Category Archives: Law and justice

Mike Pence Is WRONG!

Posted on by under Global Issues, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

On January 6th, 2021, the insurrectionists Trump had summoned to Washington to storm the Capitol constructed a noose outside the Capitol and began chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”  When informed that they were threatening to hang Mike Pence, his own Vice President, Donald Trump replied, “Mike deserves it” and said that those rioters were not doing anything wrong.  Since then, Donald Trump has contended that the responsibility for the attempted coup on January 6th was the fault of Mike Pence …

“Had he sent the votes back to the legislatures, they wouldn’t have had a problem with Jan. 6, so in many ways you can blame him for Jan. 6.”

In March of this year, Pence said at the Gridiron dinner in Washington …

“His reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day. And I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”

Now, against that backdrop, here is what Mike Pence said on Wednesday regarding the indictment that would be handed down the next day (yesterday) …

“I hope the DOJ thinks better of it and resolves these issues without an indictment. No. 1, I think it would be terribly divisive to the country.”

“ I think it would also send a terrible message to the wider world. I mean, we’re the emblem of democracy. We’re the symbol of justice in the world.”

Take a minute to process that … and to pick your jaw up off the floor.

First … “divisive to the country”???  Seriously???  Has Pence turned on the news, picked up a paper, or gone online for the past two years???  Thanks in large part to Trump’s never-ending spew of hate speech, this nation is more divided than it has ever been since the end of the Civil War!  There is no longer ANY middle ground. Trump being convicted and sentenced to prison would be the best thing that could happen to the country.

Second … Donald Trump intentionally and with malice put Pence and his family in serious danger.  He put the entire nation in serious danger.  But Pence’s excuse smells like what comes out of the rear end of a bull!

Indicting a ‘man’ who placed the entire nation in danger, a ‘man’ who grievously harmed that democracy that Pence says we are an emblem of, a ‘man’ who engaged in criminal misconduct, a ‘man’ who has lied to the people who placed their trust, their lives into his hands, is not a black mark, it merely shows the world that we made a mistake and we’re attempting to rectify it!  It says to the world that we will not tolerate a crooked regime, one who acts out of self-interest.  It shows the world we realize we are not infallible, but that we will hold everyone, regardless of who they are or what position they served in, accountable for their actions.

If we fail to hold Trump accountable for his crimes, the message we send to the world is that we are no longer a democracy, that we are a corrupt regime that is willing to re-install a criminal in the highest office of the land.  We will have proven that we are no better than Hungary, North Korea, or maybe even Iran.

But third … how in the Sam Hell does Pence think the Department of Justice could “resolve these issues without an indictment?”  Does he think there’s a magic wand that Attorney General Garland can wave that will make the whole document theft simply disappear, erase everyone’s memory of it?  This is not a damned board game where you can just swipe the board clean and set it up afresh!

And then Pence went on to say, “I don’t know the facts of the former president’s case.”  He doesn’t know the facts, but he knows it could be resolved without an indictment?  Isn’t that somewhat like a doctor trying to diagnose cancer over the phone?

We the People have been waiting for this indictment for a long time, and no doubt there will be turmoil and chaos in the coming months, most of it caused by Trump himself and his rabid followers, but at the end of the day, all we want is justice.  We want to know for a fact that there is equal justice under the law, no matter who you are, no matter how much money you have, and no matter if you were once called ‘Mr. President.’

Mike Pence once earned a degree of respect in my eyes for doing his job and certifying the 2020 election rather than doing as his boss demanded and throwing the nation into chaos.  However, for him to deny accountability to his former boss is disrespectful to We the People and to the nation.

Need I Say More?

