;)
March 6, 2023
Late Morning Update:
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "In appearing before the Jan. 6 committee last year, Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide who recounted ... Donald J. Trump's conduct in the lead-up to the attacks on the Capitol, shared how her original lawyer had tried to influence her testimony.... She ... said that Mr. Passantino had pressured her to remain loyal and protect the former president. Now, several dozen prominent legal figures, including past presidents of the American Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar, are seeking to revoke Mr. Passantino's license to practice law. The move reflects intensifying scrutiny over whether Mr. Passantino, a former Trump White House ethics lawyer whose legal fees were covered by Mr. Trump's political action committee, violated his own professional duty, along with a host of other ethical requirements, by putting the interests of a third party over that of his client. In a 22-page complaint filed on Monday with D.C.'s Board on Professional Responsibility, prominent lawyers accused Mr. Passantino of the crimes of subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and bribery. The latter referred in part to Ms. Cassidy's allegation that his advice to say little to the panel was accompanied by assurances that she would get a 'really good job in "Trump world."'"
Presidential Race 2024. Look, Ma, the Chickens Can Do the Side-Step! David Siders & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "If any subject is verboten in the early stages of the Republican presidential primary, it's the insurrection that once served as a defining point in 2024 frontrunner Donald Trump's career. Whereas Republicans once talked openly about it being disqualifying for the former president, today it is little more than a litmus test in GOP circles of a candidate's MAGA bona fides. None of them want[s] any part of it.... The Jan. 6 avoidance is not just in [Ron] DeSantis' book. [where he never mentions the insurrection, while self-describing as an unapologetic truth-teller]. Mike Pence ... is preparing to resist a grand jury subpoena for testimony about Trump's efforts to overturn the election, seeing only political landmines in testifying. Nikki Haley, asked on a podcast recently if she would describe the riot at the Capitol as an 'insurrection, a riot, or a coup,' went instead with a more banal -- and safer -- description: 'a sad day in America.'" Read on. ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Apparently, neither the media nor supposedly sober Republicans have learned anything from the past. Trump gave a bonkers speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday.... From the coverage, you would never understand how incoherent he sounds, how far divorced his statements are from reality, and how entirely abnormal this all is.... The press and Republicans' mutual distaste for candidly acknowledging Trump's break with reality and the danger he poses to democracy was on full display on the Sunday shows.... Here are Republicans, some of whom are considering runs for the presidency, who somehow expect to get through a campaign without mentioning the single most disqualifying thing about the leader in the race (other than his mental unfitness): He betrayed the country. Such timidity is itself disqualifying for someone seeking the presidency." ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, Forrest M. has anecdotal evidence in Monday's Comments on how this is playing out in his neck of the woods.
Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Excerpts from Mary Wollstonecraft's 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.' Passages from Christopher Columbus's journal describing his brutal treatment of Indigenous peoples. A data set on the New York Police Department's use of force, analyzed by race. These are among the items teachers have nixed from their lesson plans this school year and last, as they face pressure from parents worried about political indoctrination and administrators wary of controversy, as well as a spate of new state laws restricting education on race, gender and LGBTQ issues." An Iowa school superintendent didn't know if teachers could teach or imply or guide students to infer that slavery was wrong, since that was an opinion, not a fact. "The quiet censorship comes as debates over whether and how to instruct children about race, racism, U.S. history, gender identity and sexuality inflame politics.... A study published by the Rand Corp. in January found that nearly one-quarter of a nationally representative sample of 8,000 English, math and science teachers reported revising their instructional materials to limit or eliminate discussions of race and gender. Educators most commonly blamed parents and families for the shift, according to the Rand study." Read on. I find this story more heartbreaking than maddening. If you care about what your children are learning, don't worry. They aren't learning much.
