Another Look

A pretty good think piece from Kenneth Arthur at Rolling Stone:

As Eric Reid, a safety for the 49ers, recently wrote to explain why he decided to join Kaepernick: "We chose to kneel because it’s a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy."

- snip -

...the debates have often been heated, but for the most part the people involved have remained more interested in football than politics. The conversation around Kaepernick continues, but the talk was focused recently on his employment status, not the status of whether he's standing, sitting or kneeling. We know now that getting rid of Kaepernick does not mean getting rid of the message.

- snip -

"I'm not racist, but…" has now been transformed into: "I don't have a problem with their message, but…"

That's a huge part of the problem: That you'd be so disconnected from racial inequality and the state of it in America in the form of police brutality that you'd not even understand where a black person was coming from. Each player may have their own specific reasons for the protest, but Kaepernick did not mince words last August when asked why he sat during the anthem. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

This one is sticky and weird and strewn with landmines.

I have to stay on the side of "The First Amendment guarantees protection against retribution from your government, not your employer", but any employer understanding anything knows not to fuck with people's rights too blatantly without being sure he can do it more or less out of sight of the public. Which is definitely not what we're talking about with the NFL.

I think what we tend to neglect - what we need to focus on - is making the distinction between Expression and Action. So here's the wrinkle - if I'm honestly trying to point up a true injustice, I think you owe me the benefit of the doubt. If I start inciting violence (eg), then my "speech" has become an "action", and a whole different set of rules have to apply.

So, a team (or the league) can impose sanctions on an employee, but when POTUS calls for action against that employee, then we've got a real case for protection under the First Amendment.

Trae Crowder

Kaepernick's protest is not about what you want it to be about. It's about what Kaepernick says it's about.

And by the fuckin' way - the only reason "conservatives" are using the word "disrespectful" is because Lee Atwater and Roger Stone managed to teach them not to say "uppity".

Trevor Brings It

It's wrong to do it in the streets
It's wrong to do it in the Tweets
You cannot do it on the field
You cannot do it if you kneel
And you don't do it if you're rich
You ungrateful son of a bitch
Because there's one thing that's a fact
You cannot protest if you're black

Choose

You can shit on this guy if you feel the need:

Or you can feel all proud and heritage-y about this guy:

You know what it makes you when you do both, and by now you gotta know I'm gonna call your ass on it.

Today's Tweet

Gosh, ya mean the flag and the anthem and all that stuff might mean different things to different people?

Holy crap - whooda thunk it?

Rodgers: Kaepernick isn't on an NFL team because of his protests and it would be "ignorant" to think otherwise. https://t.co/EvOgSwj8g6

— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) August 30, 2017

Business Insider:

You won't find Aaron Rodgers kneeling during the national anthem this season, but in a recent interview with ESPN's Mina Kimes, the Green Bay Packers' offensive captain said he had no issue with players who choose to protest.

That includes Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who is still waiting for a job offer less than two weeks before the start of the 2017 regular season. Kaepernick drew national attention even from outside sports circles last season when he popularized the practice of not standing during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice in America.

Rodgers said it would be "ignorant" to believe that Kaepernick's trouble finding a team had nothing to do with his activism.

Troll Big Or Stay Home

WaPo, Michael Cavna:

At first glance, you might not notice. There’s the tangerine-tinted skin. The buttercream half-bouffante. The long red tie. Everything looks like standard-issue Trump caricature — till you get to the teeth. They jut out like a rodent’s, as if for chewing up opponents or gnawing on one’s own political tail.

This, standing 15 feet tall and puffed out by hot air, is Trump Rat. And he is set to make his Washington debut come lunchtime Tuesday on the green of Dupont Circle, for a two-day engagement a short hop north of the White House.

He Has No Soul

"He is the malevolent fury..."

Lawrence O'Donnell with Bill Moyers

And here are some of the art pieces Lawrence referred to:

hat tip = Walker Thornton

A Letter

Stonewall Jackson - Monument Avenue, Richmond VA

From 2 direct descendants of Stonewall Jackson.

Slate, Jack Christian and Warren Christian - Monuments Must Go

We are native Richmonders and also the great, great grandsons of Stonewall Jackson. As two of the closest living relatives to Stonewall, we are writing today to ask for the removal of his statue, as well as the removal of all Confederate statues from Monument Avenue. They are overt symbols of racism and white supremacy, and the time is long overdue for them to depart from public display. Overnight, Baltimore has seen fit to take this action. Richmond should, too.

