People can try to shut you up because you’re boring, but when they shut down access to media, it is something more. Last week, in a two-minute op-ed on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s podcast on Facebook, I criticized Micah Beckwith, IN GOP’s nominee for Lt Gov. 1/8

Beckwith took a different approach by recruiting people to “run” for slots as State convention delegates. Beckwith probably recruited people who have the capacity to be moral. Beckwith has said only Christians have the…

Nobody boards an airliner if informed the pilot is suicidal. [FN1] Last Tuesday, Hamilton County preacher/GOP nominee for IN Lt Gov Micah Beckwith was a scheduled guest on “Mouthwash.” [FN2] My op-ed expressed a view both different & not liked. [FN3] [FN4] That “view”?  1/11

1) Beckwith is power-hungry; 2) He’s delusional re chats w/”The Lord,” but to think he doesn’t aspire to high Fed office is more delusional than Beckwith; 3) Evangelicals are nihilistic, esp re: Armageddon;…

Often the person who shouts “morality” loudest lacks that quality. Indiana’s GOP convention, on 6/15/24, nominated Hamilton County preacher Micah Beckwith, 891 to 828, over Rep Julie McGuire, the nominal pick of GOP primary winner Sen Mike Braun. There are indicators 1/11

Braun was not enthusiastic about McGuire as a #2. (E.g., Braun’s campaign emails, touting McGuire, were sent to delegates the morning of the convention). He can say his effort to name a woman for #2 was spoiled by…

We all should fear Beckwith, the Indiana GOP nominee for Lt Governor. In April a person said to me: “Beckwith on the GOP ticket is good for the Democrats.” I replied: “Never should hope the worst people on the other side in elections get the nominations.” It’s not a game. 1/9

Elections are to sporting contests as Supreme Court justices are to umpires in baseball: they’re not. The futures of our country & world are at stake. Once Beckwith gets the power he craves, he won’t want to…

Tomorrow is the xGOP State convention. Here are some important points:

1) This iteration of the GOP (“xGOP”) is a corporate entity w/benefits (e.g., automatic placement on the ballot of its candidates, public finances for its PR (a/k/a primary elections).) 1/10

2) Far-right Terre Haute attorney James Bopp, central to creating xGOP & voters will find trying to re-take xGOP back nearly impossible.

3) xGOP has no valid claim it’s the “Party of Lincoln”: it would gut…

On 6/11, Facebook removed posts I’d written. Later, on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s podcast, the guest was Ham County preacher Micah Beckwith, who is seeking the GOP nomination for IN Lt Gov. For a 2-minute spot I do each week, I talked about Beckwith. Context: GOP issues 1/8

GOP candidates for Gov ran on issues far outside a governor’s authority.

Beckwith calls himself a Christian nationalist. I addressed the nihilistic foundation of Beckwith’s beliefs. Beckwith believes the book…

I’m beginning to get it. Even when I cite sources for information that I rely upon for points that I make about a Christofascist who is seeking the GOP nomination for Lt Gov in Indiana, and I do not pander or mislead, I get reported for violating Facebook rules.

Facebook pulled my 6/11 blog: “It looks like you tried to get likes, follows, shares or video views in a misleading way.” The blog/tweets concerns Hamilton County preacher Micah Beckwith and his effort to be nominated for Lt Governor by the GOP. 1/7

Most posts in social media try “to get likes, follows, shares or video views.” There are metrics that assist in this matter. FB’s AI perhaps views the blog as “a misleading.” There’s little point in trying to talk w/a human at FB or Meta…

There is little reason to speculate about the dead in the past: he’ll deny accountability & probably dispute numbers. [FN1] There’s even less reason to guess at dead in the future. IN Lt Gov hardly has any authority. He’s only saying what Hoosiers want to hear. We live in scary times. 1/11

Hamilton County preacher Micah Beckwith seeks the GOP’s nomination for Lt Gov at the State convention this Saturday in Indy. For a year he’s worked to get 908 of the 1,814 delegates [FN2] &…

Today I posted, on FB and “X/formerly twitter,” a blog/tweets about Ernie Pyle and his writings after D-Day. Pyle was born in Indiana, was a student in IU’s School of Journalism in the 1920s & won a Pulitzer for his writings as a war correspondent in WW2. Later, FB notified me: 1/3

“It looks like you tried to get likes, follows, shares or video views in a misleading way.” On a different screen it is noted, in part: “Our technology found your content doesn't follow our Community…

