#Payment in the blood of republicans

[transbookoftheday]

🏳️‍⚧️🏴‍☠️ Trans Books To Read If You Love "Our Flag Means Death" 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍⚧️

Can't get enough of Our Flag Means Death? Read some trans pirate books!

On Mar León de la Rosa's sixteenth birthday, el Diablo comes calling. Mar is a transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate hiding a magical ability to manipulate fire and ice. But their magic isn't enough to reverse a wicked bargain made by their father, and now el Diablo has come to collect his payment: the soul of Mar's father and the entire crew of their ship. When Mar is miraculously rescued by the sole remaining pirate crew in the Caribbean, el Diablo returns to give them a choice: give up their soul to save their father by the harvest moon, or never see him again. The task is impossible - Mar refuses to make a bargain, and there's no way their magic is a match for el Diablo. Then Mar finds the most unlikely allies: Bas, an infuriatingly arrogant and handsome pirate - and the captain's son; and Dami, a gender-fluid demonio whose motives are never quite clear. For the first time in their life, Mar may have the courage to use their magic. It could be their only redemption - or it could mean certain death.

(The audiobook for "The Wicked Bargain" is narrated by Vico Ortiz!)

In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas. Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don’t trust, don’t stick out, and don’t feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn’t expect to be taken under Evelyn’s wing, and Evelyn doesn’t expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love. Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself. Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love.

The Lost Boys say that Peter Pan went back to England because of Wendy Darling, but Wendy is just an old life he left behind. Neverland is his real home. So when Peter returns to it after ten years in the real world, he's surprised to find a Neverland that no longer seems to need him. The only person who truly missed Peter is Captain James Hook, who is delighted to have his old rival back. But when a new war ignites between the Lost Boys and Hook's pirates, the ensuing bloodshed becomes all too real - and Peter's rivalry with Hook starts to blur into something far more complicated, sensual, and deadly.

In the Christian Republic, homosexual people are given two choices—a camp to "fix" them, or exile to the distant islands populated by lesbians and gay men. Sixteen-year-old Jason chooses exile and expects a hardscrabble life but instead finds a thriving, supportive community. While exploring his identity as a transgender boy he also discovers adventure: kraken attacks, naval battles, a flying island built by asexual people, and a daring escape involving glow-in-the-dark paint. He also has a desperate crush on Sky, a spirited buccaneer girl, but fear keeps him from expressing his feelings. When Jason and his companions discover the Republicans are planning a war of extermination, they rally the people of the Rainbow Islands to fight back. Shy, bookish Jason will have to find his inner courage or everything and everyone he loves will be lost forever.

Book titles:

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Peter Darling by Austin Chant

Rainbow Islands by Devin Harnois

[thedisablednaturalist]

If Trump is elected and even more Republicans come into power, literally this is one of the many fucked up things on their agenda. The SAVE plan is the one thing keeping me from homelessness or moving back into an abusive environment. I cannot afford those payments. So many Americans like me will not only be PUNISHED for pursuing higher education but our lives will be absolutely destroyed. College will once again be only for the white, abled, and most importantly rich upper classes. These parasites only care about sucking up more and more of our income that they don't even need! And as a disabled person its especially fucked that these people treat US like the parasites!! Literally every policy they make is just to increase their own personal wealth, they have no interest in actually making this country a better place to live and god forbid the world too. I am scared out of my mind that Trump will be able to put more of his cronies in power.

Please read this and learn more about project 2025 and the fascist scrawlings of shit it is. This is what republicans and conservatives want. They want to rape this country and ruin the last scraps of good thats here. They want to tear down every single good thing that has been fought for with blood and sweat and tears for over a hundred years.

I'm sorry I'm just, I'm so scared. I can't leave this country. It's my home and even if I wanted to leave I can't. Y'all countries who think you're sooo much better than us don't let disabled people like me in. You keep your healthcare to yourselves by literally banning immigration of disabled people, especially those who are of color.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * *

 In 2018 and 2019, Hunter Biden failed to report and pay taxes for income earned in the prior two years, respectively. Hunter paid the delinquent taxes ($100,000 for each year) in 2021. As a result of his late reporting of income and payment of taxes, Hunter Biden was subjected to a five-year federal investigation that continues to this day. Hunter attempted to plead guilty to a federal misdemeanor for failing to timely pay his taxes, but that plea deal fell apart. In short, when private citizen Hunter Biden wrongly delayed in reporting and paying taxes for three years, Republicans demanded—and got—a federal investigation that threatens Hunter Biden with a prison sentence.

          On Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas released his overdue annual disclosure report for 2022. That disclosure form included footnotes that reported—for the first time—the existence of bank accounts omitted in reports from 2017 through 2021 and a 2014 real estate transaction in which a billionaire purchased the home of Thomas’s mother (who continues to live in the home rent-free). Thomas included a footnote that claimed he was not required to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel provided by billionaire Harlan Crow over the last two decades.

          Rather than exhibit any sense of contrition or remorse that he omitted hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits and assets from his disclosure forms over the last twenty years, Thomas authorized his lawyer, Elliot S. Berke, to issue an “in-your-face” statement that blamed the American people concerned about the integrity of the Court. Berke wrote:

For several months now, left wing “watchdog” groups have been attacking Justice Thomas for alleged ethical violations largely stemming from his relationships with personal friends who happen to be wealthy. Willful violations require intentional disregard or indifference. The attacks on Justice Thomas are nothing less than ridiculous and dangerous, and they set a terrible precedent for political blood sport through federal ethics filings. No Justice, Justice Thomas included, should be subjected to such political blood sport. It is painfully obvious that these attacks are motivated by hatred for his judicial philosophy, not by any real belief in any ethical lapses.

          On the one hand, Elliot Berke deserves credit for recognizing that hundreds of millions of Americans do, in fact, “hate” Justice Thomas’s judicial philosophy. That should be grounds for sober reflection by Justice Thomas rather than chest-thumping by his lawyer.

          On the other hand, Berke’s statement highlights why the American people have lost confidence in the Supreme Court. Thomas’s ethical lapses are self-evident and egregious, but his lawyer attacks those who raise serious questions that deserve serious answers. See Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, The Most Galling Part of Clarence Thomas’ Latest Ethics Disclosure. What we got was a transparently false rationalization that insults the intelligence of the American people.

          Thomas should resign. Instead, his lawyer plays the “victim” card to defend the indefensible and blames those who seek to uphold the integrity of the Court and the federal judiciary.

          Justice Thomas will be remembered as the most corrupt justice to sit on the Court (so far)—although he has stiff competition from other members of the reactionary majority. But with a few more “attack-dog” letters from Mr. Berke, Thomas’s place in infamy will be secure.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[shop-korea]

ActiveBuilding- Set up Online Payments

THIS - IS - HOW - OUR - RENT - IS - PAID

WON’T - SUBMIT - CHECKING - INFO - 4

I’M - GOING - 4 - CITI BANK - GREAT $$$

EXPENSIVE - ACCOUNT

I’M - GOING - 2 - PAY - WITH - MASTERCARD

CHECKING - WITH - AMAZON - PRIME - YES

33% - OF - $943 - SSI - DISABILITY - YES FOR

BLINDNESS - THAT’s - $311.19

SO - SEEING - WHAT - IS - AVAILABLE - AT

AMAZON - ENTER - THOSE - NUMBERS IS

BEST - AND - NOT - RECURRING - TRULY

SO - SINCE - ANSWERED - WILL - NOT YES

GO - 2 - JESSICA - TODAY

THEY’RE - BLACKS - WHAT - CAN - U - DO

DISCRIMINATION - OF - NATIONAL ORIGIN

DISCRIMINATION - OF - AGE

FUTURE - MY - TOKYO - GRANDPA 

SCIENTIS

MY - DECEASED - MOM

JAPANESE - PASSPORT - FEMALES

US WORK - VISA

SO - LEAVING - LABRE PLACE

APARTMENTS - LOW INCOME

DEAR - PHILIPPINES - IN - SOUTHERN CA

WESTWOOD - POLICE - ALWAYS - ARREST

USC - STUDENTS - DON’T - GO - THERE

AT - UCLA - FOR - SATs

THEY’RE - CRAZY - AFTER - BLOOD

DEAR - PHLIPPINES - IN - CALIFORNIA

PILIPINAS - YOUR - ENEMY

WE’RE - BRINGING - U 2 - BORA BORA

FIJI ISLANDS - THE - MALDIVES - MORE

INSTEAD

PHILIPPINE - REPUBLIC

TAX - CRIME - SMOKE - FREE

HDG - BANKS

TONGUES - $500 BILLION

SING - TONGUES - $500 BILLION

TAX - PAID

HDG - AIRPLANES - 2 - LEAVE - CALIFORNIA

HANDCUFFING - FUTURE

PUBLIC - SCHOOLS - ALL - AGES - REQUIRED

2 - TAKE - DEPAKOTE - VIOLENT - MEDS

ALL - CHILDREN - TEENS - REQUIRED - BY

REPUBLICAN - PARTY - OF - CALIFORNIA

LAPD - LOS ANGELES - POLICE

WILL - REQUIRE - ALL - STUDENTS - 2 TAKE

DEPAKOTE - 2 - GO - 2 - PUBLIC - SCHOOLS

DEMOCRATIC - PARTY

CLOSING - ALL - PUBLIC - SCHOOLS - 4 EVER

$500 BILLION - X 25 - DAILY - TAX - PAID

NON-FLAMMABLE - DAILY - RECEIVE - 2

LEAVE - UNITED STATES - PERMANENTLY

EUROPE - AND - ASIA - PHILIPPINE

REPUBLIC - GETTING - TOGETHER

NEW - POP - 1.2 BILLION

WE’RE - INVADING - MAKATI - AND

MINDORO - ISLAND - THEN - LIKE

DISNEY - ‘BUZZ - LIGHTYEAR’

CLEAR - COVERS - US - SO - ANY

BOMBS - SENT - THE - SENDERS

GET - BACK - 7 TIMES EA - FORCE

THEY - BECOME - KENTUCKY FRIED

CHICKEN

ALSO - WARNING - CAPITAL ONE, N.A.

NEW - TELEPHONE - NUMBERS

NEW - MOBILE - TEL - SMARTPHONE

2 WEEKS - U - WON’T - B - ABLE - TO

WITHDRAW - USE - YOUR - ACCOUNT

BY - APP - AND - MORE

LIKE - ME - U - HAVE - 2 - BUY - VISA

MASTERCARD - GIFT - CARDS - ONLINE

AMAZON - PRIME

BENIHANA - BRICKELL - ALL - HISPANICS

WILL - SAY - WE - DON’T - ACCEPT - GIFT

CARDS - PAPER - NOW - NOT - PLASTIC

BUT - THEY - ACCEPT - MASTERCARD

10TH ST - BRICKELL

DOCTORS - NURSES - OF - PHILIPPINES

‘THEIR - RIGHT - 2 - REFUSE - FOOD AND

DRINK - 2 - FOREIGN - MEDICAL SERVICE

SO - WHOLE FOODS MARKETS - SAYS

GIFT - CARDS - ENJOY

$3.99 - HUGE - PEPPERONI - PIZZA

REAL - FRESH - AND - HOT - NO - FOOD

ADDITIVES - NO - FAKE - CHEESE

$2.95 - HUGE - BOTTLES - FR - ITALY

NO - ITALIAN - NEED - APPLY

ORGANIC - BLOODY - ORANGE - DRINKS

ORGANIC - SWEET - TANGERING

HOLDS - COLD - BETTER

OVER - 2 YEARS - HUNGRY - AT - PUBLIX

WHAT - AM - I - GOING - 2 - EAT?

