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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 2 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 28, 2022

Heather Cox Richardson

More than 1.5 million Florida residents are without power as Hurricane Ian is pounding the southwestern coast and moving inland. The hurricane was close to a Category 5 storm when it made landfall about 3 this afternoon, with the predicted 12-foot storm surge materializing near Fort Myers. It has been slowing since it hit land, but the damage, including to this year’s orange crop, is already considerable. This destructive storm highlights the distance between reality and the ideology that calls for getting rid of the federal government. As a newly elected congress member in 2013, now-governor of Florida Ron DeSantis was one of the 67 House Republicans who voted against a $9.7 billion federal flood insurance assistance package for the victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey. Now, with Florida on the ropes, DeSantis asked President Joe Biden for an emergency declaration to free up federal money and federal help even before the storm hit, and said Tuesday, “We all need to work together, regardless of party lines.” Since the 1980s, the argument for dismantling the government has been that federal regulations hamper the operation of the free market, thus slowing economic growth, while the taxes required to maintain a bureaucratic system take money away from those who otherwise would invest in businesses. The avowed theory is that a freely operating market will free up money on the “supply side” of the economy. Flush with cash, investors will theoretically pump that money into new enterprises that will hire workers, and everyone will prosper together. Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office released a study of trends in the distribution of family wealth between 1989—immediately after President Ronald Reagan began the antiregulation and antitax push—and 2019. In those thirty years, total real wealth held by families tripled from $38 trillion to $115 trillion. But the distribution of that growth was not even. Money moved toward the families in the top 10%, and especially in the top 1%, shifting from families with less income and education toward those with more wealth and education. In the 30 years examined, the share of wealth belonging to families in the top 10% increased from 63% in 1989 to 72% in 2019, from $24.3 trillion to $82.4 trillion (an increase of 240%). The share of total wealth held by families in the top 1% increased from 27% to 34% in the same period. In 2019, families in the bottom half of the economy held only 2% of the national wealth, and those in the bottom quarter owed about $11,000 more than they owned. The relative invisibility of these statistics after forty years under Republican ideology has enabled today’s Republicans to insist the Democrats are “socialists” who are trying to redistribute wealth downward even as our laws are clearly redistributing it upward. Last night, California governor Gavin Newsom, who is running for reelection, insisted on MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight that Democrats must push back against the Republican domination of culture wars. Newsom pointed out that 8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates are Republican states and that the gun death rate in Texas is 67% higher than that in California. Newsom expressed dismay that Democrats aren’t better at advocating their policies. That omission is likely a result of the fact that after World War II, it never occurred to most Americans that anyone here would need to defend democracy. And yet we are now facing the rise of “illiberal democracy” or “Christian democracy,” which argues that democracy’s protection of equal rights weakens societies by destroying their moral core and by splitting the people internally. Its adherents call for limiting the vote; privileging white, heterosexual Christian citizens; and standing behind an authoritarian leader who will stamp out opposition—that is, a system that is not a democracy at all. There is a direct correlation between growing economic inequality and the growing popularity of authoritarianism. Scholars of authoritarian systems note that a population that feels economically, religiously, or culturally dispossessed is an easy target for an authoritarian who promises to bring back a mythological world in which its members were powerful. But, having lifted strongmen into power, they learn that they were only tools to put in place someone whose decisions are absolute and who is no longer bound by the law. Today the New York Times published a series of telephone calls from Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. The men were poorly equipped, badly commanded, completely disillusioned, and utterly disgusted with Russian president Vladimir Putin, while their people back home complained that the economy was collapsing and the gains of the past 30 years were being swept away. Meanwhile, Russia has had to strip its troops away from its borders to replace the soldiers lost in Ukraine, and the situation does not appear to be improving. The calls published in the New York Times were captured before Russia’s current mobilization, which has prompted a mass exodus out of the country. Since last week, 53,000 Russians have fled to Georgia; more than 98,000 have fled to Kazakhstan. In the U.S. today, Zachary Cohen, Holmes Lybrand, and Jackson Grigsby of CNN reported on footage taken by a Danish film crew that followed Trump loyalist Roger Stone for about three years for a documentary. The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has seen the footage and permitted the release of certain clips from around the time of the 2020 election and the January 6 attack. In July 2020, Stone was already saying that Trump’s team would not accept the results of the election, clearly expecting that Trump would lose. The day before the election, he said: “F*ck the voting, let’s get right to the violence.” Like Steve Bannon, Stone also said that Trump should simply declare victory, saying: “Possession is nine tenths of the law." The filmmakers later recorded him asking for a pardon for his participation in the insurrection, noting that since Trump had already pardoned him once, after his conviction for lying to lawmakers about his actions and his relationship to Russia in the 2016 campaign, no one would care if Trump pardoned him again. Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who presided over Roger Stone’s trial for lying to lawmakers about his ties to Russia during the 2016 election, called out “high-ranking members of Congress and state officials” for being “so afraid of losing their power” that they won’t contradict Trump when he lies that he won the 2020 election. She warned that the courts must hold the line against the lies and the violence Republican lawmakers are encouraging. Meanwhile, Trump’s demand for a special master to review the materials FBI agents took from Mar-a-Lago on August 8 has put him on the spot. The demand for the review seemed designed to slow the examination of the documents with classification markings, but those have now been exempted by an appeals court, and special master Judge Raymond Dearie is puncturing Trump’s wild claims that he declassified documents or that the FBI planted them at Mar-a-Lago by asking Trump’s lawyers to put those claims in writing for the court. Dearie has asked them to identify which of the 200,000 pages of documents not marked classified Trump wants to claim are covered by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. If he wants to claim executive privilege, he also must explain why the executive branch, currently run by President Biden, has no right to see those documents. Dearie has also asked them to verify by Friday the inventory written by the FBI agents of what they recovered or to note what items on it were allegedly planted. So, the lawyers must either admit that Trump held classified documents or claim that he declassified them (there is no evidence that he did), assert that the FBI planted those documents, or lie. Instead, they are trying to avoid verifying the inventory. That review will cost Trump a lot. He has to pay a vendor to digitize the roughly 200,000 pages, then pay $500 an hour for the review, plus the cost of his own lawyers. While those machinations are taking place, today, for the first time since 1969, the White House held a conference on hunger, nutrition, and health. Biden is bringing together the private sector and government to try to end hunger in America by 2030. The 1969 conference under President Richard Nixon led to a big expansion in food assistance programs. Now, a variety of companies and foundations have pledged $8 billion to address food insecurity, while Democrats in Congress are calling for more free meals in schools and extending school food programs through the summer. Biden has also called for making the expanded child tax credit permanent.

