September 25, 1789 The first U.S. Congress passed the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and sent them on to the states for ratification. See the actual document and learn more
September 25, 1957 Nine African-American children, protected by 300 members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, with fixed bayonets, entered the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.The troops were there to escort the children past white segregationists and the Arkansas Militia (National Guard) thatArkansas Governor Orval Faubus had activated to prevent its federal court-approved racial integration plan. After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent troops to Little Rock to enforce the court order. The order to de-segregate the Little Rock schools flowed from the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision. The troops remained for the entire school term.
September 25, 1961 Herbert Lee, a farmer who worked with civil rights leader Bob Moses to help register black voters, was killed by a state legislator, E. H. Hurst, in Liberty, Mississippi. Hurst claimed self-defense and was acquitted by a coroner’s jury the same day as the killing. Lewis Allen, who witnessed the shooting, said otherwise, and was himself murdered two years later. Herbert Lee
September 25, 2002 Rick DellaRatta and Jazz For Peace performed at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. He led a band consisting of Israeli, Middle Eastern, European, Asian and American jazz musicians in concert for an international audience. Jazz for Peace continues to perform concerts to raise money for non-profit organizations. Rick DellaRatta
I do it now and then, hadn’t in a while but really liked one so I did it but didn’t turn it in. (It’ll become clear.) Then I got a bunch of GOTV postcards done, and there it was, at the bottom of that stack. It so happened that another came along that I really liked (this one below,) so I added it, then submitted it. It got posted today, and even though it’s really not at all good, it’s funny, it was fun, and I thought I’d share. I’ve sent in several over the past year; dotted amongst the posts. The best one was of two dogs discussing a thing; a similar scenario as below, but not exactly the same. And I might try this one, too. I can draw fish. Anyway, here is this.
Underwater. A group of fish laugh at a wild-eyed fish, who glares at them with impotent rage. One of the laughing fish says: “Go ahead, Throckmorton! Tell us more about the ‘land’ outside the pond.”
First they laugh at you…
It’s Two-for-Tuesday, and that means for the second day in a row, we’re graced with an Ali Redford original. Today she tries her hand at eight nine one:
A SURPRISE IN HELL
It’s simple, it’s bleak — I love it. And I love what a great contrast it makes with Margreet de Heer’s version from last week. Margreet, of course, is one of the world’s great cartoonists; Ali is a writer like me (though she does draw better than I do). It’s fascinating to see what the same cartoon looks like filtered through two very different brains.
Margreet’s doomed souls strained helplessly to pull the lever. Ali’s sufferer merely looks at it, puzzled. It’s the same set-up, the same pieces of furniture, but the joke is very different. This is the beauty of collaboration.
Thanks, Ali (and Margreet again). It’s great.
The rest of you — get off your duffs (or, more accurately, on them) and draw. (snip)
So now you know I thing I do when I’m not writing postcards or congresscritters, or cleaning house, or walking Corky, and so forth. Once in a while, I “draw”, sometimes even manage to really draw a cartoon based on a professional writer’s scene.
A number of years ago I posted about my friend Tommy, but heard the below song and was reminded of him. Tommy grew up just down the road from me, and we played as kids. His parents were very nice and they always made me feel welcome. At that time, I don’t know what was more needed: the friendship I had with Tommy or the welcoming kindness of a home that made me feel good about myself.
As I grew out of Elementary School and into Middle School, Tommy and I continued to be friends. I admired Tommy, “looked up to him”, and that is in quotes because he was considerably smaller than I was. Tommy had a confidence in him that I didn’t. A level eye, a strong kindness and quick smile And he was cute! Yes, I was very attracted to Tommy. But, as luck would have it, Tommy was not only very not attracted to me but was already getting a lot of attention from the girls. We soon went our own ways when I made the mistake of hoping.
Come forward some forty odd years and I saw a garage sale in the neighborhood as I was coming home. I stopped and saw a few things I liked, then asked about a boy I once knew that lived there named Tommy. Well, foot in mouth, Tommy died a few months previous in a car accident. I continued after that day to look in on his mother and talk with her as she walked her dog in the neighborhood. I never knew if she was aware of my feelings for her son or if she ever wondered why she stopped seeing me come to her warm home.
