All of the legal vloggers (the usual suspects?) are off ba;lance just now. This is from last Friday, but it’s all I could find that was short enough to share, and it’s not without interest.
Department of Justice – This Week at Justice – October 6, 2023
The Lincoln Project – In Memory McCarthy
MSNBC – Hayes: ‘I can’t believe this needs to be said,’ but the GOP is to blame for the GOP chaos
John Fugelsang – “The Way of the Sidekick” with Ed McMahon
Guy Sees Puppies Dumped On Busy Highway
Beau – Let’s talk about Biden, walls, and laws…. (There is also a follow up to this here – I don’t have space for both, but the full picture really needs both)
Yesterday being a holiday, the courts and everything else were closed, and in any case all eyes were on the Middle East. In that connection, I would say only that, just because a person belongs to a group which has actually, historically, been victimized (as opposed to, say, MAGAts, who who do a lot of whining but are no more victims than, oh, say American police union members) does not mean a person cannot be a jerk. Well, also, that pointing out that something a person is doing is morally questionable at best is not the same thing as calling that person an unmitigated moral degenerate. Screaming insults and accusations does not a conversation make. If I knew how to say that so that a substantial majority of humans would actually hear it, I definitely would. But I don’t. I do want to mention that Pat B.’s family has sustained a loss, and I don’t know, nor does she, how long she will be MIA, but it will be a while.
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Wonkette (Substack) – NYTimes Compares Conservatives Annoyed By Unhoused People To Parents Of Trans Kids Being Denied Healthcare
Quote – It’s lovely that they are happy, that they feel safer, and that they are not annoying the good people of Portland with their bullshit. Couldn’t be happier for them! But they’re also entirely ridiculous. Troy is a rural town with a population of 15,000, while Portland is a bustling metropolis with a population of about 641,000. Obviously there would be more crime there. There would also be less crime in any town in Oregon with a population of 15,000, owing to the fact that there are just fewer people to do any crime. That’s just math. In fact, it would likely be a lot more safe, as Missouri has the ninth highest violent crime rate in the nation, while Oregon ranks 36th. Troy is an exurb of St. Louis, the city with the highest crime rate in the United States. Portland? Portland has the 62nd highest crime rate of any city in the United States, even with all them liberal policies what so frightened the Huckinses. Oh, and St. Louis only has about a third of the population of Portland. Click through for article. Today’s FFT is from this article, and IMO summarizes it well.
Thomas Zimmer (also Substack – sorry) – Why America’s Elites Love to Decry “Polarization”
Quote – In the final third of the book, Klein himself emphasizes that we are not looking at a radicalization on both sides of the political spectrum. He emphasizes the difference between the Right, entirely focused on the interests and sensibilities of white conservatives, and a Democratic coalition that is much more diverse – ideologically, racially and ethnically, and in terms of cultural sensibilities: “Sorting has made Democrats more diverse and Republicans more homogeneous. As a result, appealing to Democrats requires appealing to a lot of different kinds of people with different interests.” (p. 230) As a matter of fact, Klein sees Democrats as extremely resistant to political extremism due to this heterogeneity of their supporters: “Democrats,” the author argues, “have an immune system of diversity and democracy.” (Why We’re Polarized, p. 229) Click through for full argument. While I certainly feel polarized, in that I feel that MAGA lunacy is the polar opposite of my beliefs, he’s right. True polarization requires both sides to be “the same” but in opposite directions. And both sides are not the same. Not in any way.
Yesterday, I saw Virgil (who returns all greetings, spoken and unspoken.) We played Scrabble, getting very liberal, even multilingual, especially the last game. But it’s all in fun. After I got home and posted my safe note, I was listening to tha radio and heard something I certainly never dreaned it was possible, and I’m not 100% positive how it was done. I heard four snare drum rolls (2 sets of 2) played by a classical guitarist, on the classical guitar. It was in an orchestral piece, transcribed for guitar, which starts with a little fanfare of two drum roll and then repeats it later. It was a piece I’m familiar with, so though they didn’t sound exactly like drum rolls, I recognized immediately what they were meant for. No transcription ever sounds exactly like the orchestral piece anyway, so I thought they were pretty darned good. My best guess is that he knocked or slapped the guitar through the open strings – but that’s quite a feat , since the parts of the strings that are directly over the sound box of the guitar are mostly over the sound hole.
I apologize for not making a graphic for Indigenoua People’s Day. The reason was that – there are so many tribes – all over the Americas – and every single one of them has rich cultural traditions and images – and every single tribe also survived over 2000 years by living sustainably. Even just in my corner of the United States there are multiple tribes with multiple traditions. And I didn’t want to leave anyone out, nor did I want to fall back on stereotypes, many of which are not even respectful. So I’ll just wish you a happy indigenous people’s day and leave it at that.
