Kudos to the US Women’s Soccer team. They won another World Cup yesterday, playing against an excellent team, except that they dressed in the color of the vile orange Fuhrer. I’ll leave the discussion of excessive pro athletes’ pay for another day. Excessive or not, women deserve pay equity with men. FIFA and the US Soccer Federation claim that men get more, because their games bring in more money. That is not true.
After the U.S. women’s national soccer team defeated the Netherlands on Sunday to claim its fourth World Cup title, chants of “Equal pay!” rang out in the crowd as fans expressed support for the athletes in their fight for equity with their male counterparts, who consistently earn far more money more despite performance….
…Aware of this yawning disparity, the crowd gathered inside Lyon Olympic Stadium in France backed the women’s fight for basic equality:
As Buzzfeed reported Sunday, “women’s soccer games have generated more revenue than the men’s over the past three years.”
“From 2016 to 2018, women’s games generated $50.8 million in revenue,” according to Buzzfeed, “compared with $49.9 million for the men’s matches.”
Speaking to the Associated Press May, star forward Megan Rapinoe—who made headlines recently by calling President Donald Trump “a man that warrants no respect” and vowing to turn down an invitation to the White House—criticized the “incremental” changes that have been put forth by FIFA and the U.S. Soccer Federation….
It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. WWWendy and I had Subway yesterday. Tomorrow please expect no more than a Personal Update with no links messages on Care2. Anne from CCC and I are going to the Madrona Studios for a look-see at what I hope will be the new CatBox.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:33 (average 5:01). To do it it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Jesse Dollemore Channel): WATCH Emma Vigeland From The Young Turks Try Her Best to Reason With Off-The-Rails MAGA Lady!
I have to agree with Jesse. Most Republican Sheeple are so far gone that their political IQ is lower than their weekly intercourse count. And Sheeple sex life is BAAAA-A-A-A-A-AAD! RESIST!!
From Reuters: U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials knew in 2016 about a private Facebook group where border agents posted racist and misogynistic comments, acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan said on Sunday.
McAleenan said on ABC’s “This Week” that he had been told about an allegation in 2016 “that was investigated, followed up on, and that discipline was meted out on an agent that made an offensive post on that website.”
The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service came under fire over the issue last Monday, when the nonprofit news site ProPublica reported that offensive content had been posted on a private Facebook group for current and former CPB officers.
Posts included jokes about the deaths of migrants and sexually explicit comments referring to U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the news outlet said.
Clearly the CBP racism problem existed before this Republican Reich, but now that racism is the avowed administration policy, it has become epidemic. RESIST!!
From NY Times: The death threats started in 2015, when Walter Lübcke defended the refugee policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel. A regional politician for her conservative party, he would go to small towns in his district and explain that welcoming those in need was a matter of German and Christian values.
Hateful emails started pouring in. His name appeared on an online neo-Nazi hit list. His private address was published on a far-right blog. A video of him was shared hundreds of thousands of times, along with emojis of guns and gallows and sometimes explicit calls to murder him: “Shoot him now, this bastard.”
And then someone did.
On June 2, Mr. Lübcke was fatally shot in the head on his front porch, in what appears to be Germany’s first far-right political assassination since the Nazi era. The suspect — who made a detailed confession last month, only to retract it this past week under a new legal team — has a violent neo-Nazi past and police record, renewing criticism that Germany’s security apparatus, with its long track record of neglecting far-right extremism, is still failing to take the threat seriously enough.
The German Nazi Party inspired today’s Republican Reich. Now today’s Republican Reich inspires the resurgence of Nazism in Germany. RESIST!!
“The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do. And at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant.”
Besides the hilarious quote about the Continental Army (which was in service from 1775 to 1783) taking over the airports, the Continental Army would also have not been at Fort McHenry – which wasn’t built until 1798.
Well, the Tweets started flowing and have only recently started slowing down. By far, my favorite:
In truth, our Founding Father, Gen. George Washington, was at first a bit leery about planes. But the aggressive promotion of the commercial airlines’ reward programs pretty much forced his hand.
And it wasn’t long before all our Founding Fathers joined in with the flying.
Being the astute General that he was, Washington soon recognized the huge advantage that planes would provide. He shortly thereafter began taking military flight lessons, and it wasn’t long before he and his sidekick were bantering back and forth: “I feel the need … the need for speed!”
