Gail Song-Bantum, Executive Pastor, Quest Church*
Rev. Margot Starbuck
Rev. David Swanson, New Community Covenant Church, Chicago*

Rev. Rod Thomas, ThM, Educator, writer at The Resist Daily*
Rev. Greg Thompson, Trinity Presbyterian Church*
Lenore Three Stars, Oglala Lakota*
Rev. Steven Timmermans, Executive Director, Christian Reformed Church in North America*
Rev. Jemar L. Tisby, President and Co-Founder, Reformed African American Network*
Rev. Dr. Al Tizon, North Park Theological Seminary*
Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Author and Speaker*
Rev. Harold Dean Trulear, National Director, Healing Communities USA*
Sandra Maria Van Opstal, Speaker, Author, Activist*
Rev. Gary VanderPol, Author, Senior Pastor, Church Without Walls, Berkeley, CA*

AnaYelsi Velasco-Sanchez, Organizing and Programs Director, The Reformation Project*

Rev. Richard Villodas, Pastor, New Life Fellowship*
Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes, Associate Professor of Practical Theology, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University*
Rev. Jim Wallis, President and Founder, Sojourners*
Michelle Warren, Advocacy & Policy Engagement Director, CCDA*

Lisa Watson, CCDA*
Colin P. Watson Sr., Director of Ministries and Administration, Christian Reformed Church in North America*
Dr. Daniel White Hodge, Director of Center for Youth Ministry Studies and Associate Professor of Youth Ministry, North Park University*
Rev. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Author and Director, School for Conversion*
Sarah Withrow King, Interim Director, Evangelicals for Social Action*
Dr. John D. Witvliet, Director, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship*

JR Woodward, Activist and Author*
Judy Wu Dominick, Writer, Activist*
Rev. Ken Wytsma, Lead Pastor, Antioch Church; President, Kilns College*

*Organizations and titles listed for identification purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the position of the institution.

If You Tell Me You Are Supporting Trump, I Already Know Seven Things About You 30SEP16

If You Tell Me You Are Supporting Trump, I Already Know Seven Things About You

By SemDem  

Friday Sep 30, 2016 · 9:57 PM EDT

I agree with everything this man has to say except his judgement on Christians. I do not understand how a Christian could support donald drumpf/trump but I will not challenge their claim to faith but will leave that to God, He will deal with them. From +Daily Kos.....

Tell me you are conservative.  Tell me you are Christian. Tell me you are Republican. Tell me any of these things, and I won't make too many assumptions about you. Sure, I may assume you go to church every Sunday, eat red meat, and get most of your news from Fox and Friends, but beyond that, I will withhold judgment on the kind of person you are until I get to know you. In fact, as a Southern white male veteran who lives in a very rural area, most of the people in my circles are of the right-leaning variety. I can attest that most people are fairly decent when you get to know them. 

This equation changes when you tell me unequivocally that you are voting for Trump. Instantly, I know there are certain things about you and your character that I can assume that I wouldn't if you told me you supported any other GOP candidate. Ain’t none of them good.

Tell me you are a strong Trump supporter, then you are telling me:

1.  You want to be ruled, not governed.

The single trait that predicts the Trump supporter has nothing to do with race, income, or education. A researcher at the University of Massachusetts found that the top predictor of whether a voter supports Trump is his or her proclivity towards authoritarianism. 

Authoritarians obey. They rally to and follow strong leaders. And they respond aggressively to outsiders, especially when they feel threatened. From pledging to “make America great again” by building a wall on the border to promising to close mosques and ban Muslims from visiting the United States, Trump is playing directly to authoritarian inclinations.

So spare me your lectures about market freedoms or any constitutional rights you claim to hold dear. You want a dictator in the style of Putin, which pretty much makes you anti-American.

2.  You have no class.

Seriously. You don’t. I’m sorry. I tried to revisit this one several times but I don’t know how to sugar-coat it.

It is NOT OKAY that Trump mocked a disabled person. If Hillary did that, it would be a deal-breaker for me. I'd go third-party, or write in my own name. I have standards. You apparently don't. Some people try to justify this by saying Trump didn't really do it. Except he really did, and it was awful.