Trae Crowder, the Redneck Liberal, recorded this video before Tennessee governor & one-time drag artiste Bill Lee (R) signed the anti-drag performance bill, but Crowder's message hasn't lost any of its value:
~~~~~~~~~~
Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Biden came to [Selma, Alabama, a] seminal site of the civil rights movement -- one that lead to the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 -- to try to inject urgency into changing the country's voting rights laws once more.Standing near the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where on March 7, 1965, marchers advocating for voting rights were attacked by police in a day that has become known as 'Bloody Sunday,' Biden said that the right to vote 'was under assault' by a conservative Supreme Court, a host of state legislatures and those who continue to deny the 2020 presidential election results.... Biden is attempting to elevate an issue that he unsuccessfully fought for since the start of his presidency, channeling evocative images to urge Congress to pass voting rights changes despite hardened political divisions on Capitol Hill." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Guardian's story is here. ~~~
~~~ President Biden's full remarks:
From a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Guilty Until Falsely Convicted Based on Loony Witness Testimony. Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said House Republicans are laying the foundation to restrict funding to the FBI as the House subcommittee launches its investigation into the 'weaponization' of the federal government. Jordan, who chairs both the House Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee on weaponization, told Maria Bartiromo on Fox's 'Sunday Morning Futures' that Republicans will use the 'power of the purse' against the FBI amid their investigation into the agency.... Jordan cited a Fox News report [in which] a former FBI agent, Garret O'Boyle...," made claims the FBI was targeting anti-abortion protesters.... "House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee issued a report earlier this week arguing [that O'Boyle was among] the three witnesses ... [who] did not offer any evidence that the FBI has committed any wrongdoing, but instead gave their opinions."
Daniel Dale of CNN: Donald "Trump's lengthy address to [CPAC,] the right-wing gathering in Maryland, was filled with wildly inaccurate claims about his own presidency, Joe Biden's presidency, foreign affairs, crime, elections and other subjects. Here is a fact check of 23 of the false claims Trump made. (And that's far from the total.)"
Azi Paybarah & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: “Paul J. Manafort ... agreed to pay $3.15 million to settle a civil case brought by the Justice Department last year over foreign bank accounts that he did not declare to United States officials, according to his lawyer and court documents.... The settlement was announced in paperwork dated Feb. 22 and filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida where Manafort resides. It was reported Saturday by the Florida Bulldog, a nonprofit website. The settlement would end a civil suit the Justice Department filed in April 2022 seeking to force Manafort to pay millions of dollars in fines and interest 'for his willful failure to timely report his financial interest in foreign bank accounts.'"
Presidential Race 2024. Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024, worried that his candidacy in a crowded primary could help ... Donald Trump clear the GOP field and win the nomination.... After leaving office in January, Hogan said that he was seriously considering running for president. But on Sunday, the longtime Trump critic said that 'the stakes are too high for me to risk being part of another multicar pileup that could potentially help Mr. Trump recapture the nomination.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Not-So-Healthy Choice. Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: The FDA announced in December that it "planned to change the rules for nutrition labels that go on the front of food packages to indicate that they are 'healthy.' Dozens of other food manufacturers and industry organizations have joined Conagra [which makes 'Healthy Choice' meals] in claiming the new standards are draconian and will result in most current food products not making the cut, or in unappealing product reformulations. Under the proposal, manufacturers can label their products 'healthy' only if they contain a meaningful amount of food from at least one of the main food groups such as fruit, vegetable or dairy, as recommended by federal dietary guidelines. They must also adhere to specific limits for certain nutrients, such as saturated fat, sodium and added sugars.... The Consumer Brands Association, which represents 1,700 major food companies from General Mills to Pepsi, wrote a 54-page comment to the FDA in which it stated the proposed rule was overly restrictive and would result in a framework that would automatically disqualify a vast majority of packaged foods." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In fairness to Healthy Choice, et al., the photo the Post linked with the story appears to be a TV dinner a la Swanson's ca. 1958. (Swanson's is the brand that made TuKKKer Carlson the snickering rich brat he is.) Healthy Choice meals (and I eat them often) don't look anything like TuKKKer's fare.
