Author: ali redford
I love dogs and people. I want living creatures to thrive. I love to cook, and share the food, but ya gotta get in line in front of the dog.
Peace & Justice History for 2/8
| February 8, 1962 More than 20,000 attended a demonstration in Paris against the Secret Army Organization (Organisation de l’Armée Secrète or OAS), a group of European-Algerians which used terrorist methods to keep Algeria a French colony. They set off bombs in Metropolitan France and made multiple attempts on President Charles DeGaulle’s life. DeGaulle had chosen a referendum among Algerians to decide their independence; Europeans were outnumbered 9:1 by the native population of Sunni Muslim Arabs and Berbers. The demonstration was held in violation of a declared state of emergency (because of OAS actions) and, in the subsequent rioting, at least eight people were killed and 240 injured (half of them police officers).  The terrorist crimes of the OAS |
| February 8, 1968 The Orangeburg Masssacre  Three black students were killed and 50 wounded in a confrontation with highway patrolmen at a South Carolina State rally supporting arrested civil rights protesters. Orangeburg’s only bowling alley, the All Star, was still segregated years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had outlawed discrimination based on race in such public accommodations. On the previous two days, college students had entered the bowling alley, refusing to leave after they were not allowed to bowl. Fifteen of the second group were arrested. The Orangeburg Massacre (2 links) |
| February 8, 1980 President Jimmy Carter unveiled a plan to re-introduce draft registration. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february8
I Had No Idea Trae Bakes!
Fancy Fixin’s – Hillbilly Comedian Trae Crowder Makes Opera Cake
Programming Notes:
Warner Bros. Lets You Watch 31 Films Free Online: David Byrne’s True Stories, Christopher Guest’s Waiting for Guffman, Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep & More
in Film | February 7th, 2025
It’s Friday, which means that tonight, many of us will sit down to watch a movie with our family, our friends, our significant other, or — for some cinephiles, best of all — by ourselves. If you haven’t yet lined up any home-cinematic experience in particular, consider taking a look at this playlist of 31 feature films just made available to stream by Warner Bros. You’ll know the name of that august Hollywood studio, of course, but did you know that it put out True Stories, the musical plunge into tabloid America directed by Talking Heads’ David Byrne? Or Waiting for Guffman, the first improvised movie by Christopher Guest and his troupe of crack comedic players like Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, and Parker Posey? (Snip-MORE info/programs on the page!)
Timely Toon + Help a Person Out (OT Post)
Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for February 07, 2025
So, we’ve always had nicknames for our doggies. We’ve had: Sparkinator, Chrissinator, Corkinator; Sparky-Larky, Missy Chrissy, Corky-Lorky; also Sparkasaur, and Corkisaur (Missy Chrissy was too good to be a dinosaur.) (Also, they each knew all their names.) Now there is Ollie, and while I tend to let Ollinator slip out now and then, I don’t think I care for it, somehow. DH always used the “saur” suffix, while I did the “-nator” one. I think I like Ollisaur, and am working on using it, but how about some feedback from the crew here at Playtime? Any other Ollie-name suggestion will be considered, as well. Thanks for whatever you can do! 🐕🦺 🌞
Peace & Justice History for 2/7
| February 7, 1926 “Negro History Week” was observed for the first time, conceived by Dr. Carter G. Woodson as an opportunity to study the history and accomplishments of African Americans. Dr. Woodson was the founder, in 1915 Chicago, of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. There he first published the Journal of Negro History, currently known as The Journal of African American History (www.jaah.org). Woodson was a graduate of the University of Chicago, the Sorbonne, and was the second black man ever to receive his doctorate from Harvard. He chose February because it is the birth month of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass; now it is designated Black History Month.   Top L-R: Frederick Douglass, former slave and abolitionist leader; Muhammad Ali, poet, World Champion, the greatest; Maya Angelou, poet, novelist, voice of wisdom; Malcolm X, strong and clear-eyed brother seeking freedom and honor and dignity ; Harriet Tubman, liberator and conductor on the Underground Railroad. Below: Jimi Hendrix, prolific guitar genius, rock ‘n’ roll writer; Nat “King” Cole, jazz composer, pianist and singer; Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor, scholar and author, leader of a people, inspiration to peacemakers.  Dr. Carter G. Woodson More on Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s life and work |
February 7, 1971 Women in Switzerland were granted the right to vote in national elections and to stand for parliament for the first time in their nation’s history. This happened through a national referendum in which only men could vote, passing 621,403 to 323,596. A previous referendum in 1959 failed 2-1. |
| February 7, 1986 Haitian self-appointed President-for-Life Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier fled his country after being ousted by the military, ending 28 years of authoritarian family rule.Policies begun by his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, had forced many to flee Haiti (the western portion of the island of Hispaniola), leaving it the poorest and most illiterate nation in the hemisphere. Deforestation (for cooking fuel and heat) eliminated forest cover on 98% of the country, in turn leading to significant annual loss of topsoil, often making agriculture unsustainable.  Jean-Claude `Baby Doc’ Duvalier with his father Francois `Papa Doc’ Duvailer. Some Haitian history |
| February 7, 1991 The Reverend Jean-Bertrand Aristide was sworn in as Haiti’s president after winning the country’s first-ever democratic election. Haiti had achieved its independence from France in 1804 but had a long succession on unstable governments, as well as significant U.S. control in the first half of the 20th century, including military occupation from 1915 to 1934.  Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in exile during the 1991-94 military junta. Archive of Haitian history |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february7
And Another One
It’s an excellent poem, with more background on the page, of interest to us here. Click the title.
