"Strap in this week. It's going to be a bumpy ride."
In addition to our collective national headaches, here in Akron, we've had a week of protests over a police shooting of a man with a broken taillight. Shot 43 times. Complicated set of circumstances. Downtown boarded up and police lobbing tear gas. My nerves are shot, yet we've miles to go before we sleep. I just want to look at pics of Joyce's chickens.
gerrymandering is how Jim Jordan stays in office, take a look at his district. The man hasn't passed a single valid piece of legislation his entire career.
Chicken pictures should be mandatory when things heat up! Also, just when I think rich white guys will do anything to keep their power, justified or not, along comes an occasional just-as-nasty woman.
I have a close friend in Akron, at the University, and have visited several times. I can't imagine how the community is coping with this atrocity (in perpetuity). And the same for so many other communities. I hope you can find places to breathe (on the towpath in Cuyahoga National Park?) Such a long road ahead of us. You are not alone!
Akron is known for Midwestern hospitality because of all the rubber factories. (Read David Giffin's "The Hard Way on Purpose". ) All races and cultures worked side by side. Kids attended the same schools. Bowled on the same leagues. Helped shoulder to shoulder with community projects. When the gay Olympics were held here, the organizers said Akron was the friendliest, most welcoming town they'd ever seen.
This shooting upset everyone. Google Jayland Walker. What started this was a broken tail light and that he kept circling a business. The case is horrifying on its face. 8 cops fired 96 bullets and hit him 43 times. Painted with a racist brush, but it's more complicated than that. Jayland had a clean record and was employed. His fiancé died in a car wreck a month before the shooting.
He did some erratic things before the shooting. Refused to pull over and lead police on a chase through town; allegedly shot towards them while driving. Donned a ski mask before exiting the passenger door(?!) Orders to stop and put his hands up we're ignored. Stun guns were deployed, but ineffective. Body cam shows him reaching for his waistband. Cops fired. He was unarmed; gun found in the back seat of his car. Along with a wedding ring.
6 of the 8 cops had just under 3 years on the job. Reported they felt their lives were in danger. Protocol says to keep shooting til the threat is eliminated. Whole thing lasted 7 seconds. Prosecutor declined to criminally charge the cops and that triggered the protest marches.
Further investigation showed Jayland had been googling "killing yourself by drinking bleach". High incidence of suspicion this was suicide by cop. Protests have been non-violent. After 6 days, only 6 arrests, and those were for blocking an intersection with cars. It's reported some protestors threw rocks and frozen water bottles at police. No guns. No vandalism. No looting. Even through all this, Akron's goodness and decency shines through. We are heartsick for Jayland's family, for the young officers who did what they were trained to do and are now traumatized, and for our community. I genuinely believe race had nothing to do with this.
Thanks for the detailed update again Joyce. It’s a lot to digest and will be interesting to see what actually happens in each case. Would love to see TFG on the stand against E. Jean. But we know he wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut. Hopefully lady liberty and KARMA are on the same page🙏🏼😎
The GOP will part company with Trump only if he loses the next election big time. If the Democrats hit the Trifecta in 2024, all the GOP losers will denounce him. Maybe then, the spell will break.
I would like so much for you to be right. But there have been at least a hundred things that when made public, I was sure would cause his supporters and the GOP to drop him like a hot potato. But nope. It appears his supporters are attached as securely as barnacles and just as prepared to go down with the ship.
Of course they are “securely attached.” After all they believe that tfg was sent by god to make the USA a christian nation (lower case “c” intended). These “ barnacles” are firmly entrenched and will stop at nothing to return tfg to office as ‘god intended’.
Don’t believe it? Search “trump sent by god” in any search engine and see what comes up. You may be surprised by the plethora of articles and comments in these articles attesting to this “truth” including some comments by notable Republican legislatures in both the Senate and Congress.
I’ve been saying this for well over a year and have cited many articles (in other Substack writers comments) which expose the “christian extremism” behind ALL of what is, and has been happening in our country. And it’s been going on since BEFORE the 2016 election! Seriously! The GQP is behind it enforce, they are “all in” hook, line, and sinker!
Yes, you are absolutely correct. It’s been going on for decades at least since Lee Atwater and Reagan’s “Southern Strategy”. But really his idea and that strategy wasn’t all that original. He just dressed the slavery and Jim Crow pigs up in conservative christian suits. And lots of folks bought it failing to either see what was under the pretty package or seeing it and not caring because they were the ones benefiting from the strategy.
