Thursday, May 25, 2023

Poor pathetic John Stauber

Poor John Stauber. He can't help but be an idiot. He made that clear today. In the snapshot that I'll repost in full, C.I. writes about Tina Turner. She writes a really great overview/memorial of Tina (who she knew and, heads up, in the roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin, Ty's going to talk about how C.I. made his grandmother's day by introducing her to Tina Turner -- he's written about that for THIRD but he's going to talk about it at length and he's also picking some photos to run in the round-robin of his grandmother with Tina). And C.I. refuses to name anyone who harmed Tina.

So that means "[terrorist]" for the first husband, for example. And that means she ignores the man whose autobiography I panned (and she just rolled her eyes when I told her that he'd felt the need to put out a message on Tina), she ignored the couple that thought "eat the cake" belonged in a song, she ignored a lot of people or refused to name them.

So John Stauber decides to Tweet about Tina's passing by reTweeting a man that C.I. doesn't name in the snapshot because of his racism and because he used the n-word repeatedly while promoting his second solo album of the album and referring to Tina Turner, how his friends -- he said -- were telling him that by not performing his 60s hits in concert, he was letting that n-word "girl" take his hit song away from him.

I saw that on Stauber's Twitter feed and thought, "How appropriate." See, he can't help it. He's just naturally attracted to the most disgusting people around.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, May 25, 2023. Tina Turner is the focus for the snapshot today.

The Queen of Rock and Roll has died. This after a multi-decade career which saw Tina Turner awarded with 12 Grammys -- the only woman to win a Grammy in all three popular music genres -- rock, soul and pop.

As a member of a revue, she found fans in 1960 with her vocals on "A Fool In Love." She would next touch recording genius when she went into the studio with Phil Spector for "River Deep, Mountain High." Phil wanted nothing to do with the revue, he just wanted Tina in the studio by herself to record the vocal. Just as Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong had nothing to do with "Someday We'll Be Together" (Diana Ross is the only Supreme that sings on that number one song), Tina was the only artist from the revue performing on that song.

Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich wrote the song with some tinkering around by Phil. It was the culmination of Phil's entire work. And it flopped in the US. It only went to 88 on the US pop charts but it went to number three in England and the song is now considered a historically and artistically significant recording, one that was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and one that regularly makes the lists of all time great recordings.

It greatly expanded the appreciation of and audience for Tina Turner. She recorded the song in 1966. For context, Cher was also a solo artist and part of a duo at this time. In 1967, Sonny & Cher would have their last significant hit of the decade with "The Beat Goes On" (number six on the US pop chart) and Cher would have her last significant solo hit of the decade with "You Better Sit Down Kids" (number nine on the US pop chart). Both women, who would become great friends, saw the careers sag and both would look at the older men in charge of the duo and say they needed to modernize and go younger. Sonny didn't believe that was the answer. Tina had more luck because the revue was forever doing club dates and needed to have songs that got the room pumping so current hits by others could be worked in. As a result of Tina's interest in and love of the music around her, she would do vocals on covers such as "Let It Be," "Honky Tonk Woman," "I Want To Take You Higher," "Get Back," "Everyday People," "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Up On The Roof" and many more. She always made the songs her own.

Many would only realize how great her interpretive skills were when she took "Proud Mary" back into the top ten in 1971. I just probably do a note right here that I knew Tina and she was a great friend. In this obit, we're not naming people who were mean to her. That's not just her first husband, that's also people who thought it was cute, as late the 80s, to refer to Tina with the n-word. So if you see "Proud Mary" and think of some 60s White group, don't e-mail me telling me I should have included their racist ass in this entry. It's not an oversight on my part, this is about honoring Tina and I'm not honoring anyone who hurt her.

Tina took the tired 60s song and made it unique. Resulted in a Grammy win.

She also was a song writer. One of the songs she wrote was the song about her hometown "Nutbush City Limits." It would become a top forty hit in the early seventies and she would re-record it and perform it repeatedly throughout her career.

She was an amazing live performer and one of the few women who could regularly fill auditoriums. Janis Joplin recognized Tina's onstage brilliance as did audiences. Of the female musical artists who came to fame in the sixties and survived (Janis would pass away shortly after that decade ended; Joni Mitchell would garner her audience in the 1970s), Tina was part of a rare group of women who set records with ticket sales for their performances -- it was Tina, it was Cher and it was Diana Ross.

Aretha Franklin! No, it was just those three. Aretha didn't tour that often and she had a reputation by the end of the 70s as cancelling too often that led to poor ticket sales -- you don't want to buy a ticket, make plans to attend only to show up and find out that the artist has decided they're not doing the concert. Cher, Diana Ross and Tina were the three that sold tickets.

She made a name for herself and she did it with hard work. No one was going to take her name from her.

I, TINA, her 1986 book with Kurt Loder, was made into the film WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT starring Angela Bassett who was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the film.

