Lost

[bodysong]

The fictional evils of Twin Peaks found their way into tiny villages of Vermont -

Trump's utter disregard and unconcern about the effects of Covid-19, made it worse.

Police find 3 women behind padlocked apartment door in human trafficking probe
in Rutland (Vermont)

- Alan J. Keays

Oct 22 2021

He estimated that two dozen law enforcement personnel from federal, state, county
and local agencies took part in executing the two federal search warrants Friday
morning.

No one was injured as a result of the operation, and Kilcullen said no weapons
were discharged.

Sharon Davis, a longtime member of the city’s Board of Aldermen, lives on Baxter
Street, though on the opposite end, less than half a mile from where the raid took place.

She said she had already gone to work before the raids, though she did get text messages
about it soon after and also followed Facebook postings about it.

Davis said the apartment house on Baxter Street where the raid occurred had its windows
boarded up by the time she returned home Friday afternoon.

She praised the efforts of law enforcement in carrying out the raid.

“The neighbors unfortunately put up with a lot,” Davis said. “I’m glad it was
accomplished. It’s wonderful to clean up these neighborhoods.”

She said when she heard that the raid was underway, she thought it was at a different
apartment building.

“There is another house, I won’t name, in the area that has come up to me a couple
of times. I certainly have brought it to the mayor’s attention and Chief Kilcullen’s
attention,” she said. “Maybe next time.”

https://vtdigger.org/2021/10/22/pol...t-door-in-human-trafficking-probe-in-rutland/

 

[bodysong]

Sandra Bland cleaned up her act, became an activist, and began, again.

Then, she caught the interest of Texas Department of Safety Trooper Brian Encinia.

She was forced into the trap he had set up, in traffic.

Bland was pulled over by Encinia on July 10, 2015, in Waller County, Tex.,
which is about 50 miles northwest of Houston.

Sandra Bland death: Texas officials deny editing arrest video

22 July 2015

* 25:01 - A man walks away from a pick-up truck and out of shot, before reappearing
at the door of the vehicle a few seconds later
* 32:37 - A white car comes into shot then disappears before reappearing a couple of
seconds later. The audio doesn't appear to break during this time, with the officer
heard discussing the incident
* 33:04 - The same footage of the white car is looped, again with no noticeable break
in the audio

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33627708

yeah, he lied, and she is dead at 28

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-stop-in-texas-days-later-she-died-in-a-jail/

May 7, 2019

But until a Dallas news station obtained and aired the cellphone clip Monday night,
no one had seen Bland’s own view of that tense moment in July 2015 —
including her family and the attorney who represented them in civil court.

“I’ve not seen it,” Lambert told a WFAA reporter of the cellphone recording.
“If they had turned it over, I would have seen it."

Bland’s family sued the Texas Department of Public Safety and Waller County,
and reached a $1.9 million settlement.

But her family said it never had a chance to review Bland’s own footage from the arrest
during those proceedings.

In the cellphone video, Bland leaves her car after Encinia pulls his Taser, saying,
“Wow. Wow. . . . You’re doing all of this for a failure to signal?”

The trooper then orders her to “get off the phone!” Bland responds that “I have a right
to record” before apparently acceding to his demands and turning off the cellphone.

“It is troubling that a crucial piece of evidence was withheld from Sandra Bland’s family
and legal team in their pursuit of justice,” state Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), who
sponsored a bill named after Bland that increased resources for mentally ill inmates and
added new police accountability measures, said in a statement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...ly-demands-answers-over-new-video-her-arrest/

 

[bodysong]

bodysong comment- British Petroleum's big fuck up at Deepwater
was not the end of American coastline disasters

Killing off the last of manatee family groups - by starvation

Fertilizer runoff, wastewater discharges and polluted water are killing off seagrass.

Florida manatee deaths soar as polluted water kills seagrass

October 26, 2021

“They are dying off in record numbers because we humans have made Florida
waters inhospitable to them,” Brooker said. “It’s not just our manatees at risk,
it’s a coast-wide ecological problem.”

