amazing grace

oh, my dear president!

the kindness of our country has been affirmed.

the supreme court has affirmed-

the right to health.

the right to love.

thank you republican supreme court!

time to call this what it is? confederate flag sketch.

i grew up beneath the mason dixon line.  i live below it now and know the confederate flag means different things to different people.  for many southerners it's an object of nostalgia.  for others it evokes extreme intimidation.

some see it as an affirmation of regional pride and the valor of the confederate troops.  but can we finally admit that to celebrate valor in the service of an abomination is, to put it the softest way possible, unhealthy?   i incorporated an icon from another example of this type of thing into the flag.

i made the swastika confederate flag sketch this morning because, isn't it time to accept that this is a big part of what the flag stands for?  the sentiment is not against southerners; it's against the symbol.

selma. john lewis

photo of john lewis.  the small brave man who lead the march over the bridge in selma 1965. he was speaking to reporters about teddy kennedy who had died. i took the photo as the tear ran down his cheek.

people oppose brutality, against civilians- AND POLICE.

gang members are now targeting and killing police.

invoking eric garner.

these gang members are taking advantage of garner, his family and tens of thousands of peaceful marchers.  they have nothing to do with the protests, they're just violent parasites looking for excuses to do harm.

they're doing harm to the police, harm to eric garner, his family and their supporters; and they're also doing harm to all young brown men and boys.  its because of violent gangs that police look with suspicion at all young men of color.

gangs are such a big part of the whole tangled problem. but gangs exist because of poverty, dangerous living conditions, poor education, lack of jobs, absent parents, prison culture...  in environments like this gangs appear to offer opportunity and protection, and all humans gravitate to opportunity and protection.

the nyc police union leader is blaming the mayor, who fears for his own biracial son, and dared to publicly say so. the union leader's accusations are aggravating a terrible situation and really misdirecting blame.  unhelpful, inflammatory, in the face of huge societal challenges.

mayor de blasio should have expressed more support for rank and file police in his comments, in fact i'm appalled that he failed to. pretty bad leadership. but union president patrick lynch actually said the mayor had "blood on his hands." and followed this up with nearly threatening language. in a time of such high tensions and civil unrest need we now fear some suggestible deranged person might target the mayor?

i oppose excessive force and selective unlawful search and seizure, but i don't blame police.  i just hate the policy of unequal treatment, and the few overly aggressive people in uniform who abuse their power.  the incidents of brutality almost always involve a confluence of bad policy, bad training and bad apples.  but the last is an exception; most nyc police are honorable, brave public servants doing a very hard job.  inadequate training and poor policies outside their control make their hard job harder.

police lives matter! don't shoot! is the whole world blind?

no! no! police lives matter.

people on all sides of the recent turmoil are devastated  over the assassination of officers rafael ramos and wenjian liu.

oh baltimore, ain't it hard...

it was great to see protest and hear there'd been civil disobedience in annapolis yesterday.  after all, the men who owned all these big brick houses made that possible, by generally endorsing (and in some cases signing) the constitution and the bill of rights.  they weren't really expecting freedom to assemble to apply to people of african descent, but 200 so years later it does!

sometimes it's easy to get depressed about the way things are in this country and the world; but there are at least two times i get excited about america- when i vote, and when i witness or participate in protest.  that's when I'm reminded of the great possibilities for people of this country.

the protest in annapolis was gentle, warm and hopeful. the participants did not express any criticism  of local police but gathered in solidarity with national complaints.  the police chief and other local officials joined the march, in fact.

once in a while, in a democracy, people have to endure a nuisance because others have the freedom to protest their living hell.

it's telling that so many ignoble (snarky) comments were made on (local paper) the capitol's coverage of the march.  for anyone who questions the need for pushback, this comments thread should explain a lot.  ironically a number of the commenters reference their second amendment rights while complaining about the first amendment freedom exercised by the protesters.  "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." what redress do the st patricks parade, military parades or fourth of july celebrations seek? bad analogy. that point aside, there's a pretty accurate description of the situation here.

the verdigris man peering down on the crowd is chief justice roger taney, the judge who issued the dread scott decision. his finding, that people with african heritage could not be american citizens,  spurred the civil war and is considered to be the worst decision issued in the history of the supreme court.

this was the culmination of the march.

did we get info through torture?

did we get info through torture?

even if we did is the end result worth it?

i say no.

false information obtained under torture was one of the reasons we went to war in iraq. a war that caused hundreds of thousands of horrible deaths; it's end result is the empowerment of our nascently nuclear enemy iran.  iran is our enemy because of other violent cia blunders made in the mid 20th century.  how lasting the damage caused by these episodes of deadly mischief can be.

torture report

was the disastrous iraq war a result of botched interrogations under torture?

prisoners under torture were asked questions such as "what are the links between al qaeda and iraq?" the man under torture, al liby, of course figured out he needed to invent some links.