Part of the story of Tina Turner is her courage and her love for life and people. She was terrorized throughout the sixties and most of the seventies by a man who claimed to love her but didn't. He was a liar and he was a thief who stole songwriting credits throughout his career. His beating up Tina was well known by the time he thankfully died. But, for those too young to remember, when he did die in 2007, there were people trying to praise him and trying to minimize what he did. Those people included Danny Schechter who thought doing one interview with Tina gave him 'insight' into her abuser and that Tina needed to forgive him and . . .

Garbage. Ava and I took that on in 2007 and this is from what we wrote and I am pulling the man's name (he's called by his last name in the clip earlier from WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT IT):

Now reading some of the boys last week, it appeared that the film What's Love Got To Do With It confused them. Or possibly it was Angela Bassett's fighting figure that confused them? Her deltoids are world class and could qualify her for a bodybuilding competition, no question. While she gave an amazing performance, it was too strong to capture Tina (offstage) in the days before she left [terrorist]. The body type was wrong as well which is why it's so very jarring when Tina takes over the performance during the last minutes of the film's final scene. It's equally true that [terrorist] was softened by the actor performing him who also had the benefit of being attractive.

Somehow, the film's timeline?, some people seem to have the idea that he beat her up real bad in a limo in Dallas in 1976 and Tina up and left. Wrong. He beat her repeatedly. He beat her through the sixties, he beat [her] through the seventies until she left. And when she left, this 'kind' man threatened to kill her and did a little more than threaten.

That wasn't about 'love.' What's love got to do with it? Not a damn thing.

Tina was a meal ticket and long before [terrorist] moved into his 'open' relationship ('open' for him only, of course), Tina was well aware of his many girlfriends, mistresses and one-night-stands. When she would try to leave, he would beat her. When she did leave, he would pull her off a bus and beat her. When the song didn't sail up the charts, he'd beat her. When he was having a bad day, he'd beat her. When he thought she was getting too much credit (she was the act), he'd beat her. He'd beat her for any reason whenever he damn well felt like it. It was a non-stop abusive relationship.

And, sad to say, many of the rock press knew about it when they were together and many of them sided with [terrorist]. That was the attitude in the rock press. It was especially the attitude at Rolling Stone and, for those who doubt it, you can comb the archives and find that attitude displayed everywhere -- even in an article on Sonny & Cher's then-new TV show, where it was 'shared': "Many of my friends favor the belief that after work Sonny beats the sh*t out of her with a tire iron." (For those too lazy to do their own research, the pig 'sharing' that bit of 'amusement' was Chris Hodenfield.)

That was the Rolling Stone attitude. It didn't disappear. In 1981, editor Brant Mewborn was screaming loudly for the magazine to feature Tina (who just done two multiple night engagements of SRO business at the Ritz and been brought on Saturday Night Live by Rod Stewart to sing a duet of "Hot Legs") and the reaction was one of indifference, one of 'she walked out on [terrorist].' The abuse was well known by then. Didn't matter. That was the 'feel' and 'mood' at Rolling Stone: Tina walked out on the man who beat her, she didn't matter.

Rolling Stone was long aware of what actually went on in The [terrorist] and Tina Turner Revue. Some of the truth leaked out in Ben Fong-Torres' hard hitting piece in the magazine's October 14, 1971 issue. Rolling Stone was made even more aware after the publication of the article when the police nabbed a man who had been hired by Ike to break the legs of Ben Fong-Torres and publisher Jann Wenner. The article noted his 'flirtations' with other women and his heavy coke use.

Tina was the one who got them to update their sound when their music was dying in the sixties. So the idea that "even Tina has to" feel anything is beyond belief.

She was enslaved. She wasn't allowed to live her life. She wasn't allowed to practice her religion. She wasn't allowed to be just an artist in the revue. She would try to bargain her way out of the relationship with that and [terrorist] would just beat her.

He beat her because he was damn lucky she presented herself in his life. He beat her because he couldn't beat men and he couldn't make the male singers stay. He beat her because she was his ticket to big money and big fame. Even with all her talents provided him with, he still beat her and that was because he really couldn't take the fact that no one really considered it "[terrorist] and Tina," it was just Tina. Which is why the Who wanted Tina for their film (Tommy) and not [terrorist]. Which is why Phil Spector wanted Tina (and not [terrorist] for "River Deep Mountain High." By the end of the act, he couldn't even keep it together in the studio.

He beat her over and over for their entire relationship. He beat her with his fists, he beat her with wire hangers, he beat her with whatever was handy. An electrical cord could and would do. He threatened her with death (repeatedly) if she left him.

[. . .]

No, Elijah, [terrorist] did not "discover" Tina. And comparing the serial physical abuse Tina endured for over sixteen years to a sex act ("groupies and playthings") reveals a lot of stupid. The choice of the word "treatment" as opposed to "abuse" ("his treatment of her") is also sadly revealing. (Wald does use abuse elsewhere. But we don't think abuse is "treatment." Even "mistreatment" would be an improvement over "treatment.") As for Wald's claim in the article that a White musician's death wouldn't result in the same kind of obituary attention to his violence, give us an example? We can provide one who would get the same treatment: Phil Spector.

