THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR APRIL 23, 2026

                                                                   CASH MICHAELS

                                                JUST WAR OR JUST MESS?

                 by Cash Michaels

   

Let’s cut right through the butter, shall we.

Verses from the Bible about going to war and perpetrating violence in GOD’s name have been misinterpreted for generations now, and continue to be right up to this very minute.

As a result, when mankind experienced past global conflicts like World Wars I and II, Christians believed that the Book of Revelations was in full swing, and expected to see the end of times play out as prescribed, especially with the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Well, unless we’re the unlucky ones who have been left behind in the aftermath of the foretold Rapture (Second Coming of Christ), I have to assume it hasn’t happened yet. But just like in years past, it sure feels like it’s getting closer and closer every day.

That’s because of all of the madness and evil going on around us right now. Hallowed social norms we have all held dear are being unthinkably violated every day by Donald Trump, like picking public fights with the Holy Vicar of Christ and leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church; or openly lying about what that leader, Pope Leo XIV, has said about the Islamic nation of Iran possessing a nuclear weapon; or that he’s “soft on crime,” “weak”or anything else, in an attempt to diminish him in the eyes of the world (“despicable” is not nearly a strong enough word for such acts of blatant disrespect and deception).

My friend, Bishop William Barber, raised the alarm last week when he addressed the issue saying, “If we listen closely, it is clear that Trump is waging a war on divinity itself.”

Barber continued, “The religious nationalist movement for so long has been saying [Trump} is an imperfect instrument being “used by God.” But he’s not satisfied with that. He wants to be God.”

Fortunately, Pope Leo, the first American pope, is a truly blessed man of GOD, and knows the wicked emissaries of evil when he sees and hears them, so as he has said, he’s not wasting his time “debating” these jackals. He’s just sticking to the Gospel. 

“I do not think the message of the Gospel should be abused, as some are doing,” Pope Leo said last week, adding, “too many innocent lives have been lost… I believe someone must stand up and say there is a better way.”

Hey I’m not Catholic (though I did attend Catholic elementary and high school in my youth), but the Pope, no matter who he was during my lifetime, has always represented GOD’s love, goodness and mercy, even when other clerics in the Catholic Church were falling short with their personal scandals.

The one thing I appreciate is that no pope in my lifetime has ever justified perpetrating violence unless it was to protect the helpless, the defenseless, or to stop evil from hurting GOD’s children.

Why? Because in the modern age, and certainly since World War II, man no longer enters into global conflicts limited to just swords or guns. It was easy to justify war when you didn’t have the capacity to wipe out a “whole civilization,” let alone brag about it.

It was easy to justify conflicts when your nation did not possess an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could travel through space from one end of the earth to the other to blowup whole cities with just the press of a button.

But now that countries like ours have this capacity, damn fools like the clowns we have leading us are more than willing to beat their collective chests about having “the greatest military the world has ever known” and quoting made-up biblical verses from an old Quentin Tarantino movie at a Pentagon church service, all to justify starting a war in GOD’s name.

Actually, history is replete with crimes against humanity that man has invoked the name of GOD to get away with, like slavery, genocide, racism, classism, and of course, war.  Shamefully, the Holy Bible has selectively been used as a tool for oppression before.

Today, we’re seeing the likes of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth, Sean Hannity, Evangelist Franklin Graham and other proponents of the so-called “Christian” nationalist right-wing “Just War” dogma justify starting what should have been an absolutely unnecessary war against Iran.

“Should have been absolutely unnecessary” because contrary to what Trump and company would have us believe, the Islamic nation had already agreed, after years of negotiations with the Obama Administration back in 2015, not to pursue a nuclear weapon, in an ironclad, verifiable international agreement that Trump arrogantly ripped up a year after he got into office in 2017.

The agreement restricted Iran to certifiable limits in developing its nuclear program for energy use only, with stringent monitoring and inspections clauses. In exchange, sanctions were lifted and the country got $1.7 billion back of its own money that the United States had earlier confiscated from banks here.

So if Iran was on the road to reconstituting its nuclear weapons program, it was because Trump, in his “brilliance,” ripped up the solid Obama agreement, letting Iran off the hook for any enforced compliance.