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Notes:

Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsomHere’s what the @GOP don’t want you to know: - 8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates are Republican states - CA actually has lower middle class tax rates than TX - The gun death rate in Texas is 67% higher @WagnerTonight

15,492 Retweets41,661 Likes

September 28th 2022

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/223677-ron-desantis-voted-hurricane-sandy-aid-will-vote-next-week/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/us/politics/hurricane-ian-desantis-florida.html

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/28/us/hurricane-ian-florida

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57598

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58533

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/28/world/europe/russian-soldiers-phone-calls-ukraine.html

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-georgia-moscow-government-and-politics-482165571df054a4d58d0afddafc782b

Jack Detsch @JackDetschNEW: Russia has redeployed up to 80 percent of troops from its borders on the Baltic states and Finland to plug losses in Ukraine, officials tell @RobbieGramer & me European officials said there could be just 6,000 🇷🇺 troops left in Kaliningrad & Baltics

foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/28/rus…

Russia’s Stripped Its Western Borders to Feed the Fight in UkraineBut Finland and the Baltic states are still leery of Moscow’s long-term designs.foreignpolicy.com

831 Retweets2,367 Likes

September 28th 2022

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/politics/roger-stone-january-6-documentary-film

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/27/oath-keeper-trial-trump-jan-6-00059091

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/roger-stone-second-pardon-jan-6

https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-philanthropy-9dc884edcdbce63c6df5f2337ff81922

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/us/politics/trump-special-master-mar-a-lago.html

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763.123.1.pdf

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/why-trump-struck-out-last-week-republican-appointed-judges-n1299078

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

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If I could ask DeSantis one question: When has a Democratic president or Congress balked at providing swift and extensive aid in a natural disaster in a Republican-dominated state?