And that would have been true if he'd died long before Lana Clarkson was murdered. He was another control freak and he was abusive to Ronnie Spector. Not on an [terrorist] scale but few people in the world will reach that kind of scale while in the spotlight.

Jim asked us to write about this and showed an e-mail explaining why this topic needed to be addressed. A reader of two years had been on the AOL message boards and saw [terrorist]'s abuse minimized by guys with man-crushes on [terrorist] who repeatedly down-played the physical abuse of Tina Turner, the beatings, the crimes. The reader said it brought back for her the denial she was met with when she brought charges against her then husband for abuse.

Boys, it's sad when your heroes have feet of clay, we understand. It must be even sadder when your hero turns out to be an abusive crook. But that is the reality of [terrorist]. And he didn't 'just beat Tina once,' he did so repeatedly. And the message that the reader copied and pasted into her e-mail, where a man was saying that all that happened, all that caused Tina to leave, was [terrorist] was in a bad mood and just slapped her, is a nice little fantasy for those who need their daily dose of denial. But it's not reality.

[. . .]

Nor are we willing to allow that [terrorist] got a bum deal because his abuses, his crimes, were noted in his obits. He was an abuser who regularly beat Tina, made her live in fear (to the point that she once tried to take her own life just to be free of him -- a detail that got left out by the [terrorist] Defenders) and really only controlled her because she was a woman. He thought it was his 'right' and when men defend him, they, intentionally or not, further that message. The reader who wrote saw her then-husband convicted of violent abuse (some of which he admitted to in court but tried to justify it with the 'pressure' he was under) and yet, even with that, nearly a decade later, she still encounters people who feel the 'need' to sing his praises to her and say they hope someday she can put her 'issues' behind her. Her 'issues.' Had she been assaulted by a stranger would the same 'caring' people stop to wonder when she and the criminal could be in the same room together? No.

Here's the thing, if [terrorist] had beat a woman he wasn't involved with even once the way he regularly beat Tina, his ass would have been hauled off to jail and it's doubtful that people would be writing "Poor [terrorist]" pieces today. But because it was his wife (or 'wife'), we're supposed to allow for something. What, we're not sure. But there's a lot of minimizing going on about the fact that he 'only' beat his wife. (And for the record, he also beat many of his mistresses. Ann Thomas is only one of the many women who've gone on record explaining how [terrorist] also beat them.) As if it's somehow 'different' if the woman you physically attack is your wife. Almost as if they're saying, she probably asked for it.

The American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence notes that 1.3 million women "are physically assaulted by an intimate partner" each year in the US. That's nothing to minimize.

Tina survived. Nothing could take the abuse or the memories away. She was terrorized and she suffered throughout her life as a result. It's nothing to be minimized or excused. Or glamorized by two idiots in music who felt their own boring lives needed dressing up.

Tina couldn't change what she'd endured but she could -- and did -- make the rest of her years matter.

In 1984, she returned to the charts with her PRIVATE DANCER album (ten million copies sold around the world) which included the hits "Better Be Good To Me," "Let's Stay Together," "Show Some Respect" and the number one hit "What's Love Got To Do With It." She'd start touring for the album as Lionel Richie's opening act but quickly go out on her own and rock the whole world. She'd have one achievement after another. Many more hits, many more record topping concert tours.

She'd also find lasting and real love with Erwin Bach. She would detail their nearly forty years together in her 2018 book MY LOVE STORY: A MEMOIR. ESSENCE writes about their love affair and offers a photo essay. Alex Ross (PEOPLE) notes:

The music legend — who died at age 83 on Wednesday after a "long illness," her rep confirmed — opened up about her romance with Bach, now 67, in her 2021 HBO documentary Tina.

"He was [16 years] younger [than me]. He was 30 years old at the time and had the prettiest face. I mean, you cannot [describe] it. It was like insane. [I thought], 'Where did he come from?' He was really so good-looking. My heart [was beating fast] and it means that a soul has met, and my hands were shaking," Turner recalled in the film.

"We met at Cologne [Bonn] Airport — actually it was Düsseldorf Airport [in Germany], and her manager Roger [Davies] asked me to pick up Tina," added Bach, a former music executive, in the documentary," Bach said in the documentary.

THE GUARDIAN offers their pick of her ten greatest songs, Australia's ABC offers their pick of five greats, ULTIMATE CLASSIC ROCK serves up their ten choices and BILLBOARD goes with 15. In 1994, a three disc retrospective contained 48 tracks and even it couldn't represent all her greatest songs -- not even all her greatest up to 1994. 1986's "One Of The Living," for example, wasn't on the box set. The song co-written by Holly Knight (who also co-wrote Tina's "Better Be Good To Me" and "The Best") made it to number 15 on the pop charts.

As the Iraq War dragged on and on -- and continues to -- it became a song we'd note here many times. "You can't stop the pain of your children crying out in your head/ We always said that the living would envy the dead."