Posted on by under guns, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Today is June 6th.  I often don’t even think to look at the local news, so caught up am I in the national politics, global events, and happenings of the day, but every so often … a couple of times a week … I hop onto the local news site to see what’s happening near me.  Last night, just before going to bed, I decided to check in on the local news and this is what I found.  The following comprised the majority of the non-sports-related headlines for the first five days in the month of June:

  • As city leaders evaluate budget, residents air concerns over 29 shootings in 10 days (05 June)
  • CPD: Officers shot at during three separate incidents over weekend (05 June)
  • CPD: Man arrested after holding wife hostage, shooting at PD in East Price Hill (04 June)
  • PD: 14-year-old charged with multiple felonies after firing shots at officer (04 June)
  • Deputies: Man shot victim with pistol that fired shotgun shells in Sycamore Twp. (04 June)
  • Shooting anxiety rises after 25 shot in eight days in Cincinnati (04 June)
  • Coroner releases ID of East Price Hill shooting victim, suspect charged (03 June)
  • Police: 7-year-old girl shot in North Avondale (03 June)
  • CPD: 3 people shot in Spring Grove Village; all are expected to survive (03 June)
  • CPD: 1 in critical condition after shooting in East Price Hill (03 June)
  • ‘He wasn’t even writing a ticket’: Parking enforcement agent shot at (02 June)
  • CPD: 21-year-old shot while driving in Westwood (02 June)
  • Police: 2 men shot in West End (02 June)
  • Residents, city leaders react after shooting that hurt 4, including 10-year-old (01 June)

Do you see a trend here?  One city … one fairly average city in midwestern USA … 29 shootings in 10 days … an average of 3 per day.

Need I say more?

A Chilling Comparison

Posted on by under education, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Things creep up on us, often unnoticed.  For instance, we age but it happens so gradually that we don’t really notice until one day when we look in the mirror and wonder who that ol’ hag is and how she got in here.  Winter turns to spring and spring turns to summer while we gain 1-2 minutes of daylight each day, but we don’t really notice it on a day-to-day basis … just one day we realize that we’re not turning the lights on until 9:00!  How did that happen?  Other things can creep up on us too, often without us really noticing.  Blogging friend Ten Bears has written a post … mostly an excerpt from a book I read several years ago … that I really, really hope you will take a few minutes to read (the post, not necessarily the book, though I highly recommend it, too!) because every word is so spot on, so thought-provoking, and so very relevant to where we are today here in the U.S.  Here is a short excerpt, but please … his post is short, just over 500 words … do take the time to read it all.

Milton Mayer writes in his book They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-1945 not overnight, incrementally, like the legendary slow boiling of frogs.

“You see,” my colleague went on, “one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

And the rest can be found at Ten Bear’s blog, Homeless on the High Desert

And pay special attention to his final paragraph …

Thank you, Ten Bears, for this truly thought-provoking and insightful post.

Da ‘Toons Tell Da Story!

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Economic issues, Election 2024, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Humour, Law and justice, Social commentary, technology

Monday afternoon seems like just about as good a time as any for a bit of political humour, don’t you think?  I’ve been collecting political cartoons for the past week or so and it’s time to clean out the file and share some of them!  Mind you that you have to consider the broader definition of the word “humour” here, for it’s a darker humour than, say, a Pickles cartoon or Charlie Brown & Snoopy, but the political cartoonists have an innate understanding of what is happening in our world, and the talent to reduce a situation into a single image.

Look closely at the images in the letters on this one

Dr. Caitlin Bernard, Indiana law, abortion, 10-year old, rape victim, political cartoon

Putin, Lukashenko, nucleau weapons, Belarus, Russia, Ukrains Warm, political cartoon

🌈Then They Came For Me

Posted on by under History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

No matter how many times I read this poem, written by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, I never fail to be moved by the words.  Niemöller penned this in 1946, at the end of WWII, the end of the Holocaust that took more than 6 million lives.  It is engraved on a plaque at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, and is known worldwide.  The poem speaks volumes and should serve as a warning to people all around the world today.

I have shared this poem before, used it in different contexts, for it seems that “they” are always coming for someone.  But today, the fourth day in Pride Month, I am especially moved to share it for it seems many people, groups, politicians, and religious leaders are coming for the LGBTQ community.  Our friends, our neighbors, our family … are being vilified, even threatened with their very lives if they dare to be publicly proud of who they are.

In addition to coming for the LGBTQ community, “they” are coming for women, for people of colour, for Jewish people.  Apparently in “their” eyes, the only people who have a right to be proud are white, Christian, straight males.  The rest of us are the dirt beneath their feet.  If we hide in our closets, wear camouflage in hopes of not being noticed, if we do not speak out against the atrocities being committed against the LGBTQ community and others, then perhaps we will be overlooked and allowed to exist.  For now.  Until someday …

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Wear Orange Day — A Day Late!