I'll answer in case he doesn't know: Never.

* * *

#Letters From an American #Heather Cox Richardson #Hurricane #climate change #Gavin Newsom #climate deniars #corrupt GOP #criminal GOP #DOJ #Russia #Ukraine #Roger Stone #Defend Democracy

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political-marvel · 1 year

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OMGGGG I loveddd she-hulk and part of that was learning more about bruce/hulk and to know that Mark Ruffalo is truly a good human too?? I’ll be there

#defend democracy #mark ruffalo #bruce banner #hulk #she hulk #marvel #mcu #politics #sending vibes chris evens pops up unexpectedly #chris evans #rdj #scarlett johansson #jeremy renner #chris hemsworth

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reallyunluckyrunaway · 2 months

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WE LIVE IN THE HANDMAID'S TALE. GET MAD OR GET IMPRISONED IN YOUR OWN HOMES.

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calilili · 8 months

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“We live in ‘A Time of Useful Consciousness ‘ There can be no better case For Democracy than - it’s opposite.☯️🪷🕉️📿🙏🏽☸️ 🌸🦋 11:11 am 11:11 pm Invitation to Unite in Meditation for Multiverse Global Wellness, Kindness, Democratic Freedoms, Blue Planet Mother Earth, Sister Ocean, Sealife , Wildlife , Humanity, Civilization OHM ☯️🪷🕉️📿🙏🏽☸️🌸🦋

The 21st Century is A Time of Useful Consciousness “There Can Be No better case for democracy than it’s opposite” Wouldn’t it be awesome what if We Unite in Non-Denominational Global Meditation intended to heal in co-existence & LOVE Ohm ☯️🪷🕉️📿🙏🏽☸️🌸🦋 11:11 am 11:11 pm All Time Zones or UTC Invitation to Unite in Meditation for the Multiverse of Global Wellness in…

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#black lives matter #climate action #Defend Democracy #democracy #freedom #lgbtq rights #meditation #My body my choice #namaste #ohm #Save democracy #save democracy from republicans #scotus #support democrats to save democracy #voting rights #Wisconsin

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tomorrowusa · 2 years

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Democracy differs from authoritarianism in that it rests on truth, compromise, pluralism and a respect for the rights of others. Biden will go down in history as the president who played a major role in preserving the institutions and ideals that Trump did his best to undermine. [ ... ] It was once assumed that the story of America was one of steady progress in steadily improving our grand experiment in rule by the people. But nothing in this world is guaranteed to last forever, not even the world’s oldest democracy. If it is going to survive, Americans will have to save it — or else be remembered for our failure.

Steve Chapman at the Chicago Tribune.

Ukrainians are putting their lives on the line to protect democracy from fascism.

We have it easier. All we need to do is register and vote.

Be A Voter - Vote Save America

#democracy #joe biden #defend democracy #trump is an enemy of democracy #trump republicans #election 2022 #midterm elections #register and vote #steve chapman

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telanganajournalist · 2 years

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Need Justice for Judiciary in India says Professor Balamurli Natrajan, New Jersey, USA!

హిందూ రాజ్యంలో న్యాయవ్య‌వ‌స్థ‌కే న్యాయం కావాలా? రాజ్యాంగాన్ని కాపాడాల్సిన మూల స్ఠంభాల‌కే ప్ర‌మాదం వాటిల్లిందా?

-అవుననే అంటున్నారు 100 మంది మేధావులు!

