A Thought

The people with all the money and power

are telling you to fight against the people

who're fighting against the people

with all the money and power.

Watch out fer them pesky Democrats - they can be on the right side once in a while.

✈️ ATTN ✈️

New Biden admin rules—that were strengthened with legislation—are in place to support passengers, like:

🛬automatic refunds if your flight is canceled or delayed 3+ hours
❌no fees for families to sit together
📞24/7 hotline to get the information you need pic.twitter.com/Y8xlVYfakp

— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) June 23, 2024

The Banality Of Evil

Seems benign and simple and humility-inducing, doesn't it?

But to be sure, for some who trade in this kinda thing, there's actually an implied threat.

"Quit yer bitchin' and be happy with the scraps from our table - we could always make it worse you - is that what you want?"

One of the things we're supposed to have learned from the history and the lived experience of our brown brothers and sisters is that we're not required to be satisfied with whatever shitty circumstances we're caught in just because somebody else's circumstances are even shittier.

"How do we justify paying $400 for an Epi-Pen when there are homeless suicidal veterans on our streets?"

That may sound reasonable until you take the time to dissect it, and realize the intent is to set us up to be each other's enemies. People with life-threatening allergies should not be in a fight with veterans over resources that are being subjected to arbitrary and artificial limits.

The "enemies" are the cynical manipulators of public sentiment, funded by plutocratic rent-seeking leeches, and their armies of coin-operated politicians.

We can't fight the good fight if we keep falling for this divide-n-conquer bullshit all the time.

Today's PSA

I've never felt overly threatened being pulled over by the cops, so I have no real frame of reference, and it's hard to imagine the kind of abject terror someone of color would experience.

I may flash on something like, "Well shit, I guess this could be the end of my 20-year streak of no traffic tickets", but I've never ever ever thought, "Fuck me - I could be dead in a few minutes."

Here's something that may be of some help - and of course, I'm thinking there's a whole mess of authoritarian assholes who'll be attacking this with fervor and all due haste, using the usual sly reverse shit to fool the rubes into offering themselves up to be sacrificed by convincing them that it's actually just another scam by Soros and his cannibalistic space alien pedophiles to sucker them all into providing their personal data and specific location and blah blah foil-hat-bullshit blah.

Anyway, it's our right - and our responsibility - to accept a certain level of risk in order to hold power to account, and I think that's what this is aimed at accomplishing.

(I think this is kind of a stoopidly long and involved process that will likely flummox the majority of users, but here it is - it's a start anyway.)

Business Insider:

How to use the Siri 'I'm Getting Pulled Over' shortcut to record police encounters during traffic stops with your iPhone

Launched as part of Apple's iOS 12 update, the Shortcuts app lets you create automated routines for your phone. In other words, with the Shortcuts app, you can say a phrase or tap a button, and your phone will perform multiple tasks at once.

Although it's made to let you create your own shortcuts, you can also download pre-made shortcuts from third-party apps or developers.

Arizona resident Robert Petersen used this update to create his own third-party shortcut, initially known as "Police" and now known as "I'm Getting Pulled Over." It aims to assist users during traffic stops by automatically recording their interactions with police officers.

Here's how to download and set up the "I'm Getting Pulled Over" shortcut, and then activate it with Siri.

How the "Siri, I'm getting pulled over" shortcut works

First developed in 2018, the shortcut activates the Do Not Disturb feature, turning off all incoming calls, messages, and notifications. This is to reduce the chance that a police officer will be startled by your phone ringing or flashing, and act aggressively.

Next, it'll send a text message with your current location to all the contacts that you've selected beforehand.

At the same time, your phone will start recording a video with the front camera (i.e. the one above the phone's screen).

These are the default settings, but you can customize them in various ways — for example, you can set it so it records with the rear camera instead.