- snip -

Confederate monuments like the Jackson statue were never intended as benign symbols. Rather, they were the clearly articulated artwork of white supremacy. Among many examples, we can see this plainly if we look at the dedication of a Confederate statue at the University of North Carolina, in which a speaker proclaimed that the Confederate soldier “saved the very life of the Anglo-Saxon race in the South.” Disturbingly, he went on to recount a tale of performing the “pleasing duty” of “horse whipping” a black woman in front of federal soldiers. All over the South, this grotesque message is conveyed by similar monuments. As importantly, this message is clear to today’s avowed white supremacists.

As is usually the case here in USAmerica Inc, we get hung up on the symbol itself - or we get too use to feeling comfortable with the hagiographic bullshit swirling around those symbols - and we forget about what the damned thing actually stands for.

Participation Trophies.

Jefferson Davis - Monument Avenue, Richmond VA

JEB Stuart - Monument Avenue, Richmond VA

Robert E Lee - Monument Avenue, Richmond VA

Yeah - Even Those Assholes

Unite The Right rally is on track - Aug 12, 2017 at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville.

Reminding us of the foundation of the First Amendment, Lloyd Snook put up this post at Snook & Haughey (here in Charllottesville):

Many in the community want the City to withdraw the permit necessary for them to take over Emancipation Park for the day. There are many legal reasons that the City might scrutinize the permit application very closely, but we need to steer clear of the illegalreasons that have been suggested. Let’s look at what the City can or cannot do.

The City can regulate or deny a permit application for reasons of safety, but notbecause of the content of what the alt-right people are going to say. Any regulations must be content-neutral.

The City can impose conditions and restrictions on marches and demonstrations only if the conditions and restrictions are reasonably tailored to specific needs and problems, and only if the conditions and restrictions do not have the effect of being an undue burden on public speech.

The City cannot pass on the costs of security to the permit applicants, at least where the security costs are incurred to protect against the angry responses of others.

Content Neutrality:

There are a few points that need to be made here:

• Hate speech is still protected under the First Amendment.
• Unpopular speech is protected under the First Amendment.
• Government cannot regulate or restrict protected speech.
• There is no such thing as a list of domestic terrorist organizations whose members can be denied the civil rights given to the rest of us.

From The Daily Progress:

Advocating pro-white viewpoints and flanked by members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club, local right-wing blogger Jason Kessler spoke outside the Charlottesville Police Department on Tuesday night to discuss his upcoming rally and to denounce his opponents.

Kessler’s “Unite the Right” rally, planned for Aug. 12 at Emancipation Park, will take place a little more than a month after about 50 members of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in Justice Park that drew more than 1,000 counter-protesters.

-and-

Kessler has distanced himself from the KKK rally, saying that the leader of the Klan chapter that filed for the city permit is an FBI informant and was paid by “left-wing groups to discredit legitimate conservatives.”

hat tip = Walker Thornton

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

A Good Sign

Yesterday, on my way to see about a girl, I happened across the folks of Indivisible Charlottesville who were out in front of the Albemarle County office building to raise a bit of a ruckus - in a purely relaxed-n-groovy kinda way.

You can always tell when it's the Liberals doin' the demonstratin' - the signs are all spelled right.

Check 'em out.

Storm Comin'

WaPo:

When torch-wielding white nationalists gathered in front of a Confederate statue in downtown Charlottesville last month, Mayor Michael Signer worried that the event harked back to “the days of the KKK.”

That warning has now become prophecy.

On Monday, city officials said the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan had applied to hold a rally near the statue on July 8.

“This rump, out-of-state chapter of a totally discredited organization will succeed in their aim of inciting controversy only if folks take their putrid bait, and that begins with the media,” he wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “I encourage everyone to ignore this ridiculous sideshow and to focus instead on celebrating the values of diversity and tolerance that have made Charlottesville a world-class city.”

Charlottesville - a regular hotbed of social rest - is not given to protest and demonstration.

This could get to be a pretty big deal.

Epic Idea

Looks like you can pick any team, any number and any "name".

Go for it.

Example NFL:

http://www.nflshop.com/Denver_Broncos_Jerseys_Custom_Shop

Example MLB:

http://www.mlbshop.com/Chicago_Cubs_Customized_Jerseys

Get 'Em While They're Hot

Now available at Amazon - in men's or women's

Dots

There's nothing solid, of course, but there could be something between this:

and this:

Reuters:

Thousands of Russians marched through the center of Moscow on Sunday to honor opposition leader Boris Nemtsov two years after he was gunned down near the Kremlin walls, and to call for further investigations into his killing.

