The heat wave is back with highs forecast of 86° today, 93° tomorrow, and 91° Thursday. A pipe broke in the only handicapped bathroom that is safe and easy for me to transfer, when I’m not wearing George. It’s now out of order. I hope they fix it before the weekend. It’s a major pain. I want to try to get some sleep this afternoon, as fireworks will keep me up tonight.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 6:14 (average 6:11). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Alternet: Don’t Call It the Trump Administration—This Is a Regime
Trump has no desire or intention to govern. He wants to rule and make his word our command.
I disagree. The Trump Administration is not a regime. It’s a Reich. RESIST!!
From Daily Kos: In Arizona—where Confederate monuments continue to be on public display despite pleas from residents to have them removed—a trial over whether state Republicans intentionally discriminated against Latino students by ending a Mexican-American studies program in public schools started last week. Commemorating history is fine so long as it’s white history, apparently:
The Arizona trial strikes at the issue of how to teach students about race and social injustice in public schools that often exemplify the country’s inequality. After Arizona conservatives moved to eliminate the classes, Hispanic educators and activists have come to Tucson to champion the battle over ethnic studies as one of the country’s most pressing and under-the-radar civil rights issues.
“This was an innovative program, your honor,” Jim Quinn, a lawyer representing Tucson students, told Judge Tashmina. “It was snuffed out for all the wrong reasons.”
The program’s proponents have argued that the course was instrumental in boosting both grades and self-worth of Latino students, with research showing “the program’s students graduated at higher rates and performed better on state tests.” But Republican state legislators, seeking a safe space from brown people, were having none of that, in 2010 “passing a law prohibiting classes that encouraged the overthrow of the U.S. government; encouraged racial resentment; treated students as members of a group rather than individuals; or were aimed at a specific ethnicity.”
I can understand why Alaska does not offer Mexican-American studies, but around 30% of Arizona’s population is Latino. Banning it there is just an act of Republican Racism. RESIST!!
From Politico: The American War of Independence was fought from April 19, 1775 (Lexington and Concord) to September 3, 1783 (the Peace of Paris), and although Massachusetts and some other states observe the first of those dates as Patriots’ Day, neither has become a national holiday. It’s July 4, of course, that reigns as our undisputed Independence Day—the occasion for picnics and parades, festivities and fireworks, and star-spangled, red-white-and-blue kitsch. That was when the representatives at the Second Continental Congress, the 13 colonies’ newly formed governing body, signed the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s founding document, which is still often read aloud, 241 years later, at July 4 celebrations across the land.
Since 1776, the Declaration of Independence has assumed a near-biblical status in America’s national mythology—its opening paragraphs memorized by schoolchildren, its formulation of liberal principles of equality and self-government venerated by citizens of all political stripes. It still provides a trump card for its chief author, Thomas Jefferson, who in recent years has been increasingly scorned for the libertarian elements of his thought and for his slaveholding.
But in truth the Declaration wasn’t quite the singular achievement we remember it to be. As it turns out, nearly 100 other “declarations of independence” had already been issued in the months leading up to July 4th, 1776, by states, towns, counties, and assorted other bodies. The Declaration of Independence endorsed at the Continental Congress that July wasn’t a bolt out of the blue: It was more like a final draft in a loose, many-centered, wide-ranging process, authored not by one man but by a chorus of voices in a fledgling nation whose people had caught independence fever and were suddenly proclaiming it with contagious enthusiasm.
I didn’t know that. I declare independence from Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
11 Responses to “Open Thread – 7/4/2017”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
6:51 I had to move ve-ry, ve-ry slowly so as not to be stabbed. I don’t need that from a cactus. I get enough from Republicans.
I got an email from Roots Action today informing me that Jeffrey Sterling, the OTHER CIA whistleblower, now has an offocial release date of June 14, 2018. That’s Flag Day. I would love to see a crowd of people waving flags when he is released.
AlterNet – Yeah, it’s a Reich all right. But these days, there may be more people in the US who understand the implications of “regime.” Sadly.
DKos – Wow, whoever drafted THAT law was devious! “[T]reated students as members of a group rather than individuals; or were aimed at a specific ethnicity.” The only problem is, if you applied that equally, it would eliminate ALL history, even ALL “Social Studies,” which are specifically aimed at whites.
Politico – Well, there is, or should be, a lot of credit to the man who distills all that into iconic form. And incidentally, the Declaration was not considered quite such an important document until Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg brought it to the fore. Plus, it still has a lot to say. But I know a Pithy Progressive who can say all this better than I can. I’ll have it up before the end of the day.
Cartoon – Oh, they have, believe me, they have!
AN: Vacancy signs all over. He doesn’t care, and blithers and blathers every day. Yea, it’s a reich alright!