Tina's passing is the news. Someone else thought he'd be the news but it's Tina Turner that the world is thinking of. In "Tina" last night, we noted those commenting on her passing -- that included Diana Ross, Jennifer Hudson, Ringo Starr, Keith Urban, Dionne Warwick, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. It's a passing that touches the world, a loss that many of us feel.

Last month, Roseanne Greenstreet interviewed Tina for THE GUARDIAN:

How would you like to be remembered?

As the Queen of Rock’n’Roll. As a woman who showed other women that it is OK to strive for success on their own terms.

The following sites updated:

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Tina Turner

In 1984, radio began playing Tina Turner's "Let's Stay Together." Tina Turner? She hadn't been on radio with anything new in nine or so years. When she was a duo with Ike Turner, there were many hits. But she could not endure the abuse -- and who could? Tina left Ike and ROLLING STONE became anti-Tina. When Carly Simon left James Taylor, the rag became anti-Carly. I always felt that founder and editor Jann Wenner expected women to be like his wife Jane -- doormats who looked the other way.

Tina had flashes during this period. You'd turn on to see a Rod Stewart concert and she'd be singing "Hot Legs" with him. But it was never anything that told you this woman was coming back.

"Let's Stay Together" had a video. It got some play. I loved the song. But some people were pooh-pahhing it, noting it was a cover of a 70s hit. In the video, Tina did not have the hair sticking up at all angles that we got only a few weeks later. Tina had a lion's mane of hair and it was a unique hairstyle that really pulled you in. And . . . she had a song that did as well. "What's Love Got To Do With It" was not an oldie, it was brand new and sounded it. And then came the video where she did the steps and the cake walk and really gave people a new look to put to her. And then PRIVATE DANCER was released. To this day, one of the best albums of the 80s. Tina was back. And she was bigger than she ever was before.

Joan Baez insisted around the time of Live Aid -- both performed at Live-Aid, Joan sang "Amazing Grace" in the morning to kick it off and, after the sun had gone down, Tina showed up with Mick Jagger to sing "I Know It's Only Rock and Roll" and "State of Shock" -- that she was forever frozen in time as the long haired young woman with the guitar and that most artists were like that, they had one look and one moment. But that Tina had the long straight wigs from the 60s and 70s that she danced in onstage and then the completely different look that she debuted in the 80s.

Live Aid was a charity concert that took place around the world on the same Saturday. Tina and Mick were in the US. There were not a lot of acts of color at Live Aid. In the US, it was the Four Tops, Billy Ocean, Run DMC, Ashford & Simpson (they brought Teddy Pendergrass onstage with them), Patti Labelle, Eddie Kendrick and David Ruffin (of the Temptations) joined Hall & Oates, and then Mick came out and brought Tina out and they tore up the stage.

MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME. That was back when Mel Gibson was still good looking. And Tina not only sang two great songs -- "One of the Living" and "We Don't Need Another Hero" -- on the soundtrack, she also starred as the Big Bad terrorizing poor Mel and the children.

Along the way, her story was also told with Kurt Loder in her bestseller I, TINA which was the basis for the film about her life WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT.

They said it was the biggest comeback since Lazarus.

No one could have anticipated it. People would try to ape it but no one ever did. She was one of a kind.

And we loved that she came back.

And we loved that she did it after leaving the abuser and terrorist Ike Turner.

There were so many great reasons to celebrate Tina.

She passed away today and that was expected. Her health was on the decline when HBO did their documentary on her awhile back.

My favorite Tina songs from the 80s that were never singles:

1) "Don't Turn Around"

2) "I Might Have Been Queen"

3) "Total Control"

4) "Overnight Sensation"

5) "Be Tender With Me Baby"

6) "I'll Be Thunder"

7) "Steel Claw"

8) "When I Was Young"

9) "Ask Me How I Feel"

10) "Johnny & Mary"

Those are just recordings in the 80s that weren't singles. And there are many others. But my point is with that list is that you could take those ten tracks and make a solid album with them just as they are. That's what a great level that Tina was working at.

Ruth's writing about Tina tonight as well so be sure to check out her site.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Today, Ron DeSantis is expected to announce that, like diarrhea, he will run. Soft and fat Ronnie and his butch wife deceived Florida voters last November. Those voters picked him for governor for a second term while, all along, his plan was to use them -- as he's used the state all along -- as a stepping stone. He had no plans to serve out a four year term. And, since the start of the year, he's been campaigning for the GOP's presidential nomination.

While he's convinced he's about to rule the world, he may have to settle for Miss Congeniality in his own party. Bernd Debusmann Jr (BBC NEWS) notes, "Recent polls have shown that Mr DeSantis still lags behind the former president as far as his popularity among US Republicans. Various surveys conducted in mid-May 2023 show him between 28 and 45 percentage points behind."

When not shoveling so much food down that he makes himself sick, Ronnie can be found doing harm to the state of Florida. One lawsuit after another due to his actions and its the people of Florida -- the ones he plans to abandon -- that get stuck paying the legal bills.

Greg Owen (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

Hamburger Mary’s, the iconic burger joint found in gayborhoods across America, is suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the state of Florida over the state’s new drag ban.