it's peculiar to hear chris matthews on air, apparently trying to figure out if he's pro or con torture.  he always plays the gadfly but he sounded actually confused on the issue?  and why did the crawl say 20 prisoners were tortured. 20!? that is a grossly misleading description of the report and the numbers who were abused.  what a lame shlocky show. (i just happened to watch it tonight- obviously i got annoyed)

"its always existed," he says "why does it exist if it doesn't serve a purpose" (paraphrase)

the answer is it does serve a purpose- intimidation.

not information.

torture will never disappear, because it very effectively serves to intimidate.   despots, terrorists and authoritarian repressive governments will find it a useful tool.  everyone knows that- we learned it on school playgrounds. but it doesn't get reliable information.

it's odd to watch "experts" wrestle with issues any simple minded layman understands.  just shows how fake some of these tv debates are i guess.

the people who did this are war criminals who've brought shame on the home of the brave. the use of torture degrades and weakens our american democracy.  it gives justification to our enemies. and alienates our allies. it's illegal and immoral and it doesn't stop terrorists. we've abrogated the geneva conventions but that doesn't mean those who did it can't be arrested,  international agents may someday have our home grown pinochets in custody. ok, probably not, shame.

jihadis are pretty blasé about torture, they are more worried about cartoonists, so i doubt that they are going to explode in renewed violent outrage, but the report may spur extremist recruitment.  i blame the perpetrators, not the messengers.

wow tonight's protests are so exciting and inspiring! how i wish i was in new york to participate and witness.  i know I'm always going on about occupy wall street but these new protests, especially what I'm seeing in new york, seem to be following the occupy style in many ways. young, vital, diverse. peaceful, flexible, no preplanned permitted demonstrations, not the usual suspects. warm hearted, sincere, patriotic. and they even do the mike check communication technique.  i imagine many of the people who were in the streets during occupy are out there tonight.  as i write I'm watching (tv) the first large scale arrests of the protesters in new york. some were caught off guard in times square; some are deliberate acts of civil disobedience- noncompliant nonviolent seated protesters blocking traffic and expecting arrest.

id like to slightly amend my emotional post last night.  I've seen some of the newly released footage of the incident. i said garner's hands were up.  having seen more of the videos, he may have simply been putting his hands up to avoid being cuffed. if so, he made a mistake when he did not comply. it was a dangerous move but it should not have been a deadly one.  he wasn't aggressive. 6 professional well trained police should not have almost immediately escalated the situation. they should not have jumped immediately to violent physical force. their response was so out of proportion to the transgression.

worse than that is the callous treatment he received after he collapsed, repeating over and over again, i can't breathe.  it sorta looked like the cops and emts just considered it his problem, brought on by his bad behavior, not theirs.  emts rescued my own mom less than a month ago, (why I'm not in new york) they got oxygen to her within a minute.  when i look at the video of the police, emts and eric garner its so obvious he's not getting treatment. the emt leans over him saying something like "wake up, c'mon now, work with us" heal yourself you malingerer.

i reiterate, i believe this weird contempt stems from the dehumanization necessary to carry out the illegal searches and seizures required by stop and frisk. it gives police of all ethnicities the idea that its ok to disrespect and disregard people of african descent. i know policing is tough, dangerous and often scary and police make mistakes. better policies, training and leadership could have saved
this life and others.

this man was known to police for selling cigarettes. it's common in new york that someone comes into a bar walks through and discretely offers cigarettes for sale.  they buy them in bulk in states that have a low tobacco tax and then go from bar to bar in the east village or any nabe and sell them.  cheaper than elsewhere. squads of 6 cops are handling this?! with deadly force?!  please, nypd- serve me by protecting me from violent crime, not a guy selling cigarettes, one at a time, to support his family!

i can't breathe. staten island killing.

ok this is awful. and i am horrified.

as i see it the killing in ferguson was nebulous. we don't know what happened even though it seems so wrong.

the one in new york is very clear.  we see the poor man killed on video over and over again.

i wish i was back in harlem. if i was i'd be out in the streets. peacefully.

garner said 11 times "i can't breathe!" he was just selling cigarettes, for god's sake. he was unarmed. he was putting his hands up.

why would 6 police tackle and abuse a man with his hands up who was just talking to them?  let alone kill him. this is appalling and it comes from stop and frisk.  stop and frisk encourages police to look at every black man as a raging beast. even a cornered unarmed man with his hands up who merely had the effrontery to speak to them. stop and frisk is disgusting and illegal.  it's been illegal for over 200 years.

here's what the constitution says about stop and frisk:

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

i greatly admire the bravery of those police who stick to their vow to protect and serve. but i always think it means they will protect and serve people.  the police who killed a man for selling cigarettes were protecting bodegas and tax collection. i would like to see them protect human life over corner stores, and serve human life over a few dollars of tax revenue.

