"The U.S. Department of Justice-including the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, an appointed U.S. special counsel and the solicitor general, all of whom were involved in different ways in the criminal prosecutions underlying these cases and are opposing Mr. Trump’s constitutional and statutory claims — can petition the other seven justices to require Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves not as a matter of grace but as a matter of law." #SCOTUS#alito
Rep Jamie Raskin reveals that yes actually we can force Alito and Thomas to recuse - but Biden's people have to admit this and take action. Kinda the ultimate moment for liberal no-we-can't hand wringers isn't it
Here's the pay wall free link to his op ed in NYT:
If Democrats cannot compel their own Dept of Justice to act at this point in history, you have to ask what all the vote shaming hoopla really is for when it comes right down to it
so many brilliant scenes in this film but im stuck on the 5 judge panel discussing the book award, and the 3 white members agreeing—across their respective political divides—on a Black winner with their majority prior to the two Black members uttering a word. that the author of the winner is present but both hidden and silenced (by the publishing world and the micro aggressions of the meeting) goes without saying which ends up saying so much
which is not to say the movie is only about race, it’s also about genius, queerness, loneliness, art under capitalism etc. but the race inversions are pretty brilliant and important. can’t recall another film willing to cast every white character as a caricature, and that does so in service to such a cohesive & insightful cultural commentary
Between October and the beginning of March, the U.S. approved more than 100 military sales to Israel, but publicly disclosed only two sales.
An undisclosed amount of weapons was also transferred from U.S. military stockpiles already stored in Israel, for which there is no public record or inventory.
We pay for much of this with our taxes, but like most US military spending, we cannot actually look up what it is we ourselves are paying for
“Israel is required to use [US defense aid] to buy U.S.-made weapons. This is a form of corporate welfare not only for the largest weapons manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and General Dynamics, which have seen their stock prices skyrocket, but also for companies that are not typically seen as part of the weapons industry, such as Caterpillar, Ford, and Toyota”
fishing boat cruise over to the Baird glacier to hike moraines. wildflowers and arctic terns haven’t arrived yet, so felt a little lonely, but always an amazing place to tromp around. we may have pushed some giant rocks down a big moraine hill 🪨
my good friend is getting ready to cycle the #goldenCircle ride from Haines, Ak -> #Whitehorse#yukon -> Skagway, Ak - he’ll be in Whitehorse Thursday May 30th and has a half day to see sights by bike and is looking for recommendations or friends if anyone has ideas @McYukon@cjgyt ?
listening to the new serial pod season about Guantanamo and learning many things, including how one of the prisoners they profile was kind of a regular guy until he became incensed by Israel’s occupation of gaza, joined Al Qaeda and reported to the guy who planned 9/11. I mean y’all it really is this straightforward
how could the US help slaughter tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza? you guys we slaughtered tens of thousands in Iraq, maybe hundreds of thousands, and we damaged an entire generation with our depleted uranium weapons there. oil in the Middle East is important to our corporations and the US is willing to do anything really to try and control how it flows, there is no daylight between presidents on this issue
Americans are pretty much blind to the contours of our longterm resource colonization/militarization of the Middle East, and the willful blindness allows us to play the victim and engage in Islamophobia. we are the ones who go over there and drop bombs and yet we are shocked, SHOCKED, when people don’t like that and fight back, the only explanation is barbarism, they must be subhuman
preparing another playlist to beam out live into the multiverse via KFSK’s transmitters across a bunch of remote ass islands in alaska (and kfsk.org), starts a little after 7 pm AK/ 8 PST
this is where I’m coming from with #SocialTech for changing culture, we need to rescue the idea of change/innovation/evolution from capitalism and its bros and girl bosses. We need a working vision & definition of technology that centers long term societies oriented around life itself, not just short term profits for a few. this is def a note to self for my upcoming book lol https://fediscience.org/@steve/112486844345257840
technology is defined as science applied to meet practical applications. if we broaden or fortify our understanding of science as being much larger than capital-driven drug and weapons research etc, we can start to paint a picture of "technology" that puts the pieces together in a different way. its all about the goal: do we innovate to create wealth for a few, or do we innovate to support life itself on earth for now and forever. the goal changes the methods and everything else
if we let go of the idea that "tech" is only defined as it services late stage capitalism, we can start to recognize technological advances made by people and communities we currently treat as worthless unless they are sitting on resources or in the way of freeways etc. -- communities have, over and over across the eons, evolved smart tech for preventing violence, biodegradable clothing, farming with fire, mutual aid, the co-op, the union etc. It is my view that these innovations are technology
a few weeks in to reviving my #meditation practice, feels like front row tickets for a daily tour of personal discomforts and dormant grievances. ironically watching this dismal show buys me a little lightness throughout the day
kinda nuts to read an overview of central US weather over the last week, hail the size of golf balls in Colorado, 7 dead from hurricane force storms in Houston, houses destroyed by tornados in kansas, deluge in Oklahoma covers roads https://gratefuldread.masto.host/@verdantsquare/112483094125213998