When the FLOTUS Was a Lesbian. Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "When [Evangeline Simpson Whipple] died in 1930, she was buried at her request in Italy next to the love of her life -- a woman with whom she had a relationship that spanned nearly 30 years. That woman, Rose Cleveland, had served as first lady.... When Grover Cleveland took office in 1885, he was a nearly 50-year-old bachelor, a fact that almost derailed his campaign when rumors spread that he had fathered a child out of wedlock. (He had.) Protocol for unmarried or widowed presidents called for a female relative to fill the role of first lady. In stepped his sister, Rose.... Fourteen months in, Rose was relieved of her duties when the president married his 21-year-old ward, Frances Folsom." Rose's love letters to Evangeline have been collected & published in a new book "and make clear that they were more than just friends, according to its editors." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Brockell notes that the couple "didn't hide their relationship from family, and it appears to have been accepted." Evangeline was wealthy & Rose was well-off & well-educated. I had sort of forgotten that being anti-gay is a lower- and middle-class thing. And it has been for longer than any of us can remember.
Beyond the Beltway
Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "... several bills [under consideration] in the Georgia legislature ... would make it easier to remove local prosecutors.... Two of the measures ... would create a new state oversight board that could punish or remove prosecutors for loosely defined reasons, including 'willful misconduct.' A third would sharply reduce the number of signatures required to seek a recall of a district attorney. The proposals are part of a broader push by conservative lawmakers around the country to rein in prosecutors whom they consider too liberal...."
Fascista. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Since his landslide re-election victory..., [an emboldened Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)] has proposed or endorsed policy after policy that has enthralled his supporters and alarmed his detractors: Allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit or training. Ban diversity and equity programs at public universities. Expand school vouchers. Allow a death sentence without a unanimous jury. Make it easier to sue the news media. Further restrict abortion.... Most -- and perhaps all -- of Mr. DeSantis's wishes will likely soon be granted by the Republican-held State Legislature...." A Politico story is here. The Guardian's story is here.
Georgia. Sean Keenan & Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "Hundreds of activists breached the site of a proposed police and fire training center in Atlanta's wooded outskirts on Sunday, burning police and construction vehicles and a trailer, and setting off fireworks toward officers stationed nearby. The Atlanta Police Department said 35 people had been detained, adding that agitators also threw large rocks, bricks and Molotov cocktails. The destruction occurred on the second day of what is supposed to be a weeklong series of demonstrations to protest the building of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a planned 85-acre campus owned by the city."
Maryland. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A fuel tanker crash and explosion that killed the truck's driver and damaged six homes on Saturday probably will require a cleanup of contaminated soil at the site along Route 15 in Frederick County, Maryland Department of the Environment officials said Sunday.... County police reported extensive damage to one home and three vehicles, and minor damage to five other homes and two vehicles." With video & photos.
Ohio. Mirna Alsharif of NBC News & the AP: "There were no hazardous materials on board the 28 cars of a Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Springfield, Ohio on Saturday evening, officials said in a news briefing. This is the second derailment of the company's trains in Ohio in a matter of weeks, after a train carrying dangerous chemicals derailed in East Palestine on Feb. 3. Multiple agencies responded to the train derailment in Clark County, located about 38 minutes from Columbus, at around 5 p.m. The 212-car train was headed to Birmingham, Alabama from Bellevue, Ohio, said Norfolk Southern General Manager of Operations Kraig Barner. 'None of those derailed cars were carrying hazardous material, and there were no injuries reported to the public or the two man crew operating the train,' Barner said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie's Update: However, CNN reported on-air that some of the train's cars that did not derail did contain hazardous materials.
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "As the months-long battle for the besieged city of Bakhmut rages on, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that officials are preparing for the wider war against Russia to continue long into its second year. Work is already underway to shore up heating for next winter, Zelensky said, even as the early days of spring provide some relief to Ukrainians, who have suffered through a frigid winter without reliable power.... Ukrainian troops are 'continuing to inflict high casualties' against Russia's military and mercenary forces in Bakhmut, according to analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank, even as they may be conducting a 'limited fighting withdrawal' from the area. Defending the city makes sense from Kyiv's perspective, 'as long as Ukrainian forces do not suffer excessive casualties' because it is wearing down Russian troops and equipment.... Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas's center-right party appears to be on track for a resounding election victory, according to the early results of Sunday's poll. Kallas has been a vocal backer of Kyiv...." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ Estonia. Politico's report on the Estonian election is here.