And so I offer this memory and song to all who missed out on that hope like I did.
I still think of you, Tommy. Wish things could have been different. May your rest be peaceful.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. − Top election officials in major swing states say they are prepared to take local governments to court if they refuse to certify the 2024 presidential election, a move that could impede an effort to overturn the election if former President Donald Trump loses.
Officials from Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin made the comments in interviews with USA TODAY and at a public event at the University of Michigan on Thursday as they sought to assure the public that they would protect the legitimacy of the election.
“We would immediately take them to court to compel them to certify, and we’re confident − because of how clear the election law is in Pennsylvania − that the courts would expeditiously require the counties to certify their election results,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt.
In battleground states and states where Vice President Kamala Harris is depending on victories to secure an Electoral College majority, county officials have voted against or delayed certifying the results of elections at least three dozen times since 2020 − from the presidential race down to school board recounts.
It’s an outgrowth of Trump and his allies’ strategy to overturn the 2020 election by stopping Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory. Local officials who refuse to certify a county’s results in 2024 may intend to stop Harris’ electoral votes from their state from being sent to Congress in the first place. (snip-More)
Sep 23, 2024 Orion Rummler Originally published by The 19th
In 2020, the Supreme Court found that gay and transgender workers are protected from workplace discrimination in the landmark case Bostock v. Clayton County. Despite those federal protections, LGBTQ+ people across the country — especially transgender and nonbinary people — continue to face rampant discrimination at work and don’t feel safe being out, according to research from the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
In a 2023 study of 1,902 LGBTQ+ adults in the workforce, released in August, 17 percent said they had experienced discrimination or harassment on the job in the past year. Trans and nonbinary employees were more than twice as likely as cisgender queer employees to face discrimination and harassment: Twenty-two percent of trans and nonbinary people experienced discrimination in the past year, and 26 percent experienced harassment.
“You would hope things have gotten better,” said Brad Sears, founding executive director of the Williams Institute and coauthor of the report.
Sears believes the high rate of recent discrimination is an indication that change has been slow after Bostock, even after the Biden administration implemented additional nondiscrimination policies. Shortly after Biden was inaugurated in 2021, he issued an executive order based on Bostock that mandated the protection of gay and transgender Americans in the workplace, as well as in schools and doctor’s offices. And as of this spring, extra protections were put in place to guard against employers who consistently misgender employees or deny them access to sex-segregated spaces.
Still, the study found that many LGBTQ+ Americans are not out in the workplace to avoid facing discrimination and harassment. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ employees said that they are not open about their identity to their current supervisor, and one-fifth are not out to any of their coworkers. Staying in the closet actually did protect them: LGBTQ+ employees who were out to at least a few coworkers, or just their supervisor, were three times as likely to report discrimination as employees who were not out.
“A lot of people, even if they are out, they’re kind of downplaying their identities in the workplace,” Sears said. “Maybe they use a different voice or different mannerisms at work, or they don’t dress exactly how they would otherwise dress when they’re not at work, or they use a bathroom that they would prefer not to be using at work.”
To avoid discrimination, transgender and nonbinary people are significantly more likely to hide their identities than cisgender queer people. In a new breakout analysis of the Williams Institute’s survey, the experiences of nonbinary people are found to be especially fraught.
Nonbinary people in the study described being ostracized and subjected to violence, harassment or threatsat work due to their physical appearance either not being “feminine” enough or “masculine” enough. Their gender expression made them a target and was used as a justification for their treatment by their bosses, coworkers and customers. Frequently, nonbinary people said they were passed over for raises and promotions, called slurs, and forced to work alone.
The nonbinary people surveyed were largely young, urban, and racially and ethnically diverse. To the survey authors, such data is a call for employers to take action — especially If they want to retain young employees.
