Holocaust Remembrance Day can be a powerful inspiration for us, as we struggle against a--so far, at least--less deadly and more poorly organized attempt to impose tyranny. In 2008, my wife and I went to Auschwitz, something I had long thought I should do. I held myself reserved for most of the visit, but at one point we came upon an Israeli student group. I don't speak Hebrew, but to hear it spoken in that place, 65 years after the Nazis made it a killing ground, was truly uplifting. (At the end of our visit, I went over to the wire, took out my father's talit (prayer-shawl) and a yarmulke, and stumbled through the Mourners' Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. My way of sticking a thumb in Hitler's eye.) Even the phrase "Never forget," can become shop-worn and lose meaning, unless we remember and use the memory to keep freedom and human dignity alive.
Thank you again for such an informative newsletter. I recently read the book "The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women who Sewed to Survive" by Lucy Adlington. It was a heart rendering story not only of what these women, and others in the death camps endured, but also the resilience and lasting friendships among them. If you read it...and I recommend that you do...you will understand at a personal level some of what happened there. And the Lincoln Project just came out with a powerful piece called "Never Again". After reading that book, the video brought me to tears.
Robert, thanks for the detailed explanations surrounding "electors" and the discussion about the Supreme Court nominee. I hope you are correct about the former.
With reference to the latter. In our entire history as a nation there have been 115 Supreme Court Justices. 108 of them have been White Males. The three "top contenders" who are Black Females all have undeniable qualifications that match or exceed those 108. Thank you President Biden for turning the ship of state in the direction of more equal representation on the institution charged with defining justice. This is decades if not centuries overdue.
"The good news for Democrats is that the nominee will have sterling credentials. The bad news for Republicans is that their only real objection will be to the color of the nominee’s skin—no matter how they try to spin their opposition." This is great! We have to weather the storm, however, to overcome the spin and "Primacy Effect", both of which could have an oversized impact. Hence, the nominee's exceptional credentials need to be publicized sooner than later. No foot dragging on this!
Thank you, Robert, for mentioning Holocaust Remembrance Day, and for the correction to yesterday’s post, and for keeping our morale above that of the headlines. You render an invaluable service to readers such as myself whose knowledge of law is limited.
Keep hammering away at the Washington Post and the harmful knee jerk counter narrative they love. "Great economic news, but can it last forever?" And thanks for pointing it out!
With full appreciation of this newsletter, including remembrance of the Holocaust, and valuing that the main thing is the main thing...I came across this interesting distinction today, advocating for the term “antisemitism” instead of “anti-semitism:"
"The term “antisemitism” was coined in 1879 by German journalist and antisemite Wilhelm Marr. Before 1879 hatred of Jewish people was called Judenhass.
Wilhelm Marr coined the term antisemitism because he viewed Jewish people as not only belonging to a religion but also belonging to a race. Therefore, in attempt to justify antisemitism Marr came up with the idea that Jewish people belonged to a so called inferior “Semitic race.”
What I find interesting is several school districts are banning books in their libraries but don’t realize that students today read a lot of material on line and it’s very easy to download the books. Banned books in my youth were considered too sexy (Peyton Place) which just made us want to read them more. I think this will happen again.
The good people of Missouri elected Josh Hawley over Claire McCaskill. Motivation enough to redouble efforts in Georgia to re-elect US Senator Raphael Warnock in ‘22.
For two people who, on occasion, have gone head-to-head, I take great pleasure in conveying how touched I was by your comment honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day. I had spent much of yesterday reading works from Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1986) and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. In many respects your commentary mirrored the mission of Wiesel’s Foundation “to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice.” For Wiesel, indifference “is equal to evil.”
Additionally, I thank you for your deep dive into “Election nullification” and simply would note, aside from current efforts to remove state election officials who, in 2020, refused to comply with directives aimed at de-certifying votes and replacing them with Trump loyalists, presently, GOP controlled state legislatures are changing election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how in-state votes are certified.
On a final note, I would agree that worrying could be counterproductive unless the person were prepared to put those concerns to work. While we await your list of organizations, I will mention a few. I know of no better grassroots organizations than Indivisible and Common Cause that offer a host of opportunities for personal engagement. As for donations, in my view, the most accomplished voting rights litigators, aside from Marc Elias, are associated with NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Thank you, Robert. I can get so depressed from the news that the media have turned so negative. If it weren’t for your very reasoned analysis, and Heather’s history each day, I might not be at all likely to bounce out of bed! You are my touchstone!
Robert, thank you for giving us sound bites and little bits we can share and bring up. I am mystified by how negative all the news is when so much good has been happening under Biden's presidency. How can the people who no longer getting the child tax credit not see or understand where it came from and why it is gone (for now)?
Please be aware of the archives of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (SSVHF) are now housed at the University of Southern California (USC). I worked on Spielberg's project for 20 months coordinating interviews with Holocaust Survivors. The public can now access information and interviews: https://vhaonline.usc.edu/login Please take advantage of this precious resource.
42 quick pages, at least, and I agree it's one-sided, but the hyperbole is not that hard to discern. However, Republicans have been playing an "if/then" long game for decades, even if we don't look for trolls under every bridge. And historically maybe the Dems haven't done enough contingency-based planning (actually there's nothing "maybe" about it). Cast-iron constitution, thanks for your concern. If I didn't have one of those, I wouldn't still be here. I live in Arizona.
(Every day starts with Hubbell and Richardson, can't thank you enough for all the great work you do.)
