WE Are Dr. King

By Ray McGovern, Jan. 23, 2021

This year the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday (born on Jan, 15, 1929) was overshadowed by the violence of Jan. 6 at the Capitol — the kind he tried so hard to prevent and the kind that had him murdered by in 1968 by the KKK in cahoots with government “security” forces.

The following is from Franciscan Richard Rohr, leader of the Center for Action and Contemplation ( https://cac.org/ ). Rohr reports:

CAC faculty member Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes calls Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King “a great contemplative, one who used the spiritual essence of nonviolence as a tool for liberating the social order and the spiritual authority of a denigrated people.”

Dr. Holmes earlier wrote: Liberation requires individuals willing to stand when no one else will, to sit when others are threatening you with harm, to embrace an outsider in full view of an insider, to proclaim the wisdom of the ages. [Emphasis added.]

She shared with us this prayer of gratitude for King’s life and work, which is also of petition—that we might continue God’s work of liberation for all.

The prayer below is from James Forbes Jr. of Riverside Church in New York:

O God of Love, Power and Justice, who wills the freedom and fulfillment of all your children. We thank you for the constancy of your loving kindness and tender mercies toward us. Especially on this day as we celebrate the birthday and life of your servant and prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are reminded that in every age you raise up seers and sayers and doers of justice. We marvel at the way by which you shaped a young black boy from Georgia into a towering figure of his time—to awaken the conscience of the nations, to rekindle a passion for freedom, equality, and peace; to redirect the traffic of human affairs from the back alley of bigotry toward the grand concourse of courage and compassion.

We stand in awe at the marvelous networking by which you built a movement around a man of vision. It included blacks and whites, Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, conservatives and progressives, rich and poor, business and labor. This “coalition of conscience” dedicated itself to the proposition that the American dream of freedom and equality could be made real through courageous action in a spirit of love, in pursuit of human dignity for all. This dignity includes all who suffer from homelessness, joblessness, purposelessness, carelessness, hopelessness.

Because our needs are so great today, and your care so constant, we know that you are rebuilding the network of compassion around new visionaries who you have assembled for this hour. Surprise us with the discovery of how much power we have to make a difference in our day:

—A difference in the way citizens meet, greet, respect, and protect the rights of each other.

—A difference in the breadth of our vision of what is possible in humanization, reconciliation, and equalization of results in our great city.

—A difference in the way government, business, and labor can work together, for justice and social enrichment.

—A difference in our response to the needy, and a difference in our appreciation for those who give of themselves for the surviving and thriving of our beautiful people.

Use this season of celebration to spark new hope and stir up our passion for new possibilities. Make compassion and the spirit of sacrifice to be the new mark of affluence of character.

Strengthen us to face reality and to withstand the rigor of tough times in the anticipation of a bright side beyond the struggle. Inspire, empower, and sustain us until we reach the mountaintop, and see that future for which our hearts yearn.

This is our fervent and sincere prayer. Amen.

[James Alexander Forbes, Jr., “O God of Love, Power and Justice,” Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, ed. James Melvin Washington (HarperPerennial: 1994), 260‒261.]

Jim Forbes used to come down from New York to speak and inspire us at the Servant Leadership School of the ecumenical Church of the Savior in inner-city Washington. Ray was co-director of the school from 1998 to 2004.

Please see the next post on this site, in which Congresswoman (“go back where you came from”) Ilhan Omar is shown to be a worthy follower of Dr. King.

Daniel Lazare and I Go Hot and Heavy on Biden-Russia

By Ray McGovern, Jan. 22, 2021

Are there straws in the wind that Biden my be able to create a more decent relationship with Russia? I say Yes; Dan says No. A wager of $.25 is at stake.

As I see it, the Democrats no longer need to use Trump’s “bromance with Putin” (Obama/Podesta) to ’splain why Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, or to emasculate former President Trump.  Those incentives have pretty much evaporated.  And, besides, Biden won; so no need for the Dems to cook up stories about Russian interference this time round.

True, the Democratic Establishment still needs to bow to the MICIMATT’s requirement to portray Russia as a potent enemy, in order to justify obscene outlays of funding so desperately and demonstrably needed at home.  But China is becoming a useful substitute “threat” against which Washington must spend close to $740 Billion this year to “defend” against.  As one defense contractor reportedly exclaimed a few years ago, “Thank God for the pivot to Asia!”  There are some signs that the MICIMATT and its clients/advocates are getting a bit nervous, as Biden begins to negotiate New START, the Iran nuclear deal, and other issues on which U.S.-Russian cooperation will be needed.

That’s the backdrop against which Ray spoke of some straws in the wind suggesting that there might be some hope in the appointment of Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence, and the tasking she has received to look into:

— The recently discovered multi-month hacking of government agencies;

— The poisoning of Navalny;

— Reports that the Russians paid the Taliban bounties to kill American troops in Afghanistan.

“Liberal” pundits have, de rigueur, seen Putin behind all this; and Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi want to investigate Putin’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol (see:  https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2021/01/20/round-up-the-usual-suspects-dont-forget-putin/ ).  So, some of Joe Biden’s former good buddies remain unhinged.  That does not mean, ipso facto, that Joe has to follow lemming-like what Obama once described as “The Washington Playbook.”

I speculate that Biden is trying to create some space so he can be his own man.  In my view, there is some chance — particularly if Haines and CIA Director nominee Bill Burns give him some honest intelligence analysis, that Biden can prevent himself from being shackled to a totally unnecessary, dead-end, hostile posture vis-a-vis Russia, in order to appease the MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-MEDIA-Academia-Think-Tank) complex (MEDIA in all caps since it is the linchpin, the sine-qua-non ).

But during the interview, I was outnumbered three to one. Time will tell whether I emerge $.25 poorer.

Ray on Burns and Haines, Burns and Nuland, and Burns and Iran

Ray was interviewed today on how CIA director-designate William Burns is likely to get along (or not) with torture-apologist-lawyer Avril Haines and Russophobe Victoria Nuland, if they are confirmed — Haines as Director of National Intelligence and Nuland as Under Secretary of State.  Also discussed is the unique role Burns will be in position to play, should Biden have the courage to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal that Trump opted out of.

January 13, 2021; 14 minutes

Ray’s Quick Take on Bill Burns, Avril Haines and the Capitol

In short interview yesterday, Ray gave succinct answers to questions on the pros and cons of Biden’s nominations of Bill Burns to become CIA Director and Avril Haines to become Director of National Intelligence.  Toward the end of the interview, Ray was also asked for his take on what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

January 12, 2021; 13 minutes