update:apparently plain clothes police are surreptitiously marching among the protesters in new york. like what happened at occupy wall street.

i try not to opine on this blog but...

while I'm on the soapbox, I'm so glad that our president is finally free to to be at least a fraction of the visionary he appeared to be when he first ran for the office

like wyatt earp at last he's facing intimidation with guns blazing, and after 6 years under the heel of republicans in the house he's finally free of electoral pressures and finally free to act.

i support his initiative because economists agree it benefits our american economy.  I'm delighted that's possible while also helping individual people. it brings a several million strong underground economy into the legitimate world and allows that block to be a spur to new business catering to these new tax paying workers.

and its also politically shrewd, generous to his party, 'cause those millions may now feel loyalty to democrats.

the others, who oxymoronically* call themselves "right," are concurrently trying to figure out how to exploit the  latin american voting block.  that's why they are so angry that the president will now get credit for protecting
immigrants.

*i use the term as william f buckley did- inherent contradiction.

ferguson

assuming officer wilson will not be indicted, does anyone else think it would be irresponsible to announce the findings at night?  friday night?!

better to announce it in the early morning? monday morning?

rip ruby dee. photos of ruby dee in harlem, at red rooster.

pictures i took of the great actor and activist ruby dee.  she was leaving marcus samuelsson's celebrated harlem restaurant, red rooster, when she heard the band playing wade in the water.  she stopped to join in.

http://evolutionnowblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/harlem-glamour-good-bloody-mary-brunch.html

rip beautiful ru b d.

props to occupy wall street- a review of a review in the new york review of books.

i read michael tomasky's march 6th new york review of books assessment of social democratic america by lane kenworthy.  it describes nascent populist trends in democratic party politics.  attributing them to: a)the president's recent focus on income/opportunity inequality, b)the influence and eloquence of elizabeth warren on such matters, c)liberal bloggers and msnbc, and d)the conspicuous hardships currently endured by the middle class.

myself, having delightedly seen these topics more and more discussed over the past two and a half years, i'd like some credit given to occupy wall street.  remember, before occupy, this country had come to a point where reversing the sad stagnation of american upward mobility was considered an anachronistic, quixotic cause. relative to today, the phrase income inequality was almost never uttered by a strategizing politician or in the conventional media.  it was considered a concern of fringe lefties, cambridge massachusetts types, and michael moore. at least at first, it was largely thanks to the crazy unpredicted spectacle of occupy, that suddenly journalists and political figures started talking about this stuff- props!

reverence, lament, for Nelson Mandela.,

sadly for all on earth, Nelson Mandela has left us, and joined the great majority.

he was the epitome of honor.  a man so honorable that it seems impossible to overstate his courage, vision and grace.

stop and frisk part 3.

i'm so glad a judge has ruled against stop and frisk. link

i've written about stop and frisk here and here.

even though some people in neighborhoods with high frisk rates support the program, mostly the elderly of all skin colors, it's just unconstitutional to search people without suspicion of wrongdoing. it's been against the law since 1791!

it's in article 4 of the bill of rights:

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

it only adds to the shamefulness  of the supposedly "random" searches that they are almost entirely carried out on young men of color.

like people of any appearance, young black and latino men are more likely to commit crimes when they live in places with bad education, high unemployment, absent fathers and, believe it or not, elevated levels of lead in the environment.  frisking them isn't going to stop those problems.

it's an immoral, illegal backward approach.

florida boycott is working!

that was fast! as reported by the daily beast: link

mike observed a week ago that the stand your ground law essentially legalizes dueling. well at least shootouts, i guess.  two people, each packing, are within the law to shoot at each other if they fear harm.

the president said as much today when he asked: what if trayvon martin had had a gun and chose to stand his ground?

participate in the boycott here or here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NELSON MANDELA!

great moral and political leader of our time.

goodbye tropicana! stevie 1der n i r boycotting the GUNSFINE STATE.

when i heard about the zimmerman verdict my immediate response was to draw this.

simple minded, but i wore it around all day.  when the law protects a killer better than it protects a teenager, moral outrage is appropriate.

 

 i was interviewed by quiet lunch magazine.  though somewhat nervous and inarticulate, i at least managed to protest the outcome, and announce my own personal florida boycott!

i'm at 4:35 and 8:41 in the video.

others spoke better, and, in spite of the fact that i wasn't sure the piece had appropriate gravitas, (much like my own response, yes) it actually does get into the issues.

i have good friends and kin in florida and would never boycott them or other citizens of the state.  but economically, legally, i'm trying to put some distance, just for myself. 

found out stevie wonder is, too- link.  thanks norm and mike! 

is there such a thing as fresh squeezed california orange juice?

update: media coverage of the boycott here and here.

and here's where to join the boycott- link.