#john b. kelly

[gracie-bird]

Gladys Skinner, president of the Frankford High School student body, recieves the Lemuel Whitaker sportsmanship trophy from Fred Foertsch, assistant director of physical education in the city, at student exercises on October 12, 1947. John B. Kelly, Sr., (left) was the principal speaker. The cup was voted to Frankford by teams, coaches, and principals of all Public High League teams.

Temple University Archives.

[ifuckinglovelemondemon-srs]

You know a characther is fucked up and traumatized when they are wearing one of these

Edit: half of this characther were put against my will

Edit 2: i reached the fucking tag limit

[thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles]

country!Ruby cornering JB

Ruby: do you like JJ?

John B: what?! No what the hell?

Ruby: mhm *she narrows her eyes at him and leaves*

( these three could lowkey be a throuple tbh)

(if it weren't for ruby and john b being siblings)

he would get so red because he's definitely thought about jj like that.

[pagan-stitches]

Ivan Kupala (St. John/Midsummer) motifs in Slavic embroidery with examples in my own work (I also use this piece in my Mother’s Night celebrations, pictured above.)

Patterns here

[whosbian]

what is it with my favorite media and having charismatic yet annoying men called captain jack. also they both like dudes (jack kelly literally told me that he’s bi so it’s canon)

[jackmkelly]

92sies jacks dad is alive and i dont get to see that boy reunite with his father head in hands

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[Amy Siskind]

* * * *

Harris/Walz campaign in overdrive!

October 23, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

The Harris-Walz campaign is in overdrive. On Tuesday, Vice President Harris sat for interviews with NBC and Telemundo. Tim Walz condemned Trump's “open promise of corruption” by appointing Elon Musk to oversee federal regulations that apply to Musk’s companies. Former President Barack Obama and rap star Eminem rallied for Harris in Detroit, and Kamala Harris is headed to Texas to campaign for Colin Allred.

As shown in the clips below, the Walz, Obama, and Harris rallies are stepping up already high levels of enthusiasm as Trump drones on for hours in his stream of unconsciousness manner.

The NBC interview followed the typical “gotcha” style of questioning from Hallie Jackson, who asked about Joe Biden’s debate performance, polls showing voters’ concerns about the economy, and Harris’s decision not to highlight the historic nature of her campaign to be the first woman president. See The Independent, Four takeaways from Kamala Harris' NBC interview.

In the Telemundo interview, Kamala Harris focused on economic opportunity for Latino men:

I am a capitalist. I am a pragmatic capitalist. I believe that we need a new generation of leadership in America that actively works with the private sector to build up the new industries of America, to build up small business owners, to allow us to increase home ownership. I am very aware how it would affect Latino men. I know that Latino men often have a more difficult time having access to the big loans from the big banks because of relationships, because of things that are not necessarily grounded in their qualifications. So I’m focused on what we can do to bring more capital to community banks that will understand the community and being able to give those kinds of loans.

See NBC News, Harris says she's 'a pragmatic capitalist' in pitch to Latino voters.

At campaign rallies on Tuesday, Tim Walz has stepped up the aggressiveness of his attacks on Trump and his running mate—“Elon Musk.” Per Walz, Musk’s “bouncing around the stage” makes him look like a “dipsh*t”—a description that echoes the widespread mocking of Musk’s stage performance on social media. Walz also noted the “open corruption” of Musk’s funding of Trump's campaign while Trump promised to put Musk in charge of a government commission reviewing federal regulations that apply to Musk’s companies.

Tim Walz’s entire speech is here, Walz delivers campaign remarks with Barack Obama in Madison, Wis. And in this clip, Walz addresses the corruption of Musk’s dual role as a campaign funder and potential government oversight maven: Tim Walz calls Elon Musk Trump's running mate and condemns "open corruption".

Apart from the substance of Walz’s speech, it is clear that he has been assigned the role of aggressively attacking Trump, Vance, and Musk. That is good because it relieves some of the pressure from Kamala Harris, and creates content for television and social media ads. And Tim Walz is very good on offense!

The joint appearance by Barack Obama and Eminem also deserves your attention. The Eminem walk-on is here: Eminem campaigns for Kamala Harris. But no one is as good as Barack Obama. His entire Detroit speech is here, Barack Obama in Detroit. Watch the first minute to see Obama rap the opening lines from Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”

Obama also directly attacked Trump while promoting Harris, saying:

The good news is Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a leader who has been fighting on behalf of people who need a voice. This is somebody who believes in the values of this country. [Trump claims he is tough.] That is not what real strength is — real strength is about working hard, showing up on the factory floor. . . . That is real strength and real strength is taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it's inconvenient, and helping people when they need it.

As Walz, Obama, and Eminem were turning up the intensity and enthusiasm, Trump was trying to drum up support among Latino voters by putting them to sleep in a two-hour speech. Rather than junk up this newsletter with an example of Trump's incomprehensible speech, see this example, linked in separate document.