2 DAYS - AGO - $2.99 - WHOLE - CHICKENS

INSTEAD - OF - $4.95 - AND - $5.95

NEXT - MONTH - LEFT - WITH

ESTIMATE - $1.66

SO - LOW - INCOME - APT - BUILDINGS

MIAMI - FLORIDA - I - DOUBT - YES THIS

WEEK - WILL - STAY - HOMELESS

MY - MALE - ANGELS - FAILED - AND

ALLOWED - ME 2 BE - ROBBED

THEY’RE - NOBODIES

MY - GRANDPA - TOKYO - MALE

SCIENTISTS - AROUND - ME - PULSE

2 - DISAPPEAR - PULSE - OF THEFT

PULSE - OF - MURDER - DISAPPEARING

THE - HOMELESS - HISPANICS - BLACKS

OF - CUBA - HAITI - COLOMBIA - THE YES

THIEVES

NO - MORE - WILL - I - PRAY - MINISTERING

ANGELS - SENT - 2 - MINISTER - 2 - MY YES

NEEDS

KOREAN - GIRLS - SOME - BIBLE - VERSES

DISCONTINUED

AS - THEY - STAB - YOU - AS - SAME - AGE

AS - KOREAN - MALES - 2 - STRANGERS AS

KOREAN - GIRLS

MY - MALE - ANGELS - ALLOWED - ME - 2

REMAIN - SLEEPING - AS - THEY - TRULY

PLUNDERED - ME - ROBBED - ME

AS - SLEEP - NOT - GRANTED - THE EVIL

WILL - NEVER - PRAY - AGAIN

ANGELS - SENT - 2 - MINISTER - 2 - MY

NEED - 2 B - ROBBED

JESUS - IS - LORD

OUR - BUILDING - AT - 3P - AFTER - JESSICA

ARRIVES - 2 - BOOK - MY - FLIGHTS - AT 

THE - DAILY FLIGHT - CLUB - SINCE - MAIN

LIBRARY - BLOCKED - THAT - WEBSITE AS

I - JUST - NEED - 2 - TALK - SLOW - 2 - THE

BLK - WOMAN - JESSICA

NEW - PROPERTY - MANAGEMENT

TALK - SLOW - LIKE - DRUGGED

WHY - I - LEARNT - THIS - DISTASTEFUL

LANGUAGE - JESUS - IS LORD - KOREA

[myweddingsandevents]

DeWine, Husted sought as defense witnesses for FirstEnergy exec accused of bribery

Story by Jake Zuckerman, cleveland.com

 • 3d • 4 min read

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A FirstEnergy executive indicted on bribery related charges indicated he intends to call Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted as defense witnesses.

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Their inclusion on a witness list isn’t a guarantee the two politicians will testify. Dowling’s attorney, John McCaffrey, declined in a phone call Thursday to provide detail about what kinds of information he and Dowling are seeking, calling it “premature” given pending requests to narrow or throw out the state’s indictment.

According to the prosecution, Dowling and FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones paid Sam Randazzo $4.3 million shortly before DeWine appointed him as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which regulates electric utilities including FirstEnergy. As chairman, Randazzo steered the commission toward nixing a regulatory review of FirstEnergy’s costs passed on to its millions of Northeast Ohio customers – a review that Jones and Dowling saw as a grave threat to the company’s bottom line.

Additionally, Randazzo helped draft House Bill 6 in 2019 and lobby for its passage. The legislation provided a ratepayer-funded $1.3 billion bailout for two nuclear plants owned by a FirstEnergy subsidiary, and it provided the parent company a $50 million annual “decoupling” revenue stream. Ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, the bill’s legislative champion, was sentenced last year to 20 years in federal prison for accepting a $60 million bribe for personal and political gain in exchange for passing HB6. Neither Jones nor Dowling were charged for paying those bribes. State lawmakers repealed the nuclear subsidies and decoupling after Householder’s arrest but left intact the bill’s decimation of Ohio’s clean energy laws and a separate ratepayer funded bailout of two coal-fired power plants that has cost Ohio’s electric customers $307 million and counting since 2020.

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Both Dowling and Jones have pleaded not guilty. Randazzo died by suicide before his trial earlier this year.

“The governor does not have any comment,” said DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney, when asked about the new filing on Thursday.

Tierney said he isn’t aware of any new subpoenas filed with the governor or his senior staff. Laurel Dawson, a top DeWine aide who was his chief of staff until 2021, previously testified to a grand jury in the case. According to the indictment, she knew about the $4.3 million payment to Randazzo in January 2019, before the appointment. DeWine has previously said he didn’t know about the payment until October 2020, shortly before FBI agents raided Randazzo’s condo. Corporately, FirstEnergy has admitted to paying the bribe of Randazzo.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Husted for comment as well.

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Documents from an investors’ lawsuit against the company obtained via public records request have shown FirstEnergy invested deeply in the 2018 campaigns of Husted in the Republican primary, and the DeWine-Husted ticket when the two joined forces. That includes a $1 million payment to a dark money nonprofit supporting Husted in 2017, and $2.8 million to different entities backing DeWine in 2018 and 2019.

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This week, DeWine said he didn’t remember if the calls mentioned in the texts occurred, but said he followed all relevant campaign finance laws.

Should Dowling proceed with summoning DeWine and Husted as defense witnesses, it could pose a vexing problem for Attorney General Dave Yost. The charges against Jones and Dowling, while brought by Summit County prosecutors, stem from the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, part of the attorney general’s office. Yost’s office also defends state officials in legal affairs.

Bethany McCorkle, a Yost spokeswoman, said Yost “isn’t on either side” of the case. She said Husted and DeWine requested outside counsel in the state’s criminal case. They are now represented by Diane Menashe, a criminal defense attorney known for her successful representation of Dr. William Husel, a now-ex Columbus physician acquitted of killing 14 patients with lethal doses of fentanyl. Additionally, McCorkle provided a copy of a May 2024 memorandum outlining certain steps taken to firewall Yost from the civil and criminal HB6-related cases to “avoid the perception that any decisions regarding the investigation or resulting litigation are politically motivated or the product of any personal animus.”

Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

[iwantjobs]

1/31/2024: To th republican senator who said not penny of our money should go to UN (the only organization can distribute fast in Gaza because new and smaller organizations can't do the job while starvation, no-water disease,a bad blood of children spilling everywhere-30 to 40% of the population are children who didn't bote for Hamas) because it teaches Gazan children to destroy Israel. Fine I'll agree with your decision if you can use the use logical and say not a penn of our tax dollars should go providing generous obese bombs to destroy 50% of Gazan building (according to BBC satellite?

To that Republican, the children of Gaza right now can only throw rocks at Israel and serving as spy eyes for Hamas against Israel. However, your approval of our American tax dollars of sending massive Americans bombs to bomb out the children of Gaza is happen right now, not in the future, for 1% of Gazan population (75% are women and children) has died and Atleast 2.5% of the population have lost their lbs.

As a senator representing the tax money of Americans of view of Israel and Palestinians who voted for Hamas, you must use the same logic to end funding UN and Israel, because not all of us approve of using our tax dollars to help bomb out the people who want Israel dead after 75 years of stealing their land, driving them out, killing them, stealing their land now, and killing them now, and prevent them from seeing their parents by controlling every aspects of their lives. Plus the current video of iDFt killing people suspected of being Hamas while they are unarmed with no democracy rights to defend themselves in court as what American preaches as freedom people: freedom to be executed for a crime you are allegedly involved before due process.

I approve of American defending UN Americans only if America defunds Israel. Trang's thinking at 50.8 years old.

Who made Israel and Netanyahu the bosses of our American hard-earned dollars while we are suffering at our borders and dying of fentanyl, obesity, homelessness, suicide, mass gun violence, no reparations payment to colored people we have hurt in our country?

[cromwellrex2]

The Engagement: ‘we have resolved to put the Kingdom presently in a posture of defence as it was in Anno 1643.’

The Road to Renewed War

Charles at the Phoenix Tower. Source: chestershoutwiki.com

CHARLES’ ESCAPE from Hampton Court was characteristically ill thought through and its motivations are not entirely clear. Word had certainly reached the King of the tenor of the Putney Debates and of the increasing republican sentiment abroad in the New Model Army, accompanied by frequent references to the Charles as the “man of blood” and calls for him to be put on trial for starting the civil war, even for his life. A desire to be away from the hothouse of London for reasons of self-preservation was likely a strong incentive to flee. Hampton Court had also become very claustrophobic and Charles was daily assailed by Ireton and Cromwell wishing him to reach a settlement and thwarting his attempts to deal openly with the Scots. On 11th November 1647, aided by two courtiers, Charles slipped out of Hampton and crossed the Thames south. Some of Charles’ followers urged him to head to Cornwall, where Royalist sympathies remained strong and the Channel ports were close for a possible flight to France; others suggested the King go to the Isle of Wight, whose Parliamentary Governor, Colonel Robert Hammond, had recently made anti-Leveller statements and might therefore be considered sympathetic to preserving the King. Charles ultimately decided on the latter course of action. The Isle of Wight was far enough removed from the capital to give him a measure of personal safety, but still within the Kingdom; Charles was nervous that if he fled to France he would be seen by his subjects as effectively renouncing his throne.

Hammond greeted the news that Charles wished to reside in Carisbrooke Castle with consternation, but felt he had little choice but to agree. Although a young man, the colonel had seen much war service and was astute enough to advise Fairfax immediately his unwelcome guest arrived. Charles was treated with due deference, but Hammond nonetheless placed a light guard on the King confirming his status as prisoner, albeit a well cared for one. In London, the mood was turning decidedly against the King. Charles’ obstinacy in refusing whatever settlement the Independents came up with, meant the House of Commons was increasingly of the view a settlement was impossible. Cromwell’s own attitude was hardening: he still believed a lasting settlement could only be achieved with the monarchy intact but he was no longer of the view that Charles I had to be that monarch. Parliament ignored a letter from Charles requesting a resumption of negotiations and instead passed the Four Bills - legislation that sought to impose a settlement on the King, comprising Parliamentary control of the militias for twenty years, the abolition of episcopy, payment of the Army and regular sessions of Parliament. The bills however required Royal Assent which Charles, on 28th December, contemptuously refused to give. This led directly to Parliament passing of a Vote of No Addresses on 3rd January 1648, which stated that there would be no more negotiation with Charles and that any attempt to do so would be viewed by the Commons as a treasonable act.