How to download the "Siri, I'm Getting Pulled Over" shortcut

Enable Untrusted Shortcuts on your iPhone

Since the shortcut is made by a third-party, your iPhone will consider it an "untrusted" shortcut. This means you'll need to adjust your phone settings before you download and use it.

Important: Before you can enable untrusted shortcuts, you'll need to run at least one "trusted" shortcut. If you haven't done this yet, open the Shortcuts app and set up — then run — one of the "Starter Shortcuts." It should only take a few moments.

1. Open your Settings app and tap on Shortcuts. Depending on your version of iOS, it'll either be listed with the other iOS apps, or with the larger list of apps at the bottom.

2. Toggle on Allow Untrusted Shortcuts. Again, remember that before you can select this, you'll have to create and run at least one "trusted" Shortcut.

3. A pop-up window will warn you of potential risks. To continue, tap "Allow," and then enter your passcode.

Download the shortcut

1. Open this link in your iPhone's Safari browser.

2. The Shortcuts app will open, listing all of the shortcut's features. At the bottom, tap "Add Untrusted Shortcut."



3. Choose which contacts will receive a message with your location. Then hit "Continue."

4. Next, select which contacts will receive a copy of the video.

5. Now select "Done."



6. Back on the My Shortcuts tab, tap "All Shortcuts," and then tap the three dots (...) on the I'm getting pulled over shortcut.

7. Scroll down to the "Location" section and select "Allow Access," then tap "Allow While Using App."

8. Scroll down to the Messages, Camera, and Photo sections and do the same thing — tap "Allow Access," and then "OK."

9. In the Camera section, select Front or Back depending on what camera you want to start the recording with.



10. Scroll down to the Scripting "Choose from Menu" settings and choose where to store your video when the shortcut ends. You'll have the following options:

• iCloud Drive
• Dropbox
• Do not upload

You can tap one of the red minus options to delete a location, or the green plus to add one.

11. When complete, choose "Done" to confirm your settings.

Here's A Tho't

Wondering why Congress is being so stealthy as they try to strip away everything the "conservatives" hate about this country instead of addressing the Trump/Russia thing?

Wonder no more:

1. Know what's coming
2. Get outside - disobey
3. Know your history
4. Follow the money
5. Have a Counter-Plan ready

This is not governance - this is a fucking robbery.

And BTW - what's the big hurry, Mitch?  Is 45* in greater jeopardy than you can admit?

Strike A Blow For Freedom

So there was a little cleanup necessary in Little Rock...

Capitol crews sweep up remnants of the shattered 10 Commandments monument #ARnews #arpx pic.twitter.com/97D4om0ER0

— Emma Pettit (@EmmaJanePettit) June 28, 2017

...because

WATCH: Facebook video appear to show man running over Ten Commandments monument on Capitol grounds #ARNews #arpx #arleg pic.twitter.com/W8Rp2qinuZ

— Austin Kellerman (@AustinKellerman) June 28, 2017

Is It Ever Enough

The president has a sworn duty to protect the United States. We have been attacked, folks. Trump is failing his fundamental responsibility. pic.twitter.com/1nsQnOavAb

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) June 22, 2017

I recall an awful lotta noise from the Repub side about how the first duty of POTUS is to keep us safe - inviting the inference (and sometimes raving loudly) that Obama wasn't doing that. Which of course means they were using that bullshit criticism trying to reclaim the National Security issue.

And btw - I'm still hearing "Yeah, but the Democrats". A lot. And I get the feeling that's because people seem to want the Dems to get after those rotten ol' Repubs, and say some strong things in strong language, and take 'em down no matter what.

In other words, we want the Dems to start acting like Repubs, while we sit back and snipe about how "They're all the same" and "Both Sides Do It" and "two sides of the same coin" and blah blah blah.

Dems are taking all of this a step at a time. It frustrates the fuck outa me too, but taking as much time as it takes to make sure we get as many snakes as possible is actually the proper way to go about this.  

It's also the Conservative thing to do. On this and other issues, the Libruls are now behaving far more conservatively (in keeping with the rule of law) than most "conservatives".  