State and federal environmental officials are beginning a manatee habitat restoration
program, armed with $8 million in state money approved this year by Florida
legislators. They say with cooler winter months on the way, the tendency of
manatees to congregate in warmer waters could mean many more of the
creatures will starve before the restoration work is completed.

“Seagrass restoration doesn’t happen overnight.

We can’t really start planting seagrass until we have water quality improvements,”
said Michael Sole, vice chairman of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“The winter is coming.”

https://triblive.com/news/world/florida-manatee-deaths-soar-as-polluted-water-kills-seagrass/

 

[bodysong]

Climate change: Sir David Attenborough in 'act now' warning

27 October 2021

- David Shukman

"If we don't act now, it'll be too late." That's the warning from Sir David Attenborough
ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

The broadcaster says the richest nations have "a moral responsibility" to help
the world's poorest.

And it would be "really catastrophic" if we ignored their problems, he told me
in a BBC News interview.

"Every day that goes by in which we don't do something about it is a day wasted,"
he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59039485

Greta Thunberg is shouting in the face of Human Greed

Perhaps, if she had been born in 1970, countries might have made serious shifts.

Who is cheering on the destruction of all of Earth's ecology ?

 

[bodysong]

Men shot by Kyle Rittenhouse can be called ‘rioters’ and 'looters’ but not ‘victims'

October 26, 2021

Kyle Rittenhouse faces homicide charges in the deaths of Rosenbaum, 36,
and Huber, 26, and an attempted homicide charge for shooting Grosskreutz,
27.

https://www.washingtonpost2021/10/26/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-judge-victims/

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Judge: Men shot by Kyle Rittenhouse won't be called 'victims' at trial

- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

2 hours ago

JSOnline - NewsWatch ✓
Twitter › js_newswatch

 

[bodysong]

Kyle Rittenhouse judge has a history of jackassery that goes back over 30 years

October 27, 2021

Those trying to find some excuse for Judge Bruce Schroeder might want to check
a little into his history, because this isn’t the first time he’s done something
that was extremely unusual.

Or the first time his actions are likely to lead to giving attorneys excellent grounds
for appeal. In fact, hundreds of people have tried to get their cases moved away
out of Schroeder’s court, because his actions have been irrational and unpredictable.

- Daily Kos

Elie Honig ✓
Twitter › eliehonig

I tried murder cases. It never even came up that we might have to call the victims
anything other than "victims." This is crazy and wrong.

(link to CNN)

14 hours ago

 

[bodysong]

After America's Civil War

Settlers soon learned that capitalism would not be satisfied with drops of blood,
willingly given in good faith, but would ravish and destroy every living thing,
in order to extract blood.

Unions formed, all across America, to give a Voice to The People.
Those seeking ugly, obsene, terrible, horrible, extreme wealth, killed the unions.

Lost Wisconsin

In early May, 1886 eight hour day strikes caught fire across the country.

In the Milwaukee area the largely immigrant industrial workforce rallied to the cause,
as did many socialists and radicals. Government, generally hostile to worker militancy
on all levels, responded by calling out the State Militia.

Over a half century later during the New Deal, enactment of the federal Fair Labor
Standards Act requiring employers to pay time and one half for hours worked over
forty in the week gave proof of how we all stand on the shoulders of those who
came before.

Great Recession of 2007-2009

In the aftermath of the Great Recession’s severe economic downturn newly elected
Republican Governor Scott Walker, supported by Republican majorities in the state
legislature moved to dismantle this labor relations system in 2011.

In what has popularly become known as Act 10, the new state legislation imposed
stringent new requirements and limitations on public workers and their unions.

https://schoolforworkers.wisc.edu/wisconsin-labor-history-an-epic-story/

Our Nation Turned To Stare at Wisconsin - Why are they attacking teachers ?

The Pandemic Years

Capitalism revealed its sharp claws and many teeth. Trump removed its muzzle and leash.

UW Health nurses use #whyuwnursesneedaunion to shed light on understaffing.

