Through his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomized dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together. He also opened doors for a generation of actors. Michelle and I send our love to his family and legion of fans. pic.twitter.com/zkYKFSxfKA
One of my favorite Oscars moments is Denzel Washington’s acknowledgement to Sidney Poitier during his acceptance speech for his Best Actor in a Leading Role win in 2002. May Sir Sidney R.I.P. pic.twitter.com/XG17TzwQUY
Barack Obama Reacts to Death of ‘Groundbreaking’ Sidney Poitier: He ‘Epitomized Dignity and Grace’
The former president remembered the late actor on Twitter, writing he “opened doors for a generation of actors”.
Not to take anything away from Sidney Poitier, but this breaking news brings some comfort.
Travis McMichael, his father, Greg McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were found guilty of murder in the shooting of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man. Next month they will face federal hate-crime charges connected to the February 2020 killing.
He once caught me following him. He said “little girl what do you want” I muttered “can I have your autograph”. From that day he always called me little girl and asked if I wanted his autograph. It was something we laughed about. He was my hero & great friend. May he RIP ❤️. https://t.co/yQhuiDCZse
Sherrilyn Ifill, Sherrilyn Ifill,
law professor and president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
See her Jan 3 thread:
“So I have some thoughts about the op-ed by a senior leader at the conservative American Enterprise Institute that is making the rounds in D.C. today. (NYT Opinion by Yuval Levin)
Because although it may be a transparent play, it needs to be called out.”
About which Joy Reid says that Republicans don’t want to own Jan 6. 2021,
and are saying: ‘Let’s try to say we don’t need a wholesale fix to voting access, we can do little tweaks..
fix the electoral college act and other such things, and that should be enough..and then we’re all square.’
Joy Reid: “Explain to us why that would not be enough.”
Sherrilyn Ifill:
“First of all Trump did not start voter suppression.
Voter suppression has been going on for as long as we’ve been here, and certainly since the Supreme Court Shelby County versus Holder decision in 2013. Those of us who are Civil Rights lawyers have been sounding the alarm that states have been trying to suppress the vote to Black and Brown people now freed from the restrictions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. And we’ve been talking about the need for legislation that will fix the Voting Rights Act in order to support our effort to try to protect Black and Brown, and Asian American and Native American voters.
So Trump did not create it. This was already in existence in TX, in FL, in a variety of states.
And the lie about voter fraud has been around for 20 years, perpetrated often by the Republican party most of the time suggesting that there is substantial voter fraud. This has been going on for decades. What Trump did was pick up the tools that the party had already been using and weaponized them, accelerated by the white supremacy that Rep. Ayanna Pressley talked about in your last (interview).
And so now we come to this point where our democracy is in peril.
And where the fact that our democracy was in peril in 2020, did not stop Black and Brown voters and Asian American, Native American voters from coming out in record numbers. Which is why the 2020 presidential election was the election with the highest vote turnout ever in the history of this country – not since 1900 because in 1900, Black people couldn’t vote and Women couldn’t vote. Ever in the history of this country.
And not only that, not only did 5 million Black people turn out to vote in November 2020 in Georgia.
4.5 million of that 5 million showed up for the Special Election on January 5th!
Is why you can’t talk about January 6th without talking about January 5th. Because January 5th showed once again that this power was a transformative power. It didn’t just elect Joe Biden by this incredible margin. It also resulted in the election of the first Black Senator from Georgia since Reconstruction, and only the second Jewish statewide officer in the state of Georgia. And of course delivered to the Democrats the power over the Senate.
So you have to put all of that in context. And then what we saw, as you point out, in 2021 was a series of state election laws designed to make sure that that resilience and determination that minority voters showed in 2020, standing in line for 9 hours in Fulton County to vote in the Primary, standing in line for 7 hours in Harris county, standing in line during the height of the pandemic in the Milwaukee primary.
Facing off voter intimidation, facing off restrictions on absentee voting. All of that.
Their job they decided, was to make sure that could never happen again.
And beginning with Georgia and its voter suppression laws in March, it has been off to the races.”
The hunger strike for voting rights, started first by @MadisonSiriusXM, is growing. Praying for all my colleagues who are taking on this courageous action. Makes me work harder every day to move this issue and ensure the passage of this legislation. https://t.co/dUI0GZJih1
Remarks By President Biden
To Mark One Year Since The January 6th Deadly Assault On The U.S. Capitol
(excerpts)
“But what did we not see?
We didn’t see a former president, who had just rallied the mob to attack — sitting in the private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House, watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives at risk, and the nation’s capital under siege.”
“We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. And here is the truth:
The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his country’s interests and America’s interests, and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.
He can’t accept he lost, even though that’s what 93 United States senators, his own Attorney General, his own Vice President, governors and state officials in every battleground state
have all said: “He lost.”
It also explains why you didn't see any current GOP (except the Cheneys and Kinzinger) at the Jan 6th ceremonies. The success of the GOP is entirely linked to their suppression of the truth. We can't say this strongly enough. It's not just the lies. It's the avoidance of truth.
