Glenn Kirschner – Rudy Giuliani allegedly offers to SELL PARDONS for $2 million a pop & split money with Donald Trump
The Lincoln Project – Last Week in the Republican Party May 16, 2023
Alliance for Justice Action Campaign – Justice Thomas Must Resign!
Robert Reich – In Conversation with TN State Representative Justin Jones
Cat Tries To Cope With Unrequited Love
Beau – Let’s talk about the SCOTUS shadow docket case that could make waves….
Yesterday, Crooks & Liars (probably along with every other news outlet, paper or on line, TV and all kinds of video) published some details of Noelle Dunphy’s lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani. It definitely needs a barf bag warning. She does have receipts too. If only there were a way to know exactly what is missing from these Republicans (and somehow put it into them) that they think they can do anything imaginable (or unimaginable to normal people) with absolutely no consequences whatsoever. Sigh. In the short takes, I am sharing two articles about Jordan Neely, because they are so different in their outlook and details. This was not a case of a bad cop, but I’m not inclined to expect much if any accountability – certainly not without a lot of protesting demanding it.
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New York Magazine “The Cut” – The Cost of White Discomfort
Quote – In the wake of Jordan’s murder, Kenneth Jones’s and Tema Okun’s definition of the “right to comfort” haunts me: “The belief that those with power have a right to emotional and psychological comfort … I have a right to be comfortable, and if I am not, then someone else is to blame.” When Daniel Penny was not comfortable on the F train, he single-handedly decided that Jordan was to blame.
Click through for article. This rage is justified. Is any other white person as humiliated as I am that people with our skin tone are so fragile as to kill out of discomfort – and so privileged to get away with it? White Americans who whine about the excessive privilege of the British royal family need to look in a mirror and see their own. (But they won’t. That would be uncomfortable.)
The New Yorker – The System That Failed Jordan Neely
Quote – There are more than two hundred thousand residents of New York City living with severe mental illness; roughly five per cent of them are homeless. That’s thirteen thousand people with schizophrenia, major depressive and bipolar disorders, or other significant mental- or behavioral-health diagnoses, all of whom regularly spend the night at a shelter, in the subway, on the street. They’re the ones you recognize—the people whom, for the past fifty years, every mayor has either tried to help, harass, or hide from view. Rudy Giuliani’s cops were known to chase people out of midtown, forcing them into the Bronx and Queens. Michael Bloomberg largely avoided public initiatives that addressed mental illness. Bill de Blasio allocated almost a billion dollars for a mental-health plan, but it was criticized for failing to track outcomes or prioritize treatment for those who needed help the most.
Click through for details. What we had before Ronald Reagan became Governor of California (and then President) was far from perfect, but it was better than this. Constantly reading about people, many in disadvantaged groups besides being mentally ill, killed publicly with no consequences – particularly since the disadvantage is often the cause of the illness (e.g. lead in drinking water) and is itself the result of apathy or malice on the part of the demographic doing most of the killing. It’s like beating someone up, and then killing them because their bruises make us uncomfortable.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, I had a chance to read the story from Friday about charges having been dropped against Courtney and Nicole Mallery, the black ranchers in the county I live in who were charged with – something – essentially for being the victims of deliberate and premeditated harassment. It took too long, but it has finally happened. I thought y’all would want to know.
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Daily Beast – The Texas Mall Shooter’s Radicalization Is No Surprise
Quote – This past Saturday, May 6, a gunman opened fire outside of a mall in Texas, slaughtering eight people, including children. (The shooter was killed by police at the scene.) The sheer brutality of this massacre was captured profoundly in the statement of a witness who tried to find a pulse on a little girl—only to turn her over and reveal that she had no face. This time the shooter wasn’t white. He was a 33-year-old man of Hispanic heritage, which immediately allowed some far-right pundits to play off any suspicions that this might again be related to white supremacist rhetoric. But as should be obvious by now, white supremacy can be upheld by non-white people (just as white nationalists can be superfans of someone who practices Orthodox Judaism, like Ben Shapiro).
Click through for full opinion. He goes back to 2017 (Canada) and examines the phenomenon of non-white white nationalists. The line between delusion and self-hatred is evidently perilously thin.