No one even tries to defend Donald Trump mocking POWs, because he said it loud and clear: "I like people who weren't captured". It was that insult to John McCain that I thought would have killed his chances within the GOP ranks, since they claim to be pro-veteran. I grossly overestimated their character. By the time we get around to the part about Trump lusting after his own damn daughter or justifying statutory rape, I have already given up on you as a decent person. 

And please. Don't tell me that you didn’t know about any of this. You know. You just don't care. Hence, my statement that you don't have class.

3. You are definitely not someone to do business with.

Yes, all politicians lie, but Trump is obscene with his falsehoods. He says whatever he feels like to whatever crowd he is speaking to, and then will deny ever saying it. I am not okay with someone who lies to me constantly. If you are, I have to wonder: would you fudge the numbers? If you caught someone on your team doing something unethical, would you be okay with that?

I already know that integrity is not high on your list. Furthermore, you clearly have no trouble with someone who has a long history of fraudulent business practices. Having a bumper sticker on your truck for any other conservative wouldn't be a problem for me—but Trump? 

You might do good work, but this is a risk I would not take.

4.  You are either a racist, or at best, have no problem with racism.

Trump threw out all the dog whistles and fully embraced the alt-right movement. Heled the campaign to de-legitimize Obama's presidency. He constantly complains that black Americans are violent and stated that Mexican immigrants bring "crime" and are "rapists." He demanded that any judge who tries him be white! He retweets from handles like “@WhiteGenocideTM,” and goes to anti-Semitic websites for material to attack his opponents.   

Your embrace of this kind of hate makes me wonder what things you say about my family behind my back. Going back to #3, if I was to hire you, you would be expected to work with people who don’t share your ethnic background or religion, and that might be a problem. Which brings me to #5.

5.  You have an issue with women.

Trump has brought a level of vulgarity that we have never before seen in national politics. From his attack on Megyn Kelly, to insulting Rosie O’Donnell twice in national debates, to bragging about his genitalia on television in front of millions, to his suggestion that Hillary and Carly Fiorina are too ugly to be president. Anyone who supports a man who doesn’t think twice about calling women “pigs” or “dogs” is not someone I want to deal with. 

I can say in all honesty that if it was the Democratic candidate who kept bragging about his sexual dominance and ranked all women he met by their looks, that person would not get my vote. I don’t give a damn who I think he might put on the Supreme Court. (And frankly, I wouldn’t trust him even if he claimed to share my party.) You see, I have children. I can’t very well raise them with a message of self-respect and decency if I overthrow my principles just because he decided to put a “D" after his name. Demanding that a man treat women with a basic level of respect is a pretty low bar. I have a problem with someone who can’t even meet that, along with this person’s supporters.

6.  You aren't really Christian.

Sure, tell me you are. But if you read Scripture, it’s pretty clear on this. (Or if you can’t be bothered, there's always youtube). Trump, a man who refuses the fundamental tenet of asking God’s forgiveness, is the anti-thesis for everything Christianity is. As Christian author Philip Yancey says:

I am staggered that so many conservative or evangelical Christians would see a man who is a bully, who made his money by casinos, who has had several wives and several affairs, that they would somehow paint him as a hero, as someone that we could stand behind.

And now you find out that Trump, the top of the GOP ticket, sent you instructions at 3am to go watch a sex tape with a former Miss Universe who insulted him.  And no, of course there is no sex tape. He lied about that too.  (As it turns out, there was a sex tape that was uncovered, but it was a 2000 Playboy soft-core porn that starred Donald Trump!)  Your candidate.

7.  You don’t believe in the Constitution.

For eight years I have listened to your rabid rantings on how Obama doesn’t follow the Constitution. Yet you support a man who said the US government should shut down mosques, curb our First Amendment rights, and forego due process on people he doesn’t like.  These protections are enshrined in our Bill of Rights, and you want to give them up. Trump also said he wants to end birthright citizenship, which is also in the Constitution. Maybe Mr. Khan should have made more copies for Trump’s supporters.

That’s the thing that really bothers me, though. I respect people who hold convictions, even if they are different than mine, but Trump supporters don't really believe in anything. They are authoritarian-prone sheep who will justify anything Trump says or does. Unfortunately, once you decide to sell your soul, there is no limit to how low you will go. Kimmel proved this in a bit that was both funny and horrible.  He had someone ask Trump supporters on the street about the surprises on Trump's fictitious tax returns.  Trump supporters vigorously defended everything they thought he did--writing off his wives as entertainment expenses, buying Putin a tiger, donating large sums of money to Jared Fogle—nothing they could come up with remotely bothered any of them.