October 30, 2021

(The nurses have been making efforts to have their union restored since 2017.)

Greed kills.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Jew.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...s-haunting-warning-has-a-complicated-history/

Wisconsin transformed after the formerly-Republicans took over. Wisconsin once
served as an example of decent living standards, and community spirit.

November 8, 2011

In a political blow to GOP Gov. John Kasich, voters handily rejected the law,
which would have limited the bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public
workers. With more than a quarter of the votes counted late Tuesday, 63 percent
of votes were to reject the law.

Labor and business interests poured more than $30 million into the nationally
watched campaign, and turnout was high for an off-year election

Ohio's bill went further than a similar one in Wisconsin by including police officers
and firefighters, and it was considered by many observers to be a barometer of the
national mood on the political conundrum of the day: What's the appropriate size
and role of government, and who should pay for it?

For opponents of the law, its defeat is anticipated to energize the labor movement,
which largely supports Democrats, ahead of President Barack Obama's re-election
effort.

http://archive.boston.com/business/...voters_reject_republican_backed_union_limits/

March 6, 2015

The Wisconsin State Assembly voted to make Wisconsin the 25th right-to-work state
in the country.

March 11, 2015

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became a Republican political star by taking on his
state's public employee unions. This week he went a step further, signing a bill
that would weaken private-sector unions.

"Wisconsin now has the freedom to work," Walker said.

https://www.npr.org/2015/03/11/3923...right-to-work-movement-bolstered-by-wisconsin

formerly-Republicans pitted unions against each other, and caused a divide.

A tiny amount police officers across America commited treason against America.
Trump succeeded in corrupting anything he touched.

"Everything Trump touches, dies."

- Rick Wilson

Right to Work bit many Americans on the arse, during the rise of the pandemic.

 

[bodysong]

The Capital Times
Twitter › CapTimes

Republican-proposed redistricting plans were criticized by most
at a day-long public hearing Thursday.

1 day ago

 

[bodysong]

October 28, 2021

Testimony in Opposition to SB 621/AB 624 –
Legislative Redistricting & SB 622/AB 625 –
Congressional Redistricting

Today marks the first and only public hearing sanctioned by the Republican legislative
leadership on redistricting or gerrymandering in over ten years – since July of 2011
when majority Republicans rammed through the most hyper partisan voting maps
in the nation.

Today, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites have worked to pass county advisory
referendums and resolutions in more than three quarters of Wisconsin’s 72 counties
including deeply red counties. They have made hundreds of thousands of contacts
with you, their state legislators, demanding a non-partisan redistricting process
and an end to the expenditure of millions of taxpayer dollars spent to keep
voting maps rigged.

Poll after poll demonstrates that the citizens of Wisconsin, across the political spectrum
want the redistricting process and outcome to reflect their values in favor of fairness
and for accountability of their elected officials in elections.

They want partisan gerrymandering to end.

This battle to end rigged elections and partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin will
continue until that objective is achieved. And it will not end even a moment before.

https://www.commoncausewisconsin.org/2021/

 

[bodysong]

Oct 29, 2021

Republican Rule: Gerrymandered election maps would ensure minority dominance
of Wisconsin for decades

"...there is nothing in state law that explicitly bans partisan gerrymandering,
and the U.S. Supreme Court has said it is not the job of federal courts to
decide when redistricting gets too partisan."

“The level of contempt by Wisconsin Republicans for democracy and the people
of our state never ceases to amaze me.”

- Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh

Gordon Hintz ✓
Twitter › GordonHintz

In 2011, Republicans moved nearly 2.4 million voters into new Assembly districts
even though they needed to move only 320,000 to ensure the districts had balanced
populations. In 2021, Republicans say preserving these districts is the guiding priority.

2 days ago

“We trust that our transparent and deliberate process will more clearly reflect
the communities where Wisconsinites live, work and vote,”
said People’s Maps Commission chair Christopher Ford.