Hitler was seen by many as a god like figure in post WWI Germany. They did not like democracy, they believed in an authoritarian system, obedience and honor. They were looking for a substitute divine emperor. Along came Hitler. We got TFG.
Yep. I’ve never understood the tendency of wanting someone else to make your life decisions for you. And it amazes me just how many humans want that. It’s not a small number either - it’s somewhere close to 35%. I guess they want to blame someone else for their troubles rather than take the responsibility of their own decisions. Although maybe I’m not being entirely honest about that, there have actually been some times in my life I would have loved to have someone else making the decisions for me. I’ve just never encountered anyone I trusted enough to believe they truly had my own best interests at heart when doing so. So that way of living never worked for me.
I’d say it’s more about some (not all) people searching for guidance vs someone making their life’s decisions and telling them what to do in absolute terms. But in support of your claim, guidance is not what many if not all fundamentalist christians want. They want to be told what to do. And what better than an authoritarian leader to do this.
I also perceive pastors, ministers, priests (or what’re they are called in fundamentalist churches) act like authoritarians. The fact that many ministers of evangelical churches do not allow their “parishioners” to read, watch, or listen to anything outside of their church (the msm) is an example of their authority over all of those who attend their church.
If he doesn’t win in ‘24, he will not only go into denial but had probably been planning his worst case scenario for some time now. It’s his desperation mode.
Thank you, Joyce. It is clear we need to be vigilant!
Virginia: In an article dated November 9, 2021, Democracy Docket laid out the history of the passage of HB1890 - along with Senate Bill 1395 - a bill signed into law by former Governor Ralph Northam. At that time, Virginia enjoyed a Democratic trifecta which ushered in this expanded voting rights law. Virginia lost that trifecta in the election later that year, with Youngkin winning the governorship, and House Republicans taking the majority. Today, Democrats maintain a narrow majority in the Senate. If House Republicans maintain their majority in the House, and take the Senate in November's 2023 election, this law will be in jeopardy of being replaced by more restrictive voting rights.
Wiki: "The 2023 Virginia elections will take place on November 7, 2023. All 40 seats of the Senate of Virginia and 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates will be up for election."
Well, this looks as if we need The Almighty to step in this situation. Jesus said some evil needs prayer.
I am wondering if the Russians are making some of these white hate group members part of the Senate, House, and other government positions. Putin changed the 2016 President election results per President Jimmy Carter on June 28, 2019. Wouldn't it be easier to change the local? With some American traitors help? I remember when one lady went to the polls and the poll worker told her she had already voted. She was shocked and told them she had not voted. Hum...
All will be revealed because the Light of the truth is on.
I have a question which I've not seen addressed anywhere. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution states, "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice..." If, as Trump has claimed, he won in 2020, wouldn't he be prohibited from running again in 2024? By Trump's declaring his 2024 candidacy, isn't that an admission that he lost?
I read an article from The Guardian asking how it is that this guy can be charged with treason (which insurrection is) and yet - lo and behold - be a candidate for President! It apparently boggles the mind of journalists and anyone else from other countries to see this. Frankly it also boggles MY mind & I've lived here - voted against him every time - and still.....................
Just sent this to my state representative because of Joyce’s story about Cleta Mitchell:
Good morning, Mr. Walker,
I was pleased to see that you were not a co-sponsor of HB 1513. However, it was discouraging to note that you voted for it. Why is that, exactly? What evidence is there that voter fraud is a problem in Arkansas? It’s said in the national news that the only way Republicans can win an election is by suppressing the vote. That also isn’t the case in Arkansas. Why, then, do you feel the need to waste valuable resources (which include my taxes!) to create a solution in search of a problem?
I sincerely mean this with respect....i knew Cleta Mitchell (her last name was Deatherage then) and she was a democratic state representative and attorney in Norman, Oklahoma where i am from and where the University of Oklahoma is located (full of college students). It really grieves me to see her change her views on the law, democracy and the Constitution.
She isnt the only one to "change her views" on all three of those issues! Just look back on all those RQPs who spoke from one side of their mouth at first - then from the opposite side! To change from democrat to whatever she is today? Pretty big jump, isnt it?
