Please enjoy the video and the RantWoman comment rant which follows
Actually, as a somewhat disloyal Princeton Alumna, I do not think there should be three graduates from any undergrad institution INCLUDING Princeton on the Supreme Court. Justice Alito has been on the court the longest, so by that criteria, I think it would be LOVELY if he were to retire.
As for the flags: Gee I dunno why any member of the public would QUESTION the capacity of a justice to be impartial if someone in their household is flying flags directly associated with an attempt to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power via the single biggest one day violent crime wave in the US since 9/11.
That said, just because the Dobbs opinion suggests that Justice Alito has antediluvian views about women's rights to bodily autonomy, that does not mean that he INTENDS to control women. Oh look. his wife has a mind of her own and we can leave women's bodily autonomy issues to ghouls in state legislators.
Finally, the pine tree flag to me looks just like those car air fresheners people hang from their rear view mirrors. HOWEVER, as a person of faith, I can live with supplications to the deity of one's choice even if I take vigorous exception to "God made me do it" as justification for violence and refuse to be forced to adopt someone else's faith.
In short, I DO question Justice Alito's ability to be impartial and I also believe in religious pluralism so I am not sure what to extract for all the commentators frothing at the mouth.
First, on the second anniversary of the mass murder at #Uvalde, sincere condolences to everyone close to Uvalde, Charleston, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and all the other mass shootings not to mention police "shoot first and ask questions after" practices around unarmed civilians. These forms of gun violence get ZERO Congressional attention while #MAGA Congress creatures are losing their minds about armed people following usual practice while executing search warrants.
On WHAT planet does anyone thing people would leave their service weapons home just because a warrant is being executed at Mar a Lago instead of at, say, a meth lab?
Next, #DonSnoreLeone, #GrandpaSleepyhead, #DonTheCon has a RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT. He should STFU about ANYTHING to do with his cases and in particular about authorities DOING THEIR JOBS. I am not a lawyer, but if #DonTheCon lies endanger anyone in any jurisdiction, can he be charged with obstruction of justice or conspiracy to attack law enforcement? It's not like he needs new charges although new courts could be helpful. Otherwise, if he cannot aid in his own defense, is it time to order him to a secure facility for a very extended mental health evaluation?
Judge Cannon is already embarrassing herself so badly that who knows what to expect.
Please watch the whole video before wading into the rant below.
I LOVE the idea of the Justice Department opening investigations. Would they do it????
We can WISH Congress would intervene, but they are too busy sounding like 7th graders in the Oversight committee and trying to outlaw a bunch of things tied up in academic freedom, when they are not spinning like tops lying about #DonTheCon court cases, crowd sizes, economic and foreign policy.
It sounds like Justice Alito and his neighbors are even less adept at dignified conversation than the House #GOP. Hard to imagine and if there's a Homeowners' Association, meetings might almost write their own comedy lines.
Next, I think it's GROSS that any jurist would want to be associated in any way with the single biggest one day violent crime wave in the US since 9 / 11. Here, though, that view collides with my total reluctance to tell spouses how to manage their relationship. Maybe some of the Boy Scouts Justice Roberts mentors could offer all the justices tutorials on proper display of the flag. Clearly Justice Alito and his wife need a remedial course.
The Appeal to Heaven flag, to me, honestly, looks like the average pine-scented car air freshener. I generally find such air fresheners obnoxious but somehow the image is helpful if one is trying to walk a line about respect for others' beliefs without endorsing every terrible idea that someone claims God has blessed. But the deeper Alito and #MAGA go down the rabbit hole of theocracy, the more firmly I want to jump up and down: we all enjoy freedom of religion AND the first amendment should also bring the expectation that the country MUST remain religiously diverse. So bye-bye theocracy and the civil authorities still have ample grounds to set limits.
And one more thing on the religious diversity front: people from different faith traditions have different views of when life begins. Given Justice Alito's antediiluvian and theocratic reasoning in he Dobbs decision, I think he should just retire. He is out of touch even with many people of deep faith.
RantWoman is certain that the Quaker world needs some of what she delivers in other platforms.
Enjoy!
The comment RantWoman posted:
I think the "didn't explicitly endorse" is important. I think Haley is looking at thin GOP polling margins and how the polls look depending on who gets asked about.