Posted on by under guns, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Although I initially wrote this post in 2021, this is the 2nd year in a row that I nearly forgot until reminded by our friend Larry over at Just Drive, Will You who posted yesterday, on the actual day, reminding me — and now I’m a day late!  But, better late than never, right?   Today, I think this post, this National Day, is more relevant than ever, given that gun violence, and especially mass shootings, have become the norm, not the anomaly.

I typically make fun of all the ‘national days’ … I mean, there are some thoroughly ridiculous ones like National Lima Bean Respect Day, National Rat Catcher’s Day, and National Talk In An Elevator Day.  However, there are a few of the national days that are worthy of being honoured, and today is one such day:  National Gun Violence Awareness Day, also known as Wear Orange Day.  I’ve made no secret of the fact that I hate guns and would happily see every last one of them destroyed, so it should come as no surprise that I’m writing about this day.

Until a few days ago when a dear friend emailed me about this day, I was not even aware of it … which likely means that most people are unaware.  Raising awareness is the goal of this day, and I aim to do my part to help raise that awareness.

On January 21, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton, a high school student from the south side of Chicago, marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.

Wear Orange originated on June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday. Now, it is observed nationally on the first Friday in June and the following weekend each year. In the years since, participation in Wear Orange has increased tenfold.

In 2020, #WearOrange trended nationally on Twitter with over 150,000 Americans taking part along with more than 300 corporate and nonprofit partners such as Viacom, Levi Strauss & Co., Postmates, Amalgamated Bank, the American Academy of Pediatrics, AFT, and HRC, and some of the most impactful thought and culture leaders in the country—including President Obama, President Biden, Vice President Harris, Julianne Moore, Laura Dern, Jason George, Pearl Jam, and 25 individual sports teams, including the Golden State Warriors, the Boston Bruins, and the Washington Mystics. More than 100 buildings and landmarks lit the skyline orange across 40 states + DC, including a record 11 stadiums and arenas, while grassroots volunteers hosted more than 270 virtual events in all 50 states plus DC.

According to the Everytown website:

“In 2023, the 9th National Gun Violence Awareness Day will fall on June 2, the first Friday of the month. That will kick off Wear Orange Weekend on June 3-4, which will feature virtual and in-person events across the nation. From the south side of Chicago, to community organizers in Queens, to students around the country, we will come together to wear orange and demand a change.”

Miss Goose and I were talking and we thought that neither of us owned a piece of orange clothing, but then … I remembered that we both have Hallowe’en t-shirts that are orange with jack-o-lantern pattern on the front, so if you see someone wearing a Hallowe’en shirt this weekend, don’t be surprised!

In case you don’t think that guns are a serious problem in the U.S., here are a few facts to make you stop and think …

  • The U.S. gun suicide rate is 10 times higher than that of other high-income countries.
  • The US firearm homicide rate is 24.9 times higher than in other high-income countries.
  • The US firearm suicide rate was 9.8 times higher than in other high-income countries.
  • 7% of all firearm deaths occurred in the US.
  • 7% of women and 98.1% of all children killed by firearms were in the US.
  • Firearm homicide rates in low-gun states were 13.5 times higher than other countries.
  • On average, eight youth are killed by gun violence in the U.S. every day. Another 32 are shot and injured. Mass shootings are on the rise, averaging 11 each week in 2021.

Oh yeah, my friends, this country has a serious gun problem.  Some who love their killing toys have misinterpreted what the Founding Fathers intended when they wrote the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution … NEVER did they intend for people to own weapons not even heard of back in their day that can kill hundreds of people within a minute or two.  NEVER did they intend for every person to carry a gun everywhere they go, even to the grocery store or to church.  And NEVER did the Founders intend us to use those weapons to simply randomly kill people because we did not like the colour of their skin, what they wear on their head, where they came from, or because we were having a bad day.

The United States is literally the laughingstock of the world for our gun policies, or should I say lack of gun policies.  No, wearing an orange shirt today will not change that, but it is one step in raising awareness that guns in America are one of the biggest problems we have, one of the biggest hurdles to our safety, our lives.