Southern Poverty Law Center – Buffalo Massacre: A Year Later, White Supremacist Propaganda Continues to Spur Violence
Quote – The “great replacement” theory is a central tenet of white nationalism. Steeped in racist and antisemitic narratives, it falsely asserts there is a concerted and covert effort to replace white populations in white-majority countries with immigrants of color. The conspiracy theory has inspired many other attacks carried out by white extremists against people of color, immigrants, Jewish people and Muslims. Once a fringe idea propagated by hate groups and other extremists – frequently in online message boards – the “great replacement” theory and ideas akin to it have been normalized and dragged into the mainstream, in part, with the help of conservative political figures, media personalities, lawmakers and lobbying groups.
Clicl through for retrospective. To paraphrase Chesterton, sometimes it isn’t news we need so much as to be reminded.
Food For Thought
Yesterday, I started to look for any pictures which might illustrate the Furies (PoPublica does not permit reprinting pictures), and got sidetracked by the Google Doodle, which was of Alan Rickman. I didn’t completely fall down that rabbit hole, but I did end up using an image I already knew about, as you’ll probably have guessed if you saw it. The Peter Sellars (with an “a”) mentioned is the Australian director, not the deceased British actor and comedian (who spelled Sellers withan “e”). Sellars with an “a” is still alive at 83 and as outrageous as he ever was. Also, I came across a short post at Democratic Underground which I thought was kind of special – you can see it here. Finally, I put together a chair I had ordered which came Saturday, and did some rearranging to get it where I wanted it to be.
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Southern Poverty Law Center – ‘LONG OVERDUE’: BLACK MEN KILLED IN INFAMOUS COLFAX MASSACRE COMMEMORATED ON NEW MONUMENT
Quote – In a bold swap engineered by a Black man and a white man working together, reckoning has come at last to Colfax, Louisiana… This month the Rev. Avery Hamilton, whose great-great-great-grandfather was the first Black man murdered in the rampage, and Dean Woods, whose great-grandfather was part of the paramilitary force that left the courthouse grounds soaked in blood, dispelled the ghosts of their family histories to achieve some measure of justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday massacre. They presided over the unveiling of a monument to the victims.
Click through for story and background. It’s very easy to lose hope in the face of virulent bigotry, not just here, but world wide. But – when something like this happens – it helps.
Daily Kos (Joan McCarter) – Biden needs to go it alone on the debt ceiling
Quote – Civiqs asked about just one of those alternatives, the platinum coin. It’s the “one neat trick,” as Bloomberg’s Joshua Green calls it, for Biden to make the problem disappear…. Precisely. It doesn’t have to be the coin. There are other options, including the one deemed by Michael C. Dorf, law professor at Cornell Law School, the “least unconstitutional option.” That would involve Biden taking Section Four of the 14th Amendment literally, and using it. He could declare that Congress is failing in its constitutional duty to pay the debts it incurs, so he must act to uphold its clear directive: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
Click through for article. I have not seen anyone else writing on the subject taking quite this approach.
Food For Thought
Glenn Kirschner – Judge REJECTS Donald Trump’s attempt to delay E. Jean Carroll defamation trial. Trial begins 4/25
The Lincoln Project – How to Manufacture a Debt Ceiling Crisis
Farron Balanced – Former Trump Associate Says Ex President Has Become Too Boring For Voters
MSNBC – Ralph Yarl: Charges filed in shooting of teen who rang wrong doorbell
2-pound Wild Boar Grows Up Believing She’s a Puppy
Beau – Let’s talk about Jordan falling into a trap….
Glenn Kirschner – Dominion v. Fox defamation trial begins: could this lawsuit signal the end of Fox “News”?
Thom Hartmann – You Won’t BELIEVE What the NRA Is Up To Now…!
Ring of Fire – Ted Cruz Runs For Reelection On Platform That He Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Hold Office (I don’t agree with Farron. Term limits in practice hurt Democrats – if not every single time, still more than 2/3 – enough to dislike them.
Scared Kitten Learns How To Be A Happy Cat
PUPPET REGIME – Putin’s pep talk for Trump
Beau – Let’s talk about Jordan falling into a trap….
Yesterday, I received a “Damn-Giver Dispatch” email from John Pavlovitz. Some of y’all probably did also. But, in case you didn’t, or in case you did but missed this column, I want to link to it: “Yes, I’m A ‘Hateful’ Human Being.” I really like the way he turns things around. It’s the closest we can come to holding a mirror up to the deluded. Some, of course, will never see anything but what they want to see. But – sometimes – we have to try.