Now, I will always be nice, but I won’t respect you. How could I? Suffice it to say, if you tell me you are in the tank for Trump, please end your conversation there. I already know everything I need to know about you. 

And good day, sir.

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YES WE CANADA!!!!! 1MAR16

Let's Knock It Off With the Ted Cruz Birther Stuff 7JAN16

I can't stand ted cruz, I find his politics fascist and know he is bought and paid for by the 1%, wall street, the bank-financial cabal, the military industrial complex. I know a ted cruz presidency would further the nation's decline to a Third World oligarchy / plutocracy. But to continue harping on this birther thing is a waste of time considering the real issues and problems we face as a nation. I was disgusted when it was and still is directed at Pres Obama and have not time for the accusations directed at ted cruz now. Campaign on the issues and leave the birther bullshit to the ignorant. This from +Wikipedia and +Mother Jones .....

Clause 5: Qualifications for office

Beginning of the clause in the 1787 document

Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution sets forth the eligibility requirements for serving as president of the United States:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

By the time of their inauguration, the President and Vice President must be:

• natural born citizens
• at least 35 years old
• inhabitants of the United States for at least fourteen years.

Eligibility for holding the office of President and Vice-President were modified by subsequent amendments:

• The Twelfth Amendment (1804) requires the Vice-President to meet all of the qualifications of being President.
• The Twenty-second Amendment (1951) prevents a President from being elected more than twice.

• Natural-born-citizen clause

Status as a natural-born citizen of the United States is one of the eligibility requirements established in the United States Constitution for election to the office of President or Vice President. This requirement was intended to protect the nation from foreign influence.^[1]
The Constitution does not define the phrase natural-born citizen, and various opinions have been offered over time regarding its precise meaning. The consensus of early 21st-century constitutional and legal scholarship, together with relevant case law, is that "natural born" comprises all people born subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, including, generally, those born in the United States, those born to U.S. citizen parents in foreign countries, and those born in other situations meeting the legal requirements for U.S. citizenship "at birth".^[2]
The natural-born-citizen clause has been mentioned in passing in several decisions of the United States Supreme Court, and by some lower courts that have addressed eligibility challenges, but the Supreme Court has never directly addressed the question of a specific presidential or vice-presidential candidate's eligibility as a natural-born citizen. Many eligibility lawsuits from the 2008 and 2012 election cycles were dismissed in lower courts due to the challengers' difficulty in showing that they had standing to raise legal objections. Additionally, some experts have suggested that the precise meaning of the natural-born-citizen clause may never be decided by the courts because, in the end, presidential eligibility may be determined to be a non-justiciable political question that can be decided only by Congress rather than by the judicial branch of government.^[3][4]

Let's Knock It Off With the Ted Cruz Birther Stuff

—By Tim Murphy

| Thu Jan. 7, 2016 1:37 PM EST

Jamelle Bouie/Flickr

Over the last few days, Republican front-runner Donald Trump has suggested that Sen. Ted Cruz should ask a court for a written declaration that the Canadian-born Texan is eligible to be president. That's to be expected—Trump rose to prominence among conservatives by questioning the eligibility of the sitting president. On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, one of the Republican Party's elder statesmen, told a talk radio host that he wasn't sure if Cruz was eligible to be president. That's less expected but still easily explained—McCain hates Cruz with the fire of a thousand suns.
And now House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has joined the fray. "I do think there's a difference between John McCain being born into a family serving our country in Panama than someone being born in another country, but again this is a constitutional issue that will be decided or not," she told reporters on Thursday.

Here's Nancy Pelosi's full answer to the question about Ted Cruz's status: pic.twitter.com/pulVGMp1m4

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 7, 2016

This is absurd. Cruz is eligible to be president because his mother was an American citizen. And as National Review explains, it's not even an especially unusual situation:

[T]here is nothing new in this principle that presidential eligibility is derived from parental citizenship. John McCain, the GOP's 2008 candidate, was born in the Panama Canal Zone at a time when there were questions about its sovereign status. Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee in 1964, was born in Arizona before it became a state, and George Romney, who unsuccessfully sought the same party's nomination in 1968, was born in Mexico. In each instance, the candidate was a natural born citizen by virtue of parentage, so his eligibility was not open to credible dispute.