Shortly thereafter, George earned his wings:
But taking over the airports wasn’t all fun and games. Who can forget the tragic losses sustained at the Battle of the Baggage Claim Carousel?
The details of that battle tragedy was shared by one of those brave soldiers to his wife:
As we all know, this new mode of air travel did not always go smoothly. It played particular havoc with many of our Founding Fathers efforts trying to get to Philadelphia to sign our Declaration of Independence – as depicted in John Trumball’s famous painting.
Dearest Louisa, Our interminable delay at Gate 31 continues, and seating is inadequate; even the news is covering it now. Many approach the gate agent to enquire as to the arrival of our aircraft and to show their boarding passes. No answers yet. #RevolutionaryWarAirportspic.twitter.com/39B2oobDtk
Through my dedicated research, I was able to locate the actual photo commemorating this solemn event which, because of major flight delays, actually took place in the American Airlines waiting area on Concourse D, Gate 31 at LaGuardia:
(There can be little doubt that Trumball’s rendition is much more pleasing to the eye.)
Now, as back then, we all realize that the misery of missing a flight only leads to other travails:
Dearest Martha, please find enclosed a tracking number for my lost luggage at Philadelphia. It shall arrive to Mount Vernon via carriage in 21-25 days. Also enclosed is a receipt for the cost of parking my horse at Dulles for the weekend. #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories
Additionally, without a doubt, Trump’s YUGE revision of American history has forced others to revise their efforts.
People are saying that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is busy working on updating his “Paul Revere’s Ride” poem. [OK – Longfellow is long-since dead – I’m working on “Poetic License” here] And oddly enough, Julian Assange hacked Longfellow’s quill and scroll, and released these teasers:
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the Red Eye flight of Paul Revere …
[snip]
One if by land, two if by sea and three if by air
And Longfellow was not the only one needing to head back to the drafting board. Thomas Plane Paine has now updated his famous plea:
“Give me a parachute or give me death”
And for all of us who have felt sorry for media Fact Checkers’ endless task, forced into long, arduous hours given Trumps never-ending lies – on this July 4th Trump gave them a virtual day off with an easy-peasy gaffe:
I was getting ready to segue from “Friday Fun” through “Saturday/Sunday Smile” to “Monday Mirth”.
But fortunately I was FINALLY able to complete all the calculations and paperwork WRT my County Real Estate Appeal.
Using their own figures, I was able to justify lowering my Assessment increase from 15% to 5%. And I emailed it to them today – as the deadline is tomorrow.
Time will tell whether the Board agrees with me. But at least I made the effort, and it really was a very interesting undertaking.
(And who among us wouldn’t mind saving 10% on a tax bill?)
It’s a mud slow day for news and a busy day in the CatBox with WWWendy coming soon. Therefore this is my only article today with no links messages on Care2.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:10 (average 4:44). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Take:
From YouTube (a blast from the past): DONOVAN – The Universal Soldier
When Republicans tell them to kill us, I hope they say no. Ah! The memories! RESIST!!
Once upon a time Resident Donald Trump, aka Diaper Don, acted out in Twitter tantrums over and over again, because there were people in the Out House (formerly White House), who wouldn’t commit his crimes. They committed the crimes that involved their own power, profit, and perversion, but not crimes to take the blame for him. For example, when told to kill the Russia investigation, even KKK Beauregard refused and recused himself. But that was before Barrf started barking on command.
From his very first day in office, President Trump has had a strange and, at times, strained relationship with the U.S. intelligence community. The president and his political aides have often challenged the honesty and integrity of the community, damaging morale, undercutting its mission and making the already difficult challenge of uncovering threats to our nation even harder.
But, by putting the CIA’s analytic judgment (that one of Russia’s objectives in interfering in the 2016 election was to help then-candidate Trump) into the crosshairs of the Justice Department, as reported by several news organizations , the president and Attorney General William P. Barr are crossing another line.
I see no problem with a Justice Department review of whether the CIA and other intelligence agencies lived up to their legal and regulatory responsibilities as to how they handled any information related to U.S. persons — U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals. There are strict rules in this regard — the most important promulgated by multiple attorneys general over time — and, in our divisive political environment, it would be beneficial to our democracy for the country to know whether the rules were followed or not.