JB, me too. I think that song propelled Lulu’s carrier too. Others in that decades’ timeframe were “Lillies of the Field” (he won Oscar, 1964) & “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. I still remember his carriage on screen & being so proud.
I love this movie. It brings back so many memories. I remember all my fellow students talking about how we would love for him to be our teacher. Especially us girls. So smooth, so classy. A real gentleman.
I decided to watch it last night, it’s been many years since I’ve seen it, I was so moved, again, cried a few times, and yes, it said ‘introducing Lulu’ in the opening, she was a big name forever afterward! Deservedly so!!
Last night I watched A Patch of Blue, and it was amazing… I’m sure there will be quite a few to look at again, or many I’ve missed, with this winter weather keeping us inside a lot..
But how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn’t easy but I’ll try . . . . .
If you wanted the sky I’d write across the sky in letters
that would soar a thousand feet high,
“I Only Have One Minute; 60 Seconds In It.” And because today seemed a day to confront losses I stopped by @artbma to spend some time w/ artist Jerrell Gibbs’ haunting portrait of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). The portrait leaves #Baltimore for the Capitol on Monday. pic.twitter.com/lbhRkUQmLp
Shelia posted this comment at the end of the last thread. Didn’t want it to get lost. It is a good comment.
Pundit after Pundit…reporter after reporter…have given their take on JAN 6 Insurrection and the big lie…there was only ONE person (Kimberlee Atkins Stohr) that i saw who reminded all who were watching that the motivation behind the Big Lie…and why it got so much traction…not everyone’s vote was suspect…it was only the votes of black folks that were called into question…the notion that black folks are thugs and criminals…the notion that black folks are not really legitmate…is why there is so much traction of the BIG LIE in the GOP base..
News on Reid funeral tomorrow: His five children will all speak, with "Be Still" sung by The Killers' Brandon Flowers after the first three speak. Then: Schumer Pelosi Carole King singing "In the Name of Love" Obama Biden Then Flowers with the state song, "Home Means Nevada"
It was such a moving service for Harry Reid. I couldnt believe his children were able to speak so well. I read a letter at my father’s service and cried through all of it. Harry was a very special man.
Yes, the service was pitch perfect for him. I’d never heard some of the stories before, which taught us even more about the man he was. His children waited until he end of their remarks before almost “losing it,” and – yes – that took a lot!
Yesterday afternoon, I visited Colorado to see the aftermath of the recent wildfire firsthand and meet with those impacted. As I told folks on the ground: The federal government is not going away. We’re here for you as you recover and rebuild. pic.twitter.com/oxrxA6u7Sx
“A funeral service for Harry Reid will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET in Las Vegas, Nevada. President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and other political leaders are expected to pay tribute to the late Senate majority leader who died on December 28 at the age of 82.”
It was a great honor to pay tribute to my friend, Harry Reid. Few people have done more for Nevada and our country over the years than this driven, brilliant, sometimes irascible, deeply good man from Searchlight.https://t.co/jTQbDUPPOm
Phew! Harry Reid’s tribute was absolutely gorgeous. Lovely family and former colleagues.
All spoke of how he’d hang up the phone on you without saying goodbye. We heard how he fought for working class families like his own. Not a schmoozer, soft spoken, doggedly determined, tough, would work with those he disagreed with. Committed family man, compassionate and legendary statesman. Wow he really did work for the Capitol Police to put himself through law school…and imo must have felt the terrible injuries to officers on
January 6/21 personally.
President Obama described Harry Reid as a “driven, brilliant, sometimes irascible, deeply good man.”
His parting words for him: ”I sure did love you back.”
President Biden: “He was all Searchlight and no spotlight.”
“For Harry, love means never having to say goodbye”.
(n.b. we’re all on notice: “It’s Nevada not Nevàda” !)
I watched and loved every bit of the memorial. Cried a little, too, at the family parts. President Obama’s remarks were pitch-perfect, and Joe’s were a fun – and heartwarming – tribute, too!
President and First Lady at Camp David this chilly Sunday – arrived last night at 9:30 after returning from Reid funeral in Las Vegas. They're scheduled to return to Washington Monday
— West Wing Reports (by Paul Brandus) (@WestWingReport) January 9, 2022
Michelle Obama’s urgent message about this year’s midterm elections
“Former first lady Michelle Obama has a message for Americans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections:
“We’ve got to vote like the future of our democracy depends on it.”
In a letter titled “Fight For Our Vote,” which was published Sunday as an ad in the New York Times,
Obama and her voting rights organization When We All Vote called on Americans to continue engaging in democracy amid a historic attack on voting rights.
The letter — which comes as Congress has yet to move on voting rights legislation at the federal level — was signed by 30 other civic engagement, voting rights and voter mobilization organizations including the NAACP, Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action, Voto Latino Foundation, NextGen America, LeBron James’ More Than A Vote and Rock the Vote.”
Sidney Poitier, Who Paved the Way for Black Actors in Film, Dies at 94
The first Black performer to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” he once said
he felt “as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made.”
A Giant Telescope Grows in Space
Everything is going great for the James Webb Space Telescope. So far.
Astronomers are starting to breathe again.