Shameless speculation:
On one hand the decision to announce her vote is GROSS and craven caving.
On another hand, maybe she is looking at polls and thinking that the #GOP is in danger of getting their butts kicked up and down the ticket and she thinks she can help fight that. Maybe she thinks she and enough other sane people who MIGHT make it into round 2 of #DonTheCon MIGHT be able to contain some of the worst of promises to shred the Constitution on Day 1. And if the #GOP holds together they are more likely to get some legislation passed. Okay, I have been listening to Mike Johnson on that theme. And Ted #CancunCruz decided he had to represent his constituents even though #DonPoorleone rather severely dissed both his wife and his father.
On still another hand, maybe Haley is angling for a Secretary of State job. After "Hang Mike Pence," I can't imagine why ANYONE would want the VP job, but Sec. of State is still pretty high in the line of Presidential succession and after her stint as UN ambassador, more within the realm of plausibility than for a governor with less foreign policy experience.
Or still another fantasy: a convention surprise. Be in the tent if #DonTheCon gets convicted and is not available to campaign or if something were to happen between now and the convention....
Cartels? Cartels? Cartels? Build the wall? Huw much of Gov. Puppy Killer rhetoric is really aimed at serving the people of South Dakota as opposed to chanting the #DonTheCon line about out of control immigration?
Oh, and is she even willing to TALK about the documented flow of US-made guns south straight into the hands of the cartels?
RantWoman's advice: TAKE IT. Grab every bit of good news. OF COURSE it does not address every perspective being voiced but it VERY much speaks to a commitment to ongoing work. So take it. Celebrate. Live to struggle another day and another and another because unquestionably there is more struggle to come.
Next, From the River to the Sea, what say we, we QUAKERS?
Yeah. RantWoman KNOWS the phrase above is problematic, either racist or antisemitic or simultaneously both.
But "From the River to the Sea only Peace will set us free?"
RantWoman would LOVE It if Quakers can shepherd together a statement both about immediate response to the genocide level humanitarian disaster in #Gaza and about all parties working together to build community based on nonviolence and equality.
RantWoman mentioned the shepherd together a statement idea for two reasons.
1. RantWoman finds nothing on either the Faith Action Network website or the Church Council of Greater Seattle website.
2. A Jewish friend with a LONG history of activism was fuming about the statement issued by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
RantWoman wishes a statement would come together but is shaky in her commitment to helping shepherd the process of creating one or even looking up such statements as may already exist through FCNL, AFSC, or FWCC.
A couple earlier links about the situation at the University of WA
A university president calling for a cease fire is a pretty major development.
Hostile graffiti spray painted all over campus buildings is GROSS no matter who it refers to.
Whether it's bomb threats in college when I helped organize speakers about Palestinians having rights or the LOUD clamor one time when someone wanted to PAY FOR ADS on metro buses in support of Palestinian rights, or some of the counter protestors at UW, certain voices seem to make a lot of noise.
There are plenty of ways to make one's protests known at commencement and I favor creative and ready to defuse crap from counter protestors.
Lessons from RantWoman's past.
RantWoman writes as someone who graduated from college on disciplinary probation because of an anti-apartheid protest. The protest was one of three RantWoman is aware of before and during her time as an undergrad at Princeton.
Previous protests had included:
--a takeover of the most boring administration building on campus a year or two before RantWoman arrived. RantWoman is unclear how that one ended except that of course it did not lead immediately to divestment.
--an all-night study-in about South Africa in the section of the library that served as a depository for both US government documents and UN documents. This was RantWoman's freshman year. RantWoman did not participate and does not remember how it ended except that participants were put on disciplinary probation for some period.
--A sequence of protests RantWoman's senior year. There was an encampment for a few days. RantWoman's memory is that it was before the umpteenth Board of Trustees meeting with some kind of divestment resolution on the agenda. By that time, over half the campus, both undergraduates and graduates had signed a petition calling for divestment. RantWoman's memory is that the encampment broke up before finals week. RantWlay also remembers that sleep is but a faint hope if there is a historic carillon that tolls every hour on the hour. The Board of Trustees held a meeting and the result got reported as freezing the conversation in a permanent No. At that point, even though it was finals week, even though RantWoman had a final at one pm the day of the sit-in, students blockaded EVERY entry to Nassau Hall, the building where there President's and other high level administrative offices were located.