It shouldn't be a hard question for Pelosi or McCain to answer unambiguously—we've spent roughly eight years rehashing the constitutional requirements for the office over and over again (in part because of Trump and the kinds of people who support him). The fact that McCain and Pelosi both—for perfectly legitimate reasons—can't stand Cruz is just not an appropriate justification for Trumpian nativism.

Tim Murphy

Reporter

Tim Murphy is a reporter at Mother Jones. Email him with tips and insights at tmurphy [at] motherjones [dot] com. RSS | Twitter

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Chart: Almost Every Obama Conspiracy Theory Ever 2NOV12

I do not understand how people can believe any of these, but when people get all their news and information from fox "news" and right wing shockjocks on talk radio and racist right wing evangelical Christians and hear this over and over and over from multiple right wing extremist then it actually becomes the truth to them. They loose the ability to think for themselves much like the people of hitler's Germany, of stalin's USSR, of mao's prc, just to name a few. See my earlier post on the gop and right wing media at The Republican Party Needs to Ditch Fox News If It Wants to Win 7NOV12
This from Mother Jones.....

Fake birth certificates, ghostwriters, teleprompters, a teenage trip to Mars, and more of the most paranoid and bizarro Obama conspiracy theories out there.

—By Asawin Suebsaeng and Dave Gilson

Barack Obama's presidency has been an inspiration to many Americans—especially nutjobs. Ever since the first-black-president-to-be appeared on the national political stage, a cottage industry of conservative conspiracy theorists has churned out bizarro, paranoid, and just plain racist effluvia—some of which has trickled into the political mainstream. Below, we've charted some of the Obama-baiters best (i.e., worst) work. (Scroll down for more detailed descriptions of the conspiracy theories in the diagram.)

The Conspiracy Theories

Disclaimer: It should go without saying that none of these are true. Follow links at your own risk.