Use that one in conversation some time.

Questions Remain Unanswered

In WaPo's Daily 202 today:

We're working under some assumptions, which is always a little dicey, but I keep thinking 9 corroborating sources makes this a matter of being pretty solidly confident of the conclusions.

And 9 sources means this is a big fucking deal, and that there's a bigger fucking-er deal yet to be uncovered.

1. What, if anything, did Trump authorize Flynn to tell the Russians before his inauguration?

2. Why was Trump planning to stand by Flynn?

3. What did White House counsel Donald McGahn do after the then-acting attorney general notified him last month that Flynn was potentially vulnerable to Russian blackmail?

4. What is the status of the FBI investigation into possible contacts between Trump associates and Russia?

5. Will Spicer and Pence apologize for making false statements to the American people?

6. Will Flynn face prosecution under the Logan Act?

7. What will the Senate Intelligence Committee uncover about contacts Flynn and others affiliated with Trump had with Russia before the election?

8. Who replaces Flynn?

9. Who else leaves the White House because Flynn is gone?

10. Who exactly is in charge at the White House?

John Oliver

Rolling Stone interview:

Did you share the general shudder when Kellyanne Conway introduced the idea of "alternative facts"?  It's just a framing device, an ear-catching phrase, but it's nothing new. The content of what she's wrapping a bow on is something that everyone has been bearing witness to. We've had 18 months of feelings over facts. The only thing that's remotely new about it is the location that it's coming from.

Is interviewing her essentially pointless?  In general, it's very dangerous to keep the old campaign architecture around with this presidency, to have an eight-person panel on CNN debating whether or not he said something. "Did he or did he not do this thing we watched him do?" There's actually serious harm in that discussion. And, yeah. I really don't see the point of talking to Kellyanne Conway because her language jujitsu is so strong. You know she can look you in the eyes and tell you the opposite of what you just saw happen, and she will be more confident in her answer than you are in your question.

What You Think Is Real

No, Mr Trump

Climate Change is a real thing

You as POTUS - now there's a hoax

It Won't Be OK

Widewalls - Protest Art 

What is the scope and impact of protest art? As Adorno famously wrote, ‘all art is an uncommitted crime’, meaning that art challenges the status quo by its very nature. Thus it can be argued that all art is political in the sense that it takes place in a public space and engages with an already existing ideology and dominant discourse. Yet, art can often become dangerously and explicitly political and serve as a powerful weapon. Throughout the history of social movements and social revolt, art has always reacted against oppression, violence, injustice and inequalities. Addressing socio-political issues and challenging the traditional boundaries and hierarchies imposed by those in power, art can open up the space for the marginalized to be seen and heard and contribute to the social change by producing knowledge and solidarity or simply raising awareness. In this way, the personal life and work of the artist transcends the individual and speak meaningfully to a larger audience bringing together the political and human functions of art.

NYT:

...Nadya Tolokonnikova of the Russian punk band and activist art collective Pussy Riot. The group’s 2012 guerrilla performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, which viciously mocked Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, resulted in a two-year prison sentence for Ms. Tolokonnikova and another of its members.

--and--

Leading up to Ms. Tolokonnikova’s trial, Russian news reports carried suggestions that she and her bandmates were pawns of Hillary Clinton’s State Department or witches working with a global satanic conspiracy — perhaps linked to the one that was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, as lawyers for one of their offended accusers put it. This is what we now call “fake news.”

Pussy Riot became an international symbol of Mr. Putin’s crackdown on free speech; of how his regime uses falsehood and deflection to sow confusion and undermine critics.

Now that the political-media environment that we smugly thought to be “over there” seems to be arriving over here, Ms. Tolokonnikova has a message: “It’s important not to say to yourself, ‘Oh, it’s O.K.,’” she told me. “It’s important to remember that, for example, in Russia, for the first year of when Vladimir Putin came to power, everybody was thinking that it will be O.K.”

