Rumblings. 2.20.26
Rumblings. 2.20.26
1. CBS lawyers blocked Stephen Colbert’s planned interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, claiming it could trigger the FCC’s “equal time” rules now being strictly enforced by the Trump-era commission. Colbert criticized the decision as political censorship and instead hosted the interview on YouTube. He refused to cave in to what he considered to be cowardice.
When big corporations quiver and quake in fear of upsetting Trump, we know our nation is in trouble.
By the way, James Talarico is the real deal. So is Colbert.
2. “The Democrats only want federal agents to enter private homes only with a judicial warrant (as was policy until the administration produced a secret memo saying that DHS officials themselves could sign off on raids, a decision that runs afoul of legal interpretations of the Fourth Amendment).
Democrats want agents to stop wearing masks and to have their names, agencies, and unique ID numbers visible on their uniforms, as law enforcement officers do. They want an end to racial profiling—that is, agents detaining individuals on the basis of their skin color, place of employment, or language—and to raids of so-called sensitive sites: medical facilities, schools, childcare facilities, churches, polling places, and courts.
They want agents to be required to have a reasonable policy for use of force and to be removed during an investigation if they violate it.
They want federal agents to coordinate with local and state governments and for those governments to have jurisdiction over federal agents who break the law.
The Dems want DHS detention facilities to have the same standards as any detention facility and for detainees to have access to their lawyers.
They want states to be able to sue if those conditions are not met, and they want Congress members to have unscheduled access to the centers to oversee them.
They want body cameras to be used for accountability but prohibited for gathering and storing information about protesters.
And they want federal agents to have standardized uniforms like those of regular law enforcement, not paramilitaries…~ Heather Cox Richardson
It seems reasonable to me. However, there are those in high places balking at the notion that ICE actually needs to have ethical and legal guard rails established for them.
Surprised? I’m not.
Scared? Yes. Anything that mirrors the patterns of the Third Reich gives me the shivers.
3. Timothy 3: 1-5 MSG
“Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.”
4. “The GOP says it will take a lot more than eye witness testimony, photos, DNA, toxicology reports, victim statements, wire transfers, emails, flight manifests, phone records, surveillance logs, bank records and audio and video confessions for them to believe Trump/Epstein ties were more than coincidental.”
I’m not sure which satirist wrote this but he/she hit the nail on the head.
5. Jimmy Kimmel after watching Pam Biondi’s reprehensible Q and A before a Congressional Committee said: “This is the kind of woman who, if you live next door to her, you’d move. You wouldn’t even argue with her. You’d just relocate and never go back to the block.”
6. Our country is trampling on environmental agreements we promised to uphold.
I happen to believe that creation care is a spiritual practice that pleases God. Obviously, there are those who think differently about such things. If their thinking becomes the norm, we’re sizzled (literally and figuratively).
7. Anita and I walked in a large civil rights march in Chicago about 12 years ago. For a bit, we found ourselves walking behind Jesse Jackson. We were struck by the love, respect and affection offered him. No wonder. He had fought many battles in the struggle for civil rights. He was there when MLK Jr. was assassinated. He was a burr in the saddle of many and a beacon of hope for those of us yearning for justice for all.
RIP, Jesse, you represented your causes and your God quite well.
8. Malfeasance is the willful and intentional commission of an unlawful or wrongful act, often by a public official or corporate agent, that violates duties and causes harm.
It’s looney-tunes time in the White House. Everyday, all day, it’s one malfeasance after another. Integrity has taken a holiday. Common sense is nowhere to be found. Straight talk has been replaced by incoherent spin.
If I were the leader of a foreign country, at this particular moment, I wouldn’t trust the Executive Branch of our government with anything that requires honesty and integrity. I’ve never had to say that before.
So what should you do?
The best advice I can offer myself and you is to pray for courage, fight back, make good trouble, and resist any temptation to close down and fade away. Also, read and apply Rumble #10.
9. Ash Wednesday by Sarah Are
“Thumb to forehead, that’s how this begins –
A thin dust reminder that life, in time, ends.
So how do I want to spend my days?
How do I live a life that weighs
Heavy with love and heavy with truth,
Heavy with memories of laughter and you?
And is that what matters, at the end of the day?
Or is it justice in peace and the sound of your name?
Thumb to forehead. Remind me again.
That this precious life begins and ends.
And like the trees and autumn, may I learn to let go,
Making room in my heart for a new kind of growth.
A change in seasons, a change in me.
Thumb to forehead. Let it be.”
10. “I want to live the rest of my life, however long or short, with as much sweetness as I can decently manage, loving all the people I love, and doing as much as I can of the work I still have to do. I am going to write fire until it comes out my ears, my eyes, my noseholes—everywhere. Until it’s every breath I breathe. I’m going to go out like a fu**ing meteor!” ~ Audre Lord
Can I get an Amen?