Author: Ron Davis

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“I do not yet know what UUCA will be asked to risk”: A Pastoral Message from the Senior Sabbatical Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta

Dear Members of the UU Congregation of Atlanta,

Yesterday, in broad daylight, Alex Pretti was executed.

Let’s be clear. What killed this poor man was not law enforcement. It was lawlessness.

The problem is not whether or how Alex Pretti complied with the law.

The problem is that federal agents, sent to sow chaos, are out of compliance with our Constitution.

Are out of compliance with the scope of their role. And are out of compliance with principles of public safety.

So, the question I’m asking is why don’t these agents comply with the law?

Any narrative that suggests that Alex Pretti was anything other than innocent is pure fabrication. The Administration is lying. But you can trust your friends. You can believe your own eyes.

What happened is horrifying. And, of course, it’s not new. This country has a long memory of Jim Crow terror, night patrols, and violence carried out with the blessing—or the silence—of those in power.

Still, many of good conscience this weekend are rightly feeling heartbroken, furious, helpless, and confused.

If you are scared, that makes sense.

If you are angry, you have a right to be.

If you are not sure what to do next, you are not alone.

I’m deeply grateful for, and inspired by, UUCA Associate Minister Rev. EN Hill, who stood in the cold in Minneapolis this past week, alongside hundreds of clergy, representing the body of holy love in the streets. Church people know simple, ancient good things–like that showing up matters. Especially when so much is at risk and the stakes are so high.

We are now in a moment when political violence is being normalized. When cruelty is defended as order. When fear is being weaponized in American streets. Today, it is Minneapolis. Tomorrow, it could be Atlanta. That is sobering to say out loud. It is also necessary.

I do not know what the future holds. I do not know how all of this will unfold. I do not yet know what UUCA will be asked to risk, or where solidarity will require us to stand. I do not know what our most vulnerable neighbors will need, or how they will call on us for protection and partnership.

But here is what I do know.

UUCA is not a bystander congregation.

UUCA is not a silent congregation.

And UUCA is held and fueled by a Love that our Universalist ancestors claimed never quit and left nobody out!

UUCA, you are powerful beyond measure—because of your history, your relationships, your commitments, and your hard-won wisdom. You have not been caught off-guard. You have been watching. You’ve been strengthening networks and joining Signal groups. You’ve been weaving strategic ties across difference. You have been preparing.

And you are not alone. You have neighbors. Partners. Shoulder-to-shoulder companions.

With strong UUCA Board leadership, with long-time movement veterans among you, with the boundlessly deep resource of music and joy, with Rev. EN’s steady courage, and with Rev. Taryn returning next week, this congregation is well-resourced—not only spiritually, but strategically.

We are a people of tenacious hope. Of stubborn, resilient love. We won’t back down. Nor will we be hardened or embittered or cornered. We will sing. We will rest. We will rise.

Let me say this, my sibling Unitarian Universalists: this engagement, ahead of us, is going to cost something. It may cost comfort. It may cost convenience. It may cost reputation. It may cost time and money and the illusion that someone else will handle it.

And still, we are called.

Some of you will offer care and compassion.

Some will show up on front lines.

Some will make sure things at home are steady and strong so others can do what they need to do on the streets.

All of it matters.

In the coming days, there will be opportunities to gather, to pray, to listen, and to discern concrete next steps together. Watch for those invitations. Bring your whole self. Feel it all.

Thank you for the discernment you are already doing about the part you will play.

Thank you for the preparation you are undertaking for UUCA to be a force for the Beloved Community—not in abstraction or in theory, but in neighborhoods, households, and in real lives.

Gratefully, mournfully, and with resolve,

Rev. Jake Morrill
Senior Sabbatical Minister
UU Congregation of Atlanta

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I Think the Wall Street Journal Today is not Happy About the Events in Minnesota

I hope the Journal’s unhappiness stems from the objectivity and innate decency of its reporters and editors.

I am sure it has nothing to do with how the Trump Administration’s policies are screwing things up royally for the business and financial elite. 

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The Minneapolis Massacre is Going to be about as Effective for Trump as the Boston Massacre for the British Occupation Forces

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365208

“Not the Battle of Lexington or Bunker Hill, not the surrender of Burgoyne or Cornwallis, were more important events in American history than the battle of King Street on the 5th of March, 1770,” said John Adams.

The soldiers were obviously acting in self-defense, and it will all blow over soon, said the British command occupying Boston. 

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” wrote the philosopher George Santayana.

Trump and his goons cannot remember the past, because they never knew history in the first place. But they are bloody well condemned to repeat it. 

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And Two More Things on the Greenland Gambit

In the last post, I speculated that today’s Greenland nonsense is a harebrained attempt by Trump to “demonstrate” to the Supreme Court that tariffs are wonderful things, and that he should continue to be able to play with his playthings. 

Two more pieces of evidence point in that direction.

(1) In his speech, he “took military force off the table.” As if to “prove” that whatever success he achieves with his antics will be the result of tariff threats, not the threat of force.

(2) Around 3PM this afternoon, he let it be known that tariffs are no longer necessary because he has the “framework” of a deal on Greenland—a deal reached with someone who has no power to give Greenland away.

So, an artificial tariff-related crisis results on a non-deal deal that he can vaingloriously proclaim to be a famous victory.

So, THERE, Supreme Court! See how well those tariff threats work!

One more question, you ask: What about the fact that he thinks Greenland and Iceland are the same place? What does that have to do with anything?

Answer: it shows that the dementia is advancing.

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Why Greenland? From Whence This Madness?

IMHO, George Will and Ross Douthat have some pretty good things to say this morning. Will sees a crisis caused by “a president’s fragile ego, as usual.” Douthat has two alternative explanations: “malignant narcissism flavored with insane Nobel Peace Prize-related self-pity” or “how Trump always negotiates.” There’s much truth in both op-eds, and you would probably do well to read them.

You would also do well to take a look at the online front page of the Wall Street Journal—a good source for the business/financial elites’ view of the world. Part of it is reproduced above.

The elites are worried. The thing they value most—maybe the only thing they value at all—is their money. Trump’s behavior is increasingly threatening their core values.

I’m posting right now because I have my own take on the Mad King’s current thought processes. It’s set forth in the next paragraph, which is all speculation—but reasonable speculation based on known facts, analyzed logically.

Trump has been told—probably by the Solicitor General, the unfortunately named Mr. Sauer—that he is going to lose the tariff case in the Supreme Court. Bigly. Faced with that grave forthcoming affront to his fee-fees, Orange Mussolini has devised an insane Hail Mary pass: use tariffs to force Europe to give him Greenland, thereby “demonstrating” to the Supreme Court the great “value” of his favorite play-pretty, his usurped power to bully other countries with tariffs and threats of tariffs.

There will be consequences. 

I hope y’all have a lot of popcorn on hand.