From 1648 to 1750, the Christian Church was completely different from the time of 33 A.D. at the time of the resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have now a multifaceted church with diverse peoples and doctrines. The Protestants and the Catholics have numerous religious differences. Yet, their histories by this time will deal with the issues of missionaries, colonialism, and imperialism. The paradox of missionaries was that many missionaries sincerely wanted to promote healthcare, education, and other ways to help humanity. Yet, other missionaries and colonists had a different agenda to promote imperialism, control over people, and advance the falsehood of white racial superiority. Catholic missionaries spread from North and South America, Africa, and Asia from 1500-1800. Protestant missionaries have a similar spread too. By this time, we saw the discrimination of women and witch frenzy among many people who professed to be Christian. There were many Catholic women leaders were nunneries, exercising the same powers and privileges as their male counterparts, such as Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179), Elisabeth of Schönau (d. 1164/65), and Marie d'Oignies (d. 1213). Hildegard began writing the first of her three-volume theology in 1141. Between 100,000 and 200,000 people were accused most often by fellow villagers. Approximately 80% of the accused were women; most were acquitted; most trials were civil trials. Inquisitions lessened the impact by requiring strict evidence. From 1561 to 1670, it is estimated that between 40,000 and 50,000 people were executed. For the record, it is wrong to murder people based on their ideological or spiritual beliefs. You can't claim to be moral and advocate persecution of those who disagree with your views. By the late 1600s, we see more people questioning religious authorities. There was political absolutism or kings having total control of the people. We saw another era during the Age of Enlightenment. This movement included Deists, atheists, and agnostics who not only rejected theocracy but desire scientific inquiry. They advocated for secularism, religious freedom, freedom of speech, religious toleration, and other ideologies. A lot of people don't know that back in the day in Europe, you could be locked up for using your free speech to oppose a policy of a king or ruler. Secular views spread and many Protestants allied with the Enlightenment principles.
Pioneered by Protestants, Biblical criticism advocated historicism and rationalism to make study of the Bible more scholarly and secular in the 1700s. In reaction to rationalism, pietism, a holiness movement within Lutheranism, began in Europe and spread to the Thirteen Colonies where it contributed to the First Great Awakening, a religious revival of the 1700s. Pietist Moravians came to Georgia in 1732 where they influenced John Wesley, an Anglican missionary in Savannah. After returning to England, Wesley began preaching in open-air meetings, leading to the creation of the Methodist church. In the colonies, Presbyterians and Baptists contributed to revival, and to divisions over it, which formed political parties and lent crucial support for the American Revolution. Some radical revolutionaries violently sought the dechristianization of France during the French Revolution leading the Eastern Orthodox Church to reject Enlightenment ideas as too dangerous to embrace. Many Protestants and Catholics in Europe promoted capitalism, urbanization, and industrialization. Some of them promoted aid to the poor, supported family welfare, offered medicine, and education. The problem is that many of them would be complicit in the Maafa, colonialism, and imperialism that would harm the lives of millions of innocent human beings. So, the Reformation originally was of God in my view that sparked spiritual people to find a way to try to cause the Roman Catholic church to end its false doctrines and superstitions. The Catholic Church leadership refused to changed, and then Protestantism existed. The Protestant institution has been filled with strengths and weaknesses that changed how the world is forever. Many Protestants were faithful Christians who believed in God sincerely. Other professing Protestants were heretics, some were involved in the occult and secret societies, and some were were heads of state.
The Protestant history accelerated by the 1600s. It was just nearly a century after the Protestant Reformation when Arminius in 1603 believed in the view that predestination is based on foreknowledge. By 1603, King James I was the leader of the Kingdom of England. He was raised Presbyterian in the Church of Scotland. He was a Protestant who would commission the creation of a new Bible called the King James Bible. King James I was from the House of Stuart. He is loved and hated by tons of people back then and now. King James I was not perfect, and he wasn't evil incarnate. King James I was right to express theological disagreements with the Romanist church. He made the mistake of persecuting many Baptists and religious dissidents. He wrote many books like Daemonologie in 1597, The True Law of Free Monarchies in 1598, and Basilikon Doron in 1599. He tried to stop religious wars and prevented the hawkish members of the Parliament from fighting Spain. He also survived the Jesuit-orchestrated Gunpowder plot when dissident Catholics like Guy Fawkes wanted to use explosives to kill him and members of the Parliament House. The Catholics should have religious liberty rights, but Guy Fawkes and his crew were wrong in trying to use murder to express dissent. Robert Catesby headed the plot. King James, I debated Puritans since the Puritans wanted King James I to make reforms to eliminate rituals from the Church of England that they felt were allied with Catholicism.
