Yesterday, the details of an ICE raid on an apartment building in Chicago were published, including by Wonkette. It appears they simply broke down every door in the building, detained everyone, then after some hours released those they had been able to confirm were citizens. If you don’t want to read about it, I don’t blame you but here’s the link anyway.
This from The Conversation goes along with the article earlier this week about learning to be defiant. If a serious, dedicated scholar can be as far off about what the Third Reich looked like from inside, the rest of us need to take notice now.
Wow. Just Wow. Wonkette – well, it isn’t actually Wonkette which nails it – it’s District Judge Young, but Wonkette serves it up. And it inspired me to use a cartoon I have been holding, because it makes it so clear that it isn’t words, and certainly not words alone, which make terrorists.
This HuffPost article sheds some light on the Federal shutdown. And also on the messaging. Our messaging is pretty clear, and self explanatory, if anyone who needs to hear it will ever hear it (and believe it – they are so accustomed to believing six impossible things before breakfast that getting their belief is not exactly guaranteed.)
Yesterday, I was able to hear the radio opera from my laptop. Even set up to the max, the volume was low, and I hope I won’t need to do it again. Faure was one of the Impressionists like Debussy and Ravel, but is much less known. His best known work is probably the Dolly Suite, written for a little girl nicknamed Dolly. This opera, Pénélope, based on the last part of Homer’s Odyssey (when Odysseus finally gets home), doesn’t sound much like the Dolly suite, but it is attractive. Why it’s not performed more than it is is mostly bad luck. It wasn’t a huge hit in the provinces, but when it made its Paris premier, it was well received by the audience and the critics. But within two months another premier at the same theater stole all the oxygen from everything else – it was a little ballet called “Le sacre du printemps,” or in English, “The Rite of Spring.” It actually caused riots, in which people were physically hurt. And it’s not pretty – but it is a masterpiece. But I digress. It has been so long since I read the Odyssey I had almost forgotten about the lack of trust which was normal back when there were no certain ways to establish one’s identity. Odysseus arrives in disguise, and when recognized, orders the person not to reveal him – because all the dudes waiting around for up to 20 years to try to marry his wife would have killed him (instead, he kills them.) When he does reveal his identity to Penelope, she tests him with a fib about having replaced the bed in the master bedroom (not really possible, because the bed was a four-poster and one of the posts was a living tree, and the room was built around it and the bed), and of course he freaks because he knows that, which establishes he really is Odysseus. Off to see Virgil now – will check in.
You are welcome to argue with me about whether this from The Root is good news – since it’s mostly not new, but history. But I maintain the news part is that someone whose name should have been in people’s mouths along with the names of Rosa Parks, John Lewis, and many others is finally getting recognition – at least from the black community, and it should be from us also. It’s not exactly anyone’s fault it’s coming late. Photographers speak with the images they create, not with their mouths, and images are not physically attached to them, so its too easy to forget the people behind those images.
This was apparently a federal charge; I assume that because it was tried in a federal court house and at the Times there is an implication that the prosecution was by a U.S. Attorney. But it’s good news at any level.
There is a lot of good news in this from Wonkette, and it’s from Thursday, so you may have seen some of it. But probably not all of it.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, CHARLIE KIRK WAS SHOT AND KILLED LAST NIGHT WHILE SPEAKING IN UTAH.
Yesterday, I’m not excited about rehashing things, especially when there is so much rapid-fire news. On the other hand, G. K, Chesterton had it eight when he said “The human race does not need to be instructed so much as it need to be reminded.” We know that George Washington warned us about Trump**(*) (not a prediction so much as a general knowledge of human nature.) But The Conversation recently published a scholarly article addressing the details of that warning. Also yesterday, this from Liza Donnelly – you may find some of it elsewhere, but as I type, it’s all new to me (some, but nowhere near all, is from Heather Cox Richardson – I checked because they are close friends.) And also, I have noticed that Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance have done a Substack Live and I have really wanted to see it – and today I was able to see it through Preet Bharara’s Substack. Both are knitters (and I knitted while watching.) If you want to watch but skip the knitting talk, start at 4:20. Also, it says it ends at 52:47 but it actually ended at 48:43 – and that’s including a bit about book tours, which can be skipped.
I have gotten to the point that when I come to a headline in The Root which begins “Black People Need To Know About”, my immediate gut reaction is “Sure, but do white people and other non-Black people know enough about this, since we are the ones doing it, and maybe the ones in the best position to do something about it?” In this particular case, sane white people have been opposing it for decades – maybe forever – and haven’t had much luck. But now is not the time to give up.
I think of Jennifer Rubin as being a journalist, not a lawyer – but I looked her up in Wikipedia and she does have a Juris Doctor degree – in fact, headed her law school class. So her opinions on the Courts – what they are doing, and what it means – are at a minimum educated thoughts.
Yesterday, I received an email from Catholics for Choicea addressing the myth that the Catholic Church “cannot change,” which is historically, demonstrably false. I won’t do a rant on this, but for anyone who cares about women’s rights, I’ll provide the link.