Republicans had said previously that they would not pass any maps produced
by the commission, but Vos indicated in his statement that the Legislature
“took into account” plans submitted to the panel. Vos also set up his own
redistricting portal recently to take similar submissions from the public.

Vos has also indicated that the Legislature intends to pass its redistricting
plan before November 11.

Already there have been multiple lawsuits filed to handle the process
from there. Democrats and their allies have filed two cases in federal
court, while a conservative group has filed a case in the Wisconsin
Supreme Court.

http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com...-ensure-minority-dominance-wisconsin-decades/

 

[bodysong]

Florida Gov. Ron "De Satan" DeSantis appointed an anti-vaxxer, anti-masker,
- Joseph Ladapo, and public schools have lost the right to protect their students
and teachers from Covid-19

(For parents that bear an un-damaged brain, vaccinations for children are available.)

Nov 4, 2021

“At what point does the federal government have the limit to their power,
if they can just go ahead and impose this on the entire private economy
through an executive fiat?" DeSantis said during an appearance in
Jacksonville. "That’s not the way our constitutional system is set up."

During the appearance Thursday in Jacksonville, DeSantis, widely mentioned
as a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said "people should not
be in a situation where they're faced with the jab or their jobs."

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs...ampaign=hpfeatures&utm_content=HomeTopFeature

Deputy Chief Judge Brian Newman of the Division of Administrative Hearings
has ruled the Florida Department of Health has the authority to set rules
on quarantines and mask mandates.

School boards in Alachua, Duval, Leon, Miami-Dade and Orange counties sued
the Health Department over whether Ladapo and the agency could overrule
the school districts on setting their own, more restrictive regulations.

Richard Corcoran ✓
Twitter › richardcorcoran

I’d like to sincerely thank @leonschools and @brevardschools for reversing
their mandatory mask policies by empowering parents. Let’s keep working
together to provide students a world-class education

2 days ago


Oct 29, 2021

Students at Orange County Public Schools will be able to opt out of wearing a mask
on campus with a note from their parents, starting on Monday.

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs...y-public-schools-allow-mask-mandate-to-expire

State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is looking to enforce Gov. Ron
DeSantis’ threat to withhold the salaries of school officials in Alachua and Leon
counties if they don’t comply with a state rule aimed at allowing parents to decide
whether children wear masks in school.

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs...ask-requiring-districts-with-funding-decrease

 

[bodysong]

2016/06/16/

Ohio

Cleveland was the site of a December 2012 car chase involving 50 police officers,
some of whom fired 137 bullets into a car only to discover that neither of the people
inside were armed. Some of those bullets were fired by an officer standing on the hood
of the car. In May 2015, a judge found that officer not guilty of two counts of felony
voluntary manslaughter.

In November 2014, police officers responded to the report of a boy in a park with a gun.

The caller told the 911 operator that it may have been a toy, but the boy was shot and
killed within minutes of the officers' arrival at the park.

The gun was a toy, and the boy was 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

In December 2015, after the county's prosecutor all but argued formally in the officers'
defense that Tamir was unusually large for his age (implying that this rendered the
/shooting justified), a grand jury declined to indict the officers involved.

Later, the city sued Tamir's family for his ambulance bill, the one incurred
after Cleveland police officers inflicted the wounds that killed him.

The lawsuit for the unpaid bill was later dropped. It is not clear if the operator
passed along critical information about the fact that the gun was a toy.

htt/the-fix/wp/2016/06/16/why-cleveland-and-gop-convention-protests-are-a-particularly-volatile-mixture/

Video footage of the killing, which happened in daylight on Nov. 22, 2014,
shows the child was shot within two seconds of the police arriving at the scene.

Loehmann, who fired two bullets into Rice, and Garmback allege they believed he was
carrying a gun. In fact, the boy was playing with a toy air pellet gun near a playground
at a city recreation center.

The officers were responding to a 911 call during which the caller said there was
a man — "probably a juvenile" — pointing a gun — "probably fake" — at people
on the playground. However, the dispatcher failed to relay to the responding officers
the fact that the subject of the call was likely a child with a toy.

