Laws That Don’t Apply To Wealthy People

Benjamin felt a nose nuzzling at his shoulder. He looked round. It was Clover. Her old eyes looked dimmer than ever. Without saying anything, she tugged gently at his mane and led him round to the end of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written. For a minute or two they stood gazing at the tatted wall with its white lettering.

“My sight is failing,” she said finally. “Even when I was young I could not have read what was written there. But it appears to me that that wall looks different. Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?”

For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran:

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

After that it did not seem strange when next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set, were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out subscriptions to John Bull, TitBits, and the Daily Mirror. It did not seem strange when Napoleon was seen strolling in the farmhouse garden with a pipe in his mouth-no, not even when the pigs took Mr. Jones’s clothes out of the wardrobes and put them on, Napoleon himself appearing in a black coat, ratcatcher breeches, and leather leggings, while his favourite sow appeared in the watered silk dress which Mrs. Jones had been used to wear on Sundays.
— excerpt from Animal Farm (1945), chapter X, George Orwell’s (1903-1950) novel

John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 2005 Official Portrait

Today, Tuesday, November 1, 2022, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary order that

White Tennessee Residents In A Slave Trade Town Oppose Teaching Slavery History

In a small Tennessee town with a population of 83,454 — comparatively, Huntsville, AL has 100,000 more — where, in the public square, in front of the county courthouse, from which numerous lynchings occurred, on the site of a former slave trading market, stands a statue known by locals as “Chip,” so nicknamed for the chip in his hat.

“Chip” has been around since 1899, and, in a sense, could be thought of as a relative “newcomer” to the community, per se — which was founded 1799 — though an enduringly stalwart one, at that.

“Chip” is made of the finest Italian marble, and, according to the United States Geological Survey, which measured, calculated, and installed a marker upon its base in 1931, stands 648.82 linear feet above sea level. Nearby Nashville is only slightly more elevated at 1160 feet above sea level.

While “Chip’s” maker is largely unknown (though it is thought to be one of many such replicas installed), what is known about him is who commissioned him — the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

You see, “Chip” is homage to the Confederacy, and to Confederate soldiers.

Upon its base is enscribed the following:

JD Vance Advocates Voting Discrimination

I have nothing good to say about that man scumbag.

Nothing.

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JD Vance Attacks Childless Politicians, Advocates Child Number-Based Voting

See: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/564646-jd-vance-takes-aim-at-culture-wars-and

J.D. Vance, memoirist author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which twice became a NYT best-seller in August 2016 and January 2017, a limited-release motion picture, and was later adapted for Netflix, is an attorney/venture capitalist campaigning as a Republican for Ohio’s 2022 election for its Class III U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Rob Portman.

Mr. Vance spoke Friday, July 23, 2021 at an Intercollegiate Studies Institute-sponsored Future of American Political Economy Conference, and in large part, claimed – without any citation of evidence – that childless politicians who he said “don’t have a personal indirect stake” in improving the country, are responsible for what he called “cultural wars,” which he said are waged by “the left.”

In part, he said that:

Alabama Proves To America Racism IS Alive And Well

Is it irony, or mere coincidence that these events are happening in the former “slave states” in the Deep South?

Is it irony, or mere coincidence that these events are practically all created by Republicans?

Is it irony, or mere coincidence that these events are being given the thumbs-up by a largely Republican Supreme Court?

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propublica.org

Why Do Non-White Georgia Voters Have to Wait in Line for Hours? Their Numbers Have Soared, and Their Polling Places Have Dwindled.

by Stephen Fowler, Georgia Public Broadcasting
Oct. 17, 2020
5 a.m. EDT

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Congress works for you. Learn how to be a better boss with the User’s Guide to Democracy, a series of personalized emails about what your representatives actually do.

This article is co-published by ProPublica, Georgia Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio.

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Kathy spotted the long line of voters as she pulled into the Christian City Welcome Center about 3:30 p.m., ready to cast her ballot in the June 9 primary election.

Hundreds of people were waiting in the heat and rain outside the lush, tree-lined complex in Union City, an Atlanta suburb with 22,400 residents, nearly 88% of them Black. She briefly considered not casting a ballot at all, but decided to stay.

By the time she got inside more than five hours later, the polls had officially closed and the electronic scanners were shut down. Poll workers told her she’d have to cast a provisional ballot, but they promised that her vote would be counted.

“I’m now angry again, I’m frustrated again, and now I have an added emotion, which is anxiety,” said Kathy, a human services worker, recalling her emotions at the time. She asked that her full name not be used because she fears repercussions from speaking out. “I’m wondering if my ballot is going to count.”