Pro Publica takes a deep dive into what the regime is on to about “mortgage fraud.” It’s about what constitutes a primary residence. Apparently, in many cases claiming two primary residences is perfectly legal. I don’t know what the criteria are for that, but I can certainly see it in the cases of “snowbirds,” who have a primary summer residence and a primary winter residence. Yeah, most people couldn’t afford that, but in thse cases that really is how they are using their properties. But even if some of these case aren’t technically lawful, anyone he attempts to prosecute will have a great “selective prosecution” defense, since three of his Cabinet members have multiple primary mortgages.
Steve Schmidt from The Warning. Yeah. That ship we just attacked was carrying drugs exactly like all those men we sent to CECOT were MS-13. Right. I’m positive of that.
Joyce Vance shares an analogy made by a federal judge and presented by NBC News. The anonymous judge, along with other quoted in the episode, was anonymous for self-defense. Theres a link to the (print) article in Joyce’s post. All of the article is onsistent with what I see and probably most hee ee, which eans that it may not be encouraging, but it does appear accurate.
Yesterday, I had a good night’s sleep – and a little more energy than I’ve been having (though not as much as I would like to have.) Incidentally, does anyone remember that before I was in the hospital, and I was putting up two posts daily, including one just for videos, one of the creators I used was retired Major Richard Ojeda? Well, he is now running for Congress in North Carolina. He may not be young, but he is a fighter, has zero tolerance for BS, and tells it like it is “without fear or favor.” I hope he wins.
I don’t see anything surprising in this from the Intercept, unless it’s the focus on Personal Protective Equipment – when there are so many other behaviors they could criminalize. Like giving people food and/or water, as was done in some states at the last election.
I apologize for posting legal – stuff – on a Saturday, but at least you will be amused by some of the colorful similes. With any other court, this is so extreme that I’d just laugh and delete it. But with this court, who knows?
Yesterday, Virgil and I talked unusually long before starting to play cribbage. I kind of unloaded about some of the things the Fascist regime is doing and planning to do. He is unlikely to remember any of it, of course, but it made me feel better. Also, when we did play cribbage, he kept forgetting, both in the hands and in the cribs, that the cut card is also a part of his hand – of both our hands – and of the crib. Technically in what I call cutthroat cribbage, the rule is that if you catch something another player failed to count, you get the points and the other person loses them. Of course I would never do that to him – but if I had today, it would have been a metaphorical bloodbath. He also forgot how old he is (He’ll be 82 before the end of July.) Yeah, I can see why his case manager asked me to be his medical POA.
Joyce Vance from Friday. I don’t really have anything to add. At least, not without profanity.
I guess this from “Balls and Strikes” is rather specialized. On the other hand, if enough Americans who were loud enough had been doing this kind of specialized knowledge long enough ago, there’s a possibility we might have been spared Brett Kavanaugh.
Yesterday, A federal jury found that Mike Lindell defamed Dominion Voting Machines (in the person of its former CEO Eric Cooper.) The headline said he was found guilty, but defamation is a tort, as opposed to a crime, so I don’t think guilty is the correct legal term. The award was $2.3 million. I doubt Lindell has that much any more than he has the $62.7 the case was filed for. Lindell has, of course, been shown up for the liar that he is, but I’m not holding my breath for MAGA to be convinced of that.
After referring to Evan Hurst’s “The Moral High Ground” Substack, I came a cross to a specific article there which sounded good, so I checked it out, and here it is.
I’m sharing “The Week Ahead” on Tuesday, not because I don’t think everyone’s heard about Senator Padilla – the could only have been missed by political illiterates – but because she explains why Judge Breyer scheduled a hearing over the California National Guard case, and I’ve seen a lot of people who are literate politically but legal procedurally not so much asking why and noting that it seems like a concession to the regime. Since there is sound reason, and also since there are still people who are incensed at the Biden DOJ because the Clementine Caesar is not behind bars right this minute, I thought I should share that. Being furious with people who are on our side doesn’t help either our mood or our motivation. And prosecutorial and judicial decisions can look wimpy if one doesn’t know the reasons – and I’m as guilty as anyone. Yes, I’m discovering that I have a little authoritarian in me too – it’s not dominant, but it’s there. Anyway, the short answer in this case is that he is looking to the long run. But Joyce has the details as to why. (It does require a scroll down to get to it. I don’t know why she would expect a response from either Tuberville or Britt.)
The F* News has the skinny om the Boelter arrest (and more.) I already have come to the conclusion – for some time now – that religion is not the problem that people without it think it is. There is a problem, yes, but it’s not so much the religion as it is the misuse and abuse of religion. This is not an original thought of mine. For just one example, G. K. Chesterton said it, not in my exact words but still pretty clearly (and eloquently), in the Father Brown story “The Sign of the Broken Sword.” It’s actually been said a lot, but you may not see or hear it unless you are looking for it.
Yesterday, my doctor’s visit went smoothly. We made a couple of minor med changes, and she wants to see me again in a couple of months with new blood work just before it. I can go ahead and get revaccinated for shingles and TPD but that has to be done at a pharmacy for Medicare to cover it. Well, I can do that. Otherwise, we are still feeling our way so I won’t go into detail. (And being brief because it took up time.)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard Joyce Vance being sarcastic before. She’s very good at it. I’d like to see more if it.
This is the second in a series from the Contrarian on how courts can hold the Kumquat Kakistocrat accountable. Because it’s anything but easy. This article discusses Criminal Contempt, how it works, what can go wrong, what to do if it starts to go wrong.