Rice died early the next morning at a Cleveland hospital.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/29/9512...ecute-cleveland-officers-who-killed-tamir-ric

 

[bodysong]

2016/07/16/

Cleveland Preps For Partying And Protests During Republican National Convention

Since winning the Republican National Convention in 2014, Cleveland has refurbished
its Public Square, fixed up downtown streets and finished construction on a $270 million
taxpayer-funded hotel.

Now it's showtime.

This week, the RNC's 2,000-plus delegates—along with their staffs, tens of thousands
of journalists and untold numbers of demonstrators—will crowd into Northeast Ohio
to see Donald Trump accept the Republican nomination for president.

Local and federal authorities say they are prepared to protect the convention, and that
there is no specific, credible threat against the event.

But the killings of five police officers by a gunman in Dallas had led police to take
stock of their security preparations, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said.

The city received $50 million from the federal government to spend on security.
Much of that money will help pay to bring in an estimated 2,500 out-of-town
police officers.

The city is also using the funds to stock up on gear for police. Cleveland requested
bids for 2,000 sets of riot gear and steel batons, flexible plastic handcuffs, prisoner
transport vans, bicycles, metal barricades and other equipment.

Guns, however, won't be banned because Ohio law permits the open carrying of
firearms. Local gun rights groups and even some Republican delegates say they
plan to come to Cleveland bearing arms.

https://www.npr.org/2016/07/16/4861...rotests-during-republican-national-convention

 

[bodysong]

A self-centered arsehole murdered Heather Heyer in 2017

2021

A woman recalls the deadly car attack at the Charlottesville rally organizers' trial

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages from two dozen white supremacists,
neo-Nazis and organizations the plaintiffs allege participated in a conspiracy
to incite violence.

The lawsuit is being funded by Integrity First for America, a nonprofit organization
formed in response to the violence in Charlottesville.

The plaintiffs include four people who were hurt in the car attack
and others who were victims of violence during a torch rally
at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11 or during
demonstrations the following day.

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/08/1053...ck-united-the-right-white-national-organizers

 

[bodysong]

Leonard Pitts Jr.: 'Blond hair white skin' and the color of justice

Nov. 11, 2021

She slammed down her white privilege like you’d slam down an American Express
black card. Which is to say, with supreme confidence.

Two months after posting video of herself in the mob of right-wing thugs who stormed
the U.S. Capitol, Jenna Ryan went on Twitter to taunt her detractors. “Definitely not
going to jail,” she wrote. “Sorry I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future
and I’m not going to jail. Sorry to rain on your hater parade.”

Was Ryan proven wrong? Or did she simply put the court in a position
where it had no other choice?

The court had to impose some consequence, if only to defend its own credibility.

But the fact that Ryan will do some time hardly proves her wrong about color-coded justice.

Yes, she got 60 days for invading the U.S. Capitol. But Sean Worsley got 60 months
for possession of legally prescribed medical marijuana.

Yes, she got 60 days for an act of treason. But Willie Nash got 12 years
for having a cellphone in jail.

Yes, she got 60 days for attempting to overthrow the government.
But Fair Wayne Bryant got life for stealing hedge clippers.

Imagine if it was a mob of Black Lives Matter activists who stormed the Capitol.
Can you envision a scenario in which they — the survivors, at least — got off
with 60-day sentences?

You see, it’s not just that Ryan was confident in asserting her privilege,
but that she had every reason to be.

And still does.

https://triblive.com/opinion/leonard-pitts-jr-blond-hair-white-skin-and-the-color-of-justice/

 

[bodysong]

Two journalists released in Canada after arrest at indigenous protest

November 22, 2021

Amber Bracken, an award-winning photojournalist who has previously worked with
the Guardian newspaper, and Michael Toledano, a documentary film-maker,
were arrested on Friday by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was
enforcing a court-ordered injunction in British Columbia.

"The two journalists were released after signing conditions to abide by the injunction,
to keep the peace and to attend court at a future date."