This is a war that Trump’s rash actions in 2018 caused, if you believe him about nuclear weapons. But it makes more sense to believe that this war is really about Iran’s oil, and his wanting to control it.

Naturally, Trump has to bomb Iran into submission in order to do that, and that’s what his phony song and tragic war-dance for the past eight weeks has really been about. Otherwise, he has no real explanation for starting a war when Iran was not threatened us. 

Pope Leo has said, just as Christ once did, “blessed are the peacemakers,” and obviously President Obama understood and embraced that message. So for Donald Trump to lie and tell the world that the Pope wants Iran to have nuclear weapons, is so blasphemous, so untrue, it’s off the charts.

But such talk, in the minds of right-wingers like Trump and company, justifies every crazy thing they’ve said and done to literally attempt to smear Pope Leo in the minds of the world’s devout Christians, and elevate Trump himself as a GOD or Christ-like figure in their eyes, thus justifying the use of American military power to dominate countries like Venezuela, Iran, and soon Cuba.

Bishop Barber says, “To be sure, the church - both Protestant and Catholic - has not always been consistent in its witness to the message of Jesus, but in this moment the Word of the Lord is clear, and the Pope, along with many other moral leaders, is clear that the religious nationalism embraced by Trump, Hegseth, and the MAGA movement is wrong, sinful, and blasphemous. The 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said, “The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism.” We can’t bow down to a false god in a president, nor to the false and immoral narrative that this war of choice is holy and can bring a lasting peace.”

Pope Leo couldn’t agree more.

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” the pontiff said.

Many are so shocked by the boldness of Trump’s savage, unholy behavior and weaponizing of faith, they’ve suggested that he may, in fact, be the anti-Christ. Well, if he’s not, Trump, the master of self-idolatry, is sure as hell bucking hard for the title.

This is sinister stuff, and the Bible has warned us about wicked events like this in the “last days”:

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” – Matthew 24:6-7

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.” – 2 Timothy 3:1

“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” – Mark 13:7-8

But the thing that comforts me most amidst all of this blasphemous foolishness from Trump and his MAGA minions is something that my dear mother always assured me of.

GOD is in control.

                            -30-

 

THE CASH STUFF FOR APRIL 23, 2026

NCAE CALLING ON 

TEACHERS STATEWIDE

TO WALKOUT ON MAY 1st

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) is calling on all public school teachers across the state to stage a classroom boycott and march in Raleigh on May 1st  to demand an increase in public school funding.As a result, some school districts will cancel classes for that day due to the expected dearth of educators on the so-called “May Day” mass protest.

The march on the Legislative Building in Raleigh is also a demand for accountability from state lawmakers as to what they have actually done to improve education in North Carolina in recent years.

Because so many teachers are submitting requests to be out on May 1st, which is a Friday this year, many principals across the state are hoping to get enough substitute teachers to fill the void so that they don’t have to close schools down on the day. Some are also changing their teacher workday calendars to accommodate their educators.

So far, however, Guilford County, Chatham County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school districts have announced that they will be closed on that day. Others are still considering.

In New Hanover County, the school board there rejected a request by the superintendent to close schools on May 1st, after concerns about having enough staff were raised.

“The idea that we would even consider adjusting our calendar to accommodate a politically motivated protest is deeply troubling,” said school board member Josie Barnhart. “It sends the message that political pressure is more important than educating students.”

-30-

 NCCU DEALING WITH 

ALLEGED RAPE 

ALLEGATION

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

How does a college or university deal with sexual assault allegations on-campus?

That has been a challenge for co-ed institutions of higher learning for years, and yet a ready, effective solution has rarely been reached. And that fact worries parents who send their students to college, assuming that they are receiving not only the best education, but are also safe.

North Carolina Central University in Durham is the latest institution having to wrestle with this dilemma.

According to an arrest warrant, a 19 year-old former member of the NCCU track and field team is currently being held on $300,000 secured bail for an alleged second-degree forcible rape of a teammate.

Alan Webster III of Fuquay-Varina, a sophomore, has been charged in the alleged January 13 incident, which was reported to NCCU campus police on March 25th. Webster is still enrolled at the university, though he’s no longer a member of the track and field team.