Charles was unlikely to have been pleased at this effective ending of talks with Parliament, but by this stage, helped by his new location at Carisbrooke, the King was making significant headway in reaching an agreement with the Scots. Finally realising that the English Parliament would never enact the Solemn League and Covenant, the Scots put forward a proposal to Charles termed “The Engagement”. Under these arrangements, Charles would agree to accept personally Presbyterianism for a period of three years; would work to achieve religious union between the two Kingdoms, in other words attempt to make Presbyterianism the official religion of both; and, crucially, to suppress all ‘sectarian’ beliefs now freely abroad in both Parliament and the English Army, which would include putting down the Independents. Compared to the humiliating requirements of the Four Bills, the Engagement was more than acceptable to Charles, particularly because the Scots committed to invade England and restore Charles to his throne by force in return. Charles agreed to these terms with Scottish commissioners who visited him at Carisbrooke in early January.

The deal however was not done. The commissioners had to gain the agreement of the Scottish Parliament and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Whatever their frustration with the English, plenty of Scots balked at the idea of resuming war in support of the King the Covenanters had been so instrumental in deposing, and others were deeply unhappy at the equivocation of the full introduction of Presbyterianism to both Kingdoms contained in the Engagement. James, third Marquis of Hamilton, remained hugely influential in the Scottish government and soon assumed leadership of the so-called ‘Engager’ faction when the contents of the proposals became public in February 1648. He was opposed by Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll, but Campbell did not have the aristocratic numbers in Parliament to prevent the Engagement being passed and a vote for an army of 30,000 to be raised to enter England to rescue the King from the control of the ‘sectarians’. The final breach with the Covenanters’ former Parliamentary English allies came on 20th April, when the Scottish Parliament issued a declaration to its English equivalent that demanded the immediate implementation of the Solemn League and Covenant; the restoration of the King to his throne to oversee this implementation, and the break up of the perfidious New Model Army. These demands were completely unacceptable to the English. The Scots therefore began mobilising for war.

However, the reason that the conflict that was about to break out is called the Second English Civil War rather than an Anglo-Scottish war, is because during 1647 and 1648, public opinion in England had been turning decisively against Parliament and the Army. Taxation, principally to maintain the Army in the field, was higher than during Charles’ Personal Rule; the behaviours of the Parliamentary government had become increasingly arbitrary and intolerant; there was much discontent about the role of the Army Council in the governance of the Kingdom, and many people felt the promised indemnity to the Parliamentary troops for wartime actions would create an alarming precedent for military atrocity in the event of further fighting. Many yearned for a return to the gentle Anglicanism of Elizabeth I and James I, without widespread episcopy and the Book of Common Prayer. The religious views of both Presbyterianism and the Independent and Puritan low church sects were viewed by much of the population as alien as Popery. An early warning of the insurrections to come occurred in late December 1647 when there was widespread rioting at the attempts of the Puritans to suppress the Christmas holidays on the grounds it was in reality a pagan festival. Discontent with the Parliamentary government was running high, and as former Royalist commanders began to join Hamilton and his army in Scotland, the stage was set for the return of civil war to England

[a-little-gay-identity-crisis]

Whatever the gender is where I want men to know that I’m more masculine than they’ll ever be but also be like the ultimate womana with ridiculous amounts of estrogen just flowing out of my nipples in waves that just make all the men quake in fear and remember the aforementioned fact that my dick is also huge

whatever the fuck that is

I want THAT ONE

[crones-trash]

My teenage son is diabetic and recently we changed from Blue Cross to United Healthcare which we are enrolled in through my husband’s work. We recently got a bill for over $700 because it turns out the new insurance didn’t cover his blood work, AT ALL. We pay $1000 a month, plus co-pays for everything, and yet they don’t cover his blood tests to determine his A1C, cholesterol, etc. luckily they do cover most of his insulin, but we still pay over $100 a month in co-pays for that. Our healthcare system is an absolute joke. My husband and I have GOOD jobs, we HAVE healthcare, yet we can’t afford to go to the doctor. Please tell me how the richest country in the world allows this to happen.

The same way teenagers are allowed to buy assault rifles to mow down blameless citizens AND CHILDREN...again...and again.

It's all about money.

Insurance providers OWN Congress Critters to insure they continue to amass ill-gotten wealth for their CEO's & shareholders. Gun manufacturers OWN the NRA & successfully OWN almost the entire Republican Party! Since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of corporate bribery by treating it as equal to the free speech of individuals, too many members of Congress in both parties have been bought by campaign "contributions" to serve the 1%—not their voters.

It feels like our country is at a breaking point & I despair. But I'm going to tell you how to fight back! Get your doctor to print out the order to the Lab. Go directly to the Lab that does your son's blood work, present the order, & yourself as a "Self-Pay" (someone w/o insurance), and NEGOTIATE!

I swear this works because I've done it. I have gone entire decades w/o insurance that forced me to learn how to bargain w/ doctors & other healthcare providers. You need to understand all medical services are grossly inflated to cover the costs inflicted on them by insurers. Remind them you will pay them directly, spare them the paperwork, & waiting months to be paid by an insurance company. They will give you a Self-Pay discount. Depending on who they are & your level of desperation, you might get as much as 70% off & they'll offer a payment plan that you can afford to pay off the balance.

It's not too late to negotiate a payment plan for your current bills but you can get a discount & better terms if you deal w/ them before it goes thru insurance. Sparing them that effort is your prime bargaining chip AND THE FACT that the people you will talk to face-to-face are human beings who are in healthcare because they care. They absolutely want to help you work around the system.

Now I'll tell you a funny story: Back in the 80's, I got a fucking boil on my butt that I couldn't reach & went to a doc-in-a-box to get it lanced. They referred me to a General Surgeon! I saw him & he wanted to admit me for out-patient surgery at a nearby hospital. There would be an anesthesiologist & I'd feel no pain.

I said, "Stop, wait, I don't have insurance. How much is all that going to cost?"

"I don't know exactly," he furrowed his brow, "Maybe $3500."

I exclaimed, "To lance a boil! That's ridiculous! Do it right here & now! I'll lean over this examining table, you jab it w/ a scalpel, squeeze, clean, slap a bandage on it, & your work is done. I'd do it myself but I can't reach it."

He argued w/ me about the pain & I replied, "I have gone thru natural childbirth—twice. I can handle it."

He started to get excited, said, "Wait, I think I've got a form," & hurried off. He returned w/ a waiver that absolved him of liability for performing a procedure outside of "normal" protocols. I signed it & he got even more excited, "I haven't done anything as direct & simple as this since I was a medic in Nam. I pay a fortune for medical liability insurance & they dictate the protocols."

He was absolutely thrilled to work outside of the system & called me brilliant for not even flinching when he jabbed me. I got my boil lanced for the discounted price of a Self-Pay office visit—$60 paid in full upon receipt of services. He also gave me a free sample of antibiotic ointment & a few waiver forms to use in the future, which I did.

DON'T FEEL HELPLESS! FIGHT BACK!

[tessiete]

Yeah, yeah, yeah another prompt fill that came from DMs. And also was my fault. @treescape​ asked for prompts and I um, offered this, and immediately took it back, and didn’t even do a very good jobby on it so. *shrug*

Anyway! A vague continuation of The Punishment of Silence, post Order 66

THE HOPE OF ORPHANS, AND UNFATHERED FRUIT

He wakes to silence. There is nothing except the sound of his own breath being scraped from his lungs like wax under fingernails, the beating of his heart against his ribs, and the creak of his bones. There is nothing else. Even his cry of terror has died upon his lips, unfledged and unrealised in this void. He is all alone.

“We’ll be coming out of hyperspace soon.” 

He hardly recognises the voice, hardly hears the words as he reaches for the only source of warmth and light in space. Beside him, tucked securely between his chest and the wall, is a heavy bundle of coarse wool, and worn linen. Within it, the weakly struggling flesh of new life.

“Hush, Luke,” he whispers, and even his voice is absent.

But Luke...Luke is here. With him. Luke is golden. Luke is the sun, and he shines so brightly that for a moment, the absence of stars is obscured by the break of dawn, and he turns his face to meet it. Luke cries, his voice wet with the sorrow of Obi-Wan’s soul, and he weeps where Obi-Wan cannot.

“Master Kenobi?” The voice calls again. It is young, too, and threaded with uncertainty as it seeks a mooring in this black new world. “Master Kenobi, I need your help.”

He must answer it.

But he is wrung dry, having wasted it all in the desert of affection.

“They’re asking for a landing code,” the boy says. “They want to search the ship.”

“Let them,” he replies. “We’ve nothing for them to find.”

He adjusts the swaddling around the babe, pulling the folds up higher until the little face is barely visible, and drawing up his hood until his own face is shadowed and obscured.

The pilot fumbles for the comm, but hesitates before he makes the call.

“Master, we haven’t got the clearance,” he says. “I tried Republic codes but they’re all invalid, and I daren’t use a - a Jedi -”

“No.”

“Master, they’re waiting.”

Outside the viewport, Tatooine looms larger, and larger, round and golden, like the husk of a burnt out star. Just endless swathes of sand and stone. A barren rock. The twin suns watch, and Obi-Wan feels his hackles rise, as though he were prey under the baleful gaze of a predator in the night. 

“Tell them whatever you must,” he sighs. His shoulders slump, and his eyes close. He is weary.

He cannot see the way his pilot stares at him, hopeful, and waiting. He doesn’t want to. The weight of his need is punishment enough. Luke is light in his arms, and he rocks him gently.

“This is the pilot of  The Slip, Corellian class YT-1300 AUX requesting permission to land.”

“Airbase to  Slip , have you got those docking permits yet?”

A single, shimmering breath, and the pilot answers, “No. But we - I  can pay you.”

Obi-Wan does not object.

“What sort of payment we talking?”

“What do you care, so long as you get your money?”

“I don’t know,” replies the man. “You bargain like a pirate, but you sound like a kid. I ain’t convinced you got anything I want.”

He can feel his eyes upon him, but he cannot tear his own away from the babe. He is preoccupied with this one last precious thing. The pilot grits his teeth, and replies with all the arrogance of his past life. “Well, how about this - if you don’t like it, you can shoot me when I get there?”

There is silence on the other end, then the comm crackles back to life. The deck officer’s voice rasps with laughter. “Alright, kid,” he says. “You got a deal. Hope you ain’t got family to miss you. We’ll see you at Dock 3, on the south side.”

“Dock 3,” says pilot. “Copy that.”

“And kid? Don’t try anything stupid.”

 --

He takes the ship in with a steady hand, but as they get closer and closer Korkie feels his breath quicken in anticipation. They haven’t got anything to pay with. They have no credits, no valuables, nothing personal which might tie them back to the Core, or worse, to the Temple. He doesn’t worry so much for himself, having no particular training in the Force, nor any distinctly Jedi affectations. His borrowed robes he discarded on Polis Massa, but his father…

Obi-Wan is unmistakably a Jedi in his sand coloured tunics, and thick, wool cloak meant for all terrains but a blazing desert. However, there is one appurtenance which may work in their favour -

Everyone knows that Jedi have no children, and he will not relinquish Luke.