Both are required to return to court on Feb. 14 for a hearing related to allegations
of civil contempt of court.

Hereditary chiefs from the Gidimt'en and the four other clans that make up
the Wet'suwet'en people have been trying for more than a year to halt
construction of the pipeline.

Nov 20, 2021

Amber Bracken was among those arrested as Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) advance on Gidimt'en occupation of Coastal GasLink drill site

Amber Bracken was arrested during a clash over the proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline
through Wet'suwet'en Nation territory in northern B.C.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police made arrests Friday

The Narwhal
Twitter › thenarwhalca

“They had tactical units, sniper teams and riot suppression gear
and we had children with marshmallows,” said Gitxsan member
Kolin Sutherland-Wilson, who participated in a #WetsuwetenSolidarity action.
via @writermjs #bcpoli #RCMP
(link)

3 days ago

Stephanie Nolen ✓
Twitter › snolen

I’m disturbed and angry to learn of the arrest of photojournalist
Amber Bracken, with whom I have been fortunate to collaborate,
by the RCMP on Wet’suwet’en territory today.
Journalism is not a crime, in Canada
or anywhere else

(link to theglobeandmail)

9 days ago

 

[bodysong]

Right Wing Watch ✓
Twitter › RightWingWatch

(graphic- screen shot)

MAGA pastor and GOP congressional candidate Mark Burns declares that
"any law that is against the word of God ... should be overturned."

6 hours ago


MAGA Pastor and GOP Congressional Candidate Mark Burns Declares
That All Laws ‘Contrary to God’s Word’ Must Be Overturned

- Kyle Mantyla
December 7, 2021

MAGA pastor Mark Burns, seeks to be elected (busy, selling out his own community for $$$$)

December 6, 2021

Mark Burns, a MAGA pastor who is running for Congress in South Carolina,
is an unabashed Christian nationalist who openly declares that
“any policy that is contrary to the word of God” needs to be made illegal."
- Right Wing Watch

Other conservative politicians try to avoid the thorny issue by keeping the conversation
on the issue of choice. "It's not about whether the vaccines work or not,"
says Mark Burns, a conservative pastor closely affiliated with Donald Trump.
"What matters for me is that you are stripping citizens [of] the right to choose
what's best for their own life."

Pastor Mark Burns spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Now a congressional candidate, he recently spoke at a major gathering of anti-vaccine
activists.

Burns, who is running for Congress in South Carolina, likened the choice about
vaccination to smoking: "Cigarettes kill people every day, but yet you can go
to the supermarket right now and buy it with no issue, that's their choice.
If they want to go put cancer into their lungs, they have a right to do so."
He felt his position would help him win the primary in the conservative
district where he hopes to be elected.
- NPR

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/06/1057...ivists-political-conference-trump-republicans

 

[pecksniff]

Other conservative politicians try to avoid the thorny issue by keeping the conversation
on the issue of choice. "It's not about whether the vaccines work or not,"
says Mark Burns, a conservative pastor closely affiliated with Donald Trump.
"What matters for me is that you are stripping citizens [of] the right to choose
what's best for their own life."

That kind of thinking has no support whatsoever in Scripture.

 

[pecksniff]

The fictional evils of Twin Peaks found their way into tiny villages of Vermont -

Trump's utter disregard and unconcern about the effects of Covid-19, made it worse.

Police find 3 women behind padlocked apartment door in human trafficking probe
in Rutland (Vermont)

- Alan J. Keays

Oct 22 2021

He estimated that two dozen law enforcement personnel from federal, state, county
and local agencies took part in executing the two federal search warrants Friday
morning.

No one was injured as a result of the operation, and Kilcullen said no weapons
were discharged.

Sharon Davis, a longtime member of the city’s Board of Aldermen, lives on Baxter
Street, though on the opposite end, less than half a mile from where the raid took place.

She said she had already gone to work before the raids, though she did get text messages
about it soon after and also followed Facebook postings about it.