About 87 percent of nonbinary adults in the workforce are under 35 years old, compared with 71 percent of transgender adults and 51 percent of cisgender queer adults, according to the study. That research aligns with other findings from KFF that Americans under 35 are more likely to identify as nonbinary than older Americans, and research from the Pew Research Center that found adults under 30 are more likely than older adults to be out as trans or nonbinary.
About 3 in 5 nonbinary people have experienced discrimination or harassment at work at some point in their lives, like being fired, not hired, not promoted, or verbally, sexually or physically harassed.
About 1 in 5 nonbinary people reported physical harassment at work because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, with some survey respondents reporting being “assaulted,” “attacked” and “strangled.”
For some, unfair treatment looked like having their hours reduced, being isolated from other employees or customers, or being excluded from company events or socializing.
“Oftentimes, I was passed up for a promotion because I wasn’t ‘manly’ enough, and they doubted my ability to lead a team,” a Latinx nonbinary person from California said in the survey. A Latinx nonbinary participant from Colorado shared: “A co-worker strangled me at a counter and said he was trying to ‘give a girl a massage.’” In Connecticut, a Black nonbinary person said they heard their manager talking “disparagingly” about them to the rest of their bosses because of their gender expression.
One in 4 nonbinary employees said they are currently experiencing adverse treatment at their job because of their LGBTQ+ identity. For many nonbinary people, the worst experiences of discrimination and harassment that they face at work are linked to their multiple marginalized identities. In particular, they were targeted for their disability or being bisexual in addition to being nonbinary.
This research shows that company-level policies, as well as state and federal nondiscrimination regulations, need to be specific so that they protect nonbinary employees, Sears said.
The Williams Institute plans to release more breakout analyses from its survey, including reports on the experiences of transgender, Black, Latinx and Asian-American employees. Breaking down the unique experiences of each demographic is key to understanding and addressing the issues that they’re facing at work, Sears said — for example, nonbinary people face rigid and gendered expectations at work, while bisexual women face high rates of sexual harassment.
“LGBTQ+ people are not monolithic. They’re different, they have intersecting identities … and those are leading to differences that are important in the workplace,” he said.
More Asian-American voters are planning to support the Democrat at the top of the presidential ticket now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the nominee, according to the 2024 AAPI Voter Survey released Tuesday.
Harris, whose campaign has been specifically reaching out to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters, has a 38-point lead over Republican former President Donald Trump among Asian Americans. It’s a significantly wider advantage than the 15-point lead President Joe Biden had with Asian-American voters in a spring survey, before Biden dropped out of the presidential race and Harris became the Democrats’ standard-bearer.
In May, Biden led Trump 46 percent to 31 percent, with 23 percent undecided or backing a third-party candidate. Now, 66 percent of Asian-American voters back Harris, compared with 28 percent for Trump and just 6 percent for a third party.
It’s a return to 2020 levels of support for the Democratic ticket, according to Karthick Ramakrishnan, the executive director and founder of AAPI Data, one of the groups that conducted the survey. “When it comes to voter enthusiasm and intention to vote, we’re seeing levels on par with 2020, which was a historic election in terms of having record high turnout for Asian Americans. All these ingredients point toward Asian Americans having a pretty powerful role in the Harris candidacy.”
Harris’ favorability has also risen 18 points; it is 62 percent now versus 44 percent in the spring.
For Asian-American voters, Harris’ gender is more important (38 percent) than her Asian-American identity (27 percent). It’s noteworthy given that Harris’ mother was an immigrant from India.
It’s all the more surprising given the role that race has come to play in the campaign, especially since Trump has sought to center Harris’ race by questioning whether she is Black or South Asian. (She is both.) “Gender is not explicitly talked about as much in this campaign by Trump — it’s [Harris’] racial identity that’s being talked about a lot more. So I think it’s one of those things that seems under the radar compared to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 candidacy, but is emerging as a pretty powerful force,” Ramakrishnan said.