You’ve motivated me to act. There are several universities near me. I intend to contact student relations to see if they would allow me to coordinate rides to the polls if required. If they are interested, I’ll coordinate to get drivers to do so - and will personally make as many trips as I can.
Thanks for this update. I think that we are fighting time and time is running out. We need Georgia and the DOJ to strike and strike soon. I don’t mean to sound impatient but when they do this there will be a great awakening of the seriousness and fragility of our maintaining and strengthening our. democracy .
Well that is if they finally actually DO! At this point - wonder if they will "wait" till the 2024 election! I think we all need to be just a bit more "impatient"!
Control of state legislatures is becoming a new front-line of the partisan war. It's making the mid-terms increasingly interesting and important from a political perspective. It's turning that truism into truth; the most important election is increasingly becoming "always the next one", presidential or not, because the architecture of the political landscape is being altered in one direction or the other every 2 years as the SCOTUS elevates state's rights over multiple fundamental issues. These campaigns are like the theaters of conflict in WWII. There is no final victory (really never) but the tides of war are cast in ALL theaters, large and small.
I can't remember a time in my life, even post Watergate, where justice appeared to be such a multi-ring circus, with a different circus master in each tent. If only our eyeballs could follow more than one act at a time... soon, there could be 4 or more acts playing simultaneously with some performers shuttling from tent to tent just as fast as their legs will take them. Spectator may soon be the most complex and active role of all, dontcha know?
"Strap in this week. It's going to be a bumpy ride."
In addition to our collective national headaches, here in Akron, we've had a week of protests over a police shooting of a man with a broken taillight. Shot 43 times. Complicated set of circumstances. Downtown boarded up and police lobbing tear gas. My nerves are shot, yet we've miles to go before we sleep. I just want to look at pics of Joyce's chickens.
Yes, I understand Akron crime rate stands at 45, Cleveland at 15, Manhattan at 5. How does Jim Jordan stay in office?
gerrymandering is how Jim Jordan stays in office, take a look at his district. The man hasn't passed a single valid piece of legislation his entire career.
He's a swamp creature.
No doubt.
Chicken pictures should be mandatory when things heat up! Also, just when I think rich white guys will do anything to keep their power, justified or not, along comes an occasional just-as-nasty woman.
And then there's Ginni Thomas . . .
Beyond nasty. An ideologue gone rogue!
"Ideorogue" has serious potential as a neologism. I'm going to start using it!
Good one!
Joyce's chicken pictures relieve my stress every day from the national cacophony!
I have a close friend in Akron, at the University, and have visited several times. I can't imagine how the community is coping with this atrocity (in perpetuity). And the same for so many other communities. I hope you can find places to breathe (on the towpath in Cuyahoga National Park?) Such a long road ahead of us. You are not alone!
Deb.
Thanks for your kind words.
Akron is known for Midwestern hospitality because of all the rubber factories. (Read David Giffin's "The Hard Way on Purpose". ) All races and cultures worked side by side. Kids attended the same schools. Bowled on the same leagues. Helped shoulder to shoulder with community projects. When the gay Olympics were held here, the organizers said Akron was the friendliest, most welcoming town they'd ever seen.
This shooting upset everyone. Google Jayland Walker. What started this was a broken tail light and that he kept circling a business. The case is horrifying on its face. 8 cops fired 96 bullets and hit him 43 times. Painted with a racist brush, but it's more complicated than that. Jayland had a clean record and was employed. His fiancé died in a car wreck a month before the shooting.
He did some erratic things before the shooting. Refused to pull over and lead police on a chase through town; allegedly shot towards them while driving. Donned a ski mask before exiting the passenger door(?!) Orders to stop and put his hands up we're ignored. Stun guns were deployed, but ineffective. Body cam shows him reaching for his waistband. Cops fired. He was unarmed; gun found in the back seat of his car. Along with a wedding ring.
6 of the 8 cops had just under 3 years on the job. Reported they felt their lives were in danger. Protocol says to keep shooting til the threat is eliminated. Whole thing lasted 7 seconds. Prosecutor declined to criminally charge the cops and that triggered the protest marches.
Further investigation showed Jayland had been googling "killing yourself by drinking bleach". High incidence of suspicion this was suicide by cop. Protests have been non-violent. After 6 days, only 6 arrests, and those were for blocking an intersection with cars. It's reported some protestors threw rocks and frozen water bottles at police. No guns. No vandalism. No looting. Even through all this, Akron's goodness and decency shines through. We are heartsick for Jayland's family, for the young officers who did what they were trained to do and are now traumatized, and for our community. I genuinely believe race had nothing to do with this.