To the gun nuts, I say this:  NO, the Constitution does NOT give you the right to own an AR-15 or AK-47, it does NOT give you the right to own an arsenal, and it does NOT give you the right to intimidate innocent people by carrying your gun into schools, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, etc.  You do NOT have a right to leave that gun unsecured where your child may get it and cause heartbreak.  You do NOT have a right to be in my presence with that damn blasted piece of machinery.  Period.  My right to safety and life in this case supersedes your right to have that gun attached at the hip.

No one is immune to gun violence, as proven by the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School last month that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers.   So far this year 17,965 people have lost their lives to guns, and last year a total of 44,363 people were killed by guns in the U.S.  So far, I have yet to hear of that “good guy with a gun” that the National Rifle Association claim exists, but every single day I hear of a lot of bad guys with guns … people who should never have been allowed to own a gun.

So, if you own an orange shirt, wear it this weekend to show your support for human life, to demand change in gun laws, to demand action.

Thoughts On The ‘F-Word’

Posted on by under Election 2024, Free Press Issues, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

It is only in the last month or two that I have discovered Joyce Vance and her writings.  Ms. Vance was a United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017. She was one of the first five U.S. Attorneys, and the first female U.S. Attorney, nominated by President Barack Obama.  She is intelligent, knowledgeable, and her writing is clear and concise.  She writes on Substack, which is where I first discovered her, and her latest piece is … chilling.

Can We Call It Fascism Yet?

Joyce Vance

02 June 2023

“Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers,” George Orwell wrote in 1944, “almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.” Although political scientists have crafted more precise definitions in the ensuing years, the enduring image of fascism is that of the hate-fueled bully.

In a September 2020 interview, Joe Biden called his then-opponent, Donald Trump, “sort of like [Joseph] Goebbels,” a reference to Hitler’s propaganda chief during the Nazi regime. “You say the lie long enough, keep repeating it, repeating it, repeating it, it becomes common knowledge,” Biden explained. One aspect of fascism is repeating the lie until your followers come to believe it, accepting it as an obvious truth, something Trump is the master of.

In 2018, Madeleine Albright said in an interview: “We can’t have a leader that feels that he is above the law. The law and the rule of law is the most essential part of a democratic system.” Trump subsequently advocated for his supporters to use violence but sent federal forces to curb Black Lives Matter protests in American cities. He used the nationalistic slogan “Make America Great Again” and aligned himself with Christian nationalist groups that have little to do with Christianity.

Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in advance of the 2020 election and tried to overthrow it after he lost, claiming it was rife with fraud—it wasn’t—while trying to install fake slates of electors to preempt duly elected ones and running an intimidation campaign against his own vice president to try and secure his cooperation. With the dismissal of his court cases and all his other plans coming apart, Trump tried to subvert DOJ and came close to installing as attorney general an unqualified environmental lawyer whose only credential was his willingness to throw the might of DOJ behind Trump’s claims of election fraud. It was a putsch attempt and Trump sulked like a child when it failed. Instead of ensuring a smooth transition to the new rightful president, he balked and obstructed and, apparently, took classified documents with him on the way out of the White House. He has continued ever since to act as a divisive force, motivated only by self-interest.

So reporting this week that Trump intends to target prosecutors and agents involved in the special counsel’s investigation of him if he regains the White House, identifying and firing them, comes as no surprise. But it seems to have mostly gotten lost in the shuffle of news about developments in the Mar-a-Lago case, despite the fact that it is equally deserving of our attention. Rolling Stone reported, “In recent months, the former president has asked close advisers, including at least one of his personal attorneys, if ‘we know’ all the names of senior FBI agents and Justice Department personnel who have worked on the federal probes into him. That’s according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter and another person briefed on it.” There you have it, the party of law and order, preparing to exact revenge on people pledged to work for law and order.