“Slip  to base: Docking clamps locked, and pressure restored to atmo baseline. Please advise.”

There is sweat beading upon his upper lip. Obi-Wan rocks Luke as he fusses, awakened by the sounds of noise outside. People are waiting for them.

“This is Squaddy Redsun. Lower your ramp, and prepare for immediate boarding.”

He looks to the Jedi, and gathers himself. There is nothing on the ship, and so there is nothing to pack or take as they leave, but still, he casts one last look at the cockpit. Then, he ushers his father forward, through the main hold, and to the head of the ramp. He presses the pair to the side, leaving them just out of plain sight, and so wrapped up in the folds of Obi-Wan’s cloak and each other as to be indistinguishable from shadow. He steps back. He strikes the button to lower the ramp with an open palm. Sunlight floods the hold, and he is left blinking and blind as a rough voice calls to him.

“You the captain, then, kid?”

“Yes, sir,” he replies, a hand up to shield his eyes from the glare. He can see a man clad in worn leathers, and decorated in the gleaming white bone of some fearsome beast. Beside him, two others with wrist guards, and pikes. He makes no attempt to resist as the guards approach, and does not fight as he is grabbed by the elbow and shoved down the ramp by the first.

But the second has discovered Obi-Wan, and grabs at him with the same barbarity. The Jedi flinches away, and curls around himself. One pale hand reaches back, and Korkie can feel the air turn electric. 

“No!” he cries, startling both the guard and Obi-Wan, the warning clear in the fraught timbre of his voice. “He has a child,” he says. “He’s harmless. But there’s a child. Please. I am the pilot. This is my ship.”

“And who is he then?” Redsun demands.

“No one,” says Korkie. “A refugee of - of Mandalore.”

“He don’t look like no hunter.”

Korkie shrugs, watching closely as Obi-Wan descends untouched, the guard at his elbow. “I don’t know that he has enough left to look like anything.”

“Ha,” chortles Redsun. His men laugh, too. “Then I suppose it’s you what has my payment. Docking codes don’t come cheap.”

“No, sir,” says Korkie. “I - I haven’t any credits.”

“That Republican dross is no good out here, any way,” Redsun spits. “Now, where’s my pay?”

The guards edge closer, and Luke chokes on a feeble cry.

“Hush, dear heart,” murmurs Obi-Wan. “Hush, sweet thing. And sleep.”

“The ship!” says Korkie. “You can take the ship. It’s in fine working order, and the hyperdrive is good for your smaller jumps. I -”

His neck snaps, his teeth snap together, and he can taste blood as a fist connects with his cheek. It leaves him staggering, and spitting into the sand. Luke begins to wail. The sound rings out around him, but he struggles to place its source. Nearby, he knows. They must still be beside him. He reaches out and catches the edge of heavy wool in his grip.

“None of that banthashit, boy!” shouts Redsun, and he is near as well. He can smell the man as he comes closer, still. “That ship ain’t worth half the trouble you’ve caused. What else you got?”

“Nothing,” he pleads, struggling upright again. The guard at his side restrains him. “Nothing. But take the ship, and I can - I can work for you. You can garnish my wages -”

“Garnish your wages? What kind of -” A blaster primes. He hears the pitch rise with the charge until it disappears. “Now, we had a deal,” says Redsun. “You pay me now, or I take it out of your hide. Right? You pay me, or I shoot you.”

“Yes, sir,” whispers Korkie.

The barrel presses against his forehead. 

“So you decide,” says Redsun. “Give me my money, or I kill you where you stand. You, and that screeching brat.”

Korkie tries to swallow, but all his tastes is the sour, metal tang of blood. It roils in his stomach. He feels faint. Luke screams, and screams but Obi-Wan only tries harder to sooth him, singing some sad lullaby. A Mandalorian lullaby. 

Korkie recognises it. His...his mother used to sing it to him. He clenches his hand into a fist, tracing his thumb over the ring he wears, as a reminder. And he remembers -

“My ring,” he says, slipping the jewelry from his hand. It is a simple band, but thick and completely unblemished by age or use. “I can give you this,” he insists, holding it so that the suns set it ablaze, glittering like fire in his hand. 

“And what’s that?”

“Pure beskar,” he says. 

Redsun lowers the blaster. Korkie can see his interest pique, and greed replace fury in his cold, black eyes.

“Beskar,” he says. “And how’d you be coming by that?”

He nods at one of the guards, who swaps his pike for a techscanner. The ring is plucked from Korkie’s fingers, and the green light of the machine washes over it.

“Like I said,” says Korkie. “Mandalorian refugees. 

The guard looks up. “It’s as he says, Squaddy. Beskar.”

Redsun regards him for a moment. He shifts his jaw, and rolls his tongue over his teeth. Korkie holds his gaze, even as blood drips from his chin. At last, Redsun gives the sign, and his man lets Korkie go. 

“I’ll be taking the ring,” he declares. “And your kriffing ship, for all the good I’ll make of it. And you get off with a warning.”

“Yes, sir,” says Korkie. “Thank you, sir.”

Korkie gathers Master Kenobi in his arms, and pushes him towards the exit. Through the wide, rusted blast doors, he can see where the dockyards end, and the streets beyond begin. Their escape is at hand, but Obi-Wan is slow to move, fearful of jostling Luke who has settled tentatively once more. The guards make no move to assist, but Korkie is determined. He keeps between Redsun and the Jedi, he keeps him moving forward, and they are hardly ten steps from freedom when blaster fire rings out across the docking bay.

There is a blaze of fire along his side, and Korkie falls in a heap of fine, yellow dust. Breathing hard, he presses a hand to the source of heat, and cries out as agony is awakened by his touch. His fingers come away bloody, but he sits up, then stands, then stumbles on towards the exit, leaning on Obi-Wan, urging him to go, to move, to keep pushing forward. Step by step. He can hear the guards and Redsun laughing behind them.

“Don’t you try playing games like that round these parts, son,” shouts the man. “Not everyone’s as kind as Squaddy Redsun.”

 --

The crowds are easy enough to get lost in, and soon Squaddy Redsun and the Mos Eisley docks are far behind them, but Korkie feels their ruin is closer than ever. His side aches, and bleeds sluggishly where the bolt hadn’t instantly cauterised the wound. He is hot. He is thirsty. But worst of all, he cannot speak or read a single word of Huttese. 

“Please,” he asks of a woman hustling by with an armful of black fruits. “Please, can you tell me where to find shelter? An inn?”

She cuts him a glare, and hurries on.

“Sir, if you could - I need to find a place to stay.” 

The man flicks his lekku, and shakes Korkie off.

He cannot tell if they’ve tried this street already, or not, all the architecture looks so similar to his unfamiliar eyes, and all the people are one massive murmuration of a society he is not part of. Then suddenly, a child stands before him. A little boy, with hair the colour of the sandstone walls of the city, and eyes like the sky reaches out a grubby hand.

“We need food,” says Korkie. “And a place to sleep. Please.”

The child nods, and Korkie takes his hand, fisting his other in the folds of Obi-Wan’s robe to be sure he doesn’t lose him in the crowds. They follow the child through innumerable streets, and darkened alleys before they are abandoned in front of a low building on the outskirts of town.

“Can we stay here?” Korkie asks. The child nods. The door slides open at his touch, and he is swallowed up in warm yellow light while Korkie hesitates on the threshold.

But it is getting dark, and he can think of no other alternatives. So he knocks.

“We’re all full up.” He hears the voice first, but it is soon matched by the scowling countenance of a woman worn old by the suns. The little boy clings to her skirts, now shy and retiring after his brazen rescue. She looks at Korkie and his charges from the doorway, and nearly turns away.

“Wait, wait, gedet'ye, jatne vod, vi linibar taap at nuhoy.” He’s slipping, and he only notices when her brow crinkles in confusion. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m just - please, we need a place to stay. Just for the night.”

“We don’t have any more rooms,” she says.

“We have a baby.”

He clutches at Obi-Wan’s arm, until he steps forward, and the light falls across Luke’s sleeping face. The woman sighs.

“It’s five wuipui,” she says. 

“I haven’t any money,” he says.

“Then I haven’t any beds,” she replies. He catches the door before it can slide shut. 

“Please,” he says. “Please.”

And at that moment, Luke wakes and begins to weep. The woman stills, and Korkie thanks the stars for timing.

“One bed,” she says. “I won’t have a babe die on my doorstep. Bad business. Bad bly is what it is. But I can only afford to take the one of you with it.”

“Him,” says Korkie, shoving Obi-Wan forward. “He’s his father.”

“And where’s the mother?”

“Dead,” says Korkie. “It’s only - they only have each other.”

The woman nods, and reaches out to pull Obi-Wan into the shelter of her home. The wool slips from his fingers, leaving them clammy and sticky in the rapidly cooling night air. 

“Thank you,” he says, and they disappear behind the door.

At once, the strange euphoria of a desperate flight deserts him, and he collapses in the sand against the wall. His side aches, though the bleeding has mostly stopped. He supposes that is the result of dehydration as much as anything. His lips are cracked. His tongue feels thick. His own blood sits uneasily in his stomach. The streets empty, the second sun slips below the horizon as he watches, and soon he begins to shiver. It’s difficult to stay awake, but after so many hours of preternatural vigilance it feels impossible that he should sleep. There is always some danger, now. They will always be hunted. He blinks, and sees three moons. Perhaps he is concussed, but then Coruscant had four moons, and Mandalore had two, so that is no measure of his injury.

He’d travelled once to Concordia, when he was a child. It was a beautiful place, and it felt, at the time, as though he’d been transported to some ancient world. There were trees. And grassland. There was water you could swim in, and could drink, and it ran freely over rock, and silt in unpredictable patterns, like the veins on the back of his hand. Though he’d been born in Sundari, there was something about Concordia that felt viscerally his. He recognized himself in the wildness of it all, as though it were a sort of mirror, as though if one were to pull up all the grasses and the plants they might pull up all his roots as well. The moons of Tatooine are white. They shine like stars, but there is no warmth to them. He doesn’t think he’ll ever see Concordia again.

Warm light illuminates the dark, turning the sand golden again.

“Alright, none of that. Can’t have Core soft boys dying on my stoop, either.”

“‘M not from the Core,” Korkie mumbles.

“That posh accent of your father’s could’ve fooled me,” she says. He feels her prop him up against the wall, and wonders when he’d laid down. She taps his face with her hand on the cheek that isn’t hurt. Water touches his lips, and he opens his eyes. “Drink up,” she says. “Heat’ll kill you faster than a blastoh will out here, lapti wermo.”

He drinks as quickly as she lets him, and until the vessel is empty. The clay cup is cool against his skin, and he presses his swollen eye against it, grateful for the relief.

“Now,” she says, taking it from his hand, and standing it upright in the sand. “Let’s see about that blaster wound.”

