James Talarico's victory in the Texas primary may signal the rising of moral outrage

Talarico speaks the language of many Texans, which may puzzle those not from the South, as I see the media dominated and housed on the East Coast try to explain why he won. For those who were raised inthe "bible belt" or came of age in the evangelical Christian movements that dominate the culture of the South, it is not hard to understand. (I am a native of Eastern Oklahoma) 

Talarico speaks their language, a language that comes naturally to him as the grandson of a Baptist preacher and now a Presbyterian pastor/seminarian. He cites the words of Jesus freely: to love God with all his heart and love his neighbors as he would love himself. He shares much with the theology of Pope Leo.   He also puts his economic populist message into theological references, caring for the least of these or Jesus overturning the money changers' tables in the Temple.

 Talarico is the antidote to a political movement based on fear and loathing of neighbors who are not like them, in race, sometimes in religion, and in culture,  and/or who worship wealth as the sign of success as persons.  He simply quietly incorporates his political beliefs without raising his voice or delivering a proselytizing, fiery sermon. In subtle ways, he preaches without being preachy. 

 Democrats can hope there are enough in Texas in the general election in November who are troubled by the immorality of the president and his staff and administrators seeking more political power by inhumane treatment of anyone brown speaking Spanish, snatched and warehoused until they can prove their legality, in an attempt to purge this country of as many brown people as they can. They have convinced so many who claim to be Christian by the righteousness of racial hatred that I wonder how many are left in the South who are uncomfortable with that approach and are indeed swayed by a view of Christianity of Talarico's that is the polar opposite of the tone of others in the White House.

This may also show a meeting of minds of both Christians and northern liberals when morality and human rights, and economic populism, find common cause. It is where disgust with the immorality of  Epstein and his clients and affordability meet in a common purpose.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: White Christian Nationalism has taken over the White House

From last July, MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Messaging again: a new messenger who speaks to many in red states: James Talarico

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Moral indignation rises as a major imperative of anti-ICE protests

  

For the record: fact checked Trump's State of the Union address 2/24/26

 Fact-checking Trump 2026 State of the Union address on jobs, inflation, crime, immigration and more

Fed Ex sues the government over tariffs: will it ever help consumers?

I am a small business importer of cosmetics from the European Union, and I am not a customer of FedEx, but I approve its action. FedEx sues for refund of Trump tariffs after Supreme Court ruling It is only a first step, and there are lots of possibilities that there are no further steps. The public may snort that " this will only line FedEx's pocket and consumers will never see a dime" needs some fine-tuning, but it is more likely than not, particularly if small businesses are involved. Congress can pass some laws to bring some sense to the process, but not in time to do much good, and those corporations with deep pockets will be there in the lobby looking after their own corporate interests. (Around 60% of Amazon's sellers are small businesses.)

Trump's tariffs get knocked out - but the hit to small business is just beginning | Morningstar

To understand how it works with my contracted US-based import transportation shipping company is that it is, well, complicated, but while consumer relief is not a hopeless exercise, it is close to it.   Don't hold your breath.  

Here is what I have experienced, and I do not know if FedEx works the same way, but it probably does.  However, probably the power is in FedEx's own company broker's hands if small businesses are handled the same way by any of the other import shippers.(UPS, DHL). Big volume importers can afford their own brokers. If they are very big, they ship containers full, which goes through a different process.

 We, as small businesses, do not have DC lobbyists, upfront containers full, or funds to sue FedEx if they win their suit, and if they choose to keep the proceeds and do not pass them on to us or to consumers.  We, the importers, have to pay the tariffs up front to the shipper/broker before we even have our product in hand to sell it, compete in the marketplace, and generate revenue to pay the import bill, the manufacturer, and operating expenses.   That is why many small businesses have had to close their doors.