An NCCU spokesperson says the school is rendering support to the alleged victim, who was not identified, and is investigating the allegation. “NCCU has a rigorous Student Code of Conduct, which is being followed in this matter,” the spokesperson continued, noting that while no further information will be provided from the school "to protect the rights of the parties involved,” because it is a criminal matter, any further information has to come from the Durham County District Attorney’s Office.

Interestingly, how a college/university handles a sexual assault allegation is governed by federal law, namely Title IX, since the US Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that sexual assault in schools constituted sex discrimination. That law has been redefined during various presidential administrations since then. 

In 2017, the Trump Administration instituted a new Title IX rule that took effect in 2020 that, according to the U.S. Dept. of Education, was to “rebalance the scales of justice” by ensuring due process for both the accused and accuser. To achieve this rebalancing, a new requirement mandated colleges to conduct live hearings and “allow student" advisers to cross-examine parties and witnesses involved,”and to replace the “single investigator model” with a system requiring three officials to handle different aspects of the case.”

The 2020 Title IX rule also  “…imposed a higher burden of proof for determining guilt in sexual misconduct cases.”

-30-

THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR APRIL 16, 2026

                                                                    CASH MICHAELS

MY WONDERFUL WEEK OF WOKERY

                         by Cash Michaels

I don’t know about you, but last week, starting with the day after Easter, was a great week for eye-opening, mind-blowing discovery and re-examination for me. What made it such a special time was that all of it unexpectedly came in different forms, and ended with the pinpoint successful conclusion of the Artemus II moon mission and safe return of our four courageous astronauts.

Yes, last week was a great week for wokery, which, for the purposes of this commentary, I’ll simply define as awareness, leaving the racial component folks usually like to harp about out of it. There is no crime in being woke, for it shows that you’re willing to learn and grow, and be open to new ideas, new experiences, and new perspectives.

Folks who are anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) so want woke to mean something negative, but keep in mind, these folks don’t want you to know anything about our nation’s tattered history, feeling that the more you know, the least likely you are to buy into their corrupted version of the truth.

That’s a shame! People would prefer you not know anything about how we all got here, thinking that knowledge somehow makes us weaker. So they work overtime to change our history books, our laws, school curriculums, libraries, museum exhibits, government websites, etc. to ensure that we remain in the dark, that we remain asleep about the things we, as a society, have every right to know.

Well last week, I was among the millions following the extraordinary mission of the Artemus II space lunar fly-by and the four intrepid astronauts who represented all of us, regardless of race, gender, whatever, in man’s continuing quest to reach for the stars. Think of it - one of the most incredible sights we’ll ever see as inhabitants of this planet is every human being, with outstretched hands, attempting to, as singer Al Jarreau once sang, “touch the face of GOD.”

How did his song “Mornin’” go again?

My heart will soar

With love that's rare and real

My smiling face will feel every cloud

Then higher still beyond the blue until

I know I can like any man reach out my hand

And touch the face of God

You see, there is something truly humbling about seeing pictures/video of the Earth…the whole Earth, from the moon, knowing that those pictures are real. Knowing that for better or for worse, there we are …all of us…on this spinning global mass of rock, graced with oceans and atmosphere and life, kept firmly in place by gravity so we all don’t fly off into the darkness of space. We have no choice but to call this place home.

For me, the sights we saw from the Artemus II mission should reinforce the fact that we didn’t create this place we call Earth. Indeed, despite our many, many years of building and creating great edifaces and tributes to our own egos and accomplishments, none of us have ever come close to the handiwork of GOD.

None of us have ever come close to creating the great and continuing system of life we all exist by today. A blazing ball of fire in our extraterrestrial neighborhood that gives us sufficient heat and light to survive. A moon that stabilizes seasonal and climate patterns, providing us with vital gravitational pull that influences our marine ecosystem and biology. And stars, which help guide us at night, and provide vital elements like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen when they die, as well help maintain the gravitational orbits of planets.

Betcha never expected that I would be dropping some science on you this week, did you? But it’s true. Who else but GOD could design such a magnificent work of art mixing sight and sound and the elements, capped off with what can only be described as the great diversity of life? In my mind, the Artemus II mission last week reminded us…ALL of us…as to who really is in charge, who really does have the power, and that none of us are here by accident.

                                                       

The dramatic pictures we saw from the dark other side of the moon - a place no human eyes have ever seen before - reminded us that no matter how advanced we think we are, no matter how much we think we have achieved, we will always be in the age of discovery.