Davis said the apartment house on Baxter Street where the raid occurred had its windows
boarded up by the time she returned home Friday afternoon.

She praised the efforts of law enforcement in carrying out the raid.

“The neighbors unfortunately put up with a lot,” Davis said. “I’m glad it was
accomplished. It’s wonderful to clean up these neighborhoods.”

She said when she heard that the raid was underway, she thought it was at a different
apartment building.

“There is another house, I won’t name, in the area that has come up to me a couple
of times. I certainly have brought it to the mayor’s attention and Chief Kilcullen’s
attention,” she said. “Maybe next time.”

https://vtdigger.org/2021/10/22/pol...t-door-in-human-trafficking-probe-in-rutland/

How did covid make that any worse?

 

[bodysong]

The ugly, obsene, terrible, horrible, extreme wealth of the North,
was born of the deaths of Native Americans.

(The death of a pristine ecology.)

Debts to the Crown, payments stained by American blood.

Humble villages, built on the established camps of Native Americans,
fed by the harvest fields stolen from Native Americans, life among
the invaders was somewhat equal. There were no great mansions
to announce the raised positions of the playground bullies. They
walked among their neighbors.

The ugly, obsene, terrible, horrible, extreme wealth of the South,
was born of the deaths of Native Americans.

(The death of wilderness.)

Favours granted by the Crown, repaid in wealth soaked in American blood.

The invaders stayed aboard the ships that sailed to American soil.
Native Americans had their patience tested. Murder, rape, and
double-dealing operated on these ships.

All agreements were broken, because of tribe members stolen, to become property
to be sold, to pay debts. Lower caste, lower positions, lower deeds, even among
themselves.

Native Americans made very poor slaves. Slaves were imported.

Soon, enough, the wealth built on a landscape of corpses, had built mansions.

Nations glutted by wealth built on corpses, the wolves slipped in.

At last, there was enough wealth for a rebellion against the Crown.
Many years of the production of corpes.

Wealth, to buy the mechanical production of goods, and steam power.
Empowered by blood-soaked wealth, the highest-placed tiptoed on the
skulls of the living.

America became a graveyard -
Abraham Lincoln won the election.
A human being was asked to grapple with the disaster, accumulated over ages.

Julia Ward Howe

Little known today except as author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," was famous
in her lifetime as a poet, essayist, lecturer, reformer and biographer.

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2011/03/julia-ward-howe.html

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
He have loosed the fateful lightening of his terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on

Glory, Glory hallelujah
Glory, Glory hallelujah
Glory, Glory hallelujah
His truth is marching on

The strangness of the reflection, in 2021
We have returned to the Colony attitude -
with Corporate Entities, standing in as substitutes,
for the nation-states that had sent invaders to America.

Among them, the Koch brothers, that paid off lackeys,
to serve their purposes. The corporations that clung to Russia
like lice, and had no loyalty, to no one, but themselves.

A telling signal, the modern corporate nation-states invested
their resources in private prisons, built for profit. Private armies,
built to operate for profit. The lice arrive to surround a wound
on a nation, sucking life blood in exchange for profit.

The most horrifying, is the person that condemned everyone to death, for profit.

Closing in on 792, 000 US Covid-19 deaths (cannot get accurate counts in Florida)

In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in his bosom, that transfigures you and me
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free
His truth is marching on

Occupy Wall Street tried to bring attention to the issue of corporate giants.
The response to the outcry of citizens, was to bring actors, that pretend.
The year of crushed heads and crushed bodies, because money buys protection.
Black Lives Matter emerged, and the response was harsher.

The person that allowed disease to kill hundreds of thousands, had pressed
the punishment of all that took part in a peaceful protest.

Not a real King of a corporate-state, just one that pretended to be.

 

[bodysong]

from the moment Trump took over the Oval office, his wealthy friends bought up
small, local, community news outlets, that tended to present Liberal leaning views,
and gave support to local Democrats. The timing was disasterous, and print publications
were losing out to online media. The new owners made it unbearable for trusted, familiar
local journalists, reporters, and editors. They took their exits - either they walked out
in protest, took the payoff to leave, or were forced out.
Honest, truthful people were replaced by sell-outs.
Too greedy to stick to morals.