South Korea/Japan. Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "South Korea on Monday said it will compensate laborers who were forced to work for Japanese companies during colonization in the first half of the 20th century, a landmark move toward resolving a dispute that has bedeviled relations between the United States' closest allies in Asia for years. Seoul will establish a new foundation that will be funded by South Korean companies, rather than seeking direct payments from the Japanese firms that employed the workers. The South Korean Supreme Court in 2018 ordered the Japanese companies to pay damages to those workers. The decision drew immediate backlash from some plaintiffs and opposition party leaders, underscoring the politically fraught environment surrounding claims stemming from Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, and the historical issues that are deeply ingrained in the identities of both countries." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The story doesn't say a word about the fact that almost all of the forced laborers would have died before now. I guess we are to assume the compensation will go to the workers' heirs. But I'm making that up. It's an odd omission from a news article.
News Ledes
Washington Post: "Four U.S. citizens are missing after they were kidnapped from their vehicle by unidentified armed men in Mexico, the FBI said. The Americans came under fire shortly after they crossed the border Friday into the city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Tex., the FBI said in a statement posted Sunday on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.... Matamoros ... is the second largest city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, across from Texas's southern tip. Tamaulipas is one of six Mexican states to which the State Department advises Americans against traveling, citing the risk of crime and kidnapping.... Heavily armed members of criminal groups often patrol border regions in the state."
New York Times: "Judy Heumann, who spent decades attacking a political establishment indifferent to the rights of disabled people and won one fight after another, ultimately joining and reforming the very establishment she once inveighed against, died on Saturday in Washington, D.C. She was 75." ~~~
~~~ A statement from President Biden is here.
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Reader Comments (25)
Bloody Sunday at the Edmund Pettus Bridge reminds me of
something that happened in 1959 in Wrightsville Ark.
Black teenagers who were detained on a juvenile work farm for
various crimes, like walking into a white neighborhood, or playing
with white boys, etc. were locked in a building which was then
set afire.
Twenty one of them died. Of course, I don't think the crime was
ever solved. If it was I never heard about it.
Go to YouTube and enter Wrightsville 21. Some of them are still
alive.
Forrest,
Geez…never heard about that one. But I’m guessing for every Emmett Till there were dozens more like him that never made the news. This is the sort of history that the right demands everyone forget and which will bring screams of “They’re causing dissension! Ruining the country” down on anyone who dares bring up such a sordid past. I’m sure there are still plenty of white supremacists who long for the good old days when Bull Connor and his thugs could crush skulls and sic the dogs on uppity blacks and their nigger loving* white friends.
They’re the ones who voted for Trump and will vote for him again.
*And when TuKKKer goes into his nightly racist rants against Democrats, he doesn’t use that epithet, but that’s exactly what he means and his viewers know it.
Fatty is STILL on about how he’s the “only one who can fix it”.
He had four years to “fix it”. Wha’ happen? He forget?
Guess he needs another four years.
At what point do these jamokes think “This guy is full of shit”?
Answer: never. Because if that’s the case, then they made a mistake and we all know the traitors are never wrong.
Whilst driving through the deeply red part of W. Michigan yesterday,
saw this bumper sticker:
Trump 2024-The Revenge Tour
And that's all it will amount to if he's made POTUS again.
Jesus!
Drinking again?
Ronny Jackson, TFG’s former self-medicating walking waste product referred to Biden’s having a cancerous lesion removed, sneering that Biden should be the one removed.
And this guy is a doctor.
It seems that attacking another person for medical issues has become a sign of manliness to R’s. Trump once made fun, in a most incredible scene—something you’d expect from an ignorant 12 year old schoolyard bully—of a disabled reporter. This is no different than his protestations that he couldn’t possibly have raped someone because she wasn’t good looking enough for him to rape. “I don’t rape ugly women!”
Junior repeatedly refers to John Fetterman as a vegetable, and another R doctor, Dr. Oz, made Fetterman’s stroke the centerpiece of his recent campaign. Why? He had nothing else, except maybe faux outrage over the cost of crudités.