If law enforcement officials who are upholding their oaths to the Constitution and doing their job won’t be safe in a new Trump regime, then really, who will be? No one. Because in a country overtaken by a cult of personality, you never know on any given day when you’re going to run afoul of the leader’s whims. You could be the shop assistant who doesn’t have the right size shirt in stock or the chef whose meal Trump doesn’t like. You could be a grandchild’s teacher who gives an accurate but low grade. Really, you could be anyone. It doesn’t matter because once we install a leader who rejects a rule of law system of government in favor of one where all that matters are the momentary desires of the head of the cult, we are beyond the protections the law has traditionally offered people in this country from overreaching leaders. Trump has made abundantly clear his intent to dismantle that system if he gets another opportunity.

More from Rolling Stone’s reporting: “Trump has…privately discussed that should he return to the White House, it is imperative his new Department of Justice ‘quickly’ and ‘immediately’ purge the FBI and DOJ’s ranks of these officials and agents who’ve led the Trump-related criminal investigations, the sources recount. The ex-president has of course dubbed all such probes as illegitimate ‘witch hunts,’ and is now campaigning for the White House on a platform of ‘retribution’ and cleaning house.” Trump is the quintessential bully who doesn’t believe in the rule of law.

Trump has leveled specific criticism against FBI Director Chris Wray, his 2017 appointee, objecting to Wray’s failure to engage in a wholesale purge of people who are not loyal to Trump and threatening to fire him on his first day back in the White House if he wins in 2024. But Trump’s sights aren’t set exclusively on DOJ. He has gone beyond that, promising that top of the list for his revenge and retribution campaign against federal employees whose loyalty is to the Constitution, not Trump, is reinstituting “Schedule F.” Schedule F is an executive order that would make it much easier for him to fire federal employees across the executive branch, while also offering the ability to replace them with Trump loyalists (despite longstanding protections for civil servants against just this type of action).

From his earliest moments in office, Trump targeted employees whom he thought were insufficiently loyal to him, personally. The first one was then–FBI Director Jim Comey, who declined to give Trump the personal loyalty oath he sought, saying that his loyalty was to the Constitution. Comey was, of course, fired. The bookend at the conclusion of Trump’s presidency was his top cybersecurity official, Chris Krebs, who issued a statement calling the 2020 election “the most secure in American history” despite his boss’s claims of pervasive fraud. Trump fired Krebs on Twitter for contradicting The Big Lie.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s attention appears to have turned toward the Krebs firing, but it may have more to do with establishing Trump’s state of mind—proof he knew he’d lost in a fair election—than any new substantive lean in the direction of that investigation. It is nonetheless another significant marker on the path toward the possibility of an authoritarian America.

Personal loyalty oaths to the president aren’t how our country is supposed to work. Career federal employee jobs aren’t spoils of war for a president to hand out like party favors. There are political appointments like judgeships and executive agency leadership, but the folks who move the ship of state forward from administration to administration are career professionals. Like the prosecutors and agents temporarily detailed to special counsel investigations into Trump, they are supposed to have civil service protections. In a normal world, Trump would be unable to walk in and fire them. His plans to do so are sinister. Trump is threatening to fundamentally change the structure of our country so that it runs in a way that serves him and not the people. That, of course, describes Trump in a nutshell.

What’s still more sinister is that little, if any, attention is being paid to Trump’s clear intentions to lead us away from democracy if he gets another shot at the White House. Is it fascism yet? Even asking the question can draw criticism these days. But we have on our hand a bully who repeats his lies until they become accepted as fact, at least by his followers, and who eschews the rule of law in favor of personal loyalty to him. It’s a frightening picture for the future, a future it’s critical that we prevent.

We’re in this together,

🏳️‍🌈 Celebrating PRIDE Month – Part I 🏳️‍🌈

Posted on by under Social commentary, Global Issues, Tributes, Racism & Bigotry, Law and justice, History

I already had a different post on the schedule for this morning when I realized that today is June 1, the beginning of Pride Month!  Where have the first five months of this year gone???  Wasn’t it just Christmas a few weeks ago?  So, rather than starting out the day with this post, which is a repeat of last year’s Pride Month post with some updates and modifications, I shall post it this afternoon and Part II will be tomorrow morning.  I am deeply saddened by state legislatures across the United States that have been busily introducing and passing anti-LGBTQ bills this year.  Thus far, not even halfway into the year, some 417 such bills have been introduced, more than twice as many as the previous year.