The Pilgrims or Separatists wanted no compromise with King James I and left England to the Netherlands and later to America. The King James Version of the Bible was be a work of both the Pilgrims and Puritans that became the most famous Bible of the English language. The KJV was a compromise between Anglican and Puritan views. The creators of the King James Bible were Bible scholars, polyglots, experts in theology, and came from diverse backgrounds. It came from the Greek Textus Receptus works and was influenced by the previous Tyndale Bible. Puritans and Calvinists grew. The Calvinists promoted the 5 Point Calvinism views by 1619 after the Synod of Dort from 1618-1619. After King James I died, many British people were divided on the role of the Monarchy in the lives of the people. Charles I disagreed with the Puritans. The Monarchy and the Parliament debated each other on how much control they should have. The Monarchy wanted to maintain huge power, and the Parliament wanted reforms to limit the power of the Monarchy in England. Charles wanted more money to fight France and Spain, and Parliament opposed this action. Charles was King James I's son, so Charles dissolved Parliament. The Parliament wanted due process, consent to taxes, soldiers not being allowed into private homes, and the King being banned from advancing martial law during peacetime. Sound familiar? Charles I agreed with the petition, but he ignored it.
By 1629, King Charles I dissolved the Parliament and refused to call it up again. King Charles I imposed taxes and fines on the English people (without permission from Parliament) to get money in order to fund his projects. His popularity declined. Charles I angered the Puritans by maintaining the rituals of the Anglican Church. By 1637, he wanted the Scottish Presbyterians Scots to follow an Anglican prayer book to make people to exist on one religious accord. The Scots threatened to invade England. He or Charles wanted money, and Parliament was ready to oppose him. Parliament limited royal power in the fall of 1641. King Charles was angry and threatened to arrest members of Parliament. Parliament members escaped arrest in January of 1642. People in London rallied to oppose Charles. He left London to go with his supporters in northern England. The English Civil War began, and it lasted from 1642 to 1649. It was between King Charles I and his supporters (called Cavaliers) vs. the Roundheads (or those who opposed King Charles I). The Roundheads included Puritans, too. Many of them wore their hair short over their ears, so the Cavaliers called them Roundheads. Each side had a stalemate in battles originally. Later, Oliver Cromwell, who was a general and allied with the Puritans in 1644, fought in the war. He started to defeat the Cavaliers. By 1647, he held King Charles I prisoner. In 1649, the Puritans and Oliver Cromwell tried King Charles I for treason. They found him guilty, and he or Charles I was executed. So, Charles I experienced a trial, and he was killed. Cromwell was the leader of England now. He formed a commonwealth. He abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. His ally John Lambert formed a constitution, which was the first in English history. Later, Cromwell became a military dictator. He ended an Irish rebellion. Cromwell was right to disagree with Catholicism on many issues, but he went too far in his brutal response to end the crisis. Both sides (i.e. the British and the Irish) would cause a conflict resulting in the deaths of hundreds plus thousands of people. The Puritans (under Cromwell) restricted theaters, sporting events, and dancing in England for morality purposes. Obviously, this is extreme. Cromwell favored religious toleration for all except for Catholics. He allowed Jewish people to return since they were once expelled from England in 1290. That was a good thing. As for the Catholics, I don’t theologically agree with every aspect of Catholicism, but everyone (regardless of creed) should have the right to believe in what they want without suppression of their rights. Cromwell was the leader of England until his death in 1658. The Parliament ended the military rule as people were sick of it. Later, Charles II ruled England (or the son of Charles I). His reign was the Restoration or the time when the Monarchy was restored.
Parliament passed habeas corpus. This means that anyone accused of a crime has the right to see a judge and the judge can decide if a prisoner is set free or not. Charles II wanted to rule like his cousin King Louis XIV (of France). He obtained funds from his rich French cousin Louis XIV.
