Yesterday, I again didn’t do much. A little knitting was about it.That’s just as well though. At least I got both of today’s posts ready. It was a slow day for videos – and I have so many sources now that I can usually stay a little ahead. Not today. I hopw everyone who normally uploads videos was doing something special with their significant others … and that a bunch of them upload one today.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
The New Yorker – Autocrats, Not Terrorists, Are Increasingly Taking Americans Hostage
Quote – The officers at the airport blindfolded Fenster and trundled him into a van. When the blindfold was removed, Fenster was in what appeared to be a police station. Two men interrogated him. The environment was more menacing—Fenster was shackled to a chair while they fired off repetitive questions about why he had come to Myanmar and what he was doing in the country. Hours later, he was blindfolded again and taken to a new location. When this blindfold was taken off, he found himself in a courtroom inside Yangon’s Insein Prison, a notorious complex known as “the darkest hellhole in Burma.”
Click through for story. Of course foreign autocrats are a danger, but frankly, it’s the domestic ones which worry me more.
Mother Jones – Canadian Police Clear Protesters From Key Border Crossing
Quote – And in New Zealand, cops have made at least 120 arrests at the camp near Parliament. Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard, pitched in by blasting annoying music to deter the protesters. Among the selections: Barry Manilow’s greatest hits, “Baby Shark,” and Matt Mullholland’s out-of-tune cover of “My Heart Will Go On.” As of Saturday, it wasn’t working.
Click through for details. Not all of Manilow’s hits are annoying – at least not that annoying. Personally, I wish Rocky Mountain Mike would pick up on “Weekend in New England.” The chorus writes itself: “When will we see him in jail?”
History Art and Archives – Robert Smalls
Quote – An escaped slave and a Civil War hero, Robert Smalls served five terms in the U.S. House, representing a South Carolina district described as a “black paradise” because of its abundant political opportunities for freedmen. Overcoming the state Democratic Party’s repeated attempts to remove that “blemish” from its goal of white supremacy, Smalls endured violent elections and a short jail term to achieve internal improvements for coastal South Carolina and to fight for his black constituents in the face of growing disfranchisement.
Click hrough. In Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s documentary “Reconstruction,” in the second hour of Part 1, Prof. Gates interviews his great-grandson. In reality, Smalls was one of many black legislators who infuriated white by being competent. (I recommend the entire documentary, and you don’t have to watch it all at once.)
Food For Thought:
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