Nor am I arguing that CIA analytic judgments should be beyond review, but that has already happened in this case. Both the Senate and the House intelligence committees have done reviews of the analysis, with the bipartisan Senate committee calling the overall analysis a “sound intelligence product.” The partisan House committee split on the question of the specific judgment about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intent to help Trump.
What I am arguing is that the Justice Department has no standing to review the CIA’s analytic judgment. The whole idea is inappropriate and dangerous. It is certainly unprecedented, and there are good reasons it has never been done before….
It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. I will be scarce next week, because I’m going to Madrona Studios with Anne from CCC for a look-see on Tuesday and going back to sign the lease on Thursday. My fingers, toes, and even my kitty dingles are all crossed. Tomorrow is a WWWendy Day. I’ll stay in the saddle, if I can. If not, I’ll post a Personal Update.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:18 (average 5:19). To do it, click here. How did you do?
I agree, Jesse, with the caveat that all 50 states are critically important. Because SCROTUS (Republican anti-Constitutional VD) mandated Gerrymandering, whoever wins the state legislatures, controls most of the nation for the next decade. RESIST!!
From YouTube (a blast from the past): Country Joe McDonald – I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag
I was there. I was singing. Ah! The Memories! RESIST!!
In a new filing, the Department of Justice has told the federal district court in Maryland considering whether the addition of the citizenship question on the census was done for reasons of racial animus that the government may still come forward with a reason for including the question. Further, the government argues that any new reason would have to be judged by its own terms, as the courts did in the travel ban case. It wants to stop all discovery of bad motives for the original decision as no longer relevant.
Hasen adds, “more importantly, DOJ is arguing for what Joshua Matz has termed “animus cleansing.” Forget if we had discriminatory racial intent before in adding a question, DOJ argues, because any new decision would be fresh and pure. And because of this purity, there’s no need to look whether the government had discriminatory intent to start with.
This judge won’t buy it, but will Roberts? RESIST!!
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.”
With so much of our national attention focused on the concentration camps at our southern border, I thought the time might be right to look at a scholarly view on all kinds of civil rights issues faced by Mexicans in the United States. So I thought I’d share this report by David FitzGerald, Angela Y. McClain, and Gustavo López. I do want to point out that the study population comprised people who were born in Mexico and are now living in the United States. That includes documented immigrants, undocumented immigrants, citizens of the US, and non-citizens of the US, who were born in Mexico. It does not include anyone from Central or South America other than Mexico, though it may not be unreasonable to conclude that those persons may experience similar treatment.
Mexicans in US routinely confront legal abuse, racial profiling, ICE targeting and other civil rights violations
The civil rights of 11.3 million Mexican nationals who live in the US are routinely violated, according to a comprehensive new report on U.S. immigration enforcement since 2009. AP Photo/Matt York
Officially, the Constitution of the United States gives everyone on U.S. soil equal protection under the law – regardless of nationality or legal status.
All paint a troubling picture about the rule of law in the United States and the challenges facing America’s largest immigrant group.
Discrimination and deportation
An estimated 11.3 million people born in Mexico now live in the United States – 3% of the total U.S. population.
About 5 million of them are unauthorized immigrants, meaning Mexicans make up just under half of the 10.5 million undocumented immigrants in the country. The other 6.3 million Mexicans in the U.S. are either lawful permanent residents or dual nationals who are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Based on these figures, we found, Immigration and Customs Enforcement – or ICE, the agency that carries out the nation’s immigration laws – arrests Mexican immigrants at levels that are disproportionate to their share of the unauthorized immigrant population.
Roughly 70% of immigrants deported from the U.S. interior in 2015 were Mexican, the most recent year that such detailed deportation data are available.
Another 550,000 young Mexican American “Dreamers” – immigrants who were brought to the U.S. unlawfully as children – became subject to deportation when Trump in September 2017 rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gave them temporary protection from deportation.
Not all deportations violate immigrants’ civil rights. The Immigration and Nationality Act says immigrants may be deported for violating a long list of criminal and administrative laws.
But evidence suggests that Mexicans and other Latinos are sometimes targeted for arrest based on their race or ethnicity.
In 2013 a federal judge ruled that police in Maricopa County, Arizona, were racial profiling Latinos in traffic stops that targeted immigrants. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
In 2014, independent monitors at a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Arivaca, Arizona, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, found that vehicle occupants who appeared to be Latino were 26 times more likely to be asked to show identification than white-looking vehicle occupants, who are frequently waved through the checkpoint.