The Orlando branch of the flamboyant, drag-themed restaurant chain says they’ve been deprived of their First Amendment rights and are already losing customers under the state’s new rules targeting drag shows.

[. . .]

Hamburger Mary’s “simply cannot take the chance that their business or liquor licenses would be suspended for hosting a drag show where children attend,” the lawsuit states. “In addition, the criminal penalties of the law put individuals at risk of prosecution because of the content of their speech.”

The restaurant regularly hosts drag performances that include bingo, trivia, and comedy. On Sundays, children are welcomed at “family friendly” drag shows.

According to the suit, Hamburger Mary’s has lost 20% of their reservations for the Sunday shows and other events since announcing minors could no longer be in attendance while drag performers were present.

A high percentage of wait staff regularly dresses in drag, as well.

“The broad, sweeping nature of the statute, and the vagueness regarding what conduct is and is not prohibited, will have a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of the citizens of Florida,” the lawsuit says.

A First Amendment issue. Well then we know Jonathan Turley's covered it! No. No. Since becoming the ugliest whore for FOX "NEWS," Jonathan Swirley Turley only worries about the First Amendment if some right-winger gets booed or yelled at. Actual real life implications on the rest of us? Jonathan can't be bothered. He's far too busy preaching transphobia and disgracing George Washington University.

From yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!:

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

The NAACP has issued a formal travel advisory for Florida. In an announcement Saturday, the group said Florida is “hostile to Black Americans” under Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who’s expected to announce his run for the 2024 presidential nomination this week.

The moves comes after Florida passed the Stop WOKE Act to restrict conversations about race in schools and businesses. DeSantis has also attacked the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American Studies course and on Monday signed into law a measure that blocks colleges from spending public funds on diversity, equity and inclusion. He also signed a slate of legislation Wednesday targeting the LGBTQ community.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement, quote, “Let me be clear — failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all.”

The NAACP was joined by the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, and the LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida.

The moves comes as tourism is one of Florida’s biggest industries.

Meanwhile, PEN America, the book publishing company Penguin Random House and several other authors and parents are suing the Pensacola, Florida, school board for banning books on race and LGBTQ issues from school libraries, saying they violated the First Amendment.

For more, we’re beginning with Suzanne Nossel, CEO of the free expression group PEN America.

Suzanne, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you explain what this lawsuit is all about?

SUZANNE NOSSEL: Sure. We are suing in Escambia County to challenge the removal of books from classroom and school libraries. There are well over a hundred books that have been put under review and taken off classroom shelves for protracted periods while review processes are underway. That’s in contravention of the best practice guidelines that the American Library Association and others say you should follow, National Coalition Against Censorship, whereby books, if there’s an objection, should remain on the shelves while those objections are adjudicated. And then, there are more than 10 books that have been banned entirely. And this effort disproportionately targets books by and about authors of color, LGBTQ narratives.

And so we’re bringing a challenge under both the First and the 14th Amendments to the Constitution, the First Amendment because these bans and removals violate children’s right to read, and the 14th Amendment because they raise equality concerns. When books are targeted based on the stories told, who’s telling the stories, what the color or the sexual orientation of the characters, that violates our protections for equality in education. And so, we’re asking the school board to put these books back on the shelves, and the court to vindicate children’s right to read.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain really what this Stop WOKE Act says and how it allows for banned books? How specific is it? Or is it that the vagueness is what is so threatening?

SUZANNE NOSSEL: It’s really the vagueness. I mean, this idea that teachings that could create racial tension or make people feel guilty on the basis of their racial identity are prohibited raise all kinds of questions for teachers and librarians about what books might be construed to fall afoul of those restrictions. If a kid reads a book and they ask a question that demands an answer that could touch upon some of those sensitive topics, does the teacher risk being disciplined? Do they risk a complaint from a parent that could run all the way up the chain?

And that’s really the way censorship works deliberately — vague laws that don’t just pinpoint what specifically is out of bounds, but rather cast a broad chill, a pall on education. It’s teaching our children that there are ideas and books that are so dangerous that they ought to be off limits, which runs counter to the very role and purpose of public schools in a democracy, to be an incubator for citizenship, where you learn how to engage with all sorts of people, all sorts of ideas.

AMY GOODMAN: From your press release, in Escambia County, nearly 200 books have been challenged; 10 books have been removed by the school board; five books were removed by district committees; 139 books remain restricted, requiring parental permission. You also write, “Children in a democracy must not be taught that books are dangerous.” Talk more about the specific books that are banned and how exactly you plan to get these books back on the bookshelves.

SUZANNE NOSSEL: Yeah, sure. Look, it’s a long list of books. And it’s quite shocking to see things like Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye or Judy Blume’s Forever. You know, that’s a book that I grew up with, that, yes, was a little bit edgy in my time, but decades have passed. These are things that have been on the shelves, that have been treasured by young people for long periods of time, works of literature, Toni Morrison, a Nobel laureate in literature. So, to ban her books, you know, the idea that they have no value, no redeeming value for children, is outrageous.