Sounds like Neo-Nazis killing to me.
That's exactly what it is.
Mitchell is treacherous. We are not giving up on North Carolina students—you can be sure of that.
Mitchell is treasonous!
Thanks for the detailed update again Joyce. It’s a lot to digest and will be interesting to see what actually happens in each case. Would love to see TFG on the stand against E. Jean. But we know he wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut. Hopefully lady liberty and KARMA are on the same page🙏🏼😎
Thanks for explaining the whole attorney-for-fake-electors thing. The news stories I read left me confused, but you've make it much clearer.
The GOP will part company with Trump only if he loses the next election big time. If the Democrats hit the Trifecta in 2024, all the GOP losers will denounce him. Maybe then, the spell will break.
I would like so much for you to be right. But there have been at least a hundred things that when made public, I was sure would cause his supporters and the GOP to drop him like a hot potato. But nope. It appears his supporters are attached as securely as barnacles and just as prepared to go down with the ship.
Of course they are “securely attached.” After all they believe that tfg was sent by god to make the USA a christian nation (lower case “c” intended). These “ barnacles” are firmly entrenched and will stop at nothing to return tfg to office as ‘god intended’.
Don’t believe it? Search “trump sent by god” in any search engine and see what comes up. You may be surprised by the plethora of articles and comments in these articles attesting to this “truth” including some comments by notable Republican legislatures in both the Senate and Congress.
I’ve been saying this for well over a year and have cited many articles (in other Substack writers comments) which expose the “christian extremism” behind ALL of what is, and has been happening in our country. And it’s been going on since BEFORE the 2016 election! Seriously! The GQP is behind it enforce, they are “all in” hook, line, and sinker!
Yes, you are absolutely correct. It’s been going on for decades at least since Lee Atwater and Reagan’s “Southern Strategy”. But really his idea and that strategy wasn’t all that original. He just dressed the slavery and Jim Crow pigs up in conservative christian suits. And lots of folks bought it failing to either see what was under the pretty package or seeing it and not caring because they were the ones benefiting from the strategy.
Hitler was seen by many as a god like figure in post WWI Germany. They did not like democracy, they believed in an authoritarian system, obedience and honor. They were looking for a substitute divine emperor. Along came Hitler. We got TFG.
Yep. I’ve never understood the tendency of wanting someone else to make your life decisions for you. And it amazes me just how many humans want that. It’s not a small number either - it’s somewhere close to 35%. I guess they want to blame someone else for their troubles rather than take the responsibility of their own decisions. Although maybe I’m not being entirely honest about that, there have actually been some times in my life I would have loved to have someone else making the decisions for me. I’ve just never encountered anyone I trusted enough to believe they truly had my own best interests at heart when doing so. So that way of living never worked for me.
I’d say it’s more about some (not all) people searching for guidance vs someone making their life’s decisions and telling them what to do in absolute terms. But in support of your claim, guidance is not what many if not all fundamentalist christians want. They want to be told what to do. And what better than an authoritarian leader to do this.
I also perceive pastors, ministers, priests (or what’re they are called in fundamentalist churches) act like authoritarians. The fact that many ministers of evangelical churches do not allow their “parishioners” to read, watch, or listen to anything outside of their church (the msm) is an example of their authority over all of those who attend their church.
If he doesn’t win in ‘24, he will not only go into denial but had probably been planning his worst case scenario for some time now. It’s his desperation mode.
Thank you, Joyce. It is clear we need to be vigilant!
Virginia: In an article dated November 9, 2021, Democracy Docket laid out the history of the passage of HB1890 - along with Senate Bill 1395 - a bill signed into law by former Governor Ralph Northam. At that time, Virginia enjoyed a Democratic trifecta which ushered in this expanded voting rights law. Virginia lost that trifecta in the election later that year, with Youngkin winning the governorship, and House Republicans taking the majority. Today, Democrats maintain a narrow majority in the Senate. If House Republicans maintain their majority in the House, and take the Senate in November's 2023 election, this law will be in jeopardy of being replaced by more restrictive voting rights.
