This whole development of Trump Administration NEW Policy brings to mind an image in my mind of a preacher endorsing a candidate, with it clear I am not favorably inclined toward the practice. That image stuck in mind after seeing it among others, here.
(Worth an aside, this other item is one of the more famous Bosch paintings where he did not like the crowd which he depicted in a more "antisemitic" way than ignorantly using the term "Shylocks." But I digress.}
The AP headline for its version of the story:
Now this is THE TRUMP IRS, which has the power but arguably is not a truly impartial taxing service.
IT'S TRUMPS IRS AFTER ALL. (Do read all about that ownership.)
Now some Minnesotans may recall Pastor Mac [https://machammond.org/] saying from his pulpit earlier this century that he "was going to vote for Michel Bachmann," while she was attending his Living Word warehouse-converted-to-house-of-worship when he did not even live in her Congressional District. He got some heat over that and being tax-free at the same time, while, also, his congregatrion had bought him an airplane. MPR has its reporting of that story still online.
Crabgrass will excerpt almost all of an MSN carry of an Alternet report:
'This won't end well': Critics rip new IRS ruling that allows churches to endorse candidates
Back in 1993, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr.'s television program, "The Old Time Gospel Hour," was fined $50,000 by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and saw its tax-exempt status suspended for two years for engaging in overtly political activity from the pulpit. People For The American Way, the organization television producer Norman Lear (famous for 1970s sitcoms like "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons") founded to combat the Religious Right, applauded the decision but also felt that $50,000 was a slap on the wrist — as Falwell's Moral Majority and Liberty University were bringing in millions of dollars.
Thirty-two years later, critics of the Religious Right are still arguing that far-right fundamentalist evangelicals get away with violating IRS rules that allow their tax-exempt status. But the IRS, on Monday, July 7, said, in a court filing, that individual churches can endorse political candidates without violating their rules.
According to New York Times reporter David A. Fahrenthold, "The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters. The plaintiffs that sued the IRS had previously asked a federal court in Texas to create an even broader exemption — to rule that all nonprofits, religious and secular, were free to endorse candidates to their members. That would have erased a bedrock idea of American nonprofit law: that tax-exempt groups cannot be used as tools of any campaign."
Fahrenthold adds, "Instead, the IRS agreed to a narrower carveout — one that experts in nonprofit law said might sharply increase politicking in churches, even though it mainly seemed to formalize what already seemed to be the agency's unspoken policy."
Fahrenthold notes that the "ban on campaigning by nonprofits" was "introduced by" Lyndon B. Johnson in 1954, when he was serving in the U.S. Senate. LBJ went on to become president and enjoyed a landslide victory over Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964. But despite all their political differences, LBJ and Goldwater agreed on the need for a separation of church and state — and Goldwater, during the 1980s and 1990s, was a scathing critic of Falwell and the Religious Right. Trump, however, wants to abolish the 1954 ban.
Fahrenthold's reporting is receiving a lot of feedback on X, formerly Twitter.
Some church figures are applauding the IRS' decision.
Pastor Travis Johnson tweeted, "This game changing announcement was reported the New York Times moments ago. Listen, it was ALWAYS wrong for the undue pressure for pastors to be silent AND it was always wrong many pastors choose to be silent. Now Pastors can influence the way God called them in the first place without fear and now pastors don't have an excuse not to take a stand clearly in elections."
Other X users, however, didn't have a favorable reaction.
SiriusXM host James St. James posted, "But they still don't have to pay taxes. Funny how that works…. But universities have to be apolitical to keep their tax exempt status? Got it."
Attorney Amy Bresnen argued, "This won't end well. Someday there will be a Democrat in power. I don't know when. But this person will possess temerity and an exquisite amount of 'out of f-----' that will resonate with People. It’s coming."
A social worker who goes by Dolly Madison on X tweeted, "The party of Goldwater is dead!"
Catherine G. Bennett wrote, "Not a Goldwater fan but he was so RIGHT ON THIS ISSUE! Look at us now."
That is almost the entire item, but worth full fair-use quoting.If you've any doubt, the party of Goldwater has a vestigial few, while it mostly went MAGA, (with JD tagging along), and now he may be endorsed by each and every U.S. agents of his Pope (while this Pope, like the last one, is HIGHLY unlikey to make any such J.D. endorsement.)
And, Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, what may they say without being hounded by Pam Bondi or this Billy Long (new IRS top dude), over candidates who square with their wilderness-not-sulfide-mining belief set, while retaining, not forfeiting, their Iax-free status (if they have one)? For now, that might depend upon IRS new/old policy, and enforcement bias. We know Stauber, having the BWCAW in his district, is a lockstep Trumpster as much as (unfortunately) my Rep., Mr. Emmer.
And MAGA is about power in numbers and not fairness or clarity or good sense.
This is what Billy Long looks like, and he was a Missouri Republican politician/officeholder (an AP image speaking louder than words). So we can go figure.
REMEMBER, IT ALL STICKS TO TRUMP, AND SMELLS, AND IT'S HIS MORE THAN ANYBODY'S. HEAD OF THE SNAKE BEING AN ADAGE IN MIND, BUT NOT SUGGESTING THE "CUT OFF" PART OF THAT OLD SAYING. OTHER THAN FIGURATIVELY. WE ARE CIVILIZED WITH OTHER LESS DIRECT WAYS AVAILABLE. TO WHICH WE SHOULD LIMIT OURSELVES OUT OF DECENCY.
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DON'T BLAME ME, I VOTED HARRIS. NOT THAT SHE WAS SPECIAL BUT THAT SHE WAS NOT TRUMP; THAT BEING ABOUT ALL SHE RAN ON, ALSO.
