Tidbits - Nov. 5, 2020 - Reader Comments: 2020 elections; #CountEveryVote; Migrant Children; Comments on lots of Culture posts; Armistice Day resources; Announcements;
Count Every Vote! (Organizing Upgrade)
Re: Strike for Democracy! (Daryl McClover; Carlos Alvarez)
Re: As Trump Spouts Last-Minute Lies, Top Pennsylvania Officials Make Clear: 'Election Will Not End' Until All Ballots Are Counted (Laurel MacDowell)
The Finish Line -- cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
A vote's life begins -- meme Joe Praino
Re: Why Leftists Should Vote for Biden in Droves (Deborah Gerson; Mike Liston)
Electoral College -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Re: US Detained Migrant Children for Far Longer Than Previously Known (Joseph Maizlish; Grace Carriker; Debra Howell; Sigi Heim Roberts)
I Love a Crowd -- Bill Bramhall cartoon
If You Still Won't Wear a Mask....
Re: Israeli Conscientious Objector Begins Third Stint in Military Prison (Paul Buhle)
Re: The Real Reason Democrats Didn’t Stop the Barrett Confirmation (Stan Nadel; Elliott Barowitz)
Re: Google AI Tech Will Be Used For Virtual Border Wall, CBP Contract Shows (Sonia Collins)
Re: Where are the Social Movements in Fiction (Harry Targ; Timothy Sheard)
Re: The New Borat Movie’s Best Moments Mock a Trump-era Fixation on a Particular Female Aesthetic (Stella Caldwell)
Re: In Defense of Knowledge (Bookworms; Disraelly Gutierrez Jaime)
Re: Why the Alt-right’s Real Power Is In the Narrative It Sells (Eleanor Roosevelt; Cliff Gulliver; Emmett Pittman)
Re: HBO's 'The Undoing,' Starring Nicole Kidman, is a Cliffhanger-filled Ode to Rich White People (Paul Swiatek; Stacy Leigh)
Resources:
Armistice Day / Remembrance Day 103 Is November 11, 2020 (World BEYOND War)
Announcements:
A Transforming Moment: What Next?”with Mark Solomon - music by Alastair Moock - Boston - November 8 (Community Church of Boston)
Imagining De-gentrified Futures" Exhibition - November 4 - December 19
Count Every Vote! (Organizing Upgrade)
Trump is claiming victory, but he is losing.
He hoped large-scale voter suppression would be enough to ensure his re-election. It didn’t work.
So now he wants to use his packed-by-the-GOP Supreme Court to stop states from counting votes, and to declare himself the winner.
But it’s the voters, not right-wing judges, that should and will decide the election. It’s no wonder Trump doesn’t want that. If he loses Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan – where Biden pulled into the lead after Trump spoke – he loses the election. And if every vote is counted in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina, major states where the outcome is uncertain as of this writing, Trump could well go down to a crushing loss.
So it’s time to focus every bit of election defense work on the push to count every vote. For resources and how to connect with The Frontline, Protect the Results, Choose Democracy, Labor Action to Defend Democracy, Seed the Vote and other pro-democracy organizations, go here.
This election is closer than it should have been. We can post-mortem the reasons we need to take these extra steps to defend democracy and defeat Trump later. There are many complex issues to sort through. But any evaluation that doesn’t include looking squarely at the way white supremacy is deeply embedded in the very structure of the U.S. would miss the forest for the trees.
Count Every Vote!
(posting on Portside Labor)
America!!! Sometimes God Almighty uses who he wants, even the out cast, the rejected, even the one who was despised, to cause an awakening of a people that has been asleep ?? for 400 years, crying for the freedom of their ancestors that was a only a dream .. But this time it’s not a dream!! (The Awaking) , WE WOKE NOW !!????