As noted in the Washington Post, Trump's verbal mistakes and confusion are “more frequent . . . as he increases the pace of campaigning.” “More frequent” is code for “incessant.”

Trump's outreach to Latino voters comes as Jeff Goldberg writes in The Atlantic that Trump complained about the cost of a funeral for a female soldier murdered on a military base. See The Atlantic, Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’

Per Goldberg in The Atlantic, Trump reacted to the cost of the funeral as follows:

Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f*cking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: “Don’t pay it!” Later that day, he was still agitated. “Can you believe it?” he said, according to a witness. “F*cking people, trying to rip me off.”

Trump's spokesperson denied the report, as did Kash Patel. But Goldberg cites two people in the room as his source for the statement by Trump.

Also on Monday, Trump's Chief of Staff, former General John Kelly, described Trump as a fascist and said that Trump wants to be a dictator. See CNN Politics, Trump’s former chief of staff says he fits ‘fascist’ definition and prefers ‘dictator approach’.

Of course, to state the obvious (again), any of the above revelations would spell the end of the candidacy of any other presidential contender. The fact that the Republican Party continues to ignore the blaring warning signals is a sign that it no longer exists as a political party with an ideology or purpose. It is an empty husk that has been occupied by a parasite using the host for grifting and corruption.

The mystery that will provide full employment for generations of historians is why so many Americans willingly embraced the con and spread the hate that fuels Trump's campaign. For now, we should take confidence from the fact that Kamala Harris is running to promote freedom and prevent tyranny—while news anchors ask “gotcha” questions that no one cares about. Ah, well! It is up to us! It always is!

Watch Jess Piper’s interview with Tom Vilsack.

Jess Piper interviews Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, about the Harris/Walz plan for rural America. See Jess Piper in The View from Rural Missouri, The Official Harris/Walz Plan for Rural America.

If you are working to motivate voters in rural America, this is a must-watch video that makes a compelling case for the Harris/Walz plan for rural America. I was shocked about the amount of information I did not know about how Harris/Walz would improve the lives of Americans in rural areas. Help spread the word to others while there is still time to move the needle.

The interview covers issues that affect rural America differently than urban areas, such as home ownership, land costs driving young adults away, school closures and mergers due to population declines, healthcare access, pheasant hunting and gun ownership, availability of childcare, volunteer fire departments, and access to groceries.

If you don’t subscribe to Jess Piper, I recommend that you check out her Substack, The View from Rural Missouri. Hers is in important voice both for rural America and for women. (See this moving essay, Red State Fear, about the special fear of being a woman in a red state.)

More good news in the election litigation front

The Georgia Supreme Court refused to grant expedited review of a lower court ruling blocking a rule that would have required a hand-count of all ballots. See Reuters, Georgia's top court will not fast-track appeal of US ballot hand-count rule.

Although the ruling does not dispose of the legal challenge to the hand-count rule, it effectively blocks implementation of the rule for the November election. While an appeal to the US Supreme Court is possible, it would be astonishing for the Court to intervene in a question of state law, especially two weeks before an election.

As Marc Elias of Democracy Docket has noted, we must distinguish between the ability of Republicans to file frivolous lawsuits and the likelihood of success of those lawsuits. The mere fact that MAGA extremists harbor “suspicions” about voter fraud is not sufficient to invalidate the outcome of elections in a county or state. The remedy for fraud relating to specific votes is invalidating those votes—and no others.

Sadly, news media report new lawsuits with ominous overtones suggesting chaos but rarely note the dismissal of those same lawsuits. The fact is that voter fraud is vanishingly rare in America—despite the proliferating number of lawsuits filed by Republicans. The fact that fraud is vanishingly rare means that virtually all of those lawsuits will be disposed of quickly.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[stellariders]

these are my parents y’all 🫶

[street-corner-felines]

[itspileofgoodthings]

weird take but I’m fascinated by the use of pronouns in pop music and I think they’re really important and telling

[gracie-bird]

The Kelly family in the early 1900s.

[thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles]

Ruby x JJ x John B x Sarah..

oh this is juicy.

Ruby just slowly fading Sarah into view, she makes sure John B and her spend lots of time with each other.

they’re none the wiser, flirting and having a good time.

little do they know Ruby is fucking the life out of JJ upstairs and making him repeat over and over that he’s hers🫢

actually, they do know. they just don't care.

jj cares. he's red faced and he can't feel his body and he knows that if ruby catches word that john b and sarah heard them, that he won't get anything from her for WEEKS

[guillotineman]

The Fabelmans (2022, dir. Steven Spielberg)

Babylon (2022, dir. Damien Chazelle)

[iamkenzaashley]

Eric Stephens and John Kelly are the same character. Bot characters I absolutely adore. I’m biased, but still SAME PERSON.