By the time the last voter finally got inside the welcome center to cast a ballot, it was the next day, June 10.

The clogged polling locations in metro Atlanta reflect an underlying pattern: The number of places to vote has shrunk statewide, with little recourse. Although the reduction in polling places has taken place across racial lines, it has primarily caused long lines in non-White neighborhoods where voter registration has surged and more residents cast ballots in person on Election Day. The pruning of polling places started long before the pandemic, which has discouraged people from voting in person.

In Georgia, considered a battleground state for control of the White House and U.S. Senate, the difficulty of voting in Black communities like Union City could possibly tip the results on Nov. 3. With massive turnout expected, lines could be even longer than they were for the primary, despite a rise in mail-in voting and Georgians already turning out by the hundreds of thousands to cast ballots early.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder decision in 2013 eliminated key federal oversight of election decisions in states with histories of discrimination, Georgia’s voter rolls have grown by nearly 2 million people, yet polling locations have been cut statewide by nearly 10%, according to an analysis of state and local records by Georgia Public Broadcasting and ProPublica. Much of the growth has been fueled by younger, non-White voters, especially in nine metro Atlanta counties, where four out of five new voters were non-White, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

The metro Atlanta area has been hit particularly hard. The nine counties — Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth, DeKalb, Cobb, Hall, Cherokee, Henry and Clayton — have nearly half of the state’s active voters but only 38% of the polling places, according to the analysis.

As a result, the average number of voters packed into each polling location in those counties grew by nearly 40%, from about 2,600 in 2012 to more than 3,600 per polling place as of Oct. 9, the analysis shows. In addition,

America First!

Let’s not mince words: I believe in a STRONG Federal government.

Period.

While no government is perfect, ours is becoming “a more perfect union” because of the Federal government, which is comprised of “we the people.”

It has rarely become more perfect because of states’ actions. It has been Federal actions which have unified the 50 states under a common banner – the Constitution.

As evidence of that, one only need look to history for examples.

It was the Federal government that abolished Slavery.

It was the Federal government that gave women the Right to Vote.

It was the Federal government that gave 18-year-olds the Right to Vote.

It was the Federal government that gave Blacks the Right to Vote, and the Civil Rights Act.

It was the Federal government that gave same sex partners the Right to Marry.

It was the Federal government that struck down anti-miscegenation laws.

It was the Federal government that protected children from sexual predators worldwide.

It was the Federal government that protected underage women from sexual exploitation in pornography.

It was the Federal government that protected Prisoners from sexual abuse.

And, it was the Federal government that protected people from housing discrimination.

The list is longer, but by now, you should get the point.

Government is NOT “the problem” – contrary to what Ronald Reagan said in his first Inaugural Address when he proclaimed that “government is the problem.”

For if government was the problem, then the solution to that problem would be the abolition of it – and that is anarchy, the absence of government.

So, the Federal government is not your enemy.

Because YOU are the Federal government.

YOU are “we the people.”

And in our nation, the people have the power, so… power to the people – right on!

Again, our nation is by no means perfect, but we are becoming a more perfect union because of what we do.

One of our nation’s enduring principles is equality under law, as ensconced in the 14th Amendment which states in pertinent part that in Section 1, that,

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws.”

“Due process of law…”  and “equal protection of the laws.”

Those two clauses have been instrumental in bringing equality and the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity since the 14th Amendment was ratified July 9, 1868.

So tell me, please why it is that blatant injustices like this still exist?

KC family had full-time jobs, but no one would rent to them. Can a proposed law help?
https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article237281324.html

Until Tiana Caldwell was diagnosed with a second bout of ovarian cancer last year, her family’s finances and housing were stable. She had no idea they would be homeless within months.

She started treatment, and the bills piled up quickly. She and her husband, Derek, fell behind on their rent, and that summer they were evicted.

Tiana Caldwell and her family were evicted while they struggled to pay the rent as well as her medical bills from her ovarian cancer treatments. Because of that eviction, landlords refused to rent to them. Finally they have found a stable home. Jill Toyoshiba JToyoshiba@kcstar.com

“At one point, I did maybe think it would be better if I didn’t make it,” said Caldwell, who is now in remission. “I just couldn’t stop fighting, even when I thought that maybe that was what was best.”