Two weeks ago, the most powerful space observatory ever built roared into the sky, carrying the hopes and dreams of a generation of astronomers in a tightly wrapped package of mirrors, wires, motors, cables, latches and willowy sheets of thin plastic on a pillar of smoke and fire.
On Saturday, the observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, completed a final, crucial step around 10:30 a.m. by unfolding the last section of its golden, hexagonal mirrors. Nearly three hours later, engineers sent commands to latch those mirrors into place, a step that amounted to it becoming fully deployed, according to NASA.
It was the most recent of a series of delicate maneuvers with what the space agency called 344 “single points of failure” while speeding far away in space. Now the telescope is almost ready for business, although more tense moments are still in its future.
Toddlers are discovering guns under piles of clothes and between couch cushions. T
eenagers are obtaining untraceable ghost guns made from kits.
Middle school students are carrying handguns for protection.
Take another look at that comma or whatever it was they moved in the ‘2nd Amendment’.
…the one about flint lock guns for militia.
…imo there may still be time.
Liz Cheney’s End Game Is To Make Republican Authoritarianism Palatable
“She supports the same minority rule that got her father elected along with George W. Bush in 2000.
And while, out of one side of her mouth, she decries the unraveling of democracy in her attacks on Trump, she has out of the other side of her mouth refused to decry the bevy of voter-suppression legislation making its way through statehouses across the nation. And she refuses to support Democrats’ legislation to protect voting rights.
Nor have we heard her speak out against the gerrymandering that has enabled Republicans to gain political majorities in federal and state governments while winning only a minority of votes.
Cheney does not oppose the authoritarianism and anti-democratic impulses of the Republican Party.
Rather, she seems to be trying to rescue traditional Republican authoritarianism from its actual grotesqueness which Trumpism has exposed.”
“There is no real rift here in the GOP, and there is no conservative ideology that is not deeply rooted in an agenda of minority rule, economic inequality and injustice, and racism.
And when it comes to the “Big Lie,” let’s remember this little phrase that led to enormous damage to our nation: ‘Weapons of mass destruction.” Dick Cheney, of course, helped fool Americans with that ginormous lie.
I am reminded of a song written by the late great Gil Scott Heron that talks about America and the Moon. But it reflects what is happening now with these “flights to the edge of space” by billionaires while we starve & struggle down here:
Whitey on the Moon
Song by Gil Scott-Heron
Lyrics (an excerpt)
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey’s on the moon)
I can’t pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey’s on the moon)
Ten years from now I’ll be payin’ still.
(while Whitey’s on the moon)
The man jus’ upped my rent las’ night.
(’cause Whitey’s on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey’s on the moon)
Jan. 6, voting rights and the tyranny threatening America
(excerpt)
“Over the past year, we have witnessed loyalists of the 45th president work to unravel the threads that hold the fabric of our representative democracy together. His followers, fueled by a constant diet of disinformation, have harassed and intimidated election officials across the country, causing many to resign their positions out of fear
for themselves and their families.
Republican officials, fearful of being primaried by “45’s” loyalists, embrace his “Big Lie” and enact legislation they feel will appease him. States with Republican governors and legislatures are passing laws and redistricting plans constructed to guarantee the election of more likeminded loyalists and shift government control away
from anyone who doesn’t adhere to his tyrannical whims.
According to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, 19 states have enacted 34 election laws that restrict
or suppress the vote. Some to make it easier for local officials to nullify election results they don’t like.
The right to vote is the most fundamental thread of our democratic fabric. Without it, our democracy unravels. Currently, 50 Republicans in the United States Senate, aided and abetted by two Democrats, are blocking votes on two critical voting rights bills, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act basically updates the formula which,
since the enactment of the 1965 Voters Rights Act, triggers a process of pre-clearance by the Justice Department or a federal court if a jurisdiction seeks to make any changes in its voting laws. In 2013, that pre-clearance formula was declared outdated by the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress was invited to update the formula.”
Firm Behind Trump-Backed Arizona Election ‘Audit’ Shuts Down
After Judge Orders $50,000 Daily Fine
Maricopa Superior Court Judge John Hannah ordered Cyber Ninjas to pay $50,000 a day
until it can produce records requested by a local newspaper
Manchin’s Choice on Build Back Better: Mine Workers or Mine Owners
Senator Joe Manchin III is caught between the mine workers’ union, which supports President Biden’s social policy and climate bill, and mine owners in his state who oppose it.
“For years, burly men in camouflage hunting jackets have been a constant presence in the Capitol Hill office of Senator Joe Manchin III, their United Mine Workers logos giving away their mission: to lobby not only for the interests of coal, but also on more personal matters such as pensions, health care and funding to address black lung disease.
So when the miners’ union and the West Virginia A.F.L.-C.I.O. came out last month with statements pleading for passage of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act — just hours after Mr. Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, said he was a “no” — the Capitol took notice.”
Covid is an Emergency.
To SCOTUS’s Conservatives, It’s Also An Opportunity
Where the liberal justices see sickness and death, the conservatives see a chance to crush government.
(Lithwick, Stern)
“A majority of the justices on the Supreme Court may not see COVID-19 as an emergency.