I never feel so alive as when I am
writing and have no right
answer for what this means
for the lives of others, how
to live in the after which after
all means the now of our living
together when together
means death for all
those forbidden from
entering the home so
methodically built until after
they are dead. Only
after will locked doors
swing amply open to
admit the murdered
into rooms of vast
crushed comfort, whose
inhabitants eat and sleep
on furnishings carved
with corpses, stepping
with hospitable sorrow
around the bodies of the
dead, speaking dirges
into the phantom
darkness. What happens
in the quiet grave where
the living make themselves
at home, where noisily
they intend to thrive, where
the poem itself concedes
to suffering so it might persist
in blazing against it.
Copyright © 2025 by Youna Kwak. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 5, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
Enjoy Some Harlem Renaissance Poetry This Morning:
Click the poem title for more about this poet and her poem.
Things Said When He Was Gone
Blanche Taylor Dickinson 1896 – 1972
My branch of thoughts is frail tonight
As one lone-wind-whipped weed.
Little I care if a rain drop laughs
Or cries; I cannot heed
Such trifles now as a twinkling star,
Or catch a night-bird’s tune.
My whole life is you, to-night,
And you, a cool distant moon.
With a few soft words to nurture my heart
And brighter beams following love’s cool shower
Who knows but this frail wind-whipped weed
Might bear you a gorgeous flower!
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on February 2, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.
Can Bedbugs Live There?
Trump’s looking to building another resort by Ann Telnaes
It certainly won’t be a holiday for the Palestinians Read on Substack
More Better News!
Attorney General Neronha and 14 attorneys general issue joint statement on protecting access to gender-affirming care
Published on Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha and 14 attorneys general today issued a joint statement to reaffirm their commitment to protecting access to gender-affirming care in response to the Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order. The coalition released the following statement:
“As state attorneys general, we stand firmly in support of healthcare policies that respect the dignity and rights of all people. Health care decisions should be made by patients, families, and doctors, not by a politician trying to use his power to restrict your freedoms. Gender-affirming care is essential, life-saving medical treatment that supports individuals in living as their authentic selves.
“The Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order is wrong on the science and the law. Despite what the Trump Administration has suggested, there is no connection between “female genital mutilation” and gender-affirming care, and no federal law makes gender-affirming care unlawful. President Trump cannot change that by Executive Order.
“Last week, attorneys general secured a critical win from a federal court that directed the federal government to resume funding that had been frozen by the Trump Administration. In response to the Court’s Order, the Department of Justice has sent a notice stating that ‘federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the OMB memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders.’ This means that federal funding to institutions that provide gender-affirming care continues to be available, irrespective of President Trump’s recent Executive Order. If the federal administration takes additional action to impede this critical funding, we will not hesitate to take further legal action.
“State attorneys general will continue to enforce state laws that provide access to gender-affirming care, in states where such enforcement authority exists, and we will challenge any unlawful effort by the Trump Administration to restrict access to it in our jurisdictions.”
Joining Attorney General Neronha in issuing this statement are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Scottie's Playtime 