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TeenVogue – The Supreme Court Must Protect Domestic Violence Survivors By Overturning the Rahimi Decision
Quote – When I was a young girl living in South Carolina, my mother, Patricia Ann, was shot and killed by an abusive dating partner. He murdered her in front of my three younger sisters — who were 10, 11, and 12 at the time — with an sawed-off shotgun. He was a convicted felon who should never have had access to the firearm he used to take our mother away from us forever. My sisters and I are grown now, but we still feel her absence every single day…. The Fifth Circuit’s decision in Rahimi is putting domestic violence survivors living in the Fifth Circuit in danger right now. I know firsthand that this is not an abstract exercise. If the decision is not reversed, domestic violence survivors face the prospect that their abusers can arm themselves immediately. This ruling is a potential death sentence for countless women and families. Click through for article. If you had the idea that TeenVogue was a shallow, ditsy publication all about clothes, makeup, and maybe a little sex, hold that thought – for when you are around MAGAts. For the sake of democracy, never let them find out how woke it is. It is stepping in where schools and scared parents fear to tread – has actually been doing so for some time.
Colorado Public Radio – Colorado’s Black history — and future — go on display in a new unlikely center of Black culture: Boulder
Quote – [A] new exhibit at the Museum of Boulder, called “Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History,” gives the community and the state another chance to reflect on the past, celebrate the accomplishments of those who have persevered, and create joy for the future. The exhibit opened Sept. 29, and the museum plans to have it on display for two years. It comes shortly after a documentary released in 2022 called “This Is [Not] Who We Are,” which explores “the gap between Boulder’s progressive self-image and the lived experiences of its Black citizens,” and the opening of the university’s new Center for African and African-American Studies, which is meant in part to help build community…. Adrian Miller, the lead curator of the new Museum of Boulder exhibit… is conscious of the specific cultural moment when this exhibit is opening, three years after massive protests for racial justice, and amidst a celebration of Black culture in Boulder centered around the football coach. Click through for story and some pictures. CPR calls Boulder “unlikely” on the basis that Boulder is like 90% white and only 1% black. But the thing is, the main University of Colorado is there. And one of the things Republicans hate about education, especially higher education, is that academics tend not to shy away from research, from finding out truth, and then from sharing that truth. My only issue with this being in Boulder is hoping that fact doesn’t turn out to limit access.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
I don’t think much about scalping, not even in the colloquial sense of demanding exorbitant prices, and getting them because the goods in question are not available elsewhere. So I suspect that most people don’t think much about scalping either. But, since tomorrow is Indigenous Peoples Day, and scalping is associaed with indegenous people in the Americas, I thought it a good opportunity to bring up some real, unsanitized history in hope of helping to set the record straight.
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Indigenous Peoples Day offers a reminder of Native American history − including the scalping they endured at the hands of Colonists
The first encounters between European settlers and Native Americans are captured on a wood engraving in this 1888 image. DigitalVision Vectors
I am a scholar of Colonial-Indigenous relations and think that officially recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day – and, more broadly, Native Americans’ history and survival – is important.
Yet, Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day should also serve as a reminder of the violent past endured by Indigenous communities in North America.
This past – complete with settlers’ brutal tactics of violence – is often ignored in the U.S.
My research on New England examines the important role that settlers’ wars against Native Americans played in their colonization of the region.
This warfare often targeted Native American women and children and was often encouraged through scalp bounties – meaning people or local governments offering money in exchange for a Native American’s scalp.
Understanding scalping
Scalping describes the forceful removal of the human scalp with hair attached. The violent act is usually performed with a knife, but it can also be done by other means. Someone can scalp victims who are already dead, but there are also examples of people being scalped while they are still alive.
In several Indigenous cultures in North America, scalping was part of human trophy taking, which involves claiming human body parts as a war trophy. Scalps were taken during warfare as displays of military prowess or for ceremonial purposes. But just because scalping was practiced by some Native American societies, it does not mean that it was practiced by all.
Eyewitness accounts, histories and even art and popular films about the American West have perpetuated the false idea that scalping is a uniquely indigenous practice.
White settlers’ wide use of scalping against Indigenous peoples is far less acknowledged and understood. In fact, Colonists’ use of scalping against Native American people likely accelerated this practice.
Various European American colonizers also scalped Native American people from at least the 17th through the 19th centuries. It was a way to provide proof that someone killed a Native American person. Several North American colonial powers, from the British to the Spanish empires, paid bounties to people who turned in scalps of killed Native Americans.
Scalp bounties in New England and California
Colonies, territories and states in what is now the U.S. used scalp bounties widely from the 17th through the 19th centuries.
Colonial governments in New England issued over 60 scalp bounties from the 1680s through the 1750s, typically during various conflicts between Colonists and Native Americans.
Massachusetts made the widest use of scalp bounties among the New England Colonies in the 1700s.
Massachusetts’ lieutenant governor issued one of the most notorious scalp bounty declarations in 1775. This declaration, called the Spencer Phips Proclamation of 1755, provides a glimpse into how this brutal system worked.
“For every scalp of such Female Indian or male Indian under the Age of Twelve Years, that shall be killed and brought in as Evidence of their being killed …, Twenty Pounds,” the declaration reads.