But they do see it as an opportunity. This unprecedented pandemic, the deadliest in American history, has forced the executive branch to act swiftly and creatively at each stage of the crisis. Facing an often-deadlocked Congress, President Joe Biden has drawn on old statutes to establish new regulations to stop the coronavirus from spreading and killing more people. Yet in so doing, he has given the Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed justices a chance to hobble his whole agenda. And during oral arguments over Biden’s vaccine mandates on Friday, these justices made it painfully clear that they will also seize this moment to grind down the federal government’s ability to perform even its most basic functions as well.
Friday’s arguments revolved around two rules issued by the Biden administration. The first, which we’ll call the employer mandate, was issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It imposes a requirement on companies with 100 or more employees: Workers must either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear a mask at work and undergo weekly testing. The second, which we’ll call the health care mandate, was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. It obligates hospitals and other care facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid funds, which is most hospitals, to issue a vaccine mandate for workers. This mandate includes medical and religious exemptions. A coalition of red-state attorneys general challenged both rules, and after the lower courts divided, the Supreme Court scheduled a special Friday session to decide their fate.
And what a session it was.
The nihilism, hypocrisy, and armchair epidemiology on display at times bled into rank anti-vax-ism.”
Lani Guinier,
Legal Scholar at the Center of Controversy, Dies at 71
“Descended from a long line of lawyers, Ms. Guinier made her name in the 1980s as an unorthodox thinker about whether America’s legal institutions, even after the civil rights revolution of the 1960s,
needed to change further to realize true democracy.
Ms. Guinier was a 43-year-old professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School when President Clinton nominated her for the post of assistant attorney general for civil rights. But she quickly came under fire from Republicans for her progressive views on voting rights and quotas.”
“Many of her positions have since moved into and informed the mainstream, especially her criticisms of voter redistricting processes.”
“Ms. Guinier recalled first wanting to become a civil rights attorney when she was 12, watching on television as Constance Baker Motley, a lawyer with the N.A.A.C.P., helped escort James Meredith in his fight to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962.”
“She argued, for example, that merely having a vote was not enough for minorities,
especially those from oppressed classes. She proposed a variety of alternatives, like cumulative voting, in which people get a number of votes to distribute as they wish — a process that might allow minority voters to concentrate their support on a single candidate and in that way increase their influence as a bloc.”
She wrote a number of books, on topics as varied as voting rights, gender equality and affirmative action, including “The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy” (1994);
Who’s Qualified?: A New Democracy Forum on the Future of Affirmative Action” (2001), with Ms. Sturm;
and “The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America” (2016).
Ms. Guinier returned to teaching. She also wrote a memoir about her nomination experience,
“Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback Into a New Vision of Social Justice,”
published in 1998.
That same year,
she moved to Harvard Law School, where she became the first woman of color to receive tenure.”
Wow. I almost transferred there when I was a civilian employee of the Navy in another state just a couple of years before he visited JPL – who knows, maybe I would have been there to see him if I didn’t change my mind! It’s fun thinking how close I came!
The Obama Diary 
Happy New Year again TODVille!
A brilliant talent surrounded by a perfect leader and his awesome wife!
Happy New Year, NCLB!
Totally agree. To Sir, with love! And to the Obamas, with love!
Such wonderful people. Thanks for this tribute, Nerdy darlin’.
Barack Obama Reacts to Death of ‘Groundbreaking’ Sidney Poitier: He ‘Epitomized Dignity and Grace’
The former president remembered the late actor on Twitter, writing he “opened doors for a generation of actors”.
(https://people.com/movies/barack-obama-reacts-to-death-of-groundbreaking-sidney-poitier-he-epitomized-dignity-and-grace/)
Not to take anything away from Sidney Poitier, but this breaking news brings some comfort.
Travis McMichael, his father, Greg McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were found guilty of murder in the shooting of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man. Next month they will face federal hate-crime charges connected to the February 2020 killing.
Very welcome news, indeed.
Indeed.
A sweet remembrance from Dionne Warwick.
State of the Union, March 1
Can’t wait. Especially to see the two Democratic women leaders sitting behind him at the podium.
Won’t that be a sight?
Sherrilyn Ifill, Sherrilyn Ifill,
law professor and president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
See her Jan 3 thread:
“So I have some thoughts about the op-ed by a senior leader at the conservative American Enterprise Institute that is making the rounds in D.C. today. (NYT Opinion by Yuval Levin)
Because although it may be a transparent play, it needs to be called out.”
About which Joy Reid says that Republicans don’t want to own Jan 6. 2021,
and are saying: ‘Let’s try to say we don’t need a wholesale fix to voting access, we can do little tweaks..
fix the electoral college act and other such things, and that should be enough..and then we’re all square.’
Joy Reid: “Explain to us why that would not be enough.”
Sherrilyn Ifill:
“First of all Trump did not start voter suppression.
Voter suppression has been going on for as long as we’ve been here, and certainly since the Supreme Court Shelby County versus Holder decision in 2013. Those of us who are Civil Rights lawyers have been sounding the alarm that states have been trying to suppress the vote to Black and Brown people now freed from the restrictions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. And we’ve been talking about the need for legislation that will fix the Voting Rights Act in order to support our effort to try to protect Black and Brown, and Asian American and Native American voters.