This is, in part, why I think shining a light on Pride Month is so, so important.  We must remember that we are all the same in far more ways than we are different, that we are all in the fight for life together.  We all have feelings, stengths & weaknesses, and nobody is ‘superior’ by virtue of the gender or colour.

With all the brouhaha over such ridiculous things as Bud Light featuring a trans person on cans of beer, Target selling Pride merchandise, religious leaders and politicians shouting anti-LGBTQ rhetoric at every turn, I fear this year’s Pride Month may be marred by disappointment and violence against the LGBTQ community.  I hope I’m wrong.  But learning about people is always a way to find more things we have in common, and that’s why I will keep posting these every June in hopes of reminding people that beneath it all, we are all just people.

My posts are usually geared toward socio-political issues such as racism & bigotry, politics, the environment, etc., but every now and then there is something that takes precedence over all those things — they will still be here tomorrow, right?  This afternoon and tomorrow afternoon, I am dedicating Filosofa’s Word, as I have for the past three years, to Pride Month.  Quick question:  do you know what PRIDE stands for?  I’m ashamed to say that I did not know until a few years ago that it stands for Personal Rights In Defense and Education.  Makes perfect sense, don’t you think?  The fight to be recognized and accepted has been an ongoing battle for decades, perhaps longer, and while we were making progress for a time, lately we seem to be regressing, thanks in large part to certain homophobic governors whose names do not deserve mention on this post.  Check out the states that are pushing through new legislation this year against the LGBTQ community on the ACLU website.

The following is Part I of a post I wrote for PRIDE Month in 2019 and have reprised every year since.  I don’t believe in re-inventing the wheel, and frankly when I read over this post, except for a few minor adjustments, I didn’t think I could do any better if I started over.  Part II will be on the schedule for tomorrow.  Meanwhile, to all my friends in the LGBTQ community … I wish you a heartfelt Happy PRIDE Month!

Pride-month-3June is Pride Month, a month dedicated to recognizing the impact LGBTQ people have had in the world.  I see Pride Month in much the same way I see February’s Black History Month.  It is a way to honour or commemorate those who rarely receive the recognition they deserve, and are often discriminated against, simply because they are LGBTQ, or Black, in the case of Black History Month.  A bit of history about the beginnings of Pride Month …

The Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was owned by the Genovese crime family, and in 1966, three members of the Genovese family invested $3,500 to turn the Stonewall Inn into a gay bar, after it had been a restaurant and a nightclub for heterosexuals. Once a week a police officer would collect envelopes of cash as a payoff, as the Stonewall Inn had no liquor license and thus was operating outside the law.  It was the only bar for gay men in New York City where dancing was allowed; dancing was its main draw since its re-opening as a gay club.

At 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, 1969, four plainclothes policemen in dark suits, two patrol officers in uniform, and Detective Charles Smythe and Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine arrived at the Stonewall Inn’s double doors and announced “Police! We’re taking the place!”  Approximately 205 people were in the bar that night. Patrons who had never experienced a police raid were confused. A few who realized what was happening began to run for doors and windows in the bathrooms, but police barred the doors.

Standard procedure was to line up the patrons, check their identification, and have female police officers take customers dressed as women to the bathroom to verify their sex, upon which any men dressed as women would be arrested. Those dressed as women that night refused to go with the officers. Men in line began to refuse to produce their identification. The police decided to take everyone present to the police station, after separating those cross-dressing in a room in the back of the bar.

Long story short, a few patrons were released before the patrol wagons arrived to cart the rest off to jail, and those few stayed out front, attracted quite a large crowd, mostly LGBT people, and after an officer hit a woman over the head for saying her handcuffs were too tight, the crowd went into fight mode.  By this time, the police were outnumbered by some 600 people.  Garbage cans, garbage, bottles, rocks, and bricks were hurled at the building, breaking the windows.  The mob lit garbage on fire and stuffed it through the broken windows.  Police tried to use water hoses to disperse the crowd, but there was no water pressure.  Police pulled their weapons, but before they could fire them, the Tactical Patrol Force and firefighters arrived.  The crowd mocked and fought against the police, who began swinging their batons right and left, not much caring who they hit or where.

