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August 1, 2020
Stop sign tyranny: Great LTE!
From the Longmont (Colorado) Times-Call, July 25, 2020:
On the tyranny of stop signs
To be clear: I am not anti-stop sign. I am, however, against mandated stop sign usage. The media narrative that people like me are silly or irresponsible is both offensive and further shows the constant attack against my feelings and desire to avoid inconvenience. I stand against big government, and I will never apologize for being a freedom fighter as I blast through any intersection necessary.
While data show that stop signs may be useful for limiting traffic accidents, injuries, and death, that data is easily proven to be a media conspiracy to thwart our collective freedoms. Despite having stop signs for decades now, people still die frequently in automobile accidents. If stop signs were effective, there would be no more accidents. Instead, big government and mainstream media push this narrative of “safety” as a manner of restricting freedom of movement.
If I am in a rush to get to work, I may not have time to consider stop signs. The government cannot tell me that I need to stop, that I cannot be on time to earn my money. If a legitimate need for stop signs existed, our Founding Fathers would have placed them in the Constitution. Overarching mandates are a slap in the face to figures like George Washington, who wrote that no government ought to interfere with the movement and safety of citizens: on foot, horse, or vehicle.
Anyone who wants to use stop signs can go ahead and use their brakes. I, however, do not believe everyone should be beholden to this tyranny. Let the people choose!
In summary: Wear your masks — a symbol of freedom for others to live. In a world where uncertainty reigns, this basic act of humanity cannot be plagued with childish defiance.
Cayden Stice, Longmont
Link: https://www.timescall.com/2020/07/25/letters-stop-sign-tyranny/
To be clear: I am not anti-stop sign. I am, however, against mandated stop sign usage. The media narrative that people like me are silly or irresponsible is both offensive and further shows the constant attack against my feelings and desire to avoid inconvenience. I stand against big government, and I will never apologize for being a freedom fighter as I blast through any intersection necessary.
While data show that stop signs may be useful for limiting traffic accidents, injuries, and death, that data is easily proven to be a media conspiracy to thwart our collective freedoms. Despite having stop signs for decades now, people still die frequently in automobile accidents. If stop signs were effective, there would be no more accidents. Instead, big government and mainstream media push this narrative of “safety” as a manner of restricting freedom of movement.
If I am in a rush to get to work, I may not have time to consider stop signs. The government cannot tell me that I need to stop, that I cannot be on time to earn my money. If a legitimate need for stop signs existed, our Founding Fathers would have placed them in the Constitution. Overarching mandates are a slap in the face to figures like George Washington, who wrote that no government ought to interfere with the movement and safety of citizens: on foot, horse, or vehicle.
Anyone who wants to use stop signs can go ahead and use their brakes. I, however, do not believe everyone should be beholden to this tyranny. Let the people choose!
In summary: Wear your masks — a symbol of freedom for others to live. In a world where uncertainty reigns, this basic act of humanity cannot be plagued with childish defiance.
Cayden Stice, Longmont
Link: https://www.timescall.com/2020/07/25/letters-stop-sign-tyranny/
July 27, 2020
- Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY, July 27, 2020
I loved the Twitter quip posted in another thread: "The dude doesn't want people catching anything. Respect the consistency."
Of course, to be fair, Trump has his own card:
Dr. Fauci first-pitch baseball card breaks sales record in 24 hours
Dr. Anthony Fauci first-pitch baseball card breaks Topps record for sales in just 24 hours- Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY, July 27, 2020
It was on sale for only 24 hours, but it broke company records.
The Topps NOW limited edition baseball trading card featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, set an all-time print record run for the franchise, selling 51,512 cards, the company said.
"We’re excited by the popularity of Dr. Fauci’s Topps NOW card," Emily Kless, Topps communications manager said in an email. "Topps prides itself on capturing the unique moments of the MLB season, one baseball card at a time, and Dr. Fauci’s inclusion in this year’s Topps NOW cards is just one way in which we are highlighting the uniqueness of the 2020 season."
The company's previous record was for a card of Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., which sold 19,396 copies and featured Guerrero's first hit.
- More at link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/07/27/dr-anthony-fauci-topps-baseball-card-breaks-company-sales-record/5519546002/
The Topps NOW limited edition baseball trading card featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, set an all-time print record run for the franchise, selling 51,512 cards, the company said.
"We’re excited by the popularity of Dr. Fauci’s Topps NOW card," Emily Kless, Topps communications manager said in an email. "Topps prides itself on capturing the unique moments of the MLB season, one baseball card at a time, and Dr. Fauci’s inclusion in this year’s Topps NOW cards is just one way in which we are highlighting the uniqueness of the 2020 season."
The company's previous record was for a card of Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., which sold 19,396 copies and featured Guerrero's first hit.
- More at link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/07/27/dr-anthony-fauci-topps-baseball-card-breaks-company-sales-record/5519546002/
I loved the Twitter quip posted in another thread: "The dude doesn't want people catching anything. Respect the consistency."