So Trump did not create it. This was already in existence in TX, in FL, in a variety of states.
And the lie about voter fraud has been around for 20 years, perpetrated often by the Republican party most of the time suggesting that there is substantial voter fraud. This has been going on for decades. What Trump did was pick up the tools that the party had already been using and weaponized them, accelerated by the white supremacy that Rep. Ayanna Pressley talked about in your last (interview).
And so now we come to this point where our democracy is in peril.
And where the fact that our democracy was in peril in 2020, did not stop Black and Brown voters and Asian American, Native American voters from coming out in record numbers. Which is why the 2020 presidential election was the election with the highest vote turnout ever in the history of this country – not since 1900 because in 1900, Black people couldn’t vote and Women couldn’t vote. Ever in the history of this country.
And not only that, not only did 5 million Black people turn out to vote in November 2020 in Georgia.
4.5 million of that 5 million showed up for the Special Election on January 5th!
Is why you can’t talk about January 6th without talking about January 5th. Because January 5th showed once again that this power was a transformative power. It didn’t just elect Joe Biden by this incredible margin. It also resulted in the election of the first Black Senator from Georgia since Reconstruction, and only the second Jewish statewide officer in the state of Georgia. And of course delivered to the Democrats the power over the Senate.
So you have to put all of that in context. And then what we saw, as you point out, in 2021 was a series of state election laws designed to make sure that that resilience and determination that minority voters showed in 2020, standing in line for 9 hours in Fulton County to vote in the Primary, standing in line for 7 hours in Harris county, standing in line during the height of the pandemic in the Milwaukee primary.
Facing off voter intimidation, facing off restrictions on absentee voting. All of that.
Their job they decided, was to make sure that could never happen again.
And beginning with Georgia and its voter suppression laws in March, it has been off to the races.”
May God Bless them and keep them
Amazing people. So sad that people have to go on a hunger strike in 2022 to get this accomplished. Praying for them. (Praying for all of us.)
One of the greats! RIP, sir!
Remarks By President Biden
To Mark One Year Since The January 6th Deadly Assault On The U.S. Capitol
(excerpts)
“But what did we not see?
We didn’t see a former president, who had just rallied the mob to attack — sitting in the private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House, watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours as police were assaulted, lives at risk, and the nation’s capital under siege.”
“We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. And here is the truth:
The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his country’s interests and America’s interests, and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.
He can’t accept he lost, even though that’s what 93 United States senators, his own Attorney General, his own Vice President, governors and state officials in every battleground state
have all said: “He lost.”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/01/06/remarks-by-president-biden-to-mark-one-year-since-the-january-6th-deadly-assault-on-the-u-s-capitol/)
I mean, come on! 🙄
Unfreakinbelievable.
Democracy on a Knife’s Edge with Bart Gellman & Sherrilyn Ifill
Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast
Hear: (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/democracy-on-a-knifes-edge-with-bart-gellman/id1382983397?i=1000546862608)
Lawmakers shared personal stories on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack.
Many had never been told before.
Hear: (https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/01-7-2022/6-powerful-1-6-memories/)
‘Unsilenced’:
Stories of enslaved Indigenous people
Art installation examines the lives of more than 100 in southern Colorado
by Sandra Hale Schulman
(https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/unsilenced-stories-of-enslaved-indigenous-people)
The Wrap: Indigenous peoples around the world
Indian Country headlines for Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022
(https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/the-wrap-indigenous-peoples-around-the-world)
Love and Affection, by Joan Armatrading.
–just because.
One of my most favorite songs! 🎶Thank you🎶
Happy wintering Friday!
Been diigging vehicle out of foot high drifts this week…and a lot of smiles on the sidewalk.
Not sure why my post isn’t happening. Please excuse if it some how shows up later! 💞
RIP Sir💜💜💜
I remember that movie as though it were yesterday. So great.
JB, me too. I think that song propelled Lulu’s carrier too. Others in that decades’ timeframe were “Lillies of the Field” (he won Oscar, 1964) & “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. I still remember his carriage on screen & being so proud.
I love this movie. It brings back so many memories. I remember all my fellow students talking about how we would love for him to be our teacher. Especially us girls. So smooth, so classy. A real gentleman.
I decided to watch it last night, it’s been many years since I’ve seen it, I was so moved, again, cried a few times, and yes, it said ‘introducing Lulu’ in the opening, she was a big name forever afterward! Deservedly so!!
We remember it well as it truly marked change in how people see things.. for me it surely did and has stayed with me all my life
Last night I watched A Patch of Blue, and it was amazing… I’m sure there will be quite a few to look at again, or many I’ve missed, with this winter weather keeping us inside a lot..
🕊🕯💕🫖💕🕯🕊
But how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn’t easy but I’ll try . . . . .
If you wanted the sky I’d write across the sky in letters
that would soar a thousand feet high,
TO SIR WITH LOVE
Beautiful!
Actually love the not-good singing!
Apparently, even Oprah called Joe Manchin to talk him into voting for the voting rights legislation. Not sure if she called Sinema.
