S-S-Snarky S-S-Snippets!

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Folks … the time has come … for … SNARKY SNIPPETS!  Yes, I’ve not done any for at least a day now, and I have several tabs hanging open that I thought would be perfect for a snippet here and there, so … here we go … !!!

Scott-WarrenYou may remember a post I wrote back in May about a man, Scott Warren, who was about to go on trial because he had committed a terrible crime … he had provided food, water and shelter to a pair of immigrants who were crossing the Arizona desert.   Warren was part of a group called No More Deaths or No Mas Muertes that provided immigrants struggling across the desert with food, water, clothing, and a bed for a night.  Humanitarian aid, not anything criminal or seedy … the barest essentials required to sustain life.

His trial that started last May ended in a hung jury, but this time, his second trial, the jury unanimously agreed that he should be found not guilty of harboring undocumented immigrants.  Score one for common sense and decency!!!  Says Warren …

Scott-Warren

Scott Warren (center) of Ajo, Ariz., celebrates with his attorneys Amy Knight and Greg Kuykendall outside court in Tucson, Ariz. on Wednesday.

“The government failed in its attempt to criminalize basic human kindness.”

Back in the early days of Trump’s tenure in office, I did a little thing that brought me a bit of a sense of being a rebel, a part of the resistance.  Every time I was at a bookstore, most often Barnes & Noble, I would turn any Trump books I saw backward on the shelves. I rather saw it as a public service, keeping people from having to look at the face of ugly.  I got caught once or twice, but the staff there all know me and only gave me a wink and a nod for my ‘crime’.  I’ve since stopped doing it, for now there are at least 30 different books on the shelves with Trump’s ugly mug on the front, and I have better things to do with my precious bookstore time than to spend it all turning books around, just making more work for the staff.

Well, it turns out that at the library in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, someone has been hiding books!  Not, mind you, books about Trump or that are favourable to Trump, but rather books that criticize Trump. They wind up misfiled in out-of-the-way corners where readers will be sure not to find them.

Library Director Bette Ammon received a note from the prankster …

“I am going to continue hiding these books in the most obscure places I can find to keep this propaganda out of the hands of young minds. Your liberal angst gives me great pleasure.”

anti-Trump-books.jpgWhile none of the books in the latest incidents appear to have been stolen, some have been hidden in ways that made it nearly impossible to find them when patrons wanted to check them out. They have been discovered inexplicably filed in the wrong sections, hidden behind a row of Stuart Woods novels, or shelved with the spine facing inward.

After a local television station did a story about the missing books, one person called Ms. Ammon to praise whomever had hidden them, complaining that the library only carries books that represent a liberal point of view.Idaho-libraryThis isn’t the first time the Coeur d’Alene library has gone through this situation.  Back in the 1970s, Richard G. Butler, a former engineer at Lockheed Martin in California, bought land north of Coeur d’Alene to build a compound for a white supremacist group known as the Aryan Nations.  Long story short, city leaders successfully led efforts to combat the racists, and in 1986 the city was awarded a Raoul Wallenberg Civic Courage Award for its role in combating the hate group and used funds from that prize to establish a collection of human rights literature in the library.

It included books about the Holocaust, the persecution of African-Americans and the history of various religions. Then the books started disappearing.  The library ultimately decided that the best way to protect the books was to put a lock on the floor-to-ceiling glass cabinet where they were kept. They stayed there until Ms. Ammon took over the job in 2005 and decided they should be integrated into the rest of the library’s collection.

The latest wave of book disappearances started in 2018.  Over the months, they found books moved from prominent displays to the wrong stacks, or hidden behind rows of books against a back wall, near a pillar labeled “TEEN ZONE.”  Some dealt with social issues, such as “The Women’s Suffrage Movement.” One book, “Guns Down,” detailed a political strategy for defeating the National Rifle Association.

Hmmmm … I’m getting ideas here … and we will likely be at Barnes & Noble sometime this weekend …

Yesterday, it was announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was formally charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, making him the first Israeli premier to be indicted while in office.  (Are you listening, Bill Barr?)

The cases against Netanyahu centers on allegations that the prime minister and his wife, Sara, accepted more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods in exchange for political favors and that Netanyahu interceded with regulators and lawmakers on behalf of two media companies in exchange for positive news stories.  Interestingly, during the three years this investigation has been ongoing, Netanyahu has frequently referred to it as a “witch hunt”.  I think Donnie & Benjamin must have gone to the same school to learn how to distract and obfuscate, for they seem to speak a common language!

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, William Barr’s counterpart, made this statement that I think Mr. Barr should read carefully …

“I made this decision with a heavy heart but with a whole heart and a sense of commitment to the rule of law. Law enforcement is not a discretionary matter. It is an obligation that is imposed on us. It is my duty to the citizens of Israel to ensure that they live in a country where no one is above the law and that suspicions of corruption are thoroughly investigated.”

Key phrases here:

  • Rule of law
  • No one is above the law

Rather than hindering the investigation into Trump, William Barr should be taking the role that Mandelblit took and be leading the investigation.  We have the same rights the Israeli people have, to live in a country where corruption is thoroughly investigated and where no one is above the law.

