June 19, 2026:
RANDOM NOTES & BYTES FROM MY PITCHFORK
 Zorek
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Last Friday at the 15th Annual Family Leadership Summit Mike Johnson said there are 28 candidates in the U.S. who currently label themselves as “Democratic Socialists” that have won a “primary or are in a position to win.” Johnson described these candidates as “avowed communists,” claiming they want “no borders,” “no prisons” and want to “abolish the U.S. Senate.” “It’s dangerous stuff,” Johnson said. “They don’t want the allowance of private property. They don’t want the free market. This is what we’re facing right now.”
Democratic Socialists do not want to abolish all private ownership, but they do make a strict distinction between personal property and private property. The primary goal of democratic socialism is to end the private ownership of the "means of production" (factories, large businesses, and land used for profit) while fully protecting your right to own personal belongings. Democratic Socialists believe in working within existing democratic systems. They advocate for winning elections, passing laws, and gradually expanding the welfare state and public ownership while maintaining multi-party democracy and civil liberties. Communists traditionally argue that reform is impossible. They believe the capitalist system must be overthrown through a revolution, leading to a "dictatorship of the proletariat" and the eventual abolition of private property. Democratic socialism focuses on how society's resources and production should be managed. It is open to people of all religious backgrounds and personal beliefs. Religious socialism: Many faith traditions actively embrace these economic principles. Movements like Christian socialism and Islamic socialism, as well as historical Jewish labor movements, have long advocated for socialist ideals based on religious principles of justice, charity, and community. Many notable religious leaders and theologians have been democratic socialists. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. frequently advocated for democratic socialist policies, viewing them as the most moral way to eliminate poverty and racial inequality. |
“Every Trump voter is certainly not a white supremacist, just as every white person in the Jim Crow South was not a white supremacist. But every Trump voter felt it was acceptable to hand the fate of the country over to one.”
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
Ted Cruz is a devout Southern Baptist and evangelical Christian who frequently integrates his faith into his political platform and public discourse. He describes himself as "a Christian first and an American second" and currently worships at Houston's First Baptist Church. Cruz accepted Christ at age eight and was baptized at Clay Road Baptist Church in Houston. His father, Rafael Cruz, is a born-again Christian preacher who immigrated from Cuba and heavily influenced Ted's conservative religious views. He attended evangelical private schools, including Second Baptist School in Houston, which reinforced his religious foundation. In March 2026, Cruz drew significant attention for his comments on the phrase "Christ is King": While affirming the statement's theological truth, Cruz warned that it was being used online as an "antisemitic code word" by far-right groups to attack Jewish people. His remarks sparked a storm of criticism from some conservative and Christian commentators who accused him of unfairly labeling a core tenet of faith as hateful. Cruz noted that in his evangelical upbringing, phrases like "Jesus loves you" or "Jesus saves" were standard, whereas "Christ is King" appeared to have gained modern political traction online. Cruz frequently cites Genesis 12:3 ("I will bless those who bless you") to justify a biblically mandated support for the state of Israel. He frames religious liberty as a cornerstone of his political mission, arguing that rights come from God rather than government. He has been a vocal advocate against the persecution of Christians globally, notably walking off stage at an event in 2014 when attendees booed his defense of Israel
Ted Cruz says Talarico has chance to flip Texas, what polls show
Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said earlier this week that Democrat James Talarico has a “real chance” of flipping the traditionally red state in this year’s Senate race against Republican nominee Ken Paxton. Speaking on Sean Hannity’s radio show Wednesday while Governor Greg Abbott served as guest host earlier this week, Cruz, one of Texas’ most prominent Republicans, said he expects the Senate race to be very close, potentially decided by just a few percentage points. (MSN 7.10.26)READMORE>>>>>>
Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said earlier this week that Democrat James Talarico has a “real chance” of flipping the traditionally red state in this year’s Senate race against Republican nominee Ken Paxton. Speaking on Sean Hannity’s radio show Wednesday while Governor Greg Abbott served as guest host earlier this week, Cruz, one of Texas’ most prominent Republicans, said he expects the Senate race to be very close, potentially decided by just a few percentage points. (MSN 7.10.26)READMORE>>>>>>
How the Rapture Explains the Rupture Over Israel on the Right
ground in American public opinion on both the left and the right, even as many American Jews feel newly besieged by rising antisemitism. On much of the left, activists and intellectuals increasingly interpret Israel and Zionism through anti-colonial and anti-racist frameworks, casting the conflict in the moral language of oppressor and oppressed. On the right, a different but equally consequential shift is underway. Influential conservatives like Tucker Carlson have come to view Israel as a drain on American resources, setting up debates with Israel supporters like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and ambassador to Israel. But the criticisms go beyond the MAGA movement’s “America First” isolationism. The turn on the right isn’t just about geopolitics — it’s about theology.