And in 2012, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation in Alamance County, North Carolina, found that the sheriff had instructed deputies to “go out there and get me some of those taco eaters” by targeting Latinos in traffic stops and other law enforcement activities.
The DOJ concluded that the county demonstrated an “egregious pattern of racial profiling” – a violation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees everyone equal protection under the law.
Family separation
Mexicans in the United States have seen their constitutional rights violated in other ways.
Under this Trump administration policy, which began in April 2018, at least 2,654 migrant children – and perhaps thousands more – were taken from their parents and held in government custody while their parents were criminally prosecuted for crossing the border unlawfully.
Thirty of the children known to have been separated from their families were Mexican; the rest were from Central America. Poor record-keeping has made it difficult for all of them to be reunited with their families before their parents’ deportation.
Together, these actions violate the constitutional rights to legal due process, equal protection and, according to the Southern District of California, the right of parents to determine the care for their children.
“The liberty interest identified in the Fifth Amendment provides a right to family integrity or to familial association,” wrote Judge Dana M. Sabraw in a June 2018 ruling.
A child from Guerrero, Mexico, clings to her mother as the family waits in Tijuana to apply for asylum in the U.S., June 13, 2018. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
More routine civil rights violations happen to Mexicans in the U.S. every day, our report found.
Though children born in the U.S. are entitled by law to American citizenship regardless of their parents’ immigration status, hundreds of undocumented Mexican women in Texas have been denied birth certificates for their U.S.-born children since 2013, according to a lawsuit filed by parents. In 2016, Texas settled the lawsuit and agreed to expand the types of documents immigrants can use to prove their identity.
And in both Arizona and Texas, so-called “show me your papers” laws allow police to demand identification from anyone they have a “reasonable suspicion” may be undocumented, which may lead to discriminatory targeting of Latinos.
Once in government detention, surveys conducted in Mexico of recently deported immigrants show, Mexican deportees are often badly treated.
On average, in 2016 and 2017, about half of all recently deported Mexicans reported having no access to medical services or a bathroom while in government custody. One-third reported experiencing extreme heat or cold.
While Mexicans in the United States have faced biased law enforcement and discrimination for many decades, their treatment appears to have worsened since President Trump took office in 2017 with an openly anti-Mexican agenda.
A survey of Mexicans recently deported from the United States found that the number of people who reported experiencing verbal abuse or physical assault during their time in the U.S. increased 47% between 2016 and 2017.
The number of hate crimes against Latinos reported to the FBI also rose 24% in 2017 compared to 2016 – increasing from 344 incidents to 427.
Mexico is concerned about its citizens in the United States.
In March, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard announced it would provide more consular services online to increase the reach of Mexico’s 50 brick-and-mortar consulates in the U.S. and provide more legal training to consulate officials.
In theory, Mexico shouldn’t have to scramble to defend the rights of its citizens in the U.S. because the U.S. Constitution would. But, in practice, the civil rights of immigrants are simply not always guaranteed.
Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, clearly this pattern of civil abuse has been building for a long time, and is not going to go away overnight. But you can still help us to recognize and call it out when we see it, as well as to applaud anyone who is trying to make things better … like those quinceañeras who are using their fiestas to promote voter registration.
Interestingly enough this proverb is credited to Abraham Lincoln who, when aides wanted him to fire Gen. Grant for being a heavy whiskey drinker, Lincoln used one of his famous proverbs to guide his reply:
“An old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses when crossing streams.”
So Lincoln, recognizing Gen. Grant’s extraordinary military wisdom and success, replied to the aides:
“But can you tell me where he gets his whiskey?”
“We cannot, Mr. President. But why do you desire to know?”
“Because, if I can only find out, I will send a barrel of this wonderful whiskey to every general in the army.”
Well, I’ve, yet again, decided to ignore that sage advice … and switched to a new meme for “Friday Fun” – which will now become a “Sunday Smile”.
Adding to the delay is that we recently received our annual Property Assessment from the county, and mine went up 15 percent! So I’m going to appeal.
The County Assessor Office admits there was a glitch in their calculation. Currently there are about 25,000 other homeowners appealing. I’ve got to get the paperwork done by Monday – and it obviously takes priority.