-మా నాన్నను విడుదల చేయండి: రష్మీ తేల్ తుంబ్డే

హిందూ దేశంలో న్యాయవ్యవస్థకే నేడు న్యాయం కావాల్సిన రోజులివి అని అన్నారు ప్రముఖ ప్రొఫెస‌ర్ డా. బాల‌ముర‌ళీ న‌ట‌రాజ‌న్, ఆయన న్యూజెర్సీలోని విలియం పీట‌ర్స‌న్ యూనివ‌ర్సిటీ ఆంథ్రోపాల‌జీ, క‌మ్యునిటీ డెవ‌ల‌ప్ మెంట్ అండ్ సోష‌ల్ జ‌స్టీస్ విభాగంలో ప్రొఫెసర్ గా ఉన్నారు.

ఇక మ‌న భార‌త దేశంలో చ‌ట్టం అంద‌రికీ స‌మాన‌ము కాదు, కొంద‌రికి చుట్టంగా ప‌నిచేస్తుంది? అని అంటున్నారు ప్ర‌ముఖ మేధావి, యాక్టివిస్ట్, ర‌చయిత‌, ప్రొఫెస‌ర్ ఆనంద్ తేల్ తుంబ్డే కూతురు ర‌ష్మీ తేల్ తుంబ్డే. వాళ్ల నాన్న‌ను 2018 ఆగ‌ష్టు 23న యుపా(Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) కేసులో అన్యాయంగా అరెస్టు చేశార‌ని... గ‌త మూడేళ్లుగా బెయిల్ ఇవ్వ‌కుండా న‌ర‌కం చూపిస్తున్నార‌ని వాపోయారు. నిన్న త‌న తండ్రి ఆనంద్ తేల్ తుంబ్డే బ‌ర్త్ డే అని పుట్టిన‌రోజున ఇంట్లో కుటుంబంతో గ‌డ‌పాల్సిన ఆయ‌న ఎందుకు తలొజా జైల్లో ఈ ప్ర‌భుత్వం పెట్టిందో అర్థంకావ‌డం లేద‌ని వాపోయారు. సుమారు 100 మంది అటెండ్ అయి ఆనంద్ తేల్ తుంబ్డే గారికి సానుభూతి తెలియజేసిన ఈ జూమ్ సెష‌న్ లో ఆమె బాధ‌ప‌డ్డారు. కోర్టులో కేసు ఇంకా అండర్ ట్ర‌య‌ల్లోనే ఉంద‌ని.. బెయిల్ ఇవ్వ‌డానికి నిరాక‌రిస్తున్నార‌ని ర‌ష్మీ తెలిపారు. నేరం చేయ‌క‌పోయినా ఇలా ఏళ్ల‌త‌ర‌బ‌డి, బెయిల్ ఇవ్వ‌కుండా న్యాయ వ్య‌వ‌స్థ ఎందుకు తాత్సారం చేస్తుందో తెలియ‌డం లేద‌న్నారామె. తాము వంద‌ల సార్లు బెయిల్ పిటీష‌న్ వేసినా.. తిర‌స్క‌రిస్తున్నార‌ని.. పిటీష‌న్ వేసిన ప్ర‌తిసారీ హియ‌రింగ్ కు వ‌చ్చేస‌రికి డీల్ చేసే ప్ర‌ధాన న్యాయ‌మూర్తులు సెల‌వుల్లో వెళుతున్నార‌ని ఆమె బాధ‌ప‌డ్డారు. ఏ న్యాయ‌మూర్తి కూడా మా నాన్న‌కు బెయిల్ ఇప్పించేందుకు ముందుకు రావ‌డానికి భ‌య‌ప‌డుతున్నార‌ని.. ఆయ‌న అంత‌పెద్ద త‌ప్పు ఏమీ చేయ‌లేద‌ని.. అన్యాయంగా త‌న‌ను జైల్లో ఉంచి కుటుంబానికి దూరం చేశార‌ని అన్నారు. అయినా న్యాయ‌వ్య‌వ‌స్థ‌పై ఇంకా న‌మ్మ‌కం ఉంద‌నే అనుకుంటున్నాన‌ని ఆమె ఆశాభావం వ్యక్తం చేశారు. మాపై ఎందుకు ఈ ప్ర‌భుత్వం, స‌మాజం క‌క్ష‌క‌ట్టిందో అర్థం కావ‌డం లేద‌న్నారు. ఈదేశంలో జ‌స్టిస్ ఫ‌ర్ జుడీషియ‌రీ అని అడగాల్సిన అవ‌స‌రం ఉంద‌న్నారు. ఎప్ప‌టికైనా నాన్న విడుద‌ల అవుతార‌న్న ఆశ త‌న‌లో ఉంద‌ని అన్నారు.