Daryl McClover
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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XENOPHOBIA: is the phobia of the foreigner or immigrant, whose manifestations can range from simple rejection, through various types of aggression and, in some cases, lead to murder. Most of the times xenophobia is based on the exacerbated feeling of protection of a nation, although it can also be linked to racism, or discrimination based on race. MEDITATE YOUR VOTE
Carlos Alvarez
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Like many others I am deeply disappointed that Americans en masse have not clearly voted Trump out of office. He is the worst President you have ever had. So the quarrels and counting will go on and he will continue to pretend he has won.
I am angry that the Republican Party adopted him in the first place. But I am mostly just very annoyed that after 4 years of inaction on anything reasonable, that many citizens supported him anyway. I listened to one voter say well he gave us a good economy. He inherited a booming economy from the Obama administration and did not positively influence the economy. What he has influenced is the rising attitude of intolerance by encouraging armed right wing groups. He has done nothing about Covid, except to humiliate Dr. Fauci. He accentuates racist sentiments that exist by his own bigoted, intolerant world view.
The U.S. is a rich, powerful, great country. Those who live in countries that are allies have watched this election and others hopefully. But somehow the elections are mostly disappointing and this one is particularly so. There are no new ideas, no really good and interesting politicians since Obama came on the scene and this lack is unfortunate and even dangerous in the current world we inhabit.
Where are the good leaders? Where is political education of voters? Where are coalitions of progressives who find it hard to exist in the current right wing and dumb political environment?
My condolences.
Laurel MacDowell
The Finish Line -- cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
Lalo Alcaraz
November 4, 2020
Mexican Judge
A vote's life begins -- meme Joe Praino
Re: Why Leftists Should Vote for Biden in Droves
YES YES YES. It's so obvious. Vote out the fascist threat. Vote in the possibility of struggle.
Deborah Gerson,
74 year old daughter of Communists, and long term socialist feminist.
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I hate the idea of having to vote for Biden, but I did it anyway. Politics is a messy, stinking business at times, but you have to do the best with what you have. I too think Biden can be pressured especially if we have the right people in Congress. As for the Supreme Court, Congress can fix that too given the power to impeach and add more judges and if that doesn't work, we can shut the place down until a bunch of those cretins decide it's time to retire.
All the best and stay negative,
Mike Liston
Electoral College -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Rob Rogers
November 5, 2020
robrogers.com
Re: US Detained Migrant Children for Far Longer Than Previously Known
This is far more than a 'systemic failure.'
It is an acknowledgment by a political culture that it is so damaged that in its preoccupation with whatever enactment of power and control has seized its reins, it is cut off from the simple appreciation of internal experience of children.
Joseph Maizlish
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This is so awful! Mistreating children is a major sin.
Grace Carriker
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Never forget Trump and his cronies did this!!! THIS IS NOT OK!!!!!
Debra Howell
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Need to be brought before The Hague...for crimes against humanity !
Sigi Heim Roberts
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
I Love a Crowd -- Bill Bramhall cartoon
Bill Bramhall
October 29, 2020
New York Daily News
If You Still Won't Wear a Mask....
Re: Israeli Conscientious Objector Begins Third Stint in Military Prison
an Israeli heroine
Paul Buhle
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Real Reason Democrats Didn’t Stop the Barrett Confirmation
This is ridiculous, the Democrats had no way to stop the confirmation so of course the outcome was never in doubt--but not because the Democrats could have stopped it and chose not to.
Stan Nadel
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What you say about Democrats and corporations are so. But had you not listened to, and watched the hearings? Did any democrat senators agree with anything she said?
Elliott Barowitz
Re: Google AI Tech Will Be Used For Virtual Border Wall, CBP Contract Shows
So, our advanced technology will be used to chase down terrified refugees running from famine and violence. We can do better.
Sonia Collins
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Where are the Social Movements in Fiction
(posting on Portside Culture)
There are several. This article is superficial. There were over 200 "proletarian novels" published in the 1930s. Granted less since then but the genre survives. It would be more useful t point to these examples, identifying the best ones.