This reward was a large amount of money for Colonists, equivalent to more than 5,000 pounds, or US$12,000 in today’s currency. The scalp of a male Native American could fetch two and a half times this amount.
In the Colonial era, such violence was normalized by anti-Native American sentiment and a sense of racial superiority among Colonists.
And the violent trend was long-standing. As several historians point out, violence against and scalping of Native Americans also played a significant role in the conquest of California in 1846.
One historian has called California “the murder state” in the 1800s, as the scalping and massacres of Native Americans accompanied white settlers’ taking Native American land. State and federal officials, as well as several businesses, supported this genocide by paying bounties to scalp hunters.
From a contemporary perspective, the United Nations would consider the targeted killing of Indigenous women and children to be genocide.
The Spencer Phips Proclamation offered a bounty for Native Americans’ scalps in 1755. The town of Spencer, Mass., is named after this Spencer Phips, the former lieutenant governor of the colony. Journal of the American Revolution
Memory and violence
Centuries later, California and Massachusetts have had different responses to their role in these sordid histories.
California has acknowledged “historic wrongdoings” and the violence committed against the Indigenous people who live in the state. In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom set up a a Truth and Healing Councilto discuss and examine the state’s historical relationship with Native Americans.
In Massachusetts, state officials have largely been silent on this issue. This places Massachusetts more in line with much of the United States.
This is true even as Massachusetts, under the leadership of then-Gov. Charlie Baker, put a special emphasis on genocide education in the school curriculum.
Legacies of scalping
The legacies of violence and scalping are deeply rooted and can be observed in numerous parts of U.S. society today.
For instance, various communities, including Lovewell, Maine, and Spencer, Massachusetts, are named after scalp bounty hunters. Locals are often not aware of the history behind these names. Such town names, and the history of violence connected to them, often hide in plain sight.
But if you look closely, from the writings of early Euro-American colonizers and American literature to popular sport mascots and state and town seals, the brutality wrought upon Indigenous people remains at the forefront of U.S. culture more than five centuries after it began.
============================================================== Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, let’s do what we can to dissociate scalping from being associted only with “savages” (or maybe stop thinking of savages as different population groups from our own and instead defining it on the basis of actions only.)
Incidentally, tomorrow is also still Columbus Day too. So in tomorrow’s video thread I’ll share a video (an old one from 2019) made for Full Frontal and featuring Deb Haaland.
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Jephtha,” by George Frideric Handel. (If you want to use the German form, that’s Georg Friedrich Händel, and the King quite possibly did, since I don’t believe he learned English, but everyone else used the English form.) Jephtha is an oratorio based on the Bible, and it was presented as one in this live recording from September 2022 by Music of the Baroque. It’s one of those old Dude-in-dire-straits offers to sacrifice the first living thing he encounters if divinity will save him, and that turns out to be his child – in this case, his daughter. Scholars differ in this case as to whether the sacrifice involved death or instead a lifetime commitment to serve the temple. There is some evidence for either. Handel went with the service one, complete with an angel to command Jephtha to resolve it that way, which isn’t in Jodges, but does recall the Genesis story of Abraham and Isaac. It’s late Handel, likely the last thing he wrote, and his compositional skills were just fine, as was his hearing, but his eyesight was going, and he had to stop writing when he could no longer see the page. I don’t know how anyone who didn’t know that could deduce it, though. The music is definitely accomplished, beautiful, and baroque.
If I wait for all the other juicy Beau videos to be posted before posting this one from yesterday, it will be too late. It might not even get seen. So here’s a link to the video on events in the Middle East from the dude some of his viewers are starting to call “Beaustradamus.” Off to see Virgil now – will comment later.
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Robert Reich (Substack) – Capital vs. labor under Biden
Quote – Today, this struggle takes the form of giant corporations that have monopolized their markets and workers who are trying to organize labor unions. This is why you’re hearing so much about the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department going after Amazon and Google, respectively. (They’re also going after Ticketmaster and Live Nation, Kroger and Albertsons, and a wide range of other giant corporations and proposed mergers.) And why you’re also hearing so much about strikes — the UAW, writers and actors, nurses, workers at Kaiser Permanente, Starbucks baristas, and others. And about attempts to organize Amazon and other anti-union companies. Click through (to Substack) for full article. Yes, you are hearing about Biden supporting labor. But you are getting it piecemeal rather than as an overarching theme, and you are not hearing about the basis of the struggle, nor about the meaning of the struggle. This is a good, solid look at all of that. You might even want to bookmark it.
Democratic Underground (sheshe2) – Joe Biden: According to a new book
Quote – According to a new book by Franklin Foer, Joe Biden isn’t just the president of the United States, he is the West’s father figure, whom foreign leaders call for advice and look to for assurance. Foer writes: “It was his calming presence and his strategic clarity that helped lead the alliance to such an aggressive stance, which stymied authoritarianism on its front lines. He was a man for his age.” Click through for DU article. Ordinarily I wouldn’t run just a book review, or if I did I would at least cite the original source for the review. But I don’t have and haven’t seen the book, and the original source is Xitter, and I just thought the DU article had good news.