DK: Glad that Huppenthal lost the job as Superintendent for his racist and biased remarks. I think that ethic studies courses should be required curriculum in all schools. Tx., does include this, I see.
Politico: Great read ! The AHC (channel) has had shows on all day, in celebration of the 4th!
Cartoon: Word.
Oh! Sorry to read about your restroom, I agree, I hope it’s fixed in a timely manner. My little dog is terrified of loud noises, so I crate her, as she doesn’t mind that. My cat could care less, and watches TV with me. lol. The fireworks played out till 12:30 last night, so we’ll see how this evening goes. It’s usually the little ones, and some teenagers that like making noise, into the night with the fireworks. Hope you get some rest though. Take care, and Thanks, Tom
I too refuse to call it the “Trump administration.” I have been calling it the “Trump regime” since that ogre’s orange arse was installed in the Oval Office. History is probably going to remember this as the worst time in U.S. History.
Keeping in the 4th of July mode, these two photos sum up my take on the current “administration” (and I use them term loosely):
(The above is one of the Grievances against George III that’s in the full “Declaration of Independence”. Some wrote an Op-Ed today that Twitler doesn’t want to govern – he wants to rule. So it brought to mind that passage, because it seems to fit him as well as it did George III.)
History does repeat itself, so it is about time America stood up to another mad “ruler”. However, unlike George III, America seems to have put their ruler on the throne when he’s already in the advanced stages of George’s madness:
Let’s hope history starts to repeat itself a.s.a.p. and Drumpf is put away behind bars in a “straight jacket” in one of his derelict towers too. But do not make the same mistake and have a regency established until the end of his term by his son (or son-in-law or the GOP) like that of George III’s eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, succeeding his father after his death as George IV. The GOP seems to hell bent on doing so right now.
Thanks for putting “straight jacket” in quotes. Clearly you know what many here do not, that it’s actually a “strait jacket.”
Alternet: One- The GOPigs do not know how to govern, and don’t want to, either. Two- This man-child is the sickest of them!
DK: Read that earlier, and find that the excuses are nothing other than excuses. One of th last things the GOPigs want is for Latinos to feel good about themselves, and a part of the country!
Politico: I did not know that, either. Now, we must declare independence from the Orange child-Fuhrer!
Puzzle — 4:36 I poke my fingers and my belly a number of times every day so these little beasties didn’t bother me a bit.
Alternet — An administration it is NOT! But whether you call it a régime or a Reich, it is bloody awful especially for Americans, but also for the rest of the world. Drumpf acts like Kim Jong-un of North Korea, both petulant, narcissistic toddler tyrants.
Daily Kos — Wouldn’t it be interesting for Arizona Republicans to have DNA testing to show their ethnic backgrounds. There’s likely not one lily white in the bunch. Yet they feel free to discriminate against others to the point of stupidity. Yup, racism up front and exceedingly ugly.
Politico — Now there’s a novel thought — if the Republican Congress won’t do their duty and get rid of Drump, then the Resistance should come together and declare independence from Drumpf! That would be an insurrection, but it would be with cause. There was an article I was reading earlier that in essence referred to Drumpf as King George III. History repeating itself?
Cartoon — Isn’t that why in it is called insaniTEA?
Resist and Persist!!!
TTFN!
Alternet: As “Reich” is still a normal German word for “kingdom” without Nazi connotations, and I don’t think all of the USA has acknowledged being part of Drumpf’s kingdom yet
, I prefer to call Drumpf’s Administration, or better the lack thereof, a Regime. More accurately, that regime consists of what he calls his administration plus the full support of the GOP. The GOP is as much part of his hateful regime as his skeleton of an administration is.
DK: The state of Arizona argues that the law was necessary to stop ethnic studies classes because they politicized students and made them resent white people. What a heap of ?. The main proponent of this law in 2010, then-superintendent John Huppenthal, has already lost his re-election when it came out that he a full-blown anti-Latino internet commenter. But his intentions have come to bite him in the ?: “At an event Sunday ahead of the trial, several people said Arizona’s ethnic studies restrictions had prompted them to become politically active for the first time.” Let’s hope they get that reinforced by winning the trial and putting an end to this white-supremacist law.
Politico: Very interesting. Apparently it was one of the results of a school of thought that resonated with people across northern Europe and the New World and led to America’s Declaration of Independence and France’s Revolution (1789-1795) based on Liberté, Fraternité et Égalité. The first time “all people” were heard and declared equal: all white people, that is, and male.
Hope you didn’t lose too much sleep last night, TomCat, and also that the broken pipe gets fixed soon too. Murphy knows how to pick his time, the long holiday weekend, doesn’t he.
Kingdom? I didn’t know that. Thanks!
Thanks all. Sweltering Hugs!