Going after an opponent for their policy choices and various political stances is entirely appropriate. But attacking them for physical ailments they have no control over? That’s the sign of a vicious animal, someone with no soul, no heart, no moral core.
But that’s the current state of the Party of Traitors. And it ain’t getting any better.
Watch Jon Stewart take down Nathan Dahm ( OK. state sen.) and put him smack dam into a hole of his own making.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCuIxIJBfCY
@Forrest Morris: Thank you. I had never heard of the Wrightsville 21. According to the Wiki page, most of the boy had committed only minor offenses and some of them had not committed any crimes at all; they were placed in the facility because their parents had abandoned them.
The cause of the fire was "investigated" in the most superfluous of ways. But, as Akhilleus writes, a lot of Black people died "mysteriously" and their stories were never told. Do you think we should ask Gov. Huckleberry to look into the Wrightsville fire? I'm sure she'll get right on it.
Here's what Eric Adams, mayor of N.Y., had to say the other day in defense of his religious beliefs:
"“Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body; church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies,” he told religious leaders at the event held at the main branch of the New York Public Library.
“I can’t separate my belief because I’m an elected official. When I walk, I walk with God. When I talk, I talk with God. When I put policies in place, I put them in with a God-like approach to them ― that’s who I am,” he said, later adding that “when we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools.”
Now I ask you–––don't that jest make you want to throw up yore hands and spit in the sink? Guns, God, prayers and a certain kind of walk when you walk with the aforementioned deity–––that's the way you do it when you do it the RIGHT way––-sigh...............
On the Road to Mandalay
Party of Traitors Hand wringers, when they run out of pretend reasons for racism and hatred, turn to the oldest trick in an equally old book, waving the Bible around as an index of their moral superiority. Zzzzzz…whatever.
This morning, I picked up an old copy of some Kipling poems, and hit upon an old favorite, “Mandalay”. It has been attacked by some, in the most recondite formal analyses, as an elite white imperialist westerner lording it over Burmese natives.
Okay, read it for yourself. I’ve always thought of it as a sweet/sad memory of a British soldier who fell in love with the country, the culture, and a young woman, remembering her, when back in grubby, gritty, rainy London, as a “neater, sweeter maiden, in a greener, cleaner land.” In another verse he mentions that he has learned what older soldiers know, that once you’re familiar with the “spicy garlic smells and the tinkly temple bells… you’ll nought heed nothin’ else.”
But the line that stuck out to me this morning is this:
Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst;
For the temple-bells are callin', an' it's there that I would be
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea;
On the road to Mandalay…
(Read it with your best Cockney accent.)
It’s the realization of what life could be like when freed from the pinched, repressive bromides of Victorian era Bible bangers who demand that all bow before them, longing again for a place where there “aren’t no Ten Commandments”.
Wonder what DeSantolini and his ilk would think of someone pining for such a place and life with a non-white, non-Christian woman.
Purely rhetorical, of course. We know what they’d think. Prob’ly make a law against it. Prob’ly already have.
By the way, the poem was turned into a song (Frank Sinatra recorded it!). But my favorite version is this, by the wonderful John Roberts and Tony Barrand, if you’re so inclined. A little reprieve from the daily grind.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=vw9cJwrktn8&feature=share
AK: Ah, what fun to go back to Mandalay, if only for a day. I always enjoyed reading Kipling and you made me want to dip in again. Here's the link to John and Tony's rendition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw9cJwrktn8
@AK: On that ten commandments theme. I've seen graphic editorials by several artists on the theme of Moses asking: "Can we keep it down to ten, Lord? I can only carry so much stone."
When I was a boy my family had a copy of the song on a 78rpm shellac disc. No idea who did the song or what happened to the record but I can still sing parts of it in my mind.
Bobby Lee,
Moses, watching the burning finger (thank you CB) or whatever it was, inscribing more and more commandments, was probably thinking “Jesus! Another one?”