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Daily Beast – Black Teen Shot in the Head After Ringing the Wrong Doorbell: Family
Quote – The alleged gunman, who has not been identified [to the media], was taken into custody and brought to a police station to give a statement. Placed on a 24-hour hold, he was released pending further investigation, something the chief of the Kansas City Police Department spent much of a short Sunday press conference justifying. “The vast majority of cases to include violent crime involve the suspect being released pending further investigation,” Chief Stacey Graves said. “In this case, the prosecutor requires more information from investigators that would take more than 24 hours to compile throughout the weekend.”
Click through for story. You may have seen it. The killer opened the main door, and there was a glass door which he shot through. There is video of him calmly sweeping up the broken glass. The “right” house was one block over, on a street with the same name except “Terrace” instead of “Street.” The victim is still alive, miraculously. Virgil was 21 when he survived major head injuries (from a car crash). No one ever fully gets back everything lost from injuries like that.
The 19th – A Black Texas couple chose their midwife’s care over a hospital. Now their newborn is in foster care.
Quote – A custody case currently unfolding in Texas has separated a newborn from her parents and highlighted two systemic realities in the United States: the policing of Black families by child welfare systems and the disregard of midwifery expertise by many doctors. It has been 20 days since infant Mila Jackson was taken from her parents by Child Protective Services in Texas after they sought guidance from their licensed midwife to treat a common infant condition rather than following a directive from their pediatrician. Now a court will decide if she’ll be returned to their custody.
Click through for details. With good prenatal care and no complications, a trained midwife is at least as competent as a doctor. Women were having babies assisted by midwives for centuries while doctors thought it was a waste of time to wash their hands between patients and were killing people thereby. Some of these child welfare people need to be tied down and forced to watch all the seasons of PBS’s “Call the Midwife.”
Food For Thought
Yesterday, the radio opera was “Der Rosenkavalier,” by Richard Strauss. The hosts described it as a “poignant comefy,” which is probably as good a description as any. It’s very long, and the plot is too convoluted to try to summarize, even leaving out all the “life is what happens while you are making other plans” distractions (and there are many). But I can say that it involves a young man who is having an affair with an older woman, and also an older man (with little if any class) wanting to marry a young girl,”fresh from the convent.” I cannot think of another opera – or book, or play, or mavie, or anything – where the oler woman is not the butt of the comedy, but is presented with dignity,while the older man is comedically taken to the cleaners. It’s no wonder that divas are drawn to this role – as one host said, “She’s really the only adult in the story.” When I think this was written in 1911, by a male librettist and a male composer, I’m just in awe. At the same time, I am deeply impressed by the sheer number of women conductors the Met is featuring thos season. There have been a few women conductors in previous seasons – usually when the opera’s composer has pushed for it. Philip Glass, for example, is adamant that Karen Kamensik is the best conductor of his work ever. And another contemporary opera, “L’Amour de Loin,” was conducted by a woman insisted on by the composer. But this season, it just seems there’s a different woman conductor like every other week. And it hasn’t really been that long since an orchestral musician (IIRC in Vienna) told JoAnn Falletta that he wished he had died before being conducted by a woman. Opera has always given me joy, but what is happening now in the genre is adding to that exponentially.
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The 19th – Houston public schools have a diverse, nearly all-women school board. A state takeover would oust them from office.
Quote – News that the state plans to install a board of managers to run Houston public schools has been met with public outcry, protests and legal complaints. Some are concerned that the school board appointees who will replace the trustees voters elected won’t represent the interests of the school district’s racially diverse constituents. Morath was put into place by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has backed school vouchers, book bans, restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring and other policies critics say undermine public education.
Click through for story. If Texas had a rational Governor (and legislature), I would be able to see both sides of this. But no, it is infested with Republicans. I suspect the 19th is viewing this from the same angle from which I am.
The Daily Beast – Expelled Tennessee Rep’s Friend Was Shot Dead—Then Set Ablaze
Quote – On Pearson’s second day in office, the whole world focused on horrific video released by the Memphis police showing multiple officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols. Pearson was a leading voice in the ensuing protests, but he did not forget [Larry] Thorn. He still took time to check on [Thorn’s mother, Lavonda] Henderson. And he joined the family and other friends who gathered in late March at the boarded-up church where the burnt body had been found, cellphone and wallet gone, car parked two blocks away. “He has been really there, really there,” Henderson said of Pearson. “It’s amazing.”
Click through for background. It’s not really necessary to have personal experience with gun death to be emotionally involved in wanting gun reform. But how much more emotinally involved one would be with personal experience than without it. Even once – let alone twice within a few months.
Food For Thought