[shirtshawaiian]

spotify wrapped is here put your whole entire top songs playlist in the tags i will go first

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

David Rowe

* * * *

We have been warned.

October 24, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

Over the last several weeks, dozens of senior advisers to former president Trump have warned about his fascist and dictatorial tendencies in his first term. More urgently, they have warned that those tendencies will be unleashed in a second Trump term in which he will have a “get out of jail free card” from the Supreme Court. Recent revelations from Trump's chief of staff John Kelly remind us that Trump admires “Hitler and his generals.”

See The Atlantic, Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’. (“I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”)

Trump surely knows that “following orders” included the genocide of Jews and a world war against the nations of Europe. His praise for “Hitler and his generals” should trouble every American regardless of party.

In a bracing admission, John Kelly described his former boss as “a fascist.” Kelly’s acknowledgment echoes the statement by former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley that “Trump is fascist to the core.”

On Wednesday, Kamala Harris took the unusual step of speaking from the steps of the Vice President's residence (the Naval Observatory) to formally condemn Trump's fascist agenda. See NYTimes: Harris seizes on former Trump aide’s warning that he fits the ‘fascist’ label.

Kamala Harris’s critique of Trump began and ended with Trump's own words, i.e., his repeated description of fellow Americans as “the enemy within”—a classic formulation of fascist ideology.

In her remarks, Vice President Harris said,

Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable, and in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions. Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there, and no longer be there to rein him in. The bottom line is this: We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power. The question in 13 days will be: What do the American people want?

Harris also responded to Kelly’s comment that Trump said that Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”

Harris said,

It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler. The man who is responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans. All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is.

Kamala Harris is speaking for every American who values democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law. She intends to keep it up. According to reports, she plans to give a speech on the Ellipse on the National Mall—the place where Trump summoned his mob of insurrectionists to assault the Capitol. See CNN, Harris to deliver closing argument speech on Ellipse, site of Trump’s January 6 rally, as she issues warnings over his fitness for office.

We have been warned. But the warnings are merely reminders of events we witnessed firsthand. Still, the fresh warnings are good. For too long, the media treated Trump as a legitimate candidate for the presidency. He is not. The election is not a horse race. His policies are tales told by an idiot, signifying nothing--but have been treated by the major media as though they are legitimate policies worthy of analysis by pundits and surveys by pollsters.

Enough. Trump is a fascist. He sees half the American people as his enemies. He believes he has been freed of constitutional and legal restraints by the Supreme Court to pursue an agenda of vengeance, retribution, and profiteering.

We have been warned. Let’s ensure that everyone hears and heeds that warning.

Coda to “We have been warned.”

Despite the explicit warnings over the last four years (and prior), Republican politicians have consistently excused, dismissed, and amplified Trump's fascist rhetoric. On Wednesday, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu dismissed Trump's praise for Hitler’s generals as a fact that is “baked in” to the election results. See Mediate, Chris Sununu Sticking With Trump After Kelly's Hitler Reveal.

Sununu said,

So, look, we’ve heard a lot of extreme things about Donald Trump from Donald Trump. It’s kind of par for the course. It’s really unfortunately, with with a guy like that, it’s kind of baked into the vote at this point.

In other words, to Sununu, the only thing that matters is whether Trump is winning the horse race. Sununu has ignored the moral dimension of supporting a fascist—and has forever tied his reputation to a man who admires Hitler and his generals. Chris Sununu should be ashamed of himself every day for the rest of his life. He had a good gig as a nepo-baby governor based on his father’s accomplishments; he has tarnished his entire family’s reputation by being a shill for a fascist.

To similar effect are the actions of the owner of the Los Angeles Times, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. The LA Times Editorial Board just announced that it would not be endorsing a presidential candidate. On Wednesday, the head of the LA Times Editorial Board resigned in protest, saying that the Board was prepared to endorse Kamala Harris, but Patrick Soon-Shiong ordered the Board to “compare and contrast” the accomplishments of Trump and Harris in a side-by-side format.

Soon-Shiong posted the following statement,

With this clear and non-partisan information side-by-side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being President for the next four years.

Soon-Shiong’s proposed format of “comparing and contrasting” the “accomplishments” of Trump and Harris is not an endorsement, as the head of the editorial board noted in her resignation statement. See NYTimes, L.A. Times Editorial Chief Quits After Owner Blocks Harris Endorsement. (Behind a paywall.)

Soon-Shiong is using his wealth and ownership of the LA Times to run cover for the fascist policies of Donald Trump. Soon-Shiong has had a brilliant and wildly successful career that he created from scratch as a first-generation immigrant. His legacy may be facilitating a second Trump term that will attack the very immigration policies that welcomed him with open arms.

If Donald Trump wins, it will be in large part because wealthy business leaders (like Soon-Shiong) and spineless politicians like Chris Sununu put their political and monetary fortunes ahead of the democracy that allowed them to succeed. Shame, shame, shame!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]