But not to worry, the Traitors, of course, knowing that god very likely meant there to be plenty more “shall nots” have taken it upon themselves to add to the list:
Thou shalt not say ‘gay’
Thou shalt not allow drag shows (absolutely an oversight on god’s part back in the day; who knows what kinda perversions those frickin’ Babylonians were getting up to in those hanging gardens?).
Thou shalt not allow teaching of black history
Thou shalt not countenance a mouse who sez ‘gay’
Thou shalt only pretend to let Democrats vote, but really…
Thou shalt not diss capitalist billionaires or corporations, even if they kill people, unless they’re Jews
Thou shalt not allow kids to read books we don’t like
Well, plenty more to come. Ol’ Moses would have never made it down the mountain.
People are saying that there's even a proposal to take offensive
letters out of the alphabet----mainly LGBTQ.
That means we'll have to spell Trump without the T.
@AK: Let's just be glad god didn't hand Moses a sack of memory sticks and say "Download these".
When I was in high school, I had a social studies teacher who was passionately right-wing. He would pontificate in class about some righty-right thing(s) every damned day.
But here's one thing about that: he had no problem with my challenging his bullshit time and again. He never graded me down for it; he probably mocked my ideas, but he did so in a way that I didn't take personally. (I wasn't the only student to challenge him, but I was probably the most willing to be, uh, direct.)
And since I was always arguing with him, I'm absolutely certain I told my parents about it, and I'm sure I gave them specifics about what the teacher's position was on one thing and another. But as long as I kept getting good grades and wasn't otherwise punished for expressing myself, my parents never gave the slightest indication or suggestion that they would go down to the school and "defend" me or gripe about the teacher's political bias.
That teacher, yahoo that he was, taught me the power of my convictions. I was inclined toward skepticism anyway and was never afraid to question a teacher's assumptions, but I also learned in that class that two people could look at the same set of facts and come to radically different conclusions. (And of course my conclusions were the correct ones!) Also, too, though I didn't learn this till 40 years later, the very cute, very popular captain of the football team, who was in that class with me, had a tremendous crush on me because of the way I bulldozed that teacher.
There won't be any kids standing up to any history or social studies or English teachers' ideas now because cause those kids won't have a clue what the teachers think about anything. They won't know the teachers are even capable of thinking. And those kids won't learn to value critical thought because "opinions" like "slavery is wrong" (or even "slavery and feudalism are fabulous economic systems") won't come up in class. Ever. And that's heartbreaking.
“Trump White House ethics lawyer”?!?!? An oxymoron like you read about. Just think about it. A Trump…ethics lawyer! It’s kinda like Director of Education in DeSantolini Land.
But then you read the entire phrase:
“Trump White House ethics lawyer whose legal fees were covered by Mr. Trump’s political action committee.”
Ohhh…okay. So not a real lawyer at all, but a guy who somehow passed the bar but represents and protects Trump’s personal interests no matter who his client is or what the truth is.
Got it.
So…business as usual in Trump World.
You know, when they say everyone connected to Trump gets screwed, loses their license, reputation, personal integrity (such as it is), life savings, ability to consort with decent people, and, in many cases, freedom, it amazes me how many (obvious idiots) think to themselves “But not me”, only to find themselves in handcuffs, court, bankruptcy, the subject of grand jury proceedings, legal investigations, and/or portrayed in an SNL cold open as a dim-witted dummkopf.
PT was wrong. There’s a sucker born (in red states) every minute.
Marie,
Your story about high school battles reminded me of an incident in grad school. A visiting professor (rather famous) with impeccable credentials, made a claim I knew for a fact to be 100% false. I had had some years of practical experience in a field which for her was purely theoretical. We went at it pretty hard and I was sure, because of her obvious dislike of me from then on, that I would end up with a terrible grade. I got an A. In fact, the only A in that class.
I have to admit that I was kicking myself after that set to for taking her on, but I thought it wasn’t fair to the rest of the class to let them believe what she was selling.
I don’t know if right-wing indoctrinated (or intimidated) teachers would mark down a student who challenged them, but I don’t even think it would get that far. As one of my classmates at the time pointed out “Hey, she could have shut you down right away, but she let you argue the point.” She was right. But only teachers comfortable enough in their own skin to allow a student to take them on like that would also be gracious enough not to screw them when it came to a grade.