Christine Chen, a co-founder and executive director of APIAVote, added that AAPI voters’ attitudes on Harris’ gender reflect much of the grassroots organizing happening on her behalf. “South Asians for Harris, Chinese Americans for Harris, Korean Americans for Harris — we saw such activation coming from the community and partially, I think it is because of her ethnicity, but it was also driven by the women in those communities.”
AAPI women are more likely to support Harris (70 percent) than AAPI men (57 percent). Chen said much of this work, and excitement, also has to do with how Asian-American women are working with Black women and Latinas across organizing spaces, bringing together a racially diverse coalition of voters.
And these women have been organizing for a decade already, Ramakrishnan said.
“So you combine that with having the historic nature of her candidacy as not only the first Asian American but as the first woman and Asian-American woman, and that combines, I think, into a pretty potent combination,” he said.
The AAPI Voter Survey is a joint effort between AAPI Data and APIAVote, and was administered Sept. 3-9 by NORC at the University of Chicago. The survey was offered in English, Chinese dialects of Mandarin and Cantonese, Vietnamese and Korean, and oversampled citizens and registered voters. The margin of error is 4.7 percentage points.
The Harris campaign has been working to reach AAPI communities, and it appears to be paying off: 62 percent say they have been contacted by the Democratic Party, compared with 46 percent who have had the Republican Party reach out.
Last week, the Harris campaign released its third ad specifically targeting Asian-American voters, titled “My Mother.” It repurposes part of Harris’ acceptance speech from last month’s Democratic National Convention when she described her mom — “a brilliant 5-foot-tall Brown woman with an accent” — and said her mother taught her family “to never complain about injustice but do something about it.”
Meanwhile, when APIAVote had a presidential town hall earlier this summer, Republicans didn’t even send a surrogate, Chen said.
For many AAPI voters, Ramakrishnan said, the top issue is “racism and discrimination.” Seventy-two percent of AAPI voters said they wouldn’t be willing to vote for a candidate who doesn’t share their views on racism or discrimination.
Since first entering presidential politics in 2015, Trump has demonized immigrants. He also repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus,” which was followed by a rise in discrimination and attacks against Asian Americans. Recently, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has amplified racist conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, that he knows are false.
“Even if the Republican Party is investing in voter outreach, to the extent that party leaders continue to engage in talk that is perceived as xenophobic or racist, it’ll make it really difficult to win support among Asian-American voters,” Ramakrishnan said. “That’s just very real. Absolutely, the parties need to invest, but what party leaders say also matters.”
“I don’t want to ignore the role of racism and discrimination,” Ramakrishnan continued. “So the extent that you see both Trump and Vance not only dog whistling on race, but blowing their bullhorns on race, that’s something that will prevent the Republican Party from capitalizing on any frustration people have with not only Biden, but Harris.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on outreach to AAPI voters.
According to a separate survey released Tuesday by KFF, 45 percent of Asian immigrants say the way Trump talks about immigrants has negatively affected the way they’re treated. Just 7 percent said that about Harris. In fact, 30 percent of Asian immigrants said Harris’ rhetoric has had a positive effect on how they have been treated.
Chen pointed to Georgia as a state where AAPI voters — particularly newly registered voters — could make a difference. Biden won the state in 2020 by less than 12,000 votes in a year with about 39,000 first-time AAPI voters, she said.
Ramakrishnan said the second biggest issue for AAPI voters is abortion, which Harris has made a centerpiece of her candidacy.
“Asian Americans are some of the strongest supporters of abortion rights in this country,” Ramakrishnan said. “Support for abortion rights is high even among Asian Americans who are predominantly Catholic, like Filipinos. I think something very underappreciated is how much abortion plays a role in the public opinion of Asian American voters.”
Among AAPI voters in the survey, 63 percent said they would not vote for a candidate who does not share their view on abortion policy. There is a 20-point gender split — 72 percent of AAPI women and 52 percent of AAPI men — on the question.
Though there are six weeks until Election Day, Chen said the candidates would be wise to understand that for AAPI voters, the window to reach them is even shorter: in the 2022 midterms, 73 percent voted early or by mail.