Obama is a secret Muslim: This one began right after he took the stage at the 2004 Democratic convention, with chain emails alleging his "true" religious affiliation. The rumor soon found its way onto the popular conservative online forum Free Republic, and took on a whole new life in the years to come. Related: Obama secretly speaks Arabic, attended a madrassa as a kid in Indonesia, referred to "my Muslim faith" in an interview, and was sworn in on a Koran. 
Obama's bringing 100 million Muslims to America: Avi Lipkin and his PR outfit Special Guests claimed to have evidence of a scheme to bring roughly 100 million Muslims from the Middle East into the United States, converting the country into an Islamic nation by the end of Obama's second term and making it easier to obliterate Israel.
Obama once aided the mujahideen: Harlem pastor and professional race-baiter James David Manning contended that in his younger days, Obama went undercover as a CIA agent to facilitate the transfer of cash and weapons to the Afghan mujahideen in the '80s, thereby aiding what would become the Taliban.
Obama is in the pocket of the Muslim Brotherhood: Billy Graham's son Franklin wants you to know that Obama is allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to take over the federal government.
Obama redecorated the Oval Office in Middle Eastern style: Driven by his fierce sense of anti-American interior design, Obama got rid of the red, white, and blue decoration scheme in his White House office.
Obama married a Pakistani guy: World Net Daily correspondent and conspiracymonger extraordinaire Jerome Corsi posted a video in which he claimed to have "strong" evidence that Obama was once married to his college roommate from Pakistan. The smoking gun: Photos of the chums in which the future president is "sitting about on the [Pakistani roommate's] lap." Related: For years Obama wore a gold ring on his left hand. Was it his gay-wedding ring?
Obama's ring has a Koranic verse on it: The very same ring is allegedly emblazoned with a key phrase in the Islamic declaration of faith: "There is no god except Allah." (It's not.)
Obama was funded by a Saudi prince: Another fairy tale courtesy of Corsi: In late-'70s Chicago, Obama secured political and academic funding from a variety of sketchy Arab sponsors, including a Saudi prince. Which may explain why President Obama bowed to the Saudi king.
Obama was born in Kenya: In early 2008, fringe theorists began a push to prove Obama was born on foreign soil and was therefore ineligible to live in the White House. The theory gained national attention thanks to the efforts of perennial GOP candidate Alan Keyes, "birther queen" Orly Taitz, and Corsi. Related: Obama's birth certificate is a fake, he killed his grandmother in Hawaii because she knew the truth, sealed access to his birth certificate and other damning documents, and did pretty much everything horrible you could possibly do for the sake of a phony birth certificate.
Obama lost his US citizenship: According to Corsi, Obama became an citizen of Indonesia while he lived there as a child.
Michelle's "whitey" tape: During the 2008 campaign, rumors surfaced that a video of Michelle Obama using the word "whitey" would be released to sink her husband's campaign. It's never materialized. Related: The time Glenn Beck called Barack Obama a racist.
Obama was a Black Panther: Well, only if you're not very good at spotting photoshopped images.
Obama is the son of Malcolm X: Because, you know, black people. This charmer popped up on Atlas Shrugged, Pamela Geller's anti-Muslim website. (Geller is also known for obsessing over Shariah turkeys she believes are destroying Thanksgiving.)
Obama is the son of Frank Marshall Davis: The conspiracy film Dreams From My Real Father espouses the theory that Davis, a leftist activist, was not only Obama's ideological mentor but his biological father. Related: Obama got a nose job to make his nose look less like Davis'.
Obama's mom and dad were communists: And you know that communism is an inherited condition.
Obama's ghostwriter was Bill Ayers: Conservative commentators claimed they uncovered evidence that ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers was the true author of Obama's 1995 memoir Dreams from my Father. Former Republican congressman Chris Cannon of Utah went as far as to try to commission an Oxford professor to confirm Ayers' authorship through computer analysis.
Obama trained to overthrow the government: In 2008, leading Obama conspiracy theorist Andy Martin declared on Fox News' Hannity's America that the then-presidential candidate had trained for "a radical overthrow of the government" during his time as a community organizer in Chicago.
Obama wouldn't say the Pledge of Allegiance: During the '08 campaign, Obama was rumored to have refused to say the pledge during a town hall meeting. A photo of the incident was actually taken while the national anthem was being sung.
Obama removed the flag from Air Force One: …and replaced it with his campaign logo.
Obama ordered soldiers to swear allegiance to him: In April 2009, a clearly satirical report detailing how secretary of defense Robert Gates was growing "extremely frustrated" with the White House's plans to scrub the Constitution from the military oath of loyalty made the rounds on the right-wing blogosphere.
Obama secretly gave away American islands to Russia: Texas House candidate Wes Riddle endorsed this theory and noted the relinquishment as grounds for impeachment. However, the seven Arctic islands were actually given away in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush.
Obama caused the recession—in 1995: According to a recent Daily Caller story, Obama's efforts to force banks to lend to African Americans in the mid-'90s led to the subprime mortgage crisis that killed the economy in 2008.
Obama's youth reeducation camps: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) warned that "young people will be put into mandatory service" at politically correct, billion-dollar camps run by the Democrats.
Obama's coming for your guns: Extreme gun-rights outfits, along with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), alleged that the Obama administration is supporting the (nonexistent) United Nations Small Arms Treaty, which would lead to nationwide gun confiscation.
Obama's coming for your gold: This theory was floated by Glenn Beck—and the gold company he shilled for.
Obama is planning FEMA concentration camps: Again with the camps. This theory got a big boost from Glenn Beck (who claims he didn't mean anything by it). Related: An executive order titled, "National Defense Resources Preparedness," was issued in the middle of March 2012. Conservative commentators saw it as a martial law power-grab that allowed the president to commandeer farmland, steal everyone's food, and draft any American into slave labor for a war of aggression against Iran. Also, he has a "secret vault" at Interpol's headquarters for imprisoning Americans. (Chuck Norris is on the case.)
Obama wants to confiscate your IRA: Townhall.com sent out an message ad claiming that Obama wants to seize your retirement account by force.
Obama caused the BP oil spill: Conspiracy-minded radio host Alex Jones promoted the theory that the Deepwater Horizon spill was all part of the administration's plans of oil nationalization and global government.
Obama was behind the Aurora massacre: In July, Gun Owners of America blasted out a press release claiming that the mass murder at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, was suspiciously timed. "Someone in Washington" was probably behind it, paving the way for Obama-led firearm confiscation and "government genocide."
Obama personally caused Hurricane Sandy: It wasn’t global warming that made Sandy so intense; it was Barack. Alex Jones' site reported the president engineered the storm using a Pentagon weather modification project. The mayhem caused by the hurricane would afford Obama the opportunity to score points by briskly managing disaster relief a week before the election.
Obama had Andrew Breitbart killed: In March 2012, conservative media impresario Andrew Breitbart died of heart failure. Less than a month prior to his death, he had announced that he had uncovered footage of Obama's formative years as a radical. So obviously, Obama had him offed. (The tapes were later revealed to contain things like a young Obama hugging a black college professor.) Related: People—like a Rod Blagojevich fundraiser and an Obama impersonator—died between 2008 and 2012. Obama was in office between 2008 and 2012…coincidence?!?!
Obama spiked the jobs report: "Jobs truthers" (like former GE CEO Jack Welch and Florida tea party congressman Allen West) accused the Obama administration of cooking the September unemployment numbers to manufacture a rosier picture of the economy and boost the president's chances of reelection.
Obama faked bin Laden's death: Since no photographs of Osama bin Laden's corpse were produced, the Al Qaeda leader must still be out there. Fox News' Steve Doocy and Andrew Napolitano entertained the idea that Operation Neptune Spear was merely a ploy to revive Obama's sagging approval ratings. Related: Obama was photoshopped into the iconic killing-OBL White House photo.
Obama's plan to fake an assassination attempt: A false-flag operation would create urban tumult and give Obama the pretext to declare martial law, thus suspending democracy, postponing the 2012 election, and prolonging his stay in office. The theory was flagged by Tenn. State Rep. Kelly Keisling, among others, after circulating online.