A brilliant Hoosier writer, Ernie Pyle was a war correspondent; 80 years ago, he wrote about D-Day. In part: “It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, but they didn’t know they 1/8

were in the water, for they were dead. [] The wreckage was vast and startling. The awful waste & destruction of war, even aside fr the loss of human life has always been one of its outstanding…

Hamilton County preacher Micah Beckwith [FN1] wants to be the GOP nominee for IN Lt Gov. In a 20-sec YouTube video, he looks into the camera & says he’ll be “an insurance policy against the woke mob.” [FN2] His target audience: delegates to the GOP State convention. [FN3] 1/11

Beckwith recruited people 2 B on the May 7 primary ballot as delegates because those delegates name the party’s nominee for Lt Gov. But Beckwith’s run for Lt Gov is based on falsehoods & each day brings…

In November, Hoosier voters can vote for Governor, just like Hoosiers in May’s GOP primary cast a ballot for Sen Mike Braun. Each time, voters had an illusion of voting for a person who would fulfill the duties of the office of Gov if Braun prevails in November. 1/8

The problem is Hamilton County preacher Micah Beckwith [FN1] who’s running to be GOP’s nominee for Lt Gov. [FN2] If you do not recall having the chance to vote for a candidate for Lt Gov on your primary ballot, that’s…

Yesterday the jury, in People v Donald J Trump, 71543-23, returned a verdict of Guilty on each of the 34 counts brought. There are “vibes” today reminiscent of 1974, Congressional hearings that went from investigation to impeachment, and Pres Nixon’s overreach for power. 1/9

I was in undergrad. In 1972 I’d passed out campaign literature for the McGovern campaign. In 1974 I worked in the Democratic Party tent at the county fair. I’ve voted, primary and general, in every election since…

Tuesday (Tues, 5/21, 9 pm) on John Schmitz’s podcast “Mouthwash” [FN1] the guest will be Adam Wren. [FN2] He writes for Importantville [FN3] which fills gaps the internet created in local news coverage. In 1994, a daily newspaper like The Indianapolis Star was a fixture. 1/11

For all its faults, The Star covered local news in more categories than politics, & in tones less “rah rah.” Mr Wren’s interview of Micah Beckwith [FN4] shows local focus on questions that no one else has…

“Sources” are important, whether in mundane conversations or in posts on social media. I try to footnote posts in my blog and on “X” (formerly twitter) and, if a post is a work of satire [FN1], I sometimes label it as such, unless omission of that label [FN2] is unnecessary. 1/8

Last evening, I realized that a noise emanating from a desk drawer was from a flip-phone. The number is known to few because it’s a flip-phone, tossed aside for years. I dug it out, but did not recognize the…

The 2024 election for President viewed in context of a submersible that dives to the wreckage of HMS Titanic.

“I think we ought to go back to the surface,” the skipper says, “I didn’t know this isn’t certified as safe for these depths.” 1/7

Smart-guy passenger shoves skipper aside. “I can run this. In military school; they said I was brilliant in everything I did.”

Skipper reaches for the controls. “We need to go to the surface. The pressure is tons per square inch. This…

I expressed concerns re what might ensue in Indiana if 1) Pres Biden & VP Harris win re-election in November, but 2) trump wins Indiana’s 11 electors. Sen Mike Braun, GOP nominee for Gov, but for the Jan 6 insurrection, would have voted to reject the 2020 election results. [FN1] 1/10

Several ppl shared my concern. Another person pointed out: “Braun won't be sworn in until after the election. Until that happens Holcomb will be in charge.” True, but Gov Holcomb was on the fence on…

No one questioned the results of elections held during the Civil War (1864) or WWII (1944). A litmus test for today’s GOP is belief that the 2020 election was hacked for Pres Biden’s benefit. What happens, here in Indiana, if the GOP claims elections in November are not valid? 1/8

1) Who wins election for IN Gov is central. There has been no indication that the Democratic Party candidate for Governor, Jennifer McCormick, has bought into the “big lie” otoh, Sen Mike Braun, the GOP…

We’ve been lucky. [FN1] The World’s ocean has protected us from invasion. [FN2] The War of 1812 consisted of skirmishes. [FN3] Large-scale battles & their carnage did not occur here in the land of the free. [FN4] We were 0-0-1, in a shallow sports way to say our “team’s” record. 1/10

The Mexican-American War was fought on our soil, only if you consider the land we took from Mexico and claimed, as a result of the war, to be “our soil.” [FN5] We were 1-0-1. [FN6] The…