Once the manufacturer from which  I order their products is ready to ship, they call the company that provides the best or only service to pick up the goods and transport them to the US. Since the imposition of tariffs on Liberation Day, in advance of their landing in the US, the transportation company's small package brokerage is in charge and declares the amount of tariffs and administration fees they will charge us, the receiver/importer. They demand payment based on their own interpretation of the various rules, executive orders, and laws right up front.  Given the fact that the products we import are shipped by air and are small packages (we do not do containers full), we have little or no chance to protest the import fees and duties, and either refuse the shipment and return it to Europe, or take it on the chin. The shipping company, in the meantime, has its own brokerage operation to levy its fees and duties (tariffs) and then hands the whole shipment off to the actual US customs officials, who then rarely disagree with the brokerage. As with cosmetics, the Food and Drug Administration officials housed near customs also make sure labeling and content comply with US rules, regulations, and laws. If we clear both, they may be released to be delivered to our place of business by the shipping company's local trucks. The whole chain of delivery, at best, if shipped by air, takes a week from the time the order is picked up at the European manufacturer's factory until I actually get it at my doorstep. I have had some shipments take a month.  I still must pay what the transportation brokerage department rules are due before they will leave with me or refuse the delivery and ship it back to Europe, because the fees are outrageously wrong.  I then distribute the product to Amazon, my retail customers, or fill internet orders myself on a platform like Shopify, hoping and planning to charge enough for the new duties and fees that have been added to my costs of doing business.  If we disagree with the shipper's brokerage, we can "dispute" the charges for duty as being wrong.  We have had disputes unresolved since last fall, so lots of luck with that. 

The problem we as small businesses, have encountered is even keeping up with Trump's ever-changing deals and executive orders, and the other is access to the breakdown of what the shipping brokerage has based their tariff charges on.  There appears to be little consistency on the part of the brokerage agent in giving their best guess of what the chaos and constant changes are on any particular day.  This chaos is a major challenge. 

 In any case, the transportation shipper brokerage knows what they ruled and charged and sent to US Customs and how much money they collected from us, the receiver and importer, in their own paper trail, which they pass on to the US government. The shipper broker keeps what they get from up front as a fee for the service..  These shipper brokers are then in a position to claim a refund from the Trump administration.   At that point, if the courts approve the refund to FedEx, FedEx can choose to refund part of what they have charged us, the importer, for the courts to rule on which parts of the tariff charges are illegal duty assessments in general. If say FedEX decides to part with some of the court award and pass it on to us, then we, as the importer, can then decide whether to lower our wholesale and retail prices or keep the change to cover the past up-front costs.  At that point, the competition and the free market rule. If we cannot compete at the price we need to cover expenses or make any profit, we close our doors, too.

 In any case, the small business importer like us has to pay all upfront in duty and tariffs (same thing) and pray that the brokerage is also correct, or dispute their charges, or return the shipment, or go out of business with no products to sell. So far we have hung in there, but our otherwise successful business has been harmed and impacted by the chaos of Trump's tariff obsession

I think we have just begun to see the impact of tariffs on consumer prices. Until now, big companies importing by the container or like cars, will have worked their way through their 2025 inventory and now are reordering for 2026 projections...and these for sure will reflect the price hikes. 90% of tariffs get passed on to consumers.

That Trump thinks tariffs would take the place of income tax is nuts: The only people benefitting from this would be those rich enough to not care; the rest of us on a budget would realize that such tariffs are as regressive as sales tax...which mean everyone pays the same but even small change or more hits those who are counting pennies proportionate to their income the most. The poor and middle class would be screwed.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The Supreme Court ruling on tariffs today? Consumers see a partial relief

Automakers could start raising prices this year to offset tariffs, dealership executive says | Watch