Charles II was a very popular monarch in England. By February 6, 1685, Charles II died, and James II was on the throne. James II was an overt Catholic. He appointed Catholics to high office, which was a violation of English law. Parliament opposed him, and he dissolved Parliament. In 1688, James II’s wife gave birth to a son. English Protestants were afraid of a line of Catholic kings dominating England. James II’s older daughter was Mary. She was a Protestant. She married William of Orange (or a prince from the Netherlands). Many people from the Parliament invited William of Orange to overthrow James II, so that Protestantism can dominate English politics. By 1688, William and his army came into England. James II fled to France. This was a bloodless Revolution, and it was called the Glorious Revolution. Later, William and Mary promised to be a partner with Parliament in government. The government became a constitutional monarchy, which had laws to limit the powers of the monarchy. The Parliament drafted a Bill of Rights on 1689. This Bill of Rights bans suspending Parliament's laws, it allows Parliament to approve of taxing laws, it allowed for free speech in Parliament, and no one is punished if a citizen petitions a king about grievances. William and Mary agreed with these policies and other limits to their power.
So, after 1688, no British monarch can rule without the Parliament’s consent. In essence, the Glorious Revolution resulted in a reduction of the power of the monarchy (which was in contrast to the absolutist agenda of the Stuarts). The Glorious Revolution and the English 1689 Bill of Rights influenced John Locke & the American Revolution. The Tories and the Whigs political parties grew in England. By the 1700’s and beyond, cabinet would govern political policies in England. More Puritans go into America from the 1600’s and beyond. Protestantism in America was filled with spiritual growth like universities being built and the Great Awakening with people like Jonathan Edwards preaching in New England. Also, many Protestants and many Catholics would promote the evil of slavery in the Americas, too. This evil would ruin lives, harm black people, and promote theological poison (that poison is promoting the evils that slavery is fine and racism is fine, which are lies) for many years to come. In 1685, King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) revoked the Edict of Nantes (this edict promoted religious freedom and toleration). King Louis XIV was known for his extremism and his absolutism. This caused French Protestants (like the Hugenonts, etc.) to exodus France and travel worldwide, including into America.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ and Islam have many differences. We can't sugarcoat that reality. Also, it is clear that Christians and Muslims have the right to believe in what they believe in peacefully without oppression and discrimination. It is clear that we should make those differences clear. In the Gospel and the rest of the New Testament as found in Galatians 5:22-23, it reads that the fruit of the Spirit is the following: "...But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Also, Paul wrote that, "...There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28). In the Koran, in Surah An-Nisa (4:1), it mentions that: "O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate." This verse highlights the equality of men and women in their creation and in the eyes of God. Surah Al-Baqarah (2:228) mentions that: "And they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them in kindness, and men are a degree above them." Many years ago, I found out a verse in the Koran that condones beating women in Surah 4:34:"...Men are the managers of the affairs of women...Those you fear may be rebellious--admonish; banish them to their couches and beat them..." Also, the Koran says that the testimony of a woman is half of a man found in Quran (2:282 - (Court testimony) "And call to witness, from among your men, two witnesses. And if two men be not found then a man and two women." Also, the Koran mentions that in Surah 4:11 that, "The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females." Not even the Old Testament mentions that. Men and Women are not identical. We have biological, social, psychological, and emotional differences, but we are equal in worth and value created in the image of God. Also, the Bible is clear that when the Son sets a person free, he or she is free indeed. In Islam, their god of Allah has no Son, but the Bible is clear that God has a Son as mentioned in Pslam 2 and in the following verse: "...they shall call his name EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US." (MATTHEW 1:23). The Gospel is clear that in dealing with a heretic, you leave that person alone if they reject what you're saying peacefully. In Surah At-Tawbah, verse 5 states: "And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way." Jesus Christ never condoned killing polytheists. The Koran in Surah 11:44 said that the ark rested on Mount Judi, but the Bible says that it came to rest on Mount Ararat. The Koran said that Abraham's father was Azar in Surah 6:74, but the Bible says that it was Terah. The Bible is clear that God the Father is knowable, personal, trustworthy, and his only begotten Son used his sacrifice to save the souls of the human race.