“It’s not bad,” he insists. She ignores him, and tugs his jacket down one shoulder, and slides his arm free. He hisses in pain, and she cuts him a look that says she has absolutely no confidence in his ability to self-diagnose. 

Blood stains his close-fitting sark, and she draws back. 

“I’m going to get some vibroshears,” she says. “I’ll need to cut this off.”

“No,” he protests. “Just lift it. I haven’t got anything else.”

“You haven’t got this , you stupa,” she grumbles. Korkie makes no reply, but leans forward and begins to tug at the hem of his shirt. In response, she leans forward to help him, and launches into a vehement stream of Huttese that makes no sense to Korkie. He comprehends the spirit of the words just the same. “Bolla rass tata, u beggybeggy brite lapti wermo.”

“On my world, we’d say ‘slanar nek gar shabuir’,” he says, grimacing as the shirt comes off. “Or something like.”

“Shabuir?” she says, letting the word bubble on her lips. “I like that one. I’ll keep it.”

“It’s yours.”

The fabric lifts away, heavy with dirt and grime. She is careful not to tear it further as she lays it flat to dry in the sand, and Korkie does appreciate that. Such a small measure of care, and yet already so coveted in this drought. 

“I’ve a poultice,” she offers, withdrawing from the darkness a little bowl of sludge. “It isn’t bacta, but it’s better than nowt.”

Her fingers are cold against his side, or the wound is hot, but either way, he finds her ministrations soothing, and it’s not long before he finds his eyes slipping closed again. He fights it, and thinks he wins, but when wakes to her carefully tucking the ends of his bandages, the moons are much higher than they were before.

“There now,” she says, brushing back his hair, and giving his cheek a kind caress. “Let’s get you inside. Give you some food. Put you to bed.”

“I thought you said you had none,” he mumbles.

She smiles, and throws his arm across her shoulders. “That was before I saw how pretty you were. Now, come on.”

He grins, though it hurts, and rises to his feet when she pulls him. He staggers to the door, his feet made clumsier with exhaustion more than injury this time, and doesn’t fight when she leads him to a room, and drops him on a bed, and urges him to rest his head upon a thin pillow of sand and dry grass. The light goes out, and the door slides shut behind her. In the dark, he cannot tell if his eyes are closed, or not. But he is not alone. There is a voice.

Someone is singing a lullaby nearby. A Mandalorian lullaby. It is an old call and response. He used to sing the answers with his mother when he was very young. He hasn’t heard it in years. But when the singer gets to the end of the verse, he joins in.

“A ner kar'ta cuyir gotal ciryc, bal ni kar'tayl gar darasuum nayc or'atu...O meg, o meg, kelir ni vaabir?”

The voice answers back on a sigh, though the words are different than they ever were before.

“O, ner Kiorkicek,” it sings. “Ni kelir ratiin yaimpar bal cuyir saanyc be gar.”

A baby sniffles in the dark. There is another bed. And he recognises the voice.

“Buir Kenobi,” he says, his voice hardly more than a thought. “Cuyir gar pirusti? Cuyir gar morut'yc.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan replies. “We are well. You have saved us. Now, sleep. We shall all begin again in the morning.”

There is a warm hand upon his brow, and the irresistible temptation of sleep, and Korkie drops off into dreams.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Assassins

John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate sympathizer, and he believed Abraham Lincoln was 100% to blame for the war.  He called Lincoln a tyrant, a murderer with the blood of 700,000 American men and boys on his hands.  Lincoln split the union apart by trying to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories.  Lincoln refused to let the south go peacefully; Lincoln was a warmonger, he’d rather fight to the last man than discuss southern independence.  Booth believed that by killing Lincoln, he could boost morale for the south, jump start and prolong the war just long enough to sue for peace, the terms of which southern Democrat Andrew Johnson would be more likely to accept than northern Republican Lincoln.  Booth broke his leg by jumping from Lincoln’s theater box onto the stage, but managed to escape and have it set by a doctor who may or may not have been in on the conspiracy (a few of Booth’s comrades were supposed to kill the VP and the secretary of war, but they both chickened out).  Booth was found a few days later in a barn; the authorities set it on fire to try and smoke him out, and he was shot when he tried to flee.

Charles Guiteau was antisocial and narcissistic, believing himself to be God’s gift to humanity.  He survived a shipwreck once, all the proof he needed that his destiny was ordained from above.  He had delusions of grandeur, and thought of himself as far more important and beloved than he was; he passed out political leaflets for a candidate on street corners, but then the candidate lost, so he just changed the names on the leaflets to the new candidate and kept passing them out anyway.  James Garfield became president in 1881, and Guiteau was convinced that he himself was solely responsible for Garfield’s victory,  If he hadn’t passed out those leaflets (which were actually written about his opponent), if he hadn’t given stump speeches that he plagiarized from someone else, why then Garfield would surely have lost!  Guiteau wrote countless letters demanding a high paying government job as payment for his services in getting Garfield elected, but nobody at the state department had ever heard of him because he was a nobody, so they ignored him until he actually confronted one on the streets.  They then explicitly rejected him.  With this, he came to the conclusion that Garfield was a monster, a bastard, a sorry little ingrate who doesn’t look out for the people who helped put him in office.  The only thing he can do now is kill Garfield to take him out of office.  So he does; shoots him in the chest, but he survives for weeks before succumbing to infection because doctors probed around the wound with unwashed hands trying to dig out the bullet.  Guiteau defended himself at his trial because he said he was smarter than any lawyer, lost his case, was denied an appeal, denied a pardon, and hanged, though not before reading a poem to the audience at his execution where he gushes about himself and how great he is and how God and Jesus are looking forward to meeting him in Heaven.

Leon Czolgosz (Chole-gosh) was an anarchist. His motivation was the simplest of them all; he wanted to kill William McKinley to create chaos for chaos’ sake.  As President, as head of the government, McKinley was seen as the enemy of the people, so he had to be taken out of the picture by any means necessary.  A major flaw in Czolgosz’s plan was his fundamental misunderstanding of American politics; killing the president doesn’t really cause a power vacuum like it might in other countries, because we have an organized line of succession.  Kill a president you don’t like, his functionally identical vice president will take over and continue doing whatever he was doing.  If he really wanted to sew anarchy in the streets, he would have shot McKinley and made it look like he was working for Roosevelt, or made it look like it was perpetrated by the opposition Democrats; if he wanted anarchy, he should have made it look like a conspiracy, but instead he was arrested and held until McKinley finally died days later.  Charged with murder, he plead guilty, but the judge overruled him and entered a not guilty plea instead, I guess to try and stretch the case for as long as possible?  He then pleads insanity, but the jury sees through this and finds him guilty after less than 30 minutes of deliberation.  He is electrocuted, then the doctor laughed at his malformed penis covered in scars and sores; the prison dissolved his body in acid and burned all his stuff.

Lee Harvey Oswald was a US Marine sharpshooter, but he became a communist sympathizer and defected to the Soviet Union.  He soon grew bored of his new life because there was nothing to do or buy, so he defected back to the United States.  This apparently set off exactly ZERO red flags with the military or state department.  In Oswald’s mind, everyone was either a communist or a fascist; there was no in-between.  If you were against communism, you were for fascism, as simple as that.  At one point he started passing out leaflets in support of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and even tried to visit Cuba, though all travel from the United States was forbidden, so he had to go through Mexico instead.  The Cuban Missile Crisis saw Kennedy and Khrushchev use Castro as a pawn in a larger game, so Oswald decided to take Kennedy out.  He hated Kennedy for being anti-communist and anti-Cuban, so he shot him in the back and head with a sniper rifle.  Any deeper motivations or hints about possible co-conspirators died with Oswald because he was shot by a wannabe crime boss while he was in police custody; Jack Ruby wasn’t a mobster, just a criminal who wanted to be one.  The ballistics show that Kennedy was shot in the back from the Texas School Book Depository, where Booth’s rifle with fingerprints was found; he was the only shooter, but we’ll never know if there was a larger plot with more people involved because of Ruby.  The Warren Commission says there probably wasn’t a conspiracy, but you can’t trust “the man” to tell you the truth regarding “the man.”

These were all terrible men.  Booth was a racist piece of shit.  Guiteau is almost a tragic figure; he needed psychological help, and never got any.  Czolgosz deserves no sympathy, he just wanted to watch the world burn.  Oswald was politically confused and a trained killer.  None of their targets deserved to die, and in fact the only presidents who really DID deserve to die survived their attempts; Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Dubya, Gonad Lump.  It’s a total crap shoot.

[workersolidarity]

I've said on this blog over and over that US Imperialism is a never ending, unstoppable force for evil in the world.

Corruption in our Neoliberal Capitalist Economy along with the corruption pervasive in our Bourgeois Democracy long ago led US Imperialism to go into hyperdrive.

Our neverending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with Libya, Yemen,l) Somalia, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and so on; it doesn't take a Marxist to see the entire US Economy has become a War based Economy, depending on constantly expanding Warfare to realize Economic growth through Imperialist expansion.

From Military buildups in Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Columbia and North Africa, it's been clear for quite some time now that the Ruling Capitalist Class has been unsatisfied with the slow growth Status Quo and have been itching for a new War to drive up prices on Fossil Fuels and requisitioning big Military Contracts due to the Trump Administration's willingness, and indeed eagerness to accelerate the pattern of Privatization of US Warfare.

We have now reached the point where more Mercenary Military Contractors have died fighting in Afghanistan than actual US Soldiers.

This is undoubtedly the big opportunity the Capitalists have been waiting for: US War Incorporated.

Privatization of Warfare has meant two things. One, Mission Creep is no longer deniable. The almost Wars in South America, North Africa and the Middle East endlessly expand and the others never end. And Two, the Ruling Class will be looking to start new Wars.

It doesn't matter all that much who's in the White House. Hillary Clinton was a notorious Neocon who saw Henry Kissenger, the notorious War Criminal who to this day can't travel to certain parts of the world for fear of being Charged for his Crimes Against Humanity, Clinton openly bragged how Kissenger was a mentor.

Joe Biden is no different. Another Liberal Expansionist, Joe Biden, like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton before him will go to bat for the War Economy. Unlike the Trump Administration, Democrats eagerly look for opportunities to create a new Legal Framework for the War Economy to exist within rather than the Republican president of Lawless Expansion vulnerable to Public Opinion and International Law but that can act more swiftly and without Congressional concerns.

But make no Mistake, the War Economy and the instigation of War with Iran is only the latest salvo of a pattern that's been on an endless march forward since the end of World War II.

Each War's end is proceeded by a new one. US Imperialism has been steadily marching forward without pushback for 80 years and now that some pushback actually is occurring from rising powers like China and India, you see more and more desperation to rapidly ramp up the US Imperialist stake in and control of World Resources, land, and strategic positions to remain Economically and Militarily dominant.

Since the Public has had little stomach for a new War, the Trump Administration has been pressing buttons all across the World, looking for vulnerabilities where their instigations will create a response they can use to claim a new War as inevitable and unavoidable (though very unfortunate I'm sure).