Blessed are those who make a difference.
MP
🕊🕯🌟🕯🕊
Shelia posted this comment at the end of the last thread. Didn’t want it to get lost. It is a good comment.
Pundit after Pundit…reporter after reporter…have given their take on JAN 6 Insurrection and the big lie…there was only ONE person (Kimberlee Atkins Stohr) that i saw who reminded all who were watching that the motivation behind the Big Lie…and why it got so much traction…not everyone’s vote was suspect…it was only the votes of black folks that were called into question…the notion that black folks are thugs and criminals…the notion that black folks are not really legitmate…is why there is so much traction of the BIG LIE in the GOP base..
The Big Lie stokes the fires of White Supremacy…
Today:
It was such a moving service for Harry Reid. I couldnt believe his children were able to speak so well. I read a letter at my father’s service and cried through all of it. Harry was a very special man.
Yes, the service was pitch perfect for him. I’d never heard some of the stories before, which taught us even more about the man he was. His children waited until he end of their remarks before almost “losing it,” and – yes – that took a lot!
When you have a moment, & for those of us freezing our whatevers, curl up & watch this short-ish documentary. Girl Scott Heron.
Auto correct Uggh! *Gil* not Girl!
Gil was so talented.
Just coz you gotta cheer on young talent, & shake a leg (or your whatevers😇)! 💞
Harry Reid’s funeral service in Nevada | CBSN
“A funeral service for Harry Reid will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET in Las Vegas, Nevada. President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and other political leaders are expected to pay tribute to the late Senate majority leader who died on December 28 at the age of 82.”
Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on the Administration’s Response to Recent Wildfires
January 07/21
Louisville Recreation & Senior Center
Louisville, Colorado
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/01/07/remarks-by-president-biden-and-first-lady-jill-biden-on-the-administrations-response-to-recent-wildfires/)
His eulogy was pitch perfect.
Phew! Harry Reid’s tribute was absolutely gorgeous. Lovely family and former colleagues.
All spoke of how he’d hang up the phone on you without saying goodbye. We heard how he fought for working class families like his own. Not a schmoozer, soft spoken, doggedly determined, tough, would work with those he disagreed with. Committed family man, compassionate and legendary statesman. Wow he really did work for the Capitol Police to put himself through law school…and imo must have felt the terrible injuries to officers on
January 6/21 personally.
President Obama described Harry Reid as a “driven, brilliant, sometimes irascible, deeply good man.”
His parting words for him: ”I sure did love you back.”
President Biden: “He was all Searchlight and no spotlight.”
“For Harry, love means never having to say goodbye”.
(n.b. we’re all on notice: “It’s Nevada not Nevàda” !)
I watched and loved every bit of the memorial. Cried a little, too, at the family parts. President Obama’s remarks were pitch-perfect, and Joe’s were a fun – and heartwarming – tribute, too!
Give ’em hell, Harry!
It was a beautiful service for a beautiful man.
It a beautiful service and President Obama’s eulogy was so touching.
Michelle Obama’s urgent message about this year’s midterm elections
“Former first lady Michelle Obama has a message for Americans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections:
“We’ve got to vote like the future of our democracy depends on it.”
In a letter titled “Fight For Our Vote,” which was published Sunday as an ad in the New York Times,
Obama and her voting rights organization When We All Vote called on Americans to continue engaging in democracy amid a historic attack on voting rights.
The letter — which comes as Congress has yet to move on voting rights legislation at the federal level — was signed by 30 other civic engagement, voting rights and voter mobilization organizations including the NAACP, Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action, Voto Latino Foundation, NextGen America, LeBron James’ More Than A Vote and Rock the Vote.”
(https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/09/politics/michelle-obama-2022-elections-fight-for-vote/index.html)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvEXRzbY-Xg)
Senator Cory Booker’s Floor Remarks Remember January 6th Insurrection
‘This is not about a day’:
Statement of Congressman Jamie Raskin and Sarah Bloom Raskin
on the Remarkable Life of Tommy Raskin
(https://repraskin.medium.com/statement-of-congressman-jamie-raskin-and-sarah-bloom-raskin-on-the-remarkable-life-of-tommy-raskin-f93b0bb5d184)
Sidney Poitier, Who Paved the Way for Black Actors in Film, Dies at 94
The first Black performer to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” he once said
he felt “as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/movies/sidney-poitier-dead.html)
A Giant Telescope Grows in Space
Everything is going great for the James Webb Space Telescope. So far.
Astronomers are starting to breathe again.
Two weeks ago, the most powerful space observatory ever built roared into the sky, carrying the hopes and dreams of a generation of astronomers in a tightly wrapped package of mirrors, wires, motors, cables, latches and willowy sheets of thin plastic on a pillar of smoke and fire.
On Saturday, the observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, completed a final, crucial step around 10:30 a.m. by unfolding the last section of its golden, hexagonal mirrors. Nearly three hours later, engineers sent commands to latch those mirrors into place, a step that amounted to it becoming fully deployed, according to NASA.