The crowd was cleared by 4:00 a.m., but the mood remained dark, and the next night, rioting resumed with thousands of people showing up at the Stonewall, blocking the streets.  Police responded, and again it was 4:00 a.m. before the mob was cleared.

There comes a point when people who are mistreated, abused, discriminated against, have had enough.  It is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, and the police raid on the Stonewall Inn, the treatment of people who were only out to enjoy the night, was that straw.  It was a history making night, not only for the LGBTQ community, but for the nation.pride-month-stonewall.jpgWithin six months of the Stonewall riots, activists started a citywide newspaper called Gay; they considered it necessary because the most liberal publication in the city—The Village Voice—refused to print the word “gay”.  Two other newspapers were initiated within a six-week period: Come Out! and Gay Power; the readership of these three periodicals quickly climbed to between 20,000 and 25,000.  Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was formed with a constitution that began …

“We as liberated homosexual activists demand the freedom for expression of our dignity and value as human beings.”

I think that says it all, don’t you?  ‘Dignity and value as human beings’.  It is, in my book, a crying shame that our society needs to be reminded that we are all human beings, that we all have value and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.

Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28, 1970 marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots with an assembly on Christopher Street; with simultaneous Gay Pride marches in Los Angeles and Chicago, these were the first Gay Pride marches in U.S. history. The next year, Gay Pride marches took place in Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, West Berlin, and Stockholm.  The Stonewall riots are considered the birth of the gay liberation movement and of gay pride on a massive scale.  The event has been likened to the Boston Tea Party, and Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the back of the bus.  All of those were people’s way of saying, “We’ve had enough!”

2019 marked the 50-year anniversary of the Stonewall Inn raid and ensuing riots, and at long last, the New York City Police Department apologized to the LGBTQ community.  “The actions taken by the NYPD [at Stonewall] were wrong, plain and simple,” police commissioner James O’Neill said.  He also noted that the frequent harassment of LGBTQ men and women and laws that prohibited same-sex sexual relations are “discriminatory and oppressive” and apologized on behalf of the department.

President Bill Clinton first declared June to be National Pride Month in 1999, and again in 2000.  On June 1, 2001, President George W. Bush announced that the White House would not formally recognize Pride Month.  Every year that President Barack Obama was in office, he declared June to be LGBT Pride Month.  Donald Trump ignored it in throughout his tenure and blocked the display of the Pride flag at all U.S. embassies.  Last year, President Biden recognized Pride Month, saying he “will not rest until full equality for LGBTQ+ Americans is finally achieved and codified into law.”

“During LGBTQ+ Pride Month, we recognize the resilience and determination of the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically. In doing so, they are opening hearts and minds, and laying the foundation for a more just and equitable America.”

And yesterday evening, he once again proclaimed June to be Pride Month and denouncing the anti-LGBTQ laws and book bannings that have been taking place in the states.

“During Pride Month, we honor a movement that has grown stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive with every passing year. Pride is a celebration of generations of LGBTQI+ people who have fought bravely to live openly and authentically. And it is a reminder that we still have generational work to do to ensure that everyone enjoys the full promise of equity, dignity, protection, and freedom.”

Since this post turned into a history lesson, I wrote a second post to highlight some of the celebrations, the fun ways that people celebrate pride month, the people and organizations that are supporting Pride Month, and to honour the LGBTQ community, but I felt the history was important also, so … stay tuned for Part II later this afternoon!

Pride-month-4

Obstructionist, Not Conservative!

Posted on by under Economic issues, Election 2024, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants

On the first day the members of the 118th Congress walked into the Capitol to vote on a Speaker of the House, there was no doubt that it would end up being Kevin McCarthy.  Oh sure … they made him beg and sweat for it, forced concessions knowing that his fragile ego would not allow him to accept defeat at any cost, but there was no viable competition within the Republican House members for the job.  It’s a sad statement that Kevin McCarthy is actually the best they had to offer, for on a scale of 1-to-10, I’d give him a 2.

Now, I want to talk a bit about the House Freedom Caucus, for they are the worst of what the Republican Party has to offer.