The Ruling Class has settled on Iran. One because of its rich access to resources. Two because of its previous presentation as the "Bad Guys" on the World Stage. Three because of their Economic vulnerabilities. And Four because they're easy to be antagonistic with while getting little pushback from the rest of the International Community or the Domestic Public.

But they couldn't make it too blantantly obvious they were instigating a War. And so the Trump Administration set out to set up a series of False Flag Operations that they could then use to drum up support for a War.

This came in the form of the Ship bombing that conveniently caught supposed soldiers in Iranian Uniform pulling a mine out of the waters on camera. As if Iran were actually that stupid.

That one was a very obvious CIA Operation and ploy to drum up support for War with Iran.

When that didn't work, next they flew a US Drone along a part of the border with Iranian Airspace where they new the border moves back and forth, and so the Trump Administration could claim the drone wasn't in Iranian Airspace despite flying in and out of their airspace.

When Iran shot down the drone, it was their word versus ours. And that was that.

But still it wasn't enough to gain Domestic Public support for a War with Iran. And so they set out to do something bigger. Something they knew very well Iran would have to respond to. And this came in the form of the Quds Force General Soleimani's Assassination.

Knowing how popular General Soleimani was in Iran, the Trump Administration knew there was no way Iran could go without responding.

And so here we are again. Nearly Twenty years after the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars began, and though they still haven't ended after Trillions of dollars, thousands of American lives, millions of Middle Eastern Civilian lives, and a vacuum where Iran was given its oppirtunity for Regional Dominance where previously they couldn't.

So don't fall for this garbage. Anyone with their eyes open for the last twenty years knows full well what's going on here. And if you don't you're a fucking hopeless idiot and I'm not going to waste any more time explaining it to you. This is the Cost of US Imperialism. This is where it takes its payment in blood. You decide whether or not you can support the blood of another million or so innocent Civilians for the profit if Billionaires.

Guess we're going to have to bring back the old Iraq War Protest slogan: No Blood For Oil

Obviously they didn't get it the first time

[militantinremission]

Time 4 Real Talk

The World has responded to the 'New Age' Lynching of George Floyd. The man lived a simple Life, but in Death, he was celebrated on a scale that matched James Brown's Homegoing; possibly a testament to his wealth of Spirit. His Death was horrible, but his Legacy is already bearing fruit. All four Officers involved in his death have been charged, & a National Spotlight has been trained on American Police Tactics.

It's very interesting to see how the 'Powers that Be' go about the business of shifting a narrative. Group Organizers have 'The Masses' calling for Police Reform, but they are missing the point. Police Officers aren't 'The Problem', they're only following protocol. Some Officers are more aggressive than others, but Society has allowed an acceptable range of violence when it comes to Black America. It's cool that Whitefolk (& some POC) have learned the phrase 'Systemic Racism', but that is just a byproduct. The phrase they should become acquainted w/, is White Supremacy.

The System of White Supremacy, is the true Dragon that needs to be slayed. News Flash: America is not a Democracy- It's a Capitalist Republic. A Republic built on the blood & bones of Black/ Indigenous (Copper Toned Aborigines) People that depends on their continued disenfranchisement. White Privilege, can be viewed as a method of wealth distribution & social autonomy. Modern day Law Enforcement Officers were assembled to uphold the racist principles (State & Federal Laws) that keep Blackfolk in that space between Human Being & untamed Animal.

White Privilege doesn't guarantee Whitefolk an escape from adversity. The wealthy White Class, classically called WASPs (White Anglo- Saxon Protestants), wanted poor Whites to take solace in the fact that no matter how bad Life gets for them, they will always be above Blackfolk. A lot of programming went into making this a reality, & Americans either have selective memory, or incredibly short memory spans... Now we are not so naive that we are blind to the fact that Law Enforcement Agencies exist to protect Corporate Interests, while The Military exists to expand Corporate Interests.

What we are saying, is that while the multiple Ethnic Groups that make up America compete w/ each other for a higher spot on the Food Chain, they All agree that Black America belongs on The Bottom. Nothing is absolute, so we know that we have always had allies; i'm just pointing out that each Federally Mandated attack on Black America, since the Hayes- Tilden Compromise (aka 'The Great Betrayal') of 1876 has been sanctioned by the (collective) silence of White America. They for the most part, stuck their heads in the sand, when it regarded the plight of Black America.

Schools featured books like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" & "Huckleberry Finn", Theaters ran 'Minstrel Shows' for nearly 100Yrs- even the modern day clown can be traced to Minstrel (Black faced) performers that mocked emancipated Slaves that traveled the rails in tattered clothes (i.e. Hobos). All of these images allowed the typical American to have little to no compassion for Us before The Civil Rights Movement. Television Cameras were as instrumental in that 'Revolt', as Phone Cameras are in this current one. Back then, Southern Whites were the mean villains in The Story, just as Police Officers are today. Northerners gasped in astonishment @ the atrocities being done in plain sight.

Then a funny thing happened- attention to Black Oppression shifted to Northern Cities. The Black Codes were here as well. We were Redlined into industrial areas, far away from the white picket fences. Blackfolk took to the Streets, & Northern Whites weren't so supportive anymore. Blue Collar Workers felt that Black migration North was jeopardizing their job security. 1968 brought 'The Great Exodus'- White Democrats in Northern States, particularly in the current Rust Belt States fled en mass to the Republican Party.

Ronald Reagan read the tea leaves as well then, as Donald Trump does now, & acted on White America's 'collective vibe' of That's enough for Black America... [*Note: Joe Biden embodied this sentiment literally up to the point when he joined the Obama Ticket in 2008]. Reagan, like Trump, pushed a Conservative Agenda that starved the Middle Class & rewarded Corporate Elites. Donald Trump became a rock star during this time. Reagan blamed the Recession he caused on Black Welfare Cheats & 'Bleeding Heart Liberals'; Trump blames Barack Obama's policies. Joe Biden was a prominent player in Reagan Era Legislation. By his own admission, he had a hand in every Anti- Crime Law on the books since 1976. Each Law played a role in systematically destroying Black Families; together, they decimated a generation of Black Men.

The Conservative Agenda for Black America was pretty clear- 'No Soup for you!' They never hid their intent. Liberals on the other hand, preached a brand of Coalition Politics that required Black Votes, but advanced a non- Black 'Minority' Agenda. The focus was on: White Women, White LGBTQ..., People of Color, & Black Women- in that order. Black Men were targeted by the Liberal Party's 'Tough On Crime' Legislation. Mandatory Minimum Sentencing kept Black Men out of Society, & Felony Convictions ensured they would have a hard time getting back in. Middle Class Black Communities were hit as hard as White Communities, but White Families were able to weather the hardship as a Family Unit; Black Women were forced to assume the roles of Mother & Father, in the face of rising drug & gang activity .

Its pretty awesome to see so many people of different ethnicities & social backgrounds coming together to protest Racism in general, & Anti- Black Racism specifically. Black America has been oppressed by White Supremacy for 400Yrs & counting; We need more than justice, We need to be indemnified- made whole. It's a total insult for the American Gov't to tell Us 'No' to Reparations, after watching European Jews, & Japanese receive payment for far less than we endured. An even bigger insult, is this notion that ALL 'Afrikan Americans', & Native Americans should get a share of what is specifically owed to Us. American Descendants of (Chattal) Slavery (ADOS) are a specific group w/ a specific need. No one else shares Our experience in America.

This plays into the White Supremacist view that whatever we give to Black America, we can give to Everyone else. This is how Affirmative Action Programs for Black Americans became Diversity Initiatives for 'Minorities'. It's no surprise that the Immigration Act was passed the same Year that the Civil Rights Law went into effect. White Supremacy thrives on the misfortune of Black People. America has used immigration as a weapon for over 150Yrs to slow any progress in the Black/ ADOS Community. They have not been able to kill Us off, so they are perpetually watering down Our overall percentage of the population.

Immigrants are offered Grants & Services that are denied to Black America/ ADOS. Immigrant Enclaves in Cities & Suburbia are thriving, while Black Communities are starved of resources, leaving them vulnerable to 'gentrification'- modern day Homesteading. These same Immigrants set up Stores in Black Communities, where they are welcomed, but Blackfolk are critiqued when we enter these Immigrant Communities- much like the way we are, when we enter White areas.

The Black- Brown Alliance sounds heart warming, but honestly, most use this 'Alliance' to profit off Black Effort & Dollars. A lot of these people identified as 'White' on past Census rolls. 50Yrs ago, Black Men were the focus of that attention; today, it's Black Women. Divide & Conquer is a tried & true weapon of White Supremacy. Black America flounders because of the inner conflict instigated by this method over the Centuries. I'm aware that every group had to endure this assault, but Black America is the one target that Everyone else seems to agree on exploiting. There's no hiding from this.

While i'm happy to see multicultural crowds globally protesting anti- Black racism, I can't help but wonder how far will support go? If We judge by past acts, not far enough. Resources are necessary, & Society has a limit to how much it's willing to spend on Black Problems, before extending those same resources to Everyone else. Politicians talk about Equality, but never about Equity. To be honest, Black America only needs to be left alone. Our Story is one of perpetual 'Arrested Development'. Black Codes, Klan violence, Jim Crow, Redlining, Imminent Domain, & Benign Neglect created the current State of Black America. So called 'Empowerment or Opportunity Zones' are disingenuous @ best... I'm not sure what Society will do, but one thing is certain- as Black America goes, so will the Black Diaspora.

#ADOS

#B1

[theshedding]

Don’t tell people not to laugh.

Friends, today is not a day to be shamed of your joy and hope. Wave your flag HIGH. Some people would have you to believe you should hide your glee, your excitement or your elation at finally seeing the caravan of retribution, cosmic justice and old-fashioned “reaping and sowing” reach the gates of its own demise. You should not. The universe is doing what it’s doing and, acknowledging that as the only “justice” we can be sure to have, or hope for, is well-earned and beyond our control. But just in case you still feel a bit self-conscious about the universe’s timing:

Remember the children  -as young as babies- in distress, traumatized from parental separation, with ID numbers written on their arms as they’re shipped around the US quietly on night flights, lodging in Best Western hotels while this administration claimed they are “keeping families together”. Remember how their family members -pre pandemic- were packed in cages so tight no one could even lay down and SLEEP and how lawyers went to COURT on their behalf to advocate for them having access to basic hygiene products and influenza medications.

Remember the "shithole" Bahamians (a former Caribbean free-slave society with "Black Leadership") that were denied temporary refuge in the US after a monstrous hurricane stalled over their island homes for nearly 3 days-destroying their entire habitat, food/water supply & livelihood. Think of all the Republican politicians & White Americans who then joined in to support and affirm this un-neighborly treatment, who hide their tax-free profits in their banks and HAPPILY vacation there each year but proudly expect the service of Bahamian people during their pseudo-Caribbean "getaways”.