ఇక ముంబైలో త‌న త‌ల్లి ర‌మా ఉంద‌ని.. ఆమెకు అడుగ‌డుగునా అవ‌మాన‌మం చేస్తున్నార‌ని బాధ‌ప‌డ్డారు ప్రొఫెస‌ర్ తేల్ తుంబ్డే కూతురు ర‌ష్మీ తేల్ తుంబ్డే.

"మేము ఏ త‌ప్పు చేయ‌కున్నా.. త‌ప్పు చేసిన‌ట్టు రుజువు కాకున్నా ఈ స‌మాజం అంతా ఏక‌మై మ‌మ్ముల‌ను వేలేత్తి చూపిస్తోంద‌ని... ఎక్క‌డ‌కు పోయినా అవ‌మానం చేస్తున్నార‌ని, అన‌రాని మాట‌లు అంటున్నార‌ని.. త‌న తండ్రికి సంఘ విద్రోహ శ‌క్తుల‌తో సంబంధాలు ఉన్నాయ‌ని దానికి సంబంధించిన ఆధారాలు ఎన్ ఐ ఏ ద‌గ్గ‌ర ఉన్నాయి కాబ‌ట్టే ఇన్నేళ్లు త‌న తండ్రిని జైల్లో పెట్టార‌ని చెబుతున్నార‌ని" ఆమె అన్నారు.

నిన్న మా అమ్మ‌మ్మ (ప్ర‌తి ఆరు నెల‌ల‌కు ఓసారి) ఫోన్ చేసిందని.. కానీ మా నాన్న అరెస్టు అయి జైల్లో ఉన్న విష‌యం ఆమెకు తెల‌య‌ద‌ని.. ఫారిన్ లో ఉన్నాడ‌ని బామ్మ‌కు అబద్దం చెబుతున్నామ‌ని ర‌ష్మీ ఆవేద‌న‌తో అన్నారు. అయినా న్యాయం జ‌రిగే వ‌ర‌కు పోరాడ‌తాం అని ఈ దేశంలో ద‌ళితుల‌కు స‌మ‌న్యాయం, స‌మ‌పాల‌న‌, స‌మ‌స‌మాజ నిర్మాణం జ‌రిగే వ‌ర‌కు త‌మ పోరాటం ఆగ‌ద‌న్నారు. గ‌త మూడేళ్లుగా జైల్లో ఉన్న త‌న తండ్రికి పుట్టిన‌రోజు శుభాకాంక్ష‌లు చెప్ప‌డానికి లేఖ రాస్తున్నానని.. ఆయనకు విషేష్ చెప్పడానికి వ‌చ్చిన అంద‌రికీ ధ‌న్య‌వాదాల తెలిపారు. త‌న తండ్రి తొంద‌ర‌లోనే నిర్ధోషిగా విడుద‌లవుతార‌న్న న‌మ్మ‌కం ఉంద‌ని న్యాయం ఇప్పుడు తాబేలు న‌డ‌కలో న‌డుస్తుంద‌ని ఎప్ప‌టికైనా విజ‌యం మా నాన్న వైపు ఉంటుందన్నారు.