There are also books like And Tango Makes Three, which is a story about same-sex penguins in the Central Park Zoo that raise a baby penguin, and this is being objected to because it’s seen as promoting LGBTQ lifestyles, or Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, about a child whose uncle gets married to a man. And so, it’s a real effort to both expunge books that are seen as contravening a very traditional, rigid conception of what family life ought to look like in America, and then books that are construed as sexually provocative. They’re being labeled pornography, even though they don’t bear any resemblance to the legal definition of pornography. So, it’s painting with a very broad brush.

And most of these objections have been brought by a single teacher in the school district. This is not a groundswell of parents who are raising these objections. It’s a single individual. And on the basis of that, in many cases, as we outline in our complaint, the school board has overridden the considered opinion of its own review panel. So, it has an empowered review panel of experts that it has designated to read books when there is an objection, to take a look and decide whether there is value for children, whether these books ought to remain in the classroom. And the pattern in Escambia that’s so disturbing is a political override of that expert opinion. So their own designated panel is being brushed to the side, and politics and ideology are ruling the day.

Chris Hayes also covered the issue on his show yesterday.

But again, having traded in legal expertise for the one-dollar-bills FOX "NEWS" slips into his g-string, Jonathan Turley can't cover this issue.

Musical interlude.

That's Tori Amos performing her song "Muhammad My Friend" with Tool's Maynard James Keenan.

Tool performed Sunday at Daytona's Welcome to Rockville festival -- and he did so in drag. John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

“I’ve been cross-dressing since long before these clickbait-junkie dupes were out of diapers,” he told The Messenger. Keenan went on to explain that he was simply riffing on a look he wore onstage in the ’90s. “It’s pretty crazy the technology and the prosthetics nowadays, how they’ve come along, and I just was considering bringing the look back. And that’s really all there is to it. I’m not a political fella -- had nothing to do with Florida.”

Still, the father of two made it clear that he opposes drag bans like the one in Florida. “I think limiting people’s access to anything is absurd,” he said. “Good parenting allows you to teach your kids how to be reasonable and reason and puzzle things out and decide for themselves what the f**k they wanna see or not wanna see.”

Asked whether he identifies with drag performers, Keenan said, “I guess so, yeah.”

“On occasion, I am a drag queen; I’ve been a drag queen,” he explained. “I’m casual, so the hardcore people are going to dismiss me as being a tourist.”

He also expressed “solidarity with people who are not afraid to express themselves.”

“People that want to express themselves in whatever f**king way they want to express themselves, as long as they’re not physically directly hurting someone? Yeah, go for it. I’m all for ya.”

Meanwhile, Richard Luscombe (GUARDIAN) reports:

Numerous police officers lured to new jobs in Florida with cash from Governor Ron DeSantis’s flagship law enforcement relocation program have histories of excessive violence or have been arrested for crimes including kidnapping and murder since signing up, a study of state documents has found.

DeSantis, who is expected to launch his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination this week, has spent more than $13.5m to date on the recruitment bonus program, which he touted in 2021 as an incentive to officers in other states frustrated by Covid-19 vaccination mandates.

“This will go a long way to ensuring we can have the best and the brightest filling our law enforcement ranks,” Florida’s Republican attorney general, Ashley Moody, said in April last year as DeSantis announced one-time $5,000 bonuses for new recruits.

However, among the almost 600 officers who moved to Florida and received the bonus – or were recruited in state – are a sizable number who either arrived with a range of complaints against them, or have since accrued criminal charges, the online media outlet Daily Dot has discovered.

They include a former trainee deputy with the Escambia county sheriff’s office charged with murdering her husband; an officer with the Miramar police department fired for domestic battery and kidnapping; and a former member of the New York police department (NYPD) who was hired by the Palm Beach police department having once been accused of an improper sexual proposition.

That officer, named by the Daily Dot as Daniel Meblin, was also part of a $160,000 settlement by the NYPD for violence at a 2020 protest against the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in which officers were accused of beating Black males without provocation.

A Palm Beach police spokesperson told the Daily Dot that Meblin – who had complaints against him including abuse of authority and sexually propositioning a teenager – had disclosed his background during the hiring process, according to the NYPD watchdog 50-a.org.

That's what he wants to impose upon the rest of the country -- failure and danger.

Paul Rudnick is always hilarious and intentionally so. However, we'll wind down noting the unintentionally hilarious who can be found across Twitter this morning trying to inflate their tiny man Ron DeSantis and his 'combat service' in Iraq. Ronnie was a legal adviser, kids. He didn't take part in combat. Quit making idiots of yourself in public. He's a War Criminal -- due to his actions at Guantanamo -- but he is not a combat veteran.

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Just say Hell No! to Ron DeSantis

Need another reason not to vote for cry baby Ron DeSantis? Here:

Ahead of an expected White House bid in the coming days, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spelled out the possibility to build a “7-2 conservative majority” on the US Supreme Court.