Wilma Rudolph was 16 years old when she was a junior in high school. She attended the 1956 U.S. Olympic track and field team trials in Seattle, Washington, and qualified to compete in the 200m individual event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Rudolph was the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic team, being one of the five TSU Tigerbelles to qualify for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Rudolph was defeated in a preliminary heat of the 200-meter race at the Melbourne Olympic Games but ran the third leg of the 4 × 100 m relay. The American team of Rudolph, Isabelle Daniels, Mae Faggs, and Margaret Matthews, all of whom were TSU Tigerbelles, won the bronze medal, matching the world-record time of 44.9 seconds. The British team won the silver medal. The Australian team, with the 100- and 200-meter gold medalist Betty Cuthbert as their anchor leg, won the gold medal in a time of 44.5 seconds. After Rudolph returned to her Tennessee home from the Melbourne Olympic Games, Rudolph showed her high school classmates the bronze medal that she had won and decided to try to win a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. In 1958, Rudolph enrolled at Tennessee State, where Temple continued as her track coach. At the Pan American Games in Chicago, Illinois, the following year, Rudolph won a silver medal in the 100-meter individual event, as well as a gold medal in the 4 × 100-meter relay with teammates Isabelle Dan, Barbara Joe, and Lucinda Williams. She also won the AAU 200-meter title in 1959 and defended it for four consecutive years. During her career, Rudolph also won three AAU indoor titles.
The 1960 Olympics in Rome, Italy, changed Wilma Rudolph's whole life. She was a sophomore at Tennessee State during that time. Rudolph competed in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where she set a world record in the 200-meter dash that stood for eight years. Rudolph also qualified for the 1960 Summer Olympics in the 100-meter dash. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, Rudolph competed in three events on a cinder track in Rome's Stadio Olimpico: the 100- and 200-meter sprints, as well as the 4 × 100-meter relay. Rudolph, who won a gold medal in each of these events, became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad. Rudolph ran the finals in the 100-meter dash in a wind-aided time of 11.0 seconds. (The record-setting time was not credited as a world record, because the wind, at 2.75 meters (3.01 yd) per second, exceeded the maximum of 2 meters (2.2 yd). Rudolph became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the 100-meter race since Helen Stephens did so in the 1936 Summer Olympics. Rudolph won another gold medal in the finals of the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.0 seconds, after setting a new Olympic record of 23.2 seconds in the opening heat. After these wins, she was hailed throughout the world as "the fastest woman in history" during that time. On September 7, 1960, the temperature climbed toward 40 °C (104 °F) as thousands of spectators jammed the stadium. Rudolph combined efforts with her Olympic teammates from Tennessee State—Martha Hudson, Lucinda Williams, and Barbara Jones—to win the 4 × 100-meter relays with a time of 44.5 seconds, after setting a world record of 44.4 seconds in the semifinals. Rudolph ran the anchor leg for the American team in the finals and nearly dropped the baton after a pass from Williams, but she overtook Germany's anchor leg to win the relay in a close finish. Wilma Rudolph wanted to pay tribute to Jesse Owens, the celebrated American athlete and star of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, who had been her inspiration.
Rudolph was one of the most popular athletes of the 1960 Rome Olympics and emerged from the Olympic Games as "The Tornado, the fastest woman on earth." The Italians nicknamed her "La Gazzella Nera" ("The Black Gazelle"). The French called her "La Perle Noire" ("The Black Pearl"), as well as "La Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Along with other 1960 Olympic athletes such as Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), Oscar Robertson, and Rafer Johnson, Rudolph became an international star due to the first worldwide television coverage of the Olympics that year. The 1960 Rome Olympics launched her into the public spotlight, and the media cast her as America's athletic "leading lady" and a "queen," with praises of Rudolph's athletic accomplishments as well as her feminine beauty and poise.
Wilma Rudolph returned home to Clarksville, Tennessee, as a legend. She toured Europe too in many track and field meets (with her Olympic teammates) in London, West Germany, the Netherlands, and other venues in Europe. Rudolph's hometown of Clarksville celebrated "Welcome Wilma Day" on October 4, 1960, with a full day of festivities. Governor Buford Ellington had created these plans to welcome Rudolph home with a parade. Ellington was elected because he had old-fashioned segregationist beliefs. This was the complete opposite of what Rudolph stood for. Rudolph heard this and refused to attend her own celebration of it being segregated. Due to the concert of Rudolph not attending her own event, the parade was changed to be integrated. She makes everlasting history by standing up for what she believes in, as this marks the first-ever integrated event in her hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee. An estimated 1,100 attended the banquet in Rudolph's honor, and thousands lined the city streets to watch the parade. Wilma Rudolph and Muhammad Ali helped to usher in the modern day black superstar in track and boxing to the next level. Rudolph's gold-medal victories in Rome also "propelled her to become one of the most highly visible black women across the United States and around the world." Her Olympic star status also "gave an enormous boost to the indoor track circuit in the months following the Olympic Games in Rome." In 1961, Rudolph competed in the prestigious Los Angeles Invitational indoor track meet, where thousands turned out to watch her run. Besides, Rudolph was invited to compete in New York Athletic Club track events and became the first woman invited to compete at the Millrose Games. She was also invited to compete at the Penn Relays and the Drake Relays, among others.