ఈ ఆన్ లైన్ జూమ్ సెష‌న్ లో ప్రొఫెసర్ బాలమురళి నటరాజన్ ఏమన్నారంటే.. గోవా ఇన్ స్టిట్యూష‌న్ ఆప్ మేనేజ్ మెంట్ ప్రొఫెస‌ర్ డా. ఆనంద్ తేల్ తుంబ్డేను జైల్లో పెట్ట‌డం అన్యాయం అన్నారు. ఇంకా గోవా న్యూస్ ఎడిట‌ర్ సందేశ్‌ప్ర‌భు, క‌వితా రాజ‌స్తాన్ నేష‌న‌ల్ సెక్ర‌ట‌రీ, మృదులా శ‌ర్మ‌, ప్ర‌ముఖ జ‌ర్న‌లిస్టు భ‌న్వ‌ర్ మేఘ్వాన్షి, మీనా కందేసామి, అర‌వింద్ న‌రేన్, ఎన్ వేణుగోపాల్ మొద‌ల‌గు వారు ప్రొఫెసర్ తేల్ తుంబ్డే ప‌ట్ల‌, ఆయ‌న కుటుంబం ప‌ట్ల సానుభూతిని ప్ర‌క‌టించారు. అంద‌రూ ఒక వేదిక‌పైకి వ‌చ్చి జాతీయ స్ఠాయిలో 'ఏకీ లడాయి' అనే నినాదంతో ఈ ప్ర‌జాస్వామ్మ వ్య‌తిరేక ప్ర‌భుత్వాన్ని ప్ర‌శ్నించాల‌ని.. జీఎన్ సాయిబాబా, జుబేర్ విష‌యంలోనూ ఇదే జ‌రుగుతుంద‌ని వాపోయారు. మ‌నం ఇలాగే ఊరికే ఉంటే ప్ర‌జాస్వామ్యం, మాన‌వ‌విలువ‌లు, రాజ్యాంగానికి విలువ లేకుండా చేస్తార‌ని వాపోయారు వ‌క్త‌లు.

అయితే మ‌న‌ రాజ్యాంగానికి ఎప్పుడో తూట్లు పొడిచారని.. రాజ్యాంగం విలువ‌ల‌ను స‌మూలంగా నాశ‌నం చేస్తున్నార‌ని అంటున్నారు నేటి మేధావులు.. ప్ర‌పంచంలోనే అతిపెద్ద హిందూదేశం, భారత రాజ్యాంగానికి ఆత్మగాను, హృదయంగాను పీఠికను పిలుస్తారు. దీన్ని మూలతత్వం, పరిచయం, ఉపోద్ఘాతం అని పిల‌వ‌బ‌డే ఈ పీఠిక రాజ్యాంగంలోని సర్వస్వానికి ఒక సారాంశంగా చెప్పుకోవచ్చు. 1949 నవంబర్ 26 న రాజ్యాంగ సభ పీఠికను ఆమోదించగా, 26 జనవరి 1950న అమలులోకి వచ్చింది.

జవహర్‌లాల్ నెహ్రూ హ‌యాంలో 1946 డిసెంబర్ 13 న రాజ్యాంగ సభలో ప్రవేశపెట్టి, ఆమోదం పొందించిన ఆశయాల ఆధారంగా పీఠిక రూపొందింది. ఈ పీఠిక గురించి అంబేడ్కర్ ఏమ‌న్నారంటే...

"ఇది, నిజానికి, స్వాతంత్ర్యాన్ని, సమానత్వాన్ని, సౌహార్ద్ర, సౌభ్రాతృత్వాన్ని జీవితాశయాలుగా, ఒక జీవన విధానంగా గుర్తిస్తున్నది. ఈ లక్షణాలు ఒకదానితో మరొకటి విడదీయలేనివి: స్వాతంత్ర్యం, సమానత్వం రెండూ విడదీయలేనివి; సమానత్వం, స్వాతంత్ర్యం రెండూ సౌభ్రాతృత్వంతో విడదీయలేనివి. సమానత్వం లేని పక్షంలో స్వాతంత్ర్యం అతికొద్ది మంది ఆధిపత్యాన్ని మిగతా వారి మీద రుద్దుతుంది. స్వాతంత్ర్యం లేని సమానత్వం వ్యక్తిగత అభిప్రాయాన్ని తొక్కేస్తుంది; సౌభ్రాతృత్వం లేని సమానత్వం/స్వాతంత్ర్యం సహజ పరిపాలనకు బహుదూరం".