The House Freedom Caucus (HFC) got its start in mid-January, 2015, when the most radical right-wing members of the Party joined forces with the sole goal of pushing the Party further to the right.  I will always believe that two things prompted this:  the election not once, but twice, of a Black man to the presidency, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act that, at least in theory, would enable all people in this country to have healthcare when they need it.

The HFC was founded by nine right-wing men calling themselves ultra-conservatives, including Jim (Gym) Jordan, Mick Mulvaney, Mark Meadows, and Ron DeSantis … yes, THAT Ron DeSantis!  They call themselves ‘conservatives’ but by definition they are obstructionists.  Their interest has absolutely nothing to do with the best interests of the nation or of its people and they will use any means at their disposal to obstruct good governance and throw the nation into turmoil.  Why?  Because they crave power, because they do not adhere to democratic principles but would much prefer an autocracy, and at the moment, their goal is to set the stage for President Biden’s defeat in 2024.  There is no Republican – not Trump or DeSantis, not Haley or Pence, and certainly not Hutchinson or Ramaswamy, who can win the general election as things stand now.  But, if the HFC can destroy the economy, destroy the trust of our allies abroad, then blame it all on Joe Biden, they might just stand a chance … at least that’s what they’re banking on.

The HFC has only 46 seats in the House of Representatives, but if you think about it, that’s more than 10% of the full House, so while they don’t hold a majority, they do make a difference … and certainly not one that is positive for the nation.  Historically they have been against anything and everything that promotes equality or helps people, such as the aforementioned Affordable Care Act, the Respect for Marriage Act that codified the right of same-sex couples to marry, and they almost unanimously voted to overturn President Biden’s electoral win in January 2021.  I sense they would relish a civil war of sorts in this nation.

Why are they on my radar today?  Because they are making empty threats right and left, saying they will refuse to vote for the deal worked out between the President and McCarthy to avoid a default on our debt that would send shockwaves around the globe, not to mention crash the economy here in the U.S.  They are threatening McCarthy with an ouster from his seat as Speaker of the House.  Now, with only 46 members, their threats can be passed off as idle … except they are screeching at the top of their lungs from their highest perches.  Except that we PAY these bastards and in exchange we expect them to put our interests ahead of their egos, yet they are unwilling to do so.  You could lose your job tomorrow, become homeless next month, and die of starvation by August and not a single member of the HFC would give a royal damn!  Only one thing matters to them:  next year’s election.

Here is a list of the members of the HFC.  Is your representative listed?  If so, call him/her, write him/her, and tell them that they are NOT doing the job you pay them to do and to either work for the people, else get the hell out of Congress!

118th Congress House Freedom Caucus members and allies

State District Representative
AZ 5 Andy Biggs
NC 8 Dan Bishop
CO 3 Lauren Boebert
OK 2 Josh Brecheen
CO 4 Ken Buck
MO 7 Eric Burlison
VA 6 Ben Cline
TX 27 Michael Cloud
GA 9 Andrew Clyde
GA 10 Mike Collins
AZ 2 Eli Crane
OH 8 Warren Davidson
TN 4 Scott DesJarlais
FL 19 Byron Donalds
SC 3 Jeff Duncan
ID 1 Russ Fulcher
FL 1 Matt Gaetz
VA 5 Bob Good
AZ 9 Paul Gosar
TN 7 Mark Green
GA 14 Marjorie Taylor Greene
VA 9 Morgan Griffith
WY At large Harriet Hageman
MD 1 Andy Harris
TN 1 Diana Harshbarger
LA 3 Clay Higgins
TX 13 Ronny Jackson
LA 4 Mike Johnson
OH 4 Jim Jordan
AZ 8 Debbie Lesko
FL 13 Anna Paulina Luna
IL 15 Mary Miller
OH 7 Max Miller
WV 2 Alex Mooney
AL 2 Barry Moore
NC 3 Greg Murphy
TX 22 Troy Nehls
SC 5 Ralph Norman
TN 5 Andy Ogles
AL 6 Gary Palmer
PA 10 Scott Perry
FL 8 Bill Posey
MT 2 Matt Rosendale
TX 21 Chip Roy
AZ 1 David Schweikert
TX 3 Keith Self
FL 17 Greg Steube
WI 7 Tom Tiffany
TX 14 Randy Weber