 

resist

New Music

Rican Beach --Hurray For The Riff Raff

NPR - Songs We Love

Alynda Lee Segarra wrote "Rican Beach," the first song from Hurray for the Riff Raff's forthcoming album, The Navigator, about a fictional city which has been segregated and gentrified beyond recognition. "You can take my life, but don't take my home," she sings with worn pride. Upon its release, Segarra dedicated the song to protesters currently standing ground over safe water at Standing Rock, North Dakota, and in Peñuelas, Puerto Rico, where coal ash waste is contaminating the drinking supply, sharply connecting literally toxic forms of community displacement to their modern, equally insidious analogue.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ride On, Mr Trump

Once upon a time, the good guys weren't the ones who just take what they want, spouting the entitlements they think they've earned because of their willingness to push people around.

Push back.

hat tip = driftglass

Today's driftglass

driftglass on what to do when trying to hold Trump accountable.

In Bridge on the River Kwai, Colonel Saito never understood Colonel Nicholson...
You are stubborn,  but have no pride.
You endure, but you have no courage.
,,,but Nicholson understood Saito perfectly. 
Saito was a not-very-bright middle-manager -- a Reince Preibus -- whose only tools are the blunt instruments of the inept martinet.  And that would have been sufficient if all he had to do was keep a bunch of prisoners locked up and in line, but was also charged by his superiors with completing critical infrastructure project which neither he nor the men under his command were competent to perform. 

Saito can threaten and torture all he likes...
...but since he refuses to abide by the rule of the civilized world...
...he absolves those who are civilized of any obligation to respect his authority:

And we on the Left understand Trump and the Right just as perfectly.

You are defeated, but you have no shame.

Saito [speaking of the Geneva Convention]:  You speak to me of code?  What code?  The coward's code!  What do you know of the soldier's code, of Bushido?  Nothing!  You are unworthy of command!

Nicholson:  Since you refuse to abide by the laws of the civilized world...we must consider ourselves absolved from our duty to obey you.

 

Today's Hero

There was a similar phenomenon when the whole TeaBagger thing erupted in 2010, but that was an astroturf operation that was fomented and nurtured and financed by guys like Chuckles Koch to make it look like some kinda populist uprising.  

This woman didn't plan anything like showing up at a town hall meeting deliberately to disrupt the process - she saw her chance to make her voice heard and she took it.  Good on her for that.  

What she did seemed organic and spontaneous.  And it was obviously not what Gov Scott was expecting or hoping for.  But the best part is when she totally shuts down the staffers, and they all parade out of the joint looking very very glum, while Scott can't figure out how to react in any human way so he freezes that phony condescending Pageant Queen smile on his mug trying hard to pretend he was OK with it.  He wasn't.  That one stung pretty good, and it needs to happen a lot. 

That young woman is a hero.

A Small Dose Of Large Reality

Stay together. 

Work Together. 

Get shit done.

Ends In A Tie

Some more or less random thinking on the day after Super Bowl.

So yesterday was the 50th Annual Billionaires' Bash-a-Rama, nestled in the snuggly warmth of Silicon Valley's mega-bucks party in the richest city in USAmerica Inc.

OK, I'll see that bet and I'll raise ya Black History Month, plus the 50th anniversary of Huey and Bobby starting the Black Panther Party (in the Bay Area BTW).

(still don't know why the sound was so lousy - either an engineer forgot to flip a switch or CBS was playin' it a little too cool and the whole thing had to go thru one guy's panel so he could pull the plug in case there was a Wardrobe Malfunction situation - you noticed Justin and Janet were absent from the retrospective, right?)

Was Bey kicking the beast from the inside, trying to give somebody a signal of some sort?  Is it "disrespectful" that she'd do that at the Super Bowl? Or is it insulting to our intelligence, and/or more than a little ironic that a creature of "the system" is working hard to convince us she's fighting the system?  Or maybe it's just more shiny things - bread and circuses.