Remember the Puerto Ricans 🇵🇷 (& Vieques, Culebra, USVI 🇻🇮) who were told they were too "Lazy" to deserve adequate FEMA relief; relief that was sitting in cargo bins and supply ships stuck in port for weeks while surviving families, children & the elderly scoured around the island for water & food. Remember how the big ‘White Man’ and his posse flew in on a PR gambit to cover-up administrative incompetence. How they forced the hand of local government officials to “erase” lives by agreeing to concede lower death counts. How he threw paper towels at human beings in need of food and water from across a room, delighted with the televised spectacle of groveling survivors to cover-up an ill-prepared disaster response. How he required literal “thanks and praise” for benevolently distributing resources which they are entitledto by law, then flew back to the states, lied on those same leaders and then told the citizenry (overriding the NOAA) the same monstrous hurricane was "changing course" to Western Florida and Alabama because he knows better about meteorological science.

Remember the families of Paradise California-having lost all their life’s possessions, standing in the ashes of torched forests, had to acknowledge the welcome of a man who couldn’t bother to offer condolences let alone research the name of the very town he traveled to for a photo op. How he then minimized their devastation by recommending those agencies and families "rake leaves" like the Scandinavians do-to combat a Climate Change phenomenon he believes is a hoax. 

Remember Heather Heyer, who lost her life, run over by a speeding driver in a crowd-on film, who's mother wasn't offered so much as a condolence card for the loss of her only daughter during a protest against Nazis HE STILL WONT CONDEMN, that descended on her hometown to spew epithets, obscenities while terrorizing ethnic, religious and sexual minorities with old-fashioned torches one fine Friday evening. Remember how it looked and sounded to witness the chilling resurrection of the chanting ghosts in our country’s violent, barbarous history be welcomed in equivocal affirmation by a head of state, staff and colleagues.

Remember Khzir Khan, his wife and fallen son who are to this day still mocked, denigrated and roundly dismissed for their immigrant history and military service-to this country's ideals and imperialistic motivations in their own places of birth -whilst simultaneously offering up White soldiers and their families who served in the same wars as the epitome of American valor, respectability, 'legitimacy' and political currency. And how he later condemned his own Defense leaders as being hungry for war to satisfy a “military industrial complex”.

Remember the vile ‘mysogynoir’ directed at Rep. Fredrica Wilson (FL) by his Chief of Staff, himself a gold-star military father, caught blatantly lying about material facts he used to denigrate her concerning the death of a Black soldier and his grieving widow. How he defended a callous condolence call and gaslight an entire press corp to bolster an unpatriotic narrative of a Black soldier that "He knew what he was getting into"...and never apologized for it.

Remember the Trans women and men serving in the Miltary who woke up one random morning to read on Twitter that their hard work and dedication was now a distraction and “threat to cohesion” because their identity had become "too expensive" to sustain. This after being assured their jobs and “LGBTQ rights” would be honored beyond 2016. Remember the grift of inter-agencies, the re-allocation of Defense funds towards a border wall “Mexico would pay for” and the $84 Million in subsidies for erectile dysfunction medications for male military officers (in contrast to “overspending” claims on Trans hormonal care). Remember this vulgar scapegoating to satisfy a group of mysogynistic theocrats and non-profit “interest groups” self-defined by Biblical “principles” and simultaneously bearing the most false of witness against these their neighbors.

Remember the show hearings with Dr. Ford, a victim of sexual abuse, white patriarchy and the most acute manifestations of rich, male, Christian privilege, who was not be afforded a thorough background investigation into her abusers and the veracity of her case; who was eventually mocked and discredited by grinning Senators eager to affirm a petulant, entitled drunk of a pious Juris Doctor, just so he could rule in favor of a “Muslim Ban” from a guy who pledged a “total Muslim ban” before being sworn-in to office. And the irony of discrediting Ford’s testimony on ‘insufficient’ evidence while being employed as a result of 10 years of election campaigns exploiting fears of coming “Sharia Law” they claim mistreats women places like Iran and Afghanistan.

Remember the nearly $110 million dollars for a 2017 Presidential inauguration still unaccounted for but nevertheless was somehow needed to hire acts like The Rocketts, the “US Border Patrol Pipes & Drums”,  celebrity season winners on “America’s Got Talent” or the high-priced “1st Calvary Division Horse Calvary Detachment”. Remember how he got an inauguration: through outright lies, mockery, demonization of Latinos, the Disabled, the American Indigenous (remember “Pocahontas”?) and Blacks/African-Americans…before insisting the public believe an easily refuted lie about crowd and attendance.

Remember the dead that are still being killed overseas in various theaters of war: the dead Kurdish people (a.k.a. our “allies”); the dead soldiers for whose lives someone received a $100K bounty payment from Putin; the dead migrant adults and children who succumbed to abuse, infection and disease in holding cells (pre-Covid); the charred bodies trapped in their neighborhoods from fires raging in the West; the traumatized and/or dead protestors shot by sanctioned White vigilantes in cities “protecting businesses”; Black/Latino men and women shot by law enforcement or the 72 y/o Buffalo man with a permanent brain injury pushed to the ground by a “task force” of colleagues dutifully walking away as his blood spills on the sidewalk; the 205,000 DEAD of Covid-19, a purported “Democratic Hoax” that would miraculously disappear by Easter 2020, yet could be sufficiently treated with ultraviolet lights, “injections” of cleaning solution and for which -according to this man- “no one” has died even from (including your friend or your family member). He calls them “no one”.

Oh, and lest we forget-he is said to have only paid $750.00 in Federal taxes as a BILLIONAIRE…in the 10 years. Not to mention having allegedly RAPED or SEXUALLY ASSAULTED over 25 WOMEN. 

As you tell me and everyone else not to “laugh”, dismiss or revel in this President’s current status, or that of his staff and family, REMEMBER THAT.

-R

[endangered-justice-seeker]

'I Work 3 Jobs And Donate Blood Plasma to Pay the Bills.' This Is What It’s Like to Be a Teacher in America

Hope Brown can make $60 donating plasma from her blood cells twice in one week, and a little more if she sells some of her clothes at a consignment store. It’s usually just enough to cover an electric bill or a car payment. This financial juggling is now a part of her everyday life—something she never expected almost two decades ago when she earned a master’s degree in secondary education and became a high school history teacher. Brown often works from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. at her school in Versailles, Ky., then goes to a second job manning the metal detectors and wrangling rowdy guests at Lexington’s Rupp Arena. With her husband, she also runs a historical tour company for extra money.

“I truly love teaching,” says the 52-year-old. “But we are not paid for the work that we do.”

That has become the rallying cry of many of America’s public-school teachers, who have staged walkouts and marches on six state capitols this year. From Arizona to Oklahoma, in states blue, red and purple, teachers have risen up to demand increases in salaries, benefits and funding for public education. Their outrage has struck a chord, reviving a national debate over the role and value of teachers and the future of public education.

For many teachers, this year’s uprising is decades in the making. The country’s roughly 3.2 million full-time public-school teachers (kindergarten through high school) are experiencing some of the worst wage stagnation of any profession, earning less on average, in inflation-­adjusted dollars, than they did in 1990, according to Department of Education (DOE) data.

Meanwhile, the pay gap between teachers and other comparably educated professionals is now the largest on record. In 1994, public-school teachers in the U.S. earned 1.8% less per week than comparable workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank. By last year, they made 18.7% less. The situation is particularly grim in states such as Oklahoma, where teachers’ inflation-adjusted salaries actually decreased by about $8,000 in the last decade, to an average of $45,245 in 2016, according to DOE data. In Arizona, teachers’ average inflation-adjusted annual wages are down $5,000.

The decline in education funding is not limited to salaries. Twenty-nine states were still spending less per student in 2015, adjusted for inflation, than they did before the Great Recession, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, leaving many public schools dilapidated, overcrowded and reliant on outdated textbooks and threadbare supplies.

To many teachers, these trends are a result of a decades-long and bipartisan war on public education, born of frustration with teachers’ unions, a desire to standardize curricula and a professed commitment to fiscal austerity. This has led to a widespread expansion of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated, and actions such as a move in the Wisconsin legislature in 2011 to strip teachers’ pensions and roll back collective bargaining rights. This year, Colorado lawmakers voted to raise teachers’ retirement age and cut benefits.

As states tightened the reins on teacher benefits, many also enacted new benchmarks for student achievement, with corresponding standardized tests, curricula changes and evaluations of teacher performance. The loss of control over their classrooms combined with the direct hit to their pocketbooks was too much for many teachers to bear.

The wave began in West Virginia, where in February and March some 20,000 teachers walked out across the state. Educators there—who made an average of $45,701 in 2016, according to the DOE­—refused to enter their classrooms until the state met their demands to fully fund insurance benefits and increase salaries. Instead, they marched on the capitol, passed out bag lunches for low-income students who normally rely on free school meals and watched as public support flooded their way. After nine school days, lawmakers caved and approved a 5% wage increase. Weeks later, the specter of a similar strike led Oklahoma lawmakers to pass the state’s first major tax increase in nearly 30 years to fund raises for teachers who still walked out for more funding. Teachers in Kentucky and Arizona—both GOP-leaning states—followed their lead.

But teachers faced opposition at times from state and federal leaders. In April, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos criticized striking teachers, suggesting they were failing to serve their students and urging them to “keep adult disagreements” out of the classroom.

And when school was out for the summer, the teachers’ momentum was blunted. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that public­-sector unions can’t mandate fees from nonmembers—a decision that experts estimate could cost influential teachers’ unions money and clout. And in August, the Arizona supreme court blocked a ballot initiative that would have added $690 million annually to state education funding.

Teachers are out to regain the upper hand. Some have already gone on strike in Washington State, and others are threatening to do so in Los Angeles and Virginia. And they promise to turn out in force for November’s midterm elections, where hundreds of teachers are running for office on platforms that promise more support for public schools. They have also sought to remind the public that they are on the front lines of America’s frayed social safety net, dealing with children affected by the opioid crisis, living in poverty and fearful of the next school shooting.

Read more about what it’s like to survive on a teacher’s salary

Recent polling suggests teachers have the public on their side. Nearly 60% of people in a Ipsos/USA Today survey released Sept. 12 think teachers are underpaid, while a majority of both Republicans and Democrats believe they have the right to strike.

“We have to organize even harder and even broader,” says Los Angeles teacher Rosa Jimenez. “People are fired up.”

When Elaine Hutchison’s mother started teaching in Oklahoma in 1970, she made about $7,000 a year. In 2018 dollars, that’s roughly $45,000—nearly the same salary Hutchison, Oklahoma’s 2013 Teacher of the Year, now makes after a quarter-century on the job. Hutchison, 48, is a fourth-generation educator whose daughter also plans to become a teacher. She says she never got into teaching for the money, but, “I do want to be paid what I’m worth.”

Since the first U.S. public-school system was established in Massachusetts in 1647, many localities have struggled to pay teachers and searched for people willing to do the job for less. In the mid-1800s, California superintendent of public instruction John Swett lamented that the work of teachers was not “as well-paid as the brain labor of the lawyer, the physician, the clergyman, the editor.”