Following Rudolph's Olympic victories, the United States Information Agency made a 10-minute documentary film, Wilma Rudolph: Olympic Champion (1961), to highlight her accomplishments on the track. Rudolph's appearance in 1960 on To Tell the Truth, an American television game show, and later as a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show also helped promote her status as an iconic sports star.
In 1961, Rudolph married William Ward, a North Carolina College at Durham track team member; they divorced in 1963. In the interim, Rudolph retired from track competition at age 22, following victories in the 100-meter and 4 × 100-meter-relay races at the U.S.–Soviet meet at Stanford University in 1962. At the time of her retirement, Rudolph was still the world record-holder in the 100-meter (11.2 seconds set on July 19, 1961), 200-meter (22.9 seconds set on July 9, 1960), and 4 × 100-meter-relay events. She had also won seven national AAU sprint titles and set the women's indoor track record of 6.9 seconds in the 60-yard dash. As Rudolph explained it, she retired at the peak of her athletic career because Rudolph wanted to leave the sport while still at her best. As such, Rudolph did not compete at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, saying, "If I won two gold medals, there would be something lacking. I'll stick with the glory I've already won like Jesse Owens did in 1936."
Winsome Earle-Sears is a historic human being, being the first black woman lieutenant governor in Virginia's history. She is the first black woman to hold statewide office in Virginia. She is a young Baby Boomer who was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Later, she immigrated to America in 1970 when she was six years old. She grew up in the Bronx, New York City. Earle-Sears earned an associate of arts degree from Tidewater Community College, a bachelor of arts in English with a minor in economics from Old Dominion University, and a master of arts in organizational leadership from Regent University. Earle-Sears served as an electrician in the United States Marines from 1983 to 1986. Before running for public office, she directed a Salvation Army homeless shelter. her political career has lasted for over 20 years. Back in November 2001, Earle-Sears upset 20-year Democratic incumbent Billy Robinson in the general election for the 90th district seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, becoming the first black female Republican, first female veteran, and first naturalized citizen to serve in the body. In 2004, during the George W. Bush presidency, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi appointed her to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Advisory Committee on Women Veterans. Earle-Sears also received a presidential appointment to the United States Census Bureau. She owned a plumbing, electrical, and home appliance business in Virginia. She was on the Virginia Board of Education with Governor Bob McDonnell in 2011. She made great accomplishments, and one issue with her is that she is a supporter of Donald Trump. It's one thing to be a sincere conservative. It's quite another to defend Trump, whose views are authoritarian and anti-morality. Earle-Sears once didn't support Trump in 2022, and then she supported Trump in 2024 and in 2025. During her Governor's campaign, she was a victim of a racist sign in a crowd of protesting Democrats outside an Arlington County School Board meeting. Regardless of one's views on transgender issues, there is no excuse for racism against Earle-Sears period. Invoking Jim Crow segregation against a black woman is totally evil and racist. Both Republicans and Democrats, including Abigail Spanberger, condemned the racist sign. Earle-Sears is a conservative on most issues (yet, she said that she supported medical marijuana, not recreational use of marijuana). She is anti-DEI, she wants to end the car tax, and she supports the Trump's bad tariff and Trump's bad budget law. She opposes same sex marriage, and she is fine with civil unions. She supports DOGE, which fired thousands of black people and others of every color unjustly; she wants more virtual schools, and she falsely called CRT racist. She is a Christian with a husband, Terence Sears, three children, and two grandchildren.
Abigail Spanberger is a younger Generation X woman who was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. Spanberger was born Abigail Anne Davis in Red Bank, New Jersey, on August 7, 1979, where her father was a police officer and her mother was a nurse. She relocated with her parents, Martin and Eileen Davis, to Short Pump, in Henrico County, Virginia, outside Richmond, when she was 13, after her father moved from policing to federal law enforcement for the United States Postal Inspection Service. She attended John Randolph Tucker High School and was later a page for U.S. Senator Chuck Robb. Spanberger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration from a joint program between the GISMA Business School in Germany and Purdue University's Krannert School of Management. In the early 2000s, she taught English literature as a substitute teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia and worked as a postal inspector, focusing on money laundering and narcotics cases.