అని ఆ మ‌హానుభావుడు ఊరికే అన‌లేదు. ఇవాళ భార‌త్ లో అస‌లు ఏం జ‌రుగుతున్న‌ది. రాజ్యాంగపు పునాదుల‌ను కూడా పెకిలించి వేస్తున్నారా? అని అనిపిస్తోందని వాపోయారు యాక్టివిస్టులు, మేధావులు. లెజిస్లేటివ్, ఎగ్జిక్యూటివ్, జుడీషియ‌రీ మ‌రియు ఫ్రీడ‌మ్ ఆప్ ది ప్రెస్ వీటిని రాజ్యాంగానికి మూల స్తంభాలు అంటాము. మ‌రి వాటికే బీట‌లు వారితే ఏం జ‌రుగుతుంది? అది కూలిపోయే ప్ర‌మాదం ఉంది. ఇప్పుడు అదే జ‌రుగుతొందన్నారు ఈ యాక్టివిస్టులు.

-వేంకటేశ్వర్లు బోయ, తెలంగాణ జర్నలిస్ట్, గద్వాల్

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thevitalportal · 6 months

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Veteran’s Day is today. We must address domestic terrorism. The threat is real. We must protect our political process from people like this with engaging the governance process. Ohio Kentucky and Virginia are the latest examples of positive engagement in the legal peaceful voting process.

#voting rights #defend democracy #voter registration #vital community #vital information exchange #vitalportal #additional information #thevitalportal #vital media #blacklivesmatter #blacktwitter #vital politics #myvitaltv

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misternohair · 2 months

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WHEN YOUR SQUAD IS GETTING OUT OF ROBO-'NAM, YOU DO WHAT EVERY GOOD DEFENDER OF DEMOCRACY DOES

YOU TAKE OUT YOUR RAILGUN AND YOU

HOLD

THE

LINE

#helldivers 2 #enlist today #spread democracy across the galaxy #defend super earth #and send those bastards back to the scrap yards #automatons #remember draupnir #🫡🫡🫡

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marrys-dream-world · 5 months

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Lula, as soon as the Brazilians are out of Gaza:

"Lula says Israel wants to occupy the Gaza Strip and oust the palestinians"

President Lula also criticizes USA's veto (the only country to veto Brazil's resolution at UN's security council). "It's incomprehensible, inadmissible. That's why we fight to change the UN. 1945's UN is worthless in 2023. That's why we want to change the amount of people and the way it works and end the right of veto."

#going insane that the relatiation was so so obvious #it's high time global south countries pressure to change the un's system #just hope this doesn't end with the us “bringing democracy” to brazil tbh #palestine #brazil #he does defend the weak ass two state solution in this tho 🙄

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msboutofcontext · 1 year

Photo

#magic school bus #out of context #ms frizzle #gerri poveri #cindy williams #creative journalism #alternative facts #also known as lies #the big lie #fuck trump #defend democracy #buoyancy #loch ness monster #nessie #Ups and Downs

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 9 months

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An 82-year-old grandmother affiliated with the local Republican Party spat at and attacked a group of veterans during a press conference in Tulsa last Friday, after they vocally protested against the enforced use of religion in public schools.

The incident, which was captured on camera, took place at a press conference called by State Superintendent Ryan Walters on the grounds of Tulsa Public Schools’ administration building.

Attendees were there to show support for E’Lena Ashley, a Tulsa school board member who had been criticized by parents and her fellow board members for praying during a high school graduation ceremony in May. Among those attending the event were members of the local chapter of extremist group Moms for Liberty, which endorsed Ashley’s campaign for school board last year.