After the eviction, the family was marked. The blemish on their record made landlords wary of renting to them, even though she and her husband held full-time jobs. After months of searching, they found a home and moved in, but on their first night, sewage backed up into the bathtub and toilet. Caldwell said the house was declared uninhabitable. The family was homeless once again.

For about six months, they lived in cheap hotels or stayed with her husband’s relatives. They tried to keep life as normal as possible for their 12-year-old son, AJ, but some things — like having his friends over — weren’t possible.

“He wasn’t able to do any of that, and he couldn’t tell anybody why because he was ashamed,” Caldwell said. “He didn’t want his friends to know.”

Caldwell’s family is just one of 9,000 households who face eviction each year in Jackson County, a rate housing advocates say is a crisis.

She joined KC Tenants, the organization pushing Mayor Quinton Lucas and the City Council to adopt a tenants bill of rights. …

In his State of the Union address January 11, 1944, late, former POTUS Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed a Second Bill of Rights, saying in pertinent part, that:

Faith Will See Us Through

Martyrdom of Saint Januarius; Girolamo Pesce; circa 1727; Oil on canvas, 262 x 193 cm; Bishop’s Library, Vác, Hungary

The stories of early Christian saints are often larger-than-life. So it is with Saint Januarius (third century). According to legend, Januarius was thrown into a fiery furnace by the Romans during a time of intolerance toward Christians. To everyone’s amazement he emerged unscathed. Taken figuratively, the story says a lot about how faith can help us in the face of intolerance when it comes to things like race, gender, immigration status, and so on. We may be

Right Wing Political Religious Zealots

If Right Wing Religious Zealots get total political control, we could have this here in Gilead… er, the good ‘ol USA!

Watch “The Handmaid’s Tale“ on Hulu!
https://www.hulu.com/the-handmaids-tale

Indonesian men caned for gay sex in Aceh

Two men have been caned 83 times each in the Indonesian province of Aceh after being caught having sex. The men stood on stage in white gowns praying while a team of hooded men lashed their backs with a cane. The pair, aged 20 and 23, were found in bed together by vigilantes who entered their private accommodation in March. They have not been identified. Gay sex is not illegal in most of Indonesia but it is in Aceh, the only province which exercises Islamic law. It is the first time gay men have been caned under Sharia law in the province. The punishment was delivered outside a mosque in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39996224

Public caning, Dover, Delaware, 1910.

A respondent wrote: “Yeah! and we want to

Be nice to me… or else!

It certainly seems that there’s no shortage of opinion on FaceBook.

Recently, I had seen this posted on a friend’s page, and remarked upon it. Whether or not Eminem said it, I am uncertain. However, the sentiment expressed was what caught my attention.

Since we’re now in

Cullman Alabama Used Car Dealer Pleads Guilty: Cheated Active Duty National Guardsman, Violated Servicemembers Civil Relief Act

Reverend Carl Ralph Nuss, Cullman, Alabama, has plead GUILTY to violating Federal Law – Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

This is how he treats our troops?

I have nothing good to say about this, save that he plead guilty.

I hope the judge gives this criminal the maximum sentence.

And you know what else is REALLY sad?

Reverend Carl R. Nuss

Carl R. Nuss is a minister of the Gospel.

Apparently – and sadly so – he doesn’t know the Gospel too well.

Hopefully, this criminal and his criminal enterprise will soon be put out of business.

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Cullman Car Dealer Pleads Guilty to Violating Legal Protections for Active-Duty Service Members

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 27, 2013

BIRMINGHAM – A Cullman used car dealer pleaded guilty today for violating federal protections for active-duty military service members by refusing to reduce the loan interest rate and repossessing the vehicle he sold to a man who was later deployed overseas with the Alabama National Guard, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Schwein Jr.

CARL RALPH NUSS, 75, entered his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Harwell G. Davis III to the two counts of the March indictment charging him with violating

The Theory of Everything

I’m elated to learn that there is a “Theory of Everything.”

As I delved further into it, I found that

Alabama’s harsh immigration law targeted in new campaign; Republicans admit mistake

For those whom follow the news, Alabama has come under national and international scrutiny for its harsh law, ostensibly aimed at curbing illegal immigration.

Revelations that the law known as HB56 was written largely in part by Kansas Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and fostered in Alabama by Republican State Senator Scott Beason, approved by the overwhelming majority Republican State House and Senate, then signed into law by Republican Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, have set farmers, religious & charitable organizations and state and local government agencies into motion.

Even Missourians and their renown newspaper, the Kansas City Star, have expressed disgust with their Secretary of State, and wrote on February 9th, 2012 that,