Holocaust Remembrance Day can be a powerful inspiration for us, as we struggle against a--so far, at least--less deadly and more poorly organized attempt to impose tyranny. In 2008, my wife and I went to Auschwitz, something I had long thought I should do. I held myself reserved for most of the visit, but at one point we came upon an Israeli student group. I don't speak Hebrew, but to hear it spoken in that place, 65 years after the Nazis made it a killing ground, was truly uplifting. (At the end of our visit, I went over to the wire, took out my father's talit (prayer-shawl) and a yarmulke, and stumbled through the Mourners' Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. My way of sticking a thumb in Hitler's eye.) Even the phrase "Never forget," can become shop-worn and lose meaning, unless we remember and use the memory to keep freedom and human dignity alive.
Thank you again for such an informative newsletter. I recently read the book "The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women who Sewed to Survive" by Lucy Adlington. It was a heart rendering story not only of what these women, and others in the death camps endured, but also the resilience and lasting friendships among them. If you read it...and I recommend that you do...you will understand at a personal level some of what happened there. And the Lincoln Project just came out with a powerful piece called "Never Again". After reading that book, the video brought me to tears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFCeu5E0nXg
Robert, thanks for the detailed explanations surrounding "electors" and the discussion about the Supreme Court nominee. I hope you are correct about the former.
With reference to the latter. In our entire history as a nation there have been 115 Supreme Court Justices. 108 of them have been White Males. The three "top contenders" who are Black Females all have undeniable qualifications that match or exceed those 108. Thank you President Biden for turning the ship of state in the direction of more equal representation on the institution charged with defining justice. This is decades if not centuries overdue.
"The good news for Democrats is that the nominee will have sterling credentials. The bad news for Republicans is that their only real objection will be to the color of the nominee’s skin—no matter how they try to spin their opposition." This is great! We have to weather the storm, however, to overcome the spin and "Primacy Effect", both of which could have an oversized impact. Hence, the nominee's exceptional credentials need to be publicized sooner than later. No foot dragging on this!
I see the “like” button has been moved.
Thank you, Robert, for mentioning Holocaust Remembrance Day, and for the correction to yesterday’s post, and for keeping our morale above that of the headlines. You render an invaluable service to readers such as myself whose knowledge of law is limited.
Keep hammering away at the Washington Post and the harmful knee jerk counter narrative they love. "Great economic news, but can it last forever?" And thanks for pointing it out!
With full appreciation of this newsletter, including remembrance of the Holocaust, and valuing that the main thing is the main thing...I came across this interesting distinction today, advocating for the term “antisemitism” instead of “anti-semitism:"
"The term “antisemitism” was coined in 1879 by German journalist and antisemite Wilhelm Marr. Before 1879 hatred of Jewish people was called Judenhass.
Wilhelm Marr coined the term antisemitism because he viewed Jewish people as not only belonging to a religion but also belonging to a race. Therefore, in attempt to justify antisemitism Marr came up with the idea that Jewish people belonged to a so called inferior “Semitic race.”
https://twitter.com/challahbackjew/status/1371621633606094848?s=20&t=Rdl6tZ_7MLBr8VX4vKm1Dw
https://twitter.com/challahbackjew/status/1371621619777433601?s=20&t=Rdl6tZ_7MLBr8VX4vKm1Dw
What I find interesting is several school districts are banning books in their libraries but don’t realize that students today read a lot of material on line and it’s very easy to download the books. Banned books in my youth were considered too sexy (Peyton Place) which just made us want to read them more. I think this will happen again.
The good people of Missouri elected Josh Hawley over Claire McCaskill. Motivation enough to redouble efforts in Georgia to re-elect US Senator Raphael Warnock in ‘22.
For two people who, on occasion, have gone head-to-head, I take great pleasure in conveying how touched I was by your comment honoring Holocaust Remembrance Day. I had spent much of yesterday reading works from Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1986) and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. In many respects your commentary mirrored the mission of Wiesel’s Foundation “to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice.” For Wiesel, indifference “is equal to evil.”
Additionally, I thank you for your deep dive into “Election nullification” and simply would note, aside from current efforts to remove state election officials who, in 2020, refused to comply with directives aimed at de-certifying votes and replacing them with Trump loyalists, presently, GOP controlled state legislatures are changing election rules to change who can be in charge, how votes are counted, and how in-state votes are certified.
On a final note, I would agree that worrying could be counterproductive unless the person were prepared to put those concerns to work. While we await your list of organizations, I will mention a few. I know of no better grassroots organizations than Indivisible and Common Cause that offer a host of opportunities for personal engagement. As for donations, in my view, the most accomplished voting rights litigators, aside from Marc Elias, are associated with NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Thank you, Robert. I can get so depressed from the news that the media have turned so negative. If it weren’t for your very reasoned analysis, and Heather’s history each day, I might not be at all likely to bounce out of bed! You are my touchstone!
What is the scenario for which a state legislature can change it's method of appointing electors pre-election (legally)?
Robert, thank you for giving us sound bites and little bits we can share and bring up. I am mystified by how negative all the news is when so much good has been happening under Biden's presidency. How can the people who no longer getting the child tax credit not see or understand where it came from and why it is gone (for now)?
Please be aware of the archives of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (SSVHF) are now housed at the University of Southern California (USC). I worked on Spielberg's project for 20 months coordinating interviews with Holocaust Survivors. The public can now access information and interviews: https://vhaonline.usc.edu/login Please take advantage of this precious resource.
Thank you Robert. Excellent discussions! I just ordered Maus and hope it sells out as a protest against the dangerous censorship of that school board.
42 quick pages, at least, and I agree it's one-sided, but the hyperbole is not that hard to discern. However, Republicans have been playing an "if/then" long game for decades, even if we don't look for trolls under every bridge. And historically maybe the Dems haven't done enough contingency-based planning (actually there's nothing "maybe" about it). Cast-iron constitution, thanks for your concern. If I didn't have one of those, I wouldn't still be here. I live in Arizona.
(Every day starts with Hubbell and Richardson, can't thank you enough for all the great work you do.)