All 89 people blockading the building were arrested in fairly short order and dispatched to the local police station for processing. People were released in time for RantWoman to go home, eat lunch and still arrive at her final on time.
Next came conversations with various lawyers and ultimately dropping of criminal charges but not university disciplinary proceedings.
The other kicker: RantMom came to campus for the first time for graduation. As RantWoman was offering RantMom a tour, a campus police officer recognized RantWoman and asked if she would mind delivering summonses for a disciplinary hearing to all of her housemates who also participated. RantWoman also dispatched RantMom to go do touristy things alone the afternoon of the disciplinary hearing.
The protest went very low key for graduation: 40 of the 89 who get arrested where graduating seniors. People carried black ballons and wore red armbands. RantWoman thinks she was not the only person who had no motivation to disrupt graduation.
A few months later, Princeton did announce divestment of a small sum compared to the total endowment from one company doing business in South Africa and it was several years later before apartheid fell apart, there was a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and elections.
And a couple more videos just for documentary purposes.
RantWoman is a grown up and knowingly willingly wades into media that almost qualifies as recreational blood pressure elevation. The only thing better than one irritating voice is TWO irritating voices.
RantWoman does not like or agree with a large percentage of what is said BUT does consider it important to understand the perspectives.
At about minute 30, Malcolm Nance quotes Menachem Begun "Sometimes you gotta negotiate with your enemy."
Interesting comments about "gulf state money," the Muslim Brotherhood, Shiite Muslims
"What are the student protestors doing right? doing wrong?"
REALLY blunt criticism of Black Bloc
Comments on Jewish / African American relations
Ukraine is not drafting anyone under age 24. (Not just Nance) Russia manpower is a MESS
In the interest of preparing for a presentation on #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay RantWoman has been taking a bit of a break from popping off about warzones, opining about student protests, and chronicling .various encounters with new technology and new transportation options.
--Another Alt text item about a certain intersections.
--the links to the screen reader demos
--reflection on RantWoman work process.
All of that said, RantWoman is wading back into trials of what the Daily Show calls "America's Most Tremendously Wanted." RantWoman still does not regret not going to law school but is absolutely fascinated by all the legal commentators and the many soap opera rabbit holes to discover.
I think it would be just fine for Judge Merchan to firmly chastise the defendant for the statements made on his behalf. Fine #DonTheCon $1000 for every person that repeats one of his lies, or even better $1000 per lie per person. Don't bother about jail. I know it's pocket change but just send a signal. MAYBE people will figure out they shouldn't be costing their "Friend $1K every time they open their mouths.
A true friend can show up as a friend and make clear they don't endorse "oh good grief decisionmaking."
On another clip, Speaker Johnson gets an A+ in hyperbole for using the word "atrocity" about ordinary functioning of the US judicial system. Save the word atrocity for #Gaza.
I hope the judge's daughter doubles down and uses some of this idiocy in ads. Every time someone complains about the judge's daughter, people should come back HARD about all the #TrumpCrimeFamily grifts, all the billions Ivank and Jared raked in. Merrick Garland already has his hands full, but ordinary people are allowed to be outraged about nepobaby behavior.!
And I still want a kazoo flash mob playing "Hail to the Thief" anytime someone gets near a microphone outside court..
RantWoman has more to say but does not have bandwidth to say it constructively tonight. Stay tuned
Divestment is probably not an immediate time horizon decision. I also find it depressing and anti-democratic that college administrators and police seem to need to get out the riot gear, like it's spring and needs to be aired out or something.
October 7 was an outrage. Unfortunately, it isn't the first and is not likely to be the last. It's time for people of good will on all sides to break the cycles of death and dismantle what I have no problem calling apartheid. I can't argue with Jewish experiences. From my perspective, I do not see how it can be antisemitic to expect better of everyone.
The humanitarian situation in #Gaza right now is horrific and I gag every time some Israeli official is on camera congratulating themselves for their "humanitarian" measures turning Gaza to rubble. #Israel is both invading Rafah and attacking the UN and every form of humanitarian assistance. The US can and should #StopSendingArms NOW. Universities can and should create fora to talk about both immediate and long-term resolutions. And I am all for people's creative expression at events like commencement though from a hearts and minds perspective, I would lean toward gestures that honor the solemnity of such passages. I myself graduated from college on disciplinary probation because of an anti-apartheid protest. Many people carried black balloons and wore armbands at commencement, and it was several more years before apartheid collapsed.