Obama the brainwashing hypnotist: As a master of neurolinguistic programming, Obama convinced Americans to vote for him via subliminal messages. Related: Rush Limbaugh pondered if hypnosis was the reason that so many Jewish voters were in the bag for Obama.
Obama's teleprompter: Obama's eloquence is a myth! The 44th president is incapable of speaking in public with his teleprompter.
Obama had a ghostwriter for everything: Jack Cashill over at WND had a hot scoop on how Obama's love letters to his college girlfriend were ghostwritten.
Obama's anti-Semitic poetry: However, according to the American Thinker, Obama's ghostwriters did not write his youthful poem "Underground," which compares Jews to fig-eating underwater apes and echoes Koranic verse.
Obama's exiled lover: Obama was supposedly fooling around with an attractive young staffer from his 2004 Senate campaign. Michelle Obama had the temptress packed off to the Caribbean before the '08 campaign.
Obama is gay: Which explains why he joined Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church. No, really. (Via Corsi, of course.)
Obama's crack cocaine/gay sex/murder orgy cover-up: In 2008, a small-time conman named Larry Sinclair and his kilt-wearing lawyer held a press conference to tell the world of the future president's murderous, drug-and-sodomy-fueled crimes.
Obama's campaigns were funded by drug money: During an October conference call organized to oppose pot legalization, a writer from Lyndon LaRouche's magazine asked about "reports [that both Obama's] 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns have been financed in part by laundered drug money."

Obama is the Antichrist: Obviously. Related: If you play his 2008 Democratic nomination acceptance speech backwards, you can hear him instruct listeners to do Satan's bidding.
Obama is a lizard overlord: According to codes hidden in Biblical verse, Obama is a reptilian humanoid. This idea has found its way on to some right-wing radio shows, and two Daily Caller reporters recently published a (satirical?) e-book on the topic titled, The Lizard King: The Shocking Inside Account of Obama's True Intergalactic Ambitions by an Anonymous White House Staffer.
Obama's adventures on Mars: As a teen, Obama participated in a CIA initiative to teleport to Mars using a top-secret "jump room." Self-described time travelers William Stillings and Andrew Basiago claim to have met the future POTUS at American space bases on the Red Planet. In early 2012, a spokesman for the National Security Council actually acknowledged these claims, and issued a fairly convincing denial.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/chart-obama-conspiracy-theories