Harry Targ
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Great article and super web site, thanks or posting it. Humbled to be listed alongside so many giants. Tim
Timothy Sheard, editor Hard Ball Press, member National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981
Re: The New Borat Movie’s Best Moments Mock a Trump-era Fixation on a Particular Female Aesthetic
(posting on Portside Culture)
“Unless I missed it, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm never tips into baiting men into decrying the Me Too movement outright. But it’s clear what the filmmakers are implying: In America, those who idolize a certain kind of female aesthetic and feel free to ogle are laughably easy to exploit, whether by grifters, or spies, or social climbers, or just screwball comedians. And if Bakalova, playing a teenager with a mediocre dye job and some lopsided lipstick, can lead various men to embarrassing acts even when they know a camera is around — including an adviser to the president of the United States — that’s a pretty damning thing to capture on moviefilm.”
Stella Caldwell
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
(posting on Portside Culture)
"Wherever they burn books, they will also, in the end, burn human beings.”
Bookworms
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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This new book, by the head of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, is a timely warning. "Its tone is set early on, with an epigraph from Heinrich Heine," writes reviewer Larman: “Wherever they burn books, they will also, in the end, burn human beings."
Disraelly Gutierrez Jaime
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Why the Alt-right’s Real Power Is In the Narrative It Sells
(posting on Portside Culture)
You can pretty much boil all of capitalism down to just that.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Because “conservatism” is about rhetoric. Those who lack reasoning skills will always easily fall for it.
Cliff Gulliver
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Economic Fascism and Oligarchy--Greed and Power!
Emmett Pittman
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: HBO's 'The Undoing,' Starring Nicole Kidman, is a Cliffhanger-filled Ode to Rich White People
(posting on Portside Culture)
Judge Barrett is starring in a movie about herself?
Paul Swiatek
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Nicole Kidman cannot lose her accent! Every so often she reverts to her Australian accent.
Stacy Leigh
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Armistice Day / Remembrance Day 103 Is November 11, 2020 (World BEYOND War)
November 11, 2020, is Armistice Day 103 — which is 102 years since World War I was ended at a scheduled moment (11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 — killing an extra 11,000 people after the decision to end the war had been reached early in the morning).
In many parts of the world this day is called Remembrance Day and should be a day of mourning the dead and working to abolish war so as not to create any more war dead. But the day is being militarized, and a strange alchemy cooked up by the weapons companies is using the day to tell people that unless they support killing more men, women, and children in war they will dishonor those already killed.
For decades in the United States, as elsewhere, this day was called Armistice Day, and was identified as a holiday of peace, including by the U.S. government. It was a day of sad remembrance and joyful ending of war, and of a commitment to preventing war in the future. The holiday’s name was changed in the United States after the U.S. war on Korea to “Veterans Day,” a largely pro-war holiday on which some U.S. cities forbid Veterans For Peace groups from marching in their parades, because the day has become understood as a day to praise war — in contrast to how it began.
The story from the first Armistice Day of the last soldier killed in the last major war in which most of the people killed were soldiers highlights the stupidity of war. Henry Nicholas John Gunther had been born in Baltimore, Maryland, to parents who had immigrated from Germany. In September 1917 he had been drafted to help kill Germans. When he had written home from Europe to describe how horrible the war was and to encourage others to avoid being drafted, he had been demoted (and his letter censored). After that, he had told his buddies that he would prove himself. As the deadline of 11:00 a.m. approached on that final day in November, Henry got up, against orders, and bravely charged with his bayonet toward two German machine guns. The Germans were aware of the Armistice and tried to wave him off. He kept approaching and shooting. When he got close, a short burst of machine gun fire ended his life at 10:59 a.m. Henry was given his rank back, but not his life.
Let’s create events around the world:
Find and add events for Armistice Day 2020 to list here.
Use these resources for Armistice Day events from Veterans For Peace.