I have no opinion about tent encampments on campuses. I have enough concerns about homeless people's tent encampments getting cleared.
So there RantWoman was, poking away at homework for a presentation about #a11y, accessibility in social media for the upcoming Global Accessibility Awareness Day #GAAD
DIGRESSION: acute need to post links to articles about what is happening regarding #GazaSolidarity #GazaWar on the campus of Princeton University, RantWoman's alma mater.
Expect RantWoman to have more to say, just not tonight.
As an aside to a Friend who holds an Important Title at a certain regional transportation agency, sorry, not sorry for publicly chiding you on LinkedIn about alt text on photos. You are not alone and can help set an example.
Old protestor rant here.
First, THANK YOU to places like Brown and Evergreen State in WA where administrators agreed to TALK in exchange for easing up on the encampments. IN the short term, the best I think people can aim for IMMEDIATELY is to ease the humanitarian disaster, get Israel to stop bombing relief and killing humantarian actors like World Central Kitchen Economic transformation from Israel's apartheid state is going to take longer than the end of one semester and students need stay steady past graduation.
Now, Kids, Kids, Kids, FFS! People protesting use of US tax dollars to help induce famine in #Gaza should be glad they have options to feed themselves. Yeah, sure students have meal plans, but building occupation 101 is bring food, prepare for basic utilities being disrupted.
THANK YOU for calling out the "Antisemitism Awareness Act." I consider it in the same free speech trash can with, say, "don't say gay" in FL, book bans in multiple states, and parents hyperventilating about what kids see in libraries. Stuff people disagree about exists. ONE point of school is learning how to disagree constructively.
Thank you also for talking very militarized policing and about NYPD cop equipment. Honestly, when I saw the big long ladder thing, I though, doesn't the fire department have ladder trucks? How many ladder trucks can be bought for whatever that thing costs?
It's College. Students are SUPPOSED to meet people they disagree with. Students are supposed to be prepared to learn from each other EVEN IF that means sometimes being uncomfortable.
And we get to come back in another rant to comparative treatment of different categories of protestors.
Plus RantWoman is just feeling linguistically challenged on account of all the infuriating news streams she is permitting to pass by her brain.
With that, RantWoman wants to offer some, uh, unconventional commentary on the protests sweeping the nation's campuses. RantWoman will be critiquing the approaches of the many police departments on display. Please hold RantWoman's blurting out in the Light.
NYPD:
--full riot gear for peaceful protestors marching calmly out of Hind Hall in their zip ties?
--Big giant super scary looking ladder thingie: doesn't the fire department have ladder trucks? How many ladder trucks could the city buy for the price of one extra scary monster thingie?
Police at UNC-Chapel Hill
--No riot gear whatsoever. Let's hope they DON'T get riot gear envy and go spend a whole lot of public money.
Whoever is beating up nonviolent protestors at UT in Austin
Gees: whatever all police stood around for hours at Uvalde sure did not hold back when it came to beating up nonviolent people protesting mayhem in #Gaza.
UCLA
Whoever let the rabid pro-Israeli faction beat up on the peace demonstration for over an hour before stepping in: Seriously????
RantWoman remembers wearing a red armband and carrying a black ballon at her college graduation. RantWoman remembers Dr. Seuss being awarded an honorary degree, because of his role in helping people of a certain age learn to read, not because of very explicitly racist views which became widely known later.
RantWoman's point: RantWoman appreciates that police without riot gear removed protestors at U of MI RantWoman thinks it could have possible to have an effective visible protest at graduation without inviting state police to the party. RantWoman and a beloved longtime family friend came to RantWoma's college tgaduation,. A finals week sit-in and ensuing disciplinary hearing were plenty for RantWoman. On the other hand, the struggle against apartheid in South Africa did not involve two million civilians facing immediate famine brought on with help from US tax payers. So RantWoman is in a then and now space with question marks.
Interests: Digital Inclusion, Languages and language access, walkability, accessibility, disaster preparedness.
When in doubt, laugh about something!
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com
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