Wiki: "The 2023 Virginia elections will take place on November 7, 2023. All 40 seats of the Senate of Virginia and 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates will be up for election."
https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/virginias-voting-rights-act-unpacked/
Well, this looks as if we need The Almighty to step in this situation. Jesus said some evil needs prayer.
I am wondering if the Russians are making some of these white hate group members part of the Senate, House, and other government positions. Putin changed the 2016 President election results per President Jimmy Carter on June 28, 2019. Wouldn't it be easier to change the local? With some American traitors help? I remember when one lady went to the polls and the poll worker told her she had already voted. She was shocked and told them she had not voted. Hum...
All will be revealed because the Light of the truth is on.
I have a question which I've not seen addressed anywhere. The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution states, "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice..." If, as Trump has claimed, he won in 2020, wouldn't he be prohibited from running again in 2024? By Trump's declaring his 2024 candidacy, isn't that an admission that he lost?
Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.
Logic isn’t in T💩p’s quiver.
I read an article from The Guardian asking how it is that this guy can be charged with treason (which insurrection is) and yet - lo and behold - be a candidate for President! It apparently boggles the mind of journalists and anyone else from other countries to see this. Frankly it also boggles MY mind & I've lived here - voted against him every time - and still.....................
Just sent this to my state representative because of Joyce’s story about Cleta Mitchell:
Good morning, Mr. Walker,
I was pleased to see that you were not a co-sponsor of HB 1513. However, it was discouraging to note that you voted for it. Why is that, exactly? What evidence is there that voter fraud is a problem in Arkansas? It’s said in the national news that the only way Republicans can win an election is by suppressing the vote. That also isn’t the case in Arkansas. Why, then, do you feel the need to waste valuable resources (which include my taxes!) to create a solution in search of a problem?
The courtesy of a reply is requested.
Here’s the act:
https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Acts/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2F
I sincerely mean this with respect....i knew Cleta Mitchell (her last name was Deatherage then) and she was a democratic state representative and attorney in Norman, Oklahoma where i am from and where the University of Oklahoma is located (full of college students). It really grieves me to see her change her views on the law, democracy and the Constitution.
She isnt the only one to "change her views" on all three of those issues! Just look back on all those RQPs who spoke from one side of their mouth at first - then from the opposite side! To change from democrat to whatever she is today? Pretty big jump, isnt it?
You’ve motivated me to act. There are several universities near me. I intend to contact student relations to see if they would allow me to coordinate rides to the polls if required. If they are interested, I’ll coordinate to get drivers to do so - and will personally make as many trips as I can.
Thanks for this update. I think that we are fighting time and time is running out. We need Georgia and the DOJ to strike and strike soon. I don’t mean to sound impatient but when they do this there will be a great awakening of the seriousness and fragility of our maintaining and strengthening our. democracy .
Well that is if they finally actually DO! At this point - wonder if they will "wait" till the 2024 election! I think we all need to be just a bit more "impatient"!
Too bad Muck wasn't flying as test pilot on his "starship" last week. That would have made the universe great again for sure.
He’d just revive the witticism “Where’s lonE skuM going next? All over Texas!”
Thanks for the review. Congratulations (maybe) on the check mark. He’s also given them back to at least three dead celebrities. What a........
Cleta, Ginny, Sidney; members of "the girls of the Cabal".
Bragg, Willis; already heros.
TFG and his merry band of White House thieves-remain in costume
SCOTUS and the federal courts; semi-reliable, maverick tendencies, please no Staring
Control of state legislatures is becoming a new front-line of the partisan war. It's making the mid-terms increasingly interesting and important from a political perspective. It's turning that truism into truth; the most important election is increasingly becoming "always the next one", presidential or not, because the architecture of the political landscape is being altered in one direction or the other every 2 years as the SCOTUS elevates state's rights over multiple fundamental issues. These campaigns are like the theaters of conflict in WWII. There is no final victory (really never) but the tides of war are cast in ALL theaters, large and small.
I can't remember a time in my life, even post Watergate, where justice appeared to be such a multi-ring circus, with a different circus master in each tent. If only our eyeballs could follow more than one act at a time... soon, there could be 4 or more acts playing simultaneously with some performers shuttling from tent to tent just as fast as their legs will take them. Spectator may soon be the most complex and active role of all, dontcha know?
“People get ready.”
Just go with this. Vanilla Fudge. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uvrPpG4N1l4