World BEYOND War
513 E Main St #1484
Charlottesville, VA 22902 USA
The defeat of Donald Trump augurs well for a democratic transformation. How do we, the progressive majority, seize the moment to deliver a fatal blow to reaction and usher in a new era of progress, equality and peace? (Subject to change.)
- Mark Solomon, Professor Emeritus of History at Simmons University, Boston holds a B.A. degree in History from Wayne State University, an M.A. in History from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in The History of American Civilization from Harvard University. He has written scores of articles on African American history, race and racism, U.S. foreign policy, globalization, and war and peace issues. Prof. Solomon has written or edited five books. He is also past member of the Presidential Committee of the World Peace Council, past national co-chair of the US Peace Council and the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.
- Music by Alastair Moock - A Grammy-nominated American folk and family music performer from Boston, Massachusetts. Alastair is known for his gruff voice, playful lyrics, and finger-picking guitar style.
Join Mark Solomon on Sunday with this new ZOOM Link:
Join the Zoom program here.
Meeting ID: 895 5257 5898
Password: 246499
To access by One Tap Mobile phone:
+13126266799,,89552575898# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,89552575898# US (New York)
Dial by your location:
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Imagining De-gentrified Futures" Exhibition - November 4 - December 19
Working class communities, immigrant communities, and communities of color across U.S. cities have been disproportionately impacted by hyper-gentrification and displacement over the last fifteen years.
Is it possible to disrupt dominant narratives that depict gentrification as "inevitable" and a "natural" part of urban evolution—monolithic assertions that often come from real estate speculators, developers, extractive industries and the 1%? Can we harness our collective resources and trace a new trajectory that allows communities to flourish without being priced out of our neighborhoods?
Imagining De-gentrified Futures is an interactive exhibition attempting to imagine socially-just futures for our cities and aiming to rethink the assumed trajectory of urban development. Drawing inspiration from antigentrification resistance across the U.S., decolonization movements, and Afrofuturism, this exhibition gives permission to imagine, to dream, to unleash and explore ways in which socially-just futures can exist for city communities.
Works on view take a variety of approaches to examine and suggest strategies for the challenges in cities like Hollywood, Philadelphia, New Orleans, New York City's Chinatown and Brooklyn's Sunset Park.
It's an interactive exhibition attempting to imagine socially-just futures for our cities and aiming to rethink the assumed trajectory of urban development. Drawing inspiration from anti-gentrification resistance across the U.S., decolonization movements, and Afrofuturism, this exhibition gives permission to imagine, to dream, to unleash and explore ways in which socially-just futures can exist for city communities (more info below).
Betty Yu is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, educator, and activist born and raised in NYC to Chinese immigrant parents. Ms. Yu integrates documentary film, new media platforms, and community-infused approaches into her practice, and she is a co-founder Chinatown Art Brigade, a cultural collective using art to advance anti-gentrification organizing. Her work has been presented at the Brooklyn Museum, Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival, Tribeca Film Festival's Interactive Showcase, The Eastman Kodak Museum, and the 2019 BRIC Biennial. She holds a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a MFA from Hunter College, and currently teaches video, social practice, art and activism at Pratt Institute, John Jay College, and The New School, in addition to 20 her years of community, media justice, and labor organizing work.
On view Thurs. - Sat. 1 pm - 6 pm
Nov. 5 - Dec. 19, 2020
3D Online and at 291 Church Street, NYC (reserve a timeslot)
Featuring Work By:
- Artists:
Black Quantum Futurism
Imani Jacqueline Brown
Sandra de la Loza
Chinatown Art Brigade
Robin Holder
Betty Yu
Radical Housing Manifestos:
Thomas Angotti
Alicia Grullon
Hate Free Zone
Lynn Lewis,
The Picture the Homeless Oral
History Project
Antoinette Martinez,
Protect Sunset Park
Robert Robinson
Pati Rodriguez,
Mi Casa No Es Su Casa
Samuel Stein
Sunset Park Popular Assembly
Spread the word