White Christian Nationalism has taken over the White House

As Trump proclaims, the separation of church and state is over ("forget the separation of church and state"), what takes its place in the White House? It appears it is White Christian Nationalism, if not in words, at least in deed.  Its actions that clearly target cleansing the US of as many brown people as they can are clearly racist as well as political.  Tactics used are not Christian, based upon hatred and fear of neighbors not like you, and treating people cruelly are not either.  Trump is not noted for his devotion to the teachings of Christ, but his history of racism is a theme throughout his public life.  The two, white Christian Nationalism and racism, have found a home in the White House.  The shaper of the inhumane treatment of migrants from south of the border, the person setting the the goals for the warehousing of brown people caught in the dragnet of ICE (put them all in concentration camps if they look brown and speak Spanish, then figure out which ones get deported while depriving the imprisoned of legal representation), is looking more and more like Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff.  His background also reeks of White Christian Nationalism. 

From my prior posting on this blog:

The real shame is that so many Americans share or tolerate (Trump's)racism.

The other shame is that his racist whisperer is in his ear daily and given a permission slip to proceed. Stephen Miller, on his staff has a long history of white nationalism. If anything, Miller's contribution to the Trump regime is his anti-immigrant stance, including using the cruelty of family separation as a tool and in deporting immigrants without due process. He is viewed as an extremist in these sensitive matters. Given his anti-immigrant reputation, I doubt that the Bill of Rights and the civil rights-related amendments would be high on his required list of curriculum topics. The Southern Poverty Law Center tags him as an extremist.https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/stephen-miller/. Miller is in charge of this ICE project aimed at ridding the country of as many brown people as he can under the pretext that migrants are criminals when 70 percent of those they grab have no criminal record.. ..but are brown and are both American citizens and who only committed a misdemeanor of being undocumented. Miller's campaign involves eliminating the birthright citizenship of those born in the US and cleansing them from this country.

The irony is that not all Christians buy into this ideology of White Christian Nationalism, particularly the Catholic Church and the Council of Bishops. Almost all of those victims of ICE's dragnet and cruel warehousing are Catholics. In addition, a large array of Protestant churches that are not part of the "evangelical movement" have had members actively participating in opposing ICE actions, including Presbyterians, Methodists, Unitarians, and others. Their motivations are not legalistic, but moral, religious, and being humane to their neighbors. They have moved the more popular description of migrants promoted by Donald Trump himself from "murderers and rapists" to "neighbors" in the Biblical sense. Good Samaritans have taken the place of racists and nationalists in many minds.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Moral indignation rises as a major imperative of anti-ICE protests

Trump said “forget about separation of church and state." He meant it.

Christian leaders denounce Trump actions, warn of 'crisis of faith'

“The Thought of Holding Thousands of Families in Massive Warehouses Should Challenge the Conscience of Every American,” Says Bishop Cahill | USCCB

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: I fear white supremacy has raised its ugly head again.

One of the most puzzling aspects about those who are completely devoted to Trump the leader is that some feel a religious zeal to see him as a second coming, or a Christ-like figure:  While none of us is free from sin, not all sins are the same. Some are worse than others, and the early Catholic church came up with a list we also call "the seven deadly sins". Dante wrote a classic about it.  It's as good today as it was then as a starting point to rate the personal relative morality of ourselves or others. There might be a better role model out there. Per our friend at AI google: here they are:"They are considered root sins that lead to other immoral actions, consisting of pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, lust, and gluttony. 

Here is the list of the seven deadly sins with their definitions:

• Pride (Hubris): Considered the original and most serious sin, it is an excessive belief in one's own abilities and a sense of superiority over others.
• Greed (Avarice): An excessive desire for material possessions, wealth, or gain.
• Lust: An intense, uncontrolled longing or craving, particularly for sexual pleasure.
• Envy: The desire to possess what someone else has, coupled with sadness or resentment at their good fortune.
• Gluttony: The overindulgence or excessive consumption of food, drink, or other items to the point of waste.
• Wrath (Anger): Uncontrolled feelings of hatred, rage, and animosity, often leading to a desire for vengeance.
• Sloth: Extreme laziness, apathy, or the failure to utilize one's talents and act upon103 duties. 

•