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The Haitian Bridge Alliance filed a bench memorandum and supporting affidavit in Clark County Municipal Court on Tuesday, asking local authorities to charge former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance with multiple criminal offenses related to claims they made about Springfield’s Haitian community.
The memorandum was filed by Guerline Jozef on behalf of the national nonprofit the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), asking a Municipal Court judge to charge Vance and Trump with disrupting public services, making false alarms, two counts of complicity, two counts of telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing.
The filing asks that the court find probable cause for the charges and issue arrest warrants for Trump and Vance.
Under Ohio law, a private citizen seeking to “cause an arrest or prosecution” can file an affidavit with “a reviewing official” — a judge, prosecuting attorney or magistrate — to have them review the facts and decide if a complaint should be filed.
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said Tuesday afternoon that while the city recognizes the serious nature of the allegations, “it is important to allow the legal process to unfold.” He said it is “critical that we’re sensitive to these issues like immigration” and are grounded in facts.
“Springfield remains dedicated to fostering constructive dialogue and addressing concerns with integrity,” Rue said. “Springfield’s priority continues to be the wellbeing of our residents, including the Haitian immigrant community. Any actions that disrupt public services or spread false alarms are taken seriously and we’ll continue to uphold our commitment to protect public order.”
This bench memorandum and affidavit comes through The Chandra Law Firm in Cleveland, and according to its website, Jozef, the HBA’s co-founder and executive director, is seeking Trump and Vance’s immediate arrest for:
Disrupting public service “by causing widespread bomb and other threats that resulted in massive disruptions to the public services;”
Making false alarms “by knowingly causing alarm in the Springfield community by continuing to repeat lies that state and local officials have said were false;”
Telecommunications harassment “by spreading claims they know to be false during the presidential debate, campaign rallies, nationally televised interviews, and social media;”
Aggravated menacing “by knowingly making intimidating statements with the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass the recipients, including Trump’s threat to deport immigrants who are here legally to Venezuela, a land they have never known” and “by knowingly causing others to falsely believe that members of Springfield’s Haitian community would cause serious physical harm to the person or property of others in Springfield;”
Complicity “by conspiring with one another and spreading vicious lies that caused innocent parties to be parties to their various crimes.”
“Because the prosecuting attorney has not yet acted to protect the community and hold Trump and Vance accountable for what they have instigated, Ms. Jozef asks the court to find probable cause based on the facts presented and issue arrest warrants for both Trump and Vance,” the law firm stated. “The prosecuting attorney then must make a public decision about whether that office stands for the rule of law — or whether it will further coddle Trump and Vance with complete inaction.”
Subodh Chandra, Jozef’s lead counsel, said in a statement that the Haitian community is “suffering in fear” due to Trump and Vance’s “relentless, irresponsible, false alarms, and public services have been disrupted.” Chandra said the two politicians “must be held accountable to the rule of law,” claiming that others who “have wreaked havoc” would have been arrested already.
“They think they’re above the law. They’re not,” Chandra said.
Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung didn’t comment directly on the court filing, but said that Trump is “rightfully highlighting the failed immigration system that Kamala Harris has overseen, bringing thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into communities like Springfield and many others across the country.” (snip-More)
what a guy, huh? by the way, there’s a word for handing cash to a voter. that word is bribery. but it’s all in a day’s work for America’s Con-Artist-in-Chief.
Within the above is a link to the below on Threads, but I’ve copied the text here:
It is illegal for a presidential candidate, or any candidate, to hand out cash to voters in the U.S.
Offering money or any form of valuable consideration in exchange for a vote is considered bribery and violates federal election laws.
The Federal Election Campaign Act and related laws prohibit this type of conduct to ensure elections are free and fair.
Both the person offering the bribe and the person receiving it could face legal consequences.
Opinion | Netanyahu’s lethal bombs will turn Lebanon into another Gaza. He must be brought down now
The Israeli leader needs forever wars to keep himself in power. Innocent lives just don’t matter, says Simon Tisdall, the foreign affairs commentator of the Observer
Scottie's Playtime 