The 55-year-old Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin late in the evening of Feb. 27, 2015, as he walked home with his girlfriend from a restaurant.

Investigators have charged several Chechen men with the murder, but lawyers for Nemtsov's daughter said the investigation had failed to uncover who ordered the shooting.

Putin has said that he supported the investigation into Nemtsov's murder.

"We gathered here to demand bringing of Boris Nemtsov's killers to justice, not only its performers but also its organizers and those who ordered it," Ilya Yashin, a Russian opposition activist and an organizer of the march, told Reuters.

"We gathered here to demand political reforms and release of political prisoners."

Those Crafty Gals

Samantha Bee 25Jan2017

First Part:
(I should watch more of the bad shit - I had no idea the Marine Corps Band played the Monte Python theme)

Another Part:
(Don't miss MILCK starting about 4:15)

The March(es)

In case you were wondering about that accapella thing that happened yesterday in Washington.

Quiet --MILCK

That's A Bit Much

I'm trying hard not to think of this as a harbinger, but I'm plenty old enough to remember when a Buddhist monk in Saigon did this very thing in protest of an oppressive Daddy State  (I think it may have been in my Weekly Reader in about 5th or 6th grade); and there was a regular guy named Norman Morrison who did it just outside the Pentagon to protest the war.

They succeeded in killing themselves but we went forward with the Vietnam project anyway and a coupla million people died; at least partly because we chose to ignore the warnings.

Paraphrasing MLK, violent protest is the language of people whose voices are unheard. Maybe we could listen to what's being said this time?

#BREAKING: Man lights fire near #TrumpInternationalHotel. Employees call police. Man told me he's from CA & protesting #TrumpInauguration pic.twitter.com/noUwttKRL5

— Shomari Stone (@shomaristone) January 18, 2017

via Raw Story

A man who attempted to set himself on fire Tuesday night in front Trump International as part of a protest against the incoming president was rushed to a hospital with burns, reports NBC4.

According to DC police, they were called to the newly opened hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue hotel after receiving a report of a person “in distress.”

Speaking with reporters, the unidentified man claimed he was attempting to set himself on fire to protest the election of businessman Donald Trump, whose inauguration is set for this Friday.

“I was trying to light myself on fire as an act of protest,” the man explained before he was taken to a nearby hospital. “To protest the fact that we’ve elected someone who is completely incapable of respecting the Constitution of the United States.”

There was no report on the extent of his injuries.

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

Resist

Robert Reich in AlterNet

As the era of Trump approaches, some of you are succumbing to the following four syndromes:

1. Normalizer Syndrome. You want to believe Trump will be just another president—more conservative and pompous than most, but one who will make rational decisions once in office.

You are under a grave delusion. Trump has a serious personality disorder and will pose a clear and present danger to America and the world.

2. Outrage Numbness Syndrome. You are no longer outraged by what Trump says or what he does—his incessant lies, his cabinet picks, his bullying, his hatefulness—because you’ve gone numb. You can’t conceive that someone like this is becoming president of the United States, so you’ve shut down emotionally. Maybe you’ve even stopped reading the news.

You need to get back in touch with your emotions and reengage with what’s happening.

3. Cynical Syndrome. You’ve become so cynical about the whole system—the Democrats who gave up on the working class and thereby opened the way for Trump, the Republicans who suppressed votes around the country, the media that gave Trump all the free time he wanted, the establishment that rigged the system—that you say the hell with it. Let Trump do his worst. How much worse can it get?

You need to wake up. It can get a lot worse.

4. Helpless Syndrome. You aren’t in denial. You know that nothing about this is normal; you haven’t become numb or stopped reading the news; you haven’t succumbed to cynicism. You desperately want to do something to prevent what’s about to occur.

But you don’t know what to do. You feel utterly powerless and immobilized.

Millions of others feel equally powerless. But taking action—demonstrating, resisting, objecting, demanding, speaking truth, joining with others, making a ruckus, and never ceasing to fight Trump’s pending tyranny—will empower you. And with that power you will not only minimize the damage that is about to occur, but also get this nation and the world back on the course it must be on.

If you find yourself falling into one or more of these syndromes, that’s understandable. Normalizing, numbing, becoming cynical, and feeling powerless are natural human responses to the gross absurdity and genuine peril posed by Trump.

But I urge you to pull yourself out. We need you in the peaceful resistance army, starting January 20.