The Republican pointed to four justices – three appointed by Republican presidents – who he believed are poised to leave the bench during the next eight or nine years, during a speech at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Orlando on Monday.

“If you look over the next two presidential terms there is a good chance that you could be called upon to seek replacements for Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito. And the issue with that is you can’t really do better than those two. They are the gold standard for jurisprudence, so you gotta make sure that we are appointing people as close to that standard as possible,” DeSantis said, referring to two conservative stalwarts.

Alito is 73, Thomas is 74.

DeSantis also highlighted what he sees as a potential opportunity to replace conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, 68, or liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, 68, to cement a conservative majority for years.

No. We cannot allow that to happen. We need a majority in both houses of Congress so that we can impeach Crooked Clarence and we need the White House so that a competent judge can be appointed to replace Crooked Clarence.

We cannot afford Ron DeSantis as president. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is who I want in the White House. But I'll vote for Joe or even Marianne Williamson.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Joe Biden again claims Beau Biden died in Iraq, Marianne Williamson's campaign continues to self-implode, an American is convicted of torture (sadly, it's not Bully Boy Bush who got convicted), and much more.

India's REPUBLIC WORLD notes:

US President Joe Biden has once again come under fire for claiming that his late son Beau "lost his life in Iraq" -- a statement that alludes to the president's long-held view that poisonous burn pits were to blame for the younger Biden's brain cancer death at the age of 46. After making similar remarks at least twice earlier in the year, the president made his most recent ones to US troops stationed in Japan during his visit to the nation.

Yes, we're back to that again.

Erik Uebelaker (THE DAILY BEAST) notes:

Joe Biden recently told Marines stationed in Japan that his son Beau died in the Iraq war—an incorrect statement that the president has puzzlingly made several times in the past. “My son was a major in the U.S. Army. We lost him in Iraq,” Biden told the troops in Iwakuni on Thursday, according to a video obtained by the New York Post. Despite his son actually dying of brain cancer at the Walter Reed military hospital in Maryland, Biden has made the same claim about Beau’s death at least twice before. Last October, Biden told an audience in Colorado that Beau “lost his life in Iraq.” Just weeks later, he said “I’m thinking about Iraq because that’s where my son died,” during a speech in Florida. In reality, Beau died in 2015 after battling stage four glioblastoma—a diagnosis that the president has previously attributed to the “burn pits” in Iraq, which the military used to destroy trash while Beau was deployed from 2008 to 2009.

THE DAILY MAIL points out, "His death may have been linked to burn pits he encountered while serving in Iraq, although Beau did not die while fighting in the Middle East." But Gustaf Kilander (INDEPENDENT) goes full on enabler in "Critics say Biden is lying about how his son Beau died – they are ignoring the full story:"

Right-wing media outlets have attempted to use Mr Biden’s comments on Beau’s death as a sign that the 80-year-old Democrat has memory issues, ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

[. . .]

In 2016, then the vice president, Mr Biden said his son’s cancer could have been caused by the toxic burn pits he was exposed to during his service in the Middle East.

The New York Times reported that Mr Biden said he was “stunned” when he read a chapter concerning the death of his son in the book The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers by Joseph Hickman.

First off, it's not a sign of 'cognitive decline.' Or, if it is, it was evident before he was elected. I'm not in the mood to spoonfeed lousy reporters who can't do their job. But Joe made those remarks on the campaign trail. We called it out in real time. And a sign of just how sorry Gustaf is,

Second, Gustaf and other lazies, there's no reason in the world to refer to some stupid NEW YORK TIMES article. THE TIMES has 'reporting issues' to put it kindly. If you want to go to Joe discussing burnpits and Beau, you go to that.

Which is right here, 'journalists.'

That's January 10, 2018, THE NEWSHOUR (PBS):

Biden also said that reading “The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers,” a book on the topic by Joseph Hickman, which included a chapter on his son Beau, opened his eyes to the possibility of a link to his son’s cancer.

“There’s a whole chapter on my son Beau in there, and that stunned me. I didn’t know that,” Biden said. He added, the author “went back and looked at Beau’s tenure as a civilian with the U.S. attorney’s office [in Kosovo] and then his year in Iraq. And he was co-located in both times near these burn pits.”

Joe's been making these statements forever. If you're now appalled by it, my big question would be: Where were you when it started?

Because we've called it out all along, long before he became president.

Beau did not die in Iraq. He came back to the US and died six years later.

People shouldn't try to justify it or enable him on this. He needs to be held accountable. But, again, this didn't happen this year or last year or in 2021 for the first time. It may be a sign of something, but it's not a new cognitive decline because, again, he was making the statements that Beau died in Iraq while on the campaign trail.

Since we're discussing presidential campaigns, let me note how I love the liars. Oh those Marianne Williamson freaks. They lie and then they lie again. We told you, before POLITICO ever published the story about Marianne's 'interacting difficulties,' that she was a nightmare to work with and that this went back decades. Then POLITICO does their story about how Marianne terrorized campaign staff during her failed 2020 run fo the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. And The Merry Mariannes rushed to tell you it was lies, all lies. POLITICO did another report about how her current campaign is in shambles and The Merry Mariannes are back insisting it's a lie.