Netanyahu has, predictably, acted in much the same manner as Trump, demanding that an independent body review the prosecution, or “investigate the investigators”.  In a combative address Thursday night, Netanyahu called the indictment “a coup attempt” driven by a corrupt set of prosecutors.  Sound familiar?

Surprisingly, I’ve not seen any response by Trump to Netanyahu’s indictment … perhaps his tweety-machine is broke?  We can only hope.

Just a brief note that today marks 56 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.Kennedy

Well, folks, that’s all the snippets I have time for today, but you know I’ll be back with more before much time passes.  Have a wonderful weekend!

24 thoughts on “S-S-Snarky S-S-Snippets!”

  1. Actually in a UK library the little SFB would be wasting his time as one of the regular tasks a few times a week is to sort the books back into order, on account of the fact that folk often pick ’em up and unconsciously put them back in different places….

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Suze has the right idea about books. I was going to suggest that, rather than hiding books, one places a book expressing an opposing opinion next to each of the one’s you disagree with. Trouble is that too many people read only the books that express a view they share.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Frank, you have the right idea.

      Though there’s a certain comfort in reading what you agree with, it doesn’t facilitate growth in the individual so that’s what needs to be nurtured. Sadly, identity politics and a more tribal mentality adopted in recent history counteract this notion of getting out of one’s comfort zone.

      Jill, being a rebel is a good thing, and I apologize if I was chastising you, my problem was more with the people who hide books, turning one around to face the other way only means that someone has to work a little harder to find out what the book is and a little work never hurt anyone. lol.

      I stand by veomently opposing the issue of actually hiding books, we’re on the same page in that part of the issue. I’m so punny. ha-ha.

      Liked by 1 person

      • No worries, Scott! I’ve already mended my ways! I’ll still be a rebel, though, ’cause that’s just me. I do, after all, have an “I Miss Obama” sticker on my van! And yes, you are punny!!! That was a good pun!

        Like

    • Yes, thumbs up to Suze’s librarian … and Suze. You are right, Frank … too many people, myself included to an extent, read only those books that agree with our own views. I try hard not to be close-minded, but frankly reading some of the political views of those such as Laura Ingraham or others are not a healthy thing for me … it isn’t so much that their political views differ, but the lies and phony rhetoric they use to promote their views sicken and disgust me. Sigh. I shall try to do better.

      Like

  3. Jill, making books unavailable by any means cannot be condoned no matter who does it. I disagree with much of what Ann Coulter, Bill Reilly et al say, but their books have a right to be sold. Freedom of speecj and press must be defended.

    On these last issues, the president’s lasting legacy will be the creation of the term fake news. When the term is used by an autocrat (they love Trump’s term) or a Democratically elected leader like Netanyahu or Johnson, we should always remember the author is the biggest purveyor of such. Keith

    Liked by 2 people

    • You are quite right … you know I fully support freedom of both speech and press … I just want freedom from the obnoxious people like Coulter, Trump, et al. As for O’Reilly, he and Martin Dugard have written some pretty interesting non-political history books, most of which I have read. Yes, Trump is, indeed, the biggest purveyor of fake news … his entire presidency is one of hypocrisies and ironies.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Obviously a better class on people on the second jury. Well done them.I hope Israel finds itself with a more humane PM once they throw Netanyahu inside, it’s time to bring peace out there and steal no more land. You’re a naughty lady hiding Mr Trump’s books like that, Take them out and burn them, including the son’s.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 2 people

    • I wonder if it wasn’t a matter of people are getting tired of the bullying tactics ICE is using, tired of seeing innocent people treated poorly? As for Netanyahu … I fully agree … he’s got to go. Unfortunately, I don’t think this indictment necessarily means he will lose his position, though. One might think he would resign in shame, but he’s no more likely to do that than Trump is … they are cut from the same cloth. Heh heh … I was just soundly chastised by Scott for it, and I promised to do it no more. I must find more acceptable ways to rebel, I guess. Sigh.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 2 people

  7. I have a very large problem with the notion of hiding books or even turning them so that people can’t see the cover on display because it flies in the face of the idea of arguing your position if you don’t agree with someone rather than shut them down, even if it’s in a symbolic way. Now, obviously, my gripe is directed at the person or people who went to the extensive time consuming activity of hiding books because this creates a problem for the staff at the bookstore who may rightly may think that the merchandise has indeed been stolen.
    Hiding books, no matter what side a person is on, is an infantile and silly thing to do and it speaks of the intolerance of that person when it comes to considering opposing viewpoints.
    Leave the books alone and let people decide for themselves what they will or won’t read. It’s not up to anyone else to make that decision for an individual.
    if someone opposes a particular view, sound logical argumentation against that view is the key to changing someone’s mind, not removing the information about the view that person doesn’t agree with. This is just another instance of censorship and I find it reprehensible and cowardly.

    Liked by 2 people

  8. In this red as blood state and in this majority Republican and/or tea party membership city, our librarian has made it a point to carry two “liberal minded” books for every single “conservative minded” book. She totally rocks.

    Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.