In 2006, Spanberger joined the Central Intelligence Agency as an operations officer. She said she gathered intelligence about nuclear proliferation and terrorism. In 2014, she left the CIA and entered the private sector. She was hired by Royall & Company (now EAB). In 2017, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe appointed her to the Virginia Fair Housing Board. She was in the U.S. House of Representatives for years. She defeated a Tea Party candidate and represented Henrico and Chesterfield. She had her career as a moderate along with her colleagues Elissa Slotkin and Mikie Sherrill. She criticized the Trump reaction to the George Floyd Protests back on June 1, 2020. Spanberger took issue with Trump after police used tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protestors and a priest during the George Floyd protests to clear a path so that he could have a photo op in front of St. John's Episcopal Church. Spanberger disagreed with some of Biden's Immigration policies, as even some Democrats are conservative on immigration. She is most wrong in saying that nobody elected Biden to be FDR but to be normal and stop the chaos. The truth is that people elected Biden to be a fighting progressive like FDR on the issues FDR that right on, not to be a moderate token. She criticized Democrats for not viewing inflation as a problem. Inflation is a problem, and many Democrats talked about it, but many Democrats didn't want inflation to be an excuse to promote austerity against vulnerable communities. She supports clean energy in Virginia, and she has criticized DOGE for firing federal workers without just cause. Spanberger criticized the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act supported by President Donald Trump, arguing that its permanent tax cuts for corporations would increase the national debt. In May 2020, Spanberger voted against the HEROES Act, a proposed $3 trillion stimulus package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the bill went "far beyond" pandemic relief and had no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate. In November 2020, Spanberger led a bipartisan effort to secure the 340B Drug Pricing Program against changes that would lead to significant increases in prescription medication costs. She wants bans on Congressional members from trading stocks. She is wrong to support U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025. She wanted F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Spanberger also co-sponsored the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which grants Medicare Part D the power to negotiate prescription prices directly with drug companies. She supports same sex marriage and voted for the Equality Act. Spanberger has called for a new version of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004. She favors requiring background checks on private gun sales and supports a ban on bump stocks. She is married to engineer Adam Spanberger, and the couple has three daughters. She is a Protestant.
There is the story of my late 4th cousin William Berlin Artis, who lived from January 15, 1941, at Holland, Virginia to April 22, 1988, in Passaic, New Jersey. He worked as a supply manager for Bell Atlantic, Paterson. He was a member of the Holland Mission of Holland, Virginia (which is in Suffolk, Virginia). He was a member of the Near Eastside Neighborhood Council. He was working on the Charles Pettiford Council campaign committee. He was married to Patricia Ola Leak (1945-2014) on March 2, 1967, in Nansemond, Virginia. The couple had the four sons of Phillip Leak, Shelton Artis, Gerald Artis (Phillip, Sheldon, and Gerald lived in Paterson, New Jersey), and Garlawwrence Artis of Havana, Florida. The couple has the 2 daughters of Crystal Artis of Paterson and Jada Lassiter of Garfield. His brother is Robert Lee Artis of Suffolk, and three sisters of Mary Louise Artis, Kathleen Wiggins, and Barbara Barnes. William Berline Artis had 14 grandchildren by the time of his passing. By 2025, the couple has 18 grandchildren of Felicia Leak, Phillip Leak, Jr., TiBria Redd, Latonya Cook, La Don Enzor, Shaniqua Enzor, Garlawrence Artis, Jr., Lamar Artis, Christopher Artis, Tarrell Toulson, Travell Toulson, Trashawn Toulson, Eric Ross, Amir Artis, Kurt Lassiter, Chavi Lassiter, Gerald Duffy, and Destiny Duffy. Patricia has two surviving siblings, Alan (Ruth) Leak and Sharleen (Marvin) Williams, all of Paterson, NJ; three sisters in-law, Mary Artis, Kathleen Artis, and Barbara Barnes; a devoted friend, Gloria "Sissy" Draper; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, friends, and neighbors.