Any subversive worth his salt knows the dominant force loses completely if they don't win outright, and that the insurgency wins if all they do is survive to fight just one more day.  So how does anybody "win" anything in this kinda shit - when it's all mashed up together like this?

In a game featuring (mostly) black guys, where the Most Valuable Game's Most Valuable Player is a black guy, didn't anybody think it was little weird how the guy nobody could stop talking about was a washed-up white-dude quarterback who played like he had a coupla strands of linguini floppin' around where his throwin' arm's supposed to be?

One more tidbit - the Broncos Defense has 25 guys listed on the depth chart. 24 of 'em are black.  Black men brought that trophy home to you, Denver. I don't know what that means, if it means anything at all, but a little acknowledgement on that one wouldn't be outa line.  Maybe that's all Beyoncé was trying to say.

Anyway, my Donkeys won, and I'm a happy guy right now, and I can make a decision on whether or not I stay with this football thing later.  Time for another drink.

Dots

Once is an anomaly:

I think every LEO needs a complete BG check by FBI, just as a person working in top secrete field, eliminate threats https://t.co/EY9h6HCex7

— Mickey Cox (@TheRightImageLV) January 2, 2016

Twice is a coincidence:

Entiire Florida police department busted for laundering millions for international drug cartels https://t.co/I1zGsr1r9d

— margaret stuart md (@marstu67) January 2, 2016

Just waiting for that third occurrence to confirm the trend.

We became allergic to the basics of paying for the things a healthy civilization needs - Education, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Science, Justice.  We decided making rich people richer was more important than looking out for everybody as best we can.  So it forced public servants to look for ways of stretching their budgets.  Some of that is a good thing, but most of it turns out to be a very bad thing when the people looking for creative ways to augment their budgets are the ones who carry badges and guns and who have our tacit blessing to treat people extremely badly as long as it's "those other people" catching the shit and not us.

So - when somebody says "Police Department", think "Sheriff".  And when they say [insert your town's name here], think "Nottingham".

And BTW - not to blow up the analogy or anything, but fuck Robin Hood; where's Frank Serpico when ya need him?

Sounds Of Resistance

What About Me --Quicksilver Messenger Service

Things Goin' On --Lynyrd Skynyrd

What Did You Learn In School Today? (cover) --Stacey Randol and Michael McBurnett

I'd Love To Change The World --Ten Years After

Make Me Wanna Holler --Marvin Gaye

Bid 'Em In --Oscar Brown Jr

We Beg Your Pardon --Gil Scott-Heron

If I Had A Rocket Launcher --Bruce Cockburn

What The World Needs Now / Abraham Martin and John (DJ mashup 1971) --Tom Clay

The Real News (updated)

Step 1) Find somebody who knows something
Step 2) Ask a few smart questions
Step 3) Shut up and let him talk

hat tip = FB buddy DR via truthdig

(And Uh-Oh.  My guy Martin O'Malley took a bit of a hit there (starting at about 3:45) when Mr Powers slags him for misunderstanding the Broken Windows approach to the point of total FUBAR.  I guess I need to figure out a way to ask him about that.)

So, wouldn't it be nice if we could take a hard look at the whole process?  Maybe we could start with: Coin-Operated Politicians getting elected partly on Big-Money donations from the Crime-&-Punishment Industries which eventually makes for a very tidy loop of criminalization and recidivism (Bust. Bargain. Jail. Repeat).  The cycle of Poverty, Ignorance and Crime isn't a bug in the system - it's a fucking feature.

And as a nice bonus, it gives our returning war heroes some occupational therapy so they can work out those PTSD issues that they don't have and that nobody ever needs to talk about because they couldn't possibly manifest themselves in the worst possible ways at the worst possible times - but like I said, let's not worry about any of that. Ever.

