We just had an impeachment in the House (Wed 18 Dec 2019, mark this day). This outcome was written before the vote came; Democrats had the majority and had voted on impeachment three times prior. Those previous attempts were certain to fail–and are now held up as Democratic bias–but relatively inconsequential otherwise. Let’s face it: if the Republicans didn’t have an excuse for the accusation of bias they’d create it anyway. This time, the impeachment, stuck and it stuck with such gravity because of those who came forward.
Pic I took at the ATL airport picking up our bag from our Philadelphia trip, just as Pelosi’s speech was happening. So lucky to have witnessed history by accident.
C-SPAN’s archive of the announcement:
Greta Thunberg being more Greta than ever. Previous day.
Boone County deputies say Jake Walter, a one-time Covington Catholic basketball standout, held a woman down this weekend and repeatedly raped her until she bled.
Walter dismissed the victim by laughing at her and telling her that she would be fine.
12:16 AM – Jan 20, 2019 – Statement from one of the students mother
Shame on you! Were you there? Did you hear the names the people where calling these boys? It was shameful. Did you witness the black Muslims yelling profanities and video taping trying to get something to futher (sic) your narrative of hatred?? Did you know that this “man” came up to this one boy and drummed in his face? Shame on you. Only reporting what you want. More fake news.
…
Delete my email. I want nothing to do with helping perpetuating (sic) your hate. I do not want to be a part of your story. You are ruining a boys life for fake news. Hate spreads like wildfire. I pray for you.
Last thing, for people wondering what they yelled, all we specifically heard was “MAGA”, “Build the Wall”, and some people say they hear “slut” at the end of the video ok it’s past my bedtime goodnight twitter
Media presence
Daily Beast posted the article Covington Catholic Teen on ‘Fox & Friends’: Blackface Is ‘School Spirit’ on two students’ interview on Fox the morning of the 23rd. File under “male white privilege makes stupid”. These teens are either unprepared or stupid or both. Cf. the Parkland kids carrying themselves in the public sphere with calm intelligence and moral certitude.
Steve Doocy asks a CovCath kid about others wearing blackface at basketball games, and he says since he’s been there “we haven’t been able to wear black paint because of the video, but I know the kids meant nothing by it, it’s just showing school spirit.” pic.twitter.com/rbuO5CKIts
Savannah Guthrie interviewed Nick Sandmann (possibly #1 in the group image above) on NBC Nightly News on the evening of the 23rd. He is as expressive and sympathetic as the two on Fox. This is more of an indictment of thrusting kids into the media. Allegedly, the Bishop at the school has now barred them from speaking to the media.
Predictable, Trump and Fox support them.
"Do you feel from this experience that you owe anybody an apology? Do you see your own fault in any way?”
No matter what happens with Kavanaugh, despair is not an option. Channel your angry energy into action. Call. Demonstrate. Register. Vote. There will be devastating losses along the way, and from them we recover and learn. We’re taking this fucking country back. Keep going.
No matter what happens with Kavanaugh, despair is not an option. Channel your angry energy into action. Call. Demonstrate. Register. Vote. There will be devastating losses along the way, and from them we recover and learn. We’re taking this fucking country back. Keep going.
6 Oct 2018, 10:59 AM
Older woman crying in photo: “How are we going to find the strength to keep fighting? Are we going to be out here for another 30 years? I don’t have 30 years left.”
Younger woman taking her photo: “I’ll be here. I’ll keep fighting.”
Older woman crying in photo: “How are we going to find the strength to keep fighting? Are we going to be out here for another 30 years? I don’t have 30 years left.”
Younger woman taking her photo: “I’ll be here. I’ll keep fighting.”
6 Oct 2018, 11:03 AM
NEW: Ramirez statement: 'The other students … chose to laugh and look the other way as sexual violence was perpetrated on me by (BK). As I watch many of the Senators speak & vote … I feel like I'm right back at Yale where half the room is laughing and looking the other way.' https://t.co/9ucSRJrtz7
NEW: Ramirez statement: ‘The other students … chose to laugh and look the other way as sexual violence was perpetrated on me by (BK). As I watch many of the Senators speak & vote … I feel like I’m right back at Yale where half the room is laughing and looking the other way.’
6 Oct 2018, 12:56 PM
Protesters have climbed the stairs of the Capitol chanting “November is coming!”. Hundred present here and across the street in front of SCOTUS. pic.twitter.com/0vqW45BMXJ
“What we are witnessing is not a step backwards for America so much as a headlong plunge into a punitive past. Adults must fight this future for the sake of the youngest Americans, who have already lost more than they ever got the chance to know.”
6 Oct 2018, 6:23 PM
What I hope people grasp is that the fight is not only about the win. You fight because it's the right thing to do. You fight because if it alleviates suffering for just one person, it's worth it. You fight because if you don't, if you let them define you, you will lose yourself.
What I hope people grasp is that the fight is not only about the win. You fight because it’s the right thing to do. You fight because if it alleviates suffering for just one person, it’s worth it. You fight because if you don’t, if you let them define you, you will lose yourself.
Updated 5 May 2020
I was reminded recently of another tweet Sarah Kendzior posted at the time of the Kavenaugh hearing. In his Washington Post op-ed Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers, George Will referenced the T S Eliot poem The Hollow Men. Skewering the Republican Congressmen, Kendzior posted verses from that poem along with images of those pretending to engage in the Kavenaugh accusations at hand, but were obviously not. This was the first time I had heard the poem and it was a moving introduction.
"We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw." pic.twitter.com/sLjGlfUm8N