And that should humble us to the point of correcting our behaviors and attitudes towards one another as human beings. Don’t forget, it was just last week when the president of our nation - who recently portrayed himself as a Jesus-like deity (wonder what Evangelist Franklin Graham thinks about that) -  threatened to wipe out a “whole civilization” if he didn’t get what he wanted in war, and he seriously believes he has the power and the right to do so.

Such apocalyptic talk touched a nerve in the humanity the rest of us on this planet share, and he found out almost immediately that even though he may think of himself as GOD, or like GOD, he will never be loved or respected in the same breath as Almighty GOD, forcing him to back off such blasphemous utterances.

Watching that drama play out the way it did also greatly contributed to my wonderful week of wokery, and I’m grateful for it.

Another aspect of my glee last week was watching a documentary about  President John F. Kennedy, and how, when he was first elected to office,  promised to turn a disastrous NASA space program around, and have this nation landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

JFK promised we would no longer trail the Soviets when it came to exploring space (at that point, we had more experience exploring Earth because so many of our rockets either kept crashing or never got off the ground), and that promise was kept, long after his untimely death.

        Then, of course, there’s Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson - three African-American women who served as human “computers” solving mathematical problems for NASA engineers back in the 1960’s. These ladies were celebrated in the 2017 hit film, “Hidden Figures,” and their powerful true story of working on the Mercury and Apollo space missions, and performing intricate calculations in their heads that most scientists needed machines to do, continues to inspire generations.

What was it that Apollo Astronaut Neil Armstrong first said when he walked on the moon July 20, 1969? “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

As I, along with the rest of the world, nervously watched the four Artemus II astronauts return to Earth Friday night, splashing down precisely at 8:07 EST as predicted off the coast of San Diego, I thought of some of the earlier pioneers of our space program who didn’t live to share their vision. Like forty years ago, and the fateful Challenger space shuttle explosion that took the precious lives of its seven crew members, particularly schoolteacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, and NC A&T University-trained scientist Ron McNair.

If it’s never been said before, McAuliffe, McNair and the rest of the Challenger crew gave their lives in pursuit of greater knowledge and greater awareness of the world around us, in the space that we all live in.

Watching the four-member crew of Artemus II splashdown safely in the Orion space capsule and so exactly, was a reminder to all of us that the search for knowledge continues. Going, as actor William Shatner iconically once said in the opening of Star Trek “Where no man has gone before,” and coming back with breathtaking pictures and information that will benefit us all. There’s still so much to learn.

We appreciate NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA pilot Victor Glover, and NASA Mission Specialist NC State University’s Christina Koch for their courage, dedication and expertise during the 10-day mission. They are four very special human beings who made history last week as they shared their “moon joy” with the world.

Dr. Mae Jemison, the first woman of color to go into space in 1992, said Friday night that the thing that connects and involves all humans on Earth to the Artemus II adventure is that though it was the United States that launched the mission, there were a lot of other countries involved in making it happen.

The Orion service module they flew in is European-made. Many of the NASA engineers who worked in various areas of preparing for the mission came from different countries. There was also the first woman to travel around the moon (Koch), the first person of color (Glover), and the first Canadian (Hansen) to do the same.

“I think that’s the story, about the evolution of where we’ve gone and what we have to do. And we get the most out of space when we have more perspectives,” said Dr. Jemison, who is a practicing physician as well as former astronaut. 

        NC State alumna Christina Koch said the mission taught her the value of working toward a mutual goal as a crew, and when she looked out at Earth, that’s what she saw, a crew that should be working together.

Finding the inherent oneness of man through our diversity. How, by working all together in harmony, and achieving victory in the process, we discover the essence of why GOD created us, and made us varied. 

        That’s something we should be celebrating together, not castigating each other for. Like Commander Wiseman said when the Artemus II crew returned, “It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth.”

                                              

        Wiseman, Hansen, Glover and Koch said what they saw on the Artemus II mission will change them for the rest of their lives. Maybe that’s what we all need on this Earth. A change of perspectives as to who we really are, and what we’re really supposed to be.

Kinder towards one another.

And that was my wonderful week of wokery.

Now, I dare you to say "wonderful week of wokery" ten times fast (smile).

          -30-