Also in attendance were Roberta Pfanstiel and her husband Carl, who were there to support Walters’ call for “religious freedom” in schools. Last month at a Tulsa School Board meeting he called for the promotion of Christianity and “Western heritage” in every classroom, including displaying the Ten Commandments.

At the event, the Pfanstiels were standing next to three activists from Veterans Defending Democracy, who were calling out what they saw as Walters’ hypocritical calls for “religious freedom” in schools.

During the event Pfanstiel, who lives in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, approached one of the activists, Bailee Tyler, who was sitting on the ground wearing a hat bearing the name of one of the activist groups she is affiliated with, Defense of Democracy.

“[Tyler] was on her knees, on the ground in front of me, and [Pfanstiel] came up from behind her and smacked her hat off of her head,” Erika Stormont, one of the three activists said in a podcast discussing the incident.

Much of the exchange was captured on video and posted online. In the clips Stormont, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 before becoming one of the Army’s first female cavalry scouts in 2015, told Pfanstiel that she cannot touch her or anyone else, and that if she does it again they would press charges.

At one point during the press conference a Christian pastor began praying, and at this point protesters called on Walters to allow a rabbi to pray also if he really believed in religious freedom, chanting “let him pray.”

“And it’s as we’re chanting that, again unprovoked, this woman comes up from behind my friend who’s still on the ground and it looks to me like both of her hands are going for her neck, her shoulders area, and that she made contact,” Stormont said.

In Stormont’s video, posted on TikTok, Pfanstiel’s husband is seen restraining his wife by holding both her elbows.

“As I turned my camera back to her and said: ‘That’s twice, you cannot touch people in public.’ She spits in my face and her saliva lands on my cheek,” Stormont said.

At this point in the video, Stormont is heard telling Pfanstiel to spit again because she has captured it on camera. “I know that’s a very inciting thing to say [but] when I say that, every single part of my body at that point was in fight flight [mode].”

Stormont says she drew on the training she had received in therapy about how to deal with such situations. “I refocused back to the event, I refocused on why I was there, and I ‘gray rocked’ her, which is a term we use when we talk about recovering from narcissistic abuse. You cannot give them any of your energy at that point. And I knew at that point we were going to be pressing charges.”

Stormont filed a police report online and received a tracking number, but told VICE News that she has not heard back from the Tulsa Police Department. She called the department this week to update them with the identity of the person who spat at her, after she had been identified by online sleuths, but had to leave a voicemail. The Tulsa Police Department did not respond to VICE News’ requests for comment on the case.

In total about 100 people attended the event according to Stormont, with about one third of the attendees opposing Walters’ and Ashley’s claims that the school board is being religiously intolerant.

Alongside members of the local Moms for Liberty chapter were prominent members of the state and county Republican Party, including Oklahoma GOP chair Nathan Dahm and Tulsa County GOP chairwoman Ronda Vuillemont-Smith. Moms for Liberty did not respond to questions about Pfanstiel’s affiliation with the group.

Pfanstiel, who deleted her Facebook account this week after VICE News contacted her, has in the past appeared in pictures posted online showing herself and her family with Dahm. One photo was taken in front of the Oklahoma State Capitol on January 6, 2021, to oppose the outcome of the 2020 presidential elections.

Dahm didn’t respond to VICE News’ request for comment but Vuillemont-Smith said the party “is aware of the allegations of assault that took place” and “while the party was not the organizer of this press conference, we are monitoring the situation.”

“The Republican Party of Tulsa County honors all veterans who served, and support the freedom of speech,” Vuillemont-Smith added. “We do not condone nor endorse violence of any kind, nor do we support actions or free-speech that disrupt and impede on others' right to free speech.”

When asked if Pfanstiel is a member of the Tulsa GOP, the chairwoman said “all registered Republicans in Tulsa County are considered members of the Tulsa GOP.”

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