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Oldem

Oldem's Journal
Oldem's Journal
April 20, 2021

I wonder what Chauvin's life will be like in prison. Things could go wrong between now and then.

Appeals could go on for a long time. The conviction might be overturned. But if he's put in with the general population in prison, he might wish somebody would just go ahead and put a knee on his neck.

April 9, 2021

Just for us pedants: it's day ten of the Chauvin trial, Fentanyl toxicity is a cornerstone of Eric

Nelson's defense strategy, and he still can't pronounce "Fentanyl." Duh.

April 3, 2021

A poem for the "Florida man."

Florida man, Florida man,
great head of hair, studio tan,
if I were hitching in the Everglades
and you pulled up, I’d be afraid.

I wouldn’t climb into your minivan,
your swampmobile, O Florida man.
I’d wait for a ride with an honest trucker.
Anyone but you, you sleazy fucker.

[link:https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2021/04/poem-james-parker-florida-man/618495/|

(Remembered the link this time.)
April 2, 2021

Texas businesses oppose voter suppression;

national reaction against Coke, Delta, et. al. is having an effect.

Texas-based corporate leaders are trying to avoid the widespread criticism experienced by large Georgia-based corporations for not opposing the major voter restriction law passed by Republicans in the state until after the fact.

“We are strongly opposed to this bill and others like it. As a Texas-based business, we must stand up for the rights of our team members and customers who call Texas home, and honor the sacrifices made by generations of Americans to protect and expand the right to vote,” the Fort Worth-based airline [American Airlines] said in a statement. Michael Dell, founder and CEO of the Texas-based Dell Technologies, also came out against the bill, tweeting: “Free, fair, equitable access to voting is the foundation of American democracy. Those rights—especially for women, communities of color—have been hard-earned.”

The article goes on to say that the reactions of other Texas businesses (SW Airlines, AT&T) is more tepid. And there's this "howler" from Lt. Gov. Patrick.

“ 'Texans are fed up with corporations that don’t share our values trying to dictate public policy.' ” Funny how Texas Republicans are allllll about making businesses happy until businesses express opposition to something being done to cement Republican power...."

March 27, 2021

Brian Kemp's phone number

as posted on the official GA Gov. site, linked below: (404) 656-1776.

[link:https://gov.georgia.gov/contact-us|

March 21, 2021

"Strange Fruit," Billie Holiday's "anthem of resistance."

This is a moving article, apt at any time in our country. In 1999, Time Magazine named "Strange Fruit" song of the century. [Edit: My apologies for forgetting the link the first time.]

Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees

The haunting delivery by Holiday would forever be engraved on the souls of those who heard it.

>snip

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

[link:https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/21/2021130/-As-long-as-white-supremacy-endures-Billie-Holiday-s-Strange-Fruit-will-be-an-anthem-of-resistance|
March 19, 2021

Everyone should see this in its entirety.

If Sen. Warnock's full speech has been posted already, my apologies. If not, it's a must-see.

[link:

|
March 19, 2021

Here's what actual election fraud looks like

And this time the repug SOB is facing felony charges.

Miami police arrested former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles on Thursday and charged him with orchestrating a plot to siphon votes from a sitting Democratic state senator by paying a man with a similar last name to run a fake campaign. The scheme seems to have worked: In November, the incumbent, José Javier Rodríguez, lost his seat by the incredibly thin margin of around 30 votes to his Republican challenger, Ileana Garcia. The man Artiles recruited to run as an independent—an auto parts dealer named Alex Rodriguez, who didn’t live in the district—picked up more than 6,000 votes. (In his concession speech, José Javier Rodríguez called for a full investigation into the race.)

[link:https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/03/the-arrest-of-an-ex-florida-state-senator-hints-at-a-broader-dark-money-scheme/|
March 15, 2021

Taxes: outrageous.

I'm finding Tom Hartmann very educational reading every day. So thanks to the DU member who posted something from his site a few days ago.

This time, he further examines the war Reagan waged on the middle class, using tax law. For example, we're being taxed twice on some "income" and being taxed on tips, which aren't income at all.

Hartmann urges a return to pre-Reagan tax policy.

[link:https://hartmannreport.com/p/its-time-to-roll-back-reagans-middle|

March 12, 2021

"Fox News is dead." (As news, that is.)

"Fox News isn’t slated news. It’s not even fake news. It’s simply not news. It is a Trump-flavored circus show that chased NewsMax down the rabbit hole and, unfortunately, caught it.



"On a casual inspection, that would seem to be working out fine for Fox News. After all, it has averaged around 1.3 million viewers since Biden moved in, compared to 1.1 million at MSNBC, and 0.9 million at America’s home for inconsistency, CNN. But that’s not really the comparison Fox News deserves. After all, over 10 million people watched each episode of Bull last year, and at least that show tells you what you’re getting, right there in the title"

The article centers on Faux running a box with Talker Snarson commenteng on President Biden's speech. Needless to say, I didn't watch it. But it sounds like a new low.

[link:https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/12/2020733/-Fox-News-coverage-of-Biden-speech-underscores-the-total-disintegration-of-conservative-news#comment_80488131|

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