Anyway, concentrating your Zero-Tolerance approach on the "problem areas" almost ensures those problem areas will forever remain problem areas.  Which is, again, actually the point.  While it's being sold to us as Public Service, law enforcement is being administered as a Profit Center.  And the Revenue piece of any good business plan includes Recurring Revenue Opportunities - Returning Clientele, Customer Retention, Repeat Business, pick a buzz phrase, any buzz phrase.

BTW - the people filling our prisons aren't the "customers" of the Crime-&-Punishment Industries; the same as the patients filling our hospitals aren't the "customers" of our Healthcare Industries.  The main point there being that a healthy patient is a detriment to somebody's profitability the same as a law-abiding citizen walkin' around free isn't putting money into the pockets of an ever-widening system of interlocking "security" businesses.  

But weirdly - healthy patients and law-abiding citizens are very good for taxpayers and premium payers and business owners and families and and and.  So how come it seems like somebody doesn't want us to be particularly free or particularly healthy?  It's a wonderment, ain't it?

Prisoners (like Patients) are both the raw material and the product.  This is a strictly Business-to-Business proposition. The customer base consists of corporations which spend lots of time effort and money getting you and me to line up so we can volunteer to get scammed into believing we're buying ourselves a little law and order; some peace of mind; a feeling that we'll be allowed into the powdered wig salon just as soon as we've kissed all the right asses and stepped on all the right fingers - when actually, we're just identifying ourselves as resources for a system that eats people, extracts power and money, shits people back out; and then starts over again.

What, you weren't still thinking Law Enforcement's about enforcing the law, were ya?  You're so cute.  We live in USAmerica Inc, silly - America's business is business.  And business is fucking great.  

You're very important to us, so please stay in line - we'll get to you soon enough.

Big Gulp

Marco "Big Gulp" Rubio (see tengrain at MockPaperScissors) gives us the standard smarmy dodges when asked about Climate Change ("hey, the climate's always changing - what's the big deal?").  That one's bad enough, but the real fun starts when he kicks in on Marriage Equality (at about :45).

And here's the smarminess revealed thru translation:  Marriage (ie; Civil Rights) can be regulated (ie: Denied) by the states.  

For just a moment, let's disregard Big Gulp's total abandonment of a GOP Article of Faith - Thou shalt not regulate - and focus on the fact that he bails on the question with the  typical States' Rights bullshit.  He's saying the individual states have the authority to deny equal protection under the law.  Of course, that's not really news because it's also a GOP Article of Faith that they get to fuck people over at the state and local levels, which they've been doing (whenever they're in power) for a very long time.  And they get to do that again now because they own most of the governments at the lower levels, so they're right back to playing the Nullification card, saying the Federal Gov't ain't the boss of me; you're not my real gubmint - I can do what I want.

But then again, he's not abandoning anything - nobody in the GOP has any more distaste for Regulation than any other Ruler Wanna-Be; they're perfectly down with regulating, but they lie about it by calling it exactly the opposite.  Anyway, he's just turning it inside out, and then he's giving the rubes a little language massage that helps ease the pain of all that Cognitive Dissonance.

Repubs fully intend to regulate the fuck out of like-gender marriage while pretending that that kind of regulation doesn't actually reinforce the Wingnut Notion that a government has the power to restrict everybody's rights for any reason the government pulls out of its ass at any given moment.  So they hafta disguise it.  They Orwellian-ize it - The Freedom To Buy Puppies For Your Grandkids Act.  That should do it - let's see those stupid libtards vote against that one.

In the end tho', it's just distraction.  We need to be given something to argue about so we won't be paying attention to how all this connects up with why it seems we can't figure out some way to deal with the world that doesn't involve bombing every fucking thing in sight.  And why every police and sheriff's department here at home looks and acts exactly like the US military looks and acts everywhere else in the world.

This is what creeping authoritarianism looks like once it gets up on its hind legs.  This is the transition from Nanny State to Daddy State to Bully State.

hat tip = LK