It was the most recent of a series of delicate maneuvers with what the space agency called 344 “single points of failure” while speeding far away in space. Now the telescope is almost ready for business, although more tense moments are still in its future.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/08/science/james-webb-telescope-nasa-deployment.html)
He must be defeated…Josh Shapiro MUST win..
Abhor-Rent: 525,600 Minutes Since The Insurrection
Here: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_IxT2ei9gU)
…. surprising Colbert hilarity in a dark moment.
Why More American Children Are Dying by Gunfire
Toddlers are discovering guns under piles of clothes and between couch cushions. T
eenagers are obtaining untraceable ghost guns made from kits.
Middle school students are carrying handguns for protection.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/us/american-children-gun-deaths.html)
= what human beings from elsewhere in the world don’t understand, respect, or trust about America.
Take another look at that comma or whatever it was they moved in the ‘2nd Amendment’.
…the one about flint lock guns for militia.
…imo there may still be time.
Opinion:
Liz Cheney’s End Game Is To Make Republican Authoritarianism Palatable
“She supports the same minority rule that got her father elected along with George W. Bush in 2000.
And while, out of one side of her mouth, she decries the unraveling of democracy in her attacks on Trump, she has out of the other side of her mouth refused to decry the bevy of voter-suppression legislation making its way through statehouses across the nation. And she refuses to support Democrats’ legislation to protect voting rights.
Nor have we heard her speak out against the gerrymandering that has enabled Republicans to gain political majorities in federal and state governments while winning only a minority of votes.
Cheney does not oppose the authoritarianism and anti-democratic impulses of the Republican Party.
Rather, she seems to be trying to rescue traditional Republican authoritarianism from its actual grotesqueness which Trumpism has exposed.”
Libretti: (https://www.politicususa.com/2022/01/09/opinion-liz-cheneys-end-game-is-to-make-republican-authoritarianism-palatable.html)
“There is no real rift here in the GOP, and there is no conservative ideology that is not deeply rooted in an agenda of minority rule, economic inequality and injustice, and racism.
And when it comes to the “Big Lie,” let’s remember this little phrase that led to enormous damage to our nation: ‘Weapons of mass destruction.” Dick Cheney, of course, helped fool Americans with that ginormous lie.
Let’s not be fooled by Liz Cheney.”
(Libretti)
(or her father)
I am reminded of a song written by the late great Gil Scott Heron that talks about America and the Moon. But it reflects what is happening now with these “flights to the edge of space” by billionaires while we starve & struggle down here:
Whitey on the Moon
Song by Gil Scott-Heron
Lyrics (an excerpt)
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey’s on the moon)
I can’t pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey’s on the moon)
Ten years from now I’ll be payin’ still.
(while Whitey’s on the moon)
The man jus’ upped my rent las’ night.
(’cause Whitey’s on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey’s on the moon)
That was profound! One of Gil’s pieces that’s relevant today! GGail, I understand your take re: billionaires.⚽⚽😘
Yes indeed Gazelle. ⚽💕😘
Happy 2022 TOD!
you too gcl !
Happy 2022, to you too. So glad to see you here at TOD. Hope you and your family are all well.
Don’t Tell Anyone, but 2021 Was Pretty Amazing
(Paul Krugman)
(https://democrats.org/news/new-york-times-opinion-dont-tell-anyone-but-2021-was-pretty-amazing/
Congressman James Clyburn,
House majority whip:
Jan. 6, voting rights and the tyranny threatening America
(excerpt)
“Over the past year, we have witnessed loyalists of the 45th president work to unravel the threads that hold the fabric of our representative democracy together. His followers, fueled by a constant diet of disinformation, have harassed and intimidated election officials across the country, causing many to resign their positions out of fear
for themselves and their families.
Republican officials, fearful of being primaried by “45’s” loyalists, embrace his “Big Lie” and enact legislation they feel will appease him. States with Republican governors and legislatures are passing laws and redistricting plans constructed to guarantee the election of more likeminded loyalists and shift government control away
from anyone who doesn’t adhere to his tyrannical whims.
According to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, 19 states have enacted 34 election laws that restrict
or suppress the vote. Some to make it easier for local officials to nullify election results they don’t like.
The right to vote is the most fundamental thread of our democratic fabric. Without it, our democracy unravels. Currently, 50 Republicans in the United States Senate, aided and abetted by two Democrats, are blocking votes on two critical voting rights bills, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act basically updates the formula which,
since the enactment of the 1965 Voters Rights Act, triggers a process of pre-clearance by the Justice Department or a federal court if a jurisdiction seeks to make any changes in its voting laws. In 2013, that pre-clearance formula was declared outdated by the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress was invited to update the formula.”
(https://www.thelancasternews.com/content/clyburn-column-jan-6-voting-rights-and-tyranny-threatening-america)
‘Cyber Ninjas’ fraudit shutting down…
Firm Behind Trump-Backed Arizona Election ‘Audit’ Shuts Down
After Judge Orders $50,000 Daily Fine
Maricopa Superior Court Judge John Hannah ordered Cyber Ninjas to pay $50,000 a day
until it can produce records requested by a local newspaper
(https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/firm-behind-phony-trump-backed-arizona-election-audit-shuts-down-after-judge-orders-50000-daily-fine-1280892/Rolling Stone:)
–can we use this approach more often?