The print publication that was take over by MAGA might carry the same name,
but what there was to read and see, was completely changed.

America's press and media are still suffering, because the system has been poisoned
by corporate money. The Trump administration hand fed corporations with the taxpayer's
cash. The 1% now have trillions of dollars, to throw away. They are doing evil things,
because evil pays well.

“No [real] journalist makes $5 million a year... Those in power fear and dislike real journalists."

-- Chris Hedges

 

[bodysong]

Gutenberg charitable org provides -

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

IN PROSE

BEING

A Ghost Story of Christmas

BY

CHARLES DICKENS


“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “
it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision
for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.
Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds
of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred
to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

“Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body
to the multitude,” returned the gentleman, “a few of us are endeavouring to raise
a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.
We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want
is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?”

“Nothing!” Scrooge replied.

“You wish to be anonymous?”

“I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge.

1843

One of the most enduring cliches of the literary life is that writers are frequently broke.

Unable to pay their bills, they turn to alcohol. Or worse, teaching.
Some writers, unsuccessful in publishing their poems or stories
even in obscure literary journals, finally give up and seek out
employment in advertising.

Charles Dickens, teetering on bankruptcy in the early 1840s, did none of those things.

Instead, he wrote “A Christmas Carol.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/hist...reason-charles-dickens-wrote-christmas-carol/

 

[pecksniff]

One of the most enduring cliches of the literary life is that writers are frequently broke.

Unable to pay their bills, they turn to alcohol. Or worse, teaching.
Some writers, unsuccessful in publishing their poems or stories
even in obscure literary journals, finally give up and seek out
employment in advertising.

Charles Dickens, teetering on bankruptcy in the early 1840s, did none of those things.

Instead, he wrote “A Christmas Carol.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/hist...reason-charles-dickens-wrote-christmas-carol/

It is interesting to speculate what kind of advertising copy Dickens might have written.

 

[bodysong]

“Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,” said Scrooge,
looking intently at the Spirit’s robe, “but I see something strange,
and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts.
Is it a foot or a claw?”

“It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it,” was the Spirit’s sorrowful reply.
“Look here.”

From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful,
hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside
of its garment.

“Oh, Man! look here. Look, look, down here!” exclaimed the Ghost.

They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too
in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched
them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched,
and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned,
devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion
of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation,
has monsters half so horrible and dread.

“Spirit! are they yours?” Scrooge could say no more.

“They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them.

“And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance.
This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all
beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless
the writing be erased. Deny it!” cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand
towards the city. “Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious
purposes, and make it worse. And bide the end!”

“Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge.

“Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time
with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?”

The bell struck twelve.

 

[pecksniff]

Here's a passage that never seems to appear in any screen adaptation of "A Christmas Carol":

“Spirit,” said Scrooge, after a moment’s thought, “I wonder you, of all the beings in the many worlds about us, should desire to cramp these people’s opportunities of innocent enjoyment.”

“I!” cried the Spirit.

“You would deprive them of their means of dining every seventh day, often the only day on which they can be said to dine at all,” said Scrooge. “Wouldn’t you?”

“I!” cried the Spirit.

“You seek to close these places on the Seventh Day?” said Scrooge. “And it comes to the same thing.”

“I seek!” exclaimed the Spirit.

“Forgive me if I am wrong. It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your family,” said Scrooge.

“There are some upon this earth of yours,” returned the Spirit, “who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.”

What that's about is: Many Londoners in the 19th Century had stoves at home, but not ovens. If they needed to roast or bake anything, they had to hire time in a bakery oven. Some religious extremists wanted to shut down all businesses, including bakeries, on Sunday.

Later in the story, we learn that Bob Cratchit's family is one of those -- Mrs. Cratchit can cook potatoes at home, but the Christmas goose has to go to a bakery.