Category Archives: Politics

An excellent choice

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Deb Haaland was sworn in today as Secretary of the Interior. This is the best choice Biden could have made for this position. In the New Yorker, Bill McKibben said: [M]uch of the pressure will fall on Haaland, because the territory she’s responsible for is so vast, and the political terrain so charged. She’s a brilliant choice because, with luck, she’ll be able to summon the rest of the country to appreciate the legacy that she now protects: the amazing landscape of the American West, the ancestral home of her own people and of many of our ideas about American … Continue reading →

If you run into armed groups at the polls…

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Georgetown Law has a division called the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, and they have put together information for all 50 states concerning unauthorized militias. Since Trump has threatened the election and the country by calling out armed vigilantes, it’s possible you could run into some of these people when you vote in-person. Addressing the rise of unlawful private paramilitaries ICAP has created fact sheets for all 50 states explaining the laws barring unauthorized private militia groups and what to do if groups of armed individuals are near a polling place or voter registration drive. Select a state from … Continue reading →

This looks illegal to me

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What the holy hell is going on here? Militarized Federal Agents from a patchwork of outside agencies have begun policing Portland (in rented minivans vans) without the explicit approval of the mayor, the state, or local municipalities. This is what that looks like in practice: pic.twitter.com/losap4SsgI — The Sparrow Project (@sparrowmedia) July 15, 2020 A bit more information “Who are these federal officers…?

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How can you run when you know?

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I was in high school in Toledo, Ohio, when this happened. 50 years ago today. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming. We’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down. Should have been done long ago. What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground? Jerry Casale, founding member of the band Devo, was a student at Kent State during the protests. He has written an essay on the events of that day for Rolling Stone. Hat tip to Amanda Marcotte for … Continue reading →

What they are doing to my Heart Land

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The Intercept’s Ryan Devereaux has an excellent and horrifying overview of the damage being done at Organ Pipe. Trump Is Blowing Up a National Monument in Arizona to Make Way for the Border Wall Contractors working for the Trump administration are blowing apart a mountain on protected lands in southern Arizona to make way for the president’s border wall. The blasting is happening on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a tract of Sonoran Desert wilderness long celebrated as one of the nation’s great ecological treasures, that holds profound spiritual significance to multiple Native American groups…. Celebrated as “a pristine … Continue reading →

“And when Trump is gone, we’ll tear it all down.”

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More from Laiken Jordahl, reporting from the border: Trump’s wall is destroying the environment activists are protecting Imagine dedicating your entire life to protecting a place. Then imagine watching everything you’ve worked to protect be bulldozed by a desperate, self-serving president. That’s what’s happening right now to career scientists and conservationists at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on Arizona’s border with Mexico. I used to work there too. It breaks my heart. Organ Pipe, a sprawling 500-square-mile wilderness area home to the best preserved Sonoran Desert ecosystem on the planet, is being butchered by President Trump’s border wall…. The wall … Continue reading →