Manchin’s Choice on Build Back Better: Mine Workers or Mine Owners
Senator Joe Manchin III is caught between the mine workers’ union, which supports President Biden’s social policy and climate bill, and mine owners in his state who oppose it.
“For years, burly men in camouflage hunting jackets have been a constant presence in the Capitol Hill office of Senator Joe Manchin III, their United Mine Workers logos giving away their mission: to lobby not only for the interests of coal, but also on more personal matters such as pensions, health care and funding to address black lung disease.
So when the miners’ union and the West Virginia A.F.L.-C.I.O. came out last month with statements pleading for passage of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act — just hours after Mr. Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, said he was a “no” — the Capitol took notice.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/us/politics/manchin-coal-miners.html)
Covid is an Emergency.
To SCOTUS’s Conservatives, It’s Also An Opportunity
Where the liberal justices see sickness and death, the conservatives see a chance to crush government.
(Lithwick, Stern)
“A majority of the justices on the Supreme Court may not see COVID-19 as an emergency.
But they do see it as an opportunity. This unprecedented pandemic, the deadliest in American history, has forced the executive branch to act swiftly and creatively at each stage of the crisis. Facing an often-deadlocked Congress, President Joe Biden has drawn on old statutes to establish new regulations to stop the coronavirus from spreading and killing more people. Yet in so doing, he has given the Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed justices a chance to hobble his whole agenda. And during oral arguments over Biden’s vaccine mandates on Friday, these justices made it painfully clear that they will also seize this moment to grind down the federal government’s ability to perform even its most basic functions as well.
Friday’s arguments revolved around two rules issued by the Biden administration. The first, which we’ll call the employer mandate, was issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It imposes a requirement on companies with 100 or more employees: Workers must either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear a mask at work and undergo weekly testing. The second, which we’ll call the health care mandate, was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. It obligates hospitals and other care facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid funds, which is most hospitals, to issue a vaccine mandate for workers. This mandate includes medical and religious exemptions. A coalition of red-state attorneys general challenged both rules, and after the lower courts divided, the Supreme Court scheduled a special Friday session to decide their fate.
And what a session it was.
The nihilism, hypocrisy, and armchair epidemiology on display at times bled into rank anti-vax-ism.”
(https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/01/supreme-court-covid-vaccine-mandates.html)
“Let’s make sure that every voice is heard and every vote is counted in the 2022 midterm elections and beyond.
Take the pledge: http://weall.vote/fightforourvote .”
(Michelle Obama)
Lani Guinier,
Legal Scholar at the Center of Controversy, Dies at 71
“Descended from a long line of lawyers, Ms. Guinier made her name in the 1980s as an unorthodox thinker about whether America’s legal institutions, even after the civil rights revolution of the 1960s,
needed to change further to realize true democracy.
Ms. Guinier was a 43-year-old professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School when President Clinton nominated her for the post of assistant attorney general for civil rights. But she quickly came under fire from Republicans for her progressive views on voting rights and quotas.”
“Many of her positions have since moved into and informed the mainstream, especially her criticisms of voter redistricting processes.”
“Ms. Guinier recalled first wanting to become a civil rights attorney when she was 12, watching on television as Constance Baker Motley, a lawyer with the N.A.A.C.P., helped escort James Meredith in his fight to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962.”
“She argued, for example, that merely having a vote was not enough for minorities,
especially those from oppressed classes. She proposed a variety of alternatives, like cumulative voting, in which people get a number of votes to distribute as they wish — a process that might allow minority voters to concentrate their support on a single candidate and in that way increase their influence as a bloc.”
She wrote a number of books, on topics as varied as voting rights, gender equality and affirmative action, including “The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy” (1994);
Who’s Qualified?: A New Democracy Forum on the Future of Affirmative Action” (2001), with Ms. Sturm;
and “The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America” (2016).
Ms. Guinier returned to teaching. She also wrote a memoir about her nomination experience,
“Lift Every Voice: Turning a Civil Rights Setback Into a New Vision of Social Justice,”
published in 1998.
That same year,
she moved to Harvard Law School, where she became the first woman of color to receive tenure.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/us/politics/lani-guinier-dead.html)
Sidney Poitier’s Visit to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/sidney-poitiers-visit-to-nasas-jet-propulsion-laboratory)
Wow. I almost transferred there when I was a civilian employee of the Navy in another state just a couple of years before he visited JPL – who knows, maybe I would have been there to see him if I didn’t change my mind! It’s fun thinking how close I came!
heya j’ob…so doors opening and closing…very happy 2022 to you !!
And to you!!! ❤
And ‘Good day’ from me to everyone stopping in the TOD village, no matter where you are.
Trump Administration Forged Documents For States To Declare Him The Winner
“According to Politico, there is no shortage of evidence. The administration acted recklessly and without fear of any repercussions:”
(https://www.politicususa.com/2022/01/10/trump-administration-forged-documents-for-states-to-declare-him-the-winner.html)
Donald Trump + enablers must all be brought to justice for their endless crimes.
—including nursing babies taken from their parents and put in jails. Never forget.
New post.