I’m guessing that most winger hacks operate from fear and would prefer to make an example of anyone challenging them, as DeSantis is doing with Disney.
Yet another example of how deleterious right-wing ideology is for education.
@Akhilleus: You're nicer than I am. I once got into an argument with a professor (albeit when I was an adult), and I walked out of the class when he decided against fixing the problem. Like your professor, mine was a famous person. He and I lived on the same block, and when I met him on the street a day or so later, I told him he'd better not knock my grade down because we so vehemently disagreed on a matter.
(He allowed a student who was leading the class to repeatedly call women "cunts," and when I objected, the student kept it up & the professor did not intervene. No one else complained, and half the class were women. As I recall, when I exited in a melodramatic huff, I said to the professor & the student something like, "You two have a duty of decency. And you've both violated it." Though of course I was longer-winded, as I am wont to be.) The professor is dead now and I'm still angry he allowed that punk to call us cunts.
I got an "A." I wonder what grade Mr. Misogynist got.
Marie,
Haha. You must have been a force of nature.
If you cared, you could visit Professor Misogyny is Cool and write, on his tombstone, under which he is served up as a Blue Plate Special for the worms, “Down here children is a right old bastard, that starts with B which rhymes with P and that stands for prick.”
And Jesus…what the hell kind of class was this where “cunt” was flung about like that?
There are other things you can do on tombstones, you know.
Thanks, Marie and PD for your support of my "clarification" at the Walgreens, especially since I typo-ed "parmacist" which is galling... I don't think my friends, enlightened as they are, were as worried about this as I am. My friend, newly retired OB-GYN, didn't know Walgreens had done that. She is horrified now she knows, as she knows how many people need those medications for things OTHER THAN abortions, and said she hoped the Walgreens CEO or spouse suffered through an incomplete miscarriage if the occasion occurs. That is the only way that would occur to the cowards that this was a lousy decision. And that little worm of a pharmacist, I hope he is being deluged, but I rather think I am hoping in vain.
My daughter was afraid I would disgrace myself; she said she hoped I would not "Karen" an innocent employee that had no power in the matter. These days it would be hard to get to anyone in power... I hollared to the worm for him to "make a note of my protest," but he simply scurried away-- like the White Rabbit...
@Jeanne: Once when my son was 12 or 13, we went into the local hardware store/building supply company, where I planned to purchase half-a-dozen windows. Back in those days, few women did construction-type work, so I was accustomed to being treated as a "girl" who had probably come in for a little can of pink paint and was going to waste a lot of employee time trying to decide the shade of pink to buy.
The checkout desk was a square counter with the employees standing inside the square, and customers standing outside. There were quite a few people gathered around to make purchases, all of them men except me (and my son, who still looked like a little kid).
Well, the clerks kept waiting on the men, including men who clearly came to the desk after I did. After the clerks had waited on several men who showed up after me, I asked sweetly, "Do you have to have a penis to get waited on here?" Everybody, except my son, laughed, and a clerk sold me the windows.
Years later, when my son was an adult, he was telling friends of his what a horrible person I was, and he cited the incident in the hardware store. Well, my son's friends thought that was great! "Wow, I wish my mom were that gutsy," and so forth.
So your daughter's opinion may change. You most certainly did not disgrace yourself. Walgreens and its simpering employees are the disgraces.
If I think you're an American hero, so do a lot of other people. And someone might tell your daughter so sometime. In fact, you can tell her my opinion of your protest in hopes that she gets it right now.
An image worth passing around:
https://democraticunderground.com/100217681763
Patrick,
Hahaha…let me guess…
A tad easier for guys…
Whyte,
Looks like the sexualized grooming of children learning to love cursing a sitting president, a president who won the popular vote and didn’t desperately need the assistance of an antagonistic foreign power to slither into the White House. So glad those little kids are there for that display.
(Just imagine the screeches if that were a family of Democrats with young girls dressed like strippers holding a sign saying “Fuck Trump”.)