MLK Day Weekend Open Thread

27 thoughts on “MLK Day Weekend Open Thread”

1. Ah yes, it's that glorious time of the year when wingnuts "remind" us of Dr. King's dream, namely that smooth-brained white kids have an unqualified right to attend and receive a degree from the uiversity of their choice.

   Log in to Reply

2. MLK set the bar clearly: In possibly his last sermon, The Drum Major Instinct, he concluded:

   If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)

   I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen) I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes) And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.(Yes) I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord) I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)

   Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.

   I suspect he’d say we shouldn’t care if he was a Democrat or Republican, too.  But the test of character ought to be whether we and our communities and our state are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting those in jail and prison. And in a those and a variety of other ways, we should be serving the least of those among us.

   here ends a reading that no doubt will NOT be made as we celebrate MLK Day.

   Log in to Reply

   1. Amen, Brother!

      Log in to Reply

   2. Thanks, John.

      Log in to Reply

   3. Fabulous, John! 

      Log in to Reply

   4. Yes, thanks, a great message.

      Log in to Reply

3. The natives are restless…

   

   Log in to Reply

   1. Michael,

      I cannot discern your address from the image. Please correct.

      ,dave

      Log in to Reply

      1. Arw you promising to send me a winning Piwerball ticket?!? 

         Log in to Reply

         1. You may consider obscuring the tracking code as well in the future. 

            Log in to Reply

4. That's the code that the sorting machines read. The machines that DeJoy destroyed to undermine the operations of the USPS. BUT IT IS FINE HE CAN STILL RUN THE PLACE NO WORRIES AT ALL

   Log in to Reply

   1. I’m told the mail from Yuma to Wray (and vice-versa) goes via Denver now. In the old days there was a special slot at the Wray PO for Yuma and Eckley and it went direct.  While I’m driving down memory lane we also had home delivery of the Denver Post. That ended and our enterprising pharmacist found a way to get a bundle delivered to the pharmacy and one could pick it up there. Eventually that ended.  The older population like my parents still like a paper in hand. It’s really too bad the DP hedge-fund managers have eliminated that option for most of rural Colorado. 

      Log in to Reply

      1. Grand Junction had a brand new sorting machine that was literally thrown into a roll off dumpster when DeJoy was appointed. Now they are talking about sending all the mail to Denver to be sorted. It is completely criminal and seems inevitable for some unfathomable reason. 

         Log in to Reply

5. Cruelty IS the point, From Heather Cox-Richardson.

   Last night a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande that marks the border between the U.S. and Mexico near Eagle Pass, Texas. 

   U.S. Border Patrol agents knew that a group of six migrants were in distress in the river but could not try to save them, as they normally would, because troops from the Texas National Guard and the Texas Military Department prevented the Border Patrol agents from entering the area where they were struggling: Shelby Park, a 47-acre public park that offers access to a frequently traveled part of the river and is a place where Border Patrol agents often encounter migrants crossing the border illegally. 

   They could not enter because two days ago, on Thursday, Texas governor Greg Abbott sent armed Texas National Guard soldiers and soldiers from the Texas Military Department to take control of Shelby Park. Rolando Salinas, the mayor of Eagle Pass, posted a video on Facebook showing the troops and saying that a state official had told him that state troops were taking “full control” over Shelby Park “indefinitely.” Salinas made it clear that “[t]his is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city.”

   The Texas forces have denied United States Border Patrol officials entry into the park to perform their duties, asserting that Texas officials have power over U.S. officials. 

   Log in to Reply

   1. Disgusting and tragic. The wingnuts sure love their slavery era "posse comitatus" states rights- for everything that takes rights (voting and reproduction) away from citizens and non-citizens  who should be protected under the 14th Amendment.

      Log in to Reply

   2.  

      "Whenever we build walls to separate ourselves from those in need, Jesus goes to the side of the wall where the need is."

      ~Brother Robert Lentz

      

      Log in to Reply

   3. 

      Log in to Reply

      1. That church is near my old stomping grounds in Bethesda-Rockville, MD area.  Ironically, located just a few miles from Georgetown Prep, where Gorsuch and Kavanaugh went to high school

         Log in to Reply

6. WOTD: Reaping the Whirlwind. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.

   Netanyahu is the problem. Israel is his victim. Remember that Netanyahu built up Hamas because it opposes the Palestine Authority. Netanyahu survives politically because of the extremist jewish religious parties and the settler expansionism on the West Bank.

   The whole piece is worthwhile, and not very long.

   The Biden White House is out of patience with Benjamin Netanyahu. While Biden’s steadfast support for Israel has been transformative within the broader Israeli body politic, Netanyahu himself is still the same man: taking everything offered with pro forma gratitude and stiffing most things, if not everything, asked in return.

   This is anything but surprising. We’d be wrong to imagine the White House is terribly surprised either. Joe Biden knows this man. What is always important to remember is that almost everyone working these questions in the Biden White House was working them, usually one or two rungs down, in the bad old Obama days when Netanyahu notoriously plotted with the President’s domestic political enemies but added the deeper indignity of doing it publicly, not even doing him the courtesy of concealment. They all know this guy.

    

   Log in to Reply

7. Bibi squeaked by in the popular vote, Manipulated rules  to win. Sounds familiar. I don't se how Israel and Palestine survive until his term ends in 2026.

   Log in to Reply

8. What Happens to Women When the State Decides. Mahablog.

   A "Sick headline for our sick times" from Rolling Stone magazine:

   Supreme Court will decide if States can Force Hospitals to let Women Die.

   Log in to Reply

9. And the message regarding so much of the above: You will not see change unless you fight. You might not win. If you fight hard you might see pieces of victory. But if you do not fight injustices at all they will continue and grow until you no longer know what justice is.

   Log in to Reply

10. Biden's messaging problems…..

    So, on my return from Mexico, I had an Uber take me from the airport home. The Uber driver was courageous enough to bring up the subject of politics. He shared with me that while he voted for Biden in 2020 and he does not like Trump, he has serious concerns about Biden's competency given his age and his speaking patterns. I pointed out to the guy that Biden has had a speech impediment throughout his life, has been open about that, and that explains much of why he talks in the manner that he does. The guy did not appear to be fully reassured.

     

    Log in to Reply

11. We apologize for the downtime today, had some unexpected server issues while continuing to effect upgrade and fixes.

    Everything should be running now, thanks for your patience.

    Log in to Reply

    1. Happy to see you up and operational again.

       From a former existence, my experience is that there is a way to have a more informative error message AND an alternate email address pop up when a server is down.  Just a thought.

       Log in to Reply

12. Trudeau FTW 

    

    Log in to Reply

    1. Appreciate the Doonesbury ….

       Between the narrow grounds allowed in the E Jean Carroll trial Redoux and getting SLAPPed for a $400,000 judgment for NY Times reporters' legal fees, Trump isn't doing well in courts this week. 

       And yet, Iowa Republicans came out in horrid weather to show their allegiance.  "In the early returns, Trump significantly outperformed his second-place 2016 caucus finish, when he received 24% of the vote, compared with 28% for Cruz. That year, Trump placed third in some of the state’s most populous counties, including Dallas, Johnson, Polk, Scott and Story, all of which were carried by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. This year, he was either leading or running much more competitively in those counties."

       Going to be interesting to see the fundraising announcement from Trump.  I'm not certain he'll match the $100 million for Biden & Dems, and the drawdown to pay for attorneys and meaningless primary expenses will cut into whatever money he does raise.

       Log in to Reply