Of course, to be fair, Trump has his own card:
July 15, 2020
Original Photo
Photoshop Battle: Ivanka with a can of Goya beans (pic heavy)
This Reddit thread has a few gems you might enjoy -- first, the original, and then some of the many parodies in the thread:Original Photo
July 8, 2020
This nugget comes from a brief but excellent piece by Harold Meyerson in The American Prospect dated yesterday:
Majority Rule? Not Yet, Fellow Americans.
The subject is the tyranny of the minority imposed by the arcane system that empowers low-population states with disproportionately large numbers of electoral college votes and U.S. Senators.
Meyerson applies a famous Voltaire quote to the Electoral College: écrasez l’infâme, which translates as "crush the infamous (or loathesome) thing."
More at link:
https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/majority-rule-not-yet-fellow-americans-electoral-college/
The real American deep state: the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate
The real American deep state, after all, which thwarts the ability of Americans to govern themselves by the principle of majority rule, is the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate.
This nugget comes from a brief but excellent piece by Harold Meyerson in The American Prospect dated yesterday:
Majority Rule? Not Yet, Fellow Americans.
The subject is the tyranny of the minority imposed by the arcane system that empowers low-population states with disproportionately large numbers of electoral college votes and U.S. Senators.
Is there a way around the Electoral College, a piece of 18th-century handiwork put into the Constitution at a time when that document’s authors thought that only a relative handful of elite Americans would actually know anything about the presidential candidates, and when the Constitution’s Southern authors feared straight-out popular presidential elections could favor Northern candidates not necessarily predisposed to slavery?
As the Electoral College favors small states (since each state gets two extra votes reflecting its Senate representation), repealing the Constitution’s Article II provision that requires its use would prove difficult. As three-quarters of the states must ratify any constitutional change, it would take just 13 smaller states to block the College’s abolition.
In 2018, though, writing in these pages, Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law scholar and dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, argued the Court’s one-person-one-vote ruling enforcing the Fifth Amendment’s establishment of equal justice under the law renders the Electoral College unconstitutional. No such case has yet come before the Court and it’s by no means clear that Chemerinsky’s argument would prevail. But it certainly should be tried.
As the Electoral College favors small states (since each state gets two extra votes reflecting its Senate representation), repealing the Constitution’s Article II provision that requires its use would prove difficult. As three-quarters of the states must ratify any constitutional change, it would take just 13 smaller states to block the College’s abolition.
In 2018, though, writing in these pages, Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law scholar and dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, argued the Court’s one-person-one-vote ruling enforcing the Fifth Amendment’s establishment of equal justice under the law renders the Electoral College unconstitutional. No such case has yet come before the Court and it’s by no means clear that Chemerinsky’s argument would prevail. But it certainly should be tried.
Meyerson applies a famous Voltaire quote to the Electoral College: écrasez l’infâme, which translates as "crush the infamous (or loathesome) thing."
More at link:
https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/majority-rule-not-yet-fellow-americans-electoral-college/
June 19, 2020
Erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, this 30-foot monument to white supremacy stood for 112 years as a reminder of which lives matter. No more. Happy Juneteenth!
More coverage:
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/confederate-memorial-removed-decatur-square/2EONBLRIWNFK3J7IOD7HQBIUB4/
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/decatur-square-confederate-monument-removed/index.html?utm_content=2020-06-19T09%3A29%3A01&utm_source=twCNN&utm_term=link&utm_medium=social
LOCAL UPDATE: The Confederate monument in Decatur comes down
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After years of pressure and a recent court order, the Confederate monument in the downtown Decatur square has come down.
By 10:30 p.m. Thursday, a large, energetic crowd had gathered near the 30-foot obelisk, which a DeKalb County judge ordered last week should be removed and put into storage. Word had spread quickly as law enforcement and construction crews gathered in the area and a crane was brought in to pluck the monument from its perch outside the historic DeKalb County courthouse.
Police officers on the scene moved observers away from the gazebo near the monument, which was erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
By 11:30 p.m., the crowd had grown to a few hundred. And like that, the obelisk was pulled from its pedestal.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/breaking-confederate-monument-decatur-appears-coming-down/1SfeR7g7YZdScfGI5NVfSJ/
Erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, this 30-foot monument to white supremacy stood for 112 years as a reminder of which lives matter. No more. Happy Juneteenth!
More coverage:
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/confederate-memorial-removed-decatur-square/2EONBLRIWNFK3J7IOD7HQBIUB4/
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/decatur-square-confederate-monument-removed/index.html?utm_content=2020-06-19T09%3A29%3A01&utm_source=twCNN&utm_term=link&utm_medium=social
June 12, 2020
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(cross-posted from Late Breaking News)
This is a great day for the "blue dot" city of Decatur, for DeKalb County, and for anti-racists everywhere! Congratulations to Hate Free Decatur and the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, and thanks to city attorney Bryan Downs for keeping up the pressure to make this happen.