“They ought not to be expected to break mental bread to the children of others and feed their own with stones,” Swett wrote in 1865, foreshadowing arguments still made by teachers today.

Teaching has long been dominated by women, and experts say the roots of its relatively low pay lie in sexism. “The ‘hidden subsidy of public education’ is the fact that teachers for many years were necessarily working at suppressed wage levels because they really had no options other than teaching,” says Susan Moore Johnson, a professor of education at Harvard and an expert in teacher policy.

In 1960, teaching was more lucrative than other comparable careers for women, according to the EPI, but that was because of limited opportunity, not high pay. As women were admitted to other professions in wider numbers, choosing teaching carried a cost. For example registered nurses—another career historically dominated by women—make far more than teachers today, earning an average annual wage of $73,550 in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nursing shortages in some parts of the U.S. have led to signing bonuses, free housing, tuition reimbursement and other perks, while teacher shortages have contributed to some states increasing class sizes, shortening school weeks and enacting emergency certification for people who aren’t trained as educators.

Nationwide, the estimated average public-school teacher’s salary is now $58,950, according to the National Center for Education Statistics—a respectable income in many locales, but actual wages vary widely by state, and often do not track with costs of living. When compared to professions with similar education levels, teacher pay tends to pale. In 2016, for instance, the average teacher’s starting salary was $38,617—20% lower than that of other professions requiring a college degree.

The public response to the teachers’ protests shows signs of a shift in the perception of the profession. Even in conservative states, many voters backed tax increases to support public education, and called on lawmakers to stop cutting school budgets. State funding for public schools fell off a cliff 10 years ago, when recession-­wracked states slashed education budgets and cut taxes. The uprising in West Virginia seemed to mark a turning point in public support for refilling the coffers.

But like most stories, the fight over teacher pay has many shades of gray. Generous retirement and health-benefits packages negotiated by teachers’ unions in flusher times are a drain on many states. Those who believe most teachers are fairly paid point to those benefits, along with their summer break, to make their case.

Teachers, however, say those apparent perks often disappear upon inspection. Many regularly work over the summer, planning curricula, taking continuing education and professional development courses, and running summer programs at their schools, making it a year-round job. Indeed, teachers—about 40% of whom are not covered by Social Security because of states’ reliance on pension plans—must stay in the same state to collect their pensions. Studies have shown that the majority of new teachers don’t stay in the same district long enough to qualify for pensions. Even for those who do stand to gain, it can be hard to find reassurance in distant retirement benefits when salaries haven’t kept pace with the cost of living.

“Utility companies do not care that you had a great day with one of your students. They don’t care that you’re coaching the soccer team. They want you to pay for the services that they provide you,” says NaShonda Cooke, a teacher and single mother of two in Raleigh, N.C. “I can’t tell you how many letters I got this summer that said final notice.” Cooke, who makes about $69,000, often skips doctor’s appointments to save the co-pay and worries about paying for her eldest daughter’s college education. “It’s not about wanting a pay raise or extra income,” she says. “It’s just about wanting a livable wage.”

Stagnant wages are one reason teachers believe school districts across the country are facing hiring crises. This year in Oklahoma, a record number of teachers were given emergency teaching certifications, despite no traditional training. In Arizona, school districts began recruiting overseas to fill their shortfall. Last year, U.S. public schools hired 2,800 foreign teachers on special visas, up from 1,500 in 2012, according to federal data.

The pipeline, meanwhile, is drying up. Between 2008 and 2016, the number of new educators completing preparatory programs fell by 23%, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. And once ­teachers make it to the classroom, attrition is high: at least 17% leave the profession within the first five years, a 2015 study found.

Hutchison says her daughter has plans to continue the family teaching tradition, but it’s becoming a harder path for a middle-­class kid. Hutchison’s sibling—an attorney, engineer and physical therapist—all earned graduate degrees, but now she makes half of what they do. “My younger brother who’s an engineer—his bonus is more than my salary,” she says.

As the new school year gets under way, many are picking up where the spring protests left off. In L.A., teachers voted in August to authorize a strike if negotiations continue to stall over issues including teacher pay and class sizes. In Washington, teachers in several districts are already on strike, calling for pay raises to come out of newly allocated education funding. In Virginia, teachers are floating the possibility of a statewide walkout.

Brown, the Kentucky teacher, says the fight needs to happen now or never. If budget cuts and school privatization efforts continue, she warns, teaching will cease to be a viable career for educated, engaged and ambitious people. She talks about what she does not as a job but as a calling. “I’m not necessarily a religious person, but I do believe I was put here to be a teacher,” she says. “I just want to be able to financially do that.”

But to Brown, it’s not only about what she and her fellow teachers are worth, because they’re not in the classroom alone. If the public is on their side, they say, it’s ultimately because of the kids.

—With reporting by Haley Sweetland Edwards/New York

EVERY CANDIDATE running for office should be forced to address this issue. And we need to stop have these sorry ass folks moderating candidate debates who refuse to ask about this and other education issues. Why don’t they? Their kids are in private school with well paid teachers.

[cksmart-world]

The completely unnecessary news analysis

by Christopher Smart

January 7, 2020

“RISK IT ALL” — DONALD'S NEW BOARD GAME

& FLY TO MEXICO FOR CHEAP DRUGS

Hey game lovers, do we have good news for you. Pompeo Brothers Inc. has just unveiled it's latest skill game of foreign relations. Now you can while away those sleepless nights, just like the president of the United States, by cooking up fun ways to mess up the balance of power. You can threaten to blow North Korea to kingdom come and then sit on your hands as Kim Jung Un threatens the United States with thermonuclear weapons. From the comfort of your kingsize bed and silk jammies, you can mess with our allies by taking a dump on the Paris Climate Accords and then having a good laugh with your buddies in the fossil fuel industries. You can also screw with those stupid Europeans by kissing up to Russia. They're already frightened stiff of Putin and you can twist their arms into beefing up their NATO payments by blowing into Vladimir's ear. But the real fun is in the Middle East, where you will drive everyone nuts by sidling up to Turkey's demands to rub out Kurds, while allowing Russia to kiss up to Syria. Then, by playing your cards right, you can actually do the impossible: Bring Iraq and Iran together by assassinating the mullah's top general. Pundits will say you're unfit and could blow up the whole region while putting American lives at risk. Is this fun, or what?

LIFE ELEVATED — OR SOMETHING

“Come on vacation. Leave on probation.” That's catchy, isn't it. The Utah Travel Council doesn't like it as much as “Life Elevated” — the slogan that Wilson and the Smart Bomb Band say promotes marijuana. Well, that's up for debate, but as far as drinking goes, the National Restaurant Association came up with “Come on vacation. Leave on probation,” when Utah legislators lowered the blood-alcohol limit for drunken driving from .08 to .05. That means the average woman would be legally shit-faced after one generous glass of wine. Folks in the hospitality industry — restaurants, bars and hotels, etc., worried the new booze law would further blight Utah's reputation as a teetotaling theocracy. Not surprisingly, the white, male, Mormon lawmakers didn't seem to care. Alcohol is the root of all evil and legislators want to keep their Temple Recommends in good standing. But wait, hold the presses, a recent report on alcohol-related traffic stops in the Beehive State shows that no more arrests were made under the new law. Could it be that alcohol-related accidents are usually caused by drivers whose blood-alcohol level is well above the .08 limit, revealing the new law to be meaningless? Hold on to that thought and pass the Jack Daniels.

DOWN AND OUT IN THE CITY OF SALT

If you are homeless and get arrested and put in jail, are you still homeless? Not according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that tracks this stuff. Some home. Last weekend, 17 people were arrested during a protest at Salt Lake City Hall regarding the lack of shelter space and the treatment of homeless campers. The action was organized by folks who have homes but don't like the way police regularly break up homeless camps — most visibly near the downtown library, which happens to be spitting distance (pardon the colloquialism) from Police HQ. Recently, the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that camping is not illegal if there are no other options. But in Salt Lake County, the health department can deem an area as a public health hazard — the green light for cops to take action. Among the problems campers face is a lack of toilet facilities and garbage disposal. Why don't the city and country create a campground for homeless campers that would provide those amenities? Who knows. But the problem isn't going away. You can't afford housing at $7.35 an hour and barely at $15. Since the era of Ronald Reagan, this country— the richest in the world — has been on a trajectory that has led to more than 500,000 homeless people. And don't worry, those protesters didn't stay long in jail — there's no room there, either.

FLY TO MEXICO FOR CHEAP DRUGS

If you need expensive prescription medication but can't afford it, perk up your ears. PEHP, the insurance provider that covers 160,000 Utah public employees, will fly you to Tijuana where you can get your (legal) drugs for a fraction — 40 to 60 percent less — of what you pay here. (We could never make this up in a million years.) As reported by Salt Lake Tribune ace and Pulitzer Prize winner Erin Alberty, PEHP is saving money hand-over-fist with this south-of-the-border maneuver. That's right, they will fly their clients to San Diego, drive them to the district in Tijuana known for it's healthcare, bring them back stateside and fly them home  by suppertime — and PEHP still saves bundles of cash. Good old American know how. WTF. If you don't belong to PEHP, don't worry, Congress is working on this and will have a solution by the time hell freezes over. Right. This country isn't corrupt, it's just that big corporations have bought off our lawmakers. Nonetheless, if you can't get a state job, you can always drive to Mexico yourself, where Americans regularly get dental care, all kinds of medical procedures and medications. It's done so often that it has a name: “Medical Tourism.” And fortunately for us, Mexico isn't building a wall.

Post Script — And that' it for another sterling week here at Smart Bomb, where the staff keeps track of President Trump's golf days so you don't have to. It's been a harrowing few days, what with the impending war with Iran, new evidence that Trump is up to his chin in the Ukrainegate (not that Republicans give a you-know-what), and the New England Patriots getting knocked out of the playoffs. (Don't you just love it when Tom Brady gets bummed out.) Closer to home, Erin Mendenhall was sworn in as mayor of Salt Lake City and faces a handful of crises right off the bat. Why would anyone want to be mayor? Who knows, but Mendenhall will be up to her ankles in alligators over homelessness, the Inland Port, affordable housing and pot holes — don't forget the potholes. Mendenhall's administration likely will be an improvement over that of Jackie Biskupski, but that's a pretty low bar. And Mendenhall actually likes people, which is something of a plus in public service. Soon the new mayor, along with the rest of us, will have to gird her loins (can we say that?) because our illustrious lawmakers will convene to make Utah an even better place with legislation banning all kinds of bad stuff, including immorality. Hold on. Wilson insists the Legislature already banned immorality. OK, sure, but you know they'll do it again — they do it every year. Until then, let's  put our efforts into Life Elevated.

All right Wilson, get the band to send us out with something apropos: Panama Red, Panama Red / He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head / Panama Red, Panama Red... My woman said, "Hey Wilson / You're actin' crazy like a clown" / Nobody feels like working / Panama Red is back in town / Panama Red, Panama Red...