(Politico; 3.8.26)READMORE>>>>>>
ground in American public opinion on both the left and the right, even as many American Jews feel newly besieged by rising antisemitism. On much of the left, activists and intellectuals increasingly interpret Israel and Zionism through anti-colonial and anti-racist frameworks, casting the conflict in the moral language of oppressor and oppressed. On the right, a different but equally consequential shift is underway. Influential conservatives like Tucker Carlson have come to view Israel as a drain on American resources, setting up debates with Israel supporters like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and ambassador to Israel. But the criticisms go beyond the MAGA movement’s “America First” isolationism. The turn on the right isn’t just about geopolitics — it’s about theology.
(Politico; 3.8.26)READMORE>>>>>>
Ted Cruz urges 'milquetoast' pastors to resist 'spiritual component' of Left: 'They've killed God'
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged Christian pastors to push back against the "spiritual component" of the modern Left, which he claimed is rooted in Marxist thought and fundamentally opposed to God. During a Monday interview with BlazeTV host James Poulos, Cruz said America "desperately needs" revival but claimed many pastors are too afraid to take a stand on crucial issues. (Jon Brown/ Christian Post 11/28/23)
Read More>>>>>
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, urged Christian pastors to push back against the "spiritual component" of the modern Left, which he claimed is rooted in Marxist thought and fundamentally opposed to God. During a Monday interview with BlazeTV host James Poulos, Cruz said America "desperately needs" revival but claimed many pastors are too afraid to take a stand on crucial issues. (Jon Brown/ Christian Post 11/28/23)
Read More>>>>>
ED NOTE: This is from a review on Amazon on a book Cruz wrote (Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism):
A most difficult book to read. Almost never do I feel inclined to post a book review on a public site, yet I am compelled to do so here. Practically everything Cruz expresses outrage over are previously debunked, decades old tropes. The book possesses only two facets. One is classic jingoistic, conservative outrage, and the other is an almost clickbait trolling of the mal-educated Texans who have regrettably kept him in office, and for those he hopes will one day put him in the White House. Practically everything he writes in this dreadful tome could be better understood if he prefaced each of his accusations with his unsaid, "I'm not a racist, but..." That other reviewers have expressed admiration for the author and his piece of fiction only tells me that Cruz is not alone in his faux outrage.
A most difficult book to read. Almost never do I feel inclined to post a book review on a public site, yet I am compelled to do so here. Practically everything Cruz expresses outrage over are previously debunked, decades old tropes. The book possesses only two facets. One is classic jingoistic, conservative outrage, and the other is an almost clickbait trolling of the mal-educated Texans who have regrettably kept him in office, and for those he hopes will one day put him in the White House. Practically everything he writes in this dreadful tome could be better understood if he prefaced each of his accusations with his unsaid, "I'm not a racist, but..." That other reviewers have expressed admiration for the author and his piece of fiction only tells me that Cruz is not alone in his faux outrage.
Texas activist David Barton wants to end separation of church and state. He has the ear of the new U.S. House speaker.
Despite that, Barton has remained a fixture in conservative Christian circles and Republican Party politics. He served as vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas from 1997 to 2006 and, in 2004, was tapped for clergy outreach by President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign. In 2010, his fellow Texan and prominent conservative personality Glenn Beck praised him as “the most important man in America right now.” Barton was an early and important endorser of Sen. Ted Cruz’s unexpected first win in 2012. And in 2016, Barton ran one of multiple super PACs that were crucial to Cruz’s reelection. “Having David Barton running the super PAC gives it a lot of validity for evangelicals and pastors,” Mike Gonzalez, the South Carolina evangelical chair for the Cruz for President campaign, told the Daily Beast at the time. (Robert Downen/Texas Tribune 11/3/23) Read More>>>>>
Despite that, Barton has remained a fixture in conservative Christian circles and Republican Party politics. He served as vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas from 1997 to 2006 and, in 2004, was tapped for clergy outreach by President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign. In 2010, his fellow Texan and prominent conservative personality Glenn Beck praised him as “the most important man in America right now.” Barton was an early and important endorser of Sen. Ted Cruz’s unexpected first win in 2012. And in 2016, Barton ran one of multiple super PACs that were crucial to Cruz’s reelection. “Having David Barton running the super PAC gives it a lot of validity for evangelicals and pastors,” Mike Gonzalez, the South Carolina evangelical chair for the Cruz for President campaign, told the Daily Beast at the time. (Robert Downen/Texas Tribune 11/3/23) Read More>>>>>