It's not a lie.

The departure came about when Marianne ranted and raved over how her polling was stagnant and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had passed her in the polling from the moment he announced his candidacy. That was the fault, she insisted, of her campaign.

Because 'positive thinking' never allows Marianne to own up to her own failures.

As this very public battle took place -- with four other players present -- it was offered to Marianne that she was ignoring key issues and maybe addressing them would bring her more support. She sneered at the issues (which including that she needed to call out the war on the LGBTQ+ community) and said she was a "big thinking" candidate and these little issues were "beneath" her.

The campaign's not going off the rails, it is off the rails.

This may surprise but, despite her well known vanity, Marianne remains incapable of self-examination. Oh sure, she's always been her own favorite topic. But she can't admit any wrong doing and her own 'introspection' plays out like gushing press releases.

She's killing her own campaign.

More say they will be leaving soon.

The Merry Mariannes throw hissy fits online and have been doing that since day one. Remember Krystal Ball screeching and screaming that everybody get on board with Marianne?

They're idiots. Marianne is not happening and won't ever happen unless the candidate learns to listen.

It'll never happen because the professional 'speaker' doesn't believe listening is part of an exchange since she never got paid to listen.

The Merry Mariannes can lie and spin and even deceive themselves but, currently, the only one who appears to be a viable candidate to rival Joe is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In other news, WFMZ reports:

A Stroudsburg man has been convicted in federal court of torturing an Estonian citizen in 2015 in Iraq.

The U.S. Department of Justice says it was in connection with running an illegal weapons manufacturing plant in Kurdistan.

Ross Roggio, 54, was convicted of torturing an employee who raised concerns about what they were doing.

On the matter, the US Justice Dept issued the following:

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, May 22, 2023

Man Convicted of Torture and Exporting Weapons Parts and Related Services to Iraq

A federal jury convicted a Pennsylvania man on May 19 for numerous crimes, including the torture of an Estonian citizen in 2015 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, in connection with the operation of an illegal weapons manufacturing plant in Kurdistan.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ross Roggio, 54, of Stroudsburg, arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct and detain the victim at a Kurdish military compound where Roggio suffocated the victim with a belt, threatened to cut off one of his fingers, and directed Kurdish soldiers to repeatedly beat, tase, choke, and otherwise physically and mentally abuse the victim over a 39-day period. The victim was employed at a weapons factory that Roggio was developing in the Kurdistan region of Iraq that was intended to manufacture M4 automatic rifles and Glock 9mm pistols.

In connection with the weapons factory project, which included Roggio providing training to foreign persons in the operation, assembly, and manufacturing of the M4 automatic rifle, Roggio also illegally exported firearm parts that were controlled for export by the Departments of State and Commerce.

“Roggio brutally tortured another human being to prevent interference with his illegal activities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Thanks to the courage of the victim and other witnesses, the hard work of U.S. law enforcement, and the assistance of Estonian authorities, he will now be held accountable for his cruelty.”

“Today’s guilty verdict demonstrates that Roggio’s brutal acts of directing and participating in the torture of an employee over the course of 39 days by Kurdish soldiers could not avoid justice,” said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. “We thank all the prosecutors and law enforcement agents who worked tirelessly to address these acts that occurred in Iraq.”

“Today’s milestone conviction is the result of the extraordinary courage of the victim, who came forward after the defendant inflicted unspeakable pain on him for more than a month,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Torture is among the most heinous crimes the FBI investigates, and together with our partners at the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, we will relentlessly pursue justice.”

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is firmly dedicated to pursuing those who commit human rights violations, like Roggio, to ensure perpetrators face justice for their atrocities,” said Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Tae D. Johnson of ICE. “Our investigators will continue to work tirelessly with government partners so these horrendous acts do not go without consequence.”

“The illegal export of firearms parts and tools from the United States often goes hand in hand with other criminal activities, such as the charge of torture on which the jury voted to convict the defendant,” said Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Carson of the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office. “I commend our law enforcement colleagues for their dedication to bringing justice in this case.”

Roggio was convicted of torture, conspiracy to commit torture, conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, exporting weapons parts and services to Iraq without the approval of the Department of State, exporting weapons tools to Iraq without the approval of the Department of Commerce, smuggling goods, wire fraud, and money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 23 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Roggio is the second defendant to be convicted of torture since the federal torture statute went into effect in 1994.

The FBI and HSI investigated the torture and were joined in investigating the export control violations related to the firearms manufacturing equipment by the Department of Commerce’s BIS Office of Export Enforcement.

Trial Attorney Patrick Jasperse of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, Trial Attorney Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd K. Hinkley for the Middle District of Pennsylvania are prosecuting the case. The Estonian Internal Security Service, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and the Pennsylvania State Police also provided valuable assistance.

Members of the public who have information about human rights violators in the United States are urged to contact U.S. law enforcement through the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the HSI tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE, or complete the FBI online tip form or the ICE online tip form.

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