Decatur white supremacist monument to be placed in storage, per DeKalb County judge order
BREAKING: DeKalb judge orders Confederate monument to be moved- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(cross-posted from Late Breaking News)
In an order issued Friday afternoon, a DeKalb County judge said the “nuisance” Confederate monument in the Decatur square should be “immediately relocated.” Judge Clarence Seeliger issued the order in response to a complaint that Decatur’s city attorney filed against DeKalb County. The order said the 30-foot obelisk — which has fallen back in the spotlight during recent protests about racism and police violence toward black people — should be placed into storage until further notice.
“In short, the Confederate obelisk has become an increasingly frequent target of graffiti and vandalism, a figurative lightning rod for friction among citizens, and a potential catastrophe that could happen at any time if individuals attempt to forcibly remove or destroy it,” Seeliger wrote.
Georgia state law makes it extremely difficult for local governments to relocate or remove Confederate monuments, though the updated law adopted last year does include language that allows for “appropriate measures for the preservation, protection and interpretation” of monuments. Seeliger’s order references a more general section of state law that allows local judges to address public nuisances that are “manifestly injurious to the public health or safety.”
DeKalb County has been trying to get rid of the Lost Cause monument — which was installed nearly 50 years after the Civil War and suggests that Confederate soldiers were fighting solely for states’ rights — but has had little luck. Last September, the county added a contextualizing marker near the obelisk, which stands near the old county courthouse. The marker says that the monument was erected to “glorify the ‘lost cause’ of the Confederacy” and has “bolstered white supremacy and faulty history.”
- more at link: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/breaking-dekalb-judge-says-confederate-monument-should-removed/L6pwyzbEiLmEQ9w2mXnGmK/
“In short, the Confederate obelisk has become an increasingly frequent target of graffiti and vandalism, a figurative lightning rod for friction among citizens, and a potential catastrophe that could happen at any time if individuals attempt to forcibly remove or destroy it,” Seeliger wrote.
Georgia state law makes it extremely difficult for local governments to relocate or remove Confederate monuments, though the updated law adopted last year does include language that allows for “appropriate measures for the preservation, protection and interpretation” of monuments. Seeliger’s order references a more general section of state law that allows local judges to address public nuisances that are “manifestly injurious to the public health or safety.”
DeKalb County has been trying to get rid of the Lost Cause monument — which was installed nearly 50 years after the Civil War and suggests that Confederate soldiers were fighting solely for states’ rights — but has had little luck. Last September, the county added a contextualizing marker near the obelisk, which stands near the old county courthouse. The marker says that the monument was erected to “glorify the ‘lost cause’ of the Confederacy” and has “bolstered white supremacy and faulty history.”
- more at link: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/breaking-dekalb-judge-says-confederate-monument-should-removed/L6pwyzbEiLmEQ9w2mXnGmK/
This is a great day for the "blue dot" city of Decatur, for DeKalb County, and for anti-racists everywhere! Congratulations to Hate Free Decatur and the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, and thanks to city attorney Bryan Downs for keeping up the pressure to make this happen.
June 12, 2020
This is fantastic news! For the past few years, there has been a persistent movement to get rid of this thumb in our collective eye. Last year the DeKalb County Commission installed a historic marker making it clear that the monument was erected in 1908 as part of the southern Jim Crow backlash against black liberation (see DeKalb’s Confederate monument to receive contextualizing marker, March 2019).
Congratulations to Hate Free Decatur and the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights for their great work in bringing attention and shame to this disgusting monument! This is a great day!!
BREAKING: DeKalb judge orders Confederate monument to be moved
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In an order issued Friday afternoon, a DeKalb County judge said the “nuisance” Confederate monument in the Decatur square should be “immediately relocated.”
Judge Clarence Seeliger issued the order in response to a complaint that Decatur’s city attorney filed against DeKalb County. The order said the 30-foot obelisk — which has fallen back in the spotlight during recent protests about racism and police violence toward black people — should be placed into storage until further notice.
“In short, the Confederate obelisk has become an increasingly frequent target of graffiti and vandalism, a figurative lightning rod for friction among citizens, and a potential catastrophe that could happen at any time if individuals attempt to forcibly remove or destroy it,” Seeliger wrote.
Georgia state law makes it extremely difficult for local governments to relocate or remove Confederate monuments, though the updated law adopted last year does include language that allows for “appropriate measures for the preservation, protection and interpretation” of monuments.
Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/breaking-dekalb-judge-says-confederate-monument-should-removed/L6pwyzbEiLmEQ9w2mXnGmK/
This is fantastic news! For the past few years, there has been a persistent movement to get rid of this thumb in our collective eye. Last year the DeKalb County Commission installed a historic marker making it clear that the monument was erected in 1908 as part of the southern Jim Crow backlash against black liberation (see DeKalb’s Confederate monument to receive contextualizing marker, March 2019).
Congratulations to Hate Free Decatur and the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights for their great work in bringing attention and shame to this disgusting monument! This is a great day!!
May 12, 2020
"Back at the Chicken Shack" - Jimmy Smith & Stanley Turrentine
with Kenny Burrell on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums. Get ready to groove:
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