There are tons of events of the New York mayoral election. Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary. Then, many business executives met with Eric Adams to back him. Jim Walden wanted all non-Mamdani candidates to coalesce to support one person to oppose Mamdani. This tells me that the Wall Street interests oppose Mamdani's political views. Curtis Silwa, on July 7, 2025, refused to drop out of the race. Walden dropped out of the race. On July 1, President Donald Trump voiced support for the incumbent Eric Adams, describing him as a "very good person" and that "I helped him out a little bit"—in reference to his corruption case being dropped by Trump's Department of Justice—while also threatening to arrest and deport Mamdani. During an unrelated press conference, Adams commented that "anyone that is elected or not should never interfere with federal authorities carrying out their functions." Trump has also suggested the possibility of placing New York under federal control if Mamdani wins. Silwa said that he is an anti-Trump Republican who is pro-union and pro-worker. Andrew Cuomo continues to be in the race, promoting a center-left platform and opposing socialism. Cuomo claims that socialism has never worked anywhere. Cuomo needs to be reminded that Social Security itself is near socialist, along with many social safety net programs.
Cuomo has offered milder alternatives to some of Mamdani's policy platforms, such as opposing free buses, arguing they would cost $900 million, instead proposing a $180 million bus subsidy paid for by an increased property tax. On August 6, it was reported by The New York Times that Cuomo had a phone call with Donald Trump shortly after Trump met with New York Republicans about who they thought was the most likely candidate to potentially beat Mamdani, with a general consensus of a coalescing around a single candidate, instead of a four-way split "non-Mamdani" vote. Cuomo's campaign initially issued a statement that the two did not talk about politics on the call but later backtracked and claimed that the call never happened. Mamdani's victory in the Democratic primary has galvanized the Democratic Socialists of America to make more of a push to influence the Democratic Party, with the DSA convention in Chicago on August 7 primarily centered around standing and supporting more Mamdani-like candidates. Mamdani also sought to capitalize on Cuomo's call with Trump, calling it a "betrayal" of Democratic voters, and alleging that Cuomo and Trump are conspiring to "rig" the mayoral election against him, especially as Trump routinely questions Mamdani's status as a U.S. citizen.
In July 2025 The New York Times wrote that on Mamdani's unsuccessful 2009 application to Columbia University, he checked the race boxes "Asian" and "Black or African American". Mamdani confirmed that, but said his intent was to represent his Indian-Ugandan background given the limited options available, and not to improve his chances of admission. Some of Mamdani's opponents described his action as potentially fraudulent. I think that Mamdani was wrong for what he did on the application.
Shortly after Mamdani became the presumptive nominee, several Republicans attacked him using Islamophobic, racist, or xenophobic content. U.S. Representative Nancy Mace wrote on Twitter, "After 9/11 we said 'Never Forget.' I think we sadly have forgotten." Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted an image of the Statue of Liberty wearing a burqa. Others associated with the MAGA movement, including Laura Loomer, Charlie Kirk, and Donald Trump Jr., also spoke of Mamdani in the context of 9/11. On The Brian Lehrer Show, Democratic U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's assertions of "past positions, particularly references to global jihad" could not be substantiated; her office later said she "misspoke", and she apologized to Mamdani. The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) noted a significant increase in Islamophobic content on Twitter the day after Mamdani became the presumptive nominee. On July 1, Trump suggested without evidence that Mamdani might be in the U.S. illegally, adding that his administration would look into that question. Trump also threatened to arrest Mamdani and withhold funding from New York City if he refused to comply with Trump's mass deportations. Many moderates support Cuomo, and many progressives like Adrienne Adams and Brad Lander support Mamdani. Former Vice President Kamala Harris and Robert Reich have supported Mamdani too. Yvette Clarke, Jamaal Bowman, Adriano Espaillat, Praila Jayapal, Summer Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc. have supported Mamdani.
In September 2025, The New York Times began reporting that Adams had allegedly met in Florida with Steve Witkoff, an advisor to Trump, about receiving a position in the president's administration, specifically as an ambassador, in return for his dropping out and increasing the chances of Mamdani being defeated. Later reports suggested that Adams was giving serious consideration to the proposition despite public statements denying it; part of this consideration was whether or not he would have to resign from his position as mayor. Adams initially responded with a statement on September 5 that he would not be withdrawing from the race. Adams later withdrew his candidacy on September 28, 2025. The truth is that Mamdani and Cuomo represent the past and the future of the Democratic Party. Cuomo is right on many issues, but his sexual scandals and his corporate Wall Street backing concern people. Mamdani is also right on many issues, and his advocacy of democratic socialism is historic. Mamdani faces opposition from the New York state legislature to get his agenda passed, but revolutionary change shouldn't be denied or delayed. It must happen ASAP regardless of opposition.
By Timothy
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